Capta tandem post decennalem obsidionem Troia Graeci omne genus crudelitatis in victos exercuerunt. Priamum enim regem ad ipsas aras trucidarunt, Cassandram Phoebo sacram virginem stuprarunt, Polyxenam regiam puellam ad monumentum Achillis mactaverunt: omnia confuderunt, diripuerunt, vastarunt, caedibus funestarunt. Postremo mulieres quae tantae cladi supererant diviserunt sorte, quarum aliae alios sortitae dominos ad naves protrahuntur ut paulo post aveherentur ex adamata sed tum misera patria in peregrinum orbem. Interea Neptunus tactus miserabili ruentis Troiae spectaculo cum Minerva, cuius animum vitium Cassandrae oblatum a Graecis alienarat, de perdendis Graecis consilium capit. Hecaba vero cum ceteris Troianis feminis plangit luctuosum occasum regni Troiani, ut quae iam viris, opibus, dignitate, patria, cuius lamentabiles ruinas ante oculos aspiciebant, spoliatae nihil praeter miseram servitutem sibi restare viderent. Talthybius autem quem quaeque dominum sortita sit significat. Cassandra furit indignissimis afflicta malis et sibi vindictae occasionem in Agamemnone datum iri gloriatur: multa praeterea et diversa Graecorum duces mala manere tum in ipso reditu tum domi vaticinatur. Rapitur et Astyanax ad necem, qui solus poterat solacio esse in tantis malis miserae matri Andromachae. Unde lamenta, luctus et querelae super infinitis malis quibus et Troia et Troiani demersi iacebant in finem usque fabulae adducuntur. [440] Diris item Helena ut tantarum cladium auctor devovetur: eam Menelaus Argos, istic occidendam, transportari imperat. Deplorantur etiam extincti ac occisi Troes nec ante scena luctu resonare desinit quam deflagrante iam ac veluti exspirante Troia una omnes ad naves ire compelluntur uti ex Asia quaeque cum suo domino, aliae alio, ad sempiternam servitutem aveherentur.

When at last after the ten-year siege Troy was captured, the Greeks practiced every kind of cruelty on the conquered. For they slaughtered king Priam near the altar itself, raped Cassandra the virgin sacred to Apollo, they sacrificed the royal girl Polyxena at the tomb of Achilles: they ruined, plundered, laid waste, and polluted everything with murders. Finally they separated by lot the women who had survived so great a disaster, among whom different women having received by lot different masters are dragged to the ships to be carried away in a short while from their beloved but at that time miserable homeland to a foreign world. Meanwhile, Neptune, touched by the pitiful sight of Troy’s fall, makes a plan about destroying the Greeks with Minerva, whose mind had been alienated from the Greeks by the sexual violence inflicted on Cassandra. Hecuba, however, with the other Trojan women, laments the mournful fall of the Trojan kingdom, being ones who were now stripped of their husbands, wealth, dignity, and homeland, whose lamentable ruins they were now watching before their eyes, and saw that nothing except wretched servitude remained for them. But Talthybius indicates to which master each one has been allotted. Cassandra raves madly, having been afflicted with the most outrageous wrongs, and she boasts that she will be given the chance for revenge against Agamemnon. Moreover, she prophesizes that many different evils await the leaders of the Greeks both during the return itself and at home. Astyanax is also dragged off to his death, who alone could have been a consolation amidst such great evils for his wretched mother Andromache. Therefore lamentations, mourning, and complaints over the endless evils in which both Troy and the Trojans were lying submerged are drawn out right up to the end of the play. Furthermore, Helen as the author of such great disasters is consigned to curses: Menelaus orders her to be carried across to Argos, to be killed there. The killed and slain Trojans are also lamented, and the stage does not stop resounding with grief before, with Troy now burning and seemingly expiring, they are forced all together to go to the ships to be carried from Asia, each one with her own master, some with one and some with another, into eternal servitude.

Quid autem hoc dramate Poeta voluerit nemini obscurum esse potest: quum sit hic cernere evidentem imaginem captae, direptae, incensae urbis et infinitorum malorum quae huiusmodi calamitosa belli fortuna secum trahit. Nec quemquam arbitror tam ferreo animo esse quem non tam lamentabiles viduarum virginumque captivarum, quae omnia suorum sanguine fluere videbant, querelae commoveant. Voluit igitur Poeta hac fabula qua afflictissima captae Troiae fortuna ob oculos ponitur saeculi sui homines ab insana bellandi rabie ad pacem, ab armis ad vitam pacatam et civilem traducere. Saepe enim fit ut spes nimiae et efferati animi mentem hominis impediant quo minus possit perspicere quantis cladibus nonnumquam bella levi de causa suscepta humanas res implicent. Clarissimo ergo hoc exemplo monarchae et principes debent admoneri ne temere de oppido aliquo aut vico vel aliam minutulam ob causam bellum inferant aut aliorum arma privata quapiam cupiditate in se excitent, unde postea et se et fortunas suas afflictas sero et frustra doleant. Gesserunt Graeci multos annos bellum pro impudica muliercula insanissimum, quo tandem Troia eversa est: Graeci autem victores aut in reditu ipso perierunt aut domi perniciem repererunt, ut notus hic versus in illos quadret: κλαίει ὁ νικηθεὶς ὁ δέ νικήσας ἀπόλωλεν.* Quamquam vero plura eiusdem farinae exempla ex omni genere scriptorum huc adferri possent et praesentis argumenti ratio postulet nonnullam de bello et pace commentatiunculam, tamen quum elegantissimus sermo Desid. Erasmi** Roterodami, in adagium, Dulce bellum inexpertis, extet, et notum sit ab eodem explicatum adagium, Spartam nactus es, hanc orna, haec de scopo huius fabulae dixisse sufficiat.

*[From a Sibylline oracle quoted by Plutarch, Demosthenes 19.1, and also cited in collections of proverbs. The oracle was connected to the Battle of Chaeroneia, and the second part, ‘the victor has been destroyed’, was referred to Philip of Macedon’s death after his victory over the Athenians and their allies.]

**[Desiderius Erasmus composed in Latin a collection of adages very popular in the sixteenth century—Adagia (first small version in 1500, expanded greatly in subsequent editions through 1536). The first adage quoted here is from a fragment of the Greek poet Pindar (fr. 110). The second was also originally Greek, a line of Euripides (fr. 723) that became proverbial. In its original context Agamemnon was rejecting his brother Menelaus’s attempt to meddle, telling him he has his own city, Sparta, and should take care of it and let Agamemnon deal with affairs in his own city, Mycenae, as he saw fit.]

But what the Poet intended with this drama can be obscure to no one, since it is possible to see here a clear image of a captured, plundered, and burned city and the countless evils which the destructive fortune of this kind of war brings with it. And I do not think that there is anyone with such a cruel heart who is not moved by such lamentable complaints of captive widows and virgins, who saw everything flowing with the blood of their loved ones. Therefore the Poet wanted through this play in which the most wretched fortune of captured Troy is placed before one’s eyes to lead men of his time away from the frenzied madness of war to peace, from arms to a peaceful and civil life. For it often happens that excessive hopes and wild spirits hinder the mind of a man so that he would be less able to see in how many disasters wars undertaken for trivial causes sometimes involve human affairs. Therefore by this very clear example monarchs and princes ought to be warned not to rashly wage war concerning some town or village, or because of some other petty cause, or to stir up the arms of others against themselves because of some private desire, from which later they might regret too late and in vain for themselves and their own ruined fortunes. The Greeks waged the most insane war for many years for an unchaste woman, by which Troy was finally ruined: but the Greek victors either died during the return itself or found disaster at home, so that this well known verse fits them: the one who is conquered weeps and the one who conquered perishes. Although many more examples of the same nature could be adduced here from all kinds of writers, and the rationale of the present argument demands some small comment about war and peace, nevertheless since there is the very fine remark of Desid. Erasmus of Rotterdam concerning the adage “war is sweet to those who are inexperienced”, and the adage explained by the same man is known, “you have obtained Sparta, adorn it”, let it be sufficient to have said these things about the purpose of this play.

Quod si tamen veri rerum expensores esse volumus, non ex remota antiquitate talia exempla nobis repetenda erunt, nec necesse habebimus Troiae excidio, cuius memoria iam paene exoleverit, ab immanibus bellorum studiis deterrere nostros homines, quum haec ipsa tempora tam cruentis et impiis bellis funestata passim deplorare soleamus. Et si umquam apud ethnicos crudele aut nefarium habitum est homines ab hominibus cladibus affici, crudelissimum certe ac immane vel potius diabolicum Christianos a Christianis, quos CHRISTUS ipse pacis auctor et perpetuus concordiae mutuaeque caritatis professor sui sacratissimi corporis communione unitos ac conglutinatos esse voluit, fortunis everti, sedibus pelli, spoliari, diripi, occidi. At eiusmodi iam Martis spectacula oculis usurpamus ut illae priscorum hominum clades prae nostra rabie, qua in mutuam perniciem devoti nitimur, ludus iocusque fuisse videri possint. Cumque passim videamus quos domo scelerata bella expulerunt nudos, exules, orbos, famelicos oberrantes, urbes excisas, cives trucidatos, fumantes vicos, exustas arces†, vastatas totas regiones, caedibus ac sanguine civili undantes campos, virgines stupratas, leges oppressas, disciplinam morum extinctam, aequitatem cum omni honestate sepultam, religionem prostratam, denique naufragium quoddam miserabile omnis felicitatis ac totum pelagus malorum, tamen nihil caecos furore homines tantae labantis Imperii calamitates movent quo minus strenue civilibus dissensionibus dent operam. Ea siquidem pervicacia eaque animorum obstinatio est ut regum, principum, magistratuum mandata, edicta, consulta contemnere non vereantur. Hinc summa confusio et veluti chaos quoddam rempublicam olim armis, viris, opibus consiliis florentem occupat et obscurat. Quippe sic factionibus et intestinis discordiis debilitata ac dilapsa est ut iam plane veluti exanimis et fracta iaceat ludibrium externis nationibus ac populis. Quare nisi incluti illi Austriae heroes** labentem hunc rerum statum sua invicta virtute sustinere perseverarent, vererer ne fieret olim ut cum Phrygibus ac miseris istis Troadibus (quas in praesenti Dramate spoliatas omni dignitate, occisis viris, fractis opibus, direptis thesauris, ardente Troia, deformato Asiae regno olim florentissimo, externus hostis ad naves perpetuo servas futuras rapiebat) sero saperemus: ac tum demum cum iam actum esset hostilisque gladius cervicibus nostris immineret inciperemus velle concordes esse ac nimis sero et frustra bella civilia detestaremur. Sed ne videar querelam potius quam Praefationem scribere argumentum nunc Actus primi exponemus.

†[arceis in the original]

**[Presumably, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor from 1530 to 1558, and his brother Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 to 1564, in whose favor Charles abdicated the throne, and to whom Stiblinus dedicated his edition of Euripides.]

But if we want to be the true judges of affairs, such examples will not be repeated by us from remote antiquity, nor will we need the destruction of Troy, whose memory almost faded out already, to deter men of our time from their savage eagerness for wars, since we are accustomed to lament here and there these very times that have been polluted by such bloody and impious wars. And if it has ever been considered cruel or wicked among the pagans for men to be afflicted with disasters by their fellow men, certainly it is most cruel and savage or rather diabolical for Christians to be overthrown from their fortunes, to be driven from their homes, to be stripped, plundered, and killed by Christians, whom Christ himself the author of peace and the eternal teacher of harmony and mutual love wanted to be united and bound by the communion of his most sacred body. But we now seize upon the spectacle of this type of Mars with our eyes so that those disasters of earlier men, in comparison to our madness, with which we strive for mutual destruction as if accursed, could seem to have been a game and joke. And although we see everywhere those whom wicked wars have driven from their homes naked, exiled, destitute, wandering starving, cities destroyed, citizens slaughtered, villages smoking, castles burned, entire regions laid waste, fields flooded with slaughter and blood of civilians, virgins raped, laws oppressed, moral discipline extinguished, fairness together with all decency buried, religion struck down, to sum up a certain miserable shipwreck of all happiness and a whole sea of evils, nevertheless such great disasters of a crumbling empire do not at all move men blinded by madness to stop them from engaging vigorously in civil dissensions. Indeed such is the stubbornness and obstinacy of their minds that they do not fear to despise the commands, edicts, and counsels of kings, princes, and magistrates. Hence the greatest confusion and some kind of chaos seize and darken the commonwealth once flourishing with arms, men, wealth and councils. Indeed it is so weakened and decayed by factions and internal discords that it now lies as it were utterly lifeless and broken as a laughingstock for foreign nations and peoples. Therefore, if those celebrated heroes of Austria had not persevered to shore up this declining state of affairs with their unconquerable virtue, I would fear that it will at some point come about that we come to our senses too late like the Phrygians and these unhappy Trojan women (who in the present Drama, stripped of all dignity, with their men killed, their wealth broken, their treasures plundered, Troy burning, the once most flourishing kingdom of Asia brought to shame, were being dragged to the ships by the foreign enemy to be slaves forever): and then at last when the action is complete and the enemy’s sword threatens our necks, would we begin to want to be in harmony and detest civil wars too late and in vain. But lest I seem to be writing a complaint rather than a Preface, I will now set forth the argument of the First Act.

[441] Argumentum Actus primi.

Neptunus in Prologo Troiani regni et urbis luctuosum occasum miseratur aitque se cedere coactum potentioribus deabus, Iunoni et Palladi, quibus Phrygum res ob iudicium Paridis invisae fuerant: quarum huius arte factum sit ut Epeius equum ligneum fabricarit, qui plenus armatis viris in urbem receptus pepererit plane πανολεθρίαν Ilio et omnium ornamentorum eius regni. Unde iam miserae Iliades aliae alios dominos, excisa sua quondam florentissima civitate, sortiantur. 2 Minerva alloquitur Neptunum oratque ut in affligendis Graecis sibi mutuam praestet operam. Certum enim esse insigni eos clade afficere propter stuprum Cassandrae. Id quod facile impetrat a deo Graecis infensissimo. 3 Hecaba miserabiliter ante tentoria iacens una cum ceteris mulieribus lamentabilem fortunam suam, occasum sui regni, viri, ac omnium liberorum, iam in perpetuam servitutem tradenda, deplorat.

Argument of the First Act.

In the Prologue, Neptune laments the mournful fall of the Trojan kingdom and city and says that he yields, compelled by more powerful goddesses, Juno and Pallas, to whom the Phrygians had been hateful because of the judgment of Paris: by the skill of the latter of these it came about that Epeius built a wooden horse, which, being full of armed men, was received into the city and brought utter destruction to Ilium and all the glories of its kingdom. Whence now the miserable Trojan women receive by lot different lords, their once most flourishing city having been destroyed. 2. Minerva addresses Neptune and begs him to offer mutual help in afflicting the Greeks. For it has been decided to inflict a notable disaster upon them because of Cassandra’s rape—something that she obtains easily from a god most hostile to the Greeks. 3. Hecuba, lying miserably before the tents, weeps together with the other women for her own lamentable fortune, the fall of her kingdom, her husband, and all her children, now about to be handed over to eternal slavery.

[442] Actus Secundi Argumentum.

Praeco adest ut Hecabam ad Ulyssem, Cassandram ad Agamemnonem, et alias ad alios dominos, more sollemni deducat et addicat idque iussu procerum Graecorum. Quare Hecaba redintegrat lamenta seque suosque et patriam extinctam misere deplorans. 2 Cassandra e tentorio furore lymphata prosilit taedasque praetendens hymenaeum canit, ceu nuptura mox generoso sponso, aliasque Troadas ad idem faciendum hortatur. Ita magnitudo doloris ipsam obruerat ut (quod laetis rebus fieri solet) nuptiale carmen caneret. Deinde paulatim se recipiens ait ob id gratulandum esse quod stuprum suum non Agamemnoni solum et Aiaci sed omnibus Graecis pestem sit allaturum. Nihil autem afflictos aeque solatur quam hostium clades et vindicta. Denique cladem Graecorum commemorat, quam atrocem et insignem decennali bello acceperint ostenditque tolerabiliorem Phrygum conditionem fuisse quam Graecorum per totum belli tempus ut verum sit proverb. Flet victor, victi interierunt.* Admiscet etiam consolationem dum dicit Troianos hoc demum bello inclarescere, qui alioqui obscuri in otio latuissent. 3. Eadem Cassandra Ulyssi in reditu immensos labores infinitaque pericula adeunda esse vaticinatur. praedicit quoque Agamemnoni exitium. 4. Hecaba praesentem fortunam calamitosam, abiectam, tristem, cum praeterita vita florente, felici, omnique beatitudine plena committit, ut dolorem augeret et epitasis incrementum sumeret. 5 Chorus naenia Ilii excidium prosequitur quod fatalis ille equus intra moenia receptus urbi florentissimae pepererit.

*[The proverbial phrase cited in a note above was sometimes altered, as here, so that the active participle νικήσας was the subject of κλαίει and the passive νικηθείς was the subject of ἀπόλωλεν.]

Argument of the Second Act.

A herald is present to lead and assign Hecuba to Ulysses, Cassandra to Agamemnon, and others to other lords in the usual manner, and does this by the order of the Greek chieftains. Wherefore Hecuba renews her lamentation weeping pitifully for herself, her people, and her fallen fatherland. 2. Cassandra, driven by raging madness, leaps out of the tent and holding out torches sings a wedding song, as if she were soon to be married with a noble spouse, and urges the other Trojan women to do the same. To such a degree had the magnitude of grief overcome her that she sang a wedding song—a thing which is accustomed to happen in happy circumstances. Then, slowly recovering herself, she says that one should rejoice because her dishonor would bring a plague not only upon Agamemnon and Ajax but also upon all the Greeks. Moreover, nothing consoles the afflicted more than the defeat of and vengeance upon their enemies. Finally, she mentions the disaster of the Greeks, how atrocious and notable was what they endured in the ten-year war, and shows that the condition of the Phrygians had been more tolerable than that of the Greeks through the entire time of the war so that the proverb became true: The victor weeps and the conquered have perished. She also adds a consolation when she says that the Trojans became famous only through this war, they who would otherwise have lain hidden in their leisure, being obscure. 3. The same Cassandra predicts that great labors and infinite dangers are to be encountered by Ulysses on his return. She also predicts the death of Agamemnon. 4. Hecuba compares her present fortune, calamitous, abandoned, and unhappy, with a past life that was flourishing, happy, and full of all blessedness, in order to increase the sense of pain and so that the intensity of emotion would be augmented. 5. The Chorus treats with a funerary song the destruction of Troy, which that fatal horse produced when it had been received within the walls of the city.

[444] Argumentum Actus tertii.

Andromache cum socru Hecaba lamentatur praesentem rerum mutationem ac excidium Troiae simulque serio nuntiat, quod prius Talthybius tecte* dixerat, Polyxenam ad Achillis sepulchrum caesam esse. Quod cum impotentius ferret Hecaba, ipsam consolatioria oratione confirmat, ostendens iam defunctam multo feliciorem esse vivis quos adhuc tot tantae que maneant miseriae. Hecaba veluti succumbens tantae moli calamitatum victa cedit necessitati monetque Andromachen ut moribus Neoptolemi, cui sorte obvenerat, accommodare se potius velit quam contumacia et odio invisiorem domino se reddere. Fieri etiam posse ut filius Astyanax educatus hac occasione olim instauret regnum Troianum. 2 Haec dum loquuntur, advenit praeco nuntians eundem puerum ex decreto procerum Graeciae de alta turre praecipitandum esse hortaturque Andromachen ut necessitati parere et praesentem fortunam aequo animo ferre velit. Unde et hac spe frustrata Andromache novam orditur querelam admodum pathetice super filio, unico in tantis malis solacio, qui iamiam e manibus et complexu ad necem crudelissimam abripiendus erat. 3 Chorus priorem naeniam continuat, commemorans vastationem Troiae quae sub Laomedonte patre Priami fuerat. Addit etiam nihil Troiae profuisse quo minus iaceat Ganymedem et alios item deos quorum favore et opera ad tantas opes ac dignitatem tantam regnum Priami evectum sit.

*[recte, ‘correctly’, is printed in the edition, but is defective in sense, whereas ‘tecte’ corresponds to content of the play.]

Argument of the Third Act.

Andromache with her mother-in=law Hecuba laments the present change of affairs and the destruction of Troy and at the same time announces in earnest what Talthybius had said cryptically before, that Polyxena had been killed at the tomb of Achilles. When Hecuba reacts to this with rather violent emotion, she tries to encourage her with a consolation speech, showing that she (Polyxena) is much more fortunate being already dead than the living whom now so many great miseries still await. Hecuba as if succumbing, overcome by such great weight of calamities, gives in to necessity, and she advises Andromache be willing to adjust herself to the manners of Neoptolemus, to whom she had fallen by lot, rather than to render herself more detested by her master through stubbornness and hatred. (Hecuba says that) it may even come about that her son Astyanax, having been led away (from Troy) on this occasion, may one day restore the Trojan kingdom. 2. While they are speaking these things, a herald arrives announcing that that same boy is to be thrown from a high tower by the decree of the Greek chieftains, and he urges Andromache to submit to necessity and consent to endure her present fortune with equanimity. Whence, having been frustrated also of this hope, Andromache begins a new lamentation in a quite pathetic manner for her son, her only consolation in such great evils, who was at any moment to be snatched from her hands and embrace for the cruelest death. 3. The chorus continues the previous song of lament, commemorating the destruction of Troy which had taken place under Laomedon the father of Priam. It also adds that Ganymede and likewise the other gods by whose favor and deeds the kingdom of Priam was raised to such great wealth and dignity had been no help for Troy to prevent it from falling.

[445] Argumentum Actus quarti.

Menelaus in scenam progreditur et ut Helenam captivam famuli ad naves deducant imperat, quo eam Argos reversus digno afficeret supplicio idque hortatu totius exercitus. 2. Hecaba confirmat in proposito Menelaum: contra Helena supplicat seque purgare cupit. unde permissu Menelai ad disceptationem veniunt ac duabus elegantissimis orationibus inter se confligunt pulchrumque fori typum exhibent. Menelaus tamen nihil movetur quo minus eam Argis extinguere cogitaret, urgente interim strenue Hecaba ut propositum consilium persequeretur. 3. Chorus threnum orditur ad Iovem, conquerens omnia ornamenta tam divina quam humana Troiae excidio sublata esse. Hecaba autem conscensura navem miseratur et se et suorum maestas lacrimas, ac morte praesentibus malis eripi cupit pestemque Helenae ut tantarum cladium auctori imprecatur.

Argument of the Fourth Act.

Menelaus steps onto the stage and orders his servants to lead the captive Helen to the ships, so he can inflict a worthy punishment on her when he returns to Argos, and this with the encouragement of the entire army. 2. Hecuba confirms Menelaus in his plan: conversely Helen supplicates him and wishes to exculpate herself. Whereupon, with the permission of Menelaus, they come to a debate and clash with each other in two very elegant speeches and display a beautiful image of a court. Nevertheless, Menelaus is not moved in any way to stop him from considering killing her at Argos, while Hecuba meanwhile vigorously urges him to carry out his proposed plan. The chorus begins a lamentation to Jupiter, complaining that all the glories, both divine and human, have been removed by the destruction of Troy. But Hecuba, about to board the ship, expresses pity for herself and for her companions' sorrowful tears, and desires to be delivered from the present evils by death, and calls down a curse of ruin upon Helen as the author of such great disasters.

[446] Argumentum Actus quinti.

Quintus actus finem et summam Troiani excidii continet, id est, incendium urbis et divisionem praedae. Primo Talthybius extinctum Astyanacta sepeliendum rogatu Andromaches iam abeuntis Hecabae commendat. 2. Hecaba acerbissimo planctu exanimem nepotulum, in quo solo spes instaurandae Troiae fuerat, gremio complexa deplorat ac Graecis amarulente vel crudelitatem,vel potius timiditatem ferocitate tectam exprobrat. 3. Talthybius manipulorum ducibus praecipit ut urbem quemadmodum iussi sint incendant. Unde extremis lamentis veluti parentatione quadam ruentis Troiae, quae lumen totius Asiae fuerat, Hecaba et Chorus iam navibus imponendae funguntur.

Argument of the Fifth Act.

The fifth act contains the end and climax of the Trojan destruction, that is, the burning of the city and the division of the spoils. First, Talthybius, at the request of Andromache, entrusts to Hecuba the dead Astyanax to be buried, who is already departing. 2. With bitter lamentation, Hecabe embraces and bewails her lifeless little grandson, in whom alone there had been hope of restoring Troy, and bitterly reproaches the Greeks for either their cruelty, or rather their timidity concealed by ferocity. 3. Talthybius orders the leaders of the troops to burn the city as they had been ordered. Whence Hecuba and the Chorus, who are now about to be loaded onto the ships, deliver final lamentations, as if in a kind of funerary eulogy for parents, for the crumbling Troy, which had been the light of all Asia.

Translation by Tom Wang