Weeping she spake. Meantime Andromache Had heard no tidings of her husband yet. No messenger had even come to say That he was still without the gates. She sat In a recess of those magnificent halls, And wove a twofold web of brilliant hues, On which were scattered flowers of rare device; And she had given her bright-haired maidens charge To place an ample cauldron on the fire, That Hector, coming from the battle-field, Might find the warm bath ready. Thoughtless one! She knew not that the blue-eyed archer-queen, Far from the bath prepared for him, had slain Her husband by the hand of Peleus’ son. She heard the shrieks, the wail upon the tower, Trembled in every limb, and quickly dropped The shuttle, saying to her bright-haired maids:—
“Come with me, two of you, that I may learn What now has happened. ’Tis my mother’s voice That I have heard. My heart leaps to my mouth; My limbs fail under me. Some deadly harm Hangs over Priam’s sons; far be the hour When I shall hear of it. And yet I fear Lest that Achilles, having got between The daring Hector and the city gates, May drive him to the plain alone, and quell The desperate valor that was ever his; For never would he keep the ranks, but ranged Beyond them, and gave way to no man’s might.”
She spake, and from the royal mansion rushed Distractedly, and with a beating heart. Her maids went with her. When she reached the tower And throng of men, and, standing on the wall, Looked forth, she saw her husband dragged away Before the city. Toward the Grecian fleet The swift steeds drew him. Sudden darkness came Over her eyes, and in a breathless swoon She sank away and fell. The ornaments Dropped from her brow—the wreath, the woven band, The net, the veil which golden Venus gave That day when crested Hector wedded her, Dowered with large gifts, and led her from her home, Eëtion’s palace. Round her in a throng Her sisters of the house of Priam pressed, And gently raised her in that deathlike swoon. But when she breathed again, and to its seat The conscious mind returned, as in their arms She lay, with sobs and broken speech she said:—