HECTOR (bitterly).
Aye, when my spear hath fortune, when God sends
His favour, I shall find abundant friends.
I need them not; who never came of yore
To help us, when we rolled to death before
The war-swell, and the wind had ripped our sail.
Then Rhesus taught us Trojans what avail
His words are.-He comes early to the feast;
Where was he when the hunters met the beast?
Where, when we sank beneath the Argive spear?
LEADER.
Well may'st thou mock and blame thy friend. Yet
here
He comes with help for Troy. Accept him thou.
HECTOR.
We are enough, who have held the wall till now.
LEADER.
Master, dost think already that our foe
Is ta'en?
HECTOR.
I do. To-morrow's light will show.
LEADER.
Have care. Fate often flings a backward cast.
HECTOR.
I hate the help that comes when need is past . . .
Howbeit, once come, I bid him welcome here
As guest-not war-friend; guest to share our cheer.
The thanks are lost, he might have won from us.
LEADER.
My general, to reject an ally thus
Must needs make hatred.
SHEPHERD.
The mere sight of those
I saw would sure cast fear upon our foes.
HECTOR (yielding reluctantly, with a laugh).
Ah, well; thy words are prudent; and (To SHEPHERD)
thine eyes
See glorious things. With all these panoplies
Of gold that filled our Shepherd's heart with joy,
Bid Rhesus welcome, as war-friend to Troy.
Exit SHEPHERD; HECTOR returns to his tent,
amid the joy of the soldiers.
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The Rhesus of Euripides. Translated into English rhyming verse with explanatory notes by Gilbert Murray, LL.D., D.Litt, F.B.A., Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Oxford. Euripides. Gilbert Murray. New York. Oxford University Press. 1913.
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