Cassandra: I may have the god in me, but
Nevertheless I shall stand outside my
Frenzy to say this much. In their hunt
For Helen, the Greeks lost countless men –
Because of one woman, one love affair. In
A hateful cause, their clever general killed
What was dearest to him, sacrificing
For his brother his delight in children in
His house, for the sake of a woman –
And that a woman who had not been
Carried off by force.
No she went willingly.
Then,
after they came to the banks of
Scamander, they died one by one, though
They were being stripped of no boundary
Lands nor their native country with
Its high towers.
And those whom
The war god took never saw their
Children again.
They were not shrouded
In robes by their wives’ hands but they
Lie in a foreign land.
And it was a similar
Story back at home.
The wives died as
Widows, the fathers with no sons in their
Houses – they had brought up their children
In vain. And
there is no one who can let
Fall an offering of blood upon the earth at
Their graves.
As
for the Trojans, first of all – and this
Is the noblest fame – they died for their
Fatherland, and the corpses of any whom
The spear took were carried to their homes by
Their friends.
The earth of their native
Land embraced them and they were
Shrouded by the hands of their families,
As was proper.
And all the Phrygians
Who did not die in battle lived with
Their wives and their children day
After day. These
were pleasures which
The Achaeans missed,
And
listen to the truth about
Hector, whose story seems so tragic
To you. He has
departed this life with
The reputation of the noblest of men,
And it was the coming of the Achaeans
That caused this.
If they had stayed
At home, who would have known of
His courage?
Paris too – he married Zeus’
Daughter. If he
had not married her, he
Would have had in his house a wife
Whom no one talked of.
Yes,
anyone who is sane should
Avoid war. But
if it comes to that, it is
No shameful garland for his city if a man
Dies nobly, while if he dies ignobly, it
Brings disgrace.
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