Hecuba

[saxophone music playing] My name is Cassandra.

Daughter of Hecuba.

Priestess of Athena.

Student of Apollo.

And they call me the prophet of doom.

Mm, my name is Cassandra.

I'm the daughter of Hecuba.

Priestess of Athena.

who were those went by

queen hecuba and helen

and whither go they

up to the eastern tower, whose height commands as subject all the vale, to see the battle.

why thou damnable box of envy thou what meanest thou to curse thus do i curse thee why no you ruinous butt you hoarse unindistinguishable cur no

no why art thou then exasperate thou idle immaterial skein of sleeved silk thou green sarcenet flapped for a sore eye thou tassel of a prodigal's purse thou ah how the poor world is pestered with such water-flies diminutives of nature out go finch egg

my sweet patroclus i am thwarted quite from my great purpose in to-morrow's battle here is a letter from queen hecuba a token from her daughter my fair love both taxing me and gauging me to keep an oath that i have sworn i will not break it fool greeks fail fame honour or go or stay my major vow lies here this i'll obey come come thucytes help to trim my tent this night in banqueting must all be spent away patroclus

exeunt achilles and patroclus

Away, you fool! It more becomes a man than guilt his trophy.

The breasts of Hecuba, when she did suckle Hector, Look'd not lovelier than Hector's forehead, When it spit forth blood at Grecian sword, contemning.

Tell Valeria we are fit to bid her welcome.

exit

The antic face of grief is entirely excluded.

Nothing recalls the fury of Cassandra, the prostration of Priam, the frenzy of Hecuba, the despair of Trojan captives.

A sublime faith destroying in the survivors of this Christian eloin the bitterness of anguish and the cowardice of despair.

Their sorrow is no longer marked by the earthly weakness.

One of my, right.

Like one of the things that frustrates me about Martha Nussbaum's reading of Hecuba, is it like, Oh, hell yes.

I didn't know where this is.

This is where we're going, but I love it.

But

like, one of the one of the things that's frustrating about it to me is like, it takes Hecuba as like static, right? Like, as she's always been monstrous, she's monstrous, like her, the moves at the end are just her being a monster.

At the end of the play, she gets turned into a dog.

Like she's a monster.

This recording is in the public domain.

The Sacrifice of Polyxena from Hecuba by Euripides.

Translated from the Greek by John Addington Symonds.

From The World's Best Poetry, Volume IX, Tragedy and Humor, Part One.

Thomas Peter as Achilles' Son

And Lian Yau as the Argive Host.

The Sacrifice of Polyxena from Hecuba.

It had been determined by the victorious Greeks to sacrifice Polyxena, the daughter of Priam, King of Ilium, and his wife Hecuba, on the tomb of the slain Achilles.

Away, you fool! It more becomes a man than guilt his trophy.

The breasts of Hecuba when she did suckle Hector Looked not lovelier than Hector's forehead When it spit forth blood at Grecian sword-contemning.

Tell Valeria we are fit to bid her welcome.

Exit, gentlewoman.