Hecuba, Orestes, and The Phoenician Women

instead of "O old women"; say "to raise up"; escort me as a mistress;

before the gods of kings

Oh children! Oh dark-winged mistress! Hecuba is likely addressing the Night or the Earth, the source of her terrifying dreams.

hold me up lift me

Take me, carry me!

"Slow-footed" refers to one who walks with their feet; here the poet calls the movement "slow-footed"—meaning the journey along with the slow gait of the limbs.

The woman speaks
to the Trojan handmaidens taking hold of me

Escort me; lift up my aged body.

instead of "supporting me"

Clasping my old hand.

instead of "with a staff" on the path

And I, using your hand as a crooked staff,

propping myself up with the hand acting as a staff

leaning upon you, I shall hasten my slow-footed

the journey of the limbs adding to it

gait, putting forth the slow motion of my joints.

He calls the Earth the mother of "dark-winged dreams" because the shadow of the earth does not appear below ground, through which they see the visions of dreams; or according to another interpretation, because from the hidden depths of the earth come the appearances of these visions. Sleep comes from the earth, and from sleep come dreams; therefore, dreams are born from the earth.

O lightning-flash the nocturnal one

O lightning of Zeus! O dark night!

the child the nocturnal one

Why ever am I כך uplifted in the night

with fears with apparitions instead of "Earth"

by terrors and phantoms? O Lady Earth,

Those who travel by night are the dreams, because they occur in darkness; they are also thought to be winged.

mother of dark-winged dreams!

I loathe the sight the nocturnal vision

I reject this vision of the night,

having seen

which I saw concerning my child,

the one being guarded
instead of "in Thrace with Polymestor"

who is being kept safe in Thrace,

about

and about my dear daughter Polyxena,

whom I saw in my dreams.

concerning her terrifyingly

For I saw a fearful vision;

I have known

I have learned, I have been taught its meaning.

This means the handmaidens are carrying the woman or child; at any rate, the words "take me" along with the "aged hand" show that even if the poet does not name the whole person, the specific limbs mentioned represent the whole body.

O those beneath the earth

O gods of the underworld, save my son,

Polydorus of my fortunes

who is the only anchor of my house,

the cold

and who dwells in snowy Thrace.