Hecuba, Orestes, and The Phoenician Women

from k? e? l? I depart the cooling Hades
Po O mother, O you who bore me, I am departing now to the world below.

you indeed will die but we will do this to see we will be in slavery
Ek O daughter, but I shall remain in the light of day as a slave.

whose marriage unwed without a wedding song of which brides I ought to have obtained
Po Without a groom, without a wedding song—I go without the life that should have been mine.

pitiful wretched
Ek You are piteous, child; but every woman’s lot is wretched.

in Hades I shall lie
Po There indeed I shall meaning: die lie, far apart from you.

alas to where, oh completely, or I shall lead to the end of life, or in the same life, he says this
Ek Alas, what shall I do? Where shall I bring my life to its end?

slave
Po I die a slave, though I was born of a free father.

I in the light
Ek And I have been robbed of all my fifty children. Hecuba traditionally had fifty children; their loss represents the total destruction of the Trojan royal house.

what have I to say to you so that he may hear for he has him near the dead the old man Priam
Po What word from you shall I speak to Hector, or to my aged father, Priam?

declare
Ek Tell them that I am the most wretched of all women.

oh concerning the O you who nourished us
Po O breasts and nipples that nourished me so sweetly!

O daughter unfortunate of the untimely fate
Ek O daughter of an untimely, wretched fate!

farewell/embrace and to Cassandra
Po Farewell, O mother; and farewell to my sister Cassandra.

they rejoice and they embrace many things such things are fitting for the living
Ek Others may "fare well" original: "chaire." Hecuba plays on the word, which means both "farewell" and "rejoice." and find joy; but for your mother, there is no joy left.

who is evidently not in the [underworld]
Po And my brother Polydorus, who is among the horse-loving Thracians.

if indeed he lives
Ek If indeed he still lives; but I am so unfortunate that I doubt everything.

all-blessed
Po He lives, and he will be the one to close your eyes in death.

before before dying before death I have already died by the evils
Ek I have already died from these sorrows before death truly takes me.

Odysseus cover enveloping the head
Po Take me away now, O son of Laertes, and wrap my head in my robes.

before you slaughter me because my vitals wither away from the dirges
For even before I am slaughtered, my heart is withered away;

my heart has melted out before I am slaughtered
By my mother’s lamentations, just as I melt her heart with my cries.

to address I have not come, and my life is thus addressed
O light! For it is still permitted to me to call upon your name;

only this much for me