King Priam

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King Priam Libretto

SYSTEMACT ONE Scene 1

A point of light on a cradle. A nurse comes to quieten the child...Hecuba enters

PRIAMHecuba:

PRIAMWhat is it, Nurse?

PRIAMNurse:

PRIAMThe child is restless and will not, will not be still.

PRIAMHecuba:

PRIAMNor have I the peace of mind to mother him. Where is King Priam?

Priam comes

PRIAMPriam:

PRIAMYou've called me, Hecuba.

PRIAMYou are unlike yourself and strangely worried. Is it the child?

PRIAMHecuba:

PRIAMO I am restless and unsure.

PRIAMAnd now the baby has caught my mood.

PRIAMMy dream disturbs me. What has come to Hecuba, the proud and fearless true wife for you in these troubled times? For I am suddenly afraid. I fear the meaning of my dream.

PRIAMPriam:

PRIAMOur wise old man comes now to read it and advise. This mood of fear will pass. Though I’ m yet young I've found that once the unknown is known, the way ahead is clear.

PRIAMYou will be strong and sure again. You will see.

PRIAMHecuba:

PRIAMYour shining, shining confidence on which all Troy depends. It's good to hear it spoken

PRIAMPriam:

PRIAMEven the child responds.

Old Man enters

PRIAMOld Man of Troy, you’ re welcome.

The Queen is troubled by her dream. It will not leave her.

PRIAMIs there a hidden meaning there? That is her fear: fear of the unknown:

PRIAMfor I cannot read the messages from dreams.

We turn to you. Yours is the cool head where knowledge and advice are stored like honey in the comb. Wise Man, unravel the Queen's dream.

PRIAMOld Man:

PRIAMThe dream means that Paris, this child, will cause, as by an inexorable fate, his father's death.

PRIAMHecuba:

PRIAMThen am I no longer mother to this child. Troy and the city's King are sacred.

PRIAMHow could I have been so weak before? Now am I strong, am strong again; and I know I shall never fail you further.

PRIAMAs Priam's mate I bore already Hector, and can swear I shall bear Priam many sons, many sons.

PRIAMAh, ah, harsh though it is, I say let this child be killed.

PRIAMOld Man:

PRIAMWhat says King Priam?

PRIAMPriam:

PRIAMA father and a King.

PRIAMSo was I once a baby, born without choice.

PRIAMSo might I, his father have been rejected by my parents to be killed.

PRIAMBut then this child would not have been born.

PRIAMHe is born because I lived. Shall he die that I may live? A father and a King. O child who cannot choose to live or die,

PRIAMI choose for you.

PRIAMThe Queen is right.

PRIAMLet the child be killed, be killed.

(Priam signs for a Young Guard to take the child. Priam and Hecuba leave as the royal pair. The Young Guard goes to the cradle, takes the child and goes).

PRIAMChorus – Nurse and Old Man

The Old Man and Nurse, by a simple change of dress, or by mask, or gesture, become, from time to time, a chorus

PRIAMThus shall a story begin.

PRIAMA child is born without choice. From its parents alone it lives, As now from its parents it dies

PRIAMYoung Guard

PRIAMThat is a crime.

PRIAMNurse:

PRIAMAh!

PRIAMOld Man:

PRIAMWhat is a crime?

PRIAMYoung Guard:

PRIAMTo kill one's own child is a crime.

PRIAMOld Man:

PRIAMIt may be a duty.

PRIAMNature has many children for a man. Priam is young and lusty, Hecuba healthy. What means one child when the choice involves the whole city?

PRIAMYoung Guard:

PRIAMHow could a young man know enough to dare to make such a choice?

PRIAMOld Man:

PRIAMAfter the wise man read the dream, Priam knew all.

PRIAMHe made the choice that a King would have to.

PRIAMHusband to Hecuba and King of Troy, how other could he act?

PRIAMNurse:

PRIAMThere are things left out of your science.

PRIAMI had other apprehensions when the dream was read.

PRIAMChorus – Young Guard and Old Man:

PRIAMTime, time alone will tell.

PRIAMWe shall judge, shall judge from the story.

PRIAMNurse and Young Guard:

PRIAMFor life is a story from birth to death.

PRIAMNurse, Young Guard and Old Man:

SYSTEMScene will change into scene before you.

PRIAMTime rolling with each scene away. Thus we follow the story.

PRIAMOld Man:

PRIAMAnd the story of Priam shows that the father-king

PRIAMwho made the bitter choice to destroy a son,

PRIAMwas favoured at first in home and land.

PRIAMHector grew to a fine lad, and now there are other sons.

PRIAMThe city calm and flourishing; occasion for hunting and the arts of peace.

SYSTEMScene 2

Priam and Hector – as a youth – enter with a few Huntsmen

PRIAMst

PRIAMHuntsman:

PRIAMThe bull is away over there but the hounds will hold it.

PRIAMHector:

PRIAMFather, you stay here while I show you my skill.

Hector runs out. Priam and the others watch his movements

PRIAMPriam:

PRIAMTroy will one day be proud of Hector.

PRIAMst

PRIAMHuntsman:

PRIAMLook there! He has called the hounds to heel and will meet the bull head on.

PRIAMnd

PRIAMand 3rd Huntsmen:

Give him a cheer.

PRIAMst

PRIAMnd

PRIAMand 3rd Huntsmen:

PRIAMOhe, ohe, ohe.

PRIAMPriam:

PRIAMThe bull is swerving, Hector, Hector, take care

PRIAMnd

PRIAMHuntsman:

PRIAMBut there's another boy there.

PRIAM3rd Huntsman:

PRIAMSprung from nowhere,

PRIAMnd

PRIAMHuntsman:

PRIAMLook there!

PRIAM3rd Huntsman:

PRIAMJumped on the bull's back ...

PRIAM1st Huntsman:

PRIAMAnd is riding away with the hounds after him.

PRIAMPriam:

PRIAMFetch that boy to me. All of you.

returning

HECTORHow did that happen? Could you see?

HECTORPriam:

HECTORThere was a god or devil in that boy. No boy unaided surpasses Hector. They have caught the bull and lost the boy.

HECTORStay here while I go.

Paris, a beautiful boy, younger than Hector, enters

HECTORParis:

HECTORThey have taken my bull.

HECTORHector:

HECTORWe want it for the games.

HECTORParis:

HECTORHe was my best friend.

HECTORHector:

HECTORYou are friends with a bull?

HECTORParis:

HECTORI have no playmates. I live alone with my shepherd father.

HECTORHector:

HECTORDid he give you the bull and teach you that skill in riding?

HECTORParis:

HECTORI've always ridden so. The bull is mine because I ride him. On his back one day I'll ride out into the wide world.

HECTORHector:

HECTORWhere will you go?

HECTORParis:

HECTORI shall go first to Troy,

HECTORto take my place with the young heroes.

HECTORHector:

HECTORTo do that you must learn to drive horses and chariots; but I could teach you.

HECTORParis:

HECTORWho are you then?

HECTORHector:

HECTORI am from Troy.

HECTORParis:

HECTORAre you a young hero?

HECTORHector:

HECTORO yes.

HECTORParis:

HECTORAnd I will be a hero too. Can I go back with you to Troy?

HECTORHector:

HECTORThat depends on your father.

HECTORParis:

HECTORHe will let me go, I know, if you'll take me.

HECTORHector:

HECTORThen we must ask my father.

HECTORParis:

HECTORWho is your father?

HECTORHector:

HECTORHe comes now. He is King Priam.

HECTORFather, he's a shepherd boy.

I•

IHe wants to come to Troy to be a young hero.

II should like to have him with us.

IPriam:

IBeloved Hector, If you want him - and Troy has need of heroes. But does his father wish it?

IHe's not of age to go without consent.

IParis:

IO my father will consent. That's what he promised.

IPriam:

IDo you really choose to leave your father and this country life? To live in barracks and be trained in fighting?

IParis:

II love my father and my home. But I want adventure.

II choose, I choose the life in Troy. For I belong to Troy, I know.

PRIAMWhat is your name, boy?

PRIAMParis:

Priam’ s mind goes back to the scene by the cradle. The others draw apart and he muses alone.

PARISPriam:

PARISSo I'd hoped it might be; that accident or god reversed the choice, sometime between my order to the guard and its fulfilment. So indeed it must be; for my heart knows here is my second son. What now? ... What now? I have a deepening anguish, If it was a crime those years ago, to crush the natural life, the father's love,

PARISbecause one is a King, ... what now? ...

PARISWhat now?

PARISDo I now with my own hands that failed to kill a child, kill the boy:

PARISbecause he chooses with the certainty of youth to come to Troy

PARISbecause he may fulfil the augury, because he is my son?

PARISI have a deepening anguish.

PARISWhere are the shadows from the past who haunt my dreams, who know there was a real dream of Hecuba's that cannot be undreamt?

The Old Man, Nurse and Young Guard are present

PARISYou nursed the child for Hecuba, too troubled by her dream.

PARISYou read the dream's meaning and foretold my fate.

PARISYou took the child to kill it, but in sudden pity gave it to a shepherd.

PARISActors indissolubly bound with me to play a crucial scene.

PARISNow it has come again, now I must choose afresh, now, in the moment of recognition now with Zeus's help, now you shall see a less ignoble man.

PARISFor I accept the trick of fate that saved my son,

PARISand what he, Paris, chooses I uphold,

PARISlet it mean my death.

PARISOld Man:

PARISDo you speak for Troy, as for yourself?

PARISPriam:

PARISYes! I speak for Troy as well.

Priam and the Huntsmen leave with Hector and Paris

SECOND INTERLUDEChorus – Nurse, Young Guard and Old Man

SECOND INTERLUDEAh, but life, life is a bitter charade.

SECOND INTERLUDEWe go from birth to death, but nothing is plain. Perhaps at the end a glimmering of sense, at the end a residue of meaning.

SECOND INTERLUDEWe shall see from the story.

SECOND INTERLUDEBut on the way there, the way there, ah, ... life, life is a bitter charade, without and within a complex knot that never unties, though sometimes cut with a rending sound, the orators drowned by a scream of pain. Ah, life, life is a bitter charade.

SECOND INTERLUDENow the role will change from boy to youth...

SECOND INTERLUDE'The force that through the green fuse drives the flower, ... ... boy to youth.

SECOND INTERLUDE... ah, drives the flower?' Body draws body to a destined bed. Yet we act in a dream. Ah, ... but life, life is a bitter charade.

SECOND INTERLUDEChorus – Wedding Guests:

SECOND INTERLUDEThere, look there! We could have guessed it. Oh, look there! We could have guessed it. Droning yourselves into a coma. Too fussed with meanings and morals to live for the moment like us.

SECOND INTERLUDEAnd what you've missed in Troy! Yes, Hector's sumptuous wedding to Andromache. The bride, pure and beautiful in white. Very dignified, every inch a princess. Hector in a green embroidered tunic with golden buckles.

SECOND INTERLUDEThe band of young heroes on parade. Hector the bravest of them all, Hector, Troy's champion! Yet a man for a home; a woman 's ideal.

SECOND INTERLUDEYoung Guard:

SECOND INTERLUDEAnd how did young Paris take the wedding?

SECOND INTERLUDEWedding Guests:

SECOND INTERLUDEHe did not like it at all.

SECOND INTERLUDEThe truth is, once they knew they were brothers, Hector and Paris never got on. Upsetting to Priam, but it's only natural.

SECOND INTERLUDEOld Man:

SECOND INTERLUDEAnd so?

SECOND INTERLUDEWedding Guests:

SECOND INTERLUDESo Paris has now left Troy, scorning his father, and sailed to Greece,

SECOND INTERLUDEwhere Menelaus keeps open house at Sparta with his wife, daughter of Zeus Queen Helen

Helen and Paris come from an inner room

SECOND INTERLUDEParis:

SECOND INTERLUDEHelen!

SECOND INTERLUDEHelen:

PARISParis:

PARISAre you woman or witch , that you enchant me so?

PARISHelen:

PARISI am Helen.

PARISParis:

PARISAnd I am Paris: young and strong with desire when you are near.

PARISHelen:

PARISI must go.

PARISParis:

PARISGo?

PARISHelen:

PARISTo Menelaus.

PARISParis:

PARISHelen, after such love with me, can you go now to lie with Menelaus?

PARISHelen:

PARISHe is my husband.

PARISParis:

PARISWhat does that mean: you fear to refuse him though you've ceased to love him?

PARISHelen:

PARISHe is my husband. I may not deny him.

PARISParis:

PARISThen I must share you? ... No! You must choose, choose between us, Helen: come with me to Troy or stay with him. Which shall it be?

PARISHelen:

PARISHow can I choose? I must stay with him ... or go with you. I cannot tell.

PARISParis:

PARISIf I'm forced to sail away, will you come with me?

PARISHelen:

PARISYou will be forced to sail away at dawn.

PARISParis:

PARISAt dawn! Forced? By whom?

PARISHelen:

PARISMenelaus.

PARISParis:

PARISThen, Helen, will you come with me? Helen!

PARISHelen:

PARISParis:

PARISWill you come with me?

PARISHelen:

PARISIf you fetch me, I will come.

Helen leaves

PARISParis:

PARISIf I fetch her. she will come ...

Oh Helen, you leave me to the moment so desired and feared ...

PARISCarried on the wind of love ...if I carry you away ... another 's wife! ...

PARISa city's Queen! ... Who will escape the avenging war?

PARISO Helen, Helen, can we choose that? You will answer. Helen:

PARISdo we choose at all, when our divided bodies rush together as the halves of one? We love, ... we love. O Gods, why give us bodies with such power of love

PARISIf love's a crime? Is there a choice at all? ... Is there a choice at all?

PARISAnswer, answer, father Zeus, divine lover! Answer!

Hermes appears

PARISHermes:

PARISDivine go-between, that's who I am:

PARISHermes the messenger.

PARISI run errands for the Gods and Goddesses.

PARISI bring a message from Zeus to Paris, the most beautiful man alive. You are to choose between three Graces. Athene, Hera, Aphrodite.

PARISYou shall give this apple to the most beautiful.

The Goddesses appear. All are young

PARISParis:

PARISI dream, I dream ... They are all beautiful, how can I choose between them?

PARISHermes:

PARISYet you must choose, by Zeus' command.

PARISParis:

PARISHow shall I give the apple to one and escape the wrath of the others?

PARISHermes:

You will not escape. That is the law of life.

PARISParis:

PARISWhat shall I do then?

PARISHermes:

PARISGo forward as a man must. Ask what they offer you, should you honour them.

PARISParis:

PARISLady Athene , if I honour you, what is my fate?

PARISA thene:

PARISHandsome are you, Paris, and you are brave. I will inspire you on the battlefield.

PARISTroy will be grateful if you honour me.

PARISParis:

PARISYou speak like my mother, Hecuba.

PARISLady Hera, if I honour you, what is my reward?

PARISHera:

PARISYou are brave, Paris, and you are good. You cannot live always on the battlefield. I will give that warmth and trust within the marriage bond that is man's reward,

PARISif you honour me.

PARISParis:

PARISYou speak like my brother's wife, Andromache. They have nothing to offer.

PARISHermes:

PARISThere is still a third.

PARISParis:

PARISAphrodite, if I honour you,

PARISwhat will you promise me? ... Well? ... Will you not speak , O Goddess of all love that is desire?

PARISAphrodite:

PARISParis:

PARISHelen!

PARISAphrodite:

PARISParis!

PARISParis:

PARISO Aphrodite, shall I honour you?

PARISHera:

PARISStay, Paris, stay.

PARISFor if you steal another's wife, then I will curse you.

PARISA thene:

PARISConsider Sparta's hurt pride. If you dishonour Hera, there will come war that pities no man.

PARISAphrodite:

Paris gives Aphrodite the apple

PARISAthene and Hera:

PARISAccursed! Accursed!

PARISParis:

PARISYou are phantoms. I

PARISAthene and Hera:

PARISAccursed! ...

PARISParis:

PARIS... will fetch Helen, ...

PARISAthene and Hera:

PARISAccursed!

PARISParis:

PARIS... and she will come. To Troy!

PARISHermes:

PARISTo Troy!

SYSTEMACT TWO

SYSTEMScene 1

Hector, in armour, on the walls of Troy with Paris, unarmed

PARISHector:

PARISSo you've given up fighting!

PARISI'm not surprised.

PARISYou're mad about women, you pretty boy; and for myself, I wish you'd never lived. What can the Greeks think we are, when the second son of Troy,

PARISPrince handsome, Paris. turns coward?

PARISIs really this the man who stole a wife from Menelaus?

PARISYou had a chance, an hour back in battle with the avenging Greeks, to meet the husband face to face. You failed it, as you did at Sparta; turned the back and ran away. Where to? What for? To go to Helen!

PARISParis:

PARISHector, you may be right to call me names.

PARISYet I wish you were not so like a living hammer.

PARISYou tire me. And once for all my good looks are my birthright, to be envied, not despised.

PARISI ran away from Menelaus, I know; and Helen is angry.

PARISBut I fight as well as any Trojan after you.

PARISHector:

PARISThen fight! ... or must we wait till Helen taunts you, you woman struck seducer?

PARISPriam:

PARISStop wrangling, sons

PARISLet the Greeks quarrel, but not Troy.

PARISI chide as father and command as King. The camp of Greeks is split wide open: wrath of Achilles against King Agamemnon for a girl.

PARISSo sharp the quarrel, Achilles has now

PARISdrawn apart with all his men and will not fight.

PARISTroy should instantly attack

PARISHector:

PARISAgreed. And would my brother fight, we'd drive the Greeks into the sea.

PARISPriam:

PARISGo, Paris, now and arm. Hector will wait here.

PARISHector:

PARISI tell you, father. but I'm filled with shame. He may be man enough to man a woman - his good looks see to that -

PARISbut he's not man enough to fight.

PARISHe ran away from Menelaus there in front of all.

PARISI wish you'd never got him, or had strangled him at birth.

PARISPriam:

PARISCalm yourself, Hector,

those are words I will not hear. We need now every son I have. Turn your anger to the Greeks. Let Paris be.

PARISHector:

PARISDo you reproach me that I love the Greeks, Troy's enemies? O father! But Menelaus, enemy, commands more honour than Paris, brother. Where is he now?

PARISI say no more.

Hector leaves

PARISChorus:

PARISWar! War! War! War! War!

PARISPriam:

PARISSo Trojans honour Menelaus more than Paris. As many Greeks set Hector now

PARISabove Achilles. Do I pretend?

PARISO vain to vex the mind in time of war.

PARISt

PARISl

PARISVital alone that Paris learns to fight before Achilles regains his manhood. Paris! Paris!

Paris comes in armour

PARISParis:

PARISHas Hector gone already?

PARISYet I'm swift enough to catch him.

PARISChorus:

PARISWar! War! War! War!

PARISPriam:

PARISMy sons united! Let them be ruthless! ...

PARISChorus:

PARIS... War! War!

PARISPriam:

PARISBut O, Apollo, bring beloved Hector back to me triumphant, and may the Greeks stay broken.

PARISFIRST INTERLUDE Chorus:

PARISWar! War!

PARISOld Man:

PARISHermes! Hermes, with the winged feet come quick!

Hermes enters

PARISHermes:

PARISOld phantom tied to Troy, what d'you need from the god who's tied to nothing?

PARISOld Man:

PARISWhen I first knew the avenging Greeks would come, Agamemnon and dazzling Achilles, my heart failed me.

PARISNow my heart exults.

PARISTake me, Hermes, through the Greek camp, to spy into that tent and gloat for Troy upon Achilles sulking.

PARISHermes:

PARISGloat not too soon. Dazzling Achilles has a heart that one man reaches.

PARISYou shall truly see into that tent, when we have crossed the plain, deaf to the din of battle.

They cross the plain towards the Greek ships

PARISChorus:

PARISWar! War!

SYSTEMScene 2

Achilles in the tent with Patroclus

PARISAchilles

accompanying himself on guitar

PARISO rich-soiled land, O land of Phthia,

PARISwhere we grew to manhood, you and I, Patroclus.

PARISShall we tread, after the war, the homeland again?

PARISO there still lives my father, with Neoptolemus, my son. You loved him, Patroclus. Shall we kiss, after the war, my tall son again?

PARISWhy are you weeping, Patroclus, like a little girl needing her nurse?

PARISPatroclus:

Your song made me weep;

PARISto think of your father, our home and your son.

PARISA chilles:

PARISForget the song. It was sad.

PARISPatroclus:

PARISO I wept too for our comrades here before Troy,

PARISthose who are wounded or dead and for the waste of your manhood in this war.

PARISA chilles:

PARISDo not provoke me, Patroclus.

PARISPatroclus:

PARISHard-hearted Achilles,

PARISfrom your insensate pride the Greeks will soon go down in defeat.

PARISA chilles:

PARISAha! So they now see what it is to misuse me.

When we fought against Thebe, I was the first to enter the town.

PARISI killed Andromache's father with all his sons.

PARISI was given a girl as my prize till Agamemnon stole her (no other word) and the craven Greeks applauded.

PARISIs that fair dealings for Achilles?

PARISPatroclus:

PARISYou live for your quarrel.

PARISSoon men may forget you can fight. 'Is Achilles really a hero?', they'll say.

PARISA chilles:

PARISPatroclus, they would not dare.

PARISLook on that shining armour; bronze and silver which I keep ready till the Greeks come begging to Achilles, as they will. They cannot take Troy without me.

PARISChorus:

PARISWar! War!

PARISPatroclus:

PARISThey may never take Troy. Hector has reached our ships, and if he burns them, we may never see Greece again.

PARISA chilles:

PARISAh no! A check to the Greeks, but not defeat.

PARISChorus:

PARISWar! War!

PARISA chilles:

PARISThe danger is grave,

PARISChorus:

PARIS... War!

PARISA chilles:

PARIS... yet I cannot give way.

PARISPatroclus:

PARISThen let your armour go to fight.

PARISA chilles:

PARISMeaning?

PARISPatroclus:

PARISI am not you, Achilles,

PARISbut disguise me in your shining armour; set me in your chariot with the immortal horses,

PARISI shall be you in all but body,

PARISand under your plume (though you stay here) can drive back the Trojans across the plain.

PARISA chilles:

PARISPatroclus, you shall.

PARISThe scheme is worthy of my fertile brain. Arm yourself, Patroclus, now as me.

PARISChorus:

PARISWar! War! War!

Achilles helps Patroclus put on the armour then looks outside the tent for a moment

PARISA chilles:

Hector has fired the ships. We act in the nick of time. More than my armour, I'll lend you strength, Shouting my war cry when the moment comes.

PARISYou will drive all before you.

But go no further than the open plain. I must be first to enter Troy. All-powerful Zeus, I pray that Patroclus may drive off the Trojans. And come back safe to me here.

PARISPatroclus:

PARISAchilles, dear Lord Achilles, good-bye.

PARISA chilles:

PARISMuch loved Patroclus, good-bye.

SECOND INTERLUDEOld Man:

SECOND INTERLUDEO, O, what a threat to Troy. Hermes, Hermes, what's to be done?

SECOND INTERLUDEHermes:

SECOND INTERLUDEWhy ask me? I am not tied to Troy.

SECOND INTERLUDEThe gods rejoice when a hero like Achilles chooses at last to redeem his virtue.

SECOND INTERLUDEOld Man:

SECOND INTERLUDEI have no life beyond the bounds of Troy. Help from the gods means help for Troy. Return, Hermes, now at once and bring the news to Priam.

SECOND INTERLUDEHermes:

SECOND INTERLUDEThe messenger is instantaneous

SECOND INTERLUDEwhen the news is feared.

SECOND INTERLUDEPriam will have guessed.

SECOND INTERLUDEBut yet, since you ask, I will go again across the field of battle.

SECOND INTERLUDEChorus:

SECOND INTERLUDEWar! War!

SYSTEMScene 3

Priam appears on the walls of Troy. Hermes enters as a messenger, short of breath from running

SECOND INTERLUDEHermes:

SECOND INTERLUDEA hero in Achilles' armour perhaps Patroclus ... rushed headlong from the ships driving all before him.

SECOND INTERLUDEPriam:

SECOND INTERLUDESo had I feared. It is Patroclus.

SECOND INTERLUDEHe alone could touch Achilles' heart.

SECOND INTERLUDEHermes:

SECOND INTERLUDEBut Hector and Paris have rallied all your sons, and Hector fights Patroclus man to man.

SECOND INTERLUDEParis:

SECOND INTERLUDEFather, have you heard the news?

SECOND INTERLUDEPriam:

SECOND INTERLUDEThat Hector fights Patroclus, while you run back!

SECOND INTERLUDEParis:

SECOND INTERLUDEO, but Hector has already killed him. Stripped the body. You shall see Hector come resplendent in Achilles' armour.

Hector enters in Achilles’ armour. Hermes has gone

SECOND INTERLUDEHector:

SECOND INTERLUDEAll Trojans, all fought bravely and together till Achilles sent Patroclus into battle. but with Apollo's help I, Hector,

SECOND INTERLUDEkilled Achilles' comrade and wear Achilles'

SECOND INTERLUDEarmour now as mine.

SECOND INTERLUDEHector:

SECOND INTERLUDEFather Priam, and you too, brother Paris, before I go to greet Andromache

SECOND INTERLUDEand kiss my son,

SECOND INTERLUDElet us give thanks to Zeus.

SECOND INTERLUDEHector, Priam and Paris:

SECOND INTERLUDEO Zeus, King of all gods and goddesses, high on Olympus

SECOND INTERLUDEYou have bowed your head for death to the Greek hero, to Patroclus, glorious victory to Hector and to Troy. And, O Apollo, who fights for us, when the goddesses and gods besiege Zeus' ear, speak first and loudest to ensure

SECOND INTERLUDEthe Olympian head bows once again to uphold our walls,

SECOND INTERLUDEand twice to destroy their ships.

Achilles stands in front of the tent to deliver his war-cry. Hector, Priam and Paris stand motionless, Hector as though transfixed.

SECOND INTERLUDEAchilles and Chorus:

SECOND INTERLUDEOi, o, o, o, oi, oi, oi,

The Old Man between the walls and the tent, gloating over the naked body of Patroclus

SECOND INTERLUDEOld Man:

SECOND INTERLUDEAchilles' war-cry!

SECOND INTERLUDEAchilles and Chorus:

SECOND INTERLUDEOi, o, o, o, oi, oi,

SECOND INTERLUDEPriam:

SECOND INTERLUDEO Hector!

SECOND INTERLUDEOld Man:

SECOND INTERLUDEO Troy!

SECOND INTERLUDEAchilles and Chorus:

SECOND INTERLUDEOi, o, o, o, oi, oi, oi,

SYSTEMACT THREE

SYSTEMScene 1

Andromache alone. A serving woman comes. Other serving women wait by a cauldron

SECOND INTERLUDEServing Woman:

SECOND INTERLUDELady Andromache, should we not light the fire?

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDEYes, Prince Hector will want his bath the moment he comes from fighting Do I deceive myself?

SECOND INTERLUDEAh, there is foreboding in the heart and in the home

SECOND INTERLUDEas on the day Achilles killed my father and my brothers.

SECOND INTERLUDEWas that not enough that now today he wants my husband?

SECOND INTERLUDEHusbands are worth more than comrades,

SECOND INTERLUDEyet Achilles claims my Hector for Patroclus: death for death;

SECOND INTERLUDEin which equation the most brutal wins. Rouse Achilles, he becomes a brute insatiate. Out of range of human frailty or human pity.

SECOND INTERLUDEHector remains to the end ...

SECOND INTERLUDE... to the end, ah, ah! ... but a man. Ah, my love is open,

SECOND INTERLUDEah, while I mask my fear.

SECOND INTERLUDEHecuba:

SECOND INTERLUDEDaughter Andromache,

SECOND INTERLUDEyou must go out now on the walls

SECOND INTERLUDEto plead with Hector to come inside the city; for he is there alone to fight Achilles.

SECOND INTERLUDEDeaf to Priam, he will attend to you. Hector must be brought within

SECOND INTERLUDEfor the sake of Troy.

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDEFor the sake of Troy!

SECOND INTERLUDEO gods, is there no other sake? What of Hector my husband? What of Hector our son's father? Intolerable!

SECOND INTERLUDEI will not beg my husband from the walls of Troy.

SECOND INTERLUDEMy place is here in my home.

SECOND INTERLUDEHecuba:

SECOND INTERLUDEAnd what will be your home if Troy is taken?

SECOND INTERLUDEWhen Hector and all our men are dead, you will be given, stubborn as you are, as slave to a Greek.

SECOND INTERLUDEThat is the price of pride that will not appeal to Hector in a public street.

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDEAre you not stubborn too?

SECOND INTERLUDEGo now to your husband, to Priam, and beg him deliver Helen to the avenging Greeks. Then Troy and Hector will be safe on the instant.

SECOND INTERLUDEHecuba:

SECOND INTERLUDEDaughter, you are a fool. No war is fought for a woman.

SECOND INTERLUDEIf, because of Helen, the Greeks landed from their thousand ships, it is Troy they want, not Helen.

Helen enters

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDEDid you hear? The war is not for you at all. You are wanted neither here nor there.

SECOND INTERLUDEHelen:

SECOND INTERLUDEYour words are meaningless to me. if bitter.

SECOND INTERLUDEMy husband, Paris, wishes me to visit you. He says –

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDE'My husband, Paris', - Listen to that! Your husband Menelaus.

SECOND INTERLUDEThat is where you belong.

SECOND INTERLUDEWhat of your marriage vows to Menelaus? Did you not feel the sacred ties of home? O but you cannot.

SECOND INTERLUDEA wife is other than a whore.

SECOND INTERLUDENot love drew you to Paris, but lust. Where did he learn his lover's tricks? From other whores before you.

SECOND INTERLUDEHecuba:

SECOND INTERLUDEControl yourself, Andromache. Insults are out of place.

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDELet me finish!

SECOND INTERLUDEGo back to Greece, adultress, and let this war be stopped.

SECOND INTERLUDEHelen:

SECOND INTERLUDEIt will not stop.

SECOND INTERLUDECalm yourself and know your duty.

SECOND INTERLUDELet her rave. I, Helen, am untouched. She cannot know me, what I am.

SECOND INTERLUDEOnce as I came along the walls,

SECOND INTERLUDEthe old men spoke of me, for so I heard:

SECOND INTERLUDE'No wonder Greeks and Trojans go to war

SECOND INTERLUDEfor such a woman.' And they spoke well,

SECOND INTERLUDEFor I am Zeus’ daughter, conceived when the great wings beat above Leda.

SECOND INTERLUDEWomen like you, wives and mothers cannot know

SECOND INTERLUDEwhat men may feel with me.

SECOND INTERLUDEYou talk of lust and whoring; your words glance off such truth of love, whose tempest carried Ganymede into the sky

SECOND INTERLUDEWhat, what. what can it be, that throbs, throbs in every nerve, beats, beats in the blood and bone, down through the feet into the earth, then echoed by the stars?

SECOND INTERLUDEIntolerable desire, burning ecstasy.

SECOND INTERLUDEAll prices paid, all honour lost

SECOND INTERLUDEin this bewilderment

SECOND INTERLUDEImmortal, incommensurable

SECOND INTERLUDELove such as this stretches up to heaven, for it reaches down to hell.

SECOND INTERLUDEHecuba:

SECOND INTERLUDEO that my ears should hear impiety so gross!

SECOND INTERLUDEMust Troy become a burning hell to salve your vanity?

SECOND INTERLUDEWhy was I once so weakened by a dream? Had I but smothered Paris at birth, you would not be here in Troy.

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDEO Hector. our few years of home end in a cruel, bitter fate unwilled by us. Husband, take my loving with you to the grave.

SECOND INTERLUDEHecuba:

SECOND INTERLUDEWoman to Goddess, I to you, Athene, ...

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDEWoman to Goddess, I to you, O Hera, ...

SECOND INTERLUDEHecuba:

SECOND INTERLUDE... woman, I to you Athene,

SECOND INTERLUDEHelen:

SECOND INTERLUDEWoman to Goddess, I to Aphrodite, ...

SECOND INTERLUDEHecuba:

SECOND INTERLUDE... Athene, Athene, ...

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDE... O Hera, ...

SECOND INTERLUDEHecuba:

SECOND INTERLUDE... pray for strength

SECOND INTERLUDEthat heroes may endure, the city stand.

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDE... pray for wives, for wives and husbands and the home where children grow.

SECOND INTERLUDEHelen:

SECOND INTERLUDEpray for lovers, lovers, and the divine madness ...... of insatiable desire .

SECOND INTERLUDEHecuba:

SECOND INTERLUDEAnd to my man, King Priam, King Priam of towered Troy, ...

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDEAnd to my man, horse-taming Hector, horse-taming Hector with the flashing plume

SECOND INTERLUDEHelen:

SECOND INTERLUDEAnd to my man, beautiful Paris, Paris, envied of all

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache, Hecuba and Helen:

SECOND INTERLUDE... grant balm of comfort ...

SECOND INTERLUDEHecuba:

SECOND INTERLUDE... from the steadfast mate.

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDE... that his life was pure.

SECOND INTERLUDEHelen:

SECOND INTERLUDE... that he lay with Helen.

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache, Hecuba and Helen:

SECOND INTERLUDEFor death, for death draws near. Goddess to me, woman, grant, grant but this!

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDENow you shall go.

SECOND INTERLUDEI have forewarning from within, quicker than the fastest runner running here. Hector is dead. Now you shall go.

SECOND INTERLUDEHecuba:

SECOND INTERLUDEO Troy, O Priam.

Hecuba and Helen leave

SECOND INTERLUDEServing Woman:

SECOND INTERLUDEThe bath is hot. Will the Lord Hector come?

SECOND INTERLUDEAndromache:

SECOND INTERLUDEYes ...Yes ... Yes.

FIRST INTERLUDEChorus – Serving Women:

FIRST INTERLUDENo ... No ... No.

FIRST INTERLUDEWe have it from the runner who has reached the house.

FIRST INTERLUDEWe always know. Yet who are we?

FIRST INTERLUDENot the names that figure in the drama. Unnamed. Slaves. Yes. Slaves.

FIRST INTERLUDETo whom the fate of towered Troy is but a change of masters. What else? Rape! Death! Are these Greek or Trojan?

FIRST INTERLUDEYet we could tell the story too,

FIRST INTERLUDEthe pathetic story of our masters.

FIRST INTERLUDEViewed from the corridor.

FIRST INTERLUDEChorus:

FIRST INTERLUDEAh! Ah! Ah!

FIRST INTERLUDEServing Women:

FIRST INTERLUDEAll the commotion now.

FIRST INTERLUDEWould you know what that is? News. News of Hector's shocking death spreads like plague through Troy,

FIRST INTERLUDEFrom the slave to the heroes, Priam's sons, and to the Queen.

FIRST INTERLUDEOnly King Priam does not know.

FIRST INTERLUDEFor who shall tell him?

This news may break his heart or turn his mind. Troy will crumble.

FIRST INTERLUDEWho will tell him, as he rages,

FIRST INTERLUDErages, in an inner room? Look! There! He comes.

The serving women go as Priam is seen alone

FIRST INTERLUDEChorus:

FIRST INTERLUDEAh! Ah!

SYSTEMScene 2

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEWhat is happening?

FIRST INTERLUDEAm I no longer King?

FIRST INTERLUDEForced from the walls by my people. Locked in my room.

FIRST INTERLUDEHecuba refusing to speak.

FIRST INTERLUDESomething is known that I have not been told. O Gods! Let me out! Let me out!

FIRST INTERLUDEChorus:

FIRST INTERLUDEOi-o-o. Oi-o-o.

FIRST INTERLUDEParis:

FIRST INTERLUDEUnhand me, mother Hecuba. I will see him.

FIRST INTERLUDEFather ...

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDESon.

FIRST INTERLUDEParis:

FIRST INTERLUDEPrepare yourself, for you must know.

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEYes, I must know.

FIRST INTERLUDEParis:

FIRST INTERLUDEAll are afraid,

FIRST INTERLUDEso I have come to tell you.

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEWhat?

FIRST INTERLUDEParis:

FIRST INTERLUDEYour first and dearest son,

FIRST INTERLUDEthe hero Hector, ...

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEAh!

FIRST INTERLUDEParis:

FIRST INTERLUDE... Achilles has killed him and shamefully misused him.

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDESay that again.

FIRST INTERLUDEParis:

FIRST INTERLUDEAchilles has killed him and shamefully misused him.

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEAnd you have dared to come and tell me.

FIRST INTERLUDECourageous to tell a stricken father truth, afraid to fight.

FIRST INTERLUDEHector was a hero. You 're but a playboy.

FIRST INTERLUDEWhy did you not kill Patroclus? Why did you not fight Achilles?

FIRST INTERLUDEO, I could have spared you well for Hector; for Hector my son.

FIRST INTERLUDEAre you my son? No. Or if you are, would that I had strangled you at birth as the Old Man told me.

FIRST INTERLUDEParis:

FIRST INTERLUDEWhat horror! What injustice!

FIRST INTERLUDEYou are mad for grief.

FIRST INTERLUDEI am your son. I am no coward.

FIRST INTERLUDEYou will not see me more till I have killed Achilles and avenged my brother.

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEOh ... Oh ... Oh ... Oh.

FIRST INTERLUDEA father and a King.

FIRST INTERLUDEMy death they said, but never Hector's. Had they said Hector's, I would have killed the other in the cradle.

FIRST INTERLUDEO yes I would. No doubt of it.

Young Guard and Old Man appear

FIRST INTERLUDEYoung Guard:

FIRST INTERLUDEA crime.

FIRST INTERLUDEOld Man:

FIRST INTERLUDEA duty.

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEPhantoms! Phantoms from the fatal hour. Is not the present harsh enough

FIRST INTERLUDEthat you should come to mock me from the past?

FIRST INTERLUDEYoung Guard:

FIRST INTERLUDEThink on the present then.

FIRST INTERLUDEWhat have you done to your son, Paris. now?

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEI have no son Paris.

FIRST INTERLUDEI had a son, Hector. But he is dead. O Gods!

FIRST INTERLUDEYoung Guard:

FIRST INTERLUDEYou engendered Paris. That cannot be shuffled off.

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDELet him avenge his brother then.

FIRST INTERLUDEYoung Guard:

FIRST INTERLUDEWhat is this vengeance? Recount. Who killed Patroclus?

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEGreat Hector, defending the city.

FIRST INTERLUDEYoung Guard:

FIRST INTERLUDEWho avenged Patroclus, killing Hector?

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEBarbaric Achilles. Curse him!

FIRST INTERLUDEYoung Guard:

FIRST INTERLUDEWho kills Achilles?

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEParis, my son.

FIRST INTERLUDEYoung Guard:

FIRST INTERLUDEWho will kill Paris?

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEO Gods!

FIRST INTERLUDEOld Man and Chorus:

FIRST INTERLUDEAgamemnon , Agamemnon .

FIRST INTERLUDEYoung Guard:

FIRST INTERLUDEWhat then is this vengeance that you want?

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEI do not want these deaths. I want my own. There was no truth in what the Old Man said. O bitter disillusion! Twisted around his finger, had he no pity for a young man's ignorance? Your reading of the dream was false.

FIRST INTERLUDEOld Man:

FIRST INTERLUDENo.

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEHector's death, not mine.

FIRST INTERLUDEOld Man:

FIRST INTERLUDENo.

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEYou told me lies.

FIRST INTERLUDEOld Man:

FIRST INTERLUDEI told you truth so far I knew it.

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEWhy, why, why, should this truth entrap us? Toys, dupes, decoys of fate.

FIRST INTERLUDENever, never, never masters in the house. Why? Answer. Why?

FIRST INTERLUDENurse:

FIRST INTERLUDEThe soul will answer from where the pain is quickest.

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEWhere the pain is quickest. O Hector, my son, my son!

FIRST INTERLUDENurse:

FIRST INTERLUDEWhere did Hector's death begin?

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEWhere did Hector's death begin?

FIRST INTERLUDENot at conception, for I loved my wife and loved my child.

FIRST INTERLUDEHis death began at that fatal flaw of pity that you sensed in me. I should have been hard like Hecuba. Like this old man.

FIRST INTERLUDEThen Hector would be here.

FIRST INTERLUDENurse:

FIRST INTERLUDEOne son to live only by another's death. Is that the law of life you favour?

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEI favour nothing.

FIRST INTERLUDEBut I answer yes. Yes. Yes.

FIRST INTERLUDENurse:

FIRST INTERLUDEListen to your soul's echo.

FIRST INTERLUDEChorus (in the distance):

FIRST INTERLUDENo, No, No.

FIRST INTERLUDEPriam:

FIRST INTERLUDEThese things are tricks.

FIRST INTERLUDEI will hear no more.

FIRST INTERLUDEI curse my parents that they got me. I curse this life that has no meaning.

FIRST INTERLUDEI curse my soul that will not let me rest. Who dares to judge Priam, King of Troy? Who dares to judge Priam, father of Hector, father, and of that other son?

FIRST INTERLUDENone would dare judge me If my own soul were still. Therefore I curse the soul.

FIRST INTERLUDEAnd I curse you phantoms. O, O, I curse, I curse!

FIRST INTERLUDEYoung Guard and Old Man:

FIRST INTERLUDELie there and judge yourself ...

FIRST INTERLUDEYoung Guard:

FIRST INTERLUDE... father ...

FIRST INTERLUDEOld Man:

FIRST INTERLUDE... and King!

FIRST INTERLUDENurse:

FIRST INTERLUDEMeasure him time with mercy.

The figures of Priam and the Chorus fade away and darkness is left, and moving shadows. A light grows.

SYSTEMScene 3

Achilles at night in his tent. The corpse of Hector is covered by a cloth. Achilles sits brooding over the body. Priam enters.

SECOND INTERLUDEA chilles:

SECOND INTERLUDEPriam! Here! What is this?

SECOND INTERLUDEPriam:

SECOND INTERLUDEDo not call the guards. I am unarmed, alone.

SECOND INTERLUDELed by Hermes I am here; an old man bringing gifts.

SECOND INTERLUDEA father come to ransom the body of his son.

SECOND INTERLUDEA chilles:

SECOND INTERLUDEThen you are mad, old man?

SECOND INTERLUDEWere you not a father, old as my own father, I would kill you now. There is indeed the body of Hector. But cruel as I am,

SECOND INTERLUDEI will not force you to uncover it.

SECOND INTERLUDEIt is mutilated shamefully, and by my own hands.

SECOND INTERLUDEFor this flesh is Hector's, and not,

SECOND INTERLUDEand not, and never

SECOND INTERLUDEthe living flesh of him I loved, the gentle prince, Patroclus.

Priam, in a swift movement kneels before Achilles, clasps Achilles’; knees and kisses his hands.

SECOND INTERLUDEPriam:

SECOND INTERLUDEI clasp your knees, Achilles,

SECOND INTERLUDEand kiss your terrible, man-slaying hands. Think on your father, Achilles, the lone old man in Greece, waiting for you to return.

SECOND INTERLUDEAt least he still has you, while I with Hector dead, have nothing.

SECOND INTERLUDEThink on your father,

SECOND INTERLUDEremember the gods,

SECOND INTERLUDEbe merciful before the dawn.

SECOND INTERLUDEFor I have done what no father did before:

SECOND INTERLUDEkissed the hands of him who killed my son.

Achilles takes Priam’ s hands off his knees and raises Priam’ s head.

SECOND INTERLUDEA chilles:

SECOND INTERLUDEOld man, I am touched. Brutal Achilles has felt pity. You shall have the body to take back to Troy.

Standing up to pray

SECOND INTERLUDEPatroclus, do not be angry

SECOND INTERLUDEwhen you hear in the dead lands

SECOND INTERLUDEthat I gave Priam Hector's body back.

SECOND INTERLUDEYou shall have your proper share of the princely ransom I shall ask. Farewell! Come, old father,

SECOND INTERLUDEyou are tired, you shall stay here the night. Let us drink wine.

SECOND INTERLUDEI drink to my death,

SECOND INTERLUDEthe death of dazzling Achilles. Since I failed Patroclus,

SECOND INTERLUDEI want only my death

SECOND INTERLUDEPriam:

SECOND INTERLUDEI go to a different death, Achilles.

SECOND INTERLUDEA chilles:

SECOND INTERLUDEI shall die first, and in battle. Which of the Trojans will kill me? Tell me that.

SECOND INTERLUDEPriam:

SECOND INTERLUDEParis will kill you, Paris, my son.

SECOND INTERLUDEA chilles:

SECOND INTERLUDEAnd who will kill you at the altar, King Priam?

SECOND INTERLUDEMy goddess mother told me.

SECOND INTERLUDESo I will tell you.

SECOND INTERLUDENeoptolemus will kill you at the altar. Neoptolemus, my son.

Hermes enters as messenger of death

THIRD INTERLUDEHermes:

THIRD INTERLUDEI come as messenger of death.

THIRD INTERLUDEFor the story will soon end.

THIRD INTERLUDEA timeless music played in time.

THIRD INTERLUDEDo not imagine all the secrets of life can be known from a story.

THIRD INTERLUDEO but feel the pity and the terror as Priam dies.

THIRD INTERLUDEHe already breathes an air as from another planet.

THIRD INTERLUDEThe world where he is going, where he has gone,

THIRD INTERLUDEcannot communicate itself through him

he will speak only to Helen in the end

THIRD INTERLUDE- but through the timeless music

THIRD INTERLUDEO divine music, O stream of sound,

THIRD INTERLUDEin which the states of soul

THIRD INTERLUDEflow, surfacing and drowning,

THIRD INTERLUDEwhile we sit watching from the bank the mirrored, mirrored world within, for 'Mirror upon mirror mirrored is all the show'.

THIRD INTERLUDEO divine music , melt our hearts, renew our love.

SYSTEMScene 4

Before an altar

THIRD INTERLUDEParis:

THIRD INTERLUDEWhere is my father, where is Priam?

THIRD INTERLUDEPriam:

THIRD INTERLUDEWhat is it now?

THIRD INTERLUDEParis:

I have killed Achilles and avenged Hector. Embrace me, father.

THIRD INTERLUDEPriam:

THIRD INTERLUDEYou ask too much.

THIRD INTERLUDEParis:

Well then, I offer, for you are still my father: I will take you and Helen; leave the doomed city to found another Troy.

THIRD INTERLUDEPriam:

You are not the founding sort.

THIRD INTERLUDENor will I go.

THIRD INTERLUDEStay to defend me till I am ready. Keep all away.

THIRD INTERLUDEChorus (in the distance):

THIRD INTERLUDEAh, ah! Ah, ah!

THIRD INTERLUDEHecuba:

THIRD INTERLUDEThe Greeks are in the city.

THIRD INTERLUDEAll is lost. Why are you not in the fight?

THIRD INTERLUDEParis:

THIRD INTERLUDEI obey my father

THIRD INTERLUDEto defend him while he prays.

THIRD INTERLUDEHecuba:

THIRD INTERLUDEToo late for prayer.

THIRD INTERLUDELet him kiss his wife goodbye.

THIRD INTERLUDEParis:

THIRD INTERLUDEStay here. I will call him.

THIRD INTERLUDEIt is my mother, and your wife.

THIRD INTERLUDEPriam:

THIRD INTERLUDEI cannot see her.

THIRD INTERLUDEHecuba:

THIRD INTERLUDEChanged and distraught.

THIRD INTERLUDEParis:

THIRD INTERLUDEHe prays.

THIRD INTERLUDEHecuba:

THIRD INTERLUDELet him pray the Greeks will spare your youngest brother, still a child, when all the Trojan men and you are slain. Enslaved in the Greek lands, Hecuba will remember proud Troy.

THIRD INTERLUDEChorus:

THIRD INTERLUDEAh, ah! Ah, ah!

THIRD INTERLUDEParis:

THIRD INTERLUDEFather, shall I go now to defend my mother?

THIRD INTERLUDEChorus:

THIRD INTERLUDEAh, ah! Ah, ah! Ah, ah! Ah, ah!

THIRD INTERLUDEAndromache:

THIRD INTERLUDEOut of my way, adulterer, that I may come to Priam.

THIRD INTERLUDEParis:

THIRD INTERLUDEI guard him as he prays.

THIRD INTERLUDEAndromace:

THIRD INTERLUDEYou will have need to guard him.

THIRD INTERLUDEFor though you killed Achilles - (too late! too late!) -

THIRD INTERLUDEAchilles ' son is raging through the town swinging my own dead child as club.

THIRD INTERLUDEChorus:

THIRD INTERLUDEAh, ah! Ah, ah! Ah, ah! Ah, ah!

THIRD INTERLUDEParis:

THIRD INTERLUDEIt is my sister, and your son's wife.

THIRD INTERLUDEPriam:

THIRD INTERLUDEI cannot see her.

THIRD INTERLUDEChorus:

THIRD INTERLUDEAh, ah!

THIRD INTERLUDEParis:

THIRD INTERLUDEHelen.

THIRD INTERLUDEHelen:

PARISParis:

PARISIt is your daughter, and my wife. It is Helen.

PARISPriam:

PARISGo, my son, to find a hero's death in burning Troy. Let Helen come to me.

PARISChorus:

PARISAh! Ah!

PARISPriam:

PARISMysterious daughter, who are you?

PARISHelen:

PARISI am Helen.

PARISPriam:

PARISHave I been gentle with you?

PARISHelen:

PARISNeither you nor Hector ever by word or deed reproached me.

PARISPriam:

PARISWhy was that I wonder?

PARISWhy do I speak gently now below the screams of the dying?

PARISChorus:

PARISAh, ah

PARISHelen:

PARISI cannot tell. I am Helen.

PARISPriam:

PARISYou loved Paris? He is already dead.

PARISHelen:

PARISY es.

PARISChorus:

PARISAh, ah, ah, ...

PARISPriam:

PARISYou will go back to Greece.

PARISHelen:

PARISY es.

PARISPriam:

PARISFor you are Helen.

PARISChorus:

PARISAh, ah! Ah, ah! Ah, ah! Ah, ah!

(Priam sinks down before the altar and tries to say something but can’ t be heard. As his lips continue to move soundlessly, Hermes appears as a God. Priam lifts himself up.

PARISPriam:

PARISI see mirrors, myriad upon myriad ... moving ... the dark forms of creation.

Hermes descends to Hades. The Greeks burst in. Neoptolemus, Achilles’ son, runs his sword through Priam, who dies instantly.