Thy way is mine, friend. Straight I run my race In word and deed, and bear no double tongue. I tell thee, more than thine my heart was wrung, Yea, angered past all durance, thus to stay Back from thy battles. 'Twas a folk that lay Hard on my borders, Scythians of the north; Just when my host for Troy had started forth, They fell upon our homes. I had reached the coast Of the Friendless Sea and purposed to have crossed My Thracians there. We turned; and all that plain Is trampled in a mire of Scythian slain Ploughed by our spears, and blood of Thrace withal Not stinted. This it was that drowned thy call For help and held me back from Ilion's need. I broke their power; the princes of their breed I took to hostage, made their elders swear To bring my house due tribute, year by year, Then, never lagging, crossed the Pontus mouth, Marched by long stages through Bithynia south And here am come . . . not drunken with the feast, As thou wouldst have me be, not lulled to rest In golden chambers. In this harness hard I have borne my nights of winter storm that starred The Euxine into ice and scared the strong Paionians. Long I have been, but not too long To save thee yet. Friend, this is the tenth year Thou labourest on unceasing, with no clear Vantage; day creeps by day, and Ares throws The same red dice for thee and for thy foes. Now, hear my vow. Before one day's eclipse I swear to break their wall, to burn their ships And slay their princes. On the second day [vv. 449-473] I leave this soil and take my homeward way, Thy pains relieved. No Trojan of the land Need move, nor turn the buckler in his hand. Alone my late-comers will turn the tide And smite your Greeks, for all their bitter pride. CHORUS. [_The Trojan soldiers, who have been listening with delight, here break out in irrepressible applause._ All hail! Sweet words and faithful heart! Only may Zeus avert From those proud lips the Wrath that none may bear! Never a galleon bore, Now, nor in days of yore, Prince like to thee, so valiant and so fair. How shall Achilles, how Shall Ajax bear him now, Or face thy lance? May I but stand that day Watching to see him reel Broken beneath thy steel, And once in blood his many murders pay! RHESUS. Yea, more atonement thou shalt take from me For this slow help.--May Adrasteia see My heart and pardon!--When we two have set Troy free from these who compass her with hate, Soon as the Gods have had their first-fruits, I With thee will sail--so help me Zeus on high!-- And sack all Hellas with the sword, till these Doers of deeds shall know what suffering is. HECTOR. [vv. 474-491]