(NOTE: Trailblazing English is used in this monologue.)
Character: Hecuba, Queen of Troy
Setting: On the steps of the ruined palace in Ancient Troy
Background: After Troy is defeated in a decade-long war, the Trojan Wennen suffer greatly at the hands of the Greeks. Hecuba has dealt with her daughter, Cassandra, being taken concubine by the Achaean Commander, Agamenon; her best friend, Danisma, having killed herself after being violated at the river Scamander; and her young grandson, Astyanax, Heir to Troy, having been thrown over the battlements to his death. She now addresses the remaining Trojan Wennen, rallying them to fight one last battle rather than to resign themselves to a future of bondage in Greece.
HECUBA
We had a language; we had a nation.
Our laws were not as theirs, yet they governed us well.
Our customs were not their customs,
but to sing our songs and dance our dances made us feel at home. Now what is left?
Our sons and spouses they have slaughtered…our brothers.
Our sisters, our daughters they have dragged away.
Mothers weep,
and old men, with their frail hearts or minds or voices,
cry out from their beds at night, ‘Oh, if only I had been young!’
Old men love to believe they could have made a difference.
And what is left?
Today I bade ‘good-bye’ to my great friend.
Beside her, on the pyre, I placed the body of my grandson.
And as I touched my torch to the kindling,
I thought I heard some say,
‘There is the flame that consumes Troy’s future.’
Well, to them, I answer, (Indicating herself)
‘Here is the flame that sustains Troy’s present!’
Oh, let them not say Troy stands no more,
for I am Troy! And you, my people, you are Troy!
No more, Trojan Wennen, shall we think of crumbling walls;
No more on lifeless buildings set to flame.
No more on robes of silk or tiled halls;
No more on gold or pearl, porcelain or ivory,
on bowl, or vase, or scroll.
Think no more on any thing, for it is no more than thing.
Forget each sentimental gift you gave, or that there was
once a time that had leisure for sentiment.
And think no more on the cries of the deceased,
for their cries have ceased everywhere except in our memory.
No more, Trojan Wennen, shall we mourn.
No more, Valiant Wennen, shall we beat our breasts
in sad lament, and yet we shall be heard!
Oh, let them not say there is no Troy,
for we shall shout until it resounds
upon the very shores of Greece itself:
Troy stands until there be No More Trojan Wennen!
© Justy Fairfield 2008, 2021
https://stagepagan.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/nmtw-no-more-trojan-wennen-hecuba-copy.pdf
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