(NOTE: Trailblazing English is used in this monologue.)
Character: Cassandra, daughter of the Trojan Royal House and unheeded soothsayer.
Setting: In Agamemnon’s hut in the Achaean Camp
Background: A captive Cassandra warns Agamemnon that the Greek victory over Troy is not what it seems.
CASSANDRA
Agamemnon! Agamemnon! I had a vision this morning.
No, please listen to me!
I saw a compassionate lady transformed to a tiger,
extending a raging claw.
There was a bull on a plain through whose sides
I saw a man engulfed in its belly.
He tore at the beast’s flesh, struggling desperately
to free himself.
I saw a dove with blood on her wings
soar over a battlefield and cry. —
And I cried to hear her piteous sound.
There was a scorpion on the sand
like no other that crawls upon the Earth — or so it seemed —
spreading venom everywhere.
And after all these things passed before my sight,
a name repeated in my mind: Agamemnon! Agamemnon!
No, don’t turn away! I know you have no time for me after sunrise.
I am merely your prisoner…Your concubine…Your whore of war!
But you must listen to me now!
You alone have the power to stop what is going to happen today. The Trojans didn’t believe my prophecies,
and it proved as much a curse on them as on me!
I’ll be calm…I’ll try to be calm. — But you must listen!
I know you don’t like when I call my rants “prophecies.”
Forgive me! You are a king; so was my father, Priam.
Yet he ignored my warnings like any fearful, common man.
He did nothing when the Trojans derided me
and disregarded my visions.
“Cassandra, the Lunatic” sounds far less frightening than
“Cassandra, the Prophet”!
“Cassandra, the Madwenn” is more easily ignored than
“Cassandra, the Seer” — who foresaw Troy’s destruction
in a vision of the Wooden Horse!
What was that crazy girl thinking when she told her father,
“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts!”?
But you know better, don’t you, Agamemnon?
You are Greek! Yours is the most civilized race upon the Earth! —
The darlings of Immortal Athena, Godde of Wisdom, herself!
You are far too wise to make the same mistake as a Trojan king!
Both our peoples agree that prophecy is the gift of Apollo.
But it is no gift if one must pay for it as I have.
It’s said that I promised the godde my virginity,
then refused to surrender it to him.
And that is the reason why my warnings go unheeded,
why he has allowed me to be brought to ruin.
So says the rumor mill. Its words are believed as mine are not!
(pointedly) But I swear to you, Agamemnon,
I never promised Apollo anything except my devotion,
so you must listen to me now: Beware of goddes bearing gifts.
Your victory over Troy is not what it seems!
© Justy Fairfield 2008, 2021
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