The Trojan Women1971

Talthybius:
[rides up and dismounts; he walks slowly forward and stops some distance from Andromache] Wife of the noblest man that was in Troy... O wife of Hector, do not hate me. Against my will I come to tell you... [Andromache looks at him; he continues haltingly] The people and the kings have all resolved -...

Andromache:
What is it? Evil follows words like those.

Talthybius:
This child they order - - [he can't finish the phrase - he looks away, then through clenched teeth] Oh, how can I say it...

Andromache:
[presses her son against her] Not that he does not go with me to the same master -...

Talthybius:
No man in Greece shall ever be his master.

Andromache:
[stares at Talthybius, perplexed] But - - leave him here - - all that is left of Troy?

Talthybius:
I don't know how to tell you. What is bad words can't make better -...

Andromache:
[hoping against hope] I feel you kind. But you have not good news.

Talthybius:
[long pause, then he screams out] Your child must die! There, now you know the whole, bad as it is!

Andromache:
[silence. Then slowly, as if from the marrow of her bones, the scream comes - - wild, scaringly, rising from the dark roots of sound beyond words]