Hecŭba

, daughter of Dymas, a Phrygian prince, or, according to others, of Ci eus, a Thracian king, was the second wife of Priam king of Troy, and proved the chastest of women, and the most tender and unfortunate of mothers. When she was pregnant of Paris, she dreamed that she had brought into the world a burning torch which had reduced her husband’s palace and all Troy to ashes. So alarming a dream was explained by the soothsayers, who declared that the son she should bring into the world would prove the ruin of his country. When Paris was born she exposed him on mount Ida to avert the calamities which threatened her family; but her attempts to destroy him were fruitle , and the prediction of the soothsayers was fulfilled. See: Paris . During the Trojan war she saw the greatest part of her children perish by the hands of the enemy, and like a mother she confe ed her grief by her tears and lamentations, particularly at the death of Hector her eldest son. When Troy was taken, Hecuba, as one of the captives, fell to the lot of Uly es, a man whom she hated for his perfidy and avarice, and she embarked with the conquerors for Greece. The Greeks landed in the Thracian Cher sones us, to load with fresh honours the grave of Achilles. During their stay the hero’s ghost appeared to them, and demanded, to ensure the safety of their return, the sacrifice of Polyxena, Hecuba’s daughter. They complied, and Polyxena was torn from her mother to be sacrificed. Hecuba was inconsolable, and her grief was still more increased at the sight of the body of her son Polydorus washed on the shore, who had been recommended by his father to the care and humanity of Polymnestor king of the country. See: Polydorus . She determined to revenge the death of her son, and with the greatest indignation went to the house of his murderer and tore his eyes, and attempted to deprive him of his life. She was hindered from executing her bloody purpose by the arrival of some Thracians, and she fled with the female companions of her captivity. She was pursued, and when she ran after the stones that were thrown at her, she found herself suddenly changed into a bitch, and when she attempted to speak, found that she could only bark. After this metamorphosis she threw herself into the sea, according to Hyginus, and that place was, from that circumstance, called Cyneum . Hecuba had a great number of children by Priam, among whom were Hector, Paris, Deiphobus, Pammon, Helenus, Polytes, Antiphon, Hippo no us, Polydorus, Troilus, and among the daughters, Creusa, Ilione, Laodice, Polyxena, and Cas sandra. Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 11 , li. 761 ; bk. 13 , li. 515 .— Hyginus , fable 111.— Virgil , Æneid , bk. 3 , li. 44 .— Juvenal , satire 10, li. 271 .— Strabo , bk. 13 .— Dictys Cretensis , bks. 4 & 5.— Apollo dor us , bk. 3 , ch. 12 .