My spirit animates these limbs.—To thine appeal

A brief reply. I did not hope to leave thy shores

By stealth—believe it or not—nor yet a husbands’ name

Have I desired, nor have I claimed the marriage bonds.

If under omens of my own it were ordained

That I should live, and lay aside at will the weight

Of destiny, then first of all would I restore

My Trojan city and the dear remains of all

I called my own; old Priam’s royal halls would still

Endure, and long ago would I have built again