The Tragedies of Seneca / Translated into English Verse, to Which Have Been Appended Comparative Analyses of the Corresponding Greek and Roman Plays, and a Mythological Index

HERCULES OETAEUS HERCULES OETAEUS

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Hercules	Son of Jupiter and Alcmena.
Hyllus	Son of Hercules and Deianira.
Alcmena	Daughter of Electryon, king of Mycenae.
Deianira	Daughter of Oeneus, king of Aetolia, and wife of Hercules.
Iole	Daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia.
Nurse	Of Deianira.
Philoctetes	A prince of Thessaly, son of Poeas, and the faithful friend of Hercules.
Lichas	The messenger (persona muta) of Deianira to Hercules.
Chorus	Of Aetolian women, faithful to Deianira.
Band	Of Oechalian maidens, suffering captivity in company with Iole.

The scene is laid, first in Euboea, and later at the home of Hercules in Trachin.

The long, heroic life of Hercules has neared its end. His twelve great tasks, assigned him by Eurystheus through Juno's hatred, have been done. His latest victory was over Eurytus, king of Oechalia. Him he slew and overthrew his house, because the monarch would not give him Iole to wife.

And now the hero, having overcome the world, and Pluto's realm beneath the earth, aspires to heaven. He sacrifices to Cenaean Jove, and prays at last to be received into his proper home.

ACT I

[On the Cenaean promontory of the island of Euboea.]

[25] Reading, quam prosequor.

[26] Reading, patriae moenibus.

ACT II

[In the palace of Deianira at Trachin.]

Nurse of Deianira: Oh, bitter is the rage a woman feels,

When in one house both wife and mistress dwell!

No wrecking Scylla, no Charybdis dire,235

The wild upheavers of Sicilia's waves,

No savage beast, is more untamed than she.

For when the maiden's beauty was revealed,

And Iole shone like the cloudless sky,

Or gleaming stars within the heavens serene,

Then did Alcides' bride like one distraught240

Stand gazing fiercely on the captive maid;

As when a tigress, lying with her young

Beneath some rock in far Armenia,

Leaps up to meet an enemy's approach;

Or as a Maenad, by the god inspired,

And bidden shake the thyrsus, stands awhile

In wonder whither she shall take her way.

Then she throughout the house of Hercules245

Goes madly rushing; nor does all the house

Give space enough. Now here, now there she runs,

At random wandering; and now she stands,

Her face reflecting woe in every line,

The inmost feelings of her heart revealed.

She threatens fiercely, then a flood of tears

Succeeds to threats. No mood for long endures,250

Nor can one form of rage content her long.

Now flame her cheeks with wrath; pale terror now

Drives out the flush of anger, and her grief

Takes every form that maddened sorrow knows:

Complainings, prayers, and groans. But now the doors

Are creaking: see, she comes in frenzied haste,

With words confused revealing all her heart.255

[Enter Deianira.]

Deianira: O wife of Jove, where'er in heaven thou dwell'st,

Against Alcides send some raging beast

That shall be dire enough to sate my wrath.

If any hydra rears its fertile head

Too vast to be contained in any pool,

Impossible of conquest, send it forth.

If anything is worse than other beasts,260

Enormous, unrelenting, horrible,

From which the eye of even Hercules

Would turn in fear, let such an one come out

From its huge den. But if no beasts avail,

This heart of mine into some monster change;

For of my hate can any shape be made

That thou desir'st. Oh, mould my woman's form265

To match my grief. My breast cannot contain

Its rage. Why dost thou search the farthest bounds

Of earth, and overturn the world? Or why

Dost thou demand of hell its evil shapes?

This breast of mine will furnish for thy use

All fearful things. To work thy deadly hate270

Use me as tool. Thou canst destroy him quite.

Do thou but use these hands for what thou will.

Why dost thou hesitate, O goddess? See,

Use me, the raging one. What impious deed

Dost thou command? Decide. Why doubtful stand?

Now mayst thou rest awhile from all thy toils,

For my rage is enough.275

Nurse: O child of mine,

These sad outpourings of thy maddened heart

Restrain, quench passion's fire, and curb thy grief.

Show now that thou art wife of Hercules.

Deianira: Shall captive Iole unto my sons

Give brothers, and a lowly slave become

The daughter-in-law of Jove? In common course

Will fire and rushing torrent never run;280

The thirsty Bear will never taste the sea—

And never shall my woes go unavenged.

Though thou didst bear the vasty heavens up,

Though all the world is debtor unto thee,

'Twill not avail thee now, for thou shalt find

A monster greater far than Hydra's rage,

An angry wife's revenge, awaiting thee.

The flames that leap from Aetna's top to heaven285

Burn not so fiercely as my passion's fire

Which shall outvie whate'er thou hast o'ercome.

Shall then a captive slave usurp my bed?

Before, I feared the monsters dire; but now,

Those pests have vanished quite, and in their stead

This hated rival comes. O mighty God,290

Of all gods ruler, O thou lustrous Sun,

'Tis only in his perils, then, it seems,

Have I been wife to Hercules. The gods

Have granted to the captive all my prayers;

For her behoof have I been fortunate.

Ye heard, indeed, my prayers, O gods of heaven,

And Hercules is safe returned—for her!295

O grief, that no revenge can satisfy,

Seek out some dreadful means of punishment,

By man unthought of and unspeakable.

Teach Juno's self how slight her hatred is.

She knows not how to rage. O Hercules,

For me didst thou thy mighty battles wage;

For me did AcheloÜs dye his waves300

With his own blood in mortal strife with thee,

When now a writhing serpent he became,

Now to a threatening bull he turned himself,

And thou a thousand beasts didst overcome

In one sole enemy. But now, alas,

Am I no longer pleasing in thy sight,

And this base captive is preferred to me.

But this she shall not be. For that same day305

Which ends our married joys shall end thy life.

But what is this? My rage begins to fail

And moderate its threats. My anger's gone.

Why dost thou languish thus, O wretched grief?

Wilt thou give o'er thy passion, be again

The faithful, uncomplaining wife? Ah no!

Why dost thou strive to check the flames of wrath?310

Why quench its fire? Let me but keep my rage,

And I shall be the peer of Hercules,

And I shall need to seek no heavenly aid.

But still, though all uncalled, will Juno come

To guide my hands.

Nurse: What crime dost thou intend,

O foolish one? Wilt slay thy noble lord,315

Whose praises from the east to west are known,

Whose fame extends from earth to highest heaven?

For all the earth will rise to avenge his death;

And this thy father's house and all thy race

Will be the first to fall. Soon rocks and brands320

Will be against thee hurled, since every land

Will its protector shield; and thou alone

Wilt suffer many, many penalties.

Suppose thou canst escape the world of men;

Still must thou face the thunderbolts of Jove,

The father of Alcides. Even now

His threat'ning torches gleam athwart the sky,325

And all the heavens tremble with the shock.

Nay, death itself, wherein thou hop'st to find

A place of safe retreat—fear that as well;

For there Alcides' uncle reigns supreme.

Turn where thou wilt, O wretched woman; there

Shalt thou behold thy husband's kindred gods.330

Deianira: A fearful crime it is, I do confess;

But Oh, my passion bids me do it still.

Nurse: Thou'lt die.

Deianira: But as the wife of Hercules

I'll die; no night shall ever bring the day

That shall behold me cheated of my own,

Nor shall a captive mistress have my bed.

Sooner shall western skies give birth to day;335

Sooner shall men of India make their home

Beneath the icy pole, and Phoebus tan

With his hot rays the shivering Scythians,

Than shall the dames of Thessaly behold

My downfall. For with my own blood I'll quench

The marriage torches. Either he shall die,

Or slay me with his hand. To all the beasts340

Whom he has slaughtered let him add his wife;

Let me be numbered 'mongst his mighty deeds;

But in my death my body still shall claim

The couch of Hercules. Oh, sweet, 'tis sweet

To fare to Hades as Alcides' bride,

And not without my vengeance. If, indeed,345

From Hercules my rival has conceived,

With my own hands I'll tear the child away

Untimely, and that shameless harlot face

Within her very wedding torches' glare.

And though in wrath upon his nuptial day

He slay me as a victim at the shrine,

Let me but fall upon my rival's corse,

And I shall die content. For happy he

Who drags with him his enemy to death.350

Nurse: Why dost thou feed thy passion's flames, poor child,

And nurse thy grief? Why cherish needless fear?

He did feel love for Iole, 'tis true;

But in the time while yet her father reigned,

And while she was a haughty monarch's child.

The princess now has fallen to the place

Of slave, and love has lost its power to charm,355

Since her unhappy state has stol'n from her

Her loveliness. The unattainable

Is ever sought in love. But from the thing

That is within his reach love turns away.

Deianira: Nay: fallen fortunes fan the flames of love;

And for this very reason does he love,

Because her home is lost, and from her head

The crown of gleaming gold and gems has fallen.360

For these her woes he pities her—and loves.

'Twas e'er his wont to love his captive maids.

Nurse: 'Tis true, he loved the captive Trojan maid,

Young Priam's sister; but he gave her up.

Recall how many dames, how many maids

Aforetime he has loved, this wandering swain.365

The Arcadian maiden Auge, while she led

The choral dance of Pallas, roused his love

And suffered straight his passionate embrace.

But from his heart she quickly fell away,

And now retains no traces of his love.

Why mention others? The Thespiades

Enjoyed the passing love of Hercules,370

But are forgotten. Soon, a wanderer

Upon Timolus, he caressed the queen

Of Lydia, and, smitten by her love,

He sat beside the whirling distaff there,

His doughty fingers on the moistened thread.

His neck no longer bears the lion's spoil;

But there he sits, a languid, love-sick slave,

His shaggy locks with Phrygian turban bound,375

And dripping with the costly oil of myrrh.

Yes, everywhere he feels the fires of love,

But always does he glow with transient flame.

Deianira: But lovers after many transient flames,

Are wont at last to choose a single love.

Nurse: And could Alcides choose instead of thee

A slave, the daughter of his enemy?380

Deianira: As budding groves put on a joyous form

When spring's warm breezes clothe the naked boughs;

But, when the northwind rages in their stead,

And savage winter strips the leaves away,

Thou seest naught but bare and shapeless trunks:

So this my beauty, which has traveled far385

Along the road of life, has lost its bloom,

And gleams less brightly than in former years.

Behold that loveliness—but Oh, whate'er

Was once by many suitors sought in me,

Has vanished quite; for toils of motherhood

Have stolen my beauty, and with speeding foot

Advancing age has hurried it away.390

But, as thou seest, this slave has not yet lost

Her glorious charms. Her queenly robes, 'tis true,

Have yielded to the garb of poverty;

Still, through her very grief her beauty shines,

And nothing save her kingdom has she lost

By this hard stroke of fate. This fear of her395

Doth vex my heart and take away my sleep.

I once was in the eyes of all the world

The wife most to be praised; and every bride

Longed for a mate like mine with envious prayers;

And every soul that asked the gods for aught,

Took me as type and measure of her vows.400

What father shall I ever find, O nurse,

To equal Jove? What husband like to mine

In all the world? Though he, Eurystheus' self,

Beneath whose power my Hercules is placed,

Should take me for his wife, 'twould not suffice.

A trifling thing, to miss a royal couch;405

But far she falls who loses Hercules.

Nurse: But children often win a husband's love.

Deianira: My rival's child perchance will win him too.

Nurse: I think that slave is but a gift for thee.

Deianira: This fellow whom thou seest wandering410

Throughout our Grecian cities, big with fame,

A tawny lion's spoils upon his back,

And in his dreadful hand a massive club;

Who takes their realms away from haughty kings,

And gives them to the weak; whose praise is sung

By men of every land throughout the world:415

This man is but a trifler, without thought

Of winning deathless glory for himself.

He wanders through the earth, not in the hope

That he may rival Jupiter, or go

With great renown throughout the towns of Greece;

His quest is ever love, the maiden's couch.

He takes by force what is refused to him;420

He rages 'gainst the nations, seeks his brides

Amidst the ruins of a people's hopes.

And this wild carnival of lustful crime

Is by the honored name, heroic, called.

But now, illustrious Oechalia fell;

One sun, one day beheld it stand—and fall.

And of the strife the only cause was love.

As often as a father shall refuse425

To give his daughter unto Hercules,

And be the father of his enemy,

So often need he be in mortal fear.

If he is not accepted as a son,

He smites in rage. Why then do I preserve

In harmless inactivity these hands,

Until he feign another fit of rage,

And stretch his bow with deadly aim at me,

And slaughter both his wife and child at once?430

Thus 'tis his wont to put away his wives;

And such his cruel method of divorce.

But he cannot be held the guilty one!

For he contrives to make the world believe

That Juno is the cause of all his crimes.

O sluggish passion, why inactive stand?

Anticipate his crime, and act at once

While still thy hands are burning for the deed.435

Nurse: Wilt kill thy husband?

Deianira: And my rival's too.

Nurse: The son of Jove?

Deianira: Alcmena's son as well.

Nurse: With the sword?

Deianira: The sword.

Nurse: If not?

Deianira: With guile I'll slay.

Nurse: What madness this?

Deianira: That which I learned of him.

Nurse: Whom Juno could not harm wilt thou destroy?440

Deianira: Celestial anger only wretched makes

Those whom it touches; mortal wrath destroys.

Nurse: Oh, spare thy husband, wretched one, and fear.

Deianira: The one who first has learned the scorn of death,

Scorns everything. 'Tis sweet to meet the sword.

Nurse: Thy grief is all too great, my foster-child;

Let not his fault claim more than equal hate.445

Why dost so sternly judge a light offense?

Nay, suit thy grieving to thine injury.

Deianira: But dost thou call a mistress light offense?

Of all that feeds my grief, count this the worst.

Nurse: And has thy love for great Alcides fled?

Deianira: Not fled, dear nurse, believe me; still it lies450

Securely fixed within my inmost heart.

But outraged love is poignant misery.

Nurse: By magic arts united to their prayers

Do wives full oft their wandering husbands bind.

I have myself in midst of winter's cold

Commanded trees to clothe themselves in green,

The thunderbolt to stop; I've roused the sea455

When no wind blew, and calmed the swollen waves;

The thirsty plain has opened at my touch

To springs of water; rocks give way to me,

And doors fly open; when I bid them stand

The shades of hell obey, and talk with me;

The infernal dog is still at my command;460

Midnight has seen the sun, midday the night.

For sea, land, heaven, and hell obey my will,

And nothing can withstand my potent charms.

Then let us bend him; charms will find the way.

Deianira: What magic herbs does distant Pontus yield,465

Or Pindus 'neath the rocks of Thessaly,

Where I may find a charm to bend his will?

Though Luna leave the stars and fall to earth,

Obedient to thy magic; though the crops

In winter ripen; though the hurtling bolt

Stand still at thy command; though all the laws470

Of nature be reversed, and stars shine out

Upon the noonday skies—he would not yield.

Nurse: But Love has conquered e'en the heavenly gods.

Deianira: Perhaps by one alone he will himself

Be conquered, and give spoils of war to him,

And so become Alcides' latest task.

But by each separate god of heaven I pray,475

By this my fear: what secret I disclose

Keep hidden thou and close within thy breast.

Nurse: What secret wouldst thou then so closely guard?

Deianira: I mean no weapons, arms, or threatening flames.

Nurse: I can give pledge of faith, if it be free480

From sin; for sometimes faith itself is sin.

Deianira: Lest someone hear my secret, look about;

In all directions turn thy watchful gaze.

Nurse: Behold, the place is free from curious eyes.

Deianira: Deep hidden, far within this royal pile,485

There is a cave that guards my secret well.

Neither the rising sun can reach the spot

With its fresh beams; nor can its latest rays,

When Titan leads the weary day to rest,

And plunges 'neath the ruddy ocean's waves.

There lies a charm that can restore to me490

The love of Hercules. I'll tell thee all.

The giver of the charm was Nessus, he

Whom Nephele to bold Ixion bore,

Where lofty[27] Pindus towers to the skies,

And high above the clouds cold Othrys stands.

For when, compelled by dread Alcides' club495

To shift with ready ease from form to form

Of beasts, and, overcome in every form,

At last bold AcheloÜs bowed his head

With its one horn defiled; then Hercules,

Exulting in his triumph, claimed his bride

And bore me off to Argos. Then, it chanced,500

Evenus' stream that wanders through the plain,

Its whirling waters bearing to the sea,

Was swollen beyond its banks[28] with turbid flood.

Here Nessus, well accustomed to the stream,

Required a price for bearing me across;505

And on his back, where beast and human join,

He took me, boldly stemming every wave.

Now was fierce Nessus well across the stream,

And still in middle flood Alcides fared,

Breasting with mighty strides the eager waves;

When he, beholding Hercules afar,510

Cried, "Thou shalt be my wife, my booty thou,

For Hercules is held within the stream;"

And clasping me was galloping away.

But now the waves could not thwart Hercules.

"O faithless ferryman," he shouted out,

"Though Ganges and the Ister join their floods,515

I shall o'ercome them both and check thy flight."

His arrow sped before his words were done,

Transfixing Nessus with a mortal wound,

And stayed his flight. Then he, with dying eyes

Seeking the light, within his hand caught up520

The flowing[29] gore; and in his hollow hoof,

Which he with savage hand had wrenched away,

He poured and handed it to me, and said:

"This blood, magicians say, contains a charm,

Which can a wavering love restore; for so

Thessalian dames by Mycale were taught,525

Who only, 'midst all wonder-working crones,

Could lure the moon from out the starry skies.

A garment well anointed with this gore

Shalt thou present to him," the centaur said,

"If e'er a hated rival steal thy couch,

If e'er thy husband in a fickle mood

To heavenly Jove another daughter give.530

Let not the light of day shine on the charm,

But in the thickest darkness let it lie.

So shall the blood its magic power retain."

So spake he; o'er his words a silence fell,

And the sleep of death upon his weary limbs.

Do thou, who knowest now my secret plans,535

Make haste and bring this charm to me, that so

Its force, imparted to a gleaming robe,

May at the touch dart through his soul, his limbs,

And through the very marrow of his bones.

Nurse: With speed will I thy bidding do, dear child.

And do thou call upon the god of love,

Invincible, who with his tender hand540

Doth speed his arrows with unerring aim.

[Exit Nurse.]

[Exit.]

Chorus of Aetolian women: We weep for thee, O lady dear,

And for thy couch dishonored—we,

The comrades of thy earliest years,

Weep and lament thy fate.585

How often have we played with thee

In AcheloÜs' shallow pools,

When now the swollen floods of spring

Had passed away, and gently now,

With graceful sweep, the river ran;

When mad Lycormas ceased to roll590

His headlong waters on.

How oft have we, a choral band,

To Pallas' altars gone with thee;

How oft in Theban baskets borne595

The sacred Bacchic mysteries,

When now the wintry stars have fled,

When each third summer calls the sun;

And when, the sacred rites complete

To Ceres, queen of golden grain,

Eleusin hides her worshipers

Within her mystic cave.

Now too, whatever fate thou fear'st,600

Accept us as thy trusted friends;

For rare is such fidelity

When better fortune fails.

O thou, who wield'st the scepter's power,

Whoe'er thou art, though eagerly

The people throng within thy courts,605

And press for entrance at thy doors;

And though the crowds press thick about

Where'er thou tak'st thy way: be sure

That in so many seeming friends,

Scarce one is true.

Erinys keeps the gilded gate;

And when the great doors swing apart,610

Then cunning treachery creeps in

And fraud, and murderous dagger points.

Whene'er thou think'st to walk abroad,

Base envy as thy comrade goes.

As often as the morning dawns

Be sure a king from fear of death615

Has been delivered. Few there are

Who love the king, and not his power.

For 'tis the glitter of the throne

That fires most hearts to loyalty.

Now one is eager next the king

To walk before the gaze of men,

And so gain luster for himself;

For greed of glory burns his heart.620

Another from the royal stores

Seeks to supply his own desires;

And yet not all the precious sands

Of Hister's streams could satisfy,

Nor Lydia sate his thirst for gold;

Nor that far land where Zephyr blows,

Which looks in wonder on the gleam625

Of Tagus' golden sands.

Were all the wealth of Hebrus his;

If rich Hydaspes were his own;

If through his fields, with all its stream,

He saw the Ganges flowing: still630

For greed, base greed 'twould not suffice.

One honors kings and courts of kings,

Not that his careful husbandmen

Forever stooping o'er the plow

May never cease their toil for him;

Or that his peasantry may till635

His thousand fields: but wealth alone,

Which he may hoard away, he seeks.

Another worships kings, that so

All other men he may oppress,

May ruin many, none assist;

And with this sole aim covets power,

That he may use it ill.

How few live out their fated span!640

Whom yesternight saw radiant

With joy, the newborn day beholds

In wretched case. How rare it is

To find old age and happiness

Combined. More soft than Tyrian couch,

The greensward soothes to fearless sleep;645

But gilded ceilings break our rest,

And sleepless through the night we lie

On beds of luxury.

Oh, should the rich lay bare their hearts,

What fears which lofty fortune breeds

Would be revealed! The Bruttian coast650

When Corus lashes up the sea

Is calmer far. Not so the poor:

His heart is ever full of peace.

From shallow beechen cups he drinks,

But not with trembling hands; his food

Is cheap and common, but he sees655

No naked sword above his head.

'Tis in the cup of gold alone

That blood is mingled with the wine.

The poor man's wife no necklace wrought

Of costly pearls, the red sea's gift,660

May wear; no gems from eastern shores

Weigh down her ears; nor does she wear

Soft scarlet wools in Tyrian dye

Twice dipped; not hers with Lydian art

To 'broider costly silks whose threads665

The Serians under sunlit skies

From orient treetops gather; she

With common herbs must dye the web

Which she with unskilled hands has wov'n:

But still her husband is her own,670

Her couch by rivals undisturbed.

But favored brides, whose wedding day

The thronging people celebrate,

Fate with her cruel torch pursues.

The poor no happiness can know

Unless he sees the fortunate

From their high station fallen.

Whoever shuns the middle course675

Can never in safe pathways go.

When once bold PhaËthon essayed

Within his father's car to stand

And give the day, and did not fare

Along the accustomed track, but sought

With wandering wheels to make his way680

With Phoebus' torch 'midst unknown stars—

Himself he ruined and the earth

In one destruction. Daedalus

The middle course of heaven pursued,

And so to peaceful shores attained

And gave no sea its name. His son,685

Young Icarus, dared rival birds

In flight, despised his father's wings,

And soared high up into the realm

Of Phoebus' rays: headlong he fell

And to an unknown sea his name

He gave. So are great fortunes joined690

To mighty ills.

Let others then as fortunate

And great be hailed; I wish no share

Of popular renown. My boat

Is frail and needs must hug the shore.

And let no strong wind force my bark695

Far out to sea; for fortune spares

Safe-harbored boats, but seeks the ships

In mid sea proudly sailing on,

Their topsails in the clouds.

But why with pallid face, in fear,700

Like some Bacchante smitten sore

With madness, comes our princess forth?

What new reverse of fortune's wheel

Has come to vex thy tortured soul?

For though thou speakest ne'er a word, poor queen,

Whate'er thou hidest, in thy face is seen.

FOOTNOTES:

[27] Reading, celsus.

[28] Reading, ripis.

[29] Reading, fluentem.

ACT III

Deianira [hurrying distractedly out of the palace]: A nameless terror fills my stricken limbs, 705

My hair stands up in horror, and my soul,

But now so passion tossed, is dumb with fear;

My heart beats wildly, and my liver throbs

With pulsing veins. As when the storm-tossed sea710

Still heaves and swells, although the skies are clear

And winds have died away; so is my mind

Still tossed and restless, though my fear is stayed.

When once the fortunate begin to feel

The wrath of god, their sorrows never cease.

For so does fortune ever end in woe.

Nurse: What new distress, poor soul, has come to thee?715

Deianira: But now, when I had sent away the robe

With Nessus' poisoned blood besmeared, and I,

With sad forebodings, to my chamber went,

Some nameless fear oppressed my anxious heart,

A fear of treachery. I thought to prove

The charm. Fierce Nessus, I bethought me then,

Had bidden me to keep the blood from flame;720

And this advice itself foreboded fraud.

It chanced the sun was shining, bright and warm,

Undimmed by clouds. As I recall it now,

My fear scarce suffers me to tell the tale.[30]

Into the blazing radiance of the sun725

I cast the blood-stained remnant of the cloth

With which the fatal garment had been smeared.

The thing writhed horribly, and burst aflame

As soon as Phoebus warmed it with his rays.

Oh, 'tis a dreadful portent that I tell!

As when the snows on Mimas' sparkling sides

Are melted by the genial breath of spring;730

As on Leucadia's crags the heaving waves

Are dashed and break in foam upon the beach;

Or as the incense on the holy shrines

Is melted by the warming altar fires:

So did the woolen fragment melt away.735

And while in wonder and amaze I looked,

The object of my wonder disappeared.

Nay, e'en the ground itself began to foam,

And what the poison touched to shrink away.

[Hyllus is seen approaching.]

But hither comes my son with face of fear,740

And hurrying feet.

[To Hyllus.]

What tidings dost thou bear?

Hyllus: Oh, speed thee, mother, to whatever place

On land or sea, among the stars of heaven,

Or in the depths of hell, can keep thee safe

Beyond the deadly reach of Hercules.

Deianira: Some great disaster doth my mind presage.745

Hyllus: Hie thee to Juno's shrine, the victor's realm;

This refuge waits thee 'midst the loss of all.

Deianira: Tell what disaster hath o'erta'en me now.

Hyllus: That glory and sole bulwark of the world,

Whom in the place of Jove the fates had given750

To bless the earth, O mother, is no more.

A strange infection wastes Alcides' limbs;

And he who conquered every form of beast,

He, he, the victor is o'ercome with woe.

What wouldst thou further hear?

Deianira: All wretched souls

Are e'er in haste to know their miseries.

Come, tell, what present fate o'erhangs our house?755

O wretched, wretched house! Now, now indeed,

Am I a widow, exiled, fate-o'ercome.

Hyllus: Not thou alone dost weep for Hercules;

For in his fall the universe laments.

Think not on private griefs; the human race

Lifts up the voice of mourning. All the world760

Is grieving with the selfsame grief thou feel'st.

Thou shar'st thy misery with every land.

Thou hast, indeed, forestalled their grief, poor soul;

Thou first, but not alone, dost weep for him.

Deianira: Yet tell me, tell, I pray, how near to death765

Lies my Alcides now.

Hyllus: Death flees his grasp,

Death whom he conquered once in its own realm;

Nor will the fates permit so great a crime.

Perchance dread Clotho from her trembling hand

Has thrown aside her distaff, and in fear

Refuses to complete Alcides' fate.770

O day, O awful day! and must this be

The final day for mighty Hercules?

Deianira: To death and the world of shades, to that dark realm,

Dost say that he has gone already? Why,

Oh, why may I not be the first to go?

But tell me truly, if he still doth live.

Hyllus: Euboea stands with high uplifted head,775

On every side lashed by the tossing waves.

Here high Caphereus faces Phrixus' sea,

And here rough Auster blows. But on the side

Which feels the blast of snowy Aquilo,

Euripus restless leads his wandering waves;

Seven times his heaving tides he lifts on high,780

Seven times they sink again, before the sun

His weary horses plunges in the sea.

Here on a lofty cliff, 'midst drifting clouds,

An ancient temple of Cenaean Jove

Gleams far and wide. When at the altars stood

The votive herd, and all the grove was full

Of hollow bellowings of the gilded bulls;785

Then Hercules put off his lion's skin

With gore besmeared, his heavy club laid down,

And freed his shoulders of the quiver's weight.

Then, gleaming brightly in the robe thou gav'st,

His shaggy locks with hoary poplar wreathed,

He lit the altar fires, and prayed: "O Jove,790

Not falsely called my father, take these gifts

And let the sacred fire blaze brightly up

With copious incense, which the Arab rich

From Saba's trees in worship of the sun

Collects. All monsters of the earth, the sea,

The sky have been subdued at last, and I,

As victor over all, am home returned.795

Lay down thy thunderbolt." So prayed he then.

But even as he prayed a heavy groan

Fell from his lips, and he was horror struck

And mute awhile. And then with dreadful cries

He filled the air. As when a votive bull

Feels in his wounded neck the deep-driven ax,

And flees away, retaining still the steel,

And fills with loud uproar the spacious hall;800

Or as the thunder rumbles round the sky:

So did Alcides smite the very stars

And sea with his loud roarings. Chalcis heard,

The Cyclades re-echoed with the sound,

Caphereus' rocky crags and all the grove

Resounded with the groans of Hercules.805

We saw him weep. The common people deemed

His former madness had come back to him.

His servants fled away in fear. But he,

With burning gaze, seeks one among them all,

Ill-fated Lichas, who, with trembling hands810

Upon the altar, even then forestalled

Through deadly fear the bitter pangs of death,

And so left meager food for punishment.

Then did Alcides grasp the quivering corpse

And cried: "By such a hand as this, ye fates,

Shall it be said that I was overcome?

Has Lichas conquered Hercules? See then

Another slaughter: Hercules in turn815

Slays Lichas. Be my noble deeds by this

Dishonored; let this be my crowning task."

He spake, and high in air the wretched boy

Was hurled, the very heavens with his gore

Besprinkling. So the Getan arrow flies,

Far leaping from the bowman's hand; so flies

The Cretan dart, but far within the mark.820

His head against the jagged rocks is dashed,

His headless body falls into the sea,

Death[31] claiming both. "But hold," Alcides said,

"No madness steals my reason as of yore;

This is an evil greater far than rage

Of madness; 'gainst myself alone I turn."825

He stays him not to tell his cause of woe,

But rages wildly, tearing at his flesh,

His huge limbs rending with his savage hands.

He strove to tear away the fatal robe;

But this alone of all his mighty deeds

Alcides could not do. Yet striving still

To tear the garment off, he tore the flesh.

The robe seemed part of that gigantic form,830

Yea, part and parcel of the flesh itself.

The cause of this dire suffering is hid,

But yet there is a cause. His pain at length

Unable to endure, prone on the earth

He grovels; now for cooling water calls.

But water has no power to soothe his pain.835

He seeks the shore and plunges in the sea,

The while his servant's hands direct his steps.

Oh, bitter lot, that mighty Hercules

Should come to be the mate of common men!

And now a vessel from Euboea's shore

Bears off the ponderous bulk of Hercules,

The gentle southwind wafting it along.840

His spirit from his mighty frame has fled,

And o'er his eyes have fall'n the shades of night.

Deianira: Why dost thou hesitate? why stand amazed,

O soul, that thus at last the deed is done?[32]

But Jove demands again his son of thee;

Juno, her rival; yea, to all the world

Must he be given back. Vain such appeal.

Make then what reparation[33] yet thou mayst:

Through this my guilty body let the sword845

Be driven. Thus, thus, 'tis well that it be done.

But can this puny hand of mine atone

For crime so great? O sire of Hercules,

Destroy me with thy hurtling thunderbolt,

Thy guilty daughter. With no common dart

Arm thine avenging hand; but use that shaft

With which, had Hercules ne'er sprung from thee,850

Thou wouldst have scorched the hydra. As a pest

Unprecedented smite me, as a scourge

Far worse to bear than any stepdame's wrath.

Such bolt as once at wandering PhaËthon

Thou hurledst, aim at me. For I myself

Have ruined all mankind in Hercules.855

But why demand a weapon of the gods?

For 'tis her shame that great Alcides' wife

Should pray for death. Let prayers give way to deeds,

And from myself let me demand my death.

Take then the sword in haste. But why the sword?

Whate'er can work my death is sword enough.

From some heaven-piercing cliff I'll cast me down.860

Yea, let our neighboring Oeta be my choice,

Whose top is first to greet the newborn day.

From its high peak I'll hurl me down to death.

May I be rent asunder on its crags,

And every rock demand some part of me;

Let sharp projections pierce my mangled hands,

And all the rugged mountainside be red865

With blood. One death is not enough, 'tis true;

But still its agony can be prolonged.

O hesitating soul, thou canst not choose

What form of death to die. Oh, that the sword

Of Hercules within my chamber hung!

How fitting 'twere by such a sword to die!

But is't enough that by one hand I fall?870

Assemble, all ye nations of the world,

And hurl upon me rocks and blazing brands;

Let no hand shirk its task of punishment,

For your avenger have I done to death.

Now with impunity shall cruel kings

Their scepters wield; and monstrous ills shall rise875

With none to let; again shall shrines be sought,

Where worshiper and victim are alike

In human form. A broad highway for crime

Have I prepared; and, by removing him

Who was their bulwark, have exposed mankind

To every form of monstrous man and beast

And savage god. Why dost thou cease thy work,880

O wife of thundering Jove? Why dost thou not,

In imitation of thy brother, snatch

From his own hand the fiery thunderbolt,

And slay me here thyself? For thou hast lost

Great praise and mighty triumph by my act:

I have forestalled thee, Juno, in the death

Of this thy rival.

Hyllus: Wouldst to ruin doom

Thy house already tottering? This crime,

Whate'er it is, is all from error sprung.885

He is not guilty who unwitting sins.

Deianira: Whoe'er ignores his fate and spares himself,

Deservedly has erred, deserves to die.

Hyllus: He must be guilty who desires to die.

Deianira: Death, only, makes the erring innocent.890

Hyllus: Fleeing the sun—

Deianira: The sun himself flees me.

Hyllus: Wouldst leave thy life?

Deianira: A wretched life indeed;

I long to go where Hercules has gone.

Hyllus: He still survives, and breathes the air of heaven.

Deianira: Alcides died when first he was o'ercome.

Hyllus: Wilt leave thy son behind? forestall thy fates?895

Deianira: She whom her own son buries has lived long.

Hyllus: Follow thy husband.

Deianira: Chaste wives go before.

Hyllus: Who dooms himself to death confesses sin.

Deianira: No sinner seeks to shirk his punishment.

Hyllus: The life of many a man has been restored900

Whose guilt in judgment not in action lay.

Who blames the lot by fate assigned to him?

Deianira: He blames it to whom fate has been unkind.

Hyllus: But Hercules himself killed Megara,

And by his raging hands with deadly darts905

Transfixed his sons. Still, though a parricide,

Thrice guilty, he forgave himself the deed,

Blaming his madness. In Cinyphian waves

In Libya's land he washed his sin away,

And cleansed his hands. Then why, poor soul, shouldst thou

So hastily condemn thine own misdeeds?

Deianira: The fact that I have ruined Hercules910

Condemns my deeds. I welcome punishment.

Hyllus: If I know Hercules, he soon will come

Victorious over all his deadly woe;

And agony, o'ercome, will yield to him.

Deianira: The hydra's venom preys upon his frame;

A boundless pestilence consumes his limbs. 915

Hyllus: Think'st thou the poison of that serpent, slain,

Cannot be overcome by that brave man

Who met the living foe and conquered it?

He slew the hydra, and victorious stood,

Though in his flesh the poisonous fangs were fixed,

And o'er his limbs the deadly venom flowed. 920

Shall he, who overcame dread Nessus' self,

By this same Nessus' blood be overcome?

Deianira: 'Tis vain to stay one who is bent on death.

It is my will at once to flee the light.

Who dies with Hercules has lived enough.

Nurse: Now by these hoary locks, as suppliant, 925

And by these breasts which suckled thee, I beg:

Abate thy wounded heart's wild threatenings,

Give o'er thy dread resolve for cruel death.

Deianira: Whoe'er persuades the wretched not to die

Is cruel. Death is sometimes punishment, 930

But oft a boon, and brings forgiveness oft.

Nurse: Restrain at least thy hand, unhappy child,

That he may know the deed was born of fraud,

And was not purposed by his wife's design.

Deianira: I'll plead my cause before the bar of hell,

Whose gods, I think, will free me from my guilt,

Though I am self-condemned; these guilty hands 935

Will Pluto cleanse for me. Then, on thy banks,

O Lethe, with my memory clean I'll stand,

A grieving shade, awaiting him I love.

But thou, who rulest o'er the world of gloom,

Prepare some toil for me, some dreadful toil;

For this my fault outweighs all other sins

That heart of man has ever dared to do.

Nay, Juno's self was never bold enough 940

To rob the grieving world of Hercules.

Let Sisyphus from his hard labor cease,

And let his stone upon my shoulders press;

Let vagrant waves flee from my eager lips,

And that elusive water mock my thirst.

Upon thy whirling spokes have I deserved945

To be stretched out, O king of Thessaly.

Let greedy vultures feed upon my flesh.

One from the tale of the DanaÏdes

Is lacking[34] yet; let me the number fill.

Ye shades, make room for me; O Colchian wife,

Receive me as thy comrade there below.950

My deed is worse, far worse than both thy crimes,

Though thou as mother and as sister, too,

Hast sinned. Thou also, cruel queen of Thrace,

Take me as comrade of thy crimes. And thou,

Althaea, take thy daughter, for indeed

Thou shalt discern in me thy daughter true.

And yet not one of you has ever done955

Such deed as mine. O all ye faithful wives,

Who have your seats within the sacred groves,

Expel me from Elysium's blessed fields.

But faithless wives, who with their husbands' blood

Have stained their hands, who have forgotten quite

Their marriage vows and stood with naked sword960

Like Belus' bloody daughters, they will know

My deeds for theirs and praise them as their own.

To such a company of wives 'tis meet

That I betake myself; but even they

Will shun such dire companionship as mine.

O husband, strong, invincible, believe

My soul is innocent, although my hands

Are criminal. O mind too credulous!965

O Nessus, false and skilled in bestial guile!

Striving my hated rival to remove,

I have destroyed myself. O beaming sun,

And thou, O life, that by thy coaxing arts

Dost strive to hold the wretched in the light,

Begone! for every day is vile to me

That shineth not upon my Hercules.970

Oh, let me bear, myself, thy sufferings

And give my life for thee. Or shall I wait

And keep myself for death at thy right hand?

Hast still some strength in thee, and can thy hands

Still bend the bow and speed the fatal shaft?

Or do thy weapons lie unused, thy bow975

No more obedient to thy nerveless hand?

But if, perchance, thou still art strong to slay,

Undaunted husband, I await thy hand;

Yea, for this cause will I postpone my death.

As thou didst Lichas crush, though innocent,

Crush me, to other cities scatter me,

Yea, hurl me to a land to thee unknown.980

Destroy me as thou didst the Arcadian boar,

And every monster that resisted[35] thee.

But Oh, from them, my husband, thou didst come

Victorious and safe.

Hyllus: Give o'er, I pray,

My mother; cease to blame thy guiltless fates.

Thy deed was but an error, not a fault.

Deianira: My son, if thou wouldst truly filial be,

Come, slay thy mother. Why with trembling hand985

Dost thou stand there? Why turn away thy face?

Such crime as this is truest piety.

Still dost thou lack incentive for the deed?

Behold, this hand took Hercules from thee,

Took that great sire through whom thou dost derive

Thy blood from thundering Jove. I've stolen from thee

A greater glory than the life I gave990

At birth. If thou art all unskilled in crime,

Learn from thy mother; wouldst thou thrust the sword

Into my neck, or sheath it in my womb,

I'll make thy soul courageous for the deed.

Thou wilt not be the doer of this crime;

For though 'tis by thy hand that I shall fall,995

'Twill be my will. O son of Hercules,

Art thou afraid? Wilt thou not be like him,

Perform thy bidden tasks, the monsters slay?

Prepare thy dauntless hand. Behold my breast,

So full of cares, lies open to thy stroke.1000

Smite: I forgive the deed; the very fiends,

The dread Eumenides, will spare thy hand.

But hark! I hear their dreadful scourges sound.

See! Who is that who coils her snaky locks,

And at her ugly temples brandishes

Two deadly[36] darts? Why dost thou follow me,1005

O dire Megaera, with thy blazing brand?

Dost thou seek penalty for Hercules?

I will discharge it. O thou dreadful one,

Already have the arbiters of hell

Passed judgment on me? Lo, I see the doors

Of that sad prison-house unfold for me.

Who is that ancient man who on his back,

Worn with the toil, the stone's huge burden heaves?1010

And even as I look the conquered stone

Rolls back again. Who on the whirling wheel

Is racked? And see! There stands Tisiphone,

With ghastly, cruel face; she seeks revenge.

Oh, spare thy scourge, Megaera, spare, I pray,

Thy Stygian brands. 'Twas love that prompted me.1015

But what is this? The earth is tottering,

The palace roof is crashing to its fall.

Whence comes that threatening throng? Against me comes

The whole world rushing; see, on every side

The nations gnas h at me, demanding back

Their savior. O ye cities, spare, I pray.1020

Oh, whither shall I hide me from their rage?

Death is the only haven left to me.

By gleaming Phoebus' fiery disk I swear,

By all the gods of heaven: I go to death,

But leave Alcides still upon the earth.

[She rushes from the scene.]

Hyllus: Ah me, in mood of frenzy has she fled.

My mother's part in this sad tragedy1025

Is self-assigned; she is resolved to die.

My part remains to thwart her dread resolve.

O wretched piety! O filial love!

If now my mother's death I should prevent,

I wrong my father; if I let her die,

'Gainst her I sin. Crime stands on either hand;

Yet must I check her and true crime withstand.1030

Chorus: The sacred singer's word was true

Which once on Thracian Rhodope,

Orpheus, the heavenly Muse's son,

Sang to his lute Pierian:

That naught for endless life is made.1035

At his sweet strains the rushing stream

Its uproar stilled, and all its waves

Paused in forgetfulness of flight;

And while the waters stayed to hear,1040

The tribes far down the Hebrus' stream

Deemed that their river was no more.

All wingÉd creatures of the wood

And e'en the woods themselves came near

To listen; or, if far on high

Some bird was wheeling through the air,1045

To that sweet music swift he fell

On drooping wings. The mountains came:

Rough Athos with its Centaur herd,

And Rhodope, its drifted snows

Loosed by the magic of that song,1050

Stood by to hear. The Dryads left

The shelter of their oaken trunks

And gathered round the tuneful bard.

The beasts came, too, and with them came1055

Their lairs; hard by the fearless flocks

The tawny Afric lion crouched;

The timid does feared not the wolves;

And serpents crawled forth to the light,

Their venom quite forgot.1060

When through the doors of Taenara

He made his way to the silent land,

Sounding his mournful lyre the while,

The glooms of Tartara were filled

With his sad song; and the sullen gods

Of Erebus were moved to tears.1065

He feared not the pool of the Stygian stream

By whose dread waves the heavenly gods

Make oath unbreakable.

The whirling rim of the restless wheel

Stood still, its breathless speed at rest.1070

The immortal liver of Tityos

Grew, undevoured, while at the song

The spellbound birds forgot their greed.

Thou, too, didst hear, O boatman grim,

And thy bark that plies the infernal stream

With oars all motionless came on.

Then first the hoary Phrygian1075

Forgot his thirst, although no more

The mocking waters fled his lips

But stood enchanted; now no more

He reaches hungry hands to grasp

The luscious fruit.

When thus through that dark world of souls

Sweet Orpheus poured such heavenly strains1080

That the impious rock of Sisyphus

Was moved to follow him;

Then did the goddesses of fate

Renew the exhausted thread of life

For fair Eurydice. But when,

Unmindful of the law they gave,1085

And scarce believing that his wife

Was following, the hapless man

Looked back, he lost his prize of song;

For she, who to the very verge

Of life had come again, fell back

And died again.

Then, seeking solace still in song,1090

Orpheus unto the Getans sang:

The gods themselves are under law,

Yea he, who through the changing year

Directs the seasons in their course.1095

Dead Hercules bids us believe

The bard, that not for any man

The fates reweave the broken web;

And that all things which have been born,1100

And shall be, are but born to die.

When to the world the day shall come

On which the reign of law shall cease,

Then shall the southern heavens fall,

And overwhelm broad Africa1105

With all her tribes; the northern skies

Shall fall upon those barren plains

Where sweep the blasts of Boreas.

Then from the shattered heaven the sun

Shall fall, and day shall be no more.1110

The palace of the heavenly ones

Shall sink in ruins, dragging down

The east and western skies. Then death

And chaos shall o'erwhelm the gods1115

In common ruin; and at last,

When all things else have been destroyed,

Death shall bring death unto itself.

Where shall the earth find haven then?

Will hades open wide her doors

To let the shattered heavens in?1120

Or is the space 'twixt heaven and earth

Not great enough (perchance too great)

For all the evils of the world?

What place is great enough to hold

Such monstrous ills of fate?[37] What place

Will hold the gods? Shall one place then1125

Contain three kingdoms—sea and sky

And Tartara?—

But what outrageous clamor this

That fills our frightened ears? Behold,

It is the voice of Hercules.1130

[30] Lines 725-28 follow the text of Schroeder.

[31] Reading, funus.

[32] Reading, quid stupes factum scelus?

[33] Reading, reddi.

[34] Reading, vacat.

[35] Reading, restitit.

[36] Reading, atras.

[37] Reading, fati.

ACT IV

[Enter Hercules in the extremity of suffering.]

Hercules: Turn back thy panting steeds, thou shining sun,

And bid the night come forth. Blot out the day,

And let the heavens, with pitchy darkness filled,

Conceal my dying pains from Juno's eyes.

Now, father, were it fitting to recall

Dark chaos; now the joinings of the skies1135

Should be asunder rent, and pole from pole

Be cleft. Why, father, dost thou spare the stars?

Thy Hercules is lost. Now, Jupiter,

Look well to every region of the heavens,

Lest any Gyas hurl again the crags

Of Thessaly, and Othrys be again1140

An easy missile for Enceladus.

Now, even now will haughty Pluto loose

The gates of hell, strike off his father's chains,

And give him back to heaven. Since Hercules,

Who on the earth has seen thy thunderbolt

And lightning flash, must turn him back to Styx;

Enceladus the fierce will rise again,1145

And hurl against the gods that mighty weight

Which now oppresses him. O Jupiter,

My death throughout the kingdom of the sky

Shall shake thy sovereignty. Then, ere thy throne

Become the giants' spoil, give burial

Beneath the ruined universe to me;

Oh, rend thy kingdom ere 'tis rent from thee.1150

Chorus: No empty fears, O Thunderer's son,

Dost thou express: for soon again

Shall Pelion on Ossa rest;

And Athos, heaped on Pindus, thrust

Its woods amidst the stars of heaven.

Then shall Typhoeus heave aside1155

The crags of Tuscan Ischia;

Enceladus, not yet o'ercome

By thunderbolts, shall bear aloft

The huge Aetnaean furnaces,

And rend the gaping mountain side.

So shall it be; for even now

The skies are tottering with thy fall.1160

Hercules: Lo I, who have escaped the hands of death,

Who scorned the Styx, and thence through Lethe's pool

Returned with spoil so grim and terrible,

That Titan from his reeling chariot

Was well-nigh thrown; I, whom three realms have felt:

I feel the pangs of death, and yet no sword1165

Has pierced my side, nor has some mighty crag,

All Othrys, been the weapon of my death;

No giant with his fierce and gaping jaws

Has heaped high Pindus on my lifeless corpse.

Without an enemy am I o'erwhelmed;1170

And, what brings greater anguish to my soul

(Shame to my manhood!), this my final day

Has seen no monster slain. Ah, woe is me!

My life is squandered—and for no return.

O thou, whose rule is over all the world;

Ye gods of heaven who have beheld my deeds;

O earth, is't fitting that your Hercules1175

Should die by such a death? Oh, cruel shame!

Oh, base and bitter end—that fame should say

Great Hercules was by a woman slain,

He who in mortal combat has o'ercome[38]

So many men and beasts! If changeless fate

Had willed that I by woman's hand should die,1180

And if to such base end my thread of life,

Alas, must lead, Oh, that I might have fallen

By Juno's hate. 'Twould be by woman's hand,

But one who holds the heavens in her sway.

If that, ye gods, were more than I should ask,

The Amazon, beneath the Scythian skies

Brought forth, might better have o'ercome my strength.

But by what woman's hand shall I be said,1185

Great Juno's enemy, to have been slain?

This is for thee, my stepdame, deeper shame.

Why shouldst thou call this day a day of joy?

What baleful thing like this has earth produced

To sate thy wrath? A mortal woman's hate

Has far excelled thine own. 'Twas late thy shame,1190

To feel thyself by Hercules alone

Outmatched; but now must thou confess thyself

By two o'ercome. Shame on such heavenly wrath!

Oh, that the Nemean lion of my blood

Had drunk his fill, and Oh, that I had fed

The hydra with his hundred snaky heads

Upon my gore! Oh, that the centaurs fierce1195

Had made a prey of me; or 'midst the shades

I, bound upon the everlasting rock,

Were sitting, lost in misery! But no:

From every distant land I've taken spoil,

While fate looked on amazed; from hellish Styx

Have I come back to earth; the bonds of Dis

I have o'ercome. Death shunned me everywhere,1200

That I might lack at last a glorious end.

Alas for all the monsters I have slain!

Oh, why did not three-headed Cerberus,

When he had seen the sunlight, drag me back

To hell? Why, far away 'neath western skies,

Did not the monstrous shepherd lay me low?

And those twin serpents huge—ah, woe is me,

How often have I 'scaped a glorious death!1205

What honor comes from such an end as this?

Chorus: Dost see how, conscious of his fame,

He does not shrink from Lethe's stream?

Not grief for death, but shame he feels

At this his cause of death; he longs

Beneath some giant's vasty bulk1210

To draw his final breath, to feel

Some mountain-heaving Titan's weight

Oppressing him, to owe his death

To some wild, raging beast. But no,

Poor soul, because of thine own hand

There is no deadly monster more.1215

What worthy author of thy death,

Save that right hand of thine, is left?

Hercules: Alas, what Scorpion, what Cancer, torn

From Summer's burning zone, inflames my breast?

My lungs, once filled with pulsing streams of blood,1220

Are dry and empty now; my liver burns,

Its healthy juices parched and dried away;

And all my blood is by slow creeping fires

Consumed. Destruction on my skin feeds first,

Then deep within my flesh it eats its way,1225

Devours my sides, my limbs and breast consumes,

Dries up the very marrow of my bones.

There in my empty bones the pest remains;

Nor can my massive frame for long endure,

But even now, with broken, crumbling joints,

Begins to fall away. My strength is gone,1230

And e'en the limbs of mighty Hercules

Are not enough to satisfy this pest.

Alas, how mighty must that evil be,

When I confess it great! Oh, cruel wrong!

Now see, ye cities, see what now remains

Of famous Hercules. Dost know thy son,

O father Jove? Was't with such arms as these1235

That I crushed out the Nemean monster's life?

Did this hand stretch that mighty bow of mine

Which brought to earth from out the very stars

The vile Stymphalian birds? These sluggish feet—

Did they outstrip the swiftly fleeing stag,

With golden antlers gleaming on his head?

Did rocky Calpe, shattered by these hands,1240

Let out the sea? So many monstrous beasts,

So many cruel men, so many kings—

Did these poor hands of mine destroy them all?

Upon these shoulders did the heavens rest?

Is this my mighty frame? Is this my neck?

Are these the hands which once the tottering skies

Upheld? Oh, can it be that ever I

The Stygian watchdog dragged into the light?1245

Where are those powers, which ere their proper time

Are dead and buried? Why on Jupiter

As father do I call? Why, wretched one,

Do I lay claim to heaven by right of him?

For now, Oh, now will I be thought the son

Of old Amphitryon. O deadly pest,

Whate'er thou art which in my vitals lurk'st,

Come forth. Why with a hidden agony1250

Dost thou afflict my heart? What Scythian sea

Beneath the frozen north, what Tethys slow,

What Spanish Calpe nigh the Moorish shore

Begot and brought thee forth? O evil dire!

Art thou some crested serpent brandishing

Its hideous head; or some fell thing of ill1255

As yet unknown to me, produced perchance

From Hydra's poisonous gore, or left on earth

By Cerberus, the deadly dog of Styx?

Oh, every ill art thou, and yet no ill.

What are thy form and features? Grant at least

That I may know the thing by which I die.

Whate'er thy name, whatever monster thou,1260

Come out, and show thy terror to my face.

What enemy has made a way for thee

Unto my inmost heart? Behold my hands

Have torn aside my burning skin and so

My bleeding flesh disclosed. But deeper yet

Its hiding-place. Oh, woe invincible

As Hercules! But whence these grievous cries?1265

And whence these tears which trickle down my cheeks?

My face, unmoved by grief, has never yet

Been wet with tears; but now, Oh, shame to me,

Has learned to weep. Where is the day, the land,

That has beheld the tears of Hercules?

Dry-eyed have I my troubles ever borne.

To thee alone, dire pest, to thee alone1270

That strength has yielded which so many ills

Has overcome. Thou first, yea, first of all

Hast forced the tear-drops from these stubborn eyes.

For, harder than the bristling crag, or steel,

Or than the wandering Symplegades,

Hast thou my stern face softened, and my tears,

Unwilling, forced to flow. And now the world,1275

O thou most mighty ruler of the skies,

Has seen me giving way to tears and groans;

And, that which brings me greater anguish still,

My stepdame too has seen. But lo, again

The scorching heat flames up and burns my heart.

Oh, slay me, father, with thy heavenly dart.

Chorus: Where is the strength that can withstand

The power of suffering? But now

More hard than Thracian Haemus' crags,1280

Sterner than savage northern skies,

He is by agony subdued.

His fainting head upon his breast

Falls low; his massive frame he shifts

From side to side; now and again

His manly courage dries his tears.1285

So, with however warm a flame

Bright Titan labors to dissolve

The arctic snows, still are his fires

By those bright, icy rays outshone.

Hercules: O father, turn and look upon my woes.1290

Never till now has great Alcides fled

To thee for aid; not when around my limbs

The deadly hydra, fertile in its death,

Its writhing serpents folded. 'Mid the pools

Of hell, by that thick pall of death I stood

Surrounded close; and yet I called thee not.

How many dreadful beasts have I o'ercome,1295

How many kings and tyrants; yet my face

Have I ne'er turned in suppliance to the sky.

This hand of mine alone has been the god

Who heard my prayers. No gleaming thunderbolts

Have ever flashed from heaven on my account.

But now at last has come a woeful time

Which bids me ask for aid. This day, the first1300

And last, shall hear the prayers of Hercules.

One thunderbolt I ask, and only one.

Consider me a giant storming heaven.

Yea, heaven I might have stormed in very truth;

But, since I deemed thee sire, I spared the skies.

Oh, whether thou be harsh or merciful,1305

Stretch forth thy hand and grant me speedy death,

And gain this great renown unto thy name.

Or, if thy righteous hand refuse a task

So impious, send forth from Sicily

Those burning Titans, who with giant hands

May Pindus huge upheave, and Ossa too,1310

And overwhelm me with their crushing weight.

Let dire Bellona burst the bars of hell,

And with her gleaming weapon pierce my heart;

Or let fierce Mars be armÉd for my death;

He is my brother; true, but Juno's son.

Thou also, sprung from father Jove, and so

Alcides' sister, bright Athene, come,1315

And hurl thy spear against thy brother's breast.

And e'en to thee I stretch my suppliant hands,

O cruel stepdame; thou at least, I pray,

Let fly thy dart (so by a woman's hand

I may be slain), thine anger soothed at last,

Thy thirst for vengeance sated. Why dost thou

Still nurse thy wrath? Why further seek revenge?1320

Behold Alcides suppliant to thee,

Which no wild beast, no land has ever seen.

But now, O Juno, when I need thy wrath,

Is now thine anger cooled, thy hate forgot?

Thou giv'st me life when 'tis for death I pray.

O lands, and countless cities of the earth,1325

Is there no one among you all to bring

A blazing torch for mighty Hercules?

Will no one give me arms? Why take away

My weapons from my hands? Then let no land

Bring forth dire monsters more when I am dead,

And let the world not ask for aid of mine.

If other ills are born into the world,

Then must another savior come as well.1330

Oh, bring ye heavy stones from every side

And hurl them at my wretched head; and so

O'erwhelm at last my woes. Ungrateful world,

Dost thou refuse? Hast thou forgot me quite?

Thou wouldst thyself have been a helpless prey

To evil monsters, had not I been born.

Then, O ye peoples, rescue me from ill,1335

Your champion. This chance is given you,

By slaying me to cancel all you owe.

[Enter Alcmena.]

Alcmena: Where shall Alcides' wretched mother go?

Where is my son? Lo, if I see aright,

Yonder he lies with burning fever tossed

And throbbing heart. I hear his groans of pain.1340

Ah me, his life is at an end. My son,

Come, let me fold thee in a last embrace,

And catch thy parting spirit in my mouth;

These arms of mine upon thine own I'll lay.

But where are they? Where is that sturdy neck

Which bore the burden of the starry heavens?

What cause has left to thee so small a part

Of thy once massive frame?1345

Hercules: Thou seest, indeed,

The shadow and the piteous counterfeit

Of thine Alcides. Come, behold thy son.

But why dost turn away and hide thy face?

Art thou ashamed that such as I am called

Thy son?

Alcmena: What land, what world has given birth

To this new monster? What so dire a thing1350

Has triumphed over mighty Hercules?

Hercules: By my own wife's deceits am I undone.

Alcmena: What fraud is great enough to conquer thee?

Hercules: Whate'er is great enough for woman's wrath.

Alcmena: How got the pest so deep within thy frame?1355

Hercules: Through a poisoned robe sent by a woman's hands.

Alcmena: Where is the robe? I see thy limbs are bare.

Hercules: With me 'tis all consumed.

Alcmena: How can it be?

Hercules: I tell thee, mother, through my vitals roam

The hydra and a thousand poisonous beasts.1360

What flames as hot as these invade the clouds

O'er Aetna's top? What glowing Lemnian fires,

What torrid radiance of the burning heavens,

Within whose scorching zone the day comes not?

O comrades, take and throw me in the sea,

Or in the river's rushing stream—alas,1365

Where is the stream that will suffice for me?

Though greater than all lands, not ocean's self

Can cool my burning pains. To ease my woe

All streams were not enough, all springs would fail.

Why, O thou lord of Erebus, didst thou

To Jove return me? Better had it been

To hold me fast. Oh, take me back again,1370

And show me as I am to those fell shades

Whom I subdued. Naught will I take away.

Thou hast no need to fear Alcides more.

Come death, attack me; have no fear of me;

For I at length am fain to welcome thee.

Alcmena: Restrain thy tears at least; subdue thy pains.

Come, show thyself unconquered still by woe;1375

And death and hell, as is thy wont, defy.

Hercules: If on the heights of Caucasus I lay

In chains, to greedy birds of prey exposed,

While Scythia wailed in sympathy with me,

No sound of woe should issue from my lips;

Or should the huge, unfixed Symplegades1380

Together clash and threaten me with death,

I'd bear unmoved the threatened agony.

Should Pindus fall upon me, Haemus too,

Tall Athos which defies the Thracian seas,

And Mimas at whose towering peaks are hurled

The bolts of Jove—if e'en the sky itself1385

Should fall upon my head, and Phoebus' car

In blazing torture on my shoulders lie:

No coward cry of pain would ever show

The mind of Hercules subdued. Nay more:

Although a thousand monstrous beasts at once

Should rush upon and rend me limb from limb;

Though here Stymphalus' bird with clangor wild,1390

And there with all his strength the threat'ning bull,

And all fierce, monstrous things, should press me hard;

Nay, though the very soil of earth should rise

And shriek[39] its rage at me from every side;

Though Sinis dire should hurl me through the air:

Though sore bestead and mangled, still would I

In silence bear it all. No beasts, no arms,

No weapon wielded by the hand of man,

Could force from me a single word of pain.1395

Alcmena: No woman's poison burns thy limbs, my son;

But thy long years of work, thy constant toils,

Have for thy woe some evil sickness bred.

Hercules: Sickness, say'st thou? Where may this sickness be?

Does any evil still upon the earth

Exist, with me alive? But let it come.

Let someone quickly bring my bow to me—1400

But no: my naked hands will be enough.

Now bid the monster come.

Alcmena: Alas, his pains,

Too great, have reft his senses quite away.

Remove his weapons, take those deadly shafts

Out of his reach, I pray. His burning cheeks1405

Some violence portend. Oh, where shall I,

A helpless, agÉd woman hide myself?

That grief of his has changed to maddened rage,

And that alone is master of him now.

Why should I, therefore, foolish that I am,

Seek hiding-place or flight? By some brave hand

Alcmena has deserved to meet her death.

So let me perish even impiously,1410

Before some craven soul command my death,

Or some base creature triumph over me.

But see, outworn by woe, his weary heart

Is in the soothing bonds of slumber bound;

His panting chest with labored breathing heaves.

Have mercy, O ye gods. If ye from me1415

Have willed to take my glorious son, at least

Spare to the world, I pray, its champion.

Let all his pains depart, and once again

Let great Alcides' frame renew its strength.

[Enter Hyllus.]

Hyllus: O bitter light, O day with evil filled!

Dead is the Thunderer's daughter, and his son1420

Lies dying. I alone of all survive.

By my own mother's crime my father dies,

But she by guile was snared. What agÉd man,

Throughout the round of years, in all his life,

Will e'er be able to recount such woes?

One day has snatched away my parents both.1425

But though I say naught of my other ills,

And cease to blame the fates, still must I say:

My sire, the mighty Hercules, is gone.

Alcmena: Restrain thy words, child of illustrious sire,

And matched with sad Alcmena in her grief;

Perchance long slumber will assuage his pain.

But see, repose deserts his weary heart,1430

And gives him back to suffering, me to grief.

Hercules [awakening in delirium]: Why, what is this? Do I with waking eyes

See little Trachin on her craggy seat,

Or, set amongst the stars, have I at length

Escaped the race of men? Who opes for me

The gate of heaven? Thee, father, now I see,1435

Thee, and my stepdame too at last appeased.

What heavenly sound is this that fills my ears?

Great Juno calls me son! Now I behold

The gleaming palace of the heavenly world,

And Phoebus' path worn by his burning wheels.

[Beginning to come out of his delirium.]

I see night's couch; her shadows call me hence.1440

But what is this? who shuts me out of heaven,

And from the stars, O father, leads me down?

I felt the glow of Phoebus on my face,

So near to heaven was I; but now, alas,

'Tis Trachin that I see. Oh, who to earth

Has given me back again? A moment since,1445

And Oeta's lofty peak stood far below,

And all the world was lying at my feet.

How sweet the respite that I had from thee,

O grief. Thou mak'st me to confess—but stay,

Let not such shameful words escape thy lips.

[To Hyllus.]

This woe, my son, is of thy mother's gift.

Oh, that I might crush out her guilty life

With my great club, as once the Amazons1450

I smote upon the snowy Caucasus.

O well-loved Megara, to think that thou

Wast wife of mine when in that fit I fell

Of maddened rage! Give me my club and bow;

Let my hand be disgraced, and with a blot

Let me destroy the luster of my praise—

My latest conquest on a woman gained!1455

Hyllus: Now curb the dreadful threatenings of thy wrath;

She has her wound—'tis over—and has paid

The penalty which thou wouldst have her pay:

For now, self-slain, my mother lies in death.

Hercules: O grief, still with me! She deserved to die

Beneath the hands of angry Hercules.1460

O Lichas, thou hast lost thy mate in death.

So hot my wrath, against her helpless corpse

I still would rage. Why does her body lie

Secure from my assaults? Go cast it out

To be a banquet for the birds of prey.

Hyllus: She suffered more than even thou wouldst wish.

Self-slain, and grieving sore for thee, she died.1465

But 'tis not by a cruel wife's deceit,

Nor by my mother's guile, thou liest low.

By Nessus was this deadly plot conceived,

Who, smitten by thine arrow, lost his life.

'Twas in the centaur's gore the robe was dipped,1470

And by thy pains he doth requite his own.

Hercules: Then truly are his pains well recompensed,

And my own doubtful oracles explained.

This fate the talking oak foretold to me,

And Delphi's oracle, whose sacred voice

Shook Cirrha's temples and Parnassus' slopes:1475

"By hand of one whom thou hast slain, some day,

Victorious Hercules, shalt thou lie low.

This end, when thou hast traversed sea and land,

And the realm of spirits, is reserved for thee."

Now will we grieve no more; such end is meet;

Thus shall no conqueror of Hercules1480

Survive to tell the tale. Now shall my death

Be glorious, illustrious, renowned,

And worthy of myself. This final day

Will I make famous in the ears of men.

Go, cut down all the woods, and Oeta's groves

Bring hither, that a mighty funeral pyre

May hold great Hercules before he dies.

And thee, dear son of Poeas, thee I ask1485

To do this last, sad office for thy friend,

And all the sky illumine with the flames

Of Hercules. And now to thee this prayer,

This last request, Hyllus, my son, I make:

Among my captives is a beauteous maid,

Of noble breeding and of royal birth.

'Tis Iole, the child of Eurytus.1490

Her would I have thee to thy chamber lead

With fitting marriage rites; for, stained with blood,

Victorious, I robbed her of her home

And fatherland; and in return, poor girl,

Naught save Alcides have I given her;

And he is gone. Then let her soothe her woes

In the embrace of him who boasts the blood1495

Of Jove and Hercules. Whatever seed

She has conceived of me let her to thee

Bring forth.

[To Alcmena.]

And do thou cease thy plaints, I pray,

For me, great mother; thy Alcides lives;

And by my might have I my stepdame made

To seem but as the concubine of Jove.1500

Whether the story of the night prolonged

At Hercules' begetting be the truth,

Or whether I was got of mortal sire—

Though I be falsely called the son of Jove,

I have indeed deserved to be his son;

For I have honored him, and to his praise1505

My mother brought me forth. Nay, Jove himself

Is proud that he is held to be my sire.

Then cease thy tears, O mother; thou shalt be

Of high degree among Argolic dames.

For no such son as thine has Juno borne,

Though she may wield the scepter of the skies,1510

The Thunderer's bride. And yet, though holding heaven,

She grudged Alcides to a mortal birth,

And wished that she might call him son of hers.

Now, Titan, must thou go thy way alone;

For I, who have thy constant comrade been,

Am bound for Tartara, the world of shades.

Yet down to hell I bear this noble praise:1515

That openly no monster conquered me,

But that I conquered all—and openly.

Chorus: Bright sun, thou glory of the world,

At whose first rays wan Hecate

Unyokes the weary steeds of night,1520

To east and west the message tell;

To those who suffer 'neath the Bear,

And who, beneath thy burning car

Are tortured: Hercules prepares

To speed him to the world of shades,1525

The realm of sleepless Cerberus,

Whence he will[40] ne'er again return.

Let thy bright rays be overcast

With clouds; gaze on the mourning world

With pallid face; and let thy head

In thick and murky mists be veiled.1530

When, Titan, where, beneath what sky,

Shalt thou behold upon the earth

Another such as Hercules?

Whom shall the wretched land invoke,

If any hundred-headed pest,

In Lerna born, spring up anew1535

And spread destruction; if again

Some boar in ancient Arcady

Infest the woods; or if again

Some son of Thracian Rhodope,

With heart more hard than the frozen lands

That lie 'neath snowy Helice,

Should stain his stalls with human gore?1540

Who will give peace to the trembling folk

If angry gods with monstrous birth

Should curse the world again? Behold,

The mate for common man he lies,

Whom earth produced a mate for Jove.

Let lamentations loud resound1545

Through all the world; with streaming hair

Let women smite their naked arms;

Let all the temples of the gods

Be closed save Juno's; she alone

Is free from care.

To Lethe and the Stygian shore1550

Now art thou going, whence no keel

Will ever bring thee back. Thou goest,

Lamented one, unto the shades,

Whence, death o'ercome, thou once return'dst

In triumph with thy prize; but now,

An empty shade, with fleshless arms,

Wan face, and slender, drooping neck,1555

Thou goest back. Nor will the skiff

(Which once bore only thee and feared

That even so 'twould be o'erturned)

Bear thee alone across the stream.

But not with common shades shalt thou

Be herded. Thou with Aeacus[41]

And pious kings of Crete shalt sit

In judgment on the deeds of men,

And punish tyrants. O ye kings,1560

Be merciful, restrain your hands.

'Tis worthy praise to keep the sword

Unstained with blood; while thou didst reign,

Upon thy realm to have allowed

Least privilege to bloody[42] fate.

But place among the stars is given

To manly virtue. Shalt thou hold1565

Thy seat within the northern skies,

Or where his fiercest rays the sun

Sends forth? Or in the balmy west

Wilt shine, where thou mayst hear the waves

On Calpe's shore resound? What place

In heaven serene shalt thou obtain?1570

When great Alcides is received

Among the stars, who will be free

From fear? May Jove assign thy place

Far from the raging Lion's seat,

And burning Crab, lest at sight of thee

The frightened stars confuse their laws

And Titan quake with fear.1575

So long as blooming flowers shall come

With wakening spring; while winter's frosts

Strip bare the trees, and summer suns

Reclothe them with their wonted green;

While in the autumn ripened fruits

Fall to the ground: no lapse of time1580

Shall e'er destroy thy memory

Upon the earth. For thou shalt live

As comrade of the sun and stars.

Sooner shall wheat grow in the sea,

Or stormy straits with gentle waves

Beat on the shore; sooner descend

The Bear from out his frozen sky

And bathe him in forbidden waves:1585

Than shall the thankful people cease

To sing thy praise.

And now to thee,

O father of the world, we pray:

Let no dread beast be born on earth,

No monstrous pest; keep this poor world

From abject fear of heartless kings;

Let no one hold the reins of power1590

Who deems his kingdom's glory lies

In the terror of his naked sword.

But if again some thing of dread

Appear upon the earth, Oh, give,

We pray, another champion.

But what is this? The heavens resound.1595

Behold Alcides' father mourns,

He mourns his son. Or is't the sound

Of grieving gods, or the cry of fear

Of the timid stepdame? Can it be

That at the sight of Hercules

Great Juno flees the stars? Perchance

Beneath the added weight of heaven

Tall Atlas reels. Or do the shades1600

Cry out in fear of Hercules,

While Cerberus with broken chains

In panic flees the sight? Not so:

Behold, 'tis Poeas' son, who comes

With looks of gladness. See, he bears

The well-known quiver and the shafts1605

Of Hercules.

FOOTNOTES:

[38] Reading, auctor.

[39] Reading, fremens.

[40] Reading, remeabit.

[41] Reading, Aeacon.

[42] Reading, minimum cruentis.

ACT V

[Enter Philoctetes.]

Nurse: Speak out, good youth, and tell the end, I pray,

Of Hercules. How did he meet his death?

Philoctetes: More gladly than another meets his life.

Nurse: What? Did he then rejoice him in the fire?

Philoctetes: He showed that burning flames were naught to him.1610

What is there in the world which Hercules

Has left unconquered? He has vanquished all.

Nurse: What chance for glory on the funeral pyre?

Philoctetes: One evil thing remained upon the earth

Which he had not o'ercome—the power of fire.1615

But this has now been added to the beasts,

And fire is one of great Alcides' toils.

Nurse: But tell us in what way he conquered fire.

Philoctetes: When all his sorrowing friends began to fell

The trees on Oeta's slopes, beneath one hand

The beech-tree lost its foliage and lay,

Its mighty trunk prone on the ground. One hand

With deadly stroke attacked the towering pine,1620

Which lifted to the stars its threatening top,

And called it from the clouds. In act to fall,

It shook its rocky crag, and with a crash

Whelmed all the lesser forest in its fall.

Within the forest was a certain oak,

Wide-spreading, vast, like that Chaonian tree

Of prophecy, whose shade shuts out the sun,

Embracing all the grove[43] within its arms.1625

By many a blow beset, it groans at first

In threatening wise, and all the wedges breaks;

The smiting axe bounds back, its edges dulled,

Too soft for such a task. At length the tree,

Long wavering, falls with widespread ruin down.

Straightway the place admits the sun's bright rays;1630

The birds, their tree o'erthrown, fly twittering round,

And seek their vanished homes on wearied wing.

Now every tree resounds; even the oaks

Feel in their sacred sides the piercing steel,

Nor does its ancient sanctity protect1635

The grove. The wood into a pile is heaped;

Its logs alternate rising high aloft,

Make all too small a pyre for Hercules:

The pine inflammable, tough-fibered oak,

The ilex' shorter trunks. But poplar trees,1640

Whose foliage adorned Alcides' brow,

Fill up the space and make the pyre complete.

But he, like some great lion in the woods

Of Libya lying, roaring out his pain,

Is borne along—but who would e'er believe

That he was hurrying to his funeral pyre?

His gaze was fixed upon the stars of heaven,1645

Not fires of earth, when to the mount he came

And with his eyes surveyed the mighty pyre.

The great beams groaned and broke beneath his weight.

Now he demands his bow. "Take this," he said,

"O son of Poeas, take this as the gift

And pledge of love from Hercules to thee.

These deadly shafts the poisonous hydra felt;1650

With these the vile Stymphalian birds lie low;

And every other monster which I slew

With distant aim. O noble youth, go on

In victory, for never 'gainst thy foes

Shalt thou send these in vain. Wouldst wish to bring

Birds from the very clouds? Down shall they fall,

And with them come thine arrows sure of prey.1655

This bow shall never disappoint thy hand.

Well has it learned to poise the feathered shaft

And send it flying in unerring course.

The shafts themselves as well, loosed from the string,

Have never failed to find their destined mark.

But do thou in return, my only prayer,

Bring now the funeral torch and light the pyre.1660

This club," he said, "which never hand but mine

Has wielded, shall the flames consume with me.

This weapon, only, shall to Hercules

Belong. But this, too, thou shouldst have from me

If thou couldst bear its weight. But let it serve

To aid its master's pyre." Then he required1665

The shaggy spoil of the dire Nemean beast

To burn with him. The huge skin hid the pyre.

Now all the gazing crowd begin to groan,

And tears of woe to fall from every eye.

His mother bares her breast in eager grief

And smites her body stripped e'en to the loins1670

For unrestrained lament; then all the gods

And Jupiter himself she supplicates,

While all the place re-echoes with her shrieks.

"Thou dost disgrace the death of Hercules,

O mother, check thy tears," Alcides said;

"Within thy heart thy woman's grief confine.

Why shouldst thou make this day a time of joy1675

For Juno with thy tears? For she, be sure,

Rejoices to behold her rival weep.

Then this unworthy grief, my mother, check.

It is not meet to abuse the breast that nursed,

And the womb that bore Alcides." Thus he spake;

Then with a dreadful cry, as when he led1680

The awful dog throughout the towns of Greece,

Returned triumphant o'er the shades of hell,

Scorning the lord of death and death itself,

So did he lay him down upon the pyre.

What victor in his chariot ever shone

With such triumphant joy? What tyrant king

With such a countenance e'er uttered laws

Unto his subject tribes? So deep his calm1685

Of soul. All tears were dried, our sorrows shamed

To silence, and we groaned no more to think

That he must perish. E'en Alcmena's self,

Whose sex is prone to mourn, now tearless stood,

A worthy mother of her noble son.1690

Nurse: But did he, on the verge of death, no prayer

To heaven breathe, no aid from Jove implore?

Philoctetes: With peaceful soul he lay, and scanned the skies,

As searching from what quarter of the heavens

His sire would look on him, and thus he spake,1695

With hands outstretched: "O father, whencesoe'er

From heaven thou lookest down upon thy son—

He truly is my father for whose sake

One day of old was swallowed up in night—

If both the bounds of Phoebus sing my praise,

If Scythia, and all the sun-parched lands;1700

If peace fills all the world; if cities groan

Beneath no tyrant's hand, and no one stains

With blood of guests his impious altar stones;

If horrid crimes have ceased: then, take, I pray,

My spirit to the skies. I have no fear

Of death, nor do the gloomy realms of Dis1705

Affright my soul; but Oh, I blush with shame

To go, a naked shade, unto those gods

Whom I myself aforetime overcame.

Dispel the clouds and ope the gates of heaven,

That all the gods may see Alcides burn.

Though thou refuse me place among the stars,

Thou shalt be forced to grant my prayer. Ah no:1710

If grief can palliate my impious words,

Forgive; spread wide the Stygian pools for me,

And give me up to death. But first, O sire,

Approve thy son. This day at least shall show

That I am worthy of the skies. All deeds

Which I have done before seem worthless now;1715

This day shall prove me worthy, or condemn."

When he had spoken thus he called for fire:

"Come hither now, comrade of Hercules,

With willing hand take up the funeral torch.

Why dost thou tremble? Does thy timid hand

Shrink from the deed as from an impious crime?

Then give me back my quiver, coward, weak.1720

Is that the hand which fain would bend my bow?

Why does such pallor sit upon thy cheeks?

Come, ply the torch with that same fortitude

That thou dost see in me. Thy pattern take,

Poor soul, from him who faces fiery death.

But lo, my father calls me from the sky

And opens wide the gates. O sire, I come!"1725

And as he spake his face was glorified.

Then did I with my trembling hand apply

The blazing torch. But see, the flames leap back,

And will not touch his limbs. But Hercules

Pursues the fleeing fires. You would suppose

That Caucasus or Pindus was ablaze,1730

Or lofty Athos. Still no sound was heard

Save only that the flames made loud lament.

O stubborn heart! Had Typhon huge been placed

Upon that pyre, or bold Enceladus,

Who bore uprooted Ossa on his back,

He would have groaned aloud in agony.1735

But Hercules amidst the roaring flames

Stood up, all charred and torn, with dauntless gaze,

And said: "O mother, thus 'tis meet for thee

Beside the pyre of Hercules to stand.

Such mourning fits him well. Now dost thou seem

In very truth Alcides' mother." There,1740

'Midst scorching heat and roaring flames he stood,

Unmoved, unshaken, showing naught of pain,

Encouraging, advising, active still.

His own brave spirit animated all.

You would have thought him burning with desire

To burn. The crowd looked on in speechless awe,

And scarce believed the flames to be true fire,1745

So calm and so majestic was his mien.

Nor did he hasten to consume himself;

But when he deemed that fortitude enough

Was shown in death, from every hand he dragged

The burning logs which with least ardor glowed,

Piled them together in a mighty fire,1750

And to the very center of the blaze

The dauntless hero went. Awhile he stood

And feasted on the flames his eager eyes.

Then from his heavy beard leaped gleaming fire.

But even when the flames assailed his face,

And licked his head with their hot, fiery tongues,

He did not close his eyes.1755

But what is this?

'Tis sad Alcmena. With what signs of woe

She makes her way, while in her breast she bears

The pitiful remains of Hercules.

[Enter Alcmena, carrying in her bosom a funeral urn.]

[He vanishes from sight.]

Alcmena: Stay but a little—ah, from my fond eyes

He has departed, gone again to heaven.

Am I deceived, and do my eyes but dream

They saw my son? My soul for very grief

Is faithless still. Not so, thou art a god,1980

And holdest even now the immortal skies.

I trust thy triumph still. But quickly now

Unto the realm of Thebes will I repair,

And proudly tell thy new-made godhead there.

[Exit.]

Chorus: Never is glorious manhood borne

To Stygian shades. The brave live on,

Nor over Lethe's silent stream1985

Shall they by cruel fate be drawn.

But when life's days are all consumed,

And comes the final hour, for them

A pathway to the gods is spread

By glory.

Be thou with us yet,

O mighty conqueror of beasts,1990

Subduer of the world. Oh, still

Have thought unto this earth of ours.

And if some strange, new monster come

And fill the nations with his dread,

Do thou with forkÉd lightnings crush

The beast; yea, hurl thy thunderbolts1995

More mightily than Jove himself.

FOOTNOTES:

[43] Reading, nemus.

[44] Reading, vindicem amisi.

[45] Reading, terrae atque pelagi.

[46] Reading, quod.

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