                                     430 BC
                                    HERACLES
                                  by Euripides
                         translated by E. P. Coleridge
    CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
  AMPHITRYON, husband of Alcmena, the mother of HERACLES
  MEGARA, wife of HERACLES, daughter of Creon
  LYCUS, unlawful King of Thebes
  IRIS
  MADNESS
  MESSENGER
  HERACLES, son of Zeus and Alcmena
  THESEUS, King of Athens
  CHORUS OF OLD MEN OF THEBES
  Sons of HERACLES, guards, attendants


HERACLES
  HERACLES


    (SCENE:-Before the palace of HERACLES at Thebes. Nearby stands the
altar of Zeus, on the steps of which are now seated AMPHITRYON, MEGARA
and her sons by HERACLES. They are seeking refuge at the altar.)

  AMPHITRYON
    WHAT mortal hath not heard of him who shared a wife with Zeus,
Amphitryon of Argos, whom on a day Alcaeus, son of Perseus begat,
Amphitryon the father of Heracles? He it was dwelt here in Thebes,
where from the sowing of the dragon's teeth grew up a crop of
earth-born giants; for of these Ares saved a scanty band, and their
children's children people the city of Cadmus. Hence sprung Creon, son
of Menoeceus, king of this land; and Creon became the father of this
lady Megara, whom once all Cadmus' race escorted with the glad music
of lutes at her wedding, in the day that Heracles, illustrious
chief, led her to my halls. Now he, my son, left Thebes where I was
settled, left his wife Megara and her kin, eager to make his home in
Argolis, in that walled town which the Cyclopes built, whence I am
exiled for the slaying of Electryon; so he, wishing to lighten my
affliction and to find a home in his own land, did offer Eurystheus
a mighty price for my recall, even to free the world of savage
monsters, whether it was that Hera goaded him to submit to this, or
that fate was leagued against him. Divers are the toils he hath
accomplished, and last of all hath he passed through the mouth of
Taenarus into the halls of Hades to drag to the light that hound
with bodies three, and thence is he never returned. Now there is an
ancient legend amongst the race of Cadmus, that one Lycus in days gone
by was husband to Dirce being king of this city with its seven towers,
before that Amphion and Zethus, sons of Zeus, lords of the
milk-white steeds, became rulers in the land. His son, called by the
same name as his father, albeit no Theban but a stranger from
Euboea, slew Creon, and after that seized the government, having
fallen on this city when weakened by dissension. So this connection
with Creon is likely to prove to us a serious evil; for now that my
son is in the bowels of the earth, this illustrious monarch Lycus is
bent on extirpating the children of Heracles, to quench one bloody
feud with another, likewise his wife and me, if useless age like
mine is to rank amongst men, that the boys may never grow up to
exact a blood-penalty of their uncle's family. So I, left here by my
son, whilst he is gone into the pitchy darkness of the earth, to
tend and guard his children in his house, am taking my place with
their mother, that the race of Heracles may not perish, here at the
altar of Zeus the Saviour, which my own gallant child set up to
commemorate his glorious victory over the Minyae. And here we are
careful to keep our station, though in need of everything, of food, of
drink, and raiment, huddled together on the hard bare ground; for we
are barred out from our house and sit here for want of any other
safety. As for friends, some I see are insincere; while others, who
are staunch, have no power to help us further. This is what misfortune
means to man; God grant it may never fall to the lot of any who
bears the least goodwill to me, to apply this never-failing test of
friendship!
  MEGARA
    Old warrior, who erst did raze the citadel of the Taphians leading
on the troops of Thebes to glory, how uncertain are God's dealings
with man! For I, as far as concerned my sire was never an outcast of
fortune, for he was once accounted a man of might by reason of his
wealth, possessed as he was of royal power, for which long spears
are launched at the lives of the fortunate through love of it;
children too he had; and me did he betroth to thy son, matching me
in glorious marriage with Heracles. Whereas now all that is dead and
gone from us; and I and thou, old friend, art doomed to die, and these
children of Heracles, whom I am guarding 'neath my wing as a bird
keepeth her tender chicks under her. And they the while in turn keep
asking me, "Mother, whither is our father gone from the land? what
is he about? when will he return?" Thus they inquire for their father,
in childish perplexity; while I put them off with excuses, inventing
stories; but still I wonder if 'tis he whenever a door creaks on its
hinges, and up they all start, thinking to embrace their father's
knees. What hope or way of salvation art thou now devising, old
friend? for to thee I look. We can never steal beyond the boundaries
of the land unseen, for there is too strict a watch set on us at every
outlet, nor have we any longer hopes of safety in our friends.
Whatever thy scheme is, declare it, lest our death be made ready,
while we are only prolonging the time, powerless to escape.
  AMPHITRYON
    'Tis by no means easy, my daughter, to give one's earnest advice
on such matters easily, without weary thought.
  MEGARA
    Dost need a further taste of grief, or cling so fast to life?
  AMPHITRYON
    Yes, I love this life, and cling to its hopes.
  MEGARA
    So do I; but it boots not to expect the unexpected, old friend.
  AMPHITRYON
    In these delays is left the only cure for our evils.
  MEGARA
    'Tis the pain of that interval I feel so.
  AMPHITRYON
    Daughter, there may yet be a happy escape from present troubles
for me and thee; my son, thy husband, may yet arrive. So calm thyself,
and wipe those tears from thy children's eyes, and soothe them with
soft words, inventing a tale to delude them, piteous though such fraud
be. Yea, for men's misfortunes ofttimes flag, and the stormy wind doth
not always blow so strong, nor are the prosperous ever so; for all
things change, making way for each other. The bravest man is he who
relieth ever on his hopes, but despair is the mark of a coward.

           (The CHORUS OF OLD MEN OF THEBES enters.)

  CHORUS (chanting)

                                                              strophe

    To the sheltering roof, to the old man's couch, leaning on my
staff have I set forth, chanting a plaintive dirge like some bird
grown grey, I that am but a voice and nothing more, a fancy bred of
the visions of sleep by night, palsied with age, yet meaning kindly.
All hail! ye orphaned babes! all hail, old friend thou too, -unhappy
mother, wailing for thy husband in the halls of Hades!

                                                          antistrophe

    Faint not too soon upon your way, nor let your limbs grow weary,
even as a colt beneath the yoke grows weary as he mounts some stony
hill, dragging the weight of a wheeled car. Take hold of hand or robe,
whoso feels his footsteps falter. Old friend, escort another like
thyself, who erst amid his toiling peers in the days of our youth
would take his place beside thee, no blot upon his country's
glorious record.
    See, how like their father's sternly flash these children's
eyes! Misfortune, God wot, hath not failed his children, nor yet
hath his comeliness been denied them. O Hellas! if thou lose these, of
what allies wilt thou rob thyself!
  LEADER OF THE CHORUS
    But I see Lycus, the ruler of this land, drawing near the house.
                                    (Lycus and his attendants enter.)
  LYCUS
    One question, if I may, to this father of Heracles and his wife;
and certainly as your lord and master I have a right to put what
questions choose. How long do ye seek to prolong your lives? What
hope, what succour do ye see to save you from death? Do you trust that
these children's father, who lies dead in the halls of Hades, will
return? How unworthily ye show your sorrow at having to die, thou
(to AMPHITRYON) after thy idle boasts, scattered broadcast through
Hellas, that Zeus was partner in thy marriage-bed and there begat a
new god; and thou (to MEGARA) after calling thyself the wife of so
peerless a lord.
    After all, what was the fine exploit thy husband achieved, if he
did kil a hydra in a marsh or that monster of Nemea? which he caught
in a snare, for all he says he strangled it to death in his arms.
Are these your weapons for the hard struggle? Is it for this then that
Heracles' children should be spared? a man who has won a reputation
for valour in his contests with beasts, in all else a weakling; who
ne'er buckled shield to arm nor faced the spear, but with a bow,
that coward's weapon, was ever ready to run away. Archery is no test
of manly bravery; no! he is a man who keeps his post in the ranks
and steadily faces the swift wound the spear may plough. My policy,
again, old man, shows no reckless cruelty, but caution; for I am
well aware I slew Creon, the father of Megara, and am in possession of
his throne. So I have no wish that these children should grow up and
be left to take vengeance on me in requital for what I have done.
  AMPHITRYON
    As for Zeus, let Zeus defend his son's case; but as for me,
Heracles, I am only anxious on thy behalf to prove by what I say
this tyrant's ignorance; for I cannot allow thee to be ill spoken
of. First then for that which should never have been said,-for to
speak of thee Heracles as coward is, methinks, outside the pale of
speech,-of that must I clear the with heaven to witness. I appeal then
to the thunder of Zeus, and the chariot wherein he rode, when he
pierced the giants, earth's brood, to the heart with his winged
shafts, and with gods uplifted the glorious triumph-song; or go to
Pholoe and ask the insolent tribe of four-legged Centaurs, thou craven
king, ask them who they would judge their bravest foe; will they not
say my son, who according to thee is but a pretender? Wert thou to ask
Euboean Dirphys, thy native place, it would nowise sing thy praise,
for thou hast never done a single gallant deed to which thy country
can witness. Next thou dost disparage that clever invention, an
archer's weapon; come, listen to me and learn wisdom. A man who fights
in line is a slave to his weapons, and if his fellow-comrades want for
courage he is slain himself through the cowardice of his neighbours,
or, if he break his spear, he has not wherewithal to defend his body
from death, having only one means of defence; whereas all who are
armed with the trusty bow, though they have but one weapon, yet is
it the best; for a man, after discharging countless arrows, still
has others wherewith to defend himself from death, and standing at a
distance keeps off the enemy, wounding them for all their watchfulness
with shafts invisible, and never exposing himself to the foe, but
keeping under cover; and this is far the wisest course in battle, to
harm the enemy, if they are not stationed out of shot, and keep safe
oneself. These arguments are completely opposite to thine with
regard to the point at issue. Next, why art thou desirous of slaying
these children? What have they done to thee? One piece of wisdom
credit thee with, thy coward terror of a brave man's descendants.
Still it is hard on us, if for thy cowardice we must die; a fate
that ought to have overtaken thee at our braver hands, if Zeus had
been fairly disposed towards us. But, if thou art so anxious to make
thyself supreme in the land, let us at least go into exile; abstain
from all violence, else thou wilt suffer by it whenso the deity causes
fortune's breeze to veer round.
    Ah! thou land of Cadmus,-for to thee too will I turn, upbraiding
thee with words of reproach,-is this your succour of Heracles and
his children? the man who faced alone the Minyan host in battle and
allowed Thebes to see the light with freemen's eyes. I cannot praise
Hellas, nor will I ever keep silence, finding her so craven as regards
my son; she should have come with fire and sword and warrior's arms to
help these tender babes, to requite him for all his labours in purging
land and sea. Such help, my children, neither Hellas nor the city of
Thebes affords you; to me a feeble friend ye look, that am but empty
sound and nothing more. For the vigour which once I had, is gone
from me; my limbs are palsied with age, and my strength is decayed.
Were I but young and still a man of my hands, I would have seized my
spear and dabbled those flaxen locks of his with blood, so that the
coward would now be flying from my prowes beyond the bounds of Atlas.
  LEADER
    Have not the brave amongst mankind a fair opening for speech,
albeit slow to begin?
  LYCUS
    Say what thou wilt of me in thy exalted phrase, but I by deeds
will make thee rue those words. (Calling to his servants) Ho! bid
wood-cutters go, some to Helicon, others to the glens of Parnassus,
and cut me logs of oak, and when they are brought to the town, pile up
a stack of wood all round the altar on either side thereof, and set
fire to it and burn them all alive, that they may learn that the
dead no longer rules this land, but that for the present I am king.
(angrily to the CHORUS) As for you, old men, since ye thwart my views,
not for the children of Heracles alone shall ye lament but likewise
for every blow that strikes his house, and ye shall ne'er forget ye
are slaves and I your prince.
  LEADER
    Ye sons of Earth, whom Ares on a day did sow, when from the
dragon's ravening jaw he had torn the teeth, up with your staves,
whereon ye lean your hands, and dash out this miscreant's brains! a
fellow who, without even being a Theban, but a foreigner, lords it
shamefully o'er the younger folk; but my master shalt thou never be to
thy joy, nor shalt thou reap the harvest of all my toil; begone with
my curse upon thee! carry thy insolence back to the place whence it
came. For never whilst I live, shalt thou slay these sons of Heracles;
not so deep beneath the earth hath their father disappeared from his
children's ken. Thou art in possession of this land which thou hast
ruined, while he its benefactor has missed his just reward; and yet do
I take too much upon myself because I help those I love after their
death, when most they need a friend? Ah! right hand, how fain
wouldst thou wield the spear, but thy weakness is a death-blow to
thy fond desire; for then had I stopped thee calling me slave, and I
would have governed Thebes, wherein thou art now exulting, with
credit; for city sick with dissension and evil counsels thinketh not
aright; otherwise it would never have accepted thee as its master.
  MEGARA
    Old sirs, I thank you; 'tis right that friends should feel
virtuous indignation on behalf of those they love; but do not on our
account vent your anger on the tyrant to your own undoing. Hear my
advice, Amphitryon, if haply there appear to thee to be aught in
what I say. I love my children; strange if I did not love those whom I
laboured to bring forth! Death I count a dreadful fate; but the man
who wrestles with necessity I esteem a fool. Since we must die, let us
do so without being burnt alive, to furnish our foes with food for
merriment, which to my mind is an evil worse than death; for many a
fair guerdon do we owe our family. Thine has ever been a warrior's
fair fame, so 'tis not to be endured that thou shouldst die a coward's
death; and my husband's reputation needs no one to witness that he
would ne'er consent to save these children's lives by letting them
incur the stain of cowardice; for the noble are afflicted by
disgrace on account of their children, nor must I shrink from
following my lord's example. As to thy hopes consider how I weigh
them. Thou thinkest thy son will return from beneath the earth: who
ever has come back from the dead out of the halls of Hades? Thou
hast a hope perhaps of softening this man by entreaty: no, no!
better to fly from one's enemy when he is so brutish, but yield to men
of breeding and wisdom; for thou wilt more easily obtain mercy there
by friendly overtures. True, a thought has already occurred to me that
we might by entreaty obtain a sentence of exile for the children;
yet this too is misery, to compass their deliverance with dire
penury as the result; for 'tis a saying that hosts look sweetly on
banished friends for a day and no more. Steel thy heart to die with
us, for that awaits thee after all. By thy brave soul I challenge
thee, old friend; for whoso struggles hard to escape destiny shows
zeal no doubt, but 'tis zeal with a taint of folly; for what must
be, no one will ever avail to alter.
  LEADER
    If a man had insulted thee, while yet my arms were lusty, there
would have been an easy way to stop him; but now am I a thing of
naught; and so thou henceforth, Amphitryon, must scheme how to avert
misfortune.
  AMPHITRYON
    'Tis not cowardice or any longing for life that hinders my
dying, but my wish to save my son's children, though no doubt I am
vainly wishing for impossibilities. Lo! here is my neck ready for
thy sword to pierce, my body for thee to hack or hurl from the rock;
only one boon I crave for both of us, O king; slay me and this hapless
mother before thou slay the children, that we may not see the
hideous sight, as they gasp out their lives, calling on their mother
and their father's sire; for the rest work thy will, if so thou art
inclined; for we have no defence against death.
  MEGARA
    I too implore thee add a second boon, that by thy single act
thou mayst put us both under a double obligation; suffer me to deck my
children in the robes of death,-first opening the palace gates, for
now are we shut out,-that this at least they may obtain from their
father's halls.
  LYCUS
    I grant it, and bid my servants undo the bolts. Go in and deck
yourselves; robes I grudge not. But soon as ye have clothed
yourselves, I will return to you to consign you to the nether world.
                                    (Lycus and his retinue withdraw.)
  MEGARA
    Children, follow the footsteps of your hapless mother to your
father's halls, where others possess his substance, though his name is
still ours.

          (MEGARA and her children enter the palace.)

  AMPHITRYON
    O Zeus, in vain it seems, did I get thee to share my bride with
me; in vain used we to call thee father of my son. After all thou
art less our friend than thou didst pretend. Great god as thou art, I,
a mere mortal. surpass thee in true worth. For I did not betray the
children of Heracles; but thou by stealth didst find thy way to my
couch, taking another's wife without leave given, while to save thy
own friends thou hast no skill. Either thou art a god of little sense,
or else naturally unjust.
                         (AMPHITRYON follows MEGARA into the palace.)
  CHORUS (singing)

                                                            strophe 1

    Phoebus is singing a plaintive dirge to drown his happier strains,
striking with key of gold his sweet-tongued lyre; so too am I fain
to sing a song of praise, a crown to all his toil, concerning him
who is gone to the gloom beneath the nether world, whether I am to
call him son of Zeus or of Amphitryon. For the praise of noble toils
accomplished is a glory to the dead. First he cleared the grove of
Zeus of a lion, and put its skin upon his back, hiding his auburn hair
in its fearful gaping jaws;

                                                        antistrophe 1

    Then on a day, with murderous bow he wounded the race of wild
Centaurs, that range the hills, slaying them with winged shafts;
Peneus, the river of fair eddies, knows him well, and those far fields
unharvested, and the steadings on Pelion and they who haunt the
glens of Homole bordering thereupon, whence they rode forth to conquer
Thessaly, arming themselves with pines for clubs; likewise he slew
that dappled hind with horns of gold, that preyed upon the
country-folk, glorifying Artemis, huntress queen of Oenoe;

                                                            strophe 2

    Next he mounted on a car and tamed with the bit the steeds of
Diomede, that greedily champed their bloody food at gory mangers
with jaws unbridled, devouring with hideous joy the flesh of men; then
crossing Hebrus' silver stream he still toiled on to perform the hests
of the tyrant of Mycenae, till he came to the strand of the Malian
gulf by the streams of Anaurus, where he slew with his arrows
Cycnus, murderer of his guests, the savage wretch who dwelt in
Amphanae;

                                                        antistrophe 2

    Also he came to those minstrel maids, to their orchard in the
west, to pluck from the leafy apple-tree its golden fruit, when he had
slain the tawny dragon, whose awful coils were twined all round to
guard it; and he made his way into ocean's lairs, bringing calm to men
that use the oar; moreover he sought the home of Atlas, and
stretched out his hands to uphold the firmament, and on his manly
shoulders took the starry mansions of the gods;

                                                            strophe 3

    Then he went through the waves of heaving Euxine against the
mounted host of Amazons dwelling round Maeotis, the lake that is fed
by many a stream, having gathered to his standard all his friends from
Hellas, to fetch the gold-embroidered raiment of the warrior queen,
a deadly quest for a girdle. And Hellas won those glorious spoils of
the barbarian maid, and safe in Mycenae are they now. On Lerna's
murderous hound, the many-headed hydra, he set his branding-iron,
and smeared its venom on his darts, wherewith he slew the shepherd
of Erytheia, a monster with three bodies;

                                                        antistrophe 3

    And many another glorious achievement he brought to a happy issue;
to Hades' house of tears hath he now sailed, the goal of his
labours, where he is ending his career of toil, nor cometh he thence
again. Now is thy house left without a friend, and Charon's boat
awaits thy children to bear them on that journey out of life, whence
is no returning, contrary to God's law and man's justice; and it is to
thy prowess that thy house is looking although thou art not here.
Had I been strong and lusty, able to brandish the spear in battle's
onset, my Theban compeers too, I would have stood by thy children to
champion them; but now my happy youth is gone and I am left.
    But lo! I see the children of Heracles who was erst so great, clad
in the vesture of the grave, and his loving wife dragging her babes
along at her side, and that hero's aged sire. Ah! woe is me! no longer
can I stem the flood of tears that spring to my old eyes.

    (MEGARA, AMPHITRYON, and the children enter from the palace.)

  MEGARA
    Come now, who is to sacrifice or butcher these poor children? or
rob me of my wretched life? Behold! the victims are ready to be led to
Hades' halls. O my children! an ill-matched company are we hurried off
to die, old men and babes, and mothers, all together. Alas! for my sad
fate and my children's, whom these eyes now for the last time
behold. So I gave you birth and reared you only for our foes to
mock, to flout, and slay. Ah me! how bitterly my hopes have
disappointed me in the expectation once formed from the words of
your father. (Addressing each of her sons in turn) To thee thy dead
sire was for giving Argos; and thou wert to dwell in the halls of
Eurystheus, lording it o'er the fair fruitful land of Argolis; and
o'er thy head would he throw that lion's skin wherewith himself was
girt. Thou wert to be king of Thebes, famed for its chariots,
receiving as thy heritage my broad lands, for so thou didst coax thy
father dear; and to thy hand used he to resign the carved club, his
sure defence, pretending to give it thee. To thee he promised to
give Oechalia, which once his archery had wasted. Thus with three
principalities would your father exalt you his three sons, proud of
your manliness; while I was choosing the best brides for you, scheming
to link you by marriage to Athens, Thebes, and Sparta, that ye might
live a happy life with a fast sheet-anchor to hold by. And now that is
all vanished; fortune's breeze hath veered and given to you for brides
the maidens of death in their stead, and tears to me to bathe them in;
woe is me for my foolish thoughts and your grandsire here is
celebrating your marriage-feast, accepting Hades as the father of your
brides, a grim relationship to make. Ah me! which of you shall I first
press to my bosom, which last? on which bestow my kiss, or clasp close
to me? Oh! would that like the bee with russet wing, I could collect
from every source my sighs in one, and, blending them together, shed
them in one copious flood! Heracles, dear husband mine, to thee I
call, if haply mortal voice can make itself heard in Hades' halls; thy
father and children are dying and I am doomed, I who once because of
thee was counted blest as men count bliss. Come to our rescue; appear,
I pray, if but as a phantom, since thy mere coming would be enough,
for they are cowards compared with thee, who are slaying thy children.
  AMPHITRYON
    Lady, do thou prepare the funeral rites; but I, O Zeus, stretching
out my hand to heaven, call on thee to help these children, if such be
thy intention; for soon will any aid of thine be unavailing; and yet
thou hast been oft invoked; my toil is wasted; death seems inevitable.
Ye aged friends, the joys of life are few; so take heed that ye pass
through it as gladly as ye may, without a thought of sorrow from
morn till night; for time recks little of preserving our hopes; and,
when he has busied himself on his own business, away he flies. Look at
me, a man who had made mark amongst his fellows by deeds of note;
yet hath fortune in a single day robbed me of it as of a feather
that floats away toward the sky. know not any whose plenteous wealth
and high reputation is fixed and sure; fare ye well, for now have ye
seen the last of your old friend, my comrades.

            (MEGARA catches sight of HERACLES approaching.)

  MEGARA Ha! old friend, is it my own, my dearest I behold? or what am
I to say?
  AMPHITRYON
    I know not, my daughter; I too am struck dumb.
  MEGARA
    Is this he who, they told us, was beneath the earth?
  AMPHITRYON
    'Tis he, unless some day-dream mocks our sight.
  MEGARA
    What am I saying? What visions do these anxious eyes behold? Old
man, this is none other than thy own son. Come hither, my children,
cling to your father's robe, make haste to come, never loose your
hold, for here is one to help you, nowise behind our saviour Zeus.
                                                   (HERACLES enters.)
  HERACLES
    All hail! my house, and portals of my home, how glad am I to
emerge to the light and see thee. Ha! what is this? I see my
children before the house in the garb of death, with chaplets on their
heads, my wife amid a throng of men, and my father weeping o'er some
mischance. Let me draw near to them and inquire; lady, what strange
stroke of fate hath fallen on the house?
  MEGARA
    Dearest of all mankind to me! O ray of light appearing to thy
sire! art thou safe, and is thy coming just in time to help thy dear
ones?
  HERACLES
    What meanest thou? what is this confusion I find on my arrival,
father?
  MEGARA
    We are being ruined; forgive me, old friend, if I have anticipated
that which thou hadst a right to tell him; for woman's nature is
perhaps more prone than man's to grief, and they are my children
that were being led to death, which was my own lot too.
  HERACLES
    Great Apollo! what a prelude to thy story!
  MEGARA
    Dead are my brethren, dead my hoary sire.
  HERACLES
    How so? what befell him? who dealt the fatal blow?
  MEGARA
    Lycus, our splendid monarch, slew him.
  HERACLES
    Did he meet him in fair fight, or was the land sick and weak?
  MEGARA
    Aye, from faction; now is he master of the city of Cadmus with its
seven gates.
  HERACLES
    Why hath panic fallen on thee and my aged sire?
  MEGARA
    He meant to kill thy father, me, and my children.
  HERACLES
    Why, what had he to fear from my orphan babes?
  MEGARA
    He was afraid they might some day avenge Creon's death.
  HERACLES
    What means this dress they wear, suited to the dead?
  MEGARA
    'Tis the garb of death we have already put on.
  HERACLES
    And were ye being haled to death? O woe is me!
  MEGARA
    Yes, deserted by every friend, and informed that thou wert dead.
  HERACLES
    What put such desperate thoughts into your heads?
  MEGARA
    That was what the heralds of Eurystheus kept proclaiming.
  HERACLES
    Why did ye leave my hearth and home?
  MEGARA
    He forced us; thy father was dragged from his bed.
  HERACLES
    Had he no mercy, to ill-use the old man so?
  MEGARA
    Mercy forsooth! that goddess and he dwell far enough apart.
  HERACLES
    Was I so poor in friends in my absence?
  MEGARA
    Who are the friends of a man in misfortune?
  HERACLES
    Do they make so light of my hard warring with the Minyae?
  MEGARA
    Misfortune, to repeat it to thee, has no friends.
  HERACLES
    Cast from your heads these chaplets of death, look up to the
light, for instead of the nether gloom your eyes behold the welcome
sun. I, meantime, since here is work for my hand, will first go raze
this upstart tyrant's halls, and when I have beheaded the miscreant, I
will throw him to dogs to tear; and every Theban who I find has played
the traitor after my kindness, will I destroy with this victorious
club; the rest will I scatter with my feathered shafts and fill
Ismenus full of bloody corpses, and Dirce's clear fount shall run
red with gore. For whom ought I to help rather than wife and
children and aged sire? Farewell my labours! for it was in vain I
accomplished them rather than succoured these. And yet I ought to
die in their defence, since they for their sire were doomed; else what
shall we find so noble in having fought a hydra and a lion at the
hests of Eurystheus, if I make no effort to save my own children
from death? No longer I trow, as heretofore, shall I be called
Heracles the victor.
  LEADER OF THE CHORUS
    'Tis only right that parents should help their children, their
aged sires, and the partners of their marriage.
  AMPHITRYON
    My son, 'tis like thee to show thy love for thy dear ones and
thy hate for all that is hostile; only curb excessive hastiness.
  HERACLES
    Wherein, father, am I now showing more than fitting haste?
  AMPHITRYON
    The king hath a host of allies, needy villains though pretending
to be rich, who sowed dissension and o'erthrew the state with a view
to plundering their neighbours; for the wealth they had in their
houses was ali spent, dissipated by their sloth. Thou wast seen
entering the city; and, that being so, beware that thou bring not
thy enemies together and be slain unawares.
  HERACLES
    Little I reck if the whole city saw me; but chancing to see a bird
perched in an ill-omened spot, from it I learnt that some trouble
had befallen my house; so I purposely made my entry to the land by
stealth.
  AMPHITRYON
    For thy lucky coming hither, go salute thy household altar, and
let thy father's halls behold thy face. For soon will the king be here
in person to drag away thy wife and children and murder them, and to
add me to the bloody list. But if thou remain on the spot all will
go well, and thou wilt profit by this security; but do not rouse thy
city ere thou hast these matters well in train, my son.
  HERACLES
    I will do so; thy advice is good; I will enter my house. After
my return at length from the sunless den of Hades and the maiden queen
of hell, I will not neglect to greet first of all the gods beneath
my roof.
  AMPHITRYON
    Why, didst thou in very deed go to the house of Hades, my son?
  HERACLES
    Aye, and brought to the light that three-headed monster.
  AMPHITRYON
    Didst worst him in fight, or receive him from the goddess?
  HERACLES
    In fair fight; for I had been lucky enough to witness the rites of
the initiated.
  AMPHITRYON
    Is the monster really lodged in the house of Eurystheus?
  HERACLES
    The grove of Demeter and the city of Hermione are his prison.
  AMPHITRYON
    Does not Eurystheus know that thou hast returned to the upper
world?
  HERACLES
    He knows not; I came hither first to learn your news.
  AMPHITRYON
    How is it thou wert so long beneath the earth?
  HERACLES
    I stayed awhile attempting to bring back Theseus from Hades,
father.
  AMPHITRYON
    Where is he? gone to his native land?
  HERACLES
    He set out for Athens right glad to have escaped from the lower
world. Come, children, attend your father to the house. My entering in
is fairer in your eyes, I trow, than my going out. Take heart, and
no more let the tears stream from your eyes; thou too, dear wife,
collect thy courage, cease from fear; let go my robe; for I cannot fly
away, nor have I any wish to flee from those I love. Ah! they do not
loose their hold, but cling to my garments all the more; were ye in
such jeopardy? Well, I must lead them, taking them by the hand to draw
them after me, like a ship when towing; for I too do not reject the
care of my children; here all mankind are equal; all love their
children, both those of high estate and those; who are naught; 'tis
wealth that makes distinctions among them; some have, others want; but
all the human race loves its offspring.

    (HERACLES, MEGARA, AMPHITRYON and the children enter the palace.)

  CHORUS (singing)

                                                            strophe 1

    Dear to me is youth, but old age is ever hanging o'er my head, a
burden heavier than Aetna's crags, casting its pall of gloom upon my
eyes. Oh! never may the wealth of Asia's kings tempt me to barter
for houses stored with gold my happy youth, which is in wealth and
poverty alike most fair! But old age is gloomy and deathly; I hate it;
let it sink beneath the waves! Would it had never found its way to the
homes and towns of mortal men, but were still drifting on for ever
down the wind.

                                                        antistrophe 1

    Had the gods shown discernment and wisdom, as mortals count
these things, men would have gotten youth twice over, a visible mark
of worth amongst whomsoever found, and after death would these have
retraced their steps once more to the sun-light, while the mean man
would have had but a single portion of life; and thus would it have
been possible to distinguish the good and the bad, just as sailors
know the number of the stars amid the clouds. But, as it is, the
gods have set no certain boundary 'twixt good and bad, but time's
onward roll brings increase only to man's wealth.

                                                            strophe 2

    Never will I cease to link in one the Graces and the Muses,
fairest union. Never may my lines be cast among untutored boors, but
ever may I find a place among the crowned choir! Yes, still the aged
bard lifts up his voice of bygone memories; still is my song of the
triumphs of Heracles, whether Bromius the giver of wine is nigh, or
the strains of the seven-stringed lyre and the Libyan flute are
rising; not yet will I cease to sing the Muses' praise, my patrons
in the dance.

                                                        antistrophe 2

    As the maids of Delos raise their song of joy, circling round
the temple gates in honour of Leto's fair son, the graceful dancer; so
with my old lips will sing songs of victory at thy palace-doors,
song of my old age, such as sings the dying swan; for there is a
goodly theme for minstrelsy; he is the son of Zeus; yet high above his
noble birth tower his deeds of prowess, for his toil secured this life
of calm for man, having destroyed all fearsome beasts.

  (AMPHITRYON comes out of the palace as Lycus and his retinue enter.)

  LYCUS
    Ha! Amphitryon, 'tis high time thou camest forth from the
palace; ye have been too long arraying yourselves in the robes and
trappings of the dead. Come, bid the wife and children of Heracles
show themselves outside the house, to die on the conditions you
yourselves offered.
  AMPHITRYON
    O king, thou dost persecute me in my misery and heapest insult
upon me over and above the loss of my son; thou shouldst have been
more moderate in thy zeal, though thou art my lord and master. But
since thou dost impose death's stern necessity on me, needs must I
acquiesce and do thy will.
  LYCUS
    Pray, where is Megara? where are the children of Alcmena's son?
  AMPHITRYON
    She, I believe, so far as I can guess from outside-
  LYCUS
    What grounds hast thou to base thy fancy on?
  AMPHITRYON
    Is sitting as a suppliant on the altar's hallowed steps.
  LYCUS
    Imploring them quite uselessly to save her life.
  AMPHITRYON
    And calling on her dead husband, quite in vain.
  LYCUS
    He is nowhere near, and he certainly will never come.
  AMPHITRYON
    No, unless perhaps a god should raise him from the dead.
  LYCUS
    Go to her and bring her from the palace.
  AMPHITRYON
    By doing so I should become an accomplice in her murder.
  LYCUS
    Since thou hast this scruple, I, who have left fear behind, will
myself bring out the mother and her children. Follow me, servants,
that we may put an end to this delay of our work to our joy.
                           (Lycus and his servants enter the palace.)
  AMPHITRYON
    Then go thy way along the path of fate; for what remains, maybe
another will provide. Expect for thy evil deeds to find some ill
thyself. Ah! my aged friends, he is marching fairly to his doom;
soon will he be entangled in the snare of the sword, thinking to
slay his neighbours, the villain! I will hence, to see him fall
dead; for the sight of a foe being slain and paying the penalty of his
misdeeds gives pleasure.
                          (AMPHITRYON follows Lycus into the palace.)
  CHORUS (singing)
    Evil has changed sides; he who was erst a mighty king is now
turning his life backward into the road to Hades.
    Hail to thee! justice and heavenly retribution.
    At last hast thou reached the goal where thy death will pay the
    forfeit,
    For thy insults against thy betters.
    Joy makes my tears burst forth.
    There is come a retribution, which the prince of the land never
once thought in his heart would happen.
    Come, old friends, let us look within to see if one we know has
met the fate I hope.

  LYCUS (within)
    Ah me! ah me!
  CHORUS (singing)
    Ha! how sweet to hear that opening note of his within the house;
death is not far off him now.
    Hark! the prince cries out in his agony; that preludes death.
  LYCUS (within)
    O kingdom of Cadmus, by treachery I am perishing!
  CHORUS (singing)
    Thou wert thyself for making others perish; endure thy
retribution; 'tis only the penalty of thy own deeds thou art paying.
    Who was he, weak son of man, that aimed his silly saying at the
blessed gods of heaven with impious blasphemy, maintaining that they
are weaklings after all?
    Old friends, our godless foe is now no more.
    The house is still; let us to our dancing.
    Yea, for fortune smiles upon my friends as I desire.

                                                            strophe 1

    Dances and banquets now prevail throughout the holy town of
Thebes. For release from tears and respite from sorrow give birth to
song. The upstart king is dead and gone; our former monarch now is
prince, having made his way even from the bourn of Acheron. Hope
beyond all expectation is fulfilled.

                                                        antistrophe 1

    To heed the right and wrong is heaven's care. 'Tis their gold
and their good luck that lead men's hearts astray, bringing in their
train unholy tyranny. For no man ever had the courage to reflect
what reverses time might bring; but, disregarding law to gratify
lawlessness, he shatters in gloom the car of happiness.

                                                            strophe 2

    Deck thee with garlands, O Ismenus! break forth into dancing, ye
paved streets of our seven-gated city! come Dirce, fount of waters
fair; and joined with her ye daughters of Asopus, come from your
father's waves to add your maiden voices to our hymn, the victor's
prize that Heracles hath won. O Pythian rock, with forests crowned,
and haunts of the Muses on Helicon! make my city and her walls re-echo
with cries of joy; where sprang the earth-born crop to view, a
warrior-host with shields of brass, who are handing on their realm
to children's children, a light divine to Thebes.

                                                        antistrophe 2

    All hail the marriage! wherein two bridegrooms shared; the one,
a mortal; the other, Zeus, who came to wed the maiden sprung from
Perseus; for that marriage of thine, O Zeus, in days gone by has
been proved to me a true story beyond all expectation; and time hath
shown the lustre of Heracles' prowess, who emerged from caverns 'neath
the earth after leaving Pluto's halls below. To me art thou a worthier
lord than that base-born king, who now lets it be plainly seen in this
struggle 'twixt armed warriors, whether justice still finds favour
in heaven.

            (The spectres of MADNESS and IRIS appear
               from above. The CHORUS sees them.)

    Ha! see there, my old comrades! is the same wild panic fallen on
us all; what phantom is this I see hovering o'er the house? Fly,
fly, bestir thy tardy steps! begone! away! away! O saviour prince,
avert calamity from me!
  IRIS
    Courage, old men! she, whom you see, is Madness, daughter of
Night, and I am Iris, the handmaid of the gods. We have not come to do
your city any hurt, but against the house of one man only is our
warfare, even against him whom they call the son of Zeus and
Alcmena. For until he had finished all his grievous toils, Destiny was
preserving him, nor would father Zeus ever suffer me or Hera to harm
him. But now that he hath accomplished the labours of Eurystheus, Hera
is minded to brand him with the guilt of shedding kindred blood by
slaying his own children, and I am one with her. Come then, maid
unwed, child of murky Night, harden thy heart relentlessly, send forth
frenzy upon him, confound his mind even to the slaying of his
children, drive him, goad him wildly on his mad career, shake out
the sails of death, that when he has sent o'er Acheron's ferry that
fair group of children by his own murderous hand, he may learn to know
how fiercely against him the wrath of Hera burns and may also
experience mine; otherwise, if he escape punishment, the gods will
become as naught, while man's power will grow.
  MADNESS
    Of noble parents was I born, the daughter of Night, sprung from
the blood of Uranus; and these prerogatives I hold, not to use them in
anger against friends, nor have I any joy in visiting the homes of
men; and fain would I counsel Hera, before I see her err, and thee
too, if ye will hearken to my words. This man, against whose house
thou art sending me, has made himself a name alike in heaven and
earth; for, after taming pathless wilds and raging sea, he by his
single might raised up again the honours of the gods when sinking
before man's impiety; wherefore I counsel thee, do not wish him dire
mishaps.
  IRIS
    Spare us thy advice on Hera's and my schemes.
  MADNESS
    I seek to turn thy steps into the best path instead of into this
one of evil.
  IRIS
    'Twas not to practice self-control that the wife of Zeus sent thee
hither.
  MADNESS
    I call the sun-god to witness that herein I am acting against my
will; but if indeed I must forthwith serve thee and Hera and follow
you in full cry as hounds follow the huntsman, why go I will; nor
shall ocean with its moaning waves, nor the earthquake, nor the
thunderbolt with blast of agony be half so furious as the headlong
rush I will make into the breast of Heracles; through his roof will
I burst my way and swoop upon his house, after first slaying his
children; nor shall their murderer know that he is killing his
own-begotten babes, till he is released from my madness. Behold him!
see how even now he is wildly tossing his head at the outset, and
rolling his eyes fiercely from side to side without word; nor can he
control his panting breath; but like a bull in act to charge, he
bellows fearfully, calling on the goddesses of nether hell. Soon
will I rouse thee to yet wilder dancing and sound a note of terror
in thine ear. Soar away, O Iris, to Olympus on thy honoured course;
while I unseen will steal into the halls of Heracles.
                                           (IRIS and MADNESS vanish.)
  CHORUS (chanting)
    Alas! alas! lament, O city; the son of Zeus, thy fairest bloom, is
being cut down.
    Woe is thee, Hellas! that wilt cast from thee thy benefactor,
and destroy him as he madly, wildly dances where no pipe is heard.
    She is mounted on her car, the queen of sorrow and sighing, and is
goading on her steeds, as if for outrage, the Gorgon child of Night,
with hundred hissing serpent-heads, Madness of the flashing eyes.
    Soon hath the god changed his good fortune; soon will his children
breathe their last, slain by a father's hand.
    Ah me! alas! soon will vengeance, mad, relentless, lay low by
cruel death thy unhappy son, O Zeus, exacting a full penalty.
    Alas, O house! the fiend begins her dance of death without the
cymbal's crash, with no glad waving of the wine-god's staff.
    Woe to these halls toward bloodshed she moves, and not to pour
libations of the juice of the grape.
    O children, haste to fly; that is the chant of death her piping
plays.
    Ah, yes! he is chasing the children. Never, ah! never will Madness
lead her revel rout in vain.
    Ah misery!
    Ah me! how I lament that aged sire, that mother too that bore
his babes in vain.
    Look! look!
    A tempest rocks the house; the roof is falling with it.
    Oh! what art thou doing, son of Zeus?
    Thou art sending hell's confusion against thy house, as erst did
Pallas on Enceladus.
                                (A MESSENGER enters from the palace.)
  MESSENGER
    Ye hoary men of eld!
  CHORUS
    Why, oh! why this loud address to me?
  MESSENGER
    Awful is the sight within!
  CHORUS
    No need for me to call another to announce that.
  MESSENGER
    Dead lie the children.
  CHORUS
    Alas!
  MESSENGER
    Ah weep! for here is cause for weeping.
  CHORUS
    A cruel murder, wrought by parents' hands!
  MESSENGER
    No words can utter more than we have suffered.
  CHORUS
    What, canst thou prove this piteous ruin was a father's outrage on
his children? Tell me how these heaven-sent woes came rushing on the
house; say how the children met their sad mischance.
  MESSENGER
    Victims to purify the house were stationed before the altar of
Zeus, for Heracles had slain and cast from his halls the king of the
land. There stood his group of lovely children, with his sire and
Megara; and already the basket was being passed round the altar, and
we were keeping holy silence. But just as Alcmena's son was bringing
the torch in his right hand to dip it in the holy water, he stopped
without a word. And as their father lingered, his children looked at
him; and lo! he was changed; his eyes were rolling; he was distraught;
his eyeballs were bloodshot and starting from their sockets, and
foam was oozing down his bearded cheek. Anon he spoke, laughing the
while a madman's laugh, "Father, why should I sacrifice before I
have slain Eurystheus, why kindle the purifying flame and have the
toil twice over, when I might at one stroke so fairly end it all? Soon
as I have brought the head of Eurystheus hither, I will cleanse my
hands for those already slain. Spill the water, cast the baskets
from your hands. Ho! give me now my bow and club! To famed Mycenae
will I go; crow-bars and pick-axes must I take, for I will heave
from their very base with iron levers those city-walls which the
Cyclopes squared with red plumb-line and mason's tools."
    Then he set out, and though he had no chariot there, he thought he
had, and was for mounting to its seat, and using a goad as though
his fingers really held one. A twofold feeling filled his servants'
breasts, half amusement, and half fear; and one looking to his
neighbour said, "Is our master making sport for us, or is he mad?" But
he the while was pacing to and fro in his house; and, rushing into the
men's chamber, he thought he had reached the city of Nisus, albeit
he had gone into his own halls. So he threw himself upon the floor, as
if he were there, and made ready to feast. But after waiting a brief
space he began saying he was on his way to the plains amid the valleys
of the Isthmus; and then stripping himself of his mantle, he fell to
competing with an imaginary rival, o'er whom he proclaimed himself
victor with his own voice, calling on imaginary spectators to
listen. Next, fancy carrying him to Mycenae, he was uttering fearful
threats against Eurystheus. Meantime his father caught him by his
stalwart arm, and thus addressed him, "My son, what meanest thou
hereby? What strange doings are these? Can it be that the blood of thy
late victims has driven thee frantic?" But he, supposing it was the
father of Eurystheus striving in abject supplication to touch his
hand, thrust him aside, and then against his own children aimed his
bow and made ready his quiver, thinking to slay the sons of
Eurystheus. And they in wild affright darted hither and thither, one
to his hapless mother's skirts, another to the shadow of a pillar,
while a third cowered 'neath the altar like a bird. Then cried their
mother, "O father, what art thou doing? dost mean to slay thy
children?" Likewise his aged sire and all the gathered servants
cried aloud. But he, hunting the child round and round, the column, in
dreadful circles, and coming face to face with him shot him to the
heart; and he fell upon his back, sprinkling the stone pillars with
blood as he gasped out his life. Then did Heracles shout for joy and
boasted loud, "Here lies one of Eurystheus' brood dead at my feet,
atoning for his father's hate." Against a second did he aim his bow,
who had crouched at the altar's foot thinking to escape unseen. But
ere he fired, the poor child threw himself at his father's knees, and,
flinging his hand to reach his beard or neck, cried, "Oh! slay me not,
dear father mine! I am thy child, thine own; 'tis no son of Eurystheus
thou wilt slay."
    But that other, with savage Gorgon-scowl, as the child now stood
in range of his baleful archery, smote him on the head, as smites a
smith his molten iron, bringing down his club upon the fair-haired
boy, and crushed the bones. The second caught, away he hies to add a
third victim to the other twain. But ere he could, the poor mother
caught up her babe and carried him within the house and shut the
doors; forthwith the madman, as though he really were at the Cyclopean
walls, prizes open the doors with levers, and, hurling down their
posts, with one fell shaft laid low his wife and child. Then in wild
career he starts to slay his aged sire; but lo! there came a
phantom,-so it seemed to us on-lookers,-Of Pallas, with plumed helm,
brandishing a spear; and she hurled a rock against the breast of
Heracles, which stayed him from his frenzied thirst for blood and
plunged him into sleep; to the ground he fell, smiting his back
against a column that had fallen on the floor in twain when the roof
fell in. Thereon we rallied from our flight, and with the old man's
aid bound him fast with knotted cords to the pillar, that on his
awakening he might do no further evil. So there he sleeps, poor
wretch! a sleep that is not blest, having murdered wife and
children; nay, for my part know not any son of man more miserable than
he.
                                           (The MESSENGER withdraws.)
  CHORUS (singing)
    That murder wrought by the daughters of Danaus, whereof my
native Argos wots, was formerly the most famous and notorious in
Hellas; but this hath surpassed and outdone those previous horrors.
I could tell of the murder of that poor son of Zeus, whom Procne,
mother of an only child, slew and offered to the Muses; but thou hadst
three children, wretched parent, and all of them hast thou in thy
frenzy slain. What groans or wails, what funeral dirge, or chant of
death am I to raise? Alas and woe! see, the bolted doors of the
lofty palace are being rolled apart. Ah me! behold these children
lying dead before their wretched father, who is sunk in awful
slumber after shedding their blood. Round him are bonds and cords,
made fast with many a knot about the body of Heracles, and lashed to
the stone columns of his house. While he, the aged sire, like
mother-bird wailing her unfledged brood, comes hasting hither with
halting steps on his bitter journey.

    (The central doors of the palace have opened and have disclosed
       HERACLES lying asleep, bound to a shattered column. AMPHITRYON
           steps out. The following lines between AMPHITRYON and
                    the CHORUS are chanted responsively.)

  AMPHITRYON
    Softly, softly! ye aged sons of Thebes, let him sleep on and
forget his sorrows.
  CHORUS
    For thee, old friend, I weep and mourn, for the children too and
that victorious chief.
  AMPHITRYON
    Stand further off, make no noise nor outcry, rouse him not from
his calm deep slumber.
  CHORUS
    O horrible! all this blood-
  AMPHITRYON
    Hush, hush! ye will be my ruin.
  CHORUS
    That he has spilt is rising up against him.
  AMPHITRYON
    Gently raise your dirge of woe, old friends; lest he wake, and,
bursting his bonds, destroy the city, rend his sire, and dash his
house to pieces.
  CHORUS
    I cannot, cannot-
  AMPHITRYON
    Hush! let me note his breathing; come, let me put my ear close.
  CHORUS
    Is he sleeping?
  AMPHITRYON
    Aye, that is he, a deathly sleep, having slain wife and children
with the arrows of his twanging bow.
  CHORUS
    Ah! mourn-
  AMPHITRYON
    I do.
  CHORUS
    The children's death;
  AMPHITRYON
    Ah me!
  CHORUS
    And thy own son's doom.
  AMPHITRYON
    Ah misery!
  CHORUS
    Old friend-
  AMPHITRYON
    Hush! hush! he is turning, he is waking! Oh Oh! let me hide myself
beneath the covert of yon roof.
  CHORUS
    Courage! darkness still broods o'er thy son's eye.
  AMPHITRYON
    Oh! beware; 'tis not that I shrink from leaving the light after my
miseries, poor wretch! but should he slay me that am his father,
then will he be devising woe on woe, and to the avenging curse will
add a parent's blood.
  CHORUS
    Well for thee hadst thou died in that day, when, to win thy
wife, thou didst go forth to exact vengeance for her slain brethren by
sacking the Taphians' sea-beat town.
  AMPHITRYON
    Fly, fly, my aged friends, haste from before the palace, escape
his waking fury! For soon will he heap up fresh carnage on the old,
ranging wildly once more through the streets of Thebes.
  CHORUS
    O Zeus, why hast thou shown such savage hate against thine own son
and plunged him in this sea of troubles?
  HERACLES (waking)
    Aha! my breath returns; I am alive; and my eyes see, opening on
the sky and earth and yon sun's darting beam; but how my senses
reel! in what strange turmoil am I plunged! my fevered breath in quick
spasmodic gasps escapes my lungs. How now? why am I lying here, made
fast with cables like a ship, my brawny chest and arms tied to a
shattered piece of masonry, with corpses for my neighbours; while o'er
the floor my bow and arrows are scattered, that erst like trusty
squires to my arm both kept me safe and were kept safe of me? Surely I
am not come a second time to Hades' halls, having just returned from
thence for Eurystheus? No, I do not see Sisyphus with his stone, or
Pluto, or his queen, Demeter's child. Surely I am distraught; I cannot
remember where I am. Ho, there! which of my friends is near or far
to help me in my ignorance? For I have no clear knowledge of things
once familiar.
  AMPHITRYON
    My aged friends, shall I approach the scene of my sorrow?
  LEADER OF THE CHORUS
    Yes, and let me go with thee, nor desert thee in thy trouble.
  HERACLES
    Father, why dost thou weep and veil thy eyes, standing aloof
from thy beloved son?
  AMPHITRYON
    My child! mine still, for all thy misery.
  HERACLES
    Why, what is there so sad in my case that thou dost weep?
  AMPHITRYON
    That which might make any of the gods weep, were he to suffer so.
  HERACLES
    A bold assertion that, but thou art not yet explaining what has
happened.
  AMPHITRYON
    Thine own eyes see that, if by this time thou are restored to
thy senses.
  HERACLES
    Fill in thy sketch if any change awaits my life.
  AMPHITRYON
    I will explain, if thou art no longer mad as a fiend of hell.
  HERACLES
    God help us! what suspicions these dark hints of thine again
excite!
  AMPHITRYON
    I am still doubtful whether thou art in thy sober senses.
  HERACLES
    I never remember being mad.
  AMPHITRYON
    Am I to loose my son, old friends, or what?
  HERACLES
    Loose and say who bound me; for I feel shame at this.
  AMPHITRYON
    Rest content with what thou knowest of thy woes; the rest forego.
  HERACLES
    Enough! I have no wish to probe thy silence.
  AMPHITRYON
    O Zeus, dost thou behold these deeds proceeding from the throne of
Hera?
  HERACLES
    What! have I suffered something from her enmity?
  AMPHITRYON
    A truce to the goddess! attend to thy own troubles.
  HERACLES
    I am undone; what mischance wilt thou unfold?
  AMPHITRYON
    See here the corpses of thy children.
  HERACLES
    O horror! what hideous sight is here? ah me!
  AMPHITRYON
    My son, against thy children hast thou waged unnatural war.
  HERACLES
    War! what meanst thou? who killed these?
  AMPHITRYON
    Thou and thy bow and some god, whoso he be that is to blame.
  HERACLES
    What sayst thou? what have I done? Speak, father, thou messenger
of evil.
  AMPHITRYON
    Thou wert distraught; 'tis a sad explanation thou art asking.
  HERACLES
    Was it I that slew my wife also?
  AMPHITRYON
    Thy own unaided arm hath done all this.
  HERACLES
    Ah, woe is me! a cloud of sorrow wraps me round.
  AMPHITRYON
    The reason this that I lament thy fate.
  HERACLES
    Did I dash my house to pieces or incite others thereto?
  AMPHITRYON
    Naught know I save this, that thou art utterly undone.
  HERACLES
    Where did my frenzy seize me? where did it destroy me?
  AMPHITRYON
    In the moment thou wert purifying thyself witb fire at the altar.
  HERACLES
    Ah me! why do I spare my own life when I have taken that of my
dear children? Shall I not hasten to leap from some sheer rock, or aim
the sword against my heart and avenge my children's blood, or burn
my body in the fire and so avert from my life the infamy which now
awaits me?
    But hither I see Theseus coming to check my deadly counsels, my
kinsman and friend. Now shall I stand revealed, and the dearest of
my friends will see the pollution I have incurred by my children's
murder. Ah, woe is me! what am I to do? Where can I find release
from my sorrows? shall I take wings or plunge beneath the earth? Come,
let me veil my head in darkness; for I am ashamed of the evil I have
done, and, since for these I have incurred fresh blood-guiltiness, I
would fain not harm the innocent.
                                     (THESEUS and his retinue enter.)
  THESEUS
    I am come, and others with me, young warriors from the land of
Athens, encamped by the streams of Asopus, to help thy son, old
friend. For a rumour reached the city of the Erechtheidae, that
Lycus had usurped the sceptre of this land and was become your enemy
even to battle. Wherefore I came making recompense for the former
kindness of Heracles in saving me from the world below, if haply ye
have any need of such aid as I or my allies can give, old prince.
    Ha! what means this heap of dead upon the floor? Surely I have not
delayed too long and come too late to check new ills? Who slew these
children? whose wife is this I see? Boys do not go to battle; nay,
it must be some other strange mischance I here discover.

            (The following lines between THESEUS and
               AMPHITRYON are chanted responsively.)

  AMPHITRYON
    O king, whose home is that olive-clad hill!
  THESEUS
    Why this piteous prelude in addressing me?
  AMPHITRYON
    Heaven has afflicted us with grievous suffering.
  THESEUS
    Whose be these children, o'er whom thou weepest?
  AMPHITRYON
    My own son's children, woe to him! their father and butcher both
was he, hardening his heart to the bloody deed.
  THESEUS
    Hush good words only!
  AMPHITRYON
    I would I could obey!
  THESEUS
    What dreadful words!
  AMPHITRYON
    Fortune has spread her wings, and we are ruined, ruined.
  THESEUS
    What meanest thou? what hath he done?
  AMPHITRYON
    Slain them in a wild fit of frenzy with arrows dipped in the venom
of the hundred-headed hydra.
  THESEUS
    This is Hera's work; but who lies there among the dead, old man?
  AMPHITRYON
    My son, my own enduring son, that marched with gods to Phlegra's
plain, there to battle with giants and slay them, warrior that he was.
  THESEUS
    Ah, woe for him! whose fortune was e'er so curst as his?
  AMPHITRYON
    Never wilt thou find another that hath borne a larger share of
suffering or been more fatally deceived.
  THESEUS
    Why doth he veil his head, poor wretch, in his robe?
  AMPHITRYON
    He is ashamed to meet thine eye; his kinsman's kind intent and his
children's blood make him abashed.
  THESEUS
    But I come to sympathize; uncover him.
  AMPHITRYON
    My son, remove that mantle from thine eyes, throw it from thee,
show thy fare unto the sun; a counterpoise to weeping is battling
for the mastery. In suppliant wise I entreat thee, as I grasp thy
beard, thy knees, thy hands, and let fall the tear from my old eyes. O
my child! restrain thy savage lion-like temper, for thou art rushing
forth on an unholy course of bloodshed, eager to join woe to woe.
  THESEUS
    Ho! To thee I call who art huddled there in thy misery, show to
they friends thy face; for no darkness is black enough to hide thy sad
mischance. Why dost thou wave thy hand at me, signifying murder? is it
that I may not be polluted by speaking with thee? If I share thy
misfortune, what is that to me? For if I too had luck in days gone by,
must refer it to the time when thou didst bring me safe from the
dead to the light of life. I hate a friend whose gratitude grows
old; one who ready to enjoy his friends' prosperity but unwilling to
sail in the same ship with them when their fortune lours. Arise,
unveil thy head, poor wretch! and look on me. The gallant soul endures
without a word such blows as heaven deals.
  HERACLES
    O Theseus, didst thou witness this struggle with my children?
  THESEUS
    I heard of it, and now I see the horrors thou meanest.
  HERACLES
    Why then hast thou unveiled my head to the sun?
  THESEUS
    Why have I? Thou, a man, canst not pollute what is of God.
  HERACLES
    Fly, luckless wretch, from my unholy taint.
  THESEUS
    The avenging fiend goes not forth from friend to friend.
  HERACLES
    For this I thank thee; I do not regret the service I did thee.
  THESEUS
    While I, for kindness then received, now show my pity for thee.
  HERACLES
    Ah yes! I am piteous, a murderer of my sons.
  THESEUS
    I weep for thee in thy changed fortunes.
  HERACLES
    Didst ever find another more afflicted?
  THESEUS
    Thy misfortunes reach from earth to heaven.
  HERACLES
    Therefore am I resolved on death.
  THESEUS
    Dost thou suppose the gods attend to these thy threats?
  HERACLES
    Remorseless hath heaven been to me; so I will prove the like to
it.
  THESEUS
    Hush! lest thy presumption add to thy sufferings.
  HERACLES
    My barque is freighted full with sorrow; there is no room to
stow aught further.
  THESEUS
    What wilt thou do? whither is thy fury drifting thee?
  HERACLES
    I will die and return to that world below whence I have just come.
  THESEUS
    Such language is fit for any common fellow.
  HERACLES
    Ah! thine is the advice of one outside sorrow's pale.
  THESEUS
    Are these indeed the words of Heracles, the much-enduring?
  HERACLES
    Though never so much as this. Endurance must have a limit.
  THESEUS
    Is this man's benefactor, his chiefest friend?
  HERACLES
    Man brings no help to me; no! Hera has her way.
  THESEUS
    Never will Hellas suffer thee to die through sheer perversity.
  HERACLES
    Hear me a moment, that I may enter the lists with words in
answer to thy admonitions; and I will unfold to thee why life now as
well as formerly has been unbearable to me. First I am the son of a
man who incurred the guilt of blood, before he married my mother
Alcmena, by slaying her aged sire. Now when the foundation is badly
laid at birth, needs must the race be cursed with woe; and Zeus,
whoever this Zeus may be, begot me as a butt for Hera's hate; yet be
not thou vexed thereat, old man; for thee rather than Zeus do I regard
as my father. Then whilst I was yet being suckled, that bride of
Zeus did foist into my cradle fearsome snakes to compass my death.
After I was grown to man's estate, of all the toils I then endured
what need to tell? of all the lions, Typhons triple-bodied, and giants
that I slew; or of the battle I won against the hosts of four-legged
Centaurs? or how when I had killed the hydra, that monster with a ring
of heads with power to grow again, I passed through countless other
toils besides and came unto the dead to fetch to the light at the
bidding of Eurystheus the three-headed hound, hell's porter. Last, ah,
woe is me have I perpetrated this bloody deed to crown the sorrows
of my house with my children's murder. To this sore strait am I
come; no longer may I dwell in Thebes, the city that I love; for
suppose I stay, to what temple or gathering of friends shall I repair?
For mine is no curse that invites address. Shall I to Argos? how can
I, when I am an exile from my country? Well, is there a single other
city I can fly to? And if there were, am I to be looked at askance
as a marked man, branded by cruel stabbing tongues, "Is not this the
son of Zeus that once murdered wife and children? Plague take him from
the land!"
    Now to one who was erst called happy, such changes are a
grievous thing; though he who is always unfortunate feels no such
pain, for sorrow is his birthright. This, methinks, is the piteous
pass I shall one day come to; for earth will cry out forbidding me
to touch her, the sea and the river-springs will refuse me a crossing,
and I shall become like Ixion who revolves in chains upon that
wheel. Wherefore this is best, that henceforth I be seen by none of
the Hellenes, amongst whom in happier days I lived in bliss. What
right have I to live? what profit can I have in the possession of a
useless, impious life? So let that noble wife of Zeus break forth in
dancing, beating with buskined foot on heaven's bright floor; for
now hath she worked her heart's desire in utterly confounding the
chiefest of Hellas' sons. Who would pray to such a goddess? Her
jealousy of Zeus for his love of a woman hath destroyed the
benefactors of Hellas, guiltless though they were.
  LEADER OF THE CHORUS
    This is the work of none other of the gods than the wife of
Zeus; thou art right in that surmise.
  THESEUS
    I cannot counsel you to die rather than to go on suffering.
There is not a man alive that hath wholly 'scaped misfortune's
taint, nor any god either, if what poets sing is true. Have they not
intermarried in ways that law forbids? Have they not thrown fathers
into ignominious chains to gain the sovereign power? Still they
inhabit Olympus and brave the issue of their crimes. And yet what
shalt thou say in thy defence, if thou, child of man, dost kick
against the pricks of fate, while they do not? Nay, then, leave Thebes
in compliance with the law, and come with me to the city of Pallas.
There, when I have purified thee of thy pollution, will I give thee
temples and the half of all I have. Yea, I will give thee all those
presents I received from the citizens for saving their children, seven
sons and daughters seven, on the day I slew the bull of Crete; for I
have plots of land assigned me throughout the country; these shall
henceforth be called after thee by men, whilst thou livest; and at thy
death, when thou art gone to Hades' halls, the city of Athens shall
unite in exalting thy honour with sacrifices and a monument of
stone. For 'tis a noble crown for citizens to win from Hellas, even
a reputation fair, by helping a man of worth. This is the return
that I will make thee for saving me, for now art thou in need of
friends. But when heaven delights to honour a man, he has no need of
friends; for the god's aid, when he chooses to give it, is enough.
  HERACLES
    Alas! this is quite beside the question of my troubles. For my
part, I do not believe that the gods indulge in unholy unions; and
as for putting fetters on parents' hands, I have never thought that
worthy of belief, nor will I now be so persuaded, nor again that one
god is naturally lord and master of another. For the deity, if he be
really such, has no wants; these are miserable fictions of the
poets. But I, for all my piteous plight, reflected whether I should
let myself be branded as a coward for giving up my life. For whoso
schooleth not his frail mortal nature to bear fate's buffets as he
ought, will never be able to withstand even a man's weapon. I will
harden my heart against death and seek thy city, with grateful
thanks for all thou offerest me.
                                                          (He weeps.)

    Of countless troubles have I tasted, God knows, but never yet
did faint at any or shed a single tear; nay, nor ever dreamt that I
should come to this, to let the tear-drop fall. But now, it seems, I
must be fortune's slave. Well, let it pass; old father mine, thou
seest me go forth to exile, and in me beholdest my own children's
murderer. Give them burial and lay them out in death with the
tribute of a tear, for the law forbids my doing so. Rest their heads
upon their mother's bosom and fold them in her arms, sad pledges of
our union, whom I, alas! unwittingly did slay. And when thou hast
buried these dead, live on here still, in bitternes maybe, but still
constrain thy soul to share my sorrows. O children! he who begat
you, your own father, hath been your destroyer, and ye have had no
profit of my triumphs, all my restless toil to win you a fair name
in life, a glorious guerdon from a sire. Thee too, unhappy wife,
this hand hath slain, a poor return to make thee for preserving mine
honour so safe, for all the weary watch thou long hast kept within
my house. Alas for you, my wife, my sons! and woe for me, how sad my
lot, cut off from wife and child! Ah! these kisses, bitter-sweet!
these weapons which 'tis pain to own! I am not sure whether to keep or
let them go; dangling at my side they thus will say, "With us didst
thou destroy children and wife; we are thy children's slayers, and
thou keepest us." Shall I carry them after that? what answer can I
make? Yet, am I to strip me of these weapons, the comrades of my
glorious career in Hellas, and put myself thereby in the power of my
foes, to die a death of shame? No! I must not let them go, but keep
them, though it grieve me. In one thing, Theseus, help my misery; come
to Argos with me and aid in settling my reward for bringing Cerberus
thither; lest, if I go all alone, my sorrow for my sons do me some
hurt.
    O land of Cadmus, and all ye folk of Thebes! cut off your hair,
and mourn with me; go to my children's burial, and with united dirge
lament alike the dead and me; for on all of us hath Hera inflicted the
same cruel blow of destruction.
  THESEUS
    Rise, unhappy man! thou hast had thy fill of tears.
  HERACLES
    I cannot rise; my limbs are rooted here.

  THESEUS
    Yea, even the strong are o'erthrown by misfortunes.
  HERACLES
    Ah! would I could grow into a stone upon this spot, oblivious of
trouble!
  THESEUS
    Peace! give thy hand to a friend and helper.
  HERACLES
    Nay, let me not wipe off the blood upon thy robe.
  THESEUS
    Wipe it off and spare not; I will not say thee nay.
  HERACLES
    Reft of my own sons, I find thee as a son to me.
  THESEUS
    Throw thy arm about my neck; I will be thy guide.
  HERACLES
    A pair of friends in sooth are we, but one a man of sorrows. Ah!
aged sire, this is the kind of man to make a friend.
  AMPHITRYON
    Blest in her sons, the country that gave him birth!
  HERACLES
    O Theseus, turn me back again to see my babes.
  THESEUS
    What charm dost think to find in this to soothe thy soul?
  HERACLES
    I long to do so, and would fain embrace my sire.
  AMPHITRYON
    Here am I, my son; thy wish is no less dear to me.
  THESEUS
    Hast thou so short a memory for thy troubles?
  HERACLES
    All that I endured of yore was easier to bear than this.
  THESEUS
    If men see thee play the woman, they will scoff.
  HERACLES
    Have I by living grown so abject in thy sight? 'twas not so
once, methinks.
  THESEUS
    Aye, too much so; for how dost show thyself the glorious
Heracles of yore?
  HERACLES
    What about thyself? what kind of hero wert thou when in trouble in
the world below?
  THESEUS
    I was worse than anyone as far as courage went.
  HERACLES
    How then canst thou say of me, that I am abased by my troubles?
  THESEUS
    Forward!
  HERACLES
    Farewell, my aged sire!
  AMPHITRYON
    Farewell to thee, my son!
  HERACLES
    Bury my children as I said.
  AMPHITRYON
    But who will bury me, my son?
  HERACLES
    I will.
  AMPHITRYON
    When wilt thou come?
  HERACLES
    After thou hast buried my children.
  AMPHITRYON
    How?
  HERACLES
    I will fetch thee from Thebes to Athens. But carry my children
within, a grievous burden to the earth. And I, after ruining my
house by deeds of shame, will follow in the wake of Theseus, totally
destroyed. Whoso prefers wealth or might to the possession of good
friends, thinketh amiss.
                     (THESEUS and his attendants lead HERACLES away.)
  CHORUS (chanting)
    With grief and many a bitter tear we go our way, robbed of all
we prized most dearly.


                                   -THE END-
