Chapter 9

Chorus:Now scattered and with paling light125The stars gleam in the sinking west;Now vanquished night collects her fires,Whose shining band at the day's returnThe star of morning drives away.High up in the frozen northern sky,The Arcadian Bears with their seven-fold stars,130Their course completed, hail the dawn.Now borne along by his azure steedsThe sun looks forth from Oeta's ridge;With whose light suffused, the clustering grapesIn the vineyards to Theban Bacchus dearFlush rosy red. The waning moon135Fades out of sight, to return again.Hard Toil awakens, at whose knockThe doors of men are opened wide,And daily cares resumed.The shepherd sends his flock afield,And plucks, himself, the tender grass140Still sparkling with the frosty rime.The young bull sports among the fieldsAt liberty; the dams refillTheir empty udders; sportive kidsLeap lightly o'er the tender grass145In aimless course. On the topmost branchThe Thracian Philomela singsHer strident song, and near her nestOf chattering young she spreads her wingsTo the morning sun; while all around150The throng of birds with united songsAnnounce the day.The daring sailor spreads his sailsTo the freshening wind, as the breezes fillTheir flapping folds. From wave-worn rocksThe fisher leans and baits anewHis cunning hook; he feels his line155A-tremble with the struggling fish,Or weighs his prize with practiced handAnd eager eye.Such are the joys of him who lives160In tranquil and unworried peace;Whose pleasure is a humble house,His own, though small; whose simple hopesAre in the open fields.[17]But worried hopes in cities dwell,And trembling fears. There some would hauntThe rich man's haughty vestibules,Wait at their proud, unfeeling doors,165Forego their sleep. Some heap up wealth,Though blest with boundless wealth, and gazeIn admiration at their heaps;And yet, with all their gold, are poor.Some strain for the applause of men,The vulgar throng, whose fickle willIs shifting as the sea, and swell170With empty pride. The noisy martStill others claim, who meanly dealIn quarrelsome suits, and profit makeOf wrath and empty words.Few know untroubled peace, the menWho, heeding time's swift flight, hold fast175The years that never will return.While fate permits, live happily;For life runs on with rapid pace,And with headlong speed the year's swift wheel180With winged hours is turned.The cruel sisters urge their task,Nor backward turn the threads of life.But the race of men is hurried onTo meet the quick approaching fates,Uncertain of their own.Of our own will we haste to cross185The Stygian waves. Thou, Hercules,With heart too brave, before thy timeDidst see the grieving shades. The fatesIn pre-established order come;And none may stay when they command,None may put off the appointed day.190The swiftly whirling urn of fateContains all mortal men.Let glory then to many landsProclaim some names, and chattering fameThrough every city sing their praise,And raise them to the stars. Sublime195In triumph let another ride.Me let my native land concealWithin a safe and humble home.'Tis unambitious souls who comeTo hoary-headed age at last.If humble, still the lot is sureOf lowly homes. Souls lifted high,200For this to greater depths must fall.But see, sad Megara comes with flowing hair,Her little children closely pressing round;And with her, with the tardy step of age,The sire of Hercules, Amphitryon.FOOTNOTES:[17]Reading,et in agris.ACT IIMegara:O mighty ruler of Olympus' heights,205Thou judge of all the world, now set at lengthA limit to my cares, and make an endOf my disasters. No untroubled dayDoth dawn for me; but one misfortune's endMarks but the starting-point of future woes.Fresh foes are ready for my HerculesStraightway on his return; ere he can reach210His happy home, another warfare bidsThat he set forth again. No time for restIs given, save while he waits a fresh command.'Twas ever thus: from earliest infancyUnfriendly Juno follows on his track.Was e'en his cradle free from her assaults?He conquered monsters ere he learned to know215What monsters were. Two crested serpents hugeAgainst him reared their heads; the dauntless childCrawled forth to meet them, and, with placid gazeIntently fixed upon their fiery eyes,With fearless look he raised their close-coiled folds,220And crushed their swollen necks with tender hand.And thus he practiced for the hydra's death.He caught the nimble stag of Maenalus,Its beauteous head adorned with horns of gold.The lion, terror of Nemean woods,Groaned out his life beneath the mighty arms225Of Hercules. Why should I call to mindThe stables dire of that Bistonian herd,And the king as food to his own horses given?The rough Maenalian boar, which, from his lairOn Erymanthus' thickly wooded heights,Filled all the groves of Arcady with dread?Or that fell Cretan bull whose terror filled230A hundred towns? Among his herds remote,The three-formed shepherd by Tartessus' shoreWas slain, and from the farthest west his herdsWere driven as booty. Now Cithaeron feedsThe cattle once to Ocean known. Again,When bidden to penetrate the sultry zone235Of summer's burning sun, those scorchéd realmsWhich midday parches with its piercing rays,He clove the ponderous mountain barriers,And made a pathway for the rushing sea.He next assailed the rich Hesperides,And bore therefrom the watchful dragon's spoil240Of golden fruit. Then Lerna's savage beast,An evil creature constantly renewed,Did he not overcome by fire at last,And teach it how to die? Did he not seekWithin the clouds the dire Stymphalian birds,Whose spreading wings were wont to obscure the day?He was not conquered by the maiden queen245Who ruled the Amazons and ever keptHer couch in virgin state. Nor did his hands,Courageous to attempt all glorious deeds,Disdain to cleanse the vile Augean stalls.But what avail these toils? For he aloneCannot enjoy the world he saved. And nowThe world perceives the giver of its peace250Is absent from its sight. Now prosperous crimeIs called by virtue's name; good men obeyThe guilty, might is counted right, and fearO'ershadows law. Before my eyes I sawThe sons who dared defend their father's throneFall dead beneath the tyrant's murderous hand;255I saw King Creon's self by death o'ercome,The latest son of Cadmus' noble line;And with his head the royal diademWas reft away. Who now could weep enoughFor Thebes? Proud land and mother of the gods,What master fears she now, she, from whose fields260And fertile bosom sprang that band of youthWith swords all ready drawn; whose mighty wallsAmphion, son of Jove, once built, its stonesCompelling by the magic of his lyre;Down to whose citadel not once aloneThe father of the gods from heaven came?This royal city which the immortals oftHas entertained, which has divinities265Produced, and (heaven forgive the boastful word)Perchance will yet produce, is now oppressedBeneath a shameful yoke. O royal raceOf Cadmus, noble state Amphion ruled,Low hast thou fallen indeed! Dost thou obeyA low-born exile, driven from his land270And yet oppressing ours? And now, alas,He, who on land and sea doth punish crime,Who breaks all cruel rule with righteous hand,Far off obeys another, and himselfEndures those ills from which he others saved;And Lycus rules the Thebes of Hercules!But not for long; he soon will come again,275And punish all the wrongs; he suddenlyWill to the upper world emerge; a wayHe'll find—or make. Oh, come unharmed, I pray;As victor come at last unto thy homeWhich now in ruins lies. O husband, come,With thy strong hand break through the shades of hell.280And if no way is open, if the roadIs closely barred, then rend the earth and come;And all that lies in keep of dismal nightBring forth with thee. As once, through riven hillsA passage seeking for a headlong stream,Thou stood'st, and, with thy strength gigantic cleft,285The vale of Tempe opened wide; as then,Impelled by might of thy resistless breast,The mountains fell away from either side,And through the broken masses poured the streamOf Thessaly along a channel new:So now to parents, children, native land,A passage burst. And bring away with thee290The shapes of death, and all that greedy timeThrough countless rounds of years has hidden away;Those nations who have drunk forgetfulness,Drive out before thee, fearful of the light.The spoils are all unworthy of thy fame,If thou shouldst bring from hades only that295Which was commanded. But too bold my words,And thoughtless of my present lot I speak.Oh, when will come at last that day for meWhen I shall clasp my husband once again,And weep no more his long-delayed return,His long forgetfulness of me? To thee,O ruler of the gods, a hundred bullsShall bleed; to thee, thou goddess of the fruits,300Thy secret rites I'll pay: for thee shall blazeUpon Eleusin's shrine the sacred torchIn celebration of thy mysteries.Then shall I think my brothers' lives restored,My father once again upon his throne.305But if some power more potent than thine ownHolds thee in durance, we shall come to thee.Return in safety and protect us all,Or drag us down with thee. This wilt thou do;No god will e'er our broken fortunes mend.Amphitr.:O ally of my house, with wifely faithPreserving for the great-souled Hercules310His couch and children, be of better mind.Take heart again, for surely he will come,Increased in fame by this, as is his wontBy other tasks.Megara:What wretched men desireThey readily believe.Amphitryon:Nay, what they fearThey think can never be escaped or borne.315For fear is prone to see the darker side.Megara:Submerged, deep buried, crushed beneath the world,What chance has he to reach the upper realms?Amphitr.:The same he had, when, through the arid plain,And sands that billowed like the stormy sea,320Those twice receding, twice returning gulfs,He made his way; when on the dangerous shoalsOf Syrtes he was wrecked, he left his shipA helpless hulk and crossed the sea on foot.Megara:Unjust is fortune, rarely does she spare325The bravest souls. No one with safety longCan brave so frequent perils; he who oftHas shunned misfortune meets at last his fate.But see, with threatening looks fierce Lycus comes,His hateful soul in hateful bearing shown,330And bears the stolen scepter in his hand.[EnterLycus.]Lycus:The rich domain of this proud town of Thebes,With all the fertile soil which Phocis boundsWithin its winding borders, all the landIsmenus waters; all Cithaeron sees335From his high top; the narrow Isthmus, too,Two seas asunder cleaving: all I own,Not by prerogative of long descent,A worthless heir. No noble ancestors,Nor family adorned with lofty namesHave I; but splendid valor. He who boasts340His noble ancestry exalts a thingWhich is not his to boast. But power usurpedIs held with anxious hands; the sword aloneCan guard it. All thou hold'st against the willOf citizens the sword must hold for thee.No kingdom built upon a foreign soil345Is safe for long. One thing alone I seeWhich can our power establish—Megara,By ties of royal marriage bound to me.From her illustrious line my humble bloodShall a richer hue derive. Nor do I thinkThat she will scorn me and refuse my suit.But should she with a blind and stubborn soul350Refuse my proffered hand, my mind is fixedTo give to utter ruin all the houseOf Hercules. Will such a deed arouseA storm of scandal and the people's hate?The art of ruling chiefly lies in this:The power to bear the people's hate unmoved.Let me make trial then. Occasion smiles,For she herself, in mourning vestments clad,355Stands by the altars of her guardian gods,While near at hand Alcides' father waits.Megara[seeingLycus,aside]: What new outrage does yonder wretch prepare,The pestilent destroyer of our race?Lycus:O thou, who bear'st a name illustrious360From royal stock, with patient ear awhileReceive my words. If everlasting hateThe hearts of men should feel, if fury dire,Once in the heart conceived, should never cease;If prosperous men must ever fight to rule,And those who fail obey because they must:Then never-ending wars would nothing leave,365And all the fields would be a barren waste;Homes would be burned, and 'neath their ashes deepAll nations of the earth would be o'erwhelmed.The victor's profit is in peace restored,But for the vanquished 'tis their direful need.Come, share my throne; let us unite our wills.370And, as my pledge of faith, receive my hand.But why dost thou in scornful silence wait?Megara:And dost thou think that I would touch the handThat is besprinkled with my father's gore,And my two brothers' blood? Oh, sooner farShall day's last beams go out in eastern skies,And dawn break in the west; sooner shall peace375Be made 'twixt snow and flame, and Scylla joinSicilia's shores with those of Italy;And sooner shall Euripus' rushing wavesLap peacefully upon Euboea's shores.My father and my brothers hast thou slain,My kingdom ruined, home and native land.What still is left? One thing remains to me,380That's dearer than my father, brother, home,And kingdom: 'tis my deadly hate of thee.That I must share this with the land at largeIs grief to me. For in their cause for hateHow small a share have I? Thou, swollen with pride,Rule on, and let thy soul exalt itself;But know that evermore the avenging godPursues the proud of heart. Well do I know385The history of Thebes. Why need I tellOf matrons who have dared and suffered wrong?Why name the double crime, the mingled namesOf husband, father, son, the opposing campsOf brothers? Why describe the funeral pyres?The haughty mother, child of Tantalus,390Still sits in stony grief; the mourning rockOn Phrygian Sipylus still drips with tears.Nay, Cadmus' self, in form of serpent, stillFlees through Illyria's realm with crested head,And leaves behind his dragging body's trail.Such fates admonish thee. Rule as thou wilt:395But may the accustomed doom of Thebes be thine.Lycus:Come then, have done with this wild talk of thine,And learn from Hercules to obey the willOf kings. Although by right of victoryI wield this scepter, though I reign supreme400Without the fear of laws which arms annul,Still will I briefly speak in my defense.And did thy father fall in bloody war?Thy brothers too? But arms no limit know,Cannot be checked with ease, nor can the sword,Once drawn, restrain its wrath. War will have blood.405But (you will say), he fought to save his state,While I was prompted by the lust of power.Still we should look, not at the cause of war,But at its outcome. Now let memoryOf all the former wrongs pass from thy heart.When the victor lays aside his arms, 'tis meetThe vanquished should abandon hatred too.410I ask thee not upon thy bended kneesTo acknowledge me as king; for it is wellThat thou shouldst meet thy ruin dauntlessly.Lo, thou art worthy of a royal mate:Be then my wife and not my enemy.Megara:Cold horror creeps throughout my lifeless limbs.What shameful proposition do I hear?415I did not shrink when loud alarms of warRang round our city's walls; and all my woesI've bravely borne. But marriage—and with him!Now do I think myself indeed a slave.Load down my tender frame with heavy chains;Be lingering death by long starvation sought;420Still shall no power o'ercome my wifely faith.I shall be thine, Alcides, to the death.Lycus:Such spirits does a buried husband give?Megara:He went below that he might reach the heavens.Lycus:The boundless weight of earth oppresses him.Megara:No weight of earth can overwhelm the man425Who bore the heavens up.Lycus:Thou shalt be forced.Megara:He can be forced who knows not how to die.Lycus:Tell me what gift I could bestow more richThan royal wedlock?Megara:Grant thy death, or mine.Lycus:Then die, thou fool.Megara:'Tis thus I'll meet my lord.Lycus:Is that slave more to thee, than I, a king?430Megara:How many kings has that slave given to death!Lycus:Why does he serve a king, and bear the yoke?Megara:Remove hard tasks, and where would valor be?Lycus:To conquer monsters call'st thou valor then?Megara:'Tis valor to subdue what all men fear.435Lycus:The shades of hades hold that boaster fast.Megara:No easy way leads from the earth to heaven.Lycus:Who is his father, that he hopes for heaven?Amphitr.:Unhappy wife of mighty Hercules,Be silent now, for 'tis my part to tell440Alcides' parentage. After his deeds,So many and so great; after the world,From rising unto setting of the sun,Has been subdued, so many monsters tamed;After the giants' impious blood was spilledIn Phlegra's vale, and gods were reinforced,445What need we yet to prove his parentage?Do we make false pretense of Jupiter?Then Juno's hate believe.Lycus:Why blaspheme Jove?The race of mortals cannot mate with gods.Amphitr.:Such is the origin of many gods.Lycus:But were they slaves before their heaven was gained?450Amphitr.:The Delian at Pherae kept the flocks.Lycus:But he did not in exile roam the world.Amphitr.:His mother bore him in a roaming land,Herself a fugitive.Lycus:Did Phoebus fearWild beasts and monsters?Amphitr.:Yes, in dragon's blood455His earliest shafts were stained.Lycus:Thou knowest notWhat heavy ills the young Alcides bore.Amphitr.:But Bacchus by a thunderbolt was rippedFrom out his mother's womb; and yet he stoodIn after time beside the Thunderer,His sire. Nay, Jove himself, who rules the starsAnd drives the clouds, did he not lie concealed,460In helpless infancy in Ida's cave?A heavy price must so high lineage pay,And suffering is the birthright of a god.Lycus:Whoe'er is wretched, thou wouldst mortal know.Amphitr.:Whoe'er is brave, thou wouldst not wretched call.Lycus:But is he brave, from whose broad shoulders fell465The lion's skin and club, that they might beA maiden's plaything? Who himself shone brightIn Tyrian vestments? Should we call him brave,Whose bristling locks were wet with fragrant nard,Whose famous hands in woman's wise essayedTo play the tambour; on whose frowning brow470The Phrygian turban shamelessly was worn?Amphitr.:But youthful Bacchus did not blush to wearHis locks in flowing ringlets, in his handThe thyrsus light to brandish, as he walkedWith steps unsteady, clad in trailing robesBright with barbaric gold. 'Tis virtue's right475In foolishness to ease the strain of toil.Lycus:'Twas for this cause the house of EurytusWas overthrown, and troops of maidens slainLike helpless sheep! No Juno ordered this,Nor yet Eurystheus: these his works alone.480Amphitr.:Thou know'st not all his deeds: it was his workThat Eryx fell, by his own gauntlets slain;That in his death Antaeus, too, was joined;That those foul altars, dripping with the bloodOf hapless strangers, drank the blood at lastOf murderous Busiris. 'Twas his workThat Cycnus, proof against the sword, was slain,485Though still unwounded; by his hand aloneThe threefold Geryon fell. And thou shalt beAs one of these, though they ne'er basely sinnedAgainst the rites of marriage.Lycus:What to JoveIs lawful, is my kingly right as well.A wife thou gav'st to him; so for thy kingShalt thou a mate provide. Now Megara490From thine example shall the lesson learn,Not new, that wives may yield to better men,When husbands give consent. But if, self-willed,She still refuse to take me for her lord,I'll force her will to bear me noble seed.Megara:Ye shades of Creon, and ye household gods495Of Labdacus, ye impious nuptial firesOf Oedipus, your wonted fortune giveTo this our union! O ye savage wivesOf king Aegyptus' sons, be present now,With blood-stained hands. Your count is incomplete.I gladly will that impious number fill.500Lycus:Since thou dost stubbornly refuse my suit,And striv'st to fright the king, now shalt thou feelThe strength of royal power. Cling as thou maystTo altar horns: no god shall save thee nowFrom me; not though the earth itself be rent,And Hercules victorious come againUnto the upper world.505[To slaves.]Heap high the logs,And let the sacred temple blazing fallUpon its suppliants. Now let the wifeAnd all her brood upon the funeral pyreBe burned to ashes in the kindling flames.Amphitr.:This boon Alcides' father asks of thee,Which fits me well, that I be first to die.510Lycus:Who bids all men meet punishment with deathKnows not the ruler's art. Seek varied pains;Forbid the wretch to die, the happy slay.Now, while the pyre is growing for the flames,I'll pay my vows unto the ocean's god.515[Exit.]Amphitr.:O god of gods, O ruler of the skies,Whose hurtling bolts make mortals quake with fear,Check thou the impious hand of this dire king.Why do I vainly importune the gods?Where'er thou art, hear thou and answer, son.520But why this sudden rocking of the shrine?Why groans the earth? Far in her lowest holdA crashing deep resounds. Our prayer is heard!It is, it is the step of Hercules!Chorus:O Fortune, envious of the brave,Unjustly are thy prizes given!525Behold Eurystheus reigns at ease,While our Alcmena's noble son,With hands which could the heavens uplift,Must endless wars with monsters wage;Must sever the hydra's teeming necks,And from the cheated sisters bear530The apples, when the dragon huge,The guardian of the golden fruit,Had given to sleep his watchful eyes.To the wandering homes of Scythia,Where tribes in their ancestral seatsAs strangers dwell, he made his way.He trod the frozen ocean's crust,535A still sea hemmed by silent shores;There no waves beat on the rigid plains,And where but now full swelling sailsHad sped their barks, a path is wornBy the long-haired Sarmatae.There the waters change with the changing year,540Now ships, now horses bearing up.From the queen who rules o'er virgin tribes,With golden girdles on their loins,He took her body's noble spoil,Her shield and her snowy bosom's guard.545On bended knee she acknowledged him victor.With what hope, driven to the depths of hell,Bold to tread irretraceable ways,Didst thou behold the dusky realmsOf Proserpine of Sicily?There Notus and Favonius lash550No seas to rage with swelling floods;There do no frightened vessels findHelp from the twin Tyndaridae.Those waters lie in stagnant poolsAnd black; and when, with greedy teeth,555Pale Death bears off uncounted tribesUnto the shades, one oarsman grimBears all across their gloomy depths.Oh, that the laws of cruel StyxThou mightst annul, and the distaff break,Relentless, of the fates. And lo,560Thou canst avail, for he who rulesO'er many nations once with theeHis deadly hands in battle joined,When thou didst wage 'gainst Nestor's landA mighty war. A three-pronged spearHe bore; but soon, by but a woundO'ercome, he fled. He feared to die,565Though lord of death. Burst with thy handsThe bonds of fate. To those sad soulsIn hell let in the light of day,And to the upper world revealAn easy path. Once, by his songsAnd suppliant prayers, did Orpheus bendThe stubborn lords of hell, when he570His lost Eurydice would seek.That art which drew the forest trees,Which held the birds and rocks enthralled,Which stopped the river's headlong race,And tamed the hearts of savage beasts,Soothed with its strains ne'er heard before575Those darksome realms, and clear and fineResounded through that silent land.Eurydice the Thracian damesBewailed; Eurydice, the gods,Who ne'er had wept before; and theyWho with forbidding, awful brows,In judgment sit and hear the crimes580Long since committed, unconfessed,They sat and wept Eurydice,Until the lord of death exclaimed:"We grant thy prayer. Away to earth;But on this sole condition go:Do thou behind thy husband fare;And look thou not upon thy wife,585Until the light of day thou see,And Spartan Taenarus appear."Love hates delay, nor suffers it:He hasted to behold his wife—And she again was lost to him.So, then, the fortress that could yield to song,590Be sure that fortress shall to strength belong.ACT III[EnterHercules,just returned from the lower world, accompanied byTheseus.]Hercules:O kindly lord of light, heaven's ornament,Who circlest all the spaces of the skyWith thy flame-bearing car, and thy bright headDost lift to glad a new-awakened earth:Thy pardon, O Apollo, do I crave,595If aught unlawful thou dost see in me;For by another's will have I revealedThe hidden things of earth. Thou lord of heaven,And sire, behind thy flaming thunderboltConceal thy face; and thou who rul'st the seasBy second lot, seek thou their lowest depths.600Whoever from on high beholds the earth,And would not by strange sights be vision-stained,To heaven look and so these portents shun.Two only may behold this horrid sight:The one who brought and she who ordered it.To work my punishment and fated toils605The earth was not enough. Through Juno's hateHave I seen regions unapproachable,Unknown to Phoebus' rays; yea, I have seenThose gloomy spaces which the nether poleHas yielded to the dusky Jove's domain.And had the regions of the final lotBeen pleasing, there could I myself have reigned.610That seething chaos of eternal night,And, what is worse than night, the gloomy gods,And fates I conquered; and in scorn of deathI have come back again. What else remains?I've seen and shown the lower world to men.If aught beyond is left to do, command.Why dost thou for so long allow these hands,O Juno, to remain in idleness?615What conquest still dost thou command? But whyDo soldiers hold the temple walls in siege,And fear of arms beset their sacred doors?[EnterAmphitryon.]Amphitr.:Now do my fervent hopes deceive my sight,Or is this he, the tamer of the world,The pride of Greece, from that sad, silent land620Returned? Is this my son? My agéd limbsGive way through utter joy. O son, of ThebesThe sure though long-delayed preserver thou!And do I hold thee sent to earth again,Or does some empty shadow mock my joy?And art thou he indeed? I recognizeThy arms and shoulders and the mighty clubWithin thy hands renowned.625Hercules:O father, whenceThese marks of grief, and why do I beholdMy wife in dusky mourning garments clad,My children garbed in these vile signs of woe?What fell disaster hath o'erwhelmed my house?Amphitr.:Thy father-in-law is slain, his kingdom gone,For Lycus hath usurped it; now he seeksThy children, father, wife, to bring to death.630Hercules:Ungrateful land! did no one come to aidThe home of Hercules? Did all the world,Defended by my arm, look on this deedAnd suffer it? But why waste time in grief?My enemy must die.Theseus[seeking to detain him]: O Hercules,Let not thy mighty courage bear this stain,And such a foe as Lycus be thy last.635I go myself to drink his hateful blood.Hercules:My Theseus, stay thou here, lest violenceFrom some new source arise. This war is mine.Let thy embraces wait awhile, my sire,And thine, my wife. Let Lycus first announceTo Dis that I have safe returned to earth.640[Exit.]Theseus:Now let thy face give o'er its grief, my queen;And thou, O father, check thy falling tears,Since this thy son is safe returned to thee.If I know Hercules, for Creon's deathThis Lycus soon shall pay the penalty."Shall pay" is slow; he pays; nay more, has paid.Amphitr.:Now may some favoring god our prayers fulfil,645And help us in our need. O trusty friendOf our great son, his deeds in order tell:How long the way that leads to the sorrowing shades;How bore the dog of hell his heavy chains.Theseus:Thou bid'st me call to memory such deeds650As e'en in safety make me tremble still.For I can scarce believe that even yetI breathe the vital air. My eye's clear sightIs blinded, and, by that thick darkness dimmed,Can scarce endure the unaccustomed light.Amphitr.:But conquer thou the fear that still remainsDeep in thy heart; and do not rob thyself665Of the best fruit of toil. For what was hardTo bear becomes most sweet in memory.Go on, and tell us all thy sufferings.Theseus:O god of heaven, and thou who holdest swayIn that deep, all-embracing realm of death,And thou whose mother sought thee (but in vain)Through all the world: your powers I supplicateThat I may speak with boldness of the things660Concealed and buried in the hold of earth.The Spartan land lifts high a famous cliffWhere Taenarus juts out upon the sea,Dense wooded. Here the realm of hated DisOpes wide its mouth; the high cliff spreads apart,665And in a mighty cavern yawns a pitWith jaws portentous, huge, precipitous;And for all nations ample passage gives.The way begins, not dark with heavy shades.A watery gleam of daylight follows in,And doubtful light, as of the sun eclipsed,670Falls there and mocks the eye. Such light the day,While mingled still with night, at early dawnOr in its waning hour, is wont to give.The way then broadens into spaces vastAnd empty, where the human race entireMight plunge and perish. 'Tis no labor here675To travel, for the road itself draws down.As often whirlpools suck unwilling ships,So does the air, down streaming, urge us on,And hungry chaos. Here the clutching shadesPermit no backward step. Deep in the abyss,With peaceful shallows gentle Lethe glides,680And by its draughts removes all mortal careAnd, that no backward way may be allowed,With many folds it wraps the stream of death;Just as the wandering Maeander sportsWith waves uncertain, now upon itselfRetreats, now halts in hesitation slow,685Whether it shall its fountain seek again,Or journey to the sea. Here lies the marshOf sluggish, vile Cocytus; here, behold,The vulture, there the doleful owl laments,And through the air the fearsome screech-owl sendsIts sad, foreboding cry. There stands the yew,Its black leaves shuddering on the gloomy boughs;690And 'neath its shelter hover sluggish Sleep,And mournful Famine with her wasting jaws,And Shame, at last her guilty face concealed.Here quaking Fear, and Murder, desperate Grief,Black Mourning, tottering Disease, and WarWith weapons girded on, lie hid; and last695Comes feeble Age upon his staff upheld.Amphitr.:Are there no fruitful fields of corn or wine?Theseus:Not so: no joyful fields with verdure shine,No ripening grain waves gently in the breeze,No stately trees bear apple-laden boughs;700But sterile wastes defile those lonely depths,And in eternal sloth the foul earth lies.Here lie the lonesome remnants of the world.The air hangs motionless; and thick night broodsUpon a sluggish, horror-stricken land.705The place of death is worse than death itself.Amphitr.:And what of him who rules those dusky realms?Where sits he as he rules his shadowy folk?Theseus:There is a place in an obscure recessOf Tartarus, which, with its heavy shades,710Dense vapor shrouds. Hence, from a single source,Two different rivers flow: with silent streamOne bears along the sacred Stygian wavesOn which the gods take oath; with mighty roarThe other fiercely rolls the rocks alongWithin its flood, the raging Acheron,715Which may not be recrossed. Set opposite,By these two streams encircled, stands the hallOf royal Dis; and by a shading groveThe mighty house is hid. A spacious caveOf overhanging rock the threshold forms.This is the path of souls; here is the door720Of Pluto's realm; and, round about, there spreadsThe plain wherein the frowning monarch sitsAnd new-come souls reviews. Of lowering browAnd awful majesty the god appears;Yet in his face his brother's likeness bears,And proves his noble birth. Jove's face is his,But thundering Jove's. And of that savage realm725The master's self makes up the largest part,For every fearful thing holds him in fear.Amphitr.:And is the story true that down belowStern justice is at last administered,And guilty souls, who have their crimes forgot,At last atone for sin? Who is he, then,730Who searches out the truth, and justice gives?Theseus:There is not one inquisitor aloneWho sits in judgment on the lofty seat,And tries the trembling culprits: in that hallSit Cretan Minos, Rhadamanthus too,And Aeacus. Each for his sins of earth735Must suffer here; the crime returns to himWho did it, and the guilty soul is crushedBy its own precedents. There, deep immuredIn prison, bloody leaders have I seen,And bleeding backs of heartless tyrants, scourgedBy base plebeian hands. Who mildly reigns,And, though the lord of life, restrains his hands;740Who mercifully rules a bloodless realm,And spares the lives of men: he shall enjoyLong years of happy life, and, at the end,Attain to heaven, or to those regions blestOf the Elysian fields, himself a judge.Refrain from human blood, all ye who rule:745Your sins with heavier judgment shall be judged.Amphitr.:Does any certain place inclose the lost,And do, as rumor says, the impiousSharp punishments in endless chains endure?Theseus:On swiftly flying wheel Ixion turns;750And on the neck of Sisyphus a stoneWeighs heavily. There stands in middle stream,With throat thirst-parched, the poor old man, and seeksTo catch the cooling waves which wash his chin.He, oft deceived, hopes now at last to drink;As often fails the water at his lips.755So also do the fruits his hunger fail.There Tityos eternal banquets givesUnto the greedy vulture; and in vainDo Danaüs' daughters bear their brimming urns.There wander, raging still, the Cadmeids;And greedy birds still fright old Phineus.Amphitr.:Now tell the noble struggle of my son.760Does he bring back his uncle's willing gift,Or does he lead the dog as spoil of war?Theseus:A gloomy cliff o'erhangs the sluggish shoals,Whose waves are dead, and waters motionless.This stream is guarded by a grim old man,Of squalid garb and aspect hideous,Who carries o'er the pool the quaking shades.765His long beard hangs unkempt; his shapeless robeIs knotted into place; his fierce eyes gleamFrom sunken cheeks; and he, as ferryman,With his long pole propels his bark across.He now his empty boat unto the shoreWas turning to receive the waiting souls,770When Hercules requested to be borneAcross the stream. The throng of shades give way;But fiercely Charon cries: "Whither so boldDost thou haste on? Stay there thy hurrying steps."Alcmena's son would no delay endure,But with the pole itself the boatman tamed,And climbed aboard the boat. The roomy craft,775For nations ample, groaned beneath his weight;And as he sat, the heavy-weighted skiffWith rocking sides drank in the Lethe stream.Then quaked the conquered monsters at the sight:The Centaurs, fierce and wild, the Lapithae,Inflamed to strife by copious draughts of wine;And, seeking out the farthest pools of Styx,780The beast of Lerna hid his fertile heads.Soon there appeared the home of greedy Dis,Where the fierce Stygian dog affrights the shades,Who, tossing back and forth his triple heads,With mighty bayings watches o'er the realm.Around his head with damp corruption foul,785Writhe deadly serpents, and his shaggy maneWith vipers bristles; while a twisting snakeForms his long, hissing tail. His wrath and formAre both alike terrific. When he heardThe sound of coming feet, straightway he raisedHis hackles, bristling with their darting snakes,And with erected ears caught at the sound790(For even noiseless spirits can he hear).When Jove's son nearer came, within his caveThe dog stood hesitant, and nameless fearEach of the other felt. Then suddenlyThe silence shudders with his bayings deep,And threatening snakes along his shoulders hiss.The clamor of his dreadful voice, sent forth795Three-throated, even happy shades dismayed.Then did the hero from his left arm looseThe lion's skin with head and grinning jaws,And 'neath this mighty shield opposed the dog.Then in his right all conquering, he raised800His mighty club, and with a rain of blows,Now here, now there, he drove the frightened beast.The conquered dog at last gave o'er his threats,And, spent with fighting, lowered all his heads,And left the entrance free. Then did the kingAnd queen of hell sit trembling on their thrones,805And bade the dog be led away. Me, too,Did Dis at Hercules' request release,A royal gift. Then with his soothing handAlcides stroked the monster's massive necks,And bound him with an adamantine chain.The watchful guardian of the dusky worldForgot his wonted fierceness, and his earsDrooped timidly. He let himself be led,810Confessed his master, and, with muzzle low,Submissively he went, his snaky tailBeating his sides the while. But when he cameTo Taenarus, and in his eyes there smoteThe gleam of unknown light, though strongly bound,815His courage he regained and madly shookHis mighty chains. Even his conquerorWas backward borne and forced to yield his stand.Then even my aid did the hero seek;And with united strength we dragged the dog,Still mad with rage, attempting fruitless war,820Into the upper world. But when he sawThe gleaming spaces of the shining sky,The light of day, thick darkness blinded him;He turned his gaze to earth, and closed his eyes,Expelled the hated light, looked backward, sought825With all his necks the sheltering earth; and last,He hid his head within Alcides' shade.But see, a mighty throng with shouts of joyComes yonder, wearing laurel on their brows,Who chant the well-earned praise of Hercules.

Chorus:Now scattered and with paling light125

The stars gleam in the sinking west;

Now vanquished night collects her fires,

Whose shining band at the day's return

The star of morning drives away.

High up in the frozen northern sky,

The Arcadian Bears with their seven-fold stars,130

Their course completed, hail the dawn.

Now borne along by his azure steeds

The sun looks forth from Oeta's ridge;

With whose light suffused, the clustering grapes

In the vineyards to Theban Bacchus dear

Flush rosy red. The waning moon135

Fades out of sight, to return again.

Hard Toil awakens, at whose knock

The doors of men are opened wide,

And daily cares resumed.

The shepherd sends his flock afield,

And plucks, himself, the tender grass140

Still sparkling with the frosty rime.

The young bull sports among the fields

At liberty; the dams refill

Their empty udders; sportive kids

Leap lightly o'er the tender grass145

In aimless course. On the topmost branch

The Thracian Philomela sings

Her strident song, and near her nest

Of chattering young she spreads her wings

To the morning sun; while all around150

The throng of birds with united songs

Announce the day.

The daring sailor spreads his sails

To the freshening wind, as the breezes fill

Their flapping folds. From wave-worn rocks

The fisher leans and baits anew

His cunning hook; he feels his line155

A-tremble with the struggling fish,

Or weighs his prize with practiced hand

And eager eye.

Such are the joys of him who lives160

In tranquil and unworried peace;

Whose pleasure is a humble house,

His own, though small; whose simple hopes

Are in the open fields.[17]

But worried hopes in cities dwell,

And trembling fears. There some would haunt

The rich man's haughty vestibules,

Wait at their proud, unfeeling doors,165

Forego their sleep. Some heap up wealth,

Though blest with boundless wealth, and gaze

In admiration at their heaps;

And yet, with all their gold, are poor.

Some strain for the applause of men,

The vulgar throng, whose fickle will

Is shifting as the sea, and swell170

With empty pride. The noisy mart

Still others claim, who meanly deal

In quarrelsome suits, and profit make

Of wrath and empty words.

Few know untroubled peace, the men

Who, heeding time's swift flight, hold fast175

The years that never will return.

While fate permits, live happily;

For life runs on with rapid pace,

And with headlong speed the year's swift wheel180

With winged hours is turned.

The cruel sisters urge their task,

Nor backward turn the threads of life.

But the race of men is hurried on

To meet the quick approaching fates,

Uncertain of their own.

Of our own will we haste to cross185

The Stygian waves. Thou, Hercules,

With heart too brave, before thy time

Didst see the grieving shades. The fates

In pre-established order come;

And none may stay when they command,

None may put off the appointed day.190

The swiftly whirling urn of fate

Contains all mortal men.

Let glory then to many lands

Proclaim some names, and chattering fame

Through every city sing their praise,

And raise them to the stars. Sublime195

In triumph let another ride.

Me let my native land conceal

Within a safe and humble home.

'Tis unambitious souls who come

To hoary-headed age at last.

If humble, still the lot is sure

Of lowly homes. Souls lifted high,200

For this to greater depths must fall.

But see, sad Megara comes with flowing hair,

Her little children closely pressing round;

And with her, with the tardy step of age,

The sire of Hercules, Amphitryon.

FOOTNOTES:[17]Reading,et in agris.

[17]Reading,et in agris.

Megara:O mighty ruler of Olympus' heights,205Thou judge of all the world, now set at lengthA limit to my cares, and make an endOf my disasters. No untroubled dayDoth dawn for me; but one misfortune's endMarks but the starting-point of future woes.Fresh foes are ready for my HerculesStraightway on his return; ere he can reach210His happy home, another warfare bidsThat he set forth again. No time for restIs given, save while he waits a fresh command.'Twas ever thus: from earliest infancyUnfriendly Juno follows on his track.Was e'en his cradle free from her assaults?He conquered monsters ere he learned to know215What monsters were. Two crested serpents hugeAgainst him reared their heads; the dauntless childCrawled forth to meet them, and, with placid gazeIntently fixed upon their fiery eyes,With fearless look he raised their close-coiled folds,220And crushed their swollen necks with tender hand.And thus he practiced for the hydra's death.He caught the nimble stag of Maenalus,Its beauteous head adorned with horns of gold.The lion, terror of Nemean woods,Groaned out his life beneath the mighty arms225Of Hercules. Why should I call to mindThe stables dire of that Bistonian herd,And the king as food to his own horses given?The rough Maenalian boar, which, from his lairOn Erymanthus' thickly wooded heights,Filled all the groves of Arcady with dread?Or that fell Cretan bull whose terror filled230A hundred towns? Among his herds remote,The three-formed shepherd by Tartessus' shoreWas slain, and from the farthest west his herdsWere driven as booty. Now Cithaeron feedsThe cattle once to Ocean known. Again,When bidden to penetrate the sultry zone235Of summer's burning sun, those scorchéd realmsWhich midday parches with its piercing rays,He clove the ponderous mountain barriers,And made a pathway for the rushing sea.He next assailed the rich Hesperides,And bore therefrom the watchful dragon's spoil240Of golden fruit. Then Lerna's savage beast,An evil creature constantly renewed,Did he not overcome by fire at last,And teach it how to die? Did he not seekWithin the clouds the dire Stymphalian birds,Whose spreading wings were wont to obscure the day?He was not conquered by the maiden queen245Who ruled the Amazons and ever keptHer couch in virgin state. Nor did his hands,Courageous to attempt all glorious deeds,Disdain to cleanse the vile Augean stalls.But what avail these toils? For he aloneCannot enjoy the world he saved. And nowThe world perceives the giver of its peace250Is absent from its sight. Now prosperous crimeIs called by virtue's name; good men obeyThe guilty, might is counted right, and fearO'ershadows law. Before my eyes I sawThe sons who dared defend their father's throneFall dead beneath the tyrant's murderous hand;255I saw King Creon's self by death o'ercome,The latest son of Cadmus' noble line;And with his head the royal diademWas reft away. Who now could weep enoughFor Thebes? Proud land and mother of the gods,What master fears she now, she, from whose fields260And fertile bosom sprang that band of youthWith swords all ready drawn; whose mighty wallsAmphion, son of Jove, once built, its stonesCompelling by the magic of his lyre;Down to whose citadel not once aloneThe father of the gods from heaven came?This royal city which the immortals oftHas entertained, which has divinities265Produced, and (heaven forgive the boastful word)Perchance will yet produce, is now oppressedBeneath a shameful yoke. O royal raceOf Cadmus, noble state Amphion ruled,Low hast thou fallen indeed! Dost thou obeyA low-born exile, driven from his land270And yet oppressing ours? And now, alas,He, who on land and sea doth punish crime,Who breaks all cruel rule with righteous hand,Far off obeys another, and himselfEndures those ills from which he others saved;And Lycus rules the Thebes of Hercules!But not for long; he soon will come again,275And punish all the wrongs; he suddenlyWill to the upper world emerge; a wayHe'll find—or make. Oh, come unharmed, I pray;As victor come at last unto thy homeWhich now in ruins lies. O husband, come,With thy strong hand break through the shades of hell.280And if no way is open, if the roadIs closely barred, then rend the earth and come;And all that lies in keep of dismal nightBring forth with thee. As once, through riven hillsA passage seeking for a headlong stream,Thou stood'st, and, with thy strength gigantic cleft,285The vale of Tempe opened wide; as then,Impelled by might of thy resistless breast,The mountains fell away from either side,And through the broken masses poured the streamOf Thessaly along a channel new:So now to parents, children, native land,A passage burst. And bring away with thee290The shapes of death, and all that greedy timeThrough countless rounds of years has hidden away;Those nations who have drunk forgetfulness,Drive out before thee, fearful of the light.The spoils are all unworthy of thy fame,If thou shouldst bring from hades only that295Which was commanded. But too bold my words,And thoughtless of my present lot I speak.Oh, when will come at last that day for meWhen I shall clasp my husband once again,And weep no more his long-delayed return,His long forgetfulness of me? To thee,O ruler of the gods, a hundred bullsShall bleed; to thee, thou goddess of the fruits,300Thy secret rites I'll pay: for thee shall blazeUpon Eleusin's shrine the sacred torchIn celebration of thy mysteries.Then shall I think my brothers' lives restored,My father once again upon his throne.305But if some power more potent than thine ownHolds thee in durance, we shall come to thee.Return in safety and protect us all,Or drag us down with thee. This wilt thou do;No god will e'er our broken fortunes mend.Amphitr.:O ally of my house, with wifely faithPreserving for the great-souled Hercules310His couch and children, be of better mind.Take heart again, for surely he will come,Increased in fame by this, as is his wontBy other tasks.Megara:What wretched men desireThey readily believe.Amphitryon:Nay, what they fearThey think can never be escaped or borne.315For fear is prone to see the darker side.Megara:Submerged, deep buried, crushed beneath the world,What chance has he to reach the upper realms?Amphitr.:The same he had, when, through the arid plain,And sands that billowed like the stormy sea,320Those twice receding, twice returning gulfs,He made his way; when on the dangerous shoalsOf Syrtes he was wrecked, he left his shipA helpless hulk and crossed the sea on foot.Megara:Unjust is fortune, rarely does she spare325The bravest souls. No one with safety longCan brave so frequent perils; he who oftHas shunned misfortune meets at last his fate.But see, with threatening looks fierce Lycus comes,His hateful soul in hateful bearing shown,330And bears the stolen scepter in his hand.

Megara:O mighty ruler of Olympus' heights,205

Thou judge of all the world, now set at length

A limit to my cares, and make an end

Of my disasters. No untroubled day

Doth dawn for me; but one misfortune's end

Marks but the starting-point of future woes.

Fresh foes are ready for my Hercules

Straightway on his return; ere he can reach210

His happy home, another warfare bids

That he set forth again. No time for rest

Is given, save while he waits a fresh command.

'Twas ever thus: from earliest infancy

Unfriendly Juno follows on his track.

Was e'en his cradle free from her assaults?

He conquered monsters ere he learned to know215

What monsters were. Two crested serpents huge

Against him reared their heads; the dauntless child

Crawled forth to meet them, and, with placid gaze

Intently fixed upon their fiery eyes,

With fearless look he raised their close-coiled folds,220

And crushed their swollen necks with tender hand.

And thus he practiced for the hydra's death.

He caught the nimble stag of Maenalus,

Its beauteous head adorned with horns of gold.

The lion, terror of Nemean woods,

Groaned out his life beneath the mighty arms225

Of Hercules. Why should I call to mind

The stables dire of that Bistonian herd,

And the king as food to his own horses given?

The rough Maenalian boar, which, from his lair

On Erymanthus' thickly wooded heights,

Filled all the groves of Arcady with dread?

Or that fell Cretan bull whose terror filled230

A hundred towns? Among his herds remote,

The three-formed shepherd by Tartessus' shore

Was slain, and from the farthest west his herds

Were driven as booty. Now Cithaeron feeds

The cattle once to Ocean known. Again,

When bidden to penetrate the sultry zone235

Of summer's burning sun, those scorchéd realms

Which midday parches with its piercing rays,

He clove the ponderous mountain barriers,

And made a pathway for the rushing sea.

He next assailed the rich Hesperides,

And bore therefrom the watchful dragon's spoil240

Of golden fruit. Then Lerna's savage beast,

An evil creature constantly renewed,

Did he not overcome by fire at last,

And teach it how to die? Did he not seek

Within the clouds the dire Stymphalian birds,

Whose spreading wings were wont to obscure the day?

He was not conquered by the maiden queen245

Who ruled the Amazons and ever kept

Her couch in virgin state. Nor did his hands,

Courageous to attempt all glorious deeds,

Disdain to cleanse the vile Augean stalls.

But what avail these toils? For he alone

Cannot enjoy the world he saved. And now

The world perceives the giver of its peace250

Is absent from its sight. Now prosperous crime

Is called by virtue's name; good men obey

The guilty, might is counted right, and fear

O'ershadows law. Before my eyes I saw

The sons who dared defend their father's throne

Fall dead beneath the tyrant's murderous hand;255

I saw King Creon's self by death o'ercome,

The latest son of Cadmus' noble line;

And with his head the royal diadem

Was reft away. Who now could weep enough

For Thebes? Proud land and mother of the gods,

What master fears she now, she, from whose fields260

And fertile bosom sprang that band of youth

With swords all ready drawn; whose mighty walls

Amphion, son of Jove, once built, its stones

Compelling by the magic of his lyre;

Down to whose citadel not once alone

The father of the gods from heaven came?

This royal city which the immortals oft

Has entertained, which has divinities265

Produced, and (heaven forgive the boastful word)

Perchance will yet produce, is now oppressed

Beneath a shameful yoke. O royal race

Of Cadmus, noble state Amphion ruled,

Low hast thou fallen indeed! Dost thou obey

A low-born exile, driven from his land270

And yet oppressing ours? And now, alas,

He, who on land and sea doth punish crime,

Who breaks all cruel rule with righteous hand,

Far off obeys another, and himself

Endures those ills from which he others saved;

And Lycus rules the Thebes of Hercules!

But not for long; he soon will come again,275

And punish all the wrongs; he suddenly

Will to the upper world emerge; a way

He'll find—or make. Oh, come unharmed, I pray;

As victor come at last unto thy home

Which now in ruins lies. O husband, come,

With thy strong hand break through the shades of hell.280

And if no way is open, if the road

Is closely barred, then rend the earth and come;

And all that lies in keep of dismal night

Bring forth with thee. As once, through riven hills

A passage seeking for a headlong stream,

Thou stood'st, and, with thy strength gigantic cleft,285

The vale of Tempe opened wide; as then,

Impelled by might of thy resistless breast,

The mountains fell away from either side,

And through the broken masses poured the stream

Of Thessaly along a channel new:

So now to parents, children, native land,

A passage burst. And bring away with thee290

The shapes of death, and all that greedy time

Through countless rounds of years has hidden away;

Those nations who have drunk forgetfulness,

Drive out before thee, fearful of the light.

The spoils are all unworthy of thy fame,

If thou shouldst bring from hades only that295

Which was commanded. But too bold my words,

And thoughtless of my present lot I speak.

Oh, when will come at last that day for me

When I shall clasp my husband once again,

And weep no more his long-delayed return,

His long forgetfulness of me? To thee,

O ruler of the gods, a hundred bulls

Shall bleed; to thee, thou goddess of the fruits,300

Thy secret rites I'll pay: for thee shall blaze

Upon Eleusin's shrine the sacred torch

In celebration of thy mysteries.

Then shall I think my brothers' lives restored,

My father once again upon his throne.305

But if some power more potent than thine own

Holds thee in durance, we shall come to thee.

Return in safety and protect us all,

Or drag us down with thee. This wilt thou do;

No god will e'er our broken fortunes mend.

Amphitr.:O ally of my house, with wifely faithPreserving for the great-souled Hercules310His couch and children, be of better mind.Take heart again, for surely he will come,Increased in fame by this, as is his wontBy other tasks.

Amphitr.:O ally of my house, with wifely faith

Preserving for the great-souled Hercules310

His couch and children, be of better mind.

Take heart again, for surely he will come,

Increased in fame by this, as is his wont

By other tasks.

Megara:What wretched men desireThey readily believe.

Megara:What wretched men desire

They readily believe.

Amphitryon:Nay, what they fearThey think can never be escaped or borne.315For fear is prone to see the darker side.

Amphitryon:Nay, what they fear

They think can never be escaped or borne.315

For fear is prone to see the darker side.

Megara:Submerged, deep buried, crushed beneath the world,What chance has he to reach the upper realms?

Megara:Submerged, deep buried, crushed beneath the world,

What chance has he to reach the upper realms?

Amphitr.:The same he had, when, through the arid plain,And sands that billowed like the stormy sea,320Those twice receding, twice returning gulfs,He made his way; when on the dangerous shoalsOf Syrtes he was wrecked, he left his shipA helpless hulk and crossed the sea on foot.

Amphitr.:The same he had, when, through the arid plain,

And sands that billowed like the stormy sea,320

Those twice receding, twice returning gulfs,

He made his way; when on the dangerous shoals

Of Syrtes he was wrecked, he left his ship

A helpless hulk and crossed the sea on foot.

Megara:Unjust is fortune, rarely does she spare325The bravest souls. No one with safety longCan brave so frequent perils; he who oftHas shunned misfortune meets at last his fate.But see, with threatening looks fierce Lycus comes,His hateful soul in hateful bearing shown,330And bears the stolen scepter in his hand.

Megara:Unjust is fortune, rarely does she spare325

The bravest souls. No one with safety long

Can brave so frequent perils; he who oft

Has shunned misfortune meets at last his fate.

But see, with threatening looks fierce Lycus comes,

His hateful soul in hateful bearing shown,330

And bears the stolen scepter in his hand.

[EnterLycus.]

Lycus:The rich domain of this proud town of Thebes,With all the fertile soil which Phocis boundsWithin its winding borders, all the landIsmenus waters; all Cithaeron sees335From his high top; the narrow Isthmus, too,Two seas asunder cleaving: all I own,Not by prerogative of long descent,A worthless heir. No noble ancestors,Nor family adorned with lofty namesHave I; but splendid valor. He who boasts340His noble ancestry exalts a thingWhich is not his to boast. But power usurpedIs held with anxious hands; the sword aloneCan guard it. All thou hold'st against the willOf citizens the sword must hold for thee.No kingdom built upon a foreign soil345Is safe for long. One thing alone I seeWhich can our power establish—Megara,By ties of royal marriage bound to me.From her illustrious line my humble bloodShall a richer hue derive. Nor do I thinkThat she will scorn me and refuse my suit.But should she with a blind and stubborn soul350Refuse my proffered hand, my mind is fixedTo give to utter ruin all the houseOf Hercules. Will such a deed arouseA storm of scandal and the people's hate?The art of ruling chiefly lies in this:The power to bear the people's hate unmoved.Let me make trial then. Occasion smiles,For she herself, in mourning vestments clad,355Stands by the altars of her guardian gods,While near at hand Alcides' father waits.Megara[seeingLycus,aside]: What new outrage does yonder wretch prepare,The pestilent destroyer of our race?Lycus:O thou, who bear'st a name illustrious360From royal stock, with patient ear awhileReceive my words. If everlasting hateThe hearts of men should feel, if fury dire,Once in the heart conceived, should never cease;If prosperous men must ever fight to rule,And those who fail obey because they must:Then never-ending wars would nothing leave,365And all the fields would be a barren waste;Homes would be burned, and 'neath their ashes deepAll nations of the earth would be o'erwhelmed.The victor's profit is in peace restored,But for the vanquished 'tis their direful need.Come, share my throne; let us unite our wills.370And, as my pledge of faith, receive my hand.But why dost thou in scornful silence wait?Megara:And dost thou think that I would touch the handThat is besprinkled with my father's gore,And my two brothers' blood? Oh, sooner farShall day's last beams go out in eastern skies,And dawn break in the west; sooner shall peace375Be made 'twixt snow and flame, and Scylla joinSicilia's shores with those of Italy;And sooner shall Euripus' rushing wavesLap peacefully upon Euboea's shores.My father and my brothers hast thou slain,My kingdom ruined, home and native land.What still is left? One thing remains to me,380That's dearer than my father, brother, home,And kingdom: 'tis my deadly hate of thee.That I must share this with the land at largeIs grief to me. For in their cause for hateHow small a share have I? Thou, swollen with pride,Rule on, and let thy soul exalt itself;But know that evermore the avenging godPursues the proud of heart. Well do I know385The history of Thebes. Why need I tellOf matrons who have dared and suffered wrong?Why name the double crime, the mingled namesOf husband, father, son, the opposing campsOf brothers? Why describe the funeral pyres?The haughty mother, child of Tantalus,390Still sits in stony grief; the mourning rockOn Phrygian Sipylus still drips with tears.Nay, Cadmus' self, in form of serpent, stillFlees through Illyria's realm with crested head,And leaves behind his dragging body's trail.Such fates admonish thee. Rule as thou wilt:395But may the accustomed doom of Thebes be thine.Lycus:Come then, have done with this wild talk of thine,And learn from Hercules to obey the willOf kings. Although by right of victoryI wield this scepter, though I reign supreme400Without the fear of laws which arms annul,Still will I briefly speak in my defense.And did thy father fall in bloody war?Thy brothers too? But arms no limit know,Cannot be checked with ease, nor can the sword,Once drawn, restrain its wrath. War will have blood.405But (you will say), he fought to save his state,While I was prompted by the lust of power.Still we should look, not at the cause of war,But at its outcome. Now let memoryOf all the former wrongs pass from thy heart.When the victor lays aside his arms, 'tis meetThe vanquished should abandon hatred too.410I ask thee not upon thy bended kneesTo acknowledge me as king; for it is wellThat thou shouldst meet thy ruin dauntlessly.Lo, thou art worthy of a royal mate:Be then my wife and not my enemy.Megara:Cold horror creeps throughout my lifeless limbs.What shameful proposition do I hear?415I did not shrink when loud alarms of warRang round our city's walls; and all my woesI've bravely borne. But marriage—and with him!Now do I think myself indeed a slave.Load down my tender frame with heavy chains;Be lingering death by long starvation sought;420Still shall no power o'ercome my wifely faith.I shall be thine, Alcides, to the death.Lycus:Such spirits does a buried husband give?Megara:He went below that he might reach the heavens.Lycus:The boundless weight of earth oppresses him.Megara:No weight of earth can overwhelm the man425Who bore the heavens up.Lycus:Thou shalt be forced.Megara:He can be forced who knows not how to die.Lycus:Tell me what gift I could bestow more richThan royal wedlock?Megara:Grant thy death, or mine.Lycus:Then die, thou fool.Megara:'Tis thus I'll meet my lord.Lycus:Is that slave more to thee, than I, a king?430Megara:How many kings has that slave given to death!Lycus:Why does he serve a king, and bear the yoke?Megara:Remove hard tasks, and where would valor be?Lycus:To conquer monsters call'st thou valor then?Megara:'Tis valor to subdue what all men fear.435Lycus:The shades of hades hold that boaster fast.Megara:No easy way leads from the earth to heaven.Lycus:Who is his father, that he hopes for heaven?Amphitr.:Unhappy wife of mighty Hercules,Be silent now, for 'tis my part to tell440Alcides' parentage. After his deeds,So many and so great; after the world,From rising unto setting of the sun,Has been subdued, so many monsters tamed;After the giants' impious blood was spilledIn Phlegra's vale, and gods were reinforced,445What need we yet to prove his parentage?Do we make false pretense of Jupiter?Then Juno's hate believe.Lycus:Why blaspheme Jove?The race of mortals cannot mate with gods.Amphitr.:Such is the origin of many gods.Lycus:But were they slaves before their heaven was gained?450Amphitr.:The Delian at Pherae kept the flocks.Lycus:But he did not in exile roam the world.Amphitr.:His mother bore him in a roaming land,Herself a fugitive.Lycus:Did Phoebus fearWild beasts and monsters?Amphitr.:Yes, in dragon's blood455His earliest shafts were stained.Lycus:Thou knowest notWhat heavy ills the young Alcides bore.Amphitr.:But Bacchus by a thunderbolt was rippedFrom out his mother's womb; and yet he stoodIn after time beside the Thunderer,His sire. Nay, Jove himself, who rules the starsAnd drives the clouds, did he not lie concealed,460In helpless infancy in Ida's cave?A heavy price must so high lineage pay,And suffering is the birthright of a god.Lycus:Whoe'er is wretched, thou wouldst mortal know.Amphitr.:Whoe'er is brave, thou wouldst not wretched call.Lycus:But is he brave, from whose broad shoulders fell465The lion's skin and club, that they might beA maiden's plaything? Who himself shone brightIn Tyrian vestments? Should we call him brave,Whose bristling locks were wet with fragrant nard,Whose famous hands in woman's wise essayedTo play the tambour; on whose frowning brow470The Phrygian turban shamelessly was worn?Amphitr.:But youthful Bacchus did not blush to wearHis locks in flowing ringlets, in his handThe thyrsus light to brandish, as he walkedWith steps unsteady, clad in trailing robesBright with barbaric gold. 'Tis virtue's right475In foolishness to ease the strain of toil.Lycus:'Twas for this cause the house of EurytusWas overthrown, and troops of maidens slainLike helpless sheep! No Juno ordered this,Nor yet Eurystheus: these his works alone.480Amphitr.:Thou know'st not all his deeds: it was his workThat Eryx fell, by his own gauntlets slain;That in his death Antaeus, too, was joined;That those foul altars, dripping with the bloodOf hapless strangers, drank the blood at lastOf murderous Busiris. 'Twas his workThat Cycnus, proof against the sword, was slain,485Though still unwounded; by his hand aloneThe threefold Geryon fell. And thou shalt beAs one of these, though they ne'er basely sinnedAgainst the rites of marriage.Lycus:What to JoveIs lawful, is my kingly right as well.A wife thou gav'st to him; so for thy kingShalt thou a mate provide. Now Megara490From thine example shall the lesson learn,Not new, that wives may yield to better men,When husbands give consent. But if, self-willed,She still refuse to take me for her lord,I'll force her will to bear me noble seed.Megara:Ye shades of Creon, and ye household gods495Of Labdacus, ye impious nuptial firesOf Oedipus, your wonted fortune giveTo this our union! O ye savage wivesOf king Aegyptus' sons, be present now,With blood-stained hands. Your count is incomplete.I gladly will that impious number fill.500Lycus:Since thou dost stubbornly refuse my suit,And striv'st to fright the king, now shalt thou feelThe strength of royal power. Cling as thou maystTo altar horns: no god shall save thee nowFrom me; not though the earth itself be rent,And Hercules victorious come againUnto the upper world.505[To slaves.]Heap high the logs,And let the sacred temple blazing fallUpon its suppliants. Now let the wifeAnd all her brood upon the funeral pyreBe burned to ashes in the kindling flames.Amphitr.:This boon Alcides' father asks of thee,Which fits me well, that I be first to die.510Lycus:Who bids all men meet punishment with deathKnows not the ruler's art. Seek varied pains;Forbid the wretch to die, the happy slay.Now, while the pyre is growing for the flames,I'll pay my vows unto the ocean's god.515

Lycus:The rich domain of this proud town of Thebes,

With all the fertile soil which Phocis bounds

Within its winding borders, all the land

Ismenus waters; all Cithaeron sees335

From his high top; the narrow Isthmus, too,

Two seas asunder cleaving: all I own,

Not by prerogative of long descent,

A worthless heir. No noble ancestors,

Nor family adorned with lofty names

Have I; but splendid valor. He who boasts340

His noble ancestry exalts a thing

Which is not his to boast. But power usurped

Is held with anxious hands; the sword alone

Can guard it. All thou hold'st against the will

Of citizens the sword must hold for thee.

No kingdom built upon a foreign soil345

Is safe for long. One thing alone I see

Which can our power establish—Megara,

By ties of royal marriage bound to me.

From her illustrious line my humble blood

Shall a richer hue derive. Nor do I think

That she will scorn me and refuse my suit.

But should she with a blind and stubborn soul350

Refuse my proffered hand, my mind is fixed

To give to utter ruin all the house

Of Hercules. Will such a deed arouse

A storm of scandal and the people's hate?

The art of ruling chiefly lies in this:

The power to bear the people's hate unmoved.

Let me make trial then. Occasion smiles,

For she herself, in mourning vestments clad,355

Stands by the altars of her guardian gods,

While near at hand Alcides' father waits.

Megara[seeingLycus,aside]: What new outrage does yonder wretch prepare,The pestilent destroyer of our race?

Megara[seeingLycus,aside]: What new outrage does yonder wretch prepare,

The pestilent destroyer of our race?

Lycus:O thou, who bear'st a name illustrious360From royal stock, with patient ear awhileReceive my words. If everlasting hateThe hearts of men should feel, if fury dire,Once in the heart conceived, should never cease;If prosperous men must ever fight to rule,And those who fail obey because they must:Then never-ending wars would nothing leave,365And all the fields would be a barren waste;Homes would be burned, and 'neath their ashes deepAll nations of the earth would be o'erwhelmed.The victor's profit is in peace restored,But for the vanquished 'tis their direful need.Come, share my throne; let us unite our wills.370And, as my pledge of faith, receive my hand.But why dost thou in scornful silence wait?

Lycus:O thou, who bear'st a name illustrious360

From royal stock, with patient ear awhile

Receive my words. If everlasting hate

The hearts of men should feel, if fury dire,

Once in the heart conceived, should never cease;

If prosperous men must ever fight to rule,

And those who fail obey because they must:

Then never-ending wars would nothing leave,365

And all the fields would be a barren waste;

Homes would be burned, and 'neath their ashes deep

All nations of the earth would be o'erwhelmed.

The victor's profit is in peace restored,

But for the vanquished 'tis their direful need.

Come, share my throne; let us unite our wills.370

And, as my pledge of faith, receive my hand.

But why dost thou in scornful silence wait?

Megara:And dost thou think that I would touch the handThat is besprinkled with my father's gore,And my two brothers' blood? Oh, sooner farShall day's last beams go out in eastern skies,And dawn break in the west; sooner shall peace375Be made 'twixt snow and flame, and Scylla joinSicilia's shores with those of Italy;And sooner shall Euripus' rushing wavesLap peacefully upon Euboea's shores.My father and my brothers hast thou slain,My kingdom ruined, home and native land.What still is left? One thing remains to me,380That's dearer than my father, brother, home,And kingdom: 'tis my deadly hate of thee.That I must share this with the land at largeIs grief to me. For in their cause for hateHow small a share have I? Thou, swollen with pride,Rule on, and let thy soul exalt itself;But know that evermore the avenging godPursues the proud of heart. Well do I know385The history of Thebes. Why need I tellOf matrons who have dared and suffered wrong?Why name the double crime, the mingled namesOf husband, father, son, the opposing campsOf brothers? Why describe the funeral pyres?The haughty mother, child of Tantalus,390Still sits in stony grief; the mourning rockOn Phrygian Sipylus still drips with tears.Nay, Cadmus' self, in form of serpent, stillFlees through Illyria's realm with crested head,And leaves behind his dragging body's trail.Such fates admonish thee. Rule as thou wilt:395But may the accustomed doom of Thebes be thine.

Megara:And dost thou think that I would touch the hand

That is besprinkled with my father's gore,

And my two brothers' blood? Oh, sooner far

Shall day's last beams go out in eastern skies,

And dawn break in the west; sooner shall peace375

Be made 'twixt snow and flame, and Scylla join

Sicilia's shores with those of Italy;

And sooner shall Euripus' rushing waves

Lap peacefully upon Euboea's shores.

My father and my brothers hast thou slain,

My kingdom ruined, home and native land.

What still is left? One thing remains to me,380

That's dearer than my father, brother, home,

And kingdom: 'tis my deadly hate of thee.

That I must share this with the land at large

Is grief to me. For in their cause for hate

How small a share have I? Thou, swollen with pride,

Rule on, and let thy soul exalt itself;

But know that evermore the avenging god

Pursues the proud of heart. Well do I know385

The history of Thebes. Why need I tell

Of matrons who have dared and suffered wrong?

Why name the double crime, the mingled names

Of husband, father, son, the opposing camps

Of brothers? Why describe the funeral pyres?

The haughty mother, child of Tantalus,390

Still sits in stony grief; the mourning rock

On Phrygian Sipylus still drips with tears.

Nay, Cadmus' self, in form of serpent, still

Flees through Illyria's realm with crested head,

And leaves behind his dragging body's trail.

Such fates admonish thee. Rule as thou wilt:395

But may the accustomed doom of Thebes be thine.

Lycus:Come then, have done with this wild talk of thine,And learn from Hercules to obey the willOf kings. Although by right of victoryI wield this scepter, though I reign supreme400Without the fear of laws which arms annul,Still will I briefly speak in my defense.And did thy father fall in bloody war?Thy brothers too? But arms no limit know,Cannot be checked with ease, nor can the sword,Once drawn, restrain its wrath. War will have blood.405But (you will say), he fought to save his state,While I was prompted by the lust of power.Still we should look, not at the cause of war,But at its outcome. Now let memoryOf all the former wrongs pass from thy heart.When the victor lays aside his arms, 'tis meetThe vanquished should abandon hatred too.410I ask thee not upon thy bended kneesTo acknowledge me as king; for it is wellThat thou shouldst meet thy ruin dauntlessly.Lo, thou art worthy of a royal mate:Be then my wife and not my enemy.

Lycus:Come then, have done with this wild talk of thine,

And learn from Hercules to obey the will

Of kings. Although by right of victory

I wield this scepter, though I reign supreme400

Without the fear of laws which arms annul,

Still will I briefly speak in my defense.

And did thy father fall in bloody war?

Thy brothers too? But arms no limit know,

Cannot be checked with ease, nor can the sword,

Once drawn, restrain its wrath. War will have blood.405

But (you will say), he fought to save his state,

While I was prompted by the lust of power.

Still we should look, not at the cause of war,

But at its outcome. Now let memory

Of all the former wrongs pass from thy heart.

When the victor lays aside his arms, 'tis meet

The vanquished should abandon hatred too.410

I ask thee not upon thy bended knees

To acknowledge me as king; for it is well

That thou shouldst meet thy ruin dauntlessly.

Lo, thou art worthy of a royal mate:

Be then my wife and not my enemy.

Megara:Cold horror creeps throughout my lifeless limbs.What shameful proposition do I hear?415I did not shrink when loud alarms of warRang round our city's walls; and all my woesI've bravely borne. But marriage—and with him!Now do I think myself indeed a slave.Load down my tender frame with heavy chains;Be lingering death by long starvation sought;420Still shall no power o'ercome my wifely faith.I shall be thine, Alcides, to the death.

Megara:Cold horror creeps throughout my lifeless limbs.

What shameful proposition do I hear?415

I did not shrink when loud alarms of war

Rang round our city's walls; and all my woes

I've bravely borne. But marriage—and with him!

Now do I think myself indeed a slave.

Load down my tender frame with heavy chains;

Be lingering death by long starvation sought;420

Still shall no power o'ercome my wifely faith.

I shall be thine, Alcides, to the death.

Lycus:Such spirits does a buried husband give?

Megara:He went below that he might reach the heavens.

Lycus:The boundless weight of earth oppresses him.

Megara:No weight of earth can overwhelm the man425Who bore the heavens up.

Megara:No weight of earth can overwhelm the man425

Who bore the heavens up.

Lycus:Thou shalt be forced.

Megara:He can be forced who knows not how to die.

Lycus:Tell me what gift I could bestow more richThan royal wedlock?

Lycus:Tell me what gift I could bestow more rich

Than royal wedlock?

Megara:Grant thy death, or mine.

Lycus:Then die, thou fool.

Megara:'Tis thus I'll meet my lord.

Lycus:Is that slave more to thee, than I, a king?430

Megara:How many kings has that slave given to death!

Lycus:Why does he serve a king, and bear the yoke?

Megara:Remove hard tasks, and where would valor be?

Lycus:To conquer monsters call'st thou valor then?

Megara:'Tis valor to subdue what all men fear.435

Lycus:The shades of hades hold that boaster fast.

Megara:No easy way leads from the earth to heaven.

Lycus:Who is his father, that he hopes for heaven?

Amphitr.:Unhappy wife of mighty Hercules,Be silent now, for 'tis my part to tell440Alcides' parentage. After his deeds,So many and so great; after the world,From rising unto setting of the sun,Has been subdued, so many monsters tamed;After the giants' impious blood was spilledIn Phlegra's vale, and gods were reinforced,445What need we yet to prove his parentage?Do we make false pretense of Jupiter?Then Juno's hate believe.

Amphitr.:Unhappy wife of mighty Hercules,

Be silent now, for 'tis my part to tell440

Alcides' parentage. After his deeds,

So many and so great; after the world,

From rising unto setting of the sun,

Has been subdued, so many monsters tamed;

After the giants' impious blood was spilled

In Phlegra's vale, and gods were reinforced,445

What need we yet to prove his parentage?

Do we make false pretense of Jupiter?

Then Juno's hate believe.

Lycus:Why blaspheme Jove?The race of mortals cannot mate with gods.

Lycus:Why blaspheme Jove?

The race of mortals cannot mate with gods.

Amphitr.:Such is the origin of many gods.

Lycus:But were they slaves before their heaven was gained?450

Amphitr.:The Delian at Pherae kept the flocks.

Lycus:But he did not in exile roam the world.

Amphitr.:His mother bore him in a roaming land,Herself a fugitive.

Amphitr.:His mother bore him in a roaming land,

Herself a fugitive.

Lycus:Did Phoebus fearWild beasts and monsters?

Lycus:Did Phoebus fear

Wild beasts and monsters?

Amphitr.:Yes, in dragon's blood455His earliest shafts were stained.

Amphitr.:Yes, in dragon's blood455

His earliest shafts were stained.

Lycus:Thou knowest notWhat heavy ills the young Alcides bore.

Lycus:Thou knowest not

What heavy ills the young Alcides bore.

Amphitr.:But Bacchus by a thunderbolt was rippedFrom out his mother's womb; and yet he stoodIn after time beside the Thunderer,His sire. Nay, Jove himself, who rules the starsAnd drives the clouds, did he not lie concealed,460In helpless infancy in Ida's cave?A heavy price must so high lineage pay,And suffering is the birthright of a god.

Amphitr.:But Bacchus by a thunderbolt was ripped

From out his mother's womb; and yet he stood

In after time beside the Thunderer,

His sire. Nay, Jove himself, who rules the stars

And drives the clouds, did he not lie concealed,460

In helpless infancy in Ida's cave?

A heavy price must so high lineage pay,

And suffering is the birthright of a god.

Lycus:Whoe'er is wretched, thou wouldst mortal know.

Amphitr.:Whoe'er is brave, thou wouldst not wretched call.

Lycus:But is he brave, from whose broad shoulders fell465The lion's skin and club, that they might beA maiden's plaything? Who himself shone brightIn Tyrian vestments? Should we call him brave,Whose bristling locks were wet with fragrant nard,Whose famous hands in woman's wise essayedTo play the tambour; on whose frowning brow470The Phrygian turban shamelessly was worn?

Lycus:But is he brave, from whose broad shoulders fell465

The lion's skin and club, that they might be

A maiden's plaything? Who himself shone bright

In Tyrian vestments? Should we call him brave,

Whose bristling locks were wet with fragrant nard,

Whose famous hands in woman's wise essayed

To play the tambour; on whose frowning brow470

The Phrygian turban shamelessly was worn?

Amphitr.:But youthful Bacchus did not blush to wearHis locks in flowing ringlets, in his handThe thyrsus light to brandish, as he walkedWith steps unsteady, clad in trailing robesBright with barbaric gold. 'Tis virtue's right475In foolishness to ease the strain of toil.

Amphitr.:But youthful Bacchus did not blush to wear

His locks in flowing ringlets, in his hand

The thyrsus light to brandish, as he walked

With steps unsteady, clad in trailing robes

Bright with barbaric gold. 'Tis virtue's right475

In foolishness to ease the strain of toil.

Lycus:'Twas for this cause the house of EurytusWas overthrown, and troops of maidens slainLike helpless sheep! No Juno ordered this,Nor yet Eurystheus: these his works alone.480

Lycus:'Twas for this cause the house of Eurytus

Was overthrown, and troops of maidens slain

Like helpless sheep! No Juno ordered this,

Nor yet Eurystheus: these his works alone.480

Amphitr.:Thou know'st not all his deeds: it was his workThat Eryx fell, by his own gauntlets slain;That in his death Antaeus, too, was joined;That those foul altars, dripping with the bloodOf hapless strangers, drank the blood at lastOf murderous Busiris. 'Twas his workThat Cycnus, proof against the sword, was slain,485Though still unwounded; by his hand aloneThe threefold Geryon fell. And thou shalt beAs one of these, though they ne'er basely sinnedAgainst the rites of marriage.

Amphitr.:Thou know'st not all his deeds: it was his work

That Eryx fell, by his own gauntlets slain;

That in his death Antaeus, too, was joined;

That those foul altars, dripping with the blood

Of hapless strangers, drank the blood at last

Of murderous Busiris. 'Twas his work

That Cycnus, proof against the sword, was slain,485

Though still unwounded; by his hand alone

The threefold Geryon fell. And thou shalt be

As one of these, though they ne'er basely sinned

Against the rites of marriage.

Lycus:What to JoveIs lawful, is my kingly right as well.A wife thou gav'st to him; so for thy kingShalt thou a mate provide. Now Megara490From thine example shall the lesson learn,Not new, that wives may yield to better men,When husbands give consent. But if, self-willed,She still refuse to take me for her lord,I'll force her will to bear me noble seed.

Lycus:What to Jove

Is lawful, is my kingly right as well.

A wife thou gav'st to him; so for thy king

Shalt thou a mate provide. Now Megara490

From thine example shall the lesson learn,

Not new, that wives may yield to better men,

When husbands give consent. But if, self-willed,

She still refuse to take me for her lord,

I'll force her will to bear me noble seed.

Megara:Ye shades of Creon, and ye household gods495Of Labdacus, ye impious nuptial firesOf Oedipus, your wonted fortune giveTo this our union! O ye savage wivesOf king Aegyptus' sons, be present now,With blood-stained hands. Your count is incomplete.I gladly will that impious number fill.500

Megara:Ye shades of Creon, and ye household gods495

Of Labdacus, ye impious nuptial fires

Of Oedipus, your wonted fortune give

To this our union! O ye savage wives

Of king Aegyptus' sons, be present now,

With blood-stained hands. Your count is incomplete.

I gladly will that impious number fill.500

Lycus:Since thou dost stubbornly refuse my suit,And striv'st to fright the king, now shalt thou feelThe strength of royal power. Cling as thou maystTo altar horns: no god shall save thee nowFrom me; not though the earth itself be rent,And Hercules victorious come againUnto the upper world.505[To slaves.]Heap high the logs,And let the sacred temple blazing fallUpon its suppliants. Now let the wifeAnd all her brood upon the funeral pyreBe burned to ashes in the kindling flames.

Lycus:Since thou dost stubbornly refuse my suit,

And striv'st to fright the king, now shalt thou feel

The strength of royal power. Cling as thou mayst

To altar horns: no god shall save thee now

From me; not though the earth itself be rent,

And Hercules victorious come again

Unto the upper world.505

[To slaves.]

Heap high the logs,

And let the sacred temple blazing fall

Upon its suppliants. Now let the wife

And all her brood upon the funeral pyre

Be burned to ashes in the kindling flames.

Amphitr.:This boon Alcides' father asks of thee,Which fits me well, that I be first to die.510

Amphitr.:This boon Alcides' father asks of thee,

Which fits me well, that I be first to die.510

Lycus:Who bids all men meet punishment with deathKnows not the ruler's art. Seek varied pains;Forbid the wretch to die, the happy slay.Now, while the pyre is growing for the flames,I'll pay my vows unto the ocean's god.515

Lycus:Who bids all men meet punishment with death

Knows not the ruler's art. Seek varied pains;

Forbid the wretch to die, the happy slay.

Now, while the pyre is growing for the flames,

I'll pay my vows unto the ocean's god.515

[Exit.]

Amphitr.:O god of gods, O ruler of the skies,Whose hurtling bolts make mortals quake with fear,Check thou the impious hand of this dire king.Why do I vainly importune the gods?Where'er thou art, hear thou and answer, son.520But why this sudden rocking of the shrine?Why groans the earth? Far in her lowest holdA crashing deep resounds. Our prayer is heard!It is, it is the step of Hercules!

Amphitr.:O god of gods, O ruler of the skies,

Whose hurtling bolts make mortals quake with fear,

Check thou the impious hand of this dire king.

Why do I vainly importune the gods?

Where'er thou art, hear thou and answer, son.520

But why this sudden rocking of the shrine?

Why groans the earth? Far in her lowest hold

A crashing deep resounds. Our prayer is heard!

It is, it is the step of Hercules!

Chorus:O Fortune, envious of the brave,Unjustly are thy prizes given!525Behold Eurystheus reigns at ease,While our Alcmena's noble son,With hands which could the heavens uplift,Must endless wars with monsters wage;Must sever the hydra's teeming necks,And from the cheated sisters bear530The apples, when the dragon huge,The guardian of the golden fruit,Had given to sleep his watchful eyes.To the wandering homes of Scythia,Where tribes in their ancestral seatsAs strangers dwell, he made his way.He trod the frozen ocean's crust,535A still sea hemmed by silent shores;There no waves beat on the rigid plains,And where but now full swelling sailsHad sped their barks, a path is wornBy the long-haired Sarmatae.There the waters change with the changing year,540Now ships, now horses bearing up.From the queen who rules o'er virgin tribes,With golden girdles on their loins,He took her body's noble spoil,Her shield and her snowy bosom's guard.545On bended knee she acknowledged him victor.With what hope, driven to the depths of hell,Bold to tread irretraceable ways,Didst thou behold the dusky realmsOf Proserpine of Sicily?There Notus and Favonius lash550No seas to rage with swelling floods;There do no frightened vessels findHelp from the twin Tyndaridae.Those waters lie in stagnant poolsAnd black; and when, with greedy teeth,555Pale Death bears off uncounted tribesUnto the shades, one oarsman grimBears all across their gloomy depths.Oh, that the laws of cruel StyxThou mightst annul, and the distaff break,Relentless, of the fates. And lo,560Thou canst avail, for he who rulesO'er many nations once with theeHis deadly hands in battle joined,When thou didst wage 'gainst Nestor's landA mighty war. A three-pronged spearHe bore; but soon, by but a woundO'ercome, he fled. He feared to die,565Though lord of death. Burst with thy handsThe bonds of fate. To those sad soulsIn hell let in the light of day,And to the upper world revealAn easy path. Once, by his songsAnd suppliant prayers, did Orpheus bendThe stubborn lords of hell, when he570His lost Eurydice would seek.That art which drew the forest trees,Which held the birds and rocks enthralled,Which stopped the river's headlong race,And tamed the hearts of savage beasts,Soothed with its strains ne'er heard before575Those darksome realms, and clear and fineResounded through that silent land.Eurydice the Thracian damesBewailed; Eurydice, the gods,Who ne'er had wept before; and theyWho with forbidding, awful brows,In judgment sit and hear the crimes580Long since committed, unconfessed,They sat and wept Eurydice,Until the lord of death exclaimed:"We grant thy prayer. Away to earth;But on this sole condition go:Do thou behind thy husband fare;And look thou not upon thy wife,585Until the light of day thou see,And Spartan Taenarus appear."Love hates delay, nor suffers it:He hasted to behold his wife—And she again was lost to him.So, then, the fortress that could yield to song,590Be sure that fortress shall to strength belong.

Chorus:O Fortune, envious of the brave,

Unjustly are thy prizes given!525

Behold Eurystheus reigns at ease,

While our Alcmena's noble son,

With hands which could the heavens uplift,

Must endless wars with monsters wage;

Must sever the hydra's teeming necks,

And from the cheated sisters bear530

The apples, when the dragon huge,

The guardian of the golden fruit,

Had given to sleep his watchful eyes.

To the wandering homes of Scythia,

Where tribes in their ancestral seats

As strangers dwell, he made his way.

He trod the frozen ocean's crust,535

A still sea hemmed by silent shores;

There no waves beat on the rigid plains,

And where but now full swelling sails

Had sped their barks, a path is worn

By the long-haired Sarmatae.

There the waters change with the changing year,540

Now ships, now horses bearing up.

From the queen who rules o'er virgin tribes,

With golden girdles on their loins,

He took her body's noble spoil,

Her shield and her snowy bosom's guard.545

On bended knee she acknowledged him victor.

With what hope, driven to the depths of hell,

Bold to tread irretraceable ways,

Didst thou behold the dusky realms

Of Proserpine of Sicily?

There Notus and Favonius lash550

No seas to rage with swelling floods;

There do no frightened vessels find

Help from the twin Tyndaridae.

Those waters lie in stagnant pools

And black; and when, with greedy teeth,555

Pale Death bears off uncounted tribes

Unto the shades, one oarsman grim

Bears all across their gloomy depths.

Oh, that the laws of cruel Styx

Thou mightst annul, and the distaff break,

Relentless, of the fates. And lo,560

Thou canst avail, for he who rules

O'er many nations once with thee

His deadly hands in battle joined,

When thou didst wage 'gainst Nestor's land

A mighty war. A three-pronged spear

He bore; but soon, by but a wound

O'ercome, he fled. He feared to die,565

Though lord of death. Burst with thy hands

The bonds of fate. To those sad souls

In hell let in the light of day,

And to the upper world reveal

An easy path. Once, by his songs

And suppliant prayers, did Orpheus bend

The stubborn lords of hell, when he570

His lost Eurydice would seek.

That art which drew the forest trees,

Which held the birds and rocks enthralled,

Which stopped the river's headlong race,

And tamed the hearts of savage beasts,

Soothed with its strains ne'er heard before575

Those darksome realms, and clear and fine

Resounded through that silent land.

Eurydice the Thracian dames

Bewailed; Eurydice, the gods,

Who ne'er had wept before; and they

Who with forbidding, awful brows,

In judgment sit and hear the crimes580

Long since committed, unconfessed,

They sat and wept Eurydice,

Until the lord of death exclaimed:

"We grant thy prayer. Away to earth;

But on this sole condition go:

Do thou behind thy husband fare;

And look thou not upon thy wife,585

Until the light of day thou see,

And Spartan Taenarus appear."

Love hates delay, nor suffers it:

He hasted to behold his wife—

And she again was lost to him.

So, then, the fortress that could yield to song,590

Be sure that fortress shall to strength belong.

[EnterHercules,just returned from the lower world, accompanied byTheseus.]

Hercules:O kindly lord of light, heaven's ornament,Who circlest all the spaces of the skyWith thy flame-bearing car, and thy bright headDost lift to glad a new-awakened earth:Thy pardon, O Apollo, do I crave,595If aught unlawful thou dost see in me;For by another's will have I revealedThe hidden things of earth. Thou lord of heaven,And sire, behind thy flaming thunderboltConceal thy face; and thou who rul'st the seasBy second lot, seek thou their lowest depths.600Whoever from on high beholds the earth,And would not by strange sights be vision-stained,To heaven look and so these portents shun.Two only may behold this horrid sight:The one who brought and she who ordered it.To work my punishment and fated toils605The earth was not enough. Through Juno's hateHave I seen regions unapproachable,Unknown to Phoebus' rays; yea, I have seenThose gloomy spaces which the nether poleHas yielded to the dusky Jove's domain.And had the regions of the final lotBeen pleasing, there could I myself have reigned.610That seething chaos of eternal night,And, what is worse than night, the gloomy gods,And fates I conquered; and in scorn of deathI have come back again. What else remains?I've seen and shown the lower world to men.If aught beyond is left to do, command.Why dost thou for so long allow these hands,O Juno, to remain in idleness?615What conquest still dost thou command? But whyDo soldiers hold the temple walls in siege,And fear of arms beset their sacred doors?

Hercules:O kindly lord of light, heaven's ornament,

Who circlest all the spaces of the sky

With thy flame-bearing car, and thy bright head

Dost lift to glad a new-awakened earth:

Thy pardon, O Apollo, do I crave,595

If aught unlawful thou dost see in me;

For by another's will have I revealed

The hidden things of earth. Thou lord of heaven,

And sire, behind thy flaming thunderbolt

Conceal thy face; and thou who rul'st the seas

By second lot, seek thou their lowest depths.600

Whoever from on high beholds the earth,

And would not by strange sights be vision-stained,

To heaven look and so these portents shun.

Two only may behold this horrid sight:

The one who brought and she who ordered it.

To work my punishment and fated toils605

The earth was not enough. Through Juno's hate

Have I seen regions unapproachable,

Unknown to Phoebus' rays; yea, I have seen

Those gloomy spaces which the nether pole

Has yielded to the dusky Jove's domain.

And had the regions of the final lot

Been pleasing, there could I myself have reigned.610

That seething chaos of eternal night,

And, what is worse than night, the gloomy gods,

And fates I conquered; and in scorn of death

I have come back again. What else remains?

I've seen and shown the lower world to men.

If aught beyond is left to do, command.

Why dost thou for so long allow these hands,

O Juno, to remain in idleness?615

What conquest still dost thou command? But why

Do soldiers hold the temple walls in siege,

And fear of arms beset their sacred doors?

[EnterAmphitryon.]

Amphitr.:Now do my fervent hopes deceive my sight,Or is this he, the tamer of the world,The pride of Greece, from that sad, silent land620Returned? Is this my son? My agéd limbsGive way through utter joy. O son, of ThebesThe sure though long-delayed preserver thou!And do I hold thee sent to earth again,Or does some empty shadow mock my joy?And art thou he indeed? I recognizeThy arms and shoulders and the mighty clubWithin thy hands renowned.625Hercules:O father, whenceThese marks of grief, and why do I beholdMy wife in dusky mourning garments clad,My children garbed in these vile signs of woe?What fell disaster hath o'erwhelmed my house?Amphitr.:Thy father-in-law is slain, his kingdom gone,For Lycus hath usurped it; now he seeksThy children, father, wife, to bring to death.630Hercules:Ungrateful land! did no one come to aidThe home of Hercules? Did all the world,Defended by my arm, look on this deedAnd suffer it? But why waste time in grief?My enemy must die.Theseus[seeking to detain him]: O Hercules,Let not thy mighty courage bear this stain,And such a foe as Lycus be thy last.635I go myself to drink his hateful blood.Hercules:My Theseus, stay thou here, lest violenceFrom some new source arise. This war is mine.Let thy embraces wait awhile, my sire,And thine, my wife. Let Lycus first announceTo Dis that I have safe returned to earth.640

Amphitr.:Now do my fervent hopes deceive my sight,

Or is this he, the tamer of the world,

The pride of Greece, from that sad, silent land620

Returned? Is this my son? My agéd limbs

Give way through utter joy. O son, of Thebes

The sure though long-delayed preserver thou!

And do I hold thee sent to earth again,

Or does some empty shadow mock my joy?

And art thou he indeed? I recognize

Thy arms and shoulders and the mighty club

Within thy hands renowned.625

Hercules:O father, whenceThese marks of grief, and why do I beholdMy wife in dusky mourning garments clad,My children garbed in these vile signs of woe?What fell disaster hath o'erwhelmed my house?

Hercules:O father, whence

These marks of grief, and why do I behold

My wife in dusky mourning garments clad,

My children garbed in these vile signs of woe?

What fell disaster hath o'erwhelmed my house?

Amphitr.:Thy father-in-law is slain, his kingdom gone,For Lycus hath usurped it; now he seeksThy children, father, wife, to bring to death.630

Amphitr.:Thy father-in-law is slain, his kingdom gone,

For Lycus hath usurped it; now he seeks

Thy children, father, wife, to bring to death.630

Hercules:Ungrateful land! did no one come to aidThe home of Hercules? Did all the world,Defended by my arm, look on this deedAnd suffer it? But why waste time in grief?My enemy must die.

Hercules:Ungrateful land! did no one come to aid

The home of Hercules? Did all the world,

Defended by my arm, look on this deed

And suffer it? But why waste time in grief?

My enemy must die.

Theseus[seeking to detain him]: O Hercules,Let not thy mighty courage bear this stain,And such a foe as Lycus be thy last.635I go myself to drink his hateful blood.

Theseus[seeking to detain him]: O Hercules,

Let not thy mighty courage bear this stain,

And such a foe as Lycus be thy last.635

I go myself to drink his hateful blood.

Hercules:My Theseus, stay thou here, lest violenceFrom some new source arise. This war is mine.Let thy embraces wait awhile, my sire,And thine, my wife. Let Lycus first announceTo Dis that I have safe returned to earth.640

Hercules:My Theseus, stay thou here, lest violence

From some new source arise. This war is mine.

Let thy embraces wait awhile, my sire,

And thine, my wife. Let Lycus first announce

To Dis that I have safe returned to earth.640

[Exit.]

Theseus:Now let thy face give o'er its grief, my queen;And thou, O father, check thy falling tears,Since this thy son is safe returned to thee.If I know Hercules, for Creon's deathThis Lycus soon shall pay the penalty."Shall pay" is slow; he pays; nay more, has paid.Amphitr.:Now may some favoring god our prayers fulfil,645And help us in our need. O trusty friendOf our great son, his deeds in order tell:How long the way that leads to the sorrowing shades;How bore the dog of hell his heavy chains.Theseus:Thou bid'st me call to memory such deeds650As e'en in safety make me tremble still.For I can scarce believe that even yetI breathe the vital air. My eye's clear sightIs blinded, and, by that thick darkness dimmed,Can scarce endure the unaccustomed light.Amphitr.:But conquer thou the fear that still remainsDeep in thy heart; and do not rob thyself665Of the best fruit of toil. For what was hardTo bear becomes most sweet in memory.Go on, and tell us all thy sufferings.Theseus:O god of heaven, and thou who holdest swayIn that deep, all-embracing realm of death,And thou whose mother sought thee (but in vain)Through all the world: your powers I supplicateThat I may speak with boldness of the things660Concealed and buried in the hold of earth.The Spartan land lifts high a famous cliffWhere Taenarus juts out upon the sea,Dense wooded. Here the realm of hated DisOpes wide its mouth; the high cliff spreads apart,665And in a mighty cavern yawns a pitWith jaws portentous, huge, precipitous;And for all nations ample passage gives.The way begins, not dark with heavy shades.A watery gleam of daylight follows in,And doubtful light, as of the sun eclipsed,670Falls there and mocks the eye. Such light the day,While mingled still with night, at early dawnOr in its waning hour, is wont to give.The way then broadens into spaces vastAnd empty, where the human race entireMight plunge and perish. 'Tis no labor here675To travel, for the road itself draws down.As often whirlpools suck unwilling ships,So does the air, down streaming, urge us on,And hungry chaos. Here the clutching shadesPermit no backward step. Deep in the abyss,With peaceful shallows gentle Lethe glides,680And by its draughts removes all mortal careAnd, that no backward way may be allowed,With many folds it wraps the stream of death;Just as the wandering Maeander sportsWith waves uncertain, now upon itselfRetreats, now halts in hesitation slow,685Whether it shall its fountain seek again,Or journey to the sea. Here lies the marshOf sluggish, vile Cocytus; here, behold,The vulture, there the doleful owl laments,And through the air the fearsome screech-owl sendsIts sad, foreboding cry. There stands the yew,Its black leaves shuddering on the gloomy boughs;690And 'neath its shelter hover sluggish Sleep,And mournful Famine with her wasting jaws,And Shame, at last her guilty face concealed.Here quaking Fear, and Murder, desperate Grief,Black Mourning, tottering Disease, and WarWith weapons girded on, lie hid; and last695Comes feeble Age upon his staff upheld.Amphitr.:Are there no fruitful fields of corn or wine?Theseus:Not so: no joyful fields with verdure shine,No ripening grain waves gently in the breeze,No stately trees bear apple-laden boughs;700But sterile wastes defile those lonely depths,And in eternal sloth the foul earth lies.Here lie the lonesome remnants of the world.The air hangs motionless; and thick night broodsUpon a sluggish, horror-stricken land.705The place of death is worse than death itself.Amphitr.:And what of him who rules those dusky realms?Where sits he as he rules his shadowy folk?Theseus:There is a place in an obscure recessOf Tartarus, which, with its heavy shades,710Dense vapor shrouds. Hence, from a single source,Two different rivers flow: with silent streamOne bears along the sacred Stygian wavesOn which the gods take oath; with mighty roarThe other fiercely rolls the rocks alongWithin its flood, the raging Acheron,715Which may not be recrossed. Set opposite,By these two streams encircled, stands the hallOf royal Dis; and by a shading groveThe mighty house is hid. A spacious caveOf overhanging rock the threshold forms.This is the path of souls; here is the door720Of Pluto's realm; and, round about, there spreadsThe plain wherein the frowning monarch sitsAnd new-come souls reviews. Of lowering browAnd awful majesty the god appears;Yet in his face his brother's likeness bears,And proves his noble birth. Jove's face is his,But thundering Jove's. And of that savage realm725The master's self makes up the largest part,For every fearful thing holds him in fear.Amphitr.:And is the story true that down belowStern justice is at last administered,And guilty souls, who have their crimes forgot,At last atone for sin? Who is he, then,730Who searches out the truth, and justice gives?Theseus:There is not one inquisitor aloneWho sits in judgment on the lofty seat,And tries the trembling culprits: in that hallSit Cretan Minos, Rhadamanthus too,And Aeacus. Each for his sins of earth735Must suffer here; the crime returns to himWho did it, and the guilty soul is crushedBy its own precedents. There, deep immuredIn prison, bloody leaders have I seen,And bleeding backs of heartless tyrants, scourgedBy base plebeian hands. Who mildly reigns,And, though the lord of life, restrains his hands;740Who mercifully rules a bloodless realm,And spares the lives of men: he shall enjoyLong years of happy life, and, at the end,Attain to heaven, or to those regions blestOf the Elysian fields, himself a judge.Refrain from human blood, all ye who rule:745Your sins with heavier judgment shall be judged.Amphitr.:Does any certain place inclose the lost,And do, as rumor says, the impiousSharp punishments in endless chains endure?Theseus:On swiftly flying wheel Ixion turns;750And on the neck of Sisyphus a stoneWeighs heavily. There stands in middle stream,With throat thirst-parched, the poor old man, and seeksTo catch the cooling waves which wash his chin.He, oft deceived, hopes now at last to drink;As often fails the water at his lips.755So also do the fruits his hunger fail.There Tityos eternal banquets givesUnto the greedy vulture; and in vainDo Danaüs' daughters bear their brimming urns.There wander, raging still, the Cadmeids;And greedy birds still fright old Phineus.Amphitr.:Now tell the noble struggle of my son.760Does he bring back his uncle's willing gift,Or does he lead the dog as spoil of war?Theseus:A gloomy cliff o'erhangs the sluggish shoals,Whose waves are dead, and waters motionless.This stream is guarded by a grim old man,Of squalid garb and aspect hideous,Who carries o'er the pool the quaking shades.765His long beard hangs unkempt; his shapeless robeIs knotted into place; his fierce eyes gleamFrom sunken cheeks; and he, as ferryman,With his long pole propels his bark across.He now his empty boat unto the shoreWas turning to receive the waiting souls,770When Hercules requested to be borneAcross the stream. The throng of shades give way;But fiercely Charon cries: "Whither so boldDost thou haste on? Stay there thy hurrying steps."Alcmena's son would no delay endure,But with the pole itself the boatman tamed,And climbed aboard the boat. The roomy craft,775For nations ample, groaned beneath his weight;And as he sat, the heavy-weighted skiffWith rocking sides drank in the Lethe stream.Then quaked the conquered monsters at the sight:The Centaurs, fierce and wild, the Lapithae,Inflamed to strife by copious draughts of wine;And, seeking out the farthest pools of Styx,780The beast of Lerna hid his fertile heads.Soon there appeared the home of greedy Dis,Where the fierce Stygian dog affrights the shades,Who, tossing back and forth his triple heads,With mighty bayings watches o'er the realm.Around his head with damp corruption foul,785Writhe deadly serpents, and his shaggy maneWith vipers bristles; while a twisting snakeForms his long, hissing tail. His wrath and formAre both alike terrific. When he heardThe sound of coming feet, straightway he raisedHis hackles, bristling with their darting snakes,And with erected ears caught at the sound790(For even noiseless spirits can he hear).When Jove's son nearer came, within his caveThe dog stood hesitant, and nameless fearEach of the other felt. Then suddenlyThe silence shudders with his bayings deep,And threatening snakes along his shoulders hiss.The clamor of his dreadful voice, sent forth795Three-throated, even happy shades dismayed.Then did the hero from his left arm looseThe lion's skin with head and grinning jaws,And 'neath this mighty shield opposed the dog.Then in his right all conquering, he raised800His mighty club, and with a rain of blows,Now here, now there, he drove the frightened beast.The conquered dog at last gave o'er his threats,And, spent with fighting, lowered all his heads,And left the entrance free. Then did the kingAnd queen of hell sit trembling on their thrones,805And bade the dog be led away. Me, too,Did Dis at Hercules' request release,A royal gift. Then with his soothing handAlcides stroked the monster's massive necks,And bound him with an adamantine chain.The watchful guardian of the dusky worldForgot his wonted fierceness, and his earsDrooped timidly. He let himself be led,810Confessed his master, and, with muzzle low,Submissively he went, his snaky tailBeating his sides the while. But when he cameTo Taenarus, and in his eyes there smoteThe gleam of unknown light, though strongly bound,815His courage he regained and madly shookHis mighty chains. Even his conquerorWas backward borne and forced to yield his stand.Then even my aid did the hero seek;And with united strength we dragged the dog,Still mad with rage, attempting fruitless war,820Into the upper world. But when he sawThe gleaming spaces of the shining sky,The light of day, thick darkness blinded him;He turned his gaze to earth, and closed his eyes,Expelled the hated light, looked backward, sought825With all his necks the sheltering earth; and last,He hid his head within Alcides' shade.But see, a mighty throng with shouts of joyComes yonder, wearing laurel on their brows,Who chant the well-earned praise of Hercules.

Theseus:Now let thy face give o'er its grief, my queen;

And thou, O father, check thy falling tears,

Since this thy son is safe returned to thee.

If I know Hercules, for Creon's death

This Lycus soon shall pay the penalty.

"Shall pay" is slow; he pays; nay more, has paid.

Amphitr.:Now may some favoring god our prayers fulfil,645And help us in our need. O trusty friendOf our great son, his deeds in order tell:How long the way that leads to the sorrowing shades;How bore the dog of hell his heavy chains.

Amphitr.:Now may some favoring god our prayers fulfil,645

And help us in our need. O trusty friend

Of our great son, his deeds in order tell:

How long the way that leads to the sorrowing shades;

How bore the dog of hell his heavy chains.

Theseus:Thou bid'st me call to memory such deeds650As e'en in safety make me tremble still.For I can scarce believe that even yetI breathe the vital air. My eye's clear sightIs blinded, and, by that thick darkness dimmed,Can scarce endure the unaccustomed light.

Theseus:Thou bid'st me call to memory such deeds650

As e'en in safety make me tremble still.

For I can scarce believe that even yet

I breathe the vital air. My eye's clear sight

Is blinded, and, by that thick darkness dimmed,

Can scarce endure the unaccustomed light.

Amphitr.:But conquer thou the fear that still remainsDeep in thy heart; and do not rob thyself665Of the best fruit of toil. For what was hardTo bear becomes most sweet in memory.Go on, and tell us all thy sufferings.

Amphitr.:But conquer thou the fear that still remains

Deep in thy heart; and do not rob thyself665

Of the best fruit of toil. For what was hard

To bear becomes most sweet in memory.

Go on, and tell us all thy sufferings.

Theseus:O god of heaven, and thou who holdest swayIn that deep, all-embracing realm of death,And thou whose mother sought thee (but in vain)Through all the world: your powers I supplicateThat I may speak with boldness of the things660Concealed and buried in the hold of earth.The Spartan land lifts high a famous cliffWhere Taenarus juts out upon the sea,Dense wooded. Here the realm of hated DisOpes wide its mouth; the high cliff spreads apart,665And in a mighty cavern yawns a pitWith jaws portentous, huge, precipitous;And for all nations ample passage gives.The way begins, not dark with heavy shades.A watery gleam of daylight follows in,And doubtful light, as of the sun eclipsed,670Falls there and mocks the eye. Such light the day,While mingled still with night, at early dawnOr in its waning hour, is wont to give.The way then broadens into spaces vastAnd empty, where the human race entireMight plunge and perish. 'Tis no labor here675To travel, for the road itself draws down.As often whirlpools suck unwilling ships,So does the air, down streaming, urge us on,And hungry chaos. Here the clutching shadesPermit no backward step. Deep in the abyss,With peaceful shallows gentle Lethe glides,680And by its draughts removes all mortal careAnd, that no backward way may be allowed,With many folds it wraps the stream of death;Just as the wandering Maeander sportsWith waves uncertain, now upon itselfRetreats, now halts in hesitation slow,685Whether it shall its fountain seek again,Or journey to the sea. Here lies the marshOf sluggish, vile Cocytus; here, behold,The vulture, there the doleful owl laments,And through the air the fearsome screech-owl sendsIts sad, foreboding cry. There stands the yew,Its black leaves shuddering on the gloomy boughs;690And 'neath its shelter hover sluggish Sleep,And mournful Famine with her wasting jaws,And Shame, at last her guilty face concealed.Here quaking Fear, and Murder, desperate Grief,Black Mourning, tottering Disease, and WarWith weapons girded on, lie hid; and last695Comes feeble Age upon his staff upheld.

Theseus:O god of heaven, and thou who holdest sway

In that deep, all-embracing realm of death,

And thou whose mother sought thee (but in vain)

Through all the world: your powers I supplicate

That I may speak with boldness of the things660

Concealed and buried in the hold of earth.

The Spartan land lifts high a famous cliff

Where Taenarus juts out upon the sea,

Dense wooded. Here the realm of hated Dis

Opes wide its mouth; the high cliff spreads apart,665

And in a mighty cavern yawns a pit

With jaws portentous, huge, precipitous;

And for all nations ample passage gives.

The way begins, not dark with heavy shades.

A watery gleam of daylight follows in,

And doubtful light, as of the sun eclipsed,670

Falls there and mocks the eye. Such light the day,

While mingled still with night, at early dawn

Or in its waning hour, is wont to give.

The way then broadens into spaces vast

And empty, where the human race entire

Might plunge and perish. 'Tis no labor here675

To travel, for the road itself draws down.

As often whirlpools suck unwilling ships,

So does the air, down streaming, urge us on,

And hungry chaos. Here the clutching shades

Permit no backward step. Deep in the abyss,

With peaceful shallows gentle Lethe glides,680

And by its draughts removes all mortal care

And, that no backward way may be allowed,

With many folds it wraps the stream of death;

Just as the wandering Maeander sports

With waves uncertain, now upon itself

Retreats, now halts in hesitation slow,685

Whether it shall its fountain seek again,

Or journey to the sea. Here lies the marsh

Of sluggish, vile Cocytus; here, behold,

The vulture, there the doleful owl laments,

And through the air the fearsome screech-owl sends

Its sad, foreboding cry. There stands the yew,

Its black leaves shuddering on the gloomy boughs;690

And 'neath its shelter hover sluggish Sleep,

And mournful Famine with her wasting jaws,

And Shame, at last her guilty face concealed.

Here quaking Fear, and Murder, desperate Grief,

Black Mourning, tottering Disease, and War

With weapons girded on, lie hid; and last695

Comes feeble Age upon his staff upheld.

Amphitr.:Are there no fruitful fields of corn or wine?

Theseus:Not so: no joyful fields with verdure shine,No ripening grain waves gently in the breeze,No stately trees bear apple-laden boughs;700But sterile wastes defile those lonely depths,And in eternal sloth the foul earth lies.Here lie the lonesome remnants of the world.The air hangs motionless; and thick night broodsUpon a sluggish, horror-stricken land.705The place of death is worse than death itself.

Theseus:Not so: no joyful fields with verdure shine,

No ripening grain waves gently in the breeze,

No stately trees bear apple-laden boughs;700

But sterile wastes defile those lonely depths,

And in eternal sloth the foul earth lies.

Here lie the lonesome remnants of the world.

The air hangs motionless; and thick night broods

Upon a sluggish, horror-stricken land.705

The place of death is worse than death itself.

Amphitr.:And what of him who rules those dusky realms?Where sits he as he rules his shadowy folk?

Amphitr.:And what of him who rules those dusky realms?

Where sits he as he rules his shadowy folk?

Theseus:There is a place in an obscure recessOf Tartarus, which, with its heavy shades,710Dense vapor shrouds. Hence, from a single source,Two different rivers flow: with silent streamOne bears along the sacred Stygian wavesOn which the gods take oath; with mighty roarThe other fiercely rolls the rocks alongWithin its flood, the raging Acheron,715Which may not be recrossed. Set opposite,By these two streams encircled, stands the hallOf royal Dis; and by a shading groveThe mighty house is hid. A spacious caveOf overhanging rock the threshold forms.This is the path of souls; here is the door720Of Pluto's realm; and, round about, there spreadsThe plain wherein the frowning monarch sitsAnd new-come souls reviews. Of lowering browAnd awful majesty the god appears;Yet in his face his brother's likeness bears,And proves his noble birth. Jove's face is his,But thundering Jove's. And of that savage realm725The master's self makes up the largest part,For every fearful thing holds him in fear.

Theseus:There is a place in an obscure recess

Of Tartarus, which, with its heavy shades,710

Dense vapor shrouds. Hence, from a single source,

Two different rivers flow: with silent stream

One bears along the sacred Stygian waves

On which the gods take oath; with mighty roar

The other fiercely rolls the rocks along

Within its flood, the raging Acheron,715

Which may not be recrossed. Set opposite,

By these two streams encircled, stands the hall

Of royal Dis; and by a shading grove

The mighty house is hid. A spacious cave

Of overhanging rock the threshold forms.

This is the path of souls; here is the door720

Of Pluto's realm; and, round about, there spreads

The plain wherein the frowning monarch sits

And new-come souls reviews. Of lowering brow

And awful majesty the god appears;

Yet in his face his brother's likeness bears,

And proves his noble birth. Jove's face is his,

But thundering Jove's. And of that savage realm725

The master's self makes up the largest part,

For every fearful thing holds him in fear.

Amphitr.:And is the story true that down belowStern justice is at last administered,And guilty souls, who have their crimes forgot,At last atone for sin? Who is he, then,730Who searches out the truth, and justice gives?

Amphitr.:And is the story true that down below

Stern justice is at last administered,

And guilty souls, who have their crimes forgot,

At last atone for sin? Who is he, then,730

Who searches out the truth, and justice gives?

Theseus:There is not one inquisitor aloneWho sits in judgment on the lofty seat,And tries the trembling culprits: in that hallSit Cretan Minos, Rhadamanthus too,And Aeacus. Each for his sins of earth735Must suffer here; the crime returns to himWho did it, and the guilty soul is crushedBy its own precedents. There, deep immuredIn prison, bloody leaders have I seen,And bleeding backs of heartless tyrants, scourgedBy base plebeian hands. Who mildly reigns,And, though the lord of life, restrains his hands;740Who mercifully rules a bloodless realm,And spares the lives of men: he shall enjoyLong years of happy life, and, at the end,Attain to heaven, or to those regions blestOf the Elysian fields, himself a judge.Refrain from human blood, all ye who rule:745Your sins with heavier judgment shall be judged.

Theseus:There is not one inquisitor alone

Who sits in judgment on the lofty seat,

And tries the trembling culprits: in that hall

Sit Cretan Minos, Rhadamanthus too,

And Aeacus. Each for his sins of earth735

Must suffer here; the crime returns to him

Who did it, and the guilty soul is crushed

By its own precedents. There, deep immured

In prison, bloody leaders have I seen,

And bleeding backs of heartless tyrants, scourged

By base plebeian hands. Who mildly reigns,

And, though the lord of life, restrains his hands;740

Who mercifully rules a bloodless realm,

And spares the lives of men: he shall enjoy

Long years of happy life, and, at the end,

Attain to heaven, or to those regions blest

Of the Elysian fields, himself a judge.

Refrain from human blood, all ye who rule:745

Your sins with heavier judgment shall be judged.

Amphitr.:Does any certain place inclose the lost,And do, as rumor says, the impiousSharp punishments in endless chains endure?

Amphitr.:Does any certain place inclose the lost,

And do, as rumor says, the impious

Sharp punishments in endless chains endure?

Theseus:On swiftly flying wheel Ixion turns;750And on the neck of Sisyphus a stoneWeighs heavily. There stands in middle stream,With throat thirst-parched, the poor old man, and seeksTo catch the cooling waves which wash his chin.He, oft deceived, hopes now at last to drink;As often fails the water at his lips.755So also do the fruits his hunger fail.There Tityos eternal banquets givesUnto the greedy vulture; and in vainDo Danaüs' daughters bear their brimming urns.There wander, raging still, the Cadmeids;And greedy birds still fright old Phineus.

Theseus:On swiftly flying wheel Ixion turns;750

And on the neck of Sisyphus a stone

Weighs heavily. There stands in middle stream,

With throat thirst-parched, the poor old man, and seeks

To catch the cooling waves which wash his chin.

He, oft deceived, hopes now at last to drink;

As often fails the water at his lips.755

So also do the fruits his hunger fail.

There Tityos eternal banquets gives

Unto the greedy vulture; and in vain

Do Danaüs' daughters bear their brimming urns.

There wander, raging still, the Cadmeids;

And greedy birds still fright old Phineus.

Amphitr.:Now tell the noble struggle of my son.760Does he bring back his uncle's willing gift,Or does he lead the dog as spoil of war?

Amphitr.:Now tell the noble struggle of my son.760

Does he bring back his uncle's willing gift,

Or does he lead the dog as spoil of war?

Theseus:A gloomy cliff o'erhangs the sluggish shoals,Whose waves are dead, and waters motionless.This stream is guarded by a grim old man,Of squalid garb and aspect hideous,Who carries o'er the pool the quaking shades.765His long beard hangs unkempt; his shapeless robeIs knotted into place; his fierce eyes gleamFrom sunken cheeks; and he, as ferryman,With his long pole propels his bark across.He now his empty boat unto the shoreWas turning to receive the waiting souls,770When Hercules requested to be borneAcross the stream. The throng of shades give way;But fiercely Charon cries: "Whither so boldDost thou haste on? Stay there thy hurrying steps."Alcmena's son would no delay endure,But with the pole itself the boatman tamed,And climbed aboard the boat. The roomy craft,775For nations ample, groaned beneath his weight;And as he sat, the heavy-weighted skiffWith rocking sides drank in the Lethe stream.Then quaked the conquered monsters at the sight:The Centaurs, fierce and wild, the Lapithae,Inflamed to strife by copious draughts of wine;And, seeking out the farthest pools of Styx,780The beast of Lerna hid his fertile heads.Soon there appeared the home of greedy Dis,Where the fierce Stygian dog affrights the shades,Who, tossing back and forth his triple heads,With mighty bayings watches o'er the realm.Around his head with damp corruption foul,785Writhe deadly serpents, and his shaggy maneWith vipers bristles; while a twisting snakeForms his long, hissing tail. His wrath and formAre both alike terrific. When he heardThe sound of coming feet, straightway he raisedHis hackles, bristling with their darting snakes,And with erected ears caught at the sound790(For even noiseless spirits can he hear).When Jove's son nearer came, within his caveThe dog stood hesitant, and nameless fearEach of the other felt. Then suddenlyThe silence shudders with his bayings deep,And threatening snakes along his shoulders hiss.The clamor of his dreadful voice, sent forth795Three-throated, even happy shades dismayed.Then did the hero from his left arm looseThe lion's skin with head and grinning jaws,And 'neath this mighty shield opposed the dog.Then in his right all conquering, he raised800His mighty club, and with a rain of blows,Now here, now there, he drove the frightened beast.The conquered dog at last gave o'er his threats,And, spent with fighting, lowered all his heads,And left the entrance free. Then did the kingAnd queen of hell sit trembling on their thrones,805And bade the dog be led away. Me, too,Did Dis at Hercules' request release,A royal gift. Then with his soothing handAlcides stroked the monster's massive necks,And bound him with an adamantine chain.The watchful guardian of the dusky worldForgot his wonted fierceness, and his earsDrooped timidly. He let himself be led,810Confessed his master, and, with muzzle low,Submissively he went, his snaky tailBeating his sides the while. But when he cameTo Taenarus, and in his eyes there smoteThe gleam of unknown light, though strongly bound,815His courage he regained and madly shookHis mighty chains. Even his conquerorWas backward borne and forced to yield his stand.Then even my aid did the hero seek;And with united strength we dragged the dog,Still mad with rage, attempting fruitless war,820Into the upper world. But when he sawThe gleaming spaces of the shining sky,The light of day, thick darkness blinded him;He turned his gaze to earth, and closed his eyes,Expelled the hated light, looked backward, sought825With all his necks the sheltering earth; and last,He hid his head within Alcides' shade.But see, a mighty throng with shouts of joyComes yonder, wearing laurel on their brows,Who chant the well-earned praise of Hercules.

Theseus:A gloomy cliff o'erhangs the sluggish shoals,

Whose waves are dead, and waters motionless.

This stream is guarded by a grim old man,

Of squalid garb and aspect hideous,

Who carries o'er the pool the quaking shades.765

His long beard hangs unkempt; his shapeless robe

Is knotted into place; his fierce eyes gleam

From sunken cheeks; and he, as ferryman,

With his long pole propels his bark across.

He now his empty boat unto the shore

Was turning to receive the waiting souls,770

When Hercules requested to be borne

Across the stream. The throng of shades give way;

But fiercely Charon cries: "Whither so bold

Dost thou haste on? Stay there thy hurrying steps."

Alcmena's son would no delay endure,

But with the pole itself the boatman tamed,

And climbed aboard the boat. The roomy craft,775

For nations ample, groaned beneath his weight;

And as he sat, the heavy-weighted skiff

With rocking sides drank in the Lethe stream.

Then quaked the conquered monsters at the sight:

The Centaurs, fierce and wild, the Lapithae,

Inflamed to strife by copious draughts of wine;

And, seeking out the farthest pools of Styx,780

The beast of Lerna hid his fertile heads.

Soon there appeared the home of greedy Dis,

Where the fierce Stygian dog affrights the shades,

Who, tossing back and forth his triple heads,

With mighty bayings watches o'er the realm.

Around his head with damp corruption foul,785

Writhe deadly serpents, and his shaggy mane

With vipers bristles; while a twisting snake

Forms his long, hissing tail. His wrath and form

Are both alike terrific. When he heard

The sound of coming feet, straightway he raised

His hackles, bristling with their darting snakes,

And with erected ears caught at the sound790

(For even noiseless spirits can he hear).

When Jove's son nearer came, within his cave

The dog stood hesitant, and nameless fear

Each of the other felt. Then suddenly

The silence shudders with his bayings deep,

And threatening snakes along his shoulders hiss.

The clamor of his dreadful voice, sent forth795

Three-throated, even happy shades dismayed.

Then did the hero from his left arm loose

The lion's skin with head and grinning jaws,

And 'neath this mighty shield opposed the dog.

Then in his right all conquering, he raised800

His mighty club, and with a rain of blows,

Now here, now there, he drove the frightened beast.

The conquered dog at last gave o'er his threats,

And, spent with fighting, lowered all his heads,

And left the entrance free. Then did the king

And queen of hell sit trembling on their thrones,805

And bade the dog be led away. Me, too,

Did Dis at Hercules' request release,

A royal gift. Then with his soothing hand

Alcides stroked the monster's massive necks,

And bound him with an adamantine chain.

The watchful guardian of the dusky world

Forgot his wonted fierceness, and his ears

Drooped timidly. He let himself be led,810

Confessed his master, and, with muzzle low,

Submissively he went, his snaky tail

Beating his sides the while. But when he came

To Taenarus, and in his eyes there smote

The gleam of unknown light, though strongly bound,815

His courage he regained and madly shook

His mighty chains. Even his conqueror

Was backward borne and forced to yield his stand.

Then even my aid did the hero seek;

And with united strength we dragged the dog,

Still mad with rage, attempting fruitless war,820

Into the upper world. But when he saw

The gleaming spaces of the shining sky,

The light of day, thick darkness blinded him;

He turned his gaze to earth, and closed his eyes,

Expelled the hated light, looked backward, sought825

With all his necks the sheltering earth; and last,

He hid his head within Alcides' shade.

But see, a mighty throng with shouts of joy

Comes yonder, wearing laurel on their brows,

Who chant the well-earned praise of Hercules.

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