Euripides' HERACLES Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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63 pages - You are on Page 48

Heracles: Ah me! why do I spare my own life when I have taken that
of my dear children? Shall I not hasten to leap from some sheer rock,
or aim the sword against my heart and avenge my children's blood,
or burn my body in the fire and so avert from my life the infamy which
now awaits me?

But hither I see Theseus coming to check my deadly counsels, my kinsman
and friend. Now shall I stand revealed, and the dearest of my friends
will see the pollution I have incurred by my children's murder. Ah,
woe is me! what am I to do? Where can I find release from my sorrows?
shall I take wings or plunge beneath the earth? Come, let me veil
my head in darkness; for I am ashamed of the evil I have done, and,
since for these I have incurred fresh blood-guiltiness, I would fain
not harm the innocent. (Theseus and his retinue enter.)

Theseus: I am come, and others with me, young warriors from the land
of Athens, encamped by the streams of Asopus, to help thy son, old
friend. For a rumour reached the city of the Erechtheidae, that Lycus
had usurped the sceptre of this land and was become your enemy even
to battle. Wherefore I came making recompense for the former kindness
of Heracles in saving me from the world below, if haply ye have any
need of such aid as I or my allies can give, old prince.

Ha! what means this heap of dead upon the floor? Surely I have not
delayed too long and come too late to check new ills? Who slew these
children? whose wife is this I see? Boys do not go to battle; nay,
it must be some other strange mischance I here discover. (The following
lines between Theseus and Amphitryon are chanted responsively.)

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