Hyllus: Nay, I cannot be patient when I behold this misery.
Heracles: O thou Cenaean rock whereon mine altars rose, what a cruel
reward hast thou won me for those fair offerings,- be Zeus my witness!
Ah, to what ruin hast thou brought me, to what ruin! Would that I
had never beheld thee for thy sorrow! Then had I never come face to
face with this fiery madness, which no spell can soothe! Where is
the charmer, where is the cunning healer, save Zeus alone, that shall
lull this plague to rest? I should marvel, if he ever came within
my ken!
(strophe 1)
Ah!
Leave me, hapless one, to my rest- leave me to my last rest!
(strophe 2)
Where art thou touching me? Whither wouldst thou turn me? Thou wilt
kill me, thou wilt kill me! If there be any pang that slumbers, thou
hast aroused it!
It hath seized me,- oh, the pest comes again!- Whence are ye, most
ungrateful of all the Greeks? I wore out my troublous days in ridding
Greece of pests, on the deep and in all forests; and now, when I am
stricken, will no man succour me with merciful fire of sword?
Studies
