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, Iwould 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.)AMPHITRYONO king, whose home is that olive-clad hill!
THESEUS
Why this piteous prelude in addressing me?
AMPHITRYON
Heaven has afflicted us with grievous suffering.
THESEUS
Whose be these children, o'er whom thou weepest?
AMPHITRYON
My own son's children, woe to him! their father and butcher both was he, hardening his heart to the bloody deed.
THESEUS
Hush good words only!
AMPHITRYON
I would I could obey!
THESEUS
What dreadful words!
AMPHITRYON
Fortune has spread her wings, and we are ruined, ruined.
THESEUS
What meanest thou? what hath he done?
AMPHITRYON
Slain them in a wild fit of frenzy with arrows dipped in the venom of the hundred-headed hydra.
THESEUS
This is Hera's work; but who lies there among the dead, old man?
AMPHITRYON
My son, my own enduring son, that marched with gods to Phlegra's plain, there to battle with giants and slay them, warrior that he was.
THESEUS
Ah, woe for him! whose fortune was e'er so curst as his?
AMPHITRYON
Never wilt thou find another that hath borne a larger share of suffering or been more fatally deceived.
THESEUS
Why doth he veil his head, poor wretch, in his robe?
AMPHITRYON
He is ashamed to meet thine eye; his kinsman's kind intent and his children's blood make him abashed.
THESEUS
But I come to sympathize; uncover him.
AMPHITRYON
My son, remove that mantle from thine eyes, throw it from thee, show thy fare unto the sun; a counterpoise to weeping is battling for the mastery. In suppliant wise I entreat thee, as I grasp thy beard, thy knees, thy hands, and let fall the tear from my old eyes. Omy child! restrain thy savage lion-like temper, for thou art rushing forth on an unholy course of bloodshed, eager to join woe to woe.
THESEUS
Ho! To thee I call who art huddled there in thy misery, show to they friends thy face; for no darkness is black enough to hide thy sad mischance. Why dost thou wave thy hand at me, signifying murder? is it that I may not be polluted by speaking with thee? If I share thy misfortune, what is that to me? For if I too had luck in days gone by, must refer it to the time when thou didst bring me safe from the dead to the light of life. I hate a friend whose gratitude grows old; one who ready to enjoy his friends' prosperity but unwilling to sail in the same ship with them when their fortune lours. Arise, unveil thy head, poor wretch! and look on me. The gallant soul endures without a word such blows as heaven deals.
HERACLES
O Theseus, didst thou witness this struggle with my children?
THESEUS
I heard of it, and now I see the horrors thou meanest.
HERACLES
Why then hast thou unveiled my head to the sun?
THESEUS
Why have I? Thou, a man, canst not pollute what is of God.
HERACLES
Fly, luckless wretch, from my unholy taint.
THESEUS
The avenging fiend goes not forth from friend to friend.
HERACLES
For this I thank thee; I do not regret the service I did thee.
THESEUS
While I, for kindness then received, now show my pity for thee.
HERACLES
Ah yes! I am piteous, a murderer of my sons.
THESEUS
I weep for thee in thy changed fortunes.
HERACLES
Didst ever find another more afflicted?
THESEUS
Thy misfortunes reach from earth to heaven.
HERACLES
Therefore am I resolved on death.
THESEUS
Dost thou suppose the gods attend to these thy threats?
HERACLES
Remorseless hath heaven been to me; so I will prove the like to it.
THESEUS
Hush! lest thy presumption add to thy sufferings.
HERACLES
My barque is freighted full with sorrow; there is no room to stow aught further.
THESEUS
What wilt thou do? whither is thy fury drifting thee?
HERACLES
I will die and return to that world below whence I have just come.
THESEUS
Such language is fit for any common fellow.
HERACLES
Ah! thine is the advice of one outside sorrow's pale.
THESEUS
Are these indeed the words of Heracles, the much-enduring?
HERACLES
Though never so much as this. Endurance must have a limit.
THESEUS
Is this man's benefactor, his chiefest friend?
HERACLES
Man brings no help to me; no! Hera has her way.
THESEUS
Never will Hellas suffer thee to die through sheer perversity.
HERACLES
Hear me a moment, that I may enter the lists with words in answer to thy admonitions; and I will unfold to thee why life now as well as formerly has been unbearable to me. First I am the son of a man who incurred the guilt of blood, before he married my mother Alcmena, by slaying her aged sire. Now when the foundation is badly laid at birth, needs must the race be cursed with woe; and Zeus, whoever this Zeus may be, begot me as a butt for Hera's hate; yet be not thou vexed thereat, old man; for thee rather than Zeus do I regard as my father. Then whilst I was yet being suckled, that bride of Zeus did foist into my cradle fearsome snakes to compass my death.
