Hyllus Woe is me for thee, my father, woe is me for thee, wretched that I am! Whither shall I turn? What can I do? Ah me!

Old Man [whispering] Hush, my son! Rouse not the cruel pain that infuriates thy sire! He lives, though prostrated. Oh, put a stern restraint upon thy lips!

Hyllus How sayest thou, old man - is he alive?

Old Man [whispering] Thou must not awake the slumberer! Thou must not rouse and revive the dread frenzy that visits him, my son!

Hyllus Nay, I am crushed with this weight of misery - there is madness in my heart!

Heracles [awaking] O Zeus, to what land have I come? Who are these among whom I lie, tortured with unending agonies? Wretched, wretched that I am! Oh, that dire pest is gnawing me once more!

Old Man [to Hyllus ] Knew I not how much better it was that thou shouldest keep silence, instead of scaring slumber from his brain and eyes?

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?

antistrophe 1

Oh, will no one come and sever the head, at one fierce stroke, from this wretched body? Woe, woe is me!

Old Man Son of Heracles, this task exceeds my strength, - help thou, - for strength is at thy command, too largely to need my aid in his relief.

Hyllus My hands are helping; but no resource, in myself or from another, avails me to make his life forget its anguish:- such is the doom appointed by Zeus!

Heracles

strophe 3

O my son, where art thou? Raise me, - take hold of me, - thus thus! Alas, my destiny!

antistrophe 2

Again, again the cruel pest leaps forth to rend me, the fierce plague with which none may cope!

O Pallas, Pallas, it tortures me again! Alas, my son, pity thy sire, - draw a blameless sword, and smite beneath my collar-bone, and heal this pain wherewith thy godless mother hath made me wild! So may I see her fall, - thus, even thus, as she hath destroyed me!

antistrophe 3

Sweet Hades, brother of Zeus, give me rest, give me rest, - end my woe by a swiftly-sped doom!

Leader of the Chorus I shudder, friends, to hear these sorrows of our lord; what a man is here, and what torments afflict him!

Heracles Ah, fierce full oft, and grievous not in name alone, have been the labours of these hands, the burdens borne upon these shoulders! But no toil ever laid on me by the wife of Zeus or by the hateful Eurystheus was like unto this thing which the daughter of Oeneus, fair and false, hath fastened upon my back, - this woven net of the Furies, in which I perish! Glued to my sides, it hath eaten my flesh to the inmost parts; it is ever with me, sucking the channels of my breath; already it hath drained my fresh lifeblood, and my whole body is wasted, a captive to these unutterable bonds.

Not the warrior on the battle-field, not the Giants' earth-born host, nor the might of savage beasts, hath ever done unto me thus,- not Hellas, nor the land of the alien, nor any land to which I have come as a deliverer: no, a woman, a weak woman, born not to the strength of man, all alone hath vanquished me, without stroke of sword

Son, show thyself my son indeed, and do not honour a mother's name above a sire's: bring forth the woman that bare thee, and give her with thine own hands into my hand, that I may know of a truth which sight grieves thee most, - my tortured frame, or hers, when she suffers her righteous doom!

Go, my son, shrink not - and show thy pity for me, whom many might deem pitiful, - for me, moaning and weeping like a girl; - and the man lives not who can say that he ever saw me do thus before; no, without complaining I still went whither mine evil fortune led. But now, alas, the strong man hath been found a woman.

Approach, stand near thy sire, and see what a fate it is that hath brought me to this pass; for I will lift the veil. Behold! Look, all of you, on this miserable body; see how wretched, how piteous is my plight!

Ah, woe is me!

The burning throe of torment is there anew, it darts through my sides - I must wrestle once more with that cruel, devouring plague!

O thou lord of the dark realm, receive me! Smite me, O fire of Zeus! Hurl down thy thunderbolt, O King, send it, O father, upon my head! For again the pest is consuming me; it hath blazed forth, it hath started into fury! O hands, my hands, O shoulders and breast and trusty arms, ye, now in this plight, are the same whose force of old subdued the dweller in Nemea, the scourge of herdsmen, the lion, a creature that no man might approach or confront; ye tamed the Lernaean Hydra, and that monstrous host of double form, man joined to steed, a race with whom none may commune, violent, lawless, of surpassing might; ye tamed the Erymanthian beast, and the three-headed whelp of Hades underground, a resistless terror, offspring of the dread Echidna; ye tamed the dragon that guarded the golden fruit in the utmost places of the earth.

These toils and countless others have I proved, nor hath any man vaunted a triumph over my prowess. But now, with joints unhinged and with flesh torn to shreds, I have become the miserable prey of an unseen destroyer, - I, who am called the son of noblest mother, - I, whose reputed sire is Zeus, lord of the starry sky.

But ye may be sure of one thing:- though I am as nought, though I cannot move a step, yet she who hath done this deed shall feel my heavy hand even now: let her but come, and she shall learn to proclaim this message unto all, that in my death, as in my life, I chastised the wicked!

Leader Ah, hapless Greece, what mourning do I forsee for her, if she must lose this man

Hyllus Father, since thy pause permits an answer, hear me, afflicted though thou art. I will ask thee for no more than is my due. Accept my counsels, in a calmer mood than that to which this anger stings thee: else thou canst not learn how vain is thy desire for vengeance, and how causeless thy resentment.

Heracles Say what thou wilt, and cease; in this my pain I understand nought of all thy riddling words.

Hyllus I come to tell thee of my mother, - how it is now with her, and how she sinned unwittingly.

Heracles Villain! What - hast thou dared to breathe her name again in my hearing, - the name of the mother who hath slain thy sire?

Hyllus Yea, such is her state that silence is unmeet.

Heracles Unmeet, truly, in view of her past crimes.

Hyllus And also of her deeds this day, - as thou wilt own.

Heracles Speak, - but give heed that thou be not found a traitor.

Hyllus These are my tidings. She is dead, lately slain.

Heracles By whose hand? A wondrous message, from a prophet of ill-omened voice!

Hyllus By her own hand, and no stranger's.

Heracles Alas, ere she died by mine, as she deserved!

Hyllus Even thy wrath would be turned, couldst thou hear all.

Heracles A strange preamble; but unfold thy meaning.

Hyllus The sum is this; - she erred, with a good intent.

Heracles Is it a good deed, thou wretch, to have slain thy sire?

Hyllus Nay, she thought to use a love-charm for thy heart, when she saw the new bride in the house; but missed her aim.

Heracles And what Trachinian deals in spells so potent?

Hyllus Nessus the Centaur persuaded her of old to inflame thy desire with such a charm.

Heracles Alas, alas, miserable that I am! Woe is me, I am lost, - undone, undone! No more for me the light of day! Alas, now I see in what a plight stand! Go, my son, - for thy father's end hath come, - summon, I pray thee, all thy brethren; summon, too, the hapless Alcmena, in vain the bride of Zeus, - that ye may learn from my dying lips what oracles know.

Hyllus Nay, thy mother is not here; as it chances, she hath her abode at Tiryns by the sea. Some of thy children she hath taken to live with her there, and others, thou wilt find, are dwelling in Thebe's town. But we who are with thee, my father, will render all service that is needed, at thy bidding.

Heracles Hear, then, thy task: now is the time to show what stuff is in thee, who art called my son.

It was foreshown to me by my Sire of old that I should perish by no creature that had the breath of life, but by one that had passed to dwell with Hades. So I have been slain by this savage Centaur, the living by the dead, even as the divine will had been foretold.

And I will show thee how later oracles tally therewith, confirming the old prophecy. I wrote them down in the grove of the Selli, dwellers on the hills, whose couch is on the ground; they were given by my Father's oak of many tongues; which said that, at the time which liveth and now is, my release from the toils laid upon me should be accomplished. And I looked for prosperous days; but the meaning, it seems, was only that should die; for toil comes no more to the dead.

Since, then, my son, those words are clearly finding their fulfilment, thou, on thy part, must lend me thine aid. Thou must not delay, and so provoke me to bitter speech: thou must consent and help with a good grace, as one who hath learned that best of laws, obedience to a sire.

Hyllus Yea, father, - though I fear the issue to which our talk hath brought me, - I will do thy good pleasure.

Heracles First of all, lay thy right hand in mine.

Hyllus For what purpose dost thou insist upon his pledge?

Heracles Give thy hand at once - disobey me not!

Hyllus Lo, there it is: thou shalt not be gainsaid.

Heracles Now, swear by the head of Zeus my sire!

Hyllus To do what deed? May this also be told?

Heracles To perform for me the task that I shall enjoin.

Hyllus I swear it, with Zeus for witness of the oath.

Heracles And pray that, if thou break this oath, thou mayest suffer.

Hyllus I shall not suffer, for I shall keep it:- yet so I pray.

Heracles Well, thou knowest the summit of Oeta, sacred to Zeus?

Hyllus Ay; I have often stood at his altar on that height.

Heracles Thither, then, thou must carry me up with thine own hands, aided by what friends thou wilt; thou shalt lop many a branch from the deep-rooted oak, and hew many a faggot also from the sturdy stock of the wild-olive; thou shalt lay my body thereupon, and kindle it with flaming pine-torch.

And let no tear of mourning be seen there; no, do this without lament and without weeping, if thou art indeed my son. But if thou do it not, even from the world below my curse and my wrath shall wait on thee for ever.

Hyllus Alas, my father, what hast thou spoken? How hast thou dealt with me!

Heracles I have spoken that which thou must perform; if thou wilt not, then get thee some other sire, and be called my son no more!

Hyllus Woe, woe is me! What a deed dost thou require of me, my father,-that I should become thy murderer, guilty of thy blood!

Heracles Not so, in truth, but healer of my sufferings, sole physician of my pain!

Hyllus And how, by enkindling thy body, shall I heal it?

Heracles Nay, if that thought dismay thee, at least perform the rest.

Hyllus The service of carrying thee shall not be refused.

Heracles And the heaping of the pyre, as I have bidden?

Hyllus Yea, save that I will not touch it with mine own hand. All else will I do, and thou shalt have no hindrance on my part.

Heracles Well, so much shall be enough. - But add one small boon to thy large benefits.

Hyllus Be the boon never so large, it shall be granted.

Heracles Knowest thou, then, the girl whose sire was Eurytus?

Hyllus It is of Iole that thou speakest, if I mistake not.

Heracles Even so. This, in brief, is the charge that I give thee, my son. When am dead, if thou wouldest show a pious remembrance of thine oath unto thy father, disobey me not, but take this woman to be thy wife. Let no other espouse her who hath lain at my side, but do thou, O my son, make that marriage-bond thine own. Consent: after loyalty in great matters, to rebel in less is to cancel the grace that bad been won.

Hyllus Ah me, it is not well to be angry with a sick man: but who could bear to see him in such a mind?

Heracles Thy words show no desire to do my bidding.

Hyllus What! When she alone is to blame for my mother's death, and for thy present plight besides? Lives there the man who would make such choice, unless he were maddened by avenging fiends?

Better were it, father, that I too should die, rather than live united to the worst of our foes!

Heracles He will render no reverence, it seems, to my dying prayer. - Nay, be sure that the curse of the gods will attend thee for disobedience to my voice.

Hyllus Ah, thou wilt soon show, methinks, how distempered thou art!

Heracles Yea, for thou art breaking the slumber of my plague.

Hyllus Hapless that I am! What perplexities surround me!

Heracles Yea, since thou deignest not to hear thy sire.

Hyllus But must I learn, then, to be impious, my father?

Heracles 'Tis not impiety, if thou shalt gladden my heart.

Hyllus Dost thou command me, then, to do this deed, as a clear duty?

Heracles I command thee, - the gods bear me witness!

Hyllus Then will I do it, and refuse not, - calling upon the gods to witness thy deed. I can never be condemned for loyalty to thee, my father.

Heracles Thou endest well; and to these words, my son, quickly add the gracious deed, that thou mayest lay me on the pyre before any pain returns to rend or sting me.

Come, make haste and lift me! This, in truth, is rest from troubles; this is the end, the last end, of Heracles!

Hyllus Nothing, indeed, hinders the fulfilment of thy wish, since thy command constrains us, my father.

Heracles [chanting] Come, then, ere thou arouse this plague, O my stubborn soul, give me a curb as of steel on lips set like stone to stone, and let no cry escape them; seeing that the deed which thou art to do, though done perforce, is yet worthy of thy joy!

Hyllus [chanting] Lift him, followers! And grant me full forgiveness for this; but mark the great cruelty of the gods in the deeds that are being done. They beget children, they are hailed as fathers, and yet they can look upon such sufferings.