Euripides' HERACLES Complete

Translated by E. Coleridge.

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63 pages - You are on Page 11

Leader: If a man had insulted thee, while yet my arms were lusty,
there would have been an easy way to stop him; but now am I a thing
of naught; and so thou henceforth, Amphitryon, must scheme how to
avert misfortune.

Amphitryon: 'Tis not cowardice or any longing for life that hinders
my dying, but my wish to save my son's children, though no doubt I
am vainly wishing for impossibilities. Lo! here is my neck ready for
thy sword to pierce, my body for thee to hack or hurl from the rock;
only one boon I crave for both of us, O king; slay me and this hapless
mother before thou slay the children, that we may not see the hideous
sight, as they gasp out their lives, calling on their mother and their
father's sire; for the rest work thy will, if so thou art inclined;
for we have no defence against death.

Megara: I too implore thee add a second boon, that by thy single act
thou mayst put us both under a double obligation; suffer me to deck
my children in the robes of death,-first opening the palace gates,
for now are we shut out,-that this at least they may obtain from their
father's halls.

Lycus: I grant it, and bid my servants undo the bolts. Go in and deck
yourselves; robes I grudge not. But soon as ye have clothed yourselves,
I will return to you to consign you to the nether world. (Lycus and
his retinue withdraw.)

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