Amphitryon: 'Tis by no means easy, my daughter, to give one's earnest
advice on such matters easily, without weary thought.
Megara: Dost need a further taste of grief, or cling so fast to life?
Amphitryon: Yes, I love this life, and cling to its hopes.
Megara: So do I; but it boots not to expect the unexpected, old friend.
Amphitryon: In these delays is left the only cure for our evils.
Megara: 'Tis the pain of that interval I feel so.
Amphitryon: Daughter, there may yet be a happy escape from present
troubles for me and thee; my son, thy husband, may yet arrive. So
calm thyself, and wipe those tears from thy children's eyes, and soothe
them with soft words, inventing a tale to delude them, piteous though
such fraud be. Yea, for men's misfortunes ofttimes flag, and the stormy
wind doth not always blow so strong, nor are the prosperous ever so;
for all things change, making way for each other. The bravest man
is he who relieth ever on his hopes, but despair is the mark of a
coward. (The Chorus of Old Men of Thebes enters.)
Studies
