At thy knees I fall, aged dame, and my old lips beseech thee; arise,
rescue from the slain my children's bodies, whose limbs, by death
relaxed, are left a prey to savage mountain beasts,
(antistrophe 1)
Beholding the bitter tears which spring to my eyes and my old wrinkled
skin torn by my hands; for what can I do else? who never laid out
my children dead within my halls, nor now behold their tombs heaped
up with earth.
(strophe 2)
Thou too, honoured lady, once a son didst bear, crowning thy lord's
marriage with fond joy; then share, O share with me thy mother's feelings,
in such measure as my sad heart grieves for my own dead sons; and
persuade thy son, whose aid we implore, to go unto the river Ismenus,
there to place within my hapless arms the bodies of my children, slain
in their prime and left without a tomb.
Studies
