Deianeira: Oh, what word hath passed thy lips, my child!
Hyllus: A word that shall not fail of fulfilment; for who may undo
that which bath come to pass?
Deianeira: What saidst thou, my son? Who is thy warranty for charging
me with a deed so terrible?
Hyllus: I have seen my father's grievous fate with mine own eyes;
I speak not from hearsay.
Deianeira: And where didst thou find him,- where didst thou stand
at his side?
Hyllus: If thou art to hear it, then must all be told.
After sacking the famous town of Eurytus, he went his way with the
trophies and first-fruits of victory. There is a sea-washed headland
of Euboea, Cape Cenaeum, where he dedicated altars and a sacred grove
to the Zeus of his fathers; and there I first beheld him, with the
joy of yearning love.
He was about to celebrate a great sacrifice, when his own herald,
Lichas, came to him from home, bearing thy gift, the deadly robe;
which he put on, according to thy precept; and then began his offering
with twelve bulls, free from blemish, the firstlings of the spoil;
but altogether he brought a hundred victims, great or small, to the
altar.
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