The Trachiniae [1]
rumour can be trusted.
DEIANEIRA
And in what region, my child, doth rumour place him?
HYLLUS
Last year, they say, through all the months, he toiled as
bondman to Lydian woman.
DEIANEIRA
If he bore that, then no tidings can surprise.
HYLLUS
Well, he has been delivered from that, as I hear.
DEIANEIRA
Where, then, is he reported to be now,- alive or dead?
HYLLUS
He is waging or planning a war, they say, upon Euboea, the realm
of Eurytus.
DEIANEIRA
Knowest thou, my son, that he hath left with me sure oracles
touching that land?
HYLLUS
What are they, mother? I know not whereof thou speakest.
DEIANEIRA
That either he shall meet his death, or, having achieved this
task, shall have rest thenceforth, for all his days to come.
So, my child, when his fate is thus trembling in the scale, wilt
thou not go to succour him? For we are saved, if he find safety, or we
perish with him.
HYLLUS
Ay, I will go, my mother; and, had I known the import of these
prophecies, I had been there long since; but, as it was, my father's
wonted fortune suffered me not to feel fear for him, or to be
anxious overmuch. Now that I have the knowledge, I will spare no pains
to learn the whole truth in this matter.
DEIANEIRA
Go, then, my son; be the seeker ne'er so late, he is rewarded if
he learn tidings of joy.
(HYLLUS departs as the CHORUS OF TRACHINIAN MAIDENS enters. They
are free-born young women of Trachis who are friends and confidantes
of DEIANEIRA. She remains during their opening choral song.)
CHORUS (singing)
strophe 1
Thou whom Night brings forth at the moment when she is despoiled
of her starry crown, and lays to rest in thy splendour, tell me,
pray thee, O Sun-god, tell me where abides Alcmena's son? Thou
glorious lord of flashing light, say, is he threading the straits of
the sea, or hath he found an abode on either continent? Speak, thou
who seest as none else can see!
antistrophe 1
For Deianeira, as I hear, hath ever an aching heart; she, the
battle-prize of old, is now like some bird lorn of its mate; she can
never lull her yearning, nor stay her tears; haunted by a sleepless
fear for her absent lord, she pines on her anxious, widowed couch,
miserable in her foreboding of mischance.
strophe 2
As one may see billow after billow driven over the wide deep by
the tireless south-wind or the north, so the trouble of his life,
stormy as the Cretan sea, now whirls back the son of Cadmus, now lifts
him to honour. But some god ever saves him from the house of death,
and suffers him not to fail.
antistrophe 2
Lady, I praise not this thy mood; with all reverence will I speak,
yet in reproof. Thou dost not well, I say, to kill fair hope by
fretting; remember that the son of Cronus himself, the all-disposing
king, hath not appointed a painless lot for mortals. Sorrow and joy
come round to all, as the Bear moves in his circling paths.
epode
Yea, starry night abides not with men, nor tribulation, nor
wealth; in a moment it is gone from us, and another hath his turn of
gladness, and of bereavement. So would I wish thee also, the Queen, to
keep that prospect ever in thy thoughts; for when hath Zeus been found
so careless of his children?
DEIANEIRA
Ye have heard of my trouble, I think, and that hath brought you
here; but the anguish which consumes my heart- ye are strangers to
that; and never may ye learn it by suffering! Yes, the tender plant
grows in those sheltered regions of its own! and the Sun-god's heat
vexes it not, nor rain, nor any wind; but it rejoices in its sweet,
untroubled being, til such time as the maiden is called a wife, and
finds her portion of anxious
DEIANEIRA
And in what region, my child, doth rumour place him?
HYLLUS
Last year, they say, through all the months, he toiled as
bondman to Lydian woman.
DEIANEIRA
If he bore that, then no tidings can surprise.
HYLLUS
Well, he has been delivered from that, as I hear.
DEIANEIRA
Where, then, is he reported to be now,- alive or dead?
HYLLUS
He is waging or planning a war, they say, upon Euboea, the realm
of Eurytus.
DEIANEIRA
Knowest thou, my son, that he hath left with me sure oracles
touching that land?
HYLLUS
What are they, mother? I know not whereof thou speakest.
DEIANEIRA
That either he shall meet his death, or, having achieved this
task, shall have rest thenceforth, for all his days to come.
So, my child, when his fate is thus trembling in the scale, wilt
thou not go to succour him? For we are saved, if he find safety, or we
perish with him.
HYLLUS
Ay, I will go, my mother; and, had I known the import of these
prophecies, I had been there long since; but, as it was, my father's
wonted fortune suffered me not to feel fear for him, or to be
anxious overmuch. Now that I have the knowledge, I will spare no pains
to learn the whole truth in this matter.
DEIANEIRA
Go, then, my son; be the seeker ne'er so late, he is rewarded if
he learn tidings of joy.
(HYLLUS departs as the CHORUS OF TRACHINIAN MAIDENS enters. They
are free-born young women of Trachis who are friends and confidantes
of DEIANEIRA. She remains during their opening choral song.)
CHORUS (singing)
strophe 1
Thou whom Night brings forth at the moment when she is despoiled
of her starry crown, and lays to rest in thy splendour, tell me,
pray thee, O Sun-god, tell me where abides Alcmena's son? Thou
glorious lord of flashing light, say, is he threading the straits of
the sea, or hath he found an abode on either continent? Speak, thou
who seest as none else can see!
antistrophe 1
For Deianeira, as I hear, hath ever an aching heart; she, the
battle-prize of old, is now like some bird lorn of its mate; she can
never lull her yearning, nor stay her tears; haunted by a sleepless
fear for her absent lord, she pines on her anxious, widowed couch,
miserable in her foreboding of mischance.
strophe 2
As one may see billow after billow driven over the wide deep by
the tireless south-wind or the north, so the trouble of his life,
stormy as the Cretan sea, now whirls back the son of Cadmus, now lifts
him to honour. But some god ever saves him from the house of death,
and suffers him not to fail.
antistrophe 2
Lady, I praise not this thy mood; with all reverence will I speak,
yet in reproof. Thou dost not well, I say, to kill fair hope by
fretting; remember that the son of Cronus himself, the all-disposing
king, hath not appointed a painless lot for mortals. Sorrow and joy
come round to all, as the Bear moves in his circling paths.
epode
Yea, starry night abides not with men, nor tribulation, nor
wealth; in a moment it is gone from us, and another hath his turn of
gladness, and of bereavement. So would I wish thee also, the Queen, to
keep that prospect ever in thy thoughts; for when hath Zeus been found
so careless of his children?
DEIANEIRA
Ye have heard of my trouble, I think, and that hath brought you
here; but the anguish which consumes my heart- ye are strangers to
that; and never may ye learn it by suffering! Yes, the tender plant
grows in those sheltered regions of its own! and the Sun-god's heat
vexes it not, nor rain, nor any wind; but it rejoices in its sweet,
untroubled being, til such time as the maiden is called a wife, and
finds her portion of anxious