The Trachiniae [9]
of fleecy sheep's wool,- hath disappeared,- not consumed by
anything in the house, but self-devoured and self-destroyed, as it
crumbled down from the surface of a stone. But I must tell the story
More at length, that thou mayest know exactly how this thing befell.
I neglected no part of the precepts which the savage Centaur
gave me, when the bitter barb was rankling in his side: they were in
my memory, like the graven words which no hand may wash from a
tablet of bronze. Now these were his orders, and I obeyed them:-to
keep this unguent in secret place, always remote from fire and from
the sun's warm ray, until I should apply it, newly spread, where I
wished. So had I done. And now, when the moment for action had come, I
performed the anointing privily in the house, with a tuft of soft wool
which I had plucked from a sheep of our home-flock; then I folded up
my gift, and laid it, unvisited by sunlight, within its casket, as
ye saw.
But as I was going back into the house, I beheld a thing too
wondrous for words, and passing the wit of man to understand. I
happened to have thrown the shred of wool, with which I bad been
preparing the robe, into the full blaze of the sunshine. As it grew
warm, it shrivelled all away, and quickly crumbled to powder on the
ground, like nothing so much as the dust shed from a saw's teeth where
men work timber. In such a state it lies as it fell. And from the
earth, where it was strewn, clots of foam seethed up, as when the rich
juice of the blue fruit from the vine of Bacchus is poured upon the
ground.
So I know not, hapless one, whither to turn my thoughts; I only
see that I have done a fearful deed. Why or wherefore should the
monster, in his death-throes, have shown good will to me, on whose
account he was dying? Impossible! No, he was cajoling me, in order
to slay the man who had smitten him: and I gain the knowledge of
this too late, when it avails no more. Yes, I alone- unless my
foreboding prove false- I, wretched one, must destroy him! For I
know that the arrow which made the wound did scathe even to the god
Cheiron; and it kills all beasts that it touches. And since 'tis
this same black venom in the blood that hath passed out through the
wound of Nessus, must it not kill my lord also? I ween it must.
Howbeit, I am resolved that, if he is to fall, at the same time
I also shall be swept from life; for no woman could bear to live
with an evil name, if she rejoices that her nature is not evil.
LEADER
Mischief must needs be feared; but it is not well to doom our hope
before the event.
DEIANEIRA
Unwise counsels leave no room even for a hope which can lend
courage.
LEADER
Yet towards those who have erred unwittingly, men's anger is
softened; and so it should be towards thee.
DEIANEIRA
Nay, such words are not for one who has borne a part in the ill
deed, but only for him who has no trouble at his own door.
LEADER
'Twere well to refrain from further speech, unless thou would'st
tell aught to thine own son; for he is at hand, who went erewhile to
seek his sire.
(Enter HYLLUS)
HYLLUS
O mother, would that one of three things had befallen thee!
Would that thou wert dead,- or, if living, no mother of mine,- or that
some new and better spirit had passed into thy bosom.
DEIANEIRA
Ah, my son, what cause have I given thee to abhor me?
HYLLUS
I tell thee that thy husband- yea, my sire-bath been done to death
by thee this day
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
anything in the house, but self-devoured and self-destroyed, as it
crumbled down from the surface of a stone. But I must tell the story
More at length, that thou mayest know exactly how this thing befell.
I neglected no part of the precepts which the savage Centaur
gave me, when the bitter barb was rankling in his side: they were in
my memory, like the graven words which no hand may wash from a
tablet of bronze. Now these were his orders, and I obeyed them:-to
keep this unguent in secret place, always remote from fire and from
the sun's warm ray, until I should apply it, newly spread, where I
wished. So had I done. And now, when the moment for action had come, I
performed the anointing privily in the house, with a tuft of soft wool
which I had plucked from a sheep of our home-flock; then I folded up
my gift, and laid it, unvisited by sunlight, within its casket, as
ye saw.
But as I was going back into the house, I beheld a thing too
wondrous for words, and passing the wit of man to understand. I
happened to have thrown the shred of wool, with which I bad been
preparing the robe, into the full blaze of the sunshine. As it grew
warm, it shrivelled all away, and quickly crumbled to powder on the
ground, like nothing so much as the dust shed from a saw's teeth where
men work timber. In such a state it lies as it fell. And from the
earth, where it was strewn, clots of foam seethed up, as when the rich
juice of the blue fruit from the vine of Bacchus is poured upon the
ground.
So I know not, hapless one, whither to turn my thoughts; I only
see that I have done a fearful deed. Why or wherefore should the
monster, in his death-throes, have shown good will to me, on whose
account he was dying? Impossible! No, he was cajoling me, in order
to slay the man who had smitten him: and I gain the knowledge of
this too late, when it avails no more. Yes, I alone- unless my
foreboding prove false- I, wretched one, must destroy him! For I
know that the arrow which made the wound did scathe even to the god
Cheiron; and it kills all beasts that it touches. And since 'tis
this same black venom in the blood that hath passed out through the
wound of Nessus, must it not kill my lord also? I ween it must.
Howbeit, I am resolved that, if he is to fall, at the same time
I also shall be swept from life; for no woman could bear to live
with an evil name, if she rejoices that her nature is not evil.
LEADER
Mischief must needs be feared; but it is not well to doom our hope
before the event.
DEIANEIRA
Unwise counsels leave no room even for a hope which can lend
courage.
LEADER
Yet towards those who have erred unwittingly, men's anger is
softened; and so it should be towards thee.
DEIANEIRA
Nay, such words are not for one who has borne a part in the ill
deed, but only for him who has no trouble at his own door.
LEADER
'Twere well to refrain from further speech, unless thou would'st
tell aught to thine own son; for he is at hand, who went erewhile to
seek his sire.
(Enter HYLLUS)
HYLLUS
O mother, would that one of three things had befallen thee!
Would that thou wert dead,- or, if living, no mother of mine,- or that
some new and better spirit had passed into thy bosom.
DEIANEIRA
Ah, my son, what cause have I given thee to abhor me?
HYLLUS
I tell thee that thy husband- yea, my sire-bath been done to death
by thee this day
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