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At this the people raised a mournful cry
that one was maddened and the other slain;
and no one dared to go near Heracles.
For he was dragged to earth and drawn toward heaven
screaming and wailing: all around, the cliffs
and capes of Locris and Euboea thundered.
After his anguished tossing on the ground
790and frequent cries of lamentation tired him -
cursing the ill-matched marriage he had made
with you at Oeneus' wedding ceremony,
where he had mated with his life's destruction -
then, through the circling shroud of smoke, he raised
his rolling eyes, and saw me in the crowd
sobbing, and fixed his gaze upon me, crying:
"Oh child, come to me, do not flee my torment
even if you must die along with me.
Take me away and put me in a place
800where no one living may set eyes upon me;
or if you shrink from that at least convey me
elsewhere, so that I may not perish here."
We carried out his words and placed him in
our ship, and, with a struggle, brought him here
bellowing in his agony. Soon you
will see him - living, or but lately dead.
These are the plots and deeds against my father
which you stand guilty of. May vengeful Justice
and Furies pay you, if my prayer be sanctioned!
810It shall! for you have spurned all sanctity
by killing him who was the best of men
on earth - whose equal you will never see! Deianeira silently turns and enters the palace.
The Women of Trachis and Philoctetes. A new translation in verse by Robert Torrance. Houghton Mifflin. 1966.
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