Hyllus
[1230]
Ah, me, it is wrong to be angry with a sick man, but who could bear to see him have thoughts like these?
Heracles
Your words show no willingness to do as I say.
Hyllus
Who on earth would, when she alone is to blame for my mother's death, and for your present condition besides?
[1235]
Who would choose to do so, unless he were infected by avenging fiends? It would be better, Father, that I also die, rather than live united with those whom I most detest!
Heracles
The man will render no due respect, it seems, to my dying prayer. No, be sure that the curse of the gods
[1240]
will await you for disobeying my commands.
Hyllus
Ah, you will soon show, it seems, how diseased you are!
Heracles
Yes, for you stir me from my slumbering plague.
Hyllus
I am miserable! I have no way out of so many dilemmas!
Heracles
Yes, since you think it wrong to obey your begetter.
Hyllus
[1245]
But must I then learn to be unholy, Father?
Heracles
It is not unholy, if you gladden my heart.
Hyllus
Do you, then, command me to do this as a clear duty?
Heracles
I do, and I call on the gods to bear me witness!
Hyllus
Then I will do it, and not refuse,
[1250]
—calling upon the gods to witness your deed. I can never be condemned for obeying you, Father.
Heracles
Your words make a fair ending, and to them, my son, quickly add the gracious deed itself, so that you may place me on the pyre before any pain returns to tear or sting me.
[1255]
Come, make haste and lift me! This, in truth, is rest from troubles, this is the end, the last end, of Heracles!
Hyllus
Nothing hinders the fulfillment of your wish, since your commandment strongly compels me, Father.
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
Sophocles. The Trachiniae of Sophocles. Edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1892.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.