Enter Hyllus.
Deianeira
My child, my son, wise words fall, it seems, from humble lips. For this woman is a slave, but her advice is worthy of the free.
Hyllus
What sort of advice, Mother? Tell me, if I may be told.
Deianeira
[65]
It brings shame, she says, that you have not sought to learn of your father and where he is, when he has been abroad for so long.
Hyllus
But I know where, if one can put any trust in rumors.
Deianeira
And in what region, my child, do you hear that he has settled?
Hyllus
Last year, they say, through all its length,
[70]
he toiled as a slave to a Lydian woman.
Deianeira
If he endured even that, then one might believe any and all rumors.
Hyllus
Well, he has been released from that service, as I hear.
Deianeira
Where, then, is he reported to be now—alive, or dead?
Hyllus
He is waging or yet planning a war,
[75]
they say, upon Euboea, the realm of Eurytus.
Deianeira
Are you aware, my son, that he has left with me sure oracles concerning that land?
Hyllus
What are they, mother? I do not know the oracles you mean.
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Sophocles. The Trachiniae of Sophocles. Edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1892.
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