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Deianeira
I see, dear friends; my watchful eyes have not
failed to discern this group which is approaching.
All hail the herald, who has now returned
at long last . . . if it is good news you bring. Enter the herald Lichas, followed by a group of captive women; among them, Iole.
Lichas
Gladly do we arrive and gladly hear you,
230lady, so fitly welcome us. The man
who prospers merits fair words in return.
Deianeira
Dearest of men, first tell me what I most
desire to know: is Heracles alive?
Lichas
When I last saw him he was in full strength,
alive and flourishing and free from illness.
Deianeira
Where? In his homeland or some far-off country?
Lichas
Making his offering to Cenaean Zeus
with fruitful tribute on Euboea's shore.
Deianeira
To pay a vow or fill some oracle?
Lichas
240A vow made when he captured and despoiled
the country of these women whom you see.
Deianeira
Who are they, tell me, and who were their parents?
I pity them - unless their plight deceives me.
Lichas
When Heracles sacked Eurytus's city
he chose them as the gods' prize, and his own.
Deianeira
Then was it for this city he was gone
till time was meaningless and days lost number?
The Women of Trachis and Philoctetes. A new translation in verse by Robert Torrance. Houghton Mifflin. 1966.
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education provided support for entering this text.