Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/181

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The upper from the nether skies I'll take,
And hurl its crushing weight upon my head.
Amphitr.: Lo, I return thine arms. 1295
Hercules: ⁠Now are thy words
More worthy of the sire of Hercules.
See, by this arrow pierced, my child was slain.
Amphitr.: 'Tis true, but Juno shot it by thy hand.
Hercules: Then I myself shall use it now.
Amphitryon: ⁠Behold,
How throbs his heart within his anxious breast
Hercules: The shaft is ready. 1300
Amphitryon: ⁠Ah, now wilt thou sin,
Of thine own will and with full consciousness.
Have then thy will; we make no further prayer.
For now my grief has gained a safe retreat.
Thou only canst preserve my son to me;
Thou canst not take him from me. For my fear
I've sounded to the depths and feel no more.
Thou canst no longer give me any pain, 1305
Though happy thou canst make me even yet.
Decide then as thou wilt decide: but know
That here thy cause and reputation stand
In doubtful balance. Either thou dost live,
Or thou dost kill thy sire. This fleeting soul,
Now worn with age and shattered by its grief,
Is trembling on my lips in act to go. 1310
Art thou so slow to grant thy father life?
I can no longer brook delay, nor wait
To thrust the fatal sword into my breast.
And this shall be a sane Alcides' crime.
Hercules: Now stay, my father, stay; withhold thy hand.
Yield thee, my manhood; do a father's will. 1315
Add this task also to thy former toils—
And live! Lift up my father's fainting form,
O Theseus, friend; for these my guilty hands
That pious duty shun.
Amphitryon: ⁠But I with joy
Will clasp this hand, with its support I'll walk, 1320
And to my aching heart I'll clasp it close,