And let his stone upon my shoulders press;
Let vagrant waves flee from my eager lips,
And that elusive water mock my thirst.
Upon thy winding spokes have I deserved 945
To be stretched out, O king of Thessaly.
Let greedy vultures feed upon my flesh.
One from the tale of the Danaïdes
Is lacking[1] yet; let me the number fill.
Ye shades, make room for me; O Colchian wife,
Receive me as thy comrade there below. 950
My deed is worse, far worse than both thy crimes,
Though thou as mother and as sister, too,
I last sinned. Thou also, cruel queen of Thrace,
Take me as comrade of thy crimes. And thou,
Althaea, take thy daughter, for indeed
Thou shalt discern in me thy daughter true.
And yet not one of you has ever done 955
Such deed as mine. O all ye faithful wives,
Who have your seats within the sacred groves,
Expel me from Elysium's blessed fields.
But faithless wives, who with their husbands' blood
Have stained their hands, who have forgotten quite
Their marriage vows and stood with naked sword 960
Like Belus' bloody daughters, they will know
My deeds for theirs and praise them as their own.
To such a company of wives 'tis meet
That I betake myself; but even they
Will shun such dire companionship as mine.
O husband, strong, invincible, believe
My soul is innocent, although my hands
Are criminal. O mind too credulous! 965
Nessus, false and skilled in bestial guile!
Striving my hated rival to remove,
I have destroyed myself. O beaming sun,
And thou, O life, that by thy coaxing arts
Dost strive to hold the wretched in the light,
Begone! for every day is vile to me
That shineth not upon my Hercules. 970
- ↑ Reading, vacat.
