Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/281

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To evil monsters, had not I been born.
Then, O ye peoples, rescue me from ill, 1335
Your champion. This chance is given you,
By slaying me to cancel all you owe.
[Enter Alcmena.]
Alcmena: Where shall Alcides' wretched mother go?
Where is my son? Lo, if I see aright,
Yonder he lies with burning fever tossed
And throbbing heart. I hear his groans of pain. 1340
Ah me, his life is at an end. My son,
Come, let me fold thee in a last embrace,
And catch thy parting spirit in my mouth;
These arms of mine upon thine own I'll lay.
But where are they? Where is that sturdy neck
Which bore the burden of the starry heavens?
What cause has left to thee so small a part
Of thy once massive frame? 1345
Hercules: Thou seest, indeed,
The shadow and the piteous counterfeit
Of thine Alcides. Come, behold thy son.
But why dost turn away and hide thy face?
Art thou ashamed that such as I am called
Thy son?
Alcmena: What land, what world has given birth
To this new monster? What so dire a thing 1350
Has triumphed over mighty Hercules?
Hercules: By my own wife's deceits am I undone.
Alcmena: What fraud is great enough to conquer thee?
Hercules: Whate're is great enough for woman's wrath.
Alcmena: How got the pest so deep within thy frame? 1355
Hercules: Through a poisoned robe sent by a woman's hands.
Alcmena: Where is the robe? I see thy limbs are bare.
Hercules: With me 'tis all consumed.
Alcmena: How can it be?
Hercules: I tell thee, mother, through my vitals roam
The hydra and a thousand poisonous beasts. 1360
What flames as hot as these invade the clouds
O'er Aetna's top? What glowing Lemnian fires,
What torrid radiance of the burning heavens,