Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/300

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Demands lament for Hercules;
And the monster of Stympnalus' pool,
Whose spreading wings shut out the day,
By great Alcides' arrows slain. 1890
Weep thou, Cleonae, weep and wail
For him; for once the lion huge
Which held your walls in terror, he,
By his strong hand, o'ercame and slew.
Ye Thracian matrons, beat your breasts,
And let cold Hebrus resound to your beating. 1895
Lament for Alcides: no longer your children
Are born for the stables; no longer your vitals
Wild horses devour. O ye African lands,
From Antaeus delivered, ye regions of Spain
From Geryon saved, come, weep for your hero. 1900
Yea, all ye wretched nations, weep
With me and smite your breasts in woe,
And let your blows be heard afar,
By eastern and by western shores.
Ye dwellers in the whirling sky,
Ye gods above, do ye, too, weep
The fate of Hercules; for he 1905
Your heavens upon his shoulders bore,
When Atlas, who was wont to bear
The spangled skies, was eased awhile
Of his vast load. Where now, O Jove,
Is the promised palace of the sky, 1910
Those heavenly heights? Alcides dies
And is entombed—the common lot.
How often has he spared for thee
The deadly thunderbolt of wrath!
How seldom wast thou forced to hurl
Thy fires! But hurl 'gainst me at least
One shaft, and think me Semele. 1915
And now, O son, hast thou obtained
The fields Elysian, the shore
To which the voice of nature calls
All nations? Or has gloomy Styx
Hemmed in thy way in vengeful wrath