Himself upon the earth, full oft he groaned,790
Cursing his marriage that he made with thee,
That wedlock fraught with evils, and the ties
With Œneus made, how great a bane he found them
Wearing his life. And when from out the smoke
That clung around he turned his eye askance,
And saw me in the midst of all the host,
Weeping for grief, he gazed, and called on me.
"My son, come hither, turn not thou aside
From this my trouble, even though 'twere thine
To die as I am dying. But, I pray,
Bear me away; and chiefly, place me there
Where never mortal eye may look on me;800
Or from this land, at least, if pity move thee,
With all speed bear me, that I die not here."
And when he thus had charged me, in mid-ship
We placed him, and to this land steered our way,
He groaning in convulsions, and ere long
Or living or just dead wilt thou behold him.
Such deeds, my mother, 'gainst my father thou
Wast seen to have planned and acted, and on thee
May sternest Justice and Erinnyes swift
Inflict their vengeance, . . . if that prayer be right, . . .
And right it is, for thou the right hast scorned,810
Murdering the noblest man of all the earth,
Of whom thou ne'er shalt see the like again.
Chor. [To Deianeira, as she goes.] Why creep'st thou
off in silence? Know'st thou not
That silence but admits the accuser's charge?
Hyllos. Let her creep off. Fair wind go with her now,
As she creeps on away from these mine eyes:
What need to vainly cherish vainest show
Of mother's name, where mother's acts are not?
