Hyllos. Thinking to send a charm to win thy love,
When she thy new bride saw, she missed her aim.
Hera. And what Trachinian boasts such skill in charms?1140
Hyllos. Nessos, of old, the Kentaur, counselled her
With such a spell to kindle thy desire.
Hera. Ah me! ah me! I die in wretchedness;
I perish, perish: light is gone from me.
Woe! woe! I see what issue we have reached.
Come, Ο my child; thy father is no more:
Call thou all those that name thee brother here,
And call the poor Alcmena (all in vain
The bride of Zeus) that ye may hear, and learn
The last of all the oracles I know.1150
Hyllos. Thy mother is not here, for so it chanced,
She dwelleth now on Tiryns' further shore;
And of thy children some she rears with her,
And some, know thou, dwell under Theban towers.
But we, my father, that are present here,
Will hear and do whatever thou shalt bid.
Hera. Hear then what presses. Thou hast reached an age
When thou must show what mould of man thou art,
That thou art called my son. For, lo! to me
Long since it was revealèd of my Sire
That I should die by hand of none that live,1160
But one, who dead, had dwelt in Hades dark;
And thus the Kentaur-monster, as was shown,
Though dead, hath slain me who till now did live;
And I will show to thee new prophecies,
Following on these, agreeing with the old,
Which I, within the grove the Selli own,[1]
- ↑ The Selli are described by Homer (Il. xvi. 233) as hermit-prophets, dwelling around the Pelasgic shrine of Dodona, and interpreting the oracles which came from the sacred oak.
