[The scene is one of suppliants at an altar.¹ AMPHITRYON, MEGARA and her THREE YOUNG SONS, shut out by Lycus from Amphitryon’s house, sit in a group at the public altar of Zeus the Deliverer.]

AMPHITRYON: Is there anyone on earth who does not know of Argive Amphitryon who shared his wife’s bed with Zeus?² In bygone days Alcaeus, Perseus’ son, fathered me, and I am the father of Heracles. This city of Thebes has been my home, where the earth-born crop of Sown Men³ sprang to life and Ares allowed a small number of them to live and people Cadmus’ town with their children’s children. From this line came Creon, son of Menoeceus,⁴ who was king of this land. Creon became the father of Megara here whose wedding all [10] the Cadmeans celebrated in time past, singing in consort with the music of the pipe, that day when the renowned Heracles led her home to my house as his bride.

Later my son left Thebes, where I had settled, and the lady Megara here, together with all her family, and made it his aim to live in a fortified city of Argos,⁵ the one the Cyclopes had built, from which I fled after killing Electryon.⁶ Since he was eager to end my exile and to live in the land of his forefathers, he promised Eurystheus as the high price for his return that he would rid the earth of violent creatures. It may have been [20] Hera’s cruel jealousy or else the decrees of fate that forced these labours on him, no one knows.⁷ All of them he has completed except for the last. He has now passed through Taenarus’ jaws into Hades’ realm to bring back the triple-bodied hound⁸ to the upper world, but from there he has not yet returned.

There is an ancient tradition among Cadmus’ folk that this city with its seven gates was ruled by Lycus, husband of Dirce, in the days before Zeus’ offspring, Amphion and Zethus of the white horses, came to hold sway in Thebes.⁹ This man’s son, [30] named after his father, was no Cadmean but hailed from Euboea. He attacked this town of ours when it was sick with party conflict,¹⁰ killed Creon and became king of Thebes. As for us, our tie of kinship with Creon has proved, it seems, our greatest danger. As my son is in the depths of the earth, this Lycus, this parvenu ruler of Thebes, means to quench bloodshed with more bloodshed by murdering the sons of Heracles, after killing his wife and myself (if it is right to count a useless greybeard such as me as a man). His fear is that these [40] children will one day reach manhood and seek revenge for the spilling of their family’s blood.

My son left me here in the house to watch over his home and guard his children, when he began his journey into the earth’s black gloom. I have tried to save the sons of Heracles from death by joining their mother in supplication at this altar of Zeus the Deliverer, which my noble son raised to commemorate his triumph in battle the day he overcame the Minyans. And here we keep our pious watch, denied the basic [50] needs of life – food, drink, clothing – with only the hard ground for bedding. We are banned from the house and sit here with little hope of being saved. As for friends, some I see are not to be relied upon, while those deserving of the name are powerless to assist. So it is when men encounter misfortune. I pray that no friend of mine, even a mere acquaintance, may have this experience; there is no surer test of friends.

MEGARA: Old man, who once destroyed the city of the [60] Taphians,¹¹ leading the army of Cadmus’ people to glory, how veiled from our understanding are the gods’ gifts to men! On my father’s side I was no outcast from fortune; because of his wealth men hailed him once as great, and he had children too, and a throne, which rouses lust and makes long spears fly at the prosperous owner. He gave me to your son Heracles in a marriage that caught everyone’s eye.

[70] But now all this is no more, it has taken wing, and you and I are about to die, old man, as are these sons of Heracles I am keeping safe, like some mother-bird protecting her cowering young under her wings. And they question me, one on this side, one on that: ‘Mother, tell me, where is father now? What part of the world is he in? What is he doing? When will he be here?’ They are so young and miss their father; they do not understand his absence. I put them off by telling stories, but every time there is a noise at the gates, up they jump, each one of them, wondering if it is their father and they can run to clasp his knees.

[80] So now, sir, what hope, what means of safety, can you provide? You are the one I look to. We would not get clear of this land’s borders without being seen (there are frontier-guards too strong for us) and we can no longer hope that friends will see us to safety. So speak up, tell us your thoughts. I fear our deaths are close at hand.

AMPHITRYON: Daughter, it is no easy thing to advise lightly in such a case, showing enthusiasm but taking no trouble. We lack strength; let us not be too hasty.

[90] ME GARA: Have you not sorrows enough? Is this how much you love life?

AMPHITRYON: I do take pleasure in this sunlight and I still cherish hope.

MEGARA : As do I; but we should not hope for what cannot happen, old man.

AMPHITRYON: There is comfort for the oppressed in deferring misfortune.

MEGARA : But the time that intervenes is so painful, so hard to bear!

AMPHITRYON: Daughter, a fair wind may yet arise to bring us both to land, free from these troubles that beset us. He may yet come, that son of mine and husband of yours. Calm yourself and banish those tears that spring so readily from your children’s eyes. Soothe them with your words. Though the deceptions you utter may be wretched, you must use them none the less. [100] Men’s misfortunes diminish and stormy winds blow out at last; Fortune does not smile on her favourites for ever, for all things give place to something else. The true man is he who trusts in hope from first to last; to abandon hope is to be a coward.

[The CHORUS enter slowly. They are elders of Thebes, once fine warriors but now decrepit old men.]

CHORUS [Strophe]: To the high-roofed palace I have come, to where old Amphitryon rests his limbs, my weight supported by this staff I pivot round. I am old,¹² a singer of sorrowful songs like a white-haired swan; mere words am I, no man but a ghost, the semblance of a dream [110] in the night. These legs of mine shake but my spirit is strong, and my heart goes out to you, you children who have no father, and you, old sir, and you, unhappy lady, mourning for your husband in the halls of Hades.

[Antistrophe:] Onward, put your best foot forward, dragging those weary limbs, like a horse in harness that pulls the weight of a wheeled wagon up some steep and rocky slope. If any man’s step falters through [120] weakness, hold fast to your neighbour’s arm or clothing. Let one old man support another, as once we fought beside each other, young warriors all with spears level as we entered the fray, bringing no disgrace to our glorious homeland. 130

[Epode:] Look at their flashing eyes, so like their father’s, the stare of a Gorgon! His ill luck has not deserted his children nor his handsome bearing either. O Greece, if you lose such youngsters as these, what champions will be snatched from you!

CHORUS-LEADER: Enough; I see Lycus, king of this land, approaching the palace.

[Enter LYCUS .]

LYCUS : Father of Heracles, and you, his wife, I have some questions for you, if I may; and, as your royal lord, I may ask [140] what I please. How long do you seek to prolong your life? What hope of help do you see that will stay your execution? Do you believe these boys’ father will return? He lies dead with Hades! [The two bow their heads in grief.] Oh, you give way to sorrow beyond your deserts, seeing that you have to die – you, with your empty boasts¹³ to every Greek that Zeus is your partner as husband and father, and you, claiming to be a hero’s [150] wife! Well, then, what is this splendid feat of your husband,¹⁴ if he destroyed the serpent of the swamp or the beast of Nemea that he trapped in a snare and claims he strangled with his bare hands? Are these the arguments you bring against me? Is this why the sons of Heracles should be spared execution? His reputation for bravery was won from battling with wild beasts but in other matters he was no great warrior – he was nothing! He never held a shield in his left arm or stood up to an enemy’s [160] spear; he carried a bow, that weapon favoured by cowards, and was poised to take to his heels. Archery is no test of a man’s courage;¹⁵ courage is shown when a man stands his ground, waiting in the battle, and stares unflinchingly at the enemy ranks as they cut a swift furrow through his own.

What I do now, old man, shows careful planning, not a lack of shame. I realize I killed this woman’s father, Creon, and now sit on his throne. I do not want to let these boys grow up to become my executioners and take their revenge.

[170] AMPHITRYON: Let Zeus protect that part of his son which comes from Zeus. As for me, Heracles, it is for me to take your part and show with words the folly of this man. This abuse of your name is not to be tolerated.

First, then, with the gods as witnesses, I must defend him against your unspeakable charges (unspeakable, Heracles, is any charge that brands you a coward). I hereby call to witness Zeus’ thunderbolt and chariot in which Heracles rode to war against the earth-born Giants,¹⁶ lodging his winged arrows in [180] their ribs, and came back to dance and sing the song of victory amidst the gods. Then go to Pholoe, most craven of kings, and ask that violent race of four-legged Centaurs what man they would judge to be the greatest of heroes. None but my own son – the man you call a sham! Put the question to Dirphys, your home in Euboea – it would not praise you. Not a single place would you find in that island of your birth to testify to one brave deed of yours.

Then you criticize that ingenious discovery, the bow! Listen now to me and learn some sense. The infantryman is the slave [190] of his own weaponry: if he shatters his spear he cannot defend himself from death, as his only means of fighting is gone. Again, suppose the men on either side of him turn coward in battle, he gets killed himself because his comrades have lost their nerve. But not so the skilful archer: firstly – his chief advantage – he can launch hundreds of arrows and still he has others for defending himself; secondly, he engages the enemy from afar, wounding them with arrows they watch out for but fail to see, and so, from perfect safety, denying them the chance to strike [200] back at him. True skill in warfare lies in escaping the constraints of chance, and doing harm to the enemy at no risk to oneself. These arguments contradict your acceptance of traditional views.

Then there are these boys; why do you want to kill them? What have they done to you? Your attitude strikes me as shrewd in one point: as a coward yourself you fear the children of a great warrior. But it is a hard sentence for us to bear, that we shall lose our lives because you lack courage; if Zeus looked [210] on us with a just eye, this would be your own fate, to be killed by us, your betters. But if you simply wish to hold the Theban throne with no resistance from us, allow us to go into exile. Commit no violence or it will return on your own head, when the god’s favour veers and blows against you.

Ah, land of Cadmus! Yes, I direct my words to you now and they are words of reproach. Is this the kind of protection you give to Heracles and his sons? Did he not, single-handed, confront all the Minyans and allow Thebans to gaze at the [220] world as free men? Greece, too, I criticize (and never shall I be silenced on this), for I have found her shamefully ungrateful to my son. She should have marched to help these little lads with fire, with spears, with full armour, to pay him back for all his toil in purging land and sea. The truth is, children, you have no support, either from Thebes or from Greece. Your eyes are fixed on me but, though I love you, I cannot help you; I am [230] nothing but a ranting tongue. The strength I once possessed is gone; shaking limbs and vigour without sap – these are the gifts for which I have to thank old age. But if I were young and sturdy still, I’d soon have seized my sword and made this man’s blond hair run with blood. He’d run in terror from my spear, beyond the bounds of Atlas!

CHORUS-LEADER : A good man finds the words to make his case, even if they come slowly to him.

LYCUS : Yes, use your eloquence to abuse me in this arrogant fashion; I will let my actions serve to punish your insults! [To [240] his attendants] Here, you men! Go some of you to Helicon, others to Parnassus’ glens and tell the woodsmen to cut logs of oaks. Once they have been brought back to Thebes, pile them around the altar here and set them aflame. Reduce the five of them to ash! I want them to realize that I am the ruler of this land now, not that dead man. [A number of his attendants leave the stage.] As for you greybeards who oppose my will, you’ll have more than Heracles’ sons to weep for; there will be your [250] homes as well, when they come to grief. Then you will be reminded that I am your king and you my slave.¹⁷

CHORUS-LEADER: Offspring of the earth, you men whom Ares once sowed as the teeth he had ripped from a dragon’s ravenous jaws, lift up the staffs¹⁸ that support your right hands and dash them on this man’s godless head, making it run with blood! He is a worthless upstart ruling over my people, foreigner though he is and no son of Cadmus! [He rounds on LYCUS.] You will never make me your slave without regretting it, or 260 enjoy all that I laboured long and hard to win! Go back where you came from and show them your insolent ways! While I live you will never kill the sons of Heracles. He may have left his children behind but he is not buried so deep below the earth that we forget him. You now possess his land, which you have ruined, while he, its benefactor, does not get his just deserts. And am I now meddling in seeking to help a dead friend where he most needs that help?

O right hand of mine, how you long to hold a spear! But your strength is gone and you have lost your wish [shaking his [270] staff at LYCUS]. Otherwise I would have stopped you calling me your slave and won honour by coming to the aid of this city of Thebes, where you now take your pleasure. Civil strife and foolish counsels have made us Thebans lose our senses. Were we sane, we would never have got you for a ruler.

MEGARA : Gentlemen, I thank you.¹⁹ It is right that friends should feel a just anger on behalf of friends. But I do not want you to come to any harm on our account by venting your anger on your overlord. Listen, Amphitryon, to what I think; perhaps [280] my words may strike you as worthwhile. I love my children. Of course I love them – did I not give them birth and work hard to rear them? And death to me is a fearful thing. But in my judgement the man who struggles against the ways of necessity is a fool. Now, since we must die, let us not die wasted by fire and so invite the mockery of our enemies; I count that a worse end than dying. We have received many noble gifts from the house and stand in its debt. You once enjoyed a famous name as a warrior. Will you now die a [290] coward’s death? That would be intolerable! As for my husband, he is glorious even without witnesses. If these children brought disgrace on their name, he would refuse to save them; men of noble birth are afflicted by their sons’ dishonour. And I must not hesitate to follow my husband’s example in this.

You must weigh this hope of yours in the light of my reasoning; do you really suppose that your son will return from the earth below? What man who has died has ever made the journey back from Hades’ realm? Or do you imagine that this man will be softened by words? Far from it! You should keep clear of an enemy who lacks humanity but yield to one who is 300 wise and well-bred; by submitting to his sense of honour you may more easily seal a pact of friendship with him.

I have already thought that we might beg him to sentence these children to exile rather than death. But what a miserable fate for them – to make their safety depend on humiliating poverty! As they say, an exile can count on a host’s smile of welcome for only one day. Join us in facing death bravely; it waits for you anyway. You are nobly born, no less than we; [310] we challenge you. When a man strives to get free of the fate the gods cast over him, his striving is folly. What will be will be; no man will ever change it.

CHORUS -LEADER : If anyone had tried to ill-treat you when these arms of mine still had their strength, I would easily have stopped him. As it is, I’m a spent force. It is now your task, Amphitryon, to think how to break through your fate.

AMPHITRYON: It is not cowardice or love of life that keeps me from dying; I want to save his children for my son. But it’s useless; I seem to be crying for the moon. [He moves away from the altar and the other suppliants follow.] Look, here is my neck, ready for your sword: stab it, spill my blood and fling my head [320] from a cliff. But I beg you, king, grant the pair of us one kindness: kill me and this wretched woman before the children. We wish to be spared the obscene sight of them dying, their cries of ‘Mother! Grandpa!’ As for the rest, do as you wish; we have no power to stave off death.

MEGARA: I too beg you to add another favour to the first; one man you may be, but still oblige the pair of us in two ways. 330 Unbar the palace doors that now keep us out and let me fetch funeral garments to dress the children in. I want them at least to have this part of their family inheritance.

LYCUS: Very well. [To attendants] Unbar the doors, I say! [To the suppliants] Go inside and dress yourselves. I do not grudge you these garments. When you have dressed I will come to send you down to the nether world. [LYCUS and attendants leave.]

ME G ARA: Come now, children, follow your poor mother into your father’s house. Others now possess his property but his name is still ours. [She enters the palace with the children.]

AMPHITRYON: O Zeus, how worthless was my gaining you as partner in my marriage, how worthless my hailing you as [340] partner in fatherhood!²⁰ You were less a friend to me, it seems, than I supposed. I have behaved more honourably than you, though you are a great god and I a mere mortal, for I have not betrayed the sons of Heracles. You knew how to steal into another man’s bed and enjoy his wife, though no invitation was given, but you do not know how to protect your own family from harm. Either you are a stupid sort of god or you have no sense of justice. [AMPHITRYON makes his way into the palace.]

CHORUS [Strophe]: Phoebus can sing a lament after a song of good fortune, when with golden plectrum he strikes his lovely sounding lyre.[ 350] And I wish to sing of the man who has passed into the gloom of the world below, whether I should call him the son of Zeus or child of Amphitryon, crowning him with a garland of song²¹ in honour of his labours. Valorous deeds nobly performed are what give glory to the dead.

[Mesode:] First he cleared Zeus’ grove of the lion, and, putting it [360] on his back, he covered his golden head with the fearsome beast’s ruddy jaws.

[Antistrophe:] Then with his deadly arrows he laid low in time gone by the mountain-haunting breed of savage Centaurs, slaying them with his winged shafts. Witnesses to this are Peneus of the lovely stream, the plain with its acres of farmland bereft of crops, the settlements [370] of Pelion and dwellings on Homole’s lush slopes, where they tore up pines to serve as spears as they galloped in triumph through Thessaly.

[Epode:] Next, the golden-horned hind of dappled hide, ravager of the countryside, he slew and dedicated the spoils to Oenoe’s huntress goddess.

[Strophe:] Then he mounted the chariot of Diomedes, and with [380] bit and bridle subdued the four mares whose jaws, with unbridled zest, dispatched bloody food in their bloodstained stalls, as they fed joyously on the flesh of men, savage feasters. And beyond the banks of silver-flowing Hebrus did he range, in pursuit of his labours for Mycenae’s king.

[390] [Mesode:] Then on to Malia’s strand, along the waters of Anaurus, where he destroyed with his bow Cycnus the cleaver of strangers, who dwelt in solitude near Amphanae.

[Antistrophe:] Next to the west he went, where the Singing Maidens have their home, to pluck with his own hands the golden fruit from the leafy apple-boughs, and killed the serpent whose back gleamed [400] like fire, the sentinel that none dared approach, writhing in coils. He ventured into the deepest reaches of the sea, making safe passage for voyaging mortals.

[Epode:] Then to Atlas’ home he went, and, thrusting his hands evenly beneath the dome of heaven, he supported with his great strength the starry mansions of the gods.

[410] [Strophe:] Next he crossed the Great Sea that gives no welcome to strangers and entered the land around Maeotis with its many rivers, where the warrior Amazons ride. From all the land of Hellas he had raised a host of comrades to wrest the deadly prey of the gold-decked girdle from the tunic of Ares’ daughter. Greece received the famous spoil of the Amazon maid and in Mycenae it is preserved.

[420] [Mesode:] Then he burned to ashes the many-headed, murderous hound of Lerna, the hydra, and smeared its poison on the arrows with which he slew the three-bodied herdsman of Erytheia.

[Antistrophe:] Other trials he completed with glorious success, and then, as the last of his labours, he sailed to Hades, where tears abound. [430] There, after enduring so much, he brings his days to an end; he has not returned. His house is stripped of friends; life’s journey for his children is god-forsaken and forsaken by justice; no home-coming for them as Charon’s oar awaits them. Your house looks to you to save it, Heracles, but you are not here.

[Epode:] Oh, if I had the vigour of my youth and wielded my spear in battle, together with my fellow sons of Cadmus, I would have [440] championed these children with my might. But as it is, the fire that blessed my young limbs is spent.

 

[AMPHITRYON, MEGARA and the SONS OF HERACLES enter from the palace.]

CHORUS -LEADER : But here I see them, wearing the garments of the dead – the sons of the man who once was called ‘Heracles the Mighty’, his beloved wife, dragging them in tow, and Heracles’ old father. Oh, what a wretch am I, no longer can I check the tears that well from my tired old eyes! [450]

MEGARA: Very well; who will serve as priest,²² who wield the knife that spills our unhappy blood? Here stand the beasts for slaughter, ready to be led off on the road to death. O children, we are led off under a yoke that offends decency, a procession of the dead – old, young, parents and children together. Oh, what a miserable fate has come upon me and these children, whom now I look at for the last time! I gave you birth, but I reared you for enemies to mock, maltreat and destroy!

Ah, it is hard! How fair were the hopes your father’s words [460] once raised in me, how utterly false they have proved! [She addresses the oldest boy.] To you your dead father would assign Argos; you were going to have the palace of Eurystheus and rule over fertile Pelasgia. He used to drape over your head the savage lion’s pelt that he wore as his own armour.

[To the second son] But you were king of Thebes, rich in chariots, possessing as your heritage the broad lands given to me. Oh, how you used to beg him to agree, your own dear [470] father, and he would put in your right hand, as if it was a present, his great fighting-club of carved wood!

[To the third] To you he promised the gift of Oechalia, sacked by him in the early days with his far-shooting arrows. In this way your father meant to exalt the three of you with three kingdoms, laying his plans with a proud and confident heart. My role was to select the choicest brides, contracting marriages from the land of Athens, of Sparta and of Thebes, to bind you fast by mooring-cables and so ensure you happy and prosperous [480] lives. This hope, too, has taken wing. Fortune changed and gave you fiends instead as your brides,²³ while to me in my misery she gave tears as the ritual water I must carry. Your father’s father gives the wedding feast, acknowledging Hades as your father-in-law –joyless marriage tie.

O my little ones, which of you should I clasp to my heart first, which last? Whom shall I kiss or hug? If only I could draw in all your laments, gathering them together like a buzzing bee, [490] and shed them in a single burst of tears! O Heracles, beloved husband, if any mortal utterance reaches the ears of Hades’ citizens,²⁴ on you I call now! Death hangs over your father and children; ruin has come upon me too, whom men once called blessed because of you. Come! Defend us! Appear to me, even as a phantom! Come, just come as a vision, and that will suffice! Cowards are killing your own children!

AMPHITRYON: Continue with your prayers to win over the dead, my daughter. [Raising his arms] I’ll throw my hands to [500] the sky and make my prayer, Zeus, to you: if you mean to help these children at all, defend them now, for it will soon be too late. And yet I have called on you many times. My effort is wasted; our death, it seems, is inescapable.

[To the CHORUS] Gentlemen, life is no great matter; pass through it as pleasantly as you can, avoiding pain from daybreak to nightfall. Time is not concerned with preserving our hopes but flies on his way, intent on his own business. Look at me: I did great deeds once, drew the eyes of all men, and in a single [510] day Fortune has snatched it all from me, as a feather is blown to the sky. Great wealth, reputation – what man can possess these with confidence? I know of none. Farewell, my friends since the days of my youth; this is the last time you will set eyes on me.

MEGARA: Ah! Old man, can it be my dearest love I see?²⁵ What am I saying?

AMPHITRYON: I don’t know, daughter; I, too, am lost for words!

MEGARA: It is he, the one we were told was below the earth, unless I see a dream by daylight! What am I saying? What kind of ‘dreams’ can I see in my mind’s confusion? This is your son [520] and no one else, old man! Come here, children, hurry, cling to your father’s cloak and never let go – he is no less a saviour to you than Zeus the Deliverer!

[Enter HERACLES.]

HERACLES: Greetings, my house, and you portals to my hearth! What joy to see you now I have returned to the daylight! Why, what’s this I see – my children in front of the house, wearing funeral wreaths on their heads, a crowd of men – and there, my wife and my father! What has happened to make them weep like this? I must approach and find out. [To MEGARA] [530] What has happened here, dear wife?

MEGARA: O my dearest husband!

AMPHITRYON: O light that has returned to your father’s eyes!

MEGARA : Are you here, have you come safe home to your family in their hour of need?

HERACLES: What are you saying? Father, what trouble do I find here?

MEGARA: We are being destroyed! [TO AMPHITRYON] Do forgive me, sir, if I usurp your right of reply. We women are more emotional than men – my children were about to be killed, and so was I.

HERACLES: Apollo! What a way to start a reply!

MEGARA: My brothers are dead. So is my old father.

HERACLES: What? How did he provoke this? Or who struck 540 him down unprovoked?

MEGARA: Lycus, the new ruler of Thebes, killed him.

HERACLES: Did he make war on the city or was it suffering from faction?

MEGARA: The city was divided; mighty Thebes with its seven gates is in his power.

HERACLES: How, then, could terror have reached you?

MEGARA: He was going to kill your father, and me and our children.

HERACLES: What are you saying? My sons were without a father – what did he have to fear from them?

MEGARA: He was afraid they might one day avenge my father’s death.

HERACLES: But why are the children dressed like this, in robes that suit the dead?

MEGARA: We have just now put on these burial clothes.

[550] HERACLES: And he was going to use force on you, to kill you? Oh, how can I bear this?

MEGARA : Yes; we had no friends. You were dead, so it was reported.

HERACLES: What caused you to give up hope of me like this?

MEGARA: Eurystheus’ heralds kept delivering this message.

HERACLES : Why had you left my house and hearth?

MEGARA: They used force; your father was thrown out of the bed he lay in…

HERACLES:… What? Was he not ashamed to mistreat an old man?

MEGARA: Ashamed? Shame is a goddess he does not care to worship.

HERACLES: Were friends so few in my absence?

MEGARA: What friends does a man have when misfortune overtakes him?

[560] [HERACLES]: Did they so easily forget my battles with the Minyans?

MEGARA : I tell you again, bad luck brings the end of friendship.

HERACLES: Then fling away²⁶ these hellish wreaths that bind your hair and let the light of deliverance shine from your eyes! Let them look no more on the nether darkness but see instead the welcome light of day! The time has come: I must act now. First I’ll go and level the palace of this parvenu king; I’ll cut off his impious head and throw it out for dogs to tear at. As for Cadmus’ citizens, those I find guilty of disloyalty despite my kindness will have this club to reckon with, architect of my glorious victories; the rest I’ll tear asunder with my feathered arrows, filling all Ismenus with their gory corpses and making the silvery waters of Dirce run with blood! Is there anyone I have a greater duty to protect than my wife, my children, and this old man? Farewell to my labours! How pointless they were if I have failed to help my own family! These boys were to die[ 580] for their father’s sake; I must die in their defence, if need be. At Eurystheus’ bidding I fought the hydra and lion: what honour can I claim from that if I do not exert myself when my own sons are in mortal peril? Then I will forfeit the title of Heracles the Triumphant.

CHORUS-LEADER: It is right that a father should help his children, and also his old father and spouse.

AMPHITRYON: It is typical of you, my son, to love your friends and hate your enemies. But do not act too hastily!

HERACLES : What do you find too hasty in what I intend, father?

AMPHITRYON: There are in Thebes many impoverished men ²⁷ who live beyond their means and the king can count on their [590] support. They have caused sedition and brought down the city to get their hands on their neighbours’ goods, having squandered their own wealth and seen it slip away from their idle fingers. You were seen entering the city. Since this is the case, your enemies have had time to gather and you must guard against coming to unexpected grief.

HERACLES: I wouldn’t care if the whole city saw me. But I saw an omen, a bird on an unpropitious perch, and so, realizing that my home was in danger, I showed foresight and entered by a secret route.

AMPHITRYON : Good. Now go inside and greet Hestia and let [600] your ancestral home look on your face. The king will come in person to drag your wife and children off to their deaths and to slaughter me beside them. Stay inside and you will have all you need; you’ll succeed at no risk to your safety. As for your fellow-citizens, my son, don’t stir them up until you have settled this business well.

HERACLES: I agree; it’s good advice. I shall enter the palace. Now that I have returned at last from the sunless caverns of Hades and the Maid below, I’ll not neglect to pay my first respects to the gods who keep this house.

AMPHITRYON: Did you really enter the regions where Hades [610] dwells, my boy?

HERACLES: Yes, and I brought up to the daylight the beast with three heads.

AMPHITRYON : Did you beat him in a fight or was he a gift of the goddess?

HERACLES: I fought him; I had witnessed the sacred rituals of the initiates and this gave me good fortune.²⁸

AMPHITRYON: And the beast, is he now in Eurystheus’ house?

HERACLES : Hermione is his home; he inhabits the grove of the Earth-Mother there.

AMPHITRYON: Is Eurystheus unaware of your return from the lower world?

HERACLES: He is; I wanted to come here first and discover how things stood.

AMPHITRYON: But why did you spend so long under the earth?

HERACLES: I delayed to bring Theseus²⁹ up from Hades’ realm, Father.

[620] AMPHITRYON: Where is he? Has he returned to the land of his forefathers?

HERACLES: He has gone to Athens, glad to have escaped the world below. But come, children, walk with your father into his house! You’re happier entering it than you were coming out! Be brave, stop crying all these tears! And you, my wife, pull yourself together and stop trembling!

Let go my clothes! I’ll not fly away or try to escape from you!

[630] Ah, they are not letting go, but cling to my clothing all the more! Were you so close to death? [He takes them by the hand.] Well, I’ll take them myself by the hand and lead them, like a ship towing little boats. I don’t object to looking after children. In all respects men are the same: whether of noble or humble birth, they love their children; they may differ in wealth –some have it, some don’t – but the whole race loves children.

[The whole family goes into the palace.]

CHORUS [Strophe]: Youth is what I love; old age ever rests on my[ 640] head as a burden weightier than Etna’s crags, covering the light of my eyes so that they are dark. I would not desire the wealth of an Asiatic throne, or a palace filled with gold, in preference to youth, fairest of prizes in prosperity, fairest in poverty. But old age – dismal, bloody – [650] is what I hate. May it sink beneath the waves and never come to the homes and cities of mortals! May it take wing and fly for ever through the air!

[Antistrophe:] If the gods possessed understanding and wisdom such as men have, a second youth would be the prize for those whose lives bore clearly the stamp of virtue.³⁰ After death such men would [660] return to the rays of the sun and run a second race, but ignoble spirits would know one life only. In this way good men and bad could be distinguished, even as the sailor makes out a constellation among clouds. As it is, we have no god-given means for telling good men from bad, and a man’s life-span, as it rolls past, adds only to his wealth. [670]

[Strophe:] I will not cease from joining the Graces with the Muses, a most delightful union. May I never live without the Muses’ gifts but always wear my proper crown.³¹ Aged singer though I be, still I loudly celebrate Memory, still I sing of Heracles’ glorious victories, be it when [680] the Roarer’s gift of wine is poured, or when music sounds from the seven-toned tortoiseshell, or from the Libyan pipe. I am not yet too old to stop praising the Muses, who set my feet moving in the dance.

[Antistrophe:] The maidens of Delos sing their triumph-song outside the temple doors, as they praise Leto’s son, blessed child, [690] whirling round in their lovely dance; but I for my part shall sing your triumphs at your portals, an aged singer uttering praise, swan-like, from my grey old throat. Virtue is the theme of my song: he is the son of Zeus; excelling still more in greatness of heart than in birth, he has by his labours brought calm to man’s sea of troubles, destroying fearsome [700] beasts.

 

[LYCUS enters from the side of the stage, accompanied by servants, and AMPHITRYON comes out of the palace.]

LYCUS : You’re none too soon³² in coming out of the palace, Amphitryon; you’ve taken a long time now, all of you, dressing yourselves up in funeral clothing. Get a move on, now, tell Heracles’ wife and sons to show themselves outside the palace here. Those were the terms on which you agreed, voluntarily, to die.

AMPHITRYON: King, you persecute me, though my state is miserable, and heap insult on me in my bereavement. Your eagerness should show some measure, for all your power. But [710] since you compel us to die, we must acquiesce; your will must be enforced.

LYCUS: Where, then, is Megara? Where are the children of Alcmena’s son?

AMPHITRYON [standing at the doors of the palace]: To judge from here, I think…

LYCUS : You think? And what is your conclusion?

AMPHITRYON:… she is sitting as a suppliant at Hestia’s holy altar-steps…

LYCUS : Well, there is a suppliant who wastes her breath; she won’t escape death!

AMPHITRYON:… and calling vainly on her dead husband. LYCUS: He’s not here; he’ll never come back. AMPHITRYON: No, not unless some god raises him from the dead.

[720] [LYCUS]: Go to her and fetch her from the palace.

AMPHITRYON: If I did that, I would be an accomplice in her murder.

LYCUS: Then, as you have this scruple, I’ll go myself and bring them out, mother and children together; such qualms do not bother me. Follow me inside, you men – I want to see an end to this trouble and gladden my heart!

[Exit LYCUS with attendants into the palace.]

AMPHITRYON: Well, go on your way, go where fate calls you. Someone else perhaps will see to the rest. Your actions were brutal, so you may expect a brutal reception. [To the CHORUS] [730] Sirs, his leaving is timely; evil-hearted coward that he is, he thinks he’s going to kill his victims, but a net will catch him up in its mesh and drop him on a sword-point! I will go to see him fall in death; what pleasure it gives when an enemy dies and pays the price for his misdeeds. [Exit AMPHITRYON into the palace.]

CHORUS [Strophe]: Suffering has now changed sides; in majesty the former king has turned his horses and rides back from Hades to the path’s end! Hail Justice! Hail the tide of fate that flows from heaven!

CHORUS-LEADER: At last you have come where death will seal [740] your punishment for trampling so insolently on your betters.

CHORUS: Tears of happiness start from my eyes; he has come back, Thebes’ king has come back – never in my heart could I have hoped to experience this!

CHORUS-LEADER: Come, sirs, let us look inside the palace to see if someone is suffering as I wish.

[A scream of pain is heard from inside the palace.³³]

LYCUS [within]: Oh, help me!

CHORUS [Antistrophe]: It begins in the house, the refrain I long to hear! His death is near. In lamentation the king cries out this prelude to the spilling of his blood.

LYCUS [within]: O land of Cadmus, I am being murdered treacherously!

CHORUS-LEADER: Yes, for you are a murderer. Bear up as you pay retribution in punishment for your actions!

CHORUS: Who was he, that man of mortal flesh, who, polluting the gods with the stain of lawlessness, launched his foolish calumny at the blessed dwellers in heaven, claiming that they had no power?³⁴

CHORUS-LEADER: Sirs, the godless man’s life is over. The palace [760] is silent. Let’s turn to dancing!

CHORUS [Strophe]: Dancing, dancing and feasting prevail throughout Thebes’ holy city. Tears of grief have turned to joy, this happy change has given birth to new songs. Our new king has gone and the one of earlier days holds sway, leaving Acheron’s harbour behind! My hope is fulfilled, exceeding all expectation! [770]

[Antistrophe:] The gods, the gods concern themselves with men unjust as well as pious, so that they take heed of them. Gold and good fortune, dragging with them unjust power, lead men on, luring them out of their minds. No one dares cast his eyes back on the track but, passing by the law and giving rein to lawlessness, he smashes prosperity’s dark chariot. [780]

[Strophe:] Ismenus, put on garlands! And you, polished streets of our seven–gated city, and fair- flowing Dirce, start up the dance!³⁵ You maiden daughters of Asopus, come also, leaving your father’s stream, and join us, Nymphs, in celebrating Heracles’ fight and triumphant victory!

[790] You wooded crags of Pytho’s Lord and haunts of the Muses on Helicon, extol with echoing shouts of joy my city and my city’s walls, where the stock of Sown Men appeared, the bronze-shielded company who pass this land in turn to their children’s children, a sacred light to Thebes.

[Antistrophe:] O marriage bed that welcomed two loving husbands, [800] one of mortal birth, the other Zeus, who came to embrace the bride who was daughter to Perseus! How true it has long seemed to me, Zeus, your union with her, though it was hard at times to believe. Time has revealed the shining valour of Heracles, who came up from the earth’s chambers, leaving behind the infernal dwelling of Pluto. In [810] my eyes you are a superior monarch to this ignoble king; all who observe your clashing swords can see whether the gods still approve of justice.

[IRIS and MADNESS appear above the palace.]³⁶

Ah, look! Are we all struck by the same quivering terror? What kind of vision do I see above the house?

Run, move those tired old legs ³⁷ and run! Get away from them! O [820] Healer King,³⁸ deliver me from harm!

IRIS: Take heart, old men! Do not tremble at the sight of Madness here, child of Night, and myself, Iris, who do the gods’ bidding. We are not here to do any harm to Thebes but to attack the home of a single man, the son, they say, of Zeus and Alcmene. Before he had accomplished his terrible labours he was protected by Fate, and Zeus, his father, would not allow Hera or [830] me ever to do him harm. But now that he has performed Eurystheus’ labours, Hera wishes to fasten on him the taint of kindred murder, by making him kill his children, and in this I am her willing partner.

Come now, virgin daughter of black Night, summon up the cruelty in your heart – let frenzy loose on this man, twist his mind to long to kill his children, set his feet kicking in distraction! Loosen the mooring-rope of murder, that he may send his lovely crown of sons, slaughtered by his own hands, across Acheron’s stream! Then he will know what kind of hatred [840] Hera feels for him³⁹ and learn my rancour too. Otherwise the gods are worthless, if this man does not pay the penalty, and mortal men are supreme.

MADNESS: Of a noble father I am born, and a noble mother, from the blood of Uranus and Night. This office I hold is not a source of delight to me, and I take no pleasure in visiting those mortals I hold dear. Let me give advice to you and Hera before I see her tumble into folly; perhaps you will do as I say. This man whose house you send me to destroy is famous, on [850] earth as in heaven. He tamed lands untrodden by men and seas infested by beasts; when impious men had trampled on the worship due the gods, he alone restored it. I cannot, then, approve your plans to do him harm.

IRIS: It isn’t your place to criticize plans laid by Hera and me.

MADNESS: I’m trying to turn your steps from wrong and to set you on a better path.

IRIS: It wasn’t to exercise judgement that Zeus’ consort sent you here.

MADNESS: I make the Sun my witness ⁴⁰ that I act against my will. If it is indeed fated that I should help Hera and you, then go I will. Neither the raging sea with its groaning waves, nor earthquake, nor stabbing thunderbolt, breathing anguish, will show such fury as I, in the race that I shall run against the breast of Heracles. I will shatter his house and overthrow his palace, having first killed his sons. The slayer will not know that he has killed his own sons until he is free of my frenzy.

But look! Already he is tossing his head at the starting-posts, silently rolling and distorting those fearsome eyes; no longer can he master his breathing – he begins to roar terribly, [870] like a bull about to charge. I am the huntsman and I summon [860] the Fiends of Hell to come with clamorous baying to my heels!

[To HERACLES] Oh, soon enough, I’ll set you dancing, I’ll play my pipe and put panic in your steps!

[To IRIS] Wing your way to Olympus on those noble feet of yours, Iris. I will enter, unseen, the house of Heracles.

[Exit IRIS above; MADNESS enters the palace.]

CHORUS: What woe is here, what sorrow! Make lamentation! O wretched Greece, the pride of your nation, Zeus’ son, is cut down, and you will lose, will lose your benefactor, who has been set dancing to the manic strains of frenzy that ring in his ears.

[880] Madness, mother of woe, has mounted her chariot. Bent on destruction, with eyes that turn to stone, she goads on her team, like a Gorgon-child of Night, bristling with the heads of a hundred hissing snakes.

Swiftly has fate overturned the man of success; swiftly will his children die at their father’s hands.

AMPHITRYON [from within]: O, pity! Pity!

CHORUS : O Zeus, soon your son, childless, will be destroyed most wretchedly by the Spirits of Vengeance – frenzied, feasting on raw flesh, enemies of what is just!

AMPHITRYON: O you palace walls!

[890] CHORUS: The dance begins but no cymbals does it have, nor is it blessed by the staff of the Roaring One…

AMPHITRYON: O my home!

CHORUS:… but to blood it is directed, not to the pouring of Dionysus’ libation of the grape.

AMPHITRYON: Run, children, make your escape!

CHORUS: Murderous, murderous is this song the pipe accompanies. He hunts down his children; they are his quarry. Never will Madness riot in the house and not achieve her goal!

AMPHITRYON: Oh, misery! What horror!

[900] CHORUS: Ah, misery in truth! How I grieve for his aged father and for the woman who bore his sons and raised them, all for nothing!

Look! Look! A storm-blast shakes the palace! The roof is collapsing!

AMPHITRYON: Ah, ah, what are you doing to the palace, daughter of Zeus?⁴¹ It is a hellish confusion you are launching at these walls, Pallas, as once you assailed Enceladus!

[Part of the palace collapses.⁴² A MESSENGER rushes out, mourning. The CHORUS engages in a lyric exchange with him.]

MESSENGER: O sirs, pale with all your years… 910

CHORUS: What is it you are trying to say? Why do you address me so loudly?

MESSENGER: Inside the palace… it is abominable!

CHORUS : So much I can well believe.

MESSENGER: The children are dead!

CHORUS: Oh, no, no!

MESSENGER: You lament what is truly lamentable.

CHORUS: O cruel and bloody deed! Cruelty unworthy of a father’s hands!

MESSENGER: What we have suffered is beyond any man’s telling.

CHORUS: Can you reveal the ruin, the woeful ruin the father brought on his children? Tell how this destruction from heaven swooped on the [920] house! Make plain the sufferings and wretched fate of the children!

MESSENGER: The sacred victims for sacrifice to purify the house were standing in front of Zeus’ altar, as Heracles had killed the king of Thebes and thrown his body out of the palace. There, too, stood the children – a handsome group they made – with their grandfather and Megara. The basket had already wound its way around the altar and we were keeping a reverent silence.⁴³ Alcmena’s son stood, saying nothing, poised to lift [930] the torch in his right hand to dip it in the holy water. As their father hesitated, the boys stared at him. He was a different man; in his affliction he started rolling his eyes, where bloody veins had sprouted, and foam began to trickle down his bushy beard.

Then, with a manic outburst of laughter, he spoke: ‘Father, why do I offer sacrifice and purifying fire, when I still have Eurystheus to kill? I’m doubling my labour! These hands of mine need only perform a single ceremony to settle this business well. Once I’ve brought Eurystheus’ head here, I’ll cleanse my [940] hands of the blood I’ve spilled – his and those men’s I killed today. You there, pour out that water! Throw those baskets down! Give me my bow, one of you, and another, my club! I’m off to Mycenae. I must take crowbars and pickaxes to level that Cyclopean masonry; hooks of iron are needed for that stonework ruled by red marker and fitted by chisels!’

Then he started to move. Thinking he had a chariot when there was none, he tried to mount, clasped the rail and struck [950] out vigorously, like a man striking out with a goad. The servants were confused, poised between amusement and terror, and, as they looked at each other, one of them said, ‘Is the master playing a joke on us, or has he lost his wits?’

But he kept roving to and fro inside the palace. He burst into the hall, claiming he had reached the town of Nisus, and then, going further inside, he suddenly sprawled on the ground, just as he was, and started preparing a meal. After a short while only, he announced he was drawing near to the wooded plain [960] of the Isthmus, where he would stay. Next he unpinned his cloak, stripped off and started competing against nobody. He kept calling for silence from the crowd and proclaiming himself the triumphant winner over no one. Then in his imagination he was at Mycenae, shouting threats at Eurystheus.

But his father grasped his mighty hand and spoke these words to him: ‘My son, what is wrong with you? How is it you behave in this extraordinary way? Surely the blood you have just shed has not taken away your senses?’ But Heracles, thinking this was Eurystheus’ father clinging to his hand and trembling before him in humble entreaty, thrust him away and made [970] ready his bow and arrows to shoot his own sons, supposing it was Eurystheus’ children he was killing. Terrified, they began running this way and that. One cowered in the folds of his poor mother’s dress, another in the shadow of a column, the third, like a bird, behind the altar. Their mother shouted out: ‘What are you doing? You’re their father! Are you killing your own children?’ The old man and a crowd of servants echoed her cries.

But Heracles, moving round the boy as he circled the pillar, turned back with frightening speed and, facing the child, shot [980] him in the side. He fell back, gasping for life and spattering the stone pillars with his blood. Heracles cried out in triumph, adding this boast: ‘Here’s one of Eurystheus’ brood down and dead, paying for his father’s hatred of me!’ Now he was aiming his bow at another boy, who was crouching at the base of the altar, thinking he had escaped his father’s eye. This poor wretch was quicker off the mark: ducking to clasp his father’s knees, he reached out to touch his cheek and neck, and cried, ‘Father, dear father, don’t kill me! I’m your son, yours! You won’t be killing one of Eurystheus’!’ But Heracles’ eyes were like a [990] Gorgon’s⁴⁴ – savage, rolling. As the boy was too close for his deadly arrows, he swung his club above his head, like a blacksmith striking red-hot iron, and, bringing it down on the lad’s golden head, he smashed the skull-bone. Having dispatched his second son, he now set about sacrificing the third victim to add to the others. But their mother, wretched woman, had anticipated him; she seized the child and, rushing into an inner room, barred the doors. Heracles thought he now faced the very walls built by the Cyclopes; he attacked the doors, heaving at them with pickaxe and crowbar, smashed in the door posts, and with a single arrow laid low wife and [1000] last son together.

Next he galloped off to murder his old father. But a phantom intervened, Pallas as it revealed itself to our eyes, brandishing her spear on the palace roof-top. She flung a rock at Heracles, which hit him in the chest, checking his furious lust for blood and knocking him senseless. He tumbled to the ground and struck his back against a pillar that was lying on its base, broken in two when the roof had collapsed. We who had taken to our [1010] heels came back and helped the old man tie him fast to the pillar with sturdy ropes, to stop him committing any further crimes when sleep left him. There he sleeps, but it is no enviable sleep, poor man, for he has murdered his wife and sons. Indeed, I know of no one on this earth more miserable. [Exit MESSENGER.]

CHORUS: Most famous in its day in Greece, and past belief, was the slaughter of Danaus’ sons,⁴⁵ known to the rocks of Argos. But these [1020] woes surpass that day’s, which have visited the wretched son of Zeus.

I can tell of Procne’s killing of her son, sacrifice of blood for the Muses; but he was her only child, while you, violent man, were given the lot of madness that made you destroy three sons of your own begetting.

Ah, what lament, what dirge, what song for the dead shall I sing? What dance of death shall my song describe?

[The doors of the palace open to reveal the corpses of MEGARA and the THREE BOYS. Nearby, asleep and bound to a pillar, is HERACLES.]⁴⁶

[1030] Oh, oh, look! The lofty palace doors are moving apart, swinging open! Ah, unbearable! See them where they lie, the wretched children at their unhappy father’s feet! After his children’s slaughter he sleeps – a dreadful sleep. Round him wind fetters and knotted ropes that support his body and bind him tight to a stone pillar of the house.

[AMPHITRYON enters from the palace behind.]

[1040] CHORUS – LEADER: And here is the old man – slow and painful are the steps he takes – lamenting his precious grandchildren, as a bird mourns for her young in the nest.

AMPHITRYON: Be quiet, elders of Cadmus’ town, be quiet!⁴⁷ While he is relaxed in sleep, let him forget his woes!

CHORUS: I weep tears of sorrow for you, old man, for the children, for the glorious conqueror!

AMPHITRYON: Stand further away; no sound, no word! He lies in [1050] tranquil repose, bound in sleep; do not wake him from his rest!

CHORUS: Ah, the blood, all the blood…

AMPHITRYON: Enough! You will destroy me!

CHORUS:… though shed, it rises up!

AMPHITRYON: Sirs, not so loud in your laments! If he wakens he will break his fetters and destroy our city, murder his father and make havoc of the palace!

CHORUS: I cannot help it; I cannot!

[1060] AMPHITRYON: Silence! Let me test his breathing. Come, let me put my ear close.

CHORUS: Is he asleep?

AMPHITRYON: Yes, he is asleep – not a true sleep but an accursed one: he has killed his wife, killed his children, with twanging bow!

CHORUS: Then mourn…

AMPHITRYON: I do.

CHORUS:… for the children’s death…

AMPHITRYON: Oh, the pain!

CHORUS:… for your son.

AMPHITRYON: Ah!

CHORUS: Old sir…

AMPHITRYON [bending over HERACLES again]: Be quiet, be quiet! He wakes; he turns and twists! Come, let me hide, conceal myself indoors! [1070]

CHORUS: Have no fear; it is yet night with your son.

AMPHITRYON: Look out, look out! I am not afraid to die – I am a wretch, whose life has been miserable; I fear he will kill his father, piling suffering onto suffering, more blood of kin to add to this work of Furies.

CHORUS: Then was the time for you to die, when you returned after avenging for your wife the Taphians’ murder of her brothers, by sacking [1080] their city surrounded by the sea!⁴⁸

AMPHITRYON: Flee, sirs, flee away from the palace! Escape from the madman who now awakes; soon he’ll rampage again through the Cadmeans’ city, adding one murder to another!

CHORUS – LEADER: O Zeus, why did you feel such strong hatred for your own son? Why did you launch him upon this sea of woes?

[AMPHITRYON and the CHORUS withdraw some distance from the bound HERACLES. With a sudden cry he wakens.]

HERACLES: Ah! Well, I’m alive, anyway.⁴⁹ I see all I should- [1090] the sky, the earth, these shafts of sunlight. And yet my state of mind is strange indeed – confused, tossing as if on a sea-swell – and my breath comes hot and shallow, not steady from the lungs. What’s this? Why am I sitting here moored like a ship, my sturdy chest and arms bound by ropes, beside a column of chiselled stone that is broken in half,⁵⁰ with corpses to keep me company? And here, scattered on the ground, are my feathered [1100] arrows and the bow⁵¹ that often in the past supported me in battle, preserving me from harm, as I have preserved them. Surely I haven’t gone down once more to Hades, having just come from his kingdom on the return journey for Eurystheus? No; I see neither Sisyphus with his boulder, nor Pluto, nor yet the daughter of Demeter, sceptre in hand. I am dismayed, helpless. Wherever am I? Hey, there! Is there a friend near or far who can cure my ignorance? For I don’t recognize clearly anything familiar.

AMPHITRYON: Sirs, should I approach my own calamity?

[1110] CHORUS-LEADER: Yes, and I will be at your side; I will not betray you in adversity.

HERACLES: Father! Why do you weep and cover up your eyes? Why do you stand so far from the son you love well?

AMPHITRYON: O my son! For mine you are still, however stricken by fate!

HERACLES: Stricken? What affliction prompts this flood of tears?

AMPHITRYON: One that would cause a god himself to groan, if he heard of it.

HERACLES: That is no small claim to make; but you still have to tell me what has happened.

AMPHITRYON: You can see with your own eyes, if your senses have now returned.

HERACLES: Tell me if you are trying to shed some strange new light on my life.

AMPHITRYON : If your hellish antics are at an end, I will tell you.

[1120] HERACLES: Oh, no! You frighten me with these riddles!

AMPHITRYON: I’m not sure if you are yet fully restored in mind.

HERACLES: My mind was deranged? I don’t have any memory of that.

AMPHITRYON: Should I untie the ropes that bind my son, old friends? What is the alternative? [He frees HERACLES.]

HERACLES: And tell me who bound me. I am shocked.

AMPHITRYON: Be content to know this much of your sorrows; let the rest be.

HERACLES: Can silence satisfy me? I want to know!

AMPHITRYON: Zeus, do you see this ⁵² from where you sit on Hera’s throne?

HERACLES : Hera? Have I suffered some hostile stroke at her hands?

AMPHITRYON: Leave the goddess out of it; see to your own burden of grief.

HERACLES: I’m ruined – you are about to devastate me with [1130] some awful news!

AMPHITRYON: Look, then; look at these children’s bodies.

HERACLES: Oh, no! Pity me! What sight is this I see?

AMPHITRYON: You fought a war that was no war against these children, my son.

HERACLES: Why do you speak of a war? Who was their destroyer?

AMPHITRYON: You and your bow, whichever heavenly power was to blame.

HERACLES: What are you saying? What was the deed I committed? O Father, your news is dire!

AMPHITRYON : You were deranged. Oh, the pain it causes to answer your questions!

HERACLES: My wife, did I kill my wife too?

AMPHITRYON: All this is the work of your hand alone.

HERACLES: Ah, what anguish! A cloud oflamentation engulfs me! [1140]

AMPHITRYON: That is why I grieve for your suffering.

HERACLES: Did my raving cause me to damage my own house?

AMPHITRYON: I know one thing only: your fall from happiness is total.

HERACLES : Where did the frenzy take hold of me? Where did it seal my ruin?

AMPHITRYON: It was at the altar, when you were purifying your hands with sacrifice.

HERACLES: Oh, no! Then why do I spare my own life,⁵³ I who became the murderer of my own precious sons? Will I not go and leap from some bare cliff, or aim a sword at my own heart [1150] and avenge my sons for their murder? Or shall I set fire to my own flesh and stave off the life of infamy that awaits me? [He catches sight of THESEUS approaching.] But here comes Theseus,⁵⁴ my kinsman and friend, to thwart my designs on death. I shall be seen; the taint of child-murder shall light upon the dearest of my guest-friends. Ah, what shall I do? Where can I find a place beyond the panoply of my woes, taking to the skies or [1160] passing below? Come, let me veil my head with my cloak. My wicked deeds fill me with shame; I have no wish to cause injury to others, innocent though they are, by exposing them to my blood-guilt.⁵⁵

[HERACLES covers his head in his cloak. THESEUS enters with attendants.]

THESEUS: I have come with others who wait by Asopus’ stream, warriors of the Athenians’ land, bringing help in war to your son, sir. For report has reached the city of Erechtheus’ people that Lycus has seized the throne of Thebes and makes war on [1170] you and your family. I have come to pay back Heracles for his services in rescuing me from the underworld, if you and yours, old man, have any need of help in war, from me or from my allies. But what’s this? Why is the ground strewn with these corpses? I haven’t come too late, have I, arriving in the wake of crimes unforeseen? Who killed these children? Whose wife was the woman I see here? Children don’t stand in the line of battle! No, this is surely some strange and wicked crime I’ve stumbled on!

[In the lyric exchange that follows, AMPHITRYON, still overcome by grief sings, while THESEUS speaks. ⁵⁶]

AMPHITRYON: O king of the hill where olives grow…

THESEUS: Why do you address me so? You begin in sorrowful strain.

[1180] AMPHITRYON:… piteous are the sufferings we have endured at heaven’s hands.

THESEUS: These children you are weeping over– whose are they?

AMPHITRYON: Their father is my own wretched son; he fathered them and he killed them, enduring the taint of their spilled blood.

THESEUS : What are you saying? What was the deed he perpetrated?

AMPHITRYON: He was adrift on a tide of madness, and the arrows he used were dipped in the hundred-headed hydra’s blood.

THESEUS: What monstrous news!

AMPHITRYON: Our life is over, over, flown to the skies!

THESEUS: No more – your words test the gods’ patience!

AMPHITRYON: I have no wish to disobey you.

THESEUS : Hera was at work in this; but who is that man among the dead, old man?

AMPHITRYON: He’s my son, my son, the man of many labours, who [1190] once marched to do battle with the Giants, standing at the side of the gods on Phlegra’s plain!

THESEUS : Oh, this is hard to bear! What man was born to greater sorrow than he?

AMPHITRYON: No mortal has endured trials or travels greater than his; not one would you find his equal.

THESEUS: Why does he hide his poor head in his cloak?

AMPHITRYON: He is ashamed to meet your eye, ashamed before your [1200] love as his kinsman, and the blood of his own sons.

THESEUS: But what if I came to share his pain? Uncover him.

AMPHITRYON: My son, take the cloak away from your eyes, throw it down, reveal your face to the sun! [AMPHITRYON falls to the ground beside HERACLES and grasps hold of him like a wrestler.] I lend my weight to these tears I shed, as I struggle to convince you! I beg you, by your chin, your knee, your hand, falling before you with an old man’s tears! O my son, curb that lion’s wild spirit of yours! It leads [1210] you on to a trail of impious bloodshed, my child, when you would pile one evil on another!

THESEUS: Now then, you who sit there in misery, I bid you reveal your face to a friend. No darkness has a cloud so black as could conceal the depths of your misfortune. Why do you shake your hand at me, showing fear? Are you afraid I may be polluted ⁵⁷ if I speak to you? It does not trouble me if your [1220] friendship brings me bad luck; there was a time it brought me good. That happy hour came when you brought me safely into the light of day from the world of death.⁵⁸ I hate a friend whose gratitude fades with age, or one who wants to enjoy your success but not to share your voyage when storms arise. Stand up, uncover your wretched head and look at me! [HERACLES rises from the ground and THESEUS unveils him.] A noble heart endures what the gods send; it does not recoil.

HERACLES: Theseus, have you seen how I clashed with my sons here?

[1230] THESEUS: I heard the woeful tale and now you show the facts to one who understands.

HERACLES: Then why did you uncover my head before the sun?

THESEUS: You ask that? You are mortal; you cannot pollute what is divine.

HERACLES: I am defiled, unholy – keep away, you wretch!

THESEUS: No avenging curse passes from friend to friend.

HERACLES : Thank you; because I befriended you, I do not refuse. [HERACLES clasps THESEUS’ hand.]

THESEUS: I knew kindness from you then; I give you pity now.

HERACLES: I have your pity, though I killed my sons?

THESEUS: I weep for your kindness now that your fortune has changed.

HERACLES: Have you encountered other men in greater misery?

[1240] THESEUS : Your misfortune reaches from earth to heaven. HERACLES : Therefore I am determined to die.⁵⁹

THESEUS: Do you think the gods care at all for your threats?

HERACLES: The gods please themselves; I shall treat them likewise.

THESEUS: Watch what you say! Such boasting may earn you further suffering!

HERACLES: My hold is full of suffering; I have no room for further cargo.

THESEUS: What will you do? Where will such defiance sweep you?

HERACLES: I will die; I returned from beneath the earth and I shall go below again.

THESEUS : These are the words of an ordinary man.

HERACLES: And you, a stranger to my suffering, criticize me!

THESEUS: Are these the words of Heracles, the all-enduring? [1250]

HERACLES: Never did I know sorrow such as this; there must be a limit to endurance.

THESEUS: The benefactor of mortal men, their great friend?

HERACLES: And what help are they to me? Power lies with Hera.

THESEUS: Greece would not tolerate a fool’s death for you!

HERACLES: Then listen; for I want to match your words of advice with arguments of my own.⁶⁰ I will explain to you how my life, both now and before, should never have been. Firstly, I am this man’s son; he married Alcmena, my mother, though [1260] he had killed her old father and was tainted by his blood. When a family’s foundations are not soundly laid, misfortune must befall its sons.⁶¹ Then Zeus, whoever Zeus is,⁶² sired me to become the target of Hera’s enmity (no, old man, don’t be angry; I count you as my father, not Zeus). While I was still a baby at the breast, Zeus’ consort put fierce-eyed serpents in my cradle to cause my death. Once the sturdy flesh of youth [1270] had clothed my limbs, need I tell of the labours I endured? What lions or triple-bodied Typhons or Giants did I not destroy? What battles with troops of four-legged Centaurs did I not win? The hydra too, hound with heads all round that grew afresh, I killed, and then, after performing a host of other toils past number, I went down among the dead, at Eurystheus’ word, to bring up to the daylight the triple-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades.

Now here is the final labour of the steadfast Heracles – to [1280] crown the evils of his house with the murder of his sons! This is the hopeless position I have reached: piety forbids that I live in my beloved Thebes; if I do stay, what temple, what company of friends will admit me? The curse I bear hardly encourages men’s greetings! Well then, should I go to Argos? How can I, an exile from my city? Should I hurry to some other city? Am I then to endure sidelong stares on being recognized, am I to be tormented by the cruel barbs of men’s tongues? – ‘Isn’t that [1290] the son of Zeus, who once killed his wife and children? We don’t want him in this land; to hell with him!’

I think my wretchedness will come to this: Earth herself will cry out, ‘Do not set foot on my soil!’, sea and rushing rivers, [1300] ‘You must not cross!’ I will resemble Ixion,⁶³ bound by chains to the wheel that drives him.

Why then should I live? How will it profit me to have a life that serves no purpose and offends heaven? Let the glorious wife of Zeus now dance for joy and make Olympus shake with her footsteps! She has achieved her will; she has cast down from on high the foremost man of Greece, toppling him from his very foundations! What man would utter prayers to such a goddess? Because of jealousy of another woman’s bed, to spite [1310] Zeus, she has destroyed the benefactor of Greece, though he was innocent of wrong-doing!

CHORUS-LEADER: We see here the hand of none other than Hera, wife of Zeus; you are quite right.

THESEUS : { If you were going to be the only person abused by chance} I would advise you { to kill yourself } ⁶⁴ rather than to bear misfortune. But there is no mortal, no god, untouched by fortune’s blows, if poets’ tales are true.⁶⁵ Have not the gods engaged in lawless love with one another? Have they not defiled their fathers by putting them in chains for the sake of power? But still they live on Olympus and allow themselves to be consoled for their offences.

[1320] What defence will you make if you, a mortal, complain unduly at the ways of chance, while gods do not?

Well then, do what the law requires and leave Thebes. Come with me to Pallas’ city. There I will cleanse your hands of pollution and give you a home and a share of my wealth. I will give you the gifts my fellow-citizens gave me when I had killed the Minotaur and saved the fourteen youths.⁶⁶ Everywhere throughout my country plots of land have been assigned to me. Henceforth these shall be named after you, and, while [1330] you live, men will celebrate them. When you die and pass to Hades’ realm, the whole Athenian state will revere you with sacrifices and stone memorials. It will be a crown of honour to my people that they are famed among Greeks for helping a noble man. I too shall be showing my gratitude to you for rescuing me; for you are now in need of friends.

HERACLES: Ah, these honours do not meet the severity of my [1340] woes. I do not believe that the gods indulge themselves in illicit love or bind each other with chains. I have never thought such things worthy of belief and I never will; nor that one god treats another as his slave. A god, if he is truly a god, needs nothing; these are the wicked tales of poets.⁶⁷

For all my woes, I see that taking my life might seem an act of cowardice. ⁶⁸ If a man did not resist the blows of fortune, he [1350] could not face an enemy’s spear. I shall stand fast and hold to life; I will come to your city, and for your gifts you have my warmest thanks.

But, as men know, I have tasted many a hard task. Never have I refused one, or wept to see it through; nor would I have thought I could ever reach the stage of shedding tears. Now, it seems, I must be fortune’s slave. So be it; old man, you see me exiled, you see me the murderer of my own sons. Wrap [1360] their bodies for burial and place them in a tomb, and honour them with your tears (the law does not allow me to do this) . Lay them on their mother’s breast, in her arms’ embrace, unhappy union that I destroyed unwillingly. When you have buried the dead, live on in this city, albeit in misery.

O children, I who gave you life and breath have taken them from you. You gained no profit from my noble deeds, undertaken for your sake, as I laboured to win for you a life [1370] of fair renown, a father’s honourable bequest. And you, poor woman, so faithful to the honour of my bed, so patient in guarding our home all this time, how did I return your loving kindness – I killed you! Oh, I weep for my wife and children, I weep for myself! How wretched is my fate, my separation from my children and my wife! What pain it is to kiss you, and yet what sweetness! What pain, again, these weapons give me, though they have been my constant companions! I am torn should I keep them or throw them away? They will hang at [1380] my side as I kneel and speak like this: ‘With us you killed your wife and children; if you keep us, you keep the killers of your sons!’ Shall I then carry them in my hands? How can I justify it? But am I to strip myself of them, the weapons with which I performed the finest deeds that Greece has witnessed? Am I to submit to my enemies and die a shameful death? I must not part with them, but keep them, whatever misery they bring!

Theseus, lend me your help in one task: come with me to Argos, and help me bring the savage dog there; I fear my grief for my sons may work against me if I lack company.⁶⁹

[1390] O land of Cadmus, and all you citizens of Thebes, come to the burial of my children, cut off your hair in their honour and share my mourning! You will be mourning us all by your tears, myself and my sons together. We are all ruined, struck down in anguish by a single stroke of fortune from Hera.

THESEUS: Stand up, my sorrowful friend; we have had enough tears.

HERACLES: I cannot; I am rooted to the ground.

THESEUS : Yes, even the strong can be overcome by fate.

HERACLES: Oh, agony! If only I could stay here, changed into a rock, oblivious to suffering!

THESEUS: Enough! I will help you; give your friend your hand.

HERACLES: No! I must not stain your clothes with blood!

[1400] THESEUS : Wipe it off on me, to the last drop; I cannot refuse.⁷⁰

HERACLES: I have sons no more but in you I have a son.

THESEUS : Put your arms round my neck; I will be your guide.

HERACLES: A yoke that binds friends, but one is no friend of fortune. [To Amphitryon] Father, this is the sort of man to have as a friend!

AMPHITRYON: Yes, the land that is his mother bears noble sons!

HERACLES: Theseus, let me turn back! I want to see my children!

THESEUS: What good will this do? Will they work some charm to ease your mind?

HERACLES: I long to; and I want to embrace my father.

AMPHITRYON: Here I am, my son; I share your wish. [They embrace.]

THESEUS: Have you quite forgotten the labours you under- [1410] went?

HERACLES: The horrors I faced then are as nothing compared with my present woes.⁷¹

THESEUS : This woman-like behaviour will win little praise from any man who sees you.

HERACLES: You think me base in this life I now live? It was not so, I think, in the past.

THESEUS : All too true; you are sick and not the famous Heracles.

HERACLES: What kind of man were you when you were hard-pressed in the underworld?

THESEUS: I was as weak in fighting-spirit as any man.

HERACLES: How then can you blame me, if I am reduced by my miseries?

THESEUS: Then lead on.

HERACLES: Farewell, Father!

AMPHITRYON: Farewell, my son!

HERACLES: Bury the children as I said.⁷²

AMPHITRYON: Who shall bury me, my child?

HERACLES: I Will. [1420]

AMPHITRYON: When will you come?

HERACLES: When you die, father.

Now, take my children’s bodies inside – a grievous burden, hard to bear. I, who have devastated my house with deeds of shame, will follow Theseus, utterly ruined, like a boat towed by a ship.⁷³ If any man desires the benefits of wealth or power more than those of worthwhile friends, he is a fool. [THESEUS and HERACLES leave.]

CHORUS: With pity in our hearts and many tears we go, for we have lost our greatest friend.⁷⁴

[AMPHITRYON, and servants take up the bodies and carry them into the palace. The CHORUS depart in the opposite direction from THESEUS and HERACLES.]