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Alcmena
At last, O Zeus, hast thou turned a favouring eye on my affliction;
yet do I thank thee for what has happened. And though ere this I did not believe my son was gathered to the gods, now am I convinced thereof. My children, now at last from toil shall ye be free, free from him, whom hideous death awaits,
870
Eurystheus; now shall ye behold your father’s city, and set foot in the land of your inheritance, and sacrifice to those ancestral gods, from whom ye have been debarred and forced to lead in strangers’ lands a life of wretched vagrancy. But tell me, what sage purpose Iolaus
875
nursed in his heart, that he spared the life of Eurystheus, for to my mind this is no wisdom, to catch a foe and wreak no vengeance on him.
880
At last, O Zeus, hast thou turned a favouring eye on my affliction;
yet do I thank thee for what has happened. And though ere this I did not believe my son was gathered to the gods, now am I convinced thereof. My children, now at last from toil shall ye be free, free from him, whom hideous death awaits,
870
Eurystheus; now shall ye behold your father’s city, and set foot in the land of your inheritance, and sacrifice to those ancestral gods, from whom ye have been debarred and forced to lead in strangers’ lands a life of wretched vagrancy. But tell me, what sage purpose Iolaus
875
nursed in his heart, that he spared the life of Eurystheus, for to my mind this is no wisdom, to catch a foe and wreak no vengeance on him.
880
Servant (of Hyllus)
’Twas his regard for thee, that thou might’st see him subject to thy hand, and triumph
1
o’er him.
Rest assured, ’twas no willing prisoner he made, but by strong constraint he bound him, for Eurystheus was loth indeed to come alive into thy presence and pay his penalty. Farewell, my aged mistress; I pray thee remember thy first promise when I was beginning my story;
885
set me free; for, at such a time as this, sincerity becometh noble lips.
[Exit Servant.
890
’Twas his regard for thee, that thou might’st see him subject to thy hand, and triumph
1
o’er him.
Rest assured, ’twas no willing prisoner he made, but by strong constraint he bound him, for Eurystheus was loth indeed to come alive into thy presence and pay his penalty. Farewell, my aged mistress; I pray thee remember thy first promise when I was beginning my story;
885
set me free; for, at such a time as this, sincerity becometh noble lips.
[Exit Servant.
890
Heracleidae. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1906.
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