EURIPIDES
Theseus
Darkness beneath the earth, darkness beneath the earth!
How good to lie there and be dead,
now that I have lost you, my dearest comrade.
Your death is no less mine.	840
Will any of you
tell me what happened?
Or does the palace keep a flock of you for nothing?
God, the pain I saw in the house!
I cannot speak of it, I cannot bear it.	845
I cannot speak of it, I cannot bear it. I am a dead man.
My house is empty and my children orphaned.
You have left them, you
my loving wife—
the best of wives	850
of all the sun looks down on or the blazing stars of the
night.
Chorus
Woe for the house! Such storms of ill assail it.
My eyes are wells of tears and overrun,
and still I fear the evil that shall come.	855
Theseus
Let her be, let her be:
What is this tablet fastened to her dear hand?
What can she wish to tell me of news?
Have you written begging me to care
for our children of, in entreaty,
about another vyoman? Sad one, rest confident.	860
There is no woman in the world who shall come to this
house
and sleep by my side.
Look, the familiar signet ring,
hers who was once my wife!
Come, I will break the seals,
and see what this letter has to tell me.	865
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