HERACLES
whose harbor now is Hades' tears,
the final labor of them all;
there his life is disembarked
in grief. He comes no more.
His friends have left his house, 430
and Charon's ferry waits
to take his children's lives
the godless, lawless trip of no return.
To your hands your house still turns,
and you are gone! 435
Could I have my youth once more,
could I shake my spear once more
beside the comrades of my youth,
my courage now would champion
yours sons. But youth comes back no more 440
that blessed me once.
EPODE
Look: I see the children coming now,
wearing the garments of the grave,
sons of Heracles who once was great;
and there, his wife, drawing her sons 445
behind her as she comes; and the old man,
father of Heracles. O pitiful sight!
I cannot hold the tears that break
from these old eyes. 450
(Enter Megara from the palace. She is followed
by the children, dressed in the garments of
the dead. Last comes Amphitryon.)
Megara
Where is the priest with sacrificial knife?
Where is the killer of our wretched lives?
Here the victims stand, ready for Hades.
O my boys, this incongruity of death:
beneath one yoke, old man, children and mother. 455
How miserably we die, these children and I!
323