EURIPIDES
and never let him go! Quick, run! He comes
to rescue us and Zeus comes with him.
(Enter Heracles, armed with bow and arrows, his club
in his hand. He does not see his family at
first, but salutes his halls.)
Heracles
I greet my hearth! I hail my house and halls!
How gladly I behold the light once more
and look on you! 525
(He sees his family.)
What is this I see?
my children before the house? with garlands
on their heads? and my wife surrounded
by a crowd of men? my father in tears?
What misfortune makes him cry? I'll go and ask
what disaster now has come upon my house. 550
Megara
0 my dearest. . . .
Amphitryon
O daylight returning!
Megara
You come, alive, in time to rescue us!
Heracles
Father, what has happened? What does this mean?
Megara
Murder. Forgive me, Father, if I snatch
and speak the words that you should rightly say. £35
1 am a woman: anguish hurts me more,
and my children were being put to death. . . .
Heracles
Apollo! what a prelude to your tale!
326