EURIPIDES
Amphitryon
You were mad. Your questions asked for grief.
Heracles
And it was I who murdered wife as well?
Amphitryon
All this was the work of your hand alone.
Heracles
0 black night of grief which covers me!
Amphitryon
It was because of that you saw me weep.
Heracles
Did I ruin all my house in my madness?
Amphitryon
1 know but this: everything you have is grief.
Heracles
Where did my madness take me? Where did I die?
Amphitryon
By the altar, as you purified your hands. 1145
Heracles
Why then am I so sparing of this life,
born the killer of my dearest sons?
Let me avenge my children's murder:
let me hurl myself down from some sheer rock,
or drive the whetted sword against my side, 1150
or expunge with fire this body's madness
and burn away this guilt which sticks to my life!
(He glances to the right and sees Theseus approaching.)
But look: Theseus comes, my friend and kinsman,
intruding on my strategies for death.