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[1246-1278] The Trachiniae 499
HERACLES
Tis not impiety, if thou shalt gladden my heart.
HYLLUS
Dost thou command me, then, to do this deed, as a clear duty?
HERACLES
I command thee,—the gods bear me witness!
HYLLUS
Then will I do it, and refuse not,—calling upon the gods to witness thy
deed. I can never be condemned for loyalty to thee, my father.
HERACLES
Thou endest well; and to these words, my son, quickly add the gracious
deed, that thou mayest lay me on the pyre before any pain returns to
rend or sting me.
Come, make haste and lift me! This, in truth, is rest from troubles;
this is the end, the last end, of Heracles!
HYLLUS
Nothing, indeed, hinders the fulfilment of thy wish, since thy command
constrains us, my father.
HERACLES (chanting)
Come, then, ere thou arouse this plague, O my stubborn soul, give
me a curb as of steel on lips set like stone to stone, and let no cry
escape them; seeing that the deed which thou art to do, though done
perforce, is yet worthy of thy joy!
HYLLUS (chanting)
Lift him, followers! And grant me full forgiveness for this; but
mark the great cruelty of the gods in the deeds that are being done.
They beget children, they are hailed as fathers, and yet they can look
upon such sufferings.
(The attendants raise HERACLES on the litter and move slowly off, as
HYLLUS chants to the CHORUS in the closing lines.)
No man foresees the future; but the present is fraught with mourning
for us, and with shame for the powers above, and verily with
anguish beyond compare for him who endures this doom.
Maidens, come ye also, nor linger at the house; ye who have lately
seen a dread death, with sorrows manifold and strange: and in all this
there is nought but Zeus. 1