Theonöe (faintly at first):
Ah, well, I know that some disastrous doom
Impends on us, falling or yet to fall,
Since duly rob'd and on the tripod thron'd
The influence awaiting, still there lay
A fear like stone so heavy at my heart
Almost it chok'd the springs of being, until
The trance began to fold me, then came sleep,
Not the old sleep, serene and anodyne,
No blesséd influence me seemed, but ambush'd foe
Warily watch'd my weakening, as I swoon'd
Plung'd in the gulf abysmal, memoryless
Save for a haunting horrorI return'd
Flung back to life and sunlight, from the void
Up sweeping, dizzy. Bending over me
I found you, weeping, with Callixena.
What then the sorrowful message that I brought
Returning from my ill-starred embassy,
What answer murmur'd in the merciful sleep,
