Unbearded yet, thy boyish veins
Not yet with manhood's vigor filled?
But why do I bewail your fates, 215
O parents, whom to safety now
Kind death has borne? My fortune bids
That I bewail myself instead.
Soon, ah too soon, in captive state,
Shall I the flying spindle turn
For some proud mistress in her hall.
cruel beauty, how hast thou 220
Decreed my death! For thee alone
Am I and all my house undone,
Since when my sire to Hercules
Refused my hand, because he feared
Great Hercules as son-in-law.
And now, not wife, but captive maid,
I seek my haughty mistress' home.
Chorus: Why dost thou, foolish, ever dwell 225
Upon thy sire's illustrious realm,
And on thy own unhappy fate?
Forget thy former station now;
For only is he happy who,
As king or slave, knows how to bear
His lot, and fit his countenance
To changing circumstance. For he 230
Who bears his ills with steadfast soul
Has from misfortune reft away
Its strength and heaviness.
ACT II
[In the palace of Deianira at Trachin.]
Nurse of Deianira: Oh, bitter is the rage a woman feels,
When in one house both wife and mistress dwell!
No wrecking Scylla, no Charybdis dire, 235
The wild upheavers of Sicilia's waves,
No savage beast, is more untamed than she.
For when the maiden's beauty was revealed,
And Iole shone like the cloudless sky,
Or gleaming stars within the heavens serene,
