Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/249

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But always does he glow with transient flame.
Deianira: ⁠But lovers after many transient flames,
Are wont at last to choose a single love.
Nurse: ⁠And could Alcides choose instead of thee
A slave, the daughter of his enemy? 380
Deianira: ⁠As budding groves put on a joyous form
When spring's warm breezes clothe the naked boughs;
But, when the northwind rages in their stead,
And savage winter strips the leaves away,
Thou seest naught but bare and shapeless trunks:
So this my beauty, which has traveled far 385
Along the road of life, has lost its bloom,
And gleams less brightly than in former years.
Behold that loveliness—but Oh, whate'er
Was once by many suitors sought in me,
Has vanished quite; for toils of motherhood
Have stolen my beauty, and with speeding foot
Advancing age has hurried it away. 390
But, as thou seest, this slave has not yet lost
Her glorious charms. Her queenly robes, 'tis true,
Have yielded to the garb of poverty;
Still, through her very grief her beauty shines,
And nothing save her kingdom has she lost
By this hard stroke of fate. This fear of her 395
Doth vex my heart and take away my sleep.
I once was in the eyes of all the world
The wife most to be praised; and every bride
Longed for a mate like mine with envious prayers;
And every soul that asked the gods for aught,
Took me as type and measure of her vows. 400
What father shall I ever find, O nurse,
To equal Jove? What husband like to mine
In all the world? Though he, Eurystheus' self,
Beneath whose power my Hercules is placed,
Should take me for his wife, 'twould not suffice.
A trifling thing, to miss a royal couch; 405
But far she falls who loses Hercules.
Nurse: ⁠But children often win a husband's love.
Deianira: ⁠My rival's child perchance will win him too.