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The Tragedies of Seneca

Hyllus: O bitter light, O day with evil filled!
Dead is the Thunderer's daughter, and his son
Lies dying! I alone of all survive.
By my own mother's crime my father dies,
But she by guile was snared. What agéd man,
Throughout the round of years, in all his life,
Will e'er be able to recount such woes?
One day has snatched away my parents both. 1435
But though I say naught of my other ills,
And cease to blame the fates, still must I say:
My sire, the mighty Hercules, is gone.
Alcmena: Restrain thy words, child of illustrious sire,
And matched with sad Alcmena in her grief;
Perchance long slumber will assuage his pain.
But see, repose deserts his weary heart, 1430
And gives him back to suffering, me to grief.
Hercules [awakening in delirium]: Why, what is this? Do I with
waking eyes

See little Trachin on her craggy seat,
Or, set amongst the stars, have I at length
Escaped the race of men? Who opes for me
The gate of heaven? Thee, father, now I see, 1435
Thee, and my stepdame too at last appeased.
What heavenly sound is this that fills my ears?
Great Juno calls me son! Now I behold
The gleaming palace of the heavenly world,
And Phoebus' path worn by his burning wheels.
[Beginning to come out of his delirium.]
I see night's couch; her shadows call me hence. 1440
But what is this? who shuts me out of heaven,
And from the stars, O father, leads me down?
I felt the glow of Phoebus on my face,
So near to heaven was I; but now, alas,
'Tis Trachin that I see. Oh, who to earth
Has given me back again? A moment since, 1445
And Oeta's lofty peak stood far below,
And all the world was lying at my feet.
How sweet the respite that I had from thee,
O grief. Thou mak'st me to confess—but stay,