Because of stolen Cerberus,
And in the outer court of Dis 1920
Do jealous fates detain thee still?
Oh, what a rout among the shades
And frightened manes must there be!
Does Charon flee in his ghostly skiff?
With flying hoofs do the Centaurs rush 1925
Through the wandering shades? Does the hydra seek
In fear to plunge his snaky heads
'Neath the murky waves? Do all thy tasks
Hold thee in fear?
Ah me! Ah me!
What foolish, raving madness this!
I am mistaken quite. I know 1930
The shades and manes fear thee not;
For neither does the tawny skin
Stripped from the fierce Argolic beast
Protect thy left with its streaming mane,
Nor do its savage teeth surround 1935
Thy head. Thy quiver with its darts
Thou hast given away, and a weaker hand
Will aim thy bow. Alas, my son,
Unarmed through the shades thou tak'st thy way;
And with the shades shalt thou dwell for aye.
The Voice of Hercules [sounding from heaven]: Why, since I hold the 1940
starry realms of sky,
And have at last attained a heavenly seat,
Dost thou by wailing bid me feel again
Mortality? Give o'er, since valor now
Has made for me a passage to the gods.
Alcmena [bewildered]: Whence fall upon my startled ears
These sounds? Whence come these thunder tones
That bid me check my tears? Ah, now 1945
I know that chaos is o'ercome.
From Styx art thou once more returned,
O son? And hast thou once again
Vanquished the grizzly power of death?
Hast thou escaped the grim abode
Of death once more, the gloomy pools
