ACT I
The Ghost of Tantalus: Who from th' accurséd regions of the dead,
Hath haled me forth, where greedily I strive
To snatch the food that ever doth escape
My hungry lips? Who now to Tantalus
Doth show those heavenly seats which once before
I saw to my undoing? Can it be
That some more fearful suffering than thirst
In sight of water, worse than gaping want, 5
Hath been devised? Must I the slippery stone
Of Sisyphus upon my shoulders bear?
Must I be stretched upon the whirling wheel,
Or suffer Tityus' pangs, who, lying prone
Within a huge recess, the grewsome birds 10
Doth with his quivering, torn-out vitals feed?
By night renewing what the day hath lost,
He lies, an undiminished feast for all.
For what new evil am I now reserved?
O thou grim judge of shades, who'er thou art
Who to the dead doth mete new punishments!
If thou canst still some suffering devise 15
Whereat grim Cerberus himself would quake,
And gloomy Acheron be seized with fear,
At whose dread sight e'en I would tremble sore:
Seek such a punishment; for from my seed
Is sprung a race which shall their house outvie 20
In sin, shall make me innocent appear,
And dare to do what I have never dared
Whatever space within the impious realms
Remains unoccupied, my house shall fill.
While lives the race of Pelops on the earth,
No rest shall Minos know.
The Fury: Thou curséd shade,
Be gone, and to the verge of madness drive
Thine impious house. Be drawn the deadly sword 25
To every crime upraised, by every hand;
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