JAS. Oh my dearest sons!
MED. To their mother at least, but not to thee.
JAS. And yet thou slewest them.
MED. To grieve thee.
JAS. Alas, alas! I hapless man long to kiss the dear mouths of my children.
MED. Now them addressest, now salutest them, formerly rejecting them with
scorn.
JAS. Grant me, by the Gods, to touch the soft skin of my sons.
MED. It is not possible. Thy words are thrown away in vain.
JAS. Dost thou hear this, O Jove, how I am rejected, and what I suffer from
this accursed and child-destroying lioness? But as much indeed as is in my
power and I am able, I lament and mourn over these; calling the Gods to
witness, that having slain my children, thou preventest me from touching
them with my hands, and from burying the bodies, whom, oh that I had never
begotten, and seen them thus destroyed by thee.
CHOR. Jove is the dispenser of various fates in heaven, and the Gods
perform many things contrary to our expectations, and those things which we
looked for are not accomplished; but the God hath brought to pass things
unthought of. In such manner hath this affair ended.
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