SERV. Alack! alack! run to my succor all that are near the house--My
mistress the wife of Theseus is hanging.
CHOR. Alas! alas! the deed is done: the queen is indeed no more--she is
suspended in the noose that hangs there.
SERV. Will ye not haste? will not some one bring a two-edged sword, with
which we may undo this knot around her neck?
SEMICHOR. My friends, what do we? does it seem good to enter the house and
to free the queen from the tight-drawn noose?
SEMICHOR. Why we? Are not the young men-servants at hand? The being
over-busy is not a safe plan through life.
SERV. Lay right the wretched corpse, pull her limbs straight. A grievous
housekeeping this for my master!
CHOR. The unhappy woman, as I hear, has perished, for already are they
laying her out as a corpse.
THES. Know ye, females, what noise this is in my house? a heavy sound of my
attendants reached me. For the family does not think fit to open the gates
to me and to hail me with joy as having returned from the oracle. Has any
ill befallen the aged Pittheus? His life is now indeed far advanced; but
still he would be much lamented by us, were he to leave this house.
CHOR. This that has happened, Theseus, extends not to the old; the young
are they that by their death will grieve thee.
THES. Alas me! is the life of any of my children stolen from me?
CHOR. They live, but their mother is dead in a way that will grieve thee
most.
THES. What sayest? My wife dead? By what fate?
CHOR. She suspended the noose, wherewith she strangled herself.
THES. Wasted with sorrow, or from some sudden calamity?
CHOR. Thus much we know--_nothing further_; for I am but just come to thy
house, Theseus, to bewail thy evils.
THES. Alas! alas! why then have I my head crowned with entwined leaves, who
am the unhappy inquirer of the oracle? Servants, undo the bars of the
gates; unloose the bolts, that I may behold the mournful spectacle of my
wife, who by her death hath utterly undone me.
CHOR. Alas! alas! unhappy for thy wretched ills: thou hast been a sufferer;
thou hast perpetrated a deed of such extent as to throw this house into
utter confusion. Alas! alas! thy boldness, O thou who hast died a violent
death, and, by an unhallowed chance, the act committed by thy wretched
hand. Who is it then, thou unhappy one, that destroys thy life?
THES. Alas me for my sufferings![27] I have suffered, unhappy wretch, the
extreme of my troubles--O fortune, how heavy hast thou come upon me and my
house, an imperceptible spot from some evil demon! the wearing out of a
life not to be endured;[28] and I, unhappy wretch, perceive a sea of
troubles so great, that never again can I emerge from it, nor escape beyond
the flood of this calamity. What mention making can I unhappy, what
heavy-fated fortune of thine, lady, saying that it was, can I be right? For
as some bird thou art vanished from my hand, having leaped me a sudden leap
to the realms of Pluto. Alas! alas! wretched, wretched are these
sufferings, but from some distant period or other receive I this calamity
from the Gods, for the errors of some of those of old.
CHOR. Not to thee alone, O king, have these evils happened; but with many
others thou hast lost an excellent wife.[29]
THES. In the shades beneath the earth, I unhappy wish, dying, to dwell in
darkness, reft as I am of thy most dear company, for thou hast destroyed
rather than perished--What then do I hear? whence came the deadly chance,
lady, to thine heart? Will any speak what has happened, or does my royal
palace contain to no purpose the crowd of my attendants?--Alas me on thy
account! unhappy that I am, what grief in my house have I seen,
intolerable, indescribable! but--we are undone! my house left desolate, and
my children orphans.
CHOR. Thou hast left us, thou hast left us, O dear among women, and most
excellent of those as many as both the light of the sun, and the
star-visaged moon of night behold. O unhappy man! how great ill doth the
house contain! with tears gushing over, my eyelids are wet at thy calamity.
But the woe that will ensue on this I have long since been dreading.
THES. Alas! alas! What I pray is this letter suspended from her dear hand?
does it mean to betoken some new calamity?--What, has the unhappy woman
written injunctions to me, making some request about[30] my bridal bed and
my children? Be of good courage, hapless one; for no woman exists, who
shall enter the bed and the house of Theseus. But lo! the impressions of
the golden seal[31] of her no more here court my attention.[32] Come, let
me unfold the envelopments of the seal, and see what this letter should say
to me.
CHOR. Alas! alas! this new evil in succession again doth the God bring on.
To me indeed the condition of life will be impossible to bear,[33] from
what has happened; for I consider, alas! as ruined and no more the house of
my kings. O God, if it be in any way possible, do not overthrow the house;
but hear me as I pray, for from some quarter, as though a prophet, I behold
an evil omen.
THES. Ah me! what other evil is this in addition to evil, not to be borne,
nor spoken! alas wretched me!
CHOR. What is the matter? Tell me if it may be told me.
THES. It cries out--the letter cries out things most dreadful: which way
can I fly the weight of my ills; for I perish utterly destroyed. What, what
a complaint have I seen speaking in her writing!
CHOR. Alas! thou utterest words foreboding woes.
THES. No longer will I keep within the door of my lips this dreadful,
dreadful evil hardly to be uttered. O city, city, Hippolytus has dared by
force to approach my bed, having despised the awful eye of Jove. But O
father Neptune, by one of these three curses, which thou formerly didst
promise me, by one of those destroy my son, and let him not escape beyond
this day, if thou hast given me curses that shall be verified.
CHOR. O king, by the Gods recall back this prayer, for hereafter you will
know that you have erred; be persuaded by me.
THES. It can not be: and moreover I will drive him from this land. And by
one or other of the two fates shall he be assailed: for either Neptune
shall send him dead to the mansions of Pluto, having respect unto my wish;
or else banished from this country, wandering over a foreign land, he shall
drag out a miserable existence.
CHOR. And lo! thy son Hippolytus is present here opportunely, but if thou
let go thy evil displeasure, king Theseus, thou wilt advise the best for
thine house.