LYC. Forth from the portals at due season comes
Amphitryon; for ’tis long since ye were decked
In robes and trappings such as suit the dead.
But go, command the children and the wife
Of Hercules without these gates t’ appear,
Because ye have engaged that ye will die
By your own hands.
AMP. You persecute, O king,
Me whom already fortune hath made wretched,
And with sharp taunts insult my dying race:
Although in power supreme, you ought to act
With moderation; but since you impose
This harsh necessity, we must submit,
And execute your will.
LYC. Where’s Megara?
Where are the children of Alcmena’s son?
AMP. To me she seems, as far as I can guess,
From looking through the door——
LYC. What grounds hast thou
For this opinion?
AMP. In a suppliant posture
To sit before the Lares.
LYC. And implore them
With unavailing plaints to save her life.
AMP. In vain too calls she on her lord deceased.
LYC. But he is absent, he can ne’er return.
AMP. Unless some god should raise him up again.
LYC. Go thou, and from the palace lead her hither.
AMP. ’Twould make me an accomplice in the murder,
If this I acted.
LYC. Since thy soul recoils,
I, whom such idle scruples cannot move,
Will with their mother bring the children forth.
Follow my steps, my servants, that at length
We may behold sweet peace succeed our toils.
[_Exit_ LYCUS.
AMP. Depart: for to that place the Fates ordain
You now are on the road; perhaps the sequel
Will be another’s province: but expect,
Since you have done amiss, to suffer vengeance.
He, O ye veterans, at a lucky hour
Enters the palace, for on ambushed swords
His feet will stumble, while the villain hopes
Those he would murder are too near at hand
To ’scape: but I will go to see him fall
A breathless corse: for when our foe endures
The just requital of his impious deeds,
There is a joy resulting from his death.
[_Exit_ AMPHITRYON.
CHOR. Changed are our evil fortunes. To the shades
He who was erst a mighty king descends.
O justice, and ye dread vicissitudes
Of fate, ordained by Heaven!
1st SEMICHOR. Thou art at length
Gone thither, where by death thou for those taunts,
With which thou o’er the virtuous didst exult,
Shalt make atonement.
2nd SEMICHOR. My delight bursts forth
In floods of tears: for now is come that day
The tyrant deemed would never visit him.
1st SEMICHOR. But let us also look into the palace,
My aged friend, and mark if yonder miscreant
Be punished as I wish.
LYC. [_within._] Ah me! ah me!
CHOR. That melody most grateful to mine ear
Beneath yon roofs commences; nor is death
Far distant; for these cries the monarch utters
Are but a prelude to the fatal stroke.
LYC. [_within._] Ye realms of Cadmus, I through treachery perish!
2nd SEMICHOR. Others have perished by that bloody hand.
Since then the retribution thou endur’st
Is just, endure it bravely.
1st SEMICHOR. Where is he
Who uttered ’gainst the blest immortal powers
His foolish blasphemies, and called the gods
Too weak to punish him?
2nd SEMICHOR. That impious man
Is now no more. Yon vaulted roofs are silent,
Let us begin the harmonious choral lay;
For, as I wished, our comrades prove victorious.