MES. Your eyes indeed behold, O royal dame,
Yet shall this tongue declare that we have brought
Eurystheus hither, unexpected sight,
Reverse of fortune his presumptuous soul
Foresaw not, this oppressor little deemed
That he should ever fall into your hands,
When from Mycene, by the Cyclops’ toil
Erected, he those squadrons led, and hoped
With pride o’erweening to lay Athens waste;
But Heaven our situation hath reversed:
And therefore with exulting Hyllus joins
The valiant Iolaus, in erecting
Trophies to Jove the author of our conquest.
But they to you commanded me to lead
This captive, wishing to delight your soul:
For ’tis most grateful to behold a foe
Fall’n from the height of gay prosperity.
ALC. Com’st thou, detested wretch? at length hath Justice
O’ertaken thee? First hither turn thy head,
And dare to face thine enemies: for, dwindled
Into a vassal, thou no longer rul’st.
Art thou the man (for I would know the truth)
Who didst presume to heap unnumbered wrongs,
Thou author of all mischief, on my son
While yet he lived, wherever now resides
His dauntless spirit? For in what one instance
Didst thou not injure him? At thy command,
Alive he travelled to th’ infernal shades;
Thou sent’st, and didst commission him to slay
Hydras and lions. Various other mischiefs,
Which were by thee contrived, I mention not,
For an attempt to speak of them at large
Would be full tedious. Nor was it enough
For thee to venture on these wrongs alone,
But thou, moreover, from each Grecian state
Me and these children hast expelled, though seated
As suppliants at the altars of the gods,
Confounding those whose locks are grey through age
With tender infants. But thou here hast found
Those who were men indeed, and a free city
Which feared thee not. Thou wretchedly shalt perish,
And pay this bitter usury to atone
For all thy crimes, whose number is so great
That it were just thou more than once shouldst die.
MES. You must not kill him.
ALC. Then have we in vain
Taken him captive. But what law forbids
His being slain?
MES. The rulers of this land
Consent not.
ALC. Is it not by them esteemed
A glorious action to despatch our foes?
MES. Not such as they have seized alive in battle.
ALC. Is Hyllus satisfied with this decree?
MES. He, in my judgment, will forsooth act rightly,
If he oppose what Athens shall enjoin.
ALC. The captive tyrant ill deserves to live,
Or longer view the sun.
MES. In this first instance
They did amiss, when by their swords he died not.
ALC. Is it not just that he should suffer still?
MES. He who will slay him is not to be found.