Chapter LII: Act V (2)

_Prologue._--Hippolytus, in hunting-costume, appears in the court
of the palace, which is filled with huntsmen bearing nets and all
sorts of hunting-weapons, and leading dogs in leash. The young
prince, in a long, rambling speech, assigns places for the hunt,
and their duties to his various servants and companions. He ends
with an elaborate ascription of praise to his patroness Diana, as
goddess of the chase, and with a prayer to her for success in his
own present undertaking. The whole speech is in lyric strain, the
anapestic measure, most commonly employed by Seneca.

_Parode, or chorus entry._--The chorus of Troezenian women deplores the strange malady that has befallen the young queen. They relate how

This is the third revolving day,
Since, o'erpowered by lingering pains,
She from all nourishment abstains,
Wasting that lovely frame with slow decay.

At the conclusion of the lyric part of the chorus, the queen, closely veiled, in company with her aged nurse, is seen coming from the palace gates.

_Parode, or chorus entry._--The technical chorus entry is entirely
lacking in this play. While the chorus may be assumed to have
entered and to have been present during the long interview between
Phaedra and her nurse, which forms the first episode, still its
presence is in no way manifested until the end of this interview.

_First episode._--Full of anxiety, the nurse strives to indulge her mistress' every whim. Phaedra answers feebly at first, but suddenly, to the amazement of her companion, her speech is filled with language of the chase, and she again relapses into her mute lethargy. At last, under the insistence of the nurse to probe her mystery, Phaedra confesses that the wretched fate of her house pursues her, too, and that she now feels the torments of love; and, though she does not speak his name, the truth at last is clear that Hippolytus is the object of her passion. The nurse recoils in horror and shame from this confession.

Phaedra describes how she has struggled against her unhappy love, but in vain, and is now resolved on death in order to save her honor. At this the nurse throws all her influence in the opposite scale, arguing that, after all, the sway of Venus is universal, that it is only human to love, and that this is no reason why one should cast his life away. She even proposes to acquaint Hippolytus with her mistress' feelings, and strive to win his love in return. This proposal Phaedra indignantly rejects. The nurse then offers to fetch from the house certain philters which will cure the queen of her malady. The queen reluctantly consents to this, and the nurse retires into the palace.

_First episode._--Phaedra bewails her present lot, in that she has
been forced to leave her native Crete, and live in wedlock with
her father's enemy. And even he has now deserted her, gone to the
very realms of Dis, in company with a madcap friend, to seduce and
bear away the gloomy monarch's queen. But a worse grief than this
is preying on her soul. She feels in her own heart the devastating
power of unlawful love, which has already destroyed all the natural
interests of her life. She recalls her mother's unhappy passion;
but this was bearable compared with her own. For Venus has, from
deadly hatred of her family, filled her with a far more hopeless
love. She does not name the object of her passion, but, from her
guarded references, it is clear that Hippolytus, her stepson, is
meant.

The nurse urges her mistress to drive this passion from her breast,
moralizing upon the danger of delay. Has not her house already
known sinful love enough? Such love is dangerous for it cannot long
be hid. Granting that Theseus may never return to earth, can her
sin be concealed from her father? from her grandsires, both gods of
heaven? And what of her own conscience? Can she ever be happy or
at peace with such a sin upon her soul? She pictures her mistress'
passion in all its hideousness. Besides, it is most hopeless, since
Hippolytus, woman-hater that he is, can never be brought to respond
to it. Phaedra yields to these arguments and entreaties of the
nurse, and says that now she is resolved upon death as her only
refuge. Hereupon the nurse (the usual rôle) begs her not to take
this desperate course, and undertakes to bend Hippolytus to their
will.

_First choral interlude._--The chorus prays that love may never come upon its breast with immoderate power, and relates instances of the resistless sway of Venus and her son.

_First choral interlude._--The chorus sings at length upon the
universal and irresistible sway of love.

_Second episode._--Phaedra, standing near the doors of the palace, suddenly becomes agitated, and utters despairing cries. The chorus, inquiring the cause of these, is told to listen. At first there is only a confused murmur from within; but this soon resolves itself into the angry denunciations of Hippolytus and the pleading tones of the nurse. By these Phaedra learns that the nurse has indeed revealed the fatal secret to Hippolytus under an oath that he will not betray the truth to anyone, and that the youth has received the announcement with horror and scorn. He breaks forth into bitter reproaches against all womankind. He regrets that his lips are sealed by his oath, else would he straightway reveal to Theseus all his wife's unfaithfulness.

Phaedra, on her side, reproaches the nurse for betraying her secret. She angrily dismisses her, and, after exacting an oath of silence from the chorus, goes out, reiterating her resolve to die, and suggests that she has one expedient left by which her name may be preserved from infamy, and her sons from dishonor.

_Second episode._--On the inquiry of the chorus as to how the queen
is faring, the nurse describes the dreadful effect which this
malady of love has already produced upon her. Then the palace doors
open, and Phaedra is seen reclining upon a couch, attended by her
tiring-women. She rejects all the beautiful robes and jewels which
they offer, and desires to be dressed as a huntress, ready for the
chase.

The nurse prays to Diana to conquer the stubborn soul of Hippolytus
and bend his heart toward her mistress. At this moment the youth
himself enters and inquires the cause of the nurse's distress.

Thereupon ensues a long debate, in which the nurse chides
Hippolytus for his austere life and argues that the pleasures of
life were meant to be enjoyed, and that no life comes to its full
fruition unless youth is given free rein. The young man replies by
a rhapsody on the life of the woods, so full of simple, wholesome
joys, and so free from all the cares of life at court and among
men. He compares this with the Golden Age, and traces the gradual
fall from the innocence of that time to the abandoned sin of the
present. He concludes with laying all the blame for this upon woman.

Phaedra now comes forth, and, seeing Hippolytus, falls fainting,
but is caught in the young man's arms. He attempts to reassure her
and inquires the cause of her evident grief. After much hesitation,
she at last confesses her love for him and begs him to pity her.
With scorn and horror he repulses her and starts to kill her with
his sword; but, deciding not so to stain his sword, he throws the
weapon away and makes off toward the forest.

The nurse now plans to save her mistress by inculpating Hippolytus.
She accordingly calls loudly for help, and tells the attendants who
come rushing in that the youth has attempted an assault upon the
queen, and shows his sword in evidence.

_Second choral interlude._--The chorus prays to be wafted far away from these scenes of woe; and laments that the hapless queen had ever come from Crete, for then she would not now be doomed by hopeless love to self-inflicted death.

_Second choral interlude._--The chorus dwells upon and praises the
beauty of Hippolytus, and discourses upon the theme that beauty has
always been a dangerous possession, citing various mythological
instances in proof of this.

_Third episode._--A messenger hurriedly enters with the announcement that the queen has destroyed herself by the noose. The chorus, though grieved, manifests no surprise at this, and is divided as to a plan of action. And now enters Theseus, who demands the cause of the lamentations of the servants, which may be heard from within the palace. He learns from the chorus the fact and manner, but not the cause, of Phaedra's death.

The palace doors are now thrown open and the shrouded body of the queen is discovered within. Theseus, in an agony of lamentations, seeks to know the cause of his queen's death. He at length discovers a letter clasped in her dead hand, by which he is informed that Phaedra has slain herself in grief and shame because her honor has been violated by the king's own son, Hippolytus. Thereupon Theseus curses his son, and calls on Neptune to destroy him, offering this as one of the three requests which, in accordance with the promise of the god, should not be denied.

Here enters Hippolytus, hearing the sound of his father's voice. He looks in amazement upon the corpse of Phaedra, and begs his father to explain her death. Theseus, supposing that his son conceals a guilty conscience, makes no direct answer, but inveighs against the specious arts of man. This strange speech, and still more the manner of his father, now show Hippolytus that he himself is connected in his father's mind with Phaedra's death; and he seeks to know who has thus calumniated him. The wrath of Theseus now breaks over all bounds. He charges his son with the dishonor and murder of his wife, and with withering scorn taunts him with his former professions of purity. Hippolytus protests his innocence, but Theseus continues obdurate, and produces the fatal letter in proof of his statements. Then the youth realizes the terrible mesh of circumstances in which he is taken; but, bound by his oath of secrecy, he endures in silence. After Theseus has pronounced the doom of exile upon him, and retired within the gates, he himself goes forth to seek his comrades and acquaint them with his fate.

_Third episode._--Theseus, just returned to earth from hades, and
with all the horrors of the lower world still upon him, briefly
refers to his dreadful experiences and his escape by the aid of
Hercules. Then, hearing the sounds of lamentation, he asks the
cause. He is told by the nurse that Phaedra, for some reason which
she will not disclose, has resolved on immediate self-destruction.
Rushing into the palace, he encounters Phaedra just within. After
urgent entreaties and threats from Theseus, she confesses that she
is determined to die in order to remove the stain upon her honor;
and without mentioning the name of him who has ruined her, she
shows the sword which Hippolytus has left behind in his flight.
This is at once recognized by Theseus, who flies into a wild
passion of horror, rage, and bitter scorn. He vows dire vengeance
upon his son, which shall reach him wherever he may flee; and ends
by claiming from Neptune, as the third of the boons once granted
him, that the god will destroy Hippolytus.

_Third choral interlude._--The chorus reflects upon the precarious life of man, lauds the golden mean, and prays for the blessings of life without conspicuous fame. No man can hope for continued security in life, when such a youth as Hippolytus is driven off by Theseus' ire. It laments that no longer will his steeds, his lyre, his wonted woodland haunts know the well-loved youth; and reproaches the gods that they did not better screen their guiltless votary.

_Third choral interlude._--The chorus complains that while nature
is so careful to maintain the order of the heavenly bodies, the
atmospheric phenomena, the seasons, and the productiveness of
wealth, for the affairs of men alone she has no care. These go all
awry. Sin prospers and righteousness is in distress. Verily, it
does not at all profit a man to strive to live uprightly, since all
the rewards of life go to the vain and profligate. While the case
of Hippolytus is not mentioned, it is clearly in mind throughout.

_Exode._--The last words of the chorus are interrupted by the approach of a messenger who hastily inquires for the king. As the latter comes forth from the palace, the messenger announces the death of his son. At the king's request he gives a detailed account of the disaster: how Hippolytus was driving his fiery coursers along the shore, when Neptune sent a monstrous bull from out the sea, which drove the horses to a panic of fear; how the car was at length dashed against a ragged cliff, and Hippolytus dragged, bruised and bleeding, by the maddened horses; how, though yet living, he could not long survive. Theseus expresses pleasure at his son's sufferings, and bids that he be brought into his presence that he may behold his punishment.

The chorus interjects a single strophe, acknowledging Venus as the unrivaled queen of heaven and earth.

Diana now appears to Theseus and reveals to him the whole truth, explaining the infatuation of the queen, the fatal letter, and the wiles of Venus. The father is filled with horror and remorse. Diana tells him that he may yet hope for pardon for his sin, since through the wiles of Venus, which she herself could not frustrate, the deed was done.

Here the dying Hippolytus is borne in by his friends. In his agony he prays for death; but by the voice of his loved goddess he is soothed and comforted. After a touching scene of reconciliation between the dying prince and his father, the youth perishes, leaving Theseus overcome with grief.

_Exode._--A messenger, hurrying in, announces to Theseus the
death of his son. Theseus receives the news calmly and asks for a
detailed account. The messenger relates how Hippolytus had yoked
his horses to his car and was driving madly along the highway by
the sea, when suddenly the waves swelled up and launched a strange
monster in the form of a bull upon the land. This monster charged
upon Hippolytus, who fronted the beast with unshaken courage. But
in the end the horses became unmanageable through fright, and
dragged their master to his death among the rocks. The body of the
hapless Hippolytus has been torn in pieces and scattered far and
wide through the fields; and even now attendants are bringing these
in for burning on the pyre. Theseus laments, not because his son is
dead, but because it is through his, the father's, act.

The chorus expatiates upon the fact that the blows of fate fall
heavily upon men of exalted condition, but spare the humble. The
great Theseus, once so mighty a monarch, but now so full of woe, is
an example of this truth. It has not profited him to escape from
hades, since now his son has hastened thither.

But now their attention is turned to Phaedra who appears, wailing
aloud, and with a drawn sword in hand. She rails at Theseus as
the destroyer of his house, weeps over the mangled remains of
Hippolytus, confesses to Theseus that her charge against his son
was false, and ends by falling upon the sword.

Theseus, utterly crushed by the weight of woe that has fallen upon
him, prays only that he may return to the dark world from which he
has just escaped.

The chorus reminds him that he will find ample time for mourning,
and that he should now pay due funeral honors to his son. Whereat
Theseus bids all the fragments be hunted out and brought before
him. These he fits together as best he can, lamenting bitterly as
each new gory part is brought to him.

He ends by giving curt command for the burial of Phaedra, with a
prayer that the earth may rest heavily upon her.

_THE MAIDENS OF TRACHIN_ OF SOPHOCLES, AND THE _HERCULES OETAEUS_ OF SENECA

_Prologue._--In the courtyard of her palace in Trachin, Deianira recounts to her attendants and the chorus of Trachinian maidens how her husband had won her from the river god, Acheloüs, and how, during all these years, she has lived in fear and longing for her husband, who has been kept constantly wandering over the earth by those who hold him in their power; and even now he has been for many months absent, she knows not where.

An old servant proposes that she send her son, Hyllus, abroad to seek out his father. This the youth, who enters at this juncture, readily promises to do, especially on hearing from his mother that the oracle declares this is the year in which his father shall end his life,

Or, having this his task accomplished,
Shall, through the coming years of all his life,
Rejoice and prosper.

_Prologue._--Hercules, about to sacrifice to Cenaean Jove after
having conquered Eurytus, king of Oechalia, recounts at length his
mighty toils on earth, and prays that now at last he may be given
his proper place in heaven. He dispatches his herald, Lichas, home
to Trachin, to tell the news of his triumph, and to conduct the
train of captives thither.

_Parode, or chorus entry._--The chorus prays to Helios, the bright sun-god, for tidings of Hercules, for Deianira longs for him, and "ever nurses unforgetting dread as to her husband's paths." Hercules is tossed upon the stormy sea of life, now up, now down, but ever kept from death by some god's hands. Deianira should, therefore, be comforted:

For who hath known in Zeus forgetfulness
Of those he children calls?

_Parode, or chorus entry._--The place of the chorus entry, which
should be filled by the chorus proper, composed of Aetolian
maidens, is taken by the band of captive Oechalian maidens. They
bewail their lot and long for death; they dwell upon the utter
desolation of their fatherland, and upon the hard-heartedness of
Hercules who has laid it waste.

Iole, their princess, joins in their lamentations, recalls the
horrors of her native city's overthrow, and looks forward with
dread to her captivity.

_First episode._--Deianira confides to the chorus her special cause for grief: she feels a strong presentiment that Hercules is dead; for, when he last left home, he left a tablet, as it were a will, disposing of his chattels and his lands,

and fixed a time,
That when for one whole year and three months more
He from his land was absent, then 'twas his
Or in that self-same hour to die, or else,
Escaping that one crisis, thenceforth live with life unvexed.

At this moment, however, a messenger enters and announces the near approach of Hercules accompanied by his spoils of victory.

_First episode._--During the interval just preceding this episode,
the captives have been led to Trachin, Deianira has seen the beauty
of Iole, and learned of Hercules' infatuation for her. She has by
this news been thrown into a mad rage of jealousy, and counsels
with her nurse as to how she may take vengeance upon her faithless
husband, while the nurse vainly advises moderation.

The nurse at last suggests recourse to magic, professing herself
to be proficient in these arts. This suggests to Deianira the use
of that blood of Nessus which the dying centaur had commended to
her as an infallible love-charm. She takes occasion to relate at
length the Nessus incident. She at once acts upon her decision to
use the charm; and speedily, with the nurse's aid, a gorgeous robe
is anointed with the blood, and this is sent by Lichas' hand to
Hercules.

_First choral interlude._--The chorus voices its exultant joy over this glad and unexpected news.

_First choral interlude._--The chorus of Aetolian women, who
have followed Deianira from her girlhood's home to this refuge
in Trachin, now tender to her their sympathy in her present
sufferings. They recall all their past intercourse with her, and
assure her of their undying fidelity.

This suggests the rarity of such fidelity especially in the courts
of kings, and they discourse at large upon the sordidness and
selfishness of courtiers in general. The moral of their discourse
is that men should not aspire to great wealth and power, but should
choose a middle course in life, which only can bring happiness.

_Second episode._--Lichas, the personal herald of Hercules, now enters, followed by Iole and a company of captive women. He explains to Deianira how Hercules had been driven on by petty persecutions to slay Iphitus, the son of Eurytus, treacherously; how he had for this been doomed by Zeus to serve Omphale, queen of Lydia, for a year; and how in revenge he has now slain Eurytus, and even now is sending home these Oechalian captives as spoil; Hercules himself is delaying yet a little while in Euboea, until he has sacrificed to Cenaean Jove.

Deianira looks in pity upon the captives praying that their lot may never come to her or hers; and is especially drawn in sympathy to one beautiful girl, who, however, will answer no word as to her name and state.

As all are passing into the palace, the messenger detains Deianira and tells her the real truth which Lichas has withheld: that this seemingly unknown girl is Iole, daughter of Eurytus; that it was not in revenge but for love of Iole that Hercules destroyed her father's house, and that he is now sending her to his own home not as his slave, but mistress, and rival of his wife.

Lichas, returning from the palace, on being challenged by the messenger and urged by Deianira to speak the whole truth, tells all concerning Hercules' love for Iole.

Deianira receives this revelation with seeming equanimity and acquiescence.

_Second episode._--Deianira comes hurrying distractedly out of the
palace, and relates her discovery as to the horrible and deadly
power of the charm which she has sent to her husband.

While she is still speaking, Hyllus rushes in and cries out to
his mother to flee from the wrath of Hercules, whose dreadful
sufferings, after putting on the robe which his wife had sent to
him, the youth describes at length. He narrates also the death
of Lichas. The suffering hero is even now on his way by sea from
Euboea, in a death-like swoon, and will soon arrive at Trachin.

Deianira, smitten with quick repentance, begs Jupiter to destroy
her with his wrathful thunderbolts. She resolves on instant
self-destruction, though Hyllus and the nurse vainly try to
dissuade her, and to belittle her responsibility for the disaster;
and in the end she rushes from the scene, Hyllus following.

_Second choral interlude._--The chorus briefly reverts to the battle of Acheloüs and Hercules for the hand of Deianira.

_Second choral interlude._--The chorus, contemplating the changing
fates of their prince's house, is reminded of the saying of
Orpheus, "that naught for endless life is made." This leads to an
extended description of Orpheus' sweet music and its power over all
things, both animate and inanimate, and suggests the story of his
unsuccessful attempt to regain Eurydice.

Returning to the original theme, the chorus speculates upon the
time when all things shall fall into death, and chaos resume her
primeval sway.

It is startled out of these thoughts by loud groans, which prove to
be the outcries of Hercules, borne home to Trachin.

_Third episode._--Deianira tells to the chorus the story of how Nessus, the centaur, had once insulted her, and for this had been slain by Hercules with one of his poisoned arrows; how, also, the centaur in dying had given her a portion of his blood, saying this would be a charm able to restore to her her husband's wandering love. She now resolves to use this charm. She anoints a gorgeous robe with the blood which she has preserved through all these years, and bids Lichas carry this to her lord as a special gift from her. He is to wear it as he offers his sacrifices to Cenaean Jove, Lichas departs upon this mission.

_Third episode._--Hercules in his ravings warns Jove to look well
to his heavens, since now their defender is perishing. The giants
will be sure to rise again and make another attempt upon the skies.
He bitterly laments that he, who has overcome so many monsters,
must die at last, slain by a woman's hand, and that woman not Juno,
nor even an Amazon:

Ah, woe is me,
How often have I 'scaped a glorious death!
What honor comes from such an end as this?

His burning pains coming on again, he cries out in agony, and
describes the abject misery and weakness that have come upon him.
Are these the shoulders, the hands, the feet, that were once so
strong to bear, so terrible to strike, so swift to go? He strives
to apprehend and tear away the pest that is devouring him, but it
is too deep-hidden in his frame. He curses the day that has seen
him weep and beseeches Jove to smite him dead with a thunderbolt.

Alcmena enters, and, while she herself is full of grief, she
strives to soothe and comfort her suffering son. He falls into a
delirium, and thinks that he is in the heavens, looking down upon
Trachin. But soon he awakes, and, realizing his pains once more,
calls for the author of his misery, that he may slay her with his
own hands.

Hyllus, who has just entered from the palace, now informs his
father that Deianira is already dead, and by her own hand; that
it was not her fault, moreover, but by the guile of Nessus, that
Hercules is being done to death. The hero recognizes in this the
fulfilment of an oracle once delivered to him:

By the hand of one whom thou hast slain, some day,
Victorious Hercules, shalt thou lie low.

And he comforts himself with the reflection that such an end as
this is meet, for

Thus shall no conqueror of Hercules
Survive to tell the tale.

He now bids Philoctetes prepare a mighty pyre on neighboring Mount
Oeta, and there take and burn his body, still in life. Hyllus he
bids to take the captive princess, Iole, to wife. He calls upon his
mother, Alcmena, to comfort her grief by pride in her great son's
deeds on earth, and the noble fame which he has gained thereby.

_Third choral interlude._--The chorus prays for the early and safe return of Hercules from where he lingers:

Thence may lie come, yea, come with strong desire,
Tempered by suasive spell
Of that rich unguent, as the monster spake.

_Third choral interlude._--The chorus bids all nature mourn the
death of Hercules. Verily the earth is bereft of her defender, and
there is no one left to whom she may turn if again harassed by
monsters. They speculate upon the place of the departed Hercules.
Shall he sit in judgment among the pious kings of Crete in hades,
or shall he be given a place in heaven? At least on earth he shall
live in deathless gratitude and fame.

_Fourth episode._--Deianira discovers by experiment, now that it is too late, the destructive and terrible power of the charm which she has sent, and is filled with dire forebodings as to the result.

Her lamentations are interrupted by Hyllus, who comes hurrying in; he charges his mother with the murder of his father, and curses her. He then describes the terrible sufferings that have come upon the hero through the magic robe, and how Hercules, in the madness of pain, has slain Lichas, as the immediate cause of his sufferings. He has brought his father with him from Euboea to Trachin. Deianira withdraws into the palace, without a word, in an agony of grief.

_Fourth choral interlude._--The chorus recalls the old oracle that after twelve years the son of Zeus should gain rest from toil, and sees in his impending death the fulfilment of this oracle. They picture the grief of Deianira over her act, and foresee the great changes that are coming upon their prince's house.

_Fifth episode._--The nurse rushes in from the palace, and tells how Deianira has slain herself with the sword, bewailing the while the sufferings which she has unwittingly brought on Hercules; and how Hyllus repents him of his harshness toward his mother, realizing that she was not to blame.

_Fifth choral interlude._--The chorus pours out its grief for the double tragedy. And now it sees Hyllus and attendants bearing in the dying Hercules.

_Exode._--Hercules, awaking from troubled sleep, laments the calamity that has befallen him; he chides the lands which he has helped, that now they do not hasten to his aid; and prays Hyllus to kill him with the sword, and so put him out of his misery.

He denounces Deianira because she has brought suffering and destruction upon him which no foe, man or beast, has ever been able to bring. He curses his own weakness, and laments that he must weep and groan like a woman.

He marvels that his mighty frame, which for years has withstood so many monsters, which he recounts at length, can now be so weak and wasted. Reverting to his wife, he bids that she be brought to him that he may visit punishment upon her.

Hyllus informs his father that Deianira has died by her own hand, for grief at what she has unwittingly brought upon her dear lord. It was, indeed, through Nessus' guile that the deed was done.

Hercules, on hearing this, recognizes the fulfilment of the oracle;

Long since it was revealéd of my sire
That I should die by hand of none that live,
But one who, dead, had dwelt in hades dark.

He exacts an oath of obedience from Hyllus, and then bids him bring his father to Mount Oeta, and there place him upon a pyre for burning. Hyllus reluctantly consents in all but the actual firing of the pyre. The next request is concerning Iole, that Hyllus should take her as his wife. This mandate he indignantly refuses to obey, but finally yields assent. And in the end Hercules is borne away to his burning, while the chorus mournfully chants its concluding comment:

What cometh no man may know;
What is, is piteous for us,
Base and shameful for them;
And for him who endureth this woe,
Above all that live hard to bear.

_Exode._--Philoctetes enters, and, in response to the questions of
the nurse, describes the final scene on Oeta's top. There a mighty
pyre is built, on which Hercules joyfully takes his place. There he
reclines, gazing at the heavens, and praying his father, Jupiter,
to take him thither, in compensation for his service on the earth.
His prayer seems to be answered, and he cries aloud:

"But lo, my father calls me from the sky,
And opens wide the gates. O sire, I come!"
And as he spake his face was glorified.

He presents his famous bow and arrows to Philoctetes, bidding him
for this prize apply the torch and light the pyre, which his friend
most reluctantly does. The hero courts the flames, and eagerly
presses into the very heart of the burning mass.

In the midst of this narrative, Alcmena enters, bearing in her
bosom an urn containing the ashes of Hercules. The burden of her
lament is that so small a compass and so pitiful estate have come
to the mighty body of her son, which one small urn can hold. But
when she thinks upon his deeds, her thoughts fly to the opposite
pole:

What sepulcher, O son, what tomb for thee
Is great enough? Naught save the world itself.

Then she takes up in quickened measures her funeral song of
mourning in the midst of which the deified Hercules, taking shape
in the air above, speaks to his mother, bidding her no longer
mourn, for he has at last gained his place in heaven.

The chorus strikes a fitting final note, that the truly brave are
not destined to the world below:

But when life's days are all consumed,
And comes the final hour, for them
A pathway to the gods is spread
By glory.

THE _TROADES_ OF EURIPIDES, AND THE _TROADES_ OF SENECA

_Prologue._--Neptune appearing from the depths of the sea, briefly recounts the story of the overthrow of Troy, which he laments, states the present situation of the Trojan women, dwells upon the especial grief of Hecuba, and places the blame for all this ruin upon Minerva:

But, oh my town, once flourishing, once crowned
With beauteous-structured battlements, farewell!
Had not Minerva sunk thee in the dust,
On thy firm base e'en now thou mightst have stood.

To him appears Minerva, who, though she had indeed helped the Greeks to their final triumph over Troy, had been turned against them by the outrage of Cassandra on the night of Troy's overthrow. She now makes common cause with Neptune, and plans for the harassing of the Greek fleet by storm and flood on the homeward voyage. The Greeks are to be taught a lesson of reverence:

Unwise is he, whoe'er of mortals storms
Beleaguered towns, and crushed in ruins wastes
The temples of the gods, the hallowed tombs
Where sleep the dead; for he shall perish soon.

[The two gods disappear.]

Hecuba, lying prone upon the ground before Agamemnon's tent, gives voice to her sufferings of body and of spirit; laments her accumulated losses of home, friends, station, liberty; blames Helen for all, and calls upon the chorus of captive women to join her in lamentation.

_Prologue._--Hecuba bewails the fall of Troy, and draws from it a
warning to all who are high in power:

For of a truth did fortune never show
In plainer wise the frailty of the prop
That doth support a king.

She graphically describes the mighty power and mighty fall of her
husband's kingdom, and portrays the awe with which the Greeks
behold even their fallen foe. She asserts that the fire by which
her city has been consumed sprang from her, the brand that she
had dreamed of in her dream before the birth of Paris. She dwells
horribly upon the death of Priam which she had herself witnessed.

But still the heavenly powers are not appeased.

The captives are to be allotted to the Greek chiefs, and even now
the urn stands ready for the lots.

Hecuba next calls upon the chorus of Trojan women to join her in
lamenting their fallen heroes, Hector and Priam.

_Parode, or chorus entry._--The chorus with Hecuba indulges in speculation as to the place of their future home, speaking with hope of some Greek lands, and deprecating others.

_Parode, or chorus entry._--The chorus, under the direction of
Hecuba as chorus leader, in true oriental fashion, bewails the
downfall of Troy, and in particular the death of Priam and Hector.

_First episode._--Talthybius, the herald, enters and announces that the lots have been drawn, and reveals to each captive her destined lord: that Cassandra has fallen to Agamemnon, Andromache to Pyrrhus, Hecuba to Ulysses. At news of this her fate, Hecuba is filled with fresh lamentations, counting it an especial hardship that she should fall to the arch-enemy of her race. The herald also darkly alludes to the already accomplished fate of Polyxena,

At the tomb raised to Achilles doomed to serve.

Hecuba does not as yet catch the import of these words.

Cassandra now enters, waving a torch, and celebrates in a mad refrain her approaching union with Agamemnon. Hecuba remonstrates with her for her unseemly joy; whereupon Cassandra declares that she rejoices in the prospect of the vengeance upon Agamemnon which is to be wrought out through this union. She contrasts the lot of the Greeks and Trojans during the past ten years, and finds that the latter have been far happier; and even in her fall, the woes of Troy are far less than those that await the Greek chieftains. She then prophesies in detail the trials that await Ulysses, and the dire result of her union with Agamemnon:

Thou shalt bear me
A fury, an Erinys from this land.

Hecuba here falls in a faint, and, upon being revived, again recounts her former high estate, sadly contrasts with that her present condition, and shudders at the lot of the slave which awaits her:

Then deem not of the great
Now flourishing as happy, ere they die.

_First episode._--Talthybius announces that the shade of Achilles
has appeared with the demand that Polyxena be sacrificed upon the
hero's tomb.

Enter Pyrrhus and Agamemnon, the former demanding that his father's
request be carried out, the latter resisting the demand as too
barbarous to be entertained. It is finally agreed to leave the
decision to Calchas. He is accordingly summoned, and at once
declares that only by the death of the maiden can the Greeks be
allowed to set sail for home. And not this alone, but Astyanax also
must be sacrificed--hurled from the lofty Scaean tower of Troy.

_First choral interlude._--The chorus graphically describes the wooden horse, its joyful reception by the Trojans into the city, their sense of relief from danger, and their holiday spirit; and at last their horrible awakening to death at the hands of the Greeks within the walls.

_First choral interlude._--The chorus maintains that all perishes
with the body; the soul goes out into nothingness:

For when within the tomb we're laid,
No soul remains, no hov'ring shade.
Like curling smoke, like clouds before the blast,
This animating spirit soon has passed.

The evident purpose of these considerations is to discount the
story that Achilles' shade could have appeared with its demand for
the death of Polyxena.

_Second episode._--The appearance of Andromache with Astyanax in her arms, borne captive on a Grecian car, is a signal for general mourning. She announces her own chief cause of woe:

I, with my child, am led away, the spoil
Of war; th' illustrious progeny of kings,
Oh, fatal change, is sunk to slavery.

Her next announcement comes as a still heavier blow to Hecuba:

Polyxena, thy daughter, is no more;
Devoted to Achilles, on his tomb,
An offering to the lifeless dead, she fell.

Andromache insists that Polyxena's fate is happier than her own; argues that in death there is no sense of misery:

Polyxena is dead, and of her ills
Knows nothing;

while Andromache still lives to feel the keen contrast between her former and her present lot.

Hecuba is so sunk in woe that she can make no protest, but advises Andromache to forget the past and

honor thy present lord,
And with thy gentle manners win his soul;

this with the hope that she may be the better able to rear up Astyanax to establish once more some day the walls and power of Troy.

But the heaviest stroke is yet to fall. Talthybius now enters and announces with much reluctance that Ulysses has prevailed upon the Greeks to demand the death of Astyanax for the very reason that he may grow up to renew the Trojan war. The lad is to be hurled from a still standing tower of Troy. The herald warns Andromache that if she resist this mandate she may be endangering the boy's funeral rites. She yields to fate, passionately caressing the boy, who clings fearfully to her, partly realizing his terrible situation. The emotional climax of the play is reached, as she says to the clinging, frightened lad:

Why dost thou clasp me with thy hands, why hold
My robes, and shelter thee beneath my wings
Like a young bird?

She bitterly upbraids the Greeks for their cruelty, and curses Helen as the cause of all her woe, and then gives the boy up in an abandonment of defiant grief:

Here, take him, bear him, hurl him from the height,
If ye must hurl him; feast upon his flesh:
For from the gods hath ruin fall'n on us.

And now what more can happen? Surely the depth of misfortune has been sounded. In the voice of Hecuba:

Is there an ill
We have not? What is wanting to the woes
Which all the dreadful band of ruin brings?

_Second episode._--Andromache appears with Astyanax and recounts a
vision of Hector which she has had, in which her dead husband has
warned her to hide the boy away beyond the reach of threatening
danger. After discussion with an old man as to the best place of
concealment, she hides Astyanax in Hector's tomb which is in the
near background.

Enter Ulysses, who reluctantly announces that Calchas has warned
the Greeks that they must not allow the son of Hector to grow to
manhood; for if they do so, the reopening of the Trojan war will
be only a matter of time, and the work will have to be done all
over again. He therefore asks Andromache to give up the boy to
him. Then ensues a war of wits between the desperate mother and
the crafty Greek. She affects not to know where the boy is--he is
lost. But if she knew, no power on earth should take him from her.
Ulysses threatens death, which she welcomes; he threatens torture,
which she scorns. She at last states that her son is "among the
dead." Ulysses, taking these words at their face meaning, starts
off gladly to tell the news to the Greeks, but suddenly reflects
that he has no proof but the mother's word. He therefore begins to
watch Andromache more narrowly, and discovers that her bearing is
not that of one who has put her grief behind her, but of one who is
still in suspense and fear. To test her, he suddenly calls to his
attendants to hunt out the boy. Looking beyond her he cries: "Good!
he's found! bring him to me." Whereat Andromache's agitation proves
that the boy is indeed not dead but in hiding. Where is he hid?
Ulysses forces her to choose between the living boy and the dead
husband; for, unless her son is forthcoming, Hector's tomb will be
invaded and his ashes scattered upon the sea. To her frantic prayer
for mercy he says:

Bring forth the boy--and pray.

Follows a _canticum_, in which Andromache brings Astyanax out of
the tomb and sets him in Ulysses' sight:

Here, here's the terror of a thousand ships!

and prays him to spare the child. Ulysses refuses, and, after
allowing the mother time for a passionate and pathetic farewell to
her son, he leads the boy away to his death.

_Second choral interlude._--The chorus first tells of the former fall of Troy under Hercules and Telamon; and then refers to the high honors that had come to the city through the translation of Ganymede to be the cupbearer of Jove, and through the special grace of Venus. But these have not availed to save the city from its present destruction.

_Second choral interlude._--The chorus discusses the various places
to which it may be its misfortune to be carried into captivity. It
professes a willingness to go anywhere but to the homes of Helen,
Agamemnon, and Ulysses.

_Third episode._--Menelaüs appears, announcing that the Greeks have alotted to him Helen, his former wife, the cause of all this strife, to do with as he will. He declares his intention to take her to Greece, and there destroy her as a warning to faithless wives.

Hecuba applauds this decision, and thinks that at last heaven has sent justice to the earth:

Dark thy ways
And silent are thy steps to mortal man;
Yet thou with justice all things dost ordain.

Helen, dragged forth from the tent at the command of Menelaüs, pleads her cause. She lays the blame for all upon Hecuba and Priam:

She first, then, to these ills
Gave birth, when she gave Paris birth; and next
The agéd Priam ruined Troy and thee,
The infant not destroying, at his birth
Denounced a baleful firebrand.

Blame should also fall upon Venus, since through her influence Helen came into the power of Paris.

Hecuba refutes the excuses of Helen. She scouts the idea that Venus brought Paris to Sparta. The only Venus that had influenced Helen was her own passion inflamed by the beauty of Paris:

My son was with surpassing beauty graced;
And thy fond passion, when he struck thy sight,
Became a Venus.

As for the excuse that she was borne away by force, no Spartan was aware of that, no cries were heard. Hecuba ends by urging Menelaüs to carry out his threat. This, he repeats, it is his purpose to do.

_Third episode._--Helen approaches the Trojan women, saying that
she has been sent by the Greeks to deck Polyxena for marriage with
Pyrrhus, this being a ruse to trick the girl into an unresisting
preparation for her death. This news Polyxena, though mute,
receives with horror.

Andromache bitterly cries out upon Helen and her marriages as the
cause of all their woe. But Helen puts the whole matter to this
test:

Count this true,
If 'twas a Spartan vessel brought me here.

Under the pointed questions of Andromache she gives up deception,
and frankly states the impending doom of Polyxena to be slaughtered
on Achilles' tomb, and so to be that hero's spirit bride. At this
the girl shows signs of joy, and eagerly submits herself to Helen's
hands to be decked for the sacrificial rite.

Hecuba cries out at this, and laments her almost utter
childlessness; but Andromache envies the doomed girl her fate.

Helen then informs the women that the lots have been drawn and
their future lords determined; Andromache is to be given to
Pyrrhus, Cassandra to Agamemnon, Hecuba to Ulysses.

Pyrrhus now appears to conduct Polyxena to her death, and is
bitterly scorned and cursed by Hecuba.

_Third choral interlude._--The chorus sadly recalls the sacred rites in Troy and within the forests of Mount Ida, and grieves that these shall be no more. They lament the untimely death of their warrior husbands, whose bodies have not received proper burial rites, and whose souls are wandering in the spirit-world, while they, the hapless wives, must wander over sea to foreign homes. They pray that storms may come and overwhelm the ships, and especially that Helen may not live to reach the land again.

_Third choral interlude._--The chorus enlarges upon the comfort of
company to those in grief. Hitherto they have had this comfort; but
now they are to be scattered, and each must suffer alone. And soon,
as they sail away, they must take their last, sad view of Troy, now
but a smouldering heap; and mother to child will say, as she points
back to the shore:

See, there's our Troy, where smoke curls high in air,
And thick, dark clouds obscure the distant sky.

_Exode._--Enter Talthybius, with the dead body of Astyanax borne upon the shield of Hector. He explains that Pyrrhus has hastened home, summoned by news of insurrection in his own kingdom, and has taken Andromache with him. He delivers Andromache's request to Hecuba that she give the boy proper burial, and use the hollow shield as a casket for the dead.

Hecuba and the chorus together weep over the shield, which recalls Hector in his days of might, and over the poor, bruised body of the dead boy, sadly contrasting his former beauty with this mangled form. They then wrap it in such costly wrappings as their state allows, place him upon the shield, and consign him to the tomb.

Talthybius then orders bands of men with torches to burn the remaining buildings of Troy; and in the light of its glaring flames and with the crashing sound of its falling walls in their ears, Hecuba and her companions make their way to the waiting ships, while the messenger urges on their lagging steps.

_Exode._--The messenger relates with much detail to Hecuba,
Andromache and the rest, the circumstances of the death of Astyanax
and Polyxena: how crowds of Greeks and Trojans witnessed both
tragedies, how both sides were moved to tears at the sad sight, and
how both victims met their death as became their noble birth.

Andromache bewails and denounces the cruel death of her son, and
sadly asks that his body be given her for burial; but she is told
that this is mangled past recognition.

But Hecuba, having now drained her cup of sorrow to the dregs, has
no more wild cries to utter; she almost calmly bids the Grecians
now set sail, since nothing bars their way. She longs for death,
complaining that it ever flees from her, though she has often been
so near its grasp.

The messenger interrupts, and bids them hasten to the shore and
board the ships, which wait only their coming to set sail.

THE _AGAMEMNON_ OF AESCHYLUS, AND THE _AGAMEMNON_ OF SENECA

_Prologue._--A watchman, stationed upon the palace roof at Argos, laments the tedium of his long and solitary task; and prays for the time to come when, through the darkness of the night, he shall see the distant flashing of the beacon fire, and by this sign know that Troy has fallen and that Agamemnon is returning home. And suddenly he sees the gleam for which so long he has been waiting. He springs up with shouts of joy and hastens to tell the queen. At the same time he makes dark reference to that which has been going on within the palace, and which must now be hushed up.

_Prologue._--The ghost of Thyestes coming from the lower regions
recites the _motif_ of the play: how he had been most foully dealt
with by Agamemnon's father, Atreus, and how he had been promised
revenge by the oracle of Apollo through his son Aegisthus, begotten
of an incestuous union with his daughter. The ghost announces that
the time for his revenge is come with the return of Agamemnon from
the Trojan war, and urges Aegisthus to perform his fated part.

_Parode, or chorus entry._--A chorus of twelve Argive elders sings of the Trojan War, describing the omens with which the Greeks started on their mission of vengeance. They dwell especially upon the hard fate which forced Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter. And in this they unconsciously voice one of the motives which led to the king's own death.

_Parode, or chorus entry._--The chorus of Argive women complains
of the uncertain condition of exalted fortune, and recommends the
golden mean in preference to this.

_First episode._--Clytemnestra appears with a stately procession of torch-bearers, having set the whole city in gala attire, with sacrificial incense burning on all the altars. The chorus asks the meaning of this. Has she had news from Troy? The queen replies that this very night she has had news, and describes at length how the signal fires had gleamed, and thus the news had leaped from height to height, all the long way from Troy to Argos.

And this sure proof and token now I tell thee,
Seeing that my lord hath sent it me from Troy.

She expresses the hope that the victors in their joy will do nothing to offend the gods and so prevent their safe return:

May good prevail beyond all doubtful chance!
For I have got the blessing of great joy.

With these words she covers up the real desires of her own false heart, while at the same time voicing the principle on which doom was to overtake the Greeks.

The chorus receives Clytemnestra's news with joy and prepares to sing praises to the gods, as the queen with her train leaves the stage.

_First episode._--Clytemnestra, conscious of guilt, and fearing
that her returning husband will severely punish her on account of
her adulterous life with Aegisthus, resolves to add crime to crime
and murder Agamemnon as soon as he comes back to his home. She is
further impelled to this action by his conduct in the matter of her
daughter, Iphigenia, and by his own unfaithfulness to her during
his long absence. Throughout this scene the nurse vainly tries to
dissuade her.

Clytemnestra is either influenced to recede from her purpose by
the nurse, or else pretends to be resolved to draw back in order
to test Aegisthus who now enters. In the end, the two conspirators
withdraw to plan their intended crime.

_First choral interlude._--The chorus sings in praise of Zeus, who has signally disproved the skeptic's claim that

The gods deign not to care for mortal men
By whom the grace of things inviolable
Is trampled under foot.

The shameful guilt of Paris is described, the woe of the wronged Menelaüs, and the response of all Greece to his cry for vengeance. But, after all, the chorus is in doubt as to whether the good news can be true--when a herald enters with fresh news.

_First choral interlude._--The chorus sings in praise of Apollo
for the victory over Troy. To this are added the praises of Juno,
Minerva, and Jove. In the end the chorus hails the approach of the
herald Eurybates.

_Second episode._--The herald describes to the chorus the complete downfall of Troy, which came as a punishment for the sin of Paris and of the nation which upheld him in it. At the same time the sufferings of the Greeks during the progress of the war are not forgotten. Clytemnestra, entering, prompted by her own guilty conscience, bids the herald tell Agamemnon to hasten home, and take to him her own protestation of absolute faithfulness to him: