EURIPIDES
HERAKLES
[HERCULES FURENS]

Translated by Ian Johnston
Vancouver Island University
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Canada

This translation, first published on the internet in 2022, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC by 4.0 and thus, provided the source is acknowledged, it may be (a) downloaded and distributed, in whole or in part, without permission and without charge and (b) freely edited and adapted to suit the particular needs of the person using it (e.g., for a dramatic production).

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE

In numbering the lines in the following English text, the translator has normally included a short indented line with the short line immediately above it, so that two or three partial lines count as a single line in the reckoning. The line numbers in square brackets refer to the Greek text; line numbers without brackets refer to the English text. The stage directions and footnotes have been provided by the translator. 

Herakles was first performed in Athens c. 416 BC.

Dramatis Personae

AMPHITRYON: mortal father of Herakles, an old man.
MEGARA: wife of Herakles.
CHORUS: elderly citizens of Thebes.
LYCUS: the new ruler of Thebes.
HERAKLES: son of Zeus.
IRIS: divine messenger of the gods.
LYSSA: goddess of madness.
MESSENGER: a servant in Herakles’s house.
THESEUS: ruler of Athens.
SONS OF HERAKLES AND MEGARA: three young boys.
ATTENDANTS, SOLDIERS.

[Outside the home of Herakles in Thebes. Amphitryon, Megara, and the three young sons of Herakles are sitting beside an altar to Zeus, where they have sought protection against Lycus, the new tyrant-ruler of Thebes. Behind the altar is the front door of the house or palace.]

AMPHITRYON
	What mortal does not know about the man
	who shared his wife with Zeus? People call him
	Amphitryon from Argos. He was born
	some time ago to Alcaeus, the son
	of Perseus. Amphitryon was father
	to Herakles, who lived right here in Thebes,
	where from the dragon’s teeth that Cadmus sowed
	arose a harvest crop of earth-born giants.
	War god Ares spared a few of them,
	and their children’s children now live in Thebes,			10
	city of Cadmus. From them sprang Creon,
	son of Menoeceus and king of Thebes.
	He fathered Megara. Some years ago
	all the citizens of Cadmus’ city   							[10]
	escorted her, singing wedding songs,
	while flute music played, as splendid Herakles
	led her to my home. Later Herakles
	moved away from Thebes, where I was settled,
	leaving Megara and her relations.        
	He was eager to live in Argolis,  						20
	a walled city built by the Cyclopes.
	I had run away from there, an exile,  
	because I had murdered Electryon.
	So Herakles, to ease my punishment
	and keen to have a home in his own land,
	offered Eurystheus a rich reward,
	if he would permit me to return—
	he said that he would civilize the land       					[20]
	by getting rid of all the savage monsters.     
	Hera may have goaded him to do this,   					30
	or perhaps his fate had turned against him.
	The work he had to do was onerous,
	but he has finished all his tasks but one.
	To complete the final labour, he went through
	the mouth of Taenarus down to Hades,
	to drag that triple-bodied hound back up
	into the light. He has not yet returned.
	Now, the Cadmeans tell an ancient tale
	about a man called Lycus, the husband  
	of Dirce. He was master of this city      				40
	with its seven towers, before Zethus
	and Amphion, both sons of Zeus, who rode
	on milk-white horses, became kings of Thebes.				[30]
	His son, who has the same name as his father,
	was not from Thebes—he was a foreigner
	from Euboea. He murdered Creon,
	and after the killing ruled the country,
	for he had attacked the city at a time
	when it was suffering from civil strife.   				
	So our family’s relationship to Creon  					50
	will probably be very bad for us.
	For now my son is in some dark corner
	of the world below, the new king, Lycus,
	wishes to destroy Herakles’s children,
	his wife, and me (as if my feeble age
	would still make me a man), so one blood feud 				[40]
	can be extinguished by another one,
	and these young boys will not grow into men
	who could seek vengeance for the slaughter 
	of their mother’s family. So my son          			60
	left me in this house to rear his children
	and look after things, while he makes his way
	into the pitch-black darkness of the earth.
	I am sitting here at the altar of Zeus
	the Saviour with my son’s wife, Megara,
	to help prevent the sons of Herakles
	from being murdered. My heroic son
	had this altar built to commemorate
	his splendid triumph over the Minyae.      					[50]	
	We guard our seats here very carefully,  					70
	for we are in need of everything—food,
	drink, and clothing—and we lie down to sleep
	on the bare cold earth. Our home is sealed shut,
	so we stay here in order to be safe.
	As for our friends, some of them, I notice,
	are uncertain, and others who are loyal
	find it impossible to offer us
	any further help. This is what men mean
	by being unfortunate. I hope that no one    		
	who feels even the least good will to me  				80
	ever has to test this unerring proof
	of friendship.

MEGARA
Old friend, who once led the army    				[60]
of the Thebans to splendid victory
	by destroying the city of the Taphians,
	the ways gods deal with men are never certain.
	Look at me. Good fortune never ignored
 	my father, and he was once considered
	an important man, because he was so rich
	and ruled the city. But most people crave   	
	wealth and power and like to throw long spears 			90
 	at those who are successful. My father
	had children, too. He gave me to your son,
	uniting me in a splendid marriage
	with Herakles. And now all that has gone—
 	it has flown away—and you and I, old man,      				[70]
 	are going to die, and these children, too, 
	the sons of Herakles, whom I keep safe
	underneath my wings, like a bird holding
	her chicks close to her. The boys question me,
	one after the other, “Mother, tell us,   					100
 	where has our father gone? What is he doing?
	When will he be back?” They keep on asking
	about their father—they are bewildered,
	as children often are. I change the subject
	or make up stories. But I am astonished
	whenever the doors creak, how they jump up,
	all eager to embrace their father’s knees.
	So now, old friend, what hope do we still have?
What route to safety are you preparing?   					[80]
	For that I look to you. We cannot move   				110
	in secret beyond the borders of this land,
	there are too many people watching us
	at the exit points, and we no longer
	have any hope of safety in our friends.
	Whatever you are planning, let me know,
	in case they are preparing for our deaths.

AMPHITRYON
	My daughter, it is not a trivial
	or simple matter to provide advice
	on things like this, not without hard work.		
	Since we lack power to do anything,  					120
 	we should just delay.

MEGARA
Do you want more grief?					[90]
	Or are you still that much in love with life?

AMPHITRYON
	I rejoice in life, and I cherish hope.

MEGARA
	So do I, old friend. But you should not hope
	for something we have no right to expect.

AMPHITRYON
	The remedy for what is troubling us 
	lies in delays.
	
MEGARA
				But I find the time they take
	is painful—like a lingering bite.

AMPHITRYON
	My daughter, there may be a useful way    			
	for you and me to escape the hardships					130
 	we are facing now. My son, your husband,
	may still come back. So keep calm. Wipe the tears
	flowing from your children’s eyes. Soothe their spirits
	with words—make up stories to divert them,
	even though such deceit is to be pitied. 						[100]
	For even human sufferings grow weary,
	and stormy winds do not retain their force
	forever, nor are successful people
	always prosperous to the very end.						
	All things change from one thing to another.   			140
 	The finest men are those who always keep
	their hopes alive, and giving up all hope
	signifies the man who is a coward.

[Enter the Chorus.]

CHORUS
	I have come here, to this high-roofed house
	and old man’s resting place, propped up this way
 	by my staff, chanting a mournful song,       				[110]
	like some old grey bird. I am just a voice,
	a dream vision of the night, a phantom,
	trembling with old age, but prepared to help.     		
	Ah, lads, you boys without a father,        				150
 	and you, old man and you, you poor mother,
	grieving for your man down in Hades’ halls.

Do not let your heavy feet, arms, and legs
	give up, like a young horse under the yoke,					[120]
	who slackens on a stony hill dragging
	a heavy burden in a four-wheeled wagon.
	Whoever feels his footsteps growing weak
	should hold someone else’s hand or clothing.
	Let each old man help out another one,
	like when we were young and under arms,      			160
 	battle comrades toiling with new spears,
	so many years ago—we were no disgrace
	to our glorious native land!

Look at these boys!
	See how their father’s spirit is flashing        				[130]
	in their eyes. His unhappy fortunes
	have not left these children unaffected,
	but they retain his graceful manliness.
	O Hellas, if you lose citizens like these,
 	think of the kind of allies you will miss.    

CHORUS LEADER
	But I see Lycus, king of Thebes, approaching—   			170
 	he is coming past the house.

[Enter Lycus with attendants.]

LYCUS
	I would like to ask a question, if I may,						[140]
	to Herakles’s father and his wife.
	Indeed, as your lord and master, I have
	a right to ask you what I wish to know.
	How long do you desire to prolong your lives?
	What hope or what assistance can you see
	that will rescue you from death? Do you believe
	the father of these children, who now lies 
	in Hades, will return? You exaggerate					180
 	your grief at having to die in a manner
	that is unworthy of you, a man who
	spread vain boasts throughout all Hellas that Zeus
	shared your marriage bed and was your partner
	in producing children, and you who say
	you are wife to the very best of men.         
	But has your husband ever accomplished
	something notable? What if he did kill
	the hydra in a marsh or that monstrous lion 			
	of Nemea? He caught it in a snare,						190
 	although he claims he seized it with his arms
	and strangled it. Are these stories the weapons
	your are going to use to fight against me?
	Is this the reason Herakles’s children
	ought not to die? He has a reputation
	as a courageous man in his struggles
	with wild beasts, but these mean very little—
 	for all other things he has no heart at all.
	He never strapped a shield on his left arm    		
	or approached a band of hostile spearmen.				200	[160]
	No. He fights with a bow, a coward’s weapon,
	always ready to run away. The bow
	is no proof of manliness or courage—
 	not like the man who stands and holds his ground
	and dares to face the flying spears, whose wounds
	can lacerate his flesh. What I am doing,
	old man, is not insolence but caution.
	For I am quite aware that I killed Creon,
	this woman’s father, and occupy his throne.
	So I have no desire to see these boys						210
	grow into men and then take their revenge
	on me for the crimes I have committed.

AMPHITRYON
	Let Zeus defend his interest in his son.     					[170]
	For my part, Herakles, it’s up to me
	to show in what I say this man’s ignorance
	about you. For I will not allow myself
	to listen to any man defaming you.
	First then, to call Herakles a coward 
	is, in my view, a shameful use of words, 
 	an expression he never should have uttered.   			220
 	With the gods as witnesses, I must refute
 	that allegation for you. I appeal
	to Zeus’s thunder and the chariot
	Herakles was in when his winged arrows
	struck those earth-born Giants in the ribs,
	and with the gods he could then celebrate      				[180]
	a splendid victory. Or go to Pholoe,
	you despicable king, and ask that race
	of insolent four-legged Centaurs        
	who they would judge the bravest man of all.   			230
 	They will say my son, the man you claim
	is just a charlatan. And if you asked
	Dirphys in Euboea, your native land,
	it would not sing your praises. Why should it?
	Your have never done a single noble deed
	to which your country could bear witness.
	Then you denigrate that clever instrument,
	the archer’s bow and arrows. But come now,
	listen to me and and learn a thing or two.
 	A hoplite heavily armed becomes enslaved				240	[190]
	to his own weapons, and if those in the ranks
	are not brave enough, he himself is killed,
	thanks to the cowardice of his companions.
	If he breaks his spear, he cannot protect
	his body from a lethal wound, for he has
	only one way he can defend himself.
	A man who holds a bow whose aim is true	
	only has one weapon, but it is the best.
	By shooting countless arrows at other men  
	he protects his body and does not die.  					250
 	He keeps his distance and holds the enemy
	in check. They stay on watch, but his arrows
	are invisible and inflict harsh wounds.
	He remains hidden from his enemies         				[200]
	but constantly on guard—and this tactic
	is by far the wisest course in battle,
	to hurt the enemy and protect yourself,
	without relying on chance. These arguments
	of mine are the opposite of your own  
	concerning the matter we were discussing.				260
 	Now, why do you wish to kill these children?
	What have they done to you? I will concede
	that in one way you are acting prudently—
 	being yourself a coward, you are afraid
	of a noble man’s descendants. That fear
	is hard on us, if your craven nature          				[210]
	means we have to die. We are your betters
	and would have made you suffer, if Zeus
	had been more righteous in his heart to us.
	But if you wish to hold onto the sceptre      			270   
 	of this land, then let us leave as exiles,
	and do not act with violence, or else
	you yourself will have to suffer violence, 
 	when gods change the winds of your good fortune.
	Now, land of Cadmus, I turn to you, as well,
with words of condemnation and abuse.
	Is this the way you defend Herakles
	and his children, the man who all alone
	moved to fight those Minyans in battle    					[220]
	and gave a glimpse of freedom to the Thebans?			280
 	I will not praise Hellas, nor will I ever
	remain silent about her wretched conduct
	towards my son. She should have marched to Thebes
	to help out these young boys, bringing with them
	fire and spearmen and warrior armour,
	to pay him back for all his weary labours
	in ridding the land and sea of monsters.
	But, my child, neither the Theban city
	nor Hellas is now offering any help.    
	You look to me, but I’m a feeble friend,					290
nothing now but just a chattering tongue.
	The muscle I once used to have is gone,    					[230]
 	my limbs tremble with old age, and my strength
	has disappeared. If I were young again
	and my body still retained its power,
	I would have grabbed my spear and sprinkled blood
	on Lycus’s blond locks. I could watch him flee
	beyond the realm of Atlas, in terror
	of my spear.

CHORUS
                    Though often slow to start, 
	the best men have good reasons to speak out.   			300

LYCUS
	Use whatever lofty language you desire
	when you talk about me. I will respond
	to your fine words with unwelcome actions.

[Turning to his attendants]

You there, go to Helicon, and you others						[240]
	to the forest on Parnassus. Once there,
	tell the woodsmen to cut down logs of oak.
	Then bring the timber back into the city.
	Pile it around this altar, front and back,
	set it alight, and burn them all alive, 
	so they can understand this fact—the dead     			310
 	no longer rule this land. I am now its king.

[Turning his attention to the Chorus.]

And you old men, who oppose my judgment,
	you will be moaning not only for these sons
	of Herakles but also for new troubles
	in your home. And then you will remember       			[250]
	that I am king and you are merely slaves.

CHORUS [spoken by different individuals]
	You offspring of the earth, once sowed by Ares,
	after he had hacked out all the teeth
	in the dragon’s ravenous jaws, why not	
	raise the staff you have in your right hand				320
 	and hit this heathen fellow on the head
	and make him bleed? He is not from Thebes—
 	and that’s a great disgrace, a foreigner
	ruling younger men. But you will never get
	much joy from being my lord and master.
	
Nor will you ever take what my hands earned
	after much hard work. You should go back       				[260]
	to where you came from. Maltreat people there.
	As long as I’m alive, you will never kill      		
	the sons of Herakles. And he is not hiding      			330
 	so far beneath the earth that he’s abandoned
	his own sons.

Since you now possess this land			
	which you have ruined, Herakles, our helper,
	has not received the recognition he deserves.

Should I work hard to assist my friends
	once they die, when friends are needed most?

O right hand, how you yearn to grip a spear, 
	but your lack of strength saps my desire,				
	or else I’d have stopped you calling me a slave					[270]
	and would have made a splendid governor				340
 	of Thebes, a post you now enjoy. A city					
 	sick with civil strife and evil counsel
	does not think properly. If it did,
	it would never take you as its master.

MEGARA
	Old friends, I commend you, for it is right
	that friends should feel a justified resentment
	on behalf of those they love, but do not
	provoke the tyrant by arguing our cause
	in case he makes you suffer. Now, Amphitryon,	
	listen to what I think—you may find something 			350
 	in what I have to say. I love my children.
	How can I not love the ones I bore         					[280]
	and for whose sake I have worked so hard?
	I consider death a horrifying thing,
	but men who fight against necessity
	are, in my view, foolish. Since we must die,
	let us not be eaten away by fire,
	while our enemies laugh at us—to me
	that is a dishonour far worse than death.
	In many things, we must act with honour—  				360
 	that is a debt we owe our families.
	You are a splendid warrior—you have
	your reputation—so for you to die
	a coward’s death is just not feasible.
	My famous husband needs no witnesses        				[290]
	to prove that he would never wish to save
	these children if it meant that they would then
	be labeled cowards. For the nobly born
	suffer from the shaming of their children. 
	And I must not refuse to emulate       					370 
 	my husband’s actions. Now think about this—
	I have considered what you are hoping for.
	Do you think your son will come home to Thebes
	from the world below? Who has ever returned
	from the dead and made it back from Hades?
	Or could you mollify this man Lycus
	with soothing words? Surely not. One should run
	from stupid enemies and yield to those
who are well bred and wise, for with such men, 				[300]
	if you behave with proper modesty,  					380
 	you can easily draw up a friendly truce.
	I have already pondered the idea
	that if we were prepared to plead our case,
	he might send the children into exile.
	But what a wretched life—save them from death
	and then leave them in abject poverty.
	There is a saying that the face of hosts
	looks with pleasure at their exiled friends
	for just one single day. So have the grace
	to die with us, since whatever happens,     				390
 	death is waiting for you. I challenge you,
	old man, by your nobility of birth,
	for whoever struggles against a fate
	set by the gods is a passionate man,      					[310]
	but his passion is insane, for no one
	can ever interfere with what must be.

CHORUS
	If my arms had any strength and a man
	insulted you, I would have no trouble
	stopping him. But now I have no power.
	So from this point on you, Amphitryon,  				400
 	must look for ways to evade misfortune.

AMPHITRYON
	It is not cowardice or love of life
	that hinders me from dying. I prefer
	to save the children of my son. It seems
	I am in love with the impossible.

[Turning his attention to Lycus.]

Look! Here is my neck ready for your sword—
	stab me, kill me, or hurl me from the rocks.					[320]
	I’m begging you, my lord, to grant both of us
	one favour—kill me and this poor mother
	before you slay the children, so that we      				410
 	are spared that horrific sight, as the boys
	gasp out their final breath, while calling for
	their mother and their father’s father.
	As for all the rest, do whatever you wish.
	We have no way to save ourselves from death.

MEGARA
	I am also begging you to grant us
	one more favour, so that you will make
	the two of us doubly indebted to you.
	Allow me to change my children’s clothing
	and dress them appropriately for death,					420
 	by opening the house—at the moment						[330]
	we are locked out—so that the three of them
	at least get something from their father’s home.

LYCUS
	That I will allow. I’ll tell my servants
	to unbolt the doors. Go inside and dress.
	I will not begrudge you your fine garments, 
but as soon as you have decked your bodies,
	I will be back to ship you off to Hades.

[Exit Lycus with his attendants.]

MEGARA
	Children, follow the unhappy footsteps 
	of your mother into your father’s house.     				430
 	Other people now own his possessions,
	but we still have his name.
	
[Megara and the children enter the front doors of the house.]

AMPHITRYON
								       O Zeus,    
 	sharing my marriage bed with you now seems
	quite futile, and futile, too, was calling you      				[340]
	a partner in the fathering of my son.
	For you are less a friend than you appeared.
	You are a powerful god, and yet I,
	a mortal, am more virtuous than you—
	for I did not forsake the sons of Herakles.
	You were able to sneak into my bed        				440
 	and have sex with the wife of someone else,
	without the man’s consent, yet you cannot
	come to the aid of friends and family.
	Either you are a truly stupid god,
	or else you are by nature quite unjust.

[Amphitryon exits into the house.]

CHORUS
	After a song of joyous prosperity,
	Phoebus is singing his own lament
	for beautiful Linus, who is dead,         					[350]
	strumming the strings of his lyre 
	with a golden plectron. But I wish  					450
 	to chant my praises for the man
	who has gone down to darkness
	beneath the earth—a child of Zeus,
	I call him, or of Amphitryon—
	a crowning celebration of his labours,
	for the excellence of his noble toil
	is a glorious tribute to the dead.

First, in Zeus’s sacred grove
	he killed the lion and wore   								[360]
	the tawny skin along his back   						460
 	with his fair head thrust in the gap
	of the fearful gaping jaws.

Once his lethal flying arrows killed
	the ferocious race of mountain centaurs.
	The lovely eddies of Peneus’s stream
	know him well and those far fields
	that lie unharvested, the farms
	on Pelion and the near-by caves     						[370]
	of Homole, the place from where
	the centaurs rode, with torches 						470
 	in their hands, to conquer Thessaly.

Then he killed the dappled deer
	whose horns were made of gold,
	the dreadful scourge of rustic farmers,
	and tribute to the goddess Artemis.

He rode out in a four-horse chariot,        					[380]
	and with an iron bit he tamed
	Diomedes’ horses, who ate
	in their stables stained with blood,
 	their gory jaws devouring with joy     					480
 	the flesh of human beings, to sate
	voracious man-eating appetites.
	Then he moved across the banks
	of the silvery Hebrus stream,
	still working for the tyrant of Mycenae.
 
	And on a headland near Mount Pelion,
	close to Anaurus’ flowing stream,               				[390]
	he slaughtered Cycnus with his arrows,
	a savage man dwelling in Amphanae,
	who murdered all his guests. 							490

He came to the singing maidens
	and their orchard in the distant west,
	and once he killed the dragon there,
	whose giant crimson coils twisted
	around the tree and guarded it,
	then from the leaves of gold
	and apple-bearing boughs
	he plucked the golden fruit.
	He moved on to the Adriatic sea    							[400]
	and calmed the waves for mortal men  					500
 	who row their ships across the waves.

He came to the domain of Atlas
	and, stretching up his arms,
	held up the central part of heaven,
	and on his manly shoulders bore
	the starry palaces of the gods.
Then he sailed through stormy waters
	of the Euxine sea against the mounted force
	of Amazons living around Maeotis,   		
 	a lake which many rivers feed.             				510	[410]
	He had gathered a group of friends
	from Hellas to steal from the warlike queen,
	Hippolyta, her gold-flecked warrior belt.
	Hellas completed the dangerous task,
	capturing the glorious garment
	of the barbarian queen and now
	in the city of Mycenae it is secure.

Then he burned to ashes the hydra,
	a murderous many-headed watchdog,   						[420]
	in Lyrna, and smeared its poison   						520
 	on the arrows with which he killed
	the triple-bodied shepherd Geryon
	a monster who tormented Erytheia.

And in many other glorious tests	
	you were successful. Now you have sailed
	to tearful Hades, your final labour,
	where you are finishing your life of toil
	and will not come back again. Now your house
	is bereft of friends, and Charon’s boat  
	awaits your sons on that godless, unjust path   			530
 	out of this life, with no hope of return.
	Your house is looking to you for help,
	although you are not here in Thebes.

 	If I were young again with all my strength, 
	and brandishing my spear in battle, 
	with my young Theban comrades by my side,
	I would have stood with courage by your sons.
	But now my blessed youth lies in the past.            		[440]

[Amphitryon, Megara, and the children enter from the front door of the palace.]

CHORUS
	But I see the children of Herakles,
	who was so powerful in earlier days,       				540
 	all dressed up in clothing of the dead,
	with his loving wife leading her sons
	as if tied up together. There’s the old father
	of Herakles. This is too much for me—
	I cannot stop the tears from welling up
	in both my ancient eyes.                  					[450]

MEGARA
							     Here we are. 
	What priest or butcher will now put to death
	these unhappy children and end my life?
	The sacrificial victims are prepared
	to be escorted down to Hades’ home.     				550
	O my children, what an strange group we are
	being led away to die—old man, young boys,
	and mother, all together. What a sad fate
	for me and for my sons. This is the last time
	my eyes will see them. I gave birth to you
	and raised you so that our enemies
	could mock, humiliate, and murder you.
	Alas! How much all the things I hoped for        			[460]
	have disappeared, the expectations raised
	from what your father said.

[Megara now speaks to each of her sons in turn]

Your dead father      			560
	wanted you to have command of Argos
	and live in the home of Eurystheus,
	with power over rich fruit-bearing lands
	in Thessaly. He would have liked to throw
	that lion’s skin over your head, the one
	he used himself to protect his body.

[Turning to the second son]

	And you were to be king of Thebes, a city
	famous for its chariots, and to receive
	as your inheritance your mother’s land—
	you begged your father to do that for you.   				570
	And as a joke he put in your right hand        				[470]
	that cunningly carved club he used to use
	as his defence.

[Turning to the third son.]

And to you he promised
	to give Oechalia, which he ravaged
	with his arrows years ago.

[Speaking to all the children]

Your father
	wanted to ennoble his three children
	with three lands to rule—he was planning
	great things for when you reached maturity.
	Meanwhile, I was choosing brides for you,
 	striving to forge family connections      				580
	with Athens, Thebes, and Sparta, so that you
	might have a prosperous life with your ship
securely anchored by cables at the stern.
All that has disappeared. Your fortunes      					[480]
	have changed and are giving you as brides
	the goddesses of death instead. My tears
	will be your wedding bath. When I think of that
	I feel so miserable. Your grandfather
	considers Hades father of the brides
and is taking on the duties of a father—    				590
	he will celebrate the marriage feast.
	Alas, which one of you will be the first
	I hold against my breast? Which one the last?
	Which one shall I kiss or hold close to me?
	I wish that, like the bees with humming wings,
	I could collect all my sighs together,
	blend them into one, and shed them in a tear.
	O my dearest Herakles, if the voice         					[490]
 	of any mortal being can be heard
	in Hades, I am calling out to you—      				600
	your father and your sons are going to die,
	and I, too, will perish. Once, thanks to you,
	people thought me very fortunate.
	Come and help us. Show yourself to me,
	even if you are a shade or just a dream.
	That will be enough, for these murderers
	of your children are all such craven fools.

AMPHITRYON
	Lady, prepare the rites for the world below.	
	O Zeus, I hold up my arms to heaven
	and call on you—if you are intending    				610
 	to help these children, then protect them now,
	for soon all help from you will be in vain.       				[500]
	And yet we have prayed to you so often.
	The work I do is useless. It seems
	that nothing can prevent their deaths.

[Amphitryon turns his attention to the Chorus]

Old friends, 
	the business of this life does not last long,
	so you should pass through it as pleasantly
	as possible, with no suffering or grief
	from morning until night. Time does not care
	about keeping hopes alive. He stays busy   				620
	with his own concerns, then flies away.
	Look at me—someone who was admired
	by all men for notable achievements—
	yet fortune has now taken that away
	in a single day, just like a feather      						[510]
	that floats off in the breeze. I do not know
	any man whose great wealth and reputation
	are secure. Farewell, my friends. You have seen
	your dear companion for the final time.

[Megara sees Herakles approaching.]

MEGARA
	Ah! Old friend, am I really looking at   					630
	my husband? What can I say?

AMPHITRYON
						   I do not know,
	my daughter. I am lost for words.

MEGARA
	This is the man who we were told
 	was underneath the earth, unless it is
	a dream we are witnessing in daylight.
	What am I saying? I feel so anxious.
 	What kind of vision am I looking at?	
	Old man, this is none other than your son!
	Come here, children, cling to your father’s robe.    			[520]
	Go quickly—and don’t let go—for this man 				640
 	will protect you just as well as Zeus.

[Enter Herakles. The children run over to him and clutch his clothing.]

HERAKLES
Greetings to my home, to my gates and hearth!
	How glad I am to see you once again,
	now that I have come up into the light.
	Just a moment! What is going on here?
	I see my sons standing outside the doors
 	dressed in robes of death, with garlands wrapped
	around their heads, and in that crowd of men,
	my wife and father weeping. What is wrong?
	I’ll move up closer to them and find out.

[Herakles moves over to Megara and Amphitryon.]

Lady,    			650
	what new disaster has fallen on our house?       			[530]

MEGARA
	O you dearest of all men . . . 

AMPHITRYON
									O ray of light
	shining for your father . . .!

MEGARA
						  You have come back
	safe and sound, in time to save your family.

HERAKLES
	What are you talking about? Father, 
	what difficulties have I come home to?

MEGARA
	We are going to be killed. Forgive me,
	my old friend, if I preempt your right
	to be the first to tell him about this.
	Females are perhaps more sensitive than men,    		660
	and he was going to slay my children
	and I, too, was about to face my death.

HERAKLES
	By Apollo, what an introduction
	to your story!

MEGARA
					My brothers are dead
	and my old father.

HERAKLES
						How did that happen?      			[540]
 	Who did it? Whose spear struck him down?

MEGARA
	It was Lycus, the new king of Thebes,
	who killed him.

HERAKLES
Was everybody fighting?
	Was Thebes infected with sedition?

MEGARA
	Yes, with civil war. Now he holds power    				670
	in seven-gated Thebes.

HERAKLES
				     Why are you
	and my old father so terrified?

MEGARA
	Lycus was going to kill your father
	and the children and me, as well.

HERAKLES
					     What are you saying?
	Why was he afraid of my orphan boys?

MEGARA
	He worried they might one day seek revenge
	for Creon’s death.

HERAKLES
			Why are the children wearing
	these clothes, as if they are preparing
	for the world below?

MEGARA
			     We have put on these robes
	to dress for our own deaths.

HERAKLES    						
						Were you being forced				680
 	to dress for your own deaths? That’s horrible!     			[550]

MEGARA
	Our friends have disappeared, and we were told
	that you had died.

HERAKLES
			   Where did the idea
	that I was dead come from?

MEGARA
					    There were heralds
	from Eurystheus—they announced it.
	
HERAKLES
	Why did you abandon my hearth and home?

MEGARA
	We were forced to. Your father was dragged
	out of his bed.

HERAKLES
	    Did Lycus not feel shame
dishonouring an old man like that?

MEGARA
Lycus and goddess Shame live far apart.    				690

HERAKLES
Did I have no friends, when I was far away?

MEGARA
	What man in misfortune has any friends?

HERAKLES
	Have they forgotten how much I went through
	in those battles with the Minyans?        					[560]

MEGARA
To repeat what I just told you, misfortune
has no friends.

HERAKLES
	             These reminders of the world below
	take them off your heads. Look up at the daylight.
 	Instead of the darkness of the underworld,
 	let your eyes linger on the friendly sky.  
	But now my hands have work to do in Thebes.			700
 	First, I will go and totally demolish
	this new tyrant’s home. Then I will hack off
	the ungodly villain’s head and hurl him
	to the dogs to rip apart. If I find
	any Theban who has acted badly
	after all the good things I have done for him,
 	I will smash him with my all-conquering club.      			[570]
	With my feathered arrows I will destroy them
	and fill Ismenus full of bloody corpses,
 	and Dirce’s crystal stream will run blood red.  			710
 	Who should I protect more than my wife,
	my children, and my father? Farewell then
	to all my labours! That toil was futile.
 	I should have been protecting my own sons
 	and been prepared to die to keep them safe,
	since they were all about to suffer death
	because of their own father. Will we say
	it is a noble act to fight the hydra
	and that lion for king Eurystheus,         					[580]
	if I do not fight hard to save my sons  					720
	from being killed? I will no longer have
	that splendid name I had in earlier days— 
	“Herakles the Glorious Conqueror.”

CHORUS
	It is right for parents to help their children,
	their aged fathers, and the ones they marry.

AMPHITRYON
	My son, it is in your nature to love
	your family and hate your enemies.
	But do not act too rashly.

HERAKLES
									Father,
	how am I being more hasty than I should?

AMPHITRYON
	King Lycus has many allies—poor men   				730
	who talk about the riches they possess.
 	They created discord in the city              				[590]
	and destroyed the state, because they wished
	to rob their neighbours, for the wealth they had
	in their own homes had disappeared, squandered
	by their idleness. Someone must have seen you
	entering the city. If anybody did,
 	you must take care you do not unite them
	and get murdered when you least expect it.

HERAKLES
	I do not care if the whole city saw me.    				740
	But I glimpsed a bird in an inauspicious place
	and knew my family was in trouble.
	So I stole into the city secretly.

AMPHITRYON
	Good. Now go inside and greet the goddess
	of the hearth and home. Let your father’s house    			[600]
 	observe your face. The king will soon arrive
	in person to haul away your children
	and your wife. Then he will have them murdered.
	He will also slaughter me. If you stay here
	things will turn out well—and you will be safe.    		750
	That should work to your advantage, too.
	But do not stir up trouble in the city,
	my son, until you have things well in hand.

HERAKLES
	I will do that. What you advise is good.
	I will go in the house. After coming back
	from the sunless depths of the world below
	and queen Persephone, I will not fail
	to speak first to the gods beneath my roof.

AMPHITRYON
	My son, did you really go down to Hades?       				[610]

HERAKLES
	Yes. And I carried that three-headed monster    			760
	Cerberus back up into the daylight.

AMPHITRYON
	Did you beat him in a fight, or get him
	from the goddess?

HERAKLES
							It was in a fight.
	I had a chance to see the secret rites
	of the initiated.

AMPHITRYON
				And is that beast
	in Eurystheus’s home?

HERAKLES
						  It is being held
	in the grove of Demeter in Hermione.

AMPHITRYON
	Does Eurystheus know you have returned
	to the upper world?

HERAKLES
				No. I came here first
	to find out what was going on.

AMPHITRYON
								  How is it   			770
	you remained so long in the world below?

HERAKLES
	I spent some time trying to get Theseus
	out of Hades.

AMPHITRYON
			Where is he? Has he gone home,     				[620]
	back to his own land?

HERAKLES
						He has gone to Athens,
	happy to have escaped the underworld.
	But come, my boys, accompany your father
	into the house. I suppose you are happier
	going in than you were when you came out.
	You must have courage, and stop those tears
	streaming from your eyes. You too, my lady, 				780
 	pull yourself together, stop your trembling.
	Let go of my clothes. I do not have wings,
	and I am not about to run away
	from those I love. Ah, they will not let go
	but hang onto my clothing even more.
	Were you all walking on a razor’s edge?						[630]
 	I will take them by the hand and lead them,
	pulling them behind me, like a big ship
	towing little boats. I will not neglect
	the care of my own children. All people   				790
	are in this respect the same—they love
	their children, whether they are better off
	or paupers. Money creates differences
	among them—some have it, some do not.
	But every human being loves his children.

[Herakles, Amphitryon, Megara, and the children exit into the house, leaving the Chorus alone on stage.]

CHORUS
	I always loved the years when I was young,
	but old age now hangs heavy on my head,
	a burden weightier than Aetna’s peak.         				[640]
 	Its darkness on my eyes conceals the light.
	I would never never trade my youthful years     			800
	for all the wealth of Asia’s kings or houses
	stuffed with gold. For rich and poor alike,
	the most glorious years are when we’re young.
	I hate old age, a mournful, deadly time.
	I wish it would sink down beneath the waves         			[650]
 	and never move into the homes and cities
	of mortal men or else be carried off,
	drifting away in the wind on wings.

If gods were intelligent and wise
	in how they dealt with human beings,    				810
 	they would have given men a second youth,
	a visible mark for those who have displayed       			[660]
 	their human excellence. After they were dead,
 	they would once more come back into the light
	and run a second course. The meanly born
	would only have one life. If this were done,
 	we could all distinguish the good people	
	from the bad, just as sailors recognize
	the number of the stars among the clouds.
	But now there is no useful boundary    					820
	set by the gods between the good and bad,  					[670]
 	and as the years roll by, the only thing
	that grows in power is human wealth.

I will not stop from blending into one
	that sweetest of all combinations—
	the Graces and the Muses. I hope
	I never have to live without the Muses
	and will always be with those who wear
	garlands of honour and of great success.
	The ancient singer still celebrates    					830
 	his memories, and so I will still sing
 	of gloriously triumphant Herakles, 							[680]
	as long as Bromius, giver of wine,
	is close to me, while seven-stringed lutes
 	and Libyan flutes are still playing on.
	I will not stop singing the Muses’ praise,
	for they are the ones who get me dancing.

The women of Delos sing their joyful song,
	as they circle around the temple gates,
 	in honour of Leto’s glorious son,    						840
	the beautiful dancer. So my old lips   						[690]
	will cry out at your palace doors
	my songs of joy, like a dying swan,
	for my subject is worthy of my praise—
 	a son of Zeus whose noble birth
	is far surpassed by his glorious deeds.
	His labours have given mortal men
	a tranquil life, for he has removed
	so many monstrous and ferocious beasts.      				[700]

[Enter Amphitryon from the house and Lycus and some attendants from the street.]

LYCUS
	It is time you finally left your house,     				850
	Amphitryon. You have already taken 
	far too long dressing yourself in robes 
	and ornaments of the dead. But come now,
	tell Herakles’s wife and children to come here,
	outside the house, and die in the manner
	you yourselves, of your own free will, proposed.

AMPHITRYON
	My lord, you harass me in my misfortune
	and pile insults on me over my dead son.
	Though you rule in Thebes, you should moderate
	your eagerness to have us killed. But still,    				860
	since you state my death is a necessity,          				[710]
 	I must comply. We all must carry out
	whatever you think best.

LYCUS
						  Where is Megara?
	Where are the children of Alcmene’s son?

AMPHITRYON [peering inside the doors of the house]
	It seems to me, as far as I can see,
	looking through this doorway, that she . . .

LYCUS [interrupting]
	What do you think? Do you know for sure?

AMPHITRYON
	. . . is sitting as a suppliant on the steps
	of Hestia’s altar . . . 

LYCUS [interrupting]
	Imploring them in vain to save her life!   				870

AMPHITRYON
	And making futile cries to her dead husband.

LYCUS
	He is not here, and he will never come.

AMPHITRYON
										   No. 
	Not unless some god wakes him from the dead.

LYCUS
	Go to her, and bring her to the palace.   					[720]

AMPHITRYON
	If I do that, I would be helping you
	commit her murder.	 

LYCUS
					   	If you have misgivings,
	I am not afraid to bring the mother out,
 	together with her sons. Servants, follow me,
 	so that we may happily bring this matter
	to its conclusion and then rest.

[Lycus and his retinue go into the house.]

AMPHITRYON
							  Go then.  					880
	Go and meet your fate. Someone else
	will probably take care of all the rest.
	Since you acted badly, you can expect
	to meet with bad things in return. 

[Amphitryon addresses the Chorus.]

Old friends,
	it is good that he is going inside.
	He will get entangled in the meshes
	of a net of swords, while he is planning
	the slaughter of his neighbours, the monster!      			[730]
	I will go in to watch him collapse and die,
 	for the killing of one’s enemy brings joy, 					890
when he is paying the price for his misdeeds.

[Amphitryon goes in the house.] 

CHORUS
	Evil has reversed its course—the man
	who was once a mighty leader has turned
	his life away from Hades. Ah, justice
	and the recurring river of the gods!

Finally you have reached a place where death  				[740]
	will pay the penalty for the insolence
	you have shown towards your betters.

My joy has made me weep. He has come back!
	My heart never expected this to happen—       			900
 	the lord and master of this land!

CHORUS
	Come, old friends, we should look inside the house,
	to see if Herakles has fulfilled our hopes.

LYCUS [from within]
	Help me! Help!      										[750]

CHORUS
					  How I love to hear the start
	of that singing inside the house—his death
	is not far off. Our lord and master cries
	the prelude to his death.

LYCUS [from within]
						O land of Thebes,
 	I am being killed! Treason!

CHORUS [speaking individually]
	You are a killer and must pay the price.
	Be brave and face your retribution now—   				910
 	punishment for the evil you have done.

Who was it that, although he was a mortal,
	foolishly abused the sacred heavenly gods 
	by stupidly proclaiming they had no power?

Old friends, that godless man is now no more.        			[760]

The house is silent. We should turn to dancing.

My friends have been successful, as I hoped.

Dancing, dances, and more festivities
	will now take over Thebes, our sacred city.
	A change from tears, a change in fortune    				920
 	gives birth to brand new songs. Our recent king
	has gone, our earlier king now rules.
	He left safe harbour down in Acheron,           			[770]
	and now our hopes have been fulfilled
	beyond our wildest dreams.

The gods, the gods take care of the unjust
	and lend their ears to those who honour them.
	Good luck and gold can seduce men’s hearts
 	and bring on after them an unjust power.
	For no man ever has sufficient courage      				930
 	to think how time can change his fortune.
 	And so, neglecting laws for lawlessness,
	he shatters the black chariot of success.     					[780]

O Ismenus, bedeck yourself with garlands!
You cobbled streets, begin the choral dance
	in seven-gated Thebes. Come Dirce,
	loveliest of waters, you, too, you nymphs
	of Asopus, come from your father’s stream,
	and lend your voices to our song in praise
	of the splendid victory of Herakles!       				940
O tree-covered Pythian rock and home  						[790]
	of the Helicon Muses, you will come
	to my city of Thebes with shouts of joy,
	to my walls, where that race of men
	sown with the dragon’s teeth sprang up,
	a warrior band with shields of brass,
	passing our land to children’s children,
	a shining sacred light to Thebes.

O that marriage bed that two men shared,
	one mortal, the other Zeus himself,       				950
 	who came to have sex with the married bride,      			[800]
 	Alcmene, grand-daughter of great Perseus.
	O Zeus, the story of your marriage then
	has in the past convinced me it is true,
	beyond all doubt, and time has shown
	the brilliant powers of Herakles,
	who left the halls of Pluto underground
	and returned through caverns in the earth below.
	For me you are a more righteous king
	than that low-born lord, who will now reveal,    			960
 	in this struggle of sword-bearing warriors,
	whether justice is still pleasing to the gods.

[Lyssa, goddess of madness, and Iris, the messenger of the gods, appear on the roof of the palace.]

CHORUS
	My friends, look! Has a sense of fear and panic
	overcome us all? What kind of spirits
	am I looking at up there—above the house?

Run! Run! Hurry up! Get out of here!

O lord Apollo, protect us from all harm!        				[820]
 
IRIS
	Take heart, old men! This person you see here
	is Lyssa, daughter of Night. I am Iris,
	handmaid of the gods. We have not come     			970
	to harm your city. No. We come to fight
	the house of just one man, the one they call
	a son of Zeus delivered by Alcmene.
	Until he had completed all the tasks
	set by Eurystheus, his destiny
	protected him, and his father Zeus
	would not permit either Hera or myself
 	to injure him. But now that he has finished        			[830]
	all those onerous tasks, Hera wishes him
	to stain his hands once again with blood      			980
	by killing his own sons. And I agree.
	Come then, unmarried daughter of black Night,
	harden your implacable heart. Drive madness
	into this man, disturb his mind, until  
 	he murders his own children, make his feet
	move uncontrollably, and goad him on.
	Unfurl the sails of slaughter so that he,
	after leading them across the Acheron,
	that beautiful group of children round him
 	slain by his own hand, may understand    				990
	just how much Hera is enraged at him,						[840]
	and learn my anger, too. If Herakles
	escapes this punishment, the gods will count
	for nothing, and mortals will be strong. 

LYSSA
	I was born into a noble family,
	mother Night and the blood of Ouranos.
	I do not use the powers I possess
	if I am angry or annoyed with friends,
	nor am I fond of visiting the homes
	of those I like. So before I witness     					1000
 	goddess Hera making a mistake—
 	and you, too, if you will pay attention
	to what I have to say—I wish to offer
	some advice. This man Herakles, the one
	whose home you are asking me to enter,
	is not unknown in heaven and on earth,       				[850]
 	After taming the pathless wilderness
	and the raging sea, using his own strength
	he restored the honours of the gods,
 	when they were being attacked by godless men.			1010
	So I would advise you not to wish on him
	such a huge disaster.

IRIS
	   					There is no need
	for your advice on what Hera and I
	may well be scheming.

LYSSA
					I am guiding your steps
	towards a more desirable pathway
	than the evil one you seek.

IRIS
						     The wife of Zeus
	did not send you here to act with prudence.

LYSSA
	I call on sun god Helios to witness
	that I am doing this against my will.
	But if I truly am being forced to help       				1020
 	you and Hera—and with all speed, like a pack       			[860]
	of noisy hounds following the hunter—
 	then I will go. Neither the angry sea
	with its howling waves nor an earthquake 
	nor an agonizing blast of lightning
	will be like the frantic assault I launch
	into Herakles’s chest. I will smash
	his roof apart and then move through the house.
	First, I kill the sons. The man who slays them
	will not know that he is slaughtering      				1030
	children he begot, not until I lift
my fit of madness. Just look at him!
	This is how it starts—with his head tossing,
	the fierce distorted pupils in his eyes
	rolling back and forth, in complete silence.
	He is breathing faster, like a fierce bull
	about to charge. He bellows, calling out       				[870]
	to the goddesses of death in Tartarus.
	Soon I will have you dancing—I will play
	music of terror on my flute. So Iris,        				1040
	you can be on your noble way, soaring
	up to Olympus, while I, in secret,
	will slither into Herakles’s palace. 

CHORUS
	Alas, alas! We must all lament
	the son of Zeus, the flower of our city.	
	Unhappy Hellas, you will thrust him out,
	the one who did you so much good,
	and demolish him as he is dancing
to the flutes in Lyssa’s frantic madness.

The Gorgon child of Night is climbing					1050	[880]
	up into her chariot, queen of grief,
	with a hundred heads of serpents hissing
	in her hair, madness gleaming in her eyes,
	and, as if outraged, is goading her team on.

She quickly changes his good fortune—
	soon his children will breathe no more,
	all slaughtered by their father’s hand.

AMPHITRYON [from within the palace]
					Alas! It’s horrible!

CHORUS
	O Zeus, mad and unjust Vengeance,
 	who eats raw meat, will soon overwhelm    				1060
 	with misery your childless child.   							[890]

AMPHITRYON [from within]
	Alas for this house!

CHORUS
	The dance begins without a kettledrum,
	no joyful waving of the Bacchic wand.

AMPHITRYON [from within]
	Alas for this home!

CHORUS
	Libations now will be of blood
	and not with Dionysian wine.

AMPHITRYON [from within]
You children, run! Hurry!

CHORUS
	That is death—death music of the flute.
	Now the hunter is chasing the children.    				1070
 	Lyssa will never leave her frenzied dance
	inside this house until her wishes are fulfilled.

AMPHITRYON [from within]
	Alas, the monstrous evil . . .      							[900]

CHORUS
	Alas, I mourn for the ancient father
	and the mother, too, who bore his sons,
	and all in vain. Look! Look! A storm wind
	shakes the house! The roof is falling in!

HERAKLES [from within]
	O Pallas, child of Zeus, what are you doing
	to this home? You are sending the havoc
	of Tartarus against my house, as you did     				1080
 	with Enceladus years ago.

[A messenger enters from the palace.]

MESSENGER
	You there, you white-haired old men!

CHORUS
				Why that loud shout?
	Are you addressing me?									[910]

MESSENGER
					Inside the house there . . . 
	it’s horrific!

CHORUS
					I don’t need another prophet
	to tell me that.

MESSENGER
					The children are dead.

CHORUS
	Alas!

MESSENGER
		You must weep. What has happened here
	calls for a lament.

CHORUS
					A dreadful slaughter!
	Their parent’s savage hands!

MESSENGER
					What we have suffered
	is beyond what any man can tell.

CHORUS
	How did it happen—this disaster   						1090
 	with the children, the disaster
	brought about by their own father.
	Tell me how this catastrophe sent
	from the gods attacked this home and brought      			[920]
	such ruinous fate upon the children.

MESSENGER
	After Herakles had slaughtered Lycus,
	master of this land, and thrown the body
	out of the house, sacrificial offerings
	were placed before the altar of great Zeus,
	to purify the home. His lovely boys     					1100
	stood in a cluster with Amphitryon,
	his father, and Megara. The basket
	was by now being passed around the altar,
	and we were all observing holy silence.
	Herakles was about to bring the torch
	in his right hand and dip it in the basin.
	He stood there in silence. As he waited,        				[930]
 	the three children looked up at their father.
	He was not himself. He was in distress—
 	eyes rolling, eyeballs bloodshot, and spit   				1110
 	oozing down his bearded chin. Then he spoke
	with a maniacal laugh: “Why, father,
	should I offer purifying fire now,
	before I have murdered Eurystheus?
	This way I will have to cleanse the palace
	twice over, when my hands can do the work
	a single time—and do it properly.
	Once I bring the head of Eurystheus here,
	I will cleanse my hands for these dead bodies,     			[940]
	the ones already killed. Pour out the water.  				1120
	Drop the baskets. Who will fetch my bow?
	And a weapon for my hand? I will march
	to Mycenae! I need to carry crowbars,
	and iron picks, so I can shatter once again
	those foundations built by the Cyclopes
	with mason’s tools and Phoenician plumb-lines.”
	Then he went out. There was no chariot there,
	though he claimed there was. He tried to climb up,
	with his fist clenched, as if he held a whip,
 	but in reality there was nothing there.  					1130
	His servants were of two minds—they found him    			[950]
	ridiculous, but were afraid, as well.  
	One of them, looking at another, asked,
 	“Is our master just having fun with us,
	or has he gone insane?” But Herakles
	was pacing up and down inside the house.
	Rushing to the middle of the men’s apartments,
 	he said that he had reached the town of Nisus,
	although he was still walking in his home.
	Then he lay down on the floor, just as he was,				1140
 	prepared to have a feast. After a while,
he said he was travelling to the flat lands
	in the wooded valleys of the Isthmus.
	Then he stripped the clothing from his body
	and, quite naked, began to wrestle someone
	who was not there, and just like a herald,     				[960]
 	he proclaimed himself the glorious victor, 
	but he had no audience. Next he thought
	he was in Mycenae, roaring dire threats
	at Eurystheus. His father grabbed hold       			1150
	of Herakles’s powerful arm and said,
	“My son, what is the matter with you?
	Why these strange goings on? Surely the blood
	of those whom you just killed has not made you
	lose you mind?” But Herakles, assuming
	it was the father of Eurystheus
	attempting in a craven supplication
to touch his hand, pushed Amphitryon away
	and got his bow and arrows ready, prepared
	to shoot his children—he believed they were   			1160	[970]
	the sons of Eurystheus. The young boys,
	panic stricken, ran in terror here and there—
 	one to his poor mother’s robes, another
	to the shadow of a pillar, and the third
	crouched down beneath the altar, like a bird.
	Their mother screamed, “You are their father—
 	what are you doing? Killing your own sons?”
	The old man and the servants kept on shouting.
	Herakles was moving round the pillar,
	in murderous circles, chasing his son.      				1170
	When they came face to face, he killed the boy
	with an arrow through his heart. The lad fell
	on his back, spraying the stone pillars
	with his blood, as he choked his life away.        			[980]
 	Herakles cried out in triumph and boasted,
	“One of Eurystheus’s chicks lies dead,
	here at my feet, payment for the hatred
	his father showed.” Then he turned his bow
	against another son, who had crouched down
	by the altar’s foundation stone, thinking     				1180
	he might not be observed. Before he shot,
	his poor son sprang up and threw himself
	at his father’s knees and, raising his hand
	towards his father’s beard and neck, cried out,
	“Listen, dear father, and do not kill me!
	I am your child, your son! You are not slaying
 	a son of Eurystheus!” But Herakles,
	rolled his savage Gorgon eyes, and, since the boy    			[990]
	was standing too close for him to let loose
	a lethal arrow, he hit him on the head.					1190    
	Just as a blacksmith pounds the red-hot iron,
	so Herakles used his wooden club to strike
	his fair-haired son and pulverize his skull.
	Having killed his second son, he moved on
	to add a third corpse to the other two.
	Before he could, the desperate mother
	picked up the child, ran inside the house,
	and barred the door. So Herakles, as if
	he was at walls built by the Cyclopes,
	dug out the doors with levers, knocked down    			1200
	the doorposts, and with a single arrow         				[1000]
	killed his wife and son. Then he races off
	to murder his old father, Amphitryon.
	But a phantom came—to those who watched
 	it looked like Pallas in a plumed helmet,
	waving a spear. She threw a rock at him
	and hit Herakles in the chest. That blow
	halted his frenzied blood-lust and put him
	into a deep sleep. He fell to the ground,
	hitting his back on a pillar which had fallen   			1210
	and broken in two when the roof collapsed.       
	At that point we stopped trying to flee,       				[1010]
 	and, with the old man’s help, we tied him up,
	lashing him to the pillar with cords and knots,
	so that when he wakes up, he will commit
	no more atrocities. The poor man is asleep.
 	After the slaughter of his wife and children,
	that sleep of his will not be truly blessed.
	I know no man more miserable than he.

[Exit the Messenger.]

CHORUS
	The murders committed by the daughters     			1220
 	of Danaus on the rock of Argolis
	were once the most famous and amazing
 	in all of Hellas, but this business here
	with Herakles, the unhappy son of Zeus,
	has overtaken and surpassed those killings   					[1020]
 	from many years ago.

I will mention 
	that murder carried out by Procne,
 	a mother who had a single child.
	She sacrificed him to the Muses.
	But you were father of three boys,       				1230
 	you wretched man, and in your madness
	you assisted fate and killed them all.

Alas! What groans, tears, songs for the dead,
	or dance of death do I now use to grieve?

Look! The locked gates of the high-roofed palace    			[1030]
	are being pulled open.

[The front doors of the palace open slowly, revealing the corpses of Megara and the three children. Herakles is still sleeping and tied with ropes to the pillar.]

Alas! Look at that.
	Those poor children just lying there
	in front of their unhappy father,
	who, after slaughtering them, has fallen
	into a fearful sleep.

The ropes     				1240
	and all those knots around his body
	are supporting Herakles and keeping him
lashed to the stone pillar from his home.

CHORUS
	His old father, like a bird lamenting
	the birth pains from her featherless brood,
	is rushing here with shuffling, painful steps.      				[1040]
	Here he comes.

[Enter Amphitryon from the palace.]

AMPHITRYON
						  Quietly, quietly,
	you old citizens of Thebes. Can you not
	let him continue sleeping, unaware
	of the dreadful killings he has done?    					1250

CHORUS LEADER
	I mourn for you with my tears, old friend,
	and for the children and that splendid man.

AMPHITRYON
	Move further off, and do not make a noise.
	Do not shout or wake him from his peaceful sleep. 			[1050]

CHORUS
	Alas! All this blood . . . 

AMPHITRYON
								     Be quiet! 
	You’ll be the death of me!

CHORUS
						. . . that he has shed
	is rising up . . .

AMPHITRYON
			Old friends, can you not whisper
	your lament? If not, he may wake up,
	throw off his restraints, destroy the city
	and his father, and tear apart his home.     				1260

CHORUS
	I cannot do that—it is not possible!

AMPHITRYON
	Be quiet! I will check his breathing.
	Come, let me listen!        								[1060]

CHORUS
							Is he sleeping?

AMPHITRYON
	Yes, he is having a dreadful sleepless sleep,
	after using his quivering bowstring
	and arrows to kill his wife and sons.

CHORUS
	Now is the time to mourn.

AMPHITRYON
						I am mourning!

CHORUS
	The death of those children . . .

AMPHITRYON
								Alas!
CHORUS
	I lament for your son, too.

AMPHITRYON
							Aaaiiiii.

CHORUS
	My old friend . . .

AMPHITRYON
						 Hush! Silence!       			1270
 	He is turning over. . . . He is stirring . . .
 	and waking up. I should conceal myself   					[1070]
 	somewhere in the ruins of this roof.

CHORUS
	Do not worry. Darkness is still holding down
	the eyelids of your son.

AMPHITRYON
					 Look, given my misery
	I have no fear of departing from the light,
 	but if he were to kill me, his own father, 
	he would be heaping evil onto evil,
	adding parent’s blood to the Furies’ curse.

CHORUS
	It would be better for you if you had died   				1280
 	when you set off seeking your revenge
	for the murdered brothers of your wife
	and sacked the island city of the Taphians.     				[1080]

AMPHITRYON
	You must leave, old friends. Get away from here—  
	from the front part of the palace. Herakles
	is waking up—you must escape his fury,
	or he will quickly pile one more killing
	on the others, or he might set off
	on a frenzied rampage through the city.

CHORUS
	O Zeus, why do you detest your son so much?   			1290
	Why hurl him into this sea of evil?
Why so much savage brutality?

HERAKLES [waking up]
	Ah, I am breathing, and my eyes can see
	what they should be seeing—the sky, the earth,      			[1090]
	the rays of sunlight . . . but my mind is reeling,
 	plunged into terrible confusion. My breath
	is feverish and quick and issues from my lungs
	in spasms. 

[Herakles looks around him.]

What is this? What am I doing
	lying here with my youthful chest and arms
	tied down with rope, like a ship at anchor,   				1300
 	beside a broken pillar, with corpses
	next to where I sit? My bow and arrows,
	lie scattered on the floor, trusty weapons
	I carried into battle on my arm.
	They took care of me, I took care of them.   					[1100]
	Surely I have not come back again to Hades—
 	a second trip for Eurystheus? To Hades?
	From where? But I do not see Sisyphus
	or his rock, or Pluto, or the sceptre
	of Demeter’s daughter, Persephone.     				1310
I am totally confused. Where am I?
	Why am I so helpless? Hey, you there,
	are any of my friends around—close by
	or far away—who can cure my ignorance?
	For I lack any clear idea of things	
	that used to be familiar.

AMPHITRYON
					  		  Old friends,
	should I get closer and risk being killed?

CHORUS LEADER
	All right. I’ll go with you. I will not leave,     				[1110]
	if you get into trouble.

HERAKLES
						   Why weep, father?
	Why hide your eyes, and keep your distance     			1320
	from your beloved son?

AMPHITRYON
								 O my child!
	You are still my son, in spite of all the evil
	you have done.

HERAKLES
		       What have I done that is so bad
	it has made you weep?

AMPHITRYON
	 					      What you have done
	would make any of the gods weep with sorrow,
	if he learned about it.	             

HERAKLES
	  					   You have made
	a grand statement, without mentioning
	what happened.
 
AMPHITRYON
You can see it for yourself,
	if by now you have regained your senses.

HERAKLES
	If in my life I am being accused   						1330
 	of something new, then tell me. 

AMPHITRYON
	I will tell you, if you no longer are
	a frenzied maniac from hell.

HERAKLES
									  Ah ha!
	Your dark words are arousing my suspicions.     				[1120]

AMPHITRYON
	And I still wish to see whether your mind
	is steady and working as it should.

HERAKLES
	I have no memory of being mad.

AMPHITRYON
	Friends, do you think I should untie my son?
	What should I do?

HERAKLES
						    You should untie me.
	And tell me who bound me up. I feel ashamed.   			1340

AMPHITRYON
	You know enough concerning your misfortune.  
	Let the rest all go.

HERAKLES
						       No. If I stay silent,
	is that enough to find out what I wish to know?

AMPHITRYON
O Zeus, are you witnessing these things
	that have their origin at Hera’s throne?

HERAKLES
	Has Hera’s hostility caused my suffering?

AMPHITRYON
	Let the goddess go! You need to confront
	your own misfortunes.

HERAKLES
I am done for. 
	You are going to talk of some calamity.     					[1130]

AMPHITRYON
	Look. These are the bodies of your children.   			1350

HERAKLES
	This is horrific . . . what am I looking at?  
	Aaaiii! An appalling sight!

AMPHITRYON
	               My son, you launched 
	a one-sided war against your children.

HERAKLES
	What are you talking about? What war? 
	Who killed these boys?

AMPHITRYON
									 You did—
 	you, your bow, and some god are responsible.

HERAKLES
	What are you telling me? What did I do?
	You are a bringer of disastrous news!

AMPHITRYON
You were in a mad fit. Now you want me
	to tell you something horrible.   						1360

HERAKLES
	And did I also slaughter my own wife?

AMPHITRYON
	All this killing was done by your own hand.
	You had no help.

HERAKLES
					Alas! I am now caged in					[1140]
	by a cloud of grief.

AMPHITRYON
					That is the reason
	I lament your fate.

HERAKLES
In my mad frenzy,
	did I destroy my home?

AMPHITRYON
					All I know is this—
 	you are completely ruined.

HERAKLES
					   This madness—
 	where was I when it came over me?
	Where did it demolish me?

AMPHITRYON
				   			  At the altar—
 	you were purifying your hands with fire.   				1370

HERAKLES
	Alas! Why do I not just end my life,
	when I am the killer of my own dear sons?
	Should I not go and leap from some tall cliff,
	or plunge my sword into my heart and avenge
	my children’s blood, or else throw my body,        			[1150]
	which was driven insane, into the fire,
	and thus avoid living with the infamy
	which now awaits me?

[Herakles sees Theseus and his attendants approaching.]

But now, 
	to interrupt these thoughts of death, I see
king Theseus approaching—my kinsman     			1380 
	and my friend. I shall be seen for what I am.  
	My dearest friend will see I am unclean,
	polluted by the murder of my sons.
 	This is dreadful. What am I going to do?
	Where can I find freedom from this evil?
	Shall I grow wings or plunge into the earth?
	Come, I will conceal my head in darkness.
 	What I have done makes me so ashamed.       				[1160]
	For these blood killings I am now defiled,
	and I do not wish to harm the innocent.     				1390

[Enter Theseus and his armed attendants.]

THESEUS
	I have come, old friend, and others with me,
	young fighting lads from the land of Athens,
	now waiting by the river Asopus,
	bringing allied spears to assist your son.
	For in the city of the Erechtheidae
	a rumour spread that Lycus had usurped
	the royal sceptre in the land of Thebes 
	and was now fighting or waging war
	against you. So I came here, to pay back
	Herakles for the way he rescued me         				1400
	from the underworld—that is, old man,
	if you need help from my allies and me.    					[1170]

[Theseus notices the dead bodies of the children and Megara.]

What is this? Why is there a pile of corpses
	on the floor? Surely I did not leave home
	and arrive too late to stop a new disaster?
	Who killed these children? Whose wife is this?
	Young boys do not fight battles with their spears.
No, I have stumbled on some fresh atrocity.

AMPHITRYON
	O king living on that hill where olives grow!

THESEUS
	Why greet me with such a melancholy tone?      		1410

AMPHITRYON
	The gods have made us suffer a catastrophe.     				[1180]

THESEUS
	You are weeping for these murdered children.
	Whose are they?

AMPHITRYON
		  They are my own son’s children,
the poor man. He was their father
	and he butchered them—after steeling his heart
	to carry out the bloody slaughter.

THESEUS
	You should speak of this more gently.
	
AMPHITRYON
	I wish I could do what you are asking.

THESEUS
	You have spoken of appalling things.

AMPHITRYON
	We are done for, ruined.

THESEUS
					What do you mean?      				1420
	What has Herakles done?

AMPHITRYON
	He was caught up in a fit of madness
	and used arrows dipped in lethal venom
	from the hundred-headed hydra.         					[1190]

THESEUS
								Hera
	had her hand in this. But who is that,
	old friend, sitting among the corpses?

AMPHITRYON
	That is my son, my much-enduring son,
	who marched with the gods to Phlegra plain,
	a warrior, whose weapons did battle with
	and killed the giants.

THESEUS
		   Ah, yes. What man was ever born    			1430
	with such an ill-starred fate?

AMPHITRYON
						    You will not find
	another mortal man who has suffered more
	and wandered further.

THESEUS
				  Why is the poor man
	using his clothes to hide his head?

AMPHITRYON
							    From shame.
	He does not want your eyes to look at him
	covered with blood from his slaughtered sons,     			[1200]
	especially you, a friend and relative.

THESEUS
	But I have come to sympathize with him.
	Uncover his head.

AMPHITRYON
					   My son, uncover your eyes.
	Push your clothes aside. Let sun see your face.   			1440
As someone who is wrestling with grief
	and trying to stem my tears, I beg you,
	as a suppliant, reaching for your beard,
	your knee, and arm, and prostrate before you,
	shedding an old man’s tear—O my child,      				[1210]
	curb that wild lion’s spirit in your chest,
	which leads you down a bloody, godless path,
	eager to stack one evil on another.

THESEUS [moving closer to Herakles]
	All right. I am talking to you in there,
	hunched up in misery. Show us your face.     			1450
 	We are friends, and there is no darkness
	black enough to conceal your wretched mood.
	Why are you waving your hand at me?
	Are you telling me that this is murder
	and that I should not talk at all to you
	in case I get polluted? I do not care       					[1220]
	if I fall into misfortune with you—
 	with you I once enjoyed good fortune,
	and I must mention that. It was the time
	you rescued me from the land of the dead    			1460
	and brought me back into the light of day.
	I detest a friend whose gratitude grows old—
	someone eager to enjoy his friend’s success,
	but unwilling to share the same ship with him
	when his friend’s fortune changes for the worse.
	So stand up. Uncover your wretched head.
	And look at me. Among human beings,
	the nobly born accept calamities
	sent by the gods and do not disown them.

[Herakles uncovers his head and stands up.]

HERAKLES
	Theseus, did you see how my sons struggled?  			1470

THESEUS
	I heard about that, and now I can see     					[1230]
	the atrocity you mean.

HERAKLES
							  Why then  
	have you exposed my head to sunlight?

THESEUS
	Why not? You are a mortal human being—
	you cannot contaminate what is divine.

HERAKLES
	You should run away, you poor man, from me
	and the stain of my pollution.

THESEUS
	There is no avenging spirit which goes
	from one friend to another.

HERAKLES
						   Yes, that is true.
	And I am not ashamed I helped you out.       			1480

THESEUS
	Because you were so kind to me back then,
	I feel compassion for you now.

HERAKLES
	 					   A pitiful wretch,
	that is what I am—the killer of my sons.

THESEUS
	I weep for you and for your change in fortune.

HERAKLES
Have you ever found any other man
	bearing greater hardships?

THESEUS
					  Your misfortunes  						[1240]
	reach from earth right up to heaven.

HERAKLES
							   That is why
	I am making preparations for my death.

THESEUS
	Do you think divine beings really care
	about the threatening words you utter?            		1490

HERAKLES
	The gods have been remorseless to me,
	so I will be the same with them.

THESEUS
							   Hold you tongue—
	in case they make your suffering more painful
	for speaking out with such presumption.

HERAKLES
	I am so full of troubles there is room
	for nothing more.

THESEUS
					     So what will you do?
	Where are your emotions taking you?

HERAKLES
	To die and go beneath the earth, the place
	where I just came from.
THESEUS
						Now you are talking
	like any common ordinary man.        					1500

HERAKLES
	You offer me advice, but you are one
	who is not suffering misfortune.

THESEUS
	Is this the much-enduring Herakles      					[1250]
	speaking to me? 

HERAKLES
						    But not this much!
	There must be limits to what one has to bear.

THESEUS
	Is this the benefactor and great friend to man?

HERAKLES
	Mortals are no help to me. Hera has won.

THESEUS
	Greece would not let you die so stupidly.

HERAKLES
	You should listen now to what I have to say 
in contesting your advice. I will show you     			1510
	how my life, now and in the past, has been
	intolerable for me. First, my father,
	before he married my mother, Alcmene,
	murdered her old father—and thus acquired
	the stain of blood pollution, and any race						[1260]
	with a poorly laid foundation must produce
	descendants who are cursed by the same stain.
	Now Zeus, whoever Zeus may be, fathered me
	as an enemy to Hera.

[Turning to address Amphitryon.]

Old man,
do not be upset, for I consider you,        				1520
not Zeus, my father.

[Herakles turns back to Theseus.]

While I was still an infant
	being suckled, Zeus’s wife tried to kill me
	by dropping some dreadful venomous snakes
	inside my cradle. Once I had matured
	into my prime of youth, I had to bear      					[1270]
 	all sorts of hardships. But what is the point
	of mentioning them now—all those lions,
and triple-bodied Typhons, or Giants, 
	or that war against four-legged Centaurs?
	Did I not prevail against them all? I killed    				1530
	the hydra, that monster with many heads,
	each one of which could grow in place again,
	and then completed countless other tasks.
	Carrying out what Eurystheus ordered,
	I reached the land of the dead to bring back
into the sunlight the three-headed hound
	that guards the gates of Hades. And lastly,
	to my sorrow, I undertook this labour—
	to complete the misery in my home      					[1280]
	by murdering my sons. Necessity        				1540
	has brought me to this point. I cannot live
	in my beloved Thebes. For piety
	makes that impossible. If I did stay,
	to what temple or gathering of friends
	could I still go? The curse I bear makes me
	a pariah. Should I go to Argos?
	How can I do that, when I am exiled
	from my native land? So come on, tell me,
 	is there some other place that I can run to?
 	Once people know that I am Herakles,     				1550
	they will scowl at me and keep me constrained
	with bitter piercing tongues, “Is not this man
	the son of Zeus who once killed all his children
	and his wife? Should he not be forced to leave     			[1290]
	our city?” To someone who was once called blessed,
	such changes are distressing. To a person
	who has always had bad luck, these issues
 	cause no pain, for he was born to suffer.
	I think that one day I will reach a point
	where the earth will call out, forbidding me     			1560
	to touch her, and the seas and river springs
	will not let me across. I shall end up
	just like another Ixion, in chains 
	on a revolving wheel. It would be best
	if I was never seen by any Greeks,
	with whom in better days I have been happy.   				[1300]
 	Why then should I live? What profit is there
	in having a useless and unholy life?
	So let that celebrated wife of Zeus dance,
	her shoes striking the floor of Zeus’s palace.   			1570
	She has achieved her goal, to overturn
	the finest man in Greece and leave him stripped
	to his foundations. Who would offer prayers
	to such a goddess? Zeus loved a woman,
 	and, because of that, Hera’s jealousy
	has crushed a man who was quite innocent,    				[1310]
	and who has benefited Greece.

CHORUS
				  This whole matter
	is not the work of any other god
	but Hera, Zeus’s wife. You were correct
	in that assumption.

THESEUS
				[To give advice to others					1580
	is easier than suffering misfortune.]
	No mortal man remains completely free
	of misfortune’s stain—nor does any god,
	if what poets sing is not mere fiction.
	Have they not made love with one another
	in ways no laws permit? Have they not
	bound their fathers up in chains to gain control?
	And yet they still inhabit mount Olympus
	and exalt what they did wrong. As for you,
	a mortal human being, what will you say     			1590	[1320]
	if you find your fate too difficult to bear
	while the gods do not? Get away from Thebes,
	as the law requires, and then follow me
	to Athens, Athena’s city. Once there,
	I will cleanse your hands of all pollution,
	and give you homes, a share in what I own,
	and all the gifts I got from citizens
	for saving fourteen children, when I killed
	that bull in Knossos. Throughout my country
	I have lands officially assigned to me.      				1600
	From now on, these will be named after you,    				[1330]
	for as long as you still live. When you die
	and move to Hades’ home, all of Athens,
	the entire city, will celebrate your worth
	with sacrifices and a monument
	made of stone. All of Hellas will award
	my citizens the magnificent crown
	of a noble reputation, for they helped
	a good and noble man. I am doing this
	as a favour to you, to pay you back          				1610
 	for saving me. For now you need a friend.
	When a god holds a man in honour
	he has no need of friends—the god’s help,
	when he decides to act, is quite enough.

HERAKLES
	Well, all such matters dealing with the gods        			[1340]
	do not have much bearing on my ordeals.  
	As far as I’m concerned, I do not believe
	the gods make love in ways that are not right, 
	and I have never thought that chaining up
	the hands of other gods was plausible,       			1620
	so you will not persuade me of that now.
	Nor do I believe that one god is born
	lord and master of another. A god,
	if he is, in fact, truly a deity,
	stands in need of nothing. Such stories
	are wretched tales made up by our poets.
	However, though I am plagued with troubles,
	I have considered whether quitting life
	would label me a coward. For any man
	who cannot hold out against ill fortune					1630
	will not be capable of standing up             				[1350]
	against an enemy’s arrow. So I
	will persevere with living. I will go
	to your city, with grateful thanks to you
	for your countless gifts. I have had a taste
	of a thousand different tasks. Not once
	have I refused or ever had my eyes
	shed a single tear. And I did not think
	I would ever come to this—tears flowing
	from my eyes. But if nowadays it seems    				1640
	I must be slave to fortune, so be it. 

[Herakles turns his attention to Amphitryon.]

Old friend, you see me leaving here an exile,
	and you see in me the one who murdered
	my own sons. Give them a proper burial.
	Lay out their bodies. Honour them with tears—    			[1360]
	the law does not allow me to perform that rite.
	Lean them on their mother’s breast and place them
	in her folded arms, a melancholy group,
	which I, alas, destroyed against my will.
	When you have hidden the bodies in the earth,  			1650
	stay in the city, though that may be hard.
	Steel your heart to help me bear my suffering.
	O my sons, the man who gave you your lives,
	your father, has destroyed you. No benefits
	will come to you from what I have achieved
	with my own strength, the brutal toil to win
	a glorious name for you, a splendid gift         				[1370]
	a father leaves his sons. And you, as well, 
	my sad wife, whom I killed, a poor reward
	for your steadfast loyalty in honouring     				1660
	our marriage bed and your long, tiring care
	inside our home. Alas, for my wife and sons,
	alas for me, how dreadful were those acts
	that left me without my wife and children!

[Herakles kisses the bodies of Megara and the children.]

O those kisses you enjoyed, so bitter now!
	How bitter, too, to still have these weapons.
	I am not sure whether I should keep them
	or just let them go. If they are hanging
	at my side, they will say, “With us you killed        			[1380]
	your children and your wife. When you hold us,			1670
	you are clasping your children’s murderers.”
	If I am still carrying them on my arm,
	what answer do I give? But should I remove
	these weapons with which I have achieved
	such splendid things in Greece, leaving myself
	at the mercy of my enemies, and die
	a shameful death? No. I will not let them go.
	I will keep them, although that makes me sad.
	But Theseus, I need your help with something—
 	that wretched hell hound Cerberus. Come with me		1680
	to Argos, help me to collect the payment
	for bringing that beast back. If I go alone,
	I may come to grief thinking of my sons.
	O land of Cadmus, and all you citizens
	of Thebes, cut off your hair, grieve together.
	Go to my children’s burial site and sing
	a lament for the departed and for me.
	All of us have been utterly demolished
 	by one vicious, murderous blow from Hera.

THESEUS
	Get up, you poor man. You have wept enough.   			1690

HERAKLES
	I cannot stand up. My knees are aching.

THESEUS
	Misfortune weakens even the powerful.

HERAKLES
	How I wish I could turn into a stone,
	with no memory of evil.

THESEUS
									 Stop that.
	Give your hand to a friend who wants to help.

HERAKLES	
	I do not wish to stain your clothes with blood.

THESEUS
	Do not worry. Let it stain my clothes.     					[1400]
 	I am not ashamed.

HERAKLES
					I have lost my sons,
	but in you I have found a son.

THESEUS
						    Lift your arm
	around my neck. I’ll show you the way.       			1700

HERAKLES
	A pair of friends, one of them unlucky.

[To Amphitryon]

Ah, old friend, this is the kind of man
	one ought to make a friend.

AMPHITRYON
					             May the land
	that gave him birth be blessed with children!

HERAKLES
								   Theseus,
	turn me around again, so I can see my sons.

THESEUS
	Why? Is this some kind of soothing potion?

HERAKLES
	I wish it were. I want to hug my father.

AMPHITRYON
	Here I am, my son. I would like that, too.

THESEUS
	Do you no longer have any memories       					[1410]
	of all your labours?

HERAKLES
			All those hardships I endured					1710
	brought me less grief than this.

THESEUS
						     If people see you
	acting like a woman, they will not be pleased.

HERAKLES
	Do you think that I, by choosing to live, 
	have now become an ordinary man?
	That was not the case before, it seems.

THESEUS
	Yes, very much so. You have a sickness
	and are not the glorious Herakles.

HERAKLES
	What kind of man were you down there
 	when you were in trouble?

THESEUS
						 	I had less courage
	than any other man.

HERAKLES
					  How then can you claim    			1720
	that my misfortunes have demeaned me. 

THESEUS
	Let us set off.

HERAKLES [to Amphitryon]
Farewell, old friend.

AMPHITRYON
Farewell to you, my son.

HERAKLES
Bury my children as I have described.

AMPHITRYON
	But who will bury me, my son?

HERAKLES
I will.        				[1420]

AMPHITRYON
	When will you come?

HERAKLES
 				When you have buried all my sons.

AMPHITRYON
How?

HERAKLES
	I will have you brought from Thebes to Athens.
	But carry the children inside the house—
 	they are a grievous burden on the earth.
	After shattering my home with shameful acts,  
	I, now ruined, will follow Theseus          				1730
	like some useless, burdensome appendage.
	Whoever wishes to have power and wealth
	rather than good friends, is not thinking right.

[Exit Theseus, Herakles, and attendants.]

CHORUS
	With pity and many tears, we go away,
	lamenting the loss of our greatest friend.

[Exit the Chorus.]