of the fallen youths. Woe is me! would I could join these children in their death and descend to Hades with them! Adrastus Mothers, raise the wail for the dead departed; cry in answer when ye hear my note of woe. Chorus My sons, my sons! O bitter words for loving mothers to address to you! To thee, my lifeless child, I call. Adrastus Woe! woe! Chorus Ah me, my sufferings! Adrastus Alas! Chorus A lacuna in the MS. Adrastus We have endured, alas!— Chorus Sorrows most grievous. Adrastus O citizens of Argos ! do ye not behold my fate? Chorus They see thee, and me the hapless mother, reft of her children. Adrastus Bring near the blood-boltered corpses of those hapless chiefs, foully slain by foes unworthy, with whom lay the decision of the contest. Chorus Let me embrace and hold my children to my bosom in my enfolding arms. Adrastus There, there! thou hast— Chorus Sorrows heavy enough to bear. Adrastus Ah me! Chorus Thy groans mingle with those of their parents. Reading with Hartung τοῖς τεκοῦσς’ ὁμοῦ λέγεις . Adrastus Hear me. Chorus O’er both of us thou dost lament. Adrastus Would God the Theban ranks had laid me dead in the dust! Chorus Oh that I had ne’er been wedded to a husband! Adrastus Behold this sea of troubles! The print edition reads: Ah! hapless mothers, behold this sea of troubles! The lines have been modified to more closely match the Greek. Ah! hapless mothers. Chorus Our nails have ploughed our cheeks in furrows, and o’er our heads have we strewn ashes. Adrastus Ah me! ah me! Oh that earth’s floor would swallow me, or the whirlwind snatch me away, or Zeus’s flaming bolt descend upon my head! Chorus Bitter the marriages thou didst witness, bitter the oracle of Phoebus! The curse of Oedipus, fraught with sorrow, after desolating For the unintelligible ἔλημας of the MS. Hermann conjectured ἔρημα σ’ which is here followed. his house, is come on thee.