O’er both of us thou dost lament.AdrastusWould God the Theban ranks had laid me dead in the dust!ChorusOh that I had ne’er been wedded to a husband!

AdrastusBehold 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.ChorusOur nails have ploughed our cheeks in furrows, and o’er our heads have we strewn ashes.AdrastusAh 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!