Scaife ATLAS

CTS Library / Trachiniae

Trachiniae (870-905)

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0011.tlg001.perseus-eng3:870-905
Refs {'start': {'reference': '870', 'human_reference': 'Line 870'}, 'end': {'reference': '905', 'human_reference': 'Line 905'}}
Ancestors []
Children []
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that old woman approaches to give us some news.
Enter the Nurse, from the house.
Nurse
Ah, my daughters, great, indeed, are the sorrows for us that began with the gift sent to Heracles!
Chorus
Old woman, what new trouble have you to tell?
Nurse
Deianeira has departed on the last
of all her journeys, departed without stirring a foot.
Chorus
Surely you do not mean she is dead?
Nurse
My tale is told.
Chorus
Dead, the poor woman?
Nurse
Again you hear me affirm it.
Chorus
Poor, lost one! Tell me, what was the manner of her death?
Nurse
Oh, it was most cruel in its execution!
Chorus
Speak,
woman, with what end did she meet?
Nurse
She destroyed herself.
Chorus
What impulse drove her? What disease of her mind seized her on the point of its evil shaft? How did she contrive
this death upon death, accomplishing it all on her own?
Nurse
By a stroke of the sword which gives cause for mourning.
Chorus
Did you witness that violent deed, poor helpless one?
Nurse
I did, yes, since I was standing close by.
Chorus
What was it? How was it done? Oh, speak!
Nurse
Of her own accord she set her hand to the deed.
Chorus
What are you saying?
Nurse
The certain truth.
Chorus
The firstborn, the firstborn of that newly arisen bride is
a great Erinys on this house!
896
Nurse
Too true. And had you been close at hand and seen her do it, you would have pitied her even more.
Chorus
And could a womans hand dare to carry out such deeds?
Nurse
Yes, with fierce daring. You shall hear, and then you will bear me witness.
When she came alone into the house and saw her son preparing a deep litter in the court, with which to go back and meet his father, she hid herself where none would see. Falling before the altars, she moaned that
they were left desolate, and whenever she touched any household thing that she, poor lady, had habitually used in the past, her tears would flow. If, as she roamed hither and thither through the house, she beheld the form of any well-loved servant, she wept in misery at the sight,

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