Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/442

With haste of laggard feet!—speed thou away!
Healer, to thee, 820
O King, to avert from me yon bane I pray!

Fear not: this is the child of Night ye see,
Madness, grey sires: I, handmaid of the Gods,
Iris. We come not for your city's hurt.
Only on one man's house do we make war— 825
His, whom Zeus' and Alkmena's son they call.
For, till he had ended all his bitter toils.
Fate shielded him, and Father Zeus would not
That I, or Hera, wrought him ever harm.
But, now he hath toiled Eurystheus' labours through, 830
Hera will stain him with the blood of kin,
That he shall slay his sons: her will is mine.
On then, close up thine heart from touch of ruth,
O thou unwedded child of murky Night:
With madness thrill this man, with soul-turmoil 835
Child-murdering, with wild boundings of the feet:
Goad him; the sheets of murder's sails let out,
That, when o'er Acheron's ferry his own hand
In blood hath sped his crown of goodly sons,
Then may he learn how dread is Hera's wrath, 840
And mine, against him: else the Gods must wane
And mortals wax, if he shall not be punished.

Of noble sire and mother was I born,
Even of the blood of Uranus and Night.
But not to do despite to friends I hold 745
My powers, nor love to haunt for murder's sake.
Fain would I plead with Hera and with thee,