Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/447

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THE MADNESS OF HERAKLES.
391

Servant.

Things have we suffered no tongue may speak.


Chorus.

How, of the woeful doom by a father wrought
On his sons, canst thou tell?
Say, say in what fashion the malice of Gods hath brought
These ills on the house, and the fate with misery fraught 920
On the children that fell.


Servant.

Victims were set before the hearth of Zeus
To cleanse the house, since, having slain the king,
Forth of these halls had Herakles flung the corpse.
And there his children stood in fair array, 925
His sire, and Megara. Round the altar now
The maund[1] had passed; and we kept hallowed hush.
Then, even in act to bear the torch in hand[2]
And plunge in lustral water, silent stood
Alkmena's son: and, as their sire delayed, 930
His sons looked—lo, he seemed no more the same,
But wholly marred, with rolling eyes distraught,
With bloodshot eye-roots starting from his head,
While dripped the slaver down his bearded cheek.
Suddenly with a maniac laugh he spake: 935

  1. ↑ A basket containing the sacrificial knife and barley was carried round the altar before the slaying of the victim.
  2. ↑ A brand from the altar was quenched in water, with which the bystanders were then sprinkled.
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