Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/457

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE MADNESS OF HERAKLES.
401

Herakles.

Yea, name who bound me!—I disown the deed.[1]


Amphitryon.

Know thou so far thine ills:—the rest let be. 1125


Herakles.

Enough!—I would not from thy silence learn.[2]


Amphitryon (unbinding him).

Zeus, seest thou this curse hurled from Hera's throne?


Herakles.

Ha! have I suffered mischief of her hate?


Amphitryon.

Let be the Goddess: thine own miseries heed.


Herakles.

I am undone! What ruin wilt thou tell? 1130


Amphitryon.

Lo, mark these fallen wrecks,—wrecks of thy sons!

  1. ↑ Whatever outrage I may have committed, it was not I who bound Herakles. Or, as Paley suggests, "I disown the man," repudiate all friendship with him; which may account for the caution of the next line, not to make bad worse.
  2. ↑ Or, with a slight alteration of text, "Suffice thy silence: I crave not to know." According to either interpretation, Herakles gathers from his father's reticence some inkling of the meaning of the scene of slaughter round him, and dares question no further. Heath's correction gives a more commonplace sense—"Shall silence tell the thing I fain would know?"
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.