Page:The Plays of Euripides Vol. 1- Edward P. Coleridge (1910).djvu/239

Rh am old! What need had I of children? Methinks I should not have suffered excessively, had I never borne the marriage-yoke; but now I have my sorrow full in view, the loss of children dear.

Lo! I see the bodies of the fallen youths. Woe is me! would I could join these children in their death and descend to Hades with them!

. Mothers, raise the wail for the dead departed; cry in answer when ye hear my note of woe.

. My sons, my sons! O bitter words for loving mothers to address to you! To thee, my lifeless child, I call.

. Woe! woe!

. Ah me, my sufferings!

. Alas!

. . . ..

. We have endured, alas!—

. Sorrows most grievous.

. O citizens of Argos! do ye not behold my fate?

. They see thee, and me the hapless mother, reft of her children.

. Bring near the blood-boltered corpses of those hapless chiefs, foully slain by foes unworthy, with whom lay the decision of the contest.

. Let me embrace and hold my children to my bosom in my enfolding arms.

. There, there! thou hast—

. Sorrows heavy enough to bear.

. Ah me!

. Thy groans mingle with those of their parents.

. Hear me.

. O'er both of us thou dost lament.

. Would God the Theban ranks had laid me dead in the dust!