Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/144

126 Her little children closely pressing round; And with her, with the tardy step of age, The sire of Hercules, Amphitryon.

Megara: O mighty ruler of Olympus' heights, Thou judge of all the world, now set at length A limit to my cares, and make an end Of my disasters. No untroubled day Doth dawn for me; but one misfortune's end Marks but the starting-point of future woes. Fresh foes are ready for my Hercules Straightway on his return; ere he can reach His happy home, another warfare bids That he set forth again. No time for rest Is given, save while he waits a fresh command. 'Twas ever thus: from earliest infancy Unfriendly Juno follows on his track. Was e'en his cradle free from her assaults? He conquered monsters ere he learned to know What monsters were. Two crested serpents huge Against him reared their heads; the dauntless child Crawled forth to meet them, and, with placid gaze Intently fixed upon their fiery eyes, With fearless look he raised their close-coiled folds, And crushed their swollen necks with tender hand. And thus he practiced for the hydra's death. He caught the nimble stag of Maenalus, Its beauteous head adorned with horns of gold. The lion, terror of Nemean woods, Groaned out his life beneath the mighty arms Of Hercules. Why should I call to mind The stables dire of that Bistonian herd, And the king as food to his own horses given? The rough Maenalian boar, which, from his lair On Erymanthus' thickly wooded heights, Filled all the groves of Arcady with dread? Or that fell Cretan bull whose terror filled A hundred towns? Among his herds remote,