Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/151

Rh Be then my wife and not my enemy. Megara: Cold horror creeps throughout my lifeless limbs. What shameful proposition do I hear? I did not shrink when loud alarms of war Rang round our city's walls; and all my woes I've bravely borne. But marriage—and with him! Now do I think myself indeed a slave. Load down my tender frame with heavy chains; Be lingering death by long starvation sought; Still shall no power o'ercome my wifely faith. I shall be thine, Alcides, to the death. Lycus: Such spirits does a buried husband give? Megara: He went below that he might reach the heavens. Lycus: The boundless weight of earth oppresses him. Megara: No weight of earth can overwhelm the man Who bore the heavens up. Lycus: Thou shalt be forced. Megara: He can be forced who knows not how to die. Lycus: Tell me what gift I could bestow more rich Than royal wedlock? Megara: Grant thy death, or mine. Lycus: Then die, thou fool. Megara: 'Tis thus I'll meet my lord. Lycus: Is that slave more to thee, than I, a king? Megara: How many kings has that slave given to death! Lycus: Why does he serve a king, and bear the yoke? Megara: Remove hard tasks, and where would valor be? Lycus: To conquer monsters call'st thou valor then? Megara: 'Tis valor to subdue what all men fear. Lycus: The shades of hades hold that boaster fast. Megara: No easy way leads from the earth to heaven. Lycus: Who is his father, that he hopes for heaven? Amphitr.: Unhappy wife of mighty Hercules, Be silent now, for 'tis my part to tell Alcides' parentage. After his deeds, So many and so great; after the world, From rising unto setting of the sun, Has been subdued, so many monsters tamed; After the giants' impious blood was spilled