Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/170

152 Nearer and nearer with ill-omened brands On funeral pyres enkindled. There I see Tisiphone with snake-encircled head; With brandished torch she guards the gate of hell, Now that their watch-dog has been stolen away. [He catches sight of his children.] But see where lurk the children of the king, The impious spawn of Lycus whom I hate. To your detested sire I'll send you now. Let darting arrows from my bowstring fly; Such errands fit my noble weapons well. [He aims an arrow at one of the children.] Amphitr.: What will he do in his blind passion's rage? Now he has bent his mighty bow, and now His quiver loosed. The hissing dart is sped. Straight through the neck it flies, and leaves the wound. Hercules: The rest will I hunt out, yea, all that lurk Within this city's walls, without delay. A greater war against Mycenae waits, That by my hands those Cyclopean walls May be o'erthrown; and that the royal hall, Its high walls shattered, noble roof in-fall'n, Doors burst, may be to utter ruin brought, And all its royal secrets be revealed. [He sees his second son hiding.] Ah, here I see another hiding son Of that most wicked sire. [He seizes the child and drags him from the scene.] Amphitryon [standing where he can see what is being done behind the scenes]: Behold the child, His coaxing hands stretched out to clasp the knees Of his mad father, begs with piteous tones. Oh, crime unspeakable, pathetic, grim: For by his pleading hand the child is caught, And, madly whirled again and yet again, Sent headlong through the air. A sickening sound— And with his scattered brains the roof is wet. But wretched Megara, her little son