Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/214

196 Fixed deep within the throbbing breast; From out the very clouds thy prey Thou wilt regain. By few has beauty been possessed (The voice of history proclaims) Without some loss or suffering. But thee, unharmed, may God pass by More merciful, and may thy form, Now famous for its beauty, show At last the marks of ugly age.

What crime would woman's fury leave undared? She plans against this harmless youth some fraud. Behold her scheme! For by her tumbled hair, All torn, she seeks sure credence for her tale. She wets her cheeks with tears; and every art That woman's shrewdness knows, does she employ. [A man is seen approaching, who proves to be Theseus.] But who is that who comes with grace of kings Displayed upon his face, his lofty head Held high in kingly pride? In countenance, How like the young Pirithoüs he seems, Were not his cheeks too deadly pale and wan, And if his hair fell not in locks unkempt. Behold, 'tis Theseus' self returned to earth.

Theseus: At last have I escaped from endless night, That shadowy realm which close confines the dead. And now my eyes can scarce endure the light Which I have long desired. Eleusin now Has four times reaped her ripened grain, the gift Triptolemus bestowed; thrice and again Has Libra measured equal day and night, Since dubious battling with an unknown fate Has held me in the toils of life and death. To me, though dead to all things else, one part Of life remained, the consciousness of ill. Alcides was the end. When he came down To bring the dog by force from Tartarus,