Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/263

Rh And flees away, retaining still the steel, And fills with loud uproar the spacious hall; Or as the thunder rumbles round the sky: So did Alcides smite the very stars And sea with his loud roarings. Chalcis heard, The Cyclades re-echoed with the sound, Caphereus' rocky crags and all the grove Resounded with the groans of Hercules. We saw him weep. The common people deemed His former madness had come back to him. His servants fled away in fear. But he, With burning gaze, seeks one among them all, Ill-fated Lichas, who, with trembling hands Upon the altar, even then forestalled Through deadly fear the bitter pangs of death, And so left meager food for punishment. Then did Alcides grasp the quivering corpse And cried: "By such a hand as this, ye fates, Shall it be said that I was overcome? Has Lichas conquered Hercules? See then Another slaughter: Hercules in turn Slays Lichas. Be my noble deeds by this Dishonored; let this be my crowning task." He spake, and high in air the wretched boy Was hurled, the very heavens with his gore Besprinkling. So the Getan arrow flies, Far leaping from the bowman's hand; so flies The Cretan dart, but far within the mark. His head against the jagged rocks is dashed, His headless body falls into the sea, Death claiming both. "But hold," Alcides said, "No madness steals my reason as of yore; This is an evil greater far than rage Of madness; 'gainst myself alone I turn." He stays him not to tell his cause of woe, But rages wildly, tearing at his flesh, His huge limbs rending with his savage hands. He strove to tear away the fatal robe;