Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/290

272 Appear upon the earth, Oh, give, We pray, another champion. But what is this? The heavens resound. Behold Alcides' father mourns, He mourns his son. Or is't the sound Of grieving gods, or the cry of fear Of the timid stepdame? Can it be That at the sight of Hercules Great Juno flees the stars? Perchance Beneath the added weight of heaven Tall Atlas reels. Or do the shades Cry out in fear of Hercules, While Cerberus with broken chains In panic flees the sight? Not so: Behold, 'tis Poeas' son, who comes With looks of gladness. See, he bears The well-known quiver and the shafts Of Hercules.

[Enter Philoctetes.] Nurse: Speak out, good youth, and tell the end, I pray, Of Hercules. How did he meet his death? Philoctetes: More gladly than another meets his life. Nurse: What? Did he then rejoice him in the fire? Philoctetes: He showed that burning flames were naught to him. What is there in the world which Hercules Has left unconquered? He has vanquished all. Nurse: What chance for glory on the funeral pyre? Philoctetes: One evil thing remained upon the earth Which he had not o'ercome—the power of fire. But this has now been added to the beasts, And fire is one of great Alcides' toils. Nurse: But tell us in what way he conquered fire. Philoctetes: When all his sorrowing friends began to fell The trees on Oeta's slopes, beneath one hand The beech-tree lost its foliage and lay, Its mighty trunk prone on the ground. One hand With deadly stroke attacked the towering pine,