Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/383

Rh Its mother's side; but that remorseless beast, Thrusting away the mother's timid form, With ravenous jaws doth grasp the lesser prey, And, crushing, drag it hence: so shalt thou, too, Be snatched away from me by heartless foes. Then take my tears and kisses, O my son, Take these poor locks, and, full of mother love, Go speed thee to thy sire; and in his ear Speak these, thy grieving mother's parting words: "If still thy manes feel their former cares, And on the pyre thy love was not consumed, Why dost thou suffer thy Andromache To serve a Grecian lord, O cruel Hector? Why dost thou lie in careless indolence? Achilles has returned." Take once again These hairs, these flowing tears, which still remain From Hector's piteous death; this fond caress And rain of parting kisses take for him. But leave this cloak to comfort my distress, For it, within his tomb and near his shade, Hath lain enwrapping thee. If to its folds One tiny mote of his dear ashes clings, My eager lips shall seek it till they find. Ulysses: Thy grief is limitless. Come, break away, And end our Grecian fleet's too long delay. [He leads the boy away with him.]

Chorus: Where lies the home of our captivity? On Thessaly's famed mountain heights? Where Tempe's dusky shade invites? Or Phthia, sturdy warriors' home, Or where rough Trachin's cattle roam? Iolchos, mistress of the main, Or Crete, whose cities crowd the plain? Where frequent flow Mothone's rills, Beneath the shade of Oete's hills, Whence came Alcides' fatal bow Twice destined for our overthrow?