DEIANEIRA
O Zeus, who rulest the meads of Oeta, sacred from the scythe, at

last, though late, thou hast given us joy! Uplift your voices, ye
women within the house and ye beyond our gates, since now we are

gladdened by the light of this message, that hath risen on us beyond
my hope!

LEADER OF ONE SEMI-CHORUS (singing)
Let the maidens raise a joyousstrain for the house, with songs of

triumph at the hearth; and, amidst them, let the shout of the men go
up with one accord for Apollo of the bright quiver, our Defender!

And at the same time, ye maidens, lift up a paean, cry aloud to his
sister, the Ortygian Artemis, smiter of deer, goddess of the twofold

torch, and to the Nymphs her neighbours!
LEADER OF OTHER SEMI-CHORUS

My spirit soars; I will not reject the wooing of the flute.- O
thou sovereign of my soul! Lo, the ivy's spell begins to work upon me!

Euoe!- even now it moves me to whirl in the swift dance of Bachanals!
CHORUS

Praise, praise unto the Healer!
LEADER OF WHOLE CHORUS

See, dear lady, see! Behold, these tidings are taking shape before
thy gaze.

DEIANEIRA
I see it, dear maidens; my watching eyes had not failed to note

yon company. (Enter LICHAS, followed by Captive Maidens.
Conspicuous among them is IOLE.) -All hail to the herald, whose

coming hath been so long delayed!- if indeed thou bringest aught
that can give joy.

LICHAS
We are happy in our return, and happy in thy greeting, lady, which

befits the deed achieved; for when a man hath fair fortune, he needs
must win good welcome.

DEIANEIRA
O best of friends, tell me first what first I would know,- shall I

receive Heracles alive?
LICHAS

I, certainly, left him alive and well,- in vigorous health,
unburdened by disease.

DEIANEIRA
Where, tell me- at home, or on foreign soil?

LICHAS
There is a headland of Euboea, where to Cenaean Zeus he

consecrates altars, and the tribute of fruitful ground.
DEIANEIRA

In payment of a vow, or at the bidding of an oracle?
LICHAS

For a vow, made when he was seeking to conquer and despoil the
country of these women who are before thee.

DEIANEIRA
And these- who are they, I pray thee, and whose daughters? They

deserve pity, unless their plight deceives me.
LICHAS

These are captives whom he chose out for himself and for the gods,
when he sacked the city of Eurytus.

DEIANEIRA
Was it the war against that city which kept him away so long,

beyond all forecast, past all count of days?
LICHAS

Not so: the greater part of the time he was detained in Lydia,- no
free man, as he declares, but sold into bondage. No offence should

attend on the word, lady, when the deed is found to be of Zeus. So
he passed a whole year, as he himself avows, in thraldom to Omphale

the barbarian. And so stung was he by that reproach, he bound
himself by a solemn oath that he would one day enslave, with wife

and child, the man who had brought that calamity upon him. Nor did
he speak the word in vain; but, when he bad been purged, gathered an

alien host, and went against the city of Eurytus. That man, he said,
alone of mortals, had a share in causing his misfortune. For when

Heracles, an old friend, came to his house and hearth, Eurytus
heaped on him the taunts of a bitter tongue and spiteful soul,-

saying, 'Thou hast unerring arrows in thy hands, and yet my sons
surpass thee in the trial of archery'; 'Thou art a slave,' he cried,

'a free man's broken thrall': and at a banquet, when his guest was
full of wine, he thrust him from his doors.

Wroth thereat, when afterward Iphitus came to the hill of
Tiryns, in search for horses that had strayed, Heracles seized a

moment when the man's wandering thoughts went not with his wandering
gaze, and hurled him from a tower-like summit. But in anger at that

deed, Zeus our lord, Olympian sire of all, sent him forth into
bondage, and spared not, because, this once, he had taken a life by

guile. Had he wreaked his vengeanceopenly, Zeus would surely have
pardoned him the righteoustriumph; for the gods, too, love not

insolence.
So those men, who waxed so proud with bitter speech, are

themselves in the mansions of the dead, all of them, and their city is
enslaved; while the women whom thou beholdest, fallen from happiness

to misery, come here to thee; for such was thy lord's command, which
I, his faithful servant, perform. He himself, thou mayest be sure,- so

soon as he shall have offered holy sacrifice for his victory to Zeus
from whom he sprang,- will be with thee. After all the fair tidings

that have been told, this, indeed, is the sweetest word to hear.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS

Now, O Queen, thy joy is assured; part is with thee, and thou hast
promise of the rest.

DEIANEIRA
Yea, have I not the fullest reason to rejoice at these tidings

of my lord's happy fortune? To such fortune, such joy must needs
respond. And yet a prudent mind can see room for misgiving lest he who

prospers should one day suffer reverse. A strange pity hath come
over me, friends, at the sight of these ill-fated exiles, homeless and

fatherless in a foreign land; once the daughters, perchance, of
free-born sires, but now doomed to the life of slaves. O Zeus, who

turnest the tide of battle, never may I see child of mine thus visited
by thy hand; nay, if such visitation is to be, may it not fall while

Deianeira lives! Such dread do I feel, beholding these.
(To IOLE) Ah, hapless girl, say, who art thou? A maiden, or a

mother? To judge by thine aspect, an innocentmaiden, and of a noble
race. Lichas, whose daughter is this stranger? Who is her mother,

who her sire? Speak, I pity her more than all the rest, when I
behold her; as she alone shows due feeling for her plight.

LICHAS
How should I know? Why should'st thou ask me? Perchance the off,

spring of not the meanest in yonder land.
DEIANEIRA

Can she be of royal race? Had Eurytus a daughter?
LICHAS

I know not; indeed, I asked not many questions.
DEIANEIRA

And thou hast not heard her name from any of her companions?
LICHAS

No, indeed, I went through my task in silence.
DEIANEIRA

Unhappy girl, let me, at least, hear it from thine own mouth. It
is indeed distressing not to know thy name.

(IOLE maintains her silence.)
LICHAS