couch the ground, I wrote down as they were delivered from the vocal oak, inspired by my father. Its voice announced to me, that at this time now actually present, there should be consummated to me a release from the toils imposed on me; and I deemed that I should live in prosperity: but this signified nothing else but that I should die. For to the dead no toil arises. Since then, my son, the issue of these prophecies is clear; it behoves you again to prove an ally to me, and not to wait for my mouth to urge you, but yielding, of your own accord, to assist me, having discovered the best of laws, obedience to a father. HYL. I am alarmed, O my father, at hearing an address of such a nature; but I will obey you in what seems good to you. HER. First give me your right hand. HYL. For what pledge do you make this eager request? HER. Will you not quickly extend your hand, and not prove disobedient to me? HYL. Lo, I extend it, and no objection shall be made by me. HER. Swear now by the head of Jove, my father. HYL. That I will do what?-and this oath shall be pronounced. HER. That you will perform the deed enjoined by me. HER. If you transgress your oath, pray that you may receive punishment. HYL. I shall not receive it; for I will do what you command; yet still I imprecate the curse. HER. Knowest thou, then, the highest cliff of Œta, sacred to Jove? HYL. I know it, having often, as a sacrificer, at least, stood on its summit. HER. Thither it is now fitting that you bear my body, with your own hands, and with the aid of such friends as you choose; and having cut down many a bough of the deeprooted oak, and many a trunk of the male' wild olive, cast my 1 "Oleastri mares, non feminæ intelliguntur, defendandumque potius est Ovidii ure mares oleas, Fast. iv. 741, quam probandum quod ab emendatoribus profectum codices multi habent, maris rorem.' Herm. Wunder has bracketed vss. 1195-8, which is his usual method with whatever he cannot understand. B. body on the pile; and having taken the blazing pitchy torch, set it on fire. But let neither groan nor tear have vent; but without lamentation or weeping, if you are the son of this man, fulfil your task, But if you do not I await you, and even though I be below the earth, you shall ever be loaded with my curses. HYL. Oh me! my father, what words hast thou uttered? to what deeds dost thou compel me? HER. What must be done: if not, be the son of some other, nor be called my son any longer. Woe is me! still more again. To what a deed, oh father, do you excite me, to become your murderer and executioner! HER. No, in truth, I do not; but to be the healer, and only physician, of the evils I suffer. HYL. But how shall I heal your body by consuming it in the flames? HER. If you shrink from this, perform at least the rest. HYL. There shall be no unwillingness at least to bear you. HER. Will there also be a sufficient heaping-up of the pyre I have described? HYL. In so far at least as I am able, so that I do not touch [the fire] with my own hands. But I will do the other things, and my part shall not be behind. HER. Well, this will do. But, in addition to these great requests, grant me a small favour. HYL. Even though it be very great, it shall be rendered. HER. Knowest thou, in sooth, the daughter of Eurytus? HYL. You mean Iole, if I conjecture aright. HER. You are right. This charge, my son, I lay on you: if you wish, in remembrance of the oaths pledged to your father, to act the part of a pious son after my death, take Iole to your wife, nor be disobedient to my commands. Let no other man but you obtain possession of her who once lay by my side but do you yourself, my son, make the alliance of these nuptials. Obey me; for having been obedient to me in great matters, to disobey me in small does away with the former favour. HYL. Ah me! it is wrong to give way to anger against one in this distress; but yet who could endure to see him have sentiments like these? 1 "Nemo me lacrymis decoret, aut funera faxit Flendo." Ennius. B. HER. Do you murmur, as about to refuse to do any of the things I request? HYL. But who would ever, since she alone was the cause of my mother's death, and to you also of the state to which you are reduced; who, I say, that is not persecuted to madness by the furies, would choose her for a wife? It is better for me, oh father, to die than to dwell with those who are most hateful to my soul. HER. It seems that this man is not going to pay duty to me in death; but the curses of heaven await you, if you prove disobedient to my commands. HYL. Alas! you will soon, methinks, perceive how you are affected by disease. HER. For you again rouse me from the evils which slumbered. HYL. Wretched man that I am! how I am, in many points, at a loss! HER. For you disdain to obey a father. HYL. But shall I teach myself, O father, to act an impious part? HER. There is no impiety, if you give pleasure to my heart. HYL. Do you command me then justly to perform these things? HER. I do I call the gods to witness. : HYL. I will therefore obey, and no longer refuse, having made it manifest to the gods that this is your deed. For I shall never appear base, O father, acting at least in obedience to your commands. HER. You conclude well; and, in addition to this, make, O my son, your favour speedy, so that, before any torture or pang assail me, you may place me on the pyre. Come, exert yourselves, raise me up: my respite from evils is the final close of my life. HYL. But there is no obstacle for these things to be accomplished for you, since, father, you command and compel me. HER. Come now, my stern spirit, before this disease be awakened, shewing a stone set bit of steel', and restrain la 1 See Hermann's note in his last ed. and Liddell's Lex. s. v. λ00κολλ. Β. mentation, as accomplishing this deed, though involuntary; as a deed of joy. HYL. Raise him up, ye attendants, greatly forgiving me for these deeds, and being sensible of the great injustice of the gods, who, though they gave him being, and are called his fathers, can endure to look on these sufferings. The future, indeed, no one foresees; but the events now present are lamentable to us, and disgraceful to them, and most bitter to him, of all men, who endures this visitation. Nor do thou, O damsel, remain at home, having seen these recent deaths of the mighty, and these many sufferings of unwonted affliction; and nought is there of these which the hand of Jove hath not wrought. 1 See Hermann. B. 1-8. AJAX. AJAX, having been deprived of the arms of Achilles, which were awarded to Ulysses by the Grecian Assembly, in a fit of madness slaughtered the herds of the Greeks, mistaking them for the persons of the Atridæ. On discovering his mistake, he in despair determines to slay himself, and the play concludes with his burial, which Ulysses advocates, contrary to the wish of Agamemnon. B. MINERVA. Ever, son of Laërtes, have I observed thee hunting after some attempt on thy foes to snatch at it1, and now I see thee at the marine pavilion of Ajax, where he holds his post the last, long since tracking him as thy prey, and measuring his freshly graven foot-prints, that thou mayest discover whether he be within, or not within. Well does thy track, of scent sagacious as the Spartan brach's3, lead 2 Aprάoal. This expression is considered by Musgrave as synonymous with the paprάoαι and žvvαρπáσα of Aristophanes, Nub. V. v. 490, 773. Lobeck, however, quotes Plutarch in support of his opinion, that it bears here the same meaning with the "auras captare " of the Latins. E'en Ajax and Achilles heard the sound, 2 Whose ships, remote, the guarded navy bound. Pope's Iliad, B. XI. v. 11. See also Eurip. Iph. Aul. 292. The lonely situation of Ajax on the beach, chosen by him when he was ἠνορέῃ πίσυνος καὶ κάρτεϊ χειρῶν, is beautifully alluded to here, where it forms so appropriate a stage for the exhibition of his unfriended solitude and desolation of heart. 3 The dogs of Sparta are noticed by Virgil for their swiftness, G. iii. 405; which quality Shakspeare has remarked in his Midsummer Night's Dream, and elsewhere speaks of them in a passage perhaps yet more applicable to Ulysses: |