SEMICHORUS.
Alas for visions that were,
And soothsayings spoken in sleep.
SECOND MESSENGER.
But the king twitched his reins in and leapt down
And caught him, crying out twice 'O child' and thrice,
So that men's eyelids thickened with their tears.
SEMICHORUS.
Lament with a long lamentation,
Cry, for an end is at hand.
SECOND MESSENGER.
O son, he said, son, lift thine eyes, draw breath,
Pity me; but Meleager with sharp lips
Gasped, and his face waxed like as sunburnt grass.
SEMICHORUS.
Cry aloud, O thou kingdom, O nation,
O stricken, a ruinous land.