CHOR. Advance, advance; go into the recesses of the house.
(ADM. Oh! Oh!)
Thou hast suffered things that demand groans.
(ADM. Alas! alas!)
Thou hast gone through grief, I well know.
(ADM. Woe! Woe!)
Thou nothing aidest her that is beneath.
(ADM. Ah me! me!)
Never to see thy dear wife's face again before thee, is severe.
ADM. Thou hast made mention of that which ulcerated my soul; for what can be greater ill to man than to lose his faithful wife? Would that I never had married and dwelt with her in the palace. But I judge happy those, who are unmarried and childless; for theirs is one only life, for this to grieve is a moderate burden: but to behold the diseases of children, and the bridal bed wasted by death, is not supportable, when it were in one's power to be without children and unmarried the whole of life.