The chorus expatiates upon the fact that the blows of fate fall heavily upon men of exalted condition, but spare the humble. The great Theseus, once so mighty a monarch, but now so full of woe, is an example of this truth. It has not profited him to escape from hades, since now his son has hastened thither.
But now their attention is turned to Phaedra who appears, wailing aloud, and with a drawn sword in hand. She rails at Theseus as the destroyer of his house, weeps over the mangled remains of Hippolytus, confesses to Theseus that her charge against his son was false, and ends by falling upon the sword.
Theseus, utterly crushed by the weight of woe that has fallen upon him, prays only that he may return to the dark world from which he has just escaped.
The chorus reminds him that he will find ample time for mourning, and that he should now pay due funeral honors to his son. Whereat Theseus bids all the fragments be hunted out and brought before him. These he fits together as best he can, lamenting bitterly as each new gory part is brought to him.
He ends by giving curt command for the burial of Phaedra, with a prayer that the earth may rest heavily upon her.
THE MAIDENS OF TRACHIN OF SOPHOCLES, AND THE HERCULES OETAEUS OF SENECA
Prologue.—In the courtyard of her palace in Trachin, Deianira recounts to her attendants and the chorus of Trachinian maidens how her husband had won her from the river god, Acheloüs, and how, during all these years, she has lived in fear and longing for her husband, who has been kept constantly wandering over the earth by those who hold him in their power; and even now he has been for many months absent, she knows not where.
An old servant proposes that she send her son, Hyllus, abroad to seek out his father. This the youth, who enters at this juncture, readily promises to do, especially on hearing from his mother that the oracle declares this is the year in which his father shall end his life,
Or, having this his task accomplished,