No stately trees bear apple-laden boughs;700

But sterile wastes defile those lonely depths,

And in eternal sloth the foul earth lies.

Here lie the lonesome remnants of the world.

The air hangs motionless; and thick night broods

Upon a sluggish, horror-stricken land.705

The place of death is worse than death itself.

Amphitr.: And what of him who rules those dusky realms?

Where sits he as he rules his shadowy folk?

Theseus: There is a place in an obscure recess