If I am sane, trust weapons to my hands;
If madness still remains, O father, fly;
For I shall quickly find the road to death.1245
Amphitr.: By holy ties of birth, and by the name
That makes us one, be it of father true,
Or foster-father; by these hoary locks
Which pious souls revere: I pray thee spare
My lonely age and my enfeebled years.
Spare thou thyself to me, the only prop1250
Of this my falling house, the only light