Sooner shall western skies give birth to day;335

Sooner shall men of India make their home

Beneath the icy pole, and Phoebus tan

With his hot rays the shivering Scythians,

Than shall the dames of Thessaly behold

My downfall. For with my own blood I'll quench

The marriage torches. Either he shall die,

Or slay me with his hand. To all the beasts340

Whom he has slaughtered let him add his wife;

Let me be numbered 'mongst his mighty deeds;