Nurse: Restrain at least thy hand, unhappy child,

That he may know the deed was born of fraud,

And was not purposed by his wife's design.

Deianira: I'll plead my cause before the bar of hell,

Whose gods, I think, will free me from my guilt,

Though I am self-condemned; these guilty hands 935

Will Pluto cleanse for me. Then, on thy banks,

O Lethe, with my memory clean I'll stand,

A grieving shade, awaiting him I love.

But thou, who rulest o'er the world of gloom,