Forth came at once the slaves with lighted lamps.

The house was all astir with hurrying feet.

But when they saw the suckling Heracles

With the two brutes grasped firm in his soft hands,

They shouted with one voice. But he must show

The reptiles to Amphitryon; held aloft

His hands in childish glee, and laughed and laid

At his sire's feet the monsters still in death.

Then did Alcmena to her bosom take

The terror-blanched and passionate Iphicles: