give ear to a father’s prayer; if your august will, if destiny 5
has in store for me the safe return of my Pallas, if life
will make me see him and meet him once more, then I
pray that I may live; there is no trial I cannot bear to
outlast. But if thou, dark Fortune, threatenest any unnamed
calamity, now, oh, now, be it granted me to snap 10
life’s ruthless thread, while care wears a double face,
while hope cannot spell the future, while you, darling boy,
my love and late delight, are still in my arms: nor let
my ears be pierced by tidings more terrible.” So was the