_Amphitryon:_ Ah now wilt thou sin, Of thine own will and with full consciousness. Have then thy will; we make no further prayer. For now my grief has gained a safe retreat. Thou only canst preserve my son to me; Thou canst not take him from me. For my fear I've sounded to the depths and feel no more. Thou canst no longer give me any pain, 1305 Though happy thou canst make me even yet. Decide then as thou wilt decide: but know That here thy cause and reputation stand In doubtful balance. Either thou dost live, Or thou dost kill thy sire. This fleeting soul, Now worn with age and shattered by its grief, Is trembling on my lips in act to go. 1310 Art thou so slow to grant thy father life? I can no longer brook delay, nor wait To thrust the fatal sword into my breast. And this shall be a sane Alcides' crime. _Hercules:_ Now stay, my father, stay; withhold thy hand. Yield thee, my manhood; do a father's will. 1315 Add this task also to thy former toils-- And live! Lift up my father's fainting form, O Theseus, friend; for these my guilty hands That pious duty shun. _Amphitryon:_ But I with joy Will clasp this hand, with its support I'll walk, 1320 And to my aching heart I'll clasp it close, And banish all my woes. _Hercules:_ Where shall I flee? Where hide myself? What land shall bury me From human sight? What Tanaïs or Nile, What Tigris, with the waves of Persia mad, What warlike Rhine, or Tagus, flowing full 1325 And turgid with Iberia's golden sands, Can ever cleanse this right hand of its stains? Though chill Maeotis pour its icy floods Upon me; though the boundless sea should pour Its waters o'er my hands; still would they be Deep dyed with crime. Where wilt thou take thyself, Thou murderer? Wilt flee to east, or west? 1330 Known everywhere, I have no place of flight. The whole world shrinks from sight of me; the stars Avert their courses from me, and the sun Saw even Cerberus with milder face. O Theseus, faithful friend, seek out a place, 1335 Far off from here, where I may hide myself. Since thou a lenient judge of others' sins Hast ever been, grant mercy now to me. Restore me to the infernal shades, I beg, And load me with the chains thou once didst wear. 1340 That place will hide me--but it knows me too! _Theseus:_ My land awaits thy coming; there will[18] Mars Wash clean thy hands, and give thee back thy arms. That land, O Hercules, now calls to thee, Which even gods from sin is wont to free. FOOTNOTES: [18] Reading, _restituet_. HIPPOLYTUS OR PHAEDRA HIPPOLYTUS OR PHAEDRA DRAMATIS PERSONAE HIPPOLYTUS Son of Theseus and Antiope, an Amazon.