_Chorus:_ Theseus, thou hast unending time to mourn. Now pay the funeral honors due thy son, 1245 And bury these poor torn and scattered limbs. _Theseus:_ Then hither bring the pitiful remains Of that dear corpse, and heap together here That shapeless mass of flesh, those mangled limbs. Is this Hippolytus? I realize My depth of crime, for I have murdered thee. 1250 And lest but once and I alone should sin, A parent, bent to do an impious thing, My father did I summon to my aid. Behold, my father's boon do I enjoy. O childlessness, a bitter loss art thou For broken age! But come, embrace his limbs, Whatever of thy hapless son is left, And clasp them, wretched father, to thy breast. 1255 Arrange in order those dismembered parts, And to their proper place restore them. Here His brave right hand should be. Place here the left, Well trained to curb his horses with the reins. The marks of his left side I recognize; 1260 And yet how large a part is lacking still Unto our tears. Be firm, ye trembling hands, To do the last sad offices of grief; Be dry, my cheeks, and stay your flowing tears, While I count o'er the members of my son, And lay his body out for burial. 1265 What is this shapeless piece, on all sides torn With many a wound? I know not what it is, Save that 'tis part of thee. Here lay it down. Not in its own, but in an empty place. That face, that once with starry splendor gleamed, That softened by its grace e'en foemen's eyes, 1270 Has that bright beauty come to this? O fate, How bitter! Deadly favor of the gods! And is it thus my son comes back to me In answer to my prayers? These final rites Thy father pays, receive, O thou my son, Who often to thy funeral must be borne. And now let fires consume these dear remains. Throw open wide my palace, dark with death, 1275 And let all Athens ring with loud laments. Do some of you prepare the royal pyre, And others seek yet farther in the fields His scattered parts. [_Pointing to_ Phaedra's _corpse_.] Let earth on her be spread, And may it heavy rest upon her head. 1280 HERCULES OETAEUS HERCULES OETAEUS DRAMATIS PERSONAE HERCULES Son of Jupiter and Alcmena. _Hyllus_ Son of Hercules and Deianira. _Alcmena_ Daughter of Electryon, king of Mycenae. _Deianira_ Daughter of Oeneus, king of Aetolia, and wife of Hercules. _Iole_ Daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia. _Nurse_ Of Deianira. _Philoctetes_ A prince of Thessaly, son of Poeas, and the faithful friend of Hercules. _Lichas_ The messenger (_persona muta_) of Deianira to Hercules. _Chorus_ Of Aetolian women, faithful to Deianira.