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EURIPIDES.
Herakles.
How say'st thou?—Ha, even then ye gave me welcome?
Servant.
For shame he could not thrust thee from these doors.
Herakles.
O hapless! what a helpmeet hast thou lost!
Servant.
We have all perished, and not she alone. 825
Herakles.
I felt it, when I saw his tear-drowned eyes,
His shaven hair, and face: yet he prevailed,
Saying he bare a stranger-friend to burial.
I passed this threshold in mine heart's despite,
And drank in halls of him that loves the guest, 830
When thus his plight!—And am I revelling
With head wreath-decked?—That thou should'st ne'er have told,
When such affliction lay upon the home!
Where doth he bury her? Where shall I find her?
Servant.
By the straight path that leads Larissa-wards 835
Shalt see the hewn-stone tomb without the walls.
Herakles.
O much-enduring heart and soul of mine,
Now show what son the Lady of Tiryns bare,
Elektryon's child Alkmênê, unto Zeus.