Stasimon 1
[Episode]
Let the brides of tomorrow raise a joyous cry for the house with shouts of triumph at the hearth. Among them let the yell of the men go up in unison for Apollo of the bright quiver, our defender! And at the same time,
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Chorus
maidens, lift up a paean, cry aloud to his sister, Ortygian Artemis, huntress of deer, goddess with torch in each hand,
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and to the nymphs her neighbors!
I am uplifted, I will not spurn the flute—O you master of my heart! Behold, his ivy stirs me! Euoe!
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Quickly it wheels me round in Bacchus’s race! Oh, oh, Paean! Look, dear lady! All is taking shape, plain to see, before your gaze.
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Deianeira
I see it, dear maidens; the sight has not escaped my watchful eyes. I see that procession. I bid the herald joyous welcome after his long absence!—if indeed you bring anything that gives joy.
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Lichas
We are happy in our return, and happy in your greeting,
lady, in accordance with the deed achieved. For when a man has fair fortune, it is his right to win good welcome.
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Deianeira
Most welcome man, tell me first what first I would know—shall I receive Heracles alive?
Lichas
I certainly left him alive and well,
in vigorous health, unburdened by disease.
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Deianeira
Where, tell me—in his ancestral land, or on barbarian soil?
Lichas
There is a headland of Euboea, where to Cenaean Zeus he marks out altars and fruitful ground in tribute.
Deianeira
In payment of a vow, or at the command of an oracle?
Lichas
For a vow, made when he was seeking to conquer and plunder the country of these women whom you see before you.
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Deianeira
And these—who are they, by the gods, and whose daughters? They deserve pity, unless their misfortune deceives me.
Lichas
These are captives whom he
selected as choice spoils for himself and for the gods when he sacked the city of Eurytus.
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Deianeira
Was it in fact the war against that city which kept him away so long, beyond all forecast, past all count of days?
Lichas
No. The greater part of the time he was detained in Lydia, no free man, as he declares,
but sold into servitude. No offense should be taken at my tale, lady, when the deed is found to be Zeus’ work. He passed a whole year, as he himself says, a bought slave to the barbarian Omphale. And so stung was he by the shame of it,
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