§1449utinam liceret stipite ingesto impiam §1450effringere animam quale Amazonium malum §1451circa nivalis Caucasi domui latus.
Hercules: Would that I were allowed, by swinging my club, to shatter her impious soul, just like the Amazonian plague I subdued around the side of snowy Caucasus.
§1452o cara Megara, tune cum furerem mihi
O dear Megara, were you my wife when I was raving?
§1453coniunx fuisti? stipitem atque arcus date.
Give me my club and bow.
Let my right hand be defiled, let me imprint a stain upon my praises; let the ultimate labor of Hercules be read as a woman.
§1456Compesce diras, genitor, irarum minas; §1457habet, peractum est, quas petis poenas dedit: §1458sua perempta dextera mater iacet.
Hyllus: Restrain, father, the dread threats of your anger; she has her reward, it is finished, she has paid the penalty you seek: our mother lies dead, slain by her own right hand.
Hercules: She fell by deceit: she deserved to die by the hands of angry Hercules; Lichas has lost his companion.
Impulse and anger compel me to rage against her very lifeless body; why does the corpse itself escape my threats?
§1463ipsum cadaver? pabulum accipiant ferae.
Let the wild beasts receive it as food.
§1464Plus misera laeso doluit: hinc aliquid quoque
Hyllus: The wretched woman suffered more than you, the injured one; would you wish to subtract something even from this?
She died by her own hand, because of your pain: she bore more than you demand.
§1467sed non cruentae sceleribus nuptae iaces §1468nec fraude matris: Nessus hos struxit dolos §1469ictus sagittis qui tuis vitam expuit.
But you do not lie low through the crimes of a bloody bride, nor by the deceit of my mother: Nessus contrived these wiles, who, struck by your arrows, spat out his life.
The cloak was stained with the blood of the half-beast, father, and Nessus now exacts this penalty for himself.
§1472Habet, peractum est, fata se nostra explicant; §1473lux ista summa est: quercus hanc sortem mihi §1474fatidica quondam dederat et Parnassio §1475Cirrhaea quatiens templa mugitu specus: §1476'dextra perempti victor, Alcide, viri §1477olim iacebis; hic tibi emenso freta §1478terrasque et umbras finis extremus datur. ' §1479nil querimur ultra: decuit hunc finem dari, §1480ne quis superstes Herculis victor foret.
Hercules: He has his vengeance, it is finished; my fates unfold themselves; this light is my last: the prophetic oak once had given this lot to me, and the cave shaking the Cirrhaean temples with Parnassian roaring: 'By the right hand of a slain man, Alcides, you, the victor, will one day lie low; here, having traversed seas, lands, and shades, your ultimate end is given to you.' We complain of nothing further: it was fitting for this end to be given, lest any survivor should be the conqueror of Hercules.
Now let a bright, memorable, renowned death be chosen, fully worthy of me; I shall make this day noble.
Let every forest be cut down and the Oetaean grove sink down: let a huge pyre receive Hercules.
§1485sed ante mortem, tu, genus Poeantium, §1486hoc triste nobis, iuvenis, officium appara; §1487Herculea totum flamma succendat diem.
But before death, you, offspring of Poeas, young man, prepare this sad duty for us; let the Herculean flame set the whole day ablaze.
§1488ad te preces nunc, Hylle, supremas fero.
Now, Hyllus, I bring my last prayers to you.
§1489est clara captas inter, in voltu genus §1490regnumque referens, Euryto virgo edita §1491Iole: tuis hanc facibus et thalamis para.
There is a renowned maiden among the captives, reflecting her lineage and kingdom in her face, Iole, born of Eurytus: prepare her for your torches and bridal chamber.
§1492victor cruentus abstuli patriam lares §1493nihilque miserae praeter Alciden dedi: §1494et ipse rapitur, penset aerumnas suas,
As a bloody victor, I took away her homeland and household gods, and gave nothing to the wretched girl except Alcides: and he himself is snatched away.
Let her compensate for her distresses, let her cherish the grandson of Jupiter and son of Hercules; let her bear for you whatever she has from us.
And do you yourself, I pray, put aside your funeral lamentations, o renowned mother: Alcides lives for you.
By my virtue I made your rival be believed to be a stepmother.
sive nascente Hercule §1501nox illa certa est sive mortalis meus §1502pater est— licet sit falsa progenies mei, §1504merui parentem: contuli caelo decus §1505materque me concepit in laudes Iovis.
Whether that night was certain at the birth of Hercules, or my father is mortal—although my lineage may be false, I have deserved such a parent: I brought glory to heaven, and my mother conceived me for the praises of Jupiter.
§1506quin ipse, quamquam Iuppiter, credi meus §1507pater esse gaudet; parce iam lacrimis, parens: §1508superba matres inter Argolicas eris.
Nay, even he, although Jupiter, rejoices to be believed to be my father; spare now your tears, parent: you will be proud among Argive mothers.
What such child did Juno bear, holding the ethereal sceptre and married to the Thunderer?
§1511caelum tenens invidit.
Yet, ruling heaven, she envied a mortal.
Alciden suum §1512dici esse voluit, perage nunc.
She wished Alcides to be called her own.
Complete now, Titan, your course, left alone: I, who had been your companion everywhere, seek Tartarus and the shades.
§1515hanc tamen ad imos perferam laudem inclutam. §1516quod nulla pestis fudit Alciden palam ' §1517omnemque pestem vicit Alcides palam. §1518O decus mundi, radiate Titan, §1519cuius ad primos Hecate vapores §1520lassa nocturnae levat ora bigae.
Yet I shall carry this glorious praise to the deepest depths: 'that no plague openly destroyed Alcides, and Alcides openly conquered every plague.' Chorus: O glory of the world, radiant Titan, at whose first rays Hecate relaxes the weary faces of her nocturnal team.
§1521. dic sub Aurora positis Sabaeis, §1522dic sub occasu positis Hiberis, §1523quique sub plaustro patiuntur ursae §1524quique ferventi quatiuntur axe, §1525dic sub aeternos properare manes §1526Herculem et regnum canis inquieti, §1527unde non umquam remeabit ille.
Tell the Sabaeans placed under the Dawn, tell the Iberians placed under the setting sun, and those who suffer under the wagon of the Bear, and those who are shaken under the burning axis, tell that Hercules is hastening to the eternal shades and the realm of the restless dog, whence he will never return.
§1528sume quos nubes radios sequantur, §1529pallidus maestas speculare terras §1530et caput turpes nebulae pererrent.
Take rays which clouds may follow; pale, gaze upon the mournful lands, and let unsightly mists wander over your head.
When, alas Titan, where, under what sky will you ever follow another Hercules on earth?
§1533quas manus orbis miser invocabit, §1534si qua sub Lenia numerosa pestis §1535sparget in centum rabiem dracones, §1536Arcadum si quis populis vetustis §1537fecerit silvas aper inquietas,
What hands will the wretched world invoke, if any numerous plague under Lerna scatters madness into a hundred snakes, or if any boar makes the woods restless for the ancient peoples of the Arcadians,