to the death, attending on Dictynna, awful queen. No more will he mount his car drawn by Venetian steeds, filling the course round Limna with the prancing[1] of his trained horses. Nevermore in his father's house shall he wake the Muse that never slept beneath his lute-strings; no hand will crown the spots where rests the maiden Latona 'mid the boskage deep; nor evermore shall our virgins vie to win thy love, now thou art banished; while I with tears at thy unhappy fate shall endure a lot all undeserved. Ah! hapless mother, in vain didst thou bring forth, it seems. I am angered with the gods; out upon them! O ye linkèd Graces, why are ye sending from his native land this poor youth, a guiltless sufferer, far from his home?
But lo! I see a servant of Hippolytus hasting with troubled looks towards the palace.
2nd Mes. Ladies, where may I find Theseus, king of the country? pray, tell me if ye know; is he within the palace here?
Cho. Lo! himself approaches from the palace.
2nd Mes. Theseus, I am the bearer of troublous tidings to thee and all citizens who dwell in Athens or the bounds of Trœzen.
The. How now? hath some strange calamity o'ertaken these two neighbouring cities?
2nd Mes. In one brief word, Hippolytus is dead. 'Tis true one slender thread still links him to the light of life.
The. Who slew him? Did some husband come to blows with him, one whose wife, like mine, had suffered brutal violence?
2nd Mes. He perished through those steeds that drew his chariot, and through the curses thou didst utter, praying to thy sire, the ocean-king, to slay thy son.
- ↑ Reading with Reiske, whom Nauck follows, γυμνάδος ἵππου. If the accus. plural is retained it would seem to mean, "checking with his foot (i.e. pressed against the chariot-front) his steeds."
