But I, O Zeus, with hand to heaven upcast
Cry—if for these babes thou hast any help,
Save them; for soon thou nothing shalt avail. 500
Yet oft hast thou been prayed: in vain I toil;
For now, meseems, we cannot choose but die.
Ah friends, old friends, short is the span of life:
See ye pass through it blithely as ye may,
Wasting no time in grief 'twixt morn and eve. 505
For nothing careth Time to spare our hopes:
Swiftly he works his work, and fleets away.
See me, the observed of all observers once,
Doer of deeds of name—in one day all
Fortune hath snatched, as a feather skyward wafted. 510
None know I whose great wealth or high repute
Is sure. Farewell: for him that was your friend
Now for the last time, age-mates, have ye seen.
Herakles appears in the distance.
Megara.
Ha!
Ancient, my dear lord—else what?—do I see?
Amphitryon.
I know not, daughter,—speechless am I struck. 515
Megara.
'Tis he who lay, we heard, beneath the earth,[1]
Except in broad day we behold a dream!
What say I?—see they dreams, these yearning eyes?
This is none other, ancient, than thy son.
- ↑ I follow MSS. in giving 517 to Megara; otherwise τί φημί; seems pointless.
