deed; and he had learned, too late, from the servants in the house that she had acted without knowledge, by the prompting of the Centaur. And now the youth, in his misery, bewailed her with all passionate lament; he knelt, and showered kisses on her lips; he threw himself at her side upon the ground, bitterly crying that he had rashly smitten her with a slander,—weeping,940 that he must now live bereaved of both alike,—of mother and of sire.
Such are the fortunes of this house. Rash indeed, is he who reckons on the morrow, or haply on days beyond it; for to-morrow is not, until to-day is safely past.
str. 1. Ch. Which woe shall I bewail first, which misery is
the greater? Alas, 'tis hard for me to tell.
ant. 1. One sorrow may be seen in the house;950 for one we wait with foreboding: and suspense hath a kinship with pain.
str. 2. Oh that some strong breeze might come with wafting power unto our hearth, to bear me far from this land, lest I die of terror, when I look but once upon the mighty son of Zeus!
For they say that he is approaching the house in torments from which there is no deliverance, a wonder of unutterable woe.960
ant. 2. Ah, it was not far off, but close to us, that woe of which my lament gave warning, like the nightingale's piercing note!
