by Sophocles
MESSENGER
It’s not so easy for him, ma’am. The whole
town of Malia crushes around him,
asking questions. He’s stuck there—everyone
intent on learning what interests them.
They won’t let him go till each hears his fill.
That ruckus holds him there unwillingly,
but I’m sure you’ll see him in person soon.
DEIANEIRA
O Zeus,
who keeps the highlands of Mount Oita green, 250
you’ve given us some joy at last! Sing out
your gladness at this news, you women
in the house and come from town, brilliant news
beyond all hope, that dawns on me, on us!
CHORUS
Let the house
that awaits
its bridegroom
sing out in joy
triumphant
from its hearth!
Let shouts from the men 260
in one great voice
go to the god Apollo
whose keen bright
arrows protect us!
Join them, girls,
sing the anthem
to Artemis, his sister, let
your voices carry
to her hunting deer 270
in fields where quail fly!
Sing to the goddess
whose torches blaze
in both her hands, sing
to her neighbors
the nymphs!
I’m soaring!
I won’t deny you,
flute, king of my soul!
Ivy is working 280
green magic
through my body—
Haiiiii! Eiiiiiiii!—
ivy whirls me
into the flashing
dance of Bakkhos!
Praise Bakkhos
who heals us!
Look over there,
beloved lady. 290
What I am singing
your eyes can see!
DEIANEIRA
I see them, girls. My eyes
have been scanning the horizon.
Enter LIKHAS leading several of the Captive Women up the path. The group includes the strikingly young and sensual Iole.
You’ve come a long way, Likhas. We’re glad you’re here,
if it’s true that your news will make us glad.
LIKHAS
Our coming is good news—and the facts I bring
will justify your welcome. When a man’s been
lucky, he should be greeted as a friend.
DEIANEIRA
Then tell me, friend, what I most want to hear. 300
Will I see Herakles come home alive?
LIKHAS
Not only was he alive when I left him,
he was robust. Not sick in any way.
DEIANEIRA
Where is he? Home, or still on foreign soil?
LIKHAS
A headland juts west from Euboea. Herakles
is on it making sacrifices to Zeus.
He builds altars and offers to the gods
some of the wealth he’s won by making war.
DEIANEIRA
To keep a vow? Or was an oracle involved?
LIKHAS
A vow. He keeps the vow he made 310
when he conquered a country
and stripped it of these women here.
DEIANEIRA notices the Captive Women entering under guard.
DEIANEIRA
These women—who are they? Who owns them?
I feel so sorry for them. Or am I wrong
to think that they’ll be slaves?
LIKHAS
He picked them out when he raided Eurytus’ city.
Splendid prizes for himself. And the gods.
DEIANEIRA
Was it that raid against a city—which
lasted longer than anyone predicted?
So long I lost all track of the days? 320
LIKHAS
No. He was in Lydia most of that time—
not a free man, he told us, but enslaved.
You won’t take offense at the word “enslaved,”
lady, when you hear the reason Zeus willed it.
Herakles was bought by a foreign queen
named Omphale for a full year. He admits it.
He was so mortified by this disgrace
he vowed to make the man who had caused it,
as well as his wife and daughter, slaves themselves.
Not idle words. When he’d done a year’s 330
penance for this crime, he hired
an army to lay siege to that man’s
city—making Eurytus pay dearly,
the man most to blame for his troubles.
Herakles was an old comrade of this Eurytus,
and had sought refuge—in friendship—under his roof.
But Eurytus abused Herakles, lashing him
with vicious words meant to wound him:
“Your arrows never miss, do they Herakles?
How come my sons beat you in competition? 340
What’s more, you’re now a mere slave who grovels
when a free man barks at you.” When Herakles
got drunk on wine at a feast, Eurytus kicked him
out of the house. Herakles was enraged.
So one day, when Eurytus’ son scrambles
high up Mount Tiryns tracking some lost horses,
he drops his guard while his eyes search
the vast plain below him. Herakles grabs
the preoccupied lad and throws him
off a sky-high cliff to his death. 350
This murder disgusted our real king,
Olympian Zeus, father of us all,
who had Herakles sold
as a slave to another country.
With no parole allowed, since he’d
killed Iphitus by deceit—the only
man Herakles ever killed that way.
Had he killed his man fairly,
Zeus would have pardoned him.
Gods don’t appreciate insolence 360
any more than we do.
Now all those men
he killed, so full of themselves, bursting
with arrogant and bitter things to say—
they’re down in Hades, their town’s enslaved.
Their women I’ve brought here trade their lives
of ease for a much less pleasant existence.
Your husband ordered this, so I loyally
carry it out. Once he has sacrificed to Zeus,
the god who fathered him, in thanks for his
victory, you can be sure he’ll come to you. 370
Of all my news, this last must please you most.
LEADER
It’s certain you’ll be happy, Queen. Half your joy
has arrived, and the rest is on the way.
DEIANEIRA
Why shouldn’t news of my husband’s success
make me happy? Such good fortune must
always be celebrated. But a cautious mind
will feel apprehension for any man
who has so much luck. He could lose it all.
DEIANEIRA looks at the Captive Women.
My friends, I feel a strange pity,
looking at these sorry captives— 380
exiles who’ve lost their fathers and their homes.
Once they were daughters of free men.
Now they’ll be slaves for the rest of their lives.
Zeus, decider of battles, grant
me this: don’t ever punish my children
the way you are punishing these girls.
But if it must happen, do it when I’m gone.
That’s how much looking at them scares me.
DEIANEIRA approaches Iole.
You poor girl! Who are you? Are you married?
Have you a child? You look so innocent. 390
And so wellborn.
Who is her father, Likhas?
Her mother—who is she? Out with it!
I pity her more than the other women
because she seems to know what to expect.
LIKHAS
Why ask me? How should I know? Could be
her father’s not the poorest man in his kingdom.
DEIANEIRA
Is she royal? Did Eurytus have a daughter?
LIKHAS
I don’t know. Sorry. I didn’t ask many questions.
DEIANEIRA
Didn’t her friends ever mention her name?
LIKHAS
No, ma’am. I had a job to do. No time for chat. 400
DEIANEIRA again approaches Iole.
DEIANEIRA
You tell me then, poor girl. It upsets me
that I don’t even know your name.
LIKHAS
It won’t be like her if she speaks. She hasn’t
spoken a word. She’s done nothing but cry
miserable tears the whole way here
from her windswept home, devastated
by what the Goddess of Luck
has done to her. Let’s respect that.
DEIANEIRA
Let her be. Let her go inside if she wishes.
I won’t add to the pain she’s been through. 410
She’s had enough. Let’s all go in—so you
can make an early start on your journey
while I see to some things in my house.
LIKHAS and Captive Women start to go inside; the MESSENGER edges closer to DEIANEIRA as she follows them inside.
MESSENGER
(to DEIANEIRA)
Don’t go inside just yet. Let all these folk
move out of earshot, so I can tell you
some things you haven’t heard. Things I know.
DEIANEIRA
What things? Why are you keeping me here?
MESSENGER
Stay and hear me out. You valued what I told you
before. You’ll value what I tell you now.
DEIANEIRA
Shall we call everyone back? Or do you want 420
to speak only to me and these women?
LIKHAS pauses in the doorway as he notices that the MESSENGER has taken DEIANEIRA aside.
MESSENGER
I can speak freely to you—and these women.
Don’t bother the others.
DEIANEIRA waves for LIKHAS to go inside. He and the Captive Women disappear into the house.
DEIANEIRA
They’re gone. Go ahead.
MESSENGER
None of what that man just told you is true.
Either he was lying to you here, or
lying to the rest of us a while back.
DEIANEIRA
What are you saying? Collect
your thoughts. Speak distinctly.
So far your words just puzzle me.
MESSENGER
I heard that man say—in front of witnesses— 430
that the girl was the real reason Herakles
crushed Eurytus and his city Oechalia.
It was Love, that god alone, who made him fight—
not his bondage to Omphale in Lydia.
It had nothing to do with Iphitus’ death.
Likhas has pushed the true story aside
so he can tell you a much different one.
Now, when Herakles couldn’t persuade
her father to let him bed this young girl
in secret, he blew up a minor insult 440
as a pretext to make war on her country—
then killed Eurytus and plundered his city.
Please try to see that it’s no accident
he sends her to this house. She won’t be a slave.
That’s not likely to happen, when his heart’s
burning for her.
I vowed, Queen, to tell you
everything I’ve heard from that man.
Many others heard him say it, along with me—
Trakhinian men gathered in the market—
who’ll back me up and convict him. 450
If what I say hurts, I’m sorry.
But I’ve told you the straight truth.
DEIANEIRA
I’m in shock. What is happening to me?
Who is this secret rival I give houseroom?
I’m so stupid! She doesn’t have a name,
as Likhas swore to me? No name? A girl
with such striking looks and royal bearing?
MESSENGER
She has a name. Her father is Eurytus
and her name is Iole. If Likhas
can’t tell you her name or her family’s, 460
it must be—as he says—because he never asked.
LEADER
(to DEIANEIRA)
Treachery to those who trust you
seems to me the worst kind of evil.
DEIANEIRA
What should I do, friends? That last piece
of news leaves me dumbfounded.
LEADER
Bring Likhas back. Question him. Maybe he’ll
tell you the truth if you force him to talk.
DEIANEIRA
That’s good advice. Exactly what I’ll do.
MESSENGER
Should I stay? What would you like me to do?
DEIANEIRA
Wait here. Likhas is coming without my asking. 470
Enter LIKHAS.
LIKHAS
Lady, have you a message for Herakles?
If you do, instruct me. As you see, I’m off.
DEIANEIRA
You’re leaving in a big hurry—for someone
who took so long getting here—and before
we’ve had time to finish our conversation.
LIKHAS
If there’s something you want to ask, I’ll oblige.
DEIANEIRA
Can I trust you to tell me the truth?
LIKHAS
You can—if I know it. Zeus will know if I lie.
DEIANEIRA
Who is that woman you’ve brought here?
LIKHAS
She’s from Euboea. From what clan I can’t say. 480
MESSENGER
You! Look at me. Who are you talking to?
LIKHAS
Who are you? Why ask me such a question?
MESSENGER
You understand me well enough to answer.
LIKHAS
I’m talking to Queen Deianeira—unless I’m blind.
Herakles’ wife, Oeneus’ daughter. My Queen.
MESSENGER
Your Queen. That’s what I hoped you’d say.
So what does that make you?
LIKHAS
Her loyal servant.
MESSENGER
Right. What’s the penalty for disloyalty?
LIKHAS
Disloyal how? What word game are you playing? 490
MESSENGER
If someone’s playing games with words, you are.
LIKHAS
I’m a fool to put up with this. I’m gone.
MESSENGER
No! Not till you answer one brief question.
LIKHAS
Ask it. You don’t seem bashful in the least.
MESSENGER
That girl slave you brought here—you know the one?
LIKHAS
I know the one. What about her?
MESSENGER
Didn’t you tell us that this captive—the one
your eyes keep trying to avoid—
is Iole, Eurytus’ daughter?
LIKHAS
Said that to whom? Where’s the witness 500
who swears to have heard me say that?
MESSENGER
You said it to the whole town in the main square—
many Trakhinians heard you say it.
LIKHAS
Right. It’s something I’d heard secondhand.
That’s not the same as swearing it was true.
MESSENGER
Secondhand, eh? You swore on oath
you brought this girl to be Herakles’ wife!
LIKHAS
Me? Bringing him a wife? For god’s sake, Queen,
please tell me who this stranger is?
MESSENGER
I’m the man who heard you say that a city 510
was leveled out of lust for her—no Lydian woman
destroyed it—it was desire for that girl.
LIKHAS
Lady, get rid of him. It’s undignified
for a sane person to conduct a ludicrous
quarrel with a man sick in the mind.
DEIANEIRA
By Zeus!—whose lightning scorches mountain glens,
don’t cheat me of the truth! Tell it to me!
You won’t find me a spiteful woman, or
one ignorant of what people are like.
I know the things that pleasure men can change. 520
Someone who picks a fight and trades blows
with Eros the love god is so foolish.
Eros rules even the gods, and he rules me
just as he rules any woman like me.
I would be mad if I blamed my husband
because he’s lovesick—mad to blame that girl,
who has done nothing shameful, nor harmed me.
I can’t think like that.
But if you were taught
to lie by him, you learned a vulgar lesson.
If you’re a self-taught liar, you’ll always seem 530
treacherous when you’re trying to be kind.
Tell me the truth, all of it. To be called a liar
is the worst reproach a free man can suffer.
Don’t think I won’t find it all out. Many men
heard you, and they’ll tell me what you said.
DEIANEIRA pauses. LIKHAS says nothing.
You’re worried you’ll hurt me? You fear the wrong thing.
Not knowing the truth—that could damage me. What’s
so terrible about finding out? Herakles
has been to bed with so many women—
more than any man living. Never once 540
has one of these women—ever—heard me speak
a harsh or jealous word. Nor will
she, even if she returns all
the affection he feels for her.
I pitied her as soon as I saw her
because her beauty has ruined her life.
And though she never willed it, her beauty
has looted and enslaved her fatherland.
