A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

234 Sicilian Expedition to End of War
Cho. I had a kinsman once, within whose home died
his only son, worthy of a father's tears; yet in spite of that
he bore his grief resignedly, childless
though he was, his
hair already turning grey, himself far on in years, upon
life's downward track.
Adm. O house of mine, how can I enter thee? How
can I live here, now that fortune turns against me? Ah
me! How wide the gulf 'twixt then and now! Then with
Pelion, a torches cut from Pelion's pines, with marriage hymns I
Thessaly. entered in, holding my dear wife's hand; and at our back
a crowd of friends with cheerful cries, singing the happy
lot of my wife and me, calling us a noble pair made one,
children both of highborn lineage; but now the voice of
woe instead of wedding hymns, and robes of black instead
of snowy white, usher me into my house to my
deserted couch.
Chor. Hard upon prosperous fortune came this sorrow
to thee, a stranger to adversity; yet hast thou saved thy
soul alive. Thy wife is dead and gone; her love she leaves
with thee. What new thing is here? Death ere now from
many a man hath torn a wife.
He prefers Adm. My friends, I count my dead wife's lot more
to die.
blest than mine, for all it
seems not so; for nevermore can
sorrow touch her forever; all her toil is over, and glorious
is her fame. While I, who had no right to live, have
passed the bounds of fate only to live a life of misery; I
know it now. For how shall I endure to enter this my
house? Whom shall I address, by whom be answered
back, to find aught joyful in my entering in? Whither
shall I turn?
Within, the desolation will drive me forth,
whensoever I see my widowed couch, the seat whereon
she sat, the floor all dusty in the house, and my babes
falling at my knees with piteous tears for their mother,