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Enter Hyllus
Deianeira
My child, my son, wise sayings sometimes come
even from humble people like this woman.
She is a slave, but what she says rings free.
Hyllus
What, mother? Tell me, if it may be told.
Deianeira
That, since your father has been gone so long,
it is disgraceful for you not to seek him.
Hyllus
There is no need, if what I hear is true.
Deianeira
Child, has some rumor told you where he is?
Hyllus
They say he spent the whole long plowing season
70working in bondage for a Lydian woman.
Deianeira
If he has borne this, nothing will surprise me!
Hyllus
But now, I hear, he has escaped that labor.
Deianeira
Where is he living then . . . or is he dead?
Hyllus
They say that he is warring - or soon will -
against Euboea, Eurytus's city.
Deianeira
Are you aware, my child, that he left with me
sure oracles about that very land?
Hyllus
What are they, mother? I know nothing of them.
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The Women of Trachis and Philoctetes. A new translation in verse by Robert Torrance. Houghton Mifflin. 1966.
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