Dramatis Perfonæ..

HERCULES.

HYLLUS, his Son.

DEIANIR A, wife of HERCULES.

LICHA S, a Herald.

ATTENDANT on DEIANIRA.

NURSE.

OLD MAN.

MESSENGER.

CHORUS,

Compofed of VIRGINS of Trachis.

SCENE before the palace of CEY X in Trachis.

(95)

TRACHINI Æ.

ACTI

SCENE I

DEIANIRA, ATTENDANT.

DEIA NIRA.

F antient fame, and long for truth receiv'd,

Hath been the maxim, that nor good nor ill

Can mortal life be call'd before we dye;

Alas! it is not fo; for, O! my friends,

E'er

Trachinia. The titles of the antient tragedies were ufually given them either from the perfons concern'd, the bufinefs of the drama, or the place where it was tranfacted: the Trachiniæ is fo call'd from Trachis, a fmall country of Phthiotis in Theffaly: to this place, Deianira had accompanied Hercules in his voluntary banishment, and remain'd under the protection of Ceyx the king, during the absence of her husband on his expedition to OEchalia.

Nor good, nor ill, &c. This obfervation is generally attributed to Solon, who lived long after Deianira; Sophocles is therefore here accused of an anachronism; but as the remark is no lefs obvious than true, we need not be. furprised to find it quoted as proverbial, even in the earliest ages.

E'er to the fhades of Orcus I defcend,
Too well I know that Deianira's life
Hath ever been, and ever must be wretched :
Whilst in my native Pleuron, Æneus watch'd
My tender years with kind paternal care,
If ever woman fuffer'd from the dread
Of hated nuptials, I endur'd the worst
And bitt'reft woes, when Achelous came,
The river-god, to ask a father's voice
And snatch me to his arms; with triple form
He came affrighting; now, to fight appear'd
A bull, and now with motley scales adorn'd
A wreathed ferpent, now with human fhape
And beftial head united; from his beard,
Shadow'd with hair, as from a fountain, drip'd
The ever-flowing water; horrid form !

This to escape, my pray'rs inceffant rose,

That I might rather dye than e'er approach

His

Pleuron. A city of Ætolia, and the refidence of Eneus, king of that coutnry, and father of Deianira.

Achelous. A famous river, arifing out of mount Pindus, and dividing Ætolia from Acarnania; the fabulous account of his perfon and power, is received by the antient poets, and explain'd by the mythologifts; for a full detail of this extraordinary courtship, the reader may turn to the inftructive Ovid. See met, b. 9.