dst not
tell me that it was thy wife's corse that demanded thy attention; but didst
receive me in thy house, as though occupied in grief for one not thine. And
I crowned my head and poured out to the Gods libations in thy house which
had suffered this calamity. And I _do_ blame thee, I blame thee, having met
with this treatment! not that I wish to grieve thee in thy miseries. But
wherefore I am come, having turned back again, I will tell thee. Receive
and take care of this woman for me, until I come hither driving the
Thracian mares, having slain the king of the Bistonians. But if I meet with
what I pray I may not meet with, (for may I return!) I give thee her as an
attendant of thy palace. But with much toil came she into my hands; for I
find some who had proposed a public contest for wrestlers, worthy of my
labors, from whence I bear off her, having received her as the prize of my
victory; for those who conquered in the lighter exercises had to receive
horses, but those again who conquered in the greater, the boxing and the
wrestling, cattle, and a woman was added to these; but in me, who happened
to be there, it had been base to neglect this glorious gain. But, as I
said, the woman ought to be a care to you, for I am come not having
obtained her by stealth, but with labor; but at some time or other thou too
wilt perhaps commend me for it.

ADM. By no means slighting thee, nor considering thee among mine enemies,
did I conceal from thee the unhappy fate of my wife; but this had been a
grief added to grief, if thou hadst gone to the house of another host: but
it was sufficient for me to weep my own calamity. But the woman, if it is
in any way possible, I beseech thee, O king, bid some one of the
Thessalians, who has not suffered what I have, to take care of (but thou
hast many friends among the Pheraeans) lest thou remind me of my
misfortunes. I can not, beholding her in the house, refrain from weeping;
add not a sickness to me already sick; for I am enough weighed down with
misery. Where besides in the house can a youthful woman be maintained? for
she is youthful, as she evinces by her garb and her attire; shall she then
live in the men's apartment? And how will she be undefiled, living among
young men? A man in his vigor, Hercules, it is no easy thing to restrain;
but I have a care for thee. Or can I maintain her, having made her enter
the chamber of her that is dead? And how can I introduce her into her bed?
I fear a