braces. Thou shall not escape, however, although
thou dost confide[15] in thy powers of a horse; with a wound, {and} not
with my feet, will I overtake thee." {These} last words he confirms by
deeds, and pierces him through the back, as he is flying, with an arrow
discharged {at him}. The barbed steel stands out from his breast; soon
as it is wrenched out, the blood gushes forth from both wounds, mingled
with the venom of the Lernaean poison. Nessus takes it out, and says to
himself, "And yet I shall not die unrevenged;" and gives his garment,
dyed in the warm blood, as a present to her whom he is carrying off,
as though an incentive to love.

Long was the space of intervening time, and the feats of the mighty
Hercules and the hatred of his step-mother had filled the earth.
{Returning} victorious from Oechalia, he is preparing a sacrifice which
he had vowed to Cenaean Jupiter,[16] when tattling Rumour (who takes
pleasure in adding false things to the truth, and from a very little
{beginning}, swells to a great bulk by her lies) runs before to thy
ears, Deianira, {to the effect} that the son of Amphitryon is seized
with a passion for Iole. As she loves him, she believes it; and being
alarmed with the report of this new amour, at first she indulges in
tears and in her misery gives vent to her grief in weeping. Soon,
however, she says, "But why do I weep? My rival will be delighted with
these tears; and since she is coming I must make haste, and some
contrivance must be resolved on while it is {still} possible, and while,
as yet, another has not taken possession of my bed. Shall I complain,
or shall I be silent? Shall I return to Calydon, or shall I stay here?
Shall I depart from this abode? or, if nothing more, shall I oppose
{their entrance}? What if, O Meleager, remembering that I am thy sister,
I resolve on a desperate deed, and testify, by murdering my rival, how
much, injury and a woman's grief can effect?"

Her mind wavers, amid various resolves. Before them all, she prefers to
send the garment dyed in the blood of Nessus, to restore strength to his
declining love. Not knowing herself what she is giving, she delivers
{the cause of} her own sorrows to the unsuspecting Lichas,[17] and bids
him, in gentle words, to deliver this most fatal gift to her husband. In
his ignorance, the hero receives it, and places upon his shoulders the
venom of the Lernaean Echidna. He is placing frankincense on the rising
flames, and {is