r, having learnt them, well apply
To what hath in this house befall'n,
If in the event be any proof,
The event will quickly show.

[AEPYTUS _comes in_.

_AEpytus_

Maidens, assure me if they told me true
Who told me that the royal house was here.

_The Chorus_

Rightly they told thee, and thou art arrived.

_AEpytus_

Here, then, it is, where Polyphontes dwells?

_The Chorus_

He doth; thou hast both house and master right.

_AEpytus_

Might some one straight inform him he is sought?

_The Chorus_

Inform him that thyself, for here he comes.

[POLYPHONTES _comes forth, with_ ATTENDANTS _and_
GUARDS.

_AEpytus_

O King, all hail! I come with weighty news;
Most likely, grateful; but, in all case, sure.

_Polyphontes_

Speak them, that I may judge their kind myself.

_AEpytus_

Accept them in one word, for good or bad:
AEpytus, the Messenian prince, is dead!

_Polyphontes_

Dead!--and when died he? where? and by what hand?
And who art thou, who bringest me such news?

_AEpytus_

He perish'd in Arcadia, where he dwelt
With Cypselus; and two days since he died.
One of the train of Cypselus am I.

_Polyphontes_

Instruct me of the manner of his death.

_AEpytus_

That will I do, and to this end I came.
For, being of like age, of birth not mean,
The son of an Arcadian noble, I
Was chosen his companion from a boy;
And on the hunting-rambles which his heart,
Unquiet, drove him ever to pursue
Through all the lordships of the Arcadian dales,
From chief to chief, I wander'd at his side,
The captain of his squires, and his guard.
On such a hunting-journey, three morns since,
With beaters, hounds, and huntsmen, he and I
Set forth from Tegea, the royal town.
The prince at start seem'd sad, but his regard
Clear'd with blithe travel and the morning air.
We rode from Tegea, through the woods of oaks,
Past Arne spring, where Rhea gave the babe
Poseidon to the shepherd-boys to hide
From Saturn's search among the new-yean'd lambs,
To Mantineia, with its unbaked walls;
Thence, by the Sea-God's Sanctuary and the tomb
Whither from wintry Maenalus were brought
The bones of Arcas, whence our race is named,
On, to the marshy Orchomenian plain,
And the Stone Coffins;--then, by Cap