26 LITERATURE AND DRAMA 



I see you have been told of my distress, 



And that hath brought you. But my inward woe 



Be it ever as unknown to you as now ! 



So free the garden of unruffled ease 



Where the young life grows safely ; no fierce heat, 



No rain, no wind, disturbs it ; but unharmed 



It rises amid airs of peaceful joy, 



Till maiden turns to matron, and a day 



Brings years of care for husband or for child. 



Then, imaged through her own calamity, 



Some one may guess the burden of my life. 1 



Then she tells her feelings, hopes, and fears, so that by the end 

 of her speech the audience knows the whole situation, and 

 knows, too, that Deianira can still call Heracles 



The best husband in the world of men. 



How much better is this straightforward method than the plan 

 of introducing an underplot with secondary characters, whose 

 chief business is to tell us where the action takes place, and 

 what the main characters are ! The audience always sees 

 through the shallow artifice. Sophocles' method, too, has the 

 great advantage of putting the explanation exposition the 

 French call it into the best actor's mouth. 



To the gentle Deianira telling her fears arrives a breathless 

 messenger, garlanded, and laden with good news. Heracles is 

 living and returning. Another moment and Heracles' own 

 herald will be here. When Deianira comes to believe this true, 

 with glorious sweep of outstretched arms and smooth strength 

 of voice, she turns to heaven : 



O Zeus that rulest (Eta's virgin wold, 



At last, though late, thou hast vouchsafed us joy. 



And so she calls on her friends and her whole household to 

 rejoice, and a sweet rapture seizes the maidens, who break into 

 innocent song and dance of womanly triumph, while as they 

 sing enters the herald Lichas with the captives of Heracles' 

 spear. What more pathetic can be seen than the swift turn of 

 the eager wife, joy in every feature, on every limb, with just 



1 These lines will not be found in Mr. Campbell's published translation. 



