THE 'AGAMEMNON* AND < TRA CHINI& ' 27 



that trembling eagerness for certainty which, yet shows no 

 doubt ? Noble and queenly, she omits no greeting : 



Herald, I bid thee hail, although so late 

 Appearing, if thou bringest health with thee. 



And then, gathering courage from Lichas' confident bearing 

 and cheerful salutation, with eyes in which the new-born joy 

 is beaming, she asks : 



Kind friend, first tell me what I first would know, 

 Shall I receive my Heracles alive ? 



The herald had not the courage all at once to destroy this 

 beautiful happiness. He was a Greek to whom a lie was a small 

 thing, and so he lied with good intent, not telling that which 

 was false, but suppressing the main truth ; and thus the 

 measure of Deianira's cup is full full of joy to overflowing. 

 Terrible irony this. The audience know that she is doomed, 

 and yet listen to her sweet rejoicing : 



Yea, now I learn this triumph of my lord, 

 Joy reigns without a rival in my breast. 



But the mild womanliness of her checks all pride. The very 

 excess of joy humbles her great nature. 



Yet wise consideration even of good 



Is flecked with fear of what reverse may come ; 



And I, dear friends, when I behold these maids, 



Am visited with sadness deep and strange. 



Poor helpless beings, in a foreign land 



Wandering forlorn in homeless orphanhood ; 



Once sure of gentle parentage and free, 



Now snared in strong captivity for life. 



O Zeus of battles, breaker of the war, 



Ne'er may I see thee turn against my seed 



So cruelly ; or if thou meanest so, 



Let me be spared that sorrow by my death. 



How can we but love this gentle wife, too noble to rejoice 

 loudly in the presence of others' grief? Surely this picture 

 of the perfect matron should take place in the heart of mankind 

 beside the portrait of the perfect girl Nausicaa. 



