Phaedra and Other Plays (Penguin Classics) by Seneca

Author:Seneca
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780141970943
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2011-08-24T16:00:00+00:00

Our unconquered line passes to extinction,

sinking down beneath Fate’s relentless pull.

One parade to Death ends, another begins:

sad-faced throngs, as far as the eye can see,

rush to join the dead, but the grim procession

lurches to a halt; seven gaping gates

are too few for the throngs that head to their graves.

Heaps of dead are littered about, a foul sight,

corpses slumped on corpses and joined in death.

The first outbreak attacked the livestock. Sluggish

sheep could barely nibble on verdant grasses.

When the priest stood ready to cut the bull’s neck,

hand raised high and poised to deal the death-blow,

it collapsed, lethargic, its gleaming, gilded

horns now drooping; under the force of heavy

steel the neck was severed and gaped wide open,

but the blade was not stained with blood, but oozing,

fetid pus, a dark and diseased secretion.

Listless racehorses crumpled on the track,

pitching jockeys headlong as they buckled.

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