Book 2, Chapter 8

20 “But let us look at Hercules himself, broken by pain at the very moment he was seeking immortality through death. What cries he utters in Sophocles’ Women of Trachis! When Deianira had dressed him in the tunic stained with the Centaur’s blood, and it had clung to his flesh, he says:

“‘So many things, grievous to tell and harsh to bear,“‘I labored through and suffered, body and soul!“‘Neither Juno’s implacable terror“‘Nor cruel Eurystheus brought so much evil on me“‘As this one senseless daughter born to Oeneus.“‘She caught me unawares in a Fury’s robe,“‘Which clings against my side and bites and tears my flesh,“‘Presses hard and drains the breath out of my lungs:“‘Already it has sucked away my blood, all drained of color.“‘So my body wastes away, consumed by hideous ruin;“‘Bound fast, I perish in this woven plague.“‘No enemy’s right hand, no earthborn“‘Mass of Giants, no Centaur charging“‘With his two-formed body struck these blows against me;“‘No force of Greece, no barbarous savagery,“‘No fierce tribe banished to the ends of earth,“‘Where I wandered, driving out all brutality everywhere,“‘But I, her husband, die by a woman’s hand.’”

20 “But let’s look at Hercules himself. Pain was breaking him down just as he was seeking immortality through death itself. What cries he lets out in Sophocles’ Women of Trachis! Deianira had put a shirt on him soaked in the Centaur’s blood, and it had stuck to his flesh. He says: “‘So much that’s painful to tell, so hard to endure, “‘I’ve struggled through and borne in body and mind! “‘Neither Juno’s unrelenting terror “‘Nor bitter Eurystheus brought me as much suffering “‘As this one mad woman, Oeneus’ daughter. “‘She trapped me, unaware, in a maddening garment. “‘It clings to my side, biting and tearing my flesh, “‘Crushing me hard and draining the breath from my lungs. “‘Already it’s sucked away all my blood and left me pale. “‘My body has wasted away, destroyed by this horrible disaster. “‘Caught in this woven plague, I’m being killed. “‘No enemy’s right hand dealt my body these blows, “‘Nor the mass of Giants born from Earth, “‘Nor the Centaur’s charging double form, “‘Nor any force of Greeks, nor any savage foreign cruelty, “‘Nor the fierce people driven to the farthest lands. “‘I traveled through them all and rooted out their savagery. “‘But now a woman’s hand, a woman’s, kills a man.’”