the great god Phoebus with aiming that murderous shaft that spilt thy hero-fathers blood!Phoebus was said to have aimed the arrow of Paris, that slew Achilles.

ChorusWoe! woe! alas! With due observance of funeral rites will I begin the mourning for my dead master.PeleusAlack and well-a-day! I take up the tearful dirge, ah me! old and wretched as I am.Chorus’Tis Heaven’s decree; God willed this heavy stroke.PeleusO darling child, thou hast left me all alone in my halls,Nauck reads δόμον ἔλιπες ἔρημον. old and childless by thy loss.ChorusThou shouldst have died, old sire, before thy children.PeleusShall I not tear my hair, and smite upon my head with grievous blows? O city! of both my childrenAchilles his son, and Neoptolemus his grandson. hath Phoebus robbed me.

ChorusWhat evils thou hast suffered, what sorrows thou hast seen, thou poor old man! what shall be thy life hereafter?PeleusChildless, desolate, with no limit to my grief, I must drain the cup of woe, until I die.Chorus’Twas all in vain the gods wished thee joy on thy wedding day.The gods had attended the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. PeleusAll my hopes have flown away, fallen short of my high boasts.ChorusA lonely dweller in a lonely home art thou.PeleusI have no city any longer;οὐκέτ᾽ ἐστί μοι πόλις (Hermann). there! on the ground my sceptre do I cast; and thou, daughter of Nereus, neath thy dim grotto,