THE TRACHINIAN MAIDENS


THE PERSONS

DÊANIRA, _wife of Heracles._
_An_ Attendant.
HYLLUS, _son of Heracles and Dêanira_.
CHORUS _of Trachinian Maidens_.
_A_ Messenger.
LICHAS, _the Herald_.
_A_ Nurse.
_An_ Old Man.
HERACLES.
IOLE, _who does not speak_.


SCENE. Before the temporary abode of Heracles in Trachis.




This tragedy is named from the Chorus. From the subject it might have
been called 'Deanira or the Death of Heracles'.

The Centaur Nessus, in dying by the arrow of Heracles, which had been
dipped in the venom of the Hydra, persuaded the bride Deanira, whose
beauty was the cause of his death, to keep some of the blood from the