This was in the beginning, and shall be
Now and eternally,
Not here or there, but everywhere,
A law of misery that shall not spare.

For Hope, that wandereth wide, comforting many a head, II 2
Entangleth many more with glamour of desire:
Unknowing they have trode the fire.
Wise was the famous word of one who said,
'Evil oft seemeth goodness to the mind
An angry God doth blind.'
Few are the days that such as he
May live untroubled of calamity.

LEADER OF CHORUS.
Lo, Haemon, thy last offspring, now is come,
Lamenting haply for the maiden's doom,
Say, is he mourning o'er her young life lost,
Fiercely indignant for his bridal crossed?

_Enter_ HAEMON.

CR. We shall know soon, better than seers could teach us.
Can it be so, my son, that thou art brought
By mad distemperature against thy sire,
On hearing of the irrevocable doom
Passed on thy promised bride? Or is thy love
Thy father's, be his actions what they may?

HAEMON. I am thine, father, and will follow still