previous next [950] A twofold feeling filled his servants'
breasts, amusement and fear at once; and one looking to his
neighbor said: “Is our master making sport for us, or is he
mad?” But he was pacing to and fro in his house; and, rushing
into the men's chamber, he said he had reached the city of
Nisus; [955] and going into the house, he threw himself upon the
floor, as he was, and made ready to feast. But after waiting a
brief space he began saying he was on his way to the plains amid
the valleys of the Isthmus; and then stripping himself of his
mantle, [960] he fell to competing with no one, and he
proclaimed himself victor with his own voice, calling on no one
to listen. Next, fancy carrying him to Mycenae, he was uttering
fearful threats against Eurystheus. Meantime his father caught
him by his stalwart arm, and thus addressed him: [965] “My son,
what do you mean by this? What strange doings are these? Can it
be that the blood of your late victims has driven you frantic?”
But he, supposing it was the fa