“Fair Eriphyle the rich gift beheld,

And her sick breast with secret envy swelled.

Not the late omens and the well-known tale

To cure her vain ambition aught avail.

O had the wretch by self-experience known

The future woes, and sorrows not her own!

But fate decrees her wretched spouse must bleed,

And the son’s frenzy clear the mother’s deed.”