Quoted By:
<span class="mu-s">Meanwhile, in the Palace of Melampus</span>
You are Euanippe, wife of Hippomedon (<span class="mu-i">curse that fool – what has gotten into him?!</span>), and mother of Deianira. This morning, you’ve talked your way through the locked doors of the Melampian Palace - as Hippomedon has told you before, gates are only as strong as the will of the men who guard them - and then through the halls, lavishly decorated with the accomplishments of Apollo Πατρωιος in his various aspects of archer, oracle, and healer.
Up until this point, you’ve tamed your wild tongue for now – biting back curses and foul language, despite the annoyances you’ve suffered this morning. The hapless priestesses who have repeatedly failed to cure Deianira’s cough, the slothful Melampian guards… But now, at long last, Amphiarus himself has appeared – dressed in rich robes of sky-blue, threaded with gold, and with inscrutable presence of will, he looks like the king he once was, although you did not know him at the time he ruled Argos.
He sits on the lounge opposite your own, stone-faced, as you make your plea:
“Lord Amphiarus – I come to you in desperation. My daughter has an illness, a cough, which is slowly worsening – nothing has worked to soothe it. No potions, tinctures or salves – time at the ocean shore has done nothing either. The nights are difficult, now – she grows paler, week after week... A tiny matter, I know - but I pray that you might be moved to act, for Hippomedon’s only child?”
Amphiarus looks at you, impassive. He says nothing for a long time, eyes glittering darkly. Finally, he speaks:
“And what, Lady Euanippe, would you have me do?” You smooth a frown before it can crease your face – is the man taunting you? You’ve come to the greatest oracle of Argos and begged for assistance; what else but oracular assistance could you need?! Again, you bind hot words behind the barrier of your teeth, and do your best to appear as a desperate mother:
“Lord Amphiarus – please – you are the premier oracle of Argos, and in the Peloponnese beyond. Your foresight could reveal the proper treatment for Deianira – put this matter behind our family. Could you not… conduct your prophecy for her? Hippomedon will be very pleased if he learns that this issue has been resolved, when he returns."
"He asked you to approach me?" Amphiarus asks you sharply, suddenly tense.
"Ah - no. No, Lord Amphiarus," you reply truthfully. Amphiarus' concern seems to dissipate, he returns to his inscrutable state.
>cont
