ZEPHYRUS:
Rex! de salute Filii est actum iacet
Hyacinthus!
OEBALUS:
Heu me! nuntium o tristem nimis!
Qua morte cecidit?
ZEPHYRUS:
Ictus a disco ruit.
OEBALUS:
Quis Filium occidisse non timuit meum?
ZEPHYRUS:
Apollo.
OEBALUS:
Contremisco!
MELIA:
Superi quid? Deus,
Qui me beare voluit, hic Fratri necem
Sit machinatus? Ista quis credat tibi?
ZEPHYRUS:
Vera loquor, et testis ego pereuntis fui.
Vix lapsus est Hyacinthus, aufugi, malum
Ne simile feriat forsan et nostrum caput.
OEBALUS:
Sic ergo plectis Numen innocuos? Favor,
Quo te recepi, morte num Nati unici
Dignus erat? Ergo Meliam et Natam quoque
Surripere Patri, Numen, o falsum paras?
MELIA:
O absit a me Genitor! ut sponsum eligam,
Deoque, qui cruore Germani madet,
Nuptura porrexisse praesumam manus.
ZEPHYRUS:
(Quid audio? an coniugia meditatur Deus?
An Meliam et rapuisse mihi amatam cupit?
Qui rapuit Hyacinthi, anne et istius mihi
Rapiet amorem?)
OEBALUS:
Zephyre! quae causa improbum
Adegit hoc ad facinus?
ZEPHYRUS:
Haud ullam scio.
Natus ad amoenum litus Eurotae stetit,
Discumque metae proximum adspiciens, meus,
Clamabat, ecce discus est vestro prior,
Metamque tetigit. Apollo tum discum iacit,
Loquentis et propellit in Pueri Caput,
Quo laesus iste pronus in terram ruit.
Non dubito, quin extinctus hoc disci impetu
Fuerit.
OEBALUS:
An sic furere non dubitat Deus,
Ut sibi benignum privet et prole Oebalum?
Exesse regno Numen invisum mihi
Meisque iubeo. Zephyre! fac pellas reum,
Maiora ne, vel plura mihi damna inferat.
ZEPHYRUS:
Rex! regna tua sunt: ipse tu pelle impium.
Tu morte Nati laesus es. Timeo Deum,
Qui fulmen hoc torqueret in nostrum caput.
(Expellat utinam! noster ut possit dolus
Latere nam caedis ego sum factae reus!)
OEBALUS:
Abibo! Vos manete! Si veniat Deus
Ad vos, abire, Nata! crudelem iube.
Ad litus Eurotae ibo, num vivat, meum
Videre Natum. Forsan occurret mihi
Apollo, regnis Numen exosum meis.
(Abit.)
ZEPHYRUS:
(Succedit ad mea vota, succedit dolus,
Meliaque mea dilecta nunc coniux manet.)
MELIA:
Non capio, cur Apollo ne laesus quidem
Necarit unice ante dilectum sibi
Hyacinthum. Amare qui Sororem me queat,
Si Fratris ante polluat fato manus?
ZEPHYRUS:
Dilecta! ne mirare, quod tantum scelus
Apollo perpetrarit haud nosti impium:
Astutus est, crudelis, inconstans, levis:
Hinc exulare iussus est coelis, suo
Furore ne turbaret unanimes Deos.
MELIA:
Meliora credidisse de tanto Deo
Mens dictat. (Ast incertus est animus tamen,
Timorque, spesque pectore alternant vices.)
ZEPHYRUS:
Melia! quid animo volvis? Ah, sponsum abjice,
Cuius cruore dextra fraterno calet,
Zephyrumque, cuius ipsa sat nosti fidem,
Amore, quo beatus efficiar, bea.
MELIA:
Nunc fata Fratris cogito,
haud Zephyri faces.
ZEPHYRUS:
O dura! num sprevisse sic Zephyrum potes?

ZEPHYRUS:
O King, something has happened to your son
Hyacinthus is lying dead!
OEBALUS:
Woe is me! O too sad news!
How did he die?
ZEPHYRUS:
He was struck by a discus, and fell dead.
OEBALUS:
Who dared to kill my son?
ZEPHYRUS:
Apollo.
OEBALUS:
I start to tremble!
MELIA:
Heavens, what's this? Has the god, who wanted
to make me happy, brought about the death of my
brother? Who could believe these things from you?
ZEPHYRUS:
I am telling the truth, and witnessed his death.
Scarcely had Hyacinthus collapsed than I fled,
in case the same fate might strike me down too.
OEBALUS:
So this is how you punish the innocent, O divine power?
Surely my kindly welcome didn't deserve the death
of my only son? Is this how you are also preparing to
steal my daughter Melia from her father, O false one?
MELIA:
Far be it from me, father, that I should choose him for my
husband, and that in marrying I should presume to extend
my hand to a god who is drenched in my brother's blood.
ZEPHYRUS:
(What's this I hear? Is the god considering marriage?
Is he bent on stealing my beloved Melia from me?
Will he who stole Hyacinthus also snatch her love
from me?)
OEBALUS:
Zephyrus! What reason drove the scoundrel
to commit this crime?
ZEPHYRUS:
No reason that I know of.
Your son was just standing on the pleasant bank of the
Eurotas, and seeing his discus lying right by the target,
he called, Look, my discus is nearer than yours, and
touched the target. Then, the words scarcely out of his
mouth, Apollo launches his discus and drives it into
the boy's head, so that he falls wounded to the ground.
I have no doubt that he was killed by this blow
from the discus.
OEBALUS:
Does the god not shrink from raging like this, so that he
even deprives Oebalus, who's been kind to him, of his son?
I command the god, hateful to me and my people, to leave
my kingdom. Go, Zephyrus, and drive out the wretch,
before he inflicts more or worse punishments on me.
ZEPHYRUS:
King, it's your kingdom you should drive out the villain.
You're the one who's suffered the death of a son. I'm
afraid the god might bring his lightning down on my head.
(If only he expels him, so that my crime can lie hidden
for I am the one guilty of committing the murder!)
OEBALUS:
I shall go! You both stay here! If the god comes
to you, my daughter, order the cruel one to leave!
I shall go to the bank of the river Eurotas to see
if my son is still alive. Perhaps I shall encounter
Apollo, the god so full of hatred for my kingdom.
(He departs.)
ZEPHYRUS:
(Everything is going as I wished my plot is working,
and my beloved Melia now remains to be my bride.)
MELIA:
I don't understand why Apollo, who had not even been
offended, would have killed Hyacinthus, who was until
then so very dear to him. How can he love me, the sister,
if he has just sullied his hands with my brother's murder?
ZEPHYRUS:
My dear, don't be surprised at such villainy
From Apollo you don't know that unholy one:
he is cunning, cruel, faithless and fickle:
that's why he's been banished from the heavens,
for fear he'd disturb the gods' harmony with his raging.
MELIA:
Reason demands that I believe better
of so great a god. (And yet my heart is wavering,
as fear and hope in turn contend to rule my breast.)
ZEPHYRUS:
Melia, what's in your thoughts? Dismiss your bridegroom,
whose hand is still warm with your brother's blood,
and bless Zephyrus, whose loyalty you well know,
with a love that would make his blessed.
MELIA:
Now I'm thinking of my brother's fate,
not Zephyrus's advances.
ZEPHYRUS:
Hard-hearted one! Surely you can't spurn Zephyrus in this way?