"But, O ye Gods! and thou, whom gods obey, Great Jove! with pity listen as I pray! Respect the monarch's and the father's prayer! If Pallas' safety be your heavenly care; If to infold him in these arms again I live, for life I sue with all its pain. But if some dreadful fortune be design'd, Now, now, while hope still soothes my cheated mind; Ere yet the future shall its fates unfold; While thus my son, my last, sole joy, I hold; O! break life's chain at once, and let me go, By darkness shrouded, from the death of woe!"