The Olympic Flame of Panayoti Karousos

Act 1: The Olympic Stadium

Chorus: Long live!
Pythia: The King of Argos Eurystheas.
Chorus: Long live!
Eurystheas: I declare the opening of the first Olympic Games, the games of Hellas. Honour to our gods, glory to our youth, glory to our generation! Glory to Heracles, our hero. Who saved our nation from all that is horrid, and organised these games. Long live our athletes. Glory and honour to the athletes. Hellas unites all of her children!
Chorus: Glory and honour to the athletes. Hellas unites all of her children!
Pythia: And now Heracles will bring the Olympic flame.
Chorus: The flame! Long live! Long live Heracles, and the Olympic flame! Long live Eurystheas, Argos and Greece!
Heracles: O my King Eurystheas, and the peoples of Hellas, listen. The fire of wisdom I light, the gift of Prometheus to us. But we must liberate him. Our benefactor must not suffer, I must go and free him from Caucasus, where Haephestus and Bia have bound him, on command of Dia. O my King Eurystheas, to Prometheus we owe both wisdom and art. To the birth of civilisation, we are entitled! O Greeks, we all want the sun to shine on the sky of our wisdom. A luminous, vast, sky, here! Prometheus’s fire is burning! O flame of wisdom, the true and holy flame! You who enlighten all darkness, light! To thunderously strike with you we may, eternal light of wisdom. Holy flame of our gods! O Prmoetheus the flame of the future, we hold in our hands, the flame of the gods.
Eurystheas: Go Heracles. We owe everything to our gods, but even more so, to Prometheus. And you being the son of Dia, will ensure that your father does not curse our people, for you going.
Chorus: Long live Prometheus! Long live all Greeks!
Eurystheas: Let the games begin!
Pythia: The first game is wrestling. Iolaos and Phoibos.
Chorus: Iolaos, Iolaos! Phoibos, Phoibos!
Pythia: Iolaos is the victor! Call in Kotino.
Chorus: Crown the victor with olive branches!
Pythia: Pyros and Nicomachus.
Chorus: Long live all Greeks! O! O!
Deianeira: Heracles…
Heracles: Deianeira why are you dressed like this? We are going out…
Chorus: Hail Hellas!
Deianeira: I wanted to come in to see you.
Heracles: Come with me.
Deianeira: Heracles I love you! How I wish everything would end, and for you to be close to me, forever, in our home. Come Heracles, our children await you… I don’t know what I am feeling, I want to lose myself in your embrace… Do not renounce your home. Come back home. Do not renounce us Heracles. Heracles I love you!
Heracles: Rose of my life you are. Deianeira, come to my arms. O sweet voice of an Angel.
Deianeira: O your words caress my chest gently, I want to drink your words Heracles! The stars look upon our love. Heracles I love you, and I will love you! My love Heracles, I love you; my love, my light! Aphrodite unites us, o yes, our love glows.
Heracles: Our love is looked upon by the stars. Deianeira I love you, and I will love you. My love Heracles, I love you; my love, my light! I want to possess you. Aphrodite unites us, o yes, our love glows.
Deianeira: Come home.
Heracles: That day will come soon.
Deianeira: O, it is for you that I live. O how I fear that which is fated.
Heracles: Those who bow before Adrasteia are wise .
Deianeira: Those who bow before Adrasteia are wise. Our marriage is a gift from the gods, I love you. With your sweet, eternal smile, I love you.
Heracles: You are the most beautiful gift. You are an innocent spring flower Deianeira. With that sweet, eternal smile of yours, I love you. You are mine for all time.
Deianeira: You are mine for all time. I love you.
Heracles: Mother of my children Deianeira, the sweetest mother and most faithful wife.
Deianeira: I live only for you Heracles.
Heracles: And I for you, Deianeira.
Chorus: Where is Heracles to crown the victor? Where is Heracles?
Heracles: I must leave. Deianeira, go home.
Deianeira: No Heracles! Come with me.
Heracles: With my kiss, of love, return home.
Deianeira: Heracles… farewell.
Heracles: Deianeira… farewell.
Chorus: Crown the victor, crown with the Kotino.
Deianeira: Heracles I love you!




The Olympic Flame Libretto: English Translation
translation: Irene Sarrinikolaou

Act II: Caucasus Mountain – Prometheus is tied up on a cliff

Prometheus: Ah… Woe to me… Look at the wicked tortures which rip me to shreds, which, for countless eons I will suffer. Slave of the gods. Slave, to the hatred of the gods I have fallen… fallen for the sake of all humanity. Alas, no-one can defy necessity. Under the exposed sky! Beneath the earth, and below Adi was I sent… Now the eagle of Dia will come and torment me… Woe! Accursed one…
Hercules: Prometheus, it is I, Hercules.
Prometheus: Hercules, you have come!
Hercules: The eagle of Dia, I present before you Prometheus… slaughtered. It does not feel real to be before you. I have come to free you Prometheus. On behalf of all humanity, I have come. For an immortal such as thee, what you endure is even worse still, but now, I bring forth the end of your martyrdom. The time has come.
Prometheus: Now I can breathe, now justice has arrived! Sometime divinities are borne from humans.
Hercules: Divinities!
Prometheus: Demi-gods!
Hercules: Yes, I am son of Dia, demi-god.
Prometheus: Heroes and persons. Humanism is borne!
Hercules: I am the superhuman.
Prometheus: A new sun is dawning now. Hail to Hercules!
Hercules: O Prometheus to your feet I fall. Do not abandon us, do not go far away from us. You have opened our eyes, you drive us, benefactor. O Prometheus, listen to the voice of my soul, which flutters at the sound of your divine reason. Prometheus, O how small and helpless I feel before you. You are the light of all humanity. How I wish to die and find myself immortal, beside you. You to lead, and me by your side, following you through all that is unfamiliar. That I may put an end to my meaningless life. Show me the way. You do not speak? Why? Why Prometheus?

Prometheus: Midday is coming! Holy love! Dawning light. Opportune time! O song of the fruits of human existence. Man, you have consumed the Olympian flame, the wine of ancient wisdom. Now you want to soar toward the future, to resemble the gods. The fire within you is burning. Laugh now! Determine your life yourself, now. Dance now, sing man. Now the gods admire the hero Hercules, mortal, you may become a god, you may become immortal.
Hercules: Titan Prometheus immortal, your freedom I issue. In exchange, stay with us. The earth is small for humans. The great meaning of the universe we seek of you. The flame of wisdom we guard well Prometheus, from all people, as a gift of all Greeks.
Prometheus: Chaos!
Hercules: What are you saying Prometheus? Of what chaos are you talking? Of what fate of humankind are you screaming?
Prometheus: Chaos!
Hercules: Prometheus Titan, you the smartest and most capable of the gods, answer me … The flame … Why? Woe to me! Why do you not answer Prometheus? Why? You are not happy Prometheus!
Prometheus: There are laws that are inevitable.
Hercules: Chaos is the end of mortals! The unknown!
Prometheus: The uncertainty of chaos. I give my face to chaos and call it god. Progress. Light. Darkness.
Hercules: What are you summoning Prometheus? What powers?
Prometheus: The powers which I gave you to conquer time, to surpass the eternal. O Hercules!
Hercules: Chaos! Woe to me! Light!
Prometheus: And now people with the wisdom of the flame, you shall defeat Dia!
Hercules: Have you no fear for what you say? Dia is my father! Prometheus what will you do? Prometheus where will you go? To which place now?
Prometheus: The public await me… I belong to other lands… to other castles. O the setting of the sun! O ether! O land! O the eternal ignorance of the soul!
Hercules: O the setting of the sun! O ether! O land! O the eternal ignorance of the soul!
Chorus: Prometheus! Hercules!
Prometheus: The people!
Hercules: You have followed me here?
Chorus: We brought the flame! It is our consolation…
Prometheus: As I predicted.
Chorus: Stay near us Prometheus, stay with us on earth, you are our benefactor.
Prometheus: Listen people, listen to my voice. To my last song. I shall sing with you dear people.
Chorus: O Prometheus, sing for us.
Prometheus: O the song of the progress of humankind! Dawning light. Opportune time! O!
Chorus: Opportune time! O Prometheus, you have given us glory and honour here on earth. We have lit the Olympic Flame on earth and started the Olympic games to commemorate the gods, you and Dia, O Prometheus.
Prometheus: You are entitled to this.
Chorus: Heroes and gods, for us are divine.
Hercules: Divine!
Prometheus: Children of chaos, Greeks! What power do you possess now Greeks?
Hercules: The power! Knowledge is power, and we possess knowledge.
Chorus: Knowledge is power, and we possess knowledge.
Prometheus: Glory to you! Glory to Greeks! The wisdom which the flame gives you, offer to all nations! And now I will go to the populus to await you.
Chorus: The flame we will give to all nations.





Act III: Trachis - Palace of Herakles and Deianeira

Deianeira: There is an old saying that states: ‘before the end of a life, we may not know whether it was a happy life. But I know for my life that it is black and tragic. When I lived at my father’s house the river Achelaous asked for my hand in marriage. Later, the son of Dio and Alcmena came for me, and Hercules won the battle with Achelous, and freed me. Since becoming Hercules’s wife, my heart trembles with incessant fear. Nightfall brings him to me, and nightfall takes him. We have children which he has scarcely seen. And now that he could have ended his travels, he has chosen not to, and I suffer. We remain in Trachis, in bitter fear. Where he roams, we do not know. I am terrified with the thought that something horrible has happened to him. Woe to me! It has been fifteen months since I have heard of where he is. Woe to me.
Alcmena: Deianeira I have seen you many times crying for Hercules. Why, if you have so many children, have you not thought to send one of them in search of your husband? Surely you could Hyllus. Oh, here he comes.
Deianeira: My child Hyllus, your grandmother has said some very wise things to me.
Hyllus: What did she say?
Deianeira: They said shame on me that my husband is missing, and that his son doesn’t know where he is.
Hyllus: I believe what they say.
Deianeira: Where are they saying that he is?
Hyllus: They say that he has been with a woman in Lydia for the last year.
Deianeira: I expect everything, since this has happened to him.
Hyllus: But I have heard how he has been freed.
Deianeira: Where do they say that he is my child?
Hyllus: They say that he is a soldier at Euboia now, or that he will become a soldier for Euripos’s army.
Deianeira: But do you know that he has left me certain predictions about this land?
Hyllus: Tell me mother.
Deianeira: That he would rather die than be captured. If he is in turmoil we must find him, for we survive only if he does.
Hyllus: No I feel that I will not stop until I learn the truth. Mother we are united.
Deianeira: Go forth my child. United are we.
Hyllus: If only I knew sooner, I would have already gone.
Deianeira: Go forth my son, for it is better to find out now than not at all.
Alcmena: Yes my son, Hyllus, go. Farewell.
Alcmena: Deianeira, sweet child of mine, you always cry. Your soul is full of pain for my son.
Deianeira: All the years, I am afraid of losing him mother.
Alcmena: Dia who brought him to me, has brought you into his life so that you may remain there.
Deianeira: How wonderful to hear, but a sadness consumes me.
Alcmena: I feel that too.
Deianeira: When will Dia bring him back to me?
Alcmena: Time matters.
Deianeira: What does it matter? Time is passing.
Alcmena: Every moment is etenal, and every pain.
Deianeira: Mother … woe to me … my pain is unbearable. Eros is winning.
Alcmena: Love never dies, he melts for you. You fear what you feel my Queen.
Deianeira: O mother Alcmena,in Aphrodite’s wine I tasted bitterness.
Alcmena: O Aphrodite, woman of all women, the heart always suffers for men.
Deianeira: Let him come home. O help Aphrodite, and mother Earth, our goddess.
Alcmena: O help Aphrodite, and mother Earth, our goddess.
Deianeira: Earth, bring him home.
Alcmena: Open roads, and bring him forth.
Chorus: Do not lose hope my Queen Deianeira. I cry for you, sad lark that you are.
Deianeira: May you never come to know the pain that I suffer. Many things have made me cry, but none more so than what I will tell you now. Before Hercules left for the last journey, he left a will for his children, outlining how his properties are to be divided if he does not return after one year and three months. The time has now come. And that is why I wake with terror from my sleep.
Chorus: Ahh Deianeira.
Deianeira: Lament for my misfortune.
Chorus: Aphrodite wins with a great force that no one can conquer.
Alcmena: When the angry Achelous and Hercules descended into a contest for Deianeira’s love, only Kypris helped. And the virgin with the beautiful eyes awaited the victor Hercules upon a mountain.
Chorus: May the garden with the sweet melodious hums greet you. And may it bring back the son of Dio and Alcmena.
Alcmena: Hercules, may you back to your wife victorious.
Deianeira: O beloved friends.
Chorus: O goddess Aphrodite, bring Hercules back to Deianeira. And to his home with his sweet garden’s melody.
Alcmena: Pray on it, for now you see some-one coming toward us with a crown, and smiling.
Deianeira: Who could it be?
Alcmena: It looks like Iolas, the friend of Hercules.
Deianeira: But I do not see Hercules, just a woman he has brought with him.
Alcmena: Iolaos, confidante, friend of my son, what good fortune brings you here?
Iolaos: Hercules sends me, Deianeira, I bow to you. I bring you news from Hercules.
Deianeira: Answer me what I ask, and first, is Hercules alive?
Iolaos: I left him in good health.
Deianeira: Who is she?
Iolaos: She was taken as a prize.
Deianeira: He spent countless days to protect this land.
Iolaos: For most of the time, he was a slave at Lydia. For a whole year he was so bitter and ashamed from embarrassment, that he swore to enslave his captors.
Alcmena: Hercules a slave?
Iolaos: Hercules sees Euritos as the cause of his downfall, so Zeus has thrown Hercules from a mountain to save him from the wrath of Euritos, who would enslave him. To liberate himself, he must offer a sacrifice to Dia. He needs you to send him a cloak.
Alcmena: Be warm hearted Deianeira now.
Deianeira: And how can I not celebrate with what I hear Iolaos? Tell me whose child this mortal is. My heart breaks for her pride.
Iolaos: What do I know? And what are you asking? I assume she is from a good family.
Deianeira: The offspring of a royal? Maybe Euritos’s daughter?
Iolaos: I do not know.
Deianeira: Who are you?
Iolaos: She will not open her mouth. The unfortunate one, only cries… we forgive her for her grief.
Deianeira: Leave her. Go and receive hospitality in the palace.
Alcmena: Come inside.
Makaria: Mother, wait a little, so I may tell you who you are allowing into the palace.
Deianeira: Why should I stop? What is going on?
Makaria: Of whatever Iolaos has already told you, nothing is true.
Deianeira: What do you mean to say?
Makaria: I have heard Iolaos speak in front of many people who you can call on for their witness, he has developed a fondness for this girl.
Deianeira: I cannot believe my grief. I have known every misfortune in this house! He has deceived me?
Makaria: Euritos’ daughter is called Ioly.
Deianeira: What shall I do Makaria? What?
Makaria: Go and ask Iolaos to tell you the whole truth.
Deianeira: You advise me well.
Makaria: And I wait.
Chorus: Here he comes. Here comes Iolaos from inside the palace.
Iolaos: Deianeira, give me the cloak so I can take to Hercules.
Deianeira: You want to leave quickly, but were slow in arriving.
Iolaos: Ask me what you desire to know.
Deianeira: You will tell me the whole truth.
Iolaos: Zeus be my witness, I will say what I know.
Deianeira: Who is the woman you brought here with you?
Iolaos: From Evia, I do not know her parents.
Deianeira: Listen here: to whom do you think you are speaking?
Iolaos: Why are you asking me these questions?
Chorus: Dare to answer if you have your senses about you!
Iolaos: I speak before the Queen Deianeira, the daughter or Oeneus.
Deianeira: Well, you must suffer the penalty if it is found that you are lying.
Iolaos: Liar? But how? I am leaving.
Alcmena: Do not leave before you answer.
Makaria: The woman? Didn’t you say that she is the daughter of Eurutos?
Iolaos: To whom?
Chorus: Speak, answer, tell the truth.
Makaria: You swore it in the marketplace of Trachis.
Iolaos: What?
Makaria: You said that you escort her as the bride of Hercules?
Chorus: Answer.
Iolaos: A bride? Me? Leave me to the gods my queen.
Deianeira: Tell me the truth liar, you cannot fool me. Why are you looking at me? In the name of Dia, Iolaos, tell me what you are hiding. Has Hercules been with other women?
Chorus: To whatever he tells you, believe, and you will thank me.
Iolaos: I have nothing to say.
Deianeira: Speak, accursed one Deianeira strangles him.
Iolaos: Help!
Deianeira: No one will save you from my hands.
Iolaos: Ahhh I shall talk.
Deianeira: Ha!
Iolaos: Well my good lady.
Makaria: O mother, why am I such a burden to you?
Alcmena: Why do I cry for you dear child Deianeira? Woe to me.
Chorus: Why Deianeira? Woe to me.
Deianeira: Let us go inside the house.
Makaria: Desolate am I, the virgin. Ahh when will our house see joy?
Alcmena: Come in my children.
Deianeira: Wait here Iolaos. I will bring you the cloak. Deianeira goes into the palace.
Chorus: Fog envelopes the mountains of Trachis, and I tremble from fear about Deianeira. Deianeira brings the cloak and gives it to Iolaos.
Deianeira: Iolaos! Take the cloak to Hercules, so he may make a sacrifice to Dia. Deianeira goes to the palace. Night falls, and Deianeira comes out, wrapped in her long white gown, terrified.
Deianeira: Ahh! I am scared beloved friends, maybe I have done more than what was necessary.
Chorus: What is wrong Deianeira? What?
Deineira: Listen to my lamentation and cry with me. For the cloak that I sent Hercules, listen to me. When we were on our honeymoon at the Evian river, the Centaur Nessos offered a gift instead of money. But he approached me, and touched me … I screamed and Hercules threw a poisonous vial that struck him a blow in the lungs. As he lay dying, he said: ‘daughter of Oeneus the wise, if you take some blood from my wound and place a drop with the poison of Hydra in a vial, you may be sure that Hercules will be ever-faithful to you, and never lay eyes on another woman.”
I kept this vial hidden in the palace, but I wet the cloak with this mixture before I sent it to Hercules, in the hope that I could win him back, and he come back to me. I love him and I want him to be by my side forever. I, the wife of Hercules.
Chorus: Why are you scared then, why?
Deianeira: Because the Centaur had told me to keep the vial out of the sun, for it would burn skin if it congealed. I took a wad of lamb’s wool and doused it with the mixture and painted the cloak with it. But then I saw the lamb’s wool that had been exposed to the sun’s rays, and it had become sawdust. I realise that I have sinned …
Chorus: To fear misfortune is natural, but before it befalls you, you must not think on it.
Deianeira: Alcmena bring Ioly before me.
Alcmena: Immediately my queen.
Deianeira: Now we will demonstrate the purpose of the potion, and how accurate Centaur Nessos was.
Chorus: A panic suffocates my being in seeing the proud Deianeira so aggravated and anti-social.
Deianeira: Here in this wine, I have added the potion Alcmena brings Ioly to Deianeira.
Alcmena: Here my lady, I present her to you.
Deianeira: My child, you have accepted plenty of hospitality from this house.
Ioly: There is no house like one’s own, as hospitable as it may be, Queen Deianeira.
Deianeira: Drink from this wine to forget your hardships.
Ioly: What are you giving me to drink? What is this?
Deianeira: Drink and ask not, it is what I Deianeira offer you. Accept my hospitality, to the good health of Hecules.
Ioly: To good health of Hercules. She drinks from the glass. What a peculiar taste it has, and a peculiar smell Deianeira.
Deianeira: How strange the love of Hercules, Princess Ioly.
Ioly: So, you know my name after all. Hercules said that no one should know who I am. No one until he returns to his home. But what is this burning I feel? Ahh I feel dizzy. Ahh help me! Help me. I am losing the world from my sight.
Alcmena: What is the matter my dear?
Deianeira: Leave her. Let us wait for the potion to take effect
Alcmena: What have you given her to drink?
Deianeira: The blood of the Centaur Nessos, and the poison of Lernaias and Hydras, I have poured into her red wine.
Ioly: You have poisoned me… ah… I am dying… ahh.
Deianeira: Nessos has deceived me. Now I can confirm that the magic potion is poison, a lethal poison. Accursed Centaur, wherever you are in the other realm.
Alcmena: She is dead! Pity for such a young and fair girl.
Deianeira: The good corpse takes others with it. Take her away from me… I saw it in my blackest dreams, the darkness which was circling around me. And now it becomes true, one after another of terrible misfortunes. I would rather the Centaur had drowned me with him, than dragging me lifelessly against my will. All that now remains is to receive the black news which will complete the garish prophesies.
Alcmena: Ever destitute Deianeira why do you endure such things?
Deianeira: Because I fell in love with a hero, and this is the suffering of loving one exclusively. A hero belongs to all of humankind, and not to a woman! That is why my mother!
Makaria: Mother. Hyllus is coming home, he is finally coming!
Hyllus: Makaria, what fate has befallen us – our house is doomed.
Makaria: Hyllus!
Hyllus: How I wish we didn’t have a mother which has brought such horror into our house.
Deianeira: What have I done to make you hate me dear child? What news do you bring?
Hyllus: Be informed that you are the one who killed father.
Deianeira: No.
Hyllus: Yes you.
Deianeira: Me? How…Tell me?
Hyllus: With the cloak that you sent him.
Deianeira: Pity on me the unfortunate.
Hyllus: He will be here soon, I came first…
Chorus: Chaos.
Deianeira: Come and see me Dia!
Makaria: Woe to me!
Hyllus: Evil that cannot be undone.
Makaria: Poor, destitute father.
Alcmena: O Fate!
Makaria: Mother, what have you done!
Deineira: Ahhh!
Hyllus: He is being tortured with spasms from the poison.
Chorus: You have killed your own husband you wicked woman?
Alcmena: Unfortunate child of mine, Hercules.
Deianeira: Look girls, how the prophecies have come true! My well of tears has overflowed, and the evil has spread. I am finished … Ahh Hercules! Woe to me! What am I to do? How can I undo my life? Ahh. Upon your grave a curse damnable Centaur. My husband, the great hero … Hercules where could you be now? What might you be thinking? You hate me! … Hercules, my blood boils with hate. Woe to me… may I be lost… despair. Forgive me Hercules. Hercules I love you! (Deianeira takes a knife and stabs herself) Ahhh…
Chorus: Gods! Woe to me!
Alcmena: Deianeira! Woe to me!
Hyllus: Mother don’t … No! Woe to me!
Makaria: My darling mother. Woe to me!