Page:Sophocles (Collins).djvu/100

88 passion, mightier than kings, and, strong as death, levelling all distinctions:—

Well might the Chorus now weep, as they express it, "fountains of tears," for they see Antigone led by Croon's guards to be entombed alive in a cavern among the rocks. The horror of no death can equal that of a living grave, the fearful penalty which has been annexed in all ages for certain crimes—to the vestal virgin at Rome and to the nun in the middle ages for broken vows of chastity. But Antigone was pure from sin. She had not stained her hands with blood; much less