Page:Sophocles (Storr 1912) v1.djvu/259

 To where the paths that packmen use diverge,

Lest the two maidens slip away, and I

Become a mockery to this my guest,

As one despoiled by force. Quick, as I bid.

As for this stranger, had I let my rage,

Justly provoked, have play, he had not ’scaped

Scathless and uncorrected at my hands.

But now the laws to which himself appealed,

These and none other shall adjudicate.

Thou shalt not quit this land, till thou hast fetched

The maidens and produced them in my sight.

Thou hast offended both against myself

And thine own race and country. Having come

Unto a State that champions right and asks

For every action warranty of law,

Thou hast set aside the custom of the land,

And like some freebooter art carrying off

What plunder pleases thee, as if forsooth

Thou thoughtest this a city without men,

Or manned by slaves, and me a thing of naught.

Yet not from Thebes this villainy was learnt;

Thebes is not wont to breed unrighteous sons,

Nor would she praise thee, if she learnt that thou

Wert robbing me—aye and the gods to boot,

Haling by force their suppliants, poor maids.

Were I on Theban soil, to prosecute

The justest claim imaginable, I

Would never wrest by violence my own

Without the sanction of your State or King;

I should behave as fits an outlander

Living amongst a foreign folk, but thou

Shamest a city that deserves it not,

Even thine own, and plenitude of years

Have made of thee an old man and a fool. 237