Page:Sophocles (Storr 1912) v1.djvu/313

 Earth-rooted Threshold with its brazen stairs,

He paused at one of the converging paths,

Hard by the rocky basin which records

The pact of Theseus and Peirithoüs.

Betwixt that rift and the Thorician rock,

The hollow pear-tree and the marble tomb,

Midway he sat and loosed his beggar’s weeds;

Then calling to his daughters bade them fetch

Of running water, both to wash withal

And make libation; so they clomb the steep,

Demeter’s hill, who waters the green shoots;

And in brief space brought what their father bade,

Then laved and dressed him with observance due.

But when he had his will in everything,

And no desire was left unsatisfied,

It thundered from the netherworld; the maids

Shivered, and crouching at their father’s knees

Wept, beat their breast and uttered a long wail.

He, as he heard their sudden bitter cry,

Folded his arms about them both and said,

“My children, ye will lose your sire to-day,

For all of me has perished, and no more

Have ye to bear your long, long ministry;

A heavy load, I know, and yet one word

Wipes out all score of tribulations—love.

And love from me ye had—from no man more;

But now must live without me all your days.”

So clinging to each other sobbed and wept

Father and daughters both, but when at last 291