Page:Sophocles (Storr 1919) v2.djvu/263



Why hale me indoors? if my doom be just,

What need of darkness? Why not slay me here?

’Tis not for thee to order; go within;

Where thou didst slay my father thou must die.

Ah! is there need this palace should behold

All woes of Pelops’ line, now and to come?

Thine own they shall; thus much I can predict.

Thy skill as seer derives not from thy sire.

Thou handiest words; our going is delayed.

Go.

Lead the way.

No, thou must go the first.

Lest I escape?

Nay, not to let thee choose

The manner of thy death; thou must be spared

No bitterness of death, and well it were

If on transgressors swift this sentence fall,

Slay him; so wickedness should less abound.

House of Atreus! thou hast passed

Through the fire and won at last

Freedom, perfected to-day

By this glorious essay.

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