Page:Sophocles - Seven Plays, 1900.djvu/213

Rh

. ’Tis said that through the length of this past year

He wrought as bondman to a Lydian girl.

. Hath he borne that? Then nothing can be strange!

. Well, that is over, I am told. He is free.

. Where is he rumoured then, alive or dead?

. In rich Euboea, besieging, as they tell,

The town of Eurytus, or offering siege.

. Child, hast thou heard what holy oracles

He left with me, touching that very land?

. What were they, mother, for I never knew?

. That either he must end his being there,

Or, this one feat performed, his following time

Should grace his life with fair prosperity.

Wilt thou not then, my child, when he is held

In such a crisis of uncertain peril,

Run to his aid?—since we must perish with him,

Or owe our lasting safety to his life.

. I will go, mother. Had I heard this voice

Of prophecy, long since I had been there.

Fear is unwonted for our father’s lot.

But now I know, my strength shall all be spent

To learn the course of these affairs in full.

. Go then, my son. Though late, to learn and do

What wisdom bids, hath certainty of gain.

[Exit withdraws

Born of the starry night in her undoing,

Lulled in her bosom at thy parting glow,

O Sun! I bid thee show,

What journey is Alcmena’s child pursuing?

What region holds him now,

’Mong winding channels of the deep,

Or Asian plains, or rugged Western steep?

Declare it, thou

Peerless in vision of thy flashing ray

That lightens on the world with each new day.