Page:Sophocles - Seven Plays, 1900.djvu/264

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Farewell, right heartily fare-well! May Heaven

Grant thy desire, and rid thee of thy plague!

Let us be going, that when God shall give

Fair voyage, that moment we may launch away.

. My son, are ye now setting forth?

. Our time

Bids us go near and look to sail erelong.

. Now, by thy father, by thy mother,—nay,

By all thy love e’er cherished in thy home,

Suppliant I beg thee, leave me not thus lone,

Forlorn in all my misery which thou seest,

In all thou hast heard of here surrounding me!

Stow me with other freightage. Full of care,

I know, and burdensome the charge may prove.

Yet venture! Surely to the noble mind

All shame is hateful and all kindness blest.

And shame would be thy meed, didst thou fail here;

But, doing this, thou shalt have glorious fame,

When I return alive to Oeta’s vale.

Come, ’tis the labour not of one whole day.

So thou durst take me, fling me where thou wilt

O’ the ship, in hold, prow, stern, or wheresoe’er

I least may trouble those on board with me.

Ah! by great Zeus, the suppliant’s friend, comply,

My son, be softened! See, where I am fall’n

Thus on my knees before thee, though so weak,

Crippled and powerless. Ah! forsake me not

Thus far from human footstep. Take me, take me!

If only to thy home, or to the town

Of old Chalcodon in Euboea.—From thence

I have not far to Oeta, and the ridge

Of Trachis, and Spercheius’ lordly flood.

So thou shalt bless my father with my sight.

And yet long since I fear he may be gone.

For oft I sent him suppliant prayers by men

Who touched this isle, entreating him to fetch

And bear me safely home with his own crew.

But either he is dead, or else, methinks,

It well may be, my messengers made light

Of my concerns, and hastened onward home.