Page:Sophocles - Seven Plays, 1900.djvu/53

537–574]

. Nay, justice will not suffer that. You would not,

And I refused to make you mine ally.

. But now in thy misfortune I would fain

Embark,with thee in thy calamity.

. Who did the deed, the powers beneath can tell.

I care not for lip-kindness from my kin.

. Ah! scorn me not so far as to forbid me

To die with thee, and honour our lost brother.

. Die not with me, nor make your own a deed

You never touched! My dying is enough.

. What joy have I in life when thou art gone?

. Ask Creon there. He hath your care and duty.

. What can it profit thee to vex me so?

. My heart is pained, though my lip laughs at thee.

. What can I do for thee now, even now?

. Save your own life. I grudge not your escape.

. Alas! and must I be debarred thy fate?

. Life was the choice you made. Mine was to die.

. I warned thee

. Yes, your prudence is admired

On earth. My wisdom is approved below.

. Yet truly we are both alike in fault.

. Fear not; you live. My life hath long been given

To death, to be of service to the dead.

. Of these two girls, the one hath lost her wits:

The other hath had none since she was born.

. My lord, in misery, the mind one hath

Is wont to be dislodged, and will not stay.

. You have ta’en leave of yours at any rate,

When you cast in your portion with the vile.

. What can life profit me without my sister?

. Say not ‘my sister’; she is nothing now.

. What? wilt thou kill thy son’s espousal too?

. He may find other fields to plough upon.

. Not so as love was plighted ’twixt them twain.

. I hate a wicked consort for my son.

. O dearest Haemon! how thy father wrongs thee!

. Thou and thy marriage are a torment to me.

. And wilt thou sever her from thine own son?