Page:The Antigone of Sophocles (1911).djvu/42

38 Here ’s how it tame about. When we arrived,

Upon all those dire threats of yours

Weighing most heavily, we swept away

The dust that covered still the corpse, and left

The dark form thus exposed. Then we sat down

To windward by a hill-top, that the smell

From the dead body might not reach us, man

Still urging man to vigilance with loud

And frequent interchange of threats, if one

Should shirk his duty. Thus it was, so long

As to the middle. of the sky the orb

Resplendent of the sun was climbing high

To scorch us. Suddenly a whirlwind rose,

That set the sky all in confusion, raised

A cloud of dust that filled the plain, and rent

The foliage of the wooded plain, until

The spacious sky was choked withal. With eyes

Tight shut we bore the god-sent plague. ’T was long

Before it passed. We looked, and lo! the maid

Was wailing there, the sharp cry of a bird

In bitterness, when it beholds the nest

All empty, and the nestlings gone. So she,

When she beheld the body bare, screamed loud,

Wailing, and on the doers of the deed

Dire curses imprecating. In her hands

She quickly brought some thirsty dust, held high

A shapely hammered jug of bronze, and poured

Libations three to crown the dead. Straightway

We dashed down on our quarry, closing in;

But she was naught dismayed, and when we charged

Her with the former acts and these as well,

She made no movement to deny the charge,—

Joy to my heart indeed, but sorrow, too,

For greater joy there ’s none can be than this,

To get one’s self well out of trouble, pain

No greater than to get a friend well in.

Nevertheless, the safety of my friend

I value not so highly as my own.