Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/237

Rh FRAGMENT OF AN "ANTIGONE."

THE CHORUS.

hath he done who hath seized happiness!

For little do the all-containing hours,

Though opulent, freely give,—

Who, weighing that life well

Fortune presents unprayed,

Declines her ministry, and carves his own;

And, justice not infringed,

Makes his own welfare his unswerved-from law.

He does well too, who keeps that clew the mild

Birth-goddess and the austere Fates first gave.

For, from the day when these

Bring him, a weeping child,

First to the light, and mark

A country for him, kinsfolk, and a home,

Unguided he remains,

Till the Fates come again, this time with death.

In little companies,

And, our own place once left,

Ignorant where to stand, or whom to avoid,

By city and household grouped, we live; and many shocks

Our order heaven-ordained

Must every day endure,—

Voyages, exiles, hates, dissensions, wars.

Besides what waste he makes,

The all-hated, order-breaking,