Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/59

Rh

Ah Gods, be ye averters of these ills,

And set at one the sons of Oedipus!

Mother, 'tis too late for parley; nay, the time in dallying spent

Doth but run to waste, nor aught availeth this thy good intent.

Never shall we be at one, except as I have laid it down,

That in lordship over Thebes I sway the sceptre, wear the crown.

Have thou done with tedious admonitions then, and let me be:

And, for thee, thou get thee forth these walls, ere death shall light on thee.

Death?—of whom?—what man so woundless, as to plunge his murderous sword

Into this my body, and not win himself the like reward?

Nigh he is: not far thou standest: lo, these hands—hast eyes to see?

Yea—and know how clings to life that craven thing, prosperity!