Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/74

56 Within these woods my place, which calls to me, To which I fain would haste; my eager feel Will not delay, and thither will I go, Unguided, all alone. Why hesitate To seek the place that most belongs to me? Give back that death, Cithaeron, give again That spot where once I lay upon thy breast, That, where I should in infancy have died, In age I may expire. Now let me pay The debt I long have owed. O mountain, fell And bloody, cruel, savage in thy rage, Both when thou spar'st and when thou dost destroy, This body long ago was given to thee: Obey my father's and my mother's will. My soul is eager to receive at last Its punishment. Why, daughter, why dost thou With baleful love restrain me? Hold me not. My father calls, and I will follow, yea, Will follow him. Then cease to hold me back. See where the royal Laius comes in rage, The blood-stained scepter of his ravished realm Within his grasp. See, with his angry hands He seeks to tear again my empty eyes. O daughter, dost thou see my father, too? I surely see him. [To himself:] Now, O coward soul, Brave but to mar a helpless part of thee, At length spew out that hateful life of thine. Delay no more upon thy punishment, And give thyself entirely unto death. Why do I, sluggish, linger on in life? There is no further crime that I can do. Oh, my foreboding, wretched soul, there is! [To Antigone.] Flee from thy father, flee, while still a maid; My mother's fate makes me of all afraid. Antigone: No power, my father, shall unloose my hold Of thee; no one shall force me from thy side. The illustrious, rich house of Labdacus,