Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/103

Rh Some succour, whether voice of any God,

Or any man brings knowledge to thy soul;

For still I see, with those whom life has trained

To long-tried skill, the issues of their thoughts

Live and are mighty. Come then, noblest one,

Raise up our city; come, take heed to it;

As yet this land, for all thy former zeal,

Calls thee its saviour: do not give us cause

So to remember this thy reign, as men

Who having risen, then fall low again;

But raise our state to safety. Omens good

Were then with thee; thou did'st thy work, and now

Be equal to thyself! If thou wilt rule,

As thou dost sway, this land wherein we dwell,

'Twere better far to rule o'er living men

Than o'er a realm dispeopled. Nought avails,

Or tower or ship, when men are not within.

Œdip. Ο children, wailing loud, ye come with wish

Well-known, not unknown; well I know that ye

Are smitten, one and all, with taint of plague,

And yet though smitten, none that taint of plague

Feels, as I feel it. Each his burden bears,

His own and not another's; but my heart

Mourns for the state, for you, and for myself;

And, lo, ye wake me not as plunged in sleep,

But find me weeping, weeping many tears,

And treading many paths in wandering thought;

And that one way of health I, seeking, found,

This have I acted on. Menœkeus' son,

Creon, my kinsman, have I sent to seek

The Pythian home of Phœbos, there to learn

The words or deeds wherewith to save the state;

And even now I measure o'er the time,

And ask, "How fares he?" grieving, for he stays,