Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/106

8 Shown for the dead your care, and ye shall find,

As is most meet, in me a helper true,

Aiding at once my country and the God.

It is not for the sake of friends remote,

But for mine own, that I dispel this pest;

For he that slew him, whosoe'er he be,

Will wish, perchance, with such a blow to smite

Me also. Helping him, I help myself.

And now, my children, rise with utmost speed

From off these steps, and raise your suppliant boughs;

And let another call my people here,

The race of Cadmos, and make known that I

Will do my taskwork to the uttermost:

So, as God wills, we prosper, or we fail.

Priest. Rise then, my children, 'twas for this we came,

For these good tidings which those lips have brought,

And Phœbos, who hath sent these oracles,

Pray that He come to save, and heal our plague.

[Exeunt, Priest, and Suppliants, ''the latter taking their boughs from the altar and bearing them, as they march in procession''.

Chorus. Ο word of Zeus, glad-voiced, with what intent

From Pytho, bright with gold,

Cam'st thou to Thebes, our city of high fame?

For lo! I faint for fear,

Through all my soul I quiver, in suspense,

(Hear, Iο Pæan! God of Delos, hear!)

In brooding dread, what doom, of present growth,