Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/118

20 Swifter than fastest steed to bend his flight;

For, in full armour clad,

Upon him darts, with fire

And lightning flash, the radiant Son of Zeus,

And with Him come in train

The dread and awful Powers,

The Destinies that fail not of their aim.

For from Parnassos' heights, enwreathed with snow,

Gleaming, but now there shone

The oracle that bade us, one and all,

Track the unnamed, unknown;

For, lo! he wanders through the forest wild,

In caves and over rocks,

As strays the mountain bull,

In dreary loneliness with dreary tread,

Seeking in vain to shun

Dread words from central shrine;

Yet they around him hover, full of life.

Fearfully, fearfully the augur moves me.

Nor answering, aye nor no!

And what to say I know not, but float on,

And hover still in hopes,

And fail to scan things present or to come.

For not of old, nor now,

Learnt I what cause of strife at variance set

The old Labdakid race

With him, the child and heir of Polybos,

Nor can I test the tale,

And take my stand against the well-earned fame

Of Œdipus, my lord,