Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/142

44 Shep. To make away with it.

Œdip. And dared a mother ?

Shep. Auguries dark she feared.

Œdip. What were they?

Shep. E'en that he his sire should kill.

Œdip. Why then did'st thou to this old man resign him?

Shep. I pitied him, Ο master, and I thought

That he would bear him to another land,

Whence he himself had come. But him he saved

For direst evil. For if thou be he

Whom this man speaks of, thou art evil-starred.

Œdip. Woe! woe! woe! woe! all cometh clear at last.

Ο light, may this my last glance be on thee,

Who now am seen owing my birth to those

To whom I ought not, and with whom I ought not

In wedlock living, whom I ought not slaying. [Exit.

Chorus. Ah, race of mortal men,

How as a thing of nought

I count ye, though ye live;

For who is there of men

That more of blessing knows,

Than just a little while

To seem to prosper well,

And, having seemed, to fall?

With thee as pattern given,

Thy destiny, e'en thine,

Ill-fated Œdipus,

I count nought human blest.

For he, with wondrous skill,

Taking his aim, did hit