Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/153

Rh To live where'er is meet; and for yourselves

A brighter life than his ye call your sire.

Creon. Enough of tears. Go thou within the house.

Œdip. I needs must yield, however hard it be.

Creon. In their right season all things prosper best.

Œdip. Know'st thou my wish?

Creon. Speak and I then shall know.

Œdip. That thou should'st send me far away from home.

Creon. Thou askest what the Gods alone can give.

Œdip. As for the Gods, above all men they hate me.

Creon. And therefore it may chance thou gain'st thy wish.

Œdip. And dost thou promise?

Creon. When I mean them not,

I am not wont to utter idle words.

Œdip. Lead me, then, hence.

Creon. Go thou, but leave the girls.

Œdip. Ah, take them not from me!

Creon. Thou must not think

To hold the sway in all things all thy life:

The sway thou had'st did not abide with thee.

Chorus. Ye men of Thebes, behold this Œdipus,

Who knew the famous riddle and was noblest,

Whose fortune who saw not with envious glances?

And, lo! in what a sea of direst trouble

He now is plunged. From hence the lesson learn ye,

To reckon no man happy till ye witness

The closing day; until he pass the border

Which severs life from death, unscathed by sorrow.