Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/227



SCENE—Thebes, ''in front of the Palace. Early morning. Hills in the distance on the left; on the right the city''.

Antig. Ismene, mine own sister, darling one!

Is there, of ills that sprang from Œdipus,

One left that Zeus will fail to bring on us,

The two who yet remain? Nought is there sad,

Nought full of sorrow, steeped in sin or shame,

But I have seen it in thy woes and mine.

And now, what new decree is this they tell,

Our captain has enjoined on all the State?

Know'st thou? Hast heard? Or are they hid from thee,

The ills that come from foes upon our friends?

Ism. No tidings of our friends, Antigone,

Pleasant or painful, since that hour have come,

When we, two sisters, lost our brothers twain,

In one day dying by a twofold blow.

And since in this last night the Argive host

Has left the field, I nothing further know,

Nor brightening fortune, nor increasing gloom.

Antig. That knew I well, and therefore sent for thee

Beyond the gates, that thou mav'stmay'st [sic] hear alone.