Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/240

142 That roam the fields, or tread the mountain's height;

And brings the binding yoke

Upon the neck of horse with shaggy mane,

Or bull on mountain crest,

Untameable in strength.

And speech, and thought as swift as wind,

And tempered mood for higher life of states,

These he has learnt, and how to flee

Or the clear cold of frost unkind,

Or darts of storm and shower,

Man all-providing. Unprovided, he

Meeteth no chance the coming days may bring;

Only from Hades, still

He fails to find escape,

Though skill of art may teach him how to flee

From depths of fell disease incurable.

So, gifted with a wondrous might,

Above all fancy's dreams, with skill to plan,

Now unto evil, now to good,

He turns. While holding fast the laws,

His country's sacred rights,

That rest upon the oath of Gods on high,

High in the State: an outlaw from the State,

When loving, in his pride,

The thing that is not good;

Ne'er may he share my hearth, nor yet my thoughts,

Who worketh deeds of evil like to this.

As to this portent which the Gods have sent,

I stand in doubt. Can I, who know her, say

That this is not the maid Antigone?