Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/275

Rh I, even I, did slay thee, woe is me!

I, yes, I speak the truth. Lead me, ye guards,

Lead me forth quickly; lead me out of sight,

More crushed to nothing than is nothing's self.

Chor. Thou counsellest gain, if gain there be in ills,

For present ills when shortest then are best.

Creon. Oh, come thou then, come thou,

The last of all my dooms, that brings to me

Best boon, my life's last day. Come then, oh come,

That never more I look upon the light.

Chor. These things are in the future. What is near,

That we must do. O'er what is yet to come

They watch, to Whom that work of right belongs.

Creon. I did but pray for what I most desire.

Chor. Pray thou for nothing then: for mortal man

There is no issue from a doom decreed.

Creon. [Looking at the two corpses.] Lead me then

forth, vain shadow that I am,

Who slew thee, Ο my son, unwillingly,

And thee too—(O my sorrow!)—and I know not

Which way to look or turn. All near at hand

Is turned to evil; and upon my head

There falls a doom far worse than I can bear.

Chor. Man's highest blessedness,

In wisdom chiefly stands;

And in the things that touch upon the Gods,

'Tis best in word or deed,

To shun unholy pride;

Great words of boasting bring great punishments,

And so to grey-haired age

Teach wisdom at the last.