Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/324

226 The ever-virgin One,

I shall not deign to dread

Those women there within,

With worthless burden still

Cumbering the ground.

Ores. See to it, for in women too there lives

The strength of battle. Thou hast proved it well.

Εlec. [Sobbing.] Ah, ah! Ah me!

There thou hast touched upon a woe unveiled,

That knows no healing, no,

Nor ever may be hid.

Ores. I know it well. But, when occasion bids,

Then should we call those deeds to memory.

Elec. All time for me is fit,

Yea, all, to speak of this,

With wrath as it deserves;

Till now I had scant liberty of speech.

Ores. There we are one. Preserve, then, what thou hast.

Elec. And what, then, shall I do?

Ores. When time serves not,

Speak not o'ermuch.

Elec. And who then worthily,

Now thou art come, would choose

Silence instead of speech?

For lo! I see thee now unlooked, unhoped for.

Ores. Then thou did'st see me here,

When the Gods urged my coming.

Elec. Thou hast said

What mounts yet higher than thy former boon,

If God has sent thee forth

To this our home; I deem

The work as Heaven's own deed.

Ores. Loth am I to restrain thee in thy joy,