Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/348

250 And I, his faithful servant, do his will.

And as for him, when he pure sacrifice

Has offered unto Zeus, his fathers' God,

For that great capture, think of him as near;

Of all things spoken well the sweetest this.

Chor. Now, Ο my queen, thou see'st thy joy full clear,

Part close at hand, part learning by report.

Deian. How can I but rejoice with all my heart,

Hearing my husband's high prosperity?

[Needs must that that should go along with this;]

And yet, for those who scan and look around,

Is cause to fear for one who prospers much,

Lest he too fail. Sad pity creeps on me,

My friends, when I behold these wretched ones

In a strange land as homeless, fatherless;

And they who sprang, perchance, from free-born sires,

Now lead the life of bond-slaves. Grant, Ο Zeus,

Thou God averting evil, that I ne'er

May see Thee coming thus against my seed,

Nor, if Thou needs must work Thy will on them,

Fulfil it while I live. Such dread I feel

Beholding these. [To .] Ο hapless one, what lot,

A maiden's, or a mother's, falls to thee?

Thy growth and form would say that thou had'st known

None of these things; and sure they witness too

That thou art nobly born. Come, Lichas, say

Whose daughter is this stranger? Who her mother,

And who the father that begat her? Speak,

For more than all my whole heart pities her,

As, more than all, her soul is quick to feel.

Lichas. How should I know? Why ask'st thou me? Perchance

She springs from those not held in least repute.

Deian. Of royal race? The seed of Eurytos?