Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/354

256 Then, when thou seek'st to play the part of good,

Thou shalt be seen as evil. Nay, but speak

The truth, the whole truth. No good fate is that,

When one free-born must bear the liar's name.

How can'st thou 'scape detection? There are many

To whom thou said'st it, who will tell it me;

And if thou fearest, thou dost ill to shrink,

For not to learn, that might indeed distress me;

But how can knowledge harm me? Has he not,

Our Heracles, of all the men that live,

Wedded most wives, and yet not one of them

Has had from me or evil speech or taunt,

Nor will she have, though she in love for him

Should melt and pine; for lo! I pitied her

When first I saw her, for her beauty's sake;

For it, I knew, had wrecked her life's fond hope,

And she, poor soul, against her will, had wrought

The ruin of her fatherland, and brought

Its people into bondage. Let all this

Go to the winds. For thee I bid thee, I,

Be base to others, but to me be true.

Chor. Yes, hearken thou to her considerate speech,

And then in time to come thou shalt not blame

This woman, and from me shalt favour win.

Lichas. Well, then, dear mistress, since I see that thou,

Being human, hast a human heart, and know'st

No stubborn purpose, I will tell thee all,

The whole truth, nought concealing. All is so

As this man tells thee. Strong desire for her

Did seize on Heracles, and so her land,

Œchalia, was laid waste by armed host,

And brought full low. And this (for I must tell

His doings also) he nor bade conceal