Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/394

296 Before whose Tauric altar bleed the bulls,

(O rumour terrible! Ο source of shame!)

Had sped thee forth against the people's herds,

The oxen, shared of all?

Was it for victory that brought no fruit?

Or was She robbed of glorious spoils of war?

Was it for stricken deer

She gained no votive gifts?

Or Enyalios, in his coat of mail,

Did he find cause of blame,

As sharing war with thee,

And so revenged his wrong

In stratagems of night?

For never yet, Ο son of Telamon,

Had'st thou so wandered from thy reason's path,

Falling on flocks and herds;

By will of Gods, perchance, the evil comes;

But, Zeus and Phœbos, turn,

Turn ye aside the Argives' tale of shame!

But if the mighty kings with subtle craft

Forge idle tales of thee,

Or he who draws his birth

From that pernicious stock of Sisyphos,

Bear not, oh, bear not, king,

That tale of foulest shame,

Still looking idly thus

Upon thy sea-washed tents.