Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/403

Rh Dishonoured by the Argives: yet I think

I know thus much, that had Achilles lived

To give his arms as prize of valiant deeds,

No one would then have seized them in my stead.

But now the Atreidæ got them for a man

Crafty in soul, and this my strength despised;

And were it not my eyes and mind had rushed

Wildly away from will, they had not lived

To give their votes against another man.

But now the virgin child of Zeus, with eyes

Of fearful brightness, when I stretched my hands

Against them, sent a frenzied madness on me,

So that I stained my hands with these poor beasts;

And they, escaped in safety, mock at me:

Not with my will was this, but if a God

Should smite, the worse may 'scape the better man.

And now what course is right for me, to whom

The Gods are clearly foes, and all the host

Of Hellas hates me, and these outspread plains

And Troïa are mine enemies? Shall I,

Quitting my seat and sea-side anchorage,

Leave the Atreidæ by themselves alone,

And cross the Ægæan waters to my home?

But then, how shall I look him in the face,

My father Telamon? How will he bear

To see me stript, without my valour's prize,

When he himself won glory's noblest crown?

That shame is past all bearing. Shall I go

Against the Troïans' fort, and fighting there,

Alone with them alone, do some brave deed,

And then at last gain death? But thus should I

Gladden my foes, the Atreidæ. Nay, not so:

I must seek out some perilous emprise,

To show my father that I sprang from him,