Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/436

338 Olympos rules, Erinnys noting guilt,

And Justice the avenger punish them

For foul deeds foully, even as they wished

To cast this man to shame unmerited.

And thee, Ο son of aged Lartios,

Loth am I now to let thee take thy share

In burying him, lest I perchance should do

What he, the dead, approves not. [All the rest

Do thou do with me, and, if thou wilt bring

Some soldiers from the host, we shall not grieve.]

All else will I do, and for thee, know well,

Thou show'st thyself to us as great of soul.

Odys. I fain had joined, but if it please thee not

That we should share, I go, thy words accepting.

Teu. Enough: already the time

Is wearing swiftly away;

Haste ye, some to prepare

A deep hollowed pit for the grave,

And some a tall tripod set

Fit for our task, girt with fire,

Meet for washing the dead.

One band, let it fetch from the tent

His breast-plate, his greaves, and his sword:

And thou, Ο boy, in thy love,

With all the strength that thou hast,

Here, with thy hand on his side,

Thy father's, lift him with me;

For still the hot veins pour their stream,

The dark, thick blood of his strength.

But come ye, come, one and all,

Who boast of yourselves as his friends;

Hasten, come quick to the work,

Labouring for him who in all

Was good, and none better than he.