Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/459

Rh Chor. Have pity, Ο my prince, for he hath told

Of sorrows which, I pray

No friend of mine may know.

But if, Ο prince, the Atreidæ, rough and fierce,

Thou hatest in thy soul,

I, reckoning on the profit-side for him

The evil they have done, would take him home,

And on my good ship swift

Make for the haven which his heart desires,

Escaping thus the righteous wrath of Gods.

Neop. Take heed lest thou be very pliant now,

But when thou hast thy fill of that foul pest,

Should'st shew no more at one with these thy words.

Chor. Far be that from me! Thou shalt ne'er have cause

With that reproach to vilify my name.

Neop. Right shameful were it I more loth should seem

Than thou to help a stranger in his need:

But, if it please you, let us sail at once.

And let him too be quick to start with us;

Our ship will take him, will not say him nay.

This only pray I, that the Gods may bring us

From this land safe to where we seek to sail.

Phil. Ο day best loved by me, and man most dear,

And ye, my sailor friends, how best may I

Show in my acts the grateful love I feel?

Come, let us go, my son, and bid farewell

To that my homeless home, that thou may'st learn

What way I lived, and how I was by nature

Full stout of heart. Another man, I trow,

Would hardly even bear, with glance of eye,

To look on such a sight. But I have learnt,

Through sheer constraint, to acquiesce in ills.