Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/470

372 Neop. Deem that beyond all doubt.

Phil. I do not care to bind thee by an oath.

Neop. I may not go from hence apart from thee.

Phil. Give me thy hand as pledge.

Neop. I give it thee

As pledge of our remaining.

Phil. [Starting in agony.] Take me there,

There, there, I say.

Neop. But whither meanest thou?

Phil. Above.

Neop. [Laying hold on .] Why ravest

thou, and why dost gaze

Upon yon vault above us?

Phil. Let me go,

I tell thee; let me go!

Neop. Where shall I leave thee?

Phil. Leave me, I say, a while.

Neop. It may not be.

Phil. If thou but touch me, thou wilt work my death.

Neop. [Releasing him.] And I will let thee go, if thou, indeed,

Art calmer now.

Phil. [Throwing himself on the ground.] Ο Earth, receive

me here,

Just as I am, half-dead. This sore disease

No longer lets me hold myself upright.

Neop. Sleep, so 'twould seem, would make the man its own

In no long time; for, lo! his head droops back,

And drops of sweat from all his body fall,

And the dark vein from out his instep breaks,

Bursting with blood. But let us leave him here

In peace, that he may fall on sleep at last.