Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/489

Rh Neop. Well, be it so. But thou hast now thy bow,

And hast no cause for wrath or blaming me.

Phil. I own it. Thou, dear boy, hast shown the stock

From which thou springest, not from Sisyphos,

But from Achilles, who alive was held

Of highest fame, and is so with the dead.

Neop. It gives me joy to hear thee praise my father,

Praising me also; but what now I wish

Hear thou, I pray thee. Mortals needs must bear

The chances which the Gods on high shall give;

But those who fall upon self-chosen ills,

As thou hast fallen, they have little claim

To pardon or compassion. Thou art fierce,

And wilt not list to one who counsels thee;

And if one give advice in pure good will,

Thou hatest him, and deemest him a foe.

Yet I will speak, invoking holy Zeus,

The guardian of all oaths. Be sure of this,

And write it in the tablets of thy mind,

Thy pain has come to thee by heaven-sent chance,

In that thou cam'st too near to Chryse's guard,

The serpent who in secret keeps his watch

Over the unroofed precincts of her shrine;

And know that thou shalt find no respite here

From this thy sore disease, while yet yon sun

Rises on this side, sets again on that,

Until thou journey of thine own free will

To Troïa's plains, and meeting there with those

Who call Asclepios father, shalt be healed

Of thy disease, and shalt with these thy darts,

And with my help, lay low its ancient Towers.