Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/506

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But little count we make of toil gone by.

For those who fare but ill 'tis very sweet

E'en for a moment to forget their ills.

None has no sorrow; happiest who has least.

He 'twas that taught the Argive army first

To build their walls, and found inventions strange

Of measures, weights, and numbers; he the first

To plan the ten that upward rise from one,

And from the tens to fifties pass, and so

From thence to thousands. He alone devised

The army's beacon-lights and nightly watch,

And signals of the morning, and made clear

What he did not devise. He brought to sight

The measures and the motions of the stars,

And all their order, and the heavenly signs,

And for the men who guide their ships on sea,

The Great Bear's circle, and the Dog's cold setting.

Did he not drive away the famine from them;

And, with God's help, discover pastimes wise,

As they sat down, after long toil at sea—

Draughts, and dice too, sweet help for idleness?

But when an oath is added, then the soul

Is made more careful, having then to shun

Both blame of friends and sin against the Gods

The aged man becomes a child again.