Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/563



, to whom the star-bespangled Night,

Slain and despoiled, gives birth,

And lulls again to rest, Ο Sun-God bright,

Thee, Helios, I implore,

Tell me on what far shore

Alcmena's son is dwelling on the earth,

(O Thou, whose glory gleaming

In blaze of light is streaming!)

Or by the ocean-valley's deep descent,

Or taking rest in either continent,

Tell Thou, with whom there dwells

A power to see which all our sight excels.

For, lo! I hear that she with anxious thought,

Our Deianeira, sighs,

The bride of old in fierce, hot conflict sought;

And like some lonely bird,

Whose wailing cry is heard,

Can never close in slumber tearless eyes,

But still is forced to cherish

Dread fear lest he should perish;

And so in marriage couch, of spouse bereft,

Wears out her life, to lonely darkness left,

And ever fears a fate

Full fraught with evil, dreary, desolate.