Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/597

Rh Through the wild breezy sky;

For all my strength is vanished utterly.

Thou, thou against thyself hast sentence passed,

Ο thou worn out and pained!

No spell of mightier Power is o'er thee cast,

For when thou mightest wisdom's path have gained,

Thou did'st, in wilful mood,

Prefer thine evil genius to the good.

Ah, worn with woe am I,

Worn out with misery,

Exposed to wanton scorn,

I in the years that come must pine away,

With no man near me, desolate, forlorn.

Ah me, ah, woe is me!

No longer wielding still,

In hands that once were strong,

My swift darts, can I hunger's cravings fill:

But crafty speech of meaning dark and wrong

Has subtly crept on me.

Oh, that I might but see

The man who planned this crime,

Sharing for equal time

The woe and pain that have been mine so long!

Fate was it, yea, 'twas Fate,

Fate of the Gods, no subtlety of guile,

That brought thy captive state;

Turn then on others all thy bitter hate,

Thy curses hard and vile;