Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/87

Rh proportion to their earnestness, exclude all mirth and revelling, and therefore there was to be no wine in the libations, only the "water" which represented the purity, and the "honey" which expressed the sweetness of the new life. He was to turn to the precise point at which the first ray of dawn was visible, for he came as a seeker after light. With the "olive branches" of suppliants, symbols of gentleness and peace, the worshipper was to ask, not for wealth, or honour, or health, but only that the Dreaded Ones would be "gracious," and deliver him from the burden of his guilt. There was to be no "loud cry" or "lengthened prayer;" for true worship is of the heart, and does not consist in "much speaking" or wild emotion. When the prayer was over he was to withdraw without turning, for there should be no abrupt transition from the awfulness of the Divine presence to the common routine of life. With a yet more marvellous approximation to the thought which underlies the mystery of Atonement, the sufferer himself discovers that where he fails it is possible that another may take his place, if only that vicarious offering be made in the fulness of a self-devoted love. In words which give what the early Fathers of the Church would have called the "testimonium animæ naturaliter Christianæ," he proclaims that