Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/208

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Which now thou weep'st to look on, when in grief
Like mine thou too art fallen. These are things
I may not weep for: I must bear them still,1360
While life lasts, counting thee my murderer;
For thou wast he who plunged me in this woe;
Thou drov'st me into exile; by thy deed,
A wanderer through the world, I beg my bread,
And had I not these girls to care for me,
That too would fail, for aught that thou would'st do.
But now they save my life; they tend on me;
No women they, but men in will to toil:
But ye are not my sons; I own ye not.
As yet the God forbears to look on thee,1370
As soon He shall, if these thy armies move
Against the towers of Thebes. It may not be
That thou shalt ever lay that city waste,
But thou thyself shalt fall, with blood defiled;
And so shall fall thy brother. Once before
I breathed these curses deep upon you both,
And now I bid them come as my allies,
That ye may learn the reverence due from sons,
Nor, being what you are, think scorn of me,
Your blind old father; (these thou look'st on here
Have done far other deeds;) and therefore they,
Those Curses, sway thy prayers, thy sovereignty,1380
If still there dwells beside the throne of Zeus
The Eternal Right that rests on oldest laws;
And thou—may ruin seize thee, loathed and base!
I am no more thy father; take my curse
Which now I pour on thee, thy native land
Never by sword to conquer, nor again
Return to Argos in the dale, but die,
Slain by a brother's hand, and slaying him
Who drove thee forth to exile. So I curse