Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/410

---

---

And, going where I find a spot untracked
By human foot, may bury this my sword,
Weapon most hateful, digging up the earth
Where none may see it; but let Hades dark660
And Night watch o'er it. For from that same hour
When I received it at great Hector's hands,
A gift most deadly, never kindly word
Had I from any Argive; and most true
Is found the proverb that one hears men say—
"A foe's gifts are as no gifts, profitless."
So for the future we shall know to yield
Our will to God's, shall learn to reverence
The Atreidæ even. They our rulers are,
And we must yield. Why not? The strongest things
That fright the soul still yield to sovereignty.
Winters with all their snow-drifts still withdraw670
For summer with its fruits; and night's dark orb
Moves on that day may kindle up its fires,
Day with its chariot drawn by whitest sieeds;
And blast of dreadest winds will lull to rest
The groaning ocean; and all-conquering sleep
Now binds, now frees, and does not hold for aye
Whom once it seized. And shall not we too learn
Our lesson of true wisdom? I, indeed,
Have learnt but now that we should hate a foe
Only so far as one that yet may love,680
And to a friend just so much help I'll give
As unto one that will not always stay;
For with most men is friendship's haven found
Most treacherous refuge. But in this our need
All shall be well, and thou, Ο woman, go
Within, and pray the Gods to grant in full
What my heart craves for. And do ye, my friends,
Pay her the self-same honour as to me,