Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/416

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And that I may not, seen by any foe,
Before he see me, be to dogs and birds830
Foully cast forth, their quarry and their spoil;
So much, Ο Zeus, I ask Thee; and I call
With Thee, great Hermes, guide of all the dead,
And dweller in the dark, to close mine eyes
Kindly, with one swift, unconvulsive spring
Piercing my heart with this same sword of mine;
And those, the Ever-virgin Ones, I call,
Erinnyes dread that see all human deeds,
Swift-footed, that they mark how I am slain
By yon Atreidæ; may they seize on them,
Doers of evil, with all evil plagues
And uttermost destruction, as they now
See me destroyed [with suicidal hand,840
So let them fall by dearest kindred slain.]
Come swift Erinnyes, vengeful, glut yourselves
(Yea, spare them not,) upon the host they rule.
Thou Sun, whose chariot in the heaven's high path
Rides on in glory, when Thou see'st the land
Owned by my fathers, draw thy golden reins,
And tell all these my sorrows, and my doom,
To mine old father, and my mother lorn;
Ah! when she hears, poor wretch, the evil news850
Through all the city, great and bitter cries
Will issue from her lips. But not for me
Is time for vain lament. The work must now
Begin more swiftly. Come, and look on me,
Ο Death, Ο Death!—and yet in yonder world
I shall dwell with thee, speak enough with thee;
And Thee I call, thou light of golden day,
Thou Sun, who drivest on thy glorious car,
Thee, for this last time, never more again.
Ο Light, Ο sacred land that was my home;