POLYNEICES.
’Tis so, and stay me not. The road I choose,
Dogged by my sire and his avenging spirit,
Leads me to ruin; but for you may Zeus
Make your path bright if ye fulfill my hest
When dead; in life ye cannot serve me more.
Now let me go, farewell, a long farewell!
Ye ne’er shall see my living face again.
ANTIGONE.
Ah me!
POLYNEICES.
Bewail me not.
ANTIGONE.
Who would not mourn
Thee, brother, hurrying to an open pit!
POLYNEICES.
If I must die, I must.
ANTIGONE.
Nay, hear me plead.
POLYNEICES.
It may not be; forbear.
ANTIGONE.
Then woe is me,
If I must lose thee.
POLYNEICES.
Nay, that rests with fate,
Whether I live or die; but for you both
I pray to heaven ye may escape all ill;
For ye are blameless in the eyes of all.
[Exit POLYNEICES]
CHORUS.
(Str. 1)
Ills on ills! no pause or rest!
Come they from our sightless guest?
Or haply now we see fulfilled
What fate long time hath willed?
For ne’er have I proved vain
Aught that the heavenly powers ordain.
Time with never sleeping eye
Watches what is writ on high,
Overthrowing now the great,
Raising now from low estate.
Hark! How the thunder rumbles! Zeus defend us!