See the troubles reviving,

O'er Labdacus shed,
See woes of the living

Join woes of the dead!

The father's life in anguish ends,
Fate's heir-loom to the son descends:
For the God, in secret lurking,
Still their overthrow is working.
The last shoot of that ancient tree
Was budding fair as fair might be,
And, beaming o'er it, seemed to shine
The fostering light of love divine:
Frenzy of spirit and folly of tongue
O'er it anew the cloud have flung.
The infernal band

Its downfall planned:

With gory scythe and unrelenting hand
See from the shades the Furies hie;

Its buds they crop,

Its branches lop,

And leave the sapless stem to die.

Shall judgment be less strong than sin?
Shall man o'er Jove dominion win?

No! sleep beneath his leaden sway

May hold but things that know decay.

The unwearied months with Godlike vigour move, Yet cannot change the might of Jove.

SOPH. ANTIG.

Compassed with dazzling light,
Throned on Olympus' height,
His front the eternal God uprears,

By toils unwearied, and unaged by years.
Far back through seasons past,

Far on through times to come,
Has been and still must last

Sin's never-failing doom:

Doom, whence with countless sorrows rife
Is erring man's tumultuous life.
Some, heeding hope's beguiling voice,
From virtue's pathway rove,

And some deluded make their choice
The levities of love.

Heedless they dream through pleasure's hour,
Nor mark the outstretched arm of power,
Till sure revenge its victim claims,

And burst their trance the scorching flames:
For well and wisely was it said,

That all, by Heaven to sorrows led,

Perverted by delirious mood,

Deem evil wears the shape of good,'

123

(1) Erfurdt quotes the following old Iambic lines in illustration

of this sentiment:

ὅταν γὰρ ὀργὴ δαιμόνων βλάπτῃ τινά,

τοῦτ ̓ αὐτὸ πρῶτον ἐξαφαιρεῖται φρενῶν

τὸν νοῦν τὸν ἐσθλὸν, εἰς δὲ τὴν χείρω τρέπει
γνώμην, ἵν ̓ εἰδῆ μηδὲν ὧν ἁμαρτάνει.

When

Chase the fair phantom, free from fears, And waken to a life of tears!

When on some mortal's fated head
The wrath of vengeful Heaven is shed,
The Gods first banish from his soul
Reflection's merciful control,

And lull his senses in the trance
Of soft, beguiling ignorance;
Unconscious moves he mid the gloom,
Nor knows his sin, nor dreads his doom.

SOPH. ANTIG. 777.

ARGUMENT.

ANTIGONE had been condemned to death for burying her brother contrary to the commands of Creon. Hæmon, son of Creon, betrothed to Antigone, defends her cause against his father. The Chorus in this Ode take occasion hence to describe the irresistible power of Love, and express their sympathy with Antigone and Hæmon.