Page:The Antigone of Sophocles (1911).djvu/42

Watchman. Here ’s how it tame about. When we arrived,
Upon all those dire threats of yours
Weighing most heavily, we swept away
The dust that covered still the corpse, and left
The dark form thus exposed. Then we sat down
To windward by a hill-top, that the smell
From the dead body might not reach us, man
Still urging man to vigilance with loud
And frequent interchange of threats, if one
Should shirk his duty. Thus it was, so long
As to the middle. of the sky the orb
Resplendent of the sun was climbing high
To scorch us. Suddenly a whirlwind rose,
That set the sky all in confusion, raised
A cloud of dust that filled the plain, and rent
The foliage of the wooded plain, until
The spacious sky was choked withal. With eyes
Tight shut we bore the god-sent plague. ’T was long
Before it passed. We looked, and lo! the maid
Was wailing there, the sharp cry of a bird
In bitterness, when it beholds the nest
All empty, and the nestlings gone. So she,
When she beheld the body bare, screamed loud,
Wailing, and on the doers of the deed
Dire curses imprecating. In her hands
She quickly brought some thirsty dust, held high
A shapely hammered jug of bronze, and poured
Libations three to crown the dead. Straightway
We dashed down on our quarry, closing in;
But she was naught dismayed, and when we charged
Her with the former acts and these as well,
She made no movement to deny the charge,—
Joy to my heart indeed, but sorrow, too,
For greater joy there ’s none can be than this,
To get one’s self well out of trouble, pain
No greater than to get a friend well in.
Nevertheless, the safety of my friend
I value not so highly as my own.