The Seven Plays in English Verse

In 1869, having read the Antigone with a pupil who at the time had a passion for the stage, I was led to attempt a metrical version of the _Antigone_, and, by and by, of the Ele...

The Philoctetes, like the Oedipus at Colonos, was a work of Sophocles' old age; and while it can hardly be said that the fire of tragic feeling is abated in either of these play...

WATCH. I cannot tell. There was no mark to show-- No dint of spade, or mattock-loosened sod,-- Only the hard bare ground, untilled and trackless. Whoe'er he was, the doer left n...

CHORUS Love, never foiled in fight! 1 Warrior Love, that on Wealth workest havoc! Love, who in ambush of young maid's soft cheek All night keep'st watch!--Thou roamest over seas...

LEADER OF CHORUS. Wise conduct hath command of happiness Before all else, and piety to Heaven Must be preserved. High boastings of the proud Bring sorrow to the height to punish...

TEC. O my great master! heaviest of all woe Is theirs whose life is crushed beyond recall. I, born of one the mightiest of the free And wealthiest in the Phrygian land, am now A...

TEU. O sorest spectacle mine eyes e'er saw! Woe for my journey hither, of all ways Most grievous to my heart, since I was ware, Dear Aias, of thy doom, and sadly tracked Thy foo...

PRIEST. Great ruler of my country, thou beholdest The different ages of our flock who here Are gathered round thine altar,--some, whose wing Hath not yet ventured far from home,...

OED. Insolent, art thou here? Hadst thou the face To bring thy boldness near my palace-roof, Proved as thou art to have contrived my death And laid thy robber hands upon my stat...

OED. Speak, any one of you in presence here, Can you make known the swain he tells us of, In town or country having met with him? The hour for this discovery is full come.

Agamemnon on his return from Troy, had been murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her paramour Aegisthus, who had usurped the Mycenean throne. Orestes, then a child, had been re...

CLYTEMNESTRA. Again you are let loose and range at will. Ay, for Aegisthus is not here, who barred Your rashness from defaming your own kin Beyond the gates. But now he's gone f...

CHORUS. Wise are the birds of air I 1 That with true filial care For those provide convenient food Who gave them birth, who wrought their good. Why will not men the like perfect...

The Centaur Nessus, in dying by the arrow of Heracles, which had been dipped in the venom of the Hydra, persuaded the bride Deanira, whose beauty was the cause of his death, to...

DE. Yea, so my mind is bent. I will do so. I will not, in a bootless strife 'gainst Heaven, Augment my misery with self-sought ill. Come, go we in, that thou may'st bear from me...

HER. O altar on the Euboean strand, High-heaped with offerings from my hand, What meed for lavish gifts bestowed From thy new sanctuary hath flowed! Father of Gods! thy cruel po...

CH. 2. Think again. He moveth nigh: He holds the region: not with tone Of piping shepherd's rural minstrelsy, But belloweth his far cry, Stumbling perchance with mortal pain, Or...

But now, consorted with the hero's child, II 2 He winneth greatness and a joyful change; Over the water wild Borne by a friendly bark beneath the range Of Oeta, where Spercheius...

OD. And me thou soon shalt see Doing the like and dallying not!--And yet I will not touch thee, but will go and tell The army, that shall wreak this on thy head. [_Exit_

ANT. O strangers, full of reverent care! Since ye cannot endure my father here, Aged and blind, Because ye have heard a rumour of the deeds He did unknowingly,--yet, we entreat...

CREON. Noble inhabiters of Attic ground I see as 'twere conceived within your eyes At mine approach some new engendered fear Nay, shrink not, nor let fall one fretful word. I br...

OED. Child, your dear pleading to your hard request Hath won me. Let this be as ye desire. Only, my lord, if he is to come near, Let no man's power molest my liberty.

THE. Dear children, 'twas your father's spoken will That no man should approach his resting-place, Nor human voice should ever violate The mystery of the tomb wherein he lies. H...