Œdipus ended his days in exile at Colonus, where he was received by Theseus, the hero of Attica, and attended to the last by his faithful daughter Antigone. His death is the subject of the play “Œdipus at Colonus,” written at the close of the poet’s life and reflecting the gentleness and serenity of his last days. It contains one of the gems of Sophocles—that chorus which has immortalized the lovely scenery about Colonus—which the old poet recited before the Athenian judges to prove his sanity. Bulwer furnishes us a spirited version of this famous passage:—The chorus informs the outcast Œdipus that he has come to Colonus, “Where ever and aye, through the greenest vale, Gush the wailing notes of the nightingale, From her home where the dark-hued ivy weaves With the grove of the god a night of leaves; And the vines blossom out from the lonely glade, And the suns of the summer are dim in the shade, And the storms of the winter have never a breeze, That can shiver a leaf from the charmèd trees; For there, oh! ever there With that fair mountain throng, Who his sweet nurses were, Wild Bacchus holds his court, the conscious woods among! Daintily, ever there, Crown of the mighty goddesses of old, Clustering Narcissus with his glorious hues Springs from his bath of heaven’s delicious dews, And the gay crocus sheds his rays of gold. And wandering there forever The fountains are at play, And Cephissus feeds his river From their sweet urns, day by day; The river knows no dearth; Adown the vale the lapsing waters glide, And the pure rain of that pellucid tide Calls the rife beauty from the heart of earth; While by the banks the Muses’ choral train Are duly heard—and there Love checks her golden rein.” EXTANT PLAYS OF SOPHOCLES. KING ŒDIPUS: this and the next two tragedies form a trilogy. ŒDIPUS AT COLONUS: well adapted to flatter the local pride of the Athenians. ANTIGONE: based on the story of “the Seven against Thebes.” Antigone was the daughter of Œdipus. Her uncle, King Creon, forbids the burial of her brother Polyni’ces, the instigator of the war and one of its victims. Sisterly affection proves stronger than fear of the royal decree; Antigone performs the last sad offices for her brother, and is entombed alive for her disobedience. THE TRACHINIAN WOMEN: subject, the poisoning of Hercules by his wife Deïanira. ELECTRA: called from the heroine, Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, who is overpowered by hatred for her unnatural mother and Ægisthus. The plot culminates with the slaughter of the guilty pair by Orestes the avenger. Finest passage, the meeting between Orestes and his sister.