Sophocles, in the last few lines of the _Oedipus Tyrannus_, thus draws the moral of his fearful tragedy: "[Greek: Hoste thneton ont', ekeinen TEN TELEUTAIAN idein] [Greek: HEMERAN episkopounta, meden' olbizein, PRIN AN] [Greek: TERMA TOU BIOU perasei, meden algeinon pathon.]" Elmsley, on this passage, gives the following references: Trach. I. Soph. Tereo, fr. 10.; ibid. Tyndar. fr. 1.; Agam., 937.; Androm., 100.; Troad., 509.; Heracl., 865.; Dionys. ap. Stob., ciii. p. 560.; Gesn., cv. p. 431.; Grot. To which I may add the oft-quoted lines,-- "Ultima semper Expectanda dies, homini dicique beatus _Ante obitum_ nemo supremaque funera debet." In farther illustration of this passage from Ecclus., let us consider the _Death of the Righteous_. "Let me die _the death_ of the righteous, and let my _last end_ be like his," exclaims the truth-compelled and reluctant prophet, Numb. xxiii. 10. The royal Psalmist, after reflecting on the prosperity of the wicked in this world, adds: "Then thought I to understand this, But it was too hard for me, Until I went into the sanctuary of God: Then understood I the end of these men."--_Ps._ lxxiii. And again: "I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a green bay-tree; {297} Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not; Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man, And behold the upright, For _the end_ of that man is _peace_."--_Ps._ xxxvii. 35-37.: cf. the Prayer-Book version. The prophet Isaiah declares: "The righteous man is taken away because of the evil; _He shall go in peace_, he shall rest in his bed; Even the perfect man, he that walketh in the straight path."--Ch. lvii., Bp. Lowth's Trans. "Sure _the last end_ Of the good man is peace! How calm his exit! Night-dews fall not more gently to the ground, Nor weary worn-out winds expire so soft. Behold him! in the evening tide of life, A life well spent, whose early care it was His riper years should not upbraid his green: By unperceived degrees he wears away; Yet, like the sun, seems larger at his setting! High in his faith and hopes, look how he reaches After the prize in view! and, like a bird That's hamper'd, struggles hard to get away! Whilst the glad gates of sight are wide expanded To let new glories in, the first fair fruits Of the fast-coming harvest."--Blair's _Grave_. "How blest the righteous when he dies! When sinks the weary soul to rest! How mildly beam the closing eyes! How gently heaves the expiring breast! "So fades the summer cloud away; So sinks the gale when storms are o'er; So gently shuts the eye of day; So dies a wave upon the shore. "Life's duty done, as sinks the clay, Light from its load the spirit flies; While heaven and earth combine to say, 'How blest the righteous when he dies!'"--_Mrs. Barbauld._