[_Enter_ ANTIGONE _and_ ISMENE _in sorrowful silence._ Hapless sisters! maids more hapless Ne'er were girded with a zone: I weep, and wail, and mine, believe me, Is a heart's sigh, no hireling moan.[f22] [_Here commences the Funeral Wail over the dead bodies of_ ETEOCLES _and_ POLYNICES _with mournful music._ STROPHE I. SEMI-CHORUS 1. Alas! alas! the hapless pair. To friendly voice and warning Fate They stopped the ear: and now too late Dear bought with blood their father's wealth In death they share. SEMI-CHORUS 2. Outstretched in death, and prostrate low Them and their house the iron Woe Hath sternly crushed. ANTISTROPHE I. SEMI-CHORUS 1. Alas! alas! the old thrones reel, The lofty palace topples down; And Death hath won a bloody crown, And thou sure end of strife hast made, O keen cold steel! SEMI-CHORUS 2. And, with fulfilment on her wing, Curse-laden from the blind old king The Fury rushed. STROPHE II. SEMI-CHORUS 1. Pierced through the left, with gaping gashes Gory they lie. SEMI-CHORUS 2. All gashed and gored, by fratricidal Wounds they die. SEMI-CHORUS 1. * * * * * * * * SEMI-CHORUS 2. A god, a god doth rule the hour, Slaughter meets slaughter, and the curse Doth reign with power. {288} SEMI-CHORUS 1. See where the steel clean through hath cut Their bleeding life, Even to the marrow deep hath pierced The ruthless knife. SEMI-CHORUS 2. Deep in their silent hearts they cherished The fateful curse, And, with fell purpose sternly hating, Defied remorse. ANTISTROPHE II. SEMI-CHORUS 1. From street to street shrill speeds the cry Of wail and woe. SEMI-CHORUS 2. And towers and peopled plains reply With wail and woe. SEMI-CHORUS 1. And all their wealth a stranger heir Shall rightly share. SEMI-CHORUS 2. The wealth that waked the deadly strife, The strife that raged till rage and strife Ceased with their life. SEMI-CHORUS 1. With whetted heart, and whetted glaive, They shared the lot; Victor and vanquished each in the grave Six feet hath got. SEMI-CHORUS 2. A harsh allotment! who shall praise it, Friend or foe? Harsh strife in pride begun, and ending In wail and woe. STROPHE III. SEMI-CHORUS 1. Sword-stricken here they lie, they lie A breathless pair. SEMI-CHORUS 2. Sword-stricken here they find, they find What home, and where? SEMI-CHORUS 1. A lonely home, a home of gloom In their fathers' tomb.