ANTIGONE. Woe-wearied father, yonder city's wall That shields her, looks far distant; but this ground Is surely sacred, thickly planted over With olive, bay and vine, within whose bowers Thick-fluttering song-birds make sweet melody. Here then repose thee on this unhewn stone. Thou hast travelled far to-day for one so old. OED. Seat me, my child, and be the blind man's guard. ANT. Long time hath well instructed me in that. OED. Now, canst thou tell me where we have set our feet? ANT. Athens I know, but not the nearer ground. OED. Ay, every man that met us in the way Named Athens. ANT. Shall I go, then, and find out The name of the spot? OED. Yes, if 'tis habitable. ANT. It is inhabited. Yet I need not go. I see a man even now approaching here. OED. How? Makes he towards us? Is he drawing nigh? ANT. He is close beside us. Whatsoe'er thou findest Good to be spoken, say it. The man is here. _Enter an_ Athenian. OED. O stranger, learning from this maid, who sees Both for herself and me, that thou art come With timely light to clear our troubled thought-- ATHENIAN. Ere thou ask more, come forth from where thou sittest! Ye trench on soil forbidden human tread. OED. What soil? And to what Power thus consecrate? ATH. None may go near, nor dwell there. 'Tis possessed By the dread sisters, children of Earth and Night. OED. What holy name will please them, if I pray? ATH. 'All seeing Gentle Powers' the dwellers here Would call them. But each land hath its own rule. OED. And gently may they look on him who now Implores them, and will never leave this grove! ATH. What saying is this? OED. The watchword of my doom. ATH. Yet dare I not remove thee, till the town Have heard my purpose and confirm the deed. OED. By Heaven, I pray thee, stranger, scorn me not, Poor wanderer that I am, but answer me. ATH. Make clear thy drift. Thou'lt get no scorn from me. OED. Then, pray thee, tell me how ye name the place Where now I sit. ATH. The region all around Is sacred. For 'tis guarded and possessed By dread Poseidon, and the Titan mind That brought us fire--Prometheus. But that floor Whereon thy feet are resting, hath been called The brazen threshold of our land, the stay Of glorious Athens, and the neighbouring fields Are fain to honour for their patron-god Thee, O Colonos, first of Knights, whose name [_Pointing to a statue_ They bear in brotherhood and own for theirs. Such, friend, believe me, is this place, not praised In story, but of many a heart beloved. OED. Then is the land inhabited of men? ATH. By men, who name them from Colonos there. OED. Have they a lord, or sways the people's voice? ATH. Lord Theseus, child of Aegeus, our late king. OED. Will some one of your people bring him hither? ATH. Wherefore? What urgent cause requires his presence? OED. He shall gain mightily by granting little. ATH. Who can gain profit from the blind?