_Oedipus_ [_to_ Antigone, _who has followed him into exile_]: O thou, who guid'st thy blinded father's steps, Sole comfort of my weary heart, my child, Begotten at such heavy cost to me, Leave thou the unpropitious way I tread. Why shouldst thou seek to lead my feet aright Which fain would wander? Let me stumble on. 5 Far better shall I find my way, alone, The path that from the miseries of life Shall take me, and the face of heaven and earth Free from the sight of this ill-omened head. O hand of mine, how little hast thou done! For, though I do not see the light of day Which looked upon my crime, still am I seen. Unclasp thy clinging hand from mine; permit 10 My sightless feet to wander where they will. I go, I go where my Cithaeron lifts His rugged crags on high; where to his dogs Actaeon, speeding through the rocky ways, Became a booty strange and pitiful; Where through the dim old woods and dusky glades, 15 By Bacchic frenzy fired, the mother wild Her sisters led, rejoicing in the crime, When on the waving thyrsus' point she bore The gory head of Pentheus; where the bull Of Zethus rushed along, the mangled corpse Of Dirce dragging (through the thorny briars 20 The mad beast's flight was traceable in blood); Or where the cliff of Ino lifts its head High o'er the heaving sea, into whose depths The mother leaped, fleeing an unknown crime, Yet daring other crime, by terror driven To sink her son with her beneath the waves. 25 Oh, happy they whose better fortune gave Mothers like these! There is another place Within these woods--my place, which calls to me, To which I fain would haste; my eager feet Will not delay, and thither will I go, Unguided, all alone. Why hesitate 30 To seek the place that most belongs to me? Give back that death, Cithaeron, give again That spot where once I lay upon thy breast, That, where I should in infancy have died, In age I may expire. Now let me pay The debt I long have owed. O mountain, fell And bloody, cruel, savage in thy rage, Both when thou spar'st and when thou dost destroy, 35 This body long ago was given to thee: Obey my father's and my mother's will. My soul is eager to receive at last Its punishment. Why, daughter, why dost thou With baleful love restrain me? Hold me not. My father calls, and I will follow, yea, Will follow him. Then cease to hold me back. 40 See where the royal Laius comes in rage, The blood-stained scepter of his ravished realm Within his grasp. See, with his angry hands He seeks to tear again my empty eyes. O daughter, dost thou see my father, too? I surely see him. [_To himself:_] Now, O coward soul, Brave but to mar a helpless part of thee, 45