At length spew out that hateful life of thine. Delay no more upon thy punishment, And give thyself entirely unto death. Why do I, sluggish, linger on in life? There is no further crime that I can do. Oh, my foreboding, wretched soul, there is! [_To_ Antigone.] Flee from thy father, flee, while still a maid; My mother's fate makes me of all afraid. 50 _Antigone_: No power, my father, shall unloose my hold Of thee; no one shall force me from thy side. The illustrious, rich house of Labdacus, Let my two brothers seek with strife to gain: The greatest part of all my father's realm 55 Is mine--my father's self. Nor shall this share Be reft away from me by him who holds By stolen right the scepter over Thebes, Nor by that other brother who leads on Against his native land th' Argolic hosts; Though Jove himself should thunder out of heaven, And hurl his bolt against my clinging hands, 60 I would not let thee go. Though thou forbid, I'll guide thee, O my father, 'gainst thy will, And thy reluctant feet will I direct. Seek'st thou the level plain? There will I go. The rugged mountain heights? I'll not oppose, But will precede thy way. Use me as guide Wherever thou wouldst go; since for us both 65 Is every path selected that thou tread'st. With me, but not without me, canst thou die. There springs a lofty cliff, precipitous, And looks far out upon the sea below: Shall we seek this? There hangs a naked rock, There yawns the riven earth with gaping jaws: 70 Wouldst thou to these? And there a mountain stream In roaring torrent falls, and 'neath its waves Worn fragments of the mountain roll along: Shall we rush headlong in? Where thou wouldst go, I go, but always first. I'll not oppose Nor urge. Dost thou desire to be destroyed? Is death thy highest wish? If thou dost die, 75 I go before thee; if thou liv'st, I follow. But change thy mind, call up thine old-time strength, And with a mighty will thy sorrows curb. Resist, since in such ills defeat is death.