Guard
O my lord !
Never should man too confident assert,
Much less by oath should bind himself to aught,
For soon our judgments change, and one opinion
Destroys another. By thy threats alarmed
But now, I vowed I never would return ;
Yet thus preserved beyond my hopes, I come,
Bound by that duty which I owe to thee
And to my country, to bring here this virgin.
Whom, as she sprinkled o'er her brother's dust
The varied wreath, we seized. The wilKng task
Was mine, nor as of late by lot determined.
Receive her then, O king ! Judge and condemn
The guilty as it best becomes thy wisdom ;
Henceforth I stand acquitted.
Antigone. Sophocles. Thomas Francklin (Translator). London. 1758–1759.