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SOPHOCLES.
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good-will towards you withal. For I will go whither I must pass;690 but do ye what I bid; and ere long, perchance, though now I suffer, ye will hear that I have found peace.

[Exit Ajax.


str.  Ch. I thrill with rapture, I soar on the wings of sudden joy! O Pan, O Pan, appear to us, O Pan, roving o'er the sea, from the craggy ridge of snow-beaten Cyllenè, king who makest dances for the gods, that with me thou mayest move blithely in the measures that none hath taught thee, the measures of Nysa and of Cnosus!700 For now am I fain to dance. And may Apollo, lord of Delos, come over the Icarian waters to be with me, in presence manifest and spirit ever kind!


ant.  The destroying god hath lifted the cloud of dread trouble from our eyes. Joy, joy! Now, once again, now, Zeus, can the pure brightness of good days come to the swift sea-cleaving ships;710 since Ajax again forgets his trouble, and hath turned to perform the law of the gods with all due rites, in perfectness of loyal worship.

The strong years make all things fade; nor would I say that aught was too strange for belief, when thus, beyond our hopes, Ajax hath been led to repent of his wrath against the Atreidae, and his dread feuds.


Enter Messenger from the Greek camp.

Me. Friends, I would first tell you this—Teucer is but now returned from the Mysian heights;720 he hath come to the generals' quarters in mid camp, and is