(ISMENE) I know not. O that Death Might nip my breath, And let me share my aged father's fate. I cannot live a life thus desolate. (CH.) Best of daughters, worthy pair, What heaven brings ye needs must bear, Fret no more 'gainst Heaven's will; Fate hath dealt with you not ill. (ANT.) Love can turn past pain to bliss, What seemed bitter now is sweet. Ah me! that happy toil is sweet. The guidance of those dear blind feet. Dear father, wrapt for aye in nether gloom, E'en in the tomb Never shalt thou lack of love repine, Her love and mine. (CH.) His fate-- (ANT.) Is even as he planned. (CH.) How so? (ANT.) He died, so willed he, in a foreign land. Lapped in kind earth he sleeps his long last sleep, And o'er his grave friends weep. How great our lost these streaming eyes can tell, This sorrow naught can quell. Thou hadst thy wish 'mid strangers thus to die, But I, ah me, not by. (ISM.) Alas, my sister, what new fate Befalls us orphans desolate? (CH.) His end was blessed; therefore, children, stay Your sorrow. Man is born to fate a prey.

(ΙΣΜΗΝΗ) Οὐ κάτοιδα. Κατά με φόνιος Ἀΐδας ἕλοι πατρὶ ξυνθανεῖν γεραιῷ τάλαιναν͵ ὡς ἔμοιγ΄ ὁ μέλλων βίος οὐ βιωτός. (ΧΟ.) Ὦ διδύμα τέκνων ἀρίστα͵ τὸ φέρον καλῶς φέρειν͵ μηδέ γ΄ ἄγαν φλέγεσθον; οὔ τοι κατάμεμπτ΄ ἔβητον. (ΑΝ.) Πόθος τοι καὶ κακῶν ἄρ΄ ἦν τις· καὶ γὰρ ὃ μηδαμὰ δὴ τὸ φίλον͵ φίλον͵ ὁπότε γε καὶ τὸν ἐν χεροῖν κατεῖχον. Ὦ πάτερ͵ ὦ φίλος͵ ὦ τὸν ἀεὶ κατὰ γᾶς σκότον εἱμένος͵ οὐδὲ γὰρ ὣς ἀφίλητος ἐμοί ποτε καὶ τᾷδε μὴ κυρήσῃς. (ΧΟ.) Ἔπραξεν (ΑΝ.) Ἔπραξεν οἷον ἤθελεν. (ΧΟ.) Τὸ ποῖον; (ΑΝ.) Ἇς ἔχρῃζε γᾶς ἐπὶ ξένας ἔθανε· κοίταν δ΄ ἔχει νέρθεν εὐσκίαστον αἰέν͵ οὐδὲ πένθος ἔλιπ΄ ἄκλαυτον. Ἀνὰ γὰρ ὄμμα σε τόδ΄͵ ὦ πάτερ͵ ἐμὸν στένει δακρῦον͵ οὐδ΄ ἔχω πῶς με χρὴ τὸ σὸν τάλαιναν ἀφανίσαι τοσόνδ΄ ἄχος. Ὤμοι͵ γᾶς ἐπὶ ξένας θανεῖν ἔχρῃζες· ἀλλ΄ ἔρημος ἔθανες ὧδέ μοι. (ΙΣ.) Ὦ τάλαινα͵ τίς ἄρα με πότμος ἐπιμένει σέ τ΄͵ ὦ φίλα͵ πατρὸς ὧδ΄ ἐρήμας; (ΧΟ.) Ἀλλ΄ ἐπεὶ ὀλβίως γ΄ ἔλυσεν τὸ τέλος͵ φίλαι͵ βίου͵ λήγετε τοῦδ΄ ἄχους· κακῶν γὰρ δυσάλωτος οὐδείς.