bore that long pain without pause; and at the last a sight and a loss that baffle thought are ours to tell.
Ch. And how is it with you? An. We can but conjecture, friends.
Ch. He is gone? An. Even as thou mightest wish: yea, surely, when death met him not in war, or on the deep,1680 but he was snatched to the viewless fields by some swift, strange doom. Ah me! and a night as of death hath come on the eyes of us twain: for how shall we find our bitter livelihood, roaming to some far land, or on the waves of the sea?
Is. I know not. Oh that deadly Hades would join me in death unto mine aged sire!1690 Woe is me! I cannot live the life that must be mine.
Ch. Best of daughters, sisters twain, Heaven's doom must be borne: be no more fired with too much grief: ye have so fared that ye should not repine.
ant. 1. An. Ah, so care past can seem lost joy! For that which was no way sweet had sweetness, while therewith I held him in mine embrace.1700 Ah, father, dear one, ah thou who hast put on the darkness of the under-world for ever, not even there shalt thou ever lack our love,—her love and mine.
Ch. He hath fared— An. He hath fared as he would.
Ch. In what wise? An. On foreign ground, the ground of his choice, he hath died; in the shadow of the grave he hath his bed for ever; and he hath left mourning behind him, not barren of tears. For with these streaming eyes, father, I bewail thee;1710 nor know