Touched by the stain of such a destiny!

1 SENATOR

My liege, these things affect us grievously;

Still, till you hear his story who was by,

Do not lose hope!

OEDIPUS

Yea, so much hope is left,

Merely to wait for him, the herdsman.

JOCASTA

Well,

Suppose him here, what do you want of him?

OEDIPUS

I’ll tell you; if he should be found to say

Just what you said, I shall be clear from harm.

JOCASTA

What did you hear me say, that did not tally?

OEDIPUS

You were just telling me that he made mention

Of “robbers”—”men”—-as Laius’ murderers.

Now if he shall affirm their number still,

I did not slay him. One cannot be the same

As many. But if he shall speak of one—

One only, it is evident this deed

Already will have been brought home to me.

JOCASTA

But be assured, that was the word, quite plainly!

And now he cannot blot it out again.

Not I alone, but the whole city heard it.

Then, even if he shift from his first tale,

Not so, my lord, will he at all explain

The death of Laius, as it should have been,

Whom Loxias declared my son must slay!

And after all, the poor thing never killed him,

But died itself before! so that henceforth

I do not mean to look to left or right

For fear of soothsaying!

OEDIPUS

You are well advised.

Still, send and fetch the labourer; do not miss it.

JOCASTA

I will send quickly. Now let us go within.

I would do nothing that displeases you.

[Exeunt OEDIPUS and JOCASTA.

Chorus.

I. 1.

Let it be mine to keep

The holy purity of word and deed

Foreguided all by mandates from on high

Born in the ethereal region of the sky,

Their only sire Olympus; them nor seed

Of mortal man brought forth, nor Lethe cold

Shall ever lay to sleep;

In them Deity is great, and grows not old.

I. 2.

Pride is the germ of kings;

Pride, when puffed up, vainly, with many things

Unseasonable, unfitting, mounts the wall,

Only to hurry to that fatal fall,

Where feet are vain to serve her. But the task

Propitious to the city GOD

I ask

Never to take away!

GOD I will never cease to hold my stay.

II. 1.

But if any man proceed

Insolently in word or deed,

Without fear of right, or care

For the seats where Virtues are,

Him, for his ill-omened pride,

Let an evil death betide!

If honestly his gear he will not gain,

Nor keep himself from deeds unholy,

Nor from inviolable things abstain,

Blinded by folly.

In such a course, what mortal from his heart

Dart upon dart

Can hope to avert of indignation?

Yea, and if acts like these are held in estimation,

Why dance we here our part?

II. 2.

Never to the inviolate hearth

At the navel of the earth, *

Nor to Abae’s fane, in prayer,

Nor the Olympian, will I fare,