For expiation?
high priest.
Fatal gift of heaven!
Unhappy knowledge! to what dangers oft
Dost thou betray the heart of curious man!
O would that fate, thus open to my view,
Had o’er its secrets drawn the eternal veil
To hide them from my sight!
philoctetes.
What evil bringest thou?
œdipus.
Comest thou the minister of wrath divine?
philoctetes.
Fear nothing.
œdipus.
Do the gods demand my life?
high priest.
If thou givest credit to me, ask me not.
œdipus.
Whatever be the fate which heaven decrees,
The safety of my country is concerned,
And I will know it.
philoctetes.
Speak.
œdipus.
Have pity on us,
Pity the afflicted, pity—
high priest.
Œdipus
Deserves more, much more, pity than his people.
leader of the chorus.
Œdipus loves them with paternal fondness;
To his we join our prayers. O! hear us thou
Interpreter of heaven; now hear, and save!
second person of the chorus.
We die, O save us! turn aside the wrath
Of the angry gods; name the perfidious monster!
leader of the chorus.
Name him, and soon the parricide shall die
high priest.
Unhappy men! why will ye press me thus?
leader of the chorus.
Speak but the word, he dies, and we are saved.
high priest.
O! ye will tremble but to hear his name,
When ye shall know what pangs he must endure.
The God, who speaks by me, in pity dooms him
To banishment alone; but dreadful ills
Await the murderer: driven to fell despair
His own rash hand shall to the wrath of heaven
Add woes more deep and heavier punishment:
Even you shall shudder at his fate, and own
Your safety purchased at a rate too dear.
œdipus.
Obey then.
philoctetes.
Speak.
œdipus.
Still obstinate!
high priest.
Remember,
If I must speak, that thou didst force me to it.
œdipus.
Insufferable delay! I’ll bear no more.
high priest.
Since thou wilt hear it then, ’tis—
œdipus.
Ha! speak, who?
high priest.
’Tis—Œdipus.
œdipus.
I?
high priest.
Thou, unhappy Prince,
Thou art the man.
second person of the chorus.
Alas! what do I hear!
jocaste.
Say, can it be, interpreter of heaven?
[To Œdipus.
Thou, Œdipus, the murderer of my husband!
To whom Jocaste yielded with herself
The throne of Thebes: the oracle is false;
I know it is; thy virtues must confute it.
leader of the chorus.
O! heaven, whose power decrees the fate of mortals,
O! name another, or to death devote us!
philoctetes.
[Turning to Œdipus.
Think not I mean to render ill for ill;
Or from this strange reverse of fortune take
A mean advantage, to return the wrongs
I suffered from thy people and from thee:
No, Œdipus, I’ll do thee noble justice,
That justice thou deniest to Philoctetes.
Spite of the gods, I think thee innocent,
And here I offer thee my willing hand
Against thy foes: I cannot hesitate
Which I should serve, a pontiff or a king.
’Tis a priest’s business, whosoever he be,
By whatsoever deity inspired,
To pray for, not to curse, his royal master.
œdipus.
Transcendent virtue! execrable
