Page:Oedipus, King of Thebes (Murray 1911).djvu/24

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Hunt the men out from Thebes, or make them bleed

Who slew. For blood it is that stirs to-day.

Who was the man they killed? Doth Phoebus say?

King, there was of old King Laïus

In Thebes, ere thou didst come to pilot us.

I know: not that I ever saw his face.

’Twas he. And Loxias now bids us trace

And smite the unknown workers of his fall.

Where in God’s earth are they? Or how withal

Find the blurred trail of such an ancient stain?

In Thebes, he said.—That which men seek amain

They find. ’Tis things forgotten that go by.

And where did Laïus meet them? Did he die

In Thebes, or in the hills, or some far land?