Page:Oedipus, King of Thebes (Murray 1911).djvu/54

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Yield; consent; think! My Lord, I conjure thee!

What would ye have me do?

Reject not one who never failed his troth

Of old and now is strong in his great oath.

Dost know what this prayer means?

Yea, verily!

Say then the meaning true.

I would not have thee cast to infamy

Of guilt, where none is proved,

One who hath sworn and whom thou once hast loved.

’Tis that ye seek? For me, then understand

Well ye seek death or exile from the land.

No, by the God of Gods, the all-seeing Sun!

May he desert me here, and every friend

With him, to death and utterest malison,

If e’er my heart could dream of such an end!