Page:Sophocles (Storr 1912) v1.djvu/231

 And not a cloud. Time in his endless course

Gives birth to endless days and nights, wherein

The merest nothing shall suffice to cut

With serried spears your bonds of amity.

Then shall my slumbering and buried corse

In its cold grave drink their warm life-blood up,

If Zeus be Zeus and Phoebus still speak true.

No more: ’tis ill to tear aside the veil

Of mysteries; let me cease as I began:

Enough if thou wilt keep thy plighted troth,

Then shalt thou ne’er complain that Oedipus

Proved an unprofitable and thankless guest,

Except the gods themselves shall play me false.

The man, my lord, has from the very first

Declared his power to offer to our land

These and like benefits.

Who could reject

The proffered amity of such a friend?

First, he can claim the hospitality

To which by mutual contract we stand pledged:

Next, coming here, a suppliant to the gods,

He pays full tribute to the State and me;

His favours therefore never will I spurn,

But grant him the full rights of citizen;

And, if it suits the stranger here to bide,

I place him in your charge, or if he please

Rather to come with me—choose, Oedipus,

Which of the two thou wilt. Thy choice is mine.

Zeus, may thy blessing fall on men like these! 209