Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Jebb 1917).djvu/95

589—613] . King, they would fain convey me to Thebes.

. But if to thy content, then for thee exile is not seemly.

. Nay, when I was willing, they refused.

. But, foolish man, temper in misfortune is not meet.

. When thou hast heard my story, chide; till then, forbear.

. Say on: I must not pronounce without knowledge.

. I have suffered, Theseus, cruel wrong on wrong.

. Wilt thou speak of the ancient trouble of thy race?

. No, verily: that is noised throughout Hellas.

. What, then, is thy grief that passeth the griefs of man?

. Thus it is with me. From my country I have been driven by mine own offspring; and my doom is to return no more, as guilty of a father's blood.

. How, then, should they fetch thee to them, if ye must dwell apart?

. The mouth of the god will constrain them.

. In fear of what woe foreshown?

. That they must be smitten in this land.

. And how should bitterness come between them and me?

. Kind son of Aegeus, to the gods alone comes never old age or death, but all else is confounded by all-mastering time. Earth's strength decays, and the strength of the body; faith dies, distrust is born; and the same spirit is never steadfast among friends, or