Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/111

Rh And earlier Cadmos, and Agenor old;

And for all those who hearken not, I pray

The Gods to give them neither fruit of earth,

Nor seed of woman, but consume their lives

With this dire plague, or evil worse than this.

And for the man who did the guilty deed,

Whether alone he lurks, or leagued with more,

I pray that he may waste his life away,

For vile deeds vilely dying; and for me,

If in my house, I knowing it, he dwells,

May every curse I spake on my head fall.

And you, the rest, the men from Cadmos sprung,

To whom these words approve themselves as good,

May Righteousness befriend you, and the Gods,

In full accord, dwell with you evermore.

Chorus. Since thou hast bound me by a curse, Ο king,

I will speak thus. I neither slew the man,

Nor know who slew. To say who did the deed

Is quest for Him who sent us on the search.

Œdip. Right well thou speak'st, but man's best strength must fail

To force the Gods to do the things they will not.

Chorus. Fain would I speak the thoughts that second stand.

Œdip. Though there be third, shrink not from speaking out.

Chorus. One man I know, a prince, whose insight deep

Sees clear as princely Phœbos, and from him,

Teiresias, one might learn, Ο king, the truth.

Œdip. That too is done. No loiterer I in this,