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Rh Œdip. But when a man is swift in wily schemes,

Swift must I be to baffle plot with plot;

And if I stand and wait, he wins the day,

And all my state to rack and ruin goes.

Creon. What seek'st thou, then? to drive me from the land?

Œdip. Not so. I seek thy death, not banishment.

Creon. When thou show'st first what grudge I bear to thee.

Œdip. And say'st thou this defying, yielding not?

Creon. I see your mind is gone.

Œdip. My right I mind.

Creon. Mine has an equal claim.

Œdip. Nay, thou art vile.

Creon. And if thy mind is darkened ?

Œdip. Still obey!

Creon. Nay, not a tyrant king.

Œdip. Ο country mine!

Creon. That country, too, is mine, not thine alone.

Chorus. Cease, Ο my princes! In good time I see

Jocasta coming hither from the house;

And it were well with her to hush this brawl.

Joc. Why, Ο ye wretched ones, this strife of tongues

Raise ye in your unwisdom, nor are shamed,

Our country suffering, private griefs to stir?

Come thou within; and thou, Ο Creon, go;

Bring not a trifling sore to mischief great!

Creon. My sister! Œdipus thy husband claims

The right to do me one of two great wrongs,

To thrust me from my fatherland, or slay me.

Œdip. 'Tis even so, for I have found him, wife,

Against my life his evil wiles devising.