Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/126

28 (I say not that it came from Phœbos' self,

But from his servants,) that his fate was fixed

By his son's hand to fall—his own and mine;

And him, so rumour runs, a robber band

Of aliens slay, where meet the three great roads.

Nor did three days succeed the infant's birth,

Before, by other hands, he cast him forth,

Piercing his anclesankles [sic], on a lonely hill.

Here, then, Apollo failed to make the boy

His father's murderer; nor by his son's hands,

Doom that he dreaded, did our Laios die;

Such things divining oracles proclaimed;

Therefore regard them not. Whate'er the God

Desires to search He will himself declare.

Œdip. [Trembling.] Ah, as but now I heard thee speak, my queen,

Strange whirl of soul, and rush of thoughts o'ercome me.

Joc. What vexing care bespeaks this sudden change?

Œdip. I thought I heard thee say that Laios fell,

Smitten to death, where meet the three great roads.

Joc. So was it said, and still the rumours hold.

Œdip. Where was the spot in which this matter passed?

Joc. They call the country Phocis, and the roads

From Delphi and from Daulia there converge.

Œdip. And what the interval of time since then?

Joc. But just before thou camest to possess

And rule this land the tidings reached our city.

Œdip. Great Zeus! what fate hast thou decreed for me?