Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/127

Rh Joc. What thought is this, my Œdipus, of thine?

Œdip. Ask me not yet, but Laios, tell of him,

His build, his features, and his years of life.

Joc. Tall was he, and the white hairs snowed his head,

And in his form not much unlike to thee.

Œdip. Woe, woe is me! so seems it I have plunged

All blindly into curses terrible.

Joc. What sayest thou? I fear to look at thee.

Œdip. I tremble lest the seer has seen indeed:

But thou can'st clear it, answering yet once more.

Joc. And I too fear, yet what thou ask'st I'll tell.

Œdip. Went he in humble guise, or with a troop

Of spearmen, as becomes a man that rules?

Joc. Five were they altogether, and of them

One was a herald, and one chariot bore him.

Œdip. Woe! woe! 'tis all too clear. And who was he

That told these tidings to thee, Ο my queen?

Joc. A servant who alone escaped with life.

Œdip. And does he chance to dwell among us now?

Joc. Not so; for from the time when he returned,

And found thee bearing sway, and Laios dead,

He, at my hand, a suppliant, implored

This boon, to send him to the distant fields

To feed his flocks, as far as possible

From this our city. And I sent him forth;

For though a slave, he might have claimed yet more.

Œdip. Ah! could we fetch him quickly back again!

Joc. That may well be. But why dost thou wish this?

Œdip. I fear, Ο queen, that words best left unsaid

Have passed these lips, and therefore wish to see him.

Joc. Well, he shall come. But some small claim have I,

Ο king, to learn what touches thee with woe.

Œdip. Thou shalt not fail to learn it, now that I

Have gone so far in bodings. Whom should I