Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/167

Rh And him too, for your sad calamity;

But, fearing God, we may not dare to speak

One word beyond the orders thou hast heard.

Œdip. What profit is there then of noble fame,

Or fair report all idly floating on,

If men can speak of Athens, most devout,

The one deliverer of the stranger-guest,

When wronged or injured, yea, his one support?

What is all this to me, whom ye did raise

From where I stood, and then drive out by force,

Fearing my name alone? It cannot be

Ye fear my presence or my deeds; for they

Were rather suffered by me than performed,

If I must tell thee what befell my parents,

On whose account thou dread'st me. This I know.

And yet how was I base and vile of heart?

For I did but requite the wrongs I suffered,

So that, not even had I done the deed

With open eyes, should I be guilty found.

But, as it was, I, knowing nothing, went

Just where I went, while they who wronged me sought,

Well knowing it, my death. And therefore, friends,

I pray ye, by the Gods, as ye have raised me,

So now deliver, nor, with outward show

Honouring the Gods, then count the Gods as nought;

But think that they behold the godly soul,

Beholding too the godless: never yet

Was refuge found for impious child of man.

And therefore shame not Athens, blest of God,

Lending thy hands to any impious deeds;

But, as thou did'st receive me as a suppliant,

And give me pledge of safety, free me now;

Free me and guard, and look not thou with scorn

On this grey head, so foul to look upon.