Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/177

Rh Chor. Poor sufferer, what but that? And didst thou kill ?

Œdip. What say'st thou now? What wishest thou to learn?

Chor. Thy father?

Œdip. Ah, thou strikest blow on blow.

Chor. Did'st slay him?

Œdip. Yea, I slew him; but in this

Chor. What sayest thou?

Œdip. I have some plea of right.

Chor. How so?

Œdip. I'll tell thee. Not with knowledge clear

I smote and slew him; but I did the deed,

By law, not guilty, ignorant of all.

Chor. Lo, Theseus comes! great Ægeus' son, our king,

At thy request, to hear thy message to him.

Thes. Hearing from many, in the years gone by,

(The bloody mischief thou did'st do thine eyes,)

I know thee, son of Laios, who thou art;

And hearing, as I came, fresh news, discern

Yet more; for thee, thy weeds and suffering face

Declare too plainly; and, with pitying heart,

I wish to ask, unhappy Œdipus,

Why thou sitt'st here, a suppliant to my state,

And to me also,—thou, and that poor girl

Who still attends thee? Tell me; dread indeed

The suffering thou should'st tell, for me to hold

Myself aloof from it. Right well I know

That I myself was reared away from home,

As thou; and, more than most men, struggled through,