Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/213

115 Œdip. Thou com'st, Ο prince, to one who much desires thee,

And 'tis a God that blest thy journey hither.

Thes. What new event, Ο son of Laios, moves thee?

Œdip. My life's scale turns i' the balance. I would fain

In death be true to thee and to thy State.

Thes. What token that the end is near hast thou?

Œdip. The Gods themselves are heralds of my doom,

Failing in nought of all the appointed signs.

Thes. What is't, old friend, makes these things clear to thee?

Œdip. These many thunder-claps, that still roar on,

These many flashes from the unconquered Hand.

Thes. I trust thy word, for I perceive thy soul

Divineth many things, and none are false;

And therefore tell me, what I needs must do.

Œdip. I will inform thee, son of Ægeus old,

Of things for thee and for thy city, free

From any touch of Time's consuming power:

And I myself, with none to guide my steps,

Will show the spot where I am doomed to die.

And this, I charge thee, tell to none on earth;

Nor where the grave, nor e'en the region, tell,

Whose fields enclose it. So shall he who speaks

Give greater strength to thee than many shields,

Or hireling force called in, 'gainst neighbouring lands;

And for the mystic words which none may speak,

Thyself shalt learn them, going there alone,

For I to none of these may utter them,

Nor even to my children, though I love them.

And thou, I charge thee, hide them evermore;