Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 16.djvu/189

Rh Virtues like thine, or suffer love to rule A heart designed for universal sway, And courage fit to save and bless mankind. Ill would it suit the follower of Alcides To lose his moments in the fond concerns, The little cares of love. Thy hours are due To the unhappy and the injured: they Will all thy time and all thy virtue claim. Already tyrants throng on every side; Alcides dead, new monsters rise; go, thou, And give the world another Hercules. Œdipus comes; permit me to retire; Not that I fear the weakness of my heart, But as Jocaste loved thee once, and he Is now my husband, I should blush before you.

Sayst thou, Araspes, is he here, the prince, The noble Philoctetes?

Yes; 'tis he; Led by blind fortune to this hapless clime, Where angry heaven hath made me suffer wrongs I am not used to bear. I know the crimes Laid to my charge; but think not that I mean To justify myself: too well I know thee To think that Œdipus would ever stoop To such low mean suspicions: no! thy fame Is mixed with mine; in the same steps of honor We trod together. Theseus, Hercules,