Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 16.djvu/217

Rh O fatal nuptials! once such envied bliss!

Such be it still, for still thou art my husband.

O no! I am not; this destructive hand Hath broke the sacred tie, and deep involved Thy kingdom in my ruin. O! avoid me, Fear the vindictive God who still pursues The wretched Œdipus; I fear myself, My timid virtue serves but to confound me; Perhaps my fate may reach even thee, Jocaste; Pity thyself, pity the hapless victims That perish daily for my guilt; O strike, And save thy Œdipus from future crimes.

Do not accuse, do not condemn thyself; Thou art unhappy, but thou art not guilty: Thou didst not know whose blood thy hand had shed In Daulis' fatal conflict; when remembrance Calls forth the melancholy deed, I must Weep for myself, but should not punish thee. Live therefore

No; it is impossible: Farewell, Jocaste! whither must I go, O whither must I drag this hateful being? What clime accursed, or what disastrous shore Shall hide my crimes, and bury my despair? Still must I wander on from clime to clime, Or rise by murder to another throne? Shall I to Corinth bend my way, where fate