The Seven Plays in English Verse Part 28

COR. SH. The flocks I tended grazed the mountain there.

OED. A shepherd wast thou, and a wandering hind?

COR. SH. Whatever else, my son, thy saviour then.

OED. From what didst thou release me or relieve?

COR. SH. Thine instep bears memorial of the pain.

OED. Ah! what old evil will thy words disclose?

COR. SH. Thy feet were pierced. 'Twas I unfastened them.

OED. So cruel to my tender infancy!

COR. SH. From this thou hast received thy name.

OED. By heaven I pray thee, did my father do this thing, Or was't my mother?

COR. SH. That I dare not say.

He should know best who gave thee to my hand.

OED. Another gave me, then? You did not find me?

COR. SH. Another herdsman pa.s.sed thee on to me.

OED. Can you describe him? Tell us what you know.

COR. SH. Methinks they called him one of Laius' people.

OED. Of Laius once the sovereign of this land?

COR. SH. E'en so. He was a shepherd of his flock.

OED. And is he still alive for me to see?

COR. SH. You Thebans are most likely to know that.

OED. Speak, any one of you in presence here, Can you make known the swain he tells us of, In town or country having met with him?

The hour for this discovery is full come.

CH. Methinks it is no other than the peasant Whom thou didst seek before to see: but this Could best be told by queen Jocasta there.

OED. We lately sought that one should come, my queen.

Know'st thou, is this of whom he speaks the same?

JO. What matter who? Regard not, nor desire Even vainly to remember aught he saith.

OED. When I have found such tokens of my birth, I must disclose it.

JO. As you love your life, By heaven I beg you, search no further here!

The sickness in my bosom is enough.

OED. Nay, never fear! Were I proved thrice a slave And waif of bondwomen, you still are n.o.ble.

JO. Yet hearken, I implore you: do not so.

OED. I cannot hear you. I must know this through.

JO. With clear perception I advise the best.

OED. Thy 'best' is still my torment.

JO. Wretched one, Never may'st thou discover who thou art!

OED. Will some one go and bring the herdman hither?

Leave her to revel in her lordly line!

JO. O horrible! O lost one! This alone I speak to thee, and no word more for ever. [_Exit_

CH. Oedipus, wherefore is Jocasta gone, Driven madly by wild grief? I needs must fear Lest from this silence she make sorrow spring.

OED. Leave her to raise what storm she will. But I Will persevere to know mine origin, Though from an humble seed. Her woman's pride Is shamed, it may be, by my lowliness.

But I, whilst I account myself the son Of prospering Fortune, ne'er will be disgraced.

For she is my true mother: and the months, Coheirs with me of the same father, Time, Have marked my lowness and mine exaltation.

So born, so nurtured, I can fear no change, That I need shrink to probe this to the root.

[OEDIPUS _remains, and gazes towards the country, while the_ CHORUS _sing_

CHORUS.

If I wield a prophet's might, 1 Or have sense to search aright, Cithaeron, when all night the moon rides high, Loud thy praise shall be confessed, How upon thy rugged breast, Thou, mighty mother, nursed'st tenderly Great Oedipus, and gav'st his being room Within thy s.p.a.cious home.

Yea, we will dance and sing Thy glory for thy kindness to our king.

Phoebus, unto thee we cry, Be this pleasing in thine eye!

Who, dear sovereign, gave thee birth, 2 Of the long lived nymphs of earth?

Say, was she clasped by mountain roving Pan?

Or beguiled she one sweet hour With Apollo in her bower, Who loves to trace the field untrod by man?

Or was the ruler of Cyllene's height The author of thy light?

Or did the Bacchic G.o.d, Who makes the top of Helicon to nod, Take thee for a foundling care From his playmates that are there?

_The_ THEBAN SHEPHERD _is seen approaching, guarded._

OED. If haply I, who never saw his face, Thebans, may guess, methinks I see the hind Whose coming we have longed for. Both his age, Agreeing with this other's wintry locks, Accords with my conjecture, and the garb Of his conductors is well known to me As that of mine own people. But methinks [_to_ LEADER of CHORUS]

Thou hast more perfect knowledge in this case, Having beheld the herdman in the past.

CH. I know him well, believe me. Laius Had no more faithful shepherd than this man.

OED. Corinthian friend, I first appeal to you: Was't he you spake of?

COR. SH. 'Twas the man you see.