But ask your priest whether his gods condemn me;
I'll wait their sentence; not because I fear it,
But to preserve thy persecuted people.
SCENE IV.
ŒDIPUS, JOCASTE, HIGH PRIEST, ARASPES, PHILOCTETES, ÆGINA, Attendants, CHORUS.
ŒDIPUS.
Will heaven at last indulgent to our prayers
Withdraw its vengeance? By what murderous hand
Was it offended?
PHILOCTETES.
Speak, whose blood must flow
For expiation?
HIGH PRIEST.
Fatal gift of heaven!
Unhappy knowledge! to what dangers oft
Dost thou betray the heart of curious man!
O would that fate, thus open to my view,
Had o'er its secrets drawn the eternal veil
To hide them from my sight!
PHILOCTETES.
What evil bringest thou?
ŒDIPUS.
Comest thou the minister of wrath divine?
PHILOCTETES.
Fear nothing.
ŒDIPUS.
Do the gods demand my life?
