him stand forth as the champion of the state, and "a helper to the god and to the dead." An illustrious prince has fallen, the land is smitten by the wrath of heaven; "and therefore," says the king—and his words carry with them a terrible significance—
"And therefore will I strive my best for him,
As for my father, and will go all lengths
To seek and find the murderer; and for me,
If in my house, I knowing it, he dwells,
May every curse I spake on my head fall!"
The Chorus at once protest their innocence and ignorance. They "neither slew, nor knew who slew."
Besides sending Creon to Delphi, Œdipus had also summoned Teiresias, the great Theban seer, who, like Calchas in the 'Iliad,'
"Knew all that is, and was, and is to be."
He had been deprived of his eyesight by Minerva for some offence, but the goddess, by way of atonement, had gifted him with such acute powers of hearing that he understood the language of all the birds of heaven. Even after death he retained his prophetic powers, and Ulysses himself sought the lower world to learn from his lips the secrets of the future, being, as the Chorus describe him here,
"The seer inspired of God,
With whom alone of all men truth abides."
Teiresias is led in by a boy, bearing the golden staff which was the badge of his augurial office. Œdipus addresses him with dignified courtesy, speak-
