the king. All men court and flatter him; why should he barter his ease and pleasure for
"The polished perturbation, golden care,
That keeps the ports of slumber open wide
To many a sleepless night"?[1]
He has no motive for acting a traitor's part, or for conspiring with Teiresias—
"Then charge me not with crime on shadowy proof;
For to thrust out a friend of noble heart
Is like the parting with the life we love."—(P.)
But, as Voltaire[2] observes with regard to this pas- sage, if a courtier accused of conspiracy should defend himself by such a commonplace, he would stand in great need of the clemency of his master. Certainly Œdipus is neither convinced nor reassured. Creon's skilful pleading only seems to him to prove that he can show equal skill in weaving plots; and he is proceeding to further accusations, when Jocasta herself enters, and strives to act the peacemaker between her husband and her brother. The Chorus join with her in urging Œdipus to forego his unjust suspicions. This is not the first time, says the queen, wishing to reassure her husband, that oracles have played men false. Laius had been warned that he should perish by the hands of his son—
"And yet, as rumour tells, where three ways meet,
By foreign ruffians was the monarch slain;"— (D.)
