Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/96

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78
The Tragedies of Seneca

When thou hast gained thy wish, thou wilt lament.
Oh, then, forego this most unhallowed strife,
And free at last thy fatherland from fear,
Thy parents from their grief.
Polynices: Shall I do this,
That so for all his treachery and crime
My curséd brother be not recompensed?
Jocasta: Fear not. He shall indeed be recompensed, 645
For he shall reign.
Polynices: Is that a punishment?
Jocasta: If thou believe me not, believe thy sire,
Believe thy grandsire too. This truth to thee
Will Cadmus and the house of Cadmus tell.
Without disaster has no Theban king
E'er held the scepter, nor will anyone
Who wins the kingly power by broken faith
Retain it long. And 'mongst those faithless ones 650
Count now thy brother.
Eteocles: Be it even so:
If I must die, I count it worthy death,
To die with kings.
[To Polynices.]
Thee to the exiled band
I doom.
Jocasta: Reign then, but hated by thy friends.
Eteocles: Who shrinks from hatred does not wish to reign.
That great divinity who made the world 655
Made of one substance royalty and hate.
For me, I count it worthy of a king
To overcome this hate. By love of friends
Too oft is royal power circumscribed.
O'er those who hate him is the king more free
To lord it as he will. Who would be loved,
With but a weak and languid scepter reigns.
Jocasta: But hated empire never long endures. 660
Eteocles: 'Tis for the king to speak of empire's rules.
Do thou give laws for exiles. For the throne—
Jocasta: Wouldst burn thy native land, thy home and all?
Eteocles: A kingdom is well bought at any price.

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