Mess. 'Tis clear, my son, thou know'st not what thou dost.
Œdip. What is 't? By all the Gods, old man, speak out.
Mess. If 'tis for them thou fearest to return . . . . 1010
Œdip. I fear lest Phœbos prove himself too true.
Mess. Is it lest thou should'st stain thy soul through them?
Œdip. This self-same fear, old man, for ever haunts me.
Mess. And know'st thou not there is no cause for fear?
Œdip. Is there no cause if I was born their son?
Mess. None is there. Polybos was nought to thee.
Œdip. What say'st thou? Did not Polybos beget me?
Mess. No more than he thou speak'st to; just as much.
Œdip. How could a father's claim become as nought?
Mess. Well, neither he begat thee nor did I. 1020
Œdip. Why then did he acknowledge me as his?
Mess. He at my hands received thee as a gift.
Œdip. And could he love another's child so much?
Mess. Yes; for his former childlessness wrought on him.
Œdip. And gav'st thou me as foundling or as bought?
Mess. I found thee in Kithæron's shrub-grown hollow.
Œdip. And for what cause did'st travel thitherwards?
Mess. I had the charge to tend the mountain flocks.
Œdip. Wast thou a shepherd, then, and seeking hire?
Mess. E'en so, my son, and so I saved thee then. 1030
Œdip. What evil plight then did'st thou find me in?
Mess. The sinews of thy feet would tell that tale.
Œdip. Ah, me! why speak'st thou of that ancient wrong?
Mess. I freed thee when thy insteps both were pierced.
Œdip. A foul disgrace I had in swaddling clothes.
