Œdip. Take heart; though I should prove thrice base-born slave,
Born of thrice base-born mother, thou art still
Free from all stain.
Joc. Yet, I implore thee, pause!
Yield to my counsels, do not do this deed.
Œdip. I may not yield, nor fail to search it out.
Joc. And yet best counsels give I, for thy good.
Œdip. What thou call'st best has long been grief to me.
Joc. May'st thou ne'er know, ill-starred one, who thou art!
Œdip. Will some one bring that shepherd to me here?
Leave her to glory in her high descent. 1070
Joc. Woe! woe! ill-fated one! my last word this,
This only, and no more for evermore. [Rushes out.
Chorus. Why has thy queen, Ο Œdipus, gone forth
In her wild sorrow rushing? Much I fear
Lest from such silence evil deeds burst out.
Œdip. Burst out what will; I seek to know my birth,
Low though it be, and she perhaps is shamed
(For, like a woman, she is proud of heart)
At thoughts of my low birth; but I, who count
Myself the child of Fortune, fear no shame; 1080
My mother she, and she has prospered me.
And so the months that span my life have made me
Both low and high; but whatsoe'er I be,
Such as I am I am, and needs must on
To fathom all the secret of my birth.
Stroph.
Chorus. If the seer's gift be mine,
Or skill in counsel wise,
Thou, Ο Kithæron, by Olympos high,
When next our full moon comes, 1090
Shalt fail not to resound
