Then for your country's welfare ye shall gain
A great Deliverer, trouble to its foes.460
Chor. Worthy of pity art thou, Œdipus;
Both thou and these thy daughters. But as thou
Dost of this land proclaim thyself the saviour,
I wish to give thee counsel for thy good.
Œdip. Help me, true friend, as willing to do all.
Chor. Make thine atonement to these Powers, to whom
Thou camest first, profaning this their soil.
Œdip. After what fashion? Tell me, Ο my friends.
Chor. First, offer from the ever-flowing stream
Libations sacred, lifting holy hands.[1]470
Œdip. And when I take this pure and stainless stream . . . . ?
Chor. Vases there are, the work of skilful hands;
Crown thou their rims and handles at the mouth.
Œdip. With fresh green boughs, or locks of wool, or how?
Chor. Around them twine a young lamb's snow-white locks.
Œdip. So be it. And what then remains to do?
Chor. Then pour libations turning to the East.
Œdip. And shall I pour with these same urns thou tell'st of?480
Chor. Pour three libations, all at once the last. . . .
Œdip. With what shall I fill this? Instruct me here.
Chor. Water and honey. Wine thou must not add.
Œdip. Why this, when vine-leaves shadow all the land?
- ↑ The ritual described is obviously that with which the poet had been familiar from his boyhood, as practised in the sacred grove of his deme. See Introduction, p. lxxxiii. The vases are those which stood there for the use of all worshippers.
