Within our borders, thou may'st show them me;
But if they get beyond, we need not toil;
For there are others, hastening to pursue,
And those who flee shall never thank the Gods
As 'scaped from this our land: but lead thou on,
And know that thou who hold'st thy prey art held,
And chance has caught thee, hunter as thou art;
For gains, ill gotten by a fraud unjust,
Can never prosper. And another's help
Thou shalt not have in this, for well I know
Thou had'st not ventured on so great a wrong
Alone, unbacked, but there is some one else,1030
Trusting to whom thou did'st it. And for me,
I must look well to this: nor leave my state
By one man conquered, weak and powerless.
Regard'st thou aught of this, or seems it vain,
Both now, and when thou planned'st these thy schemes?
Creon. While thou speak'st here, I fault with nothing find;
When we reach home, we shall know what to do.
Thes. Go on and threaten. Thou, Ο Œdipus,
Stay here in peace and comfort, trusting me
That I, unless I die, will never rest,1040
Before I give thy children to thy hands.
Œdip. God bless thee, Theseus, for thy noble heart,
And all thy just and generous care for us.
and his guards.
Stroph. I.
Chor. Ah! would that I were there[1]
- ↑ As in the last ode, so here, the scenery of Attica is brought before us. Theseus had given orders that his troop should hasten to the meeting-point of the Eleusinian and Pythian roads, and the Chorus conjectures what may have happened on either of them. The "Pythain fane" was a temple of Apollo Pythios, in a pass of the Ægalean hills.
