Oedipus: My father's kingdom would I seek, but still
I fear my mother.
Old Man: Fear'st thou her who waits 795
With anxious heart, imploring thy return?
Oedipus: 'Tis piety itself that bids me flee.
Old Man: And wouldst thou leave her in her widowhood?
Oedipus: Thou speak'st the very essence of my fears.
Old Man: Speak out the fear that doth oppress thy soul;
For 'tis my wont in trusty confidence
To counsel kings.
Oedipus: By Phoebus' word forewarned, 800
From wedlock with my mother do I flee.
Old Man: Then cease thy empty fears, and lay aside
Thy base forebodings; for I tell thee here
That thou art not the son of Merope.
Oedipus: Why did she wish to rear a spurious son?
Old Man: Because the proud security of kings
Is by a son established.
Oedipus: Tell me now 805
How thou dost know the secrets of the court.
Old Man: With my own hands I gave thee to the king.
Oedipus: Thou gavest me? But who gave me to thee?
Old Man: A shepherd on Cithaeron's snowy slopes.
Oedipus: How camest thou within that sacred wood?
Old Man: My sheep upon that mountain did I seek. 810
Oedipus: Now on my body name some well-known mark.
Old Man: Behold, thy feet in infancy were pierced,
And from thy swollen ankles art thou named.
Oedipus: Who was the man who gave me as a gift
Into thy hands?
Old Man: He fed the royal flocks, 815
And under him the hireling shepherds served.
Oedipus: But tell his name.
Old Man: An old man's memory
Grows faint and weakly falters with disuse.
Oedipus: But wouldst thou know the features of the man?
Old Man: I might recall him, for a slender clue 820
Ofttimes awakens memory of things
Page:Tragedies of Seneca (1907) Miller.djvu/59
41
The Tragedies of Seneca
41
