Then what will't be when thou the scepter wield'st?
Oh, put aside thy spirit's swelling rage,
And give thyself once more to piety. 585
Polynices: That I may wander still a fugitive?
That ever, banished from my native land,
Upon a stranger's bounty I may live?
What, think'st thou, could I suffer more than this,
If I had broken faith or falsely sworn?
Shall I be punished for another's sin,
While he enjoys the profits of his crime? 590
Thou bid'st me go; and gladly would I yield
Unto my mother's will. But whither, then,
Shall I depart? "Let my proud brother dwell
Within my royal halls, and some poor hut
Be my abode": let such a boon be given
Unto the exile; give him in exchange
A hovel for a throne. And shall I, then, 595
A pensioner upon my wealthy bride,
Be forced to yield to her unbending will,
And to her father's domineering ways
Submit like any slave? 'Tis hard, indeed,
To fall from royalty to servitude.
Jocasta: If thou art eager for a royal throne,
And if, without the scepter in thy hand,
Thou canst not live, whatever land thou wilt 600
Will offer many kingdoms to thy hand.
On this side Tmolus lifts his ridgy heights,
Well known to Bacchus, where wide-spreading plains
Stretch out upon the grain-producing earth;
And where Pactolus' all-enriching stream
O'erflows the country with its sands of gold.
And there Maeander through the joyful fields 605
Directs his wandering waves; swift Hermus, too,
Cleaves meadows rich. And there is Gargara,
Beloved of Ceres, and the fertile plains
Which Xanthus waters, fed by Ida's snows.
And here, where ends the long Ionian sea,[1] 610
Across the narrows from Abydos stands
- ↑ The text is corrupt here. The Ionian Sea, situated to the west of Greece, can have no possible connection with the region here described, i.e., the Hellespont.
