To such dire refrain, not once alone but oft struck he his eyes with lifted hand; and at each blow the ensanguined eye-balls bedewed his beard, nor sent forth sluggish drops of gore, but all at once a dark shower of blood came down like hail.
From the deeds of twain such ills have broken forth,1280 not on one alone, but with mingled woe for man and wife. The old happiness of their ancestral fortune was aforetime happiness indeed; but to-day—lamentation, ruin, death, shame, all earthly ills that can be named—all, all are theirs.
Ch. And hath the sufferer now any respite from pain?
2 Me. He cries for some one to unbar the gates and show to all the Cadmeans his father's slayer, his mother's—the unholy word must not pass my lips,—as1290 purposing to cast himself out of the land, and abide no more, to make the house accursed under his own curse. Howbeit he lacks strength, and one to guide his steps; for the anguish is more than man may bear. And he will show this to thee also; for lo, the bars of the gates are withdrawn, and soon thou shalt behold a sight which even he who abhors it must pity.
Enter Oedipus.
Ch. O dread fate for men to see, O most dreadful of all that have met mine eyes! Unhappy one, what madness hath come on thee?1300 Who is the unearthly foe that, with a bound of more than mortal range, hath made thine ill-starred life his prey?
