Part 23

ISMENE. Yea, so I read these latest oracles.

OEDIPUS. What oracles? What hath been uttered, child?

ISMENE. Thy country (so it runs) shall yearn in time To have thee for their weal alive or dead.

OEDIPUS. And who could gain by such a one as I?

ISMENE. On thee, ’tis said, their sovereignty depends.

OEDIPUS. So, when I cease to be, my worth begins.

ISMENE. The gods, who once abased, uplift thee now.

OEDIPUS. Poor help to raise an old man fallen in youth.

ISMENE. Howe’er that be, ’tis for this cause alone That Creon comes to thee—and comes anon.

OEDIPUS. With what intent, my daughter? Tell me plainly.

ISMENE. To plant thee near the Theban land, and so Keep thee within their grasp, yet now allow Thy foot to pass beyond their boundaries.

OEDIPUS. What gain they, if I lay outside?

OEDIPUS. Thy tomb, If disappointed, brings on them a curse.

OEDIPUS. It needs no god to tell what’s plain to sense.

ISMENE. Therefore they fain would have thee close at hand, Not where thou wouldst be master of thyself.

OEDIPUS. Mean they to shroud my bones in Theban dust?

ISMENE. Nay, father, guilt of kinsman’s blood forbids.

OEDIPUS. Then never shall they be my masters, never!

ISMENE. Thebes, thou shalt rue this bitterly some day!

OEDIPUS. When what conjunction comes to pass, my child?

ISMENE. Thy angry wraith, when at thy tomb they stand. 6

OEDIPUS. And who hath told thee what thou tell’st me, child?

ISMENE. Envoys who visited the Delphic hearth.

OEDIPUS. Hath Phoebus spoken thus concerning me?

ISMENE. So say the envoys who returned to Thebes.

OEDIPUS. And can a son of mine have heard of this?

ISMENE. Yea, both alike, and know its import well.

OEDIPUS. They knew it, yet the ignoble greed of rule Outweighed all longing for their sire’s return.