CR.  Sister, thy husband Oedipus declares
One of two horrors he will wreak on me,
Banishment from my native land, or death.

OED. Yea, for I caught him practising, my queen,
Against our person with malignant guile.

CR.  May comfort fail me, and a withering curse
Destroy me, if I e’er planned aught of this.

JO.  I pray thee, husband, listen to his plea;
Chiefly respecting his appeal to Heaven,
But also me, and these who stand by thee.

CH. 1.  Incline to our request I 1
Thy mind and heart, O King!

OED. What would you I should yield unto your prayer?

CH. 2.  Respect one ever wise,
Whose oath protects him now.

OED. Know ye what thing ye ask?

CH. 3.  I know.

OED. Then plainly tell.

CH. 4.  Thy friend, who is rendered sacred by his oath,
Rob not of honour through obscure surmise.

OED. In asking that, you labour for my death
Or banishment.  Of this be well assured.

CH. 5.  No, by the Sun I swear, II 1
Vaunt-courier of the host of heaven. 
For may I die the last of deaths,
Unblest of God or friend,
If e’er such thought were mine. 
But oh! this pining land
Afflicts my sorrow-burdened soul,
To think that to her past and present woe
She must add this, which springs to her from you.

OED. Then let him range, though I must die outright,
Or be thrust forth with violence from the land! 
—­Not for his voice, but thine, which wrings my heart: 
He, wheresoe’er he live, shall have my hate.

CR.  You show yourself as sullen when you yield,
As unendurable in your fury’s height. 
Such natures justly give themselves most pain.

OED. Let me alone, then, and begone!

CR.  I go,
Untainted in their sight, though thou art blind. [Exit

CH. 1.  Lady, why tarriest thou I 2
To lead thy husband in?

JO.  Not till I learn what mischief is befallen.

CH. 2.  A dim, unproved debate. 
Reproach, though unfounded, stings.

JO.  From both?

CH. 3.  From both alike.

JO.  How caused?

CH. 4.  Enough for me,
Amply enough it seems, when our poor land
Is vexed already, not to wake what sleeps.

OED. (to LEADER OF CH.). 
See where thine honest zeal hath landed thee,
Bating my wrath, and blunting my desire!

CH. 5.  My prince, I say it again:  II 2
Assure thee, I were lost to sense,
Infatuate, void of wholesome thought,
Could I be tempted now
To loose my faith from thee,
Who, when the land I love
Laboured beneath a wildering load,
Didst speed her forth anew with favouring gale. 
Now, too, if but thou may’st, be her good guide.