Enter OEDIPUS in triumph; ADRASTUS prisoner; DYMAS, Train.

Cre. All hail, great OEdipus! 
Thou mighty conqueror, hail; welcome to Thebes;
To thy own Thebes; to all that’s left of Thebes;
For half thy citizens are swept away,
And wanting for thy triumphs;
And we, the happy remnant, only live
To welcome thee, and die.

OEdip. Thus pleasure never comes sincere to man,
But lent by heaven upon hard usury;
And while Jove holds us out the bowl of joy,
Ere it can reach our lips, ’tis dashed with gall
By some left-handed god.  O mournful triumph! 
O conquest gained abroad, and lost at home! 
O Argos, now rejoice, for Thebes lies low! 
Thy slaughtered sons now smile, and think they won,
When they can count more Theban ghosts than theirs.

Adr. No; Argos mourns with Thebes; you tempered so
Your courage while you fought, that mercy seemed
The manlier virtue, and much more prevailed;
While Argos is a people, think your Thebes
Can never want for subjects.  Every nation
Will crowd to serve where OEdipus commands.

Cre. [To HAEM.] How mean it shews, to fawn upon the victor!

Haem. Had you beheld him fight, you had said otherwise.  Come, ’tis brave bearing in him, not to envy Superior virtue.

OEdip. This indeed is conquest, To gain a friend like you:  Why were we foes?

Adr. ’Cause we were kings, and each disdained an equal. 
I fought to have it in my power to do
What thou hast done, and so to use my conquest. 
To shew thee, honour was my only motive,
Know this, that were my army at thy gates,
And Thebes thus waste, I would not take the gift,
Which, like a toy dropt from the hands of fortune,
Lay for the next chance-comer.

OEdip. [Embracing.] No more captive,
But brother of the war.  ’Tis much more pleasant,
And safer, trust me, thus to meet thy love,
Than when hard gauntlets clenched our warlike hands,
And kept them from soft use.

Adr. My conqueror!

OEdip. My friend! that other name keeps enmity alive. 
But longer to detain thee were a crime;
To love, and to Eurydice, go free. 
Such welcome, as a ruined town can give,
Expect from me; the rest let her supply.

Adr. I go without a blush, though conquered twice, By you, and by my princess. [Exit ADRASTUS.

Cre. [Aside.] Then I am conquered thrice; by OEdipus,
And her, and even by him, the slave of both. 
Gods, I’m beholden to you, for making me your image;
Would I could make you mine! [Exit CREON.

  Enter the People with branches in their hands, holding them up, and
  kneeling:  Two Priests before them.

OEdip. Alas, my people! 
What means this speechless sorrow, downcast eyes,
And lifted hands?  If there be one among you,
Whom grief has left a tongue, speak for the rest.