My sacred utterance! No life on earth
More vilely shall be rooted out, than thine.
Oed. Must I endure such words from him? Begone!
Off to thy ruin, and with speed! Away,
And take thy presence from our palace-hall!
Tei. Had you not sent for me, I ne’er had come.
Oed. I knew not thou wouldst utter folly here,
Else never had I brought thee to my door.
Tei. To thee I am foolish, then; but to the pair
Who gave thee life, I was wise.
Oed. Hold, go not! who?
Who gave me being?
Tei. To-day shall bring to light
Thy birth and thy destruction.
Oed. Wilt thou still
Speak all in riddles and dark sentences?
Tei. Methought thou wert the man to find them out.
Oed. Ay! Taunt me with the gift that makes me great.
Tei. And yet this luck hath been thy overthrow.
Oed. I care not, since I rescued this fair town.
Tei. Then I will go. Come, sirrah, guide me forth!
Oed. Be it so! For standing here you vex our eye,
But, you being gone, our trouble goes with you.
Tei. I go, but I will speak. Why should I fear
Thy frown? Thou ne’er canst ruin me. The word
Wherefore I came, is this: The man you seek
With threatening proclamation of the guilt
Of Laius’ blood, that man is here to-day,
An alien sojourner supposed from far,
But by-and-by he shall be certified
A true-born Theban: nor will such event
Bring him great joy; for, blind from having sight
And beggared from high fortune, with a staff
In stranger lands he shall feel forth his way;
Shown living with the children of his loins,
Their brother and their sire, and to the womb
That bare him, husband-son, and, to his father,
Parricide and corrival. Now go in,
