Oed. That ye send from the country.
Cr. God alone can let thee go.
Oed. But the Gods long since abhor me.
Cr. Thou wilt sooner gain that boon.
Oed. Then consent.
Cr. ’Tis not my wont to venture premises too soon.
Oed. Lead me now within the palace.
Cr. Come, but leave thy children.
Oed. Nay!
Tear not these from my embraces!
Cr. Hope not for perpetual sway:
Since the power thou once obtainedst ruling with unquestioned might
Ebbing from thy life hath vanished ere the falling of the night.
Leader of Chorus.
Dwellers in our native Thebè, fix on Oedipus your eyes,
Who resolved the dark enigma, noblest champion and most wise.
Like a star his envied fortune mounted beaming far and wide:
Now he sinks in seas of anguish, whelmed beneath a raging tide.
Therefore, with the old-world sages, waiting for that final day,
I will call no mortal happy, while he holds his house of clay,
Till without one pang of sorrow, all his hours have passed away.
