Ch. Vague and most dubious are the ancient

rumours.

Ed. What are they? I would weigh e'en rumour

well.

Ch. "Tis said some travellers slew him!

Ed. This I heard;

But none can say who saw it.

Ch. If he be

Alive to fear, he will not calmly bear

Thy stern and solemn curse.

Ed. Who trembled not

To do such deed, will never quake at words.

Ch. One now draws nigh, whose voice shall soon

convict him.

They lead the reverend prophet, in whose breast Alone of mortals shines inherent truth.

Enter TIRESIAS.

EDIPUS, TIRESIAS, CHORUS.

Ed. Tiresias, whose expansive mind surveys

All man can learn, or solemn silence seal,

The signs of heaven, and secrets of the earth;

Though sight is quenched in darkness, well thou

know'st

The fatal plague that desolates our Thebes ;
From which, O Prince, we hope to find in thee
Our help and sole preserver. List, if yet
Thou hast not heard his mandate,-the response
Returned by Phoebus. Never shall this pest
Cease its wide desolation, till we seize,
And on th' assassins of the murdered King
Avenge his fall by exile or by death.

O then refuse not thou, if thou hast aught
augury or divination sure,

Of

To save thyself, thy country, and thy King,
And ward this foul pollution of the dead.
We trust in thee. Of all our earthly toils
The best and noblest is to aid mankind.

Ti. Ah! woe is me! for wisdom is but woe,
When to be wise avails not. This I knew,
But ill remembered, or I ne'er had come.

We have, in this scene, a fine and impressive comment on the evil consequences of prying into futurity. Tiresias would gladly exchange this baleful knowledge for the bliss of ignorance.

Ed. What may this mean! and whence this strange dismay?

Ti. Dismiss me to my home: this grace conferred, Thou wilt endure thy griefs, I mine, more lightly. Ed. It were unjust, ungrateful to the state, Which hath sustained thee, to withhold thy counsel. Ti. Thy words are most untimely to thyself. Let me beware, lest I too swerve from caution. Ch. Oh, by the Gods, refuse not what thou canst. In one assenting prayer we all implore thee.

Ti. For ye are all unwise. Be well assured, I will not speak, and publish thy despair.

Ed. Dost thou then know and wilt not speak the truth?

Wilt thou betray us, and subvert thy country?

Ti. I would not injure thee, nor wound myself. Why urge me thus? Nought shalt thou hear from me.

Ed. Basest of villains! for thou wouldst excite The insensate rock to wrath, wilt thou not speak? Still dost thou seem unpitying and unmoved?

Ti. Thou hast reproved my warmth, yet little know'st

What dwells in thine own bosom, though on me Thou heap'st reproach.

Ed. And who could calmly hear

Such words, so shameful to thine injured country? Ti. Soon will these things appear, though I be

silent.

Ed. Doth it not then behove thee to declare

What soon shall come to light?

Ti. I'll speak no more.

Indulge this lawless passion at thy will.

Ed. Nought will I now suppress, since anger

prompts

My unreserved speech. I do suspect thee
Accomplice of the deed, save that thy hand
Struck not the mortal blow; had sight been thine,
I then had charged thee as the only villain!

Ti. Ha! Is it thus? Nay, then, I tell thee, King! Adhere to thine own edict; from this hour

No more hold converse or with these or me.

THOU art the sole polluter of our land.

Ed. Art thou so lost to shame, as to indulge A taunt like this. Think'st thou to 'scape unscathed? Ti. I have escaped the might of truth is mine. Ed. By whom informed?-not through thy pre

scient art.

Ti. By thee; thy will constrained me thus to speak, Though most reluctant.

VOL. I.

D

Ed. What? Repeat thy words,

That I may learn more clearly.

Ti. Knew'st thou not

Before, or wouldst thou tempt me to speak on?

Ed. I have not caught thy purport. Speak again. Ti. Isay thou art the murderer whom thou seekest. Ed. Thou shalt not vent that slander twice un

punished.

Ti. Shall I proceed, and fire thy rage to frenzy? Ed. Speak what thou wilt, it will be said in vain. Ti. Thou dost not know what guilty ties unite thee To those thou deem'st most dear; thou dost not see The ills that close thee round.

Ed. And dost thou hope

Again to triumph in thy vaunt unharmed?
Ti. If there be aught of potency in truth.
Ed. There is, but not for thee. Thou hast it not;
Dark in thine eye, in heart and ear yet darker.

Ti. Wretched art thou in thus upbraiding me,
Whom all, ere long, shall urge with like reproach.
Ed. Nurtured in night alone, thou canst not harm
The man who views the living light of heaven.
Ti. 'Tis not thy doom to fall by me; for this
Phœbus is mighty, who will work the whole.