Oedipus
Lady, do you know the one whom we summoned just now?
[1055]
Is it of him that this man speaks?
Iocasta
Why ask of whom he spoke? Regard it not; waste not a thought on what he said; it would be vain.
Oedipus
It must not happen that, with such clues in my grasp, I fail to bring my birth to light.
Iocasta
[1060]
For the gods' sake, if you have any care for your own life, do not continue this search! My anguish is enough.
Oedipus
Be of good courage. Even if I should be found the son of a servile mother—a slave by three descents—you will not be proven baseborn.
Iocasta
Hear me, I implore you: do not do this.
Oedipus
[1065]
I will not hear of not discovering the whole truth.
Iocasta
Yet I wish you well—I counsel you for the best.
Oedipus
These best counsels, then, vex my patience.
Iocasta
Oh ill-fated man, may you never know who you are!
Oedipus
Go, some one, fetch me the herdsman.
[1070]
Leave this woman to glory in her princely stock.
Iocasta
Alas, alas, miserable man—that word alone can I say to you—and no other word ever again.She rushes into the palace.
Chorus
Why has this woman gone, Oedipus, rushing off in wild grief? I fear
[1075]
a storm of sorrow will soon break forth from this silence.
Oedipus
Break forth what will! Be my race ever so lowly, I crave to learn it. That woman perhaps—for she is proud with more than a woman's pride—feels ashamed of my lowly origin. But I, who hold myself son of Fortune
[1080]
that gives good, will not be dishonored. She is the mother from whom I spring, and the months, my kinsmen, have marked me sometimes lowly, sometimes great. Such being my heritage, never more can I prove
[1085]
false to it, or keep from searching out the secret of my birth.