For that he was called my king; Yea, every precious thing Wherewith men are honoured, down We cast before him, And great Thebes brought her crown And kneeled to adore him. [_Strophe._ But now, what man's story is such bitterness to speak? What life hath Delusion so visited, and Pain, And swiftness of Disaster? O great King, our master, How oped the one haven to the slayer and the slain? And the furrows of thy father, did they turn not nor shriek, Did they bear so long silent thy casting of the grain? [Sidenote: vv. 1213-1235] [_Antistrophe._ 'Tis Time, Time, desireless, hath shown thee what thou art; The long monstrous mating, it is judged and all its race. O child of him that sleepeth, Thy land weepeth, weepeth, Unfathered.... Would God, I had never seen thy face! From thee in great peril fell peace upon my heart, In thee mine eye clouded and the dark is come apace. [_A_ MESSENGER _rushes out from the Palace._ MESSENGER. O ye above this land in honour old Exalted, what a tale shall ye be told, What sights shall see, and tears of horror shed, If still your hearts be true to them that led Your sires! There runs no river, well I ween, Not Phasis nor great Ister, shall wash clean This house of all within that hideth--nay, Nor all that creepeth forth to front the day, Of purposed horror. And in misery That woundeth most which men have willed to be. LEADER. No lack there was in what we knew before Of food for heaviness. What bring'st thou more? MESSENGER. One thing I bring thee first.... 'Tis quickly said. Jocasta, our anointed queen, is dead. [Sidenote: vv. 1236-1260] LEADER. Unhappy woman! How came death to her? MESSENGER.