Poor children, little needs to tell me that For which ye come to pray; too well I know Ye all are sick. And, sick as ye may be, There is not one whose sickness equals mine. The grief of each of you touches himself, And touches none beside: your sovereign's heart Bears your griefs, and the city's and his own. Not from a slumber have ye wakened me, Trust me, I many an anxious tear have shed, And many a path have tried in wandering thought. Such remedy as, scanning all, I find I have applied. Creon, Menoeceus' son And my Queen's brother, to the Pythian shrine Of Phoebus I have sent to ask what act Or word of mine this city will redeem. And now, as anxiously I mete the time, My soul is troubled, for, to my surprise, He has been absent longer than he ought. But when he comes, a caitiff I shall be If I do not all that the god ordains. * * * * * _THE DAWN OF DISCOVERY_. Oedipus, having learned from the oracle that the cause of the wrath of the gods and of the plague is the presence of the murderer of Laius in the land, sends for the blind prophet, Tiresias, to tell him who is the murderer. Tiresias, knowing the secret, is reluctant to reveal it, and an altercation ensues, Oedipus suspecting that Tiresias has been set on by Creon, the Queen's brother, who he thinks is intriguing to supplant him in the monarchy. LINES 300-462. OEDIPUS. Tiresias, thou whose thought embraces all, Revealed or unrevealed, in heaven or earth, In how sad plight our city is, thy mind, If not thy eye, discerns. Prophet, in thee Resides our sole hope of deliverance. Phoebus, if thou hast not the tidings heard, Has to our envoys answered, that the plague Will never leave this city till we find The murderers of the late King Laius, And slay them or expel them from the land. Then, if a way thou know'st, by augury Or divination, put forth all thy power, Save this our commonwealth, thyself and me; Put from us the pollution of this blood. To thee alone we look; what gifts one has To use for good is of all toil the best. TIRESIAS. Ah! what an ill possession knowledge is When ignorance were gain. This well I know, And yet forgot, else had I not come here. OEDIPUS. What ails thee that thou bring'st this face of gloom? TIRESIAS. Let me go home, for each of us will bear His burden easiest if so thou dost. OEDIPUS. Whatever thou dost know, the voice of right And call of patriot duty bids thee speak. TIRESIAS. Speech is not always opportune; in thee It is not; thy mistake I would not share. OEDIPUS. Oh, by the gods, I pray thee stand not mute! We all as suppliants kneel in heart to thee. TIRESIAS. Then are ye all misguided. As for me, I tell not that which told would hurt us both. OEDIPUS. How! dost thou know and yet refuse to tell? Wilt thou prove traitor and undo the State? TIRESIAS. I will not bring down woe on thee and me. Press me no more; thy questioning is vain. OEDIPUS.