OED. O thou whose universal thought commands All knowledge and all mysteries, in Heaven And on the earth beneath, thy mind perceives, Tiresias, though thine outward eye be dark, What plague is wasting Thebe, who in thee, Great Sir, finds her one saviour, her sole guide. Phoebus (albeit the messengers perchance Have told thee this) upon our sending sent This answer back, that no release might come From this disaster, till we sought and found And slew the murderers of king Laius, Or drave them exiles from our land. Thou, then, Withhold not any word of augury Or other divination which thou knowest, But rescue Thebe, and thyself, and me, And purge the stain that issues from the dead. On thee we lean: and 'tis a noble thing To use what power one hath in doing good. TIRESIAS. Ah! terrible is knowledge to the man Whom knowledge profits not. This well I knew, But had forgotten. Else I ne'er had come. OED. Why dost thou bring a mind so full of gloom? TI. Let me go home. Thy part and mine to-day Will best be borne, if thou obey me in that. OED. Disloyal and ungrateful! to deprive The state that reared thee of thine utterance now. TI. Thy speech, I see, is foiling thine intent; And I would shield me from the like mishap. (_Going._) OED. Nay, if thou knowest, turn thee not away: All here with suppliant hands importune thee. TI. Yea, for ye all are blind. Never will I Reveal my woe;--mine, that I say not, thine. OED. So, then, thou hast the knowledge of the crime And wilt not tell, but rather wouldst betray This people, and destroy thy fatherland! TI. You press me to no purpose. I'll not pain Thee, nor myself. Thou wilt hear nought from me. OED. How? Miscreant! Thy stubbornness would rouse Wrath in a breast of stone. Wilt thou yet hold That silent, hard, impenetrable mien? TI. You censure me for my harsh mood. Your own Dwells unsuspected with you. Me you blame! OED. Who can be mild and gentle, when thou speakest Such words to mock this people? TI. It will come: Although I bury it in silence here. OED. Must not the King be told of what will come? TI. No word from me. At this, an if thou wilt, Rage to the height of passionate vehemence. OED. Ay, and my passion shall declare my thought. 'Tis clear to me as daylight, thou hast been The arch-plotter of this deed; yea, thou hast done All but the actual blow. Hadst thou thy sight, I had proclaimed thee the sole murderer. TI. Ay, say'st thou so?--I charge thee to abide By thine own ordinance; and from this hour Speak not to any Theban nor to me. Thou art the vile polluter of the land. OED. O void of shame! What wickedness is this? What power will give thee refuge for such guilt? TI. The might of truth is scatheless. I am free. OED. Whence came the truth to thee? Not from thine art. TI. From thee, whose rage impelled my backward tongue. OED. Speak it once more, that I may know the drift. TI. Was it so dark? Or wouldst thou tempt me further?