_Oedipus:_ Think'st thou that such as they have aught of love 295 For father or for right, whose hearts are filled With lust for blood and power and impious arms, Profane and cruel sons--in brief, my own? Toward every form of evil deed they strive, And have no scruples where their wrath impels. In shame begot, they have no sense of shame. 300 They have no feeling for their wretched sire, None for their country. Naught but lust of power Rules in their maddened breasts. I know full well To what dire ends they tend, what monstrous deeds They are prepared to do; and for this cause I seek to find destruction's shortest path, And haste to die, while yet within my house 305 There is no soul more steeped in guilt than I. O child, why dost thou weep about my knees, Why seek with prayer to soften my hard heart? This means alone my fortune has reserved By which I may be led, unconquered else; For thou alone canst soothe my stubborn soul, 310 Canst teach me piety. For naught is hard Or grievous in my sight, if I perceive That thou dost wish it. Do thou but command: Then will I swim the broad Aegean straits, Will drink the flames which from Sicilia's mount Earth belches forth in whirling, molten streams, 315 Will beard the savage dragon in his den, Still raging at the theft of Hercules; At thy command, to birds of prey will give My bleeding heart--at thy command will live. [_The first act seems to be complete here, except for the commenting chorus which would naturally follow._ Oedipus _has temporarily yielded to his daughter's will._] ACT II [_The following passage fittingly opens the second act or episode. Although some editors would assign it to_ Antigone, _it seems more fittingly to belong to a messenger who has just arrived, for the double reason that it gives fresher information from Thebes than_ Antigone _would naturally possess; and that_ Oedipus, _after the speech to his daughter with which the previous scene ended, would hardly address to her as rough a reply as he uses in his next speech._] _Messenger:_ Thee, sprung from regal stock to be our guide, 320 In fear of civil strife our Thebes invokes, And prays that thou wouldst save thy father's house From the flaming torch of war. No mere threats, these; For ever nearer does destruction come. One brother claims his share of royal power, His turn to rule according to the bond, And now is rousing all the tribes of Greece 325 To bloody war. Against the walls of Thebes Seven camps have set them down. Haste to our aid, And war and crime prohibit equally.