Is struggling, and in vain essays to rear Her head emergent from the blood-stained wave. With these sad youths, a suppliant at thine altars; But in the sad vicissitudes of life, Or visitations of the angry Gods, Account thee first of men. At Thebes arriving, + The " fiery God," according to Musgrave, is Mars. The ground of his conjecture is the application of the epithet pós to the planet bearing the name of that divinity. It appears more probable, however, that the expression poetically denotes a personification of Pestilence. 'Aodou, literally, songstress; so called, because her enigmas were propounded in verse. Now, worthiest Edipus! on thee we fix Arise, once more the drooping state revive, Thy happier sway-if, once by thee preserved, Then restore Our rescued state to safety; and as erst The same thought has been beautifully imitated, we might almost say translated, by Sir William Jones. What constitutes a state? Not high-raised battlements, or laboured mound, Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned, Ed. O my afflicted people, but too well I know the purport of your prayers; I know Your common sufferings; yet, 'mid all your woes, None mourns so deeply as your pitying monarch: Each o'er his own peculiar misery weeps, Nor thinks of others' pain;-my heart is wrung At once for you, the city, and myself. Nor do ye rouse me now from reckless sleep; Know, many tears your King hath shed for you, And traversed many a path in thought's wild maze. One remedy alone my search discerned ; This I at once applied. The noble Creon, Menaceus' son, my kinsman," have I sent To Phœbus' Pythian shrine, charged to demand How I may save the state by word or deed, Now, as I reckon the revolving days, The strange delay alarms me; for his stay Hath passed the allotted term. When he arrives, 7 Not bays, and broad-armed ports Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; No;-men, high-minded men. Taußgos. The Greeks restrict this term, in its proper and peculiar sense, to those who are connected by ties of affinity, but not by blood, though it is occasionally taken, in a general sense, to express both. VOL. I. If I perform not all the God ordains, Account your monarch basest of mankind. Pr. Well hast thou said, O King! These youths proclaim The wished approach of Creon. Ed. Royal Phoebus, Grant he return with tidings not less glad, Enter CREON. CEDIPUS, CREON, PRIEST, THEBANS. Ed. Prince, our loved kinsman, great Menaceus' son, What answer bring'st thou from the God to Thebes? Cr. Auspicious tidings; e'en our present ills, If guided well, may yield a prosperous issue. 8 Those who returned from the oracle of Delphi, with an auspicious answer, were crowned with wreaths of laurel. Ed. What mean thy words? Nor livelier hope I draw, Nor added terrors, from a speech like this. Cr. If 'mid this concourse thou wouldst hear, I stand Prepared to speak; if not, Ed. Nay, speak to all. to pass within. I count not life itself Of equal interest with my people's sorrow. Our state's pollution, nurtured in its bosom; Nor harbour guilt that cannot be forgiven. Ed. What, then, is this mysterious guilt, and what The due atonement? Cr. Exile from the land, Or death requiting death, since guiltless blood Troubles the state. Ed. To whose disastrous fate Points this response? Cr. O King, ere yet thy hand Assumed the helm of empire in our state, Laius was lord in Thebes. Ed. Thus fame hath told me: I ne'er beheld the monarch. Cr. He was slain; |