Racine: Phaedra

62
SOPHOCLES
Our country suffering, private griefs to stir?
Come thou within ; and thou, O Creon, go
Bring not a trifling sore to mischief great
Creon.—My sister! CEdipus thy husband claims
The right to do me one of two great wrongs,
To thrust me from my fatherland, or slay me.
CEdipus.— 'Tis even so, for I have found him, wife,
Against my life his evil wiles devising.
Creon.—May I ne'er prosper, but accursed die,
If I have done the things he says I did
JocASTA.—Oh, by the Gods, believe him, CEdipus
Respect his oath, which calls the Gods to hear
And reverence me, and these who stand by thee.
Chorus.—Hearken, my king ! be calmer, I implore
CEdipus.—What wilt thou that I yield ?
Chorus.— Oh, have respect
To one not weak before, who now is strong
In this his oath.
CEdipus.— And know'st thou what thou ask'st?
Chorus.—I know right well.
CEdipus.— Say on, then, what thou wilt.
Chorus.—Hurl not to shame, on grounds of mere mistrust,
The friend on whom no taint of evil hangs.
CEdipus.—Know then that, seeking this, thou seek'st, in truth,
To work my death, or else my banishment.
Chorus.—Nay, by the Sun-God, Helios, chief of Cjods I "
May I, top, die, of God and man accursed,
If I wish aught like this ! But on my soul,
Our wasting land dwells heavily ; ills on ills
Still coming, new upon the heels of old.
CEdipus.—Let him depart then, even though I die,
Or from my country be thrust forth in shame
Thy face, not his, I view with pitying eye
For him, where'er he be, is nought but hate.
Creon.—Thou'rt loth to yield, 'twould seem, and wilt be vexed
When this thy wrath is over : moods like thine
Are fitly to themselves most hard to bear.
CEdipus.—Wilt thou not go, and leave me?
^^ Helios, specially invoked as the giver of light, discerning and making
manifest all bidden things.