Racine: Phaedra

CEDIPUS REX 69
Earth's central shrine, nor Abac's temple old,
Nor to Olympia's fane,^®
Unless these things shall stand
In sight all men, tokens clear from God.
But, O thou sovereign Ruler ! if that name,
Zeus, belongs to thee, who reign'st o'er all,
Let not this trespass hide itself from thee,
Or thine undying sway
For now they set at nought
The worn-out oracles,
That Laios heard of old,
And king Apollo's wonted worship flags.
And all to wreck is gone
The homage due to God.
Enter Jocasta, folloived by Attendants.
JocASTA.—Princes of this our land, across my soul
There comes the thought to go from shrine to shrine
Of all the Gods, these garlands in my hand,
And waving incense ; for our CEdipus
Vexes his soul too wildly with all woes.
And speaks not as a man should speak who scans
New issues by experience of the old,
But hangs on every breath that tells of fear.
And since I find that my advice avails not,
To thee, Lyceian King, Apollo, first
1 come—ffer thou art nearest—suppliant
With these devotions, trusting thou wilt work
Some way of healing for us, free from guilt
For now we shudder, all of us, seeing him,
The good ship's pilot, stricken down with fear.
Enter Messenger.
Messenger.—May I inquire of you, O strangers, where
To find the house of CEdipus the king,
And, above all, where he is, if ye know ?
18 The central shrine is, as in 480, older than that of Delphi. In Olympia,
Delphi, where a white oval stone was the priests of Zeus divined from the
supposed to be the very centre, or om- clearness or dimness of the fire upon
phalos of the earth. At Abse, in Phocis, the altar.
was an oracle of Apollo, believed to be