Racine: Phaedra

CEDIPUS REX 77
Shepherd.— Auguries dark she feared.
Gdipus.—What were they?
Shepherd.— E'en that he his sire should kill.
CEdipus.—Why then didst thou to this old man resign him?
Shepherd.—I pitied him, O master, and I thought
That he would bear him to another land,
Whence he himself had come. But him he saved
For direst evil. For if thou be he
Whom this man speaks of, thou art evil-starred.
CEdipus.—Woe ! woe ! woe ! woe ! all cometh clear at last.
O light, may this my last glance be on thee.
Who now am seen owing my birth to those
To whom I ought not, and with whom I ought not
In wedlock living, whom I ought not slaying. [Exit.
Strophe I.
Chorus.—Ah, race of mortal men,
How as a thing of nought
I count ye, though ye live
For who is there of men
That more of blessing knows,
Than just a little while
To seem to prosper well.
And, having seemed, to fall?
With thee as pattern giving,
Thy destiny, e'en thine.
Ill-fated CEdipus,
I count nought human blest.
Antistrophe I.
For he, with wondrous skill,
Taking his aim, did hit
Success, in all things blest
And did, O Zeus ! destroy
The Virgin with claws bent.
And sayings wild and dark ;
And against many deaths
A tower and strong defence
Did for my country rise