Racine: Phaedra

CEDIPUS REX 83
And dam mine ears against it, I would do it,
Sealing my carcase vile, that I might live
Both blind, and hearing nothing. Sweet 'twould be
To keep my soul beyond the reach of ills
Why, O Kithseron, didst thou shelter me.
Nor kill me out of hand? I had not shown.
In that case, all men whence I drew my birth.
O Polybos, and Corinth, and the home
Of old called mine, how strange a growth ye reared,
All fair outside, all rotten at the core
For vile I stand, descended from the vile.
Ye threefold roads and thickets half concealed.
The copse, the narrow pass where three ways meet,
Which at my hands did drink my father's blood,
Remember ye, what deeds I did in you.
What, hither come, I did ?—O marriage rites
That gave me birth, and, having borne me, gave
To me in turn an offspring, and ye showed
Fathers, and sons, and brothers, all in one,
Mothers, and wives, and daughters, hateful names,
All foulest deeds that men have ever done.
But, since, where deeds are evil, speech is wrong,
With utmost speed, by all the gods, or slay me,
Or drive me forth, or hide me in the sea,
Where never more your eyes may look on me.
Come, scorn ye not to touch a wretch like me,
But hearken ; fear ye not ; no soul save me
Can bear the burden of my countless ills.
But ye, if ye have lost your sense of shame
For mortal men, yet reverence the light
Of him, our king, the Sun-God, source of life,
Nor sight so foul expose unveiled to view.
Which neither earth, nor shower from heaven, nor light,
Can see and welcome. But with utmost speed
Convey me in ; for nearest kin alone
Can meetly see and hear their kindred's ills.^^
Chorus.—The man for what thou need'st is come in time,
Creon, to counsel, and to act, for now
He in thy stead is left our state's one guide.
'3 The two sons of CEdipus, Polyneikes and Eteocles, the Chorus thinks of ai
too young to reisrn.