Creon: Suppose thou lackest sense.
Oedipus: Yet kings must rule.
Creon: Not if they rule ill.
Oedipus: Oh my Thebans, hear him!
Creon: Thy Thebans? am not I a Theban too?
Chorus: Cease, princes; lo there comes, and none too soon, Jocasta from the palace. Who so fit As peacemaker to reconcile your feud?
Enter Jocasta.
Jocasta: Misguided princes, why have ye upraised This wordy wrangle? Are ye not ashamed, While the whole land lies striken, thus to voice Your private injuries? Go in, my lord; Go home, my brother, and forebear to make A public scandal of a petty grief.
Creon: My royal sister, Oedipus, thy lord, Hath bid me choose (O dread alternative!) An outlaw’s exile or a felon’s death.
Oedipus: Yes, lady; I have caught him practising Against my royal person his vile arts.
Creon: May I ne’er speed but die accursed, if I In any way am guilty of this charge.
Jocasta: Believe him, I adjure thee, Oedipus, First for his solemn oath’s sake, then for mine, And for thine elders’ sake who wait on thee.
Chorus: Strophe 1
Hearken, King, reflect, we pray thee, but not stubborn but relent.
Oedipus: Say to what should I consent?
Chorus: Respect a man whose probity and troth Are known to all and now confirmed by oath.
Oedipus: Dost know what grace thou cravest?
Chorus: Yea, I know.
Oedipus: Declare it then and make thy meaning plain.
Chorus: Brand not a friend whom babbling tongues assail; Let not suspicion ’gainst his oath prevail.
Oedipus: Bethink you that in seeking this ye seek In very sooth my death or banishment?
Chorus: No, by the leader of the host divine!
Strophe 2
Witness, thou Sun, such thought was never mine, Unblest, unfriended may I perish, If ever I such wish did cherish! But O my heart is desolate Musing on our striken State, Doubly fall’n should discord grow Twixt you twain, to crown our woe.
Oedipus: Well, let him go, no matter what it cost me, Or certain death or shameful banishment, For your sake I relent, not his; and him, Where’er he be, my heart shall still abhor.