Where is the child who was thus cast forth? is he yet alive?CreusaNo man knoweth. That is the very thing I would ask the oracle.IonBut if he be no more, how did he perish?CreusaShe supposes that beasts devoured the hapless babe.IonWhat proof led her to form this opinion?CreusaShe came to the place where she exposed him, but found him no longer there.IonWere any drops of blood upon the path?CreusaNone, she says; and yet she ranged the ground to and fro.IonHow long is it since the babe was destroyed?CreusaThy age and his would measure out the self-same span, were he alive.IonHath she given birth to no other child since then?CreusaThe god doth wrong her, and wretched is she in having no child.IonBut what if Phoebus privily removed her child, and is rearing it?CreusaThen is he acting unfairly in keeping to himself alone a joy he ought to share.IonAh me! this misfortune sounds so like my own.CreusaThee too, fair sir, thy poor mother misses, I am sure.IonOh! call me not back to piteous thoughts I had forgotten.CreusaI am dumb; proceed with that which touches my inquiry.IonDost know the one weak point in this thy story?Creusa’Tis all weak in that poor lady’s case.IonHow should the god declare that which he wishes hidden?Creusa He must, if here upon the tripod he sits for all Hellas to seek to.