For the better part of my life I tended the flocks. Oedipus And what regions did you most frequently haunt? Servant Sometimes Cithaeron, sometimes the neighboring ground. Oedipus Are you aware of ever having seen this man in these parts? Servant Doing what? What man do you mean? Oedipus This man here. Have you ever met him before? Servant Not so that I could speak at once from memory. Messenger And no wonder, master. But I will bring clear recollection to his ignorance. I am sure he knows well of the time we dwelled in the region of Cithaeron for six month periods, from spring to Arcturus, he with two flocks, and I, his comrade, with one. And then for the winter I used to drive my flock to my own fold, and he took his to the fold of Laius. Did any of this happen as I tell it, or did it not? Servant You speak the truth, though it was long ago. Messenger Come, tell me now: do you remember having given me a boy in those days, to be reared as my own foster-son? Servant What now? Why do you ask the question? Messenger This man, my friend, is he who then was young. Servant Damn you! Be silent once and for all! Oedipus Do not rebuke him, old man. Your words need rebuking more than his. Servant And in what way, most noble master, do I offend? Oedipus In not telling of the boy about whom he asks. Servant He speaks without knowledge, but is busy to no purpose. Oedipus You will not speak with good grace, but will in pain. Servant No, in the name of the gods, do not mistreat an old man. Oedipus Someone, quick—tie his hands him this instant! Servant Alas, why? What do you want to learn? Oedipus Did you give this man the child about whom he asks? Servant I did. Would that I had perished that day! Oedipus Well, you will come to that, unless you tell the honest truth. Servant But if I speak I will be destroyed all the more. Oedipus This man is bent, I think, on more delays. Servant No, no! I said before that I gave it to him. Oedipus Where did you get it from? From your own house, or from another?