Respect him who was in the past not foolish, and who now is strong in his oath.OedipusDo you understand what you crave?ChorusI do.OedipusTell me, then, what you mean.ChorusThat you should never use an unproved rumor to cast a dishonoring charge on the friend who has bound himself with a curse.OedipusThen be quite aware that when you seek this you are seeking death or exile from this land for me.

ChorusNo, by the god that stands at the head of all the host of the gods, no, by the sun. Unblest, unbefriended, may I die the worst possible death, if I have this thought!But my unhappy soul is worn by the withering of the land, as well as by the thought that our old sorrows should be crowned by new ones arising from the two of you.OedipusThen let him go, though I am surely doomed to be killedor thrust dishonored from the land. Your words, not his, move me to compassion; but he, wherever he be, shall be hated.CreonYou are truly sullen in yielding, as you are vehement in the excesses of your wrath. But such natures arejustly most difficult for themselves to bear.OedipusWill you not be gone and leave me in peace?CreonI will go on my way. I have found you undiscerning, but in the view of these men I am just. He exits.

ChorusLady, why do you hesitate to take this man into the house?IocastaI will, when I have learned what has happened.ChorusBlind suspicion, bred of talk, arose, and injustice inflicts wounds.IocastaOn both sides?ChorusYes.IocastaAnd what was the story?ChorusIt is enough, I think, enough, when our land is already vexed, that the matter should rest where it stopped.OedipusDo you see to what you have come, for all your noble intent, in seeking to slacken and blunt my zeal?

ChorusKing, I have said it more than once—be sure that I would have proved myself a madman, bankrupt in sane counsel, if I forsook you—you, who gave a true course to my beloved country when it wasdistraught with troubles, and who now are likely to prove our prospering guide.IocastaIn the name of the gods, tell me, king, the reason that you have conceived this steadfast wrath.

OedipusThat I will do, for I honor you, lady, above these men. Creon is the cause, and the plots he has laid against me.IocastaCome, tell me how the argument began.OedipusHe says that I stand guilty of Laius’ blood.IocastaOn his own knowledge or on hearsay from another?