o doubt and disappointment._

OEDIPUS.

Nay, but what is the message? For my blood
Runs neither hot nor cold for words like those.

CREON.

Shall I speak now, with all these pressing close,
Or pass within?--To me both ways are fair.

OEDIPUS.

Speak forth to all! The grief that these men bear
Is more than any fear for mine own death.

CREON.

I speak then what I heard from God.--Thus saith
Phoebus, our Lord and Seer, in clear command.
An unclean thing there is, hid in our land,
Eating the soil thereof: this ye shall cast
Out, and not foster till all help be past.

OEDIPUS.

How cast it out? What was the evil deed?

[Sidenote: vv. 100-113]

CREON.

Hunt the men out from Thebes, or make them bleed
Who slew. For blood it is that stirs to-day.

OEDIPUS.

Who was the man they killed? Doth Phoebus say?

CREON.

O King, there was of old King Laius
In Thebes, ere thou didst come to pilot us.

OEDIPUS.

I know: not that I ever saw his face.

CREON.

'Twas he. And Loxias now bids us trace
And smite the unknown workers of his fall.

OEDIPUS.

Where in God's earth are they? Or how withal
Find the blurred trail of such an ancient stain?

CREON.

In Thebes, he said.--That which men seek amain
They find. 'Tis things forgotten that go by.

OEDIPUS.

And where did Laius meet them? Did he die
In Thebes, or in the hills, or some far land?

[Sidenote: vv. 114-127]

CREON.

To ask God's will in Delphi he had planned
His journey. Started and returned no more.

OEDIPUS.

And came there nothing back? No message, nor
None of his company, that ye might hear?

CREON.

They all were slain, save one man; blind with fear
He came, remembering naught--or almost naught.

OEDIPUS.

And what was that? One thing has often brought
Others, could we but catch one little clue.

CREON.

'Twas not one man, 'twas robbers--that he knew--
Who barred the road and slew him: a great band.

OEDIPUS.

Robbers?... What robber, save the work was planned
By treason here, would dare a risk so plain?

CREON.

So some men thought. But Laius lay slain,
And none to avenge him in his evil day.

[Sidenote: vv. 128-148]

OEDIPUS.

And what strange mischief, when your master lay
Thus fallen, held you back from search and deed?

CREON.

The dark-songed Sphinx was here. We had no heed
Of distant sorrows, having death so