Translated by F. Storr. From the Loeb Library Edition, Originally published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA and William Heinemann Ltd, London. First published in 1912.
Oedipus:
Had he but few attendants or a train
Of armed retainers with him, like a prince?
Jocasta:
They were but five in all, and one of them
A herald; Laius in a mule-car rode.
Oedipus:
Alas! 'tis clear as noonday now. But say,
Lady, who carried this report to Thebes?
Jocasta:
A serf, the sole survivor who returned.
Oedipus:
Haply he is at hand or in the house?
Jocasta:
No, for as soon as he returned and found
Thee reigning in the stead of Laius slain,
He clasped my hand and supplicated me
To send him to the alps and pastures, where
He might be farthest from the sight of Thebes.
And so I sent him. 'Twas an honest slave
And well deserved some better recompense.
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