Oedipus
’Tis a dread presentiment
That in the end the seer will prove not blind.
One further question to resolve my doubt.
Jocasta
I quail; but ask, and I will answer all.
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.