Oedipus
Fetch him at once. I fain would see the man.
Jocasta
He shall be brought; but wherefore summon him?
Oedipus
Lady, I fear my tongue has overrun
Discretion; therefore I would question him.
Jocasta
Well, he shall come, but may not I too claim
To share the burden of thy heart, my king?
Oedipus
Now my imaginings have gone so far.
Who has a higher claim that thou to hear
My tale of dire adventures? Listen then.
My sire was Polybus of Corinth, and
My mother Merope, a Dorian;
And I was held the foremost citizen,
Till a strange thing befell me, strange indeed,
Yet scarce deserving all the heat it stirred.
A roisterer at some banquet, flown with wine,
Shouted “Thou art not true son of thy sire.”
It irked me, but I stomached for the nonce
The insult; on the morrow I sought out
My mother and my sire and questioned them.
They were indignant at the random slur
Cast on my parentage and did their best
To comfort me, but still the venomed barb
Rankled, for still the scandal spread and grew.
So privily without their leave I went
To Delphi, and Apollo sent me back