Jocasta
My lords, ye look amazed to see your queen
With wreaths and gifts of incense in her hands.
I had a mind to visit the high shrines,
For Oedipus is overwrought, alarmed
With terrors manifold. He will not use
His past experience, like a man of sense,
To judge the present need, but lends an ear
To any croaker if he augurs ill.
Since then my counsels naught avail, I turn
To thee, our present help in time of trouble,
Apollo, Lord Lycean, and to thee
My prayers and supplications here I bring.
Lighten us, lord, and cleanse us from this curse!
For now we all are cowed like mariners
Who see their helmsman dumbstruck in the storm.
Messenger
My masters, tell me where the palace is
Of Oedipus; or better, where’s the king.
Chorus
Here is the palace and he bides within;
This is his queen the mother of his children.
Messenger
All happiness attend her and the house,
Blessed is her husband and her marriage-bed.
Jocasta
Deserve a like response. But tell me why
Thou comest—what thy need or what thy news.