MESSENGER.
And what is there in her to breed your fears?
OEDIPUS.
A dreadful ordinance of destiny.
MESSENGER.
Is it a mystery? May it be told?
OEDIPUS.
It may be told. The god before my birth
Foreshowed that with my mother I should lie,
And shed with my own hands my father's blood.
For which cause I have long my dwelling made
Far off from Corinth. Happily, 'tis true,
Yet to behold a parent's face is sweet.
MESSENGER.
Was this the fear that drove thee from that land?