The Tragedies of Seneca / Translated into English Verse, to Which Have Been Appended Comparative Analyses of the Corresponding Greek and Roman Plays, and a Mythological Index

by Lucius Annaeus Seneca

From wedlock with my mother do I flee.

Old Man: Then cease thy empty fears, and lay aside

Thy base forebodings; for I tell thee here

That thou art not the son of Merope.

Oedipus: Why did she wish to rear a spurious son?

Old Man: Because the proud security of kings

Is by a son established.

Oedipus: Tell me now.805

How thou dost know the secrets of the court.

Old Man: With my own hands I gave thee to the king.