Nor urge. Dost thou desire to be destroyed?

Is death thy highest wish? If thou dost die,75

I go before thee; if thou liv'st, I follow.

But change thy mind, call up thine old-time strength,

And with a mighty will thy sorrows curb.

Resist, since in such ills defeat is death.

Oedipus: Whence springs so rare a spirit in a house80

So impious? Whence comes this noble maid,

Unlike her race? Can it be true indeed?

Has any pious thing been born of me?