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

"Kind shall the stars return to the Theban city of Cadmus,

If, O fugitive guest, Ismenian Dirce thou leavest,

Stained with the blood of a king, from infancy known to Apollo. 235

Brief shall be thy joys, the impious joys of slaughter.

With thee war thou bringest, and war to thy children thou leavest,

Foul returned once more to the impious arms of thy mother."

Oedipus: What I at heaven's command now meditate,

Long since should have been rendered to the king,240

That none by craft might violate the throne.

And most doth it become a sceptered king