O Slayer of the Wolf, O Lord of Light,
Apollo....
O show us still some path that is not all
Unclean; for now our captain’s eyes are dim
With dread, and the whole ship must follow him.“[[22]]
The answer to her prayer is very near; but bringing desolation in the guise of joy. Even as she kneels before the altar there comes a voice calling on the name of the king, as though it were the voice of the god himself. It is a stranger from Corinth; and the queen rises to receive his greeting.
He is the bearer of good news, he says; a message from the people of Corinth, to Œdipus. They have declared him to be their king, in the place of Polybus, who is dead. It seems good news indeed. Polybus dead, there is no need now for the anxious king to fear that oracular menace from Delphi; and Jocasta’s heart bounds at the thought.
“Where stand ye at the last,
Ye oracles of God? For many a year
Œdipus fled before that man, in fear