Œdipus
161
SCENE II.
JOCASTE, ÆGINA.
ÆGINA.
How I lament thy fate!
JOCASTE.
Alas! I envy those whom death has freed
From all their cares: but what remains for me,
What pain and torment to a virtuous heart!
ÆGINA.
'Tis terrible indeed: the clamorous people,
Warmed with false zeal, will cry aloud for vengeance,
And soon demand their victim. I forbear
To accuse him; but if he at last should prove
The murderer of thy unhappy lord,
How it must shock thy soul!
JOCASTE.
Impossible!
Such guilt and baseness never dwelt in him.
O my Ægina! since our bonds of love
Were disunited, naught has pierced my heart
Like this suspicion: this alone was wanting
To make Jocaste most completely wretched:
But I'll not bear to hear him thus accused;
I loved him, and he must be innocent.
ÆGINA.
That constant love