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Chorus
As you have put me under oath, on my oath, my king, I will speak. I am not the slayer, nor can I reveal him. As for the investigation, it was for Phoebus, who enjoined it, to tell us who did the deed.

Oedipus
[280] Justly said. But no man on earth can force the gods to do what they do not want.

Chorus
I would like to say what seems to me the next best course.

Oedipus
And if there is a third course, do not hesitate to reveal it too.

Chorus
I know that our lord Teiresias is the seer most like our [285] lord Apollo: from him, my king, an investigator might learn most clearly about these affairs.

Oedipus
Not even this have I neglected. On Creon's suggestion, I sent a man twice to bring him. And I have been wondering for some time why he is not here.

Chorus
[290] Indeed—his skill apart—the rumors are but faint and old.

Oedipus
What are the rumors? I am investigating every tale.

Chorus
He was said to have been killed by some wayfarers.

Oedipus
I too have heard that. But no one sees the one who saw it.

Chorus
If he knows what fear is, he will not hesitate to come forward when he [295] hears your curses, so dire are they.

Oedipus
When a man does not shrink from a deed, he is not scared by a word.

Chorus
But there is no one to convict him. But here they bring at last the godlike prophet, the only man in whom truth lives.

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