_OEdip._ Speak first, Ægeon, say, is this the man?
_Æge._ My lord, it is; Though time has ploughed that face With many furrows since I saw it first, Yet I'm too well acquainted with the ground, Quite to forget it.
_OEdip._ Peace; stand back a while.-- Come hither, friend; I hear thy name is Phorbas. Why dost thou turn thy face? I charge thee answer To what I shall enquire: Wert thou not once The servant to king Laius here in Thebes?
_Phor._ I was, great sir, his true and faithful servant; Born and bred up in court, no foreign slave.
_OEdip._ What office hadst thou? what was thy employment?
_Phor._ He made me lord of all his rural pleasures; For much he loved them: oft I entertained him With sporting swains, o'er whom I had command.
_OEdip._ Where was thy residence? to what part of the country Didst thou most frequently resort?
_Phor._ To mount Cithæron, and the pleasant vallies Which all about lie shadowing its large feet.
_OEdip._ Come forth, Ægeon.--Ha! why start'st thou, Phorbas? Forward, I say, and face to face confront him: Look wistly on him,--through him, if thou canst! And tell me on thy life, say, dost thou know him? Didst thou e'er see him? e'er converse with him Near mount Cithæron?
_OEdip._ This man, this old, this venerable man: Speak, did'st thou ever meet him there?
_OEdip._ Near mount Cithæron; answer to the purpose, 'Tis a king speaks; and royal minutes are Of much more worth than thousand vulgar years: Did'st thou e'er see this man near mount Cithæron?
_Phor._ Most sure, my lord, I have seen lines like those His visage bears; but know not where, nor when.
_Æge._ Is't possible you should forget your ancient friend? There are, perhaps, Particulars, which may excite your dead remembrance. Have you forgot I took an infant from you, Doomed to be murdered in that gloomy vale? The swaddling-bands were purple, wrought with gold. Have you forgot, too, how you wept, and begged That I should breed him up, and ask no more?
_Phor._ Whate'er I begged, thou, like a dotard, speak'st More than is requisite; and what of this? Why is it mentioned now? And why, O why Dost thou betray the secrets of thy friend?
_Æge._ Be not too rash. That infant grew at last A king; and here the happy monarch stands.