Tragedy in Ovid's Metamorphoses common one throughout the world of ancient tragedy. This theme is most clearly illustrated in Aeschylus' great trilogy the Oresteia and in Sophocles' trilogy on Oedipus. As in Hecuba's speech, characters from the works of Aeschylus and Sophocles both lament their great losses and what has led them to this point. One of the best examples of this theme that Ovid so clearly draws upon is the speech given by a messenger in Oedipus Rex that tells of the death of Jocasta and the blinding of Oedipus. This famous speech follows in the same theme of that given by Hecuba,
Oedipus rex (opera) the murderer and cast him out. He questions Tiresias, the soothsayer, who at first refuses to speak. Angered at this silence, Oedipus accuses him of being the murderer himself. Provoked, Tiresias speaks at last, stating that the murderer of the king is a king. Terrified, Oedipus then accuses Tiresias of being in league with Creon, whom he believes covets the throne. With a flourish from the chorus, Jocasta appears. Jocasta calms the dispute by telling all that the oracles always lie. An oracle had predicted that Laius would die at his son's hand, when in fact he was murdered by