俄狄浦斯在科罗诺斯OEDIPUS AT COLONUS
K.R Eissler 2010-3-24
ARGUMENT
Oedipus, the blind and banished King of Thebes, has come in his wanderings to Colonus, a deme of Athens, led by his daughter Antigone. He sits to rest on a rock just within a sacred grove of the Furies and is bidden depart by a passing native. But Oedipus, instructed by an oracle that he had reached his final resting-place, refuses to stir, and the stranger consents to go and consult the Elders of Colonus (the Chorus of the Play). Conducted to the spot they pity at first the blind beggar and his daughter, but on learning his name they are horror-striken and order him to quit the land. He appeals to the world-famed hospitality of Athens and hints at the blessings that his coming will confer on the State. They agree to await the decision of King Theseus. From Theseus Oedipus craves protection in life and burial in Attic soil; the benefits that will accrue shall be told later. Theseus departs having promised to aid and befriend him. No sooner has he gone than Creon enters with an armed guard who seize Antigone and carry her off (Ismene, the other sister, they have already captured) and he is about to lay hands on Oedipus, when Theseus, who has heard the tumult, hurries up and, upbraiding Creon for his lawless act, threatens to detain him till he has shown where the captives are and restored them. In the next scene Theseus returns bringing with him the rescued maidens. He informs Oedipus that a stranger who has taken sanctuary at the altar of Poseidon wishes to see him. It is Polyneices who has come to crave his father's forgiveness and blessing, knowing by an oracle that victory will fall to the side that Oedipus espouses. But Oedipus spurns the hypocrite, and invokes a dire curse on both his unnatural sons. A sudden clap of thunder is heard, and as peal follows peal, Oedipus is aware that his hour is come and bids Antigone summon Theseus. Self-guided he leads the way to the spot where death should overtake him, attended by Theseus and his daughters. Halfway he bids his daughters farewell, and what followed none but Theseus knew. He was not (so the Messenger reports) for the gods took him.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
OEDIPUS, banished King of Thebes.
ANTIGONE, his daughter.
ISMENE, his daughter.
THESEUS, King of Athens.
CREON, brother of Jocasta, now reigning at Thebes.
POLYNEICES, elder son of Oedipus.
STRANGER, a native of Colonus.
MESSENGER, an attendant of Theseus.
CHORUS, citizens of Colonus.
Scene: In front of the grove of the Eumenides.
OEDIPUS AT COLONUS
Enter the blind OEDIPUS led by his daughter, ANTIGONE.
OEDIPUS
Child of an old blind sire, Antigone,
What region, say, whose city have we reached?
Who will provide today with scanted dole
This wanderer? 'Tis little that he craves,
And less obtains--that less enough for me;
For I am taught by suffering to endure,
And the long years that have grown old with me,
And last not least, by true nobility.
My daughter, if thou seest a resting place
On common ground or by some sacred grove,
Stay me and set me down. Let us discover
Where we have come, for strangers must inquire
Of denizens, and do as they are bid.
ANTIGONE
Long-suffering father, Oedipus, the towers
That fence the city still are faint and far;
But where we stand is surely holy ground;
A wilderness of laurel, olive, vine;
Within a choir or songster nightingales
Are warbling. On this native seat of rock
Rest; for an old man thou hast traveled far.
OEDIPUS
Guide these dark steps and seat me there secure.
ANTIGONE
If time can teach, I need not to be told.
OEDIPUS
Say, prithee, if thou knowest, where we are.
ANTIGONE
Athens I recognize, but not the spot.
OEDIPUS
That much we heard from every wayfarer.
ANTIGONE
Shall I go on and ask about the place?
OEDIPUS
Yes, daughter, if it be inhabited.
ANTIGONE
Sure there are habitations; but no need
To leave thee; yonder is a man hard by.
OEDIPUS
What, moving hitherward and on his way?
ANTIGONE
Say rather, here already. Ask him straight
The needful questions, for the man is here.
[Enter STRANGER]
OEDIPUS
O stranger, as I learn from her whose eyes
Must serve both her and me, that thou art here
Sent by some happy chance to serve our doubts--
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STRANGER
First quit that seat, then question me at large:
The spot thou treadest on is holy ground.
OEDIPUS
What is the site, to what god dedicate?
STRANGER
Inviolable, untrod; goddesses,
Dread brood of Earth and Darkness, here abide.
OEDIPUS
Tell me the awful name I should invoke?
STRANGER
The Gracious Ones, All-seeing, so our folk
Call them, but elsewhere other names are rife.
OEDIPUS
Then may they show their suppliant grace, for I
From this your sanctuary will ne'er depart.
STRANGER
What word is this?
OEDIPUS
The watchword of my fate.
STRANGER
Nay, 'tis not mine to bid thee hence without
Due warrant and instruction from the State.
OEDIPUS
Now in God's name, O stranger, scorn me not
As a wayfarer; tell me what I crave.
STRANGER
Ask; your request shall not be scorned by me.
OEDIPUS
How call you then the place wherein we bide?
STRANGER
Whate'er I know thou too shalt know; the place
Is all to great Poseidon consecrate.
Hard by, the Titan, he who bears the torch,
Prometheus, has his worship; but the spot
Thou treadest, the Brass-footed Threshold named,
Is Athens' bastion, and the neighboring lands
Claim as their chief and patron yonder knight
Colonus, and in common bear his name.
Such, stranger, is the spot, to fame unknown,
But dear to us its native worshipers.
OEDIPUS
Thou sayest there are dwellers in these parts?
STRANGER
Surely; they bear the name of yonder god.
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OEDIPUS
Ruled by a king or by the general voice?
STRANGER
The lord of Athens is our over-lord.
OEDIPUS
Who is this monarch, great in word and might?
STRANGER
Theseus, the son of Aegeus our late king.
OEDIPUS
Might one be sent from you to summon him?
STRANGER
Wherefore? To tell him aught or urge his coming?
OEDIPUS
Say a slight service may avail him much.
STRANGER
How can he profit from a sightless man?
OEDIPUS
The blind man's words will be instinct with sight.
STRANGER
Heed then; I fain would see thee out of harm;
For by the looks, marred though they be by fate,
I judge thee noble; tarry where thou art,
While I go seek the burghers--those at hand,
Not in the city. They will soon decide
Whether thou art to rest or go thy way.
[Exit STRANGER]
OEDIPUS
Tell me, my daughter, has the stranger gone?
ANTIGONE
Yes, he has gone; now we are all alone,
And thou may'st speak, dear father, without fear.
OEDIPUS
Stern-visaged queens, since coming to this land
First in your sanctuary I bent the knee,
Frown not on me or Phoebus, who, when erst
He told me all my miseries to come,
Spake of this respite after many years,
Some haven in a far-off land, a rest
Vouchsafed at last by dread divinities.
"There," said he, "shalt thou round thy weary life,
A blessing to the land wherein thou dwell'st,
But to the land that cast thee forth, a curse."
And of my weird he promised signs should come,
Earthquake, or thunderclap, or lightning flash.
And now I recognize as yours the sign
That led my wanderings to this your grove;
Else had I never lighted on you first,
A wineless man on your seat of native rock.
O goddesses, fulfill Apollo's word,
Grant me some consummation of my life,
If haply I appear not all too vile,
A thrall to sorrow worse than any slave.
Hear, gentle daughters of primeval Night,
Hear, namesake of great Pallas; Athens, first
Of cities, pity this dishonored shade,
The ghost of him who once was Oedipus.
ANTIGONE
Hush! for I see some grey-beards on their way,
Their errand to spy out our resting-place.
OEDIPUS
I will be mute, and thou shalt guide my steps
Into the covert from the public road,
Till I have learned their drift. A prudent man
Will ever shape his course by what he learns.
[Enter CHORUS]
CHORUS
(Str. 1)
Ha! Where is he? Look around!
Every nook and corner scan!
He the all-presumptuous man,
Whither vanished? search the ground!
A wayfarer, I ween,
A wayfarer, no countryman of ours,
That old man must have been;
Never had native dared to tempt the Powers,
Or enter their demesne,
The Maids in awe of whom each mortal cowers,
Whose name no voice betrays nor cry,
And as we pass them with averted eye,
We move hushed lips in reverent piety.
But now some godless man,
'Tis rumored, here abides;
The precincts through I scan,
Yet wot not where he hides,
The wretch profane!
I search and search in vain.
OEDIPUS
I am that man; I know you near
Ears to the blind, they say, are eyes.
CHORUS
O dread to see and dread to hear!
OEDIPUS
Oh sirs, I am no outlaw under ban.
CHORUS
Who can he be--Zeus save us!--this old man?
OEDIPUS
No favorite of fate,
That ye should envy his estate,
O, Sirs, would any happy mortal, say,
Grope by the light of other eyes his way,
Or face the storm upon so frail a stay?
CHORUS
(Ant. 1)
Wast thou then sightless from thy birth?
Evil, methinks, and long
Thy pilgrimage on earth.
Yet add not curse to curse and wrong to wrong.
I warn thee, trespass not
Within this hallowed spot,
Lest thou shouldst find the silent grassy glade
Where offerings are laid,
Bowls of spring water mingled with sweet mead.
Thou must not stay,
Come, come away,
Tired wanderer, dost thou heed?
(We are far off, but sure our voice can reach.)
If aught thou wouldst beseech,
Speak where 'tis right; till then refrain from speech.
OEDIPUS
Daughter, what counsel should we now pursue?
ANTIGONE
We must obey and do as here they do.
OEDIPUS
Thy hand then!
ANTIGONE
Here, O father, is my hand,
OEDIPUS
O Sirs, if I come forth at your command,
Let me not suffer for my confidence.
CHORUS
(Str. 2)
Against thy will no man shall drive thee hence.
OEDIPUS
Shall I go further?
CHORUS
Aye.
OEDIPUS
What further still?
CHORUS
Lead maiden, thou canst guide him where we will.
ANTIGONE [1]
ANTIGONE
Follow with blind steps, father, as I lead.
CHORUS
In a strange land strange thou art;
To her will incline thy heart;
Honor whatso'er the State
Honors, all she frowns on hate.
OEDIPUS
Guide me child, where we may range
Safe within the paths of right;
Counsel freely may exchange
Nor with fate and fortune fight.
CHORUS
(Ant. 2)
Halt! Go no further than that rocky floor.
OEDIPUS
Stay where I now am?
CHORUS
Yes, advance no more.
OEDIPUS
May I sit down?
CHORUS
Move sideways towards the ledge,
And sit thee crouching on the scarped edge.
ANTIGONE
This is my office, father, O incline--
OEDIPUS
Ah me! ah me!
ANTIGONE
Thy steps to my steps, lean thine aged frame on mine.
OEDIPUS
Woe on my fate unblest!
CHORUS
Wanderer, now thou art at rest,
Tell me of thy birth and home,
From what far country art thou come,
Led on thy weary way, declare!
OEDIPUS
Strangers, I have no country. O forbear--
CHORUS
What is it, old man, that thou wouldst conceal?
OEDIPUS
Forbear, nor urge me further to reveal--
CHORUS
Why this reluctance?
OEDIPUS
Dread my lineage.
CHORUS
Say!
OEDIPUS
What must I answer, child, ah welladay!
CHORUS
Say of what stock thou comest, what man's son--
OEDIPUS
Ah me, my daughter, now we are undone!
ANTIGONE
Speak, for thou standest on the slippery verge.
OEDIPUS
I will; no plea for silence can I urge.
CHORUS
Will neither speak? Come, Sir, why dally thus!
OEDIPUS
Know'st one of Laius'--
CHORUS
Ha? Who!
OEDIPUS
Seed of Labdacus--
CHORUS
Oh Zeus!
OEDIPUS
The hapless Oedipus.
CHORUS
Art he?
OEDIPUS
Whate'er I utter, have no fear of me.
CHORUS
Begone!
OEDIPUS
O wretched me!
CHORUS
Begone!
OEDIPUS
O daughter, what will hap anon?
CHORUS
Forth from our borders speed ye both!
OEDIPUS
How keep you then your troth?
CHORUS
Heaven's justice never smites
Him who ill with ill requites.
But if guile with guile contend,
Bane, not blessing, is the end.
Arise, begone and take thee hence straightway,
Lest on our land a heavier curse thou lay.
ANTIGONE
O sirs! ye suffered not my father blind,
Albeit gracious and to ruth inclined,
Knowing the deeds he wrought, not innocent,
But with no ill intent;
Yet heed a maiden's moan
Who pleads for him alone;
My eyes, not reft of sight,
Plead with you as a daughter's might
You are our providence,
O make us not go hence!
O with a gracious nod
Grant us the nigh despaired-of boon we crave?
Hear us, O hear,
But all that ye hold dear,
Wife, children, homestead, hearth and God!
Where will you find one, search ye ne'er so well.
Who 'scapes perdition if a god impel!
CHORUS
Surely we pity thee and him alike
Daughter of Oedipus, for your distress;
But as we reverence the decrees of Heaven
We cannot say aught other than we said.
OEDIPUS
O what avails renown or fair repute?
Are they not vanity? For, look you, now
Athens is held of States the most devout,
Athens alone gives hospitality
And shelters the vexed stranger, so men say.
Have I found so? I whom ye dislodged
First from my seat of rock and now would drive
Forth from your land, dreading my name alone;
For me you surely dread not, nor my deeds,
Deeds of a man more sinned against than sinning,
As I might well convince you, were it meet
To tell my mother's story and my sire's,
The cause of this your fear. Yet am I then
A villain born because in self-defense,
Striken, I struck the striker back again?
E'en had I known, no villainy 'twould prove:
But all unwitting whither I went, I went--
To ruin; my destroyers knew it well,
Wherefore, I pray you, sirs, in Heaven's name,
Even as ye bade me quit my seat, defend me.
O pay not a lip service to the gods
And wrong them of their dues. Bethink ye well,
The eye of Heaven beholds the just of men,
And the unjust, nor ever in this world
Has one sole godless sinner found escape.
Stand then on Heaven's side and never blot
Athens' fair scutcheon by abetting wrong.
I came to you a suppliant, and you pledged
Your honor; O preserve me to the end,
O let not this marred visage do me wrong!
A holy and god-fearing man is here
Whose coming purports comfort for your folk.
And when your chief arrives, whoe'er he be,
Then shall ye have my story and know all.
Meanwhile I pray you do me no despite.
CHORUS
The plea thou urgest, needs must give us pause,
Set forth in weighty argument, but we
Must leave the issue with the ruling powers.
OEDIPUS
Where is he, strangers, he who sways the realm?
CHORUS
In his ancestral seat; a messenger,
The same who sent us here, is gone for him.
OEDIPUS
And think you he will have such care or thought
For the blind stranger as to come himself?
CHORUS
Aye, that he will, when once he learns thy name.
OEDIPUS
But who will bear him word!
CHORUS
The way is long,
And many travelers pass to speed the news.
Be sure he'll hear and hasten, never fear;
So wide and far thy name is noised abroad,
That, were he ne'er so spent and loth to move,
He would bestir him when he hears of thee.
OEDIPUS
Well, may he come with blessing to his State
And me! Who serves his neighbor serves himself. [2]
ANTIGONE
Zeus! What is this? What can I say or think?
OEDIPUS
What now, Antigone?
ANTIGONE
I see a woman
Riding upon a colt of Aetna's breed;
She wears for headgear a Thessalian hat
To shade her from the sun. Who can it be?
She or a stranger? Do I wake or dream?
'This she; 'tis not--I cannot tell, alack;
It is no other! Now her bright'ning glance
Greets me with recognition, yes, 'tis she,
Herself, Ismene!
OEDIPUS
Ha! what say ye, child?
ANTIGONE
That I behold thy daughter and my sister,
And thou wilt know her straightway by her voice.
[Enter ISMENE]
ISMENE
Father and sister, names to me most sweet,
How hardly have I found you, hardly now
When found at last can see you through my tears!
OEDIPUS
Art come, my child?
ISMENE
O father, sad thy plight!
OEDIPUS
Child, thou art here?
ISMENE
Yes, 'twas a weary way.
OEDIPUS
Touch me, my child.
ISMENE
I give a hand to both.
OEDIPUS
O children--sisters!
ISMENE
O disastrous plight!
OEDIPUS
Her plight and mine?
ISMENE
Aye, and my own no less.
OEDIPUS
What brought thee, daughter?
ISMENE
Father, care for thee.
OEDIPUS
A daughter's yearning?
ISMENE
Yes, and I had news
I would myself deliver, so I came
With the one thrall who yet is true to me.
OEDIPUS
Thy valiant brothers, where are they at need?
ISMENE
They are--enough, 'tis now their darkest hour.
OEDIPUS
Out on the twain! The thoughts and actions all
Are framed and modeled on Egyptian ways.
For there the men sit at the loom indoors
While the wives slave abroad for daily bread.
So you, my children--those whom I behooved
To bear the burden, stay at home like girls,
While in their stead my daughters moil and drudge,
Lightening their father's misery. The one
Since first she grew from girlish feebleness
To womanhood has been the old man's guide
And shared my weary wandering, roaming oft
Hungry and footsore through wild forest ways,
In drenching rains and under scorching suns,
Careless herself of home and ease, if so
Her sire might have her tender ministry.
And thou, my child, whilom thou wentest forth,
Eluding the Cadmeians' vigilance,
To bring thy father all the oracles
Concerning Oedipus, and didst make thyself
My faithful lieger, when they banished me.
And now what mission summons thee from home,
What news, Ismene, hast thou for thy father?
This much I know, thou com'st not empty-handed,
Without a warning of some new alarm.
ISMENE
The toil and trouble, father, that I bore
To find thy lodging-place and how thou faredst,
I spare thee; surely 'twere a double pain
To suffer, first in act and then in telling;
'Tis the misfortune of thine ill-starred sons
I come to tell thee. At the first they willed
To leave the throne to Creon, minded well
Thus to remove the inveterate curse of old,
A canker that infected all thy race.
But now some god and an infatuate soul
Have stirred betwixt them a mad rivalry
To grasp at sovereignty and kingly power.
Today the hot-branded youth, the younger born,
Is keeping Polyneices from the throne,
His elder, and has thrust him from the land.
The banished brother (so all Thebes reports)
Fled to the vale of Argos, and by help
Of new alliance there and friends in arms,
Swears he will stablish Argos straight as lord
Of the Cadmeian land, or, if he fail,
Exalt the victor to the stars of heaven.
This is no empty tale, but deadly truth,
My father; and how long thy agony,
Ere the gods pity thee, I cannot tell.
OEDIPUS
Hast thou indeed then entertained a hope
The gods at last will turn and rescue me?
ISMENE
Yea, so I read these latest oracles.
OEDIPUS
What oracles? What hath been uttered, child?
ISMENE
Thy country (so it runs) shall yearn in time
To have thee for their weal alive or dead.
OEDIPUS
And who could gain by such a one as I?
ISMENE
On thee, 'tis said, their sovereignty depends.
OEDIPUS
So, when I cease to be, my worth begins.
ISMENE
The gods, who once abased, uplift thee now.
OEDIPUS
Poor help to raise an old man fallen in youth.
ISMENE
Howe'er that be, 'tis for this cause alone
That Creon comes to thee--and comes anon.
OEDIPUS
With what intent, my daughter? Tell me plainly.
ISMENE
To plant thee near the Theban land, and so
Keep thee within their grasp, yet now allow
Thy foot to pass beyond their boundaries.
OEDIPUS
What gain they, if I lay outside?
OEDIPUS
Thy tomb,
If disappointed, brings on them a curse.
OEDIPUS
It needs no god to tell what's plain to sense.
ISMENE
Therefore they fain would have thee close at hand,
Not where thou wouldst be master of thyself.
OEDIPUS
Mean they to shroud my bones in Theban dust?
ISMENE
Nay, father, guilt of kinsman's blood forbids.
OEDIPUS
Then never shall they be my masters, never!
ISMENE
Thebes, thou shalt rue this bitterly some day!
OEDIPUS
When what conjunction comes to pass, my child?
ISMENE
Thy angry wraith, when at thy tomb they stand. [3]
OEDIPUS
And who hath told thee what thou tell'st me, child?
ISMENE
Envoys who visited the Delphic hearth.
OEDIPUS
Hath Phoebus spoken thus concerning me?
ISMENE
So say the envoys who returned to Thebes.
OEDIPUS
And can a son of mine have heard of this?
ISMENE
Yea, both alike, and know its import well.
OEDIPUS
They knew it, yet the ignoble greed of rule
Outweighed all longing for their sire's return.
ISMENE
Grievous thy words, yet I must own them true.
OEDIPUS
Then may the gods ne'er quench their fatal feud,
And mine be the arbitrament of the fight,
For which they now are arming, spear to spear;
That neither he who holds the scepter now
May keep this throne, nor he who fled the realm
Return again. They never raised a hand,
When I their sire was thrust from hearth and home,
When I was banned and banished, what recked they?
Say you 'twas done at my desire, a grace
Which the state, yielding to my wish, allowed?
Not so; for, mark you, on that very day
When in the tempest of my soul I craved
Death, even death by stoning, none appeared
To further that wild longing, but anon,
When time had numbed my anguish and I felt
My wrath had all outrun those errors past,
Then, then it was the city went about
By force to oust me, respited for years;
And then my sons, who should as sons have helped,
Did nothing: and, one little word from them
Was all I needed, and they spoke no word,
But let me wander on for evermore,
A banished man, a beggar. These two maids
Their sisters, girls, gave all their sex could give,
Food and safe harborage and filial care;
While their two brethren sacrificed their sire
For lust of power and sceptred sovereignty.
No! me they ne'er shall win for an ally,
Nor will this Theban kingship bring them gain;
That know I from this maiden's oracles,
And those old prophecies concerning me,
Which Phoebus now at length has brought to pass.
Come Creon then, come all the mightiest
In Thebes to seek me; for if ye my friends,
Championed by those dread Powers indigenous,
Espouse my cause; then for the State ye gain
A great deliverer, for my foemen bane.
CHORUS
Our pity, Oedipus, thou needs must move,
Thou and these maidens; and the stronger plea
Thou urgest, as the savior of our land,
Disposes me to counsel for thy weal.
OEDIPUS
Aid me, kind sirs; I will do all you bid.
CHORUS
First make atonement to the deities,
Whose grove by trespass thou didst first profane.
OEDIPUS
After what manner, stranger? Teach me, pray.
CHORUS
Make a libation first of water fetched
With undefiled hands from living spring.
OEDIPUS
And after I have gotten this pure draught?
CHORUS
Bowls thou wilt find, the carver's handiwork;
Crown thou the rims and both the handles crown--
OEDIPUS
With olive shoots or blocks of wool, or how?
CHORUS
With wool from fleece of yearling freshly shorn.
OEDIPUS
What next? how must I end the ritual?
CHORUS
Pour thy libation, turning to the dawn.
OEDIPUS
Pouring it from the urns whereof ye spake?
CHORUS
Yea, in three streams; and be the last bowl drained
To the last drop.
OEDIPUS
And wherewith shall I fill it,
Ere in its place I set it? This too tell.
CHORUS
With water and with honey; add no wine.
OEDIPUS
And when the embowered earth hath drunk thereof?
CHORUS
Then lay upon it thrice nine olive sprays
With both thy hands, and offer up this prayer.
OEDIPUS
I fain would hear it; that imports the most.
CHORUS
That, as we call them Gracious, they would deign
To grant the suppliant their saving grace.
So pray thyself or whoso pray for thee,
In whispered accents, not with lifted voice;
Then go and look back. Do as I bid,
And I shall then be bold to stand thy friend;
Else, stranger, I should have my fears for thee.
OEDIPUS
Hear ye, my daughters, what these strangers say?
ANTIGONE
We listened, and attend thy bidding, father.
OEDIPUS
I cannot go, disabled as I am
Doubly, by lack of strength and lack of sight;
But one of you may do it in my stead;
For one, I trow, may pay the sacrifice
Of thousands, if his heart be leal and true.
So to your work with speed, but leave me not
Untended; for this frame is all too week
To move without the help of guiding hand.
ISMENE
Then I will go perform these rites, but where
To find the spot, this have I yet to learn.
CHORUS
Beyond this grove; if thou hast need of aught,
The guardian of the close will lend his aid.
ISMENE
I go, and thou, Antigone, meanwhile
Must guard our father. In a parent's cause
Toil, if there be toil, is of no account.
[Exit ISMENE]
CHORUS
(Str. 1)
Ill it is, stranger, to awake
Pain that long since has ceased to ache,
And yet I fain would hear--
OEDIPUS
What thing?
CHORUS
Thy tale of cruel suffering
For which no cure was found,
The fate that held thee bound.
OEDIPUS
O bid me not (as guest I claim
This grace) expose my shame.
CHORUS
The tale is bruited far and near,
And echoes still from ear to ear.
The truth, I fain would hear.
OEDIPUS
Ah me!
CHORUS
I prithee yield.
OEDIPUS
Ah me!
CHORUS
Grant my request, I granted all to thee.
OEDIPUS
(Ant. 1)
Know then I suffered ills most vile, but none
(So help me Heaven!) from acts in malice done.
CHORUS
Say how.
OEDIPUS
The State around
An all unwitting bridegroom bound
An impious marriage chain;
That was my bane.
CHORUS
Didst thou in sooth then share
A bed incestuous with her that bare--
OEDIPUS
It stabs me like a sword,
That two-edged word,
O stranger, but these maids--my own--
CHORUS
Say on.
OEDIPUS
Two daughters, curses twain.
CHORUS
Oh God!
OEDIPUS
Sprang from the wife and mother's travail-pain.
CHORUS
(Str. 2)
What, then thy offspring are at once--
OEDIPUS
Too true.
Their father's very sister's too.
CHORUS
Oh horror!
OEDIPUS
Horrors from the boundless deep
Back on my soul in refluent surges sweep.
CHORUS
Thou hast endured--
OEDIPUS
Intolerable woe.
CHORUS
And sinned--
OEDIPUS
I sinned not.
CHORUS
How so?
OEDIPUS
I served the State; would I had never won
That graceless grace by which I was undone.
CHORUS
(Ant. 2)
And next, unhappy man, thou hast shed blood?
OEDIPUS
Must ye hear more?
CHORUS
A father's?
OEDIPUS
Flood on flood
Whelms me; that word's a second mortal blow.
CHORUS
Murderer!
OEDIPUS
Yes, a murderer, but know--
CHORUS
What canst thou plead?
OEDIPUS
A plea of justice.
CHORUS
How?
OEDIPUS
I slew who else would me have slain;
I slew without intent,
A wretch, but innocent
In the law's eye, I stand, without a stain.
CHORUS
Behold our sovereign, Theseus, Aegeus' son,
Comes at thy summons to perform his part.
[Enter THESEUS]
THESEUS
Oft had I heard of thee in times gone by--
The bloody mutilation of thine eyes--
And therefore know thee, son of Laius.
All that I lately gathered on the way
Made my conjecture doubly sure; and now
Thy garb and that marred visage prove to me
That thou art he. So pitying thine estate,
Most ill-starred Oedipus, I fain would know
What is the suit ye urge on me and Athens,
Thou and the helpless maiden at thy side.
Declare it; dire indeed must be the tale
Whereat I should recoil. I too was reared,
Like thee, in exile, and in foreign lands
Wrestled with many perils, no man more.
Wherefore no alien in adversity
Shall seek in vain my succor, nor shalt thou;
I know myself a mortal, and my share
In what the morrow brings no more than thine.
FOOTNOTES
. The Greek text for the passages marked here and later in the
text have been lost.
2. To avoid the blessing, still a secret, he resorts to a commonplace;
literally, "For what generous man is not (in befriending others) a friend to
himself?"
3. Creon desires to bury Oedipus on the confines of Thebes so as to avoid the
pollution and yet offer due rites at his tomb. Ismene tells him of the latest
oracle and interprets to him its purport, that some day the Theban invaders of
Athens will be routed in a battle near the grave of Oedipus.
4. The Thebans sprung from the Dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus.