Oedipus King of Thebes
To lands far off, where never I might see
My doom of scorn fulfilled. On bitterly
I strode, and reached the region where, so saith
Thy tale, that King of Thebes was struck to death....
Wife, I will tell thee true. As one in daze
I walked, till, at the crossing of three ways,
A herald, like thy tale, and o'er his head
A man behind strong horses charioted
Met me. And both would turn me from the path,
He and a thrall in front. And I in wrath
Smote him that pushed me--'twas a groom who led
The horses. Not a word the master said,
[Sidenote: vv. 808-828]
But watched, and as I passed him on the road
Down on my head his iron-branched goad
Stabbed. But, by heaven, he rued it! In a flash
I swung my staff and saw the old man crash
Back from his car in blood.... Then all of them
I slew.
Oh, if that man's unspoken name
Had aught of Laius in him, in God's eye
What man doth move more miserable than I,
More dogged by the hate of heaven! No man, kin
Nor stranger, any more may take me in;
No man may greet me with a word, but all
Cast me from out their houses. And withal
'Twas mine own self that laid upon my life
These curses.--And I hold the dead man's wife
In these polluting arms that spilt his soul....
Am I a thing born evil? Am I foul
In every vein? Thebes now doth banish me,
And never in this exile must I see
Mine ancient folk of Corinth, never tread
The land that bore me; else my mother's bed
Shall be defiled, and Polybus, my good
Father, who loved me well, be rolled in blood.
If one should dream that such a world began
In some slow devil's heart, that hated man,
Who should deny him?--God, as thou art clean,
Suffer not this, oh, suffer not this sin
To be, that e'er I look on such a day!
Out of all vision of mankind away
To darkness let me fall ere such a fate
Touch me, so unclean and so desolate!
[Sidenote: vv. 829-850]
LEADER.
I tremble too, O King; but till thou hear
From him who saw, oh, let hope conquer fear.
OEDIPUS.
One shred of hope I still have, and therefore
Will wait the herdsman's coming. 'Tis no more.
JOCASTA.
He shall come. But what further dost thou seek?
OEDIPUS.
This. If we mark him close and find him speak
As thou hast, then I am lifted from my dread.
JOCASTA.
What mean'st thou? Was there something that I said...?
OEDIPUS.
Thou said'st he spoke of robbers, a great band,
That slaughtered Laius' men. If still he stand
To the same tale, the guilt comes not my way.
One cannot be a band. But if he say
One lonely loin-girt man, then visibly
This is God's finger pointing toward me.
JOCASTA.
Be sure of this. He told the story so
When first he came. All they that heard him know,
[Sidenote: vv. 850-870]
Not only I. He cannot change again
Now. And if change he should, O Lord of men,
No change of his can make the prophecy
Of Laius' death fall true. He was to die
Slain by my son. So Loxias spake.... My son!
He slew no man, that poor deserted one
That died.... And I will no more turn mine eyes
This way nor that for all their prophecies.
OEDIPUS.
Woman, thou counsellest well. Yet let it not
Escape thee. Send and have the herdsman brought.
JOCASTA.
That will I.--Come. Thou knowest I ne'er would do
Nor think of aught, save thou wouldst have it so.
[JOCASTA _and_ OEDIPUS _go together into the Palace._
CHORUS.
[_They pray to be free from such great sins as
they have just heard spoken of._
[_Strophe._
Toward God's great mysteries, oh, let me move
Unstained till I die
In speech or doing; for the Laws thereof
Are holy, walkers upon ways above,
Born in the far blue sky;
Their father is Olympus uncreate;
No man hath made nor told
Their being; neither shall Oblivion set
[Sidenote: vv. 870-893]
Sleep on their eyes, for in them lives a great
Spirit and grows not old. [_Antistrophe._
[_They wonder if these sins be all due to pride
and if_ CREON _has guilty ambitions;_
'Tis Pride that breeds the tyrant; drunken deep
With perilous things is she,
Which bring not peace: up, reeling, steep on steep
She climbs, till lo, the rock-edge, and the leap
To that which needs must be,
The land where the strong foot is no more strong!
Yet is there surely Pride
That saves a city; God preserve it long!
I judge not. Only through all maze of wrong
Be God, not man, my guide. [_Strophe._
[_Or if_ TIRESIAS _can really be a lying prophet with
no fear of God; they feel that all faith in
oracles and the things of God is shaken._
Is there a priest who moves amid the altars
Ruthless in deed and word,
Fears not the presence of his god, nor falters
Lest Right at last be heard?
If such there be, oh, let some doom be given
Meet for his ill-starred pride,
Who will not gain his gain where Justice is,
Who will not hold his lips from blasphemies,
Who hurls rash hands amid the things of heaven
From man's touch sanctified.
In a world where such things be,
What spirit hath shield or lance
[Sidenote: vv. 893-916]
To ward him secretly
From the arrow that slays askance?
If honour to such things be,
Why should I dance my dance?
[_Antistrophe._
I go no more with prayers and adorations
To Earth's deep Heart of Stone,
Nor yet the Abantes' floor, nor where the nations
Kneel at Olympia's throne,
Till all this dark be lightened, for the finger
Of man to touch and know.
O Thou that rulest--if men rightly call
Thy name on earth--O Zeus, thou Lord of all
And Strength undying, let not these things linger
Unknown, tossed to and fro.
For faint is the oracle,
And they thrust it aside, away;
And no more visible
Apollo to save or slay;
And the things of God, they fail
As mist on the wind away.
[JOCASTA _comes out from the Palace followed
by handmaids bearing incense and flowers._
JOCASTA.
Lords of the land, the ways my thought hath trod
Lead me in worship to these shrines of God
With flowers and incense flame. So dire a storm
Doth shake the King, sin, dread and every form
Of grief the world knows. 'Tis the wise man's way
To judge the morrow by the yester day;
[Sidenote: vv. 917-933]
Which he doth never, but gives eye and ear
To all who speak, will they but speak of fear.
And seeing no word of mine hath power to heal
His torment, therefore forth to thee I steal,
O Slayer of the Wolf, O Lord of Light,
Apollo: thou art near us, and of right
Dost hold us thine: to thee in prayer I fall.
[_She kneels at the altar of Apollo Lukeios._
Oh, show us still some path that is not all
Unclean; for now our captain's eyes are dim
With dread, and the whole ship must follow him.
[_While she prays a_ STRANGER _has entered and
begins to accost the Chorus._
STRANGER.
Good masters, is there one of you could bring
My steps to the house of Oedipus, your King?
Or, better, to himself if that may be?
LEADER.
This is the house and he within; and she
Thou seest, the mother of his royal seed.
[JOCASTA _rises, anxious, from her prayer._
STRANGER.
Being wife to such a man, happy indeed
And ringed with happy faces may she live!
JOCASTA.
To one so fair of speech may the Gods give
Like blessing, courteous stranger; 'tis thy due.
But say what leads thee hither. Can we do
Thy wish in aught, or hast thou news to bring?
[Sidenote: vv. 934-947]
STRANGER.
Good news, O Queen, for thee and for the King.
JOCASTA.
What is it? And from what prince comest thou?
STRANGER.
I come from Corinth.--And my tale, I trow,
Will give thee joy, yet haply also pain.
JOCASTA.
What news can have that twofold power? Be plain.
STRANGER.
'Tis spoke in Corinth that the gathering
Of folk will make thy lord our chosen King.
JOCASTA.
How? Is old Polybus in power no more?
STRANGER.
Death has a greater power. His reign is o'er.
JOCASTA.
What say'st thou? Dead?... Oedipus' father dead?
STRANGER.
If I speak false, let me die in his stead.
JOCASTA.
Ho, maiden! To our master! Hie thee fast
And tell this tale.
[_The maiden goes._
Where stand ye at the last
[Sidenote: vv. 948-961]
Ye oracles of God? For many a year
Oedipus fled before that man, in fear
To slay him. And behold we find him thus
Slain by a chance death, not by Oedipus.
[OEDIPUS _comes out from the Palace._
OEDIPUS.
O wife, O face I love to look upon,
Why call'st thou me from where I sat alone?
JOCASTA.
Give ear, and ponder from what this man tells
How end these proud priests and their oracles.
OEDIPUS.
Whence comes he? And what word hath he for us?
JOCASTA.
From Corinth; bearing news that Polybus
Thy father is no more. He has found his death.
OEDIPUS.
How?--Stranger, speak thyself. This that she saith ...
STRANGER.
Is sure. If that is the first news ye crave,
I tell thee, Polybus lieth in his grave.
OEDIPUS.
Not murdered?... How? Some passing of disease?
STRANGER.
A slight thing turns an old life to its peace.
[Sidenote: vv. 962-978]
OEDIPUS.
Poor father!... 'Tis by sickness he is dead?
STRANGER.
The growing years lay heavy on his head.
OEDIPUS.
O wife, why then should man fear any more
The voice of Pytho's dome, or cower before
These birds that shriek above us? They foretold
Me for my father's murderer; and behold,
He lies in Corinth dead, and here am I
And never touched the sword.... Or did he die
In grief for me who left him? In that way
I may have wrought his death.... But come what may,
He sleepeth in his grave and with him all
This deadly seercraft, of no worth at all.
JOCASTA.
Dear Lord, long since did I not show thee clear...?
OEDIPUS.
Indeed, yes. I was warped by mine own fear.
JOCASTA.
Now thou wilt cast it from thee, and forget.
OEDIPUS.
Forget my mother?... It is not over yet.
JOCASTA.
What should man do with fear, who hath but Chance
Above him, and no sight nor governance
[Sidenote: vv. 979-993]
Of things to be? To live as life may run,
No fear, no fret, were wisest 'neath the sun.
And thou, fear not thy mother. Prophets deem
A deed wrought that is wrought but in a dream.
And he to whom these things are nothing, best
Will bear his burden.
OEDIPUS.
All thou counsellest
Were good, save that my mother liveth still.
And, though thy words be wise, for good or ill
Her I still fear.
JOCASTA.
Think of thy father's tomb!
Like light across our darkness it hath come.
OEDIPUS.
Great light; but while she lives I fly from her.
STRANGER.
What woman, Prince, doth fill thee so with fear?
OEDIPUS.
Merope, friend, who dwelt with Polybus.
STRANGER.
What in Queen Merope should fright thee thus?
OEDIPUS.
A voice of God, stranger, of dire import.
STRANGER.
Meet for mine ears? Or of some secret sort?
[Sidenote: vv. 994-1009]
OEDIPUS.
Nay, thou must hear, and Corinth. Long ago
Apollo spake a doom, that I should know
My mother's flesh, and with mine own hand spill
My father's blood.--'Tis that, and not my will,
Hath kept me always far from Corinth. So;
Life hath dealt kindly with me, yet men know
On earth no comfort like a mother's face.
STRANGER.