Plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus; Antigone
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. 6
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.
OEDIPUS.
Theseus, thy words so apt, so generous
So comfortable, need no long reply
Both who I am and of what lineage sprung,
And from what land I came, thou hast declared.
So without prologue I may utter now
My brief petition, and the tale is told.
THESEUS.
Say on, and tell me what I fain would learn.
OEDIPUS.
I come to offer thee this woe-worn frame,
A gift not fair to look on; yet its worth
More precious far than any outward show.
THESEUS.
What profit dost thou proffer to have brought?
OEDIPUS.
Hereafter thou shalt learn, not yet, methinks.
THESEUS.
When may we hope to reap the benefit?
OEDIPUS.
When I am dead and thou hast buried me.
THESEUS.
Thou cravest life’s last service; all before—
Is it forgotten or of no account?
OEDIPUS.
Yea, the last boon is warrant for the rest.
THESEUS.
The grace thou cravest then is small indeed.
OEDIPUS.
Nay, weigh it well; the issue is not slight.
THESEUS.
Thou meanest that betwixt thy sons and me?
OEDIPUS.
Prince, they would fain convey me back to Thebes.
THESEUS.
If there be no compulsion, then methinks
To rest in banishment befits not thee.
OEDIPUS.
Nay, when _I_ wished it _they_ would not consent.
THESEUS.
For shame! such temper misbecomes the faller.
OEDIPUS.
Chide if thou wilt, but first attend my plea.
THESEUS.
Say on, I wait full knowledge ere I judge.
OEDIPUS.
O Theseus, I have suffered wrongs on wrongs.
THESEUS.
Wouldst tell the old misfortune of thy race?
OEDIPUS.
No, that has grown a byword throughout Greece.
THESEUS.
What then can be this more than mortal grief?
OEDIPUS.
My case stands thus; by my own flesh and blood
I was expelled my country, and can ne’er
Thither return again, a parricide.
THESEUS.