by Sophocles
He said—and never came back home again.
OEDIPUS. But was there no report? no fellow traveller
Whose knowledge might have helped you in your search?
CREON. All died, except one terror-stricken man,
And he could tell us nothing—next to nothing.
OEDIPUS. And what was that? One thing might lead to much,
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If only we could find one ray of light.
CREON. He said they met with brigands—not with one,
But a whole company; they killed Laius.
OEDIPUS. A brigand would not dare—unless perhaps
Conspirators in Thebes had bribed the man.
CREON. There was conjecture; but disaster came
And we were leaderless, without our king.
OEDIPUS. Disaster? With a king cut down like that
You did not seek the cause? Where was the hindrance?
CREON. The Sphinx. Her riddle* pressed us harder still;
For Laius—out of sight was out of mind.
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OEDIPUS. I will begin again; I’ll find the truth.
The dead man’s cause has found a true defender
In Phoebus, and in you. And I will join you
In seeking vengeance on behalf of Thebes
And Phoebus too; indeed, I must: if I
Remove this taint, it is not for a stranger,
But for myself: the man who murdered him
Might make the same attempt on me; and so,
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Avenging him, I shall protect myself.—
Now you, my sons, without delay, arise,
Take up your suppliant branches.—Someone, go
And call the people here, for I will do
What can be done; and either, by the grace
Of God we shall be saved—or we shall fall.
PRIEST. My children, we will go; the King has promised
All that we came to ask.—O Phoebus, thou
Hast given us an answer: give us too
Protection! grant remission of the plague!
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[Exeunt CREON, PRIESTS, etc. OEDIPUS remains
Enter the CHORUS representing the citizens of Thebes
Strophe 1
CHORUS [sings]. Sweet is the voice of the god,* that sounds in the
Golden shrine of Delphi.
What message has it sent to Thebes? My trembling
Heart is torn with anguish.
Thou god of Healing, Phoebus Apollo,
How do I fear! What hast thou in mind
To bring upon us now? what is to be fulfilled
From days of old?
Tell me this, O Voice divine,
Thou child of golden Hope.
Antistrophe 1
First on the Daughter of Zeus I call for
Help, divine Athena;
And Artemis, whose throne is all the earth, whose
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Shrine is in our city;
Apollo too, who shoots from afar:*
Trinity of Powers, come to our defence!
If ever in the past, when ruin threatened us,
You stayed its course
And turned aside the flood of Death,
O then, protect us now!
Strophe 2
Past counting are the woes we suffer;
Affliction bears on all the city, and
Nowhere is any defence against destruction.
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The holy soil can bring no increase,
Our women suffer and cry in childbirth
But do not bring forth living children.
The souls of those who perish, one by one,
Unceasingly, swift as raging fire,
Rise and take their flight to the dark realms of the dead.*
Antistrophe 2
Past counting, those of us who perish:
They lie upon the ground, unpitied,
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Unburied, infecting the air with deadly pollution.
Young wives, and grey-haired mothers with them,
From every quarter approach the altars
And cry aloud in supplication.
The prayer for healing, the loud wail of lament,
Together are heard in dissonance:
O thou golden Daughter of Zeus,* grant thy aid!
Strophe 3
The fierce god of War* has laid aside
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His spear; but yet his terrible cry
Rings in our ears; he spreads death and destruction.
Ye gods, drive him back to his distant home!*
For what the light of day has spared,
That the darkness of night destroys.
Zeus our father! All power is thine:
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The lightning-flash is thine: hurl upon him
Thy thunderbolt, and quell this god of War!
Antistrophe 3
We pray, Lord Apollo: draw thy bow
In our defence. Thy quiver is full of
Arrows unerring: shoot! slay the destroyer!
And thou, radiant Artemis, lend thy aid!
Thou whose hair is bound in gold,
Bacchus, lord of the sacred dance,*
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Theban Bacchus! Come, show thyself!
Display thy blazing torch; drive from our midst
The savage god,* abhorred by other gods!
OEDIPUS. Would you have answer to these prayers?
Then hear
My words; give heed; your help may bring
Deliverance, and the end of all our troubles.
Here do I stand before you all, a stranger
Both to the deed and to the story.—What
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Could I have done alone, without a clue?
But I was yet a foreigner; it was later
That I became a Theban among Thebans.
So now do I proclaim to all the city:
If any Theban knows by what man’s hand
He perished, Laius, son of Labdacus,
Him I command to tell me all he can;
And if he is afraid, let him annul
Himself the charge he fears; no punishment
Shall fall on him, save only to depart
Unharmed from Thebes. Further, if any knows
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The slayer to be a stranger from abroad,
Let him speak out; I will reward him, and
Besides, he will have all my gratitude.
But if you still keep silent, if any man
Fearing for self or friend shall disobey me,
This will I do—and listen to my words:
Whoever he may be, I do forbid
All in this realm, of which I am the King
And high authority, to shelter in their houses
Or speak to him, or let him be their partner
In prayers or sacrifices to the gods, or give
Him lustral water;* I command you all
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To drive him from your doors; for he it is
That brings this plague upon us, as the god
Of Delphi has but now declared to me.—
So stern an ally do I make myself
Both of the god and of our murdered king.—
And for the man that slew him, whether he
Slew him alone, or with a band of helpers,
I lay this curse upon him, that the wretch
In wretchedness and misery may live.
And more: if with my knowledge he be found
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To share my hearth and home, then upon me
Descend that doom that I invoke on him.
This charge I lay upon you, to observe
All my commands: to aid myself, the god,
And this our land, so spurned of Heaven, so ravaged.
For such a taint we should not leave unpurged—
The death of such a man, and he your king—
Even if Heaven had not commanded us,
But we should search
it out. Now, since ‘tis I
That wear the crown that he had worn before me,
And have his Queen to wife, and common children
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Were born to us, but that his own did perish,
And sudden death has carried him away—
Because of this, I will defend his cause
As if it were my father’s; nothing I
Will leave undone to find the man who killed
The son of Labdacus, and offspring of
Polydorus, Cadmus, and of old Agenor.*
On those that disobey, this is my curse:
May never field of theirs give increase, nor
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Their wives have children; may our present plagues,
And worse, be ever theirs, for their destruction.
But for the others, all with whom my words
Find favour, this I pray: Justice* and all
The gods be ever at your side to help you.
CHORUS. Your curse constrains me; therefore will I speak.
I did not kill him, neither can I tell
Who did. It is for Phoebus, since he laid
The task upon us, to declare the man.
OEDIPUS. True; but to force the gods against their will—
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That is a thing beyond all human power.
CHORUS. All I could say is but a second best.
OEDIPUS. Though it were third best, do not hold it back.
CHORUS. I know of none that reads Apollo’s mind
So surely as the lord Teiresias;
Consulting him you best might learn the truth.
OEDIPUS. Not even this have I neglected: Creon
Advised me, and already I have sent
Two messengers.—Strange he has not come.
CHORUS. There’s nothing else but old and idle gossip.
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OEDIPUS. And what was that? I clutch at any straw.
CHORUS. They said that he was killed by travellers.
OEDIPUS. So I have heard; but no one knows a witness.
CHORUS. But if he is not proof against all fear
He’ll not keep silent when he hears your curse.
OEDIPUS. And will they fear a curse, who dared to kill?
CHORUS. Here is the one to find him, for at last
They bring the prophet here. He is inspired,
The only man whose heart is filled with truth.
Enter TEIRESIAS, led by a boy
OEDIPUS. Teiresias, by your art you read the signs
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And secrets of the earth and of the sky;
Therefore you know, although you cannot see,
The plague that is besetting us; from this
No other man but you, my lord, can save us.
Phoebus has said—you may have heard already—
In answer to our question, that this plague
Will never cease unless we can discover
What men they were who murdered Laius,
And punish them with death or banishment.
Therefore give freely all that you have learned
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From birds or other form of divination;*
Save us; save me, the city, and yourself,
From the pollution that his bloodshed causes.
No finer task, than to give all one has
In helping others; we are in your hands.
TEIRESIAS. Ah! what a burden knowledge is, when knowledge
Can be of no avail! I knew this well,
And yet forgot, or I should not have come.
OEDIPUS. Why, what is this? Why are you so despondent?
TEIRESIAS. Let me go home! It will be best for you,
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And best for me, if you will let me go.
OEDIPUS. But to withhold your knowledge! This is wrong,
Disloyal to the city of your birth.
TEIRESIAS. I know that what you say will lead you on
To ruin; therefore, lest the same befall me too . . .
OEDIPUS. No, by the gods! Say all you know, for we
Go down upon our knees, your suppliants.
TEIRESIAS. Because you do not know! I never shall
Reveal my burden—I will not say yours.
