by Sophocles
terrifying words. Since he won’t listen to me,
Apollo—you’re the nearest god—
Enter MESSENGER from the countryside.
I come praying for your good will. Look, 1060
here is my branch. Cleanse us, cure our sickness.
When we see Oedipus distraught, we all shake,
as though sailing with a fearful helmsman.
MESSENGER
Can you point out to me, strangers,
the house where King Oedipus lives? Better
yet, tell me if you know where he is now.
LEADER
That’s the house where he lives, stranger. He’s inside.
This woman is his wife and mother . . . of his children.
MESSENGER
I wish her joy, and the family joy
that comes when a marriage bears fruit. 1070
JOKASTA
And joy to you, stranger, for those kind words.
What have you to tell us? Or to ask?
MESSENGER
Great news, Lady, for you and your mate.
JOKASTA
What news? Who sent you to us?
MESSENGER
I come from Korinth.
You’ll rejoice at my news, I’m sure—
but it may also make you grieve.
JOKASTA
What? How can it possibly do both?
MESSENGER
They’re going to make him king. So say
the people who live on the isthmus. 1080
JOKASTA
Isn’t old Polybos still in power?
MESSENGER
No longer. Death has laid him in the tomb.
JOKASTA
You’re saying, old man, Polybos has died?
MESSENGER
Kill me if that’s not the truth.
JOKASTA speaks to a maid, who then runs inside.
JOKASTA
Girl, run to your master with the news.
You oracles of the gods! Where are you now?
The man Oedipus feared he would kill,
the man he ran from, that man’s dead.
Chance killed him. Not Oedipus. Chance!
OEDIPUS enters quickly from the palace.
OEDIPUS
Darling Jokasta, my loving wife, 1090
why did you ask me to come out?
JOKASTA
Listen to what this man has to say.
See what it does to god’s proud oracle.
OEDIPUS
Where’s he from? What’s his news?
JOKASTA
From Korinth. Your father isn’t . . .
Polybos . . . is no more . . . he’s dead.
OEDIPUS
Say it, old man. I want to hear it from your mouth.
MESSENGER
If plain fact is what you want first,
have no doubt he is dead and gone.
OEDIPUS
Was it treason, or did disease bring him down? 1100
MESSENGER
A slight push tips an old man into stillness.
OEDIPUS
Then some sickness killed him?
MESSENGER
That, and the long years he had lived.
OEDIPUS
Oh, yes, wife! Why should we scour Pythian smoke
or fear birds shrieking overhead?
If signs like these had been telling the truth,
I would have killed my father. But he’s dead.
He’s safely in the ground. And here I am,
who didn’t lift a spear. Or did he
die of longing for me? That might 1110
have been what my killing him meant.
Polybos’ death has dragged all those
worthless oracles with him to Hades.
JOKASTA
Didn’t I tell you that before?
OEDIPUS
You did. But I was still driven by fear.
JOKASTA
Don’t let these things worry you anymore.
OEDIPUS
Not worry that I’ll share my mother’s bed?
JOKASTA
Why should a human being live in fear?
Chance rules our lives!
Who has any sure knowledge of the future? 1120
It’s best to take life as it comes.
This marriage with your mother—don’t fear it.
In their dreams, before now, many men
have slept with their mothers.
Those who believe such things mean nothing
will have an easier time in life.
OEDIPUS
A brave speech! I would like to believe it.
But how can I if my mother’s still living?
While she lives, I will live in fear,
no matter how persuasive you are. 1130
JOKASTA
Your father’s tomb shines a great light.
OEDIPUS
On him, yes! But I fear her. She’s alive.
MESSENGER
What woman do you fear?
OEDIPUS
I dread that oracle from the god, stranger.
MESSENGER
Would it be wrong for someone else to know it?
OEDIPUS
No, you may hear it. Apollo told me
I would become my mother’s lover, that I
would have my father’s blood on these hands.
Because of that, I haven’t gone near Korinth.
So far, I’ve been very lucky—and yet, 1140
there’s no greater pleasure than to
look our own parents in the eyes!
MESSENGER
Did this oracle drive you into exile?
OEDIPUS
I didn’t want to kill my father, old man.
MESSENGER
Then why haven’t I put your fears to rest,
King? I came here hoping to be useful.
OEDIPUS
I would give anything to be free of fear.
MESSENGER
I confess I came partly for that reason—
to be rewarded when you’ve come back home.
OEDIPUS
I will never live where my parents live. 1150
MESSENGER
My son, you can’t possibly know what you’re doing.
OEDIPUS
Why is that, old man? In god’s name, tell me.
MESSENGER
Is it because of them you won’t go home?
OEDIPUS
I am afraid Apollo spoke the truth.
MESSENGER
Afraid you’d do your parents unforgivable harm?
OEDIPUS
Exactly that, old man. I am in constant fear.
MESSENGER
Your fear is groundless. Do you understand?
OEDIPUS
How can it be groundless if I’m their son?
MESSENGER
But Polybos was no relation to you.
OEDIPUS
What? Polybos was not my father? 1160
MESSENGER
No more than I am. Exactly the same.
OEDIPUS
How the same? He fathered me and you didn’t.
MESSENGER
He didn’t father you any more than I did.
OEDIPUS
Why did he say, then, that I was his son?
MESSENGER
He took you from my hands as a gift.
OEDIPUS
He loved me so much—knowing I came from you?
MESSENGER
He had no children of his own to love.
OEDIPUS
And you? Did you buy me? Or find me somewhere?
MESSENGER
I found you in the wooded hollows of Kithairon.
OEDIPUS
Why were you wandering way out there? 1170
MESSENGER
I had charge of the sheep grazing those slopes.
OEDIPUS
A migrant hired to work our flocks?
MESSENGER
I saved your l
ife that day, my son.
OEDIPUS
When you picked me up, what was wrong with me?
MESSENGER
Your ankles know. Let them tell you.
OEDIPUS
Ahh! Why do you bring up that ancient wound?
MESSENGER
Your ankles had been pinned. I set you free.
OEDIPUS
From birth I’ve carried the shame of those scars.
MESSENGER
That was the luck that named you, Oedipus.
OEDIPUS
Did my mother or my father do this to me? 1180
Speak the truth for god’s sake.
MESSENGER
I don’t know. The man who gave you to me
will know.
OEDIPUS
You took me from someone?
You didn’t chance on me yourself?
MESSENGER
I took you from another shepherd.
OEDIPUS
Who was he? Tell me plainly as you can.
MESSENGER
He was known as someone who worked for Laios.
OEDIPUS
The same Laios who was once king here?
MESSENGER
The same. This man worked as his shepherd.
OEDIPUS
Is he alive? Can I see him? 1190
MESSENGER
Someone from here could answer that better.
OEDIPUS
Does anyone here know what has become
of this shepherd? Has anyone seen him
in town or in the fields? Speak up now.
The time has come to make everything known.
LEADER
I believe he means that same herdsman
you’ve already sent for. Your wife
would be the best one to ask.
OEDIPUS
Lady, do you
recall the man we sent for?
Is that the man he means? 1200
JOKASTA
Why ask about him? Don’t listen to him.
Ignore his words. Forget he said them.
OEDIPUS
With clues like these in my hands, how can I
fail to solve the mystery of my birth?
JOKASTA
For god’s sake, if you care about your life,
give up your search. Let my pain be enough!
OEDIPUS
You’ll be fine! What if my mother was born
from slaves—from three generations of slaves—
how could that make you lowborn?
JOKASTA
Listen to me: I beg you. Don’t do this. 1210
OEDIPUS
I cannot listen. I must have the truth.
JOKASTA
I’m thinking only of what’s best for you.
OEDIPUS
What’s best for me exasperates me now.
JOKASTA
You poor child! Never find out who you are.
OEDIPUS
Someone, bring me the herdsman. Let
that woman glory in her precious birth.
JOKASTA
Oh you poor doomed child! That is the only name
I can call you now. None other, forever!
JOKASTA runs into the palace.
LEADER
Why has she left like that, Oedipus,
driven off by a savage grief? I’m afraid 1220
something horrendous will break this silence.
OEDIPUS
Let it burst! My seed may well be common!
Even so, I still must know who I am.
The meanness of my birth may shame
her womanly pride. But since, in my
own eyes, I am the child of Luck—
she is the source of my well-being—
never will I be dishonored.
Luck is the mother who raised me. The months
are my brothers, who’ve seen me through 1230
the low times in my life and the high ones.
Those are the powers that made me.
I could never betray them now—
by calling off the search
for the secret of my birth!
CHORUS
By the gods of Olympos, if I have
a prophet’s range of eye and mind—
tomorrow’s moonlight
will shine on you, Kithairon.
Oedipus will honor you— 1240
his native mountain,
his nurse, his mother. Nothing
will keep us from dancing
then, mountain joyful to our king!
We call out to Phoibos Apollo:
be the cause of our joy!
CHORUS turns toward OEDIPUS.
My son, who was your mother?
Which nymph bore you to Pan,
the mountain rover?
Was it Apollo’s bride 1250
to whom you were born
in the grassy highlands?
Or did Hermes, Lord of Kyllene,
or Bakkhos of the mountain peaks,
take you—a sudden joy—
from nymphs of Helikon,
whose games he often shares?
OEDIPUS
Old men, if it’s possible
to recognize a man I’ve never met,
I think I see the herdsman we’ve been waiting for. 1260
Our fellow would be old, like the stranger approaching.
Those leading him are my own men.
But I expect you’ll know him better.
Some of you will know him by sight.
Enter HERDSMAN, led by OEDIPUS’ Attendants.
LEADER
I do know him. He is from Laios’ house,
a trustworthy shepherd if he ever had one.
OEDIPUS
Korinthian, I’ll ask you to speak first:
is this the man you mean?
MESSENGER
You’re looking at him.
OEDIPUS
Now you, old man. Look at me. 1270
Answer every question I ask you.
Did you once come from Laios’ house?
HERDSMAN
I did. I wasn’t a bought slave.
I was born and raised in their house.
OEDIPUS
What was your job? How did you spend your time?
HERDSMAN
My life I have spent tending sheep.
OEDIPUS
In what region did you normally work?
HERDSMAN
Mainly Kithairon, and the country thereabouts.
OEDIPUS gestures toward the MESSENGER.
OEDIPUS
That man. Do you recall ever seeing him?
HERDSMAN
Recall how? Doing what? Which man? 1280
OEDIPUS goes to the MESSENGER and puts his hand on him.
OEDIPUS
This man right here. Have you ever seen him before?
HERDSMAN
Not that I recognize—not right away.
MESSENGER
It’s no wonder, master. His memory’s faded,
but I’ll revive it for him. I’m sure he knows me.
We worked the pastures on Kithairon together—
he with his two flocks, me with one—
for three whole grazing seasons, from early spring
until Arcturos rose. When the weather turned cold
I’d drive my flocks home to their winter pens.
He’d drive his away to Laios’ sheepfolds. 1290
Do I describe what happened, old friend? Or don’t I?
HERDSMAN
That’s the truth, but it was so long ago.
MESSENGER
Do you remember giving me a boy
I was to raise as my own son?
HERDSMAN
What? Why ask me that?
MESSENGER
There, my friend, is the man who was that boy.
The MESSENGER nods toward OEDIPUS.
HERDSMAN
Damn you! Shut up and say nothing.
; OEDIPUS
Don’t attack him for speaking, old man.
Your words beg to be punished more than his.
HERDSMAN
Tell me, royal master, what’ve I done wrong? 1300
OEDIPUS
You didn’t answer him about the boy.
HERDSMAN
He’s trying to make something out of nothing.
OEDIPUS
Speak of your own free will. Or under torture.
HERDSMAN
Dear god! I’m an old man. Don’t hurt me.
OEDIPUS
One of you, bind his arms behind his back.
Attendants approach the HERDSMAN and start to seize his arms.
HERDSMAN
Why this, you doomed man? What else must you know?
OEDIPUS
Did you give him the child, as he claims you did?
HERDSMAN
I did. I wish that day I had died.
OEDIPUS
You will die if you don’t speak the truth.
HERDSMAN
Answering you is what will get me killed. 1310
OEDIPUS
I think this man is deliberately stalling.
HERDSMAN
No! I’ve said it once. I gave him the boy.
OEDIPUS
Was the boy from your house? Or someone else’s?
HERDSMAN
Not from my house. Someone gave him to me.
OEDIPUS
The person! Name him! From what house?
HERDSMAN
Don’t ask me that, master. For god’s sake, don’t.
OEDIPUS
If I have to ask one more time, you’ll die.
HERDSMAN
He was a child from the house of Laios.
OEDIPUS
A slave? Or a child born of Laios’ blood?
HERDSMAN
Help me! I am about to speak terrible words. 1320
OEDIPUS
And I to hear them. But hear them I must!
HERDSMAN
The child was said to be Laios’ own son.
Your lady in the house would know that best.
OEDIPUS
She gave the child to you?
