Oedipus Trilogy

by Sophocles

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. [5]

  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. [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 I
SMENE)

  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.