OEDIPUS.Where, where? what sayest thou?ANTIGONE.O father, father,Would that some god might grant thee eyes to seeThis best of men who brings us back again.OEDIPUS.My child! and are ye back indeed!ANTIGONE.Yes, savedBy Theseus and his gallant followers.OEDIPUS.Come to your father’s arms, O let me feelA child’s embrace I never hoped for more.ANTIGONE.Thou askest what is doubly sweet to give.OEDIPUS.Where are ye then?ANTIGONE.We come together both.OEDIPUS.My precious nurslings!ANTIGONE.Fathers aye were fond.OEDIPUS.Props of my age!ANTIGONE.So sorrow sorrow props.OEDIPUS.I have my darlings, and if death should come,Death were not wholly bitter with you near.Cling to me, press me close on either side,There rest ye from your dreary wayfaring.Now tell me of your ventures, but in brief;Brief speech suffices for young maids like you.ANTIGONE.Here is our savior; thou should’st hear the taleFrom his own lips; so shall my part be brief.OEDIPUS.I pray thee do not wonder if the sightOf children, given o’er for lost, has madeMy converse somewhat long and tedious.Full well I know the joy I have of themIs due to thee, to thee and no man else;Thou wast their sole deliverer, none else.The gods deal with thee after my desire,With thee and with this land! for fear of heavenI found above all peoples most with you,And righteousness and lips that cannot lie.I speak in gratitude of what I know,For all I have I owe to thee alone.Give me thy hand, O Prince, that I may touch it,And if thou wilt permit me, kiss thy cheek.What say I? Can I wish that thou should’st touchOne fallen like me to utter wretchedness,Corrupt and tainted with a thousand ills?Oh no, I would not let thee if thou would’st.They only who have known calamityCan share it. Let me greet thee where thou art,And still befriend me as thou hast till now.THESEUS.I marvel not if thou hast dallied longIn converse with thy children and preferredTheir speech to mine; I feel no jealousy,I would be famous more by deeds than words.Of this, old friend, thou hast had proof; my oathI have fulfilled and brought thee back the maidsAlive and nothing harmed for all those threats.And how the fight was won, ’twere waste of wordsTo boast—thy daughters here will tell thee all.But of a matter that has lately chancedOn my way hitherward, I fain would haveThy counsel—slight ’twould seem, yet worthy thought.A wise man heeds all matters great or small.OEDIPUS.What is it, son of Aegeus? Let me hear.Of what thou askest I myself know naught.THESEUS.’Tis said a man, no countryman of thine,But of thy kin, hath taken sanctuaryBeside the altar of Poseidon, whereI was at sacrifice when called away.OEDIPUS.What is his country? what the suitor’s prayer?THESEUS.I know but one thing; he implores, I am told,A word with thee—he will not trouble thee.OEDIPUS.What seeks he? If a suppliant, something grave.THESEUS.He only waits, they say, to speak with thee,And then unharmed to go upon his way.OEDIPUS.I marvel who is this petitioner.THESEUS.Think if there be not any of thy kinAt Argos who might claim this boon of thee.OEDIPUS.Dear friend, forbear, I pray.THESEUS.What ails thee now?OEDIPUS.Ask it not of me.THESEUS.Ask not what? explain.OEDIPUS.Thy words have told me who the suppliant is.THESEUS.Who can he be that I should frown on him?OEDIPUS.My son, O king, my hateful son, whose wordsOf all men’s most would jar upon my ears.THESEUS.Thou sure mightest listen. If his suit offend,No need to grant it. Why so loth to hear him?OEDIPUS.That voice, O king, grates on a father’s ears;I have come to loathe it. Force me not to yield.THESEUS.But he hath found asylum. O beware,And fail not in due reverence to the god.ANTIGONE.O heed me, father, though I am young in years.Let the prince have his will and pay withalWhat in his eyes is service to the god;For our sake also let our brother come.If what he urges tend not to thy goodHe cannot surely wrest perforce thy will.To hear him then, what harm? By open wordsA scheme of villainy is soon bewrayed.Thou art his father, therefore canst not payIn kind a son’s most impious outrages.O listen to him; other men like theeHave thankless children and are choleric,But yielding to persuasion’s gentle spellThey let their savage mood be exorcised.Look thou to the past, forget the present, thinkOn all the woe thy sire and mother brought thee;Thence wilt thou draw this lesson without fail,Of evil passion evil is the end.Thou hast, alas, to prick thy memory,Stern monitors, these ever-sightless orbs.O yield to us; just suitors should not needTo be importunate, nor he that takesA favor lack the grace to make return.OEDIPUS.Grievous to me, my child, the boon ye winBy pleading. Let it be then; have your wayOnly if come he must, I beg thee, friend,Let none have power to dispose of me.THESEUS.No need, Sir, to appeal a second time.It likes me not to boast, but be assuredThy life is safe while any god saves mine.[Exit THESEUS]CHORUS.(Str.)Who craves excess of days,Scorning the common spanOf life, I judge that manA giddy wight who walks in folly’s ways.For the long years heap up a grievous load,Scant pleasures, heavier pains,Till not one joy remainsFor him who lingers on life’s weary roadAnd come it slow or fast,One doom of fateDoth all await,For dance and marriage bell,The dirge and funeral knell.Death the deliverer freeth all at last.(Ant.)Not to be born at allIs best, far best that can befall,Next best, when born, with least delayTo trace the backward way.For when youth passes with its giddy train,Troubles on troubles follow, toils on toils,Pain, pain for ever pain;And none escapes life’s coils.Envy, sedition, strife,Carnage and war, make up the tale of life.Last comes the worst and most abhorred stageOf unregarded age,Joyless, companionless and slow,Of woes the crowning woe.(Epode)Such ills not I alone,He too our guest hath known,E’en as some headland on an iron-bound shore,Lashed by the wintry blasts and surge’s roar,So is he buffeted on every sideBy drear misfortune’s whelming tide,By every wind of heaven o’erborneSome from the sunset, some from orient morn,Some from the noonday glow.Some from Rhipean gloom of everlasting snow.ANTIGONE.Father, methinks I see the stranger coming,Alone he comes and weeping plenteous tears.OEDIPUS.Who may he be?ANTIGONE.The same that we surmised.From the outset—Polyneices. He is here.[Enter POLYNEICES]POLYNEICES.Ah me, my sisters, shall I first lamentMy own afflictions, or my aged sire’s,Whom here I find a castaway, with you,In a strange land, an ancient beggar cladIn antic tatters, marring all his frame,While o’er the sightless orbs his unkept locksFloat in the breeze; and, as it were to match,He bears a wallet against hunger’s pinch.All this too late I learn, wretch that I am,Alas! I own it, and am proved most vileIn my neglect of thee: I scorn myself.But as almighty Zeus in all he dothHath Mercy for co-partner of this throne,Let Mercy, father, also sit enthronedIn thy heart likewise. For transgressions pastMay be amended, cannot be made worse.Why silent? Father, speak, nor turn away,Hast thou no word, wilt thou dismiss me thenIn mute disdain, nor tell me why thou art wrath?O ye his daughters, sisters mine, do yeThis sullen, obstinate silence try to move.Let him not spurn, without a single wordOf answer, me the suppliant of the god.ANTIGONE.Tell him thyself, unhappy one, thine errand;For large discourse may send a thrill of joy,Or stir a chord of wrath or tenderness,And to the tongue-tied somehow give a tongue.POLYNEICES.Well dost thou counsel, and I will speak out.First will I call in aid the god himself,Poseidon, from whose altar I was raised,With warrant from the monarch of this land,To parley with you, and depart unscathed.These pledges, strangers, I would see observedBy you and by my sisters and my sire.Now, father, let me tell thee why I came.I have been banished from my native landBecause by right of primogenitureI claimed possession of thy sovereign throneWherefrom Etocles, my younger brother,Ousted me, not by weight of precedent,Nor by the last arbitrament of war,But by his popular acts; and the prime causeOf this I deem the curse that rests on thee.So likewise hold the soothsayers, for whenI came to Argos in the Dorian landAnd took the king Adrastus’ child to wife,Under my standard I enlisted allThe foremost captains of the Apian isle,To levy with their aid that sevenfold hostOf spearmen against Thebes, determiningTo oust my foes or die in a just cause.Why then, thou askest, am I here today?Father, I come a suppliant to theeBoth for myself and my allies who nowWith squadrons seven beneath their seven spearsBeleaguer all the plain that circles Thebes.Foremost the peerless warrior, peerless seer,Amphiaraiis with his lightning lance;Next an Aetolian, Tydeus, Oeneus’ son;Eteoclus of Argive birth the third;The fourth Hippomedon, sent to the warBy his sire Talaos; Capaneus, the fifth,Vaunts he will fire and raze the town; the sixthParthenopaeus, an Arcadian bornNamed of that maid, longtime a maid and lateEspoused, Atalanta’s true-born child;Last I thy son, or thine at least in name,If but the bastard of an evil fate,Lead against Thebes the fearless Argive host.Thus by thy children and thy life, my sire,We all adjure thee to remit thy wrathAnd favor one who seeks a just revengeAgainst a brother who has banned and robbed him.For victory, if oracles speak true,Will fall to those who have thee for ally.So, by our fountains and familiar godsI pray thee, yield and hear; a beggar IAnd exile, thou an exile likewise; bothInvolved in one misfortune find a homeAs pensioners, while he, the lord of Thebes,O agony! makes a mock of thee and me.I’ll scatter with a breath the upstart’s might,And bring thee home again and stablish thee,And stablish, having cast him out, myself.This will thy goodwill I will undertake,Without it I can scare return alive.CHORUS.For the king’s sake who sent him, Oedipus,Dismiss him not without a meet reply.OEDIPUS.Nay, worthy seniors, but for Theseus’ sakeWho sent him hither to have word of me.Never again would he have heard my voice;But now he shall obtain this parting grace,An answer that will bring him little joy.O villain, when thou hadst the sovereigntyThat now thy brother holdeth in thy stead,Didst thou not drive me, thine own father, out,An exile, cityless, and make we wearThis beggar’s garb thou weepest to behold,Now thou art come thyself to my sad plight?Nothing is here for tears; it must be borneBymetill death, and I shall think of theeAs of my murderer; thou didst thrust me out;’Tis thou hast made me conversant with woe,Through thee I beg my bread in a strange land;And had not these my daughters tended meI had been dead for aught of aid from thee.They tend me, they preserve me, they are menNot women in true service to their sire;But ye are bastards, and no sons of mine.Therefore just Heaven hath an eye on thee;Howbeit not yet with aspect so austereAs thou shalt soon experience, if indeedThese banded hosts are moving against Thebes.That city thou canst never storm, but firstShall fall, thou and thy brother, blood-imbrued.Such curse I lately launched against you twain,Such curse I now invoke to fight for me,That ye may learn to honor those who bear theeNor flout a sightless father who begatDegenerate sons—these maidens did not so.Therefore my curse is stronger than thy “throne,”Thy “suppliance,” if by right of laws eternePrimeval Justice sits enthroned with Zeus.Begone, abhorred, disowned, no son of mine,Thou vilest of the vile! and take with theeThis curse I leave thee as my last bequest:—Never to win by arms thy native land,No, nor return to Argos in the Vale,But by a kinsman’s hand to die and slayHim who expelled thee. So I pray and callOn the ancestral gloom of TartarusTo snatch thee hence, on these dread goddessesI call, and Ares who incensed you bothTo mortal enmity. Go now proclaimWhat thou hast heard to the Cadmeians all,Thy staunch confederates—this the heritagethat Oedipus divideth to his sons.CHORUS.Thy errand, Polyneices, liked me notFrom the beginning; now go back with speed.POLYNEICES.Woe worth my journey and my baffled hopes!Woe worth my comrades! What a desperate endTo that glad march from Argos! Woe is me!I dare not whisper it to my alliesOr turn them back, but mute must meet my doom.My sisters, ye his daughters, ye have heardThe prayers of our stern father, if his curseShould come to pass and ye some day returnTo Thebes, O then disown me not, I pray,But grant me burial and due funeral rites.So shall the praise your filial care now winsBe doubled for the service wrought for me.ANTIGONE.One boon, O Polyneices, let me crave.POLYNEICES.What would’st thou, sweet Antigone? Say on.ANTIGONE.Turn back thy host to Argos with all speed,And ruin not thyself and Thebes as well.POLYNEICES.That cannot be. How could I lead againAn army that had seen their leader quail?ANTIGONE.But, brother, why shouldst thou be wroth again?What profit from thy country’s ruin comes?POLYNEICES.’Tis shame to live in exile, and shall IThe elder bear a younger brother’s flouts?ANTIGONE.Wilt thou then bring to pass his propheciesWho threatens mutual slaughter to you both?POLYNEICES.Aye, so he wishes:—but I must not yield.ANTIGONE.O woe is me! but say, will any dare,Hearing his prophecy, to follow thee?POLYNEICES.I shall not tell it; a good generalReports successes and conceals mishaps.ANTIGONE.Misguided youth, thy purpose then stands fast!POLYNEICES.’Tis so, and stay me not. The road I choose,Dogged by my sire and his avenging spirit,Leads me to ruin; but for you may ZeusMake your path bright if ye fulfill my hestWhen dead; in life ye cannot serve me more.Now let me go, farewell, a long farewell!Ye ne’er shall see my living face again.ANTIGONE.Ah me!POLYNEICES.Bewail me not.ANTIGONE.Who would not mournThee, brother, hurrying to an open pit!POLYNEICES.If I must die, I must.ANTIGONE.Nay, hear me plead.POLYNEICES.It may not be; forbear.ANTIGONE.Then woe is me,If I must lose thee.POLYNEICES.Nay, that rests with fate,Whether I live or die; but for you bothI pray to heaven ye may escape all ill;For ye are blameless in the eyes of all.[Exit POLYNEICES]CHORUS.(Str. 1)Ills on ills! no pause or rest!Come they from our sightless guest?Or haply now we see fulfilledWhat fate long time hath willed?For ne’er have I proved vainAught that the heavenly powers ordain.Time with never sleeping eyeWatches what is writ on high,Overthrowing now the great,Raising now from low estate.Hark! How the thunder rumbles! Zeus defend us!OEDIPUS.Children, my children! will no messengerGo summon hither Theseus my best friend?ANTIGONE.And wherefore, father, dost thou summon him?OEDIPUS.This winged thunder of the god must bear meAnon to Hades. Send and tarry not.CHORUS.(Ant. 1)Hark! with louder, nearer roarThe bolt of Zeus descends once more.My spirit quails and cowers: my hairBristles for fear. Again that flare!What doth the lightning-flash portend?Ever it points to issues grave.Dread powers of air! Save, Zeus, O save!OEDIPUS.Daughters, upon me the predestined endHas come; no turning from it any more.ANTIGONE.How knowest thou? What sign convinces thee?OEDIPUS.I know full well. Let some one with all speedGo summon hither the Athenian prince.CHORUS.(Str. 2)Ha! once more the deafening soundPeals yet louder all aroundIf thou darkenest our land,Lightly, lightly lay thy hand;Grace, not anger, let me win,If upon a man of sinI have looked with pitying eye,Zeus, our king, to thee I cry!OEDIPUS.Is the prince coming? Will he when he comesFind me yet living and my senses clear!ANTIGONE.What solemn charge would’st thou impress on him?OEDIPUS.For all his benefits I would performThe promise made when I received them first.CHORUS.(Ant. 2)Hither haste, my son, arise,Altar leave and sacrifice,If haply to Poseidon nowIn the far glade thou pay’st thy vow.For our guest to thee would bringAnd thy folk and offering,Thy due guerdon. Haste, O King![Enter THESEUS]THESEUS.Wherefore again this general din? at onceMy people call me and the stranger calls.Is it a thunderbolt of Zeus or sleetOf arrowy hail? a storm so fierce as thisWould warrant all surmises of mischance.OEDIPUS.Thou com’st much wished for, Prince, and sure some godHath bid good luck attend thee on thy way.THESEUS.What, son of Laius, hath chanced of new?OEDIPUS.My life hath turned the scale. I would do allI promised thee and thine before I die.THESEUS.What sign assures thee that thine end is near?OEDIPUS.The gods themselves are heralds of my fate;Of their appointed warnings nothing fails.THESEUS.How sayest thou they signify their will?OEDIPUS.This thunder, peal on peal, this lightning hurledFlash upon flash, from the unconquered hand.THESEUS.I must believe thee, having found thee oftA prophet true; then speak what must be done.OEDIPUS.O son of Aegeus, for this state will IUnfold a treasure age cannot corrupt.Myself anon without a guiding handWill take thee to the spot where I must end.This secret ne’er reveal to mortal man,Neither the spot nor whereabouts it lies,So shall it ever serve thee for defenseBetter than native shields and near allies.But those dread mysteries speech may not profaneThyself shalt gather coming there alone;Since not to any of thy subjects, norTo my own children, though I love them dearly,Can I reveal what thou must guard alone,And whisper to thy chosen heir alone,So to be handed down from heir to heir.Thus shalt thou hold this land inviolateFrom the dread Dragon’s brood.7The justest StateBy countless wanton neighbors may be wronged,For the gods, though they tarry, mark for doomThe godless sinner in his mad career.Far from thee, son of Aegeus, be such fate!But to the spot—the god within me goads—Let us set forth no longer hesitate.Follow me, daughters, this way. Strange that IWhom you have led so long should lead you now.Oh, touch me not, but let me all aloneFind out the sepulcher that destinyAppoints me in this land. Hither, this way,For this way Hermes leads, the spirit guide,And Persephassa, empress of the dead.O light, no light to me, but mine erewhile,Now the last time I feel thee palpable,For I am drawing near the final gloomOf Hades. Blessing on thee, dearest friend,On thee and on thy land and followers!Live prosperous and in your happy stateStill for your welfare think on me, the dead.[Exit THESEUS followed by ANTIGONE and ISMENE]CHORUS.(Str.)If mortal prayers are heard in hell,Hear, Goddess dread, invisible!Monarch of the regions drear,Aidoneus, hear, O hear!By a gentle, tearless doomSpeed this stranger to the gloom,Let him enter without painThe all-shrouding Stygian plain.Wrongfully in life oppressed,Be he now by Justice blessed.(Ant.)Queen infernal, and thou fellWatch-dog of the gates of hell,Who, as legends tell, dost glare,Gnarling in thy cavernous lairAt all comers, let him goScathless to the fields below.For thy master orders thus,The son of earth and Tartarus;In his den the monster keep,Giver of eternal sleep.[Enter MESSENGER]MESSENGER.Friends, countrymen, my tidings are in sumThat Oedipus is gone, but the eventWas not so brief, nor can the tale be brief.CHORUS.What, has he gone, the unhappy man?MESSENGER.Know wellThat he has passed away from life to death.CHORUS.How? By a god-sent, painless doom, poor soul?MESSENGER.Thy question hits the marvel of the tale.How he moved hence, you saw him and must know;Without a friend to lead the way, himselfGuiding us all. So having reached the abruptEarth-rooted Threshold with its brazen stairs,He paused at one of the converging paths,Hard by the rocky basin which recordsThe pact of Theseus and Peirithous.Betwixt that rift and the Thorician rock,The hollow pear-tree and the marble tomb,Midway he sat and loosed his beggar’s weeds;Then calling to his daughters bade them fetchOf running water, both to wash withalAnd make libation; so they clomb the steep;And in brief space brought what their father bade,Then laved and dressed him with observance due.But when he had his will in everything,And no desire was left unsatisfied,It thundered from the netherworld; the maidsShivered, and crouching at their father’s kneesWept, beat their breast and uttered a long wail.He, as he heard their sudden bitter cry,Folded his arms about them both and said,“My children, ye will lose your sire today,For all of me has perished, and no moreHave ye to bear your long, long ministry;A heavy load, I know, and yet one wordWipes out all score of tribulations—love.And love from me ye had—from no man more;But now must live without me all your days.”So clinging to each other sobbed and weptFather and daughters both, but when at lastTheir mourning had an end and no wail rose,A moment there was silence; suddenlyA voice that summoned him; with sudden dreadThe hair of all stood up and all were ’mazed;For the call came, now loud, now low, and oft.“Oedipus, Oedipus, why tarry we?Too long, too long thy passing is delayed.”But when he heard the summons of the god,He prayed that Theseus might be brought, and whenThe Prince came nearer: “O my friend,” he cried,“Pledge ye my daughters, giving thy right hand—And, daughters, give him yours—and promise meThou never wilt forsake them, but do allThat time and friendship prompt in their behoof.”And he of his nobility repressedHis tears and swore to be their constant friend.This promise given, Oedipus put forthBlind hands and laid them on his children, saying,“O children, prove your true nobilityAnd hence depart nor seek to witness sightsUnlawful or to hear unlawful words.Nay, go with speed; let none but Theseus stay,Our ruler, to behold what next shall hap.”So we all heard him speak, and weeping soreWe companied the maidens on their way.After brief space we looked again, and loThe man was gone, evanished from our eyes;Only the king we saw with upraised handShading his eyes as from some awful sight,That no man might endure to look upon.A moment later, and we saw him bendIn prayer to Earth and prayer to Heaven at once.But by what doom the stranger met his endNo man save Theseus knoweth. For there fellNo fiery bold that reft him in that hour,Nor whirlwind from the sea, but he was taken.It was a messenger from heaven, or elseSome gentle, painless cleaving of earth’s base;For without wailing or disease or painHe passed away—and end most marvelous.And if to some my tale seems foolishnessI am content that such could count me fool.CHORUS.Where are the maids and their attendant friends?MESSENGER.They cannot be far off; the approaching soundOf lamentation tells they come this way.[Enter ANTIGONE and ISMENE]ANTIGONE.(Str. 1)Woe, woe! on this sad dayWe sisters of one blasted stockmust bow beneath the shock,Must weep and weep the curse that layOn him our sire, for whomIn life, a life-long world of care’Twas ours to bear,In death must face the gloomThat wraps his tomb.What tongue can tellThat sight ineffable?CHORUS.What mean ye, maidens?ANTIGONE.All is but surmise.CHORUS.Is he then gone?ANTIGONE.Gone as ye most might wish.Not in battle or sea storm,But reft from sight,By hands invisible borneTo viewless fields of night.Ah me! on us too night has come,The night of mourning. Wither roamO’er land or sea in our distressEating the bread of bitterness?ISMENE.I know not. O that DeathMight nip my breath,And let me share my aged father’s fate.I cannot live a life thus desolate.CHORUS.Best of daughters, worthy pair,What heaven brings ye needs must bear,Fret no more ’gainst Heaven’s will;Fate hath dealt with you not ill.ANTIGONE.(Ant. 1)Love can turn past pain to bliss,What seemed bitter now is sweet.Ah me! that happy toil is sweet.The guidance of those dear blind feet.Dear father, wrapt for aye in nether gloom,E’en in the tombNever shalt thou lack of love repine,Her love and mine.CHORUS.His fate—ANTIGONE.Is even as he planned.CHORUS.How so?ANTIGONE.He died, so willed he, in a foreign land.Lapped in kind earth he sleeps his long last sleep,And o’er his grave friends weep.How great our lost these streaming eyes can tell,This sorrow naught can quell.Thou hadst thy wish ’mid strangers thus to die,But I, ah me, not by.ISMENE.Alas, my sister, what new fate* * * * * ** * * * * *Befalls us orphans desolate?CHORUS.His end was blessed; therefore, children, stayYour sorrow. Man is born to fate a prey.ANTIGONE.(Str. 2)Sister, let us back again.ISMENE.Why return?ANTIGONE.My soul is fain—ISMENE.Is fain?ANTIGONE.To see the earthy bed.ISMENE.Sayest thou?ANTIGONE.Where our sire is laid.ISMENE.Nay, thou can’st not, dost not see—ANTIGONE.Sister, wherefore wroth with me?ISMENE.Know’st not—beside—ANTIGONE.More must I hear?ISMENE.Tombless he died, none near.ANTIGONE.Lead me thither; slay me there.ISMENE.How shall I unhappy fare,Friendless, helpless, how drag onA life of misery alone?CHORUS.(Ant. 2)Fear not, maids—ANTIGONE.Ah, whither flee?CHORUS.Refuge hath been found.ANTIGONE.For me?CHORUS.Where thou shalt be safe from harm.ANTIGONE.I know it.CHORUS.Why then this alarm?ANTIGONE.How again to get us homeI know not.CHORUS.Why then this roam?ANTIGONE.Troubles whelm us—CHORUS.As of yore.ANTIGONE.Worse than what was worse before.CHORUS.Sure ye are driven on the breakers’ surge.ANTIGONE.Alas! we are.CHORUS.Alas! ’tis so.ANTIGONE.Ah whither turn, O Zeus? No rayOf hope to cheer the wayWhereon the fates our desperate voyage urge.[Enter THESEUS]THESEUS.Dry your tears; when grace is shedOn the quick and on the deadBy dark Powers beneficent,Over-grief they would resent.ANTIGONE.Aegeus’ child, to thee we pray.THESEUS.What the boon, my children, say.ANTIGONE.With our own eyes we fain would seeOur father’s tomb.THESEUS.That may not be.ANTIGONE.What say’st thou, King?THESEUS.My children, heCharged me straitly that no moralShould approach the sacred portal,Or greet with funeral litaniesThe hidden tomb wherein he lies;Saying, “If thou keep’st my hestThou shalt hold thy realm at rest.”The God of Oaths this promise heard,And to Zeus I pledged my word.ANTIGONE.Well, if he would have it so,We must yield. Then let us goBack to Thebes, if yet we mayHeal this mortal feud and stayThe self-wrought doomThat drives our brothers to their tomb.THESEUS.Go in peace; nor will I spareOught of toil and zealous care,But on all your needs attend,Gladdening in his grave my friend.CHORUS.Wail no more, let sorrow rest,All is ordered for the best.FOOTNOTES4 (return)[ The Greek text for the passages marked here and later in the text have been lost.]5 (return)[ To avoid the blessing, still a secret, he resorts to a commonplace; literally, “For what generous man is not (in befriending others) a friend to himself?”]6 (return)[ Creon desires to bury Oedipus on the confines of Thebes so as to avoid the pollution and yet offer due rites at his tomb. Ismene tells him of the latest oracle and interprets to him its purport, that some day the Theban invaders of Athens will be routed in a battle near the grave of Oedipus.]7 (return)[ The Thebans sprung from the Dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus.]
OEDIPUS.Where, where? what sayest thou?
ANTIGONE.O father, father,Would that some god might grant thee eyes to seeThis best of men who brings us back again.
OEDIPUS.My child! and are ye back indeed!
ANTIGONE.Yes, savedBy Theseus and his gallant followers.
OEDIPUS.Come to your father’s arms, O let me feelA child’s embrace I never hoped for more.
ANTIGONE.Thou askest what is doubly sweet to give.
OEDIPUS.Where are ye then?
ANTIGONE.We come together both.
OEDIPUS.My precious nurslings!
ANTIGONE.Fathers aye were fond.
OEDIPUS.Props of my age!
ANTIGONE.So sorrow sorrow props.
OEDIPUS.I have my darlings, and if death should come,Death were not wholly bitter with you near.Cling to me, press me close on either side,There rest ye from your dreary wayfaring.Now tell me of your ventures, but in brief;Brief speech suffices for young maids like you.
ANTIGONE.Here is our savior; thou should’st hear the taleFrom his own lips; so shall my part be brief.
OEDIPUS.I pray thee do not wonder if the sightOf children, given o’er for lost, has madeMy converse somewhat long and tedious.Full well I know the joy I have of themIs due to thee, to thee and no man else;Thou wast their sole deliverer, none else.The gods deal with thee after my desire,With thee and with this land! for fear of heavenI found above all peoples most with you,And righteousness and lips that cannot lie.I speak in gratitude of what I know,For all I have I owe to thee alone.Give me thy hand, O Prince, that I may touch it,And if thou wilt permit me, kiss thy cheek.What say I? Can I wish that thou should’st touchOne fallen like me to utter wretchedness,Corrupt and tainted with a thousand ills?Oh no, I would not let thee if thou would’st.They only who have known calamityCan share it. Let me greet thee where thou art,And still befriend me as thou hast till now.
THESEUS.I marvel not if thou hast dallied longIn converse with thy children and preferredTheir speech to mine; I feel no jealousy,I would be famous more by deeds than words.Of this, old friend, thou hast had proof; my oathI have fulfilled and brought thee back the maidsAlive and nothing harmed for all those threats.And how the fight was won, ’twere waste of wordsTo boast—thy daughters here will tell thee all.But of a matter that has lately chancedOn my way hitherward, I fain would haveThy counsel—slight ’twould seem, yet worthy thought.A wise man heeds all matters great or small.
OEDIPUS.What is it, son of Aegeus? Let me hear.Of what thou askest I myself know naught.
THESEUS.’Tis said a man, no countryman of thine,But of thy kin, hath taken sanctuaryBeside the altar of Poseidon, whereI was at sacrifice when called away.
OEDIPUS.What is his country? what the suitor’s prayer?
THESEUS.I know but one thing; he implores, I am told,A word with thee—he will not trouble thee.
OEDIPUS.What seeks he? If a suppliant, something grave.
THESEUS.He only waits, they say, to speak with thee,And then unharmed to go upon his way.
OEDIPUS.I marvel who is this petitioner.
THESEUS.Think if there be not any of thy kinAt Argos who might claim this boon of thee.
OEDIPUS.Dear friend, forbear, I pray.
THESEUS.What ails thee now?
OEDIPUS.Ask it not of me.
THESEUS.Ask not what? explain.
OEDIPUS.Thy words have told me who the suppliant is.
THESEUS.Who can he be that I should frown on him?
OEDIPUS.My son, O king, my hateful son, whose wordsOf all men’s most would jar upon my ears.
THESEUS.Thou sure mightest listen. If his suit offend,No need to grant it. Why so loth to hear him?
OEDIPUS.That voice, O king, grates on a father’s ears;I have come to loathe it. Force me not to yield.
THESEUS.But he hath found asylum. O beware,And fail not in due reverence to the god.
ANTIGONE.O heed me, father, though I am young in years.Let the prince have his will and pay withalWhat in his eyes is service to the god;For our sake also let our brother come.If what he urges tend not to thy goodHe cannot surely wrest perforce thy will.To hear him then, what harm? By open wordsA scheme of villainy is soon bewrayed.Thou art his father, therefore canst not payIn kind a son’s most impious outrages.O listen to him; other men like theeHave thankless children and are choleric,But yielding to persuasion’s gentle spellThey let their savage mood be exorcised.Look thou to the past, forget the present, thinkOn all the woe thy sire and mother brought thee;Thence wilt thou draw this lesson without fail,Of evil passion evil is the end.Thou hast, alas, to prick thy memory,Stern monitors, these ever-sightless orbs.O yield to us; just suitors should not needTo be importunate, nor he that takesA favor lack the grace to make return.
OEDIPUS.Grievous to me, my child, the boon ye winBy pleading. Let it be then; have your wayOnly if come he must, I beg thee, friend,Let none have power to dispose of me.
THESEUS.No need, Sir, to appeal a second time.It likes me not to boast, but be assuredThy life is safe while any god saves mine.[Exit THESEUS]
CHORUS.(Str.)Who craves excess of days,Scorning the common spanOf life, I judge that manA giddy wight who walks in folly’s ways.For the long years heap up a grievous load,Scant pleasures, heavier pains,Till not one joy remainsFor him who lingers on life’s weary roadAnd come it slow or fast,One doom of fateDoth all await,For dance and marriage bell,The dirge and funeral knell.Death the deliverer freeth all at last.(Ant.)Not to be born at allIs best, far best that can befall,Next best, when born, with least delayTo trace the backward way.For when youth passes with its giddy train,Troubles on troubles follow, toils on toils,Pain, pain for ever pain;And none escapes life’s coils.Envy, sedition, strife,Carnage and war, make up the tale of life.Last comes the worst and most abhorred stageOf unregarded age,Joyless, companionless and slow,Of woes the crowning woe.(Epode)Such ills not I alone,He too our guest hath known,E’en as some headland on an iron-bound shore,Lashed by the wintry blasts and surge’s roar,So is he buffeted on every sideBy drear misfortune’s whelming tide,By every wind of heaven o’erborneSome from the sunset, some from orient morn,Some from the noonday glow.Some from Rhipean gloom of everlasting snow.
ANTIGONE.Father, methinks I see the stranger coming,Alone he comes and weeping plenteous tears.
OEDIPUS.Who may he be?
ANTIGONE.The same that we surmised.From the outset—Polyneices. He is here.[Enter POLYNEICES]
POLYNEICES.Ah me, my sisters, shall I first lamentMy own afflictions, or my aged sire’s,Whom here I find a castaway, with you,In a strange land, an ancient beggar cladIn antic tatters, marring all his frame,While o’er the sightless orbs his unkept locksFloat in the breeze; and, as it were to match,He bears a wallet against hunger’s pinch.All this too late I learn, wretch that I am,Alas! I own it, and am proved most vileIn my neglect of thee: I scorn myself.But as almighty Zeus in all he dothHath Mercy for co-partner of this throne,Let Mercy, father, also sit enthronedIn thy heart likewise. For transgressions pastMay be amended, cannot be made worse.Why silent? Father, speak, nor turn away,Hast thou no word, wilt thou dismiss me thenIn mute disdain, nor tell me why thou art wrath?O ye his daughters, sisters mine, do yeThis sullen, obstinate silence try to move.Let him not spurn, without a single wordOf answer, me the suppliant of the god.
ANTIGONE.Tell him thyself, unhappy one, thine errand;For large discourse may send a thrill of joy,Or stir a chord of wrath or tenderness,And to the tongue-tied somehow give a tongue.
POLYNEICES.Well dost thou counsel, and I will speak out.First will I call in aid the god himself,Poseidon, from whose altar I was raised,With warrant from the monarch of this land,To parley with you, and depart unscathed.These pledges, strangers, I would see observedBy you and by my sisters and my sire.Now, father, let me tell thee why I came.I have been banished from my native landBecause by right of primogenitureI claimed possession of thy sovereign throneWherefrom Etocles, my younger brother,Ousted me, not by weight of precedent,Nor by the last arbitrament of war,But by his popular acts; and the prime causeOf this I deem the curse that rests on thee.So likewise hold the soothsayers, for whenI came to Argos in the Dorian landAnd took the king Adrastus’ child to wife,Under my standard I enlisted allThe foremost captains of the Apian isle,To levy with their aid that sevenfold hostOf spearmen against Thebes, determiningTo oust my foes or die in a just cause.Why then, thou askest, am I here today?Father, I come a suppliant to theeBoth for myself and my allies who nowWith squadrons seven beneath their seven spearsBeleaguer all the plain that circles Thebes.Foremost the peerless warrior, peerless seer,Amphiaraiis with his lightning lance;Next an Aetolian, Tydeus, Oeneus’ son;Eteoclus of Argive birth the third;The fourth Hippomedon, sent to the warBy his sire Talaos; Capaneus, the fifth,Vaunts he will fire and raze the town; the sixthParthenopaeus, an Arcadian bornNamed of that maid, longtime a maid and lateEspoused, Atalanta’s true-born child;Last I thy son, or thine at least in name,If but the bastard of an evil fate,Lead against Thebes the fearless Argive host.Thus by thy children and thy life, my sire,We all adjure thee to remit thy wrathAnd favor one who seeks a just revengeAgainst a brother who has banned and robbed him.For victory, if oracles speak true,Will fall to those who have thee for ally.So, by our fountains and familiar godsI pray thee, yield and hear; a beggar IAnd exile, thou an exile likewise; bothInvolved in one misfortune find a homeAs pensioners, while he, the lord of Thebes,O agony! makes a mock of thee and me.I’ll scatter with a breath the upstart’s might,And bring thee home again and stablish thee,And stablish, having cast him out, myself.This will thy goodwill I will undertake,Without it I can scare return alive.
CHORUS.For the king’s sake who sent him, Oedipus,Dismiss him not without a meet reply.
OEDIPUS.Nay, worthy seniors, but for Theseus’ sakeWho sent him hither to have word of me.Never again would he have heard my voice;But now he shall obtain this parting grace,An answer that will bring him little joy.O villain, when thou hadst the sovereigntyThat now thy brother holdeth in thy stead,Didst thou not drive me, thine own father, out,An exile, cityless, and make we wearThis beggar’s garb thou weepest to behold,Now thou art come thyself to my sad plight?Nothing is here for tears; it must be borneBymetill death, and I shall think of theeAs of my murderer; thou didst thrust me out;’Tis thou hast made me conversant with woe,Through thee I beg my bread in a strange land;And had not these my daughters tended meI had been dead for aught of aid from thee.They tend me, they preserve me, they are menNot women in true service to their sire;But ye are bastards, and no sons of mine.Therefore just Heaven hath an eye on thee;Howbeit not yet with aspect so austereAs thou shalt soon experience, if indeedThese banded hosts are moving against Thebes.That city thou canst never storm, but firstShall fall, thou and thy brother, blood-imbrued.Such curse I lately launched against you twain,Such curse I now invoke to fight for me,That ye may learn to honor those who bear theeNor flout a sightless father who begatDegenerate sons—these maidens did not so.Therefore my curse is stronger than thy “throne,”Thy “suppliance,” if by right of laws eternePrimeval Justice sits enthroned with Zeus.Begone, abhorred, disowned, no son of mine,Thou vilest of the vile! and take with theeThis curse I leave thee as my last bequest:—Never to win by arms thy native land,No, nor return to Argos in the Vale,But by a kinsman’s hand to die and slayHim who expelled thee. So I pray and callOn the ancestral gloom of TartarusTo snatch thee hence, on these dread goddessesI call, and Ares who incensed you bothTo mortal enmity. Go now proclaimWhat thou hast heard to the Cadmeians all,Thy staunch confederates—this the heritagethat Oedipus divideth to his sons.
CHORUS.Thy errand, Polyneices, liked me notFrom the beginning; now go back with speed.
POLYNEICES.Woe worth my journey and my baffled hopes!Woe worth my comrades! What a desperate endTo that glad march from Argos! Woe is me!I dare not whisper it to my alliesOr turn them back, but mute must meet my doom.My sisters, ye his daughters, ye have heardThe prayers of our stern father, if his curseShould come to pass and ye some day returnTo Thebes, O then disown me not, I pray,But grant me burial and due funeral rites.So shall the praise your filial care now winsBe doubled for the service wrought for me.
ANTIGONE.One boon, O Polyneices, let me crave.
POLYNEICES.What would’st thou, sweet Antigone? Say on.
ANTIGONE.Turn back thy host to Argos with all speed,And ruin not thyself and Thebes as well.
POLYNEICES.That cannot be. How could I lead againAn army that had seen their leader quail?
ANTIGONE.But, brother, why shouldst thou be wroth again?What profit from thy country’s ruin comes?
POLYNEICES.’Tis shame to live in exile, and shall IThe elder bear a younger brother’s flouts?
ANTIGONE.Wilt thou then bring to pass his propheciesWho threatens mutual slaughter to you both?
POLYNEICES.Aye, so he wishes:—but I must not yield.
ANTIGONE.O woe is me! but say, will any dare,Hearing his prophecy, to follow thee?
POLYNEICES.I shall not tell it; a good generalReports successes and conceals mishaps.
ANTIGONE.Misguided youth, thy purpose then stands fast!
POLYNEICES.’Tis so, and stay me not. The road I choose,Dogged by my sire and his avenging spirit,Leads me to ruin; but for you may ZeusMake your path bright if ye fulfill my hestWhen dead; in life ye cannot serve me more.Now let me go, farewell, a long farewell!Ye ne’er shall see my living face again.
ANTIGONE.Ah me!
POLYNEICES.Bewail me not.
ANTIGONE.Who would not mournThee, brother, hurrying to an open pit!
POLYNEICES.If I must die, I must.
ANTIGONE.Nay, hear me plead.
POLYNEICES.It may not be; forbear.
ANTIGONE.Then woe is me,If I must lose thee.
POLYNEICES.Nay, that rests with fate,Whether I live or die; but for you bothI pray to heaven ye may escape all ill;For ye are blameless in the eyes of all.[Exit POLYNEICES]
CHORUS.(Str. 1)Ills on ills! no pause or rest!Come they from our sightless guest?Or haply now we see fulfilledWhat fate long time hath willed?For ne’er have I proved vainAught that the heavenly powers ordain.Time with never sleeping eyeWatches what is writ on high,Overthrowing now the great,Raising now from low estate.Hark! How the thunder rumbles! Zeus defend us!
OEDIPUS.Children, my children! will no messengerGo summon hither Theseus my best friend?
ANTIGONE.And wherefore, father, dost thou summon him?
OEDIPUS.This winged thunder of the god must bear meAnon to Hades. Send and tarry not.
CHORUS.(Ant. 1)Hark! with louder, nearer roarThe bolt of Zeus descends once more.My spirit quails and cowers: my hairBristles for fear. Again that flare!What doth the lightning-flash portend?Ever it points to issues grave.Dread powers of air! Save, Zeus, O save!
OEDIPUS.Daughters, upon me the predestined endHas come; no turning from it any more.
ANTIGONE.How knowest thou? What sign convinces thee?
OEDIPUS.I know full well. Let some one with all speedGo summon hither the Athenian prince.
CHORUS.(Str. 2)Ha! once more the deafening soundPeals yet louder all aroundIf thou darkenest our land,Lightly, lightly lay thy hand;Grace, not anger, let me win,If upon a man of sinI have looked with pitying eye,Zeus, our king, to thee I cry!
OEDIPUS.Is the prince coming? Will he when he comesFind me yet living and my senses clear!
ANTIGONE.What solemn charge would’st thou impress on him?
OEDIPUS.For all his benefits I would performThe promise made when I received them first.
CHORUS.(Ant. 2)Hither haste, my son, arise,Altar leave and sacrifice,If haply to Poseidon nowIn the far glade thou pay’st thy vow.For our guest to thee would bringAnd thy folk and offering,Thy due guerdon. Haste, O King![Enter THESEUS]
THESEUS.Wherefore again this general din? at onceMy people call me and the stranger calls.Is it a thunderbolt of Zeus or sleetOf arrowy hail? a storm so fierce as thisWould warrant all surmises of mischance.
OEDIPUS.Thou com’st much wished for, Prince, and sure some godHath bid good luck attend thee on thy way.
THESEUS.What, son of Laius, hath chanced of new?
OEDIPUS.My life hath turned the scale. I would do allI promised thee and thine before I die.
THESEUS.What sign assures thee that thine end is near?
OEDIPUS.The gods themselves are heralds of my fate;Of their appointed warnings nothing fails.
THESEUS.How sayest thou they signify their will?
OEDIPUS.This thunder, peal on peal, this lightning hurledFlash upon flash, from the unconquered hand.
THESEUS.I must believe thee, having found thee oftA prophet true; then speak what must be done.
OEDIPUS.O son of Aegeus, for this state will IUnfold a treasure age cannot corrupt.Myself anon without a guiding handWill take thee to the spot where I must end.This secret ne’er reveal to mortal man,Neither the spot nor whereabouts it lies,So shall it ever serve thee for defenseBetter than native shields and near allies.But those dread mysteries speech may not profaneThyself shalt gather coming there alone;Since not to any of thy subjects, norTo my own children, though I love them dearly,Can I reveal what thou must guard alone,And whisper to thy chosen heir alone,So to be handed down from heir to heir.Thus shalt thou hold this land inviolateFrom the dread Dragon’s brood.7The justest StateBy countless wanton neighbors may be wronged,For the gods, though they tarry, mark for doomThe godless sinner in his mad career.Far from thee, son of Aegeus, be such fate!But to the spot—the god within me goads—Let us set forth no longer hesitate.Follow me, daughters, this way. Strange that IWhom you have led so long should lead you now.Oh, touch me not, but let me all aloneFind out the sepulcher that destinyAppoints me in this land. Hither, this way,For this way Hermes leads, the spirit guide,And Persephassa, empress of the dead.O light, no light to me, but mine erewhile,Now the last time I feel thee palpable,For I am drawing near the final gloomOf Hades. Blessing on thee, dearest friend,On thee and on thy land and followers!Live prosperous and in your happy stateStill for your welfare think on me, the dead.[Exit THESEUS followed by ANTIGONE and ISMENE]
CHORUS.(Str.)If mortal prayers are heard in hell,Hear, Goddess dread, invisible!Monarch of the regions drear,Aidoneus, hear, O hear!By a gentle, tearless doomSpeed this stranger to the gloom,Let him enter without painThe all-shrouding Stygian plain.Wrongfully in life oppressed,Be he now by Justice blessed.(Ant.)Queen infernal, and thou fellWatch-dog of the gates of hell,Who, as legends tell, dost glare,Gnarling in thy cavernous lairAt all comers, let him goScathless to the fields below.For thy master orders thus,The son of earth and Tartarus;In his den the monster keep,Giver of eternal sleep.[Enter MESSENGER]
MESSENGER.Friends, countrymen, my tidings are in sumThat Oedipus is gone, but the eventWas not so brief, nor can the tale be brief.
CHORUS.What, has he gone, the unhappy man?
MESSENGER.Know wellThat he has passed away from life to death.
CHORUS.How? By a god-sent, painless doom, poor soul?
MESSENGER.Thy question hits the marvel of the tale.How he moved hence, you saw him and must know;Without a friend to lead the way, himselfGuiding us all. So having reached the abruptEarth-rooted Threshold with its brazen stairs,He paused at one of the converging paths,Hard by the rocky basin which recordsThe pact of Theseus and Peirithous.Betwixt that rift and the Thorician rock,The hollow pear-tree and the marble tomb,Midway he sat and loosed his beggar’s weeds;Then calling to his daughters bade them fetchOf running water, both to wash withalAnd make libation; so they clomb the steep;And in brief space brought what their father bade,Then laved and dressed him with observance due.But when he had his will in everything,And no desire was left unsatisfied,It thundered from the netherworld; the maidsShivered, and crouching at their father’s kneesWept, beat their breast and uttered a long wail.He, as he heard their sudden bitter cry,Folded his arms about them both and said,“My children, ye will lose your sire today,For all of me has perished, and no moreHave ye to bear your long, long ministry;A heavy load, I know, and yet one wordWipes out all score of tribulations—love.And love from me ye had—from no man more;But now must live without me all your days.”So clinging to each other sobbed and weptFather and daughters both, but when at lastTheir mourning had an end and no wail rose,A moment there was silence; suddenlyA voice that summoned him; with sudden dreadThe hair of all stood up and all were ’mazed;For the call came, now loud, now low, and oft.“Oedipus, Oedipus, why tarry we?Too long, too long thy passing is delayed.”But when he heard the summons of the god,He prayed that Theseus might be brought, and whenThe Prince came nearer: “O my friend,” he cried,“Pledge ye my daughters, giving thy right hand—And, daughters, give him yours—and promise meThou never wilt forsake them, but do allThat time and friendship prompt in their behoof.”And he of his nobility repressedHis tears and swore to be their constant friend.This promise given, Oedipus put forthBlind hands and laid them on his children, saying,“O children, prove your true nobilityAnd hence depart nor seek to witness sightsUnlawful or to hear unlawful words.Nay, go with speed; let none but Theseus stay,Our ruler, to behold what next shall hap.”So we all heard him speak, and weeping soreWe companied the maidens on their way.After brief space we looked again, and loThe man was gone, evanished from our eyes;Only the king we saw with upraised handShading his eyes as from some awful sight,That no man might endure to look upon.A moment later, and we saw him bendIn prayer to Earth and prayer to Heaven at once.But by what doom the stranger met his endNo man save Theseus knoweth. For there fellNo fiery bold that reft him in that hour,Nor whirlwind from the sea, but he was taken.It was a messenger from heaven, or elseSome gentle, painless cleaving of earth’s base;For without wailing or disease or painHe passed away—and end most marvelous.And if to some my tale seems foolishnessI am content that such could count me fool.
CHORUS.Where are the maids and their attendant friends?
MESSENGER.They cannot be far off; the approaching soundOf lamentation tells they come this way.[Enter ANTIGONE and ISMENE]
ANTIGONE.(Str. 1)Woe, woe! on this sad dayWe sisters of one blasted stockmust bow beneath the shock,Must weep and weep the curse that layOn him our sire, for whomIn life, a life-long world of care’Twas ours to bear,In death must face the gloomThat wraps his tomb.What tongue can tellThat sight ineffable?
CHORUS.What mean ye, maidens?
ANTIGONE.All is but surmise.
CHORUS.Is he then gone?
ANTIGONE.Gone as ye most might wish.Not in battle or sea storm,But reft from sight,By hands invisible borneTo viewless fields of night.Ah me! on us too night has come,The night of mourning. Wither roamO’er land or sea in our distressEating the bread of bitterness?
ISMENE.I know not. O that DeathMight nip my breath,And let me share my aged father’s fate.I cannot live a life thus desolate.
CHORUS.Best of daughters, worthy pair,What heaven brings ye needs must bear,Fret no more ’gainst Heaven’s will;Fate hath dealt with you not ill.
ANTIGONE.(Ant. 1)Love can turn past pain to bliss,What seemed bitter now is sweet.Ah me! that happy toil is sweet.The guidance of those dear blind feet.Dear father, wrapt for aye in nether gloom,E’en in the tombNever shalt thou lack of love repine,Her love and mine.
CHORUS.His fate—
ANTIGONE.Is even as he planned.
CHORUS.How so?
ANTIGONE.He died, so willed he, in a foreign land.Lapped in kind earth he sleeps his long last sleep,And o’er his grave friends weep.How great our lost these streaming eyes can tell,This sorrow naught can quell.Thou hadst thy wish ’mid strangers thus to die,But I, ah me, not by.
ISMENE.Alas, my sister, what new fate* * * * * ** * * * * *Befalls us orphans desolate?
CHORUS.His end was blessed; therefore, children, stayYour sorrow. Man is born to fate a prey.
ANTIGONE.(Str. 2)Sister, let us back again.
ISMENE.Why return?
ANTIGONE.My soul is fain—
ISMENE.Is fain?
ANTIGONE.To see the earthy bed.
ISMENE.Sayest thou?
ANTIGONE.Where our sire is laid.
ISMENE.Nay, thou can’st not, dost not see—
ANTIGONE.Sister, wherefore wroth with me?
ISMENE.Know’st not—beside—
ANTIGONE.More must I hear?
ISMENE.Tombless he died, none near.
ANTIGONE.Lead me thither; slay me there.
ISMENE.How shall I unhappy fare,Friendless, helpless, how drag onA life of misery alone?
CHORUS.(Ant. 2)Fear not, maids—
ANTIGONE.Ah, whither flee?
CHORUS.Refuge hath been found.
ANTIGONE.For me?
CHORUS.Where thou shalt be safe from harm.
ANTIGONE.I know it.
CHORUS.Why then this alarm?
ANTIGONE.How again to get us homeI know not.
CHORUS.Why then this roam?
ANTIGONE.Troubles whelm us—
CHORUS.As of yore.
ANTIGONE.Worse than what was worse before.
CHORUS.Sure ye are driven on the breakers’ surge.
ANTIGONE.Alas! we are.
CHORUS.Alas! ’tis so.
ANTIGONE.Ah whither turn, O Zeus? No rayOf hope to cheer the wayWhereon the fates our desperate voyage urge.[Enter THESEUS]
THESEUS.Dry your tears; when grace is shedOn the quick and on the deadBy dark Powers beneficent,Over-grief they would resent.
ANTIGONE.Aegeus’ child, to thee we pray.
THESEUS.What the boon, my children, say.
ANTIGONE.With our own eyes we fain would seeOur father’s tomb.
THESEUS.That may not be.
ANTIGONE.What say’st thou, King?
THESEUS.My children, heCharged me straitly that no moralShould approach the sacred portal,Or greet with funeral litaniesThe hidden tomb wherein he lies;Saying, “If thou keep’st my hestThou shalt hold thy realm at rest.”The God of Oaths this promise heard,And to Zeus I pledged my word.
ANTIGONE.Well, if he would have it so,We must yield. Then let us goBack to Thebes, if yet we mayHeal this mortal feud and stayThe self-wrought doomThat drives our brothers to their tomb.
THESEUS.Go in peace; nor will I spareOught of toil and zealous care,But on all your needs attend,Gladdening in his grave my friend.
CHORUS.Wail no more, let sorrow rest,All is ordered for the best.
4 (return)[ The Greek text for the passages marked here and later in the text have been lost.]
5 (return)[ To avoid the blessing, still a secret, he resorts to a commonplace; literally, “For what generous man is not (in befriending others) a friend to himself?”]
6 (return)[ Creon desires to bury Oedipus on the confines of Thebes so as to avoid the pollution and yet offer due rites at his tomb. Ismene tells him of the latest oracle and interprets to him its purport, that some day the Theban invaders of Athens will be routed in a battle near the grave of Oedipus.]
7 (return)[ The Thebans sprung from the Dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus.]