OEDIPUS AT COLONUSEnter the blind OEDIPUS led by his daughter, ANTIGONE.OEDIPUS.Child of an old blind sire, Antigone,What region, say, whose city have we reached?Who will provide today with scanted doleThis wanderer? ’Tis little that he craves,And less obtains—that less enough for me;For I am taught by suffering to endure,And the long years that have grown old with me,And last not least, by true nobility.My daughter, if thou seest a resting placeOn common ground or by some sacred grove,Stay me and set me down. Let us discoverWhere we have come, for strangers must inquireOf denizens, and do as they are bid.ANTIGONE.Long-suffering father, Oedipus, the towersThat fence the city still are faint and far;But where we stand is surely holy ground;A wilderness of laurel, olive, vine;Within a choir or songster nightingalesAre warbling. On this native seat of rockRest; for an old man thou hast traveled far.OEDIPUS.Guide these dark steps and seat me there secure.ANTIGONE.If time can teach, I need not to be told.OEDIPUS.Say, prithee, if thou knowest, where we are.ANTIGONE.Athens I recognize, but not the spot.OEDIPUS.That much we heard from every wayfarer.ANTIGONE.Shall I go on and ask about the place?OEDIPUS.Yes, daughter, if it be inhabited.ANTIGONE.Sure there are habitations; but no needTo leave thee; yonder is a man hard by.OEDIPUS.What, moving hitherward and on his way?ANTIGONE.Say rather, here already. Ask him straightThe needful questions, for the man is here.[Enter STRANGER]OEDIPUS.O stranger, as I learn from her whose eyesMust serve both her and me, that thou art hereSent by some happy chance to serve our doubts—STRANGER.First quit that seat, then question me at large:The spot thou treadest on is holy ground.OEDIPUS.What is the site, to what god dedicate?STRANGER.Inviolable, untrod; goddesses,Dread brood of Earth and Darkness, here abide.OEDIPUS.Tell me the awful name I should invoke?STRANGER.The Gracious Ones, All-seeing, so our folkCall them, but elsewhere other names are rife.OEDIPUS.Then may they show their suppliant grace, for IFrom this your sanctuary will ne’er depart.STRANGER.What word is this?OEDIPUS.The watchword of my fate.STRANGER.Nay, ’tis not mine to bid thee hence withoutDue warrant and instruction from the State.OEDIPUS.Now in God’s name, O stranger, scorn me notAs a wayfarer; tell me what I crave.STRANGER.Ask; your request shall not be scorned by me.OEDIPUS.How call you then the place wherein we bide?STRANGER.Whate’er I know thou too shalt know; the placeIs all to great Poseidon consecrate.Hard by, the Titan, he who bears the torch,Prometheus, has his worship; but the spotThou treadest, the Brass-footed Threshold named,Is Athens’ bastion, and the neighboring landsClaim as their chief and patron yonder knightColonus, and in common bear his name.Such, stranger, is the spot, to fame unknown,But dear to us its native worshipers.OEDIPUS.Thou sayest there are dwellers in these parts?STRANGER.Surely; they bear the name of yonder god.OEDIPUS.Ruled by a king or by the general voice?STRANGER.The lord of Athens is our over-lord.OEDIPUS.Who is this monarch, great in word and might?STRANGER.Theseus, the son of Aegeus our late king.OEDIPUS.Might one be sent from you to summon him?STRANGER.Wherefore? To tell him aught or urge his coming?OEDIPUS.Say a slight service may avail him much.STRANGER.How can he profit from a sightless man?OEDIPUS.The blind man’s words will be instinct with sight.STRANGER.Heed then; I fain would see thee out of harm;For by the looks, marred though they be by fate,I judge thee noble; tarry where thou art,While I go seek the burghers—those at hand,Not in the city. They will soon decideWhether thou art to rest or go thy way.[Exit STRANGER]OEDIPUS.Tell me, my daughter, has the stranger gone?ANTIGONE.Yes, he has gone; now we are all alone,And thou may’st speak, dear father, without fear.OEDIPUS.Stern-visaged queens, since coming to this landFirst in your sanctuary I bent the knee,Frown not on me or Phoebus, who, when erstHe told me all my miseries to come,Spake of this respite after many years,Some haven in a far-off land, a restVouchsafed at last by dread divinities.“There,” said he, “shalt thou round thy weary life,A blessing to the land wherein thou dwell’st,But to the land that cast thee forth, a curse.”And of my weird he promised signs should come,Earthquake, or thunderclap, or lightning flash.And now I recognize as yours the signThat led my wanderings to this your grove;Else had I never lighted on you first,A wineless man on your seat of native rock.O goddesses, fulfill Apollo’s word,Grant me some consummation of my life,If haply I appear not all too vile,A thrall to sorrow worse than any slave.Hear, gentle daughters of primeval Night,Hear, namesake of great Pallas; Athens, firstOf cities, pity this dishonored shade,The ghost of him who once was Oedipus.ANTIGONE.Hush! for I see some grey-beards on their way,Their errand to spy out our resting-place.OEDIPUS.I will be mute, and thou shalt guide my stepsInto the covert from the public road,Till I have learned their drift. A prudent manWill ever shape his course by what he learns.[Enter CHORUS]CHORUS.(Str. 1)Ha! Where is he? Look around!Every nook and corner scan!He the all-presumptuous man,Whither vanished? search the ground!A wayfarer, I ween,A wayfarer, no countryman of ours,That old man must have been;Never had native dared to tempt the Powers,Or enter their demesne,The Maids in awe of whom each mortal cowers,Whose name no voice betrays nor cry,And as we pass them with averted eye,We move hushed lips in reverent piety.But now some godless man,’Tis rumored, here abides;The precincts through I scan,Yet wot not where he hides,The wretch profane!I search and search in vain.OEDIPUS.I am that man; I know you nearEars to the blind, they say, are eyes.CHORUS.O dread to see and dread to hear!OEDIPUS.Oh sirs, I am no outlaw under ban.CHORUS.Who can he be—Zeus save us!—this old man?OEDIPUS.No favorite of fate,That ye should envy his estate,O, Sirs, would any happy mortal, say,Grope by the light of other eyes his way,Or face the storm upon so frail a stay?CHORUS.(Ant. 1)Wast thou then sightless from thy birth?Evil, methinks, and longThy pilgrimage on earth.Yet add not curse to curse and wrong to wrong.I warn thee, trespass notWithin this hallowed spot,Lest thou shouldst find the silent grassy gladeWhere offerings are laid,Bowls of spring water mingled with sweet mead.Thou must not stay,Come, come away,Tired wanderer, dost thou heed?(We are far off, but sure our voice can reach.)If aught thou wouldst beseech,Speak where ’tis right; till then refrain from speech.OEDIPUS.Daughter, what counsel should we now pursue?ANTIGONE.We must obey and do as here they do.OEDIPUS.Thy hand then!ANTIGONE.Here, O father, is my hand,OEDIPUS.O Sirs, if I come forth at your command,Let me not suffer for my confidence.CHORUS.(Str. 2)Against thy will no man shall drive thee hence.OEDIPUS.Shall I go further?CHORUS.Aye.OEDIPUS.What further still?CHORUS.Lead maiden, thou canst guide him where we will.ANTIGONE4* * * * * *OEDIPUS.* * * * * *ANTIGONE.* * * * * *Follow with blind steps, father, as I lead.OEDIPUS.* * * * * *CHORUS.In a strange land strange thou art;To her will incline thy heart;Honor whatso’er the StateHonors, all she frowns on hate.OEDIPUS.Guide me child, where we may rangeSafe within the paths of right;Counsel freely may exchangeNor with fate and fortune fight.CHORUS.(Ant. 2)Halt! Go no further than that rocky floor.OEDIPUS.Stay where I now am?CHORUS.Yes, advance no more.OEDIPUS.May I sit down?CHORUS.Move sideways towards the ledge,And sit thee crouching on the scarped edge.ANTIGONE.This is my office, father, O incline—OEDIPUS.Ah me! ah me!ANTIGONE.Thy steps to my steps, lean thine aged frame on mine.OEDIPUS.Woe on my fate unblest!CHORUS.Wanderer, now thou art at rest,Tell me of thy birth and home,From what far country art thou come,Led on thy weary way, declare!OEDIPUS.Strangers, I have no country. O forbear—CHORUS.What is it, old man, that thou wouldst conceal?OEDIPUS.Forbear, nor urge me further to reveal—CHORUS.Why this reluctance?OEDIPUS.Dread my lineage.CHORUS.Say!OEDIPUS.What must I answer, child, ah welladay!CHORUS.Say of what stock thou comest, what man’s son—OEDIPUS.Ah me, my daughter, now we are undone!ANTIGONE.Speak, for thou standest on the slippery verge.OEDIPUS.I will; no plea for silence can I urge.CHORUS.Will neither speak? Come, Sir, why dally thus!OEDIPUS.Know’st one of Laius’—CHORUS.Ha? Who!OEDIPUS.Seed of Labdacus—CHORUS.Oh Zeus!OEDIPUS.The hapless Oedipus.CHORUS.Art he?OEDIPUS.Whate’er I utter, have no fear of me.CHORUS.Begone!OEDIPUS.O wretched me!CHORUS.Begone!OEDIPUS.O daughter, what will hap anon?CHORUS.Forth from our borders speed ye both!OEDIPUS.How keep you then your troth?CHORUS.Heaven’s justice never smitesHim who ill with ill requites.But if guile with guile contend,Bane, not blessing, is the end.Arise, begone and take thee hence straightway,Lest on our land a heavier curse thou lay.ANTIGONE.O sirs! ye suffered not my father blind,Albeit gracious and to ruth inclined,Knowing the deeds he wrought, not innocent,But with no ill intent;Yet heed a maiden’s moanWho pleads for him alone;My eyes, not reft of sight,Plead with you as a daughter’s mightYou are our providence,O make us not go hence!O with a gracious nodGrant us the nigh despaired-of boon we crave?Hear us, O hear,But all that ye hold dear,Wife, children, homestead, hearth and God!Where will you find one, search ye ne’er so well.Who ’scapes perdition if a god impel!CHORUS.Surely we pity thee and him alikeDaughter of Oedipus, for your distress;But as we reverence the decrees of HeavenWe cannot say aught other than we said.OEDIPUS.O what avails renown or fair repute?Are they not vanity? For, look you, nowAthens is held of States the most devout,Athens alone gives hospitalityAnd shelters the vexed stranger, so men say.Have I found so? I whom ye dislodgedFirst from my seat of rock and now would driveForth 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 meetTo tell my mother’s story and my sire’s,The cause of this your fear. Yet am I thenA 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 godsAnd wrong them of their dues. Bethink ye well,The eye of Heaven beholds the just of men,And the unjust, nor ever in this worldHas one sole godless sinner found escape.Stand then on Heaven’s side and never blotAthens’ fair scutcheon by abetting wrong.I came to you a suppliant, and you pledgedYour honor; O preserve me to the end,O let not this marred visage do me wrong!A holy and god-fearing man is hereWhose 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 weMust 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 thoughtFor 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 StateAnd me! Who serves his neighbor serves himself.5ANTIGONE.Zeus! What is this? What can I say or think?OEDIPUS.What now, Antigone?ANTIGONE.I see a womanRiding upon a colt of Aetna’s breed;She wears for headgear a Thessalian hatTo shade her from the sun. Who can it be?She or a stranger? Do I wake or dream?’Tis she; ’tis not—I cannot tell, alack;It is no other! Now her bright’ning glanceGreets 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 nowWhen 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 newsI would myself deliver, so I cameWith 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 allAre framed and modeled on Egyptian ways.For there the men sit at the loom indoorsWhile the wives slave abroad for daily bread.So you, my children—those whom I behoovedTo bear the burden, stay at home like girls,While in their stead my daughters moil and drudge,Lightening their father’s misery. The oneSince first she grew from girlish feeblenessTo womanhood has been the old man’s guideAnd shared my weary wandering, roaming oftHungry and footsore through wild forest ways,In drenching rains and under scorching suns,Careless herself of home and ease, if soHer sire might have her tender ministry.And thou, my child, whilom thou wentest forth,Eluding the Cadmeians’ vigilance,To bring thy father all the oraclesConcerning Oedipus, and didst make thyselfMy 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 boreTo find thy lodging-place and how thou faredst,I spare thee; surely ’twere a double painTo suffer, first in act and then in telling;’Tis the misfortune of thine ill-starred sonsI come to tell thee. At the first they willedTo leave the throne to Creon, minded wellThus to remove the inveterate curse of old,A canker that infected all thy race.But now some god and an infatuate soulHave stirred betwixt them a mad rivalryTo 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 helpOf new alliance there and friends in arms,Swears he will stablish Argos straight as lordOf 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 hopeThe 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 timeTo 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 aloneThat 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 soKeep thee within their grasp, yet now allowThy 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.6OEDIPUS.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 ruleOutweighed 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 nowMay keep this throne, nor he who fled the realmReturn again.Theynever 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 graceWhich the state, yielding to my wish, allowed?Not so; for, mark you, on that very dayWhen in the tempest of my soul I cravedDeath, even death by stoning, none appearedTo further that wild longing, but anon,When time had numbed my anguish and I feltMy wrath had all outrun those errors past,Then, then it was the city went aboutBy force to oust me, respited for years;And then my sons, who should as sons have helped,Did nothing: and, one little word from themWas all I needed, and they spoke no word,But let me wander on for evermore,A banished man, a beggar. These two maidsTheir sisters, girls, gave all their sex could give,Food and safe harborage and filial care;While their two brethren sacrificed their sireFor 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 mightiestIn Thebes to seek me; for if ye my friends,Championed by those dread Powers indigenous,Espouse my cause; then for the State ye gainA great deliverer, for my foemen bane.CHORUS.Our pity, Oedipus, thou needs must move,Thou and these maidens; and the stronger pleaThou 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 fetchedWith 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 drainedTo 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 spraysWith 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 deignTo 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 amDoubly, 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 sacrificeOf thousands, if his heart be leal and true.So to your work with speed, but leave me notUntended; for this frame is all too weekTo move without the help of guiding hand.ISMENE.Then I will go perform these rites, but whereTo 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, meanwhileMust guard our father. In a parent’s causeToil, if there be toil, is of no account.[Exit ISMENE]CHORUS.(Str. 1)Ill it is, stranger, to awakePain that long since has ceased to ache,And yet I fain would hear—OEDIPUS.What thing?CHORUS.Thy tale of cruel sufferingFor which no cure was found,The fate that held thee bound.OEDIPUS.O bid me not (as guest I claimThis 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 aroundAn all unwitting bridegroom boundAn impious marriage chain;That was my bane.CHORUS.Didst thou in sooth then shareA 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 deepBack 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 wonThat 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 floodWhelms 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 innocentIn 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 wayMade my conjecture doubly sure; and nowThy garb and that marred visage prove to meThat thou art he. So pitying thine estate,Most ill-starred Oedipus, I fain would knowWhat is the suit ye urge on me and Athens,Thou and the helpless maiden at thy side.Declare it; dire indeed must be the taleWhereatIshould recoil. I too was reared,Like thee, in exile, and in foreign landsWrestled with many perils, no man more.Wherefore no alien in adversityShall seek in vain my succor, nor shalt thou;I know myself a mortal, and my shareIn what the morrow brings no more than thine.OEDIPUS.Theseus, thy words so apt, so generousSo comfortable, need no long replyBoth who I am and of what lineage sprung,And from what land I came, thou hast declared.So without prologue I may utter nowMy 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 worthMore 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 methinksTo rest in banishment befits not thee.OEDIPUS.Nay, whenIwished ittheywould 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 bloodI was expelled my country, and can ne’erThither return again, a parricide.THESEUS.Why fetch thee home if thou must needs obey.THESEUS.What are they threatened by the oracle?OEDIPUS.Destruction that awaits them in this land.THESEUS.What can beget ill blood ’twixt them and me?OEDIPUS.Dear son of Aegeus, to the gods aloneIs given immunity from eld and death;But nothing else escapes all-ruinous time.Earth’s might decays, the might of men decays,Honor grows cold, dishonor flourishes,There is no constancy ’twixt friend and friend,Or city and city; be it soon or late,Sweet turns to bitter, hate once more to love.If now ’tis sunshine betwixt Thebes and theeAnd not a cloud, Time in his endless courseGives birth to endless days and nights, whereinThe merest nothing shall suffice to cutWith serried spears your bonds of amity.Then shall my slumbering and buried corpseIn its cold grave drink their warm life-blood up,If Zeus be Zeus and Phoebus still speak true.No more: ’tis ill to tear aside the veilOf mysteries; let me cease as I began:Enough if thou wilt keep thy plighted troth,Then shall thou ne’er complain that OedipusProved an unprofitable and thankless guest,Except the gods themselves shall play me false.CHORUS.The man, my lord, has from the very firstDeclared his power to offer to our landThese and like benefits.THESEUS.Who could rejectThe proffered amity of such a friend?First, he can claim the hospitalityTo which by mutual contract we stand pledged:Next, coming here, a suppliant to the gods,He pays full tribute to the State and me;His favors therefore never will I spurn,But grant him the full rights of citizen;And, if it suits the stranger here to bide,I place him in your charge, or if he pleaseRather to come with me—choose, Oedipus,Which of the two thou wilt. Thy choice is mine.OEDIPUS.Zeus, may the blessing fall on men like these!THESEUS.What dost thou then decide—to come with me?OEDIPUS.Yea, were it lawful—but ’tis rather here—THESEUS.What wouldst thou here? I shall not thwart thy wish.OEDIPUS.Here shall I vanquish those who cast me forth.THESEUS.Then were thy presence here a boon indeed.OEDIPUS.Such shall it prove, if thou fulfill’st thy pledge.THESEUS.Fear not for me; I shall not play thee false.OEDIPUS.No need to back thy promise with an oath.THESEUS.An oath would be no surer than my word.OEDIPUS.How wilt thou act then?THESEUS.What is it thou fear’st?OEDIPUS.My foes will come—THESEUS.Our friends will look to that.OEDIPUS.But if thou leave me?THESEUS.Teach me not my duty.OEDIPUS.’Tis fear constrains me.THESEUS.Mysoul knows no fear!OEDIPUS.Thou knowest not what threats—THESEUS.I know that noneShall hale thee hence in my despite. Such threatsVented in anger oft, are blusterers,An idle breath, forgot when sense returns.And for thy foemen, though their words were brave,Boasting to bring thee back, they are like to findThe seas between us wide and hard to sail.Such my firm purpose, but in any caseTake heart, since Phoebus sent thee here. My name,Though I be distant, warrants thee from harm.CHORUS.(Str. 1)Thou hast come to a steed-famed land for rest,O stranger worn with toil,To a land of all lands the goodliestColonus’ glistening soil.’Tis the haunt of the clear-voiced nightingale,Who hid in her bower, amongThe wine-dark ivy that wreathes the vale,Trilleth her ceaseless song;And she loves, where the clustering berries nodO’er a sunless, windless glade,The spot by no mortal footstep trod,The pleasance kept for the Bacchic god,Where he holds each night his revels wildWith the nymphs who fostered the lusty child.(Ant. 1)And fed each morn by the pearly dewThe starred narcissi shine,And a wreath with the crocus’ golden hueFor the Mother and Daughter twine.And never the sleepless fountains ceaseThat feed Cephisus’ stream,But they swell earth’s bosom with quick increase,And their wave hath a crystal gleam.And the Muses’ quire will never disdainTo visit this heaven-favored plain,Nor the Cyprian queen of the golden rein.(Str. 2)And here there grows, unpruned, untamed,Terror to foemen’s spear,A tree in Asian soil unnamed,By Pelops’ Dorian isle unclaimed,Self-nurtured year by year;’Tis the grey-leaved olive that feeds our boys;Nor youth nor withering age destroysThe plant that the Olive Planter tendsAnd the Grey-eyed Goddess herself defends.(Ant. 2)Yet another gift, of all gifts the mostPrized by our fatherland, we boast—The might of the horse, the might of the sea;Our fame, Poseidon, we owe to thee,Son of Kronos, our king divine,Who in these highways first didst fitFor the mouth of horses the iron bit;Thou too hast taught us to fashion meetFor the arm of the rower the oar-blade fleet,Swift as the Nereids’ hundred feetAs they dance along the brine.ANTIGONE.Oh land extolled above all lands, ’tis nowFor thee to make these glorious titles good.OEDIPUS.Why this appeal, my daughter?ANTIGONE.Father, lo!Creon approaches with his company.OEDIPUS.Fear not, it shall be so; if we are old,This country’s vigor has no touch of age.[Enter CREON with attendants]CREON.Burghers, my noble friends, ye take alarmAt my approach (I read it in your eyes),Fear nothing and refrain from angry words.I come with no ill purpose; I am old,And know the city whither I am come,Without a peer amongst the powers of Greece.It was by reason of my years that IWas chosen to persuade your guest and bringHim back to Thebes; not the delegateOf one man, but commissioned by the State,Since of all Thebans I have most bewailed,Being his kinsman, his most grievous woes.O listen to me, luckless Oedipus,Come home! The whole Cadmeian people claimWith right to have thee back, I most of all,For most of all (else were I vile indeed)I mourn for thy misfortunes, seeing theeAn aged outcast, wandering on and on,A beggar with one handmaid for thy stay.Ah! who had e’er imagined she could fallTo such a depth of misery as this,To tend in penury thy stricken frame,A virgin ripe for wedlock, but unwed,A prey for any wanton ravisher?Seems it not cruel this reproach I castOn thee and on myself and all the race?Aye, but an open shame cannot be hid.Hide it, O hide it, Oedipus, thou canst.O, by our fathers’ gods, consent I pray;Come back to Thebes, come to thy father’s home,Bid Athens, as is meet, a fond farewell;Thebes thy old foster-mother claims thee first.OEDIPUS.O front of brass, thy subtle tongue would twistTo thy advantage every plea of rightWhy try thy arts on me, why spread againToils where ’twould gall me sorest to be snared?In old days when by self-wrought woes distraught,I yearned for exile as a glad release,Thy will refused the favor then I craved.But when my frenzied grief had spent its force,And I was fain to taste the sweets of home,Then thou wouldst thrust me from my country, thenThese ties of kindred were by thee ignored;And now again when thou behold’st this StateAnd all its kindly people welcome me,Thou seek’st to part us, wrapping in soft wordsHard thoughts. And yet what pleasure canst thou findIn forcing friendship on unwilling foes?Suppose a man refused to grant some boonWhen you importuned him, and afterwardsWhen you had got your heart’s desire, consented,Granting a grace from which all grace had fled,Would not such favor seem an empty boon?Yet such the boon thou profferest now to me,Fair in appearance, but when tested false.Yea, I will proved thee false, that these may hear;Thou art come to take me, not to take me home,But plant me on thy borders, that thy StateMay so escape annoyance from this land.Thatthou shalt never gain, butthisinstead—My ghost to haunt thy country without end;And for my sons, this heritage—no more—Just room to die in. Have not I more skillThan thou to draw the horoscope of Thebes?Are not my teachers surer guides than thine—Great Phoebus and the sire of Phoebus, Zeus?Thou art a messenger suborned, thy tongueIs sharper than a sword’s edge, yet thy speechWill bring thee more defeats than victories.Howbeit, I know I waste my words—begone,And leave me here; whate’er may be my lot,He lives not ill who lives withal content.CREON.Which loses in this parley, I o’erthrownBy thee, or thou who overthrow’st thyself?OEDIPUS.I shall be well contented if thy suitFails with these strangers, as it has with me.CREON.Unhappy man, will years ne’er make thee wise?Must thou live on to cast a slur on age?OEDIPUS.Thou hast a glib tongue, but no honest man,Methinks, can argue well on any side.CREON.’Tis one thing to speak much, another well.OEDIPUS.Thy words, forsooth, are few and all well aimed!CREON.Not for a man indeed with wits like thine.OEDIPUS.Depart! I bid thee in these burghers’ name,And prowl no longer round me to blockadeMy destined harbor.CREON.I protest to these,Not thee, and for thine answer to thy kin,If e’er I take thee—OEDIPUS.Who against their willCould take me?CREON.Though untaken thou shalt smart.OEDIPUS.What power hast thou to execute this threat?CREON.One of thy daughters is already seized,The other I will carry off anon.OEDIPUS.Woe, woe!CREON.This is but prelude to thy woes.OEDIPUS.Hast thou my child?CREON.And soon shall have the other.OEDIPUS.Ho, friends! ye will not surely play me false?Chase this ungodly villain from your land.CHORUS.Hence, stranger, hence avaunt! Thou doest wrongIn this, and wrong in all that thou hast done.CREON (to his guards).’Tis time by force to carry off the girl,If she refuse of her free will to go.ANTIGONE.Ah, woe is me! where shall I fly, where findSuccor from gods or men?CHORUS.What would’st thou, stranger?CREON.I meddle not with him, but her who is mine.OEDIPUS.O princes of the land!CHORUS.Sir, thou dost wrong.CREON.Nay, right.CHORUS.How right?CREON.I take but what is mine.OEDIPUS.Help, Athens!CHORUS.What means this, sirrah? quick unhand her, orWe’ll fight it out.CREON.Back!CHORUS.Not till thou forbear.CREON.’Tis war with Thebes if I am touched or harmed.OEDIPUS.Did I not warn thee?CHORUS.Quick, unhand the maid!CREON.Command your minions; I am not your slave.CHORUS.Desist, I bid thee.CREON (to the guard)And O bid thee march!CHORUS.To the rescue, one and all!Rally, neighbors to my call!See, the foe is at the gate!Rally to defend the State.ANTIGONE.Ah, woe is me, they drag me hence, O friends.OEDIPUS.Where art thou, daughter?ANTIGONE.Haled along by force.OEDIPUS.Thy hands, my child!ANTIGONE.They will not let me, father.CREON.Away with her!OEDIPUS.Ah, woe is me, ah woe!CREON.So those two crutches shall no longer serve theeFor further roaming. Since it pleaseth theeTo triumph o’er thy country and thy friendsWho mandate, though a prince, I here discharge,Enjoy thy triumph; soon or late thou’lt findThou art an enemy to thyself, both nowAnd in time past, when in despite of friendsThou gav’st the rein to passion, still thy bane.CHORUS.Hold there, sir stranger!CREON.Hands off, have a care.CHORUS.Restore the maidens, else thou goest not.CREON.Then Thebes will take a dearer surety soon;I will lay hands on more than these two maids.CHORUS.What canst thou further?CREON.Carry off this man.CHORUS.Brave words!CREON.And deeds forthwith shall make them good.CHORUS.Unless perchance our sovereign intervene.OEDIPUS.O shameless voice! Would’st lay an hand on me?CREON.Silence, I bid thee!OEDIPUS.Goddesses, allowThy suppliant to utter yet one curse!Wretch, now my eyes are gone thou hast torn awayThe helpless maiden who was eyes to me;For these to thee and all thy cursed raceMay the great Sun, whose eye is everywhere,Grant length of days and old age like to mine.CREON.Listen, O men of Athens, mark ye this?OEDIPUS.They mark us both and understand that IWronged by the deeds defend myself with words.CREON.Nothing shall curb my will; though I be oldAnd single-handed, I will have this man.OEDIPUS.O woe is me!CHORUS.Thou art a bold man, stranger, if thou think’stTo execute thy purpose.CREON.So I do.CHORUS.Then shall I deem this State no more a State.CREON.With a just quarrel weakness conquers might.OEDIPUS.Ye hear his words?CHORUS.Aye words, but not yet deeds,Zeus knoweth!CREON.Zeus may haply know, not thou.CHORUS.Insolence!CREON.Insolence that thou must bear.CHORUS.Haste ye princes, sound the alarm!Men of Athens, arm ye, arm!Quickly to the rescue comeEre the robbers get them home.[Enter THESEUS]THESEUS.Why this outcry? What is forward? wherefore was I called awayFrom the altar of Poseidon, lord of your Colonus? Say!On what errand have I hurried hither without stop or stay.OEDIPUS.Dear friend—those accents tell me who thou art—Yon man but now hath done me a foul wrong.THESEUS.What is this wrong and who hath wrought it? Speak.OEDIPUS.Creon who stands before thee. He it isHath robbed me of my all, my daughters twain.THESEUS.What means this?OEDIPUS.Thou hast heard my tale of wrongs.THESEUS.Ho! hasten to the altars, one of you.Command my liegemen leave the sacrificeAnd hurry, foot and horse, with rein unchecked,To where the paths that packmen use diverge,Lest the two maidens slip away, and IBecome a mockery to this my guest,As one despoiled by force. Quick, as I bid.As for this stranger, had I let my rage,Justly provoked, have play, he had not ’scapedScathless and uncorrected at my hands.But now the laws to which himself appealed,These and none others shall adjudicate.Thou shalt not quit this land, till thou hast fetchedThe maidens and produced them in my sight.Thou hast offended both against myselfAnd thine own race and country. Having comeUnto a State that champions right and asksFor every action warranty of law,Thou hast set aside the custom of the land,And like some freebooter art carrying offWhat plunder pleases thee, as if forsoothThou thoughtest this a city without men,Or manned by slaves, and me a thing of naught.Yet not from Thebes this villainy was learnt;Thebes is not wont to breed unrighteous sons,Nor would she praise thee, if she learnt that thouWert robbing me—aye and the gods to boot,Haling by force their suppliants, poor maids.Were I on Theban soil, to prosecuteThe justest claim imaginable, IWould never wrest by violence my ownWithout sanction of your State or King;I should behave as fits an outlanderLiving amongst a foreign folk, but thouShamest a city that deserves it not,Even thine own, and plentitude of yearsHave made of thee an old man and a fool.Therefore again I charge thee as before,See that the maidens are restored at once,Unless thou would’st continue here by forceAnd not by choice a sojourner; so muchI tell thee home and what I say, I mean.CHORUS.Thy case is perilous; though by birth and raceThou should’st be just, thou plainly doest wrong.CREON.Not deeming this city void of menOr counsel, son of Aegeus, as thou say’stI did what I have done; rather I thoughtYour people were not like to set such storeby kin of mine and keep them ’gainst my will.Nor would they harbor, so I stood assured,A godless parricide, a reprobateConvicted of incestuous marriage ties.For on her native hill of Ares here(I knew your far-famed Areopagus)Sits Justice, and permits not vagrant folkTo stay within your borders. In that faithI hunted down my quarry; and e’en thenI had refrained but for the curses direWherewith he banned my kinsfolk and myself:Such wrong, methought, had warrant for my act.Anger has no old age but only death;The dead alone can feel no touch of spite.So thou must work thy will; my cause is justBut weak without allies; yet will I try,Old as I am, to answer deeds with deeds.OEDIPUS.O shameless railer, think’st thou this abuseDefames my grey hairs rather than thine own?Murder and incest, deeds of horror, allThou blurtest forth against me, all I have borne,No willing sinner; so it pleased the godsWrath haply with my sinful race of old,Since thou could’st find no sin in me myselfFor which in retribution I was doomedTo trespass thus against myself and mine.Answer me now, if by some oracleMy sire was destined to a bloody endBy a son’s hand, can this reflect on me,Me then unborn, begotten by no sire,Conceived in no mother’s womb? And ifWhen born to misery, as born I was,I met my sire, not knowing whom I metor what I did, and slew him, how canst thouWith justice blame the all-unconscious hand?And for my mother, wretch, art not ashamed,Seeing she was thy sister, to extortFrom me the story of her marriage, suchA marriage as I straightway will proclaim.For I will speak; thy lewd and impious speechHas broken all the bonds of reticence.She was, ah woe is me! she was my mother;I knew it not, nor she; and she my motherBare children to the son whom she had borne,A birth of shame. But this at least I knowWittingly thou aspersest her and me;But I unwitting wed, unwilling speak.Nay neither in this marriage or this deedWhich thou art ever casting in my teeth—A murdered sire—shall I be held to blame.Come, answer me one question, if thou canst:If one should presently attempt thy life,Would’st thou, O man of justice, first inquireIf the assassin was perchance thy sire,Or turn upon him? As thou lov’st thy life,On thy aggressor thou would’st turn, no stayDebating, if the law would bear thee out.Such was my case, and such the pass wheretoThe gods reduced me; and methinks my sire,Could he come back to life, would not dissent.Yet thou, for just thou art not, but a manWho sticks at nothing, if it serve his plea,Reproachest me with this before these men.It serves thy turn to laud great Theseus’ name,And Athens as a wisely governed State;Yet in thy flatteries one thing is to seek:If any land knows how to pay the godsTheir proper rites, ’tis Athens most of all.This is the land whence thou wast fain to stealTheir aged suppliant and hast carried offMy daughters. Therefore to yon goddesses,I turn, adjure them and invoke their aidTo champion my cause, that thou mayest learnWhat is the breed of men who guard this State.CHORUS.An honest man, my liege, one sore besteadBy fortune, and so worthy our support.THESEUS.Enough of words; the captors speed amain,While we the victims stand debating here.CREON.What would’st thou? What can I, a feeble man?THESEUS.Show us the trail, and I’ll attend thee too,That, if thou hast the maidens hereabouts,Thou mayest thyself discover them to me;But if thy guards outstrip us with their spoil,We may draw rein; for others speed, from whomThey will not ’scape to thank the gods at home.Lead on, I say, the captor’s caught, and fateHath ta’en the fowler in the toils he spread;So soon are lost gains gotten by deceit.And look not for allies; I know indeedSuch height of insolence was never reachedWithout abettors or accomplices;Thou hast some backer in thy bold essay,But I will search this matter home and seeOne man doth not prevail against the State.Dost take my drift, or seem these words as vainAs seemed our warnings when the plot was hatched?CREON.Nothing thou sayest can I here dispute,But once at home I too shall act my part.THESEUS.Threaten us and—begone! Thou, Oedipus,Stay here assured that nothing save my deathWill stay my purpose to restore the maids.OEDIPUS.Heaven bless thee, Theseus, for thy noblenessAnd all thy loving care in my behalf.[Exeunt THESEUS and CREON]CHORUS.(Str. 1)O when the flying foe,Turning at last to bay,Soon will give blow for blow,Might I behold the fray;Hear the loud battle roarSwell, on the Pythian shore,Or by the torch-lit bay,Where the dread Queen and MaidCherish the mystic rites,Rites they to none betray,Ere on his lips is laidSecrecy’s golden keyBy their own acolytes,Priestly Eumolpidae.There I might chance beholdTheseus our captain boldMeet with the robber band,Ere they have fled the land,Rescue by might and mainMaidens, the captives twain.(Ant. 1)Haply on swiftest steed,Or in the flying car,Now they approach the glen,West of white Oea’s scaur.They will be vanquished:Dread are our warriors, dreadTheseus our chieftain’s men.Flashes each bridle bright,Charges each gallant knight,All that our Queen adore,Pallas their patron, orHim whose wide floods enringEarth, the great Ocean-kingWhom Rhea bore.(Str. 2)Fight they or now prepareTo fight? a vision rareTells me that soon againI shall behold the twainMaidens so ill bestead,By their kin buffeted.Today, today Zeus worketh some great thingThis day shall victory bring.O for the wings, the wings of a dove,To be borne with the speed of the gale,Up and still upwards to sailAnd gaze on the fray from the clouds above.(Ant. 2)All-seeing Zeus, O lord of heaven,To our guardian host be givenMight triumphant to surpriseFlying foes and win their prize.Hear us, Zeus, and hear us, childOf Zeus, Athene undefiled,Hear, Apollo, hunter, hear,Huntress, sister of Apollo,Who the dappled swift-foot deerO’er the wooded glade dost follow;Help with your two-fold powerAthens in danger’s hour!O wayfarer, thou wilt not have to taxThe friends who watch for thee with false presage,For lo, an escort with the maids draws near.[Enter ANTIGONE and ISMENE with THESEUS]
Enter the blind OEDIPUS led by his daughter, ANTIGONE.
OEDIPUS.Child of an old blind sire, Antigone,What region, say, whose city have we reached?Who will provide today with scanted doleThis wanderer? ’Tis little that he craves,And less obtains—that less enough for me;For I am taught by suffering to endure,And the long years that have grown old with me,And last not least, by true nobility.My daughter, if thou seest a resting placeOn common ground or by some sacred grove,Stay me and set me down. Let us discoverWhere we have come, for strangers must inquireOf denizens, and do as they are bid.
ANTIGONE.Long-suffering father, Oedipus, the towersThat fence the city still are faint and far;But where we stand is surely holy ground;A wilderness of laurel, olive, vine;Within a choir or songster nightingalesAre warbling. On this native seat of rockRest; for an old man thou hast traveled far.
OEDIPUS.Guide these dark steps and seat me there secure.
ANTIGONE.If time can teach, I need not to be told.
OEDIPUS.Say, prithee, if thou knowest, where we are.
ANTIGONE.Athens I recognize, but not the spot.
OEDIPUS.That much we heard from every wayfarer.
ANTIGONE.Shall I go on and ask about the place?
OEDIPUS.Yes, daughter, if it be inhabited.
ANTIGONE.Sure there are habitations; but no needTo leave thee; yonder is a man hard by.
OEDIPUS.What, moving hitherward and on his way?
ANTIGONE.Say rather, here already. Ask him straightThe needful questions, for the man is here.[Enter STRANGER]
OEDIPUS.O stranger, as I learn from her whose eyesMust serve both her and me, that thou art hereSent by some happy chance to serve our doubts—
STRANGER.First quit that seat, then question me at large:The spot thou treadest on is holy ground.
OEDIPUS.What is the site, to what god dedicate?
STRANGER.Inviolable, untrod; goddesses,Dread brood of Earth and Darkness, here abide.
OEDIPUS.Tell me the awful name I should invoke?
STRANGER.The Gracious Ones, All-seeing, so our folkCall them, but elsewhere other names are rife.
OEDIPUS.Then may they show their suppliant grace, for IFrom this your sanctuary will ne’er depart.
STRANGER.What word is this?
OEDIPUS.The watchword of my fate.
STRANGER.Nay, ’tis not mine to bid thee hence withoutDue warrant and instruction from the State.
OEDIPUS.Now in God’s name, O stranger, scorn me notAs a wayfarer; tell me what I crave.
STRANGER.Ask; your request shall not be scorned by me.
OEDIPUS.How call you then the place wherein we bide?
STRANGER.Whate’er I know thou too shalt know; the placeIs all to great Poseidon consecrate.Hard by, the Titan, he who bears the torch,Prometheus, has his worship; but the spotThou treadest, the Brass-footed Threshold named,Is Athens’ bastion, and the neighboring landsClaim as their chief and patron yonder knightColonus, and in common bear his name.Such, stranger, is the spot, to fame unknown,But dear to us its native worshipers.
OEDIPUS.Thou sayest there are dwellers in these parts?
STRANGER.Surely; they bear the name of yonder god.
OEDIPUS.Ruled by a king or by the general voice?
STRANGER.The lord of Athens is our over-lord.
OEDIPUS.Who is this monarch, great in word and might?
STRANGER.Theseus, the son of Aegeus our late king.
OEDIPUS.Might one be sent from you to summon him?
STRANGER.Wherefore? To tell him aught or urge his coming?
OEDIPUS.Say a slight service may avail him much.
STRANGER.How can he profit from a sightless man?
OEDIPUS.The blind man’s words will be instinct with sight.
STRANGER.Heed then; I fain would see thee out of harm;For by the looks, marred though they be by fate,I judge thee noble; tarry where thou art,While I go seek the burghers—those at hand,Not in the city. They will soon decideWhether thou art to rest or go thy way.[Exit STRANGER]
OEDIPUS.Tell me, my daughter, has the stranger gone?
ANTIGONE.Yes, he has gone; now we are all alone,And thou may’st speak, dear father, without fear.
OEDIPUS.Stern-visaged queens, since coming to this landFirst in your sanctuary I bent the knee,Frown not on me or Phoebus, who, when erstHe told me all my miseries to come,Spake of this respite after many years,Some haven in a far-off land, a restVouchsafed at last by dread divinities.“There,” said he, “shalt thou round thy weary life,A blessing to the land wherein thou dwell’st,But to the land that cast thee forth, a curse.”And of my weird he promised signs should come,Earthquake, or thunderclap, or lightning flash.And now I recognize as yours the signThat led my wanderings to this your grove;Else had I never lighted on you first,A wineless man on your seat of native rock.O goddesses, fulfill Apollo’s word,Grant me some consummation of my life,If haply I appear not all too vile,A thrall to sorrow worse than any slave.Hear, gentle daughters of primeval Night,Hear, namesake of great Pallas; Athens, firstOf cities, pity this dishonored shade,The ghost of him who once was Oedipus.
ANTIGONE.Hush! for I see some grey-beards on their way,Their errand to spy out our resting-place.
OEDIPUS.I will be mute, and thou shalt guide my stepsInto the covert from the public road,Till I have learned their drift. A prudent manWill ever shape his course by what he learns.[Enter CHORUS]
CHORUS.(Str. 1)Ha! Where is he? Look around!Every nook and corner scan!He the all-presumptuous man,Whither vanished? search the ground!A wayfarer, I ween,A wayfarer, no countryman of ours,That old man must have been;Never had native dared to tempt the Powers,Or enter their demesne,The Maids in awe of whom each mortal cowers,Whose name no voice betrays nor cry,And as we pass them with averted eye,We move hushed lips in reverent piety.But now some godless man,’Tis rumored, here abides;The precincts through I scan,Yet wot not where he hides,The wretch profane!I search and search in vain.
OEDIPUS.I am that man; I know you nearEars to the blind, they say, are eyes.
CHORUS.O dread to see and dread to hear!
OEDIPUS.Oh sirs, I am no outlaw under ban.
CHORUS.Who can he be—Zeus save us!—this old man?
OEDIPUS.No favorite of fate,That ye should envy his estate,O, Sirs, would any happy mortal, say,Grope by the light of other eyes his way,Or face the storm upon so frail a stay?
CHORUS.(Ant. 1)Wast thou then sightless from thy birth?Evil, methinks, and longThy pilgrimage on earth.Yet add not curse to curse and wrong to wrong.I warn thee, trespass notWithin this hallowed spot,Lest thou shouldst find the silent grassy gladeWhere offerings are laid,Bowls of spring water mingled with sweet mead.Thou must not stay,Come, come away,Tired wanderer, dost thou heed?(We are far off, but sure our voice can reach.)If aught thou wouldst beseech,Speak where ’tis right; till then refrain from speech.
OEDIPUS.Daughter, what counsel should we now pursue?
ANTIGONE.We must obey and do as here they do.
OEDIPUS.Thy hand then!
ANTIGONE.Here, O father, is my hand,
OEDIPUS.O Sirs, if I come forth at your command,Let me not suffer for my confidence.
CHORUS.(Str. 2)Against thy will no man shall drive thee hence.
OEDIPUS.Shall I go further?
CHORUS.Aye.
OEDIPUS.What further still?
CHORUS.Lead maiden, thou canst guide him where we will.ANTIGONE4* * * * * *
OEDIPUS.* * * * * *
ANTIGONE.* * * * * *Follow with blind steps, father, as I lead.
OEDIPUS.* * * * * *
CHORUS.In a strange land strange thou art;To her will incline thy heart;Honor whatso’er the StateHonors, all she frowns on hate.
OEDIPUS.Guide me child, where we may rangeSafe within the paths of right;Counsel freely may exchangeNor with fate and fortune fight.
CHORUS.(Ant. 2)Halt! Go no further than that rocky floor.
OEDIPUS.Stay where I now am?
CHORUS.Yes, advance no more.
OEDIPUS.May I sit down?
CHORUS.Move sideways towards the ledge,And sit thee crouching on the scarped edge.
ANTIGONE.This is my office, father, O incline—
OEDIPUS.Ah me! ah me!
ANTIGONE.Thy steps to my steps, lean thine aged frame on mine.
OEDIPUS.Woe on my fate unblest!
CHORUS.Wanderer, now thou art at rest,Tell me of thy birth and home,From what far country art thou come,Led on thy weary way, declare!
OEDIPUS.Strangers, I have no country. O forbear—
CHORUS.What is it, old man, that thou wouldst conceal?
OEDIPUS.Forbear, nor urge me further to reveal—
CHORUS.Why this reluctance?
OEDIPUS.Dread my lineage.
CHORUS.Say!
OEDIPUS.What must I answer, child, ah welladay!
CHORUS.Say of what stock thou comest, what man’s son—
OEDIPUS.Ah me, my daughter, now we are undone!
ANTIGONE.Speak, for thou standest on the slippery verge.
OEDIPUS.I will; no plea for silence can I urge.
CHORUS.Will neither speak? Come, Sir, why dally thus!
OEDIPUS.Know’st one of Laius’—
CHORUS.Ha? Who!
OEDIPUS.Seed of Labdacus—
CHORUS.Oh Zeus!
OEDIPUS.The hapless Oedipus.
CHORUS.Art he?
OEDIPUS.Whate’er I utter, have no fear of me.
CHORUS.Begone!
OEDIPUS.O wretched me!
CHORUS.Begone!
OEDIPUS.O daughter, what will hap anon?
CHORUS.Forth from our borders speed ye both!
OEDIPUS.How keep you then your troth?
CHORUS.Heaven’s justice never smitesHim who ill with ill requites.But if guile with guile contend,Bane, not blessing, is the end.Arise, begone and take thee hence straightway,Lest on our land a heavier curse thou lay.
ANTIGONE.O sirs! ye suffered not my father blind,Albeit gracious and to ruth inclined,Knowing the deeds he wrought, not innocent,But with no ill intent;Yet heed a maiden’s moanWho pleads for him alone;My eyes, not reft of sight,Plead with you as a daughter’s mightYou are our providence,O make us not go hence!O with a gracious nodGrant us the nigh despaired-of boon we crave?Hear us, O hear,But all that ye hold dear,Wife, children, homestead, hearth and God!Where will you find one, search ye ne’er so well.Who ’scapes perdition if a god impel!
CHORUS.Surely we pity thee and him alikeDaughter of Oedipus, for your distress;But as we reverence the decrees of HeavenWe cannot say aught other than we said.
OEDIPUS.O what avails renown or fair repute?Are they not vanity? For, look you, nowAthens is held of States the most devout,Athens alone gives hospitalityAnd shelters the vexed stranger, so men say.Have I found so? I whom ye dislodgedFirst from my seat of rock and now would driveForth 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 meetTo tell my mother’s story and my sire’s,The cause of this your fear. Yet am I thenA 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 godsAnd wrong them of their dues. Bethink ye well,The eye of Heaven beholds the just of men,And the unjust, nor ever in this worldHas one sole godless sinner found escape.Stand then on Heaven’s side and never blotAthens’ fair scutcheon by abetting wrong.I came to you a suppliant, and you pledgedYour honor; O preserve me to the end,O let not this marred visage do me wrong!A holy and god-fearing man is hereWhose 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 weMust 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 thoughtFor 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 StateAnd 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 womanRiding upon a colt of Aetna’s breed;She wears for headgear a Thessalian hatTo shade her from the sun. Who can it be?She or a stranger? Do I wake or dream?’Tis she; ’tis not—I cannot tell, alack;It is no other! Now her bright’ning glanceGreets 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 nowWhen 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 newsI would myself deliver, so I cameWith 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 allAre framed and modeled on Egyptian ways.For there the men sit at the loom indoorsWhile the wives slave abroad for daily bread.So you, my children—those whom I behoovedTo bear the burden, stay at home like girls,While in their stead my daughters moil and drudge,Lightening their father’s misery. The oneSince first she grew from girlish feeblenessTo womanhood has been the old man’s guideAnd shared my weary wandering, roaming oftHungry and footsore through wild forest ways,In drenching rains and under scorching suns,Careless herself of home and ease, if soHer sire might have her tender ministry.And thou, my child, whilom thou wentest forth,Eluding the Cadmeians’ vigilance,To bring thy father all the oraclesConcerning Oedipus, and didst make thyselfMy 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 boreTo find thy lodging-place and how thou faredst,I spare thee; surely ’twere a double painTo suffer, first in act and then in telling;’Tis the misfortune of thine ill-starred sonsI come to tell thee. At the first they willedTo leave the throne to Creon, minded wellThus to remove the inveterate curse of old,A canker that infected all thy race.But now some god and an infatuate soulHave stirred betwixt them a mad rivalryTo 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 helpOf new alliance there and friends in arms,Swears he will stablish Argos straight as lordOf 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 hopeThe 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 timeTo 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 aloneThat 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 soKeep thee within their grasp, yet now allowThy 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 ruleOutweighed 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 nowMay keep this throne, nor he who fled the realmReturn again.Theynever 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 graceWhich the state, yielding to my wish, allowed?Not so; for, mark you, on that very dayWhen in the tempest of my soul I cravedDeath, even death by stoning, none appearedTo further that wild longing, but anon,When time had numbed my anguish and I feltMy wrath had all outrun those errors past,Then, then it was the city went aboutBy force to oust me, respited for years;And then my sons, who should as sons have helped,Did nothing: and, one little word from themWas all I needed, and they spoke no word,But let me wander on for evermore,A banished man, a beggar. These two maidsTheir sisters, girls, gave all their sex could give,Food and safe harborage and filial care;While their two brethren sacrificed their sireFor 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 mightiestIn Thebes to seek me; for if ye my friends,Championed by those dread Powers indigenous,Espouse my cause; then for the State ye gainA great deliverer, for my foemen bane.
CHORUS.Our pity, Oedipus, thou needs must move,Thou and these maidens; and the stronger pleaThou 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 fetchedWith 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 drainedTo 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 spraysWith 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 deignTo 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 amDoubly, 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 sacrificeOf thousands, if his heart be leal and true.So to your work with speed, but leave me notUntended; for this frame is all too weekTo move without the help of guiding hand.
ISMENE.Then I will go perform these rites, but whereTo 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, meanwhileMust guard our father. In a parent’s causeToil, if there be toil, is of no account.[Exit ISMENE]
CHORUS.(Str. 1)Ill it is, stranger, to awakePain that long since has ceased to ache,And yet I fain would hear—
OEDIPUS.What thing?
CHORUS.Thy tale of cruel sufferingFor which no cure was found,The fate that held thee bound.
OEDIPUS.O bid me not (as guest I claimThis 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 aroundAn all unwitting bridegroom boundAn impious marriage chain;That was my bane.
CHORUS.Didst thou in sooth then shareA 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 deepBack 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 wonThat 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 floodWhelms 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 innocentIn 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 wayMade my conjecture doubly sure; and nowThy garb and that marred visage prove to meThat thou art he. So pitying thine estate,Most ill-starred Oedipus, I fain would knowWhat is the suit ye urge on me and Athens,Thou and the helpless maiden at thy side.Declare it; dire indeed must be the taleWhereatIshould recoil. I too was reared,Like thee, in exile, and in foreign landsWrestled with many perils, no man more.Wherefore no alien in adversityShall seek in vain my succor, nor shalt thou;I know myself a mortal, and my shareIn what the morrow brings no more than thine.
OEDIPUS.Theseus, thy words so apt, so generousSo comfortable, need no long replyBoth who I am and of what lineage sprung,And from what land I came, thou hast declared.So without prologue I may utter nowMy 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 worthMore 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 methinksTo rest in banishment befits not thee.
OEDIPUS.Nay, whenIwished ittheywould 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 bloodI was expelled my country, and can ne’erThither return again, a parricide.
THESEUS.Why fetch thee home if thou must needs obey.
THESEUS.What are they threatened by the oracle?
OEDIPUS.Destruction that awaits them in this land.
THESEUS.What can beget ill blood ’twixt them and me?
OEDIPUS.Dear son of Aegeus, to the gods aloneIs given immunity from eld and death;But nothing else escapes all-ruinous time.Earth’s might decays, the might of men decays,Honor grows cold, dishonor flourishes,There is no constancy ’twixt friend and friend,Or city and city; be it soon or late,Sweet turns to bitter, hate once more to love.If now ’tis sunshine betwixt Thebes and theeAnd not a cloud, Time in his endless courseGives birth to endless days and nights, whereinThe merest nothing shall suffice to cutWith serried spears your bonds of amity.Then shall my slumbering and buried corpseIn its cold grave drink their warm life-blood up,If Zeus be Zeus and Phoebus still speak true.No more: ’tis ill to tear aside the veilOf mysteries; let me cease as I began:Enough if thou wilt keep thy plighted troth,Then shall thou ne’er complain that OedipusProved an unprofitable and thankless guest,Except the gods themselves shall play me false.
CHORUS.The man, my lord, has from the very firstDeclared his power to offer to our landThese and like benefits.
THESEUS.Who could rejectThe proffered amity of such a friend?First, he can claim the hospitalityTo which by mutual contract we stand pledged:Next, coming here, a suppliant to the gods,He pays full tribute to the State and me;His favors therefore never will I spurn,But grant him the full rights of citizen;And, if it suits the stranger here to bide,I place him in your charge, or if he pleaseRather to come with me—choose, Oedipus,Which of the two thou wilt. Thy choice is mine.
OEDIPUS.Zeus, may the blessing fall on men like these!
THESEUS.What dost thou then decide—to come with me?
OEDIPUS.Yea, were it lawful—but ’tis rather here—
THESEUS.What wouldst thou here? I shall not thwart thy wish.
OEDIPUS.Here shall I vanquish those who cast me forth.
THESEUS.Then were thy presence here a boon indeed.
OEDIPUS.Such shall it prove, if thou fulfill’st thy pledge.
THESEUS.Fear not for me; I shall not play thee false.
OEDIPUS.No need to back thy promise with an oath.
THESEUS.An oath would be no surer than my word.
OEDIPUS.How wilt thou act then?
THESEUS.What is it thou fear’st?
OEDIPUS.My foes will come—
THESEUS.Our friends will look to that.
OEDIPUS.But if thou leave me?
THESEUS.Teach me not my duty.
OEDIPUS.’Tis fear constrains me.
THESEUS.Mysoul knows no fear!
OEDIPUS.Thou knowest not what threats—
THESEUS.I know that noneShall hale thee hence in my despite. Such threatsVented in anger oft, are blusterers,An idle breath, forgot when sense returns.And for thy foemen, though their words were brave,Boasting to bring thee back, they are like to findThe seas between us wide and hard to sail.Such my firm purpose, but in any caseTake heart, since Phoebus sent thee here. My name,Though I be distant, warrants thee from harm.
CHORUS.(Str. 1)Thou hast come to a steed-famed land for rest,O stranger worn with toil,To a land of all lands the goodliestColonus’ glistening soil.’Tis the haunt of the clear-voiced nightingale,Who hid in her bower, amongThe wine-dark ivy that wreathes the vale,Trilleth her ceaseless song;And she loves, where the clustering berries nodO’er a sunless, windless glade,The spot by no mortal footstep trod,The pleasance kept for the Bacchic god,Where he holds each night his revels wildWith the nymphs who fostered the lusty child.(Ant. 1)And fed each morn by the pearly dewThe starred narcissi shine,And a wreath with the crocus’ golden hueFor the Mother and Daughter twine.And never the sleepless fountains ceaseThat feed Cephisus’ stream,But they swell earth’s bosom with quick increase,And their wave hath a crystal gleam.And the Muses’ quire will never disdainTo visit this heaven-favored plain,Nor the Cyprian queen of the golden rein.(Str. 2)And here there grows, unpruned, untamed,Terror to foemen’s spear,A tree in Asian soil unnamed,By Pelops’ Dorian isle unclaimed,Self-nurtured year by year;’Tis the grey-leaved olive that feeds our boys;Nor youth nor withering age destroysThe plant that the Olive Planter tendsAnd the Grey-eyed Goddess herself defends.(Ant. 2)Yet another gift, of all gifts the mostPrized by our fatherland, we boast—The might of the horse, the might of the sea;Our fame, Poseidon, we owe to thee,Son of Kronos, our king divine,Who in these highways first didst fitFor the mouth of horses the iron bit;Thou too hast taught us to fashion meetFor the arm of the rower the oar-blade fleet,Swift as the Nereids’ hundred feetAs they dance along the brine.
ANTIGONE.Oh land extolled above all lands, ’tis nowFor thee to make these glorious titles good.
OEDIPUS.Why this appeal, my daughter?
ANTIGONE.Father, lo!Creon approaches with his company.
OEDIPUS.Fear not, it shall be so; if we are old,This country’s vigor has no touch of age.[Enter CREON with attendants]
CREON.Burghers, my noble friends, ye take alarmAt my approach (I read it in your eyes),Fear nothing and refrain from angry words.I come with no ill purpose; I am old,And know the city whither I am come,Without a peer amongst the powers of Greece.It was by reason of my years that IWas chosen to persuade your guest and bringHim back to Thebes; not the delegateOf one man, but commissioned by the State,Since of all Thebans I have most bewailed,Being his kinsman, his most grievous woes.O listen to me, luckless Oedipus,Come home! The whole Cadmeian people claimWith right to have thee back, I most of all,For most of all (else were I vile indeed)I mourn for thy misfortunes, seeing theeAn aged outcast, wandering on and on,A beggar with one handmaid for thy stay.Ah! who had e’er imagined she could fallTo such a depth of misery as this,To tend in penury thy stricken frame,A virgin ripe for wedlock, but unwed,A prey for any wanton ravisher?Seems it not cruel this reproach I castOn thee and on myself and all the race?Aye, but an open shame cannot be hid.Hide it, O hide it, Oedipus, thou canst.O, by our fathers’ gods, consent I pray;Come back to Thebes, come to thy father’s home,Bid Athens, as is meet, a fond farewell;Thebes thy old foster-mother claims thee first.
OEDIPUS.O front of brass, thy subtle tongue would twistTo thy advantage every plea of rightWhy try thy arts on me, why spread againToils where ’twould gall me sorest to be snared?In old days when by self-wrought woes distraught,I yearned for exile as a glad release,Thy will refused the favor then I craved.But when my frenzied grief had spent its force,And I was fain to taste the sweets of home,Then thou wouldst thrust me from my country, thenThese ties of kindred were by thee ignored;And now again when thou behold’st this StateAnd all its kindly people welcome me,Thou seek’st to part us, wrapping in soft wordsHard thoughts. And yet what pleasure canst thou findIn forcing friendship on unwilling foes?Suppose a man refused to grant some boonWhen you importuned him, and afterwardsWhen you had got your heart’s desire, consented,Granting a grace from which all grace had fled,Would not such favor seem an empty boon?Yet such the boon thou profferest now to me,Fair in appearance, but when tested false.Yea, I will proved thee false, that these may hear;Thou art come to take me, not to take me home,But plant me on thy borders, that thy StateMay so escape annoyance from this land.Thatthou shalt never gain, butthisinstead—My ghost to haunt thy country without end;And for my sons, this heritage—no more—Just room to die in. Have not I more skillThan thou to draw the horoscope of Thebes?Are not my teachers surer guides than thine—Great Phoebus and the sire of Phoebus, Zeus?Thou art a messenger suborned, thy tongueIs sharper than a sword’s edge, yet thy speechWill bring thee more defeats than victories.Howbeit, I know I waste my words—begone,And leave me here; whate’er may be my lot,He lives not ill who lives withal content.
CREON.Which loses in this parley, I o’erthrownBy thee, or thou who overthrow’st thyself?
OEDIPUS.I shall be well contented if thy suitFails with these strangers, as it has with me.
CREON.Unhappy man, will years ne’er make thee wise?Must thou live on to cast a slur on age?
OEDIPUS.Thou hast a glib tongue, but no honest man,Methinks, can argue well on any side.
CREON.’Tis one thing to speak much, another well.
OEDIPUS.Thy words, forsooth, are few and all well aimed!
CREON.Not for a man indeed with wits like thine.
OEDIPUS.Depart! I bid thee in these burghers’ name,And prowl no longer round me to blockadeMy destined harbor.
CREON.I protest to these,Not thee, and for thine answer to thy kin,If e’er I take thee—
OEDIPUS.Who against their willCould take me?
CREON.Though untaken thou shalt smart.
OEDIPUS.What power hast thou to execute this threat?
CREON.One of thy daughters is already seized,The other I will carry off anon.
OEDIPUS.Woe, woe!
CREON.This is but prelude to thy woes.
OEDIPUS.Hast thou my child?
CREON.And soon shall have the other.
OEDIPUS.Ho, friends! ye will not surely play me false?Chase this ungodly villain from your land.
CHORUS.Hence, stranger, hence avaunt! Thou doest wrongIn this, and wrong in all that thou hast done.
CREON (to his guards).’Tis time by force to carry off the girl,If she refuse of her free will to go.
ANTIGONE.Ah, woe is me! where shall I fly, where findSuccor from gods or men?
CHORUS.What would’st thou, stranger?
CREON.I meddle not with him, but her who is mine.
OEDIPUS.O princes of the land!
CHORUS.Sir, thou dost wrong.
CREON.Nay, right.
CHORUS.How right?
CREON.I take but what is mine.
OEDIPUS.Help, Athens!
CHORUS.What means this, sirrah? quick unhand her, orWe’ll fight it out.
CREON.Back!
CHORUS.Not till thou forbear.
CREON.’Tis war with Thebes if I am touched or harmed.
OEDIPUS.Did I not warn thee?
CHORUS.Quick, unhand the maid!
CREON.Command your minions; I am not your slave.
CHORUS.Desist, I bid thee.CREON (to the guard)And O bid thee march!
CHORUS.To the rescue, one and all!Rally, neighbors to my call!See, the foe is at the gate!Rally to defend the State.
ANTIGONE.Ah, woe is me, they drag me hence, O friends.
OEDIPUS.Where art thou, daughter?
ANTIGONE.Haled along by force.
OEDIPUS.Thy hands, my child!
ANTIGONE.They will not let me, father.
CREON.Away with her!
OEDIPUS.Ah, woe is me, ah woe!
CREON.So those two crutches shall no longer serve theeFor further roaming. Since it pleaseth theeTo triumph o’er thy country and thy friendsWho mandate, though a prince, I here discharge,Enjoy thy triumph; soon or late thou’lt findThou art an enemy to thyself, both nowAnd in time past, when in despite of friendsThou gav’st the rein to passion, still thy bane.
CHORUS.Hold there, sir stranger!
CREON.Hands off, have a care.
CHORUS.Restore the maidens, else thou goest not.
CREON.Then Thebes will take a dearer surety soon;I will lay hands on more than these two maids.
CHORUS.What canst thou further?
CREON.Carry off this man.
CHORUS.Brave words!
CREON.And deeds forthwith shall make them good.
CHORUS.Unless perchance our sovereign intervene.
OEDIPUS.O shameless voice! Would’st lay an hand on me?
CREON.Silence, I bid thee!
OEDIPUS.Goddesses, allowThy suppliant to utter yet one curse!Wretch, now my eyes are gone thou hast torn awayThe helpless maiden who was eyes to me;For these to thee and all thy cursed raceMay the great Sun, whose eye is everywhere,Grant length of days and old age like to mine.
CREON.Listen, O men of Athens, mark ye this?
OEDIPUS.They mark us both and understand that IWronged by the deeds defend myself with words.
CREON.Nothing shall curb my will; though I be oldAnd single-handed, I will have this man.
OEDIPUS.O woe is me!
CHORUS.Thou art a bold man, stranger, if thou think’stTo execute thy purpose.
CREON.So I do.
CHORUS.Then shall I deem this State no more a State.
CREON.With a just quarrel weakness conquers might.
OEDIPUS.Ye hear his words?
CHORUS.Aye words, but not yet deeds,Zeus knoweth!
CREON.Zeus may haply know, not thou.
CHORUS.Insolence!
CREON.Insolence that thou must bear.
CHORUS.Haste ye princes, sound the alarm!Men of Athens, arm ye, arm!Quickly to the rescue comeEre the robbers get them home.[Enter THESEUS]
THESEUS.Why this outcry? What is forward? wherefore was I called awayFrom the altar of Poseidon, lord of your Colonus? Say!On what errand have I hurried hither without stop or stay.
OEDIPUS.Dear friend—those accents tell me who thou art—Yon man but now hath done me a foul wrong.
THESEUS.What is this wrong and who hath wrought it? Speak.
OEDIPUS.Creon who stands before thee. He it isHath robbed me of my all, my daughters twain.
THESEUS.What means this?
OEDIPUS.Thou hast heard my tale of wrongs.
THESEUS.Ho! hasten to the altars, one of you.Command my liegemen leave the sacrificeAnd hurry, foot and horse, with rein unchecked,To where the paths that packmen use diverge,Lest the two maidens slip away, and IBecome a mockery to this my guest,As one despoiled by force. Quick, as I bid.As for this stranger, had I let my rage,Justly provoked, have play, he had not ’scapedScathless and uncorrected at my hands.But now the laws to which himself appealed,These and none others shall adjudicate.Thou shalt not quit this land, till thou hast fetchedThe maidens and produced them in my sight.Thou hast offended both against myselfAnd thine own race and country. Having comeUnto a State that champions right and asksFor every action warranty of law,Thou hast set aside the custom of the land,And like some freebooter art carrying offWhat plunder pleases thee, as if forsoothThou thoughtest this a city without men,Or manned by slaves, and me a thing of naught.Yet not from Thebes this villainy was learnt;Thebes is not wont to breed unrighteous sons,Nor would she praise thee, if she learnt that thouWert robbing me—aye and the gods to boot,Haling by force their suppliants, poor maids.Were I on Theban soil, to prosecuteThe justest claim imaginable, IWould never wrest by violence my ownWithout sanction of your State or King;I should behave as fits an outlanderLiving amongst a foreign folk, but thouShamest a city that deserves it not,Even thine own, and plentitude of yearsHave made of thee an old man and a fool.Therefore again I charge thee as before,See that the maidens are restored at once,Unless thou would’st continue here by forceAnd not by choice a sojourner; so muchI tell thee home and what I say, I mean.
CHORUS.Thy case is perilous; though by birth and raceThou should’st be just, thou plainly doest wrong.
CREON.Not deeming this city void of menOr counsel, son of Aegeus, as thou say’stI did what I have done; rather I thoughtYour people were not like to set such storeby kin of mine and keep them ’gainst my will.Nor would they harbor, so I stood assured,A godless parricide, a reprobateConvicted of incestuous marriage ties.For on her native hill of Ares here(I knew your far-famed Areopagus)Sits Justice, and permits not vagrant folkTo stay within your borders. In that faithI hunted down my quarry; and e’en thenI had refrained but for the curses direWherewith he banned my kinsfolk and myself:Such wrong, methought, had warrant for my act.Anger has no old age but only death;The dead alone can feel no touch of spite.So thou must work thy will; my cause is justBut weak without allies; yet will I try,Old as I am, to answer deeds with deeds.
OEDIPUS.O shameless railer, think’st thou this abuseDefames my grey hairs rather than thine own?Murder and incest, deeds of horror, allThou blurtest forth against me, all I have borne,No willing sinner; so it pleased the godsWrath haply with my sinful race of old,Since thou could’st find no sin in me myselfFor which in retribution I was doomedTo trespass thus against myself and mine.Answer me now, if by some oracleMy sire was destined to a bloody endBy a son’s hand, can this reflect on me,Me then unborn, begotten by no sire,Conceived in no mother’s womb? And ifWhen born to misery, as born I was,I met my sire, not knowing whom I metor what I did, and slew him, how canst thouWith justice blame the all-unconscious hand?And for my mother, wretch, art not ashamed,Seeing she was thy sister, to extortFrom me the story of her marriage, suchA marriage as I straightway will proclaim.For I will speak; thy lewd and impious speechHas broken all the bonds of reticence.She was, ah woe is me! she was my mother;I knew it not, nor she; and she my motherBare children to the son whom she had borne,A birth of shame. But this at least I knowWittingly thou aspersest her and me;But I unwitting wed, unwilling speak.Nay neither in this marriage or this deedWhich thou art ever casting in my teeth—A murdered sire—shall I be held to blame.Come, answer me one question, if thou canst:If one should presently attempt thy life,Would’st thou, O man of justice, first inquireIf the assassin was perchance thy sire,Or turn upon him? As thou lov’st thy life,On thy aggressor thou would’st turn, no stayDebating, if the law would bear thee out.Such was my case, and such the pass wheretoThe gods reduced me; and methinks my sire,Could he come back to life, would not dissent.Yet thou, for just thou art not, but a manWho sticks at nothing, if it serve his plea,Reproachest me with this before these men.It serves thy turn to laud great Theseus’ name,And Athens as a wisely governed State;Yet in thy flatteries one thing is to seek:If any land knows how to pay the godsTheir proper rites, ’tis Athens most of all.This is the land whence thou wast fain to stealTheir aged suppliant and hast carried offMy daughters. Therefore to yon goddesses,I turn, adjure them and invoke their aidTo champion my cause, that thou mayest learnWhat is the breed of men who guard this State.
CHORUS.An honest man, my liege, one sore besteadBy fortune, and so worthy our support.
THESEUS.Enough of words; the captors speed amain,While we the victims stand debating here.
CREON.What would’st thou? What can I, a feeble man?
THESEUS.Show us the trail, and I’ll attend thee too,That, if thou hast the maidens hereabouts,Thou mayest thyself discover them to me;But if thy guards outstrip us with their spoil,We may draw rein; for others speed, from whomThey will not ’scape to thank the gods at home.Lead on, I say, the captor’s caught, and fateHath ta’en the fowler in the toils he spread;So soon are lost gains gotten by deceit.And look not for allies; I know indeedSuch height of insolence was never reachedWithout abettors or accomplices;Thou hast some backer in thy bold essay,But I will search this matter home and seeOne man doth not prevail against the State.Dost take my drift, or seem these words as vainAs seemed our warnings when the plot was hatched?
CREON.Nothing thou sayest can I here dispute,But once at home I too shall act my part.
THESEUS.Threaten us and—begone! Thou, Oedipus,Stay here assured that nothing save my deathWill stay my purpose to restore the maids.
OEDIPUS.Heaven bless thee, Theseus, for thy noblenessAnd all thy loving care in my behalf.[Exeunt THESEUS and CREON]
CHORUS.(Str. 1)O when the flying foe,Turning at last to bay,Soon will give blow for blow,Might I behold the fray;Hear the loud battle roarSwell, on the Pythian shore,Or by the torch-lit bay,Where the dread Queen and MaidCherish the mystic rites,Rites they to none betray,Ere on his lips is laidSecrecy’s golden keyBy their own acolytes,Priestly Eumolpidae.There I might chance beholdTheseus our captain boldMeet with the robber band,Ere they have fled the land,Rescue by might and mainMaidens, the captives twain.(Ant. 1)Haply on swiftest steed,Or in the flying car,Now they approach the glen,West of white Oea’s scaur.They will be vanquished:Dread are our warriors, dreadTheseus our chieftain’s men.Flashes each bridle bright,Charges each gallant knight,All that our Queen adore,Pallas their patron, orHim whose wide floods enringEarth, the great Ocean-kingWhom Rhea bore.(Str. 2)Fight they or now prepareTo fight? a vision rareTells me that soon againI shall behold the twainMaidens so ill bestead,By their kin buffeted.Today, today Zeus worketh some great thingThis day shall victory bring.O for the wings, the wings of a dove,To be borne with the speed of the gale,Up and still upwards to sailAnd gaze on the fray from the clouds above.(Ant. 2)All-seeing Zeus, O lord of heaven,To our guardian host be givenMight triumphant to surpriseFlying foes and win their prize.Hear us, Zeus, and hear us, childOf Zeus, Athene undefiled,Hear, Apollo, hunter, hear,Huntress, sister of Apollo,Who the dappled swift-foot deerO’er the wooded glade dost follow;Help with your two-fold powerAthens in danger’s hour!O wayfarer, thou wilt not have to taxThe friends who watch for thee with false presage,For lo, an escort with the maids draws near.[Enter ANTIGONE and ISMENE with THESEUS]