by Sophocles – Translation by F. Storr, BA Formerly Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge from the Loeb Library Edition First published in 1912
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ARGUMENT
\nTo Laius, King of Thebes, an oracle foretold that the child\u00c2\u00a0 born
\nto him by his queen Jocasta would slay his father and wed his\u00c2\u00a0 mother.
\nSo when in time a son was born the infant’s feet were riveted together
\nand\u00c2\u00a0 he was left to die on Mount Cithaeron.\u00c2\u00a0 But a shepherd found\u00c2\u00a0 the
\nbabe\u00c2\u00a0 and tended him, and delivered him to another shepherd\u00c2\u00a0 who\u00c2\u00a0 took
\nhim\u00c2\u00a0 to\u00c2\u00a0 his\u00c2\u00a0 master, the King or Corinth.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Polybus\u00c2\u00a0 being\u00c2\u00a0 childless
\nadopted\u00c2\u00a0 the boy, who grew up believing that he was indeed the\u00c2\u00a0 King’s
\nson.\u00c2\u00a0 Afterwards doubting his parentage he inquired of the Delphic god
\nand\u00c2\u00a0 heard himself the weird declared before to Laius.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Wherefore\u00c2\u00a0 he
\nfled\u00c2\u00a0 from\u00c2\u00a0 what\u00c2\u00a0 he deemed his father’s house and in\u00c2\u00a0 his\u00c2\u00a0 flight\u00c2\u00a0 he
\nencountered and unwillingly slew his father Laius.\u00c2\u00a0 Arriving at Thebes
\nhe\u00c2\u00a0 answered\u00c2\u00a0 the riddle of the Sphinx and the grateful\u00c2\u00a0 Thebans\u00c2\u00a0 made
\ntheir\u00c2\u00a0 deliverer\u00c2\u00a0 king.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 So\u00c2\u00a0 he reigned in the\u00c2\u00a0 room\u00c2\u00a0 of\u00c2\u00a0 Laius,\u00c2\u00a0 and
\nespoused\u00c2\u00a0 the\u00c2\u00a0 widowed queen.\u00c2\u00a0 Children were born to them\u00c2\u00a0 and\u00c2\u00a0 Thebes
\nprospered\u00c2\u00a0 under his rule, but again a grievous plague fell\u00c2\u00a0 upon\u00c2\u00a0 the
\ncity.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Again\u00c2\u00a0 the\u00c2\u00a0 oracle\u00c2\u00a0 was\u00c2\u00a0 consulted\u00c2\u00a0 and\u00c2\u00a0 it\u00c2\u00a0 bade\u00c2\u00a0 them\u00c2\u00a0 purge
\nthemselves of blood-guiltiness.\u00c2\u00a0 Oedipus denounces the crime of\u00c2\u00a0 which
\nhe\u00c2\u00a0 is\u00c2\u00a0 unaware, and undertakes to track\u00c2\u00a0 out the criminal.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Step\u00c2\u00a0 by
\nstep it is brought home to him that he is the man.\u00c2\u00a0 The closing\u00c2\u00a0 scene
\nreveals\u00c2\u00a0 Jocasta slain by her own hand and Oedipus blinded by his\u00c2\u00a0 own
\nact and praying for death or exile.<\/p>\n
———————————————————————-<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 DRAMATIS PERSONAE<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Oedipus.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The Priest of Zeus.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Creon.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Chorus of Theban Elders.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Teiresias.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Jocasta.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Messenger.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Herd of Laius.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Second Messenger.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Scene:\u00c2\u00a0 Thebes.\u00c2\u00a0 Before the Palace of Oedipus.<\/p>\n
———————————————————————-<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 OEDIPUS THE KING<\/p>\n
Suppliants of all ages are seated round the altar at the palace doors,
\nat their head a PRIEST OF ZEUS.\u00c2\u00a0 To them enter OEDIPUS.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMy children, latest born to Cadmus old,
\nWhy sit ye here as suppliants, in your hands
\nBranches of olive filleted with wool?
\nWhat means this reek of incense everywhere,
\nAnd everywhere laments and litanies?
\nChildren, it were not meet that I should learn
\nFrom others, and am hither come, myself,
\nI Oedipus, your world-renowned king.
\nHo! aged sire, whose venerable locks
\nProclaim thee spokesman of this company,
\nExplain your mood and purport.\u00c2\u00a0 Is it dread
\nOf ill that moves you or a boon ye crave?
\nMy zeal in your behalf ye cannot doubt;
\nRuthless indeed were I and obdurate
\nIf such petitioners as you I spurned.<\/p>\n
PRIEST
\nYea, Oedipus, my sovereign lord and king,
\nThou seest how both extremes of age besiege
\nThy palace altars–fledglings hardly winged,
\nand greybeards bowed with years; priests, as am I
\nof Zeus, and these the flower of our youth.
\nMeanwhile, the common folk, with wreathed boughs
\nCrowd our two market-places, or before
\nBoth shrines of Pallas congregate, or where
\nIsmenus gives his oracles by fire.
\nFor, as thou seest thyself, our ship of State,
\nSore buffeted, can no more lift her head,
\nFoundered beneath a weltering surge of blood.
\nA blight is on our harvest in the ear,
\nA blight upon the grazing flocks and herds,
\nA blight on wives in travail; and withal
\nArmed with his blazing torch the God of Plague
\nHath swooped upon our city emptying
\nThe house of Cadmus, and the murky realm
\nOf Pluto is full fed with groans and tears.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Therefore, O King, here at thy hearth we sit,
\nI and these children; not as deeming thee
\nA new divinity, but the first of men;
\nFirst in the common accidents of life,
\nAnd first in visitations of the Gods.
\nArt thou not he who coming to the town
\nof Cadmus freed us from the tax we paid
\nTo the fell songstress?\u00c2\u00a0 Nor hadst thou received
\nPrompting from us or been by others schooled;
\nNo, by a god inspired (so all men deem,
\nAnd testify) didst thou renew our life.
\nAnd now, O Oedipus, our peerless king,
\nAll we thy votaries beseech thee, find
\nSome succor, whether by a voice from heaven
\nWhispered, or haply known by human wit.
\nTried counselors, methinks, are aptest found [1]
\nTo furnish for the future pregnant rede.
\nUpraise, O chief of men, upraise our State!
\nLook to thy laurels! for thy zeal of yore
\nOur country’s savior thou art justly hailed:
\nO never may we thus record thy reign:–
\n“He raised us up only to cast us down.”
\nUplift us, build our city on a rock.
\nThy happy star ascendant brought us luck,
\nO let it not decline!\u00c2\u00a0 If thou wouldst rule
\nThis land, as now thou reignest, better sure
\nTo rule a peopled than a desert realm.
\nNor battlements nor galleys aught avail,
\nIf men to man and guards to guard them tail.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAh! my poor children, known, ah, known too well,
\nThe quest that brings you hither and your need.
\nYe sicken all, well wot I, yet my pain,
\nHow great soever yours, outtops it all.
\nYour sorrow touches each man severally,
\nHim and none other, but I grieve at once
\nBoth for the general and myself and you.
\nTherefore ye rouse no sluggard from day-dreams.
\nMany, my children, are the tears I’ve wept,
\nAnd threaded many a maze of weary thought.
\nThus pondering one clue of hope I caught,
\nAnd tracked it up; I have sent Menoeceus’ son,
\nCreon, my consort’s brother, to inquire
\nOf Pythian Phoebus at his Delphic shrine,
\nHow I might save the State by act or word.
\nAnd now I reckon up the tale of days
\nSince he set forth, and marvel how he fares.
\n‘Tis strange, this endless tarrying, passing strange.
\nBut when he comes, then I were base indeed,
\nIf I perform not all the god declares.<\/p>\n
PRIEST
\nThy words are well timed; even as thou speakest
\nThat shouting tells me Creon is at hand.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO King Apollo! may his joyous looks
\nBe presage of the joyous news he brings!<\/p>\n
PRIEST
\nAs I surmise, ’tis welcome; else his head
\nHad scarce been crowned with berry-laden bays.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWe soon shall know; he’s now in earshot range.
\n[Enter CREON]
\nMy royal cousin, say, Menoeceus’ child,
\nWhat message hast thou brought us from the god?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nGood news, for e’en intolerable ills,
\nFinding right issue, tend to naught but good.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHow runs the oracle? thus far thy words
\nGive me no ground for confidence or fear.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nIf thou wouldst hear my message publicly,
\nI’ll tell thee straight, or with thee pass within.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSpeak before all; the burden that I bear
\nIs more for these my subjects than myself.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nLet me report then all the god declared.
\nKing Phoebus bids us straitly extirpate
\nA fell pollution that infests the land,
\nAnd no more harbor an inveterate sore.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat expiation means he?\u00c2\u00a0 What’s amiss?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nBanishment, or the shedding blood for blood.
\nThis stain of blood makes shipwreck of our state.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhom can he mean, the miscreant thus denounced?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nBefore thou didst assume the helm of State,
\nThe sovereign of this land was Laius.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI heard as much, but never saw the man.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nHe fell; and now the god’s command is plain:
\nPunish his takers-off, whoe’er they be.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhere are they?\u00c2\u00a0 Where in the wide world to find
\nThe far, faint traces of a bygone crime?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nIn this land, said the god; “who seeks shall find;
\nWho sits with folded hands or sleeps is blind.”<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWas he within his palace, or afield,
\nOr traveling, when Laius met his fate?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nAbroad; he started, so he told us, bound
\nFor Delphi, but he never thence returned.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nCame there no news, no fellow-traveler
\nTo give some clue that might be followed up?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nBut one escape, who flying for dear life,
\nCould tell of all he saw but one thing sure.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd what was that?\u00c2\u00a0 One clue might lead us far,
\nWith but a spark of hope to guide our quest.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nRobbers, he told us, not one bandit but
\nA troop of knaves, attacked and murdered him.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDid any bandit dare so bold a stroke,
\nUnless indeed he were suborned from Thebes?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSo ’twas surmised, but none was found to avenge
\nHis murder mid the trouble that ensued.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat trouble can have hindered a full quest,
\nWhen royalty had fallen thus miserably?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThe riddling Sphinx compelled us to let slide
\nThe dim past and attend to instant needs.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWell, _I_ will start afresh and once again
\nMake dark things clear.\u00c2\u00a0 Right worthy the concern
\nOf Phoebus, worthy thine too, for the dead;
\nI also, as is meet, will lend my aid
\nTo avenge this wrong to Thebes and to the god.
\nNot for some far-off kinsman, but myself,
\nShall I expel this poison in the blood;
\nFor whoso slew that king might have a mind
\nTo strike me too with his assassin hand.
\nTherefore in righting him I serve myself.
\nUp, children, haste ye, quit these altar stairs,
\nTake hence your suppliant wands, go summon hither
\nThe Theban commons.\u00c2\u00a0 With the god’s good help
\nSuccess is sure; ’tis ruin if we fail.
\n[Exeunt OEDIPUS and CREON]<\/p>\n
PRIEST
\nCome, children, let us hence; these gracious words
\nForestall the very purpose of our suit.
\nAnd may the god who sent this oracle
\nSave us withal and rid us of this pest.
\n[Exeunt PRIEST and SUPPLIANTS]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\nSweet-voiced daughter of Zeus from thy gold-paved Pythian shrine
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Wafted to Thebes divine,
\nWhat dost thou bring me?\u00c2\u00a0 My soul is racked and shivers with fear.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 (Healer of Delos, hear!)
\nHast thou some pain unknown before,
\nOr with the circling years renewest a penance of yore?
\nOffspring of golden Hope, thou voice immortal, O tell me.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 1)
\nFirst on Athene I call; O Zeus-born goddess, defend!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Goddess and sister, befriend,
\nArtemis, Lady of Thebes, high-throned in the midst of our mart!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Lord of the death-winged dart!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Your threefold aid I crave
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 From death and ruin our city to save.
\nIf in the days of old when we nigh had perished, ye drave
\nFrom our land the fiery plague, be near us now and defend us!<\/p>\n
(Str. 2)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ah me, what countless woes are mine!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 All our host is in decline;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Weaponless my spirit lies.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Earth her gracious fruits denies;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Women wail in barren throes;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Life on life downstriken goes,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Swifter than the wind bird’s flight,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Swifter than the Fire-God’s might,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To the westering shores of Night.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 2)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Wasted thus by death on death
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 All our city perisheth.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Corpses spread infection round;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 None to tend or mourn is found.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Wailing on the altar stair
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Wives and grandams rend the air–
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Long-drawn moans and piercing cries
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Blent with prayers and litanies.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Golden child of Zeus, O hear
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Let thine angel face appear!<\/p>\n
(Str. 3)
\nAnd grant that Ares whose hot breath I feel,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Though without targe or steel
\nHe stalks, whose voice is as the battle shout,
\nMay turn in sudden rout,
\nTo the unharbored Thracian waters sped,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Or Amphitrite’s bed.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For what night leaves undone,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Smit by the morrow’s sun
\nPerisheth.\u00c2\u00a0 Father Zeus, whose hand
\nDoth wield the lightning brand,
\nSlay him beneath thy levin bold, we pray,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Slay him, O slay!<\/p>\n
(Ant. 3)
\nO that thine arrows too, Lycean King,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 From that taut bow’s gold string,
\nMight fly abroad, the champions of our rights;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yea, and the flashing lights
\nOf Artemis, wherewith the huntress sweeps
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Across the Lycian steeps.
\nThee too I call with golden-snooded hair,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Whose name our land doth bear,
\nBacchus to whom thy Maenads Evoe shout;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Come with thy bright torch, rout,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Blithe god whom we adore,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The god whom gods abhor.<\/p>\n
[Enter OEDIPUS.]
\nOEDIPUS
\nYe pray; ’tis well, but would ye hear my words
\nAnd heed them and apply the remedy,
\nYe might perchance find comfort and relief.
\nMind you, I speak as one who comes a stranger
\nTo this report, no less than to the crime;
\nFor how unaided could I track it far
\nWithout a clue?\u00c2\u00a0 Which lacking (for too late
\nWas I enrolled a citizen of Thebes)
\nThis proclamation I address to all:–
\nThebans, if any knows the man by whom
\nLaius, son of Labdacus, was slain,
\nI summon him to make clean shrift to me.
\nAnd if he shrinks, let him reflect that thus
\nConfessing he shall ‘scape the capital charge;
\nFor the worst penalty that shall befall him
\nIs banishment–unscathed he shall depart.
\nBut if an alien from a foreign land
\nBe known to any as the murderer,
\nLet him who knows speak out, and he shall have
\nDue recompense from me and thanks to boot.
\nBut if ye still keep silence, if through fear
\nFor self or friends ye disregard my hest,
\nHear what I then resolve; I lay my ban
\nOn the assassin whosoe’er he be.
\nLet no man in this land, whereof I hold
\nThe sovereign rule, harbor or speak to him;
\nGive him no part in prayer or sacrifice
\nOr lustral rites, but hound him from your homes.
\nFor this is our defilement, so the god
\nHath lately shown to me by oracles.
\nThus as their champion I maintain the cause
\nBoth of the god and of the murdered King.
\nAnd on the murderer this curse I lay
\n(On him and all the partners in his guilt):–
\nWretch, may he pine in utter wretchedness!
\nAnd for myself, if with my privity
\nHe gain admittance to my hearth, I pray
\nThe curse I laid on others fall on me.
\nSee that ye give effect to all my hest,
\nFor my sake and the god’s and for our land,
\nA desert blasted by the wrath of heaven.
\nFor, let alone the god’s express command,
\nIt were a scandal ye should leave unpurged
\nThe murder of a great man and your king,
\nNor track it home.\u00c2\u00a0 And now that I am lord,
\nSuccessor to his throne, his bed, his wife,
\n(And had he not been frustrate in the hope
\nOf issue, common children of one womb
\nHad forced a closer bond twixt him and me,
\nBut Fate swooped down upon him), therefore I
\nHis blood-avenger will maintain his cause
\nAs though he were my sire, and leave no stone
\nUnturned to track the assassin or avenge
\nThe son of Labdacus, of Polydore,
\nOf Cadmus, and Agenor first of the race.
\nAnd for the disobedient thus I pray:
\nMay the gods send them neither timely fruits
\nOf earth, nor teeming increase of the womb,
\nBut may they waste and pine, as now they waste,
\nAye and worse stricken; but to all of you,
\nMy loyal subjects who approve my acts,
\nMay Justice, our ally, and all the gods
\nBe gracious and attend you evermore.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThe oath thou profferest, sire, I take and swear.
\nI slew him not myself, nor can I name
\nThe slayer.\u00c2\u00a0 For the quest, ’twere well, methinks
\nThat Phoebus, who proposed the riddle, himself
\nShould give the answer–who the murderer was.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWell argued; but no living man can hope
\nTo force the gods to speak against their will.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nMay I then say what seems next best to me?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAye, if there be a third best, tell it too.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nMy liege, if any man sees eye to eye
\nWith our lord Phoebus, ’tis our prophet, lord
\nTeiresias; he of all men best might guide
\nA searcher of this matter to the light.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHere too my zeal has nothing lagged, for twice
\nAt Creon’s instance have I sent to fetch him,
\nAnd long I marvel why he is not here.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nI mind me too of rumors long ago–
\nMere gossip.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Tell them, I would fain know all.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n‘Twas said he fell by travelers.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 So I heard,
\nBut none has seen the man who saw him fall.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWell, if he knows what fear is, he will quail
\nAnd flee before the terror of thy curse.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWords scare not him who blenches not at deeds.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nBut here is one to arraign him.\u00c2\u00a0 Lo, at length
\nThey bring the god-inspired seer in whom
\nAbove all other men is truth inborn.
\n[Enter TEIRESIAS, led by a boy.]<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nTeiresias, seer who comprehendest all,
\nLore of the wise and hidden mysteries,
\nHigh things of heaven and low things of the earth,
\nThou knowest, though thy blinded eyes see naught,
\nWhat plague infects our city; and we turn
\nTo thee, O seer, our one defense and shield.
\nThe purport of the answer that the God
\nReturned to us who sought his oracle,
\nThe messengers have doubtless told thee–how
\nOne course alone could rid us of the pest,
\nTo find the murderers of Laius,
\nAnd slay them or expel them from the land.
\nTherefore begrudging neither augury
\nNor other divination that is thine,
\nO save thyself, thy country, and thy king,
\nSave all from this defilement of blood shed.
\nOn thee we rest.\u00c2\u00a0 This is man’s highest end,
\nTo others’ service all his powers to lend.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nAlas, alas, what misery to be wise
\nWhen wisdom profits nothing!\u00c2\u00a0 This old lore
\nI had forgotten; else I were not here.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat ails thee?\u00c2\u00a0 Why this melancholy mood?<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nLet me go home; prevent me not; ’twere best
\nThat thou shouldst bear thy burden and I mine.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nFor shame! no true-born Theban patriot
\nWould thus withhold the word of prophecy.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\n_Thy_ words, O king, are wide of the mark, and I
\nFor fear lest I too trip like thee…<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Oh speak,
\nWithhold not, I adjure thee, if thou know’st,
\nThy knowledge.\u00c2\u00a0 We are all thy suppliants.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nAye, for ye all are witless, but my voice
\nWill ne’er reveal my miseries–or thine. [2]<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat then, thou knowest, and yet willst not speak!
\nWouldst thou betray us and destroy the State?<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nI will not vex myself nor thee.\u00c2\u00a0 Why ask
\nThus idly what from me thou shalt not learn?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMonster! thy silence would incense a flint.
\nWill nothing loose thy tongue?\u00c2\u00a0 Can nothing melt thee,
\nOr shake thy dogged taciturnity?<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nThou blam’st my mood and seest not thine own
\nWherewith thou art mated; no, thou taxest me.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd who could stay his choler when he heard
\nHow insolently thou dost flout the State?<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nWell, it will come what will, though I be mute.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSince come it must, thy duty is to tell me.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nI have no more to say; storm as thou willst,
\nAnd give the rein to all thy pent-up rage.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nYea, I am wroth, and will not stint my words,
\nBut speak my whole mind.\u00c2\u00a0 Thou methinks thou art he,
\nWho planned the crime, aye, and performed it too,
\nAll save the assassination; and if thou
\nHadst not been blind, I had been sworn to boot
\nThat thou alone didst do the bloody deed.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nIs it so?\u00c2\u00a0 Then I charge thee to abide
\nBy thine own proclamation; from this day
\nSpeak not to these or me.\u00c2\u00a0 Thou art the man,
\nThou the accursed polluter of this land.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nVile slanderer, thou blurtest forth these taunts,
\nAnd think’st forsooth as seer to go scot free.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nYea, I am free, strong in the strength of truth.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWho was thy teacher? not methinks thy art.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nThou, goading me against my will to speak.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat speech? repeat it and resolve my doubt.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nDidst miss my sense wouldst thou goad me on?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI but half caught thy meaning; say it again.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nI say thou art the murderer of the man
\nWhose murderer thou pursuest.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thou shalt rue it
\nTwice to repeat so gross a calumny.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nMust I say more to aggravate thy rage?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSay all thou wilt; it will be but waste of breath.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nI say thou livest with thy nearest kin
\nIn infamy, unwitting in thy shame.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThink’st thou for aye unscathed to wag thy tongue?<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nYea, if the might of truth can aught prevail.
\nOEDIPUS
\nWith other men, but not with thee, for thou
\nIn ear, wit, eye, in everything art blind.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nPoor fool to utter gibes at me which all
\nHere present will cast back on thee ere long.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nOffspring of endless Night, thou hast no power
\nO’er me or any man who sees the sun.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nNo, for thy weird is not to fall by me.
\nI leave to Apollo what concerns the god.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nIs this a plot of Creon, or thine own?<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nNot Creon, thou thyself art thine own bane.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO wealth and empiry and skill by skill
\nOutwitted in the battlefield of life,
\nWhat spite and envy follow in your train!
\nSee, for this crown the State conferred on me.
\nA gift, a thing I sought not, for this crown
\nThe trusty Creon, my familiar friend,
\nHath lain in wait to oust me and suborned
\nThis mountebank, this juggling charlatan,
\nThis tricksy beggar-priest, for gain alone
\nKeen-eyed, but in his proper art stone-blind.
\nSay, sirrah, hast thou ever proved thyself
\nA prophet?\u00c2\u00a0 When the riddling Sphinx was here
\nWhy hadst thou no deliverance for this folk?
\nAnd yet the riddle was not to be solved
\nBy guess-work but required the prophet’s art;
\nWherein thou wast found lacking; neither birds
\nNor sign from heaven helped thee, but _I_ came,
\nThe simple Oedipus; _I_ stopped her mouth
\nBy mother wit, untaught of auguries.
\nThis is the man whom thou wouldst undermine,
\nIn hope to reign with Creon in my stead.
\nMethinks that thou and thine abettor soon
\nWill rue your plot to drive the scapegoat out.
\nThank thy grey hairs that thou hast still to learn
\nWhat chastisement such arrogance deserves.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nTo us it seems that both the seer and thou,
\nO Oedipus, have spoken angry words.
\nThis is no time to wrangle but consult
\nHow best we may fulfill the oracle.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nKing as thou art, free speech at least is mine
\nTo make reply; in this I am thy peer.
\nI own no lord but Loxias; him I serve
\nAnd ne’er can stand enrolled as Creon’s man.
\nThus then I answer:\u00c2\u00a0 since thou hast not spared
\nTo twit me with my blindness–thou hast eyes,
\nYet see’st not in what misery thou art fallen,
\nNor where thou dwellest nor with whom for mate.
\nDost know thy lineage?\u00c2\u00a0 Nay, thou know’st it not,
\nAnd all unwitting art a double foe
\nTo thine own kin, the living and the dead;
\nAye and the dogging curse of mother and sire
\nOne day shall drive thee, like a two-edged sword,
\nBeyond our borders, and the eyes that now
\nSee clear shall henceforward endless night.
\nAh whither shall thy bitter cry not reach,
\nWhat crag in all Cithaeron but shall then
\nReverberate thy wail, when thou hast found
\nWith what a hymeneal thou wast borne
\nHome, but to no fair haven, on the gale!
\nAye, and a flood of ills thou guessest not
\nShall set thyself and children in one line.
\nFlout then both Creon and my words, for none
\nOf mortals shall be striken worse than thou.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMust I endure this fellow’s insolence?
\nA murrain on thee!\u00c2\u00a0 Get thee hence!\u00c2\u00a0 Begone
\nAvaunt! and never cross my threshold more.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nI ne’er had come hadst thou not bidden me.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI know not thou wouldst utter folly, else
\nLong hadst thou waited to be summoned here.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nSuch am I–as it seems to thee a fool,
\nBut to the parents who begat thee, wise.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat sayest thou–“parents”?\u00c2\u00a0 Who begat me, speak?<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nThis day shall be thy birth-day, and thy grave.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThou lov’st to speak in riddles and dark words.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nIn reading riddles who so skilled as thou?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nTwit me with that wherein my greatness lies.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nAnd yet this very greatness proved thy bane.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nNo matter if I saved the commonwealth.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\n‘Tis time I left thee.\u00c2\u00a0 Come, boy, take me home.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAye, take him quickly, for his presence irks
\nAnd lets me; gone, thou canst not plague me more.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nI go, but first will tell thee why I came.
\nThy frown I dread not, for thou canst not harm me.
\nHear then:\u00c2\u00a0 this man whom thou hast sought to arrest
\nWith threats and warrants this long while, the wretch
\nWho murdered Laius–that man is here.
\nHe passes for an alien in the land
\nBut soon shall prove a Theban, native born.
\nAnd yet his fortune brings him little joy;
\nFor blind of seeing, clad in beggar’s weeds,
\nFor purple robes, and leaning on his staff,
\nTo a strange land he soon shall grope his way.
\nAnd of the children, inmates of his home,
\nHe shall be proved the brother and the sire,
\nOf her who bare him son and husband both,
\nCo-partner, and assassin of his sire.
\nGo in and ponder this, and if thou find
\nThat I have missed the mark, henceforth declare
\nI have no wit nor skill in prophecy.
\n[Exeunt TEIRESIAS and OEDIPUS]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\nWho is he by voice immortal named from Pythia’s rocky cell,
\nDoer of foul deeds of bloodshed, horrors that no tongue can tell?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 A foot for flight he needs
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Fleeter than storm-swift steeds,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For on his heels doth follow,
\nArmed with the lightnings of his Sire, Apollo.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Like sleuth-hounds too
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The Fates pursue.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 1)
\nYea, but now flashed forth the summons from Parnassus’ snowy peak,
\n“Near and far the undiscovered doer of this murder seek!”
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Now like a sullen bull he roves
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Through forest brakes and upland groves,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And vainly seeks to fly
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The doom that ever nigh
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Flits o’er his head,
\nStill by the avenging Phoebus sped,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The voice divine,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 From Earth’s mid shrine.
\n(Str. 2)
\nSore perplexed am I by the words of the master seer.
\nAre\u00c2\u00a0 they true, are they false?\u00c2\u00a0 I know not and bridle my\u00c2\u00a0 tongue\u00c2\u00a0 for
\n\u00c2\u00a0 fear,
\nFluttered with vague surmise; nor present nor future is clear.
\nQuarrel of ancient date or in days still near know I none
\nTwixt the Labdacidan house and our ruler, Polybus’ son.
\nProof is there none:\u00c2\u00a0 how then can I challenge our King’s good name,
\nHow in a blood-feud join for an untracked deed of shame?<\/p>\n
(Ant. 2)
\nAll wise are Zeus and Apollo, and nothing is hid from their ken;
\nThey are gods; and in wits a man may surpass his fellow men;
\nBut that a mortal seer knows more than I know–where
\nHath this been proven?\u00c2\u00a0 Or how without sign assured, can I blame
\nHim who saved our State when the winged songstress came,
\nTested and tried in the light of us all, like gold assayed?
\nHow can I now assent when a crime is on Oedipus laid?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nFriends, countrymen, I learn King Oedipus
\nHath laid against me a most grievous charge,
\nAnd come to you protesting.\u00c2\u00a0 If he deems
\nThat I have harmed or injured him in aught
\nBy word or deed in this our present trouble,
\nI care not to prolong the span of life,
\nThus ill-reputed; for the calumny
\nHits not a single blot, but blasts my name,
\nIf by the general voice I am denounced
\nFalse to the State and false by you my friends.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThis taunt, it well may be, was blurted out
\nIn petulance, not spoken advisedly.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nDid any dare pretend that it was I
\nPrompted the seer to utter a forged charge?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nSuch things were said; with what intent I know not.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWere not his wits and vision all astray
\nWhen upon me he fixed this monstrous charge?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nI know not; to my sovereign’s acts I am blind.
\nBut lo, he comes to answer for himself.
\n[Enter OEDIPUS.]<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSirrah, what mak’st thou here?\u00c2\u00a0 Dost thou presume
\nTo approach my doors, thou brazen-faced rogue,
\nMy murderer and the filcher of my crown?
\nCome, answer this, didst thou detect in me
\nSome touch of cowardice or witlessness,
\nThat made thee undertake this enterprise?
\nI seemed forsooth too simple to perceive
\nThe serpent stealing on me in the dark,
\nOr else too weak to scotch it when I saw.
\nThis _thou_ art witless seeking to possess
\nWithout a following or friends the crown,
\nA prize that followers and wealth must win.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nAttend me.\u00c2\u00a0 Thou hast spoken, ’tis my turn
\nTo make reply.\u00c2\u00a0 Then having heard me, judge.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThou art glib of tongue, but I am slow to learn
\nOf thee; I know too well thy venomous hate.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nFirst I would argue out this very point.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO argue not that thou art not a rogue.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nIf thou dost count a virtue stubbornness,
\nUnschooled by reason, thou art much astray.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nIf thou dost hold a kinsman may be wronged,
\nAnd no pains follow, thou art much to seek.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nTherein thou judgest rightly, but this wrong
\nThat thou allegest–tell me what it is.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDidst thou or didst thou not advise that I
\nShould call the priest?<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, and I stand to it.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nTell me how long is it since Laius…<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSince Laius…?\u00c2\u00a0 I follow not thy drift.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nBy violent hands was spirited away.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nIn the dim past, a many years agone.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDid the same prophet then pursue his craft?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nYes, skilled as now and in no less repute.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDid he at that time ever glance at me?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNot to my knowledge, not when I was by.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nBut was no search and inquisition made?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSurely full quest was made, but nothing learnt.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhy failed the seer to tell his story _then_?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nI know not, and not knowing hold my tongue.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThis much thou knowest and canst surely tell.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhat’s mean’st thou?\u00c2\u00a0 All I know I will declare.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nBut for thy prompting never had the seer
\nAscribed to me the death of Laius.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nIf so he thou knowest best; but I
\nWould put thee to the question in my turn.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nQuestion and prove me murderer if thou canst.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThen let me ask thee, didst thou wed my sister?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nA fact so plain I cannot well deny.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nAnd as thy consort queen she shares the throne?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI grant her freely all her heart desires.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nAnd with you twain I share the triple rule?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nYea, and it is that proves thee a false friend.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNot so, if thou wouldst reason with thyself,
\nAs I with myself.\u00c2\u00a0 First, I bid thee think,
\nWould any mortal choose a troubled reign
\nOf terrors rather than secure repose,
\nIf the same power were given him?\u00c2\u00a0 As for me,
\nI have no natural craving for the name
\nOf king, preferring to do kingly deeds,
\nAnd so thinks every sober-minded man.
\nNow all my needs are satisfied through thee,
\nAnd I have naught to fear; but were I king,
\nMy acts would oft run counter to my will.
\nHow could a title then have charms for me
\nAbove the sweets of boundless influence?
\nI am not so infatuate as to grasp
\nThe shadow when I hold the substance fast.
\nNow all men cry me Godspeed! wish me well,
\nAnd every suitor seeks to gain my ear,
\nIf he would hope to win a grace from thee.
\nWhy should I leave the better, choose the worse?
\nThat were sheer madness, and I am not mad.
\nNo such ambition ever tempted me,
\nNor would I have a share in such intrigue.
\nAnd if thou doubt me, first to Delphi go,
\nThere ascertain if my report was true
\nOf the god’s answer; next investigate
\nIf with the seer I plotted or conspired,
\nAnd if it prove so, sentence me to death,
\nNot by thy voice alone, but mine and thine.
\nBut O condemn me not, without appeal,
\nOn bare suspicion.\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Tis not right to adjudge
\nBad men at random good, or good men bad.
\nI would as lief a man should cast away
\nThe thing he counts most precious, his own life,
\nAs spurn a true friend.\u00c2\u00a0 Thou wilt learn in time
\nThe truth, for time alone reveals the just;
\nA villain is detected in a day.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nTo one who walketh warily his words
\nCommend themselves; swift counsels are not sure.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhen with swift strides the stealthy plotter stalks
\nI must be quick too with my counterplot.
\nTo wait his onset passively, for him
\nIs sure success, for me assured defeat.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhat then’s thy will?\u00c2\u00a0 To banish me the land?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI would not have thee banished, no, but dead,
\nThat men may mark the wages envy reaps.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nI see thou wilt not yield, nor credit me.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n[None but a fool would credit such as thou.] [3]<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThou art not wise.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Wise for myself at least.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhy not for me too?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Why for such a knave?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSuppose thou lackest sense.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yet kings must rule.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNot if they rule ill.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Oh my Thebans, hear him!<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThy Thebans? am not I a Theban too?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nCease, princes; lo there comes, and none too soon,
\nJocasta from the palace.\u00c2\u00a0 Who so fit
\nAs peacemaker to reconcile your feud?
\n[Enter JOCASTA.]<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nMisguided princes, why have ye upraised
\nThis wordy wrangle?\u00c2\u00a0 Are ye not ashamed,
\nWhile the whole land lies striken, thus to voice
\nYour private injuries?\u00c2\u00a0 Go in, my lord;
\nGo home, my brother, and forebear to make
\nA public scandal of a petty grief.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nMy royal sister, Oedipus, thy lord,
\nHath bid me choose (O dread alternative!)
\nAn outlaw’s exile or a felon’s death.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nYes, lady; I have caught him practicing
\nAgainst my royal person his vile arts.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nMay I ne’er speed but die accursed, if I
\nIn any way am guilty of this charge.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nBelieve him, I adjure thee, Oedipus,
\nFirst for his solemn oath’s sake, then for mine,
\nAnd for thine elders’ sake who wait on thee.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\nHearken, King, reflect, we pray thee, but not stubborn but relent.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSay to what should I consent?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nRespect a man whose probity and troth
\nAre known to all and now confirmed by oath.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDost know what grace thou cravest?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yea, I know.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDeclare it then and make thy meaning plain.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nBrand not a friend whom babbling tongues assail;
\nLet not suspicion ‘gainst his oath prevail.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nBethink you that in seeking this ye seek
\nIn very sooth my death or banishment?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nNo, by the leader of the host divine!
\n(Str. 2)
\nWitness, thou Sun, such thought was never mine,
\nUnblest, unfriended may I perish,
\nIf ever I such wish did cherish!
\nBut O my heart is desolate
\nMusing on our striken State,
\nDoubly fall’n should discord grow
\nTwixt you twain, to crown our woe.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWell, let him go, no matter what it cost me,
\nOr certain death or shameful banishment,
\nFor your sake I relent, not his; and him,
\nWhere’er he be, my heart shall still abhor.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThou art as sullen in thy yielding mood
\nAs in thine anger thou wast truculent.
\nSuch tempers justly plague themselves the most.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nLeave me in peace and get thee gone.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I go,
\nBy thee misjudged, but justified by these.
\n[Exeunt CREON]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Ant. 1)
\nLady, lead indoors thy consort; wherefore longer here delay?<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nTell me first how rose the fray.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nRumors bred unjust suspicious and injustice rankles sore.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nWere both at fault?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Both.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What was the tale?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nAsk me no more.\u00c2\u00a0 The land is sore distressed;
\n‘Twere better sleeping ills to leave at rest.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nStrange counsel, friend!\u00c2\u00a0 I know thou mean’st me well,
\nAnd yet would’st mitigate and blunt my zeal.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Ant. 2)
\nKing, I say it once again,
\nWitless were I proved, insane,
\nIf I lightly put away
\nThee my country’s prop and stay,
\nPilot who, in danger sought,
\nTo a quiet haven brought
\nOur distracted State; and now
\nWho can guide us right but thou?<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nLet me too, I adjure thee, know, O king,
\nWhat cause has stirred this unrelenting wrath.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI will, for thou art more to me than these.
\nLady, the cause is Creon and his plots.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nBut what provoked the quarrel? make this clear.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHe points me out as Laius’ murderer.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nOf his own knowledge or upon report?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHe is too cunning to commit himself,
\nAnd makes a mouthpiece of a knavish seer.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nThen thou mayest ease thy conscience on that score.
\nListen and I’ll convince thee that no man
\nHath scot or lot in the prophetic art.
\nHere is the proof in brief.\u00c2\u00a0 An oracle
\nOnce came to Laius (I will not say
\n‘Twas from the Delphic god himself, but from
\nHis ministers) declaring he was doomed
\nTo perish by the hand of his own son,
\nA child that should be born to him by me.
\nNow Laius–so at least report affirmed–
\nWas murdered on a day by highwaymen,
\nNo natives, at a spot where three roads meet.
\nAs for the child, it was but three days old,
\nWhen Laius, its ankles pierced and pinned
\nTogether, gave it to be cast away
\nBy others on the trackless mountain side.
\nSo then Apollo brought it not to pass
\nThe child should be his father’s murderer,
\nOr the dread terror find accomplishment,
\nAnd Laius be slain by his own son.
\nSuch was the prophet’s horoscope.\u00c2\u00a0 O king,
\nRegard it not.\u00c2\u00a0 Whate’er the god deems fit
\nTo search, himself unaided will reveal.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat memories, what wild tumult of the soul
\nCame o’er me, lady, as I heard thee speak!<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nWhat mean’st thou?\u00c2\u00a0 What has shocked and startled thee?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMethought I heard thee say that Laius
\nWas murdered at the meeting of three roads.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nSo ran the story that is current still.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhere did this happen?\u00c2\u00a0 Dost thou know the place?<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nPhocis the land is called; the spot is where
\nBranch roads from Delphi and from Daulis meet.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd how long is it since these things befell?<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\n‘Twas but a brief while were thou wast proclaimed
\nOur country’s ruler that the news was brought.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO Zeus, what hast thou willed to do with me!<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nWhat is it, Oedipus, that moves thee so?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAsk me not yet; tell me the build and height
\nOf Laius?\u00c2\u00a0 Was he still in manhood’s prime?<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nTall was he, and his hair was lightly strewn
\nWith silver; and not unlike thee in form.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO woe is me!\u00c2\u00a0 Mehtinks unwittingly
\nI laid but now a dread curse on myself.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nWhat say’st thou?\u00c2\u00a0 When I look upon thee, my king,
\nI tremble.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Tis a dread presentiment
\nThat in the end the seer will prove not blind.
\nOne further question to resolve my doubt.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nI quail; but ask, and I will answer all.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHad he but few attendants or a train
\nOf armed retainers with him, like a prince?<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nThey were but five in all, and one of them
\nA herald; Laius in a mule-car rode.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAlas! ’tis clear as noonday now.\u00c2\u00a0 But say,
\nLady, who carried this report to Thebes?<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nA serf, the sole survivor who returned.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHaply he is at hand or in the house?<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nNo, for as soon as he returned and found
\nThee reigning in the stead of Laius slain,
\nHe clasped my hand and supplicated me
\nTo send him to the alps and pastures, where
\nHe might be farthest from the sight of Thebes.
\nAnd so I sent him.\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Twas an honest slave
\nAnd well deserved some better recompense.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nFetch him at once.\u00c2\u00a0 I fain would see the man.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nHe shall be brought; but wherefore summon him?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nLady, I fear my tongue has overrun
\nDiscretion; therefore I would question him.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nWell, he shall come, but may not I too claim
\nTo share the burden of thy heart, my king?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd thou shalt not be frustrate of thy wish.
\nNow my imaginings have gone so far.
\nWho has a higher claim that thou to hear
\nMy tale of dire adventures?\u00c2\u00a0 Listen then.
\nMy sire was Polybus of Corinth, and
\nMy mother Merope, a Dorian;
\nAnd I was held the foremost citizen,
\nTill a strange thing befell me, strange indeed,
\nYet scarce deserving all the heat it stirred.
\nA roisterer at some banquet, flown with wine,
\nShouted “Thou art not true son of thy sire.”
\nIt irked me, but I stomached for the nonce
\nThe insult; on the morrow I sought out
\nMy mother and my sire and questioned them.
\nThey were indignant at the random slur
\nCast on my parentage and did their best
\nTo comfort me, but still the venomed barb
\nRankled, for still the scandal spread and grew.
\nSo privily without their leave I went
\nTo Delphi, and Apollo sent me back
\nBaulked of the knowledge that I came to seek.
\nBut other grievous things he prophesied,
\nWoes, lamentations, mourning, portents dire;
\nTo wit I should defile my mother’s bed
\nAnd raise up seed too loathsome to behold,
\nAnd slay the father from whose loins I sprang.
\nThen, lady,–thou shalt hear the very truth–
\nAs I drew near the triple-branching roads,
\nA herald met me and a man who sat
\nIn a car drawn by colts–as in thy tale–
\nThe man in front and the old man himself
\nThreatened to thrust me rudely from the path,
\nThen jostled by the charioteer in wrath
\nI struck him, and the old man, seeing this,
\nWatched till I passed and from his car brought down
\nFull on my head the double-pointed goad.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yet was I quits with him and more; one stroke
\nOf my good staff sufficed to fling him clean
\nOut of the chariot seat and laid him prone.
\nAnd so I slew them every one.\u00c2\u00a0 But if
\nBetwixt this stranger there was aught in common
\nWith Laius, who more miserable than I,
\nWhat mortal could you find more god-abhorred?
\nWretch whom no sojourner, no citizen
\nMay harbor or address, whom all are bound
\nTo harry from their homes.\u00c2\u00a0 And this same curse
\nWas laid on me, and laid by none but me.
\nYea with\u00c2\u00a0 these hands all gory I pollute
\nThe bed of him I slew.\u00c2\u00a0 Say, am I vile?
\nAm I not utterly unclean, a wretch
\nDoomed to be banished, and in banishment
\nForgo the sight of all my dearest ones,
\nAnd never tread again my native earth;
\nOr else to wed my mother and slay my sire,
\nPolybus, who begat me and upreared?
\nIf one should say, this is the handiwork
\nOf some inhuman power, who could blame
\nHis judgment?\u00c2\u00a0 But, ye pure and awful gods,
\nForbid, forbid that I should see that day!
\nMay I be blotted out from living men
\nEre such a plague spot set on me its brand!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWe too, O king, are troubled; but till thou
\nHast questioned the survivor, still hope on.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMy hope is faint, but still enough survives
\nTo bid me bide the coming of this herd.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nSuppose him here, what wouldst thou learn of him?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI’ll tell thee, lady; if his tale agrees
\nWith thine, I shall have ‘scaped calamity.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nAnd what of special import did I say?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nIn thy report of what the herdsman said
\nLaius was slain by robbers; now if he
\nStill speaks of robbers, not a robber, I
\nSlew him not; “one” with “many” cannot square.
\nBut if he says one lonely wayfarer,
\nThe last link wanting to my guilt is forged.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nWell, rest assured, his tale ran thus at first,
\nNor can he now retract what then he said;
\nNot I alone but all our townsfolk heard it.
\nE’en should he vary somewhat in his story,
\nHe cannot make the death of Laius
\nIn any wise jump with the oracle.
\nFor Loxias said expressly he was doomed
\nTo die by my child’s hand, but he, poor babe,
\nHe shed no blood, but perished first himself.
\nSo much for divination.\u00c2\u00a0 Henceforth I
\nWill look for signs neither to right nor left.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThou reasonest well.\u00c2\u00a0 Still I would have thee send
\nAnd fetch the bondsman hither.\u00c2\u00a0 See to it.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nThat will I straightway.\u00c2\u00a0 Come, let us within.
\nI would do nothing that my lord mislikes.
\n[Exeunt OEDIPUS and JOCASTA]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\nMy lot be still to lead
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The life of innocence and fly
\nIrreverence in word or deed,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To follow still those laws ordained on high
\nWhose birthplace is the bright ethereal sky
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 No mortal birth they own,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Olympus their progenitor alone:
\nNe’er shall they slumber in oblivion cold,
\nThe god in them is strong and grows not old.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 1)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Of insolence is bred
\nThe tyrant; insolence full blown,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 With empty riches surfeited,
\nScales the precipitous height and grasps the throne.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Then topples o’er and lies in ruin prone;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 No foothold on that dizzy steep.
\nBut O may Heaven the true patriot keep
\nWho burns with emulous zeal to serve the State.
\nGod is my help and hope, on him I wait.<\/p>\n
(Str. 2)
\nBut the proud sinner, or in word or deed,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That will not Justice heed,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Nor reverence the shrine
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Of images divine,
\nPerdition seize his vain imaginings,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 If, urged by greed profane,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 He grasps at ill-got gain,
\nAnd lays an impious hand on holiest things.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Who when such deeds are done
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Can hope heaven’s bolts to shun?
\nIf sin like this to honor can aspire,
\nWhy dance I still and lead the sacred choir?<\/p>\n
(Ant. 2)
\nNo more I’ll seek earth’s central oracle,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Or Abae’s hallowed cell,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Nor to Olympia bring
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 My votive offering.
\nIf before all God’s truth be not bade plain.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O Zeus, reveal thy might,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 King, if thou’rt named aright
\nOmnipotent, all-seeing, as of old;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For Laius is forgot;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 His weird, men heed it not;
\nApollo is forsook and faith grows cold.
\n[Enter JOCASTA.]<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nMy lords, ye look amazed to see your queen
\nWith wreaths and gifts of incense in her hands.
\nI had a mind to visit the high shrines,
\nFor Oedipus is overwrought, alarmed
\nWith terrors manifold.\u00c2\u00a0 He will not use
\nHis past experience, like a man of sense,
\nTo judge the present need, but lends an ear
\nTo any croaker if he augurs ill.
\nSince then my counsels naught avail, I turn
\nTo thee, our present help in time of trouble,
\nApollo, Lord Lycean, and to thee
\nMy prayers and supplications here I bring.
\nLighten us, lord, and cleanse us from this curse!
\nFor now we all are cowed like mariners
\nWho see their helmsman dumbstruck in the storm.
\n[Enter Corinthian MESSENGER.]<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nMy masters, tell me where the palace is
\nOf Oedipus; or better, where’s the king.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nHere is the palace and he bides within;
\nThis is his queen the mother of his children.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nAll happiness attend her and the house,
\nBlessed is her husband and her marriage-bed.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nMy greetings to thee, stranger; thy fair words
\nDeserve a like response.\u00c2\u00a0 But tell me why
\nThou comest–what thy need or what thy news.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nGood for thy consort and the royal house.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nWhat may it be?\u00c2\u00a0 Whose messenger art thou?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nThe Isthmian commons have resolved to make
\nThy husband king–so ’twas reported there.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nWhat! is not aged Polybus still king?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nNo, verily; he’s dead and in his grave.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nWhat! is he dead, the sire of Oedipus?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nIf I speak falsely, may I die myself.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nQuick, maiden, bear these tidings to my lord.
\nYe god-sent oracles, where stand ye now!
\nThis is the man whom Oedipus long shunned,
\nIn dread to prove his murderer; and now
\nHe dies in nature’s course, not by his hand.
\n[Enter OEDIPUS.]<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMy wife, my queen, Jocasta, why hast thou
\nSummoned me from my palace?<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hear this man,
\nAnd as thou hearest judge what has become
\nOf all those awe-inspiring oracles.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWho is this man, and what his news for me?<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nHe comes from Corinth and his message this:
\nThy father Polybus hath passed away.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat? let me have it, stranger, from thy mouth.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nIf I must first make plain beyond a doubt
\nMy message, know that Polybus is dead.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nBy treachery, or by sickness visited?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nOne touch will send an old man to his rest.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSo of some malady he died, poor man.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nYes, having measured the full span of years.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nOut on it, lady! why should one regard
\nThe Pythian hearth or birds that scream i’ the air?
\nDid they not point at me as doomed to slay
\nMy father? but he’s dead and in his grave
\nAnd here am I who ne’er unsheathed a sword;
\nUnless the longing for his absent son
\nKilled him and so _I_ slew him in a sense.
\nBut, as they stand, the oracles are dead–
\nDust, ashes, nothing, dead as Polybus.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nSay, did not I foretell this long ago?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThou didst:\u00c2\u00a0 but I was misled by my fear.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nThen let I no more weigh upon thy soul.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMust I not fear my mother’s marriage bed.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nWhy should a mortal man, the sport of chance,
\nWith no assured foreknowledge, be afraid?
\nBest live a careless life from hand to mouth.
\nThis wedlock with thy mother fear not thou.
\nHow oft it chances that in dreams a man
\nHas wed his mother!\u00c2\u00a0 He who least regards
\nSuch brainsick phantasies lives most at ease.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI should have shared in full thy confidence,
\nWere not my mother living; since she lives
\nThough half convinced I still must live in dread.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nAnd yet thy sire’s death lights out darkness much.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMuch, but my fear is touching her who lives.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nWho may this woman be whom thus you fear?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMerope, stranger, wife of Polybus.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nAnd what of her can cause you any fear?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nA heaven-sent oracle of dread import.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nA mystery, or may a stranger hear it?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAye, ’tis no secret.\u00c2\u00a0 Loxias once foretold
\nThat I should mate with mine own mother, and shed
\nWith my own hands the blood of my own sire.
\nHence Corinth was for many a year to me
\nA home distant; and I trove abroad,
\nBut missed the sweetest sight, my parents’ face.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nWas this the fear that exiled thee from home?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nYea, and the dread of slaying my own sire.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nWhy, since I came to give thee pleasure, King,
\nHave I not rid thee of this second fear?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWell, thou shalt have due guerdon for thy pains.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nWell, I confess what chiefly made me come
\nWas hope to profit by thy coming home.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nNay, I will ne’er go near my parents more.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nMy son, ’tis plain, thou know’st not what thou doest.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHow so, old man?\u00c2\u00a0 For heaven’s sake tell me all.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nIf this is why thou dreadest to return.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nYea, lest the god’s word be fulfilled in me.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nLest through thy parents thou shouldst be accursed?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThis and none other is my constant dread.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nDost thou not know thy fears are baseless all?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHow baseless, if I am their very son?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nSince Polybus was naught to thee in blood.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat say’st thou? was not Polybus my sire?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nAs much thy sire as I am, and no more.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMy sire no more to me than one who is naught?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nSince I begat thee not, no more did he.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat reason had he then to call me son?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nKnow that he took thee from my hands, a gift.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nYet, if no child of his, he loved me well.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nA childless man till then, he warmed to thee.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nA foundling or a purchased slave, this child?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nI found thee in Cithaeron’s wooded glens.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat led thee to explore those upland glades?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nMy business was to tend the mountain flocks.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nA vagrant shepherd journeying for hire?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nTrue, but thy savior in that hour, my son.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMy savior? from what harm? what ailed me then?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nThose ankle joints are evidence enow.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAh, why remind me of that ancient sore?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nI loosed the pin that riveted thy feet.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nYes, from my cradle that dread brand I bore.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nWhence thou deriv’st the name that still is thine.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWho did it?\u00c2\u00a0 I adjure thee, tell me who
\nSay, was it father, mother?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I know not.
\nThe man from whom I had thee may know more.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat, did another find me, not thyself?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nNot I; another shepherd gave thee me.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWho was he?\u00c2\u00a0 Would’st thou know again the man?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nHe passed indeed for one of Laius’ house.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThe king who ruled the country long ago?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nThe same:\u00c2\u00a0 he was a herdsman of the king.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd is he living still for me to see him?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nHis fellow-countrymen should best know that.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDoth any bystander among you know
\nThe herd he speaks of, or by seeing him
\nAfield or in the city? answer straight!
\nThe hour hath come to clear this business up.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nMethinks he means none other than the hind
\nWhom thou anon wert fain to see; but that
\nOur queen Jocasta best of all could tell.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMadam, dost know the man we sent to fetch?
\nIs the same of whom the stranger speaks?<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nWho is the man?\u00c2\u00a0 What matter?\u00c2\u00a0 Let it be.
\n‘Twere waste of thought to weigh such idle words.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nNo, with such guiding clues I cannot fail
\nTo bring to light the secret of my birth.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nOh, as thou carest for thy life, give o’er
\nThis quest.\u00c2\u00a0 Enough the anguish _I_ endure.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nBe of good cheer; though I be proved the son
\nOf a bondwoman, aye, through three descents
\nTriply a slave, thy honor is unsmirched.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nYet humor me, I pray thee; do not this.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI cannot; I must probe this matter home.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\n‘Tis for thy sake I advise thee for the best.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI grow impatient of this best advice.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nAh mayst thou ne’er discover who thou art!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nGo, fetch me here the herd, and leave yon woman
\nTo glory in her pride of ancestry.<\/p>\n
JOCASTA
\nO woe is thee, poor wretch!\u00c2\u00a0 With that last word
\nI leave thee, henceforth silent evermore.
\n[Exit JOCASTA]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhy, Oedipus, why stung with passionate grief
\nHath the queen thus departed?\u00c2\u00a0 Much I fear
\nFrom this dead calm will burst a storm of woes.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nLet the storm burst, my fixed resolve still holds,
\nTo learn my lineage, be it ne’er so low.
\nIt may be she with all a woman’s pride
\nThinks scorn of my base parentage.\u00c2\u00a0 But I
\nWho rank myself as Fortune’s favorite child,
\nThe giver of good gifts, shall not be shamed.
\nShe is my mother and the changing moons
\nMy brethren, and with them I wax and wane.
\nThus sprung why should I fear to trace my birth?
\nNothing can make me other than I am.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str.)
\nIf my soul prophetic err not, if my wisdom aught avail,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thee, Cithaeron, I shall hail,
\nAs the nurse and foster-mother of our Oedipus shall greet
\nEre tomorrow’s full moon rises, and exalt thee as is meet.
\nDance and song shall hymn thy praises, lover of our royal race.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Phoebus, may my words find grace!<\/p>\n
(Ant.)
\nChild,\u00c2\u00a0 who bare thee, nymph or goddess? sure thy sure was\u00c2\u00a0 more\u00c2\u00a0 than
\nman,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Haply the hill-roamer Pan.
\nOf did Loxias beget thee, for he haunts the upland wold;
\nOr Cyllene’s lord, or Bacchus, dweller on the hilltops cold?
\nDid some Heliconian Oread give him thee, a new-born joy?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Nymphs with whom he love to toy?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nElders, if I, who never yet before
\nHave met the man, may make a guess, methinks
\nI see the herdsman who we long have sought;
\nHis time-worn aspect matches with the years
\nOf yonder aged messenger; besides
\nI seem to recognize the men who bring him
\nAs servants of my own.\u00c2\u00a0 But you, perchance,
\nHaving in past days known or seen the herd,
\nMay better by sure knowledge my surmise.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nI recognize him; one of Laius’ house;
\nA simple hind, but true as any man.
\n[Enter HERDSMAN.]<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nCorinthian, stranger, I address thee first,
\nIs this the man thou meanest!<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This is he.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd now old man, look up and answer all
\nI ask thee.\u00c2\u00a0 Wast thou once of Laius’ house?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nI was, a thrall, not purchased but home-bred.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat was thy business? how wast thou employed?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nThe best part of my life I tended sheep.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat were the pastures thou didst most frequent?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nCithaeron and the neighboring alps.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Then there
\nThou must have known yon man, at least by fame?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nYon man? in what way? what man dost thou mean?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThe man here, having met him in past times…<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nOff-hand I cannot call him well to mind.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nNo wonder, master.\u00c2\u00a0 But I will revive
\nHis blunted memories.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure he can recall
\nWhat time together both we drove our flocks,
\nHe two, I one, on the Cithaeron range,
\nFor three long summers; I his mate from spring
\nTill rose Arcturus; then in winter time
\nI led mine home, he his to Laius’ folds.
\nDid these things happen as I say, or no?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\n‘Tis long ago, but all thou say’st is true.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nWell, thou mast then remember giving me
\nA child to rear as my own foster-son?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nWhy dost thou ask this question?\u00c2\u00a0 What of that?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nFriend, he that stands before thee was that child.<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nA plague upon thee!\u00c2\u00a0 Hold thy wanton tongue!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSoftly, old man, rebuke him not; thy words
\nAre more deserving chastisement than his.<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nO best of masters, what is my offense?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nNot answering what he asks about the child.<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nHe speaks at random, babbles like a fool.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nIf thou lack’st grace to speak, I’ll loose thy tongue.<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nFor mercy’s sake abuse not an old man.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nArrest the villain, seize and pinion him!<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nAlack, alack!
\nWhat have I done? what wouldst thou further learn?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDidst give this man the child of whom he asks?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nI did; and would that I had died that day!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd die thou shalt unless thou tell the truth.<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nBut, if I tell it, I am doubly lost.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThe knave methinks will still prevaricate.<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nNay, I confessed I gave it long ago.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhence came it? was it thine, or given to thee?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nI had it from another, ’twas not mine.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nFrom whom of these our townsmen, and what house?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nForbear for God’s sake, master, ask no more.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nIf I must question thee again, thou’rt lost.<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nWell then–it was a child of Laius’ house.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSlave-born or one of Laius’ own race?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nAh me!
\nI stand upon the perilous edge of speech.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd I of hearing, but I still must hear.<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nKnow then the child was by repute his own,
\nBut she within, thy consort best could tell.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat! she, she gave it thee?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Tis so, my king.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWith what intent?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To make away with it.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat, she its mother.<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Fearing a dread weird.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat weird?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Twas told that he should slay his sire.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat didst thou give it then to this old man?<\/p>\n
HERDSMAN
\nThrough pity, master, for the babe.\u00c2\u00a0 I thought
\nHe’d take it to the country whence he came;
\nBut he preserved it for the worst of woes.
\nFor if thou art in sooth what this man saith,
\nGod pity thee! thou wast to misery born.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAh me! ah me! all brought to pass, all true!
\nO light, may I behold thee nevermore!
\nI stand a wretch, in birth, in wedlock cursed,
\nA parricide, incestuously, triply cursed!
\n[Exit OEDIPUS]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Races of mortal man
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Whose life is but a span,
\nI count ye but the shadow of a shade!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For he who most doth know
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Of bliss, hath but the show;
\nA moment, and the visions pale and fade.
\nThy fall, O Oedipus, thy piteous fall
\nWarns me none born of women blest to call.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 1)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For he of marksmen best,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O Zeus, outshot the rest,
\nAnd won the prize supreme of wealth and power.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 By him the vulture maid
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Was quelled, her witchery laid;
\nHe rose our savior and the land’s strong tower.
\nWe hailed thee king and from that day adored
\nOf mighty Thebes the universal lord.<\/p>\n
(Str. 2)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O heavy hand of fate!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Who now more desolate,
\nWhose tale more sad than thine, whose lot more dire?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O Oedipus, discrowned head,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thy cradle was thy marriage bed;
\nOne harborage sufficed for son and sire.
\nHow could the soil thy father eared so long
\nEndure to bear in silence such a wrong?<\/p>\n
(Ant. 2)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 All-seeing Time hath caught
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Guilt, and to justice brought
\nThe son and sire commingled in one bed.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O child of Laius’ ill-starred race
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Would I had ne’er beheld thy face;
\nI raise for thee a dirge as o’er the dead.
\nYet, sooth to say, through thee I drew new breath,
\nAnd now through thee I feel a second death.
\n[Enter SECOND MESSENGER.]<\/p>\n
SECOND MESSENGER
\nMost grave and reverend senators of Thebes,
\nWhat Deeds ye soon must hear, what sights behold
\nHow will ye mourn, if, true-born patriots,
\nYe reverence still the race of Labdacus!
\nNot Ister nor all Phasis’ flood, I ween,
\nCould wash away the blood-stains from this house,
\nThe ills it shrouds or soon will bring to light,
\nIlls wrought of malice, not unwittingly.
\nThe worst to bear are self-inflicted wounds.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nGrievous enough for all our tears and groans
\nOur past calamities; what canst thou add?<\/p>\n
SECOND MESSENGER
\nMy tale is quickly told and quickly heard.
\nOur sovereign lady queen Jocasta’s dead.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nAlas, poor queen! how came she by her death?<\/p>\n
SECOND MESSENGER
\nBy her own hand.\u00c2\u00a0 And all the horror of it,
\nNot having seen, yet cannot comprehend.
\nNathless, as far as my poor memory serves,
\nI will relate the unhappy lady’s woe.
\nWhen in her frenzy she had passed inside
\nThe vestibule, she hurried straight to win
\nThe bridal-chamber, clutching at her hair
\nWith both her hands, and, once within the room,
\nShe shut the doors behind her with a crash.
\n“Laius,” she cried, and called her husband dead
\nLong, long ago; her thought was of that child
\nBy him begot, the son by whom the sire
\nWas murdered and the mother left to breed
\nWith her own seed, a monstrous progeny.
\nThen she bewailed the marriage bed whereon
\nPoor wretch, she had conceived a double brood,
\nHusband by husband, children by her child.
\nWhat happened after that I cannot tell,
\nNor how the end befell, for with a shriek
\nBurst on us Oedipus; all eyes were fixed
\nOn Oedipus, as up and down he strode,
\nNor could we mark her agony to the end.
\nFor stalking to and fro “A sword!” he cried,
\n“Where is the wife, no wife, the teeming womb
\nThat bore a double harvest, me and mine?”
\nAnd in his frenzy some supernal power
\n(No mortal, surely, none of us who watched him)
\nGuided his footsteps; with a terrible shriek,
\nAs though one beckoned him, he crashed against
\nThe folding doors, and from their staples forced
\nThe wrenched bolts and hurled himself within.
\nThen we beheld the woman hanging there,
\nA running noose entwined about her neck.
\nBut when he saw her, with a maddened roar
\nHe loosed the cord; and when her wretched corpse
\nLay stretched on earth, what followed–O ’twas dread!
\nHe tore the golden brooches that upheld
\nHer queenly robes, upraised them high and smote
\nFull on his eye-balls, uttering words like these:
\n“No more shall ye behold such sights of woe,
\nDeeds I have suffered and myself have wrought;
\nHenceforward quenched in darkness shall ye see
\nThose ye should ne’er have seen; now blind to those
\nWhom, when I saw, I vainly yearned to know.”
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Such was the burden of his moan, whereto,
\nNot once but oft, he struck with his hand uplift
\nHis eyes, and at each stroke the ensanguined orbs
\nBedewed his beard, not oozing drop by drop,
\nBut one black gory downpour, thick as hail.
\nSuch evils, issuing from the double source,
\nHave whelmed them both, confounding man and wife.
\nTill now the storied fortune of this house
\nWas fortunate indeed; but from this day
\nWoe, lamentation, ruin, death, disgrace,
\nAll ills that can be named, all, all are theirs.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nBut hath he still no respite from his pain?<\/p>\n
SECOND MESSENGER
\nHe cries, “Unbar the doors and let all Thebes
\nBehold the slayer of his sire, his mother’s–”
\nThat shameful word my lips may not repeat.
\nHe vows to fly self-banished from the land,
\nNor stay to bring upon his house the curse
\nHimself had uttered; but he has no strength
\nNor one to guide him, and his torture’s more
\nThan man can suffer, as yourselves will see.
\nFor lo, the palace portals are unbarred,
\nAnd soon ye shall behold a sight so sad
\nThat he who must abhorred would pity it.
\n[Enter OEDIPUS blinded.]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Woeful sight! more woeful none
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 These sad eyes have looked upon.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Whence this madness?\u00c2\u00a0 None can tell
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Who did cast on thee his spell,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 prowling all thy life around,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Leaping with a demon bound.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hapless wretch! how can I brook
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 On thy misery to look?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Though to gaze on thee I yearn,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Much to question, much to learn,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Horror-struck away I turn.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAh me! ah woe is me!
\nAh whither am I borne!
\nHow like a ghost forlorn
\nMy voice flits from me on the air!
\nOn, on the demon goads.\u00c2\u00a0 The end, ah where?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nAn end too dread to tell, too dark to see.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n(Str. 1)
\nDark, dark!\u00c2\u00a0 The horror of darkness, like a shroud,
\nWraps me and bears me on through mist and cloud.
\nAh me, ah me!\u00c2\u00a0 What spasms athwart me shoot,
\nWhat pangs of agonizing memory?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nNo marvel if in such a plight thou feel’st
\nThe double weight of past and present woes.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n(Ant. 1)
\nAh friend, still loyal, constant still and kind,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thou carest for the blind.
\nI know thee near, and though bereft of eyes,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thy voice I recognize.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nO doer of dread deeds, how couldst thou mar
\nThy vision thus?\u00c2\u00a0 What demon goaded thee?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n(Str. 2)
\nApollo, friend, Apollo, he it was
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That brought these ills to pass;
\nBut the right hand that dealt the blow
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Was mine, none other.\u00c2\u00a0 How,
\nHow, could I longer see when sight
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Brought no delight?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nAlas! ’tis as thou sayest.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSay, friends, can any look or voice
\nOr touch of love henceforth my heart rejoice?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Haste, friends, no fond delay,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Take the twice cursed away
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Far from all ken,
\nThe man abhorred of gods, accursed of men.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nO thy despair well suits thy desperate case.
\nWould I had never looked upon thy face!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n(Ant. 2)
\nMy curse on him whoe’er unrived
\nThe waif’s fell fetters and my life revived!
\nHe meant me well, yet had he left me there,
\nHe had saved my friends and me a world of care.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nI too had wished it so.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThen had I never come to shed
\nMy father’s blood nor climbed my mother’s bed;
\nThe monstrous offspring of a womb defiled,
\nCo-mate of him who gendered me, and child.
\nWas ever man before afflicted thus,
\nLike Oedipus.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nI cannot say that thou hast counseled well,
\nFor thou wert better dead than living blind.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat’s done was well done.\u00c2\u00a0 Thou canst never shake
\nMy firm belief.\u00c2\u00a0 A truce to argument.
\nFor, had I sight, I know not with what eyes
\nI could have met my father in the shades,
\nOr my poor mother, since against the twain
\nI sinned, a sin no gallows could atone.
\nAye, but, ye say, the sight of children joys
\nA parent’s eyes.\u00c2\u00a0 What, born as mine were born?
\nNo, such a sight could never bring me joy;
\nNor this fair city with its battlements,
\nIts temples and the statues of its gods,
\nSights from which I, now wretchedst of all,
\nOnce ranked the foremost Theban in all Thebes,
\nBy my own sentence am cut off, condemned
\nBy my own proclamation ‘gainst the wretch,
\nThe miscreant by heaven itself declared
\nUnclean–and of the race of Laius.
\nThus branded as a felon by myself,
\nHow had I dared to look you in the face?
\nNay, had I known a way to choke the springs
\nOf hearing, I had never shrunk to make
\nA dungeon of this miserable frame,
\nCut off from sight and hearing; for ’tis bliss
\nto bide in regions sorrow cannot reach.
\nWhy didst thou harbor me, Cithaeron, why
\nDidst thou not take and slay me?\u00c2\u00a0 Then I never
\nHad shown to men the secret of my birth.
\nO Polybus, O Corinth, O my home,
\nHome of my ancestors (so wast thou called)
\nHow fair a nursling then I seemed, how foul
\nThe canker that lay festering in the bud!
\nNow is the blight revealed of root and fruit.
\nYe triple high-roads, and thou hidden glen,
\nCoppice, and pass where meet the three-branched ways,
\nYe drank my blood, the life-blood these hands spilt,
\nMy father’s; do ye call to mind perchance
\nThose deeds of mine ye witnessed and the work
\nI wrought thereafter when I came to Thebes?
\nO fatal wedlock, thou didst give me birth,
\nAnd, having borne me, sowed again my seed,
\nMingling the blood of fathers, brothers, children,
\nBrides, wives and mothers, an incestuous brood,
\nAll horrors that are wrought beneath the sun,
\nHorrors so foul to name them were unmeet.
\nO, I adjure you, hide me anywhere
\nFar from this land, or slay me straight, or cast me
\nDown to the depths of ocean out of sight.
\nCome hither, deign to touch an abject wretch;
\nDraw near and fear not; I myself must bear
\nThe load of guilt that none but I can share.
\n[Enter CREON.]<\/p>\n
CREON
\nLo, here is Creon, the one man to grant
\nThy prayer by action or advice, for he
\nIs left the State’s sole guardian in thy stead.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAh me! what words to accost him can I find?
\nWhat cause has he to trust me?\u00c2\u00a0 In the past
\nI have bee proved his rancorous enemy.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNot in derision, Oedipus, I come
\nNor to upbraid thee with thy past misdeeds.
\n(To BYSTANDERS)
\nBut shame upon you! if ye feel no sense
\nOf human decencies, at least revere
\nThe Sun whose light beholds and nurtures all.
\nLeave not thus nakedly for all to gaze at
\nA horror neither earth nor rain from heaven
\nNor light will suffer.\u00c2\u00a0 Lead him straight within,
\nFor it is seemly that a kinsman’s woes
\nBe heard by kin and seen by kin alone.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO listen, since thy presence comes to me
\nA shock of glad surprise–so noble thou,
\nAnd I so vile–O grant me one small boon.
\nI ask it not on my behalf, but thine.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nAnd what the favor thou wouldst crave of me?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nForth from thy borders thrust me with all speed;
\nSet me within some vasty desert where
\nNo mortal voice shall greet me any more.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThis had I done already, but I deemed
\nIt first behooved me to consult the god.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHis will was set forth fully–to destroy
\nThe parricide, the scoundrel;\u00c2\u00a0 and I am he.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nYea, so he spake, but in our present plight
\n‘Twere better to consult the god anew.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDare ye inquire concerning such a wretch?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nYea, for thyself wouldst credit now his word.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAye, and on thee in all humility
\nI lay this charge:\u00c2\u00a0 let her who lies within
\nReceive such burial as thou shalt ordain;
\nSuch rites ’tis thine, as brother, to perform.
\nBut for myself, O never let my Thebes,
\nThe city of my sires, be doomed to bear
\nThe burden of my presence while I live.
\nNo, let me be a dweller on the hills,
\nOn yonder mount Cithaeron, famed as mine,
\nMy tomb predestined for me by my sire
\nAnd mother, while they lived, that I may die
\nSlain as they sought to slay me, when alive.
\nThis much I know full surely, nor disease
\nShall end my days, nor any common chance;
\nFor I had ne’er been snatched from death, unless
\nI was predestined to some awful doom.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 So be it.\u00c2\u00a0 I reck not how Fate deals with me
\nBut my unhappy children–for my sons
\nBe not concerned, O Creon, they are men,
\nAnd for themselves, where’er they be, can fend.
\nBut for my daughters twain, poor innocent maids,
\nWho ever sat beside me at the board
\nSharing my viands, drinking of my cup,
\nFor them, I pray thee, care, and, if thou willst,
\nO might I feel their touch and make my moan.
\nHear me, O prince, my noble-hearted prince!
\nCould I but blindly touch them with my hands
\nI’d think they still were mine, as when I saw.
\n[ANTIGONE and ISMENE are led in.]
\nWhat say I? can it be my pretty ones
\nWhose sobs I hear?\u00c2\u00a0 Has Creon pitied me
\nAnd sent me my two darlings?\u00c2\u00a0 Can this be?<\/p>\n
CREON
\n‘Tis true; ’twas I procured thee this delight,
\nKnowing the joy they were to thee of old.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nGod speed thee! and as meed for bringing them
\nMay Providence deal with thee kindlier
\nThan it has dealt with me!\u00c2\u00a0 O children mine,
\nWhere are ye?\u00c2\u00a0 Let me clasp you with these hands,
\nA brother’s hands, a father’s; hands that made
\nLack-luster sockets of his once bright eyes;
\nHands of a man who blindly, recklessly,
\nBecame your sire by her from whom he sprang.
\nThough I cannot behold you, I must weep
\nIn thinking of the evil days to come,
\nThe slights and wrongs that men will put upon you.
\nWhere’er ye go to feast or festival,
\nNo merrymaking will it prove for you,
\nBut oft abashed in tears ye will return.
\nAnd when ye come to marriageable years,
\nWhere’s the bold wooers who will jeopardize
\nTo take unto himself such disrepute
\nAs to my children’s children still must cling,
\nFor what of infamy is lacking here?
\n“Their father slew his father, sowed the seed
\nWhere he himself was gendered, and begat
\nThese maidens at the source wherefrom he sprang.”
\nSuch are the gibes that men will cast at you.
\nWho then will wed you?\u00c2\u00a0 None, I ween, but ye
\nMust pine, poor maids, in single barrenness.
\nO Prince, Menoeceus’ son, to thee, I turn,
\nWith the it rests to father them, for we
\nTheir natural parents, both of us, are lost.
\nO leave them not to wander poor, unwed,
\nThy kin, nor let them share my low estate.
\nO pity them so young, and but for thee
\nAll destitute.\u00c2\u00a0 Thy hand upon it, Prince.
\nTo you, my children I had much to say,
\nWere ye but ripe to hear.\u00c2\u00a0 Let this suffice:
\nPray ye may find some home and live content,
\nAnd may your lot prove happier than your sire’s.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThou hast had enough of weeping; pass within.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I must obey,
\nThough ’tis grievous.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Weep not, everything must have its day.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWell I go, but on conditions.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What thy terms for going, say.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSend me from the land an exile.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ask this of the gods, not me.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nBut I am the gods’ abhorrence.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Then they soon will grant thy plea.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nLead me hence, then, I am willing.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Come, but let thy children go.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nRob me not of these my children!<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Crave not mastery in all,
\nFor the mastery that raised thee was thy bane and wrought thy fall.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nLook ye, countrymen and Thebans, this is Oedipus the great,
\nHe who knew the Sphinx’s riddle and was mightiest in our state.
\nWho of all our townsmen gazed not on his fame with envious eyes?
\nNow, in what a sea of troubles sunk and overwhelmed he lies!
\nTherefore wait to see life’s ending ere thou count one mortal blest;
\nWait till free from pain and sorrow he has gained his final rest.<\/p>\n
FOOTNOTES
\n———<\/p>\n
1.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Dr. Kennedy and others render “Since to men of experience\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00c2\u00a0 see
\nthat also comparisons of their counsels are in most lively use.”<\/p>\n
2.\u00c2\u00a0 Literally “not to call them thine,” but the Greek may be\u00c2\u00a0 rendered
\n“In order not to reveal thine.”<\/p>\n
3.\u00c2\u00a0 The Greek text that occurs in this place has been lost.<\/p>\n
***End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex***<\/p>\n
This is the Project Gutenberg Etext Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus
\nThis file should be named oedcl10.txt or oedcl10.zip if separate.
\n*It should include the header from the top including small print*<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 SOPHOCLES<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 OEDIPUS AT COLONUS<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Translation by F. Storr, BA
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Formerly Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 From the Loeb Library Edition
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Originally published by
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 and
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 William Heinemann Ltd, London<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 First published in 1912<\/p>\n
———————————————————————-<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ARGUMENT<\/p>\n
Oedipus,\u00c2\u00a0 the\u00c2\u00a0 blind\u00c2\u00a0 and banished King of Thebes,\u00c2\u00a0 has\u00c2\u00a0 come\u00c2\u00a0 in\u00c2\u00a0 his
\nwanderings to Colonus, a deme of Athens, led by his daughter Antigone.
\nHe sits to rest on a rock just within a sacred grove of the Furies and
\nis\u00c2\u00a0 bidden depart by a passing native.\u00c2\u00a0 But Oedipus, instructed by\u00c2\u00a0 an
\noracle\u00c2\u00a0 that he had reached his final resting-place, refuses to\u00c2\u00a0 stir,
\nand the stranger consents to go and consult the Elders of Colonus (the
\nChorus\u00c2\u00a0 of\u00c2\u00a0 the Play).\u00c2\u00a0 Conducted to the spot they pity at\u00c2\u00a0 first\u00c2\u00a0 the
\nblind\u00c2\u00a0 beggar\u00c2\u00a0 and\u00c2\u00a0 his daughter, but on learning his\u00c2\u00a0 name\u00c2\u00a0 they\u00c2\u00a0 are
\nhorror-striken\u00c2\u00a0 and\u00c2\u00a0 order him to quit the land.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00c2\u00a0 appeals\u00c2\u00a0 to\u00c2\u00a0 the
\nworld-famed hospitality of Athens and hints at the blessings that\u00c2\u00a0 his
\ncoming will confer on the State.\u00c2\u00a0 They agree to await the decision\u00c2\u00a0 of
\nKing\u00c2\u00a0 Theseus.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 From Theseus Oedipus craves protection\u00c2\u00a0 in\u00c2\u00a0 life\u00c2\u00a0 and
\nburial\u00c2\u00a0 in\u00c2\u00a0 Attic soil; the benefits that will accrue\u00c2\u00a0 shall\u00c2\u00a0 be\u00c2\u00a0 told
\nlater.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Theseus departs having promised to aid and befriend him.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 No
\nsooner\u00c2\u00a0 has\u00c2\u00a0 he gone than Creon enters with an armed guard\u00c2\u00a0 who\u00c2\u00a0 seize
\nAntigone\u00c2\u00a0 and\u00c2\u00a0 carry\u00c2\u00a0 her off (Ismene, the\u00c2\u00a0 other\u00c2\u00a0 sister,\u00c2\u00a0 they\u00c2\u00a0 have
\nalready\u00c2\u00a0 captured)\u00c2\u00a0 and\u00c2\u00a0 he is about to lay\u00c2\u00a0 hands\u00c2\u00a0 on\u00c2\u00a0 Oedipus,\u00c2\u00a0 when
\nTheseus,\u00c2\u00a0 who has heard the tumult, hurries up and,\u00c2\u00a0 upbraiding\u00c2\u00a0 Creon
\nfor\u00c2\u00a0 his lawless act, threatens to detain him till he has shown\u00c2\u00a0 where
\nthe captives are and restored them.\u00c2\u00a0 In the next scene Theseus returns
\nbringing\u00c2\u00a0 with\u00c2\u00a0 him the rescued maidens.\u00c2\u00a0 He informs\u00c2\u00a0 Oedipus\u00c2\u00a0 that\u00c2\u00a0 a
\nstranger\u00c2\u00a0 who has taken sanctuary at the altar of Poseidon\u00c2\u00a0 wishes\u00c2\u00a0 to
\nsee\u00c2\u00a0 him.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00c2\u00a0 is\u00c2\u00a0 Polyneices who has\u00c2\u00a0 come\u00c2\u00a0 to\u00c2\u00a0 crave\u00c2\u00a0 his\u00c2\u00a0 father’s
\nforgiveness and blessing, knowing by an oracle that victory will\u00c2\u00a0 fall
\nto the side that Oedipus espouses.\u00c2\u00a0 But Oedipus spurns the\u00c2\u00a0 hypocrite,
\nand invokes a dire curse on both his unnatural sons.\u00c2\u00a0 A sudden clap of
\nthunder is heard, and as peal follows peal, Oedipus is aware that\u00c2\u00a0 his
\nhour\u00c2\u00a0 is come and bids Antigone summon Theseus.\u00c2\u00a0 Self-guided he\u00c2\u00a0 leads
\nthe\u00c2\u00a0 way\u00c2\u00a0 to\u00c2\u00a0 the spot where death should overtake\u00c2\u00a0 him,\u00c2\u00a0 attended\u00c2\u00a0 by
\nTheseus\u00c2\u00a0 and his daughters.\u00c2\u00a0 Halfway he bids his\u00c2\u00a0 daughters\u00c2\u00a0 farewell,
\nand what followed none but Theseus knew.\u00c2\u00a0 He was not (so the Messenger
\nreports) for the gods took him.<\/p>\n
———————————————————————-<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 DRAMATIS PERSONAE<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS, banished King of Thebes.
\nANTIGONE, his daughter.
\nISMENE, his daughter.
\nTHESEUS, King of Athens.
\nCREON, brother of Jocasta, now reigning at Thebes.
\nPOLYNEICES, elder son of Oedipus.
\nSTRANGER, a native of Colonus.
\nMESSENGER, an attendant of Theseus.
\nCHORUS, citizens of Colonus.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Scene:\u00c2\u00a0 In front of the grove of the Eumenides.<\/p>\n
———————————————————————-<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 OEDIPUS AT COLONUS<\/p>\n
Enter the blind OEDIPUS led by his daughter, ANTIGONE.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nChild of an old blind sire, Antigone,
\nWhat region, say, whose city have we reached?
\nWho will provide today with scanted dole
\nThis wanderer?\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Tis little that he craves,
\nAnd less obtains–that less enough for me;
\nFor I am taught by suffering to endure,
\nAnd the long years that have grown old with me,
\nAnd last not least, by true nobility.
\nMy daughter, if thou seest a resting place
\nOn common ground or by some sacred grove,
\nStay me and set me down.\u00c2\u00a0 Let us discover
\nWhere we have come, for strangers must inquire
\nOf denizens, and do as they are bid.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nLong-suffering father, Oedipus, the towers
\nThat fence the city still are faint and far;
\nBut where we stand is surely holy ground;
\nA wilderness of laurel, olive, vine;
\nWithin a choir or songster nightingales
\nAre warbling.\u00c2\u00a0 On this native seat of rock
\nRest; for an old man thou hast traveled far.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nGuide these dark steps and seat me there secure.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nIf time can teach, I need not to be told.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSay, prithee, if thou knowest, where we are.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nAthens I recognize, but not the spot.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThat much we heard from every wayfarer.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nShall I go on and ask about the place?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nYes, daughter, if it be inhabited.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nSure there are habitations; but no need
\nTo leave thee; yonder is a man hard by.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat, moving hitherward and on his way?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nSay rather, here already.\u00c2\u00a0 Ask him straight
\nThe needful questions, for the man is here.
\n[Enter STRANGER]<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO stranger, as I learn from her whose eyes
\nMust serve both her and me, that thou art here
\nSent by some happy chance to serve our doubts–<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nFirst quit that seat, then question me at large:
\nThe spot thou treadest on is holy ground.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat is the site, to what god dedicate?<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nInviolable, untrod; goddesses,
\nDread brood of Earth and Darkness, here abide.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nTell me the awful name I should invoke?<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nThe Gracious Ones, All-seeing, so our folk
\nCall them, but elsewhere other names are rife.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThen may they show their suppliant grace, for I
\nFrom this your sanctuary will ne’er depart.<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nWhat word is this?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The watchword of my fate.<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nNay, ’tis not mine to bid thee hence without
\nDue warrant and instruction from the State.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nNow in God’s name, O stranger, scorn me not
\nAs a wayfarer; tell me what I crave.<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nAsk; your request shall not be scorned by me.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHow call you then the place wherein we bide?<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nWhate’er I know thou too shalt know; the place
\nIs all to great Poseidon consecrate.
\nHard by, the Titan, he who bears the torch,
\nPrometheus, has his worship; but the spot
\nThou treadest, the Brass-footed Threshold named,
\nIs Athens’ bastion, and the neighboring lands
\nClaim as their chief and patron yonder knight
\nColonus, and in common bear his name.
\nSuch, stranger, is the spot, to fame unknown,
\nBut dear to us its native worshipers.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThou sayest there are dwellers in these parts?<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nSurely; they bear the name of yonder god.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nRuled by a king or by the general voice?<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nThe lord of Athens is our over-lord.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWho is this monarch, great in word and might?<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nTheseus, the son of Aegeus our late king.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMight one be sent from you to summon him?<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nWherefore?\u00c2\u00a0 To tell him aught or urge his coming?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSay a slight service may avail him much.<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nHow can he profit from a sightless man?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThe blind man’s words will be instinct with sight.<\/p>\n
STRANGER
\nHeed then; I fain would see thee out of harm;
\nFor by the looks, marred though they be by fate,
\nI judge thee noble; tarry where thou art,
\nWhile I go seek the burghers–those at hand,
\nNot in the city.\u00c2\u00a0 They will soon decide
\nWhether thou art to rest or go thy way.
\n[Exit STRANGER]<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nTell me, my daughter, has the stranger gone?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nYes, he has gone; now we are all alone,
\nAnd thou may’st speak, dear father, without fear.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nStern-visaged queens, since coming to this land
\nFirst in your sanctuary I bent the knee,
\nFrown not on me or Phoebus, who, when erst
\nHe told me all my miseries to come,
\nSpake of this respite after many years,
\nSome haven in a far-off land, a rest
\nVouchsafed at last by dread divinities.
\n“There,” said he, “shalt thou round thy weary life,
\nA blessing to the land wherein thou dwell’st,
\nBut to the land that cast thee forth, a curse.”
\nAnd of my weird he promised signs should come,
\nEarthquake, or thunderclap, or lightning flash.
\nAnd now I recognize as yours the sign
\nThat led my wanderings to this your grove;
\nElse had I never lighted on you first,
\nA wineless man on your seat of native rock.
\nO goddesses, fulfill Apollo’s word,
\nGrant me some consummation of my life,
\nIf haply I appear not all too vile,
\nA thrall to sorrow worse than any slave.
\nHear, gentle daughters of primeval Night,
\nHear, namesake of great Pallas; Athens, first
\nOf cities, pity this dishonored shade,
\nThe ghost of him who once was Oedipus.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nHush! for I see some grey-beards on their way,
\nTheir errand to spy out our resting-place.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI will be mute, and thou shalt guide my steps
\nInto the covert from the public road,
\nTill I have learned their drift.\u00c2\u00a0 A prudent man
\nWill ever shape his course by what he learns.
\n[Enter CHORUS]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\nHa!\u00c2\u00a0 Where is he?\u00c2\u00a0 Look around!
\nEvery nook and corner scan!
\nHe the all-presumptuous man,
\nWhither vanished? search the ground!
\nA wayfarer, I ween,
\nA wayfarer, no countryman of ours,
\nThat old man must have been;
\nNever had native dared to tempt the Powers,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Or enter their demesne,
\nThe Maids in awe of whom each mortal cowers,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Whose name no voice betrays nor cry,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And as we pass them with averted eye,
\nWe move hushed lips in reverent piety.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 But now some godless man,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Tis rumored, here abides;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The precincts through I scan,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yet wot not where he hides,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The wretch profane!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I search and search in vain.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I am that man; I know you near
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ears to the blind, they say, are eyes.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O dread to see and dread to hear!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nOh sirs, I am no outlaw under ban.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWho can he be–Zeus save us!–this old man?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nNo favorite of fate,
\nThat ye should envy his estate,
\nO, Sirs, would any happy mortal, say,
\nGrope by the light of other eyes his way,
\nOr face the storm upon so frail a stay?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Ant. 1)
\nWast thou then sightless from thy birth?
\nEvil, methinks, and long
\nThy pilgrimage on earth.
\nYet add not curse to curse and wrong to wrong.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I warn thee, trespass not
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Within this hallowed spot,
\nLest thou shouldst find the silent grassy glade
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Where offerings are laid,
\nBowls of spring water mingled with sweet mead.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thou must not stay,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Come, come away,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Tired wanderer, dost thou heed?
\n(We are far off, but sure our voice can reach.)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 If aught thou wouldst beseech,
\nSpeak where ’tis right; till then refrain from speech.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDaughter, what counsel should we now pursue?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWe must obey and do as here they do.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThy hand then!<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Here, O father, is my hand,<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO Sirs, if I come forth at your command,
\nLet me not suffer for my confidence.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 2)
\nAgainst thy will no man shall drive thee hence.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nShall I go further?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Aye.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What further still?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nLead maiden, thou canst guide him where we will.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE [1]
\n*\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n*\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n*\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *
\nFollow with blind steps, father, as I lead.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS<\/p>\n
*\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nIn a strange land strange thou art;
\nTo her will incline thy heart;
\nHonor whatso’er the State
\nHonors, all she frowns on hate.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nGuide me child, where we may range
\nSafe within the paths of right;
\nCounsel freely may exchange
\nNor with fate and fortune fight.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Ant. 2)
\nHalt!\u00c2\u00a0 Go no further than that rocky floor.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nStay where I now am?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, advance no more.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMay I sit down?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Move sideways towards the ledge,
\nAnd sit thee crouching on the scarped edge.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nThis is my office, father, O incline–<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAh me! ah me!<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nThy steps to my steps, lean thine aged frame on mine.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWoe on my fate unblest!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWanderer, now thou art at rest,
\nTell me of thy birth and home,
\nFrom what far country art thou come,
\nLed on thy weary way, declare!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nStrangers, I have no country.\u00c2\u00a0 O forbear–<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhat is it, old man, that thou wouldst conceal?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nForbear, nor urge me further to reveal–<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhy this reluctance?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Dread my lineage.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Say!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat must I answer, child, ah welladay!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nSay of what stock thou comest, what man’s son–<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAh me, my daughter, now we are undone!<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nSpeak, for thou standest on the slippery verge.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI will; no plea for silence can I urge.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWill neither speak?\u00c2\u00a0 Come, Sir, why dally thus!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nKnow’st one of Laius’–<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ha?\u00c2\u00a0 Who!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSeed of Labdacus–<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Oh Zeus!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThe hapless Oedipus.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Art he?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhate’er I utter, have no fear of me.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nBegone!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O wretched me!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Begone!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO daughter, what will hap anon?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nForth from our borders speed ye both!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHow keep you then your troth?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nHeaven’s justice never smites
\nHim who ill with ill requites.
\nBut if guile with guile contend,
\nBane, not blessing, is the end.
\nArise, begone and take thee hence straightway,
\nLest on our land a heavier curse thou lay.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O sirs! ye suffered not my father blind,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Albeit gracious and to ruth inclined,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Knowing the deeds he wrought, not innocent,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 But with no ill intent;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yet heed a maiden’s moan
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Who pleads for him alone;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 My eyes, not reft of sight,
\nPlead with you as a daughter’s might
\nYou are our providence,
\nO make us not go hence!
\nO with a gracious nod
\nGrant us the nigh despaired-of boon we crave?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hear us, O hear,
\nBut all that ye hold dear,
\nWife, children, homestead, hearth and God!
\nWhere will you find one, search ye ne’er so well.
\nWho ‘scapes perdition if a god impel!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nSurely we pity thee and him alike
\nDaughter of Oedipus, for your distress;
\nBut as we reverence the decrees of Heaven
\nWe cannot say aught other than we said.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO what avails renown or fair repute?
\nAre they not vanity?\u00c2\u00a0 For, look you, now
\nAthens is held of States the most devout,
\nAthens alone gives hospitality
\nAnd shelters the vexed stranger, so men say.
\nHave I found so?\u00c2\u00a0 I whom ye dislodged
\nFirst from my seat of rock and now would drive
\nForth from your land, dreading my name alone;
\nFor me you surely dread not, nor my deeds,
\nDeeds of a man more sinned against than sinning,
\nAs I might well convince you, were it meet
\nTo tell my mother’s story and my sire’s,
\nThe cause of this your fear.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet am I then
\nA villain born because in self-defense,
\nStriken, I struck the striker back again?
\nE’en had I known, no villainy ‘twould prove:
\nBut all unwitting whither I went, I went–
\nTo ruin; my destroyers knew it well,
\nWherefore, I pray you, sirs, in Heaven’s name,
\nEven as ye bade me quit my seat, defend me.
\nO pay not a lip service to the gods
\nAnd wrong them of their dues.\u00c2\u00a0 Bethink ye well,
\nThe eye of Heaven beholds the just of men,
\nAnd the unjust, nor ever in this world
\nHas one sole godless sinner found escape.
\nStand then on Heaven’s side and never blot
\nAthens’ fair scutcheon by abetting wrong.
\nI came to you a suppliant, and you pledged
\nYour honor; O preserve me to the end,
\nO let not this marred visage do me wrong!
\nA holy and god-fearing man is here
\nWhose coming purports comfort for your folk.
\nAnd when your chief arrives, whoe’er he be,
\nThen shall ye have my story and know all.
\nMeanwhile I pray you do me no despite.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThe plea thou urgest, needs must give us pause,
\nSet forth in weighty argument, but we
\nMust leave the issue with the ruling powers.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhere is he, strangers, he who sways the realm?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nIn his ancestral seat; a messenger,
\nThe same who sent us here, is gone for him.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd think you he will have such care or thought
\nFor the blind stranger as to come himself?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nAye, that he will, when once he learns thy name.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nBut who will bear him word!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The way is long,
\nAnd many travelers pass to speed the news.
\nBe sure he’ll hear and hasten, never fear;
\nSo wide and far thy name is noised abroad,
\nThat, were he ne’er so spent and loth to move,
\nHe would bestir him when he hears of thee.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWell, may he come with blessing to his State
\nAnd me!\u00c2\u00a0 Who serves his neighbor serves himself. [2]<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nZeus!\u00c2\u00a0 What is this?\u00c2\u00a0 What can I say or think?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat now, Antigone?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I see a woman
\nRiding upon a colt of Aetna’s breed;
\nShe wears for headgear a Thessalian hat
\nTo shade her from the sun.\u00c2\u00a0 Who can it be?
\nShe or a stranger?\u00c2\u00a0 Do I wake or dream?
\n‘This she; ’tis not–I cannot tell, alack;
\nIt is no other!\u00c2\u00a0 Now her bright’ning glance
\nGreets me with recognition, yes, ’tis she,
\nHerself, Ismene!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ha! what say ye, child?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nThat I behold thy daughter and my sister,
\nAnd thou wilt know her straightway by her voice.
\n[Enter ISMENE]<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nFather and sister, names to me most sweet,
\nHow hardly have I found you, hardly now
\nWhen found at last can see you through my tears!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nArt come, my child?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O father, sad thy plight!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nChild, thou art here?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, ’twas a weary way.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nTouch me, my child.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I give a hand to both.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO children–sisters!<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O disastrous plight!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHer plight and mine?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Aye, and my own no less.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat brought thee, daughter?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Father, care for thee.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nA daughter’s yearning?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, and I had news
\nI would myself deliver, so I came
\nWith the one thrall who yet is true to me.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThy valiant brothers, where are they at need?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nThey are–enough, ’tis now their darkest hour.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nOut on the twain!\u00c2\u00a0 The thoughts and actions all
\nAre framed and modeled on Egyptian ways.
\nFor there the men sit at the loom indoors
\nWhile the wives slave abroad for daily bread.
\nSo you, my children–those whom I behooved
\nTo bear the burden, stay at home like girls,
\nWhile in their stead my daughters moil and drudge,
\nLightening their father’s misery.\u00c2\u00a0 The one
\nSince first she grew from girlish feebleness
\nTo womanhood has been the old man’s guide
\nAnd shared my weary wandering, roaming oft
\nHungry and footsore through wild forest ways,
\nIn drenching rains and under scorching suns,
\nCareless herself of home and ease, if so
\nHer sire might have her tender ministry.
\nAnd thou, my child, whilom thou wentest forth,
\nEluding the Cadmeians’ vigilance,
\nTo bring thy father all the oracles
\nConcerning Oedipus, and didst make thyself
\nMy faithful lieger, when they banished me.
\nAnd now what mission summons thee from home,
\nWhat news, Ismene, hast thou for thy father?
\nThis much I know, thou com’st not empty-handed,
\nWithout a warning of some new alarm.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nThe toil and trouble, father, that I bore
\nTo find thy lodging-place and how thou faredst,
\nI spare thee; surely ’twere a double pain
\nTo suffer, first in act and then in telling;
\n‘Tis the misfortune of thine ill-starred sons
\nI come to tell thee.\u00c2\u00a0 At the first they willed
\nTo leave the throne to Creon, minded well
\nThus to remove the inveterate curse of old,
\nA canker that infected all thy race.
\nBut now some god and an infatuate soul
\nHave stirred betwixt them a mad rivalry
\nTo grasp at sovereignty and kingly power.
\nToday the hot-branded youth, the younger born,
\nIs keeping Polyneices from the throne,
\nHis elder, and has thrust him from the land.
\nThe banished brother (so all Thebes reports)
\nFled to the vale of Argos, and by help
\nOf new alliance there and friends in arms,
\nSwears he will stablish Argos straight as lord
\nOf the Cadmeian land, or, if he fail,
\nExalt the victor to the stars of heaven.
\nThis is no empty tale, but deadly truth,
\nMy father; and how long thy agony,
\nEre the gods pity thee, I cannot tell.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHast thou indeed then entertained a hope
\nThe gods at last will turn and rescue me?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nYea, so I read these latest oracles.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat oracles?\u00c2\u00a0 What hath been uttered, child?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nThy country (so it runs) shall yearn in time
\nTo have thee for their weal alive or dead.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd who could gain by such a one as I?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nOn thee, ’tis said, their sovereignty depends.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSo, when I cease to be, my worth begins.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nThe gods, who once abased, uplift thee now.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nPoor help to raise an old man fallen in youth.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nHowe’er that be, ’tis for this cause alone
\nThat Creon comes to thee–and comes anon.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWith what intent, my daughter?\u00c2\u00a0 Tell me plainly.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nTo plant thee near the Theban land, and so
\nKeep thee within their grasp, yet now allow
\nThy foot to pass beyond their boundaries.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat gain they, if I lay outside?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thy tomb,
\nIf disappointed, brings on them a curse.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nIt needs no god to tell what’s plain to sense.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nTherefore they fain would have thee close at hand,
\nNot where thou wouldst be master of thyself.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMean they to shroud my bones in Theban dust?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nNay, father, guilt of kinsman’s blood forbids.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThen never shall they be my masters, never!<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nThebes, thou shalt rue this bitterly some day!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhen what conjunction comes to pass, my child?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nThy angry wraith, when at thy tomb they stand. [3]<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd who hath told thee what thou tell’st me, child?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nEnvoys who visited the Delphic hearth.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHath Phoebus spoken thus concerning me?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nSo say the envoys who returned to Thebes.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd can a son of mine have heard of this?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nYea, both alike, and know its import well.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThey knew it, yet the ignoble greed of rule
\nOutweighed all longing for their sire’s return.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nGrievous thy words, yet I must own them true.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThen may the gods ne’er quench their fatal feud,
\nAnd mine be the arbitrament of the fight,
\nFor which they now are arming, spear to spear;
\nThat neither he who holds the scepter now
\nMay keep this throne, nor he who fled the realm
\nReturn again.\u00c2\u00a0 _They_ never raised a hand,
\nWhen I their sire was thrust from hearth and home,
\nWhen I was banned and banished, what recked they?
\nSay you ’twas done at my desire, a grace
\nWhich the state, yielding to my wish, allowed?
\nNot so; for, mark you, on that very day
\nWhen in the tempest of my soul I craved
\nDeath, even death by stoning, none appeared
\nTo further that wild longing, but anon,
\nWhen time had numbed my anguish and I felt
\nMy wrath had all outrun those errors past,
\nThen, then it was the city went about
\nBy force to oust me, respited for years;
\nAnd then my sons, who should as sons have helped,
\nDid nothing: and, one little word from them
\nWas all I needed, and they spoke no word,
\nBut let me wander on for evermore,
\nA banished man, a beggar.\u00c2\u00a0 These two maids
\nTheir sisters, girls, gave all their sex could give,
\nFood and safe harborage and filial care;
\nWhile their two brethren sacrificed their sire
\nFor lust of power and sceptred sovereignty.
\nNo! me they ne’er shall win for an ally,
\nNor will this Theban kingship bring them gain;
\nThat know I from this maiden’s oracles,
\nAnd those old prophecies concerning me,
\nWhich Phoebus now at length has brought to pass.
\nCome Creon then, come all the mightiest
\nIn Thebes to seek me; for if ye my friends,
\nChampioned by those dread Powers indigenous,
\nEspouse my cause; then for the State ye gain
\nA great deliverer, for my foemen bane.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nOur pity, Oedipus, thou needs must move,
\nThou and these maidens; and the stronger plea
\nThou urgest, as the savior of our land,
\nDisposes me to counsel for thy weal.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAid me, kind sirs; I will do all you bid.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nFirst make atonement to the deities,
\nWhose grove by trespass thou didst first profane.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAfter what manner, stranger?\u00c2\u00a0 Teach me, pray.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nMake a libation first of water fetched
\nWith undefiled hands from living spring.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd after I have gotten this pure draught?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nBowls thou wilt find, the carver’s handiwork;
\nCrown thou the rims and both the handles crown–<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWith olive shoots or blocks of wool, or how?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWith wool from fleece of yearling freshly shorn.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat next? how must I end the ritual?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nPour thy libation, turning to the dawn.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nPouring it from the urns whereof ye spake?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nYea, in three streams; and be the last bowl drained
\nTo the last drop.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And wherewith shall I fill it,
\nEre in its place I set it?\u00c2\u00a0 This too tell.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWith water and with honey; add no wine.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAnd when the embowered earth hath drunk thereof?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThen lay upon it thrice nine olive sprays
\nWith both thy hands, and offer up this prayer.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI fain would hear it; that imports the most.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThat, as we call them Gracious, they would deign
\nTo grant the suppliant their saving grace.
\nSo pray thyself or whoso pray for thee,
\nIn whispered accents, not with lifted voice;
\nThen go and look back.\u00c2\u00a0 Do as I bid,
\nAnd I shall then be bold to stand thy friend;
\nElse, stranger, I should have my fears for thee.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHear ye, my daughters, what these strangers say?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWe listened, and attend thy bidding, father.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI cannot go, disabled as I am
\nDoubly, by lack of strength and lack of sight;
\nBut one of you may do it in my stead;
\nFor one, I trow, may pay the sacrifice
\nOf thousands, if his heart be leal and true.
\nSo to your work with speed, but leave me not
\nUntended; for this frame is all too week
\nTo move without the help of guiding hand.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nThen I will go perform these rites, but where
\nTo find the spot, this have I yet to learn.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nBeyond this grove; if thou hast need of aught,
\nThe guardian of the close will lend his aid.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nI go, and thou, Antigone, meanwhile
\nMust guard our father.\u00c2\u00a0 In a parent’s cause
\nToil, if there be toil, is of no account.
\n[Exit ISMENE]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\nIll it is, stranger, to awake
\nPain that long since has ceased to ache,
\nAnd yet I fain would hear–<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat thing?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThy tale of cruel suffering
\nFor which no cure was found,
\nThe fate that held thee bound.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO bid me not (as guest I claim
\nThis grace) expose my shame.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThe tale is bruited far and near,
\nAnd echoes still from ear to ear.
\nThe truth, I fain would hear.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAh me!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I prithee yield.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ah me!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nGrant my request, I granted all to thee.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n(Ant. 1)
\nKnow then I suffered ills most vile, but none
\n(So help me Heaven!) from acts in malice done.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nSay how.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The State around
\nAn all unwitting bridegroom bound
\nAn impious marriage chain;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That was my bane.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nDidst thou in sooth then share
\nA bed incestuous with her that bare–<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nIt stabs me like a sword,
\nThat two-edged word,
\nO stranger, but these maids–my own–<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nSay on.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nTwo daughters, curses twain.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nOh God!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSprang from the wife and mother’s travail-pain.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 2)
\nWhat, then thy offspring are at once–<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Too true.
\nTheir father’s very sister’s too.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nOh horror!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Horrors from the boundless deep
\nBack on my soul in refluent surges sweep.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThou hast endured–<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Intolerable woe.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nAnd sinned–<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I sinned not.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 How so?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI served the State; would I had never won
\nThat graceless grace by which I was undone.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Ant. 2)
\nAnd next, unhappy man, thou hast shed blood?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMust ye hear more?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 A father’s?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Flood on flood
\nWhelms me; that word’s a second mortal blow.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nMurderer!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, a murderer, but know–<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhat canst thou plead?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 A plea of justice.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 How?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI slew who else would me have slain;
\nI slew without intent,
\nA wretch, but innocent
\nIn the law’s eye, I stand, without a stain.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nBehold our sovereign, Theseus, Aegeus’ son,
\nComes at thy summons to perform his part.
\n[Enter THESEUS]<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nOft had I heard of thee in times gone by–
\nThe bloody mutilation of thine eyes–
\nAnd therefore know thee, son of Laius.
\nAll that I lately gathered on the way
\nMade my conjecture doubly sure; and now
\nThy garb and that marred visage prove to me
\nThat thou art he.\u00c2\u00a0 So pitying thine estate,
\nMost ill-starred Oedipus, I fain would know
\nWhat is the suit ye urge on me and Athens,
\nThou and the helpless maiden at thy side.
\nDeclare it; dire indeed must be the tale
\nWhereat _I_ should recoil.\u00c2\u00a0 I too was reared,
\nLike thee, in exile, and in foreign lands
\nWrestled with many perils, no man more.
\nWherefore no alien in adversity
\nShall seek in vain my succor, nor shalt thou;
\nI know myself a mortal, and my share
\nIn what the morrow brings no more than thine.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nTheseus, thy words so apt, so generous
\nSo comfortable, need no long reply
\nBoth who I am and of what lineage sprung,
\nAnd from what land I came, thou hast declared.
\nSo without prologue I may utter now
\nMy brief petition, and the tale is told.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nSay on, and tell me what I fain would learn.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI come to offer thee this woe-worn frame,
\nA gift not fair to look on; yet its worth
\nMore precious far than any outward show.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhat profit dost thou proffer to have brought?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHereafter thou shalt learn, not yet, methinks.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhen may we hope to reap the benefit?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhen I am dead and thou hast buried me.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nThou cravest life’s last service; all before–
\nIs it forgotten or of no account?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nYea, the last boon is warrant for the rest.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nThe grace thou cravest then is small indeed.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nNay, weigh it well; the issue is not slight.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nThou meanest that betwixt thy sons and me?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nPrince, they would fain convey me back to Thebes.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nIf there be no compulsion, then methinks
\nTo rest in banishment befits not thee.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nNay, when _I_ wished it _they_ would not consent.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nFor shame! such temper misbecomes the faller.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nChide if thou wilt, but first attend my plea.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nSay on, I wait full knowledge ere I judge.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO Theseus, I have suffered wrongs on wrongs.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWouldst tell the old misfortune of thy race?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nNo, that has grown a byword throughout Greece.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhat then can be this more than mortal grief?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMy case stands thus; by my own flesh and blood
\nI was expelled my country, and can ne’er
\nThither return again, a parricide.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhy fetch thee home if thou must needs obey.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhat are they threatened by the oracle?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDestruction that awaits them in this land.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhat can beget ill blood ‘twixt them and me?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDear son of Aegeus, to the gods alone
\nIs given immunity from eld and death;
\nBut nothing else escapes all-ruinous time.
\nEarth’s might decays, the might of men decays,
\nHonor grows cold, dishonor flourishes,
\nThere is no constancy ‘twixt friend and friend,
\nOr city and city; be it soon or late,
\nSweet turns to bitter, hate once more to love.
\nIf now ’tis sunshine betwixt Thebes and thee
\nAnd not a cloud, Time in his endless course
\nGives birth to endless days and nights, wherein
\nThe merest nothing shall suffice to cut
\nWith serried spears your bonds of amity.
\nThen shall my slumbering and buried corpse
\nIn its cold grave drink their warm life-blood up,
\nIf Zeus be Zeus and Phoebus still speak true.
\nNo more:\u00c2\u00a0 ’tis ill to tear aside the veil
\nOf mysteries; let me cease as I began:
\nEnough if thou wilt keep thy plighted troth,
\nThen shall thou ne’er complain that Oedipus
\nProved an unprofitable and thankless guest,
\nExcept the gods themselves shall play me false.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThe man, my lord, has from the very first
\nDeclared his power to offer to our land
\nThese and like benefits.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Who could reject
\nThe proffered amity of such a friend?
\nFirst, he can claim the hospitality
\nTo which by mutual contract we stand pledged:
\nNext, coming here, a suppliant to the gods,
\nHe pays full tribute to the State and me;
\nHis favors therefore never will I spurn,
\nBut grant him the full rights of citizen;
\nAnd, if it suits the stranger here to bide,
\nI place him in your charge, or if he please
\nRather to come with me–choose, Oedipus,
\nWhich of the two thou wilt.\u00c2\u00a0 Thy choice is mine.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nZeus, may the blessing fall on men like these!<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhat dost thou then decide–to come with me?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nYea, were it lawful–but ’tis rather here–<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhat wouldst thou here?\u00c2\u00a0 I shall not thwart thy wish.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHere shall I vanquish those who cast me forth.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nThen were thy presence here a boon indeed.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nSuch shall it prove, if thou fulfill’st thy pledge.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nFear not for me; I shall not play thee false.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nNo need to back thy promise with an oath.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nAn oath would be no surer than my word.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHow wilt thou act then?<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What is it thou fear’st?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMy foes will come–<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Our friends will look to that.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nBut if thou leave me?<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Teach me not my duty.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n‘Tis fear constrains me.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 _My_ soul knows no fear!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThou knowest not what threats–<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I know that none
\nShall hale thee hence in my despite.\u00c2\u00a0 Such threats
\nVented in anger oft, are blusterers,
\nAn idle breath, forgot when sense returns.
\nAnd for thy foemen, though their words were brave,
\nBoasting to bring thee back, they are like to find
\nThe seas between us wide and hard to sail.
\nSuch my firm purpose, but in any case
\nTake heart, since Phoebus sent thee here.\u00c2\u00a0 My name,
\nThough I be distant, warrants thee from harm.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thou hast come to a steed-famed land for rest,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O stranger worn with toil,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To a land of all lands the goodliest
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Colonus’ glistening soil.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Tis the haunt of the clear-voiced nightingale,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Who hid in her bower, among
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The wine-dark ivy that wreathes the vale,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Trilleth her ceaseless song;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And she loves, where the clustering berries nod
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O’er a sunless, windless glade,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The spot by no mortal footstep trod,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The pleasance kept for the Bacchic god,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Where he holds each night his revels wild
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 With the nymphs who fostered the lusty child.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 1)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And fed each morn by the pearly dew
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The starred narcissi shine,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And a wreath with the crocus’ golden hue
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For the Mother and Daughter twine.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And never the sleepless fountains cease
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That feed Cephisus’ stream,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 But they swell earth’s bosom with quick increase,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And their wave hath a crystal gleam.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And the Muses’ quire will never disdain
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To visit this heaven-favored plain,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Nor the Cyprian queen of the golden rein.<\/p>\n
(Str. 2)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And here there grows, unpruned, untamed,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Terror to foemen’s spear,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 A tree in Asian soil unnamed,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 By Pelops’ Dorian isle unclaimed,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Self-nurtured year by year;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Tis the grey-leaved olive that feeds our boys;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Nor youth nor withering age destroys
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The plant that the Olive Planter tends
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And the Grey-eyed Goddess herself defends.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 2)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yet another gift, of all gifts the most
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Prized by our fatherland, we boast–
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The might of the horse, the might of the sea;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Our fame, Poseidon, we owe to thee,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Son of Kronos, our king divine,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Who in these highways first didst fit
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For the mouth of horses the iron bit;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thou too hast taught us to fashion meet
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For the arm of the rower the oar-blade fleet,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Swift as the Nereids’ hundred feet
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 As they dance along the brine.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nOh land extolled above all lands, ’tis now
\nFor thee to make these glorious titles good.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhy this appeal, my daughter?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Father, lo!
\nCreon approaches with his company.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nFear not, it shall be so; if we are old,
\nThis country’s vigor has no touch of age.
\n[Enter CREON with attendants]<\/p>\n
CREON
\nBurghers, my noble friends, ye take alarm
\nAt my approach (I read it in your eyes),
\nFear nothing and refrain from angry words.
\nI come with no ill purpose; I am old,
\nAnd know the city whither I am come,
\nWithout a peer amongst the powers of Greece.
\nIt was by reason of my years that I
\nWas chosen to persuade your guest and bring
\nHim back to Thebes; not the delegate
\nOf one man, but commissioned by the State,
\nSince of all Thebans I have most bewailed,
\nBeing his kinsman, his most grievous woes.
\nO listen to me, luckless Oedipus,
\nCome home!\u00c2\u00a0 The whole Cadmeian people claim
\nWith right to have thee back, I most of all,
\nFor most of all (else were I vile indeed)
\nI mourn for thy misfortunes, seeing thee
\nAn aged outcast, wandering on and on,
\nA beggar with one handmaid for thy stay.
\nAh! who had e’er imagined she could fall
\nTo such a depth of misery as this,
\nTo tend in penury thy stricken frame,
\nA virgin ripe for wedlock, but unwed,
\nA prey for any wanton ravisher?
\nSeems it not cruel this reproach I cast
\nOn thee and on myself and all the race?
\nAye, but an open shame cannot be hid.
\nHide it, O hide it, Oedipus, thou canst.
\nO, by our fathers’ gods, consent I pray;
\nCome back to Thebes, come to thy father’s home,
\nBid Athens, as is meet, a fond farewell;
\nThebes thy old foster-mother claims thee first.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO front of brass, thy subtle tongue would twist
\nTo thy advantage every plea of right
\nWhy try thy arts on me, why spread again
\nToils where ‘twould gall me sorest to be snared?
\nIn old days when by self-wrought woes distraught,
\nI yearned for exile as a glad release,
\nThy will refused the favor then I craved.
\nBut when my frenzied grief had spent its force,
\nAnd I was fain to taste the sweets of home,
\nThen thou wouldst thrust me from my country, then
\nThese ties of kindred were by thee ignored;
\nAnd now again when thou behold’st this State
\nAnd all its kindly people welcome me,
\nThou seek’st to part us, wrapping in soft words
\nHard thoughts.\u00c2\u00a0 And yet what pleasure canst thou find
\nIn forcing friendship on unwilling foes?
\nSuppose a man refused to grant some boon
\nWhen you importuned him, and afterwards
\nWhen you had got your heart’s desire, consented,
\nGranting a grace from which all grace had fled,
\nWould not such favor seem an empty boon?
\nYet such the boon thou profferest now to me,
\nFair in appearance, but when tested false.
\nYea, I will proved thee false, that these may hear;
\nThou art come to take me, not to take me home,
\nBut plant me on thy borders, that thy State
\nMay so escape annoyance from this land.
\n_That_ thou shalt never gain, but _this_ instead–
\nMy ghost to haunt thy country without end;
\nAnd for my sons, this heritage–no more–
\nJust room to die in.\u00c2\u00a0 Have not I more skill
\nThan thou to draw the horoscope of Thebes?
\nAre not my teachers surer guides than thine–
\nGreat Phoebus and the sire of Phoebus, Zeus?
\nThou art a messenger suborned, thy tongue
\nIs sharper than a sword’s edge, yet thy speech
\nWill bring thee more defeats than victories.
\nHowbeit, I know I waste my words–begone,
\nAnd leave me here; whate’er may be my lot,
\nHe lives not ill who lives withal content.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhich loses in this parley, I o’erthrown
\nBy thee, or thou who overthrow’st thyself?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI shall be well contented if thy suit
\nFails with these strangers, as it has with me.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nUnhappy man, will years ne’er make thee wise?
\nMust thou live on to cast a slur on age?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThou hast a glib tongue, but no honest man,
\nMethinks, can argue well on any side.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n‘Tis one thing to speak much, another well.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThy words, forsooth, are few and all well aimed!<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNot for a man indeed with wits like thine.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDepart!\u00c2\u00a0 I bid thee in these burghers’ name,
\nAnd prowl no longer round me to blockade
\nMy destined harbor.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I protest to these,
\nNot thee, and for thine answer to thy kin,
\nIf e’er I take thee–<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Who against their will
\nCould take me?<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Though untaken thou shalt smart.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat power hast thou to execute this threat?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nOne of thy daughters is already seized,
\nThe other I will carry off anon.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWoe, woe!<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This is but prelude to thy woes.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHast thou my child?<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And soon shall have the other.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHo, friends! ye will not surely play me false?
\nChase this ungodly villain from your land.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nHence, stranger, hence avaunt!\u00c2\u00a0 Thou doest wrong
\nIn this, and wrong in all that thou hast done.<\/p>\n
CREON (to his guards)
\n‘Tis time by force to carry off the girl,
\nIf she refuse of her free will to go.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nAh, woe is me! where shall I fly, where find
\nSuccor from gods or men?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What would’st thou, stranger?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nI meddle not with him, but her who is mine.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO princes of the land!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Sir, thou dost wrong.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNay, right.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 How right?<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I take but what is mine.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHelp, Athens!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhat means this, sirrah? quick unhand her, or
\nWe’ll fight it out.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Back!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Not till thou forbear.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n‘Tis war with Thebes if I am touched or harmed.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDid I not warn thee?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Quick, unhand the maid!<\/p>\n
CREON
\nCommand your minions; I am not your slave.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nDesist, I bid thee.<\/p>\n
CREON (to the guard)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And O bid thee march!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To the rescue, one and all!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Rally, neighbors to my call!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 See, the foe is at the gate!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Rally to defend the State.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nAh, woe is me, they drag me hence, O friends.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhere art thou, daughter?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Haled along by force.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThy hands, my child!<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 They will not let me, father.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nAway with her!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ah, woe is me, ah woe!<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSo those two crutches shall no longer serve thee
\nFor further roaming.\u00c2\u00a0 Since it pleaseth thee
\nTo triumph o’er thy country and thy friends
\nWho mandate, though a prince, I here discharge,
\nEnjoy thy triumph; soon or late thou’lt find
\nThou art an enemy to thyself, both now
\nAnd in time past, when in despite of friends
\nThou gav’st the rein to passion, still thy bane.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nHold there, sir stranger!<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hands off, have a care.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nRestore the maidens, else thou goest not.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThen Thebes will take a dearer surety soon;
\nI will lay hands on more than these two maids.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhat canst thou further?<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Carry off this man.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nBrave words!<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And deeds forthwith shall make them good.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nUnless perchance our sovereign intervene.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO shameless voice!\u00c2\u00a0 Would’st lay an hand on me?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSilence, I bid thee!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Goddesses, allow
\nThy suppliant to utter yet one curse!
\nWretch, now my eyes are gone thou hast torn away
\nThe helpless maiden who was eyes to me;
\nFor these to thee and all thy cursed race
\nMay the great Sun, whose eye is everywhere,
\nGrant length of days and old age like to mine.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nListen, O men of Athens, mark ye this?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThey mark us both and understand that I
\nWronged by the deeds defend myself with words.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNothing shall curb my will; though I be old
\nAnd single-handed, I will have this man.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO woe is me!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThou art a bold man, stranger, if thou think’st
\nTo execute thy purpose.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 So I do.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThen shall I deem this State no more a State.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWith a just quarrel weakness conquers might.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nYe hear his words?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Aye words, but not yet deeds,
\nZeus knoweth!<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Zeus may haply know, not thou.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nInsolence!<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Insolence that thou must bear.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Haste ye princes, sound the alarm!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Men of Athens, arm ye, arm!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Quickly to the rescue come
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ere the robbers get them home.
\n[Enter THESEUS]<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhy this outcry?\u00c2\u00a0 What is forward? wherefore was I called away
\nFrom the altar of Poseidon, lord of your Colonus?\u00c2\u00a0 Say!
\nOn what errand have I hurried hither without stop or stay.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDear friend–those accents tell me who thou art–
\nYon man but now hath done me a foul wrong.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhat is this wrong and who hath wrought it?\u00c2\u00a0 Speak.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nCreon who stands before thee.\u00c2\u00a0 He it is
\nHath robbed me of my all, my daughters twain.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhat means this?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thou hast heard my tale of wrongs.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nHo! hasten to the altars, one of you.
\nCommand my liegemen leave the sacrifice
\nAnd hurry, foot and horse, with rein unchecked,
\nTo where the paths that packmen use diverge,
\nLest the two maidens slip away, and I
\nBecome a mockery to this my guest,
\nAs one despoiled by force.\u00c2\u00a0 Quick, as I bid.
\nAs for this stranger, had I let my rage,
\nJustly provoked, have play, he had not ‘scaped
\nScathless and uncorrected at my hands.
\nBut now the laws to which himself appealed,
\nThese and none others shall adjudicate.
\nThou shalt not quit this land, till thou hast fetched
\nThe maidens and produced them in my sight.
\nThou hast offended both against myself
\nAnd thine own race and country.\u00c2\u00a0 Having come
\nUnto a State that champions right and asks
\nFor every action warranty of law,
\nThou hast set aside the custom of the land,
\nAnd like some freebooter art carrying off
\nWhat plunder pleases thee, as if forsooth
\nThou thoughtest this a city without men,
\nOr manned by slaves, and me a thing of naught.
\nYet not from Thebes this villainy was learnt;
\nThebes is not wont to breed unrighteous sons,
\nNor would she praise thee, if she learnt that thou
\nWert robbing me–aye and the gods to boot,
\nHaling by force their suppliants, poor maids.
\nWere I on Theban soil, to prosecute
\nThe justest claim imaginable, I
\nWould never wrest by violence my own
\nWithout sanction of your State or King;
\nI should behave as fits an outlander
\nLiving amongst a foreign folk, but thou
\nShamest a city that deserves it not,
\nEven thine own, and plentitude of years
\nHave made of thee an old man and a fool.
\nTherefore again I charge thee as before,
\nSee that the maidens are restored at once,
\nUnless thou would’st continue here by force
\nAnd not by choice a sojourner; so much
\nI tell thee home and what I say, I mean.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThy case is perilous; though by birth and race
\nThou should’st be just, thou plainly doest wrong.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNot deeming this city void of men
\nOr counsel, son of Aegeus, as thou say’st
\nI did what I have done; rather I thought
\nYour people were not like to set such store
\nby kin of mine and keep them ‘gainst my will.
\nNor would they harbor, so I stood assured,
\nA godless parricide, a reprobate
\nConvicted of incestuous marriage ties.
\nFor on her native hill of Ares here
\n(I knew your far-famed Areopagus)
\nSits Justice, and permits not vagrant folk
\nTo stay within your borders.\u00c2\u00a0 In that faith
\nI hunted down my quarry; and e’en then
\ni had refrained but for the curses dire
\nWherewith he banned my kinsfolk and myself:
\nSuch wrong, methought, had warrant for my act.
\nAnger has no old age but only death;
\nThe dead alone can feel no touch of spite.
\nSo thou must work thy will; my cause is just
\nBut weak without allies; yet will I try,
\nOld as I am, to answer deeds with deeds.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO shameless railer, think’st thou this abuse
\nDefames my grey hairs rather than thine own?
\nMurder and incest, deeds of horror, all
\nThou blurtest forth against me, all I have borne,
\nNo willing sinner; so it pleased the gods
\nWrath haply with my sinful race of old,
\nSince thou could’st find no sin in me myself
\nFor which in retribution I was doomed
\nTo trespass thus against myself and mine.
\nAnswer me now, if by some oracle
\nMy sire was destined to a bloody end
\nBy a son’s hand, can this reflect on me,
\nMe then unborn, begotten by no sire,
\nConceived in no mother’s womb?\u00c2\u00a0 And if
\nWhen born to misery, as born I was,
\nI met my sire, not knowing whom I met
\nor what I did, and slew him, how canst thou
\nWith justice blame the all-unconscious hand?
\nAnd for my mother, wretch, art not ashamed,
\nSeeing she was thy sister, to extort
\nFrom me the story of her marriage, such
\nA marriage as I straightway will proclaim.
\nFor I will speak; thy lewd and impious speech
\nHas broken all the bonds of reticence.
\nShe was, ah woe is me! she was my mother;
\nI knew it not, nor she; and she my mother
\nBare children to the son whom she had borne,
\nA birth of shame.\u00c2\u00a0 But this at least I know
\nWittingly thou aspersest her and me;
\nBut I unwitting wed, unwilling speak.
\nNay neither in this marriage or this deed
\nWhich thou art ever casting in my teeth–
\nA murdered sire–shall I be held to blame.
\nCome, answer me one question, if thou canst:
\nIf one should presently attempt thy life,
\nWould’st thou, O man of justice, first inquire
\nIf the assassin was perchance thy sire,
\nOr turn upon him?\u00c2\u00a0 As thou lov’st thy life,
\nOn thy aggressor thou would’st turn, no stay
\nDebating, if the law would bear thee out.
\nSuch was my case, and such the pass whereto
\nThe gods reduced me; and methinks my sire,
\nCould he come back to life, would not dissent.
\nYet thou, for just thou art not, but a man
\nWho sticks at nothing, if it serve his plea,
\nReproachest me with this before these men.
\nIt serves thy turn to laud great Theseus’ name,
\nAnd Athens as a wisely governed State;
\nYet in thy flatteries one thing is to seek:
\nIf any land knows how to pay the gods
\nTheir proper rites, ’tis Athens most of all.
\nThis is the land whence thou wast fain to steal
\nTheir aged suppliant and hast carried off
\nMy daughters.\u00c2\u00a0 Therefore to yon goddesses,
\nI turn, adjure them and invoke their aid
\nTo champion my cause, that thou mayest learn
\nWhat is the breed of men who guard this State.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nAn honest man, my liege, one sore bestead
\nBy fortune, and so worthy our support.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nEnough of words; the captors speed amain,
\nWhile we the victims stand debating here.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhat would’st thou?\u00c2\u00a0 What can I, a feeble man?<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nShow us the trail, and I’ll attend thee too,
\nThat, if thou hast the maidens hereabouts,
\nThou mayest thyself discover them to me;
\nBut if thy guards outstrip us with their spoil,
\nWe may draw rein; for others speed, from whom
\nThey will not ‘scape to thank the gods at home.
\nLead on, I say, the captor’s caught, and fate
\nHath ta’en the fowler in the toils he spread;
\nSo soon are lost gains gotten by deceit.
\nAnd look not for allies; I know indeed
\nSuch height of insolence was never reached
\nWithout abettors or accomplices;
\nThou hast some backer in thy bold essay,
\nBut I will search this matter home and see
\nOne man doth not prevail against the State.
\nDost take my drift, or seem these words as vain
\nAs seemed our warnings when the plot was hatched?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNothing thou sayest can I here dispute,
\nBut once at home I too shall act my part.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nThreaten us and–begone!\u00c2\u00a0 Thou, Oedipus,
\nStay here assured that nothing save my death
\nWill stay my purpose to restore the maids.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nHeaven bless thee, Theseus, for thy nobleness
\nAnd all thy loving care in my behalf.
\n[Exeunt THESEUS and CREON]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O when the flying foe,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Turning at last to bay,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Soon will give blow for blow,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Might I behold the fray;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hear the loud battle roar
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Swell, on the Pythian shore,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Or by the torch-lit bay,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Where the dread Queen and Maid
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Cherish the mystic rites,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Rites they to none betray,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ere on his lips is laid
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Secrecy’s golden key
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 By their own acolytes,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Priestly Eumolpidae.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 There I might chance behold
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Theseus our captain bold
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Meet with the robber band,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ere they have fled the land,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Rescue by might and main
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Maidens, the captives twain.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 1)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Haply on swiftest steed,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Or in the flying car,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Now they approach the glen,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 West of white Oea’s scaur.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 They will be vanquished:
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Dread are our warriors, dread
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Theseus our chieftain’s men.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Flashes each bridle bright,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Charges each gallant knight,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 All that our Queen adore,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Pallas their patron, or
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Him whose wide floods enring
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Earth, the great Ocean-king
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Whom Rhea bore.<\/p>\n
(Str. 2)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Fight they or now prepare
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To fight? a vision rare
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Tells me that soon again
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I shall behold the twain
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Maidens so ill bestead,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 By their kin buffeted.
\nToday, today Zeus worketh some great thing
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This day shall victory bring.
\nO for the wings, the wings of a dove,
\nTo be borne with the speed of the gale,
\nUp and still upwards to sail
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And gaze on the fray from the clouds above.
\n(Ant. 2)
\nAll-seeing Zeus, O lord of heaven,
\nTo our guardian host be given
\nMight triumphant to surprise
\nFlying foes and win their prize.
\nHear us, Zeus, and hear us, child
\nOf Zeus, Athene undefiled,
\nHear, Apollo, hunter, hear,
\nHuntress, sister of Apollo,
\nWho the dappled swift-foot deer
\nO’er the wooded glade dost follow;
\nHelp with your two-fold power
\nAthens in danger’s hour!
\nO wayfarer, thou wilt not have to tax
\nThe friends who watch for thee with false presage,
\nFor lo, an escort with the maids draws near.
\n[Enter ANTIGONE and ISMENE with THESEUS]<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhere, where? what sayest thou?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O father, father,
\nWould that some god might grant thee eyes to see
\nThis best of men who brings us back again.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMy child! and are ye back indeed!<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, saved
\nBy Theseus and his gallant followers.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nCome to your father’s arms, O let me feel
\nA child’s embrace I never hoped for more.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nThou askest what is doubly sweet to give.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhere are ye then?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 We come together both.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMy precious nurslings!<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Fathers aye were fond.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nProps of my age!<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 So sorrow sorrow props.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI have my darlings, and if death should come,
\nDeath were not wholly bitter with you near.
\nCling to me, press me close on either side,
\nThere rest ye from your dreary wayfaring.
\nNow tell me of your ventures, but in brief;
\nBrief speech suffices for young maids like you.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nHere is our savior; thou should’st hear the tale
\nFrom his own lips; so shall my part be brief.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI pray thee do not wonder if the sight
\nOf children, given o’er for lost, has made
\nMy converse somewhat long and tedious.
\nFull well I know the joy I have of them
\nIs due to thee, to thee and no man else;
\nThou wast their sole deliverer, none else.
\nThe gods deal with thee after my desire,
\nWith thee and with this land! for fear of heaven
\nI found above all peoples most with you,
\nAnd righteousness and lips that cannot lie.
\nI speak in gratitude of what I know,
\nFor all I have I owe to thee alone.
\nGive me thy hand, O Prince, that I may touch it,
\nAnd if thou wilt permit me, kiss thy cheek.
\nWhat say I?\u00c2\u00a0 Can I wish that thou should’st touch
\nOne fallen like me to utter wretchedness,
\nCorrupt and tainted with a thousand ills?
\nOh no, I would not let thee if thou would’st.
\nThey only who have known calamity
\nCan share it.\u00c2\u00a0 Let me greet thee where thou art,
\nAnd still befriend me as thou hast till now.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nI marvel not if thou hast dallied long
\nIn converse with thy children and preferred
\nTheir speech to mine; I feel no jealousy,
\nI would be famous more by deeds than words.
\nOf this, old friend, thou hast had proof; my oath
\nI have fulfilled and brought thee back the maids
\nAlive and nothing harmed for all those threats.
\nAnd how the fight was won, ’twere waste of words
\nTo boast–thy daughters here will tell thee all.
\nBut of a matter that has lately chanced
\nOn my way hitherward, I fain would have
\nThy counsel–slight ‘twould seem, yet worthy thought.
\nA wise man heeds all matters great or small.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat is it, son of Aegeus?\u00c2\u00a0 Let me hear.
\nOf what thou askest I myself know naught.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\n‘Tis said a man, no countryman of thine,
\nBut of thy kin, hath taken sanctuary
\nBeside the altar of Poseidon, where
\nI was at sacrifice when called away.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat is his country? what the suitor’s prayer?<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nI know but one thing; he implores, I am told,
\nA word with thee–he will not trouble thee.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWhat seeks he?\u00c2\u00a0 If a suppliant, something grave.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nHe only waits, they say, to speak with thee,
\nAnd then unharmed to go upon his way.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI marvel who is this petitioner.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nThink if there be not any of thy kin
\nAt Argos who might claim this boon of thee.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDear friend, forbear, I pray.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What ails thee now?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nAsk it not of me.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ask not what? explain.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThy words have told me who the suppliant is.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWho can he be that I should frown on him?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMy son, O king, my hateful son, whose words
\nOf all men’s most would jar upon my ears.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nThou sure mightest listen.\u00c2\u00a0 If his suit offend,
\nNo need to grant it.\u00c2\u00a0 Why so loth to hear him?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThat voice, O king, grates on a father’s ears;
\nI have come to loathe it.\u00c2\u00a0 Force me not to yield.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nBut he hath found asylum.\u00c2\u00a0 O beware,
\nAnd fail not in due reverence to the god.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nO heed me, father, though I am young in years.
\nLet the prince have his will and pay withal
\nWhat in his eyes is service to the god;
\nFor our sake also let our brother come.
\nIf what he urges tend not to thy good
\nHe cannot surely wrest perforce thy will.
\nTo hear him then, what harm?\u00c2\u00a0 By open words
\nA scheme of villainy is soon bewrayed.
\nThou art his father, therefore canst not pay
\nIn kind a son’s most impious outrages.
\nO listen to him; other men like thee
\nHave thankless children and are choleric,
\nBut yielding to persuasion’s gentle spell
\nThey let their savage mood be exorcised.
\nLook thou to the past, forget the present, think
\nOn all the woe thy sire and mother brought thee;
\nThence wilt thou draw this lesson without fail,
\nOf evil passion evil is the end.
\nThou hast, alas, to prick thy memory,
\nStern monitors, these ever-sightless orbs.
\nO yield to us; just suitors should not need
\nTo be importunate, nor he that takes
\nA favor lack the grace to make return.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nGrievous to me, my child, the boon ye win
\nBy pleading.\u00c2\u00a0 Let it be then; have your way
\nOnly if come he must, I beg thee, friend,
\nLet none have power to dispose of me.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nNo need, Sir, to appeal a second time.
\nIt likes me not to boast, but be assured
\nThy life is safe while any god saves mine.
\n[Exit THESEUS]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str.)
\nWho craves excess of days,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Scorning the common span
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Of life, I judge that man
\nA giddy wight who walks in folly’s ways.
\nFor the long years heap up a grievous load,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Scant pleasures, heavier pains,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Till not one joy remains
\nFor him who lingers on life’s weary road
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And come it slow or fast,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 One doom of fate
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Doth all await,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For dance and marriage bell,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The dirge and funeral knell.
\nDeath the deliverer freeth all at last.
\n(Ant.)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Not to be born at all
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Is best, far best that can befall,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Next best, when born, with least delay
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To trace the backward way.
\nFor when youth passes with its giddy train,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Troubles on troubles follow, toils on toils,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Pain, pain for ever pain;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And none escapes life’s coils.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Envy, sedition, strife,
\nCarnage and war, make up the tale of life.
\nLast comes the worst and most abhorred stage
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Of unregarded age,
\nJoyless, companionless and slow,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Of woes the crowning woe.<\/p>\n
(Epode)
\nSuch ills not I alone,
\nHe too our guest hath known,
\nE’en as some headland on an iron-bound shore,
\nLashed by the wintry blasts and surge’s roar,
\nSo is he buffeted on every side
\nBy drear misfortune’s whelming tide,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 By every wind of heaven o’erborne
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Some from the sunset, some from orient morn,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Some from the noonday glow.
\nSome from Rhipean gloom of everlasting snow.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nFather, methinks I see the stranger coming,
\nAlone he comes and weeping plenteous tears.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nWho may he be?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The same that we surmised.
\nFrom the outset–Polyneices.\u00c2\u00a0 He is here.
\n[Enter POLYNEICES]<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\nAh me, my sisters, shall I first lament
\nMy own afflictions, or my aged sire’s,
\nWhom here I find a castaway, with you,
\nIn a strange land, an ancient beggar clad
\nIn antic tatters, marring all his frame,
\nWhile o’er the sightless orbs his unkept locks
\nFloat in the breeze; and, as it were to match,
\nHe bears a wallet against hunger’s pinch.
\nAll this too late I learn, wretch that I am,
\nAlas!\u00c2\u00a0 I own it, and am proved most vile
\nIn my neglect of thee:\u00c2\u00a0 I scorn myself.
\nBut as almighty Zeus in all he doth
\nHath Mercy for co-partner of this throne,
\nLet Mercy, father, also sit enthroned
\nIn thy heart likewise.\u00c2\u00a0 For transgressions past
\nMay be amended, cannot be made worse.<\/p>\n
Why silent?\u00c2\u00a0 Father, speak, nor turn away,
\nHast thou no word, wilt thou dismiss me then
\nIn mute disdain, nor tell me why thou art wrath?
\nO ye his daughters, sisters mine, do ye
\nThis sullen, obstinate silence try to move.
\nLet him not spurn, without a single word
\nOf answer, me the suppliant of the god.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nTell him thyself, unhappy one, thine errand;
\nFor large discourse may send a thrill of joy,
\nOr stir a chord of wrath or tenderness,
\nAnd to the tongue-tied somehow give a tongue.<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\nWell dost thou counsel, and I will speak out.
\nFirst will I call in aid the god himself,
\nPoseidon, from whose altar I was raised,
\nWith warrant from the monarch of this land,
\nTo parley with you, and depart unscathed.
\nThese pledges, strangers, I would see observed
\nBy you and by my sisters and my sire.
\nNow, father, let me tell thee why I came.
\nI have been banished from my native land
\nBecause by right of primogeniture
\nI claimed possession of thy sovereign throne
\nWherefrom Etocles, my younger brother,
\nOusted me, not by weight of precedent,
\nNor by the last arbitrament of war,
\nBut by his popular acts; and the prime cause
\nOf this I deem the curse that rests on thee.
\nSo likewise hold the soothsayers, for when
\nI came to Argos in the Dorian land
\nAnd took the king Adrastus’ child to wife,
\nUnder my standard I enlisted all
\nThe foremost captains of the Apian isle,
\nTo levy with their aid that sevenfold host
\nOf spearmen against Thebes, determining
\nTo oust my foes or die in a just cause.
\nWhy then, thou askest, am I here today?
\nFather, I come a suppliant to thee
\nBoth for myself and my allies who now
\nWith squadrons seven beneath their seven spears
\nBeleaguer all the plain that circles Thebes.
\nForemost the peerless warrior, peerless seer,
\nAmphiaraiis with his lightning lance;
\nNext an Aetolian, Tydeus, Oeneus’ son;
\nEteoclus of Argive birth the third;
\nThe fourth Hippomedon, sent to the war
\nBy his sire Talaos; Capaneus, the fifth,
\nVaunts he will fire and raze the town; the sixth
\nParthenopaeus, an Arcadian born
\nNamed of that maid, longtime a maid and late
\nEspoused, Atalanta’s true-born child;
\nLast I thy son, or thine at least in name,
\nIf but the bastard of an evil fate,
\nLead against Thebes the fearless Argive host.
\nThus by thy children and thy life, my sire,
\nWe all adjure thee to remit thy wrath
\nAnd favor one who seeks a just revenge
\nAgainst a brother who has banned and robbed him.
\nFor victory, if oracles speak true,
\nWill fall to those who have thee for ally.
\nSo, by our fountains and familiar gods
\nI pray thee, yield and hear; a beggar I
\nAnd exile, thou an exile likewise; both
\nInvolved in one misfortune find a home
\nAs pensioners, while he, the lord of Thebes,
\nO agony! makes a mock of thee and me.
\nI’ll scatter with a breath the upstart’s might,
\nAnd bring thee home again and stablish thee,
\nAnd stablish, having cast him out, myself.
\nThis will thy goodwill I will undertake,
\nWithout it I can scare return alive.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nFor the king’s sake who sent him, Oedipus,
\nDismiss him not without a meet reply.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nNay, worthy seniors, but for Theseus’ sake
\nWho sent him hither to have word of me.
\nNever again would he have heard my voice;
\nBut now he shall obtain this parting grace,
\nAn answer that will bring him little joy.
\nO villain, when thou hadst the sovereignty
\nThat now thy brother holdeth in thy stead,
\nDidst thou not drive me, thine own father, out,
\nAn exile, cityless, and make we wear
\nThis beggar’s garb thou weepest to behold,
\nNow thou art come thyself to my sad plight?
\nNothing is here for tears; it must be borne
\nBy _me_ till death, and I shall think of thee
\nAs of my murderer; thou didst thrust me out;
\n‘Tis thou hast made me conversant with woe,
\nThrough thee I beg my bread in a strange land;
\nAnd had not these my daughters tended me
\nI had been dead for aught of aid from thee.
\nThey tend me, they preserve me, they are men
\nNot women in true service to their sire;
\nBut ye are bastards, and no sons of mine.
\nTherefore just Heaven hath an eye on thee;
\nHowbeit not yet with aspect so austere
\nAs thou shalt soon experience, if indeed
\nThese banded hosts are moving against Thebes.
\nThat city thou canst never storm, but first
\nShall fall, thou and thy brother, blood-imbrued.
\nSuch curse I lately launched against you twain,
\nSuch curse I now invoke to fight for me,
\nThat ye may learn to honor those who bear thee
\nNor flout a sightless father who begat
\nDegenerate sons–these maidens did not so.
\nTherefore my curse is stronger than thy “throne,”
\nThy “suppliance,” if by right of laws eterne
\nPrimeval Justice sits enthroned with Zeus.
\nBegone, abhorred, disowned, no son of mine,
\nThou vilest of the vile! and take with thee
\nThis curse I leave thee as my last bequest:–
\nNever to win by arms thy native land,
\nNo, nor return to Argos in the Vale,
\nBut by a kinsman’s hand to die and slay
\nHim who expelled thee.\u00c2\u00a0 So I pray and call
\nOn the ancestral gloom of Tartarus
\nTo snatch thee hence, on these dread goddesses
\nI call, and Ares who incensed you both
\nTo mortal enmity.\u00c2\u00a0 Go now proclaim
\nWhat thou hast heard to the Cadmeians all,
\nThy staunch confederates–this the heritage
\nthat Oedipus divideth to his sons.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThy errand, Polyneices, liked me not
\nFrom the beginning; now go back with speed.<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\nWoe worth my journey and my baffled hopes!
\nWoe worth my comrades!\u00c2\u00a0 What a desperate end
\nTo that glad march from Argos!\u00c2\u00a0 Woe is me!
\nI dare not whisper it to my allies
\nOr turn them back, but mute must meet my doom.
\nMy sisters, ye his daughters, ye have heard
\nThe prayers of our stern father, if his curse
\nShould come to pass and ye some day return
\nTo Thebes, O then disown me not, I pray,
\nBut grant me burial and due funeral rites.
\nSo shall the praise your filial care now wins
\nBe doubled for the service wrought for me.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nOne boon, O Polyneices, let me crave.<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\nWhat would’st thou, sweet Antigone?\u00c2\u00a0 Say on.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nTurn back thy host to Argos with all speed,
\nAnd ruin not thyself and Thebes as well.<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\nThat cannot be.\u00c2\u00a0 How could I lead again
\nAn army that had seen their leader quail?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nBut, brother, why shouldst thou be wroth again?
\nWhat profit from thy country’s ruin comes?<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\n‘Tis shame to live in exile, and shall I
\nThe elder bear a younger brother’s flouts?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWilt thou then bring to pass his prophecies
\nWho threatens mutual slaughter to you both?<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\nAye, so he wishes:–but I must not yield.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nO woe is me! but say, will any dare,
\nHearing his prophecy, to follow thee?<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\nI shall not tell it; a good general
\nReports successes and conceals mishaps.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nMisguided youth, thy purpose then stands fast!<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\n‘Tis so, and stay me not.\u00c2\u00a0 The road I choose,
\nDogged by my sire and his avenging spirit,
\nLeads me to ruin; but for you may Zeus
\nMake your path bright if ye fulfill my hest
\nWhen dead; in life ye cannot serve me more.
\nNow let me go, farewell, a long farewell!
\nYe ne’er shall see my living face again.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nAh me!<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Bewail me not.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Who would not mourn
\nThee, brother, hurrying to an open pit!<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\nIf I must die, I must.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Nay, hear me plead.<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\nIt may not be; forbear.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Then woe is me,
\nIf I must lose thee.<\/p>\n
POLYNEICES
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Nay, that rests with fate,
\nWhether I live or die; but for you both
\nI pray to heaven ye may escape all ill;
\nFor ye are blameless in the eyes of all.
\n[Exit POLYNEICES]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ills on ills! no pause or rest!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Come they from our sightless guest?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Or haply now we see fulfilled
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What fate long time hath willed?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For ne’er have I proved vain
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Aught that the heavenly powers ordain.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Time with never sleeping eye
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Watches what is writ on high,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Overthrowing now the great,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Raising now from low estate.
\nHark!\u00c2\u00a0 How the thunder rumbles!\u00c2\u00a0 Zeus defend us!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nChildren, my children! will no messenger
\nGo summon hither Theseus my best friend?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nAnd wherefore, father, dost thou summon him?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThis winged thunder of the god must bear me
\nAnon to Hades.\u00c2\u00a0 Send and tarry not.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Ant. 1)
\nHark! with louder, nearer roar
\nThe bolt of Zeus descends once more.
\nMy spirit quails and cowers:\u00c2\u00a0 my hair
\nBristles for fear.\u00c2\u00a0 Again that flare!
\nWhat doth the lightning-flash portend?
\nEver it points to issues grave.
\nDread powers of air!\u00c2\u00a0 Save, Zeus, O save!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nDaughters, upon me the predestined end
\nHas come; no turning from it any more.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nHow knowest thou?\u00c2\u00a0 What sign convinces thee?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nI know full well.\u00c2\u00a0 Let some one with all speed
\nGo summon hither the Athenian prince.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 2)
\nHa! once more the deafening sound
\nPeals yet louder all around
\nIf thou darkenest our land,
\nLightly, lightly lay thy hand;
\nGrace, not anger, let me win,
\nIf upon a man of sin
\nI have looked with pitying eye,
\nZeus, our king, to thee I cry!<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nIs the prince coming?\u00c2\u00a0 Will he when he comes
\nFind me yet living and my senses clear!<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWhat solemn charge would’st thou impress on him?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nFor all his benefits I would perform
\nThe promise made when I received them first.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Ant. 2)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hither haste, my son, arise,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Altar leave and sacrifice,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 If haply to Poseidon now
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 In the far glade thou pay’st thy vow.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For our guest to thee would bring
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And thy folk and offering,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thy due guerdon.\u00c2\u00a0 Haste, O King!
\n[Enter THESEUS]<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWherefore again this general din? at once
\nMy people call me and the stranger calls.
\nIs it a thunderbolt of Zeus or sleet
\nOf arrowy hail? a storm so fierce as this
\nWould warrant all surmises of mischance.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThou com’st much wished for, Prince, and sure some god
\nHath bid good luck attend thee on thy way.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhat, son of Laius, hath chanced of new?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nMy life hath turned the scale.\u00c2\u00a0 I would do all
\nI promised thee and thine before I die.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhat sign assures thee that thine end is near?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThe gods themselves are heralds of my fate;
\nOf their appointed warnings nothing fails.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nHow sayest thou they signify their will?<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nThis thunder, peal on peal, this lightning hurled
\nFlash upon flash, from the unconquered hand.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nI must believe thee, having found thee oft
\nA prophet true; then speak what must be done.<\/p>\n
OEDIPUS
\nO son of Aegeus, for this state will I
\nUnfold a treasure age cannot corrupt.
\nMyself anon without a guiding hand
\nWill take thee to the spot where I must end.
\nThis secret ne’er reveal to mortal man,
\nNeither the spot nor whereabouts it lies,
\nSo shall it ever serve thee for defense
\nBetter than native shields and near allies.
\nBut those dread mysteries speech may not profane
\nThyself shalt gather coming there alone;
\nSince not to any of thy subjects,\u00c2\u00a0 nor
\nTo my own children, though I love them dearly,
\nCan I reveal what thou must guard alone,
\nAnd whisper to thy chosen heir alone,
\nSo to be handed down from heir to heir.
\nThus shalt thou hold this land inviolate
\nFrom the dread Dragon’s brood. [4]\u00c2\u00a0 The justest State
\nBy countless wanton neighbors may be wronged,
\nFor the gods, though they tarry, mark for doom
\nThe godless sinner in his mad career.
\nFar from thee, son of Aegeus, be such fate!
\nBut to the spot–the god within me goads–
\nLet us set forth no longer hesitate.
\nFollow me, daughters, this way.\u00c2\u00a0 Strange that I
\nWhom you have led so long should lead you now.
\nOh, touch me not, but let me all alone
\nFind out the sepulcher that destiny
\nAppoints me in this land.\u00c2\u00a0 Hither, this way,
\nFor this way Hermes leads, the spirit guide,
\nAnd Persephassa, empress of the dead.
\nO light, no light to me, but mine erewhile,
\nNow the last time I feel thee palpable,
\nFor I am drawing near the final gloom
\nOf Hades.\u00c2\u00a0 Blessing on thee, dearest friend,
\nOn thee and on thy land and followers!
\nLive prosperous and in your happy state
\nStill for your welfare think on me, the dead.
\n[Exit THESEUS followed by ANTIGONE and ISMENE]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str.)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 If mortal prayers are heard in hell,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hear, Goddess dread, invisible!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Monarch of the regions drear,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Aidoneus, hear, O hear!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 By a gentle, tearless doom
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Speed this stranger to the gloom,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Let him enter without pain
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The all-shrouding Stygian plain.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Wrongfully in life oppressed,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Be he now by Justice blessed.<\/p>\n
(Ant.)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Queen infernal, and thou fell
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Watch-dog of the gates of hell,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Who, as legends tell, dost glare,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Gnarling in thy cavernous lair
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 At all comers, let him go
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Scathless to the fields below.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For thy master orders thus,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The son of earth and Tartarus;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 In his den the monster keep,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Giver of eternal sleep.
\n[Enter MESSENGER]<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nFriends, countrymen, my tidings are in sum
\nThat Oedipus is gone, but the event
\nWas not so brief, nor can the tale be brief.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhat, has he gone, the unhappy man?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Know well
\nThat he has passed away from life to death.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nHow?\u00c2\u00a0 By a god-sent, painless doom, poor soul?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nThy question hits the marvel of the tale.
\nHow he moved hence, you saw him and must know;
\nWithout a friend to lead the way, himself
\nGuiding us all.\u00c2\u00a0 So having reached the abrupt
\nEarth-rooted Threshold with its brazen stairs,
\nHe paused at one of the converging paths,
\nHard by the rocky basin which records
\nThe pact of Theseus and Peirithous.
\nBetwixt that rift and the Thorician rock,
\nThe hollow pear-tree and the marble tomb,
\nMidway he sat and loosed his beggar’s weeds;
\nThen calling to his daughters bade them fetch
\nOf running water, both to wash withal
\nAnd make libation; so they clomb the steep;
\nAnd in brief space brought what their father bade,
\nThen laved and dressed him with observance due.
\nBut when he had his will in everything,
\nAnd no desire was left unsatisfied,
\nIt thundered from the netherworld; the maids
\nShivered, and crouching at their father’s knees
\nWept, beat their breast and uttered a long wail.
\nHe, as he heard their sudden bitter cry,
\nFolded his arms about them both and said,
\n“My children, ye will lose your sire today,
\nFor all of me has perished, and no more
\nHave ye to bear your long, long ministry;
\nA heavy load, I know, and yet one word
\nWipes out all score of tribulations–_love_.
\nAnd love from me ye had–from no man more;
\nBut now must live without me all your days.”
\nSo clinging to each other sobbed and wept
\nFather and daughters both, but when at last
\nTheir mourning had an end and no wail rose,
\nA moment there was silence; suddenly
\nA voice that summoned him; with sudden dread
\nThe hair of all stood up and all were ‘mazed;
\nFor the call came, now loud, now low, and oft.
\n“Oedipus, Oedipus, why tarry we?
\nToo long, too long thy passing is delayed.”
\nBut when he heard the summons of the god,
\nHe prayed that Theseus might be brought, and when
\nThe Prince came nearer:\u00c2\u00a0 “O my friend,” he cried,
\n“Pledge ye my daughters, giving thy right hand–
\nAnd, daughters, give him yours–and promise me
\nThou never wilt forsake them, but do all
\nThat time and friendship prompt in their behoof.”
\nAnd he of his nobility repressed
\nHis tears and swore to be their constant friend.
\nThis promise given, Oedipus put forth
\nBlind hands and laid them on his children, saying,
\n“O children, prove your true nobility
\nAnd hence depart nor seek to witness sights
\nUnlawful or to hear unlawful words.
\nNay, go with speed; let none but Theseus stay,
\nOur ruler, to behold what next shall hap.”
\nSo we all heard him speak, and weeping sore
\nWe companied the maidens on their way.
\nAfter brief space we looked again, and lo
\nThe man was gone, evanished from our eyes;
\nOnly the king we saw with upraised hand
\nShading his eyes as from some awful sight,
\nThat no man might endure to look upon.
\nA moment later, and we saw him bend
\nIn prayer to Earth and prayer to Heaven at once.
\nBut by what doom the stranger met his end
\nNo man save Theseus knoweth.\u00c2\u00a0 For there fell
\nNo fiery bold that reft him in that hour,
\nNor whirlwind from the sea, but he was taken.
\nIt was a messenger from heaven, or else
\nSome gentle, painless cleaving of earth’s base;
\nFor without wailing or disease or pain
\nHe passed away–and end most marvelous.
\nAnd if to some my tale seems foolishness
\nI am content that such could count me fool.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhere are the maids and their attendant friends?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nThey cannot be far off; the approaching sound
\nOf lamentation tells they come this way.
\n[Enter ANTIGONE and ISMENE]<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n(Str. 1)
\nWoe, woe! on this sad day
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 We sisters of one blasted stock
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 must bow beneath the shock,
\nMust weep and weep the curse that lay
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 On him our sire, for whom
\nIn life, a life-long world of care
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Twas ours to bear,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 In death must face the gloom
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That wraps his tomb.
\nWhat tongue can tell
\nThat sight ineffable?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhat mean ye, maidens?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 All is but surmise.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nIs he then gone?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Gone as ye most might wish.
\nNot in battle or sea storm,
\nBut reft from sight,
\nBy hands invisible borne
\nTo viewless fields of night.
\nAh me! on us too night has come,
\nThe night of mourning.\u00c2\u00a0 Wither roam
\nO’er land or sea in our distress
\nEating the bread of bitterness?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nI know not.\u00c2\u00a0 O that Death
\nMight nip my breath,
\nAnd let me share my aged father’s fate.
\nI cannot live a life thus desolate.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nBest of daughters, worthy pair,
\nWhat heaven brings ye needs must bear,
\nFret no more ‘gainst Heaven’s will;
\nFate hath dealt with you not ill.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n(Ant. 1)
\nLove can turn past pain to bliss,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What seemed bitter now is sweet.
\nAh me! that happy toil is sweet.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The guidance of those dear blind feet.
\nDear father, wrapt for aye in nether gloom,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 E’en in the tomb
\nNever shalt thou lack of love repine,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Her love and mine.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nHis fate–<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Is even as he planned.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nHow so?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nHe died, so willed he, in a foreign land.
\nLapped in kind earth he sleeps his long last sleep,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And o’er his grave friends weep.
\nHow great our lost these streaming eyes can tell,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This sorrow naught can quell.
\nThou hadst thy wish ‘mid strangers thus to die,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 But I, ah me, not by.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nAlas, my sister, what new fate
\n*\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *
\n*\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 *
\nBefalls us orphans desolate?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nHis end was blessed; therefore, children, stay
\nYour sorrow.\u00c2\u00a0 Man is born to fate a prey.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n(Str. 2)
\nSister, let us back again.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nWhy return?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 My soul is fain–
\nISMENE
\nIs fain?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To see the earthy bed.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nSayest thou?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Where our sire is laid.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nNay, thou can’st not, dost not see–<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nSister, wherefore wroth with me?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nKnow’st not–beside–<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 More must I hear?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nTombless he died, none near.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nLead me thither; slay me there.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nHow shall I unhappy fare,
\nFriendless, helpless, how drag on
\nA life of misery alone?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Ant. 2)
\nFear not, maids–<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ah, whither flee?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nRefuge hath been found.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For me?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhere thou shalt be safe from harm.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nI know it.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Why then this alarm?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nHow again to get us home
\nI know not.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Why then this roam?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nTroubles whelm us–<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 As of yore.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWorse than what was worse before.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nSure ye are driven on the breakers’ surge.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nAlas! we are.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Alas! ’tis so.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nAh whither turn, O Zeus?\u00c2\u00a0 No ray
\nOf hope to cheer the way
\nWhereon the fates our desperate voyage urge.
\n[Enter THESEUS]<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nDry your tears; when grace is shed
\nOn the quick and on the dead
\nBy dark Powers beneficent,
\nOver-grief they would resent.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nAegeus’ child, to thee we pray.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nWhat the boon, my children, say.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWith our own eyes we fain would see
\nOur father’s tomb.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That may not be.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWhat say’st thou, King?<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 My children, he
\nCharged me straitly that no moral
\nShould approach the sacred portal,
\nOr greet with funeral litanies
\nThe hidden tomb wherein he lies;
\nSaying, “If thou keep’st my hest
\nThou shalt hold thy realm at rest.”
\nThe God of Oaths this promise heard,
\nAnd to Zeus I pledged my word.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWell, if he would have it so,
\nWe must yield.\u00c2\u00a0 Then let us go
\nBack to Thebes, if yet we may
\nHeal this mortal feud and stay
\nThe self-wrought doom
\nThat drives our brothers to their tomb.<\/p>\n
THESEUS
\nGo in peace; nor will I spare
\nOught of toil and zealous care,
\nBut on all your needs attend,
\nGladdening in his grave my friend.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWail no more, let sorrow rest,
\nAll is ordered for the best.<\/p>\n
FOOTNOTES
\n———<\/p>\n
1.\u00c2\u00a0 The Greek text for the passages marked here and later in the\u00c2\u00a0 text
\nhave been lost.<\/p>\n
2.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To\u00c2\u00a0 avoid\u00c2\u00a0 the\u00c2\u00a0 blessing,\u00c2\u00a0 still\u00c2\u00a0 a\u00c2\u00a0 secret,\u00c2\u00a0 he\u00c2\u00a0 resorts\u00c2\u00a0 to\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 a
\ncommonplace; literally, “For what generous man is not (in\u00c2\u00a0 befriending
\nothers) a friend to himself?”<\/p>\n
3.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Creon desires to bury Oedipus on the confines of Thebes so as\u00c2\u00a0 to
\navoid the pollution and yet offer due rites at his tomb.\u00c2\u00a0 Ismene tells
\nhim of the latest oracle and interprets to him its purport, that\u00c2\u00a0 some
\nday the Theban invaders of Athens will be routed in a battle near\u00c2\u00a0 the
\ngrave of Oedipus.<\/p>\n
4.\u00c2\u00a0 The Thebans sprung from the Dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus.<\/p>\n
*End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus.*<\/p>\n
****This is the Project Gutenberg Etext Sophocles’ Antigone.****
\nThis file should be named antig10.txt or antig10.zip if separate.
\n*It should include the header from the top including small print*<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 SOPHOCLES<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ANTIGONE<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Translation by F. Storr, BA
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Formerly Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 From the Loeb Library Edition
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Originally published by
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 and
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 William Heinemann Ltd, London<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 First published in 1912<\/p>\n
———————————————————————-<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ARGUMENT<\/p>\n
Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, the late king of Thebes, in defiance\u00c2\u00a0 of
\nCreon who rules in his stead, resolves to bury her brother\u00c2\u00a0 Polyneices,
\nslain\u00c2\u00a0 in\u00c2\u00a0 his attack on Thebes.\u00c2\u00a0 She is caught in the act\u00c2\u00a0 by\u00c2\u00a0 Creon’s
\nwatchmen\u00c2\u00a0 and\u00c2\u00a0 brought\u00c2\u00a0 before the king.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 She\u00c2\u00a0 justifies\u00c2\u00a0 her\u00c2\u00a0 action,
\nasserting\u00c2\u00a0 that\u00c2\u00a0 she was bound to obey the eternal laws\u00c2\u00a0 of\u00c2\u00a0 right\u00c2\u00a0 and
\nwrong\u00c2\u00a0 in spite of any human ordinance.\u00c2\u00a0 Creon,\u00c2\u00a0 unrelenting,\u00c2\u00a0 condemns
\nher\u00c2\u00a0 to\u00c2\u00a0 be\u00c2\u00a0 immured in a rock-hewn chamber. His son\u00c2\u00a0 Haemon,\u00c2\u00a0 to\u00c2\u00a0 whom
\nAntigone is betrothed, pleads in vain for her life and threatens to die
\nwith\u00c2\u00a0 her.\u00c2\u00a0 Warned by the seer Teiresias Creon repents him and\u00c2\u00a0 hurries
\nto\u00c2\u00a0 release\u00c2\u00a0 Antigone from her rocky prison.\u00c2\u00a0 But he is too\u00c2\u00a0 late:\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 he
\nfinds lying side by side Antigone who had hanged herself and Haemon who
\nalso\u00c2\u00a0 has\u00c2\u00a0 perished by his own hand.\u00c2\u00a0 Returning to the palace\u00c2\u00a0 he\u00c2\u00a0 sees
\nwithin\u00c2\u00a0 the dead body of his queen who on learning of her\u00c2\u00a0 son’s\u00c2\u00a0 death
\nhas stabbed herself to the heart.<\/p>\n
———————————————————————-<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 DRAMATIS PERSONAE<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE\u00c2\u00a0 and ISMENE – daughters of Oedipus and sisters\u00c2\u00a0 of\u00c2\u00a0 Polyneices
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 and Eteocles.<\/p>\n
CREON, King of Thebes.<\/p>\n
HAEMON, Son of Creon, betrothed to Antigone.<\/p>\n
EURYDICE, wife of Creon.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS, the prophet.<\/p>\n
CHORUS, of Theban elders.<\/p>\n
A WATCHMAN<\/p>\n
A MESSENGER<\/p>\n
A SECOND MESSENGER<\/p>\n
———————————————————————-<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ANTIGONE<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ANTIGONE and ISMENE before the Palace gates.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nIsmene, sister of my blood and heart,
\nSee’st thou how Zeus would in our lives fulfill
\nThe weird of Oedipus, a world of woes!
\nFor what of pain, affliction, outrage, shame,
\nIs lacking in our fortunes, thine and mine?
\nAnd now this proclamation of today
\nMade by our Captain-General to the State,
\nWhat can its purport be?\u00c2\u00a0 Didst hear and heed,
\nOr art thou deaf when friends are banned as foes?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nTo me, Antigone, no word of friends
\nHas come, or glad or grievous, since we twain
\nWere reft of our two brethren in one day
\nBy double fratricide; and since i’ the night
\nOur Argive leaguers fled, no later news
\nHas reached me, to inspirit or deject.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nI know ’twas so, and therefore summoned thee
\nBeyond the gates to breathe it in thine ear.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nWhat is it?\u00c2\u00a0 Some dark secret stirs thy breast.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWhat but the thought of our two brothers dead,
\nThe one by Creon graced with funeral rites,
\nThe other disappointed?\u00c2\u00a0 Eteocles
\nHe hath consigned to earth (as fame reports)
\nWith obsequies that use and wont ordain,
\nSo gracing him among the dead below.
\nBut Polyneices, a dishonored corse,
\n(So by report the royal edict runs)
\nNo man may bury him or make lament–
\nMust leave him tombless and unwept, a feast
\nFor kites to scent afar and swoop upon.
\nSuch is the edict (if report speak true)
\nOf Creon, our most noble Creon, aimed
\nAt thee and me, aye me too; and anon
\nHe will be here to promulgate, for such
\nAs have not heard, his mandate; ’tis in sooth
\nNo passing humor, for the edict says
\nWhoe’er transgresses shall be stoned to death.
\nSo stands it with us; now ’tis thine to show
\nIf thou art worthy of thy blood or base.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nBut how, my rash, fond sister, in such case
\nCan I do anything to make or mar?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nSay, wilt thou aid me and abet?\u00c2\u00a0 Decide.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nIn what bold venture?\u00c2\u00a0 What is in thy thought?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nLend me a hand to bear the corpse away.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nWhat, bury him despite the interdict?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nMy brother, and, though thou deny him, thine
\nNo man shall say that _I_ betrayed a brother.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nWilt thou persist, though Creon has forbid?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWhat right has he to keep me from my own?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nBethink thee, sister, of our father’s fate,
\nAbhorred, dishonored, self-convinced of sin,
\nBlinded, himself his executioner.
\nThink of his mother-wife (ill sorted names)
\nDone by a noose herself had twined to death
\nAnd last, our hapless brethren in one day,
\nBoth in a mutual destiny involved,
\nSelf-slaughtered, both the slayer and the slain.
\nBethink thee, sister, we are left alone;
\nShall we not perish wretchedest of all,
\nIf in defiance of the law we cross
\nA monarch’s will?–weak women, think of that,
\nNot framed by nature to contend with men.
\nRemember this too that the stronger rules;
\nWe must obey his orders, these or worse.
\nTherefore I plead compulsion and entreat
\nThe dead to pardon.\u00c2\u00a0 I perforce obey
\nThe powers that be.\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Tis foolishness, I ween,
\nTo overstep in aught the golden mean.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nI urge no more; nay, wert thou willing still,
\nI would not welcome such a fellowship.
\nGo thine own way; myself will bury him.
\nHow sweet to die in such employ, to rest,–
\nSister and brother linked in love’s embrace–
\nA sinless sinner, banned awhile on earth,
\nBut by the dead commended; and with them
\nI shall abide for ever.\u00c2\u00a0 As for thee,
\nScorn, if thou wilt, the eternal laws of Heaven.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nI scorn them not, but to defy the State
\nOr break her ordinance I have no skill.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nA specious pretext.\u00c2\u00a0 I will go alone
\nTo lap my dearest brother in the grave.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nMy poor, fond sister, how I fear for thee!<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nO waste no fears on me; look to thyself.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nAt least let no man know of thine intent,
\nBut keep it close and secret, as will I.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nO tell it, sister; I shall hate thee more
\nIf thou proclaim it not to all the town.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nThou hast a fiery soul for numbing work.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nI pleasure those whom I would liefest please.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nIf thou succeed; but thou art doomed to fail.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWhen strength shall fail me, yes, but not before.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nBut, if the venture’s hopeless, why essay?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nSister, forbear, or I shall hate thee soon,
\nAnd the dead man will hate thee too, with cause.
\nSay I am mad and give my madness rein
\nTo wreck itself; the worst that can befall
\nIs but to die an honorable death.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nHave thine own way then; ’tis a mad endeavor,
\nYet to thy lovers thou art dear as ever.
\n[Exeunt]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\nSunbeam, of all that ever dawn upon
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Our seven-gated Thebes the brightest ray,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 O eye of golden day,
\nHow fair thy light o’er Dirce’s fountain shone,
\nSpeeding upon their headlong homeward course,
\nFar quicker than they came, the Argive force;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Putting to flight
\nThe argent shields, the host with scutcheons white.
\nAgainst our land the proud invader came
\nTo vindicate fell Polyneices’ claim.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Like to an eagle swooping low,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 On pinions white as new fall’n snow.
\nWith clanging scream, a horsetail plume his crest,
\nThe aspiring lord of Argos onward pressed.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 1)
\nHovering around our city walls he waits,
\nHis spearmen raven at our seven gates.
\nBut ere a torch our crown of towers could burn,
\nEre they had tasted of our blood, they turn
\nForced by the Dragon; in their rear
\nThe din of Ares panic-struck they hear.
\nFor Zeus who hates the braggart’s boast
\nBeheld that gold-bespangled host;
\nAs at the goal the paean they upraise,
\nHe struck them with his forked lightning blaze.<\/p>\n
(Str. 2)
\nTo earthy from earth rebounding, down he crashed;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The fire-brand from his impious hand was dashed,
\nAs like a Bacchic reveler on he came,
\nOutbreathing hate and flame,
\nAnd tottered.\u00c2\u00a0 Elsewhere in the field,
\nHere, there, great Area like a war-horse wheeled;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Beneath his car down thrust
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Our foemen bit the dust.<\/p>\n
Seven captains at our seven gates
\nThundered; for each a champion waits,
\nEach left behind his armor bright,
\nTrophy for Zeus who turns the fight;
\nSave two alone, that ill-starred pair
\nOne mother to one father bare,
\nWho lance in rest, one ‘gainst the other
\nDrave, and both perished, brother slain by brother.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 2)
\nNow Victory to Thebes returns again
\nAnd smiles upon her chariot-circled plain.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Now let feast and festal should
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Memories of war blot out.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Let us to the temples throng,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Dance and sing the live night long.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 God of Thebes, lead thou the round.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Bacchus, shaker of the ground!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Let us end our revels here;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Lo! Creon our new lord draws near,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Crowned by this strange chance, our king.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What, I marvel, pondering?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Why this summons?\u00c2\u00a0 Wherefore call
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Us, his elders, one and all,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Bidding us with him debate,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 On some grave concern of State?
\n[Enter CREON]<\/p>\n
CREON
\nElders, the gods have righted one again
\nOur storm-tossed ship of state, now safe in port.
\nBut you by special summons I convened
\nAs my most trusted councilors; first, because
\nI knew you loyal to Laius of old;
\nAgain, when Oedipus restored our State,
\nBoth while he ruled and when his rule was o’er,
\nYe still were constant to the royal line.
\nNow that his two sons perished in one day,
\nBrother by brother murderously slain,
\nBy right of kinship to the Princes dead,
\nI claim and hold the throne and sovereignty.
\nYet ’tis no easy matter to discern
\nThe temper of a man, his mind and will,
\nTill he be proved by exercise of power;
\nAnd in my case, if one who reigns supreme
\nSwerve from the highest policy, tongue-tied
\nBy fear of consequence, that man I hold,
\nAnd ever held, the basest of the base.
\nAnd I contemn the man who sets his friend
\nBefore his country.\u00c2\u00a0 For myself, I call
\nTo witness Zeus, whose eyes are everywhere,
\nIf I perceive some mischievous design
\nTo sap the State, I will not hold my tongue;
\nNor would I reckon as my private friend
\nA public foe, well knowing that the State
\nIs the good ship that holds our fortunes all:
\nFarewell to friendship, if she suffers wreck.
\nSuch is the policy by which I seek
\nTo serve the Commons and conformably
\nI have proclaimed an edict as concerns
\nThe sons of Oedipus; Eteocles
\nWho in his country’s battle fought and fell,
\nThe foremost champion–duly bury him
\nWith all observances and ceremonies
\nThat are the guerdon of the heroic dead.
\nBut for the miscreant exile who returned
\nMinded in flames and ashes to blot out
\nHis father’s city and his father’s gods,
\nAnd glut his vengeance with his kinsmen’s blood,
\nOr drag them captive at his chariot wheels–
\nFor Polyneices ’tis ordained that none
\nShall give him burial or make mourn for him,
\nBut leave his corpse unburied, to be meat
\nFor dogs and carrion crows, a ghastly sight.
\nSo am I purposed; never by my will
\nShall miscreants take precedence of true men,
\nBut all good patriots, alive or dead,
\nShall be by me preferred and honored.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nSon of Menoeceus, thus thou will’st to deal
\nWith him who loathed and him who loved our State.
\nThy word is law; thou canst dispose of us
\nThe living, as thou will’st, as of the dead.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSee then ye execute what I ordain.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nOn younger shoulders lay this grievous charge.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nFear not, I’ve posted guards to watch the corpse.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhat further duty would’st thou lay on us?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNot to connive at disobedience.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nNo man is mad enough to court his death.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThe penalty _is_ death:\u00c2\u00a0 yet hope of gain
\nHath lured men to their ruin oftentimes.
\n[Enter GUARD]<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nMy lord, I will not make pretense to pant
\nAnd puff as some light-footed messenger.
\nIn sooth my soul beneath its pack of thought
\nMade many a halt and turned and turned again;
\nFor conscience plied her spur and curb by turns.
\n“Why hurry headlong to thy fate, poor fool?”
\nShe whispered.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, “If Creon learn
\nThis from another, thou wilt rue it worse.”
\nThus leisurely I hastened on my road;
\nMuch thought extends a furlong to a league.
\nBut in the end the forward voice prevailed,
\nTo face thee.\u00c2\u00a0 I will speak though I say nothing.
\nFor plucking courage from despair methought,
\n‘Let the worst hap, thou canst but meet thy fate.’<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhat is thy news?\u00c2\u00a0 Why this despondency?<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nLet me premise a word about myself?
\nI neither did the deed nor saw it done,
\nNor were it just that I should come to harm.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThou art good at parry, and canst fence about
\nSome matter of grave import, as is plain.<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nThe bearer of dread tidings needs must quake.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThen, sirrah, shoot thy bolt and get thee gone.<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nWell, it must out; the corpse is buried; someone
\nE’en now besprinkled it with thirsty dust,
\nPerformed the proper ritual–and was gone.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhat say’st thou?\u00c2\u00a0 Who hath dared to do this thing?<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nI cannot tell, for there was ne’er a trace
\nOf pick or mattock–hard unbroken ground,
\nWithout a scratch or rut of chariot wheels,
\nNo sign that human hands had been at work.
\nWhen the first sentry of the morning watch
\nGave the alarm, we all were terror-stricken.
\nThe corpse had vanished, not interred in earth,
\nBut strewn with dust, as if by one who sought
\nTo avert the curse that haunts the unburied dead:
\nOf hound or ravening jackal, not a sign.
\nThereat arose an angry war of words;
\nGuard railed at guard and blows were like to end it,
\nFor none was there to part us, each in turn
\nSuspected, but the guilt brought home to none,
\nFrom lack of evidence.\u00c2\u00a0 We challenged each
\nThe ordeal, or to handle red-hot iron,
\nOr pass through fire, affirming on our oath
\nOur innocence–we neither did the deed
\nOurselves, nor know who did or compassed it.
\nOur quest was at a standstill, when one spake
\nAnd bowed us all to earth like quivering reeds,
\nFor there was no gainsaying him nor way
\nTo escape perdition:\u00c2\u00a0 _Ye_are_bound_to_tell_
\n_The_King,_ye_cannot_hide_it_; so he spake.
\nAnd he convinced us all; so lots were cast,
\nAnd I, unlucky scapegoat, drew the prize.
\nSo here I am unwilling and withal
\nUnwelcome; no man cares to hear ill news.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nI had misgivings from the first, my liege,
\nOf something more than natural at work.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nO cease, you vex me with your babblement;
\nI am like to think you dote in your old age.
\nIs it not arrant folly to pretend
\nThat gods would have a thought for this dead man?
\nDid they forsooth award him special grace,
\nAnd as some benefactor bury him,
\nWho came to fire their hallowed sanctuaries,
\nTo sack their shrines, to desolate their land,
\nAnd scout their ordinances?\u00c2\u00a0 Or perchance
\nThe gods bestow their favors on the bad.
\nNo! no! I have long noted malcontents
\nWho wagged their heads, and kicked against the yoke,
\nMisliking these my orders, and my rule.
\n‘Tis they, I warrant, who suborned my guards
\nBy bribes.\u00c2\u00a0 Of evils current upon earth
\nThe worst is money.\u00c2\u00a0 Money ’tis that sacks
\nCities, and drives men forth from hearth and home;
\nWarps and seduces native innocence,
\nAnd breeds a habit of dishonesty.
\nBut they who sold themselves shall find their greed
\nOut-shot the mark, and rue it soon or late.
\nYea, as I still revere the dread of Zeus,
\nBy Zeus I swear, except ye find and bring
\nBefore my presence here the very man
\nWho carried out this lawless burial,
\nDeath for your punishment shall not suffice.
\nHanged on a cross, alive ye first shall make
\nConfession of this outrage.\u00c2\u00a0 This will teach you
\nWhat practices are like to serve your turn.
\nThere are some villainies that bring no gain.
\nFor by dishonesty the few may thrive,
\nThe many come to ruin and disgrace.<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nMay I not speak, or must I turn and go
\nWithout a word?–<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Begone! canst thou not see
\nThat e’en this question irks me?<\/p>\n
GUARD
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Where, my lord?
\nIs it thy ears that suffer, or thy heart?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhy seek to probe and find the seat of pain?<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nI gall thine ears–this miscreant thy mind.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhat an inveterate babbler! get thee gone!<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nBabbler perchance, but innocent of the crime.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nTwice guilty, having sold thy soul for gain.<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nAlas! how sad when reasoners reason wrong.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nGo, quibble with thy reason.\u00c2\u00a0 If thou fail’st
\nTo find these malefactors, thou shalt own
\nThe wages of ill-gotten gains is death.
\n[Exit CREON]<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nI pray he may be found.\u00c2\u00a0 But caught or not
\n(And fortune must determine that) thou never
\nShalt see me here returning; that is sure.
\nFor past all hope or thought I have escaped,
\nAnd for my safety owe the gods much thanks.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\nMany wonders there be, but naught more wondrous than man;
\nOver the surging sea, with a whitening south wind wan,
\nThrough the foam of the firth, man makes his perilous way;
\nAnd the eldest of deities Earth that knows not toil nor decay
\nEver he furrows and scores, as his team, year in year out,
\nWith breed of the yoked horse, the ploughshare turneth about.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 1)
\nThe light-witted birds of the air, the beasts of the weald and the wood
\nHe traps with his woven snare, and the brood of the briny flood.
\nMaster of cunning he:\u00c2\u00a0 the savage bull, and the hart
\nWho roams the mountain free, are tamed by his infinite art;
\nAnd the shaggy rough-maned steed is broken to bear the bit.<\/p>\n
(Str. 2)
\nSpeech and the wind-swift speed of counsel and civic wit,
\nHe hath learnt for himself all these; and the arrowy rain to fly
\nAnd the nipping airs that freeze, ‘neath the open winter sky.
\nHe hath provision for all: fell plague he hath learnt to endure;
\nSafe whate’er may befall: yet for death he hath found no cure.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 2)
\nPassing the wildest flight thought are the cunning and skill,
\nThat guide man now to the light, but now to counsels of ill.
\nIf he honors the laws of the land, and reveres the Gods of the State
\nProudly his city shall stand; but a cityless outcast I rate
\nWhoso bold in his pride from the path of right doth depart;
\nNe’er may I sit by his side, or share the thoughts of his heart.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What strange vision meets my eyes,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Fills me with a wild surprise?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Sure I know her, sure ’tis she,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The maid Antigone.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hapless child of hapless sire,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Didst thou recklessly conspire,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Madly brave the King’s decree?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Therefore are they haling thee?
\n[Enter GUARD bringing ANTIGONE]<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nHere is the culprit taken in the act
\nOf giving burial.\u00c2\u00a0 But where’s the King?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThere from the palace he returns in time.
\n[Enter CREON]<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhy is my presence timely?\u00c2\u00a0 What has chanced?<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nNo man, my lord, should make a vow, for if
\nHe ever swears he will not do a thing,
\nHis afterthoughts belie his first resolve.
\nWhen from the hail-storm of thy threats I fled
\nI sware thou wouldst not see me here again;
\nBut the wild rapture of a glad surprise
\nIntoxicates, and so I’m here forsworn.
\nAnd here’s my prisoner, caught in the very act,
\nDecking the grave.\u00c2\u00a0 No lottery this time;
\nThis prize is mine by right of treasure-trove.
\nSo take her, judge her, rack her, if thou wilt.
\nShe’s thine, my liege; but I may rightly claim
\nHence to depart well quit of all these ills.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSay, how didst thou arrest the maid, and where?<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nBurying the man.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s nothing more to tell.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nHast thou thy wits?\u00c2\u00a0 Or know’st thou what thou say’st?<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nI saw this woman burying the corpse
\nAgainst thy orders.\u00c2\u00a0 Is that clear and plain?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nBut how was she surprised and caught in the act?<\/p>\n
GUARD
\nIt happened thus.\u00c2\u00a0 No sooner had we come,
\nDriven from thy presence by those awful threats,
\nThan straight we swept away all trace of dust,
\nAnd bared the clammy body.\u00c2\u00a0 Then we sat
\nHigh on the ridge to windward of the stench,
\nWhile each man kept he fellow alert and rated
\nRoundly the sluggard if he chanced to nap.
\nSo all night long we watched, until the sun
\nStood high in heaven, and his blazing beams
\nSmote us.\u00c2\u00a0 A sudden whirlwind then upraised
\nA cloud of dust that blotted out the sky,
\nAnd swept the plain, and stripped the woodlands bare,
\nAnd shook the firmament.\u00c2\u00a0 We closed our eyes
\nAnd waited till the heaven-sent plague should pass.
\nAt last it ceased, and lo! there stood this maid.
\nA piercing cry she uttered, sad and shrill,
\nAs when the mother bird beholds her nest
\nRobbed of its nestlings; even so the maid
\nWailed as she saw the body stripped and bare,
\nAnd cursed the ruffians who had done this deed.
\nAnon she gathered handfuls of dry dust,
\nThen, holding high a well-wrought brazen urn,
\nThrice on the dead she poured a lustral stream.
\nWe at the sight swooped down on her and seized
\nOur quarry.\u00c2\u00a0 Undismayed she stood, and when
\nWe taxed her with the former crime and this,
\nShe disowned nothing.\u00c2\u00a0 I was glad–and grieved;
\nFor ’tis most sweet to ‘scape oneself scot-free,
\nAnd yet to bring disaster to a friend
\nIs grievous.\u00c2\u00a0 Take it all in all, I deem
\nA man’s first duty is to serve himself.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSpeak, girl, with head bent low and downcast eyes,
\nDoes thou plead guilty or deny the deed?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nGuilty.\u00c2\u00a0 I did it, I deny it not.<\/p>\n
CREON (to GUARD)
\nSirrah, begone whither thou wilt, and thank
\nThy luck that thou hast ‘scaped a heavy charge.
\n(To ANTIGONE)
\nNow answer this plain question, yes or no,
\nWast thou acquainted with the interdict?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nI knew, all knew; how should I fail to know?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nAnd yet wert bold enough to break the law?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nYea, for these laws were not ordained of Zeus,
\nAnd she who sits enthroned with gods below,
\nJustice, enacted not these human laws.
\nNor did I deem that thou, a mortal man,
\nCould’st by a breath annul and override
\nThe immutable unwritten laws of Heaven.
\nThey were not born today nor yesterday;
\nThey die not; and none knoweth whence they sprang.
\nI was not like, who feared no mortal’s frown,
\nTo disobey these laws and so provoke
\nThe wrath of Heaven.\u00c2\u00a0 I knew that I must die,
\nE’en hadst thou not proclaimed it; and if death
\nIs thereby hastened, I shall count it gain.
\nFor death is gain to him whose life, like mine,
\nIs full of misery.\u00c2\u00a0 Thus my lot appears
\nNot sad, but blissful; for had I endured
\nTo leave my mother’s son unburied there,
\nI should have grieved with reason, but not now.
\nAnd if in this thou judgest me a fool,
\nMethinks the judge of folly’s not acquit.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nA stubborn daughter of a stubborn sire,
\nThis ill-starred maiden kicks against the pricks.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWell, let her know the stubbornest of wills
\nAre soonest bended, as the hardest iron,
\nO’er-heated in the fire to brittleness,
\nFlies soonest into fragments, shivered through.
\nA snaffle curbs the fieriest steed, and he
\nWho in subjection lives must needs be meek.
\nBut this proud girl, in insolence well-schooled,
\nFirst overstepped the established law, and then–
\nA second and worse act of insolence–
\nShe boasts and glories in her wickedness.
\nNow if she thus can flout authority
\nUnpunished, I am woman, she the man.
\nBut though she be my sister’s child or nearer
\nOf kin than all who worship at my hearth,
\nNor she nor yet her sister shall escape
\nThe utmost penalty, for both I hold,
\nAs arch-conspirators, of equal guilt.
\nBring forth the older; even now I saw her
\nWithin the palace, frenzied and distraught.
\nThe workings of the mind discover oft
\nDark deeds in darkness schemed, before the act.
\nMore hateful still the miscreant who seeks
\nWhen caught, to make a virtue of a crime.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWould’st thou do more than slay thy prisoner?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNot I, thy life is mine, and that’s enough.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWhy dally then?\u00c2\u00a0 To me no word of thine
\nIs pleasant:\u00c2\u00a0 God forbid it e’er should please;
\nNor am I more acceptable to thee.
\nAnd yet how otherwise had I achieved
\nA name so glorious as by burying
\nA brother? so my townsmen all would say,
\nWhere they not gagged by terror,\u00c2\u00a0 Manifold
\nA king’s prerogatives, and not the least
\nThat all his acts and all his words are law.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nOf all these Thebans none so deems but thou.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nThese think as I, but bate their breath to thee.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nHast thou no shame to differ from all these?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nTo reverence kith and kin can bring no shame.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWas his dead foeman not thy kinsman too?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nOne mother bare them and the self-same sire.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhy cast a slur on one by honoring one?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nThe dead man will not bear thee out in this.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSurely, if good and evil fare alive.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nThe slain man was no villain but a brother.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThe patriot perished by the outlaw’s brand.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nNathless the realms below these rites require.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNot that the base should fare as do the brave.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWho knows if this world’s crimes are virtues there?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nNot even death can make a foe a friend.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nMy nature is for mutual love, not hate.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nDie then, and love the dead if thou must;
\nNo woman shall be the master while I live.
\n[Enter ISMENE]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Lo from out the palace gate,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Weeping o’er her sister’s fate,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Comes Ismene; see her brow,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Once serene, beclouded now,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 See her beauteous face o’erspread
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 With a flush of angry red.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWoman, who like a viper unperceived
\nDidst harbor in my house and drain my blood,
\nTwo plagues I nurtured blindly, so it proved,
\nTo sap my throne.\u00c2\u00a0 Say, didst thou too abet
\nThis crime, or dost abjure all privity?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nI did the deed, if she will have it so,
\nAnd with my sister claim to share the guilt.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nThat were unjust.\u00c2\u00a0 Thou would’st not act with me
\nAt first, and I refused thy partnership.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nBut now thy bark is stranded, I am bold
\nTo claim my share as partner in the loss.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWho did the deed the under-world knows well:
\nA friend in word is never friend of mine.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nO sister, scorn me not, let me but share
\nThy work of piety, and with thee die.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nClaim not a work in which thou hadst no hand;
\nOne death sufficeth.\u00c2\u00a0 Wherefore should’st thou die?<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nWhat would life profit me bereft of thee?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nAsk Creon, he’s thy kinsman and best friend.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nWhy taunt me?\u00c2\u00a0 Find’st thou pleasure in these gibes?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n‘Tis a sad mockery, if indeed I mock.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nO say if I can help thee even now.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nNo, save thyself; I grudge not thy escape.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nIs e’en this boon denied, to share thy lot?<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nYea, for thou chosed’st life, and I to die.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nThou canst not say that I did not protest.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nWell, some approved thy wisdom, others mine.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nBut now we stand convicted, both alike.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nFear not; thou livest, I died long ago
\nThen when I gave my life to save the dead.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nBoth maids, methinks, are crazed.\u00c2\u00a0 One suddenly
\nHas lost her wits, the other was born mad.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nYea, so it falls, sire, when misfortune comes,
\nThe wisest even lose their mother wit.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nI’ faith thy wit forsook thee when thou mad’st
\nThy choice with evil-doers to do ill.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nWhat life for me without my sister here?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSay not thy sister _here_:\u00c2\u00a0 thy sister’s dead.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nWhat, wilt thou slay thy own son’s plighted bride?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nAye, let him raise him seed from other fields.<\/p>\n
ISMENE
\nNo new espousal can be like the old.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nA plague on trulls who court and woo our sons.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nO Haemon, how thy sire dishonors thee!<\/p>\n
CREON
\nA plague on thee and thy accursed bride!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhat, wilt thou rob thine own son of his bride?<\/p>\n
CREON
\n‘Tis death that bars this marriage, not his sire.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nSo her death-warrant, it would seem, is sealed.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nBy you, as first by me; off with them, guards,
\nAnd keep them close.\u00c2\u00a0 Henceforward let them learn
\nTo live as women use, not roam at large.
\nFor e’en the bravest spirits run away
\nWhen they perceive death pressing on life’s heels.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\nThrice blest are they who never tasted pain!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 If once the curse of Heaven attaint a race,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The infection lingers on and speeds apace,
\nAge after age, and each the cup must drain.<\/p>\n
So when Etesian blasts from Thrace downpour
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Sweep o’er the blackening main and whirl to land
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 From Ocean’s cavernous depths his ooze and sand,
\nBillow on billow thunders on the shore.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 1)
\nOn the Labdacidae I see descending
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Woe upon woe; from days of old some god
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Laid on the race a malison, and his rod
\nScourges each age with sorrows never ending.<\/p>\n
The light that dawned upon its last born son
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Is vanished, and the bloody axe of Fate
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Has felled the goodly tree that blossomed late.
\nO Oedipus, by reckless pride undone!<\/p>\n
(Str. 2)
\nThy might, O Zeus, what mortal power can quell?
\nNot sleep that lays all else beneath its spell,
\nNor moons that never tier:\u00c2\u00a0 untouched by Time,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Throned in the dazzling light
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That crowns Olympus’ height,
\nThou reignest King, omnipotent, sublime.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Past, present, and to be,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 All bow to thy decree,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 All that exceeds the mean by Fate
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Is punished, Love or Hate.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 2)
\nHope flits about never-wearying wings;
\nProfit to some, to some light loves she brings,
\nBut no man knoweth how her gifts may turn,
\nTill ‘neath his feet the treacherous ashes burn.
\nSure ’twas a sage inspired that spake this word;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 _If_evil_good_appear_
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 _To_any, _Fate_is_near_;
\nAnd brief the respite from her flaming sword.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hither comes in angry mood
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Haemon, latest of thy brood;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Is it for his bride he’s grieved,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Or her marriage-bed deceived,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Doth he make his mourn for thee,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Maid forlorn, Antigone?
\n[Enter HAEMON]<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSoon shall we know, better than seer can tell.
\nLearning may fixed decree anent thy bride,
\nThou mean’st not, son, to rave against thy sire?
\nKnow’st not whate’er we do is done in love?<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nO father, I am thine, and I will take
\nThy wisdom as the helm to steer withal.
\nTherefore no wedlock shall by me be held
\nMore precious than thy loving goverance.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWell spoken:\u00c2\u00a0 so right-minded sons should feel,
\nIn all deferring to a father’s will.
\nFor ’tis the hope of parents they may rear
\nA brood of sons submissive, keen to avenge
\nTheir father’s wrongs, and count his friends their own.
\nBut who begets unprofitable sons,
\nHe verily breeds trouble for himself,
\nAnd for his foes much laughter.\u00c2\u00a0 Son, be warned
\nAnd let no woman fool away thy wits.
\nIll fares the husband mated with a shrew,
\nAnd her embraces very soon wax cold.
\nFor what can wound so surely to the quick
\nAs a false friend?\u00c2\u00a0 So spue and cast her off,
\nBid her go find a husband with the dead.
\nFor since I caught her openly rebelling,
\nOf all my subjects the one malcontent,
\nI will not prove a traitor to the State.
\nShe surely dies.\u00c2\u00a0 Go, let her, if she will,
\nAppeal to Zeus the God of Kindred, for
\nIf thus I nurse rebellion in my house,
\nShall not I foster mutiny without?
\nFor whoso rules his household worthily,
\nWill prove in civic matters no less wise.
\nBut he who overbears the laws, or thinks
\nTo overrule his rulers, such as one
\nI never will allow.\u00c2\u00a0 Whome’er the State
\nAppoints must be obeyed in everything,
\nBut small and great, just and unjust alike.
\nI warrant such a one in either case
\nWould shine, as King or subject; such a man
\nWould in the storm of battle stand his ground,
\nA comrade leal and true; but Anarchy–
\nWhat evils are not wrought by Anarchy!
\nShe ruins States, and overthrows the home,
\nShe dissipates and routs the embattled host;
\nWhile discipline preserves the ordered ranks.
\nTherefore we must maintain authority
\nAnd yield to title to a woman’s will.
\nBetter, if needs be, men should cast us out
\nThan hear it said, a woman proved his match.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nTo me, unless old age have dulled wits,
\nThy words appear both reasonable and wise.<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nFather, the gods implant in mortal men
\nReason, the choicest gift bestowed by heaven.
\n‘Tis not for me to say thou errest, nor
\nWould I arraign thy wisdom, if I could;
\nAnd yet wise thoughts may come to other men
\nAnd, as thy son, it falls to me to mark
\nThe acts, the words, the comments of the crowd.
\nThe commons stand in terror of thy frown,
\nAnd dare not utter aught that might offend,
\nBut I can overhear their muttered plaints,
\nKnow how the people mourn this maiden doomed
\nFor noblest deeds to die the worst of deaths.
\nWhen her own brother slain in battle lay
\nUnsepulchered, she suffered not his corse
\nTo lie for carrion birds and dogs to maul:
\nShould not her name (they cry) be writ in gold?
\nSuch the low murmurings that reach my ear.
\nO father, nothing is by me more prized
\nThan thy well-being, for what higher good
\nCan children covet than their sire’s fair fame,
\nAs fathers too take pride in glorious sons?
\nTherefore, my father, cling not to one mood,
\nAnd deemed not thou art right, all others wrong.
\nFor whoso thinks that wisdom dwells with him,
\nThat he alone can speak or think aright,
\nSuch oracles are empty breath when tried.
\nThe wisest man will let himself be swayed
\nBy others’ wisdom and relax in time.
\nSee how the trees beside a stream in flood
\nSave, if they yield to force, each spray unharmed,
\nBut by resisting perish root and branch.
\nThe mariner who keeps his mainsheet taut,
\nAnd will not slacken in the gale, is like
\nTo sail with thwarts reversed, keel uppermost.
\nRelent then and repent thee of thy wrath;
\nFor, if one young in years may claim some sense,
\nI’ll say ’tis best of all to be endowed
\nWith absolute wisdom; but, if that’s denied,
\n(And nature takes not readily that ply)
\nNext wise is he who lists to sage advice.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nIf he says aught in season, heed him, King.
\n(To HAEMON)
\nHeed thou thy sire too; both have spoken well.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhat, would you have us at our age be schooled,
\nLessoned in prudence by a beardless boy?<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nI plead for justice, father, nothing more.
\nWeigh me upon my merit, not my years.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nStrange merit this to sanction lawlessness!<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nFor evil-doers I would urge no plea.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nIs not this maid an arrant law-breaker?<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nThe Theban commons with one voice say, No.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhat, shall the mob dictate my policy?<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\n‘Tis thou, methinks, who speakest like a boy.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nAm I to rule for others, or myself?<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nA State for one man is no State at all.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThe State is his who rules it, so ’tis held.<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nAs monarch of a desert thou wouldst shine.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThis boy, methinks, maintains the woman’s cause.<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nIf thou be’st woman, yes.\u00c2\u00a0 My thought’s for thee.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nO reprobate, would’st wrangle with thy sire?<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nBecause I see thee wrongfully perverse.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nAnd am I wrong, if I maintain my rights?<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nTalk not of rights; thou spurn’st the due of Heaven<\/p>\n
CREON
\nO heart corrupt, a woman’s minion thou!<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nSlave to dishonor thou wilt never find me.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThy speech at least was all a plea for her.<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nAnd thee and me, and for the gods below.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nLiving the maid shall never be thy bride.<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nSo she shall die, but one will die with her.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nHast come to such a pass as threaten me?<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nWhat threat is this, vain counsels to reprove?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nVain fool to instruct thy betters; thou shall rue it.<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nWert not my father, I had said thou err’st.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nPlay not the spaniel, thou a woman’s slave.<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nWhen thou dost speak, must no man make reply?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThis passes bounds.\u00c2\u00a0 By heaven, thou shalt not rate
\nAnd jeer and flout me with impunity.
\nOff with the hateful thing that she may die
\nAt once, beside her bridegroom, in his sight.<\/p>\n
HAEMON
\nThink not that in my sight the maid shall die,
\nOr by my side; never shalt thou again
\nBehold my face hereafter.\u00c2\u00a0 Go, consort
\nWith friends who like a madman for their mate.
\n[Exit HAEMON]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThy son has gone, my liege, in angry haste.
\nFell is the wrath of youth beneath a smart.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nLet him go vent his fury like a fiend:
\nThese sisters twain he shall not save from death.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nSurely, thou meanest not to slay them both?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nI stand corrected; only her who touched
\nThe body.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And what death is she to die?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nShe shall be taken to some desert place
\nBy man untrod, and in a rock-hewn cave,
\nWith food no more than to avoid the taint
\nThat homicide might bring on all the State,
\nBuried alive.\u00c2\u00a0 There let her call in aid
\nThe King of Death, the one god she reveres,
\nOr learn too late a lesson learnt at last:
\n‘Tis labor lost, to reverence the dead.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str.)
\nLove resistless in fight, all yield at a glance of thine eye,
\nLove who pillowed all night on a maiden’s cheek dost lie,
\nOver the upland holds.\u00c2\u00a0 Shall mortals not yield to thee?<\/p>\n
(Ant).
\nMad are thy subjects all, and even the wisest heart
\nStraight to folly will fall, at a touch of thy poisoned dart.
\nThou didst kindle the strife, this feud of kinsman with kin,
\nBy the eyes of a winsome wife, and the yearning her heart to win.
\nFor as her consort still, enthroned with Justice above,
\nThou bendest man to thy will, O all invincible Love.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Lo I myself am borne aside,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 From Justice, as I view this bride.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 (O sight an eye in tears to drown)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Antigone, so young, so fair,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thus hurried down
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Death’s bower with the dead to share.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n(Str. 1)
\nFriends, countrymen, my last farewell I make;
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 My journey’s done.
\nOne last fond, lingering, longing look I take
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 At the bright sun.
\nFor Death who puts to sleep both young and old
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hales my young life,
\nAnd beckons me to Acheron’s dark fold,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 An unwed wife.
\nNo youths have sung the marriage song for me,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 My bridal bed
\nNo maids have strewn with flowers from the lea,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Tis Death I wed.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 But bethink thee, thou art sped,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Great and glorious, to the dead.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thou the sword’s edge hast not tasted,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 No disease thy frame hath wasted.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Freely thou alone shalt go
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Living to the dead below.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n(Ant. 1)
\nNay, but the piteous tale I’ve heard men tell
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Of Tantalus’ doomed child,
\nChained upon Siphylus’ high rocky fell,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That clung like ivy wild,
\nDrenched by the pelting rain and whirling snow,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Left there to pine,
\nWhile on her frozen breast the tears aye flow–
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Her fate is mine.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 She was sprung of gods, divine,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Mortals we of mortal line.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Like renown with gods to gain
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Recompenses all thy pain.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Take this solace to thy tomb
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Hers in life and death thy doom.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n(Str. 2)
\nAlack, alack!\u00c2\u00a0 Ye mock me.\u00c2\u00a0 Is it meet
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thus to insult me living, to my face?
\nCease, by our country’s altars I entreat,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Ye lordly rulers of a lordly race.
\nO fount of Dirce, wood-embowered plain
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Where Theban chariots to victory speed,
\nMark ye the cruel laws that now have wrought my bane,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The friends who show no pity in my need!
\nWas ever fate like mine?\u00c2\u00a0 O monstrous doom,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Within a rock-built prison sepulchered,
\nTo fade and wither in a living tomb,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And alien midst the living and the dead.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 3)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 In thy boldness over-rash
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Madly thou thy foot didst dash
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Gainst high Justice’ altar stair.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thou a father’s guild dost bear.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\n(Ant. 2)
\nAt this thou touchest my most poignant pain,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 My ill-starred father’s piteous disgrace,
\nThe taint of blood, the hereditary stain,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That clings to all of Labdacus’ famed race.
\nWoe worth the monstrous marriage-bed where lay
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 A mother with the son her womb had borne,
\nTherein I was conceived, woe worth the day,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Fruit of incestuous sheets, a maid forlorn,
\nAnd now I pass, accursed and unwed,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To meet them as an alien there below;
\nAnd thee, O brother, in marriage ill-bestead,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Twas thy dead hand that dealt me this death-blow.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Religion has her chains, ’tis true,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Let rite be paid when rites are due.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Yet is it ill to disobey
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The powers who hold by might the sway.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thou hast withstood authority,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 A self-willed rebel, thou must die.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nUnwept, unwed, unfriended, hence I go,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 No longer may I see the day’s bright eye;
\nNot one friend left to share my bitter woe,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And o’er my ashes heave one passing sigh.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nIf wail and lamentation aught availed
\nTo stave off death, I trow they’d never end.
\nAway with her, and having walled her up
\nIn a rock-vaulted tomb, as I ordained,
\nLeave her alone at liberty to die,
\nOr, if she choose, to live in solitude,
\nThe tomb her dwelling.\u00c2\u00a0 We in either case
\nAre guiltless as concerns this maiden’s blood,
\nOnly on earth no lodging shall she find.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nO grave, O bridal bower, O prison house
\nHewn from the rock, my everlasting home,
\nWhither I go to join the mighty host
\nOf kinsfolk, Persephassa’s guests long dead,
\nThe last of all, of all more miserable,
\nI pass, my destined span of years cut short.
\nAnd yet good hope is mine that I shall find
\nA welcome from my sire, a welcome too,
\nFrom thee, my mother, and my brother dear;
\nFrom with these hands, I laved and decked your limbs
\nIn death, and poured libations on your grave.
\nAnd last, my Polyneices, unto thee
\nI paid due rites, and this my recompense!
\nYet am I justified in wisdom’s eyes.
\nFor even had it been some child of mine,
\nOr husband mouldering in death’s decay,
\nI had not wrought this deed despite the State.
\nWhat is the law I call in aid?\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Tis thus
\nI argue.\u00c2\u00a0 Had it been a husband dead
\nI might have wed another, and have borne
\nAnother child, to take the dead child’s place.
\nBut, now my sire and mother both are dead,
\nNo second brother can be born for me.
\nThus by the law of conscience I was led
\nTo honor thee, dear brother, and was judged
\nBy Creon guilty of a heinous crime.
\nAnd now he drags me like a criminal,
\nA bride unwed, amerced of marriage-song
\nAnd marriage-bed and joys of motherhood,
\nBy friends deserted to a living grave.
\nWhat ordinance of heaven have I transgressed?
\nHereafter can I look to any god
\nFor succor, call on any man for help?
\nAlas, my piety is impious deemed.
\nWell, if such justice is approved of heaven,
\nI shall be taught by suffering my sin;
\nBut if the sin is theirs, O may they suffer
\nNo worse ills than the wrongs they do to me.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThe same ungovernable will
\nDrives like a gale the maiden still.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nTherefore, my guards who let her stay
\nShall smart full sore for their delay.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nAh, woe is me!\u00c2\u00a0 This word I hear
\nBrings death most near.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nI have no comfort.\u00c2\u00a0 What he saith,
\nPortends no other thing than death.<\/p>\n
ANTIGONE
\nMy fatherland, city of Thebes divine,
\nYe gods of Thebes whence sprang my line,
\nLook, puissant lords of Thebes, on me;
\nThe last of all your royal house ye see.
\nMartyred by men of sin, undone.
\nSuch meed my piety hath won.
\n[Exit ANTIGONE]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\nLike to thee that maiden bright,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Danae, in her brass-bound tower,
\nOnce exchanged the glad sunlight
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 For a cell, her bridal bower.
\nAnd yet she sprang of royal line,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 My child, like thine,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And nursed the seed
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 By her conceived
\nOf Zeus descending in a golden shower.
\nStrange are the ways of Fate, her power
\nNor wealth, nor arms withstand, nor tower;
\nNor brass-prowed ships, that breast the sea
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 From Fate can flee.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 1)
\nThus Dryas’ child, the rash Edonian King,
\nFor words of high disdain
\nDid Bacchus to a rocky dungeon bring,
\nTo cool the madness of a fevered brain.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 His frenzy passed,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 He learnt at last
\n‘Twas madness gibes against a god to fling.
\nFor once he fain had quenched the Maenad’s fire;
\nAnd of the tuneful Nine provoked the ire.<\/p>\n
(Str. 2)
\nBy the Iron Rocks that guard the double main,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 On Bosporus’ lone strand,
\nWhere stretcheth Salmydessus’ plain
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 In the wild Thracian land,
\nThere on his borders Ares witnessed
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The vengeance by a jealous step-dame ta’en
\nThe gore that trickled from a spindle red,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The sightless orbits of her step-sons twain.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 2)
\nWasting away they mourned their piteous doom,
\nThe blasted issue of their mother’s womb.
\nBut she her lineage could trace
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To great Erecththeus’ race;
\nDaughter of Boreas in her sire’s vast caves
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Reared, where the tempest raves,
\nSwift as his horses o’er the hills she sped;
\nA child of gods; yet she, my child, like thee,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 By Destiny
\nThat knows not death nor age–she too was vanquished.
\n[Enter TEIRESIAS and BOY]<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nPrinces of Thebes, two wayfarers as one,
\nHaving betwixt us eyes for one, we are here.
\nThe blind man cannot move without a guide.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhy tidings, old Teiresias?<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I will tell thee;
\nAnd when thou hearest thou must heed the seer.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nThus far I ne’er have disobeyed thy rede.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nSo hast thou steered the ship of State aright.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nI know it, and I gladly own my debt.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nBethink thee that thou treadest once again
\nThe razor edge of peril.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What is this?
\nThy words inspire a dread presentiment.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nThe divination of my arts shall tell.
\nSitting upon my throne of augury,
\nAs is my wont, where every fowl of heaven
\nFind harborage, upon mine ears was borne
\nA jargon strange of twitterings, hoots, and screams;
\nSo knew I that each bird at the other tare
\nWith bloody talons, for the whirr of wings
\nCould signify naught else.\u00c2\u00a0 Perturbed in soul,
\nI straight essayed the sacrifice by fire
\nOn blazing altars, but the God of Fire
\nCame not in flame, and from the thigh bones dripped
\nAnd sputtered in the ashes a foul ooze;
\nGall-bladders cracked and spurted up:\u00c2\u00a0 the fat
\nMelted and fell and left the thigh bones bare.
\nSuch are the signs, taught by this lad, I read–
\nAs I guide others, so the boy guides me–
\nThe frustrate signs of oracles grown dumb.
\nO King, thy willful temper ails the State,
\nFor all our shrines and altars are profaned
\nBy what has filled the maw of dogs and crows,
\nThe flesh of Oedipus’ unburied son.
\nTherefore the angry gods abominate
\nOur litanies and our burnt offerings;
\nTherefore no birds trill out a happy note,
\nGorged with the carnival of human gore.
\nO ponder this, my son.\u00c2\u00a0 To err is common
\nTo all men, but the man who having erred
\nHugs not his errors, but repents and seeks
\nThe cure, is not a wastrel nor unwise.
\nNo fool, the saw goes, like the obstinate fool.
\nLet death disarm thy vengeance.\u00c2\u00a0 O forbear
\nTo vex the dead.\u00c2\u00a0 What glory wilt thou win
\nBy slaying twice the slain?\u00c2\u00a0 I mean thee well;
\nCounsel’s most welcome if I promise gain.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nOld man, ye all let fly at me your shafts
\nLike anchors at a target; yea, ye set
\nYour soothsayer on me.\u00c2\u00a0 Peddlers are ye all
\nAnd I the merchandise ye buy and sell.
\nGo to, and make your profit where ye will,
\nSilver of Sardis change for gold of Ind;
\nYe will not purchase this man’s burial,
\nNot though the winged ministers of Zeus
\nShould bear him in their talons to his throne;
\nNot e’en in awe of prodigy so dire
\nWould I permit his burial, for I know
\nNo human soilure can assail the gods;
\nThis too I know, Teiresias, dire’s the fall
\nOf craft and cunning when it tries to gloss
\nFoul treachery with fair words for filthy gain.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nAlas! doth any know and lay to heart–<\/p>\n
CREON
\nIs this the prelude to some hackneyed saw?<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nHow far good counsel is the best of goods?<\/p>\n
CREON
\nTrue, as unwisdom is the worst of ills.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nThou art infected with that ill thyself.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nI will not bandy insults with thee, seer.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nAnd yet thou say’st my prophesies are frauds.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nProphets are all a money-getting tribe.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nAnd kings are all a lucre-loving race.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nDost know at whom thou glancest, me thy lord?<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nLord of the State and savior, thanks to me.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSkilled prophet art thou, but to wrong inclined.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nTake heed, thou wilt provoke me to reveal
\nThe mystery deep hidden in my breast.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nSay on, but see it be not said for gain.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nSuch thou, methinks, till now hast judged my words.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nBe sure thou wilt not traffic on my wits.<\/p>\n
TEIRESIAS
\nKnow then for sure, the coursers of the sun
\nNot many times shall run their race, before
\nThou shalt have given the fruit of thine own loins
\nIn quittance of thy murder, life for life;
\nFor that thou hast entombed a living soul,
\nAnd sent below a denizen of earth,
\nAnd wronged the nether gods by leaving here
\nA corpse unlaved, unwept, unsepulchered.
\nHerein thou hast no part, nor e’en the gods
\nIn heaven; and thou usurp’st a power not thine.
\nFor this the avenging spirits of Heaven and Hell
\nWho dog the steps of sin are on thy trail:
\nWhat these have suffered thou shalt suffer too.
\nAnd now, consider whether bought by gold
\nI prophesy.\u00c2\u00a0 For, yet a little while,
\nAnd sound of lamentation shall be heard,
\nOf men and women through thy desolate halls;
\nAnd all thy neighbor States are leagues to avenge
\nTheir mangled warriors who have found a grave
\nI’ the maw of wolf or hound, or winged bird
\nThat flying homewards taints their city’s air.
\nThese are the shafts, that like a bowman I
\nProvoked to anger, loosen at thy breast,
\nUnerring, and their smart thou shalt not shun.
\nBoy, lead me home, that he may vent his spleen
\nOn younger men, and learn to curb his tongue
\nWith gentler manners than his present mood.
\n[Exit TEIRESIAS]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nMy liege, that man hath gone, foretelling woe.
\nAnd, O believe me, since these grizzled locks
\nWere like the raven, never have I known
\nThe prophet’s warning to the State to fail.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nI know it too, and it perplexes me.
\nTo yield is grievous, but the obstinate soul
\nThat fights with Fate, is smitten grievously.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nSon of Menoeceus, list to good advice.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhat should I do.\u00c2\u00a0 Advise me.\u00c2\u00a0 I will heed.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nGo, free the maiden from her rocky cell;
\nAnd for the unburied outlaw build a tomb.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nIs that your counsel?\u00c2\u00a0 You would have me yield?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nYea, king, this instant.\u00c2\u00a0 Vengeance of the gods
\nIs swift to overtake the impenitent.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nAh! what a wrench it is to sacrifice
\nMy heart’s resolve; but Fate is ill to fight.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nGo, trust not others.\u00c2\u00a0 Do it quick thyself.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nI go hot-foot.\u00c2\u00a0 Bestir ye one and all,
\nMy henchmen!\u00c2\u00a0 Get ye axes!\u00c2\u00a0 Speed away
\nTo yonder eminence!\u00c2\u00a0 I too will go,
\nFor all my resolution this way sways.
\n‘Twas I that bound, I too will set her free.
\nAlmost I am persuaded it is best
\nTo keep through life the law ordained of old.
\n[Exit CREON]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n(Str. 1)
\nThou by many names adored,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Child of Zeus the God of thunder,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Of a Theban bride the wonder,
\nFair Italia’s guardian lord;<\/p>\n
In the deep-embosomed glades
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Of the Eleusinian Queen
\nHaunt of revelers, men and maids,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Dionysus, thou art seen.<\/p>\n
Where Ismenus rolls his waters,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Where the Dragon’s teeth were sown,
\nWhere the Bacchanals thy daughters
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Round thee roam,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 There thy home;
\nThebes, O Bacchus, is thine own.<\/p>\n
(Ant. 1)
\nThee on the two-crested rock
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Lurid-flaming torches see;
\nWhere Corisian maidens flock,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thee the springs of Castaly.<\/p>\n
By Nysa’s bastion ivy-clad,
\nBy shores with clustered vineyards glad,
\nThere to thee the hymn rings out,
\nAnd through our streets we Thebans shout,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 All hall to thee
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Evoe, Evoe!<\/p>\n
(Str. 2)
\nOh, as thou lov’st this city best of all,
\nTo thee, and to thy Mother levin-stricken,
\nIn our dire need we call;
\nThou see’st with what a plague our townsfolk sicken.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thy ready help we crave,
\nWhether adown Parnassian heights descending,
\nOr o’er the roaring straits thy swift was wending,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Save us, O save!<\/p>\n
(Ant. 2)
\nBrightest of all the orbs that breathe forth light,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Authentic son of Zeus, immortal king,
\nLeader of all the voices of the night,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Come, and thy train of Thyiads with thee bring,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thy maddened rout
\nWho dance before thee all night long, and shout,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thy handmaids we,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Evoe, Evoe!<\/p>\n
[Enter MESSENGER]<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nAttend all ye who dwell beside the halls
\nOf Cadmus and Amphion.\u00c2\u00a0 No man’s life
\nAs of one tenor would I praise or blame,
\nFor Fortune with a constant ebb and rise
\nCasts down and raises high and low alike,
\nAnd none can read a mortal’s horoscope.
\nTake Creon; he, methought, if any man,
\nWas enviable.\u00c2\u00a0 He had saved this land
\nOf Cadmus from our enemies and attained
\nA monarch’s powers and ruled the state supreme,
\nWhile a right noble issue crowned his bliss.
\nNow all is gone and wasted, for a life
\nWithout life’s joys I count a living death.
\nYou’ll tell me he has ample store of wealth,
\nThe pomp and circumstance of kings; but if
\nThese give no pleasure, all the rest I count
\nThe shadow of a shade, nor would I weigh
\nHis wealth and power ‘gainst a dram of joy.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhat fresh woes bring’st thou to the royal house?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nBoth dead, and they who live deserve to die.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWho is the slayer, who the victim? speak.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nHaemon; his blood shed by no stranger hand.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhat mean ye? by his father’s or his own?<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nHis own; in anger for his father’s crime.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nO prophet, what thou spakest comes to pass.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nSo stands the case; now ’tis for you to act.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nLo! from the palace gates I see approaching
\nCreon’s unhappy wife, Eurydice.
\nComes she by chance or learning her son’s fate?
\n[Enter EURYDICE]<\/p>\n
EURYDICE
\nYe men of Thebes, I overheard your talk.
\nAs I passed out to offer up my prayer
\nTo Pallas, and was drawing back the bar
\nTo open wide the door, upon my ears
\nThere broke a wail that told of household woe
\nStricken with terror in my handmaids’ arms
\nI fell and fainted.\u00c2\u00a0 But repeat your tale
\nTo one not unacquaint with misery.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nDear mistress, I was there and will relate
\nThe perfect truth, omitting not one word.
\nWhy should we gloze and flatter, to be proved
\nLiars hereafter?\u00c2\u00a0 Truth is ever best.
\nWell, in attendance on my liege, your lord,
\nI crossed the plain to its utmost margin, where
\nThe corse of Polyneices, gnawn and mauled,
\nWas lying yet.\u00c2\u00a0 We offered first a prayer
\nTo Pluto and the goddess of cross-ways,
\nWith contrite hearts, to deprecate their ire.
\nThen laved with lustral waves the mangled corse,
\nLaid it on fresh-lopped branches, lit a pyre,
\nAnd to his memory piled a mighty mound
\nOf mother earth.\u00c2\u00a0 Then to the caverned rock,
\nThe bridal chamber of the maid and Death,
\nWe sped, about to enter.\u00c2\u00a0 But a guard
\nHeard from that godless shrine a far shrill wail,
\nAnd ran back to our lord to tell the news.
\nBut as he nearer drew a hollow sound
\nOf lamentation to the King was borne.
\nHe groaned and uttered then this bitter plaint:
\n“Am I a prophet? miserable me!
\nIs this the saddest path I ever trod?
\n‘Tis my son’s voice that calls me.\u00c2\u00a0 On press on,
\nMy henchmen, haste with double speed to the tomb
\nWhere rocks down-torn have made a gap, look in
\nAnd tell me if in truth I recognize
\nThe voice of Haemon or am heaven-deceived.”
\nSo at the bidding of our distraught lord
\nWe looked, and in the craven’s vaulted gloom
\nI saw the maiden lying strangled there,
\nA noose of linen twined about her neck;
\nAnd hard beside her, clasping her cold form,
\nHer lover lay bewailing his dead bride
\nDeath-wedded, and his father’s cruelty.
\nWhen the King saw him, with a terrible groan
\nHe moved towards him, crying, “O my son
\nWhat hast thou done?\u00c2\u00a0 What ailed thee?\u00c2\u00a0 What mischance
\nHas reft thee of thy reason?\u00c2\u00a0 O come forth,
\nCome forth, my son; thy father supplicates.”
\nBut the son glared at him with tiger eyes,
\nSpat in his face, and then, without a word,
\nDrew his two-hilted sword and smote, but missed
\nHis father flying backwards.\u00c2\u00a0 Then the boy,
\nWroth with himself, poor wretch, incontinent
\nFell on his sword and drove it through his side
\nHome, but yet breathing clasped in his lax arms
\nThe maid, her pallid cheek incarnadined
\nWith his expiring gasps.\u00c2\u00a0 So there they lay
\nTwo corpses, one in death.\u00c2\u00a0 His marriage rites
\nAre consummated in the halls of Death:
\nA witness that of ills whate’er befall
\nMortals’ unwisdom is the worst of all.
\n[Exit EURYDICE]<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWhat makest thou of this?\u00c2\u00a0 The Queen has gone
\nWithout a word importing good or ill.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nI marvel too, but entertain good hope.
\n‘Tis that she shrinks in public to lament
\nHer son’s sad ending, and in privacy
\nWould with her maidens mourn a private loss.
\nTrust me, she is discreet and will not err.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nI know not, but strained silence, so I deem,
\nIs no less ominous than excessive grief.<\/p>\n
MESSENGER
\nWell, let us to the house and solve our doubts,
\nWhether the tumult of her heart conceals
\nSome fell design.\u00c2\u00a0 It may be thou art right:
\nUnnatural silence signifies no good.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Lo! the King himself appears.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Evidence he with him bears
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Gainst himself (ah me! I quake
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 ‘Gainst a king such charge to make)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 But all must own,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The guilt is his and his alone.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n(Str. 1)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Woe for sin of minds perverse,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Deadly fraught with mortal curse.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Behold us slain and slayers, all akin.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Woe for my counsel dire, conceived in sin.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Alas, my son,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Life scarce begun,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Thou wast undone.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The fault was mine, mine only, O my son!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nToo late thou seemest to perceive the truth.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n(Str. 2)
\nBy sorrow schooled.\u00c2\u00a0 Heavy the hand of God,
\nThorny and rough the paths my feet have trod,
\nHumbled my pride, my pleasure turned to pain;
\nPoor mortals, how we labor all in vain!
\n[Enter SECOND MESSENGER]<\/p>\n
SECOND MESSENGER
\nSorrows are thine, my lord, and more to come,
\nOne lying at thy feet, another yet
\nMore grievous waits thee, when thou comest home.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nWhat woe is lacking to my tale of woes?<\/p>\n
SECOND MESSENGER
\nThy wife, the mother of thy dead son here,
\nLies stricken by a fresh inflicted blow.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n(Ant. 1)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 How bottomless the pit!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Does claim me too, O Death?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 What is this word he saith,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 This woeful messenger?\u00c2\u00a0 Say, is it fit
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 To slay anew a man already slain?
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Is Death at work again,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Stroke upon stroke, first son, then mother slain?<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nLook for thyself.\u00c2\u00a0 She lies for all to view.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n(Ant. 2)
\nAlas! another added woe I see.
\nWhat more remains to crown my agony?
\nA minute past I clasped a lifeless son,
\nAnd now another victim Death hath won.
\nUnhappy mother, most unhappy son!<\/p>\n
SECOND MESSENGER
\nBeside the altar on a keen-edged sword
\nShe fell and closed her eyes in night, but erst
\nShe mourned for Megareus who nobly died
\nLong since, then for her son; with her last breath
\nShe cursed thee, the slayer of her child.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n(Str. 3)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I shudder with affright
\nO for a two-edged sword to slay outright
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 A wretch like me,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Made one with misery.<\/p>\n
SECOND MESSENGER
\n‘Tis true that thou wert charged by the dead Queen
\nAs author of both deaths, hers and her son’s.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nIn what wise was her self-destruction wrought?<\/p>\n
SECOND MESSENGER
\nHearing the loud lament above her son
\nWith her own hand she stabbed herself to the heart.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n(Str. 4)
\nI am the guilty cause.\u00c2\u00a0 I did the deed,
\nThy murderer.\u00c2\u00a0 Yea, I guilty plead.
\nMy henchmen, lead me hence, away, away,
\nA cipher, less than nothing; no delay!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nWell said, if in disaster aught is well
\nHis past endure demand the speediest cure.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n(Ant. 3)
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Come, Fate, a friend at need,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Come with all speed!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Come, my best friend,
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And speed my end!
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Away, away!
\nLet me not look upon another day!<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nThis for the morrow; to us are present needs
\nThat they whom it concerns must take in hand.<\/p>\n
CREON
\nI join your prayer that echoes my desire.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\nO pray not, prayers are idle; from the doom
\nOf fate for mortals refuge is there none.<\/p>\n
CREON
\n(Ant. 4)
\nAway with me, a worthless wretch who slew
\nUnwitting thee, my son, thy mother too.
\nWhither to turn I know now; every way
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Leads but astray,
\nAnd on my head I feel the heavy weight
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Of crushing Fate.<\/p>\n
CHORUS
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Of happiness the chiefest part
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Is a wise heart:
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And to defraud the gods in aught
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 With peril’s fraught.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Swelling words of high-flown might
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Mightily the gods do smite.
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Chastisement for errors past
\n\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Wisdom brings to age at last.<\/p>\n
End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Sophocles’ Antigone.
\nEnd Project Gutenberg Etext of Sophocles’ Oedipus Trilogy.
\n*If you separate these files, please preserve the headers*\u001a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Sophocles – Translation by F. Storr, BA Formerly Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge from the Loeb Library Edition First<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-greek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.jbsheets.com\/incunabula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.jbsheets.com\/incunabula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.jbsheets.com\/incunabula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.jbsheets.com\/incunabula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.jbsheets.com\/incunabula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/library.jbsheets.com\/incunabula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.jbsheets.com\/incunabula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.jbsheets.com\/incunabula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.jbsheets.com\/incunabula\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}