revised by Alex Sens
further revised by Gregory Nagy
Before the palace of Oedipus in Thebes. Suppliants are seated at the altars. Oedipus enters.
Oedipus
My children, latest-born wards of old Cadmus, why do you sit before me thus with wreathed branches of suppliants, while the city reeks with incense, 5 rings with prayers for health and cries of woe? I did not think it right, my children, to hear these things from the mouths of others, and have come here myself, Oedipus, with kleos among all people. Tell me, venerable old man&endash;since it is proper that you 10 speak for these&endash;in what mood you sit here, one of fear or of desire? Be sure that I will gladly give you all my help. I would be hard-hearted indeed if I did not pity such suppliants as these.
Priest of Zeus
Oedipus, ruler of my land, you see the age of those who sit 15 on your altars: some, nestlings still too tender for flight; others, bowed with age, priests of Zeus like me; and some, these here, the chosen youth. The rest of the folk sit 20 with wreathed branches in the agorâ , and before the twin temples of Athena, and where Ismenus gives answer by fire. The polis, as you yourself see, is now sorely buffeted, and can no longer lift her head from beneath the angry waves of death. 25 A blight has befallen the fruitful blossoms of the land, the herds among the pastures, the barren pangs of women. And the flaming god, a most hateful plague, has swooped upon us, and ravages the polis; he lays waste to the house of Cadmus, but enriches Hades with 30 groans and tears. It is not because we rank you with the gods that I and these children are suppliants at your hearth, but because we deem you the first among men in life’s common chances and in dealings with the daimones. 35 Coming to the city of the Cadmeans, you freed us of the tax that we rendered to the hard songstress, and when you knew no more than anyone else, nor had you been taught, but rather by the assistance of a god, as the story goes, you uplifted our life. 40 Now, Oedipus, most powerful, we, your suppliants, beseech you to find some succor for us, whether you hear it from some divine omen, or learn of it from some mortal. For I see that the outcome of the counsels of experienced men 45 most often have effect. Come, best [aristos] among mortals, resurrect our polis! Come, take care, since now this land gives you kleos as its savior [sôtêr] for your former zeal. Let it not be our memory of your reign that 50 we were first set up straight and then cast down; resurrect this polis so that it falls no more! With good omen you provided us that past happiness; show yourself the same now too, since if you are to rule this land just as you do now, it is better to be lord of men than of a wasteland. 55 Neither tower nor ship is anything, if it is empty and no men dwell within.
Oedipus
My piteous children, I know quite well the desires with which you have come; I know well that 60 you all are sick, and though you are sick I know well that there is not one of you who is as sick as I. Your pain comes on each of you for himself alone, and for no other, but my psûkhê groans at once for the polis, for myself, and for you. 65 You are not awakening me from sleep; no, be sure that I have wept many tears, gone many ways in the wanderings of my thought. I have made use of the only remedy which I could find after close consideration: I sent my wife's brother 70 Creon, Menoikeus’ son, to Apollo’s Pythian residence in order to learn what we might do or say to protect this polis. And now, when the lapse of days is reckoned, I’m troubled about what he is doing, for he tarries oddly 75 beyond the fitting length of time. But when he arrives, I will be kakos if do not perform all that the god reveals.
Priest
You have spoken opportunely, since at this time these people here indicate [sêmainô] that Creon is drawing near.
Oedipus
80 Lord Apollo, may he come to us in the brightness of saving [sôtêr] fortune, even as his face is bright!
Priest
He seems to bring comfort, since otherwise he would not be coming thickly crowned with berry-laden bay.
Oedipus
We will soon know: he is in range of hearing.
To Creon.
85 Lord, my relation, child of Menoikeus, what news have you brought us from the god?
Creon
Good news. I tell you that even troubles hard to bear will end in perfect peace if they find the right issue.
Oedipus
But what kind of answer [epos] was there? So far your words make me 90 neither bold nor fearful.
Creon
If you want to hear in the presence of these people, I am ready to speak: otherwise we can go inside.
Oedipus
Speak to all. The sorrow [penthos] that I bear for these is more than for my own life [psûkhê].
Creon
95 I will tell you what I heard form the god. Phoebus our lord clearly bids us to drive out the defilement [miasma], which he said was harbored in this land, and not to nourish it so that it cannot be healed.
Oedipus
With what sort of purification? What is the manner of the misfortune?
Creon
100 By banishing the man, or by paying back bloodshed with bloodshed, since it is this blood which brings the tempest on our polis.
Oedipus
And who is the man whose fate he thus reveals?
Creon
Laios, my lord, was leader of our land before you directed this polis.
Oedipus
105 I know it well&endash;by hearsay, for I never saw him.
Creon
He was slain, and the god now bids us to take vengeance on his murderers, whoever they are.
Oedipus
Where on earth are they? Where shall the dim track of this old guilt [aitiâ] be found?
Creon
110 In this land, the god said. What is sought after can be caught; only that which is not watched escapes.
Oedipus
Was it in the house, or in the field, or on foreign soil that Laios met his bloody end?
Creon
He left our land, as he said, as an emissary [theôros] to Delphi. 115 And once he had set forth, he never again returned.
Oedipus
And was there none to tell? Was there no travelling companion who saw the deed, from whom tidings might have been gained and used?
Creon
All perished, save one who fled in fear, and could tell with assurance only one thing of all that he saw.
Oedipus
120 And what was that? One thing might hold the clue to many, if we could only get a small beginning for hope.
Creon
He said that robbers fell upon them, not in one man’s might, but with a force of many.
Oedipus
How then, unless some intrigue had been worked with bribes 125 from here in Thebes, would the robber have been so bold?
Creon
Such things were surmised. But once Laios was slain no avenger arose amid our evils.
Oedipus
But when tyranny had fallen in this way, what evil prevented a full search?
Creon
130 The riddling Sphinx had led us to let things that were obscure go, and to investigate what was at our feet.
Oedipus
I will start afresh, and once more cast light on these things. Worthily has Phoebus Apollo&endash;and worthily have you&endash;bestowed this care on the cause of the dead. And so, as is dikê, you will find me leagued with you 135 in seeking vengeance for this land, and for the god as well. I will dispel this taint not on behalf of far-off philoi, but on my own behalf. For whoever slew Laios 140 might wish to take vengeance on me also with a hand as fierce. Therefore by avenging Laios I serve myself. Come, my children, as quickly as possible rise from the altar-steps, and lift these suppliant boughs. Let someone summon here Cadmus’ people, warning them that I will leave nothing untried. 145 With the god’s help our good fortune&endash;or our fall&endash;will stand revealed.
Priest
My children, let us rise. What we came to seek, this man promises of his own accord. And may Phoebus, who sent these oracles, 150 come to us as savior [sôtêr] and deliverer from the pestilence.
The Chorus of Theban elders enters.
Chorus
strophe 1
O sweetly-speaking message of Zeus, in what spirit have you come to glorious Thebes from golden Pytho? I am on the rack, terror shakes my phrên, O Delian healer to whom wild cries rise, 155 in holy fear of you, wondering what thing you will work for me, perchance unknown before, perchance renewed with the revolving seasons [hôrai]. Tell me, immortal Voice, child of golden Hope.
antistrophe 1
First I call on you, daughter of Zeus, immortal Athena, 160 and on your sister, Artemis, guardian of our earth, who sits on her throne of good kleos above the circle of our agorâ, and on far-shooting Apollo: O shine forth for me, my three-fold help against death! 165 If ever before you drove a fiery pest from our borders to stop disasters [atai] rushing upon our polis, come now also!
strophe 2
Alas, countless are the sorrows I bear! 170 A plague is on all our people, and thought can find no weapon for defense. The fruits of the glorious earth do not grow; by no birth of offspring do women surmount the labors [kamatoi] in which they shriek. 175 You can see life after life speed away, like a bird on the wing, swifter than irresistible fire, to the shore of the western god.
antistrophe 2
With such deaths past numbering, the polis perishes. 180 Unpitied, her children lie on the ground, spreading pestilence, with no one to mourn them. Meanwhile young wives and gray-haired mothers raise a wail at the steps of the altars, some here, some there, 185 and groan in supplication for their terrible pains [ponoi]. The prayers to the Healer ring clear, and with them the voice of lamentation. For which things, golden daughter of Zeus, send us the bright face of comfort.
strophe 3
190 Grant that the fierce god of death, who now, without the bronze of shields, yet amidst cries as though of battle, wraps me in the flames of his onset, may turn his back in speedy flight from our land, borne by a favorable wind to the great chamber of Amphitrite, 195 or to the Thracian waves, those waters where no xenoi find haven. For if night leaves anything undone, it comes to fulfillment [telos] by day. You who wield the 200 powers [kratos pl.] of fiery lightning, Zeus our father, slay him beneath your thunderbolt.
antistrophe 3
Lukeian Lord, would that the shafts from your bent bow’s string of woven gold might 205 go forth in their might, our champions in the face of the foe, and the flashing fires of Artemis too, with which she darts through the Lycian hills. I call him whose locks are bound with gold, 210 who is named with the name of this land, ruddy Dionysus to whom Bacchants cry, to draw near with the blaze of his shining torch, 215 our ally against the god without tîmê among the gods.
Oedipus
You pray. And in answer to your prayer, if you will give a loyal reception to my words [epea], and minister to your own disease, you may hope to find succor and relief from woes. These words I will speak publicly, as one who was a stranger [xenos] to the report, 220 a stranger to the deed. I would not go far on the trail if I were tracing it alone, without a clue [sumbolon]. But as it is&endash;since it was only after the event that I was counted a Theban among Thebans&endash;to you, Cadmeans all, I do thus proclaim:
Whoever of you knows 225 by whom Laios son of Labdakos was slain, I bid him to indicate [sêmainô] all to me. And if he is afraid, I order him to remove the danger of the charge from his path by denouncing himself; he will suffer no other punishment, but will only leave this land, unhurt. 230 If anyone knows the assassin to be an alien, from another land, let him not keep silent. I will make him profit [kerdos], and my gratitude [kharis] shall rest with him besides. But if he keeps silent, if anyone, through fear, seeks to screen himself or a philos from my pronouncement [epos], 235 then hear what I shall do. I charge you that no resident of this land, of which I hold the royal power [kratos], receive or address that murderer, whoever he is, or make him a partner in prayer or sacrifice, 240 or give him a share of the lustral rite. Ban him from your houses, all of you, knowing that this is the pollution [miasma], as the oracle of the Pythian god has recently shown to me. In this way 245 I am an ally to the daimôn and to the dead man. And I pray solemnly that the slayer, whoever he is, whether he has gotten away alone or with partners, may wear out his unblest life evilly as he is evil [kakos]. And for myself I pray that if he should, 250 with my knowledge, become a resident of my house, I may suffer [paskhô] the same things which I have just called down on others. I order you to make all these words come to fulfillment [telos], for my sake, for the sake of the god, and for the sake of our land, thus blasted with barrenness by angry heaven.
Even if the matter had not been urged upon us by a god, 255 it still would not have been fit that you should leave the guilt thus unpunished, when one so noble&endash;and he your king&endash;had perished. You should have searched it out. But now, since I hold the powers which he once held, 260 possessing his bed and the wife who bore his children, and since, had his hope of offspring [genos] not been unsuccessful, children born of one mother would have tied us with a common bond&endash;as it was, fate swooped upon his head&endash;I will uphold this cause, as though it were that of my own father, 265 and will leave no stone unturned in my search for the one who shed the blood, for the honor of the son of Labdakos&endash;and son of Polydoros and of Cadmus before him and of Agenor of old.
And for those who do not obey me, I pray that the gods 270 send them neither harvest of the earth nor fruit of the womb, but that they perish by the present fate, or by one still worse. But to all you other Cadmeans who are satisfied by these things, may Dikê, our ally, 275 and all the gods be gracious always.
Chorus
As you have put me under oath, on my oath, my lord, I will speak. I am not the slayer, nor can I reveal him. As for the investigation, it was for Phoebus, who enjoined it, to tell us who wrought the deed.
Oedipus
280 Justly [dikaia] said. But no man on earth can force the gods to do what they do not want.
Chorus
I would like to say what seems to me the next best course.
Oedipus
And if there is a third course, do not hesitate to reveal it.
Chorus
I know that our lord Teiresias is the seer most like our 285 lord Apollo;
from him, my lord, an investigator might learn most clearly about these affairs.
Oedipus
Not even this have I left uncared for. On Creon’s suggestion, I sent a man to bring him. And I’ve been wondering for some time why he is not here.
Chorus
290 Indeed&endash;his skill apart&endash;the words [epea] are but faint and old.
Oedipus
What sort are they? I am investigating every tale.
Chorus
He was said to have been killed by some wayfarers.
Oedipus
I too have heard that. But no one sees the one who did it.
Chorus
If he knows what fear is, he will not hesitate to come forward when he 295 hears your curses, so dire are they.
Oedipus
When a man does not shrink from a deed, neither is he scared by a word.
Chorus
But there is no one to convict him. For here they bring at last the godlike seer [mantis], the only man in whom what is true [alêthês] lives.
Teiresias enters, led by a boy.
Oedipus
300 Teiresias, whose soul grasps all things, that which may be told and that which is unspeakable, the secrets of heaven and the affairs of the earth&endash;you feel with your phrên, though you cannot see, what a huge plague haunts our polis. From which, great prophet, we find you to be our protector and only savior [sôtêr]. 305 Now, Phoebus&endash;if indeed you have not heard the reports&endash;has sent answer to our question that the only way to rid ourselves of this pest that afflicts us is to discover the slayers of Laios, and then to slay or banish them from our land. 310 Do not, then, begrudge us the voice of the birds or any other path of the knowledge of the seer [mantis], but save yourself and your polis, save me, save all that is damaged by the defilement [miasma] of the dead. We are in your hands, and man’s noblest labor [ponos] is to help others 315 to the best of his means and powers.
Teiresias
Alas, how terrible it is to have phrenes when it does not benefit those who have it. I knew this well, but let it slip from mind; otherwise I would not have come here.
Oedipus
What now? How disheartened you have come!
Teiresias
320 Let me go home. For you will bear your own burden to the end, and I will bear mine, if you consent.
Oedipus
Your words are strange and unkindly to the polis which nurtured you, since you withhold this response.
Teiresias
I see that you, for your part, speak what is off the mark [kairos]. 325 Therefore do not speak, so I will not suffer [paskhô] the same.
Oedipus
For the love of the gods, don’t turn away, if you have phrenes; we all implore you on our knees as suppliants.
Teiresias
All of you lack phrenes. Never will I reveal my evils&endash;not to call them yours.
Oedipus
330 What are you saying? Do you know the secret and refuse to tell it? Will you betray and destroy the polis?
Teiresias
I will grieve neither myself nor you. Why do you ask these things in vain? You will not learn the answers from me.
Oedipus
You would anger a stone! Most kakos of the kakoi, will you not speak out? 335 Can nothing touch you? Will you never come to an end [telos]?
Teiresias
You find fault with my anger, but you do not perceive your own that lives with you; no, you blame me.
Oedipus
Who would not be angry hearing such words [epea], 340 with which you now are slighting the polis?
Teiresias
Though future will come of itself, though I shroud it in silence.
Oedipus
Since it must come anyway, it is right that you tell it to me.
Teiresias
I will speak no further; rage, if you wish, with the fiercest wrath your thûmos knows.
Oedipus
345 In my anger I will not spare to speak all my thoughts. Know that you seem to me to have helped in plotting the deed, and to have done it, short of performing the actual murder with your own hands; if you had eye-sight, I would have said that you had done even this by yourself.
Teiresias
350 True [alêthês]? I order you to abide by your own decree, and from this day forth not to speak to these men or to me, since you are the accursed defiler of this land.
Oedipus
So brazen with your blustering taunt? 355 Where do you think to escape to?
Teiresias
I have escaped. There is strength in my truth [alêthês].
Oedipus
Who taught you this? Not your skill, at any rate.
Teiresias
You yourself. For you spurred me on to speak against my will.
Oedipus
What did you say? Speak again, so I may learn it better.
Teiresias
360 Did you not understand before, or are you talking to test me?
Oedipus
I cannot say I understood fully. Tell me again.
Teiresias
I say that you are the killer of the man whose slayer you seek.
Oedipus
Now you will regret that you have said such dire words twice.
Teiresias
365 Should I tell you more, that you might get more angry?
Oedipus
Say as much as you want; it will be said in vain.
Teiresias
I say that you have been living in unguessed shame with your most philos, and do not see to what woe you have come.
Oedipus
Do think that you will always be able to speak like this without smarting for it?
Teiresias
If indeed there is any strength in truth [alêthês].
Oedipus
370 There is, except for you. You do not have that strength, since you are maimed in your ears, in your noos, and in your eyes.
Teiresias
And you are a poor wretch to utter taunts that every man here will soon hurl at you.
Oedipus
Night, endless night has you in her keeping, so that you can never hurt me 375 nor any man that sees the light of the sun.
Teiresias
No, it is not your fate to fall at my hands, since Apollo, to whom this matter is a concern, is sufficient.
Oedipus
Are these Creon’s devices, or your own?
Teiresias
Creon is no trouble for you; you are your own.
Oedipus
380 O wealth, and tyranny, and skill surpassing skill in life’s keen rivalries, how great is the envy in your keeping, if, for the sake of this power which the polis has entrusted to me, a gift unsought, 385 Creon the trustworthy, Creon my old philos, has crept upon me by stealth, yearning to overthrow me, and has suborned such a scheming juggler as this, a tricky quack, who has eyes only for gain [kerdos], but is blind in his art!
390 Come, tell me, where have you proved yourself a seer [mantis]? Why, when the watchful dog who wove dark song was here, did you say nothing to free the people? Yet the riddle [ainigma] was not for the first comer to read: there was need for the help of a mantis, 395 and you were discovered not to have this art, either from birds, or as known from some god. But rather I, Oedipus the ignorant, stopped her, having attained the answer through my wit alone, untaught by birds. It is I whom you are trying to oust, thinking that 400 you will have great influence in Creon’s court. But I think that you and the one who plotted these things will rue your zeal to purge the land; if you did not seem to be an old man, you would have learned at the cost of your suffering [pathos] what sort of phrenes you have.
Chorus
To our way of thinking, these words, both his and yours, Oedipus, 405 have been said in anger. We have no need of this, but rather we must seek how we shall best discharge the mantis-delivered words of the god.
Teiresias
Though you are turannos, the right of reply must be deemed the same for both; over that I have power [kratos]. 410 For I do not live as your slave, but as Loxias’. I will not stand enrolled under Creon for my patron. And I tell you, since you have taunted my blindness, that though you have sight, you do not see what evil you are in, nor where you dwell, nor with whom. 415 Do you know who your parents are? You have been an unwitting enemy to your own people, both in the Underworld and on the earth above. And the double lash of your mother’s and your father’s curse will one day drive you from this land in dreadful haste, with darkness upon those eyes of yours which now can see. 420 What place will be harbor to your cries, what part of all Kithairon will not ring with them soon, when you have learned the meaning of the nuptials in which, within that house, you found a fatal haven, after a voyage so fair? And you have not guessed a throng of other evils, 425 which will bring you level with you true self and with your own children. Therefore heap your scorn upon Creon and upon my message; no man will ever be crushed more miserably than you.
Oedipus
Are these taunts to be endured from him? 430 Be gone, to your ruin, be gone this instant! Will you not turn your back and leave this house?
Teiresias
I would not have come if you had not called me.
Oedipus
I did not know you would speak foolishly, for otherwise it would have been a long time before I summoned you to my home.
Teiresias
435 I was born like this&endash;as you think, a fool, but in the opinion of the parents who bore you, quite in control of the phrenes.
Oedipus
What parents? Wait. What man is my sire?
Teiresias
This day will reveal your birth and bring your ruin.
Oedipus
What riddles [ainigma pl.], what dark words you always say.
Teiresias
440 Are you not the best at unraveling mysteries?
Oedipus
Reproach me in what you will find me to be great.
Teiresias
Yet it was just that fortune that undid you.
Oedipus
But if it saved [sôzô] this polis, I care not.
Teiresias
I take my leave. You, boy, lead me.
Oedipus
445 Yes, let him take you; here you are a hindrance, a source of trouble. When you have gone, you will vex me no more.
Teiresias
I will go when I have performed the errand for which I came, fearless to your frown; you can never destroy me. I tell you that the man whom you have been seeking this long while, 450 uttering threats and proclaiming a search into the murder of Laios, is here, apparently an emigrant stranger [xenos], but soon to be found a native of Thebes, unhappy about his fortune. A blind man, though now he sees, 455 a beggar, though now rich, he will make his way to a foreign land, feeling the ground before him with his staff. And he will be discovered to be at once brother and father of the children with whom he consorts; son and husband of the woman who bore him; 460 heir to his father’s bed, shedder of his father’s blood. So go in and evaluate this, and if you find that I am wrong, say then that I have no phrenes in the art of the mantis.
They exit.
Chorus
strophe 1
Who is he who the divine voice from the Delphian rock has said 465 wrought with blood-red hands horrors that no tongue can tell? It is time [hôrâ] that he ply in flight a foot stronger than the feet of storm-swift steeds. 470 The son of Zeus is springing upon him with fiery lightning, and with him come the dread unerring Fates.
antistrophe 1
Recently the message has flashed forth from snowy Parnassus 475 to make all search for the unknown man. He wanders under cover of the wild wood, among caves and rocks, fierce as a bull, wretched and forlorn on his joyless path, still seeking to separate himself from the words of the mantis revealed at the central shrine of the earth. 480 But that doom ever lives, ever flits around him.
strophe 2
The wise augur moves me, neither approving nor denying, with dread, with dread indeed. 485 I am at a loss what to say. I am fluttered with expectations, seeing neither the present nor the future clearly. Never in past days or in these have I heard how the house of Labdakos 490 or the son of Polybos had any quarrel with one another that I could bring as proof 495 in assailing the public reputation of Oedipus, seeking to avenge the line of Labdakos for the undiscovered murder.
antistrophe 2
Zeus and Apollo indeed are perceptive [sunetoi] and know the affairs of the earth. 500 But there is no true test [alêthês krisis] of whether a mortal mantis attains more knowledge than I do, though man may surpass man in wisdom [sophiâ]. 505 But until I see the word made good, I will never assent when men blame Oedipus. Before all eyes the winged maiden came against him once upon a time, and he was seen to be sophos, 510 and bore the test in welcome service to the polis. Never, therefore, will he be judged guilty of evil my phrenes.
Creon enters.
Creon
Fellow-citizens, having learned that Oedipus the turannos accuses me and makes terrible utterances [epea] against me, I have come, indignant. 515 If he thinks that in the present troubles he has suffered [paskhô] from me, by word or by deed, anything harmful, in truth I desire not my full term of years, when I must bear such blame as this. The wrong of this rumor 520 touches me not in one point alone, but has the largest scope, if I am to be called a kakos in the polis, kakos by you and by my philoi.
Chorus
But perhaps this taunt came under the stress of anger, rather from the purpose of his phrenes.
Creon
525 Was it said that my counsels had brought the mantis to utter his falsehoods?
Chorus
Such things were said&endash;I don’t know with what meaning.
Creon
And was this charge laid against me with steady eyes and steady phrên?
Chorus
530 I don’t know. I see not what my masters do. But here comes our lord from the house.
Oedipus enters.
Oedipus
You, how did you get here? Are you so boldfaced that you have come to my house, you who are manifestly the murderer of its master, 535 the palpable thief of my tyranny? Come, tell me, in the name of the gods, was it cowardice or folly which you saw in me and which led you to plot this thing? Did you think that I would not notice this deed of yours creeping upon me by stealth, or that if I became aware of it I would not ward it off? 540 Is your attempt not foolish, to seek the tyranny without followers or philoi&endash;a prize which followers and property must win?
Creon
Mark me now: hear a fair reply in answer to your words, and then judge for yourself on the basis of knowledge.
Oedipus
545 You are apt in speech, but I am poor at learning from you, since I have found you a malignant foe.
Creon
Now hear first how I will explain this very thing.
Oedipus
One thing&endash;that you are not evil [kakos]&endash;don’t bother to explain to me.
Creon
If you think that stubbornness 550 without noos is a good gift, you do not have your phrenes straight.
Oedipus
If you think you can wrong a kinsman and escape the dikê, then you do not have phrenes.
Creon
Justly said, I grant you; but tell me what the wrong is that you say you are suffering [paskhô] at my hands.
Oedipus
555 Did you, or did you not, advise me to send for that revered mantis?
Creon
Even now I am of the same mind.
Oedipus
How long is it, then, since Laios...
Creon
Did what? My noos fails me.
Oedipus
560 Was swept out of sight by deadly violence.
Creon
The count of years would run far into the past.
Oedipus
Did this mantis possess this skill in those days?
Creon
He was sophos as now, and held in equal tîmê.
Oedipus
Did he make mention of me at that time?
Creon
565 Never, certainly, when I was within hearing.
Oedipus
Did you never investigate the murder?
Creon
Due search we held, of course; we learned nothing.
Oedipus
And how was it that this sophos man did not tell this story then.
Creon
I do not know; where I lack phrenes it is my custom to be silent.
Oedipus
570 This much, at least, you know, and could declare with insight enough.
Creon
What is that? If I know it, I will not deny.
Oedipus
That, if he had not conferred with you, he would never have named me as Laios’
slayer.
Creon
If he says this, you know best; but I deem it just [dikaia] 575 to learn from you as much as you have from me now.Oedipus. Learn your fill. I will never be convicted as a murderer.
Creon
Say, then&endash;have you married my sister?
Oedipus
That inquiry [historiâ] allows no denial.
Creon
And you rule the land as she does, with equal sway?
Oedipus
580 She obtains from me all that she wishes.
Creon
And do I not rank as a third peer of you two?
Oedipus
It’s just there that you are seen to be an evil [kakos] philos.
Creon
Not so, if you would reason with your heart as I do with mine. Weigh this first: whether you think that anyone would 585 choose to rule amid terrors rather than in unruffled peace, granted that he is to have the same powers [kratos pl.]. Now I, for one, have by nature no yearning to be turannos rather than to do the deeds of a turannos, and neither does any man I know who understands how to have moderation [sôphrosunê]. 590 For now I attain everything from you without fear, but, if I were ruler myself, I would have to do much even against my own pleasure.
How then could tyranny be sweeter for me to have than painless rule and influence? Not yet am I so misguided 595 that I desire anything besides the good which brings gain [kerdos]. Now every man has a greeting for me; now all that have a request of you crave to speak with me, since therein lies all their hope of success. Why then should I resign these things and take those others? 600 No noos will become kakos while it has good phrenes. No, I am no lover of such policy, and if another put it into action, I could never bear to go along with him. And, in proof of this, first go to Pytho, and ask whether I brought a true report of the oracle. 605 Then next, if you have found that I have planned anything in concert with the soothsayer, take and slay me, by the sentence not of one mouth, but of two&endash;of my own no less than yours. But do not assume me guilty [aitios] on unproved surmise. It is not just to judge the bad good at random, 610 nor the good bad. I count it a like thing for a man to cast off a true philos as to cast away the life in his own bosom, which he most loves. You will surely learn about these affairs in time, since time alone reveals a dikaios man. 615 But you can discern a bad man even in one day alone.
Chorus
He has spoken well, my lord, for one who is taking care not to fall; those who are quick in phrenes are not sure.
Oedipus
When the stealthy plotter is moving on me quickly, I, too, must be quick in my counterplot. 620 If I await him at leisure [hêsukhiâ], his ends will have been gained, and mine lost.
Creon
What do you want then? To banish me from the land?
Oedipus
Hardly. I desire your death, not your exile, so that I might show what a thing is envy.
Creon
625 Are you resolved not to yield or believe?
Oedipus
[Oedipus' response is missing.]
Creon
I see you are not in possession of phrenes.
Oedipus
Sane, at least, in my own interest.
Creon
But you should be so in mine also.
Oedipus
You are kakos.
Creon
But if you understand nothing?
Oedipus
Still I must rule.
Creon
Not if you rule badly.
Oedipus
O polis, polis!
Creon
630 The polis is mine too, not yours alone.
Chorus
Cease, lords. Just in time I see Iocasta coming from the house, with whose help you should resolve your present feud.
Iocasta enters.
Iocasta
Misguided men, why have you raised 635 such foolish strife [stasis] of tongues? Are you not ashamed, while the land is so sick, to stir up ills of your own? Come, go into the house&endash;and you, Creon, go to yours&endash;and stop making so much of a petty grief.
Creon
Kinswoman, Oedipus your husband 640 wants to do one of two terrible evils to me, either to thrust me from the land of my fathers or to arrest and slay me.
Oedipus
Yes indeed, for I have caught him, lady, working evil against my person with his evil craft.
Creon
May I get no benefit, 645 but perish accursed, if I have done any of the things of which you charge me.
Iocasta
In the name of the gods, believe it, Oedipus; first have respect [aidôs] for this oath of the gods, then for me, and for these men who stand before you.
Chorus
Consent, have phrenes, listen, my lord. I beg you.
Oedipus
650 What would you have me grant you?
Chorus
Respect him who was in the past not inept [nêpios], and who now is strong in his oath.
Oedipus
Do you understand what you crave?
Chorus
I do.
Oedipus
655 Tell me what you mean.
Chorus
That you should never use an unproved rumor to cast a dishonoring charge on the philos who has bound himself with a curse.
Oedipus
Then be very sure that when you seek this you are seeking death or exile from this land.
Chorus
660 No, by the god foremost among all the gods, by the Sun! Without gods, without philoi, may I die the worst possible death, if I have this thought in my phrenes! 665 But my unhappy soul is worn by the withering of the land, as well as by the thought that our old woes should be crowned by new ones arising from the two of you.
Oedipus
Then let him go, though I am surely doomed to death, 670 or to be thrust without tîmê from the land by force. Your words, not his, move me to compassion.
Chorus
You are truly sullen in yielding, as you are vehement in the excesses of your thûmos. But such natures are 675 justly most difficult for themselves to bear.
Oedipus
Then will you not be gone and leave me in peace?
Creon
I will go on my way. I have found you undiscerning, but in the view of these men I am just.
Creon exits.
Chorus
Woman, why do you hesitate to take this man into the house?
Iocasta
680 I will, when I have learned what has happened.
Chorus
Blind suspicion arose, bred of talk, and injustice inflicts wounds.
Iocasta
On both sides?
Chorus
Yes.
Iocasta
And what was the story?
Chorus
685 It is enough, I think, enough, when our land is already vexed, that the matter should rest where it ceased.
Oedipus
Do you see to what you have come, though noble [agathos] in intention, in seeking to relax and blunt my zeal?
Chorus
Lord, I have said it more than once: 690 be sure that I would be shown to be a madman, bankrupt in sane counsel [phrenes], if ever I forsake you, who gave a true course to my philê country when it was 695 distraught with pains [ponoi], and who now are likely to prove our prospering guide.
Iocasta
In the name of the gods, tell me, lord, the reason that you have conceived this steadfast mênis.
Oedipus
700 That I will do, for I respect you, wife, above these men. Creon is the cause, and the plots he has laid against me.
Iocasta
Come, tell me how the quarrel began.
Oedipus
He says that I am the murderer of Laios.
Iocasta
On his own knowledge or on hearsay from another?
Oedipus
705 He has made a rascal mantis his mouth-piece; as for himself, he keeps his lips wholly pure.
Iocasta
Then absolve yourself of the things about which you are speaking. Listen to me, and take comfort in learning that nothing of mortal birth is a partaker in the art of the mantis. 710 I will give you a pithy indication [sêmeia] of this: An oracle came to Laios once&endash;I will not say from Phoebus himself, but from his ministers&endash;saying that he would suffer his fate at the hands of the child to be born to him and me. 715 And he&endash;as the rumor goes&endash;was murdered one day by strange [xenoi] robbers at a place where the three highways meet. The child’s birth was not yet three days past, when Laios pinned his ankles together and had it thrown, by others’ hands, on a remote mountain. 720 So, in that case, Apollo did not bring it to pass that the child should become the slayer of his father, or that Laios should suffer [paskhô] that which he feared: death at the hands of his child; thus the messages of the seer’s art had foretold. Pay them no regard. Whatever necessary event 725 the god seeks, he himself will easily bring to light.
Oedipus
What restlessness of psûkhê, wife, what tumult has come upon my phrenes since I heard you speak!
Iocasta
What anxiety has startled you, that you say this?
Oedipus
I thought that I heard this from you: that Laios 730 was slain where the three roads meet.
Iocasta
Yes, that was the report, and it has not yet ceased.
Oedipus
And where is the place where this event [pathos] occurred?
Iocasta
The land is called Phokis; the branching forks lead to the same spot from Delphi and from Daulia.
Oedipus
735 And how much time has passed since these events took place?
Iocasta
The news was announced to the polis shortly before you were first seen in power over this land.
Oedipus
O Zeus, what have you decreed to do to me?
Iocasta
Why, Oedipus, does this matter weigh upon your heart?
Oedipus
740 Don’t ask me yet. Tell me rather what stature Laios had, and how ripe his manhood was.
Iocasta
He was tall&endash;the silver just lightly strewn among his hair&endash;and his form was not greatly unlike your own.
Oedipus
Unhappy that I am! I think that I have 745 laid myself under a terrible curse without realizing it.
Iocasta
How do you mean? I tremble when I look at you, my lord.
Oedipus
I have dread fears that the mantis can see. But you will reveal the matter better if you tell me one thing more.
Iocasta
Indeed, though I tremble, I will hear and answer all that you ask.
Oedipus
750 Did he go with a small force, or like a chieftain, with many armed followers?
Iocasta
Five they were in all&endash;a herald [kêrux] among them&endash;and there was one carriage which bore Laios.
Oedipus
755 Alas! It’s all clear now! Who gave you these tidings, lady?
Iocasta
A servant, the only survivor who returned home.
Oedipus
Is he perchance in the house now?
Iocasta
No. Soon after he returned and found you holding power [kratos pl.] in Laios’ stead, 760 he pleaded with me, with hand laid on mine, to send him to the fields, to the pastures of the flocks, that he might be far from the sight of this city. And I sent him; he was worthy, for a slave, to win even a larger favor [kharis] than that.
Oedipus
765 Then may he return to us without delay!
Iocasta
That is easy. But why do you enjoin this?
Oedipus
I fear, lady, that my words have been rash, and therefore I wish to behold him.
Iocasta
He will come. But I think that 770 I too have a claim to learn what lies heavy on your heart, my lord.
Oedipus
It will not be kept from you, now that my foreboding have advanced so far. To whom more than to you would I speak in suffering such a fortune as this? My father was Polybos of Corinth, 775 my mother the Dorian Merope. I was considered the greatest man among the townspeople there, until a chance befell me, worthy of wonder, though not worthy of my own haste regarding it. At a banquet, a man drunk with wine 780 cast it at me that I was not the true son of my father. And I, vexed, restrained myself for that day as best as I could, but on the next went to my mother and father and questioned them. They were angry at the one who had let this taunt fly. 785 So I had comfort about them, but the matter rankled in my heart, for such a rumor still spread widely. I went to Delphi without my parents’ knowledge, and Phoebus sent me forth without giving me the tîmê of the knowledge for which I had come, 790 but in his response set forth other things, full of sorrow and terror and woe: that I was fated to defile my mother’s bed, that I would reveal to men a brood which they could not endure to behold, and that I would slay the father that sired me. When I heard this, I turned in flight from the land of Corinth, 795 from then on thinking of it only by its position under the stars, to some spot where I should never see fulfillment [telos] of the infamies foretold in my evil doom. And on my way I came to the land in which you say that this turannos perished. 800 Now, wife, I will tell you the truth [alêthês]. When on my journey I was near those three roads, there I met a herald [kêrux], and a man in a carriage drawn by colts, as you have described. The leader and the old man 805 himself tried to thrust me by force from the path. Then, in anger, I struck the one pushing me aside, the driver, and when the old man saw this, he watched for the moment I was passing, and from his carriage, brought his double goad full down on my head. 810 Yet he was paid back with interest: with one swift blow from the staff in this hand he rolled right out of the carriage onto his back. I slew every one of them. But if this xenos had any tie of kinship to Laios, 815 who is now more wretched than this man before you? What mortal could be proved more hateful to heaven? No xenos, no citizen, is allowed to receive him at home, it is unlawful for anyone to accost him, and all must push him from their homes. And this&endash;this curse&endash;820 was laid on me by no other mouth than my own. And I pollute the bed of the slain man with my hands by which he perished. Am I now kakos? Oh, am I not utterly unclean, seeing that I must be banished, and in banishment neither see my own people, 825 nor set foot in my own land, or else be joined in wedlock to my mother, and slay my father Polybos , who sired and reared me. Then would he not speak correctly about Oedipus, who judged these things to be sent down by some cruel daimôn? 830 Forbid, forbid, you pure and awful gods, that I should ever see that day! No, may I be swept away from all men, before I see myself visited with that brand of doom.
Chorus
To us, lord, these things are fraught with fear. Yet have hope, until at least you have gained full knowledge 835 from the one who saw the deed.
Oedipus
I have, in truth, this much hope alone: I await the man summoned from the pastures.
Iocasta
And what do you want from him when he appears?
Oedipus
I will tell you. If his story is found 840 to tally with yours, I will stand clear of suffering [pathos].
Iocasta
And what special note did you hear from me?
Oedipus
You said that he spoke of Laios as slain by robbers. If he still speaks of several as before, I was not the slayer: 845 a solitary man could not be considered the same as that band. But if he names one lonely wayfarer, then beyond doubt this deed is leaning in my direction.
Iocasta
Be assured that thus the story [epos] was first told. He cannot revoke that, 850 for the polis heard it, not I alone. But even if he should diverge somewhat from his former story, never, lord, can he show that the murder of Laios is justly [dikaia] square with the prophecy, for Loxias plainly said that he was to die at the hand of my child. 855 How was it then that that poor innocent never slew him, but perished first? So henceforth, as far as the words of a mantis are concerned, I would not look to my right hand or my left.
Oedipus
You judge well. But nevertheless send someone to fetch the peasant, 860 and neglect not this matter.
Iocasta
I will send without delay. But let us go into the house: nothing will I do save what is philon to you.
They go into the palace.
Chorus
strophe 1
May fate [moira] still find me winning the praise of reverent purity in all words and 865 deeds sanctioned by those laws [nomoi] of range sublime, called into life through the high clear heaven, whose father is Olympus alone. The mortal nature of men did not beget them, 870 nor shall oblivion ever lay them to sleep: the god is mighty in them, and he grows not old.
antistrophe 1
Hubris breeds the turannos. Hubris, once vainly stuffed with wealth 875 that is not proper or good for it, when it has scaled the topmost ramparts, is hurled to a dire doom, where no use of the feet serves to good advantage. But I pray that the god never 880 quell such rivalry as benefits the polis. The god I will ever hold for our protector.
strophe 2
But if any man walks haughtily in deed or word, 885 with no fear of Dikê, no reverence for the images of daimones, may an evil fate seize him for his ill-starred pride, if he will not get his profit [kerdos] with dikê, 890 or avoid unholy deeds, but seeks to lay profaning hands on things untouchable. Where such things occur, what mortal shall boast any more that he can ward off the arrow of the gods from his psûkhê ? 895 If such deeds are held in tîmê, why should I be part of the khoros?
antistrophe 2
No longer will I go reverently to the earth’s central and inviolate shrine, no more to Abae’s temple or to Olympia, 900 if these oracles do not fit the outcome, so that all mortals shall point at them with their fingers. 905 No, wielder of power&endash;if thus you are rightly called&endash;Zeus, Lord of all, may it not escape you and your deathless power! The old prophecies concerning Laios are fading; already men annul them, and nowhere is Apollo glorified with tîmai; 910 the worship of the gods is perishing.
Iocasta enters.
Iocasta
Lords of the land, the thought has come to me to visit the shrines of the daimones, with this wreathed branch and these gifts of incense in my hands. For Oedipus excites his thûmos excessively with all sorts of griefs, 915 and does not judge the new things from the old, like a man of noos, but is under the control of the speaker, if he speaks of frightful things. Since I can do no good by counsel, to you, Lukeian Apollo&endash;for you are nearest&endash;920 I have come as a suppliant with these symbols of prayer, that you may find us some riddance from uncleanness. For now we are all afraid looking upon him, like those who see the pilot [kubernêtês] of their ship stricken with panic.
A messenger enters.
Messenger
Can you tell me, xenoi, where 925 the palace of the turannos Oedipus is? Or better still, tell me where he himself is, if you know.
Chorus
This is his dwelling, and he himself, xenos, is within. This woman here is the mother of his children.
Messenger
Then may she be ever fortunate [olbiâ] in a prosperous [olbios] home, 930 since she is his spouse in ritual fullness [telos].
Iocasta
May you be likewise, xenos; your fair greeting deserves this. But say what you have come to seek or to indicate [sêmainô].
Messenger
Good tidings, woman, for your house and your husband.
Iocasta
935 What are they? From whom have you come?
Messenger
From Corinth, and at the message I will give now you will doubtless rejoice, yet haply grieve.
Iocasta
What is it? Why has it this double potency?
Messenger
The people will make him turannos of the 940 Isthmian land, as it was said there.
Iocasta
How then? Is the aged Polybos no longer in power [kratos]?
Messenger
No. For death holds him in the tomb.
Iocasta
What do you mean? Is Polybos dead, old man?
Messenger
If I am not speaking the truth [alêthês], I am content to die.
Iocasta
945 Handmaid, away with all speed, and tell this to your master! O you mantis-delivered words of the gods, where do you stand now? It is this man that Oedipus long feared he would slay. And now this man has died in the course of destiny, not by his hand.
Oedipus enters.
Oedipus
950 Iocasta, most philê wife, why have you summoned me forth from these doors?
Iocasta
Hear this man, and judge, as you listen, to what the awful mantis-delivered words have come.
Oedipus
Who is he and what news does he have for me?
Iocasta
955 He comes from Corinth to tell you that your father Polybos lives no longer, but has perished.
Oedipus
How, xenos? You be the one who indicates [sêmainô] it.
Messenger
If I must first make these tidings plain, know indeed that he is dead and gone.
Oedipus
960 By treachery, or from illness?
Messenger
A light tilt of the scale brings the aged to their rest.
Oedipus
Ah, he died, it seems, of sickness?
Messenger
Yes, and of the long years that he had lived.
Oedipus
Alas, alas! Why indeed, my wife, should one look to the 965 hearth of the Pythian mantis, or to the birds that scream above our heads, who declared that I was doomed to slay my sire? But he is dead, and lies beneath the earth, and here I am, not having put my hand to any spear&endash;unless, perhaps, he was killed by longing for me; 970 thus I would be the cause of his death. But the oracles as they stand Polybos has swept with him to his rest in Hades. They are worth nothing.
Iocasta
Did I not long ago foretell this to you?
Oedipus
You did, but I was mislead by my fear.
Iocasta
975 Now no longer keep any of those things in your thûmos.
Oedipus
But surely I must fear my mother’s bed.
Iocasta
What should a mortal man fear, for whom the decrees of Fortune are supreme, and who has clear foresight of nothing? It is best to live at random, as one may. 980 But fear not that you will wed your mother. Many men before now have so fared in dreams. But he to whom these things are as though nothing bears his life most easily.
Oedipus
All these words of yours would have been well said, 985 were my mother not alive. But as it is, since she lives, I must necessarily fear, though you speak well.
Iocasta
Your father’s death is a great sign for us to take cheer.
Oedipus
Great, I know. But my fear is of her who lives.
Messenger
And who is the woman about whom you fear?
Oedipus
990 Merope, old man, the consort of Polybos .
Messenger
And what is it in her that moves your fear?
Oedipus
A heaven-sent mantis-delivered word of dread import, xenos.
Messenger
Lawful, or unlawful, for another to know?
Oedipus
Lawful, surely. Loxias once said that I was 995 doomed to marry my own mother, and to shed with my own hands my father’s blood. For which reasons I long shirked my home in Corinth&endash;with a happy outcome, to be sure, but still it is sweet to see the face of one’s parents.
Messenger
1000 Was it really for fear of this that you became an exile from that polis?
Oedipus
And because I did not wish, old man, to be the murderer of my father.
Messenger
Why did I not release you from this fear right away, lord? After all, I have come here with a noos that is favorable to you.
Oedipus
And you would get a worthy return [kharis] from me.
Messenger
1005 Why, that is the biggest reason for my coming, so that I would do well because of your coming back home.
Oedipus
But I would never go back to them, from whose seed I originate.
Messenger
My child, it is in a good way that you are unaware of what you are doing.
Oedipus
How do you mean, old man. I ask you by the gods, inform me!
Messenger
1010 If it is on account of these that you shun going home.
Oedipus
Fearing that the message of Phoebus may have a clear outcome.
Messenger
Is it that you fear contracting a pollution [miasma] from those whose seed gave you birth?
Oedipus
That's it, old man! That is what gives me eternal fear.
Messenger
Do you know, then, that your fears are wholly vain?
Oedipus
1015 How so, if I was born of those parents?
Messenger
Because you had no family tie in common with Polybos .
Oedipus
What are you saying? Was Polybos not my sire?
Messenger
Just as much, and no more, than he who speaks to you.
Oedipus
And how can my sire be level with him who is as though nothing to me?
Messenger
1020 No, he fathered you not at all, any more than I.
Oedipus
How, then, did he call me his son?
Messenger
Long ago he received you as a gift from my hands.
Oedipus
And yet he loved me so dearly, who came from another’s hand?
Messenger
His former childlessness won him over.
Oedipus
1025 And had you bought me or found me by chance, when you gave me to him?
Messenger
I found you in Kithairon’s winding glens.
Oedipus
And why were you roaming those regions?
Messenger
I was in charge of mountain flocks.
Oedipus
You were a shepherd, a vagrant hireling?
Messenger
1030 But your savior [sôtêr], my son, in that time.
Oedipus
And what was my pain when you took me in your arms?
Messenger
The ankles of your feet might bear witness.
Oedipus
Ah me, why do you speak of that old woe?
Messenger
I freed you when you had your ankles pinned together.
Oedipus
1035 It was a dread brand of shame that I took from my cradle.
Messenger
So much that from that fortune you were called by that name which you still bear.
Oedipus
Oh, in the name of the gods, was the deed my mother’s or father’s? Speak!
Messenger
I know not. He who gave you to me knows better of that than I.
Oedipus
What, you got me from another? You did not light on me yourself?
Messenger
1040 No. Another shepherd gave you to me.
Oedipus
Who was he? Can you tell clearly?
Messenger
I think he was said to be one of the household of Laios.
Oedipus
The turannos who ruled this country long ago?
Messenger
The same. The man was a herdsman in his service.
Oedipus
1045 Is he still alive, that I might see him?
Messenger
You natives of this country should know best.
Oedipus
Is there any of you here present that knows the herdsman of whom he speaks, having seen him either in the pastures or here in town? Indicate [sêmainô]! 1050 The time [kairos] has come for these things to be revealed at long last.
Chorus
I think he speaks of no other than the peasant you already wanted to see. But Iocasta herself might best tell you that.
Oedipus
Wife, do you know in your noos the one whom we summoned lately? 1055 Is it of him that this man speaks?
Iocasta
Why ask of whom he spoke? Regard it not&endash;waste not a thought on what he said&endash;it would be vain.
Oedipus
It must not happen, with such clues [sêmeia] in my grasp, that I should fail to bring my origin [genos] to light.
Iocasta
1060 For the gods’ sake, if you have any care for your own life, forgo this search! My anguish is enough.
Oedipus
Be of good courage. Even if I should be found the son of a servile mother&endash;a slave by three descents&endash;you will not be proved base [kakê].
Iocasta
Hear me, I implore you: do not do this.
Oedipus
1065 I will not hear of not discovering the whole truth.
Iocasta
Yet I wish you well; I counsel you for the best.
Oedipus
These best counsels, then, vex my patience.
Iocasta
Ill-fated man, may you never know who you are!
Oedipus
Go, some one, fetch me the herdsman. 1070 Leave this woman to glory in her wealthy ancestry [genos].
Iocasta
Alas, alas, miserable man&endash;that word alone can I say to you&endash;and no other word ever again!
She rushes from the palace.
Chorus
Why has this woman gone, Oedipus, rushing off in wild grief? I fear 1075 a storm of evils will soon break forth from this silence.
Oedipus
Break forth what will! Be my seed ever so lowly, I crave to learn it. That woman perhaps&endash;for she is proud with more than a woman’s pride&endash;feels ashamed of my lowly birth [genos]. But I, who hold myself son of Fortune 1080 that gives good, will not be left without tîmê. She is the mother from whom I spring, and the months, my kinsmen, have marked me sometimes lowly, sometimes great. Such being my heritage, never more can I prove 1085 false to it, and not search out the secret of my birth [genos].
Chorus
strophe
If I am a mantis or wise of heart, 1090 Kithairon, you will not fail&endash;by heaven, you will not&endash;to know at tomorrow’s full moon that Oedipus honors you as native to him, as his nurse, and his mother, and that you are celebrated in our khoros, 1095 because you are well-pleasing to our turannos. O Phoebus, to whom we cry, may these things find favor in your sight!
antistrophe
Who was it, my son, who of the race whose years are many, that bore you in wedlock with 1100 Pan, the mountain-roaming father? Or was it a bride of Loxias that bore you? For philai to him are all the upland pastures. 1105 Or perhaps it was Kyllene’s lord, the god of the Bacchants, dweller on the hill-tops, that received you, a new-born joy, from one of the Nymphs of Helikon, with whom he most often sports.
Oedipus
1110 Elders, if it is right for me, who have never met the man, to guess, I think I see the herdsman of whom we have been long in quest. In his venerable old age he tallies with this man’s years, and moreover I recognize those who bring him, I think, as servants of mine. 1115 But perhaps you have an advantage in knowledge over me, if you have seen the herdsman before.
Chorus
Yes, I know him, be sure. He was in the service of Laios&endash;trusty as any shepherd.
The herdsman is brought in.
Oedipus
I ask you first, Corinthian xenos, if this is the man you mean.
Messenger
1120 He is, the one you are looking at.
Oedipus
You, old man&endash;look this way and answer all that I ask&endash;were you once in the service of Laios?
Servant [therapôn]
I was&endash;not a bought slave, but reared in his house.
Oedipus
Employed in what labor, or what way of life?
Servant
1125 For the better part of my life I tended the flocks.
Oedipus
And what regions did you most frequently haunt?
Servant
Sometimes Kithairon, sometimes the neighboring ground.
Oedipus
Are you aware of ever having seen this man in these parts?
Servant
Doing what? What man do you mean?
Oedipus
1130 This man here. Have you ever met him before?
Servant
Not so that I could speak at once from memory.
Messenger
And no wonder, master. But I will bring clear recollection to his ignorance. I am sure he knows well of the time we spent together in the region of Kithairon 1135 for six-month periods, from spring to Arcturus, he with two flocks, and I with one. And then for the winter I used to drive my flock to my own fold, and he took his to the fold of Laios. 1140 Did any of this happen as I tell it, or did it not?
Servant
You speak the truth [alêthês], though it was long ago.
Messenger
Come, tell me now: do you remember having given me a boy in those days, to be reared as my own foster-son?
Servant
What now? Why do you inquire [historeô] about this?
Messenger
1145 This man, my friend, is he who then was young.
Servant
Plague seize you. Be silent once and for all.
Oedipus
Rebuke him not, old man. Your words need rebuking more than his.
Servant
And in what way, most noble master, do I offend?
Oedipus
1150 In not telling of the boy of whom he inquires [historeô].
Servant
He speaks without knowledge, but labors [poneô] in vain.
Oedipus
You will not speak as a favor [kharis], but you will in pain.
Servant
No, in the name of the gods, do not mistreat an old man.
Oedipus
Ho, some one&endash;tie his hands behind him this instant!
Servant
1155 Alas, why? What do you want to learn?
Oedipus
Did you give this man the child about whom he inquires [historeô]?
Servant
I did. Would that I had perished that day!
Oedipus
Well, you will come to that, unless you say whatever has dikê in it.
Servant
But if I speak I will be destroyed all the more.
Oedipus
1160 This man is bent, I think, on more delays.
Servant
No, no! I said before that I gave it to him.
Oedipus
Where did you get it from? From your own house, or from another?
Servant
It was not my own; I received it from another.
Oedipus
From whom of the citizens here? From what home?
Servant
1165 For the love of the gods, master, inquire [historeô] no more!
Oedipus
You are lost if I have to question you again.
Servant
It was a child, then, of the house of Laios.
Oedipus
A slave? Or one of his own family [genos]?
Servant
Alas! I am on the dreaded brink of speech.
Oedipus
1170 And I of hearing; I must hear nevertheless.
Servant
You must know then, that it was said to be his own child. But your wife within could say best how these matters lie.
Oedipus
How? Did she give it to you?
Servant
Yes, my lord.
Oedipus
For what purpose?
Servant
That I should do away with it.
Oedipus
1175 Her own child, the wretched woman?
Servant
Yes, from fear of the evil prophecies.
Oedipus
What were they?
Servant
The tale ran that he would slay his father.
Oedipus
Why, then, did you give him to this old man?
Servant
Out of pity, master, thinking that he would carry him to another land, from where he himself came. But he saved [sôzô] him for the direst woes. 1180 For if you are what this man says, be certain that you were born ill-fated.
Oedipus
Oh, oh! All brought to pass, all true. Light, may I now look on you for the last time&endash;I who have been found to be accursed in birth, 1185 accursed in wedlock, accursed in the shedding of blood.
He rushes into the palace.
Chorus
strophe 1
Alas, generations of mortals, how mere a shadow I count your life! Where, where is the mortal who 1190 attains a happiness [eudaimoniâ] which is more than apparent and doomed to fall away to nothing? The example [paradeigma] of your fortune [daimôn] warns me&endash;yours, unhappy Oedipus&endash;to call no 1195 earthly creature blessed.
antistrophe 1
For he, O Zeus, shot his shaft with peerless skill, and won the prize of an entirely happy prosperity [eudaimôn olbos], having slain the maiden with crooked talons who sang darkly. 1200 He arose for our land like a tower against death. And from that time, Oedipus, you have been called our king, and have been given tîmê supremely, holding sway in great Thebes.
strophe 2
But now whose story is more grievous in men's ears? 1205 Who is a more wretched slave to troubles [ponoi] and fierce calamities [atai], with all his life reversed? Alas, renowned Oedipus! The same bounteous harbor was sufficient for you, both as child and as father, to make your nuptial couch in. Oh, how can the soil 1210 in which your father sowed, unhappy man, have endured you in silence for so long?
antistrophe 2
Time the all-seeing has found you out against your will, and he judges the monstrous marriage in which 1215 parent and child have long been one. Alas, child of Laios, would that I had never seen you! I wail as one who pours a dirge from his lips. 1220 It was you who gave me new life, to speak directly, and through you darkness has fallen upon my eyes.
A second messenger enters, from the palace.
Second Messenger
You who receive most tîmê in this land, what deeds you will hear, what deeds you will behold, what burden of suffering [penthos] will be yours, 1225 if, true to your genos, you still care for the house of Labdakos . For I think that neither the Ister nor the Phasis could wash this house clean, so many are the evils that it shrouds, or will soon bring to light, wrought not unwittingly, but on purpose. 1230 And those griefs smart the most which are seen to be of our own choice.
Chorus
The troubles which we knew before are far from being easy to bear. Besides them, what do you have to announce?
Second Messenger
This is the shortest tale to tell and hear: 1235 our divine Iocasta is dead.
Chorus
Alas, wretched woman! From what cause [aitiâ]?
Second Messenger
By her own hand. The worst pain of that which has happened is not for you, since you do not behold the events. Nevertheless, so far as my memory serves, 1240 you will learn that unhappy woman’s suffering [pathos].
When, frantic, she passed within the vestibule, she rushed straight towards her marriage couch, clutching her hair with the fingers of both hands. Once within the chamber, 1245 she dashed the doors together behind her, then called on the name of Laios, long since a corpse, mindful of that son, born long ago, by whose hand the father was slain, leaving the mother to breed accursed offspring with his own. And she bewailed the wedlock in which, wretched woman, she had given birth to a twofold brood, 1250 husband by husband, children by her child. And how she perished is more than I know. For with a shriek Oedipus burst in, and did not allow us to watch her woe until the end; on him, as he rushed around, our eyes were set. 1255 To and fro he went, asking us to give him a sword, asking where he could find the wife who was no wife, but a mother whose womb had born both him and his children. And in his frenzy a daimôn was his guide, for it was none of us mortals who were near. 1260 With a dread cry, as though some one beckoned him on, he sprang at the double doors, forced the bending bolts from the sockets, and rushed into the room. There we beheld the woman hanging by the neck in a twisted noose of swinging cords. 1265 And when he saw her, with a dread deep cry he released the halter by which she hung. And when the hapless woman was stretched out on the ground, then the sequel was horrible to see: for he tore from her raiment the golden brooches with which she had decorated herself, 1270 and lifting them struck his own eye-balls, uttering words like these: "No longer will you behold such evils as I was suffering [paskhô] and performing! Long enough have you looked on those whom you ought never to have seen, having failed in the knowledge of those whom I yearned to know&endash;henceforth you shall be dark!" 1275 With such a dire refrain, he struck his eyes with raised hand not once but often. At each blow the bloody eye-balls bedewed his beard, and did not send forth sluggish drops of gore, but all at once a dark shower of blood came down like hail. 1280 These mingled evils have broken forth upon the heads of them both, not of one alone, on husband and wife together. Their old prosperity [olbos] was once true prosperity, and justly [dikaia] so. But now on this day there is lamentation, atê, death, disgrace; of all the evils 1285 that can be named, not one is missing.
Chorus
And does the sufferer have any respite from evil now?
Second Messenger
He cries for some one to unbar the gates and show to all the Cadmeans his father’s slayer, his mother’s&endash;the words must not pass my lips&endash;1290 in order to banish himself from the land and not to remain in the palace under the curse that he himself pronounced. And yet he lacks strength, and one to guide his steps, for the anguish is more than he can bear. He will soon show this to you: look, the bars of the gates are withdrawn, 1295 and soon you will behold a sight which even he who abhors it must pity.
Oedipus enters, dripping with gore.
Chorus
O dread suffering [pathos] for men to see, O most dreadful of all that I have set my eyes on! Unhappy one, what madness has come upon you? 1300 What daimôn, with a leap of more than mortal range, has made your ill-fated destiny his prey? Alas, alas, you hapless man! I cannot even look on you, though there is much I desire to ask, much I desire to learn, 1305 much that draws my wistful gaze; with such a shuddering do you fill me!
Oedipus
Woe is me! Alas, alas, wretched that I am! Where, where am I carried in my misery? 1310 How is my voice swept abroad on the wings of the air? Oh, daimôn, how far you have sprung!
Chorus
To a dread place, dire in men’s ears, dire in their sight.
Oedipus
Oh horror of darkness that enfolds me, unspeakable visitant, 1315 resistless, sped by a wind too fair! Oh me! and once again, Oh me! How my soul is pierced by the stab of these goads and by the memory of evils!
Chorus
No wonder that amidst these woes 1320 you endure sorrow [penthos] and bear double evils.
Oedipus
Ah, philos, you still are steadfast in your care for me, you still have patience to tend the blind man! Ah me! 1325 Your presence is not hidden from me&endash;no, blind though I am, nevertheless I know your voice full well.
Chorus
Man of dread deeds, how could you extinguish [marainô] your vision in this way? Who among the daimones urged you on?
Oedipus
It was Apollo, philoi, Apollo 1330 who gave telos to these evil, evil sufferings [pathos pl.] of mine. But the hand that struck my eyes was none other than my own, wretched that I am! 1335 Why was I to see, when sight showed me nothing sweet?
Chorus
These things were just as you say.
Oedipus
What, philoi, can I behold any more, what can I love, what greeting can touch my ear with joy? Hurry, philoi, 1340 lead me from this place, lead me away, the utterly lost, 1345 the thrice-accursed, the mortal most hated by heaven!
Chorus
Wretched alike for your misfortune and for your noos of it, would that I had never known you!
Oedipus
Perish the man, whoever he was, that freed me in the past years from the cruel shackle on my feet&endash;a deed bringing no gratitude [kharis]! Had I died then, 1355 I would not have been so sore a grief [akhos] to my philoi and to my own self.
Chorus
I too would have it thus.
Oedipus
In this way I would not have come to shed my father’s blood, or been known among men as the spouse of the woman from whom I was born. 1360 Now I am forsaken by the gods, son of a defiled mother, successor to the bed of the man who gave me my own wretched being; 1365 if there is a woe surpassing woe, it has become Oedipus’ lot.
Chorus
I know not how I can say that you have counseled well; you would have been better dead than living and blind.
Oedipus
Don’t tell me that things have not been best done in this way; 1370 give me counsel no more. If I had sight, I know not with what eyes I could even have looked on my father, when I came to the house of Hades, or on my miserable mother, since against both I have committed such crimes as hanging myself could not punish. 1375 But do you think that the sight of children, born as mine were, was lovely for me to look upon? No, no, never lovely to my eyes! No, neither was this city with its towering walls, nor the sacred statues of the daimones, since I, thrice wretched that I am&endash;1380 I, noblest of the sons of Thebes&endash;have doomed myself to know these no more, by my own command that all should reject the impious one, the one whom the gods have revealed as unholy, a member of Laios’ own family [genos]! After baring such a stain upon myself, 1385 was I to look with steady eyes on these people? Not in the least! Were there a way to choke the fount of hearing, I would not have hesitated to make a fast prison of this wretched frame, so that I should have known neither sight nor sound. 1390 It is sweet that our thought should dwell beyond the sphere of evils. Alas, Kithairon, why did you provide a shelter for me? When I was given to you, why did you not slay me straightaway, that I might never reveal to men whence I am born? Ah, Polybos , ah, Corinth, and you that was called the ancient house of my father, 1395 how fair-seeming was I your nursling, and what evils were festering underneath! Now I am found kakos, and born from evils [kaka]. You three roads, and you secret glen, you, thicket, and narrow way where three paths met&endash;1400 you who drank my father’s blood from my own hands&endash;do you remember, perhaps, what deeds I have performed in your sight, and then what fresh deeds I went on to do when I came here? O marriage ritual [telos], you gave me birth, and when you had brought me forth, 1405 you again bore children to your child, you created an incestuous kinship of fathers, brothers, sons, brides, wives, and mothers&endash;all the foulest deeds that are wrought among men! But it is improper to name what it is improper to do&endash;1410 hurry, for the love of the gods, hide me somewhere beyond the land, or slay me, or cast me into the sea, where you will never behold me any longer! Approach&endash;deign to lay your hands on a wretched man&endash;listen and fear not: my woes can rest 1415 on no other mortal.
Chorus
But here is Creon in good time to plan and perform that which you request. He alone is left to guard the land in your place.
Oedipus
Ah me, what word [epos] will I speak to him? 1420 What claim to credence can be shown on my part? For in the past I have proved to be wholly kakos to him.
Creon enters.
Creon
I have not come to mock or reproach you with any past evils.
To the Attendants.
But you, if you no longer respect the children of men, 1425 revere at least the all-nurturing flame of our lord the Sun, and do not show so openly such a pollution as this, one which neither earth, nor holy rain, nor the light can welcome. Take him into the house as quickly as you can: it best accords with reverence that 1430 relations alone, members of the family, should see and hear these woes.
Oedipus
By the gods&endash;since you have done a gentle violence to my prediction, coming as a most noble [aristos] man to me, a man most kakos&endash;grant me a favor: I will speak for your own good, not mine.
Creon
1435 And what do you wish so eagerly to get from me?
Oedipus
Cast me out of this land with all speed, to a place where no mortal shall be found to greet me.
Creon
This I could have done, to be sure, except I craved first to learn from the god all my duty.
Oedipus
1440 But his behest has been set forth in full: to let me perish, the parricide, unholy one that I am.
Creon
Thus it was said. But since we have come to such a pass, it is better to learn clearly what should be done.
Oedipus
Will you, then, seek a response on behalf of such a wretch as I?
Creon
1445 Yes, for even you yourself will now surely put faith in the god.
Oedipus
Yes. And on you I lay this charge, to you I make this entreaty: give to the woman within such burial as you wish&endash;you will properly render the last rites to your own. But never let this city of my father be condemned 1450 to have me dwelling within, as long as I live. No, allow me to live in the hills, where Kithairon, famed as mine, sits, which my mother and father, while they lived, fixed as my appointed tomb, so that I may die according to the decree of those who sought to slay me. 1455 And yet I know this much, that neither sickness nor anything else can destroy me; for I would never have been saved [sôzô] from death, except in order to suffer some terrible evil. Let my fate [moira] go where it will. Regarding my children, Creon, I beg you to take no care of my sons: 1460 they are men, so they will never lack the means to live wherever they may be. My two girls, poor hapless ones&endash;who never knew my table spread separately, or lacked their father’s presence, but always had a share of all that reached my hands&endash;1465 I implore you to take care of them. And, if you can, allow me to touch them with my hands, and to indulge my grief for these woes. Grant it, lord, grant it, noble in birth. Ah, if I could but once touch them with my hands, I would think that I had them 1470 just as when I had sight.
Antigone and Ismene are led in.
What’s this? By the gods, can it be my loved ones that I hear sobbing? Can Creon have taken pity on me and sent my children, my darlings? 1475 Am I right?
Creon
You are. I have brought this about, for I knew the joy which you have long had from them&endash;the joy you now have.
Oedipus
Bless you, and for this errand may a daimôn prove a kinder guardian to you than it has to me. 1480 My children, where are you? Come, here, here to the hands of the one whose mother was your own, the hands that have made your father’s once bright eyes to be such orbs as these&endash;he who, seeing nothing, inquiring [historeô] not at all, 1485 became your father by her from whom he was born! For you also do I weep, though I cannot see you, when I think of the bitter life that men will make you live in days to come. To what company of the citizens will you go, to what festival, 1490 from which you will not return home in tears, instead of participating [being a theôros] in the festivities? But when you reach a ripe age for marriage, who shall he be, who shall be the man, my daughters, to hazard taking upon himself the reproaches 1495 that will certainly be baneful to my offspring and yours? What misery is lacking? Your father killed his own father, and begot you from the same place he himself was born! 1500 Such are the taunts that will be cast at you. And who then will you wed? The man does not live&endash;no, it cannot be, my children, but you will wither in barren maidenhood. Son of Menoikeus, hear me: since you are the only father left to them&endash;we, their parents, are both gone&endash;1505 do not allow them to wander poor and unwed, for they are your own relations, and do not abase them to the level of my woes. But pity them, seeing them deprived of everything at such an age, except for you. 1510 Promise, noble man, and touch them with your hand. To you, children, I would have given much advice [parainesis], if your phrenes were mature. But now pray that you may live where occasion allows, and that the life which is your lot may be happier than your father’s.
Creon
1515 Your grief has had a sufficient scope; pass into the house.
Oedipus
I must obey, though I do it in no way gladly.
Creon
Yes, for all things are good at the right time.
Oedipus
Do you know on what terms I will go?
Creon
You will tell me, and then I will know when I have heard them.
Oedipus
See that you send me to dwell outside this land.
Creon
You ask for what the god must give.
Oedipus
But to the gods I have become most hateful.
Creon
Then you will quickly get your wish.
Oedipus
So you consent?
Creon
It is not my way to say idly what I do not mean.
Oedipus
1520 Then it is time to lead me away.
Creon
Come, then, but let your children go.
Oedipus
No, do not take them from me!
Creon
Do not wish to be master in all things: the mastery which you did attain has not followed you through life.
They all exit into the palace.
Chorus
Inhabitants of our native Thebes, behold, this is Oedipus, 1525 who knew the riddles [ainigma pl.] of great renown [kleos], and was a most mighty man. What citizen did not gaze on his fortune with envy? See into what a stormy sea of troubles he has come! Therefore, while our eyes wait to see the day of telos, we must call no mortal blessed [olbios] until 1530 he has crossed life’s border without having suffered [paskhô] any pain.