Oedipus the King

OedipusChildren, newest brood of ancient Cadmus, why are you sitting here before me like this, wreathed with suppliants’ branches? The whole city is full of incense, and full of hymns to the Healer and groans together. I didn’t think it right, children, to hear about this from messengers, from other people, so I have come here myself: I, Oedipus, whose name everyone knows. Come, old man, tell me, since you’re the one fit to speak for these people. What has brought you here? Fear, or something you long for? You can be sure I’d be willing to help in every way. I’d be a hard-hearted man if I felt no pity for a gathering like this.note

PriestOedipus, ruler of my land, you see how young and how old we are who sit at your altars. Some aren’t yet strong enough to fly far, and some are heavy with age. We are priests, and I am the priest of Zeus, and these were chosen from the young men. The rest of the people sit wreathed in the marketplaces, at the twin temples of Pallas, and by the prophetic embers of Ismenus.note

OedipusMy poor children, what you’ve come here longing for is known to me, not unknown. I know well that you are all sick. And sick as you are, there isn’t one of you whose sickness is equal to mine. Your pain comes to each of you alone, to himself and to no one else. But my soul grieves for the city, for myself, and for you, all at once. So you aren’t waking me from sleep. Know that I have wept many tears, and traveled many roads in the wanderings of my thoughts.

PriestYou speak just in time: these men have just signaled to me that Creon is approaching.

OedipusLord Apollo, if only he comes with some saving fortune, bright as his face is bright!

PriestAs far as one can guess, his news is welcome. Otherwise he wouldn’t be coming with his head crowned so thickly with berry-laden laurel.

OedipusWe’ll know soon. He’s close enough to hear. My lord, my kinsman, son of Menoeceus, what word from the god have you brought us?

CreonGood news. I say that even what is hard to bear, if it happens to turn out right, will end well.

OedipusBut what is the word? What you’ve said so far makes me neither bold nor afraid.

CreonIf you want to hear it with these people close by, I’m ready to speak, or else to go inside.

OedipusSpeak out to everyone. The grief I carry is more for them than for my own life.

CreonThen I’ll tell you what I heard from the god. Lord Phoebus plainly commands us to drive out a pollution from the land, one that has been nurtured in this soil, and not to nurture it until it can’t be cured.

OedipusWith what purification? What is the nature of the trouble?

CreonBy banishing a man, or by paying for blood with blood again, since it’s this blood that brings the storm upon the city.

OedipusAnd whose fate is it that he reveals?

CreonOnce, before you came to steer this city, we had a leader of this land, Laius.

OedipusI know that from hearing of him. I never set eyes on him.

CreonHe was killed, and now the god plainly commands us to punish the men who killed him with their own hands, whoever they are.

OedipusAnd where on earth are they? Where will this faint track of an old crime be found?

CreonIn this land, he said. What is sought can be caught; what is neglected escapes.

OedipusWas it at home, or in the country, or in some other land that Laius met this death?

CreonHe had gone abroad, so he said, to consult the oracle, and once he’d set out, he never came home again.

OedipusAnd no messenger, no fellow traveler saw it, someone whose story could have been put to use?

CreonNo, they were killed, all but one. He fled in fear, and of what he saw he could say only one thing for certain.

OedipusWhat was that? One thing could lead us to learn many, if we could get a small beginning for hope.

CreonHe said robbers met them and killed him, not with the strength of one man, but with many hands.

OedipusThen how could the robber have dared go so far, unless something was being paid for with silver from here?

CreonThat was suspected. But with Laius dead, no one rose to help us in our troubles.

OedipusAnd what trouble stood in your way, when royal power had fallen like that, to stop you from finding this out?

CreonThe Sphinx with her intricate songs made us let go of what was hidden and look at what lay at our feet.

OedipusThen I’ll start again from the beginning and bring it to light. Phoebus has rightly, and you have rightly, turned this attention to the dead man. So you will see me too as an ally, as is just, avenging this land and the god as well. Not on behalf of some distant loved one, but for my own sake I will drive away this defilement myself.

PriestChildren, let us rise. What he has just announced is what we came here for. And may Phoebus, who sent these oracles, come as our savior too, and put an end to the sickness.

ChorusSweet-spoken word of Zeus, what are you,
that have come from Pytho rich in gold
to shining Thebes?
I am stretched on the rack, my fearful heart shaking with dread,
Healer of Delos, to whom we cry,
in awe of you: what will you bring to pass for me,
something new,
or something that comes again with the circling seasons?
Tell me, child of golden Hope,
immortal Voice.note

First I call on you, daughter of Zeus, immortal Athena,
and on your sister who guards our land,
Artemis, who sits on her glorious throne in the circle of the marketplace,
and on Phoebus, who shoots from afar: oh,
you three who ward off death, appear to me!
If ever before, when ruin came rushing on the city,
you drove the flame of suffering out of our land,
come now too.

Oh, oh, numberless are the sorrows I bear.
My whole people is sick,
and thought has no weapon
to ward it off.
The children of our famous earth do not grow,
and women do not rise from their crying labor
with children born.
One after another you can see them,
like birds on swift wings,
speeding faster than raging fire
to the shore of the western god.

In their numberless deaths the city perishes.
Its children lie unpitied on the ground,
spreading death, with no one to mourn them.
And wives, and gray-haired mothers with them,
at the altars’ edge, from every side,
groan as suppliants for their bitter pains.
The healing hymn blazes out,
and with it the voice of lament.
For all this, golden daughter of Zeus,
send us help with a bright face.

And Ares the raging,
who now without bronze shields
burns me as he comes amid cries,
I pray he will turn his back and run from our homeland,
swept by a fair wind,
either to the great chamber of Amphitrite
or to the Thracian waves
where no harbor welcomes strangers.
For if night leaves anything undone,
day comes on to finish it.
Him, you who wield the power
of fire-bearing lightning,
Father Zeus, destroy him beneath your thunderbolt.note

Lycean lord, I would have your arrows,
unconquerable, from your gold-twisted bowstring,
scattered among us, set before us to help,
and the fire-bearing light of Artemis’ torches,
with which she darts across the Lycian hills.
And I call on the god of the golden headband,
who shares his name with this land,
wine-flushed Bacchus, hailed with joyful cries,
companion of the Maenads,
to come near, blazing
with a bright …
torch, against the god dishonored among the gods.note

OedipusYou pray. And what you pray for, if you are willing to hear and accept my words and do what the sickness demands, you may receive: defense and relief from your troubles. I will speak as a stranger to this story, and a stranger to the deed. I couldn’t track it far on my own without some clue. But as it is, since I became a citizen among citizens only later, I proclaim this to all of you, people of Cadmus: whoever among you knows by what man Laius, son of Labdacus, was killed, I command him to reveal everything to me.

Even if this matter weren’t driven on by a god, it wasn’t right for you to leave it unpurified like this, when a man so noble, your king, had died. You should have searched it out. But now, since I happen to hold the power he once held, and have his bed, and a wife we have both sown, and children of one mother would have bound us together, if his line had not met misfortune—

ChorusSince you have bound me under your curse, my lord, I will speak in the same spirit. I didn’t kill him, and I can’t point out who did. It was for Phoebus, who sent us on this search, to tell us who has done it.

OedipusThat’s fair. But no man alive could force the gods to do what they don’t want.

ChorusThen I’d tell you what seems to me the next best course.

OedipusAnd if there’s a third, don’t fail to tell me that too.

ChorusI know that the lord Teiresias sees most nearly what the lord Phoebus sees. Anyone looking into this could learn it from him most clearly.

OedipusI haven’t left this undone either. On Creon’s advice I sent two men to bring him. I’ve been wondering for some time why he isn’t here.

ChorusAnd then there are the other rumors, faint and old.

OedipusWhat are they? I’m looking into every story.

ChorusIt was said he was killed by some travelers.

OedipusI’ve heard that too. But no one sees the man who saw it.

ChorusWell, if he has any share of fear, he won’t stay once he hears curses like yours.

OedipusA man who has no fear of the deed won’t be frightened by a word.

ChorusBut here is the one who will expose him. They are bringing the godlike prophet now, the only man in whom the truth is inborn.

OedipusTeiresias, you who grasp everything, what can be taught and what cannot be spoken, things of heaven and things that walk the earth: even though you cannot see, you still understand what sickness lives with our city. Against it, my lord, we find you alone as our protector and savior. For Phoebus, if you haven’t heard it from the messengers, sent back an answer to us when we sent to him: the only release from this sickness would come if we found out for certain who killed Laius, and killed them or sent them out of the land as exiles.

TeiresiasAh, ah, how terrible it is to be wise when wisdom brings no profit to the wise! I knew this well, and let it slip from my mind. Otherwise I would never have come here.

OedipusWhat is it? How downhearted you are, coming in!

TeiresiasLet me go home. You will bear your lot most easily, and I mine, if you listen to me.

OedipusWhat you say isn’t lawful, and it’s no kindness to this city that raised you, if you hold back this word.

TeiresiasBecause I see that your own words aren’t going where they should. So, so that I won’t suffer the same—

OedipusFor the gods’ sake, if you know, don’t turn away, when all of us here kneel to you as suppliants.

TeiresiasBecause none of you understands. I will never reveal my troubles, so as not to speak of yours.

OedipusWhat are you saying? You know, and you won’t tell? You mean to betray us and destroy the city?

TeiresiasI will not cause pain to myself or to you. Why do you question me in vain? You won’t learn it from me.

OedipusYou lowest of the low, you’d enrage a stone! Won’t you ever speak out? Will you go on like this, unmoved, never coming to the point?

TeiresiasYou blame my temper, but you don’t see the one that lives right there with you. Instead you find fault with me.

OedipusWho wouldn’t be angry, hearing words like these, with which you now dishonor this city?

TeiresiasIt will come of itself, even if I shroud it in silence.

OedipusThen what is coming, you ought to tell me.

TeiresiasI will say no more. So, if you like, rage away, with the wildest anger you have.

OedipusAll right, then. I’m so angry I’ll leave out nothing of what I understand. Know that I think you helped plan the deed, and did it too, short of killing with your own hands. And if you had your sight, I’d say the deed was yours alone.

TeiresiasReally? I tell you to abide by the proclamation you made, and from this day on to speak neither to these people nor to me, since you are the unholy polluter of this land.

OedipusYou dare start up a story like this, so shamelessly? And how do you think you’ll get away with it?

TeiresiasI have escaped. The truth I nurture is strong.

OedipusWho taught you that? It wasn’t your craft, certainly.

TeiresiasYou did. You drove me to speak against my will.

OedipusSpeak what? Say it again, so I can understand it better.

TeiresiasDidn’t you understand before? Or are you testing me, to make me talk?

OedipusNot so I could say I’ve grasped it. Tell me again.

TeiresiasI say you are the killer of the man whose killer you are seeking.

OedipusYou’ll regret saying such vile things twice.

TeiresiasShall I tell you something more, then, to make you angrier still?

OedipusAs much as you like. It will be said for nothing.

TeiresiasI say that without knowing it you are living in the most shameful intimacy with those closest to you, and you can’t see how deep in evil you are.

OedipusDo you really think you’ll go on saying these things and enjoy it?

TeiresiasYes, if the truth has any strength.

OedipusIt does, except for you. In you it has none, since you are blind in your ears, your mind, and your eyes.

TeiresiasAnd you’re a poor wretch, throwing these insults at me, which everyone here will soon be throwing at you.

OedipusYou live in one unbroken night, so you could never harm me, or anyone else who sees the light.

TeiresiasNo, it isn’t your fate to fall by my hand. Apollo is enough; it is his concern to bring this about.

OedipusAre these Creon’s inventions, or yours?

TeiresiasCreon is no harm to you. You are your own.

OedipusWealth, and kingship, and skill that outstrips every other skill in a life that others envy, how much jealousy you store up against yourselves! This power was put into my hands by the city as a gift; I never asked for it. And if for its sake Creon, the trusted one, my friend from the first, longs to creep up on me in secret and throw me out, he has set this wizard on me, this weaver of schemes, a crafty beggar-priest who has eyes only for profit and was born blind in his own art.

ChorusAs far as we can guess, both his words and yours, Oedipus, were spoken in anger. That isn’t what we need. We need to look at how we can best fulfill the god’s oracle.

OedipusAm I really supposed to stand here and hear this from him? Curse you! Get out, quickly! Won’t you turn around and get away from this house?

TeiresiasI would never have come at all if you hadn’t called me.

OedipusI didn’t know you’d talk such nonsense, or I’d have been in no hurry to fetch you to my house.

TeiresiasThat’s what I am: a fool, as it seems to you, but sensible enough to the parents who gave you birth.

OedipusWhat parents? Wait! Who on earth is my father?

TeiresiasThis day will give you birth, and destroy you.

OedipusEverything you say is riddles and darkness.

TeiresiasWell, aren’t you the best man alive at solving riddles?

OedipusGo ahead, mock me for the very thing in which you’ll find me great.

TeiresiasAnd yet that very luck has been your ruin.

OedipusBut if I saved this city, I don’t care.

TeiresiasThen I’ll go. Boy, lead me away.

OedipusYes, let him lead you. While you’re here you’re underfoot and a nuisance. Once you’re gone, you won’t trouble me anymore.

TeiresiasI’ll go once I’ve said what I came to say. I’m not afraid of your face; there’s no way you can destroy me. And I tell you this. The man you’ve long been hunting with threats and proclamations about the murder of Laius is here. He’s called a foreigner living among us, but he’ll be revealed as a native-born Theban, and he won’t be glad of the discovery. Blind instead of seeing, a beggar instead of rich, he will make his way to a foreign land, feeling the ground ahead of him with a staff.

ChorusWho is the man the prophesying rock of Delphi spoke of,
the man who did the most unspeakable of unspeakable things
with blood-red hands?
Now is his hour to ply his feet in flight,
stronger than storm-swift horses.
For armed against him the son of Zeus leaps
with fire and lightning,
and close behind him follow
the dread death-spirits that never miss.

For just now the word has flashed
from snowy Parnassus:
everyone track down the hidden man!
He roams under the wild woods,
through caves and over rocks,
like a bull,
wretched, alone, on wretched feet,
trying to keep far from him the oracles
from the earth’s central navel.
But they live forever,
and flutter round him.note

Terrible, terrible is the trouble
the wise reader of birds stirs in me.
I can’t accept it, I can’t deny it;
I don’t know what to say.
I float on hopes,
seeing neither what is here nor what lies behind.
What quarrel lay between the Labdacids
and the son of Polybus
I have never learned,
not before, not now,
no proof to test it by,
that I should go against the fame
Oedipus has among the people,
as an ally to the Labdacids
for deaths no one has seen.note

Zeus and Apollo, yes, have understanding
and know the ways of mortals.
But that among men a seer counts for more than I do,
there’s no true way to judge.
One man may outstrip another’s wisdom with his own.
But never, until I see the word proved straight,
would I side with those who blame him.
For in plain sight the winged maiden
came against him once,
and he was seen to be wise;
he stood the test, the city’s joy.
So in my mind
he will never be found guilty of evil.

CreonFellow citizens, I’ve heard that King Oedipus is bringing terrible charges against me, and I’m here because I can’t bear it. If he thinks that in our present troubles he has suffered anything from me, in word or in deed, that tends to do him harm, then I have no desire for a long life with this reputation hanging over me. The damage this charge does me is no simple matter. It’s the greatest there is, if I’m to be called a traitor in the city, a traitor by you and by my friends.

ChorusWell, that insult may have come out forced by anger, rather than from considered judgment.

CreonAnd did he openly say that the seer was won over by my advice to tell lies?

ChorusThat was said. With what intention, I don’t know.

CreonAnd was this charge made against me with steady eyes and a steady mind?

ChorusI don’t know. I don’t see what those in power do. But here he is himself, coming out of the house.

OedipusYou! How did you get here? Do you have such a brazen face that you’ve come to my house, when you’re plainly the murderer of the man before you and clearly a thief of my throne? Come, tell me, by the gods: what cowardice or foolishness did you see in me, that you planned to do this? Did you think I wouldn’t notice this plot of yours creeping up on me by stealth, or that I wouldn’t defend myself once I found out? Isn’t it foolish, this attempt of yours, to hunt for kingship without numbers and friends, when it’s a prize that is caught with numbers and money?

CreonDo you know what you should do? Hear an equal answer to what you’ve said, and then judge for yourself, once you know.

OedipusYou’re clever at talking, but I’m a bad learner, from you. I’ve found you hostile and dangerous to me.

CreonOn that very point, first hear me out.

OedipusOn that very point, don’t tell me you’re not a traitor.

CreonIf you think stubbornness without sense is something worth having, you’re not thinking straight.

OedipusIf you think you can wrong a kinsman and not pay the penalty, you’re not thinking right.

CreonI agree that’s justly said. But tell me what harm it is you say you’ve suffered.

OedipusDid you or didn’t you persuade me that I ought to send someone for that revered prophet?

CreonAnd I still hold the same view now.

OedipusHow long is it now since Laius—

CreonDid what? I don’t follow.

Oedipus—vanished from sight, struck down by a deadly hand?

CreonYou would count a long time back, years and years.

OedipusWas this seer practicing his art back then?

CreonJust as wise as now, and just as respected.

OedipusDid he mention me at all at that time?

CreonNot, at any rate, when I was standing anywhere near.

OedipusBut didn’t you hold an inquiry into the killer?

CreonWe did, of course we did, and heard nothing.

OedipusThen why didn’t this wise man say all this back then?

CreonI don’t know. Where I have no understanding, I prefer to keep quiet.

OedipusThis much you do know, and you’d say it if you had any sense.

CreonWhat’s that? If I know it, I won’t deny it.

OedipusThat if he hadn’t put his head together with yours, he would never have called the killing of Laius mine.

CreonWhether that’s what he says, you know yourself. But I have the right to learn from you just as much as you’ve learned from me.

OedipusAsk away. I’ll never be convicted as a murderer.

CreonWell then. You’re married to my sister?

OedipusThere’s no denying what you ask.

CreonAnd you rule this land with her, giving her an equal share?

OedipusWhatever she wants, she gets from me.

CreonAnd aren’t I the third, equal to the two of you?

OedipusYes, and that’s exactly where you show yourself a false friend.

CreonNot if you reasoned it through with yourself as I do. Consider this first: do you think anyone would choose to rule amid fears rather than sleep untroubled, if he were going to have the same power either way? I, for one, was not born longing to be king rather than to act like a king, and neither is anyone else who knows how to be sensible. As it is, I get everything from you without any fear. If I ruled myself, I’d be doing many things against my will.

ChorusHe has spoken well for anyone careful not to fall. Those who are quick to decide are not safe.

OedipusWhen the man plotting against me in secret moves quickly, I have to be quick with my own plans. If I wait and do nothing, his plans will be accomplished, and mine will have failed.

CreonWhat do you want, then? To throw me out of the country?

OedipusNot at all. I want you dead, not exiled, so that you can show the world what envy comes to.

CreonYou talk like a man who won’t give way or believe me.

Because I can see you’re not thinking straight.

OedipusAbout my own interests, I am.

CreonBut you should be about mine as well.

OedipusBut you were born a traitor.

CreonAnd what if you understand nothing?

OedipusEven so, I must rule.

CreonNot if you rule badly.

OedipusCity, my city!

CreonI have a share in this city too, not just you.

ChorusStop, both of you. I see Jocasta coming out of the house just in time, and with her help you should settle this quarrel that’s broken out.

JocastaYou wretched men, why have you started this senseless war of words? Aren’t you ashamed to be stirring up private quarrels while the land is so sick? You go inside, and you, Creon, go home, and don’t blow up a grievance that’s nothing into something huge.

CreonSister, your husband Oedipus thinks it right to do terrible things to me. He’s chosen between two evils: to drive me out of my homeland, or to seize me and kill me.

OedipusI agree. Wife, I caught him plotting harm against my person with his wicked craft.

CreonMay I never prosper; may I die accursed, if I’ve done to you any of what you accuse me of doing.

JocastaPlease, by the gods, believe him, Oedipus! Above all out of respect for this oath he’s sworn by the gods, and then for my sake, and for these men here with you.

ChorusBe persuaded, willingly, wisely,
my lord, I beg you.

OedipusWhat do you want me to give way on?

ChorusRespect the man who was no fool before,
and now is made great by his oath.

OedipusDo you know what you’re asking?

ChorusI do.

OedipusThen tell me what you mean.

ChorusNever cast your friend,
who has sworn himself under a curse,
into disgrace
on an unproven charge.

OedipusThen know this well: when you ask for this, you’re asking for my death, or my exile from this land.

ChorusNo, by the foremost god of all the gods,
the Sun!
Godless, friendless,
may I die the worst death there is,
if that is my thought.
But the dying land
wears away my unhappy soul,
if to its old troubles
are joined new troubles from you two.

OedipusThen let him go, even if it means I must die outright, or be thrust out of this land in disgrace by force. It’s your words that move me to pity, they’re so pitiful, not his. Wherever he is, he’ll be hated.

CreonYou’re plainly sullen when you give way, and harsh when your anger goes too far. Natures like yours are, rightly, the hardest for themselves to bear.

OedipusWon’t you leave me alone and get out?

CreonI’m going. You never knew me, but in these men’s eyes I’m the same as ever.

ChorusLady, why do you wait
to take him into the house?

JocastaWhen I’ve learned what has happened.

ChorusA suspicion came from words no one could vouch for,
and even what is unjust can bite.

JocastaFrom both sides?

ChorusYes.

JocastaAnd what was said?

ChorusEnough, for me, enough,
with the land already in pain.
Let it stay where it stopped.

OedipusDo you see where you’ve ended up, for all your good judgment, letting my cause drop and blunting the edge of my heart?

ChorusI’ve said it, and not just once:
know that I’d be shown out of my mind,
lost to all good sense,
if I turned away from you,
you who set my beloved land on a straight course
when it was wandering in its troubles.
Now, if you can,
be our good guide again.

JocastaBy the gods, tell me too: what is it that has stirred up such anger in you?

OedipusI’ll tell you, wife, since I respect you more than these men. It’s Creon, and the plots he’s laid against me.

JocastaGo on, if you can state the charge clearly and say what started the quarrel.

OedipusHe says I’m the murderer of Laius.

JocastaDoes he claim to know it himself, or did he learn it from someone else?

OedipusNo, he sent in a scoundrel of a seer, and that way he keeps his own mouth entirely clear.

JocastaThen let yourself off all you’re talking about and listen to me. Learn that no mortal has any share in the art of prophecy. I’ll give you a brief proof of it. An oracle came to Laius once, I won’t say from Phoebus himself, but from his servants, saying that it would be his fate to die at the hands of a son, who would be born to him and me.

OedipusWife, since I heard you just now, what a wandering of my soul has seized me, what a churning of my mind!

JocastaWhat worry has turned you round, to make you say this?

OedipusI thought I heard you say that Laius was cut down where three roads meet.

JocastaThat was what was said, and the story hasn’t died away yet.

OedipusAnd where is this place where it happened?

JocastaThe country is called Phocis, and the road forks there: the ways from Delphi and from Daulia meet at the same spot.note

OedipusAnd how much time has passed since then?

JocastaIt was announced to the city just a little before you appeared and took power over this land.

OedipusZeus, what have you planned to do with me?

JocastaOedipus, why does this weigh on your mind?

OedipusDon’t ask me yet. Tell me about Laius: what did he look like, and how old was he?

JocastaTall, his hair just beginning to be flecked with white, and in build not so very different from you.

OedipusOh, no, the misery! It seems I’ve just flung myself into terrible curses without knowing it.

JocastaWhat do you mean? I tremble when I look at you.

OedipusI’m terribly afraid the seer can see. But you’ll make it clearer if you tell me one thing more.

JocastaI’m afraid, I really am. But whatever you ask, if I know it, I’ll tell you.

OedipusWas he traveling light, or with a large band of armed men, as a ruler would?

JocastaThere were five in all, and one of them was a herald. A single carriage carried Laius.

OedipusOh, no! Now it’s all too clear. Wife, who was it who told you all this?

JocastaA household servant, the only one who got back alive.

OedipusIs he in the house now, by any chance?

JocastaNo. When he came back from there and saw you in power and Laius dead, he took my hand and begged me to send him to the fields and the sheep pastures, so that he’d be as far as possible out of sight of this town. And I sent him. For a slave, he deserved a greater favor even than that.

OedipusCould he be brought back to us quickly?

JocastaHe can be. But why do you want this?

OedipusI’m afraid for myself, wife. I’m afraid I’ve said far too much already, and that’s why I want to see him.

JocastaHe’ll come. But I think I too deserve to learn what weighs on you so heavily, my lord.

OedipusAnd you won’t be denied it, now that my fears have gone so far. Who is there that matters more than you, for me to tell, as I go through a fortune like this? My father was Polybus of Corinth, my mother Merope, a Dorian. I was held the greatest man among the citizens there, until something happened to me. It was worth wondering at, but it wasn’t worth all the heat I gave it.

ChorusThis frightens us too, my lord. But until you’ve heard it from the man who was there, keep hoping.

OedipusYes, this much hope I still have: to wait for the herdsman, and that alone.

JocastaAnd when he comes, what is it you’re so eager for?

OedipusI’ll tell you. If he turns out to say the same as you, I’ll have escaped disaster.

JocastaWhat did you hear me say that matters so much?

OedipusYou said he told of robbers killing him. Now if he still speaks of the same number, I didn’t kill him: one man can’t be the same as many. But if he names one man traveling alone, then clearly the deed now tips toward me.

JocastaWell, be sure that this is how the story was told; he can’t take it back now. The city heard it, not I alone. And even if he does veer a little from his earlier account, he’ll never show that Laius’ death at your hands squares with the prophecy. Loxias declared that Laius must die by my son. Yet that poor child never killed him; he died first himself. So as far as prophecy goes, from now on I wouldn’t look this way or that.

OedipusYou’re right. All the same, send someone to fetch the laborer. Don’t let this go.

JocastaI’ll send at once. But let’s go inside. I wouldn’t do anything that isn’t your wish.

ChorusMay fate be with me as I keep
a reverent purity in all my words
and all my deeds, for which laws stand set before us,
laws that stride on high,
begotten in the heavenly air,
whose only father is Olympus;
no mortal nature of men
gave them birth,
nor shall forgetfulness ever lull them to sleep.
Great is the god in them, and he does not grow old.

But if anyone goes his way in contempt, in deed or word,
with no fear of Justice, no reverence for the shrines of the gods,
may an evil fate seize him
for his ill-starred luxury,
if he will not win his gains justly
and keep from impious things,
or lays hands in his folly on what must not be touched.
When things are so, what man will ever boast again
that he can ward off the gods’ arrows from his soul?
For if deeds like these are honored,
why should I dance?

No longer will I go in reverence
to the untouchable navel of the earth,
nor to the temple at Abae, nor to Olympia,
unless these oracles and these events come together
so plainly that all mortals can point to them.
But you who hold power, if you are rightly called so,
Zeus, ruler of all, do not let this escape
you and your undying, everlasting rule.
For the old prophecies about Laius are fading;
already people are setting them aside,
and nowhere is Apollo shown honor.
Things divine are perishing.note

JocastaLords of this land, the thought came to me to visit the temples of the gods, carrying in my hands these garlands and offerings of incense. For Oedipus is working his spirit up too high with all kinds of griefs. He doesn’t judge the new by the old, as a man of sense would; he is at the mercy of whoever is speaking, as long as the speaker speaks of terrors. So since my advice does no good, I’ve come to you, Lycean Apollo, for you are nearest, as a suppliant with these prayers, so that you may grant us some release that brings no defilement. Right now we are all afraid, seeing him shaken, as sailors are when they see the helmsman of their ship shaken.

MessengerStrangers, could you tell me where the house of King Oedipus is? Better still, tell me where he is himself, if you know.

ChorusThis is the house, stranger, and he himself is inside. And this lady is his wife and mother of his children.

MessengerThen may she be happy always, and among the happy, since she is his wife in every sense.

JocastaAnd the same to you, stranger; your kind words deserve it. But tell me what you’ve come for and what news you mean to give.

MessengerGood news for the house and for your husband, my lady.

JocastaWhat news is that? And who has sent you?

MessengerI come from Corinth. The news I’m about to tell will please you—how could it not?—though perhaps it will grieve you too.

JocastaWhat is it? How can it have this double power?

MessengerThe people of the Isthmus are going to make him their king. That’s what they were saying there.

JocastaWhat? Isn’t old Polybus still in power?

MessengerNo, not anymore. Death has him in the tomb.

JocastaWhat did you say? Polybus is dead, old man?

MessengerIf I’m not telling the truth, I deserve to die.

JocastaYou there, go to your master as fast as you can and tell him this! Oracles of the gods, where are you now? This is the man Oedipus fled long ago, terrified that he would kill him, and now he has died by chance, not by his hand.

OedipusJocasta, my dearest wife, why have you sent for me to come out of the house?

JocastaListen to this man, and as you listen, see what the god’s solemn oracles have come to.

OedipusAnd who is he? What has he to tell me?

JocastaHe’s from Corinth, here to report that your father Polybus is no more. He’s dead.

OedipusWhat are you saying, stranger? Tell me yourself.

MessengerIf this is what I must report first and plainly, be sure of it: he is dead and gone.

OedipusBy treachery, or did some sickness come upon him?

MessengerA small tip of the scale puts old bodies to sleep.

OedipusSo the poor man died of sickness, it seems.

MessengerYes, and of the long span of years that measured out his life.

OedipusAh, ah! Why then, wife, should anyone look to the prophetic hearth at Pytho, or to the birds screaming overhead? By their guidance I was going to kill my father. But he is dead and lies hidden deep beneath the earth, and here I am, never having touched a weapon—unless he wasted away from missing me; in that sense he’d have died because of me. Anyway, Polybus has gathered up these oracles, just as they stand, and lies with them in Hades, worth nothing.

JocastaDidn’t I tell you this long ago?

OedipusYou did. But fear led me astray.

JocastaThen don’t take any of it to heart anymore.

OedipusBut how can I not dread my mother’s bed?

OedipusAll this would have been well said, if my mother weren’t still alive. But since she lives, I have every reason to shrink from it, however well you speak.

JocastaAnd yet your father’s grave is a great light.

OedipusGreat, I understand. But I’m afraid of her, while she lives.

MessengerAnd who is this woman you’re so afraid of?

OedipusMerope, old man, who lived with Polybus.

MessengerAnd what is there about her that frightens you?

OedipusA terrible oracle, sent by a god, stranger.

MessengerCan it be told? Or is it not right for anyone else to know?

OedipusOf course it can. Loxias once said that I was fated to lie with my own mother and to shed my father’s blood with my own hands. That’s why I’ve lived far away from Corinth for a long time now. Happily, yes—but still, it’s sweetest to look into your parents’ eyes.

MessengerSo that was the fear that made you an exile from there?

OedipusThat, and I didn’t want to be my father’s murderer, old man.

MessengerThen why don’t I free you from this fear, my lord, since I came here meaning you well?

OedipusYou’d certainly get a fitting reward from me.

MessengerWell, that’s the main reason I came: so that when you came home I’d do well out of it.

OedipusBut I’ll never go where my parents are.

MessengerSon, it’s quite clear you don’t know what you’re doing.

OedipusHow so, old man? For the gods’ sake, tell me.

MessengerIf that’s why you’re avoiding going home.

OedipusYes—I’m afraid Phoebus may turn out to be right about me.

MessengerAfraid you’d take on pollution through your parents?

OedipusThat’s it, old man, that’s exactly what has always frightened me.

MessengerThen don’t you know you have no real reason to be afraid?

OedipusHow could I not, if I was born the son of these parents?

MessengerBecause Polybus was no blood relation of yours.

OedipusWhat are you saying? Wasn’t Polybus my father?

MessengerNo more than this man here. Exactly as much.

OedipusHow can my father be no more to me than a nobody?

MessengerWell, he didn’t father you, and neither did I.

OedipusThen why did he call me his son?

MessengerHe received you once as a gift, I tell you, from my own hands.

OedipusAnd he loved me so much, though I came from someone else’s hands?

MessengerHe had no children before that; that won him over.

OedipusAnd you—had you bought me, or found me, when you gave me to him?

MessengerI found you in the wooded glens of Cithaeron.

OedipusAnd why were you traveling in those parts?

MessengerI was looking after flocks on the mountain there.

OedipusSo you were a shepherd, a wandering hired hand?

MessengerAnd your savior, my son, at that time.

OedipusWhat pain was I in when you took me in your arms?

MessengerThe joints of your feet could bear witness to that.

OedipusOh, no—why do you speak of that old trouble?

MessengerI untied you. Your ankles had been pierced right through.

OedipusA dreadful shame I took with me from my swaddling clothes.

MessengerSo that from this misfortune you were given the name you bear.note

OedipusFor the gods’ sake—was that my mother’s doing, or my father’s? Tell me.

MessengerI don’t know. The man who gave you to me knows more about that than I do.

OedipusSo you got me from someone else? You didn’t find me yourself?

MessengerNo. Another shepherd handed you over to me.

OedipusWho was he? Do you know enough to tell me?

MessengerHe was said to be one of Laius’ people, I think.

OedipusThe man who was king of this land long ago?

MessengerThat’s the one. He was that man’s herdsman.

OedipusIs he still alive, so that I can see him?

MessengerYou people from here would know that best.

OedipusIs there anyone among you standing here who knows the herdsman he’s talking about, from having seen him either out in the fields or here? Speak up. It’s time these things were found out.

ChorusI think it’s none other than the man from the fields you were trying to see before. But Jocasta here could tell you that better than anyone.

OedipusWife, do you know the man we sent for just now? Is he the one this man means?

JocastaWhy ask whom he meant? Pay no attention. Don’t even try to remember what was said. It’s pointless.

OedipusIt can’t be that, with clues like these in my hands, I won’t bring my birth to light.

JocastaFor the gods’ sake, if you care at all for your own life, don’t search into this. My suffering is enough.

OedipusDon’t worry. Even if I turn out to be a slave three times over, born of three generations of slave mothers, you won’t be shown to be low-born.

JocastaEven so, listen to me, I beg you. Don’t do this.

OedipusI won’t be persuaded not to find out the truth of this.

JocastaBut I mean you well. I’m telling you what’s best for you.

OedipusWell, that “best” has been tormenting me for a long time now.

JocastaDoomed man—may you never learn who you are!

OedipusSomeone go and bring that herdsman here to me. As for her, let her enjoy her wealthy family.

JocastaOh, oh, you wretched man! That’s the only name I have left to call you, and never anything else again.

ChorusWhy has your wife gone, Oedipus, rushing off in such wild grief? I’m afraid that out of this silence some disaster will break forth.

OedipusLet it break out, whatever it will! As for me, however humble my origins, I will want to see them. She, perhaps—she has a woman’s pride—is ashamed of my low birth. But I count myself the son of Chance, who gives good things, and I will not be dishonored. She is the mother I was born from, and the months, my kin, have marked me out small and great. Born of such a mother, I could never turn out to be someone else and leave my birth unknown.

ChorusIf I am a prophet
and wise in judgment,
by Olympus, Cithaeron,
you will not fail to know,
at tomorrow’s full moon,
that we exalt you
as Oedipus’ countryman,
his nurse and his mother,
and honor you with our dances
for bringing favors to my kings.
Phoebus, to whom we cry,
may this be pleasing to you.

Who bore you, child, which of the long-lived nymphs,
who lay with Pan, the father who roams the mountains?
Or was it some bride of Loxias?
For all the upland pastures are dear to him.
Or was it the lord of Cyllene,
or the Bacchic god who dwells on the mountain peaks
who took you as a lucky find
from one of the nymphs of Helicon,
the playmates he loves best?note

OedipusElders, if I may make a guess too, though I’ve never had any dealings with the man, I think I see the herdsman we’ve been looking for all this while. His great age matches this man’s here, and besides, I recognize the men bringing him as servants of my own. But you may know better than I do, since you’ve seen the herdsman before.

ChorusYes, I know him, be sure of that. He was Laius’ man, as trustworthy a herdsman as any he had.

OedipusYou first, our stranger from Corinth: is this the man you mean?

MessengerThat’s him, the one you’re looking at.

OedipusYou there, old man, look at me and answer whatever I ask. Did you once belong to Laius?

ShepherdI did. I was a slave, not bought, but raised in the house.

OedipusWhat work did you do? How did you make your living?

ShepherdFor most of my life I followed the flocks.

OedipusAnd where did you mostly keep them?

ShepherdThere was Cithaeron, and there was the country round about.

OedipusThen do you know this man here? Did you come across him somewhere there?

ShepherdDoing what? What man do you mean?

OedipusThis one, here. Have you ever had any dealings with him?

ShepherdNot so I could say right off, from memory.

MessengerAnd no wonder, master. But I’ll remind him clearly of what he’s forgotten. I’m sure he remembers the time on Cithaeron, he with two flocks and I with one, when I was his neighbor for three whole seasons, six months each, from spring until Arcturus. Then, when winter came, I’d drive mine home to my folds and he’d drive his to Laius’ steadings. Am I telling it as it happened, or not?note

ShepherdIt’s the truth, though it was long ago.

MessengerWell then, tell me now: do you remember giving me a baby back then, to raise as my own?

ShepherdWhat is this? Why are you asking me that?

MessengerThis man here, my friend, is the one who was that baby.

ShepherdCurse you! Won’t you hold your tongue?

OedipusAh, don’t scold him, old man. It’s your words that need scolding, more than his.

ShepherdBut what am I doing wrong, best of masters?

OedipusNot telling us about the child he’s asking about.

ShepherdHe’s talking without knowing anything. He’s wasting his breath.

OedipusIf you won’t talk to oblige me, you’ll talk in pain.

ShepherdNo, for the gods’ sake, don’t hurt an old man!

OedipusSomeone twist his arms behind him, now!

ShepherdOh, poor me, what for? What more do you want to know?

OedipusDid you give him the child he’s asking about?

ShepherdI did. I wish I had died that day.

OedipusYou’ll come to that, if you don’t tell the truth.

ShepherdAnd if I do tell it, I’m far more surely destroyed.

OedipusThis man, it seems, is playing for time.

ShepherdNo, not me! I said a moment ago that I gave it.

OedipusWhere did you get it? Was it your own, or someone else’s?

ShepherdNot mine, no. I got it from someone.

OedipusFrom which of these citizens? From what house?

ShepherdNo, for the gods’ sake, master, no, don’t ask anymore!

OedipusYou’re a dead man if I have to ask you this again.

ShepherdWell, then: it was one of those born in the house of Laius.

OedipusA slave? Or someone of his own blood?

ShepherdOh, no. Here I am at the very edge of the horror, and I have to say it.

OedipusAnd I have to hear it. But hear it I must.

ShepherdIt was called his son, then. But the woman inside, your wife, could tell you best how things stand.

OedipusShe gave it to you?

ShepherdShe did, my lord.

OedipusFor what purpose?

ShepherdFor me to do away with it.

OedipusIts own mother? The wretch!

ShepherdYes, out of fear of evil prophecies.

OedipusWhat prophecies?

ShepherdThe word was that it would kill its parents.

OedipusThen why did you let it go to this old man?

ShepherdOut of pity, master. I thought he’d take it away to another country, where he came from himself. But he saved it, for the greatest evils. Because if you are the man he says you are, know that you were born to misery.

You, who shot your arrow
beyond all others
and won the prize of wealth and happiness complete—
Zeus!—you who destroyed
the maiden with the hooked talons,
singer of oracles,
and rose up for my land
as a tower against death.
Since then you have been called my king,
and honored above all,
ruling in great Thebes.

But now, whose story is more pitiful to hear?
Who lives with wilder ruin, with deeper pain,
his whole life overturned?
Ah, Oedipus, famous one,
for whom one great harbor
was enough
to receive both son and father as bridegroom!
How, how could the furrows your father sowed
bear you, poor man,
in silence for so long?

Time, which sees all things, has found you out against your will,
and passes judgment on the marriage that is no marriage,
where for so long begetter and begotten were one.
Ah, child of Laius,
I wish, I wish
I had never seen you.
I grieve like one
pouring a dirge from his lips.
But to tell the truth,
it was you who gave me breath again,
and you who laid my eyes to sleep.

Second MessengerYou who are always held in highest honor in this land, what deeds you will hear of, what things you will see, how great a grief you will take up, if you still care, as true kinsmen should, for the house of Labdacus! I don’t think the Danube or the Phasis could wash this house clean, so much does it hide; and soon it will bring evils to the light, evils willed, not unwilled. And of all sufferings, those hurt most that prove to be self-chosen.note

ChorusWhat we knew already lacked nothing to make it grievous. What do you have to tell beyond that?

Second MessengerThe quickest thing to say and to hear: our royal lady Jocasta is dead.

ChorusPoor, unhappy woman! What was the cause?

Second MessengerShe did it herself. The most painful part of what happened you were spared, since you weren’t there to see it. Still, as far as my memory serves, you’ll learn what that wretched woman suffered. When she came inside the doorway in her passion, she rushed straight to her bridal bed, tearing her hair with the fingers of both hands. Once in, she slammed the doors shut and called on Laius, long since dead, remembering the seed they had sown long ago, by which he himself would die and leave her, the mother, to bear ill-starred children to his own son.

ChorusAnd now, has the poor man any respite from his pain?

Second MessengerHe’s shouting for someone to open the bolts and show all the people of Cadmus the man who killed his father, the man whose mother—he’s saying unholy things, things I can’t repeat—and that he’ll cast himself out of the land and not stay in the house under his own curse, the curse he laid. But he needs strength, and someone to guide him; his sickness is more than he can bear. He’ll show you too. The bolts of the doors are opening. Soon you’ll see a sight that even one who loathed him would pity.

ChorusWhat terrible suffering for men to see,
the most terrible of all
I have ever come upon!
What madness, poor man,
came over you? What power
leapt, with a leap beyond the longest,
upon your ill-fated life?
Ah, ah, unhappy man!
I cannot even look at you,
though I long
to ask so much, to learn so much,
to see so much:
such a shudder you send through me.

OedipusAh, ah! Ah, ah! How wretched I am!
Where on earth am I carried, in my misery?
Where does my voice
go flying, borne away?
Oh, my fate, how far you have leapt!

ChorusInto something terrible, not to be heard of, not to be looked on.

OedipusAh, cloud of darkness,
mine, abhorrent,
sweeping over me, unspeakable,
unconquerable, driven by a wind I can’t escape!
Oh, no,
oh, no, again! How they pierce me together,
the stab of these goads
and the memory of evil!

ChorusAnd it’s no wonder, amid so many sufferings, that you mourn twice over and bear evils twice over.

OedipusAh, my friend,
you are still my steadfast attendant;
you still stay by me, caring for the blind man.
Ah, ah.
You can’t hide from me: dark as I am,
I know your voice all the same, and clearly.

ChorusYou’ve done terrible things! How could you bring yourself to put out your eyes like this? What god drove you to it?

OedipusIt was Apollo, my friends, Apollo,
who brought to pass these evils, these evils of mine,
these sufferings of mine.
But the hand that struck them was no one’s but mine, wretch that I am.
Why should I see,
when there was nothing sweet for me to see?

ChorusIt was so,
just as you say.

OedipusWhat, then, is left for me to see,
or love, or speak to,
or hear with any pleasure, my friends?
Lead me away from this place as fast as you can,
lead me away, my friends, the utterly ruined,
the most accursed,
the mortal most hated by the gods.

ChorusPoor man, as pitiful for knowing it as for what has befallen you, how I wish I had never even known you.

OedipusDeath take whoever he was
who freed me from the cruel shackle on my feet,
left there alone, and snatched me from death and saved me—
no kindness that he did me.
For if I had died then,
I would not be such grief to those I love, or to myself.

ChorusI too
would have wished it so.

OedipusThen I would not have come to be my father’s killer,
nor been called by mortals
the bridegroom of the one who bore me.
Now I am godforsaken, the son of unholy parents,
sharing a bed, wretch that I am, with the one I was born from.
And if there is an evil greater still than evil,
that is the portion of Oedipus.

ChorusI don’t know how I can say you’ve chosen well. You would be better off dead than living blind.

OedipusDon’t tell me that what I’ve done was not done for the best, and don’t give me anymore advice. I don’t know with what eyes I could have looked at my father when I went down to Hades, or at my poor mother either—the two of them, against whom I’ve done things too great for hanging to pay for. Or was the sight of my children something I could long to look at, sprung as they were sprung? Never, not with these eyes of mine.

ChorusBut here is Creon, just in time to do what you ask or to decide on it, since he alone is left to guard the land in your place.

OedipusOh, no. What can I say to him? What claim to his trust can I rightly show? In everything before, I’ve been found to have wronged him.

CreonI haven’t come to mock you, Oedipus, or to reproach you for any of the wrongs of the past. But you there: if you no longer feel shame before the race of mortals, at least have reverence for the all-nourishing flame of our lord the Sun, and don’t display so openly a pollution like this, which neither earth nor holy rain nor light will welcome. Take him into the house as quickly as you can. It is most reverent for kin alone to see and hear the sufferings of kin.

OedipusFor the gods’ sake, since you’ve overturned what I expected, coming as the best of men to me, the worst, do one thing for me. I’ll ask it for your good, not mine.

CreonAnd what is it you beg so hard to get from me?

OedipusCast me out of this land as fast as you can, to some place where no mortal will speak to me.

CreonI would have done that, you can be sure, if I hadn’t wanted first of all to find out from the god what must be done.

OedipusBut his word was made perfectly plain: destroy the father-killer, the impious one. Me.

CreonThat is what was said. Still, with things where they stand now, it’s better to find out what must be done.

OedipusSo you’ll ask about a wretched man like me?

CreonYes. Now even you would put your trust in the god.

OedipusThen I lay this charge on you, and I’ll beg it of you. For her who lies in the house, give her whatever burial you wish yourself; it’s right for you to perform the rites for your own. But as for me, never let this city of my fathers be condemned to have me living in it. Let me live in the mountains, where my Cithaeron is, as they call it, the one my mother and father, while they lived, appointed as my proper grave, so that I may die by their will, since they tried to kill me.

CreonYou are. I’m the one who arranged it. I knew the joy you’d take in them now, the joy you’ve felt so long.

OedipusThen may you prosper, and for this journey may some power watch over you better than it did over me! Children, where are you? Come here, come to these hands of mine, your brother’s hands, which have brought your father’s once-bright eyes to see like this: your father, children, who, seeing nothing, knowing nothing, became your father in the field where he himself was sown. I weep for you both, since I can’t look at you,

CreonYou’ve gone far enough with your weeping. Now go inside the house.

OedipusI must obey, even if it’s not sweet.

CreonEverything is good in its proper time.

OedipusDo you know on what terms I’ll go, then?

CreonYou’ll tell me, and then I’ll know, once I’ve heard.

OedipusThat you’ll send me away from this land to live in exile.

CreonYou’re asking me for what only the god can give.

OedipusBut I’ve come to be the man the gods hate most.

CreonThen you’ll get your wish soon enough.

OedipusYou mean it, then?

CreonI don’t like to say what I don’t mean, just for the sake of it.

OedipusThen lead me away from here, now.

CreonCome along, then, but let go of the children.

OedipusNo, don’t take them from me!

CreonDon’t try to be master in everything. Even the mastery you had did not stay with you through your life.