Sophocles Oedipus Trilogy | Page 8

not bidden me.
OEDIPUS
I know not thou wouldst utter folly, else
Long hadst
thou waited to be summoned here.
TEIRESIAS
Such am I--as it seems to thee a fool,
But to the
parents who begat thee, wise.
OEDIPUS
What sayest thou--"parents"? Who begat me, speak?
TEIRESIAS
This day shall be thy birth-day, and thy grave.

OEDIPUS
Thou lov'st to speak in riddles and dark words.
TEIRESIAS
In reading riddles who so skilled as thou?
OEDIPUS
Twit me with that wherein my greatness lies.
TEIRESIAS
And yet this very greatness proved thy bane.
OEDIPUS
No matter if I saved the commonwealth.
TEIRESIAS
'Tis time I left thee. Come, boy, take me home.
OEDIPUS
Aye, take him quickly, for his presence irks
And lets me;
gone, thou canst not plague me more.
TEIRESIAS
I go, but first will tell thee why I came.
Thy frown I
dread not, for thou canst not harm me.
Hear then: this man whom
thou hast sought to arrest
With threats and warrants this long while,
the wretch
Who murdered Laius--that man is here.
He passes for an
alien in the land
But soon shall prove a Theban, native born.
And
yet his fortune brings him little joy;
For blind of seeing, clad in
beggar's weeds,
For purple robes, and leaning on his staff,
To a
strange land he soon shall grope his way.
And of the children,
inmates of his home,
He shall be proved the brother and the sire,
Of
her who bare him son and husband both,
Co-partner, and assassin of
his sire.
Go in and ponder this, and if thou find
That I have missed
the mark, henceforth declare
I have no wit nor skill in prophecy.

[Exeunt TEIRESIAS and OEDIPUS]
CHORUS
(Str. 1)
Who is he by voice immortal named from
Pythia's rocky cell, Doer of foul deeds of bloodshed, horrors that no
tongue can tell?
A foot for flight he needs
Fleeter than storm-swift steeds,
For on his
heels doth follow,
Armed with the lightnings of his Sire, Apollo.

Like sleuth-hounds too
The Fates pursue.
(Ant. 1)
Yea, but now flashed forth the summons from Parnassus'
snowy peak, "Near and far the undiscovered doer of this murder seek!"
Now like a sullen bull he roves
Through forest brakes and upland
groves,
And vainly seeks to fly
The doom that ever nigh
Flits o'er
his head,
Still by the avenging Phoebus sped,
The voice divine,
From Earth's mid shrine.
(Str. 2)
Sore perplexed
am I by the words of the master seer.
Are they true, are they false? I
know not and bridle my tongue for fear,
Fluttered with vague surmise;
nor present nor future is clear. Quarrel of ancient date or in days still
near know I none
Twixt the Labdacidan house and our ruler, Polybus'
son.
Proof is there none: how then can I challenge our King's good
name, How in a blood-feud join for an untracked deed of shame?
(Ant. 2)
All wise are Zeus and Apollo, and nothing is hid from their
ken; They are gods; and in wits a man may surpass his fellow men; But
that a mortal seer knows more than I know--where
Hath this been
proven? Or how without sign assured, can I blame Him who saved our
State when the winged songstress came,
Tested and tried in the light
of us all, like gold assayed? How can I now assent when a crime is on
Oedipus laid?
CREON
Friends, countrymen, I learn King Oedipus
Hath laid
against me a most grievous charge,
And come to you protesting. If he
deems
That I have harmed or injured him in aught
By word or deed
in this our present trouble,
I care not to prolong the span of life,

Thus ill-reputed; for the calumny
Hits not a single blot, but blasts my
name,
If by the general voice I am denounced
False to the State and
false by you my friends.
CHORUS
This taunt, it well may be, was blurted out
In petulance,
not spoken advisedly.

CREON
Did any dare pretend that it was I
Prompted the seer to
utter a forged charge?
CHORUS
Such things were said; with what intent I know not.
CREON
Were not his wits and vision all astray
When upon me he
fixed this monstrous charge?
CHORUS
I know not; to my sovereign's acts I am blind.
But lo, he
comes to answer for himself.
[Enter OEDIPUS.]
OEDIPUS
Sirrah, what mak'st thou here? Dost thou presume
To
approach my doors, thou brazen-faced rogue,
My murderer and the
filcher of my crown?
Come, answer this, didst thou detect in me

Some touch of cowardice or witlessness,
That made thee undertake
this enterprise?
I seemed forsooth too simple to perceive
The
serpent stealing on me in the dark,
Or else too weak to scotch it when
I saw.
This thou art witless seeking to possess
Without a following
or friends the crown,
A prize that followers and wealth must win.
CREON
Attend me. Thou hast spoken, 'tis my turn
To make reply.
Then having heard me, judge.
OEDIPUS
Thou art glib of tongue, but I am slow to learn
Of thee;
I know too well thy venomous hate.
CREON
First I would argue out this very point.
OEDIPUS
O argue not that thou art not a rogue.
CREON
If thou dost count a virtue stubbornness,
Unschooled by
reason, thou