OEDIPUS AT COLONUS
Enter the blind OEDIPUS led by his daughter, ANTIGONE.
OEDIPUS Child of an old blind sire, Antigone, What region, say, whose city have we reached? Who will provide today with scanted dole This wanderer? 'Tis little that he craves, And less obtains--that less enough for me; For I am taught by suffering to endure, And the long years that have grown old with me, And last not least, by true nobility. My daughter, if thou seest a resting place On common ground or by some sacred grove, Stay me and set me down. Let us discover Where we have come, for strangers must inquire Of denizens, and do as they are bid.
ANTIGONE Long-suffering father, Oedipus, the towers That fence the city still are faint and far; But where we stand is surely holy ground; A wilderness of laurel, olive, vine; Within a choir or songster nightingales Are warbling. On this native seat of rock Rest; for an old man thou hast traveled far.
OEDIPUS Guide these dark steps and seat me there secure.
ANTIGONE If time can teach, I need not to be told.
OEDIPUS Say, prithee, if thou knowest, where we are.
ANTIGONE Athens I recognize, but not the spot.
OEDIPUS That much we heard from every wayfarer.
ANTIGONE Shall I go on and ask about the place?
OEDIPUS Yes, daughter, if it be inhabited.
ANTIGONE Sure there are habitations; but no need To leave thee; yonder is a man hard by.
OEDIPUS What, moving hitherward and on his way?
ANTIGONE Say rather, here already. Ask him straight The needful questions, for the man is here.
[Enter STRANGER]
OEDIPUS O stranger, as I learn from her whose eyes Must serve both her and me, that thou art here Sent by some happy chance to serve our doubts--
STRANGER First quit that seat, then question me at large: The spot thou treadest on is holy ground.
OEDIPUS What is the site, to what god dedicate?
STRANGER Inviolable, untrod; goddesses, Dread brood of Earth and Darkness, here abide.
OEDIPUS Tell me the awful name I should invoke?
STRANGER The Gracious Ones, All-seeing, so our folk Call them, but elsewhere other names are rife.
OEDIPUS Then may they show their suppliant grace, for I From this your sanctuary will ne'er depart.
STRANGER What word is this?
OEDIPUS The watchword of my fate.
STRANGER Nay, 'tis not mine to bid thee hence without Due warrant and instruction from the State.
OEDIPUS Now in God's name, O stranger, scorn me not As a wayfarer; tell me what I crave.
STRANGER Ask; your request shall not be scorned by me.
OEDIPUS How call you then the place wherein we bide?
STRANGER Whate'er I know thou too shalt know; the place Is all to great Poseidon consecrate. Hard by, the Titan, he who bears the torch, Prometheus, has his worship; but the spot Thou treadest, the Brass-footed Threshold named, Is Athens' bastion, and the neighboring lands Claim as their chief and patron yonder knight Colonus, and in common bear his name. Such, stranger, is the spot, to fame unknown, But dear to us its native worshipers.
OEDIPUS Thou sayest there are dwellers in these parts?
STRANGER Surely; they bear the name of yonder god.
OEDIPUS Ruled by a king or by the general voice?
STRANGER The lord of Athens is our over-lord.
OEDIPUS Who is this monarch, great in word and might?
STRANGER Theseus, the son of Aegeus our late king.
OEDIPUS Might one be sent from you to summon him?
STRANGER Wherefore? To tell him aught or urge his coming?
OEDIPUS Say a slight service may avail him much.
STRANGER How can he profit from a sightless man?
OEDIPUS The blind man's words will be instinct with sight.
STRANGER Heed then; I fain would see thee out of harm; For by the looks, marred though they be by fate, I judge thee noble; tarry where thou art, While I go seek the burghers--those at hand, Not in the city. They will soon decide Whether thou art to rest or go thy way.
[Exit STRANGER]
OEDIPUS Tell me, my daughter, has the stranger gone?
ANTIGONE Yes, he has gone; now we are all alone, And thou may'st speak, dear father, without fear.
OEDIPUS Stern-visaged queens, since coming to this land First in your sanctuary I bent the knee, Frown not on me or Phoebus, who, when erst He told me all my miseries to come, Spake of this respite after many years, Some haven in a far-off land, a rest Vouchsafed at last by dread divinities. "There," said he, "shalt thou round thy weary life, A blessing to the land wherein thou dwell'st, But to the land that cast thee forth, a curse." And of my weird he promised signs should come, Earthquake, or thunderclap, or lightning flash. And now I recognize as yours the sign That led my wanderings to this your grove; Else had I never lighted on you first, A wineless man on your seat of native rock. O goddesses, fulfill Apollo's word, Grant me some consummation of my life, If haply I appear not all too vile, A thrall to sorrow worse than any slave. Hear, gentle daughters of primeval Night, Hear, namesake of great Pallas; Athens, first Of cities, pity this dishonored shade, The ghost of him who once was Oedipus.
ANTIGONE Hush! for I see some grey-beards on their way, Their errand to spy out our resting-place.
OEDIPUS I will be mute, and thou shalt guide my steps Into the covert from the public road, Till I have learned their drift. A prudent man Will ever shape his course by what he learns.
[Enter CHORUS]
CHORUS
(Str. 1) Ha! Where is he? Look around! Every nook and corner scan! He the all-presumptuous man, Whither vanished? search the ground! A wayfarer, I ween, A wayfarer, no countryman of ours, That old man must have been; Never had native dared to tempt the Powers, Or enter their demesne, The Maids in awe of whom each mortal cowers, Whose name no voice betrays nor cry, And as we pass them with averted eye, We move hushed lips in reverent piety. But now some godless man,
'Tis rumored, here abides; The precincts through I scan, Yet wot not where he hides, The wretch profane! I search and search in vain.
OEDIPUS I am that man; I know you near Ears to the blind, they say, are eyes.
CHORUS O dread to see and dread to hear!
OEDIPUS Oh sirs, I am no outlaw under ban.
CHORUS Who can he be--Zeus save us!--this old man?
OEDIPUS No favorite of fate, That ye should envy his estate, O, Sirs, would any happy mortal, say, Grope by the light of other eyes his way, Or face the storm upon so frail a stay?
CHORUS
(Ant. 1) Wast thou then sightless from thy birth? Evil, methinks, and long Thy pilgrimage on earth. Yet add not curse to curse and wrong to wrong. I warn thee, trespass not Within this hallowed spot, Lest thou shouldst find the silent grassy glade Where offerings are laid, Bowls of spring water mingled with sweet mead. Thou must not stay, Come, come away, Tired wanderer, dost thou heed?
(We are far off, but sure our voice can reach.) If aught thou wouldst beseech, Speak where 'tis right; till then refrain from speech.
OEDIPUS Daughter, what counsel should we now pursue?
ANTIGONE We must obey and do as here they do.
OEDIPUS Thy hand then!
ANTIGONE Here, O father, is my hand,
OEDIPUS O Sirs, if I come forth at your command, Let me not suffer for my confidence.
CHORUS
(Str. 2) Against thy will no man shall drive thee hence.
OEDIPUS Shall I go further?
CHORUS Aye.
OEDIPUS What further still?
CHORUS Lead maiden, thou canst guide him where we will.
ANTIGONE [1]
ANTIGONE Follow with blind steps, father, as I lead.
CHORUS In a strange land strange thou art; To her will incline thy heart; Honor whatso'er the State Honors, all she frowns on hate.
OEDIPUS Guide me child, where we may range Safe within the paths of right; Counsel freely may exchange Nor with fate and fortune fight.
CHORUS
(Ant. 2) Halt! Go no further than that rocky floor.
OEDIPUS Stay where I now am?
CHORUS Yes, advance no more.
OEDIPUS May I sit down?
CHORUS Move sideways towards the ledge, And sit thee crouching on the scarped edge.
ANTIGONE This is my office, father, O incline--
OEDIPUS Ah me! ah me!
ANTIGONE Thy steps to my steps, lean thine aged frame on mine.
OEDIPUS Woe on my fate unblest!
CHORUS Wanderer, now thou art at rest, Tell me of thy birth and home, From what far country art thou come, Led on thy weary way, declare!
OEDIPUS Strangers, I have no country. O forbear--
CHORUS What is it, old man, that thou wouldst conceal?
OEDIPUS Forbear, nor urge me further to reveal--
CHORUS Why this reluctance?
OEDIPUS Dread my lineage.
CHORUS Say!
OEDIPUS What must I answer, child, ah welladay!
CHORUS Say of what stock thou comest, what man's son--
OEDIPUS Ah me, my daughter, now we are undone!
ANTIGONE Speak, for thou standest on the slippery verge.
OEDIPUS I will; no plea for silence can I urge.
CHORUS Will neither speak? Come, Sir, why dally thus!
OEDIPUS Know'st one of Laius'--
CHORUS Ha? Who!
OEDIPUS Seed of Labdacus--
CHORUS Oh Zeus!
OEDIPUS The hapless Oedipus.
CHORUS Art he?
OEDIPUS Whate'er I utter, have no fear of me.
CHORUS Begone!
OEDIPUS O wretched me!
CHORUS Begone!
OEDIPUS O daughter, what will hap anon?
CHORUS Forth from our borders speed ye both!
OEDIPUS How keep you then your troth?
CHORUS Heaven's justice never smites Him who ill with ill requites. But if guile with guile contend, Bane, not blessing, is the end. Arise, begone and take thee hence straightway, Lest on our land a heavier curse thou lay.
ANTIGONE O sirs! ye suffered not my father blind, Albeit gracious and to ruth inclined, Knowing the deeds he wrought, not innocent, But with no ill intent; Yet heed a maiden's moan Who pleads for him alone; My eyes, not reft of sight, Plead with you as a daughter's might You are our providence, O make us not go hence! O with a gracious nod Grant us the nigh despaired-of boon we crave? Hear us, O hear, But all that ye hold dear, Wife, children, homestead, hearth and God! Where will you find one, search ye ne'er so well. Who 'scapes perdition if a god impel!
CHORUS Surely we pity thee and him alike Daughter of Oedipus, for your distress; But as we reverence the decrees of Heaven We cannot say aught other than we said.
OEDIPUS O what avails renown or fair repute? Are they not vanity? For, look you, now Athens is held of States the most devout, Athens alone gives hospitality And shelters the vexed stranger, so men say. Have I found so? I whom ye dislodged First from my seat of rock and now would drive Forth from your land, dreading my name alone; For me you surely dread not, nor my deeds, Deeds of a man more sinned against than sinning, As I might well convince you, were it meet To tell my mother's story and my sire's, The cause of this your fear. Yet am I then A villain born because in self-defense, Striken, I struck the striker back again? E'en had I known, no villainy 'twould prove: But all unwitting whither I went, I went-- To ruin; my destroyers knew it well, Wherefore, I pray you, sirs, in Heaven's name, Even as ye bade me quit my seat, defend me. O pay not a lip service to the gods And wrong them of their dues. Bethink ye well, The eye of Heaven beholds the just of men, And the unjust, nor ever in this world Has one sole godless sinner found escape. Stand then on Heaven's side and never blot Athens' fair scutcheon by abetting wrong. I came to you a suppliant, and you pledged Your honor; O preserve me to the end, O let not this marred visage do me wrong! A holy and god-fearing man is here Whose coming purports comfort for your folk. And when your chief arrives, whoe'er he be, Then shall ye have my story and know all. Meanwhile I pray you do me no despite.
CHORUS The plea thou urgest, needs must give us pause, Set forth in weighty argument, but we Must leave the issue with the ruling powers.
OEDIPUS Where is he, strangers, he who sways the realm?
CHORUS In his ancestral seat; a messenger, The same who sent us here, is gone for him.
OEDIPUS And think you he will have such care or thought For the blind stranger as to come himself?
CHORUS Aye, that he will, when once he learns thy name.
OEDIPUS But who will bear him word!
CHORUS The way is long, And many travelers pass to speed the news. Be sure he'll hear and hasten, never fear; So wide and far thy name is noised abroad, That, were he ne'er so spent and loth to move, He would bestir him when he hears of thee.
OEDIPUS Well, may he come with blessing to his State And me! Who serves his neighbor serves himself. [2]
ANTIGONE Zeus! What is this? What can I say or think?
OEDIPUS What now, Antigone?
ANTIGONE I see a woman Riding upon a colt of Aetna's breed; She wears for headgear a Thessalian hat To shade her from the sun. Who can it be? She or a stranger? Do I wake or dream?
'This she; 'tis not--I cannot tell, alack; It is no other! Now her bright'ning glance Greets me with recognition, yes, 'tis she, Herself, Ismene!
OEDIPUS Ha! what say ye, child?
ANTIGONE That I behold thy daughter and my sister, And thou wilt know her straightway by her voice.
[Enter ISMENE]
ISMENE Father and sister, names to me most sweet, How hardly have I found you, hardly now When found at last can see you through my tears!
OEDIPUS Art come, my child?
ISMENE O father, sad thy plight!
OEDIPUS Child, thou art here?
ISMENE Yes, 'twas a weary way.
OEDIPUS Touch me, my child.
ISMENE I give a hand to both.
OEDIPUS O children--sisters!
ISMENE O disastrous plight!
OEDIPUS Her plight and mine?
ISMENE Aye, and my own no less.
OEDIPUS What brought thee, daughter?
ISMENE Father, care for thee.
OEDIPUS A daughter's yearning?
ISMENE Yes, and I had news I would myself deliver, so I came With the one thrall who yet is true to me.
OEDIPUS Thy valiant brothers, where are they at need?
ISMENE They are--enough, 'tis now their darkest hour.
OEDIPUS Out on the twain! The thoughts and actions all Are framed and modeled on Egyptian ways. For there the men sit at the loom indoors While the wives slave abroad for daily bread. So you, my children--those whom I behooved To bear the burden, stay at home like girls, While in their stead my daughters moil and drudge, Lightening their father's misery. The one Since first she grew from girlish feebleness To womanhood has been the old man's guide And shared my weary wandering, roaming oft Hungry and footsore through wild forest ways, In drenching rains and under scorching suns, Careless herself of home and ease, if so Her sire might have her tender ministry. And thou, my child, whilom thou wentest forth, Eluding the Cadmeians' vigilance, To bring thy father all the oracles Concerning Oedipus, and didst make thyself My faithful lieger, when they banished me. And now what mission summons thee from home, What news, Ismene, hast thou for thy father? This much I know, thou com'st not empty-handed, Without a warning of some new alarm.
ISMENE The toil and trouble, father, that I bore To find thy lodging-place and how thou faredst, I spare thee; surely 'twere a double pain To suffer, first in act and then in telling;
'Tis the misfortune of thine ill-starred sons I come to tell thee. At the first they willed To leave the throne to Creon, minded well Thus to remove the inveterate curse of old, A canker that infected all thy race. But now some god and an infatuate soul Have stirred betwixt them a mad rivalry To grasp at sovereignty and kingly power. Today the hot-branded youth, the younger born, Is keeping Polyneices from the throne, His elder, and has thrust him from the land. The banished brother (so all Thebes reports) Fled to the vale of Argos, and by help Of new alliance there and friends in arms, Swears he will stablish Argos straight as lord Of the Cadmeian land, or, if he fail, Exalt the victor to the stars of heaven. This is no empty tale, but deadly truth, My father; and how long thy agony, Ere the gods pity thee, I cannot tell.
OEDIPUS Hast thou indeed then entertained a hope The gods at last will turn and rescue me?
ISMENE Yea, so I read these latest oracles.
OEDIPUS What oracles? What hath been uttered, child?
ISMENE Thy country (so it runs) shall yearn in time To have thee for their weal alive or dead.
OEDIPUS And who could gain by such a one as I?
ISMENE On thee, 'tis said, their sovereignty depends.
OEDIPUS So, when I cease to be, my worth begins.
ISMENE The gods, who once abased, uplift thee now.
OEDIPUS Poor help to raise an old man fallen in youth.
ISMENE Howe'er that be, 'tis for this cause alone That Creon comes to thee--and comes anon.
OEDIPUS With what intent, my daughter? Tell me plainly.
ISMENE To plant thee near the Theban land, and so Keep thee within their grasp, yet now allow Thy foot to pass beyond their boundaries.
OEDIPUS What gain they, if I lay outside?
OEDIPUS Thy tomb, If disappointed, brings on them a curse.
OEDIPUS It needs no god to tell what's plain to sense.
ISMENE Therefore they fain would have thee close at hand, Not where thou wouldst be master of thyself.
OEDIPUS Mean they to shroud my bones in Theban dust?
ISMENE Nay, father, guilt of kinsman's blood forbids.
OEDIPUS Then never shall they be my masters, never!
ISMENE Thebes, thou shalt rue this bitterly some day!
OEDIPUS When what conjunction comes to pass, my child?
ISMENE Thy angry wraith, when at thy tomb they stand. [3]
OEDIPUS And who hath told thee what thou tell'st me, child?
ISMENE Envoys who visited the Delphic hearth.
OEDIPUS Hath Phoebus spoken thus concerning me?
ISMENE So say the envoys who returned to Thebes.
OEDIPUS And can a son of mine have heard of this?
ISMENE Yea, both alike, and know its import well.
OEDIPUS They knew it, yet the ignoble greed of rule Outweighed all longing for their sire's return.
ISMENE Grievous thy words, yet I must own them true.
OEDIPUS Then may the gods ne'er quench their fatal feud, And mine be the arbitrament of the fight, For which they now are arming, spear to spear; That neither he who holds the scepter now May keep this throne, nor he who fled the realm Return again. They never raised a hand, When I their sire was thrust from hearth and home, When I was banned and banished, what recked they? Say you 'twas done at my desire, a grace Which the state, yielding to my wish, allowed? Not so; for, mark you, on that very day When in the tempest of my soul I craved Death, even death by stoning, none appeared To further that wild longing, but anon, When time had numbed my anguish and I felt My wrath had all outrun those errors past, Then, then it was the city went about By force to oust me, respited for years; And then my sons, who should as sons have helped, Did nothing: and, one little word from them Was all I needed, and they spoke no word, But let me wander on for evermore, A banished man, a beggar. These two maids Their sisters, girls, gave all their sex could give, Food and safe harborage and filial care; While their two brethren sacrificed their sire For lust of power and sceptred sovereignty. No! me they ne'er shall win for an ally, Nor will this Theban kingship bring them gain; That know I from this maiden's oracles, And those old prophecies concerning me, Which Phoebus now at length has brought to pass. Come Creon then, come all the mightiest In Thebes to seek me; for if ye my friends, Championed by those dread Powers indigenous, Espouse my cause; then for the State ye gain A great deliverer, for my foemen bane.
CHORUS Our pity, Oedipus, thou needs must move, Thou and these maidens; and the stronger plea Thou urgest, as the savior of our land, Disposes me to counsel for thy weal.
OEDIPUS Aid me, kind sirs; I will do all you bid.
CHORUS First make atonement to the deities, Whose grove by trespass thou didst first profane.
OEDIPUS After what manner, stranger? Teach me, pray.
CHORUS Make a libation first of water fetched With undefiled hands from living spring.
OEDIPUS And after I have gotten this pure draught?
CHORUS Bowls thou wilt find, the carver's handiwork; Crown thou the rims and both the handles crown--
OEDIPUS With olive shoots or blocks of wool, or how?
CHORUS With wool from fleece of yearling freshly shorn.
OEDIPUS What next? how must I end the ritual?
CHORUS Pour thy libation, turning to the dawn.
OEDIPUS Pouring it from the urns whereof ye spake?
CHORUS Yea, in three streams; and be the last bowl drained To the last drop.
OEDIPUS And wherewith shall I fill it, Ere in its place I set it? This too tell.
CHORUS With water and with honey; add no wine.
OEDIPUS And when the embowered earth hath drunk thereof?
CHORUS Then lay upon it thrice nine olive sprays With both thy hands, and offer up this prayer.
OEDIPUS I fain would hear it; that imports the most.
CHORUS That, as we call them Gracious, they would deign To grant the suppliant their saving grace. So pray thyself or whoso pray for thee, In whispered accents, not with lifted voice; Then go and look back. Do as I bid, And I shall then be bold to stand thy friend; Else, stranger, I should have my fears for thee.
OEDIPUS Hear ye, my daughters, what these strangers say?
ANTIGONE We listened, and attend thy bidding, father.
OEDIPUS I cannot go, disabled as I am Doubly, by lack of strength and lack of sight; But one of you may do it in my stead; For one, I trow, may pay the sacrifice Of thousands, if his heart be leal and true. So to your work with speed, but leave me not Untended; for this frame is all too week To move without the help of guiding hand.
ISMENE Then I will go perform these rites, but where To find the spot, this have I yet to learn.
CHORUS Beyond this grove; if thou hast need of aught, The guardian of the close will lend his aid.
ISMENE I go, and thou, Antigone, meanwhile Must guard our father. In a parent's cause Toil, if there be toil, is of no account.
[Exit ISMENE]
CHORUS
(Str. 1) Ill it is, stranger, to awake Pain that long since has ceased to ache, And yet I fain would hear--
OEDIPUS What thing?
CHORUS Thy tale of cruel suffering For which no cure was found, The fate that held thee bound.
OEDIPUS O bid me not (as guest I claim This grace) expose my shame.
CHORUS The tale is bruited far and near, And echoes still from ear to ear. The truth, I fain would hear.
OEDIPUS Ah me!
CHORUS I prithee yield.
OEDIPUS Ah me!
CHORUS Grant my request, I granted all to thee.
OEDIPUS
(Ant. 1) Know then I suffered ills most vile, but none
(So help me Heaven!) from acts in malice done.
CHORUS Say how.
OEDIPUS The State around An all unwitting bridegroom bound An impious marriage chain; That was my bane.
CHORUS Didst thou in sooth then share A bed incestuous with her that bare--
OEDIPUS It stabs me like a sword, That two-edged word, O stranger, but these maids--my own--
CHORUS Say on.
OEDIPUS Two daughters, curses twain.
CHORUS Oh God!
OEDIPUS Sprang from the wife and mother's travail-pain.
CHORUS
(Str. 2) What, then thy offspring are at once--
OEDIPUS Too true. Their father's very sister's too.
CHORUS Oh horror!
OEDIPUS Horrors from the boundless deep Back on my soul in refluent surges sweep.
CHORUS Thou hast endured--
OEDIPUS Intolerable woe.
CHORUS And sinned--
OEDIPUS I sinned not.
CHORUS How so?
OEDIPUS I served the State; would I had never won That graceless grace by which I was undone.
CHORUS
(Ant. 2) And next, unhappy man, thou hast shed blood?
OEDIPUS Must ye hear more?
CHORUS A father's?
OEDIPUS Flood on flood Whelms me; that word's a second mortal blow.
CHORUS Murderer!
OEDIPUS Yes, a murderer, but know--
CHORUS What canst thou plead?
OEDIPUS A plea of justice.
CHORUS How?
OEDIPUS I slew who else would me have slain; I slew without intent, A wretch, but innocent In the law's eye, I stand, without a stain.
CHORUS Behold our sovereign, Theseus, Aegeus' son, Comes at thy summons to perform his part.
[Enter THESEUS]
THESEUS Oft had I heard of thee in times gone by-- The bloody mutilation of thine eyes-- And therefore know thee, son of Laius. All that I lately gathered on the way Made my conjecture doubly sure; and now Thy garb and that marred visage prove to me That thou art he. So pitying thine estate, Most ill-starred Oedipus, I fain would know What is the suit ye urge on me and Athens, Thou and the helpless maiden at thy side. Declare it; dire indeed must be the tale Whereat I should recoil. I too was reared, Like thee, in exile, and in foreign lands Wrestled with many perils, no man more. Wherefore no alien in adversity Shall seek in vain my succor, nor shalt thou; I know myself a mortal, and my share In what the morrow brings no more than thine.
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