Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus
Introduced and Translated by
Marianne McDonald
Copyright 2003
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Introduction
There have never been greater plays written than those by the ancient Greeks of
the fifth century BC. They helped teach the Athenian audience what it was to be a good
citizen, and they are still teaching us what it is to be a good human being.
There were three major playwrights of tragedy in ancient Greece: Aeschylus ca.
525-456 BC; Sophocles ca. 496-406 BC; and Euripides ca. 485-406 BC. In his plays,
Aeschylus shows god confronting god; Sophocles, man confronting god and his fate; and
Euripides shows man confronting him or herself. Sophocles was a great humanist and one
who celebrated the hero. Oedipus is a perfect example.
The first performance of drama is said to have been given by Thespis in Athens
around 534 BC. Groups of people formed choruses, and when the choral leader spoke to
the chorus, dialogue was born. Gradually single actors were added, two, then three, and
possibly even four, but never more than four. The roles were all played by men wearing
masks, at first only citizens, including the playwright. By the end of the 5th century, the
chorus was made up of fifteen men who sang and danced. Opera which arose in 17th
century Italy was said to be based on ancient Greek tragedy. The main festival, at which
plays were performed in fifth-century BC Athens, was called the Greater Dionysia. It
took place in the springtime, after the winter storms, so that people from other countries
could attend.
At first these ancient plays were connected ones. Aeschylus wrote a trilogy
containing Laius, Oedipus, and Seven Against Thebes, followed by the satyr play The
Sphinx. These were all on the theme of Oedipus and his family and date to about 467 BC.
Only Seven Against Thebes survives. The Satyr play was a comic play that used the
language of tragedy and often made fun of tragic themes. Comedies, such as those of
Aristophanes, were more free, and often followed the Satyr play. The plays, which were
performed outdoors, began in the morning and continued throughout the day. Zeus, the
god of rain, became a critic. Usually the program for one day would be three tragedies,
one Satyr play and one comedy. The government and wealthy citizens subsidized the
performances. Maintaining a good drama festival at this time was considered as
important as maintaining an army or navy.
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Sophocles was born at Colonus near Athens in about 496 BC and died in 406 BC.
He was a model citizen. He acted as Hellenotamias (a treasurer, 443/2 BC) in the league
Athens organized after the Peace of Callias with Persia. He was said to have led a chorus
and to have danced around the trophy after the battle of Salamis. He also served as a
general dealing with the Samian revolt in 441. Some say that the Antigone earned him
this position. Others suggest that Sophocles' disgust at the exposure of the enemies'
corpses might have led him to write this play. After the Sicilian defeat in 413 BC, he was
one of the Probouloi (special Athenian officials).
Sophocles followed in Aeschylus' footsteps by serving his city when he could.
He lived to about 90, and it is said that he was sued by a son, who claimed he was no
longer capable of managing his own affairs. His defense was to read lines from a chorus
praising Athens from Oedipus at Colonus, which he was writing at the time. Needless to
say, he was acquitted.
The ancients regarded Sophocles as a man at ease with himself and contented
with life. In Plato's Republic (329C), he is reported to have claimed that he was happy
that he was finally free from that wild taskmaster, love. After his death, he was said to
have become a sacred hero like Oedipus, and was worshipped as Dexion, roughly
translated as "he who receives," because of his association with the cult of Asclepius,
which he had helped to introduce into Athens after the plague. He also was a priest of the
healing spirit Halon.
Sophocles is the playwright of heroism. Oedipus is truly a hero, from his first
victory in overcoming the Sphinx - the monster who was killing citizens from Thebes. He
was also a hero in solving the riddle of his own existence, and accepting full
responsibility for his actions. He is offered opportunities to escape in the course of the
play, but he refuses them all.
Even at his or her best, it is difficult to feel empathy towards a Sophoclean hero,
who is both alienated and alienating; nevertheless, one has to admire the single-minded
pursuit of goals which so often entail self-destruction, along with the destruction of
others. As Bernard Knox says, "Sophocles creates a tragic universe in which man's heroic
action, free and responsible, brings him sometimes through suffering to victory but more
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often to a fall which is both defeat and victory at once; the suffering and glory are fused
in an indissoluble unity."
Sophocles shows his characters struggling to right the wrongs they perceive in the
world about them, and there is some objective justification for their struggles. What
Sophoclean heroes do, they also do alone. They die for ideals, which, although somewhat
misguided in their one-sidedness, can still be respected.
Sophocles is said never to have been placed third when he competed. He first
competed in 468 BC, when he defeated Aeschylus, and is said to have been awarded the
prize 24 times (18 at the Greater Dionysia) in contrast to Aeschylus' 13 and Euripides' 4.
Of the plays that survive, only the Philoctetes and the Oedipus at Colonus can be
dated with certainty, and the Antigone approximately, if we believe that it has some
connection with the Samian war. The following chronology is very tentatively suggested:
Antigone 443 or 441 BC
Ajax ca. 442 BC
Women of Trachis ca. 432 BC
Oedipus Tyrannus ca. 427 BC
Electra ca. 413 BC
Philoctetes 409 BC
Oedipus at Colonus 401 BC (posthumous)
The Greek philosopher Aristotle thought that Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus was
the greatest play ever written. It is also an exciting detective story that tells about man
and his struggle to find out who he is. On the temple at Delphi, the shrine of Apollo, the
god of prophesy, was written “Know yourself.” This was advice to everyone to find out
who you are, and know your relationship to the world you live in. In antiquity, this also
meant knowing your relationship to the gods.
Oedipus was a man who did not know either his relationship to the gods or the
people with whom he lived. As a young man, he heard a prophecy saying he would kill
his father and marry his mother. But the oracle at that point did not tell him who his
parents were. It is only at the very end of the play that all the pieces fall tragically into
place. Oedipus will not stop assembling all the pieces, even if seeing the solution means
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his own destruction. There is the saying, “If it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger.”
Oedipus becomes a protective hero for Athens. Just before he dies, he claims time,
suffering, and his own nobility of character have been his teachers, and they have made
him strong.
In addition to "Know Thyself," the maxim just mentioned, the phrase "Nothing in
Excess" was also chiseled on the Delphic temple. Creon did everything in excess, and
Oedipus did not know himself. Yet these violations were what defined these heroes.
Oedipus is supposedly the man of knowledge, the one who solved the riddle of the
Sphinx. He knew what went on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the
evening: man. But he did not know who he was.
Freud, the father of psychology, wrote about the Oedipus complex (that everyone
has the impulse to kill his father and have a sexual relationship with his mother) and said
that myths like Sophocles’ had such power because they corresponded to deep hidden
drives within all of us. Nevertheless, Sophocles’ Oedipus did everything he possibly
could to avoid both this unholy murder and this incestuous marriage.
The poetic imagery in this play gives us a picture of the man. It talks about sight
and blindness, linking sight with knowledge and blindness with ignorance. If one sees
one knows, and if one does not see, one is ignorant. Tiresias calls Oedipus blind in his
eyes, ears, and mind, and yet he was the most intelligent of men. It is ironic in this play
that when Oedipus is blind, he finally gains knowledge and understands himself and his
relationship to the world about him. He was ignorant when he could see everything about
him, but had no insight or knowledge about who he was.
Another image is that of hunting and the hunted. Oedipus hunts for truth, but it is
fate that finally hunts him down.
People have interpreted Oedipus in many different ways. The philosopher
Nietzsche shows him as a type of superman. Some have said Sophocles wrote a drama of
fate, and that it shows that man does not have free will. But the Greeks did not have a
problem with seeing a person being ruled by destiny, and at the same time free and
responsible in his actions. Others say that this play illustrates a man with a tragic flaw
(what Aristotle called hamartia, “missing the mark”). In the New Testament hamartia
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means “sin,” but fifth-century Greeks did not have this concept. In Oedipus we might say
it was his hasty anger that led him to make tragic mistakes.
Mythologists see man’s fears and triumphs in it. Playwrights, and composers have
written their versions of it: Jean Anouilh, Igor Stravinsky, Jean Cocteau, Heiner Müller
and Athol Fugard. The greatest actors have wanted the role of Oedipus for themselves,
like Lawrence Olivier and John Gielgud, and Orson Welles in the film Citizen Kane has
often been compared to this great hero.
One thing is constant in all the interpretations. Oedipus was a great man who
struggled against the terrible things that happened to him and emerged victorious in his
search for his own identity. He was a man who never gave up in spite of the odds against
him and his terrible suffering.
Greek tragedy tells us that suffering teaches, and sometimes this is the only way
we can learn. Plato says the unexamined life is not worth living. The great playwright
Sophocles is telling us that life is always worth living even in the worst case. The point is
never to give up. This play celebrates endurance and the will to discover the truth. The
struggle for knowledge, particularly the knowledge of what is good and what constitutes
ethical action, makes life worth living. This is what constitutes human happiness, and we
are warned at the end of the play not to say a person is happy, until we see how she or he
dies. It is only then that one can see whether they lived a life of quality, and it is only this
life that deserves to be called truly happy.
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First Performance:
6th at Penn Theatre
October 11-November 2, 2003
Directed by George Ye
Produced by Dale Morris and Linda Castro
Oedipus: Matt Scott
Priest, Chorus: Mark Broadnax
Creon: Brother of Queen Jocasta: Marc Overton
Tiresias: Jack Banning
Jocasta: Cristina Soria
Messenger from Corinth: Jack Missett
Second Messenger, Chorus: Kati Behumi
Shepherd: David S. Cohen
Antigone, Chorus: Catie Marron
Ismene, Chorus: Abbey Grace Howe
Chorus: Joline Hui
George Soete
Kelly Costa
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Cast
OEDIPUS, King of Thebes
PRIEST of Apollo
CREON, brother of Queen JOCASTA
CHORUS of old men of Thebes
TIRESIAS, a prophet
JOCASTA, Queen of Thebes, Wife of OEDIPUS
MESSENGER from Corinth
SHEPHERD
2ND MESSENGER
Silent Characters:
Suppliants
OEDIPUS’ daughters
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A crowd led by Zeus’ PRIEST gathers in front of OEDIPUS’ palace. They have come as
suppliants (wreathed and carrying olive branches). They are weak and sick and can
hardly walk. OEDIPUS comes out of the palace and speaks to them.
OEDIPUS
Citizens of this city that Cadmus founded,
why have you come here?
What is it that you want from me?
I see you wear wreaths and carry sacred branches.
I smell incense and hear hymns and prayers,
and the cries of people weeping.
Your suffering is obvious,
so I, Oedipus, known to you all as your king,
have come myself to find out what I can do.
Old man, I see you are the leader of these people.
Speak to me.
If you have something to ask of me,
do not be afraid to tell me what you want.
I’ll do what I can.
I am not a man without pity.
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PRIEST
You are our king.
We stand before you, both young and old.
I am a priest of Zeus, king of the gods.
Some are here and others are in the temples praying;
the city is rocked by a fierce storm,
and it is drowning in a murderous sea.
We are being ravaged by a plague:
the fruit and the grain fall to the ground;
the cattle are sick;
and women are giving birth to dead babies.
Black Hades is rich now in tears and moaning.1
We know you are not a god,
but you are our leader,
and most suited for dealing with the gods,
particularly in times of crisis.
You outwitted the Sphinx,
that deadly she-monster who was destroying us,
when we could not answer her riddles.
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1
Hades “the unseen” is also called Pluton, “the wealthy,” that is why there is a pun on the term “rich.” He
is called wealthy because he sends rich gifts to earth, like corn. Hades can refer to both the god and is a
proper name, and to the location (the underworld).
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We believe you were inspired by a god.
Whether that is true or not,
we have come to you for help once more.
Help us now.
You helped us then,
and now we need you again.
Don’t let it be said you saved us
only for destruction by a greater evil.
You are the lucky one:
share that luck now,
and make things right in a lasting way.
A king needs men to rule.
A ship is nothing without men to sail it,
and a city is the same.
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OEDIPUS
I pity you.
I see that you are sick,
but no one is as sick as I am.
Each of you is sick individually,
but I am sick because I weep for the city,
for myself, and for you.
You have not awakened me from a deep sleep,
in which I had neither thought, nor tears for you;
in my mind
I have been wandering down many paths,
searching for different solutions.
This I think best: I sent Creon, my wife’s brother,
to Delphi, to Phoebus Apollo,
to ask what I can say or do to save the city.
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It’s been such a long time since he left
that I’m worried about him, but when he returns,
I would be a worthless man
if I didn’t follow the god’s advice.
PRIEST
Timely said, my lord. Look, here comes the man himself.
OEDIPUS
I pray he will guide us like some bright eye
that sees the way to salvation.
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PRIEST
The news must be good; otherwise, he wouldn’t wear a laurel wreath.
OEDIPUS
We’ll know soon enough. Here he is.
Enter CREON.
Creon, what news do you bring us from the god?2
CREON
Good news. Even misery, if it is cured, can lead to happiness.
OEDIPUS
What do you mean?
What you say brings me neither joy nor fear.
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CREON
Do you want me to speak in public? Or should we go inside?
OEDIPUS
Speak in front of everyone.
I am concerned more for these people than for my own life.
CREON
I shall tell you what the god told me.
We must drive out of our city some evil presence
that has settled in our midst and is now thriving. 3
We must stop feeding it until it becomes incurable.
OEDIPUS
How do we get rid of it? Tell me about it.
2
The Greeks believed in many gods, and Apollo is simply one of them. It is misleading to speak of God, as
if there were a single god.
3
The word for evil presence is miasma, something that is polluting the country. Miasma is often used to
describe some pollution that is unholy and defiles the gods. The gods will punish people who keep such an
evil presence in their community.
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CREON
Drive it out, or pay back murder with murder,
since blood has rained on the city.
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OEDIPUS
Who has been murdered?
CREON
King Laius, who was the leader of this land before you.
OEDIPUS
I have heard of him, but I never saw him myself.
CREON
He was killed, and now the god orders us to punish his murderers.
OEDIPUS
Where are they? How do you follow
the faint tracks of a murder
committed so long ago?
CREON
The god said the clues are here in this land.
If you look, you will find them,
if not, the guilty will escape.
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OEDIPUS
Was Laius murdered in a house, in the open, or in another country?
CREON
He said he was going to Delphi, but he never returned home.
OEDIPUS
Wasn’t there someone who saw what happened,
who can tell us now what he saw?
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CREON
All those with the king died,
except one terrified man who escaped,
and his report was clear about only one thing.
OEDIPUS
What was it? Even a small beginning can give us hope:
one discovery could lead to many.
What was it?
If we are determined, even a small clue might help:
one discovery can lead to many.
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CREON
He said that a band of robbers attacked and killed Laius.
Not a single man, but many.
OEDIPUS
What was the motive?
Were they bribed by someone here?
CREON
There was that rumor; but after Laius died,
no one came up with any plausible answers.
OEDIPUS
But, why did you stop
investigating the murder of your king?
CREON
There was a more urgent matter confronting us.
The Sphinx and her riddles forced us to stop wasting
our efforts on an insoluble crime,
but to look at what lay right at our feet.
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OEDIPUS
I’ll begin again, and I,
Oedipus, will solve this crime.
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Apollo is right to make us investigate this murder
I’ll be an ally of the dead man,
and I’ll save this land and satisfy the god.
When I avenge this crime, I won’t only be helping
some distant acquaintance, I’ll also be helping myself.
Whoever killed him may want to attack me,
so in protecting him, I am protecting myself.
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So take your branches and leave now,
and call all the people to an assembly;
I will do everything I can.
God will decide whether we succeed or fail.
PRIEST
Let’s go; we got what we came for.
May Apollo who sent this message be our savior
and stop this sickness ravaging our country.
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Exeunt PRIEST, OEDIPUS, and CREON.
CHORUS
What lies behind this sweet-sounding oracle sent by Zeus
From Delphi, rich in gold, to shining Thebes?
Why does this frighten me so?
Why does my heart pound with terror?
I am in awe of you, Apollo, healer from Delos4,
Whom I now call upon.
What will you cause to happen
In the changing course of the seasons?
Speak to me,
Immortal oracle,
Golden child of hope.
I call first on you, deathless Athena,
Daughter of Zeus;
And your sister Artemis, who guards the earth,
Famous for her round throne in the marketplace;
Then Apollo who shoots from afar:
May all three of you appear before me,
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4
Leto gave birth to Apollo and his sister Artemis on Delos. Zeus was their father. Hera, Zeus’ jealous wife,
had forbidden any land to receive her and let her give birth. She finally found the wandering island Ortygia
(“quail island”), which was fixed with four pillars (no longer wandered) and renamed Delos (“visible”)
because it was where Apollo and Artemis first saw the light.
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And protect me from all harm.
Just as you protected the city in the past
And averted the flames of disaster
That descended upon us,
Come now once again.
Our troubles are numberless;
Disease infests our army;
No spear of thought
Is sharp enough for defense.
Our once famous land bears no fruit,
Nor do women cry out
In labor crowned by children.
Now one, now another,
Like the swift-winged bird,
Flies to the shore
Of the god of the west.5
Swifter than furious fire,
Numberless are the city’s dead.
Unburied children
Lie on the ground;
Death takes them with no tears.
Silver-haired mothers and wives
Surround the altars,
Moaning their woes and weeping,
Suppliants in vain.
The shrill hymn to Apollo
Mixes its blaze with cries of sorrow.
Golden daughter of Zeus,
Take pity on us:
Send fair-faced salvation.
We fight a war that is no war,
No bronze of shields,
But Ares burns us, shouting as he attacks.
May he turn tail,
Run far from our land,
Returning to Amphitrite’s great hall,
Or to Thrace’s stormy shores
That offer no harbor to strangers.
What night leaves unfinished,
The day brings to pass.
You, father Zeus,
Mighty with your blazing lightning,
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200
The setting sun, i.e. death.
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Destroy him with your thunderbolt.
Lycian Apollo,6
Help me now in my need.
May your invincible shafts
Fly from your bow
With its golden cord;
You, Artemis, also,
Who carry bright torches of fire,
As you run over Lycian peaks.
I call now on you, Bacchus of the wine-red face,
Who gave your name to this land:
Your Maenads run near, and joyfully shout “Evoe,”
Attack now with bright torch of pine
The dark god who destroys us,
That god whom no god honors.
210
People assemble and OEDIPUS addresses them.
OEDIPUS
You asked me for help.
If you listen carefully,
and treat the disease as I tell you,
you will find a cure and relief from your suffering.
Since I’m a stranger to both the story and what was done,
I wouldn’t get very far without something to go on.
I’m now also a citizen, so I make this announcement:
whoever knows who killed Laius, son of Labdacus,
I order you to tell me the whole story.
Don’t be afraid!
If you did it, you should give yourself up.
The penalty won’t be terrible:
only to leave the city,
without any harm to yourself.
If you know the person, or if he is a foreigner,
I’ll gratefully give you a reward.
But if you remain silent,
whether out of fear for yourself,
or someone else, beware.
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6
Apollo may be called Lycian because he accompanied his mother Leto to Lycia. She also assumed the
form of a wolf to escape Hera’s notice, so Apollo is often called the wolf-god (Lukos means “wolf”).
Wolves were often sacrificed to him, and wolves appeared with him on ancient coins. Lycius was also a
person turned into a crow by Apollo for an improper sacrifice.
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I forbid any citizen of this land over which I rule
to let this man into your house,
or to speak to him,
or to let him pray,
or sacrifice to the gods with you,
or touch holy water.
Instead you must drive him from your homes
because he is the sickness described by Apollo.
I decree this and so become the ally of the god
and the dead man.
I pray that he who has done this,
whether a single man or several,
that he may scratch out his life in total misery.
I pray that if he lives in my own house
with my own knowledge,
that I be cursed in the same way.
I order you to do this, for myself, for Apollo,
and for this land now infertile, godless, and destroyed.
Even if the gods had not forced you,
you should have investigated the murder
of this noble man who was your king.
Now I rule in his place,
and sleep in his bed with his wife.
If he had been as lucky as I was in having children,
we would both have had them from the same mother,
but as it was, fate cut him short.
That’s why I’ll fight for him as if he were my own father,
and discover his murderer.
He was the son of Labdacus, whose father was Polydorus,
who came from Cadmus and, before that, Agenor.
For those who do not do what I ask,
I pray the gods make their fields and their women barren,
and that they die from what they suffer now, and even worse.
But you who agree with what I’ve said,
I pray that justice be your ally,
and that all the gods walk at your side and favor you forever.
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CHORUS
Since you press me, sir, I’ll speak.
I didn’t kill him, and I don’t know who did.
Apollo laid this command on us:
HE should find the killer.
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OEDIPUS
You are right.
But no man can force a god against his will.
280
CHORUS
May I say what I think second best?
OEDIPUS
Tell me even third best.
CHORUS
Tiresias’ sight is next to Apollo’s.
We would get a clear answer if we asked him.
OEDIPUS
I’ve been busy there too. At Creon’s suggestion,
we sent two men to bring him.
I wonder why he’s not here yet.
CHORUS
For the rest, my lord, the story is all so vague and so old…
OEDIPUS
Tell it to me. I want to look at everything.
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CHORUS
They said some strangers on the road killed him.
OEDIPUS
I heard that too, but apparently no one saw who did it.
CHORUS
After hearing your curses, if there is any fear in him,
he won’t wait long to confess.
OEDIPUS
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A man who’s not afraid to commit murder has no fear of words.
Enter the blind TIRESIAS, led by a boy.
CHORUS
Here’s the man who will find him;
here comes the divine prophet,
in whom alone truth makes its home.
OEDIPUS
Tiresias, you know all things in heaven and earth,
those that can be taught,
and those that cannot be spoken;
although you cannot see, you know what disease infests our city.
You can be our savior, the only man to rescue us.
I don’t know if you heard,
but Apollo told us when we asked him,
that we would be free from this affliction
only when we discovered the killers of Laius,
and either executed them, or sent them into exile from this land.
So share with us your messages from birds or anywhere else;
save yourself, the city, and me, from this plague
that comes to us from this dead man.
We depend on you:
it is the noblest task of all for a man
to use his gifts to help others.
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TIRESIAS
How terrible knowledge can be
when it burdens the one who possesses it.
I forgot this and should never have come.
OEDIPUS
What do you mean? You seem to have misgivings about coming here.
TIRESIAS
Let me go home. It will be best both for you and for me.
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OEDIPUS
It would be against the law not to tell us what we need to know,
and it also shows no love for the city that raised you.
TIRESIAS
You don’t know what you are saying,
and I don’t want to make the same mistake that…
OEDIPUS
We all beg you, for god’s sake, to tell us what you know.
TIRESIAS
You also don’t know what you are asking.
I shall not reveal my dilemma, to say nothing of yours.
OEDIPUS
What do you mean? Do you know something but won’t reveal it?
You would rather betray and destroy the city?
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TIRESIAS
I will not cause either of us to suffer. So give it up!
You won’t get anything from me.
OEDIPUS
You could drive a stone mad! Won’t you speak?
Or do you prefer being stubborn and silent?
TIRESIAS
You blame me for being difficult, but you don’t see your own anger.
OEDIPUS
Who wouldn’t be angry,
hearing how you despise your own city!
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TIRESIAS
Even though I reveal nothing, things will work themselves out.
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OEDIPUS
But shouldn’t you tell me about these things?
TIRESIAS
Rage away, if you must, but I refuse to speak.
OEDIPUS
You’ve goaded me into telling you exactly what I think.
You took part in the crime, although you didn’t kill him yourself.
If you weren’t blind, you would probably have done that too.
TIRESIAS
Is that so?
Then I tell you to keep your word
and remember what you said:
don’t speak to others or to me from this day on,
because YOU are the unholy affliction on this land.
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OEDIPUS
Can you stand there and shamelessly say that
and think there will be no consequences?
TIRESIAS
Not for me. Blame the truth.
OEDIPUS
Where does this “truth” come from? Not from your craft.
TIRESIAS
From you. You force me to speak against my will.
OEDIPUS
What was it again? I want to know exactly what you said.
TIRESIAS
Didn’t you understand? Is this a test?
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OEDIPUS
Say it again. I want to know exactly what you mean.
TIRESIAS
I say that you are the murderer you are looking for.
OEDIPUS
You won’t get away with saying this nonsense twice.
TIRESIAS
Shall I go on and make you even angrier?
OEDIPUS
Go on, you can’t say anything
that is more ridiculous than you already have.
TIRESIAS
I say you are blind to the filth in which you live,
in the worst relationship possible with those who are closest to you!
OEDIPUS
Do you really think you can go on saying this?
TIRESIAS
If the truth counts for anything.
OEDIPUS
Yes, but not for you. You are blind in your ears,
in your mind, and in your eyes.
370
TIRESIAS
It is too bad that you condemn me
for something for which you will soon be accused.
22
OEDIPUS
You live in perpetual night,
so you can’t harm me or anyone else who looks on the day.
TIRESIAS
I won’t bring you down. Apollo will.
OEDIPUS
Is it you or Creon who is responsible for this plot.
TIRESIAS
Creon’s not the problem, but you are.
OEDIPUS, to the chorus
Dark and dangerous is the envy provoked by wealth and power,
and a skill that surpasses skill!
My proof is that Creon, my trusted friend from the beginning,
has been plotting against me, secretly, out of desire for the throne,
which the city gave to me without my asking.
Now he sets on me this charlatan who weaves plots,
a beggar up to tricks, who only cares about lining his own pocket,
but is blind in his craft.
380
To Tiresias.
If you had any talent, why didn’t you help free the citizens
in their hour of need when the singing Sphinx set her riddles?
Not anyone could solve those riddles!
Some prophetic skill was needed,
but you could find none from your birds or gods.
No. I was the one, know-nothing Oedipus.
I stopped her by using my brains, not nonsense from birds.
And now it’s me you’re trying to throw out,
thinking you’ll be a trusted advisor of Creon,
sitting on the throne that used to be mine.
You will be sorry that you came up with this plan
to “throw out the defilement.”
If you weren’t an old man,
I’d teach you the hard way for devising this scheme.
390
400
23
CHORUS
You both have spoken in anger. That’s not helpful.
We have to figure out how best to do what the god asked us to do.
TIRESIAS
Although you are the ruler, we have equal power to speak.
I am not a slave to you, but I serve Apollo.
I also am hardly in Creon’s service.
You insult my blindness, but you, who are not blind,
cannot see your own suffering, nor where you live, nor with whom.
Do you know your parents?
You can’t see that you are the enemy
of both those above and below the earth.
One day, the deadly-footed, double-woven curse
that comes from your father and mother
will drive you from this land.
You see now, but soon you will be in darkness.
How the mountains and shadowy caves
will echo with your screams when,
after having sailed into the port of your home,
with winds at your back,
you finally learn the truth about your marriage.
But there’s worse to come, which you don’t even suspect,
and it will destroy you and your children.
You can blacken Creon’s name and mine as much as you like!
No human being will ever be more utterly ruined,
nor more cruelly, than you.
410
420
OEDIPUS
This is intolerable! I won’t hear another word!
Go to hell! Get out of here and go home, NOW!
430
TIRESIAS
I wouldn’t have come if you hadn’t sent for me.
OEDIPUS
If I’d known you would speak such nonsense,
I’d never have brought you here.
24
TIRESIAS
Nonsense? Your parents thought me wise.
OEDIPUS
My parents? Wait! Who are they?
TIRESIAS
This one day will both birth and bury you.
OEDIPUS
Your words are all smoke and riddles.
TIRESIAS
Aren’t you the master of riddles?
440
OEDIPUS
You also insult my strength.
TIRESIAS
It’s that strength that ruined you.
OEDIPUS
I don’t care what you say, if I saved the city.
TIRESIAS
I’ll leave. Boy, lead me.
OEDIPUS
Yes. Take him away. You’re only a burden to me.
Your departure will be good riddance to bad rubbish.
TIRESIAS
I’ve said what I came to say.
I’m not afraid of you, because you can’t hurt me.
25
But I tell you this: the murderer of Laius
that you seek and threaten is here.
He’s thought to be a stranger,
but it will turn out that he’s native-born.
He won’t be happy about that. Once he could see,
but now he’ll be blind; once rich, now poor.
He’ll tap his way with a stick, a stranger in a strange land.
He’ll be seen as both brother
and father to his children with whom he lives,
son and husband to his wife,
and murderer of his own father,
sowing seeds in the same wife.
That’s something for you to think about
when you go back into your palace.
If you find I’m wrong,
then you can say I have no skill in seeing the future.
450
460
Exeunt TIRESIAS and OEDIPUS.
CHORUS
Who is it
The song of Delphi’s rock accused
Of committing with his own bloody hands
What was more unspeakable
Than unspeakable?
It is time for him to run
Swifter than the storm horses
Of a wild gale.
Apollo will attack him
With his father’s thunder and lightning
And close behind,
Fierce and infallible fates of death
Are hot on the track of their prey.
The word clear as crystal shone out
From the snowy peaks of Parnassus,
Ordering a search for the man in hiding.
He wanders though the dark wood,
Into caves and over rocks,
A bull, limping miserably on wounded hoof,
Trying to escape the prophecies
From Delphi, the center of the earth,
But they buzz continually around his head.
The wise seer has disturbed me,
Disturbed me greatly.
470
480
26
I have nothing to say,
Either to agree or disagree.
I know of no quarrel, neither then or now,
Between Oedipus, son of Polybus,
And Laius, son of Labdacus,
To justify a trial.
I cannot go against Oedipus’ fame that all men know
To ally myself with Laius and his kin,
Because of deaths hidden in mystery.
Zeus and Apollo know what they are doing;
They know the past, present, and future of man.
A prophet is different: he can be wrong,
And I can equal him in knowledge.
One man is wise in one way,
Another in another.
Before I see the word come to pass,
I shall not agree with his accusers.
It was clear that the winged woman
Once fought with him;
He was seen to be wise in the contest,
A friend to the city.
In my heart, I shall never condemn him.
490
500
510
Enter CREON.
CREON
Citizens.
I have come because I heard that Oedipus
has accused me of terrible things.
This is intolerable.
If in any way he thinks
that I have harmed him in word or deed,
I won’t live with this shameful reputation.
This loss is too great – I cannot take this lightly –
520
when I hear that I am accused of betraying the city, you, and my friends.
CHORUS
Yes. That is what he said.
But probably in anger, because he wasn’t thinking.
CREON
He said publicly that I persuaded the prophet to tell lies?
27
CHORUS
Yes. But he didn’t mean it.
CREON
This was the charge he made against me,
with his eyes wide open and his mind clear?
CHORUS
I don’t know. I don’t understand what rulers do.
But here he is, just coming out of the house.
530
Enter OEDIPUS.
OEDIPUS
How dare you come here?
How dare you show your face here at my house,
you who would be my murderer, and steal my throne?
Tell me, by the gods, did you think me a coward and an idiot?
Was that why you conceived this plan?
Did you think I wouldn’t find out or defend myself?
You fool!
You need money and friends to steal a throne:
wealth and supporters give power.
540
CREON
Listen to what I have to say, and then judge me.
OEDIPUS
You are skilled in speech.
But I’m not going to be a good listener
to my enemy.
CREON
Please listen.
OEDIPUS
Just tell me you’re not a traitor.
CREON
No, I’m not.
Don’t be stubborn, but be wise, and have an open mind.
550
28
OEDIPUS
It’s not wise to think
you can harm someone close to you and not be punished for it.
CREON
I agree. Tell me what did I do to harm you?
OEDIPUS
Didn’t you tell me to send for your prophet? Do you deny it?
CREON
No, and I still believe it was good advice.
OEDIPUS
How long has it been since Laius disappeared…
was murdered.
560
CREON
It was a long time ago, and the years add up.
OEDIPUS
Was Tiresias a skilled prophet then?
CREON
Yes. He was wise and honored then as now.
OEDIPUS
Did he mention me then?
CREON
Not that I heard personally.
29
OEDIPUS
Didn’t you try to find the killer?
CREON
Of course, but we could find nothing.
OEDIPUS
Why didn’t the wise seer help you?
CREON
I don’t know. If you know nothing, say nothing.
OEDIPUS
You do know something,
and if you know what’s good for you,
you’ll tell me.
570
CREON
What? I won’t hold anything back.
OEDIPUS
If he wasn’t plotting with you,
he would never have called me the murderer of Laius.
CREON
If that is what he said.
Now you must tell me as much as I’ve told you.
OEDIPUS
I’ll tell you all I can; but I’m not the murderer.
CREON
So. You’re married to my sister?
30
OEDIPUS
I don’t deny it.
CREON
You rule this land, and she has an equal share in it?
OEDIPUS
I give her whatever she wants.
580
CREON
Am I not your equal, the third in this triad?
OEDIPUS
Yes, and that is why I call you a traitor.
CREON
Listen to me, and think about it.
Why would anyone want to be king and live in constant fear,
rather than have the same power and sleep peacefully?
I don’t want to be king, as long as I enjoy the same privileges.
Any sensible man would agree with me.
I get all I want now and am free from fear,
but if I were the ruler,
I’d have to do a lot of things I would not want to do.
Why do you think I’d prefer to be king,
when I have the same power and influence
without any of the worries? I’m not stupid.
I only want things that can benefit me.
Now everyone calls me their friend and greets me warmly.
If they want anything, they take me aside
because they know I can get it for them.
590
I’d never do what you accuse me of,
nor would I be an ally of anyone who did.
Go to Delphi, and find out whether what I reported was true.
If you discover
I have plotted with the seer,
don’t kill me by one vote,
but two: yours and mine,
600
31
but don’t accuse me without any proof.
It is as wrong to call a bad man good as to call a good man bad.
I think if you get rid of a good friend,
you destroy your own life as well.
You will eventually learn:
it is only time that reveals the just man,
whereas the unjust one is discovered in a day.
610
CHORUS
If you want the opinion of a cautious man, lord,
I think he has spoken well.
Too swift a judgment is never safe.
OEDIPUS
A swift plot calls for swift action. To wait is to risk losing.
620
CREON
What do you want? To drive me from this land?
OEDIPUS
No. I want you to die; exile’s too easy.
To make an example of you to show where envy leads ….
CREON
You refuse to believe me, and nothing will persuade you?
You’re not making sense.
OEDIPUS
Enough sense to satisfy me.
CREON
You should also think of me.
OEDIPUS
You’re a traitor.
CREON
And if you are wrong?
32
OEDIPUS
All the same, I have to rule.
CREON
Not if you rule badly.
OEDIPUS
O city, my city.
CREON
It’s mine too, not yours alone.
630
CHORUS
Stop, I see Jocasta coming from the palace just in time.
Now, with her help, you can settle your quarrel.
Enter JOCASTA.
JOCASTA
You foolish men, what are you thinking of to quarrel like this?
Aren’t you ashamed to air your private differences,
when the city needs you in its present crisis? [Turning to OEDIPUS]
Oedipus, please go inside, and you, Creon,
go home, and don’t make a small problem into something big.
CREON
Sister, your husband is threatening me with either death
or exile.
OEDIPUS
640
That’s right. Because I found him plotting to destroy me.
CREON, delivered with conviction
I swear, if I have done anything you accuse me of,
by the gods, may I be cursed forever.
JOCASTA
Oedipus, believe him. That is a powerful oath, and we all heard it:
the gods, me, and these people here.
33
CHORUS
I beg you lord, listen to her with both your heart and mind.
650
OEDIPUS
What do you want me to do?
CHORUS
Believe this man who’s been trustworthy in the past;
he’s sworn, and the gods have heard.
OEDIPUS
Do you know what you want from me?
CHORUS
Yes.
OEDIPUS
What? Tell me?
CHORUS
Simply because you suspect him of something, do not banish this man who has proven
himself by his oath to be loyal.
OEDIPUS
You realize then you are asking either for my own death or exile?
CHORUS
No, I swear! That’s not what I want.
I just can’t bear to see these private troubles
added to the ones that have been tearing our land apart.
660
OEDIPUS
Then I’ll let him off, even though it might mean I die,
or am driven from this land in dishonor.
I do this out of respect for you, not him:
he’ll be my enemy forever.
CREON
670
Your anger is blazing,
And that makes it hard for you to give in.
34
Anger hurts the angry man most of all.
OEDIPUS
Haven’t you had enough yet? Won’t you leave?
CREON
I’ll go. You make no sense, but they do, and they have saved me.
Exit CREON.
CHORUS
Lady, why don’t you take him into the house?
JOCASTA
I will, after I find out what happened.
680
CHORUS
It was only stupid talk, but even that can cause harm.
JOCASTA
From both of them?
CHORUS
Yes.
JOCASTA
What did they say?
CHORUS
Let’s leave it alone now. It is our land that is my concern.
OEDIPUS
I know you mean well,
but do you see how you have no real regard for me
and what I desire with all my heart.
CHORUS
I would be mad to ignore you,
because you saved my beloved country
690
35
when it was going through stormy times:
rescue it again, and bring it safely to harbor.
JOCASTA (to OEDIPUS)
Please tell me what has angered you so much?
OEDIPUS
I shall. I respect you more than everyone here.
Creon was plotting against me.
700
JOCASTA
Tell me the details.
OEDIPUS
He says I killed Laius.
JOCASTA
Did he see you, or did he learn this from someone else?
OEDIPUS
He cleverly covered his own guilt
by sending a prophet to accuse me with his lies.
JOCASTA
I’ll set your mind at peace. Listen to me.
No mortal can be a prophet, and I’ll prove it to you.
Laius was given a prophecy,
not from Apollo, but his priests,
who said that he would die at the hands of his son.
What happened?
Laius was killed by robbers
at the place where three roads meet.
When his baby son was three days old,
his ankles were bound together,
and he was left to die on a wild mountainside.
So Apollo’s oracle did not come to pass:
the son did not kill his father;
Laius did not suffer what he feared,
710
720
36
death at his son’s hands.
So much for prophets. Ignore them.
What the gods want to happen, they will see to themselves.
OEDIPUS
A strange feeling came over me as you spoke just now:
my heart started to race, and my mind to wander….
JOCASTA
What are you worrying about now?
OEDIPUS
You said that Laius was killed
at a place where three roads meet?
730
JOCASTA
Yes. That was what they said then, and still do now.
OEDIPUS
And that’s where it happened?
JOCASTA
Yes. In Phocis. One road leads from Delphi,
one from Daulis, and one goes south.
OEDIPUS
How long ago did these things happen?
JOCASTA
Just before you became king.
OEDIPUS
Oh, Zeus, what are you doing to me?
JOCASTA
What is it that’s bothering you?
37
OEDIPUS
Don’t ask me now.
What did Laius look like, and how old was he?
740
JOCASTA
He was dark, and his hair was just turning gray.
He looked rather like you.
OEDIPUS
Oh, without knowing, I may have cursed myself.
JOCASTA
I’m afraid to look at you now.
OEDIPUS
I have a terrible feeling that the blind seer could see,
but tell me something else.
JOCASTA
I am afraid, but whatever you ask, I’ll tell you what I know.
OEDIPUS
Did he travel with a few people,
or many guards, as a king would?
750
JOCASTA
There were five in all, and a herald with them.
Just one carriage for Laius.
OEDIPUS
Oh God, crystal clear now. Who told you that?
JOCASTA
A slave. The only one who escaped.
38
OEDIPUS
Is he here now? In the palace?
JOCASTA
He’s not here now.
When, after Laius’ death, you took over,
he begged me to send him to the fields to be a shepherd;
he said he wanted to be as far from the city as he could.
I sent him away;
he was a good slave and deserved even better than this.
760
OEDIPUS
Could we get him here quickly?
JOCASTA
Yes, why?
OEDIPUS
I’m afraid I’ve said too much. That’s why I want to see him.
JOCASTA
He’ll come. But I think I have a right to know
what it is that bothers you.
770
OEDIPUS
I won’t deny you this, now that dark forebodings haunt me.
Who better than you should hear
about all that has happened to me?
My father was Polybus, King of Corinth,
and my mother Merope, a Dorian.
In everything I was privileged
above all others in the kingdom.
Then something happened, which was indeed offensive,
but hardly something that
should have disturbed me as much as it did.
A man, who too much wine had made loose-tongued,
said that I wasn’t my father’s child.
I was deeply disturbed and bridled at the insult.
780
39
The next day I went to my father and mother
and they were furious at the drunken lout.
Although their reaction in some measure placated me,
grim doubts continued to torment me.
Without disclosing my intention,
I went to Delphi to consult the Pythian oracle,
but Apollo ignored what I’d asked,
and instead told me other horrible things:
I would have sexual intercourse with my mother
and sire a brood that other men
would shudder to see.
In addition to this, I would be the killer of my father.
After this, guided by the stars, I left my home, Corinth,
meaning never to see it again,
so that those dreadful prophecies would never be fulfilled.
I walked to the place where you say the king died.
I’ll tell you the truth.
When I came to the crossroads,
I met a man, riding in a carriage, with a herald, just as you said.
The driver and the old man tried to force me off the road.
In my fury I struck out at the driver,
who was trying to push me away.
When he saw this, the old man waited until I was coming past
and then hit me full on the head
with his double-pronged stick,
which he used to goad the horses.
I gave back double what he delivered:
I struck him full on with my staff
and knocked him out of the carriage.
By then I was besides myself with rage.
I killed him and then I killed them all.
But if it turns out that this stranger was indeed Laius,
then I would be the most miserable of all men:
no one more hated by the gods.
No stranger, no citizen could invite me into his home,
and no one speak to me: everyone must drive me away.
Only I am to blame for this curse that I laid on myself.
790
800
810
820
I have touched you in the bed of the dead man
with the same hands that murdered him.
Am I a criminal? Am I an unholy monster?
Must I run away and not see my family?
May I not return to my native soil,
because then I risk marrying my mother
40
and killing my father Polybus, who raised me and gave me life?
Wouldn’t someone be right to say
that this fate comes from a savage god?
O God, O God, by all that is holy,
let me die now rather than live to see such a day!
Banish me from the eyes of men
before I commit such filthy crimes.
830
CHORUS
Yes, you describe horrible things to us,
but until you hear what the witness has to say,
keep up your hope.
OEDIPUS
My only hope now is for this shepherd to get here.
JOCASTA
When he does, what do you want from him?
OEDIPUS
I’ll tell you: if he agrees with what you said, then I’m acquitted.
840
JOCASTA
What was it that I said?
OEDIPUS
You said that the shepherd claimed robbers killed Laius.
If he still says it was more than one,
then I didn’t kill the king.
One does not equal many.
But if he says clearly it was one man alone,
that weighs more against me.
JOCASTA
He said it was many, and he can’t say otherwise now,
because the whole city heard him, not only me.
Even if he changes his story now,
he still can’t prove that the killing of Laius was as predicted,
namely that my son did it.
That poor child never killed him,
850
41
but died himself before he did.
From this point on,
I won’t take prophecy seriously.
OEDIPUS
You make good sense,
but be sure to send someone to bring the man here.
860
JOCASTA
I’ll send for him quickly.
Let’s go inside. I would not do anything you didn’t want.
Exeunt OEDIPUS and JOCASTA.
CHORUS
May my destiny lead me always
To be reverent and pure in both word and deed,
And follow the laws that come from on high:
They are born in the lofty heavens,
And only Olympus is their father.
No mortal nature theirs,
Nor does forgetfulness lull them to sleep.
There is a great God in these laws,
And He is ageless.
Pride breeds the tyrant.
Pride, if overstuffed
Beyond the proper and profitable,
Climbs up to the rooftop,
And plunges headlong into
Doom, sent by necessity,
Where feet are useless.
I pray that God
Never reverse the city’s fair triumph.
God will always be my protector.
870
880
But if someone walks disdainfully,
Arrogant in speech or action,
Careless of justice,
Without reverence for the gods,
May an evil fate seize him
For his misguided insolence
If he does not win his profit justly
Or restrain himself from unholy acts,
42
Or touches what must not be touched.
Whoever does these things
Shall not escape the shafts
Of disaster that will attack his soul.
If such a man is honored,
Why should I dance for the gods?
I shall no longer go to the holy shrine of Delphi,
The navel of the earth,
Nor to the shrines of Abae or Olympia,
If oracles do not tell the truth to all mankind.
Almighty Zeus, lord of all,
If you hear what I say,
Do not let this escape you,
And your immortal rule.
The oracle’s sight is growing dim;
Apollo’s honor no longer shines;
The power of the gods is dying.
890
900
910
JOCASTA enters with offerings for Apollo.
JOCASTA
Leaders of the land,
I decided to go to the temples of the gods,
and with my own hands
offer these crowns of flowers and incense.
Oedipus is tormenting himself with every possible doubt.
He no longer sensibly weighs new information against the old,
but agrees with every new speaker,
especially if the message is a bad one.
Turns to the altar and addresses the god.
Since he ignores my advice,
I have come to you, Lycian Apollo.
You are closest, and I pray
that you find some good outcome.
We all are terrified
to see the captain of our ship struck down.
920
Enter MESSENGER.
MESSENGER
Strangers, could you tell me where’s the palace of Oedipus?
Or better still, could you tell me where he is?
43
CHORUS
This is his home, and he’s inside.
Here is his wife and mother of his children.
MESSENGER
May she be happy and live with happy people always!
Blessings on the mistress of the house.
930
JOCASTA
Blessings on you stranger, who deserve it for your graciousness.
But tell me why you have come, or what message you bring.
MESSENGER
I have good news for your house and your husband.
JOCASTA
What news is that, and from whom?
MESSENGER
From Corinth, and what I shall tell you will please you,
but also bring you some sadness.
JOCASTA
What is it? A double-pronged message?
MESSENGER
Those in Corinth have said they want to make him king.
940
JOCASTA
How can that be? Doesn’t Polybus still rule?
MESSENGER
No. Death has welcomed him home.
44
JOCASTA
What are you saying? Oedipus’ father is dead?
MESSENGER
May I die if I lie.
JOCASTA
You there, go tell the master at once.
So much for prophecies from the gods!
Oedipus avoided his father
because it was prophesied that he would kill him,
but, see, he has died from natural causes!
Enter OEDIPUS.
OEDIPUS
My dearest wife, why have you sent for me?
950
JOCASTA
Listen to this man, and then tell me
what you think about God’s holy oracles!
OEDIPUS
Who is he, and what does he have to say?
JOCASTA
He’s from Corinth, to say that Polybus has passed away: he’s dead.
OEDIPUS
What is this? Tell me yourself.
MESSENGER
To put it bluntly, you can be sure he’s dead.
OEDIPUS
By some treachery? Or sickness?
960
45
MESSENGER
Even a small gust blows an old body to its resting place.
OEDIPUS
So he died from sickness, the poor man.
MESSENGER
And the many years he’d put in.
OEDIPUS
Why should one look to Delphi, and those screeching birds
that predicted I was going to kill my father?
He’s dead and buried.
I’m here, and I touched no weapon,
unless he died from missing me.
But Polybus sleeps in Hades,
and with him went the worthless oracles.
970
JOCASTA
Haven’t I been telling you so for a long time now?
OEDIPUS
Yes. But I was afraid.
JOCASTA
Don’t worry any longer.
OEDIPUS
But shouldn’t I be afraid of sleeping with my mother?
JOCASTA
Why should any man fear what may happen
when he can do nothing about it?
There’s no certain way to predict the future,
so it’s best to take life easy.
And don’t be afraid of marrying your mother!
Many a man has lain with his mother in his dreams.
He lives best who regards all prophecies and dreams as nonsense.
980
46
OEDIPUS
That would all be fine, if my mother weren’t living.
But, even though what you said is correct,
as long as she lives, I’ll be afraid.
MESSENGER
You must be relieved at least
to hear your father died a natural death.
OEDIPUS
Yes. But I’m afraid while she is still alive.
MESSENGER
Of whom are you afraid?
OEDIPUS
Merope, old man, who lived with Polybus.
990
MESSENGER
Why are you afraid of her?
OEDIPUS
There was a terrible prophecy.
MESSENGER
Can you tell me, or is that forbidden?
OEDIPUS
No. Apollo said that I would have intercourse with my mother
and shed my father’s blood with my own hands.
That is why I lived far away from Corinth.
Things worked out well for me,
but it is sweetest of all to look into the eyes of our parents.
MESSENGER
Was that the fear that drove you out of our city?
1000
47
OEDIPUS
Yes, so that I wouldn’t be my father’s murderer.
MESSENGER
Since I have come as a friend, why don’t I set your mind free?
OEDIPUS
If you can do that, I’ll reward you well.
MESSENGER
Yes. I came here with that hope,
and that when you came back home,
you would reward me for my services.
OEDIPUS
I’ll never return to my parents.
MESSENGER
It is clear you don’t know what you’re doing.
OEDIPUS
What do you mean? For God’s sake, tell me!
MESSENGER
It’s on their account you don’t go home?
1010
OEDIPUS
Yes. I’m afraid that the oracle will come true.
MESSENGER
So you are avoiding crimes against your parents.
OEDIPUS
48
Yes. That’s what frightens me.
MESSENGER
You have nothing to fear.
OEDIPUS
How can that be if they are my parents?
MESSENGER
Polybus was not related to you.
OEDIPUS
What are you saying? Isn’t Polybus my father?
MESSENGER
No more than I am, and equally so.
OEDIPUS
How can my father be equal to someone who is of no relation to me?
MESSENGER
Neither he nor I was your father.
1020
OEDIPUS
Then why did he call me his son?
MESSENGER
I gave you to him as a gift from my hands.
OEDIPUS
How could he love, as much as he did, a baby he received from another’s hands?
MESSENGER
He had no children of his own.
49
OEDIPUS
Did you buy me or find me, before giving me to him?
MESSENGER
I found you in the wooded valley of Cithaeron.
OEDIPUS
What were you doing there?
MESSENGER
I was a shepherd, in charge of flocks grazing there.
OEDIPUS
A wandering shepherd, serving someone?
MESSENGER
Yes, and the person who saved you at a critical time.
1030
OEDIPUS
Why critical?
MESSENGER
Your ankles carry the telltale scars.
OEDIPUS
Oh, why do you speak of that old pain?
MESSENGER
I released your ankles which were pierced and tied together.
OEDIPUS
A terrible shame from infancy.
MESSENGER
50
That’s how you got your name, Oedipus, which means
“swollen foot”.
OEDIPUS
Did my mother or father give me that name? Tell me.
MESSENGER
I don’t know. The man who gave you to me knows better.
OEDIPUS
Then you didn’t find me,
but received me from some other shepherd?
1040
MESSENGER
Yes. Another shepherd gave you to me.
OEDIPUS
Who was he? But you said you found me.
Can you tell me the truth now?
MESSENGER
Someone said he was Laius’ man.
OEDIPUS
Laius, who used to rule here?
MESSENGER
Yes. That man was the king’s shepherd.
OEDIPUS
Is he alive, so that I can see him?
MESSENGER
51
Your people here would know that best.
OEDIPUS
Does anyone of you know this shepherd of whom he speaks?
Have you seen him here, or in the fields?
Tell me, it’s time everything is revealed.
1050
CHORUS
I think he is the same man
that you asked to come here from the fields,
but Jocasta would be the best one to tell you.
Turning to JOCASTA.
OEDIPUS
You know the man we’ve sent for. Is this the same man?
JOCASTA
Why ask about him? Pay no attention.
Forget what has been said.
It’s worthless information.
OEDIPUS, getting irritated
Do you want me to cover up my birth,
just when we’re getting so close?
JOCASTA
I beg you, by the gods above,
if you care about your life,
don’t try to find this out.
It is enough that I’m sick over it.
1060
OEDIPUS
Don’t worry.
Even if I’m a slave,
born of a slave mother,
whose own mother and grandmother were slaves,
you are still noble.
JOCASTA
52
Please. Listen to me. I beg you.
Don’t do this!
OEDIPUS
You will never talk me out of discovering the truth.
JOCASTA
I’m telling you this for your own good.
OEDIPUS
It’s that “good” that has been tearing me apart for a long time now.
JOCASTA
O you miserable man. I hope you never learn who you are!
OEDIPUS, to chorus
Let her go and glory in her wealth and high birth.
Will someone bring the shepherd to me?
1070
JOCASTA
Unhappy man!
That’s all I can call you,
and nothing else ever again.
Exit JOCASTA.
CHORUS
Why has she rushed off in such wild anguish?
I’m afraid that from this silence,
an evil storm will erupt.
OEDIPUS
Let the storm’s fury rain down on my head!
Even if I’m born from beggars,
I want to know where I came from.
But she, with her high and mighty airs,
she’ll be ashamed if it turns out I’m not noble.
I’m a child of chance,
and I won’t be despised for that.
53
Chance is my mother,
and my brothers and sisters
are the moons and stars,
that determined at one time, for me to be small,
and at another time, great.
With such a parent, how could I turn out
to be a man who would not search out his origin?
1080
CHORUS
I swear by Olympus without end,
If I can see anything,
And am wise in my judgment,
When the full moon shines tomorrow,
Cithaeron,
Oedipus will praise you
As his kinsman, his mother, and his nurse.
We shall dance in your honor,
Because you are celebrated by our king.
O Apollo, to whom men cry out,
May this find favor in your eyes.
Which of the gods,
Who wander the mountains at Pan’s side,
Gave birth to you, Oedipus?
Did Apollo bed a goddess?
He loves mountain pastureland.
Or Hermes perhaps?
Or divine Bacchus,
Who lives on the mountain tops?
Did some bright-eyed nymph,
One of his beloved playmates,
Offer you to him as a gift of fortune?
1090
1100
Enter SHEPHERD.
OEDIPUS
I don’t know the man,
but if I can judge from his age,
and from my attendants with him,
I would say that here comes
the shepherd we are looking for.
You could say better than I,
because you know him.
1110
54
CHORUS
Yes. I recognize the man.
Although only a shepherd, he was Laius’ trusty servant.
OEDIPUS
I ask you first, stranger from Corinth,
is this the man of whom you spoke?
1120
MESSENGER
Yes. The man before your eyes.
OEDIPUS
You there, old man, look at me and answer my questions.
You were Laius’ servant once?
SHEPHERD
Yes. I was a slave. I wasn’t bought,
but I was born and raised in the household.
OEDIPUS
What was your work, and what sort of life did you lead?
SHEPHERD
For most of my life, it was taking care of the flock.
OEDIPUS
Where did you stay with your flock?
SHEPHERD
Cithaeron, and the places nearby.
OEDIPUS (pointing at the MESSENGER)
Do you know this man, and did you meet him there?
1130
55
SHEPHERD
Doing what? What man are you talking about?
OEDIPUS
This man here. Have you ever had anything to do with him?
SHEPHERD
Not that I could say or remember quickly.
MESSENGER
No wonder. But I’ll jog his memory.
I’m sure he remembers that place around Cithaeron
where he had two herds, and I had one.
I kept company with him three times from spring
Through summer. Then, when winter came,
I drove my flocks home, and he took his back to Laius’ land.
Is that true or not?
1140
SHEPHERD
That’s true. But it was a long time ago.
MESSENGER
Now tell me this.
Do you remember giving me a child to raise as my own?
SHEPHERD
What? Why are you asking this?
MESSENGER (pointing at OEDIPUS)
That’s him. He is that baby, grown up, and king!
SHEPHERD
Damn you, can’t you keep your mouth shut? (He tries to hit the MESSENGER.)
56
OEDIPUS
Don’t hit him! He doesn’t deserve it as much as you do.
SHEPHERD
O best of masters, what have I done wrong?
OEDIPUS
You’re not telling us what we want to know about the child.
1150
SHEPHERD
He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and he’s wasting our time.
OEDIPUS
If you won’t answer simple questions,
we’ll use force, and you’ll soon be crying from the pain.
SHEPHERD
I am old. Don’t hurt me.
OEDIPUS
Tie his hands behind his back.
SHEPHERD
Oh, no, for what? What do you want to know?
OEDIPUS
Did you give the child we are talking about to this man?
SHEPHERD
I did, and I wish I had died on that day.
OEDIPUS
You’ll get your wish, if you don’t tell me what I want to know.
57
SHEPHERD
If I speak, I’ll die more surely that way.
OEDIPUS
This man is wasting our time.
1160
SHEPHERD
No. I already told you I gave him the child.
OEDIPUS
Where did you get it from? Was it your own, or someone else’s?
SHEPHERD
It wasn’t my own. Someone gave it to me.
OEDIPUS
From what citizen, and from what home?
SHEPHERD
Please, by god, don’t ask any more.
OEDIPUS
You are a dead man, if I have to ask again.
SHEPHERD
It was someone from Laius’ palace.
OEDIPUS
A slave, or one of Laius’ family?
SHEPHERD
Oh. Now I’m on the verge of revealing something terrible.
58
OEDIPUS
And I, to hear it. But it must be heard.
1170
SHEPHERD
It was said that the child was Laius’,
but his wife inside could tell you best.
OEDIPUS
Did she give it to you?
SHEPHERD
Yes.
OEDIPUS
Why?
SHEPHERD
To kill it.
OEDIPUS
How could a mother do that?
SHEPHERD
From fear of prophecies.
OEDIPUS
That said what?
SHEPHERD
That he would kill his parents.
OEDIPUS
Why did you give the baby to this old man?
SHEPHERD
I pitied it. I thought he could take it to another country.
59
He did, but in doing that he saved it for the worst:
if you are that man he says you are,
you are born to suffer.
1180
OEDIPUS
Oh! Oh! It’s clear as crystal now.
Light of day! This is the last time I look upon you, I, who am shown
to be born from whom I should not have been born,
to have slept with her with whom I should not have slept,
and to have killed him whom I ought not to have killed.
Exit OEDIPUS.
CHORUS
Oh, generations of men,
Your lives add up to nothing.
What happiness
Man thinks he has
Is only an illusion.
It glitters for a moment
And then fades away.
I count no man happy, Oedipus,
When I see you and your suffering,
You and your fate.
You stretched your bow and hit the mark!
Yes, by God, no one more successful and fortunate
Than when you slew the riddle-singing siren
Of the curved claws.
You protected our country,
And stood like a wall against death!
That’s why you are called my king,
Honored with the greatest honors,
Ruler over mighty Thebes.
What can be worse than what followed?
A life overturned,
Companion to suffering and wild destruction?
One generous harbor
Received both child and father
When they entered their marriage bed.
How long, how long could the field
Plowed by your father
Bear it all in silence?
1190
1200
1210
60
Time, the all-seeing,
Has found you out, all unwilling,
And judged you of old,
Indicting that marriage that was no marriage,
Father, not father, and child, not child,
But both one and the same.
O son of Laius,
How I wish, how I wish,
Never to have seen you.
Streaming from my lips
Is sorrow, bitter sorrow.
If I speak truly,
You gave me life again,
Only to close my eyes in their final sleep.
Enter second MESSENGER.
1220
MESSENGER (2)
You, who are honored most in this land,
What things you will now hear that were done,
and what things you will see for yourselves!
How you shall mourn if you still are loyal to the house of Labdacus! I do not think that
the Ister or Phasis rivers
could cleanse this house of the horrors it conceals,
and which the light of day will now illuminate,
both those done willingly and those unwillingly.
1230
Those sufferings pain us most that we ourselves have chosen.
CHORUS
What has happened is already beyond endurance;
how can you add anything more?
MESSENGER (2)
Jocasta is dead.
CHORUS
Poor woman. How did she die?
MESSENGER (2)
She did it herself.
You’ve escaped the worst, because you didn’t see it.
61
I did, and I will tell you all that I remember,
and what the poor woman suffered.
She was beside herself
and rushed inside right to her bridal bed.
She ripped at her hair with both her hands.
She called on the long dead Laius,
remembering the lovemaking of long ago
which resulted in his death at the hands of a child,
who was cursed because of him.
She wailed over the bed for her double misery:
that she had given birth to a husband from a husband,
and children from a child.
I don’t know the details of her death,
because Oedipus broke into the room, screaming,
and I couldn’t see clearly as he moved around.
He wandered about asking us for a sword,
and where he could find his wife, no wife,
but that field that bore a double harvest
of himself and his children.
Some god guided him,
not us men who were standing near.
He shouted furiously and burst against the double doors,
twisting the bolts from their sockets,
and he lurched into the room.
We saw his wife hanging there, from a noose of knotted rope.
When he saw her, he let out a terrible howl,
and slashed through the rope.
When she lay on the ground,
what followed then was horrible.
Oedipus took from her dress
the long golden pins that held it together;
he pierced his eyes and screamed that they
would not see what he suffered,
or the terrible things that he had done.
What ought not be seen
would be covered in darkness for all time,
and his eyes would not recognize
even those whom he longed to see.
1240
1250
1260
1270
Chanting, he repeated things like this,
and struck his eyes again and again.
His bleeding eyeballs wet his cheeks
and the bloody rain did not let up.
A dark storm of clotted blood dripped down like hail.
62
Terrible horror for both husband and wife.
Yes, they were once happy, truly happy,
but now today only moans, destruction, death, shame
and all the evils that man can name attend them
1280
CHORUS
Can that suffering man find any relief from his pain?
MESENGER (2)
He cries out for someone to open the gates and show
to all the citizens of the city
the man who slew both his father and his mother.
He said unholy things, which I won’t repeat.
He refuses to remain in the house,
But wants to be exiled out of this land.
He says he is cursed, and he put that curse on himself.
He needs the strength of a guide,
because his sickness is more than he can bear.
He’ll show you himself.
The gates are opening.
You will see someone you will pity,
even if you now loathe him.
1290
CHORUS
Oh, suffering terrible for men to see,
The most terrible I have ever known.
What madness came over you, miserable man?
What god leapt the longest leap of all,
Pouncing on you from the heavens, to bring you down?
You poor, poor man,
I can’t bear to look at you.
I want to ask you so much,
Learn so much,
And see so much;
Such is the horror you cause me to feel.
1300
Enter OEDIPUS.
OEDIPUS
Aiai aiai, such pain!
Where can I go?
What breeze carries my voice, and where?
1310
63
Where has fate brought me?
CHORUS
Into a terrible darkness, where nothing can be heard nor seen.
OEDIPUS
Cloud of darkness,
unspeakable visitor,
Irresistible and carried by an evil wind…
The pain of it! Pain again.
The memory of what I have done
Lays into me like a lash on open wounds.
CHORUS
It’s no wonder after what has happened:
You both suffer and cry out again and again.
1320
OEDIPUS
Dear friend,
you still help me,
and stay to care for a blind man.
Oh, yes,
I know you’re there: you can’t hide.
Although it’s all dark for me, I can hear your voice.
CHORUS
What a terrible thing you have done.
How could you put out your eyes?
What demon inspired you?
OEDIPUS
Apollo did it, Apollo, friends:
He caused all this evil, this misery, and made me suffer.
But it was me —
My hand alone struck out my eyes.
Why should I see?
I am a man for whom sight holds nothing sweet.
1330
CHORUS
I know.
64
OEDIPUS
What is left for me to see, or love,
Or what words could be pleasant to hear?
Dear friends,
Throw me out, throw me away,
One who stinks of death,
A man most hated and most cursed by the gods.
1340
CHORUS
You suffer both in mind and fate.
I wish I had never come to know you.
OEDIPUS
Damned be that shepherd
Who released my feet from their cruel ties,
Snatched me from death, and saved me.
He did me no favor.
If I had died, there would have been no suffering
For those close, nor for myself.
1350
CHORUS
That would have been my wish also.
OEDIPUS
I would not have killed my father,
Nor be known as the husband of she who bore me.
Now I am a godless man, child of cursed parents,
A man who conceived children as siblings
To those his own father had conceived.
If there is an evil that surpasses evil itself,
Oedipus claims it.
1360
CHORUS
Somehow you were ill-advised,
Because you would be better off dead
Than living as a blind man.
65
OEDIPUS
Stop telling me what to do,
or that what was done was not done for the best.
When I come to Hades, if I were able to see,
I don’t know how I could look on my father, or my mother,
against whom I have committed unforgivable sins.
Would I want to see my children,
knowing how they were conceived?
Never with these eyes!
Nor would I want to see the city,
the towers, or the holy statues of the gods!
I, the noblest man in Thebes, to my misery cursed myself,
telling everyone to drive out the man
whom the gods showed to be a sinner,
he who was discovered to be of Laius’ race.
How could I look on my city,
after I announced my own crime and punishment?
Never! If I could have halted the stream of my hearing,
I would have welcomed it:
to lock up this suffering body
in a prison with no sight or sound.
It is sweet to live in thoughts alone, far from evil.
1370
1380
1390
Cithaeron, why did you save me?
Why couldn’t you have killed me straight off,
so I would never have revealed to men my origin?
Polybus and Corinth, called home of my fathers,
how fair you made seem the foulness underneath,
and so you raised me.
But I am foulness itself, born from those who were foul.
Three roads, and a hidden valley, a small cluster of trees,
and that narrow path where three roads meet:
you drank my blood and the blood of my father
that I myself shed.
Do you still remember what I did
when I was on my way here?
1400
Marriage, marriage, you made me,
and you made more from the same seed:
you brought to light fathers who were brothers,
children of incest,
brides who were both wives and
mothers to their husbands –
66
yes, you engendered
the most shameful acts that man can do.
But it is not right to speak of what was not right to do;
so for the sake of the gods, hide me away,
as soon as possible, out of sight,
or kill me: throw me into the ocean,
where you will never see me again.
Show yourselves to be good men, and
be kind enough to touch this suffering man.
Do it, and don’t be afraid.
I alone am polluted:
I am the only man able to bear this suffering.
1410
CHORUS
Here is Creon; he will advise you about what you should do.
He rules the country now and is our sole protector.
OEDIPUS
What can I say to him?
How can he trust anything I say?
Everything I said or did before was wrong.
1420
Enter CREON.
CREON
I am not here to taunt you,
or to criticize you for past wrongs.
But if you have no shame before me,
at least respect the light of the sun
that fosters all things.
Do not show your crime, one that neither the earth,
nor the holy rain, nor the light can tolerate.
To a slave.
Now take him into the house.
It is right that only his family
should see and hear about his sufferings.
1430
OEDIPUS
Since, beyond my wildest hopes,
you have acted as the best of men towards me, the worst of men,
67
I beg of you one favor. I ask it for your sake, not mine.
CREON
And what is it that you would ask of me?
OEDIPUS
Throw me out of this land as quickly as possible,
to a place where no living person will speak to me.
CREON
I would have done exactly that,
but I wanted to consult first with the oracle
to find out what must be done.
OEDIPUS
But it’s clear what he said,
that I, the unholy father-killer, should die.
1440
CREON
It is better to learn what must be done in the present crisis.
OEDIPUS
Will you ask about me, miserable man that I am?
CREON
Yes. And this time, even you should trust the god.
OEDIPUS
I ask you to bury her who is inside –
for it is right she be buried by her own family but as for me, don’t tell my father’s city to shelter me,
but let me go live in the mountains,
in that place called Cithaeron,
which, when they were alive,
my mother and father wanted to be my tomb.
Let me die where they tried to kill me.
1450
I know that I would not have died
68
from sickness or anything else:
I was saved from death
for something terrible and evil.
Let my fate lead where it will.
Don’t worry about my boys, Creon;
they are men and can earn their own living wherever they are.
But take care of my two little girls,
who always shared food at my table,
and shared in all that I touched. Please do this for me.
1460
You, my lord, noble from birth, please let me touch them
and weep with them over all that I have suffered.
Touching them would be as good as seeing them.
Enter daughters.
But why do I say this?
Don’t I hear my dear ones crying now?
Creon has pitied me,
and sent me my dearest beloved daughters?
Is this so?
1470
CREON
You are right. I gave you this.
I knew that they would bring you a moment of joy,
as they always did in the past.
OEDIPUS
I wish you good fortune,
and may God lead you on a better path than he led me.
Children, where are you?
Come here, children, come to your brother’s and father’s hands:
they have become his eyes, which used to be bright.
1480
Not seeing, not knowing,
he became your father through her
from whom he also was born.
I cannot see you, but I weep for you.
I know how bitter your life will be,
the one that you now will be forced to lead.
What assembly, what feast, what parties
will you not leave in tears, rather than in joy?
1490
69
And when you grow up,
when someone hears the story of your birth,
who will risk marrying you?
Will they risk gossip about you and your parents?
It’s all there. Your father killed his father;
he had children from his mother,
the source of his own life.
Those are the insults you will hear;
so who would marry you?
No one.
You’ll die unmarried and childless.
Creon, son of Menoeceus,
you are their father now.
Their own parents are dead.
Do not let them become beggars, or be unwed.
Do not let them suffer what I have had to suffer.
Take pity on them:
they have nothing
except what you choose to give them.
Say yes, you good man,
and touch them with your hand.
1500
1510
I could tell you a lot of things, children,
if you were old enough.
But, now, pray that you live where you can,
and that your life be better than your father’s.
CREON
You have wept enough: go inside now.
OEDIPUS
I don’t want to, but I’ll do what you say.
CREON
Everything good has its time and place.
OEDIPUS
Do you know my conditions for leaving?
70
CREON
Tell me. I’ll listen.
OEDIPUS
Send me out of the country.
CREON
It’s up to God.
OEDIPUS
The gods hate me.
CREON
So then, you’ll probably get what you want.
OEDIPUS
Will you do what you promised?
1520
CREON
I don’t say things I don’t mean.
OEDIPUS
Take me away from here now.
CREON
Leave now, and let your children go.
OEDIPUS
No. Don’t take them away.
CREON
You no longer have any say in what happens here.
Your days of power are over.
Exeunt OEDIPUS, CREON and CHILDREN.
71
CHORUS
All you who live in Thebes,
Look here on Oedipus!
After he solved the famous riddle,
He became the most powerful of men!
Every citizen looked upon him with envy.
See what a fierce storm of disaster
Has swept him away!
You who are born to die,
Look to your last day.
Call no one happy,
Until that person has ended life
Free from sorrow.
1530
THE END
72
GLOSSARY
Abae (A, as in add, -bee), a shrine in Greece.
Agenor (Ah-GENE-or), father of Cadmus, descendant of Zeus and Io (EYE-oh).
Apollo (ah-POL-oh), god of prophecy, with a shrine at Delphi.
Ares (AIR-ease), god of war.
Amphitrite (am-phih-TRY-tee), sea-god.
Athena (Ah-THEE-nah), goddess of wisdom, daughter of Zeus.
Bacchus (BAH-cuss), another name for Dionysus.
Cadmus (CAD-muss), founder of Thebes and grandfather of Labdacus, Oedipus’
grandfather.
Corinth (CORE-inth), city ruled by Polybus.
Creon (CREE-on), brother of Jocasta.
Cithaeron (kith-THY-ron), a mountain near Thebes, where Oedipus was exposed as a
child.
Delphi (DELF-ee), city in Greece, site of Apollo’s shrine.
Daulis (DOW-lis), a city towards which a road led from the crossroads where Oedipus
met his father.
Dionysus (DIE-oh-NIGH-suss), god of wine and theatre.
Dorian (DOR-ee-an), settlers in Greece around 1100-1000 BC.
Hades (HAY-deese), king of the underworld: death,
Jocasta (joe-CAST-ah), Oedipus’ mother and wife.
Labdacus (LAB-da-cuss), grandfather of Oedipus.
Laius (LIE-us), Oedipus’ actual father.
Lycian (LIH-see-un), a title of Apollo.
Menoeceus (Men-EE-kee-us), father of Creon.
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Merope (MAIR-rope-ee), adoptive mother of Oedipus.
Miasma (my-AS-mah), pollution, sickness, sacred disease; a person or a city suffering
this must go through purification rituals to get rid of it;
sometimes that person must leave the city.
Oedipus (EE-dih-puss), king of Thebes, married to Jocasta.
Olympia (Oh-LIMP-ee-ah), a shrine in Southern Greece with one temple dedicated to
Zeus, and another to Hera. The Olympic games took
place there.
Olympus (Oh-LIMP-us), a mountain in Northern Greece where the Gods were said to
live.
Polybus (POLLY-bus), Oedipus’ adoptive father, King of Corinth.
Polydorus (polly-DOR-us), father of Labdacus.
Sphinx (SFINKS), monster with the body of a lion and head of a woman, who killed the
people of Thebes if they did not answer her riddle: “What goes on
four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three at night?” The
answer is “Man”: baby crawling; adult standing on two feet; old
man with cane.
Thebes (THEEBES), city ruled by Laius and Oedipus.
Thrace (THRAYCE), country in the north of Greece.
Tiresias (Tie-REE-see-us), a blind seer.
Zeus (ZOOSE), king of the gods.
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