Oedipus Tyrannus
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my mother the Dorian Merope. I was considered the greatest of the folk in that town, until a chance event befell me, worthy, indeed, of wonder, though not of my overreaction regarding it. At a banquet, a man drunk with wine
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cast it at me that I was not the true son of my father. And I, vexed, restrained myself for that day as best as I could, but on the next went to my mother and father and questioned them. They were angry at the one who had let this taunt fly.
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So I had comfort about them, but the matter rankled in my heart, for such a rumor still spread widely. I went to Delphi without my parents’ knowledge, and Phoebus sent me forth disappointed of the knowledge for which I had come,
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but in his response set forth other things, full of sorrow and terror and woe: that I was fated to defile my mother’s bed, that I would reveal to men a brood which they could not endure to behold, and that I would slay the father that sired me. When I heard this, I turned in flight from the land of Corinth,
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from then on thinking of it only by its position under the stars, to some spot where I should never see fulfillment of the infamies foretold in my evil fate. And on my way I came to the land in which you say that this prince perished.
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Now, lady, I will tell you the truth. When on my journey I was near those three roads, there I met a herald, and a man in a carriage drawn by colts, as you have described. The leader and the old man
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himself tried to thrust me rudely from the path. Then, in anger, I struck the one pushing me aside, the driver, and the old man, when he saw this, watched for the moment I was passing, and from his carriage, brought his double goad straight down on my head.
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Yet he was paid back with interest: with one swift blow from the staff in this hand he rolled right out of the carriage onto his back. I slew every one of them. But if this stranger had any tie of kinship to Laius,
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who is now more wretched than this man before you? What mortal could be proved more hateful to the gods? No stranger, no citizen, is allowed to receive him at home, it is unlawful for anyone to accost him, and all must push him from their homes. And this—this curse—
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was laid on me by no other mouth than my own. And I pollute the bed of the slain man with the hands by which he perished. Am I now vile? Oh, am I not utterly unclean, seeing that I must be banished, and in banishment neither see my own people,
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nor set foot in my own land, or else be joined in wedlock to my mother, and slay my father Polybus, who sired and reared me? Then would he who judged these things to be sent down by some cruel divinity not be right about Oedipus?
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Prevent, prevent, you pure and awful gods, me from ever seeing that day! No, may I be swept away from all men, before I see myself visited with that brand of doom.
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Chorus
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To us, king, these things are fraught with fear. Yet have hope, until at least you have gained full knowledge
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from the one who saw the deed.
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Oedipus
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I have, in truth, this much hope alone: I await the man summoned from the pastures.
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Iocasta
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And what do you want from him when he appears?
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Oedipus
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I will tell you. If his story is found
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to match withwith yours, I at least, will stand clear of disaster.
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Iocasta
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And what special note did you hear from me?
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Oedipus
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You said that he spoke of Laius as slain by robbers. If, then, he still speaks of several as before, I was not the slayer:
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a solitary man could not be considered the same as that band. But if he names one lonely wayfarer, then beyond doubt this guilt rests upon me.
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Iocasta
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Be assured that thus, at least, the tale was first told. He cannot revoke that,
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for the city heard it, not I alone. But even if he should diverge somewhat from his former story, never, king, can he show that the murder of Laius, at least, is truly square with the prophecy, for Loxias plainly said that he was to die at the hand of my child.
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How was it then that that poor innocent never slew him, but perished first? From now on then, as far as divination goes, I would not look to my right hand or my left.
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Oedipus
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You are right. But nevertheless send someone to fetch the peasant,
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and do not neglect this matter.
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Iocasta
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I will send for him without delay. But let us go into the house: I will do nothing which does not please you. Exeunt Oedipus and Iocasta.
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Chorus
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May destiny still find me winning the praise of reverent purity in all words and
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deeds sanctioned by those laws of sublime range, called into life through the high clear aether, whose father is Olympus alone. Their parent was no race of mortal men,
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no, nor shall oblivion ever lay them to sleep: the god is mighty in them, and he does not grow old.
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Chorus
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Insolence breeds the tyrant. Insolence, once vainly stuffed with wealth
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that is not proper or good for it, when it has scaled the topmost ramparts, is hurled to a dire doom, where one’s feet cannot serve to good advantage. But I pray that the god never
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quell such rivalry as benefits the state. I will always hold the god as our protector.
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Iocasta
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Princes of the land, I am planning to visit the shrines of the gods, with this wreathed branch and these gifts of incense in my hands. For Oedipus excites his soul excessively with all sorts of grief,
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as he does not judge the new things from the old, like a man of sense, but is under the control of the speaker, if he speaks of frightful things. Since, then, I can do no good by counsel, to you, Lycean Apollo—for you are nearest—
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I have come as a suppliant with these symbols of prayer, that you may find us some escape from uncleanliness. For now we are all afraid, like those who see fear in the helmsman of their ship.
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Messenger
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Can you tell me, strangers, where
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the house of King Oedipus is? Or better still, tell me where he himself is, if you know.
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Chorus
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This is his dwelling, and he himself, stranger, is within. This lady here is the mother of his children.
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Messenger
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Then may she be ever happy in a happy home,
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since she is his blessed queen.
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Iocasta
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Happiness to you also, stranger! Your fair greeting deserves this. But say what you have come to seek or to tell.
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Messenger
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Good tidings, lady, for your house and your husband.
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Iocasta
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What are they? From whom have you come?
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Messenger
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From Corinth, and at the message I will give now you will doubtless rejoice, though you may perhaps grieve too.
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Iocasta
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What is it? Why has it this double potency?
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Messenger
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The people will make him king of the
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Isthmian land, as it was said there.
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Iocasta
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How then? Is the aged Polybus no longer in power?
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Messenger
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No. For death holds him in the tomb.
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Iocasta
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What do you mean? Is Polybus dead, old man?
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Messenger
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If I do not speak the truth, I am content to die.
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Iocasta
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Handmaid, away with all speed, and tell this to your master! Oracles of the gods, where do you stand now? It is this man that Oedipus long feared he would slay. And now this man has died in the course of destiny, not by his hand.
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Oedipus
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Iocasta, dearest wife, why have you summoned me forth from these doors?
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Iocasta
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Hear this man, and judge, as you listen, what the awful oracles have come to.
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Oedipus
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Who is he and what news does he have for me?
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Iocasta
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He comes from Corinth to tell you that your father Polybus lives no longer, but has perished.
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Oedipus
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How, stranger? Let me have it from your own mouth.
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Messenger
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If I must first make these tidings plain, know indeed that he is dead and gone.
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Oedipus
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By treachery, or from illness?
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Messenger
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A light tilt of the scale brings the aged to their rest.
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Oedipus
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Ah, he died, it seems, of sickness?
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Messenger
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Yes, and of the long years that he had lived.
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Oedipus
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Alas, alas! Why indeed, my wife, should one look to the
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hearth of the Pythian seer, or to the birds that scream above our heads, who declared that I was doomed to slay my father? But he is dead, and lies beneath the earth, and here I am, not having put my hand to any spear—unless, perhaps, he died out of longing for me:
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thus, indeed, I would be the cause of his death. But as the oracles stand, at least, Polybus has swept them with him to his rest in Hades. They are worth nothing.
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Iocasta
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Did I not long ago foretell this to you?
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Oedipus
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You did, but I was mislead by my fear.
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Iocasta
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Now no longer take any of those things to heart.
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Oedipus
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But surely I must fear my mother’s bed.
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Iocasta
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What should a mortal man fear, for whom the decrees of Fortune are supreme, and who has clear foresight of nothing? It is best to live at random, as one may.
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But fear not that you will wed your mother. Many men before now have slept with their mothers in dreams. But he to whom these things are as though nothing bears his life most easily.
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Oedipus
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All these words of yours would have been well said,
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were my mother not alive. But as it is, since she lives, I must necessarily fear, though you do speak well.
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Iocasta
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Your father’s death is a great sign for us to take cheer.
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Oedipus
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Great, I know. But my fear is of her who lives.
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Messenger
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And who is the woman about whom you fear?
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Oedipus
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Merope, old man, the consort of Polybus.
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Messenger
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And what is it in her that moves your fear?
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Oedipus
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A divine oracle of dread import, stranger.
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Messenger
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Proper, or improper, for another to know?
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Oedipus
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Proper, surely. Loxias once said that I was
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doomed to marry my own mother, and to shed with my own hands my father’s blood. For which reasons I long shirked my home in Corinth—with a happy outcome, to be sure, but still it is sweet to see the face of one’s parents.
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Messenger
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Was it really for fear of this that you became an exile from that city?
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Oedipus
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And because I did not wish, old man, to be the murderer of my father.
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Messenger
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Why have I not relieved you of this second fear, my lord, since I came to give you pleasure?
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Oedipus
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And indeed you will have worthy thanks from me.
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Messenger
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And indeed I came specially for this, that
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I might profit from your returning home.
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Oedipus
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But by no means will I ever go near my parents again.
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Messenger
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My son, it is crystal clear that you do not know what you are doing.
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Oedipus
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How so, old man? In the name of the gods, tell me.
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Messenger
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If on account of this you are fleeing from returning home.
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Oedipus
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Fearing indeed lest Apollo’s prophecy come true in me.
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Messenger
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Lest you acquire some pollution from your parents?
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Oedipus
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This very thing, old man, this constantly frightens me.
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Messenger
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Do you know, then, that your fears are wholly in vain?
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Oedipus
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How so, if I was born of those parents?
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Messenger
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Because you had no blood in common with Polybus.
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Oedipus
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What are you saying? Was Polybus not my father?