Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 1367

OED

That this last act hath not been for the best

Instruct me not, nor counsel me again.

How, if I kept my sight, could I have looked

1370

In Hades on my father’s countenance,

Or mine all hapless mother, when, toward both,

I have done deeds no death can e’er atone?

Ah! but my children were a sight of joy,—

Offspring of such a marriage! were they so?

1375

Never, to eyes of mine! nor town, nor tower,

Nor holy shrines o’ the gods, which I myself,

Dowered with the fairest life of Theban men,

Have forfeited, alas, by mine own law,

Declaring men should drive from every door

1380

One marked by Heaven as impious and impure,

Nay worse, of Laius born! And was I then,

By mine own edict branded thus, to look

On Theban faces with unaltered eye?

Nay verily, but had there been a way

1385

To stop the hearing fountain through the ear,

I had not faltered, but had closed and barred

Each gate of this poor body, deaf and blind!

So thought might sweetly dwell at rest from ill

Cithaeron! Why didst thou receive me? Why

1390

Not slay me then and there? So had I not

Told to the world the horror of my birth.

O foster home of Corinth and her king,

How bright the life ye cherished, filming o’er

What foulness far beneath! For I am vile,

1395

And vile were both my parents. So ’tis proved

O cross road in the covert of the glen,

O thicket in the gorge where three ways met,

Bedewed by these my hands with mine own blood

From whence I sprang—have ye forgotten me?

1400

Or doth some memory haunt you of the deeds

I did before you, and went on to do

Worse horrors here? O marriage twice accurst!

That gave me being, and then again sent forth

Fresh saplings springing from the selfsame seed,

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To amaze men’s eyes and minds with dire confusion

Of father, brother, son, bride, mother, wife,

Murder of parents, and all shames that are!

Silence alone befits such deeds. Then, pray you,

Hide me immediately away from men!

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Kill me outright, or fling me far to sea,

Where never ye may look upon me more.

Come, lend your hand unto my misery!

Comply, and fear not, for my load of woe

Is incommunicable to all but me.

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CH

Oedipus.

Daß also nicht das Beste mir erkoren ward,

Das lehre du mich nimmer, noch gib weiter Rath.

Denn sage mir, mit welchen Augen sollt' ich einst

Anschau'n den Vater, angelangt in Hades' Haus,

Und wie die arme Mutter, nun an Beiden ich

1335

Verübte, was noch Härt'res als den Strang verdient?

Doch trug ich wohl Verlangen, noch die Saat zu schau'n,

Der Kinder Blüte, wie sie mir herangeblüht?

Niemals, fürwahr, mit meinen Augen nimmermehr!

Auch nicht die Stadt, die Thürme, noch der Himmlischen

1340

Geweihte Bilder, deren ich Unseligster,

Der groß in Thebä lebte, wie kein andrer Mann,

Mich selbst beraubte, weil ich selbst dem Volk gebot,

Den Frevler auszustoßen, den des Gottes Spruch

- 1345 Unrein erklärt hat, stamm' er selbst aus Laïos' Haus. ¹

1345

Nachdem ich selber solche Schmach an mir enthüllt,

Vermöcht' ich's, euch mit offnen Augen anzuseh'n?

Unmöglich! Gäb' es einen Damm, vom Ohre mir

Der Laute Strom zu wehren, ständ' ich nimmer an,

Ganz abzuschließen meinen schwergetroffnen Leib,

1350

Ich wäre blind und taub zugleich: süß ist es ja,

Im Leide wohnend alles Sinns beraubt zu sein.

Was nahmst du mich, Kithäron, auf? Was hast du nicht

Mich gleich getödtet, daß ich nie den Menschen mich

Verrathen hätte, welcher Eltern Sohn ich sei?

1355

O Polybos, Korinthos, du vermeintliches

Uraltes väterliches Haus, was zoget ihr

Mich groß, die schöne Hülle, die das Gift verbarg?

Denn schlecht und schlechter Eltern Sohn erschein' ich nun.

Ihr dreigespaltnen Pfade, du verborgnes Thal,

1360

Du Wald, ihr engen Schluchten dort am Scheideweg,

Die meines Vaters Blut ihr einst, das meine Hand

Vergossen, tranket, denkt ihr noch, welch schwere That

Ich dort vor euch verübte, was, hierher gelangt,

Ich abermals verbrochen? Eh'n, ihr Ehen, ach!

1365

Ihr zeugtet mich, empfinget, als ihr mich gezeugt,

Denselben Samen wieder, zogt an's Licht hervor

Geschwister, Väter, Kinder, stammverwandtes Blut,

Ehfrauen, Bräute, Mütter, und was Alles sonst

Von Gräueln unter Menschen nur sich finden mag.

1370

Doch nicht zu sagen ziemt ja, was nicht ziemt zu thun:

Drum säumet nicht, bei'm Himmel, daß ihr draussen wo

Mich berget, oder tödtet oder werft mich hin

In Meerestiefen, wo ihr nie mich wiederseht!

Kommt, ohne Scheu berührt den Unglückseligen;

1375

Folgt unbedenklich, fürchtet nichts! Denn meine Schmach ²

Vermag zu tragen außer mir kein Sterblicher.

Der Chor.

Oedipus

If what is done I have not wisely done,

Instruct me now, and counsel me no more.

1370

I know not with what eyes in Pluto's realm

I could behold my father, had I sight,

Or my unhappy mother: these dark orbs,

These deeds are better than the strangling cord.

But to behold my children's opening bloom,

1375

As I beheld them bloom, must be a sight

Much to be wish'd: no, never to my eyes;

Nor e'en this city, nor its rampired tow'rs,

Nor the revered forms of its sculptured gods,

Of which I, once of all the sons of Thebes

1380

Most glorious, have deprived myself, my voice

Injoining all an outcast hence to chase

This wretch unhallow'd, by the gods declared

Impure, and from the blood of Laius sprung.

This impious stain disclos'd, could e'er my eyes

1385

Dare unaverted look on these again?

No: could I stop the fount of hearing too,

Without remorse from this unhappy frame

Would I shut out its entrance, that nor eye

Nor ear might aught perceive; for sweet the life

1390

That glides away without the sense of ills.

Me, O Cithæron, why didst thou receive,

Or when received not instantly destroy,

That whence my birth I never might have shown?

O Polybus, O Corinth, and the house

1395

Once call'd my father's, what a seemly form

Of glory, covering ills that rankled deep,

In me you cherish'd, for I now am found

Vile, and my birth deriving from the vile !

O ye three ways, ye secret dells, thou grove,

1400

And, where the three ways meet, thou narrow path,

Who drank my father's blood shed by these hands,

Yet, do you yet remember me, what deeds

I did among you, then what deeds again

I here committed? O ye nuptials, O

1405

Ye nuptials, you produced this plant, then gave

To the same soil the same seed back, and show'd

Fathers, sons, brothers, streams of kindred blood,

Sisters, wives, mothers, and whatever deeds

'Mongst men are deem'd most vile. But, since the deeds

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Shameful in act not well beseem the tongue,

Quick, by the gods, in some far distant place

Hide me, or kill me, or beneath the sea

Hurl me to sink for ever. Come, my friends,

Disdain not an unhappy man to touch;

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Chorus

I cannot agree that you have counseled well: you would have been better dead than living and blind.

Oedipus

Do not tell me that things have not been best done in this way:

give me counsel no more. If I had sight, I know not with what eyes I could even have looked on my father, when I came to the house of Hades, or on my miserable mother, since against both I have sinned such sins as hanging myself could not punish.

1370

But do you think that the sight of children, born as mine were, was lovely for me to look upon? No, no, never lovely to my eyes! No, neither was this town with its towering walls, nor the sacred statues of the gods, since I, thrice wretched that I am—

1375

I, noblest of the sons of Thebes—have doomed myself to know them no more by commanding that all should reject the impious one, the one whom the gods have revealed as unholy, a member of Laius’ own race! After bearing such a stain upon myself,

1380

was I to look with steady eyes on this folk? No indeed: were there a way to choke the source of hearing, I would not have hesitated to make a fast prison of this wretched frame, so that I should have known neither sight nor sound.

1385

It is sweet for our thought to dwell beyond the sphere of grief. Alas, Cithaeron, why did you provide a shelter for me? When I was given to you, why did you not slay me straightway, that I might never reveal my origin to men. Ah, Polybus, ah, Corinth , and you that were called the ancient house of my father,

1390

how fair-seeming was I, your nurseling, and what evils were festering underneath! Now I am found to be evil and of evil birth. Oh you three roads, and you secret glen, you, thicket, and narrow way where three paths met—

1395

you who drank my father’s blood from my own hands—do you remember, perhaps, what deeds I have performed in your sight, and then what fresh deeds I went on to do when I came here? Oh marriage rites, you gave me birth, and when you had brought me forth,

1400

you again bore children to your child, you created an incestuous kinship of fathers, brothers, sons, brides, wives, and mothers—all the foulest deeds that are wrought among men! But it is improper to mention what it is improper to do—

1405

hurry, for the love of the gods, hide me somewhere beyond the land, or slay me, or cast me into the sea, where you will never behold me any longer! Approach—deign to lay your hands on a wretched man—listen and fear not: my plague can rest

1410

on no other mortal.

1415

Chorus

But here is Creon in good time to plan and perform that which you request. He alone is left to guard the land in your place.

Oedipus

Ah, me, how will I address him?

What claim to credence can be shown on my part? For in the past I proved to be wholly false to him.

1420

Creon

I have not come to mock or reproach you with any any past fault.

To the Attendants.

But you, if you no longer respect the children of men,

revere at least the all-nurturing flame of our lord the Sun, and don’t show so openly such a pollution as this, one which neither earth, nor holy rain, nor the light itself can welcome. Take him into the house as quickly as you can: it best accords with pity that

1425

kinfolk alone should see and hear a kinsman’s woes.

1430

Oedipus

For the gods’ love—since you have done a gentle violence to my prediction and come in a spirit so noble to me, a man most vile—grant me a favor: I will speak for your own good, not mine.

Creon

And what do you wish so eagerly to get from me?

1435

Oedipus

Cast me out of this land with all speed, to a place where no mortal shall be found to greet me.

Creon

This I could have done, to be sure, except I craved first to learn from the god all my duty.

Oedipus

But his pronouncement has been set forth in full—to let me perish, the parricide, unholy one that I am.

1440

Creon

Thus it was said. But since we have come to such a pass, it is better to learn clearly what should be done.

Oedipus

Will you, then, seek a response on behalf of such a wretch as I?

Creon

Yes, for even you yourself will now surely put faith in the god.

1445

Oedipus

Yes. And on you I lay this charge, to you I make this entreaty: give to the woman within such burial as you wish—you will properly render the last rites to your own. But never let this city of my father be condemned

to have me dwelling within, as long as I live. No, allow me to live in the hills, where Cithaeron, famed as mine, sits, which my mother and father, while they lived, fixed as my appointed tomb, so that I may die according to the decree of those who sought to slay me.

1450

And yet I know this much, that neither sickness nor anything else can destroy me; for I would never have been snatched from death, except in order to suffer some strange doom.
  But let my fate go where it will. Regarding my children, Creon, I beg you to take no care of my sons:

1455

they are men, so that they will never lack the means to live wherever they should be. My two girls, poor hapless ones—who never knew my table spread separately, or lacked their father’s presence, but always had a share of all that

1460

reached my hands—I implore you to take care of them. And, if you can, allow me to touch them with my hands, and to indulge my grief. Grant it, prince, grant it, noble heart. Ah, if I could but once touch them with my hands, I would think that I had them

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just as when I had sight.

1470

Creon’s Attendants lead in the children, Antigone and Ismene.

What is this? Oh, gods, can it be my loved ones that I hear sobbing, can Creon have taken pity on me and sent my children, my darlings?

Am I right?

1475

Creon

You are. I have brought this about, for I knew the joy which you have long had from them—the joy you now have.

Oedipus

Bless you, and for this errand may the god prove a kinder guardian to you than he has to me.

My children, where are you? Come, here, here to the hands of the one whose mother was your own, the hands that have made your father’s once bright eyes to be such orbs as these—his, who seeing nothing, knowing nothing,

1480

became your father by her from whom he was born! For you also do I weep, though I cannot see you, when I think of the bitter life that men will make you live in days to come. To what company of the citizens will you go, to what festival,

1485

from which you will not return home in tears, not sharing in the holiday? But when you reach a ripe age for marriage, who shall he be, who shall be the man, my daughters, to risk taking upon himself the reproaches

1490

that will certainly be baneful to my offspring and yours? What misery is lacking? Your father killed his own father, and bore you from the source of his own being!

1495

Such are the taunts that will be cast at you. And who then will wed you? The man does not live, no, it cannot be, my children, but you will wither in barren maidenhood. Son of Menoeceus, hear me: since you are the only father left to them—we, their parents, are both gone—

1500

do not allow them to wander poor and unwed, for they are your own kin, nor abase them to the level of my woes. Pity them, seeing them deprived of everything but you at such an age.

1505

Promise, noble man, and touch them with your hand. To you, children, I would have given much counsel, if your minds were mature. But now pray that you may live where occasion allows, and that the life which is your lot may be happier than your father’s.

1510

Creon

Your grief has had a sufficient scope: move on into the house.

1515

Oedipus

I must obey, though I do it in no way gladly.

Creon

Yes, for it is in season that all things are good.

Oedipus

Do you know on what terms I will go?

Creon

You will tell me, and then I will know when I have heard them.

Oedipus

See that you send me to dwell outside this land.

Creon

You ask for what the god must give.

Oedipus

But to the gods I have become most hateful.

Creon

Then you will quickly get your wish.

Oedipus

So you consent?

1520

Creon

It is not my way to say idly what I do not mean.

Oedipus

Then it is time to lead me away.

Creon

Come, then, but let your children go.

Oedipus

No, do not take them from me!

Creon

Do not wish to be master in all things: the mastery which you did attain has not followed you through life.

Chorus

Residents of our native Thebes , behold, this is Oedipus,

who knew the renowned riddle, and was a most mighty man. What citizen did not gaze on his fortune with envy? See into what a stormy sea of troubles he has come! Therefore, while our eyes wait to see the final destined day, we must call no mortal happy until

1525

he has crossed life’s border free from pain.

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