the meaning of the nuptials in which, within that house, thou didst find a fatal haven, after a voyage so fair? And a throng of other ills thou guessest not, which shall make thee level with thy true self and with thine own brood.
Therefore heap thy scorns on Creon and on my message: for no one among men shall ever be crushed more miserably than thou.
Oe. Are these taunts to be indeed borne from 430him?— Hence, ruin take thee! Hence, this instant! Back!—away!—avaunt thee from these doors!
Te. I had never come, not I, hadst thou not called me.
Oe. I knew not that thou wast about to speak folly, or it had been long ere I had sent for thee to my house.
Te. Such am I,—as thou thinkest, a fool; but for the parents who begat thee, sane.
Oe. What parents? Stay…and who of men is my sire?
Te. This day shall show thy birth and shall bring thy ruin.
Oe. What riddles, what dark words thou always speakest!
Te. Nay, art not thou most skilled to unravel dark speech?440
Oe. Make that my reproach in which thou shalt find me great.
Te. Yet 'twas just that fortune that undid thee.
Oe. Nay, if I delivered this town, I care not.
Te. Then I will go: so do thou, boy, take me hence.
Oe. Aye, let him take thee: while here, thou art a hindrance, thou, a trouble: when thou hast vanished, thou wilt not vex me more.
Te. I will go when I have done mine errand, fearless of thy frown: for thou canst never destroy me. And I tell thee—the man of whom thou hast this long while been in quest, uttering threats,450 and proclaiming a search into the murder of Laïus—that man is here,—in seeming, an alien sojourner, but anon he shall be found a native Theban, and shall not be glad of his fortune. A blind man, he who now hath sight, a beggar, who now is rich, he shall make his way to a strange land, feeling the ground before him with his staff. And he shall be found at once brother and father of the children with whom he consorts; son and husband of the woman who bore him; heir to his father's bed, shedder of his father's blood.
So go thou in and think on that;460 and if thou find that I have been at fault, say thenceforth that I have no wit in prophecy.
[Teiresias is led out by the Boy.—Oedipus enters the palace.
Chorus.
str. 1. Who is he of whom the divine voice from the Delphian rock hath spoken, as having wrought with red hands horrors that no tongue can tell?
It is time that he ply in flight a foot stronger than the feet of storm-swift steeds: for the son of Zeus is springing on him,470 all armed with fiery lightnings, and with him come the dread, unerring Fates.
ant. 1. Yea, newly given from snowy Parnassus, the message hath flashed forth to make all search for the unknown man. Into the wild wood's covert, among caves and rocks he is roaming, fierce as a bull, wretched and forlorn on his joyless path,480 still seeking to put from him the doom spoken at Earth's central shrine: but that doom ever lives, ever flits around him.
str. 2. Dreadly, in sooth, dreadly doth the wise augur move me, who approve not, nor am able to deny. How to speak, I know not; I am fluttered with forebodings; neither in the present have I clear vision, nor of the future. Never in past days, nor in these, have I heard490 how the house of Labdacus or the son of Polybus had, either against other, any grief that I could bring as proof in assailing the public fame of Oedipus, and seeking to avenge the line of Labdacus for the undiscovered murder.
ant. 2. Nay, Zeus indeed and Apollo are keen of thought, and know the things of earth; but that mortal seer wins knowledge above mine,500 of this there can be no sure test; though man may surpass man in lore. Yet, until I see the word made good, never will I assent when men blame Oedipus. Before all eyes, the winged maiden came against him of old,510 and he was seen to be wise; he bore the test, in welcome service to our State; never, therefore, by the verdict of my heart shall he be adjudged guilty of crime.
Creon.
Fellow-citizens, having learned that Oedipus the king lays dire charges against me, I am here, indignant. If, in the present troubles, he thinks that he has suffered from me, by word or deed, aught that tends to harm, in truth I crave not my full term of years, when I must bear such blame as this. The wrong of this rumour touches me not in one point alone,520 but has the largest scope, if I am to be called a traitor in the city, a traitor too by thee and by my friends.
Ch. Nay, but this taunt came under stress, perchance, of anger, rather than from the purpose of the heart.
Cr. And the saying was uttered, that my counsels won the seer to utter his falsehoods?
Ch. Such things were said—I know not with what meaning.
Cr. And was this charge laid against me with steady eyes and steady mind?
Ch. I know not; I see not what my masters do:530 but here comes our lord forth from the house.
Oedipus.
Sirrah, how camest thou here? Hast thou a front so bold that thou hast come to my house, who art the proved assassin of its master,—the palpable robber of my crown? Come, tell me, in the name of the gods, was it cowardice or folly that thou sawest in me, that thou didst plot to do this thing? Didst thou think that I would not note this deed of thine creeping on me by stealth, or, aware, would not ward it off? Now is not thine attempt540 foolish,—to seek, without followers or friends, a throne,—a prize which followers and wealth must win?
Cr. Mark me now,—in answer to thy words, hear a fair reply, and then judge for thyself on knowledge.
Oe. Thou art apt in speech, but I have a poor wit for thy lessons, since I have found thee my malignant foe.
Cr. Now first hear how I will explain this very thing—
Oe. Explain me not one thing—that thou art not false.
Cr. If thou deemest that stubbornness without sense is a good gift,550 thou art not wise.
Oe. If thou deemest that thou canst wrong a kinsman and escape the penalty, thou art not sane.
Cr. Justly said, I grant thee: but tell me what is the wrong that thou sayest thou hast suffered from me.
Oe. Didst thou advise, or didst thou not, that I should send for that reverend seer?
Cr. And now I am still of the same mind.
Oe. How long is it, then, since Laïus—
Cr. Since Laïus…? I take not thy drift…
Oe. —was swept from men's sight by a deadly violence?560
Cr. The count of years would run far into the past.
Oe.
