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Oedipus the King
Sophocles (c. 420 BCE) This translation, which has been prepared by Ian Johnston of Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, BC, is in the public domain and may be used, in whole or in part, without permission and without charge, provided the source is acknowledged— released August 2004. Translator's Note The translator would like to acknowledge the invaluable help provided by Sir Richard Jebb’s translation and commentary. Sophocles (495 BC-405 BC) was a famous and successful Athenian writer of tragedies in his own lifetime. Of his 120 plays, only 7 have survived. Oedipus the King, also called Oedipus Tyrannos or Oedipus Rex, written around 420 BC, has long been regarded not only as his finest play but also as the purest and most powerful expression of Greek tragic drama. Oedipus, a stranger to Thebes, became king of the city after the murder of king Laius, about fifteen or sixteen years before the start of the play. He was offered the throne because he was successful in saving the city from the Sphinx, an event referred to repeatedly in the text of the play. He married Laius’ widow, Jocasta, and had four children with her, two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene. Dramatis Personae OEDIPUS: king of Thebes PRIEST: the high priest of Thebes CREON: Oedipus’ brother-in-law CHORUS of Theban elders TEIRESIAS: an old blind prophet BOY: attendant on Teiresias JOCASTA: wife of Oedipus, sister of Creon MESSENGER: an old man SERVANT: an old shepherd SECOND MESSENGER: a servant of Oedipus ANTIGONE: daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, a child ISMENE: daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, a child SERVANTS and ATTENDANTS on Oedipus and Jocasta
[The action takes place in Thebes in front of the royal palace. The main doors are directly facing the audience. There are altars beside the doors. A crowd of citizens carrying branches decorated with laurel garlands and wool and led by the PRIEST has gathered in front of the altars, with some people sitting on the altar steps. OEDIPUS enters through the palace doors] OEDIPUS: My children, latest generation born from Cadmus, why are you sitting here with wreathed sticks in supplication to me, while the city fills with incense, chants, and cries of pain?^1 Children, it would not be appropriate for me to learn of this from any other source, so I have come in person—I, Oedipus, whose fame all men acknowledge. But you there, old man, tell me—you seem to be the one who ought to speak for those assembled here." 10 What feeling brings you to me—fear or desire? You can be confident that I will help. I shall assist you willingly in every way. I would be a hard-hearted man indeed, if I did not pity suppliants like these. PRIEST: Oedipus, ruler of my native land, you see how people here of every age are crouching down around your altars, some fledglings barely strong enough to fly and others bent by age, with priests as well—" 20 for I’m priest of Zeus—and these ones here, the pick of all our youth. The other groups sit in the market place with suppliant sticks or else in front of Pallas’ two shrines, or where Ismenus prophesies with fire.^2 For our city, as you yourself can see, is badly shaken—she cannot raise her head above the depths of so much surging death. Disease infects fruit blossoms in our land, disease infects our herds of grazing cattle, " 30 makes women in labour lose their children. And deadly pestilence, that fiery god, swoops down to blast the city, emptying the House of Cadmus, and fills black Hades with groans and howls. These children and myself now sit here by your home, not because we think you’re equal to the gods. No. We judge you the first of men in what happens in this life and in our interactions with the gods. For you came here, to our Cadmeian city, " 40 and freed us from the tribute we were paying to that cruel singer^3 —and yet you knew no more than we did and had not been taught. In their stories, the people testify (^1) Cadmus : legendary founder of Thebes. Hence, the citizens of Thebes were often called children of Cadmus or Cadmeians. (^2) Pallas : Pallas Athena. There were two shrines to her in Thebes. Ismenus: A temple to Apollo Ismenios where burnt offerings were the basis for the priest’s divination. (^3) cruel singer : a reference to the Sphinx, a monster with the body of a lion, wings, and the head and torso of a woman. After the death of king Laius, the Sphinx tyrannized Thebes by not letting anyone into or out of the city, unless the person could answer the following riddle: "What walks on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?" Those who could not answer were killed and eaten. Oedipus provided the answer (a human being), and thus saved the city. The Sphinx then committed suicide.
My royal kinsman, child of Menoeceus, " 100 what message from the god do you bring us? CREON: Good news. I tell you even troubles difficult to bear will all end happily if events lead to the right conclusion. OEDIPUS: What is the oracle? So far your words inspire in me no confidence or fear. CREON: If you wish to hear the news in public, I’m prepared to speak. Or we could step inside. OEDIPUS: Speak out to everyone. The grief I feel for these citizens is even greater " 110 than any pain I feel for my own life. CREON: Then let me report what I heard from the god. Lord Phoebus clearly orders us to drive away the polluting stain this land has harboured— which will not be healed if we keep nursing it. OEDIPUS: What sort of cleansing? And this disaster— how did it happen? CREON: By banishment— or atone for murder by shedding blood again. This blood brings on the storm which blasts our state. OEDIPUS: And the one whose fate the god revealed— " 120 what sort of man is he? CREON: Before you came, my lord, to steer our ship of state, Laius ruled this land. OEDIPUS: I have heard that, but I never saw the man. CREON: Laius was killed. And now the god is clear: those murderers, he tells us, must be punished, whoever they may be. OEDIPUS: And where are they? In what country? Where am I to find a trace of this ancient crime? It will be hard to track. CREON: Here in Thebes, so said the god. What is sought is found, but what is overlooked escapes. " 130 OEDIPUS: When Laius fell in bloody death, where was he— at home, or in his fields, or in another land? CREON: He was abroad, on his way to Delphi— that’s what he told us. He began the trip, but did not return. OEDIPUS: Was there no messenger— no companion who made the journey with him and witnessed what took place—a person who might provide some knowledge men could use? CREON: They all died—except for one who was afraid and ran away. There was only one thing" 140 he could inform us of with confidence about the things he saw. OEDIPUS: What was that? We might get somewhere if we had one fact— we could find many things, if we possessed some slender hope to get us going.
CREON: He told us it was robbers who attacked them— not just a single man, a gang of them— they came on with force and killed him. OEDIPUS: How would a thief have dared to do this, unless he had financial help from Thebes? " 150 CREON: That’s what we guessed. But once Laius was dead we were in trouble, so no one sought revenge. OEDIPUS: When the ruling king had fallen in this way, what bad trouble blocked your path, preventing you from looking into it? CREON: It was the Sphinx— she sang her enigmatic song and thus forced us to put aside something we found obscure to look into the urgent problem we now faced. OEDIPUS: Then I will start afresh, and once again shed light on darkness. It is most fitting " 160 that Apollo demonstrates his care for the dead man, and worthy of you, too. And so, as is right, you will see how I work with you, seeking vengeance for this land, as well as for the god. This polluting stain I will remove, not for some distant friend, but for myself. For whoever killed this man may soon enough desire to turn his hand in the same way against me, too, and kill me. Thus, in avenging Laius, I serve myself. " 170 But now, my children, as quickly as you can stand up from these altar steps and take your suppliant branches. Someone must call the Theban people to assemble here. I’ll do everything I can. With the god’s help this will all come to light successfully, or else it will prove our common ruin. [OEDIPUS and CREON go into the palace] PRIEST: Let us get up, children. For this man has willingly declared just what we came for. And may Phoebus, who sent this oracle, " 180 come as our saviour and end our sickness. [The PRIEST and the CITIZENS leave. Enter the CHORUS OF THEBAN ELDERS] CHORUS: Oh sweet speaking voice of Zeus, you have come to glorious Thebes from golden Pytho— but what is your intent? My fearful heart twists on the rack and shakes with fear. O Delian healer, for whom we cry aloud in holy awe, what obligation will you demand from me, a thing unknown or now renewed with the revolving years? Immortal voice, O child of golden Hope, " 190 speak to me! First I call on you, Athena the immortal, daughter of Zeus, and on your sister, too, Artemis, who guards our land and sits on her glorious round throne in our market place, and on Phoebus, who shoots from far away. O you three guardians against death, appear to me! If before now you have ever driven off
OEDIPUS: You pray. But if you listen now to me, you’ll get your wish. Hear what I have to say " 250 and treat your own disease—then you may hope to find relief from your distress. I shall speak as one who is a stranger to the story, a stranger to the crime. If I alone were tracking down this act, I’d not get far without a single clue. That being the case, for it was after the event that I became a citizen of Thebes, I now proclaim the following to all of you Cadmeians: Whoever among you knows the man it was " 260 who murdered Laius, son of Labdacus, I order him to reveal it all to me. And if the murderer’s afraid, I tell him to avoid the danger of the major charge by speaking out against himself. If so, he will be sent out from this land unhurt— and undergo no further punishment. If someone knows the killer is a stranger, from some other state, let him not stay mute. As well as a reward, he’ll earn my thanks. " 270 But if he remains quiet, if anyone, through fear, hides himself or a friend of his against my orders, here’s what I shall do— so listen to my words. For I decree that no one in this land, in which I rule as your own king, shall give that killer shelter or talk to him, whoever he may be, or act in concert with him during prayers, or sacrifice, or sharing lustral water.^8 Ban him from your homes, every one of you, " 280 for he is our pollution, as the Pythian god has just revealed to me. In doing this, I’m acting as an ally of the god and of dead Laius, too. And I pray whoever the man is who did this crime, one unknown person acting on his own or with companions, the worst of agonies will wear out his wretched life. I pray, too, that, if he should become a honoured guest in my own home and with my knowledge, " 290 I may suffer all those things I’ve just called down upon the killers. And I urge you now to make sure all these orders take effect, for my sake, for the sake of the god, and for our barren, godless, ruined land. For in this matter, even if a god were not prompting us, it would not be right for you to simply leave things as they are, and not to purify the murder of a man who was so noble and who was your king. " 300 You should have looked into it. But now I possess the ruling power which Laius held in earlier days. I have his bed and wife— she would have borne his children, if his hopes to have a son had not been disappointed. Children from a common mother might have linked (^8) lustral water: water purified in a communal religious ritual.
Laius and myself. But as it turned out, fate swooped down onto his head. So now I will fight on his behalf, as if this matter concerned my father, and I will strive " 310 to do everything I can to find him, the man who spilled his blood, and thus avenge the son of Labdacus and Polydorus, of Cadmus and Agenor from old times. 9 As for those who do not follow what I urge, I pray the gods send them no fertile land, no, nor any children in their women’s wombs— may they all perish in our present fate or one more hateful still. To you others, you Cadmeians who support my efforts, " 320 may Justice, our ally, and all the gods attend on us with kindness always. CHORUS LEADER: My lord, since you extend your oath to me, I will say this. I am not the murderer, nor can I tell you who the killer is. As for what you’re seeking, it’s for Apollo, who launched this search, to state who did it. OEDIPUS: That is well said. But no man has power to force the gods to speak against their will. CHORUS LEADER: May I then suggest what seems to me" 330 the next best course of action? OEDIPUS: You may indeed, and if there is a third course, too, don’t hesitate to let me know. CHORUS LEADER: Our lord Teiresias, I know, can see into things, like lord Apollo. From him, my king, a man investigating this might well find out the details of the crime. OEDIPUS: I’ve taken care of that—it’s not something I could overlook. At Creon’s urging, I have dispatched two messengers to him and have been wondering for some time now" 340 why he has not come. CHORUS LEADER: Apart from that, there are rumours—but inconclusive ones from a long time ago. OEDIPUS: What kind of rumours? I’m looking into every story. CHORUS LEADER: It was said that Laius was killed by certain travellers. OEDIPUS: Yes, I heard as much. But no one has seen the one who did it. CHORUS LEADER: Well, if the killer has any fears, once he hears your curses on him, he will not hold back, for they are serious. (^9) Agenor : founder of the Theban royal family; his son Cadmus moved from Sidon in Asia Minor to Greece and founded Thebes. Polydorus : son of Cadmus, father of Labdacus, and hence grandfather of Laius.
Will you not speak out? Will your stubbornness never have an end? TEIRESIAS: You blame my temper, but do not see the one which lives within you. Instead, you are finding fault with me. OEDIPUS: What man who listened to these words of yours would not be enraged—you insult the city! TEIRESIAS: Yet events will still unfold, for all my silence. OEDIPUS: Since they will come, you must inform me. TEIRESIAS: I will say nothing more. Fume on about it, if you wish, as fiercely as you can." 410 OEDIPUS: I will. In my anger I will not conceal just what I make of this. You should know I get the feeling you conspired in the act, and played your part, as much as you could do, short of killing him with your own hands. If you could use your eyes, I would have said that you had done this work all by yourself. TEIRESIAS: Is that so? Then I would ask you to stand by the very words which you yourself proclaimed and from now on not speak to me or these men." 420 For the accursed polluter of this land is you. OEDIPUS: You dare to utter shameful words like this? Do you think you can get away with it? TEIRESIAS: I am getting away with it. The truth within me makes me strong. OEDIPUS: Who taught you this? It could not have been your craft. TEIRESIAS: You did. I did not want to speak, but you incited me. OEDIPUS: What do you mean? Speak it again, so I can understand you more precisely. TEIRESIAS: Did you not grasp my words before," 430 or are you trying to test me with your question? OEDIPUS: I did not fully understand your words. Tell me again. TEIRESIAS: I say that you yourself are the very man you’re looking for. OEDIPUS: That’s twice you’ve stated that disgraceful lie— something you’ll regret. TEIRESIAS: Shall I tell you more, so you can grow even more enraged? OEDIPUS: As much as you desire. It will be useless. TEIRESIAS: I say that with your dearest family, unknown to you, you are living in disgrace." 440 You have no idea how bad things are. OEDIPUS: Do you really think you can just speak out, say things like this, and still remain unpunished? TEIRESIAS: Yes, I can, if the truth has any strength.
OEDIPUS: It does, but not for you. Truth is not in you— for your ears, your mind, your eyes are blind! TEIRESIAS: You are a wretched fool to use harsh words which all men soon enough will use to curse you. OEDIPUS: You live in endless darkness of the night, so you can never injure me or any man" 450 who can glimpse daylight. TEIRESIAS: It is not your fate to fall because of me. It’s up to Apollo to make that happen. He will be enough. OEDIPUS: Is this something Creon has devised, or is it your invention? TEIRESIAS: Creon is no threat. You have made this trouble on your own. OEDIPUS: O riches, ruling power, skill after skill surpassing all in this life’s rivalries, how much envy you must carry with you, if, for this kingly office, which the city" 460 gave me, for I did not seek it out, Creon, my old trusted family friend, has secretly conspired to overthrow me and paid off a double-dealing quack like this, a crafty bogus priest, who can only see his own advantage, who in his special art is absolutely blind. Come on, tell me how you have ever given evidence of your wise prophecy. When the Sphinx, that singing bitch, was here, you said nothing" 470 to set the people free. Why not? Her riddle was not something the first man to stroll along could solve—a prophet was required. And there the people saw your knowledge was no use— nothing from birds or picked up from the gods. But then I came, Oedipus, who knew nothing. Yet I finished her off, using my wits rather than relying on birds. That’s the man you want to overthrow, hoping, no doubt, to stand up there with Creon, once he’s king." 480 But I think you and your conspirator in this will regret trying to usurp the state. If you did not look so old, you’d find the punishment your arrogance deserves. CHORUS LEADER: To us it sounds as if Teiresias has spoken in anger, and, Oedipus, you have done so, too. That’s not what we need. Instead we should be looking into this: How can we best carry out the god’s decree? TEIRESIAS: You may be king, but I have the right" 490 to answer you—and I control that right, for I am not your slave. I serve Apollo, and thus will never stand with Creon, signed up as his man. So I say this to you, since you have chosen to insult my blindness— you have your eyesight, and you do not see how miserable you are, or where you live, or who it is who shares your household. Do you know the family you come from? Without your knowledge you’ve become" 500 the enemy of your own kindred, those in the world below and those up here, and the dreadful feet of that two-edged curse
groping the ground before him with a stick. And he will turn out to be the brother of the children in his house—their father, too, both at once, and the husband and the son of the very woman who gave birth to them. He sowed the same womb as his father and murdered him. Go in and think on this. If you discover I have spoken falsely," 560 you can say I lack all skill in prophecy. [Exit TEIRESIAS led off by the BOY. OEDIPUS turns and goes back into the palace] CHORUS: Speaking from the Delphic rock the oracular voice intoned a name. But who is the man, the one who with his blood-red hands has done unspeakable brutality? The time has come for him to flee— to move his powerful foot more swiftly than those hooves on horses riding on the storm." 570 Against him Zeus’ son now springs, armed with lightning fire and leading on the inexorable and terrifying Furies.^11 From the snowy peaks of Mount Parnassus^12 the message has just flashed, ordering all to seek the one whom no one knows. Like a wild bull he wanders now, hidden in the untamed wood, through rocks and caves, alone with his despair on joyless feet," 580 keeping his distance from that doom uttered at earth’s central naval stone. But that fatal oracle still lives, hovering above his head forever. That wise interpreter of prophecies stirs up my fears, unsettling dread. I cannot approve of what he said and I cannot deny it. I am confused. What shall I say? My hopes flutter here and there, with no clear glimpse of past or future." 590 I have never heard of any quarrelling, past or present, between those two, the house of Labdacus and Polybus’ son,^13 which could give me evidence enough to undermine the fame of Oedipus, as he seeks vengeance for the unsolved murder for the family of Labdacus. Apollo and Zeus are truly wise— they understand what humans do. But there is no sure way to ascertain" 600 if human prophets grasp things any more than I do, although in wisdom one man (^11) Zeus’ son: a reference to Apollo. The Furies: goddesses of blood revenge. (^12) Parnassus : a famous mountain some distance from Thebes, but visible from the city. [ (^13) Polybus : ruler of Corinth, who raised Oedipus and is thus believed to be his father. The house of Labdacus is the Theban royal family (i.e., Laius, Jocasta, and Creon).
may leave another far behind. But until I see the words confirmed, I will not approve of any man who censures Oedipus, for it was clear when that winged Sphinx went after him he was a wise man then. We witnessed it. He passed the test and endeared himself to all the city. So in my thinking now" 610 he never will be guilty of a crime. [Enter CREON] CREON: You citizens, I have just discovered that Oedipus, our king, has levelled charges against me, disturbing allegations. That I cannot bear, so I have come here. In these present troubles, if he believes that he has suffered any injury from me, in word or deed, then I have no desire to continue living into ripe old age still bearing his reproach. For me" 620 the injury produced by this report is no single isolated matter— no, it has the greatest scope of all, if I end up being called a wicked man here in the city, a bad citizen, by you and by my friends. CHORUS LEADER: Perhaps he charged you spurred on by the rash power of his rage, rather than his mind’s true judgment. CREON: Was it publicized that my opinions convinced Teiresias to utter lies?" 630 CHORUS LEADER: That’s what was said. I have no idea just what that meant. CREON: Did he accuse me and announce the charges with a steady gaze, in a normal state of mind? CHORUS LEADER: I do not know. What those in power do I do not see. But he’s approaching from the palace— here he comes in person. [Enter OEDIPUS from the palace] OEDIPUS: You! How did you get here? Has your face grown so bold you now come to my own home—you who are obviously the murderer of the man whose house it was," 640 a thief who clearly wants to steal my throne? Come, in the name of all the gods, tell me this— did you plan to do it because you thought I was a coward or a fool? Or did you think I would not learn about your actions as they crept up on me with such deceit— or that, if I knew, I could not deflect them? This attempt of yours, is it not madness— to chase after the king’s place without friends, without a horde of men, to seek a goal" 650 which only gold or factions could attain? CREON: Will you listen to me? It’s your turn now to hear me make a suitable response. Once you know, then judge me for yourself.
OEDIPUS: Ask all you want. You’ll not prove that I’m the murderer. CREON: Then tell me this— are you not married to my sister? OEDIPUS: Since you ask me, yes. I don’t deny that. CREON: And you two rule this land as equals? OEDIPUS: Whatever she desires, she gets from me." 700 CREON: And am I not third, equal to you both? OEDIPUS: That’s what makes your friendship so deceitful. CREON: No, not if you think this through, as I do. First, consider this. In your view, would anyone prefer to rule and have to cope with fear rather than live in peace, carefree and safe, if his powers were the same? I, for one, have no natural desire to be king in preference to performing royal acts. The same is true of any other man" 710 whose understanding grasps things properly. For now I get everything I want from you, but without the fear. If I were king myself, I’d be doing many things against my will. So how can being a king be sweeter to me than royal power without anxiety? I am not yet so mistaken in my mind that I want things which bring no benefits. Now I greet all men, and they all welcome me. Those who wish to get something from you" 720 now flatter me, since I’m the one who brings success in what they want. So why would I give up such benefits for something else? A mind that’s wise will not turn treacherous. It’s not my nature to love such policies. And if another man pursued such things, I’d not work with him. I couldn’t bear to. If you want proof of this, then go to Delphi. Ask the prophet if I brought back to you exactly what was said. At that point," 730 if you discover I have planned something, that I’ve conspired with Teiresias, then arrest me and have me put to death, not just on your own authority, but on mine as well, a double judgment. Do not condemn me on an unproved charge. It's not fair to judge these things by guesswork, to assume bad men are good or good men bad. In my view, to throw away a noble friend is like a man who parts with his own life," 740 the thing most dear to him. Give it some time. Then you’ll see clearly, since only time can fully validate a man who’s true. A bad man is exposed in just one day. CHORUS LEADER: For a man concerned about being killed, my lord, he has spoken eloquently. Those who are unreliable give rash advice. OEDIPUS: If some conspirator moves against me, in secret and with speed, I must be quick to make my counter plans. If I just rest" 750 and wait for him to act, then he’ll succeed in what he wants to do, and I’ll be finished.
CREON: What do you want—to exile me from here? OEDIPUS: No. I want you to die, not just run off— so I can demonstrate what envy means. CREON: You are determined not to change your mind or listen to me? OEDIPUS: You’ll not convince me, for there’s no way that I can trust you. CREON: I can see that you’ve become unbalanced.^14 OEDIPUS: I’m sane enough to defend my interests." 760 CREON: You should be protecting mine as well. OEDIPUS: But you’re a treacherous man. It’s your nature. CREON: What if you are wrong? OEDIPUS: I still have to govern. CREON: Not if you do it badly. OEDIPUS: Oh Thebes— my city! CREON: I have some rights in Thebes as well— it is not yours alone. [The palace doors open] CHORUS LEADER: My lords, an end to this. I see Jocasta coming from the palace, and just in time. With her assistance you should bring this quarrel to a close. [Enter JOCASTA from the palace] JOCASTA: You foolish men, why are you arguing" 770 in such a silly way? With our land so sick, are you not ashamed to start a private fight? You, Oedipus, go in the house, and you, Creon, return to yours. Why blow up a trivial matter into something huge? CREON: Sister, your husband Oedipus intends to punish me in one of two dreadful ways— to banish me from my fathers’ country or arrest me and then have me killed. OEDIPUS: That’s right. Lady, I caught him committing treason," 780 conspiring against my royal authority. CREON: Let me not prosper but die a man accursed, if I have done what you accuse me of. JOCASTA: Oedipus, for the sake of the gods, trust him in this. Respect that oath he made before all heaven— do it for my sake and for those around you. (^14) There is some argument about who speaks which lines in 622-626 of the Greek text. I follow Jebb’s suggestions, ascribing 625 to Creon, to whom it seems clearly to belong (in spite of the manuscripts) and adding a line to indicate Oedipus’ response.
CHORUS LEADER: With our country already in distress, it is enough, it seems to me, enough to leave things as they are. OEDIPUS: Now do you see" 830 the point you’ve reached thanks to your noble wish to dissolve and dull my firmer purpose? CHORUS LEADER: My lord, I have declared it more than once, so you must know it would have been quite mad if I abandoned you, who, when this land, my cherished Thebes, was in great trouble, set it right again and who, in these harsh times which now consume us, should prove a trusty guide. JOCASTA: By all the gods, my king, let me know why in this present crisis you now feel" 840 such unremitting rage. OEDIPUS: To you I’ll speak, lady, since I respect you more than I do these men. It’s Creon’s fault. He conspired against me. JOCASTA: In this quarrel what was said? Tell me. OEDIPUS: Creon claims that I’m the murderer— that I killed Laius. JOCASTA: Does he know this first hand, or has he picked it up from someone else? OEDIPUS: No. He set up that treasonous prophet. What he says himself sounds innocent. JOCASTA: All right, forget about those things you’ve said." 850 Listen to me, and ease your mind with this— no human being has skill in prophecy. I’ll show you why with this example. King Laius once received a prophecy. I won’t say it came straight from Apollo, but it was from those who do assist the god. It said Laius was fated to be killed by a child conceived by him and me. Now, at least according to the story, one day Laius was killed by foreigners, 860 by robbers, at a place where three roads meet. Besides, before our child was three days old, Laius fused his ankles tight together and ordered other men to throw him out on a mountain rock where no one ever goes. And so Apollo’s plan that he’d become the one who killed his father didn’t work, and Laius never suffered what he feared, that his own son would be his murderer, although that’s what the oracle had claimed." 870 So don’t concern yourself with prophecies. Whatever gods intend to bring about they themselves make known quite easily. OEDIPUS: Lady, as I listen to these words of yours, my soul is shaken, my mind confused … JOCASTA: Why do you say that? What’s worrying you? OEDIPUS: I thought I heard you say that Laius was murdered at a place where three roads meet. JOCASTA: That’s what was said and people still believe. OEDIPUS: Where is this place? Where did it happen?" 880
JOCASTA: In a land called Phocis. Two roads lead there— one from Delphi and one from Daulia. OEDIPUS: How long is it since these events took place? JOCASTA: The story was reported in the city just before you took over royal power here in Thebes. OEDIPUS: Oh Zeus, what have you done? What have you planned for me? JOCASTA: What is it, Oedipus? Why is your spirit so troubled? OEDIPUS: Not yet, no questions yet. Tell me this—Laius, how tall was he? How old a man?" 890 JOCASTA: He was big—his hair was turning white. In shape he was not all that unlike you. OEDIPUS: The worse for me! I may have just set myself under a dreadful curse without my knowledge! JOCASTA: What do you mean? As I look at you, my king, I start to tremble. OEDIPUS: I am afraid, full of terrible fears the prophet sees. But you can reveal this better if you now will tell me one thing more. JOCASTA: I’m shaking, but if you ask me, I will answer you. " 900 OEDIPUS: Did Laius have a small escort with him or a troop of soldiers, like a royal king? JOCASTA: Five men, including a herald, went with him. A carriage carried Laius. OEDIPUS: Alas! Alas! It’s all too clear! Lady, who told you this? JOCASTA: A servant—the only one who got away. He came back here. OEDIPUS: Is there any chance he’s in our household now? JOCASTA: No. Once he returned and understood that you had now assumed the power of slaughtered Laius," 910 he clasped my hands, begged me to send him off to where our animals graze out in the fields, so he could be as far away as possible from the sight of town. And so I sent him. He was a slave but he'd earned my gratitude. He deserved an even greater favour. OEDIPUS: I’d like him to return back here to us, and quickly, too. JOCASTA: That can be arranged— but why’s that something you would want to do? OEDIPUS: Lady, I’m afraid I may have said too much." 920 That’s why I want to see him here in front of me. JOCASTA: Then he will be here. But now, my lord, I deserve to learn why you are so distressed.
