Oedipus At Colonus

Translation by F. Storr, BA          Formerly Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge          From the Loeb Library Edition             Originally published by             Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA             and          William Heinemann Ltd, London             First published in 1912             *****             ARGUMENT      Oedipus, the blind and banished King of Thebes, has come in his wanderings to Colonus, a deme of Athens, led by his daughter Antigone. He sits to rest on a rock just within a sacred grove of the Furies and is bidden depart by a passing native. But Oedipus, instructed by an oracle that he had reached his final resting-place, refuses to stir, and the stranger consents to go and consult the Elders of Colonus (the Chorus of the Play). Conducted to the spot they pity at first the blind beggar and his daughter, but on learning his name they are horror- striken and order him to quit the land. He appeals to the world-famed hospitality of Athens and hints at the blessings that his coming will confer on the State. They agree to await the decision of King Theseus. From Theseus Oedipus craves protection in life and burial in Attic soil; the benefits that will accrue shall be told later. Theseus departs having promised to aid and befriend him. No sooner has he gone than Creon enters with an armed guard who seize Antigone and carry her off (Ismene, the other sister, they have already captured) and he is about to lay hands on Oedipus, when Theseus, who has heard the tumult, hurries up and, upbraiding Creon for his lawless act, threatens to detain him till he has shown where the captives are and restored them. In the next scene Theseus returns bringing with him the rescued maidens. He informs Oedipus that a stranger who has taken sanctuary at the altar of Poseidon wishes to see him. It is Polyneices who has come to crave his father's forgiveness and blessing, knowing by an oracle that victory will fall to the side that Oedipus espouses. But Oedipus spurns the hypocrite, and invokes a dire curse on both his unnatural sons. A sudden clap of thunder is heard, and as peal follows peal, Oedipus is aware that his hour is come and bids Antigone summon Theseus. Self-guided he leads the way to the spot where death should overtake him, attended by Theseus and his daughters. Halfway he bids his daughters farewell, and what followed none but Theseus knew. He was not (so the Messenger reports) for the gods took him.          *****          DRAMATIS PERSONAE      OEDIPUS, banished King of Thebes.      ANTIGONE, his daughter.      ISMENE, his daughter.      THESEUS, King of Athens.      CREON, brother of Jocasta, now reigning at Thebes.      POLYNEICES, elder son of Oedipus.      STRANGER, a native of Colonus.      MESSENGER, an attendant of Theseus.      CHORUS, citizens of Colonus.             Scene:    In front of the grove of the Eumenides.             *****          OEDIPUS AT COLONUS      Enter the blind OEDIPUS led by his daughter, ANTIGONE.      OEDIPUS      Child of an old blind sire, Antigone,      What region, say, whose city have we reached?      Who will provide today with scanted dole      This wanderer?    'Tis little that he craves,      And less obtains--that less enough for me;      For I am taught by suffering to endure,      And the long years that have grown old with me,      And last not least, by true nobility.      My daughter, if thou seest a resting place      On common ground or by some sacred grove,      Stay me and set me down.    Let us discover      Where we have come, for strangers must inquire      Of denizens, and do as they are bid.      ANTIGONE      Long-suffering father, Oedipus, the towers      That fence the city still are faint and far;      But where we stand is surely holy ground;      A wilderness of laurel, olive, vine;      Within a choir or songster nightingales      Are warbling.    On this native seat of rock      Rest; for an old man thou hast traveled far.      OEDIPUS      Guide these dark steps and seat me there secure.      ANTIGONE      If time can teach, I need not to be told.      OEDIPUS      Say, prithee, if thou knowest, where we are.      ANTIGONE      Athens I recognize, but not the spot.      OEDIPUS      That much we heard from every wayfarer.      ANTIGONE      Shall I go on and ask about the place?      OEDIPUS      Yes, daughter, if it be inhabited.      ANTIGONE      Sure there are habitations; but no need      To leave thee; yonder is a man hard by.      OEDIPUS      What, moving hitherward and on his way?      ANTIGONE      Say rather, here already.    Ask him straight      The needful questions, for the man is here.      [Enter STRANGER]      OEDIPUS      O stranger, as I learn from her whose eyes      Must serve both her and me, that thou art here      Sent by some happy chance to serve our doubts--      STRANGER      First quit that seat, then question me at large:      The spot thou treadest on is holy ground.      OEDIPUS      What is the site, to what god dedicate?      STRANGER      Inviolable, untrod; goddesses,      Dread brood of Earth and Darkness, here abide.      OEDIPUS      Tell me the awful name I should invoke?      STRANGER      The Gracious Ones, All-seeing, so our folk      Call them, but elsewhere other names are rife.      OEDIPUS      Then may they show their suppliant grace, for I      From this your sanctuary will ne'er depart.      STRANGER      What word is this?      OEDIPUS          The watchword of my fate.      STRANGER      Nay, 'tis not mine to bid thee hence without      Due warrant and instruction from the State.      OEDIPUS      Now in God's name, O stranger, scorn me not      As a wayfarer; tell me what I crave.      STRANGER      Ask; your request shall not be scorned by me.      OEDIPUS      How call you then the place wherein we bide?      STRANGER      Whate'er I know thou too shalt know; the place      Is all to great Poseidon consecrate.      Hard by, the Titan, he who bears the torch,      Prometheus, has his worship; but the spot      Thou treadest, the Brass-footed Threshold named,      Is Athens' bastion, and the neighboring lands      Claim as their chief and patron yonder knight      Colonus, and in common bear his name.      Such, stranger, is the spot, to fame unknown,      But dear to us its native worshipers.      OEDIPUS      Thou sayest there are dwellers in these parts?      STRANGER      Surely; they bear the name of yonder god.      OEDIPUS      Ruled by a king or by the general voice?      STRANGER      The lord of Athens is our over-lord.      OEDIPUS      Who is this monarch, great in word and might?      STRANGER      Theseus, the son of Aegeus our late king.      OEDIPUS      Might one be sent from you to summon him?      STRANGER      Wherefore?    To tell him aught or urge his coming?      OEDIPUS      Say a slight service may avail him much.      STRANGER      How can he profit from a sightless man?      OEDIPUS      The blind man's words will be instinct with sight.      STRANGER      Heed then; I fain would see thee out of harm;      For by the looks, marred though they be by fate,      I judge thee noble; tarry where thou art,      While I go seek the burghers--those at hand,      Not in the city.    They will soon decide      Whether thou art to rest or go thy way.      [Exit STRANGER]      OEDIPUS      Tell me, my daughter, has the stranger gone?      ANTIGONE      Yes, he has gone; now we are all alone,      And thou may'st speak, dear father, without fear.      OEDIPUS      Stern-visaged queens, since coming to this land      First in your sanctuary I bent the knee,      Frown not on me or Phoebus, who, when erst      He told me all my miseries to come,      Spake of this respite after many years,      Some haven in a far-off land, a rest      Vouchsafed at last by dread divinities.      "There," said he, "shalt thou round thy weary life,      A blessing to the land wherein thou dwell'st,      But to the land that cast thee forth, a curse."      And of my weird he promised signs should come,      Earthquake, or thunderclap, or lightning flash.      And now I recognize as yours the sign      That led my wanderings to this your grove;      Else had I never lighted on you first,      A wineless man on your seat of native rock.      O goddesses, fulfill Apollo's word,      Grant me some consummation of my life,      If haply I appear not all too vile,      A thrall to sorrow worse than any slave.      Hear, gentle daughters of primeval Night,      Hear, namesake of great Pallas; Athens, first      Of cities, pity this dishonored shade,      The ghost of him who once was Oedipus.      ANTIGONE      Hush! for I see some grey-beards on their way,      Their errand to spy out our resting-place.      OEDIPUS      I will be mute, and thou shalt guide my steps      Into the covert from the public road,      Till I have learned their drift.    A prudent man      Will ever shape his course by what he learns.      [Enter CHORUS]      CHORUS      (Str. 1)      Ha!    Where is he?    Look around!      Every nook and corner scan!      He the all-presumptuous man,      Whither vanished? search the ground!      A wayfarer, I ween,      A wayfarer, no countryman of ours,      That old man must have been;      Never had native dared to tempt the Powers,          Or enter their demesne,      The Maids in awe of whom each mortal cowers,          Whose name no voice betrays nor cry,          And as we pass them with averted eye,      We move hushed lips in reverent piety.          But now some godless man,             'Tis rumored, here abides;          The precincts through I scan,             Yet wot not where he hides,          The wretch profane!          I search and search in vain.      OEDIPUS          I am that man; I know you near          Ears to the blind, they say, are eyes.      CHORUS          O dread to see and dread to hear!      OEDIPUS      Oh sirs, I am no outlaw under ban.      CHORUS      Who can he be--Zeus save us!--this old man?      OEDIPUS      No favorite of fate,      That ye should envy his estate,      O, Sirs, would any happy mortal, say,      Grope by the light of other eyes his way,      Or face the storm upon so frail a stay?      CHORUS      (Ant. 1)      Wast thou then sightless from thy birth?      Evil, methinks, and long      Thy pilgrimage on earth.      Yet add not curse to curse and wrong to wrong.          I warn thee, trespass not          Within this hallowed spot,      Lest thou shouldst find the silent grassy glade          Where offerings are laid,      Bowls of spring water mingled with sweet mead.          Thou must not stay,          Come, come away,          Tired wanderer, dost thou heed?      (We are far off, but sure our voice can reach.)          If aught thou wouldst beseech,      Speak where 'tis right; till then refrain from speech.      OEDIPUS      Daughter, what counsel should we now pursue?      ANTIGONE      We must obey and do as here they do.      OEDIPUS      Thy hand then!      ANTIGONE             Here, O father, is my hand,      OEDIPUS      O Sirs, if I come forth at your command,      Let me not suffer for my confidence.      CHORUS      (Str. 2)      Against thy will no man shall drive thee hence.      OEDIPUS      Shall I go further?      CHORUS          Aye.      OEDIPUS             What further still?      CHORUS      Lead maiden, thou canst guide him where we will.      ANTIGONE [4]      *     *    *    *    *    *      OEDIPUS      *     *    *    *    *    *      ANTIGONE      *     *    *    *    *    *      Follow with blind steps, father, as I lead.      OEDIPUS      *     *    *    *    *    *      CHORUS      In a strange land strange thou art;      To her will incline thy heart;      Honor whatso'er the State      Honors, all she frowns on hate.      OEDIPUS      Guide me child, where we may range      Safe within the paths of right;      Counsel freely may exchange      Nor with fate and fortune fight.      CHORUS      (Ant. 2)      Halt!    Go no further than that rocky floor.      OEDIPUS      Stay where I now am?      CHORUS          Yes, advance no more.      OEDIPUS      May I sit down?      CHORUS             Move sideways towards the ledge,      And sit thee crouching on the scarped edge.      ANTIGONE      This is my office, father, O incline--      OEDIPUS      Ah me! ah me!      ANTIGONE      Thy steps to my steps, lean thine aged frame on mine.      OEDIPUS      Woe on my fate unblest!      CHORUS      Wanderer, now thou art at rest,      Tell me of thy birth and home,      From what far country art thou come,      Led on thy weary way, declare!      OEDIPUS      Strangers, I have no country.    O forbear--      CHORUS      What is it, old man, that thou wouldst conceal?      OEDIPUS      Forbear, nor urge me further to reveal--      CHORUS      Why this reluctance?      OEDIPUS          Dread my lineage.      CHORUS          Say!      OEDIPUS      What must I answer, child, ah welladay!      CHORUS      Say of what stock thou comest, what man's son--      OEDIPUS      Ah me, my daughter, now we are undone!      ANTIGONE      Speak, for thou standest on the slippery verge.      OEDIPUS      I will; no plea for silence can I urge.      CHORUS      Will neither speak?    Come, Sir, why dally thus!      OEDIPUS      Know'st one of Laius'--      CHORUS             Ha?    Who!      OEDIPUS      Seed of Labdacus--      CHORUS          Oh Zeus!      OEDIPUS      The hapless Oedipus.      CHORUS          Art he?      OEDIPUS      Whate'er I utter, have no fear of me.      CHORUS      Begone!      OEDIPUS          O wretched me!      CHORUS             Begone!      OEDIPUS      O daughter, what will hap anon?      CHORUS      Forth from our borders speed ye both!      OEDIPUS      How keep you then your troth?      CHORUS      Heaven's justice never smites      Him who ill with ill requites.      But if guile with guile contend,      Bane, not blessing, is the end.      Arise, begone and take thee hence straightway,      Lest on our land a heavier curse thou lay.      ANTIGONE             O sirs! ye suffered not my father blind,             Albeit gracious and to ruth inclined,             Knowing the deeds he wrought, not innocent,          But with no ill intent;          Yet heed a maiden's moan          Who pleads for him alone;          My eyes, not reft of sight,      Plead with you as a daughter's might      You are our providence,      O make us not go hence!      O with a gracious nod      Grant us the nigh despaired-of boon we crave?          Hear us, O hear,      But all that ye hold dear,      Wife, children, homestead, hearth and God!      Where will you find one, search ye ne'er so well.      Who 'scapes perdition if a god impel!      CHORUS      Surely we pity thee and him alike      Daughter of Oedipus, for your distress;      But as we reverence the decrees of Heaven      We cannot say aught other than we said.      OEDIPUS      O what avails renown or fair repute?      Are they not vanity?    For, look you, now      Athens is held of States the most devout,      Athens alone gives hospitality      And shelters the vexed stranger, so men say.      Have I found so?    I whom ye dislodged      First from my seat of rock and now would drive      Forth from your land, dreading my name alone;      For me you surely dread not, nor my deeds,      Deeds of a man more sinned against than sinning,      As I might well convince you, were it meet      To tell my mother's story and my sire's,      The cause of this your fear.    Yet am I then      A villain born because in self-defense,      Striken, I struck the striker back again?      E'en had I known, no villainy 'twould prove:      But all unwitting whither I went, I went--      To ruin; my destroyers knew it well,      Wherefore, I pray you, sirs, in Heaven's name,      Even as ye bade me quit my seat, defend me.      O pay not a lip service to the gods      And wrong them of their dues.    Bethink ye well,      The eye of Heaven beholds the just of men,      And the unjust, nor ever in this world      Has one sole godless sinner found escape.      Stand then on Heaven's side and never blot      Athens' fair scutcheon by abetting wrong.      I came to you a suppliant, and you pledged      Your honor; O preserve me to the end,      O let not this marred visage do me wrong!      A holy and god-fearing man is here      Whose coming purports comfort for your folk.      And when your chief arrives, whoe'er he be,      Then shall ye have my story and know all.      Meanwhile I pray you do me no despite.      CHORUS      The plea thou urgest, needs must give us pause,      Set forth in weighty argument, but we      Must leave the issue with the ruling powers.      OEDIPUS      Where is he, strangers, he who sways the realm?      CHORUS      In his ancestral seat; a messenger,      The same who sent us here, is gone for him.      OEDIPUS      And think you he will have such care or thought      For the blind stranger as to come himself?      CHORUS      Aye, that he will, when once he learns thy name.      OEDIPUS      But who will bear him word!      CHORUS          The way is long,      And many travelers pass to speed the news.      Be sure he'll hear and hasten, never fear;      So wide and far thy name is noised abroad,      That, were he ne'er so spent and loth to move,      He would bestir him when he hears of thee.      OEDIPUS      Well, may he come with blessing to his State      And me!    Who serves his neighbor serves himself. [5]      ANTIGONE      Zeus!    What is this?    What can I say or think?      OEDIPUS      What now, Antigone?      ANTIGONE          I see a woman      Riding upon a colt of Aetna's breed;      She wears for headgear a Thessalian hat      To shade her from the sun.    Who can it be?      She or a stranger?    Do I wake or dream?      'This she; 'tis not--I cannot tell, alack;      It is no other!    Now her bright'ning glance      Greets me with recognition, yes, 'tis she,      Herself, Ismene!      OEDIPUS          Ha! what say ye, child?      ANTIGONE      That I behold thy daughter and my sister,      And thou wilt know her straightway by her voice.      [Enter ISMENE]      ISMENE      Father and sister, names to me most sweet,      How hardly have I found you, hardly now      When found at last can see you through my tears!      OEDIPUS      Art come, my child?      ISMENE          O father, sad thy plight!      OEDIPUS      Child, thou art here?      ISMENE          Yes, 'twas a weary way.      OEDIPUS      Touch me, my child.      ISMENE          I give a hand to both.      OEDIPUS      O children--sisters!      ISMENE          O disastrous plight!      OEDIPUS      Her plight and mine?      ISMENE          Aye, and my own no less.      OEDIPUS      What brought thee, daughter?      ISMENE          Father, care for thee.      OEDIPUS      A daughter's yearning?      ISMENE             Yes, and I had news      I would myself deliver, so I came      With the one thrall who yet is true to me.      OEDIPUS      Thy valiant brothers, where are they at need?      ISMENE      They are--enough, 'tis now their darkest hour.      OEDIPUS      Out on the twain!    The thoughts and actions all      Are framed and modeled on Egyptian ways.      For there the men sit at the loom indoors      While the wives slave abroad for daily bread.      So you, my children--those whom I behooved      To bear the burden, stay at home like girls,      While in their stead my daughters moil and drudge,      Lightening their father's misery.    The one      Since first she grew from girlish feebleness      To womanhood has been the old man's guide      And shared my weary wandering, roaming oft      Hungry and footsore through wild forest ways,      In drenching rains and under scorching suns,      Careless herself of home and ease, if so      Her sire might have her tender ministry.      And thou, my child, whilom thou wentest forth,      Eluding the Cadmeians' vigilance,      To bring thy father all the oracles      Concerning Oedipus, and didst make thyself      My faithful lieger, when they banished me.      And now what mission summons thee from home,      What news, Ismene, hast thou for thy father?      This much I know, thou com'st not empty-handed,      Without a warning of some new alarm.      ISMENE      The toil and trouble, father, that I bore      To find thy lodging-place and how thou faredst,      I spare thee; surely 'twere a double pain      To suffer, first in act and then in telling;      'Tis the misfortune of thine ill-starred sons      I come to tell thee.    At the first they willed      To leave the throne to Creon, minded well      Thus to remove the inveterate curse of old,      A canker that infected all thy race.      But now some god and an infatuate soul      Have stirred betwixt them a mad rivalry      To grasp at sovereignty and kingly power.      Today the hot-branded youth, the younger born,      Is keeping Polyneices from the throne,      His elder, and has thrust him from the land.      The banished brother (so all Thebes reports)      Fled to the vale of Argos, and by help      Of new alliance there and friends in arms,      Swears he will stablish Argos straight as lord      Of the Cadmeian land, or, if he fail,      Exalt the victor to the stars of heaven.      This is no empty tale, but deadly truth,      My father; and how long thy agony,      Ere the gods pity thee, I cannot tell.      OEDIPUS      Hast thou indeed then entertained a hope      The gods at last will turn and rescue me?      ISMENE      Yea, so I read these latest oracles.      OEDIPUS      What oracles?    What hath been uttered, child?      ISMENE      Thy country (so it runs) shall yearn in time      To have thee for their weal alive or dead.      OEDIPUS      And who could gain by such a one as I?      ISMENE      On thee, 'tis said, their sovereignty depends.      OEDIPUS      So, when I cease to be, my worth begins.      ISMENE      The gods, who once abased, uplift thee now.      OEDIPUS      Poor help to raise an old man fallen in youth.      ISMENE      Howe'er that be, 'tis for this cause alone      That Creon comes to thee--and comes anon.      OEDIPUS      With what intent, my daughter?    Tell me plainly.      ISMENE      To plant thee near the Theban land, and so      Keep thee within their grasp, yet now allow      Thy foot to pass beyond their boundaries.      OEDIPUS      What gain they, if I lay outside?      OEDIPUS             Thy tomb,      If disappointed, brings on them a curse.      OEDIPUS      It needs no god to tell what's plain to sense.      ISMENE      Therefore they fain would have thee close at hand,      Not where thou wouldst be master of thyself.      OEDIPUS      Mean they to shroud my bones in Theban dust?      ISMENE      Nay, father, guilt of kinsman's blood forbids.      OEDIPUS      Then never shall they be my masters, never!      ISMENE      Thebes, thou shalt rue this bitterly some day!      OEDIPUS      When what conjunction comes to pass, my child?      ISMENE      Thy angry wraith, when at thy tomb they stand. [6]      OEDIPUS      And who hath told thee what thou tell'st me, child?      ISMENE      Envoys who visited the Delphic hearth.      OEDIPUS      Hath Phoebus spoken thus concerning me?      ISMENE      So say the envoys who returned to Thebes.      OEDIPUS      And can a son of mine have heard of this?      ISMENE      Yea, both alike, and know its import well.      OEDIPUS      They knew it, yet the ignoble greed of rule      Outweighed all longing for their sire's return.      ISMENE      Grievous thy words, yet I must own them true.      OEDIPUS      Then may the gods ne'er quench their fatal feud,      And mine be the arbitrament of the fight,      For which they now are arming, spear to spear;      That neither he who holds the scepter now      May keep this throne, nor he who fled the realm      Return again.    They never raised a hand,      When I their sire was thrust from hearth and home,      When I was banned and banished, what recked they?      Say you 'twas done at my desire, a grace      Which the state, yielding to my wish, allowed?      Not so; for, mark you, on that very day      When in the tempest of my soul I craved      Death, even death by stoning, none appeared      To further that wild longing, but anon,      When time had numbed my anguish and I felt      My wrath had all outrun those errors past,      Then, then it was the city went about      By force to oust me, respited for years;      And then my sons, who should as sons have helped,      Did nothing: and, one little word from them      Was all I needed, and they spoke no word,      But let me wander on for evermore,      A banished man, a beggar.    These two maids      Their sisters, girls, gave all their sex could give,      Food and safe harborage and filial care;      While their two brethren sacrificed their sire      For lust of power and sceptred sovereignty.      No! me they ne'er shall win for an ally,      Nor will this Theban kingship bring them gain;      That know I from this maiden's oracles,      And those old prophecies concerning me,      Which Phoebus now at length has brought to pass.      Come Creon then, come all the mightiest      In Thebes to seek me; for if ye my friends,      Championed by those dread Powers indigenous,      Espouse my cause; then for the State ye gain      A great deliverer, for my foemen bane.      CHORUS      Our pity, Oedipus, thou needs must move,      Thou and these maidens; and the stronger plea      Thou urgest, as the savior of our land,      Disposes me to counsel for thy weal.      OEDIPUS      Aid me, kind sirs; I will do all you bid.      CHORUS      First make atonement to the deities,      Whose grove by trespass thou didst first profane.      OEDIPUS      After what manner, stranger?    Teach me, pray.      CHORUS      Make a libation first of water fetched      With undefiled hands from living spring.      OEDIPUS      And after I have gotten this pure draught?      CHORUS      Bowls thou wilt find, the carver's handiwork;      Crown thou the rims and both the handles crown--      OEDIPUS      With olive shoots or blocks of wool, or how?      CHORUS      With wool from fleece of yearling freshly shorn.      OEDIPUS      What next? how must I end the ritual?      CHORUS      Pour thy libation, turning to the dawn.      OEDIPUS      Pouring it from the urns whereof ye spake?      CHORUS      Yea, in three streams; and be the last bowl drained      To the last drop.      OEDIPUS          And wherewith shall I fill it,      Ere in its place I set it?    This too tell.      CHORUS      With water and with honey; add no wine.      OEDIPUS      And when the embowered earth hath drunk thereof?      CHORUS      Then lay upon it thrice nine olive sprays      With both thy hands, and offer up this prayer.      OEDIPUS      I fain would hear it; that imports the most.      CHORUS      That, as we call them Gracious, they would deign      To grant the suppliant their saving grace.      So pray thyself or whoso pray for thee,      In whispered accents, not with lifted voice;      Then go and look back.    Do as I bid,      And I shall then be bold to stand thy friend;      Else, stranger, I should have my fears for thee.      OEDIPUS      Hear ye, my daughters, what these strangers say?      ANTIGONE      We listened, and attend thy bidding, father.      OEDIPUS      I cannot go, disabled as I am      Doubly, by lack of strength and lack of sight;      But one of you may do it in my stead;      For one, I trow, may pay the sacrifice      Of thousands, if his heart be leal and true.      So to your work with speed, but leave me not      Untended; for this frame is all too week      To move without the help of guiding hand.      ISMENE      Then I will go perform these rites, but where      To find the spot, this have I yet to learn.      CHORUS      Beyond this grove; if thou hast need of aught,      The guardian of the close will lend his aid.      ISMENE      I go, and thou, Antigone, meanwhile      Must guard our father.    In a parent's cause      Toil, if there be toil, is of no account.      [Exit ISMENE]      CHORUS      (Str. 1)      Ill it is, stranger, to awake      Pain that long since has ceased to ache,      And yet I fain would hear--      OEDIPUS      What thing?      CHORUS      Thy tale of cruel suffering      For which no cure was found,      The fate that held thee bound.      OEDIPUS      O bid me not (as guest I claim      This grace) expose my shame.      CHORUS      The tale is bruited far and near,      And echoes still from ear to ear.      The truth, I fain would hear.      OEDIPUS      Ah me!      CHORUS             I prithee yield.      OEDIPUS          Ah me!      CHORUS      Grant my request, I granted all to thee.      OEDIPUS      (Ant. 1)      Know then I suffered ills most vile, but none      (So help me Heaven!) from acts in malice done.      CHORUS      Say how.      OEDIPUS          The State around      An all unwitting bridegroom bound      An impious marriage chain;          That was my bane.      CHORUS      Didst thou in sooth then share      A bed incestuous with her that bare--      OEDIPUS      It stabs me like a sword,      That two-edged word,      O stranger, but these maids--my own--      CHORUS      Say on.      OEDIPUS      Two daughters, curses twain.      CHORUS      Oh God!      OEDIPUS      Sprang from the wife and mother's travail-pain.      CHORUS      (Str. 2)      What, then thy offspring are at once--      OEDIPUS          Too true.      Their father's very sister's too.      CHORUS      Oh horror!      OEDIPUS          Horrors from the boundless deep      Back on my soul in refluent surges sweep.      CHORUS      Thou hast endured--      OEDIPUS          Intolerable woe.      CHORUS      And sinned--      OEDIPUS             I sinned not.      CHORUS          How so?      OEDIPUS      I served the State; would I had never won      That graceless grace by which I was undone.      CHORUS      (Ant. 2)      And next, unhappy man, thou hast shed blood?      OEDIPUS      Must ye hear more?      CHORUS          A father's?      OEDIPUS             Flood on flood      Whelms me; that word's a second mortal blow.      CHORUS      Murderer!      OEDIPUS          Yes, a murderer, but know--      CHORUS      What canst thou plead?      OEDIPUS             A plea of justice.      CHORUS             How?      OEDIPUS      I slew who else would me have slain;      I slew without intent,      A wretch, but innocent      In the law's eye, I stand, without a stain.      CHORUS      Behold our sovereign, Theseus, Aegeus' son,      Comes at thy summons to perform his part.      [Enter THESEUS]      THESEUS      Oft had I heard of thee in times gone by--      The bloody mutilation of thine eyes--      And therefore know thee, son of Laius.      All that I lately gathered on the way      Made my conjecture doubly sure; and now      Thy garb and that marred visage prove to me      That thou art he.    So pitying thine estate,      Most ill-starred Oedipus, I fain would know      What is the suit ye urge on me and Athens,      Thou and the helpless maiden at thy side.      Declare it; dire indeed must be the tale      Whereat I should recoil.    I too was reared,      Like thee, in exile, and in foreign lands      Wrestled with many perils, no man more.      Wherefore no alien in adversity      Shall seek in vain my succor, nor shalt thou;      I know myself a mortal, and my share      In what the morrow brings no more than thine.      OEDIPUS      Theseus, thy words so apt, so generous      So comfortable, need no long reply      Both who I am and of what lineage sprung,      And from what land I came, thou hast declared.      So without prologue I may utter now      My brief petition, and the tale is told.      THESEUS      Say on, and tell me what I fain would learn.      OEDIPUS      I come to offer thee this woe-worn frame,      A gift not fair to look on; yet its worth      More precious far than any outward show.      THESEUS      What profit dost thou proffer to have brought?      OEDIPUS      Hereafter thou shalt learn, not yet, methinks.      THESEUS      When may we hope to reap the benefit?      OEDIPUS      When I am dead and thou hast buried me.      THESEUS      Thou cravest life's last service; all before--      Is it forgotten or of no account?      OEDIPUS      Yea, the last boon is warrant for the rest.      THESEUS      The grace thou cravest then is small indeed.      OEDIPUS      Nay, weigh it well; the issue is not slight.      THESEUS      Thou meanest that betwixt thy sons and me?      OEDIPUS      Prince, they would fain convey me back to Thebes.      THESEUS      If there be no compulsion, then methinks      To rest in banishment befits not thee.      OEDIPUS      Nay, when I wished it they would not consent.      THESEUS      For shame! such temper misbecomes the faller.      OEDIPUS      Chide if thou wilt, but first attend my plea.      THESEUS      Say on, I wait full knowledge ere I judge.      OEDIPUS      O Theseus, I have suffered wrongs on wrongs.      THESEUS      Wouldst tell the old misfortune of thy race?      OEDIPUS      No, that has grown a byword throughout Greece.      THESEUS      What then can be this more than mortal grief?      OEDIPUS      My case stands thus; by my own flesh and blood      I was expelled my country, and can ne'er      Thither return again, a parricide.      THESEUS      Why fetch thee home if thou must needs obey.      THESEUS      What are they threatened by the oracle?      OEDIPUS      Destruction that awaits them in this land.      THESEUS      What can beget ill blood 'twixt them and me?      OEDIPUS      Dear son of Aegeus, to the gods alone      Is given immunity from eld and death;      But nothing else escapes all-ruinous time.      Earth's might decays, the might of men decays,      Honor grows cold, dishonor flourishes,      There is no constancy 'twixt friend and friend,      Or city and city; be it soon or late,      Sweet turns to bitter, hate once more to love.      If now 'tis sunshine betwixt Thebes and thee      And not a cloud, Time in his endless course      Gives birth to endless days and nights, wherein      The merest nothing shall suffice to cut      With serried spears your bonds of amity.      Then shall my slumbering and buried corpse      In its cold grave drink their warm life-blood up,      If Zeus be Zeus and Phoebus still speak true.      No more:    'tis ill to tear aside the veil      Of mysteries; let me cease as I began:      Enough if thou wilt keep thy plighted troth,      Then shall thou ne'er complain that Oedipus      Proved an unprofitable and thankless guest,      Except the gods themselves shall play me false.      CHORUS      The man, my lord, has from the very first      Declared his power to offer to our land      These and like benefits.      THESEUS             Who could reject      The proffered amity of such a friend?      First, he can claim the hospitality      To which by mutual contract we stand pledged:      Next, coming here, a suppliant to the gods,      He pays full tribute to the State and me;      His favors therefore never will I spurn,      But grant him the full rights of citizen;      And, if it suits the stranger here to bide,      I place him in your charge, or if he please      Rather to come with me--choose, Oedipus,      Which of the two thou wilt.    Thy choice is mine.      OEDIPUS      Zeus, may the blessing fall on men like these!      THESEUS      What dost thou then decide--to come with me?      OEDIPUS      Yea, were it lawful--but 'tis rather here--      THESEUS      What wouldst thou here?    I shall not thwart thy wish.      OEDIPUS      Here shall I vanquish those who cast me forth.      THESEUS      Then were thy presence here a boon indeed.      OEDIPUS      Such shall it prove, if thou fulfill'st thy pledge.      THESEUS      Fear not for me; I shall not play thee false.      OEDIPUS      No need to back thy promise with an oath.      THESEUS      An oath would be no surer than my word.      OEDIPUS      How wilt thou act then?      THESEUS             What is it thou fear'st?      OEDIPUS      My foes will come--      THESEUS          Our friends will look to that.      OEDIPUS      But if thou leave me?      THESEUS          Teach me not my duty.      OEDIPUS      'Tis fear constrains me.      THESEUS             My soul knows no fear!      OEDIPUS      Thou knowest not what threats--      THESEUS          I know that none      Shall hale thee hence in my despite.    Such threats      Vented in anger oft, are blusterers,      An idle breath, forgot when sense returns.      And for thy foemen, though their words were brave,      Boasting to bring thee back, they are like to find      The seas between us wide and hard to sail.      Such my firm purpose, but in any case      Take heart, since Phoebus sent thee here.    My name,      Though I be distant, warrants thee from harm.      CHORUS      (Str. 1)             Thou hast come to a steed-famed land for rest,          O stranger worn with toil,             To a land of all lands the goodliest          Colonus' glistening soil.             'Tis the haunt of the clear-voiced nightingale,          Who hid in her bower, among             The wine-dark ivy that wreathes the vale,          Trilleth her ceaseless song;             And she loves, where the clustering berries nod          O'er a sunless, windless glade,             The spot by no mortal footstep trod,             The pleasance kept for the Bacchic god,             Where he holds each night his revels wild             With the nymphs who fostered the lusty child.      (Ant. 1)             And fed each morn by the pearly dew          The starred narcissi shine,             And a wreath with the crocus' golden hue          For the Mother and Daughter twine.             And never the sleepless fountains cease          That feed Cephisus' stream,             But they swell earth's bosom with quick increase,          And their wave hath a crystal gleam.             And the Muses' quire will never disdain             To visit this heaven-favored plain,             Nor the Cyprian queen of the golden rein.      (Str. 2)             And here there grows, unpruned, untamed,          Terror to foemen's spear,             A tree in Asian soil unnamed,             By Pelops' Dorian isle unclaimed,          Self-nurtured year by year;             'Tis the grey-leaved olive that feeds our boys;             Nor youth nor withering age destroys             The plant that the Olive Planter tends             And the Grey-eyed Goddess herself defends.      (Ant. 2)             Yet another gift, of all gifts the most             Prized by our fatherland, we boast--             The might of the horse, the might of the sea;             Our fame, Poseidon, we owe to thee,             Son of Kronos, our king divine,             Who in these highways first didst fit             For the mouth of horses the iron bit;             Thou too hast taught us to fashion meet             For the arm of the rower the oar-blade fleet,             Swift as the Nereids' hundred feet             As they dance along the brine.      ANTIGONE      Oh land extolled above all lands, 'tis now      For thee to make these glorious titles good.      OEDIPUS      Why this appeal, my daughter?      ANTIGONE          Father, lo!      Creon approaches with his company.      OEDIPUS      Fear not, it shall be so; if we are old,      This country's vigor has no touch of age.      [Enter CREON with attendants]      CREON      Burghers, my noble friends, ye take alarm      At my approach (I read it in your eyes),      Fear nothing and refrain from angry words.      I come with no ill purpose; I am old,      And know the city whither I am come,      Without a peer amongst the powers of Greece.      It was by reason of my years that I      Was chosen to persuade your guest and bring      Him back to Thebes; not the delegate      Of one man, but commissioned by the State,      Since of all Thebans I have most bewailed,      Being his kinsman, his most grievous woes.      O listen to me, luckless Oedipus,      Come home!    The whole Cadmeian people claim      With right to have thee back, I most of all,      For most of all (else were I vile indeed)      I mourn for thy misfortunes, seeing thee      An aged outcast, wandering on and on,      A beggar with one handmaid for thy stay.      Ah! who had e'er imagined she could fall      To such a depth of misery as this,      To tend in penury thy stricken frame,      A virgin ripe for wedlock, but unwed,      A prey for any wanton ravisher?      Seems it not cruel this reproach I cast      On thee and on myself and all the race?      Aye, but an open shame cannot be hid.      Hide it, O hide it, Oedipus, thou canst.      O, by our fathers' gods, consent I pray;      Come back to Thebes, come to thy father's home,      Bid Athens, as is meet, a fond farewell;      Thebes thy old foster-mother claims thee first.      OEDIPUS      O front of brass, thy subtle tongue would twist      To thy advantage every plea of right      Why try thy arts on me, why spread again      Toils where 'twould gall me sorest to be snared?      In old days when by self-wrought woes distraught,      I yearned for exile as a glad release,      Thy will refused the favor then I craved.      But when my frenzied grief had spent its force,      And I was fain to taste the sweets of home,      Then thou wouldst thrust me from my country, then      These ties of kindred were by thee ignored;      And now again when thou behold'st this State      And all its kindly people welcome me,      Thou seek'st to part us, wrapping in soft words      Hard thoughts.    And yet what pleasure canst thou find      In forcing friendship on unwilling foes?      Suppose a man refused to grant some boon      When you importuned him, and afterwards      When you had got your heart's desire, consented,      Granting a grace from which all grace had fled,      Would not such favor seem an empty boon?      Yet such the boon thou profferest now to me,      Fair in appearance, but when tested false.      Yea, I will proved thee false, that these may hear;      Thou art come to take me, not to take me home,      But plant me on thy borders, that thy State      May so escape annoyance from this land.      That thou shalt never gain, but this instead--      My ghost to haunt thy country without end;      And for my sons, this heritage--no more--      Just room to die in.    Have not I more skill      Than thou to draw the horoscope of Thebes?      Are not my teachers surer guides than thine--      Great Phoebus and the sire of Phoebus, Zeus?      Thou art a messenger suborned, thy tongue      Is sharper than a sword's edge, yet thy speech      Will bring thee more defeats than victories.      Howbeit, I know I waste my words--begone,      And leave me here; whate'er may be my lot,      He lives not ill who lives withal content.      CREON      Which loses in this parley, I o'erthrown      By thee, or thou who overthrow'st thyself?      OEDIPUS      I shall be well contented if thy suit      Fails with these strangers, as it has with me.      CREON      Unhappy man, will years ne'er make thee wise?      Must thou live on to cast a slur on age?      OEDIPUS      Thou hast a glib tongue, but no honest man,      Methinks, can argue well on any side.      CREON      'Tis one thing to speak much, another well.      OEDIPUS      Thy words, forsooth, are few and all well aimed!      CREON      Not for a man indeed with wits like thine.      OEDIPUS      Depart!    I bid thee in these burghers' name,      And prowl no longer round me to blockade      My destined harbor.      CREON          I protest to these,      Not thee, and for thine answer to thy kin,      If e'er I take thee--      OEDIPUS          Who against their will      Could take me?      CREON             Though untaken thou shalt smart.      OEDIPUS      What power hast thou to execute this threat?      CREON      One of thy daughters is already seized,      The other I will carry off anon.      OEDIPUS      Woe, woe!      CREON          This is but prelude to thy woes.      OEDIPUS      Hast thou my child?      CREON          And soon shall have the other.      OEDIPUS      Ho, friends! ye will not surely play me false?      Chase this ungodly villain from your land.      CHORUS      Hence, stranger, hence avaunt!    Thou doest wrong      In this, and wrong in all that thou hast done.      CREON (to his guards)      'Tis time by force to carry off the girl,      If she refuse of her free will to go.      ANTIGONE      Ah, woe is me! where shall I fly, where find      Succor from gods or men?      CHORUS             What would'st thou, stranger?      CREON      I meddle not with him, but her who is mine.      OEDIPUS      O princes of the land!      CHORUS             Sir, thou dost wrong.      CREON      Nay, right.      CHORUS             How right?      CREON             I take but what is mine.      OEDIPUS      Help, Athens!      CHORUS      What means this, sirrah? quick unhand her, or      We'll fight it out.      CREON          Back!      CHORUS             Not till thou forbear.      CREON      'Tis war with Thebes if I am touched or harmed.      OEDIPUS      Did I not warn thee?      CHORUS          Quick, unhand the maid!      CREON      Command your minions; I am not your slave.      CHORUS      Desist, I bid thee.      CREON (to the guard)          And O bid thee march!      CHORUS          To the rescue, one and all!          Rally, neighbors to my call!          See, the foe is at the gate!          Rally to defend the State.      ANTIGONE      Ah, woe is me, they drag me hence, O friends.      OEDIPUS      Where art thou, daughter?      ANTIGONE             Haled along by force.      OEDIPUS      Thy hands, my child!      ANTIGONE          They will not let me, father.      CREON      Away with her!      OEDIPUS             Ah, woe is me, ah woe!      CREON      So those two crutches shall no longer serve thee      For further roaming.    Since it pleaseth thee      To triumph o'er thy country and thy friends      Who mandate, though a prince, I here discharge,      Enjoy thy triumph; soon or late thou'lt find      Thou art an enemy to thyself, both now      And in time past, when in despite of friends      Thou gav'st the rein to passion, still thy bane.      CHORUS      Hold there, sir stranger!      CREON             Hands off, have a care.      CHORUS      Restore the maidens, else thou goest not.      CREON      Then Thebes will take a dearer surety soon;      I will lay hands on more than these two maids.      CHORUS      What canst thou further?      CREON             Carry off this man.      CHORUS      Brave words!      CREON             And deeds forthwith shall make them good.      CHORUS      Unless perchance our sovereign intervene.      OEDIPUS      O shameless voice!    Would'st lay an hand on me?      CREON      Silence, I bid thee!      OEDIPUS          Goddesses, allow      Thy suppliant to utter yet one curse!      Wretch, now my eyes are gone thou hast torn away      The helpless maiden who was eyes to me;      For these to thee and all thy cursed race      May the great Sun, whose eye is everywhere,      Grant length of days and old age like to mine.      CREON      Listen, O men of Athens, mark ye this?      OEDIPUS      They mark us both and understand that I      Wronged by the deeds defend myself with words.      CREON      Nothing shall curb my will; though I be old      And single-handed, I will have this man.      OEDIPUS      O woe is me!      CHORUS      Thou art a bold man, stranger, if thou think'st      To execute thy purpose.      CREON             So I do.      CHORUS      Then shall I deem this State no more a State.      CREON      With a just quarrel weakness conquers might.      OEDIPUS      Ye hear his words?      CHORUS          Aye words, but not yet deeds,      Zeus knoweth!      CREON             Zeus may haply know, not thou.      CHORUS      Insolence!      CREON          Insolence that thou must bear.      CHORUS          Haste ye princes, sound the alarm!          Men of Athens, arm ye, arm!          Quickly to the rescue come          Ere the robbers get them home.      [Enter THESEUS]      THESEUS      Why this outcry?    What is forward? wherefore was I called away      From the altar of Poseidon, lord of your Colonus?    Say!      On what errand have I hurried hither without stop or stay.      OEDIPUS      Dear friend--those accents tell me who thou art--      Yon man but now hath done me a foul wrong.      THESEUS      What is this wrong and who hath wrought it?    Speak.      OEDIPUS      Creon who stands before thee.    He it is      Hath robbed me of my all, my daughters twain.      THESEUS      What means this?      OEDIPUS             Thou hast heard my tale of wrongs.      THESEUS      Ho! hasten to the altars, one of you.      Command my liegemen leave the sacrifice      And hurry, foot and horse, with rein unchecked,      To where the paths that packmen use diverge,      Lest the two maidens slip away, and I      Become a mockery to this my guest,      As one despoiled by force.    Quick, as I bid.      As for this stranger, had I let my rage,      Justly provoked, have play, he had not 'scaped      Scathless and uncorrected at my hands.      But now the laws to which himself appealed,      These and none others shall adjudicate.      Thou shalt not quit this land, till thou hast fetched      The maidens and produced them in my sight.      Thou hast offended both against myself      And thine own race and country.    Having come      Unto a State that champions right and asks      For every action warranty of law,      Thou hast set aside the custom of the land,      And like some freebooter art carrying off      What plunder pleases thee, as if forsooth      Thou thoughtest this a city without men,      Or manned by slaves, and me a thing of naught.      Yet not from Thebes this villainy was learnt;      Thebes is not wont to breed unrighteous sons,      Nor would she praise thee, if she learnt that thou      Wert robbing me--aye and the gods to boot,      Haling by force their suppliants, poor maids.      Were I on Theban soil, to prosecute      The justest claim imaginable, I      Would never wrest by violence my own      Without sanction of your State or King;      I should behave as fits an outlander      Living amongst a foreign folk, but thou      Shamest a city that deserves it not,      Even thine own, and plentitude of years      Have made of thee an old man and a fool.      Therefore again I charge thee as before,      See that the maidens are restored at once,      Unless thou would'st continue here by force      And not by choice a sojourner; so much      I tell thee home and what I say, I mean.      CHORUS      Thy case is perilous; though by birth and race      Thou should'st be just, thou plainly doest wrong.      CREON      Not deeming this city void of men      Or counsel, son of Aegeus, as thou say'st      I did what I have done; rather I thought      Your people were not like to set such store      by kin of mine and keep them 'gainst my will.      Nor would they harbor, so I stood assured,      A godless parricide, a reprobate      Convicted of incestuous marriage ties.      For on her native hill of Ares here      (I knew your far-famed Areopagus)      Sits Justice, and permits not vagrant folk      To stay within your borders.    In that faith      I hunted down my quarry; and e'en then      I had refrained but for the curses dire      Wherewith he banned my kinsfolk and myself:      Such wrong, methought, had warrant for my act.      Anger has no old age but only death;      The dead alone can feel no touch of spite.      So thou must work thy will; my cause is just      But weak without allies; yet will I try,      Old as I am, to answer deeds with deeds.      OEDIPUS      O shameless railer, think'st thou this abuse      Defames my grey hairs rather than thine own?      Murder and incest, deeds of horror, all      Thou blurtest forth against me, all I have borne,      No willing sinner; so it pleased the gods      Wrath haply with my sinful race of old,      Since thou could'st find no sin in me myself      For which in retribution I was doomed      To trespass thus against myself and mine.      Answer me now, if by some oracle      My sire was destined to a bloody end      By a son's hand, can this reflect on me,      Me then unborn, begotten by no sire,      Conceived in no mother's womb?    And if      When born to misery, as born I was,      I met my sire, not knowing whom I met      or what I did, and slew him, how canst thou      With justice blame the all-unconscious hand?      And for my mother, wretch, art not ashamed,      Seeing she was thy sister, to extort      From me the story of her marriage, such      A marriage as I straightway will proclaim.      For I will speak; thy lewd and impious speech      Has broken all the bonds of reticence.      She was, ah woe is me! she was my mother;      I knew it not, nor she; and she my mother      Bare children to the son whom she had borne,      A birth of shame.    But this at least I know      Wittingly thou aspersest her and me;      But I unwitting wed, unwilling speak.      Nay neither in this marriage or this deed      Which thou art ever casting in my teeth--      A murdered sire--shall I be held to blame.      Come, answer me one question, if thou canst:      If one should presently attempt thy life,      Would'st thou, O man of justice, first inquire      If the assassin was perchance thy sire,      Or turn upon him?    As thou lov'st thy life,      On thy aggressor thou would'st turn, no stay      Debating, if the law would bear thee out.      Such was my case, and such the pass whereto      The gods reduced me; and methinks my sire,      Could he come back to life, would not dissent.      Yet thou, for just thou art not, but a man      Who sticks at nothing, if it serve his plea,      Reproachest me with this before these men.      It serves thy turn to laud great Theseus' name,      And Athens as a wisely governed State;      Yet in thy flatteries one thing is to seek:      If any land knows how to pay the gods      Their proper rites, 'tis Athens most of all.      This is the land whence thou wast fain to steal      Their aged suppliant and hast carried off      My daughters.    Therefore to yon goddesses,      I turn, adjure them and invoke their aid      To champion my cause, that thou mayest learn      What is the breed of men who guard this State.      CHORUS      An honest man, my liege, one sore bestead      By fortune, and so worthy our support.      THESEUS      Enough of words; the captors speed amain,      While we the victims stand debating here.      CREON      What would'st thou?    What can I, a feeble man?      THESEUS      Show us the trail, and I'll attend thee too,      That, if thou hast the maidens hereabouts,      Thou mayest thyself discover them to me;      But if thy guards outstrip us with their spoil,      We may draw rein; for others speed, from whom      They will not 'scape to thank the gods at home.      Lead on, I say, the captor's caught, and fate      Hath ta'en the fowler in the toils he spread;      So soon are lost gains gotten by deceit.      And look not for allies; I know indeed      Such height of insolence was never reached      Without abettors or accomplices;      Thou hast some backer in thy bold essay,      But I will search this matter home and see      One man doth not prevail against the State.      Dost take my drift, or seem these words as vain      As seemed our warnings when the plot was hatched?      CREON      Nothing thou sayest can I here dispute,      But once at home I too shall act my part.      THESEUS      Threaten us and--begone!    Thou, Oedipus,      Stay here assured that nothing save my death      Will stay my purpose to restore the maids.      OEDIPUS      Heaven bless thee, Theseus, for thy nobleness      And all thy loving care in my behalf.      [Exeunt THESEUS and CREON]      CHORUS      (Str. 1)          O when the flying foe,          Turning at last to bay,          Soon will give blow for blow,          Might I behold the fray;          Hear the loud battle roar          Swell, on the Pythian shore,          Or by the torch-lit bay,          Where the dread Queen and Maid          Cherish the mystic rites,          Rites they to none betray,          Ere on his lips is laid          Secrecy's golden key          By their own acolytes,          Priestly Eumolpidae.          There I might chance behold          Theseus our captain bold          Meet with the robber band,          Ere they have fled the land,          Rescue by might and main          Maidens, the captives twain.      (Ant. 1)          Haply on swiftest steed,          Or in the flying car,          Now they approach the glen,          West of white Oea's scaur.          They will be vanquished:          Dread are our warriors, dread          Theseus our chieftain's men.          Flashes each bridle bright,          Charges each gallant knight,          All that our Queen adore,          Pallas their patron, or          Him whose wide floods enring          Earth, the great Ocean-king          Whom Rhea bore.      (Str. 2)          Fight they or now prepare          To fight? a vision rare          Tells me that soon again          I shall behold the twain          Maidens so ill bestead,          By their kin buffeted.      Today, today Zeus worketh some great thing             This day shall victory bring.      O for the wings, the wings of a dove,      To be borne with the speed of the gale,      Up and still upwards to sail             And gaze on the fray from the clouds above.      (Ant. 2)      All-seeing Zeus, O lord of heaven,      To our guardian host be given      Might triumphant to surprise      Flying foes and win their prize.      Hear us, Zeus, and hear us, child      Of Zeus, Athene undefiled,      Hear, Apollo, hunter, hear,      Huntress, sister of Apollo,      Who the dappled swift-foot deer      O'er the wooded glade dost follow;      Help with your two-fold power      Athens in danger's hour!      O wayfarer, thou wilt not have to tax      The friends who watch for thee with false presage,      For lo, an escort with the maids draws near.      [Enter ANTIGONE and ISMENE with THESEUS]      OEDIPUS      Where, where? what sayest thou?      ANTIGONE          O father, father,      Would that some god might grant thee eyes to see      This best of men who brings us back again.      OEDIPUS      My child! and are ye back indeed!      ANTIGONE             Yes, saved      By Theseus and his gallant followers.      OEDIPUS      Come to your father's arms, O let me feel      A child's embrace I never hoped for more.      ANTIGONE      Thou askest what is doubly sweet to give.      OEDIPUS      Where are ye then?      ANTIGONE          We come together both.      OEDIPUS      My precious nurslings!      ANTIGONE             Fathers aye were fond.      OEDIPUS      Props of my age!      ANTIGONE             So sorrow sorrow props.      OEDIPUS      I have my darlings, and if death should come,      Death were not wholly bitter with you near.      Cling to me, press me close on either side,      There rest ye from your dreary wayfaring.      Now tell me of your ventures, but in brief;      Brief speech suffices for young maids like you.      ANTIGONE      Here is our savior; thou should'st hear the tale      From his own lips; so shall my part be brief.      OEDIPUS      I pray thee do not wonder if the sight      Of children, given o'er for lost, has made      My converse somewhat long and tedious.      Full well I know the joy I have of them      Is due to thee, to thee and no man else;      Thou wast their sole deliverer, none else.      The gods deal with thee after my desire,      With thee and with this land! for fear of heaven      I found above all peoples most with you,      And righteousness and lips that cannot lie.      I speak in gratitude of what I know,      For all I have I owe to thee alone.      Give me thy hand, O Prince, that I may touch it,      And if thou wilt permit me, kiss thy cheek.      What say I?    Can I wish that thou should'st touch      One fallen like me to utter wretchedness,      Corrupt and tainted with a thousand ills?      Oh no, I would not let thee if thou would'st.      They only who have known calamity      Can share it.    Let me greet thee where thou art,      And still befriend me as thou hast till now.      THESEUS      I marvel not if thou hast dallied long      In converse with thy children and preferred      Their speech to mine; I feel no jealousy,      I would be famous more by deeds than words.      Of this, old friend, thou hast had proof; my oath      I have fulfilled and brought thee back the maids      Alive and nothing harmed for all those threats.      And how the fight was won, 'twere waste of words      To boast--thy daughters here will tell thee all.      But of a matter that has lately chanced      On my way hitherward, I fain would have      Thy counsel--slight 'twould seem, yet worthy thought.      A wise man heeds all matters great or small.      OEDIPUS      What is it, son of Aegeus?    Let me hear.      Of what thou askest I myself know naught.      THESEUS      'Tis said a man, no countryman of thine,      But of thy kin, hath taken sanctuary      Beside the altar of Poseidon, where      I was at sacrifice when called away.      OEDIPUS      What is his country? what the suitor's prayer?      THESEUS      I know but one thing; he implores, I am told,      A word with thee--he will not trouble thee.      OEDIPUS      What seeks he?    If a suppliant, something grave.      THESEUS      He only waits, they say, to speak with thee,      And then unharmed to go upon his way.      OEDIPUS      I marvel who is this petitioner.      THESEUS      Think if there be not any of thy kin      At Argos who might claim this boon of thee.      OEDIPUS      Dear friend, forbear, I pray.      THESEUS          What ails thee now?      OEDIPUS      Ask it not of me.      THESEUS          Ask not what? explain.      OEDIPUS      Thy words have told me who the suppliant is.      THESEUS      Who can he be that I should frown on him?      OEDIPUS      My son, O king, my hateful son, whose words      Of all men's most would jar upon my ears.      THESEUS      Thou sure mightest listen.    If his suit offend,      No need to grant it.    Why so loth to hear him?      OEDIPUS      That voice, O king, grates on a father's ears;      I have come to loathe it.    Force me not to yield.      THESEUS      But he hath found asylum.    O beware,      And fail not in due reverence to the god.      ANTIGONE      O heed me, father, though I am young in years.      Let the prince have his will and pay withal      What in his eyes is service to the god;      For our sake also let our brother come.      If what he urges tend not to thy good      He cannot surely wrest perforce thy will.      To hear him then, what harm?    By open words      A scheme of villainy is soon bewrayed.      Thou art his father, therefore canst not pay      In kind a son's most impious outrages.      O listen to him; other men like thee      Have thankless children and are choleric,      But yielding to persuasion's gentle spell      They let their savage mood be exorcised.      Look thou to the past, forget the present, think      On all the woe thy sire and mother brought thee;      Thence wilt thou draw this lesson without fail,      Of evil passion evil is the end.      Thou hast, alas, to prick thy memory,      Stern monitors, these ever-sightless orbs.      O yield to us; just suitors should not need      To be importunate, nor he that takes      A favor lack the grace to make return.      OEDIPUS      Grievous to me, my child, the boon ye win      By pleading.    Let it be then; have your way      Only if come he must, I beg thee, friend,      Let none have power to dispose of me.      THESEUS      No need, Sir, to appeal a second time.      It likes me not to boast, but be assured      Thy life is safe while any god saves mine.      [Exit THESEUS]      CHORUS      (Str.)      Who craves excess of days,          Scorning the common span          Of life, I judge that man      A giddy wight who walks in folly's ways.      For the long years heap up a grievous load,          Scant pleasures, heavier pains,          Till not one joy remains      For him who lingers on life's weary road             And come it slow or fast,          One doom of fate          Doth all await,          For dance and marriage bell,          The dirge and funeral knell.      Death the deliverer freeth all at last.      (Ant.)          Not to be born at all          Is best, far best that can befall,          Next best, when born, with least delay          To trace the backward way.      For when youth passes with its giddy train,             Troubles on troubles follow, toils on toils,          Pain, pain for ever pain;          And none escapes life's coils.          Envy, sedition, strife,      Carnage and war, make up the tale of life.      Last comes the worst and most abhorred stage          Of unregarded age,      Joyless, companionless and slow,          Of woes the crowning woe.      (Epode)      Such ills not I alone,      He too our guest hath known,      E'en as some headland on an iron-bound shore,      Lashed by the wintry blasts and surge's roar,      So is he buffeted on every side      By drear misfortune's whelming tide,          By every wind of heaven o'erborne          Some from the sunset, some from orient morn,          Some from the noonday glow.      Some from Rhipean gloom of everlasting snow.      ANTIGONE      Father, methinks I see the stranger coming,      Alone he comes and weeping plenteous tears.      OEDIPUS      Who may he be?      ANTIGONE             The same that we surmised.      From the outset--Polyneices.    He is here.      [Enter POLYNEICES]      POLYNEICES      Ah me, my sisters, shall I first lament      My own afflictions, or my aged sire's,      Whom here I find a castaway, with you,      In a strange land, an ancient beggar clad      In antic tatters, marring all his frame,      While o'er the sightless orbs his unkept locks      Float in the breeze; and, as it were to match,      He bears a wallet against hunger's pinch.      All this too late I learn, wretch that I am,      Alas!    I own it, and am proved most vile      In my neglect of thee:    I scorn myself.      But as almighty Zeus in all he doth      Hath Mercy for co-partner of this throne,      Let Mercy, father, also sit enthroned      In thy heart likewise.    For transgressions past      May be amended, cannot be made worse.      Why silent?    Father, speak, nor turn away,      Hast thou no word, wilt thou dismiss me then      In mute disdain, nor tell me why thou art wrath?      O ye his daughters, sisters mine, do ye      This sullen, obstinate silence try to move.      Let him not spurn, without a single word      Of answer, me the suppliant of the god.      ANTIGONE      Tell him thyself, unhappy one, thine errand;      For large discourse may send a thrill of joy,      Or stir a chord of wrath or tenderness,      And to the tongue-tied somehow give a tongue.      POLYNEICES      Well dost thou counsel, and I will speak out.      First will I call in aid the god himself,      Poseidon, from whose altar I was raised,      With warrant from the monarch of this land,      To parley with you, and depart unscathed.      These pledges, strangers, I would see observed      By you and by my sisters and my sire.      Now, father, let me tell thee why I came.      I have been banished from my native land      Because by right of primogeniture      I claimed possession of thy sovereign throne      Wherefrom Etocles, my younger brother,      Ousted me, not by weight of precedent,      Nor by the last arbitrament of war,      But by his popular acts; and the prime cause      Of this I deem the curse that rests on thee.      So likewise hold the soothsayers, for when      I came to Argos in the Dorian land      And took the king Adrastus' child to wife,      Under my standard I enlisted all      The foremost captains of the Apian isle,      To levy with their aid that sevenfold host      Of spearmen against Thebes, determining      To oust my foes or die in a just cause.      Why then, thou askest, am I here today?      Father, I come a suppliant to thee      Both for myself and my allies who now      With squadrons seven beneath their seven spears      Beleaguer all the plain that circles Thebes.      Foremost the peerless warrior, peerless seer,      Amphiaraiis with his lightning lance;      Next an Aetolian, Tydeus, Oeneus' son;      Eteoclus of Argive birth the third;      The fourth Hippomedon, sent to the war      By his sire Talaos; Capaneus, the fifth,      Vaunts he will fire and raze the town; the sixth      Parthenopaeus, an Arcadian born      Named of that maid, longtime a maid and late      Espoused, Atalanta's true-born child;      Last I thy son, or thine at least in name,      If but the bastard of an evil fate,      Lead against Thebes the fearless Argive host.      Thus by thy children and thy life, my sire,      We all adjure thee to remit thy wrath      And favor one who seeks a just revenge      Against a brother who has banned and robbed him.      For victory, if oracles speak true,      Will fall to those who have thee for ally.      So, by our fountains and familiar gods      I pray thee, yield and hear; a beggar I      And exile, thou an exile likewise; both      Involved in one misfortune find a home      As pensioners, while he, the lord of Thebes,      O agony! makes a mock of thee and me.      I'll scatter with a breath the upstart's might,      And bring thee home again and stablish thee,      And stablish, having cast him out, myself.      This will thy goodwill I will undertake,      Without it I can scare return alive.      CHORUS      For the king's sake who sent him, Oedipus,      Dismiss him not without a meet reply.      OEDIPUS      Nay, worthy seniors, but for Theseus' sake      Who sent him hither to have word of me.      Never again would he have heard my voice;      But now he shall obtain this parting grace,      An answer that will bring him little joy.      O villain, when thou hadst the sovereignty      That now thy brother holdeth in thy stead,      Didst thou not drive me, thine own father, out,      An exile, cityless, and make we wear      This beggar's garb thou weepest to behold,      Now thou art come thyself to my sad plight?      Nothing is here for tears; it must be borne      By me till death, and I shall think of thee      As of my murderer; thou didst thrust me out;      'Tis thou hast made me conversant with woe,      Through thee I beg my bread in a strange land;      And had not these my daughters tended me      I had been dead for aught of aid from thee.      They tend me, they preserve me, they are men      Not women in true service to their sire;      But ye are bastards, and no sons of mine.      Therefore just Heaven hath an eye on thee;      Howbeit not yet with aspect so austere      As thou shalt soon experience, if indeed      These banded hosts are moving against Thebes.      That city thou canst never storm, but first      Shall fall, thou and thy brother, blood-imbrued.      Such curse I lately launched against you twain,      Such curse I now invoke to fight for me,      That ye may learn to honor those who bear thee      Nor flout a sightless father who begat      Degenerate sons--these maidens did not so.      Therefore my curse is stronger than thy "throne,"      Thy "suppliance," if by right of laws eterne      Primeval Justice sits enthroned with Zeus.      Begone, abhorred, disowned, no son of mine,      Thou vilest of the vile! and take with thee      This curse I leave thee as my last bequest:--      Never to win by arms thy native land,      No, nor return to Argos in the Vale,      But by a kinsman's hand to die and slay      Him who expelled thee.    So I pray and call      On the ancestral gloom of Tartarus      To snatch thee hence, on these dread goddesses      I call, and Ares who incensed you both      To mortal enmity.    Go now proclaim      What thou hast heard to the Cadmeians all,      Thy staunch confederates--this the heritage      that Oedipus divideth to his sons.      CHORUS      Thy errand, Polyneices, liked me not      From the beginning; now go back with speed.      POLYNEICES      Woe worth my journey and my baffled hopes!      Woe worth my comrades!    What a desperate end      To that glad march from Argos!    Woe is me!      I dare not whisper it to my allies      Or turn them back, but mute must meet my doom.      My sisters, ye his daughters, ye have heard      The prayers of our stern father, if his curse      Should come to pass and ye some day return      To Thebes, O then disown me not, I pray,      But grant me burial and due funeral rites.      So shall the praise your filial care now wins      Be doubled for the service wrought for me.      ANTIGONE      One boon, O Polyneices, let me crave.      POLYNEICES      What would'st thou, sweet Antigone?    Say on.      ANTIGONE      Turn back thy host to Argos with all speed,      And ruin not thyself and Thebes as well.      POLYNEICES      That cannot be.    How could I lead again      An army that had seen their leader quail?      ANTIGONE      But, brother, why shouldst thou be wroth again?      What profit from thy country's ruin comes?      POLYNEICES      'Tis shame to live in exile, and shall I      The elder bear a younger brother's flouts?      ANTIGONE      Wilt thou then bring to pass his prophecies      Who threatens mutual slaughter to you both?      POLYNEICES      Aye, so he wishes:--but I must not yield.      ANTIGONE      O woe is me! but say, will any dare,      Hearing his prophecy, to follow thee?      POLYNEICES      I shall not tell it; a good general      Reports successes and conceals mishaps.      ANTIGONE      Misguided youth, thy purpose then stands fast!      POLYNEICES      'Tis so, and stay me not.    The road I choose,      Dogged by my sire and his avenging spirit,      Leads me to ruin; but for you may Zeus      Make your path bright if ye fulfill my hest      When dead; in life ye cannot serve me more.      Now let me go, farewell, a long farewell!      Ye ne'er shall see my living face again.      ANTIGONE      Ah me!      POLYNEICES          Bewail me not.      ANTIGONE             Who would not mourn      Thee, brother, hurrying to an open pit!      POLYNEICES      If I must die, I must.      ANTIGONE             Nay, hear me plead.      POLYNEICES      It may not be; forbear.      ANTIGONE             Then woe is me,      If I must lose thee.      POLYNEICES          Nay, that rests with fate,      Whether I live or die; but for you both      I pray to heaven ye may escape all ill;      For ye are blameless in the eyes of all.      [Exit POLYNEICES]      CHORUS      (Str. 1)             Ills on ills! no pause or rest!             Come they from our sightless guest?             Or haply now we see fulfilled             What fate long time hath willed?             For ne'er have I proved vain             Aught that the heavenly powers ordain.             Time with never sleeping eye             Watches what is writ on high,             Overthrowing now the great,             Raising now from low estate.      Hark!    How the thunder rumbles!    Zeus defend us!      OEDIPUS      Children, my children! will no messenger      Go summon hither Theseus my best friend?      ANTIGONE      And wherefore, father, dost thou summon him?      OEDIPUS      This winged thunder of the god must bear me      Anon to Hades.    Send and tarry not.      CHORUS      (Ant. 1)      Hark! with louder, nearer roar      The bolt of Zeus descends once more.      My spirit quails and cowers:    my hair      Bristles for fear.    Again that flare!      What doth the lightning-flash portend?      Ever it points to issues grave.      Dread powers of air!    Save, Zeus, O save!      OEDIPUS      Daughters, upon me the predestined end      Has come; no turning from it any more.      ANTIGONE      How knowest thou?    What sign convinces thee?      OEDIPUS      I know full well.    Let some one with all speed      Go summon hither the Athenian prince.      CHORUS      (Str. 2)      Ha! once more the deafening sound      Peals yet louder all around      If thou darkenest our land,      Lightly, lightly lay thy hand;      Grace, not anger, let me win,      If upon a man of sin      I have looked with pitying eye,      Zeus, our king, to thee I cry!      OEDIPUS      Is the prince coming?    Will he when he comes      Find me yet living and my senses clear!      ANTIGONE      What solemn charge would'st thou impress on him?      OEDIPUS      For all his benefits I would perform      The promise made when I received them first.      CHORUS      (Ant. 2)          Hither haste, my son, arise,          Altar leave and sacrifice,          If haply to Poseidon now          In the far glade thou pay'st thy vow.          For our guest to thee would bring          And thy folk and offering,          Thy due guerdon.    Haste, O King!      [Enter THESEUS]      THESEUS      Wherefore again this general din? at once      My people call me and the stranger calls.      Is it a thunderbolt of Zeus or sleet      Of arrowy hail? a storm so fierce as this      Would warrant all surmises of mischance.      OEDIPUS      Thou com'st much wished for, Prince, and sure some god      Hath bid good luck attend thee on thy way.      THESEUS      What, son of Laius, hath chanced of new?      OEDIPUS      My life hath turned the scale.    I would do all      I promised thee and thine before I die.      THESEUS      What sign assures thee that thine end is near?      OEDIPUS      The gods themselves are heralds of my fate;      Of their appointed warnings nothing fails.      THESEUS      How sayest thou they signify their will?      OEDIPUS      This thunder, peal on peal, this lightning hurled      Flash upon flash, from the unconquered hand.      THESEUS      I must believe thee, having found thee oft      A prophet true; then speak what must be done.      OEDIPUS      O son of Aegeus, for this state will I      Unfold a treasure age cannot corrupt.      Myself anon without a guiding hand      Will take thee to the spot where I must end.      This secret ne'er reveal to mortal man,      Neither the spot nor whereabouts it lies,      So shall it ever serve thee for defense      Better than native shields and near allies.      But those dread mysteries speech may not profane      Thyself shalt gather coming there alone;      Since not to any of thy subjects,    nor      To my own children, though I love them dearly,      Can I reveal what thou must guard alone,      And whisper to thy chosen heir alone,      So to be handed down from heir to heir.      Thus shalt thou hold this land inviolate      From the dread Dragon's brood. [7]    The justest State      By countless wanton neighbors may be wronged,      For the gods, though they tarry, mark for doom      The godless sinner in his mad career.      Far from thee, son of Aegeus, be such fate!      But to the spot--the god within me goads--      Let us set forth no longer hesitate.      Follow me, daughters, this way.    Strange that I      Whom you have led so long should lead you now.      Oh, touch me not, but let me all alone      Find out the sepulcher that destiny      Appoints me in this land.    Hither, this way,      For this way Hermes leads, the spirit guide,      And Persephassa, empress of the dead.      O light, no light to me, but mine erewhile,      Now the last time I feel thee palpable,      For I am drawing near the final gloom      Of Hades.    Blessing on thee, dearest friend,      On thee and on thy land and followers!      Live prosperous and in your happy state      Still for your welfare think on me, the dead.      [Exit THESEUS followed by ANTIGONE and ISMENE]      CHORUS      (Str.)          If mortal prayers are heard in hell,          Hear, Goddess dread, invisible!          Monarch of the regions drear,             Aidoneus, hear, O hear!          By a gentle, tearless doom          Speed this stranger to the gloom,          Let him enter without pain          The all-shrouding Stygian plain.          Wrongfully in life oppressed,          Be he now by Justice blessed.      (Ant.)          Queen infernal, and thou fell          Watch-dog of the gates of hell,          Who, as legends tell, dost glare,          Gnarling in thy cavernous lair          At all comers, let him go          Scathless to the fields below.          For thy master orders thus,          The son of earth and Tartarus;          In his den the monster keep,          Giver of eternal sleep.      [Enter MESSENGER]      MESSENGER      Friends, countrymen, my tidings are in sum      That Oedipus is gone, but the event      Was not so brief, nor can the tale be brief.      CHORUS      What, has he gone, the unhappy man?      MESSENGER             Know well      That he has passed away from life to death.      CHORUS      How?    By a god-sent, painless doom, poor soul?      MESSENGER      Thy question hits the marvel of the tale.      How he moved hence, you saw him and must know;      Without a friend to lead the way, himself      Guiding us all.    So having reached the abrupt      Earth-rooted Threshold with its brazen stairs,      He paused at one of the converging paths,      Hard by the rocky basin which records      The pact of Theseus and Peirithous.      Betwixt that rift and the Thorician rock,      The hollow pear-tree and the marble tomb,      Midway he sat and loosed his beggar's weeds;      Then calling to his daughters bade them fetch      Of running water, both to wash withal      And make libation; so they clomb the steep;      And in brief space brought what their father bade,      Then laved and dressed him with observance due.      But when he had his will in everything,      And no desire was left unsatisfied,      It thundered from the netherworld; the maids      Shivered, and crouching at their father's knees      Wept, beat their breast and uttered a long wail.      He, as he heard their sudden bitter cry,      Folded his arms about them both and said,      "My children, ye will lose your sire today,      For all of me has perished, and no more      Have ye to bear your long, long ministry;      A heavy load, I know, and yet one word      Wipes out all score of tribulations--love.      And love from me ye had--from no man more;      But now must live without me all your days."      So clinging to each other sobbed and wept      Father and daughters both, but when at last      Their mourning had an end and no wail rose,      A moment there was silence; suddenly      A voice that summoned him; with sudden dread      The hair of all stood up and all were 'mazed;      For the call came, now loud, now low, and oft.      "Oedipus, Oedipus, why tarry we?      Too long, too long thy passing is delayed."      But when he heard the summons of the god,      He prayed that Theseus might be brought, and when      The Prince came nearer:    "O my friend," he cried,      "Pledge ye my daughters, giving thy right hand--      And, daughters, give him yours--and promise me      Thou never wilt forsake them, but do all      That time and friendship prompt in their behoof."      And he of his nobility repressed      His tears and swore to be their constant friend.      This promise given, Oedipus put forth      Blind hands and laid them on his children, saying,      "O children, prove your true nobility      And hence depart nor seek to witness sights      Unlawful or to hear unlawful words.      Nay, go with speed; let none but Theseus stay,      Our ruler, to behold what next shall hap."      So we all heard him speak, and weeping sore      We companied the maidens on their way.      After brief space we looked again, and lo      The man was gone, evanished from our eyes;      Only the king we saw with upraised hand      Shading his eyes as from some awful sight,      That no man might endure to look upon.      A moment later, and we saw him bend      In prayer to Earth and prayer to Heaven at once.      But by what doom the stranger met his end      No man save Theseus knoweth.    For there fell      No fiery bold that reft him in that hour,      Nor whirlwind from the sea, but he was taken.      It was a messenger from heaven, or else      Some gentle, painless cleaving of earth's base;      For without wailing or disease or pain      He passed away--and end most marvelous.      And if to some my tale seems foolishness      I am content that such could count me fool.      CHORUS      Where are the maids and their attendant friends?      MESSENGER      They cannot be far off; the approaching sound      Of lamentation tells they come this way.      [Enter ANTIGONE and ISMENE]      ANTIGONE      (Str. 1)      Woe, woe! on this sad day             We sisters of one blasted stock             must bow beneath the shock,      Must weep and weep the curse that lay             On him our sire, for whom      In life, a life-long world of care             'Twas ours to bear,             In death must face the gloom             That wraps his tomb.      What tongue can tell      That sight ineffable?      CHORUS      What mean ye, maidens?      ANTIGONE             All is but surmise.      CHORUS      Is he then gone?      ANTIGONE          Gone as ye most might wish.      Not in battle or sea storm,      But reft from sight,      By hands invisible borne      To viewless fields of night.      Ah me! on us too night has come,      The night of mourning.    Wither roam      O'er land or sea in our distress      Eating the bread of bitterness?      ISMENE      I know not.    O that Death      Might nip my breath,      And let me share my aged father's fate.      I cannot live a life thus desolate.      CHORUS      Best of daughters, worthy pair,      What heaven brings ye needs must bear,      Fret no more 'gainst Heaven's will;      Fate hath dealt with you not ill.      ANTIGONE      (Ant. 1)      Love can turn past pain to bliss,             What seemed bitter now is sweet.      Ah me! that happy toil is sweet.             The guidance of those dear blind feet.      Dear father, wrapt for aye in nether gloom,             E'en in the tomb      Never shalt thou lack of love repine,             Her love and mine.      CHORUS      His fate--      ANTIGONE          Is even as he planned.      CHORUS      How so?      ANTIGONE      He died, so willed he, in a foreign land.      Lapped in kind earth he sleeps his long last sleep,             And o'er his grave friends weep.      How great our lost these streaming eyes can tell,             This sorrow naught can quell.      Thou hadst thy wish 'mid strangers thus to die,             But I, ah me, not by.      ISMENE      Alas, my sister, what new fate      *     *     *     *     *     *      *     *     *     *     *     *      Befalls us orphans desolate?      CHORUS      His end was blessed; therefore, children, stay      Your sorrow.    Man is born to fate a prey.      ANTIGONE      (Str. 2)      Sister, let us back again.      ISMENE      Why return?      ANTIGONE             My soul is fain--      ISMENE      Is fain?      ANTIGONE          To see the earthy bed.      ISMENE      Sayest thou?      ANTIGONE             Where our sire is laid.      ISMENE      Nay, thou can'st not, dost not see--      ANTIGONE      Sister, wherefore wroth with me?      ISMENE      Know'st not--beside--      ANTIGONE          More must I hear?      ISMENE      Tombless he died, none near.      ANTIGONE      Lead me thither; slay me there.      ISMENE      How shall I unhappy fare,      Friendless, helpless, how drag on      A life of misery alone?      CHORUS      (Ant. 2)      Fear not, maids--      ANTIGONE          Ah, whither flee?      CHORUS      Refuge hath been found.      ANTIGONE             For me?      CHORUS      Where thou shalt be safe from harm.      ANTIGONE      I know it.      CHORUS          Why then this alarm?      ANTIGONE      How again to get us home      I know not.      CHORUS             Why then this roam?      ANTIGONE      Troubles whelm us--      CHORUS          As of yore.      ANTIGONE      Worse than what was worse before.      CHORUS      Sure ye are driven on the breakers' surge.      ANTIGONE      Alas! we are.      CHORUS             Alas! 'tis so.      ANTIGONE      Ah whither turn, O Zeus?    No ray      Of hope to cheer the way      Whereon the fates our desperate voyage urge.      [Enter THESEUS]      THESEUS      Dry your tears; when grace is shed      On the quick and on the dead      By dark Powers beneficent,      Over-grief they would resent.      ANTIGONE      Aegeus' child, to thee we pray.      THESEUS      What the boon, my children, say.      ANTIGONE      With our own eyes we fain would see      Our father's tomb.      THESEUS          That may not be.      ANTIGONE      What say'st thou, King?      THESEUS             My children, he      Charged me straitly that no moral      Should approach the sacred portal,      Or greet with funeral litanies      The hidden tomb wherein he lies;      Saying, "If thou keep'st my hest      Thou shalt hold thy realm at rest."      The God of Oaths this promise heard,      And to Zeus I pledged my word.      ANTIGONE      Well, if he would have it so,      We must yield.    Then let us go      Back to Thebes, if yet we may      Heal this mortal feud and stay      The self-wrought doom      That drives our brothers to their tomb.      THESEUS      Go in peace; nor will I spare      Ought of toil and zealous care,      But on all your needs attend,      Gladdening in his grave my friend.      CHORUS      Wail no more, let sorrow rest,      All is ordered for the best.