OEDIPUS AT COLONUS (Page 3)
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. [4] 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.
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