Oedipus Trilogy Part 17

CHORUS Thy tale of cruel suffering For which no cure was found, The fate that held thee bound.

OEDIPUs...o...b..d 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 G.o.d!

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 b.l.o.o.d.y 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 pet.i.tion, 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.