Oedipus Rex | Oedipus Rex - Page 4

TIRESIAS:
No, for fate will not befall you at my doing;
Apollo is enough, who works to see this done.
OEDIPUS:
Did Creon invent all this, or someone else?
TIRESIAS:
Creon is no burden on you, but you on yourself.
OEDIPUS:
O wealth and power and skill reaching(400)
beyond skill, in a much-envied life
how much resentment gathers up inside you,
if for the sake of this realm, which the city put
into my hands as a gift, not something sought,
the trusted Creon, my friend from the beginning,(405)
beguiles me and secretly desires to oust me,
engaging this craftily-working wizard,
this tricky beggar, who sees clearly only
for profit, but is blind when it comes to skill.
So tell me, when are you the wise seer?(410)
How is it that, when the singing hound was here,
you never said how the citizens might be freed?
Even though the riddle could not be solved by
the first man who met it, but required prophecy.
But you did not come forth with this, knowing some clue(415)
from birds or gods; instead I came along,
the idiot Oedipus! I stopped her,
working from intellect, not learning from birds.
The very man you’re trying to overthrow,
thinking to stand beside Creon’s throne.(420)
I think you both—you and the one who framed these things—
will regret your urge to cleanse the land, but if you
were not so old, you’d learn now what such words earn.
CHORUS:
To us it seems that both this man’s words
and your own, Oedipus, were said in anger.(425)
But we must not dwell on such things. Only this:
how best we may fulfill the god’s instructions.
TIRESIAS:
Even though you are a tyrant, I must at least
be granted an equal reply, for I, too,
have the right to speech. For I am no slave to you,(430)
at all, but to Loxias, so I will not be
written off as Creon’s client. I will reply,
since you reproach me as blind: You, even though you
see clearly, do not see the scope of your evil,
nor where you live, nor with whom you dwell.(435)
Do you know your true descent? And secretly
you are an enemy to your own kin,
both under the earth and on it. Striking you
from both sides the terrible hounds of your mother’s
and father’s curse will drive you from this land;(440)
though you see well enough now, then you will be blind.
What place will not be harbor to your shouting?
What Cithaeron will not echo back your cries,
when you truly understand that wedding?
You sailed home into it, no proper harbor(445)
after such good sailing before! Nor do you
perceive the multitude of other evils,
which will make you the equal of your children.
Go ahead—insult Creon and this mouth of mine,
for of all mortals who will be destroyed(450)
root and branch, there is not one sadder than you.
OEDIPUS:
Am I to tolerate hearing this from this man?
No, to hell with him! No! Turn around quickly
and head back home, far away from here.
TIRESIAS:
I would not have come here, if you had not called me.(455)
OEDIPUS:
I did not know what nonsense you would speak,
or I would hardly have sent for you.
TIRESIAS:
Men like myself are born, to your eyes, fools,
but to the parents who bore you we seem wise.
OEDIPUS:
To whom? Wait! Who on earth are my parents?(460)
TIRESIAS:
This very day will sire you and destroy you.
OEDIPUS:
How riddling and foolish is all you say!
TIRESIAS:
Then you of all people should understand it.
OEDIPUS:
With these same taunts you now hurl, you will find me great.
TIRESIAS:
This same stroke, however, has destroyed you.(465)
OEDIPUS:
But if I saved this city, that doesn’t matter.
TIRESIAS:
Then I will leave. You, boy, lead me home.
OEDIPUS:
Yes, go! When you are here, you are in the way,
but rushing off you cannot pain us further.
TIRESIAS:
I will leave after I have said what I came to say,(470)
not fearing your face, for you cannot destroy me.
I say to you: That man, whom you have long sought,
threatening him and naming as the murderer
of Laius, that man is here.
An immigrant in theory, soon he will be(475)
revealed a native Theban, though he will not be
happy to learn it; for blind instead of seeing,
a beggar instead of rich he will travel
foreign earth, tapping it with his staff.
He will be revealed to live with his children(480)
as brother and father both; and to his parents
he is both his wife’s son and lord and his father’s
fellow-sower and slayer. Go inside and
consider this. Should you find that I am lying,
you will prove I have no skill at prophecy.(485)

[Exeunt omnes except Chorus]

CHORUS:
Str. 1 Who was it the oracle-speaking
rock of Delphi saw
committing the most unspeakable acts
with red hands?(490)
Now, stronger than swift-footed horses,
he must deftly move his foot in flight.
For in arms against him leaps
the son of Zeus with fire and lightning
and, following after him,(495)
the terrible, unerring Furies.
Ant. 1 For, recently from snowy Parnassus
shone clearly the call
to track by every possible method
the unknown man.(500)
For he wanders through the wild wood
and up to caves like a bull upon the rocks,
miserable, with miserable foot, living alone,
seeking to escape the prophecies
of the prophetic navel of the world,(505)
yet they forever hover, living, around him.
Str. 2 Therefore, terribly, terribly does
the wise bird-interpreter shake
me; I can neither approve nor deny,
but I am confused.(510)
My heart hovers with expectation,
seeing neither here not in the future.
For never have I learned
that any quarrel lay between
the Labdacids and the son of Polybus,(515)
neither before nor now,
which I could use as proof
or trust as touchstone
to go against the public fame of Oedipus
as I seek to help the Labdacids(520)
in the undiscovered murder.
Ant. 2 But, though Zeus and Apollo know
the ways of mortals, among men,
there is no sure rule that a seer’s opinion(525)
counts more than mine,
though a man may surpass wisdom
with his own wisdom.
But, no, until I see an account
confirmed, never would I(530)
agree when men are speaking slanders.
For once the winged maiden
came openly against him,
and he was seen wise
and found friendly to the city; therefore(535)
by the judgment of my mind
never will he merit suspicion.
  • The Sphinx was sent by Hera in anger at the Thebans to guard them closely; the monster is compared to a dog with its prey at bay.
  • The chorus pleads for a more civic-minded attitude from both men, especially Oedipus, but is ignored.
  • another name for Apollo, one particularly associated with his role as a god of prophecy
  • As a citizen, Tireseias does not need Creon to stand up for him, but can speak for himself. The metaphor is drawn from Athenian legal procedure.
  • i.e., both to the dead Laius and the living Jocasta
  • The Greek has “terror-footed curse,” meaning the curse will track Oedipus relentlessly. This is a common image in Greek poetry for the Furies, frightening and ancient goddesses who pursue and drive mad those who have sinned against their own kin.
  • the mountain in southern Boeotia (the region in which Thebes is located) where Oedipus was to have been exposed as an infant. Cithaeron’s position on the border of Theban territory allowed Laius’ herdsman to encounter someone who worked for Polybus of Corinth.
  • the mountain on which Oedipus was abandoned; see Cithaeron
  • As Oedipus reveals later, this question has long bothered him.
  • Allusions to the Sphinx and Oedipus’ victory over her dominate the next few lines.
  • Since ancient plays lack stage directions, we do not know if Oedipus remains on stage for this speech or reenters the palace.
  • Since choral odes usually comment on all the action that has happened since the last ode, the chorus deal with Oedipus’ decree in the first strophe-antistrophe pair and then the confrontation with Teiresias in the second strophe-antistrophe pair.
  • Apollo’s oracle at Delphi was cradled in tall mountains, and the murder occurred at the crossroads leading to Delphi, so the Chorus are correct to call the rock of Delphi a literal witness to the murder—they do not do so merely because of Apollo’s gift of prophetic sight.
  • This passage is convoluted in the original Greek, and some scholars feel that the text is corrupt in this stanza.
  • Apollo’s oracle at Delphi, the most important place of prophecy in the Greek world and hence one of the few symbols of Greek cultural unity, was often called the Navel of the World; see Oracles
  • The Chorus still believe Polybus, the King of Corinth and Oedipus’ adoptive father, is, in fact, his real father.
  • a hard stone used to test the purity of precious metals
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