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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 OEDIPUS My foes will come-- THESEUS OEDIPUS But if thou leave me? THESEUS OEDIPUS 'Tis fear constrains me. THESEUS What is it thou fear'st? Our friends will look to that. Teach me not my duty. OEDIPUS Thou knowest not what threats-- _My_ soul knows no fear! 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,
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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The
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Explain your mood and purport. Is i
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King Phoebus bids us straitly extir
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If in the days of old when we nigh
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But may they waste and pine, as now
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TEIRESIAS I will not vex myself nor
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The trusty Creon, my familiar frien
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That I have missed the mark, hencef
Page 17 and 18: Therein thou judgest rightly, but t
Page 19 and 20: The thing he counts most precious,
Page 21 and 22: CHORUS No, by the leader of the hos
Page 23 and 24: OEDIPUS What memories, what wild tu
Page 25 and 26: My mother and my sire and questione
Page 27 and 28: Then topples o'er and lies in ruin
Page 29 and 30: OEDIPUS What? let me have it, stran
Page 31 and 32: OEDIPUS Yea, lest the god's word be
Page 33 and 34: Afield or in the city? answer strai
Page 35 and 36: HERDSMAN I was, a thrall, not purch
Page 37 and 38: HERDSMAN Well then--it was a child
Page 39 and 40: SECOND MESSENGER My tale is quickly
Page 41 and 42: The double weight of past and prese
Page 43 and 44: Thy prayer by action or advice, for
Page 45 and 46: Such are the gibes that men will ca
Page 47 and 48: Creon enters with an armed guard wh
Page 49 and 50: Tell me the awful name I should inv
Page 51 and 52: Of cities, pity this dishonored sha
Page 53 and 54: Follow with blind steps, father, as
Page 55 and 56: CHORUS O wretched me! Begone! OEDIP
Page 57 and 58: OEDIPUS Well, may he come with bles
Page 59 and 60: To suffer, first in act and then in
Page 61 and 62: They knew it, yet the ignoble greed
Page 63 and 64: And I shall then be bold to stand t
Page 65 and 66: OEDIPUS Horrors from the boundless
Page 67: OEDIPUS Yea, the last boon is warra
Page 71 and 72: Oh land extolled above all lands, '
Page 73 and 74: Not for a man indeed with wits like
Page 75 and 76: OEDIPUS Where art thou, daughter? A
Page 77 and 78: CHORUS Haste ye princes, sound the
Page 79 and 80: Me then unborn, begotten by no sire
Page 81 and 82: (Ant. 1) Haply on swiftest steed, O
Page 83 and 84: What say I? Can I wish that thou sh
Page 85 and 86: Grievous to me, my child, the boon
Page 87 and 88: But by his popular acts; and the pr
Page 89 and 90: To Thebes, O then disown me not, I
Page 91 and 92: Bristles for fear. Again that flare
Page 93 and 94: For this way Hermes leads, the spir
Page 95 and 96: That no man might endure to look up
Page 97 and 98: ANTIGONE ISMENE Is fain? ANTIGONE I
Page 99 and 100: Charged me straitly that no moral S
Page 101 and 102: ANTIGONE Ismene, sister of my blood
Page 103 and 104: ISMENE My poor, fond sister, how I
Page 105 and 106: Again, when Oedipus restored our St
Page 107 and 108: What say'st thou? Who hath dared to
Page 109 and 110: (Str. 1) Many wonders there be, but
Page 111 and 112: CREON Speak, girl, with head bent l
Page 113 and 114: Surely, if good and evil fare alive
Page 115 and 116: Thy choice with evil-doers to do il
Page 117 and 118: But who begets unprofitable sons, H
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Am I to rule for others, or myself?
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Straight to folly will fall, at a t
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Are guiltless as concerns this maid
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By Destiny That knows not death nor
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Dost know at whom thou glancest, me
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(Ant. 1) Thee on the two-crested ro
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And ran back to our lord to tell th
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CREON (Ant. 2) Alas! another added
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