1 Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus Introduced and Translated by ...

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when it was going through stormy times: rescue it again, and bring it safely to harbor. Please tell me what has angered you so much JOCASTA (to OEDIPUS) OEDIPUS I shall. I respect you more than everyone here. 700 Creon was plotting against me. Tell me the details. He says I killed Laius. JOCASTA OEDIPUS JOCASTA Did he see you, or did he learn this from someone else OEDIPUS He cleverly covered his own guilt by sending a prophet to accuse me with his lies. JOCASTA I’ll set your mind at peace. Listen to me. No mortal can be a prophet, and I’ll prove it to you. 710 Laius was given a prophecy, not from Apollo, but his priests, who said that he would die at the hands of his son. What happened Laius was killed by robbers at the place where three roads meet. When his baby son was three days old, his ankles were bound together, and he was left to die on a wild mountainside. So Apollo’s oracle did not come to pass: 720 the son did not kill his father; Laius did not suffer what he feared, 36
death at his son’s hands. So much for prophets. Ignore them. What the gods want to happen, they will see to themselves. OEDIPUS A strange feeling came over me as you spoke just now: my heart started to race, and my mind to wander…. What are you worrying about now JOCASTA OEDIPUS You said that Laius was killed 730 at a place where three roads meet JOCASTA Yes. That was what they said then, and still do now. And that’s where it happened OEDIPUS JOCASTA Yes. In Phocis. One road leads from Delphi, one from Daulis, and one goes south. How long ago did these things happen Just before you became king. Oh, Zeus, what are you doing to me What is it that’s bothering you OEDIPUS JOCASTA OEDIPUS JOCASTA 37
Page 1 and 2: Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus Intro
Page 3 and 4: Sophocles was born at Colonus near
Page 5 and 6: his own destruction. There is the s
Page 7 and 8: First Performance: 6 th at Penn The
Page 9 and 10: A crowd led by Zeus’ PRIEST gathe
Page 11 and 12: PRIEST The news must be good; other
Page 13 and 14: CREON All those with the king died,
Page 15 and 16: And protect me from all harm. Just
Page 17 and 18: I forbid any citizen of this land o
Page 19 and 20: A man who’s not afraid to commit
Page 21 and 22: OEDIPUS But shouldn’t you tell me
Page 23 and 24: OEDIPUS You live in perpetual night
Page 25 and 26: TIRESIAS Nonsense Your parents thou
Page 27 and 28: I have nothing to say, Either to ag
Page 29 and 30: OEDIPUS It’s not wise to think yo
Page 31 and 32: OEDIPUS I don’t deny it. CREON Yo
Page 33 and 34: OEDIPUS All the same, I have to rul
Page 35: Anger hurts the angry man most of a
Page 39 and 40: OEDIPUS Is he here now In the palac
Page 41 and 42: and killing my father Polybus, who
Page 43 and 44: Or touches what must not be touched
Page 45 and 46: JOCASTA What are you saying Oedipus
Page 47 and 48: OEDIPUS That would all be fine, if
Page 49 and 50: Yes. That’s what frightens me. ME
Page 51 and 52: That’s how you got your name, Oed
Page 53 and 54: Please. Listen to me. I beg you. Do
Page 55 and 56: CHORUS Yes. I recognize the man. Al
Page 57 and 58: OEDIPUS Don’t hit him! He doesn
Page 59 and 60: OEDIPUS And I, to hear it. But it m
Page 61 and 62: Time, the all-seeing, Has found you
Page 63 and 64: Terrible horror for both husband an
Page 65 and 66: OEDIPUS What is left for me to see,
Page 67 and 68: yes, you engendered the most shamef
Page 69 and 70: from sickness or anything else: I w
Page 71 and 72: CREON Tell me. I’ll listen. OEDIP
Page 73 and 74: GLOSSARY Abae (A, as in add, -bee),

1 Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus Introduced and Translated by ...

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