Enter the CHORUS representing the citizens of Thebes

  Strophe 1

  CHORUS [sings]. Sweet is the voice of the god,* that sounds in the

  Golden shrine of Delphi.

  What message has it sent to Thebes? My trembling

  Heart is torn with anguish.

  Thou god of Healing, Phoebus Apollo,

  How do I fear! What hast thou in mind

  To bring upon us now? what is to be fulfilled

  From days of old?

  Tell me this, O Voice divine,

  Thou child of golden Hope.

  Antistrophe 1

  First on the Daughter of Zeus I call for

  Help, divine Athena;

  And Artemis, whose throne is all the earth, whose

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  Shrine is in our city;

  Apollo too, who shoots from afar:*

  Trinity of Powers, come to our defence!

  If ever in the past, when ruin threatened us,

  You stayed its course

  And turned aside the flood of Death,

  O then, protect us now!

  Strophe 2

  Past counting are the woes we suffer;

  Affliction bears on all the city, and

  Nowhere is any defence against destruction.

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  The holy soil can bring no increase,

  Our women suffer and cry in childbirth

  But do not bring forth living children.

  The souls of those who perish, one by one,

  Unceasingly, swift as raging fire,

  Rise and take their flight to the dark realms of the dead.*

  Antistrophe 2

  Past counting, those of us who perish:

  They lie upon the ground, unpitied,

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  Unburied, infecting the air with deadly pollution.

  Young wives, and grey-haired mothers with them,

  From every quarter approach the altars

  And cry aloud in supplication.

  The prayer for healing, the loud wail of lament,

  Together are heard in dissonance:

  O thou golden Daughter of Zeus,* grant thy aid!

  Strophe 3

  The fierce god of War* has laid aside

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  His spear; but yet his terrible cry

  Rings in our ears; he spreads death and destruction.

  Ye gods, drive him back to his distant home!*

  For what the light of day has spared,

  That the darkness of night destroys.

  Zeus our father! All power is thine:

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  The lightning-flash is thine: hurl upon him

  Thy thunderbolt, and quell this god of War!

  Antistrophe 3

  We pray, Lord Apollo: draw thy bow

  In our defence. Thy quiver is full of

  Arrows unerring: shoot! slay the destroyer!

  And thou, radiant Artemis, lend thy aid!

  Thou whose hair is bound in gold,

  Bacchus, lord of the sacred dance,*

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  Theban Bacchus! Come, show thyself!

  Display thy blazing torch; drive from our midst

  The savage god,* abhorred by other gods!

  OEDIPUS. Would you have answer to these prayers?

  Then hear

  My words; give heed; your help may bring

  Deliverance, and the end of all our troubles.

  Here do I stand before you all, a stranger

  Both to the deed and to the story.—What

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  Could I have done alone, without a clue?

  But I was yet a foreigner; it was later

  That I became a Theban among Thebans.

  So now do I proclaim to all the city:

  If any Theban knows by what man’s hand

  He perished, Laius, son of Labdacus,

  Him I command to tell me all he can;

  And if he is afraid, let him annul

  Himself the charge he fears; no punishment

  Shall fall on him, save only to depart

  Unharmed from Thebes. Further, if any knows

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  The slayer to be a stranger from abroad,

  Let him speak out; I will reward him, and

  Besides, he will have all my gratitude.

  But if you still keep silent, if any man

  Fearing for self or friend shall disobey me,

  This will I do—and listen to my words:

  Whoever he may be, I do forbid

  All in this realm, of which I am the King

  And high authority, to shelter in their houses

  Or speak to him, or let him be their partner

  In prayers or sacrifices to the gods, or give

  Him lustral water;* I command you all

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  To drive him from your doors; for he it is

  That brings this plague upon us, as the god

  Of Delphi has but now declared to me.—

  So stern an ally do I make myself

  Both of the god and of our murdered king.—

  And for the man that slew him, whether he

  Slew him alone, or with a band of helpers,

  I lay this curse upon him, that the wretch

  In wretchedness and misery may live.

  And more: if with my knowledge he be found

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  To share my hearth and home, then upon me

  Descend that doom that I invoke on him.

  This charge I lay upon you, to observe

  All my commands: to aid myself, the god,

  And this our land, so spurned of Heaven, so ravaged.

  For such a taint we should not leave unpurged—

  The death of such a man, and he your king—

  Even if Heaven had not commanded us,

  But we should search it out. Now, since ‘tis I

  That wear the crown that he had worn before me,

  And have his Queen to wife, and common children

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  Were born to us, but that his own did perish,

  And sudden death has carried him away—

  Because of this, I will defend his cause

  As if it were my father’s; nothing I

  Will leave undone to find the man who killed

  The son of Labdacus, and offspring of

  Polydorus, Cadmus, and of old Agenor.*

  On those that disobey, this is my curse:

  May never field of theirs give increase, nor

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  Their wives have children; may our present plagues,

  And worse, be ever theirs, for their destruction.

  But for the others, all with whom my words

  Find favour, this I pray: Justice* and all

  The gods be ever at your side to help you.

  CHORUS. Your curse constrains me; therefore will I speak.

  I did not kill him, neither can I tell

  Who did. It is for Phoebus, since he laid

  The task upon us, to declare the man.

  OEDIPUS. True; but to force the gods against their will—

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  That is a thing beyond all human power.

  CHORUS. All I could say is but a second best.

  OEDIPUS. Though it were third best, do not hold it back.

  CHORUS. I know of none that reads Apollo’s mind

  So surely as the lord Teiresias;

  Consulting him you best might learn the truth.

  OEDIPUS. Not even this have I neglected: Creon

  Advised me, and already I have sent

  Two messengers.—Strange he has not come.

  CHORUS. There’s nothing else but old and idle gossip.

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  OEDIPUS. And what was that? I clutch at any straw.

  CHORUS. They said that he was killed by travellers.

  OEDIPUS. So I have heard; but no one knows a witness.

  CHORUS. But if he is not proof against all fear

  He’ll not keep silent when he hears your curse.

  OEDIPUS. And will they fear a curse, who dared to kill?

  CHORUS. Here is the one to find him, for at last

  They bring the prophet here. He is inspired,

  The only man whose heart is filled with truth.

  Enter TEIRESIAS, led by a boy

  OEDIPUS. Teiresias, by your art you read the signs

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  And secrets of the earth and of the sky;

  Therefore you know, although you cannot see,

  The plague that is besetting us; from this

  No other man but you, my lord, can save us.

  Phoebus has said—you may have heard already—

  In answer to our question, that this plague

  Will never cease unless we can discover

  What men they were who murdered Laius,

  And punish them with death or banishment.

  Therefore give freely all that you have learned

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  From birds or other form of divination;*

  Save us; save me, the city, and yourself,

  From the pollution that his bloodshed causes.

  No finer task, than to give all one has

  In helping others; we are in your hands.

  TEIRESIAS. Ah! what a burden knowledge is, when knowledge

  Can be of no avail! I knew this well,

  And yet forgot, or I should not have come.

  OEDIPUS. Why, what is this? Why are you so despondent?

  TEIRESIAS. Let me go home! It will be best for you,

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  And best for me, if you will let me go.

  OEDIPUS. But to withhold your knowledge! This is wrong,

  Disloyal to the city of your birth.

  TEIRESIAS. I know that what you say will lead you on

  To ruin; therefore, lest the same befall me too . . .

  OEDIPUS. No, by the gods! Say all you know, for we

  Go down upon our knees, your suppliants.

  TEIRESIAS. Because you do not know! I never shall

  Reveal my burden—I will not say yours.

  OEDIPUS. You know, and will not tell us? Do you wish

  To ruin Thebes and to destroy us all?

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  TEIRESIAS. My pain, and yours, will not be caused by me.

  Why these vain questions?—for I will not speak.

  OEDIPUS. You villain!—for you would provoke a stone

  To anger: you’ll not speak, but show yourself

  So hard of heart and so inflexible?

  TEIRESIAS. You heap the blame on me; but what is yours

  You do not know—therefore I am the villain!

  OEDIPUS. And who would not be angry, finding that

  You treat our people with such cold disdain?

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  TEIRESIAS. The truth will come to light, without my help.

  OEDIPUS. If it is bound to come, you ought to speak it.

  TEIRESIAS. I’ll say no more, and you, if so you choose,

  May rage and bluster on without restraint.

  OEDIPUS. Restraint? Then I’ll show none! I’ll tell you all

  That I can see in you: I do believe

  This crime was planned and carried out by you,

  All but the killing; and were you not blind

  I’d say your hand alone had done the murder.

  TEIRESIAS. So? Then I tell you this: submit yourself

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  To that decree that you have made; from now

  Address no word to these men nor to me:

  You are the man whose crimes pollute our city.

  OEDIPUS. What, does your impudence extend thus far?

  And do you hope that it will go scot-free?

  TEIRESIAS. It will. I have a champion—the truth.

  OEDIPUS. Who taught you that? For it was not your art.

  TEIRESIAS. No; you! You made me speak, against my will.

  OEDIPUS. Speak what? Say it again, and say it clearly.

  TEIRESIAS. Was I not clear? Or are you tempting me?

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  OEDIPUS. Not clear enough for me. Say it again.

  TEIRESIAS. You are yourself the murderer you seek.

  OEDIPUS. You’ll not affront me twice and go unpunished!

  TEIRESIAS. Then shall I give you still more cause for rage?

  OEDIPUS. Say what you will; you’ll say it to no purpose.

  TEIRESIAS. I know, you do not know, the hideous life

  Of shame you lead with those most near to you.