OEDIPUS. How? Am I not their child, and they my parents?

  CORINTHIAN. Because there’s none of Polybus in you.

  OEDIPUS. How can you say so? Was he not my father?

  CORINTHIAN. I am your father just as much as he!

  OEDIPUS. A stranger equal to the father? How?

  CORINTHIAN. Neither did he beget you, nor did I.

  1020

  OEDIPUS. Then for what reason did he call me son?

  CORINTHIAN. He had you as a gift—from my own hands.

  OEDIPUS. And showed such love to me? Me, not his own?

  CORINTHIAN. Yes; his own childlessness so worked on him.

  OEDIPUS. You, when you gave me: had you bought, or found me?

  CORINTHIAN. I found you in the woods upon Cithaeron.

  OEDIPUS. Why were you travelling in that neighbourhood?

  CORINTHIAN. I tended flocks of sheep upon the mountain.

  OEDIPUS. You were a shepherd, then, wandering for hire?

  CORINTHIAN. I was, my son; but that day, your preserver.

  1030

  OEDIPUS. How so? What ailed me when you took me up?

  CORINTHIAN. For that, your ankles might give evidence.

  OEDIPUS. Alas! why speak of this, my life-long trouble?

  CORINTHIAN. I loosed the fetters clamped upon your feet.

  OEDIPUS. A pretty gift to carry from the cradle!*

  CORINTHIAN. It was for this they named you Oedipus.*

  OEDIPUS. Who did, my father or my mother? Tell me.

  CORINTHIAN. I cannot; he knows more, from whom I had you.

  OEDIPUS. It was another, not yourself, that found me?

  CORINTHIAN. Yes, you were given me by another shepherd.

  1040

  OEDIPUS. Who? Do you know him? Can you name the man?

  CORINTHIAN. They said that he belonged to Laius.

  OEDIPUS. What—him who once was ruler here in

  Thebes?

  OEDIPUS. Yes, he it was for whom this man was shepherd.

  OEDIPUS. And is he still alive, that I can see him?

  CORINTHIAN [turning to the Chorus].

  You that are native here would know that best.

  OEDIPUS. Has any man of you now present here

  Acquaintance with this shepherd, him he speaks of?

  Has any seen him, here, or in the fields?

  Speak; on this moment hangs discovery.

  1050

  CHORUS. It is, I think, the man that you have sent for,

  The slave now in the country. But who should know

  The truth of this more than Iocasta here?

  OEDIPUS. The man he speaks of: do you think, Iocasta,

  He is the one I have already summoned?

  IOCASTA. What matters who he is? Pay no regard.—

  The tale is idle; it is best forgotten.

  OEDIPUS. It cannot be that I should have this clue

  And then not find the secret of my birth.

  IOCASTA. In God’s name stop, if you have any thought

  1060

  For your own life! My ruin is enough.

  OEDIPUS. Be not dismayed; nothing can prove you base.

  Not though I find my mother thrice a slave.*

  IOCASTA. O, I beseech you, do not! Seek no more!

  OEDIPUS. You cannot move me. I will know the truth.

  IOCASTA. I know that what I say is for the best.

  OEDIPUS. This ‘best’ of yours! I have no patience with it.

  IOCASTA. O may you never learn what man you are!

  OEDIPUS. Go, someone, bring the herdsman here to me,

  And leave her to enjoy her pride of birth.

  1070

  IOCASTA. O man of doom! For by no other name

  Can I address you now or evermore.

  [Exit IOCASTA and girl

  CHORUS. The Queen has fled, my lord, as if before

  Some driving storm of grief. I fear that from

  Her silence may break forth some great disaster.

  OEDIPUS. Break forth what will! My birth, however humble,

  I am resolved to find. But she, perhaps,

  Is proud, as women will be; is ashamed

  Of my low birth. But I do rate myself

  The child of Fortune,* giver of all good,

  1080

  And I shall not be put to shame, for I

  Am born of Her; the Years who are my kinsmen

  Distinguished my estate, now high, now low;

  So born, I could not make me someone else,

  And not do all to find my parentage.

  Strophe 1

  CHORUS [sings]. If I have power of prophecy,

  If I have judgement wise and sure, Cithaeron

  (I swear by Olympus),

  Thou shalt be honoured when the moon

  Next is full,* as mother and foster-nurse

  1090

  And birth-place of Oedipus, with festival and

  dancing,

  For thou hast given great blessings to our King.

  To Thee, Apollo, now we raise our cry:

  O grant our prayer find favour in thy sight!

  Antistrophe

  Who is thy mother, O my son?

  Is she an ageless nymph among the mountains,

  That bore thee to Pan?*

  1100

  Or did Apollo father thee?

  For dear to him are the pastures in the hills.

  Or Hermes, who ruleth from the summit of

  Kyllene?*

  Or Dionysus on the mountain-tops,

  Did he receive thee from thy mother’s arms,

  A nymph who follows him on Helicon?*

  OEDIPUS. If I, who never yet have met the man,

  1110

  May risk conjecture, I think I see the herdsman

  Whom we have long been seeking. In his age

  He well accords; and more, I recognize

  Those who are with him as of my own household.

  But as for knowing, you will have advantage

  Of me, if you have seen the man before.

  CHORUS. ’Tis he, for certain—one of Laius’ men,

  One of the shepherds whom he trusted most.

  Enter the THEBAN SHEPHERD

  OEDIPUS. You first I ask, you who have come from

  Corinth:

  Is that the man you mean?

  CORINTHIAN. That very man.

  1120

  OEDIPUS. Come here, my man; look at me; answer me

  My questions. Were you ever Laius’ man?

  THEBAN. I was; his slave—born in the house, not bought.*

  OEDIPUS. What was your charge, or what your way of life?

  THEBAN. Tending the sheep, the most part of my life.

  OEDIPUS. And to what regions did you most resort?

  THEBAN. Now it was Cithaeron, now the country round.

  OEDIPUS. And was this man of your acquaintance there?

  THEBAN. In what employment? Which is the man you mean?

  OEDIPUS. Him yonder. Had you any dealings with

  1130

  him?

  THEBAN. Not such that I can quickly call to mind.

  CORINTHIAN. No wonder, Sir, but though he has forgotten

  I can remind him. I am very sure,

  He knows the time when, round about Cithaeron,

  He with a double flock, and I with one,

  We spent together three whole summer seasons,

  From spring until the rising of Arcturus.*

  Then, with the coming on of winter, I

  Drove my flocks home, he his, to Laius’ folds.

  Is this the truth? or am I telling lies?

  1140

  THEBAN. It is true, although it happened long ago.

  CORINTHIAN. Then tell me: do you recollect a baby

  You gave me once to bring up for my own?

  THEBAN. Why this? Why are you asking me this question?

  CORINTHIAN. My friend, here is the man who was that baby!

  THEBAN. O, devil take you! Cannot you keep silent?

  OEDIPUS. Here, Sir! This man needs no reproof from you.

  Your tongue needs chastisement much more than his.

  THEBAN. O best of masters, how am I offending?

  OEDIPUS. Not telling of the child of whom he speaks.

  1150

  THEBAN. He? He knows nothing. He is wasting time.

  OEDIPUS [threatening]. If you’ll not speak from pleasure, speak from pain.

  THEBAN. No, no, I pray! Not torture an old man!

  OEDIPUS. Here, someone, quickly! Twist this fellow’s arms!

  THEBAN. Why, wretched man? What would you know besides?

  OEDIPUS. That child: you gave it him, the one he speaks of?

  THEBAN. I did. Ah God, would I had died instead!

  OEDIPUS. And die you shall, unless you speak the truth.

  THEBAN. And if I do, then death is still more certain.

  OEDIPUS. This man, I think, is trying to delay me.

  1160

  THEBAN. Not I! I said I gave the child—just now.

  OEDIPUS. And got it—where? Your own? or someone else’s?

  THEBAN. No, not my own. Someone had given it me.

  OEDIPUS. Who? Which of these our citizens? From what house?

  THEBAN. No, I implore you, master! Do not ask!

  OEDIPUS. You die if I must question you again.

  THEBAN. Then, ‘twas a child of one in Laius’ house.

  OEDIPUS. You mean a slave? Or someone of his kin?

  THEBAN. God! I am on the verge of saying it.

  OEDIPUS. And I of hearing it, but hear I must.

  1170

  THEBAN. His own, or so they said. But she within

  Could tell you best—your wife—the truth of it.

  OEDIPUS. What, did she give you it?

  THEBAN. She did, my lord.

  OEDIPUS. With what intention?

  THEBAN. That I should destroy it.

  OEDIPUS. Her own?—How could she?

  THEBAN. Frightened by oracles.

  OEDIPUS. What oracles?

  THEBAN. That it would kill its parents.*

  OEDIPUS. Why did you let it go to this man here?

  THEBAN. I pitied it, my lord. I thought to send

  The child abroad, whence this man came. And he

  Saved it, for utter doom. For if you are

  1180

  The man he says, then you were born for ruin.

  OEDIPUS. Ah God! Ah God!* This is the truth, at last!

  O Sun,* let me behold thee this once more,

  I who am proved accursed in my conception,

  And in my marriage, and in him I slew.

  [Exeunt severally OEDIPUS, CORINTHIAN, THEBAN

  Strophe 1

  CHORUS [sings]. Alas! you generations of men!

  Even while you live you are next to nothing!

  Has any man won for himself

  More than the shadow of happiness,

  1190

  A shadow that swiftly fades away?

  Oedipus, now as I look on you,

  See your ruin, how can I say that

  Mortal man can be happy?

  Antistrophe 1

  For who won greater prosperity?

  Sovereignty and wealth beyond all desiring?*

  The crooked-clawed, riddling Sphinx,

  Maiden and bird, you overcame;

  1200

  You stood like a tower of strength to Thebes.

  So you received our crown, received the

  Highest honours that we could give—

  King in our mighty city.

  Strophe 2

  Who more wretched, more afflicted now,

  With cruel misery, with fell disaster,

  Your life in dust and ashes?

  O noble Oedipus!

  How could it be? to come again

  A bridegroom of her who gave you birth!

  1210

  How could such a monstrous thing

  Endure so long, unknown?

  Antistrophe 2

  Time sees all, and Time, in your despite,

  Disclosed and punished your unnatural marriage—

  A child, and then a husband.

  O son of Laius,

  Would I had never looked on you!

  I mourn you as one who mourns the dead.

  1220

  First you gave me back my life,

  And now, that life is death.

  Enter, from the palace, a MESSENGER

  MESSENGER. My Lords, most honoured citizens of