Oedipus Tyrannus

Sophocles

Sophocles the plays and fragments, Part 1: The Oedipus Tyrannus. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, Sir, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1887.

  1. You speak the truth, though it was long ago.
Messenger
  1. Come, tell me now: do you remember having given me a boy in those days, to be reared as my own foster-son?
Servant
  1. What now? Why do you ask the question?
Messenger
  1. This man, my friend, is he who then was young.
Servant
  1. Damn you! Be silent once and for all!
Oedipus
  1. Do not rebuke him, old man. Your words need rebuking more than his.
Servant
  1. And in what way, most noble master, do I offend?
Oedipus
  1. In not telling of the boy about whom he asks.
Servant
  1. He speaks without knowledge, but is busy to no purpose.
Oedipus
  1. You will not speak with good grace, but will in pain.
Servant
  1. No, in the name of the gods, do not mistreat an old man.
Oedipus
  1. Someone, quick—tie his hands him this instant!
Servant
  1. Alas, why? What do you want to learn?
Oedipus
  1. Did you give this man the child about whom he asks?
Servant
  1. I did. Would that I had perished that day!
Oedipus
  1. Well, you will come to that, unless you tell the honest truth.
Servant
  1. But if I speak I will be destroyed all the more.
Oedipus
  1. This man is bent, I think, on more delays.
Servant
  1. No, no! I said before that I gave it to him.
Oedipus
  1. Where did you get it from? From your own house, or from another?