Oedipus Tyrannus

Sophocles

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

  1. with my knowledge, become a resident of my house, I may suffer the same things which I have just called down on others. And I order you to make all these words good, for my sake, for the sake of the god, and for the sake of our land, thus rendered unfruitful and ungodly.
  2. For even if the matter had not been urged upon us by a god, it still would not have been fit that you should leave the guilt unpunished as it is, when one so noble—and he your king—had perished. You should have searched it out. But now, since I hold the powers which he once held,
  3. possessing his bed and the wife who bore his children, and since, had his hope of offspring not been unsuccessful, children born of one mother would have tied us with a common bond—as it was, fate swooped upon his head—I will uphold this cause, as though it were that of my own father,
  4. and will leave no stone unturned in my search for the one who shed the blood, for the honor of the son of Labdacus and of Polydorus and the elder Cadmus and Agenor of old. And for those who do not obey me, I pray that the gods
  5. send them neither harvest of the earth nor fruit of the womb, but that they perish with the present fate, or one still worse. But to all you, the loyal Cadmeans who are satisfied by these things, may justice, our ally,
  6. and all the gods be gracious always.
Chorus
  1. As you have put me under oath, on my oath, my king, I will speak. I am not the slayer, nor can I reveal him. As for the investigation, it was for Phoebus, who enjoined it, to tell us who did the deed.
Oedipus
  1. Justly said. But no man on earth can force the gods to do what they do not want.
Chorus
  1. I would like to say what seems to me the next best course.
Oedipus
  1. And if there is a third course, do not hesitate to reveal it too.
Chorus
  1. I know that our lord Teiresias is the seer most like our
  2. lord Apollo: from him, my king, an investigator might learn most clearly about these affairs.
Oedipus
  1. Not even this have I neglected. On Creon’s suggestion, I sent a man twice to bring him. And I have been wondering for some time why he is not here.
Chorus
  1. Indeed—his skill apart—the rumors are but faint and old.
Oedipus
  1. What are the rumors? I am investigating every tale.
Chorus
  1. He was said to have been killed by some wayfarers.
Oedipus
  1. I too have heard that. But no one sees the one who saw it.
Chorus
  1. If he knows what fear is, he will not hesitate to come forward when he
  2. hears your curses, so dire are they.
Oedipus
  1. When a man does not shrink from a deed, he is not scared by a word.