Oedipus Tyrannus

Sophocles

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

  1. How was it then that that poor innocent never slew him, but perished first? From now on then, as far as divination goes, I would not look to my right hand or my left.
Oedipus
  1. You are right. But nevertheless send someone to fetch the peasant,
  2. and do not neglect this matter.
Iocasta
  1. I will send for him without delay. But let us go into the house: I will do nothing which does not please you.Exeunt Oedipus and Iocasta.
Chorus
  1. May destiny still find me winning the praise of reverent purity in all words and
  2. deeds sanctioned by those laws of sublime range, called into life through the high clear aether, whose father is Olympus alone. Their parent was no race of mortal men,
  3. no, nor shall oblivion ever lay them to sleep: the god is mighty in them, and he does not grow old.
Chorus
  1. Insolence breeds the tyrant. Insolence, once vainly stuffed with wealth
  2. that is not proper or good for it, when it has scaled the topmost ramparts, is hurled to a dire doom, where one’s feet cannot serve to good advantage. But I pray that the god never
  3. quell such rivalry as benefits the state. I will always hold the god as our protector.
Chorus
  1. But if any man walks haughtily in deed or word,
  2. with no fear of Justice, no reverence for the images of gods, may an evil doom seize him for his ill-starred pride, if he does not gain his advantage fairly,
  3. or avoid unholy deeds, but seeks to lay profaning hands on sanctities. Where such things occur, what mortal shall boast any more that he can ward off the arrow of the gods from his life?
  4. No. For if such deeds are held in honor, why should we join in the sacred dance?
Chorus
  1. No longer will I go reverently to the earth’s central and inviolate shrine, no more to Abae’s temple or to Olympia,
  2. if these oracles do not fit the outcome, so that all mortals shall point at them with their fingers.
  3. No, King—if this you are rightly called—Zeus all ruling, may it not escape you and your deathless power! The old prophecies concerning Laius are fading; already men give them no value, and nowhere is Apollo glorified with honors;
  4. the worship of the gods is perishing.
Iocasta
  1. Princes of the land, I am planning to visit the shrines of the gods, with this wreathed branch and these gifts of incense in my hands. For Oedipus excites his soul excessively with all sorts of grief,
  2. as he does not judge the new things from the old, like a man of sense, but is under the control of the speaker, if he speaks of frightful things. Since, then, I can do no good by counsel, to you, Lycean Apollo—for you are nearest—