Prologue

Oedipus.My children, latest-born to Cadmus who was of old, why are ye set before me thus with wreathed branches of suppliants, while the city reeks with incense, rings with prayers for health and cries of woe? I deemed it unmeet, my children, to hear these things at the mouth of others, and have come hither myself, I, Oedipus renowned of all. Tell me, then, thou venerable man — since it is thy natural part to speak for these — in what mood are ye placed here, with what dread or what desire? Be sure that I would gladly give all aid; hard of heart were I, did I not pity such suppliants as these.

Priest of Zeus.Nay, Oedipus, ruler of my land, thou seest of what years we are who beset thy altars, — some, nestlings still too tender for far flights, — some, bowed with age, priests, as I of Zeus, — and these, the chosen youth; while the rest of the folk sit with wreathed branches in the marketplaces, and before the two shrines of Pallas, and where Ismenus gives answer by fire. For the city, as thou thyself seest, is now too sorely vexed, and can no more lift her head from beneath the angry waves of death; a blight is on her in the fruitful blossoms of the land, in the herds among the pastures, in the barren pangs of women; and withal the flaming god, the malign plague, hath swooped on us, and ravages the town; by whom the house of Cadmus is made waste, but dark Hades rich in groans and tears. It is not as deeming thee ranked with gods that I and these children are suppliants at thy hearth, but as deeming thee first of men, both in life’s common chances, and when mortals have to do with more than man: seeing that thou earnest to the town of Cadmus, and didst quit us of the tax that we rendered to the hard songstress; and this, though thou knewest nothing from us that could avail thee, nor hadst been schooled; no, by a god’s aid, ’tis said and believed, didst thou uplift our life. And now, Oedipus, king glorious in all eyes, we beseech thee, all we suppliants, to find for us some succour, whether by the whisper of a god thou knowest it, or haply as in the power of man; for I see that, when men have been proved in deeds past, the issues of their counsels, too, most often have effect. On, best of mortals, again uplift our State! On, guard thy fame, — since now this land calls thee saviour for thy former zeal; and never be it our memory of thy reign that we were first restored and afterward cast down: nay, lift up this State in such wise that it fall no more! With good omen didst thou give us that past happiness; now also show thyself the same. For if thou art to rule this land, even as thou art now its lord, ’tis better to be lord of men than of a waste: since neither walled town nor ship is anything, if it is void and no men dwell with thee therein.

Oedipus.Oh my piteous children, known, well known to me are the desires wherewith ye have come: well wot I that ye suffer, all; yet, sufferers as ye are, there is not one of you whose suffering is as mine. Your pain comes on each one of you for himself alone, and for no other; but my soul mourns at once for the city, and for myself, and for thee. So that ye rouse me not, truly, as one sunk in sleep: no, be sure that I have wept full many tears, gone many ways in wanderings of thought. And the sole remedy which, well pondering, I could find, this I have put into act. I have sent the son of Menoeceus, Creon, mine own wife’s brother, to the Pythian house of Phoebus, to learn by what deed or word I might deliver this town. And already, when the lapse of days is reckoned, it troubles me what he doth; for he tarries strangely, beyond the fitting space. But when he comes, then shall I be no true man if I do not all that the god shows.

Priest of Zeus.Nay, in season hast thou spoken; at this moment these sign to me that Creon draws near.

Oedipus.O king Apollo, may he come to us in the brightness of saving fortune, even as his face is bright!

Priest of Zeus.Nay, to all seeming, he brings comfort; else would he not be coming crowned thus thickly with berry-laden bay.

Oedipus.We shall know soon: he is at range to hear. — Prince, my kinsman, son of Menoeceus, what news hast thou brought us from the god?

Creon.Good news: I tell thee that even troubles hard to bear, — if haply they find the right issue, — will end in perfect peace.

Oedipus.But what is the oracle? So far, thy words make me neither bold nor yet afraid.

Creon.If thou wouldest hear while these are nigh, I am ready to speak; or else to go within.

Oedipus.Speak before all: the sorrow which I bear is for these more than for mine own life.

Creon.With thy leave, I will tell what I heard from the god. Phoebus our lord bids us plainly to drive out a defiling thing, which (he saith) hath been harboured in this land, and not to harbour it, so that it cannot be healed.

Oedipus.By what rite shall we cleanse us? What is the manner of the misfortune?

Creon.By banishing a man, or by bloodshed in quittance of bloodshed, since it is that blood which brings the tempest on our city.

Oedipus.And who is the man whose fate he thus reveals?

Creon.Laïus, king, was lord of our land before thou wast pilot of this State.

Oedipus.I know it well — by hearsay, for I saw him never.

Creon.He was slain; and the god now bids us plainly to wreak vengeance on his murderers — whosoever they be.

Oedipus.And where are they upon the earth? Where shall the dim track of this old crime be found?

Creon.In this land, — said the god. What is sought for can be caught; only that which is not watched escapes.

Oedipus.And was it in the house, or in the field, or on strange soil that Laïus met this bloody end?

Creon.’Twas on a visit to Delphi, as he said, that he had left our land; and he came home no more, after he had once set forth.

Oedipus.And was there none to tell? Was there no comrade of his journey who saw the deed, from whom tidings might have been gained, and used?

Creon.All perished, save one who fled in fear, and could tell for certain but one thing of all that he saw.

Oedipus.And what was that? One thing might show the clue to many, could we get but a small beginning for hope.

Creon.He said that robbers met and fell on them, not in one man’s might, but with full many hands.

Oedipus.How, then, unless there was some trafficking in bribes from here, should the robber have dared thus far?

Creon.Such things were surmised; but, Laïus once slain, amid our troubles no avenger arose.

Oedipus.But, when royalty had fallen thus, what trouble in your path can have hindered a full search?

Creon.The riddling Sphinx had made us let dark things go, and was inviting us to think of what lay at our doors.

Oedipus.Nay, I will start afresh, and once more make dark things plain. Right worthily hath Phoebus, and worthily hast thou, bestowed this care on the cause of the dead; and so, as is meet, ye shall find me too leagued with you in seeking vengeance for this land, and for the god besides. On behalf of no far-off friend, no, but in mine own cause, shall I dispel this taint. For whoever was the slayer of Laïus might wish to take vengeance on me also with a hand as fierce. Therefore, in doing right to Laïus, I serve myself. Come, haste ye, my children, rise from the altar-steps, and lift these suppliant boughs; and let some other summon hither the folk of Cadmus, warned that I mean to leave nought untried; for our health (with the god’s help) shall be made certain — or our ruin.

Priest of Zeus.My children, let us rise; we came at first to seek what this man promises of himself. And may Phoebus, who sent these oracles, come to us therewith, our saviour and deliverer from the pest.