| Oedipus Tyrannos Third Episode |
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| Oedipus Tyrannos Third Episode |
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Jocasta
Tell me, my lord, for the gods' sakes, what has caused such a rage.
Oedipus
I will. I honour you above all. It is Kreon--and his plots.
Jocasta
Tell me clearly how the quarrel began.
Oedipus
He says I am established as the murderer of Laios.
Jocasta
He knows this himself, or he learned it from someone?
Oedipus
He sent the ill-omened prophet, so that he might keep his own mouth clean.
Jocasta
Absolve yourself, Oedipus, and learn why no mortal can ever be infallible in the art of prophecy. I'll prove this to you. An oracle came to Laios once, not necessarily from Apollo himself, but from one of his priests, and it said that his fate was to die at the hands of the child born to us both. And now they say that Laios was murdered by foreign robbers at the fork where three paths meet. And anyway, the child hadn't been alive three days before Laios fastened his ankles with pins and had him thrown on to a mountain well away from any path. And so Apollo did not make this happen: the child did not become a murderer and Laios did not suffer the terrible fate he feared at the hands of his child. And yet these things were foreseen--and so don't heed them. When the God wants something to happen, he will reveal it himself.
Oedipus
My soul--my mind-- What upheavals--as I listen to you, my wife.
Jocasta
What thought turns you so--
Oedipus
I thought I heard you say that Laios was killed at the meeting of three roads.
Jocasta
It was said--it still is.
Oedipus
Where did this happen?
Jocasta
The land is called Phokis. The road branches in two; one road leads to Delphi, the other to Daulia.
Oedipus
How much time has passed since all this happened?
Jocasta
We heard about it shortly before you were proclaimed our ruler.
Oedipus
Oh, God, what will you do with me?
Jocasta
What is it Oedipus? What disturbs you so?
Oedipus
Don't ask now. What was Laios' bearing like? How old was he?
Jocasta
Tall--hair lightly silvered. Not unlike you in shape.
Oedipus
Ah, me. And I hurled curses at myself--then--unknowing.
Jocasta
What are you saying? I look at you--shrink back--fear--
Oedipus
Oh, despair--did the prophet see after all? Tell me one more thing more--and I'll have proof.
Jocasta
This fear--but I will say what I know.
Oedipus
Did he go with a small escort or with the retinue that befits a king?
Jocasta
There were five. One was a herald. Laios was in a chariot.
Oedipus
Aiai, aiai. All is revealed-- Who told you all this?
Jocasta
A servant, the only one who survived.
Oedipus
Is he in the palace now?
Jocasta
No. When he came back and saw you in power and Laios dead, he begged me to send him to the country, so that he could be far away from all sight of the city. I sent him. He was a good man, even though a slave, he was worth granting such a request, even more.
Oedipus
Could he come to us, quickly?
Jocasta
Yes, but what for?
Oedipus
I fear for myself. I have said too much. I want to see him.
Jocasta
He will come, but am I not worthy to learn of your burdens, lord?
Oedipus
You will. Who better than you? And my hopes have come to this-- My father was Polybus from Korinth, my mother the Dorian Merope. I was brought up as the first citizen of the city until a chance encounter, rather strange, worthy of wonder, but perhaps not worthy of my own reaction--A man at a banquet, filled with too much wine said--drunk--said I was not the true son of my father. I restrained myself then, despite my distress, but the next day I went to my mother and father and questioned them. They were furious at the man who had let such words escape him. They reassured me, but I was vexed--it remained--the insult rooted, grew. And unknown to my mother and father, I went to the Oracle. Apollo sent me away ignorant as to that matter, but he brought forth terrible utterances concerning me. He said that I would intermingle with my mother, that my family would be abhorrent to the sight of men, and that I would be the murderer of my own father. Having heard all this, I fixed my route by the stars to get as far away as possible from Korinth, and keep these terrible predictions from being realized. I was walking. I came to the region where you say Laios died. And to you, my wife, I will tell the truth. I was coming down the road, near the meeting of three roads, the fork--when I met the herald--and a man on board a chariot, as you say. The herald and the man in the chariot ordered me aside. The driver jostled me--I struck him in anger. The old man saw this, and as the chariot came beside me, he struck me with a double goad. I retaliated, and struck him with my stick. He rolled out of the chariot. And then I killed them all. And if that man had the blood of Laios in him, who would be more abject than the man you see here? What man would be more revolting to the gods? A man who must not be received in anyone's house by strangers or by the citizens. The man who must never be spoken to, but driven out of the city. It was I who called down these curses on that man. Laios. When I touch anything of this man, put my hand on his bed, the defilement--the horror--if it is also the hand that killed him. Am I evil? Unholy, defiled? Must I flee? And fleeing, never again set foot upon my own land? In marriage, am I to wed my mother? Kill my father Polybus, who nurtured me? Can't he god who brings these things to pass be called anything but a cruel god? Forbid, forbid, you holy, chaste and fearful gods, that I should see the day. No. I will walk away from mortals, vanish--before I suffer such calamity.
Chorus
We shrink in fear from these things, lord, but we have hope until you find the man who was there.
Oedipus
Yes. Hope. I can wait for this man to come from this country.
Jocasta
But when he comes, what then? Why this haste?
Oedipus
This: if he says the same things as you then I can escape this suffering.
Jocasta
But what? What did you hear from me?
Oedipus
You told me he said several robbers killed Laios. One is not the same as several. If he still says it was several robbers, then I didn't kill him. But if he says clearly that there was one single man, then the evidence tips against me.
Jocasta
But that is what he said. He can't deny it now. The city heard it, not I alone. And even if he turns away from this story now, even then the Oracle would not be correct, because Apollo said that Laios would be killed by my child. That unfortunate being could not have killed him since he himself died long before. And so I would not look to divination for help with the past, the present or the future.
Oedipus
Yes, but send someone to summon this man. Don't neglect this.
Jocasta
I'll send for him instantly. Now let's go into the palace. There is nothing I would not do for you.
Third Chorus
I ask this of fate: purity in word and deed.
And especially: obedience to the laws.
The laws are sublime
born not of the earth but in the heavens
laws never slacken, never sleep,
never grow old--
godly, almighty, impregnable laws.
Hubris breeds the tyrant.
Hubris fills itself with vanity,
misjudgment. It scrambles up, up, up,
and then tumbles down, down to the
inevitable abyss. That's Necessity. No
foothold there for anyone.
Now, if this struggle is good for the city, then I pray God be my protector.
But the one
who speaks and acts haughtily--without
concern for justice, without reverence
for those sacred nooks of the gods--
let a terrible fate seize the man,
because he is arrogant,
foolish, greedy. Yes,
let a bad fate chew him to bits.
Let him not be overlooked by an angry
god. No, don't let him ever boast he
can go unpunished,
because if he can, why am I here? Why
do I speak? Dance?
And now, I will no longer go to Delphi
unless I find some sense in all this.
Zeus, master of all, who hears
everything, Zeus, notice this: the
oracles concerning Laios are melting
away, sliding into darkness, going
silent.
Apollo is without honour
and what is sacred vanishes.
Jocasta
Lords of this country: It occurred to me to come here to the temples of the gods, with these wreaths and with incense. Oedipus is in turmoil. He no longer judges with the skill of his experience but he believes whoever speaks, especially if the words are fearful. I cannot help him or advise him, and so I have come to you, Apollo, with these offerings: help us, release us.
As we watch him, in his panic, lose the helm of this land.
Messenger
Can you tell me, strangers, where is the palace of Oedipus? And do you know where I might find him?
Chorus
This is his palace. He is inside, but here is his wife and the mother of his children.
Messenger
May she be happy and fulfilled, this wife who has borne him children.
Jocasta
And you, too, stranger, because of your gracious words. But what is the meaning of your presence?
Messenger
Good things for your husband.
Jocasta
What? Where have you come from?
Messenger
From Korinth. And what I have to say will pleases you, but it will pain you as well.
Jocasta
What is it, this double-edged tiding?
Messenger
Korinth proclaims Oedipus its king.
Jocasta
What? Isn't Polybus still in power?
Messenger
No. Death holds him.
Jocasta
What did you say? The father of Oedipus is dead?
Messenger
If I am lying, I hope to die.
Jocasta
Go in now and tell this to your master. Oh prophesies, where are you now? Oedipus fled this man--afraid he would kill him. And now this man has died in the course of chance and not by Oedipus' hand at all.
Oedipus
Beloved wife Jokasta, why did you send for me?
Jocasta
Listen to this man, and think again about so-called prophecies from the gods.
Oedipus
Who is he? What does he have to say to me?
Jocasta
From Korinth, saying your father is dead.
Oedipus
What do you say, stranger? Tell me yourself.
Messenger
I'll say it clearly: the man--your father--is known to be dead.
Oedipus
The result of a plot? Or through illness?
Messenger
A small sinking of the scale kills old bodies.
Oedipus
And so the poor man declined from illness?
Messenger
And old age.
Oedipus
Fie then, why would anyone regard Apollo's hearth, or the screeching of the birds above, whose guidance made me believe I would kill my father. He died. He lies hidden under the earth. I did not brandish a spear--no, I did not kill him--unless it was his longing for me that destroyed him. In that sense, yes, he might have died because of me. But Polybus takes these oracles down to Hades with him. They are worth nothing.
Jocasta
Didn't I tell you that a long time ago?
Oedipus
Yes, but I was lost in my fears.
Jocasta
Don't let your spirit feed on these anymore.
Oedipus
How can I not fear the bed of my mother?
Jocasta
How can a man fear the accidents of chance? No one has access to the future. It is best not to plan too carefully but to live as well as one can. Do not fear marriage to your mother. Many men in their dreams have bedded their mother. The one who does not take any of this too seriously bears life more lightly.
Oedipus
This would have been well said if she were not still alive. But she lives, and whatever you say, I must fear.
Jocasta
Surely the tomb of your father brings relief.
Oedipus
I am afraid of the living.
Messenger
Who is this woman you fear?
Oedipus
Merope, old man. Who lived with Polybus.
Messenger
What is it you fear about her?
Oedipus
A terrible prophecy of the gods.
Messenger
Can it be told? Or must no one know?
Oedipus
Apollo once said I would intermingle with my mother, and spill my father's blood with my own hands. It was because of this I left Korinth long ago. And yet, the faces of one's parents are sweet to behold.
Messenger
And it was to avoid these things you became an exile?
Oedipus
I did not want to kill my father, old man.
Messenger
Why have I not released you of this fear, since I came with good intentions?
Oedipus
You would find favor with me.
Messenger
Yes, I came for that, to gain some benefit when you go back to Korinth.
Oedipus
I will not go near my parents.
Messenger
Noble child, you don't know what you're doing.
Oedipus
What? Teach me, by the gods.
Messenger
If you avoid your home because of these things.
Oedipus
I am afraid the prophecy will prove true.
Messenger
That you should be guilty of a blood crime towards your parents?
Oedipus
Yes, I have always feared this.
Messenger
In all justice, you have nothing to fear.
Oedipus
How not, if I am the child of these parents.
Messenger
You were never related to Polybus.
Oedipus
What are you saying? Polybus fathered me.
Messenger
No more than the man you see standing here, the same.
Oedipus
How can a progenitor be the same as a stranger?
Messenger
He did not father you; nor did I.
Oedipus
Then why did he call me his child?
Messenger
He once took you from my hands.
Oedipus
How could he love me as his own, coming from others hands?
Messenger
He could because of his own childlessness.
Oedipus
And you, did you buy me? Or stumble upon me?
Messenger
I found you in the wooded slopes of Kithairon.
Oedipus
Why were you travelling in those places?
Messenger
I was looking after mountain flocks.
Oedipus
Were you a shepherd, or a vagabond for hire?
Messenger
Your savior too, at that time, child.
Oedipus
You took me to save me from what?
Messenger
Your ankles would tell you that.
Oedipus
Ah, that terrible pain of old.
Messenger
I loosened your fettered ankles.
Oedipus
A shame I carry from my infancy.
Messenger
It was an accident that gave you your name.
Oedipus
Who did this? The gods? My mother? My father?
Messenger
I don't know. The man who gave you to me would know better.
Oedipus
You took me from someone else? You didn't chance upon me?
Messenger
No, another shepherd gave you to me.
Oedipus
Who is he? Can you tell me?
Messenger
He was probably one of Laios's men.
Oedipus
Who ruled this land long ago?
Messenger
Exactly. He was his herdsman.
Oedipus
Is the man alive? Can I see him?
Messenger
The people here would know best.
Oedipus
Is there anyone here who knows this man? Either in the countryside, or here? Make him known to me. The time has come to uncover all this.
Chorus
I think he is none other than the man out in the country whom you were searching for earlier. Jokasta can tell us more.
Oedipus
Wife, the man we were seeking before...is this the man he speaks of?
Jocasta
Why ask him? Don't waste a thought on it; it's senseless.
Oedipus
I cannot, with all these signs, refuse to bring my family to light.
Jocasta
By the gods, if you care for your life, don't search this out-- It is enough that I am ill.
Oedipus
Be sure that even if I am the son of slaves, indeed from generations of slaves, it would not therefore mean you were basely born.
Jocasta
Listen to me, I beg you. Don't pursue it.
Oedipus
I can't listen if you tell me not to find these things out.
Jocasta
I know what I am saying. My advice is good.
Oedipus
This good advice of yours has caused me pain for a long time.
Jocasta
Unlucky man. May you never know who you are.
Oedipus
Someone go and bring this herdsman to me. Let this woman enjoy her wealthy family undisturbed.
Jocasta
Eeou, eeou. Ill-fated--that is the only word I have for you. And now nothing more ever again.
Chorus
Why has she gone, Oedipus, cracking with grief? This silence-- I fear terrible things will burst forth.
Oedipus
Let her crack. As for me, however humble, I want to know my genesis. As a woman, she may think great things of herself and feel ashamed of my obscure descent. I will not feel humiliated. I will call myself the child of chance. I am of that mother, and my brothers are the months of the year--who have sometimes cast me down and sometimes raised me to greatness. And having sprung of such parentage, I would not be another man in order to remain ignorant of where I came from.
Third Episode Questions
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