610  

  OED. City, oh my city!

   CREON. My city also. I have rights here too.
   CHORUS. Stop this, my lords. I can see Jocasta coming
From the palace just in time. Let her advise you,
Put your quarrel aside and be friends again.
[Enter JOCASTA]
   JOCASTA. Have you both gone out of your minds?
      What is the sense
Of bandying insults? Are you not ashamed
To start a private feud, when Thebes is ailing?
Come inside. And Creon, you must go back home.
Do not make a mortal grievance out of nothing.
620    CREON. Sister, your husband Oedipus thinks fit
To make me suffer one way or the other—
To drive me into banishment or kill me.
   OED. Exactly. I have caught him plotting mischief—
A criminal attempt on the royal person.
   CREON. May heaven's anger strike me dead this minute
If I have done anything to deserve this charge!
   JOC. In the gods’ name, Oedipus, believe what he says!
If not from respect of the oath he has sworn,
For the sake of your wife and everyone here!
630 CHORUS. Listen to reason, my lord;
I beg you, be guided by us.
   OED. You ask for a favor; what is it?
   CHORUS. He has been no fool in the past;
He is strong in his oath; respect him.
   OED. Do you know what it is you ask?
   CHORUS. I do.
   OED. Then explain yourselves; what do you mean?
   CHORUS. Your friend has invoked a curse on his head.
Do not brand him traitor on rumor alone.
   OED. You must know, by asking this
640 You are asking my exile or death.
   CHORUS. No, by the Sun, the first among gods!
May I die the death that men fear most,
Shunned, unclean in the sight of heaven,
If I have such thoughts in my mind.
But my heart is heavy at our country's dying
If you add new troubles to her present load.
   OED. Let him go then; but I am signing my own death warrant
Or condemning myself to exile and disgrace.
Your voice has moved me where his oath could not.
650 As for him, wherever he may go, I hate him.
   CREON. Now we have seen you—wild when you lose your temper,
And yielding with bad grace. Such a nature as yours
Is its own worst enemy, and so it should be.
   OED. Get out, and leave me in peace.
   CREON. I am going.
They know I am honest, though you will not see it.
[Exit]
   CHORUS. Now quickly, my lady, take him inside.
   JOC. Not before I know what has happened.
   CHORUS. There were words, a vague suspicion,
False, but injustice stings.
   JOC. On both sides?
   CHORUS. Yes.
660 JOC. What was said?
   CHORUS. Our country has troubles enough.
Better let sleeping dogs lie.
   OED. You meant well enough, but see where it leads you,
Checking me, blunting the edge of my anger.
   CHORUS. I have said it before and say it again:
Men would think that my wits had wandered,
Would think me insane, to abandon you.
Our beloved country was sinking fast
Till you took the helm; and now you may prove
670 Our guide and salvation again.
   JOC. Tell me as well, my lord, in heaven's name,
What can have set such fury working in you?
   OED. I will tell you; you are more to me than they are.
It is Creon, and the way he is plotting against me.
   JOC. Go on, and tell me how this quarrel started.
   OED. He says that I am Laius’ murderer.
   JOC. Does he speak from knowledge or from hearsay only?
   OED. Neither; he sent a mischief-making prophet.
He is taking care to keep his own mouth clean.
680 Joc. You can relieve your mind of all such fears.
Listen, and learn from me: no human being
Is gifted with the art of prophecy.
Once an oracle came to Laius—I will not say
From Apollo himself, but from his ministers—
To say a child would be born to him and me
By whose hand it was fated he should die.
And Laius, as rumor goes, was killed by bandits,
From another land, at a place where three roads meet.
And as for our son, before he was in this world
690 Three days, Laius pinned his ankles together
And had him abandoned on the trackless mountain.
So in this case Apollo's purpose failed—
That the child should kill his father, or that Laius
Should be murdered by his son, the fear that haunted him.
So much for oracles which map our future!
Then take no notice of such things; whatever the god
Finds needful, he will show without assistance.
   OED. Oh wife, the confusion that is in my heart,
The fearful apprehension, since I heard you speak!
700 Joc. What is it? What have I said to startle you?
   OED. I thought I heard you telling me that Laius
Was murdered at a place where three roads meet.
   JOC. Such was the story. People tell it still.
   OED. What country was it where the thing was done?
   JOC. In the land called Phocis, at the meeting-point
Of the roads from Delphi and from Daulia.
   OED. And how many years have gone by since it happened?
   JOC. It was just before you first appeared in Thebes
To rule us; that is when we heard of it.
   OED. Oh Zeus, what have you planned to do with
710 me?
   JOC. Oedipus, what is it? Why has this upset you?
   OED. Do not ask me yet; but tell me about Laius.
What did he look like? How far gone in years?
   JOC. A tall man, with his hair just turning gray,
To look at, not so different from you.
   OED. Oh, what have I done? I think that I have laid
A dreadful curse on myself and never knew it!
   JOC. What are you saying? It frightens me to look at you.
   OED. I am terrified the prophet sees too well.
720 I shall know better if you tell me one thing more.
   JOC You frighten me; but ask and I will tell you.
   OED. Did he ride with a handful of men, or with a band
Of armed retainers, as a chieftain should?
   JOC. There were five in all—a herald one of them,
And a single carriage in which Laius rode.
   OED. Oh, now I see it all. Jocasta, answer me,
Who was the man who told you what had happened?
   JOC. A servant—the only one who returned alive.
   OED. Is he with us? Is he in our household now?
730 Joc. No, he is not. When he came back and found
You ruling here in Thebes and Laius dead
He wrung me by the hand and begged me send him
Into the country where we graze our sheep
As far as possible from the sight of Thebes.
I let him go away; slave though he was
He could have asked far more and had it granted.
   OED. I want him here, as fast as he can come.
   JOC. That can be seen to. What is in your mind?
   OED. I fear I have already said
740 More than I should; that is why I want to see him.
   JOC. He shall come then; but I too have a right
To know what lies heavy on your heart, my lord.