The Seven Plays in English Verse Part 22

OED. Must not the King be told of what will come?

TI. No word from me. At this, an if thou wilt, Rage to the height of pa.s.sionate vehemence.

OED. Ay, and my pa.s.sion shall declare my thought.

'Tis clear to me as daylight, thou hast been The arch-plotter of this deed; yea, thou hast done All but the actual blow. Hadst thou thy sight, I had proclaimed thee the sole murderer.

TI. Ay, say'st thou so?--I charge thee to abide By thine own ordinance; and from this hour Speak not to any Theban nor to me.

Thou art the vile polluter of the land.

OED. O void of shame! What wickedness is this?

What power will give thee refuge for such guilt?

TI. The might of truth is scatheless. I am free.

OED. Whence came the truth to thee? Not from thine art.

TI. From thee, whose rage impelled my backward tongue.

OED. Speak it once more, that I may know the drift.

TI. Was it so dark? Or wouldst thou tempt me further?

OED. I cannot say 'twas clear. Speak it again.

TI. I say thou art the murderer whom thou seekest.

OED. Again that baleful word! But thou shalt rue.

TI. Shall I add more, to aggravate thy wrath?

OED. All is but idleness. Say what thou wilt.

TI. I tell thee thou art living unawares In shameful commerce with thy near'st of blood, Ignorant of the abyss wherein thou liest.

OED. Think you to triumph in offending still?

TI. If Truth have power.

OED. She hath, but not for thee.

Blind as thou art in eyes and ears and mind.

TI. O miserable reproach, which all who now Behold thee, soon shall thunder forth on thee!

OED. Nursed in unbroken night, thou canst not harm Or me, or any man who seeth the day.

TI. No, not from me proceeds thy fall; the G.o.d, Who cares for this, is able to perform it.

OED. Came this device from Creon or thyself?

TI. Not Creon: thou art thy sole enemy.

OED. O wealth and sovereign power and high success Attained through wisdom and admired of men, What boundless jealousies environ you!

When for this rule, which to my hand the State Committed unsolicited and free, Creon, my first of friends, trusted and sure, Would undermine and hurl me from my throne, Meanly suborning such a mendicant Botcher of lies, this crafty wizard rogue, Blind in his art, and seeing but for gain.

Where are the proofs of thy prophetic power?

How came it, when the minstrel-hound was here, This folk had no deliverance through thy word?

Her snare could not be loosed by common wit, But needed divination and deep skill; No sign whereof proceeded forth from thee Procured through birds or given by G.o.d, till I, The unknowing traveller, overmastered her, The stranger Oedipus, not led by birds, But ravelling out the secret by my thought: Whom now you study to supplant, and trust To stand as a supporter of the throne Of lordly Creon,--To your bitter pain Thou and the man who plotted this will hunt Pollution forth[2].--But for thy reverend look Thou hadst atoned thy trespa.s.s on the spot.

CH. Your friends would humbly deprecate the wrath That sounds both in your speech, my lord, and his.

That is not what we need, but to discern How best to solve the heavenly oracle.

TI. Though thou art king and lord, I claim no less Lordly prerogative to answer thee.

Speech is my realm; Apollo rules my life, Not thou. Nor need I Creon to protect me.

Now, then: my blindness moves thy scorn:--thou hast Thy sight, and seest not where thou art sunk in evil, What halls thou dost inhabit, or with whom: Know'st not from whence thou art--nay, to thy kin, Buried in death and here above the ground, Unwittingly art a most grievous foe.

And when thy father's and thy mother's curse With fearful tread shall drive thee from the land, On both sides las.h.i.+ng thee,--thine eye so clear Beholding darkness in that day,--oh, then, What region will not shudder at thy cry?

What echo in all Cithaeron will be mute, When thou perceiv'st, what bride-song in thy hall Wafted thy gallant bark with nattering gale To anchor,--where? And other store of ill Thou seest not, that shall show thee as thou art, Merged with thy children in one horror of birth.

Then rail at n.o.ble Creon, and contemn My sacred utterance! No life on earth More vilely shall be rooted out, than thine.

OED. Must I endure such words from him? Begone!

Off to thy ruin, and with speed! Away, And take thy presence from our palace-hall!

TI. Had you not sent for me, I ne'er had come.

OED. I knew not thou wouldst utter folly here, Else never had I brought thee to my door.

TI. To thee I am foolish, then; but to the pair Who gave thee life, I was wise.

OED. Hold, go not! who?

Who gave me being?

TI. To-day shall bring to light Thy birth and thy destruction.

OED. Wilt thou still Speak all in riddles and dark sentences?

TI. Methought thou wert the man to find them out.

OED. Ay! Taunt me with the gift that makes me great.

TI. And yet this luck hath been thy overthrow.

OED. I care not, since I rescued this fair town.

TI. Then I will go. Come, sirrah, guide me forth!

OED. Be it so! For standing here you vex our eye, But, you being gone, our trouble goes with you.

TI. I go, but I will speak. Why should I fear Thy frown? Thou ne'er canst ruin me. The word Wherefore I came, is this: The man you seek With threatening proclamation of the guilt Of Laius' blood, that man is here to-day, An alien sojourner supposed from far, But by-and-by he shall be certified A true-born Theban: nor will such event Bring him great joy; for, blind from having sight And beggared from high fortune, with a staff In stranger lands he shall feel forth his way; Shown living with the children of his loins, Their brother and their sire, and to the womb That bare him, husband-son, and, to his father, Parricide and corrival. Now go in, Ponder my words; and if thou find them false, then say my power is naught in prophecy. [_Exeunt severally_

CHORUS.

Whom hath the voice from Delphi's rocky throne I 1 Loudly declared to have done Horror unnameable with murdering hand?