The Seven Plays in English Verse Part 70

OED. I will not bind thee, like a knave, with oaths.

THE. Oaths were no stronger than my simple word.

OED. What will ye do, then?

THE. What is that thou fearest?

OED. They will come hither.

THE. Thy guards will see to that.

OED. Beware, lest, if you leave me--

THE. Tell not me, I know my part.

OED. Terror will have me speak.

THE. Terror and I are strangers.

OED. But their threats!

Thou canst not know--

THE. I know that none shall force Thee from this ground against thy will. Full oft Have threatening words in wrath been voluble, Yet, when the mind regained her place again, The threatened evil vanished. So to-day Bold words of boastful meaning have proclaimed Thy forcible abduction by thy kin.

Yet shall they find (I know it) the voyage from Thebes, On such a quest, long and scarce navigable.

Whate'er my thought, if Phoebus sent thee forth, I would bid thee have no fear. And howsoe'er, My name will s.h.i.+eld thee from all injury.

CHORUS.

Friend! in our land of conquering steeds thou art come I 1 To this Heaven-fostered haunt, Earth's fairest home, Gleaming Colonos, where the nightingale In cool green covert warbleth ever clear, True to the cl.u.s.tering ivy and the dear Divine, impenetrable shade, From wildered boughs and myriad fruitage made, Sunless at noon, stormless in every gale.

Wood-roving Bacchus there, with mazy round, And his nymph nurses range the unoffended ground.

And nourished day by day with heavenly dew I 2 Bright flowers their never-failing bloom renew, From eldest time Deo and Cora's crown Full-flowered narcissus, and the golden beam Of crocus, while Cephisus' gentle stream In runnels fed by sleepless springs Over the land's broad bosom daily brings His pregnant waters, never dwindling down.

The quiring Muses love to seek the spot And Aphrodite's golden car forsakes it not.

Here too a plant, n.o.bler than e'er was known II 1 On Asian soil, grander than yet hath grown In Pelops' mighty Dorian isle, unsown, Free, self-create, the conquering foeman's fear, The kind oil-olive, silvery-green, Chief nourisher of childish life, is seen To burgeon best in this our mother-land.

No warrior, young, nor aged in command, Shall ravage this, or scathe it with the spear; For guardian Zeus' unslumbering eye Beholds it everlastingly, And Athens' grey-eyed Queen, dwelling for ever near.

Yet one more praise mightier than all I tell II 2 O'er this my home, that Ocean loves her well, And coursers love her, children of the wave To grace these roadways Prince Poseidon first Framed for the horse, that else had burst From man's control, the spirit taming bit And the trim bark, rowed by strong arms, doth flit O'er briny seas with glancing motion brave Lord of the deep! by that thy glorious gift Thou hast established our fair town For ever in supreme renown-- The Sea nymphs' plas.h.i.+ng throng glide not more smoothly swift.

ANT. O land exalted thus in blessing and praise, Now is thy time to prove these brave words true.

OED. What hath befallen, my daughter?

ANT. Here at hand, Not unaccompanied, is Creon, father.

OED. Dear aged friends, be it yours now to provide My safety and the goal of my desire!

CH. It shall be so. Fear nought. I am old and weak, But Athens in her might is ever young.

_Enter_ CREON.

CREON. n.o.ble inhabiters of Attic ground I see as 'twere conceived within your eyes At mine approach some new engendered fear Nay, shrink not, nor let fall one fretful word.

I bring no menace with me, for mine age Is feeble, and the state whereto I come Is mighty,--none in h.e.l.las mightier,-- That know I well. But I am sent to bring By fair persuasion to our Theban plain The reverend form of him now present here.

Nor came this mission from one single will, But the commands of all my citizens Are on me, seeing that it becomes my birth To mourn his sorrows most of all the state Thou, then, poor sufferer, lend thine ear to me And come. All Cadmus' people rightfully Invite thee with one voice unto thy home, I before all,--since I were worst of men, Were I not pained at thy misfortunes, sir, --To see thee wandering in the stranger's land Aged and miserable, unhoused, unfed, Singly attended by this girl, whose fall To such a depth of undeserved woe I could not have imagined! Hapless maid!

Evermore caring for thy poor blind head, Roving in beggary, so young, with no man To marry her,--a mark for all mischance.

O misery, what deep reproach I have laid On thee and me and our whole ill-starred race!

But who can hide evil that courts the day?

Thou, therefore, Oedipus, without constraint, (By all the G.o.ds of Cadmus' race I pray thee) Remove this horror from the sight of men By coming to the ancestral city and home Of thy great sires,--bidding a kind farewell To worthiest Athens, as is meet. But Thebes, Thy native land, yet more deserves thy love.

OED. Thou unabashed in knavery, who canst frame For every cause the semblance of a plea Pranked up with righteous seeming, why again Would'st thou contrive my ruin, and attempt To catch me where I most were grieved being caught?

Beforetime, when my self-procured woes Were plaguing me, and I would fain have rushed To instant banishment, thou wouldst not then Grant this indulgence to my keen desire.

But when I had fed my pa.s.sion to the full, And all my pleasure was to live at home, Then 'twas thy cue to expel and banish me, Nor was this name of kindred then so dear.

Now once again, when thou behold'st this city And people joined in friendly bands with me, Thou wouldst drag me from my promised resting-place, Hiding hard policy with courtly show.

Strange kindness, to love men against their will!

Suppose, when thou wert eager in some suit, No grace were granted thee, but all denied, And when thy soul was sated, then the boon Were offered, when such grace were graceless now; --Poor satisfaction then were thine, I ween!

Even such a gift thou profferest me to-day, Kind in pretence, but really full of evil.

These men shall hear me tell thy wickedness.

Thou comest to take me, not unto my home, But to dwell outlawed at your gate, that so Your Thebe may come off untouched of harm From her encounter with Athenian men.

Ye shall not have me thus. But you shall have My vengeful spirit ever in your land Abiding for destruction,--and my sons Shall have this portion in their father's ground, To die thereon. Know I not things in Thebes Better than thou? Yea, for 'tis mine to hear Safer intelligencers,--Zeus himself, And Phoebus, high interpreter of Heaven.

Thou bring'st a tongue suborned with false pretence, Sharpened with insolence;--but in shrewd speech Thou shalt find less of profit than of bane.

This thou wilt ne'er believe. Therefore begone!

Let me live here. For even such life as mine Were not amiss, might I but have my will.

CR. Which of us twain, believ'st thou, in this talk Hath more profoundly sinned against thy peace?

OED. If thou prevail'st with these men present here Even as with me, I shall be well content.

CR. Unhappy man, will not even Time bring forth One spark of wisdom to redeem thine age?

OED. Thou art a clever talker. But I know No just man who in every cause abounds With eloquent speech.

CR. 'Tis not to abound in speech, When one speaks fitting words in season.

OED. Oh!

As if thy words were few and seasonable!

CR. Not in the dotard's judgement.

OED. Get thee gone!

I speak their mind as well--and dog not me Beleaguering mine appointed dwelling-place!

CR. These men shall witness--for thy word is naught; And for thy spiteful answer to thy friends, If once I seize thee--

OED. Who shall seize on me Without the will of my protectors here?

CR. Well, short of that, thou shalt have pain, I trow.

OED. What hast thou done, that thou canst threaten thus?