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The Theban Plays
Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone
Sophocles, Sir George Young
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eBook - ePub
The Theban Plays
Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone
Sophocles, Sir George Young
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About This Book
The stirring tale of a legendary royal family's fall and ultimate redemption, the Theban trilogy endures as the crowning achievement of Greek drama. Sophocles' three-play cycle, chronicling Oedipus's search for the truth and its tragic results, remains essential reading for English and classical studies majors as well as for all students of Western civilization.
Oedipus Rex unfolds amid a city in the relentless grip of a plague. When an oracle proclaims that only an act of vengeance will lift the curse from Thebes, King Oedipus vows to bring a murderer to justice. His quest engenders a series of keen dramatic ironies, culminating in the fulfillment of a dreaded prophecy. Oedipus at Colonus finds the former ruler in exile. Old and blind, he seeks a peaceful place to end his torment, but finds only challenges from his reluctant hosts and a summons back to Thebes from his warring sons. The trilogy concludes with Antigone, in which Oedipus's courageous daughter defies her tyrannical uncle in a provocative exploration of the demands of loyalty and duty. Includes a selection from the Common Core State Standards Initiative: Oedipus Rex.
Oedipus Rex unfolds amid a city in the relentless grip of a plague. When an oracle proclaims that only an act of vengeance will lift the curse from Thebes, King Oedipus vows to bring a murderer to justice. His quest engenders a series of keen dramatic ironies, culminating in the fulfillment of a dreaded prophecy. Oedipus at Colonus finds the former ruler in exile. Old and blind, he seeks a peaceful place to end his torment, but finds only challenges from his reluctant hosts and a summons back to Thebes from his warring sons. The trilogy concludes with Antigone, in which Oedipus's courageous daughter defies her tyrannical uncle in a provocative exploration of the demands of loyalty and duty. Includes a selection from the Common Core State Standards Initiative: Oedipus Rex.
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Oedipus at Colonus
SceneâColonus, before the Sacred Grove of the Erinyes.
[Enter OEDIPUS and ANTIGONE.]
OEDIPUS Antigone, child of a blind old man,
What lands are these, or what the folk whose gates
We have attained? Who shall receive to-day
With stinted alms the wanderer Ĺdipus?â
Asking but little; than that little still
Obtaining less; and yet enough for me.
For my afflictions and the weight of years
And something, too, of my own dignity
Teach me contentment. If you see, my child,
Some resting-place, either by sacred grove
Or secular dwelling, stay me and set me down,
That we may find out in what place we are;
For strangers from inhabitants to learn
We are come hither; and what we hear, to do it.
We have attained? Who shall receive to-day
With stinted alms the wanderer Ĺdipus?â
Asking but little; than that little still
Obtaining less; and yet enough for me.
For my afflictions and the weight of years
And something, too, of my own dignity
Teach me contentment. If you see, my child,
Some resting-place, either by sacred grove
Or secular dwelling, stay me and set me down,
That we may find out in what place we are;
For strangers from inhabitants to learn
We are come hither; and what we hear, to do it.
ANTIGONE Towers are there, O my father, Ĺdipus,
Covering a city, I perceive, afar;
This place, as I suppose, is consecrate;
It blooms with laurel, olive and the vine;21
Thick-flying nightingales within it warble;
Here stretch thy limbs, upon this rough-hewn stone;
For thou art aged to have come so far.
This place, as I suppose, is consecrate;
It blooms with laurel, olive and the vine;21
Thick-flying nightingales within it warble;
Here stretch thy limbs, upon this rough-hewn stone;
For thou art aged to have come so far.
ĹDIPUS Seat me and guard me still; for I am blind.
ANTIGONE I knowâthat is an old taleâtell not me.
OEDIPUS Well, can you teach me whither we are come?
ANTIGONE To Athens, that I know; but not the quarter.
CEDIPUS So much we heard from every passenger.
ANTIGONE But shall I go and ask what place it is?
OEDIPUS Why yes, my child; if it seems hospitable.
ANTIGONE O yes, there are some dwellings.âThereâs no need,
I think: for hereâs a man, I see, close to us.
OEDIPUS What, moving and approaching hitherward?
ANTIGONE Yes, here, I mean, at hand. Say what is needful;
This is the man.
[Enter a Stranger, an inhabitant of Colonus.]
ĹDIPUS Stranger, this maiden tells me
(Whose eyesight serves both for herself and me)
Of your approach, an apt intelligencer
Of things we cannot guessâ
Of your approach, an apt intelligencer
Of things we cannot guessâ
STRANGER Ere you ask further
Come from that seat; you trespass on a place
No foot may desecrate.
No foot may desecrate.
ĹDIPUS What is the place?
To what God dedicated?
STRANGER It is kept
From touch or dwelling: the dread Goddesses
Hold it, the daughters of the Earth and Gloom.
Hold it, the daughters of the Earth and Gloom.
ĹDIPUS Who? By what solemn name denominate
Might I invoke them?
STRANGER By the natives here
They would be called the All-seeing Favourers;
Other fit names elsewhere.
Other fit names elsewhere.
ĹDIPUS May they receive
With mercy me their supplicant; and I
From this landâs harbour will go forth no more!
From this landâs harbour will go forth no more!
STRANGER What does this mean?
ĹDIPUS âTis my misfortunesâ weird.
STRANGER Truly I dare not turn him out, before
I tell the restâwithout authority.
ĹDIPUS Sir, in Heavenâs name do not begrudge meâme
A wandererâwhat I crave of you to say!
STRANGER Explain, and I will show I grudge you not.
ĹDIPUS What ground is this we have been treading on?
STRANGER You shall hear all I know. First the whole place is holy,
Inhabited by dread Poseidon;22 next
The Deity that brought fire abides in it,
Titan Prometheus;23 this same spot you press
They call the Brass-paved Causeway24 of the landâ
Rampart of Athens; the adjoining farms
Boast them Colonus25 mounted on his horse
For their chief patron, and the people all
Are called by and in common bear his name.
These are the facts, sir stranger; honoured not
So much in story, as cherished on the spot.
The Deity that brought fire abides in it,
Titan Prometheus;23 this same spot you press
They call the Brass-paved Causeway24 of the landâ
Rampart of Athens; the adjoining farms
Boast them Colonus25 mounted on his horse
For their chief patron, and the people all
Are called by and in common bear his name.
These are the facts, sir stranger; honoured not
So much in story, as cherished on the spot.
ĹDIPUS Did you say any men lived hereabouts?
STRANGER Yes truly, and that they bear this Heroâs name.
ĹDIPUS Have they a chief, or lies it with the folk
To hold debate?
STRANGER These parts are in the rule
Of the king of the City.
ĹDIPUS Who is he whose might
And counsel sway them?
STRANGER Theseus is his name,
Old Ăgeusâ son.
ĹDIPUS Would one of you go fetch him?
STRANGER What should one tell or move him to come here for?
ĹDIPUS Say, to gain much by a small act of kindness.
STRANGER And whereâs the service in a man thatâs blind?
ĹDIPUS There will be eyes in all that I shall say.
STRANGER Come, this you may, sir, and without offence;
(Since you are worshipful to look upon,
Saving Godâs hand;) stay there where I first found you,
While I go tell this to the burghers round,
(Here, not in the city;) they will soon decide
If you shall tarry, or depart once more. [Exit.
Saving Godâs hand;) stay there where I first found you,
While I go tell this to the burghers round,
(Here, not in the city;) they will soon decide
If you shall tarry, or depart once more. [Exit.
ĹDIPUS My daughter, has the stranger gone away?
ANTIGONE Yes, he has gone. You may say anything
Securely, father; none are here but I.
ĹDIPUS Queens, with stern faces! since of all this land
First in your sanctuary I seated me,
To PhĹbus,26 as to me, turn no deaf ear,
Who, prophesying of those my many woes,
Spake of this respite for me at the last
That when my journey ended, in a land
Where I should find asylum, at the shrine
Of awful Powers, and hospitality,
There I should round the goal of my life-sorrow,
There dwell, a blessing to my hostsâa curse
To those who sent me into banishment;
Giving me rede a sign of this should come,
In earthquake, thunder, or lightning out of heaven.
Now I perceive it is from none but you,
The faithful omen that has guided me
Along my pathway hither to this grove.
Else I should never in my wayfaring
Have met you first so fitlyâstrangers you
To wine,27 as I amâor have taken seat
Upon this awful footstone, all unhewn.
Now therefore, Goddesses, bestow on me,
According to Apolloâs oracle,
Some passing, some quick finish of my life;
If I appear not still unperfected
In my continual servitude of toils,
The extremest mortals know. Come, you kind daughters
Of ancient Gloom! Come, thou that bearâst the name
Of mightiest Pallas,28 Athens, first of cities,
Have pity upon this miserable ghost
Of what was Ĺdipus! He is not now
Such as of old.
To PhĹbus,26 as to me, turn no deaf ear,
Who, prophesying of those my many woes,
Spake of this respite for me at the last
That when my journey ended, in a land
Where I should find asylum, at the shrine
Of awful Powers, and hospitality,
There I should round the goal of my life-sorrow,
There dwell, a blessing to my hostsâa curse
To those who sent me into banishment;
Giving me rede a sign of this should come,
In earthquake, thunder, or lightning out of heaven.
Now I perceive it is from none but you,
The faithful omen that has guided me
Along my pathway hither to this grove.
Else I should never in my wayfaring
Have met you first so fitlyâstrangers you
To wine,27 as I amâor have taken seat
Upon this awful footstone, all unhewn.
Now therefore, Goddesses, bestow on me,
According to Apolloâs oracle,
Some passing, some quick finish of my life;
If I appear not still unperfected
In my continual servitude of toils,
The extremest mortals know. Come, you kind daughters
Of ancient Gloom! Come, thou that bearâst the name
Of mightiest Pallas,28 Athens, first of cities,
Have pity upon this miserable ghost
Of what was Ĺdipus! He is not now
Such as of old.
ANTIG...