My Oedipus Complex
Oedipus the King Sophocles Translated by David Grene CHARACTERS OEDIPUS, King of Thebes JOCASTA, His Wife CREON, His Brother-in-Law TEIRESIAS, an Old Blind Prophet PRIEST
PART I: Scene: In front of the palace of Oedipus at Thebes. To the Right of the stage near the altar stands the PRIEST with a crowd of children. OEDIPUS emerges from the central door. OEDIPUS: Children, young sons and daughters of old Cadmus,1 why do you sit here with your suppliant crowns?2 the town is heavy with a mingled burden of sounds and smells, of groans and hymns and incense; 5 I did not think it fit that I should hear of this from messengers but came myself,-I Oedipus whom all men call the Great. [He returns to the PRIEST.] You’re old and they are young; come, speak for them. What do you fear or want, that you sit here 10 suppliant? Indeed I’m willing to give all that you may need; I would be very hard should I not pity suppliants like these. PRIEST: O ruler of my country, Oedipus, You see our company around the altar; 15 you see our ages; some of us, like these, who cannot yet fly far, and some of us heavy with age; these children are the chosen among the young, and I the priest of Zeus. Within the market place sit others crowned 20 with suppliant garlands3, at the double shrine of Pallas4 and the temple where Ismenus gives oracles by fire5. King, you yourself have seen our city reeling like a wreck
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FIRST MESSENGER SECOND MESSENGER A HERDSMAN A CHORUS OF OLD MEN OF THEBES already; it can scarcely lift its prow 25 out of the depths, out of the bloody surf. A blight is on the fruitful plants of the earth. A blight is on the cattle in the fields, a blight is on our women that no children are born to them; a God that carries fire, 30 a deadly pestilence, is on our town, strikes us and spears us not, and the house of Cadmus is emptied of its people while black Death grows rich in groaning and in lamentation.6 We have not come as suppliants to this altar 35 because we thought of you
PART I: Scene: In front of the palace of Oedipus at Thebes. To the Right of the stage near the altar stands the PRIEST with a crowd of children. OEDIPUS emerges from the central door. OEDIPUS: Children, young sons and daughters of old Cadmus,1 why do you sit here with your suppliant crowns?2 the town is heavy with a mingled burden of sounds and smells, of groans and hymns and incense; 5 I did not think it fit that I should hear of this from messengers but came myself,-I Oedipus whom all men call the Great. [He returns to the PRIEST.] You’re old and they are young; come, speak for them. What do you fear or want, that you sit here 10 suppliant? Indeed I’m willing to give all that you may need; I would be very hard should I not pity suppliants like these. PRIEST: O ruler of my country, Oedipus, You see our company around the altar; 15 you see our ages; some of us, like these, who cannot yet fly far, and some of us heavy with age; these children are the chosen among the young, and I the priest of Zeus. Within the market place sit others crowned 20 with suppliant garlands3, at the double shrine of Pallas4 and the temple where Ismenus gives oracles by fire5. King, you yourself have seen our city reeling like a wreck
1
FIRST MESSENGER SECOND MESSENGER A HERDSMAN A CHORUS OF OLD MEN OF THEBES already; it can scarcely lift its prow 25 out of the depths, out of the bloody surf. A blight is on the fruitful plants of the earth. A blight is on the cattle in the fields, a blight is on our women that no children are born to them; a God that carries fire, 30 a deadly pestilence, is on our town, strikes us and spears us not, and the house of Cadmus is emptied of its people while black Death grows rich in groaning and in lamentation.6 We have not come as suppliants to this altar 35 because we thought of you