Epeisodion 4
Iocasta
Princes of the land, I am planning to visit the shrines of the gods, with this wreathed branch and these gifts of incense in my hands. For Oedipus excites his soul excessively with all sorts of grief,
as he does not judge the new things from the old, like a man of sense, but is under the control of the speaker, if he speaks of frightful things. Since, then, I can do no good by counsel, to you, Lycean Apollo—for you are nearest—
915
I have come as a suppliant with these symbols of prayer, that you may find us some escape from uncleanliness. For now we are all afraid, like those who see fear in the helmsman of their ship.
920
Messenger
Can you tell me, strangers, where
the house of King Oedipus is? Or better still, tell me where he himself is, if you know.
925
Chorus
This is his dwelling, and he himself, stranger, is within. This lady here is the mother of his children.
Messenger
Then may she be ever happy in a happy home,
since she is his blessed queen.
930
Iocasta
Happiness to you also, stranger! Your fair greeting deserves this. But say what you have come to seek or to tell.
Messenger
Good tidings, lady, for your house and your husband.
Iocasta
What are they? From whom have you come?
935
Messenger
From Corinth, and at the message I will give now you will doubtless rejoice, though you may perhaps grieve too.
Iocasta
What is it? Why has it this double potency?
Messenger
The people will make him king of the
Isthmian land, as it was said there.
940
Iocasta
How then? Is the aged Polybus no longer in power?
Messenger
No. For death holds him in the tomb.
Iocasta
What do you mean? Is Polybus dead, old man?
Messenger
If I do not speak the truth, I am content to die.
Iocasta
Handmaid, away with all speed, and tell this to your master! Oracles of the gods, where do you stand now? It is this man that Oedipus long feared he would slay. And now this man has died in the course of destiny, not by his hand.
945
Oedipus
Iocasta, dearest wife, why have you summoned me forth from these doors?
950
Iocasta
Hear this man, and judge, as you listen, what the awful oracles have come to.
Oedipus
Who is he and what news does he have for me?
Iocasta
He comes from Corinth to tell you that your father Polybus lives no longer, but has perished.
955
Oedipus
How, stranger? Let me have it from your own mouth.
Messenger
If I must first make these tidings plain, know indeed that he is dead and gone.
Oedipus
By treachery, or from illness?
960
Messenger
A light tilt of the scale brings the aged to their rest.
Oedipus
Ah, he died, it seems, of sickness?
Messenger
Yes, and of the long years that he had lived.
Oedipus
Alas, alas! Why indeed, my wife, should one look to the
hearth of the Pythian seer, or to the birds that scream above our heads, who declared that I was doomed to slay my father? But he is dead, and lies beneath the earth, and here I am, not having put my hand to any spear—unless, perhaps, he died out of longing for me:
965
thus, indeed, I would be the cause of his death. But as the oracles stand, at least, Polybus has swept them with him to his rest in Hades. They are worth nothing.
970
Iocasta
Did I not long ago foretell this to you?
Oedipus
You did, but I was mislead by my fear.
Iocasta
Now no longer take any of those things to heart.
975
Oedipus
But surely I must fear my mother’s bed.
Iocasta
What should a mortal man fear, for whom the decrees of Fortune are supreme, and who has clear foresight of nothing? It is best to live at random, as one may.
But fear not that you will wed your mother. Many men before now have slept with their mothers in dreams. But he to whom these things are as though nothing bears his life most easily.
980
Oedipus
All these words of yours would have been well said,
were my mother not alive. But as it is, since she lives, I must necessarily fear, though you do speak well.
985
Iocasta
Your father’s death is a great sign for us to take cheer.
Oedipus
Great, I know. But my fear is of her who lives.
Messenger
And who is the woman about whom you fear?
Oedipus
Merope, old man, the consort of Polybus.
990
Messenger
And what is it in her that moves your fear?
Oedipus
A divine oracle of dread import, stranger.
Messenger
Proper, or improper, for another to know?
Oedipus
Proper, surely. Loxias once said that I was
doomed to marry my own mother, and to shed with my own hands my father’s blood. For which
reasons I long shirked my home in Corinth—with a happy outcome, to be sure, but
still it is sweet to see the face of one’s parents.
995
Messenger
Was it really for fear of this that you became an exile from that city?
Oedipus
And because I did not wish, old man, to be the murderer of my father.
1000
Messenger
Why have I not relieved you of this second fear, my lord, since I came to give you pleasure?
Oedipus
And indeed you will have worthy thanks from me.
Messenger
And indeed I came specially for this, that
I might profit from your returning home.
1005
Oedipus
But by no means will I ever go near my parents again.
Messenger
My son, it is crystal clear that you do not know what you are doing.
Oedipus
How so, old man? In the name of the gods, tell me.
Messenger
If on account of this you are fleeing from returning home.
1010
Oedipus
Fearing indeed lest Apollo’s prophecy come true in me.
Messenger
Lest you acquire some pollution from your parents?
Oedipus
This very thing, old man, this constantly frightens me.
Messenger
Do you know, then, that your fears are wholly in vain?
Oedipus
How so, if I was born of those parents?
1015
Messenger
Because you had no blood in common with Polybus.
Oedipus
What are you saying? Was Polybus not my father?
Messenger
Just as much, and no more, than he who speaks to you.
Oedipus
And how can my father be equal to him who is as though nothing to me?
Messenger
But he did not father you, any more than I did.
1020
Oedipus
How, then, did he call me his son?
Messenger
Long ago he received you as a gift from my hands.
Oedipus
And yet he loved me so dearly, who came from another’s hand?
Messenger
His former childlessness won him over.
Oedipus
And had you bought me or found me by chance, when you gave me to him?
1025
Messenger
I found you in Cithaeron’s winding glens.
Oedipus
And why were you roaming those regions?
Messenger
I was in charge of mountain flocks.
Oedipus
What, you were a shepherd—a vagrant hireling?
Messenger
But your savior, my son, in that hour.
1030
Oedipus
And what was my pain when you took me in your arms?
Messenger
The ankles of your feet might bear witness.
Oedipus
Ah me, why do you speak of that old trouble?
Messenger
I freed you when you had your ankles pinned together.
Oedipus
It was a dread brand of shame that I took from my cradle.
1035
Messenger
So much so that from that fortune you were called by that name which you still bear.
Oedipus
Oh, in the name of the gods, was the deed my mother’s or father’s?
Speak!
Messenger
I know not. He who gave you to me knows better of that than I.
Oedipus
What, you got me from another? You did not find me yourself?
Messenger
No. Another shepherd gave you to me.
1040
Oedipus
Who was he? Can you tell clearly?
Messenger
I think he was said to be one of the household of Laius.
Oedipus
The king who ruled this country long ago?
Messenger
The same. The man was a herdsman in his service.
Oedipus
Is he still alive, that I might see him?
1045
Messenger
You natives of this country should know best.
Oedipus
Is there any of you here present that knows the herdsman of whom he speaks, having seen him either in the pastures or here in town? Answer!
The hour has come for these things to be revealed finally.
1050
Chorus
I think he speaks of no other than the peasant you already wanted to see. But our lady Iocasta might best tell you that.
Oedipus
Lady, do you know the one whom we summoned just now?
Is it of him that this man speaks?
1055
Iocasta
Why ask of whom he spoke? Regard it not; waste not a thought on what he said; it would be vain.
Oedipus
It must not happen that, with such clues in my grasp, I fail to bring my birth to light.
Iocasta
For the gods’ sake, if you have any care for your own life, do not continue this search!
My anguish is enough.
1060
Oedipus
Be of good courage. Even if I should be found the son of a servile mother—a slave by three descents—you will not be proven baseborn.
Iocasta
Hear me, I implore you: do not do this.
Oedipus
I will not hear of not discovering the whole truth.
1065
Iocasta
Yet I wish you well—I counsel you for the best.
Oedipus
These best counsels, then, vex my patience.
Iocasta
Oh ill-fated man, may you never know who you are!
Oedipus
Go, some one, fetch me the herdsman.
Leave this woman to glory in her princely stock.
1070
Iocasta
Alas, alas, miserable man—that word alone can I say to you—and no other word ever again. She rushes into the palace.
Chorus
Why has this woman gone, Oedipus, rushing off in wild grief? I fear
a storm of sorrow will soon break forth from this silence.
1075
Oedipus
Break forth what will! Be my race ever so lowly, I crave to learn it. That woman perhaps—for she is proud with more than a woman’s pride—feels ashamed of my lowly origin. But I, who hold myself son of Fortune
that gives good, will not be dishonored. She is the mother from whom I spring, and the months, my kinsmen, have marked me sometimes lowly, sometimes great. Such being my heritage, never more can I prove
1080
false to it, or keep from searching out the secret of my birth.
1085