Oedipus PART SEVEN

CHORUS LEADER: Creon is coming. He is just in time
      to plan and carry out what you propose.
      With you gone he’s the only one who’s left
      to act as guardian of Thebes.

OEDIPUS:                                                 Alas,
      how will I talk to him? How can I ask him
      to put his trust in me? Not long ago                                                    [1420]
      I treated him with such contempt.

[Enter Creon]

CREON: Oedipus, I have not come here to mock                         1680
      or blame you for disasters in the past.
      But if you can no longer value human beings,
      at least respect our lord the sun, whose light
      makes all things grow, and do not put on show
      pollution of this kind in such a public way,
      for neither earth nor light nor sacred rain
      can welcome such a sight.

[Creon speaks to the attending servants]

                                       Take him inside the house
      as quickly as you can. The kindest thing
      would be for members of his family                                                     [1430]
      to be the only ones to see and hear him.                                   1690

OEDIPUS: By all the gods, since you are acting now
      so differently from what I would expect
      and have come here to treat me graciously,
      the very worst of men, do what I ask.
      I will speak for your own benefit, not mine.

CREON: What are you so keen to get from me?

OEDIPUS: Cast me out as quickly as you can,
      away from Thebes, to a place where no one,
      no living human being, will cross my path.

CREON: That is something I could do, of course,                         1700
      but first I wish to know what the god says
      about what I should do.

OEDIPUS:                               But what he said                                       [1440]
      was all so clear—the man who killed his father
      must be destroyed. And that corrupted man
      is me.

CREON:             Yes, that is what was said. But now,
      with things the way they are, the wisest thing
      is to ascertain quite clearly what to do.

OEDIPUS: Will you then be making a request
      on my behalf when I am so depraved?

CREON: I will. For even you must now trust in the gods.             1710

OEDIPUS: Yes, I do. And I have a task for you
      as I make this plea—that woman in the house,
      please bury her as you see fit. You are the one
      to give your own the proper funeral rites.
      But never let my father’s city be condemned
      to have me living here while I still live.                                               [1450]
      Let me make my home up in the mountains
      by Cithaeron, whose fame is now my own.
      When my father and mother were alive,
      they chose it as my special burying place—                              1720
      and thus, when I die, I’ll be following
      the orders of the ones who tried to kill me.
      And yet I know this much—no disease
      nor any other suffering can kill me—
      for I would never have been saved from death
      unless I was to suffer a strange destiny.
      But wherever my fate leads, just let it go.
      As for my two sons, Creon, there’s no need
      for you to care for them on my behalf—
      they are men—thus, no matter where they are,                         1730       [1460]
      they’ll always have enough to live on.
      But my two poor daughters have never known
      my dining table placed away from them
      or lacked their father’s presence. They shared
      everything I touched—that’s how it’s always been.
      So take care of them for me. But first let me
      feel them with my hands and then I’ll grieve.
      Oh my lord, you noble heart, let me do that—
      if my hands could touch them it would seem
      as if I were with them when I still could see.                            1740        [1470]

[Some SERVANTS lead ANTIGONE and ISMENE out of the palace]

      What’s this? By all the gods I hear something—
      is it my two dear children crying . . . ?
      Has Creon taken pity on me
      and sent out the children, my dear treasures?
      Is that what’s happening?

CREON:                                     Yes. I sent for them.
      I know the joy they’ve always given you—
      the joy which you feel now.

OEDIPUS:                                     I wish you well.
      And for this act, may the god watch over you
      and treat you better than he treated me.
      Ah, my children, where are you? Come here,                            1750       [1480]
      come into my arms—you are my sisters now—
      feel these hands which turned your father’s eyes,
      once so bright, into what you see now,
      these empty sockets. He was a man, who,
      seeing nothing, knowing nothing, fathered you
      with the woman who had given birth to him.
      I weep for you. Although I cannot see,
      I think about your life in days to come,
      the bitter life which men will force on you.
      What citizens will associate with you?                                      1760
      What feasts will you attend and not come home
      in tears, with no share in the rejoicing?                                                [1490]
      When you’re mature enough for marriage,
      who will be there for you, my children,
      what husband ready to assume the shame
      tainting my children and their children, too?
      What perversion is not manifest in us?
      Your father killed his father, and then ploughed
      his mother’s womb—where he himself was born—
      conceiving you where he, too, was conceived.                          1770
      Those are the insults they will hurl at you.                                          [1500]
      Who, then, will marry you? No one, my children.
      You must wither, barren and unmarried.
      Son of Menoeceus, with both parents gone,
      you alone remain these children’s father.
      Do not let them live as vagrant paupers,
      wandering around unmarried. You are
      a relative of theirs—don’t let them sink
      to lives of desperation like my own.
      Have pity. You see them now at their young age                      1780
      deprived of everything except a share
      in what you are. Promise me, you noble soul,
      you will extend your hand to them. And you,                                      [1510]
      my children, if your minds were now mature,
      there’s so much I could say. But I urge you—
      pray that you may live as best you can
      and lead your destined life more happily
      than your own father.

CREON:                               You have grieved enough.
      Now go into the house.

OEDIPUS:                                     I must obey,
      although that’s not what I desire.

CREON:                                           In due time                            1790
      all things will work out for the best.

OEDIPUS:                                           I will go.
      But you know there are conditions.

CREON:                                                 Tell me.
      Once I hear them, I’ll know what they are.

OEDIPUS: Send me away to live outside of Thebes.

CREON: Only the god can give you what you ask.

OEDIPUS: But I’ve become abhorrent to the gods.

CREON: Then you should quickly get what you desire.

OEDIPUS: So you agree?                                                                         [1520]

CREON:                               I don’t like to speak
      thoughtlessly and say what I don’t mean.

OEDIPUS: Come then, lead me off.

CREON:                                                 All right,                          1800
      but let go of the children.

OEDIPUS:                                           No, no!
      Do not take them away from me.

CREON: Don’t try to be in charge of everything.
      Your life has lost the power you once had.

[CREON, OEDIPUS, ANTIGONE, ISMENE, and ATTENDANTS all enter the palace]

CHORUS: You residents of Thebes, our native land,
      look on this man, this Oedipus, the one
      who understood that celebrated riddle.
      He was the most powerful of men.
      All citizens who witnessed this man’s wealth
      were envious. Now what a surging tide                                     1810
      of terrible disaster sweeps around him.
      So while we wait to see that final day,
      we cannot call a mortal being happy
      before he’s passed beyond life free from pain.                                     [1530]