The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oedipus Trilogy, by Sophocles ...
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oedipus Trilogy, by Sophocles ... The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oedipus Trilogy, by Sophocles ...
Are more deserving chastisement than his. HERDSMAN O best of masters, what is my offense? OEDIPUS Not answering what he asks about the child. HERDSMAN He speaks at random, babbles like a fool. OEDIPUS If thou lack'st grace to speak, I'll loose thy tongue. HERDSMAN For mercy's sake abuse not an old man. OEDIPUS Arrest the villain, seize and pinion him! HERDSMAN Alack, alack! What have I done? what wouldst thou further learn? OEDIPUS Didst give this man the child of whom he asks? HERDSMAN I did; and would that I had died that day! OEDIPUS And die thou shalt unless thou tell the truth. HERDSMAN But, if I tell it, I am doubly lost. OEDIPUS The knave methinks will still prevaricate. HERDSMAN Nay, I confessed I gave it long ago. OEDIPUS Whence came it? was it thine, or given to thee? HERDSMAN I had it from another, 'twas not mine. OEDIPUS From whom of these our townsmen, and what house? HERDSMAN Forbear for God's sake, master, ask no more. OEDIPUS If I must question thee again, thou'rt lost.
HERDSMAN Well then--it was a child of Laius' house. OEDIPUS Slave-born or one of Laius' own race? HERDSMAN Ah me! I stand upon the perilous edge of speech. OEDIPUS And I of hearing, but I still must hear. HERDSMAN Know then the child was by repute his own, But she within, thy consort best could tell. OEDIPUS What! she, she gave it thee? HERDSMAN OEDIPUS With what intent? HERDSMAN OEDIPUS What, she its mother. HERDSMAN OEDIPUS What weird? HERDSMAN 'Tis so, my king. To make away with it. Fearing a dread weird. 'Twas told that he should slay his sire. OEDIPUS What didst thou give it then to this old man? HERDSMAN Through pity, master, for the babe. I thought He'd take it to the country whence he came; But he preserved it for the worst of woes. For if thou art in sooth what this man saith, God pity thee! thou wast to misery born. OEDIPUS Ah me! ah me! all brought to pass, all true! O light, may I behold thee nevermore! I stand a wretch, in birth, in wedlock cursed, A parricide, incestuously, triply cursed! [Exit OEDIPUS]
- Page 1 and 2: The Project Gutenberg EBook of The
- Page 3 and 4: Explain your mood and purport. Is i
- Page 5 and 6: King Phoebus bids us straitly extir
- Page 7 and 8: If in the days of old when we nigh
- Page 9 and 10: But may they waste and pine, as now
- Page 11 and 12: TEIRESIAS I will not vex myself nor
- Page 13 and 14: The trusty Creon, my familiar frien
- Page 15 and 16: That I have missed the mark, hencef
- Page 17 and 18: Therein thou judgest rightly, but t
- Page 19 and 20: The thing he counts most precious,
- Page 21 and 22: CHORUS No, by the leader of the hos
- Page 23 and 24: OEDIPUS What memories, what wild tu
- Page 25 and 26: My mother and my sire and questione
- Page 27 and 28: Then topples o'er and lies in ruin
- Page 29 and 30: OEDIPUS What? let me have it, stran
- Page 31 and 32: OEDIPUS Yea, lest the god's word be
- Page 33 and 34: Afield or in the city? answer strai
- Page 35: HERDSMAN I was, a thrall, not purch
- Page 39 and 40: SECOND MESSENGER My tale is quickly
- Page 41 and 42: The double weight of past and prese
- Page 43 and 44: Thy prayer by action or advice, for
- Page 45 and 46: Such are the gibes that men will ca
- Page 47 and 48: Creon enters with an armed guard wh
- Page 49 and 50: Tell me the awful name I should inv
- Page 51 and 52: Of cities, pity this dishonored sha
- Page 53 and 54: Follow with blind steps, father, as
- Page 55 and 56: CHORUS O wretched me! Begone! OEDIP
- Page 57 and 58: OEDIPUS Well, may he come with bles
- Page 59 and 60: To suffer, first in act and then in
- Page 61 and 62: They knew it, yet the ignoble greed
- Page 63 and 64: And I shall then be bold to stand t
- Page 65 and 66: OEDIPUS Horrors from the boundless
- Page 67 and 68: OEDIPUS Yea, the last boon is warra
- Page 69 and 70: What wouldst thou here? I shall not
- Page 71 and 72: Oh land extolled above all lands, '
- Page 73 and 74: Not for a man indeed with wits like
- Page 75 and 76: OEDIPUS Where art thou, daughter? A
- Page 77 and 78: CHORUS Haste ye princes, sound the
- Page 79 and 80: Me then unborn, begotten by no sire
- Page 81 and 82: (Ant. 1) Haply on swiftest steed, O
- Page 83 and 84: What say I? Can I wish that thou sh
- Page 85 and 86: Grievous to me, my child, the boon
Are more deserving chastisement than his.<br />
HERDSMAN<br />
O best <strong>of</strong> masters, what is my <strong>of</strong>fense?<br />
OEDIPUS<br />
Not answering what he asks about the child.<br />
HERDSMAN<br />
He speaks at random, babbles like a fool.<br />
OEDIPUS<br />
If thou lack'st grace to speak, I'll loose thy tongue.<br />
HERDSMAN<br />
For mercy's sake abuse not an old man.<br />
OEDIPUS<br />
Arrest the villain, seize and pinion him!<br />
HERDSMAN<br />
Alack, alack!<br />
What have I done? what wouldst thou further learn?<br />
OEDIPUS<br />
Didst give this man the child <strong>of</strong> whom he asks?<br />
HERDSMAN<br />
I did; and would that I had died that day!<br />
OEDIPUS<br />
And die thou shalt unless thou tell the truth.<br />
HERDSMAN<br />
But, if I tell it, I am doubly lost.<br />
OEDIPUS<br />
<strong>The</strong> knave methinks will still prevaricate.<br />
HERDSMAN<br />
Nay, I confessed I gave it long ago.<br />
OEDIPUS<br />
Whence came it? was it thine, or given to thee?<br />
HERDSMAN<br />
I had it from another, 'twas not mine.<br />
OEDIPUS<br />
From whom <strong>of</strong> these our townsmen, and what house?<br />
HERDSMAN<br />
Forbear for God's sake, master, ask no more.<br />
OEDIPUS<br />
If I must question thee again, thou'rt lost.
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