Whose visage glows with wine,

O save us from the god whom no gods honor! Hear,

Bacchus! Draw near,

And light thy torch of pine!

Enter EDIPUS, attended.

Edipus. You are at prayers; but for your prayers' intent

You may gain help, and of your ills relief,

If you will minister to the pestilence,

And harken and receive my words, which I -
A stranger to this tale, and to the deed

A stranger shall pronounce; for of myself
I could not follow up the traces far,

Not having any key. But, made since then
A fellow-townsman to the townsmen here,
To all you Cadmeans I thus proclaim:
Whichever of you knows the man, by whom
Laius the son of Labdacus was slain,
Even if he is afraid, seeing he himself

Suppressed the facts that made against himself,
I bid that man show the whole truth to me;
For he shall suffer no disparagement,

Except to quit the land, unscathed. Again,

If

any knows another say some stranger
To have been guilty, let him not keep silence;
For I will pay him the reward, and favor
Shall be his due beside it. But again,

If you will hold your peace, and any man

From self or friend in terror shall repel

This word of mine, then you must hear me say

What I shall do. Whoe'er he be, I order

That of this land, whose power and throne are mine,
None entertain him, none accost him, none

Cause him to share in prayers or sacrifice
Offered to Heaven, or pour him lustral wave,
But all men from their houses banish him;
Since it is he contaminates us all,

Even as the Pythian oracle divine

Revealed but now to me. Such is my succor
Of him that's dead, and of the Deity.
And on the guilty head I imprecate
That whether by himself he has lain covert,
Or joined with others, without happiness,
Evil, in evil, he may pine and die.

And for myself I pray, if with my knowledge
He should become an inmate of my dwelling,
That I may suffer all that I invoked

On these just now. Moreover, all these things
I charge you to accomplish, in behalf
Of me, and of the God, and of this land,
So ruined, barren, and forsaken of Heaven.
For even though the matter were not now
By Heaven enjoined you, 'twas unnatural
For you to suffer it to pass uncleansed,

A man most noble having been slain, a king too!
Rather, you should have searched it out; but now,
Since I am vested with the government

Which he held once, and have his marriage-bed,
And the same wife; and since our progeny
If his had not miscarried - had sprung from us
With common ties of common motherhood
Only that Fate came heavy upon his head
On these accounts I, as for my own father,
Will fight this fight, and follow out every clue,
Seeking to seize the author of his murder-
The scion of Labdacus and Polydore
And earlier Cadmus and Agenor old;
And such as disobey - the Gods I ask

Neither to raise them harvest from the ground
Nor children from the womb, but that they perish
By this fate present, and yet worse than this;
While you, the other Cadmeans, who approve,
May succoring Justice and all Gods in heaven
Accompany for good for evermore!

I Senator. Even as thou didst adjure me, so, my king,

I will reply. I neither murdered him,

Nor can point out the murderer. For the quest

To tell us who on earth has done this deed
Belonged to Phoebus, by whose word it came.

Edipus. Your words are just; but to constrain the Gods To what they will not, passes all men's power.

I Senator. I would say something which appears to me The second chance to this.

Edipus.

And your third, also —

If such you have — by all means tell it.

I Senator.

Tiresias above all men, I am sure,

Sir,

Ranks as a seer next Phœbus, king with king;
Of him we might inquire and learn the truth
With all assurance.

Edipus.

That is what I did;

And with no slackness; for by Creon's advice
I sent, twice over; and for some time, now,
'Tis strange he is not here.

I Senator.

Then all the rest

What sort of words?

Are but stale words and dumb.

Edipus.

I am weighing every utterance.
I Senator.

To have been killed by footpads.
Edipus.

He was said

So I heard;

But he who saw it is himself unseen.

I Senator. Well, if his bosom holds a grain of fear, Curses like yours he never will abide!

Edipus. Whom the doing awes not, speaking cannot scare. I Senator. Then there is one to expose him: here they come, Bringing the godlike seer, the only man

Who has in him the tongue that cannot lie.

Enter TIRESIAS, led by a boy.

Edipus. Tiresias, thou who searchest everything,
Communicable or nameless, both in heaven

And on the earth thou canst not see the city,
But knowest no less what pestilence visits it,

Wherefrom our only savior and defense

We find, sir king, in thee. For Phoebus - if
Thou dost not know it from the messengers -
To us, who sent to ask him, sent word back,
That from this sickness no release should come,
Till we had found and slain the men who slew
Laius, or driven them, banished, from the land.
Wherefore do thou not sparing augury,
Either through birds, or any other way
Thou hast of divination - save thyself,

And save the city, and me; save the whole mass
By this dead corpse infected; for in thee
Stands our existence; and for men, to help
With might and main is of all tasks the highest.
Tiresias. Alas! How terrible it is to know,
Where no good comes of knowing! Of these matters
I was full well aware, but let them slip me;
Else I had not come hither.

Edipus.

How out of heart thou hast come!

Tiresias.

But what is it?

Let me go home;

So shalt thou bear thy load most easily

If thou wilt take my counsel - and I mine.

Edipus. Thou hast not spoken loyally, nor friendly Toward the State that bred thee, cheating her

Of this response!

Tiresias.

Because I do not see

Thy words, not even thine, going to the mark;
So, not to be in the same plight

I Senator.

For Heaven's sake,

If thou hast knowledge, do not turn away,
When all of us implore thee suppliant!

Tiresias.

Are all unknowing; my say, in any sort,

I will not say, lest I display thy sorrow.

Ye

Edipus. What, you do know, and will not speak? Your

mind

Is to betray us, and destroy the city?

Tiresias. I will not bring remorse upon myself

And upon you. Why do you search these matters?

Vain, vain! I will not tell you.

Edipus.

Worst of traitors!

For you would rouse a very stone to wrath
Will you not speak out ever, but stand thus
Relentless and persistent?

You censure; but your own, at home, you see not,
And yet blame me!

Edipus.

Who would not take offense,

Hearing the words in which you flout the city?

Tiresias. Well, it will come; keep silence as I may.

Edipus. And what will come should I not hear from you? Tiresias. I will declare no further. Storm at this,

If't please you, to the wildest height of anger!

Edipus. At least I will not, being so far in anger,
Spare anything of what is clear to me:

Know, I suspect you joined to hatch the deed;
Yea, did it all but slaying with your own hands;
And if you were not blind, I should aver

The act was your work only!

Tiresias.

Was it so?

I charge you to abide by your decree

As you proclaimed it; nor from this day forth
Speak word to these, or me; being of this land

Yourself the abominable contaminator!

Edipus. So shamelessly set you this story on foot, And think, perhaps, you shall go free?

Tiresias.

I am

Free! for I have in me the strength of truth.

Edipus. Who prompted you? for from your art it was not! Tiresias. Yourself! You made me speak, against my will. Edipus. Speak! What? Repeat, that I may learn it better! Tiresias. Did you not understand me at first hearing, Or are you tempting me, when you say "Speak!" Edipus. Not so to say for certain; speak again. Tiresias. I say that you are Laius' murdererHe whom you seek.

Edipus.

Not without chastisement

Shall you, twice over, utter wounds!