OEDIPUS

Words scare not him who blenches not at deeds.
CHORUS

But here is one to arraign him. Lo, at length
They bring the god-inspired seer in whom

Above all other men is truth inborn.
[Enter TEIRESIAS, led by a boy.]

OEDIPUS
Teiresias, seer who comprehendest all,

Lore of the wise and hidden mysteries,
High things of heaven and low things of the earth,

Thou knowest, though thy blinded eyes see naught,
What plague infects our city; and we turn

To thee, O seer, our one defense and shield.
The purport of the answer that the God

Returned to us who sought his oracle,
The messengers have doubtless told thee--how

One course alone could rid us of the pest,
To find the murderers of Laius,

And slay them or expel them from the land.
Therefore begrudging neither augury

Nor other divination that is thine,
O save thyself, thy country, and thy king,

Save all from this defilement of blood shed.
On thee we rest. This is man's highest end,

To others' service all his powers to lend.
TEIRESIAS

Alas, alas, what misery to be wise
When wisdom profits nothing! This old lore

I had forgotten; else I were not here.
OEDIPUS

What ails thee? Why this melancholy mood?
TEIRESIAS

Let me go home; prevent me not; 'twere best
That thou shouldst bear thy burden and I mine.

OEDIPUS
For shame! no true-born Theban patriot

Would thus withhold the word of prophecy.
TEIRESIAS

_Thy_ words, O king, are wide of the mark, and I
For fear lest I too trip like thee...

OEDIPUS
Oh speak,

Withhold not, I adjure thee, if thou know'st,
Thy knowledge. We are all thy suppliants.

TEIRESIAS
Aye, for ye all are witless, but my voice

Will ne'er reveal my miseries--or thine. [2]
OEDIPUS

What then, thou knowest, and yet willst not speak!
Wouldst thou betray us and destroy the State?

TEIRESIAS
I will not vex myself nor thee. Why ask

Thus idly what from me thou shalt not learn?
OEDIPUS

Monster! thy silence would incense a flint.
Will nothing loose thy tongue? Can nothing melt thee,

Or shake thy dogged taciturnity?
TEIRESIAS

Thou blam'st my mood and seest not thine own
Wherewith thou art mated; no, thou taxest me.

OEDIPUS
And who could stay his choler when he heard

How insolently thou dost flout the State?
TEIRESIAS

Well, it will come what will, though I be mute.
OEDIPUS

Since come it must, thy duty is to tell me.
TEIRESIAS

I have no more to say; storm as thou willst,
And give the rein to all thy pent-up rage.

OEDIPUS
Yea, I am wroth, and will not stint my words,

But speak my whole mind. Thou methinks thou art he,
Who planned the crime, aye, and performed it too,

All save the assassination; and if thou
Hadst not been blind, I had been sworn to boot

That thou alone didst do the bloody deed.
TEIRESIAS

Is it so? Then I charge thee to abide
By thine own proclamation; from this day

Speak not to these or me. Thou art the man,
Thou the accursed polluter of this land.

OEDIPUS
Vile slanderer, thou blurtest forth these taunts,

And think'st forsooth as seer to go scot free.
TEIRESIAS

Yea, I am free, strong in the strength of truth.
OEDIPUS

Who was thy teacher? not methinks thy art.
TEIRESIAS

Thou, goading me against my will to speak.
OEDIPUS

What speech? repeat it and resolve my doubt.
TEIRESIAS

Didst miss my sense wouldst thou goad me on?
OEDIPUS

I but half caught thy meaning; say it again.
TEIRESIAS

I say thou art the murderer of the man
Whose murderer thou pursuest.

OEDIPUS
Thou shalt rue it

Twice to repeat so gross a calumny.
TEIRESIAS

Must I say more to aggravate thy rage?
OEDIPUS

Say all thou wilt; it will be but waste of breath.
TEIRESIAS

I say thou livest with thy nearest kin
In infamy, unwitting in thy shame.

OEDIPUS
Think'st thou for aye unscathed to wag thy tongue?

TEIRESIAS
Yea, if the might of truth can aught prevail.

OEDIPUS
With other men, but not with thee, for thou

In ear, wit, eye, in everything art blind.
TEIRESIAS

Poor fool to utter gibes at me which all
Here present will cast back on thee ere long.

OEDIPUS
Offspring of endless Night, thou hast no power

O'er me or any man who sees the sun.
TEIRESIAS

No, for thy weird is not to fall by me.
I leave to Apollo what concerns the god.

OEDIPUS
Is this a plot of Creon, or thine own?

TEIRESIAS
Not Creon, thou thyself art thine own bane.

OEDIPUS
O wealth and empiry and skill by skill

Outwitted in the battlefield of life,
What spite and envy follow in your train!

See, for this crown the State conferred on me.
A gift, a thing I sought not, for this crown

The trusty Creon, my familiar friend,
Hath lain in wait to oust me and suborned

This mountebank, this juggling charlatan,
This tricksy beggar-priest, for gain alone

Keen-eyed, but in his proper art stone-blind.
Say, sirrah, hast thou ever proved thyself

A prophet? When the riddling Sphinx was here
Why hadst thou no deliverance for this folk?

And yet the riddle was not to be solved
By guess-work but required the prophet's art;

Wherein thou wast found lacking; neither birds
Nor sign from heaven helped thee, but _I_ came,

The simple Oedipus; _I_ stopped her mouth
By mother wit, untaught of auguries.

This is the man whom thou wouldst undermine,
In hope to reign with Creon in my stead.

Methinks that thou and thine abettor soon
Will rue your plot to drive the scapegoat out.

Thank thy grey hairs that thou hast still to learn
What chastisement such arrogance deserves.

CHORUS
To us it seems that both the seer and thou,

O Oedipus, have spoken angry words.
This is no time to wrangle but consult

How best we may fulfill the oracle.
TEIRESIAS

King as thou art, free speech at least is mine
To make reply; in this I am thy peer.

I own no lord but Loxias; him I serve
And ne'er can stand enrolled as Creon's man.

Thus then I answer: since thou hast not spared
To twit me with my blindness--thou hast eyes,

Yet see'st not in what misery thou art fallen,
Nor where thou dwellest nor with whom for mate.

Dost know thy lineage? Nay, thou know'st it not,
And all unwitting art a double foe

To thine own kin, the living and the dead;
Aye and the dogging curse of mother and sire

One day shall drive thee, like a two-edged sword,
Beyond our borders, and the eyes that now

See clear shall henceforward endless night.
Ah whither shall thy bitter cry not reach,

What crag in all Cithaeron but shall then
Reverberate thy wail, when thou hast found

With what a hymeneal thou wast borne
Home, but to no fair haven, on the gale!

Aye, and a flood of ills thou guessest not
Shall set thyself and children in one line.

Flout then both Creon and my words, for none
Of mortals shall be striken worse than thou.

OEDIPUS
Must I endure this fellow's insolence?

A murrain on thee! Get thee hence! Begone
Avaunt! and never cross my threshold more.

TEIRESIAS
I ne'er had come hadst thou not bidden me.

OEDIPUS
I know not thou wouldst utter folly, else

Long hadst thou waited to be summoned here.
TEIRESIAS

Such am I--as it seems to thee a fool,
But to the parents who begat thee, wise.

OEDIPUS
What sayest thou--"parents"? Who begat me, speak?

• hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• doubtless [´dautlis] ad.无疑地；大概，多半 (初中英语单词)
• misery [´mizəri] n.痛苦；悲惨；穷困 (初中英语单词)
• wisdom [´wizdəm] n.智慧，聪明，才智 (初中英语单词)
• betray [bi´trei] vt.背叛；辜负；暴露 (初中英语单词)
• bloody [´blʌdi] a.(流)血的；血腥的 (初中英语单词)
• charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
• resolve [ri´zɔlv] v.决心 n.决心；刚毅 (初中英语单词)
• apollo [ə´pɔləu] n.阿波罗 (初中英语单词)
• wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)
• prophet [´prɔfit] n.预言家；先知；提倡者 (初中英语单词)
• spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• endure [in´djuə] vt.忍耐，忍受；坚持 (初中英语单词)
• plague [pleig] n.瘟疫 vt.使...染疫 (高中英语单词)
• melancholy [´melənkəli] n.忧郁 a.忧郁的 (高中英语单词)
• incense [´insens, in´sens] n.香(气) vt.激怒 (高中英语单词)
• methinks [mi´θiŋks] vi.据我看来 (高中英语单词)
• murderer [´mə:dərə] n.杀人犯，凶手 (高中英语单词)
• riddle [´ridl] n.谜(语) v.解(谜等) (高中英语单词)
• threshold [´θreʃhəuld] n.门槛；入门；开端 (高中英语单词)
• proclamation [,prɔklə´meiʃən] n.宣布；公告；声明 (英语四级单词)
• accursed [ə´kə:sid] a.被诅咒的；可憎的 (英语四级单词)
• aggravate [´ægrəveit] vt.使加剧；激怒 (英语四级单词)
• trusty [´trʌsti] a.可靠的 n.可信任的 (英语四级单词)
• deliverance [di´livərəns] n.援救；获释 (英语四级单词)
• purport [´pə:pɔ:t, -pət] n.意义 vt.意味着 (英语六级单词)
• withhold [wið´həuld] v.不给；扣留；抑制 (英语六级单词)
• assassination [ə,sæsi´neiʃən] n.暗杀；暗杀事件 (英语六级单词)
• battlefield [´bætlfi:ld] n.战场 (英语六级单词)
• lacking [´lækiŋ] a.缺少的，没有的 (英语六级单词)
• arrogance [´ærəgəns] n.傲慢；自大 (英语六级单词)
• wrangle [´ræŋgəl] v.争论，口角，争吵 (英语六级单词)