章节正文
O woe is me!
CHORUS
Thou art a bold man, stranger, if thou think'st
To execute thy purpose.
CREON
So I do.
CHORUS
Then shall I deem this State no more a State.
CREON
With a just quarrel weakness conquers might.
OEDIPUS
Ye hear his words?
CHORUS
Aye words, but not yet deeds,
Zeus knoweth!
CREON
Zeus may haply know, not thou.
CHORUS
Insolence!
CREON
Insolence that thou must bear.
CHORUS
Haste ye princes, sound the alarm!
Men of Athens, arm ye, arm!
Quickly to the rescue come
Ere the robbers get them home.
[Enter THESEUS]
THESEUS
Why this outcry? What is forward? wherefore was I called away
From the altar of Poseidon, lord of your Colonus? Say!
On what errand have I hurriedhither without stop or stay.
OEDIPUS
Dear friend--those accents tell me who thou art--
Yon man but now hath done me a foul wrong.
THESEUS
What is this wrong and who hath wrought it? Speak.
OEDIPUS
Creon who stands before thee. He it is
Hath robbed me of my all, my daughters twain.
THESEUS
What means this?
OEDIPUS
Thou hast heard my tale of wrongs.
THESEUS
Ho! hasten to the altars, one of you.
Command my liegemen leave the sacrifice
And hurry, foot and horse, with rein unchecked,
To where the paths that packmen use diverge,
Lest the two maidens slip away, and I
Become a mockery to this my guest,
As one despoiled by force. Quick, as I bid.
As for this stranger, had I let my rage,
Justly provoked, have play, he had not 'scaped
Scathless and uncorrected at my hands.
But now the laws to which himself appealed,
These and none others shall adjudicate.
Thou shalt not quit this land, till thou hast fetched
The maidens and produced them in my sight.
Thou hast offended both against myself
And thine own race and country. Having come
Unto a State that champions right and asks
For every action warranty of law,
Thou hast set aside the custom of the land,
And like some freebooter art carrying off
What plunder pleases thee, as if forsooth
Thou thoughtest this a city without men,
Or manned by slaves, and me a thing of naught.
Yet not from Thebes this villainy was learnt;
Thebes is not wont to breed unrighteous sons,
Nor would she praise thee, if she learnt that thou
Wert robbing me--aye and the gods to boot,
Haling by force their suppliants, poor maids.
Were I on Theban soil, to prosecute
The justest claim imaginable, I
Would never wrest by violence my own
Without sanction of your State or King;
I should behave as fits an outlander
Living amongst a foreign folk, but thou
Shamest a city that deserves it not,
Even thine own, and plentitude of years
Have made of thee an old man and a fool.
Therefore again I charge thee as before,
See that the maidens are restored at once,
Unless thou would'st continue here by force
And not by choice a sojourner; so much
I tell thee home and what I say, I mean.
CHORUS
Thy case is perilous; though by birth and race
Thou should'st be just, thou plainly doest wrong.
CREON
Not deeming this city void of men
Or counsel, son of Aegeus, as thou say'st
I did what I have done; rather I thought
Your people were not like to set such store
by kin of mine and keep them 'gainst my will.
Nor would they harbor, so I stood assured,
A godless parricide, a reprobate
Convicted of incestuous marriage ties.
For on her native hill of Ares here
(I knew your far-famed Areopagus)
Sits Justice, and permits not vagrant folk
To stay within your borders. In that faith
I hunted down my quarry; and e'en then
i had refrained but for the curses dire
Wherewith he banned my kinsfolk and myself:
Such wrong, methinks的过去式">methought, had warrant for my act.
Anger has no old age but only death;
The dead alone can feel no touch of spite.
So thou must work thy will; my cause is just
But weak without allies; yet will I try,
Old as I am, to answer deeds with deeds.
OEDIPUS
O shameless railer, think'st thou this abuse
Defames my grey hairs rather than thine own?
Murder and incest, deeds of horror, all
Thou blurtest forth against me, all I have borne,
No willingsinner; so it pleased the gods
Wrath haply with my sinful race of old,
Since thou could'st find no sin in me myself
For which in retribution I was doomed
To trespass thus against myself and mine.
Answer me now, if by some oracle
My sire was destined to a bloody end
By a son's hand, can this reflect on me,
Me then unborn, begotten by no sire,
Conceived in no mother's womb? And if
When born to misery, as born I was,
I met my sire, not knowing whom I met
or what I did, and slew him, how canst thou
With justice blame the all-unconscious hand?
And for my mother, wretch, art not ashamed,
Seeing she was thy sister, to extort
From me the story of her marriage, such
A marriage as I straightway will proclaim.
For I will speak; thy lewd and impious speech
Has broken all the bonds of reticence.
She was, ah woe is me! she was my mother;
I knew it not, nor she; and she my mother
Bare children to the son whom she had borne,
A birth of shame. But this at least I know
Wittingly thou aspersest her and me;
But I unwitting wed, unwilling speak.
Nay neither in this marriage or this deed
Which thou art ever casting in my teeth--
A murdered sire--shall I be held to blame.
Come, answer me one question, if thou canst:
If one should presently attempt thy life,
Would'st thou, O man of justice, first inquire
If the assassin was perchance thy sire,
Or turn upon him? As thou lov'st thy life,
On thy aggressor thou would'st turn, no stay
Debating, if the law would bear thee out.
Such was my case, and such the pass whereto
The gods reduced me; and methinks my sire,
Could he come back to life, would not dissent.
Yet thou, for just thou art not, but a man
Who sticks at nothing, if it serve his plea,
Reproachest me with this before these men.
It serves thy turn to laud great Theseus' name,
And Athens as a wisely governed State;
Yet in thy flatteries one thing is to seek:
If any land knows how to pay the gods
Their proper rites, 'tis Athens most of all.
This is the land whence thou wast fain to steal
Their aged suppliant and hast carried off
My daughters. Therefore to yon goddesses,
I turn, adjure them and invoke their aid
To champion my cause, that thou mayest learn
What is the breed of men who guard this State.
CHORUS
An honest man, my liege, one sore bestead
By fortune, and so worthy our support.
THESEUS
Enough of words; the captors speed amain,
While we the victims stand debating here.
CREON
What would'st thou? What can I, a feeble man?
THESEUS
Show us the trail, and I'll attend thee too,
That, if thou hast the maidens hereabouts,
Thou mayest thyself discover them to me;
But if thy guards outstrip us with their spoil,
We may draw rein; for others speed, from whom
They will not 'scape to thank the gods at home.
Lead on, I say, the captor's caught, and fate
Hath ta'en the fowler in the toils he spread;
So soon are lost gains gotten by deceit.
And look not for allies; I know indeed
Such height of insolence was never reached
Without abettors or accomplices;
Thou hast some backer in thy bold essay,
But I will search this matter home and see
One man doth not prevail against the State.
Dost take my drift, or seem these words as vain
As seemed our warnings when the plot was hatched?
CREON
Nothing thou sayest can I here dispute,
But once at home I too shall act my part.
THESEUS
Threaten us and--begone! Thou, Oedipus,
Stay here assured that nothing save my death
CHORUS
Thou art a bold man, stranger, if thou think'st
To execute thy purpose.
CREON
So I do.
CHORUS
Then shall I deem this State no more a State.
CREON
With a just quarrel weakness conquers might.
OEDIPUS
Ye hear his words?
CHORUS
Aye words, but not yet deeds,
Zeus knoweth!
CREON
Zeus may haply know, not thou.
CHORUS
Insolence!
CREON
Insolence that thou must bear.
CHORUS
Haste ye princes, sound the alarm!
Men of Athens, arm ye, arm!
Quickly to the rescue come
Ere the robbers get them home.
[Enter THESEUS]
THESEUS
Why this outcry? What is forward? wherefore was I called away
From the altar of Poseidon, lord of your Colonus? Say!
On what errand have I hurriedhither without stop or stay.
OEDIPUS
Dear friend--those accents tell me who thou art--
Yon man but now hath done me a foul wrong.
THESEUS
What is this wrong and who hath wrought it? Speak.
OEDIPUS
Creon who stands before thee. He it is
Hath robbed me of my all, my daughters twain.
THESEUS
What means this?
OEDIPUS
Thou hast heard my tale of wrongs.
THESEUS
Ho! hasten to the altars, one of you.
Command my liegemen leave the sacrifice
And hurry, foot and horse, with rein unchecked,
To where the paths that packmen use diverge,
Lest the two maidens slip away, and I
Become a mockery to this my guest,
As one despoiled by force. Quick, as I bid.
As for this stranger, had I let my rage,
Justly provoked, have play, he had not 'scaped
Scathless and uncorrected at my hands.
But now the laws to which himself appealed,
These and none others shall adjudicate.
Thou shalt not quit this land, till thou hast fetched
The maidens and produced them in my sight.
Thou hast offended both against myself
And thine own race and country. Having come
Unto a State that champions right and asks
For every action warranty of law,
Thou hast set aside the custom of the land,
And like some freebooter art carrying off
What plunder pleases thee, as if forsooth
Thou thoughtest this a city without men,
Or manned by slaves, and me a thing of naught.
Yet not from Thebes this villainy was learnt;
Thebes is not wont to breed unrighteous sons,
Nor would she praise thee, if she learnt that thou
Wert robbing me--aye and the gods to boot,
Haling by force their suppliants, poor maids.
Were I on Theban soil, to prosecute
The justest claim imaginable, I
Would never wrest by violence my own
Without sanction of your State or King;
I should behave as fits an outlander
Living amongst a foreign folk, but thou
Shamest a city that deserves it not,
Even thine own, and plentitude of years
Have made of thee an old man and a fool.
Therefore again I charge thee as before,
See that the maidens are restored at once,
Unless thou would'st continue here by force
And not by choice a sojourner; so much
I tell thee home and what I say, I mean.
CHORUS
Thy case is perilous; though by birth and race
Thou should'st be just, thou plainly doest wrong.
CREON
Not deeming this city void of men
Or counsel, son of Aegeus, as thou say'st
I did what I have done; rather I thought
Your people were not like to set such store
by kin of mine and keep them 'gainst my will.
Nor would they harbor, so I stood assured,
A godless parricide, a reprobate
Convicted of incestuous marriage ties.
For on her native hill of Ares here
(I knew your far-famed Areopagus)
Sits Justice, and permits not vagrant folk
To stay within your borders. In that faith
I hunted down my quarry; and e'en then
i had refrained but for the curses dire
Wherewith he banned my kinsfolk and myself:
Such wrong, methinks的过去式">methought, had warrant for my act.
Anger has no old age but only death;
The dead alone can feel no touch of spite.
So thou must work thy will; my cause is just
But weak without allies; yet will I try,
Old as I am, to answer deeds with deeds.
OEDIPUS
O shameless railer, think'st thou this abuse
Defames my grey hairs rather than thine own?
Murder and incest, deeds of horror, all
Thou blurtest forth against me, all I have borne,
No willingsinner; so it pleased the gods
Wrath haply with my sinful race of old,
Since thou could'st find no sin in me myself
For which in retribution I was doomed
To trespass thus against myself and mine.
Answer me now, if by some oracle
My sire was destined to a bloody end
By a son's hand, can this reflect on me,
Me then unborn, begotten by no sire,
Conceived in no mother's womb? And if
When born to misery, as born I was,
I met my sire, not knowing whom I met
or what I did, and slew him, how canst thou
With justice blame the all-unconscious hand?
And for my mother, wretch, art not ashamed,
Seeing she was thy sister, to extort
From me the story of her marriage, such
A marriage as I straightway will proclaim.
For I will speak; thy lewd and impious speech
Has broken all the bonds of reticence.
She was, ah woe is me! she was my mother;
I knew it not, nor she; and she my mother
Bare children to the son whom she had borne,
A birth of shame. But this at least I know
Wittingly thou aspersest her and me;
But I unwitting wed, unwilling speak.
Nay neither in this marriage or this deed
Which thou art ever casting in my teeth--
A murdered sire--shall I be held to blame.
Come, answer me one question, if thou canst:
If one should presently attempt thy life,
Would'st thou, O man of justice, first inquire
If the assassin was perchance thy sire,
Or turn upon him? As thou lov'st thy life,
On thy aggressor thou would'st turn, no stay
Debating, if the law would bear thee out.
Such was my case, and such the pass whereto
The gods reduced me; and methinks my sire,
Could he come back to life, would not dissent.
Yet thou, for just thou art not, but a man
Who sticks at nothing, if it serve his plea,
Reproachest me with this before these men.
It serves thy turn to laud great Theseus' name,
And Athens as a wisely governed State;
Yet in thy flatteries one thing is to seek:
If any land knows how to pay the gods
Their proper rites, 'tis Athens most of all.
This is the land whence thou wast fain to steal
Their aged suppliant and hast carried off
My daughters. Therefore to yon goddesses,
I turn, adjure them and invoke their aid
To champion my cause, that thou mayest learn
What is the breed of men who guard this State.
CHORUS
An honest man, my liege, one sore bestead
By fortune, and so worthy our support.
THESEUS
Enough of words; the captors speed amain,
While we the victims stand debating here.
CREON
What would'st thou? What can I, a feeble man?
THESEUS
Show us the trail, and I'll attend thee too,
That, if thou hast the maidens hereabouts,
Thou mayest thyself discover them to me;
But if thy guards outstrip us with their spoil,
We may draw rein; for others speed, from whom
They will not 'scape to thank the gods at home.
Lead on, I say, the captor's caught, and fate
Hath ta'en the fowler in the toils he spread;
So soon are lost gains gotten by deceit.
And look not for allies; I know indeed
Such height of insolence was never reached
Without abettors or accomplices;
Thou hast some backer in thy bold essay,
But I will search this matter home and see
One man doth not prevail against the State.
Dost take my drift, or seem these words as vain
As seemed our warnings when the plot was hatched?
CREON
Nothing thou sayest can I here dispute,
But once at home I too shall act my part.
THESEUS
Threaten us and--begone! Thou, Oedipus,
Stay here assured that nothing save my death
- execute [´eksikju:t]
vt.执行；表演；演奏 (初中英语单词) - weakness [´wi:knis] n.虚弱；弱点，缺点 (初中英语单词)
- rescue [´reskju:] vt.&n.救援；挽救 (初中英语单词)
- errand [´erənd] n.差使，使命 (初中英语单词)
- hither [´hiðə] ad.到此处 (初中英语单词)
- wrought [rɔ:t] work 的过去式(分词) (初中英语单词)
- hasten [´heisən] vt.催促；促进 vi.赶紧 (初中英语单词)
- learnt [lə:nt] learn 的过去式(分词) (初中英语单词)
- violence [´vaiələns] n.猛烈；暴力(行) (初中英语单词)
- behave [bi´heiv] v.举止；表现；举止端正 (初中英语单词)
- charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
- plainly [´pleinli] ad.平坦地；简单地 (初中英语单词)
- counsel [´kaunsəl] n.商议；劝告；律师 (初中英语单词)
- horror [´hɔrə] n.恐怖；战栗 (初中英语单词)
- willing [´wiliŋ] a.情愿的，乐意的 (初中英语单词)
- bloody [´blʌdi] a.(流)血的；血腥的 (初中英语单词)
- reflect [ri´flekt] v.反射；反响；表达 (初中英语单词)
- misery [´mizəri] n.痛苦；悲惨；穷困 (初中英语单词)
- knowing [´nəuiŋ] a.会意的，心照不宣的 (初中英语单词)
- presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
- therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
- champion [´tʃæmpiən] n.冠军 vt.拥护 (初中英语单词)
- worthy [´wə:ði] a.有价值的；值得的 (初中英语单词)
- feeble [´fi:bəl] a.虚弱的，无力的 (初中英语单词)
- height [hait] n.高度；顶点；卓越 (初中英语单词)
- prevail [pri´veil] vi.胜(过)；流行；普遍 (初中英语单词)
- athens [´æθinz] n.雅典 (高中英语单词)
- hurried [´hʌrid] a.仓促的，慌忙的 (高中英语单词)
- plunder [´plʌndə] v.&n.掠夺；盗窃 (高中英语单词)
- sanction [´sæŋkʃən] n.&vt.批准；认可 (高中英语单词)
- amongst [ə´mʌŋst] prep.其中之一 =among (高中英语单词)
- perilous [´periləs] a.危险的；冒险的 (高中英语单词)
- quarry [´kwɔri] n.(采)石场；猎物 (高中英语单词)
- allies [´ælaiz, ə´laiz] n.协约国 (高中英语单词)
- straightway [´streitwei] ad.立刻 (高中英语单词)
- methinks [mi´θiŋks] vi.据我看来 (高中英语单词)
- wisely [´waizli] ad.明智地，聪明地 (高中英语单词)
- outcry [´autkrai] n.喊叫；强烈抗议 (英语四级单词)
- wherefore [´weəfɔ:] ad.为什么；因此 (英语四级单词)
- warrant [´wɔrənt] n.根据；委任书；权利 (英语四级单词)
- sinner [´sinə] n.罪人 (英语四级单词)
- wretch [retʃ] n.不幸的人；卑鄙的人 (英语四级单词)
- unwilling [ʌn´wiliŋ] a.不愿意的；不情愿的 (英语四级单词)
- perchance [pə´tʃɑ:ns] ad.偶然；可能 (英语四级单词)
- whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)
- gotten [´gɔtn] get的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
- mockery [´mɔkəri] n.嘲笑；笑柄 (英语六级单词)
- vagrant [´veigrənt] n.流浪者 a.流浪的 (英语六级单词)
- methought [mi´θɔ:t] methinks的过去式 (英语六级单词)
- trespass [´trespəs, -pæs] vi.&n.侵入(占)；打扰 (英语六级单词)
- unborn [,ʌn´bɔ:n] a.未生的；将来的 (英语六级单词)
- impious [´impiəs] a.不敬的；不孝的 (英语六级单词)
- assassin [ə´sæsin] n.刺客，暗杀者 (英语六级单词)
- invoke [in´vəuk] vt.调用，请求 (英语六级单词)
- insolence [´insələns] n.傲慢；无礼 (英语六级单词)
- assured [ə´ʃuəd] a.确实的 n.被保险人 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:翻译 译文 翻译文
章节正文
京公网安备 11011202003401号
