For this find utterance, nor disclose thy ills.
DIP. To know, and not to speak! Implies not this
Treachery to us, and ruin to the realm?
TIR. My peace I will not hurt, nor thine. In vain
Why wilt thou urge? From me thou shalt not know. DIP. Thou vilest of the vile-for thou wou'dst raise
Th' insensate rock to rage-wilt thou not speak,
But shew thyself unfeeling and unmov'd?
TIR. My passion thou hast blam'd; but dost not see
That which with thee resides, while me thou blam'st.
DIP. Who would not be enrag'd to hear thy words,
Which cast dishonour on this injur'd state?
TIR. These things will come, though silent be my voice. DIP. Then what will come, to me thou shou'dst disclose. TIR. Further I will not speak; so let thy rage,
If such thy will, in all its fierceness rise.
CDIP. Then I will speak, as anger prompts my tongue,
Without reserve whate'er my thoughts suggest.
Know then, I deem thee 'complice in this act;
I deem the deed was thine, save that thy hand`
Struck not the blow: hadst thou enjoy'd thy sight,
I should pronounce the act were thine alone.
Indeed! Nay then I warn thee to abide
By thine own solemn charge, and from this day
Hold converse nor with these, nor me; for thou
Art the accurs'd polluter of this land.
CDIP. Hast thou no sense of shame, that thou hast dar'd
Utter such taunt? How think'st thou to escape?
I have escap'd, e'en by the potent truth
361. The obvious meaning of these words is, "Thou blamest my uncom"plying perverseness, but art not sensible of thy own violent passions." Eustathius ingeniously supposes that Tiresias alludes to Jocasta; this perhaps is too great a refinement; but the prophet through this whole scene is dreadfully obscure.
Again; my knowledge so will be more clear.
Were they abstruse? Or dost thou bid me speak
To try me?
Not to speak it as a thing
Known; yet repeat thy words.
Thou art the much-sought murderer of the king.
CDIP. Thou shalt not triumph for this second taunt.
More shall I speak then, and enrage thee more?
DIP. Say what thou wilt, it will be said in vain.
TIR. I say, flagitious is thy intercourse
With those most dear to thee; thou know'st not this,
Nor seest the ills in which thou art involv'd.
CDIP. Think'st thou no vengeance such reproach awaits?
TIR. I have no fear, if truth hath aught of pow'r.
EDIP. It hath, but not for thee; it is not thine;
Thy ears, thy soul, e'en as thine eyes, are blind.
Unhappy thou in thus reproaching me,
For soon on thee the same reproach shall fall.
EDIP. Confiding in thy blindness thou from me,
Or any that have eyes, no vengeance fearest.
To fall by thee is not my fate; those things
Belong to Phoebus; ample is his pow'r.
DIP. The fiction this of Creon, or thine own?
Creon ne'er wrought thee ill: the work is thine.
DIP. O greatness, empire, and thou noblest art
That giv'st to life its glory most desir'd,
What baleful envy on your splendor waits,
Since for this royal pow'r by me unsought,
But by the state presented a free gift,
The faithful Creon, who the first appear'd
My friend, with dark and secret malice works,
Wishing my ruin, and suborns this wretch,
This sorcerer, this artificer of wiles,
Whose trains delude the people, sharp of sight
To lucre only, to his science blind.
Where hast thou e'er display'd a prophet's skill?
Why, when the ravening hound of hell her charm
Mysterious chanted, for thy country wise
Didst thou not solve it? Of no vulgar mind
Was this the task; the prophet this requir'd.
No knowledge then from birds didst thou receive,
None from the gods t' unfold it: but I came,
This nothing-knowing Edipus, and quell'd
The monster, piercing through her dark device
By reason's force, not taught by flight of birds.
Yet dost thou now assay to drive me out,
Weening to have thy stand next Creon's throne.
But thou, and he who form'd this base design
With thee, shall feel my pow'r: but that thine age
Some reverence claims, thou shou❜dste'en now be taught,
And feel the madness of thine enterprise.
CHOR. If we conjecture right, his words burst forth
By passion dictated; and thine, O king,
No less: these things behove not; best advise
How to explore the answer of the god.
Thou art a king; yet I have equal right
To answer thee; this pow'r is mine; to thee
I am no vassal; Phoebus is my lord:
Nor will I be enroll'd 'mongst those who wait
On Creon for support. I tell thee then,
Me since with taunts thou hast revil'd as blind,
Thou hast indeed thine eyes, yet canst not see
What ills inclose thee round, nor where thou hast
Thy habitation, nor with whom thou livest.
Know'st thou who gave thee birth? Thou art a foe,
And know'st it not, to those allied to thee
Most closely, whom the realms beneath contain,
And who behold the light of heav'n. The curse
Of father and of mother on each side
With dreadful steps pursues thee, and ere long
Will chase thee from this land, now blest with sight,
Then blind. How will Citharon, how each strand
Ere long re-echo to thy mournful cries,
When thou shalt know that, driv'n by swelling gales,
The port of marriage thou hast gain'd, thy bark
Where anchor cannot hold! The numerous train
Of other ills thou seest not, which will rank
In the same line thee and thy sons alike.
Go to; with foul revilings Creon taunt,
And my true voice; yet thing more vile than thou
Is not 'mong mortals that shall e'er be crush'd.
CDIP. From him these piercing insults must I bear?
Perdition on thee! hence, away, begone.
TIR. I had not come, hadst thou not sent for me.
CDIP. I knew thee not in speech so void of sense,
Or here thy presence I had scarce requir❜d.
TIR. Such thou may'st deem my spirit, void of sense:
But they who gave thee birth esteem'd me wise.
CDIP. Who are they? Say. Of those that breathe to whom
Qwe I my birth?
Thy birth this day will shew,
This day will shew the horrors of thy fate.
DIP. How dark, how full of mystery all thy words!
TIR. Such to unfold well suits thy piercing mind.
EDIP. My glory thou wou'dst turn to my reproach.
That glory hath brought ruin on thy head.
DIP. If I have saved this realm, I reck not that.
TIR. Well then, I now depart. Boy, lead me hence.
CDIP. Ay, let him lead thee; for thy presence throws
Confusion on th' affairs that now engage
Our care: begone, and trouble us no more.
I go: but first will speak for what I came,
Nor dread thy frown; thy vengeance hath no pow'r
To touch my life. I tell thee that the man,
Whom thou hast sought, 'gainst whom thy solemn charge,
Thy threats have been proclaim'd, that man is here;
Of foreign birth now deem'd, his residence
Here fixing; but full soon he shall be found
A Theban born, nor in his fortune long
Rejoice; his visual ray in darkness quench'd,
His high state sunk to beggary, a staff
Shall to a foreign land his steps direct.
A brother and a father to his sons
Shall he appear; to her, that gave him birth,
A son and husband; to his father found
A rival and a murderer. Go thou in;
Muse on these things; say, if thou find them false,
No portion of a prophet's skill is mine.
498. The word oμórrogos signifies a man who has children by the same woman who had children by the other person mentioned; and this precise idea ought to be preserved in the translation; but how is this to be done? Adulter, incestus, do not convey this idea, yet such are the Latin versions; neither does the word rival reach it. A periphrasis here would be unpardonable, and our language affords no word of equal signification; the translator therefore feels himself in the same situation with the bad painter, who drew a lion so vilely, that he was obliged to write LION under the picture, to inform the spectators what animal was intended.
Zur wouth heten husband de for Seta
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