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have it,
I have his power, his beda wife
who shares our seed, and had she borne
the children of us both, she
320 might have linked us closer still. But Laius
had no luck fathering children, and fate
itself soon struck a blow at his head.
It's these concerns make me defend Laius
as I would my own father. There is nothing
I won't try, to trace his murder
back to the killer's hand.
I act in this for Labdacus and Polydorus,
for Kadmos and Agenorfor our whole line of kings.

     

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I warn those who disobey me:
330 god make their fields harvest dust,
their women's bodies harvest death.
O you gods,
kill them with something worse
than this plague killing us now.
For all the rest of us, who are
loyal sons of Kadmos:
may Justice fight with us,
the gods be always at our side.
CHORUS King, your curse forces me to speak.
340 None of us is the killer.
And none of us can point to him.
Apollo ordered us to search,
now he must find the killer.
OEDIPUS So he must. But what man could force
a god against his will?
LEADER Let me suggest a second course of action.
OEDIPUS Don't stop at two if you have more.
LEADER Tiresias is the man whose power of seeing
shows him most nearly what Apollo sees.
350 King, he might make brilliantly clear
what you most want to learn.
OEDIPUS I've acted already not to lose this chance.
At Kreon's urging I've sent for himtwice now.
The fact that he still hasn't come I find strange.
LEADER There were some old rumorstoo faint to help us now.
OEDIPUS I'll study every word. What did those rumors say?
LEADER That Laius was killed by some travelers.
OEDIPUS That's something even I have heard. But the man
who actually did itno one sees.
LEADER If fear means anything to him
360 he won't linger in Thebes
once he has heard that curse of yours.
OEDIPUS If murder didn't frighten him, my words won't.
LEADER There is the man who will convict him:
god's prophet, led here at last.
God gave to him what he gave no one else.

     

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The truth is living in his mind.
(Enter Tiresias, led by a boy.)
OEDIPUS Tiresias, you are master of the hidden world.
You can read earth and sky, you know
370 what omens to expound, what to keep secret.
Though your eyes can't see it,
you are aware of the plague
attacking us. To fight it, we can find
no savior or defense but you, my Lord.
For we now have Apollo's answer
you will have heard it from others:
to end this plague we must root out Laius' killers.
Find them, then kill them or banish them.
Help us do it. Don't begrudge us
380 what you divine from birdcries, show us
any escape prophecy has shown you.
Rescue Thebes! Rescue yourself, and me!
Take charge of our defilement, and stop
this poison from the murdered man
which sickens and destroys us.
We're in your hands. To help another
is the best use a man can make of his powers.
TIRESIAS The most terrible knowledge is the kind
it would pay no wise man to use.
390 I knew this, but I forgot it.
I should never have come.
OEDIPUS What's this? You've comebut with no desire to help?
TIRESIAS Let me go home. Take my advice now. Your life
will be easier to bearso will mine.
OEDIPUS Strange words. And hardly kindto hold back
god's crucial guidance from your own people.
TIRESIAS I see that you've spoken out today
when silence was called for. I'm silent now
to spare me your mistake.
400 OEDIPUS For god's sake do not turn your back
if you understand any of this! We kneel and beg.
TIRESIAS You beg out of ignorance. I'll never speak.
If I made my griefs plain, you would see your own.
OEDIPUS Then you know and won't help us? You intend
to betray us all and destroy Thebes?

     

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TIRESIAS I'll cause no grief to you or me. Why ask
futile questions? You'll learn nothing.
OEDIPUS So the traitor won't answer.
You would enrage a rock.
410 Still won't speak?
Are you without feelingsor beyond their reach?
TIRESIAS You blame this rage on me, do you? Rage?
You haven't seen her yet, the kind
that's married to your life. You find fault with