Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone E-Book

Sophocles

• Herausgeber: Sophocles
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

My children, latest born to Cadmus old,Why sit ye here as suppliants, in your handsBranches of olive filleted with wool?What means this reek of incense everywhere,And everywhere laments and litanies?Children, it were not meet that I should learnFrom others, and am hither come, myself,I Oedipus, your world-renowned king.Ho! aged sire, whose venerable locksProclaim thee spokesman of this company,Explain your mood and purport. Is it dreadOf ill that moves you or a boon ye crave?My zeal in your behalf ye cannot doubt;Ruthless indeed were I and obdurateIf such petitioners as you I spurned.

Leseprobe

Sophocles

Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone

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Table of contents

OEDIPUS THE KING

ARGUMENT

OEDIPUS THE KING

OEDIPUS AT COLONUS

ARGUMENT

OEDIPUS AT COLONUS

ANTIGONE

ARGUMENT

ANTIGONE

OEDIPUS THE KING

ARGUMENT

To Laius, King of Thebes, an oracle foretold that the child born to him by his queen Jocasta would slay his father and wed his mother. So when in time a son was born the infant's feet were riveted together and he was left to die on Mount Cithaeron. But a shepherd found the babe and tended him, and delivered him to another shepherd who took him to his master, the King of Corinth. Polybus being childless adopted the boy, who grew up believing that he was indeed the King's son. Afterwards doubting his parentage he inquired of the Delphic god and heard himself the word declared before to Laius. Wherefore he fled from what he deemed his father's house and in his flight he encountered and unwillingly slew his father Laius. Arriving at Thebes he answered the riddle of the Sphinx and the grateful Thebans made their deliverer king. So he reigned in the room of Laius, and espoused the widowed queen. Children were born to them and Thebes prospered under his rule, but again a grievous plague fell upon the city. Again the oracle was consulted and it bade them purge themselves of blood-guiltiness. Oedipus denounces the crime of which he is unaware, and undertakes to track out the criminal. Step by step it is brought home to him that he is the man. The closing scene reveals Jocasta slain by her own hand and Oedipus blinded by his own act and praying for death or exile.DRAMATIS PERSONAEOedipus.                               The Priest of Zeus.                               Creon.                               Chorus of Theban Elders.                               Teiresias.                               Jocasta.                               Messenger.                               Herd of Laius.                               Second Messenger.Scene: Thebes. Before the Palace of Oedipus.

OEDIPUS THE KING

Suppliants of all ages are seated round the altar at the palace doors,at their head a PRIEST OF ZEUS.  To them enter OEDIPUS.OEDIPUSMy children, latest born to Cadmus old,Why sit ye here as suppliants, in your handsBranches of olive filleted with wool?What means this reek of incense everywhere,And everywhere laments and litanies?Children, it were not meet that I should learnFrom others, and am hither come, myself,I Oedipus, your world-renowned king.Ho! aged sire, whose venerable locksProclaim thee spokesman of this company,Explain your mood and purport.  Is it dreadOf ill that moves you or a boon ye crave?My zeal in your behalf ye cannot doubt;Ruthless indeed were I and obdurateIf such petitioners as you I spurned.PRIESTYea, Oedipus, my sovereign lord and king,Thou seest how both extremes of age besiegeThy palace altars—fledglings hardly winged,and greybeards bowed with years; priests, as am Iof Zeus, and these the flower of our youth.Meanwhile, the common folk, with wreathed boughsCrowd our two market-places, or beforeBoth shrines of Pallas congregate, or where