第一篇：《俄狄浦斯王》劇本英文

《俄狄浦斯王》劇本英文.txt愛情就像腳上的鞋，只有失去的時候才知道赤腳走路是什么滋味騙人有風險，說慌要謹慎。不要愛上年紀小的男人，他會把你當成愛情學校，一旦學徒圓滿，便會義無反顧地離開你?！抖淼移炙雇酢穭”居⑽陌?/p>

Oedipus the King By Sophocles

Translated by F.Storr

-------------------------Dramatis Personae

OEDIPUS THE PRIEST OF ZEUS CREON CHORUS OF THEBAN ELDERS TEIRESIAS JOCASTA MESSENGER HERD OF LAIUS

---------------------------

Thebes.Before the Palace of Oedipus.Suppliants of all ages are seated round the altar at the palace doors, at their head a PRIEST OF ZEUS.To them enter OEDIPUS.----------------------------

OEDIPUS My children, latest born to Cadmus old, Why sit ye here as suppliants, in your hands Branches 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 learn From others, and am hither come, myself, I Oedipus, your world-renowned king.Ho!aged sire, whose venerable locks Proclaim thee spokesman of this company, Explain your mood and purport.Is it dread Of ill that moves you or a boon ye crave? My zeal in your behalf ye cannot doubt;Ruthless indeed were I and obdurate If such petitioners as you I spurned.PRIEST Yea, Oedipus, my sovereign lord and king, Thou seest how both extremes of age besiege Thy palace altars--fledglings hardly winged, And greybeards bowed with years, priests, as am I Of Zeus, and these the flower of our youth.Meanwhile, the common folk, with wreathed boughs Crowd our two market-places, or before Both shrines of Pallas congregate, or where Ismenus gives his oracles by fire.For, as thou seest thyself, our ship of State, Sore buffeted, can no more lift her head, Foundered beneath a weltering surge of blood.A blight is on our harvest in the ear, A blight upon the grazing flocks and herds, A blight on wives in travail;and withal Armed with his blazing torch the God of Plague Hath swooped upon our city emptying The house of Cadmus, and the murky realm Of Pluto is full fed with groans and tears.Therefore, O King, here at thy hearth we sit, I and these children;not as deeming thee A new divinity, but the first of men;First in the common accidents of life, And first in visitations of the Gods.Art thou not he who coming to the town Of Cadmus freed us from the tax we paid To the fell songstress? Nor hadst thou received Prompting from us or been by others schooled;No, by a god inspired(so all men deem, And testify)didst thou renew our life.And now, O Oedipus, our peerless king, All we thy votaries beseech thee, find Some succor, whether by a voice from heaven Whispered, or haply known by human wit.Tried counselors, methinks, are aptest found To furnish for the future pregnant rede.Upraise, O chief of men, upraise our State!Look to thy laurels!for thy zeal of yore Our country's savior thou art justly hailed: O never may we thus record thy reign:--“He raised us up only to cast us down.” Uplift us, build our city on a rock.Thy happy star ascendant brought us luck, O let it not decline!If thou wouldst rule This land, as now thou reignest, better sure To rule a peopled than a desert realm.Nor battlements nor galleys aught avail, If men to man and guards to guard them tail.OEDIPUS Ah!my poor children, known, ah, known too well，The quest that brings you hither and your need.Ye sicken all, well wot I, yet my pain, How great soever yours, outtops it all.Your sorrow touches each man severally, Him and none other, but I grieve at once Both for the general and myself and you.Therefore ye rouse no sluggard from day-dreams.Many, my children, are the tears I've wept, And threaded many a maze of weary thought.Thus pondering one clue of hope I caught, And tracked it up;I have sent Menoeceus' son, Creon, my consort's brother, to inquire Of Pythian Phoebus at his Delphic shrine, How I might save the State by act or word.And now I reckon up the tale of days Since he set forth, and marvel how he fares.'Tis strange, this endless tarrying, passing strange.But when he comes, then I were base indeed, If I perform not all the god declares.PRIEST Thy words are well timed;even as thou speakest That shouting tells me Creon is at hand.OEDIPUS O King Apollo!may his joyous looks Be presage of the joyous news he brings!

PRIEST As I surmise, 'tis welcome;else his head Had scarce been crowned with berry-laden bays.OEDIPUS We soon shall know;he's now in earshot range.(Enter CREON.)My royal cousin, say, Menoeceus' child, What message hast thou brought us from the god? CREON Good news, for e'en intolerable ills, Finding right issue, tend to naught but good.OEDIPUS How runs the oracle? thus far thy words Give me no ground for confidence or fear.CREON If thou wouldst hear my message publicly, I'll tell thee straight, or with thee pass within.OEDIPUS Speak before all;the burden that I bear Is more for these my subjects than myself.CREON Let me report then all the god declared.King Phoebus bids us straitly extirpate A fell pollution that infests the land, And no more harbor an inveterate sore.OEDIPUS What expiation means he? What's amiss?

CREON Banishment, or the shedding blood for blood.This stain of blood makes shipwreck of our state.OEDIPUS Whom can he mean, the miscreant thus denounced?

CREON Before thou didst assume the helm of State, The sovereign of this land was Laius.OEDIPUS I heard as much, but never saw the man.CREON He fell;and now the god's command is plain: Punish his takers-off, whoe'er they be.OEDIPUS Where are they? Where in the wide world to find

The far, faint traces of a bygone crime?

CREON In this land, said the god;“who seeks shall find;

Who sits with folded hands or sleeps is blind.”

OEDIPUS Was he within his palace, or afield, Or traveling, when Laius met his fate?

CREON Abroad;he started, so he told us, bound For Delphi, but he never thence returned.OEDIPUS Came there no news, no fellow-traveler To give some clue that might be followed up?

CREON But one escape, who flying for dear life, Could tell of all he saw but one thing sure.OEDIPUS And what was that? One clue might lead us far, With but a spark of hope to guide our quest.CREON Robbers, he told us, not one bandit but A troop of knaves, attacked and murdered him.OEDIPUS Did any bandit dare so bold a stroke, Unless indeed he were suborned from Thebes?

CREON So 'twas surmised, but none was found to avenge His murder mid the trouble that ensued.OEDIPUS What trouble can have hindered a full quest, When royalty had fallen thus miserably?

CREON The riddling Sphinx compelled us to let slide The dim past and attend to instant needs.OEDIPUS Well, I will start afresh and once again Make dark things clear.Right worthy the concern Of Phoebus, worthy thine too, for the dead;I also, as is meet, will lend my aid To avenge this wrong to Thebes and to the god.Not for some far-off kinsman, but myself, Shall I expel this poison in the blood;For whoso slew that king might have a mind To strike me too with his assassin hand.Therefore in righting him I serve myself.Up, children, haste ye, quit these altar stairs, Take hence your suppliant wands, go summon hither The Theban commons.With the god's good help Success is sure;'tis ruin if we fail.(Exeunt OEDIPUS and CREON.)

PRIEST Come, children, let us hence;these gracious words

Forestall the very purpose of our suit.And may the god who sent this oracle Save us withal and rid us of this pest.(Exeunt PRIEST and SUPPLIANTS.)

CHORUS(strophe 1)

Sweet-voiced daughter of Zeus from thy gold-paved Pythian shrine

Wafted to Thebes divine, What dost thou bring me? My soul is racked and shivers with fear.Healer of Delos, hear!Hast thou some pain unknown before, Or with the circling years renewest a penance of yore? Offspring of golden Hope, thou voice immortal, O tell me.(antistrophe 1)

First on Athene I call;O Zeus-born goddess, defend!Goddess and sister, befriend, Artemis, Lady of Thebes, high-throned in the midst of our mart!

Lord of the death-winged dart!Your threefold aid I crave From death and ruin our city to save.If in the days of old when we nigh had perished, ye drave

From our land the fiery plague, be near us now and defend us!

(strophe 2)

Ah me, what countless woes are mine!All our host is in decline;Weaponless my spirit lies.Earth her gracious fruits denies;Women wail in barren throes;Life on life downstriken goes, Swifter than the wind bird's flight, Swifter than the Fire-God's might, To the westering shores of Night.(antistrophe 2)

Wasted thus by death on death All our city perisheth.Corpses spread infection round;None to tend or mourn is found.Wailing on the altar stair Wives and grandams rend the air--Long-drawn moans and piercing cries Blent with prayers and litanies.Golden child of Zeus, O hear Let thine angel face appear!

(strophe 3)

And grant that Ares whose hot breath I feel, Though without targe or steel He stalks, whose voice is as the battle shout, May turn in sudden rout, To the unharbored Thracian waters sped, Or Amphitrite's bed.For what night leaves undone, Smit by the morrow's sun Perisheth.Father Zeus, whose hand Doth wield the lightning brand, Slay him beneath thy levin bold, we pray, Slay him, O slay!

(antistrophe 3)

O that thine arrows too, Lycean King, From that taut bow's gold string, Might fly abroad, the champions of our rights;Yea, and the flashing lights Of Artemis, wherewith the huntress sweeps Across the Lycian steeps.Thee too I call with golden-snooded hair, Whose name our land doth bear, Bacchus to whom thy Maenads Evoe shout;Come with thy bright torch, rout, Blithe god whom we adore, The god whom gods abhor.(Enter OEDIPUS.)

OEDIPUS Ye pray;'tis well, but would ye hear my words And heed them and apply the remedy, Ye might perchance find comfort and relief.Mind you, I speak as one who comes a stranger To this report, no less than to the crime;For how unaided could I track it far Without a clue? Which lacking(for too late Was I enrolled a citizen of Thebes)This proclamation I address to all:--Thebans, if any knows the man by whom Laius, son of Labdacus, was slain, I summon him to make clean shrift to me.And if he shrinks, let him reflect that thus Confessing he shall 'scape the capital charge;For the worst penalty that shall befall him Is banishment--unscathed he shall depart.But if an alien from a foreign land Be known to any as the murderer, Let him who knows speak out, and he shall have Due recompense from me and thanks to boot.But if ye still keep silence, if through fear For self or friends ye disregard my hest, Hear what I then resolve;I lay my ban On the assassin whosoe'er he be.Let no man in this land, whereof I hold The sovereign rule, harbor or speak to him;Give him no part in prayer or sacrifice Or lustral rites, but hound him from your homes.For this is our defilement, so the god Hath lately shown to me by oracles.Thus as their champion I maintain the cause Both of the god and of the murdered King.And on the murderer this curse I lay(On him and all the partners in his guilt):--Wretch, may he pine in utter wretchedness!And for myself, if with my privity He gain admittance to my hearth, I pray The curse I laid on others fall on me.See that ye give effect to all my hest, For my sake and the god's and for our land, A desert blasted by the wrath of heaven.For, let alone the god's express command, It were a scandal ye should leave unpurged The murder of a great man and your king, Nor track it home.And now that I am lord, Successor to his throne, his bed, his wife,(And had he not been frustrate in the hope Of issue, common children of one womb Had forced a closer bond twixt him and me, But Fate swooped down upon him), therefore I His blood-avenger will maintain his cause As though he were my sire, and leave no stone Unturned to track the assassin or avenge The son of Labdacus, of Polydore, Of Cadmus, and Agenor first of the race.And for the disobedient thus I pray: May the gods send them neither timely fruits Of earth, nor teeming increase of the womb, But may they waste and pine, as now they waste, Aye and worse stricken;but to all of you, My loyal subjects who approve my acts, May Justice, our ally, and all the gods Be gracious and attend you evermore.CHORUS The oath thou profferest, sire, I take and swear.I slew him not myself, nor can I name The slayer.For the quest, 'twere well, methinks That Phoebus, who proposed the riddle, himself Should give the answer--who the murderer was.OEDIPUS Well argued;but no living man can hope To force the gods to speak against their will.CHORUS May I then say what seems next best to me?

OEDIPUS Aye, if there be a third best, tell it too.CHORUS My liege, if any man sees eye to eye With our lord Phoebus, 'tis our prophet, lord Teiresias;he of all men best might guide A searcher of this matter to the light.OEDIPUS Here too my zeal has nothing lagged, for twice At Creon's instance have I sent to fetch him, And long I marvel why he is not here.CHORUS I mind me too of rumors long ago--Mere gossip.OEDIPUS Tell them, I would fain know all.CHORUS 'Twas said he fell by travelers.OEDIPUS So I heard, But none has seen the man who saw him fall.CHORUS Well, if he knows what fear is, he will quail And flee before the terror of thy curse.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.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?

TEIRESIAS This day shall be thy birth-day, and thy grave.OEDIPUS Thou lov'st to speak in riddles and dark words.TEIRESIAS In reading riddles who so skilled as thou?

OEDIPUS Twit me with that wherein my greatness lies.TEIRESIAS And yet this very greatness proved thy bane.OEDIPUS No matter if I saved the commonwealth.TEIRESIAS 'Tis time I left thee.Come, boy, take me home.OEDIPUS Aye, take him quickly, for his presence irks And lets me;gone, thou canst not plague me more.TEIRESIAS I go, but first will tell thee why I came.Thy frown I dread not, for thou canst not harm me.Hear then: this man whom thou hast sought to arrest With threats and warrants this long while, the wretch Who murdered Laius--that man is here.He passes for an alien in the land But soon shall prove a Theban, native born.And yet his fortune brings him little joy;For blind of seeing, clad in beggar's weeds, For purple robes, and leaning on his staff, To a strange land he soon shall grope his way.And of the children, inmates of his home, He shall be proved the brother and the sire, Of her who bare him son and husband both, Co-partner, and assassin of his sire.Go in and ponder this, and if thou find That I have missed the mark, henceforth declare I have no wit nor skill in prophecy.(Exeunt TEIRESIAS and OEDIPUS.)

CHORUS(strophe 1)

Who is he by voice immortal named from Pythia's rocky cell，Doer of foul deeds of bloodshed, horrors that no tongue can tell?

A foot for flight he needs Fleeter than storm-swift steeds, For on his heels doth follow, Armed with the lightnings of his Sire, Apollo.Like sleuth-hounds too The Fates pursue.(antistrophe 1)

Yea, but now flashed forth the summons from Parnassus' snowy peak, “Near and far the undiscovered doer of this murder seek!”

Now like a sullen bull he roves Through forest brakes and upland groves, And vainly seeks to fly The doom that ever nigh Flits o'er his head, Still by the avenging Phoebus sped, The voice divine, From Earth's mid shrine.(strophe 2)

Sore perplexed am I by the words of the master seer.Are they true, are they false? I know not and bridle my tongue for fear, Fluttered with vague surmise;nor present nor future is clear.Quarrel of ancient date or in days still near know I none

Twixt the Labdacidan house and our ruler, Polybus' son.Proof is there none: how then can I challenge our King's good name，How in a blood-feud join for an untracked deed of shame?

(antistrophe 2)

All wise are Zeus and Apollo, and nothing is hid from their ken;

They are gods;and in wits a man may surpass his fellow men;

But that a mortal seer knows more than I know--where Hath this been proven? Or how without sign assured, can I blame

Him who saved our State when the winged songstress came，Tested and tried in the light of us all, like gold assayed?

How can I now assent when a crime is on Oedipus laid?

CREON Friends, countrymen, I learn King Oedipus Hath laid against me a most grievous charge, And come to you protesting.If he deems That I have harmed or injured him in aught By word or deed in this our present trouble, I care not to prolong the span of life, Thus ill-reputed;for the calumny Hits not a single blot, but blasts my name, If by the general voice I am denounced False to the State and false by you my friends.CHORUS This taunt, it well may be, was blurted out In petulance, not spoken advisedly.CREON Did any dare pretend that it was I Prompted the seer to utter a forged charge?

CHORUS Such things were said;with what intent I know not.CREON Were not his wits and vision all astray When upon me he fixed this monstrous charge?

CHORUS I know not;to my sovereign's acts I am blind.But lo, he comes to answer for himself.(Enter OEDIPUS.)

OEDIPUS Sirrah, what mak'st thou here? Dost thou presume

To approach my doors, thou brazen-faced rogue, My murderer and the filcher of my crown? Come, answer this, didst thou detect in me Some touch of cowardice or witlessness, That made thee undertake this enterprise? I seemed forsooth too simple to perceive The serpent stealing on me in the dark, Or else too weak to scotch it when I saw.This thou art witless seeking to possess Without a following or friends the crown, A prize that followers and wealth must win.CREON Attend me.Thou hast spoken, 'tis my turn To make reply.Then having heard me, judge.OEDIPUS Thou art glib of tongue, but I am slow to learn

Of thee;I know too well thy venomous hate.CREON First I would argue out this very point.OEDIPUS O argue not that thou art not a rogue.CREON If thou dost count a virtue stubbornness, Unschooled by reason, thou art much astray.OEDIPUS If thou dost hold a kinsman may be wronged, And no pains follow, thou art much to seek.CREON Therein thou judgest rightly, but this wrong That thou allegest--tell me what it is.OEDIPUS Didst thou or didst thou not advise that I Should call the priest?

CREON Yes, and I stand to it.OEDIPUS Tell me how long is it since Laius...CREON Since Laius...? I follow not thy drift.OEDIPUS By violent hands was spirited away.CREON In the dim past, a many years agone.OEDIPUS Did the same prophet then pursue his craft?

CREON Yes, skilled as now and in no less repute.OEDIPUS Did he at that time ever glance at me?

CREON Not to my knowledge, not when I was by.OEDIPUS But was no search and inquisition made?

CREON Surely full quest was made, but nothing learnt.OEDIPUS Why failed the seer to tell his story then?

CREON I know not, and not knowing hold my tongue.OEDIPUS This much thou knowest and canst surely tell.CREON What's mean'st thou? All I know I will declare.OEDIPUS But for thy prompting never had the seer Ascribed to me the death of Laius.CREON If so he thou knowest best;but I Would put thee to the question in my turn.OEDIPUS Question and prove me murderer if thou canst.CREON Then let me ask thee, didst thou wed my sister?

OEDIPUS A fact so plain I cannot well deny.CREON And as thy consort queen she shares the throne?

OEDIPUS I grant her freely all her heart desires.CREON And with you twain I share the triple rule?

OEDIPUS Yea, and it is that proves thee a false friend.CREON Not so, if thou wouldst reason with thyself, As I with myself.First, I bid thee think, Would any mortal choose a troubled reign Of terrors rather than secure repose, If the same power were given him? As for me, I have no natural craving for the name Of king, preferring to do kingly deeds, And so thinks every sober-minded man.Now all my needs are satisfied through thee, And I have naught to fear;but were I king, My acts would oft run counter to my will.How could a title then have charms for me Above the sweets of boundless influence? I am not so infatuate as to grasp The shadow when I hold the substance fast.Now all men cry me Godspeed!wish me well, And every suitor seeks to gain my ear, If he would hope to win a grace from thee.Why should I leave the better, choose the worse? That were sheer madness, and I am not mad.No such ambition ever tempted me, Nor would I have a share in such intrigue.And if thou doubt me, first to Delphi go, There ascertain if my report was true Of the god's answer;next investigate If with the seer I plotted or conspired, And if it prove so, sentence me to death, Not by thy voice alone, but mine and thine.But O condemn me not, without appeal, On bare suspicion.'Tis not right to adjudge Bad men at random good, or good men bad.I would as lief a man should cast away The thing he counts most precious, his own life, As spurn a true friend.Thou wilt learn in time The truth, for time alone reveals the just;A villain is detected in a day.CHORUS To one who walketh warily his words Commend themselves;swift counsels are not sure.OEDIPUS When with swift strides the stealthy plotter stalks

I must be quick too with my counterplot.To wait his onset passively, for him Is sure success, for me assured defeat.CREON What then's thy will? To banish me the land?

OEDIPUS I would not have thee banished, no, but dead, That men may mark the wages envy reaps.CREON I see thou wilt not yield, nor credit me.OEDIPUS None but a fool would credit such as thou.CREON Thou art not wise.OEDIPUS Wise for myself at least.CREON Why not for me too?

OEDIPUS Why for such a knave?

CREON Suppose thou lackest sense.OEDIPUS Yet kings must rule.CREON Not if they rule ill.OEDIPUS Oh my Thebans, hear him!

CREON Thy Thebans? am not I a Theban too?

CHORUS Cease, princes;lo there comes, and none too soon，Jocasta from the palace.Who so fit As peacemaker to reconcile your feud?(Enter JOCASTA.)

JOCASTA Misguided princes, why have ye upraised This wordy wrangle? Are ye not ashamed, While the whole land lies striken, thus to voice Your private injuries? Go in, my lord;Go home, my brother, and forebear to make A public scandal of a petty grief.CREON My royal sister, Oedipus, thy lord, Hath bid me choose(O dread alternative!)An outlaw's exile or a felon's death.OEDIPUS Yes, lady;I have caught him practicing Against my royal person his vile arts.CREON May I ne'er speed but die accursed, if I In any way am guilty of this charge.JOCASTA Believe him, I adjure thee, Oedipus, First for his solemn oath's sake, then for mine, And for thine elders' sake who wait on thee.CHORUS(strophe 1)

Hearken, King, reflect, we pray thee, but not stubborn but relent.OEDIPUS Say to what should I consent?

CHORUS Respect a man whose probity and troth Are known to all and now confirmed by oath.OEDIPUS Dost know what grace thou cravest?

CHORUS Yea, I know.OEDIPUS Declare it then and make thy meaning plain.CHORUS Brand not a friend whom babbling tongues assail;

Let not suspicion 'gainst his oath prevail.OEDIPUS Bethink you that in seeking this ye seek In very sooth my death or banishment?

CHORUS No, by the leader of the host divine!

(strophe 2)

Witness, thou Sun, such thought was never mine, Unblest, unfriended may I perish, If ever I such wish did cherish!But O my heart is desolate Musing on our striken State, Doubly fall'n should discord grow Twixt you twain, to crown our woe.OEDIPUS Well, let him go, no matter what it cost me, Or certain death or shameful banishment, For your sake I relent, not his;and him, Where'er he be, my heart shall still abhor.CREON Thou art as sullen in thy yielding mood As in thine anger thou wast truculent.Such tempers justly plague themselves the most.OEDIPUS Leave me in peace and get thee gone.CREON I go, By thee misjudged, but justified by these.(Exeunt CREON.)

CHORUS(antistrophe 1)

Lady, lead indoors thy consort;wherefore longer here delay?

JOCASTA Tell me first how rose the fray.CHORUS Rumors bred unjust suspicious and injustice rankles sore.JOCASTA Were both at fault?

CHORUS Both.JOCASTA What was the tale?

CHORUS Ask me no more.The land is sore distressed;'Twere better sleeping ills to leave at rest.OEDIPUS Strange counsel, friend!I know thou mean'st me well，And yet would'st mitigate and blunt my zeal.CHORUS(antistrophe 2)

King, I say it once again, Witless were I proved, insane, If I lightly put away Thee my country's prop and stay, Pilot who, in danger sought, To a quiet haven brought Our distracted State;and now Who can guide us right but thou?

JOCASTA Let me too, I adjure thee, know, O king, What cause has stirred this unrelenting wrath.OEDIPUS I will, for thou art more to me than these.Lady, the cause is Creon and his plots.JOCASTA But what provoked the quarrel? make this clear.OEDIPUS He points me out as Laius' murderer.JOCASTA Of his own knowledge or upon report?

OEDIPUS He is too cunning to commit himself, And makes a mouthpiece of a knavish seer.JOCASTA Then thou mayest ease thy conscience on that score.Listen and I'll convince thee that no man Hath scot or lot in the prophetic art.Here is the proof in brief.An oracle Once came to Laius(I will not say 'Twas from the Delphic god himself, but from His ministers)declaring he was doomed To perish by the hand of his own son, A child that should be born to him by me.Now Laius--so at least report affirmed--Was murdered on a day by highwaymen, No natives, at a spot where three roads meet.As for the child, it was but three days old, When Laius, its ankles pierced and pinned Together, gave it to be cast away By others on the trackless mountain side.So then Apollo brought it not to pass The child should be his father's murderer, Or the dread terror find accomplishment, And Laius be slain by his own son.Such was the prophet's horoscope.O king, Regard it not.Whate'er the god deems fit To search, himself unaided will reveal.OEDIPUS What memories, what wild tumult of the soul Came o'er me, lady, as I heard thee speak!

JOCASTA What mean'st thou? What has shocked and startled thee?

OEDIPUS Methought I heard thee say that Laius Was murdered at the meeting of three roads.JOCASTA So ran the story that is current still.OEDIPUS Where did this happen? Dost thou know the place?

JOCASTA Phocis the land is called;the spot is where Branch roads from Delphi and from Daulis meet.OEDIPUS And how long is it since these things befell?

JOCASTA 'Twas but a brief while were thou wast proclaimed

Our country's ruler that the news was brought.OEDIPUS O Zeus, what hast thou willed to do with me!

JOCASTA What is it, Oedipus, that moves thee so? OEDIPUS Ask me not yet;tell me the build and height Of Laius? Was he still in manhood's prime?

JOCASTA Tall was he, and his hair was lightly strewn With silver;and not unlike thee in form.OEDIPUS O woe is me!Mehtinks unwittingly I laid but now a dread curse on myself.JOCASTA What say'st thou? When I look upon thee, my king，I tremble.OEDIPUS 'Tis a dread presentiment That in the end the seer will prove not blind.One further question to resolve my doubt.JOCASTA I quail;but ask, and I will answer all.OEDIPUS Had he but few attendants or a train Of armed retainers with him, like a prince?

JOCASTA They were but five in all, and one of them A herald;Laius in a mule-car rode.OEDIPUS Alas!'tis clear as noonday now.But say, Lady, who carried this report to Thebes?

JOCASTA A serf, the sole survivor who returned.OEDIPUS Haply he is at hand or in the house?

JOCASTA No, for as soon as he returned and found Thee reigning in the stead of Laius slain, He clasped my hand and supplicated me To send him to the alps and pastures, where He might be farthest from the sight of Thebes.And so I sent him.'Twas an honest slave And well deserved some better recompense.OEDIPUS Fetch him at once.I fain would see the man.JOCASTA He shall be brought;but wherefore summon him? OEDIPUS Lady, I fear my tongue has overrun Discretion;therefore I would question him.JOCASTA Well, he shall come, but may not I too claim To share the burden of thy heart, my king?

OEDIPUS And thou shalt not be frustrate of thy wish.Now my imaginings have gone so far.Who has a higher claim that thou to hear My tale of dire adventures? Listen then.My sire was Polybus of Corinth, and My mother Merope, a Dorian;And I was held the foremost citizen, Till a strange thing befell me, strange indeed, Yet scarce deserving all the heat it stirred.A roisterer at some banquet, flown with wine, Shouted “Thou art not true son of thy sire.” It irked me, but I stomached for the nonce The insult;on the morrow I sought out My mother and my sire and questioned them.They were indignant at the random slur Cast on my parentage and did their best To comfort me, but still the venomed barb Rankled, for still the scandal spread and grew.So privily without their leave I went To Delphi, and Apollo sent me back Baulked of the knowledge that I came to seek.But other grievous things he prophesied, Woes, lamentations, mourning, portents dire;To wit I should defile my mother's bed And raise up seed too loathsome to behold, And slay the father from whose loins I sprang.Then, lady,--thou shalt hear the very truth--As I drew near the triple-branching roads, A herald met me and a man who sat In a car drawn by colts--as in thy tale--The man in front and the old man himself Threatened to thrust me rudely from the path, Then jostled by the charioteer in wrath I struck him, and the old man, seeing this, Watched till I passed and from his car brought down Full on my head the double-pointed goad.Yet was I quits with him and more;one stroke Of my good staff sufficed to fling him clean Out of the chariot seat and laid him prone.And so I slew them every one.But if Betwixt this stranger there was aught in common With Laius, who more miserable than I, What mortal could you find more god-abhorred? Wretch whom no sojourner, no citizen May harbor or address, whom all are bound To harry from their homes.And this same curse Was laid on me, and laid by none but me.Yea with these hands all gory I pollute The bed of him I slew.Say, am I vile? Am I not utterly unclean, a wretch Doomed to be banished, and in banishment Forgo the sight of all my dearest ones, And never tread again my native earth;Or else to wed my mother and slay my sire, Polybus, who begat me and upreared? If one should say, this is the handiwork Of some inhuman power, who could blame His judgment? But, ye pure and awful gods, Forbid, forbid that I should see that day!May I be blotted out from living men Ere such a plague spot set on me its brand!

CHORUS We too, O king, are troubled;but till thou Hast questioned the survivor, still hope on.OEDIPUS My hope is faint, but still enough survives To bid me bide the coming of this herd.JOCASTA Suppose him here, what wouldst thou learn of him?

OEDIPUS I'll tell thee, lady;if his tale agrees With thine, I shall have 'scaped calamity.JOCASTA And what of special import did I say?

OEDIPUS In thy report of what the herdsman said Laius was slain by robbers;now if he Still speaks of robbers, not a robber, I Slew him not;“one” with “many” cannot square.But if he says one lonely wayfarer, The last link wanting to my guilt is forged.JOCASTA Well, rest assured, his tale ran thus at first，Nor can he now retract what then he said;Not I alone but all our townsfolk heard it.E'en should he vary somewhat in his story, He cannot make the death of Laius In any wise jump with the oracle.For Loxias said expressly he was doomed To die by my child's hand, but he, poor babe, He shed no blood, but perished first himself.So much for divination.Henceforth I Will look for signs neither to right nor left.OEDIPUS Thou reasonest well.Still I would have thee send

And fetch the bondsman hither.See to it.JOCASTA That will I straightway.Come, let us within.I would do nothing that my lord mislikes.(Exeunt OEDIPUS and JOCASTA.)

CHORUS(strophe 1)

My lot be still to lead The life of innocence and fly Irreverence in word or deed, To follow still those laws ordained on high Whose birthplace is the bright ethereal sky No mortal birth they own, Olympus their progenitor alone: Ne'er shall they slumber in oblivion cold, The god in them is strong and grows not old.(antistrophe 1)

Of insolence is bred The tyrant;insolence full blown, With empty riches surfeited, Scales the precipitous height and grasps the throne.Then topples o'er and lies in ruin prone;No foothold on that dizzy steep.But O may Heaven the true patriot keep Who burns with emulous zeal to serve the State.God is my help and hope, on him I wait.(strophe 2)

But the proud sinner, or in word or deed, That will not Justice heed, Nor reverence the shrine Of images divine, Perdition seize his vain imaginings, If, urged by greed profane, He grasps at ill-got gain, And lays an impious hand on holiest things.Who when such deeds are done Can hope heaven's bolts to shun? If sin like this to honor can aspire, Why dance I still and lead the sacred choir?

(antistrophe 2)

No more I'll seek earth's central oracle, Or Abae's hallowed cell, Nor to Olympia bring My votive offering.If before all God's truth be not bade plain.O Zeus, reveal thy might, King, if thou'rt named aright Omnipotent, all-seeing, as of old;For Laius is forgot;His weird, men heed it not;Apollo is forsook and faith grows cold.(Enter JOCASTA.)

JOCASTA My lords, ye look amazed to see your queen With wreaths and gifts of incense in her hands.I had a mind to visit the high shrines, For Oedipus is overwrought, alarmed With terrors manifold.He will not use His past experience, like a man of sense, To judge the present need, but lends an ear To any croaker if he augurs ill.Since then my counsels naught avail, I turn To thee, our present help in time of trouble, Apollo, Lord Lycean, and to thee My prayers and supplications here I bring.Lighten us, lord, and cleanse us from this curse!For now we all are cowed like mariners Who see their helmsman dumbstruck in the storm.(Enter Corinthian MESSENGER.)

MESSENGER My masters, tell me where the palace is Of Oedipus;or better, where's the king.CHORUS Here is the palace and he bides within;This is his queen the mother of his children.MESSENGER All happiness attend her and the house, Blessed is her husband and her marriage-bed.JOCASTA My greetings to thee, stranger;thy fair words Deserve a like response.But tell me why Thou comest--what thy need or what thy news.MESSENGER Good for thy consort and the royal house.JOCASTA What may it be? Whose messenger art thou?

MESSENGER The Isthmian commons have resolved to make Thy husband king--so 'twas reported there.JOCASTA What!is not aged Polybus still king?

MESSENGER No, verily;he's dead and in his grave.JOCASTA What!is he dead, the sire of Oedipus?

MESSENGER If I speak falsely, may I die myself.JOCASTA Quick, maiden, bear these tidings to my lord.Ye god-sent oracles, where stand ye now!This is the man whom Oedipus long shunned, In dread to prove his murderer;and now He dies in nature's course, not by his hand.(Enter OEDIPUS.)

OEDIPUS My wife, my queen, Jocasta, why hast thou Summoned me from my palace?

JOCASTA Hear this man, And as thou hearest judge what has become Of all those awe-inspiring oracles.OEDIPUS Who is this man, and what his news for me?

JOCASTA He comes from Corinth and his message this: Thy father Polybus hath passed away.OEDIPUS What? let me have it, stranger, from thy mouth.MESSENGER If I must first make plain beyond a doubt My message, know that Polybus is dead.OEDIPUS By treachery, or by sickness visited?

MESSENGER One touch will send an old man to his rest.OEDIPUS So of some malady he died, poor man.MESSENGER Yes, having measured the full span of years.OEDIPUS Out on it, lady!why should one regard The Pythian hearth or birds that scream i' the air? Did they not point at me as doomed to slay My father? but he's dead and in his grave And here am I who ne'er unsheathed a sword;Unless the longing for his absent son Killed him and so I slew him in a sense.But, as they stand, the oracles are dead--Dust, ashes, nothing, dead as Polybus.JOCASTA Say, did not I foretell this long ago?

OEDIPUS Thou didst: but I was misled by my fear.JOCASTA Then let I no more weigh upon thy soul.OEDIPUS Must I not fear my mother's marriage bed.JOCASTA Why should a mortal man, the sport of chance, With no assured foreknowledge, be afraid? Best live a careless life from hand to mouth.This wedlock with thy mother fear not thou.How oft it chances that in dreams a man Has wed his mother!He who least regards Such brainsick phantasies lives most at ease.OEDIPUS I should have shared in full thy confidence, Were not my mother living;since she lives Though half convinced I still must live in dread.JOCASTA And yet thy sire's death lights out darkness much.OEDIPUS Much, but my fear is touching her who lives.MESSENGER Who may this woman be whom thus you fear?

OEDIPUS Merope, stranger, wife of Polybus.MESSENGER And what of her can cause you any fear?

OEDIPUS A heaven-sent oracle of dread import.MESSENGER A mystery, or may a stranger hear it?

OEDIPUS Aye, 'tis no secret.Loxias once foretold That I should mate with mine own mother, and shed With my own hands the blood of my own sire.Hence Corinth was for many a year to me A home distant;and I trove abroad, But missed the sweetest sight, my parents' face.MESSENGER Was this the fear that exiled thee from home?

OEDIPUS Yea, and the dread of slaying my own sire.MESSENGER Why, since I came to give thee pleasure, King，Have I not rid thee of this second fear?

OEDIPUS Well, thou shalt have due guerdon for thy pains.MESSENGER Well, I confess what chiefly made me come Was hope to profit by thy coming home.OEDIPUS Nay, I will ne'er go near my parents more.MESSENGER My son, 'tis plain, thou know'st not what thou doest.OEDIPUS How so, old man? For heaven's sake tell me all.MESSENGER If this is why thou dreadest to return.OEDIPUS Yea, lest the god's word be fulfilled in me.MESSENGER Lest through thy parents thou shouldst be accursed?

OEDIPUS This and none other is my constant dread.MESSENGER Dost thou not know thy fears are baseless all?

OEDIPUS How baseless, if I am their very son?

MESSENGER Since Polybus was naught to thee in blood.OEDIPUS What say'st thou? was not Polybus my sire?

MESSENGER As much thy sire as I am, and no more.OEDIPUS My sire no more to me than one who is naught?

MESSENGER Since I begat thee not, no more did he.OEDIPUS What reason had he then to call me son?

MESSENGER Know that he took thee from my hands, a gift.OEDIPUS Yet, if no child of his, he loved me well.MESSENGER A childless man till then, he warmed to thee.OEDIPUS A foundling or a purchased slave, this child?

MESSENGER I found thee in Cithaeron's wooded glens.OEDIPUS What led thee to explore those upland glades?

MESSENGER My business was to tend the mountain flocks.OEDIPUS A vagrant shepherd journeying for hire?

MESSENGER True, but thy savior in that hour, my son.OEDIPUS My savior? from what harm? what ailed me then?

MESSENGER Those ankle joints are evidence enow.OEDIPUS Ah, why remind me of that ancient sore?

MESSENGER I loosed the pin that riveted thy feet.OEDIPUS Yes, from my cradle that dread brand I bore.MESSENGER Whence thou deriv'st the name that still is thine.OEDIPUS Who did it? I adjure thee, tell me who Say, was it father, mother?

MESSENGER I know not.The man from whom I had thee may know more.OEDIPUS What, did another find me, not thyself?

MESSENGER Not I;another shepherd gave thee me.OEDIPUS Who was he? Would'st thou know again the man?

MESSENGER He passed indeed for one of Laius' house.OEDIPUS The king who ruled the country long ago?

MESSENGER The same: he was a herdsman of the king.OEDIPUS And is he living still for me to see him?

MESSENGER His fellow-countrymen should best know that.OEDIPUS Doth any bystander among you know The herd he speaks of, or by seeing him Afield or in the city? answer straight!The hour hath come to clear this business up.CHORUS Methinks he means none other than the hind Whom thou anon wert fain to see;but that Our queen Jocasta best of all could tell.OEDIPUS Madam, dost know the man we sent to fetch? Is the same of whom the stranger speaks?

JOCASTA Who is the man? What matter? Let it be.'Twere waste of thought to weigh such idle words.OEDIPUS No, with such guiding clues I cannot fail To bring to light the secret of my birth.JOCASTA Oh, as thou carest for thy life, give o'er This quest.Enough the anguish I endure.OEDIPUS Be of good cheer;though I be proved the son Of a bondwoman, aye, through three descents Triply a slave, thy honor is unsmirched.JOCASTA Yet humor me, I pray thee;do not this.OEDIPUS I cannot;I must probe this matter home.JOCASTA 'Tis for thy sake I advise thee for the best.OEDIPUS I grow impatient of this best advice.JOCASTA Ah mayst thou ne'er discover who thou art!

OEDIPUS Go, fetch me here the herd, and leave yon woman

To glory in her pride of ancestry.JOCASTA O woe is thee, poor wretch!With that last word

I leave thee, henceforth silent evermore.(Exit JOCASTA.)

CHORUS Why, Oedipus, why stung with passionate grief Hath the queen thus departed? Much I fear From this dead calm will burst a storm of woes.OEDIPUS Let the storm burst, my fixed resolve still holds，To learn my lineage, be it ne'er so low.It may be she with all a woman's pride Thinks scorn of my base parentage.But I Who rank myself as Fortune's favorite child, The giver of good gifts, shall not be shamed.She is my mother and the changing moons My brethren, and with them I wax and wane.Thus sprung why should I fear to trace my birth? Nothing can make me other than I am.CHORUS(strophe)

If my soul prophetic err not, if my wisdom aught avail，Thee, Cithaeron, I shall hail, As the nurse and foster-mother of our Oedipus shall greet

Ere tomorrow's full moon rises, and exalt thee as is meet.Dance and song shall hymn thy praises, lover of our royal race.Phoebus, may my words find grace!

(antistrophe)

Child, who bare thee, nymph or goddess? sure thy sure was more than man, Haply the hill-roamer Pan.Of did Loxias beget thee, for he haunts the upland wold;

Or Cyllene's lord, or Bacchus, dweller on the hilltops cold?

Did some Heliconian Oread give him thee, a new-born joy?

Nymphs with whom he love to toy?

OEDIPUS Elders, if I, who never yet before Have met the man, may make a guess, methinks I see the herdsman who we long have sought;His time-worn aspect matches with the years Of yonder aged messenger;besides I seem to recognize the men who bring him As servants of my own.But you, perchance, Having in past days known or seen the herd, May better by sure knowledge my surmise.CHORUS I recognize him;one of Laius' house;A simple hind, but true as any man.(Enter HERDSMAN.)

OEDIPUS Corinthian, stranger, I address thee first, Is this the man thou meanest!MESSENGER This is he.OEDIPUS And now old man, look up and answer all I ask thee.Wast thou once of Laius' house?

HERDSMAN I was, a thrall, not purchased but home-bred.OEDIPUS What was thy business? how wast thou employed?

HERDSMAN The best part of my life I tended sheep.OEDIPUS What were the pastures thou didst most frequent?

HERDSMAN Cithaeron and the neighboring alps.OEDIPUS Then there Thou must have known yon man, at least by fame?

HERDSMAN Yon man? in what way? what man dost thou mean?

OEDIPUS The man here, having met him in past times...HERDSMAN Off-hand I cannot call him well to mind.MESSENGER No wonder, master.But I will revive His blunted memories.Sure he can recall What time together both we drove our flocks, He two, I one, on the Cithaeron range, For three long summers;I his mate from spring Till rose Arcturus;then in winter time I led mine home, he his to Laius' folds.Did these things happen as I say, or no?

HERDSMAN 'Tis long ago, but all thou say'st is true.MESSENGER Well, thou mast then remember giving me A child to rear as my own foster-son?

HERDSMAN Why dost thou ask this question? What of that?

MESSENGER Friend, he that stands before thee was that child.HERDSMAN A plague upon thee!Hold thy wanton tongue!OEDIPUS Softly, old man, rebuke him not;thy words Are more deserving chastisement than his.HERDSMAN O best of masters, what is my offense?

OEDIPUS Not answering what he asks about the child.HERDSMAN He speaks at random, babbles like a fool.OEDIPUS If thou lack'st grace to speak, I'll loose thy tongue.HERDSMAN For mercy's sake abuse not an old man.OEDIPUS Arrest the villain, seize and pinion him!

HERDSMAN Alack, alack!What have I done? what wouldst thou further learn?

OEDIPUS Didst give this man the child of whom he asks?

HERDSMAN I did;and would that I had died that day!

OEDIPUS And die thou shalt unless thou tell the truth.HERDSMAN But, if I tell it, I am doubly lost.OEDIPUS The knave methinks will still prevaricate.HERDSMAN Nay, I confessed I gave it long ago.OEDIPUS Whence came it? was it thine, or given to thee?

HERDSMAN I had it from another, 'twas not mine.OEDIPUS From whom of these our townsmen, and what house?

HERDSMAN Forbear for God's sake, master, ask no more.OEDIPUS If I must question thee again, thou'rt lost.HERDSMAN Well then--it was a child of Laius' house.OEDIPUS Slave-born or one of Laius' own race? HERDSMAN Ah me!I stand upon the perilous edge of speech.OEDIPUS And I of hearing, but I still must hear.HERDSMAN Know then the child was by repute his own, But she within, thy consort best could tell.OEDIPUS What!she, she gave it thee?

HERDSMAN 'Tis so, my king.OEDIPUS With what intent?

HERDSMAN To make away with it.OEDIPUS What, she its mother.HERDSMAN Fearing a dread weird.OEDIPUS What weird?

HERDSMAN 'Twas told that he should slay his sire.OEDIPUS What didst thou give it then to this old man?

HERDSMAN Through pity, master, for the babe.I thought He'd take it to the country whence he came;But he preserved it for the worst of woes.For if thou art in sooth what this man saith, God pity thee!thou wast to misery born.OEDIPUS Ah me!ah me!all brought to pass, all true!O light, may I behold thee nevermore!I stand a wretch, in birth, in wedlock cursed, A parricide, incestuously, triply cursed!(Exit OEDIPUS.)

CHORUS(strophe 1)

Races of mortal man Whose life is but a span, I count ye but the shadow of a shade!For he who most doth know Of bliss, hath but the show;A moment, and the visions pale and fade.Thy fall, O Oedipus, thy piteous fall Warns me none born of women blest to call.(antistrophe 1)

For he of marksmen best, O Zeus, outshot the rest, And won the prize supreme of wealth and power.By him the vulture maid Was quelled, her witchery laid;He rose our savior and the land's strong tower.We hailed thee king and from that day adored Of mighty Thebes the universal lord.(strophe 2)

O heavy hand of fate!Who now more desolate, Whose tale more sad than thine, whose lot more dire? O Oedipus, discrowned head, Thy cradle was thy marriage bed;One harborage sufficed for son and sire.How could the soil thy father eared so long Endure to bear in silence such a wrong?

(antistrophe 2)

All-seeing Time hath caught Guilt, and to justice brought The son and sire commingled in one bed.O child of Laius' ill-starred race Would I had ne'er beheld thy face;I raise for thee a dirge as o'er the dead.Yet, sooth to say, through thee I drew new breath, And now through thee I feel a second death.(Enter SECOND MESSENGER.)

SECOND MESSENGER Most grave and reverend senators of Thebes，What Deeds ye soon must hear, what sights behold How will ye mourn, if, true-born patriots, Ye reverence still the race of Labdacus!Not Ister nor all Phasis' flood, I ween, Could wash away the blood-stains from this house, The ills it shrouds or soon will bring to light, Ills wrought of malice, not unwittingly.The worst to bear are self-inflicted wounds.CHORUS Grievous enough for all our tears and groans Our past calamities;what canst thou add?

SECOND MESSENGER My tale is quickly told and quickly heard.Our sovereign lady queen Jocasta's dead.CHORUS Alas, poor queen!how came she by her death?

SECOND MESSENGER By her own hand.And all the horror of it，Not having seen, yet cannot comprehend.Nathless, as far as my poor memory serves, I will relate the unhappy lady's woe.When in her frenzy she had passed inside The vestibule, she hurried straight to win The bridal-chamber, clutching at her hair With both her hands, and, once within the room, She shut the doors behind her with a crash.“Laius,” she cried, and called her husband dead Long, long ago;her thought was of that child By him begot, the son by whom the sire Was murdered and the mother left to breed With her own seed, a monstrous progeny.Then she bewailed the marriage bed whereon Poor wretch, she had conceived a double brood, Husband by husband, children by her child.What happened after that I cannot tell, Nor how the end befell, for with a shriek Burst on us Oedipus;all eyes were fixed On Oedipus, as up and down he strode, Nor could we mark her agony to the end.For stalking to and fro “A sword!” he cried, “Where is the wife, no wife, the teeming womb That bore a double harvest, me and mine?” And in his frenzy some supernal power(No mortal, surely, none of us who watched him)Guided his footsteps;with a terrible shriek, As though one beckoned him, he crashed against The folding doors, and from their staples forced The wrenched bolts and hurled himself within.Then we beheld the woman hanging there, A running noose entwined about her neck.But when he saw her, with a maddened roar He loosed the cord;and when her wretched corpse Lay stretched on earth, what followed--O 'twas dread!He tore the golden brooches that upheld Her queenly robes, upraised them high and smote Full on his eye-balls, uttering words like these: “No more shall ye behold such sights of woe, Deeds I have suffered and myself have wrought;Henceforward quenched in darkness shall ye see Those ye should ne'er have seen;now blind to those Whom, when I saw, I vainly yearned to know.” Such was the burden of his moan, whereto, Not once but oft, he struck with his hand uplift His eyes, and at each stroke the ensanguined orbs Bedewed his beard, not oozing drop by drop, But one black gory downpour, thick as hail.Such evils, issuing from the double source, Have whelmed them both, confounding man and wife.Till now the storied fortune of this house Was fortunate indeed;but from this day Woe, lamentation, ruin, death, disgrace, All ills that can be named, all, all are theirs.CHORUS But hath he still no respite from his pain?

SECOND MESSENGER He cries, “Unbar the doors and let all Thebes

Behold the slayer of his sire, his mother's--” That shameful word my lips may not repeat.He vows to fly self-banished from the land, Nor stay to bring upon his house the curse Himself had uttered;but he has no strength Nor one to guide him, and his torture's more Than man can suffer, as yourselves will see.For lo, the palace portals are unbarred, And soon ye shall behold a sight so sad That he who must abhorred would pity it.(Enter OEDIPUS blinded.)

CHORUS Woeful sight!more woeful none These sad eyes have looked upon.Whence this madness? None can tell Who did cast on thee his spell, prowling all thy life around，Leaping with a demon bound.Hapless wretch!how can I brook On thy misery to look? Though to gaze on thee I yearn, Much to question, much to learn, Horror-struck away I turn.OEDIPUS Ah me!ah woe is me!Ah whither am I borne!How like a ghost forlorn My voice flits from me on the air!On, on the demon goads.The end, ah where?

CHORUS An end too dread to tell, too dark to see.OEDIPUS(strophe 1)

Dark, dark!The horror of darkness, like a shroud, Wraps me and bears me on through mist and cloud.Ah me, ah me!What spasms athwart me shoot, What pangs of agonizing memory?

CHORUS No marvel if in such a plight thou feel'st The double weight of past and present woes.OEDIPUS(antistrophe 1)

Ah friend, still loyal, constant still and kind, Thou carest for the blind.I know thee near, and though bereft of eyes, Thy voice I recognize.CHORUS O doer of dread deeds, how couldst thou mar Thy vision thus? What demon goaded thee?

OEDIPUS(strophe 2)

Apollo, friend, Apollo, he it was That brought these ills to pass;But the right hand that dealt the blow Was mine, none other.How, How, could I longer see when sight Brought no delight?

CHORUS Alas!'tis as thou sayest.OEDIPUS Say, friends, can any look or voice Or touch of love henceforth my heart rejoice? Haste, friends, no fond delay, Take the twice cursed away Far from all ken, The man abhorred of gods, accursed of men.CHORUS O thy despair well suits thy desperate case.Would I had never looked upon thy face!

OEDIPUS(antistrophe 2)

My curse on him whoe'er unrived The waif's fell fetters and my life revived!He meant me well, yet had he left me there, He had saved my friends and me a world of care.CHORUS I too had wished it so.OEDIPUS Then had I never come to shed My father's blood nor climbed my mother's bed;The monstrous offspring of a womb defiled, Co-mate of him who gendered me, and child.Was ever man before afflicted thus, Like Oedipus.CHORUS I cannot say that thou hast counseled well, For thou wert better dead than living blind.OEDIPUS What's done was well done.Thou canst never shake

My firm belief.A truce to argument.For, had I sight, I know not with what eyes I could have met my father in the shades, Or my poor mother, since against the twain I sinned, a sin no gallows could atone.Aye, but, ye say, the sight of children joys A parent's eyes.What, born as mine were born? No, such a sight could never bring me joy;Nor this fair city with its battlements, Its temples and the statues of its gods, Sights from which I, now wretchedst of all, Once ranked the foremost Theban in all Thebes, By my own sentence am cut off, condemned By my own proclamation 'gainst the wretch, The miscreant by heaven itself declared Unclean--and of the race of Laius.Thus branded as a felon by myself, How had I dared to look you in the face? Nay, had I known a way to choke the springs Of hearing, I had never shrunk to make A dungeon of this miserable frame, Cut off from sight and hearing;for 'tis bliss to bide in regions sorrow cannot reach.Why didst thou harbor me, Cithaeron, why Didst thou not take and slay me? Then I never Had shown to men the secret of my birth.O Polybus, O Corinth, O my home, Home of my ancestors(so wast thou called)How fair a nursling then I seemed, how foul The canker that lay festering in the bud!Now is the blight revealed of root and fruit.Ye triple high-roads, and thou hidden glen, Coppice, and pass where meet the three-branched ways, Ye drank my blood, the life-blood these hands spilt, My father's;do ye call to mind perchance Those deeds of mine ye witnessed and the work I wrought thereafter when I came to Thebes? O fatal wedlock, thou didst give me birth, And, having borne me, sowed again my seed, Mingling the blood of fathers, brothers, children, Brides, wives and mothers, an incestuous brood, All horrors that are wrought beneath the sun, Horrors so foul to name them were unmeet.O, I adjure you, hide me anywhere Far from this land, or slay me straight, or cast me Down to the depths of ocean out of sight.Come hither, deign to touch an abject wretch;Draw near and fear not;I myself must bear The load of guilt that none but I can share.(Enter CREON.)

CREON Lo, here is Creon, the one man to grant Thy prayer by action or advice, for he Is left the State's sole guardian in thy stead.OEDIPUS Ah me!what words to accost him can I find? What cause has he to trust me? In the past I have bee proved his rancorous enemy.CREON Not in derision, Oedipus, I come Nor to upbraid thee with thy past misdeeds.(To BYSTANDERS.)But shame upon you!if ye feel no sense Of human decencies, at least revere The Sun whose light beholds and nurtures all.Leave not thus nakedly for all to gaze at A horror neither earth nor rain from heaven Nor light will suffer.Lead him straight within, For it is seemly that a kinsman's woes Be heard by kin and seen by kin alone.OEDIPUS O listen, since thy presence comes to me A shock of glad surprise--so noble thou, And I so vile--O grant me one small boon.I ask it not on my behalf, but thine.CREON And what the favor thou wouldst crave of me?

OEDIPUS Forth from thy borders thrust me with all speed;

Set me within some vasty desert where No mortal voice shall greet me any more.CREON This had I done already, but I deemed It first behooved me to consult the god.OEDIPUS His will was set forth fully--to destroy The parricide, the scoundrel;and I am he.CREON Yea, so he spake, but in our present plight 'Twere better to consult the god anew.OEDIPUS Dare ye inquire concerning such a wretch?

CREON Yea, for thyself wouldst credit now his word.OEDIPUS Aye, and on thee in all humility I lay this charge: let her who lies within Receive such burial as thou shalt ordain;Such rites 'tis thine, as brother, to perform.But for myself, O never let my Thebes, The city of my sires, be doomed to bear The burden of my presence while I live.No, let me be a dweller on the hills, On yonder mount Cithaeron, famed as mine, My tomb predestined for me by my sire And mother, while they lived, that I may die Slain as they sought to slay me, when alive.This much I know full surely, nor disease Shall end my days, nor any common chance;For I had ne'er been snatched from death, unless I was predestined to some awful doom.So be it.I reck not how Fate deals with me But my unhappy children--for my sons Be not concerned, O Creon, they are men, And for themselves, where'er they be, can fend.But for my daughters twain, poor innocent maids, Who ever sat beside me at the board Sharing my viands, drinking of my cup, For them, I pray thee, care, and, if thou willst, O might I feel their touch and make my moan.Hear me, O prince, my noble-hearted prince!Could I but blindly touch them with my hands I'd think they still were mine, as when I saw.(ANTIGONE and ISMENE are led in.)What say I? can it be my pretty ones Whose sobs I hear? Has Creon pitied me And sent me my two darlings? Can this be?

CREON 'Tis true;'twas I procured thee this delight, Knowing the joy they were to thee of old.OEDIPUS God speed thee!and as meed for bringing them May Providence deal with thee kindlier Than it has dealt with me!O children mine, Where are ye? Let me clasp you with these hands, A brother's hands, a father's;hands that made Lack-luster sockets of his once bright eyes;Hands of a man who blindly, recklessly, Became your sire by her from whom he sprang.Though I cannot behold you, I must weep In thinking of the evil days to come, The slights and wrongs that men will put upon you.Where'er ye go to feast or festival, No merrymaking will it prove for you, But oft abashed in tears ye will return.And when ye come to marriageable years, Where's the bold wooers who will jeopardize To take unto himself such disrepute As to my children's children still must cling, For what of infamy is lacking here? “Their father slew his father, sowed the seed Where he himself was gendered, and begat These maidens at the source wherefrom he sprang.” Such are the gibes that men will cast at you.Who then will wed you? None, I ween, but ye Must pine, poor maids, in single barrenness.O Prince, Menoeceus' son, to thee, I turn, With the it rests to father them, for we Their natural parents, both of us, are lost.O leave them not to wander poor, unwed, Thy kin, nor let them share my low estate.O pity them so young, and but for thee All destitute.Thy hand upon it, Prince.To you, my children I had much to say, Were ye but ripe to hear.Let this suffice: Pray ye may find some home and live content, And may your lot prove happier than your sire's.CREON Thou hast had enough of weeping;pass within.OEDIPUS I must obey, Though 'tis grievous.CREON Weep not, everything must have its day.OEDIPUS Well I go, but on conditions.CREON What thy terms for going, say.OEDIPUS Send me from the land an exile.CREON Ask this of the gods, not me.OEDIPUS But I am the gods' abhorrence.CREON Then they soon will grant thy plea.OEDIPUS Lead me hence, then, I am willing.CREON Come, but let thy children go.OEDIPUS Rob me not of these my children!

CREON Crave not mastery in all, For the mastery that raised thee was thy bane and wrought thy fall.CHORUS Look ye, countrymen and Thebans, this is Oedipus the great，He who knew the Sphinx's riddle and was mightiest in our state.Who of all our townsmen gazed not on his fame with envious eyes?

Now, in what a sea of troubles sunk and overwhelmed he lies!

Therefore wait to see life's ending ere thou count one mortal blest;

Wait till free from pain and sorrow he has gained his final rest.THE END

第二篇：俄狄浦斯王劇本docx

俄狄浦斯王 人物

祭司（祭）——宙斯的祭司。

伊俄卡斯忒（伊）——俄狄浦斯的母親與妻子。

一群乞援人——忒拜人。侍女——伊俄卡斯忒的侍女。

俄狄浦斯（俄）——拉伊俄斯的兒子，伊俄卡斯忒的兒子與丈夫，忒拜城的王，科任托斯城國王波呂玻斯的養子。

報信人（信）——波呂玻斯的牧人。

侍從數人——俄狄浦斯的侍從。牧人（牧）——拉伊俄斯的牧人。

克瑞翁（克）——伊俄卡斯忒的兄弟。仆人數人——俄狄浦斯的仆人。

歌隊——由忒拜長老十五人組成。傳報人（傳）——忒拜人。

忒瑞西阿斯（忒）——忒拜城的先知。

二女孩——安提戈涅和伊斯墨涅。俄狄浦斯的女兒。

童子——忒瑞西阿斯的領路人。

布景

忒拜王宮前院。

時代

英雄時代。一開場

[祭司攜一群乞援人自觀眾右方上，俄狄浦斯偕眾侍從自宮中上。

俄：孩兒們，老卡德摩斯的現代兒孫，城里正彌漫著香煙，到處是求生的歌聲和苦痛的呻吟，你們為什么坐在我面前，捧著這些纏羊毛的樹枝？孩兒們，我不該聽旁人傳報，我，人人知道的俄狄浦斯，親自出來了。

（向祭司）老人家，你說吧，你年高德劭，正應當替他們說話。你們有什么心事，為什么坐在這里？你們有什么憂慮，有什么心愿？我愿意盡力幫助你們，我要是不憐憫你們這樣的乞援人，未免太狠心了。

祭：啊，俄狄浦斯，我邦的君主，請看這些坐在你祭壇前的人都是怎樣的年紀：有的還不會高飛；有的是祭司，像身為宙斯祭司的我，已經老態龍鐘；還有的是青壯年。其余的人也捧著纏羊毛的樹枝坐在市場里，帕拉斯的神廟前，伊斯墨諾斯廟上的神托所的火灰旁邊。因為這城邦，像你親眼看見的，正在血紅的波浪里顛簸著，抬不起頭來；田間的麥穗枯萎了，牧場上的牛瘟死了，婦人流產了；最可恨的帶火的瘟神降臨到這城邦，使卡德摩斯的家園變為一片荒涼，幽暗的冥土里倒充滿了悲嘆和哭聲。

我和這些孩子并不是把你看作天神，才坐在這祭壇前求你，我們是把你當作天災和人生禍患的救星；你曾經來到卡德摩斯的城邦，豁免了我們獻給那殘忍的歌女的捐稅；這件事你事先并沒有聽我們解釋過，也沒有向人請教過；人人都說，并且相信，你靠天神的幫助救了我們。

現在，俄狄浦斯，全能的主上，我們全體乞援人求你，或是靠天神的指點，或是靠凡人的力量，為我們找出一條生路。在我看來，凡是富有經驗的人，他們的主見一定是很有用處的。

啊，最高貴的人，快拯救我們的城邦！保住你的名聲！為了你先前的一片好心，這地方把你叫做救星；將來我們想起你的統治，別讓我們留下這樣的記憶：你先前把我們救了，后來又讓我們跌倒。快拯救這城邦，使它穩定下來。

你曾經憑你的好運為我們造福，如今也照樣做吧。假如你還想像現在這樣治理這國土，那么治理人民總比治理荒郊好；一個城堡或是一只船，要是空著沒有人和你同住，就毫無用處。

俄：可憐的孩兒們，我不是不知道你們的來意；我了解你們大家的疾苦：可是你們雖然痛苦，我的痛苦卻遠遠超過你們大家。你們每人只為自己悲哀，不為旁人；我的悲痛卻同時是為城邦，為自己，也為你們。

我睡不找，并不是被你們吵醒，須知我是流過多少眼淚，想了又想。我細細思量，終于想到了一個唯一的挽救辦法，這辦法我已經實行。我已經派克瑞翁，墨諾叩斯的兒子，我的內兄，到福玻斯的皮托廟上去求問：要用怎樣的言行才能拯救這城邦。我計算日程，很是焦心，因為他耽擱得太久，早超過適當的日期了，也不知他在做什么。等他回來，我若不是完全按照天神的啟示行事，我就算失德。

祭：你說的真巧，他們的手勢告訴我，克瑞翁回來了。

俄：阿波羅王啊，但愿他的神采表示有了得救的好消息。

祭：我猜想他一定有了好消息；要不然，他不會戴著一頂上面滿是果實的桂冠。

俄：我們立刻可以知道；他聽得見我們說話了。

（克瑞翁自觀眾左方上。）

親王，墨諾叩斯的兒子，我的親戚，你從神那里給我們帶回了什么消息？

克：好消息！告訴你吧：一切難堪的事，只要向著正確的方向進行，都會成為好事。

俄：神示怎么樣？你的話既沒有叫我放心，也沒有使我驚慌。

克：你愿意趁他們在旁邊的時候聽，我現在就說；不然就到宮里去。

俄：說給大家聽吧！我是為大家擔憂，不單為我自己。

克：那么我就把我聽到的神示講出來：福玻斯王分明是叫我們把藏在這里的污染清除出去，別讓它留下來，害得我們無從得救。

俄：怎樣清除？那是什么污染？

克：你得下驅逐令，或者殺一個人抵償先前的流血；就是那次的流血，使城邦遭了這番風險。

俄：阿波羅指的是誰的事？

克：主上啊，在你治理這城邦以前，拉伊俄斯原是這里的王。

俄：我全知道，聽人說起過；我沒有親眼見過他。

克：他被人殺害了，神分明是叫我們嚴懲那伙兇手，不論他們是誰。

俄：可是他們在哪里？這舊罪的難尋的線索哪里去尋找？

克：神說就在這地方；去尋找就擒得住，不留心就會跑掉。

俄：拉伊俄斯是死在宮中，鄉下，還是外邦？

克：他說出國去求神示，去了就沒有回家。

俄：有沒有報信人？有沒有同伴見過這件事？如果有，我們可以問問他，利用他的話。

克：都死了，只有一個嚇壞的人逃回來，也只能肯定親眼看見的一件事。

俄：什么事呢？只要有一線希望，我們總可以從一件事里找出許多線索來?？耍核f他們是碰上強盜被殺害的，那是一伙強盜，不是一個人。

俄：要不是有人從這里出錢收買，強盜哪有這樣大膽？

克：我也這樣猜想過；但自從拉伊俄斯遇害之后，還沒有人從災難中起來報仇。

俄：國王遇害之后，什么災難阻止你們追究？

克：那說謎語的妖怪使我們放下了那沒頭的案子，先考慮眼前的事。

俄：我要重新把這案子弄明白。福玻斯和你都盡了本分，關心過死者；你會看見，我也要正當的和你們一起來為城邦，為天神報復這冤仇。這不僅是為一個并不疏遠的朋友，也是為我自己清除污染；因為，不論殺他的兇手是誰，也會用同樣的毒手來對付我的。所以我幫助朋友，對自己也有利。

孩兒們，快從臺階上起來，把這些求援的樹枝拿走；叫人把卡德摩斯的人民召集到這里來，我要徹底追究；憑了天神幫助，我們一定成功——但也許會失敗。

[俄狄浦斯偕眾侍從進宮，克瑞翁自觀眾右方下。

祭：孩兒們，起來吧！我們是為這件事來的，國王已經答應了我們的請求。福玻斯發出神示，愿他來做我們的救星，為我們消除這場瘟疫。

[眾乞援人舉起樹枝隨著祭司自觀眾右方下。

二進場歌

[歌隊自觀眾右方進場。

歌隊：（第一曲首節）宙斯的和祥的神示啊，你從那黃金的皮托，帶著什么消息來到這光榮的忒拜城？我擔憂，我心驚膽戰，啊，得羅斯的醫神啊，我敬畏你，你要我怎樣贖罪？用新的方法，還是依照隨著時光的流轉而采用的古老儀式？請指示我，你神圣的聲音，金色希望的女兒！

（第一曲次節）我首先召喚你，宙斯的女兒，神圣的雅典娜，再召喚你的姐妹阿耳忒彌斯，她是這地方的守護神，坐在那圓形市場里光榮的寶座上，我還要召喚你，遠射的福玻斯：你們三位救命的神，請快顯現；你們先前解除了這城邦所面臨的災難，把瘟疫的火吹出境外，如今也請快來呀！

（第二曲首節）唉呀，我忍受的痛苦數不清；全邦的人都病了，找不出一件武器來保護我們。這聞名的土地不結果實，婦人不受生產的疼痛；只見一條條生命，像飛鳥，像烈火，奔向西方之神的岸邊。

（第二曲次節）這無數的死亡毀了我們的城邦，青年男子倒在地上散布瘟疫，沒有人哀悼，沒有人憐憫，死者的老母和妻子在各處祭壇的臺階上呻吟，祈求天神消除這悲慘的災難。求生的哀歌是這般響亮，還夾雜著悲慘的哭聲；為了解除這災難，宙斯的金色兒女啊，請給我們美好的幫助。

（第三曲首節）兇惡的阿瑞斯沒有攜帶黃銅的盾牌，就怒吼著向我放火燒來；但愿他退出國外，讓和風把他吹到安菲特里忒的海上，或是不歡迎客人的特剌刻港口去；黑夜破壞不足，白天便來繼續完成。我們的父親宙斯啊，雷電的掌管者啊，請用霹靂把他打死。

[俄狄浦斯偕眾侍從自宮中上。

（第三曲次節）呂刻俄斯王啊，愿你那無敵的箭從金弦上射出去殺敵，幫助我們！愿阿耳忒彌斯點燃她的火炬，火光照耀在呂喀亞山上。我還要召喚那頭束金帶的神，和這城邦同名的神，他叫酒色的歐伊俄斯·巴克科斯，三第一場

俄：你是這樣祈禱；只要你肯聽我的話，對癥下藥，就能得救，脫離災難。我對這個消息和這場災難是不明白的，我只能這樣說：如果沒有一點線索，我一個人就追不了很遠。我成為忒拜公民是在這件案子發生以后。讓我向全體公民這樣宣布：你們里頭如果有誰知道拉布達科斯的兒子拉伊俄斯是被誰殺死的，我要他詳細報上來；即使他怕告發了兇手反被兇手告發，也應當報上來；他不但不會受到嚴重的懲罰，而且可以安然離開祖國。如果有人知道兇手是外邦人，也不用隱瞞，我會重賞他，感激他。

但是，你們如果隱瞞——如果有人為了朋友或為了自己有所畏懼而違背我的命令，且聽我要怎樣處置：在我做國王，掌握大權的領土以內，我不許任何人接待那罪人——不論他是誰——，不許同他交談，也不許同他一塊兒祈禱，祭神，或是為他舉行凈罪禮；人人都得把他趕出門外，認清他是我們的污染，正像皮托的神示最近告訴我們的。我要這樣來做天神和死者的助手。

我詛咒那沒有被發現的兇手，不論他是單獨行動，還是另有同謀，他這壞人定將過著悲慘不幸的生活。我發誓，假如他是我家里的人，我愿忍受我剛才加在別人身上的詛咒。

我為自己，為天神，為這塊天神所厭棄的荒蕪土地，把這些命令交給你們去執行。

即使天神沒有催促你們辦這件事，你們的國王，最高貴的人被殺害了，你們也不該把這污染就此放下，不去清除；你們應當追究。我如今掌握著他先前的王權；娶了他的妻子，占有了他的床榻共同播種，如果他求嗣的心沒有遭受挫折，那么同母的子女就能把我們連結為一家人；但是厄運落到了他頭上；我為他作戰，就像為自己的父親作戰一樣，為了替阿革諾耳的玄孫，老卡德摩斯的曾孫，波呂多羅斯的孫子，拉布達科斯的兒子報仇，我要竭力捉拿那殺害他的兇手。

對那些不服從的人，我求天神不叫他們的土地結果實，不叫他們的女人生孩子；讓他們在現在的厄運中毀滅，或者遭受更可恨的命運。

至于你們這些忒拜人——你們擁護我的命令——愿我們的盟友正義之神和一切別的神對你們永遠慈祥，和你們同在。

歌隊長：主上啊，你既然這樣詛咒，我就說了吧：我沒有殺害國王，也指不出誰是兇手。這問題是福玻斯提出的，它應當告訴我們，事情到底是誰做的。

俄：你說得對；可是天神不愿做的事，沒有人能強迫他們。

歌隊長：我愿提出第二個好辦法。

俄：假如還有第三個辦法，也請講出來。

歌隊長：我知道，忒瑞西阿斯王和福玻斯王一樣，有先見之明，主上啊，問事的人可以從他那里把事情打聽明白。

俄：這件事我并不是沒有想到?？巳鹞烫嶙h以后，我已兩次派人去請他；我一直在納悶，怎么還沒看見他來。

歌隊長：我們聽見的已經是舊話，失去了意義。

俄：那是什么話？我要打聽每一個消息。

歌隊長：聽說國王是被幾個旅客殺死的。

俄：我也聽說；可是沒人見到過證人。

歌隊長：那兇手如果膽小害怕，聽見你這樣詛咒，就不敢在這里停留。

俄：他既然敢做敢為，也就不怕言語恐嚇。

歌隊長：可是有一個人終會把他指出來。他們已經把神圣的先知請來了，人們當中只有他才知道真情。

[童子帶領忒瑞西阿斯自觀眾右方上。

俄：啊，忒瑞西阿斯，天地間一切可以言說和不可言說的秘密，你都明察，你雖然看不見，也能覺察出我們的城邦遭了瘟疫；主上啊，我們發現你是我們唯一的救星和保護人。你不會沒有聽見報信人說過，福玻斯已經回答了我們的詢問，說這場瘟疫唯一的挽救辦法，全在我們能不能找出殺害拉伊俄斯的兇手，把他們處死，或者放逐幽境。如今就請利用鳥聲或你所掌握的別的預言術，拯救自己，拯救城邦，拯救我，清除死者留下的一切污染吧！我們全靠你了。一個人最大的事業就是盡他所能，盡他所有幫助別人。

忒：哎呀，聰明沒有用處的時候，做一個聰明人真是可怕呀！這道理我明白，可是忘記了；要不然，我就不會來。

俄：怎么？你一來就這么懊喪。

忒：讓我回家吧；你答應我，你容易對付過去，我也容易對付過去。

俄：你有話不說；你的語氣不對頭，對養育你的城邦不友好。

忒：因為我看你的話說得不合時宜；所以我才不說，免得分擔你的禍事。

俄：你要是知道這秘密，看在天神面上，不要走，我們全都跪下來求你。

忒：你們都不知道。我不暴露我的痛苦——也是免得暴露你的。

俄：你說什么？你明明知道這秘密，卻不告訴我們，豈不是有意出賣我們，破壞城邦嗎？

忒：我不愿使自己苦惱，也不愿使你苦惱。為什么還要白費唇舌追問呢？你不會從我嘴里知道秘密的。

俄：壞透了的東西，你的脾氣跟石頭一樣！你不告訴我們嗎？你是這樣心硬，這樣頑強嗎？

忒：你怪我脾氣壞，卻不明白你“自己的”同你住在一起，只知道挑我的毛病。

俄：誰聽了你這些不尊重城邦的話，能不生氣？

忒：我雖然保守秘密，事情也總會水落石出。

俄：既然總會水落石出，你就該告訴我。

忒：我決不往下說了；你想大發脾氣就發吧。

俄：是呀，我是很生氣，我要把我的意見都講出來：我認為你是這罪行的策劃者，人是你殺的，雖然不是你親手殺的。如果你的眼睛沒有瞎，我敢說準是你一個人干的。

忒：真的嗎？我叫你遵守自己宣布的命令，從此不許再跟這些長老說話，也不許跟我說話，因為你就是這地方不潔的罪人。

俄：你厚顏無恥，出口傷人。你逃得了懲罰嗎？

忒：我逃得了；知道真情就有力量。

俄：誰教給你的？不會是靠法術知道的吧。

忒：是你；你逼我說出了我不愿意說的話。

俄：什么話？你再說一遍，我就更明白了。

忒：是你沒聽明白，還是故意逼我往下說？

俄：我不能說已經明白了；你再說一遍吧。

忒：我說你就是你要尋找的殺人兇手。

俄：你兩次誹謗人，是要受懲罰的。

忒：還要我說下去，使你生氣嗎？

俄：你要說就說；反正都是白費唇舌。

忒：我說你是在不知不覺之中和你最親近的人可恥的住在一起，卻看不見自己的災難。

俄：你以為你能這樣說下去，不受懲罰嗎？ 忒：是的，只要知道真情就有力量。

俄：別人有力量，你卻沒有；你又瞎又聾又懵懂。

忒：你這會罵人的可憐蟲，回頭大家就會這樣回敬你。

俄：漫長的黑夜籠罩著你的一生，你傷害不了我，傷害不了任何看得見陽光的人。

忒：命中注定，你不會在我手中身敗名裂；阿波羅有力量，他會完成這件事。

俄：這是克瑞翁的詭計，還是你的？

忒：克瑞翁沒有害你，是你自己害自己。

俄：（自語）啊，財富，王權，人事的競爭中超越一切技能的技能，你們多么受人嫉妒：為了羨慕這城邦自己送給我的權利，我信賴的老朋友克瑞翁，偷偷爬過來，要把我推倒，他收買了這個詭計多端的術士，為非作歹的化子，他只認得金錢，在法術上卻是個瞎子。

（向忒瑞西阿斯）喂，告訴我，你幾時證明過你是個先知？那誦詩的狗在這里的時候，你為什么不說話，不拯救人民？它的謎語并不是任何過路人破得了的，正需要先知的法術，可是你并沒有借鳥的幫助，神的啟示顯出這種才干來。直到我無知無識的俄狄浦斯來了，不懂得鳥語，只憑智慧就破了那謎語，征服了它。你要推倒我，站在克瑞翁的王位旁邊。你想和那主謀的人一塊兒清除這污染，我看見你是一定會后悔的。要不是看你上了年紀，早叫你遭受苦刑，叫你知道你是多么狂妄無禮！

歌隊長：看來，俄狄浦斯啊，他和你都是說氣話。這樣的話沒有必要；我們應該考慮怎樣好好執行阿波羅的指示。

忒：你是國王，可是我們雙方的發言權無論如何應該平等；因為我也享有這樣的權利。我是羅克西阿斯的仆人，不是你的；用不著在克瑞翁的保護下掛名。你罵我瞎子，可是我告訴你，你雖然有眼也看不見你的災難，看不見你住在哪里，和什么人同居。你知道你是從什么根里長出來的嗎？你不知道，你是你已死的和活著的親屬的仇人；你父母的詛咒會左右的鞭打著你，可怕的向你追來，把你趕出這地方；你現在雖然看得見，可是到了那時候，你眼前只是一片黑暗。等你發覺了你的婚姻——在平安的航行之后，你在家里駛進了險惡的港口——那時候，哪一個收容所沒有你的哭聲？喀泰戎山上哪一處沒有你的回音？你猜想不到那無窮無盡的災難，它會使你和你自己的身分平等，使你和自己的兒女成為平輩。

盡管罵克瑞翁，罵我瞎說吧，反正世間再沒比你受苦的人了。

俄：聽了他的話，誰能忍受？（向忒瑞西阿斯）該死的東西，還不快退下去，離開我的家？

忒：要不是你召我來，我根本不會來。

俄：我不知道你會說這些蠢話；要不然，我決不會請你到我家里來。

忒：在你看來，我很愚蠢；可是在你父母看來，我卻很聰明。

俄：什么父母？等一等！誰是我父親？

忒：今天就會暴露你的身分，也叫你身敗名裂。

俄：你老是說些謎語，意思含含糊糊。

忒：你不是最善于破迷嗎？

俄：盡管拿這件事罵我吧，你總會從這里頭發現我的偉大。

忒：正是那運氣害了你。

俄：只要能拯救城邦，那也沒什么關系。

忒：我該走了；孩子，領我走吧。

俄：好，讓他領你走；你在這里又礙事又討厭！你走了也免得叫我煩惱。

忒：可是我要說完我的話才走，你不能傷害我。我告訴你吧，你剛才大聲威脅，通令要捉拿的，殺害拉伊俄斯的兇手就在這里；表面看來，他是個僑民，一轉眼就會發現他是個土生的忒拜人，再也不能享受他的好運了。他將從明眼人變成瞎子，從富翁變成乞丐，到外邦去，用手杖探著路前進。他將成為和他同住的兒女的父兄，他生母的兒子和丈夫，他父親的兇手和共同播種的人。

我這話你進去想一想；要是發現我說假話，再說我沒有預言的本領也不遲。

（童子領先知自觀眾右方下，俄狄浦斯偕眾侍從進宮。）

四第一合唱歌

歌隊：（第一曲首節）那頒發神示的得爾福石穴所說的，用血腥的手做出那最兇惡的事的人是誰呀？現在已經是他邁著比風也似的駿馬還要快的腳步逃跑的時候了；因為宙斯的兒子已帶著電火向他撲去，追得上一切人的可怕的復仇神也在追趕著他。

（第一曲次節）那神示剛從帕耳那索斯雪山上響亮的發出來，叫我們四處尋找那沒有被發現的罪人。他像公牛一樣兇猛，在荒林中，石穴里流浪，凄凄慘慘的獨自前進，想避開大地中央發出的神示，那神示永遠靈驗，永遠在他頭上盤旋。

（第二曲首節）那聰明的先知非常的，非常的使我煩惱，我不能同意，也不能承認；不知說什么好！我心里憂慮，對現在和未來的事都看不清。直到如今，我從沒有聽說拉布達科斯家族和波呂玻斯的兒子之間有過什么爭吵，可以用來作證據攻擊俄狄浦斯的好名聲，并且利用這沒頭的案子為拉布達科斯家族報復冤仇。

（第二曲次節）宙斯和阿波羅才是聰明，能夠知道世間萬事；凡人的才智雖然各有高下，可是要說人間的先知比我精明，卻沒有確鑿的證據。在我沒有證實他的話是真的以前，我決不能同意譴責俄狄浦斯。從前那著名的，有翅膀的女妖逼近他的時候，我們看見過他的聰明，他經得起考驗，他是城邦的朋友；我相信，他決不會有罪。

五第二場

[克瑞翁自觀眾右方上。

克：公民們，聽說俄狄浦斯王說了許多可怕的話，指控我，我忍無可忍，才到這里來了。如果他認為目前的事是我用什么言行傷害了他，我背上這臭名，真不想再活下去了。如果大家都說我是城邦里的壞人，連你和我的朋友們也這樣說，那就不單是在一方面中傷我，而是在許多方面。

歌隊長：他的指責也許是一時的氣話，不是有意說的。

克：他是不是說我勸先知捏造是非？

歌隊長：他說過，但不知是什么用意。

克：他控告我的時候，頭腦、眼睛清醒嗎？

歌隊長：我不知道；我不明白我們的國王在作什么。他從宮里出來了。

[俄狄浦斯偕眾侍從自宮中上。

俄：你這人，你來干什么？你的臉皮這樣厚？你分明是想謀害我，奪取我的王位，還有臉到我家來嗎？喂，當著眾神，你說吧；你是不是把我看成了懦夫和傻子，才打算這樣干？你狡猾地向我爬過來，你以為我不會發覺你的詭計，發覺了也不能提防嗎？你的企圖豈不是太愚蠢嗎？既沒有黨羽，有沒有朋友，還想奪取王位？那要有黨羽和金錢才行呀！

克：你知道怎么辦么？請聽我公正的答復你，聽明白了再下判斷。

俄：你說話很狡猾，我這笨人聽不懂；我看你是存心和我為敵。

克：現在先聽我解釋這一點。

俄：別對我說你不是壞人。

克：假如你把糊涂頑固當作美德，你就太不聰明了。

俄：假如你認為謀害親人能不受懲罰，你也算不得聰明。

克：我承認你說得對?？墒钦埬愀嬖V我，我哪里傷害了你？

俄：你不是勸我去請那道貌岸然的先知嗎？

克：我現在也還是這樣主張。

俄：已經隔了多久了，自從拉伊俄斯——

克：自從他怎么樣？我不明白你的意思。

俄：——遭人暗殺死去后。

克：算起來日子已經很長了。

俄：那時候先知賣弄過他的法術嗎？

克：那時候他和現在一樣聰明，一樣受人尊敬。

俄：那時候他提起過我嗎？

克：我在他身邊沒聽見他提起過。

俄：你們也沒有為死者追究過這件案子？

克：自然追究過，怎么會沒有呢？可是沒有結果。

俄：那時候這聰明人為什么不把真情說出來呢？

克：不知道；不知道的是我就不開口。

俄：這一點你總是知道的，應該講出來。

克：哪一點？只要我知道，我不會不說。

俄：要不是和你商量過，他不會說拉伊俄斯是我殺死的。

克：要是他真這樣說，你自己心里該明白；正像你質問我，現在我也有權質問你了。

俄：你盡管質問，反正不能把我判成兇手。

克：你難道沒有娶我的姐姐嗎？

俄：這個問題自然不容我否認。

克：你是不是和她一起治理城邦，享有同樣權力？

俄：我完全滿足了她的心愿。

克：我不是和你們倆相差不遠，居第三位嗎？

俄：正是因為這緣故，你才成了不忠實的朋友。

克：假如你也像我這樣思考，就會知道事情并不是這樣的。首先你想一想：誰會愿意做一個擔驚受怕的國王，而不愿又有同樣權力又是無憂無慮呢？我天生不想做國王，而只想做國王的事；這也正是每一個聰明人的想法。我現在安安心心地從你手里得到一切；如果做了國王，到要做許多我不愿意做的事了。

對我說來，王位會比無憂無慮的權勢甜蜜嗎？我不至于這樣傻，不選擇有利有益的榮譽?，F在人人祝福我，人人歡迎我。有求于你的人也都來找我，從我手里得到一切。我怎么會放棄這個，追求別的呢？頭腦清醒的人是不會做叛徒的。而且我也天生不喜歡這種念頭，如果有誰謀反，我決不和他一起行動。

為了證明我的話，你可以到皮托去調查，看我告訴你的神示真實不真實。如果你發現我和先知同謀不軌，請用我們兩個人的——而不是你一個人的——名義處決我，把我捉來殺死。可是不要根據靠不住的判斷，莫須有的證據就給我下罪名。隨隨便便把壞人當好人，把好人當壞人都是不對的。我認為，一個人如果拋棄他忠實的朋友，就等于拋棄他最珍惜的生命。這件事，毫無疑問，你終究是會明白的。因為一個正直的人要經過長久的時間才看得出來，一個壞人只要一天就認得出來。

歌隊長：主上啊，他怕跌跤，他的話說得很好。急于下判斷總是不妥當?。?/p>

俄：那謀害者已經飛快地來到眼前，我得趕快將計就計。假如我不動，等著他，他會成功，我會失敗。

克：你打算怎么辦？是不是把我放逐出境？

俄：不，我不想把你放逐，我要你死，好叫人看看嫉妒人的下場。

克：你的口氣看來是不肯讓步，不肯相信人？

俄：??{原文在此處缺了一行}

克：我看你很糊涂。

俄：我對自己的事并不糊涂。

克：那么你對我的事也該這樣。

俄：可是你是個壞人。

克：要是你很愚蠢呢？

俄：那我也要繼續統治。

克：統治得不好就不行！

俄：城邦呀城邦！

克：這城邦不單單是你的，我也有份。

歌隊長：兩位主上啊，別說了。我看見伊俄卡斯忒從宮里出來了，她來得恰好，你們這場糾紛由她來調停，一定能很好地解決。

[伊俄卡斯忒偕侍女自宮中上。

伊：不幸的人啊，你們為什么這樣愚蠢的爭吵起來？這地方正在鬧瘟疫，你們還引起私人糾紛，不覺得慚愧嗎？（向俄狄浦斯）你還不快進屋去？克瑞翁，你也回家去吧。不要把一點不愉快的小事鬧大了！

克：姐姐，你丈夫要對我做可怕的事，兩件里選一件，或者把我放逐，或者把我捉來殺死。

俄：是呀，夫人，他要害我，對我下毒手。

克：我要是做過你告發的事，我該倒霉，我該受詛咒而死。

伊：俄狄浦斯呀，看在天神面上，首先為了他已經對神發了誓，其次也看在我和站在你面前的這些長老面上，相信他吧！

歌隊：（哀歌第一曲首節）主上啊，我懇求你，高高興興，清清醒醒地聽從吧。

俄：你要我怎么樣？

歌隊：請你尊重他，他原先就不渺小，如今起了誓，就更顯得偉大了。

俄：那么你知道要我怎么樣嗎？

歌隊：知道。

俄：你要說什么快說呀。

歌隊：請不要只憑不可靠的話就控告他，侮辱這位發過誓的朋友。

俄：你要知道，你這要求，不是把我害死，就是把我放逐。

歌隊：（第二曲首節）我憑眾神之中最顯赫的赫利俄斯起誓，我決不是這個意思。我要是存這樣的心，我寧愿為人神所共棄，不得好死。我這不幸的人所擔心的是土地荒蕪，你們所引起的災難會加重那原有的災難。（本節完）

俄：那么讓他去吧，盡管我命中注定要當場被殺，或被放逐出境。打動了我的心的，不是他的，而是你的可憐的話。他，不論在哪里，都會叫人痛恨。

克：你盛怒時是那樣兇狠，你讓步時也是這樣陰沉，這樣的性情使你最受苦，也正是活該。

俄：你還不快離開我，給我滾！

克：我這就走。你不了解我；可是在這些長老看來，我卻是個正派的人。[克瑞翁自觀眾右方下。

歌隊：（第一曲次節）夫人，你為什么遲遲不把他帶進宮去？

伊：等我問明白發生了什么事。

歌隊：這方面盲目地聽信謠言，起了疑心；那方面感到不公平。

伊：這場爭吵是雙方引起來的嗎？

歌隊：是。

伊：到底是怎么回事？

歌隊：夠了，夠了，在我們的土地受難的時候，這件事應該停止在打斷的地方。

俄：我看你的話說到哪里去了？你是個忠心的人，卻來撲滅我的火氣。

歌隊：（第二曲次節）主上啊，我說了不止一次了：我要是背棄你，我就是個失去理性的瘋人；那時你，在我們可愛的城邦遭難的時候，曾經正確地為它領航，現在也希望你順利地領航啊。（本節完）

伊：主上啊，看在天神面上，告訴我，你為什么這樣生氣？

俄：我這就告訴你；因為我尊重你勝過尊重那些人；原因就是克瑞翁在謀害我。

伊：往下說吧，要是你能說明這場爭吵為什么應當由他負責。

俄：他說我是殺害拉伊俄斯的兇手。伊：是他自己知道的，還是聽旁人說的？

俄：都不是；是他收買了一個無賴的先知作喉舌；他自己的喉舌倒是清白的。

伊：你所說的這件事，你盡可放心；你聽我說下去，就會知道，并沒有一個凡人能精通預言術。關于這一點，我可以給你個簡單的證據。

有一次，拉伊俄斯得了個神示——我不能說那是福玻斯親自說的，只能說那是他的祭司說出來的——它說厄運會向他突然襲來，叫他死在他和我所生的兒子手中。

可是現在我們聽說，拉伊俄斯是在三岔路口被一伙外邦強盜殺死的；我們的嬰兒，出生不到三天，就被拉伊俄斯釘住左右腳跟，叫人丟在沒有人跡的荒山里了。

既然如此，阿波羅就沒有叫那嬰兒成為殺父的兇手，也沒有叫拉伊俄斯死在兒子手中——這正是他害怕的事。先知的話結果不過如此，你用不著聽信。凡是天神必須作的事，他自會使它實現，那是全不費力的。

俄：夫人，聽了你的話，我心神不安，魂飛魄散。

伊：什么事使你這樣吃驚，說出這樣的話？

俄：你好像是說，拉伊俄斯被殺是在一個三岔路口。

伊：故事是這樣；至今還在流傳。

俄：那不幸的事發生在什么地方？

伊：那地方叫福喀斯，通往得爾福和道利亞的兩條岔路在那里會合。

俄：事情發生了多久了？

伊：這消息是你快要作國王的時候向全城公布的。俄：宙斯啊，你打算把我怎么樣呢？

伊：俄狄浦斯，這件事怎么使你這樣發愁？

俄：你先別問我，倒是先告訴我，拉伊俄斯是什么模樣，有多大年紀。

伊：他個子很高，頭上剛有白頭發；模樣和你差不多。

俄：哎呀，我剛才像是兇狠地詛咒了自己，可是自己還不知道。

伊：你說什么？主上啊，我看著你就發抖啊。

俄：我真怕那先知的眼睛并沒有瞎。你再告訴我一件事，事情就更清楚了。

伊：我雖然在發抖，你的話我一定會答復的。

俄：他只帶了少數侍從，還是像國王那樣帶了許多衛兵？

伊：一共五個人，其中一個是傳令官，還有一輛馬車，是給拉伊俄斯坐的。

俄：哎呀，真相已經很清楚了！夫人啊，這消息是誰告訴你的。

伊：是一個仆人，只有他活著回來了。

俄：那仆人現在還在家里嗎？

伊：不在；他從那地方回來以后，看見你掌握了王權，拉伊俄斯完了，他就拉著我的手，求我把他送到鄉下，牧羊的草地上去，遠遠的離開城市。我把他送去了，他是個好仆人，應當得到更大的獎賞。俄：我希望他回來，越快越好！

伊：這倒容易；可是你為什么希望他回來呢？

俄：夫人，我是怕我的話說得太多了，所以想把他召回來。

伊：他會回來的；可是，主上啊，你也該讓我知道，你心里到底有什么不安。

俄：你應該知道我是多么憂慮。碰上這樣的命運，我還能把話講給哪一個比你更應該知道的人聽？

我父親是科任托斯人，名叫波呂玻斯，我母親是多里斯人，名叫墨洛珀。我在那里一直被尊為公民中的第一個人物，直到后來發生了一件意外的事——那雖是奇怪，倒還值不得放在心上。那是在某一次宴會上，有個人喝醉了，說我是我父親的冒名兒子。當天我非常煩惱，好容易才忍耐??；第二天我去問我的父母，他們因為這辱罵對那亂說話的人很生氣。我雖然滿意了，但是事情總是使我很煩惱，因為誹謗的話到處都在流傳。我就瞞著父母去到皮托，福玻斯沒有答復我去求問的事，就把我打發走了；可是他卻說了另外一些預言，十分可怕，十分悲慘，他說我命中注定要玷污我母親的床榻，生出一些使人不忍看的兒女，而且會成為殺死我的生身父親的兇手。

我聽了這些話，就逃到外地去，免得看見那個會實現神示所說的恥辱的地方，從此我就憑了天象測量科任托斯的土地。我在旅途中來到你所說的，國王遇害的地方。夫人，我告訴你真實情況吧。我走近三岔路口的時候，碰見一個傳令官和一個坐馬車的人，正像你所說的，那領路的和那老年人態度粗暴，要把我趕到路邊。我在氣憤中打了那個推我的人——那個駕車的；那老年人看見了，等我經過的時候，從車上用雙尖頭的刺棍朝我頭上打過來?？墒撬冻隽艘粋€不相稱的代價，立刻挨了我手中的棍子，從車上仰面滾下來了；我就把他們全殺死了。

如果我這客人和拉伊俄斯有了什么親屬關系，誰還比我更可憐？誰還比我更為天神所憎恨？沒有一個公民或外邦人能夠在家里接待我，沒有人能夠和我交談，人人都得把我趕出門外。這詛咒不是別人加在我身上的，而是我自己。我用這雙手玷污了死者的床榻，也就是用這雙手把他殺死的。我不是個壞人嗎？我不是骯臟不潔嗎？我得出外流亡，在流亡中看不見親人，也回不了祖國；要不然，就得娶我的母親，殺死那生我養我的父親波呂玻斯。

如果有人斷定這些事是天神給我造成的，不也說得正對嗎？你們這些可敬的神圣的神啊，別讓我，別讓我看見那一天！在我沒有看見這些罪惡的污點沾到我身上之前，請讓我離開塵世。

歌隊長：在我們看來，主上啊，這件事是可怕的；但是在你還沒有向那證人打聽清楚之前，不要失望。

俄：我只有這一點希望了，只好等待那牧人。

伊：等他來了，你想打聽什么？

俄：告訴你吧；他的話如果和你的相符，我就沒有災難了。

伊：你從我這里聽出了什么不對頭的話呢？

俄：你曾告訴我，那牧人說過殺死拉伊俄斯的是一伙強盜。如果他說的還是同樣的人數，那就不是我殺的了；因為一個總不等于許多。如果他只說是一個單身的旅客，這罪行就落在我身上了。

伊：你應該相信，他是那樣說的；他不能把話收回；因為全城的人都聽見了，不單是我一個人。即使他改變了以前的話，主上啊，也不能證明拉伊俄斯的死和神示所說的真正相符；因為羅克西阿斯說的是，他注定要死在我兒子手中，可是那不幸的嬰兒沒有殺死他的父親，倒是自己先死了。從那時以后，我就再不因為神示而左顧右盼了。

俄：你的看法對。不過還是派人去把那牧人叫來，不要忘記了。

伊：我馬上派人去。我們進去吧。凡是你所喜歡的事我都照辦。

（俄狄浦斯偕眾侍從進宮，伊俄卡斯忒偕侍女隨入。）六第二合唱歌

歌隊：（第一曲首節）愿命運依然看見我一切的言行保持神圣的清白，為了規定這些言行，天神制定了許多最高的律條，它們出生在高天上，它們唯一的父親是俄林波斯，不是凡人，誰也不能把它們忘記，使它們入睡；天神是靠了這些律條才有力量，得以長生不死。

（第一曲次節）傲慢產生暴君；它若是富有金錢——得來不是時候，沒有益處——它若是爬上最高的墻頂，就會落到最不幸的命運中，有腳沒用處。愿天神不要禁止那對城邦有益的競賽；我永遠把天神當作守護神。

（第二曲首節）如果有人不畏正義之神，不敬神像，言行上十分傲慢，如果他貪圖不正當的利益，做出不敬神的事，愚蠢地玷污圣物，愿厄運為了這不吉利的傲慢行為把它捉住。

做了這樣的事，誰敢夸說他的性命躲避得了天神的箭？如果這樣的行為是可敬的，那么我何必在這里歌舞呢？

（第二曲次節）如果這神示不應驗，不給大家看清楚，那么我就不誠心誠意去朝拜奧林匹亞或阿拜的廟宇。王啊——如果我們可以這樣正當地稱呼你——統治一切的宙斯啊，別讓這事件躲避你的注意，躲避你的不滅的威力。

關于拉伊俄斯的古老的預言已經寂靜了，不被人注意了，阿波羅到處不受人尊敬，對神的崇拜從此衰微。

七第三場

[伊俄卡斯忒偕侍女自宮中上。

伊：我邦的長老們啊，我想起了拿著這纏羊毛的樹枝和香料到神的廟上；因為俄狄浦斯由于各種憂慮，心里很緊張，他不像一個清醒的人，不會憑舊事推斷新事；只要有人說出恐怖的話，他就隨他擺布。

我既然勸不了他，只好帶著這些象征祈求的禮物來求你，呂刻俄斯·阿波羅啊——因為你離我最近——請給我們一個避免污染的方法。我們看見他受驚，像乘客看見船工舵工受驚一樣，大家都害怕。

[報信人自觀眾左方上。

信：啊，客人們，我可以向你們打聽俄狄浦斯王的宮殿在哪里嗎？最好告訴我他本人在哪里，要是你們知道的話。

歌隊：啊，客人，這就是他的家，他本人在里面；這位夫人是他兒女的母親。

信：愿她在幸福的家里永遠幸福，既然她是他的全福的妻子！

伊：啊，客人，愿你也幸福；你說了吉祥的話，應當受我回敬。請你告訴我，你來求什么，或者有什么消息見告。

信：夫人，對你家和你丈夫是好消息。

伊：什么消息？你是從什么人那里來的？

信：從科任托斯來的。你聽了我要報告的消息一定高興。怎么會不高興呢？但也許還會發愁呢。

伊：到底是什么消息？怎么會是我高興又是我發愁？

信：人民要立俄狄浦斯為伊斯特摩斯地方的王，那里是這樣說的。

伊：怎么？老波呂玻斯不是還在掌權嗎？

信：不掌權了；因為死神已把他關進墳墓了。

伊：你說什么？老人家，波呂玻斯死了嗎？

信：倘若我撒謊，我愿意死。

伊：侍女呀，還不快去告訴主人？

（侍女進宮。）

啊，天神的預言，你成了什么東西了？俄狄浦斯多年來所害怕的，所要躲避的正是這人，他害怕把他殺了；現在他已壽盡而死，不是死在俄狄浦斯手中的。

[俄狄浦斯偕眾侍從自宮中上。

俄：啊，伊俄卡斯忒，最親愛的夫人，為什么把我從屋里叫來？

伊：請聽這人說話，你一邊聽，一邊想天神的可怕的預言成了什么東西了。

俄：他是誰？有什么消息見告？

伊：他是從科任托斯來的，來訃告你父親波呂玻斯不在了，去世了。

俄：你說什么，客人？親自告訴我吧。

信：如果我得先把事情講明白，我就讓你知道，他死了，去世了。

俄：他是死于陰謀，還是死于疾?。?/p>

信：天平稍微傾斜，一個老年人便長眠不醒。

俄：那不幸的人好像是害病死的。

信：并且因為他年高壽盡了。

俄：啊！夫人呀，我們為什么要重視皮托的頒布預言的宇宙，或空中啼叫的鳥兒呢？它們曾經指出我命中注定要殺我父親。但是他已經死了，埋進了泥土；我卻還在這里，沒有動過刀槍。除非說他是因為思念我而死的，那么倒是我害死了他。這似靈不靈的神示已被波呂玻斯隨身帶著，和他一起躺在冥府里，不值半文錢了。

伊：我不是早這樣告訴了你嗎？

俄：我倒是這樣想過，可是，我因為害怕，迷失了方向。

伊：現在別再把這件事放在心上了。

俄：難道我不該害怕玷污我母親的床榻嗎？

伊：偶然控制著我們，未來的事又看不清楚，我們為什么懼怕呢？最好盡可能隨隨便便地生活。別害怕你會玷污你母親的婚姻；許多人曾在夢中娶過母親；但是那些不以為意的人卻安樂地生活。

俄：要不是我母親還活著，你這話倒也對；可是她既然健在，即使你說得對，我也應當害怕??！

伊：可是你父親的死總是個很大的安慰。

俄：我知道是個很大的安慰，可是我害怕那活著的婦人。

信：你害怕的婦人是誰呀？

俄：老人家，是波呂玻斯的妻子墨洛珀。

信：她哪一點使你害怕？

俄：啊，客人，是因為神送來的可怕的預言。

信：說得說不得？是不是不可以讓人知道？

俄：當然可以。羅克西阿斯曾說我命中注定要娶自己的母親，親手殺死自己的父親。因此多年來我遠離著科任托斯。我在此雖然幸福，可是看見父母的容顏是件很大的樂事啊。

信：你真的因為害怕這些事，離開了那里？

俄：啊，老人家，還因為我不想成為殺父的兇手。

信：主上啊，我懷著好意前來，怎么不能解除你的恐懼呢？

俄：你依然可以從我手里得到很大的應得的報酬。

信：我是特別為此而來的，等你回去的時候，我可以得到一些好處呢。

俄：但是我決不肯回到我父母家里。

信：年輕人！顯然你不知道你在做什么。

俄：怎么不知道呢，老人家？看在天神面上，告訴我吧。

信：如果你是為了這個緣故不敢回家。

俄：我害怕福玻斯的預言在我身上應驗。

信：是不是害怕因為殺父娶母而犯罪？

俄：是的，老人家，這件事一直在嚇唬我。

信：你知道你沒有理由害怕么？

俄：怎么沒有呢，如果我是他們的兒子？ 信：因為你和波呂玻斯沒有血緣關系。

俄：你說什么？難道波呂玻斯不是我的父親？

信：正像我不是你的父親，他也同樣不是。

俄：我的父親怎能和你這個同我沒關系的人同樣不是？

信：你不是他生的，也不是我生的。

俄：那么他為什么稱呼我作他的兒子呢？

信：告訴你吧，是因為他從我手中把你當一件禮物接受了下來。

俄：但是他為什么十分愛別人送的孩子呢？

信：他從前沒有兒子，所以才這樣愛你。

俄：是你把我買來，還是你把我撿來送給他的？

信：是我從喀泰戎峽谷里把你撿來送給他的。

俄：你為什么到那一帶去呢？

信：在那里放牧山上的羊。

俄：你是個牧人，還是個到處漂泊的傭工？

信：年輕人，那時候我是你的救命恩人。俄：你把我抱在懷里的時候，我有沒有什么痛苦？

信：你的腳跟可以證實你的痛苦。

俄：哎呀，你為什么提起這個老毛??？

信：那時候你的左右腳跟是釘在一起的，我給你解開了。

俄：那是我襁褓時期遭受的莫大的恥辱。

信：是呀，你是由這不幸而得到你現在的名字的。

俄：看在天神面上，告訴我，這件事是我父親還是我母親做的？你說。

信：我不知道；那把你送給我的人比我知道得清楚。

俄：怎么？是你從別人那里把我接過來的，不是自己撿來的嗎？

信：不是自己撿來的，是另一個牧人把你送給我的。

俄：他是誰？你指得出來嗎？

信：他被稱為拉伊俄斯的仆人。

俄：是這地方從前的國王的仆人嗎？

信：是的，是國王的牧人。

俄：他還活著嗎？我可以看見他嗎？ 信：（向歌隊）你們這些本地人應當知道得最清楚。

俄：你們這些站在我面前的人里面，有誰在鄉下或城里見過他所說的牧人，認識他？趕快說吧！這是水落石出的時機。

歌隊長：我認為他所說的不是別人，正是你剛才要找的鄉下人，這件事伊俄卡斯忒最能夠說明。

俄：夫人，你還記得我們剛才想召見的人嗎？這人所說的是不是他？

伊：為什么問他所說的是誰？不必理會這事。不要記住他的話。

俄：我得到了這樣的線索，還不能發現我的血緣，這可不行。

伊：看在天神面上，如果你關心自己的性命，就不要在追問了；我自己的苦悶已經夠了。

俄：你放心，即使我發現我母親三世為奴，我有三重奴隸身分，你出身也不卑賤。

伊：我求你聽我的話，不要這樣。

俄：我不聽你的話，我要把事情弄清楚。

伊：我愿你好，好心好意勸你。

俄：你這片好心好意一直在使我苦惱。

伊：啊，不幸的人，愿你不知道你的身世。

俄：誰去把牧人帶來？讓這個女人去賞玩她的高貴門第吧！伊：哎呀，哎呀，不幸的人呀！我只有這句話對你說，從此再沒有別的話可說了！

[伊俄卡斯忒沖進宮。

歌隊長：俄狄浦斯，王后為什么在這樣憂傷的心情下沖了進去？我害怕她這樣閉著嘴，會有禍事發生。

俄：要發生就發生吧！即使我的出身卑賤，我也要弄清楚。那女人——女人總是很高傲的——她也許因為我出身卑賤感覺羞恥。但是我認為我是仁慈的幸運的寵兒，不至于受辱。幸運的是我的母親；十二個月份是我的弟兄，他們能劃出我什么時候渺小，什么時候偉大。這就是我的身世，我決不會被證明是另一個人；因此我一定要追問我的血統。

八第三合唱歌

歌隊：（首節）啊，喀泰戎山，假如我是個先知，心里聰明，我敢當著俄林波斯說，等明晚月園時，你一定會感覺俄狄浦斯尊你為他的故鄉、母親和保姆，我們也載歌載舞贊美你；因為你對我們的國王有恩德。福玻斯啊，愿這事討你歡喜！

（次節）我的兒，哪一位，哪一位和潘——那個在山上游玩的父親——接近的仙女是你的母親？是不是羅克西阿斯的妻子？高原上的草地他全都喜愛。也許是庫勒涅的王，或者狂女們的神，那位住在山頂上的神，從赫利孔仙女——他最愛和那些仙女嬉戲——手中接受了你這嬰兒。

九第四場

俄：長老們，如果讓我猜想，我以為我看見的是我們一直在尋找的牧人，雖然我沒有見過他。他的年紀和這客人一般大；我并且認識那些帶路的是自己的仆人。（向歌隊長）也許你比我認識得清楚，如果你見過這牧人。

歌隊長：告訴你吧，我認識他；他是拉伊俄斯家里的人，作為一個牧人，他和其他的人一樣可靠。

[眾仆人帶領牧人自觀眾左方上。

俄：啊，科任托斯客人，我先問你，你指的是不是他？

信：我指的正是你看見的人。

俄：喂，老頭兒，朝這邊看，回答我問你的話。你是拉伊俄斯家里的人嗎？

牧：我是他家養大的奴隸，不是買來的。

俄：你干的什么工作，過的什么生活？

牧：大半輩子放羊。

俄：你通常在什么地方住羊棚？

牧：有時候在喀泰戎山上，有時候在那附近。

俄：還記得你在那地方見過這人嗎？

牧：見過什么？你指的是哪個？

俄：我指的是眼前的人；你碰見過他沒有？

牧：我一下子想不起來，不敢說碰見過。

信：主上啊，一點也不奇怪。我能使他清清楚楚回想起那些已經忘記了的事。我相信他記得他帶著兩群羊，我帶著一群羊，我們在喀泰戎山上從春天到阿耳克圖洛斯初升的時候做過三個半年朋友。到了冬天，我趕著羊回我的羊圈，他趕著羊回拉伊俄斯的羊圈。（向牧人）我說的是不是真事？

牧：你說的是真事，雖是老早的事了。

信：喂，告訴我，還記得那時候你給了我一個嬰兒，叫我當自己的兒子養著嗎？

牧：你是什么意思？干嗎問這句話？

信：好朋友，這就是他，那時候是個嬰兒。

牧：該死的家伙！還不快住嘴！

俄：啊，老頭兒，不要罵他，你說這話倒是更該挨罵！

牧：好主上啊，我有什么錯呢？

俄：因為你不回答他問你的關于那孩子的事。

牧：他什么都不曉得，卻要多嘴，簡直是白搭。

俄：你不痛痛快快回答，要挨了打哭著回答！

牧：看在天神面上，不要拷打一個老頭子。

俄：（向侍從）還不快把他的手反綁起來？

牧：哎呀，為什么呢？你還要打聽什么呢？

俄：你是不是把他所問的那孩子給了他？ 牧：我給了他；愿我在那一天就瞪了眼！

俄：你會死的，要是你不說真話。

牧：我說了真話，更該死了。

俄：這家伙好像還想拖延時候。

牧：我不想拖延時候，我剛才已經說過我給了他。

俄：哪里來的？是你自己的，還是從別人那里得來的？

牧：這孩子不是我自己的，是別人給我的。

俄：哪個公民，哪家給你的？

牧：看在天神面上，不要，主人啊，不要再問了！

俄：如果我再追問，你就活不成了。

牧：他是拉伊俄斯家里的孩子。

俄：是個奴隸，還是個親屬？

牧：哎呀，我要講哪怕人的事了！

俄：我要聽那怕人的事了！也只好聽下去。

牧：人家說是他的兒子，但是里面的娘娘，主上家的，最能告訴你是怎么回事。俄：是她交給你的嗎？

牧：是，主上。

俄：是什么用意呢？

牧：叫我把他弄死。

俄：作母親的這樣狠心嗎？

牧：因為她害怕那不吉利的神示。

俄：什么神示？

牧：人家說他會殺他父親。

俄：你為什么又把他送給了這老人呢？

牧：主上啊，我可憐他，我心想他會把他帶到別的地方——他的家里去；哪知他救了他，反而闖了大禍。如果你就是他所說的人，我說，你生來是個受苦的人??！

俄：哎呀！哎呀！一切都應驗了！天光啊，我現在向你看最后一眼！我成了不應當生我的父母的兒子，娶了不應當娶的母親，殺了不應當殺的父親。

[俄狄浦斯沖進宮，眾侍從隨入，報信人、牧人和眾仆人自觀眾左方下。

十第四合唱歌

歌隊：（第一曲首節）凡人的子孫啊，我把你們的生命當作一場空！誰的幸福不是表面現象，一會兒就消滅了？不幸的俄狄浦斯，你的命運，你的命運警告我不要說凡人是幸福的。

（第一曲次節）宙斯啊，他比別人射得遠，獲得了莫大的幸福，他弄死了那個出謎語的，長彎爪的女妖，挺身做了我邦抵御死亡的堡壘。從那時候起，俄狄浦斯，我們稱你為王，你統治著強大的忒拜，享受著最高的榮譽。

（第二曲首節）但如今，有誰的身世聽起來比你的可憐？有誰在兇惡的災禍中，在苦難中遭遇著人生的變遷，比你可憐？

哎呀，聞名的俄狄浦斯！那同一個寬闊的港口夠你使用了，你進那里作兒子，又扮新郎作父親。不幸的人呀，你父親耕種的土地怎能夠，怎能夠一聲不響，容許你耕種了這么久？

（第二曲次節）那無所不見的時光終于出乎你意料之外發現了你，它審判了這不清潔的婚姻，這婚姻使兒子成為了丈夫。

哎呀，拉伊俄斯的兒子啊，愿我，愿我從沒有見過你！我為你痛哭，像一個哭喪的人！說老實話，你先前使我重新呼吸，現在使我閉上眼睛。

十一退場

[傳報人自宮中上。

傳：我邦最受尊敬的長老們啊，你們講聽見多么慘的事情，將看見多么慘的景象，你們將是多么憂慮，如果你們效忠你們的種族，依然關心拉布達科斯的家室。我認為即使是伊斯忒耳和法息斯河也洗不干凈這個家，它既隱藏著一些災禍，又要把另一些暴露在光天化日之下，這些都不是無心，而是有意做出來的。自己招來的苦難總是最使人痛心??！

歌隊長：我們先前知道的苦難也并不是不可悲??！此外，你還有什么苦難要說？

傳：我的話可以一下子說完，一下子聽完：高貴的伊俄卡斯忒已經死了。

歌隊長：不幸的人啊！她是怎么死的？

傳：她自殺了。這件事最慘痛的地方你們感覺不到，因為你們沒有親眼看見。我記得多少，告訴你多少。

她發了瘋，穿過門廊，雙手抓著頭發，直向她的新床跑去；她進了臥房，砰的關上門，呼喚那早已死的拉伊俄斯的名字，想念她早年生的兒子，說拉伊俄斯死在他手中，留下作母親的給他的兒子生一些不幸的兒女。她為她的床榻而悲嘆，她多么不幸，在那上面生了兩種人，給丈夫生丈夫，給兒子生兒女。她后來是怎樣死的，我就不知道了；因為俄狄浦斯大喊大叫沖進宮去，我們沒法看完她的悲劇，而轉眼望著他橫沖直闖。他跑來跑去，叫我們給他一把劍，還問哪里去找他的妻子，又說不是妻子，是母親，他和他兒女共有的母親。他在瘋狂中得到了一位天神的指點；因為我們這些靠近他的人都沒有給他指路。好像有誰在引導，他大叫一聲，朝著那雙扇門沖去，把弄彎了的門杠從承孔里一下推開，沖進了臥房。

我們隨即看見王后在里面吊著，脖子纏在那擺動的繩上。國王看見了，發出可怕的喊聲，多么可憐！他隨即解開那活套。等那不幸的人躺在地上時，我們就看見那可怕的景象：國王從她袍子上摘下兩只她佩帶著的金別針，舉起來朝著自己的眼珠刺去，并且這樣嚷道：“你們再也看不見我所受的災難，我所造的罪惡了！你們看夠了你們不應當看的人，不認識我想認識的人；你們從此黑暗無光！”

他這樣悲嘆的時候，屢次舉起金別針朝著眼睛狠狠刺去；每刺一下，那血紅的眼珠里流出的血便打濕了他的胡子，那血不是一滴滴地滴，而是許多黑的血點，雹子般一齊降下。這場禍事是兩個人惹出來的，不只一人受難，而是夫妻共同受難。他們舊時代的幸福在從前倒是真正的幸福；但如今，悲哀，毀滅，死亡，恥辱和一切有名稱的災難都落到他們身上了。

歌隊長：現在那不幸的人的痛苦是不是已經緩和一點了？

傳：他大聲叫人把宮門打開，讓全體忒拜人看看他父親的兇手，他母親的——我不便說那不干凈的話；他愿出外流亡，不愿留下，免得這個家在他的詛咒之下有了災禍?？墒撬麤]有力氣，沒有人帶領；那樣的苦惱不是人所能忍受的。他會給你看的；現在宮門打開了，你立刻可以看見那樣一個景象，即使是不喜歡看的人也會發生憐憫之情的。

[眾侍從帶領俄狄浦斯自宮中上。

歌隊：（哀歌）這苦難啊，叫人看了害怕！我所看見的最可怕的苦難啊！可憐的人呀，是什么瘋狂纏繞著你？是哪一位神跳得比最遠的跳躍還要遠，落到了你這不幸的生命上？

哎呀，哎呀，不幸的人啊！我想問你許多事，打聽許多事，觀察許多事，可是我不能望你一眼；你嚇得我發抖啊！

俄：哎呀呀，我多么不幸啊！我這不幸的人哪里去呢？我的聲音輕飄飄的飛到哪里去了？命運啊，你跳到哪里去了？

歌隊長：跳到可怕的災難中去了，不可叫人聽見，不可叫人看見。

俄：（第一曲首節）黑暗之云啊，你真可怕，你來勢兇猛，無法抵抗，是太順的風把你吹來的。

哎呀，哎呀！

這些刺傷了我，這些災難的回憶傷了我。

歌隊：你這做了可怕的事的人啊，你怎么忍心弄瞎了自己的眼睛？是哪一位天神慫恿你的？

俄：（第二曲首節）是阿波羅，朋友們，是阿波羅使這些兇惡的，兇惡的災難實現的；但是刺瞎了這兩只眼睛的不是別人的手，而是我自己的，我多么不幸啊！什么東西看來都沒有趣味，又何必看呢？

歌隊：事情正像你所說的。

俄：朋友們，還有什么可看的，什么可愛的，還有什么問候使我聽了高興呢？朋友們，快把我這完全毀了的，最該詛咒的，最為天神所憎恨的人帶出，帶出境外吧！

歌隊：你的感覺和你的命運同樣可憐，但愿我從來不知道你這人。

俄：（第二曲次節）那在牧場上把我腳上殘忍的鐵鐐解下的人，那把我從兇殺里救活的人——不論他是誰——真是該死，因為他做的是一件不使人感激的事。假如我那時候死了，也不至于使我和我的朋友們這樣痛苦了。

歌隊：但愿如此！

俄：那么我不至于成為殺父的兇手，不至于被人稱為我母親的丈夫；但如今，我是天神所棄絕的人，是不清潔的母親的兒子，并且是，哎呀，我父親的共同播種的人。如果還有什么更嚴重的災難，也應該歸俄狄浦斯忍受啊。

歌隊：我不能說你的意見對；你最好死去，勝過瞎著眼睛活著。（哀歌完）

俄：別說這件事做得不妙，別勸告我了。假如我到冥土的時候還看得見，不知當用什么樣的眼睛去看我父親和我不幸的母親，既然我曾對他們做出死有余辜的罪行。我看著這些生出的兒女順眼嗎？不，不順眼；就連這城堡，這望樓，神們的神圣的偶像，我看著也不順眼；因為我，忒拜城最高貴而又最不幸的人，已經喪失了觀看的權利了；我曾命令所有的人把那不清潔的人趕出去，即使他是天神所宣布的罪人，拉伊俄斯的兒子。我既然暴露了這樣的污點，還能集中眼光看這些人嗎？不，不能；如果有方法可以閉塞耳中的聽覺，我一定把這可憐的身體封起來，使我不聞不見；當心神不為憂愁所擾亂時是多么舒暢??！

唉，喀泰戎，你為什么收容我？為什么不把我捉來殺了，免得我在人們面前暴露我的身世？波呂玻斯啊，科任托斯啊，還有你這被稱為我祖先的古老的家啊，你們把我撫養成人，皮膚多么好看，下面卻有毒瘡在潰爛??！我現在被發現是個卑賤的人，是卑賤的人所生。

你們三條道路和幽谷啊，像樹林和三岔路口的窄路啊，你們從我手中吸飲了我父親的血，也就是我的血，你們還記得我當著你們做了些什么事，來這里以后又做了些什么事嗎？

婚禮啊，婚禮啊，你生了我，生了之后，又給你的孩子生孩子，你造成了父親，哥哥，兒子，以及新娘，妻子，母親的亂倫關系，人間最可恥的事。

不應當作的事就不應當拿來講?？丛谔焐衩嫔?，塊把我藏在遠處，或是把我殺死，或是把我丟到海里，你們不會在那里再看見我了。來呀，牽一牽這可憐的人把；答應我，別害怕，因為我的罪除了自己擔當而外，別人是不會沾染的。

歌隊長：克瑞翁來得巧，正好滿足你的要求，不論你要他給你家做什么事，或者給你什么勸告，如今只有他代你做這地方的保護人。

俄：唉，我對他說什么好呢？我怎能合理的要求他相信我呢？我先前太對不住他了。

[克瑞翁自觀眾右方上。

克：俄狄浦斯，我不是來譏笑你的，也不是來責備你過去的罪過的。

（向眾侍從）盡管你們不再重視凡人的子孫，也得尊敬我們的主宰赫利俄斯的養育萬物之光，為此，不要把這一種為大地、圣雨和陽光所厭惡的污染，赤裸的擺出來。快把他帶進宮去！只有親屬才能看、才能聽親屬的苦難，這樣才合乎宗教上的規矩。

俄：你既然帶著最高貴的精神來到我這最壞的人這里，使我的憂慮冰釋了，請看在天神面上，答應我一件事，我是為你好，不是為我好而請求啊。

克：你對我有什么請求？

俄：趕快把我仍出境外，扔到那沒有人向我問好的地方去。

克：告訴你吧，如果我不想先問神怎么辦，我早就這樣做了。

俄：他的神示早就明白的宣布了，要把那殺父的，那不潔的人毀了，我自己就是那人哩。

克：神示雖然這樣說的，但是在目前的情況下，最好還是去問問怎樣辦。

俄：你愿去為我這么不幸的人問問嗎？

克：我愿意去；你現在要相信神的話。

俄：是的；我還要吩咐你，懇求你把屋里的人埋了，你愿意怎樣埋就怎樣埋；你會為你姐姐正當的盡這禮儀的。當我在世的時候，不要逼迫我住在我的祖城里，還是讓我住在山上吧，那里是因我而著名的喀泰戎，我父母在世的時候曾指定那座山作為我的墳墓，我正好按照要殺我的人的意思死去。但是我有這么一點把握：疾病或別的什么都害不死我；若不是還有奇災異難，我不會從死亡里被人救活。

我的命運要到哪里，就讓它到哪里吧。提起我的兒女，克瑞翁，請不必關心我的兒子門；他們是男人，不論在什么地方，都不會缺少衣食；但是我那兩個不幸的，可憐的女兒——她們從來沒有看見我把自己的食桌支在一邊，不陪她們吃飯；凡是我吃的東西，她們都有份——請你照應她們；請特別讓我撫摸著她們悲嘆我的災難。答應吧，親王，精神高貴的人！只要我撫摸著她們，我就會認為她們依然是我的，正像我沒有瞎眼的時候一樣。

（二侍從進宮，隨即帶領安提戈涅和伊斯墨涅自宮中上。）

啊，這是怎么回事？看在天神的面上，告訴我，我聽見的是不是我親愛的女兒們的哭聲？是不是克瑞翁憐憫我，把我的寶貝——我的女兒們送來了？我說得對嗎？

克：你說得對；這是我安排的，我知道你從前喜歡她們，現在也喜歡她們。

俄：愿你有福！為了報答你把她們送來，愿天神保佑你遠勝過他保佑我。

（向二女孩）孩兒們，你們在哪里，快到這里來，到你們的同胞手里來，是這雙手使你們父親先前明亮的眼睛變瞎的，啊，孩兒們，這雙手是那沒有認清楚人，沒有了解情況，就通過生身母親成為你們父親的人的。我看不見你們了；想起你們日后辛酸的生活——人們會叫你們過那樣的生活——我就為你們痛苦。你們能參加什么社會生活，能參加什么節日典禮呢？你們看不見熱鬧，會哭著回家。等你們到了結婚年齡，孩兒們，有誰來冒挨罵的危險呢？那種辱罵對我的子女和你們的子女都是有害的。什么恥辱你們少得了呢？“你們的父親殺了他的父親，把種子撒在生身母親那里，從自己出生的地方生了你們。”你們會這樣挨罵的；誰還會娶你們呢？啊，孩兒們，沒有人會；顯然你們命中注定不結婚，不生育，憔悴而死。

墨諾叩斯的兒子啊，你既是她們唯一的父親——因為我們，她們的父母，兩人都完了——就別坐視她們，你的甥女，在外流浪，沒衣沒食，沒有丈夫，別使她們和我一樣受難?？此齻冞@樣年輕，孤苦伶仃——在你面前，就不同了——你得可憐她們。

啊，高貴的人，同我握手，表示答應吧！

（向二女孩）我的孩兒，假如你們已經懂事了，我一定給你們出許多主意；但是我現在只教你們這樣禱告，說機會讓你們住在哪里，你們就愿住在哪里，希望你們的生活比你們父親的快樂。

克：你已經哭夠了；進宮去吧。

俄：我得服從，盡管心里不痛快。

克：萬事都要合事宜才好。

俄：你知道不知道我要在什么條件下才進去？

克：你說吧，我聽了就會知道。

俄：就是把我送出境外。

克：你向我請求的事要天神才能答應。

俄：神們最恨我。

克：那么你很快就可以滿足你的心愿。

俄：你答應了嗎？

克：不喜歡做的事我不喜歡白說。

俄：現在帶我走吧。

克：走吧，放了孩子們！

俄：不要從我懷抱中把她們搶走！

克：別想占有一切；你所占有的東西沒有一生跟著你。

[眾侍從帶領俄狄浦斯進宮，克瑞翁、二女孩和傳報人隨入。

歌隊長：忒拜本邦的居民啊，請看，這就是俄狄浦斯，他道破了那著名的謎語，成為最偉大的人；哪一位公民不曾帶著羨慕的眼光注視他的好運？他現在卻落到可怕的災難的波浪中了！

因此，當我們等著瞧那最末的日子的時候，不要說一個凡人是幸福的，在他還沒有跨過生命的界限，還沒有得到痛苦的解脫之前。

[歌隊自觀眾右方退場。

第三篇：論《俄狄浦斯王》（范文）

論《俄狄浦斯死亡》中的命運觀

摘要：古希臘悲劇與命運觀念的關聯在西方文學史上已經成為一個常識。而關于命運觀，古希臘三大悲劇家埃斯庫羅斯、索?？死账购蜌锉拥盟辜扔泄沧R，也有區別。亞里士多德曾經稱索福克勒斯的《俄狄浦斯王》為十全十美的悲劇，認為它是全部希臘悲劇中最典型，最成熟，最完美的命運悲劇。《俄狄浦斯王》講述的是希臘神話中忒拜的王子俄狄浦斯在不知情的情況下，弒父娶母，真相大白后自刺雙目，自我流放滌罪的故事。在索?？死账剐哪恐?，命運雖然是不可抗拒的，但是其正義性，合理性卻是可以被懷疑的。因此，在《俄狄浦斯王》人與命運的關系是對立的，人不再是神和命運的玩物，而是從命運的奴隸轉化為與之抗爭的英雄，即使最后落得失敗的下場，但這種命運觀肯定了人的價值，其人本思想得到發展，因此《俄狄浦斯王》便成為了具有典范意義的一部古希臘悲劇著作。

關鍵詞：命運，抗爭，神，人，古希臘悲劇

一．命運不可抗拒——無法逃避的絕對力量

“命運”意識一直是古希臘悲劇研究的關鍵著眼點，在古希臘神話故事中，“類宿命論”思想廣泛影響著古希臘民眾的生活。人們相信，存在著一種神秘的力量主宰著一切，這種力量外在于現實世界，但決定著現實世界，這種力量就是所謂的“命運”。希臘早期的命運觀認為，人的一生都是命中注定的，且往往是先在的，并以神諭的方式呈現。在索?？死账沟摹抖淼移炙雇酢分校魅斯淼移炙梗瑹o論怎樣掙扎、反抗都逃脫不了弒父娶母的殘酷命運，最后不得不循著命運的固有軌道滑向“神諭”所無情宣示的命運結局之中。俄狄浦斯不相信神諭，不相信命運對人的主宰，他試圖以逃避的方式來解決一切：當他從神諭中得知自己將違背倫理犯下殺父娶母大罪的可怕命運時，他遠走他鄉，在一個三岔路口，與一位老者爭執并將老人誤殺，而被殺之人正是他的生父拉伊俄斯。隨后，他用智慧除掉了危害忒拜國百姓的獅身人面女妖死芬克斯，被國民擁立為國王，并取了前王的王后，卻是他的親生母親伊俄卡斯特。可見他終究還是無法擺脫命運對他的詛咒。在無盡的痛苦中，他對自己的兒女哀嚎：“你們身上擁有多少恥辱啊，你們的親身父親殺了你們的祖父，把種子播撒在親身母親身上，由自己的親身母親生育了你們。你們將來的生活是多么艱難啊，以后誰敢娶你們呢？你們的一生注定不婚、不育。”而他的父親拉伊俄斯在得知神諭后，用鐵絲穿透剛剛出生的俄狄浦斯的雙腳，命仆人將這嬰兒丟棄在荒山野嶺之中。《俄狄浦斯王》通過這一系列的悲劇故事向我們反映著那個時代的特點，人逃脫不了自己的命運，并且這種悲慘的命運會延續到下一代，永遠無法改變。作品中主人公逃避命運的一切行動，都充分體現了命運的強大力量，讓我們不得不承認命運的存在。在這里，命運是被人格化的，他扮演著敵人的角色，使得人和神都生活在一定的法則和秩序中。在無可逃避的命運的籠罩之下，悲劇主人公就好像是一個圓周上的某一點，無論朝哪個方向走，最終都會與原來的點相遇，逃不過，躲不掉，更無法抗拒。二．命運可以被質疑——毀滅前的掙扎，人本主義思想的萌芽

俄狄浦斯是古希臘悲劇中第一位向命運抗爭的英雄，他的命運雖然早已注定，但是他并沒有一味順從，而是進行了積極的反抗，無論是離開科任托斯還是解決斯芬克斯之謎，亦或是為了忒拜人民的生存而調查瘟疫的原因，他都是在與命運進行著激烈的較量。可見，希臘神諭雖然存在，卻沒有直接降臨在人的身上，神意引導人的生活，卻不直接出面干預人的行為，神祗很少現身，更絕少去干預人的行為，這就造就了命定與人的自由之間的空隙，選擇權在人類自己手中。當命運不再代表正義的力量，而是第一次以敵人的角色出現時，命運則是可以被質疑的。盡管俄狄浦斯與命運的抗爭實則是掩耳盜鈴之舉，他篤信命運所以才逃避命運的圍剿，他的雖然反抗是一種逃離式的嘗試，但可以肯定的是俄狄浦斯的一生無疑是抗爭的一生。即使是真相大白之后，確認了自己的悲劇命運以后俄狄浦斯依舊做著最后的反抗，他承擔自己的過錯，勇敢的為自己贖罪，哪怕是徹底的毀滅也要做最后的掙扎。他自行刺瞎雙眼，自我流放，將和平與安寧留給了忒拜城邦。即使在與命運的對戰中敗下陣來，但卻彰顯了人性，顯示了人類的力量，與此同時，作品也就將這種命運神諭帶給俄狄浦斯的悲慘轉化為了對人類行為高歌的悲壯，俄狄浦斯也就從一個反道德的罪犯變成了一個受人敬仰的悲劇英雄。因此，我們不難發現在 《俄狄浦斯王》中，人不再是神和命運的玩物，而是從命運的奴隸轉化為與之抗爭的英雄，即使最后落得失敗的下場，但這種命運觀卻肯定了人的價值，希臘早起人本主義思想由此出現萌芽。三．存在著抗爭意識的命運觀——對后世的文學創作具有典范意義

古希臘悲劇所探討的命運是人類永恒的話題，命運的最終實現則主要是人類行為作用的結果。命運不是有形的或具體的，而是一個統攝萬物的存在，一種不可逾越的界限。但在整部作品中，我們都可以看到俄狄浦斯與命運間的激烈較量，他與普羅米修斯默默忍受一切命 運的擺布是不同的。俄狄浦斯并不認命，他有思考命運的自覺意識，他在命運面前是主動的，而不是被動的等待與忍受。面對弒父娶母的神諭，他以遠離父母的方式去躲避命運，而不是任命運擺布。當他預感自己是弒父娶母的兇手時，極力去證明神諭沒有在自己身上應驗，這仍是他反抗命運的表現。最后面對無疑爭辯的事實，他刺瞎雙眼，這是在人類文化史上第一次向命運抗掙的舉動。

索福克勒斯既相信命運的至高無上的權威，又要求人們具有獨立自主的精神，并對自己的行為負責。因而他塑造的人物形象，即使處于命運的掌控之中，也不喪失其獨立的堅強性格，這種命運觀念與埃斯庫羅斯有所不同。索福克勒斯對命運的合理性，提出了質疑的同時表達了個人反抗命運的思想。他的作品中對命運的抗爭，表明人類已經開始不再把命運當做與生俱來，絕不可改變的東西，而是把命運作為一個單獨的概念抽象化。也許我們無法在客觀上改變命運的結局，但是我們卻可以在主觀上，進行善意的掩耳盜鈴：縮小結果，放大過程，讓抗爭本身變得有意義。命運的大樹雖無法撼動，但作為蚍蜉的我們卻可以由于反抗而獲得某種精神層面的高大，人與天命做著正面的沖突，即使人在這種悲劇命運中注定失敗，但是人類的尊嚴由此而彰顯，即便我們沒有扼住命運的喉嚨，但是我們依然可以很驕傲的度過此生。這也是每個積極樂觀面對生活的人應有的覺悟。因此《俄狄浦斯王》便成為了最具典范意義的一部古希臘悲劇著作。

總結

古希臘的悲劇一直被認為是命運的悲劇。索?？死账沟摹懊\”之思既昭示出他對于他對于傳統的領悟和尊重，又顯示了他直面現實的勇氣和信心，他一方面哀嘆人類的命運多舛，一方面又感嘆人類的可怕力量。他創作的真正用意在于描繪俄狄浦斯明知命運無法戰勝的悲劇宿命卻憑借人這樣一個血肉之軀在與冥冥中與不可抗拒的眾神之間的對抗所迸發出來的勃勃生機和偉大精神力量。

參考文獻：

1論《俄狄浦斯死亡》中的命運悲劇 2論《俄狄浦斯死亡》中的悲劇美學 尼爾之死：一個毀滅的俄狄浦斯之路——《文化藝術研究》

第四篇：俄狄浦斯王簡介

俄狄浦斯王簡介

俄狄浦斯王》取材于希臘神話傳說，展示了富有典型意義

《俄狄浦斯王》 的希臘悲劇——人跟命運的沖突。劇作家無法擺脫當時濃重的命運觀念，使俄狄浦斯逃脫不了體現命運的太陽神“神示”的羅網。但他對命運抱有強烈的不滿情緒，認為俄狄浦斯并不是有意殺父娶母，本人非但沒有罪，反而是一個為民除害的英雄、受人愛戴的英雄。俄狄浦斯智慧超群，熱愛邦國，大公無私。在命運面前，他不是俯首帖耳或苦苦哀求，而是奮起抗爭，設法逃離“神示”的預言。繼而，他猜破女妖的謎語，為民除害。最后，為了解救人民的瘟疫災難，他不顧一切地追查殺害前王的兇手，一旦真相大白，又勇于承擔責任，主動請求將他放逐。對于這樣一個為人民、為國家做了無數好事的英雄所遭受的厄運，劇作家深感憤慨，發出了對神的正義性的懷疑，控訴命運的不公和殘酷，贊揚主人公在跟命運斗爭中所表現出來的堅強意志和英雄行為。因此，盡管結局是悲慘的，但這種明知“神示”不可違而違之的精神，正是對個人自主精神的肯定，也是雅典奴隸主民主派先進思想意識的反應。

瘟疫肆虐下的忒拜城郊，走投無路的人們把求生的希望寄托在國王俄狄浦斯身上，聚集到王宮前向他乞援。俄狄浦斯娶了先王拉伊俄斯的寡妻伊俄卡斯忒，成了忒拜人心目中天災和人禍的救星。俄狄浦斯為了挽救瀕于毀滅的忒拜城，派出妻舅克瑞翁親王到阿波羅神廟求神示，究竟怎樣的言行才能拯救黎民。

《俄狄浦斯王》

克瑞翁風塵仆仆飛趕回來，帶回了阿波羅的神示：把藏在城里的污垢清除出去，嚴懲殺害先王的兇手，瘟疫方會消除。克瑞翁還提議請來了忒拜城的先知。俄狄浦斯懷疑先王的被害與克瑞翁有關，而先知可能與克瑞翁共謀。先知卻預言俄狄浦斯就是他要尋找的殺人兇手。于是兩人發生了激烈的沖突。

王后伊俄卡斯忒聞聲而出，她責怪兩人不合時宜的私人糾紛，遣走了兄弟，又以親身經歷為例來勸慰丈夫。原來，當年先王曾經得一個神示，說他命中注定將死在他與她親生的兒子手中，可現在先王是在三岔路口被一伙強盜所殺，他們的兒子早在出生的第三天就被釘住腳跟丟棄了，可見先知的話不可相信。俄狄浦斯聞言大驚失色。他詳細詢問了先王的相貌、被殺的地點和出行的人數，渾身顫栗，悸懼不安。他請求王后務必找到那惟一活著回來的侍從。王后不明白俄狄浦斯何以如此，于是俄狄浦斯披露了自己離家出走的一段經歷。

俄狄浦斯是科任托斯國王的兒子，在一次宴會上，由于一個醉酒的人罵他是冒名的兒子，他便瞞著父母到阿波羅神廟

去祈神示。神沒有回答他的問題，卻預言他將有殺父娶母的可怕而悲慘的命運。為了避禍，他流落飄零，浪跡天涯，旅途中曾來到眾人所說的國王遇害的地方，殺過路人?，F在惟一要證實的是殺王者的人數，如果是一伙強盜，他就是清白的。王后伊俄卡斯忒并沒有派人召喚那侍從，而是親自去祭求阿波羅指點迷津。

科任托斯城的報信人來到忒拜，給伊俄卡斯忒帶來了科任托斯國王死亡的消息。王后高興極了。她欣喜地叫出俄狄浦斯，告訴他所害怕的事永遠不會應驗的好消息。報信人為安慰俄狄浦斯，說出了他并非科任托斯國王親生，而是自己從一個牧人手中得到并轉送給科任托斯國王的孩子。這孩子當時兩只腳跟被鐵釘釘在一起。

《俄狄浦斯王》

伊俄卡斯忒徒然面容慘白，她已經一切都明白了，絕望地沖出宮去。她發了瘋，穿過門廊，雙手抓著頭發，直向她的臥房奔去。她悲嘆自己的不幸：給丈夫生丈夫，給兒子生兒女。牧人被帶來與報信人對質。在俄狄浦斯把他反綁起來的情況下，被迫說出實情：俄狄浦斯就是拉伊俄斯和伊俄卡斯忒為逃避命運，讓他拋到山里的那個孩子。一切都應驗了。俄狄浦斯瘋狂叫著沖進臥房，找他和他兒女共有的母親，發現伊俄卡斯忒已經懸梁自盡。他從她的尸體上摘下兩支金別針，亂刺自己的雙眼致瞎。他托克瑞翁照看兒女，并按自己的詛咒，請求克瑞翁將他驅遂出忒拜。后來據雅典的傳統說法，認為俄狄浦斯晚年居留和死亡之地是在雅典郊區的科羅諾斯。

專家點評

從公元前6世紀起在雅典興起的酒神節是這里最隆重的祭祀狂歡活動。每年春暖花開時節，從整個雅典城邦涌來的人們在雅典城進行為時幾天的慶典。同其他祭神儀式不同的是，在祭酒和贊美自然時，人們可以盡情取樂，忘乎所以。節日的最高潮是精彩的歌唱和誦讀酒神贊歌的競賽，這就給希臘悲劇的產生奠定了基礎。最初的悲劇表演形式是同歌隊緊緊聯系在一起的，一個演員講述劇情，他身后的合唱隊不時穿插伴唱；后來發展到三個演員同時登臺演出，這時的劇情愈為復雜，對演員演技的要求也相應提高。登臺的演員全部為男性，他們頭戴各式人物的面具，女角也由男演員反串。悲劇的劇本都是用詩歌體寫成的，有的用一個故事寫成一出悲劇，有的則用許多故事構成三部劇，它們之間的聯系是不可分割的，這就是三聯劇或俗稱的三部曲。

希臘悲劇的題材大都從神話傳說或荷馬史詩中來，“宿命”是始終貫穿劇本的最重要線索，用神化的英雄人物與曲折多難的命運的沖突、爭斗來反映當時社會日益復雜的階級矛盾和社會

沖突。完整的希臘悲劇形式于公元前5世紀初形成，它的全盛時代也是古希臘奴隸主民主政治鞏固和發展最為繁榮的時代。

埃斯庫羅斯、索福克勒斯和歐里庇得斯是古希臘最杰出的三位悲劇作家。索?？死账?，他取消了三聯劇的形式，將演員從兩人發展為三人。他是三位悲劇大家中最多產的一位，索福克勒斯的創作標志著希臘悲劇進入了成熟的階段，是雅典民主制盛極而衰時期社會生活的反映。在藝術上，索?？死账沟谋瘎〗Y構比較復雜，布局非常巧妙，被文學史家們譽為“戲劇藝術的荷馬”。古希臘悲劇在索?？死账故掷镆呀涍_到了成熟的境界。情節集中，結構完整，人物性格鮮明，語言樸質精練，富有表現力。合唱隊減少抒情成分而參加戲劇動作，發揮演員的作用。

索福克勒斯處理的主題是偉大人物的悲劇命運，他一方面哀嘆人類的命運多舛，一方面又感嘆人類的可怕力量，因此，在他的作品中時常充滿著特殊情感的張力。劇作取材于神話和傳說，多描寫理想化的英雄人物與命運的沖突，但終究不能掙脫命運的擺布而走向毀滅的悲劇結局，索?？死账沟拿\觀，有它必然形成的客觀基礎。劇作家生逢盛世，曾與著名民主派領袖伯利克里友善。然而物極必反，盛極一時的雅典城邦，橫征暴斂，濫行霸權，直至發動伯羅奔尼撒戰爭；內部揮霍奢侈，分崩離析，終于迅速沒落。索?？死账拐驹诿裰髋深I袖的個人立場上，無法理解忠誠的服務、善良的動機、無私的作為、一帆風順的坦途，究竟為什么全部走向了反面？他迷惑、悲憤而無從解脫，只好歸之于“命運”安排。他覺得包括自己在內的民主派志士仁人，與俄狄浦斯王太相像了。這是劇作家創作《俄狄浦斯王》的動機之一。俄狄浦斯王的命運悲劇，影射著雅典奴隸主民主派英雄的歷史悲劇?！抖淼移炙雇酢芬粍≈?，俄狄浦斯正視現實，剛毅勇敢，體貼民眾，敢于承擔責任，是一個堂堂正正的英雄，也是一個理想的民主派領袖的形象。這樣的英雄和領袖，下場竟如此悲慘，貼切地表現了英雄意志逃不脫命運桎梏的痛苦惶惑。這里，索?？死账箤γ\的合理性提出了懷疑，還表達了個人反抗命運的思想。在俄狄浦斯王身上，寄托著劇作家對民主派領袖的崇高評價和深厚同情。劇本熱烈歌頌了俄狄浦斯的堅強意志和對國家的責任感，并對當時流行的命運觀提出了懷疑。

古希臘悲劇在人類文明史上寫下了光輝燦爛的篇章，《俄狄浦斯王》更是其中的不朽名篇。該劇戲劇沖突尖銳緊張，情節發展合情合理，具有強烈的戲劇效果，古希臘著名哲學家亞里士多德評價說：《俄狄

浦斯王》是希臘悲劇的典范，它最完美、技巧最高超，很少有其他悲劇能同它相比。

弗洛伊德認為它是各種心理癥的基本點，由于嬰兒時代和童年早期的環境狀況，每個孩子都渴望從與自己異性的父親或母親身上滿足性欲，而怨恨與他同性的父親或母親。原始的社會和文明的社會都有反對亂倫的嚴厲禁忌，每個人都知道這個禁忌；因此這些渴望在暗中被感覺到，卻一生永遠地埋藏在潛意識深處。俄狄浦斯癥結以偽裝的形式表現在我們的生活里。它不僅影響一個人的生活方式，也表現在我們的藝術、流行歌曲、文學、幽默、褻瀆神圣和其他許多方面上。俄狄浦斯癥結像其他精神分析理論的元素一樣，暗示著一般人有極為原始的感覺存在身上。編輯本段人物簡介

俄狄浦斯（Oedipus或?dipus，有時拼為Oidipous）是希臘神話中忒拜（Thebe）的國王，是國王拉伊奧斯（Laius）和王后約卡斯塔（Jocasta）的兒子，他在不知情的情況下，殺死了自己的父親并娶了自己的母親。殺父取母的故事拉伊奧斯年輕時曾經劫走國王佩洛普斯（Pelops）的兒子克律西波斯（Chrysippus），因此遭到詛咒，他的兒子俄狄浦斯出生時，神諭表示他會被兒子所殺死，為了逃避命運，拉伊奧斯刺穿了新生兒的腳踝（oidipous在希臘文的意思即為“腫脹的腳”），并將他丟棄在野外等死。然而

《俄狄浦斯王》

奉命執行的牧人心生憐憫，偷偷將嬰兒轉送給科林斯（Corinth）的國王波呂波斯（Polybus），由他們當作親生兒子般地扶養長大。俄狄浦斯長大后，因為德爾菲（Delphi）神殿的神諭說，他會弒父娶母，不知道科林斯國王與王后并非自己親生父母的俄狄浦斯，為避免神諭成真，便離開科林斯并發誓永不再回來。俄狄浦斯流浪到忒拜附近時，在一個岔路上與一群陌生人發生沖突，失手殺了人，其中正包括了他的親生父親。當時的忒拜被獅身人面獸斯芬克斯（Sphinx）所困，因為他會抓住每個路過的人，如果對方無法解答他出的謎題，便將對方撕裂吞食。忒拜為了脫困，便宣布誰能解開謎題，從斯芬克斯口中拯救城邦的話，便可獲得王位并娶國王的遺孀約卡斯塔為妻。后來正是由俄狄浦斯解開了斯芬克斯的謎題，解救了忒拜。他也繼承了王位，并在不知情的情況下娶了自己的親生母親為妻，生了兩女：分別是安提戈涅（Antigone）及伊斯墨涅（Ismene）；兩個兒子：埃忒奧克洛斯（Eteoclus）及波呂涅克斯（Polyneices）。后來，受俄狄浦斯統治的國家不斷有災禍與瘟疫，國王因此向神只請示，想要知道為何會降下災禍。最后在先知提瑞西阿斯（Tiresias）的揭示下，俄狄浦斯才知道他是拉伊奧

斯的兒子，終究應驗了他之前殺父娶母的不幸命運。震驚不已的約卡斯塔羞愧地上吊自殺，而同樣悲憤不已的俄狄浦斯，則刺瞎了自己的雙眼。編輯本段藝術特色

《俄狄浦斯王》有很高的藝術成就，特別是在情節的整

一、結構的嚴密、布局的巧妙等方面，《俄狄浦斯王》

堪稱希臘悲劇的典范。故事集中寫俄狄浦斯追查殺害前王兇手這一中心事件。究竟誰是兇手？形成戲劇的“懸念”。接著通過一環扣一環的“發現”、“突破”，使矛盾一個個地揭開，一步步把戲劇沖突推向驚心動魄的結局，緊湊生動，懸念迭起，扣人心弦。索?？死账共粚懮穸鴮懤硐牖娜耍野讶朔旁诩怃J的矛盾沖突中加以刻畫，使之動作性強，性格鮮明。他把演員從兩個增加到三個，這樣可以根據劇情的需要扮演各種人物，表現人物的多方面性格。他又以對白代替合唱成為戲劇的主要成分，使悲劇成熟為真正的戲劇藝術。由于索?？死账箤οＥD悲劇的卓越貢獻，贏得“戲劇界的荷馬”的美稱。

作者一方面表現人不屈不撓的抗爭精神，一方面也表現人類心智的局限和命運的強悍有力。俄狄浦斯的遭遇是悲慘的，但他的自我結構上首創倒敘式的范例，劇情從故事將近結尾處展開，在向高潮推進的同時向前回溯，布局謹嚴，結構緊湊，情節起伏跌宕，發現、突轉、懸念等技巧運用得恰到好處。編輯本段妙語佳句

如果一個人能背叛他的摯友，就等于拋棄了他自己的生命。

一個正直的人要經歷事件的考驗也能看出來，一個卑鄙的小人只要一天就會露出原形。糟蹋自我最令人痛心。

第五篇：俄狄浦斯王讀后感

俄狄浦斯王讀后感

俄狄浦斯是古希臘悲劇《俄狄浦斯王》中的主人公。他是忒拜王的兒子，但忒拜王相信了一個預言——俄狄浦斯有一天會殺死父親而與母親結婚，于是命人殺死俄狄浦斯。然而，這個執行命令的人不忍下手，只是將俄狄浦斯丟棄在山上。后來，一個牧羊人發現了俄狄浦斯并將他送給鄰國的國王做兒子。

俄狄浦斯長大后，做了很多英雄事跡，其中最著名的是解開了獅身人面獸斯芬克斯的謎語（謎面是“早晨用四只腳走路，中午用兩只腳走路，傍晚用三只腳走路”，答案是“人”，因為人童年爬行用“四條腿”，成年走路用兩條腿，晚年要拄拐杖是“三條腿”），并因此得以娶伊俄卡斯忒女王為妻。后來，國家瘟疫流行，俄狄浦斯才知道，他多年前殺掉的一個老人是他父親，而與自己同床共枕的是母親。聞知這一事實后，伊俄卡斯忒女王自殺，俄狄浦斯則戳瞎雙眼，流浪去了。

《俄狄浦斯王》被譽為古希臘三大悲劇之一，精神分析的鼻祖弗洛伊德認為，俄狄浦斯王的故事之所以如此打動人心，是因為喚起了很多人心中的戀母情結，他也因此將戀母情結稱為“俄狄浦斯情結”。相應，弗洛伊德又將女性的戀父情結稱為“伊萊克拉特情結”。不過，“伊萊克拉特情結”這個名詞沒有流行開來，現在一般用“俄狄浦斯情結”通指戀母情結和戀父情結。戀母情結既常見又復雜。弗洛伊德就有典型的戀母情結，他幼年時與母親關系非常親密而與父親關系疏遠，且尚未成年時父親就去世，這給他造成了極大的影響。因為，父親的去世喚起了他強烈的內疚感，他下意識中會認為，是他詛咒父親去世的。