University of Virginia Library

THE SECONDE ACTE.

The first Scene.

OEDIPVS.
CREON.
For feare my body chilles, alas, and trembling all I stand
In quakinge dread. I seke and toyle, these mischiefes to withstand.
But al in vayne I spend my thoughtes it wil not be, I see,
As long as all my sences thus by cares distracted bee.
My mynd desyrous stil (Oh God,) the truth for to vnfold,
With doubtful Dread is daunted so, that it can scant vpholde
It selfe. O Brother deare, if way or meane of health thou know,
Declare it out and sticke not all the truth to me to show.

Cre.
The Oracle (most noble king) ys darke, and hidden lies.

Oed.
Who doubtful health to sicke men brings, all health to thē denies.

Cre.
Apolloes vse yt is the troth in darkesome dens to hold.

Oed.
And Oedipus of Gods it hath thinges hidden to vnfold:
Speake out, tell all, and spare not man: all doubtes I can discus.

Cre.
Apollo then (most noble King) himselfe commaundeth thus.
By exile purge the Princes seat, and plague vvith vengeance due
That haples vvretch, vvhose bloudy handes of late King Laius slue:
Before that this perfourmed bee, no hope of milder ayer:
Wherfore do this (O King) or else All hope of helpe dispayre.

Oe.
Durst any man on earth attempte, that noble Prince to slay?
Shew me the man that I may him dispatch out of the way.

Cre.
God graunt I may it safely tel: the hearyng was to terrible,
My senses all amased are: it is a thing so horrible,
That I abhorre to vtter it (oh God) for feare I quake
And euen at the very thought my lims beginne to shake.
Assoone as I Apollos Church, had entred in affrayd,
Uppon my face flat downe I fell, and thus to him I prayd.
Oh God if euer thou didst rue, on wretched misers state,
If euer men opprest thou easd, or didst their cares abate,
If euer thou in present neede didst present helpe declare,
If euer thou afflicted Hartes with cares consumd didst spare:
Shew now thy wonted clemency and pitty knowne of pore.
Scant had I sayd: Resounding all the mountaynes thondring rore:
And filthy feendes spout out their flames out of their darksome caues.
And woods do quake, and hilles do moue, and vp the surging waues
Do mount vnto the skies aloft, and I amased stand.
Still looking for an aunsweare at Apollos sacred hand.
When out with ruffled hayre disguisd the Prophet comes at last:
And when that shee had felt the heate of mighty Phœbus blast.
All puffyng out she swelles in rage, and pattring still she raues,
And scant she entred had into Apollos shyning caues,
When out a thundring voyce doth brust that's farre aboue mans reach.
So dreadful seemed then to me the mighty Phœbus speach.
Than thus he spake and thus at length, into myne cares he rusht
Whyle sprawling stil the Prophet lay before the doores in dust.
The Thebane City neuer shal be free frō plagues (quoth he,)
Except from thense the Kingkiller forthwith expulsed bee:
Vnto Apollo knowen he was, or euer he was borne.
Do this: or else no hope of health, to this, the gods haue sworn.
And as for thee, thou shalt not long in quiet state indure,
But with thy self wage war thou shalt & war thou shalt procure
Vnto thy children deare: & crepe agayn thou shalt into thy mothers wombe.

Oed.
Loke what the Gods commaunded haue accomplished shalbe.
Nor neuer shal these eyes of myne abyde the day to see,
A King of kingdome spoyld by force, by guyle or craft supprest.
A kinge to kinges the prop ought be, and chiefest cause of iest:
No man regardes his death at all whom liuing he doth feare,

Cr.
Great cause makes mee my Princes death conceale and closly beare

Oed.
Ought any cause of feare or griefe, thy duty for to let?

Cre.
The threatning of the prophesyes, do stil my breast beset.

Oe.
Let vs (sith God cōmaunds) forthwith some good attonement make
If any way, or meanes there be their wrathful rage to slake.
Thou God that sits on seate on high, and al the world dost guide,
And thou by whose commaundement the Starres in Skies do glide:
Thou, thou that onely ruler art of Seas, of Floods, and all.
On thee and on thy Godhead great, for these requestes I call.
Who so hath slayne king Laius, oh Ioue I do thee pray.
Let thousand ils vpon him fall, before his dying day.
Let him no health ne comfort haue, but al to crusht with cares,
Consume his wretched yeares in griefe, & though that death him spares
A whyle. Yet mischiefes all, at length vppon him light.
With all the euils vnder Sun, that vgly monster smight.
In exile let him liue a Slaue, the rated course of life.
In shame, in care, in penury in daunger and in strife.
Let no man on him pity take, let all men him reuyle.
Let him his Mothers sacred Bed incestuously defyle.
Lim him his father kill. And yet let him do mischiefes more.
What thing more haynous can I wish then that I wisht before?
Let him do all those illes I say, that I haue shund and past.
All those and more (if more may be) oh God vpon him cast.
Let him no hope of pardon haue: but sue and all in vayne.
All hellish Furies on him light, for to encrease his payne.
O Ioue powre downe thy fury greate, thy thūdring thumpes out throw
Let Boreas boysterous blastes and stormy plagues vpon him blow
Consume him quight. Fret out his guttes wt pockes and botches vile
Let all diseases on him light that wretched bodyes fyle.
Let these and more (if more may be) vppon that Monster fall.
Let Harpies pawes and greedy paunche deuoure his members all.
Let no man him regard: or seeke his limmes in graue to lay:
But let him dye ten thousand deathes before his dying day.
By this my Kingdome I do sweare, and Kingdome that I left
By al my Countrey Gods that bene in Temples closely kept,
I sweare, I bow, I do protest, and thereto witnes take:
The Starres, the Seas, the Earth and all that ere thy hand did make.
Except that I my selfe forth with this bloudy monster find,
To wreake the wrath of God some way with solempne oth I bynde.
And so my father, Polybius his happy dayes outlyue.
And so my mother Merope, no mariage new contriue:
As he shall dye that did this deede, and none shal him excuse.
Whoso he be here I protest for that he shortly rues:
But where this wicked deede was don Creon now tell me playne:
Both by what meanes? & where: and how King Laius was slayne.

Creon.
Passing through Castalia woods & mountayns heept with snoe
Where groues and scrubs, and bushes thicke & brambles sharp do groe.
A threepathd crooked way there is that diuersly doth goe.
One vnto Bacchus citty bends that Phoce doth hight,
The other to Olenius, forth stretcheth out aright:
The third that reacheth through the vales and by the riuers lyes
Tends downe vnto the Bancks wherby Eleia water plyes
There vnawares (O piteous chaunce) a troup of theues entraps
The noble prince, and murders him hence spring these great mishaps
which heape you realms with hideous woes and plagues on euery side,
By iust decree of heauenly powers which can no murder bide.
But see Tiresias where he coms with old and trembling pace.
I thincke Apolloes heauenly might haue brought him to this place.
See where he comes: and Manto too, his steps directing stayes
Tis he who for your grace (O king) and for your countrie prayes

THE SECOND SCENE.

OEDIPVS.
TYRESIAS. MANTO.
Come holy priest (to Phœbus next) these doubtfull aunswers lose:
And whom that destnies will to dye, Straightwayes to me disclose.

TY.
Renowned Prince, though still I stand in silence dūme dismayde:
And though by inwarde feare of mynde my lingring tonge is stayde:
Yet pardon me (O noble Prince,) and geue me leaue a while.
From lack of sight springs Ignoraunce which powre hath to exile
Unspotted Truth frō doubtfull breasts. This thing ful well you knoe,
But whither God and Countrey calles, with willing minde I goe.
Let deadly fatall destenies, be boulted out at length.
O King if I of greener yeares had now my wonted strength:
This matter soone discust should be, and I would take in hande,
My selfe in presence of the Gods, in temple for to stande.
A mighty Oxe all coulourd white, vp on the Aulters reare,
Which neuer yet on weried necke, the croked yoake did beare.
And Manto thou, O daughter mine, mine onely prop and stay:
The secret hidden misteries, and sacred signes out say.

MA.
The beast before the Aulter stands.

TY.
To Gods a prayer make,
And on the holy Aulters eke, some pleasaunt odors shake.

MA.
Tis done. And all the fiers fierce, with incence bright doe flame.

TY.
O Manto now what signes seest thou? how doe thy matters frame?
What? doth the fire, the Sacrifice encompas rounde about?

MA.
Not so. But first it mounts aloft, and streight it flasheth out.

TY.
Well Yet, how doth the sacred flame all shining bright and cleare
It selfe on high vnto the Skies, with sparkeling flakes vpreare?
Or doeh it oft rebounding backe, it selfe, from Skyes vnfould?
Or all with rumbling roring noyse, about the place ist rould?
Or dim'd with smoke, ist tost from place, to place, now heere, now theare?

MA.
Not one. But diuerse, colours mixt the flame doth with it beare.
Much like vnto the Rainbow, which with sundry paynted hues
Foreshewes vnto the husbandmen the weather that ensues.
What colour it wants, or what it hath, to me is like vncertayne,
Now is it black, now blue, now red, and euen now agayne
Quight out it is. Yet once agayn, all fierce it flashing flames:
But lo, yet mischiefs more then this, vnluckely it frames.
The fier quight a sunder parts, and flame with flame doth fight.
O father I abhorre to see, this vgly lothsome sight.
The Wyne to blud is turned quight, and all the Prynces hed,
With thicke black clouds encōpast is, with smoke all ouerspred.
O father tell what this portends?

TY.
What should I tell alas?
My mynde for feare astonied stands, and trembling cold doth pas
Through all my lims. What shall I say? or where shall I begin?
O cruell Plagues, O wrekfull Gods, O vengeaūce due for sin.
Some dyre and blouddy deed (Alas) these hydeous signes declare.
Whats that the Gods would haue reuealde, and yet doe bid beware
To vtter it? By certaine signes their wrath is oft descride:
Such signes appeere, and yet they seeme their fury great to hide.
They are ashamde: I wot nere what. Come hither, quickly bring
Some salt with thee, and it vpon the sacrifice goe fling.
What? are their lookes pleasant and milde, and doe they gently bide
The touching of thy sacred hands?

MA.
What may this thing betide?
The Bull (a wonder great to see) his head on hie he lifts
And turned still vnto the East, from thence it alway shifts,
Still lothing as hee seemes to me, of heauen to see the light,
Oft scouling with his blearing eyes with gastely ruthfull sight.

TY.
But doth one blow thē driue to groūd, or more thē one they haue?

MA.
The Heifer as it seemde, enflamd with courage stoute and braue
Upon the mortall Blade did rush, and there hirselfe destries:
When out the bloud it foming spoutes, and mounts vnto the Skies.
The brawny Bull twise stroke or thrise, with groueling groning tyres,
And toyling vp and down he moyles. And still to liue desires.
And yet at length with much ado, his brutish breath expiers.

TY.
What? doth the wounde wide open gape, or is it closed vp?
Or doth the deepnes of the hole, the bloud in soking sup?

MA.
Out of the wounded Heifers breast Black bluish waters rush.
As for the Bull, but litle bloud, out of his wounds doth gush.
It back rebounds, and from his Mouth & Eyes by streames doth flow.
But what these dreadfull signes portend the Gods aloane doe know.

TY.
By this vnhappy Sacrifice, great feares within mee rise.
But tell mee now: In the inner parts, what secret hidden lies?

MA.
O Father what meanes this (alas) that more then wonted guise
The Inwards stir? and shake my hands, and heauing oft arise,
The bloud by streames out of the vaynes, full straungly skips aloft.
The heart all schorcht and hidden lies, and strykes are seene full oft,
Of Colour very wan and pale: The chiefest parts doe want.
The Lyuer blackish gall out spurts, and somwhat rysing pants.
And that, that myschiefes great, to kingdoms doth foreshow:
Two heads are seene, and yet both heads one skin doth ouergrow
And ouerheales them quight, But yet the skin, it is so thin
That easely one may discerne what lieth hid therein.
And that which horror doth encrease, a man may plainly see
How both the heart, the Lights, and Lungs, and all disturbed bee.
The fearefull noyse and sound you heere is not of beasts, but fier
That roaring on the Alters makes, presaging wrekefull yre
Of angry Gods who doe foretell some purpose that they haue,
For to reuenge some foule misdeede that vengeance iust doth craue.
No part his proper place obserues, nor keepes his order due:
But altogether quight disguisde, with an vnwonted hue.
Mishapen, out of frame, transformde, displaced quight (alas)
What thing is that the Gods entend ere long to bring to pas?

OEd.
Why than declare from whēce, and why these deadly signes arise,
With courage stout I will it heare, it shall not once aggrise
My valiaunt mynd. Extremest ils haue power to banish feare.

TY.
You will wishe that vnhard which you so much desyre to heare.

OEd.
Yet sence the Gods wil haue him known tell me (I say) his name
That siue your King.

TY.
Nor wing, nor womb of Bird or beast ye same
Can tell (O king) new sacrifice, new meanes we must inuent.
From dredfull darke infernall damps some Fury must be sent
These mischiefes great for to vnfolde. Or els King Ditis hee,
That Empyre keepes on griesly Ghosts, entreated needes must bee
These things forthwith for to disclose. Tell who shall haue the charge,
A King thou art, than maist not thou go through those kingdoms large.

OEd.
Than noble Creon thou shalt goe, this payne is fitst for thee:
Who must this crown and kingdome great enioy after mee.