CHORUS The plea thou urgest, needs must give us pause, Set forth in weighty argument, but we Must leave the issue with the ruling powers.

OEDIPUS Where is he, strangers, he who sways the realm?

CHORUS In his ancestral seat; a messenger, The same who sent us here, is gone for him.

OEDIPUS And think you he will have such care or thought For the blind stranger as to come himself?

CHORUS Aye, that he will, when once he learns thy name.

OEDIPUS But who will bear him word!

CHORUS The way is long, And many travelers pa.s.s to speed the news.

Be sure he'll hear and hasten, never fear; So wide and far thy name is noised abroad, That, were he ne'er so spent and loth to move, He would bestir him when he hears of thee.

OEDIPUS Well, may he come with blessing to his State And me! Who serves his neighbor serves himself. [5]

ANTIGONE Zeus! What is this? What can I say or think?

OEDIPUS What now, Antigone?

ANTIGONE I see a woman Riding upon a colt of Aetna's breed; She wears for headgear a Thessalian hat To shade her from the sun. Who can it be?

She or a stranger? Do I wake or dream?

'This she; 'tis not--I cannot tell, alack; It is no other! Now her bright'ning glance Greets me with recognition, yes, 'tis she, Herself, Ismene!

OEDIPUS Ha! what say ye, child?

ANTIGONE That I behold thy daughter and my sister, And thou wilt know her straightway by her voice.

[Enter ISMENE]

ISMENE Father and sister, names to me most sweet, How hardly have I found you, hardly now When found at last can see you through my tears!

OEDIPUS Art come, my child?

ISMENE O father, sad thy plight!

OEDIPUS Child, thou art here?

ISMENE Yes, 'twas a weary way.

OEDIPUS Touch me, my child.

ISMENE I give a hand to both.

OEDIPUS O children--sisters!

ISMENE O disastrous plight!

OEDIPUS Her plight and mine?

ISMENE Aye, and my own no less.

OEDIPUS What brought thee, daughter?

ISMENE Father, care for thee.

OEDIPUS A daughter's yearning?

ISMENE Yes, and I had news I would myself deliver, so I came With the one thrall who yet is true to me.

OEDIPUS Thy valiant brothers, where are they at need?

ISMENE They are--enough, 'tis now their darkest hour.

OEDIPUS Out on the twain! The thoughts and actions all Are framed and modeled on Egyptian ways.

For there the men sit at the loom indoors While the wives slave abroad for daily bread.

So you, my children--those whom I behooved To bear the burden, stay at home like girls, While in their stead my daughters moil and drudge, Lightening their father's misery. The one Since first she grew from girlish feebleness To womanhood has been the old man's guide And shared my weary wandering, roaming oft Hungry and footsore through wild forest ways, In drenching rains and under scorching suns, Careless herself of home and ease, if so Her sire might have her tender ministry.

And thou, my child, whilom thou wentest forth, Eluding the Cadmeians' vigilance, To bring thy father all the oracles Concerning Oedipus, and didst make thyself My faithful lieger, when they banished me.

And now what mission summons thee from home, What news, Ismene, hast thou for thy father?

This much I know, thou com'st not empty-handed, Without a warning of some new alarm.

ISMENE The toil and trouble, father, that I bore To find thy lodging-place and how thou faredst, I spare thee; surely 'twere a double pain To suffer, first in act and then in telling; 'Tis the misfortune of thine ill-starred sons I come to tell thee. At the first they willed To leave the throne to Creon, minded well Thus to remove the inveterate curse of old, A canker that infected all thy race.

But now some G.o.d and an infatuate soul Have stirred betwixt them a mad rivalry To grasp at sovereignty and kingly power.

Today the hot-branded youth, the younger born, Is keeping Polyneices from the throne, His elder, and has thrust him from the land.

The banished brother (so all Thebes reports) Fled to the vale of Argos, and by help Of new alliance there and friends in arms, Swears he will stablish Argos straight as lord Of the Cadmeian land, or, if he fail, Exalt the victor to the stars of heaven.

This is no empty tale, but deadly truth, My father; and how long thy agony, Ere the G.o.ds pity thee, I cannot tell.

OEDIPUS Hast thou indeed then entertained a hope The G.o.ds at last will turn and rescue me?

ISMENE Yea, so I read these latest oracles.

OEDIPUS What oracles? What hath been uttered, child?

ISMENE Thy country (so it runs) shall yearn in time To have thee for their weal alive or dead.

OEDIPUS And who could gain by such a one as I?

ISMENE On thee, 'tis said, their sovereignty depends.

OEDIPUS So, when I cease to be, my worth begins.

ISMENE The G.o.ds, who once abased, uplift thee now.

OEDIPUS Poor help to raise an old man fallen in youth.

ISMENE Howe'er that be, 'tis for this cause alone That Creon comes to thee--and comes anon.

OEDIPUS With what intent, my daughter? Tell me plainly.

ISMENE To plant thee near the Theban land, and so Keep thee within their grasp, yet now allow Thy foot to pa.s.s beyond their boundaries.