Oedipus by Voltaire--Delphi Classics (Illustrated) by Voltaire

Author:Voltaire [VOLTAIRE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Parts Edition 7 of 43 by Delphi Classics
Publisher: Delphi Classics (Parts Edition)
Published: 2017-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

ŒDIPUS, JOCASTE.

ŒDIPUS.

Jocaste, ‘tis in vain: say what thou wilt,

These terrible suspicions haunt me still;

The priest affrights me; I acquit him now,

And even, in secret, am my own accuser.

O! I have asked myself some dreadful questions;

A thousand strange events, which form my mind

Were long effaced, now rush in crowds upon me,

And harrow up my soul; the past obstructs,

The present but confounds me, and the future

Is big with horrid truths; on every side

Guilt waits my footsteps.

JOCASTE.

Will not virtue guard thee?

Art thou not sure that thou art innocent?

ŒDIPUS.

We’re oft more guilty than we think we are.

JOCASTE.

Disdain the madness of a talking priest,

Nor thus excuse him with unmanly fears.

ŒDIPUS.

Now in the name of the unhappy king,

And angry heaven, let me entreat thee, say,

When Laius undertook that fatal journey,

Did guards attend him?

JOCASTE.

I’ve already told thee,

One followed him alone.

ŒDIPUS.

And only one?

JOCASTE.

Superior even to the rank he bore.

He was a king, who, like thyself, disdained

All irksome pomp, and never would permit

An idle train of slaves to march before him.

Amidst his happy subjects fearless still,

And still unguarded lived in peace and safety,

And thought his people’s love his best defence.

ŒDIPUS.

Thou best of kings, sent by indulgent heaven

To mortals here; thou exemplary greatness!

Could ever Œdipus his barbarous hand

Lift against thee? but if thou canst, Jocaste,

Describe him to me.

JOCASTE.

Since thou wilt recall

The sad remembrance, hear what Laius was:

Spite of the frost which hoary age had spread

O’er his fair temples in declining age,

Which yet was vigorous, his eyes sparkled still

With all the fire of youth, his wrinkled forehead

Beneath, his silver locks attracted awe

And reverence from mankind: if I may dare

To say it, Laius much resembled thee;

With pleasure I behold in Œdipus

His virtues and his features thus united.

What have I said to alarm thee thus? —

ŒDIPUS.

I see

Some strange misfortune will o’ertake me soon;

The priest, I fear, was by the gods inspired,

And but too truly hath foretold my fate:

Could I do this, and was it possible?

JOCASTE.

Are then these holy instruments of heaven

Infallible? Their ministry indeed

Binds them to the altar, they approach the gods,

But they are mortals still; and thinkest thou then

Truth is dependent on the flight of birds?

Thinkest thou, expiring by the sacred knife,

The groaning heifer shall for them alone

Remove the veil of dark futurity?

Or the gay victims, crowned with flowery garlands,

Within their entrails bear the fates of men?

O no! to search for truth by ways like these

Is to usurp the rights of power supreme;

These priests are not what the vile rabble think them,

Their knowledge springs from our credulity.

ŒDIPUS.

Would it were so! for then I might be happy.

JOCASTE.

It is: alas! my griefs bear witness to it.

Once I was partial to them like thyself,

But undeceived at length lament my folly;

Heaven hath chastised me for my easy faith

In dark mysterious lying oracles,

That robbed me of my child; I hate the base

Deluders all; had it not been for them,

My son had still been living.

ŒDIPUS.

Ha! thy son!

How didst thou lose him? By what oracles

Did the gods speak concerning him?

JOCASTE.

I’ll tell thee

What from myself I would have gladly hidden.

But ‘twas a false one; therefore be not moved.

Thou must have heard I had a son by Laius.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.