English translations Oedipus Rex and Antigone
Oedipus Rex
Act 1
Prolog:
Spectators, you are about to hear
a Latin version of King Oedipus.
This version is an opera-oratorio; based on
the tragedy by Sophocles, but preserving only
a certain monumental aspect of its various scenes.
And so, wishing to spare your ears
and your memories, I shall recall the story as we go along.
Oedipus, unknown to himself,
contends with supernatural powers:
Those sleepless deities who are always watching us
from a world beyond death.
At the moment of his birth a snare was laid for him
and you will see the snare closing.
Now our drama begins.
Thebes is prostrate.
After the Sphinx, a plague breaks out.
The chorus implores Oedipus to save his city.
Oedipus has vanquished the Sphinx; he promises.
Act I, scene 1:
The plague is upon us, Thebes is dying.
The plague is killing us, Thebes is dying.
Oedipus, save us from the plague that is killing Thebes.
Oedipus, save us from the plague.
Save the dying city.
The plague is killing us, Thebes is dying.
Oedipus, save us from the plague that is killing Thebes.
Beloved people, I shall deliver you from the plague.
I, far-famed Oedipus, love you and I shall save you.
Save us once again, Oedipus.
Save us, far-famed Oedipus.
What is to be done to save us?
My wife's brother has been sent to the oracle.
Creon will ask the god what is to be done.
May he return swiftly.
Hail Creon!
Make haste, we await your news.
Speaker:
Creon, the brother-in-law of Oedipus,
has returned from Delphi where he consulted the oracle.
The oracle demands that the murderer of Laius be punished.
The assassin is hiding in Thebes; at whatever cost,
he must be discovered.
Oedipus boasts of his skill
in dealing with the powers of darkness.
He will discover and drive out the assassin.
Act I, scene 2:
This is the god's answer:
"Avenge Laius, avenge the murder."
"His murderer hides in Thebes. He must be found."
"His murderer hides in Thebes.
He must be found."
"Thebes must be purged of this stain."
"Avenge the regicide, the murder of King Laius."
"The murderer hides in Thebes."
"Expel the murderer who has brought this plague on Thebes."
"Expel the murderer who has brought this plague on Thebes."
The god Apollo has spoken.
It is not for you to purge this ancient wrong.
I shall search out the murderer who hides in Thebes.
I shall search out the murderer who hides in Thebes.
The god has spoken to you.
The criminal shall be delivered to me.
The criminal shall be delivered to me.
I shall have Thebes searched and he shall be driven out.
It is not for you to purge this ancient wrong.
The murderer hides in Thebes.
The god has spoken.
I solved the riddle of the Sphinx.
I shall solve this riddle too and save Thebes.
I shall solve this riddle too and save Thebes.
Solve it.
I swear it.
I, far-famed Oedipus, give you my word.
Speaker:
Oedipus questions that fountain of truth,
Tiresias, the seer.
Tiresias will not answer.
He already realizes that Oedipus is a plaything
of the heartless gods.
This silence angers Oedipus,
who accuses Creon of desiring the throne for himself,
and Tiresias of being his accomplice.
Revolted by the injustice of this attitude, Tiresias decides -
the fountain speaks.
This is the oracle:
"the assassin of the King is a king."
Act I, scene 3:
We await you, Minerva, and you, Diana,
seated on your throne.
And you, Phoebus, come to our aid.
Evil is upon us.
Death follows death, the dead lie unburied.
Drive out and chase into the sea
this enemy who is unarmed but shrieking, destroys us.
Bacchus, come with your torch to destroy this god
whom the gods detest.
Hail, Tiresias, great prophet.
Quickly, tell us what the god decrees.
I cannot speak, it is not lawful.
Oedipus, I cannot tell.
Do not force me to speak, beware of what I might say.
Your silence betrays you: you are the murderer.
Since you accuse me, I shall speak.
I shall reveal what the god says and hide nothing.
The murderer is living in your midst.
He is one of you.
The murderer of the King is a king.
It was a king who killed Laius.
A king killed the King.
The god accuses a king: the murderer is a king!
He must be driven out of the city.
A guilty king pollutes the city.
The envious hate good fortune.
You made me your king.
You made me your king when I solved the riddle of the Sphinx.
But who should have solved it?
You, the prophet?
It was I who solved it, and you made me your king.
The envious hate good fortune.
Now Creon covets my throne.
Your are his accomplice, I understand your plan.
I will crush this sedition.
Creon wants to be king.
Who saved you from the riddle?
Friends, it was I, the illustrious Oedipus!
The envious hate good fortune.
The envious want me, great Oedipus, to die.
Glory and praise to Queen Jocasta.
Glory and praise to the wife of Oedipus!
Act II
Speaker:
The dispute of the princes attracts Jocasta.
You will hear her calm them, shame them for raising
their voices in a stricken city.
She proves that oracles lie.
For example, an oracle predicted that Laius would perish
by the hand of a son of hers;
whereas Laius was murdered by thieves
at the crossing of three roads from Daulis and Delphi.
Three roads ...
Crossroads ...
Mark well those words.
They horrify Oedipus.
He remembers how, arriving from Corinth, before encountering the Sphinx
he killed an old man where three roads meet.
If Laius of Thebes were that man - what then?
Oedipus cannot return to Corinth,
having been threatened by the oracle with a double crime:
Killing his father and marrying his mother.
He is afraid.
Act 2, scene 1:
Glory and praise to Queen Jocasta.
Glory and praise to the wife of Oedipus!
Princes, you should be ashamed to shout aloud
your private quarrels in a stricken city.
You should be ashamed to shout aloud
your private quarrels in a stricken city.
Princes, you should be ashamed to shout aloud
your private quarrels in a stricken city.
Princes, you should be ashamed
Oracles prove nothing, they always lie.
Oracles have lied before.
Who did they predict would kill the king?
A son of mine.
But king Laius was murdered at a crossroads.
But king Laius was murdered at a crossroads.
Beware of the oracles.
They always lie.
King Laius was murdered at a crossroads.
The crossroads.
Beware of the oracles.
The crossroads ...
Suddenly, I am terribly afraid, Jocasta.
Jocasta, listen: did you speak of a crossroads?
I killed an old man when I was coming from Corinth.
I killed him at a crossroads.
The oracles always lie, beware of them, Oedipus.
The oracles always lie, beware of them, Oedipus.
Suddenly, I am terribly afraid, Jocasta.
Beware the oracles.
A terrible fear ...
Let us return home at once.
Beware the oracles.
I'm gripped by a sudden fear, Jocasta
I killed an old man at a crossroads.
Let us return home at once.
The oracles always lie, beware of them, Oedipus.
A terrible fear …
I must seek council.
You must not speak.
Let us return home.
I must, Jocasta.
I must speak with the shepherd who witnessed the crime.
I must know.
Speaker:
The witness of the murder steps from the shadows.
A messenger, announcing that King Polybus of Corinth is dead,
reveals to Oedipus that he is only an adopted son of the King.
Jocasta understands.
She tries to draw Oedipus back, in vain.
She flees.
Oedipus supposes that she is ashamed of being the wife of an upstart.
O, this lofty, all-discerning Oedipus:
He is in the snare.
He alone does not know it.
And then the truth strikes him.
He falls.
He falls headlong.
Act II, scene 2
Here is the shepherd who knows all.
And a messenger with terrible news.
Polybus is dead.
The aged Polybus is dead,
he was not the true father of Oedipus.
It was I who brought the child to king Polybus.
He was not Oedipus' real father.
He was his adopted father, through me.
I found the child Oedipus abandoned in the mountains.
The child's feet were pierced with shackles.
I found him in the mountains and took him to a shepherd.
We are about to hear of some marvel.
Oedipus was born of a god and a nymph of the mountains
where he was found.
It would have been better to keep silent.
True, Oedipus was found abandoned in the mountains,
his feet pierced.
If you'd only stayed silent!
This should have been concealed for ever.
This should have been concealed for ever.
These are miraculous tidings,
now let me know whose child I am.
Jocasta is ashamed, she flees.
She is ashamed that I am an exile,
ashamed of my descent.
Let me know whose child I am.
These are miraculous tidings,
now let me know whose child I am.
I, an exile, exult.
We found him in the mountains abandoned by his mother.
The son of Laius and Jocasta!
The killer of Laius, his father.
The husband of Jocasta, his mother.
It were better to keep silent,
never to have spoken.
Abandoned by Jocasta, found in the mountains.
My birth was unlawful.
My marriage was unlawful.
The blood I shed was unlawful.
All is brought to light.
Speaker:
And now you will hear that famous monologue:
"The Divine Jocasta Is Dead".
A monologue in which the messenger describes
Jocasta's doom.
He can scarcely open his mouth.
The chorus takes his part and helps him to tell
how the queen has hanged herself.
And how Oedipus has pierced his eyeballs
with her golden pin.
Then comes the epilogue.
The King is caught.
He would show himself to all: As a filthy beast.
An incestuous monster, a fatherkiller, a fool.
His people drive him, gently, very gently, away.
Farewell, poor Oedipus.
Farewell, Oedipus,
we loved you.
Act II, scene 3
The divine queen Jocasta is dead.
In her chamber she tore her hair,
she bolted the doors and lamented.
Oedipus beat on the doors,
he broke in, howling.
The divine queen Jocasta is dead.
We all saw her hanging there.
Oedipus loosed the rope and took her down.
He blinded himself with a golden pin
from her dress.
The divine queen Jocasta is dead.
Dark blood gushing out.
Oedipus cried out, cursing himself,
showing himself to all.
Oedipus cried out, cursing himself,
showing himself to all.
See, the doors are opening.
See the most terrible of sights.
The divine queen Jocasta is dead.
Behold Oedipus the King.
The vile monster, the foul beast.
Behold the blinded king.
Oedipus, the killer of his father the king,
Oedipus, the solver of riddles.
Behold Oedipus the King.
Farewell, Oedipus,
we loved you,
we weep for you.
Farewell, unhappy Oedipus,
we pity you,
we weep for your eyes.
Farwell, unhappy Oedipus,
you were loved.
We bid you farewell.
Antigone
Parados
As many fell,
the brothers fought a single
combat for the country, and slew each other.
As many fell,
the brothers fought a single combat for the country,
and slew each other.
Proclamation
Proclamation has been made by Creon:
no one shall bury him,
or commit him to the earth he tried to enslave,
or commit him to the earth he tried to enslave,
thus giving him as prey to the brutal flying hounds.
Oracle
The diviner of dreams, breathing wrath, uttered:
"Yield to the dead,
and outrage not a corpse."
"Know an error has been made
and repair the wrong."
Supernatural burial
A storm up from the earth.
The earth that envelopes the man.
The sky chokes.
Fresh dust on the welted flesh.
Libation
Her tears are sisterly.
Clouds weep dew of tender sorrow.
Entombment
Antigone, daughter of Oedipus,
stole the body and buried it.
Having been detected by Creon,
she was interred alive.
Counsel
She would not leave
her brother lying in his gore.
She would not leave him
to be raw-devoured by hungry
vultures and ravenous dogs.
Is this without honour?
Creon, take this counsel:
quickly, release Antigone from her vault.
Give a grave to him who is unburied.
Exodus: Creon's tragedy
Too late, Creon, too late.
Antigone hangs suspended from her veil.
Her lover, your son,
showers his crimson blood on her corpse.
His mother, your wife,
lies self-stabbed with a keen blade.
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