Oedipus King of Thebes Part 24

CREON.

'Tis true. I brought them, for in them I know Thy joy is, the same now as long ago.

OEDIPUS.

G.o.d bless thee, and in this hard journey give Some better guide than mine to help thee live.

Children! Where are ye? Hither; come to these Arms of your ... brother, whose wild offices Have brought much darkness on the once bright eyes Of him who grew your garden; who, nowise Seeing nor understanding, digged a ground The world shall shudder at. Children, my wound Is yours too, and I cannot meet your gaze Now, as I think me what remaining days Of bitter living the world hath for you.

What dance of damsels shall ye gather to, What feast of Thebes, but quick ye shall turn home, All tears, or ere the feast or dancers come?

And, children, when ye reach the years of love, Who shall dare wed you, whose heart rise above The peril, to take on him all the shame That cleaves to my name and my children's name?

G.o.d knows, it is enough!...

My flowers, ye needs must die, waste things, bereft And fruitless.

Creon, thou alone art left Their father now, since both of us are gone Who cared for them. Oh, leave them not alone

[Sidenote: vv. 1505-1518]

To wander masterless, these thine own kin, And beggared. Neither think of them such sin As ye all know in me, but let their fate Touch thee. So young they are, so desolate-- Of all save thee. True man, give me thine hand, And promise.

[OEDIPUS _and_ CREON _clasp hands._

If your age could understand, Children, full many counsels I could give.

But now I leave this one word: Pray to live As life may suffer you, and find a road To travel easier than your father trod.

CREON.

Enough thy heart hath poured its tears; now back into thine house repair.

OEDIPUS.

I dread the house, yet go I must.

CREON.

Fair season maketh all things fair.

OEDIPUS.

One oath then give me, and I go.

CREON.

Name it, and I will answer thee.

OEDIPUS.

To cast me from this land.

[Sidenote: vv. 1519-1523]

CREON.

A gift not mine but G.o.d's thou askest me.

OEDIPUS.

I am a thing of G.o.d abhorred.

CREON.

The more, then, will he grant thy prayer.

OEDIPUS.

Thou givest thine oath?

CREON.

I see no light; and, seeing not, I may not swear.

OEDIPUS.

Then take me hence. I care not.

CREON.

Go in peace, and give these children o'er.

OEDIPUS.

Ah no! Take not away my daughters!

[_They are taken from him._

CREON.

Seek not to be master more. Did not thy masteries of old forsake thee when the end was near?

[Sidenote: vv. 1524-1530]

CHORUS.

Ye citizens of Thebes, behold; 'tis Oedipus that pa.s.seth here, Who read the riddle-word of Death, and mightiest stood of mortal men, And Fortune loved him, and the folk that saw him turned and looked again.

Lo, he is fallen, and around great storms and the outreaching sea!

Therefore, O Man, beware, and look toward the end of things that be, The last of sights, the last of days; and no man's life account as gain Ere the full tale be finished and the darkness find him without pain.

[OEDIPUS _is led into the house and the doors close on him._