Page:The Antigone of Sophocles (1911).djvu/19

SOPHOCLES. Jocasta reassures Œdipus. The herdsman cannot retract the tale he has told of the massacre. Besides, Apollo predicted the death of Laius at her child’s hands. So far as prophecy is concerned, she would not turn to the right or the left. But the queen’s mind changes later. Her misgivings prompt her to provide herself with suppliant branches and incense and to visit the altars—she begins to fear that naught can be avoided whose end is purposed by the mighty gods.

A messenger enters and inquires for the sovereign. He brings good news to the house and to its lord: Polybus is dead, and the people will crown Œdipus king of Corinth. Jocasta exclaims, as the king emerges from the palace: “Listen to this man, and then say whether oracles can be believed.” The message is repeated, and Œdipus feels relieved,—his alarm had misled him. Now he has no cause to fear—except that his mother Merope is still living. He will not return to Corinth; while she lives, he cannot hope for peace. The Corinthian eases his mind by telling him a secret: Polybus and Merope were not his parents, for he, the messenger, had received Œdipus when a babe from the hands of a herdsman in the winding glens of Cithæron, his ankles transfixed with spikes,—hence his name, Œdipus (Swellfoot). That shepherd was one of Laius’ men. The chorus surmise that it must have been the man for whom the queen has sent. The queen urges the king to pay no attention to the matter: but Œdipus is now bent on knowing his origin; and he suspects that Jocasta fears that, if the secret is revealed, he will be proven baseborn. The queen prays that he may never find out who he is. This irritates Œdipus beyond measure, and he gives peremptory orders for the herdsman to be brought.

“Let her glory in her wealth and pedigree.”

Jocasta exclaims: “Unhappy man! ’T is the last I shall ever say, and nothing ever more.”

She rushes into the house, and the shepherd, who is now