With such a dire refrain, he struck his eyes with raised hand not once but often. At each blow the bloody eye-balls bedewed his beard, and sent forth not sluggish drops of gore, but all at once a dark shower of blood came down like hail.From the deeds of the two of them such ills have broken forth, not on one alone, but with mingled woe for man and wife. The old happiness of their ancestral fortune was once happiness indeed. But now today lamentation, ruin, death, shame,and every earthly ill that anyone could name are all theirs.ChorusAnd does the sufferer have any respite from pain now?Second MessengerHe cries for some one to unbar the gates and show to all the Cadmeans his father’s slayer, his mother’s—the words must not pass my lips—in order to banish himself from the land and not to put the house under his own curse by waiting here. And yet he lacks strength, and one to guide his steps, for the anguish is more than he can bear. He will soon show this to you: look, the bars of the gates are withdrawn,and soon you will behold a sight which even he who abhors it must pity.ChorusO dread fate for men to see, O most dreadful of all that I have set my eyes on! Unhappy one, what madness has come upon you?Who is the unearthly foe who, with a leap of more than mortal range has made your ill-starred life his prey? Alas, alas, you hapless man! I cannot even look on you, though there is much I desire to ask, much I desire to learn,much that draws my wistful gaze: with such a shuddering do you fill me!OedipusWoe is me! Alas, alas, wretched that I am! Where, where am I carried in my misery?How is my voice swept abroad on the wings of the air? Oh, my fate, how far you have sprung!ChorusTo a dread place, dire in men’s ears, dire in their sight.

OedipusOh horror of darkness that enfolds me, unspeakable visitant,resistless, sped by a wind too favorable! Oh, me! and once again, Oh, me! How my soul is pierced by the stab of these goads and by the memory of sorrows!ChorusNo wonder that amidst these woesyou mourn and bear a double pain.

OedipusAh, friend, you still are steadfast in your care for me, and still have patience to tend to the blind man! Ah, me!Your presence is not hidden from me—no, blind though I am, nevertheless I know your voice full well.ChorusMan of dread deeds, how could you quench your vision in this way? What divinity urged you on?

OedipusIt was Apollo, friends, Apollo who brought these troublesto pass, these terrible, terrible troubles. But the hand that struck my eyes was none other than my own, wretched that I am!Why should I see, when sight showed me nothing sweet?ChorusThese things were just as you say.