Deiphobus

“ Grim Mars of awful voice did not yet know that his son had fallen, for he was sitting on the summits of Olympus under the golden clouds, by command of Jove, where the other gods were also sitting, forbidden to take part in the battle. Meanwhile men fought furiously about the body. Deiphobus tore the helmet from off his head, but Meriones sprang upon him, and struck him on the arm with a spear so that the visored helmet fell from his hand and came ringing down upon the ground. ”

“ Seeking out Deiphobus, the brother of Troilus, he tells him that Cressida is in danger of violence from Polyphete, and asks protection for her. Deiphobus gladly complies, promises the protection of Hector and Helen, and goes to invite Cressida to dinner on the morrow. Meantime Pandarus instructs Troilus to go to the house of Deiphobus, plead an access of his fever for remaining all night, and keep his chamber next day. “Lo,” says the crafty promoter of love, borrowing a phrase from the hunting-field ”

“ Then, panting, he fell from the well-made chariot-seat, and Antilochus, the son of magnanimous Nestor, drove away the horses from the Trojans to the well-armed Greeks. But Deïphobus, enraged on account of Asius, drew very near to Idomeneus, and hurled with his shining spear. Idomeneus, however, having perceived it opposite, avoided the brazen spear, for he was concealed behind his shield equal on all sides, which he bore, constructed of the hides of bulls, and glittering brass, fitted with two handles. ”

“ Then Idomeneus plucked out the long spear from his body, but was unable to tear off the other rich armor from his shoulders, for he was pressed hard by weapons. For no longer were the sinews of his feet firm as he rushed, either to hasten on after his own dart, [22] or avoid [that of another] . Wherefore also in standing fight, he warded off the fatal day, nor did his feet any longer bear him with ease in retreating from the battle. But against him, gradually retiring, Deïphobus took aim with his glittering spear, for he ever had a rooted hatred toward him. ”

“ They were superfluous and useless, or mischievous, but theology taught that they kept the whole thing going. They dealt meanly with men. Athena took the form of Deïphobus in order to persuade Hector to meet Achilles and be killed.1643 They sent dreams to men to mislead them. What can men do against that? ”

“ We do not act as fools, O Greeks, nor utter idle tales, when we announce that God was born in the form of a man. I call on you who reproach us to compare your mythical accounts with our narrations. Athené, as they say, took the form of Deïphobus for the sake of Hector, [30] and the unshorn Phœbus for the sake of Admetus fed the trailing-footed oxen, and the spouse of Zeus came as an old woman to Semele. But, while you treat seriously such things, how can you deride us? ”

“ If still ye will not move But, fearing for yourselves or some near friend, Reject my charge, then hearken to what end Ye drive me.—If in this place men there be Who know and speak not, lo, I make decree That, while in Thebes I bear the diadem, No man shall greet, no man shall shelter them, Nor give them water in their thirst, nor share In sacrifice nor shrift nor dying prayer, But thrust them from our doors, the thing they hide Being this land's curse. Thus hath the God replied This day to me from Delphi, and my sword I draw thus for the dead and for God's word. ”

“ The crowd disperses. Leader. O King, even while thy curse yet hovers o'er My head, I answer thee. I slew him not, Nor can I shew the slayer. But, God wot, If Phoebus sends this charge, let Phoebus read Its meaning and reveal who did the deed. Oedipus. Aye, that were just, if of his grace he would Reveal it. How shall man compel his God? Leader. Second to that, methinks, 'twould help us most ... Oedipus. Though it be third, speak! Nothing should be lost. Leader. To our High Seer on earth vision is given Most like to that High Phoebus hath in heaven. Ask of Tiresias: he could tell thee true. ”

“ Am I foul In every vein? Thebes now doth banish me, And never in this exile must I see Mine ancient folk of Corinth, never tread The land that bore me; else my mother's bed Shall be defiled, and Polybus, my good Father, who loved me well, be rolled in blood. If one should dream that such a world began In some slow devil's heart, that hated man, Who should deny him?—God, as thou art clean, Suffer not this, oh, suffer not this sin To be, that e'er I look on such a day! Out of all vision of mankind away To darkness let me fall ere such a fate Touch me, so unclean and so desolate! vv. ”

“ Till Cadmus' house grows empty, hour by hour, And Hell's house rich with steam of tears and blood. O King, not God indeed nor peer to God We deem thee, that we kneel before thine hearth, Children and old men, praying; but of earth A thing consummate by thy star confessed Thou walkest and by converse with the blest; Who came to Thebes so swift, and swept away The Sphinx's song, the tribute of dismay, That all were bowed beneath, and made us free. A stranger, thou, naught knowing more than we, Nor taught of any man, but by God's breath Filled, thou didst raise our life. ”

“ In Thebes, he said.—That which men seek amain They find. 'Tis things forgotten that go by. Oedipus. And where did Laïus meet them? Did he die In Thebes, or in the hills, or some far land? vv. 114-127 [Pg 9] Creon. To ask God's will in Delphi he had planned His journey. Started and returned no more. Oedipus. And came there nothing back? No message, nor None of his company, that ye might hear? Creon. They all were slain, save one man; blind with fear He came, remembering naught—or almost naught. Oedipus. And what was that? One thing has often brought Others, could we but catch one little clue. ”

“ While this Blindness continues among us, ’tis Nonsense to say that Oracles are silenced, or the Devil is dumb, for the Devil gives Audience still by his Deputies; only as Jeroboam made Priests of the meanest of the People, so he is grown a little humble, and makes use of meaner Instruments than he did before; for whereas the Priests of Apollo, and of Jupiter, were splendid in their Appearance, of grave and venerable Aspect, and sometimes of no mean Quality ”

“ He would listen in fancy, as he had so often listened in reality, to the eloquence of antagonistic orators, he would balance the possible arguments for severity or clemency, he would conceive himself present at the moment when one uplifted hand might incline the scale of life or death, and he would feel the thrill of relief with which those who supported Diodotus found that Athens was saved at the eleventh hour—saved, if the bearers of the respite, rowing night and day, could reach Lesbos in time—from the infamy of devoting a population to the sword. ”

“ OEDIPUS.
But if thou leave me?
THESEUS.
Teach me not my duty.
OEDIPUS.
’Tis fear constrains me.
THESEUS.
My soul knows no fear!
OEDIPUS.
Thou knowest not what threats—
THESEUS.
I know that none
Shall hale thee hence in my despite. Such threats
Vented in anger oft, are blusterers,
An idle breath, forgot when sense returns.
And for thy foemen, though their words were brave,
Boasting to bring thee back, they are like to find
The seas between us wide and hard to sail.
Such my firm purpose, but in any case
Take heart, since Phoebus sent thee here. ”

“ Did there lie between their houses some old wrath unspent, That Corinth against Cadmus should do murder by the way? No tale thereof they tell, nor no sign thereof they show; Who dares to rise for vengeance and cast Oedipus away For a dark, dark death long ago! Ah, Zeus knows, and Apollo, what is dark to mortal eyes; They are Gods. But a prophet, hath he vision more than mine? Who hath seen? Who can answer? There be wise men and unwise. ”

“ Creon. I speak then what I heard from God.—Thus saith Phoebus, our Lord and Seer, in clear command. An unclean thing there is, hid in our land, Eating the soil thereof: this ye shall cast Out, and not foster till all help be past. Oedipus. How cast it out? What was the evil deed? vv. 100-113 [Pg 8] Creon. Hunt the men out from Thebes, or make them bleed Who slew. For blood it is that stirs to-day. Oedipus. Who was the man they killed? Doth Phoebus say? Creon. O King, there was of old King Laïus In Thebes, ere thou didst come to pilot us. Oedipus. I know: not that I ever saw his face. Creon. ”

“ Oedipus. He says that I am Laïus' murderer. Jocasta. Says it himself? Says he hath witnesses? Oedipus. Nay, of himself he ventures nothing. 'Tis This priest, this hellish seer, makes all the tale. Jocasta. The seer?—Then tear thy terrors like a veil And take free breath. A seer? No human thing Born on the earth hath power for conjuring Truth from the dark of God. Come, I will tell An old tale. There came once an oracle To Laïus: I say not from the God Himself, but from the priests and seers who trod His sanctuary: if ever son were bred From him and me, by that son's hand, it said, vv. ”

“ Therefore ye rouse no sluggard from day-dreams.
Many, my children, are the tears I’ve wept,
And threaded many a maze of weary thought.
Thus pondering one clue of hope I caught,
And tracked it up; I have sent Menoeceus’ son,
Creon, my consort’s brother, to inquire
Of Pythian Phoebus at his Delphic shrine,
How I might save the State by act or word.
And now I reckon up the tale of days
Since he set forth, and marvel how he fares.
’Tis strange, this endless tarrying, passing strange.
But when he comes, then I were base indeed,
If I perform not all the god declares. ”

“ Years went by. Once at a feast the young Oedipus was taunted with not being really the son of Polybus. He went to ask the oracle at Delphi; and was told that it was his destiny to slay his father and to wed his mother. He resolved never to go near Corinth again, and took the road leading eastwards into Boeotia. On his way he met Laius, King of Thebes, at the 'Branching Roads' in Phocis, without knowing who he was. A quarrel occurred: Oedipus slew Laius, and three of his four attendants. The fourth, who escaped, was the Theban shepherd who in old days had received the infant from Iocasta. ”

“ Thy husband king—so ’twas reported there.
JOCASTA.
What! is not aged Polybus still king?
MESSENGER.
No, verily; he’s dead and in his grave.
JOCASTA.
What! is he dead, the sire of Oedipus?
MESSENGER.
If I speak falsely, may I die myself.
JOCASTA.
Quick, maiden, bear these tidings to my lord.
Ye god-sent oracles, where stand ye now!
This is the man whom Oedipus long shunned,
In dread to prove his murderer; and now
He dies in nature’s course, not by his hand.
[Enter OEDIPUS.]
OEDIPUS.
My wife, my queen, Jocasta, why hast thou
Summoned me from my palace? ”

“ Presumptious shaveling! what thinkest thou I care for thy preachments?"
"O Gwrtheyrn, egregious sinner!" said Germanus. "Know that we have power behind us. Ambrosius, who is near at hand with his army, will soon be here, to punish or to break thee. Who will comfort thee with the rites of holy Church if we proclaim thee outcast? Fortunate art thou if thou escape so easily. Lupus and I will fast upon the Lord God until He grant our demands concerning thee. Ere many days, heaven will pour down fire upon thee, to shrivel up thee and thine and all thine ill-famed land!" ”

“ He had drawn in the Bishops of Rome to set up the ridiculous Pageantry of the Key; and while he, the Devil, set open the Gates of Hell to them all, set them upon locking up the Gates of Heaven, and giving the Bishop the Key; a Cheat which, as gross as it was, the Devil so gilded over, or so blinded the Age to receive it, that like Gideon’s Ephod, all the Catholick World went a whoring after the Idol; and the Bishop of Rome sent more Fools to the Devil by it than ever he pretended to let into Heaven, though he open’d the Door as wide as his Key was able to do. ”

“ Arriving at Thebes he answered the riddle of the Sphinx and the grateful Thebans made their deliverer king. So he reigned in the room of Laius, and espoused the widowed queen. Children were born to them and Thebes prospered under his rule, but again a grievous plague fell upon the city. Again the oracle was consulted and it bade them purge themselves of blood-guiltiness. Oedipus denounces the crime of which he is unaware, and undertakes to track out the criminal. Step by step it is brought home to him that he is the man. ”

“ Polyneices was driven out of Thebes. He went to Argos, and there married the daughter of King Adrastus; with whose support he is now preparing to march against Thebes.
Meanwhile an oracle has come from Delphi to Thebes. If Thebes is to prosper, the grave of Oedipus must be in Theban soil. If that grave be in Attica, Athens will prevail against Thebes. Thus the wanderer, old, blind, and destitute, carries with him a mysterious blessing of the gods on the place where he shall find rest.
OEDIPUS AT COLONUS.
Oedipus. ”

“ Nothing could be more unjust, than that Heaven should send a plague among the inhabitants of Thebes, and pour such vengeance on poor Oedipus and Jocasta, for crimes of which it knew them to be innocent. ”

“ They may not be seen by human eyes; but Deiphobè herself has been shown all the horrible secrets of their prison-house by Hecate, when intrusted by that goddess with the charge of the entrance to the Shades. She tells Æneas how Rhadamanthus sits in judgment there, and forces the wicked to confess their deeds. Crimes successfully concealed on earth are there made manifest; then the culprit is handed over to the Furies for punishment. Such punishments are various as the crimes; strange and horrible in the cases of extraordinary offenders,—especially against the majesty of the gods. ”