Proclaimed king by the people, Oedipus wisely reigned in Thebes. For a long time nothing disturbed the peace of Thebes and the royal family. But fate promised misfortune for Oedipus. And then a great disaster befell Thebes. The arrow god Apollo sent a terrible disease to Thebes. It destroyed citizens both old and small. Thebes became like a huge cemetery. The corpses of the unburied lay in the streets and squares. Screams and groans were heard everywhere. The crying of wives and mothers was heard everywhere. Not only was a terrible disease raging in Thebes, but famine also reigned there, since the fields did not produce crops, and a terrible pestilence raged among the herds. It seemed that the last days of the city of the great Cadmus had come. In vain the citizens made sacrifices to the gods and prayed to them for salvation. The gods did not hear the prayers; The disaster was getting worse.
A crowd of citizens came to their king Oedipus to ask him to help them, to teach them how to get rid of the disasters that threatened death. After all, Oedipus once helped the citizens get rid of the Sphinx. Oedipus himself suffered for Thebes and his family; he had already sent Jocasta’s brother Creon to Delphi to ask Apollo how to get rid of disasters. Creon was due to return soon. Oedipus was waiting impatiently for him.
Now Creon has returned. He brought the oracle's answer. Apollo ordered the expulsion of the one who, by his crime, brought this disaster to Thebes. Citizens must pay for the shed blood of King Laius by expelling or even executing the murderer. But how to find Laius' killer? After all, he was killed on the way, and all his companions were killed, with the exception of only one slave. At all costs, Oedipus decided to find the killer, whoever he was, wherever he was hiding, even in his own palace, even if the killer was a person close to him. Oedipus calls all the people to a meeting to consult on how to find the murderer. The people point to the soothsayer Tiresias, who alone can help. The blind soothsayer Tiresias is brought. Oedipus asks him to name the murderer of Laius. What can the soothsayer answer him? Yes, he knows the killer, but he cannot name him.
“Oh, let me go home, it will be easier for both of us to bear the burden that fate has placed on us,” says Tiresias.
But Oedipus demands an answer.
- Despicable, you don’t want to answer! - exclaimed Oedipus. “You can anger even a stone with your persistence.”
Tiresias persists for a long time; for a long time he does not want to name the murderer. But, finally, yielding to the angry words of Oedipus, he says:
“You yourself, Oedipus, have desecrated this country by ruling it.” You are the killer you are looking for! Without knowing, you married the one who is dearer to each of us, you married your mother.
Oedipus was terribly angry with Tiresias when he heard these words. He calls the soothsayer a liar, he threatens him with execution, he says that Creon inspired him to say this in order to take possession of his kingdom. Calmly, with full consciousness that he told the truth, Tiresias listens to the angry speeches of King. He knows that Oedipus, although sighted, still does not see all the evil that he, unwillingly, creates. Oedipus does not see where he lives, does not see that he is his own enemy and the enemy of his family. Tiresias is not afraid of any threats; he boldly tells Oedipus that the murderer is here, before him. Although the killer came to Thebes as a foreigner, in fact he was a born Theban. An evil fate will befall the killer; from a sighted man he will become blind, from a rich man to a poor man - he will leave Thebes into exile, having lost everything.
The citizens listened to Tiresias with horror; they knew that a lie had never desecrated his lips.
Oedipus, full of anger, blames Creon for teaching Tiresias to speak like that. He sees Creon in an effort to seize power over Thebes. Jocasta also comes; Oedipus tells her everything that Tiresias said and accuses her brother of evil intent. He asks Jocasta about how Laius was killed, and about how Laius’s only son was thrown into the forest on the slopes of Cithaeron. Jocasta tells him everything. The first doubts creep into Oedipus's soul. A heavy premonition of something terrible squeezes his heart.
“Oh, Zeus,” Oedipus exclaimed, “what have you decided to doom me to!” Oh, was it really not I who was sighted, but blind Tiresias!
Oedipus also asks about the escaped slave, where he is, whether he is alive, and learns that this slave is grazing flocks on the slope of Kiferon. Oedipus immediately sends for him. He wants to know the whole truth, no matter how terrible it is. As soon as they sent for the slave, a messenger arrived from Corinth. He brings news of the death of King Polybus, who died of illness. This means that Polybus was not struck down by his son’s hand. If Oedipus is the son of Polybus, it means that the dictates of fate have not been fulfilled, because Oedipus is destined to kill his father. Or maybe Oedipus is not the son of Polybus? Oedipus hopes that he escaped what fate promised him. But the messenger destroys this hope. He tells Oedipus that Polybus is not his father, that he himself brought it to the king of Corinth as a small child, and it was given to him by the shepherd of king Laius.
Oedipus listens to the messenger with horror; the terrible truth becomes clearer and clearer.
But here comes the shepherd. At first he doesn't want to say anything, he wants to hide everything. But Oedipus threatens the shepherd with terrible punishment if he hides the truth.
The shepherd confesses in fear that the boy whom he once gave to the messenger was the son of Laius, whom his father doomed to death; he took pity on the unfortunate child.
How Oedipus would have wanted to die then as an innocent child, how he complained about the shepherd for not letting him die as a baby! After all, now everything is clear to Oedipus. He already knows from Jocasta’s stories about the death of Laius, he knows that he himself killed his father, and from the words of the shepherd it became clear to him that he is the son of Laius and Jocasta. The order of the judge was fulfilled, no matter how hard Oedipus tried to avoid it. In despair, Oedipus goes to the palace. He is the murderer of his father, the husband of his mother, his children at one time and his children and brothers on their mother’s side.
In the palace, a new blow awaits Oedipus. Jocasta could not bear all the horror that opened before her; she committed suicide by hanging herself in the bedroom. Mad with grief, Oedipus tore the buckles from Jocasta's clothes and gouged out his eyes with their points. He didn’t want to see the light of the sun anymore, he didn’t want to see his children, he didn’t want to see his native Thebes. Now everything has perished for him, there can be no more joy in his life. Oedipus begs Creon to drive him away from Thebes and asks only for one thing - to take care of his children.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru