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Subject Area: Literature
Debate: Cato and Caesar

ACT V. - Voltaire, The Works of Voltaire, Vol. VIII The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Mérope, Olympia, The Orphan of China, Brutus) and Part II (Mahomet, Amelia, Oedipus, Mariamne, Socrates). [1901]

Edition used:

The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version. A Critique and Biography by John Morley, notes by Tobias Smollett, trans. William F. Fleming (New York: E.R. DuMont, 1901). In 21 vols. Vol. VIII The Dramatic Works Part 1 (Mérope, Olympia, The Orphan of China, Brutus) and Part II (Mahomet, Amelia, Oedipus, Mariamne, Socrates).

Part of: The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version, in 21 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


ACT V.

SCENE I.

œdipus, araspes, dimas,Attendants.

œdipus.

  • Weep not for me, my friends, nor thus regret
  • Your sovereign’s fate: I wish for banishment;
  • To me ’tis pleasure; for I know ’twill make
  • My people happy: you must lose your king,
  • But shall preserve his country. When I first
  • Came to the throne of Thebes, I served it well;
  • And, as I mounted, now I shall descend
  • In glory: honor shall attend my fall:
  • I leave my country, kingdom, children, all.
  • Then hear me now, hear my last parting words;
  • A king you must have; let him be my choice;
  • Take Philoctetes: he is generous, noble,
  • Virtuous, and brave; his father was a king,
  • And he the friend of Hercules; let him
  • Succeed me: I must hence.—Go, search out Phorbas;
  • Bid him not fear, but come this moment hither,
  • I must bequeath him something; he deserves it:
  • I’ll take my farewell as a monarch ought.
  • Go, bring the stranger to me—stay ye here.

SCENE II.

œdipus, araspes, icarus,Attendants.

œdipus.

  • Ha! is it thou, my much-loved Icarus!
  • The faithful guardian of my infant years,
  • Favorite and friend of Polybus, my father,
  • What brought thee hither?

icarus.

  • Polybus is dead.

œdipus.

  • Alas? my father!

icarus.

  • ’Twas what we expected;
  • For he had filled the measure of his days,
  • And died in good old age; these eyes beheld it.
  • Where are ye now, mistaken oracles!
  • That shook my timid virtue, and foretold
  • That I should prove a guilty parricide?
  • My father’s dead, ye meant but to deceive me;
  • These hands are not polluted with his blood:
  • The slave of error, I have wandered long
  • In darkness, busied in a fruitless toil,
  • And to remove imaginary ills,
  • Have made my life a scene of real woes,
  • The offspring of my fond credulity.
  • How deep must be the color of my fate
  • When miseries like this can bring relief!
  • Bliss spring from sorrow, and a father’s death
  • Shall be accepted as the gift of heaven!
  • But I must hence, and to his ashes pay
  • The tribute due:—ha! silent, and in tears!

icarus.

  • Ought I to speak? O heaven!

œdipus.

  • Hast thou aught more
  • Of ill to tell me?

icarus.

  • For a moment grant me
  • Your private ear.

œdipus.

  • Retire.—[To the attendants.
  • What can this mean?

icarus.

  • Think not of Corinth: thither, if thou goest,
  • Thy death is certain.

œdipus.

  • Who shall banish me
  • From my own kingdom?

icarus.

  • To the throne of Corinth
  • Another heir succeeds.

œdipus.

  • Ye gods! is this
  • The last sad stroke which I am born to suffer,
  • Or will ye still pursue me? Fate, go on
  • And persecute, thou shalt not conquer me:
  • Let us away to my rebellious subjects,
  • I’ll go to be their scourge, if not their king,
  • And find at least an honorable death.
  • But say, what stranger has usurped my throne?

icarus.

  • He is the son-in-law of Polybus,
  • Who on his head did place the diadem
  • In his last moments; the obedient people
  • Hail their new sovereign.

œdipus.

  • Has my father too
  • Betrayed me, sided with my faithless subjects,
  • And drove me from my throne?

icarus.

  • He did but justice,
  • For thou wert not his son.

œdipus.

  • Ha! Icarus!

icarus.

  • With terror and regret I must reveal
  • The dreadful secret, Corinth—

œdipus.

  • Not his son!

icarus.

  • Thou art not. Polybus, oppressed by conscience,
  • Dying declared it; to the royal blood
  • Of Corinth’s kings he yielded up his throne:
  • I who alone enjoyed his confidence,
  • And therefore dreaded the new sovereign’s power,
  • Fled to implore thy aid.

œdipus.

  • Who am I then,
  • If not the son of Polybus?

icarus.

  • The gods,
  • Who trusted to my hands thy infant years,
  • In shades of darkest night conceal thy birth;
  • I only know, that soon as born condemned
  • To death, and on a desert hill exposed,
  • Thou but for me hadst perished.

œdipus.

  • Thus with life
  • Began my sorrows, a detested object
  • Even from my cradle, and accursed by all.
  • Where didst thou light on me?

icarus.

  • On mount Citheron,

œdipus.

  • Near Thebes?

icarus.

  • In that deserted place, a Theban,
  • Who called himself thy father, left thee; there
  • To perish: some kind God conducted me
  • That way; I pitied, took thee in my arms,
  • Revived, and cherished thee: to Corinth then
  • Carried my little charge, and to the king
  • Presented thee; who, mark thy wondrous fate!
  • His child just dead, adopted thee his son,
  • And by that stroke of policy confirmed
  • His tottering power: As son of Polybus
  • Thou wert brought up by him who had preserved thee:
  • The throne of Corinth never was thy right,
  • But conscience robbed thee of what chance bestowed.

œdipus.

  • Immortal powers, who rule the fate of kings!
  • Am I thus doomed in one unhappy day
  • To suffer such variety of woe!
  • On a frail mortal shall your miracles
  • Be thus exhausted! But inform me, friend,
  • This old man, from whose hands you took me, say,
  • Hast thou beheld him since that fatal hour?

icarus.

  • Never: perhaps he’s dead, he who alone
  • Could tell thee the strange secret of thy birth;
  • But on my mind his image is engraved
  • So deeply, I should know him well.

œdipus.

  • Alas!
  • Wretch that I am! why should I wish to find him?
  • Rather, submissive to the will of heaven
  • Should I keep close the veil that o’er my eyes
  • Spreads its benignant shade: too well already
  • I see my fate; more knowledge would but show
  • New horrors; and yet, spite of all my woes,
  • Urged on by fatal curiosity,
  • I thirst for more: I cannot bear to rest
  • In sad suspense: to doubt is to be wretched:
  • I dread the torch that lights me to my ruin:
  • I fear to know myself, yet cannot long
  • Remain unknown.

SCENE III.

œdipus, icarus, phorbas.

œdipus.

  • Ha! Phorbas! come this way.

icarus.

  • Surprising! sure the more I look, the more—
  • ’Tis he, my lord, it must be he.

phorbas.

  • Forgive me [To Icarus
  • If still that face unknown—

icarus.

  • Dost thou remember?
  • On mount Citheron—

phorbas.

  • How!

icarus.

  • The child you gave me,
  • The child to death—

phorbas.

  • What dost thou say? remember,
  • Remember what?

icarus.

  • Thou hast no cause to fear;
  • Le not alarmed: thou mayest rejoice, that infant
  • Was—Œdipus.

phorbas.

  • The lightning blast thee, wretch!
  • What hast thou said?

icarus.

  • Doubt not, my lord, whatever
  • [To Œdipus.
  • This Theban says, he gave thee to my arms;
  • Thy fate is known; this old man is thy father.

œdipus.

  • What complicated misery! Alas!
  • [To Phorbas.
  • If thou art indeed my father, will the gods
  • Ever suffer me to shed thy blood?

phorbas.

  • O no!
  • For thou art not my son.

œdipus.

  • And didst not thou
  • Expose me in my infancy?

phorbas.

  • My lord,
  • Permit me to retire, and hide from thee
  • The dreadful truth.

œdipus.

  • No, Phorbas; by the gods
  • I beg thee, tell me all.

phorbas.

  • Begone, avoid
  • Thy children, and thy queen.

œdipus.

  • Now answer me,
  • For to resist is vain: that infant, doomed
  • To death by thee, say, didst thou give it him?
  • [Pointing to Icarus.

phorbas.

  • I did: and would that day had been my last!

œdipus.

  • And of what country was that child?

phorbas.

  • Of Thebes.

œdipus.

  • And thou art not his father?

phorbas.

  • No: alas!
  • Sprung from a nobler, but more wretched race—

œdipus.

  • Who was he then?

phorbas.

  • My lord, what would you do?
  • [Throwing himself at the feet of Œdipus.

œdipus.

  • Speak, speak, I say.

phorbas.

  • Jocaste was his mother.

icarus.

  • [Looking at Œdipus.
  • Behold the fruit of all my generous care!

phorbas.

  • What have we done?

œdipus.

  • I thought it must be so.

icarus.

  • My lord—

œdipus.

  • Away, begone, this moment leave me:
  • The dreadful gifts ye have bestowed on me
  • Must have their recompense; and ye have cause
  • To fear my wrath, for ye preserved my life.

SCENE IV.

œdipus.

  • At length the dire prediction is fulfilled,
  • And Œdipus is now, though innocent,
  • A base, incestuous parricide: O virtue!
  • Thou fatal empty name; thou who didst guide
  • My hapless days, thou hadst not power to stop
  • The current of my fate: alas! I fell
  • Into the snare by trying to avoid it:
  • Heaven led me on to guilt, and sunk a pit
  • Beneath my sliding feet: I was the slave
  • Of some unknown, some unrelenting power,
  • That used me for its instrument of vengeance:
  • These are my crimes, remorseless cruel gods!
  • Yours was the guilt, and ye have punished me.
  • Where am I? what dark shade thus from my eyes
  • Covers the light of heaven? the walls are stained
  • With blood; the furies shake their torches at me;
  • The lightnings flash; hell opens her wide gates:
  • O Laius! O my father! art thou there?
  • I see the deadly wound these hands had made;
  • Revenge thee now on this abhorred monster,
  • A monster who defiled the bed of her
  • Who bore him: lead me to the dark abode,
  • That I may strike fresh terror to the hearts
  • Of guilty beings by my punishment:
  • Lead on, I’ll follow thee.

SCENE V.

œdipus, jocaste, ægina, chorus.

jocaste.

  • O Œdipus,
  • Dispel my fears, thy dreadful cries alarm me.

œdipus.

  • Open, thou earth, and swallow me!

jocaste.

  • Alas!
  • What sad misfortune moves thee thus?

œdipus.

  • My crimes.

jocaste.

  • My lord!—
lf0060-08_figure_005

œdipus.

  • Away, Jocaste.

jocaste.

  • Cruel husband!

œdipus.

  • O stop! what name is that? am I thy husband?
  • Do not say husband: we shall hate each other.

jocaste.

  • What sayest thou?

œdipus.

  • ’Tis enough: I have fulfilled
  • My horrid fate: know, Laius was my father;
  • I am thy son.

leader of the chorus.

  • O guilt!

second person of the chorus.

  • O dreadful day!

jocaste.

  • Ægina, drag me from this horrid place!

ægina.

  • Alas!

jocaste.

  • If thou hast pity on Jocaste,
  • If without horror thou canst now approach me,
  • Assist me now, compassionate thy queen!

leader of the chorus.

  • Ye gods! and is it thus your vengeance ceases?
  • Take back your cruel gifts, ’twere better far
  • That we had suffered still.

SCENE VI.

jocaste, ægina, high priest, chorus.

high priest.

  • Attend, ye people,
  • And know, a milder sun now beams upon you:
  • At length the baleful pestilence is fled,
  • The graves once more are closed, and death hath left us;
  • The God of heaven and earth declares his goodness
  • In peals of thunder: hark!
  • [Thunder and lightning.

jocaste.

  • What dreadful flashes!
  • Where am I? heaven! what do I hear! Barbarians—

high priest.

  • ’Tis done: the gods are satisfied: no more
  • Doth Laius from the tomb cry out for vengeance:
  • Jocaste, thou mayest live and reign; the blood
  • Of Œdipus sufficeth.

chorus.

  • Gracious heaven!

jocaste.

  • My son! and must I call him husband too!
  • Dear dreadful names! is he then dead?

high priest.

  • He lives,
  • But from the living and the dead cut off,
  • Deprived of light: I saw him plunge this sword,
  • Stained with his father’s blood, into his eyes:
  • This fatal moment has to Thebes restored
  • Her safety: such are the decrees of heaven:
  • Which, as it wills, decides the fate of mortals,
  • All-powerful to save or to destroy.
  • Its wrath is all exhausted on thy son,
  • And thou art pardoned.

jocaste.

  • Punish then thyself.
  • [Stabs herself.
  • Jocaste, thus reserved for horrid incest,
  • Death is the only good remaining for me:
  • Laius, receive my blood: I follow thee:
  • I have lived virtuous, and shall die with pleasure.

chorus.

  • Unhappy queen, and sad calamity!

jocaste.

  • Weep only for my son, who still survives.
  • Priests, and you Thebans, who were once my subjects,
  • Honor my ashes, and remember ever,
  • That midst the horrors which oppressed me, still
  • I could reproach the gods; for heaven alone
  • Was guilty of the crime, and not Jocaste.

The End of the Fifth and Last Act.

MARIAMNE