CHAPTER XIX

THE HOUSE OF LABDACUS

=182. The Misfortunes of Thebes.= Returning to the descendants of Inachus, we find that the curse which fell upon Cadmus when he slew the dragon of Mars followed nearly every scion of his house. His daughters, Semele, Ino, Autonoë, Agave,--his grandsons, Melicertes, Actæon, Pentheus,--lived sorrowful lives or suffered violent deaths. The misfortunes of one branch of his family, sprung from his son Polydorus, remain to be told. The curse seems to have spared Polydorus himself. His son Labdacus, also, lived a quiet life as king of Thebes and left a son, Laïus, upon the throne. But erelong Laïus was warned by an oracle that there was danger to his throne and life if his son, new-born, should reach man's estate. He, therefore, committed the child to a herdsman with orders for its destruction; but the herdsman, moved with pity yet not daring entirely to disobey, pierced the child's feet, purposing to expose him to the elements on Mount Cithæron.

=183. [OE]dipus and the Sphinx.=[269] In this plight the infant was given to a tender-hearted fellow-shepherd, who carried him to King Polybus of Corinth and his queen, by whom he was adopted and called [OE]dipus, or Swollen-foot.

Many years afterward, [OE]dipus, learning from an oracle that he was destined to be the death of his father, left the realm of his reputed sire, Polybus. It happened, however, that Laïus was then driving to Delphi, accompanied only by one attendant. In a narrow road he met [OE]dipus, also in a chariot. On the refusal of the youthful stranger to leave the way at their command, the attendant killed one of his horses. [OE]dipus, consumed with rage, slew both Laïus and the attendant, and thus unknowingly fulfilled both oracles.

Shortly after this event, the city of Thebes, to which [OE]dipus had repaired, was afflicted with a monster that infested the high-road. She was called the Sphinx. She had the body of a lion and the upper part of a woman. She lay crouched on the top of a rock and, arresting all travelers who came that way, propounded to them a riddle, with the condition that those who could solve it should pass safe, but those who failed should be killed. Not one had yet succeeded in guessing it. [OE]dipus, not daunted by these alarming accounts, boldly advanced to the trial. The Sphinx asked him, "What animal is it that in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?" [OE]dipus replied, "Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age goes with the aid of a staff." The Sphinx, mortified at the collapse of her riddle, cast herself down from the rock and perished.

=184. [OE]dipus, the King.= In gratitude for their deliverance, the Thebans made [OE]dipus their king, giving him in marriage their queen, Jocasta. He, ignorant of his parentage, had already become the slayer of his father; in marrying the queen he became the husband of his mother. These horrors remained undiscovered till, after many years, Thebes being afflicted with famine and pestilence, the oracle was consulted, and, by a series of coincidences, the double crime of [OE]dipus came to light. At once, Jocasta put an end to her life by hanging herself. As for [OE]dipus, horror-struck,--

When her form He saw, poor wretch! with one wild fearful cry, The twisted rope he loosens, and she fell, Ill-starred one, on the ground. Then came a sight Most fearful. Tearing from her robe the clasps, All chased with gold, with which she decked herself, He with them struck the pupils of his eyes, With words like these: "Because they had not seen What ills he suffered, and what ills he did, They in the dark should look, in time to come, On those whom they ought never to have seen, Nor know the dear ones whom he fain had known." With suchlike wails, not once or twice alone, Raising his eyes he smote them, and the balls, All bleeding, stained his cheek.[270]

=185. [OE]dipus at Colonus.= After these sad events [OE]dipus would have left Thebes, but the oracle forbade the people to let him go. Jocasta's brother, Creon, was made regent of the realm for the two sons of [OE]dipus. But after [OE]dipus had grown content to stay, these sons of his, with Creon, thrust him into exile. Accompanied by his daughter Antigone, he went begging through the land. His other daughter, Ismene, at first stayed at home. Cursing the sons who had abandoned him, but bowing his own will in submission to the ways of God, [OE]dipus approached the hour of his death in Colonus, a village near Athens. His friend Theseus, king of Athens, comforted and sustained him to the last. Both his daughters were also with him:

And then he called his girls, and bade them fetch Clear water from the stream, and bring to him For cleansing and libation. And they went, Both of them, to yon hill we look upon, Owned by Demeter of the fair green corn, And quickly did his bidding, bathed his limbs, And clothed them in the garment that is meet. And when he had his will in all they did, And not one wish continued unfulfilled, Zeus from the dark depths thundered, and the girls Heard it, and shuddering, at their father's knees, Falling they wept; nor did they then forbear Smiting their breasts, nor groanings lengthened out; And when he heard their bitter cry, forthwith Folding his arms around them, thus he spake: "My children, on this day ye cease to have A father. All my days are spent and gone; And ye no more shall lead your wretched life, Caring for me. Hard was it, that I know, My children! Yet one word is strong to loose, Although alone, the burden of these toils, For _love_ in larger store ye could not have From any than from him who standeth here, Of whom bereaved ye now shall live your life."[271]

There was sobbing, then silence. Then a voice called him,--and he followed. God took him from his troubles. Antigone returned to Thebes,--where, as we shall see, her sisterly fidelity showed itself as true as, aforetime, her filial affection.

Her brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, had meanwhile agreed to share the kingdom between them and to reign alternately year by year. The first year fell to the lot of Eteocles, who, when his time expired, refused to surrender the kingdom to his brother. Polynices, accordingly, fled to Adrastus, king of Argos, who gave him his daughter in marriage and aided him with an army to enforce his claim to the kingdom. These causes led to the celebrated expedition of the "Seven against Thebes," which furnished ample materials for the epic and tragic poets of Greece. And here the younger heroes of Greece make their appearance.

FOOTNOTES:

[269] Sophocles, [OE]dipus Rex, [OE]dipus Coloneus, Antigone; Euripides, Ph[oe]nissæ; Apollodorus, 3, 5, §§ 7, 8.

[270] Sophocles, [OE]dipus, the King (E. H. Plumptre's translation).

[271] Sophocles, [OE]dipus at Colonus, ll. 1600, etc. (E. H. Plumptre's translation).