Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 edition. Excerpt: ... OEDIPUS DRAMATIS PERSONAE Oedipus, king of Thebes; the son, as he supposed, of Polybus, king of Corinth, and Merope, his wife, but found to be the son of Laius and Jocasta. JOCASTA, wife of Oedipus, found to be also his mother. On Eon, a Tlieban prince, brother of Jocasta, Tikesias, the prophet of Thebes, now old and blind. Manto, daughter of Tiresias. Old Man, sent from Corinth to announce to Oedipus the death of Polybus. FHOBBAS, shepherd in charge of the royal flocks of Thebes. MESSENGER, who announces the self-inflicted blindness of Oedipus and the suicide of Jocasta. CHOEUS of Theban elders. The Scene is laid before the royal palace of Thebes; the play opens in the early morning of the day within which the tragedy is consummated. ARGUMENT An oracle once came to Laius, king of Thebes, that he should perish by his own son's hands. When, therefore, a son was born to him, he gave the infant to his chiej shepherd to expose on Mount Cithaeron. But the tender-hearted rustic gave the babe instead to a wandering herdsman of Polybus, the king of Corinth. Years later a reputed son of Polybus, Oedipus by name, fearing an oracle which doomed him to slay his father and wed his mother, fled from Corinth, that so he might escape this dreadful fate. As he fared northward he met and slew an old man who imperiously disputed the narrow way with him. Upon arriving at the Theban land he read the riddle of the Sphinx, and so destroyed that monster which Juno had sent to harass the land which she hated; and for this service Oedipus was made the husband qfJocasta, the widowed queen of Laius (who had recently been slain upon the road), and set upon the vacant throne. Now other years have passed, and sons and daughters have been born to the royal pair. But...