Percy Bysshe Shelley - Oedipus Tyrannus (Act 2 Scene 1.2) lyrics

SCENE 1.2: THE PUBLIC STY. THE B0ARS IN FULL ASSEMBLY. ENTER PUEGANAX PURGANAX: Grant me your patience, Gentlemen and Boars, Ye, by whose patience under public burthens The glorious constitution of these sties Subsists, and shall subsist. The Lean-Pig rates Grow with the growing populace of Swine, The taxes, that true source of Piggishness (How can I find a more appropriate term To include religion, morals, peace, and plenty, And all that fit Boeotia as a nation To teach the other nations how to live?), Increase with Piggishness itself; and still Does the revenue, that great spring of all The patronage, and pensions, and by-payments, Which free-born Pigs regard with jealous eyes, Diminish, till at length, by glorious steps, All the land's produce will be merged in taxes, And the revenue will amount to—nothing! The failure of a foreign market for Sausages, bristles, and blood-puddings, And such home manufactures, is but partial; And, that the population of the Pigs, Instead of hog-wash, has been fed on straw And water, is a fact which is—you know— That is—it is a state-necessity— Temporary, of course. Those impious Pigs, Who, by frequent squeaks, have dared impugn The settled Swellfoot system, or to make Irreverent mockery of the genuflexions Inculcated by the arch-priest, have been whipped Into a loyal and an orthodox whine. Things being in this happy state, the Queen Iona— A LOUD CRY FROM THE PIGS: She is innocent! most innocent! PURGANAX: That is the very thing that I was saying, Gentlemen Swine; the Queen Iona being Most innocent, no doubt, returns to Thebes, And the lean Sows and Bears collect about her, Wishing to make her think that WE believe (I mean those more substantial Pigs, who swill Rich hog-wash, while the others mouth damp straw) That she is guilty; thus, the Lean-Pig faction Seeks to obtain that hog-wash, which has been Your immemorial right, and which I will Maintain you in to the last drop of— A BOAR (INTERRUPTING HIM): What Does any one accuse her of? PURGANAX: Why, no one Makes ANY positive accusation;—but There were hints dropped, and so the privy wizards Conceived that it became them to advise His Majesty to investigate their truth;— Not for his own sake; he could be content To let his wife play any pranks she pleased, If, by that sufferance, HE could please the Pigs; But then he fears the morals of the Swine, The Sows especially, and what effect It might produce upon the purity and Religion of the rising generation Of s**ing-Pigs, if it could be suspected That Queen Iona— [A PAUSE.] FIRST BOAR: Well, go on; we long To hear what she can possibly have done. PURGANAX: Why, it is hinted, that a certain Bull— Thus much is KNOWN:—the milk-white Bulls that feed Beside Clitumnus and the crystal lakes Of the Cisalpine mountains, in fresh dews Of lotus-gra** and blossoming asphodel Sleeking their silken hair, and with sweet breath Loading the morning winds until they faint With living fragrance, are so beautiful!— Well, I say nothing;—but Europa rode On such a one from Asia into Crete, And the enamoured sea grew calm beneath His gliding beauty. And Pasiphae, Iona's grandmother,—but SHE is innocent! And that both you and I, and all a**ert. FIRST BOAR: Most innocent! PURGANAX: Behold this BAG; a bag— SECOND BOAR: Oh! no GREEN BAGS!! Jealousy's eyes are green, Scorpions are green, and water-snakes, and efts, And verdigris, and— PURGANAX: Honourable Swine, In Piggish souls can prepossessions reign? Allow me to remind you, gra** is green— All flesh is gra**;—no bacon but is flesh— Ye are but bacon. This divining BAG (Which is not green, but only bacon colour) Is filled with liquor, which if sprinkled o'er A woman guilty of—we all know what— Makes her so hideous, till she finds one blind She never can commit the like again. If innocent, she will turn into an angel, And rain down blessings in the shape of comfits As she flies up to heaven. Now, my proposal Is to convert her sacred Majesty Into an angel (as I am sure we shall do), By pouring on her head this mystic water. [SHOWING THE BAG.] I know that she is innocent; I wish Only to prove her so to all the world. FIRST BOAR: Excellent, just, and noble Purganax. SECOND BOAR: How glorious it will be to see her Majesty Flying above our heads, her petticoats Streaming like—like—like— THIRD BOAR: Anything. PURGANAX: Oh no! But like a standard of an admiral's ship, Or like the banner of a conquering host, Or like a cloud dyed in the dying day, Unravelled on the blast from a white mountain; Or like a meteor, or a war-steed's mane, Or waterfall from a dizzy precipice Scattered upon the wind. FIRST BOAR: Or a cow's tail. SECOND BOAR: Or ANYTHING, as the learned Boar observed. PURGANAX: Gentlemen Boars, I move a resolution, That her most sacred Majesty should be Invited to attend the feast of Famine, And to receive upon her chaste white body Dews of Apotheosis from this BAG. [A GREAT CONFUSION IS HEARD OF THE PIGS OUT OF DOORS, WHICH COMMUNICATES ITSELF TO THOSE WITHIN. DURING THE FIRST STROPHE, THE DOORS OF THE STY ARE STAVED IN, AND A NUMBER OF EXCEEDINGLY LEAN PIGS AND SOWS AND BOARS RUSH IN.] SEMICHORUS 1: No! Yes! SEMICHORUS 2: Yes! No! SEMICHORUS 1: A law! SEMICHORUS 2: A flaw! SEMICHORUS 1: Porkers, we shall lose our wash, Or must share it with the Lean-Pigs! FIRST BOAR: Order! order! be not rash! Was there ever such a scene, Pigs! AN OLD SOW (RUSHING IN): I never saw so fine a dash Since I first began to wean Pigs. SECOND BOAR (SOLEMNLY): The Queen will be an angel time enough. I vote, in form of an amendment, that Purganax rub a little of that stuff Upon his face. PURGANAX [HIS HEART IS SEEN TO BEAT THROUGH HIS WAISTCOAT]: Gods! What would ye be at? SEMICHORUS 1: Purganax has plainly shown a Cloven foot and jackdaw feather. SEMICHORUS 2: I vote Swellfoot and Iona Try the magic test together; Whenever royal spouses bicker, Both should try the magic liquor. AN OLD BOAR [ASIDE]: A miserable state is that of Pigs, For if their drivers would tear caps and wigs, The Swine must bite each other's ear therefore. AN OLD SOW [ASIDE]: A wretched lot Jove has a**igned to Swine, Squabbling makes Pig-herds hungry, and they dine On bacon, and whip s**ing-Pigs the more. CHORUS: Hog-wash has been ta'en away: If the Bull-Queen is divested, We shall be in every way Hunted, stripped, exposed, molested; Let us do whate'er we may, That she shall not be arrested. QUEEN, we entrench you with walls of brawn, And palisades of tusks, sharp as a bayonet: Place your most sacred person here. We pawn Our lives that none a finger dare to lay on it. Those who wrong you, wrong us; Those who hate you, hate us; Those who sting you, sting us; Those who bait you, bait us; The ORACLE is now about to be Fulfilled by circumvolving destiny; Which says: 'Thebes, choose REFORM or CIVIL WAR, When through your streets, instead of hare with dogs, A CONSORT QUEEN shall hunt a KING with Hogs, Riding upon the IONIAN MINOTAUR.' [ENTER IONA TAURINA.] IONA TAURINA (COMING FORWARD): Gentlemen Swine, and gentle Lady-Pigs, The tender heart of every Boar acquits Their QUEEN, of any act incongruous With native Piggishness, and she, reposing With confidence upon the grunting nation, Has thrown herself, her cause, her life, her all, Her innocence, into their Hoggish arms; Nor has the expectation been deceived Of finding shelter there. Yet know, great Boars, (For such whoever lives among you finds you, And so do I), the innocent are proud! I have accepted your protection only In compliment of your kind love and care, Not for necessity. The innocent Are safest there where trials and dangers wait; Innocent Queens o'er white-hot ploughshares tread Unsinged, and ladies, Erin's laureate sings it, Decked with rare gems, and beauty rarer still, Walked from k**arney to the Giant's Causeway, Through rebels, smugglers, troops of yeomanry, White-boys and Orange-boys, and constables, Tithe-proctors, and excise people, uninjured! Thus I!— Lord Purganax, I do commit myself Into your custody, and am prepared To stand the test, whatever it may be! PURGANAX: This magnanimity in your sacred Majesty Must please the Pigs. You cannot fail of being A heavenly angel. Smoke your bits of gla**, Ye loyal Swine, or her transfiguration Will blind your wondering eyes. AN OLD BOAR [ASIDE]: Take care, my Lord, They do not smoke you first. PURGANAX: At the approaching feast Of Famine, let the expiation be. SWINE: Content! content! IONA TAURINA [ASIDE]: I, most content of all, Know that my foes even thus prepare their fall! [EXEUNT OMNES.]