Sophocles, Oedipus in Colonos
Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus translated by Francis Storr (1839-1919), in the public domain, text drawn and reformatted from the Internet Classics Archive. This text has 56 tagged references to 19 ancient places.CTS URN: urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0011.tlg007; Wikidata ID: Q294001; Trismegistos: authorwork/1002 [Open Greek text in new tab]
§ i Characters
Oedipus, former king of Thebes, now in exile
Antigone, his daughter, leading him
Ismene, his daughter
Polyneices, his son
Creon, his uncle
Theseus, king of Athens
Man from Colonus
Male attendant of Ismene (silent)
Attendants of Theseus (silent)
Attendants of Creon (silent)
Messenger from Athens
Chorus of old men from Colonus
[enter OEDIPUS and ANTIGONE. They are in a grove sacred to the Furies, but the only signs of this are laurel, olive and vine. Bird-song can be heard inside it.]
§ 1 OEDIPUS:
Antigone, child of this blind old man, what
Place have we come to? What city?
Who will welcome the wandering Oedipus
Today with their scanty gifts?
§ 5 I earnestly ask for only a little, carry with me
Even less than a little, and that’s enough for me.
My sufferings, the long time that has accompanied me,
And lastly nobility, have all taught me to be content.
My child, if you can see any seat,
§ 10 Either in a place lawful to go, or a grove of the gods,
Stand me up and then sit me down on it, so that we can find out
Where we are. We've come to this, to learn
As strangers from the townspeople, and to fulfil whatever we hear.
ANTIGONE:
My poor father Oedipus, far off,
§ 15 From what I can see, there are towers ringing the city;
And this place is sacred, by the looks of it, being full
Of laurel, olive and vine. And thick-feathered
Nightingales sing inside it.
Bend your limbs here on this unhewn rock,
§ 20 For you have travelled a long way for an old man.
Sit me down now, and watch over the blind.
ANTIGONE:
It’s been so long --- no need for me to learn that.
[She helps him sit on the rock]
OEDIPUS:
Can you tell me where we’ve stopped?
ANTIGONE:
Athens I know, but not this place.
§ 25 OEDIPUS:
Yes, for every traveller told us this.
ANTIGONE:
Well, am I to go and find out what this place is?
OEDIPUS:
Yes, if in fact it’s inhabited.
ANTIGONE:
It surely is inhabited. But I think there’s no
Need --- I see a man nearby.
§ 30 OEDIPUS:
Setting out and coming towards us?
[Man from COLONUS enters]
ANTIGONE:
He’s with us already. Say whatever
Seems timely to you, for the man is here.
OEDIPUS: [to man from COLONUS]
Stranger, as I heard from this lady, who sees both for me
And herself, that you have come here,
§ 35 An opportune scout for explaining our doubts---
MAN:
Before you ask me anything else, get out
Of this seat: you are occupying a place that is unholy to tread upon.
OEDIPUS:
What place? To which god is it sacred?
MAN:
It’s not to be touched or lived in: the feared
§ 40 Goddesses, daughters of Earth and Night, occupy it.
OEDIPUS:
What is their revered name that I can pray to them?
MAN:
The all-seeing Kindly Ones, that’s what the people
Here call them; other names please elsewhere.
OEDIPUS:
Then may they receive their suppliant propitiously,
§ 45 As I will not be getting out of my seat in this land any more.
MAN:
What do you mean by that?
OEDIPUS:
It’s the watchword of my misfortune.
MAN:
I dare not remove you without
The city’s consent, until I report what I’m doing.
OEDIPUS:
By the gods, stranger, don’t deny me,
§ 50 Wanderer that I am, the favour for which I am turning to you.
MAN:
Ask me, and you will not be without honour from me.
OEDIPUS:
What is this place, then, on which we have stepped?
MAN:
Everything I know you will hear and learn.
This whole place is sacred: it is occupied
§ 55 By revered Poseidon; and also the fire-bearing god,
The Titan Prometheus. But the spot you’re treading on
Is called the bronze threshold of this country,
The support of Athens. And the neighbouring fields
Claim the horseman Colonus to be
§ 60 Their ancient ruler, and everyone bears
His name in common with their own.
That’s what these places are, stranger, not honoured
So much in words, but more by our living with them.
§ 60 OEDIPUS:
Do people live in this region?
§ 65 MAN:
Very much so, and they are named after that god.
OEDIPUS:
Does someone rule them? Or does speaking rest with the multitude?
MAN:
This place is ruled by the king in the city.
OEDIPUS:
And who is this man who has power in word and might?
MAN:
He is called Theseus, son of Aegeus who was before him.
§ 70 OEDIPUS:
Could a messenger go to him from among you?
MAN:
To speak? Or to prepare his coming?
OEDIPUS:
So that, by helping a little, he may gain a lot.
MAN:
And what help can come from a man who cannot see?
OEDIPUS:
Everything I say will be all-seeing.
§ 75 MAN:
Take care, stranger, that you do not slip up. Since in fact
You are noble, as is apparent, except for your misfortune,
Stay here where you appeared to me, until I
Go and tell this to the citizens here,
Not to those in the city. They will decide
§ 80 Whether you should stay or go back.
[Man from COLONUS exits]
OEDIPUS:
My daughter, has the stranger gone?
ANTIGONE:
He has --- so now you can relax and say
What you like, father, as there’s only me here.
OEDIPUS: [He faces the grove and addresses the Furies]
You terrible-eyed goddesses, since it is now onto your seat
§ 85 First of all that I have bent my limbs in this land,
Do not be hard-hearted to Apollo and me.
For he, when he prophesied many evils for me,
Said that after a long time this should be my resting place,
When I had come to a final land, where I should take up
§ 90 The seat and lodging of the revered goddesses,
And there I would round the final bend of my wretched life,
Having lived there as a benefit to the people who welcomed me,
But a ruin to those who had sent me and driven me out.
And he ordained that signs of this would come to me ---
§ 95 Earthquake, thunder or lightning.
I realise now that it is surely
A trustworthy omen of yours that has led me
By this road to this grove. Otherwise I would never
Have met with you first on my journeying,
§ 100 I sober, with you who drink no wine, or sat on this august
Unhewn bedrock. But for me, goddesses,
Grant according to the oracle of Apollo my life’s
Conclusion, and a turning over ---
If I do not seem to be a lesser man, always
§ 105 A hireling to toils that are the highest among mortals.
Come, you sweet daughters of ancient Night ---
Come, Athens, named after great Athene,
The city most honoured of all ---
Pity this wretched phantom of Oedipus
§ 110 The man: it isn’t this ancient body.
ANTIGONE:
Be quiet: some old men are coming
Here eventually, the scouts of this seat.
OEDIPUS:
I’ll be quiet. Hide me from the road
In the grove, until I learn from them
§ 115 What they have to say. For in learning
Is the discretion of what is to be done.
[Antigone hides Oedipus. Enter Chorus]
§ 115 CHORUS: [strophe A]
Keep looking. Who was he? Where does he live?
Where is he, having rushed from this place, that most
§ 120 Insatiate of men?
Look for him, keep looking,
Spy him out everywhere.
The old man is a wanderer, a wanderer, and not
§ 125 A local: otherwise he would never have gone
Into the grove, not to be stepped in,
Of the unconquerable goddesses.
We tremble to speak of them,
§ 130 And pass them by without looking,
Soundless and absolutely wordless,
Maintaining a holy silence
With our mouths. But now they say someone
Has come not respecting anything ---
§ 135 Despite looking for him everywhere I still
Cannot find out
Where in the precinct he is living.
[Oedipus comes out of his hiding spot]
OEDIPUS: [to CHORUS]
I am the man: for I can see by sound,
As the saying goes.
§ 140 CHORUS:
Oh my god!
He is frightening to look at, frightening to hear.
OEDIPUS:
Don’t, I beg you, look on me as lawless.
CHORUS:
Zeus defend us! Just who is the old man?
OEDIPUS:
One not so much of the best fate as to be called
§ 145 Fortunate, you overseers of the land.
It’s clear: otherwise I would not be crawling
With someone else’s eyes,
And latching, although great, onto small matters.
§ 145 CHORUS: [antistrophe A]
Alas, were you
§ 150 Blind from birth? Your fate has been evil
And your time long, it seems.
But you will not, at least if I can help it,
Add these curses to yourself ---
§ 155 Because you are trespassing, trespassing. But
Be very careful, all-fated stranger,
That you don’t fall forward in this grassy grove
Not to be spoken of, where the liquid
§ 160 Bowl of honeyed waters
Flows together in a stream.
Move and step back! A great
Road prevents you.
§ 165 Much-toiling wanderer, do you hear me?
If you have anything
To discuss with me, step back from what must not be trodden on,
Which is the law for everyone here,
And then speak. But first, keep back!
§ 170 OEDIPUS: [to ANTIGONE]
My daughter, where in his mind is a person to go?
ANTIGONE:
Father, we must take care of the same things as the townspeople;
We must yield what we must, and listen.
OEDIPUS:
Touch me now.
ANTIGONE: [touches him]
I am.
OEDIPUS: [to Chorus-leader]
Stranger, don’t let me be wronged ---
§ 175 I’ve put my trust in you after getting up and moving.
CHORUS:
No-one will ever take you from your resting-place,
Old man, against your will.
OEDIPUS: [indicating with his arm]
Further then?
CHORUS:
Go further forward.
OEDIPUS:
Further?
CHORUS: [to ANTIGONE]
Guide him further forward,
Young lady, since you can see.
ANTIGONE: [missing]
OEDIPUS: [missing]
ANTIGONE: [to OEDIPUS]
[missing]
Follow me now, follow me like this with your blind
Step, father, the way I’m leading.
OEDIPUS: [missing]
CHORUS: [to OEDIPUS] [strophe B]
Have the courage, as a stranger in a strange land,
§ 185 Poor man, to hate
Whatever the city steadfastly holds as unfriendly,
And to reverence what is friendly.
OEDIPUS: [to ANTIGONE]
Lead me now, child,
Stepping on piety to a place where
§ 190 We may speak on the one hand, and listen on the other;
And let’s not war with necessity.
CHORUS: [to OEDIPUS]
Here: don’t bend your step any further
Outside this ledge of natural rock.
OEDIPUS:
Like this?
CHORUS:
That’s enough.
OEDIPUS:
Should I sit down?
CHORUS:
Yes, by twisting sideways, and crouching
Low on the top of the rock.
ANTIGONE: [to OEDIPUS]
That’s my job, father --- carefully now…
OEDIPUS:
Oh poor me!
ANTIGONE:
Join step to step,
§ 200 Leaning your old body forward
Into my dear hand.
OEDIPUS:
Woe because of my evil-minded Ruin!
[Antigone seats him on the rock]
CHORUS: [to OEDIPUS]
[antistrophe B]
Poor man, since you’re now relaxed,
Tell us: Who are you?
§ 205 Who is leading you with so much toil? What
Might your homeland be?
OEDIPUS:
Strangers,
I’ve been thrown out of my city, but don’t ---
CHORUS:
Why are you balking at this, old man?
§ 210 OEDIPUS:
Please please don’t ask me who I am!
Don’t seek to enquire any further!
CHORUS:
Why is that?
OEDIPUS:
Dreadful in nature…
CHORUS:
Tell us.
OEDIPUS: [to ANTIGONE]
Oh my child, what am I to say?
§ 215 CHORUS:
Who is your father, stranger? Tell us.
OEDIPUS: [to ANTIGONE]
Woe is me, what’s to become of me, my child?
ANTIGONE: [to OEDIPUS]
Tell them, since you’ve come to the very verge…
OEDIPUS: [to ANTIGONE]
I will --- since I have no way to hide it…
CHORUS:
You’re both taking your time --- hurry up!
OEDIPUS:
Have you heard of someone called Laius?
§ 220 CHORUS:
Oh my god!
OEDIPUS:
And the family of Labdacus?
CHORUS:
Oh Zeus!
OEDIPUS:
And wretched Oedipus?
CHORUS:
Yes --- is that you?
OEDIPUS:
Have no fear of anything I say.
CHORUS:
No, oh no!
OEDIPUS:
I’m ill-fated.
CHORUS:
Oh no!
OEDIPUS: [to ANTIGONE]
§ 225 My daughter, what’s going to happen now?
CHORUS:
Get right out of our country!
OEDIPUS:
Where will you put down what you promised?
CHORUS:
Destined punishment does not come to anyone
§ 230 Who has suffered punishment earlier. One deceit
Matches another, and gives
Pain, not pleasure, as its reward.
But you, out of this resting-place again,
Once more moving away, leap out of this country,
§ 235 For fear you may attach
Any further debt to my city!
ANTIGONE:
Reverent-minded
Strangers, since
You cannot endure my old
Father, after hearing
§ 240 The story of his involuntary actions,
I beseech you, strangers, pity me in my wretchedness,
Who on behalf of my lone father
Beg you, looking into your eyes
§ 245 Not with blind eyes like him, as one who has come and appeared
Away from your blood, to meet
The poor man out of reverence. For it is in you as in god
That we lie dependent, in our misery. Come, give the nod to your unexpected favour.
§ 250 I beg you by whatever you hold dear ---
child, bed, need or god.
You would not find any person,
If a god were to lead them,
With the power to escape.
CHORUS:
Be assured, daughter of Oedipus, that we pity
§ 255 You and him equally for this misfortune.
But because we tremble at the punishment from the gods, we could not
Say anything further than what has been said to you now.
OEDIPUS:
What’s the use of a good opinion
And a reputation that is current but to no avail,
§ 260 If they say that Athens, at least, is the most god-revering,
And alone can save the mistreated
Stranger, and alone can defend him?
Where is all this for me, if you make me get up
From this seat and drive me away,
§ 265 Because you’re afraid of my mere name? That wasn’t
My body or actions. Since my actions
Were more about things done to me, than my doing them,
If I have to speak to you about the matter of my mother and father,
Which is why you’re frightened of me -- of that I’m very
§ 270 Aware. And yet how am I bad by nature,
Who when I had something done to me was retaliating, and so if I had acted
Knowingly, wouldn’t I thus have been bad?
But as it is, I arrived where I was without knowing anything,
And the people who made me suffer knowingly caused my ruin.
§ 275 That’s why I beseech you, strangers, in the name of the gods,
Just as you made me stand up, in the same way save me!
Don’t, while honouring the gods, then proceed
To treat them as nothing. Consider
That they look upon the pious,
§ 280 But also the impious, and that there is
Not yet any escape for an impure person.
Don’t shroud prosperous Athens
With this, by submitting to impure actions.
Just as you received your suppliant who came with your pledge,
§ 285 Likewise rescue and protect me. Even though my face
Is hard to look at, don’t dishonour it,
As I’ve come holy and pious, bringing
A benefit to the townspeople here. When the lord
Is here, whoever your leader is,
§ 290 He’ll hear and learn everything.
But meanwhile don’t mistreat me.
CHORUS:
Old man, we must certainly
Revere your arguments, as they’ve
Been made in many words. It suffices
§ 295 For the ruler of this country to discern the matter.
OEDIPUS:
Where is this country’s ruler, strangers?
CHORUS:
He has an ancestral city in this land. An advance messenger,
Who sent me here as well, has gone to bring him.
§ 295 OEDIPUS:
Do you think he’ll have some attention or thought
§ 300 For a blind man, so as to come here?
CHORUS:
Very much so, when he hears your name.
OEDIPUS:
Who is the messenger announcing this to him?
CHORUS:
His long journey itself. The many stories of travellers
Usually spread far and wide – once he hears these,
§ 305 Rest assured, he’ll be here. For your great name,
Old man, passes through everyone, so that even if he’s slow
And inactive, once he hears of you he’ll come quickly.
OEDIPUS:
May he come with good fortune for his city
And for me – Who is not a good friend to himself?
§ 310 ANTIGONE:
God, what am I to say? Where in my mind am I to go, father?
OEDIPUS:
What is it, my child?
ANTIGONE:
I can see a woman
Approaching us on an Etnaean
Pony. On her head a sun-shielding
Thessalian cap surrounds her face.
§ 315 What am I say?
Is it or isn’t it? Is my judgement faulty?
I can and cannot say. I don’t know what to say.
I’m wretched.
Why of course it’s her – brightly from her eyes
§ 320 She’s greeting me as she approaches. This clearly means that
It’s Ismene and no-one else.
OEDIPUS:
What did you say, my child?
ANTIGONE:
That I can see your daughter and my
Sister. You’ll soon know from her voice.
[Ismene enters with a male attendant]
ISMENE:
Father and sister! Two words that to me
§ 325 Are sweetest to say! While it’s been hard for me to find you,
Out of grief it’s just as hard to look at you.
OEDIPUS:
Oh my child, have you come?
ISMENE:
Oh father, ill-fated to look upon!
OEDIPUS:
[He reaches out to her]
My child, are you here?
ISMENE:
Not without effort on my part.
OEDIPUS:
Touch me, my child.
ISMENE:
[She touches Oedipus and Antigone]
I am – both of you together.
OEDIPUS:
My offspring and sisters!
§ 330 ISMENE: Wretched way of life!
OEDIPUS:
Hers and mine?
ISMENE: Mine as well.
OEDIPUS:
My child, why did you come?
ISMENE:
Out of forethought for you, father.
OEDIPUS:
And out of love?
ISMENE:
Because I’m the messenger of news,
With this man from our household, the only one I could trust.
§ 335 OEDIPUS:
Where are your younger brothers, that they may work?
ISMENE:
They are where they are – currently things are bad between them.
OEDIPUS:
Those two resemble in every way in their nature
And way of life the customs among the Egyptians.
For there the men in their houses
§ 340 Sit and work at the loom, while their partners
Provide the means of life outside.
And so, my children, those two, for whom it was proper to work at this,
Watch at home like young women,
Whereas you two work extra hard at my wretched difficulties
§ 345 Instead of them. [to ANTIGONE] You, from the time you ceased
Your youth and became strong in body,
Kept wandering with me and in your ill fortune
Led an old man, were often hungry
And roamed about barefoot in the wild forest,
§ 350 And working hard under heavy rain and the sun’s
Heat, poor girl, you hold the comforts of your life
At home to be secondary, as long as your father might have nourishment.
[to ISMENE] And you, my child, came earlier to your father
Bringing all the oracles that were prophesied
§ 355 About my body, without the Thebans knowing, and proved to be
My faithful guard, when I was driven out into exile.
Have you now come again, Ismene, bringing word
To your father? What errand has made you set out from home?
You haven’t come empty-handed, of that I’m absolutely
§ 360 Sure – not without bringing something frightening for me.
ISMENE:
As for what I suffered, father,
While I was looking for where you might settle your way of life,
I’ll drop and leave it there – I don’t want to be twice
In pain by working hard and talking about it again.
§ 365 But as for what nasty situation between your two ill-fated sons
Is happening now, that’s what I’ve come to tell you.
At first they had a desire to yield up the throne
To Creon, so that the city would not be defiled,
Using reason to examine our family’s ancient ruin,
§ 370 Which gripped your wretched house.
But now from one of the gods or an avenging mind
An evil strife has entered them both thrice-wretched,
To seize the realm and kingly power.
The younger one, born later,
§ 375 Is depriving the one born earlier,
Polyneices, of the throne, and has driven him out of his homeland.
But he, as the current story goes among us,
Has gone as a fugitive to hollow Argos and taken on
A new marriage connection and friends as shield-companions,
§ 380 So that Argos may soon either occupy the soil of the Cadmeans
With honour, or cause it to mount to the sky.
This is not just a collection of words, father,
But terrible events – I cannot tell up to what point
The gods will take pity on your sufferings.
§ 385 OEDIPUS:
Did you have hopes that the gods would ever have
Any concern for me, so as to be rescued?
ISMENE:
Yes, father – because of the current oracles.
OEDIPUS:
What are they? What is prophesied, my child?
ISMENE:
That you will be sought out one day by the people there
§ 390 When you are dead, as well as alive, because of the prosperity you’ll bring.
OEDIPUS:
Who could do well from a man such as this?
ISMENE:
They say that their power comes to be in your hands.
OEDIPUS:
When I’m dead, is that when I’m a man?
ISMENE:
Yes, for the gods are now setting you upright – whereas before they destroyed you.
§ 395 OEDIPUS:
A paltry thing to set an old man upright, if he falls young.
ISMENE:
You can be sure that Creon at least for this reason
Will come to you shortly – he won’t take long.
OEDIPUS:
To do what, my daughter? Explain it to me.
ISMENE:
To set you up near the country of Cadmus, so that
§ 400 They can have power over you. And so you won’t step within their borders.
OEDIPUS:
What benefit is there for me to be lying outside their gates?
ISMENE:
For them your grave, if it suffers misfortune, is a serious threat.
OEDIPUS:
You don’t need a god to make a judgement call on that!
ISMENE:
That is the reason they want to put you
§ 405 Near their territory, not where you may rule over yourself.
OEDIPUS:
Will they bury me in Theban soil?
ISMENE:
The blood of your own relative doesn’t allow it, father.
OEDIPUS:
Then they will never have power over me!
ISMENE:
Then one day this will be a serious threat to the Cadmeans.
§ 410 OEDIPUS:
When what complication has arisen?
ISMENE:
Because of your anger, when they stand at your grave.
OEDIPUS:
Who did you hear this from, my child?
ISMENE:
From men consulting the oracle at Delphi.
OEDIPUS:
Did Apollo happen to say this about me?
§ 415 ISMENE:
The people who came to Thebes say so.
OEDIPUS:
Did either of my sons hear about this?
ISMENE:
Yes, both of them heard the same thing --- and they understood it perfectly.
OEDIPUS:
What, so those bastards heard this, but then
Preferred ruling over love for me?
§ 420 ISMENE:
It pains me to hear this, but I put up with it nevertheless.
OEDIPUS:
May the gods not extinguish
Their fated conflict, but may their end come
To be in my hands concerning this battle
Which they’re now seizing and raising weaponry against each other.
§ 425 May neither the one who now holds the throne
Remain, nor the one who has gone out
Ever come back again. Their own father, me,
When I was thrust out with such dishonour from my homeland,
They didn’t hold back or defend, but I had to get up and leave,
§ 430 Was driven out by them, and was proclaimed by herald as an exile.
You may say I was willing at that time,
When the city reasonably granted me that gift.
No way – since on that day
When my anger was seething, and it was sweetest
§ 435 For me to die and to be struck by stones,
No-one turned up to help toward that desire.
But eventually, when all my hardship was softened,
And I realised my anger had run its course,
Which was a greater punishment than my former errors,
§ 440 It was then that the city drove me
Out of the country against my will, after a long time. Those sons,
Though they were able to help their father, were unwilling
To act, but because of a tiny word
I am left still exiled by them to wander outside as a beggar.
[pointing to Antigone and Ismene]
§ 445 From these two who are unmarried, so much does their nature
Grant them, I have the necessities of life,
The security of a country, and the support of family.
But those two, instead of their father, chose to rule
Throne and sceptre, and to be king of their country.
§ 450 No way will they obtain my support,
Nor will their rule over Thebes ever
Bring them any benefit. I’m sure of this, since I’ve heard
From her [pointing to Ismene] the oracles about Thebes, and pondered those about me
Spoken long ago, that Apollo fulfilled for me back then.
§ 455 As for now, let them send Creon to look
For me, and whoever else has any power in the city.
[to Chorus] If you are willing, strangers, together with
These guardians, the revered goddesses who hold the people,
To lend me support, you will win a great saviour
§ 460 For this city, but only suffering for my enemies.
CHORUS:
You and your daughters, Oedipus,
Are worthy of pity. But since you’ve put yourself forward
By this speech as a saviour for our city,
I want to advise you on what is fitting.
§ 465 OEDIPUS:
Strangers, be my protector, as I will accomplish everything for you.
CHORUS:
Do a purification rite belonging to these goddesses, on whose
Ground you first arrived and stepped.
OEDIPUS:
How? Please tell me, strangers.
CHORUS:
First of all, bring holy streams from an ever-flowing
§ 470 Spring, and touch it with clean hands.
OEDIPUS:
And when I’ve taken this pure water?
CHORUS:
There are mixing bowls, the handicraft of a skilled man –
Cover their heads and handles on both sides.
OEDIPUS:
With branches or threads? How?
§ 475 CHORUS:
Take the newly-shorn wool of a ewe-lamb.
OEDIPUS:
Well then – how must I conclude the rite?
CHORUS:
Pour the offerings standing towards the dawn.
OEDIPUS:
So am I to pour them with these ewers you are talking about?
CHORUS:
Yes, in three streams – but the last one completely.
§ 480 OEDIPUS:
What am I to fill this with, before I put it down? Instruct me.
CHORUS:
Water and honey. Don’t put wine in it.
OEDIPUS:
And when the black-leaved earth drinks it?
CHORUS:
Three times put on it nine olive branches
With both hands, and say the following prayer.
§ 485 OEDIPUS:
I want to hear this, as it’s important.
CHORUS:
We call them the Kindly Ones, so that with kindly
Hearts they may receive the suppliant as his saviour.
Ask them this, you or anyone else in your place,
Speaking in a whisper without lengthening a shout.
§ 490 Then move away without turning back – if you do this
I’d be confident to stand by you.
If not I’d be afraid for you, stranger.
OEDIPUS:
My children, did you hear what these strangers said?
ANTIGONE:
We did – now tell us what we must do.
§ 495 OEDIPUS:
I can’t go that way. I don’t have enough
Ability or eyesight, two evils.
One of you go and do this.
I think that one soul is enough
To pay the debt of ten thousand, if it comes with goodwill.
§ 500 Hurry now and do it. But don’t leave
Me alone. My body wouldn’t have the strength
To move if it were abandoned or without a guide.
ISMENE:
I'll go and do it. But I want to know
Where I am to find it.
§ 505 CHORUS:
On the far side of this grove, stranger. If you need
anything, there'll be someone hereabouts to tell you.
ISMENE:
I'll go to it. Antigone, keep a watch
On father here. When it comes to parents,
Even if one works hard, one must not keep remembering the hard work.
[exit Ismene]
§ 510 CHORUS:
It's terrible, stranger, to awaken a pain that's long been asleep,
However I desire to find out---
OEDIPUS:
What?
CHORUS:
---the pain that arose, wretched
And helpless, in which you were tangled.
§ 515 OEDIPUS:
Don't, by your hospitality,
Open up the shameless pains I suffered!
CHORUS:
As it is great and in no way ceasing,
I need, stranger, to hear the story straight.
OEDIPUS:
No, no!
CHORUS:
Be so kind, I beg you.
OEDIPUS:
I can't!
§ 520 CHORUS:
Please tell me – I did everything you wanted as well.
OEDIPUS:
I endured the worst pains, strangers, but I endured them unwillingly,
Let the gods know it –
I chose none of it myself.
CHORUS:
But how did it end?
§ 525 OEDIPUS:
The city bound me with an evil bed,
But I was ignorant of my marriage to ruin!
CHORUS:
Was it your mother's ill-named
Bed, as I hear, that you filled?
OEDIPUS:
How it is death to hear that,
§ 530 Stranger! These two girls are my ---
CHORUS:
What are you saying?
OEDIPUS:
---children, two ruins!
CHORUS:
Oh Zeus!
OEDIPUS:
They sprang from the shared childbirth of a mother.
CHORUS:
Then they are your offspring and---
§ 535 OEDIPUS:
Sisters in common with their father.
CHORUS:
Woe!
OEDIPUS:
Woe indeed, the turnings of ten thousand evils!
CHORUS:
You have suffered---
OEDIPUS:
I suffered unforgettable things!
§ 535 CHORUS:
You have done---
OEDIPUS:
I did nothing!
CHORUS:
How is that?
OEDIPUS:
I received
§ 540 A gift, which, wretched-hearted, I wish I’d never
Received from the city, for having done them a service.
CHORUS:
Poor man! But why? Did you put your hand to the murder---
OEDIPUS:
What now? What do you want to know?
CHORUS:
---of your father?
OEDIPUS:
Oh father! You've hit me again, illness upon illness---
CHORUS:
You killed---
§ 545 OEDIPUS:
I killed. But it has for me---
CHORUS:
What?
OEDIPUS:
---something of justice.
CHORUS:
How is that?
OEDIPUS:
I'll tell you.
Because the people I killed would have destroyed me.
Pure by law, I came to this in ignorance.
CHORUS:
Here's Theseus the king, son of Aegeus,
According to your message, to do what he was summoned for.
§ 550
[enter Theseus]
THESEUS:
Hearing from many people earlier
Of the bloody ruin of your eyes,
I recognize you now, son of Laius, and hearing more
§ 555 Of the current events on the road, I’m certain of it.
Your clothes and wretched head
Show us who you really are. In pity of you
I want to ask you, ill-fated Oedipus, with what
§ 560 Supplication are you standing near my city,
You and your ill-fated supporter?
Tell me --- terrible would be the action
You could tell, for me to stand aloof from it,
As I know that I myself, too, was brought up as a stranger,
Like you, and although I was only one man in a strange land,
§ 565 I was willing to have the utmost dangers on my head.
And so I wouldn’t ever turn aside from helping
You, a stranger, as in fact you now are. Since
I’m well aware that I’m a man, and that I have
No more share of the day towards tomorrow than you.
OEDIPUS:
Theseus, your nobility in a short speech
§ 570 Has allowed the necessity for me to speak briefly.
You’ve said who I am, who my father was,
And what country I came from.
So it only remains for me to say
What I want, and my story is ended.
THESEUS:
Tell it to me now, so that I may know.
§ 575 OEDIPUS:
I’ve come to give you my wretched body
As a gift, though it’s not much good to look at. But
The gains to be had from it are greater than any beautiful shape.
THESEUS:
What gain do you think is worth your coming and bringing?
§ 580 OEDIPUS:
You’ll find out in time --- but not at the moment.
THESEUS:
How will your present be revealed?
OEDIPUS:
When I die, and you are my grave-digger.
THESEUS:
You’re asking for the last things in life, but for what’s in between
You have no memory, or think it’s unimportant.
§ 585 OEDIPUS:
Yes, for all that is brought together with it.
THESEUS:
This favour you’re asking is brief indeed.
OEDIPUS:
Watch out though --- this struggle is not small, oh no.
THESEUS:
Is it to do with the matter of your sons and me?
OEDIPUS:
My lord, they want you to bring me there.
§ 590 THESEUS:
But if you’re willing, it’s not right for you to go into exile.
OEDIPUS:
No! When I was willing, they didn’t let me!
THESEUS:
Foolish man! Anger when you have problems is not suitable.
OEDIPUS:
When you’ve heard my story, advise me – till then leave it.
THESEUS:
Tell me --- I shouldn’t say anything without a clear judgement.
§ 595 OEDIPUS: Theseus, I’ve suffered terribly --- pain upon pains!
THESEUS:
Are you going to talk about the old disaster of your family?
OEDIPUS:
Of course not! Since everyone in Greece is moaning about it.
THESEUS:
Why, then, are you suffering from something greater than for a normal person?
OEDIPUS:
This is how it is for me --- I was driven out of my country
§ 600 By my own offspring. There’s no
Going back for me, ever, as I’m a father-killer.
THESEUS:
Why then would they send for you, only for you to live apart?
OEDIPUS:
The mouth of the god will compel them.
THESEUS:
What are they afraid they’ll suffer as a result of the oracle?
§ 605 OEDIPUS:
That they must be beaten in this land.
THESEUS:
How could there be bitterness between them and me?
OEDIPUS:
Dearest son of Aegeus, only the gods
Have no old age and can never die.
All-powerful Time confuses everything else.
§ 610 The strength of earth withers, of body withers,
Trust dies, distrust grows.
And the same spirit is never steadfast
Among friends, or between city and city.
To some already, and to others later,
§ 615 Delightful things become bitter, and then pleasurable again.
As for Thebes, even if the current situation is clear skies
And fine toward you, countless Time in its passage
Gives birth to countless nights and days,
In which they will scatter the current harmonious
§ 620 Pledges of friendship with warfare for the slightest reason.
And there my sleeping and hidden dead body,
Cold as it is, will drink their warm blood.
That is, if Zeus is still Zeus, and his son Apollo speaks clearly.
But as it isn’t pleasant to say things that are without motion,
§ 625 Leave me in the situation in which I began, only keeping
Your pledge to me, and you will never say you received
Oedipus as a useless inhabitant of the places
Around here, if in fact the gods are not lying to me.
CHORUS:
My lord, earlier this man appeared in order to fulfil
§ 630 These and similar promises for this land.
THESEUS:
Who could then reject the goodwill of a man
Like this, to whom, firstly, a spear-friendly
Hearth is always shared with us?
And then, after arriving as a suppliant of the gods
§ 635 To this land and to me he is paying no small tribute.
Because I’ve been respected like this, I will never reject the favour
Of this man, but will settle him in our country.
[to his attendants] If the stranger wishes to remain here, I will appoint you
To guard him. [to OEDIPUS] Or if you wish
§ 640 To come with me, Oedipus, I’m letting
You decide on this. I’ll go along with it.
OEDIPUS: [looking up at the sky]
Zeus, may you grant good gifts to people like this!
THESEUS:
What is it you want, then? To come to my house?
OEDIPUS:
If it were lawful for me. But this is the place---
§ 645 THESEUS:
Where you’ll do what? I won’t stand in your way.
OEDIPUS:
---where I’ll have power over the people who’ve exiled me.
THESEUS:
This is a huge gift you’re telling us, of your association with us.
OEDIPUS:
Yes, it will be, if what you’re saying holds true, for me who am to fulfil it.
THESEUS:
You can be confident about me --- I will not betray you.
§ 650 OEDIPUS:
And I will not bind you under oath as a bad person.
THESEUS:
Then you would not win anything more than by my word.
OEDIPUS:
What will you do then?
THESEUS:
What fear holds you the most?
OEDIPUS:
Men will come---
THESEUS:
[pointing to his attendants] These will see to that.
OEDIPUS:
Watch out that if you leave me---
THESEUS:
Don’t tell me what to do!
OEDIPUS:
I must be afraid---
§ 655 THESEUS:
My heart is not afraid.
OEDIPUS:
You don’t know the threats---
THESEUS:
I know that no man
Will lead you away from here against my will.
Many threats have been made in anger but to no avail,
And many words, but when the mind
§ 660 Comes of itself, the threats vanish.
Likewise, even if they strengthen their terrible words
Of bringing you back, I know there will appear
A wide sea from here, one not to be sailed across.
So I advise you to be confident, even without
§ 665 Any judgement of mine, if Apollo sent you in advance.
All the same, even without my being here, I know that
My name will protect you from suffering any harm.
[exit Theseus]
CHORUS: [strophe A]
Stranger, you have come to the best folds
Of this well-horsed land,
§ 670 To bright Colonus, where
The shrill nightingale
Coming most often, warbles
Under green glens;
A land with the wine-faced vine
§ 675 And the myriad-fruited sunless
Leaf untrodden by god,
And without the wind of any
Storms, where the Inspirer
Dionysus always walks,
§ 680 Attending the goddesses his nurses.
[antistrophe A]
Under the skyey dew thrives
The beautiful-clustering narcissus always
Every day – it is the ancient crown
To the two great goddesses, along with the
§ 685 Gold-beaming crocus. Nor do the sleepless
Springs diminish,
Which nourish the waters of the Cephisus,
But always each day
Swift in fertility it flows with its pure
§ 690 Rain over the plains
Of the broad swelling earth; nor does the Muses’
Chorus hate it, nor does
Aphrodite of the golden reins.
§ 695 [strophe B]
There is such a thing as I have not heard of in Asia,
And never grown in the great Dorian island of Pelops,
A plant not to taken by hand, self-producing,
A cause of fear for our enemies’ spears,
§ 700 Which thrives the most in this land ---
The leaf of the child-nourishing grey olive.
Neither a youth nor one living
With old age will destroy it with their hands and make it fruitless. For the vigilant eye
Of fateful Zeus watches over it,
Along with grey-eyed Athene.
[antistrophe B]
Another story I can tell for this mother-city,
§ 710 The greatest gift of the great god, the land’s greatest glory,
One of noble horses, noble foals, and the noble sea.
Son of Kronos, for you are seated
In this glory, lord Poseidon,
§ 715 Since you established for the horses the rein
That tames them, in these streets first of all;
And the well-oared terrifying sail, flying in our hands, leaps
Over the sea, accompanied
By the hundred-footed Nereids.
§ 720 ANTIGONE:
You land, well spoken of with the greatest praise,
Now it is your turn to demonstrate those bright words!
OEDIPUS:
What new thing is this, my child?
ANTIGONE:
Creon here
Is approaching, and with an escort.
OEDIPUS:
Dearest old men! From you
§ 725 May the end of my safety be revealed!
CHORUS:
Don’t worry, you’ll be safe – even if I’m old,
The strength of this land isn’t old.
[enter Creon with attendants]
CREON:
Men of this land, you well-born inhabitants,
I see from your eyes that you have been seized
§ 730 With a fresh fear of my coming.
Don’t shrink away from me, and don’t let loose any bad word.
I’ve come not as one wanting to do anything, since
I’m an old man, and I know that I’ve come
To a city that’s very powerful, if any is in Greece.
§ 735 But I was sent to persuade this man,
Old as he is, to follow me back to Thebes.
It wasn’t one person that sent me, but I was ordered
By all the men, since it has come to me, through my family,
To suffer this man’s pains to the greatest extent of the city.
§ 740 Wretched Oedipus! Listen to me
And come to your home. All the people of Thebes
Are calling you as is proper, and of them I most of all,
Since I, unless I were born the most evil
Person, am in pain at your sufferings, old man,
§ 745 Seeing you the stranger in your wretched state,
And going along deprived of life
On your one attendant here. Oh, I to my sorrow
Would never have thought that she would fall to such a depth
Of shame, as she in her misfortune has fallen ---
§ 750 Always caring for you and your person
With a beggarly way of life, at her age, with no experience
Of marriage, but something for the first man who comes along to seize.
Doesn’t this terrible accusation, wretched as I am,
Fall on you, me, and the whole family?
§ 755 But something so visible cannot be hidden. By your
Ancestral gods, Oedipus, listen to me
And hide it – willingly return to the city and your
Ancestral house, after addressing this city
In friendly fashion. Athens is worthy, but Thebes should be more
§ 760 Respected as is right, since she was your nurse before.
OEDIPUS:
You who would dare all, and carry away from every
Just argument a colourful scheme!
Why are you trying this? Why do you want to seize me
A second time, in what I would suffer the most pain, after you’d seized me earlier?
§ 765 Before, when I was sick with those sufferings
At home, when it was my delight to be exiled from the land,
You were unwilling to grant that favour to me, though I was willing.
No, but when my anger was already past the full,
And it was my pleasure to spend my time in my house,
That was when you were thrusting me out, throwing me out! No way
§ 770 Was this family at all dear to you then!
Now, once again, when you see this city
Associating in a friendly way with me and my whole family,
You’re trying to draw me over to your side, by speaking harsh words gently.
§ 775 And yet what is this delight to love the unwilling?
As if someone were to give you nothing, and were unwilling
To help you, even though you were striving to obtain it,
But after your heart had its fill of the desire for what it wanted, then
He would give it, when the favour brings no pleasure –
§ 780 Wouldn’t you find this delight empty?
That’s just what you’re bringing to me:
Things that are good in words, but bad in practice.
I shall tell these people as well, to show that you are bad.
You’ve come to take me, not to bring me to my house,
§ 785 But to settle me alongside you, so that your city
Unharmed by any misfortune may be set free of this land.
You’re not getting that, but this instead --- there
My avenging spirit always living in the land.
My sons are to obtain this much
§ 790 Of my country – to die in it, that’s all.
Don’t I have a better idea of what’s happening in Thebes than you?
Yes, much better, since I listen to those who are wiser,
Apollo and Zeus himself, who is his father.
Your mouth has come here duplicitous,
§ 795 With a lot of hard words. But in the speaking
You would receive more evils than safety.
I know I’m not persuading you in this, so go!
Let us live here – even if it were like this
Our life wouldn’t be bad, if we were to enjoy it.
§ 800 CREON:
Do you think that I’ve failed in your matter,
Or that you’ve failed more in your own matter, in the current discussion?
OEDIPUS:
It’s the utmost pleasure to me, if you cannot persuade
Either me or these people nearby!
CREON:
Ill-fated man! Will you be seen even in your advanced years to have
§ 805 No sense any more? Will you nourish that stain with your old age?
OEDIPUS:
You’re clever with your tongue --- but I don’t know any law-abiding
Man who can speak well out of every situation.
CREON:
There’s a difference between saying a lot, and what’s to the point.
OEDIPUS:
As if you’re speaking briefly and to the point!
§ 810 CREON:
That’s certainly not for someone with a mind like yours!
OEDIPUS:
Get out of here! I’ll say it in front of these people as well – Don’t
Besiege me, keeping watch over where I must live.
CREON:
I call these people to witness, not you --- but to your dearest ones
With what words you’re answering them, if ever I get hold of you----
§ 815 OEDIPUS: [pointing to the Chorus]
Who could get hold of me against the will of these allies?
CREON:
I tell you, even without that, you’ll soon feel grief.
§ 815 OEDIPUS:
What action do you base that threat on?
CREON:
I’ve just now seized your other daughter
And sent her to your two sons – I’ll take this one soon.
OEDIPUS:
Oh no!
§ 820 CREON:
You’ll be saying ‘Oh no!’ a lot more soon.
OEDIPUS:
Do you have my daughter?
CREON:
And this one in a short time.
OEDIPUS: [to Chorus]
Oh strangers, what are you going to do? Will you let me down?
Won’t you drive this impious man from the land?
CHORUS: [to Creon]
Stranger, get out of here at once. What you’re doing now
§ 825 Is not lawful, nor what you did before.
CREON: [to his attendants]
Now would be the time for you to take her away
Against her will, if she doesn’t want to go.
ANTIGONE:
Wretched me, where am I to escape? What help can I get
From gods or men?
[Creon moves toward Antigone]
CHORUS:
What are you doing, stranger?
§ 830 CREON:
I won’t grab him, but what’s mine!
§ 830 OEDIPUS:
Help me, lords of this land!
CHORUS:
[to Creon] Stranger, what you’re doing isn’t lawful.
CREON:
It is lawful!
CHORUS:
How lawful?
CREON:
I’m taking what’s mine!
[Creon grabs Antigone]
OEDIPUS:
Help me, city!
§ 835 CHORUS: [to Creon]
What are you doing, stranger? Let her go! It’ll come to a fight soon!
[Chorus moves toward Creon]
CREON:
Keep away!
CHORUS:
From you, no --- not while you’re planning this!
CREON:
You’ll be fighting with my city, if you harm me in any way!
OEDIPUS: [to Chorus]
Didn’t I tell you he’d do this?
CHORUS: [to Creon]
Get your hands off
His daughter at once!
§ 840 CREON:
Don’t order me what you have no power to!
CHORUS:
I’m telling you to let go!
CREON:
And I’m telling you to go on your way!
CHORUS: [to others off stage]
Step forward then, countrymen, step forward!
My city is being defeated by strength – step forward then!
ANTIGONE: [Antigone is slowly dragged off stage by Creon towards his attendants]
I’m being dragged away, poor me! Oh strangers, strangers!
OEDIPUS: [he holds his arms out]
Where are you, my child?
§ 845 ANTIGONE:
I’m being taken by force!
OEDIPUS:
Reach out your hands to me!
ANTIGONE:
I don’t have the strength.
CREON: [He hands Antigone to his attendants]
Will you not take her?
ANTIGONE:
I’m wretched, wretched!
[Creon’s attendants take Antigone off stage]
CREON:
You won’t go along with these two walking sticks
Any longer – since you’re willing to defeat
§ 850 Your homeland and your friends and family, by whom I
Have been ordered to do this, even though I’m the ruler,
Then defeat us. In time, I know, you’ll realise
That you’re not doing anything good for yourself
Now, and you didn’t before when you went against the will of your family,
§ 855 Indulging your anger, which is always disgracing you.
[Creon starts to move away off stage]
§ 855 CHORUS: [They grab Creon]
Stop right there, stranger!
CREON:
I’m telling you, don’t touch me!
CHORUS:
I won’t let go, without the two ladies!
CREON:
Then you’ll soon deposit an even greater security
For my city --- because I’ll lay my hands on more than those two!
CHORUS:
What are you turning to?
§ 860 CREON:
[points to Oedipus] I’ll seize and take away him!
CHORUS:
That would be terrible!
CREON:
It’s as good as done now.
[He moves to grab Oedipus]
CHORUS:
Unless the king of this land prevents you!
OEDIPUS: [to Creon]
Shameless voice! Are you going to touch me?
CREON:
Shut up!
OEDIPUS:
No --- may these goddesses not
§ 865 Make me quiet of one more curse ---
Since you, when my eyes were gone, tore
My unprotected eye, Antigone, from me, and went off using force.
Therefore may the Sun who alone of the gods sees everything
Grant that you and your family one day
§ 870 Grow old in such a life as I have now.
§ 870 CREON: [to the Chorus]
Do you see this, people of this land?
OEDIPUS:
They see both of us, and understand that
Because I’ve suffered by your actions, I’m repaying you with words!
CREON:
I won’t hold down my anger! I’ll take you by force
§ 875 Even if I’m alone and take a slow time about it!
[He moves to grab Oedipus]
OEDIPUS:
Help me!
CHORUS:
With such a purpose, stranger, go away, if you intend to do this!
CREON:
I do intend to.
CHORUS:
Then I no longer hold sway in this city!
§ 880 CREON:
With justice even a slight man can overcome a powerful one!
OEDIPUS: [to Chorus]
Do you hear what he’s saying?
CHORUS:
Which he won’t accomplish!
Let powerful Zeus know!
CREON:
Zeus would know, but you wouldn’t!
CHORUS:
Isn’t that arrogance?
CREON:
Yes, but you have to put up with it.
§ 880 CHORUS: [calling to others off stage]
Help us, all the people! Help us, champions of the land!
§ 885 Come quickly, quickly, since these men are indeed passing to the other side!
[Enter Theseus with attendant]
THESEUS:
What’s all this shouting? What’s going on? What was the fear before
That made you stop me sacrificing at the altar to the marine god
Who is the protector of the hero Colonus? Tell me, so I can know everything.
§ 890 That’s why I rushed here faster than I would have liked on foot.
OEDIPUS:
My dearest friend – for I know the proper way to address you --
Just now I suffered terribly at this man’s hands. [points to Creon]
THESEUS:
What’s this? Who hurt you? Tell me.
OEDIPUS:
Creon here, who you can see, has gone and torn
§ 895 My children from me, my only teamsters!
THESEUS:
What are you saying?
OEDIPUS:
The very sufferings you’ve just heard!
THESEUS:
Let one of the attendants go as fast as they can
To those altars, and compel all the people,
Horsed and unhorsed, at full gallop
§ 900 To hurry from the sacrifices, to where the travellers’
Two roads come together the most,
So that the girls don’t get past, and I am not made
A laughing-stock by this stranger [points to Creon], because I’ve been subdued by force.
[to his attendant] Go quickly, as I ordered you! But as for this man, [points to Creon]
§ 905 If I were to come to anger, which he’s worthy of,
I wouldn’t let him escape unwounded from my hand.
But now, by the very laws he came in here with,
By these and no others will he be kept in order.
[to Creon] You will never get out of this country, until
§ 910 You bring and set the women here before my eyes.
Since you haven’t acted worthily of me,
Of your parents, or of your country.
You have come against a city that practises justice,
And determines nothing without law, and then you neglect
§ 915 This country’s authorities, attack us like this,
Take what you want, and subjugate them by force.
And you thought that my city was without men
And a slave, and that I was nobody!
And yet Thebes didn’t educate you to be bad –
§ 920 She doesn’t usually nourish lawless men,
Nor would they praise you if they found out
You were carrying off what belongs to me and the gods, by force
Taking wretched suppliants.
Nor would I go against your country,
§ 925 Not even if I had the most just cause of all,
Without the consent of the country’s ruler, whoever he was,
Or be dragging or taking anyone away – I would know
How a stranger ought to live among the townspeople.
You are shaming a city that doesn’t deserve it,
§ 930 Your own, and time in its increase
Makes you both old and empty of mind.
I told you before, and I’m telling you now,
That someone should bring the daughters here as quickly as possible,
Unless you want to be a permanent resident of this city
§ 935 By force and against your will. And what
I’m telling you is decided by my mind as well as from my tongue.
CHORUS:
Do you see where you’ve come to, stranger? Judging by those you come from
You seem to be law-abiding, but by your actions you are shown to be evil.
CREON:
I don’t consider this city to be without men,
§ 940 Son of Aegeus, or without counsel, as you say.
I carried out this action because I realised
That no zeal would ever come upon them
For my relatives, as to turn them against my will.
I knew that they would not welcome a man
§ 945 Who was a father-killer and impure, one whose marriage
Associated with children was revealed to be unholy.
And I knew that they had a court of good counsel, the Areopagus,
A local one, which doesn’t allow
Wanderers such as these to live with them in this city.
§ 950 Putting my trust in all this, I undertook this hunt.
And I wouldn’t be doing this if he [pointing at Oedipus] were not uttering
Bitter curses against me and my whole family.
I thought it was right to do this in response to how I was treated.
There is no old age for anger, except
§ 955 Dying – no pain touches the dead.
In response to this you’ll do whatever you want. Since
My being alone, even if my cause is just,
Makes me weak. Yet as for your actions,
Even though I’m old, I’ll try to act in response.
§ 960 OEDIPUS:
You shameless character, who do you think you’re insulting with this,
Me in my old age or yourself?
Since you’ve poured from your mouth murder,
Marriage and disaster, which I in my wretchedness
Suffered unawares – as the gods wanted it so ---
§ 965 Perhaps because they were angry with my family long ago.
Since for myself at least, you could not find in me
Any blame for a fault, in response to which
I committed this fault against myself and my loved ones.
Since otherwise, tell me, if something god-decreed by oracles
§ 970 Were to come to my father, that he would be killed by his child,
How could you be right in blaming me for this,
I who hadn’t had birth from a father
Or mother, but wasn’t even born then?
But if, again, revealed to be unfortunate (as I was revealed),
§ 975 I came to blows with my father and killed him,
Being unaware of my actions and the person I was acting against,
How could you blame me for an action I was unconscious of?
As for the marriage with my mother, poor woman, you are not ashamed
At forcing me to talk about it, even though she’s your relative,
§ 980 Which I’ll tell you about shortly – no, I won’t be silent,
Since you’ve gone to such a depth of unholy speech.
She gave birth to me, gave birth – woe is me for these evils! –
Neither of us knew this, and after she’d given birth to me,
It was her blame to produce children with me.
§ 985 But I do know one thing – that you willingly
Speak evil in this about her and me. And I
Married her unawares, and I say this unwillingly.
No, for I won’t be caught out as evil in this
Marriage, nor in what you keep inflicting on me,
§ 990 The murder of my father that you bitterly blame me for.
Answer me one question only of those I ask you –
If someone right here and now were to stand near
And try to kill you, the law-abiding man, would you find out if
The killer were your father, or repay him straight away?
§ 995 I think you would, if you like living – you’d repay
The man responsible, and not look around for justice.
But that’s exactly the kind of problems I entered into,
Since the gods were leading me. On this point I think that not even
My father’s spirit, if he were alive, would have disagreed with me.
§ 1000 But you, since you’re not law-abiding, but usually say
That the speakable and unspeakable are both noble,
Keep blaming me for this kind of thing, which is the opposite of it.
And for you it’s good to flatter Theseus
And Athens, saying it’s been administered well.
§ 1005 But while praising them like that you forget many things out of this –
That if any country knows how to revere
The gods with honours, this one excels in it.
And from Athens you stole me, an old suppliant,
Tried to subdue me, and took my daughters away.
§ 1010 In return for this I now call upon and beseech
These goddesses, and fall upon them with prayers,
To come as my helpers and allies, so that you may find out
What sort of men watch over this city.
CHORUS: [to THESEUS] My lord, the stranger is a good man. His disasters
§ 1015 Have been ruinous, so all the more deserve our defence.
THESEUS:
Enough of words! Those who’ve done this
Are hurrying off, while we who’ve suffered are still standing here.
CREON:
What do you order me to do with the blind man?
THESEUS:
Start out on the road there, but I will go
§ 1020 As an escort, so that, if you have them in our region,
You may show the girls clearly to me.
But if you exercise power over the people escaping, there’s no need for any effort.
No, as there are others hurrying off – they will never
Escape this country from them and make a vow of thanks to the gods.
§ 1025 Lead the way – but you should know that holding you are held,
And fortune has seized you in your hunt. Things obtained
By a guile that is unjust, are not safe.
You won’t be grabbing anyone else in this matter. As I know clearly that you
Didn’t come here bare or unprepared to such a great
§ 1030 Arrogance, in the boldness that stands beside you now.
No, there’s someone you relied on when you did this.
I must pay attention to this, and not make
This city weaker than one man.
Do you understand any of this? Do you think my current speech
§ 1035 Has been spoken in vain, and when you were devising this?
CREON:
While you’re here you will say nothing blameworthy to me,
But we at home will know what we must do.
THESEUS:
Go ahead of me now, making your threats! But you, Oedipus,
Stay with us here relaxed, and be confident that
§ 1040 Unless I die first, I won’t stop
Until I set you up with power over your daughters.
OEDIPUS:
May you be blessed, Theseus, for your nobility,
And for your just forethought towards us.
[exit Theseus and Creon]
CHORUS: [strophe A]
I wish I were where hostile
§ 1045 Men’s turnings will soon `
Mingle bronze-yelling
Ares, by the Pythian
Shores, or those lit by torches,
§ 1050 Where the goddesses nurture the revered rites
For mortals, on whose tongue
The golden seal of the attendant
Eumolpidae has gone.
There I think battle-rousing
§ 1055 Theseus and the two
Unwedded sisters
Will soon meet together with self-sufficient cries
Throughout this land.
[antistrophe A]
Or perhaps they are approaching the pastures
§ 1060 To the west of the snowy
Rock of Oea,
Fleeing on their colts,
Or with chariot-whirling contentions.
§ 1065 Creon will be overcome: terrible is neighbouring Ares,
And terrible the might of the sons of Theseus.
Every cavalry-bit is flashing lightning,
And all our mounts move off
After releasing the straps
§ 1070 Of the bridles. They honour
Athene of the horse,
And the oceanic earth-embracing
Dear son of Rhea.
§ 1070 [strophe B]
Are they acting or about to? How
§ 1075 Some judgement of mine
Courts me to hope that soon they will encounter
Those women who have endured terribly, and found terrible sufferings at their relatives’ hands.
Zeus will accomplish something today –
I am the oracle of a good end to the contest.
I wish as a stormy fast-flying dove
§ 1080 I could reach a skyey cloud and lift
My eyes above the contest.
§ 1085 [antistrophe B]
Ruler of all the gods, all-
Seeing Zeus, may you grant
To those ruling the people of this land
To bring to an end with victorious strength the ambush that is hunted well,
§ 1090 You and your revered daughter Pallas Athene.
And I desire that the huntsman Apollo,
And his sister who follows after the thickly-dappled
Swift-footed deer, come as twin
Helpers to this country and its citizens.
[to OEDIPUS]
§ 1095 Wandering stranger, you will not say that your watcher
Was a false prophet – I can see the girls
Approaching quickly again with their attendants.
OEDIPUS:
Where? Where? What do you mean? What are you saying?
[enter Antigone, Ismene, Theseus, and attendants]
ANTIGONE:
Oh, father, father!
§ 1100 I wish one of the gods would let you see this wonderful man
Who brought us here to you!
OEDIPUS:
My child! Are you both here?
ANTIGONE:
Yes – the hands here
Of Theseus and his very dear attendants have saved us!
OEDIPUS:
Come to your father, my children, and grant
§ 1105 To lift the body that never expected you’d come!
ANTIGONE:
You’re asking what we’ll grant – the favour goes with our yearning.
[Antigone and Ismene move toward him]
OEDIPUS:
Where? Where are you?
ANTIGONE:
We’re right near you, here.
OEDIPUS:
My dearest offspring!
[Oedipus embraces them]
ANTIGONE:
Everything is dear to the parent!
OEDIPUS:
The walking sticks of a man!
ANTIGONE:
Ill-fated ones, of an ill-fated man!
§ 1110 OEDIPUS:
I’m holding my dearest ones, and I wouldn’t be utterly wretched
If I were to die with you two standing near me!
Lean on both sides of me, children,
Implanted to the one who planted you, and take a rest
From your desolate miserable wandering earlier.
§ 1115 Tell me what happened as briefly as you can, since
A short speech is enough for girls of your age.
ANTIGONE:
Here is the man who rescued us. You should listen to him, father,
Since he was the one that did it. My part will be brief.
OEDIPUS:
Stranger, don’t be surprised if I persist
§ 1120 In making a long speech to my children who’ve appeared unexpectedly.
I know that this delight of mine
Towards them has appeared from no-one else –
You were the one who rescued them, no other person did.
May the gods grant to you my wish,
§ 1125 Both to yourself and this country, since I have found
Piety among you, alone of all people,
As well as fairness, and not false-speaking.
Knowing this, I’m repaying your actions with these words.
For I have what I have because of you and no other person.
§ 1130 Stretch out your right hand to me, my lord, so
I may touch it, and kiss your head, if it is proper.
[Theseus holds out his hand] Yet what am I saying? How could I who was born wretched
Be willing to touch a man in whom not
A stain of suffering lives? No, I won’t touch you,
§ 1135 Nor will I allow it. [Theseus withdraws his hand] Only those who’ve experienced
These sufferings can share in them.
Welcome me from where you are, and in the future
Look after me with justice, as you’ve done up to this point.
THESEUS:
If you’ve used a somewhat long speech
§ 1140 Out of delight for your children here, I’m not surprised,
Nor if you received their words first, ahead of me.
I take no offence at all from this.
It’s not with words that we are eager
To brighten life, but with actions.
§ 1145 And I’m demonstrating this now – I didn’t lie at all about the oaths I took
For you, old man. Here I am bringing these women
Alive, untouched by those threats.
As for how the contest was won, why should I pointlessly
Boast, when you yourself will find out from them when you’re together?
§ 1150 But as for the story that’s come to me just now
As I was on my way here, please give me your opinion, since
Small as it is to speak of, it’s worthy of wonder –
A person should not ignore any action.
OEDIPUS:
What is it, son of Aegeus? Tell me,
§ 1155 As one who doesn’t know any of what you’ve found out.
THESEUS:
They tell me that a man who isn’t
From your city, but a relative of yours, somehow came upon
And now sits on Poseidon’s altar, beside which
I happened to be sacrificing when I started out here.
§ 1160 OEDIPUS:
Where is he from? What does he want as well, with this sitting posture?
THESEUS:
I don’t know, except for one thing – with you, so they tell me,
He wants to have a short word, one not full of any great weight.
OEDIPUS:
What could it be? This suppliant posture is no small matter.
THESEUS:
They say he only asks to come
§ 1165 To words with you, then return safely from his journey here.
OEDIPUS:
Who could it be, seated like this?
THESEUS:
See whether there is some relative of yours
From Argos, who might want to obtain this favour from you.
OEDIPUS:
Dearest friend, stay right where you are!
THESEUS:
What’s the matter with you?
OEDIPUS:
Don’t ask me!
§ 1170 THESEUS:
About what? Tell me.
OEDIPUS:
Hearing this, I know exactly who the suppliant is.
THESEUS:
Who is it, that I could find a problem with?
OEDIPUS:
My lord, it’s my hateful son, whose words I
Would endure most painfully of men.
§ 1175 THESEUS:
Why? Can’t you just listen, then not do such things
As you do not want? What is so painful for you to hear?
OEDIPUS:
My lord, that voice has come to be hostile to his father.
Don’t drive me to the necessity to yield to this.
THESEUS:
But if his suppliant stance forces you,
§ 1180 I fear that forethought for the gods must be observed.
ANTIGONE:
Listen to me, father, even if my advice is unexpected.
Let this man gratify
His own mind and the god in what he wishes,
§ 1185 And concede to us both that my brother comes here.
Rest assured, he won’t forcibly wrench you apart
From your judgment, with words that won’t be spoken to your benefit.
What’s the harm in listening to him? Actions evilly
Devised are revealed by words.
You fathered him -- so even if he does you
§ 1190 The most impious of wrongs, father,
It isn’t right for you to do him wrong in return.
Let him speak: other people, too, have bad offspring
And a sharp temper, but when they’re advised
By the charms of their friends, they’re charmed out of their nature.
§ 1195 Don’t focus on what’s current, but on those
Father and mother pains you suffered.
If you turn your attention to those, I’m sure you’ll find out that the result
Of a bad temper is also bad.
Your ability to reason is not insignificant,
§ 1200 Because you’ve been afflicted by blindness.
Give in to us – it isn’t proper for those who desire
Justice to importune, nor for a person who’s been treated
Well not to know how to repay his treatment.
OEDIPUS:
My child, that’s a heavy gratification you’re winning me over to
§ 1205 With your speech. Let it be, then, as you wish.
[to THESEUS] Only, stranger, if he comes like this,
Let no-one have power over my life in the future.
THESEUS:
Once only do I need to hear such words, not twice,
Old man. I don’t want to boast – you know
§ 1210 You’re safe, if in fact any of the gods keeps me safe as well.
CHORUS: [strophe A]
Whoever desires the larger portion of life, after passing over
The moderate one, in my opinion will be clearly
Clinging to perversity.
§ 1215 Since the long days store up many things
Nearer to grief, but you would not know where delight is,
Whenever a person falls into more
§ 1220 Than he needs. But the Helper comes in the end to everyone,
When the doom of Hades that is without hymns,
Lyre or dance is revealed,
In the finality of death.
§ 1225 [antistrophe A]
Not to be born exceeds the whole estimate. But when a person is born,
It is easily the second-best thing for him to leave
Whence he has come as quickly as possible.
§ 1230 Because, when he passes by youth that brings light-mindedness,
What blow full of toil is beyond? What toil is not within?
Envy, civil war, strife, battles,
§ 1235 And bloodshed. And what is disparaged by all at the last
Succeeds by lot --- powerless, unsociable
Unfriendly old age, where all manner
Of evils live with evils.
[epode]
This is the situation this poor man is in, not only me ---
§ 1240 Just as from every side some northern
Wave-struck cape in winter is pounded,
So also is he pounded from top to bottom
By the dreadful wave-driven
Ruins that are always with him,
§ 1245 Some from the setting sun’s direction,
Some from its rising,
Some from its noontime beams,
And some from the darkling north [Ripa].
ANTIGONE:
Here’s our stranger it seems,
§ 1250 Father – alone, pouring
Tears from his eyes as he walks along.
OEDIPUS:
Who is it?
ANTIGONE:
The very man we’ve been holding down
In our judgement. Polyneices is here.
[enter Polyneices]
POLYNEICES:
Oh, what am I to do? Am I to lament my own
§ 1255 Former troubles, sisters, or seeing those
Of my old father here? I’ve found him here
Exiled in a foreign land with you two,
With clothing like this [points to Oedipus’s clothes], whose hateful
Old filth has lived with an old man,
§ 1260 Wasting his sides; on his head without eyes
His unkempt hair is blown about by the wind.
My sister, it seems, bears the nourishment
For them of his wretched stomach.
I utterly ruined, am finding this out all too late.
§ 1265 [to OEDIPUS] I testify that I’ve come to be the worst person
As to your maintenance. Don’t find out my story from others.
But since there is sitting at Zeus’s throne
A compassion in all actions, let it stand near
You as well, father. For your mistakes
§ 1270 There are cures, but any further ones are no longer possible.
[he waits for Oedipus to speak]
Why are you quiet?
Say something, father! [Oedipus turns his back] Don’t turn away from me.
Aren’t you going to reply to me at all? Are you going to dishonour me
And send me away wordlessly, without telling me why you’re angry?
§ 1275 [to ANTIGONE and Ismene] My sisters, his offspring!
You at least try to move father’s
Unapproachable and implacable mouth,
So that he doesn’t send me away like this dishonoured ---
One who stands before the god --- without making any reply.
§ 1280 ANTIGONE:
Tell us, poor man, what need has brought you here.
A long speech, because it causes delight,
Disgust, or is somehow piteous,
Provides a voice to the unvoiced.
POLYNEICES:
I’ll tell you everything, as you’re introducing it well for me.
§ 1285 Firstly, making the god himself
My supporter, after that this country’s ruler
Made me leave my suppliant seat and come here, after granting me
To speak and listen with a safe departure.
[to Chorus] That’s what I wish from you, strangers,
§ 1290 And from my sisters and father, for me to have.
[to OEDIPUS] And now I want to tell you why I came, father.
I’ve been driven out as an exile from my homeland,
Because I thought I had the right to sit on your all-powerful
Throne, being older by birth.
§ 1295 That’s why Eteocles, who is younger in growth,
Thrust me out of the country, not by overcoming me with words,
Or going to the test of hand or action,
But by persuading the city. And I say that most
Likely your Fury is to blame for this.
§ 1300 And afterwards that’s what I also hear from the seers.
When I came to Dorian Argos,
After taking my father-in-law Adrastus, I raised
For myself in a sworn league all those in Argos
Who are called pre-eminent and honoured in warfare,
§ 1305 To muster a seven-speared army
With them against Thebes, and either die all-justly,
Or exile from the country those who’ve done this.
Well then – why do I happen to have come here?
With prayers turned towards you, father,
§ 1310 My own and those of my allies,
Who are now surrounding the whole plain of Thebes
With seven battle arrays and seven spears.
Like spear-brandishing Amphiaraus, who is pre-eminent
At governing with the spear, and at the flights of birds.
§ 1315 The second is Tydeus, son of Aetolian
Oeneus. The third is Eteocles who is an Argive.
The third is Hippomedon sent by his father
Talaos. The fifth, Capaneus, boasts
That by destruction he is going to ravage Thebes with fire.
§ 1320 The sixth, the Arcadian Parthenopaeus, rushes out,
So-named as he was born from his mother who was
Earlier unmarried after a time, the trusty son of Atalanta.
And lastly I your son, even if I’m not yours, but by an evil
Fate fathered, yet called yours,
§ 1325 Am leading the fearless army of Argos against Thebes.
On behalf of your children here and your soul, father,
All of us ask and beseech you
To yield your heavy anger toward me
As I rush to repay my brother,
§ 1330 Who has thrust me out and robbed me of my homeland.
For if there’s anything trustworthy from an oracle,
It said that whoever you side with is to have power.
And now, by the springs and gods of our same family
I ask you to listen and relent, since
§ 1335 We are beggars and strangers, and you are a stranger.
It’s only by flattering others that you and I
Live here, as we’ve been allotted the same fate.
But Eteocles the king at home (alas for me!)
Luxuriates and laughs at us together.
§ 1340 But if you stand with me in support of my mind,
I will scatter him soon with little fanfare.
And so I’ll bring you and set you up in your house.
And I’ll set myself up, casting Eteocles out by force.
If you’re willing to help I can boast
§ 1345 This, but without you I don’t have the power to get home safely.
CHORUS:
For the sake of Theseus who sent him here, Oedipus,
Tell him what is appropriate, then send him back.
OEDIPUS:
You guardians of this land – if
Theseus had not happened to have sent him here
§ 1350 To me, thinking it right for him to hear my reply,
Then he would never have heard my oracular voice.
But now he will be thought worthy of it, and will go, after hearing from me
Such things as will never delight his life.
[to POLYNEICES] You bastard, when you held the sceptre and throne
§ 1355 Which your brother now holds in Thebes,
You yourself drove out your own father here,
Made him cityless and wear these clothes
Which now you cry about when you look at them, when you happen
To have come to the same pain of evils as me!
§ 1360 These are nothing to weep over, but I must put up with them
As long as I live, remembering you the murderer.
No, for it was you who made me live in this toil,
You thrust me out, and it’s because of you that I wander around
Asking other people for my daily necessities of life.
§ 1365 If I hadn’t fathered these daughters to be
My nurses, I wouldn’t be alive, thanks to you.
As it is, it’s they who are keeping me safe, they are my nurses,
They are men, not women, with regard to working hard together.
But you two sons were born from someone else, not me.
§ 1370 Therefore the avenging spirit is turning his eyes on you, but not yet
With such eyes as he will soon, if in fact this army is moving
Against the city of Thebes. There’s no way you’ll tear down
That city -- before that you’ll fall,
Polluting it with your blood, and your brother likewise.
§ 1375 Such are the curses I let loose against you first,
And now I call upon them to come as my allies,
So that you two may think it proper to revere parents,
And not utterly dishonour them, if it’s from a blind father
That sons like you were born --- as my daughters here didn’t do this.
§ 1380 Therefore they have power over your supplication and
Throne, if in fact there still exists Justice
Spoken of old, Zeus’s daughter, seated with ancient laws.
Get out of here, you revolt me! You have no father in me!
Evillest of the evil, take these curses with you,
§ 1385 Which I call down on you --- not to have power with the spear
Over your kindred country, nor ever return
To hollow Argos, but with familial hand
To kill and be killed by the very one who drove you out.
Such are my curses --- I call upon the hateful
§ 1390 Ancestral darkness of Tartarus to remove you from home,
I call upon the goddesses here, and I call upon Ares
Who has inflicted such terrible hatred between you two.
Now that you’ve heard this, leave, and in your going announce
To all the Thebans, both those close to you and
§ 1395 Your trusty allies, that Oedipus
Dispensed such gifts to his sons.
CHORUS:
Polyneices, I don’t delight with you in the journeys
On which you’ve gone – now return as quickly as you can.
POLYNEICES:
Alas for my journey and my lack of success,
§ 1400 Alas for my companions! Was this the end of our journey
That we started out from Argos? Poor me!
Such a one as I could not tell
Any of my companions, or turn them back again,
But I must be quiet and meet with this fortune.
§ 1405 [to Antigone and Ismene] My sisters, his daughters, you as well, since
You can hear these harsh curses father has spoken,
Don’t, by the gods, if father’s curses
Here are ever fulfilled, and you ever return home
Safely – don’t dishonour me at least,
§ 1410 But lay me in a grave with funeral honours.
That way your current praise, which you both now win
From him for the hard work you’ve done for him, will produce
Other praise no less than your service to me.
ANTIGONE:
Polyneices, I beg you to listen to me about something.
§ 1415 POLYNEICES:
Dearest Antigone, what is it? Tell me.
ANTIGONE:
Turn the army back to Argos as fast as you can!
Don’t ruin yourself and the city!
POLYNEICES:
I can’t – how could I lead the same army
Back again, just because I’d trembled once?
§ 1420 ANTIGONE:
Why, brother, must you be angry again? What gain
Do you get from razing your homeland to the ground?
POLYNEICES:
It’s shameful to run away --- and for me, the eldest,
To be laughed at like this by my brother!
ANTIGONE:
Do you see then how his prophecy [pointing to Oedipus]
§ 1425 Is coming to fulfilment? The one in which he’s pronouncing death for you two?
POLYNEICES:
Yes, for he wants it to happen – but we mustn’t give in to it.
ANTIGONE:
Oh, wretched me! Who will dare follow you
After hearing the prophecies he [pointing to Oedipus] has spoken?
POLYNEICES:
I will not make a bad announcement --- since it’s the duty of a good
§ 1430 Commander to say the better things, and not the worse.
ANTIGONE:
Is that your decision then, brother?
POLYNEICES:
Don’t try to stop me --- this journey that is my concern
Will be ill-fated and evil
Because of father here and his avenging Furies.
§ 1435 May Zeus grant you both good gifts, if you fulfil this for me
When I’m dead, since you won’t be holding me alive again.
Let me go now, and goodbye --- since you’ll never
See me alive again.
ANTIGONE:
Wretched me!
POLYNEICES:
Don’t lament me.
ANTIGONE:
Who wouldn’t bemoan you
§ 1440 When you’re setting off for manifest Hades, brother?
POLYNEICES:
I’ll die if I have to.
ANTIGONE:
Don’t! Listen to me!
POLYNEICES:
Don’t keep persuading me to do what I shouldn’t!
ANTIGONE:
Then I’m utterly wretched
If I’m to be robbed of you!
POLYNEICES:
That’s up to the god
To turn out this way or that. But as for you two I
§ 1445 Pray to the gods that you never meet with evils.
In the eyes of all you don’t deserve misfortune.
[exit Polyneices]
CHORUS: [strophe A]
These were unexpected things that have come to me just now,
Evil and heavy-fated, from the blind stranger,
§ 1450 Unless fate has reached its goal.
For I cannot declare the gods’ decree to be in vain.
Time sees this always, sees it, running over some things,
§ 1455 Then raising other things up again the next day.
[Thunder is heard] The sky thunders! Oh Zeus!
OEDIPUS:
Children, children! Could someone local
Bring the all-noble Theseus here?
ANTIGONE:
Father, what’s the reason you’re calling for him?
[Lightning is seen]
§ 1460 OEDIPUS:
This winged lightning of Zeus will soon
Lead me to Hades. Send someone as quick as you can!
CHORUS: [antistrophe A]
Look! This great din, unutterable,
The bolt of Zeus crashing down! Fear
§ 1465 Has stolen under me to the tips of my hair!
I cower in my heart. In the sky lightning is flaming again.
What end will it let loose? I’m afraid – it never starts off
§ 1470 Fruitless, not without some disaster!
Great sky! Oh Zeus!
OEDIPUS:
Children, the prophesied end of my life
Has come --- there’s no more turning back.
ANTIGONE:
How do you know? What makes you say that?
§ 1475 OEDIPUS:
I know it too well --- but let someone go at once
And bring the king here.
[Lightning and thunder again]
CHORUS: [strophe B]
Ah! Look! The piercing uproar surrounding us again!
§ 1480 Be propitious, divinity, propitious, if you happen
To be bringing anything invisible to mother Earth!
May I meet with what is ordained by you. Having seen this unforgettable man
§ 1485 May I not share somehow in his unprofitable grace!
Zeus on high, I call on you!
OEDIPUS:
Is the man nearby? Children, will he find me
Still alive and upright of mind?
ANTIGONE:
What is the pledge you’d like to plant in your mind?
OEDIPUS:
In return for being treated well, to grant him the fulfilment-bearing
§ 1490 Favour that I promised him.
CHORUS: [antistrophe B]
Oh my child, come, come, whether at the heights
Around the road to oceanic Poseidon you happen
§ 1495 To be hallowing the hearth with bull sacrifices, come!
The stranger thinks that you, the city and your friends are worthy
To be granted a just favour, for his treatment.
Hurry here quickly, lord!
[enter Theseus]
§ 1500 THESEUS:
What’s this din you’re all shouting together,
Clearly from the townspeople and visibly from the stranger?
Could it be some thunderbolt of Zeus or shower
Of hail bursting down has affected you? I can surmise
Anything when the god sends a storm like that.
§ 1505 OEDIPUS:
Lord, you’ve appeared just when I needed you. Some god
Has caused you the good fortune of your coming.
THESEUS:
What new thing has arisen now, son of Laius?
OEDIPUS:
The tipping of my life’s scales. I wish to die,
Without cheating you and this city of what I promised.
§ 1510 THESEUS:
By what proof of doom have you been persuaded?
OEDIPUS: [pointing up to the sky]
The gods themselves as heralds are announcing it to me,
Telling me truthfully about the signs that lie ahead.
THESEUS:
How is this being revealed, old man?
OEDIPUS:
By the continuous thunder and the many
§ 1515 Flashes of lightning from his unconquerable hand.
THESEUS:
I’m convinced. I see you prophesying many things
That have actually come true. Tell me what I must do.
OEDIPUS:
I’ll tell you, son of Theseus, what things
Without the grief of old age lie in store for this city.
§ 1520 I myself will soon lead the way,
Untouched by a guide, to where I must die.
Don’t tell any person
Either where it is hidden, or in what place it lies --
That’s so it may forever make a defence for you
§ 1525 Instead of many shields and the foreign warfare of neighbours.
But as for matters most holy that are not spoken of,
You yourself will find out when you go there alone ---
As I could not declare it to any of these townspeople,
Or to my children, although I love them.
§ 1530 Always keep it safe, and when you come
To the end of your life, tell your eldest son
Only, and let him always reveal it to the one who comes after him.
And so this city you live in will be unravaged
By the men sown from dragon’s teeth. Countless cities,
§ 1535 Even if one lives well in them, easily commit outrage.
For the gods keep their eyes firmly, though late,
On anyone who abandons the divine and turns to madness.
Don’t be willing to let this happen to you, son of Aegeus.
Well, I’m telling you what you already know.
§ 1540 Since the current situation from god urges me, let’s walk
To the spot now, and not hesitate any longer.
[to ANTIGONE and Ismene] Children, follow this way. I am revealed
To be a strange new guide to you both, as you were to me.
[he moves toward the back of the stage]
Move along and don’t touch me. Let me
§ 1545 Find the holy tomb itself, where
It is my fate to be hidden in this land.
[he beckons to them all] Come this way, this way. I’m being led this way
By Hermes the Escort [pompos] and the Goddess below.
Light without light, before at one time you were mine,
§ 1550 But now at the very end my body touches you!
Now I’m going to Hades to hide
The end of my life. [to everyone in turn] Dearest stranger,
You, this country, and your attendants,
I wish you all happiness --- in your success
§ 1555 Remember me after I’ve died, so you will be fortunate forever.
[exit Oedipus, with Antigone, Ismene, and Theseus following]
CHORUS: [strophe A]
If it is right for me to worship with prayers
The invisible goddess and you,
Lord of night things,
§ 1560 Aidoneus, Aidoneus, let me beseech you
That the stranger without toil and not
With a deeply painful
Fate arrive at the all-hidden plain
Of the dead below and your Stygian house.
§ 1565 After the many senseless
Pains that have come to him,
May a just god again exalt him.
[antistrophe A]
You Goddesses of the Earth, and body of the unconquerable
Beast Cerberus, whom people always
§ 1570 Say lies
At the gates welcoming many guests, and whines
From his cave, the indomitable guard
Alongside Hades ---
Him, you son of Earth and Tartarus,
§ 1575 I pray may move in a clear path
For the stranger when he sets out
On the nether plain of the dead.
I call upon you who give eternal sleep.
[enter Messenger]
MESSENGER:
Citizens, I would hit on a very short message
§ 1580 If I were to say that Oedipus has died.
But as for what happened, I cannot tell you
The tale in brief, or everything that occurred there.
CHORUS:
Has the wretched man died?
MESSENGER:
Be assured
That he has departed this life forever.
§ 1585 CHORUS:
How? By a divine and painless fate, poor man?
MESSENGER:
That’s just it, and it’s worthy of amazement.
He went from here, as you people here
Well know, with none of his friends guiding him,
But he himself led all of us.
§ 1590 When he came to the down-rushing threshold
Rooted in the brazen depths of the earth,
He stood on one of the many-branching paths,
Near the hollow bowl where the faithful
Pledges of Theseus and Peirithous still lie,
§ 1595 And standing between this bowl and the Thorician rock,
And the hollow pear-tree and the stone tomb,
He sat down. Then he undid his squalid garments.
After that he called out and told his daughters to bring
Bathings and libations of flowing waters from somewhere.
§ 1600 And when they had come into full view of the hill
Of fresh green Demeter, they quickly carried out
Their father’s instructions, and adorned him
With bathing and clothes as is customary.
But when he’d had his fill of doing everything
§ 1605 And there was nothing left undone of his commands,
Zeus of the Earth thundered, and the girls
Froze in fear when they heard. Onto their knees
They fell and wept for their father, and didn’t stop
Beating their breasts and making long moans.
§ 1610 When he heard their bitter cries he suddenly
Folded his hands around them and said:
“Children,
Today your father is no more.
Everything of mine is gone, and you won’t have the hard toil
Of looking after me any more.
It’s been tough, I know, children, but one word only
§ 1610 Frees all that hard work:
Love. There’s no-one from whom you had
More love than me – now you’ll be without me
For the rest of your lives.”
§ 1620 And so they all embraced each other
And kept crying and sobbing. But when they came to an end
Of moaning and their cries no longer arose,
There was silence. Then suddenly someone’s voice
Piercingly called him, so that everyone’s hair
§ 1625 Suddenly stood on end in terror ---
A god was calling him often and in many ways:
“You there, Oedipus! Why are we putting off
Going? For a long time now your affairs have been delayed.”
When he heard he was being called by the god,
§ 1630 He told Theseus the king of the country to come to him.
And when he came, Oedipus said:
“My dear friend,
Give me the pledge of your hand as an oath to my children,
And you, children, to him. Promise me
That you’ll never betray them willingly, but you’ll always
§ 1635 Fulfil for them whatever you intend with goodwill, for their benefit.”
And like a noble man, without wailing
Theseus promised on oath to do this for the stranger.
When he’d done this, straight away Oedipus
Touched his children with his blind hands, and said:
§ 1640 “Children, you must make a noble effort of mind
And leave this place. Don’t think it’s right to see
What you should not, or hear us speaking.
Go as quick as you can. Let the lord Theseus
Alone remain to find out what will happen.”
§ 1645 We all heard him saying
This. Unstintingly with the girls
We moaned and moved off. But after we walked away,
In a short time we turned and saw from a distance
That Oedipus wasn’t there any more.
§ 1650 The king was shading his eyes
And holding his hand over his head, as if something
Terribly fearful and unbearable to look at had appeared.
Then not long after
We saw him kissing both the ground
§ 1655 And Olympus of the gods in the same speech.
But as to the fate by which he died, no mortal
Could say except Theseus.
For no fire-bearing lightning of a god
Killed him, nor thunderstorm
§ 1660 Arising from the sea at that time,
But either some escort from the gods, or a griefless
Chasm splitting in the earth, one well-intentioned from the gods below.
No, that man was sent off unmourned
And without the pain of disease, but if any mortal was,
§ 1665 Miraculously. If you don’t think I’m making sense with these words,
I would have asked no favour of those for whom I don’t make sense.
CHORUS:
Where are his children and the friends that sent them away?
MESSENGER:
They’re not far off. With signs of moaning
Their voices signal they’re coming here.
[exit Messenger. Enter Antigone and Ismene]
§ 1670
ANTIGONE: [strophe A]
Ah me! It is indeed for us both
In our ill fate to absolutely mourn
The inbred unforgettable blood of our father,
For whom at one time
We had steadfast hard work,
§ 1675 But now at the very end we will bring you the tale of a sight
And experience beyond reason.
CHORUS:
What is it?
ANTIGONE:
We can only guess.
CHORUS:
Has he gone?
ANTIGONE:
Just as you would most wish for.
How else could it be, for a man whom neither Ares
§ 1680 Nor the sea met,
But the invisible plains snatched
And carried him away in an unseen doom?
I’m wretched. For us both a ruinous
Night has come upon our eyes!
§ 1685 How shall we have a gruelling
Livelihood, roaming to some far country
Or to the ocean waves?
ISMENE:
I don’t know. I wish bloody Hades
Would destroy me, to die with our old father,
§ 1690 Wretch that I am, as for me the life to come is not worth living!
CHORUS:
You two, the best of all daughters,
Must bear what comes from god.
§ 1695 Don’t be too inflamed with passion. You’ve come to things that are blameless.
ANTIGONE: [antistrophe A]
I now see there is longing even for woes.
§ 1700 What was not dear was dear,
So long as I held him in my embrace.
[to the ground]
Oh dear father,
Clothed in the eternal darkness of the earth!
Never below will you be unloved by me,
§ 1705 Or by my sister here!
CHORUS:
He fared ---
ANTIGONE:
He fared just as he wanted!
CHORUS:
In what way?
ANTIGONE:
He died in the foreign land
That he wanted. He has a well-shaded
Resting place below forever,
And the grief he left is not unwept.
[to the ground]
My eyes groan tears
§ 1710 For you, father. I don’t know
How I could in my misery for you
Remove my enormous pain.
Alas, you wanted to die in a foreign land, but
This is how you’ve died, deserted of me!
§ 1715 ISMENE:
Wretched me, what fate awaits
[line missing]
You and me, deserted of our father?
§ 1720 CHORUS:
Since he released his life’s
End blessedly, dear ladies,
Cease this pain. No-one is hard to catch with evils.
ANTIGONE: [strophe B]
[to ISMENE]
Let’s rush back!
ISMENE:
To do what?
ANTIGONE:
I have this desire---
ISMENE:
What?
§ 1725 ANTIGONE:
To see the underground hearth.
ISMENE:
Whose?
ANTIGONE:
Father’s – wretched me!
ISMENE:
How is that right? Can’t you see that?
ANTIGONE:
Why throw that at me?
§ 1730 ISMENE:
And this as well, that---
ANTIGONE:
What else is there?
ISMENE:
He fell unburied, apart from everyone.
ANTIGONE:
Take me there, then kill me over him!
ISMENE:
Oh no! Utterly miserable, abandoned
§ 1735 Again and helpless like this,
Where will I live my wretched life?
CHORUS: [antistrophe B]
Dear girls, don’t be afraid!
ANTIGONE:
But where am I to seek refuge?
CHORUS:
A refuge has been found already--
ANTIGONE:
What?
§ 1740 CHORUS:
That both your circumstances don’t turn out badly.
ANTIGONE:
I’m aware of that.
CHORUS:
What’s on your mind then?
ANTIGONE:
I don’t know how we’ll get home.
CHORUS:
Don’t try to!
ANTIGONE:
Distress grips us.
CHORUS:
As it did before.
§ 1745 ANTIGONE:
Then I was helpless, but now it’s worse.
CHORUS:
You’ve both obtained a great sea of troubles.
[The two lines in the text at this point cannot be correct, as they don’t fit the number of lines in this antistrophe of the lyric exchange. They are also redundant in meaning. Either they have been wrongly added, or there are two lines missing in the strophe.]
ANTIGONE:
Oh, where are we to go, Zeus?
To what further hope
§ 1750 Does the divinity now drive us?
EXODOS: [enter THESEUS]
THESEUS:
Stop lamenting, children – when
An earthly benefit is laid up for public use,
You shouldn’t grieve. It’s what is due.
§ 1755 ANTIGONE:
Son of Aegeus, we beseech you!
THESEUS:
To accomplish what, children?
ANTIGONE:
We want to see our
Father’s grave.
THESEUS:
That’s not allowed.
ANTIGONE:
What do you mean, my lord, king of Athens?
§ 1760 THESEUS:
Children, Oedipus forbade me
Either to approach that place,
Or to tell any person
About the holy tomb he occupies.
And he said if this all went well,
§ 1765 I would always hold my country without any grief.
The divinity heard us,
As did the all-seeing Oath [Horkos] of Zeus.
ANTIGONE:
If that is how he wanted it,
We should be content. But send us
§ 1770 To Ogygian Thebes, if we can somehow
Prevent bloodshed happening
Between our brothers.
THESEUS:
This, and whatever other favourable service I can,
I shall do for you,
§ 1775 And for the recently departed under the earth,
According to the favour I owe -- I must not rest till I do.
CHORUS:
Cease, and don’t awaken
Mourning any more:
For this has absolute authority.