The Phoenician Women

Euripides

Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.

  1. There, touch the dead, your children.
Oedipus
  1. O dear fallen sons, sad offspring of a sad father!
Antigone
  1. O my brother Polyneices, name most dear to me!
Oedipus
  1. Now the oracle of Loxias is being fulfilled, my child.
Antigone
  1. What oracle? Do you have further woes to tell?
Oedipus
  1. That I should die in Athens after a life of wandering.
Antigone
  1. Where? What fenced town in Attica will take you in?
Oedipus
  1. Hallowed Colonus, home of the god of horses. Come then, attend on your blind father, since you are eager to share his exile.
Antigone
  1. Go to unhappy exile; stretch forth your dear hand, my old father, taking me to guide you, like a breeze that guides the ships.
Oedipus
  1. See, I am advancing; be my guide, my poor child.
Antigone
  1. I am, I am! The saddest maiden of all in Thebes.
Oedipus
  1. Where am I placing my aged step? Bring my staff, child.
Antigone
  1. This way, this way, come to me, place your steps here, like a dream in your strength.
Oedipus
  1. Oh, oh, driving the old man in most wretched flight from the country!
  2. Oh, oh! the terrible sorrows I have endured!
Antigone
  1. Why do you speak of enduring? Justice does not see the wicked, and does not requite follies.
Oedipus
  1. I am the one who came into high songs of victory,