Oedipus at Colonus

Sophocles

Sophocles the plays and fragments, Part 2: The Oedipus at Colonus. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, Sir, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1889.

  1. Answer just one thing of those I ask. If, here and now, someone should come up and try to murder you—you, the just one—would you ask if the murderer was your father, or would you revenge yourself on him straightaway?
  2. I think that if your life is dear to you, you would requite the criminal, and not look around for a justification. Such then were the evils into which I came, led by the gods; and in this, I think, my father’s soul, could it come back to life, would not contradict me.
  3. But you are not just; you are one who considers it a fine thing to utter every sort of word, both those which are sanctioned and those which are forbidden—such are your taunts against me in the presence of these men. And to you it seems a fine thing to flatter the renowned Theseus, and Athens, saying how well it is governed.
  4. Yet while giving such generous praise, you forget that if any land knows how to worship the gods with honors, this land excels in that. It is from her that you had planned to steal me, a suppliant and an old man, and tried to seize me, having already carried off my daughters.
  5. Therefore I now call on the goddesses here, I supplicate them, I beseech them with prayers, to bring me help and to fight on my behalf, that you may learn well what kind of men this city is guarded by.
Chorus
  1. The stranger is a good man, lord.
  2. His fate has been accursed, but it is worthy of our aid.
Theseus
  1. Enough of words. The doers of the deed are in flight, while we, the sufferers, stand still.
Creon
  1. What order, then, do you have for a powerless man?
Theseus
  1. Guide the way on the path to them while I escort you,
  2. in order that if you are keeping the maidens whom we seek in these lands, you yourself may reveal them to me. But if your men are fleeing with the spoils in their grasp, we may spare our trouble; the chase is for others, from whom they will never escape out of this land to thank their gods.
  3. Come, lead the way! And know that the captor has been captured; fate has seized you as you hunted. Gains unjustly got by guile are soon lost. And you will have no ally in your purpose; for I well know that it is not without accomplice or resource that you have come to such
  4. outrage, from the daring mood which has inspired you here. There was someone you were trusting in when you did these deeds. This I must consider, and I must not make this city weaker than one man. Do you take my drift?
  5. Or do these words seem as empty as the warnings given when you were laying your plans?
Creon
  1. Say what you wish while you are here; I will not object. But at home I too will know how to act.
Theseus
  1. Make your threats, then, but go forward. As for you, Oedipus, stay here in peace with my pledge that, unless I die beforehand,
  2. I will not cease until I put you in possession of your children.
Oedipus
  1. Thanks to you, Theseus, for your nobleness and your righteous care for me!Theseus exits with attendants and Creon.
Chorus
  1. Oh, to be where the enemy, turned to fight,
  2. will soon join in Ares’ clash of bronze, by the shores of Apollo, perhaps, or by that torch-lit beach