Oedipus at Colonus
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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Oedipus
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Dearest friends, be my patrons, and I will bring everything to completion.
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Chorus
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Then make atonement to these divinities, to whom you have come first, and on whose ground you have trespassed.
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Oedipus
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With what rites? Instruct me, strangers.
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Chorus
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First, from an ever-flowing
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spring bring sacred drink-offerings, borne in ritually pure hands.
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Oedipus
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And when I have gotten this unmixed draught?
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Chorus
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There are bowls, the work of a skilled craftsman; crown their edges and the handles at either side.
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Oedipus
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With olive branches, or woollen cloths, or in what way?
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Chorus
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Take the freshly-shorn wool of a ewe-lamb.
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Oedipus
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Good; and then to what last rite shall I proceed?
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Chorus
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Pour the drink-offerings, with your face to the dawn.
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Oedipus
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Shall I pour them with these vessels of which you speak?
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Chorus
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Yes, in three streams; but the last vessel—
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Oedipus
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With what shall I fill this, before I set it down? Teach me this also.
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Chorus
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With water and honey; but add no wine.
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Oedipus
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And when the ground under the dark shade has drunk these?
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Chorus
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Three times lay on it nine branches of olive with both your hands, and meanwhile make this prayer.
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Oedipus
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I wish to hear this prayer; it is the most important part.
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Chorus
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We call them Eumenides, so that with well-wishing power they may receive the suppliant as his saviors. Let this be your prayer, or of whoever prays for you. Speak inaudibly, and do not lift up your voice; then depart, without looking behind.
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If you should do this, I would be bold enough to come to your aid; but otherwise, stranger, I would fear for you.
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Oedipus
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Daughters, do you hear these strangers who dwell nearby?
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Antigone
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We have listened. Tell us what to do.
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Oedipus
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I cannot make the trip; for I am disabled by lack of strength and lack of sight, twin evils. But let one of you two go and do these things. For I think that one soul suffices to pay this debt for ten thousand, if it comes with good will.
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Act, then, with speed. But do not abandon me, for my body would not have the strength to move, without help or a guiding hand.
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Ismene
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Then I will go to perform the rite; but where I am to find the place—this I wish to learn.
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Chorus
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On the further side of this grove, stranger. And if you have need of anything, there is a guardian of the place. He will direct you.
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Ismene
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Off to my task. But you, Antigone, watch our father here. In the case of parents, if we toil, we must not keep a memory of it. Ismene exits.
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Chorus
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Terrible it is, stranger, to arouse the old woe that has for so long been laid to rest: and yet I yearn to hear—
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Oedipus
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What now?
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Chorus
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—Of that grief-filled anguish, cureless, with which you have wrestled.
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Oedipus
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By your hospitality, do not uncover the shame that I have suffered!
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Chorus
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Seeing that the tale is wide-spread and in no way weakens, I wish, friend, to hear it straight.
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Oedipus
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Ah me!
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Chorus
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Grant the favor, I beg!
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Oedipus
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Alas, alas!
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Chorus
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Grant my wish, as I have granted yours to the full.
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Oedipus
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I have suffered the greatest misery, strangers—suffered it through unintended deeds—may the god know it! No part was of my own choice.
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Chorus
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But in what way?
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Oedipus
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In an evil marriage, the city bound me, unknowing, to ruin.
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Chorus
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Is it true, as I hear, that you made your mother the partner of your bed, to its infamy?
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Oedipus
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Ah, me! These words, strangers, are like death to my ears. And those two maidens of mine—
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Chorus
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What will you say?
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Oedipus
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—Two daughters—two curses—
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Chorus
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O Zeus!
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Oedipus
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—of mine, sprung from the travail of the womb that bore me too.
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Chorus
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Look, there comes our lord, Theseus son of Aegeus,
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at the sound of your voice, to do that for which he was summoned.
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Theseus
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Through hearing from many in the past about the bloody marring of your sight, I recognized it was you, son of Laius; and now on coming here, through sight I am more fully certain.
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For your clothing and that heart-rending face alike assure me that it is you. And in all compassion I ask you, ill-fated Oedipus, with what petition to the city and to me have you taken your place here, you and the poor maiden at your side. Declare it. Dire indeed must be the fortune which you tell,
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for me to stand aloof from it; since I know that I myself also was reared in exile, just as you, and that in foreign lands I wrestled with perils to my life, like no other man.
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Never, then, would I turn aside from a stranger, such as you are now, or refuse to help in his deliverance. For I know well that I am a man, and that my portion of tomorrow is no greater than yours.
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Oedipus
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Theseus, in a few words your nobleness has come to such a point
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that I need make only a brief reply. You have said who I am, from what father I am sprung, and from what land I have come; and so nothing else remains for me but to speak my wish, and the tale is told.
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Theseus
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Then inform me of this very thing, so that I may learn it.
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Oedipus
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I come to offer you my care-worn body as a gift—not one fine to look on, but the gains from it are better than beauty.
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Theseus
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And what gain do you claim to have brought?
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Oedipus
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Later you may learn it—but not yet.
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Theseus
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At what time, then, will the benefit become clear?
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Oedipus
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When I am dead, and you have given me burial.
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Theseus
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You crave life’s last service; but for all between you have no memory, or no care.
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Oedipus
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Indeed, for by that service I gather in all the rest.
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Theseus
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Well then, this favor you crave from me is brief indeed.
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Oedipus
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Yet take care; the struggle here is no light one. No, indeed.
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Theseus
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Do you mean in respect to your sons, or to me?
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Oedipus
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They will compel you to convey me there to Thebes.
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Theseus
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But if you are willing, then exile is not becoming.
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Oedipus
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No, when I was willing, they refused.
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Theseus
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Foolish man, anger amidst woes is not suitable.
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Oedipus
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When you have heard my story, admonish; till then, forbear.
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Theseus
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Speak. I must not pronounce without knowledge.
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Oedipus
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I have suffered, Theseus, terrible woes upon woes.
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Theseus
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Will you speak of the ancient trouble of your race?
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Oedipus
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No, indeed; all Greeks speak of that.
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Theseus
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How, then, do you suffer beyond what is mortal?
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Oedipus
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The circumstance is this: from my country I have been driven by my own sons;
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and I may not return, since I am guilty of a father’s blood.
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Theseus
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Why would they have you brought back, if you must dwell apart?
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Oedipus
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The word of the god will compel them.
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Theseus
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What suffering do they fear from the oracles?
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Oedipus
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That they must be struck down in this land.
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Theseus
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And how should bitterness come between them and me?
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Oedipus
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Dearest son of Aegeus, to the gods alone old age and death never come, but everything else sinks into chaos from time which overpowers all.
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Earth’s strength decays, and so too the strength of the body; trust dies; distrust is born; and the same spirit is never steadfast among friends, or between city and city. For some now, for others tomorrow, sweet feelings turn to bitter, and then once more to being dear.
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And if now the sun shines brightly between Thebes and you, yet time in his course gives birth to days and nights untold, in which from a small cause they will
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scatter with the spear today’s pledges of concord. Then one day my slumbering and buried corpse, cold in death, will drink their warm blood, if Zeus is still Zeus, and Phoebus, the son of Zeus, speaks clear. But, since I would not break silence concerning words that must not spoken, allow me to cease where I began.
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Only keep your own pledge good, and never will you say that in vain you welcomed Oedipus to dwell in this land—if indeed the gods do not deceive me.
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Chorus
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Lord, from the first this man has shown a
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will to bring these words, or similar ones, to completion for our land.
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Theseus
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Who, then, would reject the goodwill of such a one? To whom, first, the hearth of a spear-friend is always available on our side, by reciprocal right; then too he has come as a suppliant to our gods,
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paying no small recompense to this land and to me. In reverence for these claims, I will never spurn his favor, and I will establish a dwelling for him as a citizen in the land. And if it is the pleasure of the stranger to remain here, I will command you to
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protect him; or, if it pleases him, to come with me. This choice or that, Oedipus, you may take; your desire will be mine.
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Oedipus
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O Zeus, may you be good to men such as these!
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Theseus
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What is your wish, then? Will you come to my house?
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Oedipus
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Yes, I would, if it were right. But this is the place—
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Theseus
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What will you do here? Speak, for I will not hinder you.
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Oedipus
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—Where I will conquer those who cast me out.
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Theseus
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The promised gift of your presence would be great.
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Oedipus
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It shall be, if you keep your pledge with me.
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Theseus
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Have courage concerning me; never will I betray you.
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Oedipus
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I will not bind you with an oath as if an evil man.