Oedipus at Colonus
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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Theseus
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Well, you would win nothing more than by my word.
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Oedipus
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What will you do, then?
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Oedipus
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Men will come—
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Oedipus
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Beware that if you leave me—
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Oedipus
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Fear constrains me—
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Oedipus
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You do not know the threats—
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the threats have vanished. For those men, too, perhaps—yes, even if in boldness they have spoken dreadful things of bringing you back, the voyage here will prove long and hard to sail. Now I exhort you, apart from any decision of mine, to take heart,
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if indeed Phoebus has been your escort here. Even if I am not present, still my name, I know, will shield you from harm.
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Chorus
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Stranger, in this land of fine horses you have come to earth’s fairest home, the shining Colonus.
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Here the nightingale, a constant guest, trills her clear note under the trees of green glades, dwelling amid the wine-dark ivy
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and the god’s inviolate foliage, rich in berries and fruit, unvisited by sun, unvexed by the wind of any storm. Here the reveller Dionysus ever walks the ground,
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companion of the nymphs that nursed him.
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Chorus
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And, fed on heavenly dew, the narcissus blooms day by day with its fair clusters; it is the ancient crown of the Great Goddesses.
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And the crocus blooms with a golden gleam. Nor do the ever-flowing springs diminish, from which the waters of Cephisus wander, and each day with pure
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current it moves over the plains of the land’s swelling bosom, bringing fertility. Nor have the dancing Muses shunned this place, nor Aphrodite of the golden rein.
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Antigone
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Land that is praised above all lands, now it is your task to make those bright praises seen in deeds!
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Oedipus
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What strange new thing has happened, my daughter?
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Oedipus
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Ah, dearest old men, now give me
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the final proof of my salvation!
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Chorus
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Courage! It will be yours. For even if I am aged, this country’s strength has not grown old.
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Creon
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Gentlemen, noble dwellers in this land, I see from your eyes that a sudden fear has troubled you at my coming;
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but do not shrink back from me, and let no evil word escape you. I am here with no thought of force; I am old, and I know that the city to which I have come is mighty, if any in Hellas has might.
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No, I have been sent, aged as I am, to plead with this man to return with me to the land of Cadmus. I am not one man’s envoy, but have a mandate from all our people; since it belonged to me, by family, beyond all other Thebans to mourn his woes.
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Unhappy Oedipus, hear us, and come home! Justly are you summoned by all the Cadmeans, and most of all by me, since I—unless I am the worst of all men born—feel most sorrow for your woes, old man,
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when I see you, unhappy as you are, a stranger and a wanderer evermore, roaming in beggary, with one handmaid for your support. Ah, me, I had not thought that she could fall to such a depth of misery as that to which she has fallen—
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this poor girl!—as she tends forever your dark life amid poverty; in ripe youth, but unwed: a prize for the first passerby to seize. Is it not a cruel reproach—alas!—that I have cast at you, and me, and all our race?
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But indeed an open shame cannot be hidden. Oedipus, in the name of your ancestral gods, listen to me! Hide it, and consent to return to the city and the house of your ancestors, after bidding a kind farewell to this city. Athens is worthy; yet your own city has the first claim on your reverence,
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since it was Thebes that nurtured you long ago.
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Oedipus
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You who will dare anything, who from any just plea would derive a crafty trick, why do you make this attempt on me, and seek once more to snare me in your trap where I would feel most grief?
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Long ago, when I labored under the sickness of my self-made evils, and I yearned to be cast out of the land, you refused to grant the favor. But when my fierce anger had spent its force, and seclusion in the house was sweet to me,
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it was then that you thrust me from the house and cast me from the land. And this common race that you mention—that was not at all dear to you then. Now, in turn, when you see that I have a kindly welcome from this city and all its race, you try to pluck me away, wrapping your cruel thoughts in soft words.
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And yet what pleasure do you find in this, in treating me as dear against my will? As if a man should refuse you a gift, bring you no aid, when you continually begged for it; but after your heart was sated with your desires, he should grant it then, when the favor could bring no joy
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—would you not find your delight in this empty? Yet such is the nature of your own offers to me: noble in appearance, but in substance base. And I will declare it to these men too, to show you up as base. You have come to get me,
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not to bring me home, but to plant me near your borders, so that your city might escape uninjured by evils from this land. That fate is not for you, but this one: the brooding of my vengeful spirit on your land forever; and for my sons, this heirloom:
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just so much soil in my realm in which to die. Am I not wiser than you in the fortunes of Thebes? Yes, far wiser, by as much as the sources of my knowledge are truer: Phoebus I mean, and his father, Zeus himself. But you have come here with fraud on your lips, yes,
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and with a tongue keener than the edge of a sword; yet by their use you may well reap more sorrow than salvation. Still, since I know that I cannot persuade you of this, go! Allow us to live on here; for even in this plight our life would not be bad, if we should be content with it.
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Creon
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Which of us, do you think, suffers more in this exchange—I by your action, or you by your own?
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Oedipus
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For me, it is enough if your pleading fails both with me and with these men nearby.
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Creon
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Unhappy man, will you let everyone see that even in your years you have gained no sense?
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Must you live on to disgrace your old age?
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Oedipus
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You have a clever tongue, but I know no just man who can produce from every side a pretty speech.
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Creon
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Words may be many, and yet not to the point.
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Oedipus
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As if yours, indeed, were few, but on the mark.
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Creon
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They cannot be, not for one whose mind is such as yours.
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Oedipus
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Begone! I will say it for these men too. And do not besiege me with a jealous watch where I am destined to remain.
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Creon
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I call these men, and not you, to witness the tenor of your words to your friends. And if I ever catch you—
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Oedipus
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And who could catch me against the will of these allies?
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Creon
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I promise you, soon you will be pained even without that.
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Oedipus
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Where is the deed which backs that threatening word?
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Creon
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One of your two daughters I have myself just seized and sent away. The other I will drag off immediately.
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Oedipus
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Oh, no!
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Oedipus
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You have my child?
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Oedipus
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Oh! Strangers, what will you do? Will you betray me? Will you not drive the godless man from this land?
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Chorus
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Depart, stranger! Quick!
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Your present deed is not just, nor the deed which you have done.
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Creon
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It is time for you to drag this girl off against her will, if she will not go freely.
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Antigone
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Wretched that I am! Where can I flee? Where find help from gods or men?
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Creon
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I will not touch this man, but her who is mine.
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Oedipus
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Lords of the land!
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Creon
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Justly.
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Oedipus
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Oh, city !
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Chorus
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What are you doing, stranger? Release her!
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Your strength and ours will soon come to the test.
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Creon
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Stand back!
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Creon
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There will be war with Thebes for you, if you harm me.
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Oedipus
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Did I not say so?
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Creon
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Do not make commands where you are not the master.
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Chorus
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Let go, I tell you!
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Chorus
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Help, men of Colonus, bring help! The city, our city, is attacked by force! Come to our aid!
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Antigone
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I am being dragged away in misery. Strangers, strangers!
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Oedipus
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My child, where are you?
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Oedipus
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Give me your hand, my child!
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Creon
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Away with you!
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Creon
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So those two staffs will never again support your path.
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But since you wish to overcome your country and your friends, whose will I, though tyrant as well, am here discharging, then I wish you victory. For in time, I am sure, you will come to recognize all this, that now too as in time past, it is you who have done yourself no good, by indulging your anger despite your friends.
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This has always been your ruin.
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Chorus
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Stop there, stranger!
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Chorus
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I will not let go, unless you give back the maidens.
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Creon
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Then you will soon give the city a more valuable prize, for I will lay hands on more than those two girls.
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Chorus
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What! What do you intend?
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Chorus
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A valiant threat!
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Chorus
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Indeed, unless the ruler of this realm prevents you.
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Oedipus
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Voice of shamelessness! Will you really lay hands on me?
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Creon
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Shut up, I say!
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grant in time an old age such as mine!
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Creon
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Do you see this, people of the land?
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Oedipus
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They see both you and me. They know that I have suffered in deeds, and my defense is mere words.
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Creon
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I will not check my anger. Though I am alone
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and slow with age, I will take this man by force.
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Oedipus
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Ah, my wretchedness!
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Chorus
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What arrogance you have come with, stranger, if you think you will achieve this!
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Creon
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I will.
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Chorus
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Then I think this city no longer exists.
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Creon
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For men who are just, you see, the weak vanquishes the strong.
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Oedipus
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Do you hear his words?
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Chorus
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This is an outrage!
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Chorus
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Hear people, hear rulers of the land! Come quickly, come!
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These men are on their way to cross our borders!
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Theseus
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What is this shout? What is the trouble? What fear has moved you to stop my sacrifice at the altar to the sea-god, the lord of your Colonus? Speak, so that I may know the situation; for that is why I have sped
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here more swiftly than was pleasant.