Oedipus at Colonus
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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Children, follow me. For now in turn it is I that shine forth wondrously as a leader for you, as you were your father’s. Onward. Do not touch me, but
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allow me unaided to find the sacred tomb where it is my fate to be buried in this land. This way, here—come this way! Hermes the Conductor and the goddess of the dead lead me in this direction. Light of day, no light to me, once you were mine,
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but now my body feels you for the last time! For now I go to hide the end of my life in the house of Hades. But you, dearest of strangers, may you yourself be prosperous, and this land, and your followers. In your prosperity,
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remember me in my death, and be fortunate evermore. He exits, followed by his daughters, Theseus, and attendants.
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Chorus
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If it is right for me with prayer to adore the Unseen Goddess and you, Lord of the Dead, then hear me, Aidoneus, Aidoneus!
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Grant that without pain, without a fate arousing heavy grief, the stranger may pass to the all-concealing fields of the dead below, and to the Stygian house.
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Many were the sorrows that came to him without cause, but a just divinity will lift him up again.
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Chorus
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Goddesses of the nether world and unconquered beast
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whose lair lies in the gates of many guests, you untamable Watcher of Hades, snarling from the cavern’s jaws, as rumor has always told! Hear me, Death, son of Earth and Tartarus!
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May that Watcher leave a clear path for the stranger on his way to the nether fields of the dead! To you I call, giver of the eternal sleep.
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Messenger
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Citizens, my news might be summed up most briefly thus: Oedipus is dead.
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But the story of the happening cannot be told in brief words, as the deeds done there were not brief.
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Chorus
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Is he gone, the unfortunate man?
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Chorus
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How? By a fate divine and painless, the poor man?
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Messenger
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In that you touch upon what is indeed worthy of wonder. How he departed from here, you yourself must know since you were here: with no one of his friends as guide, but rather with himself leading the way for us all.
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When he had come to the Descending Way, which is bound by steps of bronze to earth’s deep roots, he paused at one of the many branching paths near the basin in the rock, where the faithful covenant of Theseus and Peirithous has its memorial.
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He stood midway between that basin and the Leaping stone, and between the hollow pear-tree and the marble tomb; then he sat down and loosened his filthy clothing. And then he called his daughters, and asked them to bring water from some flowing source, so that he might wash and make a drink-offering.
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They went to the hill which was in view, the hill of Demeter who guards the tender plants, and in a short time brought what their father had commanded. Then they washed him and dressed him, as is the custom. But when all his desire was fulfilled,
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and nothing that he required was still undone, then Zeus of the Underworld sent forth his thunder, and the maidens shuddered as they heard. They fell weeping at their father’s knees, and did not cease from beating their breast, and from wailing loud.
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When he heard their sudden bitter cry, he put his arms around them and said: My children, on this day your father no longer exists. Now I have perished utterly, and no longer will you bear the burden of tending me,
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which was no light one, I well know, my children. Yet just one word turns all those toils to nothing: you have been treated as friends by no one more than by this man; and now you will have me with you no longer, through all your days to come.
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In this way, clinging close to one another, the father and his daughters sobbed and wept. But when they came to the end of their crying, and the sound of wailing went forth no more, there was a silence; suddenly a voice called aloud to him, so that everyone
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felt hair rising from the sudden terror. The god called him again and again: Oedipus, Oedipus, why do you delay our going? Too long you have been lingering. And when he perceived that he was called by the god,
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he asked that lord Theseus should come to him; and when he did, he said: Friend, give me the sworn pledge of your right hand for my children; and you, my daughters, for him. Promise never to betray them by your own free will, but always to accomplish whatever you think for their benefit.
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And he, as a man of noble spirit, without lamentation swore to keep that promise to the stranger. When Theseus had done this, straightway Oedipus felt for his children with blind hands, and said:
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Children, you must bear up nobly in your hearts and depart from this place; do not consider it just to look upon what is not right, or to hear such speech as you may not hear. Go in haste; let only Theseus be entitled to remain to learn of those things which will be done.
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So he spoke, and everyone of us listened; with streaming tears and mourning we followed the maidens away. But when we had gone off, very soon we looked back and saw that Oedipus was nowhere any more and our lord was alone,
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holding his hand in front of his face to screen his eyes, as if he had seen some terrifying sight, one that no one could endure to behold. And then after a short time,
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we saw him adore together the earth and Olympus of the gods in the same prayer. But by what fate Oedipus perished, no man can tell, except Theseus alone. It was no fiery thunderbolt of the god that removed him,
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nor any rising of whirlwind from the sea; it was either an escort from the gods, or else the dark world of the dead kindly split open to receive him. The man passed away without lamentation or sickness or suffering, and beyond all mortal men he was wondrous.
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And if in anyone’s eyes I seem to speak senselessly, I would not try to win his belief when he counts me senseless.
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Chorus
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Where are his daughters and the escort of their friends?
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Messenger
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Not far away; the sounds of mourning show plainly that they are approaching.
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Antigone
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Ah, me, ah, me! Now, indeed, is it for us to bewail in full the curse on our blood—ill-fated sisters as we are—deriving from our father! In former time we bore the long toil without pause,
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and now at the last we bring to tell a sight and experience that baffle reason.
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Chorus
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What is it?
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Antigone
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It is possible to conjecture, friends.
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Chorus
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He is gone?
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Antigone
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Precisely in the way you could most wish for: indeed, in a way in which neither Ares took him, nor the sea,
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but instead he was snatched away to the fields which no one may see, by some swift, strange doom. Wretched me! For us a night like death has descended on our eyes;
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how shall we find our hard livelihood, roaming to some far land, or on the waves of the sea?
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Ismene
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I do not know. If only murderous Hades would join me in death to my aged father!
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Wretched me! I cannot live the life that must be mine.
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Chorus
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Best of daughters, you both must bear the will of the gods. Do not be inflamed with too much grief;
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what you have encountered is not to be blamed.
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Antigone
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There is longing even for woes. What was in no way dear was dear, so long as I held him in my embrace.
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Father, Dear, clothed in the darkness of the underworld forever! Never in your absence will you not be dear to me and to my sister here.
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Chorus
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He fared—
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Antigone
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He fared as he desired.
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Chorus
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In what way?
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Antigone
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He died on the foreign ground that he desired; he has his well-shaded bed beneath the ground for ever; and he did not leave behind unwept sorrow. With these weeping eyes, father, I lament you;
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nor do I know how in my wretchedness I must still my grief for you that is so immense. Alas! You wanted to die in a foreign land, but you died without me near.
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Ismene
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Wretched me! What fate
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awaits you and me, dear, orphaned as we are of our father?
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Chorus
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Cease from your grief, dear girls, since his end is blessed. No one is beyond the reach of evil.
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Theseus
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Cease your lament, children! Where the favor of the nether night is stored up, there is no room for sorrow; divine retribution would follow.
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Antigone
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Son of Aegeus, we supplicate you!
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Theseus
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To obtain what desire, my children?
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Antigone
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We want look with our own eyes upon our father’s tomb.
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Theseus
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It is not right to go there.
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Antigone
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What do you mean, lord, ruler of Athens?
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Theseus
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Children, he told me that no one should draw near that place, or approach with prayer the sacred tomb in which he sleeps. He said that, so long as I saw to this, I would always keep the country free from pain.
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The divinity heard me say these things, as did the all-seeing Oath of Zeus.
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Antigone
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If this is his intention, we must be content with it.
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Send us to ancient Thebes, in case we may somehow stop the bloodshed that threatens our brothers.
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Theseus
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I will do both this and whatever other favorable service I can, for you
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and for the newly-departed under the earth, according to the gratitude I owe. I am bound to spare no pains.
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Chorus
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Cease; raise up the lamentation no further. These things are established firm and fixed.
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Oedipus
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The watchword of my fate.
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Chorus
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Never, old man, never will anyone remove you from your resting-place here against your will.
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Oedipus
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Further, then?
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Chorus
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Come still further.
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Oedipus
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Further?
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Chorus
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Lead him onward, maiden, for you hear us and obey.
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Antigone
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Come, follow this way with your dark steps, father, as I lead you.
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Chorus
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Stranger in a foreign land,
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poor man, have the courage to detest what the city steadfastly holds as not dear, and to reverence what it holds dear!
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Oedipus
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Lead me, then, child, to a spot where I may speak and listen within piety’s domain,
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and let us not wage war with necessity.
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Chorus
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There! Do not incline your steps beyond that ledge of bedrock.
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Oedipus
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This far?
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Chorus
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Enough, I say
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Oedipus
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Shall I sit down?
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Chorus
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Yes, move sideways, and crouch low on the edge of the rock.
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Antigone
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Father, this is my task: calmly to—
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Oedipus
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Ah me! ah me!
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Antigone
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—fit step to step, and lean your aged frame upon my dear arm.
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Oedipus
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Alas for my sad destruction!
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Chorus
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Ah, poor man, since now you are at ease, speak! What is your lineage among mortals? With what name are you led on your weary path?
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What fatherland can you tell us of?
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Chorus
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These, then, are at once your daughters, and—
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Oedipus
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—Sisters, indeed, of their father.
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Chorus
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Oh!
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Oedipus
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Indeed, woes untold sweep back upon my soul!
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Chorus
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You have suffered—
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Oedipus
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I have suffered woes grievous to bear.
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Chorus
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You have performed—
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Oedipus
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I have not performed!
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Chorus
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How?
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Oedipus
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A gift was given to me—O, wretched that I am, if only I had never won from the city that gift for my services!