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Oedipus
Strangers, I am without a city, but do not— Chorus
What is this that you forbid, old man? Oedipus
[210] do not, do not ask me who I am! Do not seek or probe further! Chorus
What does this mean? Oedipus
Horrid the birth— Chorus
Speak! Oedipus
My child—ah, me!—what shall I say? Chorus
[215] What is your lineage, stranger? Speak! And who is your father? Oedipus
Woe is me! What will become of me, my child? Antigone
Speak, for you are driven to the verge. Oedipus
Then speak I will. I have no way to hide it. Chorus
You two make a long delay. Come, hasten! Oedipus
[220] Do you know of a son of Laius? Chorus
Oh! Oedipus
—And the race of the Labdacidae? Chorus
O Zeus! Oedipus
—and the pitiful Oedipus? Chorus
You are he? Oedipus
Have no fear of any words that I speak— Chorus
Ah, no, no! Oedipus
Unhappy that I am! Chorus
Oh, oh! Oedipus
[225] Daughter, what is about to happen? Chorus
Out with you! Go forth from the land! Oedipus
And your promise—to what fulfillment will you bring it? Chorus
No man is visited by the punishment of fate if he requites deeds which were first done to himself. [230] Deceit on the one part matches deceits on the other, and gives pain instead of pleasure for reward. And you—back with you! Out from your seat! [235] Away from my land with all speed, that you may not fasten some heavier burden on my city! Antigone
Reverent strangers, since you have not endured my aged father—knowing, as you do, [240] the rumor of his unintended deeds—pity at least my poor self, I implore you, who supplicate you for my father alone. I beg you with eyes that can still look [245] on your own, like one sprung from your own blood, that this sufferer may meet with reverent treatment. On you, as on a god, we depend in our misery. But come, grant the favor for which we hardly dare hope! [250] I implore you by everything that you hold dear at home: by child, by wife, or treasure, or god! Look well and you will not find the mortal who, if a god should lead him on, could escape.
Sophocles. The Oedipus at Colonus of Sophocles. Edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1889.
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