Theseus
And what gain do you claim to have brought?
Oedipus
[580]
Later you may learn it—but not yet.
Theseus
At what time, then, will the benefit become clear?
Oedipus
When I am dead, and you have given me burial.
Theseus
You crave life's last service; but for all between you have no memory, or no care.
Oedipus
[585]
Indeed, for by that service I gather in all the rest.
Theseus
Well then, this favor you crave from me is brief indeed.
Oedipus
Yet take care; the struggle here is no light one. No, indeed.
Theseus
Do you mean in respect to your sons, or to me?
Oedipus
They will compel you to convey me there to Thebes.
Theseus
[590]
But if you are willing, then exile is not becoming.
Oedipus
No, when I was willing, they refused.
Theseus
Foolish man, anger amidst woes is not suitable.
Oedipus
When you have heard my story, admonish; till then, forbear.
Theseus
Speak. I must not pronounce without knowledge.
Oedipus
[595]
I have suffered, Theseus, terrible woes upon woes.
Theseus
Will you speak of the ancient trouble of your race?
Oedipus
No, indeed; all Greeks speak of that.
Theseus
How, then, do you suffer beyond what is mortal?
Oedipus
The circumstance is this: from my country I have been driven by my own sons;
[600]
and I may not return, since I am guilty of a father's blood.
Theseus
Why would they have you brought back, if you must dwell apart?
Oedipus
The word of the god will compel them.
Theseus
What suffering do they fear from the oracles?
Oedipus
[605]
That they must be struck down in this land.
Theseus
And how should bitterness come between them and me?
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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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