Epeisodion 2
Theseus
But if you are willing, then exile is not becoming.
590
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
I have suffered, Theseus, terrible woes upon woes.
595
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;
and I may not return, since I am guilty of a father’s blood.
600
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
That they must be struck down in this land.
605
Theseus
And how should bitterness come between them and me?
Oedipus
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.
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.
610
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
615
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.
620
