Prologos
Oedipus
Child of a blind old man, Antigone, to what region have we come, or to what city of men? Who will entertain the wandering Oedipus today with scanty gifts?
Little do I crave, and obtain still less than that little, and with that I am content. For patience is the lesson of suffering, and of the long years upon me, and lastly of a noble mind. My child, if you see any resting-place,
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either on profane ground or by groves of the gods, stop me and set me down, so that we may inquire where we are. We have come to learn as foreigners from the townsmen, and to bring to completion whatever we hear.
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Antigone
Father, toil-worn Oedipus, the towers that
ring the city, to judge by sight, are far off; and this place is sacred, to judge from its appearance: laurel, olive, and vine grow thick-set; and a feathered crowd of nightingales makes music within. So sit here on this unshaped stone;
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you have travelled a long way for an old man.
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Oedipus
Seat me, then, and watch over the blind.
Antigone
If time can teach, I need not learn that.
Oedipus
Can you tell me, now, where we have arrived?
Antigone
Athens I know, but not this place.
Oedipus
Yes, so much every traveller told us.
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Antigone
Well, shall I go and learn what the spot is called?
Oedipus
Yes, child, if indeed it is inhabited.
Antigone
It surely is inhabited. But I think there is no need—I see a man nearby.
Oedipus
Setting off and coming toward us?
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Antigone
He is at our side already. Speak whatever seems timely to you, for the man is here.
Oedipus
Stranger, hearing from this maiden, who has sight both for herself and for me,
that you have arrived as a scout of good fortune for the solving of our doubts—
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Stranger
Now, before you question me at length, leave this seat. You occupy ground which is unholy to tread upon.
Oedipus
And what is this ground? To which of the gods is it sacred?
Stranger
Ground inviolable, on which no one may dwell. The dread
goddesses hold it, the daughters of Earth and Darkness.
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Oedipus
Who are they? Whose awful name might I hear and invoke in prayer?
Stranger
The all-seeing Eumenides the people here would call them: but other names please elsewhere.
Oedipus
Then graciously may they receive their suppliant!
Nevermore will I depart from my seat in this land.
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Stranger
What does this mean?
Oedipus
The watchword of my fate.
Stranger
I dare not remove you without warrant from the city, until I report what I am doing.
Oedipus
Now by the gods, stranger, do not deny me, hapless wanderer as you see,
the honor of the knowledge for which I beg you.
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Stranger
Tell me, and you will not be without honor from me.
Oedipus
What, then, is the place that we have entered?
Stranger
All that I myself know, you will hear and learn. This whole place is sacred;
august Poseidon holds it, and in it lives the fire-bearing god, the Titan Prometheus. But as for the spot on which you tread, it is called the bronze threshold of this land, the support of Athens. And the neighboring fields claim Colonus, the horse-rider, for their ancient ruler;
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and all the people bear his name in common as their own. Such, you see, stranger, are these haunts. They receive their honor not through story, but rather through our living with them.
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Oedipus
Are there indeed dwellers in this region?
Stranger
Yes indeed, the namesakes of that god there Colonus.
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Oedipus
Have they a king? Or does speaking in assembly rest with the masses?
Stranger
These parts are ruled by the king in the city.
Oedipus
And who is he that is sovereign in counsel and in might?
Stranger
Theseus he is called, son of Aegeus who was before him.
Oedipus
Could a messenger go to him from among you?
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Stranger
With what aim? To speak, or to prepare his coming?
Oedipus
So that by a small service he may find a great gain.
Stranger
And what help can come from one who cannot see?
Oedipus
In all that I speak there will be vision.
Stranger
Take care now, stranger, that you come to no harm; for you are noble, if I may judge by your looks, leaving your ill-fortune aside. Stay here, where I found you, until I go and tell these things to the people of this district—not in the city.
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They will decide for you whether you should stay or go back. Stranger exits.
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Oedipus
My child, has the stranger left us?
Antigone
He is gone, and so you can speak what you wish, father, fully at ease, knowing that I alone am near.
Oedipus
Ladies of dread aspect, since your seat is
the first in this land at which I have bent my knee, show yourselves not ungracious to Phoebus or to myself; who, when he proclaimed that doom of many woes, spoke to me of this rest after long years: on reaching my goal in a land where I should find a seat of the Awful Goddesses
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and a shelter for foreigners, there I should close my weary life, with profit, through my having fixed my abode there, for those who received me, but ruin for those who sent me forth, who drove me away. And he went on to warn me that signs of these things would come,
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in earthquake, or in thunder, or in the lightning of Zeus. Now I perceive that in this journey some trusty omen from you has surely led me home to this grove; never otherwise could I have met with you, first of all, in my wanderings—I, in my sobriety, with you who touch no wine,
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—or taken this august seat not shaped by men. Then, goddesses, according to the word of Apollo, give me at last some way to accomplish and close my course—unless, perhaps, I seem too lowly,
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enslaved as I am evermore to woes the sorest on the earth. Hear, sweet daughters of primeval Darkness! Hear, you that are called the city of great Pallas, Athens, given most honor of all cities! Pity this poor ghost of the man Oedipus!
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For in truth it is the former living body no more.
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Antigone
Hush! Here come some aged men to spy out your resting-place.
Oedipus
I will be mute. But hide me in the grove, apart from the road, till I learn
how these men will speak. For in learning is the safeguard of our course. They exit.
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