Oedipus at Colonus

Sophocles

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780486158617
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Ancient & Classical Drama
• Index: Literature

This outstanding drama of classical antiquity, part of the Cadmean trilogy that includes Oedipus Rex and Antigone, was first presented in 405 B.C. Thought to be among Sophocles' last works, it represents the great playwright's crowning achievement in depicting the painful quest for truth and self-knowledge that leads to spiritual triumph.
Blinded and disgraced, Oedipus dwells quietly in Thebes until the kingdom is roiled by discord attributed to his presence and the curse put upon him by the gods. The citizens banish their erstwhile sovereign to years of lonely exile. Finally, the aging king finds refuge in a sacred olive grove at Colonus, near Athens. In the meantime, Oedipus' two sons wage a struggle for control of Thebes. Secure in the protection of Theseus, ruler of Athens, and faithfully attended by his daughters Antigone and Ismene, Oedipus is a towering tragic figure whose final years comprise a moving portrayal of the perseverance of human dignity in the face of an incomprehensible and impersonal universe.
Students, teachers, and lovers of classical drama will welcome this inexpensive edition of an enduring literary and theatrical landmark.

Oedipus at Colonus

Scene—Colonus, before the Sacred Grove of the Erinyes.

[Enter ŒDIPUS and ANTIGONE.]

ŒDIPUS

Antigone, child of a blind old man,
What lands are these, or what the folk whose gates
We have attained? Who shall receive to-day
With stinted alms the wanderer Œdipus?—
Asking but little; than that little still
Obtaining less; and yet enough for me.
For my afflictions and the weight of years
And something, too, of my own dignity
Teach me contentment. If you see, my child,
Some resting-place, either by sacred grove
Or secular dwelling, stay me and set me down,
That we may find out in what place we are;
For strangers from inhabitants to learn
We are come hither; and what we hear, to do it.

ANTIGONE

Towers are there, 0 my father, Œdipus,
Covering a city, I perceive, afar;
This place, as I suppose, is consecrate;
It blooms with laurel, olive and the vine;¹
Thick-flying nightingales within it warble;
Here stretch thy limbs, upon this rough-hewn stone;
For thou art aged to have come so far.

ŒDIPUS

Seat me and guard me still; for I am blind.

ANTIGONE

I know—that is an old tale—tell not me.

ŒDIPUS

Well, can you teach me whither we are come?

ANTIGONE

To Athens, that I know; but not the quarter.

ŒDIPUS

So much we heard from every passenger.

ANTIGONE

But shall I go and ask what place it is?

ŒDIPUS

Why yes, my child; if it seems hospitable.

ANTIGONE

O yes, there are some dwellings.—There’s no need,
I think: for here’s a man, I see, close to us.

ŒDIPUS

What, moving and approaching hitherward?

ANTIGONE

Yes, here, I mean, at hand. Say what is needful;
This is the man.

[Enter a Stranger, an inhabitant of Colonus.]

ŒDIPUS

Stranger, this maiden tells me
(Whose eyesight serves both for herself and me).
Of your approach, an apt intelligencer
Of things we cannot guess—

STRANGER

Ere you ask further
Come from that seat; you trespass on a place
No foot may desecrate.

ŒDIPUS

What is the place?
To what God dedicated?

STRANGER

It is kept
From touch or dwelling: the dread Goddesses
Hold it, the daughters of the Earth and Gloom.

ŒDIPUS

Who? By what solemn name denominate
Might I invoke them?

STRANGER

By the natives here
They would be called the All-seeing Favourers;
Other fit names elsewhere.

ŒDIPUS

May they receive
With mercy me their supplicant; and I
From this land’s harbour will go forth no more!

STRANGER

What does this mean?

ŒDIPUS

’Tis my misfortunes’ weird.

STRANGER

Truly I dare not turn him out, before
I tell the rest—without authority.

ŒDIPUS

Sir, in Heaven’s name do not begrudge me—me
A wanderer—what I crave of you to say!

STRANGER

Explain, and I will show I grudge you not.

ŒDIPUS

What ground is this we have been treading on?

STRANGER

You shall hear all I know. First the whole place is holy,
Inhabited by dread Poseidon;² next
The Deity that brought fire abides in it,
Titan Prometheus;³ this same spot you press
They call the Brass-paved Causeway⁴ of the land—
Rampart of Athens; the adjoining farms
Boast them Colonus⁵ mounted on his horse
For their chief patron, and the people all
Are called by and in common bear his name.
These are the facts, sir stranger; honoured not
So much in story, as cherished on the spot.

ŒDIPUS

Did you say any men lived hereabouts?

STRANGER

Yes truly, and that they bear this Hero’s name.

ŒDIPUS

Have they a chief, or lies it with the folk
To hold debate?

STRANGER

These parts are in the rule
Of the king of the City.

ŒDIPUS

Who is he whose might
And counsel sway them?

STRANGER

Theseus is his name,
Old Ægeus’ son.

ŒDIPUS

Would one of you go fetch him?

STRANGER

What should one tell or move him to come here for?

ŒDIPUS

Say, to gain much by a small act of kindness.

STRANGER

And where’s the service in a man that’s blind?

ŒDIPUS

There will be eyes in all that I shall say.

STRANGER

Come, this you may, sir, and without offence;
(Since you are worshipful to look upon,
Saving God’s hand;) stay there where I first found you,
While I go tell this to the burghers round,
(Here, not in the city;) they will soon decide
If you shall tarry, or depart once more. [Exit.

ŒDIPUS

My daughter, has the stranger gone away?

ANTIGONE

Yes, he has gone. You may say anything
Securely, father; none are here but I.

ŒDIPUS

Queens, with stern faces! since of all this land
First in your sanctuary I seated me,

To Phoebus,⁶ as to me, turn no deaf ear,
Who, prophesying of those my many-woes,
Spake of this respite for me at the last
That when my journey ended, in a land
Where I should find asylum, at the shrine
Of awful Powers, and hospitality,
There I should round the goal of my life-sorrow,
There dwell, a blessing to my hosts—a curse
To those who sent m...