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OEDIPUS AT COLONUS<br />
be found for you, oh, as ye fear the gods, do not, for An. And what, father, is the aim of thy summons?<br />
your part, dishonour me-nay, give me burial, and Oed. This winged thunder of Zeus will lead me<br />
due funeral rites. And so the praise which ye now anon to Hades: nay, send, and tarry not.<br />
win from yonder man, for your service, shall be in (A second peal is heard.)<br />
creased by another praise not less, by reason of the Ch. Hark! With louder noise it crashes down, un<br />
office wrought for me.<br />
utterable, hurled by Zeus I The hair of my head<br />
An. Polyneices, I entreat thee, hear me in one stands up for fear, my soul is sore dismayed; for<br />
thingl<br />
again the lightning flashes in the sky. Oh, to what<br />
Po. What is it, dearest Antigone? Speak!<br />
event will it give birth? I am afraid, for never in<br />
An. Turn thy host back to Argos-aye, with all vain doth it rush forth, or without grave issue. 0<br />
speed-and destroy not thyself and Thebes.<br />
Po. Nay, it cannot be: for how again could I lead<br />
thou dread sky! 0 Zeus!<br />
Oed. Daughters, his destined end hath come upon<br />
the same host, when once I had blenched?<br />
your sire; he can turn his face from it no more.<br />
An. But why, my brother, should thine anger rise An. How knowest thou? What sign ha th told thee<br />
again? What gain is promised thee in destroying thy this?<br />
native city?<br />
Po. 'Tis shame to be an exile, and, eldest born as<br />
Oed. I know it well. But let some one go, I pray<br />
you, with all speed, and bring hither the lord of this<br />
I am, to be thus mocked on my brother's part. realm.<br />
An. Seest thou, then, to wha t sure fulfil men t thou (Another peal.)<br />
art bringing his prophecies, who bodes mutual slay Ch. Ha! Listen! Once again that piercing thundering<br />
for you twain?<br />
Po. Aye, for he wishes it: but I must not yield.<br />
voice is around usl Be merciful, 0 thou god, be<br />
merciful, if thou art bringing aught of gloom for the<br />
An. Ah me unhappy! But who will dare to follow land our mother! Gracious may I find thee, nor, be<br />
thee, hearing what prophecies yon man hath cause I have looked on a man accurst, have some<br />
uttered?<br />
Po. I will not e'en report ill tidings: 'tis a good<br />
meed, not of blessing for my portion! 0 Zeus our<br />
lord, to thee I cry!<br />
leader's part to tell the better news, and not the Oed. Is the man near? Will he find me still alive,<br />
worse.<br />
children, and master of my mind?<br />
An. Brother! Thy resolve, then, is thus fixed?<br />
Po. Yea-and detain me not. For mine it now<br />
An. And what is the pledge which thou wouldst<br />
have fixed in thy mind?<br />
shall be to tread yon path, with evil doom and omen Oed. In return for his benefits, I would duly give<br />
from this my sire and from his Furies; but for you him the requital promised when I received them.<br />
twain, may Zeus make your path bright, if ye do Ch. What ho, my son, hither, come hither! Or if<br />
my wishes when I am dead -since in my life ye can in the glade's inmost recess, for the honour of the<br />
do them no more. (He gently disengages himself from sea-god Poseidon, thou art hallowing his altar with<br />
their embrace.) Now, release me, and farewell; for sacrifice-come thence! Worthy art thou in the<br />
nevermore shall ye behold me living.<br />
stranger's sight, worthy are thy city and thy folk,<br />
An. Woe is mel<br />
Po. Mourn not for me.<br />
that he should render a just recompense for benefits.<br />
Haste, come quickly, 0 kingl<br />
An. And who would not bewail thee, brother,<br />
Enter THESEUS, on the spectators' right.<br />
who thus art hurrying to death foreseen?<br />
Po. If 'tis fate, I must die.<br />
Th. Wherefore once more rings forth a summons<br />
from you all-from my people as clearly as from<br />
An. Nay, nay-hear my pleading!<br />
Po. Plead not amiss.<br />
our guest? Can a thunderbolt from Zeus be the<br />
cause, or rushing hail in its fierce onset? All forebod<br />
An. Then woe is me, indeed, if! must lose thee!<br />
Po. Nay, that rests with Fortune-that end or<br />
ings may find place, when the god sends such a<br />
storm.<br />
another. For you twain, at least, I pray the gods<br />
that ye never meet with ill; for in all men's eyes ye<br />
Oed. King, welcome is thy presence; and 'tis some<br />
god that hath made for thee the good fortune of<br />
are unworthy to suffer.<br />
this coming.<br />
Exit, on spectators' left. Th. And what new thing hath now befallen, son<br />
Ch. Behold, new ills ha ve newly come, in our hear of Laius?<br />
ing, from the sightless stranger-ills fraught with<br />
a heavy doom; unless, perchance, Fate is finding its<br />
Oed. My life hangs in the scale: and I fain would<br />
die guiltless of bad faith to thee and to this city, in<br />
goal. For 'tis not mine to say that a decree of Heaven respect of my pledges.<br />
is ever vain: watchful, aye watchful of those decrees Th. And what sign of thy fate holds thee in sus<br />
is Time, overthrowing some fortunes, and on the pense?<br />
morrow lifting others, again, to honour. Hark that Oed. The gods, their own heralds, bring me the<br />
sound in the sky! Zeus defend us!<br />
tidings, with no failure in the signs appointed of old.<br />
(Thunder is heard.)<br />
Th. What sayest thou are the signs of these things,<br />
Oed. My children, my children! If there be any old man?<br />
man to send, would tha t some one would fetch hither<br />
the peerless Theseus!<br />
Oed. The thunder, peal on peal, the lightning,<br />
flash on flash, hurled from the unconquered hand.<br />
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