aeschylus - Conscious Evolution TV

OEDlPUS AT COLONUS
will, but to do all things for their good, as thy friend- under-world for ever, not even there shalt thou ever
ship and the time may prompt." And he. like a man lack our love-her love and mine.
of noble spirit. without making lament. sware to Ch. He hath faredkeep
that promise to his friend. An. He hath fared as he would.
But when Theseus had so promised. straightway Ch. In what wise?
Oedipus felt for his children with blind hands. and An. On foreign ground. the ground of his choice.
said: "0 my children. ye must be nobly brave of he hath died; in the shadow of the grave he hath his
heart, and depart from this place. nor ask to behold bed for ever; and he hath left mourning behind him.
unlawful sights. or to hear such speech as may not not barren of tears. For with these streaming eyes.
be heard. Nay, go with all haste; only let Theseus father. I bewail thee; nor know I, ah me, how to
be present. as is his right, a witness of those things quell my sorrow for thee. my sorrow that is so great.
which are to be." Ah me! 'twas thy wish to die in a strange land; but
So spake he, and we all heard; and with stream- now thou hast died without gifts at my hand.
ing tears and with lamentation we followed the Is. Woe is me! What new fate, think'st thou,
maidens away. But when we had gone apart, after awaits thee and me, my sister, thus orphaned of our
no long time we looked back, and Oedipus we saw sire?
nowhere any more, but the king alone, holding his Ch. Nay, since he hath found a blessed end, my
hand before his face to screen his eyes, as if some children, cease from this lament; no mortal is hard
dread sight had been seen, and such as none might for evil fortune to capture.
endure to behold. And then, after a short space, we An. Sister, let us hasten back.
saw him salute the earth and the home of the gods Is. Unto what deed?
above, both at once, in one prayer. An. A longing fills my soul.
But by what doom Oedipus perished, no man can Is. Whereof?
tell, save Theseus alone. No fiery thunderbolt of the An. To see the dark homegod
removed him in that hour, nor any rising of Is. Of whom?
storm from the sea; but either a messenger from the An. Ah me! of our sire.
gods, or the world of the dead, the nether adaman t, Is. And how can this thing be lawful? Hast thou
riven for him in love, without pain; for the passing no understanding?
of the man was not with lamentation, or in sickness An. Why this reproof?
and suffering, but, above mortal's, wonderful. And Is. And knowest thou not this alsoif
to any I seem to speak folly, I would not woo their An. What wouldst thou tell me more?
belief, who count me foolish. Is. That he was perishing without tomb, apart
Ch. And where are the maidens, and their escort? from all?
Me. Not far hence; for the sounds of mourning An. Lead me thither, and then slay me also.
tell plainly that they approach. Is. Ah me unhappy I Friendless and helpless, where
ANTIGONE and ISMENE enter. am I now to live my hapless life?
An. Woe, woe! Now, indeed, is it for us, unhappy Ch. My children, fear not.
sisters, in all fulness to bewail the curse on the blood An. But whither am I to flee?
that is ours from our sire! For him, while he lived, Ch. Already a refuge hath been foundwe
bore that long pain without pause; and at the An. How meanest thou?
lastasightanda loss that baffle thought are ours to tell. Ch. -for your fortunes, that no harm should
Ch. And how is it with you? touch them.
An. We can but conjecture, friends. An. I know it well.
Ch. He is gone? Ch. What, then, is thy thought?
An. Even as thou mightest wish: yea, surely. when An. How we are to go home, I cannot tell.
death met him not in war, or·on the deep, but he Ch. And do not seek to go.
was snatched to the viewless fields by some swift, An. Trouble besets us.
strange doom. Ah me! and a night as of death hath Ch. And erstwhile bore hardly on you.
come on the eyes of us twain: for how shall we find An. Desperate then, and now more cruel than
our bitter livelihood, roaming to some far land, or despair.
on the waves of the sea? Ch. Great, verily, is the sea of your troubles.
Is. I know not. Oh that deadly Hades would join An. Alas, alas! 0 Zeus. whither shall we turn? To
me in death unto mine aged sire! Woe is me! I can- what last hope doth fate now urge us?
not live the life that must be mine. Enter THESEUS, on the spectators' right.
Ch. Best of daughters, sisters twain, Heaven's Th. Weep no more, maidens; for where the kinddoom
must be borne: be no more fired with too ness of the Dark Powers is an abiding grace to the
much grief: ye have so fared that ye should not re- quick and to the dead, there is no room for mournpine.
ing; divine anger would follow.
An. Ah, so care past can seem lost joy! For that An. Son of Aegeus, we supplicate thee!
which was no way sweet had sweetness, while there- Th. For the obtaining of what desire, my children?
with I held him in mine embrace. Ah, father, dear An. We fain would look with our own eyes upon
one. ah thou who hast put on the darkness of the our father's tomb.
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