1 Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus Introduced and Translated by ...

And protect me from all harm.
Just as you protected the city in the past
And averted the flames of disaster
That descended upon us,
Come now once again.
Our troubles are numberless; 170
Disease infests our army;
No spear of thought
Is sharp enough for defense.
Our once famous land bears no fruit,
Nor do women cry out
In labor crowned by children.
Now one, now another,
Like the swift-winged bird,
Flies to the shore
Of the god of the west. 5
Swifter than furious fire,
Numberless are the city’s dead.
Unburied children
Lie on the ground;
Death takes them with no tears. 180
Silver-haired mothers and wives
Surround the altars,
Moaning their woes and weeping,
Suppliants in vain.
The shrill hymn to Apollo
Mixes its blaze with cries of sorrow.
Golden daughter of Zeus,
Take pity on us:
Send fair-faced salvation.
We fight a war that is no war,
No bronze of shields,
But Ares burns us, shouting as he attacks. 190
May he turn tail,
Run far from our land,
Returning to Amphitrite’s great hall,
Or to Thrace’s stormy shores
That offer no harbor to strangers.
What night leaves unfinished,
The day brings to pass.
You, father Zeus,
Mighty with your blazing lightning, 200
5 The setting sun, i.e. death.
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