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Sophocles · Oedipus at Colonus Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ

Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 761–799: Third episode (cont.): Oedipus answers Creon

Ancient Sources / Sophocles / Oedipus at Colonus / 761–799

Oedipus tells Creon that he is a man who will dare anything, and recalls that when Oedipus wished to be banished Creon would not help, and thrust him out only when his anger had passed. He says that Creon now wants to take him to the border of Thebes so that his city will escape evils from this land, but that he will get from Oedipus only his avenging spirit, and his sons only soil enough to die in. He says that he knows more of the fortunes of Thebes, from Apollo and Zeus, and tells Creon to go.

Lines 761–799 · 417 words · click a number to copy its link

Oedipus

761–799
761ὦ πάντα τολμῶν κἀπὸ παντὸς ἂν φέρων λόγου δικαίου μηχάνημα ποικίλον, τί ταῦτα πειρᾷ κἀμὲ δεύτερον θέλεις ἑλεῖν ἐν οἷς μάλιστʼ ἂν ἀλγοίην ἁλούς; 765πρόσθεν τε γάρ με τοῖσιν οἰκείοις κακοῖς νοσοῦνθʼ, ὅτʼ ἦν μοι τέρψις ἐκπεσεῖν χθονός, οὐκ ἤθελες θέλοντι προσθέσθαι χάριν· ἀλλʼ ἡνίκʼ ἤδη μεστὸς ἦ θυμούμενος καὶ τοὐν δόμοισιν ἦν διαιτᾶσθαι γλυκύ, 770τότʼ ἐξεώθεις κἀξέβαλλες, οὐδέ σοι τὸ συγγενὲς τοῦτʼ οὐδαμῶς τότʼ ἦν φίλον· νῦν τʼ αὖθις ἡνίκʼ εἰσορᾷς πόλιν τέ μοι ξυνοῦσαν εὔνουν τήνδε καὶ γένος τὸ πᾶν, πειρᾷ μετασπᾶν, σκληρὰ μαλθακῶς λέγων. 775καίτοι τίς αὕτη τέρψις ἄκοντας φιλεῖν; ὥσπερ τις εἴ σοι λιπαροῦντι μὲν τυχεῖν μηδὲν διδοίη μηδʼ ἐπαρκέσαι θέλοι, πλήρη δʼ ἔχοντι θυμὸν ὧν χρῄζοις, τότε δωροῖθʼ, ὅτʼ οὐδὲν ἡ χάρις χάριν φέροι· 780ἆρʼ ἂν ματαίου τῆσδʼ ἂν ἡδονῆς τύχοις; τοιαῦτα μέντοι καὶ σὺ προσφέρεις ἐμοί, λόγῳ μὲν ἐσθλά. τοῖσι δʼ ἔργοισιν κακά. φράσω δὲ καὶ τοῖσδʼ, ὥς σε δηλώσω κακόν. ἥκεις ἔμʼ ἄξων, οὐχʼ ἵνʼ ἐς δόμους ἄγῃς, 785ἀλλʼ ὡς πάραυλον οἰκίσῃς, πόλις δέ σοι κακῶν ἄνατος τῆσδʼ ἀπαλλαχθῇ χθονός. οὐκ ἔστι σοι ταῦτʼ, ἀλλά σοι τάδʼ ἔστʼ, ἐκεῖ χώρας ἀλάστωρ οὑμὸς ἐνναίων ἀεί· ἔστιν δὲ παισὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖσι τῆς ἐμῆς 790χθονὸς λαχεῖν τοσοῦτον, ἐνθανεῖν μόνον. ἆρʼ οὐκ ἄμεινον ἢ σὺ τἀν Θήβαις φρονῶ; πολλῷ γʼ, ὅσῳπερ κἀκ σαφεστέρων κλύω, Φοίβου τε καὐτοῦ Ζηνός, ὃς κείνου πατήρ. τὸ σὸν δʼ ἀφῖκται δεῦρʼ ὑπόβλητον στόμα, 795πολλὴν ἔχον στόμωσιν· ἐν δὲ τῷ λέγειν κάκʼ ἂν λάβοις τὰ πλείονʼ ἢ σωτήρια. ἀλλʼ οἶδα γάρ σε ταῦτα μὴ πείθων, ἴθι· ἡμᾶς δʼ ἔα ζῆν ἐνθάδʼ· οὐ γὰρ ἂν κακῶς οὐδʼ ὧδʼ ἔχοντες ζῷμεν, εἰ τερποίμεθα.

You who will dare anything, who from any just plea would derive a crafty trick, why do you make this attempt on me, and seek once more to snare me in your trap where I would feel most grief? Long ago, when I labored under the sickness of my self-made evils, and I yearned to be cast out of the land, you refused to grant the favor. But when my fierce anger had spent its force, and seclusion in the house was sweet to me, it was then that you thrust me from the house and cast me from the land. And this common race that you mention—that was not at all dear to you then. Now, in turn, when you see that I have a kindly welcome from this city and all its race, you try to pluck me away, wrapping your cruel thoughts in soft words. And yet what pleasure do you find in this, in treating me as dear against my will? As if a man should refuse you a gift, bring you no aid, when you continually begged for it; but after your heart was sated with your desires, he should grant it then, when the favor could bring no joy —would you not find your delight in this empty? Yet such is the nature of your own offers to me: noble in appearance, but in substance base. And I will declare it to these men too, to show you up as base. You have come to get me, not to bring me home, but to plant me near your borders, so that your city might escape uninjured by evils from this land. That fate is not for you, but this one: the brooding of my vengeful spirit on your land forever; and for my sons, this heirloom: just so much soil in my realm in which to die. Am I not wiser than you in the fortunes of Thebes? Yes, far wiser, by as much as the sources of my knowledge are truer: Phoebus I mean, and his father, Zeus himself. But you have come here with fraud on your lips, yes, and with a tongue keener than the edge of a sword; yet by their use you may well reap more sorrow than salvation. Still, since I know that I cannot persuade you of this, go! Allow us to live on here; for even in this plight our life would not be bad, if we should be content with it.

People and places in this passage

Passages in other works that tell of the same people and places, oldest and closest first.

  1. Euripides, Phoenician Women 834–895Fourth episode: Teiresias arrives and hints at a hidden remedy
  2. Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 1–77Prologue: the Priest asks Oedipus to save Thebes
  3. Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 300–403First episode (cont.): Oedipus and Teiresias quarrel
  4. Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.5.1–9Dionysus, Pentheus, Niobe and Oedipus
  5. Euripides, Phoenician Women 1–87Prologue: Jocasta tells the story of the house of Oedipus
  6. Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 2.4.6–12Amphitryon, Alcmene and the youth of Heracles

English translation by Richard C. Jebb (modernised by Perseus) (1889). Original text: Greek text: Francis Storr (ed. and trans.), Sophocles, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, 1912, as digitised by Perseus. English: Richard C. Jebb, Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, The Oedipus at Colonus, Cambridge University Press, 1889 (Perseus's modernised version of Jebb's prose translation).

Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.