Part 27

THESEUS. Say on, I wait full knowledge ere I judge.

OEDIPUS. O Theseus, I have suffered wrongs on wrongs.

THESEUS. Wouldst tell the old misfortune of thy race?

OEDIPUS. No, that has grown a byword throughout Greece.

THESEUS. What then can be this more than mortal grief?

OEDIPUS. My case stands thus; by my own flesh and blood I was expelled my country, and can ne’er Thither return again, a parricide.

THESEUS. Why fetch thee home if thou must needs obey.

THESEUS. What are they threatened by the oracle?

OEDIPUS. Destruction that awaits them in this land.

THESEUS. What can beget ill blood ’twixt them and me?

OEDIPUS. Dear son of Aegeus, to the gods alone Is given immunity from eld and death; But nothing else escapes all-ruinous time. Earth’s might decays, the might of men decays, Honor grows cold, dishonor flourishes, There is no constancy ’twixt friend and friend, Or city and city; be it soon or late, Sweet turns to bitter, hate once more to love. If now ’tis sunshine betwixt Thebes and thee And not a cloud, Time in his endless course Gives birth to endless days and nights, wherein The merest nothing shall suffice to cut With serried spears your bonds of amity. Then shall my slumbering and buried corpse In its cold grave drink their warm life-blood up, If Zeus be Zeus and Phoebus still speak true. No more: ’tis ill to tear aside the veil Of mysteries; let me cease as I began: Enough if thou wilt keep thy plighted troth, Then shall thou ne’er complain that Oedipus Proved an unprofitable and thankless guest, Except the gods themselves shall play me false.

CHORUS. The man, my lord, has from the very first Declared his power to offer to our land These and like benefits.

THESEUS. Who could reject The proffered amity of such a friend? First, he can claim the hospitality To which by mutual contract we stand pledged: Next, coming here, a suppliant to the gods, He pays full tribute to the State and me; His favors therefore never will I spurn, But grant him the full rights of citizen; And, if it suits the stranger here to bide, I place him in your charge, or if he please Rather to come with me—choose, Oedipus, Which of the two thou wilt. Thy choice is mine.

OEDIPUS. Zeus, may the blessing fall on men like these!

THESEUS. What dost thou then decide—to come with me?

OEDIPUS. Yea, were it lawful—but ’tis rather here—

THESEUS. What wouldst thou here? I shall not thwart thy wish.

OEDIPUS. Here shall I vanquish those who cast me forth.

THESEUS. Then were thy presence here a boon indeed.

OEDIPUS. Such shall it prove, if thou fulfill’st thy pledge.

THESEUS. Fear not for me; I shall not play thee false.

OEDIPUS. No need to back thy promise with an oath.

THESEUS. An oath would be no surer than my word.

OEDIPUS. How wilt thou act then?

THESEUS. What is it thou fear’st?

OEDIPUS. My foes will come—

THESEUS. Our friends will look to that.

OEDIPUS. But if thou leave me?