Thus poor, dishonoured, exiled; but by them
I was sent forth an outlawed fugitive.430
But thou wilt say, it may be, at my wish
My country rightly gave this boon to me.
Not so, not so, for on that self-same day,
When yet my thoughts were hot, and all my wish,
My one desire, to perish, stoned to death,
No man came forward then to help that wish;
But later, when the sorrow had grown slack,
And I perceived my passion had outstripped
My former faults with lavish punishment,
Then did our state, for its part, drive me forth440
Full late to exile. And my sons that might
Have helped their father, would not stir to act;
And I, for lack of one small word, went roaming,
A beggar and a fugitive. And these,
Girls as they are, with such strength as they have,
Give me my daily food; from them I gain
Rest without fear, and every kindly help.
But those two brothers chose, instead of me
Their father, kingly thrones and sceptred sway,
To play their parts as sovereigns in the land.
But never shall they make me their ally,450
Nor from their rule o'er Thebes shall aught of good
For ever come. This know I, hearing both
The oracles she brings, and thinking o'er
Those older words that Phœbos brought on me.
Wherefore to seek me let them Creon send,
Or any man whose power the country owns.
For if ye will but stand, my friends, on guard,
With these thrice awful, dread Protectresses,[1]
- ↑ The Protectresses are, of course, the Eumenides. The great Deliverer is Apollo, whose favour the men of Colonos will gain by sheltering Œdipus.
