Chorus
And does the sufferer have any respite from pain now?
Second Messenger
He cries for some one to unbar the gates and show to all the Cadmeans his father's slayer, his mother's—the words must not pass my lips—
[1290]
in order to banish himself from the land and not to put the house under his own curse by waiting here. And yet he lacks strength, and one to guide his steps, for the anguish is more than he can bear. He will soon show this to you: look, the bars of the gates are withdrawn,
[1295]
and soon you will behold a sight which even he who abhors it must pity.
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Sophocles. The Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles. Edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1887.
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