Creon
Do not let this mourning bring disaster on your marriage.
Antigone
Marriage! Do you think I will marry your son while I am alive?
Creon
Indeed you must; how will you escape his bed?
Antigone
[1675]
Then that night will find in me another Danaid bride!
Creon
turning to Oedipus
Do you see how boldly she reproaches me?
Antigone
Let the steel know, the sword be my witness!
Creon
Why are you so eager to be released from this marriage?
Antigone
I mean to share my hapless father's exile.
Creon
[1680]
A noble spirit yours but there is some folly in it.
Antigone
And I will share his death, I tell you further.
Creon
Go, leave the land; you will not murder my son.Creon goes out, followed by his attendants who carry with them the body of Menoeceus.
Oedipus
Daughter, for this loyal spirit I thank you.
Antigone
How could I marry, while you went into exile alone, father?
Oedipus
[1685]
Stay here and be happy; I will bear my own load of sorrow.
Antigone
And who will tend you in your blindness, father?
Oedipus
Where fate appoints, there I will fall and lie down upon the ground.
Antigone
Where is Oedipus, and that famous riddle?
Oedipus
Lost! One day blessed me, one destroyed me.
Antigone
[1690]
May I not also share your sorrows?
Oedipus
To wander with her blinded father would be shameful for his daughter.
Antigone
Not so, father, but glory, if she is discreet.
Oedipus
Lead me near, so that I may touch your mother's corpse.
Antigone
There, embrace the aged form so dear to you.
Oedipus
[1695]
O mother, o most wretched wife!
Antigone
Pitiably she lies, who suffered every evil at once.
Oedipus
Where are the corpses of Eteocles, and of Polyneices?
Antigone
Here they both lie, stretched out side by side.
Oedipus
Lay my blind hand upon their poor faces.
Antigone
[1700]
There, touch the dead, your children.
Oedipus
O dear fallen sons, sad offspring of a sad father!
Antigone
0 my brother Polyneices, name most dear to me!
Oedipus
Now the oracle of Loxias is being fulfilled, my child.
Antigone
What oracle? Do you have further woes to tell?
Oedipus
[1705]
That I should die in Athens after a life of wandering.
Antigone
Where? What fenced town in Attica will take you in?
Oedipus
Hallowed Colonus, home of the god of horses. Come then, attend on your blind father, since you are eager to share his exile.
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Table of Contents:
Euripides. The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 2. The Phoenissae, translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.