Messenger
Was it really for fear of this that you became an exile from that city?
Oedipus
[1000]
And because I did not wish, old man, to be the murderer of my father.
Messenger
Why have I not relieved you of this second fear, my lord, since I came to give you pleasure?
Oedipus
And indeed you will have worthy thanks from me.
Messenger
And indeed I came specially for this, that
[1005]
I might profit from your returning home.
Oedipus
But by no means will I ever go near my parents again.
Messenger
My son, it is crystal clear that you do not know what you are doing.
Oedipus
How so, old man? In the name of the gods, tell me.
Messenger
[1010]
If on account of this you are fleeing from returning home.
Oedipus
Fearing indeed lest Apollo's prophecy come true in me.
Messenger
Lest you acquire some pollution from your parents?
Oedipus
This very thing, old man, this constantly frightens me.
Messenger
Do you know, then, that your fears are wholly in vain?
Oedipus
[1015]
*How so, if I was born of those parents?
Messenger
Because you had no blood in common with Polybus.
Oedipus
What are you saying? Was Polybus not my father?
Messenger
Just as much, and no more, than he who speaks to you.
Oedipus
And how can my father be equal to him who is as though nothing to me?
Messenger
[1020]
But he did not father you, any more than I did.
Oedipus
How, then, did he call me his son?
Messenger
Long ago he received you as a gift from my hands.
Oedipus
And yet he loved me so dearly, who came from another's hand?
Messenger
His former childlessness won him over.
Oedipus
[1025]
And had you bought me or found me by chance, when you gave me to him?
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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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