OEDIPUS AT COLONOS
Oedipus.Antigone.
Oedipus. Antigone, child of the old blind sire,
What land is here, what people? Who to-day
Shall dole to Oedipus, the wandering exile,
Their meagre gifts? Little I ask, and less
Receive with full contentment; for my woes,
And the long years ripening the noble mind,
Have schooled me to endure.—But, O my child,
If thou espiest where we may sit, though near
Some holy precinct, stay me and set me there,
Till we may learn where we are come. ’Tis ours
To hear the will of strangers and to obey.
Antigone. Woe-wearied father, yonder city’s wall
That shields her, looks far distant; but this ground
Is surely sacred, thickly planted over
With olive, bay and vine, within whose bowers
Thick-fluttering song-birds make sweet melody.
Here then repose thee on this unhewn stone.
Thou hast travelled far to-day for one so old.
Oed. Seat me, my child, and be the blind man’s guard.
Ant. Long time hath well instructed me in that.
Oed. Now, canst thou tell me where we have set our feet?
Ant. Athens I know, but not the nearer ground.
Oed. Ay, every man that met us in the way
Named Athens.
Ant. Shall I go, then, and find out
The name of the spot?
Oed. Yes, if ’tis habitable.
Ant. It is inhabited. Yet I need not go.
I see a man even now appproaching here.
