Ch. What wilt thou do?
Cr. Oedipus I will seize and bear away.
Ch. Great Heaven forfend!
Cr. It shall be done forthwith,
Unless the ruler of this land prevent me.
Oed. O shameless utterance! Wilt thou lay thy hold
On me?
Cr. Be silent! Speak no more!
Oed. No more?
May these dread Goddesses not close my lips
To this one prayer of evil against thee,
Thou villain, who, when I have lost mine eyes,
Bereavest me of all that I had left
To make my darkness light! Therefore I pray,
For this thy wrongful act, may He in heaven
Whose eye sees all things, Helios, give to thee
Slowly to wither in an age like mine!
Cr. Men of this land, bear witness to his rage!
Oed. They see us both, and are aware that I
Repay thee but with words for deeds of wrong.
Cr. No longer will I curb my wrath. Though lonely
And cumbered by mine age, I will bear off
This man!
Oed. Me miserable!
Ch. How bold thou art,
If standing here thou think’st to do this thing!
Cr. I do.
Ch. Then Athens is to me no city.
Cr. Slight men prevail o’er strength in a just cause.
Oed. Hear ye his words?
Ch. He shall not make them good.
Be witness, Zeus!
Cr. Zeus knows more things than thou.
Oed. Is not this violence?
Cr. Violence you must bear.
Ch. Come, chieftain of our land!
Come hither with all speed. They pass the bound.
