Chorus: about that wretched, helpless pain that appeared, in which you were entangled.
Oedipus: By hospitality, do not lay open the shameful things that I have suffered.
Chorus: Since the rumor is widespread and never ceasing, I wish, stranger, to hear a true account.
§519ὤμοι.
Oedipus: Alas!
§519aστέρξον, ἱκετεύω.
Chorus: Grant this, I entreat you.
§519bφεῦ φεῦ.
Oedipus: Ah, ah!
§520πείθου· κἀγὼ γὰρ ὅσον σὺ προσχρῄζεις.
Chorus: Comply; for I too will grant as much as you require.
Oedipus: I bore indeed these evils, strangers, I bore them unwillingly, let god be my witness, but none of these was of my own choosing.
§524ἀλλʼ ἐς τί;
Chorus: But in what way?
Oedipus: In a wicked marriage-bed the city bound me, who was entirely ignorant of the ruin of those nuptials.
Chorus: Did you indeed, from your mother, as I hear, fill the bed of ill-repute?
αὗται δὲ δύʼ ἐξ ἐμοῦ μὲν §531πῶς φῄς;
It is death to hear this, stranger; but these two daughters, born from me indeed— Chorus: How do you say?
§534ματρὸς κοινᾶς ἀπέβλαστον ὠδῖνος.
Oedipus: they sprang from the same labor of our common mother.
Chorus: Are they then your offspring and at the same time the shared sisters of their father?
§537ἰώ.
Chorus: Alas!
§537aἰὼ δῆτα μυρίων γʼ ἐπιστροφαὶ κακῶν.
Oedipus: Alas, indeed, a turning of ten thousand evils!
Chorus: You suffered— Oedipus: I suffered unforgettable things to bear.
§539bτί γάρ;
Chorus: How so?
Oedipus: I received a gift, which I, wretched one, ought never to have taken as a benefit from the city.
§542δύστανε, τί γάρ;
Chorus: Unfortunate man!
ἔθου φόνον
How then?
§543τί τοῦτο;
Did you commit the murder Oedipus: What is this?
τί δʼ ἐθέλεις μαθεῖν;
What do you wish to learn?
§544πατρός;
Chorus: of your father?
§544aπαπαῖ.
Oedipus: Ah!
δευτέραν ἔπαισας, ἐπὶ νόσῳ νόσον,
You strike me a second time, disease upon disease!
ἔχει δέ μοι §546τί τοῦτο;
But I have Chorus: What is this?
§546aπρὸς δίκας τι.
Oedipus: something of justice.
§546bτί γάρ;
Chorus: How so?
§546cἐγὼ φράσω.
Oedipus: I will explain.
Oedipus: For indeed, those whom I slew would have destroyed me; and clean by law, I came to this in ignorance.
Chorus: And behold, our king, the son of Aegeus, Theseus, is here, having set out on account of your request.
§551πολλῶν ἀκούων ἔν τε τῷ πάρος χρόνῳ §552τὰς αἱματηρὰς ὀμμάτων διαφθορὰς §553ἔγνωκά σʼ, ὦ παῖ Λαΐου, τανῦν θʼ ὁδοῖς §554ἐν ταῖσδʼ ἀκούων μᾶλλον ἐξεπίσταμαι.
Theseus: Hearing from many in former times about the bloody destruction of your eyes, I recognized you, son of Laius; and now on this road hearing more, I know you even better.
§555σκευή τε γάρ σε καὶ τὸ δύστηνον κάρα §556δηλοῦτον ἡμῖν ὄνθʼ ὃς εἶ, καί σʼ οἰκτίσας §557θέλω ʼπερέσθαι, δύσμορʼ Οἰδίπους, τίνα §558πόλεως ἐπέστης προστροπὴν ἐμοῦ τʼ ἔχων, §559αὐτός τε χἠ σὴ δύσμορος παραστάτις.
For your attire and your wretched head show us who you are; and pitying you, I wish to ask, unfortunate Oedipus, what supplication to the city and to me you have come to make, both you yourself and your unfortunate guide.
§560δίδασκε· δεινὴν γάρ τινʼ ἂν πρᾶξιν τύχοις §561λέξας ὁποίας ἐξαφισταίμην ἐγώ, §562ὃς οἶδα καὐτὸς ὡς ἐπαιδεύθην ξένος, §563ὥσπερ σύ, χὢς εἷς πλεῖστʼ ἀνὴρ ἐπὶ ξένης §564ἤθλησα κινδυνεύματʼ ἐν τὠμῷ κάρᾳ· §565ὥστε ξένον γʼ ἂν οὐδένʼ ὄνθʼ, ὥσπερ σὺ νῦν, §566ὑπεκτραποίμην μὴ οὐ συνεκσῴζειν·
Instruct me; for indeed it must be a terrible deed you would tell for me to shrink from it, since I know that I myself was brought up as a stranger just like you, and as much as any single man in exile I struggled with dangers in my own person; so that I would turn aside from no stranger, such as you are now, so as not to help to save him.
For I know that I am a man, and that of tomorrow I have no greater share than you.
Oedipus: Theseus, your nobility in a brief speech has shown itself, so that I need say only a few words.
§571σὺ γάρ μʼ ὅς εἰμι κἀφʼ ὅτου πατρὸς γεγὼς §572καὶ γῆς ὁποίας ἦλθον, εἰρηκὼς κυρεῖς· §573ὥστʼ ἐστί μοι τὸ λοιπὸν οὐδὲν ἄλλο πλὴν §574εἰπεῖν ἃ χρῄζω, χὠ λόγος διοίχεται.
For who I am, and from what father I am born, and from what land I came, you have already declared; so that nothing else remains for me but to state my wish, and then my speech is done.
§575τοῦτʼ αὐτὸ νῦν δίδασχʼ, ὅπως ἂν ἐκμάθω.
Theseus: Teach me this very thing now, so that I may learn it fully.
Oedipus: I come to give you my wretched body as a gift, not goodly to look upon; but the benefits from it are better than a beautiful form.
Theseus: And what benefit do you claim to bring with you?
§580χρόνῳ μάθοις ἄν, οὐχὶ τῷ παρόντι που.
Oedipus: In time you would learn it, not, I suppose, at present.
§581ποίῳ γὰρ ἡ σὴ προσφορὰ δηλώσεται;
Theseus: At what time then will your offering be made clear?
§582ὅταν θάνω ʼγὼ καὶ σύ μου ταφεὺς γένῃ
Oedipus: When I die and you become my burier.
Theseus: You ask for the last things of life, but what is in between you either forget or count as nothing.
§585ἐνταῦθα γάρ μοι κεῖνα συγκομίζεται.
Oedipus: For in that final moment all those things are gathered up for me.
§586ἀλλʼ ἐν βραχεῖ δὴ τήνδε μʼ ἐξαιτεῖ χάριν.
Theseus: But you ask for this favor in a very narrow scope.
§587ὅρα γε μήν· οὐ σμικρός, οὔχ, ἁγὼν ὅδε.
Oedipus: Look to it, however; this struggle is not small, no, not at all.
§588πότερα τὰ τῶν σῶν ἐκγόνων κἀμοῦ λέγεις; —
Theseus: Do you speak of the affairs of your offspring and me?
§589κεῖνοι κομίζειν κεῖσʼ ἄναξ, χρῄζουσί με.
Oedipus: They wish to bring me back there, king.
§590ἀλλʼ εἰ θέλοντά γʼ οὐδὲ σοὶ φεύγειν καλόν.
Theseus: But if they are willing, it is not honorable for you to remain an exile.
§591ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ, ὅτʼ αὐτὸς ἤθελον, παρίεσαν.
Oedipus: But when I myself wished to stay, they would not allow it.
§592ὦ μῶρε, θυμὸς δʼ ἐν κακοῖς οὐ ξύμφορον.
Theseus: Foolish man, anger in misfortune is not advantageous.
§593ὅταν μάθῃς μου, νουθέτει, τανῦν δʼ ἔα.
Oedipus: When you have heard my story, then admonish me; but for now, let me be.
§594δίδασκʼ· ἄνευ γνώμης γὰρ οὔ με χρὴ λέγειν.
Theseus: Instruct me; for without judgment I must not speak.