Stasimon 5
[Episode]
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
May I not also share your sorrows?
1690
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
O mother, o most wretched wife!
1695
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
There, touch the dead, your children.
1700
Oedipus
O dear fallen sons, sad offspring of a sad father!
Antigone
O 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
That I should die in Athens after a life of wandering.
1705
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.
Antigone
Go to unhappy exile; stretch forth your dear hand, my old father, taking me to guide you, like a breeze that guides the ships.
1710
Oedipus
See, I am advancing; be my guide, my poor child.
Antigone
I am, I am! The saddest maiden of all in Thebes.
Oedipus
Where am I placing my aged step? Bring my staff, child.
Antigone
This way, this way, come to me, place your steps here, like a dream in your strength.
1720
Oedipus
Oh, oh, driving the old man in most wretched flight from the country!
Oh, oh! the terrible sorrows I have endured!
1725
Antigone
Why do you speak of enduring? Justice does not see the wicked, and does not requite follies.
