Epeisodion 3
Creon
and slow with age, I will take this man by force.
875
Oedipus
Ah, my wretchedness!
Chorus
What arrogance you have come with, stranger, if you think you will achieve this!
Chorus
Then I think this city no longer exists.
Creon
For men who are just, you see, the weak vanquishes the strong.
880
Oedipus
Do you hear his words?
Chorus
Yes, but he will not achieve them.
Creon
Zeus knows perhaps, but you do not.
Chorus
This is an outrage!
Creon
An outrage which you must bear.
Chorus
Hear people, hear rulers of the land! Come quickly, come!
These men are on their way to cross our borders!
885
Theseus
What is this shout? What is the trouble? What fear has moved you to stop my sacrifice at the altar to the sea-god, the lord of your Colonus? Speak, so that I may know the situation; for that is why I have sped
here more swiftly than was pleasant.
890
Oedipus
Dearest of men! I know your voice. Terrible are the things I have just suffered at the hands of this man here.
Theseus
What things are these? And who has pained you? Speak!
Oedipus
Creon, whom you see here,
has torn from me my children—my only two.
895
Theseus
What is that you say?
Oedipus
You have heard my wrongs.
Theseus
Hurry, one of you attendants, to the altars there, and order the people to leave the sacrifice
and race on foot and by horse full speed, to the region where the two highways meet, so that the maidens may not pass, and I not become a mockery to this stranger as one worsted by force. Quick, I say, away with you!
900
anger went as far as he deserves, I would not let him go uninjured from my hand. But now, just such law as he himself has brought will be the rule for his correction.
905
You will never leave this land
until you bring those maidens and produce them in my sight. For your action is a disgrace to me, and to your own ancestors, and to your country. You have come to a city that practices justice and sanctions nothing without law,
910
yet you have spurned her lawful authorities and made this violent assault. You are taking captives at will and subjugating them by force, as if you believed that my city was void of men, or manned by slaves, and that I counted for nothing. Yet it was not Thebes that trained you to be evil. Thebes is not accustomed to rearing unjust men;—
915
nor would she praise you, if she learned that you are despoiling me, and despoiling the gods, when by force you drive off their unfortunate suppliants. If my foot were upon your land, never would I drag off or lead away someone
920
without permission from the ruler of the land, whoever he might be—no, even if my claim were the most just of all. I would know how a stranger ought to live among citizens. But you are disgracing a city that does not deserve it: your own,
925
