OEDIPUS AT COLONUS
Stranger
Inviolable, untrod; goddesses,
Dread brood of Earth and Darkness, here abide.
Oedipus
Tell me the awful name I should invoke?
Stranger
The Gracious Ones, All-seeing, so our people
Call them, but elsewhere other names are rife.
Oedipus
Then may they show their suppliant grace, for I
From this your sanctuary will ne’er depart.
Stranger
What word is this?
Oedipus
The watchword of my fate.
Stranger
Nay, ’tis not mine to bid thee hence without
Due warrant and instruction from the State.
Oedipus
Now in God’s name, O stranger, scorn me not
As a wayfarer; tell me what I crave.
Stranger
Ask; your request shall not be scorned by me.
Oedipus
How call you then the place wherein we bide?
Stranger
Whate’er I know thou too shalt know; the place
Is all to great Poseidon consecrate.
Hard by, the Titan, he who bears the torch,
Prometheus, has his worship; but the spot
