OEDIPUS AT COLONUS
Theseus
Would’st tell the old misfortune of thy race?
Oedipus
No^ that has grown a byword throughout Greece.
Theseus
What then can be this more than mortal grief?
Oedipus
My case stands thus; by my own flesh and blood
I was expelled my country, and can ne’er
Thither return again, a parricide.
Theseus
Why fetch thee home if thou must dwell apart?
Oedipus
The god has spoken; they must needs obey.
Theseus
What are they threatened by the oracle?
Oedipus
Destiniction that awaits them in this land.
Theseus
What can beget ill blood ’twixt them and me?
Oedipus
Dear son of Aegeus, to the gods alone
Is given immunity from eld and death;
But nothing else escapes all-ruinous time.
Earth’s might decays, the might of men decays,
Honour grows cold, dishonour flourishes,
There is no constancy ’twixt friend and friend,
Or city and city; be it soon or late,
Sweet turns to bitter, hate once more to love.
If now ’tis sunshine betwixt Thebes and thee
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