Theseus and the grant of sanctuary
The king of Athens recognizes him on sight, hears him out, and grants him refuge with the full authority of the city.
Summary
Theseus arrives — the king of Athens, son of Aegeus. He recognizes Oedipus immediately. He has heard the story long before, and the marks on the man before him confirm it. He addresses him gravely as son of Laius. He does not ask him to recite his crimes. He asks him only what he is doing in this country, and what he wants of Athens. He calls his condition pitiable and offers his help.
Oedipus answers in the same register. The reply is short. He has come to offer this worn-out body — a gift, he says, not beautiful to look at, but worth far more than any outward show. The benefit will not appear today. It will appear when he is dead, and Theseus has buried him. Theseus, frowning, asks what is at stake. Oedipus explains: his sons want him back not for his sake but for his bones. Creon is coming to take him. The Theban land refuses to let him cross its borders, but wants him near, in death, to guard him as a charm. He will not give Thebes that. He has chosen Athens.
Theseus accepts before the speech is over. By the laws of xenia, the man before him is a guest. By the laws of supplication, he is a suppliant of the gods. By the calculation of the city, he is a benefactor. There is no decision to make. Theseus grants him the full right of citizenship in Athens — sanctuary on the authority of the city itself. Oedipus tries to extract an oath. Theseus refuses, in the play's most quietly moving exchange. An oath, he says, would be no more reliable than my word. He is what he is, and his word is what it is, and he will not pretend it needs propping up. He leaves to make the arrangements.
- Scene 1The play opens on a road outside Athens, in the morning. The blind exile and his daughter Antigone sit at the edge of a wooded...
- Scene 2The chorus of village elders enters, searching for the trespasser. They guide Oedipus to a safe ledge of rock and then press him...
- Scene 3Ismene rides up alone from Thebes with the news that has made the war urgent. A new oracle from Delphi has declared that whichever...
- Scene 4The chorus instructs Oedipus, in precise ritualistic detail, on how to atone for trespassing the grove of the Eumenides. Blind and...
- Scene 5Theseus arrives. He recognizes Oedipus on sight by the marks of the long road and hears him out without making him recite his...
- Scene 6Theseus has gone. The chorus, alone with Oedipus and Antigone, sings the play's most famous ode — the song in praise of Colonus...
- Scene 7Creon enters with a small armed company and a speech of soft persuasion: he has come, as a kinsman, to bring his old...
- Scene 8Theseus, briefly and without raising his voice, tells Creon what the laws of xenia require. Creon defends himself — Oedipus is the...
- Scene 9Theseus returns with Antigone and Ismene; Oedipus embraces them. Then a second suppliant arrives: Polyneices, his elder son, has...
- Scene 10Polyneices is gone. The chorus is meditating on the cost of long life when the sky breaks. Thunder rolls across the field...
- Scene 11Theseus arrives. Oedipus tells him the gods are calling him; he has a treasure to give the city. He embraces his daughters, tells...