OEDIPUS, _old and blind._
ANTIGONE, _his daughter, a young girl._
ISMENE, _his daughter, a young girl._
CHORUS _of Village Guardians._
_An Athenian._
THESEUS, _King of Athens._
CREON, _Envoy from Thebes._
POLYNICES, _the elder son of Oedipus._
_Messenger._
SCENE. Colonos.
Oedipus had remained at Thebes for some time after his fall. But he
was afterwards banished by the command of Creon, with the consent of
his own sons. Their intention at first was to lay no claim to the
throne. But by-and-by ambition prevailed with Eteocles, the younger-
born, and he persuaded Creon and the citizens to banish his elder
brother. Polynices took refuge at Argos, where he married the daughter
of Adrastus, and levied an army of auxiliaries to support his
pretensions to the throne of Thebes. Before going into exile Oedipus
had cursed his sons.
Antigone after a while fled forth to join her father and support him
in his wanderings. Ismenè also once brought him secret intelligence.
Years have now elapsed, and the Delphian oracle proclaims that if
Oedipus dies in a foreign land the enemies of Thebes shall overcome
her.
In ignorance of this fact, Oedipus, now aged as well as blind, and led
by his daughter Antigone, appears before the grove of the Eumenides,
at Colonos, in the neighbourhood of Athens. He has felt an inward
intimation, which is strengthened by some words of the oracle received
by him long since at Delphi, that his involuntary crimes have been
atoned for, and that the Avenging Deities will now receive him kindly
and make his cause their own.
After some natural hesitation on the part of the village-councillors
of Colonos, Oedipus is received with princely magnanimity by Theseus,
who takes him under the protection of Athens, and defends him against
the machinations of Creon.
Thus the blessing of the Gods, which Oedipus carried with him, is
secured to Athens, and denied to Thebes. The craft of Creon and the
prayers of Polynices alike prove unavailing. Then the man of many
sorrows, whose essential nobleness has survived them all, passes away
mysteriously from the sight of men.
The scene is laid at Colonos, a suburb of Athens much frequented by
the upper classes, especially the Knights (see Thuc. viii. 67); and
before the sacred grove of the Eumenides, or Gentle Goddesses, a
euphemistic title for the Erinyes, or Goddesses of Vengeance.