Oedipus.

To cast me from this land.

Creon.

A gift not mine but God’s thou askest me.

Oedipus.

I am a thing of God abhorred.22

Creon.

The more, then, will he grant thy prayer.

Oedipus.

Thou givest thine oath?

Creon.

I see no light; and, seeing not, I may not swear.

Oedipus.

Then take me hence. I care not.

Creon.

Go in peace, and give these children o’er.

Oedipus.

Ah no! Take not away my daughters!

[They are taken from him.

Creon.

Seek not to be master more.

Did not thy masteries of old forsake thee when the end was near?

Chorus.

Ye citizens of Thebes, behold; ’tis Oedipus that passeth here,

Who read the riddle-word of Death, and mightiest stood of mortal men,

And Fortune loved him, and the folk that saw him turned and looked again.

Lo, he is fallen, and around great storms and the outreaching sea!

Therefore, O Man, beware, and look toward the end of things that be,

The last of sights, the last of days; and no man’s life account as gain

Ere the full tale be finished and the darkness find him without pain.

[Oedipus is led into the house and the doors close on him.