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THE ŒDIPUS AT COLONUS
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curse-scene, could perhaps be made grand by sympathetic acting.

The play is said by the 'didascaliæ'[1] to have been produced after the poet's death by his grandson of the same name. The verse, however, seems decidedly earlier than that of the Philoctêtes (409), and the political allusions have led to various unconvincing theories about its composition at earlier dates. Prof. L. Campbell's (411) is perhaps the most probable.

Though not one of the most characteristic of the poet's plays, it is perhaps the most intimate and personal of them; and it would be hard to find a more typical piece of Sophoclean writing than the beautiful lines of Œdipus to Theseus:

"Fair Aigeus' son, only to gods in heaven
Comes no old age nor death of anything;
All else is turmoiled by our master Time.
The earth's strength fades and manhood's glory fades,
Faith dies, and unfaith blossoms like a flower.
And who shall find in the open streets of men
Or secret places of his own heart's love
One wind blow true for ever?"


  1. Catalogues of the annual performances, collected from the official lists by Aristotle and others.