Oedipus

O Polybus, why did you receive me? Why did you not take and kill me on the spot, so that I should never reveal my origin to mankind?

O Polybus, and Corinth, and the ancient house I thought was my father's-what a handsome heir you raised up in me, how rotten beneath the surface! For now I am exposed - evil and born in evil.

O three roads in the deep valley, you oak wood and you narrow pass where the three roads meet, you who soaked up my father's blood, spilled by my hand-do you remember me? Do you remember what I did when I came here?

O mariage, mariage! You gave me birth, and then bred up seed from the one you brought into the world. You made an incestuous breed of father, brother, son-bride, wife, mother-all the most shameful things known to man.

But I must not speak of things that should never have been done. Qickly, in God's name, hide me somewhere outside Thebes, kill me, throw me into the sea, where you will never see me again.

Come close to me. I am a man of sorrow, but take courage and touch me. Do not be afraid; do what I ask. The evil is mine; no one but me can bear its weight.

OEDIPUS THE KING, SOPHOCLES(496-406 BC)