Chapter 5 The Story of Oedipus-5

When Oedipus finally learned the terrible truth, all he wanted was a quick death.He thought it would be a good thing if the whole people rose up against him and stoned him to death.He begged to be exiled only because he could not be killed, and was glad to accept the punishment.However, when his self-pity frenzy gradually calmed down, he began to feel that it was a terrible thing to wander blindly in a foreign land, and his nostalgia for his hometown reappeared in his heart.He thought he had done enough for the sin he had committed unintentionally, and Jocasta hanged himself, and he blinded himself with the brooch.Therefore, he wants to stay at home.

He told Creon and his twins Eteocles and Polynices about this wish.However, Creon's attitude towards him seems to have changed, and his two sons have become selfish and ruthless.Creon forced him to follow his original decision.The two sons wanted him to leave too.They gave him a begging stick and forced him to leave the palace. Only the two daughters sympathized with him.The youngest daughter, Ismene, stayed in the home of her two brothers to defend the rights of her father who had been expelled.The eldest daughter, Antigone, was exiled with her father. She led the blind man and wandered around.Barefoot, hungry, and in spite of the sun and rain, she and her father walked through many forests.What a comfortable life she would live if she lived with her brother!

Oedipus initially planned to seek death in the wilderness of Catalyon.But because he is a god-fearing person, everything obeys the will of the gods, and he dare not do so without the orders of the gods, so he decides to go to the Temple of Apollo to ask the oracle first. Here he received an oracle that comforted him.The gods knew that Oedipus did not intend to violate the heavenly relationship and violate the sacred laws of mankind.The sin, though mistaken, must be paid for.However, the punishment will not be endless.The oracle revealed to him that after a long time, he could look forward to the day of redemption.Then he will reach the country appointed by Fortune, and the stern Nemesis will set him free.The oracle is still as mysterious as a mystery.Will Oedipus be forgiven by the Furies?But he believed in the divination of the gods and left his fate to the oracle.So he wandered around Greece, begging for a living.He lives frugally, needs very little, and is content, because his long exile, his misery, and his nobility have taught him contentment.