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Oedipus tells Theseus that time overpowers all

401 BCE, Athens (Theatre of Dionysus). Oedipus speaking, in Sophocles’ play.

Where and when

401 BCEAthens (Theatre of Dionysus)

2,426 years ago

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Sophocles

, Athens (Theatre of Dionysus)Oedipus speaking, in Sophocles’ play

In plain words, ours

Only the gods never grow old or die. Everything else is worn down into ruin by time, which beats everything.

Dearest son of Aegeus, to the gods alone old age and death never come, but everything else sinks into chaos from time which overpowers all.

Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus line 607Translated by Richard Jebb (1889)Read the full passage (Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus line 607, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

In Sophocles' play, Oedipus, driven from his country by his own sons, speaks to Theseus. He goes on to warn that time turns friendship to hostility, between people and between cities, even between Thebes and Theseus.

Checked claim by claim against: the passage around the quote.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. c. 429 BCEabout 28 years earlier Oedipus demands to learn his birth More from Sophocles
  2. c. 429 BCEabout 28 years earlier Oedipus on his city's sickness More from Sophocles
  3. c. 406 BCEabout 4.899999999999977 years earlier Euripides and Sophocles die Also about death
  4. 404 BCE3 years earlier The Thirty take power in Athens Same years
  5. 403 BCE2 years earlier Democracy returns to Athens, with an amnesty Same years
  6. c. 402 BCE1 year earlier Socrates answers Meno on numbness Also in Athens
  7. 401 BCEThis momentOedipus tells Theseus that time overpowers all
  8. 401 BCESame year The Chorus on not being born More from Sophocles
  9. 399 BCE2 years later Socrates is tried, condemned and put to death Same years
  10. by 399 BCEabout 2 years later Aspasia on honest matchmaking Also in Athens
  11. set in 399 BCE2 years later Socrates on the fear of death Also about death
  12. set in 399 BCE2 years later Socrates on what makes things beautiful Also in Athens

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

Oedipus: They will compel you to convey me there to Thebes.

Theseus: But if you are willing, then exile is not becoming.

Oedipus: No, when I was willing, they refused.

Theseus: Foolish man, anger amidst woes is not suitable.

Oedipus: When you have heard my story, admonish; till then, forbear.

Theseus: Speak. I must not pronounce without knowledge.

Oedipus: I have suffered, Theseus, terrible woes upon woes.

Theseus: Will you speak of the ancient trouble of your race?

Oedipus: No, indeed; all Greeks speak of that.

Theseus: How, then, do you suffer beyond what is mortal?

Oedipus: The circumstance is this: from my country I have been driven by my own sons; and I may not return, since I am guilty of a father’s blood.

Theseus: Why would they have you brought back, if you must dwell apart?

Oedipus: The word of the god will compel them.

Theseus: What suffering do they fear from the oracles?

Oedipus: That they must be struck down in this land.

Theseus: And how should bitterness come between them and me?

The quote: Oedipus: Dearest son of Aegeus, to the gods alone old age and death never come, but everything else sinks into chaos from time which overpowers all.

Oedipus: Earth’s strength decays, and so too the strength of the body; trust dies; distrust is born; and the same spirit is never steadfast among friends, or between city and city. For some now, for others tomorrow, sweet feelings turn to bitter, and then once more to being dear. And if now the sun shines brightly between Thebes and you, yet time in his course gives birth to days and nights untold, in which from a small cause they will scatter with the spear today’s pledges of concord.

Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus lines 589–620Translated by Richard Jebb (1889)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
401 BCE. Oedipus at Colonus was staged posthumously in 401 BCE; Sophocles wrote it before his death in 406 BCE.
Whose words
Oedipus speaking, in Sophocles’ play.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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