To whom is Oedipus speaking and why have they come to see him?
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I
OEDIPUS: My poor children, I know why you have come
I am not ignorant of what you year for.
For I well know that you are ill, and yet,
sick as you are, there is not one of you 70
whose illness equals mine. Your agony
comes to each one of you as his alone,
a special pain for him and no one else.
But the soul inside me sorrows for myself,
and for the city, and for you—all together.
You are not rousing me from a deep sleep.
You must know I've been shedding many tears
and, in my wandering thoughts, exploring
many pathways. After a careful search
I followed up the one thing I could find 80
and acted on it. So I have sent away
my brother-in-law, son of Menoeceus,
Creon, to Pythian Apollo's shrine,
to learn from him what I might do or say
to save our city. But when I count the days
M