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Out-shot the mark, and rue it soon or late. Yea, as I still revere the dread of Zeus, By Zeus I swear, except ye find and bring Before my presence here the very man Who carried out this lawless burial, Death for your punishment shall not suffice. Hanged on a cross, alive ye first shall make Confession of this outrage. This will teach you What practices are like to serve your turn. There are some villainies that bring no gain. For by dishonesty the few may thrive, The many come to ruin and disgrace. GUARD May I not speak, or must I turn and go Without a word?-- CREON Begone! canst thou not see That e'en this question irks me? GUARD Where, my lord? Is it thy ears that suffer, or thy heart? CREON Why seek to probe and find the seat of pain? GUARD I gall thine ears--this miscreant thy mind. CREON What an inveterate babbler! get thee gone! GUARD Babbler perchance, but innocent of the crime. CREON Twice guilty, having sold thy soul for gain. GUARD Alas! how sad when reasoners reason wrong. CREON Go, quibble with thy reason. If thou fail'st To find these malefactors, thou shalt own The wages of ill-gotten gains is death. [Exit CREON] GUARD I pray he may be found. But caught or not (And fortune must determine that) thou never Shalt see me here returning; that is sure. For past all hope or thought I have escaped, And for my safety owe the gods much thanks. CHORUS
(Str. 1) Many wonders there be, but naught more wondrous than man; Over the surging sea, with a whitening south wind wan, Through the foam of the firth, man makes his perilous way; And the eldest of deities Earth that knows not toil nor decay Ever he furrows and scores, as his team, year in year out, With breed of the yoked horse, the ploughshare turneth about. (Ant. 1) The light-witted birds of the air, the beasts of the weald and the wood He traps with his woven snare, and the brood of the briny flood. Master of cunning he: the savage bull, and the hart Who roams the mountain free, are tamed by his infinite art; And the shaggy rough-maned steed is broken to bear the bit. (Str. 2) Speech and the wind-swift speed of counsel and civic wit, He hath learnt for himself all these; and the arrowy rain to fly And the nipping airs that freeze, 'neath the open winter sky. He hath provision for all: fell plague he hath learnt to endure; Safe whate'er may befall: yet for death he hath found no cure. (Ant. 2) Passing the wildest flight thought are the cunning and skill, That guide man now to the light, but now to counsels of ill. If he honors the laws of the land, and reveres the Gods of the State Proudly his city shall stand; but a cityless outcast I rate Whoso bold in his pride from the path of right doth depart; Ne'er may I sit by his side, or share the thoughts of his heart. What strange vision meets my eyes, Fills me with a wild surprise? Sure I know her, sure 'tis she, The maid Antigone. Hapless child of hapless sire, Didst thou recklessly conspire, Madly brave the King's decree? Therefore are they haling thee? [Enter GUARD bringing ANTIGONE] GUARD Here is the culprit taken in the act Of giving burial. But where's the King? CHORUS There from the palace he returns in time. [Enter CREON] CREON Why is my presence timely? What has chanced? GUARD No man, my lord, should make a vow, for if He ever swears he will not do a thing, His afterthoughts belie his first resolve. When from the hail-storm of thy threats I fled I sware thou wouldst not see me here again;
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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The
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Explain your mood and purport. Is i
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King Phoebus bids us straitly extir
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If in the days of old when we nigh
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But may they waste and pine, as now
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TEIRESIAS I will not vex myself nor
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The trusty Creon, my familiar frien
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That I have missed the mark, hencef
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Therein thou judgest rightly, but t
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The thing he counts most precious,
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CHORUS No, by the leader of the hos
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OEDIPUS What memories, what wild tu
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My mother and my sire and questione
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Then topples o'er and lies in ruin
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OEDIPUS What? let me have it, stran
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OEDIPUS Yea, lest the god's word be
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Afield or in the city? answer strai
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HERDSMAN I was, a thrall, not purch
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HERDSMAN Well then--it was a child
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SECOND MESSENGER My tale is quickly
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The double weight of past and prese
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Thy prayer by action or advice, for
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Such are the gibes that men will ca
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Creon enters with an armed guard wh
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Tell me the awful name I should inv
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Of cities, pity this dishonored sha
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Follow with blind steps, father, as
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CHORUS O wretched me! Begone! OEDIP
Page 57 and 58: OEDIPUS Well, may he come with bles
Page 59 and 60: To suffer, first in act and then in
Page 61 and 62: They knew it, yet the ignoble greed
Page 63 and 64: And I shall then be bold to stand t
Page 65 and 66: OEDIPUS Horrors from the boundless
Page 67 and 68: OEDIPUS Yea, the last boon is warra
Page 69 and 70: What wouldst thou here? I shall not
Page 71 and 72: Oh land extolled above all lands, '
Page 73 and 74: Not for a man indeed with wits like
Page 75 and 76: OEDIPUS Where art thou, daughter? A
Page 77 and 78: CHORUS Haste ye princes, sound the
Page 79 and 80: Me then unborn, begotten by no sire
Page 81 and 82: (Ant. 1) Haply on swiftest steed, O
Page 83 and 84: What say I? Can I wish that thou sh
Page 85 and 86: Grievous to me, my child, the boon
Page 87 and 88: But by his popular acts; and the pr
Page 89 and 90: To Thebes, O then disown me not, I
Page 91 and 92: Bristles for fear. Again that flare
Page 93 and 94: For this way Hermes leads, the spir
Page 95 and 96: That no man might endure to look up
Page 97 and 98: ANTIGONE ISMENE Is fain? ANTIGONE I
Page 99 and 100: Charged me straitly that no moral S
Page 101 and 102: ANTIGONE Ismene, sister of my blood
Page 103 and 104: ISMENE My poor, fond sister, how I
Page 105 and 106: Again, when Oedipus restored our St
Page 107: What say'st thou? Who hath dared to
Page 111 and 112: CREON Speak, girl, with head bent l
Page 113 and 114: Surely, if good and evil fare alive
Page 115 and 116: Thy choice with evil-doers to do il
Page 117 and 118: But who begets unprofitable sons, H
Page 119 and 120: Am I to rule for others, or myself?
Page 121 and 122: Straight to folly will fall, at a t
Page 123 and 124: Are guiltless as concerns this maid
Page 125 and 126: By Destiny That knows not death nor
Page 127 and 128: Dost know at whom thou glancest, me
Page 129 and 130: (Ant. 1) Thee on the two-crested ro
Page 131 and 132: And ran back to our lord to tell th
Page 133 and 134: CREON (Ant. 2) Alas! another added
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Page 137 and 138: "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other form
Page 139 and 140: Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c)
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