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Such the low murmurings that reach my ear. O father, nothing is by me more prized Than thy well-being, for what higher good Can children covet than their sire's fair fame, As fathers too take pride in glorious sons? Therefore, my father, cling not to one mood, And deemed not thou art right, all others wrong. For whoso thinks that wisdom dwells with him, That he alone can speak or think aright, Such oracles are empty breath when tried. The wisest man will let himself be swayed By others' wisdom and relax in time. See how the trees beside a stream in flood Save, if they yield to force, each spray unharmed, But by resisting perish root and branch. The mariner who keeps his mainsheet taut, And will not slacken in the gale, is like To sail with thwarts reversed, keel uppermost. Relent then and repent thee of thy wrath; For, if one young in years may claim some sense, I'll say 'tis best of all to be endowed With absolute wisdom; but, if that's denied, (And nature takes not readily that ply) Next wise is he who lists to sage advice. CHORUS If he says aught in season, heed him, King. (To HAEMON) Heed thou thy sire too; both have spoken well. CREON What, would you have us at our age be schooled, Lessoned in prudence by a beardless boy? HAEMON I plead for justice, father, nothing more. Weigh me upon my merit, not my years. CREON Strange merit this to sanction lawlessness! HAEMON For evil-doers I would urge no plea. CREON Is not this maid an arrant law-breaker? HAEMON The Theban commons with one voice say, No. CREON What, shall the mob dictate my policy? HAEMON 'Tis thou, methinks, who speakest like a boy. CREON
Am I to rule for others, or myself? HAEMON A State for one man is no State at all. CREON The State is his who rules it, so 'tis held. HAEMON As monarch of a desert thou wouldst shine. CREON This boy, methinks, maintains the woman's cause. HAEMON If thou be'st woman, yes. My thought's for thee. CREON O reprobate, would'st wrangle with thy sire? HAEMON Because I see thee wrongfully perverse. CREON And am I wrong, if I maintain my rights? HAEMON Talk not of rights; thou spurn'st the due of Heaven CREON O heart corrupt, a woman's minion thou! HAEMON Slave to dishonor thou wilt never find me. CREON Thy speech at least was all a plea for her. HAEMON And thee and me, and for the gods below. CREON Living the maid shall never be thy bride. HAEMON So she shall die, but one will die with her. CREON Hast come to such a pass as threaten me? HAEMON What threat is this, vain counsels to reprove? CREON Vain fool to instruct thy betters; thou shall rue it. HAEMON
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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
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OEDIPUS Well, may he come with bles
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To suffer, first in act and then in
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They knew it, yet the ignoble greed
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And I shall then be bold to stand t
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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 and 108: What say'st thou? Who hath dared to
Page 109 and 110: (Str. 1) Many wonders there be, but
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: But who begets unprofitable sons, H
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
Page 135 and 136: subject to the trademark license, e
Page 137 and 138: "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other form
Page 139 and 140: Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c)
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