THE BOOK WAS DRENCHED - OUDL Home

—as I was born—I met my sire in strife, and slew him, all ignorant what
I was doing, and to whom,—how couldst thou justly blame the unknowing
deed?
And my mother—wretch, hast thou no shame in forcing me to speak
of her nuptials, when she was thy sister, and they such as I will now tell
—for verily I will not be silent, when thou hast gone so far in impious
speech. Yea, she was my mother,—oh, misery!—my mother,—I knew it
not, nor she—and, for her shame, bare children to the son whom she had
borne. But one thing, at least, I know,—that thy will consents thus to
revile her and me; but not of my free will did I wed her, and not of free
will do I speak now.
Nay, not in this marriage shall I be called guilty, nor in that slaying
of my sire which thou ever urgest against me with bitter reviling. Answer
me but one thing that I ask thee. If, here and now, one should come up and
seek to slay thee—thee, the righteous—wouldst thou ask if the murderer
was thy father, or wouldst thou reckon with him straightway? I think,
as thou lovest thy life, thou wouldst requite the culprit, nor look around
thee for thy warrant. But such the plight into which ." came, led by gods;
and in this, could my sire come back to life, methinks he would not gainsay
me.
Yet thou,—for thou art not a just man, but one who holds all things
meet to utter, knowing no barrier betwixt speech and silence—thou tauntest
me in such wise, before yon men. And thou findest it timely to flatter
the renowned Theseus, and Athens, saying how well her State hath been
ordered: yet, while giving such large praise, thou forgettest this,—that
if any land knows how to worship the gods with due rites, this land excels
therein; whence thou hadst planned to steal me, the suppliant, the old
man, and didst seek to seize me, and hast already carried off my daughters.
Wherefore I now call on yon goddesses, I supplicate them, I adjure
them with prayers, to bring me help and to fight in my cause, that thou
mayest learn well by what manner of men this realm is guarded.
LEADER
The stranger is a good man, O king; his fate hath been accurst; but 'tis
worthy of our succour.
THESEUS
Enough of words:—the doers of the deed are in flight, while we, the
sufferers, stand still.
CREON
What, then, wouldst thou have a helpless man to do?