TEIRESIAS:
(The Boy leads TEIRESIAS Out.)
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
CREON:
LEADER:
CREON:
LEADER:
CREON:
LEADER:
CREON:
LEADER:
CREON:
(CREON and his servants hasten out on the spectators' left.)
CHORUS (singing)
antistrophe 1
antistrophe 2
(Enter MESSENGER, on the spectators' left.)
Then know thou-aye, know it well-that thou shalt not live
through many more courses of the sun's swift chariot, ere one begotten
of thine own loins shall have been given by thee, a corpse for
corpses; because thou hast thrust children of the sunlight to the
shades, and ruthlessly lodged a living soul in the grave; but
keepest in this world one who belongs to the gods infernal, a corpse
unburied, unhonoured, all unhallowed. In such thou hast no part, nor
have the gods above, but this is a violence done to them by thee.
Therefore the avenging destroyers lie in wait for thee, the Furies
of Hades and of the gods, that thou mayest be taken in these same
ills.
And mark well if I speak these things as a hireling. A time not
long to be delayed shall awaken the wailing of men and of women in thy
house. And a tumult of hatred against thee stirs all the cities
whose mangled sons had the burial-rite from dogs, or from wild beasts,
or from some winged bird that bore a polluting breath to each city
that contains the hearths of the dead.
Such arrows for thy heart-since thou provokest me-have I
launched at thee, archer-like, in my anger,-sure arrows, of which thou
shalt not escape the smart.-Boy, lead me home, that he may spend his
rage on younger men, and learn to keep a tongue more temperate, and to
bear within his breast a better mind than now he bears.
The man hath gone, O King, with dread prophecies. And, since the
hair on this head, once dark, hath been white, I know that he hath
never been a false prophet to our city.
I, too, know it well, and am troubled in soul. 'Tis dire to yield;
but, by resistance, to smite my pride with ruin-this, too, is a dire
choice.
Son of Menoeceus, it behoves thee to take wise counsel.
What should I do then? Speak and I will obey.
Go thou, and free the maiden from her rocky chamber, and make a
tomb for the unburied dead.
And this is thy counsel? Thou wouldst have me yield?
Yea, King, and with all speed; for swift harms from the gods cut
short the folly of men.
Ah me, 'tis hard, but I resign my cherished resolve,-I obey. We
must not wage a vain war with destiny
Go, thou, and do these things; leave them not to others.
Even as I am I'll go:-on, on, my servants, each and all of
you,-take axes in your hands, and hasten to the ground that ye see
yonder! Since our judgment hath taken this turn, I will be present
to unloose her, as myself bound her. My heart misgives me, 'tis best
to keep the established laws, even to life's end.
strophe 1
O thou of many names, glory of the Cadmeian bride, offspring of
loud-thundering Zeus! thou who watchest over famed Italia, and
reignest, where all guests are welcomed, in the sheltered plain of
Eleusinian Deo! O Bacchus, dweller in Thebe, mother-city of Bacchants,
by the softly-gliding stream of Ismenus, on the soil where the
fierce dragon's teeth were sown!
Thou hast been seen where torch-flames glare through smoke,
above the crests of the twin peaks, where move the Corycian nymphs,
thy votaries, hard by Castalia's stream.
Thou comest from the ivy-mantled slopes of Nysa's hills, and
from the shore green with many-clustered vines, while thy name is
lifted up on strains of more than mortal power, as thou visitest the
ways of Thebe:
strophe 2
Thebe, of all cities, thou holdest first in honour, thou and thy
mother whom the lightning smote; and now, when all our people is
captive to a violent plague, come thou with healing feet over the
Parnassian height, or over the moaning strait!
O thou with whom the stars rejoice as they move, the stars whose
breath is fire; O master of the voices of the night; son begotten of
Zeus; appear, O king, with thine attendant Thyiads, who in
night-long frenzy dance before thee, the giver of good gifts, Iacchus!