Think, then, on these things, my son. All men are liable to err;but when an error hath been made, that man is no longer witless or unblest who heals the ill into which he hath fallen, and remains not stubborn.
Self-will, we know, incurs the charge of folly. Nay, allow the claim of the dead; stab not the fallen; what prowess is it to slay the slain anew? I have sought thy good, and for thy good I speak: and never is it sweeter to learn from a good counsellor than when he counsels for thine own gain.
CREON
Old man, ye all shoot your shafts at me, as archers at the butts;-Ye must needs practise on me with seer-craft also;-aye, the seer-tribe hath long trafficked in me, and made me their merchandise. Gain your gains, drive your trade, if ye list, in the silver-gold of Sardis and the gold of India; but ye shall not hide that man in the grave,-no, though the eagles of Zeus should bear the carrion morsels to their Master's throne-no, not for dread of that defilement will I suffer his burial:-for well I know that no mortal can defile the gods.-But, aged Teiresias, the wisest fall with shameful fall, when they clothe shameful thoughts in fair words, for lucre's sake.
TEIRESIAS
Alas! Doth any man know, doth any consider...
CREON
Whereof? What general truth dost thou announce?
TEIRESIAS
How precious, above all wealth, is good counsel.
CREON
As folly, I think, is the worst mischief.
TEIRESIAS
Yet thou art tainted with that distemper.
CREON
I would not answer the seer with a taunt.
TEIRESIAS
But thou dost, in saying that I prophesy falsely.
CREON
Well, the prophet-tribe was ever fond of money.
TEIRESIAS
And the race bred of tyrants loves base gain.
CREON
Knowest thou that thy speech is spoken of thy king?
TEIRESIAS
I know it; for through me thou hast saved Thebes.
CREON
Thou art a wise seer; but thou lovest evil deeds.
TEIRESIAS
Thou wilt rouse me to utter the dread secret in my soul.
CREON
Out with it!-Only speak it not for gain.
TEIRESIAS
Indeed, methinks, I shall not,-as touching thee.
CREON
Know that thou shalt not trade on my resolve.
TEIRESIAS
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 Ilaunched 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 Boy leads TEIRESIAS Out.)
LEADER OF THE CHORUS
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.
CREON
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.
LEADER
Son of Menoeceus, it behoves thee to take wise counsel.
CREON
What should I do then? Speak and I will obey.
LEADER
Go thou, and free the maiden from her rocky chamber, and make a tomb for the unburied dead.
CREON
And this is thy counsel? Thou wouldst have me yield?
LEADER
Yea, King, and with all speed; for swift harms from the gods cut short the folly of men.
CREON
Ah me, 'tis hard, but I resign my cherished resolve,-I obey. We must not wage a vain war with destiny.
LEADER
Go, thou, and do these things; leave them not to others.
CREON
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.
(CREON and his servants hasten out on the spectators' left.)CHORUS (singing)
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!
antistrophe 1
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!
antistrophe 2
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!
(Enter MESSENGER, on the spectators' left.)MESSENGER
