Page:The Antigone of Sophocles (1911).djvu/16

12 seer’s utterance, yet the wise augur moved them; for he hath still been tried a holy man: his words have always been infallible. Nevertheless, they will wait till the word the seer has spoken against the opinion Thebes holds of his high name shall be verified. No prophet can be trusted if he prove false; but Œdipus was shown to be wise when the sphinx came against him of old; hence they will not adjudge him guilty.

Highly indignant to think that he must bear such blame, Creon enters just as Œdipus emerges from the palace. The latter sincerely believes that he has not been exempt from the envy of his kinsman’s swelling heart.

“Sirrah, have you the hardihood, you, the proved assassin of Laius, you, apprehended in the fact and act of wresting my crown from me,—to seek my house. Was it cowardice or folly you saw in me that prompted you to hatch this plot? The crown of Thebes is not to be sought by any by-paths and indirect crooked ways.”

After a warm altercation Creon avers that he has never had a thought of aspiring to be King, one who often feels a world of restless cares; he prefers his present position with its security and honor free from distress; the profits of the king’s dethronement would never be pregnant and potential spurs to such an action. If Œdipus does not believe him, let him go to Delphi and let the oracle rectify his knowledge, let him ask whether he brought back a true message from Apollo. Jocasta, Creon’s sister, comes forth just in time to overhear the high words, and inquires their cause. She urges the wranglers to forbear, to be ruled by her, and in the best consideration to check their hideous rashness.

“Whence arose this strife?”

On learning that the king imputes to his brother-in-law a bold conspiracy, and that he is accused of sending the seer to proclaim her husband as the assassin of Laius, she bids