Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/244

146 My mother's son unburied on his death,

In that I should have suffered; but in this

I suffer not. And should I seem to thee

To do a foolish deed, 'tis simply this,—

I bear the charge of folly from a fool.

Chor. The maiden's stubborn will, of stubborn sire

The offspring shows itself. She knows not yet

To yield to evils.

Creon. Know then, minds too stiff

Most often stumble, and the rigid steel

Baked in the furnace, made exceeding hard,

Thou see'st most often split and shivered lie;

And I have known the steeds of fiery mood

With a small curb subdued. It is not meet

That one who lives in bondage to his neighbours

Should think too proudly. Wanton outrage then

This girl first learnt, transgressing these my laws;

But this, when she has done it, is again

A second outrage, over it to boast,

And laugh as having done it. Surely, then,

She is the man, not I, if, all unscathed,

Such deeds of might are hers. But be she child

Of mine own sister, or of one more near

Than all the kith and kin of Household Zeus,

She and her sister shall not 'scape a doom

Most foul and shameful; for I charge her, too,

With having planned this deed of sepulture.

Go ye and call her. 'Twas but now within

I saw her raving, losing self-command.

And still the mind of those who in the dark

Plan deeds of evil is the first to fail,

And so convicts itself of secret guilt.

But most I hate when one found out in guilt

Will seek to gloze and brave it to the end.