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Enter Teiresias, led by a boy, on the spectators’ right.
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Teiresias
For this is the method of travel for the blind, using a guide.
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For this is the method of travel for the blind, using a guide.
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Creon
What is it, old Teiresias? What is your news?
What is it, old Teiresias? What is your news?
Teiresias
I will tell you. You, obey the seer.
I will tell you. You, obey the seer.
Creon
It was not my habit before, at any rate, to stand apart from your will.
It was not my habit before, at any rate, to stand apart from your will.
Teiresias
Therefore you captained this city on an upright course.
Therefore you captained this city on an upright course.
Creon
I have felt and can attest your benefits.
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I have felt and can attest your benefits.
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Teiresias
Realize that once more now you are poised on fortune’s razor-edge.
Realize that once more now you are poised on fortune’s razor-edge.
Creon
What do you mean? I shudder to hear you!
What do you mean? I shudder to hear you!
Teiresias
You will understand, when you hear the signs revealed by my art. As I took my place on my old seat of augury
where all birds regularly gather for me, I heard an unintelligible voice among them: they were screaming in dire frenzy that made their language foreign to me. I realized that they were ripping each other with their talons, murderously—the rush of their wings did not lack meaning.
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Quickly, in fear, I tried burnt-sacrifice on a duly-kindled altar, but from my offerings Hephaestus did not blaze. Instead juice that had sweated from the thigh-flesh trickled out onto the embers and smoked and sputtered;
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the gall was scattered high up in the air; and the streaming thighs lay bared of the fat that had been wrapped around them. Such was the failure of the rites that yielded no sign, as I learned from this boy. For he is my guide, as I am guide to others.
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And it is your will that is the source of the sickness now afflicting the city. For the altars of our city and our hearths have one and all been tainted by the birds and dogs with the carrion taken from the sadly fallen son of Oedipus. And so the gods no more accept prayer and sacrifice at our hands,
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or the burning of thigh-meat, nor does any bird sound out clear signs in its shrill cries, for they have tasted the fatness of a slain man’s blood. Think, therefore, on these things, my son. All men are liable to err.
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But when an error is made, that man is no longer unwise or unblessed who heals the evil into which he has fallen and does not remain stubborn. Self-will, we know, invites the charge of foolishness. Concede the claim of the dead. Do not kick at the fallen.
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What prowess is it to kill the dead all over again? I have considered for your good, and what I advise is good. The sweetest thing is to learn from a good advisor when his advice is to your profit.
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You will understand, when you hear the signs revealed by my art. As I took my place on my old seat of augury
where all birds regularly gather for me, I heard an unintelligible voice among them: they were screaming in dire frenzy that made their language foreign to me. I realized that they were ripping each other with their talons, murderously—the rush of their wings did not lack meaning.
1000
Quickly, in fear, I tried burnt-sacrifice on a duly-kindled altar, but from my offerings Hephaestus did not blaze. Instead juice that had sweated from the thigh-flesh trickled out onto the embers and smoked and sputtered;
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the gall was scattered high up in the air; and the streaming thighs lay bared of the fat that had been wrapped around them. Such was the failure of the rites that yielded no sign, as I learned from this boy. For he is my guide, as I am guide to others.
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And it is your will that is the source of the sickness now afflicting the city. For the altars of our city and our hearths have one and all been tainted by the birds and dogs with the carrion taken from the sadly fallen son of Oedipus. And so the gods no more accept prayer and sacrifice at our hands,
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or the burning of thigh-meat, nor does any bird sound out clear signs in its shrill cries, for they have tasted the fatness of a slain man’s blood. Think, therefore, on these things, my son. All men are liable to err.
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But when an error is made, that man is no longer unwise or unblessed who heals the evil into which he has fallen and does not remain stubborn. Self-will, we know, invites the charge of foolishness. Concede the claim of the dead. Do not kick at the fallen.
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What prowess is it to kill the dead all over again? I have considered for your good, and what I advise is good. The sweetest thing is to learn from a good advisor when his advice is to your profit.
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Creon
Old man, you all shoot your arrows at me, like archers at their mark, and I am not safe
even from the plottings of the seer’s divine art, but by their tribe I have long been bought and sold and made their merchandise. Turn your profits, make your deals for the white gold of
Sardis
and the gold of
India
, if it pleases you, but you shall not cover that man with a grave,
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not even if the eagles of Zeus wish to snatch and carry him to be devoured at the god’s throne. No, not even then, for fear of that defilement will I permit his burial, since I know with certainty that no mortal has the power to defile the gods.
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But even the exceedingly clever, old Teiresias, falls with a shameful fall, when they couch shameful thoughts in fine phrasing for profit’s sake.
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Old man, you all shoot your arrows at me, like archers at their mark, and I am not safe
even from the plottings of the seer’s divine art, but by their tribe I have long been bought and sold and made their merchandise. Turn your profits, make your deals for the white gold of
Sardis
and the gold of
India
, if it pleases you, but you shall not cover that man with a grave,
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not even if the eagles of Zeus wish to snatch and carry him to be devoured at the god’s throne. No, not even then, for fear of that defilement will I permit his burial, since I know with certainty that no mortal has the power to defile the gods.
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But even the exceedingly clever, old Teiresias, falls with a shameful fall, when they couch shameful thoughts in fine phrasing for profit’s sake.
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Teiresias
Alas! Does any man know, does any consider—
Alas! Does any man know, does any consider—
Creon
What is this? What universal truth are you announcing?
What is this? What universal truth are you announcing?
Teiresias
—by how much the most precious of our possessions is the power to reason wisely?
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—by how much the most precious of our possessions is the power to reason wisely?
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Creon
By as much, I think, as senselessness is the greatest affliction.
By as much, I think, as senselessness is the greatest affliction.
Teiresias
Yet you came into being full of that disease.
Yet you came into being full of that disease.
Creon
I have no desire to trade insults with the seer.
I have no desire to trade insults with the seer.
Teiresias
Yet that is what you do in saying that I prophesy falsely.
Yet that is what you do in saying that I prophesy falsely.
Creon
Yes, for the prophet-clan was ever fond of money.
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Yes, for the prophet-clan was ever fond of money.
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Teiresias
And the race sprung from tyrants loves shameful gain.
And the race sprung from tyrants loves shameful gain.
Creon
Do you know that you ramble so about your king?
Do you know that you ramble so about your king?
Teiresias
I am aware, since through me you have saved this city.
I am aware, since through me you have saved this city.
Creon
You are a wise seer, but fond of doing injustice.
You are a wise seer, but fond of doing injustice.
Teiresias
You will stir me to utter the dire secret in my soul.
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You will stir me to utter the dire secret in my soul.
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Creon
Out with it! But only if it is not for gain that you speak it.
Out with it! But only if it is not for gain that you speak it.
Teiresias
Indeed, I think I speak without mention of gain—where you are concerned.
Indeed, I think I speak without mention of gain—where you are concerned.
Creon
Be certain that you will not trade in my will.
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Be certain that you will not trade in my will.
Teiresias
Then know, yes, know it well! You will not live through many more
courses of the sun’s swift chariot, before you will give in return one sprung from your own loins, a corpse in requital for corpses. For you have thrust below one of those of the upper air and irreverently lodged a living soul in the grave,
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while you detain in this world that which belongs to the infernal gods, a corpse unburied, unmourned, unholy. In the dead you have no part, nor do the gods above, but in this you do them violence. For these crimes the avenging destroyers,
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the Furies of Hades and of the gods, lie in ambush for you, waiting to seize you in these same sufferings. And look closely if I tell you this with a silvered palm. A time not long to be delayed will reveal in your house wailing over men and over women.
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All the cities are stirred up in hostility, whose mangled corpses the dogs, or the wild beasts or some winged bird buried, carrying an unholy stench to the city that held each man’s hearth. There, now, are arrows for your heart, since you provoke me,
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launched at you, archer-like, in my anger. They fly true—you cannot run from their burning sting. Boy, lead me home, so that he may launch his rage against younger men, and learn to keep a quieter tongue
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and a better mind within his breast than he now bears.
Exit Teiresias.
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Then know, yes, know it well! You will not live through many more
courses of the sun’s swift chariot, before you will give in return one sprung from your own loins, a corpse in requital for corpses. For you have thrust below one of those of the upper air and irreverently lodged a living soul in the grave,
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while you detain in this world that which belongs to the infernal gods, a corpse unburied, unmourned, unholy. In the dead you have no part, nor do the gods above, but in this you do them violence. For these crimes the avenging destroyers,
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the Furies of Hades and of the gods, lie in ambush for you, waiting to seize you in these same sufferings. And look closely if I tell you this with a silvered palm. A time not long to be delayed will reveal in your house wailing over men and over women.
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All the cities are stirred up in hostility, whose mangled corpses the dogs, or the wild beasts or some winged bird buried, carrying an unholy stench to the city that held each man’s hearth. There, now, are arrows for your heart, since you provoke me,
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launched at you, archer-like, in my anger. They fly true—you cannot run from their burning sting. Boy, lead me home, so that he may launch his rage against younger men, and learn to keep a quieter tongue
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and a better mind within his breast than he now bears.
Exit Teiresias.
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Chorus
The man is gone, my king, leaving dire prophecies behind. And for all the time that I have had this hair on my head, now white, once dark, I know that he has never been a false prophet to our city.
The man is gone, my king, leaving dire prophecies behind. And for all the time that I have had this hair on my head, now white, once dark, I know that he has never been a false prophet to our city.
Creon
I, too, know it well, and my mind is troubled. To yield is terrible, but, to resist, to strike my pride with ruin—this, too, inspires terror.
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I, too, know it well, and my mind is troubled. To yield is terrible, but, to resist, to strike my pride with ruin—this, too, inspires terror.
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Chorus
The moment, Creon, requires that you reason wisely.
The moment, Creon, requires that you reason wisely.
Creon
What should I do, then? Speak, and I will obey.
What should I do, then? Speak, and I will obey.
Chorus
Go and free the girl from her hollowed chamber. Then raise a tomb for the unburied dead.
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Go and free the girl from her hollowed chamber. Then raise a tomb for the unburied dead.
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Creon
And you recommend this? You think that I should yield?
And you recommend this? You think that I should yield?
Chorus
Yes, my king, and with all possible speed. For harms sent from the gods swiftly cut short the follies of men.
Yes, my king, and with all possible speed. For harms sent from the gods swiftly cut short the follies of men.
Creon
Ah, it is a struggle, but I depart from my heart’s resolve and obey. We must not wage vain wars with necessity.
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Ah, it is a struggle, but I depart from my heart’s resolve and obey. We must not wage vain wars with necessity.
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Chorus
Go, do these things and do not leave their performance to others.
Go, do these things and do not leave their performance to others.
Creon
Right away I will go. Go, go, my servants, each and all of you! Take axes in your hands,
and hurry to that place there in view! But since my judgment has taken this turn, I will be there to set her free, as I myself confined her. I am held by the fear that it is best to keep the established laws to life’s very end.
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Right away I will go. Go, go, my servants, each and all of you! Take axes in your hands,
and hurry to that place there in view! But since my judgment has taken this turn, I will be there to set her free, as I myself confined her. I am held by the fear that it is best to keep the established laws to life’s very end.
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Antigone. Sophocles. Richard Jebb (Translator). Cambridge. 1891.
Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.