And wilt thou still obstruct the public weal?

Creon: Where foul the cure, 'tis grievous to be cured.

Oedipus: Thy tidings speak; or, by thy pains subdued,

Thou soon shalt know what angered kings can do.

Creon: Kings hate the words whose speech they would compel. 520

Oedipus: In hades shalt thou pay thy life for all,

Unless thou tell the secrets of the fates.

Creon: Nay, let me hold my peace. No smaller boon

Was ever sought.

Oedipus: More often than by speech,