CREON.
Come, but let thy children go.
OEDIPUS.
Rob me not of these my children!
CREON.
Crave not mastery in all,
For the mastery that raised thee was thy bane and wrought thy fall.
CHORUS.
Look ye, countrymen and Thebans, this is Oedipus the great,
He who knew the Sphinx’s riddle and was mightiest in our state.
Who of all our townsmen gazed not on his fame with envious eyes?
Now, in what a sea of troubles sunk and overwhelmed he lies!
Therefore wait to see life’s ending ere thou count one mortal blest;
Wait till free from pain and sorrow he has gained his final rest.
FOOTNOTES
1 ([return])
[ Dr. Kennedy and others render “Since to men of experience I see that also comparisons of their counsels are in most lively use.”]
2 ([return])
[ Literally “not to call them thine,” but the Greek may be rendered “In order not to reveal thine.”]
3 ([return])
[ The Greek text that occurs in this place has been lost.]