arly did Tiresias
say, that never, whilst thou dost inhabit this land, will the state be
prosperous. But depart; and this I say not from insolence, nor being thine
enemy, but on account of thy evil genius, fearing lest the country suffer
any harm.

OED. O Fate, from the beginning how wretched [and unhappy] didst thou form
me, [if ever other man was formed!] whom, even before I came into the light
from my mother's womb, when yet unborn Apollo foretold that I should be the
murderer of my father Laius, alas! wretch that I am! And when I was born,
again my father who gave me life, seeks to take my life, considering that I
was born his enemy: for it was fated that he should die by my hands, and he
sends me, poor wretch, as I craved the breast, a prey for the wild beasts:
where I was preserved--for would that Cithaeron, it ought, had sunk to the
bottomless chasms of Tartarus, for that it did not destroy me; but the God
fixed it my lot to serve under Polybus my master: but I unhappy man, having
slain my own father, ascended the bed of my wretched mother, and begat
children, my brothers, whom I destroyed, having received down the curse
from Laius, and given it to my sons. For I was not by nature so utterly
devoid of understanding, as to have devised such things against my eyes,
and against the life of my children, without the interference of some of
the Gods. Well!--what then shall I ill-fated do? who will accompany me the
guide of my dark steps? She that lies here dead! living, well know I, she
would. But my noble pair of sons? I have no sons.--But still in my vigor
can I myself procure my sustenance? Whence?--Why, O Creon, dost thou thus
utterly kill me? for kill me thou wilt, if thou shalt cast me out of the
land. Yet will I not appear base, stretching my hands around thy knees, for
I can not belie my former nobleness, not even though my plight is
miserable.

CRE. Well has it been spoken by thee, that thou wilt not touch my knees,
but I can not permit thee to dwell in the land. But of these corses, the
one we must even now bear to the house; but the body of Polynices cast out
unburied beyond the borders of this land. And these things shall be
proclaimed to all the Thebans: "whoever shall be found either crowning the
corse, or covering it with earth, shall receive death for his offense." But
thou, ceasing from the groans for the three dead, retire, Antigone, within
the house, and behave as beseems a virgin, expecting the appr