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.
ChorusGod of many names, glory of the
Cadmeian bride and offspring of loud-thundering Zeus, you who watch over
far-famed Italy and
reign in the valleys of
Eleusinian Deo where all find welcome! O Bacchus, denizen of Thebes, the mother-city of your
Bacchants, dweller by the wet stream of Ismenus on the soilof the sowing of the savage dragon’s teeth! ChorusThe smoky glare of torches sees
you above the cliffs of the twin peaks, where the Corycian nymphs move
inspired by your godhead, and Castalia’s stream sees you, too. The ivy-mantled
slopes of Nysa’s hills and
the shore green with many-clustered vines send you, when accompanied
by the cries of your divine words, you visit the
avenues of Thebes. ChorusThebes of all cities you hold foremost in honor,
together with your lightning-struck mother. And now when the whole city is held subject to a
violent plague, come, we ask, with purifying feet over steep Parnassus, or over the groaning straits! ChorusO Leader of the chorus of the
stars whose breath is fire, overseer of the chants in the night, son
begotten of Zeus, appear, my
king, with your attendant Thyiads, who in night-long frenzy dance and
sing you as Iacchus the Giver!
Enter Messenger, on the spectators’ left.MessengerNeighbors of the house of Cadmus and of Amphion, there
is no station of human life that I would ever praise or blame as being
settled. Fortune sets upright and Fortune sinks the lucky and unlucky
from day to day, and no one can prophesy to men concerning the order
that has just been established. For Creon, as I saw it, was once blest:
he had saved this land of Cadmus from its enemies; and having won sole
and total dominion in the land, he guided it on a straight course and
flourished in his noble crop of children. And now all this has been lost. When a man has
forfeited his pleasures, I do not reckon his existence as life, but
consider him just a breathing corpse. Heap up riches in your house, if
you wish! Live with a tyrant’s pomp! But if there is no joyalong with all of that, I would not pay even the shadow
of smoke for all the rest, compared with joy.ChorusWhat is this new grief for our princes that you have come
to report?