Ah, how late you seem to see the right!CreonGod, I have mastered the bitter lesson! But then, then, I think, some god struck me on my head with a crushing weight, and drove me into savage paths, —ah!—and overthrew my joy to be trampled on! Ah, the labors men must toil through!Enter the Messenger from the house.MessengerMy master, you have come, I think, like one whose hands are not empty, but who has a ready store: first, you carry that burden visible in your arms; second, you will soon look upon further sufferings inside your house.

CreonWhat worse suffering is still to follow upon these sufferings?MessengerYour wife is dead, true mother of that corpse, poor lady, by wounds newly cut.