mother, set against each other their spears, both victorious, and who
now share in a common death.
ChorusBut since Victory whose name is
glory has come to us, smiling in joy equal to the joy of chariot-rich
Thebes, let us make for ourselves forgetfulness after
the recent wars, and visit all the temples of the gods with night-long
dance and song. And may Bacchus, who shakes the earth of Thebes, rule our dancing! ChorusBut look, the king of the land is
coming here, Creon, the son of Menoeceus, our new ruler in accordance
with the new circumstances fated by the gods. What policy is he setting
in motion, that he has proposed
this special conference of elders, and summoned it by a general
mandate?
Enter Creon, with two attendants.CreonMy fellow citizens! First, the
gods, after tossing the fate of our city on wild waves, have once more
righted it. Second, I have ordered you through my messengers to come
here apart from all the rest,
because I knew, first of all, how constant was your reverence for the
power of the throne of Laius; how, again, you were reverent, when
Oedipus was guiding our city; and lastly, how, when he was dead, you
still maintained loyal thoughts towards his children.