Strange kindness, to love men against their will!
Suppose, when thou wert eager in some suit,
No grace were granted thee, but all denied,
And when thy soul was sated, then the boon
Were offered, when such grace were graceless now;
—Poor satisfaction then were thine, I ween!
Even such a gift thou profferest me to-day,
Kind in pretence, but really full of evil.
These men shall hear me tell thy wickedness.
Thou comest to take me, not unto my home,
But to dwell outlawed at your gate, that so
Your Thebè may come off untouched of harm
From her encounter with Athenian men.
Ye shall not have me thus. But you shall have
My vengeful spirit ever in your land
Abiding for destruction,—and my sons
Shall have this portion in their father’s ground,
To die thereon. Know I not things in Thebes
Better than thou? Yea, for ’tis mine to hear
Safer intelligencers,—Zeus himself,
And Phoebus, high interpreter of Heaven.
Thou bring’st a tongue suborned with false pretence,
Sharpened with insolence;—but in shrewd speech
Thou shalt find less of profit than of bane.
This thou wilt ne’er believe. Therefore begone!
Let me live here. For even such life as mine
Were not amiss, might I but have my will.
Cr. Which of us twain, believ’st thou, in this talk
Hath more profoundly sinned against thy peace?
Oed. If thou prevail’st with these men present here
Even as with me, I shall be well content.
Cr. Unhappy man, will not even Time bring forth
One spark of wisdom to redeem thine age?
Oed. Thou art a clever talker. But I know
No just man who in every cause abounds
With eloquent speech.
Cr. ’Tis not to abound in speech,
When one speaks fitting words in season.
Oed. Oh!
As if thy words were few and seasonable!
