Enter Theseus.
The. Wherefore that shouting? Daunted by what fear
Stayed ye me sacrificing to the God
Who guards this deme Colonos? Let me know
What cause so hastened my reluctant foot.
Oed. Dear friend (I know thy voice addressing us),
One here hath lately done me cruel wrong.
The. Who is the wrong-doer, say, and what the deed?
Oed. This Creon, whom thou seest, hath torn away
Two children that were all in all to me.
The. Can this be possible?
Oed. Thou hear’st the truth.
The. Then one of you run to the altar-foot
Hard by, and haste the people from the rite,
Horsemen and footmen at the height of speed
To race unto the parting of the roads
Where travellers from both gorges wont to meet,
Lest there the maidens pass beyond our reach
And I be worsted by this stranger’s might
And let him laugh at me. Be swift! Away!
—For him, were I as wroth as he deserves,
He should not go unpunished from my hand.
But now he shall be ruled by the same law
He thought to enforce. Thou goest not from this ground
Till thou hast set these maids in presence here;
Since by thine act thou hast disgraced both me
And thine own lineage and thy native land,
Who with unlicensed inroad hast assailed
An ancient city, that hath still observed
Justice and equity, and apart from law
Ratifies nothing; and, being here, hast cast
Authority to the winds, and made thine own
Whate’er thou wouldst, bearing it off perforce,—
Deeming of me forsooth as nothing worth,
And of my city as one enslaved to foes
