ON
Hands off, have a care.

CHORUS
Restore the maidens, else thou goest not.

CREON
Then Thebes will take a dearer surety soon;
I will lay hands on more than these two maids.

CHORUS
What canst thou further?

CREON
Carry off this man.

CHORUS
Brave words!

CREON
And deeds forthwith shall make them good.

CHORUS
Unless perchance our sovereign intervene.

OEDIPUS
O shameless voice! Would'st lay an hand on me?

CREON
Silence, I bid thee!

OEDIPUS
Goddesses, allow
Thy suppliant to utter yet one curse!
Wretch, now my eyes are gone thou hast torn away
The helpless maiden who was eyes to me;
For these to thee and all thy cursed race
May the great Sun, whose eye is everywhere,
Grant length of days and old age like to mine.

CREON
Listen, O men of Athens, mark ye this?

OEDIPUS
They mark us both and understand that I
Wronged by the deeds defend myself with words.

CREON
Nothing shall curb my will; though I be old
And single-handed, I will have this man.

OEDIPUS
O woe is me!

CHORUS
Thou art a bold man, stranger, if thou think'st
To execute thy purpose.

CREON
So I do.

CHORUS
Then shall I deem this State no more a State.

CREON
With a just quarrel weakness conquers might.

OEDIPUS
Ye hear his words?

CHORUS
Aye words, but not yet deeds,
Zeus knoweth!

CREON
Zeus may haply know, not thou.

CHORUS
Insolence!

CREON
Insolence that thou must bear.

CHORUS
Haste ye princes, sound the alarm!
Men of Athens, arm ye, arm!
Quickly to the rescue come
Ere the robbers get them home.
[Enter THESEUS]

THESEUS
Why this outcry? What is forward? wherefore was I called away
From the altar of Poseidon, lord of your Colonus? Say!
On what errand have I hurried hither without stop or stay.

OEDIPUS
Dear friend--those accents tell me who thou art--
Yon man but now hath done me a foul wrong.

THESEUS
What is this wrong and who hath wrought it? Speak.

OEDIPUS
Creon who stands before thee. He it is
Hath robbed me of my all, my daughters twain.

THESEUS
What means this?

OEDIPUS
Thou hast heard my tale of wrongs.

THESEUS
Ho! hasten to the altars, one of you.
Command my liegemen leave the sacrifice
And hurry, foot and horse, with rein unchecked,
To where the paths t