How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Line). We used Francis Storr's translation found on Project Gutenberg.
Quote #1
GUARD
May I not speak, or must I turn and go
Without a word?--
CREON
Begone! canst thou not see
That e'en this question irks me?
GUARD
Where, my lord?
Is it thy ears that suffer, or thy heart?
CREON
Why seek to probe and find the seat of pain?
GUARD
I gall thine ears--this miscreant thy mind.
CREON
What an inveterate babbler! get thee gone!
GUARD
Babbler perchance, but innocent of the crime.
CREON
Twice guilty, having sold thy soul for gain.
GUARD
Alas! how sad when reasoners reason wrong.
CREON
Go, quibble with thy reason. If thou fail'st
To find these malefactors, thou shalt own
The wages of ill-gotten gains is death. (313-327)
Creon, irritated by the guard, threatens him with death. This is a far cry from the Creon we encountered in Oedipus the King.
Quote #2
CREON
Of all these Thebans none so deems but thou.
ANTIGONE
These think as I, but bate their breath to thee.
CREON
Hast thou no shame to differ from all these?
ANTIGONE
To reverence kith and kin can bring no shame. (506-512)
Emboldened by his power, Creon attempts to shame Antigone because her views are different from his.