The Suppliants (513-535)

The punishment Zeus hath inflicted was surely enough; there was no need to heap this wanton insult on us.

Abandoned wretch!

Peace, Adrastus! say no more; set not thy words before mine,

for ’tis not to thee this fellow is come with his message, but to me, and I must answer him. Thy first assertion will I answer first: I am not aware that Creon is my lord and master, or that his power outweigheth mine, that so he should compel

Athens to act on this wise; nay! for then would the tide of time have to flow backward, if we are to be ordered about, as he thinks. ’Tis not I who choose this war, seeing that I did not even join these warriors to go unto the land of Cadmus; but still I claim to bury the fallen dead, not injuring any state

nor yet introducing murderous strife, but preserving the law of all Hellas. What is not well in this? If ye suffered aught from the Argives—lo! they are dead; ye took a splendid vengeance on your foes

and covered them with shame, and now your right is at an end. Let[*] the dead now be buried in the earth, and each element return[*] to the place from whence it came to the body, the breath to the air, the body to the ground; for in no wise did we get it

for our own, but to live our life in, and after that its mother earth must take it back again. Dost think ’tis Argos thou art injuring in refusing burial to the dead? Nay! all Hellas shares herein, if a man rob the dead of their due