Stasimon 6
[Choral 3]
Ah, no! I tremble with fear. Why
does no one strike me full on my chest with a two-edged sword?
Creon
I am miserable—ah—and bathed in
miserable anguish!
1310
Messenger
Yes, because you were accused of responsibility for both
this son’s death, and the other’s, by her whose corpse you see.
Creon
What was the manner of the violent deed by which she departed?
Messenger
Her own hand struck her to the heart upon learning her
son’s sharply-lamented fate.
1315
[Choral 4]
Ah this guilt can never be
fastened onto any other mortal so as to remove my own! It was I, yes, I,
who killed you, I the wretch.
Creon
I
admit the truth. Lead me away, my servants, lead me from here with all
haste, who am no more than a dead man!
1320
Chorus
The course you recommend is to
your gain, if there can be gain amidst evil. What is briefest is best,
when trouble lies at your feet.
1325
[Choral 3]
Let it come, let it appear, that
fairest of fates for me, that brings my final day,
Creon
the fate supreme! Oh, let it come, so that I may never
see tomorrow’s light!
1330
Chorus
These things are in the future.
We must see to present affairs.
Fulfillment of these things rests in the hands where it should
rest.
1335
Creon
All that I crave was summed in that prayer.
Chorus
Then pray no more; for mortals have no release from destined
misfortune.
[Choral 4]
Lead me away, I beg you, a rash,
useless man.
Creon
I have murdered you,
son, unwittingly, and you, too, my wife—the misery! I do not know which
way I should look, or where I should seek support. All is
1340
amiss that is in my hands, and, again,
a crushing fate has leapt upon my head.
1345
