And now again when thou behold’st this State
And all its kindly people welcome me,
Thou seek’st to part us, wrapping in soft words
Hard thoughts.  And yet what pleasure canst thou find
In forcing friendship on unwilling foes? 
Suppose a man refused to grant some boon
When you importuned him, and afterwards
When you had got your heart’s desire, consented,
Granting a grace from which all grace had fled,
Would not such favor seem an empty boon? 
Yet such the boon thou profferest now to me,
Fair in appearance, but when tested false. 
Yea, I will proved thee false, that these may hear;
Thou art come to take me, not to take me home,
But plant me on thy borders, that thy State
May so escape annoyance from this land.
That thou shalt never gain, but this instead—­
My ghost to haunt thy country without end;
And for my sons, this heritage—­no more—­
Just room to die in.  Have not I more skill
Than thou to draw the horoscope of Thebes? 
Are not my teachers surer guides than thine—­
Great Phoebus and the sire of Phoebus, Zeus? 
Thou art a messenger suborned, thy tongue
Is sharper than a sword’s edge, yet thy speech
Will bring thee more defeats than victories. 
Howbeit, I know I waste my words—­begone,
And leave me here; whate’er may be my lot,
He lives not ill who lives withal content.

Creon
Which loses in this parley, I o’erthrown
By thee, or thou who overthrow’st thyself?

Oedipus
I shall be well contented if thy suit
Fails with these strangers, as it has with me.

Creon
Unhappy man, will years ne’er make thee wise? 
Must thou live on to cast a slur on age?

Oedipus
Thou hast a glib tongue, but no honest man,
Methinks, can argue well on any side.

Creon
’Tis one thing to speak much, another well.

Oedipus
Thy words, forsooth, are few and all well aimed!

Creon
Not for a man indeed with wits like thine.

Oedipus
Depart!  I bid thee in these burghers’ name,
And prowl no longer round me to blockade
My destined harbor.

Creon
                    I protest to these,
Not thee, and for thine answer to thy kin,
If e’er I take thee—­

Oedipus
                    Who against their will
Could take me?

Creon
               Though untaken thou shalt smart.

Oedipus
What power hast thou to execute this threat?

Creon
One of thy daughters is already seized,
The other I will carry off anon.

Oedipus
Woe, woe!

Creon
          This is but prelude to thy woes.

Oedipus
Hast thou my child?

Creon
                    And soon shall have the other.