Summary

A Guard hurries on, apologizing for taking his time but adding that he paused several times on his journey to consider the story he has to tell – that he and other guards have discovered that the body of Polyneices has been buried. He says that there are no indications of who had done it or how/when it had been done, that it was agreed that someone had to tell Creon, and that he was chosen by lot to do so. The Chorus suggests that the burial may have been the work of the gods, but Creon angrily tells them it’s simply not possible. He then suggests that there are wealthy men in Thebes who resisted his lawgiving in general and this law in particular, who are ultimately responsible for the burial, and who will all be punished with death. He orders the...