Oedipus the King (p. 112.

863-910)

CHORUS [singing]
STROPHE A
May destiny ever find me
Pious in word and deed
Prescribed by the laws that live on high;
Laws begotten in the clear air of heaven,
Whose only father is Olympus;
No mortal nature brought them to birth,
No forgetfulness shall lull them to sleep;
For god is great in them and grows not old.
ANTISTROPHE A
Insolence breeds the tyrant, insolence
If it is glutted with a surfeit, unseasonable, unprofitable,
Climbs to the rooftop and plunges
Sheer down to the ruin that must be,
And there its feet are no service.
But I pray that the god may never
Abolish the eager ambition that profits the state.
For I shall never cease to hold the god as our protector.
STROPHE B
If a man walks with haughtiness
Of hand or word and gives no heed
To Justice and the shrines of gods
Despises may an evil doom

Smite him for his ill-starred pride of heart!

If he reaps gains without justice
And will not hold from impiety
And his fingers itch for untouchable things.
When such things are done, what man shall contrive
To shield his life from the shafts of the god?
When such deeds are held in honor,
Why should I honor the gods in the dance?
ANTISTROPHE B
No longer to the holy place,
To the navel of the earth Ill go
To worship, nor to Abae
Nor to Olympia,
Unless the oracles are prove to fit,
For all mens hands to point at.
O Zeus, if you are rightly called
The sovereign lord, all-mastering,
Let this not escape you nor your ever-living power!
The oracles concerning Laius
Are old and dim and men regard them not.
Apollo is nowhere clear in honor; the gods service perishes.