[lbo-talk] Accumulation (was IRA & ETA)

Ted Winslow egwinslow at rogers.com
Tue Mar 30 09:09:47 PST 2004


Carrol wrote:


> Creon, charging the messenger (Sentry) with the crime, or as the Sentry
> says,
>
> Oh its terrible when the one who does the judging
> judges all things wrong.
>
> The passage is tricky.
>
> And later on Creon says of Tiresias,
>
> Oh his ilk has tried to sell me short
> and ship me off for years.*
>
> That is reality itself (or its voice) accused of taking bribes.

I hadn't thought of this. It is strange to have a judgment with which Sophocles agrees issue from the mouth of Creon. However, the translation you quote of the Sentry's comment on Creon's mistaken judgment


> Oh its terrible when the one who does the judging
> judges all things wrong.

differs from the Jebb translation at Perseus (<http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext? doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0186&layout=&query=card%3D%2315&loc=278>):


> Ah! It is truly sad when the judge judges wrong .

You can also jump to the original Greek at Perseus (<http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text: 1999.01.0185:line=315>):


> pheu:
> ê deinon hôi dokêi ge kai pseudê dokein

Looking this up in the Greek-English lexicons (also available at Perseus) and looking at Jebb's commentary on his translation, I can't find the justification for "all things".

Tiresias attributes the avarice Creon has mistakenly attributed to him to Creon himself


> Creon
> [1055] Yes, for the prophet-clan was ever fond of money.
>
> Teiresias
> And the race sprung from tyrants loves shameful gain.

and points out that:


> the most precious of our possessions is the power to reason wisely

It's this possession Creon lacks. His is the "fanatic will," the expression of an inability to will and reason wisely.


> All men are liable to err. [1025] But when an error is made, that man
> is no longer unwise or unblessed who heals the evil into which he has
> fallen and does not remain stubborn. Self-will, we know, invites the
> charge of foolishness. Concede the claim of the dead. Do not kick at
> the fallen. [1030] What prowess is it to kill the dead all over again?
> I have considered for your good, and what I advise is good. The
> sweetest thing is to learn from a good advisor when his advice is to
> your profit.

And though it's by then too late, Creon does manage in the end to reason wisely, i.e. judge truly.

Ted



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