ARGUMENT.
When Œdipus was no longer king, and would fain have left Thebes for
ever, the people suffered him not, for so the Oracle bade them. And
his children grew up—two sons, Polyneikes and Eteocles, and two
daughters, Ismene and Antigone, under Creon's care, and when his
sons came to man's estate, and Œdipus had grown calmer, and content
to abide in Thebes, they and Creon thrust him forth, a wanderer
on the earth, lest he should bring trouble to the city. And many
months he journeyed with Antigone over Hellas, begging their bread;
but Ismene, though she loved him, stayed at home. And the two
brothers quarrelled, and Eteocles, the younger, drove forth Polyneikes,
and made himself king. And Polyneikes betook himself to Argos, and
took the king's daughter there in marriage, and gathered a great
army wherewith to restore himself to the kingdom. And it chanced
that Antigone and Œdipus came to Athens, where Theseus was then
king, than whom no man in Hellas was braver or more just.
