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Many men of this sort you could find who have overthrown cities and have fallen into the greatest misfortunes themselves. For you must not imagine, fellow citizens, that the impulse to wrong doing is from the gods; nay, rather, it is from the wickedness of men; nor that ungodly men are, as in tragedy, driven and chastised by the Furies1 with blazing torches in their hands.

1 The Furies (Poenae) are gods of punishment, more definitely personified in the Erinyes. The hearers would be reminded of the chasing of Orestes in the Eumenidesof Aeschylus.

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  • Commentary references to this page (1):
    • Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus, 43
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