Thread by @EmilyRCWilson

Most cruel plague is driving through the city
and emptying our houses, while black Hades
grows rich on cries of grief and lamentation.

(Oedipus Tyrannos)

Priest, to the leader:
You hold the power now;
if you would go on ruling, it is better
to govern in a populated city
than emptiness.

Leader, at the virus briefing:

I know that all of you are sick with plague, diseased;
but no-one's sickness equals mine.

Chorus: Our famous city
is increased by nothing.
Like birds on the wing, one here and one there,
you see them driven by more than invincible fire
to the shore of the western god.
The city is dying, the dying are numberless.
There is no pity...

Leader, rejecting fact-based informant:

This wizard, stitcher of conspiracies!
This lying beggar! Who can only see
where profit lies! He's blind to any art!

Chorus, invoking lost norms:
Good actions are governed by laws whose feet step high,
who are born in the heavens above, & Olympus
alone is their father. No mortal nature
poured forth or mothered them.
Great is the god in these places; he does not grow old.

If someone is using their hands or their words
to step higher than others
& fearless of Justice
shows no due respect to the seats of the gods,
may evil fate take them
to pay back the curse of their pride,
if they profit from ill-gotten gains...