which you claim to have cut out of your life.
Keep things simple and they'll turn out all right.
Be simple yourself: direct as an arrow--straight
to the target. . . . That brings me back to what
I was saying just now: Yes, if I sometimes manage
to think that I have been launched on my way by
the gods, I do it to redouble my own modesty
and to refer back to them the credit for my
destiny. For in my particular case it's rather
difficult not to get a little puffed-up about one-
self. I escape it by creating above me a holy
power to which, whether I like it or not, I am
subject. Who would not gladly bow down to such
a power, if it led him to where I now am? A god
is guiding you, Œdipus, and there aren't two like
you. That's what I tell myself on Sundays and
holidays. The rest of the week I've no time to
think about it. Besides, what would be the use?
I'm no good at reasoning; logic's not my strong
point; I proceed by intuition. Some people, when-
ever they get mixed up in the traffic, keep saying
to themselves: "Should I give way? Have I the
right to overtake?" For my part, I always behave
as if a god were telling me what to do.
(The Chorus, divided into two groups, comes
downstage, to right and left of Œdipus.)

BOTH CHORUSES: We, the Chorus, whose particular
function in this place is to represent the opinion
of the majority, declare ourselves surprised and
grieved by the profession of so aggressive an
individualism. The views that Œdipus has dis-
closed are intolerable in other people--unless
they are disguised.

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