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It's just that Zeus didn't issue them, nor did Justice, who cohabits with the infernal gods, establish such laws for men. And I understood that your edicts had no such power that a mortal could override the unwritten but immutable precepts of the gods. For these are not of now, nor of yesterday, but are always in force, and no one knows when they came into being. Because of your laws, I didn't want to be punished before the gods for having feared a man's decision. I already knew that I would die one day - how could I ignore it? even if you hadn't proclaimed that edict. And if I die before my time, I'll say that's an advantage. If you live in the midst of so many calamities, as I do, how can you not consider death a benefit? And so, it's pain that this fate is not worth touching me. If I were to suffer the corpse of my mother's dead son being left unburied, it would pain me. But this causes me no pain. And if now it seems to you that I have committed an act of madness, perhaps he is mad who condemns me as such. (Antigone, Sophocles, vv. 450-470).
