In this passage from Sophocles’s play Antigone, the chorus praises all of man’s accomplishments. Because they held off the army and the atmosphere is celebratory. Before the choral ode 1 Antigone tries to convince Ismene to help her bury Polynicies because it’s the right thing to do. Ismene declines her request and makes Anitgone do it on her own. Through imagery and credibility, the Theban elders express their pride in mankind to the audience. First the chorus uses imagery while telling the audience how great mankind is. “Wonders are many on earth, and the greatest of these / Is man, who rides the ocean and takes his way / Through the deeps, through wind-swept valleys of perilous seas / That surge and sway” (135). This quote means that mankind
