The story for Sophocles' drama, Antigone, is set when King Creon decrees that the body of Eteocles will be honored with a proper burial, while the body of his brother, Polyneices, will be left to rot in the open.   The decision ultimately leads to Creon's demise.   While the underlying political principles behind Creon's proclamation were initially sound, his decision to let the body of Polyneices rot eventually becomes just as morally based and irrational as Antigone's stubborn decision to give the body a proper burial. Antigone's actions inflame  Creon's own growing insecurity, which prompts him to turn what was a political issue into an issue of personal principle and ego. As far as tactical political decisions go, it is common practice to make an example out of the enemy especially somebody who commits treason as a deterrent to other potential enemies or traitors. In Elizabethan England traitors were hung, drawn and quartered, with their dismembered bodies displayed throughout London; in the Odyssey, Odysseus makes a gruesome example out of the treasonous goatherd Melanthius, cutting of his nose, ears, hands and feet and then feeding his genitals to the dogs (Homer 352). Polyneices is essentially a traitor “ a person that was once a citizen of Thebes (and a part of royal lineage, no less) who left and eventually involved himself in an attack on his old home. According to Creon, Polyneices was "prepared to burn [Thebes] to the ground, prepared to drink blood that he shared, and to throw the rest into slavery ¦  (Antigone 187-189). The Argives intended to install Polyneices to the throne, so Creon's take might be slightly embellished: certainly, burning down the very city you were fighting for power over defies common sense. That being said, Polyneices was prepared to kill his own blood (he succeeded in killing his brother) as Creon stated, and its safe to assume that the Argive army would have killed, exiled or enslaved any dissenting citizens of Thebes had they won the war. From the City of Thebes' and Creon's point of view, Polyneices is an enemy. And if Polyneices is in fact an enemy of Thebes, was there anything politically or tactically wrong with Creon's decision to forego giving his body a proper burial? The political climate is sure to be tumultuous in Cadmus following the civil war. No decisions are easy for a leader in Creon's position; it would be important to set an example of strength, power and a certain amount of rigidity to help retain order and safety, not just for his own good but for the overall safety of the citizens. If letting the body of Polyneices rot is an effective deterrent against further attack, then it is the right thing to do tactically1. It is obviously in everybody's best interest to avoid another fight breaking out, that is, unless the majority of Thebes wishes to revolt against Creon “ but there is nowhere in the play that suggests Thebes was ready to start an upheaval against its King. To the contrary, it is stated a number of times that Creon did an admirable job leading the city: the prophet Teiresias says Creon "steered the city well  (Ant. 968) and with the prophets own help "has saved this city  (Ant. 124-125). Later a messenger says about Creon that he "saved this land of Cadmus from its enemies; and taking absolute control of the country, he guided it well ¦  (Ant. 1120-1122). Und