We can see that Creon by using the metaphorical phrase "after much tossing of our ship of state" means:
That the boat which the army of Argos used for arrival was actually tossed by the people of Thebes.
They actually did so in order to hold back Polyneices and his army.
What is metaphor?
Metaphor refers to the figure of speech that is used to compare two things that are unlike but share something in common in some way. Metaphor doesn't use "as" or "like" when comparing but simile does.
We can see that the metaphorical phrase was actually referring to the way the boat of the army of Argos was tossed. "Ship of state" refers to the boat that the army of Argos arrived with.
Learn more about Metaphor on https://brainly.com/question/7954582
