3.4: Seven Tragedies of Sophocles- Antigone

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Seven Tragedies of Sophocles Antigone

Translatedin verse byRobinBond (2014) University of Canterbury,Christchurch,New Zealand

SevenTragedies of Sophocles : Antigone by RobinBond(Trans)islicensedunder a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/9681

Antigone

(Dramatis Personae) Antigone Ismene

Chorus of Theban Elders Creon

Guard Haimon Teiresias Messenger Eurydice

Second Messenger

Antigone	Dear sister, Ismene, my love and my life,
	do you know of any illthat Zeus has not
	inflicted on usin our brief lives, because of Oedipus?
	For I have witnessedpainandmadness,indeed,
	andshame and dishonour yes, all of these	5
	have been a part of our fate and disaster.
	And even now men speak of a newdecree
	the general has pronounced to all the city folk.
	Have you heard of this, or you unaware of still
	more hostile cruelty urged uponthe ones we love?	10
Ismene	No word hascome to me, Antigone, about
	our loved ones, neitherfair nor foul, since we
	were robbed of our dear brothers both,
	in mutual slaughter on that dread and single day.
	And since the Argive army left in the night	15
	just past, I have had no furthernews
	to bring me either grief or happiness.
An.	Just as I thought and so I have called you here,
	alone outside the gates to hear he news from me.
Is.	Whatthen? You woulduncover some dark threat?	20
An.	Lord Creonhas honoured only one of our
	two brothers with a grave, dishonouring his twin.
	Men say he has interred Eteocles beneath
	the earth with all due rites and ceremony,
	to rest in honour with the dead below,	25
	while poor deadPolyneices’ corpse,mensay,
	he has decreed to all the citizens that they
	must neither give it burial, nor cries of grief,
	but leave the corpse unburied and unwept,
	to give a welcome larder to sharp-eyed birds.	30
	Such orders, men say, the noble Creon hasalso
	enjoined on you and me, on me, I say, on me…
	and now he is coming even here to announce
	his news to those as yet in ignorance, a thing
	of someimportancetoo, sincehewill condemn	35
	all those who disobey to public stoning in thestreets.
	That is the situation, and you will soon reveal
	if you are noble born, or will betray yourline.
Is.	You always were impetuous… but ifthings are
	as you say, what can I do to hinder him, or help?	40
An.	Perhaps you can share an enterprise with me.
Is.	What enterprise? Just what is in your mind?
An.	Will you join hands with me to bury him.
Is.	You think to bury him, a thing forbidden to all?

An.	Yes! Bury my brother and yours, like it or not!	45
	For I shall not be blamed for betraying him!
Is.	Rash fool you are, when the king forbids!
An.	It is not his right to keep me from my own.
Is.	Oh, no! Consider our father, sister, how
	he died, an object of hatred, all honourgone,	50
	a man who took it on himself, with his
	own hands, to gouge, destroy his eyes;
	andthen his wife and mother, ours as well,
	she throttled out herlife in the woven noose;
	and third and last, our brothers, on the self-	55
	same day, in rashness, both fulfilled their fate,
	andbrought about their deaths with mutualhands.
	Consider again how we, the sole survivingkin,
	how we shall both be ruined, yes, in misery, if we
	run counter to the voteand power of a king.	60
	We must remember this – we are mere women both,
	andso we cannot hope to combat men. And so,
	since we are ruled by those who are more powerful,
	we must obey them, andsuffer even worse, if needs
	must be. And so I shallbeg of those beneath the earth	65
	to pardon me for what I am compelled to do,
	and I shall obey the men who walk in power.
	It makesno sense to flout due moderation here.
An.	I would not pressure you to work with me, not even if
	you wanted to, and gladly changed your mind…	70
	Be just what you choose yourself to be, while I myself
	shall bury him – andif I die, then well and good.
	For I shall lie in love beside my best beloved, when I
	have done this crime of piety: the time to please the dead
	below is longer far than that required to satisfy the world above.	75
	For I shall rest there evermore…but you, sobe yourwill,
	be guilty of dishonouring the practice honouredby the gods!
Is.	I shall not be guilty of dishonouring the laws of god,
	but I am not empowered to flout by force the people’s will.
An.	Excuses are easy to make – but I shallmake my way	80
	and heap the earth on my dear brother’s tomb.
Is.	My dear misguideddarling, how I fear for you…
An.	Fear not for me, guide rather your own course aright.
Is.	At least you must not advertise your plan to anybody else,
	but keep it closely hid and I will also keep it so…	85
An.	Proclaimit rather! Your silence willwinmy hatred more,
	unless you broadcast, shout my crime aloud to all.
Is.	Your blood runs hot in the face of chilling threats.

An.I know I shallfind most favour where most I ought.

Is.If you succeed perhaps, but what you strive foris impossible. 90

An.So then I’ll fail, but only when my strength fails me… Is.It is not right to huntin vain in a hopeless quest… An.To say such things will earn my hate, and you

will be hated too, and justly, by our brother dead.

Allow me,please, to sufferthe dread results 95

of foolishness… for at least I shall not suffer thenthe thing I hate the most, a shameful death.

Is.If that is your decision, go, but be assured of this, despitethe folly of your quest, your loved ones love you still.

Chorus

Sunlight, fairer yet than all str.

the former days to shine 101

on seven-gatedThebes,

you have shone at last,bright eye of this goldenday, have come

across the streams of Dirke, 105

have put to flight the menwhocame from Argos, whitetheir shields, in total panoply,

and fled far swifter than they came.

Thishost it came against our land, 110

the reason –Polyneices’ fretful claim,andscreaming shrillit stooped

upon our land, an eagle plumed on wings of snow, allwhite,

allied with full array of arms 115

and horse-haired helmet crests.

Hestoodoutside our walls,ant.his a ring of spears agape

withbloodied teeth, a threat

to thesevenfoldmouths 120

of Thebes… but he was gone before hisjaws were glutted on our blood, or pine fed flameengulfed our crown of towers.

The clatter of war rose thick about him, 125

indomitable the dragon born battle cry.

For Zeushe loathesboastsmade by an arrogant tongue,and so when hesawthem, a river in spate,and filled withthe clangour of gold-claddisdain,	130
that man he hurled down with thunder and fire, as he strove at the peak of endeavour, advancingvictory’s cry.
And he fell, hurled, twisting down to the earth,his torch clasped still inhis hand,who had then inhismadness breathed	str. 135
hatred most bitter against us. Dashed,disappointed hishopes, andmighty Ares, god of war, allotted each theirdifferent fate,rude help and harnessed strength.	140
Sevencaptains, each marshalled to matchmatching champions, each at the sevenfoldgates,abandoned their gear, all of bronze, a trophy for Zeus, save for two, ill fated this pair, twins born of one mother, one sire, spear shafts set againsteach the other’s they stood, tothe fate	145
of a mutual death both condemned.
Andvictory hascome, fair of fame, to Thebes, a city that loves its wealth of chariots, and the wars are all done and behind us now,	ant. 150
so let us forget, and dance through the night to the homes of the godsin our dance, Dionysus our guide, as his feet beat theearth.
But here is the king of this land, lord Creon, the son of Menoeceus, newcome to the throne,the most recent chance brought by thegods:what fresh plan does he urge that he comes,andhassummoned this council of elders	155 160
to meet in assembly, broughtby a commoncommand.

CreonMy friends, our ship of state, storm-tossedby the gods,has been set once more by them upon a safe and even keel;

and I have summoned you by messenger, fromall the citizens

especially, to come,because I know,and well, that you 165

did ever honourloyally the rule of Laius in the house –

and so too after him, when Oedipus was ruler of the state…andwhen he… died… why still you remained a bastion

of commonand supportive sense for their successiveheirs.

Whenthose two mendid perish on the self same day, 170

struck down by a mutual fate and by each other’s hand,and they did share the guilt and shame of fratricide,

I then assumed the throne and all the cares of royal powerby dint of my closest kinshipwith the brothersdead.

It isimpossible to know and understandthe heart 175

and soul and intellect of any man, until he isrevealed,submitting to the dailytest of government and rule.

For if a man, entrustedwith the total guidance of the state,will take no heed of counsel from the best of men,

but keeps a lock upon his tongue through some anxiety, 180

why him I judge, have alwaysjudged the worst of men;andif any man considers that a friend weighs more in hisaffections than the state, why him I count as nothing worth. For I –Zeus be my witness, who foreversees all things –

would never hold mypeace were I to see disaster speed 185

against the citizens so as to ruin our security, nor yetcould I befriend a man, at any time, who posed a threat to the state, because I know and know it wellthat she, our city, is our bulwark and our strength, in whose

safe care we sail and prosper and find proper friends. 190

With principles like these I shall enhance our city’s fame.Accordingly, I have publiclypronouncedmypolicyregardingthese two brothers, the sons of Oedipus:Eteocles, who died a hero’s death, his spear in hand,

in defence of thiscity, a hero I say, he shall be buried 195

in a tomb, with all the offerings that are sent below to accompany the very best and noblest of the dead;but that man’s brother, yes, Polyneices I mean, who, thoughhe wasanexile, descended on

his native land and gods, intent on sack and fire 200

andpillage, intent on drinking kindred blood, on leading others of his kin in slavery, of himit is decreed that noneshall gratify his corpse

with proper burial rites, nor yet lament forhim,

but men must leave his body all exposed, a feast 205

	for carrion birdsanddogs, grossspectacle of shame. My mind is thus madeup, and never shall the men of shame outstrip the just, so long as I hold sway; whoever, though, has served thiscity well, alive or dead, that man I shall both honour and respect.	210
Ch. Cr.	It is your pleasure then, Menoeceus’ son, to deal in contrary fashion with the traitor and the patriot.Employ the law’sfull force uponthe dead, therefore,and on as many of us as yet dolive. This is yourright. You will, of course, ensure my will is done…	215
Ch. Cr. Ch. Cr. Ch.	That task were entrusted better to a younger man. I have posted eager guards to oversee the corpse.What else then would you still enjoin on us? You must not sympathise withthose who may transgress.No man is quite so foolish that he wants to die.	220
Cr.	That would be the penalty, be sure…but oftentimes a man has been corrupted by the hope of gain.
Guard	My lord, I shall not speak as one who has come, quite out of breath from haste, nor as one fleet of foot, since many times my anxious andwhirling thoughts	225
	delayed my progress here, and brought me to a stop. For my inner voice would speak, and that at length, ‘You fool! You know what pay awaits you there!’ ‘You clown, yet more delay?’ ‘If Creon learns of this from someone else…then yours willbe the sorry ass!’	230
	Such consternationcheckedmy tardy progress here, andso a meagre pathbecomes a marathon… At last, however, my resolve to come to you, it won the day…and I will tellmy tale, such as it is, mere bagatelle…and anyway I guess one thing alone is certain sure,	235
Cr.	I cannot suffer anything outside my share of destiny. What is this tale that causes such distress?
Gu.	I want to tell you firstmy role in this – I didn’t have one, actually, nor did I see the man who did… do this thing – andsoby rights I shouldn’t pay the penalty…	240
Cr. Gu.	You shrewdly aim to fence this thing around, blockade yourself from blame… You clearly have a novel tale to tell.Yes, dangerous news will urge long-windedness upon a man…
Cr. Gu.	Then spit it out and then be off with you! I’m telling you…Someone just now has gone	245
Cr.	and done a burial, has sprinkled thirsty dust uponthe flesh, performed the necessary rites…What’sthat? What man would dare that crime?

Gu.	I do not know. For there was no mark of shovel there,
	no clods dug up by a hoe. The earth was packed	250
	and barren dry, unbroken even by the ruts
	of wagon wheels – the perpetratorleft notrace.
	Andwhenthe early morningwatchman showed
	us this, allfelt a dreadful clutch of fear.
	For the corpse had vanished, not buried fully yet –	255
	a scanty covering of dust sufficient to placate the dead.
	No hint at all there was that predatoror dogs
	had come, no sign of any rending of the flesh.
	Recriminationsthen flew thick andfast, with guard
	accusing guard, until it would have come at last	260
	to blows – and no one there to check the brawl.
	For each and every one of us could have done this thing…
	and yet there was noproof, and all denied theirguilt.
	Prepared we were to grasp hot iron in our hands, to walk
	on fire and call the gods to witness we were innocent,	265
	were not involved, knew nothing of the crime,
	were not complicit in the planning or the act.
	At length, when nothing further came from our
	enquiries, a commentwasmade which had usall
	in fear survey our boots. For we could think of no	270
	reply nor plan of action that was not fraught
	with peril. For it was said the crime should be
	referred to you, that there should be no cover up.
	Thiscounsel won the day and the lot selected me,
	poor foolish wretch that I am, to win this privilege.	275
	So I am come against my will and yours, I know.
	For noman likes to be the bearer of bad news.
Ch.	My lord, I have long been nurturing the thought
	that this act may have been driven by the gods.
Cr.	Enough, before your words fill me with rage, and you	280
	are found to be as senile as your age suggests,
	since what you say cannot be borne, declaring that
	the gods have any care about that wretchedcorpse.
	Wouldthey have buriedhim and honoured him
	as if he were a gallant hero when he came infact	285
	to torchtheir colonnadesandtemples, overthrow
	their images, lay waste their land, destroy their laws?
	Can you conceive of the godsrespecting evil men?
	Not so! For from the first some citizensbegrudged
	my willand muttered secretly against me, shook	290
	their heads, refused to bear in cheerfulness my yoke
	andmy dominion, as right andjusticedemand.

	These are the men, I am convinced, that have bribed
	the guards, and have subornedtheminto wickedness.
	For nothing ever took root so evil among men	295
	as pieces of silver. Cash bringsdestruction on the state,
	drives men to betray their homes and their native land,
	pervertstheconsciousnessandturnsthe noble minds
	of men so they can countenance all acts of shame.
	Corruptionteachesmenthe varied kinds of villainy,	300
	highlights the potential sleaze in every enterprise.
	But as many as have profited by this crime have but
	ensured that they in time will pay due recompense.
	And so – as still I hold lord Zeus in high regard –
	be well assured – and hear my solemn oath on this, –	305
	unless you find the guilty man who did this burial,
	and then deliver him to me before my very eyes,
	then death alone will not suffice for you, until,
	hung out intorment, youinformuponthis violation,
	so you may learn in future whence to snatch your gain,	310
	and also learn the lesson that you should not be blind
	in your love affair with each and every source of coin.
	For you will see that more men are destroyed
	by ill-gotten gains than are made secure by them.
Gu.	You grant me leave tospeak, or should I turn and go?	315
Cr.	You do not understand how tiresome isyourtalk?
Gu.	Do I tire your ears alone, or your thoughts as well?
Cr.	But why define the seat of irritation?
Gu.	The criminal pains your heart, I but your ears…
Cr.	Good gods, what a natural clown you are!	320
Gu.	Not such a clown as to have done this thing.
Cr.	On the contrary, and you soldyour soul for cash!
Gu.	Ye gods!
	It is terrible when the judge can get it wrong!
Cr.	Philosophise, sobe your wish – but if you do not
	produce for me the men who did this thing, you shall	325
	aver that criminal gain brings sorrows in its wake.
Gu.	Why, I wish then he be found… but whetherhe
	be caught or not – and fortune be the judge of that –
	be sure you will not see me coming here again.
	Andnow, beyond allhope and expectationsafe,	330
	I owe the gods a monster debt of gratitude.
	Chorus Many things dread andwonderful,	str.
	none though more dreadthanmankind –

voyaging across the white sea’swaste, he makeshisway, storm tossed from the south,	335
closedinby overarching,tumbling waves he sails the valleys between, and of the gods,oldest born, Mother Earth, everlasting,unweariedheconstantly turns, year in and out criss-crossing the plough,	340
working the mule and the land.
Light-hearted tribes of the birds,he ensnares, taking joy in the hunt,andthe clans of wild beasts, salt sea fish scoured from the deep,	ant. 345
trapped in the coils of the well woven nets, masterfulman…conqueringtoowith his traps high country beasts,their delight the wild and the space, breaks in the wild mane of the horse	350
that submits to the yoke, and the unflagging bull from the hills.
Speech too andthoughtswift as the windhe devised andthe impulse creative of statecraft helearned,	str. 356
houses to ward off the frost’s inhospitable sharpness of sky, rain’slancing shafts, an answer for every demand that exists or may threaten him,	360
yet to come. Only grave death admitsno escape…Deadlydiseasesyield now to cure.
Wisdomhehas beyonddreams of invention, now bringing him illand now yet again to salvation,shouldhe followthe law, andhonour swornjustice of gods:the city stands proud, but provides	ant. 366 370
no safe home for the rash, fixed on a life of crime. Let no such man share in my hearth, nor in my sentiments, the man who acts so!	375

An omen sent by the gods!

How can it be? but how deny the certaintythisisindeedthe child Antigone?

Poor wretchedchild

of wretched Oedipus, 380

whatever does this mean? It cannot be

they lead you as a criminal, transgressing Creon’slaw,

caught in an act of foolishness?

Gu.	Here is the girl that committed the crime -we caught
	her in the act of burial.But Creon, where is he?	385
Ch.	He returns from the house to answer our need.
Cr.	What is it here that makes my entrance opportune?
Gu.	My lord, a manshould never swear that he won’t do
	a thing in case hindsight should make him out a liar, since
	I swore I wouldn’t come back here in a hurry again,	390
	by reason of the threats with which you pelted me;
	butunexpected joys whichcome quite unforeseen
	are likely to outstrip by farall otherhappiness,
	andso I come, although I swore I never would,
	and bring this girl who was found inthe act	395
	of tidying the tomb. No need this time to cast
	the lots, but I seized this opportunity for myself.
	And now, my lord, take her yourself and test
	her, put hertothe question, as you like – while I
	shall rightly gain complete acquittal in this case.	400
Cr.	Just how andwhere did you apprehend this girl?
Gu.	She was in the act of burial, no more, no less!
Cr.	You are aware then of the import of your words?
Gu.	I saw her in the act of burying the corpse the which
	you had forbidden I assume that’s plain and clear enough?	405
Cr.	How is it she was seen and captured in the act?
Gu.	Well, it was like this, you see…we went back
	to our post, all mindful of your dreadful threats,
	andswept away the shroud of dust which cloaked
	the body, laying the clammy corpse completely bare.	410
	We sat ourselves downupon a ridge, upwind,
	to escape the stench that might assail us there,
	and each kept the others alert with floods of abuse,
	ensuring none grew careless in their task.
	And that was how it was for quite a while until	415
	the sun’s bright disk was at its zenith overhead
	and the heat grew stifling and all at once a blast

	of wind kicked up a dust storm from the ground,
	a nuisance of a thing which filled the plain, tore leaves
	and branches from the trees, and all the sky’s great dome	420
	waschokedwith it, while we, eyes shut, endured
	god’s plague, but when this storm at last abated,
	the child was spottedthere, who cried aloud a cry
	as sharp in bitterness asthat of any bird, as when
	it sees the empty nest stripped bare of fledgling young;	425
	and just so she on seeing the body there exposed
	screamedcries of grief andimprecationsdire
	uponthe menwho had undone her work. At once
	she lifted up the dust dry earth in hercupped hands
	and lifted too a well shaped urn of bronze and crowned	430
	the corpse three times withthreefold offerings of drink.
	And when wesaw her there, we rushed her then
	to hunt herdown, but she did not seem at allupset.
	We questioned her about her past and present crimes,
	and there she stood, did not deny a single thing.	435
	Andso I am at once both happy and distressed…
	To escape from danger oneselfis very sweet indeed,
	but to do so at the cost of driving a friend into harm
	brings pain. All things,though, pale into insignificance,
	I think, and naturally so, comparedwith one’s own reprieve.	440
Cr.	You there, yes you, with your head cast down to the ground,
	do you confess, or deny that you have done these things.
An.	I do declare I did thesethings, do not deny the fact.
Cr.	Then you can take yourself off where you will,
	absolved of any grievous charge or guilt.	445
	You, though, answer me… and keep it brief.
	Were you aware that I had publicly forbidden such anact?
An.	I was aware of it, of course I was… You made it crystal clear.
Cr.	Andstill you dared to contravene these laws?
An.	I did,since Zeus had not pronounced these laws,	450
	nor yet does Justice, dweller withthe godsbelow,
	prescribe such laws among the ranks of mortalmen.
	I did not think that your decrees were of such weight
	that they couldcountermand the laws unfailing and
	unwritten of the gods,and you a mortal onlyand a man.	455
	The laws divine are not for the now, nor yet for yesterday,
	but live forever and their origins are mysteries to men.
	There was noway that I would wish to pay a penalty
	to gods for contravening them, and all because I feared
	a tyrant’s temper. I know that I must die of course –	460
	quite irrespective of yourwill…and if, then, I must die

	before my time, I reckon that to my advantage – sincewho
	wouldchoose to live, allset about with troublessuch as mine,
	would not consider that to die wouldbringadvantages?
	And so the pain that might accrue for me in death	465
	is but a trifle, although I would be hurt indeed were dogs
	to savage andshame my deadsibling’s naked corpse,
	my mother’s child… but as it is I feel no pain nor hurt.
	And if by chance I seem to you toact in foolishness,it may
	justbe it is a fool himselfcondemns my foolishness.	470
Ch.	The child reveals her savage heart, itself a legacy
	from Oedipus… and quite incapable of compromise.
Cr.	Know wellthat the most stubbornsouls most often take
	the hardest fall, and that you will most often see
	the iron that is tempered hard and rigid in the flames,	475
	will see that metal fragment and shatterand snap.
	I also know that the highest spirited horse can be controlled
	with the merest curb… nor is it ever possible for a man
	to think proud thoughts when he is his neighbour’s slave.
	Thiswoman,though, hasalwaysknownthe way	480
	of arrogance, just now did contravene establishedlaw
	andstillcompounds, a secondtime, her crime of pride,
	indulging herself in laughterand boasting herguilt.
	And so I am myself no man, but rather she the man,
	shouldshe retain this seeming victory unchecked.	485
	It matters not she is my sister’s child, closer to me by blood
	thanany of the folk who worshipZeus within my house,
	since neither she nor yet her sistershall escape the worst
	of fates for I charge that woman too with a share,
	an equal share in thisconspiracy to bring about the burial!	490
	So call her here! For I saw her just now in a passionate fit
	of madness within, quite out of control of herwits.
	Theminds of those who contrive treasonandplots
	in the dark are like to betray themselves andsobe caught.
	I hate the man who when apprehended as a criminal	495
	will choose to glorify and make a virtue of his crime.
An.	Do you wish to do more than merelykill your prisoner?
Cr.	No more than that, since that is all I need to do.
An.	Why thendelay? This conversation brings me no
	enjoyment, nor would ever anytalk withyou,	500
	while talk with me brings no delight to you, I trust.
	And yet what greater acclamationcould I win,
	but from the burial of my own brother’s corpse.
	Andall the people here would say thiscrimedid please
	them too, if onlyterrordid not lock their silent lips.	505

Cr. An. Cr.	But the king is blessedwith many fine advantages, not least of which ishis capacity to speak and act just as he likes. Alone of Cadmus’ folk you see the situation so… They see it also so, but fawn andcower down to you. Have you noshame to think to be apart from them?	510
An. Cr. An. Cr. An.	There is no shame in honouring one’s brothers so. Your other brothertoo both fought against him and died?All siblings from the self-same sire and mother both… How honour then the one to slight the other man? Eteocleswould not bear witness thus againstdeadkin.	515
Cr. An. Cr. An. Cr.	He would were you to give thetraitorequal rights. This is not his slave’s,but a brother’s corpseand death…Who wished to rape this land, while he defended it. But nonetheless lord Deathdesiresthese burialrites.The patriot demands a bettershare than therenegade…	520
An. Cr. An. Cr.	Who knows if things arequite so clearin Hades’ house? The enemy, the friend are separate, alive or dead. I am disposed to love by nature not to hate… Then go beneath the earth to loveyourdead if love you must! So long as I live, no woman shallrule me.	525
Ch.	But see, before the gates, Ismene here, your sister comes,sheddingsisterlytears…andclouds of grief upon her fevered brow do shade her face to drownher loveliness.	530
Cr.	You there, you, secretserpent, lurking in myhouse, you too have fed on me, all unawares, nor did I know I nurtured a twofold curse to rise rebellious againstmy throne – come, speak to me, confess! Did you share thisburial with her, or do you deny complicity on oath?	535
Is. An. Is.	I have done this thing,if only she accepts my claim, and I would share the guilt and in the punishment. I might, but right and justice never shall allow you this,since you refused to help, nor yet did I accept your help.But in yourpresent storms of strife I feel no shame	540
An. Is. An.	myself to sail with you to share your suffering. The dead andHades toocan witnesswhosedeed thisis! I have no love myself for those who love in word alone. I beg you, sister, don’tdishonour me, forbidding me to shareyour death, but ratherlet me share in honouring the dead. You shall not share my death, nor claim a share in deedsthat were not yours my willing death shallsatisfy the day.	545

Is. An. Is.	What life or love remains for me despoiled of you? Ask Creon that!Since all your care is all for him!What good doesit do to hurt, to wound me so?	550
An. Is. An. Is. An.	The hurt was mine when forced to sneer at you. What can I do to remedy that hurt? Preserve yourlife I don’t begrudge you life.And shall I have no share at all in what is yours? You chose to live, I chose to die.	555
Is. An. Is. An. Cr. Is. Cr.	At least I had my say on that… Some will approve your choice, still others mine.And yet our folly now is shared… Have courage now… you are alive, my soulwas longsince dead, which fittedme to serve the dead. It seems that of these girls the one has gone stark madjust now, the other though has been quite mad from birth.Our native commonsense, my lord, cannot remainuntouched by situations dire, must take its leave. So muchissure for you, who chose to share her crime.	560 565
Is. Cr. Is. Cr. Is.	What life is left for me to live alone bereft of her. Speak not of her – she is no more. And shall you kill your own son’s bride to be?There are plenty of other fields for him to plough.But none to offer such a loving union…	570
Cr. An. Cr. Ch. Cr.	I do not desire my sons to marry wicked wives. My Haemon, best beloved, your father does you wrong! You and your precious marriage, how they irk… You shall deny your sonhis bride? Death rather is the one to stop theirunion.	575
Ch. Cr.	You have, it seems,decreedher death. Both I and you… Waste no more time, you there,but take them both inside. Our women must no more be left to wander out of doors… Brave men will even try to flee when close	580
	upon theirlives they see the march of death.
Ch.	Happy are they whosetime has not tasted disaster. For a house that is shaken by gods, there thecursefails not at all, but floods each generation in turn:	str. a 585
	just so the swell and the surge, pushed hard by grim blasts of storm winds from Thrace, scouring the crests of the deep, darkling sea, stirs up the black silted sands,	590
	beneathwhere the wracked and abutting cliffs resound. I have seen the longstanding ills of the house of Labdacus	ant. a
	fall, blow on blow, in serried ranks on eachsuccessive age,	595

	withno relief for any generation, rather some one of the godsstalks, harries them implacable. For now the last hope of the clan,these girls, whose light illuminates with future hope the house	600
	of Oedipus, in turn is dimmedwith blood anddust by the gods below,bestirredbyfoolishnessandobsessiveself-destructivetalk.
	What wild lawlessness of human kind can limit your strength, lord Zeus? Nor sleep, which entraps all things can master your power, nor the sequence of months, unwearied, of godscancontain it,but deathless andtimeless your rule over gleaming Olympus.	str.b 605 610
	Both the next to now and future time, timealsopastconforms to this law: no thing of excess canenter our livesdivorced from disaster.	615
	Andhope that wandersfar andwide is a comfort to somein theirhearts, to many another a source of deceptive, false dreams.The ignorant man remainsoblivious, until he treads	ant.b 620
	uponthe flame: wisdom revealed the truth long ago that a man can reason the badinto good, when a god seduceshis wit. But for only the shortest of spans does he live free of grief.	625
	But see, young Haemon, approaches, your youngest son…doeshe come full of grief,lamenting the fate of his bride to be, Antigone, whose bed he has lost?	630
Cr. Haemon	We shall know soon enough and swifter than seers might tell. My son, it cannot be you come enraged against your sire, I trust, on hearing of my ruling as regards yourbride to be? Or are we still your father, honoured and loved regardless of her? My father, I am yours…and you it is that guides my life	635
Cr.	with rules set down for me, the which I trust and keep. No marriage shall I deem ever to be worth more to me than your example and sound leadership. Indeed, my son, yourduty demands your heart remainsdisposed precisely so to hear me and obey. For this is the reason why men pray, to get and keep compliant sons withintheir house, that they might repay its enemies with evils due, andhonour their father’sfriends on equal terms.	640

	However, any man that begets a thankless child, how else	645
	describe him but as one who breeds himself a store of pain,
	a source of muchamusement for hisenemies?
	And so do not for the sake of pleasuring a woman
	throw away good sense, and alwaysbear in mind
	that suchembraces give but comfort cold, whenshe	650
	who shares your house is proven vile. For what
	could be a more dreadful plague than an evil mate?
	No, shrink from her as from some enemy, andsend
	the child to make her marriage bed in Hades’ halls.
	For heralone of all thecitizens have I caught	655
	inblatant disobedience to my will, and so I shall
	not betray myself as false before my people, no, for I
	shall kill her. Let her then pray to Zeus familial!
	For if I am tonurturekin that is unnatural, I must,
	show any foreigner at least as deep or deeper love.	660
	A manwho shows himself as soundinthingsdomestic
	and in the home that man will also prove himself to be
	a worthy citizen, but the criminal who disparages the law
	by force, who even thinks it right torule themen who rule,
	that man will never win a word of praise from me.	665
	The man who is established by the state to lead must have
	obedience in matters constitutional, both small and great –
	and I am confident that such a man,who can obey
	with grace, would also make a splendidking,
	would, marshalled in the battle’s hail of javelins,	670
	stay staunch in his appointed place beside his friends.
	There is no crime more heinousthan disloyalty!
	It is the death of cities, makesdesolate our homes…
	this is the thing that breaks apart the allied ranks,
	imposing a fate of desertion and flight. The rule of law	675
	preserves to best effect the lives of honest men.
	The constitution andthe rule of law must be preserved,
	must never becompromisedby a woman’scrime.
	Far bettertofall, if fall one must, to a warrior’s hand.
	No shame of being mocked as weaker than a woman then.	680
Ch.	Unlesswe are deceivedby our advancing years,
	the things you say are sensible, articulated well.
Ha.	My father,the gods have sown in men the gift
	of wisdom, which isthe very best of all our gifts,
	but I lack both the skill and experience to judge	685
	if you are right or wrong in what you say,
	and yet another man may make good sense…
	and I am by nature one to watch on yourbehalf,

	to hear what men may say and do, what faults impute.
	The common herd are afraid to provoke your rage	690
	and eye with the kind of talk you hate to hear, while I
	canlisten to these shady murmurings, withwhich
	the citizens express their grief for her, this child,
	‘Of womankind,’ theysay, ’the least deserving she
	to die such a dreadfuldeath, because of a deed after all	695
	most noble, who would not suffer her brother’scorpse
	to lie unburied in the bloody aftermath of strife, to be
	consumedby ravening dogs and carrion birds… and so
	deserves, does she not, to win, rather, prizes of gold?’
	Dark rumours such as these spreadsecretlyabroad.	700
	There is nothing I hold more precious, father,no prize
	is more dear to methan your safety, your success.
	What greater prize could children win beyond
	a parent’s fairfame, or a parent win beyond a son’s?
	And so, do not forever keep a single, stubborn mood,	705
	do not believethat you alone monopolise thetruth.
	If any man believes that he alone of all mankind
	is wise,his tongue and heart alone of all are true,
	then under test that man will prove to be a hollow man.
	There is no shame in a man learning more,	710
	be he ever so wise, nor in remaining flexible.
	You see yourself how next to the winter floods
	some trees yield to survive and save their limbs,
	whilethose resisting are uprootedanddestroyed.
	Just so the mariner who sails close hauled, no reefs	715
	inplace, turns turtle and completes his trip capsized,
	the rowing benches allawash, keel uppermost.
	So check your rage, allow yourself a change of heart.
	For if it is right for a youngerman, like me, to give
	advice, I say that though it is the best by faralways	720
	by nature to be judicious andindeed omniscient,
	why, failing that, and chance and fate will have it so –
	one should then learn from any man of goodadvice.
Ch.	My lord, it is right to be advised by him, if his words
	ring true, and you by him, my son you both speak well…	725
Cr.	Are we at our age then to take our lessons on how
	to think and feel from such a callow youth as this?
Ha.	But what I teach is just… I may be but a youth,but you
	should look not at my age, but at my character.
Cr.	Andis it in your character to honour criminals?	730
Ha.	I would not recommendthat anyhonour criminals.
Cr.	Andis not she herself assailed by such a malady?

Ha.	The men of Thebes, her city, think not so…
Cr.	The city then dictates my policies to me?
Ha.	Your answer smacks of youthandinexperience.	735
Cr.	Whose judgement other thanmy own shouldguide my hand?
Ha.	A city does not belong to any single man to rule…
Cr.	Is not the statethe business of the ruler’s guiding hand?
Ha.	Oh, better you to be sole ruler of a wilderness.
Cr.	Thisyouth, it seems, supports the female’scause!	740
Ha.	If you are female, yes!! My care is all for you…
Cr.	An utter traitor you to cross your father’s just decree.
Ha.	I rather see your view of justice is mistaken and awry.
Cr.	I am mistaken then to honour what I legislate?
Ha.	No law of man is just that tramples down the law of god.	745
Cr.	A coward’snature yours to fawn on womanhood!
Ha.	No coward’snature mine despite your charge…
Cr.	But everything you say is said on herbehalf…
Ha.	And for me and you and for the godsbelow.
Cr.	There is no way you’ll marry her while yet she lives.	750
Ha.	Thenif she dies her death condemns another too…
Cr.	You make so bold as to come and threaten me?
Ha.	Where lies the threat in countering stupidity?
Cr.	You will regret your empty wisdomwhen itcauses tears.
Ha.	If you were not my father I would say that you were mad.	755
Cr.	A woman’s plaything you, do not attempt to sweet-talk me…
Ha.	You wish to have your say, but then refuse to hearme speak.
Cr.	Quite so! But know this well, by all that’s holy, you
	will win no pleasure from your foul abuse of me…
	Go, bring her out, the loathsome thing that she might die	760
	at once in front of him, before her lover’sveryeyes.
Ha.	No, not before my eyes, do not think that,
	she shall not die in front of me, and nor
	shall you lay eyes again upon my face.
	Be madand keep instead the company of sycophants.	765
Ch.	My lord, the man has gone in rage and haste…
	a young man’s pain isdeep and sharp.
Cr.	Oh,lethim dream immortal,adolescentdreams!
	Yet still he will not save these women from theirfate.
Ch.	You have it in your mind to kill them both?	770
Cr.	No, not the innocent… for your advice is sound.
Ch.	What is the fate you have decreed to be Antigone’s?
Cr.	I shall take hersomewhere off the beaten track
	and hide her there, alive, within a rocky cave,
	providing food enough to satisfy the rite,	775
	so that the state might not incur blood guilt.

	And in that place she then may pray to Death, the god she cherishes themost, to win from him the prize of life, or learn at last what a waste of effort and time it is to dedicateoneself to what is dead and gone.	780
Ch.	Desire, inbattle unconquered, Desire besetting the fortunes of men, keeping sweet vigil on youth’sdowny cheek,sweeping over the sea andthe dwellings of men in the wild, not one of the gods nor any of men, ephemeral things, can elude you, a passion to drive a manmad.	str. 790
	Perverting the minds of even right-mindedmen to corruption,confusion andstrife you rouse here between men who are kin.Desire springing clear from the eyes of the beautiful bride	ant. 795
	isvictorious, a power enthronedbeside naturallaw, while Aphrodite always wins and works her arbitrary will.	799
	But now when I see these things I am myselftransportedpast the bonds of blind obedience, no longer can restrain well springs of tears,when I see Antigone, embarked upon her path to the universal bridal suite of death.	805
An.	Observe me, fellow citizens of thismy native land, how I embark on this my final journey, look one last time upon the light of day,and nevermore… Death leadsme, living still, to universalsleep,the shores of Acheron.	str. a 812
	No share for me in marriage songs, no bridalhymn has ever honoured me,but I shall be the bride of Death.
Ch.	Fair fame and praise are your companions,departing to the depths of those now dead,andno disease has wasted you, no fatal sword thrust earned,	syst.A 820
	but you shall, all willing and unique of mortals, go downalive to Hell.
An.	I heard of Niobe, oncestrangerguest andchild of TantalusinThebes, how on Mount Sipylus she died most dreadfully,overwhelmedby ivy tight tendrils of stone, eroded by rain, as mensay, andunfailing snow, while she drenches with tears everlasting	ant. a 825 830

	the hills and the vales of her breasts.The god has setjust such a fate for me.	835
Ch.	But she was immortal and born of the gods,while we are but mortals and men born of men. Yet for a woman to share as she dies a fatethat was won by a god, why that is renown, both in life and ever afterin death!
An.	I am mocked! Why mock me now before my face, by all the gods paternal, when you could mock me deadand gone?Ah, city mine – and wealthy gentlemen, her citizens! You springs of Dircè, sacred ground of Thebes, so rich in chariots, you are myonlywitnessnow,	str.b 840 845
	as, all unwept by friends, constrained by his decrees, I make my way to an alientomb’s confinement of rock. I grieve for my fate as one displaced, who shares no place	850
Ch.	with neitherthe quick nor the dead. You have dared the very limit of audacity, to fall headlong and heavily before thepedestal of Justice, child.	str. c 855
	You pay the continuing price of a father’s guilt.
An.	You touchuponmy bitterest distress, renew again my cries of grief for a father’s fate,andthe fate of all the famous house of Labdacus.	ant.b 861
	I grieve the curse upon my mother’s marriagebed, and my father’s union with her, incestuous and doomed.	865
	Such were the parents that gave to me a life accursed. Accursedin turn myself and all unwed I go to live with them. You also won a fatal Argive marriage, Polyneices, anddead yourself win too for me a living death.	871
Ch.	Respect for thedeaddeservesrespect,but the king cannot condone an actthatcontraveneshismajesty. Your own madness has destroyed you.	ant. C 875
An.	No tears for me, no friends, no marriage song for this poor wretch, as she is ledupon her destined path.No more am I allowed to look upon	epode

	the sun’s bright sacred light and seeing eye no friend, not one toweep or grieve for me and my pitiful fate.	880
Cr.	Do you not realise thatnone wouldcease from songs of grief and lament before a death, were they of any proven benefit?Get rid of her, and quickly now! Andwhen you have enclosed	885
	her inside her hollowandvaultedtomb,according to my word, then leave her there alone and desolate, should it be herwish to die or be concealed and buried there alive in such a resting place; For we shall keep ourselves unsulliedby her blood, this girl… however, she shall bedeprived of life in the world above.	890
An.	My tombandbridalchamber both, my shadeddwelling place andprison evermore, inwhich I start my journey now to meet mykin, the many of my numbered dead amongthe many deadPersephone haswelcomedasher guests;And I go down to death before my span of life is spent,	895
	the last of all my line I am, and am by far most pitiful. And yet as I depart I nurture still the powerful hope my coming willwell please my father, and my mother too, andthat my dear, dear brother too will welcome me. For did I not with my own twohands take care to lay	900
	you out and wash your bodies properly, and pour thepiousofferings?Andnow,dear Polyneices, I have earned a harsh reward for burying yourcorpse. And yet right thinkingmen approve the rites I gave… although I never would have taken on this task to spite	905
	the state, had I been mother to a brood of children, or if it had been some man of mine that lay corrupt in death. You ask that I should justify that paradox? One husband dead I might have won anotherman, or even further children by some other sire…	910
	but with both my parents dead in Hades’ halls, there is no chance another brother can be born.Thisis the reason why I honoured you so much,andwhy King Creon thinks that I am mad to dare such a dreadfulthing, my dearest Polyneices…	915
	And now he has laid hands on me to drive me as hisprisoner, unwed, no marriage song for me, no sharein a family of my own, nor in the joy of rearing sons,but alone anddesolate of friends, poor wretch, alive

	I go, deepdown amidst the hollow regions of the dead. .1	920
	What privilege, or law of gods have I infringed?
	But why should I look any more to gods for help?
	Have I indeed one mortal friend to bring me aid,
	now that my piety has earned this impious prize?
	But if these things find favour with the gods,	925
	I will in death find out the nature of my crime;
	but if the fatal fault belongs to these, then let them too
	achieve the self same fate they have prescribed for me.
Ch.	Her soul is still beset
	by the same emotional storm.	930
Cr.	And so her guards will pay a price
	of tears for tardiness.
An.	That sentence brings my death
	as close as it can be.
Cr.	I have no words of spurious comfort	935
	to bring false hope of delay.
An.	Ancestralcity andhome that is Thebes,
	ancestralgods,
	I am their immediatevictimnow.
	Observe me, lords of Thebes,	940
	your last and lone princess,
	and this my fate at the hands of such as these,
	because I honoured what wasright.
Ch.	Danaë too wasconstrained to hide her form	str. a
	from heaven’s light in a tomb of bronze –	945
	concealedshe bore the secret yoke of prisoner –
	and yet she too was noble of birth, my child,my child –
	entrustedthen withthe goldenseed of Zeus.	950
	The rule of fate is mysticalindeed.
	For there is no escape from fate, however rich or warlike
	a man might be, possessed of black ships and a citadel.
	Hastytempered too, Lycurgus, son of Dyas,	ant. a
	wasconstrained, Edonianking – his mockery	956
	the cause – by the god, enclosed in a prison of stone.
	Andinthat place the joyous dread bloom of his madness	960
	fadedand died. He came to know the god hehad
	abjuredinmadness with his mockery.
	For he had tried to check the Bacchants and the sacred flame

1 There isconsiderable debate about the authenticity of vv. 903-920: ifthey are an interpolation,theywere inserted before Aristotle’stime, since hequotesvv. 911f inRhetoric

3.16.9 and seemstohavehad the wholepassagein his copy. The reservations of scholars about theauthenticity of the lines may be duein part to their lack of sensitivity to Sophocles’ presentationofAntigone’s confusion and fear.

	of Dionysus, had angered the Museswhose love is the pipe. Close by the Black Rock currents and twin sea	965 str.b
	laythe shores of BosporusandThracian Salmydessus’ hostilecoast,where neighbouring Ares saw	970
	the sockets of Phineus’twin sonsblinded, cruelly gouged by the barbarous wife – sightless the two and demanding revenge – ensanguinedthe hands that pliedand ploughed	975
	the shuttle, needle sharp.
	Wasting away in wretched misery they wept for theirfate,wretched itself, like their birth from a motherunhappily wed,who claimed for her line the race of Erechtheus, as ancient as days,nursed herself in a farflung cave as guest of herfather’swinds, Boreas, swift himself asthe wind that sweeps the steep hills,	ant.b 980 985
	a daughter of gods – but even on her didthe Fates, the immortals,bear down, mychild.
Teiresias	My lords of Thebes, we two are come a common road, and share one pair of eyes. A blind man’s lot itis to journeythus dependent on a guide.	990
Cr. Te. Cr. Te. Cr.	What is it brings you here, Teiresias? I shall tell you all and you must heed my prophecy. I never yet have been a man to doubt yourword. Andso your guidance of the state was ever sound. I can bearwitness to the benefits you brought.	995
Te. Cr. Te.	Believe that you are on fate’s razor edge once more. Your meaning? For I shudder at your words.Then hear the evidence my art supplies and learn: for I was sitting at an ancient vantage point where I observe the birds, a gathering place for each and every one	1000
	of them and there I heard a harsh cacophony of cries, unknown to me before, that drowned their song. I understood at lastthat with their bloodytalonseachwas tearing at the others, as the whirl of wings betrayed. At once in dread I sought to test the omen in an altar’s flame	1005
	ignited for thetask, but then Hephaestus’ fire refused to kindle on theofferings, and from the victim’s thigh there oozed and spat and sputtered on the embers there a noisome liquor, and then the bladder and its gall

	wasdissipated in the air, while the thighs themselves	1010
	lay bare, denuded of the fat which once had covered them.
	Such were the signs of an experiment that had failed,
	revealing nothing – and these I learned from my slave;
	for he guides me just as I am a guide for othermen.
	Our city is sick with a sickness that your policy has brought.	1015
	Our altars and our hearths are all alike polluted by the dogs
	and birds with the flesh that they have garnered from
	the corpse of the fallen and ill-fated son of Oedipus.
	Andso the gods no longer can accept our prayers
	nor sacrifice nor yet our offerings of roastedmeats,	1020
	and nor can the cries of any bird give portents clear –
	for they have gluttedon a corpse’s fat and blood.
	Reflect, then, on these things, my son. For toerr –
	it is the common lot of all of humankind…
	and yet, when a man has erred, that man need not	1025
	remainmistaken and unfortunate, so long as he
	redeemshimself, does not remainintransigent.
	Intransigence brings a reputation for stupidity.
	Be easy with the dead, do not abuse the corpse:
	what prowessis required to kill a victimtwice?	1030
	My son, my words are best designed to suit your case
	the best, and best it is to profit from the best advice.
Cr.	Oldman, observe how each and every otherman,
	like an archer, makes of me his target, nor yet am I
	without sure knowledge also of the art of prophecy,	1035
	since its clannish masters long have traded inmy life.
	Make profits, drive your bargains inthe silveredgold
	of Sardis and, shouldyouso desire, thentrade as well
	in Indian gold – but you shall not conceal him in a grave,
	not even if the sacred eagle birds of Zeus himself desire	1040
	to snatch and bring the carrion feast to Zeus’s throne –
	not even dread of thatpollutionwouldconvince
	me of the need to buryhim. For I know well no man
	can have the strength to bring pollution on the gods.
	The very cleverest of men, Teiresias, my aged friend,	1045
	fallfatally themselves into folly most foul, when they
	for profit’s sake dress up foul thoughts in fancy rhetoric!
Te.	Agh!!
	Does any member of thishuman race quite comprehend…
Cr.	What?What is your present pearl of commonplace wit?
Te.	that the pearl of greatest price is sound advice.	1050
Cr.	As much, I trust, as folly is by farthe greatest plague.
Te.	Well, you should know, filled as you are with it…

Cr.	I do not wish to answer back a prophet with a curse.
Te.	And yet you do by claiming that my words ring false!
Cr.	Love of profit ever drove your prophet tribe.	1055
Te.	The spawn of tyrants always hankers for ill-gotten gains.
Cr.	Have you forgotten you are speaking to your king?
Te.	No, nor that you hold that throne secure because of me.
Cr.	You are skilled in prophecy, but attracted to crime…
Te.	You will provoke my heart to betray its secretdread!	1060
Cr.	Then spit it out, but do not hope togain by what you say…
Te.	There is nogain, I think, in what I say for you, or me.
Cr.	Be sure you cannot trade upon my will to gain your ends.
Te.	Be sure yourself of this: that you shall complete no more
	than a minimum of days, as the racing chariot of the sun	1065
	completesits daily course, before a son, begotten of
	your loins, repays in death the living death of one
	you thrust beneath the earth, while still alive, and housed
	herin a tomb in shame, while yet again, you kept
	above the earth a corpse, unburied anddishonoured,	1070
	unholy, the lawful property of the godsbelow.
	In bodies that belong tothem you have no share,
	nor do thegods above a rule that you have flouted now.
	Andso the Furies, vengefulemissaries of Death
	himself, that soon or late destroy, shall lay in wait	1075
	to ambush you, and grasp you for these crimes.
	Take note if I announce these things as one who has
	been paid: for the brief erosion of time will soon reveal
	the lamentations of themen andwomen of your house.
	And all the towns of Greece are stirred with hostile rage,	1080
	whose mutilatedsons receive their burialrites from dogs
	or beasts, or from some winged birdthat takes the stench
	of blasphemous corruption home to every city’shearth.
	Such are the shafts I, archer like, have loosed at you,
	because of provocation and the anger in my heart,	1085
	shafts accurate enough you’ll not outrun their sting.
	Boy, guide me homewardnow, so he may vent
	his spleen on youngermen than me, and also learn
	to cultivate a tongue which is more temperate
	and a milder tempertoo than that he nurturesnow.	1090
Ch.	My lord, the manhas gone, dread omens on his lips,
	and I am very well aware that from the timemy hair,
	once dark, grew white with the advance of years –
	I know his prophecies to us have never provenfalse

Cr. Ch. Cr. Ch.	I know, I know, and so am deeply troubled in my mind…it is a dreadful thing to yield, but not to yield, and so to bring disaster crashing on my pride isdreadful too. It is your duty, Creon, to take due note of good advice. What would you have me do? Advise, and I shall…yield.Go now, release the maiden from her rocky tomb,	1095 1100
Cr.	and rather give the corpse a proper burial. And this is your advice you think that I should bend?
Ch. Cr.	And as quickly as you can, my lord… swift footed nemesis advances from the gods to cut our folly quickly short. I goes against the grain and yet in my heart of hearts	1105
Ch.	I know that my resolve must yield to harsh necessity. Go then and act, do not entrust these tasks to other men.
Cr.	I shall, and quickly, even as I am – do you go also too, my friends, yes, all of you make haste, take axes inyour hands and hurry on to that farvantagepoint!	1110
	While I myself, since this is our decision made, shall be the one to set her free in person whoimprisoned her. For now I apprehend it is the best to live one’s wholelife through adhering strictly both to precedent and law.
Ch.	Lord Dionysus, knownbymany names, the pride of Theban Semele, and son of Zeus, deep thunderer, far Italy is in your watchful care, so too the sheltering and hospitable vale of Demeter’sEleusis…	str. a 1116 1120
	Bacchus,Bacchus, lord of Thebes, the maenads’ and your mother’s city,beside the gentle stream of Ismenus your home,seeding ground of the savage dragon’steeth.	1124
	In flickering light the Bacchic torch has spied you out beyondthe double peak, up where the Corycian nymphs are eager in the Bacchic dance,besideCastalia’splungingstream.	ant. a 1130
	The hilly heights of Nysa, ivy-clad bestow you on yourway from vine greencoastalplains, whileBacchanaliansongsdivine extol yourglory on the road to Thebes.	1135
	Yes, Thebes, honoured most by you of all thecities, your mother’s home, the lightning’s bride!And now this city andall its folk is in the grip	str.b 1140
	of pollutionand plague,

	so stiryour tread to heal, traversing high Parnassus’ peakandthe sounding straits of Euripus.	1145
	Leadingthe dance of lambent stars, conductingsongsnocturnal, son sprung from Zeus, appear, reveal yourself our lord, attended by your	ant.b 1150
	company of Nymphs, whose nightlongfervent dancing does your bountyhonour,Iacchus!
Messenger	You, neighbours of thehouse of Cadmus and of Amphion,	1155,
	there is no shape or condition of human life that I would praise as being stable, nor ever yet condemn for its monotony. For luck may stabilise or in its turn destabilise the fates of men whomay be fortunate, or not, as the case may be; no man can prophecy for men about the permanence of things.	1160
	For Creon was once a man to envy, or so I thought, whenhe had saved the land of Cadmus from itsenemies,had received as his reward the total rule and guidance of the land, and was blessed as wellwith a noble crop of sons.And now all of that is gone: for when a man himself betrays	1165
	his joy and pleasures, I cannot count his lifeworthwhile, but rather think of him as mere animate flesh, a corpse. For a man may be as vastly rich at home as you like, and live the life and style of a king – but if a man’s capacity for joy in these is lost, well, as for ceremony, I would	1170
Ch.	not give the king a shadow of a price for all of that. What fresh burden of grief do you bring our royal house?
Me. Ch. Me.	A burden of death, and the living are responsible. Who isthe murderer and who the victim, speak! Haemonis dead, and slaughtered by no stranger’shand.	1175
Ch. Me. Ch. Me. Ch.	His father’s hand… or did he kill himself? He killed himself, enraged at his father’s death decree.Teiresias, how true your prophecy hasproved! Such are the facts. Yours the need ponder them.And now I also see Eurydice, poor thing, thewife	1180
	of Creon. Perhapshercoming showsawareness of her son’sdemise, unlessit iscoincidence…
Eurydice	Citizens of Thebes, I heard your words as I mademy way to the gates, sothat I could goand trypropitiatethe goddessPallas with my prayers.	1185
	And as I prepared to free the bolt and open up

the gate, my ears were struck by the news of some disaster newly come upon the house… I staggered backin dread, and fainted inthe arms of my attendants.

I begyou,tell meonce again thenature of thisnews: 1190

for I shall pay you heed as one well versed in woe.

Me.Dear lady, I was there and I shall tell you all I saw,shall not hold back one item of the truth of it.

For why should I seek to comfort you with words

that must in time prove false? The truth is ever best. 1195

I accompanied your husband, walking as his guide across to the furthest reaches of the plain where still,harassedby dogs, there lay unpitied, Polyneices’ corpse;and first we prayed to Hecate and to Pluto, both to check

their rage and smile on us, and then with waters pure 1200

we washed the body, what was left of it, and burnedthe scant remainswith freshcut boughs, and raised

uphigh a burial mound compounded of his native soil,and then we began to make our way tothe stony bed

andhollow nuptialchamber of Antigone, bride of Death. 1205

Then from afar one of our number had heard shrill cries of grief, their source–Antigone’s unhallowedvault,and so he came to tell this news to his master Creon;

then as the king crept ever nearer he toowas met by cries,

quite inarticulate of grief, and so he moanedwithin, 1210

andgasped aloud his dread, ‘What a fool I am, if mypresentiments are true! For this shall surely be

by far the most unlucky journey I have ever made. My son’slament,itwelcomes me… come,friends,

make haste, and when you reach the fissure in the tomb, 1215

near where the rocks were strippedaway, observe

as you nearthe cave, ifit is indeed the voice of Haimon I have recognised, or if the gods have made a fool of me.So we obeyed the master’sbidding, desperate as he was,

and made the search: inside the farthest reaches of the tomb 1220

we saw that she was hanging there, suspended, her neckenclosedin a delicate noose of muslin of the finest kind,while he was holding her, his arms about her waist,

as he grieved for the loss of hisbride beneath the earth,

and for his father’scrimes and his own unhappy love. 1225

Then when the father saw his son he groaned within,approached the boy and now, in tears, he spoke to him, ‘My poor, poor child, what have you done?What were you thinking of? Are you mad to have broken in here?

Come out, my son, I beg of you with all my heart.’ 1230

	Then Haimon rounded on his father with his eyes ablaze,
	made no reply, but spat in his face , wrenched out
	hisdouble-hilted sword and, as his father duckedaway
	inflight, he missed his stroke, so, disappointed then,
	and enraged at his failure, at once he flexed himself	1235
	against the sword and plunged the half of it within
	his side and, ashe breathed his last, he clutched
	her in his moist embrace, and the swift red flood
	poured down to stainher pale white cheek.
	He lies there, his corpse entwined with corpse,	1240
	has won his marriage rites inside the hall of Death,
	to prove to mortal men that of all the ills that plague
	our kind the worst by faris plain stupidity.
Ch.	What would you think to make of that? ForCreon’s wife
	has gone inside without a word to say of good or ill.	1245
Me.	Her silence shocked me too… but I am nurtured by
	the hope she does not think it right to show in public view
	the pain she feels on hearing of her son’s sad fate,
	but has rather goneinside to vent a private grief.
Ch.	I do not know…although it seems to me that pain	1250
	repressedin silence may threaten worse thanloudlament.
Me.	Then I will hurry now inside the house… in case
	she harbours in the torment of hersecret heart
	some dark design,since your adviceissoundand good:
	that danger also lurks wherever earnest silence reigns.	1255
Ch.	See where the king approaches now
	and carries in his hands the proof,
	if I may say, of his infatuation, since
	no other made thetragic error here.
Cr.	I grieve	str.
	for the tragic errors of an unsoundmind,
	that have ended in death –
	behold the slayer and the slain,
	the fatherand the son.
	I grieve for my bankrupt andimmoral soul!	1265
	My son, my son, so young and dead,
	I grieve for you,
	your life has fled away…
	and all because of mystupidity.
Ch.	I see you realise the truth too late.	1270
Cr.	I grieve
	for the bitterlesson I have learned .
	I see some mighty god hascrushed my head
	beneath his feet and thrust me onto cruel paths,

	has trampled all my love of life. I grieve the tragedy of humankind!	1275
Messenger
	Lord king,your hands containthe cost of past
	and present grief, but soon inside the house
	it seems that you will see fresh cause of pain.	1280
Cr.	Can any pain be worse than this?
Me.	Your wife isdead, the loving mother of yourdeadson,
	poor woman, andshe herselfstruck down just now.
Cr.	I grieve,
	Hell, yourharbour is insatiate!	ant.
	But why am I your constant victim?	1285
	Andyou, you messenger of doom
	andnewsineffable, what now?
	For I wasdead and now you killme twice!
	What say you, slave, what news?
	I grieve, I grieve…	1290
	Another death, you say, on top of death,
	andthat my wife’s?
Ch.	See for yourself.She is nolonger hid within.
Cr.	I grieve
	to look uponthis other second death, poor wretch.	1295
	Whatfurther doomawaitsme still?
	Just now I held my son withinmy arms.
	And now another corpseconfrontingme…
	I grieve for both the motherand the son.	1300
Me.	She sat beside the altarin the house and with a sharp-
	edgedblade allowed her eyes to close in peace, but not
	before that she had wept for the fates of Megareus and herson,
	the boy before you here, and, last of all had called
	downallthe cursesdueinfanticide upon your head.	1305
Cr.	I grieve, I grieve	str.
	and my heart takes wing on fear. Will noone dare
	to strike me downwith a double edge of sword?
	Poor wretch that I am, I grieve,	1310
	am drenchedin wretched grief.
Me.	Indeed, you were foundguilty by the woman dead
	of the death both of your son and of Antigone…
Cr.	Andby what means was she released by bloody death?
Me.	With her own hand she stabbedherself beneath the heart,	1315
	when she had learned about herson’s departure, keenly wept.
Cr.	The guilt for this cannot be fixed on any otherman but me.	str.
	For I it was that killedyou, I
	and no man else, poor wretch, yes, I

	confessthe guilt. My servants, lead me off,	1320
	as quickly as you can, remove this block,
	whichis as good as dead.	1325
Ch.	If any words befit the time such words are they.
	For briefest is best when tragedy strikes.
Cr.	Let it come, let it come,	ant.
	yes, let it appear, the best of fates for me,
	that brings for me the last of days,	1330
	let it come, let it come,
	that I may neverlook again upon the light of day.
Ch.	Such things are not for now. For we must do what the now
	demands. For what will be must be for others to decide.	1335
Cr.	My prayers are all contained in that desire…
Ch.	Then pray no more… for mortal men have no escape
	from predeterminedtragedy.
Cr.	Then take this man quite out of sight,	ant.
	who, all unwilling, caused your death, my son,	1340
	andalso yours, Eurydice, my wife, poor fool that I am,
	nor do I know where I should look, where walk…
	For allmy handiwork is awkward, ruined even, and	1345
	upon my head there leaps intolerable fate…
Ch.	By farthe greatest part of happiness
	iswisdom. We must not ever act impiously
	toward the gods.Proud words	1350
	of arrogant menreceive harshpunishments…
	old age learns at the last to be wise…

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• Seven Tragedies of Sophocles: Antigone. Authored by: Translated by Robin Bond. Located at: https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10092/9681/1%20-%20Seven%20Tragedies%20of%20Sophocles%20-%20Antigone.pdf?sequence=8&isAllowed=y. License: CC BY: Attribution