---
title: "Antigone · Ἀντιγόνη"
author: "Sophocles"
translator: "Richard Jebb"
title_ru: "Антигона"
author_ru: "Софокл"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-antigone/
cite: "Sophocles, tr. Richard Jebb, Antigone · Ἀντιγόνη. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-antigone/"
---

# Antigone · Ἀντιγόνη

*Sophocles, tr. Richard Jebb*

Russian: Антигона, Софокл

Antigone buries her brother against the king’s decree: Sophocles’ Greek beside English, speech by speech.

> Greek: ed. Francis Storr, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0011.tlg002, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Richard Jebb, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0011.tlg002.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (line numbers), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## Contents

1. [Lines 1–654](https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-antigone/1.md)
2. [Lines 655–1353](https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-antigone/2.md)

## 1. Lines 1–654

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-antigone/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-antigone/1/#p-N

[¶0] Antigone:
Ismene, my sister, true child of my own mother, do you know any evil out of all the evils bequeathed by Oedipus that Zeus will not fulfil for the two of us in our lifetime? There is nothing—no pain, no ruin,
no shame, nor dishonor—that I have not seen in your sufferings and mine. And now what is this new edict that they say the general has just decreed to all the city? Do you know anything? Have you heard? Or does it escape you that
evils from our enemies are on the march against our friends?

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ὦ κοινὸν αὐτάδελφον Ἰσμήνης κάρα,
ἆρʼ οἶσθʼ ὅ τι Ζεὺς τῶν ἀπʼ Οἰδίπου κακῶν
ὁποῖον οὐχὶ νῷν ἔτι ζώσαιν τελεῖ;
οὐδὲν γὰρ οὔτʼ ἀλγεινὸν οὔτʼ ἄτης ἄτερ
οὔτʼ αἰσχρὸν οὔτʼ ἄτιμόν ἐσθʼ, ὁποῖον οὐ
τῶν σῶν τε κἀμῶν οὐκ ὄπωπʼ ἐγὼ κακῶν.
καὶ νῦν τί τοῦτʼ αὖ φασι πανδήμῳ πόλει
κήρυγμα θεῖναι τὸν στρατηγὸν ἀρτίως;
ἔχεις τι κεἰσήκουσας; ἤ σε λανθάνει
πρὸς τοὺς φίλους στείχοντα τῶν ἐχθρῶν κακά;

[¶1] Ismene:
To me no word of our friends, Antigone, either bringing joy or bringing pain has come since we two were robbed of our two brothers who died in one day by a double blow.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
ἐμοὶ μὲν οὐδεὶς μῦθος, Ἀντιγόνη, φίλων
οὔθʼ ἡδὺς οὔτʼ ἀλγεινὸς ἵκετʼ ἐξ ὅτου
δυοῖν ἀδελφοῖν ἐστερήθημεν δύο,
μιᾷ θανόντοιν ἡμέρᾳ διπλῇ χερί·

[¶2] And since the Argive army has fled during this night, I have learned nothing further, whether better fortune is mine, or further ruin.

> Greek: ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς
ἐν νυκτὶ τῇ νῦν, οὐδὲν οἶδʼ ὑπέρτερον,
οὔτʼ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον οὔτʼ ἀτωμένη.

[¶3] Antigone:
I knew it well, so I was trying to bring you outside the courtyard gates to this end, that you alone might hear.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ᾔδη καλῶς, καί σʼ ἐκτὸς αὐλείων πυλῶν
τοῦδʼ οὕνεκʼ ἐξέπεμπον, ὡς μόνη κλύοις.

[¶4] Ismene:
Hear what? It is clear that you are brooding on some dark news.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
τί δʼ ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσʼ ἔπος.

[¶5] Antigone:
Why not? Has not Creon destined our brothers, the one to honored burial, the other to unburied shame? Eteocles, they say, with due observance of right and custom, he has laid in the earth
for his honor among the dead below. As for the poor corpse of Polyneices, however, they say that an edict has been published to the townsmen that no one shall bury him or mourn him, but instead leave him unwept, unentombed, for the birds a pleasing store
as they look to satisfy their hunger. Such, it is said, is the edict that the good Creon has laid down for you and for me—yes, for me—and it is said that he is coming here to proclaim it for the certain knowledge of those who do not already know. They say that he does not conduct this business lightly,
but whoever performs any of these rites, for him the fate appointed is death by public stoning among the entire city. This is how things stand for you, and so you will soon show your nature, whether you are noble-minded, or the corrupt daughter of a noble line.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
οὐ γὰρ τάφου νῷν τὼ κασιγνήτω Κρέων
τὸν μὲν προτίσας, τὸν δʼ ἀτιμάσας ἔχει;
Ἐτεοκλέα μέν, ὡς λέγουσι, σὺν δίκης
χρήσει δικαίᾳ καὶ νόμου κατὰ χθονὸς
ἔκρυψε τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς·
τὸν δʼ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν
ἀστοῖσί φασιν ἐκκεκηρῦχθαι τὸ μὴ
τάφῳ καλύψαι μηδὲ κωκῦσαί τινα,
ἐᾶν δʼ ἄκλαυτον, ἄταφον, οἰωνοῖς γλυκὺν
θησαυρὸν εἰσορῶσι πρὸς χάριν βορᾶς.
τοιαῦτά φασι τὸν ἀγαθὸν Κρέοντα σοὶ
κἀμοί, λέγω γὰρ κἀμέ, κηρύξαντʼ ἔχειν,
καὶ δεῦρο νεῖσθαι ταῦτα τοῖσι μὴ εἰδόσιν
σαφῆ προκηρύξοντα, καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμʼ ἄγειν
οὐχ ὡς παρʼ οὐδέν, ἀλλʼ ὃς ἂν τούτων τι δρᾷ,
φόνον προκεῖσθαι δημόλευστον ἐν πόλει.
οὕτως ἔχει σοι ταῦτα, καὶ δείξεις τάχα
εἴτʼ εὐγενὴς πέφυκας εἴτʼ ἐσθλῶν κακή.

[¶6] Ismene:
Poor sister, if things have come to this, what would I
profit by loosening or tightening this knot?

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
τί δʼ, ὦ ταλαῖφρον, εἰ τάδʼ ἐν τούτοις, ἐγὼ
λύουσʼ ἂν ἢ ʼφάπτουσα προσθείμην πλέον;

[¶7] Antigone:
Consider whether you will share the toil and the task.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
εἰ ξυμπονήσεις καὶ ξυνεργάσει σκόπει.

[¶8] Ismene:
What are you hazarding? What do you intend?

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
ποῖόν τι κινδύνευμα; ποῦ γνώμης ποτʼ εἶ;

[¶9] Antigone:
Will you join your hand to mine in order to lift his corpse?

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
εἰ τὸν νεκρὸν ξὺν τῇδε κουφιεῖς χερί.

[¶10] Ismene:
You plan to bury him—when it is forbidden to the city?

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
ἦ γὰρ νοεῖς θάπτειν σφʼ, ἀπόρρητον πόλει;

[¶11] Antigone:
Yes, he is my brother, and yours too, even if you wish it otherwise. I will never be convicted of betraying him.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
τὸν γοῦν ἐμὸν καὶ τὸν σόν, ἢν σὺ μὴ θέλῃς
ἀδελφόν· οὐ γὰρ δὴ προδοῦσʼ ἁλώσομαι.

[¶12] Ismene:
Hard girl! Even when Creon has forbidden it?

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
ὦ σχετλία, Κρέοντος ἀντειρηκότος;

[¶13] Antigone:
No, he has no right to keep me from my own.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐμῶν μʼ εἴργειν μέτα.

[¶14] Ismene:
Ah, no! Think, sister, how our father
perished in hatred and infamy, when, because of the crimes that he himself detected, he smashed both his eyes with self-blinding hand; then his mother-wife, two names in one, with a twisted noose destroyed her life;

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
οἴμοι. φρόνησον, ὦ κασιγνήτη, πατὴρ
ὡς νῷν ἀπεχθὴς δυσκλεής τʼ ἀπώλετο,
πρὸς αὐτοφώρων ἀμπλακημάτων διπλᾶς
ὄψεις ἀράξας αὐτὸς αὐτουργῷ χερί.
ἔπειτα μήτηρ καὶ γυνή, διπλοῦν ἔπος,
πλεκταῖσιν ἀρτάναισι λωβᾶται βίον·

[¶15] lastly, our two brothers in a single day, both unhappy murderers of their own flesh and blood, worked with mutual hands their common doom. And now we, in turn—we two who have been left all alone—consider how much more miserably we will be destroyed, if in defiance of the law
we transgress against an autocrat’s decree or his powers. No, we must remember, first, that ours is a woman’s nature, and accordingly not suited to battles against men; and next, that we are ruled by the more powerful, so that we must obey in these things and in things even more stinging.

> Greek: τρίτον δʼ ἀδελφὼ δύο μίαν καθʼ ἡμέραν
αὐτοκτονοῦντε τὼ ταλαιπώρω μόρον
κοινὸν κατειργάσαντʼ ἐπαλλήλοιν χεροῖν.
νῦν δʼ αὖ μόνα δὴ νὼ λελειμμένα σκόπει
ὅσῳ κάκιστʼ ὀλούμεθʼ, εἰ νόμου βίᾳ
ψῆφον τυράννων ἢ κράτη παρέξιμεν.
ἀλλʼ ἐννοεῖν χρὴ τοῦτο μὲν γυναῖχʼ ὅτι
ἔφυμεν, ὡς πρὸς ἄνδρας οὐ μαχουμένα.
ἔπειτα δʼ οὕνεκʼ ἀρχόμεσθʼ ἐκ κρεισσόνων,
καὶ ταῦτʼ ἀκούειν κἄτι τῶνδʼ ἀλγίονα.

[¶16] I, therefore, will ask those below for pardon, since I am forced to this, and will obey those who have come to authority. It is foolish to do what is fruitless.

> Greek: ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν αἰτοῦσα τοὺς ὑπὸ χθονὸς
ξύγγνοιαν ἴσχειν, ὡς βιάζομαι τάδε,
τοῖς ἐν τέλει βεβῶσι πείσομαι· τὸ γὰρ
περισσὰ πράσσειν οὐκ ἔχει νοῦν οὐδένα.

[¶17] Antigone:
I would not encourage you—no, nor, even if you were willing later,
would I welcome you as my partner in this action. No, be the sort that pleases you. I will bury him—it would honor me to die while doing that. I shall rest with him, loved one with loved one, a pious criminal. For the time is greater
that I must serve the dead than the living, since in that world I will rest forever. But if you so choose, continue to dishonor what the gods in honor have established.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
οὔτʼ ἂν κελεύσαιμʼ οὔτʼ ἄν, εἰ θέλοις ἔτι
πράσσειν, ἐμοῦ γʼ ἂν ἡδέως δρῴης μέτα.
ἀλλʼ ἴσθʼ ὁποῖά σοι δοκεῖ, κεῖνον δʼ ἐγὼ
θάψω· καλόν μοι τοῦτο ποιούσῃ θανεῖν.
φίλη μετʼ αὐτοῦ κείσομαι, φίλου μέτα,
ὅσια πανουργήσασʼ. ἐπεὶ πλείων χρόνος
ὃν δεῖ μʼ ἀρέσκειν τοῖς κάτω τῶν ἐνθάδε.
ἐκεῖ γὰρ αἰεὶ κείσομαι· σοὶ δʼ, εἰ δοκεῖ,
τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἔντιμʼ ἀτιμάσασʼ ἔχε.

[¶18] Ismene:
I do them no dishonor. But to act in violation of the citizens’ will—of that I am by nature incapable.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
ἐγὼ μὲν οὐκ ἄτιμα ποιοῦμαι, τὸ δὲ
βίᾳ πολιτῶν δρᾶν ἔφυν ἀμήχανος.

[¶19] Antigone:
You can make that your pretext! Regardless, I will go now to heap a tomb over the brother I love.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
σὺ μὲν τάδʼ ἂν προὔχοιʼ· ἐγὼ δὲ δὴ τάφον
χώσουσʼ ἀδελφῷ φιλτάτῳ πορεύσομαι.

[¶20] Ismene:
Oh no, unhappy sister! I fear for you!

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
οἴμοι ταλαίνης, ὡς ὑπερδέδοικά σου.

[¶21] Antigone:
Do not tremble for me. Straighten out your own destiny.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
μὴ ʼμοῦ προτάρβει· τὸν σὸν ἐξόρθου πότμον.

[¶22] Ismene:
Then at least disclose the deed to no one before you do it.
Conceal it, instead, in secrecy—and so, too, will I.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
ἀλλʼ οὖν προμηνύσῃς γε τοῦτο μηδενὶ
τοὔργον, κρυφῇ δὲ κεῦθε, σὺν δʼ αὔτως ἐγώ.

[¶23] Antigone:
Go on! Denounce it! You will be far more hated for your silence, if you fail to proclaim these things to everyone.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
οἴμοι, καταύδα· πολλὸν ἐχθίων ἔσει
σιγῶσʼ, ἐὰν μὴ πᾶσι κηρύξῃς τάδε.

[¶24] Ismene:
You have a hot heart for chilling deeds.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
θερμὴν ἐπὶ ψυχροῖσι καρδίαν ἔχεις.

[¶25] Antigone:
I know that I please those whom I am most bound to please.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ἀλλʼ οἶδʼ ἀρέσκουσʼ οἷς μάλισθʼ ἁδεῖν με χρή.

[¶26] Ismene:
Yes, if you will also have the power. But you crave the impossible.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
εἰ καὶ δυνήσει γʼ· ἀλλʼ ἀμηχάνων ἐρᾷς.

[¶27] Antigone:
Why then, when my strength fails, I will have finished.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
οὐκοῦν, ὅταν δὴ μὴ σθένω, πεπαύσομαι.

[¶28] Ismene:
An impossible hunt should not be tried in the first place.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
ἀρχὴν δὲ θηρᾶν οὐ πρέπει τἀμήχανα.

[¶29] Antigone:
If you mean that, you will have my hatred, and you will be subject to punishment as the enemy of the dead.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
εἰ ταῦτα λέξεις, ἐχθαρεῖ μὲν ἐξ ἐμοῦ,
ἐχθρὰ δὲ τῷ θανόντι προσκείσει δίκῃ.

[¶30] But leave me and the foolish plan I have authored to suffer this terrible thing, for I will not suffer anything so terrible that my death will lack honor.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ ἔα με καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἐμοῦ δυσβουλίαν
παθεῖν τὸ δεινὸν τοῦτο· πείσομαι γὰρ οὐ
τοσοῦτον οὐδὲν ὥστε μὴ οὐ καλῶς θανεῖν.

[¶31] Ismene:
Go, then, if you so decide. And of this be sure: though your path is foolish, to your loved ones your love is straight and true. Exit Antigone on the spectators’ left. Ismene exits into the palace.
Enter the Chorus on the right.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
ἀλλʼ εἰ δοκεῖ σοι, στεῖχε· τοῦτο δʼ ἴσθʼ ὅτι
ἄνους μὲν ἔρχει, τοῖς φίλοις δʼ ὀρθῶς φίλη.

[¶32] Chorus:
Shaft of the sun, fairest light of all that have dawned on Thebes of the seven gates, you have shone forth at last, eye of golden day, advancing over Dirce’s streams!
You have goaded with a sharper bit the warrior of the white shield, who came from Argos in full armor, driving him to headlong retreat.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἀκτὶς ἀελίου, τὸ κάλλιστον ἑπταπύλῳ φανὲν
Θήβᾳ τῶν προτέρων φάος,
ἐφάνθης ποτʼ, ὦ χρυσέας
ἁμέρας βλέφαρον,
Διρκαίων ὑπὲρ ῥεέθρων μολοῦσα,
τὸν λεύκασπιν Ἀργόθεν ἐκβάντα φῶτα πανσαγίᾳ
φυγάδα πρόδρομον ὀξυτέρῳ κινήσασα χαλινῷ·

[¶33] Chorus:
He set out against our land because of the strife-filled claims of Polyneices, and like a screaming eagle he flew over into our land, covered by his snow-white wing,
with a mass of weapons and crested helmets.

> Greek: Χορός:
ὃς ἐφʼ ἡμετέρᾳ γᾷ Πολυνείκους
ἀρθεὶς νεικέων ἐξ ἀμφιλόγων
ὀξέα κλάζων
ἀετὸς εἰς γᾶν ὣς ὑπερέπτα,
λευκῆς χιόνος πτέρυγι στεγανός,
πολλῶν μεθʼ ὅπλων
ξύν θʼ ἱπποκόμοις κορύθεσσιν.

[¶34] Chorus:
He paused above our dwellings; he gaped around our sevenfold portals with spears thirsting for blood; but he left
before his jaws were ever glutted with our gore, or before the Fire-god’s pine-fed flame had seized our crown of towers.
So fierce was the crash of battle swelling about his back, a match too hard to win for the rival of the dragon.

> Greek: Χορός:
στὰς δʼ ὑπὲρ μελάθρων φονώσαισιν ἀμφιχανὼν κύκλῳ
λόγχαις ἑπτάπυλον στόμα
ἔβα, πρίν ποθʼ ἁμετέρων
αἱμάτων γένυσιν πλησθῆναί τε καὶ στεφάνωμα πύργων
πευκάενθʼ Ἥφαιστον ἑλεῖν. τοῖος ἀμφὶ νῶτʼ ἐτάθη
πάταγος Ἄρεος, ἀντιπάλῳ δυσχείρωμα δράκοντος.

[¶35] Chorus:
For Zeus detests above all the boasts of a proud tongue. And when he saw them advancing in a swollen flood,
arrogant their clanging gold, he dashed with brandished fire one who was already starting to shout victory when he had reached our ramparts.

> Greek: Χορός:
Ζεὺς γὰρ μεγάλης γλώσσης κόμπους
ὑπερεχθαίρει, καὶ σφας ἐσιδὼν
πολλῷ ῥεύματι προσνισσομένους
χρυσοῦ καναχῆς ὑπεροπλίαις,
παλτῷ ῥιπτεῖ πυρὶ βαλβίδων
ἐπʼ ἄκρων ἤδη
νίκην ὁρμῶντʼ ἀλαλάξαι.

[¶36] Chorus:
Staggered, he fell to the earth with a crash,
torch in hand, a man possessed by the frenzy of the mad attack, who just now was raging against us with the blasts of his tempestuous hate. But his threats did not fare as he had hoped, and to the other enemies mighty Ares dispensed each their own dooms with hard blows,
Ares, our mighty ally at the turning-point.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἀντιτύπᾳ δʼ ἐπὶ γᾷ πέσε τανταλωθεὶς
πυρφόρος, ὃς τότε μαινομένᾳ ξὺν ὁρμᾷ
βακχεύων ἐπέπνει
ῥιπαῖς ἐχθίστων ἀνέμων.
εἶχε δʼ ἄλλᾳ τὰ μέν,
ἄλλα δʼ ἐπʼ ἄλλοις ἐπενώμα στυφελίζων μέγας Ἄρης
δεξιόσειρος.

[¶37] Chorus:
For the seven captains, stationed against an equal number at the seven gates, left behind their brazen arms in tribute to Zeus the turner of battle—all but the accursed pair who, born of one father and one
mother, set against each other their spears, both victorious, and who now share in a common death.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἑπτὰ λοχαγοὶ γὰρ ἐφʼ ἑπτὰ πύλαις
ταχθέντες ἴσοι πρὸς ἴσους ἔλιπον
Ζηνὶ τροπαίῳ πάγχαλκα τέλη,
πλὴν τοῖν στυγεροῖν, ὣ πατρὸς ἑνὸς
μητρός τε μιᾶς φύντε καθʼ αὑτοῖν
δικρατεῖς λόγχας στήσαντʼ ἔχετον
κοινοῦ θανάτου μέρος ἄμφω.

[¶38] Chorus:
But since Victory whose name is glory has come to us, smiling in joy equal to the joy of chariot-rich Thebes,
let us make for ourselves forgetfulness after the recent wars, and visit all the temples of the gods with night-long dance and song. And may Bacchus, who shakes the earth of Thebes, rule our dancing!

> Greek: Χορός:
ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα
τᾷ πολυαρμάτῳ ἀντιχαρεῖσα Θήβᾳ,
ἐκ μὲν δὴ πολέμων
τῶν νῦν θέσθαι λησμοσύναν,
θεῶν δὲ ναοὺς χοροῖς
παννυχίοις πάντας ἐπέλθωμεν, ὁ Θήβας δʼ ἐλελίχθων
Βάκχιος ἄρχοι.

[¶39] Chorus:
But look, the king of the land is coming here, Creon, the son of Menoeceus, our new ruler in accordance with the new circumstances fated by the gods. What policy is he setting in motion,
that he has proposed this special conference of elders, and summoned it by a general mandate?
Enter Creon, with two attendants.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἀλλʼ ὅδε γὰρ δὴ βασιλεὺς χώρας,
Κρέων ὁ Μενοικέως ⟨ἄρχων⟩ νεοχμὸς
νεαραῖσι θεῶν ἐπὶ συντυχίαις
χωρεῖ, τίνα δὴ μῆτιν ἐρέσσων,
ὅτι σύγκλητον τήνδε γερόντων
προὔθετο λέσχην,
κοινῷ κηρύγματι πέμψας;

[¶40] Creon:
My fellow citizens! First, the gods, after tossing the fate of our city on wild waves, have once more righted it. Second, I have ordered you through my messengers to come here
apart from all the rest, because I knew, first of all, how constant was your reverence for the power of the throne of Laius; how, again, you were reverent, when Oedipus was guiding our city; and lastly, how, when he was dead, you still maintained loyal thoughts towards his children.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἄνδρες, τὰ μὲν δὴ πόλεος ἀσφαλῶς θεοὶ
πολλῷ σάλῳ σείσαντες ὤρθωσαν πάλιν.
ὑμᾶς δʼ ἐγὼ πομποῖσιν ἐκ πάντων δίχα
ἔστειλʼ ἱκέσθαι τοῦτο μὲν τὰ Λαΐου
σέβοντας εἰδὼς εὖ θρόνων ἀεὶ κράτη,
τοῦτʼ αὖθις, ἡνίκʼ Οἰδίπους ὤρθου πόλιν,
κἀπεὶ διώλετʼ, ἀμφὶ τοὺς κείνων ἔτι
παῖδας μένοντας ἐμπέδοις φρονήμασιν.

[¶41] Since, then, these latter have fallen in one day by a twofold doom—each striking, each struck, both with the stain of a brother’s murder—I now possess all the power and the throne according to my kinship with the dead.

> Greek: ὅτʼ οὖν ἐκεῖνοι πρὸς διπλῆς μοίρας μίαν
καθʼ ἡμέραν ὤλοντο παίσαντές τε καὶ
πληγέντες αὐτόχειρι σὺν μιάσματι,
ἐγὼ κράτη δὴ πάντα καὶ θρόνους ἔχω
γένους κατʼ ἀγχιστεῖα τῶν ὀλωλότων.

[¶42] Now, it is impossible to know fully any man’s character, will, or judgment, until he has been proved by the test of rule and law-giving. For if anyone who directs the entire city does not cling to the best and wisest plans,
but because of some fear keeps his lips locked, then, in my judgment, he is and has long been the most cowardly traitor. And if any man thinks a friend more important than his fatherland, that man, I say, is of no account. Zeus, god who sees all things always, be my witness—
I would not be silent if I saw ruin, instead of safety, marching upon the citizens. Nor would I ever make a man who is hostile to my country a friend to myself, because I know this, that our country is the ship that bears us safe, and that only when
we sail her on a straight course can we make true friends. Such are the rules by which I strengthen this city. Akin to these is the edict which I have now published to the citizenry concerning the sons of Oedipus: Eteocles, who fell fighting
in behalf of our city and who excelled all in battle, they shall entomb and heap up every sacred offering that descends to the noblest of the dead below. But as for his brother, Polyneices, I mean, who on his return from exile wanted to burn to the ground
the city of his fathers and his race’s gods, and wanted to feed on kindred blood and lead the remnant into slavery—it has been proclaimed to the city that no one shall give him funeral honors or lamentation,
but all must leave him unburied and a sight of shame, with his body there for birds and dogs to eat. This is my will, and never will I allow the traitor to stand in honor before the just. But whoever has good will to Thebes,
he shall be honored by me in death as in life.

> Greek: ἀμήχανον δὲ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἐκμαθεῖν
ψυχήν τε καὶ φρόνημα καὶ γνώμην, πρὶν ἂν
ἀρχαῖς τε καὶ νόμοισιν ἐντριβὴς φανῇ.
ἐμοὶ γὰρ ὅστις πᾶσαν εὐθύνων πόλιν
μὴ τῶν ἀρίστων ἅπτεται βουλευμάτων,
ἀλλʼ ἐκ φόβου του γλῶσσαν ἐγκλῄσας ἔχει,
κάκιστος εἶναι νῦν τε καὶ πάλαι δοκεῖ·
καὶ μεῖζον ὅστις ἀντὶ τῆς αὑτοῦ πάτρας
φίλον νομίζει, τοῦτον οὐδαμοῦ λέγω.
ἐγὼ γάρ, ἴστω Ζεὺς ὁ πάνθʼ ὁρῶν ἀεί,
οὔτʼ ἂν σιωπήσαιμι τὴν ἄτην ὁρῶν
στείχουσαν ἀστοῖς ἀντὶ τῆς σωτηρίας,
οὔτʼ ἂν φίλον ποτʼ ἄνδρα δυσμενῆ χθονὸς
θείμην ἐμαυτῷ, τοῦτο γιγνώσκων ὅτι
ἥδʼ ἐστὶν ἡ σῴζουσα καὶ ταύτης ἔπι
πλέοντες ὀρθῆς τοὺς φίλους ποιούμεθα.
τοιοῖσδʼ ἐγὼ νόμοισι τήνδʼ αὔξω πόλιν,
καὶ νῦν ἀδελφὰ τῶνδε κηρύξας ἔχω
ἀστοῖσι παίδων τῶν ἀπʼ Οἰδίπου πέρι·
Ἐτεοκλέα μέν, ὃς πόλεως ὑπερμαχῶν
ὄλωλε τῆσδε, πάντʼ ἀριστεύσας δόρει,
τάφῳ τε κρύψαι καὶ τὰ πάντʼ ἀφαγνίσαι
ἃ τοῖς ἀρίστοις ἔρχεται κάτω νεκροῖς.
τὸν δʼ αὖ ξύναιμον τοῦδε, Πολυνείκη λέγω,
ὃς γῆν πατρῴαν καὶ θεοὺς τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς
φυγὰς κατελθὼν ἠθέλησε μὲν πυρὶ
πρῆσαι κατʼ ἄκρας, ἠθέλησε δʼ αἵματος
κοινοῦ πάσασθαι, τοὺς δὲ δουλώσας ἄγειν,
τοῦτον πόλει τῇδʼ ἐκκεκήρυκται τάφῳ
μήτε κτερίζειν μήτε κωκῦσαί τινα,
ἐᾶν δʼ ἄθαπτον καὶ πρὸς οἰωνῶν δέμας
καὶ πρὸς κυνῶν ἐδεστὸν αἰκισθέν τʼ ἰδεῖν.
τοιόνδʼ ἐμὸν φρόνημα, κοὔποτʼ ἔκ γʼ ἐμοῦ
τιμὴν προέξουσʼ οἱ κακοὶ τῶν ἐνδίκων·
ἀλλʼ ὅστις εὔνους τῇδε τῇ πόλει, θανὼν
καὶ ζῶν ὁμοίως ἐξ ἐμοῦ τιμήσεται.

[¶43] Chorus:
That is your will, Creon, towards this city’s enemy and its friend. And the power is yours, I believe, to make use of every law whatsoever, both concerning the dead and all us who live.

> Greek: Χορός:
σοὶ ταῦτʼ ἀρέσκει, παῖ Μενοικέως Κρέον,
τὸν τῇδε δύσνουν κἀς τὸν εὐμενῆ πόλει·
νόμῳ δὲ χρῆσθαι παντί που πάρεστί σοι
καὶ τῶν θανόντων χὠπόσοι ζῶμεν πέρι.

[¶44] Creon:
See, then, that you be guardians of my commands.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ὡς ἂν σκοποὶ νῦν εἶτε τῶν εἰρημένων.

[¶45] Chorus:
Lay the weight of this task on some younger man.

> Greek: Χορός:
νεωτέρῳ τῳ τοῦτο βαστάζειν πρόθες.

[¶46] Creon:
That is not what I meant—the guards for the corpse are already in place.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἀλλʼ εἴσʼ ἕτοιμοι τοῦ νεκροῦ γʼ ἐπίσκοποι.

[¶47] Chorus:
Then what is this other command that you would give?

> Greek: Χορός:
τί δῆτʼ ἂν ἄλλο τοῦτʼ ἐπεντέλλοις ἔτι;

[¶48] Creon:
That you not give way to the breakers of my commands.

> Greek: Κρέων:
τὸ μὴ ʼπιχωρεῖν τοῖς ἀπιστοῦσιν τάδε.

[¶49] Chorus:
There is no one so foolish as to crave death.

> Greek: Χορός:
οὔκ ἔστιν οὕτω μῶρος ὃς θανεῖν ἐρᾷ.

[¶50] Creon:
I assure you, that is the wage for disobedience. Yet by just the hope of it, money has many times corrupted men.
Enter Guard.

> Greek: Κρέων:
καὶ μὴν ὁ μισθός γʼ, οὗτος· ἀλλʼ ὑπʼ ἐλπίδων
ἄνδρας τὸ κέρδος πολλάκις διώλεσεν.

[¶51] Guard:
My king, I will not say that I arrive breathless because of speed, or from the action of a swift foot.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
ἄναξ, ἐρῶ μὲν οὐχ ὅπως τάχους ὕπο
δύσπνους ἱκάνω κοῦφον ἐξάρας πόδα.

[¶52] For often I brought myself to a stop because of my thoughts, and wheeled round in my path to return. My mind was telling me many things: “Fool, why do you go to where your arrival will mean your punishment?” “Idiot, are you dallying again? If Creon learns it from another, must you not suffer for it?”
So debating, I made my way unhurriedly, slow, and thus a short road was made long. At last, however, the view prevailed that I should come here—to you. Even if my report brings no good, still will I tell you,
since I come with a good grip on one hope, that I can suffer nothing except what is my fate.

> Greek: πολλὰς γὰρ ἔσχον φροντίδων ἐπιστάσεις,
ὁδοῖς κυκλῶν ἐμαυτὸν εἰς ἀναστροφήν·
ψυχὴ γὰρ ηὔδα πολλά μοι μυθουμένη·
τάλας, τί χωρεῖς οἷ μολὼν δώσεις δίκην;
τλήμων, μενεῖς αὖ; κεἰ τάδʼ εἴσεται Κρέων
ἄλλου παρʼ ἀνδρός; πῶς σὺ δῆτʼ οὐκ ἀλγύνει;
τοιαῦθʼ ἑλίσσων ἤνυτον σχολῇ βραδύς.
χοὔτως ὁδὸς βραχεῖα γίγνεται μακρά.
τέλος γε μέντοι δεῦρʼ ἐνίκησεν μολεῖν
σοί. κεἰ τὸ μηδὲν ἐξερῶ, φράσω δʼ ὅμως·
τῆς ἐλπίδος γὰρ ἔρχομαι δεδραγμένος,
τὸ μὴ παθεῖν ἂν ἄλλο πλὴν τὸ μόρσιμον.

[¶53] Creon:
And what is it that so disheartens you?

> Greek: Κρέων:
τί δʼ ἐστὶν ἀνθʼ οὗ τήνδʼ ἔχεις ἀθυμίαν;

[¶54] Guard:
I want to tell you first about myself—I did not do the deed, nor did I see the doer,
so it would be wrong that I should come to any harm.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
φράσαι θέλω σοι πρῶτα τἀμαυτοῦ· τὸ γὰρ
πρᾶγμʼ οὔτʼ ἔδρασʼ οὔτʼ εἶδον ὅστις ἦν ὁ δρῶν,
οὐδʼ ἂν δικαίως ἐς κακὸν πέσοιμί τι.

[¶55] Creon:
Like a bowman you aim well at your target from a distance, and all around you hedge yourself off well from the deed. It is clear that you have some unheard-of thing to tell.

> Greek: Κρέων:
εὖ γε στοχάζει κἀποφάργνυσαι κύκλῳ
τὸ πρᾶγμα· δηλοῖς δʼ ὥς τι σημανῶν νέον.

[¶56] Guard:
That I do, for terrible news imposes great hesitation.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
τὰ δεινὰ γάρ τοι προστίθησʼ ὄκνον πολύν.

[¶57] Creon:
Then tell it, will you, and so unburdened go away?

> Greek: Κρέων:
οὔκουν ἐρεῖς ποτʼ, εἶτʼ ἀπαλλαχθεὶς ἄπει;

[¶58] Guard:
Well, here it is. The corpse—some one has just given it burial and disappeared after sprinkling thirsty dust on the flesh and performing the other rites that piety demands.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
καὶ δὴ λέγω σοι. τὸν νεκρόν τις ἀρτίως
θάψας βέβηκε κἀπὶ χρωτὶ διψίαν
κόνιν παλύνας κἀφαγιστεύσας ἃ χρή·

[¶59] Creon:
What are you saying? What man dared do this?

> Greek: Κρέων:
τί φής; τίς ἀνδρῶν ἦν ὁ τολμήσας τάδε;

[¶60] Guard:
I do not know. For there was no scar of a pickax to be seen there,
no earth thrown up by a mattock. The ground was hard and dry, unbroken, not rolled over by wheels. The doer was someone who left no trace. When the first day-watchman showed it to us, a discomforting amazement fell on us all.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
οὐκ οἶδʼ· ἐκεῖ γὰρ οὔτε του γενῇδος ἦν
πλῆγμʼ, οὐ δικέλλης ἐκβολή. στύφλος δὲ γῆ
καὶ χέρσος, ἀρρὼξ οὐδʼ ἐπημαξευμένη
τροχοῖσιν, ἀλλʼ ἄσημος οὑργάτης τις ἦν.
ὅπως δʼ ὁ πρῶτος ἡμὶν ἡμεροσκόπος
δείκνυσι, πᾶσι θαῦμα δυσχερὲς παρῆν.

[¶61] The dead man was veiled from us—not shut within a tomb, but a light cover of dust was on him, as if put there by the hand of one who shunned a curse. And no sign was visible that any beast of prey or any dog had approached or torn him. Then evil words flew thick and loud among us,
guard accusing guard. It would even have come to blows in the end, nor was there anyone there to prevent it: every man was the culprit, and no one was plainly guilty, while all disclaimed knowledge of the act. We were ready to take red-hot iron in our hands,
to walk through fire and to swear oaths by the gods that we had neither done the deed, nor shared knowledge of the planning or the doing. At last, when our investigating got us nowhere, someone spoke up and made us all bend our faces
in fear towards the earth. For we did not know how we could argue with him, nor yet prosper, if we did what he said. His argument was that the deed must be reported to you and not hidden. This view prevailed, and so it was that
the lot doomed miserable me to win this prize. So here I stand, as unwelcome to you as I am unwilling, I well know. For no man delights in the bearer of bad news.

> Greek: ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἠφάνιστο, τυμβήρης μὲν οὔ,
λεπτὴ δʼ, ἄγος φεύγοντος ὥς, ἐπῆν κόνις·
σημεῖα δʼ οὔτε θηρὸς οὔτε του κυνῶν
ἐλθόντος, οὐ σπάσαντος ἐξεφαίνετο.
λόγοι δʼ ἐν ἀλλήλοισιν ἐρρόθουν κακοί,
φύλαξ ἐλέγχων φύλακα, κἂν ἐγίγνετο
πληγὴ τελευτῶσʼ, οὐδʼ ὁ κωλύσων παρῆν.
εἷς γάρ τις ἦν ἕκαστος οὑξειργασμένος,
κοὐδεὶς ἐναργής, ἀλλʼ ἔφευγε μὴ εἰδέναι.
ἦμεν δʼ ἕτοιμοι καὶ μύδρους αἴρειν χεροῖν
καὶ πῦρ διέρπειν καὶ θεοὺς ὁρκωμοτεῖν,
τὸ μήτε δρᾶσαι μήτε τῳ ξυνειδέναι
τὸ πρᾶγμα βουλεύσαντι μηδʼ εἰργασμένῳ.
τέλος δʼ ὅτʼ οὐδὲν ἦν ἐρευνῶσιν πλέον,
λέγει τις εἷς, ὃ πάντας ἐς πέδον κάρα
νεῦσαι φόβῳ προὔτρεψεν· οὐ γὰρ εἴχομεν
οὔτʼ ἀντιφωνεῖν οὔθʼ ὅπως δρῶντες καλῶς
πράξαιμεν. ἦν δʼ ὁ μῦθος ὡς ἀνοιστέον
σοὶ τοὔργον εἴη τοῦτο κοὐχὶ κρυπτέον.
καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐνίκα, κἀμὲ τὸν δυσδαίμονα
πάλος καθαιρεῖ τοῦτο τἀγαθὸν λαβεῖν.
πάρειμι δʼ ἄκων οὐχ ἑκοῦσιν, οἶδʼ ὅτι·
στέργει γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἄγγελον κακῶν ἐπῶν.

[¶62] Chorus:
My king, my thoughts have long been deliberating whether this deed is somehow the work of gods?

> Greek: Χορός:
ἄναξ, ἐμοί τοί, μή τι καὶ θεήλατον
τοὔργον τόδʼ, ἡ ξύννοια βουλεύει πάλαι

[¶63] Creon:
Quiet, before your words truly fill me with rage, so that you not be found at the same time foolish as well as old. You say what is intolerable when you claim that the gods have concern for that corpse. Was it in high esteem for his benefactions
that they sought to hide him, when he had come to burn their columned shrines, their sacred treasures and their land, and scatter its laws to the winds? Or do you see the gods honoring the wicked? It cannot be. No! From the very first
certain men of the city were chafing at this edict and muttering against me, tossing their heads in secret, and they did not keep their necks duly under the yoke in submission to me. By those men, I am certain, they were led astray and bribed to do this deed.

> Greek: Κρέων:
παῦσαι, πρὶν ὀργῆς καὶ ʼμὲ μεστῶσαι λέγων,
μὴ ʼφευρεθῇς ἄνους τε καὶ γέρων ἅμα.
λέγεις γὰρ οὐκ ἀνεκτὰ δαίμονας λέγων
πρόνοιαν ἴσχειν τοῦδε τοῦ νεκροῦ πέρι.
πότερον ὑπερτιμῶντες ὡς εὐεργέτην
ἔκρυπτον αὐτόν, ὅστις ἀμφικίονας
ναοὺς πυρώσων ἦλθε κἀναθήματα
καὶ γῆν ἐκείνων καὶ νόμους διασκεδῶν;
ἢ τοὺς κακοὺς τιμῶντας εἰσορᾷς θεούς;
οὔκ ἔστιν. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα καὶ πάλαι πόλεως
ἄνδρες μόλις φέροντες ἐρρόθουν ἐμοί,
κρυφῇ κάρα σείοντες, οὐδʼ ὑπὸ ζυγῷ
λόφον δικαίως εἶχον, ὡς στέργειν ἐμέ.
ἐκ τῶνδε τούτους ἐξεπίσταμαι καλῶς
παρηγμένους μισθοῖσιν εἰργάσθαι τάδε.

[¶64] Nothing so evil as money ever grew to be current among men. This destroys cities, this drives men from their homes, this trains and warps honest minds to set themselves to works of shame,
this teaches people to practise villainies, and to know every act of unholiness. But all the men who did this job for hire have made sure that, sooner or later, they shall suffer the punishment. Now, as Zeus still has my reverence, know this well—
I tell you on my oath. If you do not find the very hand that made this burial, and reveal him before my eyes, mere death shall not suffice for you, not before, hung up alive, you have made this outrage plain,
so that hereafter you may thieve with better knowledge of where your money should be received from, and learn that it is best not to be fond of money-making from any and every source. For you will find that ill-gotten gains bring more men to ruin than to safety.

> Greek: οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀνθρώποισιν οἷον ἄργυρος
κακὸν νόμισμʼ ἔβλαστε. τοῦτο καὶ πόλεις
πορθεῖ, τόδʼ ἄνδρας ἐξανίστησιν δόμων·
τόδʼ ἐκδιδάσκει καὶ παραλλάσσει φρένας
χρηστὰς πρὸς αἰσχρὰ πράγμαθʼ ἵστασθαι βροτῶν·
πανουργίας δʼ ἔδειξεν ἀνθρώποις ἔχειν
καὶ παντὸς ἔργου δυσσέβειαν εἰδέναι.
ὅσοι δὲ μισθαρνοῦντες ἤνυσαν τάδε,
χρόνῳ ποτʼ ἐξέπραξαν ὡς δοῦναι δίκην.
ἀλλʼ εἴπερ ἴσχει Ζεὺς ἔτʼ ἐξ ἐμοῦ σέβας,
εὖ τοῦτʼ ἐπίστασʼ, ὅρκιος δέ σοι λέγω·
εἰ μὴ τὸν αὐτόχειρα τοῦδε τοῦ τάφου
εὑρόντες ἐκφανεῖτʼ ἐς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐμούς,
οὐχ ὑμὶν Ἅιδης μοῦνος ἀρκέσει, πρὶν ἂν
ζῶντες κρεμαστοὶ τήνδε δηλώσηθʼ ὕβριν,
ἵνʼ εἰδότες τὸ κέρδος ἔνθεν οἰστέον
τὸ λοιπὸν ἁρπάζητε, καὶ μάθηθʼ ὅτι
οὐκ ἐξ ἅπαντος δεῖ τὸ κερδαίνειν φιλεῖν.
ἐκ τῶν γὰρ αἰσχρῶν λημμάτων τοὺς πλείονας
ἀτωμένους ἴδοις ἂν ἢ σεσωσμένους.

[¶65] Guard:
Will you allow me to speak? Or shall I just turn and go?

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
εἰπεῖν τι δώσεις ἢ στραφεὶς οὕτως ἴω;

[¶66] Creon:
Do you not know even now how much your voice sickens me?

> Greek: Κρέων:
οὐκ οἶσθα καὶ νῦν ὡς ἀνιαρῶς λέγεις;

[¶67] Guard:
Is the pain in your ears, or in your soul?

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
ἐν τοῖσιν ὠσὶν ἢ ʼπὶ τῇ ψυχῇ δάκνει;

[¶68] Creon:
And why would you define the seat of my pain?

> Greek: Κρέων:
τί δὲ ῥυθμίζεις τὴν ἐμὴν λύπην ὅπου;

[¶69] Guard:
He who did it hurts your heart, but I, your ears.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
ὁ δρῶν σʼ ἀνιᾷ τὰς φρένας, τὰ δʼ ὦτʼ ἐγώ.

[¶70] Creon:
God! How plain it is that you are a born babbler.

> Greek: Κρέων:
οἴμʼ ὡς λάλημα δῆλον ἐκπεφυκὸς εἶ.

[¶71] Guard:
Perhaps, but never the author of this action.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
οὔκουν τό γʼ ἔργον τοῦτο ποιήσας ποτέ.

[¶72] Creon:
Yes, and what is more, you sold your life for silver.

> Greek: Κρέων:
καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐπʼ ἀργύρῳ γε τὴν ψυχὴν προδούς.

[¶73] Guard:
Ah! It is truly sad when the judge judges wrong.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
φεῦ·
ἦ δεινὸν ᾧ δοκῇ γε καὶ ψευδῆ δοκεῖν.

[¶74] Creon:
Expound on “judgment” as you will. But, if you fail to
show me the perpetrators of these crimes, you will avow that money basely earned wreaks sorrows. Exit Creon.

> Greek: Κρέων:
κόμψευέ νυν τὴν δόξαν· εἰ δὲ ταῦτα μὴ
φανεῖτέ μοι τοὺς δρῶντας, ἐξερεῖθʼ ὅτι
τὰ δειλὰ κέρδη πημονὰς ἐργάζεται.

[¶75] Guard:
Well, may the man be found! That would be best. But, whether he be caught or not—for fortune must decide that—I assure you that you will not see me come here again.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
ἀλλʼ εὑρεθείη μὲν μάλιστʼ· ἐὰν δέ τοι
ληφθῇ τε καὶ μή, τοῦτο γὰρ τύχη κρινεῖ,
οὐκ ἔσθʼ ὅπως ὄψει σὺ δεῦρʼ ἐλθόντα με·

[¶76] Saved just now beyond hope and belief, I owe the gods great thanks. Exit the Guard.
Chorus:
Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man.
This power spans the sea, even when it surges white before the gales of the south-wind, and makes a path under swells that threaten to engulf him. Earth, too, the eldest of the gods, the immortal, the unwearied,
he wears away to his own ends, turning the soil with the offspring of horses as the plows weave to and fro year after year.

> Greek: καὶ νῦν γὰρ ἐκτὸς ἐλπίδος γνώμης τʼ ἐμῆς
σωθεὶς ὀφείλω τοῖς θεοῖς πολλὴν χάριν.
Χορός:
πολλὰ τὰ δεινὰ κοὐδὲν ἀνθρώπου δεινότερον πέλει.
τοῦτο καὶ πολιοῦ πέραν πόντου χειμερίῳ νότῳ
χωρεῖ, περιβρυχίοισιν
περῶν ὑπʼ οἴδμασιν.
θεῶν τε τὰν ὑπερτάταν, Γᾶν
ἄφθιτον, ἀκαμάταν, ἀποτρύεται
ἰλλομένων ἀρότρων ἔτος εἰς ἔτος
ἱππείῳ γένει πολεύων.

[¶77] Chorus:
The light-hearted tribe of birds
and the clans of wild beasts and the sea-brood of the deep he snares in the meshes of his twisted nets, and he leads them captive, very-skilled man. He masters by his arts
the beast who dwells in the wilds and roams the hills. He tames the shaggy-maned horse, putting the yoke upon its neck, and tames the tireless mountain bull.

> Greek: Χορός:
κουφονόων τε φῦλον ὀρνίθων ἀμφιβαλὼν ἄγει
καὶ θηρῶν ἀγρίων ἔθνη πόντου τʼ εἰναλίαν φύσιν
σπείραισι δικτυοκλώστοις,
περιφραδὴς ἀνήρ·
κρατεῖ δὲ μηχαναῖς ἀγραύλου
θηρὸς ὀρεσσιβάτα, λασιαύχενά θʼ
ἵππον ὀχμάζεται ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῶν
οὔρειόν τʼ ἀκμῆτα ταῦρον.

[¶78] Chorus:
Speech and thought fast as the wind and the moods that give order to a city he has taught himself, and how to flee the arrows of the inhospitable frost under clear skies and the arrows of the storming rain.
He has resource for everything. Lacking resource in nothing he strides towards what must come. From Death alone he shall procure no escape, but from baffling diseases he has devised flights.

> Greek: Χορός:
καὶ φθέγμα καὶ ἀνεμόεν φρόνημα καὶ ἀστυνόμους
ὀργὰς ἐδιδάξατο καὶ δυσαύλων
πάγων ὑπαίθρεια καὶ δύσομβρα φεύγειν βέλη
παντοπόρος· ἄπορος ἐπʼ οὐδὲν ἔρχεται
τὸ μέλλον· Ἅιδα μόνον φεῦξιν οὐκ ἐπάξεται·
νόσων δʼ ἀμηχάνων φυγὰς ξυμπέφρασται.

[¶79] Chorus:
Possessing resourceful skill, a subtlety beyond expectation he moves now to evil, now to good. When he honors the laws of the land and the justice of the gods to which he is bound by oath,
his city prospers. But banned from his city is he who, thanks to his rashness, couples with disgrace. Never may he share my home,
never think my thoughts, who does these things!
Enter the Guard, on the spectators’ left, leading in Antigone.

> Greek: Χορός:
σοφόν τι τὸ μηχανόεν τέχνας ὑπὲρ ἐλπίδʼ ἔχων
τοτὲ μὲν κακόν, ἄλλοτʼ ἐπʼ ἐσθλὸν ἕρπει,
νόμους γεραίρων χθονὸς θεῶν τʼ ἔνορκον δίκαν,
ὑψίπολις· ἄπολις ὅτῳ τὸ μὴ καλὸν
ξύνεστι τόλμας χάριν. μήτʼ ἐμοὶ παρέστιος
γένοιτο μήτʼ ἴσον φρονῶν ὃς τάδʼ ἔρδει.

[¶80] Chorus:
What marvel sent by the gods is this?—I am bewildered! I know her. How can I deny that this girl is Antigone? O unhappy child
of your unhappy father, of Oedipus! What can this mean? What! Surely they are not bringing you captive for disobeying the King’s laws and being caught in lunacy?

> Greek: Χορός:
ἐς δαιμόνιον τέρας ἀμφινοῶ
τόδε· πῶς εἰδὼς ἀντιλογήσω
τήνδʼ οὐκ εἶναι παῖδʼ Ἀντιγόνην.
ὦ δύστηνος
καὶ δυστήνου πατρὸς Οἰδιπόδα,
τί ποτʼ; οὐ δή που σέ γʼ ἀπιστοῦσαν
τοῖς βασιλείοισιν ἄγουσι νόμοις
καὶ ἐν ἀφροσύνῃ καθελόντες;

[¶81] Guard:
Here is she, the one who did the deed.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
ἥδʼ ἔστʼ ἐκείνη τοὔργον ἡ ʼξειργασμένη·

[¶82] We caught this one burying him. Where is Creon?
Enter Creon from the palace.

> Greek: τήνδʼ εἵλομεν θάπτουσαν. ἀλλὰ ποῦ Κρέων;

[¶83] Chorus:
There, he is coming from the house again at our need.

> Greek: Χορός:
ὅδʼ ἐκ δόμων ἄψορρος εἰς δέον περᾷ.

[¶84] Creon:
What is it? What has happened that makes my coming timely?

> Greek: Κρέων:
τί δʼ ἔστι; ποίᾳ ξύμμετρος προὔβην τύχῃ;

[¶85] Guard:
My king, there is nothing that a man can rightly swear he will not do. For second thought belies one’s first intent.
I could have vowed that I would not ever come here again, because of your threats by which I had just been storm-tossed. But since this joy that exceeds and oversteps my hopes can be compared in fulness to no other pleasure, I am back—though it is contrary to my sworn oath—
bringing this girl who was caught giving burial honors to the dead. This time there was no casting of lots. No, this piece of luck has fallen to me, and me alone. And now, my king, as it pleases you, take her yourself, question her and convict her. But justice would see me
released free and clear from this trouble.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
ἄναξ, βροτοῖσιν οὐδέν ἔστʼ ἀπώμοτον.
ψεύδει γὰρ ἡ ʼπίνοια τὴν γνώμην· ἐπεὶ
σχολῇ ποθʼ ἥξειν δεῦρʼ ἂν ἐξηύχουν ἐγὼ
ταῖς σαῖς ἀπειλαῖς αἷς ἐχειμάσθην τότε
ἀλλʼ ἡ γὰρ ἐκτὸς καὶ παρʼ ἐλπίδας χαρὰ
ἔοικεν ἄλλῃ μῆκος οὐδὲν ἡδονῇ,
ἥκω, διʼ ὅρκων καίπερ ὢν ἀπώμοτος,
κόρην ἄγων τήνδʼ, ἣ καθῃρέθη τάφον
κοσμοῦσα. κλῆρος ἐνθάδʼ οὐκ ἐπάλλετο,
ἀλλʼ ἔστʼ ἐμὸν θοὔρμαιον, οὐκ ἄλλου, τόδε.
καὶ νῦν, ἄναξ, τήνδʼ αὐτός, ὡς θέλεις, λαβὼν
καὶ κρῖνε κἀξέλεγχʼ· ἐγὼ δʼ ἐλεύθερος
δίκαιός εἰμι τῶνδʼ ἀπηλλάχθαι κακῶν.

[¶86] Creon:
Your prisoner here—how and where did you take her?

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἄγεις δὲ τήνδε τῷ τρόπῳ πόθεν λαβών;

[¶87] Guard:
She was burying the man. You know all there is to tell.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
αὕτη τὸν ἄνδρʼ ἔθαπτε· πάντʼ ἐπίστασαι.

[¶88] Creon:
Are you clear and sure about what you are saying?

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἦ καὶ ξυνίης καὶ λέγεις ὀρθῶς ἃ φῄς;

[¶89] Guard:
I am. I saw her burying the corpse that you
had forbidden to bury. Is that plain and sufficient?

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
ταύτην γʼ ἰδὼν θάπτουσαν ὃν σὺ τὸν νεκρὸν
ἀπεῖπας. ἆρʼ ἔνδηλα καὶ σαφῆ λέγω;

[¶90] Creon:
And how was she observed? How taken in the act?

> Greek: Κρέων:
καὶ πῶς ὁρᾶται κἀπίληπτος ᾑρέθη;

[¶91] Guard:
It happened like this. When we had come to the place with those fierce threats of yours still in our ears, we swept away all the dust that covered
the corpse and bared the damp body well. We then sat down on the brow of the hill to windward, fleeing the smell from him, lest it strike us. Each man was wide awake and kept his neighbor alert with torrents of threats, if any one should be careless of this task.

> Greek: Φύλαξ:
τοιοῦτον ἦν τὸ πρᾶγμʼ. ὅπως γὰρ ἥκομεν,
πρὸς σοῦ τὰ δείνʼ ἐκεῖνʼ ἐπηπειλημένοι,
πᾶσαν κόνιν σήραντες, ἣ κατεῖχε τὸν
νέκυν, μυδῶν τε σῶμα γυμνώσαντες εὖ,
καθήμεθʼ ἄκρων ἐκ πάγων ὑπήνεμοι,
ὀσμὴν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ μὴ βάλοι πεφευγότες,
ἐγερτὶ κινῶν ἄνδρʼ ἀνὴρ ἐπιρρόθοις
κακοῖσιν, εἴ τις τοῦδʼ ἀκηδήσοι πόνου.

[¶92] So time passed, until the disk of the sun stood bright in mid-sky and the heat began to burn. And then suddenly a whirlwind lifted from the earth a storm of dust, a trouble in the sky, and it filled the plain, marring all the foliage of its woods.
Soon the wide air was choked with it. We closed our eyes, and endured the plague from the gods. When, after a long while, this storm had passed, the girl was seen, and she wailed aloud with the sharp cry of a grieving bird, as when inside her empty
nest she sees the bed stripped of its nestlings. So she, too, when she saw the corpse bare, broke into a cry of lamentation and cursed with harsh curses those who had done it. Immediately she took thirsty dust in her hands,
and from a pitcher of beaten bronze held high she crowned the dead with thrice-poured libations. We rushed forward when we saw it, and at once closed upon our quarry, who was not at all dismayed. We then charged her with her past and present doings,
but she made no denial of anything—at once to my joy and to my pain. For to have escaped from trouble one’s self gives the greatest joy, but it stings to lead friends to evil. Naturally, though, all such things are
of less account to me than my own safety.

> Greek: χρόνον τάδʼ ἦν τοσοῦτον, ἔστʼ ἐν αἰθέρι
μέσῳ κατέστη λαμπρὸς ἡλίου κύκλος
καὶ καῦμʼ ἔθαλπε· καὶ τότʼ ἐξαίφνης χθονὸς
τυφὼς ἀείρας σκηπτόν οὐράνιον ἄχος,
πίμπλησι πεδίον, πᾶσαν αἰκίζων φόβην
ὕλης πεδιάδος, ἐν δʼ ἐμεστώθη μέγας
αἰθήρ· μύσαντες δʼ εἴχομεν θείαν νόσον.
καὶ τοῦδʼ ἀπαλλαγέντος ἐν χρόνῳ μακρῷ,
ἡ παῖς ὁρᾶται, κἀνακωκύει πικρᾶς
ὄρνιθος ὀξὺν φθόγγον, ὡς ὅταν κενῆς
εὐνῆς νεοσσῶν ὀρφανὸν βλέψῃ λέχος.
οὕτω δὲ χαὔτη, ψιλὸν ὡς ὁρᾷ νέκυν,
γόοισιν ἐξῴμωξεν, ἐκ δʼ ἀρὰς κακὰς
ἠρᾶτο τοῖσι τοὔργον ἐξειργασμένοις.
καὶ χερσὶν εὐθὺς διψίαν φέρει κόνιν,
ἔκ τʼ εὐκροτήτου χαλκέας ἄρδην πρόχου
χοαῖσι τρισπόνδοισι τὸν νέκυν στέφει.
χἠμεῖς ἰδόντες ἱέμεσθα, σὺν δέ νιν
θηρώμεθʼ εὐθὺς οὐδὲν ἐκπεπληγμένην,
καὶ τάς τε πρόσθεν τάς τε νῦν ἠλέγχομεν
πράξεις· ἄπαρνος δʼ οὐδενὸς καθίστατο,
ἅμʼ ἡδέως ἔμοιγε κἀλγεινῶς ἅμα.
τὸ μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐκ κακῶν πεφευγέναι
ἥδιστον, ἐς κακὸν δὲ τοὺς φίλους ἄγειν
ἀλγεινόν· ἀλλὰ πάντα ταῦθʼ ἥσσω λαβεῖν
ἐμοὶ πέφυκε τῆς ἐμῆς σωτηρίας.

[¶93] Creon:
You, you with your face bent to the ground, do you admit, or deny that you did this?

> Greek: Κρέων:
σὲ δή, σὲ τὴν νεύουσαν εἰς πέδον κάρα,
φὴς ἢ καταρνεῖ μὴ δεδρακέναι τάδε;

[¶94] Antigone:
I declare it and make no denial.
Creon: To the Guard.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
καὶ φημὶ δρᾶσαι κοὐκ ἀπαρνοῦμαι τὸ μή.

[¶95] You can take yourself wherever you please,
free and clear of a heavy charge. Exit Guard.
To Antigone.

> Greek: Κρέων:
σὺ μὲν κομίζοις ἂν σεαυτὸν ᾖ θέλεις
ἔξω βαρείας αἰτίας ἐλεύθερον·

[¶96] You, however, tell me—not at length, but briefly—did you know that an edict had forbidden this?

> Greek: σὺ δʼ εἰπέ μοι μὴ μῆκος, ἀλλὰ συντόμως,
ᾔδησθα κηρυχθέντα μὴ πράσσειν τάδε;

[¶97] Antigone:
I knew it. How could I not? It was public.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ᾔδη· τί δʼ οὐκ ἔμελλον; ἐμφανῆ γὰρ ἦν.

[¶98] Creon:
And even so you dared overstep that law?

> Greek: Κρέων:
καὶ δῆτʼ ἐτόλμας τούσδʼ ὑπερβαίνειν νόμους;

[¶99] Antigone:
Yes, since it was not Zeus that published me that edict, and since not of that kind are the laws which Justice who dwells with the gods below established among men. Nor did I think that your decrees were of such force, that a mortal could override the unwritten
and unfailing statutes given us by the gods. For their life is not of today or yesterday, but for all time, and no man knows when they were first put forth. Not for fear of any man’s pride was I about to owe a penalty to the gods for breaking these.
Die I must, that I knew well (how could I not?). That is true even without your edicts. But if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain. When anyone lives as I do, surrounded by evils, how can he not carry off gain by dying?

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
οὐ γάρ τί μοι Ζεὺς ἦν ὁ κηρύξας τάδε,
οὐδʼ ἡ ξύνοικος τῶν κάτω θεῶν Δίκη
τοιούσδʼ ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ὥρισεν νόμους.
οὐδὲ σθένειν τοσοῦτον ᾠόμην τὰ σὰ
κηρύγμαθʼ, ὥστʼ ἄγραπτα κἀσφαλῆ θεῶν
νόμιμα δύνασθαι θνητὸν ὄνθʼ ὑπερδραμεῖν.
οὐ γάρ τι νῦν γε κἀχθές, ἀλλʼ ἀεί ποτε
ζῇ ταῦτα, κοὐδεὶς οἶδεν ἐξ ὅτου ʼφάνη.
τούτων ἐγὼ οὐκ ἔμελλον, ἀνδρὸς οὐδενὸς
φρόνημα δείσασʼ, ἐν θεοῖσι τὴν δίκην
δώσειν· θανουμένη γὰρ ἐξῄδη, τί δʼ οὔ;
κεἰ μὴ σὺ προὐκήρυξας. εἰ δὲ τοῦ χρόνου
πρόσθεν θανοῦμαι, κέρδος αὔτʼ ἐγὼ λέγω.
ὅστις γὰρ ἐν πολλοῖσιν ὡς ἐγὼ κακοῖς
ζῇ, πῶς ὅδʼ οὐχὶ κατθανὼν κέρδος φέρει;

[¶100] So for me to meet this doom is a grief of no account. But if I had endured that my mother’s son should in death lie an unburied corpse, that would have grieved me. Yet for this, I am not grieved. And if my present actions are foolish in your sight,
it may be that it is a fool who accuses me of folly.

> Greek: οὕτως ἔμοιγε τοῦδε τοῦ μόρου τυχεῖν
παρʼ οὐδὲν ἄλγος· ἀλλʼ ἄν, εἰ τὸν ἐξ ἐμῆς
μητρὸς θανόντʼ ἄθαπτον ἠνσχόμην νέκυν,
κείνοις ἂν ἤλγουν· τοῖσδε δʼ οὐκ ἀλγύνομαι.
σοὶ δʼ εἰ δοκῶ νῦν μῶρα δρῶσα τυγχάνειν,
σχεδόν τι μώρῳ μωρίαν ὀφλισκάνω.

[¶101] Chorus:
She shows herself the wild offspring of a wild father, and does not know how to bend before troubles.

> Greek: Χορός:
δηλοῖ τὸ γέννημʼ ὠμὸν ἐξ ὠμοῦ πατρὸς
τῆς παιδός. εἴκειν δʼ οὐκ ἐπίσταται κακοῖς.

[¶102] Creon:
Yet remember that over-hard spirits most often collapse. It is the stiffest iron, baked to
utter hardness in the fire, that you most often see snapped and shivered. And I have witnessed horses with great spirit disciplined by a small bit. For there is no place for pride, when one is his neighbors’ slave.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἀλλʼ ἴσθι τοι τὰ σκλήρʼ ἄγαν φρονήματα
πίπτειν μάλιστα, καὶ τὸν ἐγκρατέστατον
σίδηρον ὀπτὸν ἐκ πυρὸς περισκελῆ
θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα πλεῖστʼ ἂν εἰσίδοις·
σμικρῷ χαλινῷ δʼ οἶδα τοὺς θυμουμένους
ἵππους καταρτυθέντας· οὐ γὰρ ἐκπέλει
φρονεῖν μέγʼ ὅστις δοῦλός ἐστι τῶν πέλας.

[¶103] This girl was already practiced in outrage when she overstepped the published laws. And, that done, this now is a second outrage, that she glories in it and exults in her deed. In truth, then, I am no man, but she is,
if this victory rests with her and brings no penalty. No! Whether she is my sister’s child, or nearer to me in blood than any of my kin that worship Zeus at the altar of our house, she and her sister will not escape a doom most harsh. For in truth
I charge that other with an equal share in the plotting of this burial. Call her out! I saw her inside just now, raving, and not in control of her wits. Before the deed, the mind frequently is convicted of stealthy crimes when conspirators are plotting depravity in the dark.

> Greek: αὕτη δʼ ὑβρίζειν μὲν τότʼ ἐξηπίστατο,
νόμους ὑπερβαίνουσα τοὺς προκειμένους·
ὕβρις δʼ, ἐπεὶ δέδρακεν, ἥδε δευτέρα,
τούτοις ἐπαυχεῖν καὶ δεδρακυῖαν γελᾶν.
ἦ νῦν ἐγὼ μὲν οὐκ ἀνήρ, αὕτη δʼ ἀνήρ,
εἰ ταῦτʼ ἀνατὶ τῇδε κείσεται κράτη.
ἀλλʼ εἴτʼ ἀδελφῆς εἴθʼ ὁμαιμονεστέρα
τοῦ παντὸς ἡμῖν Ζηνὸς ἑρκείου κυρεῖ,
αὐτή τε χἠ ξύναιμος οὐκ ἀλύξετον
μόρου κακίστου· καὶ γὰρ οὖν κείνην ἴσον
ἐπαιτιῶμαι τοῦδε βουλεῦσαι τάφου.
καί νιν καλεῖτʼ· ἔσω γὰρ εἶδον ἀρτίως
λυσσῶσαν αὐτὴν οὐδʼ ἐπήβολον φρενῶν.
φιλεῖ δʼ ὁ θυμὸς πρόσθεν, ᾑρῆσθαι κλοπεὺς
τῶν μηδὲν ὀρθῶς ἐν σκότῳ τεχνωμένων·

[¶104] But, truly, I detest it, too, when one who has been caught in treachery then seeks to make the crime a glory.

> Greek: μισῶ γε μέντοι χὤταν ἐν κακοῖσί τις
ἁλοὺς ἔπειτα τοῦτο καλλύνειν θέλῃ.

[¶105] Antigone:
What more do you want than to capture and kill me?

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
θέλεις τι μεῖζον ἢ κατακτεῖναί μʼ ἑλών;

[¶106] Creon:
I want nothing else. Having that, I have everything.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδέν· τοῦτʼ ἔχων ἅπαντʼ ἔχω.

[¶107] Antigone:
Why then do you wait? In none of your maxims
is there anything that pleases me—and may there never be! Similarly to you as well my views must be displeasing. And yet, how could I have won a nobler glory than by giving burial to my own brother? All here would admit that they approve,
if fear did not grip their tongues. But tyranny, blest with so much else, has the power to do and say whatever it pleases.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
τί δῆτα μέλλεις; ὡς ἐμοὶ τῶν σῶν λόγων
ἀρεστὸν οὐδὲν μηδʼ ἀρεσθείη ποτέ·
οὕτω δὲ καὶ σοὶ τἄμʼ ἀφανδάνοντʼ ἔφυ.
καίτοι πόθεν κλέος γʼ ἂν εὐκλεέστερον
κατέσχον ἢ τὸν αὐτάδελφον ἐν τάφῳ
τιθεῖσα; τούτοις τοῦτο πᾶσιν ἁνδάνειν
λέγοιτʼ ἄν, εἰ μὴ γλῶσσαν ἐγκλῄοι φόβος.
ἀλλʼ ἡ τυραννὶς πολλά τʼ ἄλλʼ εὐδαιμονεῖ
κἄξεστιν αὐτῇ δρᾶν λέγειν θʼ ἃ βούλεται.

[¶108] Creon:
You alone out of all these Thebans see it that way.

> Greek: Κρέων:
σὺ τοῦτο μούνη τῶνδε Καδμείων ὁρᾷς.

[¶109] Antigone:
They do, too, but for you they hold their tongues.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ὁρῶσι χοὖτοι, σοὶ δʼ ὑπίλλουσιν στόμα.

[¶110] Creon:
Are you not ashamed that your beliefs differ from theirs?

> Greek: Κρέων:
σὺ δʼ οὐκ ἐπαιδεῖ, τῶνδε χωρὶς εἰ φρονεῖς;

[¶111] Antigone:
No, there is nothing shameful in respecting your own flesh and blood.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
οὐδὲν γὰρ αἰσχρὸν τοὺς ὁμοσπλάγχνους σέβειν.

[¶112] Creon:
Was not he your brother too, who died in the opposite cause?

> Greek: Κρέων:
οὔκουν ὅμαιμος χὠ καταντίον θανών;

[¶113] Antigone:
A brother by the same mother and the same father.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ὅμαιμος ἐκ μιᾶς τε καὶ ταὐτοῦ πατρός.

[¶114] Creon:
Why, then, do you pay a service that is disrespectful to him?

> Greek: Κρέων:
πῶς δῆτʼ ἐκείνῳ δυσσεβῆ τιμᾷς χάριν;

[¶115] Antigone:
The dead man will not support you in that.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
οὐ μαρτυρήσει ταῦθʼ ὁ κατθανὼν νέκυς.

[¶116] Creon:
Yes, he will, if you honor him equally with the wicked one.

> Greek: Κρέων:
εἴ τοί σφε τιμᾷς ἐξ ἴσου τῷ δυσσεβεῖ.

[¶117] Antigone:
It was his brother, not his slave, who died.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
οὐ γάρ τι δοῦλος, ἀλλʼ ἀδελφὸς ὤλετο.

[¶118] Creon:
But he died ravaging this land, while he fell in its defense.

> Greek: Κρέων:
πορθῶν δὲ τήνδε γῆν· ὁ δʼ ἀντιστὰς ὕπερ.

[¶119] Antigone:
Hades craves these rites, nevertheless.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ὁμῶς ὅ γʼ Ἅιδης τοὺς νόμους τούτους ποθεῖ.

[¶120] Creon:
But the good man craves a portion not equal to the evil’s.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἀλλʼ οὐχ ὁ χρηστὸς τῷ κακῷ λαχεῖν ἴσος.

[¶121] Antigone:
Who knows but that these actions are pure to those below?

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
τίς οἶδεν εἰ κάτωθεν εὐαγῆ τάδε;

[¶122] Creon:
You do not love someone you have hated, not even after death.

> Greek: Κρέων:
οὔτοι ποθʼ οὑχθρός, οὐδʼ ὅταν θάνῃ, φίλος.

[¶123] Antigone:
It is not my nature to join in hate, but in love.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
οὔτοι συνέχθειν, ἀλλὰ συμφιλεῖν ἔφυν.

[¶124] Creon:
Then, go down to hell and love them
if you must. While I live, no woman will rule me.
Enter Ismene from the house, led in by two attendants.

> Greek: Κρέων:
κάτω νυν ἐλθοῦσʼ, εἰ φιλητέον, φίλει
κείνους· ἐμοῦ δὲ ζῶντος οὐκ ἄρξει γυνή.

[¶125] Chorus:
Look, here comes Ismene from the palace, shedding the tears of a loving sister. A cloud over her eyes mars her red-flushed face,
and it breaks into rain on her comely cheek.

> Greek: Χορός:
καὶ μὴν πρὸ πυλῶν ἥδʼ Ἰσμήνη,
φιλάδελφα κάτω δάκρυʼ εἰβομένη·
νεφέλη δʼ ὀφρύων ὕπερ αἱματόεν
ῥέθος αἰσχύνει,
τέγγουσʼ εὐῶπα παρειάν.

[¶126] Creon:
You who were lurking like a viper in my own house and secretly gulping up my life’s blood, while I was oblivious that I was nurturing two plagues, two revolutions against my throne—tell me now, will you also affirm
your share in this burial, or will you forswear all knowledge of it?

> Greek: Κρέων:
σὺ δʼ, ἣ κατʼ οἴκους ὡς ἔχιδνʼ ὑφειμένη
λήθουσά μʼ ἐξέπινες, οὐδʼ ἐμάνθανον
τρέφων δύʼ ἄτα κἀπαναστάσεις θρόνων,
φέρʼ, εἰπὲ δή μοι, καὶ σὺ τοῦδε τοῦ τάφου
φήσεις μετασχεῖν, ἢ ʼξομεῖ τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι;

[¶127] Ismene:
I performed the deed—as long as she concurs—and I share and carry the burden of guilt.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
δέδρακα τοὔργον, εἴπερ ἥδʼ ὁμορροθεῖ
καὶ ξυμμετίσχω καὶ φέρω τῆς αἰτίας.

[¶128] Antigone:
No, justice will not permit you to do this, since you were not willing to help with the deed, nor did I give you a part in it.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐάσει τοῦτό γʼ ἡ δίκη σʼ, ἐπεὶ
οὔτʼ ἠθέλησας οὔτʼ ἐγὼ ʼκοινωσάμην.

[¶129] Ismene:
But now with this sea of troubles around you, I am not ashamed to sail in a sea of suffering at your side.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
ἀλλʼ ἐν κακοῖς τοῖς σοῖσιν οὐκ αἰσχύνομαι
ξύμπλουν ἐμαυτὴν τοῦ πάθους ποιουμένη.

[¶130] Antigone:
As to whose deed it is, Hades and the dead are witnesses. A friend in words is not the type of friend I love.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ὧν τοὔργον, Ἅιδης χοἰ κάτω ξυνίστορες·
λόγοις δʼ ἐγὼ φιλοῦσαν οὐ στέργω φίλην.

[¶131] Ismene:
No, sister, do not strip me of death’s honor,
but let me die with you and make due consecration to the dead.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
μήτοι, κασιγνήτη, μʼ ἀτιμάσῃς τὸ μὴ οὐ
θανεῖν τε σὺν σοὶ τὸν θανόντα θʼ ἁγνίσαι.

[¶132] Antigone:
Do not share my death. Do not claim deeds to which you did not put your hand. My death will suffice.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
μή μοι θάνῃς σὺ κοινὰ μηδʼ ἃ μὴ ʼθιγες
ποιοῦ σεαυτῆς. ἀρκέσω θνῄσκουσʼ ἐγώ.

[¶133] Ismene:
And how can I cherish life, once I am deprived of you?

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
καὶ τίς βίος μοι σοῦ λελειμμένῃ φίλος;

[¶134] Antigone:
Ask Creon. Your concern is for him.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
Κρέοντʼ ἐρώτα· τοῦδε γὰρ σὺ κηδεμών.

[¶135] Ismene:
Why do you torture me like this, when it does not help you?

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
τί ταῦτʼ ἀνιᾷς μʼ, οὐδὲν ὠφελουμένη;

[¶136] Antigone:
No, if I mock you, it is to my own pain that I do so.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ἀλγοῦσα μὲν δῆτʼ εἰ γελῶ γʼ ἐν σοὶ γελῶ.

[¶137] Ismene:
Tell me, how can I help you, even now?

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
τί δῆτʼ ἂν ἀλλὰ νῦν σʼ ἔτʼ ὠφελοῖμʼ ἐγώ;

[¶138] Antigone:
Save yourself. I do not grudge your escape.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
σῶσον σεαυτήν· οὐ φθονῶ σʼ ὑπεκφυγεῖν.

[¶139] Ismene:
Ah, misery! Will I fall short of sharing your fate?

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
οἴμοι τάλαινα, κἀμπλάκω τοῦ σοῦ μόρου;

[¶140] Antigone:
Your choice was to live, it was mine to die.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
σὺ μὲν γὰρ εἵλου ζῆν, ἐγὼ δὲ κατθανεῖν.

[¶141] Ismene:
At least your choice was not made without my protests.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐπʼ ἀρρήτοις γε τοῖς ἐμοῖς λόγοις.

[¶142] Antigone:
One world approved your wisdom, another approved mine.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
καλῶς σὺ μὲν τοῖς, τοῖς δʼ ἐγὼ ʼδόκουν φρονεῖν.

[¶143] Ismene:
Nevertheless, the offense is identical for both of us.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
καὶ μὴν ἴση νῷν ἐστιν ἡ ʼξαμαρτία.

[¶144] Antigone:
Take heart! You live. But my life has long been
in Death’s hands so that I might serve the dead.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
θάρσει· σὺ μὲν ζῇς, ἡ δʼ ἐμὴ ψυχὴ πάλαι
τέθνηκεν, ὥστε τοῖς θανοῦσιν ὠφελεῖν.

[¶145] Creon:
One of these maidens, I declare, has just revealed her foolishness; the other has displayed it from the moment of her birth.

> Greek: Κρέων:
τὼ παῖδε φημὶ τώδε τὴν μὲν ἀρτίως
ἄνουν πεφάνθαι, τὴν δʼ ἀφʼ οὗ τὰ πρῶτʼ ἔφυ.

[¶146] Ismene:
Yes, Creon. Whatever amount of reason nature may have given them does not remain with those in dire straits, but goes astray.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
οὐ γάρ ποτʼ, ὦναξ, οὐδʼ ὃς ἂν βλάστῃ μένει
νοῦς τοῖς κακῶς πράσσουσιν, ἀλλʼ ἐξίσταται.

[¶147] Creon:
Yours did, I know, when you chose dire actions with dire allies.

> Greek: Κρέων:
σοὶ γοῦν, ὅθʼ εἵλου σὺν κακοῖς πράσσειν κακά.

[¶148] Ismene:
What life would there be for me alone, without her presence?

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
τί γὰρ μόνῃ μοι τῆσδʼ ἄτερ βιώσιμον;

[¶149] Creon:
Do not speak of her “presence”. She lives no longer.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἀλλʼ ἥδε μέντοι μὴ λέγʼ· οὐ γὰρ ἔστʼ ἔτι.

[¶150] Ismene:
What? You will kill your own son’s bride?

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
ἀλλὰ κτενεῖς νυμφεῖα τοῦ σαυτοῦ τέκνου;

[¶151] Creon:
Why not? There are other fields for him to plough.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἀρώσιμοι γὰρ χἀτέρων εἰσὶν γύαι.

[¶152] Ismene:
But not fitted to him as she was.

> Greek: Ἰσμήνη:
οὐχ ὥς γʼ ἐκείνῳ τῇδέ τʼ ἦν ἡρμοσμένα.

[¶153] Creon:
I abhor an evil wife for my son.

> Greek: Κρέων:
κακὰς ἐγὼ γυναῖκας υἱέσι στυγῶ.

[¶154] Antigone:
Haemon, dearest! How your father wrongs you!

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ὦ φίλταθʼ Αἷμον, ὥς σʼ ἀτιμάζει πατήρ.

[¶155] Creon:
Enough! Enough of you and of your marriage!

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἄγαν γε λυπεῖς καὶ σὺ καὶ τὸ σὸν λέχος.

[¶156] Chorus:
Will you really cheat your son of this girl?

> Greek: Χορός:
ἦ γὰρ στερήσεις τῆσδε τὸν σαυτοῦ γόνον;

[¶157] Creon:
Death it is who will end these bridals for me.

> Greek: Κρέων:
Ἅιδης ὁ παύσων τούσδε τοὺς γάμους ἔφυ.

[¶158] Chorus:
Then it seems that it is resolved that she will die.

> Greek: Χορός:
δεδογμένʼ, ὡς ἔοικε, τήνδε κατθανεῖν.

[¶159] Creon:
Resolved, yes, for you and by me. To the two Attendants. No more delay! Servants, take them inside! Hereafter they must be women, and not left at large.

> Greek: Κρέων:
καὶ σοί γε κἀμοί. μὴ τριβὰς ἔτʼ, ἀλλά νιν
κομίζετʼ εἴσω, δμῶες· ἐκ δὲ τοῦδε χρὴ
γυναῖκας εἶναι τάσδε μηδʼ ἀνειμένας.

[¶160] For it is known that even the brave seek to flee, when they see Death now closing on their life. Exeunt Attendants, guarding Antigone and Ismene. Creon remains.

> Greek: φεύγουσι γάρ τοι χοἰ θρασεῖς, ὅταν πέλας
ἤδη τὸν, Ἅιδην εἰσορῶσι τοῦ βίου.

[¶161] Chorus:
Blest are those whose days have not tasted of evil. For when a house has once been shaken by the gods,
no form of ruin is lacking, but it spreads over the bulk of the race, just as, when the surge is driven over the darkness of the deep by the fierce breath of Thracian sea-winds,
it rolls up the black sand from the depths, and the wind-beaten headlands that front the blows of the storm give out a mournful roar.

> Greek: Χορός:
εὐδαίμονες οἷσι κακῶν ἄγευστος αἰών.
οἷς γὰρ ἂν σεισθῇ θεόθεν δόμος, ἄτας
οὐδὲν ἐλλείπει γενεᾶς ἐπὶ πλῆθος ἕρπον·
ὅμοιον ὥστε ποντίαις οἶδμα δυσπνόοις ὅταν
Θρῄσσαισιν ἔρεβος ὕφαλον ἐπιδράμῃ πνοαῖς,
κυλίνδει βυσσόθεν κελαινὰν θῖνα καὶ
δυσάνεμοι, στόνῳ βρέμουσι δʼ ἀντιπλῆγες ἀκταί.

[¶162] Chorus:
I see that the ancient sorrows of the house of the Labdacids
are heaped upon the sorrows of the dead. Each generation does not set its race free, but some god hurls it down and the race has no release. For now that dazzling ray of hope that had been spread
over the last roots in the house of Oedipus—that hope, in its turn, the blood-stained dust of the gods infernal and mindlessness in speech and frenzy at the mind cuts down.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἀρχαῖα τὰ Λαβδακιδᾶν οἴκων ὁρῶμαι
πήματα φθιτῶν ἐπὶ πήμασι πίπτοντʼ,
οὐδʼ ἀπαλλάσσει γενεὰν γένος, ἀλλʼ ἐρείπει
θεῶν τις, οὐδʼ ἔχει λύσιν. νῦν γὰρ ἐσχάτας ὑπὲρ
ῥίζας ὃ τέτατο φάος ἐν Οἰδίπου δόμοις,
κατʼ αὖ νιν φοινία θεῶν τῶν νερτέρων
ἀμᾷ κόνις λόγου τʼ ἄνοια καὶ φρενῶν ἐρινύς.

[¶163] Chorus:
Your power, great Zeus—what human overstepping can check it? Yours is power that neither Sleep, the all-ensnaring, nor the untiring months of the gods can defeat. Unaged through time,
you rule by your power and dwell thereby in the brilliant splendor of Olympus. And through the future, both near and distant, as through the past, shall this law prevail: nothing that is vast comes to the life of mortals without ruin.

> Greek: Χορός:
τεάν, Ζεῦ, δύνασιν τίς ἀνδρῶν ὑπερβασία κατάσχοι;
τὰν οὔθʼ ὕπνος αἱρεῖ ποθʼ ὁ πάντʼ ἀγρεύων,
οὔτε θεῶν ἄκματοι μῆνες, ἀγήρῳ δὲ χρόνῳ
δυνάστας κατέχεις Ὀλύμπου μαρμαρόεσσαν αἴγλαν.
τό τʼ ἔπειτα καὶ τὸ μέλλον
καὶ τὸ πρὶν ἐπαρκέσει
νόμος ὅδʼ, οὐδὲν ἕρπει
θνατῶν βιότῳ πάμπολύ γʼ ἐκτὸς ἄτας.

[¶164] Chorus:
See how that hope whose wanderings are so wide truly is a benefit to many men, but to an equal number it is a false lure of light-headed desires. The deception comes to one who is wholly unawares until he burns his foot on a hot fire.
For with wisdom did someone once reveal the maxim, now famous, that evil at one time or another seems good, to him whose mind a god leads to ruin.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἁ γὰρ δὴ πολύπλαγκτος ἐλπὶς πολλοῖς μὲν ὄνασις ἀνδρῶν,
πολλοῖς δʼ ἀπάτα κουφονόων ἐρώτων·
εἰδότι δʼ οὐδὲν ἕρπει, πρὶν πυρὶ θερμῷ πόδα τις
προσαύσῃ. σοφίᾳ γὰρ ἔκ του κλεινὸν ἔπος πέφανται.
τὸ κακὸν δοκεῖν ποτʼ ἐσθλὸν
τῷδʼ ἔμμεν ὅτῳ φρένας
θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν·

[¶165] But for the briefest moment such a man fares free of destruction.
Enter Haemon.

> Greek: Χορός:
πράσσει δʼ ὀλίγιστον χρόνον ἐκτὸς ἄτας.

[¶166] Chorus:
But here is Haemon, the last of your offspring. Does he come grieving for the doom of Antigone, his promised bride,
and bitter for the deceived hope of their marriage?

> Greek: Χορός:
ὅδε μὴν Αἵμων, παίδων τῶν σῶν
νέατον γέννημʼ· ἆρʼ ἀχνύμενος
τάλιδος ἥκει μόρον Ἀντιγόνης,
ἀπάτης λεχέων ὑπεραλγῶν;

[¶167] Creon:
We will soon know better than seers could tell us.—My son, can it be that after hearing the final judgment concerning your betrothed, you have come in rage against your father? Or do I have your loyalty, act how I may?

> Greek: Κρέων:
τάχʼ εἰσόμεσθα μάντεων ὑπέρτερον.
ὦ παῖ, τελείαν ψῆφον ἆρα μὴ κλύων
τῆς μελλονύμφου πατρὶ λυσσαίνων πάρει;
ἢ σοὶ μὲν ἡμεῖς πανταχῇ, δρῶντες φίλοι;

[¶168] Haemon:
Father, I am yours, and you keep me upright with precepts good for me—precepts I shall follow. No marriage will be deemed by me more important than your good guidance.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
πάτερ, σός εἰμι, καὶ σύ μοι γνώμας ἔχων
χρηστὰς ἀπορθοῖς, αἷς ἔγωγʼ ἐφέψομαι.
ἐμοὶ γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἀξιώσεται γάμος
μείζων φέρεσθαι σοῦ καλῶς ἡγουμένου.

[¶169] Creon:
Yes, my son, this is the spirit you should maintain in your heart—to stand behind your father’s will in all things. It is for this that men pray: to sire and raise in their homes children who are obedient, that they may requite their father’s enemy with evil and honor his friend, just as their father does.

> Greek: Κρέων:
οὕτω γάρ, ὦ παῖ, χρὴ διὰ στέρνων ἔχειν,
γνώμης πατρῴας πάντʼ ὄπισθεν ἑστάναι.
τούτου γὰρ οὕνεκʼ ἄνδρες εὔχονται γονὰς
κατηκόους φύσαντες ἐν δόμοις ἔχειν,
ὡς καὶ τὸν ἐχθρὸν ἀνταμύνωνται κακοῖς
καὶ τὸν φίλον τιμῶσιν ἐξ ἴσου πατρί.

[¶170] But the man who begets unhelpful children—what would you say that he has sown except miseries for himself and abundant exultation for his enemies? Never, then, my son, banish your reason for pleasure on account of a woman,
knowing that this embrace soon becomes cold and brittle—an evil woman to share your bed and home. For what wound could strike deeper than a false friend? No, spit her out as if she were an enemy, let her go find a husband in Hades.

> Greek: ὅστις δʼ ἀνωφέλητα φιτύει τέκνα,
τί τόνδʼ ἂν εἴποις ἄλλο πλὴν αὑτῷ πόνους
φῦσαι, πολὺν δὲ τοῖσιν ἐχθροῖσιν γέλων;
μή νύν ποτʼ, ὦ παῖ, τὰς φρένας ὑφʼ ἡδονῆς
γυναικὸς οὕνεκʼ ἐκβάλῃς, εἰδὼς ὅτι
ψυχρὸν παραγκάλισμα τοῦτο γίγνεται,
γυνὴ κακὴ ξύνευνος ἐν δόμοις. τί γὰρ
γένοιτʼ ἂν ἕλκος μεῖζον ἢ φίλος κακός;
ἀλλὰ πτύσας ὡσεί τε δυσμενῆ μέθες
τὴν παῖδʼ ἐν Ἅιδου τήνδε νυμφεύειν τινί.

## 2. Lines 655–1353

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-antigone/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/sophocles-antigone/2/#p-N

[¶0] For since I caught her alone of all the city in open defiance, I will not make myself a liar to my city. I will kill her. So let her call on Zeus who protects kindred blood. If I am to foster my own kin to spurn order,
surely I will do the same for outsiders. For whoever shows his excellence in the case of his own household will be found righteous in his city as well. But if anyone oversteps and does violence to the laws, or thinks to dictate to those in power,
such a one will never win praise from me. No, whomever the city may appoint, that man must be obeyed in matters small and great and in matters just and unjust. And I would feel confident that such a man would be a fine ruler no less than a good and willing subject,
and that beneath a hail of spears he would stand his ground where posted, a loyal and brave comrade in the battle line. But there is no evil worse than disobedience. This destroys cities; this overturns homes; this breaks
the ranks of allied spears into headlong rout. But the lives of men who prosper upright, of these obedience has saved the greatest part. Therefore we must defend those who respect order, and in no way can we let a woman defeat us. It is better to fall from power, if it is fated, by a man’s hand,
than that we be called weaker than women.

> Greek: ἐπεὶ γὰρ αὐτὴν εἷλον ἐμφανῶς ἐγὼ
πόλεως ἀπιστήσασαν ἐκ πάσης μόνην,
ψευδῆ γʼ ἐμαυτὸν οὐ καταστήσω πόλει,
ἀλλὰ κτενῶ. πρὸς ταῦτʼ ἐφυμνείτω Δία
ξύναιμον. εἰ γὰρ δὴ τά γʼ ἐγγενῆ φύσει
ἄκοσμα θρέψω, κάρτα τοὺς ἔξω γένους
ἐν τοῖς γὰρ οἰκείοισιν ὅστις ἔστʼ ἀνὴρ
χρηστός, φανεῖται κἀν πόλει δίκαιος ὤν.
ὅστις δʼ ὑπερβὰς ἢ νόμους βιάζεται
ἢ τοὐπιτάσσειν τοῖς κρατύνουσιν νοεῖ,
οὐκ ἔστʼ ἐπαίνου τοῦτον ἐξ ἐμοῦ τυχεῖν.
ἀλλʼ ὃν πόλις στήσειε τοῦδε χρὴ κλύειν
καὶ σμικρὰ καὶ δίκαια καὶ τἀναντία.
καὶ τοῦτον ἂν τὸν ἄνδρα θαρσοίην ἐγὼ
καλῶς μὲν ἄρχειν, εὖ δʼ ἂν ἄρχεσθαι θέλειν,
δορός τʼ ἂν ἐν χειμῶνι προστεταγμένον
μένειν δίκαιον κἀγαθὸν παραστάτην.
ἀναρχίας δὲ μεῖζον οὐκ ἔστιν κακόν.
αὕτη πόλεις ὄλλυσιν, ἥδʼ ἀναστάτους
οἴκους τίθησιν, ἥδε συμμάχου δορὸς
τροπὰς καταρρήγνυσι· τῶν δʼ ὀρθουμένων
σῴζει τὰ πολλὰ σώμαθʼ ἡ πειθαρχία.
οὕτως ἀμυντέʼ ἐστὶ τοῖς κοσμουμένοις,
κοὔτοι γυναικὸς οὐδαμῶς ἡσσητέα.
κρεῖσσον γάρ, εἴπερ δεῖ, πρὸς ἀνδρὸς ἐκπεσεῖν,
κοὐκ ἂν γυναικῶν ἥσσονες καλοίμεθʼ ἄν.

[¶1] Chorus:
To us, unless our years have stolen our wit, you seem to say what you say wisely.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἡμῖν μέν, εἰ μὴ τῷ χρόνῳ κεκλέμμεθα,
λέγειν φρονούντως ὧν λέγεις δοκεῖς πέρι.

[¶2] Haemon:
Father, the gods implant reason in men, the highest of all things that we call our own.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
πάτερ, θεοὶ φύουσιν ἀνθρώποις φρένας,
πάντων ὅσʼ ἐστὶ κτημάτων ὑπέρτατον.

[¶3] For my part, to state how you are wrong to say those things is beyond my power and my desire, although another man, too, might have a useful thought. In any case, it is my natural duty to watch on your behalf all that men say, or do, or find to blame.

> Greek: ἐγὼ δʼ ὅπως σὺ μὴ λέγεις ὀρθῶς τάδε,
οὔτʼ ἂν δυναίμην μήτʼ ἐπισταίμην λέγειν.
γένοιτο μέντἂν χἀτέρῳ καλῶς ἔχον.
σοῦ δʼ οὖν πέφυκα πάντα προσκοπεῖν ὅσα
λέγει τις ἢ πράσσει τις ἢ ψέγειν ἔχει.

[¶4] For dread of your glance forbids the ordinary citizen to speak such words as would offend your ear. But I can hear these murmurs in the dark, how the city moans for this girl, saying: “No woman ever merited death less—”
“none ever died so shamefully for deeds so glorious as hers, who, when her own brother had fallen in bloody battle, would not leave him unburied to be devoured by savage dogs, or by any bird. Does she not deserve to receive golden honor?”

> Greek: τὸ γὰρ σὸν ὄμμα δεινὸν ἀνδρὶ δημότῃ
λόγοις τοιούτοις, οἷς σὺ μὴ τέρψει κλύων·
ἐμοὶ δʼ ἀκούειν ἔσθʼ ὑπὸ σκότου τάδε,
τὴν παῖδα ταύτην οἷʼ, ὀδύρεται πόλις,
πασῶν γυναικῶν ὡς ἀναξιωτάτη
κάκιστʼ ἀπʼ ἔργων εὐκλεεστάτων φθίνει.
ἥτις τὸν αὑτῆς αὐτάδελφον ἐν φοναῖς
πεπτῶτʼ ἄθαπτον μήθʼ ὑπʼ ὠμηστῶν κυνῶν
εἴασʼ ὀλέσθαι μήθʼ ὑπʼ οἰωνῶν τινος.
οὐχ ἥδε χρυσῆς ἀξία τιμῆς λαχεῖν;

[¶5] Such is the rumor shrouded in darkness that silently spreads. For me, father, no treasure is more precious than your prosperity. What, indeed, is a nobler ornament for children than the fair fame of a thriving father, or for a father than that of his children?

> Greek: τοιάδʼ ἐρεμνὴ σῖγʼ ἐπέρχεται φάτις.
ἐμοὶ δὲ σοῦ πράσσοντος εὐτυχῶς, πάτερ,
οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν κτῆμα τιμιώτερον,
τί γὰρ πατρὸς θάλλοντος εὐκλείας τέκνοις
ἄγαλμα μεῖζον, ἢ τί πρὸς παίδων πατρί;

[¶6] Do not, then, bear one mood only in yourself: do not think that your word and no other, must be right. For if any man thinks that he alone is wise—that in speech or in mind he has no peer—such a soul, when laid open, is always found empty.

> Greek: μή νυν ἓν ἦθος μοῦνον ἐν σαυτῷ φόρει,
ὡς φὴς σύ, κοὐδὲν ἄλλο, τοῦτʼ ὀρθῶς ἔχειν.
ὅστις γὰρ αὐτὸς ἢ φρονεῖν μόνος δοκεῖ,
ἢ γλῶσσαν, ἣν οὐκ ἄλλος, ἢ ψυχὴν ἔχειν,
οὗτοι διαπτυχθέντες ὤφθησαν κενοί.

[¶7] No, even when a man is wise, it brings him no shame to learn many things, and not to be too rigid. You see how the trees that stand beside the torrential streams created by a winter storm yield to it and save their branches, while the stiff and rigid perish root and all?

> Greek: ἀλλʼ ἄνδρα, κεἴ τις ᾖ σοφός, τὸ μανθάνειν
πόλλʼ, αἰσχρὸν οὐδὲν καὶ τὸ μὴ τείνειν ἄγαν.
ὁρᾷς παρὰ ῥείθροισι χειμάρροις ὅσα
δένδρων ὑπείκει, κλῶνας ὡς ἐκσῴζεται,
τὰ δʼ ἀντιτείνοντʼ αὐτόπρεμνʼ ἀπόλλυται.

[¶8] And in the same way the pilot who keeps the sheet of his sail taut and never slackens it, upsets his boat, and voyages thereafter with his decking underwater. Father, give way and allow a change from your rage. For if even from me, a younger man, a worthy thought may be supplied,
by far the best thing, I believe, would be for men to be all-wise by nature. Otherwise—since most often it does not turn out that way—it is good to learn in addition from those who advise you well.

> Greek: αὕτως δὲ ναὸς ὅστις ἐγκρατῆ πόδα
τείνας ὑπείκει μηδέν, ὑπτίοις κάτω
στρέψας τὸ λοιπὸν σέλμασιν ναυτίλλεται.
ἀλλʼ εἶκε καὶ θυμῷ μετάστασιν δίδου.
γνώμη γὰρ εἴ τις κἀπʼ ἐμοῦ νεωτέρου
πρόσεστι, φήμʼ ἔγωγε πρεσβεύειν πολὺ
φῦναι τὸν ἄνδρα πάντʼ ἐπιστήμης πλέων·
εἰ δʼ οὖν, φιλεῖ γὰρ τοῦτο μὴ ταύτῃ ῥέπειν,
καὶ τῶν λεγόντων εὖ καλὸν τὸ μανθάνειν.

[¶9] Chorus:
My king, it is right, if he speaks something appropriate, that you should learn from him
and that you, in turn, Haemon, should learn from your father. On both sides there have been wise words.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἄναξ, σέ τʼ εἰκός, εἴ τι καίριον λέγει,
μαθεῖν, σέ τʼ αὖ τοῦδʼ· εὖ γὰρ εἴρηται διπλῇ.

[¶10] Creon:
Men of my age—are we, then, to be schooled in wisdom by men of his?

> Greek: Κρέων:
οἱ τηλικοίδε καὶ διδαξόμεσθα δὴ
φρονεῖν ὑπʼ ἀνδρὸς τηλικοῦδε τὴν φύσιν;

[¶11] Haemon:
Not in anything that is not right. But if I am young, you should look to my conduct, not to my years.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
μηδὲν τὸ μὴ δίκαιον· εἰ δʼ ἐγὼ νέος,
οὐ τὸν χρόνον χρὴ μᾶλλον ἢ τἄργα σκοπεῖν.

[¶12] Creon:
Is it worthy conduct to honor disrupters?

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἔργον γάρ ἐστι τοὺς ἀκοσμοῦντας σέβειν;

[¶13] Haemon:
I could not urge anyone to show respect for the wicked.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
οὐδʼ ἂν κελεύσαιμʼ, εὐσεβεῖν εἰς τοὺς κακούς.

[¶14] Creon:
And is she not in the grasp of that disease?

> Greek: Κρέων:
οὐχ ἥδε γὰρ τοιᾷδʼ ἐπείληπται νόσῳ;

[¶15] Haemon:
All the people of this city of Thebes deny it.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
οὔ φησι Θήβης τῆσδʼ ὁμόπτολις λεώς.

[¶16] Creon:
Shall Thebes prescribe to me how I must rule?

> Greek: Κρέων:
πόλις γὰρ ἡμῖν ἁμὲ χρὴ τάσσειν ἐρεῖ;

[¶17] Haemon:
See, there, how you have spoken so much like a child.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
ὁρᾷς τόδʼ ὡς εἴρηκας ὡς ἄγαν νέος;

[¶18] Creon:
Am I to rule this land by the will of another than myself?

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἄλλῳ γὰρ ἢ ʼμοὶ χρή με τῆσδʼ ἄρχειν χθονός;

[¶19] Haemon:
That is no city, which belongs to one man.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
πόλις γὰρ οὐκ ἔσθʼ ἥτις ἀνδρός ἐσθʼ ἑνός.

[¶20] Creon:
Does not the city by tradition belong to the man in power?

> Greek: Κρέων:
οὐ τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἡ πόλις νομίζεται;

[¶21] Haemon:
You would make a fine monarch in a desert.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
καλῶς γʼ ἐρήμης ἂν σὺ γῆς ἄρχοις μόνος.

[¶22] Creon:
This boy seems to be fighting on the side of the woman.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ὅδʼ, ὡς ἔοικε, τῇ γυναικὶ συμμαχεῖ.

[¶23] Haemon:
If you are a woman, for, to be sure, my concern is for you.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
εἴπερ γυνὴ σύ. σοῦ γὰρ οὖν προκήδομαι.

[¶24] Creon:
You traitor, attacking your father, accusing him!

> Greek: Κρέων:
ὦ παγκάκιστε, διὰ δίκης ἰὼν πατρί;

[¶25] Haemon:
Because I see you making a mistake and committing injustice.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
οὐ γὰρ δίκαιά σʼ ἐξαμαρτάνονθʼ ὁρῶ.

[¶26] Creon:
Am I making a mistake when I respect my own prerogatives?

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἁμαρτάνω γὰρ τὰς ἐμὰς ἀρχὰς σέβων;

[¶27] Haemon:
Yes. You do not respect them, when you trample on the gods’ honors.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
οὐ γὰρ σέβεις, τιμάς γε τὰς θεῶν πατῶν.

[¶28] Creon:
Polluted creature, submitting to a woman!

> Greek: Κρέων:
ὦ μιαρὸν ἦθος καὶ γυναικὸς ὕστερον.

[¶29] Haemon:
You will never catch me submitting to shamelessness.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
οὔ τἂν ἕλοις ἥσσω γε τῶν αἰσχρῶν ἐμέ.

[¶30] Creon:
You do. Your every word, after all, pleads her case.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ὁ γοῦν λόγος σοι πᾶς ὑπὲρ κείνης ὅδε.

[¶31] Haemon:
And yours, and mine, and that of gods below.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
καὶ σοῦ γε κἀμοῦ, καὶ θεῶν τῶν νερτέρων.

[¶32] Creon:
You can never marry her, not while she is still alive.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ταύτην ποτʼ οὐκ ἔσθʼ ὡς ἔτι ζῶσαν γαμεῖς.

[¶33] Haemon:
Then she will die, and in death destroy another.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
ἣ δʼ οὖν θανεῖται καὶ θανοῦσʼ ὀλεῖ τινα.

[¶34] Creon:
What! Does your audacity run to open threats?

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἦ κἀπαπειλῶν ὧδʼ ἐπεξέρχει θρασύς;

[¶35] Haemon:
How is it a threat to speak against empty plans?

> Greek: Αἵμων:
τίς δʼ ἔστʼ ἀπειλὴ πρὸς κενὰς γνώμας λέγειν;

[¶36] Creon:
You will regret your unwise instructions in wisdom.

> Greek: Κρέων:
κλαίων φρενώσεις, ὢν φρενῶν αὐτὸς κενός.

[¶37] Haemon:
If you were not my father, I would have called you insane.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
εἰ μὴ πατὴρ ἦσθʼ, εἶπον ἄν σʼ οὐκ εὖ φρονεῖν.

[¶38] Creon:
You woman’s slave, do not try to cajole me.

> Greek: Κρέων:
γυναικὸς ὢν δούλευμα μὴ κώτιλλέ με.

[¶39] Haemon:
Do you want to have your say and then have done without a reply?

> Greek: Αἵμων:
βούλει λέγειν τι καὶ λέγων μηδὲν κλύειν;

[¶40] Creon:
Is that so? By Olympus above—know this well—you will have no joy for taunting me over and above your censures.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἄληθες; ἀλλʼ οὐ τόνδʼ Ὄλυμπον, ἴσθʼ ὅτι,
χαίρων ἐπὶ ψόγοισι δεννάσεις ἐμέ.

[¶41] Bring out that hated thing, so that with him looking on she may die right now in her bridegroom’s presence and at his side!

> Greek: ἄγαγε τὸ μῖσος ὡς κατʼ ὄμματʼ αὐτίκα
παρόντι θνῄσκῃ πλησία τῷ νυμφίῳ.

[¶42] Haemon:
No, not at my side will she die—do not ever imagine it. Nor shall you ever look at me and set eyes on my face again.
Indulge in your madness now with whomever of your friends can endure it. Exit Haemon.

> Greek: Αἵμων:
οὐ δῆτʼ ἔμοιγε, τοῦτο μὴ δόξῃς ποτέ,
οὔθʼ ἥδʼ ὀλεῖται πλησία, σύ τʼ οὐδαμὰ
τοὐμὸν προσόψει κρᾶτʼ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁρῶν,
ὡς τοῖς θέλουσι τῶν φίλων μαίνῃ συνών.

[¶43] Chorus:
The man is gone, King Creon, in anger and haste. A young mind is fierce when stung.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἁνήρ, ἄναξ, βέβηκεν ἐξ ὀργῆς ταχύς·
νοῦς δʼ ἐστὶ τηλικοῦτος ἀλγήσας βαρύς.

[¶44] Creon:
Let him do—no!—let him plan something more immense than befits a man. Farewell to him! Still he will not save these two girls from death.

> Greek: Κρέων:
δράτω· φρονείτω μεῖζον ἢ κατʼ ἄνδρʼ ἰών·
τὼ δʼ οὖν κόρα τώδʼ οὐκ ἀπαλλάξει μόρου.

[¶45] Chorus:
Then the pair of them, you really intend to kill them both?

> Greek: Χορός:
ἄμφω γὰρ αὐτὼ καὶ κατακτεῖναι νοεῖς;

[¶46] Creon:
Not the one who did not put her hands to the burial. You are right.

> Greek: Κρέων:
οὐ τήν γε μὴ θιγοῦσαν· εὖ γὰρ οὖν λέγεις.

[¶47] Chorus:
And by what mode of death do you mean to kill the other?

> Greek: Χορός:
μόρῳ δὲ ποίῳ καί σφε βουλεύει κτανεῖν;

[¶48] Creon:
I will take her where the path is deserted, unvisited by men, and entomb her alive in a rocky vault,
setting out a ration of food, but only as much as piety requires so that all the city may escape defilement. And praying there to Hades, the only god she worships, perhaps she will obtain immunity from death, or else will learn, at last, even this late,
that it is fruitless labor to revere the dead. Exit Creon.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἄγων ἔρημος ἔνθʼ ἂν ᾖ βροτῶν στίβος
κρύψω πετρώδει ζῶσαν ἐν κατώρυχι,
φορβῆς τοσοῦτον ὡς ἄγος μόνον προθείς,
ὅπως μίασμα πᾶσʼ ὑπεκφύγῃ πόλις.
κἀκεῖ τὸν Ἅιδην, ὃν μόνον σέβει θεῶν,
αἰτουμένη που τεύξεται τὸ μὴ θανεῖν,
ἢ γνώσεται γοῦν ἀλλὰ τηνικαῦθʼ ὅτι
πόνος περισσός ἐστι τἀν Ἅιδου σέβειν.

[¶49] Chorus:
Love, the unconquered in battle, Love, you who descend upon riches, and watch the night through on a girl’s soft cheek,
you roam over the sea and among the homes of men in the wilds. Neither can any immortal escape you,
nor any man whose life lasts for a day. He who has known you is driven to madness.

> Greek: Χορός:
Ἔρως ἀνίκατε μάχαν, Ἔρως, ὃς ἐν κτήμασι πίπτεις,
ὃς ἐν μαλακαῖς παρειαῖς νεάνιδος ἐννυχεύεις,
φοιτᾷς δʼ ὑπερπόντιος ἔν τʼ ἀγρονόμοις αὐλαῖς·
καί σʼ οὔτʼ ἀθανάτων φύξιμος οὐδεὶς
οὔθʼ ἁμερίων σέ γʼ ἀνθρώπων. ὁ δʼ ἔχων μέμηνεν.

[¶50] Chorus:
You seize the minds of just men and drag them to injustice, to their ruin. You it is who have incited this conflict of men whose flesh and blood are one.

> Greek: Χορός:
σὺ καὶ δικαίων ἀδίκους φρένας παρασπᾷς ἐπὶ λώβᾳ,
σὺ καὶ τόδε νεῖκος ἀνδρῶν ξύναιμον ἔχεις ταράξας·

[¶51] But victory belongs to radiant Desire swelling from the eyes of the sweet-bedded bride. Desire sits enthroned in power beside the mighty laws.
For in all this divine Aphrodite plays her irresistible game.
Enter Antigone under guard from the palace.

> Greek: νικᾷ δʼ ἐναργὴς βλεφάρων ἵμερος εὐλέκτρου
νύμφας, τῶν μεγάλων πάρεδρος ἐν ἀρχαῖς
θεσμῶν. ἄμαχος γὰρ ἐμπαίζει θεὸς Ἀφροδίτα.

[¶52] Chorus:
But now, witnessing this, I too am carried beyond the bounds of loyalty. The power fails me to keep back my streaming tears any longer, when I see Antigone making her way to the chamber where all are laid to rest,
now her bridal chamber.

> Greek: Χορός:
νῦν δʼ ἤδη ʼγὼ καὐτὸς θεσμῶν
ἔξω φέρομαι τάδʼ ὁρῶν ἴσχειν δʼ
οὐκέτι πηγὰς δύναμαι δακρύων,
τὸν παγκοίτην ὅθʼ ὁρῶ θάλαμον
τήνδʼ Ἀντιγόνην ἀνύτουσαν.

[¶53] Antigone:
Citizens of my fatherland, see me setting out on my last journey, looking at my last sunlight,
and never again. No, Hades who lays all to rest leads me living to Acheron’s shore, though I have not had my due portion of the chant that brings the bride, nor has any hymn been mine
for the crowning of marriage. Instead the lord of Acheron will be my groom.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ὁρᾶτʼ ἔμʼ, ὦ γᾶς πατρίας πολῖται, τὰν νεάταν ὁδὸν
στείχουσαν, νέατον δὲ φέγγος λεύσσουσαν ἀελίου,
κοὔποτʼ αὖθις. ἀλλά μʼ ὁ παγκοίτας Ἅιδας ζῶσαν ἄγει
τὰν Ἀχέροντος
ἀκτάν, οὔθʼ ὑμεναίων ἔγκληρον, οὔτʼ ἐπινύμφειός
πώ μέ τις ὕμνος ὕμνησεν, ἀλλʼ Ἀχέροντι νυμφεύσω.

[¶54] Chorus:
Then in glory and with praise you depart to that deep place of the dead, neither struck by wasting sickness,
nor having won the wages of the sword. No, guided by your own laws and still alive, unlike any mortal before, you will descend to Hades.

> Greek: Χορός:
οὐκοῦν κλεινὴ καὶ ἔπαινον ἔχουσʼ
ἐς τόδʼ ἀπέρχει κεῦθος νεκύων,
οὔτε φθινάσιν πληγεῖσα νόσοις
οὔτε ξιφέων ἐπίχειρα λαχοῦσʼ,
ἀλλʼ αὐτόνομος ζῶσα μόνη δὴ
θνητῶν Ἅιδην καταβήσει.

[¶55] Antigone:
I have heard with my own ears how our Phrygian guest, the daughter of Tantalus, perished
in so much suffering on steep Sipylus—how, like clinging ivy, the sprouting stone subdued her. And the rains, as men tell, do not leave her melting form, nor does the snow,
but beneath her weeping lids she dampens her collar. Most like hers is the god-sent fate that leads me to my rest.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ἤκουσα δὴ λυγροτάταν ὀλέσθαι τὰν Φρυγίαν ξέναν
Ταντάλου Σιπύλῳ πρὸς ἄκρῳ, τὰν κισσὸς ὡς ἀτενὴς
πετραία βλάστα δάμασεν, καί νιν ὄμβροι τακομέναν,
ὡς φάτις ἀνδρῶν,
χιών τʼ οὐδαμὰ λείπει, τέγγει δʼ ὑπʼ ὀφρύσι παγκλαύτοις
δειράδας· ᾇ με δαίμων ὁμοιοτάταν κατευνάζει.

[¶56] Chorus:
Yet she was a goddess, as you know, and the offspring of gods,
while we are mortals and mortal-born. Still it is a great thing for a woman who has died to have it said of her that she shared the lot of the godlike in her life, and afterwards, in death.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἀλλὰ θεός τοι καὶ θεογεννής,
ἡμεῖς δὲ βροτοὶ καὶ θνητογενεῖς.
καίτοι φθιμένῃ μέγα κἀκοῦσαι
τοῖς ἰσοθέοις σύγκληρα λαχεῖν.
ζῶσαν καὶ ἔπειτα θανοῦσαν.

[¶57] Antigone:
Ah, you mock me! In the name of our fathers’ gods,
why do you not wait to abuse me until after I have gone, and not to my face, O my city, and you, her wealthy citizens? Ah, spring of Dirce, and you holy ground of Thebes whose chariots are many,
you, at least, will bear me witness how unwept by loved ones, and by what laws I go to the rock-closed prison of my unheard-of tomb! Ah, misery!

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
οἴμοι γελῶμαι. τί με, πρὸς θεῶν πατρῴων.
οὐκ οἰχομέναν ὑβρίζεις, ἀλλʼ ἐπίφαντον;
ὦ πόλις, ὦ πόλεως πολυκτήμονες ἄνδρες·
ἰὼ Διρκαῖαι κρῆναι
Θήβας τʼ εὐαρμάτου ἄλσος, ἔμπας ξυμμάρτυρας ὔμμʼ ἐπικτῶμαι,
οἵα φίλων ἄκλαυτος, οἵοις νόμοις
πρὸς ἕργμα τυμβόχωστον ἔρχομαι τάφου ποταινίου·

[¶58] I have no home among men or with the shades, no home with the living or with the dead.

> Greek: ἰὼ δύστανος, βροτοῖς οὔτε νεκροῖς κυροῦσα
μέτοικος οὐ ζῶσιν, οὐ θανοῦσιν.

[¶59] Chorus:
You have rushed headlong to the far limits of daring, and against the high throne of Justice
you have fallen, my daughter, fallen heavily. But in this ordeal you are paying for some paternal crime.

> Greek: Χορός:
προβᾶσʼ ἐπʼ ἔσχατον θράσους
ὑψηλὸν ἐς Δίκας βάθρον
προσέπεσες, ὦ τέκνον, πολύ·
πατρῷον δʼ ἐκτίνεις τινʼ ἆθλον.

[¶60] Antigone:
You have touched on my most bitter thought
and moved my ever-renewed pity for my father and for the entire doom ordained for us, the famed house of Labdacus. Oh, the horrors of our mother’s bed! Oh, the slumbers of the wretched mother at the side
of her own son, my own father! What manner of parents gave me my miserable being! It is to them that I go like this, accursed and unwed, to share their home.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ἔψαυσας ἀλγεινοτάτας ἐμοὶ μερίμνας,
πατρὸς τριπόλιστον οἶκτον τοῦ τε πρόπαντος
ἁμετέρου πότμου κλεινοῖς Λαβδακίδαισιν.
ἰὼ ματρῷαι λέκτρων
ἆται κοιμήματά τʼ αὐτογέννητʼ ἐμῷ πατρὶ δυσμόρου ματρός,
οἵων ἐγώ ποθʼ ἁ ταλαίφρων ἔφυν·
πρὸς οὓς ἀραῖος ἄγαμος ἅδʼ ἐγὼ μέτοικος ἔρχομαι.

[¶61] Ah, my brother, the marriage you made was doomed, and by dying you killed me still alive!

> Greek: ἰὼ δυσπότμων κασίγνητε γάμων κυρήσας,
θανὼν ἔτʼ οὖσαν κατήναρές με.

[¶62] Chorus:
Your pious action shows a certain reverence, but an offence against power can no way be tolerated by him who has power in his keeping.

> Greek: Χορός:
σέβειν μὲν εὐσέβειά τις,
κράτος δʼ ὅτῳ κράτος μέλει
παραβατὸν οὐδαμᾷ πέλει·

[¶63] Your self-willed disposition is what has destroyed you.

> Greek: σὲ δʼ αὐτόγνωτος ὤλεσʼ ὀργά.

[¶64] Antigone:
Unwept, unfriended, without marriage-song, I am led in misery on this journey that cannot be put off. No longer is it permitted me, unhappy girl,
to look up at this sacred eye of the burning sun. But for my fate no tear is shed, no friend moans in sorrow.
Enter Creon.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ἄκλαυτος, ἄφιλος, ἀνυμέναιος ταλαίφρων ἄγομαι
τὰν πυμάταν ὁδόν. οὐκέτι μοι τόδε
λαμπάδος ἱερὸν ὄμμα
θέμις ὁρᾶν ταλαίνᾳ.
τὸν δʼ ἐμὸν πότμον ἀδάκρυτον
οὐδεὶς φίλων στενάζει.

[¶65] Creon:
Do you not know that dirges and wailing before death would never be given up, if it were allowed to make them freely?

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἆρʼ ἴστʼ, ἀοιδὰς καὶ γόους πρὸ τοῦ θανεῖν
ὡς οὐδʼ ἂν εἷς παύσαιτʼ ἄν, εἰ χρείη λέγειν;

[¶66] Take her away—now! And when you have enshrouded her, as I proclaimed, in her covered tomb, leave her alone, deserted—let her decide whether she wishes to die or to live entombed in such a home. It makes no difference, since our hands are clean so far as regards this girl.
But no matter what, she will be stripped of her home here above.

> Greek: οὐκ ἄξεθʼ ὡς τάχιστα; καὶ κατηρεφεῖ
τύμβῳ περιπτύξαντες, ὡς εἴρηκʼ ἐγώ,
ἄφετε μόνην ἔρημον, εἴτε χρῇ θανεῖν
εἴτʼ ἐν τοιαύτῃ ζῶσα τυμβεύειν στέγῃ·
ἡμεῖς γὰρ ἁγνοὶ τοὐπὶ τήνδε τὴν κόρην·
μετοικίας δʼ οὖν τῆς ἄνω στερήσεται.

[¶67] Antigone:
Tomb, bridal-chamber, deep-dug eternal prison where I go to find my own, whom in the greatest numbers destruction has seized and Persephone has welcomed among the dead!

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ὦ τύμβος, ὦ νυμφεῖον, ὦ κατασκαφὴς
οἴκησις ἀείφρουρος, οἷ πορεύομαι
πρὸς τοὺς ἐμαυτῆς, ὧν ἀριθμὸν ἐν νεκροῖς
πλεῖστον δέδεκται Φερσέφασσʼ ὀλωλότων·

[¶68] Last of them all and in by far the most shameful circumstances, I will descend, even before the fated term of my life is spent. But I cherish strong hopes that I will arrive welcome to my father, and pleasant to you, Mother, and welcome, dear brother, to you.

> Greek: ὧν λοισθία ʼγὼ καὶ κάκιστα δὴ μακρῷ
κάτειμι, πρίν μοι μοῖραν ἐξήκειν βίου.
ἐλθοῦσα μέντοι κάρτʼ ἐν ἐλπίσιν τρέφω
φίλη μὲν ἥξειν πατρί, προσφιλὴς δὲ σοί,
μῆτερ, φίλη δὲ σοί, κασίγνητον κάρα·

[¶69] For, when each of you died, with my own hands I washed and dressed you and poured drink-offerings at your graves. But now, Polyneices, it is for tending your corpse that I win such reward as this. [And yet I honored you rightly, as the wise understand.]

> Greek: ἐπεὶ θανόντας αὐτόχειρ ὑμᾶς ἐγὼ
ἔλουσα κἀκόσμησα κἀπιτυμβίους
χοὰς ἔδωκα. νῦν δέ, Πολύνεικες, τὸ σὸν
δέμας περιστέλλουσα τοιάδʼ ἄρνυμαι.
καίτοι σʼ ἐγὼ ʼτίμησα τοῖς φρονοῦσιν εὖ.

[¶70] [Never, if I had been a mother of children, or if a husband had been rotting after death, would I have taken that burden upon myself in violation of the citizens’ will. For the sake of what law, you ask, do I say that? A husband lost, another might have been found, ]
[and if bereft of a child, there could be a second from some other man. But when father and mother are hidden in Hades, no brother could ever bloom for me again. Such was the law whereby I held you first in honor, but for that Creon judged me guilty of wrongdoing]
[and of dreadful outrage, dear brother! And now he leads me thus in his hands’ strong grasp, when I have enjoyed no marriage bed or bridal song and have not received any portion of marriage or the nurture of children. But deserted by friends, ]
[in misery I go living to the hollow graves of the dead.] What law of the gods have I transgressed? Why should I look to the gods anymore? What ally should I call out to, when by my reverence I have earned a name for irreverence?

> Greek: οὐ γάρ ποτʼ οὔτʼ ἄν, εἰ τέκνων μήτηρ ἔφυν,
οὔτʼ εἰ πόσις μοι κατθανὼν ἐτήκετο,
βίᾳ πολιτῶν τόνδʼ ἂν ᾐρόμην πόνον.
τίνος νόμου δὴ ταῦτα πρὸς χάριν λέγω;
πόσις μὲν ἄν μοι κατθανόντος ἄλλος ἦν,
καὶ παῖς ἀπʼ ἄλλου φωτός, εἰ τοῦδʼ ἤμπλακον,
μητρὸς δʼ ἐν Ἅιδου καὶ πατρὸς κεκευθότοιν
οὐκ ἔστʼ ἀδελφὸς ὅστις ἂν βλάστοι ποτέ.
τοιῷδε μέντοι σʼ ἐκπροτιμήσασʼ ἐγὼ
νόμῳ Κρέοντι ταῦτʼ ἔδοξʼ ἁμαρτάνειν
καὶ δεινὰ τολμᾶν, ὦ κασίγνητον κάρα.
καὶ νῦν ἄγει με διὰ χερῶν οὕτω λαβὼν
ἄλεκτρον, ἀνυμέναιον, οὔτε του γάμου
μέρος λαχοῦσαν οὔτε παιδείου τροφῆς,
ἀλλʼ ὧδʼ ἔρημος πρὸς φίλων ἡ δύσμορος
ζῶσʼ εἰς θανόντων ἔρχομαι κατασκαφάς.
ποίαν παρεξελθοῦσα δαιμόνων δίκην;
τί χρή με τὴν δύστηνον ἐς θεοὺς ἔτι
βλέπειν; τίνʼ αὐδᾶν ξυμμάχων; ἐπεί γε δὴ
τὴν δυσσέβειαν εὐσεβοῦσʼ ἐκτησάμην.

[¶71] Well, then, if these events please the gods, once I have suffered my doom I will come to know my guilt. But if the guilt lies with my judges, I could wish for them no greater evils than they inflict unjustly on me.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ εἰ μὲν οὖν τάδʼ ἐστὶν ἐν θεοῖς καλά,
παθόντες ἂν ξυγγνοῖμεν ἡμαρτηκότες·
εἰ δʼ οἵδʼ ἁμαρτάνουσι, μὴ πλείω κακὰ
πάθοιεν ἢ καὶ δρῶσιν ἐκδίκως ἐμέ.

[¶72] Chorus:
Still the same tempest of the soul
grips this girl with the same fierce gusts.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἔτι τῶν αὐτῶν ἀνέμων αὑταὶ
ψυχῆς ῥιπαὶ τήνδε γʼ ἔχουσιν.

[¶73] Creon:
Then because of this her guards will have reason to lament their slowness.

> Greek: Κρέων:
τοιγὰρ τούτων τοῖσιν ἄγουσιν
κλαύμαθʼ ὑπάρξει βραδυτῆτος ὕπερ.

[¶74] Antigone:
Ah, no! That command verges close on death.

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
οἴμοι, θανάτου τοῦτʼ ἐγγυτάτω
τοὔπος ἀφῖκται.

[¶75] Creon:
I cannot console you with any hope that your doom is not to be fulfilled in that way.

> Greek: Χορός:
θαρσεῖν οὐδὲν παραμυθοῦμαι
μὴ οὐ τάδε ταύτῃ κατακυροῦσθαι.

[¶76] Antigone:
O city of my fathers, land of Thebes, and you gods, our ancestors! I am led away now; there is no more delay!

> Greek: Ἀντιγόνη:
ὦ γῆς Θήβης ἄστυ πατρῷον
καὶ θεοὶ προγενεῖς,
ἄγομαι δὴ κοὐκέτι μέλλω.

[¶77] Look at me, you who are Thebes’ lords—look at the only remaining daughter of the house of your kings. See what I suffer, and at whose hands, because I revered reverence! Antigone is led away by the guards.

> Greek: λεύσσετε, Θήβης οἱ κοιρανίδαι
τὴν βασιλειδᾶν μούνην λοιπήν,
οἷα πρὸς οἵων ἀνδρῶν πάσχω,
τὴν εὐσεβίαν σεβίσασα.

[¶78] Chorus:
So too endured Danae in her beauty to change
the light of the sky for brass-bound walls, and in that chamber, both burial and bridal, she was held in strict confinement. And yet was she of esteemed lineage, my daughter,
and guarded a deposit of the seed of Zeus that had fallen in a golden rain. But dreadful is the mysterious power of fate—there is no deliverance from it by wealth or by war, by towered city, or dark, sea-beaten ships.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἔτλα καὶ Δανάας οὐράνιον φῶς
ἀλλάξαι δέμας ἐν χαλκοδέτοις αὐλαῖς·
κρυπτομένα δʼ ἐν τυμβήρει θαλάμῳ κατεζεύχθη·
καίτοι καὶ γενεᾷ τίμιος, ὦ παῖ παῖ,
καὶ Ζηνὸς ταμιεύεσκε γονὰς χρυσορύτους.
ἀλλʼ ἁ μοιριδία τις δύνασις δεινά·
οὔτʼ ἄν νιν ὄλβος οὔτʼ Ἄρης, οὐ πύργος, οὐχ ἁλίκτυποι
κελαιναὶ νᾶες ἐκφύγοιεν.

[¶79] Chorus:
And Dryas’s son, the Edonian king swift to rage, was tamed in recompense for his frenzied insults, when, by the will of Dionysus, he was shut in a rocky prison. There the fierce and swelling force of his madness trickled away.
That man came to know the god whom in his frenzy he had provoked with mockeries. For he had sought to quell the god-inspired women and the Bacchanalian fire,
and he angered the Muses who love the flute.

> Greek: Χορός:
ζεύχθη δʼ ὀξύχολος παῖς ὁ Δρύαντος,
Ἠδωνῶν βασιλεύς, κερτομίοις ὀργαῖς
ἐκ Διονύσου πετρώδει κατάφαρκτος ἐν δεσμῷ.
οὕτω τᾶς μανίας δεινὸν ἀποστάζει
ἀνθηρόν τε μένος. κεῖνος ἐπέγνω μανίαις
ψαύων τὸν θεὸν ἐν κερτομίοις γλώσσαις.
παύεσκε μὲν γὰρ ἐνθέους γυναῖκας εὔιόν τε πῦρ,
φιλαύλους τʼ ἠρέθιζε Μούσας.

[¶80] Chorus:
And by the waters of the Dark Rocks, the waters of the twofold sea, are the shores of Bosporus and the Thracian city Salmydessus,
where Ares, neighbor of that city, saw the accursed, blinding wound inflicted on the two sons of Phineus by his savage wife. It was a wound that brought darkness to the hollows, making them crave vengeance
for the eyes she crushed with her bloody hands and with her shuttle for a dagger.

> Greek: Χορός:
παρὰ δὲ Κυανεᾶν πελάγει διδύμας ἁλὸς
ἀκταὶ Βοσπόριαι ἠδʼ ὁ Θρῃκῶν ⟨ἄξενος⟩
Σαλμυδησσός, ἵνʼ ἀγχίπτολις Ἄρης
δισσοῖσι Φινεΐδαις
εἶδεν ἀρατὸν ἕλκος
τυφλωθὲν ἐξ ἀγρίας δάμαρτος
ἀλαὸν ἀλαστόροισιν ὀμμάτων κύκλοις
ἀραχθέντων, ὑφʼ αἱματηραῖς
χείρεσσι καὶ κερκίδων ἀκμαῖσιν.

[¶81] Chorus:
Wasting away in their misery, they bewailed their miserable suffering
and their birth from their mother stripped of her marriage. But she traced her descent from the ancient line of the Erechtheids, and in far-distant caves she was raised amidst her father’s gusts. She was the child of Boreas,
running swift as horses over the steep hills, a daughter of gods. Yet she, too, was assailed by the long-lived Fates, my child.
Enter Teiresias, led by a boy, on the spectators’ right.

> Greek: Χορός:
κατὰ δὲ τακόμενοι μέλεοι μελέαν πάθαν
κλαῖον, ματρὸς ἔχοντες ἀνύμφευτον γονάν·
ἁ δὲ σπέρμα μὲν ἀρχαιογόνων
ἄντασʼ Ἐρεχθεϊδᾶν,
τηλεπόροις δʼ ἐν ἄντροις
τράφη θυέλλαισιν ἐν πατρῴαις
Βορεὰς ἅμιππος ὀρθόποδος ὑπὲρ πάγου
θεῶν παῖς. ἀλλὰ κἀπʼ ἐκείνᾳ
Μοῖραι μακραίωνες ἔσχον, ὦ παῖ.

[¶82] Teiresias:
Princes of Thebes, we have come on a shared journey, two scouting the way by the eyes of one.
For this is the method of travel for the blind, using a guide.

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
Θήβης ἄνακτες, ἥκομεν κοινὴν ὁδὸν
δύʼ ἐξ ἑνὸς βλέποντε· τοῖς τυφλοῖσι γὰρ
αὕτη κέλευθος ἐκ προηγητοῦ πέλει.

[¶83] Creon:
What is it, old Teiresias? What is your news?

> Greek: Κρέων:
τί δʼ ἔστιν, ὦ γεραιὲ Τειρεσία, νέον;

[¶84] Teiresias:
I will tell you. You, obey the seer.

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
ἐγὼ διδάξω, καὶ σὺ τῷ μάντει πιθοῦ.

[¶85] Creon:
It was not my habit before, at any rate, to stand apart from your will.

> Greek: Κρέων:
οὔκουν πάρος γε σῆς ἀπεστάτουν φρενός.

[¶86] Teiresias:
Therefore you captained this city on an upright course.

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
τοιγὰρ διʼ ὀρθῆς τήνδʼ ἐναυκλήρεις πόλιν.

[¶87] Creon:
I have felt and can attest your benefits.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἔχω πεπονθὼς μαρτυρεῖν ὀνήσιμα.

[¶88] Teiresias:
Realize that once more now you are poised on fortune’s razor-edge.

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
φρόνει βεβὼς αὖ νῦν ἐπὶ ξυροῦ τύχης.

[¶89] Creon:
What do you mean? I shudder to hear you!

> Greek: Κρέων:
τί δʼ ἔστιν; ὡς ἐγὼ τὸ σὸν φρίσσω στόμα.

[¶90] Teiresias:
You will understand, when you hear the signs revealed by my art. As I took my place on my old seat of augury
where all birds regularly gather for me, I heard an unintelligible voice among them: they were screaming in dire frenzy that made their language foreign to me. I realized that they were ripping each other with their talons, murderously—the rush of their wings did not lack meaning.

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
γνώσει, τέχνης σημεῖα τῆς ἐμῆς κλύων.
εἰς γὰρ παλαιὸν θᾶκον ὀρνιθοσκόπον
ἵζων, ἵνʼ ἦν μοι παντὸς οἰωνοῦ λιμήν,
ἀγνῶτʼ ἀκούω φθόγγον ὀρνίθων, κακῷ
κλάζοντας οἴστρῳ καὶ βεβαρβαρωμένῳ.
καὶ σπῶντας ἐν χηλαῖσιν ἀλλήλους φοναῖς
ἔγνων· πτερῶν γὰρ ῥοῖβδος οὐκ ἄσημος ἦν.

[¶91] Quickly, in fear, I tried burnt-sacrifice on a duly-kindled altar, but from my offerings Hephaestus did not blaze. Instead juice that had sweated from the thigh-flesh trickled out onto the embers and smoked and sputtered;
the gall was scattered high up in the air; and the streaming thighs lay bared of the fat that had been wrapped around them. Such was the failure of the rites that yielded no sign, as I learned from this boy. For he is my guide, as I am guide to others.

> Greek: εὐθὺς δὲ δείσας ἐμπύρων ἐγευόμην
βωμοῖσι παμφλέκτοισιν· ἐκ δὲ θυμάτων
Ἥφαιστος οὐκ ἔλαμπεν, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ σποδῷ
μυδῶσα κηκὶς μηρίων ἐτήκετο
κἄτυφε κἀνέπτυε, καὶ μετάρσιοι
χολαὶ διεσπείροντο, καὶ καταρρυεῖς
μηροὶ καλυπτῆς ἐξέκειντο πιμελῆς.
τοιαῦτα παιδὸς τοῦδʼ ἐμάνθανον πάρα,
φθίνοντʼ ἀσήμων ὀργίων μαντεύματα.
ἐμοὶ γὰρ οὗτος ἡγεμών, ἄλλοις δʼ ἐγώ.

[¶92] And it is your will that is the source of the sickness now afflicting the city. For the altars of our city and our hearths have one and all been tainted by the birds and dogs with the carrion taken from the sadly fallen son of Oedipus. And so the gods no more accept prayer and sacrifice at our hands,
or the burning of thigh-meat, nor does any bird sound out clear signs in its shrill cries, for they have tasted the fatness of a slain man’s blood. Think, therefore, on these things, my son. All men are liable to err.

> Greek: καὶ ταῦτα τῆς σῆς ἐκ φρενὸς νοσεῖ πόλις.
βωμοὶ γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐσχάραι τε παντελεῖς
πλήρεις ὑπʼ οἰωνῶν τε καὶ κυνῶν βορᾶς
τοῦ δυσμόρου πεπτῶτος Οἰδίπου γόνου.
κᾆτʼ οὐ δέχονται θυστάδας λιτὰς ἔτι
θεοὶ παρʼ ἡμῶν οὐδὲ μηρίων φλόγα,
οὐδʼ ὄρνις εὐσήμους ἀπορροιβδεῖ βοάς
ἀνδροφθόρου βεβρῶτες αἵματος λίπος.
ταῦτʼ οὖν, τέκνον, φρόνησον. ἀνθρώποισι γὰρ
τοῖς πᾶσι κοινόν ἐστι τοὐξαμαρτάνειν·

[¶93] But when an error is made, that man is no longer unwise or unblessed who heals the evil into which he has fallen and does not remain stubborn. Self-will, we know, invites the charge of foolishness. Concede the claim of the dead. Do not kick at the fallen.
What prowess is it to kill the dead all over again? I have considered for your good, and what I advise is good. The sweetest thing is to learn from a good advisor when his advice is to your profit.

> Greek: ἐπεὶ δʼ ἁμάρτῃ, κεῖνος οὐκέτʼ ἔστʼ ἀνὴρ
ἄβουλος οὐδʼ ἄνολβος, ὅστις ἐς κακὸν
πεσὼν ἀκῆται μηδʼ ἀκίνητος πέλῃ.
αὐθαδία τοι σκαιότητʼ ὀφλισκάνει.
ἀλλʼ εἶκε τῷ θανόντι μηδʼ ὀλωλότα
κέντει· τίς ἀλκὴ τὸν θανόντʼ ἐπικτανεῖν;
εὖ σοι φρονήσας εὖ λέγω. τὸ μανθάνειν δʼ
ἥδιστον εὖ λέγοντος, εἰ κέρδος λέγοι.

[¶94] Creon:
Old man, you all shoot your arrows at me, like archers at their mark, and I am not safe
even from the plottings of the seer’s divine art, but by their tribe I have long been bought and sold and made their merchandise. Turn your profits, make your deals for the white gold of Sardis and the gold of India, if it pleases you, but you shall not cover that man with a grave,
not even if the eagles of Zeus wish to snatch and carry him to be devoured at the god’s throne. No, not even then, for fear of that defilement will I permit his burial, since I know with certainty that no mortal has the power to defile the gods.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ὦ πρέσβυ, πάντες ὥστε τοξόται σκοποῦ
τοξεύετʼ ἀνδρὸς τοῦδε, κοὐδὲ μαντικῆς
ἄπρακτος ὑμῖν εἰμι· τῶν δʼ ὑπαὶ γένους
ἐξημπόλημαι κἀμπεφόρτισμαι πάλαι.
κερδαίνετʼ, ἐμπολᾶτε τἀπὸ Σάρδεων
ἤλεκτρον, εἰ βούλεσθε, καὶ τὸν Ἰνδικὸν
χρυσόν· τάφῳ δʼ ἐκεῖνον οὐχὶ κρύψετε,
οὐδʼ εἰ θέλουσʼ οἱ Ζηνὸς αἰετοὶ βορὰν
φέρειν νιν ἁρπάζοντες ἐς Διὸς θρόνους,
οὐδʼ ὣς μίασμα τοῦτο μὴ τρέσας ἐγὼ
θάπτειν παρήσω κεῖνον· εὖ γὰρ οἶδʼ ὅτι
θεοὺς μιαίνειν οὔτις ἀνθρώπων σθένει.

[¶95] But even the exceedingly clever, old Teiresias, falls with a shameful fall, when they couch shameful thoughts in fine phrasing for profit’s sake.

> Greek: πίπτουσι δʼ, ὦ γεραιὲ Τειρεσία, βροτῶν
χοἰ πολλὰ δεινοὶ πτώματʼ αἴσχρʼ, ὅταν λόγους
αἰσχροὺς καλῶς λέγωσι τοῦ κέρδους χάριν.

[¶96] Teiresias:
Alas! Does any man know, does any consider—

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
φεῦ.
ἆρʼ οἶδεν ἀνθρώπων τις, ἆρα φράζεται,

[¶97] Creon:
What is this? What universal truth are you announcing?

> Greek: Κρέων:
τί χρῆμα; ποῖον τοῦτο πάγκοινον λέγεις;

[¶98] Teiresias:
—by how much the most precious of our possessions is the power to reason wisely?

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
ὅσῳ κράτιστον κτημάτων εὐβουλία;

[¶99] Creon:
By as much, I think, as senselessness is the greatest affliction.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ὅσῳπερ, οἶμαι, μὴ φρονεῖν πλείστη βλάβη.

[¶100] Teiresias:
Yet you came into being full of that disease.

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
ταύτης σὺ μέντοι τῆς νόσου πλήρης ἔφυς.

[¶101] Creon:
I have no desire to trade insults with the seer.

> Greek: Κρέων:
οὐ βούλομαι τὸν μάντιν ἀντειπεῖν κακῶς.

[¶102] Teiresias:
Yet that is what you do in saying that I prophesy falsely.

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
καὶ μὴν λέγεις, ψευδῆ με θεσπίζειν λέγων.

[¶103] Creon:
Yes, for the prophet-clan was ever fond of money.

> Greek: Κρέων:
τὸ μαντικὸν γὰρ πᾶν φιλάργυρον γένος.

[¶104] Teiresias:
And the race sprung from tyrants loves shameful gain.

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
τὸ δʼ ἐκ τυράννων αἰσχροκέρδειαν φιλεῖ.

[¶105] Creon:
Do you know that you ramble so about your king?

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἆρʼ οἶσθα ταγοὺς ὄντας ἃν λέγῃς λέγων;

[¶106] Teiresias:
I am aware, since through me you have saved this city.

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
οἶδʼ· ἐξ ἐμοῦ γὰρ τήνδʼ ἔχεις σώσας πόλιν.

[¶107] Creon:
You are a wise seer, but fond of doing injustice.

> Greek: Κρέων:
σοφὸς σὺ μάντις, ἀλλὰ τἀδικεῖν φιλῶν.

[¶108] Teiresias:
You will stir me to utter the dire secret in my soul.

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
ὄρσεις με τἀκίνητα διὰ φρενῶν φράσαι.

[¶109] Creon:
Out with it! But only if it is not for gain that you speak it.

> Greek: Κρέων:
κίνει, μόνον δὲ μὴ ʼπὶ κέρδεσιν λέγων.

[¶110] Teiresias:
Indeed, I think I speak without mention of gain—where you are concerned.

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
οὕτω γὰρ ἤδη καὶ δοκῶ τὸ σὸν μέρος.

[¶111] Creon:
Be certain that you will not trade in my will.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ὡς μὴ ʼμπολήσων ἴσθι τὴν ἐμὴν φρένα.

[¶112] Teiresias:
Then know, yes, know it well! You will not live through many more
courses of the sun’s swift chariot, before you will give in return one sprung from your own loins, a corpse in requital for corpses. For you have thrust below one of those of the upper air and irreverently lodged a living soul in the grave,
while you detain in this world that which belongs to the infernal gods, a corpse unburied, unmourned, unholy. In the dead you have no part, nor do the gods above, but in this you do them violence. For these crimes the avenging destroyers,
the Furies of Hades and of the gods, lie in ambush for you, waiting to seize you in these same sufferings. And look closely if I tell you this with a silvered palm. A time not long to be delayed will reveal in your house wailing over men and over women.

> Greek: Τειρεσίας:
ἀλλʼ εὖ γέ τοι κάτισθι μὴ πολλοὺς ἔτι
τρόχους ἁμιλλητῆρας ἡλίου τελεῖν,
ἐν οἷσι τῶν σῶν αὐτὸς ἐκ σπλάγχνων ἕνα
νέκυν νεκρῶν ἀμοιβὸν ἀντιδοὺς ἔσει,
ἀνθʼ ὧν ἔχεις μὲν τῶν ἄνω βαλὼν κάτω
ψυχήν τʼ ἀτίμως ἐν τάφῳ κατῴκισας,
ἔχεις δὲ τῶν κάτωθεν ἐνθάδʼ αὖ θεῶν
ἄμοιρον, ἀκτέριστον, ἀνόσιον νέκυν.
ὧν οὔτε σοὶ μέτεστιν οὔτε τοῖς ἄνω
θεοῖσιν, ἀλλʼ ἐκ σοῦ βιάζονται τάδε.
τούτων σε λωβητῆρες ὑστεροφθόροι
λοχῶσιν Ἅιδου καὶ θεῶν Ἐρινύες,
ἐν τοῖσιν αὐτοῖς τοῖσδε ληφθῆναι κακοῖς.
καὶ ταῦτʼ ἄθρησον εἰ κατηργυρωμένος
λέγω· φανεῖ γὰρ οὐ μακροῦ χρόνου τριβὴ
ἀνδρῶν γυναικῶν σοῖς δόμοις κωκύματα.

[¶113] All the cities are stirred up in hostility, whose mangled corpses the dogs, or the wild beasts or some winged bird buried, carrying an unholy stench to the city that held each man’s hearth. There, now, are arrows for your heart, since you provoke me,
launched at you, archer-like, in my anger. They fly true—you cannot run from their burning sting. Boy, lead me home, so that he may launch his rage against younger men, and learn to keep a quieter tongue
and a better mind within his breast than he now bears. Exit Teiresias.

> Greek: ἐχθραὶ δὲ πᾶσαι συνταράσσονται πόλεις,
ὅσων σπαράγματʼ ἢ κύνες καθήγνισαν
ἢ θῆρες ἤ τις πτηνὸς οἰωνός, φέρων
ἀνόσιον ὀσμὴν ἑστιοῦχον ἐς πόλιν.
τοιαῦτά σου, λυπεῖς γάρ, ὥστε τοξότης
ἀφῆκα θυμῷ καρδίας τοξεύματα
βέβαια, τῶν σὺ θάλπος οὐχ ὑπεκδραμεῖ.
ὦ παῖ, σὺ δʼ ἡμᾶς ἄπαγε πρὸς δόμους, ἵνα
τὸν θυμὸν οὗτος ἐς νεωτέρους ἀφῇ,
καὶ γνῷ τρέφειν τὴν γλῶσσαν ἡσυχαιτέραν
τὸν νοῦν τʼ ἀμείνω τῶν φρενῶν ἢ νῦν φέρει.

[¶114] Chorus:
The man is gone, my king, leaving dire prophecies behind. And for all the time that I have had this hair on my head, now white, once dark, I know that he has never been a false prophet to our city.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἁνήρ, ἄναξ, βέβηκε δεινὰ θεσπίσας·
ἐπιστάμεσθα δʼ, ἐξ ὅτου λευκὴν ἐγὼ
τήνδʼ ἐκ μελαίνης ἀμφιβάλλομαι τρίχα,
μή πώ ποτʼ αὐτὸν ψεῦδος ἐς πόλιν λακεῖν.

[¶115] Creon:
I, too, know it well, and my mind is troubled. To yield is terrible, but, to resist, to strike my pride with ruin—this, too, inspires terror.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἔγνωκα καὐτὸς καὶ ταράσσομαι φρένας.
τό τʼ εἰκαθεῖν γὰρ δεινόν, ἀντιστάντα δὲ
ἄτῃ πατάξαι θυμὸν ἐν δεινῷ πάρα.

[¶116] Chorus:
The moment, Creon, requires that you reason wisely.

> Greek: Χορός:
εὐβουλίας δεῖ, παῖ Μενοικέως, λαβεῖν.

[¶117] Creon:
What should I do, then? Speak, and I will obey.

> Greek: Κρέων:
τί δῆτα χρὴ δρᾶν; φράζε. πείσομαι δʼ ἐγώ.

[¶118] Chorus:
Go and free the girl from her hollowed chamber. Then raise a tomb for the unburied dead.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἐλθὼν κόρην μὲν ἐκ κατώρυχος στέγης
ἄνες, κτίσον δὲ τῷ προκειμένῳ, τάφον.

[¶119] Creon:
And you recommend this? You think that I should yield?

> Greek: Κρέων:
καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐπαινεῖς καὶ δοκεῖς παρεικαθεῖν;

[¶120] Chorus:
Yes, my king, and with all possible speed. For harms sent from the gods swiftly cut short the follies of men.

> Greek: Χορός:
ὅσον γʼ, ἄναξ, τάχιστα· συντέμνουσι γὰρ
θεῶν ποδώκεις τοὺς κακόφρονας βλάβαι.

[¶121] Creon:
Ah, it is a struggle, but I depart from my heart’s resolve and obey. We must not wage vain wars with necessity.

> Greek: Κρέων:
οἴμοι· μόλις μέν, καρδίας δʼ ἐξίσταμαι
τὸ δρᾶν· ἀνάγκῃ δʼ οὐχὶ δυσμαχητέον.

[¶122] Chorus:
Go, do these things and do not leave their performance to others.

> Greek: Χορός:
δρᾶ νυν τάδʼ ἐλθὼν μηδʼ ἐπʼ ἄλλοισιν τρέπε.

[¶123] Creon:
Right away I will go. Go, go, my servants, each and all of you! Take axes in your hands,
and hurry to that place there in view! But since my judgment has taken this turn, I will be there to set her free, as I myself confined her. I am held by the fear that it is best to keep the established laws to life’s very end.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ὧδʼ ὡς ἔχω στείχοιμʼ ἄν· ἴτʼ ἴτʼ ὀπάονες,
οἵ τʼ ὄντες οἵ τʼ ἀπόντες, ἀξίνας χεροῖν
ὁρμᾶσθʼ ἑλόντες εἰς ἐπόψιον τόπον.
ἐγὼ δʼ, ἐπειδὴ δόξα τῇδʼ ἐπεστράφη,
αὐτός τʼ ἔδησα καὶ παρὼν ἐκλύσομαι.
δέδοικα γὰρ μὴ τοὺς καθεστῶτας νόμους
ἄριστον ᾖ σῴζοντα τὸν βίον τελεῖν.

[¶124] Chorus:
God of many names, glory of the Cadmeian bride and offspring of loud-thundering Zeus, you who watch over far-famed Italy and reign
in the valleys of Eleusinian Deo where all find welcome! O Bacchus, denizen of Thebes, the mother-city of your Bacchants, dweller by the wet stream of Ismenus on the soil
of the sowing of the savage dragon’s teeth!

> Greek: Χορός:
πολυώνυμε, Καδμείας νύμφας ἄγαλμα
καὶ Διὸς βαρυβρεμέτα
γένος, κλυτὰν ὃς ἀμφέπεις
Ἰταλίαν, μέδεις δὲ
παγκοίνοις, Ἐλευσινίας
Δῃοῦς ἐν κόλποις, Βακχεῦ Βακχᾶν
ὁ ματρόπολιν Θήβαν
ναιετῶν παρʼ ὑγρῶν
Ἰσμηνοῦ ῥείθρων ἀγρίου τʼ ἐπὶ σπορᾷ δράκοντος.

[¶125] Chorus:
The smoky glare of torches sees you above the cliffs of the twin peaks, where the Corycian nymphs move inspired by your godhead,
and Castalia’s stream sees you, too. The ivy-mantled slopes of Nysa’s hills and the shore green with many-clustered vines send you, when accompanied by the cries of your divine words,
you visit the avenues of Thebes.

> Greek: Χορός:
σὲ δʼ ὑπὲρ διλόφου πέτρας στέροψ ὄπωπε
λιγνύς, ἔνθα Κωρύκιαι
στείχουσι νύμφαι Βακχίδες,
Κασταλίας τε νᾶμα.
καί σε Νυσαίων ὀρέων
κισσήρεις ὄχθαι χλωρά τʼ ἀκτὰ
πολυστάφυλος πέμπει,
ἀμβρότων ἐπέων
εὐαζόντων Θηβαΐας ἐπισκοποῦντʼ ἀγυιάς·

[¶126] Chorus:
Thebes of all cities you hold foremost in honor, together with your lightning-struck mother.

> Greek: Χορός:
τὰν ἐκ πᾶσαι τιμᾷς ὑπερτάταν πόλεων
ματρὶ σὺν κεραυνίᾳ·

[¶127] And now when the whole city is held subject to a violent plague, come, we ask, with purifying feet over steep Parnassus,
or over the groaning straits!

> Greek: καὶ νῦν, ὡς βιαίας ἔχεται
πάνδαμος πόλις ἐπὶ νόσου,
μολεῖν καθαρσίῳ ποδὶ Παρνασίαν ὑπὲρ κλιτὺν
ἢ στονόεντα πορθμόν.

[¶128] Chorus:
O Leader of the chorus of the stars whose breath is fire, overseer of the chants in the night, son begotten of Zeus,
appear, my king, with your attendant Thyiads, who in night-long frenzy dance and sing you as Iacchus the Giver!
Enter Messenger, on the spectators’ left.

> Greek: Χορός:
ἰὼ πῦρ πνειόντων χοράγʼ ἄστρων, νυχίων
φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε,
παῖ Διὸς γένεθλον, προφάνηθʼ,
ὦναξ, σαῖς ἅμα περιπόλοις
Θυίαισιν, αἵ σε μαινόμεναι πάννυχοι χορεύουσι
τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον.

[¶129] Messenger:
Neighbors of the house of Cadmus and of Amphion, there is no station of human life that I would ever praise or blame as being settled. Fortune sets upright and Fortune sinks the lucky and unlucky from day to day,
and no one can prophesy to men concerning the order that has just been established. For Creon, as I saw it, was once blest: he had saved this land of Cadmus from its enemies; and having won sole and total dominion in the land, he guided it on a straight course and flourished in his noble crop of children.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
Κάδμου πάροικοι καὶ δόμων Ἀμφίονος,
οὐκ ἔσθʼ ὁποῖον στάντʼ ἂν ἀνθρώπου βίον
οὔτʼ αἰνέσαιμʼ ἂν οὔτε μεμψαίμην ποτέ.
τύχη γὰρ ὀρθοῖ καὶ τύχη καταρρέπει
τὸν εὐτυχοῦντα τόν τε δυστυχοῦντʼ ἀεί·
καὶ μάντις οὐδεὶς τῶν καθεστώτων βροτοῖς.
Κρέων γὰρ ἦν ζηλωτός, ὡς ἐμοί, ποτέ,
σώσας μὲν ἐχθρῶν τήνδε Καδμείαν χθόνα
λαβών τε χώρας παντελῆ μοναρχίαν
ηὔθυνε, θάλλων εὐγενεῖ τέκνων σπορᾷ·

[¶130] And now all this has been lost. When a man has forfeited his pleasures, I do not reckon his existence as life, but consider him just a breathing corpse. Heap up riches in your house, if you wish! Live with a tyrant’s pomp! But if there is no joy
along with all of that, I would not pay even the shadow of smoke for all the rest, compared with joy.

> Greek: καὶ νῦν ἀφεῖται πάντα. τὰς γὰρ ἡδονὰς
ὅταν προδῶσιν ἄνδρες, οὐ τίθημʼ ἐγὼ
ζῆν τοῦτον, ἀλλʼ ἔμψυχον ἡγοῦμαι νεκρόν.
πλούτει τε γὰρ κατʼ οἶκον, εἰ βούλει, μέγα
καὶ ζῆ τύραννον σχῆμʼ ἔχων· ἐὰν δʼ ἀπῇ
τούτων τὸ χαίρειν, τἄλλʼ ἐγὼ καπνοῦ σκιᾶς
οὐκ ἂν πριαίμην ἀνδρὶ πρὸς τὴν ἡδονήν.

[¶131] Chorus:
What is this new grief for our princes that you have come to report?

> Greek: Χορός:
τί δʼ αὖ τόδʼ ἄχθος βασιλέων ἥκεις φέρων;

[¶132] Messenger:
They are dead, and the living are guilty of the deaths.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
τεθνᾶσιν. οἱ δὲ ζῶντες αἴτιοι θανεῖν.

[¶133] Chorus:
Who is the murderer? Who the murdered? Tell us.

> Greek: Χορός:
καὶ τίς φονεύει; τίς δʼ ὁ κείμενος; λέγε.

[¶134] Messenger:
Haemon is dead—his blood was shed by no strange hand.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
Αἵμων ὄλωλεν· αὐτόχειρ δʼ αἱμάσσεται.

[¶135] Chorus:
Was it his father’s, or his own?

> Greek: Χορός:
πότερα πατρῴας ἢ πρὸς οἰκείας χερός;

[¶136] Messenger:
He did it by his own, enraged with his father for the murder.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
αὐτὸς πρὸς αὑτοῦ, πατρὶ μηνίσας φόνου.

[¶137] Chorus:
Ah, prophet, how true, then, you have proved your word!

> Greek: Χορός:
ὦ μάντι, τοὔπος ὡς ἄρʼ ὀρθὸν ἤνυσας.

[¶138] Messenger:
Knowing that these things are so, you must consider the rest.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
ὡς ὧδʼ ἐχόντων τἄλλα βουλεύειν πάρα.

[¶139] Chorus:
Wait, I see the unhappy Eurydice, Creon’s wife, nearby. She comes from the house either knowing of her son, or merely by chance.
Enter Eurydice.

> Greek: Χορός:
καὶ μὴν ὁρῶ τάλαιναν Εὐρυδίκην ὁμοῦ
δάμαρτα τὴν Κρέοντος. ἐκ δὲ δωμάτων
ἤτοι κλύουσα παιδὸς ἢ τύχῃ πάρα.

[¶140] Eurydice:
People of Thebes, I heard your words as I was on my way to the gates to address divine Pallas with my prayers.
At one and the same time I was loosening the bolts of the gate to open it, and the sound of a blow to our house struck my ear. In terror I sank back into the arms of my handmaids, and my senses fled.

> Greek: Εὐρυδίκη:
ὦ πάντες ἀστοί, τῶν λόγων ἐπῃσθόμην
πρὸς ἔξοδον στείχουσα, Παλλάδος θεᾶς
ὅπως ἱκοίμην εὐγμάτων προσήγορος.
καὶ τυγχάνω τε κλῇθρʼ ἀνασπαστοῦ πύλης
χαλῶσα, καί με φθόγγος οἰκείου κακοῦ
βάλλει διʼ ὤτων· ὑπτία δὲ κλίνομαι
δείσασα πρὸς δμωαῖσι κἀποπλήσσομαι.

[¶141] But repeat what your news was, for I shall hear it with ears that are no strangers to sorrow.

> Greek: ἀλλʼ ὅστις ἦν ὁ μῦθος αὖθις εἴπατε·
κακῶν γὰρ οὐκ ἄπειρος οὖσʼ ἀκούσομαι.

[¶142] Messenger:
Dear mistress, I will tell what I witnessed and leave no word of the truth unspoken. For what good would it do that should I soothe you with words in which I must later be found false?
The truth is always best. I attended your husband as his guide to the furthest part of the plain, where unpitied the body of Polyneices, torn by dogs, still lay. After we had prayed to the goddess of the roads
and to Pluto to restrain their anger in mercy, we washed him with pure washing, and with freshly-plucked boughs we burned what remains there were. Lastly we heaped a high-mounded tomb of his native earth. Afterwards we turned away to enter the maiden’s stoney-bedded
bridal chamber, the caverned mansion of Hades’ bride. From a distance, one of us servants heard a voice of loud wailing near that bride’s unwept bed and came to tell our master Creon. And as the King moved closer and closer, obscure signs rising from a bitter cry surrounded him—
he groaned and said in bitter lament, “Ah, misery, am I now the prophet of evil? Am I going on the path most lined with grief of all that I have walked before? My son’s voice greets me. Go, my servants,”
“hurry closer, and when you have reached the tomb, enter the opening where the stones of the mound have been torn away, up to the cell’s very mouth. See if it is Haemon’s voice that I recognize, or if I am cheated by the gods.”

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
ἐγώ, φίλη δέσποινα, καὶ παρὼν ἐρῶ
κοὐδὲν παρήσω τῆς ἀληθείας ἔπος.
τί γάρ σε μαλθάσσοιμʼ ἂν ὧν ἐς ὕστερον
ψεῦσται φανούμεθʼ; ὀρθὸν ἁλήθειʼ ἀεί.
ἐγὼ δὲ σῷ ποδαγὸς ἑσπόμην πόσει
πεδίον ἐπʼ ἄκρον, ἔνθʼ ἔκειτο νηλεὲς
κυνοσπάρακτον σῶμα Πολυνείκους ἔτι·
καὶ τὸν μέν, αἰτήσαντες ἐνοδίαν θεὸν
Πλούτωνά τʼ ὀργὰς εὐμενεῖς κατασχεθεῖν
λούσαντες ἁγνὸν λουτρόν, ἐν νεοσπάσιν
θαλλοῖς ὃ δὴ 'λέλειπτο συγκατῄθομεν,
καὶ τύμβον ὀρθόκρανον οἰκείας χθονὸς
χώσαντες αὖθις πρὸς λιθόστρωτον κόρης
νυμφεῖον Ἅιδου κοῖλον εἰσεβαίνομεν.
φωνῆς δʼ ἄπωθεν ὀρθίων κωκυμάτων
κλύει τις ἀκτέριστον ἀμφὶ παστάδα,
καὶ δεσπότῃ Κρέοντι σημαίνει μολών.
τῷ δʼ ἀθλίας ἄσημα περιβαίνει βοῆς
ἕρποντι μᾶλλον ἆσσον, οἰμώξας δʼ ἔπος
ἵησι δυσθρήνητον· ὦ τάλας ἐγώ,
ἆρʼ εἰμὶ μάντις; ἆρα δυστυχεστάτην
κέλευθον ἕρπω τῶν παρελθουσῶν ὁδῶν;
παιδός με σαίνει φθόγγος. ἀλλὰ πρόσπολοι,
ἴτʼ ἆσσον ὠκεῖς καὶ παραστάντες τάφῳ
ἀθρήσαθʼ, ἁρμὸν χώματος λιθοσπαδῆ
δύντες πρὸς αὐτὸ στόμιον, εἰ τὸν Αἵμονος
φθόγγον συνίημʼ ἢ θεοῖσι κλέπτομαι.

[¶143] This search, at our desperate master’s word,
we went to make, and in the furthest part of the tomb we saw her hanging by the neck, fastened by a halter of fine linen threads, while he was embracing her with arms thrown around her waist, bewailing the loss of his bride to the spirits below, as well as his father’s deeds, and his grief-filled marriage.
But his father, when he saw him, cried aloud with a dreadful cry and went in and called to him with a voice of wailing: “Ah, unhappy boy, what have you done! What plan have you seized on? By what misfortune have you lost your reason?”

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
τάδʼ ἐξ ἀθύμου δεσπότου κελευσμάτων
ἠθροῦμεν· ἐν δὲ λοισθίῳ τυμβεύματι
τὴν μὲν κρεμαστὴν αὐχένος κατείδομεν,
βρόχῳ μιτώδει σινδόνος καθημμένην,
τὸν δʼ ἀμφὶ μέσσῃ περιπετῆ προσκείμενον,
εὐνῆς ἀποιμώζοντα τῆς κάτω φθορὰν
καὶ πατρὸς ἔργα καὶ τὸ δύστηνον λέχος.
ὁ δʼ ὡς ὁρᾷ σφε, στυγνὸν οἰμώξας ἔσω
χωρεῖ πρὸς αὐτὸν κἀνακωκύσας καλεῖ·
ὦ τλῆμον, οἷον ἔργον εἴργασαι· τίνα
νοῦν ἔσχες; ἐν τῷ συμφορᾶς διεφθάρης;

[¶144] “Come out, my son, I pray you, I beg you!” But the boy glared at him with savage eyes, spat in his face, and without a word in response drew his twin-edged sword. As his father rushed out in flight, he missed his aim. Then the ill-fated boy was enraged with himself
and straightway stretched himself over his sword and drove it, half its length, into his side. Still conscious, he clasped the maiden in his faint embrace, and, as he gasped, he shot onto her pale cheek a swift stream of oozing blood.

> Greek: ἔξελθε, τέκνον, ἱκέσιός σε λίσσομαι.
τὸν δʼ ἀγρίοις ὄσσοισι παπτήνας ὁ παῖς,
πτύσας προσώπῳ κοὐδὲν ἀντειπών, ξίφους
ἕλκει διπλοῦς κνώδοντας. ἐκ δʼ ὁρμωμένου
πατρὸς φυγαῖσιν ἤμπλακʼ· εἶθʼ ὁ δύσμορος
αὑτῷ χολωθείς, ὥσπερ εἶχʼ, ἐπενταθεὶς
ἤρεισε πλευραῖς μέσσον ἔγχος, ἐς δʼ ὑγρὸν
ἀγκῶνʼ ἔτʼ ἔμφρων παρθένῳ προσπτύσσεται.
καὶ φυσιῶν ὀξεῖαν ἐκβάλλει ῥοὴν
λευκῇ παρειᾷ φοινίου σταλάγματος.

[¶145] Corpse enfolding corpse he lay, having won his marriage rites, poor boy, not here, but in Hades’ palace, and having shown to mankind by how much the failure to reason wisely is the most severe of all afflictions assigned to man. Eurydice departs into the house.

> Greek: κεῖται δὲ νεκρὸς περὶ νεκρῷ, τὰ νυμφικὰ
τέλη λαχὼν δείλαιος εἰν Ἅιδου δόμοις,
δείξας ἐν ἀνθρώποισι τὴν ἀβουλίαν
ὅσῳ μέγιστον ἀνδρὶ πρόσκειται κακόν.

[¶146] Chorus:
What would you infer from this? The lady
has turned back and gone without a word, either for good or for evil.

> Greek: Χορός:
τί τοῦτʼ ἂν εἰκάσειας; ἡ γυνὴ πάλιν
φρούδη, πρὶν εἰπεῖν ἐσθλὸν ἢ κακὸν λόγον.

[¶147] Messenger:
I, too, am startled. Still I am nourished by the hope that at the grave news of her son she thinks it unworthy to make her laments before the city, but in the shelter of her home will set her handmaids to mourn the house’s grief.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
καὐτὸς τεθάμβηκʼ· ἐλπίσιν δὲ βόσκομαι
ἄχη τέκνου κλύουσαν ἐς πόλιν γόους
οὐκ ἀξιώσειν, ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ στέγης ἔσω
δμωαῖς προθήσειν πένθος οἰκεῖον στένειν.

[¶148] For she is not unhabituated to discretion, that she should err.

> Greek: γνώμης γὰρ οὐκ ἄπειρος, ὥσθʼ ἁμαρτάνειν.

[¶149] Chorus:
I do not know. But to me, in any case, a silence too strict seems to promise trouble just as much as a fruitless abundance of weeping.

> Greek: Χορός:
οὐκ οἶδʼ· ἐμοὶ δʼ οὖν ἥ τʼ ἄγαν σιγὴ βαρὺ
δοκεῖ προσεῖναι χἠ μάτην πολλὴ βοή.

[¶150] Messenger:
I will find out whether she is not, in fact, hiding some repressed plan in the darkness of her passionate heart.
I will go in, since you are right—in an excess of silence, too, there may be trouble. Exit Messenger.
Enter Creon, attended and carrying the shrouded body of Haemon, on the spectators’ left.

> Greek: Ἄγγελος:
ἀλλʼ εἰσόμεσθα, μή τι καὶ κατάσχετον
κρυφῇ καλύπτει καρδίᾳ θυμουμένῃ,
δόμους παραστείχοντες· εὖ γὰρ οὖν λέγεις.
καὶ τῆς ἄγαν γάρ ἐστί που σιγῆς βάρος.

[¶151] Chorus:
Look, here is the King himself approaching, his hands grasping a monument plainly signing that his—if we may say it—and no one else’s,
was the madness of this error.

> Greek: Χορός:
καὶ μὴν ὅδʼ ἄναξ αὐτὸς ἐφήκει
μνῆμʼ ἐπίσημον διὰ χειρὸς ἔχων,
εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν, οὐκ ἀλλοτρίαν
ἄτην, ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ἁμαρτών.

[¶152] Creon:
Ah, the blunders of an unthinking mind, blunders of rigidity, yielding death! Oh, you witnesses of the killers and the killed, both of one family!

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἰὼ
φρενῶν δυσφρόνων ἁμαρτήματα
στερεὰ θανατόεντʼ,
ὦ κτανόντας τε καὶ
θανόντας βλέποντες ἐμφυλίους.

[¶153] What misery arises from my reasonings! Haemon, you have died after a young life, youngest and last of my sons! O God! You have departed not by your foolishness, but by my own!

> Greek: ὤμοι ἐμῶν ἄνολβα βουλευμάτων.
ἰὼ παῖ, νέος νέῳ ξὺν μόρῳ
αἰαῖ αἰαῖ,
ἔθανες, ἀπελύθης
ἐμαῖς οὐδὲ σαῖσι δυσβουλίαις.

[¶154] Chorus:
Ah, how late you seem to see the right!

> Greek: Χορός:
οἴμʼ ὡς ἔοικας ὀψὲ τὴν δίκην ἰδεῖν.

[¶155] Creon:
God, I have mastered the bitter lesson! But then, then, I think, some god struck me on my head with a crushing weight, and drove me into savage paths,
—ah!—and overthrew my joy to be trampled on! Ah, the labors men must toil through!
Enter the Messenger from the house.

> Greek: Κρέων:
οἴμοι,
ἔχω μαθὼν δείλαιος· ἐν δʼ ἐμῷ κάρᾳ
θεὸς τότʼ ἄρα τότε μέγα βάρος μʼ ἔχων
ἔπαισεν, ἐν δʼ ἔσεισεν ἀγρίαις ὁδοῖς,
οἴμοι, λακπάτητον ἀντρέπων χαράν.
φεῦ φεῦ, ὦ πόνοι βροτῶν δύσπονοι.

[¶156] Messenger:
My master, you have come, I think, like one whose hands are not empty, but who has a ready store: first, you carry that burden visible in your arms;
second, you will soon look upon further sufferings inside your house.

> Greek: Ἐξάγγελος:
ὦ δέσποθʼ, ὡς ἔχων τε καὶ κεκτημένος,
τὰ μὲν πρὸ χειρῶν τάδε φέρων, τὰ δʼ ἐν δόμοις
ἔοικας ἥκειν καὶ τάχʼ ὄψεσθαι κακά.

[¶157] Creon:
What worse suffering is still to follow upon these sufferings?

> Greek: Κρέων:
τί δʼ ἔστιν αὖ κάκιον ἐκ κακῶν ἔτι;

[¶158] Messenger:
Your wife is dead, true mother of that corpse, poor lady, by wounds newly cut.

> Greek: Ἐξάγγελος:
γυνὴ τέθνηκε, τοῦδε παμμήτωρ νεκροῦ,
δύστηνος, ἄρτι νεοτόμοισι πλήγμασιν.

[¶159] Creon:
O harbor of Hades, hard to purify!
Why, why do you ruin me? Herald of evil, of grief, what word do you say? Ah, you have done in a dead man anew! What are you saying, boy? What is this you report to me
God no!—what new slaughter, my wife’s doom, is heaped upon this ruin?
The doors of the palace are opened, and the corpse of Eurydice is disclosed.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἰώ.
ἰὼ δυσκάθαρτος Ἅιδου λιμήν,
τί μʼ ἄρα τί μʼ ὀλέκεις;
ὦ κακάγγελτά μοι
προπέμψας ἄχη, τίνα θροεῖς λόγον;
αἰαῖ, ὀλωλότʼ ἄνδρʼ ἐπεξειργάσω.
τί φής, παῖ; τίνʼ αὖ λέγεις μοι νέον,
αἰαῖ αἰαῖ,
σφάγιον ἐπʼ ὀλέθρῳ
γυναικεῖον ἀμφικεῖσθαι μόρον;

[¶160] Chorus:
The sight is at hand. It is no longer hidden inside.

> Greek: Χορός:
ὁρᾶν πάρεστιν· οὐ γὰρ ἐν μυχοῖς ἔτι.

[¶161] Creon:
Ah, misery!
There I see a new, a second evil! What destiny, ah, what, can still await me? I have just now taken my son in my arms, and now I see another corpse before me!

> Greek: Κρέων:
οἴμοι,
κακὸν τόδʼ ἄλλο δεύτερον βλέπω τάλας.
τίς ἄρα, τίς με πότμος ἔτι περιμένει;
ἔχω μὲν ἐν χείρεσσιν ἀρτίως τέκνον,
τάλας, τὸν δʼ ἔναντα προσβλέπω νεκρόν.

[¶162] Oh, tormented mother! Oh, my son!

> Greek: φεῦ φεῦ μᾶτερ ἀθλία, φεῦ τέκνον.

[¶163] Messenger:
By the altar, with a sharp-whetted sword, she struck until her eyes went slack and dark. Before that she bewailed the noble fate of Megareus who died earlier, and then the fate of this boy, and also, with her last breath,
she called down evil fortune upon you, the slayer of her sons.

> Greek: Ἐξάγγελος:
ἡ δʼ ὀξυθήκτῳ βωμία περὶ ξίφει
λύει κελαινὰ βλέφαρα, κωκύσασα μὲν
τοῦ πρὶν θανόντος Μεγαρέως κλεινὸν λάχος,
αὖθις δὲ τοῦδε, λοίσθιον δὲ σοὶ κακὰς
πράξεις ἐφυμνήσασα τῷ παιδοκτόνῳ.

[¶164] Creon:
Ah, no! I tremble with fear. Why does no one strike me full on my chest with a two-edged sword?

> Greek: Κρέων:
αἰαῖ αἰαῖ,
ἀνέπταν φόβῳ. τί μʼ οὐκ ἀνταίαν
ἔπαισέν τις ἀμφιθήκτῳ ξίφει;

[¶165] I am miserable—ah—and bathed in miserable anguish!

> Greek: δείλαιος ἐγώ, αἰαῖ,
δειλαίᾳ δὲ συγκέκραμαι δύᾳ.

[¶166] Messenger:
Yes, because you were accused of responsibility for both this son’s death, and the other’s, by her whose corpse you see.

> Greek: Ἐξάγγελος:
ὡς αἰτίαν γε τῶνδε κἀκείνων ἔχων
πρὸς τῆς θανούσης τῆσδʼ ἐπεσκήπτου μόρων.

[¶167] Creon:
What was the manner of the violent deed by which she departed?

> Greek: Κρέων:
ποίῳ δὲ κἀπελύσατʼ ἐν φοναῖς τρόπῳ;

[¶168] Messenger:
Her own hand struck her to the heart upon learning her son’s sharply-lamented fate.

> Greek: Ἐξάγγελος:
παίσασ' ὑφʼ ἧπαρ αὐτόχειρ αὑτήν, ὅπως
παιδὸς τόδʼ ᾔσθετʼ ὀξυκώκυτον πάθος.

[¶169] Creon:
Ah this guilt can never be fastened onto any other mortal so as to remove my own! It was I, yes, I, who killed you, I the wretch.
I admit the truth. Lead me away, my servants, lead me from here with all haste, who am no more than a dead man!

> Greek: Κρέων:
ὤμοι μοι, τάδʼ οὐκ ἐπʼ ἄλλον βροτῶν
ἐμᾶς ἁρμόσει ποτʼ ἐξ αἰτίας.
ἐγὼ γάρ σʼ ἐγὼ ἔκανον, ὢ μέλεος,
ἐγώ, φάμʼ ἔτυμον. ἰὼ πρόσπολοι,
ἄγετέ μʼ ὅ τι τάχιστʼ, ἄγετέ μʼ ἐκποδών,
τὸν οὐκ ὄντα μᾶλλον ἢ μηδένα.

[¶170] Chorus:
The course you recommend is to your gain, if there can be gain amidst evil. What is briefest is best, when trouble lies at your feet.

> Greek: Χορός:
κέρδη παραινεῖς, εἴ τι κέρδος ἐν κακοῖς.
βράχιστα γὰρ κράτιστα τἀν ποσὶν κακά.

[¶171] Creon:
Let it come, let it appear, that fairest of fates for me, that brings my final day,
the fate supreme! Oh, let it come, so that I may never see tomorrow’s light!

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἴτω ἴτω,
φανήτω μόρων ὁ κάλλιστʼ ἔχων
ἐμοὶ τερμίαν ἄγων ἁμέραν
ὕπατος· ἴτω ἴτω,
ὅπως μηκέτʼ ἆμαρ ἄλλʼ εἰσίδω.

[¶172] Chorus:
These things are in the future. We must see to present affairs.
Fulfillment of these things rests in the hands where it should rest.

> Greek: Χορός:
μέλλοντα ταῦτα. τῶν προκειμένων τι χρὴ
πράσσειν. μέλει γὰρ τῶνδʼ ὅτοισι χρὴ μέλειν.

[¶173] Creon:
All that I crave was summed in that prayer.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἀλλʼ ὧν ἐρῶ, τοιαῦτα συγκατηυξάμην.

[¶174] Chorus:
Then pray no more; for mortals have no release from destined misfortune.

> Greek: Χορός:
μή νυν προσεύχου μηδέν· ὡς πεπρωμένης
οὐκ ἔστι θνητοῖς συμφορᾶς ἀπαλλαγή.

[¶175] Creon:
Lead me away, I beg you, a rash, useless man.
I have murdered you, son, unwittingly, and you, too, my wife—the misery! I do not know which way I should look, or where I should seek support. All is
amiss that is in my hands, and, again, a crushing fate has leapt upon my head.
As Creon is being conducted into the house, the Chorus Leader speaks the closing verses.

> Greek: Κρέων:
ἄγοιτʼ ἂν μάταιον ἄνδρʼ ἐκποδών,
ὅς, ὦ παῖ, σέ τʼ οὐχ ἑκὼν κάκτανον
σέ τʼ αὖ τάνδʼ, ὤμοι μέλεος, οὐδʼ ἔχω
ὅπᾳ πρὸς πότερα κλιθῶ· πάντα γὰρ
λέχρια τἀν χεροῖν, τὰ δʼ ἐπὶ κρατί μοι
πότμος δυσκόμιστος εἰσήλατο.

[¶176] Chorus:
Wisdom is provided as the chief part of happiness, and our dealings with the gods must be in no way unholy. The great words of arrogant men have to make repayment with great blows, and in old age teach wisdom.

> Greek: Χορός:
πολλῷ τὸ φρονεῖν εὐδαιμονίας
πρῶτον ὑπάρχει. χρὴ δὲ τά γʼ εἰς θεοὺς
μηδὲν ἀσεπτεῖν. μεγάλοι δὲ λόγοι
μεγάλας πληγὰς τῶν ὑπεραύχων
ἀποτίσαντες
γήρᾳ τὸ φρονεῖν ἐδίδαξαν.