Antigone

Sophocles Translated by E.F. Watling

Characters:

Ismene –daughter of Oedipus

Antigone – daughter of Oedipus

Creon – King of Thebes

Haemon – Son of Creon

Teiresias – a blind prophet

A Sentry

A Messenger

Eurydice – wife of Creon

Chorus of Theban Elders

The following characters do not speak in the play

King’s Attendants

Queen’s Attendants

A Boy leading Teiresias

Soliders

Scene: Before the palace in Thebes

Enter ISMENE from the central door of the Palace. ANTIGONE follows, anxious and urgent; she closes the door carefully, and comes to join her sister.

ANTIGONE: O sister! Ismene dear, dear sister Ismene!

You know how heavy the hand of God is upon us;

How we who are left must suffer for our fathers, Oedipus.

There is no pain, no sorrow, no suffering, no dishonor

5 We have not shared together, you and I.

And now there is something more. Have you heard this order,

The latest order that the King has proclaimed to the city?

Have you heard how our dearest are being treated like enemies?

ISMENE: I have heard nothing about any of those we love,

10 Neither good or evil—not, I mean, since the death

Of our two brothers, both fallen in a day.

The Argive army,¹ I hear was withdrawn last night.

I know no more to make me sad or glad.

ANTIGONE: I thought you did not. That’s why I brought you out here,

15 Where we shan’t be heard, to tell you something alone

ISMENE: What is it, Antigone? Black news, I can see already.

ANTIGONE: O Ismene, what do you think? Our two dear brothers…

Creon has given funeral honors to one,²

And not to the other; nothing but shame and ignominy.

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¹ Argive: The army that attacked Thebes from Argos, a city in southern Greece.

²Funeral Honors to one: In Greek myth, the souls of unburied human beings could not cross into the underworld – the realm of the dead, so the soul would wander forever with no permanent resting place. Therefore, burial was a sacred duty of the surviving friends and relatives.

20 Eteocles³ had been buried, they tell me, in state,

With all honorable observances due to the dead.

But, Polynices,⁴ just as unhappily fallen—the order

Says he is not to be buried, not to be mourned;

To be left unburied, unwept, a feast of flesh

25 For keen-eyed carrion birds.⁵ The noble Creon!

It is against you and me he had made this order.

Yes, against me. And soon he will be here himself

To make it plain to those who have not heard it,

And to enforce it. This is no idle threat;

30 The punishment for disobedience is death by stoning.

So now you know. And now is time to show

Whether or not you are worthy of your high blood

ISMENE: My poor Antigone, if this is really true,

What more can I do, or undo, to help you?

35 ANTIGONE: Will you help me? Will you do something with me? Will you?

ISMENE: Help you do what, Antigone? What do you mean?

ANTIGONE: Would you help me lift the body.. you and me?

ISMENE: You cannot mean…to bury him? Against the order?

ANTIGONE: Is he not my brother, and yours, whether you like it

40 Or not? I shall never desert him, never.

ISMENE: How could you dare, when Creon has expressly forbidden it?

ANTIGONE: He has no right to keep me from my own.

ISMENE: O sister, sister, do you forget how our father

Perished is same in misery, his awful sin

45 Self proved, blinded by his own self-mutilation?

And then his mother, his wife—for she was both—

Destroyed herself in a noose of her own making⁶

And now our brothers, both in a single day

Fallen in an awful exaction of death for death.

50 Blood for blood, each slain by the other’s hand.

Now we two are left; and what will be the end of us,

If we transgress the law and defy the king?

O think, Antigone; we are women; it is not for us

To fight against men; our rulers are stronger than we,

55 And we must obey in this, or in worse than this,

May the dead forgive me, I can do no other

But as I am commanded; to do more is madness.

ANTIGONE: No; then I will not ask you for your help.

Nor would I thank you for it, if you gave it.

60 Go your own way; I will bury my brother;

And if I die fore it, what happiness?

Convicted of reverence—I shall be content

To lie beside a brother whom I love.

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³Eteocles: (ih-tee-uh-kleez)

⁴Polynices: (pol-eh-nuh-seez)

⁵carrion birds: birds that eat dead, rotting flesh

⁶his mother…own making: Jocasta, realizing that she was both wife and mother to

Oedipus, hanged herself.

We have only a little time to please the living.

65 But all eternity to love the dead.

There I shall lie forever. Live, if you will;

Live, and defy the holiest laws of heaven.

ISMENE: I do not defy them; but I cannot act

Against the State. I am not strong enough.

70 ANTIGONE: Let that be your excuse, then. I will go

And heap a mound of earth over my brother.

ISMENE: I fear for you, Antigone; I fear—

ANTIGONE: You need not fear for me. Fear for yourself.

ISMENE: At least be secret. Do not breathe a word.

75 I’ll not betray your secret.

ANTIGONE: Publish it

To all the world! Else I shall hate you more.

ISMENE: Your heart burns! Mine is frozen at the thought.

ANTIGONE: I know my duty, where true duty lies.

ISMENE: If you can do it; but you’re bound to fail.

80 ANTIGONE: When I have tried and failed, I shall have failed.

ISMENE: No sense in starting a hopeless task.

ANTIGONE: Oh, I shall hat you if you talk like that!

And he⁷shall hate you, rightly. Leave me alone

With my own madness. There is no punishment

85 Can rob me of my honorable death.

ISMENE: Go then, if you are determined, to your folly.

But remember that those you love you….love you still.

(ISMENE goes into the Palace. ANTIGONE leaves the stage by side exit)

(Enter the CHORUS of Theban Elders)

CHORUS: Hail the sun! the brightest of all that ever

Dawned on the City of Seven Gates, City of Thebes!

90 Hail the golden dawn over Dirce’ river⁸

Rising to speed the flight of the white invaders

Homeward in full retreat

The army of Polynices was gathered against us,

In angry dispute his voice was lifted against us,

95 Like a ravening bird of prey he swooped around us

With white wings flashing, with flying plumes,

With armed hosts ranked in thousands.

At the threshold of seven gates in a circle of blood

His swords stood round us, his jaws were opened against us;

100 But before he could taste our blood, or consume us with fire,

He fled, fled with the roar of the dragon behind him

And thunder was in his ears.

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⁷he: Polynices

⁸Dirce’s River: Dirce, the wife of a previous ruler of Thebes, was brutally murdered and her

corpse thrown into a stream thereafter called by her name.

The Father of Heaven abhors the proud tounge’s boasting;

He marked the oncoming torrent, the flashing stream

105 Of their golden harness, the clash of their battle gear;

He heard the invader cry Victory over our ramparts,

And smote him with fire to the ground⁹

Down to the ground from the crest of his hurricane onslaught

He swung, with fiery brands of his hate brought low;

110 Each and all to their doom of destruction appointed

By the god that fighteth for us.

Seven invaders at seven gates seven defenders

Spoiled of their bronze for a tribute to Zeus;¹⁰ save two

Luckless brothers in one fight matched together

115 And in one death laid low.¹¹

Great is the victory, great be the joy

In the city of Thebes, the city of chariots.

Now is the time to fill the temples

With glad thanksgiving for warfare ended;

120 Shake the ground with the night-long dances,

Bacchus afoot and delight abounding.

But see, the King comes here,

Creon, the son of Menoeceus,¹²

Whom the gods have appointed for us

125 In our recent change of fortune,

That has led him to call us together

By his special proclamation?

(The central door is opened, and CREON enters)

CREON: My councilors: now that the gods have brought our city

130 Safe through the storm of trouble to tranquility,

I have called you especially out of all my people

To conference together, knowing that you

Were loyal subjects when King Laius¹³ reigned,

And when King Oedipus so wisely ruled us,

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⁹The Father of Heaven…smote him with fire to the ground: Zeus, who favored the Thebans in battle, struck down the invading Argive army with thunderbolts.

¹⁰Seven invaders…tribute to Zeus: Polynices and six Argive chiefs each attacked one of Thebes’ seven gates, which were successfully defended by seven Theben heroes. The Theban defenders offered the armor of the slain Argive chiefs as a tribute to Zeus

¹¹Luckless brothers…laid low: Antigone’s brothers, Polynices and Eteocles, killed eachother in single combat, ending the war.

¹²Menoeceus: (Meh-nee-cee-us)

¹³King Laius: former king of Thebes and father of Oedipus

135 And again, upon his death, faithfully served

His sons, till they in turn fell—both slayers, both slain,

Both stained with brother-blood, dead in a day—

And I their next of kin, inherited

The throne and kingdom which I now possess.

140 No other touchstone can test the heart of a man,

The temper of his mind and spirit, till he be tried

In the practice of authority and rule.

For my part, I have always held the view,

And hold it still, that a king whose lips are sealed

145 By fear, unwilling to seek advice, is damned.

And no less damned is he who puts friend

Above his country; I have no good word for him.

As god is my witness, who sees all,

When I see any danger threatening my people,

150 Whatever it may be, I shall declare it.

No man who is my country’s enemy

Shall call himself my friend. Of this I am sure—

Our country is our life; only when she¹⁴

Rides safely, have we any friends at all.

155 Such is my policy for our common weal

In pursuance of this, I have made a proclamation

Concerning the sons of Oedipus, as follows:

Eteocles, who fell fighting in defense of the city,

Fighting gallantly, is to be honored with burial

160 And with all the rites due to the noble dead.

The other—you know whom I mean—his brother, Polynices,

Who came back from exile intending to burn and destroy

His fatherland and the gods of his fatherland,

To drink the blood of his kin, to make them slaves—

165 He is to have no grave, no burial,

No mourning from anyone; it is forbidden.

He is to be left unburied, left to be eaten

By dogs and vultures, a horror for all to see.

I am determined that never, if I can help it,

170 Shall evil triumph over good. Alive

Or dead, the faithful servant of this country

Shall be rewarded.

CHORUS: Creon, son of Menoceceus,

You have given your judgment for the friend and for the enemy.

As for those that are dead, so for us who remain,

175 Your will is law.

CREON: See then that it be kept

CHORUS: My lord, some younger would be fitter for the task.

CREON: Watchers are already set over the corpse

CHORUS: What other duty then remains for us?

CREON: Not to connive at any disobedience.

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¹⁴ she: Thebes

180 CHORUS: If there were any so mad as to ask for death---

(He turns to go. A SENTRY enters from the side of the stage. CREON pauses at the Palace Door)

CREON: Ay, that is penalty. There is always someone

Ready to be lured to ruin by hope of gain.

SENTRY: My lord: if I am out of breath, it is not from haste.

I have not been running. ON the contrary, many a time

185 I stopped to think and loitered on the way,

Saying to myself “Why hurry to your doom,

Poor fool?” and then I said, “Hurry, you fool.

If Creon hears this from another man,

Your head’s as good as off.” So here I am,

190 As quick as my unwilling haste could bring me;

In no great hurry, in fact. So now I am here . . .

But I’ll tell my story. . . though it may be nothing after all.

And whatever I have to suffer, it can’t be more

Than what God wills, so I cling to that for my comfort.

195 CREON: Good heavens, man whatever is the matter?

SENTRY: To speak of myself first—I never did it, sir/

Nor saw who did; no one can punish me for that.

CREON: You tell your story with a deal of artful precaution.

It’s evidently something strange.

SENTRY: It is.

200 So strange, it’s very difficult to tell.

CREON: Well, out with it, and let’s be done with you.

SENTRY: It’s this, sir. The corpse. . .someone has just

Buried it and gone. Dry dust over the body

They scattered, in the manner of holy burial.

205 CREON: What! Who dared to do it?

SENTRY: I don’t know, sir.

There was no sign of a pick, no scratch of a shovel;

The ground was hard and dry – no trace of a wheel;

Whoever it was has left no clues behind him.

When the sentry on the first watch showed it us,

210 We were amazed. The corpse was covered from sight—

Not with a proper grave—just a layer of earth—

As it might be, the act of some pious passer-by.

There were no tracks of animal either, a dog

Or anything that might have come and mauled the body.

215 Of course we all started pitching in to each other,

Accusing each other, and might have come to blows,

With no one to stop us; for anyone might have done it,

But it couldn’t be proved against him, and all denied it.

We were all ready to take hot iron in hand

220 And go through fire and swear by God and heaven

We hadn’t done it, nor knew of anyone

That could have thought of doing it, much less done it.

Well, we could make nothing of it. Then one of our men

Said something that make all our blood run cold—

225 Something we could never refuse to do, nor do.

But at our own risk. What he said was, “This

Must be reported to the King; we can’t conceal it.”

So it was agreed. We drew lots for it, and I,

Such was my luck, was chosen. So here I am,

230 As much against my will as yours, I’m sure;

A bringer of bad news expects no welcome.

CHORUS: My lord, I fear—I feared it from the first—

That this may prove to be an act of the gods.

CREON: Enough of that! Or I shall lose my patience.

235 Don’t talk like an old fool, old though you be.

Blasphemy, to say the gods could give a thought

To carrion flesh! Held him in high esteem,

I suppose, and buried him like a benefactor—

A man who came to burn their temples down,

240 Ransack their holy shrines, their land, their laws?

Is that the sort of man you think the gods love?

Not they. No. There’s a party of malcontents

In the city, rebels against my word and law,

Shakers of heads in secret, impatient of rule;

245 They are the people, I see it well enough,

Who have bribed their instruments to do this thing.

Money! Money’s the curse of man, none greater.

That’s what wrecks cities, banishes men from him,

Tempts and deludes the most well-meaning soul,

250 Pointing out the way to infamy and shame.

Well, they shall pay for their success. (To the SENTRY) See to it!

See to it, you! Upon my oath, I swear,

As Zeus is my god above; either you find

The perpetrator of this burial

255 And bring him here into my sight, or death—

No, not your mere death shall pay the reckoning,

But, for a living lesson against such infamy,

You shall be racked and tortured till you tell

The whole truth of this outrage; so you may learn

260 To seek your gain where gain is yours to get,

Not try to grasp it everywhere. In wickedness

You’ll find more loss than profit

SENTRY: May I say more?

CREON: No more; each word you say but stings me more.

SENTRY: Stings in your ears, sir, or in your deeper feelings?

265 CREON: Don’t bandy words, fellow about my feelings.

SENTRY: Though I offend your ears, sir, it is not I

But he that’s guilty that offends your soul.

CREON: Oh, born to argue, were you?

SENTRY: Maybe so;

But still not guilty in this business.

270 CREON: Doubly soul, if you have sold your soul for money.

SENTRY: To think that thinking men should think so wrongly!

CREON: Think what you will. But if you fail to find

The doer of this deed, you’ll learn one thing:

Ill-gotten gain brings no one any good.

(he goes into the Palace)

275 SENTRY: Well, heaven send they find him. But whether or no,

They’ll not find me again, that’s sure. Once free,

Who never thought to see another day,

I’ll thank my lucky stars, and keep away.

(exit)

CHORUS: Wonders are many on earth, and the greatest of these

280 Is man, who rides the ocean and takes his way

Through the deeps, though wide-swept valleys of perilous seas

That surge and sway.

He is master of ageless Earth, to his own will bending

The immortal mother of gods by the sweat of his brow,

285 As year succeeds to year, with toil unending

Of mule and plough.

He is lord of all things living; birds of the air,

Beasts of the field, all creatures of sea and land.

He taketh, cunning to capture and ensnare

290 With sleight of hand;

Hunting the savage beast from the upland rocks,

Taming the mountain monarch in his lair,

Teaching the wild horse and the roaming ox

His yoke to bear.

295 The use of language, the wind-swift motion of brain

He learnt; found out the laws of living together

In cities, building him shelter against the rain

And wintry weather.

There is nothing beyond his power. His subtlety

300 Meeteth all chance, all danger conquereth.

For every ill he hath found its remedy,

Save only death.

O wondrous subtlety of man, that draws

To good or evil ways! Great honor is given

305 And power to him who upholdeth his country’s laws

And the justice of heaven

But he that, too rashly daring, walks in sin

In solitary pride to his life’s end.

At door or mine shall never enter in

310 To call me friend.

(Seeing some persons approach from a distance. Each of the following lines are spoken by a different member of the CHORUS)

O gods! A wonder to see!

Surely it cannot be—

It is no other—

Antigone!

315 Unhappy maid—

Unhappy Oedipus’ daughter; it is she they bring.

Can she have rashly disobeyed

The order of the King?

(Enter the SENTRY, bringing ANTIGONE guarded by two more soldiers)

SENTRY: We’ve got her. Here’s the woman that did the deed.

320 We found her in the act of burying him. Where’s the king?

CHORUS: He is just coming out of the palace now.

(enter CREON)

CREON: What’s this? What am I just in time to see?

SENTRY: My lord, an oath’s a very dangerous thing.

Second thoughts may prove us liars. Not long since

325 I swore I wouldn’t trust myself again

To face your threat; you gave me a drubbing the first time.

But there’s no pleasure like an unexpected pleasure,

Not by a long way. And so I’ve come again,

Though against my solemn oath. And I’ve brought this lady,

330 Who’s been caught in the act of setting that grave in order.

And no casting lots for it this time—the prize is mine

And no one else’s. So take her; judge and convict her.

I’m free, I hope, and quit of the horrible business.

CREON: How did you find her? Where have you brought her from?

335 SENTRY: She was burying the man with her own hands, and that’s the truth.

CREON: Are you in your senses? Do you know what you are saying?

SENTRY: I saw her myself, burying the body of the man

Whom you said not to bury. Don’t I speak plain?

CREON: How did she come to be seen and taken in the act?

340 SENTRY: It was this way. After I got back to the place,

With all your threats and curses ringing in my ears,

We swept off all the earth that covered the body,

And left it a sodden, naked corpse again;

Then sate up on the hill, on the windward side,

345 Keeping clear of the stench of him, as far as we could;

All of us keeping each other up to the mark,

With pretty sharp speaking, not to be caught napping this time.

So this went on some hours, till the flaming sun

Was high in the top of the sky, and the heat was blazing.

350 Suddenly a storm of dust, like a plague from heaven,

Filling the sky; you had to shut your eyes

To stand against it. When at last it stopped,

There was a girl, screaming like an angry bird,

355 When it finds its nest empty and little ones gone.

Just like that she screamed, seeing the body

Naked, crying and cursing the ones who had done it.

Then she picks up the dry earth in her hands,

And pouring out of a fine bronze urn she’s brought

360 She makes her offering three times to the dead¹⁵

Soon as we saw it, down we came and caught her.

She wasn’t at all frightened. As so we charged her

With what she’d done before, and this. She admitted it,

I’m glad to say—though sorry, too, in a way.

365 It’s good to save your own skin, but a pity

To have to see another get into trouble,

Whom you’ve no grudge against. However, I can’t say

I’ve ever valued anyone else’s life

More than my own, and that’s the honest truth.

370 CREON(to ANTIGONE): Well, what do you say—you, hiding your head there:

Do you admit, or do you deny the deed?

ANTIGONE: I do admit it. I do not deny it.

CREON (to SENTRY): You—you may go. You are discharged from blame

(exit Sentry)

Now tell me, in as few words as you can,

375 Did you know the order forbidding such an act?

ANTIGONE: I knew it, naturally. It was plain enough.

CREON: And yet, you dared to contravene it?

ANTIGONE: Yes.

That order did not come from God. Justice,

That dwells with the gods below, knows no such law.

380 I did not think your edicts strong enough

To overrule the unwritten unalterable laws

Of God and heaven, you being only a man.

They are not of yesterday or today, but everlasting

Though where they came from, none of us can tell.

385 Guilty of their transgression before God

I cannot be, for any man on earth.

I knew that I should die, of course,

With or without your order. If it be soon,

So much the better. Living in daily torment

390 As I do, who would not be glad to die?

This punishment will not be any pain.

Only if I let my mother’s son

Lie there unburied, then I could not have borne it.

This I can bear. Does that seem foolish to you?

395 Or is it you that are foolish to judge me so?

CHORUS: She shows her father’s stubborn spirit; foolish

Not to give way when everything is against her.

CREON: Ah, but you’ll see. The over-obstinate spirit

Is soonest broken; as the strongest iron will snap

400 If over-tempered in the fire to brittleness.

A little halter is enough to break

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¹⁵And pouring…to the dead pouring wine or water as an offering to the gods

The wildest horse. Proud thoughts do not sit well

Upon subordinates. This girl’s proud spirit

Was first in evidence when she broke the law;

405 And now, to add insult to her injury,

She gloats over her deed. But, as I live,

She shall not flout my orders with impunity.

My sister’s child—ay, were she ever nearer,

Nearest and dearest, she should not escape

410 Full punishment—she, and her sister too,

Her partner, doubtless, in this burying.

Let her be fetched! She was in the house just now;

I saw her, hardly in her right mind either.

Often the thoughts of those who plan dark deeds

415 Betray themselves before the deed is done.

The criminal who being caught still tries.

To make a fair excuse , is damned indeed.

ANTIGONE: Now that you have caught, will you do more than kill me?

CREON: No, nothing more; that is all I could wish.

420 ANTIGONE: Why then delay? There is nothing that you can say

That I should wish to hear, as nothing I say

Can weigh with you. I have given my brother burial.

What greater honor could I wish? All these

Would say that what I did was honorable,

425 But fear locks up their lips. To speak and act

Just as he likes is a king’s prerogative

CREON: You are wrong. Non of my subjects thinks as you do.

ANTIGONE: Yes, sir, they do; but dare not tell you so.

CREON: An you are not only alone, but unashamed.

430 ANTIGONE: There is no shame in honoring my brother.

CREON: Was not his enemy, who died with him, your brother?

ANTIGONE: Yes, both were brothers, both of the same parents.

CREON. You honor one,, and so insult the other.

ANTIGONE: He that is dead will not accuse me of that.

435 CREON: He will, if you honor him no more than the traitor.

ANTIGONE: It was not a slave, but his brother that died with him.

CREON: Attacking his country, while the other defended it.

ANTIGONE: Even so, we have a duty to the dead.

CREON: Not to give equal honor to good and bad.

440 ANTIGONE: Who Knows? In the country of the dead that may be the law.

CREON: An enemy can’t be a friend, even when dead.

ANTIGONE: My way is to share my love, not share my hate.

CREON: Go then, and share your love among the dead.

We’ll have no woman’s law here, while I live.

(enter ISMENE from the Palace)

445 CHORUS: Here comes Ismene, weeping

In sisterly sorrow; a darkened brow,

Flushed face, and the fair cheek marred

With flooding rain.

CREON: You crawling viper! Lurking in my house

450 to suck my blood! Two traitors unbeknown

Plotting against my throne. Do you admit

To share in this burying, or deny all knowledge?

ISMENE: I did it—yes—if she will let me say so

I am as much to blame as she is.

ANTIGONE: No.

455 That is not just. You would not lend a hand

And I refused your help in what I did.

ISMENE: But I am not ashamed to stand beside you

Now in your hour of trial, Antigone.

ANTIGONE: Whose was the deed, Death and the dead are witness

460 I love no friend whose love is only words.

ISMENE: O sister, sister, let me share your death,,,

Share in the tribute of honor to him that is dead.

ANTIGONE: You shall not die with me. You shall not claim

That which you would not touch. One death is enough.

465 ISMENE: How can I bear to live, if you must die?

ANTIGONE: Ask Creon. Is not he the one you care for?

ISMENE: You do yourself no good to taunt me so.

ANTIGONE: Indeed, no: even my jests are bitter pains.

ISMENE: But how, O tell me, how can I still help you?

470 ANTIGONE: Help yourself. I shall not stand in your way.

ISMENE: For pity, Antigone—can I not die with you?

ANTIGONE: You chose; life was your choice, when mine was death.

ISMENE: Although I warned you that it would be so.

ANTIGONE: Your way seemed right to some, to others mine.

475 ISMENE: But now both in the wrong, and both condemned.

ANTIGONE: No, no. You live. My heart was long since dead,

So it was right for me to help the dead.

CREON: I do believe the creatures both are mad;

One lately crazed the other from her birth.

480 ISMENE: Is it not likely, sir? The strongest mind

Cannot but break under misfortune’s blows.

CREON: Yours did, when you threw in your lot with hers.

ISMENE: How could I wish to live without my sister?

CREON: You have no sister. Count her dead already.

485 ISMENE: You could not take her—kill your own son’s bride?

CREON: Oh, there are other fields for him to plough.

ISMENE: No truer troth was ever made then theirs.

CREON: No son of mine shall wed so vile a creature.

ANTIGONE: O Haemon, can your father spite you so?

490 CREON: You and your paramour, I hat you both.

CHORUS: Sir, would you take her from your own son’s arm?

CREON: Not I, but death shall take her.

CHORUS: Be it so.

Her death is seems is certain.

CREON: Certain it is.

No more delay. Take them and keep them within—

495 The proper place for women. None so brave

As not to look for some way to escape

When they see life stand face to face with death.

(the women are taken away)

CHORUS: Happy are they who know not the taste of evil.

From a house that heaven hath shaken

500 The curse departs not

But falls upon all the blood¹⁶

Like the restless surge of the sea when the dark storm drives

The black sand hurled from the deeps

And the Thracian gales boom down

505 On the echoing shore.

In life and in death is the house of Labdacus¹⁷stricken.

Generation to generation,

With no atonement,

It is scourged by the wrath of a god.

510 And now for the dead dust’s sake is light of promise,

The tree’s last root, crushed out

By pride of heart and the sin

Of presumptuous tongue.

For what presumption of man can match thy power,

515 O Zeus, that art not subject to sleep or time

Or age, living forever in bright Olympus?

Tomorrow and for all time to come,

As in the past,

This law is immutable:¹⁸

520 For mortals greatly to live is greatly to suffer

Roving ambition helps many a man to good,

And many it falsely lures to light desires,

Till failure trips them unawares, and they fall

On the fire that consumes them. Well was is said,

525 Evil seems good

To him who is doomed to suffer;

And short is the time before that suffering comes¹⁹

But here comes Haemon,

Your youngest son.

530 Does he come to speak his sorrow

For the doom of his promised bride,

The loss of his marriage hopes?

CREON: We shall know it soon, and need no prophet to tell us.

(enter HAEMON)

______________________________________________________________________________

¹⁶The curse…upon all the blood: The curse on Oedipus has passed on to his descendants

¹⁷ the house of Labdacus: the ruling family of Thebes. Labdacus, a former king of Thebes, was

the grandfather of Oedipus.

¹⁸immutable: unchangeable

¹⁹Evil seems good…suffering comes: although a man may convince himself that the evil he does

is good, he must eventually suffer punishment for his wrongdoing.

Son, You have heard, I think, our final judgment

535 On your late betrothed. No angry words, I hope?

Still friends, in spite of everything, my son?

HAEMON: I am your son, sir; by your wise decisions

My life is ruled, and them I shall always obey.

I cannot value any marriage tie

540 Above your own good guidance.

CREON: Rightly said.

Your father’s will should have your heart’s first place.

Only for this do fathers pray for sons

Obedient, loyal, ready to strike down

Their father’s foes, and love their father’s friends.

545 To be the father of unprofitable sons

Is to be the father of sorrows, a laughingstock

To all one’s enemies. Do not be fooled, my son,

By lust and the wiles of a woman. You’ll have bought

Cold comfort if your wife’s a worthless one.

550 No wound strikes deeper than love that is turned to hats.

This girl’s an enemy; away with her,

And let her go and find a mate in Hades.

Once having caught her in a flagrant act—

The one and only traitor in our State—

555 I cannot make myself a traitor too;

So she must die. Well may she pray to Zeus,

The god of family love. How, if I tolerate

A traitor at home, shall I rule those abroad?

He that is a righteous master of his house

560 Will be a righteous statesman. To transgress

Or twist the law to one’s own pleasure, presume

To order where one should obey, is sinful,

And I will have none of it.

He whom the State appoints must be obeyed

565 To the smallest matter, be it right—or wrong.

And he that rules his household, without a doubt,

Will make the wisest king, or, for that matter,

The staunchest subject. He will be the man

You can depend on in the storm of war,

570 The faithfullest comrade in the day of battle.

There is no more deadly peril than disobedience;

States are devoured by it, homes laid in ruins,

Armies defeated, victory turned to rout.

While simple obedience saves the lives of hundreds

575 Of honest folk. Therefore, I hold to the law,

And will never betray it—least of all for a woman.

Better be beaten, if need be, by a man,

Than let a woman get the better of us.

CHORUS: To me, as far as an old man can tell,

580 It seems your Majesty has spoken well.

HAEMON: Father, man’s wisdom is the gift of heaven,

The greatest gift of all. I neither am

Nor wish to be clever enough to prove your wrong,

Though all men might no think the same as you do.

585 Nevertheless, I have to be your watchdog,

To know what others say and what they do,

And what they find to praise and what to blame.

Your frown is a sufficient silencer

Of any word that is not for your ears.

590 But I hear whispers spoken in the dark;

On every side, I hear voices of pity

For this poor girl, doomed to the cruelest death,

And most unjust, that ever woman suffered

For and honorable action—burying a brother

595 Who was killed in battle, rather than leave him naked

For dogs to maul and carrion birds to peck at.

Has she not rather earned a crown of gold?—

Such is the secret talk about the town.

Father, there is noting I can prize above

600 Your happiness and well-being. What greater good

Can any son desire? Can any father

Desire more from his son? Therefore I say,

Let not your first thought be your only thought.

Think if there cannot be some other way.

605 Surely, to think your own the only wisdom,

And yours the only word, the only will,

Betrays a shallow spirit, an empty heart.

It is no weakness for the wisest man

To learn when he is wrong, know when to yield.

610 So, on the margin of a flooded river

Trees bending to the torrent live unbroken,

While those that strain against it are snapped off.

A sailor has to tack and slacken sheets

Before the gale, or find himself capsized.

615 So, father, pause, and put aside your anger.

I think, for what my young opinion’s worth,

That good as it is to have infallible wisdom,

Since this is rarely found, the next best thing

Is to be willing to listen to wise advice.

620 CHORUS: There is something to be said, my lord, for this point of view,

And for yours as well; there is so much to be said on both sides.

CREON: Indeed! Am I to take lessons at my time of life

From a fellow of his age?

HAEMON: No lesion you need to be ashamed of .

625 It isn’t a question of age, but of right and wrong.

CREON: Would you call it right to admire an act of obedience?

HAEMON: Not if the act were also dishonorable.

CREON: And was not this woman’s action dishonorable?

HAEMON: The people of Thebes think not.

CREON: The people of Thebes!

630 Since when do I take my orders from the people of Thebes?

HAEMON: Isn’t that a rather childish thing to say?

CREON: No, I am king, and responsible only to myself.

HAEMON: A one-man state? What sort of state is that?

CREON: Why , does not every state belong to its ruler?

635 HAEMON: You’d be an excellent king—on a desert island.

CREON: Of course, if you are on the woman’s side—

HAEMON: No, no—

Unless you’re the woman. It’s you I’m fighting for.

CREON: What, villain, when every word you speak is against me?

HAEMON: Only because I know you’re wrong, wrong.

640 CREON: Wong? To respect my own authority?

HAEMON: What sort of respect tramples on all that is holy?

CREON: Despicable coward! No more will than a woman!

HAEMON: I have nothing to be ashamed of.

CREON: You plead her cause.

HAEMON: No, yours, and mine, and that of the gods of the dead.

645 CREON: You’ll never marry her this side of death.

HAEMON: Then, if she dies, she does not die alone.

CREON: Is that a threat, you impudent—

HAEMON: It is a threat

To try to argue against wrong-headedness?

CREON: You’ll learn what wrong-headedness is, my friend, to your cost.

650 HAEMON: O father, I could call you mad, were you not my father.

CREON: Don’t toady me, boy; keep that for your lady-love.

HAEMON: You mean to have the last word, then?

CREON: I do.

And what is more, by all the gods in heaven,

I’ll make you sorry for your impudence.

(calling to those within)

655 Bring out that she-devil, and let her die

Now, with her bridegroom by to see it done!

HAEMON: That sight I’ll never see. Nor from this hour

Shall you see me again. Let those that will

Be witness to your wickedness and folly.

(exit)

660 CHORUS: He is gone, my lord, in very passionate haste.

And who shall say what a young man’s wrath may do?

CREON: Let him go! Let him do! Let him rage as never man raged,

He shall not save those women from their doom.

CHORUS: You mean, then, sire, to put them both to death?

665 CREON: No, not the one whose hand is innocent.

CHORUS: And to what death do you condemn the other?

CREON: I’ll have her taken to a desert place

Where no man ever walked, and there walled up

Inside a cave, alive, with food enough

670 To acquit ourselves of the blood-guiltiness

That else would lie upon our commonwealth.

There she may pray to Death, the god she loves,

And ask release from death; or learn at last

What hope there is for those who worship death.²⁰

(Exit)

675 CHORUS: Where is the equal of Love?

Where is the battle he cannot win,

The power he cannot outmatch?

In the farthest corners of earth, in the midst of the sea,

He is there; her is here

680 In the bloom of a fair face

Lying in wait;

And the grip of his madness

Spares not god or man,

Marring the righteous man,

685 Driving his soul into mazes of sin

And strife, dividing a house.

For the light that burns in the eyes of a bride of desire

Is a fire that consumes.

At the side of the great gods

690 Aphrodite immortal

Works her will upon all.

(the doors are opened and ANTIGONE enters, guarded)

But here is a sight beyond all bearing,

At which my eyes cannot but weep;

Antigone forth faring

695 To her bridal bower of endless sleep

ANTIGONE: You see me, countrymen, on my last journey,

Taking my last leave of the light of day;

Going to my rest, where death shall take me

Alive across the silent river²¹

700 No wedding day, no marriage music;

Death will be all by bridal dower

CHORUS: But glory and praise go with you, lady,

To your resting place. You go with your beauty

Unmarred by the hand of consuming sickness

705 Untouched by the sword, living and fee,

As none other that ever died before you

ANTIGONE: The daughter of Tantalus,²²a Phrygian maid,

Was doomed a piteous death on the rock

Of Sipylus, which embraced and imprisoned her,

710

______________________________________________________________________________

²⁰I’ll have her taken…worship death: If Antigone is provide with enough food for enable her to

pray for her life, then whether or not she dies or not is up to the gods, and Creon and the State are blameless

²¹silent river: in Greek mythology, one of the rivers that separated the land of the dead from the

land of the living

²² the daughter of Tantalus: Niobe (ni-o-be), whose children were slain by the gods to punish her for her excessive

pride (hubris). Overcome with grief, she turned into a stone from which tears continued to flow.

The stone was carried by a whirlwind to Mount Sipylus in Phrygia, the kingdom of Niobe’s father.

Merciless as the ivy, rain and snow

Beat down upon her, mingled with her tears,

As she wasted and died. Such was her story,

And such is the sleep that I shall go to.

CHORUS: She was a goddess of immortal birth,

715 And we are mortals; the greater the glory,

To share the fate of a god-born maiden,

A living death, but name undying.

ANTIGONE: Mockery, mockery!²³ By the gods of your fathers,

Must you make me a laughingstock while I yet live?

720 O lordly sons of my city! O Thebes!

Your valleys of rivers, your chariots and horses!

No friend t weep at my banishment

To a rock-hewn chamber of endless durance,

In a strange cold tomb alone to linger

725 Lost between life and death for ever.

CHORUS: My child, you have gone your way

To the outermost limit of daring

And have stumbled against Law enthroned.

This is the expiation²⁴

730 You must make for the sin of your father.

ANTIGONE: My father—the thought that sears my soul—

The unending burden of the house of Labdacus.

Monstrous marriage of mother and son. . .

My father . . . my parents. . .O hideous shame!

735 Whom now I follow, unwed, curse-ridden,

Doomed to this death by the ill-starred marriage

That marred my brother’s life.

CHORUS: An act of homage is good in itself, my daughter;

But authority cannot afford to connive at disobedience.

740 You are the victim of your own self-will.

ANTIGONE: And must go the way that lies before me.

No funeral hymn; no marriage music;

No sun from this day forth, no light,

No friend to weep at my departing

(enter CREON)

745 CREON: Weeping and wailing at the door of death!

There’d be no end of it, if it had force

To buy death off. Away with her at once.

And close her up in her rock-vaulted tomb.

Leave her and let her die, if die she must,

750 Or live within her dungeon. Thon on earth

Her life is ended from this day, her blood

Will not be on our hands.

______________________________________________________________________________

²³Mockery: Antigone mistakenly thinks that the chorus, in comparing her to the gods, is making

fun of her.

²⁴expiation: atonement

ANTIGONE: So to my grave,

My bridal bower, my everlasting prison,

I go, to join those many of my kinsmen

755 Who dwell in the mansions of Persephone²⁵

Last and unhappiest, before my time.

Yet I believe my father will be there

To welcome me, my mother greet me gladly,

And you, my brother, gladly see me come.

760 Each one of you, my hands have laid to rest,

Pouring the due libations on your graves.

It was by this service to your dear body, Polynices,

I earned the punishment which I now suffer,

Though all good people know it was for your honor.

765 O but I would not have done the forbidden thing

For any husband or for any son.

For why? I could have had another husband

And by him other sons, if one were lost;

But father and mother lost, where would I get

770 Another brother? For thus preferring you,

My brother, Creon condemns me and hales me away,

Never a bride, never a mother, unfriended,

Condemned alive to solitary death.

What law of heaven have I transgressed? What god

775 Can save me now? What help or hope have I,

In whom devotion is deemed sacrilege?

If this is God’s will, I shall learn my lesson

In death; but if my enemies are wrong,

I wish them no worse punishment than mine.

780 CHORUS: Still the same tempest in the heart

Torments her soul with angry gusts.

CREON: The more cause than have they that guard her

To hasten their work; or they too suffer

CHORUS: Alas, that word had the sound of death.

785 CREON: Indeed there is no more to hope for.

ANTIGONE: Gods of our fathers, my city, my home,

Rulers of Thebes! Time stays no longer.

Last daughter of your royal house

Go I, his prisoner, because I honored

790 Those things to which honor truly belongs.

(ANTIGONE is led away)

CHORUS: So, long ago, lay Danae²⁶

Entombed within her brazen bower

Noble and beautiful was she,

On whom there fell the golden shower

795 Of life from Zeus. There is no tower.

___________________________________________________________________________

²⁵Persephone: (per-seff-uh-nee) Queen of the Underwold

²⁶Danae: a maiden imprisoned in a bronze chamber by her father, who feared a prophecy that a

Child born to Danae would some day kill him. Zeus entered the chamber as a golden

rain, and from their union, Perseus, who eventually did kill his grandfather, was born.

So high, no armory so great,

No ship so swift, as is the power

Of man’s inexorable fate.

There as the proud Edonian kin,

800 Lycurgus,²⁷in rock-prison pent

For arrogantly challenging

God’s laws: it was his punishment

Of that swift passion to repent.

In slow perception, for that he

805 Had braved the rule omnipotent

Of Dionysus’ sovereignty

On Phineus’ wife²⁸ the hand of fate

Was heavy, when her children fell

Victims to a stepmother’s hate,

810 And she endured a prison-cell

Where the North Wind stood sentinel

In caverns amid mountains wild.

Thus the grey spinners wove their spell

On her, as upon thee, my child²⁹

(Enter TEIRESIAS, the blind prophet, led by a boy)

815 TEIRESIAS: Gentlemen of Thebes, we greet you, my companion and I,

Who share one pair of eyes on our journeys together—

For the blind man goes where his leader tells him to.

CREON: You are welcome, father Teiresias. What’s your news?

TEIRESIAS: Ay, news you shall have; and advice, if you can heed it.

820 CREON: There was never a time when I failed to heed, it father.

TEIRESIAS: And thereby have so far steered a steady course.

CREON: And gladly acknowledge the debt we owe to you.

TEIRESIAS: Then mark me now; for you stand on a razor’s edge.

CREON: Indeed? Grave words from your lips, good priest. Say on.

825 TEIRESIAS: I will; and show you all that my skill reveals.

At my seat of divination,³⁰ where I sit

These many years to read the signs of heaven,

An unfamiliar sound came to my ears

Of birds in vicious combat, savage cries

830 In strange outlandish language, and the whirr

Of flapping wings; from which I well could picture

The gruesome warfare of their deadly talons.

___________________________________________________________________________

²⁷Lycurgus: (li ker gus) A Greek king who opposed the worship of Dionysus and was punished

by being imprisoned in a cave and driven insane.

²⁸Phineus’ Wife: King Phineus (fin-ee-us) imprisoned his form wife and their two sons when he

believed false accusations about them mayd by their step-mother, Idaea (I- day-uh)

²⁹So long ago, lay Danae…as upon thee my child: In this speech, the Chorus compares

Antigone’s fate to that of three other mortals who had been imprisoned.

³⁰Seat of divination: the place where Teiresias sat to listen to the birds, which were believed to

tell him the future.

Full of foreboding then I made the test

Of sacrifice upon the alter fire.

835 There was no answering flame; only rank juice

Oozed from the flesh and dripped among the ashes,

Smoldering and sputtering; the gall vanished in a puff,

And the fat ran down and left the haunches bare.

Thus, through the eyes of my young acolyte,

840 Who sees for me, that I my see for others,

I read the signs of failure in my quest.

And why? The blight upon us is your doing.

The blood that stains our alters and our shrines,

The blood that dogs and vultures have licked up,

845 It is none other than the blood of Oedipus

Spilled from the veins of his ill-fated son.

Our fires, our sacrifices, and our prayers

The gods abominate. How should the birds

Give any other than ill-omened voices,

850 Gorged with the dregs of blood that man has shed?

Mark this, my son: all men fall into sin.

But sinning, he is not forever lost

Hapless and helpless, who can make amends

And has not set his face against repentance.

855 Only a fool is governed by self-will.

Pay to the dead his due. Wound not the fallen.

It is no glory to kill and kill again.

My words are for your good, as is my will,

And should be acceptable, being for your good.

860 CREON: You take me for your target, reverend, sir,

Like all the rest. I know your art of old,

And how you make your commodity

To trade and traffic in for your advancement.

Trade as you will; but all the silver of Sardis

865 And all the gold of India will not buy

A tomb for yonder traitor. No. Let the eagles

Carry his carcass up to the throne of Zeus;

Even that would not be sacrilege enough

To frighten me from my determination

870 Not to allow this burial. No man’s act

Has power enough to pollute the goodness of God.

But great and terrible is the fall, Teiresias,

Of mortal men who seek their own advantage

By uttering evil in the guise of good.

875 TEIRESIAS: Ah, is there any wisdom in the world?

CREON: Why, what is the meaning of that wide-flung taunt?

TEIRESIAS: What prize outweighs the priceless worth of prudence?

CREON: Ay, what indeed? What mischief matches the lack of it?

TEIRESIAS: And there you speak of your own symptom, sir.

880 CREON: I am loth to pick a quarrel with you, priest.

TEIRESIAS: You do so, calling my divination false.

CREON: I say all prophets seek their own advantage

TEIRESIAS: All kings, say I , seek gain unrighteously.

CREON: Do you forget to whom you say it?

TEIRESIAS: No.

885 Our king and benefactor, by my guidance.

CREON: Clever you may be, but not therefore honest.

TEIRESIAS: Must I reveal my yet unspoken mind?

CREON: Reveal all; but expect no gain from it.

TEIRESIAS: Does that still seem to you my motive, then?

890 CREON: Nor is my will for sale, sir, in your market.

TEIRESIAS: Then hear this. Ere the chariot of the sun

Had rounded once or twice his wheeling way,

You shall have given a son of your own loins

To death, in payment for death—two debts to pay:

895 One for the life that you have sent to death,

The life you have abominably entombed;

One for the dead still lying above ground

Unburied, unhounored, unblest by the gods below.

You cannot alter this. The gods themselves

900 Cannot undo it. It follows of necessity

From what you have done. Even now the avenging Furies,

The hunters of Hell that follow and destroy,

Are lying in wait for you, and will have their prey,

When the evil you have worked for others falls on you.

905 Do I speak this for my gain? The time shall come,

And soon, when your house will be filled with the lamentation

Of men and women; and every neighboring city

Will be goaded to fury against you, for upon them

Too the pollution falls when the dogs and vultures

910 Bring the defilement of blood to their hearths and alters.³¹

I have done. You pricked me, and these shafts of wrath

Will find their mark in your heart. You cannot escape

The sting of their sharpness.

(to the boy leading TEIRESIAS around).

Lead me home, my boy.

Let us leave him to vent his anger on younger ears,

915 Or school his mind and tongue to a milder mood

Than that which no possesses him. Lead on.

(Exit)

CHORUS: He had gone, my lord. He has prophesied terrible things.

And for my part, I that was young and now am old

Have never known his prophecies proved false.

920 CREON: It is true enough; and my heart is torn in two.

It is hard to give way, and hard to stand and abide

The coming of the curse. Both ways are hard.

_____________________________________________________________________ ____

³¹The time shall come…and alters: This prophecy by Teiresias later came true when the

families of the slain Argive chiefs enlisted the aid of the Athenian King, Theseus, to obtain burial rites for their dead. The Athenian army marched against Thebes and conquered it.

CHORUS: If you would be advised, my good lord, Creon—

CREON: What must I do? Tell me, and I will do it.

925 CHORUS: Release the woman from her rocky prison.

Set up a tomb for him that lies unburied.

CREON: Is it your wish that I consent to this?

CHORUS: It is, and quickly, The gods do not delay

The stroke of their swift vengeance on the sinner.

930 CREON: It is hard, but I must do it. Well I know

There is no armor against necessity.

CHORUS: Go. Let your own hand do it, and no other.

CREON: I will go this instant. Slaves there! One and all.

Bring spades and mattocks out on the hill!

935 My mind is made; ‘twas I imprisoned her, d

And I will set her free. Now I believe

It is by the laws of heaven that man must live.

(EXIT)

CHORUS: O Thou whose name is many,³²

Son of the Thunderer, dear child of his Cadmean bride,

940 Whose hand is mighty

In Italia,

In the hospitable valley

Of Eleusis

And in Thebes,

945 The mother-city of thy worshippers,

Were sweet Ismenus gently watereth

The soil whence sprang the harvest of the dragon’s teeth,³³

Where torches on the crested mountains gleam,

And by Castalia’s stream

950 The nymph-train in thy dance rejoices,

When from the ivy-tangled glens

Of Nysa³⁴ and from vine-clad plains

Thou comest to Thebes where the immortal voices

Sing thy glad strains.

955 Thebes, where thous lovest most to be,

With her, thy mother, the fire-stricken one,³⁵

Sickens for need of thee.

______________________________________________________________________________

³²Thou whose name is many: The chorus invokes the god, Dionysus, God of theatre and wine,

whose native city of Thebes was under his special protection. Bacchus,

Iacchus, and God of Wine are three of his many names.

³³Ismenus. . .dragon’s teeth: Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, sowed dragon’s teeth in the soil from which sprung armed men who helped him build the city near the river Ismenus (is-meh-nus).

³⁴Nynph-train. . .Nysa: When Semele, the mother of Dionysus, died, Zeus took his infant son to

the nymphs of Nysa, who cared for him during his childhood.

³⁵ thy mother, the fire-stricken one: Zeus had promised Semele that he would grant her one

wish. Her wish was to see him in his full splendor as the king of gods and men.

Being mortal, she could not endure the sight and was consumed to ashes.

Healer of all her ills;

Come swiftly o’er the high Parnassian hills,³⁶

960 Come o’er the sighing sea.

The stars, whose breath if fie, delight

To dance for thee; the echoing night

Shall with thy praises ring.

Zeus-born, appear! With Thyiads³⁷

965 Come bountiful

Iacchus, King!

(Enter a MESSENGER, from the side of the stage)

MESSENGER: Hear, men of Cadmus’s city, hear and attend,

Men of the house of Amphion,³⁸ people of Thebes!

What is the life of man? A thing not fixed

970 For good or evil, fashioned for praise or blame.

Chance raises a man to the heights, chance casts him down,

And none can foretell what will be from what is.

Creon was once an enviable man;

He saved his country from her enemies,

975 Assumed the sovereign power, and bore it well,

The honored father of a royal house.

Now all is lost; for life without life’s joys

Is living death; and such a life is his.

Riches and rank and show of majesty

980 And state, where no joy is, are empty, vain

And unsubstantial shadows, of now weight

To be compared with happiness of heart.

CHORUS: What is your news? Disaster in the royal house?

MESSENGER: Death; and the guilt of it on living hands.

985 CHORUS: Who dead? And by what hand?

MESSENGER: Haemon is dead,

Slain by his own—

CHORUS: His father?

MESSENGER: His own hand.

CHORUS: Then all had happened as the prophet said.

MESSENGER: What’s next to do, your worships will decide.

(the palace door opens)

990 CHORUS: Here comes the Queen, Eurydice. Poor soul,

It may be she has heard about her son.

(Enter EURYDICE, attended by women)

EURYDICE: My friends, I heard something of what you were saying

As I came to the door. I was on my way to prayer

_____________________________________________________________________________

³⁶Parnassian hills: Parnassus, a mountain in southern Greece, was sacred to Apollo and the

Muses.

³⁷Thyiads: women driven mad by wine and the power of Dionysus. Also called Maenads.

³⁸Amphion: a former king of Thebes

At the temple of Pallas,³⁹ and had barely turned the latch

995 When I caught you talk of some near calamity.

I was sick with fear and reeled in the arms of my women.

But tell me what is the matter; what have you heard?

I am not unacquainted with grief,⁴⁰ and I can bear it.

MESSENGER: Madam, it was I that saw it, and will tell you all

1000 To try to make it any lighter now

Would be to prove myself a liar. Truth

Is always best.

It was thus. I attended your husband,

The King, to the edge of the field where lay the body

Of Polynices, in pitiable state, mauled by the dogs.

1005 We prayed for him to the Goddess of the Roads,⁴¹ and to Pluto⁴²

That they might have mercy upon him. We washed his remains

In holy water, and on a fire of fresh-cut branches

We burned all that was left of him, and raised

Over his ashes a mound of his native earth.

1010 That done, we turned toward the deep rock-chamber

Of the maid that was married with death.

Before we reached it,

One that stood near the accursed place had heard

Loud cried of anguish, and came to tell King Creon.

As he approached, came strange uncertain sounds

1015 Of lamentation, and he cried aloud:

“Unhappy wretch! Is my foreboding true?

Is this the most sorrowful journey that ever I went?

My son’s voice greets me. Go, some of you, quickly

Through the passage where the stones are thrown apart,

1020 Into the mouth of the cave, and see if it be

My son, my own Haemon that I hear.

If not, I am the sport of the gods.”

We went

And looked, as bidden by our anxious master.

There in the furthest corner of the cave

1025 We saw her hanging by the neck. The rope

Was of the woven linen of her dress.

And, with his arms about her, there stood he

Lamenting his lost bride, his luckless love,

His father’s cruelty.

______________________________________________________________________________

³⁹Pallas: The goddess, Athena, also called Pallas Athena – the goddess of wisdom

⁴⁰I am not unacquainted with grief: Menoeceus, a son of Creon and Eurydice, had sacrificed

himself at the beginning of the war because a prophecy said that Thebes

would be saved only if he were killed.

⁴¹Goddess of the Roads: Hecate, a goddess of the underworld who sent apparitions to frighten

travelers at night.

⁴²Pluto: another name for Hades, the god of the underworld.

When Creon saw them,

1030 Into the cave he went, moaning piteously.

“O my unhappy boy,” he cried again,

“What have you done? What madness brings you here

To your destruction? Come away, my son,

My son, I do beseech you, come away!”

1035 His son looked at him with an angry stare,

Spat in his face, and then without a word

Drew sword and struck out. But his father fled

Unscathed. Whereon the poor demented boy

Leaned on his sword and thrust it deeply home

1040 In his own side, and while his life ebbed out

Embraced the maid in loose-enfolding arms,

His spurting blood staining her pale cheeks red.

(EURYDICE goes quickly back into the Palace)

Two bodies like together, wedded in death,,

Their bridal sleep a witness to the world

1045 How great calamity can come to man

Through man’s perversity.

CHORUS: But what is this?

The Queen has turned and gone without a word.

MESSENGER: Yes. Its is strange. The best that I can hope

Is that she would not sorrow for her son

1050 Before us all, but vents her grief in private

Among her women. She is too wise, I think,

To take a false step rashly.

CHORUS: It may be.

Yet there is danger in unnatural silence

No less than in excess of lamentation.

MESSENGER: I will go in an see, whether in truth

1055 There is some fatal purpose in her grief.

Such silence, as you say, may well be dangerous.

(he goes in)

(Enter Attendants preceding the King)

CHORUS: The King comes here.

What the tongue scarce dares to tell

1060 Must now be known

By the burden that proves too well

The guilt, no other man’s

But his alone.

(Enter CREON with the body of HAEMON)

CREON: The sin, the sin of the erring soul

1065 Drives hard unto death.

Behold the slayer, the slain,

The father, the son.

O the curse of my stubborn will!

Son, newly cut off in the newness of youth,

1070 Dead as were my fault, not yours.

CHORUS: Alas, too late you have seen the truth.

CREON: I learn in sorrow. Upon my head

God has delivered this heavy punishment,

Has struck me down in the ways of wickedness,

1075 And trod my gladness under foot.

Such is the bitter affliction of mortal man.

(Enter the MESSENGER from the Palace)

MESSENGER: Sir, you have this and more than this to bear.

Within there’s more to know, more to your pain.

CREON: What more? What pain can overtop this pain?

1080 MESSENGER: She is dead—your wife, the mother of him that is dead—

The death wound fresh in her heart. Alas, poor lady!

CREON: Insatiable Death, wilt thou destroy me yet?

What say you, teller of evil?

I am already dead,

1085 And is there more?

Blood upon blood?

More death? My wife?

(the central doors open, revealing he body of EURYDICE)

CHORUS: Look the, and see; nothing is hidden now.

CREON: O second horror!

1090 What fate awaits me now?

My child here in my arms . . . and there, the other. . .

The son . . . the mother. . .

MESSENGER: There at the alter with the whetted knife

She stood, and as the darkness dimmed her eyes

1095 Called on the dead, her elder son and this,

And with her dying breath cursed you, their slayer.

CREON: O horrible. . .

Is there no sword for me

To end this misery?

1100 MESSENGER: Indeed you bear the burden of two deaths

It was her dying word.

CREON: And her last act?

MESSENGER: Hearing her son was dead, with her own hand

She drove the sharp sword home into her heart.

1105 CREON: There is no man can bear this guilt but I.

It is true, I killed him.

Lead me away. I live no longer.

CHORUS: ’Twere best, if anything is best in evil times.

What’s soonest done, is best, when all is ill.

1110 CREON: Come, my last hour and fairest,

My only happiness . . . come soon.

Let me not see another day.

Away . . . Away . . .

CHORUS: The future is not to be known; our present care

1115 Is with the present; the rest is in other hands.

CREON: I ask no more than I have asked.

CHORUS: Ask nothing.

What is to be, no mortal can escape.

CREON: I am nothing. I have no life.

1120 Lead me away . . .

That have killed unwittingly

My son, my wife.

I know not where I should turn,

Where to look for help.

1125 My hands have done amiss, my head is bowed

With fate too heavy for me.

(Exit)

CHORUS: Of happiness the crown

And chiefest part

Is wisdom, and to hold

1130 The gods in awe.

This is the law

That, seeing the stricken heart

Of pride brought down,

We learn when we are old.

(Exeunt)

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