ANTIGONE

Cast of Characters

Nonspeaking Roles

Scene

The royal house at Thebes, fronting onto a raised platform stage. Wing entrances right and left allow for characters to be seen by the audience and the chorus long before they are seen by the main characters. The great doors of the house stand upstage center.

[Enter Antigone leading Ismene through the great doors that lead from the palace.]

ANTIGONE:

Ismene, dear heart, my true sister:

You and I are left alive to pay

The final penalty to Zeus for Oedipus.

I’ve never seen such misery and madness—

It’s monstrous! Such deep shame and dishonor—[5]

As this, which falls upon the pair of us.

And now, a public announcement!

They say the general has plastered it around the city.

Have you heard this terrible news or not?

Our enemies are on the march to hurt our friends. [10]

ISMENE:

No, Antigone, I have had no news of friends,

Nothing sweet or painful, since the day

We lost our brothers, both of us, on one day,

Both brothers dead by their two hands.

Last night the army that came from Argos [15]

Disappeared, and after that I don’t know

Anything that could bring me happiness—or despair.

ANTIGONE:

I knew it! That’s the whole reason

I brought you outside—to hear the news alone.

ISMENE:

Tell me. You’re as clear as a fog at sea. [20]

ANTIGONE:

It’s the burial of our two brothers. Creon

Promotes one of them and shames the other.

Eteoclês—I heard Creon covered him beneath

The earth with proper rites, as law ordains,

So he has honor down among the dead. [25]

But Polyneices’ miserable corpse—

They say Creon has proclaimed to everyone:

“No Burial of any kind. No wailing, no public tears.

Give him to the vultures, unwept, unburied,

To be a sweet treasure for their sharp eyes and beaks.” [30]

That’s what they say the good Creon has proclaimed

To you. And me. He forbids me, too.

And now he’s strutting here to make it plain

To those who haven’t heard—he takes

This seriously—that if anyone does what he forbids [35]

He’ll have him publicly stoned to death.

There’s your news. Now, show your colors:

Are you true to your birth? Or a coward?

ISMENE:

You take things hard. If we are in this noose,

What could I do to loosen or pull tight the knot? [40]

ANTIGONE:

If you share the work and trouble …

ISMENE:

In what dangerous adventure?

ANTIGONE:

If you help this hand raise the corpse …
[Indicating her own hand.]

ISMENE:

Do you mean to bury him? Against the city’s ordinance?

ANTIGONE:

But he is mine. And yours. Like it or not, he’s our brother. [45]

They’ll never catch me betraying him.

ISMENE:

How horrible! When Creon forbids it?

ANTIGONE:

He has no right to keep me from my own.

ISMENE:

Oh no! Think carefully, my sister.

Our father died in hatred and disgrace [50]

After gouging out his own two eyes

For sins he’d seen in his own self.

Next, his mother and wife—she was both—

Destroyed herself in a knotted rope.

And, third, our two brothers on one day [55]

Killed each other in a terrible calamity,

Which they had created for each other.

Now think about the two of us. We are alone.

How horrible it will be to die outside the law,

If we violate a dictator’s decree! [60]

No. We have to keep this fact in mind:

We are women and we do not fight with men.

We’re subject to them because they’re stronger,

And we must obey this order, even if it hurts us more.

As for me, I will say to those beneath the earth [65]

This prayer: “Forgive me, I am held back by force.”

And I’ll obey the men in charge. My mind

Will never aim too high, too far.

ANTIGONE:

I won’t press you any further. I wouldn’t even let

You help me if you had a change of heart. [70]

Go on and be the way you choose to be. I

Will bury him. I will have a noble death

And lie with him, a dear sister with a dear brother.

Call it a crime of reverence, but I must be good to those

Who are below. I will be there longer than with you. [75]

That’s where I will lie. You, keep to your choice:

Go on insulting what the gods hold dear.

ISMENE:

I am not insulting anyone. By my very nature

I cannot possibly take arms against the city.

ANTIGONE:

Go on, make excuses. I am on my way. [80]

I’ll heap the earth upon my dearest brother’s grave.

ISMENE:

Oh no! This is horrible for you. I am so worried!

ANTIGONE:

Don’t worry about me. Put your own life straight.

ISMENE:

Please don’t tell a soul what you are doing.

Keep it hidden. I’ll do the same. [85]

ANTIGONE:

For god’s sake, speak out. You’ll be more enemy to me

If you are silent. Proclaim it to the world!

ISMENE:

Your heart’s so hot to do this chilling thing!

ANTIGONE:

But it pleases those who matter most.

ISMENE:

Yes, if you had the power. But you love the impossible. [90]

ANTIGONE:

So? When my strength is gone, I’ll stop.

ISMENE:

But it’s the highest wrong to chase after what’s impossible.

ANTIGONE:

When you say this, you set yourself against me.

Your brother will take you to him—as his enemy.

So you just let me and my ‘bad judgment’ [95]

Go to hell. Nothing could happen to me

So bad that it would cloud my noble death.

[Exit Antigone toward the plain, through the stage left wing.]

ISMENE:

Then follow your judgment, go. You’ve lost your mind,

But you are holding to the love of your loved ones.

[Exit Ismene through the great doors into the palace, as the chorus enter from the city, stage right wing.]

CHORUS:

Parodos (Entry-song)

[Strophe a]

Let us praise the Sun: [100]

These brilliant beams

Shine glory never seen before in Thebes,

Our City of Seven Gates.

O bright eye of golden day!

You came striding over River Dirkê, [105]

And the White Shield of Argos ran away.

He has fled,

Man and weapon racing from your light,

On sharpened spur.

He was roused against our land [110]

For a fight that Polyneices, haggling, picked.

And, like a screaming eagle,

He dropped on our land:

The shadow of his white-snow wing—

A multitude of armored men, [115]

Helmets crested with horsehair.

[Antistrophe a]

He stooped over our homes,

Mouth gaping wide for the kill,

He engulfed our Seven Gates with spears of death;

But he has gone, [120]

Gone before plunging his beak in our blood,

Gone before torching our crown of towers

With the flames of Hephaestus.

For behind his back there arose too loud

The clamor of war; [125]

His dragon-foe was too strong for him.

Zeus hates an arrogant boast,

With towering hatred.

He saw the river of men attack,

Their golden armor clashing in contempt, [130]

And so he struck the man down with a missile of fire

As he swooped toward his highest goal,

Eager to shout “Victory!”

[Strophe b]

He crashed to the ground

Like a weight slung down in an arc of fire, [135]

This man who had swooped like a dancer in ecstasy,

Breathing hurricanes of hatred.

But his threats came to nothing:

The mighty war god, fighting beside us,

Swept them aside. [140]

Seven captains at seven gates,

Matched with seven defenders,

All left trophies for Zeus the protector

(They took off their armor and ran).

Except for a savage pair, full brothers: [145]

Their two spears stand upright, conquering,

Each in the other’s dead breast.

[Antistrophe b]

Now Victory is ours,

Great be her name! Now Thebes rejoices.

Therefore let us forget our pain. [150]

The war is over: let us dance all night,

Fill all the sacred precincts with joy:

We must now be ruled by Bacchus,

Dance-master of Thebes.

[Enter Creon through the great doors.]

CHORUS:

Here is the king of our land [155]

Creon, the son of Menoeceus,

Our new ruler given us by chance and the gods.

What plan has he been churning over on his way?

Why has he summoned us—

The council of elders—[160]

By public announcement?

CREON:

Gentlemen, the city is safe again, we may thank the gods:

After a great upheaval, they have rescued Thebes.

You are here because I chose you from the crowd

And summoned you by escort. You always showed respect [165]

For Laius’ power when he held the throne,

And the same again for Oedipus, when he rescued Thebes.

After he died I know you stood by their sons;

You were always there with good advice.

Now they are dead, both on one day; [170]

Each stabbed the other and was stabbed.

Brother struck brother, and the blows were cursed.

So now the throne and all the power in Thebes are mine,

Because I am closest kin to those who died.

No man has a mind that can be fully known, [175]

In character or judgment, till he rules and makes law;

Only then can he be tested in the public eye.

I believe that if anyone tries to run a city

On the basis of bad policies and holds his tongue

Because he’s afraid to say what is right, [180]

That man is terrible. So I have always thought.

But it’s even worse when he plays favorites,

Puts family or friends ahead of fatherland.

As for me—I call to witness all-seeing Zeus—

I will never hold my tongue about what I see [185]

When ruin is afoot or the city is not safe.

I will never call a man my friend

If he is hostile to this land. I know this well:

The city is our lifeboat: we have no friends at all

Unless we keep her sailing right side up. [190]

Such are my laws. By them I’ll raise this city high.

And I have just announced a twin sister of those laws,

To all the citizens, concerning Oedipus’ sons:

Eteoclês fought for the city, and for it he died,

After every feat of heroism with his spear. [195]

He shall be sanctified by every burial rite

That is given to the most heroic dead below.

As for his blood brother, Polyneices by name,

He broke his exile, he came back hungry for our blood,

He wanted to burn his fatherland and family gods [200]

Down from the top. He wanted to lead his people—

Into slavery. This man will have no grave:

It is forbidden to offer any funeral rites;

No one in Thebes may bury him or mourn for him.

He must be left unburied. May birds and dogs [205]

Feed on his limbs, a spectacle of utter shame.

Such is the character of my mind: Never, while I rule,

Will a criminal be honored higher than a man of justice.

But give me a true friend of this city

And I will pay him full honor, in death or life. [210]

CHORUS:

That is your decision, son of Menoeceus,

As to the one who meant our city well

And the one who meant it ill. It’s up to you:

Make any law you want—for the dead, or for us who live.

CREON:

Now, look after my commands. I insist. [215]

CHORUS:

Ask someone younger to take up the task.

CREON:

No, no. I have men already watching the corpse.

CHORUS:

Then what’s left for us to do? What are your orders?

CREON:

That you do not side with anyone who disobeys.

CHORUS:

No one is foolish enough to ask for death. [220]

CREON:

Right. That would be their reward. But hope—

And bribery—often have led men to destruction.

[Enter Watchman from the stage left wing.]

WATCHMAN:

Sir, I am here. I can’t say I am out of breath.

I have not exactly been “running on light feet.”

I halted many times along the road so I could think, [225]

And I almost turned around and marched right back.

My mind kept talking to me. It said, “You poor guy,

Why are you going there? You’ll just get your ass kicked.”

Then it said, “Are you stopping again, you damn fool?

If Creon hears this from another man, he’ll give you hell.” [230]

Well, I turned this idea up and down like that,

And I hurried along, real slow. Made a short trip long.

What got me here in the end was this: My report.

It doesn’t amount to much, but I might as well give it,

Because I won’t let go this handful of hope [235]

That things won’t be any worse than they have to be.

CREON:

What is it, man—where’s your courage?

WATCHMAN:

First, I want to tell you where I stand:

I didn’t do this thing, and I don’t know who did,

And it wouldn’t be fair if I got hurt. [240]

CREON:

All right, your defense perimeter is up.

Now, let’s have your report.

WATCHMAN:

It’s terrible news. I can’t come right out with that.

CREON:

Speak up! And then get lost.

WATCHMAN:

OK, here it is. The body out there—someone buried it [245]

Just now and went away. They spread thirsty dust

All over the skin and did the ceremony in full.

CREON:

What? No man would dare! Who did it?

WATCHMAN:

I don’t know. The ground was so hard and dry.

It showed no marks. No spade scratches, [250]

No pickaxe holes, not even chariot ruts.

The perpetrator had not left a single clue.

When the first day-watchman showed it to us,

We were all amazed. It was incredible:

The guy had vanished. There was no tomb, [255]

Only fine dust lying over the body, enough take

The curse away. No sign of wild animals,

No dogs sniffing or tugging at the corpse.

We burst out shouting at each other;

Everyone was hurling accusations. [260]

We kept coming to blows, no one to stop us.

Any one of us could have done the thing.

No one caught red-handed, everyone pled ignorance.

We were about to test each other with red-hot iron

Or run our hands through fire and swear by all the gods: [265]

“I didn’t do it, and I had no part in any plot

To do it, not with anyone else, not by hand or word.”

Well, we weren’t getting anywhere, and in the end

Someone told us to do a thing we couldn’t see how

To refuse or accept. So we dropped heads, stared at the ground [270]

In fear. There was no way it would turn out good for us.

We simply had to bring word to you,

Because we could not hide a thing like this.

We voted to do it, and I am so damned unlucky

I won the lottery to have this lovely job. [275]

I didn’t want to come. And you sure didn’t want to see me:

No one loves the man who brings bad news.

CHORUS: [To Creon.]

You know, sir, as soon as I heard, it came to me:

Somehow the gods are behind this piece of work.

CREON: [To the chorus leader.]

Stop right there, before I’m gorged with rage! [280]

You want to prove that you’re as stupid as you are old?

It’s totally unacceptable, what you said about the gods—

That they could have a caring thought for this man’s corpse.

You think they buried him for his good deeds?

To give him highest honor? They know he came with fire [285]

To burn down their fine-columned shrines, their land,

Their store of treasure—and to blow their laws away.

Have you ever seen a criminal honored by the gods?

Not possible.

But some men here have always champed,

Like surf, against my orders, and obeyed me, if at all, [290]

Without cheer. They shake their heads when I’m not looking,

Pull out of the yoke of justice, and are not content with me.

They are the ones, I’m absolutely sure, who used bribes

To lead our watchmen astray, into this crime.

Money is the nastiest weed ever to sprout [295]

In human soil. Money will ravage a city,

Tear men from their homes and send them into exile.

Money teaches good minds to go bad;

It is the source of every shameful human deed.

Money points the way to wickedness, [300]

Lets people know the full range of irreverence.

But those who committed this crime for hire

Have set themselves a penalty, which, in time, they’ll pay.

[To the Watchman.]

Now listen here. So long as I am reverent to Zeus

I am under oath, and you can be absolutely sure [305]

That if you don’t find the hand behind this burial

And bring him so I can see him with my own eyes,

Death alone will not be good enough for you—

Not till I’ve stretched you with ropes and confess

To this outrageous crime. That will teach you [310]

Where to look to make a profit. And you will learn:

Never accept money from just anyone who comes along.

Those who take from a source that is wicked, you’ll see,

Are ruined far more often than saved.

WATCHMAN:

Permission to speak, sir? Or about face and go? [315]

CREON:

Don’t you see how badly your report annoyed me?

WATCHMAN:

So where’s it biting you? On your ears or in your mind?

CREON:

What’s it to you? Why should you analyze my pain?

WATCHMAN:

If it hurts your mind, blame the perpetrator.

If it’s only your ears, blame me.

CREON:

Damn it, man, will you never stop babbling? [320]

WATCHMAN:

Well, at least I never did the thing.

CREON:

Yes, you did. And for money! You gave up your life!

WATCHMAN:

Oh no, no, no.

It’s terrible when false judgment guides the judge.

CREON:

All right, play with the word ‘judgment.’ But you’d better catch

The man who did this thing or I’ll have proof: [325]

You men ruined your miserable lives to make a profit!

[Creon turns and exits through the great doors to the palace.]

WATCHMAN:

We’ll find him. You’d better believe it.

But if we don’t—you know, if he gets lucky—

No way you’ll ever see me coming back to you.

As it is, this has gone better than I expected—[330]

I’m still alive, thanks be to the gods.

[Exit Watchman toward the plain, through the stage left wing.]

First Stasimon

CHORUS:

[Strophe a]

Many wonders, many terrors,

But none more wonderful than the human race

 Or more dangerous.

This creature travels on a winter gale [335]

Across the silver sea,

Shadowed by high-surging waves,

While on Earth, grandest of the gods,

He grinds the deathless, tireless land away,

Turning and turning the plow [340]

From year to year, behind driven horses.

[Antistrophe a]

Light-headed birds he catches

And takes them away in legions. Wild beasts

 Also fall prey to him.

And all that is born to live beneath the sea [345]

Is thrashing in his woven nets.

For he is Man, and he is cunning.

He has invented ways to take control

Of beasts that range mountain meadows:

Taken down the shaggy-necked horses, [350]

The tireless mountain bulls,

And put them under the yoke.

[Strophe b]

Language and a mind swift as the wind

 For making plans—[355]

These he has taught himself—

And the character to live in cities under law.

He’s learned to take cover from a frost

And escape sharp arrows of sleet.

He has the means to handle every need, [360]

Never steps toward the future without the means.

Except for Death: He’s got himself no relief from that,

Though he puts every mind to seeking cures

For plagues that are hopeless.

[Antistrophe b]

He has cunning contrivance, [365]

 Skill surpassing hope,

And so he slithers into wickedness sometimes,

Other times into doing good.

If he honors the law of the land

And the oath-bound justice of the gods, [370]

Then his city shall stand high.

But no city for him if he turns shameless out of daring.

He will be no guest of mine,

He will never share my thoughts,

If he goes wrong. [375]

[Enter Watchman leading Antigone through the stage left wing.]

CHORUS:

Monstrous! What does this mean?

Are gods behind it? I don’t know what to think:

Isn’t this Antigone? I can’t deny it.

You miserable child of misery,

Daughter of Oedipus, [380]

What have you done?

Is it you they arrested?

Are you so foolish?

So disloyal to the laws of kings?

WATCHMAN:

Yes, she’s the one that did the burial.

We caught her in the act. Hey, where’s Creon? [385]

[Enter Creon through the great doors.]

CHORUS:

Here he is. Coming back from the palace.

CREON:

What’s all this? Lucky I turned up now.

WATCHMAN:

Sir, there’s no point swearing oaths if you’re a mortal.

Second thoughts make any plan look bad.

I swore I’d never come to you again [390]

Because those threats of yours gave me the shakes.

But you know: “Joy beyond hope

Surpasses every other pleasure.”

I’ve come, though I swore on oath I wouldn’t.

And I’ve brought this girl, arrested her at the grave [395]

When she was tidying it up. No lottery this time.

The windfall’s mine and no one else’s.

Now it’s up to you. Take her, question her,

Make your judgment. As for me,

The right thing is to let me off scot-free. [400]

CREON:

Circumstances under which you arrested her? Location?

WATCHMAN:

She was burying that man. Now you know it all.

CREON:

Do you honestly know what you are saying?

WATCHMAN:

Well, I saw this girl burying the dead body.

The one you put off-limits. Clear enough for you? [405]

CREON:

How did you see this? Caught her in the act?

WATCHMAN:

It was like this. We went back to the body

After all your terrible threats,

And we brushed off the dust that covered it,

So as to make the rotting corpse properly naked. [410]

Then we settled down on the hill,

Upwind, so the stink wouldn’t hit us.

We kept awake by yelling insults

At each other when a slacker nodded off.

That went on for a long time, till the sun [415]

Stood bright in the center of the sky.

And we were really getting cooked. Then,

Suddenly, a tornado struck. It raised dust

All over the plain, grief to high heaven.

It thrashed the low-lying woods with terror [420]

And filled the whole wide sky. We shut our eyes

And held out against this plague from the gods.

After a long while it lifted, and then we saw the girl.

She gave a shrill cry like a bird when she sees her nest

Empty, and the bed deserted where her nestlings had lain. [425]

That was how she was when she saw the corpse uncovered.

She cried out in mourning, and she called down

Curses on whoever had done this thing.

Right away she spread thirsty dust with her hands,

Then poured the three libations from a vessel of fine bronze. [430]

And so she crowned the corpse with honor.

As soon as we spotted her, we started to run.

She showed no fear; it was easy to catch her.

Then we questioned her about her past and present actions.

She did not deny a single thing. [435]

For me, that was sweet, and agonizing, too.

It’s a great joy to be out of trouble,

But bringing trouble on your friends is agony.

Still I don’t mind that so much. It’s nature’s way

For me to put my own survival first. [440]

CREON:

You there! With your head bowed to the ground—

Are you guilty? Or do you deny that you did this thing?

ANTIGONE:

Of course not. I did it. I won’t deny anything.

CREON: [To the Watchman.]

You’re dismissed. Take yourself where you please;

You’re a free man, no serious charge against you. [445]

[To Antigone.]

As for you, tell me—in brief, not at length—

Did you know that this had been forbidden?

ANTIGONE:

I knew. I couldn’t help knowing. It was everywhere.

CREON:

And yet you dared to violate these laws?

ANTIGONE:

What laws? I never heard it was Zeus [450]

Who made that announcement.

And it wasn’t justice, either. The gods below

Didn’t lay down this law for human use.

And I never thought your announcements

Could give you—a mere human being—[455]

Power to trample the gods’ unfailing,

Unwritten laws. These laws weren’t made now

Or yesterday. They live for all time,

And no one knows when they came into the light.

No man could frighten me into taking on

The gods’ penalty for breaking such a law. [460]

I’ll die in any case, of course I will,

Whether you announce my execution or not.

But if I die young, all the better:

People who live in misery like mine

Are better dead. So if that’s the way [465]

My life will end, the pain is nothing.

But if I let the corpse—my mother’s son—

Lie dead, unburied, that would be agony.

This way, no agony for me. But you! You think

I’ve been a fool? It takes a fool to think that. [470]

CHORUS:

Now we see the girl’s as wild by birth as her father.

She has no idea how to bow her head to trouble.

CREON: [To the chorus.]

Don’t forget: The mind that is most rigid

Stumbles soonest; the hardest iron—

Tempered in fire till it is super-strong—[475]

Shatters easily and clatters into shards.

And you can surely break the wildest horse

With a tiny bridle. When the master’s watching,

Pride has no place in the life of a slave.

This girl was a complete expert in arrogance [480]

Already, when she broke established law.

And now, arrogantly, she adds insult to injury:

She’s boasting and sneering about what she’s done!

Listen, if she’s not punished for taking the upper hand,

Then I am not a man. She would be a man! [485]

I don’t care if she is my sister’s child—

Or closer yet at my household shrine for Zeus—

She and her sister must pay the full price

And die for their crime.

[The chorus indicate their surprise that both must die.]

 Yes, I say they have equal guilt,

Conniving, one with the other, for this burial. [490]

Bring her out. I saw her in there a minute ago;

She was raving mad, totally out of her mind.

Often it’s the feelings of a thief that give away

Before the crimes he did in darkness come to light.
[Turning to Antigone.]

But how I hate it when she’s caught in the act, [495]

And the criminal still glories in her crime.

ANTIGONE:

You’ve caught me, you can kill me. What more do you want?

CREON:

For me, that’s everything. I want no more than that.

ANTIGONE:

Then what are you waiting for? More talk?

Your words disgust me, I hope they always will. [500]

And I’m sure you are disgusted by what I say.

But yet, speaking of glory, what could be more

Glorious than giving my true brother his burial?

All these men would tell you they’re rejoicing

Over that, if you hadn’t locked their tongues [505]

With fear. But a tyrant says and does

What he pleases. That’s his great joy.

CREON:

You are the only one, in all Thebes, who thinks that way.

ANTIGONE:

No. They all see it the same. You’ve silenced them.

CREON:

Aren’t you ashamed to have a mind apart from theirs? [510]

ANTIGONE:

There’s no shame in having respect for a brother.

CREON:

Wasn’t he your brother, too, the one who died on the other side?

ANTIGONE:

Yes, my blood brother—same mother, same father.

CREON:

When you honor the one, you disgrace the other. Why do it?

ANTIGONE:

The dead will never testify against a burial. [515]

CREON:

Yes, if they were equal. But one of them deserves disgrace.

ANTIGONE:

He wasn’t any kind of slave. He was his brother, who died.

CREON:

He was killing and plundering. The other one defended our land.

ANTIGONE:

Even so, Hades longs to have these laws obeyed.

CREON:

But surely not equal treatment for good and bad? [520]

ANTIGONE:

Who knows? Down below that might be blesséd.

CREON:

An enemy is always an enemy, even in death.

ANTIGONE:

I cannot side with hatred. My nature sides with love.

CREON:

Go to Hades, then, and if you have to love, love someone dead.

As long as I live, I will not be ruled by a woman. [525]

[Enter Ismene under guard, through the great doors.)

CHORUS:

Now Ismene stands before the doors

And sheds tears of sister-love.

From her brows, a blood-dark cloud

Casts a foul shadow

And stains her lovely face. [530]

CREON:

Now you. Hiding in my house like a snake,

A coiled bloodsucker in the dark! And I realized

I was raising a pair of deadly, crazed revolutionaries!

Come, tell me: How do you plead? Guilty of burial

As an accomplice? Or do you swear you knew nothing? [535]

ISMENE:

I did it, I confess. That is, if we are partners, anyway.

I am an accomplice, and I bear responsibility with her.

ANTIGONE:

I will not permit this penalty to fall on you.

No. I never wanted to give you a share.

ISMENE:

But these are your troubles! I’m not ashamed; [540]

I’ll be your shipmate in suffering.

ANTIGONE:

I have witnesses: the gods below saw who did the work.

I won’t accept a friend who’s only friends in words.

ISMENE:

No, please! You’re my sister: Don’t despise me!

Let me die with you and sanctify our dead. [545]

ANTIGONE:

No, you may not die along with me. Don’t say you did it!

You wouldn’t even touch it. Now leave my death alone!

ISMENE:

Why would I care to live when you are gone?

ANTIGONE:

Creon’s the one to ask. He’s the one you care for.

ISMENE:

Why are you scolding me? It won’t help you. [550]

ANTIGONE:

Of course not. It hurts me when my mockery strikes you.

ISMENE:

But I still want to help you. What can I do?

ANTIGONE:

Escape! Save yourself! I don’t begrudge you that.

ISMENE:

O misery! Why am I cut off from your fate?

ANTIGONE:

Because you chose life, and I chose death. [555]

ISMENE:

But I gave you reasons not to make that choice.

ANTIGONE: [Pointing to Creon and the chorus.]

Oh yes, you are sensible; these men agree.

[Pointing to the ground, speaking of the dead or the gods below.]

But they agree with me.

ISMENE:

Yes, I know. And now the sin is mine as much as yours.

ANTIGONE:

Be brave. You are alive. Already my soul is dead.

It has gone to help those who died before me. [560]

CREON:

What a pair of children! One of you lost her mind

Moments ago; the other was born without hers.

ISMENE:

That is right, sir. Whenever we commit a crime,

Our minds, which grew by nature, leave us.

CREON:

Yours did, when you deliberately joined a criminal in crime. [565]

ISMENE: Without her, why should I live? I’d be alone.

CREON:

Her? Don’t speak of her. She is no more.

ISMENE:

But will you really kill the bride of your son?

CREON:

There’s other ground for him to plow, you know.

ISMENE:

But no one is suited to him as well as she is. [570]

CREON:

I loathe bad women. She’s not for my son.

ANTIGONE (or possibly ISMENE, or possibly CHORUS):

O Haemon, dearest, what a disgrace your father does to you!

CREON:

Shut up! What a pain you are, you and your marriage!

CHORUS (or ISMENE, or ANTIGONE):

Will you really take away your son’s bride?

CREON:

Not me. Death will put a stop to this marriage. [575]

CHORUS (or ISMENE):

So she will die. Has it really been decided?

CREON:

Yes. By you and me. Now, no more delays.

Servants! Take them inside. They are women,

And they must not be free to roam about.

Even a brave man flees from Death [580]

When he sees his life in immediate danger.

[Servants take Ismene and Antigone through the great doors.]

Second Stasimon

CHORUS:

[Strophe a]

Happy are they that never taste of crime,

But once a house is shaken by the gods,

Then madness stalks the family without fail,

Disaster for many generations. [585]

It is like a great salt wave

Kicked up by foul winds from Thrace,

It surges over the hellish depths of the sea,

Roils the bottom,

Churns up black sand, [590]

And makes the screaming headlands howl

Against the gale.

[Antistrophe a]

I see grief falling from old days on Labdacus’ family:

New grief heaped on the grief of those who died.

And nothing redeems the generation that is to come: [595]

Some god is battering them without relief.

Now I see a saving light

Rising from the sole remaining roots

Of the house of Oedipus. But this, too, falls

In a bloody harvest, [600]

Claimed by the dust

Of the Underworld gods, doomed by words

And frenzied wits.

[Strophe b]

O Zeus! Who could ever curtail thy power?

Not a man, never—[605]

No matter how far he oversteps his bounds—

Not sleep, that weakens everyone,

Not the untiring months of gods.

No, Zeus, you do not grow weak with time,

You who hold power in the luminous glow of Olympus. [610]

And this will be the law,

Now and for time to come, as it was before:

Madness stalks mortals who are great,

Leaves no escape from disaster.

[Antistrophe b]

Beware of hope! Far-reaching, beguiling, a pleasure— [615]

For a lot of men.

But a lot are fooled by a light-headed love,

And deception stalks those who know nothing

Until they set their feet in fire and burn.

Wisdom lies in the famous proverb: [620]

“Those who judge that crime is good,

Are in the hands of a driving god

Who is leading them to madness.”

Time is very short for them,

Leaves no escape from disaster. [625]

[Enter Haemon through the stage right wing.]

CHORUS:

Now, here is Haemon, the last of your children.

Is he goaded here by anguish for Antigone,

Who should have been his bride?

Does he feel injured beyond measure?

Cheated out of marriage? [630]

CREON:

We’ll know the answer right away, better than prophets:

Tell me, son, did you hear the final verdict?

Against your fiancée? Did you come in anger at your father?

Or are we still friends, no matter what I do?

HAEMON:

I am yours, Father. You set me straight, [635]

Give me good advice, and I will follow it.

No marriage will weigh more with me,

Than your good opinion.

CREON:

Splendid, my boy! Keep that always in your heart,

And stand behind fatherly advice on all counts. [640]

Why does a man pray that he’ll conceive a child,

Keep him at home, and have him listen to what he’s told?

It’s so the boy will punish his father’s enemies

And reward his friends—as his father would.

But some men beget utterly useless offspring: [645]

They have planted nothing but trouble for themselves,

And they’re nothing but a joke to their enemies.

Now then, my boy, don’t let pleasure cloud your mind,

Not because of a woman. You know very well:

You’ll have a frigid squeeze between the sheets [650]

If you shack up with a hostile woman. I’d rather have

A bleeding wound than a criminal in the family.

So spit her out. And because the girl’s against us,

Send her down to marry somebody in Hades.

You know I caught her in the sight of all, [655]

Alone of all our people, in open revolt.

And I will make my word good in Thebes—

By killing her. Who cares if she sings “Zeus!”

And calls him her protector? I must keep my kin in line.

Otherwise, folks outside the family will run wild. [660]

The public knows that a man is just

Only if he is straight with his relatives.

So, if someone goes too far and breaks the law,

Or tries to tell his masters what to do,

He will have nothing but contempt from me. [665]

But when the city takes a leader, you must obey,

Whether his commands are trivial, or right, or wrong.

And I have no doubt that such a man will rule well,

And, later, he will cheerfully be ruled by someone else.

In hard times he will stand firm with his spear [670]

Waiting for orders, a good, law-abiding soldier.

But reject one man ruling another, and that’s the worst.

Anarchy tears up a city, divides a home,

Defeats an alliance of spears.

But when people stay in line and obey, [675]

Their lives and everything else are safe.

For this reason, order must be maintained,

And there must be no surrender to a woman.

No! If we fall, better a man should take us down.

Never say that a woman bested us! [680]

CHORUS:

Unless old age has stolen my wits away,

Your speech was very wise. That’s my belief.

HAEMON:

Father, the gods give good sense to every human being,

And that is absolutely the best thing we have.

But if what you said is not correct, [685]

I have no idea how I could make the point.

Still, maybe someone else could work it out.

My natural duty’s to look out for you, spot any risk

That someone might find fault with what you say or do.

The common man, you see, lives in terror of your frown; [690]

He’ll never dare to speak up in broad daylight [690a]

And say anything you would hate to learn.

But I’m the one who hears what’s said at night—

How the entire city is grieving over this girl.

No woman has ever had a fate that’s so unfair

(They say), when what she did deserves honor and fame. [695]

She saved her very own brother after he died,

Murderously, from being devoured by flesh-eating dogs

And pecked apart by vultures as he lay unburied.

For this, hasn’t she earned glory bright as gold?

This sort of talk moves against you, quietly, at night. [700]

And for me, Father, your continued good fortune

Is the best reward that I could ever have.

No child could win a greater prize than his father’s fame,

No father could want more than abundant success—

From his son.

    And now, don’t always cling to the same anger, [705]

Don’t keep saying that this, and nothing else, is right.

If a man believes that he alone has a sound mind,

And no one else can speak or think as well as he does,

Then, when people study him, they’ll find an empty book.

But a wise man can learn a lot and never be ashamed; [710]

He knows he does not have to be rigid and close-hauled.

You’ve seen trees tossed by a torrent in a flash flood:

If they bend, they’re saved, and every twig survives,

But if they stiffen up, they’re washed out from the roots.

It’s the same in a boat: if a sailor keeps the footline taut, [715]

If he doesn’t give an inch, he’ll capsize, and then—

He’ll be sailing home with his benches down and his hull to the sky.

So ease off, relax, stop being angry, make a change.

I know I’m younger, but I may still have good ideas;

And I say that the oldest idea, and the best, [720]

Is for one man to be born complete, knowing everything.

Otherwise—and it usually does turn out otherwise—

It’s good to learn from anyone who speaks well.

CHORUS:

Sir, you should learn from him, if he is on the mark. And you,

Haemon, learn from your father. Both sides spoke well. [725]

CREON: [To the chorus.]

Do you really think, at our age,

We should be taught by a boy like him?

HAEMON:

No. Not if I am in the wrong. I admit I’m young;

That’s why you should look at what I do, not my age.

CREON:

So “what you do” is show respect for breaking ranks? [730]

HAEMON:

I’d never urge you to show respect for a criminal.

CREON:

So you don’t think this girl has been infected with crime?

HAEMON:

No. The people of Thebes deny it, all of them.

CREON:

So you think the people should tell me what orders to give?

HAEMON:

Now who’s talking like he’s wet behind the ears? [735]

CREON:

So I should rule this country for someone other than myself?

HAEMON:

A place for one man alone is not a city.

CREON:

A city belongs to its master. Isn’t that the rule?

HAEMON:

Then go be ruler of a desert, all alone. You’d do it well.

CREON: [To the chorus.]

It turns out this boy is fighting for the woman’s cause. [740]

HAEMON:

Only if you are a woman. All I care about is you!

CREON:

This is intolerable! You are accusing your own father.

HAEMON:

Because I see you going wrong. Because justice matters!

CREON:

Is that wrong, showing respect for my job as leader?

HAEMON:

You have no respect at all if you trample on the rights of gods! [745]

CREON:

What a sick mind you have: You submit to a woman!

HAEMON:

No. You’ll never catch me giving in to what’s shameful.

CREON:

But everything you say, at least, is on her side.

HAEMON:

And on your side! And mine! And the gods’ below!

CREON:

There is no way you’ll marry her, not while she’s still alive. [750]

HAEMON:

Then she’ll die, and her death will destroy Someone Else.

CREON:

Is that a threat? Are you brash enough to attack me?

HAEMON:

What threat? All I’m saying is, you haven’t thought this through.

CREON:

I’ll make you wish you’d never had a thought in your empty head!

HAEMON:

If you weren’t my father I’d say you were out of your mind. [755]

CREON:

Don’t beat around the bush. You’re a woman’s toy, a slave.

HAEMON:

Talk, talk, talk! Why don’t you ever want to listen?

CREON:

Really? Listen, you are not going on like this. By all the gods,

One more insult from you, and the fun is over.

[To attendants.]

Bring out that hated thing. I want her to die right here, [760]

Right now, so her bridegroom can watch the whole thing.

HAEMON:

Not me. Never. No matter what you think.

She is not going to die while I am near her.

And you will never, ever see my face again. Go on,

Be crazy! Perhaps some of your friends will stay by you. [765]

[Exit Haemon through the stage left wing.]

CHORUS:

Sir, the man has gone. He is swift to anger;

Pain lies heavily on a youthful mind.

CREON:

Let him go, him and his lofty ambitions! Good riddance!

But those two girls shall not escape their fate.

CHORUS:

Are you really planning to kill both of them? [770]

CREON:

Not the one who never touched the crime. You’re right.

CHORUS:

By what means will you have the other one killed?

CREON:

I’ll take her off the beaten track, where no one’s around,

And I’ll bury her alive underground, in a grave of stone.

I’ll leave her only as much food as religious law prescribes, [775]

So that the city will not be cursed for homicide.

Let her pray to Hades down there; he’s the god

That she respects. Maybe she’ll arrange for him to save her life;

Maybe she’ll learn, at last, that she’s wasting time

Showing respect for whatever’s in Hades. [780]

[Exit Creon through the great doors.]

Third Stasimon

CHORUS:

[Strophe]

In battle the victory goes to Love;

Prizes and properties fall to Love.

Love dallies the night

On a girl’s soft cheeks,

Ranges across the sea, [785]

Lodges in wild meadows.

O Love, no one can hide from you:

You take gods who live forever,

You take humans who die in a day,

And they take you and go mad. [790]

[Antistrophe]

Destroyer Love, you seize a good mind,

And pervert it to wickedness:

This fight is your doing,

This uproar in the family.

And the winner will be desire, [795]

Shining in the eyes of a bride,

An invitation to bed,

A power to sweep across the bounds of what is Right.

For we are only toys in your hands,

Divine, unbeatable Aphrodite! [800]

Kommos

[Enter Antigone under guard through the great doors.]

CHORUS:

Now I, too, am swept away,

Out of bounds, when I see this.

I cannot contain the surge of tears:

For now I see Antigone, soon to gain

The marriage bed where everyone must sleep. [805]

ANTIGONE:

See how I walk the last road,

You who belong to my city,

How I fill my eyes with the last

Shining of the sun.

There’s no return: I follow death, alive, [810]

To the brink of Acheron,

Where He gives rest to all.

No marriage hymns for me.

No one sounds

A wedding march: [815]

I will be the bride of Acheron.

CHORUS:

But won’t you have hymns of praise?

So much glory attends you

As you pass into the deep place of the dead.

For you are not wasted by disease, not maimed by a sword. [820]

But true to your own laws, you are the only one,

Of mortals, who’ll go down to Hades while still alive.

ANTIGONE:

No. I hear Niobe was lost in utmost misery—

Daughter of Tantalus, visitor in Thebes,

Wasted on a Phrygian mountain. [825]

Rock sprouted up around her, firm,

Erect as shoots of ivy,

And it subdued her. So men say.

Rain and snow pelted her

Without a break, and she melted away,

Dripping from her mournful brows, [830]

Tears streaming down her flanks.

It’s the same for me, exactly:

Something divine lays me to sleep.

CHORUS:

Really! Niobe was a god; she had a god for a father.

We are mortal, and our fathers pass away. [835]

But you—when you die, you will be great,

You will be equal in memory to the gods,

By the glory of your life and death.

ANTIGONE:

You’re laughing at me.

For the gods’ sake, why now? [840]

You could have waited till I’m gone.

But now you make insults to my face,

You grasping, rich old men! What a city you have!

I call on the rising of rivers in Thebes

And on the great chariot-reaches of the plain. [845]

The rivers and the plain are on my side, at least.

They’ll testify that no friends wept for me,

That the laws of Thebes sent me to prison

In a rock-hollowed tomb.

They see how unusual and cruel this is. [850]

But I have no place with human beings,

Living or dead. No city is home to me.

CHORUS:

You’ve gone too far! You are extreme, impetuous.

My child, you caught your foot and fell

When you tried to climb against high justice. [855]

This is your father’s legacy—pain and punishment.

ANTIGONE:

Now you raise the agony that hurts my mind the most:

Grief for my father,

Like raw earth plowed three times,

Grief for the whole huge disaster of us, [860]

Our brilliant family,

Labdacus’ descendants.

I weep for the ruin in my mother’s bed,

The sexual intercourse and the incest

My father had with our mother. [865]

Ill-fated parents make a miserable child.

I am going to them now,

Unholy and unmarried, to lodge with them.

Oh, my brother, you were married once,

But what a disaster it was: [870]

Your death snuffed out my life.

CHORUS:

You have one kind of reverence.

But a man whose job it is to rule

Will never let you trample on his power.

You chose anger, and anger destroyed you. [875]

ANTIGONE:

No tears for me, no friends, no wedding hymns.

They are taking me away

In misery, by the road before me,

Now and forever forbidden to see

This blessed eye of light. [880]

No friends cry for me,

No one is mourning.

[Enter Creon with his attendants through the great doors.]

CREON:

Singing and wailing? They would never end

Before death, if they made any difference.

Take her away immediately. And when she’s locked up, [885]

In the embrace of her covered tomb—exactly as I said—

Leave her alone, deserted. Let her die if she wants,

Or else live there in her grave, if she feels at home there.

We wash our hands of this girl. But either way,

Her permit to reside above the earth is canceled. [890]

ANTIGONE:

My tomb, my marriage, my hollow, scraped in dirt,

I’m coming home forever, to be held in

With my own people, most of them dead now,

And gone where Persephone welcomes them.

I am the last of them that will go under, and my death— [895]

It is the worst by far—so much before my time.

As I leave, even so, I feed this one strong hope:

That I will have a loving welcome from my father,

More love from you, my mother, and then, love

From you, dear heart, my brother. When you died, [900]

I took you up, all three, and laid you out,

And poured libations at your graves.

And, Polyneices, look: This is my reward

For taking care of you. I was right, but wisdom knows

I would not do it for a child, were I a mother, [905]

Not for a husband either. Let them lie, putrefied, dead;

I would not defy the city at such cost for their sake.

What law can I claim on my side for this choice?

I may have another husband if the first should die

And get another child from a new man if I’m a widow. [910]

But my mother and my father lie in the land of death,

And there is no ground to grow a brother for me now.

That is the law I followed when I made you first in honor,

Even though Creon thought I did a terrible thing,

A rash and sinful crime, dear heart, my brother. [915]

Now he has taken me by force, he is driving me down

Unmarried. I’ve had no man, no wedding celebration,

Shared nothing with a husband, never raised a child.

My friends and family have abandoned me in misery,

And I am going—alive—to the scraped hollow of the dead. [920]

What have I ever done against divine justice?

How can I expect a god to help me in my misery?

To whom should I pray now? Do you see?

They are counting all my reverence to be

Irreverence. If the gods really agree with this, [925]

Then suffering should teach me to repent my sin.

But if the sin belongs to those who condemned me,

I hope they suffer every bit as I do now.

CHORUS:

Still she is tossed by gusts of wind;

They tear through her soul as strongly as before. [930]

CREON:

Listen, it’s the guards who will weep

If they don’t get a move on now.

ANTIGONE (or CHORUS): [With a cry of pain.]

That word—

It’s almost death itself!

CREON:

I have no hope to give. [935]

The death sentence stands.

ANTIGONE:

City of my fathers, Thebes!

Gods of my people!

They are taking me against my will.

Look at me, O you lords of Thebes: [940]

I am the last remnant of kings.

Look what these wretched men are doing to me,

For my pure reverence!

Fourth Stasimon

CHORUS: [To Antigone.]

[Strophe a]

Courage! Danaë, too, endured

The exchange of heavenly light [945]

For a bronze-bolted prison.

And there she was kept down

Secretly in a bedroom tomb.

She was of noble birth, too, my daughter, O my daughter,

And Zeus trusted her to mind his golden-rainfall child. [950]

         Fate has a terrible power

         That nothing escapes, not wealth,

         Not warfare, not a fortress tower,

         Not even black ships beating against the sea.

[Antistrophe a]

Another case: Lycurgus was kept down, [955]

And he was a king in Thrace.

But because of his angry jeering,

Dionysus had him jailed in a cell of rock,

And there the terrible flood-force

Of his madness trickled away, drop by drop, until he learned, [960]

At last, that it was a god he had stung in madness

         With those jeering insults.

         For he tried to quench the holy fire,

         Reined in the god-filled women,

         And drove flute-loving Muses into a rage. [965]

[Strophe b]

At the Black Waters,

Where a thrust of land divides the Bosporus from the Sea,

Lies a city of Thrace known as Salmydéssus.

War god Ares was hard by and saw the curséd blows

When Phineus’ two sons were blinded by the beast [970]

         He called a wife. Darkness came

         Over the disks that had been eyes,

         That would have looked for vengeance

         To gashing hands, stained in blood,

         Shuttles torn from the loom [975]

         And used as knives.

[Antistrophe b]

The boys melted away

In misery, mourning their own sad fate

And their mother’s, for her marriage was hateful

Although she was born to be a queen of the ancient line, [980]

Royal in Athens, and she was raised in distant caves

         Where her father’s tempests blew.

         For he was North Wind, Boreas,

         And she was a child of gods,

         Swift as horses on a rocky slope. [985]

         But the eternal Fates kept after her,

         Her too, O my daughter.

[As the chorus bring their ode to an end, the attendants lead Antigone out through the stage left wing. Enter Tiresias, led by a boy, through the stage right wing.]

TIRESIAS: [To the chorus, indicating the boy who guides him.]

Gentlemen of Thebes, we two have come by the same path;

He alone has eyesight, and we both see by this:

A blind man takes the way his guide directs. [990]

CREON:

Why, old Tiresias! What brings you here?

TIRESIAS:

I will speak: I am the soothsayer, and you will learn.

CREON:

Well, I never have rejected your advice.

TIRESIAS:

That is how you’ve been steering the city straight.

CREON:

Yes, I know firsthand how helpful you are, and I can testify. [995]

TIRESIAS:

Then know this: Once again, your fate stands on a knife-edge.

CREON:

What is it? Your voice puts my hair on end!

TIRESIAS:

You’ll see.

Listen to what I have read from the signs of my art.

I took my seat, the ancient seat for seeing omens—

Where all the birds that tell the future come to rest— [1000]

And I heard a voice I’ve never known from a bird:

Wild screeching, enraged, utterly meaningless.

But the thrashing of their wings told me the truth:

They were clawing each other to death with their talons.

I was frightened. Immediately, I tried burnt sacrifice. [1005]

The altar had been blazing high, but not one spark

Caught fire in my offerings. The embers went out.

Juice was oozing and dripping from thighbones,

Spitting and sputtering in clouds of smoke.

Bladders were bursting open, spraying bile into the sky; [1010]

Wrappings of fat fell away from soggy bones.

And so the ritual failed; I had no omens to read.

I learned this from the boy who is my guide,

As I am the guide for others. Now, it was your idea

That brought this plague down on our city. [1015]

Every single altar, every hearth we have,

Is glutted with dead meat from Oedipus’ child,

Who died so badly. Birds and dogs gnawed him to bits

That is why the gods no longer hear our prayers,

Reject our sacrifice of flaming thighbones. And that is why [1020]

The birds keep back their shrill message-bearing cries:

Because they have fed on a dead man’s glistening blood.

Take thought, my son, on all these things:

It’s common knowledge, any human being can go wrong.

But even when he does, a man may still succeed: [1025]

He may have his share of luck and good advice

But only if he’s willing to bend and find a cure

For the trouble he’s caused. It’s only being stubborn

Proves you’re a fool.

                       So, now, surrender to the dead man.

Stop stabbing away at his corpse. Will it prove your strength [1030]

If you kill him again? Listen, my advice is for your benefit.

Learning from good words is sweet when they bring you gain.

CREON:

I hear you, old man: You people keep shooting arrows at me

Like marksmen at a target. Do you think I don’t know?

I have a lot of experience with soothsayers. Your whole tribe [1035]

Has made market of me from the start. “Benefit”? “Gain”?

If you want to turn a profit, speculate in gold from India

Or go trade with Sardis for electrum and traffic in that.

You’ll never put that man down in a grave,

Not even if eagles snatched morsels of his dead flesh [1040]

And carried them up to the very throne of Zeus.

I won’t shrink from that. And don’t you call it “pollution”

Or tell me I have to bury him to fend off miasma—

Surely no human power could pollute a god.

You’re terribly clever, old man, but listen to me: [1045]

Clever people tend to stumble into shameful traps

When they make a wicked speech sound good

For their personal gain.

TIRESIAS:

This is very sad:

Does any human being know, or even question …

CREON: [Interrupting.]

What’s this? More of your great “common knowledge”?

TIRESIAS:

How powerful good judgment is, compared to wealth. [1050]

CREON:

Exactly. And no harm compares with heedlessness.

TIRESIAS:

Which runs through you like the plague.

CREON:

I have no desire to trade insults with a soothsayer.

TIRESIAS:

But you’re doing it. You implied that I make false prophecies.

CREON:

Prophecies? All your tribe wants to make is money. [1055]

TIRESIAS:

And what about tyrants? Filthy lucre is all you want!

CREON:

Remember, you are speaking about your commander-in-chief.

TIRESIAS:

I haven’t forgotten. It was by my powers that you saved the city.

CREON:

Cunning soothsayer! Yes, but you’d rather do what’s wrong.

TIRESIAS:

You are provoking me. I have a secret we have not touched. [1060]

CREON:

Well, touch it then. But do not speak as you’ve been paid to do.

TIRESIAS:

Do you really think that’s why I’ve spoken out?

CREON:

You’ll never collect your fee; I’m not changing my mind.

TIRESIAS:

So be it. But you must know this and know it well:

You’ll hardly see the sun race around its course [1065]

Before you’ll make a trade with your own boy’s corpse—

Your only child, born from your guts, traded for corpses.

You took one who dwells above and tossed her below,

You rejected a living soul and peopled a tomb with her.

And you took one who belongs down there and kept him here, [1070]

Untouched by gods, unburied, unholy, a corpse exposed.

The dead are no business of yours; not even the gods above

Own any part of them. You’ve committed violence against them.

For this, an ambush awaits you—slow, crippling avengers,

Furies sent by Hades and the gods above. [1075]

You will be tangled in the net of your own crimes.

Now look carefully: Have I been paid to speak out?

No. The passage of a little time will prove the point;

Men and women will be wailing over death in your family.

And all the cities of our enemies are in a rage [1080]

For their dead, whose funeral rites were held by dogs

Or wild beasts or vultures, and for the stench of bodies

Carried by birds to defile their hearths at home.

These are my arrows. You stung me, and I let fly,

In my anger, like a marksman aiming for your heart. [1085]

And I never miss. You can’t outrun the pain.

[To his guide.]

Take us home, boy.

Let him vent his anger on younger men;

May he learn to cultivate a gentler tongue

And a mind more cogent than he has shown today. [1090]

[Exit Tiresias led by the boy through the stage right wing.]

CHORUS:

The man is gone, sir. His prophecies were amazing,

Terrible. Ever since my hair turned white

I’m quite certain he has never sung a prophecy,

Not once, that turned out to be false for the city.

CREON:

I know that, too. My mind is shaken. [1095]

Giving in would be terrible.

But standing firm invites disaster!

CHORUS:

Good judgment is essential, Creon. Take advice.

CREON:

What should I do? Show me. I’ll do what you say.

CHORUS:

Let the girl go. Free her from underground. [1100]

And build a tomb for the boy who lies exposed.

CREON:

Really? You think I should give in?

CHORUS:

As quickly as you can, sir, before you’re cut off.

The gods send Harm racing after wicked fools.

CREON:

It’s so painful to pull back; it goes against my heart. [1105]

But I cannot fight against necessity.

CHORUS:

Go and do this now. Don’t send others in your place.

CREON:

I’ll go immediately. Come on, come on, everyone,

Wherever you are, grab a pick and shovel,

Hurry up! Get over to the place you see. [1110]

It’s up to me, now my mind has changed.

I put her away, I must be there to release her.

I’m afraid it is best to obey the laws,

Just as tradition has them, all one’s life.

[Exit Creon, with his attendants, through the stage left wing.]

CHORUS:

Fifth Stasimon

[Strophe a]

God of many names, [1115]

Glorious child of Thebes,

Whose mother was bride

To Zeus’ deep thunder!

It is you who guard the fame of Italy,

You who look after the embrace, at Eleusis, [1120]

Of Demeter, all-welcoming goddess.

O Bacchus, your home is Thebes,

Thebes, the mother of Maenads,

Where River Ismenus gently flows,

And the fierce dragon-teeth were planted. [1125]

[Antistrophe a]

Torches flash through smoke,

Catch sight of you at Delphi

High above the twin-peaked crag.

The Castalian Stream has seen you

By nymphs of the cave who dance for Bacchus. [1130]

The Nysaean Mountains know you, too,

The ivy-covered shores, the coasts,

The green tangles of grapevines.

They are sending you to Thebes: Watch over us,

Hear our sacred hymns that sound for you. [1135]

[Strophe b]

You hold Thebes in honor

Above all cities;

Your mother, too,

Thunderstruck woman.

And now we pray: Watch over us: [1140]

The violence of plague

Strikes all our people.

Come, your presence is healing.

Soar above Parnassus

Or cross the howling straits of the sea. [1145]

[Antistrophe b]

O Leader in the dance of stars,

That circle across the night,

Breathing fire,

O shepherd of dark voices,

Child of Zeus, let us see you now. [1150]

Come, O Lord, with your throng of Maenads

Iacchus, steward of joy,

Grant them ecstasy

To dance all night for you.

[Enter Messenger through the stage left wing.]

MESSENGER:

Listen, all you neighbors of Cadmus’ family: [1155]

The course of our lives never stops; it runs good

Or ill. I’ll never declare success or failure for anyone.

It’s only chance that keeps your boat upright,

And chance that sinks you—good luck or bad is all you have.

Soothsayers give no guarantees for human lives. [1160]

This Creon—you know, I used to envy him.

He saved the land of Cadmus from its enemies

And took command as the only ruler of this ground.

He set us straight, and he set his house abloom

With well-born sons. Now all of that is gone. [1165]

When every source of joy deserts a man,

I don’t call him alive: he’s an animated corpse.

For my money, you can get as rich as you want,

You can wear the face of a tyrant,

But if you have no joy in this, [1170]

Your life’s not worth the shadow of a puff of smoke.

CHORUS:

What’s this new grief that weighs on the king’s family?

MESSENGER:

Death. And the living are to blame for it.

CHORUS:

Who’s the killer? Who’s the victim? Speak up!

MESSENGER:

Haemon is dead, killed by his own flesh and blood. [1175]

CHORUS:

What! His father? Some other relative?

MESSENGER:

He killed himself, in a rage with his father, for her death.

CHORUS:

That soothsayer! He had it right.

MESSENGER:

Those are the facts; the judgment is up to you.

[Enter Eurydice through the great doors.]

CHORUS:

Wait, I see her coming, Creon’s wife. [1180]

Poor Eurydice, has she heard about her son?

Or did she leave her home by chance?

EURYDICE:

Tell me, men of the city—I caught what you said

As I was about to leave the house

To pray for help to the goddess Athena. [1185]

I was just sliding the bolt to unlock the door

When word of disaster in the family struck my ears.

I fell back into my servants’ arms,

Terrified out of my mind.

Please tell me again. What happened? [1190]

Speak freely. I am quite used to hearing bad news.

MESSENGER:

I will, beloved queen. I was there,

And I’ll tell you everything, the whole truth.

No point taking off the rough edges;

You’d soon find out I was lying. Truth’s right, [1195]

Always.

Well, I went with your husband as guide

To the upper field where the body was lying,

What was left of Polyneices—Cruel!—torn by dogs.

First we prayed to the goddess of passageways,

Pluto also, and we begged that their good will attend us. [1200]

Then we performed the sacred cleansing of the corpse,

Gathered up the pieces we could find,

Burned them over fresh-cut boughs,

And heaped up the earth into a tomb,

A high-crested home for him.

Then we went for the girl, [1205]

Toward her deadly marriage bed, blanketed with rocks.

There was a voice—you could hear it from far off—

It sliced through you, wailing around that unsanctified tomb.

One of us got Creon to listen. He crept forward; cries of misery

Welled up around him, wordless, without meaning. [1210]

Suddenly he let out a groan of utter despair—

“Oh no! Now I am reading signs: Could this be the path?

The one that leads me to the worst disaster of my life?

My son! My son’s voice! Neighbors, be quick, please help.

On the tomb, look, that gap in the mound—[1215]

Stones ripped out—can you slip in through those jaws?

Tell me if I am right, that it is Haemon,

Unless the gods have robbed me of my mind.”

That was the order our master gave, his courage gone.

We looked. In the last depth of the tomb, [1220]

She was there, we saw her hanging by the neck

On a noose she’d twisted from her own fine clothes.

He was there, too, tumbled around her, hugging her waist,

Grieving for his marriage lost, gone under—

His father’s doing—as he, in misery, kissed his bride. [1225]

When Creon saw them, he gave a horrible cry

And came up to them. He was in tears, sobbing:

“Poor soul,” he said, “how could you do this?

What were you thinking? Had you lost your mind?

O my child, come out, please, I beg you on my knees.” [1230]

The boy did not answer. His eyes were fierce.

He fixed them on his father, then spat in his face

And drew his two-edged sword. The father darted back,

Dodged the blow. Thwarted, the angry boy

Turned against himself. He took his blade [1235]

And leaned on it, drove it half through his lungs.

Then, still conscious, he pulled the girl into the curve

Of his sagging embrace. He gasped and panted,

Spattered blood on her white cheek, a spurt of scarlet.

Then he was dead. His body lay with hers; [1240]

They’d brought their marriage off at last in the house of Death—

Which proves the point: In a human life,

It’s deadly for bad judgment to embrace a man.

[Exit Eurydice through the great doors.]

CHORUS:

What could it mean? The woman’s gone inside.

She did not stay for a word, good or bad. [1245]

MESSENGER:

I’m astonished, like you. But I feed on hope. Probably,

When she heard her son was dead, she chose to mourn indoors,

Rather than make a public display of grief.

She’ll have her servants join in the lament.

She’s always planned ahead, to avoid mistakes. [1250]

CHORUS:

I don’t know. If you ask me, a silence so extreme

Is as dangerous as a flood of silly tears.

MESSENGER:

We’ll know soon enough if she’s holding something in,

And hiding it secretly in a seething heart.

I’m going into the house. You may be right: [1255]

Silence, when extreme, is dangerous.

[Exit Messenger through the great doors. Creon enters through the stage left wing; assisted by his attendants, he is carrying the body of Haemon.]

CHORUS:

Now here is the king himself. He carries in his arms

A Reminder (I hope I’m right to be blunt)

Pointing clearly to the madness that destroys,

And it’s no one else’s but his own. The sin was his. [1260]

[Strophe a]

CREON:

Oh, howl for the sins of a stubborn mind,

Evil-minded, death-dealing! O you who are witnesses,

You saw those who killed and those who died,

All in one family,

Cry out against the sacrilege that I called strategy! [1265]

Oh, howl, my son, my young son, for your young death.

Ah! Ah!

You were expelled from life

By my bad judgment, never yours.

CHORUS:

Yes, it is late, but you have seen where justice lies. [1270]

[Strophe b]

CREON:

Oh yes:

I have learned, and it is misery.

Some god leapt full force onto my head

And steered me onto a wild path, shaking my reins,

And I have trampled joy with sharp hooves. [1275]

Oh weep, weep for the pain of human pain!

[Enter Messenger through the great doors.]

MESSENGER:

You have so many troubles, master, troubles in hand—

You carry them yourself. And troubles at home—

You’ll see them for yourself, soon enough, when you arrive. [1280]

CREON:

What, after this, could be worse?

MESSENGER:

Your wife is dead, poor woman.

Fresh-killed, a mother to match this dead boy.

[Antistrophe a]

CREON:

Howl, howl! O Death, refuge that cannot be appeased,

Why me? Why me, Destroyer?

[To the Messenger.]

And you, [1285]

What is this noise you’re making? Your horrible message?

It is only grief.

I was a man in ruins, and you crushed me again.

Speak to me, my son, tell me, is there more killing?

Ah! Ah! [1290]

Is it a woman’s sacrifice,

Her death piled on yours?

[The great doors open, and Eurydice’s body is brought out or revealed.]

CHORUS (or MESSENGER):

Look, she is here, brought out from the inner rooms.

[Antistrophe b]

CREON:

Oh yes:

Here’s the second disaster for my misery to see. [1295]

What could be worse? Does fate have more for me?

A moment ago, I took my dead son in my arms.

Now I see her face to face—my wife. And she is dead.

Oh weep, weep for the mother in torment, weep for the child.

MESSENGER:

She died at the altar. [1300]

A sharp sword-thrust brought darkness to her eyes,

But first she grieved over Megareus, dead before his wedding,

And then over Haemon.

Last of all she called out to you,

“These are your crimes, Childkiller!” [1305]

[Strophe c]

CREON:

Ah! Ah!

I am on wings of fear.

Take a sharp sword, someone.

Why don’t you kill me now?

My misery is so huge, [1310]

I am dissolved in misery.

MESSENGER:

Yes, she brought this charge against you as she died:

“You’re to blame for his death, and the other boy’s, too.”

CREON:

Tell me, how was she killed?

MESSENGER:

Stabbed in the guts by her own hand, [1315]

As soon as she heard what horrors came over her boy.

[Strophe d]

CREON:

The grief is mine, all mine.

I’ll never pin the blame on anyone else that’s human.

I was the one, I killed you, poor child.

I did it. It is all true. [1320]

Now, my neighbors,

Please take me away,

Take me quickly.

I must not be underfoot;

I am worth less than a nobody. [1325]

CHORUS:

A worthy request—if there’s any value in suffering.

Shortest way is strongest way when trouble’s afoot.

[Antistrophe c]

CREON:

Let it come! Let it come!

I look for the light

Of my last day. [1330]

My ultimate fate

Oh, let it come

I never want to face another day!

CHORUS:

That lies in the future. Our duty is for the present.

Leave your death to the Ones whose concern it is. [1335]

CREON:

But that’s what I long for. I prayed for that.

CHORUS:

Then don’t pray at all.

A mortal has no escape from fate.

[Antistrophe d]

CREON: [Praying.]

Please take this useless man,

Put him out of your way. He killed you, my child, [1340]

Though that is not what he wished.

And you, too, my wife.

What a miserable wretch I am!

Never to see them again!

On whom can I lean? [1345]

Everything I touch turns against me,

My head bows to the fate that has leapt on it.

CHORUS:

Wisdom is supreme for a blesséd life,

And reverence for the gods

Must never cease. [1350]

Great words, sprung from arrogance,

Are punished by great blows.

So it is one learns, in old age, to be wise.

–END–

From Sophocles, Antigone, translated by Paul Woodruff (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2001). Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

[5: Line numbers refer to the Greek text.]

[14–15: The two brothers, Eteoclês and Polyneices, had planned to take turns ruling Thebes; but Eteoclês refused to give Polyneices his time on the throne. An army came from Argos in support of Polyneices’ claim and was defeated at the seven gates of the city. The two brothers killed each other. Argos, in the northeast corner of Peloponnesus, was seen as an enemy of Thebes.—P.W.]

[105: Dirkê is one of the rivers of Thebes.]

[126: “Dragon-foe”—The people of Thebes believed that they were descended from men who grew from the teeth of a dragon slain by Cadmus.]

[131–40: These lines refer to the attacker who boasts too much; according to the legend, this was an Argive named Kapaneus.]

[519: Hades is the god of death; his name is also used for the underworld, to which the dead belong.]

[715: A footline is the rope that runs from the foot of the sail, equivalent to what today’s sailors call a sheet. Easing the sheet can save a boat from capsizing in a sudden gust of wind.]

[816: Acheron—a river in the underworld.]

[821: “ But true to your own laws”—The Greek is autonomos, rendered by some scholars as “of your own will”; but the word means more than that in ancient Greek, and the root word “law” (nomos) is clearly heard.]

[869: “You were married once”—Polyneices married the daughter of the king of Argos, and Argos provided the army that attacked Thebes.]

[944–50: Danaë’s father locked her away from men because of an oracle warning him against any son she might bear. But Zeus visited her in a shower of gold, and they conceived a child, Perseus.]

[955–65: Lycurgus had tried to suppress the worship of Dionysus, which involved ecstatic rituals. In some versions of the story, he went mad and killed his son before being imprisoned.]

[958: Dionysus was believed by the ancient Greeks to have brought his worship to Greece from Asia, along with the practice of making wine.]

[964:“ God-filled women”—These women, variously called Maenads, Bacchae, and bacchants, are women who worship Dionysus through ecstatic dance and song in the mountains, away from their homes. “God-filled”means “inspired.”]

[965:“ Flute-loving Muses”—The aulos, usually translated “flute,” was a reed instrument; its music was considered to be the most exciting in ancient Greece.]

[966–87: Phineus, a king in Thrace (northern Greece), had two sons by his first wife, Cleopatra (no relation to the famous queen of Egypt). This Cleopatra was the daughter of an Athenian princess who had been stolen by Boreas, the North Wind, to be his bride. Cleopatra’s sons were blinded by their stepmother after Phineus had imprisoned their mother and taken a new wife.]

[966: “Black Waters”—The manuscripts are unclear. The phrase may refer to the Black Sea or the two Dark Islands at the mouth of the Bosporus.]

[1005: “Burnt sacrifice”—Ancient Greeks offered thighbones wrapped in fat to the gods, along with other inedible parts of a cow or sheep, by burning these parts on an altar.]

[1038: Electrum is an alloy of gold and silver made in Sardis, the city where Croesus, famous for his wealth, had ruled in the sixth century.]

[1042–4: Pollution, miasma—Either an unburied corpse or an unavenged murder was thought to infect the land with miasma, pollution.]

[1067: Haemon is Creon’s last surviving child.]

[1075: Furies—avenging spirits.]

[1080–3: These lines refer to the tradition, not otherwise mentioned in this play, that Creon left not just Polyneices but all the enemy troops unburied.]

[1115: “God of many names”—Dionysus is known by a number of names, including the ones the chorus use here, “Bacchus” and “Iacchus.”]

[1117: The line refers to the mother of Bacchus. Semélê was a princess of Thebes who became pregnant with Dionysus, after being visited by Zeus, and gave birth to the infant god when Zeus struck her with thunder.]

[1119: Italy—Dionysus was evidently honored in the Greek cities of southern Italy.]

[1124–5: The Ismenus flows through Thebes. According to legend, Cadmus founded Thebes by killing a dragon and planting its teeth as seeds; where he planted them, the warriors of Thebes sprouted from the earth.]

[1127: Delphi—Though sacred mainly to Apollo, Delphi was also a principal site for the worship of Dionysus.]

[1129: The Castalian Stream flows from a sacred spring at Delphi.]

[1130: Nymphs were minor divinities believed to inhabit caves and other special places.]

[1131: Nysaean Mountains—probably refers to mountains on the long island of Euboea, separated from Attica by a narrow strait.]

[1144: Parnassus is the high mountain dividing Thebes from Delphi.]

[1199–1200: Hecate, goddess of passageways (including the one to the underworld), was honored along roads, especially at intersections. Pluto, also called Hades, is god of the underworld.]

[1302: Megareus—Haemon’s only brother, son of Creon and Eurydice. The audience probably knew that Megareus had been sacrificed earlier to ensure victory over Argos.]

[1348: “Wisdom is supreme for a blesséd life”—Phronein (wisdom, good sense) is essential for eudaimonia (flourishing, happiness in a broad sense).]