Antigone
By Sophocles
Antigone (a selection)
By Sophocles
Written 442 B.C.E
Translated by R. C. Jebb
In Antigone, the dramatist Sophocles expresses the Greeks' high esteem for humanity and its potential. He also deals with a theme that recurs in Western thought over the centuries: the conflict between individual morality and the requirements of the state, between personal conscience and the state's laws. Creon, king of Thebes, forbids the burial of Polyneikes, Antigone's brother, because he rebelled against the state. The body, decrees Creon, shall remain unburied, food for dogs and vultures, despite the fact that Antigone is his niece and betrothed to his son. Antigone believes that a higher law compels her to bury her brother, even though this means certain death for her and for her sister Ismene, if the latter helps Antigone.
Scene II
Thou-thou whose face is bent to earth-dost thou avow, or disavow, this deed?
I avow it; I make no denial.
Thou canst betake thee whither thou wilt, free and clear of a grave charge.
Now, tell me thou-not in many words, but briefly-knewest thou that an edict had forbidden this?
I knew it: could I help it? It was public.
And thou didst indeed dare to transgress that law?
Yes; for it was not Zeus that had published me that edict; not such are the laws set among men by the justice who dwells with the gods below; nor deemed I that thy decrees were of such force, that a mortal could override the unwritten and unfailing statutes of heaven. For their life is not of to-day or yesterday, but from all time, and no man knows when they were first put forth.
Not through dread of any human pride could I answer to the gods for breaking these. Die I must,-I knew that well (how should I not?)-even without thy edicts. But if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain: for when any one lives, as I do, compassed about with evils, can such an one find aught but gain in death?
So for me to meet this doom is trifling grief; but if I had suffered my mother's son to lie in death an unburied corpse, that would have grieved me; for this, I am not grieved. And if my present deeds are foolish in thy sight, it may be that a foolish judge arraigns my folly.
The maid shows herself passionate child of passionate sire, and knows not how to bend before troubles.
Yet I would have thee know that o'er-stubborn spirits are most often humbled; 'tis the stiffest iron, baked to hardness in the fire, that thou shalt oftenest see snapped and shivered; and I have known horses that show temper brought to order by a little curb; there is no room for pride when thou art thy neighbour's slave.-This girl was already versed in insolence when she transgressed the laws that had been set forth; and, that done, lo, a second insult,-to vaunt of this, and exult in her deed.
Now verily I am no man, she is the man, if this victory shall rest with her, and bring no penalty. No! be she sister's child, or nearer to me in blood than any that worships Zeus at the altar of our house,-she and her kinsfolk shall not avoid a doom most dire; for indeed I charge that other with a like share in the plotting of this burial.
And summon her-for I saw her e'en now within,-raving, and not mistress of her wits. So oft, before the deed, the mind stands self-convicted in its treason, when folks are plotting mischief in the dark. But verily this, too, is hateful,-when one who hath been caught in wickednes then seeks to make the crime a glory.
Wouldst thou do more than take and slay me?
No more, indeed; having that, I have all.
Why then dost thou delay? In thy discourse there is nought that pleases me,-never may there be!-and so my words must needs be unpleasing to thee. And yet, for glory-whence could I have won a nobler, than by giving burial to mine own brother? All here would own that they thought it well, were not their lips sealed by fear. But royalty, blest in so much besides, hath the power to do and say what it will.
Thou differest from all these Thebans in that view.
These also share it; but they curb their tongues for thee.
And art thou not ashamed to act apart from them?
No; there is nothing shameful in piety to a brother.
Was it not a brother, too, that died in the opposite cause?
Brother by the same mother and the same sire.
Why, then, dost thou render a grace that is impious in his sight?
The dead man will not say that he so deems it.
Yea, if thou makest him but equal in honour with the wicked.
It was his brother, not his slave, that perished.
Wasting this land; while he fell as its champion.
Nevertheless, Hades desires these rites.
But the good desires not a like portion with the evil.
Who knows but this seems blameless in the world below?
A foe is never a friend-not even in death.
Tis not my nature to join in hating, but in loving.
Pass, then, to the world of the dead, and, it thou must needs love, love them. While I live, no woman shall rule me.
Enter ISMENE from the house, led in by two attendants.
Lo, yonder Ismene comes forth, shedding such tears as fond sisters weep; a cloud upon her brow casts its shadow over her darkly-flushing face, and breaks in rain on her fair cheek.
And thou, who, lurking like a viper in my house, wast secretly draining my life-blood, while I knew not that I was nurturing two pests, to rise against my throne-come, tell me now, wilt thou also confess thy part in this burial, or wilt thou forswear all knowledge of it?
I have done the deed,-if she allows my claim,-and share the burden of the charge.
Nay, justice will not suffer thee to do that: thou didst not consent to the deed, nor did I give thee part in it.
But, now that ills beset thee, I am not ashamed to sail the sea of trouble at thy side.
Whose was the deed, Hades and the dead are witnesses: a friend in words is not the friend that I love.
Nay, sister, reject me not, but let me die with thee, and duly honour the dead.
Share not thou my death, nor claim deeds to which thou hast not put thy hand: my death will suffice.
And what life is dear to me, bereft of thee?
Ask Creon; all thy care is for him.
Why vex me thus, when it avails thee nought?
Indeed, if I mock, 'tis with pain that I mock thee.
Tell me,-how can I serve thee, even now?
Save thyself: I grudge not thy escape.
Ah, woe is me! And shall I have no share in thy fate?
Thy choice was to live; mine, to die.
At least thy choice was not made without my protest.
One world approved thy wisdom; another, mine.
Howbeit, the offence is the same for both of us.
Be of good cheer; thou livest; but my life hath long been given to death, that so I might serve the dead.
[Haemon, grief-stricken at the condemnation of his fiancee Antigone, approaches his father Creon, and tries to resolve the crisis. Creon is suspicious about Haemon's loyalty.]
Scene III
We shall know soon, better than seers could tell us.-My son, hearing the fixed doom of thy betrothed, art thou come in rage against thy father? Or have I thy good will, act how I may?
Father, I am thine; and thou, in thy wisdom, tracest for me rules which I shall follow. No marriage shall be deemed by me a greater gain than thy good guidance.
Yea, this, my son, should be thy heart's fixed law,-in all things to obey thy father's will. 'Tis for this that men pray to see dutiful children grow up around them in their homes,-that such may requite their father's foe with evil, and honour, as their father doth, his friend. But he who begets unprofitable children-what shall we say that he hath sown, but troubles for himself, and much triumph for his foes? Then do not thou, my son, at pleasure's beck, dethrone thy reason for a woman's sake; knowing that this is a joy that soon grows cold in clasping arms,-an evil woman to share thy bed and thy home. For what wound could strike deeper than a false friend? Nay, with loathing, and as if she were thine enemy, let this girl go to find a husband in the house of Hades. For since I have taken her, alone of all the city, in open disobedience, I will not make myself a liar to my people-I will slay her.
So let her appeal as she will to the majesty of kindred blood. If I am to nurture mine own kindred in naughtiness, needs must I bear with it in aliens. He who does his duty in his own household will be found righteous in the State also. But if any one transgresses, and does violence to the laws, or thinks to dictate to his rulers, such an one can win no praise from me. No, whomsoever the city may appoint, that man must be obeyed, in little things and great, in just things and unjust; and I should feel sure that one who thus obeys would be a good ruler no less than a good subject, and in the storm of spears would stand his ground where he was set, loyal and dauntless at his comrade's side.
But disobedience is the worst of evils. This it is that ruins cities; this makes homes desolate; by this, the ranks of allies are broken into head-long rout; but, of the lives whose course is fair, the greater part owes safety to obedience. Therefore we must support the cause of order, and in no wise suffer a woman to worst us. Better to fall from power, if we must, by a man's hand; then we should not be called weaker than a woman.
To us, unless our years have stolen our wit, thou seemest to say wisely what thou sayest.
Father, the gods implant reason in men, the highest of all things that we call our own. Not mine the skill-far from me be the quest!-to say wherein thou speakest not aright; and yet another man, too, might have some useful thought. At least, it is my natural office to watch, on thy behalf, all that men say, or do, or find to blame. For the dread of thy frown forbids the citizen to speak such words as would offend thine ear; but can hear these murmurs in the dark, these moanings of the city for this maiden; 'no woman,' they say, 'ever merited her doom less,-none ever was to die so shamefully for deeds so glorious as hers; who, when her own brother had fallen in bloody strife, would not leave him unburied, to be devoured by carrion dogs, or by any bird:-deserves not she the meed of golden honour?'
Such is the darkling rumour that spreads in secret. For me, my father, no treasure is so precious as thy welfare. What, indeed, is a nobler ornament for children than a prospering sire's fair fame, or for sire than son's? Wear not, then, one mood only in thyself; think not that thy word, and thine alone, must be right. For if any man thinks that he alone is wise,-that in speech, or in mind, he hath no peer,-such a soul, when laid open, is ever found empty.
No, though a man be wise, 'tis no shame for him to learn many things, and to bend in season. Seest thou, beside the wintry torrent's course, how the trees that yield to it save every twig, while the stiff-necked perish root and branch? And even thus he who keeps the sheet of his sail taut, and never slackens it, upsets his boat, and finishes his voyage with keel uppermost.
Nay, forego thy wrath; permit thyself to change. For if I, a younger man, may offer my thought, it were far best, I ween, that men should be all-wise by nature; but, otherwise-and oft the scale inclines not so-'tis good also to learn from those who speak aright.
Sire, 'tis meet that thou shouldest profit by his words, if he speaks aught in season, and thou, Haemon, by thy father's; for on both parts there hath been wise speech.
Men of my age are we indeed to be schooled, then, by men of his?
In nothing that is not right; but if I am young, thou shouldest look to my merits, not to my years.
Is it a merit to honour the unruly?
I could wish no one to show respect for evil-doers.
Then is not she tainted with that malady?
Our Theban folk, with one voice, denies it.
Shall Thebes prescribe to me how I must rule?
See, there thou hast spoken like a youth indeed.
Am I to rule this land by other judgment than mine own?
That is no city which belongs to one man.
Is not the city held to be the ruler's?
Thou wouldst make a good monarch of a desert.