οὔτ᾽ ἀκάμαντοι
Antigone. Sophocles. Paris, France. 1858.
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Current edition Experimental
Greek (L. Benloew, 1858) (OCR draft) (Greek) (Greek (L. Benloew, 1858))
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
Editions (11)
Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 604 focus
νέατον γέννημ᾽ · ἆρ᾽ ἀχνύμενος
Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 604 focus
νόμος ὅδ᾽·
οὐδὲν ἕρπειν
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 604 focus
τεάν, Ζεῦ, δύνασιν τίς ἀνδρῶν
Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 604 focus
τεάν, Ζεῦ, δύνασιν τίς ἀν-
Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 604.mvp-line-597 focus
τεάν, Ζεῦ, δύναμιν τίς ἀν-
Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 604 focus
τεάν, Ζεῦ, δύνασιν τίς ἀν-
Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 604 focus
μῆνες; ἀγήρῳ δὲ χρόνῳ δυνάστας
Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 605 focus
τεάν, Ζεῦ, δύνασιν τίς ἀνδρῶν ὑπερβασία κατάσχοι;
1
605
Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 604.mvp-line-597 focus
τεάν, Ζεῦ, δύνασιν τίς ἀν-
Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 605 focus
τεάν, Ζεῦ, δύνασιν τίς ἀνδρῶν ὑπερβασία κατάσχοι;
605
Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 604 focus
τεάν, Ζεῦ, δύνασιν τίς ἀν-
Translations (2)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 605 focus
Wie mag Einer in frevlem Stolze,
Zeus, deine Gewalt bezwingen,
Die nimmer der Schlaf bändigt, der ewig junge,
1
600
Nimmer die raschen
Göttermonden? In nie alternder Jugend wohnst du
In Olympos' lichtem,
Strahlendem Glanz, o König!
Und hinfort in alle Zeiten,
605
Wie für das Vergang'ne, gilt
Dies Gesez: nie waltet
Im Leben das Glück lauter und frei von Leide.
Zweite Gegenstrophe.
Wie mag Einer in frevlem Stolze,
Zeus, deine Gewalt bezwingen,
Die nimmer der Schlaf bändigt, der ewig junge,
1
600
Nimmer die raschen
Göttermonden? In nie alternder Jugend wohnst du
In Olympos' lichtem,
Strahlendem Glanz, o König!
Und hinfort in alle Zeiten,
605
Wie für das Vergang'ne, gilt
Dies Gesez: nie waltet
Im Leben das Glück lauter und frei von Leide.
English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904)) — 583-630 focus
Chorus
Blest are those whose days have not tasted of evil. For when a house has once been shaken by the gods,
no form of ruin is lacking, but it spreads over the bulk of the race, just as, when the surge is driven over the darkness of the deep by the fierce breath of Thracian sea-winds,
585
it rolls up the black sand from the depths, and the wind-beaten headlands that front the blows of the storm give out a mournful roar.
590
Blest are those whose days have not tasted of evil. For when a house has once been shaken by the gods,
no form of ruin is lacking, but it spreads over the bulk of the race, just as, when the surge is driven over the darkness of the deep by the fierce breath of Thracian sea-winds,
585
it rolls up the black sand from the depths, and the wind-beaten headlands that front the blows of the storm give out a mournful roar.
590
Chorus
I see that the ancient sorrows of the house of the Labdacids
are heaped upon the sorrows of the dead. Each generation does not set its race free, but some god hurls it down and the race has no release. For now that dazzling ray of hope that had been spread
595
over the last roots in the house of Oedipus—that hope, in its turn, the blood-stained dust of the gods infernal and mindlessness in speech and frenzy at the mind cuts down.
600
I see that the ancient sorrows of the house of the Labdacids
are heaped upon the sorrows of the dead. Each generation does not set its race free, but some god hurls it down and the race has no release. For now that dazzling ray of hope that had been spread
595
over the last roots in the house of Oedipus—that hope, in its turn, the blood-stained dust of the gods infernal and mindlessness in speech and frenzy at the mind cuts down.
600
Chorus
Your power, great Zeus—what human overstepping can check it? Yours is power that neither Sleep, the all-ensnaring, nor the untiring months of the gods can defeat. Unaged through time,
605
you rule by your power and dwell thereby in the brilliant splendor of
Olympus
. And through the future, both near and distant, as through the past, shall this law prevail: nothing that is vast comes to the life of mortals without ruin.
610
Your power, great Zeus—what human overstepping can check it? Yours is power that neither Sleep, the all-ensnaring, nor the untiring months of the gods can defeat. Unaged through time,
605
you rule by your power and dwell thereby in the brilliant splendor of
Olympus
. And through the future, both near and distant, as through the past, shall this law prevail: nothing that is vast comes to the life of mortals without ruin.
610
Chorus
See how that hope whose wanderings are so wide truly is a benefit to many men, but to an equal number it is a false lure of light-headed desires. The deception comes to one who is wholly unawares until he burns his foot on a hot fire.
615
For with wisdom did someone once reveal the maxim, now famous, that evil at one time or another seems good, to him whose mind a god leads to ruin.
620
But for the briefest moment such a man fares free of destruction.
625
See how that hope whose wanderings are so wide truly is a benefit to many men, but to an equal number it is a false lure of light-headed desires. The deception comes to one who is wholly unawares until he burns his foot on a hot fire.
615
For with wisdom did someone once reveal the maxim, now famous, that evil at one time or another seems good, to him whose mind a god leads to ruin.
620
But for the briefest moment such a man fares free of destruction.
625
Enter Haemon.
Chorus
But here is Haemon, the last of your offspring. Does he come grieving for the doom of Antigone, his promised bride,
and bitter for the deceived hope of their marriage?
630
But here is Haemon, the last of your offspring. Does he come grieving for the doom of Antigone, his promised bride,
and bitter for the deceived hope of their marriage?
630
Commentary
Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))
Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus
603. mvp-comment-353-1 λόγου τ᾽ ἄνοια καὶ φρενῶν Ἐριvús The reasoning of Antigone in 450 ff. seems wild to the chorus, and her conduct shows her to them as possessed with a fatal frenzy. It may be thought strange that κόνις should be retained against a reading which has been so generally ap- proved as κόπις, first suggested by Jortin. But see Essay on Language pp. 92, 93. The grotesque image of Death, or Hades, armed with a bloody chopper or cleaver, however agreeable to the manner of Euripides, or some other poets, has no parallel in the language of Sophocles. And the transition from this concrete imagery to the spirits of fury and madness is, to say the least, awkwardly abrupt. The words λόγου τ᾽ ἄνοια καὶ φρενῶν Ἐρινύς are most natural if they are added to expand an obscure allusion to the deed which had brought Antigone into danger. And the words φοινία θεῶν τῶν νερτέρων .. κόνις, The deadly dust sacred to the gods below, convey such an allusion not more obscurely than do the words in Tr. 836 ff., δεινοτάτῳ μὲν ὕδρας προστετακὼς φάσματι, κ.τ.λ., express the condition of Heracles in the poisoned robe. Triclinius was therefore not absurd in saying εἰκότως δὲ τὸ κόνις τέθειται. διότι γὰρ ἐκάλυψεν Ἀντιγόνη ἀδελφὸν Πολυνείκην κόνει, διὰ τοῦτο τεθνήξεσθαι ἔμελλε.
604. mvp-comment-354-1 This is suggested by the position of Antigone, whose offence brings swift retribution; but is felt by the spectator to be more applicable to that of Creon.