Sophocles Antigone 17

ed. August Boeckh

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ANTIGONE

Nicht mehr verlang' ich's, noch wenn jetzo du sogar

es wolltest, möcht' ich, daſs mit mir du handeltest.
70

Sei wie du seyn willst; aber jenen werd' im Grab

ich bergen; schön ist mir der Tod für diese That.

Geliebt beim lieben Freunde lieg' ich dann, dieweil

ich frommen Frevel übte: muſs doch längre Zeit

den Untern ich gefallen als den Oberen!
75

Denn dort ja lieg' ich ewig; du, wenn dir's gefällt,

entehre, was ehrwürdig ist nach Götterrecht.

Antigone. Sophocles. ed. August Boeckh. Leipzig. 1884.

Current edition Experimental

German (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) (German) (German (A. Boeckh, 1884))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (12)

Greek (L. Benloew, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (L. Benloew, 1858)) — 17 focus

οὔτ᾽ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον, οὔτ᾽ ἀτωμένη.

Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 17 focus

οὔτ᾽ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον οὔτ᾽ ἀτωμένη.

Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 17 focus

οὔτ᾽ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον, οὔτ᾽ ἀτωμένη.

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 17 focus

οὔτ᾽ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον, οὔτ᾽ ἀτωμένη.

Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 17 focus

οὔτ᾽ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον οὔτ᾽ ἀτωμένη.

Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 17.mvp-line-17 focus

οὔτ’ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον οὔτ’ ἀτωμένη.

Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 17 focus

οὔτ᾽ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον οὔτ᾽ ἀτωμένη.

Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 17 focus

οὔτ᾽ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον, οὔτ᾽ ἀτωμένη.

Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 17 focus

οὔτ᾽ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον οὔτ᾽ ἀτωμένη.

Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 17.mvp-line-17 focus

οὔτ᾽ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον οὔτ᾽ ἀτωμένη.

Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 17 focus

οὔτʼ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον οὔτʼ ἀτωμένη.

Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 17 focus

οὔτ᾽ εὐτυχοῦσα μᾶλλον οὔτ᾽ ἀτωμένη.

Translations (10)

Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921)) — 17 focus

Antígona

Tú puedes dar esas excusas; que yo me voy ya a erigir una tumba a mi queridísimo hermano.

Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 17 focus

Antigone

Tu quidem ista praetexas, ego vero iam ibo, carissimoque fratri aggesta humo tumulum excitabo,

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 17 focus

ANT

Thou, make excuses! I will go my way
80

To raise a burial-mound to my dear brother.

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1 focus

Ismene, traute Schwester, vielgeliebtes Haupt,¹
1

Weißt du von einem Leide, das vom Vater her

Zeus nicht an uns vollendet, die wir leben noch?

Denn keinen Jammer gibt es, nichts Entsezliches,

Nichts Arges, nichts Schmachvolles, das ich nicht bereits
5

In deiner Noth gesehen und in meiner Noth.

Und welche Botschaft, heißt es, ließ jezt eben erst

Der Herrscher wieder allem Volk verkündigen?

Weißt du's, vernahmst du's, oder blieb dir unbekannt,

Daß unsern Lieben Böses naht von Feindesmacht?
10

Ismene.

Zu mir gelangte keine Kund', Antigone,

Von unsern Lieben, frohe nicht noch traurige,

Seitdem das Paar der Brüder uns entrissen ward,

Die Eines Tages fielen durch zwiefachen Mord.

Und seit in dieser jüngsten Nacht sich Argos' Heer
15

Zur Flucht gewendet, wurde mir nichts weiter kund,

Nicht, ob mir mehr des Glückes, ob des Leides ward.

Antigone.

Wohl wußt' ich das, und führte deßhalb dich heraus

Zum Thor des Hofes, dir allein es kundzuthun.

Ismene.

Was hast du? Sichtbar wogt in dir ein schweres Wort.
20

Antigone.

Hat Kreon nicht dem Einen Bruder nur gegönnt

Des Grabes Ehre, jenem sie schmachvoll versagt?

Den Eteokles hat er, wie man sagt, gerecht

Gerechter Ordnung huldigend, in der Erde Schooß

Geborgen, daß ihm Ehre sei im Todtenreich;²
25

Doch Polyneikes' jammervoll entseelten Leib

Verbot er, heißt es, allem Volk durch lauten Ruf

Im Grab zu bergen und um ihn zu klagen; nein,

Daliegen soll er unbeweint, grablos, ein Mahl

Den Vögeln, die zum süßen Raube niederschau'n.
30

Und solches, sagt man, ließ der edle Kreon dir

Und mir, ich sage mir sogar, verkündigen;

Er komme selbst, es deutlich Allen kundzuthun,

Die nicht davon vernommen, und er achte nicht

Für Nichts die Sache; sondern wer deß Eines thut,
35

Den trifft an offner Stätte Tod durch Steinigung.

So ward's von ihm beschlossen, und du zeigst sofort,

Ob edel, ob unedel du von Edlen stammst.

Ismene.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 17 focus

Ismene

Alas !

I tremble for thee.

Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889)) — 17 focus

ANTÍGONA

Eso pretestarás tú en buen hora... yo me marcho á erigir á mi hermano amadísimo su sepulcro.

German (F. Hölderlin, 1804) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (F. Hölderlin, 1804)) — 17 focus

ANTIGONAE

Nimm nun zum Vorwand diess. Ich aber gehe,

Ein Grab dem liebsten Bruder aufzuwerfen.

English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904)) — 17 focus

Antigone

80 Such be thy plea:—I, then, will go to heap the earth above the brother whom I love.

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 17 focus

Creon

I did not, nor who did it can I say;

Unjustly then on me would vengeance fall.

With wary heed thou dost entrench thee round;

Some recent deed of guilt thou wou'dst relate.

English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904)) — 1-98 focus

1

Antigone

Ismene, my sister, true child of my own mother, do you know any evil out of all the evils bequeathed by Oedipus that Zeus will not fulfil for the two of us in our lifetime? There is nothing—no pain, no ruin,
1

no shame, nor dishonor—that I have not seen in your sufferings and mine. And now what is this new edict that they say the general has just decreed to all the city? Do you know anything? Have you heard? Or does it escape you that
5

evils from our enemies are on the march against our friends?
10

Ismene

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

And since the Argive army has fled during this night, I have learned nothing further, whether better fortune is mine, or further ruin.
15

Antigone

I knew it well, so I was trying to bring you outside the courtyard gates to this end, that you alone might hear.

Ismene

Hear what? It is clear that you are brooding on some dark news.
20

Antigone

Why not? Has not Creon destined our brothers, the one to honored burial, the other to unburied shame? Eteocles, they say, with due observance of right and custom, he has laid in the earth

for his honor among the dead below. As for the poor corpse of Polyneices, however, they say that an edict has been published to the townsmen that no one shall bury him or mourn him, but instead leave him unwept, unentombed, for the birds a pleasing store
25

as they look to satisfy their hunger. Such, it is said, is the edict that the good Creon has laid down for you and for me—yes, for me—and it is said that he is coming here to proclaim it for the certain knowledge of those who do not already know. They say that he does not conduct this business lightly,
30

but whoever performs any of these rites, for him the fate appointed is death by public stoning among the entire city. This is how things stand for you, and so you will soon show your nature, whether you are noble-minded, or the corrupt daughter of a noble line.
35

39

Ismene

Poor sister, if things have come to this, what would I

profit by loosening or tightening this knot?
40

Antigone

Consider whether you will share the toil and the task.

Ismene

What are you hazarding? What do you intend?

Antigone

Will you join your hand to mine in order to lift his corpse?

Ismene

You plan to bury him—when it is forbidden to the city?

Antigone

Yes, he is my brother, and yours too, even if you wish it otherwise. I will never be convicted of betraying him.
45

Ismene

Hard girl! Even when Creon has forbidden it?

Antigone

No, he has no right to keep me from my own.

Ismene

Ah, no! Think, sister, how our father

perished in hatred and infamy, when, because of the crimes that he himself detected, he smashed both his eyes with self-blinding hand; then his mother-wife, two names in one, with a twisted noose destroyed her life;
50

lastly, our two brothers in a single day, both unhappy murderers of their own flesh and blood, worked with mutual hands their common doom. And now we, in turn—we two who have been left all alone—consider how much more miserably we will be destroyed, if in defiance of the law
55

we transgress against an autocrat’s decree or his powers. No, we must remember, first, that ours is a woman’s nature, and accordingly not suited to battles against men; and next, that we are ruled by the more powerful, so that we must obey in these things and in things even more stinging.
60

I, therefore, will ask those below for pardon, since I am forced to this, and will obey those who have come to authority. It is foolish to do what is fruitless.
65

69

Antigone

I would not encourage you—no, nor, even if you were willing later,

would I welcome you as my partner in this action. No, be the sort that pleases you. I will bury him—it would honor me to die while doing that. I shall rest with him, loved one with loved one, a pious criminal. For the time is greater
70

that I must serve the dead than the living, since in that world I will rest forever. But if you so choose, continue to dishonor what the gods in honor have established.
75

Ismene

I do them no dishonor. But to act in violation of the citizens’ will—of that I am by nature incapable.

Antigone

You can make that your pretext! Regardless, I will go now to heap a tomb over the brother I love.
80

Ismene

Oh no, unhappy sister! I fear for you!

Antigone

Do not tremble for me. Straighten out your own destiny.

Ismene

Then at least disclose the deed to no one before you do it.

Conceal it, instead, in secrecy—and so, too, will I.
85

Antigone

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

Ismene

You have a hot heart for chilling deeds.

Antigone

I know that I please those whom I am most bound to please.

Ismene

Yes, if you will also have the power. But you crave the impossible.
90

Antigone

Why then, when my strength fails, I will have finished.

Ismene

An impossible hunt should not be tried in the first place.

Antigone

If you mean that, you will have my hatred, and you will be subject to punishment as the enemy of the dead.

But leave me and the foolish plan I have authored to suffer this terrible thing, for I will not suffer anything so terrible that my death will lack honor.
95

Ismene

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

Commentary

Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))

mvp-comment-48-1 ἔτι ¹

mvp-comment-48-2 πράσσειν … δρῴης ² δρῴης ³ ἄν ⁴ ἡδέως ⁵ γε ⁶ ἡδέως γε ἂν ἐμοῦ ⁷ <)μοῦ ⁸ γε ⁹ ἐμοί γ’ ¹⁰ μέτα ¹¹ ἀσμένης ¹² ἡδέως ¹³ ἐμοῦ γε ¹⁴

mvp-comment-49-1 ἴσθ’ ¹⁵

mvp-comment-49-2 όποία σοι δοκεῖ ¹⁶ ἴσθ’ ¹⁷ ὁποῖά σοι δοκεῖ ¹⁸

mvp-comment-50-1 θάψω ¹⁹

mvp-comment-50-2 φίλη … φίλου ²⁰

mvp-comment-50-3 μετ’ αὐτοῦ κείσομαι ²¹ μετά ²²

mvp-comment-51-1 ὅσια πανουργήσασ’ ²³ ὅσια ²⁴

mvp-comment-51-2 ἐπεὶ κ.τ.λ. ²⁵

mvp-comment-51-3 τῶν ἐνθάδε ²⁶

mvp-comment-52-1 κείσομαι ²⁷

mvp-comment-52-2 σοὶ δ’ ²⁸ σὺ δ’ ²⁹ εἰ δοκεῖ ³⁰

mvp-comment-52-3 τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἔντιμα ³¹

mvp-comment-52-4 ἀτιμάσασ’ ἔχε ³²

Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus

70. mvp-comment-45-1 ἐμοῦ.. μέτα Would your acting with me be any pleasure to me. For the adverb ἡδέως, implying a predicate, see Essay on Language § 24. p. 40.

71. mvp-comment-46-1 ἴσθ᾽ ὁποία This reading is acknowledged by the Scholiast equally with ἴσθ' ὁποῖα, the reading of LA. Be such as you choose to be' (i. e. base, cp. supr. 38) is more forcible than Hold what principles you please, even if εἰδέναι can have this meaning. Cp Phil. 1049, τοιοῦτός εἰμ' ἐγώ: Eur. Or. 1680, κἀγὼ τοιοῦτος. ὁποία is nominative by attraction to the antecedent. Hermann thought the dative ὁποίᾳ was required.

72. mvp-comment-47-1 Antigone knows clearly from the beginning, with the heightened consciousness of passion, the consequences of her act. There is no irony of fortune, so far as she is concerned.

74. mvp-comment-48-1 ὅσια πανουργ. Cp. infr. 924.

75. mvp-comment-49-1 τῶν ἐνθάδε See Essay on Language § 10. p.15. The form of expression resembles Hdt. 3. 124, βούλεσθαι οὖν παρθενεύεσθαι πλείω χρόνον ἢ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐστερῆσθαι. For the thought, cp. Plat. Legg. 9.881 Α, θάνατος μὲν οὐκ ἔστιν ἔσχατον, οἱ δὲ ἐν ῞Αιδου . πόνοι .. εἰσὶ μᾶλλον ἐν ἐσχάτοις : Sim. Am. 3, πολλὸς γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐστι τεθνάναι χρόνος, κ.τ.λ.

76. mvp-comment-50-1 σοὶ δ᾽ εἰ δοκεῖ The emphasis really rests on the subject (σύ), but is transferred to the dative, as in Phil. 1395, ὡς ῥᾷστ᾽ ἐμοὶ μὲν τῶν λόγων λῆξαι, σὲ δὲ | κ.τ.λ. Essay on Language § 41. pp. 78-79. The change to σύ (see v. rr.) is slight, but rather weakens the expression.

77. mvp-comment-51-1 τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἔντιμα What is held honourable amongst the Gods. Cp. θεῶν νόμιμα, infr. 454-455: 1.ε. τὰ τῶν θεῶν ὄντα καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν ἀγόμενα ἐν τιμῇ. Hh ἀτιμάσασ᾽ ἔχε] Persist in slighting. 78. ἐγὼ ποιοῦμαι I do not mean to show disrespect. She shrinks from saying distinctly τὰ τῶν θεῶν.