Sophocles Antigone 148

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Card By Card

← Previous Next →

Creon

Scilicet, quae imperare debeam, civitas mihi praescribet ?

Antigone. Sophocles. Berlin. 1806.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Experimental

Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) (Latin) (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (12)

Greek (L. Benloew, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (L. Benloew, 1858)) — 148 focus

ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα

Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 148 focus

θεῶν δὲ ναοὺς χοροῖς

Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 148 focus

τᾷ πολυαρμάτῳ ἀντιχαρεῖσα Θήβᾳ,

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 148 focus

ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα

Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 148 focus

ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα

Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 148.mvp-line-148 focus

ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα

Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 148 focus

ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα

Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 148 focus

ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα

Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 148 focus

ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα 1

Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 148.mvp-line-148 focus

ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα

Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 148 focus

ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα

Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 148 focus

ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα

Translations (10)

German (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 148 focus

CHOR.

Wofern uns Alter nicht den Sinn befangen hält,

sprichst du verständig, dünkt es uns, wovon du sprichst.

Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921)) — 148 focus

CREONTE

¡Qué!, ¿la ciudad es la que me ha de decir lo que debo disponer?

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 148 focus

CR

Am I ruled by Thebes?

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 148 focus

Aber die namenverleihende Nike kam ja,¹

Gnädig vergeltend der wagenumrauschten Thebe;

Darum werde des Kriegs
150

Heute nimmer gedacht von euch;²

Laßt in Nachtreigen uns

Tanzend umher zieh'n zu der Stadt Tempeln, voran hebe sich Bacchos,

Theben erschütternd!³

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 148 focus

Creon

Am I king here, or shall another reign ?

Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889)) — 148 focus

CREONTE

Si, hijo mio; todo debe sacrificarse á la voluntad de los padres: esos son los sentimientos que deben inculcarse en tu corazón. Por esto se afanan los padres: por tener hijos dóciles que sepan vengar con cllos ofensas de sus enemigos, y para que honren, á la par que ellos, á los que hayan sido sus amigos. ¡Ay! el que ha dado el sérá un hijo perverso, ¿qué ha hecho sino engendrar un martirio para él y un objeto de júbilo para sus contrarios? Que jamás, hijo mio, el aliciente del amor de una mujer turbe tu razón; ni olvides nunca que son de hielo las caricias de una esposa cuando ésta es una mujer depravada ¿Qué calamidad más grande que un indigno amigo? Desticerra, hijo, de tu corazón á esa mujer Como cruel enemiga y déjala que vaya á buscar marido á los infiernos. ' Y puesto que está convicta de haber sido la única entre los thebanos, que ha infringido insolentemente mis deerctos, no he de ponerme yo en contradicción ante los ojos de los ciudadanos. Morirá: asi implore á Júpiter protector de los derechos de la sangre. Si yo aliento la rebeldía en mis parientes, ¿qué será de los extraños? El hombre que sabe dirigir con energía sus asuntos de familia, ese sabrá del propio modo gobernar en el Estado con justicia; un hombre tal hay que confesarlo sabrá en toda ocasión mandar y obedecer; en los peligros de la guerra permanecerá siempre en su puesto, siendo de sus camaradas un dotensor fiel y valeroso. Pero el que insensata- mente infringe las leyes, el que pretende mandar en los que gobiernan ¿cómo ha de merecer nuestros elogios? Aquél que la República ha clegido porjefe, en todo, así en lo grande como en lo pequeño, en lo justo como en lo que no lo parezca, debe ser obedecido. No hay calamidad más tremenda que la anarquía, como que ella es la que arruina los pueblos, la que lleva la desolación á las familias, y en los combates produce la confusión en los guerreros y ocasiona las deserciones. En cambio en la obediencia está la salvación y la seguridad de todos. Sepamos, pues, mantener el orden en el Estado y no toleremos que una mujer se nos imponga. Nos dejaremos vencer, en caso necesario, por un hombre; pero que se diga que somos más débiles que mujeres... ¡jamás!

German (F. Hölderlin, 1804) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (F. Hölderlin, 1804)) — 148 focus

HAEMON

Es ist kein rechter Ort nicht auch, der eines
765

Manns ist.

English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904)) — 148 focus

Creon

Shall Thebes prescribe to me how I must rule?

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 148 focus

Chorus

Go, from the rock's dark cave the virgin raise,

And for the outcast dead erect a tomb.

English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904)) — 162-330 focus

Enter Creon, with two attendants.

Creon

My fellow citizens! First, the gods, after tossing the fate of our city on wild waves, have once more righted it. Second, I have ordered you through my messengers to come here

apart from all the rest, because I knew, first of all, how constant was your reverence for the power of the throne of Laius; how, again, you were reverent, when Oedipus was guiding our city; and lastly, how, when he was dead, you still maintained loyal thoughts towards his children.
165

Since, then, these latter have fallen in one day by a twofold doom—each striking, each struck, both with the stain of a brother’s murder—I now possess all the power and the throne according to my kinship with the dead.
170

Now, it is impossible to know fully any man’s character, will, or judgment, until he has been proved by the test of rule and law-giving. For if anyone who directs the entire city does not cling to the best and wisest plans,
175

but because of some fear keeps his lips locked, then, in my judgment, he is and has long been the most cowardly traitor. And if any man thinks a friend more important than his fatherland, that man, I say, is of no account. Zeus, god who sees all things always, be my witness—
180

I would not be silent if I saw ruin, instead of safety, marching upon the citizens. Nor would I ever make a man who is hostile to my country a friend to myself, because I know this, that our country is the ship that bears us safe, and that only when
185

we sail her on a straight course can we make true friends. Such are the rules by which I strengthen this city. Akin to these is the edict which I have now published to the citizenry concerning the sons of Oedipus: Eteocles, who fell fighting
190

in behalf of our city and who excelled all in battle, they shall entomb and heap up every sacred offering that descends to the noblest of the dead below. But as for his brother, Polyneices, I mean, who on his return from exile wanted to burn to the ground
195

the city of his fathers and his race’s gods, and wanted to feed on kindred blood and lead the remnant into slavery—it has been proclaimed to the city that no one shall give him funeral honors or lamentation,
200

but all must leave him unburied and a sight of shame, with his body there for birds and dogs to eat. This is my will, and never will I allow the traitor to stand in honor before the just. But whoever has good will to Thebes ,
205

he shall be honored by me in death as in life.
210

211

Chorus

That is your will, Creon, towards this city’s enemy and its friend. And the power is yours, I believe, to make use of every law whatsoever, both concerning the dead and all us who live.

Creon

See, then, that you be guardians of my commands.
215

Chorus

Lay the weight of this task on some younger man.

Creon

That is not what I meant—the guards for the corpse are already in place.

Chorus

Then what is this other command that you would give?

Creon

That you not give way to the breakers of my commands.

Chorus

There is no one so foolish as to crave death.
220

Creon

I assure you, that is the wage for disobedience. Yet by just the hope of it, money has many times corrupted men.

Enter Guard.

Guard

My king, I will not say that I arrive breathless because of speed, or from the action of a swift foot.

For often I brought myself to a stop because of my thoughts, and wheeled round in my path to return. My mind was telling me many things: Fool, why do you go to where your arrival will mean your punishment? Idiot, are you dallying again? If Creon learns it from another, must you not suffer for it?
225

So debating, I made my way unhurriedly, slow, and thus a short road was made long. At last, however, the view prevailed that I should come here—to you. Even if my report brings no good, still will I tell you,
230

since I come with a good grip on one hope, that I can suffer nothing except what is my fate.
235

237

Creon

And what is it that so disheartens you?

Guard

I want to tell you first about myself—I did not do the deed, nor did I see the doer,

so it would be wrong that I should come to any harm.
240

Creon

Like a bowman you aim well at your target from a distance, and all around you hedge yourself off well from the deed. It is clear that you have some unheard-of thing to tell.

Guard

That I do, for terrible news imposes great hesitation.

Creon

Then tell it, will you, and so unburdened go away?

Guard

Well, here it is. The corpse—some one has just given it burial and disappeared after sprinkling thirsty dust on the flesh and performing the other rites that piety demands.
245

Creon

What are you saying? What man dared do this?

Guard

I do not know. For there was no scar of a pickax to be seen there,

no earth thrown up by a mattock. The ground was hard and dry, unbroken, not rolled over by wheels. The doer was someone who left no trace. When the first day-watchman showed it to us, a discomforting amazement fell on us all.
250

The dead man was veiled from us—not shut within a tomb, but a light cover of dust was on him, as if put there by the hand of one who shunned a curse. And no sign was visible that any beast of prey or any dog had approached or torn him. Then evil words flew thick and loud among us,
255

guard accusing guard. It would even have come to blows in the end, nor was there anyone there to prevent it: every man was the culprit, and no one was plainly guilty, while all disclaimed knowledge of the act. We were ready to take red-hot iron in our hands,
260

to walk through fire and to swear oaths by the gods that we had neither done the deed, nor shared knowledge of the planning or the doing. At last, when our investigating got us nowhere, someone spoke up and made us all bend our faces
265

in fear towards the earth. For we did not know how we could argue with him, nor yet prosper, if we did what he said. His argument was that the deed must be reported to you and not hidden. This view prevailed, and so it was that
270

the lot doomed miserable me to win this prize. So here I stand, as unwelcome to you as I am unwilling, I well know. For no man delights in the bearer of bad news.
275

278

Chorus

My king, my thoughts have long been deliberating whether this deed is somehow the work of gods?

Creon

Quiet, before your words truly fill me with rage, so that you not be found at the same time foolish as well as old. You say what is intolerable when you claim that the gods have concern for that corpse. Was it in high esteem for his benefactions
280

that they sought to hide him, when he had come to burn their columned shrines, their sacred treasures and their land, and scatter its laws to the winds? Or do you see the gods honoring the wicked? It cannot be. No! From the very first
285

certain men of the city were chafing at this edict and muttering against me, tossing their heads in secret, and they did not keep their necks duly under the yoke in submission to me. By those men, I am certain, they were led astray and bribed to do this deed.
290

Nothing so evil as money ever grew to be current among men. This destroys cities, this drives men from their homes, this trains and warps honest minds to set themselves to works of shame,
295

this teaches people to practise villainies, and to know every act of unholiness. But all the men who did this job for hire have made sure that, sooner or later, they shall suffer the punishment. Now, as Zeus still has my reverence, know this well—
300

I tell you on my oath. If you do not find the very hand that made this burial, and reveal him before my eyes, mere death shall not suffice for you, not before, hung up alive, you have made this outrage plain,
305

so that hereafter you may thieve with better knowledge of where your money should be received from, and learn that it is best not to be fond of money-making from any and every source. For you will find that ill-gotten gains bring more men to ruin than to safety.
310

315

Guard

Will you allow me to speak? Or shall I just turn and go?
315

Creon

Do you not know even now how much your voice sickens me?

Guard

Is the pain in your ears, or in your soul?

Creon

And why would you define the seat of my pain?

Guard

He who did it hurts your heart, but I, your ears.

Creon

God! How plain it is that you are a born babbler.
320

Guard

Perhaps, but never the author of this action.

Creon

Yes, and what is more, you sold your life for silver.

Guard

Ah! It is truly sad when the judge judges wrong .

Creon

Expound on judgment as you will. But, if you fail to

show me the perpetrators of these crimes, you will avow that money basely earned wreaks sorrows. Exit Creon.
325

Guard

Well, may the man be found! That would be best. But, whether he be caught or not—for fortune must decide that—I assure you that you will not see me come here again.

Saved just now beyond hope and belief, I owe the gods great thanks. Exit the Guard.
330

Commentary

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

223-330. mvp-comment-136-1 The half-comic or rustic character of the watchman in this play is an extension of the common character of the messenger, whose natural rudeness of speech and thought brings into greater prominence the horror or pathos of the events he describes. The grotesqueness disappears when he speaks of the action of Antigone in 407-440. The employment of this artifice by Sophocles arises from the same motive to which Shakespeare gave a far wider range in such creations as the gravediggers in Hamlet, and the rural fellow in Antony and Cleopatra. The Messenger in the Trachiniae, the Corinthian in the Oedipus Tyrannus, Menelaus in the Ajax, the pretended Shipmaster in the Philoctetes, afford the same sort of contrast to the more tragic personages: and the superstition of the Coloniatae may be compared with the cowardice of the Phrygian slave in the Orestes of Euripides.

223-330. mvp-comment-136-2 The vulgarity of the common-place Athenian of the fifth century в.с. takes the form of misplaced subtlety of wit. Cp. Shak. Hamlet, 5. 1 ,

We must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us. The age is grown so picked, that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.

325. mvp-comment-189-1 ἐξερεῖτε You shall tell the world. Cp. Pind. Pyth. 2. 22, Ιξίονα φαντὶ ταῦτα βροτοῖς λέγειν ἐν πτερόεντι τροχῷ .. τὸν εὐεργέταν ἀγαναῖς ἀμοιβαῖς 332 ff. The chorus, in their first stasimon, express, in a veiled manner, their emotions at what has occurred. Not being able to say what they really think, that Creon's rash edict has already recoiled on his own family, they descant on the wonderful range of human enterprize, adding that where boldness and resource are combined with justice, they confer glory, but only bring ruin where they are subservient to wrong. The elders do not decide who in the present instance is the transgressor. The ode consists of two strophes and antistrophes, in which glyconic rhythms are mixed with lyrical dactyls, iambi, and trochees, in different proportions, the scheme being as follows:- ICC CC CI CICIC α'. } Iamb. Dact. Troch. Glycon. The two long syllables at the beginning of l. 8 of a form the transition from the dactyls to the trochees. There is a sensible change to a lighter and less simple movement at the beginning of β'. The resolved trochees in B' 5 mark a climax of feeling.