Antigone. Sophocles. ed. Lewis Campbell. Oxford. 1879.
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Current edition Experimental
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Greek) (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879))
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
Editions (11)
Greek (L. Benloew, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (L. Benloew, 1858)) — 257 focus
Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 257 focus
Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 257 focus
Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 257 focus
Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 257.mvp-line-257 focus
Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 257 focus
Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 257 focus
Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 257 focus
Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 257.mvp-line-257 focus
Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 257 focus
Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 257 focus
Translations (10)
German (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 257 focus
CHOR.
Wie magst du das wol deuten? Fort schon ist die Frau,
noch eh' ein gutes oder böses Wort sie sprach.
Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921)) — 257 focus
EL MENSAJERO
1278
¡Ah, señor! ¡Cómo teniendo y sintiendo la desgracia que llevas en tus manos, tienes otra en casa, que pronto verás!
Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 257 focus
Creon
1281
Quaenam alia calamitas hac maior denuo accedit?
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 257 focus
CH
1293
No longer hidden in the house. Behold!
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 237 focus
Was ist's, warum befiel dich solche Bangigkeit?
Der Wächter.
Erst laß dir sagen, was mich selbst betrifft: die That
Verübt' ich nicht, noch sah ich, wer der Thäter war;
Und nur mit Unrecht widerführe mir ein Leid.
240
Kreon.
Du zielst behutsam und verschanzest dich geschickt
Ringsher; du bringst uns, seh' ich wohl, ein schweres Wort.
Der Wächter.
Das Arge freilich regt die Furcht gewaltig auf.
Kreon.
Nun, wirst du reden endlich und dann weiter geh'n?
Der Wächter.
Wohlan, so sag' ich's: Einer, der sofort verschwand,
245
Begrub den Todten eben, hat mit trocknem Staub
Bestreut den Leichnam, und geweiht, was üblich ist.
Kreon.
Was sagst du? Wer auf Erden hat sich deß erkühnt?
Der Wächter.
Ich weiß es nicht; denn weder eines Beiles Hieb
War dort, noch einer Hacke Wurf, der Boden dicht
250
Und fest und bruchlos, auch mit Wagenrädern nicht
Befahren; spurlos blieb es, wer der Thäter war.
Und wie es uns der erste Tageswächter zeigt,
1
Erschien es Allen unerklärlich wunderbar.
Die Leiche war verschwunden, nicht begraben zwar;
255
Dünn, wie den Fluch zu meiden, lag der Staub darauf.
2
Von einem Raubthier oder Hund war keine Spur,
Die hergekommen und an ihr herumgezerrt.
Nun schollen böse Reden auf einander los,
Der Wächter zich den Wächter; wohl auch endet' es
260
Zulezt mit Schlägen; Keiner war zu wehren da.
Denn Einer wie der Andre war der Thäter hier,
Und Keiner überführbar; Jeder stritt es ab.
Mit Händen fassen wollten wir ein glühend Erz,
3
Durch Feuer gehen, schwören bei den Göttern selbst,
265
Daß wir es nicht verübten noch im Bunde sei'n
Mit Einem, der's ersonnen oder ausgeführt.
Am Ende, da kein Forschen mehr uns weiter half,
Sprach Einer, der uns alle zwang, vor Furcht das Haupt
Zur Erd' hinabzusenken denn wir wußten nicht
270
Zu widersprechen, noch wiefern wir, thäten wir's,
Uns helfen könnten dieser rieth, man müsse dir
Die Sache hinterbringen, nicht verheimlichen.
Und seine Meinung siegte: mich Unseligen
Verdammt zu diesem schönen Glück des Looses Wurf.
275
Nun steh' ich hier, nicht willig vor Unwilligen:
Niemand ja liebt den Boten unwillkommner Mähr.
Der Chor.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 257 focus
Messenger
The queen is dead ;
Her wounds yet fresh. Eager, alas ! to show
A mother's love, she followed hfer lost child.
Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889)) — 257 focus
EL MENSAJERO
Él mismo se ha dado muerte, irritado con-
tra su padre por el suplicio de su Antigona.
German (F. Hölderlin, 1804) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (F. Hölderlin, 1804)) — 257 focus
CHOR
Wie ist sie scharfgetroffen, wie geschlachtet rings!
English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904)) — 257 focus
Messenger
Thy queen hath died, true mother of yon corpse—ah, hapless lady !—by blows newly dealt.
1
English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904)) — 332-380 focus
Chorus
Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man.
This power spans the sea, even when it surges white before the gales of the south-wind, and makes a path under swells that threaten to engulf him. Earth, too, the eldest of the gods, the immortal, the unwearied,
335
he wears away to his own ends, turning the soil with the offspring of horses as the plows weave to and fro year after year.
340
Chorus
The light-hearted tribe of birds
and the clans of wild beasts and the sea-brood of the deep he snares in the meshes of his twisted nets, and he leads them captive, very-skilled man. He masters by his arts
345
the beast who dwells in the wilds and roams the hills. He tames the shaggy-maned horse, putting the yoke upon its neck, and tames the tireless mountain bull.
350
Chorus
Speech and thought fast as the wind and the moods that give order to a city he has taught himself, and how to flee the arrows of the inhospitable frost under clear skies and the arrows of the storming rain.
He has resource for everything. Lacking resource in nothing he strides towards what must come. From Death alone he shall procure no escape, but from baffling diseases he has devised flights.
360
Chorus
Possessing resourceful skill, a subtlety beyond expectation he moves now to evil, now to good. When he honors the laws of the land and the justice of the gods to which he is bound by oath,
365
his city prospers. But banned from his city is he who, thanks to his rashness, couples with disgrace. Never may he share my home,
370
never think my thoughts, who does these things!
375
Chorus
What marvel sent by the gods is this?—I am bewildered! I know her. How can I deny that this girl is Antigone? O unhappy child
of your unhappy father, of Oedipus! What can this mean? What! Surely they are not bringing you captive for disobeying the King’s laws and being caught in lunacy?
380
Commentary
Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))
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
,