Sophocles Antigone 435

Antigone.

Ich that es, ich bekenn' es und verläugn' es nicht.

(zu dem Wächter)

Kreon.

Du wende dich von hinnen nun, wohin du willst,

Erlöst und ledig aller Schuld der schweren That.

(zu Antigone)

Du sage kurz und bündig ohn' Umschweise mir:

War dir der Ausruf unbekannt, der dies verbot?

445

Antigone.

Bekannt: warum nicht? Offenkundig war er ja.

Kreon.

Und wagtest dennoch wider mein Gebot zu thun?

Antigone.

Nicht Zeus ja war es, welcher mir's verkünden ließ,

Noch hat das Recht, das bei den Todesgöttern wohnt, ¹

Solch eine Sazung für die Menschen aufgestellt. ²

450

Auch nicht so mächtig achtet ich, was du befahlst,

Daß dir der Götter ungeschrieb'nes, ewiges ³

Gesez sich beugen müßte, dir, dem Sterblichen.

Denn heute nicht und gestern erst, nein, alle Zeit

Lebt dies, und Niemand wurde kund, seit wann es ist.

455

Für dieses wollt' ich nicht dereinst, aus feiger Furcht

Vor Menschendünken, mir der Götter Strafgericht

Zuziehen. Daß ich sterben werde, wußt' ich ja,

Wenn's dein Gebot auch nicht verhieß. Und nimmt der Tod

Mich vor der Zeit hin, acht' ich das Gewinn für mich.

460

Denn wem so vielfach herbe Noth das Leben kränkt,

Wie mir, gewährte diesem nicht der Tod Gewinn?

So kann es mich nicht schmerzen, daß mich dieses Loos

Betroffen hat; doch wenn ich meiner Mutter Sohn,

Den Bruder, könnt' im Tode grablos liegen seh'n,

465

Das wäre schmerzlich; jenes macht mir keinen Schmerz.

Und schein' ich dir jezt thöricht, weil ich also that,

Mag wohl der Thorheit immerhin ein Thor mich zeih'n.

Der Chor.

Guard

Here is she, the one who did the deed.

We caught this one burying him. Where is Creon?

385

Chorus

There, he is coming from the house again at our need.

Creon

What is it? What has happened that makes my coming timely?

Guard

My king, there is nothing that a man can rightly swear he will not do. For second thought belies one’s first intent.

I could have vowed that I would not ever come here again, because of your threats by which I had just been storm-tossed. But since this joy that exceeds and oversteps my hopes can be compared in fulness to no other pleasure, I am back—though it is contrary to my sworn oath—

390

bringing this girl who was caught giving burial honors to the dead. This time there was no casting of lots. No, this piece of luck has fallen to me, and me alone. And now, my king, as it pleases you, take her yourself, question her and convict her. But justice would see me

395

released free and clear from this trouble.

400

Creon

Your prisoner here—how and where did you take her?

Guard

She was burying the man. You know all there is to tell.

Creon

Are you clear and sure about what you are saying?

Guard

I am. I saw her burying the corpse that you

had forbidden to bury. Is that plain and sufficient?

405

Creon

And how was she observed? How taken in the act?

Guard

It happened like this. When we had come to the place with those fierce threats of yours still in our ears, we swept away all the dust that covered

the corpse and bared the damp body well. We then sat down on the brow of the hill to windward, fleeing the smell from him, lest it strike us. Each man was wide awake and kept his neighbor alert with torrents of threats, if any one should be careless of this task.

410

So time passed, until the disk of the sun stood bright in mid-sky and the heat began to burn. And then suddenly a whirlwind lifted from the earth a storm of dust, a trouble in the sky, and it filled the plain, marring all the foliage of its woods.

415

Soon the wide air was choked with it. We closed our eyes, and endured the plague from the gods. When, after a long while, this storm had passed, the girl was seen, and she wailed aloud with the sharp cry of a grieving bird, as when inside her empty

420

nest she sees the bed stripped of its nestlings. So she, too, when she saw the corpse bare, broke into a cry of lamentation and cursed with harsh curses those who had done it. Immediately she took thirsty dust in her hands,

425

and from a pitcher of beaten bronze held high she crowned the dead with thrice-poured libations. We rushed forward when we saw it, and at once closed upon our quarry, who was not at all dismayed. We then charged her with her past and present doings,

430

but she made no denial of anything—at once to my joy and to my pain. For to have escaped from trouble one’s self gives the greatest joy, but it stings to lead friends to evil. Naturally, though, all such things are

435

of less account to me than my own safety.

440

Creon

You, you with your face bent to the ground, do you admit, or deny that you did this?

Antigone

I declare it and make no denial.

Creon

To the Guard.

You can take yourself wherever you please,

free and clear of a heavy charge. Exit Guard.

445

To Antigone.

You, however, tell me—not at length, but briefly—did you know that an edict had forbidden this?

Antigone

I knew it. How could I not? It was public.

Creon

And even so you dared overstep that law?

Antigone

Yes, since it was not Zeus that published me that edict, and since not of that kind are the laws which Justice who dwells with the gods below established among men. Nor did I think that your decrees were of such force, that a mortal could override the unwritten

450

and unfailing statutes given us by the gods. For their life is not of today or yesterday, but for all time, and no man knows when they were first put forth. Not for fear of any man’s pride was I about to owe a penalty to the gods for breaking these.

455

Die I must, that I knew well (how could I not?). That is true even without your edicts. But if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain. When anyone lives as I do, surrounded by evils, how can he not carry off gain by dying?

460

So for me to meet this doom is a grief of no account. But if I had endured that my mother’s son should in death lie an unburied corpse, that would have grieved me. Yet for this, I am not grieved. And if my present actions are foolish in your sight,

465

it may be that it is a fool who accuses me of folly.

470

Chorus

She shows herself the wild offspring of a wild father, and does not know how to bend before troubles.

Creon

Yet remember that over-hard spirits most often collapse. It is the stiffest iron, baked to

utter hardness in the fire, that you most often see snapped and shivered. And I have witnessed horses with great spirit disciplined by a small bit. For there is no place for pride, when one is his neighbors’ slave.

475

This girl was already practiced in outrage when she overstepped the published laws. And, that done, this now is a second outrage, that she glories in it and exults in her deed. In truth, then, I am no man, but she is,

480

if this victory rests with her and brings no penalty. No! Whether she is my sister’s child, or nearer to me in blood than any of my kin that worship Zeus at the altar of our house, she and her sister will not escape a doom most harsh. For in truth

485

I charge that other with an equal share in the plotting of this burial. Call her out! I saw her inside just now, raving, and not in control of her wits. Before the deed, the mind frequently is convicted of stealthy crimes when conspirators are plotting depravity in the dark.

490

But, truly, I detest it, too, when one who has been caught in treachery then seeks to make the crime a glory.

495

Antigone

What more do you want than to capture and kill me?

Creon

I want nothing else. Having that, I have everything.

Antigone

Why then do you wait? In none of your maxims

is there anything that pleases me—and may there never be! Similarly to you as well my views must be displeasing. And yet, how could I have won a nobler glory than by giving burial to my own brother? All here would admit that they approve,

500

if fear did not grip their tongues. But tyranny, blest with so much else, has the power to do and say whatever it pleases.

505

Creon

You alone out of all these Thebans see it that way.

Antigone

They do, too, but for you they hold their tongues.

Creon

Are you not ashamed that your beliefs differ from theirs?

510

Antigone

No, there is nothing shameful in respecting your own flesh and blood.

Creon

Was not he your brother too, who died in the opposite cause?

Antigone

A brother by the same mother and the same father.

Creon

Why, then, do you pay a service that is disrespectful to him?

Antigone

The dead man will not support you in that.

515

Creon

Yes, he will, if you honor him equally with the wicked one.

Antigone

It was his brother, not his slave, who died.

Creon

But he died ravaging this land, while he fell in its defense.

Antigone

Hades craves these rites, nevertheless.

Creon

But the good man craves a portion not equal to the evil’s.

520

Antigone

Who knows but that these actions are pure to those below?

Creon

You do not love someone you have hated, not even after death.

Antigone

It is not my nature to join in hate, but in love.

Creon

Then, go down to hell and love them

if you must. While I live, no woman will rule me.

525