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)) — 485 focus
Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 485 focus
Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 485 focus
Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 485 focus
Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 485.mvp-line-482 focus
Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 485 focus
Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 485 focus
Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 485 focus
Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 485.mvp-line-482 focus
Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 485 focus
Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 485 focus
Translations (2)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 471 focus
Wild tritt des wilden Vaters Art am Kind hervor:
Dem Mißgeschick sich fügen hat sie nicht gelernt.
470
Kreon.
Doch wisse nur, des Sinnes allzustarrer Troz
Beugt sich am ersten; kannst du doch den stärksten Stahl,
Der allzuspröd gehärtet kam aus Feuers Glut,
Am ehsten immer brechen und zersplittern seh'n.
Auch weiß ich, daß der Rosse zornentbrannten Muth
475
Ein kleiner Zügel meistert; nie ja ziemt es dem,
Sich groß zu dünken, der ein Knecht der Andern ist.
Doch die verstand sich schon zuvor auf frechen Troz,
Indem sie frevelnd mein Gebot mißachtete;
Und dieses ist nun, nach der That, der zweite Troz,
480
Darob zu prahlen und mit Hohn sich aufzubläh'n.
Jezt wahrlich wär' ich nicht ein Mann, sie wär' ein Mann,
Geläng' ihr ungezüchtigt solch ein Uebermuth.
Drum, sei sie meiner Schwester Kind, sei näher uns
Verwandt, denn Alle, die der Zeus des Hauses schirmt,
485
Doch soll dem schlimmsten Loose nicht sie selbst entgeh'n,
Noch ihre Schwester; denn auch diese klag' ich an,
Daß sie, mit ihr im Bunde, solche That ersann.
Ruft sie daher mir; denn ich sah sie eben noch
Im Hause rasen, ihrer Sinne nicht bewußt.
490
So wird die Seele selbst zuvor Verrätherin
Des Argen, das im Dunkel ausgesonnen ward;
Doch hass' ich den auch, der in unheilvoller That
Betroffen, nachher diese noch beschönen will.
Antigone.
Verlangst du Größ'res, als den Tod mir anzuthun?
495
Kreon.
Nichts weiter; Alles hab' ich, so mir dieses wird.
Antigone.
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
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
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
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
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
Commentary
Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus
485. mvp-comment-282-1 If this authority is to be allowed to rest with her unchallenged. By an exaggeration of feeling like that in l. 208, he thinks that to pardon disobedience is to yield authority to the offender. For κείσεται, cp. El. 361, σοὶ δὲ πλουσία | τράπεζα κείσθω: ἀνάκειμαι in Hdt. 1.97, γνοὺς ὁ Δηϊόκης ἐς ἑωυτὸν πᾶν ἀνακείμενον.
485. mvp-comment-282-2 κράτη, as in l. 173, ἐγὼ κράτη δὴ πάντα καὶ θρόνους ἔχω.