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ἰὼ πῦρ πνειόντων

χοράγ᾽ ἄστρων, νυχίων

φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε,

παῖ Ζηνὸς γένεθλον, προφάνηθ',

ὦναξ, σαῖς ἅμα περιπόλοις
1150

Θυίαισιν, αἵ σε μαινόμεναι πάννυχοι

χορεύουσι τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον.

Ἄγγελος

Antigone. Sophocles. Leipzig. 1979.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Experimental

Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) (Greek) (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (11)

Greek (L. Benloew, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (L. Benloew, 1858)) — 1146 focus

ἰὼ πῦρ πνεόντων

χοράγ᾽ ἄστρων ¹ καὶ νυχίων
1140

φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε,

παῖ ², Διὸς γένεθλον,

προφάνηθι Ναξίαις

σαῖς ἅμα περιπόλοις (Θυιάσιν),

αἵ σε μαινόμεναι πάννυχοι τι
1145

χορεύουσι, τὸν

ταμίαν Ἴακχον.

Ἄγγελος

Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 1146 focus

ἰὼ πῦρ πνειόντων χοράγ᾽ ἄστρων, νυχίων

φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε,

παῖ Διὸς γένεθλον,

προφάνηθι Ναξίαις σαῖς ἅμα περιπόλοις
1095

Θυίαισιν, αἵ σε μαινόμεναι πάννυχοι

χορεύουσι τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον.

13. ΕΞΟΔΟΣ.

Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 1146 focus

ἰὼ πῦρ πνεόντων

οἴστρων τε καὶ νυχίων
1125

φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε

παῖ, Ζηνὸς γένεθλον, προφάνηθι Να-

ξίαις Θυιάσι σαῖς ἅμα περιπόλοις,

μαινόμεναι χορεύουσ᾽ αἳ πάννυχοι

τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον.
1130

Ἄγγελος

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 1146 focus

ὦ πῦρ πνεόντων ἄστρων χοραγὲ* καὶ νυχίων

φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε,

παῖ Διὸς γένεθλον,

προφάνηθι Ναξίαις σαῖς ἅμα περιπόλοις
1150

*Θυίαισιν, αἵ σε μαινόμεναι πάννυχοι

χορεύουσι τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον.

Ἄγγελος

Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 1146 focus

ἰὼ πῦρ πνεόντων

χοράγ᾽ ἄστρων, νυχίων

φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε,

παῖ, Διὸς γένεθλον, προφάνηθ᾽,

ὦναξ, σαῖς ἅμα περιπόλοις
1150

Θυίαισιν, αἵ σε μαινόμεναι πάννυχοι

χορεύουσι τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον.

Ἄγγελος

Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 1146 focus

ἰὼ πῦρ πνεόντων

χοράγ’ ἄστρων, νυχίων

φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε,

παῖ, Δῖον γένεθλον, προφάνηθ’,

ὦναξ, σαῖς ἅμα περιπόλοις
1150

Θυίαισιν, αἵ σε μαινόμεναι πάννυχοι

χορεύουσι τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον.

Ἄγγελος

Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 1146 focus

ἰὼ τῶν πῦρ πνεόντων

χοράγ᾽ ἄστρων, νυχίων

φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε,

παῖ Διὸς γένεθλον, προφάνηθι Ναξίαις
1135

ἅμα περιπόλοισν σαῖ-

σιν, αἵ σε μαινόμεναι παννύχοι

χορεύουσι τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον.

Ἄγγελος

Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 1146 focus

ἰὼ πῦρ πνειόντων χοράγ᾽ ἄστρων, νυχίων 1

φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε, 2

παῖ Διὸς γένεθλον, προφάνηθ᾽, 3

ὦναξ, σαῖς ἅμα περιπόλοις 4
1150

Θυίαισιν, αἵ σε μαινόμεναι πάννυχοι χορεύουσι 5

τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον. 6

Ἄγγελος

Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 1146 focus

ἰὼ πῦρ πνειόντων

χοράγ᾽ ἄστρων, νυχίων

φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε,

παῖ Διὸς γένεθλον, προφάνηθ᾽,

ὦναξ, σαῖς ἅμα περιπόλοις
1150

Θυίαισιν, αἵ σε μαινόμεναι πάννυχοι

χορεύουσι τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον.

Ἄγγελος

Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 1146 focus

Χορός

ἰὼ πῦρ πνειόντων χοράγʼ ἄστρων, νυχίων

φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε,

παῖ Διὸς γένεθλον, προφάνηθʼ,

ὦναξ, σαῖς ἅμα περιπόλοις
1150

Θυίαισιν, αἵ σε μαινόμεναι πάννυχοι χορεύουσι

τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον.

Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 1146 focus

ἰὼ πῦρ πνεόντων

χοράγ᾽ ἄστρων, νυχίων

φθεγμάτων ἐπίσκοπε,

παῖ Διὸς γένεθλον, προφάνηθ᾽,

ὦναξ, σαῖς ἅμα περιπόλοις
1150

Θυίαισιν, αἵ σε μαινόμεναι πάννυχοι

χορεύουσι τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον.

Ἄγγελος

Translations (11)

German (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 1146 focus

Io du, glutaussprühn'der Sterne führend den Chor,

Herr des Jubelschalls der Nacht,

Zeusentsprofsner Knabe!

O erscheine sammt der Schaar Naxischer Mägdelein,
1095

der Thyien, die durchschwärmend die Nacht dich entzückt

im Tanzreigen, Spender Iakchos, feiern!

XIII. EXODOS.

CHOR, BOTE; später EURYDIKE, KREON und ein HAUSDIENER.

BOTE.
(tritt auf)

Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921)) — 1146 focus

¡Oh jefe del coro de los astros que respiran fuego, inspector de las nocturnas músicas, niño hijo de Júpiter, hazte presente, ¡oh rey!, junto con tus compañeras las Tiadas, que enfurecidas celebran en coros todas las noches a Baco su señor!

UN MENSAJERO

Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 1146 focus

O ignem spirantium furorum nocturnarumque vociferationum magister puer, Iovis proles, adpareas cum Naxii Thyiadibus, tuis comitibus, quae furentes pernoctibus lustrant choris praesidem Iacchum.

Nuntius

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 1146 focus

Quick-panting with their breath of fire!

Lord of high voices of the night,

Child born to him who dwells in light,

Appear with those who, joying in their madness,

Honour the sole dispenser of their gladness,
1150

Thyiads of the Aegean main

Night-long trooping in thy train.

MESS
Enter Messenger .

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1146 focus

Wohlauf, du, glutaussprüh'nder Sterne Führer, o Herr¹

Nächtlich frohen Jubelschalls,
1115

Zeusentspross'ner Knabe!

O erscheine, rings vom Chor naxischer Frau'n umschwärmt,²

Der Thyien, die dich Nächte hindurch wildentzückt³

Im Rheih'ntanze feiern, den Freudeſpender!

Ein Bote. Der Chor.

Der Bote.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 1155 focus

Chorus.

Messenger

Ye race of Cadmus, sons of ancient

Thebes,

Henceforth no state of human life by me

Shall be or valued or despised : for all

Depends on fortune ; she exalts the low.

And casts the mighty down. The fate of men

Can never be foretold. There was a time

When Creon lived in envied happiness,

Ruled o'er renowned Thebes, which from her foes

He had delivered, with successful power;

Blest in his kingdom, in his children blest,

He stretched o'er all his universal sway.

Now all is gone : when pleasure is no more,

Man is but an animated corse,

Nor can be said to live ; he may be rich.

Or decked with regal honours, but if joy

Be absent from him, if he tastes them not, I

'Tis useless grandeur all, and empty shade. \

Chorus

Touching our royal master, bringst thou news

Of sorrow to us?

Messenger

They are dead ; and those
1175

Who live the dreadful cause.
1175

Choe. Quick, tell us who —
1175

The slayer and the slain !
1175

Messenger

Hsemon is dead.

Cttor. Dead ! by what hand, his father's or his own ?

Mets. Enraged and grieving for liis murdered love,

He slew himself.

Chorus

O proijhet ! thy predictions

Were bnt too true !

Messenger

Since thus it be, 'tis fit

We should consult ; our present state demands it,

Chorus

But see ! Eurydice, the wretched wife
1180

Of Creon, comes this way ; or chance hath brought her.

Or Haemon's hapless fate hath reached her ear.

Eurydice
Scene II.

Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889)) — 1146 focus

¡Oh, tú, mancebo, que conduces el coro de los astros; tú que presides los cantos nocturnos, hijo de Júpiter, comparece ante nosotros acompañado de las hijas de Naxos, de las Thyadas que celebran en danzas delirantes 4 Baco su soberano.

Un Mensajero Criado or Siervo de Creonte, y el Coro

EL MENSAJERO

German (F. Hölderlin, 1804) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (F. Hölderlin, 1804)) — 1146 focus

Jo! du! in Feuer wandelnd!
1195

Chorführer der Gestirn’ und geheimer

Reden Bewahrer!

Sohn , Zevs Geburt!

Werd’ offenbar! mit den Naxischen

Zugleich, den wachenden
1200

Thyaden, die wahnsinnig

Dir Chor singen, dem jauchzenden Merrn.

Erste Scene EIN BOTE. DER CHOR. Hernach EURYDICE.

English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904)) — 1146 focus

O thou with whom the stars rejoice as they move, the stars whose breath is fire; O master of the voices of the night; son begotten of Zeus; appear, O king, 1150 with thine attendant Thyiads, who in night-long frenzy dance before thee, the giver of good gifts, Iacchus! Enter MESSENGER, on the spectators left hand.

Messenger

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 1146 focus

And to thy Thebans peace restore!

Thou leader of the starry train

That flaming bursts upon the sight;

Director of th' harmonious strain

Whose sweet notes charm the ear of night,

Hear, son of Jove, O Bacchus, hear,

Bright in thy form divine appear
1150

Thy frentic Nymphs from Naxos lead,
1150

The frolic dance who lightly tread,

And, as around their god they stand,

Hail thee the leader of their band!

Messenger
STRO. 1. ANTIS. 1. STRO. 2. ANTIS. 2. MESSENGER, CHORUS.

English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904)) — 1155-1260 focus

Enter Messenger, on the spectators’ left.

Messenger

Neighbors of the house of Cadmus and of Amphion, there is no station of human life that I would ever praise or blame as being settled. Fortune sets upright and Fortune sinks the lucky and unlucky from day to day,
1155

and no one can prophesy to men concerning the order that has just been established. For Creon, as I saw it, was once blest: he had saved this land of Cadmus from its enemies; and having won sole and total dominion in the land, he guided it on a straight course and flourished in his noble crop of children.
1160

And now all this has been lost. When a man has forfeited his pleasures, I do not reckon his existence as life, but consider him just a breathing corpse. Heap up riches in your house, if you wish! Live with a tyrant’s pomp! But if there is no joy
1165

along with all of that, I would not pay even the shadow of smoke for all the rest, compared with joy.
1170

Chorus

What is this new grief for our princes that you have come to report?

Messenger

They are dead, and the living are guilty of the deaths.

Chorus

Who is the murderer? Who the murdered? Tell us.

Messenger

Haemon is dead—his blood was shed by no strange hand.
1175

Chorus

Was it his father’s, or his own ?

Messenger

He did it by his own, enraged with his father for the murder.

Chorus

Ah, prophet, how true, then, you have proved your word!

Messenger

Knowing that these things are so, you must consider the rest.

Chorus

Wait, I see the unhappy Eurydice, Creon’s wife, nearby. She comes from the house either knowing of her son, or merely by chance.
1180

1183 Enter Eurydice.

Eurydice

People of Thebes , I heard your words as I was on my way to the gates to address divine Pallas with my prayers.

At one and the same time I was loosening the bolts of the gate to open it, and the sound of a blow to our house struck my ear. In terror I sank back into the arms of my handmaids, and my senses fled.
1185

But repeat what your news was, for I shall hear it with ears that are no strangers to sorrow.
1190

Messenger

Dear mistress, I will tell what I witnessed and leave no word of the truth unspoken. For what good would it do that should I soothe you with words in which I must later be found false?

The truth is always best. I attended your husband as his guide to the furthest part of the plain, where unpitied the body of Polyneices, torn by dogs, still lay. After we had prayed to the goddess of the roads
1195

and to Pluto to restrain their anger in mercy, we washed him with pure washing, and with freshly-plucked boughs we burned what remains there were. Lastly we heaped a high-mounded tomb of his native earth. Afterwards we turned away to enter the maiden’s stoney-bedded
1200

bridal chamber, the caverned mansion of Hades’ bride. From a distance, one of us servants heard a voice of loud wailing near that bride’s unwept bed and came to tell our master Creon. And as the King moved closer and closer, obscure signs rising from a bitter cry surrounded him—
1205

he groaned and said in bitter lament, Ah, misery, am I now the prophet of evil? Am I going on the path most lined with grief of all that I have walked before? My son’s voice greets me. Go, my servants,
1210

hurry closer, and when you have reached the tomb, enter the opening where the stones of the mound have been torn away, up to the cell’s very mouth. See if it is Haemon’s voice that I recognize, or if I am cheated by the gods.
1215

1219

This search, at our desperate master’s word,

we went to make, and in the furthest part of the tomb we saw her hanging by the neck, fastened by a halter of fine linen threads, while he was embracing her with arms thrown around her waist, bewailing the loss of his bride to the spirits below, as well as his father’s deeds, and his grief-filled marriage.
1220

But his father, when he saw him, cried aloud with a dreadful cry and went in and called to him with a voice of wailing: Ah, unhappy boy, what have you done! What plan have you seized on? By what misfortune have you lost your reason?
1225

Come out, my son, I pray you, I beg you! But the boy glared at him with savage eyes, spat in his face, and without a word in response drew his twin-edged sword. As his father rushed out in flight, he missed his aim. Then the ill-fated boy was enraged with himself
1230

and straightway stretched himself over his sword and drove it, half its length, into his side. Still conscious, he clasped the maiden in his faint embrace, and, as he gasped, he shot onto her pale cheek a swift stream of oozing blood.
1235

Corpse enfolding corpse he lay, having won his marriage rites, poor boy, not here, but in Hades’ palace, and having shown to mankind by how much the failure to reason wisely is the most severe of all afflictions assigned to man. Eurydice departs into the house.
1240

1244

Chorus

What would you infer from this? The lady

has turned back and gone without a word, either for good or for evil.
1245

Messenger

I, too, am startled. Still I am nourished by the hope that at the grave news of her son she thinks it unworthy to make her laments before the city, but in the shelter of her home will set her handmaids to mourn the house’s grief.

For she is not unhabituated to discretion, that she should err.
1250

Chorus

I do not know. But to me, in any case, a silence too strict seems to promise trouble just as much as a fruitless abundance of weeping.

Messenger

I will find out whether she is not, in fact, hiding some repressed plan in the darkness of her passionate heart.

I will go in, since you are right—in an excess of silence, too, there may be trouble. Exit Messenger.
1255

1257

Enter Creon, attended and carrying the shrouded body of Haemon, on the spectators’ left.

Chorus

Look, here is the King himself approaching, his hands grasping a monument plainly signing that his—if we may say it—and no one else’s,

was the madness of this error.
1260

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-691-1 πνειόντων ¹ πνειόντων ²

mvp-comment-691-2 Other conjectures are: (1) ἰὼ πύρπνων ἄστρων χοραγὲ καὶ νυχίων ³ πῦρ πνεόντων χοραγὲ καὶ νυχίων ⁴ χοραγὲ ἄστρων ⁵

mvp-comment-691-3 originally preceded

χοραγέ

. Neglect of elision is frequent in L: thus, to take one play only, the O. C. supplies these examples: 266

τἀμά· ἐπεὶ

: 694

ἔστιν δὲ οἶον

: 883

τάδε. ὕβρις

: 915

κύρια ὦδε

: 1026

θηρῶντα ἡ τύχη

: 1210

ἴσθι, ἐάνπερ

. The deletion of καί ⁶ νυχίων ⁷

mvp-comment-691-4 χοράγ’ ἄστρων ⁸

mvp-comment-691-5 νυχίων φθεγμάτων ⁹

mvp-comment-692-1 παῖ Διὸς ¹⁰

mvp-comment-693-1 ὦναξ ¹¹

mvp-comment-694-1 Θυίαισιν ¹²

mvp-comment-694-2 χορεύουσι ¹³

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

1146-1147. mvp-comment-658-1 πῦρ πνεόντων *ἄστρων χοραγέ*] Cp. Ar. Ran. 341-342, Ιακχ᾽, ὦ Ιακχε, νυκτέρου τελετῆς φωσφόρος ἀστήρ. Bacchus is lord and leader of the sights and sounds of night. The stars in their courses hold revel with his torchbearers: the voices of the night are wakened by their shouting. This is more probable than an allusion to the mystical notion that Bacchus was an impersonation of the sun. I have ventured to retain καί, transposing the two preceding words and scanning πνεόντων as a spondee by synizesis.

1146-1147. mvp-comment-658-2 πυρπνεόντων may be taken as a compound. Cp. Hom. Il. 7. 310, άελπτεοντες.

1149. mvp-comment-659-1 παῖ Διὸς γένεθλον i.e. as Hermann says, παῖ Διὸς γεγώς. Ever youthful offspring of Zeus.

1150. mvp-comment-660-1 Ναξίαις i.e. From Ariadne's island.

1152. mvp-comment-661-1 τὸν ταμίαν The word ταμίας, as appears from its use in Pindar, had in Doric Greek the special meaning of Lord (cp. the Anglo-Saxon Hlafford): and may have been a favourite attribute of Bacchus in this sense.

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Ἄγγελος

Current edition Experimental

Ἄγγελος

13. ΕΞΟΔΟΣ.

Ἄγγελος

Ἄγγελος

Ἄγγελος

Ἄγγελος

Ἄγγελος

Ἄγγελος

Ἄγγελος

Ἄγγελος

Io du, glutaussprühn'der Sterne führend den Chor, Herr des Jubelschalls der Nacht, Zeusentsprofsner Knabe! O erscheine sammt der Schaar Naxischer Mägdelein, 1095 der Thyien, die durchschwärmend die Nacht dich entzückt im Tanzreigen, Spender Iakchos, feiern!

XIII. EXODOS.

BOTE. (tritt auf)

UN MENSAJERO

Nuntius

Quick-panting with their breath of fire! Lord of high voices of the night, Child born to him who dwells in light, Appear with those who, joying in their madness, Honour the sole dispenser of their gladness, 1150 Thyiads of the Aegean main Night-long trooping in thy train.

MESS Enter Messenger .

Wohlauf, du, glutaussprüh'nder Sterne Führer, o Herr 1 Nächtlich frohen Jubelschalls, 1115 Zeusentspross'ner Knabe! O erscheine, rings vom Chor naxischer Frau'n umschwärmt, 2 Der Thyien, die dich Nächte hindurch wildentzückt 3 Im Rheih'ntanze feiern, den Freudeſpender! Ein Bote. Der Chor.

Der Bote.

Chorus.

Chorus Touching our royal master, bringst thou news Of sorrow to us?

Messenger They are dead ; and those 1175 Who live the dreadful cause. 1175 Choe. Quick, tell us who — 1175 The slayer and the slain ! 1175

Messenger Hsemon is dead. Cttor. Dead ! by what hand, his father's or his own ? Mets. Enraged and grieving for liis murdered love, He slew himself.

Chorus O proijhet ! thy predictions Were bnt too true !

Messenger Since thus it be, 'tis fit We should consult ; our present state demands it,

Chorus But see ! Eurydice, the wretched wife 1180 Of Creon, comes this way ; or chance hath brought her. Or Haemon's hapless fate hath reached her ear.

Eurydice Scene II.

Un Mensajero Criado or Siervo de Creonte, y el Coro

EL MENSAJERO

Jo! du! in Feuer wandelnd! 1195 Chorführer der Gestirn’ und geheimer Reden Bewahrer! Sohn , Zevs Geburt! Werd’ offenbar! mit den Naxischen Zugleich, den wachenden 1200 Thyaden, die wahnsinnig Dir Chor singen, dem jauchzenden Merrn. Erste Scene EIN BOTE. DER CHOR. Hernach EURYDICE.

Messenger

Messenger STRO. 1. ANTIS. 1. STRO. 2. ANTIS. 2. MESSENGER, CHORUS.

Chorus What is this new grief for our princes that you have come to report?

Messenger They are dead, and the living are guilty of the deaths.

Chorus Who is the murderer? Who the murdered? Tell us.

Messenger Haemon is dead—his blood was shed by no strange hand. 1175

Chorus Was it his father’s, or his own ?

Messenger He did it by his own, enraged with his father for the murder.

Chorus Ah, prophet, how true, then, you have proved your word!

Messenger Knowing that these things are so, you must consider the rest.

Chorus Wait, I see the unhappy Eurydice, Creon’s wife, nearby. She comes from the house either knowing of her son, or merely by chance. 1180

Chorus What would you infer from this? The lady has turned back and gone without a word, either for good or for evil. 1245

Chorus I do not know. But to me, in any case, a silence too strict seems to promise trouble just as much as a fruitless abundance of weeping.

Messenger I will find out whether she is not, in fact, hiding some repressed plan in the darkness of her passionate heart. I will go in, since you are right—in an excess of silence, too, there may be trouble. Exit Messenger. 1255

Chorus Look, here is the King himself approaching, his hands grasping a monument plainly signing that his—if we may say it—and no one else’s, was the madness of this error. 1260

Commentary

Stable identifiers

Io du, glutaussprühn'der Sterne führend den Chor,

Herr des Jubelschalls der Nacht,

Zeusentsprofsner Knabe!

O erscheine sammt der Schaar Naxischer Mägdelein,
1095

der Thyien, die durchschwärmend die Nacht dich entzückt

im Tanzreigen, Spender Iakchos, feiern!

BOTE.
(tritt auf)

Quick-panting with their breath of fire!

Lord of high voices of the night,

Child born to him who dwells in light,

Appear with those who, joying in their madness,

Honour the sole dispenser of their gladness,
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Thyiads of the Aegean main

Night-long trooping in thy train.

MESS
Enter Messenger .

Chorus

Touching our royal master, bringst thou news

Of sorrow to us?

Messenger

They are dead ; and those
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Who live the dreadful cause.
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Choe. Quick, tell us who —
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The slayer and the slain !
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Messenger

Hsemon is dead.

Cttor. Dead ! by what hand, his father's or his own ?

Mets. Enraged and grieving for liis murdered love,

He slew himself.

Chorus

O proijhet ! thy predictions

Were bnt too true !

Messenger

Since thus it be, 'tis fit

We should consult ; our present state demands it,

Chorus

But see ! Eurydice, the wretched wife
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Of Creon, comes this way ; or chance hath brought her.

Or Haemon's hapless fate hath reached her ear.

Eurydice
Scene II.

Jo! du! in Feuer wandelnd!
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Chorführer der Gestirn’ und geheimer

Reden Bewahrer!

Sohn , Zevs Geburt!

Werd’ offenbar! mit den Naxischen

Zugleich, den wachenden
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Thyaden, die wahnsinnig

Dir Chor singen, dem jauchzenden Merrn.

Erste Scene EIN BOTE. DER CHOR. Hernach EURYDICE.

Messenger
STRO. 1. ANTIS. 1. STRO. 2. ANTIS. 2. MESSENGER, CHORUS.

Chorus

What is this new grief for our princes that you have come to report?

Messenger

They are dead, and the living are guilty of the deaths.

Chorus

Who is the murderer? Who the murdered? Tell us.

Messenger

Haemon is dead—his blood was shed by no strange hand.
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Chorus

Was it his father’s, or his own ?

Messenger

He did it by his own, enraged with his father for the murder.

Chorus

Ah, prophet, how true, then, you have proved your word!

Messenger

Knowing that these things are so, you must consider the rest.

Chorus

Wait, I see the unhappy Eurydice, Creon’s wife, nearby. She comes from the house either knowing of her son, or merely by chance.
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Chorus

What would you infer from this? The lady

has turned back and gone without a word, either for good or for evil.
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Chorus

I do not know. But to me, in any case, a silence too strict seems to promise trouble just as much as a fruitless abundance of weeping.

Messenger

I will find out whether she is not, in fact, hiding some repressed plan in the darkness of her passionate heart.

I will go in, since you are right—in an excess of silence, too, there may be trouble. Exit Messenger.
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Chorus

Look, here is the King himself approaching, his hands grasping a monument plainly signing that his—if we may say it—and no one else’s,

was the madness of this error.
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