Sophocles, Antigone, Thomas Francklin (Translator), 25

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Antigone

Go on, and I shall hate thee ! Our dead brother,

He too shall hate thee as his bitterest foe ;

Go, leave me here to suffer for my rashness ;
95

Whate'er befalls, it cannot be so dreadful

As not to die with honour.

Antigone. Sophocles. Thomas Francklin (Translator). London. 1758–1759.

Current edition Experimental

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (12)

Greek (L. Benloew, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (L. Benloew, 1858)) — 25 focus

ἔκρυψε, τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς·

Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 25 focus

ἔκρυψε, τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς·

Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 25 focus

ἔκρυψε, τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς ·

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 25 focus

ἔκρυψε, τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς,

Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 25 focus

ἔκρυψε τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς·

Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 25.mvp-line-25 focus

ἔκρυψε τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς·

Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 25 focus

ἔκρυψε, τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς·

Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 25 focus

ἔκρυψε, τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς·

Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 25 focus

ἔκρυψε, τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς·

Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 25.mvp-line-25 focus

ἔκρυψε τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς,

Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 25 focus

ἔκρυψε τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς·

Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 25 focus

ἔκρυψε τοῖς ἔνερθεν ἔντιμον νεκροῖς·

Translations (10)

German (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 25 focus

ANTIGONE

Genüg' ich doch, wem ich zumeist genügen muſs!

Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921)) — 25 focus

Antígona

Pues cuando no pueda, desistirê desistiré.

Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 25 focus

Antigone

Proinde cessabo, quum nihil potero amplius.

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 25 focus

ANT

Well, when I fail I shall be stopt, I trow!

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 39 focus

Was kann ich, wenn dies also steht, Unselige,¹

Hier, lösend oder bindend, uns zum Frommen thun?
40

Antigone.

Sieh, ob du helfen, ob die Mühe theilen wirst

Ismene.

Bei welchem Unterfangen? Wo geräthst du hin?

Antigone.

Ob du den Todten, mir gesellt, aufnehmen willst!

Ismene.

Ihn denn bestatten willst du, dem Verbot zum Troz?

Antigone.

Ja, meinen Bruder und den deinen, wenn auch du
45

Nicht willst; denn niemals soll man mich Verrathes zeih'n!²

Ismene.

Tollkühne, während Kreon's Wort es dir verwehrt?

Antigone.

Fern halten darf mich dieser nie von meiner Pflicht.

Ismene.

Weh mir! Bedenk', o Schwester, wie der Vater uns,

Mit Haß und Hohn belastet, ruhmlos unterging,
50

Nachdem er selbst um Gräuel, die er selbst enthüllt,

Der Augen Sterne sich zerriß mit eigner Hand;

Wie dann die Mutter, Mutter ihm und Weib zugleich,

Schmachvoll mit frevlem Strange sich das Leben nahm;

Zum dritten, wie die Brüder beid' an Einem Tag
55

Im Wechselmord sich ein gemeinsam Todesloos,

Die Armen, schufen, Einer durch des Andern Hand!

Wir sind allein jezt übrig; du bedenke denn,

Wie schmählich wir verdürben, wenn wir wider Necht

Der Herrscher Ausspruch und Gewalt mißachteten.
60

Wohl mußt du doch erwägen, daß wir Frauen sind,

Und nicht geschaffen, Männern kühn im Kampf zu steh'n,

Dann aber, daß wir, weil beherrscht von Stärkeren,

Hier folgen müssen und sogar in Härterem.

Drum will ich jene, die der Erde Schooß verbirgt,³
65

Anfleh'n um Nachsicht, weil Gewalt mich bindet hier,

Und ihm gehorchen, dem die Macht geworden ist;

Denn Unverstand ist's, über seine Kraft zu thun.

Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889)) — 25 focus

ANTÍGONA

¡Bien! desistiré sólo cuando esas fuerzas me faltaren.

German (F. Hölderlin, 1804) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (F. Hölderlin, 1804)) — 25 focus

ANTIGONAE

Gewils! kann ich es nicht, so muls ichs lassen.

English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904)) — 25 focus

Antigone

Why, then, when my strength fails, I shall have done.

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 25 focus

Messenger

Wilt thou permit me to reply, or thus

Must I return?

Dost thou not know e'en now

How much thy words offend ?

Hurt they thy ears,

Or do they wound thy mind?

English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904)) — 1-98 focus

Antigone

Ismene, my sister, true child of my own mother, do you know any evil out of all the evils bequeathed by Oedipus that Zeus will not fulfil for the two of us in our lifetime? There is nothing—no pain, no ruin,
1

no shame, nor dishonor—that I have not seen in your sufferings and mine. And now what is this new edict that they say the general has just decreed to all the city? Do you know anything? Have you heard? Or does it escape you that
5

evils from our enemies are on the march against our friends?
10

Ismene

To me no word of our friends, Antigone, either bringing joy or bringing pain has come since we two were robbed of our two brothers who died in one day by a double blow.

And since the Argive army has fled during this night, I have learned nothing further, whether better fortune is mine, or further ruin.
15

Antigone

I knew it well, so I was trying to bring you outside the courtyard gates to this end, that you alone might hear.

Ismene

Hear what? It is clear that you are brooding on some dark news.
20

Antigone

Why not? Has not Creon destined our brothers, the one to honored burial, the other to unburied shame? Eteocles, they say, with due observance of right and custom, he has laid in the earth

for his honor among the dead below. As for the poor corpse of Polyneices, however, they say that an edict has been published to the townsmen that no one shall bury him or mourn him, but instead leave him unwept, unentombed, for the birds a pleasing store
25

as they look to satisfy their hunger. Such, it is said, is the edict that the good Creon has laid down for you and for me—yes, for me—and it is said that he is coming here to proclaim it for the certain knowledge of those who do not already know. They say that he does not conduct this business lightly,
30

but whoever performs any of these rites, for him the fate appointed is death by public stoning among the entire city. This is how things stand for you, and so you will soon show your nature, whether you are noble-minded, or the corrupt daughter of a noble line.
35

Ismene

Poor sister, if things have come to this, what would I

profit by loosening or tightening this knot?
40

Antigone

Consider whether you will share the toil and the task.

Ismene

What are you hazarding? What do you intend?

Antigone

Will you join your hand to mine in order to lift his corpse?

Ismene

You plan to bury him—when it is forbidden to the city?

Antigone

Yes, he is my brother, and yours too, even if you wish it otherwise. I will never be convicted of betraying him.
45

Ismene

Hard girl! Even when Creon has forbidden it?

Antigone

No, he has no right to keep me from my own.

Ismene

Ah, no! Think, sister, how our father

perished in hatred and infamy, when, because of the crimes that he himself detected, he smashed both his eyes with self-blinding hand; then his mother-wife, two names in one, with a twisted noose destroyed her life;
50

lastly, our two brothers in a single day, both unhappy murderers of their own flesh and blood, worked with mutual hands their common doom. And now we, in turn—we two who have been left all alone—consider how much more miserably we will be destroyed, if in defiance of the law
55

we transgress against an autocrat’s decree or his powers. No, we must remember, first, that ours is a woman’s nature, and accordingly not suited to battles against men; and next, that we are ruled by the more powerful, so that we must obey in these things and in things even more stinging.
60

I, therefore, will ask those below for pardon, since I am forced to this, and will obey those who have come to authority. It is foolish to do what is fruitless.
65

Antigone

I would not encourage you—no, nor, even if you were willing later,

would I welcome you as my partner in this action. No, be the sort that pleases you. I will bury him—it would honor me to die while doing that. I shall rest with him, loved one with loved one, a pious criminal. For the time is greater
70

that I must serve the dead than the living, since in that world I will rest forever. But if you so choose, continue to dishonor what the gods in honor have established.
75

Ismene

I do them no dishonor. But to act in violation of the citizens’ will—of that I am by nature incapable.

Antigone

You can make that your pretext! Regardless, I will go now to heap a tomb over the brother I love.
80

Ismene

Oh no, unhappy sister! I fear for you!

Antigone

Do not tremble for me. Straighten out your own destiny.

Ismene

Then at least disclose the deed to no one before you do it.

Conceal it, instead, in secrecy—and so, too, will I.
85

Antigone

Go on! Denounce it! You will be far more hated for your silence, if you fail to proclaim these things to everyone.

Ismene

You have a hot heart for chilling deeds.

Antigone

I know that I please those whom I am most bound to please.

Ismene

Yes, if you will also have the power. But you crave the impossible.
90

Antigone

Why then, when my strength fails, I will have finished.

Ismene

An impossible hunt should not be tried in the first place.

Antigone

If you mean that, you will have my hatred, and you will be subject to punishment as the enemy of the dead.

But leave me and the foolish plan I have authored to suffer this terrible thing, for I will not suffer anything so terrible that my death will lack honor.
95

Ismene

Go, then, if you so decide. And of this be sure: though your path is foolish, to your loved ones your love is straight and true. Exit Antigone on the spectators’ left. Ismene exits into the palace.

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-63-1 ἐχθαρεῖ ¹

mvp-comment-63-2 ἐξ ἐμοῦ ²

mvp-comment-64-1 ἐχθρὰ...τῷ θανόντι προσκείσει δίκῃ ³ προσκείσει ⁴ ἐχθρά ⁵

mvp-comment-64-2 Lehrs proposed

Δίκῃ

, i.e. ‘you will fall under the chastisement of justice.’ Donaldson, following Emper, reads

ἐχθρᾷ... δίκῃ

, as iure inimicorum apud mortuum eris: i.e. on the part of the dead you will be deemed to have only the rights of a foe. This is impossible. The ordinary reading is sound.

mvp-comment-65-1 ἔα ⁶

mvp-comment-65-2 τὴν ἐξ ἐμοῦ δυσββουλίαν ⁷

mvp-comment-65-3 τὸ δεινὸν τοῦτο ⁸

mvp-comment-65-4 πείσομαι γὰρ οὐ ¹⁰

mvp-comment-65-5 μὴ οὐ ¹¹

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

94. mvp-comment-59-1 ἐχθρὰ .. δίκῃ And our dead brother will justly hold you as an enemy: ἐχθράν σε προσθήσεται: ср. Eur. Τr. 185, τῷ πρόσκειμαι δούλα; Who has me for his slave.

95. mvp-comment-60-1 τὴν ἐξ ἐμοῦ That proceeds from me; i. e. For which I alone am responsible. See Essay on Language § 19. p. 28.¹

96. mvp-comment-61-1 πείσομαι γὰρ οὐ The reading οὐ, for which some critics would substitute οὖν, is confirmed (1) by the tendency to a vehement accumulation of negatives in the speeches of Antigone in this scene: (2) by the similar emphatic inversions noticed in the Essay on Language § 41. p. 78.

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Antigone Go on, and I shall hate thee ! Our dead brother, He too shall hate thee as his bitterest foe ; Go, leave me here to suffer for my rashness ; 95 Whate'er befalls, it cannot be so dreadful As not to die with honour.

Current edition Experimental

ANTIGONE Genüg' ich doch, wem ich zumeist genügen muſs!

Antígona Pues cuando no pueda, desistirê desistiré.

Antigone Proinde cessabo, quum nihil potero amplius.

ANT Well, when I fail I shall be stopt, I trow!

Was kann ich, wenn dies also steht, Unselige, 1 Hier, lösend oder bindend, uns zum Frommen thun? 40

Antigone. Sieh, ob du helfen, ob die Mühe theilen wirst

Ismene. Bei welchem Unterfangen? Wo geräthst du hin?

Antigone. Ob du den Todten, mir gesellt, aufnehmen willst!

Ismene. Ihn denn bestatten willst du, dem Verbot zum Troz?

Antigone. Ja, meinen Bruder und den deinen, wenn auch du 45 Nicht willst; denn niemals soll man mich Verrathes zeih'n! 2

Ismene. Tollkühne, während Kreon's Wort es dir verwehrt?

Antigone. Fern halten darf mich dieser nie von meiner Pflicht.

ANTÍGONA ¡Bien! desistiré sólo cuando esas fuerzas me faltaren.

ANTIGONAE Gewils! kann ich es nicht, so muls ichs lassen.

Antigone Why, then, when my strength fails, I shall have done.

Messenger Wilt thou permit me to reply, or thus Must I return? Dost thou not know e'en now How much thy words offend ? Hurt they thy ears, Or do they wound thy mind?

Antigone I knew it well, so I was trying to bring you outside the courtyard gates to this end, that you alone might hear.

Ismene Hear what? It is clear that you are brooding on some dark news. 20

Ismene Poor sister, if things have come to this, what would I profit by loosening or tightening this knot? 40

Antigone Consider whether you will share the toil and the task.

Ismene What are you hazarding? What do you intend?

Antigone Will you join your hand to mine in order to lift his corpse?

Ismene You plan to bury him—when it is forbidden to the city?

Antigone Yes, he is my brother, and yours too, even if you wish it otherwise. I will never be convicted of betraying him. 45

Ismene Hard girl! Even when Creon has forbidden it?

Antigone No, he has no right to keep me from my own.

Ismene I do them no dishonor. But to act in violation of the citizens’ will—of that I am by nature incapable.

Antigone You can make that your pretext! Regardless, I will go now to heap a tomb over the brother I love. 80

Ismene Oh no, unhappy sister! I fear for you!

Antigone Do not tremble for me. Straighten out your own destiny.

Ismene Then at least disclose the deed to no one before you do it. Conceal it, instead, in secrecy—and so, too, will I. 85

Antigone Go on! Denounce it! You will be far more hated for your silence, if you fail to proclaim these things to everyone.

Ismene You have a hot heart for chilling deeds.

Antigone I know that I please those whom I am most bound to please.

Ismene Yes, if you will also have the power. But you crave the impossible. 90

Antigone Why then, when my strength fails, I will have finished.

Ismene An impossible hunt should not be tried in the first place.

Antigone If you mean that, you will have my hatred, and you will be subject to punishment as the enemy of the dead. But leave me and the foolish plan I have authored to suffer this terrible thing, for I will not suffer anything so terrible that my death will lack honor. 95

Ismene Go, then, if you so decide. And of this be sure: though your path is foolish, to your loved ones your love is straight and true. Exit Antigone on the spectators’ left. Ismene exits into the palace.

Commentary

Stable identifiers

Antigone

Go on, and I shall hate thee ! Our dead brother,

He too shall hate thee as his bitterest foe ;

Go, leave me here to suffer for my rashness ;
95

Whate'er befalls, it cannot be so dreadful

As not to die with honour.

ANTIGONE

Genüg' ich doch, wem ich zumeist genügen muſs!

Antígona

Pues cuando no pueda, desistirê desistiré.

Antigone

Proinde cessabo, quum nihil potero amplius.

ANT

Well, when I fail I shall be stopt, I trow!

Was kann ich, wenn dies also steht, Unselige,¹

Hier, lösend oder bindend, uns zum Frommen thun?
40

Antigone.

Sieh, ob du helfen, ob die Mühe theilen wirst

Ismene.

Bei welchem Unterfangen? Wo geräthst du hin?

Antigone.

Ob du den Todten, mir gesellt, aufnehmen willst!

Ismene.

Ihn denn bestatten willst du, dem Verbot zum Troz?

Antigone.

Ja, meinen Bruder und den deinen, wenn auch du
45

Nicht willst; denn niemals soll man mich Verrathes zeih'n!²

Ismene.

Tollkühne, während Kreon's Wort es dir verwehrt?

Antigone.

Fern halten darf mich dieser nie von meiner Pflicht.

ANTÍGONA

¡Bien! desistiré sólo cuando esas fuerzas me faltaren.

ANTIGONAE

Gewils! kann ich es nicht, so muls ichs lassen.

Antigone

Why, then, when my strength fails, I shall have done.

Messenger

Wilt thou permit me to reply, or thus

Must I return?

Dost thou not know e'en now

How much thy words offend ?

Hurt they thy ears,

Or do they wound thy mind?

Antigone

I knew it well, so I was trying to bring you outside the courtyard gates to this end, that you alone might hear.

Ismene

Hear what? It is clear that you are brooding on some dark news.
20

Ismene

Poor sister, if things have come to this, what would I

profit by loosening or tightening this knot?
40

Antigone

Consider whether you will share the toil and the task.

Ismene

What are you hazarding? What do you intend?

Antigone

Will you join your hand to mine in order to lift his corpse?

Ismene

You plan to bury him—when it is forbidden to the city?

Antigone

Yes, he is my brother, and yours too, even if you wish it otherwise. I will never be convicted of betraying him.
45

Ismene

Hard girl! Even when Creon has forbidden it?

Antigone

No, he has no right to keep me from my own.

Ismene

I do them no dishonor. But to act in violation of the citizens’ will—of that I am by nature incapable.

Antigone

You can make that your pretext! Regardless, I will go now to heap a tomb over the brother I love.
80

Ismene

Oh no, unhappy sister! I fear for you!

Antigone

Do not tremble for me. Straighten out your own destiny.

Ismene

Then at least disclose the deed to no one before you do it.

Conceal it, instead, in secrecy—and so, too, will I.
85

Antigone

Go on! Denounce it! You will be far more hated for your silence, if you fail to proclaim these things to everyone.

Ismene

You have a hot heart for chilling deeds.

Antigone

I know that I please those whom I am most bound to please.

Ismene

Yes, if you will also have the power. But you crave the impossible.
90

Antigone

Why then, when my strength fails, I will have finished.

Ismene

An impossible hunt should not be tried in the first place.

Antigone

If you mean that, you will have my hatred, and you will be subject to punishment as the enemy of the dead.

But leave me and the foolish plan I have authored to suffer this terrible thing, for I will not suffer anything so terrible that my death will lack honor.
95

Ismene

Go, then, if you so decide. And of this be sure: though your path is foolish, to your loved ones your love is straight and true. Exit Antigone on the spectators’ left. Ismene exits into the palace.