Sophocles Antigone 26

Thomas Francklin (Translator)

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Ismene

Then farewell,

Since thou wilt have it so ; and know, Ismene

Pities thy weakness, but admires thy virtue. [Exeunt.

By Diice's sweetly-flowing stream,

Ne'er did the golden eye of day

On Thfcbes with fairer lustre beam,

Or shine with more auspicious ray.

See the proud Argive, with his silver shield

And glittering armour, quits the hostile plain;

No longer dares maintain the luckless field,

But vanquished flies, nor checks the loosened rein.

With dreadful clangour, like the bird of Jove,

On snowy wings descending from above,

His vaunted powers to this devoted land,

In bitterest wrath did Polynices lead,

With crested helmets, and a numerous band

He came, and fondly hoped that Thebes sl^puld

bleed. ,

High on the lofty tower he stood,

And viewed th' encircled gates below,

With spears that thirsted for our blood,

And seemed to scorn th' unequal foe ;

But, fraught with vengeance^ ere the rising flame

Could waste our bulwarks, or our walls surround,

Mars to assist the fiery serpent came,

And brought the towering eagle to the ground.

That god who hates the boastings of the proud

Saw the rude violence of th' exulting crowd ;

Already now the triumph was prepared.

The wreath of victory and the festal song,

When Jove the clash of golden armour heard.

And hurled his thunder on the guilty throng.

Then Capaneus, elate with pride,

Fierce as the rapid whirlwind came,

Eager he seemed on every side

To spread the all- devouring flame ;

But soon he felt the winged lightning's blast,

By angry heaven with speedy vengeance sent —

Down from the lofty turrets headlong cast.

For his foul crimes he met the punishment.

Each at his gate, long time the leaders strove,

Then fled, and left their arms to conquering Jove ;

Save the unhappy death-devoted pair,

The wretched brethren, who unconquered stood.

With rancorous hate inspired, and fell despair.

They reeked their vengeance in each other's blood.

And lo ! with smiles propitious see

To Thebes, for numerous cars renowned,

The goddess comes, fair Victory,

Witli fame and endless glory crowned !

Henceforth, no longer vexed by war's alarms,

Let all our sorrows, all our labours cease ;

Come, let us quit the din of rattling arms,

And fill our temples with the songs of peace.

The god of Thebes shall guide our steps aright,

And crown with many a lay the festive night.

But see, still anxious for his native land,

Our king, Menfeceus' valiant son, appear ;

With some fair omen by the gods' command

He comes to met his aged council here. [Exeunt.

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)) — 26 focus

τὸν δ᾽ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν

Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 26 focus

τὸν δ᾽ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν

Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 26 focus

τὸν δ᾽ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 26 focus

τὸν δ᾽ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν

Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 26 focus

τὸν δ᾽ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν

Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 26.mvp-line-26 focus

τὸν δ’ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν

Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 26 focus

τὸν δ᾽ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν

Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 26 focus

τὸν δ᾽ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν

Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 26 focus

τὸν δ᾽ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν

Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 26.mvp-line-26 focus

τὸν δ᾽ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν

Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 26 focus

τὸν δʼ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν

Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 26 focus

τὸν δ᾽ ἀθλίως θανόντα Πολυνείκους νέκυν

Translations (10)

German (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 26 focus

ISMENE

Wenn du's vermöchtest; doch du willst Unmögliches.
90

Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921)) — 26 focus

Ismena

De ningún modo conviene perseguir lo imposible.

Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 26 focus

Ismene

Sed ne primitus quidem sectari impossibilia decet.

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 26 focus

ISM

One should not start upon a hopeless quest.

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)) — 26 focus

ISMENA

Desde el principio debemos renunciar á aquello que supera nuestro poder.

German (F. Hölderlin, 1804) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (F. Hölderlin, 1804)) — 26 focus

ISMENE

Gleich Anfangs muss Niemand Unthunlichs jagen.

English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904)) — 26 focus

Ismene

A hopeless quest should not be made at all.

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 26 focus

Creon

What, wou'dst thou scan

The regions of my pain?

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

1

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

39

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

69

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-66-1 τοῖς φίλοις δ’ ὀρθῶς φίλη ¹ ἴσθι ²

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

99. mvp-comment-62-1 τοῖς φίλοις δ᾽ ὀρθῶς φίλη But unfailing in kindness to thy friends; i. e. A faithful sister to thine own brother. Cp. Eur. Or. 424, ἀληθὴς δ᾽ ἐς φίλους ἔφυν φίλος. Antigone goes to perform the sepulture, and Ismene returns into the palace. The stage is left vacant. As in the Ajax, there is a distinct break after the prologue, which has laid the ground of the action so far as Antigone is concerned. The first episodion, ll. 163 ff., is in one sense a fresh beginning, as setting forth the motives of Creon, and still only preparing for the collision. The parados, ll. 100 ff., introduces us to the public feeling of Thebes, and to the wider sphere of which the action forms the central point. 100 ff. Instead of a long series of anapaests, followed by lyrical strophes and antistrophes, as in the Ajax (with which cp. Aesch. Agamemnon), we have here two strophes and antistrophes alternating with anapaestic systems of about seven lines each: making a form of parodos intermediate between that of the Ajax and that of the O. T., in which there are no anapaests. The α' (100-109=117-133). chorus on its first appearance chants ll. 100-109, then advances while the coryphaeus recites 110-116, then the antistrophe is chanted, then another advance is made during the recitative of 11. 127-133, then strophe B' is chanted, the chorus by this time standing near the stage; then they make a final advance, and, during the second antistrophe, are standing full in front of the stage. Lastly, as Creon is seen approaching, the coryphaeus chants ll. 155-162, which thus form at once the conclusion of the parodos and the introit or prelude of the first episodium.

99. mvp-comment-62-2 The total effect is that of a stately and solemn triumph, in which the bright influence of the glyconic opening is tempered with slow movements (---), as in ll. 106, 122, 137, 151, and interrupted rhythms, as in ll. 103, 120, 138, 152; the notes of triumph and solemnity being combined in the choriambi, which bring the lyrical part to a close. Thus we have- β΄ (134-140=148-154). CI IICCーしー CLトくトCCI 51--10CICIC ト 1001010110010||| ――トしてトー luclcclcULCII) C- 「SƆIDII7 5トレトしし LCCLLCCLLCCLLCCLI トリトー The culmination of feeling is marked by the dactylic opening of β'. The rhythms of a' 3. 4, 6, and β' 3, 4, show the correlation of the two movements. The adaptation of sound to sense is specially obvious in the resolved trochees of a' 7, while the concluding lines, a' 8, β' 7, serve to harmonize the logaoedic with the anapaestic measures. Cp. O. C. 135-137, 167-169.

99. mvp-comment-62-3 'Never did morning rise so fair as this which thou didst bring at length to waiting Thebè, O eye of golden day! For thy first beams, shooting over Dircè's rills, stirred into quicker flight the Argive warrior, who for Polynices' quarrel swooped upon our land on snow-white wing, with many a shield and many a plumèd helm.

99. mvp-comment-62-4 Threatening our halls in towering pride he stood, and gaped with bristling spears around our gates, thirsting for our blood: but he is gone, or ever his desire was slaked, or ever the fire-god caught our coronal of towers. Such fight displayed the serpent writhing in his gripe, not easily subdued. Such din of war assailed him as he turned to flee. For Zeus abhors the boaster and contemns the clank of gold. And when he saw them moving in a full proud stream, he smote with lightning from on high the daring climber who had gained the pinnacle and was eagerly preparing to shout victory. And swung to earth he fell with a rebound, the firebearer, who with mad rush was breathing his blast of enmity against the wall. And various was the fortune of the day. But terrible was the War-god as he plunged amidst our enemies, a mighty helper for us.

99. mvp-comment-62-5 'For at all our gates their captains, seven against seven, left their panoplies as trophies to our cause. All, save the horrid pair, who fell together with the guilt of mutual fratricide.

99. mvp-comment-62-6 But forget we the griefs of war. For victory came with smiles of joy to greet our smiling town. So visit we the temples of the gods with dances all night long: and let Theban Bacchus be the master of our revelry.