οἴμοι,
Antigone. Sophocles. ed. Francis Storr. London. 1912.
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Current edition Experimental
Ἀντιγόνη (Greek) (Sophocles, Volume 1. Storr, Francis, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company, 1912.)
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
Editions (10)
Greek (L. Benloew, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (L. Benloew, 1858)) — 1294 focus
ἡ δ᾽ ὀξύθηκτος ἥδε
1
βωμία πέριξ
Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 1294 focus
ἴτω,
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 1294 focus
οἴμοι,
Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 1294 focus
οἴμοι,
Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 1294.mvp-line-1273 focus
οἴμοι,
Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 1294 focus
οἴμοι,
Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 1294 focus
δείλαιος ἐγώ, φεῦ, φεῦ,
Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 1294 focus
οἴμοι,
1
Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 1294.mvp-line-1276 focus
οἴμοι,
Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 1294 focus
οἴμοι,
Translations (2)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1294 focus
Weh mir!
1260
Zweite Gegenstrophe.
Weh mir!
1260
Kreon.
Das andre zweite Leiden seh' ich Armer hier!
welch Schicksal, welches harrt meiner noch?
In meinen Armen halt' ich noch mein theures Kind,
Und dort muß ich, ach! den andern Todten sehn.
Ach, ach, arme Mutter! Ach, armes Kind!
1265
Das andre zweite Leiden seh' ich Armer hier!
welch Schicksal, welches harrt meiner noch?
In meinen Armen halt' ich noch mein theures Kind,
Und dort muß ich, ach! den andern Todten sehn.
Ach, ach, arme Mutter! Ach, armes Kind!
1265
Der Diener.
Am Hausaltare sank sie schwergetroffen hin,
Da brach in Nacht ihr Auge; noch beweinte sie
Des erst entschwundnen Megareus ruhmvolles Loos,
1
Und wieder diesen, und zulezt auf dich herab,
Den Kindesmörder, fluchte sie graunvollen Fluch.
1270
Dritte Strophe.
Am Hausaltare sank sie schwergetroffen hin,
Da brach in Nacht ihr Auge; noch beweinte sie
Des erst entschwundnen Megareus ruhmvolles Loos,
1
Und wieder diesen, und zulezt auf dich herab,
Den Kindesmörder, fluchte sie graunvollen Fluch.
1270
Kreon.
English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904)) — 1261-1345 focus
Creon
Ah, the blunders of an unthinking mind, blunders of rigidity, yielding death! Oh, you witnesses of the killers and the killed, both of one family!
What misery arises from my reasonings! Haemon, you have died after a young life, youngest and last of my sons! O God! You have departed not by your foolishness, but by my own!
1265
Ah, the blunders of an unthinking mind, blunders of rigidity, yielding death! Oh, you witnesses of the killers and the killed, both of one family!
What misery arises from my reasonings! Haemon, you have died after a young life, youngest and last of my sons! O God! You have departed not by your foolishness, but by my own!
1265
Chorus
Ah, how late you seem to see the right!
1270
Ah, how late you seem to see the right!
1270
Creon
God, I have mastered the bitter lesson! But then, then, I think, some god struck me on my head with a crushing weight, and drove me into savage paths,
—ah!—and overthrew my joy to be trampled on! Ah, the labors men must toil through!
1275
1278
Enter the Messenger from the house.
God, I have mastered the bitter lesson! But then, then, I think, some god struck me on my head with a crushing weight, and drove me into savage paths,
—ah!—and overthrew my joy to be trampled on! Ah, the labors men must toil through!
1275
Messenger
My master, you have come, I think, like one whose hands are not empty, but who has a ready store: first, you carry that burden visible in your arms;
second, you will soon look upon further sufferings inside your house.
1280
My master, you have come, I think, like one whose hands are not empty, but who has a ready store: first, you carry that burden visible in your arms;
second, you will soon look upon further sufferings inside your house.
1280
Creon
What worse suffering is still to follow upon these sufferings?
What worse suffering is still to follow upon these sufferings?
Messenger
Your wife is dead, true mother of that corpse, poor lady, by wounds newly cut.
Your wife is dead, true mother of that corpse, poor lady, by wounds newly cut.
Creon
O harbor of Hades, hard to purify!
Why, why do you ruin me? Herald of evil, of grief, what word do you say? Ah, you have done in a dead man anew! What are you saying, boy? What is this you report to me
1285
God no!—what new slaughter, my wife’s doom, is heaped upon this ruin?
1290
1293
The doors of the palace are opened, and the corpse of Eurydice is disclosed.
O harbor of Hades, hard to purify!
Why, why do you ruin me? Herald of evil, of grief, what word do you say? Ah, you have done in a dead man anew! What are you saying, boy? What is this you report to me
1285
God no!—what new slaughter, my wife’s doom, is heaped upon this ruin?
1290
Chorus
The sight is at hand. It is no longer hidden inside.
The sight is at hand. It is no longer hidden inside.
Creon
Ah, misery!
There I see a new, a second evil! What destiny, ah, what, can still await me? I have just now taken my son in my arms, and now I see another corpse before me!
1295
Oh, tormented mother! Oh, my son!
1300
Ah, misery!
There I see a new, a second evil! What destiny, ah, what, can still await me? I have just now taken my son in my arms, and now I see another corpse before me!
1295
Oh, tormented mother! Oh, my son!
1300
Messenger
By the altar, with a sharp-whetted sword, she struck until her eyes went slack and dark. Before that she bewailed the noble fate of Megareus who died earlier, and then the fate of this boy, and also, with her last breath,
she called down evil fortune upon you, the slayer of her sons.
1305
By the altar, with a sharp-whetted sword, she struck until her eyes went slack and dark. Before that she bewailed the noble fate of Megareus who died earlier, and then the fate of this boy, and also, with her last breath,
she called down evil fortune upon you, the slayer of her sons.
1305
Creon
Ah, no! I tremble with fear. Why does no one strike me full on my chest with a two-edged sword?
I am miserable—ah—and bathed in miserable anguish!
1310
Ah, no! I tremble with fear. Why does no one strike me full on my chest with a two-edged sword?
I am miserable—ah—and bathed in miserable anguish!
1310
Messenger
Yes, because you were accused of responsibility for both this son’s death, and the other’s, by her whose corpse you see.
Yes, because you were accused of responsibility for both this son’s death, and the other’s, by her whose corpse you see.
Creon
What was the manner of the violent deed by which she departed?
What was the manner of the violent deed by which she departed?
Messenger
Her own hand struck her to the heart upon learning her son’s sharply-lamented fate.
1315
Her own hand struck her to the heart upon learning her son’s sharply-lamented fate.
1315
Creon
Ah this guilt can never be fastened onto any other mortal so as to remove my own! It was I, yes, I, who killed you, I the wretch.
I admit the truth. Lead me away, my servants, lead me from here with all haste, who am no more than a dead man!
1320
Ah this guilt can never be fastened onto any other mortal so as to remove my own! It was I, yes, I, who killed you, I the wretch.
I admit the truth. Lead me away, my servants, lead me from here with all haste, who am no more than a dead man!
1320
Chorus
The course you recommend is to your gain, if there can be gain amidst evil. What is briefest is best, when trouble lies at your feet.
1325
The course you recommend is to your gain, if there can be gain amidst evil. What is briefest is best, when trouble lies at your feet.
1325
Creon
Let it come, let it appear, that fairest of fates for me, that brings my final day,
the fate supreme! Oh, let it come, so that I may never see tomorrow’s light!
1330
1334
Let it come, let it appear, that fairest of fates for me, that brings my final day,
the fate supreme! Oh, let it come, so that I may never see tomorrow’s light!
1330
Chorus
These things are in the future. We must see to present affairs.
Fulfillment of these things rests in the hands where it should rest.
1335
These things are in the future. We must see to present affairs.
Fulfillment of these things rests in the hands where it should rest.
1335
Creon
All that I crave was summed in that prayer.
All that I crave was summed in that prayer.
Chorus
Then pray no more; for mortals have no release from destined misfortune.
Then pray no more; for mortals have no release from destined misfortune.
Creon
Lead me away, I beg you, a rash, useless man.
I have murdered you, son, unwittingly, and you, too, my wife—the misery! I do not know which way I should look, or where I should seek support. All is
1340
amiss that is in my hands, and, again, a crushing fate has leapt upon my head.
1345
Lead me away, I beg you, a rash, useless man.
I have murdered you, son, unwittingly, and you, too, my wife—the misery! I do not know which way I should look, or where I should seek support. All is
1340
amiss that is in my hands, and, again, a crushing fate has leapt upon my head.
1345
Commentary
Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))
mvp-comment-780-1 ὁρᾶν πάρεστιν 1
mvp-comment-780-2
three or four persons; and was low enough to admit of an actor stepping off it with ease. It was pushed on through the central stage entrance, and was usually brought sufficiently far forward to allow of actors entering or making their exit behind it. Here, the corpse of Eurydicè is evidently in full view of the house (
cp. 1299
). Soph. has used the
ἐκκύκλημα in two other plays:
El. 1458
(the corpse of Clytaemnestra, with Orestes and Pylades beside it); and in
Ai. 344
(Ajax in his tent among his victims). See Albert Müller,
Gr. Bühnenalterthümer, pp. 142 ff. (1886).
mvp-comment-780-3
Recent explorations in the Dionysiac theatre at Athens have given rise to a theory that there was no permanent raised stage or proscenium before the Roman age. Even if this could be proved, it would still, however, remain certain that some such expedient as the
ἐκκύκλημα was used in the fifth century. This is proved by the texts of Aesch. , Soph. , and Eur. , as well as by the two scenes of Ar. where the tragic
ἐκκύκλημα is parodied (
Ar.
Ach. 408
—479;
Thesm. 95—238). Ar. has the words
ἐκκυκλεῖν and
ἐσκυκλεῖν. Wecklein thinks that the
ἐκκύκλημα was employed when a part of the interior of the house was to be disclosed, but the
ἐξώστρα when merely a single object was to be shown; and that the
ἐξώστρα was used here (
N. Jahrb. 1870, vol. 101, p. 572:
Philol. 31. 451). The meaning of
ἐξώστρα is, however, doubtful.