Sophocles Antigone 14

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Messenger
CREON, MESSENGER, CHORUS.
I will not say, O king, that I am come
With hasten'd step, and breathless through my speed;
For oft I paused, deep-musing, on my way,
And oft wheel'd round with purpose to return.
My soul with many a forceful argument
Thus reason'd with me, "Why in evil hour
"Goest thou where punishment awaits thee?---Wretch,
"Wilt thou stay lingering here? Should Creon know
" This from some other, how wilt thou escape
"His vengeance?" ---Musing thus with anxious thought,
And a slow pace, I made a short way long.
240
At length it was decided I should come.
240
E'en though I tell thee nothing, I will speak;
240
For I am come confiding in the hope
240
Nothing awaits me more than is decreed.
240

Antigone. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.

Current edition Experimental

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Robert Potter, 1788))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (12)
Greek (L. Benloew, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (L. Benloew, 1858)) — 14 focus
μιᾷ θανόντων ἡμέρᾳ διπλῇ χερί 1 ·
Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 14 focus
μιᾷ θανόντων ἡμέρᾳ διπλῇ χερί·
Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 14 focus
μιᾷ θανόντων ἡμέρᾳ διπλῇ χερί·
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 14 focus
μιᾷ θανόντων ἡμέρᾳ διπλῇ χερί·
Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 14 focus
μιᾷ θανόντων ἡμέρᾳ διπλῇ χερί·
Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 14.mvp-line-14 focus
μιᾷ θανόντων ἡμέρᾳ διπλῇ χερί·
Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 14 focus
μιᾶι θανόντοιν ἡμέραι διπλῆι χερί·
Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 14 focus
μιᾷ θανόντων ἡμέρᾳ διπλῇ χερί·
Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 14 focus
μιᾷ θανόντοιν ἡμέρᾳ διπλῇ χερί·
Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 14.mvp-line-14 focus
μιᾷ θανόντοιν ἡμέρᾳ διπλῇ χερί·
Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 14 focus
μιᾷ θανόντοιν ἡμέρᾳ διπλῇ χερί·
Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 14 focus
μιᾶι θανόντων ἡμέραι διπλῆι χερί·
Translations (10)
German (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 14 focus
ANTIGONE
Mich abzuhalten von dem Meinen ziemt ihm nicht.
Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921)) — 14 focus
Ismena
¡Ay de mí! Reflexiona, hermana, que nuestro padre murió aborrecido e infamado, depues después que, por los peçados pecados que en sí mismo había descubierto, se arrancó los ojos él mismo con su propia mano. También su madre y mujer —nombres que se contradicen— con un lazo de trenza se quitó la vida. Y como tercera desgracia, nuestros dos hermanos en un mismo día se degüellan los desdichados, dándose muerte uno a otro con sus propias manos. Y ahora que solas quedamos nosotras dos, considera de qué manera más infame moriremos si con desprecio de la ley desobedecemos la orden y autoridad del tirano. Pues preciso es pensar ante todo que somos mujeres, para no querer luchar contra los hombres; y luego, que estamos bajo la autoridad de los superiores, para obedecer estas órdenes y otras más severas. Lo que ês es yo, rogando a los que están bajo tierra que me tengan indulgencia, como que cedo contra mi voluntad, obedeceré a los que están en el poder; porque el querer hacer más que lo que uno puede, no es cosa razonable.
Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 14 focus
Ismene
Hei mihi! revoca in animum, soror, pater ut nobis periit odiosus infamisque, qui, patefactis piaculis, propria sibi manu oculos effodit: tum illius mater eademque uxor, geminum titulum sustinens , tortis laqueis sibi vitam ademit: tertium vero fratres duo una die, semet occidentes miseri, necem sibi invicem intulere mutuis manibus: nunc tandem nos duae solae relictae , considera, quam pessimis exemplis periturae simus, si, more violato, edictum regis vel imperia transgrediamur. Sane igitur hoc cogitare oportet, feminas nos esse, haud viris certare pares, et quoniam sumus subditae potentioribus, et in his rebus obtemperare, aliisque adhuc acerbioribus. Proinde ego Manes inferos, ut veniam dent, precata, quia vi huc compellor, summam rerum obtinentibus morem geram: nam maiora viribus aggredi, dementia est.
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 14 focus
ISM
Ah, sister, think but how our father fell,
Hated of all and lost to fair renown,
Through self-detected crimes—with his own hand,
50
Self-wreaking, how he dashed out both his eyes:
Then how the mother-wife, sad two-fold name!
With twisted halter bruised her life away,
Last, how in one dire moment our two brothers
With internecine conflict at a blow
55
Wrought out by fratricide their mutual doom.
Now, left alone, O think how beyond all
Most piteously we twain shall be destroyed,
If in defiance of authority
We traverse the commandment of the King!
60
We needs must bear in mind we are but women,
Never created to contend with men;
Nay more, made victims of resistless power,
To obey behests more harsh than this to-day.
I, then, imploring those beneath to grant
65
Indulgence, seeing I am enforced in this,
Will yield submission to the powers that rule,
Small wisdom were it to overpass the bound.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1 focus
Ismene, traute Schwester, vielgeliebtes Haupt, 1
1
Weißt du von einem Leide, das vom Vater her
Zeus nicht an uns vollendet, die wir leben noch?
Denn keinen Jammer gibt es, nichts Entsezliches,
Nichts Arges, nichts Schmachvolles, das ich nicht bereits
5
In deiner Noth gesehen und in meiner Noth.
Und welche Botschaft, heißt es, ließ jezt eben erst
Der Herrscher wieder allem Volk verkündigen?
Weißt du's, vernahmst du's, oder blieb dir unbekannt,
Daß unsern Lieben Böses naht von Feindesmacht?
10
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 14 focus
Antigone
69
Wert thou to proffer what I do not ask— <
Thy poor assistance — I would scorn it now.
Let me perform but that, and death is welcome :
70
I'll do the pious deed, and lay me down
By my dear brother. Loving and beloved
We'll rest together ; to the powers below
'Tis fit we pay obedience ; longer there
We must remain than we can breathe on earth.
75
There I shall dwell for ever; thou, meantime,
What the gods hold most precious mayst despise.
Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889)) — 14 focus
ISMENA
¡Ay! Acuérdate, hermana, que nuestro padre se nos murió aborrecido y cargado de oprobio después de haberse arrancado con su propia airada mano los ojos, en castigo de los crímenes horrendos por él mismo sorprendidos; que después su madre, á la par madre y esposa, acabó afrentosamente su vida con un nudo fatal;—y por último, que nuestros dos hermanos, en un solo día ¡desdichados! cumplieron su común destino, dándose recíproca muerte con sus propias manos. Reflexiona, pues, con cuánta ignominia pereceríamos las dos, hoy abandonadas y solas, si rebeldes á la ley, osáramos quebrantar ese decreto, y desafiar el poder de los príncipes;—es preciso tener en cuenta que hemos nacido débiles mujeres, incapaces de luchar contra los hombres; que, gobernadas por los que son más fuertes que nosotras, tenemos que rendirles obediencia, así en esta como en otras cosas más crueles aún y dolorosas. Por mi parte, después de pedir á los difuntos que me perdonen, si cedo á la violencia, me someteré á la autoridad de los magistrados constituidos en poder; pues sería insensatez pretender ejecutar lo que excede de nuestras fuerzas.
German (F. Hölderlin, 1804) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (F. Hölderlin, 1804)) — 14 focus
ISMENE
O mir! bedenke, Schwester, wie der Vater,
Von uns, verhalst und ruhmlos untergangen,
Nach selbstverschuldeten Verirrungen ,
Da er sein Augenpaar mit eigner Hand zerstochen.
Und dann die Mutter, Ehefrau zugleich,
55
Ein doppelt Leiden, mit gewundnen Striken
Verstümmelte das Leben sie. Zum dritten
Die beiden Brüder, die an Einem Tage
Verwandten Tod mit Gegnershand bewirket.,
Und nun wir zwei, die wir allein geblieben,
60
Sieh, wie am schlimmsten wir vergiengen, wenn
Gewaltsam wir des Herrn Befehl und Kraft
Verfehlten. Difs auch denke, Weiber sind wir,
Und dürfen so nicht gegen Männer streiten.
Und dann auch, weil von Stärkern wir beherrscht sind,
65
So müssen wir diess hören; Härters noch!
Ich also bitte sie, die drunten sind,
Mir zu verzeihen, dass mir diess geschieht,
Und lafs sie walten, die da ferne gehen,
Denn Ueberflüfsiges zu thun, ist sinnlos.
70
English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904)) — 14 focus
Ismene
Ah me! think, sister, how our father perished, amid hate and scorn, when sins bared by his own search had moved him to strike both eyes with self-blinding hand; then the mother wife, two names in one, with twisted noose did despite unto her life; and last, our two brothers in one day,—each shedding, hapless one, a kinsman’s blood,—wrought out with mutual hands their common doom. And now we in turn—we two left all alone—think how we shall perish, more miserably 60 than all the rest, if, in defiance of the law, we brave a king’s decree or his powers. Nay, we must remember, first, that we were born women, as who should not strive with men; next, that we are ruled of the stronger, so that we must obey in these things, and in things yet sorer. I, therefore, asking the Spirits Infernal to pardon, seeing that force is put on me herein, will hearken to our rulers; for ’tis witless to be over busy.
English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904)) — 1-98 focus

Commentary

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

223-330. mvp-comment-136-1 The half-comic or rustic character of the watchman in this play is an extension of the common character of the messenger, whose natural rudeness of speech and thought brings into greater prominence the horror or pathos of the events he describes. The grotesqueness disappears when he speaks of the action of Antigone in 407-440. The employment of this artifice by Sophocles arises from the same motive to which Shakespeare gave a far wider range in such creations as the gravediggers in Hamlet, and the rural fellow in Antony and Cleopatra. The Messenger in the Trachiniae, the Corinthian in the Oedipus Tyrannus, Menelaus in the Ajax, the pretended Shipmaster in the Philoctetes, afford the same sort of contrast to the more tragic personages: and the superstition of the Coloniatae may be compared with the cowardice of the Phrygian slave in the Orestes of Euripides.

223-330. mvp-comment-136-2 The vulgarity of the common-place Athenian of the fifth century в.с. takes the form of misplaced subtlety of wit. Cp. Shak. Hamlet, 5. 1 ,

We must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us. The age is grown so picked, that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.

238. mvp-comment-146-1 τὸ γάρ For the light ending, cp infr. 327, 409, Ο. Τ. 553-554. τὸ δὲ | πάθημ᾽ ὁποῖον φῇς παθεῖν δίδασκέ με, ib. 995-996, 1056-1057.

239. mvp-comment-147-1 ὅστις ἦν ὁ δρῶν i. e. τὸν δρῶντα, ὅστις ἦν, The unknown doer of the deed.