Sophocles Antigone 15

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Creon

Why is thy soul distracted with these fears?

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)) — 15 focus

ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς

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Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 15 focus

ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς

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Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 15 focus

ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς

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Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 15 focus

ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς

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Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 15 focus

ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς

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Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 15.mvp-line-15 focus

ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς

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Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 15 focus

ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς

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Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 15 focus

ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς

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Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 15 focus

ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς

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Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 15.mvp-line-15 focus

ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς

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Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 15 focus

ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς

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Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 15 focus

ἐπεὶ δὲ φροῦδός ἐστιν Ἀργείων στρατὸς

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Translations (10)

German (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 15 focus

ISMENE

Weh mir, bedenk', o Schwester, wie der Vater uns,

Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921)) — 15 focus

Antígona

69 Ni te lo mandaré, ni aunque luego lo quieras hacer, tendré gusto en que me ayudes. Haz de ti lo que te parezca. A él, yo le sepultaré; si hago esto, bello me será morir. Amada yaceré con él, con el amado, después de cumplir con todos los deberes piadosos; porque mayor es el tiempo que debo complacer a los muertos que a los vivos. Pero tú, si te parece, haz desprecio de lo que en más estimación tienen los dioses.

Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 15 focus

Antigone

69 Neque te iusserim, neque adeo, si velis operam conferre, adiutrice te lubens utar. Age esto, ut tibi placet; illum vero ego sepeliam. Decorum mihi erit hoc facto mori: cara cum Creon iacebo, pio peracto facinore. Nempe longius est tempus , quo me inferis placere oportet, quam his quibuscum hic versor: illic enim semper jacebo: tu vero, si ita videtur, quae apud Deos sanctissima habentur, aspernare.

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 15 focus

ANT
69

I will not urge you! no! nor if now you list

To help me, will your help afford me joy.

Be what you choose to be! This single hand
70

Shall bury our lost brother. Glorious

For me to take this labour and to die!

Dear to him will my soul be as we rest

In death, when I have dared this holy crime.

My time for pleasing men will soon be over;

Not so my duty toward the Dead! My home
75

Yonder will have no end. You, if you will,

May pour contempt on laws revered on High.

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

Ismene.

Zu mir gelangte keine Kund', Antigone,

Von unsern Lieben, frohe nicht noch traurige,

Seitdem das Paar der Brüder uns entrissen ward,

Die Eines Tages fielen durch zwiefachen Mord.

Und seit in dieser jüngsten Nacht sich Argos' Heer
15

Zur Flucht gewendet, wurde mir nichts weiter kund,

Nicht, ob mir mehr des Glückes, ob des Leides ward.

Antigone.

Wohl wußt' ich das, und führte deßhalb dich heraus

Zum Thor des Hofes, dir allein es kundzuthun.

Ismene.

Was hast du? Sichtbar wogt in dir ein schweres Wort.
20

Antigone.

Hat Kreon nicht dem Einen Bruder nur gegönnt

Des Grabes Ehre, jenem sie schmachvoll versagt?

Den Eteokles hat er, wie man sagt, gerecht

Gerechter Ordnung huldigend, in der Erde Schooß

Geborgen, daß ihm Ehre sei im Todtenreich;²
25

Doch Polyneikes' jammervoll entseelten Leib

Verbot er, heißt es, allem Volk durch lauten Ruf

Im Grab zu bergen und um ihn zu klagen; nein,

Daliegen soll er unbeweint, grablos, ein Mahl

Den Vögeln, die zum süßen Raube niederschau'n.
30

Und solches, sagt man, ließ der edle Kreon dir

Und mir, ich sage mir sogar, verkündigen;

Er komme selbst, es deutlich Allen kundzuthun,

Die nicht davon vernommen, und er achte nicht

Für Nichts die Sache; sondern wer deß Eines thut,
35

Den trifft an offner Stätte Tod durch Steinigung.

So ward's von ihm beschlossen, und du zeigst sofort,

Ob edel, ob unedel du von Edlen stammst.

Ismene.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 15 focus

Ismene
Act as thou wilt ; I'll bury him myself ;

I reverence the gods ; but, in defiance

Of laws, and unassisted to do this,

Tt were most dangerous.

Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889)) — 15 focus

ANTÍGONA

69 No pienso rogarte más... y aunque tú accedieras á hacer algo por complacerme, rehusaré tu concurso. Ve tú allá lo que te parezca bien. Por mí le he de dar sepultura, y me será glorioso morir, después de haberlo realizado. Como buena hermana iré á reposar con mi hermano amado por haber sido santamente criminal. Pero ¡ah! por más tiempo he de hacerme grata á los muertos que á los vivos, pues con ellos he de reposar eternamente. Desprecia tú, en buen hora, si lo juzgas conveniente, las sacrosantas leyes de los dioses.

German (F. Hölderlin, 1804) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (F. Hölderlin, 1804)) — 15 focus

ANTIGONAE

Befehlen will ichs nicht, und wolltest dus nun

Noch thun, es wär in deiner Hülfe Lust nicht.

Nein! denke du, wie diess gefällt; doch ihn

Begrab’ ich. Schön ist es hernach, zu sterben.

Lieb werd’ ich bei ihm liegen, bei dem Lieben,
75

Wenn Heiligs ich vollbracht. Und dann ists mehr Zeit,

Dafs denen drunten ich gefall’ , als hier.

Dort wohn’ ich ja für immer einst. Doch du,

Beliebt es, halt ehrlos vor Göttern Ehrsams.

English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904)) — 15 focus

Antigone

69 I will not urge thee,—no, nor, if thou yet 70 shouldst have the mind, wouldst thou be welcome as a worker with me. Nay, be what thou wilt; but I will bury him: well for me to die in doing that. I shall rest, a loved one with him whom I have loved, sinless in my crime; for I owe a longer allegiance to the dead than to the living: in that world I shall abide for ever. But "if thou wilt, be guilty of dishonouring laws which the gods have stablished in honour.

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,
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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-133-1 εὖ γε στοχάζει ¹ στοχάζει ² ἀποφράγνυσαι ³ στοχάζομαι ⁴

mvp-comment-133-2 κἀποφράγνυσαι ⁵

mvp-comment-133-3 τὸ πρᾶγμα ⁶

mvp-comment-134-1 δηλοῖς δ’ ὥς τι ς. ⁷

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.

241-242. mvp-comment-148-1 (1) You aim carefully, and fence the business off from yourself all round. Some editors read τί φροιμιάζει; from Ar. Rhet. 3. 14, § 10, quoted above. But though the Scholiast of the Rhetoric says τὸ δὲ τί φροιμιάζῃ τοῦ Κρέοντός ἐστι λέγοντος, it is much more probable that the words are a separate quotation from Eur. I. T. 1162. See Cope's edition of Ar. Rhet. vol. 3. p. 175. Others explain the text (2), You lay the ground carefully and hedge your approaches closely round, as if in preparing a stance to watch for game. According to Pollux, 5, 36, στοχασμός, στοχάς, and στόχος, were terms used in describing the setting of a hunting-net: καλεῖται δ᾽ αὐτῶν (τῶν ἀρκύων) ἡ στάσις, στοιχισμός, στοίχος, στόχος, στοχὰς καὶ στοχασμός· στοχὰς δὲ καλεῖται καὶ χειροποιητά τινα οἰκοδομήματα ἐκ λίθων, ἢ ὕλης ὑπὲρ τὴν γῆν ἀναστήματα, κατὰ χρείαν τῆς τῶν δικτύων ἐξ ἴσου στάσεως, εἴ τι κοῖλον εἴη περὶ τὸ ἀρκύστατον.