Sophocles Antigone 20

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Messenger

I know not: neither stroke of axe was there,

Nor with a spade the mold cast up; the ground

Was firm, the soil unbroken, nor impress'd
250

With track of wheels; but he, who did the deed,

Left not a mark behind. When the first watch

Of morning show'd us this, in wild amaze

We stood aghast; for, though no tomb was raised,

The body disappear'd; but the light dust
255

Thrown o'er it show'd the hasty work of one

Who fear'd profanely to neglect the dead;

For not the trace of savage beast, or dog,

Who gorged with prey had cover'd it, was seen.

Harsh words with mutual clamour now rose high,

Guard charging guard; we almost came to blows,
260

With none to mediate peace; for each to each

Seem'd to have done the deed, yet proof appear'd

'Gainst none: "I know not" was the voice of all.

The mass of burning iron in our hands

We all were prompt to take, to pass through fire,
265

To call the gods to witness with firm oath

We did it not, we knew not who design'd,

Or who perform'd the deed. Inquiry now

Was found of no avail, when one proposed

What made us all bend to the earth our heads

Through fear, (and nought against it could we speak,
270

Nor knew we how to guide our conduct right)

That this bold deed to thee should be disclosed,

And not conceal'd. This purpose was approved.;

And me, unhappy me, the lot calls forth

To earn this meed. To me no pleasure this;
275

No pleasure, well I know, to you I bring.

Unwelcome he, who evil tidings bears.

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)) — 20 focus

τί δ᾽ ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσ᾽ ἔπος.

20

Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 20 focus

τί δ᾽ ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσ᾽ ἔπος.

20

Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 20 focus

τί δ᾽ ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσ᾽ ἔπος.

20

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 20 focus

τί δ᾽ ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσ᾽ ἔπος.

20

Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 20 focus

τί δ᾽ ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσ᾽ ἔπος.

20

Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 20.mvp-line-20 focus

τί δ’ ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσ’ ἔπος.

20

Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 20 focus

τί δ᾽ ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσ᾽ ἔπος.

20

Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 20 focus

τί δ᾽ ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσ᾽ ἔπος.

20

Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 20 focus

τί δ᾽ ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσ᾽ ἔπος.

20

Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 20.mvp-line-20 focus

τί δ' ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσ' ἔπος.

20

Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 20 focus

τί δʼ ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσʼ ἔπος.

20

Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 20 focus

τί δ᾽ ἔστι; δηλοῖς γάρ τι καλχαίνουσ᾽ ἔπος.

20

Translations (10)

German (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 20 focus

ISMENE

O weh mir Armen! ach wie fürcht' ob deiner ich!

Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921)) — 20 focus

Ismena

Pues al menos no digas a nadie tu proyecto; guárdalo en secreto, que yo haré lo mismo.

Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 20 focus

Ismene

Hoc saltem inceptum nemini indicaveris, sed clam omnes habe, itidemque ego celabo.

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 20 focus

ISM

Ah! yet divulge thine enterprise to none,

But keep the secret close, and so will I.
85

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)) — 20 focus

Ismene

Thou hast a heart

Too daring, and ill-suited to thy fate.

Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889)) — 20 focus

ISMENA

Pero al menos no descubras á nadie tus proyectos; ocúltalos con la mayor reserva... por mi parte, encerrado quedará en mi pecho.

German (F. Hölderlin, 1804) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (F. Hölderlin, 1804)) — 20 focus

ISMENE

Meinwegen. Lafs die That nur niemand hören!

Halt dich jezt still! So kann ich mit dabei seyn.

English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904)) — 20 focus

Ismene

At least, then, disclose this plan to none, but hide it closely,—and so, too, will I.

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-138-1 It is still the early morning of the day on which the drama opens. The Argives having fled in the night, Creon had published his edict shortly before dawn. Antigone had done her deed in the short interval between the publication of the edict and the beginning of the watch over the corpse. ὁ πρῶτος ἡμεροσκόπος ¹ ἡμεροσκ. ²

mvp-comment-138-2 δείκνυσι … παρῆν ³

mvp-comment-138-3 δυσχερές ⁴

mvp-comment-139-1 ὁ μὲν ⁵

mvp-comment-139-2 τυμβήρης μὲν οὔ ⁶ τυμβ. ⁷ λεπτὴ δ’ … ἐπῆν ⁸

mvp-comment-139-3 ἄγος φεύγοντος ὥς ⁹ ἄγος ¹⁰

mvp-comment-140-1 θηρός ¹¹

mvp-comment-140-2 του ¹² θηρός ¹³

mvp-comment-140-3 οὐ σπάσαντος ¹⁴ οὐ ¹⁵ σπάσαντος ¹⁶ σπάσαντος οὐδ’ ἐλθόντος ¹⁷

mvp-comment-141-1 λόγοι δ’ … φύλακα ¹⁸ λόγοι κακοὶ ἐρρόθουν ¹⁹ ἐρρόθουν ²⁰

mvp-comment-141-2

γλώσσης ῥόθος

, of an unintelligible jargon.

mvp-comment-141-3 ἐλέγχων ²¹

mvp-comment-141-4 κἂν ἐγίγνετο ²²

mvp-comment-141-5 τελευτῶς ²³

mvp-comment-141-6 ὁ κωλύσων ²⁴

mvp-comment-142-1 ἦν … οὑξειργ. ²⁵

mvp-comment-142-2 ἐναργής ²⁶

mvp-comment-142-3 ἀλλ’ ²⁷

mvp-comment-142-4 ἕφευγε μὴ εἰδέναι ²⁸

mvp-comment-142-5 μὴ ²⁹ εἰδέναι ³⁰

mvp-comment-143-1 μύδρους ³¹

mvp-comment-143-2 a red-hot mass of metal, and that the custom was symbolical of an older use of the

μύδρος

in ordeals by fire. This would explain how the Alexandrian poets of the 3rd cent. B.C. (Lycophron, Callimachus) came to use the word

μύδρος

, in defiance of its etymology, as simply ‘a lump’ (or even ‘a stone’). They supposed that the

μύδροι

had been cold masses.

mvp-comment-144-1 πῦρ διέρπειν ³²

mvp-comment-144-2 θεοὺς ὁρκ. ³⁴

mvp-comment-144-3 τὸ μήτε δρ ³⁵

mvp-comment-144-4 μήτ’ είργασμένῳ ³⁶ μηδ ³⁷

mvp-comment-145-1 πλέον ³⁸

mvp-comment-145-2 λέγει ³⁹

mvp-comment-145-3 τις εἷς ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-146-1 προὔτρεψεν ⁴¹

mvp-comment-146-2 οὐ γὰρ εἴχομεν ⁴²

mvp-comment-146-3 As ἀντιφωνεῖν ⁴³ δρῶντες ⁴⁴ ὅπως δρῶντες ⁴⁵ εἴχομεν ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-147-1 σοί ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-147-2 ταῦτ’ ἐνίκα ⁴⁸

mvp-comment-147-3 πάλος ⁴⁹ καθαιρεῖ ⁵⁰

mvp-comment-147-4 τἀγαθόν ⁵¹ —ἄκων οὐχ ἑκοῦσιν ⁵²

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.

249. mvp-comment-153-1 οὔτε .. ἐκβολή No dint of pick-axe, nor earth turned up with hoe.'

250. mvp-comment-154-1 στύφλος .. καὶ χέρσος Hard and bare. χέρσος γῆ is untilled land, and so here, Undisturbed by implements of husbandry. Cp. infr. 773, 1197.

251. mvp-comment-155-1 ἀρρώξ .. τροχοῖσιν Unbroken, and with no mark of wheels. ἐπημαξευμένη τροχοῖσιν] Lit. Carted over with wheels.' Essay on Language p. 88, note.

252. mvp-comment-156-1 ἀλλ'.. ἦν But whoever did it was one who left no trace.

253. mvp-comment-157-1 ὁ πρῶτος .. ἡμεροσκόπος Our first look-out-man for the day. ἡμεροσκόπος in Xen. Hell. 1. 1. 2, is a watchman who stands at his post at daybreak. Cp. ἡμεροφύλαξ, ib. 7. 2. 6, 7. Antigone's act preceded the setting of this watch.

254. mvp-comment-158-1 θαῦμα δυσχερές Α sight of wonder and dismay.

255. mvp-comment-159-1 τυμβήρης.. κόνις Not covered with a mound, but sprinkled with dust as by one avoiding pollution. Hor. Od. 1. 28,

Debita jura vicesque superbae | Te maneant ipsum: precibus ibus non linquar inultis | Teque piacula nulla resolvent. | Quamquam festinas, non est mora longa, licebit | Injecto ter pulvere curras.

For the gen., cp. Tr. 768.

255. mvp-comment-159-2 τυμβήρης For this use of the adjective, see Essay on Language § 23. p. 38.

258. mvp-comment-160-1 οὐ σπάσαντος Cp. Aesch. Prom. 451, οὔτε.. δόμους.. οὐ ξυλουργίαν.

259. mvp-comment-161-1 ἐν ἀλλήλοισιν Sc. τοῖς φύλαξιν. Words of abuse were loudly bandied to and fro. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 200, στάσις δ᾽ ἐν ἀλλήλοισιν ὠροθύνετο, sc.

259. mvp-comment-161-2 τοῖς δαίμοσιν.

260. mvp-comment-162-1 φύλαξ ἐλέγχων φύλακα On the nominative out of construction in the clause in apposition, see Essay on Language § 33. p. 57. § 15. p. 21.

260. mvp-comment-162-2 κἂν ἐγίγνετο And it was threatening to come to blows at last. The combination of the imperfect with av here is peculiar, having a force intermediate between ἐγίγνετο and ἐγένετο ἄv; i. e. it was coming to this, that we should have come to blows.

262-263. mvp-comment-163-1 The subtlety of the Φύλαξ deserts him in attempting to express his meaning. The perpetrator was every one and no one of us all every one in vague suspicion, and no one evidently: he escaped being known.' τις gives the indefiniteness required by the sense, = πως.

263. mvp-comment-164-1 ἀλλ᾽ ἔφευγε *μὴ εἰδέναι (1) But he (the perpetrator) always escaped, so that we could not know him. Böckh and Donaldson read as in the text, interpreting (2) Every man' (πᾶς implied in οὐδείς, the affirmative elicited from the negative) defended himself by pleading ignorance of the matter. For φεύγειν, * to urge a defensive plea,' cp. Aesch. Suppl. 390, and for the plea, μὴ εἰδέναι, Plat. Legg. 11. 936 E. But the plea of ignorance, although suitable in l. 266, is too special for this place, wherethe non-appearance of the criminal alone is in question. The meaning given above (1) is the same as that required by Hermann (see below), but is more simply expressed by the epexegesis, and the imperfect tense expresses the frustration of continued search. This interpretation involves a rare use of φεύγω, which is, however, analogous to a meaning of ἐκφεύγω that is not uncommon. Cp. Ο. Τ. 111, ἐκφεύγει δὲ τἀμελούμενον : Plat. Phil. 17, τὰ δὲ μέσα αὐτοὺς ἐκφεύγει. Other emendations are ἔφυγε τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι (Porson), explained by Erfurdt to mean amoliens a se accusationem scire sese negaverat ; ἔφυγε τῷ μὴ εἰδέναι (Herm. 1839), effugit, eo quod nesciebamus; ἔφευγε πᾶς τὸ μή, every man pled Not guilty. (Dind.). 264-265. There are few traces of anything corresponding to the trial by ordeal in ancient times. Brunck quotes Virg. Aen. 11. 787,

Et medium freti pietate per ignem | Cultores multa premimus vestigia prima.

It seems to have existed in different places as a popular belief, but nowhere to have received positive legal sanction. For a trace of trial by combat' (in Scythia), see Hdt. 4. 180. Cp. also Ar. Lys. 133.

269. mvp-comment-165-1

His verbis et sequentibus significatur terror quem Creontis auctoritas custodibus incutit.

(Dind.).

269. mvp-comment-165-2 λέγει, κ.τ.λ. The sense is interrupted by the relative clause, but resumed in the words ἦν δ᾽ ὁ μῦθος in l. 272. For τις εἷς, cp. Thuc. 6. 61, καί τινα μίαν νύκτα, κ.τ.λ. The emphatic use of little words shows the common mind; cp. infr. 404, ὃν σὺ τὸν νέκυν, κ.τ.λ. Wolff and Weckl. join els with what follows: but the antithesis of eἷς πάντας is too pointless here. Cp. Plat. Rep. 6. 496 D, εἰς πᾶσιν ἀγρίοις ἀντέχειν.

274-275. mvp-comment-166-1 κἀμὲ.. λαβεῖν And the lot devotes me, wretched man, to be the recipient of this piece of luck. καθαιρεῖ is used much as in ἡ καθαιροῦσα ψῆφος, not by an extension of the technical sense, but with the same general mean- ing of Fastening upon, Bringing down, Overtaking and subduing.