Sophocles Antigone 48

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Creon

The virgin draws, to ills untaught to yield. 1:

But know, the vauntings of the fiercest pride

Sink most: the strong steel rigid from the flames

Through its hard temper brittle may'st thou see,
475

And soonest shiver'd; the most fiery steed

With a small curb oft govern'd have I known.

Ill suits the arrogant presumptuous mind...

Those that are slaves to others. Then she learn'd

This insult, when she overleap'd the laws
480

Which had the sanction of authority.

And having done the deed, she further adds

Fresh insult, glories in the bold attempt,

And proudly laughs. But I am not a man,

She is the man, if this audacious act

Passes unpunish'd. Though she boasts her birth,
485

The daughter of my sister, were she sprung

From one more near than all whom Hercian Jove

Hath to my blood allied, not e’en those ties

Should save her from the rigour of her fate;

No, nor her sister ; for with equal guilt

Her too I charge, associate to entomb
490

This corse. But call her hither; late I saw

Within her raving and distracted mood. ®

The guileful mind, that forms its base designs

In darkness, oft such fits of frenzy seize.

But I detest the wretch, who tries to dress,
495

When caught, his villanies in virtue’s garb.

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)) — 48 focus

ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐμῶν εἴργειν μέτα.

Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 48 focus

ἀλλ’ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐμῶν εἴργειν μέτα.

Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 48 focus

ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐμῶν μ᾽ εἴργειν μέτα.

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 48 focus

ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐμῶν *μ' εἴργειν μέτα.

Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 48 focus

ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐμῶν μ᾽ εἴργειν μέτα.

Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 48.mvp-line-48 focus

ἀλλ’ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐμῶν μ’ εἴργειν μέτα.

Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 48 focus

ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲν αὐτῶι τῶν ἐμῶν μ᾽ εἴργειν μέτα.

Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 48 focus

ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐμῶν μ᾽ εἴργειν μέτα.

Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 48 focus

ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐμῶν μ᾽ εἴργειν μέτα.

Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 48.mvp-line-48 focus

ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐμῶν μ᾽ εἴργειν μέτα.

Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 48 focus

ἀλλʼ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐμῶν μʼ εἴργειν μέτα.

Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 48 focus

ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲν αὐτῶι τῶν ἐμῶν μ᾽ εἴργειν μέτα.

Translations (10)

German (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 48 focus

KREON

Was sprichst du? wer der Männer war's, der dies gewagt?

Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921)) — 48 focus

Coro

278 ¡Rey!, a mí, en verdad, me brujulea el corazón hace ya rato, si ese hecho ha sido promovido por algún dios.

Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 48 focus

Chorus

278 Dudum sane, o rex, tacitus mecum dispicio, anne divinitus haec res contigerit.

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 48 focus

CH
278

My lord, a thought keeps whispering in my breast,

Some Power divine hath interposed in this.

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.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 48 focus

Watchman
315

Or wait thy further orders
315

Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889)) — 48 focus

EL CENTINELA

Pues voy á obedeceros. Acaban de sepultar el cadáver. Alguien ha arrojado sobre él un polvo menudo y ha practicado los ritos debidos.

German (F. Hölderlin, 1804) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (F. Hölderlin, 1804)) — 48 focus

CHOR

Mein König, lange räth, es möchte göttlich

Getrieben seyn das Werk, mir das Gewissen.

English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904)) — 48 focus

Chorus

278 O king, my thoughts have long been whispering, can this deed, perchance, be e’en the work of gods? 280

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-268-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι ¹

mvp-comment-268-2 πίπτειν ²

mvp-comment-269-1 ὀπτὸν … περισκελῆ ³

mvp-comment-269-2 περισκελής ⁴

mvp-comment-269-3 ἐκ πυρός ⁵

mvp-comment-270-1 θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα ⁶

mvp-comment-271-1 χαλινῷ δ’ ⁷ σμικρῷ ⁸

mvp-comment-271-2 καταρτυθέντας ⁹

mvp-comment-272-1 Suspicion has fallen on ἐκπέλει ¹⁰

mvp-comment-272-2 ὅστις ¹¹

mvp-comment-272-3 τῶν πέλας ¹²

mvp-comment-273-1 αὕτη δ’ ¹³ ὑβρίζειν μὲν … ὕβρις δ’ ¹⁴ ἐξηπίστατο ¹⁵ τότ’ ¹⁶

mvp-comment-273-2 τούτοις ¹⁷

mvp-comment-273-3 δεδρακυῖαν γελᾶν ¹⁸

mvp-comment-274-1 νῦν ¹⁹

mvp-comment-274-2 εἰ ταῦτα … κράτη ²⁰ κράτη ²¹ κείσεται ²² πείσεται ²³ ἀνατί ²⁴ ταῦτα ²⁵

mvp-comment-275-1 ἀδελφῆς ²⁶

mvp-comment-275-2 εἴθ’ ὁμαιμονεστέρα ²⁷

mvp-comment-275-3 Hyperbole is congenial to Creon's excitement; cp. 1040 . But the addition,

τοῦ παντὸς Ζ. ἑρκείου

, ill suits this, while, on the other hand, it agrees well with the nom.

ὁμαιμονεστέρα

. On the whole, then, I incline to prefer the nom.; but the point is a nice one, and the gen. is quite tenable.

mvp-comment-275-4 κυρεῖ ²⁸

mvp-comment-276-1 τοῦ παντὸς Ζηνὸς ἑρκείου ²⁹

mvp-comment-277-1 ἀλύξετον ³⁰ μόρου ³¹

mvp-comment-278-1 καὶ γὰρ οὖν ³²

mvp-comment-278-2 ἐπαιτιῶμαι κείνην ³³ βουλεῦσαι ἴσον τοῦδε τάφου ³⁴ ἴσον ³⁵

mvp-comment-278-3 βουλεῦσαι ³⁶

mvp-comment-279-1 καί νιν καλεῖτ’ ³⁷

mvp-comment-280-1 λυσσῶσαν … οὐδ’ ἐπ ³⁸

mvp-comment-280-2 ἐπήβολον ³⁹

mvp-comment-281-1 ὁ θυμὸς τῶν … τεχνωμένων ⁴⁰ φιλεῖ κλοπεὺς ᾑρῆσθαι ⁴¹ πρόσθεν ⁴² κλοπεύς ⁴³ ᾑρῆσθαι κλοπεύς ⁴⁴

mvp-comment-281-2 τεχνωμένων ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-282-1 γε μέντοι ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-282-2 Ismene's guilty terror is contrasted with Antigone's impudent hardihood,—as Creon deems it. μισῶ … ὅταν ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-282-3 ἔπειτα ⁴⁸

mvp-comment-282-4 καλλύνειν ⁴⁹

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

473. mvp-comment-274-1 σκληρά Unbending, and so Stubborn, Obstinate.

473. mvp-comment-274-2 The self-will of Creon appears with increasing distinctness. (1) He asserts his confidence in the use of power to suppress insubordination. (2) He speaks of his ward, whom he does not care to name, as in the place of a slave (479): (3) he implies that to cede an inch of authority is to give the sovereignty to another (485). (4) He throws the tie of kindred to the winds. The first words of his speech are ominous of his own doom. See Introduction.

475. mvp-comment-275-1 ὀπτὸν .. περισκελή Baked to exceeding hardness. Cp. Aj. 649, καὶ περισκελεῖς φρένες.

476. mvp-comment-276-1 θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα Broken and shattered. The strongest word is put first in the Greek. Essay on Language § 41. p.77.

477. mvp-comment-277-1 σμικρῷ has a strong emphasis. Ibid.

478. mvp-comment-278-1 ἐκπέλει Hesych. ἐκπέλει, ἔξεστι. Hdt. uses ἐκγίνεσθαι in a similar sense. See Essay on Language § 55. p. 101.

479. mvp-comment-279-1 δοῦλος Creon shows his coarsely tyrannical spirit by boasting of his absolute power over his orphan relative.

481. mvp-comment-280-1 Cp. Hdt. 3. 83, νόμους οὐκ ὑπερβαίνουσα τοὺς Περσέων.

484. mvp-comment-281-1 Cp. Eur. I. Α. 952 ff., ἢ Σίπυλος ἔσται πόλις, ὅρισμα βαρβάρων, κ.τ.λ.

485. mvp-comment-282-1 If this authority is to be allowed to rest with her unchallenged. By an exaggeration of feeling like that in l. 208, he thinks that to pardon disobedience is to yield authority to the offender. For κείσεται, cp. El. 361, σοὶ δὲ πλουσία | τράπεζα κείσθω: ἀνάκειμαι in Hdt. 1.97, γνοὺς ὁ Δηϊόκης ἐς ἑωυτὸν πᾶν ἀνακείμενον.

485. mvp-comment-282-2 κράτη, as in l. 173, ἐγὼ κράτη δὴ πάντα καὶ θρόνους ἔχω.

486. mvp-comment-283-1 ὁμαιμονεστέρα is the more rational and stronger reading: although in weighing a hyperbolical expression of this kind, that is perhaps hardly a sufficient argument, and may be urged on the other side as accounting for the alteration of the MS.

487. mvp-comment-284-1 τοῦ παντὸς.. Ζηνὸς ἐρκείου i.e. Our whole family, the presiding numen being put for the thing held sacred.

489. mvp-comment-285-1 μόρου For the genitive with ἀλύξετον, cp. Phil. 1044, τῆς νόσου πεφευγέναι.

489. mvp-comment-285-2 ἴσον is probably to be construed both with ἐπαιτιῶμαι and βουλεύσαι (‘I accuse equally of plotting equally'), and τοῦδε τάφου is partly gen. after ἐπαιτιῶμαι, partly after ἴσον.

491. mvp-comment-286-1 ἀρτίως Viz. after l. 331, when Ismene knew that the deed was done, and, alone of those in the palace, knew also by whom.

493-494. mvp-comment-287-1 And it commonly happens that the spirit of those who are plotting some utter wickedness in secret is convicted of its occulted guilt before the act.

493. mvp-comment-288-1 ᾑρῆσθαι κλοπεύς Το be arrested in some stealthy enterprise. The perfect tense marks that the detection is completed before the purpose is carried into effect. Cp. πεπραγμένα .. ἡμαρτημένα, in O. T. 621.

495. mvp-comment-289-1 Yet I hate it equally when one who is caught in actual mischief tries to make a virtue of the offence.

495. mvp-comment-289-2 ἐν κακοῖσι = In trouble, i. e. In crime, and not merely, like Ismene, in the consciousness of crime. Cp. Fr. 843, αἰδὼς γὰρ ἐν κακοῖσιν οὐδὲν ὠφελεῖ.

496. mvp-comment-290-1 καλλύνειν Creon affects to regard Antigone's appeal to the higher law as a piece of hypocrisy. Cp. Fr. 845

496. mvp-comment-290-2 κλέπτων δ᾽ ὅταν τις ἐμφανῶς ἐφευρεθῇ, | σιγᾶν ἀνάγκη, κἂν καλὸν φέρῃ στόμα.