Sophocles Antigone 39cont2

ISMENE

Was mag ich, o Unsel'ge, wenn dies also liegt,

uns, lösend oder bindend, noch zum Frommen thun?

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ANTIGONE

Ob mit du wirken, mit du handeln wirst, bedenk'.

ISMENE

Und welch ein Wagniſs meinst du? Wohin denkst du doch!

ANTIGONE

Ob du den Todten mir vereint aufnehmen wirst.

ISMENE

Bestatten willst du gar ihn wider dies Verbot?

ANTIGONE

Ja, meinen Bruder, und du wollest oder nicht

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den deinen: nicht soll man Verrathes mich bezeihn.

ISMENE

Elende, da doch Kreon dies verboten hat?

ANTIGONE

Mich abzuhalten von dem Meinen ziemt ihm nicht.

ISMENE

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

ISMENE

verhafst und ruhmlos, schmachbeladen, unterging,

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ob selbstentdeckter Gräuel er das Augenpaar

sich ausgerissen selber mit selbeigner Hand;

dann sie, die Mutter, Mutter ihm und Weib zugleich,

ihr Leben schmählich mit gewundnem Strange kürzt;

das Dritte, wie die Brüder beid' an Einem Tag

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im Wechselmord sich ein gemeinsam Todesloos

die Armen gaben, einer durch des andern Hand!

Nun sind allein wir übrig; o bedenke, wie

wir auf das Schlimmste stürben, überträten wir

der Herrscher Urtheil und Gewalt, trotz ihrem Recht.

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Erwägen muſst du ja doch, daſs wir Frauen sind,

ohnmächtig gegen Männer in den Kampf zu gehn,

dann aber, daſs wir als beherrscht von Stärkeren

dem folgen müssen und sogar noch Härterem.

Ich also jene bittend, die der Erdenschofs

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birgt, zu verzeihen, wenn mich Übermacht bezwingt,

will folgen unsern Herrschern: denn das Übermafs

im Handeln zu erstreben ist nur Unverstand.

Antígona

Si me acompañarás y me ayudarás, es lo que has de pensar.

Ismena

¿En qué empresa? ¿Qué es lo que piensas?

Antígona

Si vendrás conmigo a levantar el cadáver.

Ismena

¿Piensas sepultarlo, a pesar de haberlo prohibido a toda la ciudad?

Antígona

A mi hermano, y no al tuyo, si tú no quieres; pues nunca dirán de mí que lo he abandonado.

Ismena

¡Oh desdichada! ¿Habiéndolo prohibido Creonte?

Antígona

Ningún derecho tiene a privarme de los míos.

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.

Antígona

Antigone

an operam sis collatura, meque adiutura, vide.

Ismene

Quo in periculo? quae tua tandem est sententia ?

Antigone

An cadaver mecum sustolles.

Ismene

Num illud ergo sepelire cogitas, etsi, nequis id faciat, publice interdictum est?

Antigone

Meum scilicet, tuumque , etiam si nofratrem: numquam enim proditionis me alligabo.

Ismene

O infelix, num Creonte prohibente?

Antigone

At nullum ei jus est, ut a meis me arceat.

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.

Antigone

ANT

Wilt thou share

The danger and the labour? Make thy choice.

ISM

Of what wild enterprise? What canst thou mean?

ANT

Wilt thou join hand with mine to lift the dead?

ISM

To bury him, when all have been forbidden?

Is that thy thought?

ANT

To bury my own brother

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And thine, even though thou wilt not do thy part.

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I will not be a traitress to my kin.

ISM

Fool-hardy girl! against the word of Creon?

ANT

He hath no right to bar me from mine own.

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,

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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

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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!

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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

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Indulgence, seeing I am enforced in this,

Will yield submission to the powers that rule,

Small wisdom were it to overpass the bound.

ANT

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

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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,

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

Antigone

To act with me, or not :

Consider and resolve.

Ismene

What daring deed

Wouldst thou attempt? What is it? Speak !

Antigone

To join

And take the body, my Ismene.

Ismene

Ha !

And wouldst thou dare to bury it, when thus

We are forbidden?

Antigone

Aye, to bury Mm !

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He is my brother, and thine too, Ismene ;

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Therefore, consent or not, I have determined

I'll not disgrace my birth.

Ismene

Hath not the king

Pronounced it death to all?

Antigone

He hath no right,

No power to keep me from my own.

Ismene

Alas !

Remember our unhappy father's fate :

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His eyes torn out by his own fatal hand,

Oppressed with shame and infamy he died ;

Fruit of his crimes ! a mother, and a wife —

Dreadful alliance ! — self-devoted, fell ;

And last, in one sad day, Eteocles

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And Polynices by each other slain.

Left as we are, deserted and forlorn.

What from our disobedience can we hope

But misery and ruin? Poor weak women,

Helpless, nor formed by nature to contend

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With powerful man. We are his subjects too.

Therefore to this, and worse than this, my sister,

We must submit. For me, ii^ humblest prajgr

Will I address me to th' infernal pow'rs

For pardon of that crime which well they know

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Sprang from nec^^ssity, and then obey ;

Since to attempt what we can never hope

To execute, is folly all and madness.

Antigone

ISMENA

¡Ah, infortunada de mí!... Y en tal estado las cosas, ¿qué puedo yo hacer ó deshacer que sea ya provechoso?

ANTÍGONA

Ve si quieres cooperar conmigo y ayudarme en mi propósito.

ISMENA

¿A qué peligro quieres lanzarte? ¿Qué es lo que intentas?

ANTÍGONA

¿Tus manos, dime, ayudarán á estas manos mías á levantar el cadáver?

ISMENA

¡Qué! A pesar de la prohibición impuesta á la ciudad, ¿te atreverás á dar sepultura?...

ANTÍGONA

A mi hermano, sí; y aunque tú no lo quieras, el tuyo. Jamás será acusada Antígona de haber cometido una traición.

ISMENA

¡Desdichada! ¿Y la prohibición del tirano?...

ANTÍGONA

No hay en él ningún derecho para apartarme de los míos.

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.

ANTÍGONA

ISMENE

Wasaber, o du Arme, wenn es so steht?

Soll ich es lassen oder doch zu Grab gehn?

ANTIGONAE

Ob mitthun du, mithelfen wollest, forsche!

ISMENE

Das ist vermessen. Wie bist du daran?

ANTIGONAE

Ob du den Todten mit der Hand hier tragest?

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ISMENE

Dem willst zu Grabe du gehn, dem die Stadt entsagt hat?

ANTIGONAE

Von dir und mir mein’ ich, auch wenn du nicht es willst,

Den Bruder. Denn treulos fängt man mich nicht,

ISMENE

Verwilderte! wenn Kreon es verbietet?

ANTIGONAE

Mit diesem hat das Meine nichts zu thun.

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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,

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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,

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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,

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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.

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Antigone

Consider if thou wilt share the toil and the deed.

Ismene

In what venture? What can be thy meaning?

Antigone

Wilt thou aid this hand to lift the dead?

Ismene

Thou wouldst bury him,—when ’tis forbidden to Thebes?

Antigone

I will do my part,—and thine, if thou wilt not,—to a brother. False to him will I never be found.

Ismene

Ah, over-bold! when Creon hath forbidden ?

Antigone

Nay, he hath no right to keep me from mine own. 50

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.

Antigone

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,

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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

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evils from our enemies are on the march against our friends?

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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Ismene

Poor sister, if things have come to this, what would I

profit by loosening or tightening this knot?

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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.

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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;

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.