Antigone O father, in what cruel misery are we plunged! For you I mourn more than for the dead; for in your woes you do not have something that is grievous and something not; but you were born wholly unfortunate, father. As for you, new-made king, I ask you, why do you insult my father with banishment? Why do you make laws over a helpless corpse?
Creon This was Eteocles’ purpose, not mine.
Antigone It is senseless, and you are a fool to obey it!
Creon How so? Isn’t it right to carry out his commands?
Antigone No; not if they are wrong and ill-advised.
Creon What? Isn’t it right for that other to be given to the dogs?
Antigone No, for the vengeance you are exacting is not a lawful one.
Creon Yes, if he was his country’s enemy, when not born an enemy.
Antigone Well, he rendered up his destiny to fate.
Creon Let him now pay the penalty in his burial too.
Antigone What crime did he commit, in coming to claim his portion of the land?
Creon Be very sure of this, he shall have no burial.
Antigone I will bury him, although the state forbids.
Creon Do so, and you will be making your own grave by his.
Antigone A noble end, for two so near and dear to lie side by side!
Creon Seize and take her inside.
Antigone Oh, no! For I will not let go of this corpse.
Creon These are the god’s decrees, my girl, not what seems good to you.
Antigone And this has been decreed, not to insult the dead.
Creon Be sure that no one will sprinkle over the corpse the moistened dust.
Antigone O Creon, by my mother Jocasta, I implore you!
Creon Your labor is in vain; you will not gain your prayer.
Antigone Let me only bathe the dead body.
Creon That would be part of what is forbidden by the city.
Antigone At least let me bandage the cruel wounds.
Creon No; you will never pay honor to this corpse.
Antigone O my dearest! At least I will kiss your mouth.
Creon Do not let this mourning bring disaster on your marriage.
Antigone Marriage! Do you think I will marry your son while I am alive?
Creon Indeed you must; how will you escape the match?
Antigone Then that night will find in me another Danaid bride!
Creon Do you see how boldly she reproaches me?
Antigone Let the steel know, the sword be my witness!
Creon Why are you so eager to be released from this marriage?
Antigone I mean to share my hapless father’s exile.
Creon A noble spirit yours but there is some folly in it.
Antigone And I will share his death, I tell you further.
Creon Go, leave the land; you will not murder my son.
Oedipus Daughter, for this loyal spirit I thank you.
Antigone How could I marry, while you went into exile alone, father?
Oedipus Stay here and be happy; I will bear my own load of sorrow.
Antigone And who will tend you in your blindness, father?
Oedipus Where fate appoints, there I will fall and lie down upon the ground.
Antigone Where is Oedipus, and that famous riddle?
Oedipus Lost! One day blessed me, one destroyed me.
Antigone May I not also share your sorrows?
Oedipus To wander with her blinded father would be shameful for his daughter.
Antigone Not so, father, but glory, if she is discreet.
Oedipus Lead me near, so that I may touch your mother’s corpse.
Antigone There, embrace the aged form so dear to you.
Oedipus O mother, o most wretched wife!
Antigone Pitiably she lies, who suffered every evil at once.
Oedipus Where are the corpses of Eteocles, and of Polyneices?
Antigone Here they both lie, stretched out side by side.
Oedipus Lay my blind hand upon their poor faces.
Antigone There, touch the dead, your children.
Oedipus O dear fallen sons, sad offspring of a sad father!
Antigone O my brother Polyneices, name most dear to me!
Oedipus Now the oracle of Loxias is being fulfilled, my child.
Antigone What oracle? Do you have further woes to tell?
Oedipus That I should die in Athens after a life of wandering.
Antigone Where? What fenced town in Attica will take you in?
Oedipus Hallowed Colonus, home of the god of horses. Come then, attend on your blind father, since you are eager to share his exile.
Antigone Go to unhappy exile; stretch forth your dear hand, my old father, taking me to guide you, like a breeze that guides the ships.
Oedipus See, I am advancing; be my guide, my poor child.
Antigone I am, I am! The saddest maiden of all in Thebes.
Oedipus Where am I placing my aged step? Bring my staff, child.
Antigone This way, this way, come to me, place your steps here, like a dream in your strength.
Oedipus Oh, oh, driving the old man in most wretched flight from the country! Oh, oh! the terrible sorrows I have endured!
Antigone Why do you speak of enduring? Justice does not see the wicked, and does not requite follies.
Oedipus I am the one who came into high songs of victory, because I guessed the baffling riddle of the girl, half-maiden.
Antigone You are bringing up again the reproach of the Sphinx. Talk no more of past success. This misery was in store for you all the while, to become an exile from your country and die anywhere. Leaving to my girlhood friends sad tears, I go forth from my native land, to roam as no maiden should. Ah! This dutiful resolve towards my father’s suffering will make me famous. Alas for the insults heaped on you and on my brother, whose dead body goes from the house unburied, poor boy! I will bury him secretly, though I have to die for it, father.
Oedipus Show yourself to your companions.
Antigone My own laments suffice.
Oedipus Go pray at the altars.
Antigone They have enough of my piteous tale.
Oedipus At least go seek the Bromian god in his untrodden sanctuary among the Maenads’ hills.
Antigone Bromius, for whom I once dressed in the Theban fawn-skin and danced upon the hills in the holy choir of Semele—shall I now offer the gods homage that is not homage?
Oedipus
O citizens of a famous country, look at me; I am Oedipus, who solved the famous riddle, and was the greatest of men, I, who alone controlled the murderous Sphinx’s power, am now myself driven from the land in dishonor and misery. But why do I make this moan and useless lamentation? As a mortal, I must bear the constraint that the gods decree.
Chorus
Greatly revered Victory, may you occupy my life and never cease to crown me!
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