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Chorus of Theban Elders [ singing]

Ray of the sun, the most 100

beautiful light of lights ever

to appear to Thebes of seven gates,

you appeared at last, O eyelid

of a golden day. Over Dirce's⁽³⁰⁾

streams you came, and 105

the man shielded in white,

come from Argos in full armor,

you propelled into headlong flight

with your bridle gleaming brightly.⁽³¹⁾

 

Coryphaeus [reciting]

Stirred up against our land110

through Polyneices' contentious quarrels,⁽³²⁾

screaming shrilly,

he flew into our land like an eagle,⁽³³⁾

covered in snow-white wings

amid weapons manifold and115

helmets crested with horse-hair.  

 

Chorus of Theban Elders [singing]

Arresting flight above our houses,

threatening with blood thirsting spears

in a circle the mouth of our seven gates,

he⁽³⁴⁾ departed before he sated120

his jaws with our blood,

before Hephaestus' pinewood blaze⁽³⁵⁾

seized our corona of towers.

Such was the din of Ares⁽³⁶⁾

that strove against his back,125

a din hard for the dragon's foe to subdue.
 

For Zeus exceedingly hates

the boasts of a big mouth, and seeing them

coming on with a mighty flow,

in haughtiness of ringing gold,130

he hurls the brandished fire at him⁽³⁷⁾

who was already rushing to scream victory

at his finish line⁽³⁸⁾ high on our battlements.
 

Coryphaeus [reciting]  

Swung outward, he fell on ground that repelled him,

the fire-bringer who, 'till then, was reveling 135

in frenzied bacchic⁽³⁹⁾ onslaught

and breathing the blasts of most hostile winds.

But things went another way.

Smiting heavily, he apportioned

one doom for this one, another for that one,

mighty Ares, our trace-horse on the right.⁽⁴⁰⁾ 140
 

Seven captains at seven gates,

marshaled as equal against equal, left

behind bronze homage for Zeus Turner,⁽⁴¹⁾

except the pair filled with hate who, born

of one father and one mother, leveled mutually 145

victorious spears against one another and gained,

both of them, a share in a common death.
 

But since Victory has come, Victory who brings renown,

who reflects back to chariot-rich Thebes its own joy,

distanced from the recent wars, 150

now clothe yourself in forgetfulness.

Let us go to all the gods' temples

in all-night dancing.

May earth-shaking

Bacchus of Thebes be our leader.
 

[Enter Creon, attended by slaves (491)]
 

Coryphaeus

Here the king of the domain, 155

†Creon, son of Menoeceus† . . . new⁽⁴²⁾

in the new chances of the gods,

is coming. What cleverness is he rowing

that, by common proclamation,

he has set forth⁽⁴³⁾ this special assembly 160

of old men for discussion.
 

Creon

Gentlemen, the gods who heaved and tossed the city

on high seas have set its affairs straight again.

You I have summoned by messengers apart from the rest

because I know well that you always revered the power 165

of Laius' throne, and again when Oedipus righted the city

...................................................................................

and when he was destroyed, you still continued

with steadfast thoughts toward their⁽⁴⁴⁾ children.

Since they perished in a twofold fate 170

in one day, striking and being struck

with murderous pollution among kinsmen,

I hold all the power and throne

according to nearness of kin to the dead.⁽⁴⁵⁾
 

Now, there is no way to learn thoroughly the essence 175

of the whole man as well as his thought and judgment

until he has been seen engaged in ruling and making laws.

For, in my opinion, whoever, in guiding a whole city,

does not adhere to the best counsels,

but from fear of something keeps his tongue locked, 180

that man seems to me now and before this to be most evil.

Whoever deems a philos more important

than his fatherland, this man I say is nowhere.

I for one--may Zeus who always sees all know this--

never would I keep silent on seeing ruin185

approaching the citizens instead of safety,

neither would I ever regard as my philos

an enemy of the land, since I am aware that

this land is the one who carries us safely and,

while sailing upon her upright, we make our philoi.190

By these laws do I enlarge the city.
 

Now, I have issued proclamations, brothers to these laws

for the citizens concerning the children of Oedipus.

Eteocles, who perished fighting for this city,

fully proving his bravery in the spear battle,195

let them conceal him with a tomb and perform all the rites

that go to the bravest dead below.

The kindred blood of this man, Polyneices I mean,

the exile who, on returning home, wanted to burn his fatherland

and the temples of his family's gods from top to bottom 200

with flames, and wanted to taste common blood, and lead

the rest into slavery, this person, it has been proclaimed to the city

that no one honor with a tomb or lament with cries,

but let him lie unburied, his body⁽⁴⁶⁾ devoured by birds 205

and by dogs and mangled for the seeing.

Such is my thought. Never by me, at any rate, will

evil men have precedence of honor over just men.

But whoever is well-disposed to this city, dead

and alive, equally will be honored by me at any rate.210
 

Coryphaeus

These are what please you, son of Menoeceus, Creon,

about the one hostile and the one friendly to this city.

To use every law,⁽⁴⁷⁾ I suppose, is within your power

regarding the dead and us who are living.
 

Creon

Take care that you be watchers of my orders.215
 

Coryphaeus

Set forth this task for a younger man to undertake.
 

Creon

No, men to watch over the corpse are ready.⁽⁴⁸⁾
 

Coryphaeus

Then, what other things would you enjoin upon me?
 

Creon

Do not yield to those disobeying these things.
 

Coryphaeus

There is no one so foolish that he lusts to die.220
 

Creon

That is truly the wage. But profit

with its hopes often destroys men.
 

[A man enters by the ramp from the country. Since Sophocles had only three actors at his disposal, the actor playing his role must be the same as the one who plays Ismene. He cannot be the actor who plays Creon or Antigone, since he appears on stage with them.]
 

Watchman

Lord, I cannot say that I arrive breathless

from quickly lifting nimble feet.

In fact, I stopped⁽⁴⁹⁾ many times to think,225

whirling around on the roads to turn back.

My spirit kept talking to me and saying:

"Poor fool, why are you going to a place where

you will pay the penalty when you arrive? Wretch, are you

dawdling along again? If Creon learns about this

from someone else, how then will you not feel pain?"230

As I rolled around such thoughts, I was gradually and

slowly completing the journey, and so a short road

became a long one. At last, coming here to you won out.

Even if I am saying nothing, I will say this anyway.

I come here, clinging to the hope235

that I will suffer nothing except what is fated.
 

Creon

What has robbed you of your spirit?
 

Watchman

First, I want to tell you this about me.

I did not do the deed, and I do not know who was the doer,

and it would not be right for me to get into any evil.240
 

Creon

You position yourself well in the ranks,⁽⁵⁰⁾ drawing

up fences around yourself against what is coming.

Clearly you are going to mark⁽⁵¹⁾ something new and unheard of.

Watchman

Yes, terrible things impose much hesitation.
 

Creon

Will you say it, and then be off with you?
 

Watchman

Well, then, I'm telling you. The corpse--someone has 245

performed funeral rites for it and is gone, having scattered thirsty dust

upon its flesh⁽⁵²⁾ and completed the necessary purifications.
 

Creon

What are you saying? What man was it who dared this?
 

Watchman

I do not know, since there was no blow

from a pickaxe, no dirt was dug up by a hoe. The ground 250

was hard and dry, undisturbed and unscored

by wagon wheels. The doer left no marks.

When the first watchman of the day showed us,

a wonder hard to grasp came over all of us.

You see, he had disappeared. He was not covered with a tomb,255

but a light dust was upon him as if from someone

avoiding pollution. No marks appeared

of a beast or dog that had come and torn him.

Bad words started howling at one another

as guard reproached guard, and it would have ended260

in blows. No one was there to stop it.

Each man was the one who did the deed,

and none beyond doubt, and each was pleading, "I do not know."

We were even prepared to take up hot ingots in our hands

and walk through fire and swear an oath by the gods265

that we did not do the deed, or share in knowledge of it

with the man who planned and accomplished it.

At last, when nothing was left for us to look for,

someone spoke out, and he turned every head

to the ground in fear, for we could not270

answer him or see how, in doing so, we could

prosper. His word was that this deed

had to be reported to you and must not be hidden.

This plan prevailed, and the lot condemned me,

unlucky me, to take this good thing to you.275

I do not want to be here. Those here do not want me,

I know. Nobody loves the messenger of bad news.
 

Coryphaeus

Lord, deep and anxious thoughts have long been counseling,

might not this deed be one driven by the gods.
 

Creon

Stop,⁽⁵³⁾ before your words fill me with rage,280

so you will not be discovered both senseless and old.

You are saying what is intolerable when you say

divinities have forethought for this corpse.

While they were hiding him, were they honoring him

as a benefactor, someone who came to fire their temples285

ringed with columns and offerings and

to scatter their land and laws hither and yon?

Or, do you see gods honoring evil men?

It cannot be. No, from the first men of the city,

bearing these things with difficulty, have been howling at me290

in secret, shaking their heads and not keeping their necks

rightly beneath the yoke so as to love and submit to me.

Because of those men, I know well these men have done

these things under the seduction of bribes.

No base custom⁽⁵⁴⁾ ever grew among men like silver.295

It sacks cities and uproots men from their homes.

It teaches and perverts the useful minds of men

so that they take up disgraceful endeavors.

It showed men how to practice wickedness300

and to know impiety in every deed.

Men who execute these actions in the pay of another,

sooner or later bring about their own punishment.
 

[To the Watchman.]
 

But, if Zeus yet enjoys respect from me,

know this well--I am speaking now on my oath--305

unless all of you find the perpetrator of this rite

and produce him before my eyes,

Hades⁽⁵⁵⁾ alone will not be enough for you until,

hung up alive,⁽⁵⁶⁾ you reveal this outrage.

This way you can go on stealing in the future310

with the knowledge of where profits must be made,

having learned that you must not be philos to profits from everywhere.

From disgraceful gains, more men

you could see ruined than rescued.
 

Watchman

Will you allow me to speak, or do I just turn around and go?315
 

Creon

Do you not know, even now, how annoying you sound?
 

Watchman

Are you stung in your ears or to your very essence?
 

Creon

Why do you score where I hurt?
 

Watchman

The doer offends your mind, but I your ears.
 

Creon

My, but you are a babbler.320
 

Watchman

That may be so, but not the one who did this deed.
 

Creon

That too, while also forfeiting your very essence for silver.
 

Watchman

Pah!

It is terrible for one who supposes to suppose falsely.
 

Creon

Go ahead, play around with suppositions, but if you do

not show me what men did this, you are going to admit325

that terrible are those profits that bring pain.
 

[Watchman is exiting to the country.]
 

Watchman

I really hope they find him, but whether

he is caught or not (luck will decide),

there is no way you will see me come back here.⁽⁵⁷⁾

Now, saved beyond hope and judgment,330

I owe the gods a big debt of gratitude.
 

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