Phoenissae
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
606
606
Creon
606
This was Eteocles’ purpose, not mine.
607
607
Antigone
607
It is senseless, and you are a fool to obey it!
608
608
Creon
608
How so? Isn’t it right to carry out his commands?
609
609
Antigone
609
No; not if they are wrong and ill-advised.
610
610
Creon
610
What? Isn’t it right for that other to be given to the dogs?
611
611
Antigone
611
No, for the vengeance you are exacting is not a lawful one.
612
612
Creon
612
Yes, if he was his country’s enemy, when not born an enemy.
613
613
Antigone
613
Well, he rendered up his destiny to fate.
614
614
Creon
614
Let him now pay the penalty in his burial too.
615
615
Antigone
615
What crime did he commit, in coming to claim his portion of the land?
616
616
Creon
616
Be very sure of this, he shall have no burial.
617
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Antigone
617
I will bury him, although the state forbids.
618
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Creon
618
Do so, and you will be making your own grave by his.
619
619
Antigone
619
A noble end, for two so near and dear to lie side by side!
620
620
Creon
620
Seize and take her inside.
621
621
Antigone
621
Oh, no! For I will not let go of this corpse.
622
622
Creon
622
These are the god’s decrees, my girl, not what seems good to you.
623
623
Antigone
623
And this has been decreed, not to insult the dead.
624
624
Creon
624
Be sure that no one will sprinkle over the corpse the moistened dust.
625
625
Antigone
625
O Creon, by my mother Jocasta, I implore you!
626
626
Creon
626
Your labor is in vain; you will not gain your prayer.
627
627
Antigone
627
Let me only bathe the dead body.
628
628
Creon
628
That would be part of what is forbidden by the city.
629
629
Antigone
629
At least let me bandage the cruel wounds.
630
630
Creon
630
No; you will never pay honor to this corpse.
631
631
Antigone
631
O my dearest! At least I will kiss your mouth.
632
632
Creon
632
Do not let this mourning bring disaster on your marriage.
633
633
Antigone
633
Marriage! Do you think I will marry your son while I am alive?
634
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Creon
634
Indeed you must; how will you escape the match?
635
635
Antigone
635
Then that night will find in me another Danaid bride!
636
636
Creon
636
Do you see how boldly she reproaches me?
637
637
Antigone
637
Let the steel know, the sword be my witness!
638
638
Creon
638
Why are you so eager to be released from this marriage?
639
639
Antigone
639
I mean to share my hapless father’s exile.
640
640
Creon
640
A noble spirit yours but there is some folly in it.
641
641
Antigone
641
And I will share his death, I tell you further.
642
642
Creon
642
Go, leave the land; you will not murder my son. Exit Creon.
643
643
Oedipus
643
Daughter, for this loyal spirit I thank you.
644
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Antigone
644
How could I marry, while you went into exile alone, father?
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Oedipus
645
Stay here and be happy; I will bear my own load of sorrow.
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Antigone
646
And who will tend you in your blindness, father?
647
647
Oedipus
647
Where fate appoints, there I will fall and lie down upon the ground.
648
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Antigone
648
Where is Oedipus, and that famous riddle?
649
649
Oedipus
649
Lost! One day blessed me, one destroyed me.
650
650
Antigone
650
May I not also share your sorrows?
651
651
Oedipus
651
To wander with her blinded father would be shameful for his daughter.
652
652
Antigone
652
Not so, father, but glory, if she is discreet.
653
653
Oedipus
653
Lead me near, so that I may touch your mother’s corpse.
654
654
Antigone
654
There, embrace the aged form so dear to you.
655
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Oedipus
655
O mother, o most wretched wife!
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Antigone
656
Pitiably she lies, who suffered every evil at once.
657
657
Oedipus
657
Where are the corpses of Eteocles, and of Polyneices?
658
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Antigone
658
Here they both lie, stretched out side by side.
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659
Oedipus
659
Lay my blind hand upon their poor faces.
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660
Antigone
660
There, touch the dead, your children.
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661
Oedipus
661
O dear fallen sons, sad offspring of a sad father!
662
662
Antigone
662
O my brother Polyneices, name most dear to me!
663
663
Oedipus
663
Now the oracle of Loxias is being fulfilled, my child.
664
664
Antigone
664
What oracle? Do you have further woes to tell?
665
665
Oedipus
665
That I should die in Athens after a life of wandering.
666
666
Antigone
666
Where? What fenced town in Attica will take you in?
667
667
Oedipus
667
Hallowed Colonus, home of the god of horses. Come then, attend on your blind father, since you are eager to share his exile.
668
668
Antigone
668
Go to unhappy exile; stretch forth your dear hand, my old father, taking me to guide you, like a breeze that guides the ships.
669
669
Oedipus
669
See, I am advancing; be my guide, my poor child.
670
670
Antigone
670
I am, I am! The saddest maiden of all in Thebes.
671
671
Oedipus
671
Where am I placing my aged step? Bring my staff, child.
672
672
Antigone
672
This way, this way, come to me, place your steps here, like a dream in your strength.
673
673
Oedipus
673
Oh, oh, driving the old man in most wretched flight from the country!
674
Oh, oh! the terrible sorrows I have endured!
675
675
Antigone
675
Why do you speak of enduring? Justice does not see the wicked, and does not requite follies.
676
676
Oedipus
676
I am the one who came into high songs of victory,
677
because I guessed the baffling riddle of the girl, half-maiden.
678
678
Antigone
678
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,
679
to become an exile from your country and die anywhere.
680
Leaving to my girlhood friends sad tears, I go forth from my native land, to roam as no maiden should.
681
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,
682
poor boy! I will bury him secretly, though I have to die for it, father.
683
683
Oedipus
683
Show yourself to your companions.
684
684
Antigone
684
My own laments suffice.
685
685
Oedipus
685
Go pray at the altars.
686
686
Antigone
686
They have enough of my piteous tale.
687
687
Oedipus
687
At least go seek the Bromian god in his untrodden sanctuary among the Maenads’ hills.
688
688
Antigone
688
Bromius, for whom I once dressed in the Theban fawn-skin and
689
danced upon the hills in the holy choir of Semele—shall I now offer the gods homage that is not homage?
690
690
Oedipus
690
O citizens of a famous country, look at me; I am Oedipus, who solved the famous riddle, and was the greatest of men,
691
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.
692
692
Chorus
692
Greatly revered Victory,
693
may you occupy my life and never cease to crown me!
123b
123b
Antigone
123b
Who is he? Who is his family? Tell me his name, old man.
133b
133b
Old servant
133b
Tydeus, the son of Oeneus, Aetolian battle-spirit in his breast.
161b
161b
Antigone
161b
I see him, yes! but not clearly; I see the outline of his form, the likeness of his breast. Would I could speed through the sky, swift as a cloud before the wind,
171b
171b
Antigone
171b
Who is that, old man, on his chariot, driving white horses?
77
77
Chorus
77
But now I find
78
the impetuous god of war has come to battle before the walls, and is kindling a murderous blaze—may he not succeed!—for this city. For a friend’s pain is shared, and if this land with its seven towers
79
suffers any mischance, Phoenicia’s realm will share it. Ah me! our blood is one; we are all children of Io, the horned maid; these sorrows I claim as mine.
80
80
Chorus
80
Around the city a thick cloud of shields is kindling a shape of bloody battle, which Ares will soon learn, if he brings upon the sons of Oedipus
81
the curse of the Furies. O Argos, city of Pelasgia! I dread your might, and also what comes from the gods; for the one who approaches his home in armor is setting out to a contest
82
that is not without justice.
603b
603b
Eteocles
603b
Yes. Leave the country!
604b
604b
Eteocles
604b
Which you are here to destroy.