The Phoenissae, By Euripides

JOCASTA God bless thee! How did you succeed in beating off from our gates the Argive hosts, when thus beleaguered? Tell me, that I may go within and cheer the old blind man, since our city is still safe. MESSENGER After Creon's son, who gave up life for country, had taken his stand on the turret's top and plunged a sword dark-hilted through his throat to save this land, thy son told off seven companies with their captains to the seven gates to keep watch on the Argive warriors, and stationed cavalry to cover cavalry, and infantry to support infantry, that assistance might be close at hand for any weak point in the walls. Then from our lofty towers we saw the Argive host with their white shields leaving Teumessus, and, when near the trench, they charged up to our Theban city at the double. In one loud burst from their ranks and from our battlements rang out the battle-cry and trumpet-call. First to the Neistian gate, Parthenopaeus, son of the huntress maid, led a company bristling with serried shields, himself with his own peculiar badge in the centre of his targe, Atalanta slaying the Aetolian boar with an arrow shot from far. To the gates of Proetus came the prophet Amphiaraus, bringing the victims on a chariot; no vaunting blazon he carried, but weapons chastely plain. Next, prince Hippomedon came marching to the Ogygian port with this device upon his boss, Argus the all-seeing with his spangled eyes upon the watch whereof

Argus the all-seeing with his spangled eyes upon the watch whereof some open with the rising stars, while others he closes when they set, as one could see after he was slain. At the Homoloian gates Tydeus was posting himself, a lion's skin with shaggy mane upon his buckler, while in his right hand he bore a torch, like Titan Prometheus, to fire the town. Thy own son Polyneices led the battle 'gainst the Fountain gate; upon his shield for blazon were the steeds of Potniae galloping at frantic speed, revolving by some clever contrivance on pivots inside the buckler close to the handle, so as to appear distraught. At Electra's gate famed Capaneus brought up his company, bold as Ares for the fray; this device his buckler bore upon its iron back, an earth-born giant carrying on his shoulders a whole city which he had wrenched from its base, hint to us of the fate in store for Thebes. Adrastus was stationed at the seventh gate; a hundred vipers filled his shield with graven work, as he bore on his left arm that proud Argive badge, the hydra, and serpents were carrying off in their jaws the sons of Thebes from within their very walls. Now I was enabled to see each of them, as I carried the watch-word along the line to the leaders of our companies. To begin with, we fought with bows and thonged javelins, with slings that shoot from far and showers of crashing stones; and as we were conquering, Tydeus and thy son on sudden cried aloud, "Ye

as we were conquering, Tydeus and thy son on sudden cried aloud, "Ye sons of Argos, before being riddled by their fire, why delay to fall upon the gates with might and main, the whole of you, light-armed and horse and charioteers?" No loitering then, soon as they heard that call; and many a warrior fell with bloody crown, and not a few of us thou couldst have seen thrown to the earth like tumblers before the walls, after they had given up the ghost, bedewing the thirsty ground with streams of gore. Then Atalanta's son, who was not an Argive but an Arcadian, hurling himself like a hurricane at the gates, called for fire and picks to raze the town; but Periclymenus, son of the ocean-god, stayed his wild career, heaving on his head a waggon-load of stone, even the coping torn from the battlements; and it shattered his head with the hair and crashed through the sutures of the skull, dabbling with blood his cheek just showing manhood's flush; and never shall he go back alive to his fair archer-mother, the maid of Maenalus. Thy son then, seeing these gates secure, went on to the next, and I with him. There I saw Tydeus and his serried ranks of targeteers hurling their Aetolian spears into the opening at the top of the turrets, with such good aim that our men fled and left the beetling battlements: but thy son rallied them once more, as a huntsman cheers his hounds, and made them man the towers again. And then away we hastened to other

and made them man the towers again. And then away we hastened to other gates, after stopping the panic there. As for the madness of Capaneus, how am I to describe it? There was he, carrying with him a long scaling-ladder and loudly boasting that even the awful lightning of Zeus would not stay him from giving the city to utter destruction; and even as he spoke, he crept up beneath the hail of stones, gathered under the shelter of his shield, mounting from rung to rung on the smooth ladder; but, just as he was scaling the parapet of the wall, Zeus smote him with a thunderbolt; loud the earth re-echoed, and fear seized every heart; for his limbs were hurled from the ladder far apart as from a sling, his head toward the sky, his blood toward earth, while his legs and arms went spinning round like Ixion's wheel, till his charred corpse fell to the ground. But when Adrastus saw that Zeus was leagued against his army, he drew the Argive troops outside the trench and halted them. Meantime our horse, marking the lucky omen of Zeus, began driving forth their chariots, and our men-at-arms charged into the thick of the Argives, and everything combined to their discomfiture; men were falling and hurled headlong from chariots, wheels flew off, axles crashed together, while ever higher grew the heaps of slain; so for to-day at least have we prevented the destruction of our country's bulwarks; but whether fortune will hereafter smile upon this land,

bulwarks; but whether fortune will hereafter smile upon this land, that rests with Heaven; for, even as it is, it owes its safety to some deity. Victory is fair; and if the gods are growing kinder, it would be well with me. JOCASTA Heaven and fortune smile; for my sons are yet alive and my country hath escaped ruin. But Creon seems to have reaped the bitter fruit of my marriage with Oedipus, by losing his son to his sorrow, a piece of luck-for Thebes, but bitter grief to him. Prithee to thy tale again and say what my two sons next intend. MESSENGER Forbear to question further; all is well with thee so far. JOCASTA Thy words but rouse my suspicions; I cannot leave it thus. MESSENGER Hast thou any further wish than thy sons' safety? JOCASTA Yea, I would learn whether in the sequel I am also blest. MESSENGER Let me go; thy son is left without his squire. JOCASTA There is some evil thou art hiding, veiling it in darkness. MESSENGER Maybe; I would not add ill news to the good thou hast heard. JOCASTA Thou must, unless thou take wings and fly away. MESSENGER Ah! why didst thou not let me go after announcing my good news, instead of forcing me to disclose evil? Those two sons of thine are resolved on deeds of shameful recklessness, a single combat apart from the host, addressing to Argives and Thebans alike words I would they had never uttered. Eteocles, taking his stand on a lofty tower,

they had never uttered. Eteocles, taking his stand on a lofty tower, after ordering silence to be proclaimed to the army, began on this wise, "Ye captains of Hellas, chieftains of Argos here assembled, and ye folk of Cadmus, barter not your lives for Polyneices or for me! For I myself excuse you from this risk, and will engage my brother in single combat; and if I slay him, will possess my palace without rival, but if I am worsted I will bequeath the city to him. Ye men of Argos, give up the struggle and return to your land, nor lose your lives here; of the earth-sown folk as well there are dead enough in those already slain." So he; then thy son Polyneices rushed from the array and assented to his proposal; and all the Argives and the people of Cadmus shouted their approval, as though they deemed it just. On these terms the armies made a truce, and in the space betwixt them took an oath of each other for their leaders to abide by. Forthwith in brazen mail those two sons of aged Oedipus were casing themselves; and lords of Thebes with friendly care equipped the captain of this land, while Argive chieftains armed the other. There they stood in dazzling sheen, neither blenching, all eagerness to hurl their lances each at the other. Then came their friends to their side, first one, then another, with words of encouragement, to wit: "Polyneices, it rests with thee to set up an image of Zeus as a trophy,

"Polyneices, it rests with thee to set up an image of Zeus as a trophy, and crown Argos with fair renown." Others hailed Eteocles: "Now art thou fighting for thy city; now, if victorious, thou hast the sceptre in thy power." So spake they, cheering them to the fray. Meantime the seers were sacrificing sheep and noting the tongues and forks of fire, the damp reek which is a bad omen, and the tapering flame, which gives decisions on two points, being both a sign of victory and defeat. But, if thou hast any power or subtle speech or charmed spell, go, stay thy children from this fell affray, for great is the risk they run. The issue thereof will be grievous sorrow for thee, if to-day thou art reft of both thy sons. (The MESSENGER departs in haste as ANTIGONE comes out of the palace.) JOCASTA Antigone, my daughter, come forth before the palace; this heaven-sent crisis is no time for thee to be dancing or amusing thyself with girlish pursuits. But thou and thy mother must prevent two gallant youths, thy own brothers, from plunging into death and falling by each other's hand. ANTIGONE Mother mine, what new terror art thou proclaiming to thy dear ones before the palace? JOCASTA Daughter, thy brothers are in danger of their life. ANTIGONE What mean'st thou? JOCASTA They have resolved on single combat. ANTIGONE O horror! what hast thou to tell, mother? JOCASTA No welcome news; follow me.

JOCASTA No welcome news; follow me. ANTIGONE Whither away from my maiden-bower? JOCASTA To the army. ANTIGONE I cannot face the crowd. JOCASTA Modesty is not for thee now. ANTIGONE But what can I do? JOCASTA Thou shalt end thy brothers' strife. ANTIGONE By what means, mother mine? JOCASTA By falling at their knees with me. ANTIGONE Lead on till we are 'twixt the armies; no time for lingering now. JOCASTA Haste, my daughter, haste! For, if I can forestall the onset of my sons, may yet live; but if they be dead, I will lay me down and die with them. (JOCASTA and ANTIGONE hurriedly depart.) CHORUS (singing, strophe) Ah me! my bosom thrills with terror; and through my flesh there passes a throb of pity for the hapless mother. Which of her two sons will send the other to a bloody grave? ah, woe is me! O Zeus, O earth, alas! brother severing brother's throat and robbing him of life, cleaving through his shield to spill his blood? Ah me! ah me! which of them will claim my dirge of death? (antistrophe) Woe unto thee, thou land of Thebes! two savage beasts, two murderous souls, with brandished spears will soon be draining each his fallen foeman's gore. Woe is them, that they ever thought of single combat! in foreign accent will I chant a dirge of tears and wailing in mourning for the dead. Close to murder stands their fortune; the coming day will decide it. Fatal, ah! fatal will this slaughter be, because of

will decide it. Fatal, ah! fatal will this slaughter be, because of the avenging fiends. But I see Creon on his way hither to the palace with brow o'ercast; I will check my present lamentations. (CREON enters. He is followed by attendants carrying the body of MENOECEUS.) CREON Ah me! what shall I do? Am I to mourn with bitter tears myself or my city, round which is settling a swarm thick enough to send us to Acheron? My own son hath died for his country, bringing glory to his name but grievous woe to me. His body I rescued but now from the dragon's rocky lair and sadly carried the self-slain victim hither in my arms; and my house is fallen with weeping: but now I come to fetch my sister Jocasta, the living must reverence the nether god by paying honour to the dead. LEADER OF THE CHORUS Thy sister, Creon, hath gone forth and her daughter Antigone went with her. CREON Whither went she? and wherefore? tell me. LEADER She heard that her sons were about to engage in single combat for the royal house. CREON What is this? I was paying the last honours to my dead son, and so am late in learning this fresh sorrow. LEADER 'Tis some time, Creon, since thy sister's departure, and I expect the struggle for life and death is already decided by the sons of Oedipus. CREON Alas! I see an omen there, the gloomy look and clouded brow of yonder messenger coming to tell us the whole matter. (The SECOND

of yonder messenger coming to tell us the whole matter. (The SECOND MESSENGER enters.) MESSENGER Ah, woe is me! what language can I find to tell my tale? CREON Our fate is sealed; thy opening words do naught to reassure us. MESSENGER Ah, woe is me! I do repeat; for beside the scenes of woe already enacted I bring tidings of new horror. CREON What is thy tale? MESSENGER Thy sister's sons are now no more, Creon. CREON Alas! thou hast a heavy tale of woe for me and Thebes LEADER O house of Oedipus, hast thou heard these tidings? CREON Of sons slain by the self-same fate. LEADER A tale to make it weep, were it endowed with sense. CREON Oh! most grievous stroke of fate! woe is me for my sorrows! woe! MESSENGER Woe indeed! didst thou but know the sorrows still to tell. CREON How can they be more hard to bear than these? MESSENGER With her two sons thy sister has sought her death. CHORUS (chanting) Loudly, loudly raise the wail, and with white hands smite upon your heads! CREON Ah! woe is thee, Jocasta! what an end to life and marriage hast thou found the riddling of the Sphinx! But tell me how her two sons wrought the bloody deed, the struggle caused by the curse of Oedipus. MESSENGER Of our successes before the towers thou knowest, for the walls are not so far away as to prevent thy learning each event as it occurred. Now when they, the sons of aged Oedipus, had donned their brazen mail, they went and took their stand betwixt the hosts, chieftains

brazen mail, they went and took their stand betwixt the hosts, chieftains both and generals too, to decide the day by single combat. Then Polyneices, turning his eyes towards Argos, lifted up a prayer; "O Hera, awful queens-for thy servant I am, since I have wedded the daughter of Adrastus and dwell in his land,-grant that I may slay my brother, and stain my lifted hand with the blood of my conquered foe. A shameful prize it is I ask, my own brother's blood." And to many an eye the tear would rise at their sad fate, and men looked at one another, casting their glances round. But Eteocles, looking towards the temple of Pallas with the golden shield, prayed thus, "Daughter of Zeus, grant that this right arm may launch the spear of victory against my brother's breast and slay him who hath come to sack my country." Soon as the Tuscan trumpet blew, the signal for the bloody fray, like the torch that falls,' they darted wildly at one another and, like boars whetting their savage tusks, began the fray, their beards wet with foam; and they kept shooting out their spears, but each crouched beneath his shield to let the steel glance idly off; but if either saw the other's face above the rim, he would aim his lance thereat, eager to outwit him. But both kept such careful outlook through the spy-holes in their shields, that their weapons found naught to do; while from the on-lookers far more than the combatants trickled the sweat caused by terror for

far more than the combatants trickled the sweat caused by terror for their friends. Suddenly Eteocles, in kicking aside a stone that rolled beneath his tread, exposed a limb outside his shield, and Polyneices seeing a chance of dealing him a blow, aimed a dart at it, and the Argive shaft went through his leg; whereat the Danai, one and all, cried out for joy. But the wounded man, seeing a shoulder unguarded in this effort, plunged his spear with all his might into the breast of Polyneices, restoring gladness to the citizens of Thebes, though he brake off the spear-head; and so, at a loss for a weapon, he retreated foot by foot, till catching up splintered rock he let it fly and shivered the other's spear; and now was the combat equal, for each had lost his lance. Then clutching their sword-hilts they closed, and round and round, with shields close-locked, they waged their wild warfare. Anon Eteocles introduced that crafty Thessalian trick, having some knowledge thereof from his intercourse with that country; disengaging himself from the immediate contest, he drew back his left foot but kept his eye closely on the pit of the other's stomach from a distance; then advancing his right foot he plunged his weapon through his navel and fixed it in his spine. Down falls Polyneices, blood-bespattered, ribs and belly contracting in his agony. But that other, thinking his victory now complete, threw down his sword and set to spoiling

his victory now complete, threw down his sword and set to spoiling him, wholly intent thereon, without a thought for himself. And this indeed was his ruin; for Polyneices, who had fallen first, was still faintly breathing, and having in his grievous fall retained his sword, he made last effort and drove it through the heart of Eteocles. There they lie, fallen side by side, biting the dust with their teeth, without having decided the mastery. LEADER OF THE CHORUS Ah, woe is thee! Oedipus, for thy sorrows! how I pity thee! Heaven, it seems, has fulfilled those curses of thine. MESSENGER Now hear what further woes succeeded. Just as her two sons had fallen and lay dying, comes their wretched mother on the scene, her daughter with her, in hot haste; and when she saw their mortal wounds, "Too late," she moaned, "my sons, the help I bring"; and throwing herself on each in turn she wept and wailed, sorrowing o'er all her toil in suckling them; and so too their sister, who was with her, "Supporters of your mother's age I dear brothers, leaving me forlorn, unwed!" Then prince Eteocles with one deep dying gasp, hearing his mother's cry, laid on her his moist hand, and though he could not say a word, his tear-filled eyes were eloquent to prove his love. But Polyneices was still alive, and seeing his sister and his aged mother he said, "Mother mine, our end is come; I pity thee and my sister Antigone and my dead brother. For I loved him though he turned

sister Antigone and my dead brother. For I loved him though he turned my foe, I loved him, yes! in spite of all. Bury me, mother mine, and thou, my sister dear, in my native soil; pacify the city's wrath that may get at least that much of my own fatherland, although I lost my home. With thy hand, mother, close mine eyes (therewith he himself places her fingers on the lids) ; and fare ye well; for already the darkness wraps me round." So both at once breathed out their life of sorrow. But when their mother saw this sad mischance, in her o'ermastering grief she snatched from a corpse its sword and wrought an awful deed, driving the steel right through her throat; and there she lies, dead with the dead she loved so well, her arms thrown round them both. Thereon the host sprang to their feet and fell to wrangling, we maintaining that victory rested with my master, they with theirs; and amid our leaders the contention raged, some holding that Polyneices gave the first wound with his spear, others that, as both were dead, victory rested with neither. Meantime Antigone crept away from the host; and those others rushed to their weapons, but by some lucky forethought the folk of Cadmus had sat down under arms; and by a sudden attack we surprised the Argive host before it was fully equipped. Not one withstood our onset, and they filled the plain with fugitives, while blood was streaming from the countless dead our spears had slain.

blood was streaming from the countless dead our spears had slain. Soon as victory crowned our warfare, some began to rear an image to Zeus for the foe's defeat, others were stripping the Argive dead of their shields and sending their spoils inside the battlements; and others with Antigone are bringing her dead brothers hither for their friends to mourn. So the result of this struggle to our city hovers between the two extremes of good and evil fortune. (The MESSENGER goes out.) CHORUS (chanting) No longer do the misfortunes of this house extend to hearsay only; three corpses of the slain lie here at the palace for all to see, who by one common death have passed to their life of gloom. (During the lament, ANTIGONE enters, followed by servants who hear the bodies Of JOCASTA, ETEOCLES, and POLYNEICES.) ANTIGONE (chanting) No veil I draw o'er my tender cheek shaded with its clustering curls; no shame I feel from maiden modesty at the hot blood mantling 'neath my eyes, the blush upon my face, as I hurry wildly on in death's train, casting from my hair its tire and letting my delicate robe of saffron hue fly loose, a tearful escort to the dead. Ah me! Woe to thee, Polyneices! rightly named, I trow; woe to thee, Thebes! no mere strife to end in strife was thine; but murder completed by murder hath brought the house of Oedipus to ruin with bloodshed dire and grim. O my home, my home! what minstrel can I summon from the

and grim. O my home, my home! what minstrel can I summon from the dead to chant a fitting dirge o'er my tearful fate, as I bear these three corpses of my kin, my mother and her sons, welcome sight to the avenging fiend that destroyed the house of Oedipus, root and branch, in the hour that his shrewdness solved the Sphinx's riddling rhyme and slew that savage songstress. Woe is me! my father! what other Hellene or barbarian, what noble soul among the bygone tribes of man's poor mortal race ever endured the anguish of such visible afflictions? Ah! poor maid, how piteous is thy plaint! What bird from its covert 'mid the leafy oak or soaring pine-tree's branch will come to mourn with me, the maid left motherless, with cries of woe, lamenting, ere it comes, the piteous lonely life, that henceforth must be always mine with tears that ever stream? On which of these corpses shall I throw my offerings first, plucking the hair from my head? on the breast of the mother that suckled me, or beside the ghastly death-wounds of my brothers' corpses? Woe to thee, Oedipus, my aged sire with sightless orbs, leave thy roof, disclose the misery of thy life, thou that draggest out a weary existence within the house, having cast a mist of darkness o'er thine eyes. Dost hear, thou whose aged step now gropes its way across the court, now seeks repose on wretched pallet couch? (OEDIPUS enters from the palace. He chants the following lines responsively

enters from the palace. He chants the following lines responsively with ANTIGONE.) OEDIPUS Why, daughter, hast thou dragged me to the light, supporting my blind footsteps from the gloom of my chamber, where I lie upon my bed and make piteous moan, a hoary sufferer, invisible as a phantom of the air, or as a spirit from the pit, or as a dream that flies? ANTIGONE Father, there are tidings of sorrow for thee to bear; no more thy sons behold the light, or thy wife who ever would toil to tend thy blind footsteps as with a staff. Alas for thee, my sire! OEDIPUS Ah me, the sorrows I endure! I may well say that. Tell me, child, what fate o'ertook those three, and how they left the light. ANTIGONE Not to reproach or mock thee say I this, but in all sadness; 'tis thy own avenging curse, with all its load of slaughter, fire, and ruthless war, that is fallen on thy sons. Alas for thee, my sire! OEDIPUS Ah me! ANTIGONE Why dost thou groan? OEDIPUS 'Tis for my sons. ANTIGONE Couldst thou have looked towards yon sun-god's four-horsed car and turned the light of thine eyes on these corpses, it would have been agony to thee. OEDIPUS 'Tis clear enough how their evil fate o'ertook my sons; but she, my poor wife tell me, daughter, how she came to die. ANTIGONE All saw her weep and heard her moan, as she rushed forth to carry to her sons her last appeal, a mother's breast. But the mother found her sons at the Electran gate, in a meadow where the lotus blooms,

found her sons at the Electran gate, in a meadow where the lotus blooms, fighting out their duel like lions in their lair, eager to wound each other with spears, their blood already congealed, a murderous libation to the Death-god poured out by Ares. Then, snatching from corpse a sword of hammered bronze, she plunged it in her flesh, and in sorrow for her sons fell with her arms around them. So to-day, father, the god, whose'er this issue is, has gathered to a head the sum of suffering for our house. LEADER OF THE CHORUS To-day is the beginning of many troubles to the house of Oedipus; may he live to be more fortunate! CREON Cease now your lamentations; 'tis time we bethought us of their burial. Hear what I have to say, Oedipus. Eteocles, thy son, left me to rule this land, by assigning it as a marriage portion to Haemon with the hand of thy daughter Antigone. Wherefore I will no longer permit thee to dwell therein, for Teiresias plainly declared that the city would never prosper so long as thou wert in the land. So begone! And this I say not to flout thee, nor because I bear thee any grudge, but from fear that some calamity will come upon the realm by reason of those fiends that dog thy steps. OEDIPUS O destiny! to what a life of pain and sorrow didst thou bear me beyond all men that ever were, e'en from the very first; yea for when I was yet unborn, or ever I had left my mother's womb and seen

when I was yet unborn, or ever I had left my mother's womb and seen the light, Apollo foretold to Laius that I should become my father's murderer; woe is me! So, as soon as I was born, my father tried to end again the hapless life he had given, deeming me his foe, for it was fated he should die at my hand; so he sent me still unweaned to make a pitiful meal for beasts, but I escaped from that. Ah! would that Cithaeron had sunk into hell's yawning abyss, in that it slew me not! Instead thereof Fate made me a slave in the service of Polybus; and I, poor wretch, after slaying my own father came to wed my mother to her sorrow, and begat sons that were my brothers, whom also I have destroyed, by bequeathing unto them the legacy of curses I received from Laius. For nature did not make me so void of understanding, that I should have devised these horrors against my own eyes and my children's life without the intervention of some god. Let that pass. What am I, poor wretch, to do? Who now will be my guide and tend the blind man's step? Shall she, that is dead? Were she alive, I know right well she would. My pair of gallant sons, then? But they are gone from me. Am I still so young myself that I can find a livelihood? Whence could I? O Creon, why seek thus to slay me utterly? For so thou wilt, if thou banish me from the land. Yet will I never twine my arms about thy knees and betray cowardice, for I will not belie my former gallant

thy knees and betray cowardice, for I will not belie my former gallant soul, no! not for all my evil case. CREON Thy words are brave in refusing to touch my knees, and I am equally resolved not to let thee abide in the land. For these dead, bear one forth-with to the palace; but the other, who came with stranger folk to sack his native town, the dead Polyneices, cast forth unburied beyond our frontiers. To all the race of Cadmus shall this be proclaimed, that whosoe'er is caught decking his corpse with wreaths or giving it burial, shall be requited with death; unwept, unburied let him lie, a prey to birds. As for thee, Antigone, leave thy mourning for these lifeless three and betake thyself indoors to abide there in maiden state until to-morrow, when Haemon waits to wed thee. ANTIGONE O father, in what cruel misery are we plunged! For thee I mourn more than for the dead; for in thy woes there is no opposite to trouble, but universal sorrow is thy lot. As for thee, thou new-made king, why, I ask, dost thou mock my father thus with banishment? Why start making laws over a helpless corpse? CREON This was what Eteocles, not I, resolved. ANTIGONE A foolish thought, and foolish art thou for entertaining it! CREON What! ought I not to carry out his behests? ANTIGONE No; not if they are wrong and ill-advised. CREON Why, is it not just for that other to be given to the dogs? ANTIGONE Nay, the vengeance ye are exacting is no lawful one.

ANTIGONE Nay, the vengeance ye are exacting is no lawful one. CREON It is; for he was his country's foe, though not a foeman born. ANTIGONE Well, to fate he rendered up his destinies. CREON Let him now pay forfeit in his burial too. ANTIGONE What crime did he commit in coming to claim his heritage? CREON Be very sure of this, yon man shall have no burial. ANTIGONE I will bury him, although the state forbids. CREON Do so, and thou wilt be making thy own grave by his. ANTIGONE A noble end, for two so near and dear to be laid side by side! CREON (to his servants) Ho! seize and bear her within the palace. ANTIGONE Never! for I will not loose my hold upon this corpse. CREON Heaven's decrees, girl, fit not thy fancies. ANTIGONE Decrees! here is another, "No insult to the dead." CREON Be sure that none shall sprinkle over the corpse the moistened dust. ANTIGONE O Creon, by my mother's corpse, by Jocasta, I implore thee! CREON 'Tis but lost labour; thou wilt not gain thy prayer. ANTIGONE Let me but bathe the dead body- CREON Nay, that would be part of what the city is forbidden. ANTIGONE At least let me bandage the gaping wounds. CREON No; thou shalt never pay honour to this corpse. ANTIGONE O my darling! one kiss at least will I print upon thy lips. CREON Do not let this mourning bring disaster on thy marriage. ANTIGONE Marriage! dost think I will live to wed thy son? CREON Most certainly thou must; how wilt thou escape his bed?

CREON Most certainly thou must; how wilt thou escape his bed? ANTIGONE Then if I must, our wedding-night will find another Danaid bride in me. CREON (turning to OEDIPUS) Dost witness how boldly she reproached me? ANTIGONE Witness this steel, the sword by which I swear! CREON Why art so bent on being released from this marriage? ANTIGONE I mean to share my hapless father's exile. CREON A noble spirit thine but somewhat touched with folly. ANTIGONE Likewise will I share his death, I tell thee further. CREON Go, leave the land; thou shalt not murder son of mine. (CREON goes out, followed by his attendants who carry with them the body Of MENOECEUS.) OEDIPUS Daughter, for this loyal spirit I thank thee. ANTIGONE Were I to wed, then thou, my father, wouldst be alone in thy exile. OEDIPUS Abide here and be happy; I will bear my own load of sorrow. ANTIGONE And who shall tend thee in thy blindness, father? OEDIPUS Where fate appoints, there will I lay me down upon the ground. ANTIGONE Where is now the famous Oedipus, where that famous riddle? OEDIPUS Lost for ever! one day made, and one day marred my fortune. ANTIGONE May not I too share thy sorrows? OEDIPUS To wander with her blinded sire were shame unto his child. ANTIGONE Not so, father, but glory rather, if she be a maid discreet. OEDIPUS Lead me nigh that I may touch thy mother's corpse. ANTIGONE So! embrace the aged form so dear to thee.

ANTIGONE So! embrace the aged form so dear to thee. OEDIPUS Woe is thee, thy motherhood, thy marriage most unblest! ANTIGONE A piteous corpse, a prey to every ill at once! OEDIPUS Where lies the corpse of Eteocles, and of Polyneices, where? ANTIGONE Both lie stretched before thee, side by side. OEDIPUS Lay the blind man's hand upon his poor sons' brows. ANTIGONE There then! touch the dead, thy children. OEDIPUS Woe for you! dear fallen sons, sad offspring of a sire as sad! ANTIGONE O my brother Polyneices, name most dear to me! OEDIPUS Now is the oracle of Loxias being fulfilled, my child. ANTIGONE What oracle was that? canst thou have further woes to tell? OEDIPUS That I should die in glorious Athens after a life of wandering. ANTIGONE Where? what fenced town in Attica will take thee in? OEDIPUS Hallowed Colonus, home of the god of steeds. Come then, attend on thy blind father, since thou art minded to share his exile. (OEDIPUS and ANTIGONE chant their remaining lines as they slowly depart.) ANTIGONE To wretched exile go thy way; stretch forth thy hand, my aged sire, taking me to guide thee, like a breeze that speedeth barques. OEDIPUS See, daughter, I am advancing; be thou my guide, poor child. ANTIGONE Ah, poor indeed! the saddest maid of all in Thebes. OEDIPUS Where am I planting my aged step? Bring my staff, child. ANTIGONE This way, this way, father mine! plant thy footsteps here,

ANTIGONE This way, this way, father mine! plant thy footsteps here, like dream for all the strength thou hast. OEDIPUS Woe unto thee that art driving my aged limbs in grievous exile from their land! Ah me! the sorrows I endure! ANTIGONE "Endure"! why speak of enduring? Justice regardeth not the sinner and requiteth not men's follies. OEDIPUS I am he whose name passed into high songs of victory because I guessed the maiden's baffling riddle. ANTIGONE Thou art bringing up again the reproach of the Sphinx. Talk no more of past success. This misery was in store for thee all the while, to become an exile from thy country and die thou knowest not where; while I, bequeathing to my girlish friends tears of sad regret, must go forth from my native land, roaming as no maiden ought. Ah! this dutiful resolve will crown me with glory in respect of my father's sufferings. Woe is me for the insults heaped on thee and on my brother whose dead body is cast forth from the palace unburied; poor boy! I will yet bury him secretly, though I have to die for it, father. OEDIPUS To thy companions show thyself. ANTIGONE My own laments suffice. OEDIPUS Go pray then at the altars. ANTIGONE They are weary of my piteous tale. OEDIPUS At least go seek the Bromian god in his hallowed haunt amongst the Maenads' hills. ANTIGONE Offering homage that is no homage in Heaven's eyes to him in whose honour I once fringed my dress with the Theban fawn-skin

and led the dance upon the hills for the holy choir of Semele? OEDIPUS My noble fellow-countrymen, behold me; I am Oedipus, who solved the famous riddle, and once was first of men, I who alone cut short the murderous Sphinx's tyranny am now myself expelled the land in shame and misery. Go to; why make this moan and bootless lamentation? Weak mortal as I am, I must endure the fate that God decrees. CHORUS (chanting) Hail majestic Victory! keep thou my life nor ever cease to crown my song! THE END