Why does zeus punish the rebels in antigone

Antigone

CHARACTERS

ANTIGONE, daughter of Oedipus

Kreon’s Men (silent)

ISMENE, daughter of Oedipus

HAIMON, son of Kreon

CHORUS of Theban Elders

TIRESIAS, prophet of Thebes

LEADER (of the Chorus)

Lad (silent)

KREON, King of Thebes, uncle of Antigone and Ismene

MESSENGER EURYDIKE, wife of Kreon

GUARD

SCENE: Dawn in front of Kreon’s palace in Thebes, the day after the battle in which the Theban defenders repelled an attack on the city by an Argive coalition that included the rebel Polyneikes, elder son of Oedipus. Polyneikes and his younger brother Eteokles, who has remained loyal to Thebes, have killed each other simultaneously in face-to-face combat at one of Thebes’ seven gates. Kreon has suddenly seized the throne. * * * Antigone and Ismene enter through the central doors.

ANTIGONE Ismene, love! My own kind! Born

like me from that same womb!

Can you think of one evil—

of all those Oedipus started—

5 that Zeus hasn’t used our own lives

to finish? There’s nothing—no pain

no shame, no terror, no humiliation!—

you and I haven’t seen and shared.

Now there’s this new command

10 our commander in chief

imposes on the whole city—

do you know about it?

Have you heard? You don’t know,

do you? It threatens our loved ones

15 as if they were our enemies!

ISMENE No word of our family has reached me,

Antigone, welcome or painful,

not since we sisters lost our brothers

in one day, when their hands struck

20 the double blow that killed them both.

And since the Argive army fled last night

I’ve heard nothing that could improve our luck—

or make it any worse.

ANTIGONE That’s what I thought.

That’s why I’ve brought you out past the gates—

where no one but you can hear what I say.

25ISMENE What’s wrong?

It’s plain something you’ve heard makes you livid.

ANTIGONE It’s Kreon. The way he’s treated our brothers.

Hasn’t he buried one with honor?

But he’s shamed the other. Disgraced him!

30 Eteokles, they say, was laid to rest

according to law and custom.

The dead will respect him in Hades.

But Polyneikes’ sorry body can’t be touched.

The city is forbidden to mourn him or bury him

35 —no tomb, no tears. Convenient forage

for cruising birds to feast their fill.

That’s the clear order our good general

gives you and me—yes, I said me!

They say he’s coming here to proclaim it

40 in person to those who haven’t heard it.

This is not something he takes lightly.

Violate any provision—the sentence is

you’re stoned to death in your own city.

Now you know.

And soon you’ll prove

45 how nobly born you really are.

Or did our family breed a coward?

ISMENE If that’s the bind we’re in, you poor thing,

what good can I do by yanking the knot

tighter—or by trying to pry it loose?

50ANTIGONE Make up your mind. Will you join me?

Share the burden?

ISMENE At what risk? What are you asking?

ANTIGONE (Raising up her hands.)

Will you help these hands lift his body?

ISMENE You want to bury him? Break the law?

ANTIGONE I’m going to bury my brother—your brother!—

55 with or without your help. I won’t betray him.

ISMENE You scare me, sister. Kreon’s forbidden this.

ANTIGONE He’s got no right to keep me from what’s mine!

ISMENE He’s mine too!

Just think what our father’s

destruction meant for us both.

60 Because of those horrible deeds—

all self-inflicted, all self-detected

he died hated and notorious,

his eyes battered into blindness

by his

own hands. And then

65 his wife and mother—two roles

for one woman—disposed

of her life with a noose

of twisted rope. And now

our poor brothers die the same day

70 in a mutual act of kin murder!

Think how much worse

our own deaths will be—abandoned

as we are—if we defy the king’s

proclamation and his power.

75 Remember, we’re women. How

can we fight men. They’re stronger.

We must accept these things—and worse to come.

I want the Spirits of the Dead

to understand this: I’m not free.

80 I must obey whoever’s in charge.

It’s crazy to attempt the impossible!

ANTIGONE Then I’ll stop asking you! And if you change

your mind, I won’t accept your help.

Go be the person you’ve chosen to be.

85 I’ll bury Polyneikes myself. I’ll do

what’s honorable, and then I’ll die.

I who love him will lie down

next to him who loves me—

my criminal conduct blameless!—

90 for I owe more to the dead, with whom

I will spend a much longer time,

than I will ever owe to the living.

Go ahead, please yourself—defy

laws the gods expect us to honor.

95ISMENE I’m not insulting them! But how can I

defy the city? I don’t have the strength.

ANTIGONE Then make that your excuse. I’ll heal

with earth the body of the brother I love.

ISMENE I feel so sorry for you. And afraid.

100ANTIGONE Don’t waste your fear. Straighten out your own life.

ISMENE At least tell nobody what you’re planning!

Say nothing about it. And neither will I.

ANTIGONE No! Go on, tell them all!

I will hate you much more for your silence—

105 if you don’t shout it everywhere.

ISMENE You’re burning to do what should stop you cold.

ANTIGONE One thing I do know: I’ll please those who matter.

ISMENE As if you could! You love fights you can’t win.

ANTIGONE When my strength is exhausted, I’ll quit.

110ISMENE Hopeless passion is wrong from the start.

ANTIGONE Say that again and I’ll despise you.

So will the dead—and they’ll hate you

far longer. But go! Let me and my

recklessness deal with this alone.

115 No matter what I suffer

I won’t die dishonored.

(Exit ANTIGONE toward open country; ISMENE calls out her next lines as her sister leaves, then she enters the palace through the great central doors.)

ISMENE If you’re determined, go ahead.

And know this much: you are a fool

to attempt this, but you’re loved all

120 the more by the family you love.

(CHORUS of Theban Elders enters singing.)

CHORUS Morning sunlight, loveliest ever

to shine on seven-gated Thebes!

Day’s golden eye, risen at last

over Dirke’s glittering waters!

You stampede the Argive!

Invading in full battle gear,

his white shield flashing, he’s wrenched

by your sharp piercing bit

into headlong retreat!

130 This attacker who championed

quarrelsome Polyneikes

skimmed through our farmland—

a white-feathered Eagle

screeching, horse-hair

135 flaring from the helmets

of well-armed troops.

He had circled our houses, threatening

all seven gates, his spearpoints

out for blood, but he was thrown back

140 before his jaws could swell

with our gore, before the Firegod’s

incendiary pinetar

engulfed the towers ringing our walls.

He cannot withstand the harsh blare

145 of battle that roars up

around him—and our Dragon

wrestles him down.

How Zeus hates a proud tongue!

And when this river of men

150 surged forward, with arrogance

loud as its flash of gold,

he struck—with his own lightning—

that firebrand shouting in triumph

from the battlements!

155 Free-falling from the mad

fury of his charge, torch

still in his hand,

he crashed to earth, the man

who’d turned on us the raving

160 blast of his loathsome words.

But threats stuck in his throat:

To each enemy soldier

Ares the brute wargod,

our surging wheelhorse,

165 assigned a separate doom,

shattering every attack.

Now seven captains facing seven gates,

our captains matching theirs,

throw down their arms as trophies

170 for Zeus—all but the doomed pair

born to one father, one mother—

who share even their death

when their twin spears drive home.

Victory is now ours!

175 Her name is pure glory,

her joy resounds

through Thebes’ own joy—Thebes

swarming with chariots!

Let us now banish

180 this war from our minds

and visit each god’s temple,

singing all night long! May

Bakkhos, the god whose dancing

rocks Thebes, be there to lead us!

(Enter KREON.)

185LEADER Enter our new king,

Kreon, the son of Menoikeus,

who came to power

abruptly, when the gods changed our luck.

What plans does he turn over

190 in his mind—what will he ponder

with the Council of Elders

summoned in his new role?

KREON Men, we have just survived some rough weather.

Monstrous waves have battered our city,

195 but now the gods have steadied the waters.

I sent my servants to gather you here

because, of all my people, I know

your veneration for Laios’ royal

power has never wavered. When Oedipus

200 ruled our city, and then was struck down, you

stood by his sons. Now both of them fall

together, killed in one lethal exchange.

Because each struck the other’s deathblow, each

was defiled by his own brother’s blood.

205 As nearest kin to the men killed,

I’ve taken power and assumed the throne.

You cannot measure a man’s character,

policies, or his common sense—until

you see him in action, enforcing old laws

210 and making new ones. To me, there’s nothing

worse than a man, while he’s running a city,

who fails to act on sound advice—but fears

something so much his mouth clamps shut.

Nor have I any use for a man whose friend

215 means more to him than his country.

Believe me, Zeus, for you miss nothing,

I’ll always speak out when I see Thebes choosing

destruction rather than deliverance.

I’ll never think our country’s enemy

220 can be my friend. Keep this in mind:

Our country is the ship that must keep us safe.

It’s only on board her, among the men

who sail her upright, that we make true friends.

Such are the principles I will follow

225 to preserve Thebes’ greatness. Akin to these

are my explicit orders concerning

Oedipus’ sons: Eteokles, who died

fighting for our city, and who excelled

in combat, will be given the rituals

230 and burial proper to the noble dead.

But his brother—I mean Polyneikes, who

returned from exile utterly determined

to burn down his own city, incinerate

the gods we worship, revel in kinsmen’s blood,

235 enslave everyone left alive—

as for him, it is now a crime for Thebans

to bury him or mourn him. Dogs and birds

will savage and outrage his corpse—

an ugly and a visible disgrace.

240 That is my thinking. And I will never

tolerate giving a bad man more respect

than a good one. Only those faithful to Thebes

will I honor—in this life and after death.

LEADER That is your pleasure, Kreon: Punish Thebes’

245 betrayers and reward her defenders.

You have all the authority you need

to discipline the living and the dead.

KREON Are you willing to help enforce this law?

LEADER Ask someone younger to shoulder that burden.

250KREON But I’ve already posted men at the corpse.

LEADER Then what instructions do you have for me?

KREON Don’t join the cause of those who break this law.

LEADER Who but a fool would want to die?

KREON Exactly. He’d be killed. But easy money

255 frequently kills those it deludes.

(Enter GUARD. He tends to mime the actions he describes.)

GUARD I didn’t run here at such a breakneck

pace, King, that I’m winded. Pausing to think

stopped me, wheeled me around, headed me back

more than once. My mind kept yelling at me:

260 “Reckless fool—why go where you’ll be punished?”

Then: “Lazy clod! Dawdling, are you? What if

Kreon hears this news from somebody else?—

you’ll pay for it.”

I made myself dizzy,

hurrying slowly, stretching out a short road.

265 I finally realized I had to come.

If I’m talking annihilation here,

I’ll still say it, since I’m of the opinion

nothing but my own fate can cause me harm.

KREON What’s making you so agitated?

270GUARD I’ve got to explain my role in this matter.

I didn’t do it, I didn’t see who did.

So it wouldn’t be right to punish me.

KREON You’re obsessed with protecting yourself.

That’s a nice fortified wall you’ve thrown up

275 around your news—which must be odd indeed.

GUARD You bet. And bad news must be broken slowly.

KREON Why not just tell it? Then you can vanish.

GUARD But I am telling you! That corpse—someone’s

buried it and run off. They sprinkled thirsty

280 dust on it. Then did all the rituals.

KREON What are you saying? What man would dare do this?

GUARD I’ve no idea. No marks from a pickaxe,

no dirt thrown up by a shovel. The ground’s

all hard and dry, unbroken—no wheel ruts.

285 Whoever did this left no trace.

When the man on dawn-watch showed it to us,

we all got a nasty surprise. The dead man

had dropped out of sight. He wasn’t entombed,

but dusted over, as though someone had tried

290 to stave off defilement. There was no sign

dogs or wild animals had chewed the corpse.

Then we all started yelling rough words, threats,

blaming each other, every guard ready

to throw punches—nobody to stop us.

295 Every man under suspicion—but none

of us convicted. We all denied it—

swearing to god we’d handle red-hot iron

or walk through fire to back up our oaths.

After interrogation got us nowhere,

300 one man spoke up and made us hang our heads

toward the ground in terror. We couldn’t do

what he said—or avoid trouble if we did.

He advised us to tell you what happened,

not try to hide it. That seemed our best move.

305 So we drew lots to choose the messenger.

I lost—I’m no happier to be here

than you are to see me. Don’t I know that.

Nobody loves the man who brings bad news.

LEADER King, something has been bothering me: Suppose

310 this business was inspired by the gods?

KREON Stop! Before your words fill me with rage.

Now, besides sounding old, you sound senile.

How could anyone possibly believe

the gods protect this corpse? Did they cover

315 his nakedness to reward him for loyal

service—this man who came here to burn

their colonnaded temples and treasuries,

to wipe out their country and tear up its laws?

Do you think that the gods honor rebels?

320 They don’t. But for a good while now

men who despise me have been muttering

under their breaths—my edict bruised their necks.

They were rebelling against a just yoke—

unlike you good citizens who support me.

325 I’m sure these malcontents bribed my sentries

to do what they did.

Mankind’s most deadly

invention is money—it plunders cities,

encourages men to abandon their homes,

tempts honest people to do shameful things.

330 It instructs them in criminal practice,

drives them to act on every godless impulse.

By doing this for silver, these men have

guaranteed that, sooner or later,

they’ll pay the price.

But you who worship Zeus—

335 since Zeus enforces his own will through mine—

be sure of this, it is my solemn oath:

If you don’t find the man who carried out

this burial and drag him before me,

a quick trip to Hades won’t be your fate.

340 You will all be strung up—and you’ll hang

for a while, your insolence on display.

From then on, you may calculate exactly

how much profit to expect from your crimes.

More men are destroyed by ill-gotten wealth

345 than such “wealth” ever saved from destruction.

GUARD May I speak further? Or shall I just leave?

KREON Don’t you realize that your words pain me?

GUARD Do your ears ache, or does the pain go deeper?

KREON Why does the source of my pain interest you?

350GUARD I just sting your ears. The man

who did this stabs your gut.

KREON You’ve run off at the mouth since you were born.

GUARD Maybe so. But I had no part in this crime.

KREON I think you did. Sold your life for some silver.

355GUARD It’s a sad thing when a judge gets it wrong.

KREON You’ll soon be on the wrong end of a judgment yourself.

If you don’t find the guilty one,

you’ll find your greed buys you nothing but grief.

GUARD I hope he’s caught, but Fate will decide that.

360 And you’ll never see me coming back here.

Now that I have been spared—when everything

seemed so desperate—all I can think about

is how much gratitude I owe the gods.

(Exit GUARD to open country; KREON enters his palace.)

ELDERS Wonders abound, but none

365 more astounding than man!

He crosses to the far side

of white seas, blown

by winter gales, sailing

below huge waves;

370 he wears Earth down—

our primal, eternal,

inexhaustible god—

his stallion-sired mules

plowing her soil

375 back and forth

year after year.

All breeds of carefree

bird, savage beast

and deep-sea creature,

380 ingenious man

snares in his woven nets;

he drives the mountain herds

from wild lairs down to his folds;

he coaxes rough-maned horses

385 to thrust their necks through his yoke;

he tames the tireless mountain bull.

He has taught himself speech,

wind-quick thought,

and all the talents

390 that govern a city;

how to take shelter

from cold skies or pelting rain;

never baffled,

always resourceful,

395 he accepts every challenge;

but from Hades alone

has he found no way out—

though from hopeless disease

he has found a defense.

400 Exceeding all expectation,

his robust power to create

sometimes brings evil,

at other times, excellence.

When he follows the laws

405 Earth teaches him—

and Justice, which he’s sworn

the gods he will enforce—

he soars with his city.

But reckless and corrupt,

410 a man will be driven

from his nation disgraced.

Let no man guilty of such things

share my hearth or invade my thoughts.

(Enter GUARD, from countryside, leading ANTIGONE.)

LEADER I’m stunned—what’s this? A warning from the gods?

415 I know this girl. She is Antigone.

Don’t we all recognize her?

Unlucky Oedipus was her father,

now her own luck runs out.

What’s happening? You—under guard?

420 Are you a prisoner? Did you break

the king’s law? Commit some thoughtless act?

GUARD There’s your perpetrator. We caught her

burying the corpse. Where’s Kreon?

(Enter KREON.)

LEADER Here he comes. Just in time.

425KREON What makes my arrival so timely?

GUARD Sir, never promise something won’t happen;

second thoughts can make your first one a lie.

I vowed I’d never come back here,

after you tongue-lashed me with those threats.

430 Then came a pleasure like no other,

because it’s a total surprise, something

we hope for but can’t believe will happen.

So I came back—though I swore I wouldn’t—

to bring you the girl we caught sprinkling dust

435 on the dead body. No need to throw dice—

this time the good fortune was all mine.

Now she’s all yours. Question and convict her—

do as you see fit. But I have the right

to go free of trouble once and for all.

440KREON Your prisoner—where was she when captured?

GUARD Covering up the dead body. There you have it.

KREON Do you know what you just said? No mistake?

GUARD I saw her bury the man you said no one

could bury. How can I say it plainer?

445KREON How did you see her? Was she caught in the act?

GUARD Here’s what happened. We went back there

after those ugly threats of yours, to brush

the dirt off the body and strip it down

to its rotting flesh. Afterwards, we hunkered

450 upwind under some hills to spare us any stench

the body might have sent our way. Each man

kept alert, and kept his neighbor alert,

by raking him with outbursts of abuse

if he seemed to neglect his watch.

455 We kept at it until the round sun had climbed

the heavens and baked us in the noon heat.

Then, rising from the earth, a whirlwind

whipped up the dust, and terror filled the sky,

choking the grasslands, tearing leaves off trees,

churning up grit all around us.

460 Our eyes squeezed shut,

we waited out this god-sent pestilence.

After a bit the dust cleared, and we saw her

cry out in anguish, a piercing scream

like a bird homing to find her nest robbed.

465 When she saw the body stripped naked,

she wailed one more time, then yelled a string

of curses at those who’d done it. She scooped up

powdery dust and, from a graceful bronze

urn, poured out three cool swallows for the dead.

470 Soon as we saw this, we moved into stop her.

She wasn’t a bit shocked, when we charged her

with the earlier crime, and now this one—

didn’t deny a thing. That pleased,

but also troubled me. Escaping blame

475 oneself is always a relief; still, it hurts

to cause your own people grief. But all that

matters much less to me than my own safety.

KREON (To ANTIGONE.)

You! Don’t stand there nodding your head.

Out with it! Admit this or deny it.

480ANTIGONE I swear I did. And I don’t deny it.

KREON (To GUARD.)

You are excused from this grim business.

You’re now free to go anywhere you please.

(Exit GUARD. To ANTIGONE.)

Explain something to me without elaborating.

Were you aware of my decree forbidding this?

485ANTIGONE Of course I knew. We all knew.

KREON And still you dared to violate the law?

ANTIGONE I did. It wasn’t Zeus who issued me

this order. And Justice—who lives below—

was not involved. They’d never condone it!

490 I deny that your edicts—since you, a mere man,

imposed them—have the force to trample on

the gods’ unwritten and infallible laws.

Their laws are not ephemeral, they weren’t

made yesterday, and they will last forever.

495 No man knows how far back in time they go.

I’d never let any man’s arrogance

bully me into breaking the gods’ laws.

I’ll die someday—how could I not know that?

I knew it without your proclamation.

500 If I do die young, that’s an advantage,

for doesn’t a person like me, who lives

besieged by trouble, escape by dying?

My own death isn’t going to bother me,

but I would be devastated to see

505 my mother’s son die and rot unburied.

I’ve no regrets for what I’ve done. And if you

consider my acts foolhardy, I say:

Look at the fool charging me with folly.

LEADER It’s apparent this girl’s nature is savage

510 like her father’s. She hasn’t got the sense

to back off when she gets into trouble.

KREON Stubborn spirits are the first to crack.

It’s always the iron tool hardened by fire

that snaps and shatters. And headstrong horses

515 can be tamed by a small iron bit.

There’s no excuse for a slave

to preen when her master’s home.

This girl learned insolence long before

she broke this law. What’s more, she keeps on

520 insulting us, and then gloats about it.

There is no doubt that if she emerges

victorious, and is never punished,

I am no man, she will be the man here.

I don’t care if she is my sister’s child,

525 a blood relative, closer than all those

who worship Zeus in my household,

she—and her sister—still must die.

I charge her sister too with conspiring

to bury Polyneikes. Bring her out.

530 I observed her inside just now,

screaming, hysterical, deranged.

Someone who intends to commit a crime

can lose control of a guilty conscience.

Her furtive treason gives itself away.

(Two of Kreon’s Men enter the palace. KREON turns to ANTIGONE.)

535 But I also hate it when someone caught

red-handed tries to glorify her crime.

ANTIGONE Take me and kill me—is that your whole plan?

KREON That’s it. When that’s done I’ll be satisfied.

ANTIGONE Then what stops you? Are you waiting for me

540 to accept what you’ve said? I never will.

And nothing I say will ever please you.

Yet, since you did mention glory, how

could I do anything more glorious

than build my own brother a tomb?

545 These men here would approve my actions—

if fear didn’t seal their lips.

Tyranny

is fortunate in many ways: it can,

for instance, say and do anything it wants.

KREON These Thebans don’t see it your way.

550ANTIGONE But they do. To please you they bite their tongues.

KREON Aren’t you ashamed not to follow their lead?

ANTIGONE Since when is it shameful to honor a brother?

KREON You had another brother who died fighting him?

ANTIGONE That’s right. Born to the same mother and father.

555KREON Then why do you honor Polyneikes

when doing so desecrates Eteokles?

ANTIGONE Eteokles wouldn’t agree with you.

KREON Oh, but he would—because you’ve honored

treason as though it were patriotism.

560ANTIGONE It was his brother who died, not his slave!

KREON That brother died ravaging our country!

Eteokles fell fighting to protect it.

ANTIGONE Hades will still expect his rituals.

KREON The brave deserve better than the vile.

565ANTIGONE Who knows what matters to the dead?

KREON Not even death reconciles enemies.

ANTIGONE I made no enemies by being born!

I made my lifelong friends at birth.

KREON Then go down to them! Love your dead brothers!

570 While I’m alive, no woman governs me.

(Enter ISMENE, led in by Kreon’s Men.)

LEADER Ismene’s coming from the palace.

She cries the loving tears of a sister;

her eyes fill up, her flushed face darkens;

tears pour down her cheeks.

KREON Now you—a viper

575 who slithered through my house, quietly

drinking my blood! I never knew

I nurtured two insurrections,

both attacking my throne.

Go ahead,

confess your role in this burial

580 party. Or do you claim ignorance?

ISMENE I confess it—if she’ll let me.

I accept my full share of the blame.

ANTIGONE Justice won’t let you make that claim, sister!

You refused to help me. You took no part.

585ISMENE You’re leaving on a grim voyage. I’m not

ashamed to suffer with you the whole way.

ANTIGONE The dead in Hades know who buried him.

I don’t want love that just shows up in words.

ISMENE You’ll disgrace me, sister! Don’t keep me

590 from honoring our dead! Let me come with you!

ANTIGONE Don’t try to share my death! Don’t try to claim

you helped me bury him! My death’s enough.

ISMENE With you dead, why would I want to live?

ANTIGONE Ask Kreon that! You sprang to his defense.

595ISMENE Why do you wound me? It does you no good.

ANTIGONE I’m sorry if my scorn for him hurts you.

ISMENE I can still help you. Tell me what to do.

ANTIGONE Go on living. I’d rather you survived.

ISMENE Then you want to exclude me from your fate?

600ANTIGONE You made the choice to live. I chose to die.

ISMENE And I’ve told you how much I hate that choice.

ANTIGONE Some think you’re right. Others think I am.

ISMENE Then aren’t we both equally wrong?

ANTIGONE Gather your strength. Your life goes on. Long ago

605 I dedicated mine to the dead.

KREON One woman only now shows her madness—

the other’s been out of her mind since birth.

ISMENE King, when you are shattered by grief

your native wit vanishes. It just goes.

610KREON You surely lost your wits when you teamed up

with a criminal engaged in a crime.

ISMENE What would my life be like without her?

KREON You’re living that life now. Hers is over.

ISMENE Then you’re willing to kill your own son’s bride?

615KREON Oh yes. He’ll find other fields to plow.

ISMENE No other woman would suit him so well.

KREON I want no pernicious wives for my son.

ANTIGONE Dearest Haimon! How your father hates you!

KREON Enough! No more talk about this marriage.

620ISMENE You’re going to rob your son of his bride?

KREON Hades will cancel their marriage for me.

LEADER Then you’ve made up your mind she will die?

KREON Both my mind and your mind. No more delay,

men, take them in. Make sure they behave

625 like women. Don’t let either slip away.

Even the brave will try to run

when they see death closing in.

(Kreon’s Men take ANTIGONE and ISMENE inside.)

ELDERS Lucky are those

whose lives

630 never taste evil!

For once the gods

attack a family,

their curse never relents.

It sickens life after life,

635 rising like a deep

sea swell, a darkness

boiling from below, driven

by the wild stormwinds

of Thrace that churn up

640 black sand from the sea floor—

the battered headlands

moan as the storm pounds in.

I see sorrows that struck

the dead Labdakids long ago

645 break over their children,

wave on wave of sorrows!

Each generation fails

to protect its own youth—

because a god always hacks

650 at their roots, draining

strength that could set them free.

Now the hope that brightened

over the last rootstock

alive in the house

655 of Oedipus, in its turn

is struck down—

by the blood-drenched dust

the death-gods demand,

by reckless talk,

660 by Furies in the mind.

O Zeus,

what human arrogance

can rival your power?

Neither Sleep,

665 who beguiles us all,

nor the tireless, god-driven months

overcome it.

O Monarch

whom time cannot age—

you live in the magical

670 sunrays of Olympos!

One law of yours rules

our own and future time,

just as it ruled the past:

Nothing momentous man

675 achieves will go unpunished.

For Hope is a wanderer

who profits multitudes

but tempts just as many

with light-headed longings—

680 and a man’s failure

dawns on him only

when blazing coals

scald his feet.

The man was wise

685 who said these words:

“Evil seems noble—

early and late—to minds

unbalanced by the gods,

but only for a moment

690 will such men

hold off catastrophe.”

(Enter HAIMON.)

LEADER There’s Haimon,

the youngest of your sons.

Does he come here enraged

695 that you have sentenced Antigone,

the bride he’s been promised,

or in shock that his hopes

for marriage have been crushed?

KREON We’ll soon have an answer

700 better than any prophet’s.

My son, now that you’ve heard

my formal condemnation

of your bride, have you come here

to attack your father?

705 Or will I be dear to you still,

no matter what I do?

HAIMON I’m yours, father. I respect your wisdom.

Show me the straight path, and I’ll take it.

I couldn’t value any marriage more

710 than the excellent guidance you give me.

KREON Son, that’s exactly how you need to think:

Follow your father’s orders in all things.

It’s the reason men pray for loyal sons

to be born and raised in their houses—

715 so they can harm their father’s enemies

and show his friends respect to match his own.

If a man produces worthless children,

what has he spawned? His grief, his rivals’ glee.

Don’t throw away your judgment, son,

720 for the pleasure this woman offers.

You’ll feel her turn ice cold in your arms—

you’ll feel her scorn in the bedroom. No wound

cuts deeper than poisonous love. So spit

this girl out like the enemy she is.

725 Let her find a mate in Hades.

I caught her in open defiance—

she alone in the whole city—and I will take

her life, just as I promised. I will not

show myself as a liar to my people.

730 It is useless for her to harp on the Zeus

of family life: If I indulge my own

family in rebelliousness,

I must indulge it everywhere.

A man who keeps his own house in order

735 will be perceived as righteous by his city.

But if anyone steps out of line, breaks

our laws, thinks he can dictate to his king,

he shouldn’t expect any praise from me.

Citizens must obey men in office

740 appointed by the city, both in minor matters

and in the great questions of what is just—

even when they think an action unjust.

Obedient men lead ably and serve well.

Caught in a squall of spears, they hold their ground.

745 They make brave soldiers you can trust.

Insubordination is our worst crime.

It wrecks cities and empties homes. It breaks

and routs even allies who fight beside us.

Discipline is what saves the lives of all

750 good people who stay out of trouble.

And to make sure we enforce discipline—

never let a woman overwhelm a king.

Better to be driven from power, if it

comes to that, by a man. Then nobody

755 can say you were beaten by some female.

LEADER Unless the years have sapped my wits, King,

what you have just said was wisely said.

HAIMON Father, the gods instill reason in men.

It’s the most valuable thing we possess.

760 I don’t have the skill—nor do I want it—

to contradict all the things you have said.

Though someone else’s perspective might help.

Look, it’s not in your nature to notice

what people say—what they’re condemning.

765 That harsh look on your face makes men afraid—

no one tells you what you’d rather not hear.

But I hear, unobserved, what people think.

Listen. Thebes aches for this girl. No person

ever, they’re saying, less deserved to die—

770 no one’s ever been so unjustly killed

for actions as magnificent as hers.

When her own brother died in that bloodbath

She kept him from lying out there unburied,

fair game for flesh-eating dogs and vultures.

775 Hasn’t she earned, they ask, golden honor?

Those are the words they whisper in the shadows.

There’s nothing I prize more, father,

than your welfare.

What makes a son prouder

than a father’s thriving reputation?

780 Don’t fathers feel the same about their sons?

Attitudes are like clothes; you can change them.

Don’t think that what you say is always right.

Whoever thinks that he alone is wise,

that he’s got a superior tongue and brain,

785 open him up and you’ll find him a blank.

It’s never shameful for even a wise man

to keep on learning new things all his life.

Be flexible, not rigid. Think of trees

caught in a raging winter torrent: those

790 that bend will survive with all their limbs

intact; those that resist are swept away.

Or take a captain who cleats his mainsheet

down hard, never easing off in a blow;

he’ll capsize his ship and go right on sailing,

795 his rowing benches where his keel should be.

Step back from your anger, let yourself change.

If I, as a younger man, can offer

a thought, it’s this: Yes, it would be better

if men were born with perfect understanding.

800 But things don’t work that way. The best response

to worthy advice is to learn from it.

LEADER King, if he has said anything to ease

this crisis, you had better learn from it.

Haimon, you do the same. You both spoke well.

805KREON So men my age should learn from one of yours?

HAIMON If I happen to be right, yes! Don’t look

at my youth, look at what I’ve accomplished.

KREON What? Backing rebels makes you proud?

HAIMON I’m not about to condone wrongdoing.

810KREON Hasn’t she been attacked by that disease?

HAIMON Your fellow citizens would deny it.

KREON Shall Thebans dictate how I should govern?

HAIMON Listen to yourself: You talk like a boy.

KREON Should I yield to them—or rule Thebes myself?

815HAIMON It’s not a city if one man owns it.

KREON Don’t we say men in power own their cities?

HAIMON You’d make a first-rate king of a wasteland.

KREON It seems this boy fights on the woman’s side.

HAIMON Only if you’re the woman. You’re my concern.

820KREON Then why do you make open war on me?

HAIMON What I attack is your abuse of power.

KREON Is protecting my interest an abuse?

HAIMON What is it you protect by scorning the gods?

KREON Look at yourself! A woman overpowers you.

825HAIMON But no disgraceful impulse ever will.

KREON Your every word supports that woman.

HAIMON And you, and me, and the gods of this earth.

KREON You will not marry her while she’s on this earth.

HAIMON Then she will die, and dead, kill someone else.

830KREON You are brazen enough to threaten me?

HAIMON What threatens you is hearing what I think.

KREON Your mindless attack on me threatens you.

HAIMON I’d question your mind if you weren’t my father.

KREON Stop your snide deference! You are her slave.

835HAIMON You’re talking at me, but you don’t hear me.

KREON Really? By Olympos above, I hear you.

And I can assure you, you’re going to