Sophocles, Antigone, 441-470

Κρέων
σὲ δή, σὲ τὴν νεύουσαν εἰς πέδον κάρα,
φὴς ἢ καταρνεῖ μὴ δεδρακέναι τάδε:

Ἀντιγόνη
καὶ φημὶ δρᾶσαι κοὐκ ἀπαρνοῦμαι τὸ μή.

Κρέων
σὺ μὲν κομίζοις ἂν σεαυτὸν ᾖ θέλεις
ἔξω βαρείας αἰτίας ἐλεύθερον: [445]
σὺ δ᾽ εἰπέ μοι μὴ μῆκος, ἀλλὰ συντόμως,
ᾔδησθα κηρυχθέντα μὴ πράσσειν τάδε;

Ἀντιγόνη
ᾔδη: τί δ᾽ οὐκ ἔμελλον; ἐμφανῆ γὰρ ἦν.

Κρέων
καὶ δῆτ᾽ ἐτόλμας τούσδ᾽ ὑπερβαίνειν νόμους;


Kreon:
And you, yes, you, bowing your head towards your foot,
do you claim or do you deny that you've done this?

Antigone:
I say I did it, I don't deny it.

Kreon:
(to someone else)
You may carry yourself away safe, to where you wish,
without a heavy guilt, and free.
(to Antigone:)
And you, tell me, not at length but briefly,
you did know [it was] commanded publically not to do this?

Antigone:
I knew. How could I not? For it was well-known.

Kreon:
And you really dared to overstep these laws?


Ἀντιγόνη
οὐ γάρ τί μοι Ζεὺς ἦν ὁ κηρύξας τάδε, [450]
οὐδ᾽ ἡ ξύνοικος τῶν κάτω θεῶν Δίκη
τοιούσδ᾽ ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ὥρισεν νόμους.
οὐδὲ σθένειν τοσοῦτον ᾠόμην τὰ σὰ
κηρύγμαθ᾽, ὥστ᾽ ἄγραπτα κἀσφαλῆ θεῶν
νόμιμα δύνασθαι θνητὸν ὄνθ᾽ ὑπερδραμεῖν. [455]
οὐ γάρ τι νῦν γε κἀχθές, ἀλλ᾽ ἀεί ποτε
ζῇ ταῦτα, κοὐδεὶς οἶδεν ἐξ ὅτου 'φάνη.
τούτων ἐγὼ οὐκ ἔμελλον, ἀνδρὸς οὐδενὸς
φρόνημα δείσασ᾽, ἐν θεοῖσι τὴν δίκην
δώσειν: θανουμένη γὰρ ἐξῄδη, τί δ᾽ οὔ; [460]
κεἰ μὴ σὺ προὐκήρυξας. εἰ δὲ τοῦ χρόνου
πρόσθεν θανοῦμαι, κέρδος αὔτ᾽ ἐγὼ λέγω.
ὅστις γὰρ ἐν πολλοῖσιν ὡς ἐγὼ κακοῖς
ζῇ, πῶς ὅδ᾽ Οὐχὶ κατθανὼν κέρδος φέρει;
οὕτως ἔμοιγε τοῦδε τοῦ μόρου τυχεῖν [465]
παρ᾽ οὐδὲν ἄλγος: ἀλλ᾽ ἄν, εἰ τὸν ἐξ ἐμῆς
μητρὸς θανόντ᾽ ἄθαπτον ἠνσχόμην νέκυν,
κείνοις ἂν ἤλγουν: τοῖσδε δ᾽ οὐκ ἀλγύνομαι.
σοὶ δ᾽ εἰ δοκῶ νῦν μῶρα δρῶσα τυγχάνειν,
σχεδόν τι μώρῳ μωρίαν ὀφλισκάνω. [470]

Antigone:
Why not? Zeus wasn't the herald who proclaimed it to me,
nor is this like the laws Justice of the gods below
laid down among men.
And I don't thing your proclamations are so mighty
as to be able to exceed the unwritten and unfailing customs of the gods
since you're mortal.
For [they aren't] a thing of now or of yesterday, but
they live forever, and no one has known from which time they were made manifest.
On account of these I am not about to, from fear of any man's
arrogance, owe a price to the gods:
for I know well I'll die, how not?
Even if you don't proclaim it. And if
I die before my time, I say that's an advantage.
For whoever lives - like me - among many evils,
how does she not bring forth advantage by dying?
Thus for me to come upon this doom
is near no pain: but if I had suffered the son of my mother
in death [to be] an unburied corpse,
[doing] that I would have grieved. But [doing] this I don't grieve.
And if it seems to you now that I happen to have done folly,
I owe folly to someone near folly.

Sophocles, Antigone, 471-477

Χορός
δηλοῖ τὸ γέννημ᾽ ὠμὸν ἐξ ὠμοῦ πατρὸς
τῆς παιδός. εἴκειν δ᾽ οὐκ ἐπίσταται κακοῖς.

Κρέων
ἀλλ᾽ ἴσθι τοι τὰ σκλήρ᾽ ἄγαν φρονήματα
πίπτειν μάλιστα, καὶ τὸν ἐγκρατέστατον
475σίδηρον ὀπτὸν ἐκ πυρὸς περισκελῆ
θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα πλεῖστ᾽ ἂν εἰσίδοις:
σμικρῷ χαλινῷ δ᾽ οἶδα τοὺς θυμουμένους
ἵππους καταρτυθέντας:...

Chorus:
Of the child, it's clear [that she's] the savage offspring of a savage father.
She does not know to give way to ills.

Kreon:
But you know that very rigid minds
fall especially [hard], and the strong
bronze forged very hard in fire
most often you see shattered and rent asunder.
With a small bridle, I know, the restive
horses are trained....