[Creon questions the guard who has caught Antigone burying her brother, Polynices, and then turns his attention to Antigone herself]

KREON
This woman whom you bring, how did you catch her?
Where?

GUARD
She was burying the man herself. Now you know
everything.

KREON
Do you grasp—are you saying right—the things you
speak?

GUARD
Yes! I saw her burying the corpse against
Your orders. Now is what I’m saying clear and plain?

KREON
How was she spotted and then seized while doing it?

GUARD
Well, what happened was, when we went back there—
After those awful threats you made—
We brushed off all the dust that was on the corpse, we did
A good job of uncovering the body,
Which was slimy; and then up wind, on top
Of a hill, we sat, to keep ourselves away
From the stink, so that it wouldn’t hit us. Each man
Helped by keeping another awake and warning
Him loudly if he seemed to shirk the task.
This lasted till the time when the blazing circle
Of the sun had put itself at the midpoint
Of the sky and we were melting in the heat.
Then suddenly a whirlwind raised a pillar
Of dust from the ground, a storm of trouble high
As heaven, it spread across the lowland, it tore
Away the leaves of the trees and it filled up
The whole huge sky. We shut our eyes and endured
This supernatural plague.

After a long while
The storm died down and this wailing child is seen ...
The way a bird will give sharp cries when she finds
That her nest and bed are empty and her young
Are gone—it was like that when this girl sees
The corpse all bare, she moaned with wailing grief,
She cursed those who had done this, and at once
She carries in her hands the thirsty dust
And holds up high a fine bronze pitcher and then
She pours libations three times round the corpse.
When we see this, we rush to hunt her down
But she was not afraid, and we accused her
Of what she’d done, before, and what she now
Was doing. She did not at all deny it—
Which to me brought both satisfaction and pain,
Because to flee bad things yourself feels good,
But it is painful to lead one of your own
To something bad.
Of course, all of these things
Are less to me than safety for myself.

KREON to ANTIGONE
You! You turning your head away, to the ground—
Do you admit or deny that you did this?

ANTIGONE
I admit I did it; I do not deny it.

KREON to GUARD.
You can take yourself wherever you want
To go—you’re freed from serious charges, now.

(As the guard leaves, Kreon turns to Antigone)

You—answer briefly, not at length—did you know
It was proclaimed that no one should do this?

ANTIGONE
I did. How could I not? It was very clear.

KREON
And yet you dared to overstep the law?

ANTIGONE
It was not Zeus who made that proclamation
To me; nor was it Justice, who resides
In the same house with the gods below the earth,
Who put in place for men such laws as yours.
Nor did I think your proclamation so strong
That you, a mortal, could overrule the laws
Of the gods, that are unwritten and unfailing.
For these laws live not now or yesterday
But always, and no one knows how long ago
They appeared. And therefore I did not intend
To pay the penalty among the gods
For being frightened of the will of a man.
I knew that I will die—how can I not?—
Even without your proclamation.
But if I die before my time, I count that as
My profit. For does not someone who, like me,
Lives on among so many evils, profit
By dying? So for me to happen on
This fate is in no way painful. But if
I let the son of my own mother lie
Dead and unburied, that would give me pain.
This gives me none. And now if you think my actions
Happen to be foolish, that’s close enough
To being charged as foolish by a fool.


CHORUS LEADER to KREON
It’s clear this fierce child is the offspring of her fierce
Father! She does not know to bend amidst her
troubles.

KREON To CHORUS LEADER
Understand that rigid wills are those
Most apt to fall, and that the hardest iron,
Forged in fire for greatest strength, you’ll see
Is often broken, shattered. And with only
A small sharp bit, I’ve noticed, spirited
Horses are disciplined. For grand ideas
Are not allowed in someone who’s the slave
Of others...
First, this girl knew very well
How to be insolent and break the laws
That have been set. And then her second outrage
Was that she gloried in what she did and then
She laughed at having done it. I must be
No man at all, in fact, and she must be
The man, if power like this can rest in her
And go unpunished. But no matter if
She is my sister’s child, or closer blood
Relation to me than my whole family
Along with our household shrine to Zeus himself,
She and her sister by blood will not escape
The worst of fates—yes, I accuse her sister
Of conspiring in this burial, as much
As she.

(To his men)

Go get her!

(Some of Kreon’s men go into the royal house to find Ismene)

To CHORUS LEADER

Earlier I saw her
Inside, raving, out of her wits. The mind
Of those who plan in the dark what is not right
Will often find itself caught as a thief.
But I hate even more those who when captured
In evil acts then want to make them noble.

ANTIGONE
Now you’ve caught me, do you want something more than my death?

KREON
I don’t. If I have that, then I have everything.

ANTIGONE
Then why delay? To me, your words are nothing
Pleasing, and may they never please me; likewise,
My nature displeases you. And yet, for glory,
What greater glory could I have gained than by
Properly burying my own true brother?
These men would say it pleases them—if fear
Did not lock up their tongues. But one-man rule
Brings with it many blessings—especially
That it can do and say whatever it wants.

KREON
You alone among the Thebans see it this way.

ANTIGONE
These men see it, but shut their craven mouths for you.

KREON
You feel no shame that you don’t think as they do?

ANTIGONE
No—no shame for revering those from the same womb.

KREON
Wasn’t he who died against him of the same blood?

ANTIGONE
Of the same blood—the mother and the father, the same.

KREON
Why do you grace with irreverent honor that other one?

ANTIGONE
Eteokles’ dead body won’t testify to that.

KREON
It will, if you honor him the same as the irreverent one.

ANTIGONE
It was no slave—it was my brother who died!

KREON
Attacking this land!—the other stood against him, in defense.

ANTIGONE
And yet it’s Hades who desires these laws.

KREON
But the good should not get equal honor with the evil.

ANTIGONE
Who knows if down there that is not considered holy?

KREON
An enemy, even when he’s dead, is not a friend.

ANTIGONE
My nature’s not to join in hate but to join in love.

KREON
Then go down there and love those friends, if you must love them!
But while I am alive, a woman will not rule!

[Creon condemns Antigone to death. She laments her fate as she makes her way to the cave in which she is to be sealed.]

ANTIGONE
Without anyone’s
Weeping, without friends,
Without a marriage-
Song, I in my
Misery am
Led to the road
Prepared for me,
No longer am
I allowed to
See this fiery
Eye of heaven. For
My fate, there are
No tears or cries from any
Beloved friend.

KREON
Don’t you know that no one would stop their singing
And moaning before death if they didn’t have to?
(To his men)
Take her off! Quickly! Let the close-walled tomb
Wrap arms around her, as I’ve ordered, leave
Her there alone, deserted, where she can choose
Either to die, or in that sort of house
To go on living, in the tomb—as for us,
We’re pure as far as that girl is concerned.
But she’ll be deprived of any house up here!

ANTIGONE
Oh tomb! Oh bridal bedchamber! Oh deep
Cave of a dwelling-place, under guard forever,
Where I must go to be with my own dear ones,
Most of whom Persephone has received
Dead among the shades! And I, the last
Of them, will go in the worst way of all
Down there before my portion of this life
Comes to me.
But as I go I hold strong hopes
That I will arrive as one loved by my father,
Loved by you, mother, loved by you, my own
Dear brother—for when you died I washed and laid out
Your bodies properly with my own hands
And poured libations at your graves.

And now!—
Polyneikes—for tending to your body,
This is my recompense!
Yet those who have
Clear thoughts think I did well to honor them.
For I would never have assumed this burden,
Defying the citizens, if it had been
My children or my husband who had died
And had been left to rot away out there.
In deference to what law do I say this?—
Were my husband dead, there could be another,
And by that man, another child, if one
Were lost. But since my mother and my father
Are hidden now in Hades, no more brothers
Could ever be born—
This was the law by which I honored you above all others, Oh
My own dear brother, but Kreon thought that I
Did wrong, that things I dared were terrible.
And now by force of hands he’s leading me
Away, without a nuptial bed, without
A wedding ceremony, and receiving
No share of marriage nor of rearing children.
Deserted by those close to me, and destined
For ill, I come while still alive to the cave
Of the dead dug deep underground.

And what
Justice of the gods have I transgressed? And why
Should I, in my misfortune, keep looking to
The gods for help? To whom should I call out
To fight as my ally, when my reverence
Has earned me charges of irreverence?
If all this does seem good to the gods, then I
Through suffering would know within myself
That I did wrong; but if these men do wrong,
May the evils that they suffer be no more
Than what they are unjustly doing to me!