For when he left this place—as you no doubt recall,
being there at the time—no friend guided his steps,
but he himself showed all of us the way;
1590
and when he came to the sheer threshold rooted
to the ground in steps of bronze, he stopped,
on one of many branching paths
near the hollow basin where the ever-trusty
pledges of Theseus and Perithous*116 are enshrined;
midway between there and the Thorician*117 stone,
by the hollowed pear tree and the tomb of rock
he sat down and undid his filthy clothes.
And then, he called his daughters, bade them bring
bath water and libations from a flowing stream.
1600
They went off to the hill nearby, sacred
to Demeter,*118 and quickly they were back, bringing
all their father had commanded, and then they bathed
and arrayed him in the customary garb.*119
And when he’d taken pleasure in the doing
of all this, and nothing he wanted was undone,
Zeus*120 thundered underground, and the maidens
shuddered when they heard it. They fell
at their father’s knees, burst into wailing and wouldn’t stop
beating their breasts, lamenting, and crying aloud.
1610
And he, struck by the note of bitterness
in their voices, gathered them in his arms and said:
“Children, as of today your father is no more.
For all that is mine has perished, and no longer
will you bear the pain of caring for me.
It was hard, I know, my daughters, but one
word alone puts all those toils to flight:
there is no love from any man greater than
the love you’ve had from me. And now you’ll live
the rest of your lives bereft of me.”
1620
So they cried, all of them, sobbing, their arms
around each other. And when they’d reached
the end of their laments, and wailed no more,
there was silence. Then suddenly someone’s voice
called him, and the hair on all our heads
stood up in terror. The god called him
over and over again, from many places:
“You there, you, Oedipus! Why are we not yet
on our way? You’re taking too much time!”
And when he knew that a god was calling him,
1630
he asked for Theseus, lord of the land, to come.
And when he came, Oedipus said to him: “Dear friend,
give my children the ancient pledge of your hand
and you, children, give him yours; swear, Theseus,
never to betray them, but always
wish them well and act in their behalf.”
And Theseus, being noble, kept his own grief
in check, and swore to all his friend desired.
When he’d done that, Oedipus at once
with blind hands grasped his daughters and said
1640
“Children, now you must be brave and go
nobly from this place, and not claim the right
to see what’s not to be seen, or hear what we say.
Go as quickly as you can. Theseus alone
may stay, to learn what is done. He is master here.”
Such were his words, heard by all of us together.
And now we left, in tears, escorting the girls.
And when we’d gone some distance away,
we turned for a moment, and saw from afar
that he had vanished utterly from sight,
1650
and lord Theseus, alone, was holding his hands
before his eyes, as if some terror
had appeared, that he couldn’t bear to look at.
But then we saw him, briefly and without
a word, kiss his hand*121 to earth and heavenly
Olympus together, at the same time.
But by what fate Oedipus has perished, no
mortal man could say—none but Theseus.
For it was no burning thunderbolt of a god
that put an end to him, no whirlwind whipped up
1660
that moment on the sea, but perhaps some god
came to guide him, or the dark depth of earth,
home of the dead, opened to him in welcome.
The manner of his end was not full of groans, not
pained by illness, but worthy of wonder, if any
man’s ever was. And if I seem to talk nonsense,
I won’t persuade those who think I make no sense.
CHORUS LEADER: But where are the children, and their escorts?
MESSENGER: Not far off now. Those sounds of lamentation
mean that they’re on their way, and coming here.
(Enter Antigone and Ismene, from the right. A long lyrical dialogue—the third kommos of the play—now ensues between them and the Chorus.)
strophe 1
1670
ANTIGONE: aiai, pheu! It falls to us—ours
to lament in every way the curse
in our blood, our father’s
blood, for whom we’ve suffered
much already, constant pain
and now, at the end, we must tell what
we saw and felt, beyond our understanding.
CHORUS: What happened?
ANTIG.: We can only guess, my friends.
CHORUS: Has he gone?
ANTIG.: Just as you would wish—
for neither Ares
1680
nor the sea came against him
but the viewless plains*122 took him away,
swept by a death invisible.
But for us—deadly
night has settled on our eyes,
for how, wandering
in a distant land or on the swell
of the sea, shall we secure
the hard-won means of life?
ISMENE: I don’t know. Down,
1690
down to death with my aged father
I wish cruel Hades would take me—
miserable, for the life
ahead is not worth living.
CHORUS: O noble sisters, bear what comes from the gods
nobly, and do not keep on
whipping yourselves aflame. Till now
your lives have been beyond reproach.
antistrophe 1
ANTIGONE: There is such a thing, then, as pain
that we miss, for what was never dear
was dear after all, when I had him
1700
in my arms. O father, beloved father
cloaked in darkness under the earth,
not even there will you ever
be unloved by me and my sister here.
CHORUS: He did—
ANTIG.: Did as he wished.
CHORUS: How so?
ANTIG.: He died where he wanted to,
on foreign ground. He has his bed
in the welcome dark below, forever,
and left behind a sorrow not unwept.
For these eyes of mine, O father,
1710
shed tears of grief for you, nor do I know
how, in my sorrow, I shall get beyond
the pangs I feel, they are so deep.
ōmoi! You wanted
to die on foreign ground, but in so doing
died far away from me!
ISMENE: Unhappy! What fate
awaits me and you, beloved sister,
now, away from our father?*123
[…
…]
1720
CHORUS: Well, since he brought his life
to its end happily, have done, dear children,
with these laments, for there is no man
whom grief may n
ot easily overtake.
strophe 2
ANTIGONE: Back, dear sister, let’s hurry back!
ISM.: To do what?
ANTIGONE: A longing has come over me—
ISM.: A longing for what?
ANTIGONE: To look upon his home in the earth.
ISMENE: Whose home?
ANTIG.: Father’s. O my sorrow!
ISMENE: But how can that be right for us?
Don’t you see?
1730
ANTIG.: Why scold me in this way?
ISMENE: And there’s this, too—
ANTIG.: What? Still more?
ISMENE: He fell without a tomb, he lies utterly out of reach.
ANTIGONE: Take me there, and slay me, too!*124
[…]
ISMENE: aiai! My miserable fate!
Where, where in the future, alone*125 and helpless,
will I live this life of hardship?
antistrophe 2
CHORUS: Beloved children, have no fear!
ANTIG.: But where am I to flee?
CHORUS: Once before, too, you avoided—
ANTIG.: Avoided what?
1740
CHORUS: —seeing your plight turn out badly.*126
ANTIGONE: I’m thinking—
CHOR.: What is it? What’s on your mind?
ANTIGONE: —how we shall make
our way home.
CHOR.: Don’t even attempt it!
ANTIGONE: Things are hard for us here.
CHOR.: And were before, too.
ANTIGONE: Helpless then, and worse off now.
CHORUS: A vast sea of sorrows is your heritage.
ANTIGONE: Yes, it is.
CHOR.: We, too, see it that way.
ANTIGONE: pheu, pheu! Where are we to go,
O Zeus? On to what last hope
1750
is fate driving us now?
(Enter Theseus, with attendants, from the right. The kommos has ended. The rest of the play is in the anapestic meter.)
THESEUS: Cease your lament, children: those on whom
night beneath the earth lies as a blessing
must not be mourned: the gods will resent it.
ANTIGONE: O son of Aegeus, we implore you.
THESEUS: To obtain what wish, children?
ANTIGONE: We want to see
our father’s tomb with our own eyes.
THESEUS: But it’s not right for you to go there.
ANTIGONE: What do you mean, lord, ruler of Athens?
1760
THESEUS: Children, he told me
not to go near the place,
not to inform any mortal man
of the sacred tomb that holds him.
And he told me that if I did as he said
I would possess this land forever free of troubles.
These promises, then, the divinity*127 heard me make
and Zeus’ Oath,*128 who hears all things.
ANTIGONE: Yes, if this is what he wanted,
there is no more to say. But send us
1770
to ancient Thebes, to see if somehow
we can prevent the bloodshed
moving upon our brothers now.
THESEUS: This I will do, and I shall
do all I can to help you and to please
the one beneath the earth, who left us just now.
I must not be found wanting.
CHORUS: Cease, then, your weeping, and do not
rouse yet more lamentation, for
in all ways these things are as they must be.
(Exit to the right Theseus, Antigone, Ismene, and the Chorus.)
* * *
*1 The Erinyes or Furies.
*2 “Kindly Ones,” the most familiar euphemism for the Furies.
*3 God of the sea and of horses. He had a temple at Colonus.
*4 The Titans belonged to the generation of gods preceding the Olympians. Prometheus, son of Iapetus, is most familiar as the god who gave fire to mankind. His statues show him holding a torch. The Athenian festival of the Prometheia included a torch race that began at his altar in the Academy, just south of Colonus, and ended at the Acropolis.
*5 The hero is named for the hill (kolonos) after which the village of Colonus was also named. The equestrian association is owing to the proximity of the sanctuary of Poseidon, creator and tamer of the horse.
*6 The hero Colonus appears to receive divine honors.
*7 That he would kill his father and marry his mother.
*8 Another euphemism for the Furies.
*9 Libations to the Furies consisted of water, milk, or honey; wine was not allowed.
*10 Athena, often called Pallas Athena or, as here, simply Pallas.
*11 The Greek text is in anapestic meter from here through line 149, and again at lines 170–75 and 188–91.
*12 The Chorus are evidently thinking of the wrath of the Furies, who would punish not only the perpetrator but also the local population for tolerating a violation of their sacred place.
*13 Libations to the Furies. See note to line 100.
*14 Four lines of the Greek text are missing here.
*15 These questions (who he is, where he’s from) are two of the three standard questions asked of a stranger. The third (who his father is) occurs at 215.
*16 Descended from Labdacus, often named as the ancestor of the Theban royal family. The line of descent runs from Cadmus to Polydorus, Labdacus, Laius, and Oedipus. Jocasta and Creon, Oedipus’ mother and uncle, descend from Agave, one of the four daughters of Cadmus.
*17 The Chorus fear that Oedipus has already offended the Furies, whose wrath might punish not only him but also them if they do not drive him away immediately.
*18 They have just ordered her and her father out of the country (lines 226, 234).
*19 I.e. the statue of a god, kept in the house. The distinction is often ignored.
*20 His father, Laius, had struck him on the head when the two met at the crossroads. Oedipus, not knowing who he was, retaliated. In traditional Greek morality, retaliation in kind was justified. See lines 229–32.
*21 A reference to the attempt by his parents to kill him in his infancy.
*22 The gods, by leading Oedipus to Athens, have given that city an opportunity to enhance its reputation for piety.
*23 Proverbial: a good man helps others, thereby winning friends for himself. The implication is that Theseus has something to gain from helping Oedipus, as hinted in line 288.
*24 The horse was most likely not seen by the audience and is not mentioned again. Ismene’s arrival on a horse imported from Sicily is in stark contrast with the impoverished condition in which she finds her father and sister.
*25 Worn especially by travelers. Ismene has come from Thebes in search of her father and sister.
*26 The short line here (and again three lines farther on), in the midst of a passage where all the other lines are full iambic trimeters, is a sign of intense emotion.
*27 The idea that Egyptian customs are the inverse of Greek derives from Herodotus (2.35); for another passage in which the influence of Herodotus is evident, see Antigone 904–12 and the appendix to that play.
*28 At the end of Oedipus the King, Creon takes charge of Thebes, whether as king or as regent is unclear. He is king in Antigone, which opens after the sons of Oedipus have both died in the struggle for power whose onset Ismene is describing here.
*29 Alluding to the Erinys or Fury persecuting the House of Labdacus.
*30 Eteocles.
*31 The exact meaning of Polynices’ boast is unclear. Perhaps he vowed either to earn a hero’s burial (“occupy the Theban plain”) or to achieve undying fame (“storm the heavens”) as conqueror of Thebes.
*32 I.e. “They’ll bury me at Thebes?”
*33 Because Oedipus is guilty of his father’s murder, his corpse will be a source of pollution if it is buried inside Thebes.
*34 Someday the Thebans will invade Attica and be defeated i
n the vicinity of Oedipus’ tomb. The prophecy may allude to an actual encounter that took place at or near Colonus in 407 B.C.
*35 Apollo, the god who speaks through his oracle at Delphi.
*36 Oedipus looks back to the events following the revelation of his crimes, the immediate sequel to the end of Sophocles’ earlier play, Oedipus the King.
*37 The Furies within the sacred grove.
*38 Oedipus is appealing to the Chorus to act as his host, to be his proxenos. In return, he will follow their advice.
*39 See note to line 100.
*40 See note to line 42.
*41 A sacred grove would have a custodian who lived nearby.
*42 His self-blinding, for which, as in Oedipus the King 1328–33, he accepts responsibility.
*43 Most likely Apollo.
*44 Oedipus had solved the riddle of the Sphinx, thus saving the city. In return, he was offered the hand of Jocasta, the widowed queen.
*45 Theseus was the son of the Athenian king, Aegeus, and Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen. He grew up in Troezen and traveled to Athens as a young man to claim his rightful position there. Oedipus was born in Thebes but raised in Corinth, and he returned to Thebes as a stranger.
*46 Referring, evidently, to an ancient bond of friendship or hospitality between the royal houses of Thebes and Athens.
*47 Lines 658–60 are interpolated:
And as for threats, many a time they threaten
in anger and in vain—but when the mind
recovers, gone are all the threatenings.
*48 The sea meant is metaphorical, a sea of troubles.
*49 The original maenads, or female worshippers of Dionysus, were nymphs to whom he was entrusted as an infant after being rescued from the lightning bolt that destroyed his mother, Semele, when she was pregnant with him.
*50 Demeter and Persephone.
*51 A river just to the west of Colonus.
*52 Aphrodite rides in a chariot drawn by sparrows in Sappho (Fragment 1), by doves or swans in other sources.
*53 According to Herodotus (VIII.55), the sacred olive tree on the Acropolis, burned by the Persians in 480 B.C., flowered again the next day.
*54 The Spartan king Archidamus II, invading Attica in 431, 430, and 428 B.C., spared the olive trees sacred to Athena.
*55 See the note to line 60.
*56 The Nereids, the daughters of the sea god Nereus, were traditionally fifty in number.
*57 Creon is a generation older than his nephew Oedipus, so he is often called “old” in this play.
*58 The Cadmeans are the Thebans, descendants of Cadmus and Harmonia.
The Greek Plays Page 52