Chorus: Your sister, Creon, has gone outside the house, and the maiden Antigone together with her mother.
§1324ποῖ;
Creon: Whither?
κἀπὶ ποίαν συμφοράν;
And toward what calamity?
σήμαινέ μοι.
Tell me.
Chorus: She heard that her children were about to, in single combat with the spear, come to close quarters for the sake of the royal palace.
§1327πῶς φῄς;
Creon: How say you?
νέκυν τοι παιδὸς ἀγαπάζων ἐμοῦ §1328οὐκ ἐς τόδʼ ἦλθον ὥστε καὶ τάδʼ εἰδέναι.
Indeed, embracing the corpse of my own child, I did not come to this point so as to know these things as well.
§1329ἀλλʼ οἴχεται μὲν σὴ κασιγνήτη πάλαι·
Chorus: But your sister indeed departed long ago.
And I think, Creon, that the contest for life has already been decided for the children of Oedipus.
§1332οἴμοι, τὸ μὲν σημεῖον εἰσορῶ τόδε, §1333σκυθρωπὸν ὄμμα καὶ πρόσωπον ἀγγέλου §1334στείχοντος, ὃς πᾶν ἀγγελεῖ τὸ δρώμενον.
Creon: Alas, I see this sign: the gloomy eye and face of an approaching messenger, who will report everything that has been done.
§1335ὦ τάλας ἐγώ, τίνʼ εἴπω μῦθον ἢ τίνας γόους;
Messenger: O wretched me, what word shall I speak or what laments shall I utter?
§1336οἰχόμεσθʼ·
Creon: We are undone.
οὐκ εὐπροσώποις φροιμίοις ἄρχῃ λόγου.
You begin your speech with no promising prelude.
§1337ὦ τάλας, δισσῶς ἀυτῶ· μεγάλα γὰρ φέρω κακά.
Messenger: O wretched, I cry out twofold; for I bring great evils.
§1338πρὸς πεπραγμένοισιν ἄλλοις πήμασιν.
Creon: In addition to other calamities that have occurred.
λέγεις δὲ τί;
But what do you say?
§1339οὐκέτʼ εἰσὶ σῆς ἀδελφῆς παῖδες ἐν φάει, Κρέον.
Messenger: Your sister's children are no longer in the light, Creon.
§1340αἰαῖ·
Creon: Alas!
§1341μεγάλα μοι θροεῖς πάθεα καὶ πόλει.
You speak of great sufferings for me and for the city.
Messenger: O these halls of Oedipus, did you hear of his children perishing by similar calamities?
§1344ὥστʼ ἂν δακρῦσαί γʼ, εἰ φρονοῦντʼ ἐτύγχανεν.
So that they would even weep, if they happened to have understanding.
Creon: Alas for the most ill-fated calamity, Messenger: If you should also know the evils in addition to these.
§1348καὶ πῶς γένοιτʼ ἂν τῶνδε δυσποτμώτερα;
Creon: And how could there be things more ill-fated than these?
§1349τέθνηκʼ ἀδελφὴ σὴ δυοῖν παίδοιν μέτα.
Messenger: Your sister is dead along with her two children.
Creon: Raise, raise the wailing, and the blows of hands with white arms upon your heads.
O wretched Jocasta, what an end of life and of your marriage, enduring the riddles of the Sphinx.
How was the slaughter of the twin children also accomplished, and the contest of Oedipus' curse?
σήμαινέ μοι.
Tell me.
Messenger: The successes of the land before the towers you know; for the circuits of the walls are not far off.
§1359ἐπεὶ δὲ χαλκέοις σῶμʼ ἐκοσμήσανθʼ ὅπλοις §1360οἱ τοῦ γέροντος Οἰδίπου νεανίαι, §1361ἔστησαν ἐλθόντʼ ἐς μέσον μεταίχμιον §1363ὡς εἰς ἀγῶνα μονομάχου τʼ ἀλκὴν δορός.
But when the young sons of old Oedipus had adorned their bodies with bronze armor, they went and stood in the middle of the space between the armies, as for a contest and the strength of a single-combat spear.
§1364βλέψας δʼ ἐπʼ Ἄργος ἧκε Πολυνείκης ἀράς· §1365ὦ πότνιʼ Ἥρα — σὸς γάρ εἰμʼ, ἐπεὶ γάμοις §1366ἔζευξʼ Ἀδράστου παῖδα καὶ ναίω χθόνα — §1367δός μοι κτανεῖν ἀδελφόν, ἀντήρη δʼ ἐμὴν §1368καθαιματῶσαι δεξιὰν νικηφόρον· — §1372Ἐτεοκλέης δὲ Παλλάδος χρυσάσπιδος §1373βλέψας πρὸς οἶκον ηὔξατʼ· ὦ Διὸς κόρη, §1374δὸς ἔγχος ἡμῖν καλλίνικον ἐκ χερὸς §1375ἐς στέρνʼ ἀδελφοῦ τῆσδʼ ἀπʼ ὠλένης βαλεῖν §1376κτανεῖν θʼ ὃς ἦλθε πατρίδα πορθήσων ἐμήν. §1377ἐπεὶ δʼ ἀφείθη πυρσὸς ὣς Τυρσηνικῆς §1378σάλπιγγος ἠχὴ σῆμα φοινίου μάχης, §1379ᾖξαν δράμημα δεινὸν ἀλλήλοις ἔπι· §1380κάπροι δʼ ὅπως θήγοντες ἀγρίαν γένυν §1381ξυνῆψαν, ἀφρῷ διάβροχοι γενειάδας· §1382ᾖσσον δὲ λόγχαις· ἀλλʼ ὑφίζανον κύκλοις, §1383ὅπως σίδηρος ἐξολισθάνοι μάτην.
And looking toward Argos, Polynices uttered prayers: "O mistress Hera—for I am yours, since by marriage I joined with Adrastus' daughter and dwell in that land— grant me to kill my brother, and to stain with blood my victorious right hand which opposes him." And Eteocles, looking toward the temple of Pallas of the golden shield, prayed: "O daughter of Zeus, grant that we may hurl a victorious spear from our hand to cast from this arm into the chest of my brother, and to kill him who came to ravage my fatherland." And when the sound of the Tyrrhenian trumpet was released like a beacon, as the signal of bloody battle, they darted with a terrible rush against each other; and like wild boars whetting their savage jaws, they joined battle, their beards drenched with foam; and they rushed with spears; but they crouched beneath their circular shields, so that the iron weapon might slip off in vain.
And if either noticed an eye showing above the rim, he would direct his spear, wishing to forestall him at his face.
But they carefully applied their eyes to the openings of the shields, so that the spear became ineffective.
And more sweat trickled from those who looked on than from those who were fighting, because of their dread for their friends.
§1390Ἐτεοκλέης δὲ ποδὶ μεταψαίρων πέτρον §1391ἴχνους ὑπόδρομον, κῶλον ἐκτὸς ἀσπίδος §1392τίθησι· Πολυνείκης δʼ ἀπήντησεν δορί, §1393πληγὴν σιδήρῳ παραδοθεῖσαν εἰσιδών, §1394κνήμην τε διεπέρασεν Ἀργεῖον δόρυ· §1395στρατὸς δʼ ἀνηλάλαξε Δαναϊδῶν ἅπας.
And Eteocles, moving away with his foot a stone that had run under his foot, placed his leg outside his shield; and Polynices met him with his spear, having seen the opening presented to the iron weapon, and the Argive spear pierced through his shin; and the whole host of the Danaans raised a shout of triumph.
§1396κἀν τῷδε μόχθῳ γυμνὸν ὦμον εἰσιδὼν §1397ὁ πρόσθε τρωθεὶς στέρνα Πολυνείκους βίᾳ §1398διῆκε λόγχην, κἀπέδωκεν ἡδονὰς §1399Κάδμου πολίταις, ἀπὸ δʼ ἔθραυσʼ ἄκρον δόρυ.
And in this struggle, having seen the exposed shoulder of Polynices, he who had been wounded before, forcefully thrust his spear through his chest, and gave joy to Cadmus' citizens, but broke off the tip of his spear.
§1400ἐς δʼ ἄπορον ἥκων δορὸς ἐπὶ σκέλος πάλιν §1401χωρεῖ, λαβὼν δʼ ἀφῆκε μάρμαρον πέτρον §1402μέσον δʼ ἄκοντʼ ἔθραυσεν· ἐξ ἴσου δʼ Ἄρης §1403ἦν, κάμακος ἀμφοῖν χεῖρʼ ἀπεστερημένοιν.
And having come to a helplessness of spear, he retreated and taking a marble stone, he hurled it, and shattered the middle of the spear; and Ares was equal, both having been deprived of the spear-shaft from their hands.
§1404ἔνθεν δὲ κώπας ἁρπάσαντε φασγάνων §1405ἐς ταὐτὸν ἧκον, συμβαλόντε δʼ ἀσπίδας §1406πολὺν ταραγμὸν ἀμφιβάντʼ εἶχον μάχης.
And then, having snatched the hilts of their swords, they came to the same spot, and clashing their shields, they maintained a great confusion of battle, closing with each other.