§761παρόντι θνῄσκῃ πλησία τῷ νυμφίῳ.
Bring the hated thing, so that she may die immediately before his eyes, close by her bridegroom!
§762οὐ δῆτʼ ἔμοιγε, τοῦτο μὴ δόξῃς ποτέ, §763οὔθʼ ἥδʼ ὀλεῖται πλησία, σύ τʼ οὐδαμὰ §764τοὐμὸν προσόψει κρᾶτʼ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁρῶν, §765ὡς τοῖς θέλουσι τῶν φίλων μαίνῃ συνών.
No, indeed, not near me—never think this!— neither shall she die near me, and you shall never behold my face again with your eyes, so that you may rage in the company of those of your friends who are willing.
The man, king, has gone quickly in anger; and a mind of that age, when grieving, is heavy.
Let him act; let him go and think thoughts beyond those of a man; yet he shall not rescue these two girls from their fate.
§770ἄμφω γὰρ αὐτὼ καὶ κατακτεῖναι νοεῖς;
For do you indeed intend to kill them both?
§771οὐ τήν γε μὴ θιγοῦσαν· εὖ γὰρ οὖν λέγεις.
Not her who did not touch it; for you speak well indeed.
§772μόρῳ δὲ ποίῳ καί σφε βουλεύει κτανεῖν;
And by what kind of death do you plan to kill her?
§773ἄγων ἔρημος ἔνθʼ ἂν ᾖ βροτῶν στίβος §774κρύψω πετρώδει ζῶσαν ἐν κατώρυχι, §775φορβῆς τοσοῦτον ὡς ἄγος μόνον προθείς, §776ὅπως μίασμα πᾶσʼ ὑπεκφύγῃ πόλις.
Leading her where the path of mortals is deserted, I will hide her alive in a rocky underground chamber, putting forth only so much food as is needed to escape pollution, so that the entire city may escape pollution.
§777κἀκεῖ τὸν Ἅιδην, ὃν μόνον σέβει θεῶν, §778αἰτουμένη που τεύξεται τὸ μὴ θανεῖν, §779ἢ γνώσεται γοῦν ἀλλὰ τηνικαῦθʼ ὅτι §780πόνος περισσός ἐστι τἀν Ἅιδου σέβειν.
And there, praying to Hades, whom alone of the gods she respects, she will perhaps obtain escape from death, or she will at least realize then that it is a superfluous labor to respect the things in Hades.
§781Ἔρως ἀνίκατε μάχαν, Ἔρως, ὃς ἐν κτήμασι πίπτεις, §782ὃς ἐν μαλακαῖς παρειαῖς νεάνιδος ἐννυχεύεις, §785φοιτᾷς δʼ ὑπερπόντιος ἔν τʼ ἀγρονόμοις αὐλαῖς· §786καί σʼ οὔτʼ ἀθανάτων φύξιμος οὐδεὶς §790οὔθʼ ἁμερίων σέ γʼ ἀνθρώπων.
Love, unconquered in battle, Love, who falls upon possessions, who keeps vigil on the soft cheeks of a maiden, and you roam across the sea and among the rustic dwellings; and none of the immortals can escape you, nor of ephemeral mortals.
ὁ δʼ ἔχων μέμηνεν.
And he who has you is driven mad.
§791σὺ καὶ δικαίων ἀδίκους φρένας παρασπᾷς ἐπὶ λώβᾳ, §792σὺ καὶ τόδε νεῖκος ἀνδρῶν ξύναιμον ἔχεις ταράξας· §795νικᾷ δʼ ἐναργὴς βλεφάρων ἵμερος εὐλέκτρου §796νύμφας, τῶν μεγάλων πάρεδρος ἐν ἀρχαῖς
You warp even the minds of the just toward injustice for their ruin; you have also stirred up this kin-strife among men; and victorious is the manifest desire from the eyes of the bride of lovely bed, sitting in authority beside the great laws.
§800θεσμῶν. ἄμαχος γὰρ ἐμπαίζει θεὸς Ἀφροδίτα.
For the unconquerable goddess Aphrodite plays her game.
§801νῦν δʼ ἤδη ʼγὼ καὐτὸς θεσμῶν §802ἔξω φέρομαι τάδʼ ὁρῶν ἴσχειν δʼ §803οὐκέτι πηγὰς δύναμαι δακρύων, §804τὸν παγκοίτην ὅθʼ ὁρῶ θάλαμον §805τήνδʼ Ἀντιγόνην ἀνύτουσαν.
But now I myself too am carried beyond the laws, seeing these things, and I can no longer restrain the fountains of tears, when I see Antigone here making her way to the bridal chamber where all must sleep.
§806ὁρᾶτʼ ἔμʼ, ὦ γᾶς πατρίας πολῖται, τὰν νεάταν ὁδὸν §807στείχουσαν, νέατον δὲ φέγγος λεύσσουσαν ἀελίου, §810κοὔποτʼ αὖθις.
Behold me, citizens of my fatherland, treading my last path, and looking upon the sun's last light, and never again.
ἀλλά μʼ ὁ παγκοίτας Ἅιδας ζῶσαν ἄγει §811τὰν Ἀχέροντος §812ἀκτάν, οὔθʼ ὑμεναίων ἔγκληρον, οὔτʼ ἐπινύμφειός §815πώ μέ τις ὕμνος ὕμνησεν, ἀλλʼ Ἀχέροντι νυμφεύσω.
But Hades, who puts all to sleep, leads me alive to the shore of Acheron, with no share in bridal songs, nor has any bridal hymn yet sung of me, but I shall wed Acheron.
§817οὐκοῦν κλεινὴ καὶ ἔπαινον ἔχουσʼ §818ἐς τόδʼ ἀπέρχει κεῦθος νεκύων, §819οὔτε φθινάσιν πληγεῖσα νόσοις §820οὔτε ξιφέων ἐπίχειρα λαχοῦσʼ, §821ἀλλʼ αὐτόνομος ζῶσα μόνη δὴ §822θνητῶν Ἅιδην καταβήσει.
Therefore famous and having praise you depart to this hiding place of the dead, neither struck by wasting diseases, nor having received the wages of swords, but governing yourself, alive and alone of mortals, you shall descend to Hades.
§823ἤκουσα δὴ λυγροτάταν ὀλέσθαι τὰν Φρυγίαν ξέναν §825Ταντάλου Σιπύλῳ πρὸς ἄκρῳ, τὰν κισσὸς ὡς ἀτενὴς §826πετραία βλάστα δάμασεν, καί νιν ὄμβροι τακομέναν, §827ὡς φάτις ἀνδρῶν, §830χιών τʼ οὐδαμὰ λείπει, τέγγει δʼ ὑπʼ ὀφρύσι παγκλαύτοις §831δειράδας· ᾇ με δαίμων ὁμοιοτάταν κατευνάζει.
I have indeed heard how the most mournful Phrygian stranger perished, Tantalus' daughter, on the peak of Sipylus; whom, like clinging ivy, the rocky growth subdued; and as she wastes away, the rain, as is the talk of men, and snow never leave her, and she wets her neck beneath her all-weeping brows; like her, a divinity puts me to sleep.
Yet she was a goddess, indeed, and born of gods, while we are mortals and born of mortals.
And yet, for one who has perished, it is a great thing even to hear that she has obtained a lot shared with the equals of gods, both in life and then in death.
§839οἴμοι γελῶμαι.
Ah, I am mocked!
τί με, πρὸς θεῶν πατρῴων. §840οὐκ οἰχομέναν ὑβρίζεις, ἀλλʼ ἐπίφαντον;
Why, by our ancestral gods, do you insult me when I have not yet departed, but am visible before you?
§841ὦ πόλις, ὦ πόλεως πολυκτήμονες ἄνδρες·
O city, O rich men of the city!
§842ἰὼ Διρκαῖαι κρῆναι §845Θήβας τʼ εὐαρμάτου ἄλσος, ἔμπας ξυμμάρτυρας ὔμμʼ ἐπικτῶμαι, §846οἵα φίλων ἄκλαυτος, οἵοις νόμοις §847πρὸς ἕργμα τυμβόχωστον ἔρχομαι τάφου ποταινίου·
Ah, springs of Dirce, and grove of Thebes of beautiful chariots, I acquire you, at least, as my co-witnesses, how unwept by friends, and by what laws I go to the mound-buried prison of an strange tomb.
Ah, unhappy me, finding no home among mortals nor among the dead, a resident alien neither with the living nor with the deceased.
§853προβᾶσʼ ἐπʼ ἔσχατον θράσους §854ὑψηλὸν ἐς Δίκας βάθρον §855προσέπεσες, ὦ τέκνον, πολύ· §856πατρῷον δʼ ἐκτίνεις τινʼ ἆθλον.
Having advanced to the extreme of daring, against the high pedestal of Justice you have stumbled violently, my child; you are paying for some struggle of your father.
§858ἔψαυσας ἀλγεινοτάτας ἐμοὶ μερίμνας, §859πατρὸς τριπόλιστον οἶκτον τοῦ τε πρόπαντος §860ἁμετέρου πότμου κλεινοῖς Λαβδακίδαισιν.
You have touched upon my most painful care, the thrice-turned lament for my father and for the whole of our doom, famous to the Labdacids.
§861ἰὼ ματρῷαι λέκτρων §865ἆται κοιμήματά τʼ αὐτογέννητʼ ἐμῷ πατρὶ δυσμόρου ματρός, §866οἵων ἐγώ ποθʼ ἁ ταλαίφρων ἔφυν·
Ah, the disasters of my mother's bed and the self-begotten couplings of my ill-fated mother with my father, from whom I, wretched one, was once born.
§867πρὸς οὓς ἀραῖος ἄγαμος ἅδʼ ἐγὼ μέτοικος ἔρχομαι.
To them I go, accursed and unmarried, to dwell as an alien.
Ah, brother, having met with an ill-fated marriage, by dying you have destroyed me, who am still alive.
§872σέβειν μὲν εὐσέβειά τις, §873κράτος δʼ ὅτῳ κράτος μέλει §874παραβατὸν οὐδαμᾷ πέλει· §875σὲ δʼ αὐτόγνωτος ὤλεσʼ ὀργά.
To show respect is a kind of piety, but authority, for him whose care is authority, is in no way to be transgressed; and your self-willed temper has destroyed you.
§876ἄκλαυτος, ἄφιλος, ἀνυμέναιος ταλαίφρων ἄγομαι
Unwept, friendless, without wedding song, wretched, I am led away.