§877τὰν πυμάταν ὁδόν.
...the last journey.
No longer is it lawful for me, this sacred eye of the heavenly lamp, to look upon, wretched as I am.
Do you not know that, as for songs and wailings before death, no one would ever cease from them, if it were allowed to speak?
§885οὐκ ἄξεθʼ ὡς τάχιστα;
Will you not lead her away as quickly as possible?
καὶ κατηρεφεῖ §886τύμβῳ περιπτύξαντες, ὡς εἴρηκʼ ἐγώ, §887ἄφετε μόνην ἔρημον, εἴτε χρῇ θανεῖν §888εἴτʼ ἐν τοιαύτῃ ζῶσα τυμβεύειν στέγῃ· §889ἡμεῖς γὰρ ἁγνοὶ τοὐπὶ τήνδε τὴν κόρην· §890μετοικίας δʼ οὖν τῆς ἄνω στερήσεται.
And having enclosed her in a vaulted tomb, as I have commanded, leave her alone, deserted, whether she must die or live entombed in such a dwelling; for we are pure as regards this maiden; at any rate, she shall be deprived of her residency in the world above.
§891ὦ τύμβος, ὦ νυμφεῖον, ὦ κατασκαφὴς §892οἴκησις ἀείφρουρος, οἷ πορεύομαι §893πρὸς τοὺς ἐμαυτῆς, ὧν ἀριθμὸν ἐν νεκροῖς §894πλεῖστον δέδεκται Φερσέφασσʼ ὀλωλότων· §895ὧν λοισθία ʼγὼ καὶ κάκιστα δὴ μακρῷ §896κάτειμι, πρίν μοι μοῖραν ἐξήκειν βίου.
O tomb, O bridal chamber, O rock-hewn dwelling, ever-guarded, where I go to join my own, of whom Persephone has received the greatest number among the perished dead; of whom I descend last, and by far most miserably, before my term of life has expired.
§897ἐλθοῦσα μέντοι κάρτʼ ἐν ἐλπίσιν τρέφω §898φίλη μὲν ἥξειν πατρί, προσφιλὴς δὲ σοί, §899μῆτερ, φίλη δὲ σοί, κασίγνητον κάρα· §900ἐπεὶ θανόντας αὐτόχειρ ὑμᾶς ἐγὼ §901ἔλουσα κἀκόσμησα κἀπιτυμβίους §902χοὰς ἔδωκα.
Yet having come, I nourish great hopes that I shall arrive dear to my father, and dear to you, mother, and dear to you, beloved brother; since with my own hands I washed and adorned you when you were dead, and poured libations at your tombs.
νῦν δέ, Πολύνεικες, τὸ σὸν §903δέμας περιστέλλουσα τοιάδʼ ἄρνυμαι.
And now, Polyneices, because I cared for your body, I win such rewards as these.
§904καίτοι σʼ ἐγὼ ʼτίμησα τοῖς φρονοῦσιν εὖ.
And yet I honored you justly, in the eyes of the wise.
§905οὐ γάρ ποτʼ οὔτʼ ἄν, εἰ τέκνων μήτηρ ἔφυν, §906οὔτʼ εἰ πόσις μοι κατθανὼν ἐτήκετο, §907βίᾳ πολιτῶν τόνδʼ ἂν ᾐρόμην πόνον.
For never, neither if I had been a mother of children, nor if a husband of mine had been rotting in death, would I have taken this task upon myself in defiance of the citizens.
§908τίνος νόμου δὴ ταῦτα πρὸς χάριν λέγω;
In virtue of what law do I say this?
§909πόσις μὲν ἄν μοι κατθανόντος ἄλλος ἦν, §910καὶ παῖς ἀπʼ ἄλλου φωτός, εἰ τοῦδʼ ἤμπλακον, §911μητρὸς δʼ ἐν Ἅιδου καὶ πατρὸς κεκευθότοιν §912οὐκ ἔστʼ ἀδελφὸς ὅστις ἂν βλάστοι ποτέ.
If my husband had died, there could be another, and a child from another man, if I lost this one; but with mother and father hidden in Hades, there is no brother who could ever be born.
§913τοιῷδε μέντοι σʼ ἐκπροτιμήσασʼ ἐγὼ §914νόμῳ Κρέοντι ταῦτʼ ἔδοξʼ ἁμαρτάνειν §915καὶ δεινὰ τολμᾶν, ὦ κασίγνητον κάρα.
By such a law indeed I honored you above all, yet to Creon I seemed to commit a sin and to dare dreadful things, O beloved brother.
§916καὶ νῦν ἄγει με διὰ χερῶν οὕτω λαβὼν §917ἄλεκτρον, ἀνυμέναιον, οὔτε του γάμου §918μέρος λαχοῦσαν οὔτε παιδείου τροφῆς, §919ἀλλʼ ὧδʼ ἔρημος πρὸς φίλων ἡ δύσμορος §920ζῶσʼ εἰς θανόντων ἔρχομαι κατασκαφάς.
And now he leads me away, having seized me in his hands, without marriage bed, without bridal song, having had no share in marriage nor in the nurturing of children, but thus deserted by friends, I, ill-fated one, go alive to the rock-hewn chambers of the dead.
§921ποίαν παρεξελθοῦσα δαιμόνων δίκην;
Having transgressed what justice of the gods?
Why must I, unhappy one, still look to the gods?
τίνʼ αὐδᾶν ξυμμάχων;
Whom of allies can I invoke?
ἐπεί γε δὴ §924τὴν δυσσέβειαν εὐσεβοῦσʼ ἐκτησάμην.
Since indeed by practicing piety I have earned the name of impiety.
§925ἀλλʼ εἰ μὲν οὖν τάδʼ ἐστὶν ἐν θεοῖς καλά, §926παθόντες ἂν ξυγγνοῖμεν ἡμαρτηκότες· §927εἰ δʼ οἵδʼ ἁμαρτάνουσι, μὴ πλείω κακὰ §928πάθοιεν ἢ καὶ δρῶσιν ἐκδίκως ἐμέ.
Well, if these things are beautiful in the eyes of the gods, having suffered, we might realize we have sinned; but if these men are sinning, may they suffer no greater evils than those they unjustly inflict on me.
Still the same gusts of the soul's winds possess her.
Therefore, those who lead her will have cause to weep for their slowness.
§933οἴμοι, θανάτου τοῦτʼ ἐγγυτάτω
Alas!
§934τοὔπος ἀφῖκται.
This word has come very close to death.
I give you no comfort to hope that these things will not be accomplished in this way.
O ancestral city of the land of Thebes, and gods of my ancestors, I am indeed led away, and no longer delay.
§940λεύσσετε, Θήβης οἱ κοιρανίδαι §941τὴν βασιλειδᾶν μούνην λοιπήν, §942οἷα πρὸς οἵων ἀνδρῶν πάσχω, §943τὴν εὐσεβίαν σεβίσασα.
Behold, you rulers of Thebes, the last remaining of the royal house, what things I suffer and from what kind of men, for having revered piety!
§944ἔτλα καὶ Δανάας οὐράνιον φῶς §945ἀλλάξαι δέμας ἐν χαλκοδέτοις αὐλαῖς· §946κρυπτομένα δʼ ἐν τυμβήρει θαλάμῳ κατεζεύχθη· §947καίτοι καὶ γενεᾷ τίμιος, ὦ παῖ παῖ, §950καὶ Ζηνὸς ταμιεύεσκε γονὰς χρυσορύτους.
Danae too endured to exchange the light of heaven for a prison in bronze-bound halls; and hidden in a tomb-like chamber, she was yoked; and yet she was noble in birth, O child, O child, and she guarded the gold-flowing seed of Zeus.
§951ἀλλʼ ἁ μοιριδία τις δύνασις δεινά· §952οὔτʼ ἄν νιν ὄλβος οὔτʼ Ἄρης, οὐ πύργος, οὐχ ἁλίκτυποι §953κελαιναὶ νᾶες ἐκφύγοιεν.
But the power of fate is a terrible thing; neither wealth nor war, nor tower, nor sea-beaten black ships can escape it.
§955ζεύχθη δʼ ὀξύχολος παῖς ὁ Δρύαντος, §956Ἠδωνῶν βασιλεύς, κερτομίοις ὀργαῖς §957ἐκ Διονύσου πετρώδει κατάφαρκτος ἐν δεσμῷ.
Yoked too was the swift-to-anger son of Dryas, king of the Edonians, for his mocking rages, shut up by Dionysus in a rocky prison.
Thus the terrible and blooming fury of madness trickles away.
κεῖνος ἐπέγνω μανίαις §961ψαύων τὸν θεὸν ἐν κερτομίοις γλώσσαις.
He came to know, when in his madness he touched the god with mocking tongue.
For he tried to stay the god-inspired women and the Bacchic fire, and he angered the flute-loving Muses.
§966παρὰ δὲ Κυανεᾶν πελάγει διδύμας ἁλὸς §967ἀκταὶ Βοσπόριαι ἠδʼ ὁ Θρῃκῶν ἄξενος §970Σαλμυδησσός, ἵνʼ ἀγχίπτολις Ἄρης §971δισσοῖσι Φινεΐδαις §972εἶδεν ἀρατὸν ἕλκος §973τυφλωθὲν ἐξ ἀγρίας δάμαρτος §974ἀλαὸν ἀλαστόροισιν ὀμμάτων κύκλοις §975ἀραχθέντων, ὑφʼ αἱματηραῖς §976χείρεσσι καὶ κερκίδων ἀκμαῖσιν.
And by the waters of the dark Cyanean rocks of the double sea are the Bosporian shores and the inhospitable Thracian Salmydessus, where Ares, dweller near the city, saw the cursed wound inflicted on the two sons of Phineus, blinded by a savage wife, bringing darkness to the sightless circles of their eyes, struck out by bloody hands and the points of shuttles.