§976πέλας ἀδελφέ᾽ ἀδελφεῶν.
Near indeed to your brothers, o brother.
§977ἰὼ Μοῖρα βαρυδότειρα μογερά, §978πότνιά τ᾽ Οἰδίπου σκιά: §979μέλαιν᾽ Ἐρινύς, ἦ μεγασθενής τις εἶ.
Alas, grievous-giving, wretched Fate, and august shadow of Oedipus: black Erinnys, truly you are of great power.
§980aἠέ.
Alas!
§980bἠέ.
Alas!
Sufferings dreadful to behold did this man receive upon his return from exile.
§983οὐδ᾽ ἵκεθ᾽ ὡς κατέκτανεν.
And he did not survive, though he killed.
§984σωθεὶς δὲ πνεῦμ᾽ ἀπώλεσεν.
Having been saved, he lost his breath.
§985ὤλεσε δῆτ᾽ <ἄγαν>.
He perished indeed, too utterly.
§986καὶ τὸν ἐνόσφισεν.
And he deprived the other of life as well.
§987τάλαν γένος.
Wretched race!
§988τάλαν πάθος.
Wretched suffering!
§989δίπονα κήδε᾽ ὁμαιμόνων.
Double-toiled cares of siblings.
§990διέρ᾽ ἐπάλμενα πήματα.
Lamentable, leaping-upon-them sufferings.
§991ἰὼ Μοῖρα βαρυδότειρα μογερά, §992πότνιά τ᾽ Οἰδίπου σκιά: §993μέλαιν᾽ Ἐρινύς, ἦ μεγασθενής τις εἶ.
Alas, grievous-giving, wretched Fate, and august shadow of Oedipus: black Erinnys, truly you are of great power.
§994σὺ τοί νιν οἶσθα διαπερῶν, §995σὺ δ᾽ οὐδὲν ὕστερος μαθών, §996ἐπεὶ κατῆλθες ἐς πόλιν, §997δορός γε τῷδ᾽ ἀντηρέτας.
You indeed know it by passing through it, and you learned it no later, when you returned to the city, standing as an adversary in spear-fight against this man.
§998ὀλοὰ λέγειν.
Ruinous to tell.
§999ὀλοὰ δ᾽ ὁρᾶν.
And ruinous to see.
§1000ἰὼ πόνος,
Alas, trouble!
§1001ἰὼ κακά,
Alas, evils!
§1002δώμασι καὶ χθονί, [πρὸ πάντων δ᾽ ἐμοί].
For the house and the land, and before all, for me.
And even further, for me: Alas, wretched lord of evils!
§1005ἰὼ πάντων πολυστονώτατε.
Alas, most lamented of all!
§1006ἰώ, ποῦ σφε θήσομεν χθονός;
Alas, where in the earth shall we place them?
§1007ἰώ, ἔνθα τιμιώτατον.
Alas, where it is most honorable.
§1008ἰὼ δαιμονῶντες ἐν ἄτᾳ.
Alas, you who were possessed in ruin!
§1009ἰὼ πῆμα πατρὶ πάρευνον.
Alas, a calamity lying beside your father.
§1010δοκοῦντα καὶ δόξαντ᾽ ἀπαγγέλλειν με χρὴ §1011δήμου προβούλοις τῆσδε Καδμείας πόλεως: §1012Ἐτεοκλέα μὲν τόνδ᾽ ἐπ᾽ εὐνοίᾳ χθονὸς §1013θάπτειν ἔδοξε γῆς φίλαις κατασκαφαῖς: §1014στέγων γὰρ ἐχθροὺς θάνατον εἵλετ᾽ ἐν πόλει, §1015ἱερῶν πατρῴων δ᾽ ὅσιος ὢν μομφῆς ἄτερ §1016τέθνηκεν οὗπερ τοῖς νέοις θνῄσκειν καλόν.
[HERALD] I must announce what is approved and decided by the council of the people of this Cadmean city: On the one hand, it is decided to bury this Eteocles, because of his goodwill toward the land, in the beloved trenches of the earth; for warding off the enemies, he chose death in the city, and being pure toward his ancestral shrines, without blame, he died where it is beautiful for the young to die.
§1017οὕτω μὲν ἀμφὶ τοῦδ᾽ ἐπέσταλται λέγειν:
Thus indeed it is commanded to speak concerning him.
§1018τούτου δ᾽ ἀδελφὸν τόνδε Πολυνείκους νεκρὸν §1019ἔξω βαλεῖν ἄθαπτον, ἁρπαγὴν κυσίν, §1020ὡς ὄντ᾽ ἀναστατῆρα Καδμείων χθονός, §1021εἰ μὴ θεῶν τις ἐμποδὼν ἔστη δορὶ §1022τῷ τοῦδ᾽.
But as for this corpse of his brother, Polyneices, it is decided to cast it out unburied, a prey for dogs, as being a destroyer of the Cadmean land, had not some god stood in the way of his spear.
ἄγος δὲ καὶ θανὼν κεκτήσεται §1023θεῶν πατρῴων, οὓς ἀτιμάσας ὅδε §1024στράτευμ᾽ ἐπακτὸν ἐμβαλὼν ᾕρει πόλιν.
Even in death he shall possess a stain of guilt against his ancestral gods, whom he dishonored when he tried to capture the city by bringing in a foreign host.
§1025οὕτω πετηνῶν τόνδ᾽ ὑπ᾽ οἰωνῶν δοκεῖ §1026ταφέντ᾽ ἀτίμως τοὐπιτίμιον λαβεῖν, §1027καὶ μήθ᾽ ὁμαρτεῖν τυμβοχόα χειρώματα §1028μήτ᾽ ὀξυμόλποις προσσέβειν οἰμώγμασιν, §1029ἄτιμον εἶναι δ᾽ ἐκφορᾶς φίλων ὕπο.
Thus it is decreed that he, being dishonorably entombed by winged birds, shall receive his punishment, neither shall handiwork of raising a tomb accompany him, nor shall they honor him with shrill-sounding wailing, but he shall be deprived of a funeral by his friends.
§1030τοιαῦτ᾽ ἔδοξε τῷδε Καδμείων τέλει.
Such are the decrees of the authorities of the Cadmeans.
§1031ἐγὼ δὲ Καδμείων γε προστάταις λέγω: §1032ἢν μή τις ἄλλος τόνδε συνθάπτειν θέλῃ, §1033ἐγώ σφε θάψω κἀνὰ κίνδυνον βαλῶ §1034θάψασ᾽ ἀδελφὸν τὸν ἐμόν, οὐδ᾽ αἰσχύνομαι §1035ἔχουσ᾽ ἄπιστον τήνδ᾽ ἀναρχίαν πόλει.
[ANTIGONE] But I say to the leaders of the Cadmeans: even if no one else is willing to join in burying him, I will bury him and run the risk, having buried my brother; nor am I ashamed to hold this disobedient anarchy against the city.
A powerful thing is the common womb from which we were born, from a wretched mother and an ill-fated father.
Therefore, O my soul, willingly share in the evils of him who is unwilling, the living with the dead, with a sibling's mind.
But the flesh of this man, not even hollow-bellied wolves shall devour; let no one think so.
§1042τάφον γὰρ αὐτὴ καὶ κατασκαφὰς ἐγώ, §1043γυνή περ οὖσα, τῷδε μηχανήσομαι, §1044κόλπῳ φέρουσα βυσσίνου πεπλώματος.
For I myself, though being a woman, will devise a tomb and a burial place for him, carrying earth in the fold of my fine linen robe, and I myself will cover him.
Let no one decree otherwise; be of good courage, effective means shall be found.
§1047αὐδῶ πόλιν σε μὴ βιάζεσθαι τάδε.
[HERALD] I tell you not to violate the city in this.
§1048αὐδῶ σε μὴ περισσὰ κηρύσσειν ἐμοί.
[ANTIGONE] I tell you not to make vain proclamations to me.
§1049τραχύς γε μέντοι δῆμος ἐκφυγὼν κακά.
[HERALD] Yet harsh indeed is a populace that has just escaped evils.
§1050τράχυν᾽: ἄθαπτος δ᾽ οὗτος οὐ γενήσεται.
[ANTIGONE] Let them be harsh; but this man shall not go unburied.
§1051ἀλλ᾽ ὃν πόλις στυγεῖ, σὺ τιμήσεις τάφῳ;
[HERALD] But will you honor with a tomb one whom the city hates?
§1052ἤδη τὰ τοῦδε διατετίμηται θεοῖς.
[ANTIGONE] Already his case has been decided and judged by the gods.
§1053οὔ, πρίν γε χώραν τήνδε κινδύνῳ βαλεῖν.
[HERALD] No, not before he cast this land into danger.
§1054παθὼν κακῶς κακοῖσιν ἀντημείβετο.
[ANTIGONE] Having suffered evil, he repaid with evil.
§1055ἀλλ᾽ εἰς ἅπαντας ἀνθ᾽ ἑνὸς τόδ᾽ ἔργον ἦν.
[HERALD] But this deed of his was directed against everyone, instead of just one man.
§1056ἔρις περαίνει μῦθον ὑστάτη θεῶν.
[ANTIGONE] Strife is the last of the gods to end an argument.
§1057ἐγὼ δὲ θάψω τόνδε: μὴ μακρηγόρει.
[ANTIGONE] But I will bury him; do not speak at length.
§1058ἀλλ᾽ αὐτόβουλος ἴσθ᾽, ἀπεννέπω δ᾽ ἐγώ.
[HERALD] Well, be self-willed then, but I forbid it.
§1059ὦ μεγάλαυχοι καὶ φθερσιγενεῖς §1060Κῆρες Ἐρινύες, αἵτ᾽ Οἰδιπόδα §1061γένος ὠλέσατε πρυμνόθεν οὕτως,
[CHORUS] O boastful and race-destroying Dooms and Erinnys, who have thus destroyed the race of Oedipus from the very roots, what shall I suffer?
§1062τί πάθω;
What shall I do?
τί δὲ δρῶ; τί δὲ μήσωμαι;
What shall I devise?
How shall I dare neither to weep for you nor to escort you to the grave?
But I fear and shrink back from the terror of the citizens.
§1067σύ γε μὴν πολλῶν πενθητήρων §1068τεύξει: κεῖνος δ᾽ ὁ τάλας ἄγοος §1069μονόκλαυτον ἔχων θρῆνον ἀδελφῆς
You indeed shall obtain many mourners; but that wretched man will depart unlamented, having only the single-weeping dirge of his sister.
§1070εἶσιν: τίς ἂν οὖν τὰ πίθοιτο;
Who then could comply with such things?
§1071δράτω <τι> πόλις καὶ μὴ δράτω §1072τοὺς κλαίοντας Πολυνείκη. §1073ἡμεῖς μὲν ἴμεν καὶ συνθάψομεν §1074αἵδε προπομποί.
Let the city act or not act against those who weep for Polyneices; we indeed will go and join in burying him, as these escorts.
For this grief is common to the race, and the city at different times approves of different things as just.
And we will go with this man, as the city and justice together approve.
§1080μετὰ γὰρ μάκαρας καὶ Διὸς ἰσχὺν §1081ὅδε Καδμείων ἤρυξε πόλιν §1082μὴ ʼνατραπῆναι μηδ᾽ ἀλλοδαπῶν §1083κύματι φωτῶν §1084κατακλυσθῆναι τὰ μάλιστα.
For after the blessed gods and the power of Zeus, he it was who saved the city of the Cadmeans from being overturned and from being utterly overwhelmed by a flood of foreign men.