No More Learning

And so when they had gone on all day assailing them with missiles from every quarter, and saw that they were quite worn out with their wounds and all their other sufferings, Gylippus and the Syracusans made a proclamation, first of all to the islanders, that any of them who pleased might come over to them and have their freedom. But only a few cities accepted the offer. At length an agreement was made for the entire force under Demosthenes. Their arms were to be surrendered, but no one was to suffer death, either from violence or from imprisonment, or from want of the bare means of life. So they all surrendered, being in number six thousand, and gave up what money they had. This they threw into the hollows of
DESTRUCTION OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE. 361
shields and filled four. The captives were at once taken to the city. On the same day Nicias and his division reached the river Erineus, which he crossed, and halted his army on a rising ground.
On the following day he was overtaken by the Syracusans, who told him that Demosthenes had surrendered, and bade him do the same. He, not believing them, procured a truce while he sent a horseman to go and see. Upon the return of the horseman bringing assurance of the fact, he sent a herald to Gylippus and the Syracusans, saying that he would agree, on behalf of the Athenian state, to pay the expenses which the Syracusans had incurred in the war, on condition that they should let his army go ; until the money was paid he would give Athenian citizens as hostages, a man for a talent. Gylip pus and the Syracusans would not accept these proposals, but attacked and surrounded this division of the army as well as the other, and hurled missiles at them from every side until the evening. They, too, were grievously in want of food and necessaries. Nevertheless they meant to wait for the dead of the night and then to proceed. They were just resuming their arms, when the Syracusans discovered them and raised the Paean. The Athenians, perceiving that they were detected, laid down their arms again, with the exception of about three hundred men who broke through the enemy's guard and made their escape in the darkness as best they could.
When the day dawned Nicias led forward his army, and the Syracusans and the allies again assailed them on every side, hurling javelins and other missiles at them. The Athenians hurried on to the river Assinarus. They hoped to gain a little relief if they forded the river, for the mass of horsemen and other troops overwhelmed and crushed them ; and they were worn out by fatigue and thirst. But no sooner did they reach the water than they lost all order and rushed in ; every man was trying to cross first, and, the enemy pressing upon them at the same time, the passage of the river became hopeless. Being compelled to keep close together they fell one upon another, and trampled each other under foot : some at once perished, pierced by their own spears ; others got entangled in the bag gage and were carried down the stream. The Syracusans stood upon the further bank of the river, which was steep, and hurled missiles from above on the Athenians, who were huddled together in the deep bed of the stream and for the most part were drink
862 DESTRUCTION OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE.
ing greedily. The Peloponnesians came down the bank and slaughtered them, falling chiefly upon those who were in the river. Whereupon the water at once became foul, but was drunk all the same, although muddy and dyed with blood, and the crowd fought for it.
At last, when the dead bodies were lying in heaps one upon another in the water, and the army was utterly undone, some perishing in the river, and any who escaped being cut off by the cavalry, Nicias surrendered to Gylippus, in whom he had more confidence than in the Syracusans. He entreated him and the Lacedaemonians to do what they pleased with himself, but not to go on killing the men. So Gylippus gave the word to make prisoners. Thereupon the survivors, not including, however, a large number whom the soldiers concealed, were brought in alive. As for the three hundred who had broken through the guard in the night, the Syracusans sent in pur suit and seized them. The total of the public prisoners when collected was not great ; for many were appropriated by the soldiers, and the whole of Sicily was full of them, they not having capitulated like the troops under Demosthenes. A large number also perished, — the slaughter at the river being very great, quite as great as any which took place in the Sicilian war ; and not a few had fallen in the frequent attacks which were made upon the Athenians during their march. Still, many escaped, some at the time, others ran away after an interval of slavery, and all these found refuge at Catana.
The Syracusans and their allies collected their forces and re turned with the spoil, and as many prisoners as they could take with them, into the city. The captive Athenians and allies they deposited in the quarries, which they thought would be the safest place of confinement. Nicias and Demosthenes they put to the sword, although against the will of Gylippus. For Gylippus thought that to carry home with him to Lacedaemon the generals of the enemy, over and above all his other suc cesses, would be a brilliant triumph. One of them, Demosthe nes, happened to be the greatest foe, and the other the greatest friend, of the Lacedaemonians, both in the same matter of Pylos and Sphacteria. For Nicias had taken up their cause, and had persuaded the Athenians to make the peace which set at liberty the prisoners taken in the island. The Lacedaemonians were grateful to him for the service, and this was the main reason why he trusted Gylippus and surrendered himself to him.
DESTRUCTION OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE. 368
But certain Syracusans, who had heen in communication with him, were afraid (such was the report) that on some suspicion of their guilt he might be put to the torture and bring trouble on them in the hour of their prosperity. Others, and especially the Corinthians, feared that, being rich, he might by bribery escape and do them further mischief. So the Syracusans gained the consent of the allies and had him executed. For these or the like reasons he suffered death. No one of the Hellenes in my time was less deserving of so miserable an end ; for he lived in the practice of every virtue.
Those who were imprisoned in the quarries were at the beginning of their captivity harshly treated by the Syracusans. There were great numbers of them, and they were crowded in a deep and narrow place. At first the sun by day was still scorch ing and suffocating, for they had no roof over their heads, while the autumn nights were cold, and the extremes of tempera ture engendered violent disorders. Being cramped for room they had to do everything on the same spot. The corpses of those who died from their wounds, exposure to the weather, and the like, lay heaped one upon another. The smells were in tolerable ; and they were at the same time afflicted by hunger and thirst. During eight months they were allowed only about half a pint of water and a pint of food a day. Every kind of misery which could befall man in such a place befell them. This was the condition of all the captives for about ten weeks. At length the Syracusans sold them, with the exception of the Athenians and of any Sicilians or Italian Greeks who had sided with them in the war. The whole number of the public prison ers is not accurately known, but they were not less than seven thousand.
Of all the Hellenic actions which took place in this war, or indeed of all the Hellenic actions which are on record, this was the greatest — the most glorious to the victors, the most ruinous to the vanquished ; for they were utterly and at all points de feated, and their sufferings were prodigious. Fleet and army perished from the face of the earth ; nothing was saved, and of the many who went forth few returned home.
Thus ended the Sicilian expedition.
364 SOPHOCLES' ANTIGONE.
THE SACRIFICE OF ANTIGONE. By SOPHOCLES.
(Translated by K. C. Jebb. )
[Sophocles : A famous Greek tragic poet, born at Colonus, near Athens, probably in b. c. 495. He received a careful education, and at his first appear ance as a tragic poet, when only twenty-seven years old, gained a victory over the veteran -ffischylus. From that time until extreme old age he maintained his preeminence, obtaining the first prize more than twenty times. He also took part in political affairs, and during the Samian War (b. c. 440) was one of the ten generals acting jointly with Pericles. Of the one hundred and thirty dramas ascribed to him, only seven are preserved complete: "Trachinise," "Ajax," " Philoctetes," "Electra," "OSdipus Tyrannus," "OSdipus at Colo nus," and "Antigone. " Among the innovations which Sophocles made in the drama were the introduction of a third actor, the increase of the number of the chorus from twelve to fifteen, and the perfection of costumes and decoration. ]
[Thebes has been besieged by an Argive army, the allies of the exile Polyneices, whom his brother Eteocles had driven out of Thebes that he himself might be sole king. But on the day before, the two brothers had slain each other in single fight. Creon, their uncle, is now king. The Argive army has lost six other leaders and fled. ]
Antigone and Ismene.
Antigone — Ismene, my sister, mine own dear sister, knowest thou what ill there is, of all bequeathed by (Edipus, that Zeus ful fills not for us twain while we live ? Nothing painful is there, nothing fraught with ruin, no shame, no dishonor, that I have not seen in thy woes and mine. And now what new edict is this of which they tell, that our Captain hath just published to all Thebes ? Knowest thou aught ? Hast thou heard ? Or is it hidden from thee that our friends are threatened with the doom of our foes ?
Ismene —No word of friends, Antigone, gladsome or painful, hath come to me, since we two sisters were bereft of brothers twain, killed in one day by a twofold blow ; and since in this last night the Argive host hath fled, I know no more, whether my fortune be brighter or more grievous.
Antigone — I knew it well, and therefore sought to bring thee beyond the gates of the court, that thou mightest hear alone.
Ismene —What is it? 'Tis plain that thou art brooding on some dark tidings.
Antigone — What, hath not Creon destined our brothers, the one to honored burial, the other to unburied shame ? Eteocles, they say, with due observance of right and custom, he hath laid in the earth, for his honor among the dead below. But the hapless corpse
SOPHOCLES' ANTIGONE. 365
of Polyneices — as rumor saith, it hath been published to the town that none shall entomb him or mourn, but leave unwept, unsepul- chered, a welcome store for the birds, as they espy him, to feast on at will. Such, 'tis said, is the edict that the good Creon hath set forth for thee and for me, — yes, for me, — and is coming hither to proclaim it clearly to those who know it not; nor counts the matter light, but, whoso disobeys in aught, his doom is death by stoning before all the folk. Thou knowest it now; and thou wilt soon show whether thou art nobly bred, or the base daughter of a noble line.
Ismene — Poor sister, — and if things stand thus, what could I help to do or undo?
Antigone — Consider if thou wilt share the toil and the deed. Ismene — In what venture ? What can be thy meaning ? Antigone — Wilt thou aid this hand to lift the dead ?
Ismene — Thou wouldst bury him, — when 'tis forbidden to
Thebes?
Antigone — I will do my part — and thine, if thou wilt not —
to a brother. False to him will I never be found.
Ismene — Ah, overbold! when Creon hath forbidden?
Antigone — Nay, he hath no right to keep me from mine own. Ismene —Ah me! think, sister, how our father perished, amid
hate and scorn, when sins bared by his own search had moved him to strike both eyes with self-blinding hand ; then the mother wife, two names in one, with twisted noose did despite unto her life ; and last, our two brothers in one day — each shedding, hapless one, a kinsman's blood — wrought out with mutual hands their common doom. And now we in turn — we two left all alone — think how we shall perish, more miserably than all the rest, if, in defiance of the law, we brave a king's decree or his powers. Nay, we must remember, first, that we were born women, as who should not strive with men ; next, that we are ruled of the stronger, so that we must obey in these things, and in things yet sorer. I, therefore, asking the Spirits Infernal to pardon, seeing that force is put on me herein, will hearken to our rulers ; for 'tis witless to be over-busy.
Antigone — I will not urge thee, — no, nor, if thou yet shouldst have the mind, wouldst thou be welcome as a worker with me. Nay, be what thou wilt ; but I will bury him : well for me to die in doing that. I shall rest, a loved one with him whom I have loved, sinless
in my crime ; for I
the living : in that world I shall abide forever. But if thou wilt, be guilty of dishonoring laws which the gods have stablished in honor.
owe a longer allegiance to the dead than to
Ismene — I do them no dishonor; but to defy the State, — I have no strength far that.
366 SOPHOCLES' ANTIGONE.
Antigone — Such be thy plea: I, then, will go to heap the earth above the brother whom I love.
Ismene — Alas, unhappy one ! How I fear for thee !
Antigone — Fear not for me ; guide thine own fate aright.
Ismene — At least, then, disclose this plan to none, but hide it
closely — and so, too, will I.
Antigone — Oh, denounce it! Thou wilt be far more hateful
for thy silence, if thou proclaim not these things to all.
Ismene — Thou hast a hot heart for chilling deeds.
Antigone — I know that I please where I am most bound to
please. — Ismene
not.
Aye, if thou canst; but thou wouldst what thou canst
Antigone — Why, then, when my strength fails, I shall have done.
Antigone — If thus thou speakest, thou wilt have hatred from me, and wilt justly be subject to the lasting hatred of the dead. But leave me, and the folly that is mine alone, to suffer this dread thing; for I shall not suffer aught so dreadful as an ignoble death.
Antigone and Creon.
Ismene — A hopeless quest should not be made at all.
Ismene — Go, then, if thou must; and of this be sure, — that, though thine errand is foolish, to thy dear ones thou art truly dear.
Oreon — Thou — thou whose face is bent to earth — dost thou avow, or disavow, this deed ?
Antigone — I avow it ;
I make no denial.
Creon [to Guard] — Thou canst betake thee whither thou wilt,
free and clear of a grave charge. [Exit Guard. [ To Antigone] — Now tell me thou — not in many words, but
briefly —knewest thou that an edict had forbidden this?
Antigone — I knew it : could I help it ? It was public.
Creon — And thou didst indeed dare to transgress that law ? Antigone — Yes; for it was not Zeus that had published me
that edict ; not such are the laws set among men by the Justice who dwells with the gods below ; nor deemed I that thy decrees were of such force, that a mortal could override the unwritten and unfailing statutes of heaven. For their life is not of to-day or yesterday, but from all time, and no man knows when they were first put forth. Not through dread of any human pride could I answer to the gods for breaking these. Die I must, — I knew that well (how should I not ? ) — even without thy edicts. But if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain : for when any one lives, as I do, compassed about with evils, can such an one find aught but gain in death ? So for me to
SOPHOCLES' ANTIGONE. 367
meet this doom is trifling grief ; but if I had suffered my mother's son to lie in death an unburied corpse, that would have grieved me ; for this, I am not grieved. And if my present deeds are foolish in thy sight, it may be that a foolish judge arraigns my folly.
Chorus — The maid shows herself passionate child of passionate sire, and knows not how to bend before troubles.
Creon — Yet I would have thee know that o'er-stubborn spirits are most often humbled ; 'tis the stiffest iron, baked to hardness in the fire, that thou shalt oftenest see snapped and shivered; and I have known horses that show temper brought to order by a little curb ; there is no room for pride, when thou art thy neighbor's slave. — This girl was already versed in insolence when she transgressed the laws that had been set forth ; and, that done, lo, a second insult, — to vaunt of this, and exult in her deed. Now verily I am no man, she is the man, if this victory shall rest with her, and bring no penalty. No ! be she sister's child, or nearer to me in blobd than any that worships Zeus at the altar of our house, — she and her kinsfolk shall not avoid a doom most dire ; for indeed I charge that other with a like share in the plotting of this burial. And summon her, — for I saw her e'en now within, — raving, and not mistress of her wits. So oft, before the deed, the mind stands self-convicted in its treason, when folks are plotting mischief in the dark. But verily this, too, is hateful, — when one who hath been caught in wicked ness then seeks to make the crime a glory.
Antigone — Wouldst thou do more than take and slay me ? Creon — No more, indeed; having that, I have all.
Antigone — Why then dost thou delay ? In thy discourse there
is naught that pleases me, — never may there be ! — and so my words must needs be unpleasing to thee. And yet, for glory — whence could I have won a nobler, than by giving burial to mine own brother ? All here would own that they thought it well, were not their lips sealed by fear. But royalty, blest in so much besides, hath the power to do and say what it will.
Creon — Thou differest from all these Thebans in that view. Antigone — These also share it; but they curb their tongues for
thee.
Creon — And art thou not ashamed to act apart from them ? Antigone — No; there is nothing shameful in piety to a brother. Creon — Was it not a brother, too, that died in the opposite cause ?
Antigone — Brother by the same mother and the same sire.
Creon — Why, then, dost thou render a grace that is impious in
his sight ? — Antigone
The dead man will not say that he so deems it. Creon — Yea, if thou makest him but equal in honor with the
wicked.
368
SOPHOCLES' ANTIGONE.
Antigone — It was his brother, not his slave, that perished.
Greon — Wasting this land ; while he fell as its champion. Antigone — Nevertheless, Hades desires these rites.
Creon — But the good desires not a like portion with the eviL , Antigone — Who knows but this seems blameless in the world
below?
Greon — A foe is never a friend — not even in death.
Antigone — 'Tis not my nature to join in hating, but in loving. Creon — Pass, then, to the world of the dead, and, if thou must
needs love, love them. While I live, no woman shall rule me.
Enter Ismene from the house, led in by two Attendants.
Chorus — Lo, yonder Ismene comes forth, shedding such tears as fond sisters weep ; a cloud upon her brow casts its shadow over her darkly flushing face, and breaks in rain on her fair cheek.
Creon — And thou, who, lurking like a viper in my house, was secretly draining my life blood, while I knew not that I was nurtur ing two pests, to rise against my throne — come, tell me now, wilt thou also confess thy part in this burial, or wilt thou forswear all knowledge of it ?
Ismene — I have done the deed, — if she allows my claim, — and share the burden of the charge.
Antigone — Nay, justice will not suffer thee to do that: thou didst not consent to the deed, nor did I give thee part in it.
Ismene — But, now that ills beset thee, the sea of trouble at thy side.
I am not ashamed to sail
Antigone —Whose was the deed, Hades and the dead are wit nesses : a friend in words is not the friend that I love.
Ismene — Nay, sister, reject me not, but let me die with thee, and duly honor the dead.
Antigone — Share not thou my death, nor claim deeds to which thou hast not put thy hand : my death will suffice.
Ismene — And what life is dear to me, bereft of thee? Antigone — Ask Creon ; all thy care is for him.
Ismene — Why vex me thus, when it avails thee naught?
Antigone — Indeed, if I mock, 'tis with pain that I mock thee. Ismene — Tell me, — how can I serve thee, even now? Antigone — Save thyself :
I grudge not thy escape.
Ismene — Ah, woe is me ! And shall I have no share in thy
fate?
Antigone — Thy choice was to live : mine, to die.
Ismene — At least thy choice was not made without my protest. Antigone — One world approved thy wisdom ; another, mine. Ismene — Howbeit, the offense is the same for both of us.
SOPHOCLES' ANTIGONE. 369
Antigone — Be of good cheer ; thou livest ; but my life hath long been given to death, that so I might serve the dead.
Creon — Lo, one of these maidens hath newly shown herself fool ish, as the other hath been since her life began.
Iamene —Yea, 0 King, such reason as nature may have given abides not with the unfortunate, but goes astray.
Creon — Thine did, when thou choosest vile deeds with the vile. Jsmene — What life could I endure, without her presence ? Creon — Nay, speak not of her " presence " ; she lives no more. Jsmene — But wilt thou slay the betrothed of thine own son ? Creon — Nay, there are other fields for him to plow.
Iamene — But there can never be such love as bound him to her. Creon — I like not an evil wife for my son.
Antigone — Haemon, beloved ! How thy father wrongs thee ! Creon — Enough, enough of thee and of thy marriage !
Chorus — Wilt thou indeed rob thy son of this maiden ?
Creon — 'Tis Death that shall stay these bridals for me.
Chorus — 'Tis determined, it seems, that she shall die.
Creon — Determined, yes, for thee and for me. — {To the two At
tendants. ] No more delay — servants, take them within ! Hence forth they must be women, and not range at large; for verily even the bold seek to fly, when they see Death now closing on their life.
{Exeunt Attendants, guarding Antigone and Ismene.
Cbeon and Hsemon.
Creon — We shall know soon, better than seers could tell us. — My son, hearing the fixed doom of thy betrothed, art thou come in rage against thy father ? Or have I thy good will, act how I may ?
JJoemon — Father, I am thine; and thou, in thy wisdom, tracest for me rules which I shall follow. No marriage shall be deemed by me a greater gain than thy good guidance.
Creon — Yea, this, my son, should be thy heart'B fixed law, — in all things to obey thy father's will. 'Tis for this that men pray to see dutiful children grow up around them in their homes, —that such may requite their father's foe with evil, and honor, as their father doth, his friend. But he who begets unprofitable children — what shall we say that he hath sown, but troubles for himself, and much triumph for his foes ? Then do not thou, my son, at pleasure's beck, dethrone thy reason for a woman's sake ; knowing that this is a joy that soon grows cold in clasping arms, — an evil woman to share thy bed and thy home. For what wound could strike deeper than a false friend ? Nay, with loathing, and as if she were thine enemy, let this girl go to find a husband in the house of Hades. For since I have taken her, alone of all the city, in open disobedience, I will not make myself a liar to my people — I will slay her. So
vol. in. — 24
370 SOPHOCLES' ANTIGONE.
let her appeal as she will to the majesty of kindred blood. If I am to nurture mine own kindred in naughtiness, needs must I bear with it in aliens. He who does his duty in his own household will be found righteous in the State also. But if any one transgresses, and does violence to the laws, or thinks to dictate to his rulers, such an one can win no praise from me. No, whomsoever the city may appoint, that man must be obeyed, in little things and great, in just things and unjust ; and I should feel sure that one who thus obeys would be a good ruler no less than a good subject, and in the storm of spears would stand his ground where he was set, loyal and daunt less at his comrade's side. But disobedience is the worst of evils. This it is that ruins cities ; this makes homes desolate ; by this, the ranks of allies are broken into headlong rout : but, of the lives whose course is fair, the greater part owes safety to obedience. Therefore we must support the cause of order, and in no wise suffer a woman to worst us. Better to fall from power, if we must, by a man's hand ; then we should not be called weaker than a woman.
Chorus — To us, unless our years have stolen our wit, thou seemest to say wisely what thou sayest.
Hcemon — Father, the gods implant reason in men, the highest of all things that we call our own. Not mine the skill — far from me be the quest ! — to say wherein thou speakest not aright ; and yet another man, too, might have some useful thought. At least, it is my natural office to watch, on thy behalf, all that men say, or do, or find to blame. For the dread of thy frown forbids the citizen to speak such words as would offend thine ear ; but I can hear these murmurs in the dark, these moanings of the city for this maiden ; " no woman," they say, " ever merited her doom less, — none ever was to die so shamefully for deeds so glorious as hers ; who, when her own brother had fallen in bloody strife, would not leave him unburied, to be devoured by carrion dogs, or by any bird ; — deserves not she the meed of golden honor ? " Such is the darkling rumor that spreads in secret. For me, my father, no treasure is so precious as thy wel fare. What, indeed, is a nobler ornament for children than a pros pering sire's fair fame, or for sire than son's? Wear not, then, one mood only in thyself; think not that thy word, and thine alone, must be right. For if any man thinks that he alone is wise, — that in speech, or in mind, he hath no peer, — such a soul, when laid open, is ever found empty. No, though a man be wise, 'tis no shame for him to learn many things, and to bend in season. Seest thou, beside the wintry torrent's course, how the trees that yield to it save every twig, while the stiff-necked perish root and branch ? And even thus he who keeps the sheet of his sail taut, and never slackens upsets his boat, and finishes his voyage with keel uppermost. Nay, forego thy wrath permit thyself to change. For younger man, may offer
;
if I, a
it,
SOPHOCLES' ANTIGONE. 371
my thought, it were far best, I ween, that men should be all-wise by nature ; but, otherwise — and oft the scale inclines not so — 'tis good also to learn from those who speak aright.
Chorus — Sire, 'tis meet that thou shouldest profit by his words, if he speaks aught in season, and thou, Haemon, by thy father's ; for on both parts there hath been wise speech.
Oreon — Men of my age — are we indeed to be schooled, then, by men of his ?
Hcemon — In nothing that is not right ; but if I shouldest look to my merits, not to my years.
am young, thou
Creon — Is it a merit to honor the unruly ?
I could wish no one to show respect for evil-doers.
Hcemon —
Creon — Then is not she tainted with that malady ?
Hcemon — Our Theban folk, with one voice, denies it.
Creon — Shall Thebes prescribe to me how I must rule ?
Hcemon — See, there thou hast spoken like a youth indeed. Creon — Am I to rule this land by other judgment than mine
Hcemon — Thou dost not respect them, when thou tramplest on the gods' honors.
own? — Hcemon
That is no city which belongs to one man.
Creon — Is not the city held to be the ruler's ?
Hcemon — Thou wouldst make a good monarch of a desert. Creon — This boy, it seems, is the woman's champion. Hcemon — If thou art a woman ; indeed, my care is for thee. Creon — Shameless, at open feud with thy father!
Hcemon — Nay, I
see thee offending against justice.
Creon — Do I offend, when I respect mine own prerogatives ?
Creon — O dastard nature, yielding place to a woman ! Hcemon —Thou wilt never find me yield to baseness.
Creon — All thy words, at least, plead for that girl.
Hcemon — And for thee, and for me, and for the gods below. Creon — Thou canst never marry her, on this side the grave. Hcemon — Then she must die, and in death destroy another.
Creon — How ! doth thy boldness run to open threats ?
Hcemon — What threat is to combat vain resolves
Creon — Thou shalt rue thy witless teaching of wisdom.
Hcemon —Wert thou not my father, would have called thee
unwise.
Creon — Thou woman's slave, use not wheedling speech with me. Hcemon — Thou wouldst speak, and then hear no reply
Creon — Sayest thou so Now by the heaven above us — be
sure of — thou shalt smart for taunting me in this opprobrious strain. Bring forth that hated thing, that she may die forthwith in his presence — before his eyes — at her bridegroom's side
it
!
?
I
?
?
it,
372 SOPHOCLES' (EDEPUS.
Hasmon — No, not at my side — never think it — shall she perish ; nor shalt thou ever set eyes more upon my face i — rave, then, with such friends as can endure thee. [Exit H. emon.
Chorus — The man is gone, 0 King, in angry haste ; a youthful mind, when stung, is fierce.
Creon — Let him do, or dream, more than man — good speed to him ! — But he shall not save these two girls from their doom.
Chorus — Dost thou indeed purpose to slay both ?
Creon — Not her whose hands are pure : thou sayest well.
Chorus — And by what doom mean'st thou to slay the other ? Creon — I will take her where the path is loneliest, and hide
her, living, in a rocky vault, with so much food set forth as piety prescribes, that the city may avoid a public stain. And there, pray ing to Hades, the only god whom she worships, perchance she will obtain release from death ; or else will learn, at last, though late, that it is lost labor to revere the dead. [Exit Creon.
THE DOWNFALL AND DEATH OF KING CEDIPUS. By SOPHOCLES.
(Version of Edward Fitzgerald. )
CEdipus, Priest, and Suppliants assembled before his Palace Gate,
Chorus.
CEdipus —
Children of Cadmus, and as mine to me,
When all that of the plague-struck city can
With lamentation loud, and sacrifice,
Beset the shrines and altars of the Gods
Through street and market, by the Temples twain Of Pallas, and before the Tomb that shrouds Ismenus his prophetic ashes — why
Be you thus gathered at my palace door,
Mute, with the Suppliant's olive branch in hand ? Asking, or deprecating, what ? which I,
Not satisfied from other lips to learn,
Myself have come to hear it from your own.
You, whose grave aspect and investiture
Announce the chosen oIracle of all,
Tell me the purport :
As King, and Father of his people too,
am here, you see,
SOPHOCLES' (EDIPUS.
To listen and what in me lies to do ;
For surely mine were but a heart of stone Not to be moved by such an embassy,
Nor feel my people's sorrows as my own.
Priest —
O (Edipus, our Father, and our King !
Of what a mingled company you see
This Supplication gathered at your door ;
Even from the child who scarce has learned to creep, Down to old age that little further can,
With all the strength of life that breathes between. You know how all the shattered city lies
Reeling a-wreck, and cannot right herself
Under the tempest of this pestilence,
That nips the fruitful growth within the bud, Strangles the struggling blossom in the womb,
With sudden death infects the living man,
Until the realm of Cadmus wastes, and Thebes
With her depopulation Hades feeds.
Therefore, myself and this mute company
In supplication at your altar sit,
Looking to you for succor ; looking not
As to a God, but to the Man of men,
Most like the God in man's extremity :
Who, coming here a stranger to the land,
Didst overcome the Witch who with her song Seduced, and slew the wisest and the best ;
For which all but divine deliverance Thebes
Called the strange man who saved her to the throne Left void by her hereditary king. — And now the kingdom looks to you once more
To you, the Master of the master mind,
To save her in a worse extremity :
When men, not one by one, but troop by troop,
Fall by a plague more deadly than the Sphinx,
Till Thebes herself is left to foreign arms
Assailable — for what are wall and tower,
Divinely built and founded as they be, — Without the rampart of the man within ?
And let not what of Cadmus yet survives
From this time forth regard you as the man
Who saved them once, by worse to perish now.
CEdipua —
Alas, my children ! telling me of that
My people groans with, knowing not yourselves
374
SOPHOCLES' (EDIPUS.
How more than any man among you, I,
Who bear the accumulated woes of all ;
So that you find me, coming when you may, Restlessly all day pacing up and down,
Tossing all night upon a sleepless bed, Endeavoring all that of myself I can,
And all of Heaven implore — thus far in vain. But if your King have seemed to pause awhile, 'Tis that I wait the issue of one hope,
Which, if accomplished, will accomplish all. Creon, my brother, and my second self
Beside the throne I sit on, to the shrine
Of Delphian Phoebus, — man's assured appeal
In all his exigence, — I have dispatched :
And long before you gathered at my door
Within my soul was fretting, lest To-day
That should have lighted him from Delphi back Pass over into night, and bring him not.
But come he must, and will ; and when he comes, Do Inot all, so far as man may do,
To follow where the God shall point the way, Denounce me traitor to the State I saved
And to the people who proclaimed me King. Your words are as a breath from Delphi, King, Prophetic of itself ; for even now
Forerunning Rumor buzzes in our ear
That he whose coming all await is here.
And as before the advent of a God,
The moving multitude divides — O Phoebus !
Be but the word he carries back to me
—
(Edipus —
Chorus
Chorus — Auspicious as well-timed ! And shall no less ;
(Edipus —
For look ! the laurel wreath about his brow Can but announce the herald of Success.
Enter Creon.
Son of Menoeceus ! Brother ! Brother king ! —
Oh, let impatience for the word you bring Excuse brief welcome to the messenger !
Be but the word as welcome ! —
As it shall,
Have you your ancient cunning to divine The darker word in which the God of Light
— (Edipus —
Creon
Enshrines his answer.
I know not whether most to hope or fear.
Speak ! for till I hear,
SOPHOCLES' (EDIPUS.
Oreon —
Am I to speak before the people here, Or to yourself within ?
(Edipus — Here, before all, Whose common cause it is.
Creon — To all then thus : When Delphi reached, and at the sacred shrine Lustration, sacrifice, and offering made,
I put the question I was charged withal,
The Prophetess of the three-footed throne, Conceiving with the vapor of the God
Which wrapt her, rising from Earth's center, round, At length convulsed to sudden answer broke : —
" O seven-gated City, by the Lyre
Compact, and peopled from a Dragon Sire !
Thebes feeds the Plague that slays her, nourishing Within her walls the slayer of her King. "
(Edipus —
The slayer of her King ? What king ?
Creon—
I know than Laius, son of Labdacus,
Who occupied the throne before you came ; That much of Oracle, methinks, is plain.
(Edipus —
A story rises on me from the past. Laius, the son of Labdacus — of whom I know indeed, but him I never saw.
Creon —
No ; he was slain before you set your foot Over the country's threshold.
(Edipus — Slain! By whom? Creon —
That to divine were to interpret all
That QSdipus himself is called to answer. Thus much is all we know,
The King was murdered by some roving band Of outlaws, who waylaid him on his road
To that same Delphi, whither he had gone
On some such sacred mission as myself.
(Edipus —
Yet of those roving outlaws, one at least
Yet breathes among us in the heart of Thebes.
Creon —
So saith the Oracle.
(Edipus — In the midst of all
None else
376
SOPHOCLES' (EDIPUS.
The citizens and subjects of the King
He slew : Creon —
So saith the Oracle.
(Edipus — But hold !
The story of this treason — all, you say,
Now known of how first made known in Thebes Creon —
By the one man of the King's retinue,
Who having 'scaped the fate which took the rest, As the assassin's foot were at his heels,
Half dead with fear, just reached the city gates With breath to tell the story.
(Edipus — To tell
And breathes still
Creon—
once again
know not that For having told the bewildered man,
As fast as hither he had fled, fled hence,
Where, the assassin's foot not on him then, His eye, the God declares, were on him now — So fled he to his native field again
Among his flocks and fellow-husbandmen.
(Edipus —
And thus the single witness you let slip,
Whose eye might even have singled out the man, As him the man's Oh, had but been by,
would have driven interrogation home,
Would the bewildered memory so have sifted
Of each minutest grain of circumstance — — How many, accoutered how, what people like
Now, by the lapse of time and memory,
Beyond recall into oblivion passed
But not to lose what yet of hope there
Let him be sent for, sought for, found, and brought.
Creon —
Meanwhile, default of him for whom you send, Or of uncertain memory when he comes,
Were not well, if still the God withhold
His revelation of the word we need,
To question of his Interpreter
(Edipus —
Of his Interpreter
Creon — Of whom so well,
As of Tiresias, the blind Seer of Thebes,
Whose years the God hath in his service counted Beyond all reach of human memory
—
?
?
? I
it it
I
if
if it
?
I !
is
:
!
it,
it,
?
SOPHOCLES' Q3DIPUS.
(Edipus —
So be it. But I marvel yet why Thebes, Letting the witness slip, then unpursued,
Or undetected, left the criminal,
Whom the King's blood, by whomsoever spilt, Cried out aloud to be revenged upon.
Creon —
What might be done we did. But how detect The roving robber, in whatever land,
Of friend or foe alike, outlawed of all, Wherever prey to pounce on on the wing,
Or housed in rock or forest, save to him Unknown, or inaccessible ? Besides,
Thebes soon had other business on her hand.
(Edipus —
Why, what of business to engage her more Than to revenge the murder of her King ?
Creon —
None other than the riddle-singing Sphinx Who, till you came to silence her, held Thebes From thinking of the dead to save herself.
(Edipus —
And leaving this which then you might have guessed, To guess at that which none of you could solve,
You have brought home a riddle on your heads Inextricable and more fatal far !
But I, who put the riddling Witch to rest,
This fatal riddle will unravel too,
And by swift execution following
The revelation, once more save the realm,
And wipe away the impiety and shame
Of Laius' yet unexpiated death.
For were no expiation to the God,
And to the welfare of this people due,
Were't not a shame thus unrevenged so long
To leave the slaughter of so great a King—
King Laius, the son of Labdacus,
Who from his father Polydore his blood
Direct from Cadmus and Agenor drew ?
Shame to myself, who, sitting on the throne
He sat on, wedded to the very Queen
Who should have borne him children, as to me
She bore them, had not an assassin's hand
Divorced them ere their wedded life bore fruit ! Therefore to this as 'twere my father's cause,
SOPHOCLES' (EDIPUS.
As of my people's — nay, why not my own, Who in his death am threatened by the hand Of him, whose eye now follows me about ? — With the Gods' aid do I devote myself.