Prologos
Antigone
Ismene, my sister, true child of my own mother, do you know any evil out
of all the evils bequeathed by Oedipus that Zeus will not fulfil for the
two of us in our lifetime? There is nothing—no pain, no ruin,
no shame, nor dishonor—that I have not
seen in your sufferings and mine. And now what is this new edict that
they say the general has just decreed to all the city? Do you know
anything? Have you heard? Or does it escape you that
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evils from our enemies are on the march against
our friends?
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Ismene
To me no word of our friends, Antigone, either bringing joy or bringing
pain has come since we two were robbed of our two brothers who died in
one day by a double blow.
And since
the Argive army has fled during
this night, I have learned nothing further, whether better fortune is
mine, or further ruin.
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Antigone
I knew it well, so I was trying to bring you outside the courtyard gates
to this end, that you alone might hear.
Ismene
Hear what? It is clear that you are
brooding on some dark news.
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Antigone
Why not? Has 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 has laid in the earth
for his honor among the dead below. As for the poor
corpse of Polyneices, however, they say that an edict has been published
to the townsmen that no one shall bury him or mourn him, but instead
leave him unwept, unentombed, for the birds a pleasing store
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as they look to satisfy their hunger.
Such, it is said, is the edict that the good Creon has laid down for you
and for me—yes, for me—and it is said that he is coming here to proclaim
it for the certain knowledge of those who do not already know. They say
that he does not conduct this business lightly,
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but whoever performs any of these rites, for him the
fate appointed is death by public stoning among the entire city. This is
how things stand for you, and so you will soon show your nature, whether
you are noble-minded, or the corrupt daughter of a noble line.
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Ismene
Poor sister, if things have come to this, what would I
profit by loosening or tightening this knot?
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Antigone
Consider whether you will share the toil and the task.
Ismene
What are you hazarding? What do you intend?
Antigone
Will you join your hand to mine in order to lift his corpse?
Ismene
You plan to bury him—when it is forbidden to the city?
Antigone
Yes, he is my brother, and yours
too, even if you wish it otherwise. I will never be convicted of
betraying him.
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Ismene
Hard girl! Even when Creon has forbidden it?
Antigone
No, he has no right to keep me from my own.
