Prologos
Ismene
Ah, no! Think, sister, how our father
perished in hatred and infamy, when, because of the crimes that he
himself detected, he smashed both his eyes with self-blinding hand; then
his mother-wife, two names in one, with a twisted noose destroyed her
life;
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lastly, our two brothers
in a single day, both unhappy murderers of their own flesh and blood,
worked with mutual hands their common doom. And now we, in turn—we two
who have been left all alone—consider how much more miserably we will be
destroyed, if in defiance of the law
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we transgress against an autocrat’s decree or his powers.
No, we must remember, first, that ours is a woman’s nature, and
accordingly not suited to battles against men; and next, that we are
ruled by the more powerful, so that we must obey in these things and in
things even more stinging.
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I, therefore, will
ask those below for pardon, since I am forced to this, and will obey
those who have come to authority. It is foolish to do what is
fruitless.
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Antigone
I would not encourage you—no, nor, even if you were willing
later,
would I welcome you as
my partner in this action. No, be the sort that pleases you. I will bury
him—it would honor me to die while doing that. I shall rest with him,
loved one with loved one, a pious criminal. For the time is
greater
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that I must serve the
dead than the living, since in that world I will rest forever. But if
you so choose, continue to dishonor what the gods in honor have
established.
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Ismene
I do them no dishonor. But to act in violation of the
citizens’ will—of that I am by nature incapable.
Antigone
You can make that your pretext!
Regardless, I will go now to heap a tomb over the brother I love.
80
Ismene
Oh no, unhappy sister! I fear for you!
Antigone
Do not tremble for me. Straighten out your own destiny.
Ismene
Then at least disclose the deed to no one before you do it.
Conceal it, instead, in secrecy—and so,
too, will I.
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Antigone
Go on! Denounce it! You will be far more hated for your silence, if you
fail to proclaim these things to everyone.
Ismene
You have a hot heart for chilling deeds.
Antigone
I know that I please those whom I am most bound to please.
Ismene
Yes, if you will also have the
power. But you crave the impossible.
90
Antigone
Why then, when my strength fails, I will have finished.
Ismene
An impossible hunt should not be tried in the first place.
