So, when she saw the body bare, she raised

A cry of anguish mixed with imprecations

Laid upon those who did it; then at once

Brought handfuls of dry dust, and raised aloft

A shapely vase of bronze, and three times poured

The funeral libation for the dead.

We rushed upon her swiftly, seized our prey.

And charged her both with this offence and that.

She faced us calmly; she did not disown

The double crime. How glad I was!—and yet

How sorry too; it is a painful thing

To bring a friend to ruin. Still, for me,

My own escape comes before everything.

CREON. You there, who keep your eyes fixed on the ground,

Do you admit this, or do you deny it?

ANTIGONE. No, I do not deny it. I admit it.

CREON. [To GUARD] Then you may go; go where you like. You have

Been fully cleared of that grave accusation.

[Exit GUARD.]

You: tell me briefly—I want no long speech:

Did you not know that this had been forbidden?

ANTIGONE. Of course I knew. There was a proclamation.

CREON. And so you dared to disobey the law?

ANTIGONE. It was not Zeus who published this decree,

Nor have the Powers who rule among the dead

Imposed such laws as this upon mankind;

Nor could I think that a decree of yours—

A man—could override the laws of Heaven

Unwritten and unchanging. Not of today

Or yesterday is their authority;

They are eternal; no man saw their birth.

Was I to stand before the gods’ tribunal

For disobeying them, because I feared

A man? I knew that I should have to die,

Even without your edict; if I die

Before my time, why then, I count it gain;

To one who lives as I do, ringed about

With countless miseries, why, death is welcome.

For me to meet this doom is little grief;

But when my mother’s son lay dead, had I

Neglected him and left him there unburied,

That would have caused me grief; this causes none.

And if you think it folly, then perhaps

I am accused of folly by the fool.

CHORUS. The daughter shows her father’s temper—fierce,

Defiant; she will not yield to any storm.

CREON. But it is those that are most obstinate

Suffer the greatest fall; the hardest iron,

Most fiercely tempered in the fire, that is

Most often snapped and splintered. I have seen

The wildest horses tamed, and only by

The tiny bit. There is no room for pride

In one who is a slave! This girl already

Had fully learned the art of insolence

When she transgressed the laws that I established;

And now to that she adds a second outrage—

To boast of what she did, and laugh at us.

Now she would be the man, not I, if she

Defeated me and did not pay for it.

But though she be my niece, or closer still