Epeisodion 2
Guard
Here is she, the one who did the deed.
We caught this one burying him. Where is Creon?
385
Chorus
There, he is coming from the house again at our need.
Creon
What is it? What has happened that makes my coming timely?
Guard
My king, there is nothing that a man can rightly swear he
will not do. For second thought belies one’s first intent.
I could have vowed that I would not ever come here
again, because of your threats by which I had just been storm-tossed.
But since this joy that exceeds and oversteps my hopes can be compared
in fulness to no other pleasure, I am back—though it is contrary to my
sworn oath—
390
bringing this girl who
was caught giving burial honors to the dead. This time there was no
casting of lots. No, this piece of luck has fallen to me, and me alone.
And now, my king, as it pleases you, take her yourself, question her and
convict her. But justice would see me
395
released free and clear from this trouble.
400
Creon
Your prisoner here—how and where did you take her?
Guard
She was burying the man. You know all there is to tell.
Creon
Are you clear and sure about what you are saying?
Guard
I am. I saw her burying the corpse that you
had forbidden to bury. Is that plain and
sufficient?
405
Creon
And how was she observed? How taken in the act?
Guard
It happened like this. When we had come to the place with those fierce
threats of yours still in our ears, we swept away all the dust that
covered
the corpse and bared
the damp body well. We then sat down on the brow of the hill to
windward, fleeing the smell from him, lest it strike us. Each man was
wide awake and kept his neighbor alert with torrents of threats, if any
one should be careless of this task.
410
So time passed, until the disk of the sun stood bright
in mid-sky and the heat began to burn. And then suddenly a whirlwind
lifted from the earth a storm of dust, a trouble in the sky, and it
filled the plain, marring all the foliage of its woods.
415
Soon the wide air was choked with it. We closed
our eyes, and endured the plague from the gods. When, after a long
while, this storm had passed, the girl was seen, and she wailed aloud
with the sharp cry of a grieving bird, as when inside her
empty
420
nest she sees the bed
stripped of its nestlings. So she, too, when she saw the corpse bare,
broke into a cry of lamentation and cursed with harsh curses those who
had done it. Immediately she took thirsty dust in her hands,
425
and from a pitcher of beaten bronze held
high she crowned the dead with thrice-poured libations. We rushed
forward when we saw it, and at once closed upon our quarry, who was not
at all dismayed. We then charged her with her past and present
doings,
430
but she made no denial of anything—at once to my joy and
to my pain. For to have escaped from trouble one’s self gives the
greatest joy, but it stings to lead friends to evil. Naturally, though,
all such things are
435
of less account to me than my own safety.
440
Creon
You, you with your face bent to the ground, do you admit, or deny that
you did this?
Antigone
I declare it and make no denial.
Creon
You can take yourself wherever you please,
free and clear of a heavy charge. Exit
Guard.
445
You, however, tell me—not at length, but briefly—did you know that an
edict had forbidden this?
Antigone
I knew it. How could I not? It was public.
Creon
And even so you dared overstep that law?
Antigone
Yes, since it was not Zeus that
published me that edict, and since not of that kind are the laws which
Justice who dwells with the gods below established among men. Nor did I
think that your decrees were of such force, that a mortal could override
the unwritten
450
