148 SOPHOCLES'
A READING OF
ANTIGONE: I
Seth Benardete
1.1.*
1 (1).
Antigone
Ismene
meets
the
outside
the
of
gates
royal
She usurps for the planning of her crime the place Creon had designated for his own meeting with the elders (33). As they converse without any chance of being overheard (19), they must be imagined to meet in semidarkness, before anyone has set out for work (cf. 253). The
palace.
Chorus, at any rate, wiU greet the sun as though it has just come up (100); and it is still early enough for them to convene at the palace without
introduces
theme
the
Ismene. "O my very Ismene,"
play
own sister's common
head is
of
manner Ismene."
of
held
not
addressing The "head of
in
and which makes
her
individually
the togetherness
on
Ismene"
by
supphed
sister's
head,
matter what
common.1
to that part of Ismene that most distinguishes her from
(cf. O.C. 320-1, 555-6),
lovable (cf. 764), at the same time that she insists Ismene and herself. The link between "head of is
Antigone
semidarkness
her
characterizes,
appeals
everyone else
with
"common"
which
Antigone
the
of
In this
(164).
notice
undue
attracting
Antigone
avxddeXov.
just because
and not
she
and
Ismene's head
recognizes
loves
some girl called
of
"common"
as
Ismene,
a no
her genealogy, does she address her in this way. Antigone's as a person is mediated through Ismene's kinship with
love for Ismene
and not only mediated through, but identified with, that kinship; for Ismene's head is avxddeXov, nothing but a sister's. Ismene is herself
herself;
*
The text
however, any
connection
have
Each line
1
is Pearson's OCT
in
or
his
except where otherwise
readings wherever
between the reading
ed over
numbers
for
used
not always accepted
my
chosen and
I
am
indicated. I have myself,
silent, for if I did not see
my interpretation
of
the age, I
own preference. of
group
lines interpreted is
parentheses after
it. Each
given a section
paragraph of
every
number,
section
is
with
the
line
numbered as well
ease of cross-reference.
Nauck
'Iap.r)vqg xoivdv
recognized
xaoa
were
the
the
lurks the incest
accidental
that the
peculiarity
same
of
as
Oedipus;
periphrasis
of
xoivdv
Oidlnov
'head
cf.
but
xixvov
not
would
OT 261-2, OC X'
of
occurs
only in
its
significance:
xoivdv
be in
533, 535. It is Sophocles'
only if
order. no
Oedipus
In
doubt plays
(Euripides has it only thrice: Tr 661, He 676-7, Cy 438), but it seems more significant that in the vocative the phrase is restricted in classical poetry to Ant 1 and
OT 40 (Oedipus), 950 (Iocasta), 1207 (Oedipus). Eur. Or 476 is very different: xaqa (Tyndarus); cf. Or 1380. The normal usage is either
Zr\vbg 6fi6XexxQOV the
person's name
in the
"head"
an adjective plus
vocative
by itself.
followed
by
"head"
with a
qualifying adjective
or
A in
being
Only
a sister.
to Antigone
a sister
Reading of if Ismene
Sophocles'
wiU
149
herself to be nothing but continue to love her.
acknowledges
Polynices
and
Antigone
Antigone
Ismene the individual, with such and such bodUy characteristics, is loved because she belongs to the same fanuly as Antigone. Her distinc tiveness merely signifies for Antigone her hip in the fanuly that Antigone loves unreservedly. Ismene can, therefore, be readUy sacrificed for the sake of her fanuly, particularly as the semidarkness in which she and Antigone meet partly conceals her distinctiveness along with the reasons for it. One
1.2.
Antigone's
whether
Ismene of
as
wondering, in hght
help
cannot
that necessarUy
and the self
a
virtual
does
relation
is involved in her
what
Antigone
1.3.
Polynices'
Eteocles
(899, 915),
and
1.4.
each
Polynices
are
Her brothers
of address.
the
soul,
foreshadow Antigone's understanding Polynices.
not
head:
someone's
Eteocles'
and
of whom she caUs xaalyvnxov
That
xaqa.
dead in no way changes Antigone's manner in death their individual loveableness.
keep
also
avxddeXog
body,
burying
twice more to
refers
the
of
importance in a play about burial, identification of Ismene as her self with are of
twice more,
occurs
once
by
Antigone (503),
by Haemon (696), and both times of Antigone's burying Polynices. The substantival use of avxddeXog indicates that Antigone
and of
once
dared to
bury
Polynices solely because he was her brother, of Thebes had no part in her daring (cf.
Polynices the enemy 1.5. play:
Words
2
compounded with avx
(1028),
avdadia
her
parents
and
and
avxdvofiog
avxd%eiq
Antigone's
about
herself
She does
could
have,
that
not
her
with
use
say,
as
hand.
own of
her
reveals
that there is nothing painful, not seen.
avxoyevvnxog (864), avxdyvcoxog (821), avxdnQe/ivog (714), avxovqydg (306, 900, 1315). Of these Antigone
her three siblings, avxoyevvnxog of the incest avxd%eiq of her performing the funeral rites for
brothers
2 (2-10). 2.1.
in talking
particularly frequent in this
are
avxddeXog of
her mother,
of
that
15.3).
avxddeXog,
(875), avxoxxoveco (56), (52), avxdwQog (51), uses three:
and
verb
a
kinship
Ismene's
phrase
has full knowledge She does not speak
she
suffers
accordingly.
instead
of
oticoti).3
ovx
If
she
had,
awareness
of
of
she would
(dnwna)
her father. She
dishonorable that
or
shameful,
of
with
(16-7) every
says
has
suggests that she possible
suffering
have
she
(*
evU
and
ov
itted
that
she
in Ismene's sorrows, and that her suffering is not just her own. But in spite of xoivdv in the first line and her use of the dual for shares
2
For the meaning
griechischen
of
such
compounds
see
F.
Sommer, Zur Geschichte der
Nominalkomposita, 83-6.
Cf. the imitation in Dio Cassius 62.3.2 (cited by Bruhn): xi [iiv yao ov xcbv ov x&v SXylaxmv nendyQa/xev ; and El 761-3 (3>v omarf iym xaxcbv), where seeing is opposed to hearing. 3
rid'
alo%ioxct>v,
Interpretation
150 Ismene the
herself
and
her
and
evils
(vcov),
o&v
xe
between
Antigone distinguishes
Zeus has
fuUy in
evils set
brought to
by
motion
(Polynices).5
friends
Their
xajxcov).
distinct from
are
evUs
(cf. 31-2).
start
2.2.
distinguishes between Ismene's
she nevertheless
(xdiv
own
for Ismene
completion
that
evUs
and
herself,4
that
and those
that are approaching their Polynices do not belong to
(Creon)
their enemies
The
from Oedipus
evils
the
await
is Zeus the cause of them. There cannot be anything painful or disgraceful in Creon's decree, since Zeus faUed to inflict no evU that could possibly arise from Oedipus, and Antigone has seen every disgrace and pain there could be as already among Antigone
Ismene,
and
nor
the evils that are Ismene's and her
however,
Antigone's actions,
own.
Polynices'
evUs and her own evidendy belie any separation between (cf. 48); but she has to it, even if only tacitly, that there is a evUs as her own difference between them, and that to count is to enlarge the domain of her own (cf. 238, 437-9). Polynices'
2.3. their the
Antigone
in
moves
this
speech
in Oedipus
origin
single
from
belong tly
that because of
the evUs
Ismene
to
herself,
and
living offspring of Oedipus, to the two sets of evUs that she as belonging severaUy to Ismene and herseh, and from these
stUl
observes
(the only
to evils
without
xaxd
the
article) that
Polynices.
threaten
The central xaxd, in separating Antigone's and Ismene's evUs, to Antigone's subsequent shaking off of her living connection Ismene
not
burial
of
his
war
she
caUs
Boeckh's
todt,
waren sie
standing
the
to
which
as one of the evils
to Oedipus
by name.) being deprived
Polynices'
taking
Her only
vwv
reference
to
it is
suppressing any direct
By
Ixi t,dioaiv
as
keep
them
throughout the play
and
genitive
<6oaiv
rather
oblique:
mention of
dative
than
ihren, (209); cf. 925-6. Schneidewin-Nauck, Wolff-Bellermann, Miiller; Jebb's inter
enemies
are
1080-3 (cf.
of
(8).
leicht Uebel begegnen
So the scholium;
pretation
between
it is dative: "derm der Zusatz
nicht
refers
disregards here
occurred.
general
for
reason
convinces me that
5
just
Creon the
Creon's decree again
with
Polynices.6
the dead
the son of Oedipus. She is able to
altogether
she
never
connection
any
being
that has
the
4
and
because
apart
of
aware
with
consider
not
from Oedipus. (She
are
She is
her fate
ing
Antigone does
2.4. that
her
and
point
J. H. Kells
all
the
ware
nichtig,
weil
konnten"
Argives left
55.5). The
objects
exi
apparent
unburied
redundancy
rests of
on
xcbv
(BICS 1963, 40-53), if Antigone
a
misunder
ixOQ&v xaxd,
means
that
their
inflict evils, is only apparent; for Ismene does not know that Creon is their enemy, and Antigone would hardly it that Zeus is their enemy, despite his having inflicted evils on them. In light, however, of 23 and 79 xcov ixOgcov enemies
should of
75 6
not
and
be taken
89
should
The importance
H. St. John
as
a
generalizing plural, any
be taken of triads
Thackeray (Proc.
as referring of
more
than xovg lXovg
every kind in Sophocles
British
in light
exclusively to Polynices.
Academy XVI, 1931).
was
cursorily treated
by
A
Reading of
Sophocles'
Antigone
151
the war, she suppresses as weU the rivalry of Eteocles and Polynices for the throne of Oedipus. Her sUence about the war and the cause of the war thus leads to her
sUence
three
about
that Polynices
things:
killed in the war and did not just die in some miserable way (26); that Polynices attacked and Eteocles defended Thebes; and that Eteocles and Polynices kUled one another. We learn of aU this from Ismene, the was
Chorus,
Creon but
or
never from Antigone. Antigone fact that Polynices lies
the
everything except 3 (11-17). 3.1.
abstracts
from
unburied.7
Ismene at once thinks of pleasure and happiness disaster (13, 17). She does not speak of dishonor Creon, who thinks solely of honor and dishonor (cf. 4.5) uses aXyog or any of its derivatives stands at one extreme,
as weU as of pain and and shame.
he
never
Ismene, who speaks solely of pleasure wltile Antigone, who speaks of and acts
and
and on
pain,
the center, where pain and pleasure, honor and
3.2.
In
cannot
an
does
for the better in her
conceive, especiaUy
not
3.3.
with
carry
Ismene
that
says
They
To have
means
brother
a
puts
an
only
refer
her that the
brother's), occurs
axeqeoi
son
of
of
and Antigone have been deprived of from now on without any brother (58). to have a living brother (cf. 48.7). Death she
of
her
Hades'
corpse she
she
whether
body,
question of
t
it
of
Antigone
reports
asked to
does
help bury
not
wish
is her brother
it to be (43-6). 9
Antigone (574);
and
Creon
says
that
Antigone
(890). Death, then, in aU three loss (cf. 575). But Haemon is not
unqualified
his bride; the messenger, at any rate, says that he house the marriage rites (1240-1). Haemon's loss is ceases
soul,
any
is
she
can
sojourn on earth
qualified.
Ismene
then might
be
mistaken
to have her brothers with their death.
The 1.2). be decisive (cf. earth is absolute and does
and self would once again
Antigone's loss, however, not
if
Ismene
1.3). Antigone
twice more. The Chorus ask Creon whether he
in thus (at least metaphoricaUy) obtained
to
Creon's decree, of alive (exi cboaiv)
are
even
to entaU an
seems
totaUy deprived
as
of
stiU
the
But Antigone
earth.8
deprive his be deprived
cases,
not preclude
to any relationship that obtains on to her brothers in the past tense (55; cf.
must remind
wiU
are
end
(not just her
wiU
herself
occupies
meet.
circumstances.
her knowledge
and
the other,
it any hope.
their two brothers.
3.4.
with
future. That Ismene
open
dishonor,
Antigone says, Ismene does
spite of what
of a change
possibUity
stands at
both principles,
of
sojourn
a
qualifications
(cf.
on
46.6; 47.4).
that Creon intends to announce his decree to those who
have
it (33); she, no more perhaps than those from whom she heard it, has any suspicion of, or any interest in, the political reasons for Creon's convocation no
knowledge
of
the Chorus. 8 9
rrJG
of
Cf. PI. Lgs. 959c2-dl. Cf.
schol.
ovyysvetac.
45:
x&v ftij ngocmoifj iycb Bdyico xdv i/tdv
avxdv elvai adv adeXdv xai
adv adeXdv.
&XX'
dXXoxoiotg
aavxijv
Interpretation
152
Antigone's
4 (21-36). 4.1.
Creon's
compared with
begin the Antigone died
be
must
to the Chorus (194-201). Both
that they diverge. way ('ExeoxXea fiev), but after he Creon's explanation for his honoring Eteocles behalf of his country and proved to be the best warrior justice.10 calls Creon's just use of law and
same
replaces
fighting
on
ironicaUy
she
what
with
Creon's decree
of
presentation
own presentation
She thereby suppresses any mention of the war and the city, about which it would have been difficult to be ironical. Antigone never casts doubt on patriotism. Creon hid Eteocles, she then says, below the earth honor among the dead below. Creon, however, says that he had ordered Eteocles to be hidden in a grave and sanctified with dead. Antigone disregards aU everything that goes below for the best endowed with
the rites that accord honor to Eteocles
Eteocles in must
his
or confuses through
connects
war with
the
dead; but Creon the exceUence of
Eteocles among the dead. Antigone Eteocles among the dead from whatever
exceUence of
honor
the
separate
among the rites
mention of the
of
if he had hved; but Creon must hold 209-10). The city must for him keep itseh intact therefore cannot be more exactly determined; it is only below. an extension in depth of Thebes. For Antigone, however, who with Ismene (65) alone specifies that below means below the earth (cf. 26.2),
honor he
would
have
obtained
together (cf.
them
"Below"
burial
means
restricted
4.2.
The
surface
word
of
the
its
and
The city is
concerns.
earth.
for the dead below is the
is it taken for
of
plural
that corpses
granted
little does the language itseh indicate
so of
from Thebes
removal
much
so
corpse,
a
to the
what
the
for
word
buried
are
and
the condition might be
the buried dead.
4.3.
Antigone
says
Creon forbade
that
burial
the
Polynices'
of
corpse; Creon says that the burial of Polynices is forbidden. Antigone seems to separate Polynices from his corpse; Creon, in order to justify
his vindictiveness, seems to identify them; but Antigone speaks of the haplessly dead corpse of Polynices, as though his corpse and not Polynices had
vexvcov
It is
that there is
nor
enaUage,
died.
and
suffered
xaxaxedvncoxcov.
If
a
not
haplessly
kiUed
to say that she of
one unscrambles
the point both equally disappear.
the
enough
reminiscence
Polynices,"
for
is
Homeric
speaks
by
expression
the phrase, the pathos and
She does she
the
not
not out
mean
"the
to vindicate
corpse
of
Polynices'
Polynices"
death. Jebb's translation, "the hapless corpse of is right, but "hapless" if adds that refers to the living. Antigone one only properly
10
Line 24
(dixal
seems
xQriodcov
to be
xai
thetical comment on and
164
vdfiog n.l.
see
the
hopeless; but I
Sgxoigi): ihg
Xiyovoi
should
%or\oQ(ov
avv
ages collected
suggest, in light
dtxal
xai
dixn. For the
v6/j.
of
Thucydides 5.18.4
as
Antigone's
coordination
by R. Hirzel, Themis, Dike
of
paren
dtxaiov (dlxrj)
und
Verwandtes,
A
of
catachresticaUy, for neither she why, apart from the law, a
must speak ever
Sophocles'
Reading
explains
that there
Antigone
153 in the play be buried. No
nor anyone else
corpse
must
in Hades (cf. El. 841, 1418-9), whose burial of corpses here.11 No one speaks of this kind of separation of body and soul (cf. El. 245-50). In the absence of any such , Antigone attributes everything that belongs to Polynices to his corpse. His corpse is in and of itself the object of her care. one says
4.4.
Antigone
Creon
mourner's
Creon is
precise
aspects
before,
exovxpe
and
of
dayviaai before. Antigone is the rites to be denied Polynices.
about
that
ritual
are
not
connected
the
with
(cf.
sorrow
Creon
whereas
souls
on the
xaXvrpai, as she had said
says
those
omits
living
xxeoieiv, as he had said
says
vague where
She
are
depends
ittance there
says
3.1). Both say /iijde (xe) xmxvaai xiva, but Polynices is to be left unburied, Antigone adds
that he is to go unwept. Perhaps Creon omits the prohibition
weeping because,
possible to regulate
against
lamentation (xcoxvaai), it is almost im (cf. H 427; PI. Lgs. 959e7-960a2; Cicero in Pisonem
unlike
ritual
8.18). 4.5. Antigone says the proclamation was made to the townspeople, Creon to this city (cf. 7). It seems to mark a great change in Antigone
finaUy
when she
calls
the Thebans citizens
(806,
cf.
30.2).
79, 907,
4.6. Antigone says Polynices is to be left for the birds, Creon says for the birds and dogs; and according to the messenger, who is altogether truthful (1192-3), he was torn apart by dogs alone (1198, cf. 1017, 17.3). Antigone says that corpse has been left to be for the Polynices'
birds
as
their
at
by
a
treasure-trove
sweet
pleasure.12
birds
and
dogs
the
dead
Creon
says
whenever
that
the
they descry him
body
to feed
is to be left to be
on
eaten
disgraced in its mangling. For Creon the is done for Antigone men, seeing by by birds; hence Creon considers the disgrace and Antigone the pleasure. For Creon the eating of Polynices is like the burying of Eteocles: a manner of showing honor or dishonor
for
what
into
seen
stood
for. But for
Antigone,
who
sympathetically
birds'
perspective, the eating like the burying is a trait belongs to the corpse itself. The sweet treasure-trove that is Polynices
enters that
and
indicates 11
the
the
preciousness
Polynices
of
even
dead.13
though
Antigone
Cf. M. Pohlenz, Die Griechische Tragbdie, 195. Aeschines, in commenting on absolves a son whose father has sold him for purposes of prostitution
the law that
from taking rites,
says
6
rjvlxa
xo
care of
his father but
that this prevents the
fiev
evegyexov/tevog
ovx
still ens
him to
father from profiting aloddvexai xcav eS
bury
him
while
naa%ei,
with
alive,
xijxaxai
the customary
and when
dead,
di 6 v6/iog
xai
Oeiov (1.14). i2
For the
naxrjQ
oBv
dmsiQ7)x6xeg is
feeling
ox
xai
expressed
firjxr]Q
ij
in
Orjaavgdg
rcrdrcov
see
Eur. EI.
naxiqeg rj /inxiQeg iv
565;
PI. Lgs.
931a4-5;
olxta xslvxai xeifitfXwi
yriQq.
Compare
Philoctetes'
address
to
the
birds
no
longer
afraid
of
his
bow:
Interpretation
154
his
maintain
can
He is
consumption.
does
corpse
an
second visit
have
hiUtop
retired
to
a
not
contemplate
birds. The
the
his
corpse as
439e7-440a, Xen. Cyrop.
(cf. PI. Rep.
disgust her
not
does
she
inexhaustible find for
1.4.24). On her to the
because
preciousness
to the putrescent corpse, when the guards
to avoid its
(411-2),
stench
she pays no attention
stench.
Nonadverbial %dqig
4.7.
Antigone how
twice
occurs
can
she
honor Polynices
he
owes
(331),
and
Creon
asks
grace
that
his brother
the guard
more:
to the gods for saving his life
much gratitude
with
a
says
finds impious (514). The guard's %dqig is in exchange for a favor received, and the favor Antigone renders Polynices is at least partly in exchange for the loving reception she wiU receive after her death reciprocity.
dweU
Perhaps
lovingly
so
corpse renders
this selfless
without
Antigone
makes
it, for in revealing a preciousness in his corpse be in its nature to have, it cancels out any defects
have had
might
generosity
is
the birds
Polynices
of
upon
that seems not to
Polynices
Polynices'
the favor
9.4); but
(cf.
when alive
15.3). Antigone
(cf.
might thus
showing favor to what in way favored. She might then deserves to be apart from the even law, itself, come a second time in order to feed her eyes on the corpse that she the burial
regard
of
thinks of as fuU
by
of
Polynices
as
28.1).
(cf.
grace
of
a
4.8.
For Antigone's calling Creon the
4.9.
Antigone
pubhc stoning.
Antigone is
show
not mention
see
17.5.
she
the punishment; and indeed
in that way (cf.
Antigone lays
whether
Creon,
that the punishment for disobedience is death
Creon does
not punished
5 (37-8). 5.1. is to
says
good
was
down
born
Antigone disregards the incestuous
14.1, 43.1).
a
noble
for Ismene,
challenge
base from
or
marriage of
her
noble
parents.
who
parents.
They
were
noble, and nothing prevents their offspring from being noble; rather, it is to be expected that blood will tell.14 Not until her own death is very near
does Antigone of
the
it that
6 (39-40). 6.1.
Ismene
ioMExe,
vvv xaXov
brilliant flesh";
dvxlovov
not
one
her
Antigone
xoqioai ngdg xdoiv
"discolored
is to think
najxalvovxag (A
arrjQeoi sardonic
(cf.
X
73;
100;
Tyrt.
of
xexvojioiovvxai, ovg
oTioiEiodai.
parents
has been the
source
daring
flesh"
regard
(cf. 42, 47). xaXaiocov herself (866, 876).
mouth of
i/idg his
aagxog aloXag (1155-7).
own
consumption with
xaXov
horror.
(for which, see E 354) but "gleaming/ dgyixi drj/i (A 818) and Homer's own
Patroclus'
E 295; Soph. Tr. 94-5), which is not merely 7, 21-8). Andromache's lament for Hector also contributed to M 208) expression.
cf.
fr.
(X 509; cf. Cf. Xen. Mem. 4.4.23: ra&s
aldXoi evXai edovxat
14
calls
that Philoctetes does not wholly
aagxdg aldXag is
natdeg
of
for her (857-66).
twice more, both times in Antigone's
occurs
shows
the incest
most painful concern
Philoctetes'
o$v,
iri ['Inniag,
ye ovdev xcoXvei
dyadovg
oSxoi [yovelg Svxag i dyaBdiv
xaxcog
avxovg
xai xexv-
A
She first
Sophocles'
Antigone
155
herself
xaXalqwv because she was born from incestuous because she is going to her death unwept for, without unmarried. Her origin and her fate equaUy constitute her
caUs
parents,
and then
friends,
and
Ismene
wretchedness.
Antigone
Reading of
Antigone i
calls
xaXalqwv
apparently
because
to believe that in the circumstances there is somehow
seems
for their doing something that would reveal their nobihty or baseness. Perhaps she implies as weU that there is something strange for the offspring of an incestuous marriage to talk of nobility at aU. room
Whom Antigone
be
might
her
all
She
7 (41-8). 7.1. up
daring
asks
do,
and what she suffers
have the
daring
and
plainly to wash but Ismene's refusal to
and
Ismene dress it, as
help
would would
her to
compels
source
same
as
birth.
by help her
wretched
whether
the corpse,
(cf. 1201);
might
be both
might
Antigone
dares to
what she
Her
piece.
a
wretchedness.
lifting
from,
came
of
in be customary the
abandon
giving Polynices aU the rites she gave Eteocles and her parents (901). Her faUure, then, to stress the rites in reporting Creon's decree seems to anticipate her faUure to perform them. thought
7.2.
of
Antigone teUs Ismene
that the corpse is their
to the city, it
cannot
that
brother; be
no
prohibition
concerned
alter
can
the fact
does not belong with the prohibition. Despite the no one will be uninformed about
that as the
and
corpse
Creon is taking, so that his decree (31-5), only Antigone and Ismene wiUy-niUy are involved. If Antigone acts so as not to be convicted of treachery to her own, special care
that
cannot
7.3.
make
Ismene
daunt her; he cannot
her
asks
a
Antigone
and
traitor to the
Antigone replies
her from her
keep
city.
Creon's
whether
does
prohibition
not
that as Creon has no share in her own,
own
2.2). If Ismene had said,
(cf.
as
does later, that it is a prohibition of the citizens (79), would Antigone have given the same answer? She does not in the dispute that foUows argue against Ismene's identification of Creon and the she
citizens;
indeed,
she
later
it (907). Whether the city is competent should receive burial proves not to be the
accepts
or not to determine who issue between the two sisters.
Ismene's
8 (49-68). 8.1. an
the
of
second matches
they
three
that triad with three
The first
parts.
brothers
and
mother,
for
reasons
gives
(49-57); faUure if
certain
Creon's decree (58-64); and the third gives the conclusion Ismene has drawn for herself (65-8). What holds the three parts
that
is
(pqdvnaov
central
she and
They their
is in
father,
go against
together
but
speech
the fate of their
Ismene's
triple
(49), ivvoelv
thought,
and
Antigone
alone
can
concludes
fanuly (3,
are
%qr\
what
the
continue
differently. cf.
appeal
(61),
occupies
to ovx
the
sole survivors
it. Antigone As they
3.2), they
must
are
reasonableness vovv
e%ei
center of their starts
the
and
ovdeva
prudence:
(68).
Her
her speech, is that famUy (cf. 548, 566).
of
from the only
same
living
them. Ismene
premise
sees
the
of
farruly
Interpretation
156 as
their
sees
she
(53),
generations
of
confusion
first
who
mentions
in Hades (73-76;
copresence
Oedipus'
897-99).
it is
generations
of
succession
a
(568). Antigone
Haemon
892-94,
cf.
that succession
so
is
by togetherness, finds its proper extension in Antigone's refusal to think of any future apart from the dead. Her name, whose meaning proves bears witness to "generated in place of
replaced
succession,15
another"
to mean
antigeneration. Oedipus'
8.2.
for, his
and self-punishment
self-discovery of,
crimes, fratricide are
sons'
Jocasta's
balanced in suicide, whose
by hanging, play by Creon's
the
mutual
his crime, Eurydice's groups is Antigone,
acknowledgment of
Haemon's. The figure that links the two
and
by hanging
suicide
Haemon
their
and
suicide
Eurydice,
and
her mother's,
recaUs
those
occasions
brings home to Creon his
and
of
crime.
The only historical present Ismene employs in this speech is to Her describe Jocasta's suicide: Jocasta "treats hfe in a despiteful 8.3.
way."
life
outrage against
Her daughter, 8.4.
at
Ismene
due
was
any rate,
gives
a
to a
perhaps
embodies
threefold
and
power
tends
to
1292a4-37);
democratic
a 17
be identified. The
to
seem
be
but the
16
tyrants."
confusion
law
of
despite the law
we
of
shaU
Law, decree,
law
decree
and
3.37.3-4; Arist. Pol. power is tyrannical. If,
(cf. Th.
assumption
confusion
transgression
their
what
of
in if they buried Polynices: "if the decree or powerful authority of
50.3).
(cf.
revulsion
a
would consist
transgress
against generation.
revulsion
such
and
foUows Plato's Thrasymachus, the identification of aU however, three is a necessary consequence of asserting that justice is the advantage one
That Ismene is indifferent to the differences among has no illusions about the foundations of the city.
the stronger.
of
them
shows that she
8.5. give
hence
by
There
are not
those
painful
The first is
fit to fight men;
who are
stronger,
who
Ismene does
ExUe,
painful thing.
8.6.
pause.
things.
any crime, (cf. 3.2).
two other reasons
are
Antigone
might
Antigone
slavery,
be
and
may
not
or
death,
herself in
the
were
second
cause
reckon
more painful.
sets
that, according
that they
to
Ismene,
born
is that they
them to
if imposed
Their future
opposition
are
and
ruled
to still more
submit
Creon's decree
should
women
the most
as
without their
can
committing be better or worse
to Ismene's understanding
law, nature, and strength. Against the city's law she pleads a higher law; she shows herself, though not perhaps in Ismene's sense, as strong as or stronger than Creon; and as to her being by nature a woman of
15 16
Cf. Wilamowitz, Aischylos Interpretationen, 92 n.3. Schneidewin as an alternative gives the correct interpretation
kann Ismene oder 17
auch
Gebot des Cf. K. J.
meinen,
nenn
du esyijog
Machthabers."
Dover, JHS 1955,
17-20.
oder
of
the
xodrtj, gesetzmaBige
tj:
"Doch
Verordnung
A
Reading
Sophocles'
Antigone
of
157
is eloquently sUent. She never uses the word yvvrj, though it occurs times in the play, nor any of the foUowing cognate words (whose frequencies are shown in parenthesis): ylvog (7), ylyvofiai (6), yeved she
eighteen
(3),
(3),
yovr\
yevvnfia
she use words
to be tested
(2),
(2),
ydvog
compounded with
yheBXov
the root
yev-
:
(1).
Only
does
thrice
the nobUity
evyevrjg
Ismene (38), avxoydvvnxog the incest of her mother (864), the gods who are her ancestors (938). Between divine birth in the distant past and possible proof of being weU-born in the immediate future lies the marriage of her mother with him to whom she had given birth. The suppression of that link between the future and
and of
of
nqoyevrjg
the
is Antigone's
past
which
acknowledges
8.7.
own name and nature as
the paradoxical
comes
not
denies
as she
consanguinity
Ismene is
ground
impressed
by
believes that those beneath the
she she
them,
asks
Antigone, but
soften
Her
she
the
cites
(cf. Th. 4.98.6).
strength
she
the head
the
triple
generation
not
soften
if,
pardon
law,
of
out
fuUy
as
l.l).18
(cf.
her
expect
it to
She
bury Polynices;
to
need
constraint
expect
antigeneration,
actions.
earth wiU grant
Ismene does
does
her
of
her rovg
nature, argument vnd
for
when and
to
yfiovdg.
Antigone's intransigence to Polynices and the nether gods forces Antigone to give the first of her three major defenses (69-77, 450-70, 905-15). If the obhgation to bury one's own is not absolute, Antigone is planning to do what is superfluous (neqiaad appeal over
of
nqaddew)
9 (69-77). 9.1.
Antigone begins very severely. She wiU no longer help should Ismene later change her mind. If remorse overtakes her, Antigone wiU not grant her pardon. We do not know as yet whether Antigone's denial of repentance has the sanction; but that Creon's remorse, which foUows so quickly on his reiteration of his intransigence, does not alter the truth of prophecy, Ismene's
accept
gods'
Tiresias'
would
to
to
seem
defect in
the
Tiresias,
confirm
the
Antigone's
rejection
of
Ismene. One
apparent
Antigone, that if Creon had submitted at once suicides of Antigone, Heamon, and Eurydice would
plot
of
have been averted, seems in fact to argue for the agreement with Antigone. As soon as Creon issues his decree he already is too late. The irrelevance of time makes known the eternal presence of the gods. gods'
9.2.
A story in Herodotus illustrates this (6.86). A Milesian who of the justice of a Spartan and knew the stability of his
had heard
requested that
country
when the
is
The
MUesians'
strongest evidence of
(at least
most of
Ismene
as
Antigone
he hold in safekeeping later to
sons came much
it) is
mature and
Wiener Studien
the
the genuineness
contrast
women; for
ask
Sophocles'
his wealth; but sum
invention mainly
see
Septem
Antigone
consists
Eteocles;
deposited,
Aeschylus'
of maidens and
Aeschylus'
of
for the
the ending of
between the Chorus
giving her the attributes
1967, 22-30.
of
one-half of
S.
and
in unsexing
Benardete,
Interpretation
158
the Spartan denied that he had
Delphic
oracle what
disappearance pardon, to
of
he
should
his race;
do,
it; he decided, however, the
and
whereupon
oracle
"To
de
\xd
(rj
act are
IJvdirj \er}
the
ask
the Spartan begged the god for
which the oracle replied:
equivalent"
to
threatened the complete
make
trial of the god and to
deov
xov
neiq-ndfjvai
xd
xai
dvvaada). If the story seems to explain the inevitabihty of Creon's punishment, it stUl remains doubtful whether Antigone justly extends the principle to include Ismene, whose constrained faUure to 'iaov
noifjaat,
comply with divine law is not the same as Creon's wilful obstruction of it. This doubt is the first indication we have that Ismene stands next to Antigone as the most important figure in the play. That Antigone in
her last
tacitly denies her very
speech
importance (941,
cf.
existence
her
stresses
only
599-600).
Antigone invokes the noble (xaXov), the dear (iXov), and the in her defense. Antigone does not say that once she has buried Polynices it is fair and noble for her to die or be kiUed, but that it is fair or noble in doing it (xovxo noiovarf) to die. Antigone borrows the language appropriate to the patriotic soldier whose dying on behalf of his 9.3.
holy (ooiov)
country
coincides
with
his
(cf. 194-5; Ai. 1310-12). With her she later says, gainful, for her
fighting
task accomphshed, it may be good, or as to die (461-4); but for it to be noble, there
between the burial
of one's
imagine her
burying
does
so
(data
act of
not
means
to
way to
enough,
then,
piety,"
criminal
nothing in the
an act of
be
must
and one's
own
a
necessary connection death. Antigone must
fighting. What
shows
To do the
navovqyqaaaa.
a
holy
place, for example; it does
things
perform some pious
deed (cf. 256,
one must
performance of
be
even more things"
holy burying
holy
not mean 1349).19
to translate Antigone's phrase paradoxically as
but
that she
holy
to avoid committing any offense against the
profane
go out of one's not
as
is her saying data
dqdv)
things
own
to
It is
"by
my
literal: "having stopped at (cf. 300-1). Antigone thus
into something much more akin life in battle. Creon surely makes that transfor mation possible; but one wonders whether Antigone does not need Creon in order to be what she is. transforms the to the risking
ordinariness of
of one's
9.4. It is not easy to say how Antigone understands the connection between her saying that it is noble to die in this way and that she wiU he dear with him who is dear. Does this mutual dearness foUow from the nobility of her death, her death simply, or her piety? Antigone seems to supply the missing connection herself: "since it is for a longer time that I must please those below than those here, for there I shaU always 19
Cf. E. Fraenkel, Ag.,
vol.
difference between Antigone's the
Corinthians distinguish the
hurting
others;
such
Xen. Mem. 4.4.11.
a
2, 355; K. Latte, Kleine Schriften, 337. For the
phrase
and
Saia doav
performance
distinction does
not
of
see
Thucydides
justice from the
normally
exist
in
1.71.1,
abstention
sacred
where
from
matters;
cf.
A he."
The
supposed
Antigone does of
piety forever. She
in
Sophocles'
however,
for
makes
the
159 perplexity.20
a new
those below because her
she must please
pious proposition
they demand is holy
what
Antigone
forever, but because
them
combines
because
more
connection,
say that
not
please
wiU
Reading of
she
that
with
wiU
he
she please those
act
them
with
below
the hope that she wiU be
them for a longer time. She omits from the holy," "more because what they demand is and re places it by "for a longer that properly belongs to her hope. The holy thus turns into a means for making herself dear; but it can only be
loving
pious
communion with
proposition
time"
through Creon's decree. Creon is essential to Antigone's obtaining something for herself in nobly devoting herself to another. The holy entirely resolves the usual tension between the noble and the dear. such a means
can mean dear as a friend is dear. Antigone seems here to use the word in both meanings at once. She wiU he with those who love her through what she does for them, and she wiU he with those who already love her. She must first, to re her own, acquire them as friends. Antigone proves her right to be by deed what she already is by
9.5.
The
is dear,
or
birth. She which
9.6.
reconstitutes of
(cf.
her
It
as one's own
as something into which one freely becomes a matter of choice. It is this her awesome uncanniness (376).
fanuly
the
own almost owes
is
xeiaoyiai
as
live but he
not
wiU
and
ambiguous.21
dear
Antigone partly
She
"lie dead
is
tXog
can mean
Antigone's
yrjoaaa.
grave
word
The love
enters.
to
it
buried."
with
Polynices;
Antigone's imagination does
4.2). She does
not animate
her data
as
extraordinary
and
not go
dead, but thinks
the
navovq-
"he"
suggests
beyond the
of
their
state
4.3). If, however, one transposes the relation between Antigone and Polynices into a living one, Antigone then seems to be speaking the language of lovers: "I shall lie asleep, dear (cf. Aesch. Ch. 894-5). Per as I shaU be, with him who is dear to different from
as no
corpses
(cf.
me"
haps
neither of
herself
these
the language
case
extremes
understands what she
of
incest
exactly defines
says, but it should
way in which Antigone be accidental that in her
the
cannot
with
coincide
the language of the
grave.
9.7. things make
Antigone
mentions
to men, the dead, draws the eyes of
20 21 vol.
the gods last (Ismene never
they hold in honor. The noble, up together xd xwv Betov evxifia and men
the gods,
(cf.
dear,
the
; but if
as certain: ndxeo
is
assertion
modified
by
502-4),
are
does)
holy
and
the
probably
severaUy
assigned
say that Antigone's nobihty her dearness elicits the love of the
that q>lXog never lXe
they
the
one could
Cf. R. E. Wycherly, 1947, 51-2. On its Homeric usage see E. Benveniste, Le
I, 335-53; but his
and
but /j.fjxeQ
vocabulaire
means
by i/itf.
des institutions i-e,
one's own cannot
be taken
Interpretation
160
dead,
her piety is
and
confirmed
Punishment
remorse.
the
impious
the
of
by
gods'
refusal
Creon's for piety
to accept
gods'
is the
reward
(cf. 927-8). In Plato's Euthyphro, Socrates forced Euthyphro to
9.8.
choose
be
tween saying that the holy is holy because the gods love it, with the consequence that the holy loses its unity in the contradictory affec that because it is or the gods love the tions, holy, with the conse holy gods'
dispensable
quence that the gods are
guides
Now in trying to understand Antigone perplexity. Is it because the holy is or
commands,
what she wants
for understanding what it is. to be caught in a similar
we seem
holy
that
Antigone does
what
it
because the
holy just happens to be in accordance with to do that it looks as if she is obeying what it commands?
We surely are not now in a position to justify our choosing either answer; but the parallel with Euthyphro indicates why in part Socrates and Euthy satisfactory definition
phro cannot arrive at a
wholly fails to occurs.22
omitted
relation of
on
Antigone
supplies what
in
the other
hand,
the
is
the holy. The dialogue
to the soul:
yivxrj
never
concerned with almost no other
Plato thought it best to omit,
In the Philebus, Socrates lists
threnos,
eqwg,
we should
the soul.
seven
occasions
experiences a mixture of pleasure and pain:
dqfjvog,
nddog,
of
and even
a
itself
by
holy
way that Plato did mostly approve. Plato, indeed, may have what he recognized the tragic poet alone could supply.
9.9. soul
the
Antigone,
question.
perhaps
consider
t,f\Xog,
ddvog (47el-2).
be inclined to
call
them
Were it
not
on
which
the
dqyrj,
dfiog,
for the
central
all ions or affections of
Threnos, however, is not an affection but the expression of an the soul. It is, strictly speaking, the Greek equivalent to a
affection of
dirge and, more generaUy, any kind of lamentation.23 In its general sense it can accompany any of the affections that Socrates lists; indeed, accor
ding
to
strict
Socrates, comedy
sense,
however,
a
too is a kind
of
threnos (50b 1-3, c5). In its
threnos is the artful and conventional expres
in song of the sorrow one has at a funeral; but no word in Greek any other language that I know of names the unexpressed sorrow one has in the presence of death. That mourning for the dead is primarily the sion or
that mourning
expression
of
artful
conventional,24
and
primarily
at a
funeral
the
soul are
As
these aspects
all point
necessarUy only
(nevdog),
and
and
come
that its expression is primarily
that the
occasion
of
its
expression
is
to the possibUity that certain aspects of
essentiaUy linked with poetry and convention. to hght in poetry and convention, to divorce
from poetry and convention is to destroy them. And yet to leave them in (and to) poetry and convention veUs the seeing of them as them
22
I
23
Cf. E. Reiner, Die Riluelle Totenklage der Griechen, 4-5. Cf., e.g., Aeschines 3.77: nolv nevBfjaai xai xd vo/ii^6fieva
24
owe
this insight to Professor Leo Strauss.
noifjaai.
A
they
in themselves.
are
reveal them as
them,
imply
Only
they
10 (78-99). 10.1. cerned with the nature
Reading of
are
a
in
Sophocles'
very
artful poet
161 without
could,
destroying
themselves.25
The thirteen
feasibility
Antigone
that foUow are mainly con
speeches
Antigone's
Ismene says that she is by incapable of acting against the citizens, but that this does not that she holds in contempt xd xwv dewv evxi/ia. Her submission to
Creon is
of
plan.
based on any agreement with Creon; as far as her intention is on Antigone's side. According to Antigone, however, Ismene forward her natural inabihty in order to conceal her contempt for not
she
goes, puts
the gods hold honorable. She herseh
what
wiU
tomb for her dearest brother. Antigone's
The
ability.
guard reports
(249-50);
unbroken
Polynices is
proceed
to
language far
that the ground around
the work of
men
many
up a her
Polynices'
corpse was
the tumulus that Creon later has
and
heap
outpaces
(1203-4). Antigone
raised
might
for
then be
loosely one of the many ways of saying that she wiU bury Polynices; but the intensity of her desire to carry out her conventional duty tends to restore to the casual usage of everyday its fuU meaning using
(cf.
9.6). If than
greater
she cannot
Ismene's,
in fact do
whether
unclear,
moreover,
burying
Polynices. If
to do, her abihty is no be judged solely on intention. It is succeeds in even a minimal way in finish the rites on her first attempt, she what she plans
and she must
she
did
she not
is prevented by the guards from doing so on the second; and if she did finish them on her first attempt, it is hard to understand why she returned (cf. 25.4). There is a further difficulty. If the guards in sweeping away the dust she had sprinkled on corpse nullify her act of as the need to him again burial, implies, one must strictiy say that bury Antigone's plan fails. Ismene, then, would rightly insist on their own Polynices'
If those below look to intention
weakness.
(cf.
9.1, 9.2), Ismene
would
be
and not
guaranteed as
to accomplishment
loving
a reception as
Antigone. would
Only if they demand that one attempt to do the impossible she be inferior in their eyes to Antigone.
10.2. not
There is
even
along
with
the
to
the
up Athenians later rals'
terrible possibUity: that those below
Antigone's
daring
but
wUl
condemn
Ismene for her faUure. This possibUity depends
understands pick
a stiU more
take into
Athenians'
condemnation
corpses
after
the
repented of their
defense did
battle
decision,
not at once convince
of of
on
how
their generals for
wiU
her one
failing
Arginusae. Although the
one wonders
them: that the
why the
gene
onset of a storm
foiled their attempt; or, as their advocate puts it, incapacity does not argue for treachery (Xen. Hell. 1.7.33). What made them go against their own law, which laid it down that the accused should be tried individuaUy?
25
in
it is revealing that Plato has his Athenian Stranger
order
dicting
to illustrate the advantage
a poet claims
himself (cf. Lgs. 719bl2-e5).
use
the example of
to have over a
legislator in
burial
contra
Interpretation
162
If intention, then, does not suffice, nor incapacity be a plausible excuse, when one is dealing with holy things, but only the strictest conformity to the law is innocence, Antigone's superiority to Ismene would lack
divine
sanction.
It
be
would
to
closer
madness.
Colonus, Oedipus Theseus grants him
the sanctuary of the the Chorus protection, Eumenides; ask that Oedipus purify himself for his violation. When the Chorus have carefuUy explained the ceremony, Oedipus turns to his two daughters
In Oedipus
10.3.
at
profanes
Athens'
and after
to do it for
and asks one of them prevent
him: "For I beheve
to pay this debt even for ten task and leaves; and the next men
have
ever
did
since his lameness and blindness is enough, if it be gracious there, (498-9). Ismene assumes the
him,
one soul
thousand"
thing
we
hear
about
her is that Creon's
her (818-9). One may wonder then whether Ismene to purify her father. If one grants that she may not have,
captured
get
Oedipus'
discards the possibihty of Oedipus' intention to be purified and
would
remaining to the end unpurified, be equivalent to his purification.
be the case, Ismene again would merit as much praise for holiness as Antigone. The extremes of Arginusae and Oedipus at Colonus show, if nothing else, how hard it is to understand what holds together If
such
the nobihty and the piety
of
Antigone.
10.4. Ismene is afraid for Antigone, a fear that Antigone takes to be Ismene's fear for herself and the truth of her natural inability to act despite the citizens. She bids Ismene to keep upright her own fate. is usuaUy not thought of as something over which mortals have (cf. fr. 871), nor is it usual for it, without a qualifying adjective (cf. Tr. 88), to lose its ordinary sense of evU destiny or death; indeed,
Tzdxjiog
control
neither usage seems uses
to
occur anywhere else
Tidx/tog twice more, once of the
in the
tragedians.26
Antigone
that attends the house
destiny
of
Labdacus (860), and once of her own death for which no friend mourns (881). Antigone, then, might be doing more than taunting Ismene for her cowardice. Ismene need not fear for Antigone because her deed and its consequences are her fate and nothing can alter it (cf. 235-6); and Ismene is blind if
she supposes
that her fate is under her own
control and not
simply a part of the doom inherent in her fanuly. If the first of these implications holds, Antigone would seemingly be choosing her own fate (cf.
9.5);
awareness
she
is
and
if the
second
that what she plans,
and whence she came
10.5.
is willing to do
26 even
this
as much
counsel
of
Pindar, however, has remotely
likewise, as
not
to teU
will show
she can
prudence
several
would
and suffers
here
betray
is bound up
her
with who
5.1).
Ismene begs Antigone
that she herself will do
scorns
(cf.
holds, Antigone does,
of she
her plan;
hopes,
and
that she
to further her plan; but Antigone
and
instances
under one's own control.
anyone
Antigone,
bids
her
of neutral
to
denounce
her to
ndx/iog, but none where it is
A
Reading of
163
Antigone
have a plan; she only has an inten her word, Antigone would have faUed at her first attempt. She would not have done anything for Polynices. Antigone seems to regard it as essential that she be caught and as
Antigone,
everyone.
then, does
Sophocles'
tion. Had Ismene taken her
inessential that
not
at
One thus begins to
she succeed.
understand what she meant
by saying that for her to die in burying Polynices, or rather, as we must now translate, in trying to bury him, is noble (cf. 9.3). That she wUl stop
nothing does
at
easily
gets
away
Creon's
of
10.6.
with
not entaU
it,
for her the
which cannot
preparations
and
but
use of craft.
amaze
Even so, Antigone
us, especially
after
hearing
to Ismene's plausible demurral.
listening
Antigone's indifference to getting
caught provokes
Ismene into
saying that she has a hot heart for cold things. In the context of the play, Odysseus'
in hght of pun on \pv%rj and ipv%og (x 555), one cannot help but understand Ismene as saying that Antigone shows aU the artless intensity of life itself in her devotion to the heartless coldness of (cf. OC 621-2).27 Ismene now the law about corpses and "dead and
souls"
realizes
that Antigone is not just
the
fulfilling
of
requirements
a
law,
compliance with which, she might weU think, does not have to dispense with cunning (cf. Her. 2.1218 e). A cool head may strictly preclude a
but it surely does not check one from the performance of a Antigone's reply as much as its (dXX') the discrepancy holy between the subjective heat in her concern and its objective coldness; but she reconcUes them by saying that she knows she is pleasing to pious
heart,
rite.
those
whom
most
she
of
aU
Her gratifying
please.
must
of
the dead
between the law and her ion, for the law seems to be the formulation of the duties of familial love. If one looks to the bene ficiaries of the law, its coldness vanishes in their warmth. mediates
Antigone
10.7.
says
that
she
knows
is pleasing,
she
not
that she
be pleasing, to the dead. For the first time she uses the present tense in speaking of how the dead wiU regard her. Her use of the present tense can be understood in two ways: either her intention by itself, wiU
regardless
of
its accomplishment, is
Ismene takes
desire, for,
as
the
it,
present
nothing
can
tense
enough
reflects
vividness
possibly frustrate her
imagines the deed already done. Ismene ment alone can warrant
to please the the
Antigone's
dead, of
or,
as
Antigone's
(navovqyijaaaa)
,
she
now thinks that the accomplish
confidence
in her pleasing the dead; much less than what is
depends on her ability, which is that only Antigone's love of the impossible can explain her readiness to try at ah. Antigone does not deny the charge; she merely says that her efforts wUl come to an end whenever she loses her strength. so
and that
needed
Antigone she
does
liness
27
of
seems
to maintain that the
not expect
hunting
On the
attempt
is all-important,
and
that
to succeed. Ismene then points to the utter unseem
out
the
impossible;
ellipse with yivxeoioi see
and
at
this suggestion that what
A.D. Knox, CQ 1931, 208.
Interpretation
164
is
she
ignoble, Antigone
is
doing
earn
the immediate hatred
The
reward
abstention
hate in
loving own
of
for Antigone's
equaUy depend
turns
and
attempt
and
the same
on
Ismene is
vindictive:
Antigone
the
lasting
hatred
the punishment
try
faU, they love
and
death. Ismene's
inabihty
natural
those to
who
for Ismene's
love
or
the impossible. In
deliberately
commit
to
Polynices.
those below
principle:
accordance with one's willingness to go after
those who
certain
of
suicide
their
seek
justifies her
punishment.
10.8.
Words
Ismene,
thrice
Ismene
says
the citizens
with
by
the
the
/nrjxav-
stem
Chorus,
and
occur seven
times,
(1) she is naturaUy without a /inxavij to (79), (2) Antigone is in love with things that have that
(92), (3) it is
unseemly to hunt
by by Creon. thrice
used
once, between the two triads,
act
despite
no
p,r\%avf\
that have no firjxavij (92); man prevaUs over the mountain-ranging beast
the Chorus say that
out things
(1) (349), (2) man contrives his escape from diseases that have no p,n%avf\ (363), (3) man has in the fnqxavai of his art something wise beyond hope (365); and Creon says that there is no firjxavrj for knowing
by
firjxavat
a man's
fvxtf, qdvrj/ia,
(175). Ismene's triad
and
yvw/j,n
before he is tested in
impossibles is
of
diseases"
pubhc affairs
Chorus'
by the means "seemingly
matched
triad of
device-less possibles, for their "device-less diseases." The one strictly device-less occasion that confronts man is death (361-2). Antigone's love, then, of the impossible is her love of death (cf. 220). Her hot heart for Bavelv
; and this eqwg,
ration of
her
10.9. coming
in turn,
the
impossibility
things is precisely this eqwg xov the antigene-
name.
Antigone in her love of
cold
spells out one consequence of
of
impossible
the impossible and man in to
refute
Creon's
his
assertion
over
of
the
soul, temper, and judgment apart from but if one takes him to mean by extension rule;
knowing
the exercise of political
of
seem
a man's
that only in confrontation with the city can man be known, Antigone's artless defiance of the city and artful man's neutrahty to the city (365-70)
which goal.
Creon correctly
understands the city as the indispensable The city somehow stands between the daring for only death is a limit and the daring for which only death is its If, moreover, Antigone's love of the impossible does not just
suggest
that
touchstone
of
man.
accidentaUy express itself in an unrealizable attempt to obey the divine but there is some connection between them, the city would stand between the human that defies the impossible in one sense and the divine that demands the impossible in another. The city would owe both its existence and the precariousness of its existence to the impossible
law,
demanded
by the gods and the impossible defied by man as man. As the city cannot be without both of these impossibles, so it cannot submit itself entirely to either of them. Antigone thus seems to be defending unreservedly one basis defend unreservedly.
of
the city that the city itself cannot afford to
A
Reading of
Sophocles'
1 65
Antigone
10.10. In saying that she wiU not suffer anything as terrible as an ignoble death, Antigone comes close to forgetting her intention, for she imphes without knowing it that the most terrible thing she could suffer
would
be
not
transfers the nobihty
Polynices'
of
her
lack
burial (cf.
of
to the nobUity
action
2.2, 8.5). She death, as if
her
of
only her death could testify to the nobihty of her By ignoring Ismene's suggestion that she practice a
action
9.3).
(cf.
minimum of guUe
(if guUe is not too strong a word for it), Antigone blurs the issue between them. The alternative to a noble death is not an ignoble death but life (cf. 555); and hfe in one of two ways: either to abandon her intention entirely
and
live on,
ignobly
or make
an
attempt
to get caught. Antigone rejects both ways, but
as not
way
she
in
such
a
ironicaUy
first way her dvafiovXia when it applies without any irony to her rejection of the second. Her lack of any plan guarantees her death even if it also guarantees her faUure to carry out her intention. calls the rejection of the
10.11.
Of the
seven occurrences
ndaxeiv, five
of
are
in the
mouth
Antigone (96 bis, 236 [guard], 926, 928, 942, 995 [Creon]). She begins by ordering Ismene to let her suffer "this terrible and of
thing,"
ordering the Chorus to
by
she ends suffers at
the hands
way to her indignation
gives
ironicaUy
xovxo she
the truth. xaXcog Oaveiv is
at
her
to her
refers
later be indignant
she can
see what
of what sort of men.
at not
she, who
Her
suffering.
noble
death
reverenced
scorn of
With
suffering
nadeiv
xd
piety,
finally deivdv
(xaXwg davelv); but if
her suffering, its literal meaning must be the equivalent of nadeiv xd deivdv xovxo,
for death in itself does
not it of nobihty, any more than nobUity any (as Antigone knows and Creon does not) when 4.1). One can show nobUity in the action that one is dead (cf. precipitates one's death, or if the action accompanies it, even in the
can
be
dying
of
9.3), but
itself (cf.
Because Antigone
pretends
not otherwise
(cf. Plato Phaedo 118a6-12).
that her action and her death wiU be simulta
neous, she can now hide from herself the knowledge of what it for her to die (cf. 36). Her ionate obedience to the law burial, which is in keeping with her vivid awareness of what it to be dead (cf.
10.12.
4.5),
Ismene
perhaps even thrives on
ends the stichomythia
had introduced it. Her
dXX'
el
doxei
in the
this
means about means
self-delusion.
way that Antigone Antigone's ool el
same
d'
aoi
echoes
Antigone's apodosis accused Ismene of in honor, Ismene's apodosis teUs Antigone hold dishonoring what the gods that she is dear to her friends knowledge the secure in to proceed, Ismene thus separates what famUy). whole their and (Polynices, herself,
doxel
(76); but
Antigone dearness
must and
that
madness
She
seems
whereas
hold together. Ismene
the piety of Antigone (cf.
sees
no
between the does not think
connection
10.3), for
she
fit with piety, however painfuUy it can with dearness. forget that there is such a thing as divine madness.
can
to
11 (100-61). 11.1.
The
old
men
who
make
up the Chorus
are
Interpretation
166
peculiar greatness, for she is the only Greek tragedy who does not have a chorus of women to console her. Ismene is a token of what such a chorus would be like; hence it is plain before the Chorus enter that Antigone does not need the kind of consolation that only women could give. extant plays lacks the vocative plural of Antigone alone of
the
Antigone's
of
measure
suffering heroine in
extant
Sophocles'
iXog (cf.
45.1).
11.2. As a hymn of patriotic thanksgiving the parodos could not be bettered; and the same appropriateness holds true for aU that the Chorus sing. Man's skillful daring, Antigone's fatal madness, Love's power, Antigone's predecessors in suffering, invocation, to Dionysus'
these
of
each
the Chorus
themes
the
give
perfect
Their
expression.
Chorus'
individual
is partly due to the refusal to compromise with each theme. Each is in turn the whole truth; none is put within a horizon larger than itself. WhUe the Chorus are thus as extreme in each
in
perfection
case
Antigone
as
does
moderation
not
Creon consistently
or
far
perspective makes them
from
arise
is, than
more moderate
their
continual
either can
the steadiness with which
shift
be. Their
they
adhere
to sober views, but exactly the contrary. The Chorus effortlessly move from the unlimited power to man (first stasimon) to the unlimited
Eros (third stasimon), for they
power of at the
in
Adaptability, perhaps
been
of
they
brilliantly
empty in the
major
which
but thoughdessly,
makes
totaUy
The last
parodied.
component
mouth of
sohdity, then,
are
persuaded of each
any thought to their reconciliation. to a large extent consists, has never
never give
which moderation
so
is the
moderation are
and
moment,
in
words
happiness,
the Chorus (cf.
of
are
65.1). The
aUows
11.3.
The threefold
her
which the sun answer
aU-night
gates
has
and
profoundly
whose speeches shines
through
accidental con
of Thebes (compare the threefold holds the parodos together: Thebes for
mention
yfj)
never shone more
to the joyful presence
celebrant
from the
moves
lack
the Chorus can never understand.
mention of
in
true as they Chorus'
them to speak
paradoxicaUy it the right Chorus for Antigone, accurately reflect her soul. The law Antigone obeys Antigone. That her hot heart for cold things is not an
junction,
the play, that
as
dog, edvQng)
whose
ruler
night whose
of
wiU
beautifully (102), Thebes joyous Victory (149), and Thebes the
be Dionysus (153). The parodos sun (note the threefold avev,
terrors the
has dispeUed to
the night that promises
forgetfulness
them. As the first strophe thus corresponds to the last antistrophe, so the first of the anapaestic systems, which refers to Polynices, his of
quarrel
with
third,
which
of the
two
and
Ares,
Capaneus
Eteocles, and his marshaled army, corresponds to the describes the Argive panoplies left behind and the death
brothers;
and
the first antistrophe, which mentions
corresponds to the second and
Ares. The
second
strophe,
anapaestic
Hephaestus
describes nvqdqog system, which is the center which
A the
Reading
Sophocles'
of
167
parodos'
seven parts, is devoted to the overboastful (cf. 1350-3). Within this
of
Antigone
Zeus,
lightning
whose
"ring-composition"
punishes
the parodos
from the war itself, over which the gods Hephaestus, Ares, Zeus preside, to the victory and its aftermath, which the gods Zeus, Nike, and Bacchios determine, with ''Aqr\g degidaeiqog effecting the transition from the first triad to the second. The first triad of Hephaestus, also moves
and
the fire
of
in retreat,
the enemy's
torches, Ares,
Zeus the hurler
and
the
the enemy's army
clatter of
lightning
of
against
Capaneus,
seems
to receive in the second triad their equivalents for triumphant Thebes.
The
Bacchios eXeXlxBwv is to lead replaces the thud of faU (dvxixvna ya) ; the renown Victory /jteyaXwvvpiog brings replaces the ndxayog "Aqeog, and the trophy of brazen armor dedicated to Zeus the god of rout replaces the fire of Hephaestus, who is now to be thought of as ^aAxev? (cf. 52.4).
dancing
Capaneus'
flaxxevwv
1 1.4.
The
parodos'
movement from dxxlg deXiov to %oqoig 7iavvv%loig iXeXlxOwv Bdxxiog paraUels the movement of the play as a whole: from the time just before dawn to dawn (cf. 1.1), to high noon, when a sudden dust storm heralds Antigone's return to corpse (416), to Antigone's departure from the hght of the sun (808, 879),28 to the
and
Polynices'
Chorus'
in
invocation
of Dionysus as choregus of the fire-breathing stars, honor the frenzied Thyiads dance all night (1146-54). The
whose
Chorus
seem
to sense from the start the way in which the day wiU owe this prescience entirely to their absorption in the
unfold; but
they
demands
the moment and
They
of
say everything in
one
to any insight into the nature of things. way or another that has to be said about
not
Antigone, even to the point of duplicating here the rhythm of the playi but they never understand anything of what they say. They are the
being
mouthpiece of wisdom without
wise themselves.
They
thus aUow
Sophocles to be always invisible whUe being always present. If Antigone finaUy becomes entirely transparent, so that she can be read off as easily from her surface as from her depths (the first indication of which
is the meaning
of
her name), Sophocles,
throughout opaque, since
every
on
the other
manifestation of
his
hand,
wisdom
is
remains
cut off
Perhaps, then, the ultimate conflict does not consist in that between Antigone and Creon, or even between the fanuly and the city, but between Antigone and Sophocles, of whom one is always what she shows herself to be, and the other is never what he shows from its
source.
himself to be (cf. 37.5). 11.5. that
The
shows
different name
is
ways or
or mode of
28
The
one trait of the kind one usuaUy calls poetic astonishing virtuosity. It characterizes in eleven the eleven different beings to which a noncoUective proper
parodos
the
has
Chorus'
can
be
given.
animation.
metrical shape of
(1)
It
seems
The
sun
808-9 is the
to display every possible degree hovers between being a signal for
same as
100-2.
Interpretation
168 Argives'
the and sets of
flight: it is seen, sees, moves, so fused with the metaphor
Polynices becomes
in motion; (2)
eagle
an
and the cause of their
flight
that the same
attributes
sentence
Hephaestus
to him what can only
to be nothing but
a name (3) than more is for fire (cf. 1007, 1126); (4) Ares, however, shghtly dvxmdXov to apposition in is for clatter of the ndxayog "Aqeog war, ("not an overcoming of its opponent the dvoxEiqio/J-a dqdxovxog which through the story of the serpent's teeth (cf. 1124-5)
to the eagle;
belong
seems
serpent"),29
galvanizes
Ares into
higher degree
a
Zeus is
have; (5)
ever
a
of
fully living
life than
a personification can
anthropomorphic
he hates,
god:
down the wicked; (6) the anonymous Capaneus hears, sees, (^axxevwv) is something more than human: he is divinely inspired as he blows blasting winds of hatred against Thebes; (7) Ares hke Polynices is fused with the metaphor of a trace horse, which in turn and strikes
is fused
with
that
of
a
charioteer
and
as
warrior,
though
Ares
were
the moving spirit of noXvdqpiaxog Thebes (149); (8) Zeus who turns tide of battle is the god whom one honors with trophies; (9) miserable Polynices and Eteocles are entirely human, born from
father
same
feels,
and
earth
is the
god
the
death; (10) Nike brings, sharing her feelings of joy; (11) Bacchios who shakes the to whom one prays to be present at the night-long
dances. It is extremely difficult to for
the
a common
and mother and
shows
the
does
know
this
arrange
series
the
on
any
scale
of
be based.
being, If, however, one dares to test them against the consistently literal, the degree, that is, to which the Chorus themselves might subscribe to a literal reading of their language, the Chorus would it perhaps that Polynices and Eteocles (9) are farthest removed from Polynices the eagle (2); the clatter of Ares (4) from Ares the trace horse, warrior, and charioteer (7); Zeus the god of rout (8) from Zeus the god of just punishment (5); Bacchic Capaneus (6) from Bacchios himself (11); piney Hephaestus (3) from the eye of the golden day (1), and the victory Capaneus strives to announce (133) from Nike who rejoices in one
not
on what principle
the
joy of Thebes (10). Now in a play 4.3, 9.6), being of a corpse (cf.
we
are
the
presented
at
the
start
with
scale should
whose unstated
it
such
cannot a
issue turns
but be
variety
of
relevant
ways
of
on
that
being
alive, from the poetic Polynices to the prosaic Polynices and Eteocles (with many shades between), especiaUy if one recalls Antigone's rj i/j,r] fvxr) ndXai xeBvnxev (559-60), which plainly upsets any 44.2).30 ordinary understanding of life and death (cf. d'
To the Chorus Eteocles is politicaUy negligible, so much so refer to him anonymously, without even etymologizing
11.6. that
they only
29
On
30
There
which
xelQCo/na see are
E. Fraenkel, Ag. 1326; here, Miiller.
several
other ages that confirm
the Chorus sing here: 487 (
the
significance
of
the ways in
29.3); 658-9 ( 39.3); 854 ( 46.7); 1007 ( 52.4).
A Reading of
his is
one
Antigone
169
(cf. Aesch. Septem 829-31),
name
and who along with his brother nothing more; he surely does not seem to Creon thinks, deserved the aristeia (cf. 4.1). The
(axvyeqoiv)
pitiable
be
Sophocles'
as
who,
and
Chorus, indeed, never aUude to Eteocles again, any more then they do to Polynices, neither of whom holds any interest for them, once they be the immediate
cause of anything. Now that they are dead (cf. 3.2). The Chorus therefore do not speak here they nothing of Eteocles as the former ruler of Thebes; Creon is now the king, and cannot
are
concern is only for what he wiU devise for the new situation (155-61). That Creon deliberately convoked them because he knew of
their
to the house
loyalty
their
stranger.
What, however,
Eteocles'
aristeia, if not
ascribe the triumph of
has
no
place
fragments that
of
makes their sUence aU the
s
sUence
for
their
by
it (cf.
sUence
about
his rule, is that they Human exceUence
about
Thebes entirely to the and Ares directly
gods.31
in battle. To
participate
effectiveness
to
be mistaken, for the first stasimon but death. The Chorus, then, have merely
gods would
man
each of which
convictions,
provokes
11.7.
for their
the
limit to
no
(164-9)
from this that the Chorus hold human
be severely limited recognizes
Laius
somewhat
Zeus
where
infer, however,
of
lasts just
as
long
as
the occasion
11.2).
If the Chorus treat Polynices
more
fuUy
Eteocles, it is
than
any indignation at his treachery to his country, his impiety to the gods, or dehberate intent to commit fratricide (cf. 199-202), for not out of
they
make aU of out
single
only
the Argive army mdiscriminately guUty of hybris, and Capaneus for particular obloquy. The lacuna at 112
it uncertain, but it would seem that they do not hatred. Polynices is simply the leader of the
makes with
description
thus of
easUy
his
etymologizing for the
responsible
name particularizes
chosen
his
temper
of
ers
the
12 (162-210). 12.1.
his
of
first
and the
polis,
his
And if Creon
suggest
the
somewhat
about
Polynices
that Creon has not
cannot
gauge
bound to faU wUdly
seems
Only
him
and makes
mUdness, then,
whose
correctly the
short of
the mark
which
its
own
speech
falls into three
(207-10). Although the theme
occurs
the restatement
Creon's
main parts:
seven
times, twice in
each
of
the
main
and
(162, 167, 178, 191, 194, 203, 209),
his two sons; the
Cf. A. Maddalena,
Sofocle,
vol.
second
I, 55.
on man's
rpvxij,
is the
speech part
and
once
each part
triad on which it turns: the first part turns on the rule of
Oedipus,
the
(162-74), the principles of his rule (175-91), his rule (192-206), to which he adds a restatement
rule
act of
principles
in
31
wisely.
Chorus, he
the whole army.
him
Polynices
Argives,
he has to face Antigone.
legitimacy of
Chorus'
The
war.
of
indifference to Eteocles together
and their
when
into that
es
regard
has
Laius,
qdvnfia,
and
Interpretation
170 only the
which
yvtofirj,
Polynices'
exercise
triple crime,
third on
political
of
reveal; and the
can
rule
his country, its gods,
against
and
his
brother (cf. 27.1). Jebb's
12.2.
mistranslation of
out what one might otherwise after
by
gods."
the
then
and
Creon's
the
brings
speech
State,
the vessel of our
wUd
Creon,
(cf. OC 394). He thus
righted them
deprive Eteocles
of
to absolve
seems at once
any guilt for the war and victory. He goes much further than the Chorus
Polynices
for
of
"Sirs,
missed:
waves, hath once more been safely steadied however, says that the gods shook xd ndXeog
tossed on
being
the opening
have
of
credit
any
did,
who
only
the victory to the gods, but left the guUt of the Argives intact 11.6). Whatever reasoning led Creon to think that the gods were
assigned
(cf.
(Oedipus'
totaUy
curse
responsible
wqBwaav
compels
Oldinovg
wqBov
one
If,
as might
however,
of
his
own
knows
as
his
perhaps), his
sons
he
aUudes
says
mentions
r\vlx'
to the plague, it would be
the city
gods
and
Oedipus
possibihty, for both but Creon does
because
solving Oedipus solely to
to
demand the
loyal to the
royal
loyalty
not
accession as weU as
the
his
establish
of
family. One
bearing
of
Creon,
only does the recaU Oedipus
the
Chorus,
now sees
his
who
he
that Creon's
temporal clause about Oedipus aUows him to gloss over the Oedipus'
it.
righted not
discovery of his the legitimacy with him, and kinship
of
to the throne through his
right
were always
of the
or
riddle
accession own
of
aelaavxeg
four lines later,
either
preclude them
his
of
Creon
own crimes.
hence his
Oedipus
be alluding to
wqBov
because
either
of
that the gods shook
cannot
imperfect
of
when
that he shook the city it again, for he both caused and removed the plague. seem more likely, Creon alludes to the Sphinx, one would
righted
have to say
reflect
If Creon
ndXiv.
equaUy true to say and
to
irregularity
crimes on
his
sons'
The balanced phrases xovxo afflig suggest that is to insert mentaUy some form of line 166 after wqBov ndXiv, but, as Jebb remarks, this is impossible, as the xai of xdnel must link with wqBov. This grammatical peculiarity has the effect
pevxovx'
succession. one
diwXex'
Chorus'
suppressing any specific mention of the loyalty to Oedipus; instead, Oedipus and his sons are lumped together in the phrase xovg of
xelvwv
and
is
naidag, where
Oedipus
as
the
xelvwv
father
of
refers
to Laius as the father of Oedipus
Polynices
and
Eteocles.
Oedipus, then, Oedipus'
simply as an indispensable transition between Laius and sons (cf. 8.6). Creon is forced to adopt such involuted language because the Chorus could not have been loyal to Oedipus as the legitimate used
successor
to Laius
whose reward was
One
by birth,
but only to Oedipus the solver of Laius and marriage to his
the throne
easUy imagine that as hence his legitimacy was can
Oedipus'
soon as
crimes
of
the riddle,
own mother.
became
known,
confirmed, the Chorus ceased to be loyal to him, xelvwv should, but cannot, mean Oedipus and Jocasta, for only through his sister is Creon entitled to the kingship and
ironicaUy
A
Sophocles'
Reading
of
Antigone
171
(cf. 486). Creon does everything he
can to regularize the royal house abandoning the truth entirely. He tries to pretend that succession is through the male line only, so that the Chorus will not , as if they could ever forget, that Polynices and Eteocles were the offspring
without
of an
incestuous xelvwv
xovg
but he
cannot
Oedipus
5.1). He
Laius'
as
nor can
have
on the other
hand,
alone
he,
him to
stiU needs
given
was
to
Oedipus, loyal to the
x.x.n.
suppress aU mention
the fiction
maintain
understand
and
of
legitimately
through three generations.
As Creon
here
must
mistakenly describe as
would
which
son,
normal succession
the throne
the Chorus to
wants
meaning the descendants of Laius quite bring himself to say that the Chorus
meaning he needs; of Oedipus, for he 12.3.
(cf.
marriage
naldag as
loyalty
misrepresent the
Chorus'
the
loyalty fanuly,
line
of
succession, he
must
to the successive occupants
to the royal
which,
as
we
saw, it
of
could
have been. He takes their adaptability to circumstances for their firmness of principle (cf 11 He further does not seem to be aware that this attempt to bind the Chorus to him does not jibe with his attempt to be the spokesman for the city as a whole. If he calls the not
.
Chorus together because implies that the city has
.7).
their past
of
loyalty
had discordant
and
to the royal
elements
house, he it, some
within
have been loyal to the Labdacids (cf. 289-92). gains in significance, xd ndXeog periphrasis for the city itself; but, if the city is not a
of which are not and never
His first might
mention
be just
a
of
the city thus
single common interest, xd jidXeog is indistinguishable whole, from the present monarchical regime, and merely a euphemism for xd Aaflbaxibwv Bqdvwv xqdxn. Later, in the anger of debate, Creon wiU have to it as much and more (738), but now he cannot do so, for his title to rule must be unblemished; this, however, can be the case only if the royal house has consistently identified its interests with those of the city. Creon, then, has another reason for being so vague with
about
a
Oedipus,
as weU as
for
implying
Polynices'
innocence.
Polynices,
less than his brother, is needed for Creon's own succession. Their only crime is mutual fratricide, which, as Creon presents it, has nothing to do with the city and its troubles. no
12.4. other
how
Creon distinguishes foUows: yivxtf is
as
one ranks other
of one's
mUd,
devotion,
firm
devotion
or
and
the
things in
whether
weak;
and
and
fvxtf, qdvn/ua, what
it
one
is
relation
most
to
yvwfin
devoted to
it; S2
qdvn/ia
or
from
loves,
each and
is the temper
itself as intense or lax, savage or is the reasons one has for one's draws from it. Creon Ulustrates this
shows
yvwfin
consequences one
first about any ruler, xwv aqlaxwv fiovXevfidxwv 8ctxig...ajixexai...dXX'...exei expands takes up yvwytn, qdvn/Jia, and and then again about explains [t8iov'...vofiitei yvxv ; himself, triad in two
32
ways:
Cf. Dem. 18.280-1.
Interpretation
172
dv...owxnqiag is his
ovx
his
fjd'...7ioiov/ie8a
but
of
Creon does
a question of either
ruler as
the way
qdvrj/ia,
or
rpvxr]
loves. As the fatherland is to
ruled
and
for the
courageous
ipvxt]
the
see
and on what one
highest for both ruler
for the
are self-evident
judgment
rank
and
yvxij,
problem
they
yvwfin
reason, only the
same
has in
and
ruler
to be
addition
in warning against what threatens everyone's This is why Creon caUs his decree his qdvr]/j,a (207). is the political formulation of his yvx^j, is such an
and speak out
and yvwfj,n.
His decree,
not
one acts on one's
most
his
av...i/j,avxw
ovx
qdvnfia,
yvwytn.
which
courage, for the whole city never was particularly loyal to the Labdacids. It does not think so highly of Eteocles or so httle of example of
Polynices
Creon
as
12.5.
Creon
must.
caUs
his
ipvxrj,
and
qdvnfia,
his
yvw/in
vdfioi
because for him they mean his evvofxog yvxrj, evvo/uov qdvntxa, and evvofiog yvw/un. He therefore does not consider what relation obtains between the assumes
that
depends
on
with
which
vdfioi
of
they
are
the
the
in
it in
replaces
difference between city saying that Polynices have
through
persists
hatred
of
Hatred
the regime is
of
and
^fMv,
(182, 187). The
(194),
though metrically he could
most
its
whatever
present regime
prior
the fatherland is ipso nomine unpatriotic, but
often
Now Creon is forced to
agreement
to any regime and that which regime. (The Chorus in the parados never
all changes of
ndXig.)
ndxqa
his fv%r\
The city is
is, but the fatherland is thought to be mention
the
for he
city, an
plainly appears in Creon's his fatherland (199), but
the city
of
vneq/xaxwv.
such
destroy
fatherland to
But
with
ndXig
the
of
vd/uoi
agreement.
formulating
wanted
behalf
on
*naxqag
said
and
the
and
the
of
coincidence
he
Eteocles died
soul
perfect
thought to be the highest kind
identify
of patriotism.
the fatherland and the city because he
two different arguments for establishing his right to rule, either one of which would suffice but which together are contradictory. Creon
employs
first of
proves
his
rule.
the
Labdacids, but Chorus to
legahty
The
of
his
then the
accession and
legality, however,
turns
probable exceUence
the regime, the house
on
the excellence turns on the fatherland. Creon
loyal to the
of
the
wants
the
hence to himself, while he himself will show his perfect devotion to the city as fatherland. He thus appeals to the irrational loyalty of the Chorus, which he nevertheless must loyalty.33 esteem, as he declares his own rational By faUing to prove, which
he
remain
could not
patriotic, Creon
33 of
wanted
the
regis
and
Creontem ofjicium
atque qui ei se
regime
is
non private esse
censeat
shared
to,
and
that the Labdacids were consistently
iustum
esse
neque
imperium
a
family
more
than
their
Strauss, City and Man, 167. Creon's confusion by the commentators: "verissime Suevernius
in Polynicem
inimicos praebeant;
sed quod sustinendum putat
family
Chorus to love
Cf. Aristotle Ath. Pol. 28.5; L.
fatherland
monuit et
if he
asks
royal
odio aeque
haec imperare, adversus
in Anligonam
sed quod qui
severum
suum"
(Wunder,
eos,
on
198
boni
civis
ament
patriam,
esse odio
quodam,
sqq.).
A country,
Antigone
of
173
fanuly, besides, that his decree is designed in part loyalty, on the other hand, to the fatherland is
the very
and
to dishonor. His
Sophocles'
Reading
own
rational, for the love that
attaches the Chorus to the Labdacids or one depends for its possibUity on the country's freedom from enslavement. Creon could have avoided this contradiction if he had said that the Chorus had shown exceptional patriotism through
to
countryman
another
kings, and that he expects their allegiance to him because he wiU show himself as patriotic as they have done in the past. Not only does the need to prove the legality of his accession prevent him from taking this approach, but he somehow senses as weU that
three generations of
the love
love but
of
feUow
a
he
of country: of
not
his
countryman grips
own
far
everyone
deeply
more
Chorus'
the
speaks of
than
for the Labdacids,
reverence
for Thebes. The ipv%ij that only the love of country is not the
reverence
exercise of pohtical rule reveals as undivided
those
of
ipvxxi
between their
do
who
not
that makes
country Perhaps Creon, then, does not avoid the and second parts of his speech out of sacrifice
his deeper feelings for the
His swearing 12.6.
xexxrj/ieBa)
is
one
of
The
iXog
by
xovg
that
assumes
love
with
country,
of
country
One has to figure
hand,
out
aU
precedes
sUence, then, and of one's
about
iXoi
One
or
picks
matter
a
drops
friendship
a
of
19.3).
*x.
of
choice,
friend
at
and
wiU.
into
wiU come
conflict
more
the need for it. Love of one's own, on the other
never
shows
and
speaks
how
survives
of
her
conflict
in
yvw/j,n
spite
of
(cf.
between the love
unprepared
he is to
calculation
4.3). Creon's of one's own
Antigone.
confront
That Antigone, too, somehow regards the love of her own as a of choice is part of her strangeness (cf. 9.5), and does not
Creon's
no
One
accordingly (cf. OC 607-15). Love of deliberate, for it even begins in calculation.
the possible
country
are
ability to 38.1).
act
calculation
(cf. 98-9): Antigone
unique
(instead
noiovfieBa
whether such a
and
however, is far
in his
sake of
lXovg
aU
necessity.
therefore calculate
can
between the first
contradiction
pride
his country (cf. here may indicate this pride (cf.
oath
an
phrase
love is necessarily divided that love possible.
whose
rule,
the
and
iXoi
matter
justify
omission.
Creon's proclamation,
12.7.
speech, is the brother
(dbeXd)
of
which
makes
up the third
the second part, in which
part
he
of
his
presented
he intends to magnify the city. It is a special case of the general laws of the country, which are in turn the laws that inform Creon's soul. Creon commits the democratic error of identifying 8.4).34 But decree and law on a completely nondemocratic basis (cf. brother of his laws? His the laws decree stated his is in what way the laws
that
34
that
he
by
which
counts as
The Chorus recalls
nothing
characterize
anyone who puts a
Creon's
friend before his
convocation of
the technical phrase at Athens for
an
themselves
fatherland,
with an expression
extraordinary assembly (160-1).
Interpretation
174 that he himself
and
his land. To
of
bury Eteocles,
to deprive Polynices
honor
equate
honor
of
of
given without reverence
understand
burial
love
with
love,
and
act
or
honor but
xovxov
of enmity.
an
was
who
enemy
friendship,
an act of
Creon thus
and
seems
to
hatred. He knows nothing dishonor without hatred. He does not as distinct from love. He does not
awe
seeing him (cf.
indifference
with
an
be
must
dishonor
and
understand that one can without ever
then,
friend
a
one
make no
would
with
not
1.1);
love
someone at a
distance
and
easUy squares hatred (cf 35). For
and that contempt as
Xeyw
ovda/nov
as with
.
Creon, then, to let Polynices be seen disgraced, the prey of birds and dogs, would disclose more his hatred than his dishonor; but just to order Eteocles to be buried, without performing the rites with his own hand (cf. 900), would be a mark of honor and not of love (cf. 524-5). Creon aU, without violating his patriotism, have prohibited the Polynices in Theban territory, which was the Athenian punish
after
could,
burial
of
1.7.22).35 That he for treachery and sacrilegious theft (Xen. Hell. Polynices but not his love for goes out of his way to express his hatred of Eteocles shows how imperfectly Creon understands his own equation
ment
of
honor
the laws
and
obeys
degree
of
that
an equation
seems
to have
soul
intensity
for the laws
being
perfectly
12.8.
needed
to
bring
represented.
about such a
Only
For the interpretation
of
19.2. Despite the fact that
see
from his taking
of
11.2). Perhaps, however, Creon's faUure to due no less to his own inabUity than to the to
arisen
9.4). Creon is in his country (cf. ionate as Antigone when it comes to the law: but the laws do not shine through him, for he simply is not up to the
speech as
he
love;
his
of
lamentations
of
women,
Polynices'
sisters might
194-206
Creon
have tried to
can show
see
4.6,
strictly
nor
violate
10.6,
the law perfectly is
recalcitrance
Antigone
xwxvaai
neither
transparency (cf.
represent
in
and
law itself
for 198-200, the
means
anyone
the
up Creon.
else
ritualistic
that
suspects
the prohibition. Creon seems
to assume that women would perform their part in funeral rites only if there were men to prompt them.
therefore
not
a
spontaneous
inconceivable that any woman to bury Polynices (cf. 22.10).
as
12.9.
first
Of
three
city.
3<s
be the
could
occurrences
of
and
because it is the
ndXig
ritualistic
heart, Creon originator
and
regards
the
of
it
plan
in Creon's speech, the
Oedipus,
the last three refer, respectively, to
and
any
Eteocles,
ruler
(162,
the whole
any loyal citizen (194, 203, 209); between the pair of triads Creon's reference to himself (191). The first triad has to do
and
stands
with
seven
of
concern, respectively, the gods,
167, 178), city,
the
Precisely
expression
ruling Creon
(wqBwaav, now sees no
wqBov,
the second with obeying the in his combining both. His enhance-
evBvvwv),
difficulty
Cf. Eur. Phoen. 775-6, 1629-30; Wolff-Bellermann, Riickblick, 121-3.
A Reading of
Sophocles'
(avfw) of the city is the same upholding the city, he is going to improve
ment
13
(211-14). 13.1.
(dqeaxei) of
use
barely
with regard
The Chorus distinguish between Creon's to Polynices
and
In
city.
city.36
Eteocles
and
living
suggest that
his
the dead.
and
level
same
pleasure
to make
power
as
that there is a difference between the
tentatively,
more
175
his devotion to the
as
the
every law concerning the his pleasure is not on the
and
any
Antigone
law,
They even
and,
living
the
and
dead. Creon has said that whoever is kindly disposed to Thebes wUl be honored alike alive or dead; the Chorus imply that personal pronouns in the
living
nominative strictly apply to the 35.1). The dead cannot be subjects whether one can speak of either the
then, of
but
active
of
to the dead (cf.
not
It is
verbs.
benevolence
or
doubtful,
the malevolence
the dead. Creon surely does not beheve that Polynices, if left unburied, be powerless to injure Thebes, for he does not employ the magic
wUl of
that
Polynices'
to
maschalismos
ensure
Eteocles, if buried,
if pubhcly
funeral
a
given
wiU continue
patriotism regardless
of
and
impotence; his
nor
of
monument,
does he beheve
Thebes.
serve
can
as
burial;
the city's opinion about
Eteocles,
a
model
of
Polynices'
but
warning p.gainst treachery unless the that burial is and because a divine law commands supposes needed, city it. Honor to the dead can share the same basis as honor to the living;
unburied corpse cannot serve as a
but dishonor to the dead necessarUy has a different basis from dishonor to the living. To bring dishonor into line with honor, Creon would have to prove that the gods have the same perspective as the city; and later he is forced to give such a proof (cf. 19.2), but now he is entirely unaware of
13.2.
the difficulty.
This
difficulty
the
mutual
fratricide
of
Antigone's
in
such
way that the
city
turn
would seem
whole
city
fratricidal gods
relevant,
To
mouth of
Eteocles
(172,
might
cf.
Creon has
which
poUution
avoid
devouring by
the
eagles
(1042). If fratricide
makes
whose
should no more
foUows.
as
Creon:
first, of 12.3); next,
worked
out
(776);
and
of
Zeus is
the
slayer
honor Eteocles than Polynices,
unless
an
assumption
that in
Polynices, for his
crime
his death. In order, then, for Creon to distinction between Polynices and Eteocles, he must regard
would cease to
36
and
defined
exactly
that death automaticaUy cleanses, to weaken Creon's case against
assumes
a
more
starvation,
that he fears
poUution
one
city.
by
corpse,
unclean, the
the
Polynices
punishment
of
a
make
of
Polynices'
third, not
a
be
can
three times in the play, all in the
jxlaafia occurs
be
punishable with
poUution as of
politicaUy irrelevant: the
gods of
the fanuly. Antigone's punishment,
since avoid
faUure to foUow the poUution, then, is
Cf. Xen. Mem. 3.1.2; Lycurg.
c.
the city are
proper rites would poUute not
a
matter
Leocrat. 76-7.
not
however, is politicaUy of
the entire
honor: Antigone
as
Interpretation
176
Antigone is seems to
not
taken into
have two
fratricide in
Now in
.
ways open
to him. If
politicaUy
irrelevant,
being
the case of
Polynices Creon
like
nonburial were a poUution
not
bury
to
Polynices
would
Ismene only (cf. 7.2); but then to honor Eteocles could not solely consist in his burial, for that in itself would be politically irrelevant too. To honor Eteocles would need some the city but Antigone
not poUute
special
burial
ceremonies
(cf.
4.1),
such, though they Polynices. If, on the other as
which
would
could
accompany
hand,
nonburial
have nothing to do with to distinguish him from
it,
were a poUution
like Anti
Polynices'
burial politicaUy relevant, to aUow honor Polynices, any more than the burial of Eteocles would
in
gone's punishment would not
honor him. Creon the
and
being
chooses neither of
pohtical relevance of
burial,
and
these
ways.
He
for
argues at once
hence to deprive Polynices
of
it is to
dishonor him, and for the pohtical irrelevance of nonburial, and hence the city cannot incur poUution if Polynices lies unburied. Creon tries to politicize burial, so that it is nothing but a question of honor or dishonor; but such a pohticization requires that the gods be indistinguishable from the city, for if they are not, the gods could equaUy insist that the city bury Polynices to avoid poUution and honor Eteocles to glorify patriotism.
Creon's
pohticization of
burial
wiU thus
lead him to the divinization
of
the
city.
14 (215-22). 14.1. the decree
what
Although Creon
omitted
from his formulation
of
the penalty is for its violation, the Chorus know that the
4.7). Do they assume that aU crimes are capital penalty is death (cf. crimes? Or that Creon would as a matter of course impose the death As they assume that the death penalty is an infaUible deterrent, automaticaUy discharges them from the task Creon has asked them
penalty?
which
to perform,
perhaps
from
everyone
Ismene that
that only
they imply
such a
Creon's decree.
disobeying
suicide cannot
be
an
They
obligation
(cf.
penalty would
would prevent
thus agree
with
10.7). That disobe
dience, however, is suicidal follows only if Creon's preventive measures are perfect; and they can be perfect only if those whom Creon has appoin Polynices'
ted to guard
force the to
or
guards are
rule out
in Thebes
Creon's deceit to the
corpse cannot
deceit. To
the possibUity of weak; and to
corrupted or overwhelmed
by
guards
superior
force,
that the disaffected
elements
the possibihty of deceit, either that be guUed or that no one would think of using
are
bury
be
the possibihty of corruption would imply that either fanaticaUy loyal to Creon or mortaUy afraid of him; rule out
cannot
Polynices (cf.
Chorus'
assumptions
rule out
10.5). That nothing in the play contradicts again how easUy their simplicity can
shows
for prescience (cf. 11.4). Without any awareness of the possi bilities they reject, they pick the one possibihty only a fool has the eros 10.8). to die that applies exclusively to Antigone (cf.
14.2. penalty is
Creon, an
the Chorus, does not beheve that the death deterrent, but he beheves that, though the hope
unlike
infallible
A
for
gain can
commit
be
stronger than
the fear
of
(cf. 313-4). Not the
crime
is infaUible (cf. 494-5);
crime of
a
Sophocles'
Reading of
the play: Tiresias knows
death,
he too is
and
no one can
prevention
at once who
177
Antigone
successfuUy but the detection of
not contradicted
is guUty
of
in the
polluting
Creon's first oath now yields its meaning: Zevg d must hold if Creon can be certain that no crime goes (184)
dqwv del
altars.
That this
should
even
apply
course
the city's
undetected.
to the present case shows the
extent
to
Creon relies on divine for his decree. The gods must approve of his decree if it is guaranteed that whoever buries Polynices wiU come to hght (cf. 327-8). Creon thus disregards the possibUity that which
the
could, in
gods
known. His gone
disapproving
of
undetected.
punishing Creon
The gods, it seems, are at cleansing Thebes of poUution (cf.
15 (223-43). 15.1.
the
Creon
The first
speech of
the
(xdfiavxov).31
guard
The
he later dust from though
of
9.1, 9.7).
the
need
strange.
to
The fact his
justify
his tardiness only through his
on
learning
the
news
than
on
delay own
blaming
only serves to exasperate important thing is his own situation in his eyes is scarcely a crime (247, 256),
the
crime
the guard is
make
self-defense
uncaUed-for
whose
guard,
Creon. To
know
can
Creon is keener
and
ission;
stiU
what
as with
that he is now before Creon seems to superfluous.
let its violator be it was if Antigone had least as concerned with
his decree,
have been
punishment could not
most
expresses no repugnance at
sacrilegiously sweeping
off
the
Polynices'
corpse; indeed, he speaks of the good job he and his feUow guards did in laying the clammy body bare (409-10). If one supposes that those below pardoned him because he acted impiously
duress (cf. 1199-1200), Ismene's expectation of pardon for not 9.2). The guard, then, Antigone seems to be reasonable (cf. recognizes the sacredness of burial, but not its obligatory character. He under
helping
moreover, whoUy indifferent, as a slave, to the political purpose affects to find in his decree. Unmoved by the religious or the
is,
Creon
political
issue, he lives
that he not only
tardiness (a
solely between fear
confesses
without
confirmation
curious
of
and
reason
hopelessness;
to the
Creon's belief
imaginary
so
fearful
crime
of
that no crime goes
undetected), but continuaUy increases the likelihood of his punishment by the very speeches supposedly designed to assuage Creon's anger; and
hopeless that he beheves Creon's faUure to
so
innocence
can
only be due to the
gods
punish
him for his
(330-1).
person in the play to treat the soul the for as something separate, soul, in Creon's understanding, is nothing 12.4). If Creon had spoken most (cf. the honors and loves but what one different aspects of men, names for as and yvch/xn of rpvxij, qdvnfia,
15.2.
The
guard
is the first
meaning. With the guard, however, nothing would have been lost of his it is otherwise. He explains that his soul by much talking delayed his
37
On the
guard see
F.W.
Schneidewin, Einleitung, 12.
Interpretation
178 coming, for he always took
here is
translation of soul
a command whatever
as
"conscience."
He thus
it
said.
assigns
The Loeb
to his
his
soul
(The guard, like the Chorus, assumes that death is the penalty for any crime.) He separates himself from his soul in order to save his own skin (cf. Xen. Cyrop. 6.1.31-41). Were it not for his soul, nothing would have kept him from breathlessly reporting
desire for
own
the
is guUty, he is innocent. His soul gave him two of contradictory advice, neither of which he could foUow without checked by the other. The soul is not a reliable guide, for it is
crime.
pieces
being
self-preservation.
dominated
His
soul
the fear
by
of
punishment.
Only
hope
hope
guard
can make the
the ime
forward. The soul in fear way it itself has made; but the hope it offers is in fact resignation to fate (cf. 274); the guard, if punished, wiU be unjustly punished. Fate thus seems to be the discovery of the soul confronted with the inevitabihty of unjust punishment; and the soul itself as something separate seems offers
come
out of
as the
to be the discovery of the fear that such a confrontation arouses. However this may be, the first interpretation we are given of the soul is that it is separate and weak, guUty perhaps but unpunishable, and prone
to paralyzing
15.3. not
could
justify
calculations.
If the soul, in Antigone have
being
separate, to an
resorted
is
separate
argument
from the body,
like the
guard's
to
is
of
the burial of Polynices? Polynices is guilty, but the guUt
his soul,
and
by losing it,
what remains of
Polynices is
unpunishable.
His
body, it is true, obeyed his soul; but his soul, by balancing the injustice he suffers in being deprived of his throne against the injustice he wiU his country, may have first brought him to a to condone his initial indignation, held out that if he the hope he would failed only suffer what was fated (cf. 170). from is thus absolved the crime his soul made inevitable. The debate He between Antigone and Polynices in Oedipus at Colonus, which proceeds commit
if he
standstill;
and
attacks
then, in
order
on not dissimilar case
(1416-44).
to any
such argument.
for it (cf.
2.4),
connected with nices'
lines, shows how Antigone here could have made a Antigone, however, has barred herself from resorting As
does
she
it. She therefore
cannot appeal
corpse, for its innocence
arguing on behalf herself to do (cf.
not mention
the war or the
she cannot make use of grounds
of
Polynices
1.1). Her
would
as
to the innocence
be bought
individual,
own arguments
reasons
that are in any way
at
the
of
price
which she can never
turn
at
Poly
of
her
bring
different times
on
different things, but they never touch the individual Polynices, with 4.1).38 his distinct virtues or defects (cf. She argues on the basis of the Polynices whom she loves, of the law in its generality, and of the Polynices
38
Cf. Ai. 1342-5; H. Grotius, de tare belli et pads, 11.19. 11. 6: "hinc est quod sepeliendi, non tarn homini, id est personae, quam humanitati, id est
officium
naturae
humanae
dicitur."
praestari
A
Reading
Sophocles'
of
179
Antigone
who is her brother (cf 9, 27, 48), but never in a way that would aUy her understanding with the guard's understanding of the soul (cf. 10.4). .
16 (245-7). 16.1.
The
talks
guard
as
if the
corpse
were
properly
buried, and no more needed to be done. If Antigone had poured libations (420-1), the thirstiness of the dust and the hardness of the soU (250) must have
wiped out
any trace
of a er-by
he is
not
clueless
crime
more than
Creon
gone and/or
16.2.
dust
that
Ismene
As the
should
Chorus,
the
or
like
could
a
then,
is thinking in
do,
or
and the possible omission of
detective
rather
either
a nonrelative should
him; but
not concern
reads
one
that
aU
in his report,
does
it
so circumstantial
did
who
exact
scrupulously
some part of the ritual
is
them. The guard,
of
(256),
the rest
his
of
report
story's presentation of
that
conclude
the
guard,
a
no
the possibihty that Anti
ever considers
be responsible. light covering of in the play mentions its skin), we naked in the plain (cf. 410); a fact
guard says that someone sprinkled a
on the corpse's skin
(no
learn that Polynices before
one else
lying
was
Polynices'
have inferred from the parodos, which excluded armor from the panoplies dedicated to Zeus (141-3). The burial of a corpse, in any case, consists in the hiding from sight, not a body of we should not
flesh
bones, but its
and
Burial
alone.
skin
is, hteraUy Nonburial, on the
ceremony (cf. Her. 2.86.3-7). involves the entire body, aU the boneless superficial
dogs
devouring
of
eaten, for
no
parts of which are
birds. Burial does
and
not avoid
the
speaking,
a
hand,
other
hable to the
threat of
being
flimsy, has to be made against worms of being (seen) naked and torn apart
provision, however
Her, 3.16.4), but the threat (258, 1198, cf. 4.5). Burial conceals the looks and shape of man (255). It therefore poses at first, prior to the questions of body and soul, body
(cf.
and self, and self and soul, the question of skin and soul. It is that turns out only to look less profound than the others (cf.
17 (249-77). 17.1. description
ery
and
and
declarations
lots
and
the
together
are
(254),
the
and
is in three
(249-58),
guards
(253-54),
part again
(249-52), and
(259-67),
guards'
reaction:
fear (270).
the discov
the
One
of
wonder,
guilt
casting
disagreeable
can
is in three subsections, the first
the
the
second
the last the that the
of exactness
phrasing: yevfjdog
andaavxog.
state of guard
The first
of
speech
surprise
however,
that men
of
and
of which
the
guards'
the buried corpse (255-58). The
is primarily due to his
ix^oXij, oxvXdgx^6a0?> Bnqdgxvvdjv, eXBdvxog
how surprising it is that no sisters, for the absence of carts and the city were not involved. But its true
subsection
Polynices'
suggests
discovery
conveys
nXfjyfiadixeXXng
thinks at once of
pickaxes
parts:
accusations
(268-77). What holds the
aqqw^enrjiJia^evfievri, r\dvlaxoxvnp'r\qr}g,
one
the
25.3).
their indignation differs from their fear.
impression
dyadic
speech
guard
the three stages in the
the setting
reaction
crime
innocence among the
appointment of
The first
17.2.
guard's
the
just indignation,
whether
gives
of
The of
a question
shows
1 80
Interpretation
significance
trace
of
skiU
the first
stasimon:
guard's own
inference,
of
that the casual means of burial is
hand,
just
who
only in hght (cf. 23). The
emerges
human
by
ed
burial (cf.
13). If
Creon's decree that it was
buried
non-Theban
some
that no
had
animal
in of someone in Creon's attempt to politicize with no intention of violating discovered the corpse implies
yet
Argives'
the
soon after
no
exphcable
difficulty
to the
points
there is
on the other
and perhaps even
rout,
before
felt obliged to bury it was, Creon has a much harder task than he imagines to prove that the dead belong exclusively to the city. In order to rule out the guard's inference, as he sUently does, Creon has to the
promulgation of the
knowing
without even
suppose crime. of
that
As
some
(cf.
the
whose
gods
feU,
the
chance
eliminate
and
yet
such
not
the
of
have
gods must
the corpse to forestaU
around
26.1). To
the prevention
guarantee
Polynices
soon as
sort
decree
the corpse, perhaps
unintentional
erected a
chance
a
barrier
occurrence
invoke fate
requires
a
behef in the unfailing agreement between what law prohibits and what cannot happen accidentaUy. Creon must partiaUy adopt a behef of the
Persians, for a
bastard
the
that any son ever kiUed his own mother or father, find on inquiry that the supposed son was either
deny
who
one would always or
Jocasta, his
belief, attempt
patricide occurred.
then,
understands
that
his decree
it,
because its
He cannot,
as a
The
law that
not
(cf.
(cf.
of
incest
and
almost a self-evident
not
of
his
law,
soul's
to have the penalty for its wants to believe that no
need
14.1). Creon
because the death penalty wiU deter everyone, nor be caught, but because it cannot be done.
quite
bring
himself to believe it. His low
estimate
him (221-2).
guard opposes
the wild beast to dogs (cf. 1081-2).
are
corpse
12.2). He
(cf.
crimes
(cf. 170, 200-1). Creon, neither be unintentionaUy
can
14.2). It is
(cf.
domesticated animals, which Antigone's faUure to mention dogs as
then,
alone
unintentional
violator wiU
however,
of men prevents
17.3.
out
speUed
one will violate
to
another matter
scarcely and if promulgated, does
transgression
seh-interest
to be promulgated (it is the brother
needs
laws);
even
those
Fratricide is
violated nor go undetected which
by
prompted
beheve
not
subscribe
witnessing the suffering of Oedipus and to regularize the royal house would not, as it first
even after
appeared, have been
simply does
(Her. 1.137.2). If Creon does
supposititious
Persians'
4.6)
might
imply
him. It
belong a
to men
possible
living
threat
to
in
cities.
Polynices'
that she cannot it that man's
be
Dogs,
friend
how necessary and evident it is for her that the dear and the holy coincide (cf. 9.4, 9.8). The corpse must be as precious as the man to those who love (cf. 4.7). could
thus
17.4. and
betray
Each
ignorance.
walk
through
fire,
a
sign
were aU
and swear
to the test only their
self-
of
grandly boasted to the
guard
They
might
others
his
own
innocence
ready to lift up hot ingots in their hands, by the gods. Of this triad, the play puts
swearing:
the guard its that his return
belies
A
his
to
the
of
bochly
tory
fiery
(cf. 15.2). The from their souls, or
powerful that
knowledge it
5.93). Each
what another might say.
submit to the
case,
ordeal, it
when alone with
limits to its it
replaces
was a safe
himself,
he does
power
as subject
their
innocence is
so
The
possible punishment.
As his peers could not force him to kind of boasting. The guard, in any offer
with an abject submission
punishable guUt of the soul.
and
from any
abandons the view that not
to maintain the innocence
sees
themselves
interpre
long as the soul is guUtless (cf. Antiphon lay claim to this behef in an effort not to be
as
guard seemed to
by
outdone
the second
whatever one should caU the reposi
can preserve them
body, then, is inviolable
to
willingness
guards separate
innocence;
their
of
181
guards'
by implication
ordeals gives us
soul
pain
their
of
Antigone
(388-94). However this may be, the
oath
undergo two
tation
Sophocles'
Reading of
of
to
fate,
which
the punishable
CoUective
his
soul has no innocence and is the only way he
to prove his
body
the
and
un
individual providential care of innocence in this face of an undeserved but fated death. to
/ueyaXofvxla yields
(237). Behef in the life turns into resignation in the The swearing of oaths turns into the soul's speaking to oneself. It is not easy to say whether hope of worldly vindication or hopeless submisgods'
aBv/iia
siveness
represents
the
greater
Antigone does, that the gods Antigone's piety is not based 17.5.
The
as the
never
as
suggests,
on either
vacUlatory
aU
the guards into
weakness of the soul
later
puts
as
the
(cf. 233, 268, 274). The soul then discovered fate as a way out; out is through chance. The casting of lots condemns
guard now
guard
him after his death (925-8). worldly hope or fear (cf. 896-7).
unlimited power of the soul puts
ime
much of an
The
piety.
wiU vindicate
the way
(xadaiqei)
the guard. It confronted
seems to
with
coUective
to understand his answers the comfort
be the
election
way of finding a scapegoat when innocence. The scapegoat, however, prefers otherwise. Fearful of punishment, the guard coUective
me?"
with "Why involuntary self-sacrifice,
question,
than
"It is my
fate."
Fate is
more a
be ironicaUy (275). Antigone's wiUingness, on the other hand, to sacrifice herself forbids her from so invoking fate. She cannot thus console herself for her unjust punishment. And yet Antigone never caUs her sacrifice which
only
can
caUed good
indeed,
good;
ironicaUy: "good"
his
she
the calls
only time she uses the word, Creon the good Creon (31).
she
too
Creon
means
alone
it
uses
in its only other occurrence, without irony: whoever subordinates interests to the city remains in the stress of war a just and
private
(671). Could it then be that neither Antigone be caUed good? That the city (Creon) has made ayabdg so exclusively its own that not even Antigone can appropriate it?39 It would be consistent with this that of the three occurrences of dqiaxog good nor
39
comrade-in-arms
her
sacrifice can
Cf.
PI.
Dem. 24.127.
Ap.S.
24b4-5:
MiXr\xov
xdv
dyaBdv
xai
qjtXonoXiv,
&g
-nai
;
Interpretation
1 82
(179, 197, 1114), and of the four of xQVar"good for
by
aU are spoken
Creon
"Good"
She surely does
nothing."
law
nor
that
makes
doing
good
actions are
be
help
not
anyone or
the dead has to be helped (cf.
anything, for
the
neither
4.3). The very superfluousness thus prevent her from being or
Antigone splendid would 8.7). Only if Creon's punishment, for which Antigone's (cf. indispensable (cf. 14.2), is to be considered just would one to
compeUed
revise this conclusion.
It is
18 (278-9). 18.1.
just the
not
absence
of
that makes
clues
have buried Polynices, but rather death their assumption that the on that, penalty is an infaUible deterrent immortal beings could have done it. (cf. 14.1), only the
Chorus
think that the gods might
19 (280-314). 19.1. proves
that the
those
reveals
Creon's
gods could not
truly
responsible
speech consists of
more
they did it (294, 306). He or ive comes
complicity
prefers, in any case, to believe in
rather
implying
to
close
that the guards
certain
than in their carelessness (cf. the god's
either
gods'
indifference to Creon's decree (cf.
burn to the
ground the
(or country), taste
land
temples,
scatter
says
burial is
the self-evident
that Polynices
wanted
to
his father(s) and the gods of his race blood, and lead the rest of his city into
of common
to prove that the gods
order
that
Polynices
came
to
the votive offerings, and the earth
set
could not
fire to
the
their laws. Creon drops the arguments based on fratricide
and
the
the
vaol
the
and
moreover, yfj with
which or
the gods
slavery, for
justify
for Polynices
of
slavery (199-202); but now, in have buried Polynices, he says columned
their active
14.1),
17.2).
In arguing that to prohibit consequence of his soul's laws, Creon
to
concern
Polynices'
19.2.
to
the one guUty (302-14). have been bribed than that
they find
the third threatens the guards unless
Creon is far
three parts: the first
have buried Polynices (280-9a), the second and how they managed it (289b-301), and
of
first is too private, and the second too pohtical, for either Polynices' horror at crime (cf. 13.2). He replaces,
gods'
naxqwa with
and
yfj
avaBrj/xaxa.
exelvwv
He first
(i.e., Becov), argued
for
and
Beol
iyyevelg treachery
ol
Polynices'
against his own, whether it be bis own land, gods, or brother; but now, in arguing for impiety, he consecrates the city and aU that belongs to it to the gods. The first charge had Polynices firing the gods Polynices'
themselves, who, Creon pretended, do
their
but the
who are now
whoUy
second separate
has him
firing
from the
what
not differ from belongs to the gods,
monuments
of
their worship. As one could
readUy think of the gods as wUling to forgive their own, Polynices' who was unsuccessful, Creon has to heighten point that
forgiveness
would
be
statues;
inconceivable; but
this
especiaUy
impiety heightening
one
to the
has
A the
effect of
on
persons.
stasimon
Sophocles'
Reading of
Antigone
183
making the attack on things a more serious crime than that The fact that the Chorus accept Creon's proof the first presupposes it gives us the first inkling that a corpse could
be more sacred than a person (cf. 256). The IJoXwelxovg vexvg of Antigone (26) might differ as much from Creon's LToXweix-ng (198) as Creon's vaol and dvaBrj/uaxa do from his Beol ol 4.3). eyyeveig (cf. Polynices' corpse might have its significance for Antigone not despite but because it is more alien to her than either Polynices her brother (cf. 3.3) or Polynices himself (cf. 15.3). 19.3.
As the
takes to be the
gods
could
same as
13.2), Creon declares
Creon
moves
city,
and
with
Polynices'
who
against
the
the
gods.
fatherland (cf.
As he
deny
12.5)
the land
replace cannot
for he has to
pohtical
him. To
Creon keeps his
time that he has been
same
the land
with
the
of
(cf. 938), forgiveness of Poly
are the ancestors
gods
basis for
possible
him is to revolt of his regime
identification
the ancestors
that the
assume
every
the
the
of
conflict, without indica be the rallying point of
revolt against
original at
of
enemies.
burial to the divinization
sacrilegiousness could ever
murmur against
secretly
compeUed to
gods.
that the true culprits are pohtical
the pohticization of
from there back to the purely
ting how those
from
that
saying
(cf.
have buried Polynices, which Creon they could not have honored him
not
gods'
the
nices, Creon implies that not only is he the legitimate heir to the throne, which in turn truly expresses the fatherland, but that he is the present
for the distant
regent
legitimacy
his
with
(cf. 304). What plainly links his political appointed role are the laws of his soul,
gods
divinely
which are at once the test of
the
(184, 305, 758) divine law
19.4. sacks
no
statesmanship, the
Polynices'
sanctions
Creon
cities, it
refute
Antigone's
freely
contention
29.1). He is
burial (cf.
and
city,
swears so
the
that
first to
human beings (295, 299). the bad
exemplifies
from
expels men of mortals
good wits
ground of the
that Creon
wonder, then,
deigns to
and never
speak of mortals and
the
It is
wUl of the gods.
in
effect
their
of
homes,
shameless
money in three ways: it it perversely instructs
and
deeds. The city
unqualifiedly good; only the
Creon implies,
are
either good or
bad. Creon
shows
no
awareness
wits of
and
the
(qeveg)
family, can
be
an essential conflict
12.6). Were is not for money they between the city and the family (cf. suggests that, though money furthermore would always be in harmony. He necessarUy belongs to the city, which in itself is good, the city does not need money, which in itself is the source of aU impiety. Money is the worst convention
It
owes
its
(vd/itofia)
that
ever grew
quasi-natural status
(efiXaoxe) among human beings.
to its universahty. It
tional and yet universal. It therefore reminds one of
equaUy to be
seem
to be
even more
conventional
and yet
closely connected, for
universal;
they both have
is entirely conven burial rites, which
indeed, they to do
seem
with what
is
Interpretation
1 84
beneath the In
22.8):
(1200).40
for Hades is Plouton
another name
decisive respect, however, Plouton the god of dead differ. The conventionahty of
one
the
(cf.
earth
Plouton
wealth and coined
god of the
money does
not stand in the way of exchange between one currency and another; but the conventionality of burial rites forbids the discovery of equivalents between two different rites. Darius offered money to both Greeks and either were willing to foUow the burial practices of the other (Her. 3.38.3-4). This difference has its ground in another difference. Any set of burial practices takes its character from what is held about
Indians if
the
No
soul.
directly.
other
Coinage,
on
far
practice,
as
the other
hand,
I know, implies so much so it no such implications.
as
carries with
may be held to preside over the ways in which money is exchanged (cf. Od. 19. 395-8); but no god determines the values, let A
god
alone
the use,
deface it, always and
bury it,
remains
is
and
man
pieces
it is in use, it
be
is in the
is in the new,
new
old
it
the
indelibly
Polynices
and
at
wiU
coined
which
currency,
it
which gives
without
currency
But
obol).
stamped
that could
metal
corpse
But Creon issues his
have
of
Polynices'
valuation.
soul
treats the corpses
of
Eteocles'
(Charon's
god
the
gods and
Creon, however,
Eteocles as if they were in any denomination: now to be discontinued;
it;
can without sacrUege
and when
the transaction be between one man
whether
The
One
of money.
or even not use
between
even
never neutral.
themselves.
with
it,
melt
neutral,
or
another,
corpse
this or that piece
of
a
is
higher
altering the beliefs
that alone can validate the change. Creon does not pretend to understand
he
on
puts
realize
each
not a radical
both the
19.5.
Creon
not so
education.
be the
leading
of
equivalent of where
so painfuUy.
torture
they
for the
wiU
pain
For 213:
Idicov
the elnslv
death,
the
and
(cf.
13.2). His
impiety
is
blurt
out on
not
distort
connection
[SoXcova
ovvaXXay/idxcov elvexa roig
future they
accordingly.
(for
death suffices) as an though it seems to
which
Hades;
might
The torture is
and
the existence
of
Hades
the lesson they wiU have future reformation presupposes that under
body it.41
between
Xiyerai]
act
practice
that which
the
the soul. He threatens
of
that in the
must assume
can
guards'
so
mention
Creon
guards
The
inflicted
(the soul) but does M
gain
much as a punishment
learned
esp.
rightful
death,
to
Creon is the first to
place
the corpse in itself entails a
interpretation
the third
gives
know the limits
justified
assigns
gods and the soul
impiety.
the guards with torture
a
is independent
corpse
that the neutrahty he thus
reassessment of
as
differently. He believes that the price (xi/itf) of such beliefs. He does not
the gods or the soul
either
I8xi
they
opens
and
The soul, then,
vdpog
and
avxdg rjyeixai
Idicbxaig
Creon already know; truth hidden within
up the
which
v6/iio/*a
see
dgyvgiov
/xiv
is too Dem.
guileless
24.212-4;
vd/uof*'
evQ-n/xivov, xovg di v6/xovg
elvai xwv
v6fita/ia
xfjg
ndXeiog elvai. 41
On the
pros and cons of
torture in the orators
see
Wyse's
note on
Isaeus 8.12.1.
A to invent to
through
which
lacks both nobUity
and
from the
separate
(cf.
body
and yet
the
true touchstone
the
of
its guUty knowledge. 20 (315-22). 20.1. After
presents a
topology
Indignation is speeches, the
of
of the
which
soul,
enough
strong
17.4). Both interpretations, is
pain
body,
however,
Creon's
nonbodUy
resides
is too
weak
to the
the inverse
assumes
held the
soul
to be
to protect it from pain
bodUy
share the view that
the soul, whether to prove its innocence threats that
pain
in the soul,
or
torture,
of
accompanies
two kinds. One resides in the
other
which
soul when subordinate
deivdxng. Creon thus of
185
Antigone
to the
it learns. The
the second interpretation
of
Sophocles'
he, is tightiy bound
a plausible
resist and
body
or
Reading of
ears
qeveg,
the
guard
indignation.
and reacts
only to
only to this difference.
and reacts
deeds (cf. Her. 7.39.1). Creon, however, is unaware of He has confused the pain he feels at the report of the crime with the pain he feels at the criminal; and as the criminal is unknown, his indignation discovers the criminal in the reporter of the crime, the only person
avaUable.
bribed the
guards
Creon's instant suspicion that his pohtical enemies is merely a gloss on this confusion. Indignation of
the soul cannot be satisfied with the emptiness of
"the criminal"; it
must
"this criminal"; but as it has no special sense which can detect it him, it finds the guilty everywhere. The guard by thus seems to give the obverse side of his interpretation of his own always
vent
itself
on
showed the soul in self-induced before fate; this interpretation shows the soul in righteousness lashing out at everyone but itself. What holds the two together is the pain of frustration, whether born of its awareness soul
(cf.
fear
and
15.2). That interpretation
guUt prostrate
of
undeserved
but
of
those who
deserve to be
reminds
one
of
unavoidable
Odysseus
or
punishment,
punished.
confronted
with
of
its ignorance of
frustration
Posidon's wrath; the that is his own. The
AchiUes slaying Hector for a crime would thus be an ignoble Odysseus, who of
born
The first kind
as
second guard
cleverly talks his way
out of danger; and Creon would be an ignoble AchiUes, who also is forced to aUow the burial of his enemy. Creon's remorse, moreover, atonement has as httle effect on his subsequent punishment as has on his fate. 20.2. It would not suffice, if one wished to paraphrase what the AchiUes'
reaUy makes you indignant, if the guard means only that, for I am just a irritant"; regions to Creon's twofold pain, separate assign to have not he would but merely discriminate between its two external sources. The guard, guard
says, to have him say, "The
criminal
superficial
rather, means,
"The
criminal
self."
your superficial
The
makes
soul
the
real
you
indignant, I irritate
thus stands for the true self, which is
and scarcely communicates with it. his former view of the soul's paralyzing influence on the true self, which is subject to punishment for crimes it was whoUy unwilling to commit. Creon accepts this identification separate
from the
In this sense, the
rest
of
oneself
guard reverses
Interpretation
1 86 the
of
the self, but he denies that it is something separate: he tells the guard, "but what is Money seduced the guard
and
soul
crime,"
"Not only did you commit the worse you betrayed your soul for into giving up his true self. Here for meaning
life, but
of
body
it the
he
and soul
does
as the guard
the
who
the
love
most
should
and
inseparability
equivalent of
of
(675)
ipvxv
their separateness; for the guard wants to deflect wants to punish anyone
on
away from himself, but Creon thwarts him in a way that leaves nothing
Creon's
keeps its primary
soul
as much on
as
alone uses awpia
one
what
as
same
12.4). Creon thus insists
honor (cf.
first time
the
the same time it bears a trace of Creon's first inter
at
made
which
pretation,
money."
anger
of one's own unpunished
uncorrected.
or
The
20.3.
separate
and
separate
and
What
no
the
and
guard
five inter
presents
The soul is: (1) ( 15.2), (2) ( 17.4), (3) connected and weak ( 19.5), (4) oneself ( 20.1), (5) connected and oneself ( 20.2).
the
of
pretations
between Creon
scene
separate and weak
soul.
strong
maintains
one
interpretation
is
that
the
soul
have the
is
connected
the
and
strong.
much rely unlike 5, be pain all resistant to be and, 3, bodily 2, but, contemptuous of life. One is therefore tempted to conclude that, as these traits exactly characterize Antigone, the ground for her devotion
Such
an
would
on
soul
gods
as
unlike
as
Polynices'
to
which
corpse,
is
so
that she unnecessarily returns
great
interpretation
of
the soul (cf. 95). Whether this is the true ground of her actions, or
at
10.1), hes in her living
to it (cf.
this
paradoxical
best only a fragment of the true ground, only Antigone's two remaining defenses can properly determine (cf. 27, 48). 21 (323-31). 21.1.
they
wUl
spurred on
by fear, but
fate,
is
guard
of
not
longer
no
afraid.
In
spite of
Creon's
the guards discover the culprits,
unless
take him
pure chance wUl
seriously.
decide
Not his diligence,
whether
the
culprit wUl
thus moves from expressing his own resignation which he had entered, to expressing the indifference of
be found. The to
The
his threats that, be punished, he does
reiteration
with
guard
chance,
with which
gerated
either
he leaves (cf.
his initial fearfulness
17.5). The guard, then, has exag his final lack of concern; and
or
he later indicates that he did take Creon seriously (390-1, 408, 413-4, 437-40), one must say that his relief at not being punished at as
once
he
makes
neither
him
veer
extreme. He acknowledges that judged it probable; for it was dexterity, but to the gods. The
to the opposite
hoped for his
escape
nor
ultimately due, not to his own verbal gods do not intervene on behalf of the innocent in of
the ordeal (cf.
than
one
to be the
hopelessly discovery
devised. The debt, the
gods
opens
17.4),
but in
feared they
would.
of
the
at
any rate,
the way to
the
way The
soul cheated of
our
which
the spectacular
of events
turning
providential gods
out
way better
thus seem
the future its own fears had
the guard beheves he owes to
understanding why the first
stasimon's
A
implicit
Reading
that
the
Sophocles'
Antigone
of
do
1 87
as a limit to man is in overcoming the seemingly impossible, equipped as he is with a wisdom beyond hope (366; cf. 10.8). The first stasimon, however, shows man in his limitlessness only by suppressing any mention of his soul (cf. 11.2), the significance of Aeschylus' which clearly emerges if one compares the first stasimon of
assertion
gods
not
stand
connected with man's artfulness
necessarily
Choephoroi.
The guard therefore is just as necessary as the first for the fuU understanding of man. That the soul comes to light in the element of the ridiculous, whUe art comes to hght with the greatest solemnity, although art has seemingly nothing to do with the stasimon
play's
action
and
everything, Ulustrates the way in
soul
competence always outstrips unavoidable
for
us
and
his
error
than to the guard
22 (332-75). 22.1.
Creon's
of
proof
his
to
self-knowledge.
give
more
It is
weight
which
man's
but
almost
a great
the first
to
stasimon
speeches.
The first
presupposes
stasimon
that the gods did
not
the
Polynices (cf.
bury
correctness
19.2), from
the Chorus sUently concluded that men of great daring and skUl involved in perpetrating so clueless a crime. Man's navovqyia, which according to Creon constitutes man's impiety and hybris (300-1, 309), is now given the morally neutral name of deivdxng, for which which were
the
Chorus, in charting
try
to . Creon had given the love of base gain
the
extent of man's
stoppmg-at-nothing, do
(money)
criminality; but the Chorus do not, as one that cause with the neutral love of gain. Neither
cause of man's replace
Prometheus
end nor a
explains man's
inventive daring. It is
as
not
the
might
expect,
some
ulterior
irreducible
an
part of man.
22.2.
The
stasimon presents man's
four aspects, to
of
superiority to,
man's
devising the
its
and
choice
and
foUowing
the of
own characteristic set
retains
its
by
cognate
the
mastery of,
understanding,
of
uncanny awesomeness as consisting it devotes a strophe: man's restlessness,
each of which
and
or
good verbs.
original sense of motion noXevwv
and
;
second strophe
gvpneqaoxai; with
his
the
and
sociahty:
Throughout the
in turn has: the
second
naqslqwv,
stasimon
living beings,
bad. Each
and
is
echoed
strophe
with
at
and
ediddaxo,
rest:
has
which
xmQeh
is likewise
plausible
anoqog
thus
neXei,
the strophe's end
antistrophe
Schoene's
man's
leaves to him
which
The first begins
The first
dnoxqvexai, IXXofievwv. piece: djMpifiaXwv, dyqei, xqaxel,
The
other
aU
freedom,
these two verbs frame the
neqwv, a
man's
en
aU of
dxfid^exai.
ovbev
eg^era,
antistrophe
contrasts
man's
freedom
naqiaxiog,
yevoixo,
laov
qovwv.
the prepositions, compounded or uncompounded,
and rising above him: swamp ndqav, neqi-, every dno- (first strophe), (first antistrophe), d/it-, vneqxdxav, vn, v/j,- (second strophe), vndq, en (second antistrophe). vn-, in',
carry the
notion
of
man's
confronting,
outflanking,
chaUenge, even those that threaten to
neqi-
22.3.
The
stasimon
seems
to
progress
from showing
man's
mastery
Interpretation
188 of the
inanimate
the
then leads
by
(second
gods
animals
from there to his
and
for his
who contrives the means which
(first strophe), to his mastery of relation to himself
sea and earth
(first antistrophe),
to his relation
contrast
This
antistrophe).
the Chorus
with
as
one
(second strophe),
own self-preservation
others, the city
is
schematization
and
to
open
the
scarcely aware, that the unwearied difficulty, earth, which man tries to wear out, is a goddess, and the highest of the gods besides; which should place her as such in the second antistrophe, which
of
where high.42
Man's
iUustrates the
its
Chorus
the
are
gods
and
Chorus its
breaking across
aU
of
man's
surface
not
only
hmits, (i.e., traveling whether
the
as
sea
the
of
how the city
stands
harborer
unwUling
Cain,
of
better than the
understands
not
see
that art,
it be in allowing
man's
to
in its
other
proper
man's
as
earth
The descendants
crime.
he
navovqyia,
impiety. The Chorus do
apparent
dividing
the
the
on
beivdxng,
essential
of
and
the highest god, which, the Chorus recognize, does not fit with their later assumption that
only wilfully but not essentially subversive of the city, laws. For all the narrowness of Creon's belief that money
for
s
laws,
the earth's
speak of
violation of
man's
arts
are
of
offered
to
points
but
crime
who
or
cities)
place,
the
as
age
ignoring the
city itself founded
as
God the first fruits
God did not find acceptable, discovered the arts and founded the first city. However unaware the Chorus are that the city can only be high at the expense of the highest of the gods, the Chorus do see that the city cannot be, as Creon assumes, unqualifiedly
land,
the
of
which
(cf. 19.4); for man's beivdxng partly consists in his teaching himself daxvvdfxoi dqyai, which are evidently not the same as man's submission to the laws of the land. Although the city must rest on good
both the
arts
harmony
with
through
the
another
one
arts
man's
laws), its
(their
the gods
and
10.9):
(cf.
need
or
43
two
s
for the city,
desire to
are
not
which
serves
himself, does
preserve
in not
necessarily find the gods useful. 22.4. The Chorus list nine ways in which
as such
man's beivdxng is revealed: (1) sailing, (2) farming, (3) hunting, (4) taming, (5) speaking, (6) thinking, (7) daxwdjioi dqyai, (8) housing, (9) medicine. The first four have
to do
with
to himself
man's
taught speech is yet
there
are
prevent the
itself teach
305, 758),
gods
hmiting
its limitation to
and
of speech
man
us about
we
men.
central
the
to non-men, the last five
with his relation One is therefore inclined to say that selfbecause it separates men from non-men. And
relation
other
and
their
speaking
them?
with
Leaving
swear, "for the
42
For the meaning
43
Cf. Arist. Politica 1328M1-3.
of
dxptnoXig,
see
hearing,
man.
aside
have the testimony
mortals should never
blxa.
evoqxog
to man's
of
and
Oaths
and
What, then, does
Creon's the
F. Sommer,
op.
prevent
the play
three vain oaths
guard,
afterthought
prayers
divine laws
who
belies
suggests
one's
cit., 174.
(184, that
judgment"
A Reading of
Sophocles'
1 89
Antigone
(388-94). If a change in circumstances sanctions one's right to depart from what one has sworn to, oaths could not be a way of ensuring
truthfulness, in The
guard
to
speech of
17.4),
it
were
not
of
attribution
that divine
that Creon has violated divine law through
suspects
barbaric
(cf.
Chorus'
the
1.138.1).44
(cf. Her.
a share
confirm
law,
Antigone appeals, contradicts it. But even apart from the the gods, which is divine law, one cannot forget that Tiresias
which
first
discovery
large
so
thus unwittingly
to man's own
speech
justice has
which
would
sound
of
hearing
birds (1001-2). The light-witted birds
speak
the
more
wisely than men. The Chorus do not recognize ornithroscopy or any other kind of divination as showing the limits of man's unaided resource
fulness. The future is whoUy open to man as man (360-1). If speech, then, is entirely a human invention, and oaths, prayers, and omens are not ways of communication between gods and men, it remains mysterious how the Chorus
inventiveness
would unite man's
The Chorus
city.
and
divine law in
the
to take their actual coexistence in the city as
seem
a
inventiveness, despite the im neutrahty plication in their own description of it that denies it any such neutrality. By starting from Creon's proof that the gods could not have buried Polynices, the Chorus have drifted into a view that completely cuts off proof
the
of
of
moral
the gods from
men.
Aeschylus'
22.5.
man's
Prometheus
also
lists
nine
discoveries
as
his
own:
(1) housing, (2) astronomy, (3) numbers, (4) letters, (5) taming, (6) 450-504).45 sailing, (7) medicine, (8) divination, (9) metaUurgy (PV The first of
above or
divination
neither earth
the
nor numbers.
involves,
that ploughing
of the earth.
surface
the Chorus treat xd
strikingly differs from this list by the absence in it below the earth: neither astronomy nor metaUurgy,
stasimon most
anything
housing
the
says
to the
that
ways
in
which
stasimon's
men
the
slight penetration of
stasimon restricts man's
The different
also point
Prometheus
ovqdvia.
Apart from the
beivdxng
Prometheus
dehberate
first lived in
to and
exclusion of
sunless
caves,
he taught them to buUd out in the open houses that face the sun; the Chorus imply that men first lived under the open sky, exposed to frost and rain, and men taught themselves how to avoid them, but whether by building houses or retiring to caves is unclear. No light, natu ral or artificial, Uluminates the horizontal plane on which man hves and moves. Man's daring is exercised in a closed world. His daring is without and
aspiration.
himself,
There is
suspects that neutral
of
of
only
is,
44 45
at
sense
inabUity
the
what permits
besides their
the human
look
no
other
world.
men
here of
of man's openness
things to
the Chorus to
resist
regard man's
sUence about what motivates
Man
crosses
the
sea not
One therefore
daring
it, just this
as
moraUy
closedness
to trade with, conquer, or
(cf. a3, Her. 3.139.1); he merely
Cf S. Benardete, AGON 1967, 160-1. Cf. S. Benardete, RhM 1964, 126-39.
to things beyond
man.
outbraves
it,
as
Interpretation
190
Like an engine idling, whose does gears have to be engaged before it any work, man's daring has to be the gods before it moves toward and of the seen in the perspective city terribleness is a good or evU end. Its partly due no doubt to this idling; though he were
at
but
time the Chorus have
at
the
same
recalcitrance
terrible than
22.6.
by
once more
being
to
the
harmonized
elements.
with
thereby drained it
its
of
essential
the gods. Man
is
the city
and
to
thrice, twice by name, and dvBqwnog there is nothing
more
the Chorus beheve.
even
The
with
play
stasimon
the neuter
refers
man
pronoun: as
he is nsqiqadrfg,
dvijq
uncanny, as
and as
Neuter man, furthest removed from
the
sea and wears out
directly
demonstrative earth.46
which
he
xovxo
exactly
crosses
the
characterizes man
man under the sway of Eros her for aU 21. (cf. artlessness, shares something in Antigone, then, that provokes her daring needs 10.8). If the law with him (cf. common the antigeneration of her name and nature, it must somehow be related to the arts that make manifest man's daring, which equally rests on his as
stands
artisan,
1).47
unerotic
Chorus
How they are related one far off in their conjecture
nature.
are not as
to the
as
23.1). The as they later imagine (cf. Antigone in more than a negative way. The
thrice,
stasimon mentions gods
character
is
stasimon
culprit
22.7.
say; but the of the
now
cannot
twice
by
relevant
name, and
to
once
Earth, Hades, Bewv evoqxog bixa. Earth coUectively is the highest of the gods, Hades is the only god or thing from which man and the gods cannot escape (note the triplet evyeiv, ev^iv, vydg), are those whose justice men swear by as a guarantee of their own. Both and
men and gods
sun, rivers,
anonymously:
in Homer
and
Zeus,
80, S 271-4, O an
obstacle
man;
and
Earth,
sun and
sence, moreover, the highest of the
by Earth, and men swear by Ouranos, sea, and
the gods
36-8). For the Chorus the
to man;
the
swear
and
seems
sky
though
are conspicuous
to be
sea
divine, is
deliberately
by
is
first
someone caU
Eros the highest
of aU gods
has the birds
caU
by
the
Styx ( r 276divine, but merely
continuaUy
outraged
by
their absence. Their ab
referred
gods, vneqxaxog
not
as weU
to, for Earth is
caUed
in Hesiod: Zevg xng, og vneqxaxa bw/iaxa valei (OD 8). Pindar invokes Zeus him self as the highest in connection with his thunderbolts (O. 4.1); Euripides has
vipijUqefie-
occurs
(fr.
269.2);
and
Aristopha
Zeus'
he has usurped Pisthetairos, throne, the highest of the gods (Av. 1765). It is not uncommon, however, for "highest" to have entirely lost its literal sense of above the but nes
once
earth;48
when combined with
46 47
On
xovxo
see
Earth this
sense
is
incongruously
restored
to it. The
Schneidewin; P. Friedlander, Hermes 1934, 59.
Cf. L. Strauss, The City and Man, 95-6. 48 When is not to be literally understood, the object it qualifies is vniQtaxog something the gods have raised to the top (cf. 684, 1138; Ph 402, 1347; OC 105). Are we to understand that the gods hold Earth to be the highest?
A
Chorus
the Earth
call
promise
Sophocles'
Reading of
highest,
Antigone
191
as a result of an
perhaps,
between its true owner, Zeus, to
whom
impossible
the Chorus
com
any limit
deny
and its omission, the consequence of which would have been that man as man has nothing to reverence or look up to. As that is far too radical for the Chorus, they attribute the epithet to Earth,
ing power over man,
only god whose presence in the midst of men they believe cannot be denied. Everything divine, which the stasimon's theme forbids the Chorus the
to mention (in accordance with their brand of moderation [cf.
is
11.2]),
into the Earth. One has only to compare the second strophe of the second stasimon to see what is properly highest, unaging, and unwearied. Earth, in any case, is the only god who survives in the dominion of horizontal man (cf. 46.7). compressed
22.8.
Earth
as a goddess
in two ways, both
stasimon
has
far
so
perplexed our
a
third
difficulty
or
by:
around which
violation of the
and
cannot
immortality
is
not such a means.
It
whose surface
the
the whole play revolves. The
the only limit man
earth, to
of
of
reconciling laws. There is,
as
that the stasimon suggests that
tal, therefore,
difficulty
Hades
stasimon acknowledges
breach
understanding
its oaths,
the violation of the earth with the city,
moreover,
to the
of which pertain
his
put
we
is
daring
by
cannot
any means be acciden
together
otherwise
man's
restricted,
only limitation, which as a place is somewhere below the 4.1). Its omission of mining now seems to be of some 19.4).49 importance (cf. The whoUy inviolable part of the earth would with man's earth
(cf.
thus be
Hades, whose masters are Plouton and Hecate (1199-1200); and in turn are the gods in whose custody the laws and customs of burial they reside (451). Not death in itself but Hades and his laws would constitute the true limitation
man, for the death
of
of
individuals
cannot prevent one
from ing on the fruits of its beivdxng to the next. The human world is not as closed to the gods as the stasimon makes
generation of men
out.
The
Chorus, however,
the
other
difficulties Earth
import
of
man,
They
limitlessness,
to a
universal applies to each man
limitlessness. The
is that nothing man as man.
provides
the
a
sacred
of
22.9.
In
a
way
impiety
not
interfere
the class
hence
with man's
as an
connects
individual
the city and
Chorus'
the land
bond between the land and
the
of
(cf.
mining
see
and
universal come
reminiscent of
of personification
For the
class-
,
Hades that the particular
degrees
are of
confusedly move from a limitation that though equaUy
treating and
they
not understand the
under (xBwv) are not in the Earth (/a) i.e., the laws of burial (cf. 382). Anti necessary corrective to the stasimon itself, for she
The laws of
thus
this than
They do
way that does
a
between
then stands
standing the laws is
in
consequence of
gone therefore
for them.
this.
man a neuter
calling
characteristic of
are no more aware of makes
the parodos,
11.5),
the
earth.
It is through
together. which
displayed
various
the play as a whole seems to give
Pliny NH 33.1-3.
Interpretation
192 hst
an exhaustive
ways
in
occurrences
of
Of the twenty-one the dead below the and
the
of
the last to the tumulus
Polynices'
remains
to
earth as stuff
unifying earth
(24, 65)
Creon's
of native soU
servants
divergent
earth's
the
and
earth's
it be identified
country,
and
for
appears
sense
of
to be the
Somewhere between the
meanings.
hard
(338),
erected
(1203). Burial rites, in aUowing for the
which
surface,
unyielding
in itself comprehends, hes the city, the regime, the fatherland (the place
either the goddess Earth or the whether
be understood. ^e ^si refers to
can
earth
coincide with that of earth as
of
core
the
yfj, xQ<*>v, x^Qa> the middle to earth as a goddess
(24),
earth
which
earth
with
buried), or the possession of the gods (110, 113, 155, 187, 199, 287, 368, 518, 736, 739, 806, 937, 1162, 1163). As the surface of the earth, moreover, no less than its depths, is linked through dust with burial (247, 256, 409, 429, 602), the city and Hades are never far apart. The roots of the city, however, do not aU reach to Hades, for it is also founded on the violation of the earth; and only ancestors
where one's
are
in the play aUudes to earth as the mother of aU growing things (cf. 419, 1201-2). That the dead Eurydice can be caUed nap.pi'ijxwq of Haemon's corpse (1282), though nafjtfirjxwq suggests the earth (Aesch. PV 90), seems to point again to the same abstraction from what earth this age
primarily
ignoring
It is this abstraction, which is of a piece with the existence (cf. 9.2), that allows Antigone as antito represent the laws of earth and hence of the city.
connotes.
of
generation
Of the
22.10. seventh,
Ismene's
nine
dorvvd/j,oi
emphasizes
its
of
manifestations
dqyai,
is
anomalousness
not
is
at
that
aU
beivdxng
man's
once
intelligible.
the rest
seem
only the What further
to be paired:
hunting-taming, speakmg-thinking, housing-medicine. A to its way meaning is given, however, if one contrasts speaking and swift thinking with the dumb fishes (cf. A]. 1297) and light-witted birds sailing-farming,
wind-
It would then stand opposed to the savagery of land animals dyqlwv eBvn) and would mean man's self-domestication, the training of his temper without the aid of the gods. Such a self-limitation for the sake of living together on the part of a being that otherwise men capture.
(Bnqwv
recognizes no
that civUity or
limits the Chorus
decency
results
regard as uncanny;
from
man's own
laws
but this very makes one
claim
think of
burial. The daxvvdfioi of Athens were charged with the task of seeing to it that aU dung was dumped farther than ten stades from the city's waU; and
they
themselves
picked
Ath. Pol. 50). One is thus xonqtwv
with
this
exfiXnxdxeqoi precept
up
anyone who
reminded of
(fr. 96). Even if
(cf. PI. Phaedo
died in
(Arist.
the streets
Heraclitus'
saying, a
115a3-5),
Socrates
can
vexveg
laughingly
the city does not treat
ydq agree
corpses
it treats dung; and the difference of treatment must he in the fact that some laws and customs of decency are not self-taught. The Chorus have simply not reflected on the connection between domestication and piety, on the doxvvd/uoi Beot behind the doxwdjuoi dqyai, for they as
Sophocles'
A Reading of
Antigone
193
form."50 piety only when it has decayed into habit and "good of doiag Svexa altogether eludes them (cf. Eur. meaning IT 1461, Eubulus fr. 110.2, Ephippus fr. 15.4, Wyse at Isae. 7.38). They therefore can caU Antigone, just after she has defended the divine law of burial, savage and from a savage father (471-2). 22.11. The triad of Bey/ia, qdvrjjua, and daxvvdfioi dqyai, which
understand
The
original
man
has taught
himself,
and
yvw/urj,
which
(cf.
$ 12.4). The
remind one of
only the
triads
Creon's triad
exercise
be
cannot
of
of
ywxij, qdvn/j,a,
pohtical
matched
rule
reveal
can
for Creon's
one-to-one,
Chorus'
Bey/xa and qdvnfia whUe their daxvvd/uoi yvwpirj embraces the dqyai is a partial combination of his rpvxrj and qdvnfta. The Chorus thus expand what Creon regards as the easiest aspect of ruling, and they
into daxwd/ioi dqyai
contract
boldness is
Chorus, life; for Creon,
the
man's
in town
deliberations is the assert
the
correctly dqyai cannot be
as
test
of
knowing
mUd
Creon
courage of
ultimate
that for
what
as
analyzes more carefuUy.
his
the
astonishingly in abiding by the best
ruler
Creon, then, indispensable, for
exceUence.
is
a man rule
For
sacrificed
extrapolitical and
the Chorus beheve. His
dqyai
would man's
must stUl
savagery to defend his country. He must value his country his life. Despite the war that Thebes has just endured, and even because of it, the Chorus do not reckon the ndXignaxqlg,
retain enough more than perhaps
to the
as opposed place
it
aside as
daxv,
as
constituting
the haven
of aU that
faU to consider its connection Creon somewhat understands.
with
a part of man's
is
beivdxng.
good and noble
the soul,
a
They
because they
connection
that even
22.12. The ordinary punctuation of line 360 makes navxondqog no different from anoqog xxX ; but without the colon it says that man, resourcefuUy resourceless, comes to nothing in the future (cf. El. 1000, fr. 8).51 This is surely not what the Chorus mean, but as an unwitting 871, portrayal of
Antigone it
could not
be bettered: completely artless, but infi 9.3, 10.5). For the Chorus,
to death (cf
nitely resourceful, Antigone man's beivdxng consists in the gap between his daring and his apparent limitations, before which daring these limitations coUapse. The one limitation that is equaUy apparent and real is death; but Antigone shows goes
.
her navovqyla within the area that death seems to circumscribe for itself. She does not show that it too is only apparent; she breaks only the
50
The
guards'
willingness
their innocence
well
of a custom that
did
nvgog in'
bi
that as
El
man
he
Uvai ovdiv comes
ultimately
1166):
fr. 536).
to
go
illustrates (and
later decayed into
through
perhaps
is
fire
(tivq diigneiv)
meant
a manner of
to
illustrate)
as
the
a
proof
original
of
force
expression, as in Xen. Symp. 4.16:
(cf. K. Latte, Heiliges Recht, 5-6, n. 2). inl could be distinguished from sgxexai to nothing
of
any
for
is (cf. El 245, 1129); but it is
xaxBavcbv
di nag
dvfjQ
yfj
xai
not
oxld
ftrjdiv i. as meaning his resourcefulness, resourceless to be insisted upon (cf. Ai. 1231;
all
xo /irjdiv
eis o-udiv qinei
(Eur.
Interpretation
194
limits
Ismene
that
thinks
8.6). Antigone does Death is brought recalcitrant
are
law, nature, and power (cf. death, she sides with it against life. the bvvaxd, though it seems to be
insuperable:
not get around
the
within
to exploitation,
realm of
through
the
unwritten
law. Antigone's devotion
to the law leads to her accepting the conditions of death itself: Death is not the limit but the goal. If one thus xelaofxai. alel Chorus'
the
daring finite
a colon.
question of why Antigone should What is the Chorus looking at when they pause and anoqogl Man's flight from death results in his
navxondqog
everything that threatens death. With his in expands the horizon of possibihty. He thus pushes
confrontation with
resources man
to the periphery
future
what
navxondqog
originaUy was in front
what
center and puts off into the him. The colon, then, between in the displacement of the horizon
the
at
of
remains
right
and
is grounded has brought about. The
anoqog
that man's artfulness
the barrier that
man
himself has
in
awe.
Man's artfulness,
Chorus
stand
daring,
which
to
neutral
daring The
art as well.
is
not
it,
sUence represents
before
there, however, does and
omission of
the
cause of man's
it is before it has committed itself to art. The commitment would be Antigone's to the divine law
which there
place
displacement but
daring
alternative of
to
burial, in
a rearticulation of man's original
so
gods once
turns
not a
his
have
that the domain of Hecate and Hades comes to occupy the of death and nothingness. As Antigone recovers the horizon that
horizon,
original
choose
on man (cf. 456-7), man's daring as radical piety only neutral but hostUe to art: art is the perversion of daring. Art is not at first moraUy neutral and then free
imposed
to be
out
man's
to
is
not
the
it is art; it is
neutral when
points to what such a
which exhaust
not
in itself does
and which
just moraUy
Chorus'
Chorus'
made
precedes
necessarily
to issue in it. Man's
the
ydq
misreads
meaning, one must face the
lurk behind between
exel
not
the good or the
bad; it is from
the
unholy, and the
start
difference between its subsequent morahty and immorality is, strictly speaking, illusory. Creon's mistake of identifying decree with law reflects a necessary mistake of the city itself, for the city cannot dispense with art; and therefore it must condone its essential unholiness whUe it the
punishes
in the
accidental manifestations of
glare that
Antigone
Antigone, therefore, has to forget
22.13.
once
to be replaced
again what
The Chorus
this
casts on
Antigone
seem
its
misuse.
The city
must
original compromise of
by
Tiresias in
reminds
it
order
(cf.
of
blink
the city.
for the city
51).
to enforce their punctuation of line 360
through the corresponding line in the antistrophe, where vtplnoXig stands to navxondqog as anoXig to anoqog. The city is high if man weaves
into (naqelqwv) his artfulness his country's laws and the sworn-by justice 52 but there is no city for him if thanks to his daring he of the gods; 52
This is the only
supplied
antecedent
understood
possible
for
the
meaning nag-
it; but it is difficult. The
of
(cf.
the mss. reading, with naQanXixco
closest parallel
I
),
which
could
xixvTl the easily is how Hermann
find is PI. Lgs. 823a4-5:
A
ignoble.53
the
embraces
Reading of
The misreading,
that here too one should
daring
of
there is would
himself
aUies
no
in her
consist
the
to her (cf.
however,
of
line 360
suggests
immorality, for him
with
daringly time and
same
195
Antigone
the line to read that whoever out
repunctuate
the city is high and looks like Antigone's. It rerninding the city of one of its divine for the same reason that the city is of no
This two-edged
city.
sanctions at
Sophocles'
immorality
2.4). This
characterization of Antigone remains true Antigone that what she does is noble (cf. 9.4), for her morahty undermines the city no less than her immorality. As the gods, moreover, are the source of Antigone's double relation to the city, one
if
even
is
one agrees with
Creon's saying that the gods shook and set upright again 12.2). The city uneasUy exists between the gods who the same gods who cannot sanction its unpurifiable impiety.
reminded of
the city (cf.
it
Just
Antigone, then,
as
and
in herself
nuUifies
Antigone anoXig. But if
navxondqog and
Chorus'
sUence
between
the gods nuUify their sUence one asks what the Chorus think
so
anoqog,
the
and
between viptnoXig and justifies their sUence between these two words, the answer can only epiol be a hope or prayer for man's submissiveness to the city: of When caU Earth highest the the Chorus the naqeaxiog yevoixo. jxfjx'
gods, it is
necessary blunder, for the city must man; and if the city alone determines something the good and the noble, that something can only be Earth, whose ambiguity as itself or one's country conceals the violence it suffers in becoming rest
not
just
a
on
one's
blunder but
The
own.
a
of
outside
Chorus, then,
compelled
are
to point to the
crime
of
the city in praising the city; and this in turn necessarily arises from their mistake as to the character of the culprit. Their behef that only man's artfulness can
for the
success with which
Creon's decree
justifies the seeming irrelevance of the stasimon; but justifies its relevance is that this mistake of the Chorus is the crime. Man's omnicompetence is man's criminality (navovqyia). was violated
The Chorus
22.14.
to their own
hearth;
not some coUective of
their
revulsion
end
with
the
hope that the
but their hearth is hearth
against
of
a
the
city.
public
each one's
The
crime.
belong
hearth and measures the depth
separate
private
The
culprit not
what city's
culprit
is automaticaUy
city, but he is not thereby automaticaUy without a hearth shared with others. His isolation is only completed by a hope, a hope without
Saa
xaXd
a
ifmenXey/iiva yodeiv (cf. Phdr. avx doxei xai [i^ xaXd elvat, vdfioig deiv6xr\g- theme that the Chorus would be in accordance with the
244c 1-2). It stress man's
interlacing
of art and
law
rather
than man's obedience to
law (ysgaiQav
or the like). 53
ist
Bockh
staatlos,
equivalent
(237) does wem
of
is contrary to
put
tiylnoXig
Hoh'
together with
das Edle ferm wohnt"), but only
nagafiatvcov
what
;
he therefore does
the Chorus intend.
not
&noXig ("Auf des Staates by taking nageiQcov as
recognize
that his
the
interpretation
Interpretation
196
that the Chorus employ to slide over the difference between the
the
and
the
If servants, relations,
city.
Chorus, the presence hope, would be common
their
only
however, mentions the indeed, not untU Creon 23 (376-83). 23.1.
friends
arrested
poignant; but
of such a
have in
the
of
or
as
of
Antigone had
Antigone, after the expression it is, Antigone and the Chorus 11.1). No one,
Theban citizenship (cf. in the whole of the
foUowing
ndXig
Haemon does it
confronts
Prometheus'
gifts
fanuly
comprised
fire
of
scene;
(656).64
recur
the
and
arts
were
by his settling in men blind hopes, which deprived them of seeing death as the fate in front of them (PV 248). The human being who has no arts, is whoUy without hope, and sees death before
accompanied
her is Antigone (cf. She thus
man.
mentioned
10.8). Antigone is
3.2, 10.5,
stands
to Ulustrate
man's
pre-Promethean
everything that the Chorus have just beivdxng and the Chorus acknowledge this of
outside
calling her a baifidviov xeqag (one must reject Piatt's baifidviov fuUy restores to xeqag the "rehgious
by
be),
xd
where
nuance"
in
neuters
originaUy Whenever xeqag
monstrum.
composed
of
immediate
source
Hipp.
is
being
that
either
had.55
Antigone
-ag
1214,
refers
in
monstrous
that do not
parts
is
a
more
living being
to a shape
or
origin
belong together,
that
and not
(Io
an
event,
Helen), i.e.,
or
the
or
aU
human
than
gods
are
its
1098, Aesch. Suppl. 570, Eur. Hel. 255-60, PI. Crat. 394d5). Antigone is the only nonvisibly monstrous (cf. Tr.
whoUy human being that is ever caUed a Chorus do it? Their association of daughter and
xeqag.
with
Why, then, do
father
suggests
the
that
her incestuous
origin partly s for her monstrousness. She is, besides, deivdv in herself, not through her success but her faUure in breaking any of the apparent limits set for man. Man's qdvn/na was for the Chorus an aspect of his beivdxng but now they are confronted
It had
Antigone's dqoovvn.
with
irrationality, sound,
could
irrationality world of the recedes
which also
the divine
first
before
transgression
as
occurred
to them that human
known its intrusion into the
makes
stasimon.
man's
is
not
belongs to rationality as much as sUence does to be terrible (cf. 10.12, 21.1). In the guise of
The
gods are not an outer
daring; they nothing is the
are within even
compared
with
unlimited
limit that
from the
divine
start.
always
Human
possession.
The
gods'
answer
particularizing Chorus. With her hot heart for xdbe
antigeneration, Antigone
human,
which
cold
shows
to the generalizing
things, her love
that the union of
(the Chorus thought) the city
of
the
death, divine
harmonized,
of
the
and
her
and
the
xovxo
is essentiaUy
monstrous.
54
Cf. S.
(ed. J. 55
Benardete,
"Sophocles'
Tyrannus,"
in Ancients
and
Moderns
Cropsey), 3.
Cf. P. Chantraine, Formation des noms grecs, 422; E. Risch, Wortbildung der daifidvwv xigag occurs in Bacchylides 16.35 (Snell)
homerischen Sprache, 80. of
Oedipus
Nessus'
gift to
Deianeira.
interpretation journal
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SOPHOCLES'
A READING OF
ANTIGONE:
II
S. Benardete
24 (384-405).
24.1.
The
guard's
to the
answer
Chorus'
question
that he can be brief and to the point; but in answering Creon he seems to be as garrulously impertinent as he had been on his first proves
entrance
(cf.
15.1). His
he is the tenor
him to
of
his first
chief concern
last
and
is
himself:
still
on each occasion
to Creon. His
remarks
joy
now prompts
his fear had done before; but there only of himself; he now begins with a
as much self-justification as
differences. He then spoke that he finds applicable to himself (cbiojfiorovcmcofiorog). He then explicitly distinguished between soul and self; he now implicitly distinguishes between gods and mortals. He then expressed his resignation are
generalization
to his cbzcog
fate; he
Sfr]
now
glories
replace
it
Chorus
were
with
in his luck. His parting remark ovx did not suggest that he later would
iWovra fie an oath. He
devq
av
have thus bound himself
must
while
the
human daring. But the
of
the boundlessness
of
guard now its that
he
could not maintain
that self-imposed limitation.
He accordingly brings In ignorance of future
out
singing
the difference between human
and
divine law.
circumstances mortals cannot obligate
themselves;
only the gods, it seems, could on men. And yet one
stipulate
binding
such an
automatically it before he can be her
second
obligation
if so, in
and
obligation;
alone
what way.
Does the divine
establish
the obligation? Or
punished
for his failure to
self-justification,
(cf.
that some action be unqualifiedly
might ask whether men must acknowledge
tries to
command
must each man swear
by
abide
for the
it?
to
Antigone, in
source
of
her
27).
24.2. The guard speaks of hope and expectation three times, twice before and once after the first stasimon (235, 330, 392). When Creon frustrated the guard's expectation that he would meet his fate, the latter attributed to the gods the cause of his survival, so contrary to his expectation and judgment (330-1). The Chorus then sang of man's artfulness beyond expectation and its entire independence from the gods. The guard now speaks of his stroke of luck that set at naught
*
The text
myself, not
used
however,
see
any
connection
age, I have
Each line numbers
Each
in
is Pearson's OCT
not always accepted
or
ed
group
over of
my
otherwise
chosen
and
I
am
indicated. I have silent, for if I did
my interpretation
of
the
own preference.
lines interpreted is
every
where
readings wherever
between the reading
parentheses after
paragraph of
except
his
given a section
number, with the line
it.
section
is
numbered as well
for
ease of cross-reference.
Interpretation
2
his expectation, of which he had been so it with an oath. But the guard does not because he thinks that the
perhaps
pleasure
(392-3);
he later
and
asserts
his
joy
unexpected
that the
his
even
pardon
not
would
gods
confirmed
thanks to the gods,
give
trivial and harmless perjury. He now tells of
boundless
that he had
certain now
and
greatest pleasure
escape from evils, and that for him everything else naturally takes second place to his own safety (436-40). He had not (neqrvxs) mentioned pleasure when he expressed his gratitude to the gods. Not
lies in the
the
but
gods
either
or
oaths
first
guard's
is the
chance
the gift of Hermes
author of
(Oovoficuov)
his
(cf. 328): he does
joy
to prove his innocence. The
gods
entrance
not owe
to Hermes (cf. 274). He no longer needs movement
from the
to his final departure seems to be from fate to
(the first stasimon) to chance. The movement reminds one of the of the tenth book of Plato's Laws. Three causes, according
art
argument
to the Athenian thing: goes of
Stranger,
are said
by
some
to be the sole
causes of
every
qwaiQ, Tsxvrj, xi%r\ (Lgs. 88e4-90a2). The Athenian Stranger then on to trace this understanding of nature to the supposed priority
body
to soul,
is the
pleasure
a
priority that necessarily leads to the assertion that (886a9-b2). The Stranger himself, however,
greatest good
asserts the temporal and
hierarchical priority
body,
to
of soul or mind
priority that he links up with the existence of gods and the goodness of a providential order. Now the guard's understanding of fate is plainly not the same as this, for fate for him is no less unintelligible than it is a
unjust; but it is
remarkable
that he drops the soul and fate when he
drops the gods, and that pleasure, chance, and (cf. OT 977-83). The guard, who originally had
first
stasimon
omitted,
now speaks
in
take their
nature
place
spoken about what
accordance with
the first
the
stasimon.
Antigone is entirely isolated. 24.3.
her
The
uses
(385), "she the corpse you had
burying of
guard
burying"
these
a plainer
as
the was
ddnrco
verb
burying
forbidden"
formulation
of
the
(404-5). The
an
was
object),
(rov
and
"we
(402),
"I
caught
her
saw
guard offers
the last
and it is the only one for the first fails to say what of seven where Ocbirco lacks
the second uniquely refers to
Their
avdga).
times:
the second;
6.2); literally true (cf. burying (the only case out
that seems to be
Antigone
three man"
inexactness, however,
Polynices'
corpse as seems
to
catch
the
man
Antigone's
understanding of what she is doing better than the literal third. If burial is not indispensable for conveying the soul to Hades, as the own
silence not rites
it throughout the play implies (cf. 4.3), dcmrco a transitive verb, but would mean the whole
about
be essentially that
the
involves the
mourner
corpse
or
performs, not
regardless
(cf. 395-6).
of
whether
Nothing,
even
of
would set
of
them
any if done to the
corpse, would be done for the corpse. That the guard, moreover, when
he does say what Antigone was burying, can call it "the suggests Polynices' how readily Antigone can disregard the difference between 4.3). The unity of body, soul, and corpse and Polynices himself (cf. man"
A which
self,
in attributing
a
25.1.
first three
another
between the time
during
of
guard's
speech
is
not
compelled
difficulty
no
falls into four
main
parts,
describe in turn the waiting of the guards Antigone (422-31), and the arrest of Antigone
part
the
concerns
guard's
own
to her
reaction
xai
prior
and
subsequent
to the
dust
(415-22),
storm
the guards had their eyes shut. Antigone thus
which
his former
with
squares guard
clearly marks off the second from the first the third from the second. The guard distinguishes
(436-40). One and
The
which
of
(407-21), the discovery (432-5), while the last part,
hardly
3
disassociate himself from himself, he finds similar unity to the dead (cf. 20.3).
25 (406-40).
arrest
Antigone
distinguish them. Now that the
through fear to
the
Sophocles'
of
the guard's words convey,
to
attempts
Reading
approached
the corpse undetected; she was able to move straight toward it despite
fact that
the
too must have
she
totally filled the assurance
to his
She
that the blind grave
sacred
drawn to the
corpse
her
speaks of
guard
air.
need, then, to
eyes
through
the
Oedipus displayed
when
capture
as
if
plain
fastidious to
attribute
the
with
he
went as
same
unassisted
irresistibly be: the
would
beast (432). There is
no
that the gods directed Antigone's steps through
(250-2). The
the trackless
she were a
dust that
the
against storm
(OC 1541-6, 1588-9). Antigone is as any beast that feeds on carrion
assume
Antigone homes in
her
shut
moved
most
one
could
to her a canine sense Polynices'
on
corpse
by
of
say,
smell,
"instinct."
if
is too
one
would
be that
Polynices'
corpse
is her home. 25.2. or the
The first
had any or
seems
language in The
implicitly
denied that on
man,
either
and
that
the man
chthonic
as man
him manifestly understanding 22.5). The dust storm, lies hidden below him (cf. first to refute it; but the refutation lies wholly in the
concern with
exploiting
then,
stasimon
imposed any limitation
celestial
what
stands
above
what at
which
guard uses
the
couched,
not
in the facts themselves.
rvoog, axtquirog,
and
ovpdviov metaphorically.
the facts words
are
by itself, could mean a tireless thunderbolt, and axrjjirog any kind of lightning that strikes the earth [(Arist.) de mundo 395a21-5]; but makes plain, the guard is describing a as the ablative-genitive %6ov6c, and "divine are thus terrestrial phenomenon. "Heavenly rvwg,
harm"
plague"
equally inexact (cf. Aesch. Pers. 573, 581); indeed, the guard, when he could have used ovqavoc. in its precise sense, preferred to speak of the air (415-6). The dust storm, in any case, has only to be endured, (cf. 356-60); it does not entail a response of The dust storm, moreover, even if it does not hinder Antigone, does not help her. An eclipse of the sun would perhaps have let her get away undetected a second time; but the dust storm seems only to conceal Antigone when she does not have to be concealed, and
that is easy
reverence
56
or
of
enough
awe.56
Cf. Th. 2.64.2; L. Strauss, The City
and
Man, 161.
Interpretation
4 for the
guards
burial. In
her only when she already has begun the rites of Creon's prohibition against ritual lamentations (204),
seize
spite of
the guards choose to convict her for her deeds
for the
not
sounds and curses
(strictly
understood) and
that she utters, let alone for any intention
to be inferred from her presence
with
pitcher
a
libations (cf. 384,
of
4.4). The dust storm, then, is more indicative of Antigone's 434-5; of direction than of the . The dust storm sense unerring Polynices' also seems to fail her in another way: it does not re-cover gods'
corpse.
That
such a
storm as
moist and putrescent
flesh
should
before it looks like the
be
as
single most
bare
the play. (But we must note that the guard never calls the and
storm,
that this is
directly
due to his
bringing
of
dust
after
in dust
event
uncanny
storm a
down to
earth
a
vocabulary.) If the dust storm had continued for days on end, Creon might have had to it that the gods themselves buried
celestial even
Polynices; just less to
no
the Chorus of the first stasimon might then have had
enough; for burial
not
in
limitation to
that men themselves must
thing as
as
acknowledge a
But burial is
some
24.3). On this ground,
those rites might have (cf.
whatever effects
then, it
consists
man's power.
do; the simple vanishing of the body is at least as much in the rites themselves
to say that Antigone sees the corpse as still unburied because she recognizes that the dust of the storm is not her own. What seems safer
Polynices'
distinguishes the two dusts is this. What is unseemly for unburied corpse to suffer from birds and dogs is the opposite that the dust
unseemliness
(206, 419). The
inflicted
guard ascribes malicious
that blasted every vestige of life
malice
Antigone
that
storm
Furthermore, might have been, they
matter
how
might yet
the
of
the foliage in the
plain
intent to the storm; and this be the same as the love
cannot
into the dust that
poured no
on
Polynices'
covered
unelaborate
her
have borne the
original
marks of
corpse.
arrangements
human artifice,
the haphazard swirling of the dust could not duplicate. Perhaps, Polynices' however, Antigone's ritual dust and whatever dust clung to which
corpse
during
chance
differ
It
law that
storm
eyes of
governs
(cf. PI. Rep.
variations
that would
law to
an
not so much
the
loving
(if
at
stamped
all) because artifice and that dust with herself.
Antigone her
a performance
variations
the
differ
because Antigone had
as
in the
carried
or
the
can
be
so
own signature.
strict
as
No
rule
to exclude
all
473al-3); at best, it can only exclude those make a difference; and yet the indifference of
indifferent difference
would
not
make
that difference
irrelevant to Antigone. Antigone's recognition, then, that the storm's dust is not her dust perfectly agrees with the law's prescription that man must
(cf.
bury
man.
The law Antigone
obeys shines through
Antigone
1.2).
25.3.
The
guard
bereft
of
guard
is the first,
its
likeness. The
nestlings
likens Antigone to burst
except perhaps
strangeness of
a bird that on seeing her bed piercing cry of lamentation. The for the Chorus (113), to make use of a
out with a
Antigone
compels
him to find in the familiar
A
Reading
Sophocles'
of
5
Antigone
something comparable to her; but the differences between the image and the imaged seem to outweigh the similarities. The cries of a bird are not the same as ritual cries of mourning; Polynices is not Antigone's son; the bird grieves because she does not because she does see Polynices. That a
her young, Antigone for this
and while
see
grieves
probable source
Aeschylus'
(in
simile
Agamemnon),
to
tries
which
vultures
compare
the loss of their young to Agamemnon and Menelaus setting out as plaintiffs in a legal action against Troy for the loss of Helen,
bewailing
be equally inexact in its parallelism does not seem to be accidental 40-67; see Fraenkel ad loc); for beasts can no more unqualifiedly
should
(Ag.
be
called
308-9).
than
or vexvsg
vexqoi
What
defeats the
they
can
be
in his
guard
subject
attempt
to justice (cf. Ag.
to
Antigone
make
intelligible is her humanity, for the purity of her devotion, which sures a mother's love for her is due to the law. Antigone children,57
lives the law. She has nothing in common with beasts. The guard in borrowing the word l%oc, from the human world only stresses its to Antigone. She is the very in humanizing the likeness
inapplicability guard
succeeds
likens. And
only if
yet
one
takes the
opposite of generation.
The
by being false to what he guard literally can one grasp the
the bond that obtains between Antigone and Polynices.
of
peculiarity Polynices' The likeness is revealing because it is misleading. corpse stripped of its ritual dust affects Antigone in the way in which the loss
her brood
of
dust her
Antigone
the
affects
The
young.
mother
it in dust. The
clothed
houses the dust. The life Antigone's
own.
The
Antigone looked not
his head,
of
is lifeless
the corpse is the
was occupied when
now that
dust; it is
it
longer
no
the dust that is
in sweeping away the dust swept away what strictly her own not Polynices, not his corpse, his soul. Antigone's attachment is not just manifest
guard
in the dust. The dust is
attachment consists
the object as the means of her
her devotion, the law
of
corpse
is Antigone's nest, the
corpse
tenantless; it
on as
and not
in the dust; her
bird. The
corpse now stands
and
devotion,
for it
comprises
Polynices. The law
makes
as
the two the
much
sources
thirsty dust
Polynices'
corpse, so that without it property of the corpse is ipdog, i.e., deprived of what properly belongs to it; and Polynices turns the dust into his nourishment, so that Antigone is
(246, 429)
compelled
an essential
to
keep
brood only in 25.4.
The
on
order
returning
with
it like
a mother
bird
to forage for them (cf. Luc. de luctu
brazen
well-wrought
pitcher
from
which
who
leaves her
19).58
Antigone
poured
the libations does not seem to have been a sacred object, but merely
57
That Antigone
extent
to
speaks of
which she regards
it
burial
as
"lightening''
as
a
caring for the
most
(xovtpieic., 43) indicates the of beings; cf. Tr. 1025;
helpless
Or. 218. 58 and
One has to poetic
is laid
out
reckon
meaning
of
(cf. 1224-5).
with
tomb,
the possibility that and
evvrj
M%oc the meaning
here bears the secondary bed on which a corpse
of
Interpretation
6 domestic instrument that
a
serve
could
the purpose (cf. OC All). The
to illustrate that neutrality of art that was the burden of winethe first stasimon. Its use for libations rather than for washing or
pitcher
seems
its artfulness pouring wholly depends on the . In this case, moreover, and Antigone delight to does not either add to its usefulness or give (cf. sacred the to of itself Polynices. The beautiful does not belong 32.11).56
Yet it does
bronze, for bronze 2.37.1, 147.4);
to be accidental that the pitcher is of
not seem
often occurs
in
(cf. fr. 534,3 P; Her. (2.36), bronze
sacred contexts
and, according to a Theocritean scholium
thought to be pure, effective in averting pollution,
was
employed
for every kind
5.19.11).
Antigone, then, if
pollution,
as
unburied.
One
mother
whose
she
polluted
liable to
or
fault because Polynices
at
lies
now
readily imagine such self-reproach in the case of a absence from her young leaves them defenseless before can
But if Antigone thus
predators.
to think herself
seems
somehow
were
therefore
and
(cf. Macrob. Sat.
of expiation and purification
comes
to make amends, she
prepared
that the guards would sweep away the dust "instinct" Creon did not order it or know by of their desecration.
have
must
In
either
guessed
case, Antigone's understanding of her obligation must have She now interprets the law as commanding her continual
either
deepened.
Polynices'
presence
by
eternally
helpless,
of
the
of
side
it
trapping Antigone
the scene of his crime
her
vigil.
just "for form's
ever, exposes her to
stay the
in
alive
order
tranquility
(cf.
another
way
because Antigone
accepted
bury
the
trap
the dead is not
22.10). Antigone's reinterpretation, how not Antigone now obliged to
difficulty. Is
to preserve through the performance
of
rites
yearly
the dead (cf. Wyse ad Isae. 2.25.4)? Should she
of
is
corpse naive
that the criminal always returns to
assumed
succeeded
sake"
his
guards'
The
pointing to the true intention of the law. To
as
since
and
corpse;
she can never quit
not
thus have resorted to the utmost guile to escape detection? And is not
Ismene's
to
appeal
to vofudiueva
the
perpetuation
of
the
family
as
8.1)?
Only
Antigone's desire to die (cf.
as
faithful
to
the union,
it seems, of Antigone and Ismene could fulfill the law. But the guard, in ing over in silence one part of the burial rites, indicates how
impossible that good
up fr. 488, against
union
is. A
12-4 K; the
cf.
guards
things she could
Aesch.
and
ask
Ch.
end
precludes
by failing 09
(cf.
147-9). Antigone
Creon; but
for (cf.
worldly benefits; and for her to death so that she can them pious
to the dead that asked them to send
prayer
things accompanied the pouring of funeral libations (Aristoph.
one
cannot
17.5). She ask
9.4). Antigone's
rejects
the dead to
would
make
unlimited
utters
conceive
of
evil
the very
bring
Creon's
curses
what
good
notion
about
impiety
her
of
own
serve
a
devotion to the dead thus
her praying to the dead. She can satisfy her desire to die only to satisfy the letter of the law.
Cf. Th. 2.34.5; Xen. Mem. 3.8.8-10.
A
26 (441-8). 26.1.
free that
and convict
his
burial
of
the
testimony He
niece.
Antigone
of
Creon does
the guard's
confirms
Sophocles'
Reading
dismiss the
not
so reluctant
was
a
Antigone
until
guard
is he to let the
loath to have his
seems
Polynices
7
political
guard
directed
crime,
go
falsified,
suspicion
not
at
upholding the divine law but at upsetting his authority. It does not now occur to him that his enemies could have put Antigone up to it, for no one in his opinion would have done it except for worldly gain (221-2). Antigone's confession, however, does not suffice to make her punishable; she must have known that she was violating his proclamation (cf. PL Pit. 297el-3). Creon thus someone
demands
accordance with the
he had before denied, that perfect innocence, i.e., in
what
acknowledges
in
have buried Polynices
could
17.2).60
(cf.
of custom
It seems, then,
Antigone, who knew of Creon's decree, should have tried to bury Polynices, while Ismene, who had not known of it (Antigone knew that she would not know, 18), should
to be a remarkable coincidence that
not
have
begun the
at once
herself to
ritual cries of
Ismene's
grief
not express
does
not go against
lamentation,
Antigone
and
does
rites of
itself
of
her
mourning, which
never
accuses
necessity in
if
her
of
she
nature.
the
on
She
just
less
no
being
other
unfeeling-
hand, is
the law no
of
desecration, because
violation
of
thwarted
was at once aware of
guards'
embodiment
confined
prohibited.
Creon's decree
conventional ways.
Antigone,
grain.
precisely along the lines of her prohibition, as later of the
even
Creon had
it
be
could
as
Creon's
the
unknown
living
to her.
In this sense, the Chorus correctly suspected that the first burial of Polynices was deijXarov, i.e., the automatic consequence of the divine (278);61
law
at once on
26.2.
for it is through Antigone that the law's
execution
follows
the law's existence.
Of the
seven occurrences of
xaqa,
three are in
similar
forms
(1, 899, 915, cf. 1.1), three in phrases describing some bodily movement (269, 291, 441), and one in a periphrasis for the personal pronoun (1272, cf. 764, 1345). In six of these cases xaqa is not the of address
inevitably
right word
her
and
sister
that he
and
his
heads;
they hung
their
Thebans
affective word: struck your
60
head to the
a
Only
question
is
champing the
in Creon's
does
even more
his
pathos
address xaqa
rule,
addressed
have
said
by
ever
xaqa
seems
to be
saying that a god
to Antigone
occur
damaging
could
mentioning how have rephrased his suspicion
could at
have
could
guard
without
afraid
Creon
enhances
ground"
fact: Antigone
different way; the were
and
were
Creon
his head.
Creon's
a matter of
colleagues
that
some
for
brothers in
in
"You
a phrase
than in this
regard
an
heavily
who
bow
that could not
to his own case;
{EN 1113b32-14a3), ignorance of a prohibition of positive law that one could only be ignorant of through negligence is punishable. So Creon tacitly its that his decree is not a self-evident consequence of his soul's laws Aristotle
for,
as
that
everyone must acknowledge.
i
remarks
Cf. Miiller, 74.
Interpretation
8
be
The
altered.
sameness of
the
guard's
eg
tie ttjv vevovtiav eg nedov xaqa
think, any more than time, that her posture is
if
we should
nothing she is the
we were with
compatible
that Antigone
suggests
Creon
same now as she was when she
Creon's
does
perhaps
not
seeing Antigone for the first defiance and contempt. But
bows her head
now
and
nidov xaqa vevaai
is deceptive.
out of
betrayed
fear
or
shame;
no emotion on
her
(433). Antigone, however, is not just meditating whether she will it to Creon what she itted to the guards; rather, she faces 4.1). Her the ground because she believes that the dead are there (cf. It is more follows her thoughts.62 She is a capture
"fundamentalist."
body
inevitable that Antigone look down than that the three-footed Oedipus did (cf. OT 795, Hes. OD 433-4). She is one step beyond her father. Oedipus Antigone
have
not
inexactly
spoke
out
acts
and
and
exactly
literally
Antigone
meant so strictly.
what
cannot
law
and
live the law
true;63
literally
was
what
metaphorically
convention
unless she
may takes
it literally. Antigone's reply to Creon's herself to transgress his decree
27 (449-70). 27.1.
bring
could
she
it
of
speaking lines (450-60
459), and
Gods
"die"
the third
in
of two
own
key
"gods"
(451, 454, (466, 468bis),
"pain"
"foolishness,"
the triplet
persists
its
contains
part
12.1). The first is
(460, 462, 464),
epilogue contains
Creon
parts plus an epilogue
465-8). Each
three times (cf.
the second
the
falls into three
dcboeiv, 460-4,
repeated
word,
law
as a
to how
as
question
"folly,"
and
"fool."
men, to whom Antigone refers three 458);64 death is under avOqconoi, dvnxdg, and dmjq (452, 456, opposed to life (464); but pain is not understood as the opposite
are understood as opposed to
times as stood as
and joy. The ordinary pleasures of human life are not for the divine law that unconditionally commands burial is considered, linked with Antigone's pain at nonburial through the fact that of
pleasure
Polynices'
she
counts
is death:
her
own
davov/xevrj
death
as
a gain.
The link between
d'
ydq el-ydr)
rl
or
is the
central
and pain
gods
line
of
the
whole
speech.
27.2.
seeming
In
her
each part of
speech
Antigone
absence of which makes each part
suppresses something the incoherent. Her enthymemes
that Creon accepts her unstated major premises. Although she believes that Zeus failed to inflict no possible evil upon herself and Ismene (cf. 2.2), she does not believe that he could have prohibited her from burying Polynices. Zeus is forever constrained by the laws that
presuppose
62
Cf. Wolff-Bellermann; L. Campbell. On the form of Creon's address see T. Wendel, Die Gesprachsanrede im griechischen Epos und Drama der Blutezeit, 118. 03 Cf. S. 5-6. Oedipus Benardete, "Sophocles'
64
K.
Reinhardt
chthonic gods with on
86, 264);
cf.
rightly
says
the "polar
1075.
Tyrannus,"
that
Antigone
comprehends
Dike
expression''
Zeus
and
the
uranian
(Sophokles, 85-6
and
with note
Sophocles'
A Reading of
he
either
Justice
and
Mortal Creon unwritten
with
and
the
or
his
all
below have
gods
is
proclamations
unchanging
before the
among
to
powerless
life, and no one knows when (or from what light; and Antigone was not one, in fear of punishment
men.65
established
they first
cause)
eternal
to
came
pride, to face
man's
any
the
override
the gods, for these have
of
vo/ii/ia
9
Antigone
gods'
tribunal for violating them. Antigone opposes and human to divine punishment; but she inserts
human to divine law, between these two arguments
an
argument
of
kind,
another
whose
apparently not have injured her case, or, if she had it would have been a sufficient defense. Aristotle, in
omission would
given
it
order
by herself,
to illustrate the rhetorical
1373b6-13); for
(Rhet.
chthonic
gods)
human
if
only
immediately it is
they
beings when
lines 456-7
quotes
is in
these
discover
first
were
vdjjujxa
or
nature not
are
human nature;
established
have
gods
human
accordance with
themselves
by
punishment
If the
right.66
accordance with
alone
that Zeus (or the
assertion
natural
be in
can
cannot
aware of what
known
not
from
argument
these vdfiifxa,
right,
Antigone's
the law nor her appeal to divine
established
properly belongs to the established
use of natural
neither
(i.e.,
and
if
whether
are coeval with man), they are not self-evidently in accordance human nature, for their antiquity, however remote, does not confirm their naturalness, though it may confirm their Antigone seems
they
with
sanctity.67
to square either their eternity with their antiquity, or their selfsanctity with the need for divine sanctions. Her argument would
unable evident
be in
order
if
burial in the the
she supposes that
past
thus
gods
rediscovered
because
supplement
would
separation
between
aaxvvofioi oqyal
and
man's
for himself the
Antigone
thus
would
a
divine
of
inclined to
am
of
moral
man's
these
practice of
now
ancient and
progress
supposition,
however, unless
the pain she would
tion affects her at once
I
but
punishment
another; she knows them because
65
validity
the
which required
that
has
man
practices.
deny
the
morality that the first stasimon had affirmed: not be neutral to the difference between good
(cf. 94). Antigone does
unburied
reveal
beginnings,
art and
for Antigone's fear punishment as
to
point
had to
gods
understanding;
eternal
22.10). Such
bad (cf.
the
of man's rude
(cf. Earle's
accept
if
suffer not
would not
she
understands
have to learn the
they live in her heart, 25.1, 26.1). But this
correction
(also
proposed
that
Polynices to lie
she allowed
vd/ufta
from
and their viola automatic
by Bruhn),
self-
ol rovg...
ojgiaav.
Cf. Cicero de 67 since
it
also entails
Antigone here
re publica
That the law is
says
seems
fragment
of
understand shame
that if it
aatpaXf)
to be
IU.33.
unwritten means changes
52.4). The
(cf.
unattested
that one
before Philo;
man
does
cannot change not
of
addition vdfioi
Oewv
Oewv
ayqaoi
Archytas (Stob. flor. IV.I, 132). Antigone does the
unwritten
(Th. 2.27.3).
laws
as
merely
habits,
it consciously; but it was before
what
the
to
ayQcmra vofitfia
occurs not
violation
in
want
of
a spurious
Creon to
which
brings
Interpretation
10
Ismene,
unlike
insensitive
to those
restricted of
capable
have to
would still are as
be
would
punishment
experiencing
mete out another
as
who
kind
like Antigone but 8.5). The gods
are,
such pain
(cf.
Antigone
27.3. violates
her knowledge
connects
divine
of
its
and
in Creon's
none
of
mouth
dlyog
occurrences of
Antigone, derivatives, six are 64, 230, 436, 439, 466, 468 bis, 551, 630, 767, 857; 1332-3; 3.1, 10.11). in the
to those who
of punishment
Creon. Of the thirteen
(4, 12, 316-9; Ai.
cf.
if
punishment
she
the divine law with her knowledge of her own mortality that she
possessed prior
to Creon's decree. She did
to know her obligations.
either case
a proclamation
not need
Antigone does
in
distinguish between
not
the lawful and the natural: her death is obligatory because she is mortal,
her
burying
Polynices is obligatory because she is human. The one is other may well be equally imposed on men by the gods.
certainly, the
She is indifferent to the possibihty that death, for such suffering will be
she as
painful
which would
have
To this tacit for those
before
awaited
her if
she
Antigone
argument
had
adds
that she
is
xov xqdvov nqdaOev
misery and not her failure to live out imminent death into gain (cf. 1326-7).
allotted
We
as
a
thus gain.
present
that turns her
span
expect
a gain
argue
to be her
would seem
her
(1)
the laws of burial.
is. Antigone, however, does not counts her death before her time
inconsequent, for it
to that
death is in fact
as miserable as she
she
and
violent
compared
nothing
not observed
another:
adds
a
suffer
may
Antigone to
say:
forever; (2) death is a gain if one miserable, death is a gain for me. With
there is no hope that I could live
is miserable; and (3) since I am her "before my Antigone makes a different point. There is hope that she will ever cease to be miserable (cf. 3.2); and there is time"
such
hope because
man's misery.
(cf.
life
Antigone believes that the
be
of
either
sooner
dies,
she
no
the
constitutes
the
more
she
the law.
Antigone
27.4. obedience
says
That
painful.
have anything to do be no less painful. If thought as in on
that
her death is
a painless
to Creon equally unpainful, but her
to
racing
Man's mortality is for man's misery, or it itself mortal.
(cf. OC 1224-38), for the only eternity open to mortals is death 9.4). She seems to be as much oppressed as exhilarated by the
eternal
would
is born
and sufficient condition
necessary gains
man
no
language,
to what
truly
not
burying
with
she
her death
had
would pains
Polynices is
being
stopped
at
not
be
with
those she
burying
Polynices
does
not seem
painful
painless; her death
ovdev,
could
in
everything,
have been in order; but her thought, in her, makes her cast her own death in its
. Her death is both painless and gainful. It is will then
nothing, and dis
loves;
it is
painless
gainful
because
because
she regards
she
it
as
for obeying the divine law. Creon's decree is the unwitting instrument of divine benefaction. For Antigone, it is the indispensable coda to the divine law, without which the law carries in itself an a
reward
A automatic
Antigone
Sophocles'
11
Antigone
of
only for its nonobservance, but no automatic Death by public stoning, to which only
punishment
for its
reward
Reading
observance.
refers
part
as
Creon's decree (cf.
of
4.9), is
therefore
a
necessity for her; the punishment Creon later devises will not do, for if Creon has a change of heart, it allows for her being condemned to live.
Antigone,
accordingly,
her
suicide can make extract
confers upon
herself
suicidal mission
suicide as
strictly
from the divine law its hidden
her
suicidal
reward.
The
Only
reward.
(cf.
10.5)
and
defect in
apparent
Antigone, that Creon seems to be just a little too late to save 9.1), and which was justified as revealing the way in
the plot of
Antigone (cf.
the gods punish intention no less severely than act,
which
now
turns out
to be the same as the way in which the gods reward piety (cf. 14.2, 17.4). It is, however, of the utmost importance that Antigone does not
here
express
27.5 so
the true
content of
Antigone does
awkwardly
not
to
refers
her
reward
mention
him
xov
(cf.
Polynices
48.9).
by
instead,
name;
ef efiijg /xrjxqog
davdvxa
that
she she
Polynices solely her mother's son and Jocasta her brother's murderer. Antigone never acknowledges that her brothers killed to
seems
make
mother
killed them?
think so if her abstraction from the war and its
consequences
one
another
She
could
led to
(cf.
that her
reflection on mortality: Jocasta by giving birth to Polynices his death (cf. Xen. Ap.S. 27). Life is a process of dying; the
source of one
is the
are alive or
as to
death. But
Only
can normalize
when
other;
and pain
for her
son.68
unburied
As
consists
solely of
the
3.4), Antigone is
dead (cf.
as
indifferent to
generation
is antigeneration, the true offspring of an incestuous the abstraction from that which constitutes the family she
12.2) and make Antigone a family of Oedipus (cf. Only in Hades can her family be at home, not
the
familial
model of
an
their relationships with one another regardless of whether
they
marriage.
source of the
giving birth to
mother
family keep
just
she think
a
assured
in her
2.4). Does
it dies
piety. and
there
goes
"for
eyes,"
says
with what
Oedipus, mother?"
"if I went to Hades could I ever behold my father and wretched (OT 1371-3) but only if it was formed and never left there. Antigone,
then,
must unsex
her
family
and cleanse
it
of
its origins; but
she
thereby
the source of her own peculiar devotion to her family. She is
removes
up out of the impossible demand that she combine the abstraction from the incest of her parents with the compulsion to fulfill a sacred made
duty
that can come only from that incest (cf.
10.9). However ironical
may be in intention, with which Antigone seemingly qualifies her scorn for Creon, it indicates in fact that not only the fool would 10.12). convict her of folly (cf.
a%ebdv xi
It is
27.6 in
8
of
Read
not accidental
the law
el86/inv
should
with
H. D.
that Antigone's only defense of her
bring
to light the
relation
Broadhead, Tragica, 73.
in
actions
which she stands
Interpretation
12
they have caused her the most painful 10.4), they cannot be far from her consciousness
to her incestuous parents; for if
(857-68;
concern
cf.
when she speaks of
to characterize the
Antigone
whether
the
reveals
injunctions. Must the that is most
law. Lines 456-7 could equally serve incest. We do not know as yet essential bond between these two sacred
unwritten
against
prohibition
an
families breed the
of
unholiest
holy
against
incest
defense
suggests a
as
way to
answer
all
48).
these questions (cf.
Agathias in his Histories
27.7.
of
champion
in the family? Does Antigone embody the prohibition much as she embodies the law of burial? Her third
(2.30-31)
tells the
following
story.
Seven Greek philosophers, dissatisfied with the prevailing opinion about God and falsely informed about the state of Persia, that its people were
just
and
its
ruler
Plato's philosopher-king, decided to leave the place living without fear and to settle in
laws forbade them from
where the
Persia, despite its
alien
and
incompatible
Although they
customs.
were
royally entertained, they found that neither the Persians nor their king lived up to what they had heard; and on their journey back the Persian
stipulating in his treaty
king
with
alone regardless of their opinions
lately dead, burial. Out
tossed
burial
accordance
holy
be wronged, they had their then bury it in a mound had and
beard
the
attendants of
knew, but for and
dress
of
without
and
in
in their power, prepare the body for
not
lay
night
know
one
of
and who
of that with
all a
of a man
custom
barbarian law
That
earth.
he did
a man whom
to anyone he
no resemblance
countenance
dream:
a
of
to allow, as far as it
and
philosophers
Persian
with
to be left
were
the corpse
came across
for the lawlessness
of comion
the belief that it was not nature to
in
aside
Byzantium that they
they
philosopher,
an
the
bore
august
seemed
to
him with the following injunction: "Do not bury the unburiable; let him be prey to dogs. Earth, mother of all, does not accept the Neither the dreamer nor his comrades could mother-corrupting make anything of the dream; but on continuing their journey, and the lay of the land being such that they were compelled to retrace their address
man."
the corpse they had buried the day before lying "as though the earth of its own accord had cast ground, it up and refused to save it from being Thunderstruck at the sight, the philosophers made no further attempt to perform any of the burial rites. They concluded that the Persions remain unburied as a
steps,
they
came across
naked on the
eaten."
punishment
justly
for their committing incest
torn apart
by
28 (471-2). 28.1. remark on the
they
It
are as silent about
speak of a
plain,
and
even
at
first
astonishes
tone rather than on the
be. But the Chorus do
they
with
their
mothers
and
are
dogs.
father's
her
argument
not speak of and a
that the Chorus seem to of
Antigone's speech; as Creon will
from the divine law
tone (note
daughter's
the way in which
us
content
they
Moscophoulos'
qxbvrjfj,');
Their meaning is not it seems strange: "It is
savagery. phrase
A
Reading
Sophocles'
13
Antigone
of
the offspring is savage from the savage father of the though the Chorus wanted to separate Antigone the
girl."
plain:
as
(xo yevvnfia) from Antigone the daughter (xr\g whether
fully
conscious or
not,
effects
The
naiddg).
the same
69
It is
generated
hyperbaton, Antigone
separation as
desires: consanguinity without generation (cf. 8.6). The Chorus detect Antigone's secret while ignoring the plain meaning of her speech. Perhaps
they
noticed
that her
In any case, their
lated, own
naxqdg
child of a ionate
sire";
does their
nor
explanation, that Antigone does not know how to bend before
evils, for what
himself
blinding
look the same, brutal to them wfjiol?
corpse
his
saw
Oedipus'
they thinking
his
of
dead (cf. OC 437)? But violating a divine law do not
mother
horror
at
her glorying in the
unless
of
reward
death
seems
as
his self-inflicted punishment. And yet why are they The Chorus once thought that the love of death marked the as
flesh-eating
d)/j,6g
occurs once
(697). Are Oedipus
violator of a most
in their
more, in the
dogs that Antigone tried to
like dogs that become united
to Oedipus. Are
ascribe
he
of and
fool (220). Now the
they
when
Antigone's dread
of
co/iov
e
Jebb, "ionate
with
equally applies to Oedipus. is too emphatic to be trans
xdv ef e/xfjg pjnxqdg
cb/xov
Antigone
raw
Polynices'
away from like carrion? Or
they feed on? Are they law and the defender of
cannibals?
what
sacred
equal
and
violation
of
a
di/xntixrjg,
compound
keep
they
Are the law
sacred
a most
third unwritten
are
law? Cannibalism
incest have one thing in common: both are extreme examples of the love of one's own. And some tribes bury their dead by eating them (Her. 3.38.4). Antigone was not disgusted by the corpse's stench (cf. 4.6), to which she found her way back in a blinding dust storm (cf. 25.1), and whose devouring by birds she thought would be a sweet and
treasure
of
Antigone's
delight (cf.
4.7).
They
argument.
sense
The
Chorus, then, do
comment
that her devotion is incompatible
on
with
22.10). The law, whose pohtical effect is mansuetude, shows civility (cf. itself through Antigone as the instrument of bestialization. The Chorus shy away from attributing
such opposite effects
law
must share with
him.
29 (473-96). 29.1.
his
entire
side with
speech
to
law; they prefer Antigone, which the
to the
to charge Oedipus wholly with the responsibility for
Creon
them;
her does Creon
Chorus'
up the until Antigone
picks
not
again speak
remark
claims
to her (508). His
and
directs
that the Chorus speech
falls into
Antigone (473-483), Antigone's and Ismene's punishment (484-9a), Ismene and Antigone (489b-96 and eight smaller sections: (1) Antigone's twofold character (473-479), (2) her hybris of deed
three parts
(480-1), (3) her hybris of boasting (482-3), (4) the necessity for her (484-5), (5) the necessity for Antigone's and Ismene's punish ment (486-489a), (6) Ismene's crime of plotting (489b-90), (7) her
punishment
The
repunctuation
is due to J. Jackson, Marginalia Scaenica, 176
n.l.
Interpretation
14
(491-4), (8) Antigone's hybris
character
boasting
of
(495-6). The lack
four
symmetry between the first and the last the balance between the sententiae ovydq
complete
of
despite
d'
(478-9) Creon
and
Ismene's
regards
6v/j.6g...zexvco/Lievcov
d
dei
the lesser
as
to exemplify Creon's
impartiality
relations; Antigone's
punishment
does
Creon
but
of
Her
comes
indicates
to
that
has only with his own
punishment
dealing
corrective
committed a crime
and
sisterly concern;
Chorus'
(at the
off
exneXei...neXag
(494-5)
well, for
as
she
19.5). Yet
(cf.
the meaning of Ismene's frenzy. It is not the sign of a
mistakes
conscience
guilty he lets her
it
has to be
that she has
not acknowledge
crime.
when
sections
when
Creon learns this,
prompting), even though she had not told
not hold her guilty knowledge to (cf. 266-7, 535). He allows her this measure of loyalty to her own, for he does not expect full devotion to the city of anyone except 12.5). But even if Ismene had conspired with Antigone, himself (cf.
him
be
of
Antigone's intent. Creon does
punishable
her
frenzy
what
necessarily have meant her it could merely have
would not
did
she
was
wrong;
Creon identifies the fear
punishment.
that
acknowledgment
signified
her fear
of
To
remorse.
of punishment with
his decree, trying in every way to avoid detection, thereby itting that his decree is just, seems as impossible to 0.5). They both deny that caution can be Creon as to Antigone (cf. in
go
stealth against
without
an
ally
thing
defiance. It is for this
of
except
Antigone's
reason
that Creon ignores almost every
Only
stubbornness.
error of
Creon
29.2.
ticularly liable snaps
and shivers
spirited
turned
assures
to
horse.
by
the
of
its
Creon
Chorus that
the
He
collapse.
gives
own accord,
excessive
a small
application
of
art
will
destroy
nothing but slightest force and
being
artless
(cf.
her. On the
other
failed, hand, Antigone
and
she
the
by
a nature
art.
For
must read
from
with
the
altogether
that has been made over
art we
tried
slightest
suffers
nature, easily brought into line She is both altogether artful and
22.12). She has
and a nature untouched
iron
has been
nature
into brittleness;
untamed skill.
par
bridle disciplines the
to be both uncompromising and resilient; but she resistance
is
wilfulness
overtempered
Antigone's iron
that
suggests
unskilled
and
is irrefutable.
own case
two examples:
teach her
can
punishment
her ways, so certain is he that his Her arguments do not deserve an answer. the
by
art
law. Antigone is
nothing but the law and nothing but her nature. Her nature has put on the law, but the law does not temper but exaggerate her nature. Creon understands Antigone's appeal to the law as the rationalization and not the
expression of
her
natural wilfulness.
He thereby
its
in
way the uncompromising character of the law; but he believes that Antigone is not tough enough to live up to it. She is principle without power, so that the very burden she has assumed will break her. Yet Creon is far more certain that he can subdue her than that he has a
correctly read her character : he his first example with olda for the
replaces second.
the
Creon
av
must
slaidoig
tame
of
Antigone
A
because it is
out
He takes her as
a
possible
suspected of
thus offers
her
humility
his
political
to be proud.
slave
crime
educative
to her
And through Antigone
reminded
of
all
19.3). Creon for punishing
speech
Antigone
punishment,
position as a slave
to punish
his
of
he had
whom
enemies,
burial (cf.
to Ismene as well. Antigone
Ismene Creon
and
Ismene's threefold
would
alike-
the
preventive
must
his
show
exemplary punishment. to dissuade Antigone:
attempt
are
must
have
must
and as a woman
lawbreakers
be violating the law, they those stronger than themselves (cf.
they
by
of
one of which applies
own willingness are
point
Polynices'
proper
a
more
exploiting the issue of three reasons in the course
punishment.
We
says, for
15
seriously than her crime. If she goes derogates from his authority. He seems to see her
rallying
Antigone, only it
Antigone
of
the question, he
wilfulness
she
unpunished,
of
Sophocles'
Reading
women,
they
and
8.4-5). Ismene
are
now
ruled
proves
to have predicted exactly Creon's response. His educative punishment the weakness of Antigone; his preventive punishment is designed
assumes
to
Antigone in her place; and his exemplary punishment pre that his decree is a fundamental law, the violator of which
keep
supposes must
be
however, which
punishment, educative speech.
if the
punished
punishment,
fabric is
city's
counts
far less the
occupies
two
punishment, with which he
He
to the
refers
be impaired.
not to
Creon than
with
lines
central
(and in
ends
law, but he does
not
his speech,
of a
Exemplary
either preventive
sense
city (cf.
the
mention
or
begins) his
22.14).
Creon
29.3.
kinship it
with
will
not
be because
to
seems
miserable
Antigone
that
says
him,
of
their
(cf. 531-3). He thinks
to save them from
punishment.
In
Ismene,
and
the
avoid
most
kinship order
their
that that
perhaps
regardless
they
their
of
death; indeed,
miserable
death
relied
be
must
on
to indicate the norm of
kinship kinship
Creon says, 6 nag r\ixlv Zevg eqxeiog. The phrase means no more than Zeus," "everyone who worships at our household altar of i.e., Creon's immediate family. Creon, however, does not mention worship; Zeus merely stands in for the family. He therefore is unimpressed by Antigone's argument prohibit
that she dared to transgress his decree because Zeus did
her. He took her
specious periphrasis
658-9). The Zeus a
formula devoid
who of
Zeus is his to do
for
ov
ydq
xi jaoi
Zevg 7\v 6
xrjqv^ag xdde
laws"
did not proclaim your be fatal to his position is but
"My family should
any
sacred
significance
not
as
part
a
(cf. of
(cf. 192); and since this himself on his willingness
he likes, he prides his own. In Plato's Euthydemus, one of the last arguments Socrates has with Euthydemus and Dionysodorus concerns the status with as
to sacrifice
of
Socrates'
consists
own
in those things that he
living beings, Socrates to accepts
(301el0-303a3). On
this
to sell, give,
it
His
other
rj/uv
that his own
ission
can use as
or sacrifice
that, among
argument.
Socrates'
he
wants
and, in the
case of
to any god, Dionysodorus forced gods,
shows
Zevg
eqxelog
is his. Creon
that he confuses
the
genitive
Interpretation
16
belonging
of
was
is
he
(exelvcov,
the gods would
the dative of possession,
with
when
aware
have
not subject
19.2), but
cf.
destroyed his
at once
killing
if he had
which,
case against
distinction
dedications,
Antigone,
of
which
he
lands
of
and
here, Zevg iqxeiog
itted
rj/icbv
to his will.
Creon
30 (497-507). 30.1. in the
a
the temples,
of
spoke
Antigone,
of
and
Antigone. Her recantation,
says
that his entire satisfaction
consists
this in spite of his intention of converting
perhaps
less important than her death (cf.
because he is
certain
so
43.2). Antigone then
says
it, is
of
that the
time for
talking is over, and in a three-part speech their mutual anti (499-501), her claim to the greatest glory (502-4a), the approval of her deed (504b-7) provokes Creon into talking to her Chorus'
pathy silent
(cf.
29.1). Of the
in the
are
eight
occurrences
of
the
notion
"pleasing,"
seven
Antigone (75, 89bis, 500bis, 501, 504), of which to her deed pleasing the dead (cf. 9.4.), the next
mouth of
the first three refer
three to the displeasure she takes (and always hopes to words and the natural
take) in Creon's
displeasure Creon takes in her (as
a
woman,
as
in her pride), and the last to her deed pleasing the Chorus. Antigone here starts out with an opposition between Creon's deed and a
slave,
and
and
word,
the future with
her
"How
in saying that nothing Creon says or (she hopes) will say in can make her recant, she implies that Creon's deed meets
entire
nices?"
I have
Her piety but
Antigone,
moreover,
hers;
fame. Creon is
resemblance opposite
of
whatever
he
show
that though
must concede
less
of
they
her
own
cannot
death.
possibly
that only hers are compatible
satisfied with
both find
by burying Poly
his
arguments than she with
in her
death; but there the Her glory, which derives from her piety, is the Creon's happiness that consists in his doing and saying
they
and
to
her from saying
checks
dead than
her fame is independent
not
wants
no
implication that
more pleased the
Creon
agree on principles with
an
approval,
else could
will
satisfaction
ends.
wants.
self-gratification
is
Nothing at
pleases
her if it is
not
honorable; but Creon's
the expense of honor. He can through fear compel
the acquiescence but not the iration of the
Chorus (cf. 13.1). One Antigone understood the Chorus' remark, that she is no than her father, as praise (cf. 38).
wonders whether
less
savage
30.2. himself
Creon is for Antigone a tyrant (cf. 8.4). He betrayed he called her a slave (479). When it was open to him
when
to
say "dovXdg eaxi xfjg ndXemg or "xwv vdfuov, he chose x&v neXag (cf. PL Crito 50e4). He thus revealed that he took the household as his model for ruling; and the punishment of Antigone, far from proving his impartiality, testifies to his understanding the citizen as his property. Creon never speaks of nollxai (79, 806, 907) but only of daxot (186, 193); nor does he ever mention Thebes by name (cf. 844, 937, 940). He calls the Chorus Ceans (508). Creon does not represent the city
over
against
the
family; he
represents
their
identification,
for
which
the loss
of
direct
opposite
of
A
Reading
his
family
his
mimic
is the only
Sophocles'
he thinks himself only
Oedipus,
17
fitting punishment. He is the largely is the public man
who
It is Antigone
son.
31 (508-25). 31.1.
the private
man
can
who
the ndvbnyLog
who speaks of
(7, 36).
The
falls into three parts,
stichomythia
in turn the Chorus
presents
Antigone
being; but Creon is
as
sister's
ndXig and public punishment
which
Sophocles'
of
each
(508-11), Eteocles (512-7),
of
and
Hades (518-25) as the proper judge of Antigone's deed. Antigone has implied that she does what she does because she is who she is; that Creon does Chorus do
he does because he is
what
now
what
tyrant; but that
a
to because fear
say they Creon ignores the first two and denies the last not
want
constrains
Antigone's
of
the
them.
assertions
(cf. 23). She is entirely alone in her vision; she does not see what is But Antigone's denial of her isolation compels Creon to
self-evident.70
his
phrase
hypothetically:
point
Chorus]?"
from them [the
apart
can
be
never
breath (cf.
of
27.5);
incestuous
their
one
mother
when she
Lgs. 627c4). Their Antigone's
father too is the must
denies
it,
burial is (cf.
honor,
never calls
217, 283), he until
70
he
nor
Antigone
744-5).
Creon
themselves,
There vexvg
uses
a
occurs
to be
seems
a
the
and
does
not
own
same
speak
their mother's son. Creon believes
as
neither
wife
cf. e%ow
and
again
in front
of
d>g
think
he
(197,
uses
vsxvg
never
cUAd
elvai, 6qu>
4.3).
scene
(1299).71
300c4-6:
private
is impious
(cf.
the first
him
av
that
of what
corpse"
after
PI. Hipp. Mai.
recognizable
both Sophocles
indeed,
Eteocles
argument.
impious favor. Antigone
an
would
word vexqdg
his
of
that their
is fatal to her
corpse;
the
sees the corpse of
as
xovg
them; but, in light
Eteocles "the dead
calls
For this meaning of 6ga>, Soxetv jx,h xi oQav oiitrng
71
of
forced to
hold himself to be the judge
Eteocles
never
and
equally her
not
moreover,
each
are
Polynices
of
xivSvvsvoi
and
what
because Eteocles
perhaps
an
suppose, for
itted
her honor
regard
Antigone,
concern, we
same as
Antigone has
that
mother
most painful
flesh
plural
"ex fiiag xe xd evog naxqdg (cf. PL is one, but their father is the same; the
otherwise
same, we should
glory:
one's
the
(mother)
one
think
to
father
one
and
of
you
claim
saying mother and father in the same later brings herself to do so, she bewails
(865).
marriage
for
use
Eteocles is
replies, from
if
ashamed
regard
Her
5).
ask whether
avoids
again
you
reverent
(cf.
shameful
dfiotinXdyxvovg lets Creon brother. He is, Antigone father. Antigone
the
they think,
regardless of what
blood
"Aren't
Antigone then drops the
Antigone,
yaQ iyco
lacag
8'
odder.
difference in meaning between vexodg use them. In Herodotus, vixvg only
Herodotus
in the first four books (always singular), vexodg throughout, vexodg is the something bodily, to which one can do things, while vexvg, which often
corpse as
defining
takes
a
living
person, a
not
vexQo-
genitive
being
(5.92tj2;
cf.
that
(rare for vsxgdg), is the corpse in its can itself do something: Herodotus has
Soph. fr. 399P). So the
shepherd puts
relation
to the
vexvo/iavTrfiov,
the vexodg
of
his
own
Interpretation
18 the
on
hand, does
other
have
could
she
her imagination
he did
(cf.
(cf.
does
not
by
equal
24.3)
bear
witness
little does
so
9.6). That Eteocles beside
count
con
nothing that a brother.
and
relation,
15.3). He lived
was
their
died
and
their relationship nor its result is of any importance. she fulfill the law, even if the good Eteocles does
origin of
Hades demands that
like the bad Polynices (cf. Ai.
to be treated
want
dvrjg
corpse
a
make
grave
Eteocles'
he is (cf.
can affect what
Neither the
not
impious
Polynices is
sanguinity.
hesitate to
xaxdavwv
beyond the
Polynices
and
patriotic
move
not
d
said
1344-5) The
defense Eteocles perished, has no connection with knows," Antigone says, "if this [the 4.1). "Who what is below (cf. Antigone pleads burial of Polynices] is free from pollution in
earth,
whose
below?"
ignorance in the face
Creon's attributing his
of
own opinion
to Eteocles.
of the law the meaning law that the be therefore defense must (cf. 457). Her exactly coincides with her nature. Her nature validates the law. "It is not my nature to side with either of them in his enmity but to side with both kind" 9.5).72 To bury Polynices (cf. of them in the kindness of their
She is
about
uncertain
as
as
about
the
origin
ultimate
is
an
her
of
act
burial
love,
of
of comion
25.3). This is the
(cf.
own
one's
tenderness, that
essence
understands
and
fails
then
below,
and
love them if love
how
paradoxical
to
understand
is Antigone's
when
essence
he
must."
you
living
of
her
unites
the law that
of
Antigone is that
and
own;
and
by
with
ens
the
Creon
nature.
scornfully says, "Go His literalness shows
the law. Burial for him is an
cannot be a way of life. In punishing Antigone, her understanding of the law (cf. literalize 47.3); however, and Antigone in a way cannot but be grateful for his easing the burden 29.2). that nature and law have tly imposed upon her (cf.
honor
and a
he
at the
hardly
ever speaks
be listened to. In her
will
Ismene
will
Antigone
31.2. she
reminder; it
or
Chorus)
the
beginning
in
she
order
to
to anyone in the
exchange
with
twice drives home a appeal
expectation
Creon (but
with
xoi,
once
to him on the only ground
they
could
point
possibly share, the concern with reputation (502), and once at the in order to define her nature (523). After that she does not use
in the
son
that carried the prince's but offers to show
casket
that with
never
end xoi
tcw naidiov xov vixw
(1.113.1-2); Tomyris seeks among the dead Persians for xov Kvqov vixw, but while abusing its head, she speaks over t<5 vexqco (1.214.4); and most strikingly, in the story in 2.121, the corpse of the brother is always vexvg, but the to Harpagus
corpse cf.
whose
4.71.4. In
Antigone
contrasts
(26-6); Tiresias cf.
515. vexvg
other 72
is
arm
cut
Antigone, in Eteocles
says,
rwv
off
to
fool the king's daughter is
those cases roig ivsgdev o&v
ix
where evrifiov
rmlayyyiav
is surprisingly rare in the other cf. El. 433; OC 621-2.
playwrights;
Cf. Reinhardt,
op.
cit., 88.
the
two
vexgolg
iva /
are
with
xov
vixw vrxgciiv
plays of
vexgdg
121t4,5);
metrically equivalent,
Sophocles
TloXwtlxovg vixw (1066-7);
d/totfidv
as well as
in the
A in
again until
the dead
(cf.
of
a single speech
it
(897, 904, 913;
yvvrj.
of
three times when she
occurs
Ai. 854-5).
cf.
19
Antigone
They
addresses
her only friends
are
11.1).
32 (526-30). 32.1.
is
Sophocles'
Reading
It
herself
The last
a woman
as
Creon
word
far better to her than to
applies
(cf.
8.5). Ismene
if the tears fall down
before Ismene
utters
Antigone, sheds
thinks
the tears of a
loving
because she has bowed her head to gaze at what hes below the earth (cf. 26.3). She shows a woman's way of expressing love and grief (cf. Ai. 579-80). But Antigone never weeps (cf. 831-2, 881-2), though even the Chorus are later moved to tears (802-3). Ismene's cloud of grief-laden tears and
sister;
makes
her face ugly
gone's
beauty;
was
(cf.
such
23.1).
concentrated
to
recalcitrant
Nothing poetic
not
become
expression
the guard's
poetry:
cheeks.
Nothing
is
in her
uglier
Antigone's
of
not
Anti
said of
her looks is that in death her
about
(1239). She does
white
xeqag
know
(xdxco),
her fair
and wets
all we
it is
enters
hardly
who
grief:
cheek
she
is
a
the Chorus to
ever provokes
Ismene has done. Antigone is
as
attempt at a simile was most notable
25.3), Ismene's face is bloody, not from any blush 540-1), but from raking her cheeks in accordance with 90).73 She way of mourning (cf. Aesch. Ch. 24; Soph. El.
for its failure (cf. (cf.
of shame
a woman's
has to
herself in
mar
has been
affected.
Antigone has would
she
order
Creon
to show to herself and to others how she
her raving witlessly in the palace (492). If she had wished to go undetected,
saw
no need of such signs.
never
have betrayed herself. She is thus the
to be filled with the law's impersonality.
Nothing
of
her
the way of her observing the love of her own. In her neutral
(cf.
yvcbftr] (cf.
be
regarded
of
resolution
to Ismene's
vessel
in
she
is
ion
34.2).
33 (531-7). 33.1. and
perfect
own stands
If
12.4),
one and
adopts
Creon's triad
Creon's first
of
attack on
ym%ri, (pqdvrjfia,
Antigone
(473-96)
mostly concerned with Antigone's q>qdvnjj,a, the kind she has brought to her action, and their exchange prior
as
entrance
(508-25)
as
his
attempt
to discover Antigone's
may have for her action, then these lines between himself and Ismene prepare the way for Antigone's declaration of her rpvxr) (538-60), what she is most devoted to or loves. Antigone's
yvd)fj,r],
the
reasons
she
however, can be revealed only if Antigone confronts Ismene, for only her rejection of Ismene can show that that which distinguishes them in q>qdvn/ta has its ground in the difference of their yrvx^. Up to then Creon cannot but suppose that Ismene's yvoj/tw would have been yrvxv>
the same as
Antigone's,
which
Creon
mistook
for
a
woman's
reasons.
moreover, primarily thinks of the soul as nothing more than 15.2). When he likens Ismene to a viper aspect of the self (cf.
Creon, an
73
Heath, W. Schmid (RhM 57, 624-5), and G. H. Macurdy ( 1946, 163-4) this interpretation; Bruhn did too but doubtfully.
offered
Interpretation
20
in his palace, he does not say, as Clytemnestra drinks dry his pure life's blood (xov/zov
lurking that
785-6), but merely
axqaxov alpa.El.
cannot
the
understand
del
stronger
(cf.
body
than the
herself presents, that the as what
same
is,
one
Despite
33.2.
the
all
belief that Antigone directed to the ment
will
20.2);
the possibility,
Antigone in
in
what
most
loves is the
something
being
look to him like
evidence
his
of
are
(cf.
rule
of
part
the
or
self
(562). persists
pohtical
a
in the
conspiracy,
and which their punish
525),
29.2). Antigone
(cf.
one
madness
to the contrary, Creon
Ismene
and
overthrow
prevent
from which
soul
must
tpvxfjQ
drinks him dry. Creon
she
distinct
as
soul
that
Electra,
of
says
ixTiivovce'
she
in
was
a
sense
responsible
for this error; by calling his rule a tyranny, she questioned his legitimacy, 12.2). He suspects that Antigone on which he had put such stress (cf. and Ismene have buried Polynices in order to embarrass him; for though Eteocles buted
He
could
be honored
cannot
Creon
Polynices'
did
him
makes
not
Ismene
asks
lying far
would go as
itted
guilty
Ismene
knowledge,
exaggerates
ask
will
she
Antigone
bono? to her ignorance
swear
whether
estimate
she would swear
of
Ismene's
dvfidg
only the fear of committing perjury would (493-4); he did not believe that Antigone's impudence
as to
to
cui
that
deny,
his
while not
says
being
Creon
servants.
impudence has nothing to do 33.4.
buried because he had to be
was
is always,
whether
not
contri
to succeed them (cf. 173-4).
right
do the deed (442). His
suppose
stop her from
freely
question
burial; he did
of
that she
last
and
champion, Polynices
country's
believe that Polynices
buried. His first 33.3.
his
as
Eteocles to Creon's
as much as
under
thus
impiety
with cleverness or
that she did the
which not even
deed;
Antigone
her culpability, on the One cannot therefore
what
oath,
acknowledges
she
could
assumption
she
had
that
her
(cf. 300-1).
does
not
her
it
have denied her. Ismene that intention counts as
wondering whether Antigone's vehemence in insisting that act must be strictly understood does not arise from her fear that those below will hold her own act to be no more than an intention (cf. 10.1-3, 48.4). much as
act.
34 (538-60). 34.1. and
Ismene,
the
Creon. Their
same
exchange
which
in turn decides
should
be (546-54),
its theme
There
as
there
were
falls into three
whose
between Antigone
are seventeen exchanges
number
also
help
deed it
and whose choice
it
was
was
between Antigone
parts
(cf.
31.1),
(538-45),
whose
(555-60). The
and
each
of
death it
"subjectivity"
Antigone use eyco (five times), which she did in talking with Creon. Parallel to Creon's assertion that Antigone's vision is her own stands Antigone's assertion that justice forbids Ismene from claiming Antigone's deed as her own; and just of
not
as
use
then
requires that
once
Antigone
asserted
that
reverence
for
human opinion, so she shameful, those below bear witness to her deed being her regardless of
one's now
own
makes
cannot
Hades
be and
own, regardless of what
A
Ismene Yet
Reading
That the
says.
Sophocles'
of
testify
guards could
21
Antigone
on
her behalf does
herself to say that the
not count.
does not love her who loves in speech ('Xdyoig iXovaav ov iXovai xr\v iXnv). She cannot be certain of what holds there (cf. 521); nor can she be unaware that she too might have to plead intention. Ismene, at least, senses that Antigone's death is somehow the same as Antigone's she
bring
cannot
nether
world
sanctifying of the dead; for to share in one is to share in the other. If Creon understands the unsuccessful crime to be punishable, perhaps Hades will not determine too exactly the degree of failure on either's Punishment
part.
will validate the
however, decides,
gone,
the
touching
of
Perhaps
she
than
more
hand
by
corpse
to handle
willingness)
Ismene had the
might
suspect, 28.1).
Creon had tried to
34.2.
(771),
her
of
intention. Anti that
the
actual
difference (cf.
the
all
makes
Ismene in light
condemns
of act and
equation
Creon does later
as
own
900).
willingness
(and
rotting corpse, for which,
the
same
repugnance
if Antigone
argue that
as
the
granted
guards
she
(cf.
that Eteocles
brother than Polynices, she could not justify the burial Polynices before his brother; but Antigone granted Creon's premise
less
was no of
a
any between her
sister and
the ground that
Antigone
without can
be dear
still
lives (cf.
Now, however, Antigone has to distinguish herself, while Ismene tries to die with her solely
they
are
would
She
sisters.
be
to
cease
3.2). Ismene does
not
to
care
was
took
pain.74
impious in the could
not,
Creon had eyes
as a
of
have the
for
strength
Ismene
what
she
to live alone;
The mockery Antigone's pain
that her mockery has its Antigone's favor to Polynices
replies
said that
his
brother,
precedence.
brother; Antigone had replied that and if he did, the laws of Hades
object, of
Ismene
matches
the
dishonor
of
Hades'
laws her mockery as the insult to Eteocles. Antigone can only live up to the law
Eteocles; excuse
(ftiog)
for. Ismene thinks that Antigone
thus pains her gratuitously; Antigone
Eteocles
Life
to die alone. Antigone does not need to be
strength
helped; Ismene has Creon in her
to die because her life
wants
lXog.
hateful; life (/?) for Antigone is merely
or
Antigone has the
source
sameness of origin outweighed
difference.
subsequent
on
his conclusion, for their
drawing
without
and
excuses
putting aside the difference between her brothers; and she can only die in accordance with her choice if she puts aside the difference between fliog and fan?. She can console Eteocles with the law; she
by
cannot cannot
her
acknowledge make
his merits;
obedience
to
Hades'
the laws in their insistence goodness
hatred, 7
on
can
she
consists
laws; they
are
of
offer
the
Ismene
choice
of
life;
she
death
and
both necessarily painful; for the difference between
suppress
uniformity badness that partly constitutes the ground for love and less than the choice of death suppresses the difference
and
no
and
her happy. Antigone
Cf. J. H. Kels, BICS 1963, 53-5.
Interpretation
22
between misery
i.e.,
abstractly,
(554,
pain
There 86).7B
49, 82,
cf.
27.3).
Antigone
words
or
(cf.
happiness
and
piously.
no
are
She has
hot heart for
a
only live for her
can
sounds
even
things (cf.
cold
10.6). 34.3.
Antigone implies death
of
choice
choice was made
a
lapse
of
Ismene's
that
in the face
judgment,
and
of
no
her
and
that
replies
her
own
Antigone's
as
warning, the choice was merely
own
than a
more
life
of
choice
irrevocable; Ismene
are
of
proof
her
inability
own
to persuade Antigone. The arguments as arguments were sound. Anti
however, denies
gone,
Ismene's
case.
herself
anyone
have
could
else
the full
met with
approval
stronger
a
put
living,
the
of
she
the full approval of the dead. Ismene has no ground for
with
for Antigone's
self-reproach,
that someone
reasons
that
arguments
time. As her
warnings prove
Antigone brushes this
possibly her guilty
aside
The fact that Ismene talks
was
choice
not
and
knowledge, her
continues
in
at all
based
of
on
fault
line
shows
last
one
their fault is
own
on
argument,
Ismene then tries
refute.
could
equal.
thought.
of
that she persists
in accepting life. Ismene still believes that it could have been other wise; but Antigone did not mean that either chose what she did among other possibilities. "My soul has long been dead, so as to be [exclusively]
fit to
help
the language the
dead,
not
a
dead."
the of
For
Antigone
rj eprj xpvxf) for
not
Antigone's
soul else
in
result,"
speaks
to
use
dead helps
being
of
*s
yn>xy
Philoctetes'
state
unconscious
v/ilv
vfilv
Antigone's way of being alive death. Creon thought he was exposing
of
premise
now
as
ndXai,
1030).76
(Ph.
comparable
Bdnxew
nowhere
"natural
eyco :
has been to be in the dead below. Antigone
a
that her
the grammarians,
periphrasis
shows, is
Antigone, it is
he bid her in death love the
when
that she had been
answers
doing
that all
in avfiiXeiv, 31.1). Her choice of death has nothing to do with Creon's Hades' laws. Her punishment; it is the same as her obedience to performance of the rites of burial is her love of death (cf. 25.3). She is what she loves. Ismene cannot die with her because it would along.
means
and avpyiXsiv
means
to
be
alive
death (cf.
75
It is
tional
in the
remarkable
to
interjections that
what
an extent
express
Antigone
grief and other
refrains
from using the
intense feelings,
alal
conven
occurs
only
Creon (1267, 1288, 1290, 1306); even Ajax uses it (370). Im Antigone uses four times (844, 850, 862, 869), as does Creon (1261, 1266, 1284, 1320, cf. 1310 Erfurdt), the Chorus once (1146). Antigone never uses
mouth
Tiresias
codd).
of
each once
Antigone
oi/xoi
(323, 1048), Creon five and
Ismene
each
use
times
thrice
(1276bis, 1300 ter, cf. 1310 (86, 838, 933; 49, 82, 554),
Creon five times (320, 1105, 1271, 1275, 1294), the Chorus once (1270). Other interjections are entirely absent: ncmal (Ph., OC. EL); ototototoI (El.); I (OC,
Tr., El.); 76
anomnoaial
Almost
as
xeXevxriadvTmv
(Ph.);
ndnoi
paradoxical
ipvxal
Swa/iiv
ngayfidroiv em/jeAovvrau.
as
(OT, Tr.).
Antigone's
fyovotv
riva
assertion
is PI. Lgs. 927al-3:
TeXevrrjoaoai,
fj
ai rcbv
xar'
riov
avOgmnov
A
Reading
Sophocles'
of
Antigone
23
be only as punishment that it confirmed that Ismene buried Polynices; it would not be what it is for Antigone, the worldly equivalent to the truth of the unwritten law. 35 (561-73). 35.1.
Creon again shows that his hatred of Antigone deeply into Antigone than Ismene's love for her. Ismene's willingness to die is a momentary aberration; Antigone was senseless from birth. ndXai in her -r) i/j,rj ipvxrj ndXai xeOvr/xEv means,
lets him
see
more
6'
she hopes her according to Creon, vctei. Ismene, however, pleads deferential wva!; will have some effect that no one in misery keeps
balanced
a
mind.
but Antigone is
Creon
not
bad things (nqddtieiv
that
concedes
(xax&g
miserable
It is
xaxd).
that
holds true for Ismene; she is bad and does
nqdatiei),
part
of
Antigone's
nature
senseless
to be
bad; Ismene only made a bad and senseless choice. But Ismene that she has no other choice; her life alone without Antigone is
says
living, for if Creon
not worth
her
in
answers
his
will
hopes for their family's
own
such
a
way
inflexibility
own
as
nor
wife of
sister's
longer is here among the therefore have no place for
(cf.
own
son,
8.1). Creon
understands
nature; Antigone
living
his
(cf.
collapse
to suggest that Ismene
her
she no can
kill the future survival
is
not
neither
a
fjde ;
13.1). Her life in death
through generation. However
survival 6'
he crudely Creon expresses Antigone's r) ifirj ipvxrj ndXai xidvnxev, "this," does not wholly mistake its meaning. Since Antigone is not a to whom someone are
be attached, Creon can be crude: there Antigone is particularly liable to (cf. 891, 1205).77 Ismene calls her "bridal
living
fields for his
other
others'
rites"
abstraction:
Creon's denial
But Ismene
protests
betrothal
Antigone
points
can
son to plow.
of
and
Haemon
of was
Antigone's individuality. unique
The
in its fitness. Ismene
to their concordance in a legal relationship;
she
cannot
bring
herself to say that they love one another (cf. 73). Creon again generalizes: Antigone is no more unique morally "I loathe bad wives for than she is sexually. Ismene then despairs of dissuading Creon, for he holds his son's wishes to be of no . In calling Haemon "dearest," Ismene underlines, not only how far Creon has gone in sons."
the dismissal of his rests
on
of marriage
35.2.
First, his
son.
(cf.
486-7), but how
much
aside:
her
she
own
and
hope
her talk
annoy him.
There
we
consists
own
Haemon. But Creon brushes Ismene
must
are
giving line 572 to Antigone. Creon's dishonoring of Haemon
three objections to
then
suppose
that
in his calling Antigone a bad wife; but Creon does not criticize Antigone is as bad for Haemon as she is bad in herself; Creon
on both counts (cf. 495-6). Creon, moreover, would then be saying to Antigone that he has no patience with her and her marriage; but Antigone neither speaks of marriage (even if line 572 be hers),
hates her
See Porson
on
Eur. Or. 1051.
Interpretation
24 has
nor
Creon
been pleading for
she
His reply to Antigone him in loathing
said.78
of what
finally,
And,
ayav ye
Xvnslg
Ismene, but not his violent hatred 1.393P).79 Ai. 592; fr. 314, 589, 1084; 760, Creon
36 (574-81). 36.1.
is
whose remonstrance
him.
They
law,
nor
do
Creon's
faces his third opponent, the Chorus, they can hardly be said to oppose
now
mild that
take up Antigone's
not
even
so
dishonor
Antigone (cf.
of
with
annoyance
not
suits
have to have been: "I do
would
you."
any other . Ismene had
this or
on
pardon
Antigone in
could not answer
Ismene's first
that she
argument
that
plea
divine
obeys a
deranged Antigone
a
should
be punished, but merely repeat with a tone of wonder Ismene's plea: "Is it really certain that you will deprive your own off her?" They are surprised that Creon will not relent merely spring of to indulge his son. The Chorus know nothing of the law, either in its
not
second
"to to
put
put
the
or
way Haemon's
It
marriage.
Chorus for speaking
light
the law proves to be the
of
If Creon had been
a
desires
son's
(cf.
he
have
would
one
thing
to
Chorus,
prudently, it is
act
at
gone
a
fond
reason
in
individuals. unpunished.
a
what
of
with
accordance
of
of
rebuke
father gratifying is holy (octet dqav)
holy
of
end
to be
worst
in light
uncanniness
as
to live it from within. The
it is
refusal
have
would
Creon do
made
nothing else could the 9.3). It is one thing to act in out
another
that
"un-principled,"
the thus
should
The
strongest argument
concession, moreover, the very reverse
a
brings
Creon
the destruction of his family.
precipitates
little importance
of
guarantees
Yet Creon's
girlishly.
so
is
son's wife
that
proper
seems
parent
That
his
that he is not going
means
but Antigone's death
other
Creon replies,
of
nature
Creon
marriage."80
stop to this
a
Hades,"
"It is the
mercy.
to death Antigone the bride
one
the
in its
or
sacredness
Antigone's piety the sacred, it is
any rate, have just to be wise (cf.
shown
11.2,
another
4).
36.2.
The Chorus
Ismene's she
be
entrance
killed."
you as well as
they
a
inadvertently
Creon is
by
me."
law (219-20). But his still
"xai
they
Cf. Schneidewin.
7r>
For the
arguments
pros
and
for Antigone
cons as
L's
Ep.01
fiancee; his
puts
on
the
too great
satisfaction still
up the
fast if
fiev
a
on
consists
resolved
by
by
he
the
Chorus, not
could
would
have
said
fjv (cf. 749, OT 64), for Creon
not come
by A. Taccone,
stress
largely
do
"Yes,
his request, to which those who break the
of
against
accepted
the attribution of this
speaker
cue:
the Chorus
stand even
dedoy
Creon's reply is correctly interpreted 80
pick
since
"It is resolved, it seems, that
the city's resolution
aot ye xdfiol xai xdXei
78
to
reminds
decree,
thereby become
not
quick
Creon
assented, that
never
introduce for the first time
quasi-political note:
Creon's
line,
see
Miiller, 109. His
to grips with the
difficulties.
Mouseion 1923, 187. satisfaction
in killing
a
in
lawbreaker.
killing
his
son's
A
Sophocles'
are
If he
anything to be done, he
wants
Chorus
could
lukewarm,
no
a corpse
recur
more
incapable
as
guard
in Sophocles (cf. Antigone is
which
word
rely
they
1189, 1249), indicates how (cf.
a slave
now restricted
keep
could
watch
does
which
c^ucoeg, moreover,
to his own
not
Creon
unpolitical
household,
30.2).
Creon thinks that Antigone
36.3.
opposing as ing him. on his own servants. The
of
must
two women than
(cf. 215-7). The
himself has become. His domain is in
25
for their
the Chorus
over
Antigone
of
the Chorus because he mistook their adaptability to circum 12.3). Creon senses that loyalty to the royal house (cf.
convened stance
Reading
Ismene,
and
who
in her
each
way has rashly chosen death, will try to escape, now that they see Hades drawing close to their life. It is plain, however, why Ismene would not desert Antigone; but why Antigone should not do everything own
to avoid an
she can
unjust punishment cannot
Socrates (either Plato's the
Xenophon's)
or
Athenians'
condemnation.
be based
Plato's Socrates does
on
his
justify
to
gave
the reasons
acceptance of
know
not
whether
only hopes her A might love (897-9). Socrates have family young escaped; Antigone seems to have as much to live for as to die for. Socrates accepts his punishment as the price he pays for his choice of
there is a
Hades; Antigone
her
that
doubts its
never
she
existence
will
remaining in Athens; Antigone accepts her punishment as the reward for her piety. Socrates divines but does not wish that the Athenians will be punished not
(Ap.S. 39c3-d3;
divine that Creon
Solon's double Croesus had
asked
cf.
of
Solon
answered
366c3-d3); Antigone
punished
Tellus;
but does
wishes
(925-8). These differences
human happiness
he thought
who
"truthfully"
Rep.
be
will
(Her.
1.
the happiest
was
and when
he
30-2).
recall
When
men, Solon
of
asked who was
in
second
place, Solon answered Cleobis and Biton. Solon's descriptions indicate why he ranked them as first and second. While Athens was flourishing,
Tellus had "beautiful
in turn had
good"
and
sons,
all of whom
children
that were still alive; he himself had a modest fortune and met with a
"most brilliant and
fell
at public expense and
Argives, had
life"; for in a battle at Eleusis he routed the enemy beautifully"; and "the Athenians buried him where he
end of
died "most
whose
livelihood in
won them prizes
honored him was
greatly."
"adequate"
athletic
contests.
A story
their mother had to appear at a festival to
her
cart
were
not
drew it forty-five "best
end of
a man to
at
hand, they
stades
life,"
since
die than to the Argive
prayed
Hera,
themselves
and
"god
live."
women
showed
The Argive
in their men
Biton
were
strength"
told that when
the
under
case
and
"bodily
was
to the sanctuary; for which
youths,"
report"
put
Cleobis
and whose
oxen
the
they
to draw
yoke
obtained
and
the
that it is better for
"blessed the
strength of
the
their mother, who "joyful at their deed and
to the statue of Hera to
grant
her sons,
who
had honored
Cleobis and Biton were her greatly, "what is best for a man to in the found dead sanctuary, and the Argives made images of them, obtain."
Interpretation
26
they dedicated
which
at
that
Delphi, "thinking
they had
The first story turns on seeing, the second Croesus asked him whom he had Tellus
men."
best
knows
hearing. Solon
on
about
to be the
proved
seen most
happy;
"story"
about Cleobis and Biton, whose mother prayed he only knows a because of the (prf/ir) her sons received. Tellus had "beautiful and brilliant death"; sons; Cleobis and Biton were strong. Tellus had a "most Cleobis and Biton had the best. Tellus was honored by the city and good"
buried
at public
Cleobis
expense, for he had fought for the sake of the
Biton had helped their
and
buried them. Tellus lived
who
mother; nothing is
own
about
said
its
prosperity Tellus'
Biton in
brilliant from Tellus
freely
Tellus lived
death
sanctuary.
a
at
a
to
chose
died
and
die;
a
within
and
view, gave to
god
the human
had been
ripe
the
was
age
most
Biton's from the divine.
Biton their
end.
the horizon of the
city.
Cleobis
horizon,
at
setting, Cleobis
political
Cleobis'
a civil point of
flourishing;
was
preeminence
the time of Io's rape (1.1.2). Tellus dies in a and
Athens
a time when
at
Argos'
nothing is
city.
about
said
and
everything that men regard as desirable. Cleobis and Biton obtained what gods thought best for men. The city looks to the beautiful He
obtained
fine things, the
and
to the best. The human good
gods
the same.
not
One
and
the end to visible
restricts
the divine
and
tangible
good
are
goods
beautiful children, grandchildren, public honor. The -money, cares more for nonpolitical and even antipolitical ends; it says
other
living. Cleobis
that life is not worth
Antigone's the the of
holy
pohtical and
its
xaXd
Socrates'
life
while
human life (cf. Ap.S. 33c4, 41b5
within
the
political
and
its
the
resembles
pohtical
Tellus,
Biton. Socrates, however, transcends retaining its estimate of the sweetness
and
xaXd
and
while
context); Antigone remains
transcending
human (cf.
the
27.3).
37 (582-625). 37.1. happiness
Only
exactly.
One
might
The theme
of
the
second
is human
stasimon
misery, but it is not easy to formulate its unity more three nouns occur in both strophic pairs: dedg, axa, qeveg.
and
therefore say that the Chorus are mainly concerned with how soul work together for man's destruction. But
the gods and the human even
if this does
differences individual The first qtCa,
through and bind together both strophic pairs, their
run
seem to separate as part of
them more. The first
his family; the
strophic pair speaks of
as part of mankind.
generation, root,
and
house
olxoi) ; the second The first strophic pair
avdqeg).
individual;
the
the
him
dd/j,og,
for the
strophic pair sees
second sees
speaks contains
of
mortals
and
(yeved, yevog, (dvaxoi,
men
no nonmetaphoric
substantive
second contains no proper names except
Olympus
Zeus. The stasimon, then, as a whole turns on the ambiguity of "kind" (yevog) : man in his parentage and man in his humanity. The first and
strophic
pair
speaks
perishing (dixoi) and his existence
;
of
the
man's second
(ftioxog)
past
(dqxala)
speaks
sleep,
old
of
and
man's
age,
and
his
future time.
becoming (sXntg,
and
eqcog)
The stasimon,
A
however,
nowhere
city does (cf. 342-5).
the
37.2.
considers
not
strophe
Antigone
of
man
properly
The first
Sophocles'
Reading
as
part
constitute
begins
follows it is
with
of
27
the city, perhaps because
in any
a
yevog
a
general
natural
way the
which
statement,
illustrate. The second strophe begins with a general statement, which the facts that follow it are meant to prove; and the second strophe ends with the statement of a lav/ binding for all time. The first antistrophe begins with an example, which the Chorus have themselves seen, that confirms the first strophe's statement,
elaborate simile that
the operation
law's
universal
whose pair
is
seems
it then illustrates in
which
is plain,
second
and
distinct
a
a god
human life. The
of
leads a man astray of disaster within a
the gods. The gods
at
dwdaxag
and
strophic
pair
to be the wise
strophic
pair
explains
the first s for the
(vneq^aaia) family but not
for its initial
subversion
the first strophic pair are chthonic, the gods
of
the second Olympian. The chthonic has to do with the
of
occurs elsewhere
second seems
;
the
way, and The first strophic
vnsq^aaia
second
case
of
homely
95 1.81 The first
only here, dvvatitg only to be the poetic interpretation, the again
continuance
by
with an explanation
meaning is in turn revealed by a renowned adage. vivid and imprecise every one of its substantives
(620) interpretation why
particularly in the
more
begins
second antistrophe
validity,
in Sophocles; the occur
is then illustrated
of which
Antigone. The
of
meant to
irrational,
which
it itself represents, the Olympian with the immoral, whose delusions it brings. The first strophic pair seems to pardon Antigone, the second to condemn
37.3.
The
never
motion
let its tremors
the sea's
the first strophe likens the Thracian winds that
simile of
the surge in
set
of
her.
to the
cease.
depths,
and
gods who once
The
from
they have
shaken a
house
in racing across the darkness it stirs up dark sand, must be the
ruffled surge which
darkness),82 of whom now lie below in family likewise stirs up the original dxn, and which the individual of this last generation confronts as a shore confronts the storm. But the simile, however vividly it conveys that of which it is a simile, still more
(all
present generation of a which
looks forward to the antistrophe's description of Antigone. The parallelism is remarkable for its inversion. The surge that races over the nether darkness
under
stretches over
the sea is turned upside down in the light
from the depths is gods that
buries
81
Cf. A. A.
82
It
cannot
83
ajxq.
with
inversely
echoed
Antigone;83
Long, Language be
accidental
Tartarus
and
and
that
of
hope that
the dark sand rolled up in the blood-red dust of the nether
house;
the headlands in their groaning and
Thought in egefiog
Sophocles, 57-8.
everywhere
else
in
classical
poetry
is
death; cf. OC 1389-90; Trag. adesp. 377 N. is difficult if xdvig is kept, but I venture to suggest that it has nothing
connected with
to do
Oedipus'
the last root of
and
the verb to mow, but that
basic meaning *to
dig,
the
nominal
it is found in dta/idco
forms
of which
are
afin
(cut through)
(mattock)
with
and
the
dfidga
Interpretation
28 are taken up,
rumbling and
fury
Antigone
of wits that
once more enters
backwards, in
again
poetry
senselessness
32.1). She
duress (cf.
resists
Ismene
she
of speech
to the sacred law of burial. Antigone
adds
under
the
the poetry; the Chorus
is antigeneration, who cannot embody, as she does, the hope in generation. The Chorus cast her in this (the dark sand) only to discover that the original crime of her family and
believe role
to be the blood-red dust
proves
to the
owed
The
nether gods.
be
paradox of
only by culminates in concluding that it is better not to be born. Thus there manifest to the Chorus in her inherited savagery and to Antigone family,84 the very character of her Creon in her inborn senselessness equating
law
sacred
a
which
wiped
which
the
through
out
Oedipus that
Chorus'
avoided
generations
of
succession
But if the
argument rests.
can
crime
original
an
with
on
Labdacids'
original crime
in generation itself, Antigone strangely is the hope of her race, in perpetuating but in reconstituting it in Hades (cf. 27.5); and her senselessness of speech and fury of wits are the deepest wisdom (cf. 22.10, 11). That which buries Antigone is that which finally
consists not
her kind.
purifies
37.4
The
second
(cf.
omitted
stasimon
22.7,
light-witted birds that delude
man
unless
ascribes the ascribed to
laws
the
of
man
But the
of
sings
neutrality goodness
first
that the
all
had
stasimon
dsivoxng
the
become the light-witted desires
that
Nothing snares
it be hope, to
moral
same art.
25.2).
the
which
man's
second
antistrophe
here
had
the second antistrophe there
as of
of
remains
art
depended
on
its
alliance
with
the land and the justice of the gods; the goodness of far-
ranging hope seems to depend on nothing. The city no longer mediates between the confrontation of gods and men, for it does not ister law that the Chorus
the
the city
lay
now
down. Yet the benefits
be limited to the life
to
seem
according to the Chorus,
of
the happy. Such happiness is
the guard's understanding of the greatest pleasure, the
from
of
by
untouched
hope
evils,
without
life,
the
consistent with
unexpected escape
24.2), but neither with the splendor of Solon's Tellus nor with the happiness of tyranny (506-7). Everything beautiful and brilliant belongs to Olympian Zeus. Man's delusion consists in his hope evils
he
that
can
(channel), thinks
(cf.
acquire
xarafidco
that
two
for himself these
would
distinct
then have
the
might
be
roots
Worterbuch); but Chantraine does
not
prerogatives
same
sense
involved
(Dictionnaire
as
of
Zeus; but he is
xarogvoow.
Frisk
also
(Griechisches Etymologisches etymologique
de
grec).
See
further N. B. Booth's defense, CQ 1959, 76-7. Heimreich's axiq (for d/ia) is to be preferred to xonlg; but if xonlg must be accepted, the best parallel to the whole age would easier
to
it,
be Aesch. Ch. 286-90. Even xonig, however, makes the for if Xdycov avoia and
to understand;
the Chorus
can
Laius
was
apposition
only be saying that Antigone's destruction is due to
chthonic power, which power can 84
age no
only be the law
held to be the first homosexual.
of
burial.
some
A
held in
always
check.
unfortunately the
Sophocles'
Reading This
of
Antigone
is formulated
check
29
as
in
law,
a
which
term is corrupt; but the sense seems to have been
key
everything wholly loved and desired comes disastrously to Antigone's devotion to her family both of its divine origin through generation and of its divine sanction in the unwritten law and looks upon it as an entirely individual and human phenomenon, no different in kind from Haemon's love of Antigone, then the Chorus that
If
man.85
one strips
condemn Antigone for her lack of moderation. But it is then not easy to say how Antigone transgresses the power of Zeus. Or do the Chorus mean that Antigone's love of her own offends Zeus through its
simply
denial
his
of
noble
everything
prohibition,
and
splendid
The Olympian
splendor would?
forbidding
as
much
gods would
equally the
exclusive
the
as
emulation
of
thus represent a twofold
love
of
one's
own,
which
turns away from everything higher than itself, and the exclusive love of the beautiful, which challenges their supremacy. The human embodi
this twofold prohibition is the city, which looks up to the gods and its aspiration. But the Chorus do not mention
ment of as
both its defender
the city. Their silence would seem to indicate that
the city does not embody but
hibition. If, however, human being together and
the
of
between the love
One
second
her
with
character as
of one's own and
a monster
in any case, to be the sarily entails the love 37.5
uneasily keeps Antigone's character
one
in the
counsel of of
refers
85
to
despair if the
10-20);
but
satisfy, for
his
jSi'otoc cannot
prosperity nd/moXvg,
own
is
an original
shown
not
does
that Heath's
not
is
nor
oXfiog, the
occur
in
in formal prose; Isocrates does not have it; Jebb paraphrases the impossible ndjxnoXv
proposed
directly
y'
in
tragedy; it
further order
attributable
represents
the final
of
explain
prosperity.
to be
seems
Miiller, 145, to
the hope of
and
for the disastrousness
see
guilty.
is impossible (CQ 1957, by Kayser) does not
y'
nd/inoXv
extant
while the
helplessly
nd/ifieyag ndfinoXvg,
ground
exclusively
be traced back through
one to
(also
not
does,
pair
crime, the other
nd/tnoXvg
by itself be
moreover,
9.3,4).
23.1). It seems,
that the second stasimon does
that only the first strophic
fttoxog
origins
resolution
perfect resolution neces
individual's hybris. On this view, Antigone
H. Lloyd-Jones has
her
perfect
the Chorus (cf.
that
individual
an
expression of
to Creon. Creon is willfully, Antigone
one's own ancestors an
as
aware
twofold pro
death.
might suppose
Antigone, but
are
the love of the beautiful (cf.
eyes of
Human misery has two different sources, to
the
sacred, Antigone herself looks like the
But Antigone is
refer to
they
contains this
rather
note
avoided
1. When
the antistrophe's
I suggest then either the ydg, he says, "No inordinate desire comes to or ngoayiXig. The other possibility is the often conjectured unattested najxiXig disaster," navreXig: "Nothing comes complete to human life except i.e., only art] men...."
stands
follows
at
the
as
peak of
closely
on
human hopes. Possibly nag nddag the heels of human life as
deformed the proverb, vipeoig di
should
be
read:
"Nothing
artj."
ye
nag
ndda
Sophocles
fSaivei (nagd nddag
would
codd.).
have
Interpretation
30
her inheritance, and Creon the beginning of a new chain of disasters. Ismene does not yet pose a problem, for the Chorus believe that she will share in the fate of Antigone; but Creon not only commits out of
working
he
the first crime,
There
be
will
its destructive force
sees
later
no
to
generations
in his
at work
Creon's
assume
family.
own
Creon's
crime.
the operation punishment, which hes in the loss of his family, illustrates of inheritance so perfectly that it fails to illustrate the operation of
inheritance. Ismene's survival, auguring a fresh onset of
the
on
strophic
second
If, however,
of
crime
have been
could
(cf.
crime
Chorus'
and generalizes
race
become
a
would
Prometheus'
theft of
it to
keep
or, to
fire,
to
original
antistrophe
as
man
man,
This
sin.
to the
first.
the
with
in the first
pertain
man's
as
hypothesis). The
reconciled
restriction
family,
be taken
could
second
be thus
cannot
ignores the
one
to the individual's the first
then,
pair,
hand,
other
Laius'
sin
presentation
the first stasimon, man's own invention of the arts, the punishment for to Hesiod, first Pandora and then the race of which was, of
according
women, or, to
telling
more of
keep
again
example
on
to the play,
proper pendant of
Prometheus'
a
stasimon
second
crimes
of
blessing a
and
misery
itself,
is
Pandora as
which
into its
no
race
own as
the
the second, according
23.1),
and
frustrated
the
to man,
gift
Zeus'
by
power,
the indispensable companion to man's ineradi
curse
would
(cf.
inevitably
of
be found than the
the first. Although man's hope
Aeschylus, of according to Hesiod,
to
cable
could
second strophic pair would then come
Laius. The
hope is both
generation
either
as
the irresistible lure to transgression. The
thus have been the
Chorus'
meditation
on
the
first stasimon, to which the intervention of Antigone would have provoked restraint that he did not let the Chorus them. It is a mark of Sophocles'
express
to
us
this meditation;
make
it (cf.
it is
a mark of
him that the hope
remind
his
wisdom
The Chorus tell Creon
38 (626-38). 38.1.
They
and
that he
encouraged
11.4).
of
his
of
own race
Haemon's
depends
on
coming.
his only
They thus obliquely refer to Megareus (1303), whose death in appeasing the wrath of Ares has just now helped to save Thebes. It would seem, then, that Creon has already shown that he rules in accordance with his own laws: he gave up his son for the
surviving
son.
sacrificial
sake of
his fatherland. Yet he did
but strangely have
would
His his a
chose
as
to prove his own
need
decide to glorify the highest form of
rated at
legitimacy
less than
Megareus'
not
Eteocles'
apparently
The
what
one
outweighed
a pardonable pride
in his
death
patriotism.
no
own consistency.
would surely have gained in poignancy if the loss of Antigone.86 But could underlay his hatred of Polynices and has just sacrificed his son in obedience to a soothsayer's
punishment elder son
man
word
86
who
have failed to
Creon's
Einleitung,
8.
relation
consult
him
to Megareus is
about
often
the
prohibition
of
misunderstood; see, e.g.,
Polynices'
Schneidewin,
A
Sophocles'
Reading
of
Antigone
31
burial? And if he had, would he then abuse Tiresias as Creon does? Creon has given no indication up to now that he has ever experienced 27.2). Are we then to suppose that Creon was indifferent suffering (cf. to his son's sacrifice
his
and
obligatory that he ceased to impress us as a humble man. that Creon tried to abet
(Phoen.
self-sacrifice
If,
Or that he
own?
count
them
moreover,
Megareus'
one accepts
(Menoiceus')
962-85), Creon
would
them
regarded
as
Creon does
as obligations?
so not
Euripides'
version,
ostensible avoidance of
be nothing but
a
hypocrite,
than willing to save his own at the expense of his fatherland. One two conclusions would then follow: either Creon punishes Antigone
more of
sacrifice was
his
case, one would
form;
and
Megareus'
lapse from patriotism, or Creon thinks unnecessary, a pious invention of Tiresias. In the former
out of shame at
expect some
in the be
advice would
own
latter, his
demonstrably
Haemon has
ask whether
hint
come
of a remorse
that takes so spiteful a
to have never departed from
claim
Tiresias'
false (993). When, however, the Chorus in grief and pain for his blighted hopes,
Creon gratuitously replies: "We shall In the mouth of Creon /idvxig is no
soon
know better than to be strictly
more
soothsayers."
understood
than
Zevg iqxelog, unless, perhaps, Creon now shows his resentment of Tiresias, whose unerring advice might rankle. His glorification of Eteocles would
be his way
be simply
any overwhelming
ion
suspicion, spite, and
It
would
then
punishment
call
principle.
He is
with
in the loss
one
term
he had just
messenger as
The Chorus
Nothing
dominates but petty
being
cold without
much reflection on the ways of of
63.1,3). He does not,
Eurydice
38.2.
or
resentment.
for
consists
to him (cf. or
getting back at Tiresias. Yet perhaps Creon cannot The truth about him might lie in his very lack of
of
explained.
of
at
any rate,
affection;
addresed
ask
those who have
Creon
whether
if Creon's
meant
much
the dead Haemon
he then
nal
magnanimous.
gods
never
address
and
his son; &
the
addresses
the
(1289). 8T
Haemon has
come
in
pain
grief; Creon asks Haemon whether he has come in fury and anger; but Creon asks the alternative as well, whether he remains dear to and
he does. Creon does not ask whether Haemon pain. If he is angry with his father, he is against his father; if he loves his father, he approves of him. Creon refuses to take love and pain into . But he expects a loyalty on the part of Haemon that he otherwise condemns, for Creon despised Haemon remains
regardless of what
loyal to him despite his
12.4). Haemon does his lXog before his country (cf. his judgment but not neces defers to not answer Creon's question. He not mean that Creon can actions. That Creon's does he is his sarily to anyone who put
29.3). As Creon is his guide because his do with him as he likes (cf. judgment is sound, Haemon implies that he does not simply defer to 87
Hermann
except
here
(cf. 479).
that this ordinary form of address is absent from tragedy Aesch. Ch. 653-4: for Creon only the master-slave relation counts
remarks
and
Interpretation
32
him need
does
father. Haemon knows
a
as
judgment is. Does he
sound
a
what
love
then anyone at all to guide him? Haemon also knows that and
not
and
wisdom
cannot
free
his judgment. He is
affect
of self-interest.
have to defer to
someone whom
he have
this
cited at
point
In
Creon
have to do something marry anyone of his father's
against
acknowledged
to
-and
his
judge
competent
of
first, he would to be wisecould
to prove the
order
Tiresias?
a
the second, he would
prove
self-interest
offer,
for example, to
It is partly because he does not do this that neither Creon nor the Chorus accept his silence about his 43.1). Haemon love for Antigone as a proof of his disinterestedness (cf. does not know how to argue; he knows only how to be right.
whose
in
two
central
parts:
fathers
obedience and
The theme
lines
concern
the
are
naturally
of
those who
order
three
39. 1.88
(639-80).
39
choosing.
and sons
Creon's
of
speech of
consequence
is hierarchy, to
failing
keep
speech
falls into
the private and the public
(655-67),
his
(639-54),
his
kind. The
own
disobedience (668-80). In
each part
Antigone
exemplifies
something different: the bad wife (651), the improper claims of the private (658), and woman (678). Only in the first part does Creon speak to Haemon
directly
(639, 648),
though
not
even
there does he
ever use
indeed, in the entire confrontation with Haemon he uses but twice, first to ask whether Haemon is last to declare that Haemon's speech loyal him to (634), unqualifiedly the second person pronoun, which,
is wholly
on
39.2.
Antigone's behalf (748).
Creon
says that
which
expressed,
Haemon
hold to the
must
Creon interprets to
mean
that
a
sentiments
he has
son
set
must
his
father's judgment before everything else. Thebes no less than Antigone Creon falls under this rule. Men pray that the offspring they beget does
the prayer to sons
their father's enemy with
their
as
restrict
not
requite
father does. Children
are
evil
be obedient, in order that they and honor their father's friend
useless
unless
they
to this
conform
purpose, for the father has then sown nothing but troubles for himself as well as his ridicule. Children are a calculated risk that can pay enemies'
off
in benefits; they have nothing to do with pleasure what Creon would have said about the duty of
wonders
or
love. One
sons
to
bury
fathers (cf. Lys. 13.45; Isae. 2.25.4). Creon himself, moreover, is aware of a difficulty. Sons get married and become fathers in their their
own
homes (iv
dd/noig) they
do
not
as
a rule
stay
at
home (ev ddfioig
sxeiv), forever obedient to their fathers. The son acquires his own iXot, whom
he
has to
imply
simply unless
on
he
I do
his father in turn to honor. Creon therefore
that no enemy of his is good and no friend
the basis
wants
argument,
88
could not expect
the
of calculation
(eidcbg),
should not
to inflict troubles on himself. Creon thus
inner
not accept
coherence
of
which
Seidler's displacement
of
is
668-71;
not
see
bad;
so
gives a
self-evident.
below
Haemon,
marry Antigone,
39.3.
tripartite
It
would
A Reading of follow
at once
from the
The
opposition
And
is
Creon
what
and
pleasure
Creon inserts between the But why
for his
prayed
wants.
33
everything to a father's judgment for Creon says that she is bad.
Antigone,
between judgment
yet
the prayer of fathers.
Creon has
Antigone
subordination of
that Haemon must reject
clear-cut.
Sophocles'
The
duty
of
the
not want
the
more
conclusion
Haemon obey Creon because must obey because that
should
Haemon
obedience?
the father. But Creon does
be
not
could
premise and
son
is
grounded
anything
in the
pleasure of
be
else than what would
for Haemon. Creon, however, can give no other reason why he wants Haemon's good except that it is his own good. He does not say that he cares for Haemon. His argument founders on the tension between good
a
father's judgment
judgment simply,
and
which
he in
tries to ease
vain
through prayer.
Creon knows that Haemon
39.3.
loathe Antigone simply will let her go as if
cannot
Creon's command; he is content if Haemon (d)tiei) she were ill-disposed to him. Creon does on
fulfill the
literally
fathers; he does
prayer of
Creon
further. It
not
not ask that Haemon have to be his father's
difference whether he has always before spoken euphemistically of killing (308, 489, 581) or let someone else give it its name (220, 497, 576) because as she alone out of the whole city was openly disobedient he does not forget for a moment his secret champion.
Haemon
enemies
obeys
or
he
(291)
dative"
is
ndXei
pardon
goes
him
even
not; he
will
It
Antigone because he
his indulgence to Haemon
only the Olympian and 37.2). He pretends
is the The
same as
mean
The "ethical
city.
that Creon
either
bear the
city's
will
not
mockery
of
that Antigone's disobedience threatens the
supremacy of the city. Antigone Zeus is again in Creon's mouth cf.
can
could not then
or
no
himself false to the
will not prove ambiguous.
makes
kill Antigone
can
harp
all she wants on
Zevg vvai/j,og.
29.3). Creon takes empty term (cf. celestial Zeus seriously (184, 758, 1040-1; that Antigone's appeal to the Zeus of kinship an
her asking for pardon on the basis of her kinship with him. between Creon and Antigone does not differ from
natural relation
the allegedly sacred one's own natural
relation
between Antigone
kind to the
point of
disorder
and
Polynices. To
cherish
entails the encouragement
of disorder in the city. Creon implies that he would not hesitate to kill Haemon if he found him disobedient. What can only be a father's prayer to hope for becomes a ruler's power to enforce. Lines 661-2 look as
though
they
only one of two things: either that whoever is his own will be just in his dealings with the city
could mean
just in his dealings
with
(cf. Her. 5.29)
that whoever as ruler subordinates his own good to
the
city's good
or
iv
xoig olxetoitiiv
dvfjQ
xQVar^
Is
a
Just
ruler-
Creon,
663 is the same however, as the daxig of 661, and it means the ruler, the ruler's justice consists in his obedience to the city's laws; but since the law in question is Creon's own decree, Creon has to replace it with the ruler's will, from which it follows that the ruler obeys his own self-interest. If, on the can
mean
neither
of
them. If the
rJtf-nc
of
Interpretation
34
hand,
other
the
with
are
identical
with
becoming
661, but it whom he, consists
subordinates
Only
ruler's.
out
the
It
ruler's?
know that his
private man
would
the
seem that
the private
could
self-interest
mistaken
of
disobey. But how does the
coincide with
ruler
justice; he simply If Creon thinks that the ruler's interests the subject's, it would be very easy to be good in dealing
own.
one's
of
oaxig
that is independent of
interests to the
own
man
same as the
citizens, has established; but his justice then
other
obedience
his
with
663 is the
of
orrac
the subject, the subject is just if he obeys the
means
along in an
the
interests
own
banks
subject
on
his
in turn. The city is nothing but a mutual exploitation compensate for every citizen has his chance as ruler to
a ruler
society, in which
the injustices he has suffered
Creon, however,
subject.
as
cannot
say
that. The obedient subject is the noble ruler. He is noble because he
his
subordinates
own
interests to the city
its laws; but the laws
and
of
the city are Creon's decree. Creon could avoid this consequence, which no less faces him as ruler, if he supposes that the tacit obedience of the to his decree is equivalent to their
citizens
interests to the
Creon
of
Creon
must mean
his
who
Creon city
family.
"Whoever keeps his
own
the
is
family
children.
order
not
The
become the
future
or
of
an
is
father
a
family
a
proper
depends
unjust ruler
to
the on
mean:
also
maintain
it
that the
will
order
men.
models
Lines 661-2, then,
versa.
in its
father,
of
superiority
family; but he in fact
Creon, however, has
city."
be true, threat to his
or potential
the
on
rule
and not vice
the
proper
Every
citizen
iyyevfj
xd
literally
cannot
30.2). Obedience to the
father,
to the
obedience
present
(cf.
family
the
olxela.
As this
to oppose the city to the
seems
on
own
that every citizen sees in Antigone
own
base his
must
imply
would thus
his
as
vaei
rule within
He
city.
their own
of
subordination
that everyone regards
model, for fathers have to pray for obedient family therefore needs the city in order for it to
actual
actual
model
family. Without the
other
fathers
no
father
could
be
The city guarantees that the superior male be the superior father. But the city exacts a quid pro quo: the city actually will the family in all its dignity if the family subordinates itself certain of obedience.
to the city; but the to the city. Creon of
family does
cannot exist
not see
this
in
the city. He can thus subordinate the
time that he
39.4. ruler,
a
subject
can maintain
the
dignity
Whoever scrupulously good subject, and in
assigned
post,
a
just
of
obeys
a
of
be
exact
family
storm
obedience
by
obedience.
by
the
The threefold threefold
if it is
subordinate
because he is the
ruler
to the city at the same
the father.
of
ruler would
spears
would
That he
be
a noble
stick
would
be
itself turns him into the
the ruler's will; and that he be
matched
dignity
the city's
follows only if his martial competence would be a noble ruler follows at once must
its
and good comrade-in-arms.
follows only if
instrument
to
all
vicious circle
a
can on
just
and good
to
his
a good perfect
naqaoxdxng
be presumed; but that he
his
realization
consequence
consequence
of
of
that the ruler
obedience
seems
disobedience,
which
A
Creon
treats as
to him that
Reading
being
lack
equivalent to
dvaqxla
and
neidaqxta
of women to
subordination
Sophocles'
of
the city,
and
depends
on
and routs
disobedience is the
of
The first
success.
first
now
the ruination
city's
ruler,
does
nor
a
his father, a in her obedience
obedience to woman
obedience,
The
Chorus,
at
wonder whether old
be
to
him the
of
obedience,
invariably
guarantee
counterpart of
the
second consequence
have its
cannot
proper
up his own rule when he obeys prove his competence to rule in his
in her a
Creon's
praise
it automatically
the
of
(xovxov
to her
obedience
man.
xov
hierarchy avdqa)
husband, of
the
acquires
Creon
on which
or
a
unqualified right
models
by explicitly restricting implicitly to fathers.
and
any rate, though they think that Creon speaks prudently, they have not been deceived by time (681-2). As loyal
by
now
have been fathers, they cannot but rule (cf. 988). Haemon,
Creon's granting them the right to hand, cannot be much moved by an
pleased with
on the other
a
households
of
the self-contradiction
all of whom could
men,
not
obedience; but the
son
wife
avoids
the right to rule to men
does
disobedience is the
so that whoever practices
Creon
on
which
not give
to rule, undercuts the very basis pohtical rule.
depends
husbands,
the third consequence
its,
and second consequence of
correlate, for the father does the
which
Disobedience destroys cities, in battle. The third consequence army
consequence of
disobedience
of
fathers,
pleasure.
counterpart of
however, Creon
which,
an
occur
fall together, he relies on the is far more firmly established
the subordination of wives to
or
judgment overriding
households,
ruins
When it does
of order.
than either the subordination of children to prayer
35
could
which
men,
Antigone
argument
it deprives him
right to rule as a man while
of
that promises
the way to become
father.
40 (683-723). 40.1. center
has
consists of
The theme
no more prized possession than
what greater
delight
father than his
could children
children's.
of which contradicts
demand that
Haemon's
of
speech
is wisdom,
whose
two parallel sentences, the first saying that Haemon
The
his father's success, the second asking have than their father's glory, or a
speech
in turn the three
a son must set
turns on three sententiae,
parts of
Creon's
speech.
each
To Creon's
his father's judgment before everything else, not reside with fathers qua fathers
Haemon
answers that
judgment does
(683-4);
to Creon's claim that whoever is good in his own things will
be just in the city, Haemon answers that whoever thinks most highly of his own understanding is empty (708-9); and to Creon's praise of unqualified obedience, Haemon answers that it can be only the secondbest
Haemon
(720-3).
opinions with a
his
pride
Haemon possessive
follows
connects
his threefold
opposition
to
threefold attack on Creon himself: his ignorance
(688-91),
(705-6), his obduracy (711, 718). Throughout his speaks
directly
adjective
seven
here
to Creon. occur
times more (cf.
The
seven
39.1).
second
times,
and
Creon's
speech
person
pronoun
and
in the
exchange
that
Interpretation
36 Creon began
40.2.
with
the superiority
a
of
father's judgment
and
Haemon begins with human beings, the highest of in implanting (
with
ended
superiority
of
the
men;
gods
(qeveg)
sense
gods'
distribution
unequal
of wisdom as to
his
filial piety, does
own
not prevent
Although Creon inspires terror
him from reporting the criticism of others. in the ordinary citizen (dn/udx-ng), Haemon relies not only on his adopting the messenger's role (cf. 277) but on his father's affection to offset his displeasure. But the impossible task Haemon has thus set himself wipes out
any
gain
his
have
might
self-effacement
him. He
won
now
must
prove that the ordinary Theban is the wise man. And Haemon faces another difficulty. Creon does not need Haemon to learn of the city's
disapproval; he He is or
counted
ignorant
not
his disregard
rule
shifting from
difficulty by
to the moral
speech
it
his
as
greatest merit
his
(178-81).
(290-1) murmuring (655). Haemon tries to sidestep the the correctness (dqdmg) of Creon's
of either the secret
the hidden defiance of his
first
of
beauty (xaXcog)
of
enemies
(cf. 706, 723).
of a counter view
And he tries to sidestep the second difficulty by appealing to Creon's own concern for reputation. Creon betrayed such a concern twice: he spoke of
the mockery of a father's enemies
called
woman's
a
(647),
inferior (680). Haemon
and
exploits
he
this
refused
to be
in
concern
a
He virtually identifies Creon's good fortune with Creon's his own cherishing of the one and delight in the other. and he urges glory; For Haemon to cite Antigone's glory while appealing to Creon's only looks absurd; he in fact obliquely threatens Creon with the power of peculiar
way.
the city. He could lose everything if the city acts on its now-secret opinion (iqefivn dxig), for Antigone can obtain the golden honor (xqvcffjg xififjg) she
deserves only if the city publicly grants it. Haemon therefore good fortune and repute in of his own possession
Creon's
delight in
order
downfall. Yet he
to
show
adds
that he would take
that
a
father has
Is he thinking Or does he insinuate that Creon children's
glory?
human
glory.
of can
no
no
pleasure
greater
and
in Creon's
delight than in his
his brother Megareus (cf.
38.1)?
bask through Haemon in Antigone's
However this may be, Haemon tries to link wisdom as the highest possession with public opinion through his own most precious
possession, the good fortune of Creon. In the absence
Haemon can
puts
flourish
and
of
his
own
wisdom,
be his; and Creon's success highly thus remain Haemon's only if Creon abides by public
must esteem most
what can
opinion, his knowledge of which depends on his devoted son. It is Haemon's care for Creon that eases the tension between public opinion and wisdom
(cf.
39.2).
A 40.3.
does
According aat
not
say brother fallen in
Reading
Sophocles'
of
to the city, Antigone's
Antigone deed
most glorious
the city
in the burial
consists
eqycov evae^eaxdxcov
37
of
her
(iv ovalg), whom she did not allow to be destroyed (dXiadai) by ravenous dogs or any bird (cf. 1314). The city does not say that Polynices died in battle ("iv fiaxn); indeed, it speaks more euphemistically of his death than of his threatened con sumption
by
had
advised
war
in
bloody
slaughter
beasts (cf. 1018, 1029). It prefers to forget, as the Chorus themselves to do (150-1), both the war and the kind of
which
Polynices
The city, therefore, does
was engaged.
not
say,
any more than Haemon does, that Antigone's glory lies in her resistance to Creon's decree. The city speaks cryptically even outside of Creon's hearing. It speaks as if the very handling of her brother's body, and not the fulfillment of a divine the divine law
of neither
deed
as
intended to
Antigone neither
however, just
Antigone's
dogs
prevent
nor
between
the many bodies
spoke of
Polynices.89
destroying
she saved a corpse no one mentions:
occurs
vexqdg
speaks
It interprets Antigone's
piety.
birds from
and
her brother. That
saved
vexvg
law, distinguished Antigone. The city nor
515
818.90
and
Creon,
that obedience saves
(adifiaxa)
(676). The city understands Antigone militarily. It tries to assimilate her 36.3). Thebes deed as much as possible to a victory like (cf. Tellus'
does
not
see
Antigone
Polynices'
might
city
see
as
Argos
Cleobis
saw
Biton. Creon had
and
to be left unburied in
body (difiag)
ordered
order
the birds and dogs eat and disgrace it (cf.
that the
4.6). The
city itself, however, speaks of the brother being eaten and perishing. Antigone is to die disgracefully (xdxiaxa
something more, the loss
consequences of
(1029-30); but
and
punishment,
for the divine law (cf.
52);
Tiresias
of self.
Polynices'
and
he
can speak of
hence
of
can speak as well of
the city knows nothing
about
in the
any
the unholy
the sacred
its
this.
of
reasons
meanness
Just to be
the whole nothing meaning of lack of burial. To be incorporated into the nonhuman, the literal bestialization of man, one can say, is the primal terror (cf. 108 1).91 eaten,
89
It is
and
constitutes
else,
On the inexactness of a piece with
of
the
the
city's
city's
speech,
Thucydidean
no
Socrates
refers to
the
speaker
corpses
opinion
A. B. Drachmann, Hermes 1908, 69. of the reason for
(or Antigone's) misunderstanding
Creon's calling the extraordinary assembly 90 Their t abstention from the word speech:
see
city's
the
Chorus;
cf. note
to be in
accordance with
(unlike
generals
7.
the
seems
of
Herodotus) failed to
ever
recover at
uses
Athenian
vexgdg.
When
Arginousae, he
says
(PI. Ap.S. 32b3); likewise Lysias 5.36. When orators use invariably refers to the dead buried at Marathon. On no Greek
xovg ix xfjg vavfiaxlag
vexgdg,
it
almost
inscription is vexgdg I vixvg used, as far as I know, before the third century; see W. Peek, Griechische Grabgedichte, numbers 129, 195, 220. Peek's remark about the increasingly euphemistic language about death (p. 37) would have to be verse
modified.
01
Cf. Moschion fr.
6, 30-3 N: xdx rovde xoiig Bavdvrag &giaev vdfiog / xv/ipoig iv 6q>8aX(ioig iav / rfjg ngdade / vexgolg dOdnroig, fit]d'
xaXvnxtiv xam/ioigdodai xdviv
Oolvrjg
fivrjfidvevfia
dvoaepovg.
Interpretation
38 The need
for
the gods,
gods arises or whether
law that
through the
en
which man's
this terror is part of the core out of
question whether
Antigone. Antigone herself
to
seems
having
live up to their
man
his humanity,
given man gift
of
all
underlies
to the truth of either answer
point
28.1).
(cf.
with an up the veiled threat of the city have nothing to do with the city. He has wisdom yield to public opinion only to have public opinion yield in turn to moderation. Regardless of the city and regardless of what the issue is,
Haemon follows
40.4.
that seems to
argument
Creon not
in himself
must
Antigone, two
purposes
Creon had
becomes the triad
of
sight
dealing are
with
matched
iron
it
overtempered
by
the likenesses of trees
exactly
correspond of
with
Creon's as
of
his
resolution as vanity,
torrent
winter
a
of
29.2)-
horses (cf.
and
a
22.11).
his fearless
pride
(rpvxi])
arguments as
resolve and
irrelevant, Haemon
is hence
(yvcb/nrj)
argument
his way
and
daxwdfiot dqyal (cf.
and
Creon in his
hollow. Creon's distinction between
What in
attack
likenesses
and the two
to maintain what he is most devoted to
(qdvvfia) question
Creon's;
deyfia,
Since Haemon has to
12.4),
Haemon's triad, however, does not it resembles much more the first
overstraining the sail's sheet. triad
(cf.
rule
character
facing
and
yrvxV>
spirited
and
seaman
stasimon's
of
only in
and yn>x)];
qovslv, yX&aaa,
that Creon had used to illustrate Antigone's
adopts
now
The triad
said come to
The Chorus, for his own
adaptable.
more
Haemon
model.
Creon.
of
remarks
which
yvmfin,
be
(iv tiavxCo)
be his
should
the
presents
specious, and his devotion
rulers
and
is false.
nonrulers
to sight in the ruler must be the same as that which is latent
comes
everyone else.
The
ruler's
laws (cf. 191)
must
be the hidden
opinion
that the city has at any moment. Haemon speaks of the people and later of the gods but never of the city's laws (cf. 52.3). Between the
divine law to the
and
is nothing to
doing
the opinion
irresistible force guide
the people,
stormy The
ruler.
a
concealing
fear for his
Thucydides,
whether
its
40.5.
ruler's
skin.
so
violation
According
long
Haemon thus
the
3.81.2),
moderation consists shows
expense of a
his
skill. or
he
who
about
mere
He can
can
yield
accept
to
bluster,
the divine
law, for he does
not
know
punishment.
Creon, Antigone is
drowns. He
solely in care for
He is the typical tyrant, according (1.17). It is for this reason that Haemon
unskillful
art
and/or artless
nature; according to Haemon, though Creon runs the risk of the same, he does not have to be like the uprooted trees or the seaman
there
futile but possibly
he believes, is
high-mindedness,
involves to
Haemon tacitly likens (cf. Her.
own safety.
who takes no risks
for
silent
Creon's
which
stream or sea
argues self-preservation at
noble resistance.
keeps
the
of
anything to save his own
Creon: he
to
of a
can
restrain
his
nature
what
cannot
be
resisted
the opinion of others (to
(rjdog)
or
(to fxrj
becoming unskillful
improve his
dyav) They are
xelveiv
fiavddveiv noXXd).
A equivalent, for the
Reading
Sophocles'
Antigone
of
opinion of others
is
39
be
what cannot
Creon
resisted.
that it is pointless to
learn mere opinion (rpdxig) object, however, and base to yield to it. Haemon therefore has to go further. The best thing is to be born wise; but as that rarely happens, it is noble too to learn from others who speak well. To speak well is the result of either being born wise or learning from still others who speak well. As Haemon could
hardly claim that everyone in Thebes was born wise except Creon (cf. PL Ap.S. 24d3-35all), he implies that the people learnt their wisdom from others, who must be either their more than human ancestors or the can
themselves. Haemon defers to his father's wisdom only to
gods
establish
the wisdom of his father's fathers. He thus presents a sophisticated version
Antigone's appeal to the unwritten laws of the gods (cf. 27.2). These live in the tpdrig of the city, which has inherited the wisdom the gods implanted in human beings long ago. Haemon can therefore replace of
the divine punishment for the law's violation, which Antigone saw in
her pain, with the Creon away.
people's
41 (724-7). 41.1. in the
They
play.
punishment,
The Chorus
now speak the only Creon to learn from Haemon
advise
learn from Creon, "for it is well said their wisdom to be only a mimicry of for the
who argues
Haemon, however,
threatens to sweep
which now
both
on
sides."
lines
Haemon to
The Chorus
suggest that
They
wisdom.
ridiculous
and
show
Creon,
authority of the ruler, can compromise with for the divine authority of the city's voice. Fathers,
paternal
who argues
They begin to become ancestors as soon as dead (cf. OT 987). 92 Such a transformation can occur only through burial rites, which declare that the father is not carrion and they
are
does
not
are not ancestors.
40.3). Now Creon talks
(cf.
perish
fathers
of
as
begetters
(qmaavxeg) who pray for obedient children (yovdg), Haemon of the gods begetting (qwovaiv) wisdom (qevag). To endow parents with the authority of
wisdom, it is first
beings, i.e.,
as
incest
against
not
embodies
the injunction to
bury
it
this
necessary to look objects
of
issue; it is
confrontation
them as nonsexual
desire. The
prohibition
It thus belongs together
reverence.93
one's parents under
the
upon
sexual
the
16.2). Antigone's burial
them naked (cf. to this
of all
possible
prohibition against
of
her brother
between father
and son
with
seeing
points
only
that makes
plain.
perhaps
he
to be taught
Creon does
links
the Chorus
means
the Chorus
by not
a man as add
that
as
with
92
Cf. PI. Lgs. 717d7-el.
93
Cf. Thomas Summa
whether
young
"we"
closely decay ageing is needed to turn
age
natural
asks
Creon
41.2.
himself (cf.
well
as
Haemon is
as with men
as
men"
old
as
too are
contra gentiles
"we
(ol xnXixolde)
39.4)
are
by nature (xrjv qwaiv). old men by nature, for nature wisdom. Something more than
into
III.124.
respected
fathers. But Creon
Interpretation
40 does
not see
fathers
than begetters
begetters;
except as
unless
they
fathers
and
pattern themselves
after
become
cannot
more
the ancestors, which
do only if he abandoned his position (cf. 1113-4). He conceives of his own interests too narrowly to ally himself for long with the ancestral. Once he has finished with Antigone, he never again argues Creon
could
the case of the fatherland
42 (728-65). 42.1.
against
The
Polynices.
exchange
between Haemon
Creon falls
and
Creon tries to force Haemon's
into three parts, in each of which tion, first through argument (728-39),
capitula
(740-9, 756),
through abuse
next
last through threats, to which Haemon finally replies in kind (757, 754-5, 750-3, 758-65).94 The theme of the exchange is reverence and devotion, or, better perhaps, honor and love: what one looks up to and and
what
cares
one
interruption
12.7). The
for (cf.
His disrespect toward the Chorus Creon
and it
that his
says what
his
time has
Haemon's
whether
prepares
answer
for his
be
Haemon's
with
Creon's
question.
to defer to
refusal
defect (cf. 719-20). He
a
that Creon should examine, not
not unjust and
him, but
made
can
own youthfulness to
teaching is
begins
exchange
Chorus, before they
the
of
he himself has done.95 Creon asks the unruly is something to be proud of.
what
reverence of
Haemon probably meant that to warn Creon of the city's mood, which could cost Creon his life, showed his devotion to his father's welfare. Creon prefers, however, to ignore his self-interest and argue his case on its
Haemon does
merits.
directly
not
answer
Creon;
deny
than
rather
Antigone's unruliness, he denies that he would even urge the show of bad.96 reverence toward the The good citizen, he implies, is not neces sarily the
good man.
mean either
Creon then
Polynices. If he
means
the people of Thebes
he
means
Some
ambiguous
Antigone the latter, Haemon's answer
all
04
asks an
that Antigone is bad or that
the
now
of
the
and
lines
the issue of
seems
750-3. I
of
upbraids
Haemon for trying to
Haemon
asks whether
Polynices'
necessary;
Creon
avoid
will
just
revile
him
or
that the witless Haemon will regret his attempt at
at
So I
could
be
egya
to
one who
does
not
argument
know that Haemon's threat is
If the lines
757
are not rearranged,
(cf. J. H. Kells, CR 1961, 191-2); but this
still
a
last
must
effort
be
leaves Haemon's
read
threat
point.
understand
ed
things
by
nobly
the
difficult
xagya.
PI. Chrm. 163b l-c4, and
Jebb's interpretation where
beneficially done;
1.2.56-7. 6
Creon
be insane (755, cf. 765); Creon threatens and Haemon issues he says cannot be a threat to a man as devoid of under
Creon, i.e.,
the wrong 95
Enger's
accept
which
to put some sense in Creon (750-3). as a statement
I
and
(756); (757); Creon instruction (754); Haemon
listen to
that Creon must
as
criminality in
affirming his total devotion to Antigone
says
standing
startling:
understand the sequence thus:
says
counterthreat,
be
Pallis'
transposition of 756-7
a
would
can
the bad
think that Eteocles was in the wrong. If
former, Creon drops
rearrangement
He
question.
reverenced
Cf. J. D. Denniston, CR 1936, 115-6.
Critias
cf.
Iliad
of
says that
it
as
Hesiod
"merits"
restricted
LX, 319-20; Xen. Mem.
A
Reading
Sophocles'
Antigone
of
41
favor
of convicting Antigone of disobedience, regardless of whether that disobedience violated the city or his pride. His long silence on Polynices suggests that he has abandoned for good any political justification. But it is Creon, one should not forget, who interprets his question and hence
Haemon's
answer
whole
The threat that Haemon's
city.
be
being solely concerned with Antigone. Haemon's imply that Creon's enemies have now won over the
as
answer could still
disguised in his
similes
speech
the more menacing if it involved a repudiation of the war that Creon "the had won. When the Chorus celebrated the would
all
general"
Theban victory,
11.6-7). might
they did
Precisely
not
what
praise
have happened: the
now
Eteocles
Creon brought
or
about
politicization
of
blame Polynices (cf. but
strove
to
prevent
burial (cf.
13.2).
Haemon's answers, in any case, up to his scornful, "You would be a land," fine ruler of an empty are as compatible with the city's approval Polynices
of
as
with
Antigone's death
its
should ordain.
approval
destroy
(751). Creon
revolution
that
will
now
not
could
as a
be
a
further warning
foolish question, but Creon
to carry
of
the city is to say what he
asks whether
Haemon takes it
to be a ruler means
Antigone. Even his threat that
of
someone
the orders of
out
explains
another ruler:
"Isn't the city customarily held (vofil&xai) to belong to the Haemon answers that there is no city if it belongs to one man. Creon as ruler must simply execute what the city says. If Haemon does not ruler?"
only
that Creon must take his bearings
mean
to survive, he implies that Creon opinion, for the people
in itself its
good
citizens must
be
than its people (cf. seems
are never
19.4), but he had
(cf.
good.
666).97
He
public opinion
in
order
not
drawn the
conclusion
that
that the city is something other He turns to the Chorus to remark that Haemon supposes
to be Antigone's ally, for the Chorus
6/j.dnxoXig Xecbg
by
look up to (evaefieiv) public bad. Creon thought that the city was must
exaggerates
the
are
the proof that Haemon's
city's unanimity.
both Antigone
The Chorus Tiresias
are com
as (843), 988). are not the who (940, fear, 6-n/j.dxai, They according to Haemon, to tell Creon to his face what they think (690-1). The Chorus intervene on Ismene's behalf, and Creon gratefully accepts their correction (770-1); and when they later hear Tiresias, they do not hesitate to advise Creon, and Creon again obeys (1099). The factionalism of the city, on which Creon relies as he denies it (cf. 12.3), makes the
the
posed of
whom
rich
and
address
the rulers of Thebes
dignify
such
as
citizens
an
impossible
public opinion and ruins
42.2.
The
weakest part of
object
his
of
reverence.
Haemon tries to
case.
Haemon's defense
of
Antigone is Antigone;
dared up to now to defend her openly on the grounds she herself chose; and his respect for her seems to depend wholly on public
he has
not
opinion.
97
Creon therefore tries to
Cf. L.
Strauss, Socrates
and
goad
him into
Aristophanes, 94.
an
ission
of
his
Interpretation
42 subservience
to her. All Haemon's talk
of respect and reverence conceals
his entrance that he almost says that Creon is his he now Creon's and (635); wholly The reverence due care. He does not that he cares for the city. only say its opinions does not entail any devotion to its interests. The way of
his
the real object of
Haemon
care.
proclaimed on
was
Megareus is on
not
Antigone's
Creon, himself, xai
Haemon's. When Creon
behalf, Haemon
Justice
does, his
(cf.
36.2). The
He
unjust.
last
at
Creon's speech,
of
be
speech
is wholly
"xai aov
ye xd/iov
suddenly replace the in opinion, however
gods
in the gods, not respect for his father. Haemon's
grounded
for Creon from his
is that Creon is correctness
be
must
care
his
says that
that it is also in the interest of
the nether gods. He does not say
and
ndXecog xfjg av/jmdang
city.
answers
answer
that he never accepted the
reveals
one of whose points was that the ruler
of his injustice. Creon now wants to know how he can be unjust if he merely cultivates the respect his office is due. Haemon replies that he cannot do so if he tramples on the honors
(father)
must
obeyed regardless
the gods. It is
of
people's
does
rule under
Justice
true that the
not
wishes; the
gods
tell him
democratically
ruler
he
what
the guidance of others; but
be
they
executes
the
The ruler, then,
should ordain.
are the
gods, not the
in the gods, not in opinion, however unanimous (cf. 369). What Haemon has done his best to avoid has finally happened: he has been forced to adopt Antigone's position. Creon city.
must
grounded
is triumphant: "Defiled to
seems
Haemon,
identify
(^dog)\
nature
piety
Lower than
His
womanishness.98
with
woman!"
a greatest
Creon
abuse
of
any rate, coincides with Haemon's appeal to the gods. One wonders whether his harping on Antigone the woman has not been his way of replying to Antigone's argument about the divine law. Male and
female
at
would reflect
Olympian 42.3.
The
demand
gods
in his
and chthonic
coincidence as
simple
gods
of
understanding the distinction between
(cf.
37.2, 39.2).
the city's opinion with what the
nether
their due raises the question of whether the city and
Hades have something in
Aeschylus'
A age in Agamemnon The herald from the army opens his speech with an invocation of the "paternal ground of the Argive land"; and he goes on to say that out of all his shattered hopes he has obtained but one, "to have a share on my death in the dearest (503-7). The points
the way to
common.
an answer.
grave"
herald, those
whose special protector above
and
(Ch.
his parents, wife, longing like
return
to
is
a private
not
below"
or
is Hermes
164),
(514-5), "greatest herald
never
Ibid., 233-4.
99
The
exact
wording is
not
he
of
longed to
longing for what is his (cf. 414-9), nor does he look the future glory of the army (567-81). children; the
Menelaus'
forward to any comfort except When the Chorus greet him, he reiterates his saying that he does not now refuse to be dead 98
that
says
recoverable;
cf.
Fraenkel,
joy
on
(539).99
ad
loc.
his
return
by
The love for
A
Sophocles'
Reading
of
Antigone
43
his fatherland
manifests itself solely in the willingness to die there. That the Chorus interpret him to mean, through their personalizing of his love of country (540-5), that the present circumstances are so
intolerable that they too welcome death (550), does not affect his declaration. The way in which patriotism reaches the same level of intensity as private desires does not consist in the desire to die for one's country but in the desire to be buried there. Haemon, then, original
the city with the nether gods as unwittingly
might not so much replace point
to Hades as the core of the city.
Polynices
as
Haemon's
unjust
and
has
has
not
Even if Thebes
Eteocles,
repudiated
as
still
regards
the drift
of
Antigone's love of death, from which all attachment to the family as generated has been drained, suggests that Antigone in herself represents the link between the city and Hades. Antigone had to reconstitute her family in Hades in order to cleanse it of its incestuous character (cf. 27.5). But the family without eros is the city, for fraternity, which in itself has nothing to do with eros, is the highest degree of attachment that citizens can "fraternal" The bond that Creon possibly have to one remarks
made
doubt,
us
yet
another.100
saw
mistakenly patriotism
and
between his denial
the
the bond among citizens,
Antigone's
silence
fratricide
of
exclusion
of
her
about
burial to
of
his decree (192), between should in fact be
and
brother,
a
Creon
whom
the
never
speaks
Polynices'
war,
brothers thus other
laws
soul's
of
take
concern
and
crime, on
deeper
a
than that
(cf.
30.2).
the
mutual
significance.
her brother lies
Her
every city believes it merits golden honor combined with the im partiality of her natural love for both her brothers despite their own
unburied
the
her the representative of the city as the city itself be. But, as Antigone shows and Creon confirms (cf. 31.1), that for which the city longs is only possible in Hades, where the fraternal bond in its purity, apart from its source and the nature enmity (523),
would
of
makes
to
wish
bonded, can be established. Creon's xdxm vvv iXdovo', el (pdnxeov xeivovg (524-5) buries the city's hopes along with Antigone (cf.
the
iXei
46.8). 42.4. Haemon does more than it that he is also arguing on Antigone's behalf; his threat to Creon proves that his deepest care is for Antigone. If that is what Creon wanted him to say, he indirectly
it; for his
be understood merely as a final Although Creon is merely spiteful and cruel in wanting Haemon to see Antigone die, Haemon threatens suicide out of more than spite. He loves his father and thinks that confesses
effort
to
to
bring
Creon loves him; too
cf
.
vvv
so
cannot
senses.
for Creon
no
PI. Menex. 237b6-3: atixdxBovag
xai xge<poftivovg xai
threat
Creon to his
xelodai
vnodeSa/xivng;
oi>x $n ftrjxgviag
ol
longer to
xai x& ovxi &XX'
aXXoi,
iv
vno
see
his head
naxgldi
olxovvxag
fiTjrgog xijg x&QQ-S
iv olxeioig xdnoig xrjg xexovarjg
239al: fiidg ftnzgog ndvxeg
adeXrpol qrvvzeg.
with
xai
xai
&
ft
his
t,&vxag <%>xow,
Bgetpdarjg
xai
Interpretation
44 eyes
Haemon, in the to
duty
the
does
silence
city's
will
act
Creon. But
punish
buried Polynices? His
on
would
suppose
40.4),
(cf.
and
its opinion, takes upon himself he have done so if Ismene had which
the
And if
the
innocent Ismene, tells against him.
justify,
altogether
therefore
might
sanctions
the
about
silence
not
divine
of
absence
the city
of whether
unsure
One
1.1).
him (cf.
pain
would
own
that
his concern, he could have threatened to duplicate Antigone's holy crime. But the truth is that he can no more live without Antigone than Ismene says she can. Ismene's protestations were
gods
nether
when
between
and eqwg.
becomes the gods',
and
is, in
Haemon's
the warning; the
beyond the
because never
and
could
both
34.1),
and
have
to
seems
him
convinced
that
Antigone to death; but he suspects that interfere if he kills her in a remote part of the stone
way that no one's hand has to be raised he frees Ismene because she did not touch
in
and
country,
such a
against
Polynices'
Just
as
he frees the city from touching Antigone. The whole city innocent if he meticulously prevents the city from being (cf. 13.2). We do not know whether the formal purity of
so
corpse,
remain
polluted
Antigone's
would
execution
injustice,
of which
appease
only Haemon
the
on
city.
his
own
city forget
Would the
has
(728, 743), The Chorus,
spoken
if Creon exactly complies with the demands of piety? at any rate, do not object. Perhaps they understand it as an acsxwdfioi
of man's
43.2. of
itself, is
unflinchingly (580-1), Creon's resolve The Chorus, however, easily save Creon decides to forgo Antigone's public
30.2). Haemon
(cf.
the people would not
its
suicide
unchanged.
the people would not
will
alone
8.3). To risk death for
death
face
is
girls
(cf.
execution
her.
young dismisses
Creon
monetary gain Creon can understand (221-2); but to die 27.2). As Haemon could is unintelligible to him (cf. himself to carry out his threat, any more than Antigone
of
bring
Ismene
let
suicide,
a mind as
owner.
of pain
Ismene
kill
to
of
contemplation
its
to
oppressive
pain,
Creon that
warn
human. He forgets Jocasta (cf.
the
sake
silence
The Chorus
43 (766-80). 43.1. as
only underline the difference Haemon, then, begins as the city's spokesman, ends by cherishing Antigone unto death.
Haemon's
to
next
set
much
so
dqyal,
which
though morally
deivdxng (cf.
22.10).
Creon
Antigone's
presents
being fulfilled,
or withhold a
for Hades is
neutral
suit of
not a god
favor. If Hades is
at
one
of
Hades for life
like
work, he
are
example of
the
as
glories
incapable
other gods who can grant
cannot produce
his
opposite.
To worship him and what belongs to him is useless labor. It does not pay. The lesson Antigone's punishment will teach her is that her punishment
is
what she worships.
(cf. of
The
killing
30.1). But precisely the
marketplace
Antigone
as
the
that
what
all
of
Antigone is the
offends
%aj?s
perfect worshipper.
is Her
Creon,
education of
Antigone
holds to the view (cf. 4.7), reveals
who
reciprocal
reverence must
be
disinterested,
A
Reading
Sophocles'
Antigone
of
45
for
she worships the one god who cannot reward her. It is this very purity that, according to Creon, will prove to be too heavy a burden for her (cf. 29.2). And if she herself believes that her piety will be that rewarded, only confirms for Creon her madness and the ease with which she can be broken.
44 (781-801). 44.1.
The Chorus
the first time in lyrics parodos
the vocative and
they
men
Eros. For
of
sing
pronoun.101
the eye of the golden
themselves
exhorted
old
In the
in the day (103) Zeus (609), but in neither case did they go beyond a verb in the second person. In the parodos, however,
stasimon
second
they
addressed
they
of
the second person
use
the
and
and
Thebes to
rest of
the temples
visit all
the gods with night-long dances (150-4); in the first stasimon they wished that the culprit not be of their own hearth (372); and in the of
second they spoke of the unceasing sorrows they had seen befall the Labdacids (594). But the song to Eros is, despite the repeated "you," almost entirely impersonal. Were it not for the deictic xdde (793), it
could
be
read
as
first stasimon, a
neuter
Troy
of
"this"
do
her
spell
looking silent
of
old
men
her
Chorus, however, do they do catch
beauty
44.2.
The song is
and
speak
this
the
center
one
to the
man
was
the elders
of
their
of
two
Eros
while
her, they are (cf. 32.1, injustice, and
of
tears
own
of
of
sing
sight
madness,
self-sacrifice.
The Chorus
of
eleven
love,
about
statements
the
that he whom Eros possesses is mad. Around
sets
five
of
"Eqcog dvlxaxe
to
akin
which
acting through Eros.
as
composed
central one of which says
pendant
not
when
and
think of Antigone
not
in
remind
45.1). In the song itself Eros is the cause strife, but not of tenderness, harmony, or do
somehow
and
seeing Helen, "like unto the terrible beauty of the begrudge the war, though they at once throw off
Antigone;
about
deivdxng
not
(T 156-60). The
at
It is
poem.
man's
sang 22.6). The
(cf.
on
who,
goddesses,"
independent
an
which
fidxav
statements
is that
not
balanced.
each
are
even
the just
can
The resist
Eros'
him; to swooping attack on what is one's own (xxri/iatii, cf. 684, 702, 1050; fr. 210, 36P)102 is the pointing to the turbulent strife of kindred blood (gvvaifiov) that he has caused; to keeping watch Eros'
is the
on soft cheeks of a girl
in the and
a
office of
girl; to
the
as
either
restless
assessor
who
how
close
uses xxr\aiog
the Chorus as almost
are
the
to
of
the or
see
motion
great
being
wins
pseudo-Arist.
equivalent
cf.
29.3, 53.2. Note
Oec.
of olxelog
(Tr. 690).
also
sea and
escaping battle.
every
1345a26-30;
understanding of what is one's own is
Creon;
desire
over
ordinances;
human
effortlessly
Cf. E. Norden, Agnostos Theos, 158. For this very broad sense of xxr\p.axa economic
of triumphant
evocation Eros'
any immortal
Aphrodite,
goddess
PL Grg. 461c5-6. This of
manifest
marriageable
impossibility is the
Eros
102
of
land is desire's
to the
i01
eyes
that
indicative Sophocles
46
Interpretation
It is
easy to say, as this summary reveals, how the Chorus under Eros. The only other occurrence of eros is in the second stasimon,
not
stand where
the Chorus speak of hope
27.4). The
(cf. Eros
Chorus
where the
(cf.
ways
literally
as
of
human
as
do Eros
and
to whom one
different beings in was
center
animation
different
eleven
occupied
of
the parodos,
of
one
by
madness,
Capaneus. But here, unlike the parodos, nothing the miserable Polynices and Eteocles is found;
Aphrodite appear, like Dionysus and Zeus, as a god pray or offer tribute. Eros far more resembles Hades, at
does
work
43.2). The Chorus
he is (cf.
what
Eros, desire (l/j,eqog), and Aphrodite; but l/neqog literally, for apart from its
set
in
into life in Perhaps
at
least
being
one
to
as
xdiv fieydXviv ndqedqog much
the "clatter
as
iv
aqxalg Ares"
of
Betificbv, was
which
galvanized
juxtaposed to dvxmdXov bvaxelqoifia dqdxovxog (126-7). say that the night-watch of Eros on the cheeks
could
does
girl
even
apposition
it
animates
"poeticization"
take
one cannot
a
reminds
desires"
light-witted
Chorus'
to treat as equivalent
seem
of
can
he is
who when
it is
divinity
characterized eleven
frenzy
of
degree the
what
belief in his
11.4). There too the
the Bacchic
nor
to
question
their
reflects
the "deceit
and
not
divinize him
than
more
"piney
Hephaestus"
(123)
divinizes fire; and that the fusion of Polynices and eagle (112-21) is as little literal as the swooping attack of Eros on one's own. But Aphrodite is a goddess, and her playfulness no more detracts from her divinity than leading of the dance, for which the Chorus Dionysus'
once wished
to
whom
which
to
overcomes
make
deivdxrjg, and
(153-4), detracts from his. The ubiquity
wilderness
dividing
the gods
him
the
which
set
Earth,
or
aside
the
and
now
assert
Eros limits
that,
Zeus,
while
22.7). Eros
detvdxng (cf.
to
seem
Eros,
replace
Earth
Eros is the
whose splendor and
moreover,
his power,
and
limits imposed
apparent
the highest of the gods (cf.
Chorus, then,
of
obstacle,
day,
seem
man's
own
a
god.
the missing cause of man's
The
an
easily as men who live for His ubiquity resembles
as
highest
is
sea
him
on
seems
by
sea
to supply
22.1; Eur. Med. 844-5). Eros or Aphrodite,
with
cause
of
human transgression,
immutability
apparently checked 37.4). Does Eros lead astray the Zeus who justly punished Capaneus? The Chorus imply that there is no Eros for justice. They seem at first to understand the core of Eros as sexual, manifest in young girls, but they also say that desire holds sway over
human transgression (cf.
the great ordinances. If the text is are
love
for children,
of parents
sound,103
Eros'
ordinances too
a part
of
they
suggest that
domain. The love
and that of children
for
of
the great
country, the
parents will
belong
to Eros. His power shows own
and
itself in his being both the love of one's the love that destroys one's own. It is desire's indifference
to the goodness of either that makes the Chorus speak of Aphrodite's
103
If my interpretation
possibility
of
of a proceleusmatic
ndgedgog
here;
see
is correct, the issue
Miiller, 174-6.
would
turn
on
the
A
Reading
Sophocles'
Antigone
of
47
Antigone, however, has
playfulness.
shown that the love of one's own, to its extreme, entails the love of death; and the extreme the love that destroys one's own is equally the love of death, for
when carried of
in the
one's own
follow if Creon
Antigone is Antigone
is oneself, which 2.2). The latter
strict sense
(cf.
itted
unwittingly)
was
silent
about
Hades
and
wrong
could
Her
the afterlife.
even
Antigone (however
consequence
has
soul
would
not
Antigone hfe: but
grant
been dead.
long
thus seem to embody Eros, the love of one's own Chorus' that destroys one's own, and the song to Eros an ode to death. But the Chorus understand Eros as primarily sexual, and Antigone's
denial
would
of sexual
her
sets
limits the
the Olympian gods share
which
generation,
Eros. Antigone
above
to overstep the one
seems
with
men,
limit that
Eros'
The question, then, which possible divinity poses, is this: does Antigone offend against someone or something divine that lends to the gods some of their splendor? Is her justice stricter gods.
than the gods', and her suicide
45 (801-5). 45.1. had sung of so different
punishment?
Chorus beheld Antigone
after
they
man's
seeing Antigone
(decffiot)
divine
a
the
daring artfulness, they looked upon her as a monster, was she from the culprit they had envisioned (cf. 23.1); after they have impersonally sung of Eros, they confess on
now
and
When
and
again
cannot
that
too
they
restrain
their
are
carried
outside
limits
the
The limits that the Chorus
tears.
transgress would seem at first to be the great ordinances over which
Eros presides; but the Chorus do not acknowledge comion to be an effect of love; and in so far as it is implicit in the great ordinances that command the love of
them
and yet
love Antigone 11.1).
be
and
of
one's
their
under
suddenly
They weep
they
own,
They
sway.
her
recognize
cannot
be
do
not
as
one
weep because they of their own (cf.
carried
outside
their will, for her cause is unjust (853-5).
against
Their tears
are solely caused by her approaching death. They are unloving and impersonal tears (cf. 527) that well up from a source almost beyond the consciousness of the Chorus. Theirs are not the
tears
of
The Chorus
pity.
never
speak
Sophocles'
the only extant play of though no other play has
oixxqdg, eXeeivdg, exception: still
104
lay
unpitied
This tells
related
ways
supplication
Trachiniae
the
their several
against
with
two) have
Chorus
call
(604). Antigone's ngog
phrase occurs
in
a
of
no on
that
Chorus'
olxxov
Sophocles'
occurs
only
less than
six
no
word
for pity occurs,
instances
(Ajax) of olxxog, There is, however, one
Polynices'
tears, then,
at
indeed, Antigone is
pity;
cognates.104
says
LA's reading rest
invocation
or
later
of
which
less than
(1197). The
from the
other than the once
and
messenger
a
in
dog-mangled
arise
from the
858. Antigone differs in two
extant
plays:
ngog
dediv
as
a
same
other
form
of
(838), whereas other plays (except five (OC); and all the rest have persons
once
Zeus in the vocative; here only the Chorus do so moreover, is the only case in Sophocles where
decov,
request
body
that the speaker does not wish to be true.
Interpretation
48 source
which
that
as
Antigone to
prompted
that
imply
her hopeless
27.3). It is this dea/idg that misery consists in man's mortality (cf. the Chorus of old men on seeing Antigone find themselves carried themselves.105 Antigone beyond; and whatever pity they feel is mostly for
rightly
therefore
their heartless
calls
a
consolation
herself
of
mockery
(839).
45.2.
The Chorus say that Antigone where all sleep. The forcible
(ddXa/xov)
to take the
view of
Creon that
itself
chamber.
generation, the Chorus
end
she
of
for
living
as
kind
a
granting
a
immortality, Eros
of
the
death in the
is the death
own
in love
acknowledgment
one's own
each man
compels
(cf. 789-90). It is the
day
Antigone
marry in Hades (654). If love is primarily sexual and should
to
point
death. One unwittingly accepts another self. The survival of one's of
chamber
Hades is
and
though pitiless, do not so much scorn
Everyone dies in that bridal its
ing
Eros
of
Chorus,
strange, for the as
the bridal
approaches
sight of
of
generation oneself.
In
to see himself
Antigone that brings
Eros that the Chorus had ignored in singing of Eros. But Antigone herself is antigeneration; she has so far acknowledged out
truth
a
about
the death but not the
burden
life in Eros. Her
46 (806-82). 46.1. are
by
sung
it is the
painful recognition of
the kommos.
of
The kommos
Antigone
and
four
by
consist of nine
parts,
the Chorus. The
of which
Chorus'
parts
five are
the first pair concerns Antigone's glory, which is offered as a
paired:
for her mortality (817-22, 834-8); the second pair concerns is linked with her inheritance (cf. 37.1). Antigone's
consolation
her crime,
which
the other hand, fall metrically into three, two stanzas and an but epode; thematically they can be sorted differently. In the two strophes Antigone appeals to the Chorus, first, as fellow-citizens of a on
parts,
common of
to see her imminent death and
fatherland,
the city, to wait
antistrophes
then, as the rich men her death before they mock her. In the two her reflections, first on what she has heard of
until
she voices
then on the incest of her parents. Each stanza, however, also hangs together: the first is Antigone's desperate attempt to normalize what she
Niobe, is
and assimilate
what
is
she
herself to things
and
known,
delineates her
while
uniqueness.
address to
her fellow
who can as
easily be Oedipus as Polynices. iycb (866, 868).
does
but
citizens
ends with
in the
second she accepts
She thus begins an address
Only
in the
to her
with
an
brother,
second antistrophe
she use
46.2.
Antigone
now speaks of marriage
for the first time. She
wants
the Chorus to see her as one of their own, whose death will come before
her wedding song. She therefore presents Hades, not Creon or the city, as her executioner (cf. 575, 847), and throughout the kommos remains 105
Cf. 1G I2972 (=48 Peek):
[(5dp]
[x]azagl-oy,
inel
'
xai oi ftivet
AvriXdxov
ddvarog.
afj/t'
noxl
dyadov
xai
ocbq>govog
dvdgog /
A
longer certain,
no
Chorus,
confirmed, that the
were
her deed (504-9). But
approve of
49
Antigone
of
her deed. Antigone is
silent on soon
Sophocles'
Reading
they
her uncertainty is
and
Creon,
not afraid of
her
she cannot throw off
would
strangeness
do
more than mouth the role of a girl deprived of her marriage. Not does she fail to mention Haemon but she never speaks of the hus only band and (in the kommos) of the children she will never have (cf. El. or
165, 187-8). The speak of marriage
its
rites
the
but
she
itself
by
its
not
vividness
most she can
in the way that
They did, but solely
uniqueness.
she
to the
but Antigone had
no mortal
to
seem
speak
will
descend to Hades
Heracles.
Creon intends to hide
a
if her fame is due, not to of her death, as if, that is,
her
not speak exactly.
is
alive;
she
in
man-made
a
Orpheus
no
chamber
or
underground
to death (774-5). The Chorus thus seem xdd'
hidden
like Creon,
They too,
moreover, do
Chorus,
insist
self-normalization and
killed himself.
Antigone
chamber where she will starve
burial, something
as
manner
ever
marriage
4.6). She
22.10).
43.1). The
to confuse
burial (cf.
of
others understand
forget Jocasta (cf. not
to her loss of
bring
lack
The Chorus disregard Antigone's
46.3. what
cannot
Polynices'
through for form's sake (cf.
one goes
her
herself to do in eliciting pity is to particularly of its ceremonies. She knows
bring
She
substance.
brought to
understands marriage
on
and
with
...xevQog
for the task
vexvcov,
consoling Antigone so poorly suits them that they can only exaggerate "demythologization" of her uniqueness to the point of nonsense. No
of
their language can rid it of its nonsense.
die
gone will
It
Antigone.
of
hear their of
alive: such a paradox
would
not
does
do
that Anti
not mean
Chorus'
fit the
understanding
be surprising, however, if Antigone did When they say that she is independent
words as genuine praise.
any law but her
(avxdvofiog), Antigone doubtless
own
to mean that she uniquely holds to
itself;
They
not
when
and
Hades alive,
she
they
add
must
that
she
or
even
alone
of
uniqueness
of
her
of
the law
her. The
them
will
descend to
think that she has at last found someone who
in nothing else but in her living is this misunderstanding of the
understands
mortals
takes
the divine law
embodies
living
descent into Hades hes
of
burial (cf.
Chorus'
words
that impels
34.3). It
Antigone
to explain herself through her likeness to Niobe.
46.4. in three
Antigone ways:
occasion of
(the
her
seems
to forget that
she
does
not
resemble
Niobe
(her boasting), the the agents of her punishment
the reason for Niobe's punishment
boasting
(her children), and make up for the last
Antigone tries to
dissimilarity by
saying ignore the vanity of Niobe the mother? In order to normalize herself, she is driven to liken herself to a mother, just as the guard could for her actions only gods).
that a daimon lays her to rest; but how
in that
of a mother
is itself
strange
bird (cf.
can
she
25.3). But Antigone
and needs a
likeness
the only
picks a comparison one
Antigone
ever
Interpretation
50
to make it familiar. The gods rewarded Niobe in
uses106
recognized of
the love
in her
boasting
of one's
for the loss
and to compensate
own;
death; they
that challenged the gods the extreme case of
her own, they
living growth of rock eternally weeping for Nothing remains of Niobe but the signs of sorrow,
transformed her into a
loss
her
of
own.
that
rain and snow
her
itself in her (456-7).
leave her
never
Antigone too is
grief.
remains
life is the law. She thus
one with
her grief, but her grief does not show 32.1) but in the eternally living law of burial (avxdvofiog). Her of Antigone but the law
one with
tears (cf.
own
Nothing
She is
as she melts away.
the
the
sures
Niobe, for Niobe's love
her
of
own
led
to the death of her own, while Antigone's love of her own is based on the death of her own. She is piously in accord with the divine.
boaster. The love
not a
of
her
her
own never made
She is
In recalling
vain.
Niobe's fate, she does not think of her own future recompense, whether it be from the gods or from men. She does not even want very much the Chorus'
of
life the
same
attributes
is, in a sense, nothing pitiable in the "most mournful Niobe. Antigone, rather, wants the Chorus to see in her kind of all-consuming devotion that the report of men
There
pity.
perishing"
to Niobe. The truth
abiding self-sacrifice The Chorus, however,
shown as much
in her
law-
44.1).
in madness, injustice, and strife (cf. her meaning and thus, instead of consoling,
as
mistake
Antigone.107
mock
46.5.
born
Eros is
about
The
They
Chorus
Antigone that Niobe
remind
gods, while she, like themselves, is
of
Antigone
that
suppose
in her death the fate
was
mortal and
boasting that she Contrary to the
was
god
a
born
and
of mortals.
divinely
would
literal meaning of their words, which they think Antigone has misinterpreted, Antigone will not descend to Hades alive. They do not understand that it is her life in death that most resembles Niobe's tears. They therefore obtain
Niobe.
of
only console her for her death but not praise her for her life: "It is a great thing when you have perished to have it said [xdxovcfai Wecklein] of you that in your life and then in your death you did can
in the lot
share a
the
godlike."108
to be like
thing
great
of
Niobe,
for they then
their words,
If the Chorus had
said
that it is
there would have been no ridicule in
would
have
agreed
with
Antigone that in
the love of her own she rivals Niobe. But the two additions of
108
She
Antigone
says
seems
nothing
as
to speak in trimeters much less poetically than the others.
contrived
as
Ismene's
Ismene's vp,nXow (541); Creon's
language
291-2, 474-8, 531-2, 1033, 1037-9), never
(14,
indulges in
cf.
13, 55)
107
Cf.
108
I
so
or
artificial
an
nor
xaXxalvova'
(20)
is
also
not
as
or
as
plain
metaphoric
(cf.
163,
as
190,
is Haemon's (690, 700, 712-7). Antigone as Ismene's pug. rjftiga dmXfi xeuji
opposition
Creon's ngog dutXfjg /xoigag
ijfiigav
xad'
fiiav
(170-1).
Miiller, 186-7.
understand
xaxa$r\ar\
Oifieva
but
as
Jcotrav
still
xai
ineixa Bavovoav
referring only to the
as
manner
a of
corrective
of
C&oa..."Aidip>
Antigone's death.
A
Sophocles'
Reading
Antigone
of
51
humiliate Antigone. After the Chorus' insistence on the gulf that separates her from Niobe, dxovaai implies that she will resemble Niobe in fame (dig
of
similarity denies at
her death to Niobe's her
a stroke all
be ed, and rpBifiiva did can be of importance
will alone
greatness
what she
only to herself. 46.6.
Antigone
turns away from the Chorus. Their incompre the first and only time by her father's(s') gods. Those whom she took to belong to her fatherland have proved
hension
makes
be merely the
to
now
her
swear
and call on
as
Antigone
wealth
mentions
why the city,
reason
replace the
things,
places and
it
as
in
order
now
to
come
Chorus,
They
to
whose
them
remind
them.
satisfies
first
which
of the
old men
perhaps
stands,
12.5). She
the unchanging elements of Dirce and the sacred ground
her country to bear her witness: the springs of (aXtiog) of Thebes. The sacred and the ancestral, sight
(cf.
representatives of the present regime
therefore must go beyond them
the
of
would never
do anything that could possibly lead to the confiscation of their estates. Their replacement reminds one of the shift Creon was forced to make in
defining crime
Polynices'
crime
his desire to
as
fratricide,
and enslave
that the gods
his
might
laws
into
sacrilege at
of
19.2). Creon had first
his fatherland
destroy
the Thebans
come
destroy
to
and native
the
temples, dedications, land,
up for the
living
Polynices'
crime
against
own
of
growth
and
Thebes
with
kind
a
of
rock
of
land, however
under
her
They
can
her, for
she will
prepares
alone a
not
heard;
seeing the 3.4); it is not to
(cf.
sun
has
she
it
now
spring that
and piece
the
loss
of
say that there is life in
the way for her qualified defense
48). reject
Antigone's
denial
of
the
justice
of
the
suffer; but they try to soften their assertion address her affectionately for the first time
which she will
injustice.
(& xixvov,
the
rock, let Antigone begins to
9.6). She thus
The Chorus
46.7.
of
upon
see
and neck of
sacred.
heavily
her deed (cf.
laws
brow
life.
friends to weep for her and thus imitate that is Niobe. And yet (e/unag) Antigone
for the last time. To live is to
a rain-drenched
of
gods,
of
absence
be
life weighs Hades (cf.
beings.
Polynices'
knows that the eternally weeping Niobe is just a story the primary truth is what the Chorus see: Antigone is sun
living
So Antigone, in despairing of the Chorus, tries for herself in the hoped-for indignation of sacred places.
But Antigone invests Dirce the
dread
restate
people.
to find
make
commit
Chorus'
Creon to
the gods (285-7). Creon thus transformed
and
gods,
the
compelled
the price of suppressing his crime The sacredness of divine things replaced the life of
brother,
Polynices'
presented
(199-202); but later
have buried Polynices
Polynices had
crime:
and
(cf.
cf.
They
987),
and
as those that Antigone
Antigone to her face
they
adopt
had just of
the same (and similar) measures
employed.
injustice, for
she
They
are
has just
the first to accuse spurned
them
and
Interpretation
52 invoked
The Chorus Creon's
not
patriots,
according to the Antigone's foundation
does
alone
not
in any case,
fully
The Chorus there
too
They
to
fiddqov
with
lofty
the
against
the
inanimate; but
reminds
the highest
as
one of
the first stasimon,
of
the
22.7).
(cf.
gods
compelled, in the absence of any other god limit to human daring, to assign to Earth the
were
reach as
struck
by
Creon's decree
endow
animate
strictly
is the desperate Antigone that indignation remains doubtful. The juxtaposition,
than Hades acting as a Olympian prerogatives of the she seems
must
being
to be outdone
not
for life
described
was
Chorus
the
(oloig vdfioig) are Theban
they
punishment,
43.1). And
Antigone has
god.
a
make
of vyrnXdv
Earth
where
of
Justice.109
her
and
sacred,
are as aware as
they
whether
the
lawful
so-called
the double implication:
partisans;
to
majesty
of
her
witness
resent
law, is just (cf.
appeal
the
all
with
to
places
sacred
punishment.
high
as
Here Justice is that limit; and gods and as low as the nether
gods.
the Olympian
Antigone, Justice dwells (451). The could be, for they suggest that
gods, among whom, according to
Chorus themselves indicate how this
Antigone is paying for the ordeal of her father. She is paying for the dead as well as for herself. But her own rashness is not unconnected
her
with
the
paternal
inheritance. The Chorus had discerned in her savagery 28.1). Her father's nature has thus Oedipus (cf.
savagery of her pay for her father's
crime.
made
46.8. occupy
That the the
words
same
position
metrical
or
sounds
they
ld> fiaxqwai,
nqdnavxog, id) Atqxalai
in the
in
ola
oiwv, Ttqdg
the
antistrophe
second
had
(iniyavxov
strophe
nqdg, id)
dvtixavog
ld> dvcmdxfiojv) serves only to bring out the differences between them. The strophe began with Antigone's outcry at the mockery and Chorus'
humiliation
herself;
of
the Chorus have
The to
unholy
most
with
her
painful
34.3).
(cf.
Chorus)
of
her
mother
and
father. The
strophe
appealed
the sacred places to witness the suffering the laws have dealt antistrophe
presents
her incestuous
her misery as the very nature she (cf. 6.1). The strophe spoke
parents
the
on
sacred
marriage
that
confession
care
turned away from Antigone's fellow-citizens (the places of her country; the antistrophe dwells
strophe
the
begins
the antistrophe
touched on her
now
her;
to
the
from
received
her going,
of
by friends, to a strange kind of tomb; the antistrophe speaks her going, unmarried, to dwell with her parents. The strophe ended with her dwelling with neither the living nor the dead; the antistrophe unwept
of
ends
she
with
is
an
slain.
address
to her
Antigone thus
brother,
through whose ill-fated marriage
accepts
the
Chorus'
second
charge
that
is paying for her father's ordeal, while denying their first charge, which they had somehow connected with the second, that she suffers she
justly. One is due to her
109
Miiller rightly
reads
nature
ngooinaiaag
by birth, and rejects
the other is due to
Lesky's defense
of
unjust
ngooineoeg.
A
laws. The her
unholiness
invoking
Sophocles'
Reading her
of
Antigone
of
does
origins
it
the sacred; rather,
not
promotes
53 in the way
stand
such
of
invocation, for
an
the sacredness of Thebes partly rests on the incestuous relation among
her earth-born people. The bond forbidden within the family is the indispensable bond for the city it is what guarantees that its citizens be brothers (cf. 42.3), But Antigone cannot imagine herself as anything but accursed when she thinks of her parents (cf. 27.5). Her unmarried
does
that she
state
means
own;
and that which she
entails
her
of
that she confront
As their incest is the love
own.
cannot
not belong to any other family than her has longed for, to lie with her own (cf. 9.6), in her parents that which s for her love
her piety
maintain
1698). This tension
within
of one's own writ
she
unless
Antigone
large, Antigone
the tension
parallels
(cf. OC
impiety
their
condones
within
the
22.12-3). city between the neutrality and the impiety of art (cf. Out of art's impiety its moral neutrality arises; out of her impiety arises Antigone's neuterization of her family. Both impieties
parents'
and
neutralizations
converge
city
rests
violation
Oedipus;
on
and
art's
in the fourfold makeup of the city. The of Earth as it aspires to the incest of
the city rests on the neutrality
antigeneration of
Antigone (cf.
34.2). But
of art
it
as
aspires
what constitutes
to the
the holiness
city in one respect (Oedipus) condemns it to unholiness in the (art); and what constitutes the fraternity of the city in one respect (Antigone) condemns it to disunity in the other (art). It is not accidental of the
other
therefore that Oedipus should the
any
sacred,
"this"
and
46.9.
Antigone
connects
herself
matter
in Hades. If it
with
Polynices
state.
the
the riddle of artful
perhaps
for
whose
man
man
and
be
should
a
violate neuter
22.6). tell
not
could
her brother's ill-fated
at
Polynices'. No rest
that
turn out to be Antigone (cf.
exclamation
any
than
more
"solve"
marriage
us
refers
whether
her
Oedipus'
to
or
opt, Antigone despairs of finding marriage, Antigone somehow
we
Polynices'
she means
the marriage of her parents
settled
in
city in
another
her
and
to
order
own
destroy
unmarried
his
own city.
only to commit fratricide. He thus compelled Antigone to give up any hope she might have had of renormalizing her family through marriage. Polynices has made her die He
overcame
accursed
his incestuous
in her
own
eyes.
Oedipus'
marriage, she the
origin
If,
incest,
while
makes
it impossible for her to
these
being
circumstances
source
of
the
other
in her father her
suicidal
her death
embrace
life becomes very
hand, Antigone means another brother, whose devotion to Polynices,
precious
and
Antigone's
reinterpret
extreme
the
rashness
elements
of
becomes her
seem
their
to
shame.
rephrase,
original
self-willed
Justice becomes Creon's authority; foundation ordeal (xiv dOXov) becomes a father's for her of
without
In
to her.
The Chorus in answering Antigone
46.10. arrange,
on
recognizes
re
accusation.
temper; the high
Antigone's paying certain kind of piety. and
Interpretation
54
The Chorus had causally connected Antigone's rashness with her offense against justice, but they had not explained how that involved her paternal
inheritance;
they causally link her qualified piety with her but they do not explain how that involves
now
and
against
offense
authority,
6'
destroy her,
so
doXecf'
6'
her temper; indeed, just as ce her wilfulness alone, regardless
ddXov
or nothing to do both Antigone's temper
injustice had little
with
the source
and
of
her
temper made
divine
her
made
looks less it in his
offend against authority.
serious
than the first.
care cannot allow
But the Chorus do
fully
not
not
it
reverence
practiced
to
must
He is the
of
selfless
Antigone
candesce
for the
holy. The
as
gods
of
from
a
her
has thus
temper.
self-willed
be
must
an
indispensable
Since piety does not demand by itself could not so in
self.
Piety
beings
whatever
cannot
or relations
holy.110
not
her brother,
to
would
piety, piety
themselves are
devotion
own
however,
whoever
Creon's authority of its wilfulness. divine principle. Intransigent piety,
as to consume
gods stand apart
Antigone's
xqdxog
self-contradictory.
in the defense
self-sacrifice
such:
caretaker
hand, is
other
Creon's
against
for the
that Antigone's piety is pious; she has for the divine. Some divinity therefore
cleanses
the
offense,
divine;
not
to
own
Oedipus is
reverence
second
is
her
Her inborn
piety.
justice; her The
that
punishment.
Antigone's
Authority
cling authority as ingredient of Aix-n. A goddess on
her
sufficed
it to be transgressed. Antigone
to have offended merely
seem
divine
against
offend
suggested
that
suggests
any lack in her piety,
of
ixxiveig
naxqCoov
dqyd
avxdyvcoxog
They
therefore,
be
a
goddess,
they
establish
cannot
cannot
be
be
loved.111
grounded
solely in her devotion to the gods. The incivility of her temper has no warrant from the gods. The love of her own contaminates her piety (cf.
52.3).
46.11. songs:
Antigone
dvvfievaiog vfivncev
repeats
diXog
axXavxog
compresses
in the
epode several elements of
picks
up
tXcov
into
one
the
dxXavxog
of the
conjunction
her former
second
strophe;
v[ievaio)v...ovx...
the first strophe; xaXal
of
dyo/tai
antistrophe;
xdv exoifiav
first strophe, even as ovxixi recalls dfiexeqov ndxfiov of the
dddv
rephrases seems
[xoi...6qav
second
two
do;112
to
antistrophe,
expressions
and
second of
the
i/iov ndx/iov dddxqvxov...axevdCei xov
the first two words of the epode. But Antigone does not exactly repeat herself. She has said that she now sees the light of the sun for the
no
Neither
legdg
restricted sense of 111
holy, 112 and
In Plato's which
Antigone
OT has
of
ooiog
is
applied
to
the
gods,
and
dyvdg
only
in the
Euthyphro, neither Euthyphro nor Socrates ever suggests that the love, is the gods themselves. This is partly due to polytheism.
the gods
Deianeira
instances
nor
"pure.''
calls
(705)
xdXag,
four;
herself also
use
only here: Ajax
rdXaiva
xdXag
of
of which three are
no other
(838), Oedipus (OT 1363),
themselves only once.
in the
play has less than
eleven
Antigone has
seven
Creon (1211, 1295, 1298); (Aias); see note 75.
mouth of
A
Reading
Sophocles'
of
Antigone
last time; but she here presents that fact in no longer sanctioned to see the sacred eye Antigone
a
55
peculiar
"I
way:
torch"
the
of
am
(Xa/mdg).
to speak of sacred law (difug) "for form's 22.10), for she surely does not mean that Creon's decree, which condemns her to death, is a sacred law that prohibits her from seeing the sun. The decay of ovxeri jioi Qefiig into an empty phrase, no stronger sake"
seems
(cf.
than
ovxexi fioi
Antigone, but its
who
has
also an
her
on
strange
decay
in the
the lips
case
of
of
burial,
the sacred forces one to restore to it (or at
with
original meaning.
Or is "this
That Antigone
phrase?
empty
seems
resisted
conjunction
least think of) its
only in itself this kind of
not
eetixi,
the
sacred eye of
should animate
torch"
the sun to indicate
the loss of life primarily means is not surprising; sanctify the sun while calling it an artifact is
recognition of what
but that
she
surprising.113
should
Antigone
seems
to deanimate the
and
to sanctify the sun while robbing
her
own
accursedness
Antigone,
she
might
She
might
in light
difiig
her
of
most
holy
that the
mean
sun while animating it, its holiness. If, however, painful
eye
of
the
still
care sun
grips
abhors
her
defiled as her father, whom Creon once begged to hide his taint in shame from the earth, the sacred rain, and the all-feeding light of Lord Helios (OT 1425-8). Antigone, then, might not call her fate tearless to express her isolation
presence.
could
she
herself
of
regard
forget Haemon
as
well
as
Ismene?
as
but to
deny
the
possibihty that any friend could weep in the face of the horror she and her family must inspire. But why does she call the sun a torch? According to Prometheus, the blind hopes he gave to man deprived
his
man of
(cf.
arts
without
art.
Antigone she
is
has
no
is the
"3
ever seeing death except within the horizon of fire and the 23.1). But Antigone is pre-Promethean, without hope and
As the death
speaks
the
of
excommunicated
right to look
obstacle
I know
of
to
(cf.
similar
as
longed for
always an
52.4). The
piety (cf.
expression
presses
fire, from
artificial
artless
the divine source
upon
perfect
no
she
sun
and
upon
whose
her,
holiness
hopeless Antigone
of art and
hope. Her piety
25.4).114
in
classical
poetry,
seems
to be
a
defining
genitive,
such
as
f\Xloro
for
elsewhere
the like (cf.
there
104, Eur. IT 194, IA 1506, Ar. Ach. 1184-5 (=Trag. adesp. 45 N). For the night lamp endowed with sight see fr. 789P; L. Strauss, Aristophanes and Socrates, 263. 114 This interpretation restores to Oifiig its full meaning as sacred family right; cf. E. Benveniste, Le vocabulaire des institutions i-e, vol. 2, 99-105. always
or
148
A READING OF
SOPHOCLES'
ANTIGONE: III
Seth Benardete
47 (883-90). cal question
Creon 's
47.1.*
to Antigone
speech consists of
the Chorus
and
(883-4),
three
parts: a rhetori
a command
to his
ser
(885-7a), and, closely linked with his command, a justification of his way of dealing with Antigone (887^-90) Only when he comes to his own justification does Creon explicitly speak of, and point to, Anti vants
.
gone. gone
girl"
is
"This does
not exist
(cf.
Creon speaks
47.2.
before
opposed
they
as
to
"we."
Apart from that
opposition
Anti
567).
if he had interrupted Antigone and the Chorus another kommos. He seems not to recognize
begin
could
words as putting an end to any further sharing with the Chorus. He is unaware of the extent to which the Chorus have been his spokesman. He further takes it for granted that no song of grief could subject possibly dissuade him or anyone else. By universalizing the but one (7tpo tou circumstance av sic) and omitting every ftocveiv), Creon turns Antigone's death before her time (896) into the common
Antigone's
(008'
lot
Her fate becomes the
of men.
himself
makes
sciously must do the Creon
work
her
execution.
inexorable
scrupulous
He therefore
as
as
Creon
uncon
Hades, for Hades
piety forbids him from doing. fated if he is to remain inno
cannot
help beginning as if he were Were it
consolation.
for
not
Tipo tou
getting killed"), it would have been perfect as such: know that dirges would never cease if one was not fated to
9-avetv
"Don't
as
Antigone's death
a conventional piece of
offering ("instead
paradigm of mortality.
to be
that Creon's
must speak of
cent of
out
you
of
?"
But Antigone was not singing a yoo?, which strictly stop saying them applies to ritual lamentation for someone already dead (cf. 427, 1247). But as Creon cannot acknowledge the right of ritual lamentation without
of
the
undermining his case (cf. 13.2), he the yooi, of men do
god whose will
Antigone only by submitting to her them (cf. 777-80). 47.3.
Creon
expression
*
The text
myself,
combines a
brutality
(cf. 665). He tells his used
however,
of
must adopt not as
intent
servants
alter.
the
He
he himself
standpoint
can
punish
understands
with a certain
delicacy of
to imprison Antigone in her
indicated. I have his readings wherever I am silent, for if I between the reading chosen and my interpretation of
is Pearson's OCT
except where otherwise
not always accepted
did not see any connection the age, I have ed over my own preference. Each line or group of lines interpreted is given a section number, numbers in parentheses after it. Each paragraph of every section is well for ease of cross-reference.
with
the line
numbered as
A if
grave as
they
is to be left
Sophocles'
Reading
of
to wrap her in
were
isolated in
alone and
Antigone
149
(rceprnTu^avTe?) ; and she dwelling (o-Teyr)) as if she were
a garment
such a
beast left to roam a distant pasture (octets (iovyjv eprjfxov). he must reject the fate that piously "for form's he had just invoked when cutting short the threnodies of Antigone. Antigone now has a choice. If she chooses suicide, Creon will be plainly ayvo<;. If she chooses to live, so as to keep up her burial practices under some sacred
Forced to
sake,"
speak
ground (tu^Psueiv),115
Creon has only offered Antigone the means of Creon's way of punishing Antigone, literally fulfilling which suspends the issue of her death, duplicates the way in which Antigone herself understood the rites of burial. Creon has inadvertently her
own wishes.
discovered the most telling mockery of Antigone's life in death. It forces her at last to reassess the ground of her devotion. Creon
47.4. above
to this
sees
(fxeTouaat; world
as a (xetoixo?,
Antigone
t9j<;
(cf.
35.1).
first
as
deprived
of
He implies that
avco).
any share in what is here has been an alien in and
she
Antigone herself had twice sung of her status among the living and the dead (852), and
as an alien
to her incestuous parents (868, cf. 46.8). She saw her forced to be with either those with whom she cannot fully share because she is unlike them or those who, because she shares everything with them, find her abhorrent. Antigone is everywhere a metic (see then
as an alien
self as
3-4)48
(891-928).
of
Antigone, in her third
48.1.
herself in
a
threefold
way:
and
Antigone
last
and
defense, gives her
family
an
apart
from Polynices (8gi-902a), Antigone and Polynices (902l)-i4a), Anti gone and Creon (9i4b-28) Family links the first and second parts : the .
family she has and the family she hypothetically spurns in favor of her brother. And family again links the second and third parts : the family she has just spurned and the family she can never have because of her devotion to her brother. In
defense, the
pain of
gloss
the
establish
of
design, her
speech resembles
her
second
death was the link between the gods of the first part and the third (cf. 17. 1). Oedipus, Jocasta, and Eteocles now
where
connection
between
gods and
(Phersephassa displaces Zeus
Polynices
now glosses
the
law that and
inevitability
of
she
Dike)
had there tried to
; the
her death ;
irreplaceability and
the
punish
hopes Creon will undergo now glosses the pain she would have had if she had not buried Polynices. That law, however, now appears only in the second part, where any trace of its connection with the gods seems to have vanished, shows how much Antigone's imminent punishment has affected her understanding of what she has ment she
done. Creon has, in
115
Morstadt's
intransitively ; it
a
sense,
managed
vo^eiieiv should
is too
to
shatter
Antigone, but only
to
be rejected; but tujj.(ISeuiv should not be taken to bear it; cf. T. M. Barker, CR 1907, 48.
common a word
Interpretation
150
the
reveal
core within
will suffer no
The triple invocation with parts of her speech. She
48.2.
her
keeps
own a
resolve.
eternal watch.
the
region where she will
family. The
gTave
her
with
Oedipus
marriage.
x<xT<xcrxa
<;
be
in her
o^ti
death,
metaphorical vujxeiov
on
no
her
less impossible for Antigone than
describes
ohcqaic, ast(ppoupo<;
Hades,
her
in replacing vu^ewv, replaces as well the earth (cf. 9.6). To stay at home
but Hades,
xaToccrxaai, and to which she of grave and
characterizes
place where she
(olxtjgic,) forever with the rest of her of being with a husband allows
tu^^oc,
Jocasta is
underground chamber
fusion
the
dwell
could not
and
Antigone begins
which
calls
becomes through the
that deprives
family, for
the olx-qmc, that
Antigone had ended her hopes that Creon
she now
a
place of punishment
with
her
is going to bridal chamber, and a deep-dug dwelling that What begins as a literal designation (t6[i$oc,) of
gTave,
her
to be
core of
by charging Creon with folly; less than she has suffered.
the three meet
the
defense
second
which
not
Antigone later
only Creon's S-ocvovtcov
calls
descend while still alive (920). This Creon has forced Antigone to reenact
will
which
the apparent redundancy in the coupling here exemplifies, is for Antigone indispens it rests the sanctity of burial. Antigone can no more give corpse to birds. If body in death than abandon and which
of ev vsxpoii; and oXcoXotcov
able, for
up her
on
own
Polynices'
herself to Hades, she cannot defend the obligation acted. The strange argument to which she now from the need to keep burial and her own
she cannot go as
has
under which she resorts
arises
Polynices'
death strictly together. 48.3. Antigone contrasts the hospitable reception (SeSexTat) that Phersephassa has extended to her own with her own most miserable descent before her time (cf. 59). Antigone no doubt continues to ignore
Eteocles
the
mutual
her
own evils as outside
killing
of
the
and
evils
(cf.
2.2) ; but the misery that burden of the kommos: no one
father, mother, and brothers. No her libations. Ismene will not risk
doing
for
Polynices, for
Antigone's burial rites (cf. 848-9 even more.
one remains
what she
the
secret
did for her
to wash, adorn,
or pour
doing for her what she would not risk
same prudential considerations now
in
depriving
apply
herself
indispensable for them. She therefore
nourish
She
do for her
her family
on
now was
were
that
than
as
will
her
80-1). She
rites
to them
overwhelms
with
the
votion
and she still must regard
greatest sacrifice consists
no more
without
do
the
Pobynices;
that Zeus has inflicted
must now confront
the hope that
greater
than her
they
own
will
lack
of
her
hold her
of
family can
de sanctity (cf. 867). ritual
to them over the head of Persephassa, on whom she rely to be gracious. Perhaps this consideration more than any other prevented Antigone from ever asserting that burial rites alone can assure one's age to Hades. It now prevents her in any case from plainly distinguishing between Hades and the grave. must appeal
cannot
A 48.4. of or
Antigone
to them
Sophocles'
Reading
seems
of
to think
She
separately.
of
her
Antigone
151
family together, but
will come
father,
she speaks whom she
does not address, Toayikric, to her mother, whom she does, and 91X7) again to Eteocles, whom she calls xaatyvrjTov xapa (cf 1.3). She cannot bring herself to say that she will come beloved to them all (cf 75, 89) ; indeed, she no longer speaks of love (cf. 73), for whom she has not done all that she did for the others (cf. 33.4). Only in so far as her .
.
Polynices'
family belong
to
one another.
only nonsacrilegious (cf. 8.6). 48.5. close
the objects of her ritual devotions do they Antigone's performance of burial rites is the bond her family has. Her family is not a ysvo<;
were corpses and
Antigone
now
knowingly lies for the she would heap up
to it in saying that
first time. She had come a tomb for Polynices (cf .
Polynices'
; but now she says that she laid out The technical verb TicnreXXco embraces even 10. 1)
has just mentioned; but
body
for burial.
than the three rites
more
did, we know that she dressed Polynices (cf 7 1) That she now invokes Polynices by name the only time she does so indicates the extent to which she depends on his good will to make up for her failings she
whatever else she
could not have either washed or
in
.
.
.
The wise (and Antigone told Ismene who they were know that she honored Polynices; but to honor is not the same [557]) as to bury (cf. 13.2) : the very argument Antigone uses to confirm the honor confirms the difference. The sacral rapio-TsXXco and Se^a?116 only here does Antigone refer to a corpse as a body signify Anti ritual piety.
gone's attempt
her of
own
living
the law is 48.6.
seems
as
adhere
to piety
as
sake"
of
To favor
to be
piety "for form's
despite its truth. To keep together the surface and the heart difficult as to separate Hades from the grave. to
a
brother
absurd when
it
the absurdity is due to the
over against a means
need
hypothetical husband
to favor
to
a
compare
or son
brother already dead ; but incomparable things. It is
precisely because death makes all the difference that any argument about burial must appeal to what does not suit the argument. The Sophocles'
Electra see in the stork the most fitting way to Electra for her devotion to the dead Agamemnon: "We see the wisest birds above carefully tending those from whom they grow and equalreceive why is it that we do not perform these duties Chorus
of
praise
116
The
sacred character of
same suffix
(cf.
note
55), is
Scroti;, which it shares with all neuters with the in Aavaa? Ssfxa? (944-5) ; and that Creon is in
plain
different to this nuance (205) is a sign of his consistency and on a par with his use of tnojxa (cf. 20.2). For the difference between Sejiai; and a>|xa, see Xeno phanes, fr. 15, 4-5, where Xenophanes has the animals make the aco^axa of the gods such as to be like their own 8e[ia<;. Greek, like English, often opposed head to body (cf. Her. 2.66.4; 3-no; 4-75-3, 103.3; 7-75-1); it is therefore significant that Antigone calls Polynices by name when she refers to his body but calls Eteocles xaaiyvr)Tov xapa when she speaks of his loving her, and again Polynices is xaalyvxov xapa when she speaks to him of Creon's injustice.
Interpretation
152
ly?"
(1058-62;
burial
rites
;
The Chorus
25.3).
cf.
and
Antigone likewise
must
seems
ignore the
absence of stork
to ignore the
same
difference,
Herodotus'
story so damaging to her piety (Her. 3.1 18-9). Yet to defend Antigone in this way and hence the authenticity of the age misses the import of her words.
is
which
her
what makes
adaptation of
Intaphernes'
wife was given the choice of saving her husband, her her brother; Antigone has to invent choices in order to children, give the semblance of choice to the inevitable. The way in which she presents these choices reconfirms the lack of choice. She says that if or
husband died
one
could run at
have
the two
first
death
cases
her
of
she could
another
(jzoaic,
from
have another; and if one child died she husband. Antigone, however, seems to
another
together, for in ordering them chiastically
she speaks
life (texvwv [it)ty)p e
children's
xaT-Suvcbv
husband to have
she would need another condition would make
another
that inevitable : if her
son;
son were
and
only
one
her husband (cf
.
Jocasta. Even ex hypothesi she takes her family to be the model family. Even ex hypothesi she does not depart from the antigeneration of her name : the husband 486-7).
Antigone imagines herself to be
another
her supposition is merely a lawful husband, a iz ogiq and not an av/)p (cf. Tr. 550-1), and the brother that could be born were her mother and father still alive would grow ((3XaaToi). Antigone, however, does not of
first to
mean what she seems at were alive she would not
make
her
action
depend
on a
that if her
what she
contingency
mother and
did, for she
father
could not
over which she would
of another brother.117
the birth
no control
imply,
have done
Lines
then
have
911-2 mean some
very different: there is no growth from those who can legiti 27.5). Her mother and father mately be a family only in Hades (cf. are now concealed in Hades ; they should always have been concealed
thing
and never have seen the light. Antigone cannot wish that Oedipus Jocasta could still supply her with a living brother. The duties to her husband would cease because she could acquire another; but the duties to her brother cannot cease because she would even wish that no one in her family had ever been born. Antigone imagines herself to
there and
be
a mother
for
no other reason
possibilities she envisions. against all generation
apparently 48.7.
have
she cannot wish
another
to have
Polynices, Antigone
117
to
No
and such a wish
special case a
repudiate
in
advance
the very
of
making a retroactive wish allows her in turn to call an
law.
Antigone would not
she could
not
;
than to
It is her way
more
than
she
bury Polynices.
bury a husband despite the citizens because she must bury her brother because brother. In order to prove the need to bury
husband; a
must
assume
thinks it
that "to
possible at 450
have"
or
"to be
with"
that Zeus could have told her
A
Reading
Sophocles'
of
Antigone
153
with"
(cf. primarily means "to live 9.6) : she could have a second husband because she would then be without (^fi.7i:Xaxov) the first, and she would be without a husband because he had withered away
(svrjxeTo) best be
.
To
bury
husband is
a
second-best
; to be
with a
husband is
Antigone, then, must bury Polynices because she cannot him; but in burying him she dies and hence is with him. Her
simply.
with
to the law thus looks like a rationalization of her desire to die ; but the spirit of the law informs that desire, for it says that to bury means to be with the buried. The rites for the dead are the means for being with the dead. They therefore compel Antigone's return to the 25.4). Antigone's pain at ever corpse, but they cannot satisfy her (cf. obedience
from her family her desire to overcome the endless forces her beyond burial to suicide; and indeed the law of burial contains within itself the inducement to commit sui cide ; but that inducement can come to light only within an incestuous
being
apart
repetition of ritual
family,
impossibility of ever living with one another neces sarily being with one another in death. The truth of the law, destroys the heart of the law for any lawfully constituted however, the
where
entails
family;
and so
the law becomes in
sake."
Only
the incestuous
family being
something done "for form's fulfill the spirit of the law, for it
practice can
with"
alone must regard
sense of
that burial affords as the primary "the The law that ens burial thus seems to en
with."
"to be
the law
incest; but
for consanguinity stitution of
the
can avoid
family
that
through the demand The law demands the recon-
consequence
generation.
without
in Hades ; it is in
perfect agreement with
Anti
gone.
Antigone
48.8.
to
three times
speaks
her brothers in their
share with
through the love
of
her
were
to be the
zens of
mother of
Thebes (905).
(523;
own
been born from incestuous
as
it
Merely
the third. Antigone's
makes
31. 1)
(866;
children, she
to
her nature. It is her
mutual
cf.
parents
that the link between the first esis of
of
put
cf.
nature not
hatred but to them ; it is her
46.8) ;
would not
these three
nature
and
to have
if her
nature
have defied the etpuv
together
citi
reveals
is the per impossibile hypoth her possible motherhood her own manifest itself in burial
and second
origin precludes
inevitable that the love
of
away the condition of her piety mother as totally as she is now the em be a She must to (cf long 46.8) bodied denial of generation: she must regret not having been a wife (N.B. tou, 917) and mother four lines after she has shown that she rites.
And
.
yet she cannot
help but wish
.
did for a husband's or child's sake. A life ; she would not die to give him burial. The divine law does not hold in such a case because a child is always replaceable. A mother's nature is to be the perpetual giver of life ; but the Tpo
have done
mother might
die to
what she
save
her
child's
Interpretation
154 22.9, 61. 1) guarantee
her
: with
has to die in
to
order
her
being
parents
dead
brother
no
could grow.
Antigone
from the repetition of burial ritual and forever with her own; when she considers
escape
or
lying
less holds fast to eternity, the eternal succession of generations, on of which no individual can be preferred over against the perpetuation of the race. Not only inexperience blinds
the alternative,
she no
Antigone to the possibility that a mother's love for a son might not that only stop with his death. Her family has so colored her imagination incest
can
properly
the love
express
of one's own.
She
cannot
being a mother without holding up Jocasta as a model at that
longs to be
she
a mother
She forgets Niobe (cf. The last
48.9.
the
just to be free from the love
think
same
of
her
of
time own.
46.4).
part of
Antigone's
speech
turns
on
three triads : wrong
926, 927), gods (921, 922, 925), and justice (921, 925, 928). suppose that Antigone would see their relation as simple :
doing (921,
One might Creon has done wrong in the eyes of the gods and she has done right ; the gods will punish him and reward her. Antigone, however, thinks that she can only wish that such a relation hold. The execution of her to
punishment
go
alive
to the
deep-dug
of
chambers
dead,
the
follows at once on Creon's judg ment of her wrongdoing; but the gods have delayed the confirmation of her justice. Antigone suggests that she has been expecting the gods
friendless,
to interfere and
40.3,
Her piety
all along.
been
not
and childless
unmarried,
46.10).
The
heart in
everyone
Antigone
might
What
by
qualified
gods
should
should
still more
and
by
about
piety the city (cf.
a
change
of
they have failed
to do so, be forced to acknowledge her
since
and
recognized as
ignored
have brought
but Creon; but
suffer
have been
the Chorus
does she have in mind? Does she suspect that the law she has just promulgated does not have the sanction? Or that her belief in her reward as she has imagined it is not the way of the gods? To discover that her reward will consist solely in Creon's punishment and not in any reunion with her family error.
error
gods'
would
be
enough
to break her. Antigone
the
(xaXov) might
be just
the
without
done,
be
yet not
be innocent
deserving
of
trans
of recompense
assumes that the just and the noble (cf. PI. Leg. 859d2-86oc3). But her action in itself
coincide
had to be
might
gods'
justice, for her death. Antigone, however, gression against
and
being
the
noble; she might have done
risk she
willingly
ran
to do it
what
simply
might not affect
gods'
(death) speech
estimate of its worth, particularly if the risk entails a reward that is nothing but the truth of the law itself. But in this
Antigone
never speaks of
the difference between her
through her
law the
her
own
death;
and
just in this lies
third defense ; she has death with the gain of being
second and
replaced
her family. Antigone cannot see that her justice might no more be noble than Creon's suffering for his injustice would be. In hoping that Creon new
gain of
with
A
Reading
Sophocles'
of
Antigone
155
unjustly has, Antigone counts his suffering She thus makes herself out to be the instrument of the punishment of Creon ; but as such an instrument she supposes she will obtain the other hope on which she has been nourished, to come beloved to Oedipus, Jocasta, and Eteocles. It is the tension within this double hope that makes her, if anything does,
suffer as
her
as
many
evils as she
own reward.
gods'
"tragic."
49 (929-43).
The Chorus do
not discern any difference between Creon of folly and the Antigone who would condemn him to suffering. The same onrush of her soul's selfsame winds still possesses her. The Chorus had spoken of pt7wcl avs[i.cov before: Capaneus in a Bacchic frenzy breathed against Thebes the
the Antigone
possessed as
he
was with
divinely inspired (pocx^sucov),
was
The Chorus
own soul. ascribed
they
and
;
have
(cf.
The
formerly virtually identify soul gods,
it from
who once
generation
metaphorical use of wind would seem
They might for her
spokesman
whole
have its
might
understand
roots
tjwxvj?
pwtai refers
Antigone just
family. The savagery in the gods.
to
to be
to Anti
now
she
to have
inherited
Creon then takes up obliquely what the Chorus have said: "It this that those who lead her will regret their slow
a consequence of
ness."
Since Antigone has
to
escape
not confessed
the only
(557-80)
slow execution of which of
pursue
whether twv ocutwv avefzcov ocutou
from Oedipus 49.2.
let disasters
to her
had
Antigone; but they
her family.
been the
possession
they
Labdacids'
herited the left it dark gone or
her
consistency (cf. 353, 1146). Gods and soul equally are linked through Oedipus, who in fate and ed it on. The Chorus, then, have
sole
for
owes
soul what
But the Chorus
28).
family
37.3).
Chorus'
to her
they had likened to Thracian blasts the
shaken a
generation
Antigone
now ascribe
to her father (cf.
and winds
the
hatred (137). Antigone is another Capaneus, hatred and impious defiance ; but Capaneus
of
winds
onrushing
is
49.1.
who convicted
thing
Creon
servants : someone must
does
Creon, however, death, on which
own
48.9). signal spair
The
for her suicide, hope that she
such a reunion can
despair
out
she
did
not even
try
death, the
has let her keep up the show his failure to break Antigone on
learn through suffering, someone must cry. in forcing Antigone to acknowledge her
succeed
she was silent
testifies to the
ol'jxoi
error
supposes
her intransigence. Creon takes
his
her
to do is to hasten her
is equally
which will
ever
be
be
throughout her third defense (cf. of
collapse
reunited with
more
than
that defense. It is the
compounded of
her
hope
and
family, despair
parasitic on
life. Out
of
de
that that
the gods, whom she thought she should no longer (922-3), to look upon her. The gods she calls on are
she now asks
look to for
help
gods of generation
(cf.
8.6), without whom
she can
face Hades but
not
death. 49.3.
Antigone
addresses
her last
words
to her father's city
of
Thebes,
Interpretation
156
the Chorus, whom she calls the rulers of Thebes last (cf. 988). She implicitly rebukes the Chorus for letting perish the He begun. had Creon where ends thus She past. link Thebes has to its the to nearest in was he to rule : title twofold a kinship had put forward
her
ancestral
gods,
and
12). Antigone now (cf. wholly devoted to the city for herself : she is last in the royal line and wholly for he both con pious. Creon failed to keep his two titles together, founded and divorced the city and its regime. Antigone, however, with her piety through the for she connects the ancestral
royal
house
adopts
this
and
argument
city
succeeds,
founded Thebes. Creon
gods who
Thebes (cf. 30.2); Trpoyevei? or
he
and
-rcocTpwot
-9-eol
9-eol
of
spoke
Ceans but
of
spoke
(199, 838). He is
but
syyevet?
unaware of
never
never
the
city's
of
of
-9-eol
divine
him. His laws were origin; his link with the Spartoi means nothing to Antigone's silence whereas but the as silent as Antigone's about gods; the gods, Creon's reflects his merely hid her law's ultimate reliance on 19.2). gods (cf. politicize the failure to Antigone, on the other partial political to the end: she invokes the the oblivious of remains hand, arjTu, not
the 716X15,
The
49.4.
her father (cf.
of
suicides of
Haemon
46.6).
Eurydice
are verbally prepared. threat to that effect, as the
and
Haemon angrily makes a scarcely veiled Chorus recognize (cf. 43.1), and Eurydice's the Chorus
the
and
messenger
to
a
departure
silent
similar
provokes
foreboding. Antigone, and the Chorus
piety,"
however, then
piety, and
it
her
necessarily
50
gods
(cf.
(944-87).
and
once at
the
50.1.
relevant.119 Chorus'
would show
ity
to any
118
of
the
and
her
the Chorus
stasimon's agreement
her
peculiar uniqueness of
deeply
see more
of
strain
situation
;
they
and
sons'.
and
49. analysis.
It
address
than Tiresias
seems
twice
could
second
of which
Lycurgus',
to have little to do
at
the
beginning
man seems
and
the least
be partly due to the for, Antigone; it
comion
to
they
the
the only
as
and
are under
the best
Cf. Wolff-Bellermann's
Danae,
irrelevance with,
Cf. L. Strauss, Aristophanes
Inquiries, 119
punishment
(949, 987) ; Lycurgus
The
lack
re
hymn to
avowal of
The fourth stasimon falls into three parts,
whom
end
Antigone's
Perhaps the
Antigone to
the third Cleopatra's
Antigone,
by
Chorus'
the
has
52.4).
the first describes the
with
during
she
the interval
part of
go together.118
circumstances allows
into the
and
that
the play where the issue of the gods One is forced to wonder then whether piety and
in that
occurs
most prominent.
suicide
Creon
with
It is thus introduced
occupy.
notice
suicide occurs sometime
confrontation
Dionysus
exercise of
way that wholly fails to
a
to kill herself. Her
Tiresias'
that
is
her in
console
solved
"by my reverent
ends with
prove
can
their
perfect adaptabil
do for the
Tepoo;
Antigone is
Socrates, 82-3; S. Benardete, Herodotean
A to
three
Sophocles'
Reading
of
fate. To
Antigone
157
Antigone's compliance with for showing off their own moderation. Yet this explanation fails to for Lycurgus, in whose connection the Chorus do not mention fate and abstain from cite
fate
drawing guilty the
examples of
to be the
would seem
urge
best
suited
Danae nor Cleopatra, unlike Lycurgus, was Lycurgus, then, forces one to look more closely at
a moral: neither
of
crime.
any
Chorus'
under
precept
intention. Even if
rubric
it in Cleopatra's Antigone, for none
case,120
will
despite the
examples
Chorus'
silence about
one cannot extract a meaningful parallel
them died in
figuratively
fraXafi-oi;) was
Antigone's
of
the three
one comprehends
"imprisonment,"
the
be just the
literally
a grave and
reverse
Danae's
prison.
(cf.
48.2).
for
prison
(tujjiPy|py)<;
a marriage
chamber;
But this difference
might
indicate that the Chorus death (cf. sionate
and
49.2)
than
they
"Fate"
50.2.
lag behind Antigone's final understanding of that deliberately or not they are more compas
seem. birth"
"high put together Danae Danae and Lycurgus, and
and
"imprisonment"
and
Cleopatra,
"Thrace"
Lycurgus and Cleopatra, but nothing seems to put all three together. The stasimon's coherence therefore might be thought to lie in its very incoherence. Since the Chorus point the moral in the first strophe (the second antimerely repeats it) and all things considered Danae does seem to fit Antigone better than the other two, the Chorus during the rest of the stasimon, one could argue, are induced despite themselves to sing of the irrelevant Lycurgus and the distracting addition of Cleopatra's sons. They then are caught in the grip of something like inspiration, strophe
,
them
which carries
801-2). The
the limits
outside
they had
set
for themselves (cf
.
"poetic"
than any rate, is more ornately anything the Chorus have sung before. The Chorus would thus experi ence for an instance an equivalent to the "gusts of her soul's self-same second
at
strophe,
winds"
that
Antigone and we should get to know Anti inspiration through our hearing a more conventional
always possess
gone's peculiar
Muse. Through the begin to would
adoption of a voice not
sense what
be
as
well
never recognize
50.3.
Chorus'
it
a
that
must entail
fitting
their
for Antigone to live
punishment
they had been
own we should
divine law. It for the Chorus: they would a
possessed.
Such an explanation, however, ignores the stasimon's apparent It begins at least as a reply to Antigone's last words ; but it
continuity.
does
not
ruling,
reply to everything she said. The ancestral city, their own Antigone's piety find no echo in the Chorus. They are
and
rather struck gods
(cf.
imprisonment
birth too 120
by
and
Antigone's
descent
and
her
kinship
link Antigone to Danae, fate's dread power, but because Danae
or
the treasurer
See Pearson
royal
They directly
46.5).
of
Sophocles'
on
Zeus'
son.
Phineus,
311,
Lycurgus, n. 1.
on
the
not
with
the
through
was of
other
high
hand,
Interpretation
158
denied the divine birth of Dionysus, the gods. That the gods generate
of
in
stasimon,
Danae
which
while
Cleopatra
with mortals
represents
its
was
the offspring of the
is the theme
promise
for the future,
(the only verb in the present tense in the first antistrophe), and Cleopatra its claim from the past. inspiration is not in the poetry or the moral but in this
Lycurgus its denial in the occurs
present
Chorus'
The
theme,
of
which, I
have
would
for Oedipus
IXxoi;
apocTov
51-2, OT which
the
his
and .
.
are
wholly unaware, for
phrase \io:xgbc,
'iyovizc,
otherwise
avu[i.suTov yovav
they (980)
(cf. OT 1214-5, 1403-8) and much of (972-6) for his own self-blinding (cf
children
xspxiSwv ax^airjiv
.
The Chorus
1276).
they
think, they
reserved
.
stick as always
to the immediate
likeness,
then poetically elaborate before drawing the moral. All the to some degree from the tension between the moral,
choral odes suffer
which lends itself to poetry, and the theme, which does not (they thereby imitate the tension between the law as it is practiced "for form's
sake"
the law
and
as
it is
lived) ;
and
the fourth stasimon,
as
bafflement before
the
Chorus'
from it Antigone, necessarily For its theme, but not for its moral, Lycurgus is central. Antigone angers the Muses as much as Lycurgus did (cf. 32.1, 37.3). confession of
the
suffers
most.
Her
crime is his. As Lycurgus tried in speech to disrupt the continuity divine generation, so Antigone disrupts in fact the continuity of human generation. As antigeneration she embodies the denial of
of
Eros'
(cf. 44.2). Aphrodite and Dionysus in her future. She has no right to appeal to forgets Ismene (cf. 8.1). but
divinity
not
51
are
in her lineage
7tpoyeveti; if she
-9-eot
(988-97). 5 1. 1. Tiresias is the only character with a proper name the Chorus do not announce (cf. 155, 376, 386, 526, 626,
whose arrival
801,
1180, 1257). He
messengers
the
nor saw what
complicity
with
he
speaks of
them both
;
the
and
watchman
like the
and
watchman
the two later
he
neither
did
(238-9,
and
1012), though Creon believes in the for the same reason ; and again like the
his first entrance, he takes the Chorus and Creon by The Chorus had concluded just before the watchman's
watchman
surprise.
of
shares
role of reporter
on
that no one would disobey Creon's decree because plainly no is in love with death; and they now advise Antigone to resign herself to fate just before the knower of fate, Tiresias, enters. He, how ever, begins by offering hope, but he ends by confirming the fatefulness that the Chorus had divined. The two scenes are the ts on which the play's action hinges. The first dealt with the soul, the second deals with the gods ; and gods and soul are united in the question of burial (cf. 19.4). The watchman needed three speeches and eighteen entrance one
lines to
protest his innocence and quiet his own fears (cf 237) before he described the signs, or rather the lack of them, attendant on Polynices' burial ; Tiresias needs three speeches of a line each to remind Creon of his own infallibility and arouse Creon's fears (cf. 997) before he .
Sophocles'
A
describes the
Reading
he heard
signs
Antigone
of
heard
and
about at
his
159 augury (cf
place of
.
257, 990, 252, 1004, 1013). When the watchman left, he gave thanks to the gods for his unhoped-for salvation (au>&dc,) ; when Creon now
leaves, he fears the
(a^ovTa) second
that it be best throughout
established
chance; the
Creon
gods give
the difference between
decree
a
at
none
and a
life to
one's
laws (11 13-4). Creon
gave
the
keep
safe
watchman a
Creon learns too late
all.
law.
Thebes, whom Tiresias addresses, seem to be the Tiresias does not object to Creon's answering for spokesman. They them, he apparently regards Creon as the would in that case be as guilty as Creon (cf 577) That they are in no way punished would underline how indispensable Antigone is in order 51.2.
The lords
Chorus; but
of
since
Chorus'
.
that Creon be
to
terrify
as
little
and sons
about
and
Chorus
their
long
might not
their
and
17.5).
Tiresias,
316-8).
his blindness in
this despite their
however,
(cf.
punished
the Chorus (cf. OT
.
at any rate, says nothing He talks to them as if they knew
blindness in general ; blinding of Cleopatra's
particular as about
just sung
having
acquaintance
know any
of
of
the
Tiresias (1092-3).
with
this ; he
might
His
boy-servant, then, something like, "Tiresias,
political position.
Tiresias,
know nothing
of
would
the
have
the lords of to him as they approached and Tiresias simply repeated what he was Thebes are gathered told. The error in the address, if it is an error, suggests that a part of the city agrees with Antigone and holds the Chorus to be the active 46.6). But this may not be the full or the only partisans of Creon (cf. words. He might address the Chorus possible explanation of OT (cf. 1155; 631, 911, 1223). Creon would already be proleptically said
here,"
Tiresias'
finished,
Tiresias
and
not act upon. as
the future
would
then
proceed
If Tiresias thus toys
rulers of
Thebes,
that
with
they
to
give
him
Creon, he
advice
warns
he
the
could
Chorus,
can never even once afford
to
him (cf 1058) He must therefore speak to them as if they were ignorant of him in order to charge them with forgetfulness (cf. OT 297-9). They had in the first stasimon been silent about divination act without
(cf.
22.5).
.
.
Without any
risk
to
themselves, they
could
have
suggested
Creon, they heard the decree, that Tiresias be consulted. That they suspected Creon's prudence but not his competence to act as he did shows the degree to which the sacred not only has decayed to
as soon as
but, in light
of
divine law did
Antigone, not
must always
be in decay. Her
appeal
to the
impress the Chorus.
51.3.
On 993-5
see
razor's
edge; and
he surely
38.1.
Tiresias tells Creon that he speaks as
if Creon had
stands on
a choice.
the
Unless
Creon was fated to reply as he does, his immediate acquiescence at line 1033 would apparently have canceled his fate. The opportunity has ed seventy-two lines later (1105). Whether that interval would have been enough to stay Antigone's suicide is not an altogether idle question; perhaps her reprieve, we should suppose, would have so
Interpretation
160
her that
altered
longer be
and no once
at
he
him
with
would
and
might
acquiesced,
perhaps
then have been
she would
have
have
still not
gained might
to
content
her family. But
Creon,
gone
Polynices
bury even
if he had and
unpunished;
have been his ignorance
of
all
his
54.1). Tiresias, at any rate, does not connect the signs of his from which he infers that the city is polluted with his foreknowledge 55). He might have come to save the city and not of Creon's fate (cf. Creon. We, however, could not perhaps have borne the city's redemp tion if Creon had not railed against Tiresias ; for it is Creon's distrust of public-spiritedness that seems to justify his punishment (cf.
fate (cf. art
Tiresias'
61.2). Creon in this 52 with
scene never mentions
(998-1032). 52.1. The first the
conclusions
them is
his art (998-1014), Tiresias draws from those
xai tocutix
ex
ttjs 0-7J5
sections:
Tiresias'
speech
deal
with
the
seventeen
(1016-32). What links
signs
(1)
30.2, 56.1).
of
the last
(1015). The first
vorjet toXic
pevo?
in two
second parts are each
lines
seventeen
of
signs
the city (cf.
the
sounds
(999-1004), (2) the sights he heard about from his (1005-14), (3) his interpretation of the signs (1016-22), (4) his
himself
(1023-32). So the
interpretation, of
its
plan
and advice.
directly
points
to the
three
exact and particular
language
and
parts:
speech allows a
which one
the
other
is
twofold
couched
mostly
servant counsel
signs, their
misalignment
apparent
advice, of
art and
analysis
between
in the
most
consists of non
Tiresias disregards the unholiness of Creon's when he foretells Creon's punishment (1068-73, stresses instead its meanness: "Why kill once more the
generalities.
specific
he
returns an(i
1080-3) dead?"
That the
of
Tiresias'
Tiresias'
deed
consists
speech
whole
and
Tiresias heard
Tiresias
to it
argues
that Creon has
being
makes mistakes
and not
needs
his
Creon
art
to
demn him. The
convict
the
to
to
bury Polynices,
whether
single not
of
every human He
committed sacrilege.
error; but he does
not use
it to
con
inauspicious but corrigible; Tiresias is silent crime for which they stand Creon's failure
signs are
as
made a mistake
that he has
his burial
Antigone
of
its of correction.
Creon's future punishment behind the possibility of Creon's future happiness; but the happiness lies in Creon's service to his country the restoration of favorable communication between the He thus
veils
city and the gods. Tiresias demands of Creon a sacrifice as unrewarding for himself as was in light of Creon's own failure to memo Megareus'
rialize
his
pense.
If he
son
invested, he 52.2.
will
At his
barbaric
(cf.
38.1).
Creon is to benefit the city without recom the position in which he has so much
abandons at once
be acting
place of
cries of
birds,
justly but
not nobly.
augury Tiresias heard the he knew at once that they
and
unintelligible and were
Tiresias'
clawing
at one another.
edge of a
language
not
art
consists
primarily known to other Greeks (cf
.
murderously in his knowl
1094) ;
when
bird
A
Antigone
of
161
to everyone else, he knows know what those cries signify burnt offerings at the altar. The "dying oracles from tell him that the fault lies in birds and dogs and private altars with flesh. But for all
dark to him
cries are as
that something is
before he
Sophocles'
Reading
they
as
always are
But he does
amiss.
not
"tastes"
rites"
non-prophetic
infecting his
Polynices'
public
description Tiresias does not explain how birds and He talks as if Polynices were a sacrificial victim
exactness of
dogs infect the
city.
flesh refused to burn properly ; yet that could literally hold true only if birds and dogs, having eaten Polynices, were themselves sacri ficed. Tiresias could have avoided this difficulty if he had argued as
whose
follows. He cannot understand the birds because the corruption of a dead man's fat has rebarbarized their voices. In order to keep them "hellenized,"
are offered withdrawn
to line
his his
the
gods must on each occasion accept
that these
and
;
fail to burn
now
this favor. But Tiresias does
He inserts between them
1019.
own experience
(N.B.
proves
not go
the
sacrifices
that the
directly
a conclusion
gods
thay have
from line 1015
that
universalizes
it each citizen at birds. The infection of the
r)(xtv, -rjjxwv, 1016, 1020), as
the
own altar could understand
cries of
its altars therefore seems to be symbolic. Not until Tiresias city predicts Creon's downfall does he suggest that an unholy smell in the mouths of birds interferes with the smell of sacrifice (1080-3). He now omits that key to his because he wants to as closely as possible two different aspects of himself, soothsayer and citizen. He and
thus
minimizes
pends
entirely arguing for
of
The
ground.
birds
unless
The
his own importance while implying that the city de him. His speech, accordingly, suffers from the strain burial on both a universal and a particular
on
Polynices'
of omen
universal
do
the
says
other
the
from
particular ground says
lapsing
resias of
their
in the
even
beasts.
the city 52.3.
"hallow"
with all
did
who,
as
Tiresias
121
Perhaps
i.e.,
as
col.
ii, line 5)
saxiai
corpse
bestiality
not connect
forbid human
the
now
it
are
the
easier
for
ecjxiouxov
aeXas
=
a
law
they
of
28), but the gods, gods
of civility.
reject carrion
The gods for them-
be taken as a case of transferred epithet, Aesch. fr. 343 Mette (= Pap. Oxy. 2245, saxtav aeXai; x0UCTav-
reap'
:
to the Chorus (cf.
the mainstay
form,
7c6Xt? should
tcoXiouxoi; cf.
imply that
over
53. i).121
her devotion to
in any
its
its birds inform Ti
must prevent
precedence
was evident
explains,
sacrifice
Jaxiouxo?
with
of
dogs and wild but they mangle, only birds pollute
birds take
its hearths (cf.
Antigone's
they
case
convey.
sacrificial prayers of
that Thebes
into savagery, for otherwise the gods do not plans and wishes. Yet Tiresias cannot help but
general
They
they
good regardless
cries of
that every city must prevent the gods do not welcome the ; the
which cannot work
messages
hand, holds
otherwise
citizens
art,
birds. The universal ground carrion from polluting its sacrifices,
the
whether anyone understands
for
own
not contaminate
on
ground,
Tiresias'
is
particular ground
Interpretation
162
not
for their
and
selves
have
resorted
injunction to
messengers
to
bury
(cf.
Antigone, however,
1081).
could
entirely disregards the law's On the basis of what Tiresias says, Anti
an argument
one's own.
that
so
have defied Creon even if Polynices had not been her brother and had been besides most hateful to her (cf. 10). She would then have been acting on behalf of Tiresias and Thebes ; but Antigone would never have done what she did unless the law had not only sup ported but been grounded in the love of her own, which made what should
gone
offended
the
gods and
barbarized the birds, the
Polynices'
of
stench
innocuous, to herself. Tiresias, however, Antigone's devotion to it. He is "soul"
Creon buries
the
and
consumption and
something innocuous,
corpse,
mentions neither
the blood
silent about
the
"corpse"
he does
more
and
the law
relation
not
the
than nor
between
(1069-71). He
Antigone nothing but her conviction that Creon is in error. Yet his intervention has the effect of restoring to "the established does not recur after Creon uses that phrase (1113) shares with
"law"
laws"
the
obligation
that
it
to obey them. He succeeds,
obligation political
He
unqualified.
his art; the soul (cf.
;
makes
need of
and
of
9.8).
he succeeds,
and
the
obligation
he keeps it Burial
no
political
unqualified
longer
Creon, in making Antigone, in keeping
against
against
through the
through the
engages
the
soul of
Antigone's r\ 8 epu) tyuxh 7iaXou t&9-vt)xs is now impossible the issue of body and soul of the dead, for the benefits wholly in this 52.4.
is
fire,
world
(cf.
names
control, Tiresias
self
to have
a
Chorus
of
cast were
of
fire (cf.
silent
If fire
have inferred from the
the
"piney
(123) ; and it in turn must depicting the fire-bearing Capaneus,
choice of
fire, who
gods.122
Hephaestus"
impious
with
of
In this light, fire Thebes was in it have determined the
failure to burn the displeasure attempt
of
sacrifices are significant.
could not
sacrifices'
Polynices'
living
involves burial are
or
is Hephaestus. The god
that the smoldering
were under man's
the
55).
The only god Tiresias guarantees
city's
suppression
Chorus'
whom
Zeus destroyed
In the first stasimon, however, the fire (none of the nine examples of man's
11. 4).
about
it; cf. 373) ; in the second stasimon like "once burnt twice to illustrate (cf. 265; El. 619) ; in hope as "the deceitfulness of light-witted prohibition of "Dionysian the fourth stasimon they counted as one of his three crimes (964) ; and finally in the hyporchema they call on Dionysus as the choral leader of the fire-breathing stars Ssivott]? they made
entailed man's possession of
shy"
use of a proverb
desires"
Lycurgus'
fire"
(1 146-7;
cf. 1 126).
122
Fire
runs an underground course
Aeschylus'
through the play
Chorus'
Cf. Eur. I A 1602. Clytemnestra, in order to answer the to who of messengers could come so quickly from Troy, was forced to say Hephaestus (Ag. 281): puxx6i; (282) or the like would not have sufficed; indeed, not until 293 sq. does she mention human beings and have them kindle the light. question as
A only to
in
emerge
Sophocles'
Reading
Tiresias'
unnoticed presence
tasting has to
Antigone
of
wait
of
163
the e^Tcupa; but the
for the
for its Creon's
reason
play's greatest shock :
Polynices'
burn remains (1202). Nowhere else is cremation hinted at. To bury has always meant heretofore to bury a body in the earth (cf. 4.1, 16.2). Antigone talked of how she prepared the bodies of her family for burial, and she once boasted that she would servants even
10. 1); but she seems to have been up a tomb for Polynices (cf. indifferent to, or rather wholly unaware of, the alternative to inter
heap
Cremation is equally compatible with the law but not with Antigone's devotion to it. Interment allowed, if it did not promote, Antigone's blurring of the distinction between body and soul, Hades and the grave; but it no less diminished, if it did not prevent, the ment.
Polynices'
Antigone's arguing that only the burial of body soul access to Hades.123 The structure of the play is doubly gracious to Antigone. She does not hear Tiresias propose an interpretation of the gods that undercuts her understanding of the possibility
of
could grant
his
law ;
and she does not live to learn that Polynices is burnt before he is buried. The two favors are related, for the smell of carrion but not of burning flesh offends the gods and barbarizes their messengers. The burnt and the raw are polarized in the way that the holy and the unholy are. The first pair is the marker for the second; and the Chorus called Antigone and her father raw right after she had cited the divine law as
her defense. Antigone is in the
23.1).
She
antedates
the
strictest sense pre-Promethean
prohibition
ancient authors often associate with
against
the eating
cannibalism,
of raw
(cf.
which
flesh (cf. Her.
H48b 3.99; Arist. EN 19-24); indeed, it can only be the discovery of fire that makes Plato's Athenian Stranger head a list of the arts with
prohibition against cannibalism : the second art he mentions is the 975a5-b2).124 making of bread (Epin. By standing outside the arts Antigone had threatened the link between the holy and civility (cf.
the
28.1) ; through burnt gone stood
for
Tiresias restores it. But its restoration.
sacrifices
cannot survive
all
that Anti
52.5. Creon must be astonished that Tiresias does not differ from Haemon in the moral he draws from completely different premises (cf 40) The sameness of the moral, however, does not extend to the language in which it is expressed. Haemon's was so vivid that it .
.
concealed
123 able
it
the
political
threat it contained;
124
is flat because he
Cremation is rarely mentioned in early grave epigrams. How inconceiv would be for Antigone is shown by this late fifth-century distich: 8(x(j.ax'
orapxai; ajitpi?
Tiresias'
fjiv
jxup
aeiXexo
xfjSe
'Ovrjaoui;, /
8'
oaxea
88*
av-9-C(x6ei? X"P?
&xsl (IG II/III: 1237 58 Peek). Cf. Juvenal 15. 78-87: =
ilium in plurima sectum / frusta et particulas, ut multis mortuus unus / sufficeret, totum corrosis ossibus edit / victrix turba, nee ardenti decoxit aeno / aut veribus; longum usque adeo tardumque putavit /expectare focos, contenta cadavere crudo. / hie gaudere libet, quod non violaverit ignem, quern summa caeli raptum de parte Prometheus / donavit terris. elemento gratulor et te exultare ast
/
Interpretation
164
gods behind a proverbial wisdom. Creon, change in is Tiresias says, error; but he can change, and the wilfully will not for he will be itself change the Even pleasant, him. profit will have to learn through suffering. Haemon had told Creon that it was wise oneself. He as noble to learn from good speakers as to be naturally conceals
the threat from the
did
put
not
it in
promised
Creon if he
He
Creon to
urged
in to the
give
for the prosperity or glory he no more Creon's than his own.
of pleasure,
relented would
be
judgment; Tiresias
people's
urges
him
to give in to the dead Polynices. The people had judged Antigone's deed most glorious because she tried to stop Polynices from utterly could not have argued as Tiresias does now that perishing.
They
Creon's
efforts
to
the dead
rekill
eating dogs horrify that Creon's crime is
them
more
are
unworthy
than the birds.
of him.125
They
do
The
not
flesh-
imagine
has infected themselves (1015) ; that it has deprived them of the fruits of the victory he had brought about; and that as long as Polynices remains unburied the celebration at the temples cannot
can
of
the gods,
take
place.
Dionysus
sacrilege and
which
Not
answer
until
the
the Chorus had
proposed
Hephaestus lights the
Chorus'
request
in the parodos,
sacrifices once more
that he lead Thebes in
night
dances.
long
53 (I033_47)had
on
cannot
his
Creon addresses Tiresias as respectfully now as he
53-1-
entrance
(991,
help deferring
wilfully
make an
1033,
1045).
to him (cf.
error;
and
his
Tiresias is corrupt, but Creon Tiresias could not except
1053).
error
is
so gross
that it betrays the
profiteering behind it. Tiresias is in the pay of Creon's political enemies; but no matter how far his avarice will induce him to lie, Creon will not
cravenly submit, the
rest of
if, he implies, Tiresias
even
the city (cf.
178-81).
The
succeeds
in
imagine Tiresias asserting wouldbe that the eagles of flesh to the seat of Zeus; but since no human Polynices'
form
can pollute
the gods, Creon
hoodwinking
lie Creon can Zeus have brought
most extravagant
sees no reason
for
being
in any
taking seriously
Tiresias'
Tiresias'
interpretation. Creon's silence about own art points to the difference between the soothsayer's interest in keeping the birds uncontaminated and the citizen's interest in having the gods accept his sacrifices. His silence further suggests that he does not think that wisdom, which he never doubts, depends on the cries of birds. Tiresias, in any case, does not refer to that point again. Creon limits the issue to the mechanics of pollution, which Tiresias had left obscure. If birds, Creon argues, have brought flesh to the much weaker
Tiresias'
Polynices'
125
Tiresias'
aXxr), the refusal to yield in combat before one's enemy, is the his etxe (cf. E. Benveniste, Le vocabulaire des institutions i-e, vol. 2, 72-4). For the difference between to &av6vxi and 6XcoX6xa (1029) see Th. 7.75.3: ot
<; xaxaXi7t6[ievot. tcoXu xcov xe-&vecoxa>v xot? coaiv Xu7x/]p6xepot 9jaav xai toSv d7toXo)X6xcov dS-Xicoxepoi. opposite of
.
.
.
A thus
Reading
Sophocles'
of
Antigone
165
them, then, according to Tiresias, eagles Zeus himself. The sacred cannot be susceptible to what the gods are not (cf. 46.10). Creon points somewhat obliquely . Why should any beast have to to the weakness in link the stench of carrion with its interference with the city's sacri altars
and
should
be
to
able
polluted
pollute
Tiresias'
fices ? It is Even if
the beasts themselves that
not
Polynices'
Creon
had
corpse
would
still
have
make such a stench unholy.
remained as undefiled as
committed
(cf.
sacrilege
Hector's was, Tiresias
1070-73).
Polynices'
annihilation by dogs ignores both the horror the city felt at and the tenderness with which Antigone regarded corpse, so that even its consumption by birds was something precious to her. If the birds whose cries Tiresias can no longer interpret had not touched Polynices'
Polynices, Tiresias
could still
have
argued
that the
gods are
depriving
divine law has been violated, which would equally follow from the failure of the sacrifices to burn without dogs and birds having polluted the altars. But Tiresias does not appeal to the the city
of
his
art
because
a
law; he replaces its violation with the pollution of altars, to he needlessly adds the notion of their pollution through however, which, divine
beasts. The birds
and
dogs he invokes vivify his , but
essentially belong to Antigone's devotion to Polynices recognition of it ; they are not indispensable for
and
the
they city's
Tiresias'
understanding have required Tiresias to integrate the divine law as Antigone lives it into his own . Such an integration seems to be impossible. That birds have consumed fat, as the blind Tiresias declares, is plausible but false; of
the
gods.
To
make
them indispensable
would
Polynices'
dogs
alone mangled
it (1198).
Creon denounces
53.2.
Tiresias'
avarice as
hyperbolically
as
he dis
Tiresias'
proves main parts of
divination ; but nothing else seems to connect the two his speech. He does not, however, harp on avarice now
just because, though he loathes and
therefore
sees everywhere.
only that Tiresias trades
on
the
it, it is
the only
The drift gods
of
thing he
his
understands
speech suggests
but that he trades
with
the
not
gods.
Sacrifice and omens are established currency (cf. 19.4), and piety is a kind of commerce between gods and men (cf. PI. Euthyphro i4e6-8). Creon surely misunderstands Tiresias, but Tiresias is partly to blame. Instead of simply citing the divine law, the obedience to which would be automatic, he chose to replace its authority with his own knowl edge; and his knowledge could only replace the holy with the ledger. He spoke of Creon's profit but not of his repentance. Tiresias tried at first to rationalize the holy; later he tries to do it justice; but he then offer Creon any choice. The divine seems to it of it is speciously rational; when it is holy, it is inexorable.
cannot when
54 (1048-63).
flection,
which
choice
54.1. Creon's speech prompts Tiresias to a general re Creon interrupts before he can complete it, as if he
Interpretation
1 66
Tiresias'
previous knew that it would be as trivial as the last part of speech. And it is trivial in content, but paradoxical in phrasing: who does not know that prudence is the best of possessions (cf. 40.2) ? of prudence, the kind certain prudence a means Tiresias, however, by submission to his own authority. Creon cannot accuse Tiresias of false
divination
without
convicting himself
of an
inborn imprudence. Tire
sias, it seems, had intended more to remind Creon of his once again to prove it. If Creon cannot take a friendly
it
what
is, he
should not
be
spared
learning
profitable and most pleasant
ignorance. He
terrify
would not
Creon
foreknowledge
Tiresias held and
of
out
wisdom
than
reminder
for
his fate. The to Creon was
thus delude him
with
hope
if Creon were only willing to reacknowledge his subservience. Tiresias punishment with his own. It is as though he anticipates the gods'
gods'
suspected ment
that the
punishment would not
for Creon (cf.
sufficient punish
Creon, in order to justify his abuse of Tiresias,
54.2.
directed
abuse was
against all soothsayers
of
said, he
concluded
usual patter of
his
explains
indiscriminately
that the
(cf.
1035).
; nothing Creon heard at all from what any soothsayer would have that Tiresias had betrayed himself in adopting the
money is their from Tiresias differed Love
be
38.1).
class characteristic
and as
Tiresias'
attempt at reasonableness
class.
backfires.
Tiresias'
special position Creon needs to hear something that reveals first speech really before he will consider his advice. If, then, offered Creon the chance to alter his fate, not just to save the city (cf. Tiresias'
5I-3. 52-1). the to Tiresias
would
be that Creon's immediate
reason would
have
shown
his
regard
for the
sacred
submission
in its
every-
dayness. The reasonable why rekill the dead? and the sacred in its everydayness are hardly distinguishable. The civil and the decent them both. To Creon's charge that he is the typical soothsayer, Tiresias replies that he is the typical tyrant: he loves base gain. Tiresias here tries to convince Creon of his unreasonableness and warn him of his impiety. To prohibit burial is a form of base gain, for it is an attempt to profit from either what is profitless or what cover
Polynices'
be turned to profit. If Creon refuses to understand the first has to be instructed in the second why burial in itself is sacrifices and mandatory, apart from the consequences for the art if it is not done Creon is past saving. Creon cannot learn should not point and
citizens'
Tiresias'
the divine
divine
ground of
punishment.
unmovable
(TobdvTjTa,
the
learning at the same time of his be punished not so much for his being 1027) as for his prying into the unmovable
He
(ixxivtjto?,
holy
without
would
1060).
Tiresias'
55 (1064-90). 55.1. than his first (the dispute and
authenticity,
proves
is harder to understand lines 1080-3, both as to their meaning it), but they do resemble one another. A second speech
about
A central
Reading
Sophocles'
of
line here too divides the
thirteen lines. The first
speech
deals
Antigone
into two
167
equal
each of
parts,
Creon's punish ment (1064-7), Creon's crime (1068-73), and the divine aspects of his punishment (1074-6) ; the second part also deals with three things the domestic consequences
part
consequences
(1080-3),
an(i
(1084-90). The first
ment
of
with
Creon's
Tiresias
part
as
three things
(xoy8b-g), its
crime
the human
is inspired; the
agent of
political
his
second seems
punish
to be its
ou [Aocxpou ^povou Tpip-yj replaces (xv) tioXXou<; Iti The first part explains the penalty Creon must pay 664P) the reasons for it ; the second explains the suffering he causes
translation:
prosaic teXcov
and
(cf fr.
xwx6[i.aTa
(1079),
The first
self.
other, the
...
.
.
ex&pa
(1080), Xurceu; (1084)
part concerns
second with
the
the
and now undergoes
relation of gods
relation of men
to
him
men and one an
to themselves. The bond
between them is the unholy; but in the first part it is the unholy (1071), in the second its unholy smell (1083).
corpse
Tiresias'
The symmetry between the two parts of but how deep it goes or what it means is not as 55.2.
came
from Creon's flesh
will provoke
do these
the
ritual
Tiresias know
ritual
and blood126
lamentation
is plain; The one who to be his payment for corpses
of men and women
lamentations include those of
her
suicide
speech
evident.
? The balance
on
behalf
of
in his house ; but Eurydice ? Does
of payments would
be
more
nearly equal if Haemon pays for Polynices and Eurydice for Antigone ; but Tiresias presents Haemon alone (ev<x) as paying for both of Creon's To conclude from this, however, that Tiresias knows nothing Eurydice is not warranted. He might suppress his knowledge, not to spare Creon, but to gloss over his own contribution to her death. Eury dice curses Creon for the death of both her sons, Megareus and Haemon crimes.
of
(1302-5, 1312-3) ;
but Tiresias
gareus'
death
nized
in
could not
have
accused
Creon
of
Me
38.1). Tiresias recog condemning himself (cf. suicide a sacred necessity ; he does not recognize it
without
Megareus'
in Antigone's. Haemon's death looks very different if only in the eyes of men but not in the eyes of the gods it is in payment for Antigone's. Tiresias, then, might have been closer to the truth when he held Creon's only crime, or rather error, to be his failure to bury Polynices (cf. 52.1). His art might better inform him about the sacred than his
inspiration. 55.3. will
Tiresias predicts that within not many circuits and he calls the Furies uo-Tspoftopoi
be punished;
126
Tiresias'
of
the
sun
and says
Creon
that
no
the hieratic tone of prophecy, nothing perhaps should ; but since anXayx^^ are technically the parts of a sacrificial victim eaten by men as opposed to the thigh bones reserved for the gods, Tiresias rejection of thigh bones with what could mean that Creon will pay for the otherwise would be his. The avxiSoai? would be superficially an exchange of human corpse for human corpses, but essentially an exchange of human corpse for bestial sacrifice.
be
In light
of
made of cmXayxva
gods'
Interpretation
168
before lamentations fill Creon's house. Tiresias Chorus) into believing that his fate is not tne yet foreclosed; he still has time to make amends (cf. 1 103-4). Since events prove otherwise, we are again forced to think about knowledge. If he did not know that Creon would be punished before the time
long
will
thrice deludes Creon (and the
Tiresias'
day
out, his ignorance
was
the hopefulness
would explain
his first
of
frighten Creon into correcting his error, the threatened loss of his son might ; and the second speech too would be meant to be hopeful. Tiresias, on the other hand, could have concealed
speech.
his
If the
loss
city's
cannot
knowledge : Creon
more exact
unforgiving a divine favor. Creon
to know that the
was not
The delusion
and repentance unrewarded.
of
hope
gods are would
to believe that had he just
could come
be
reversed
himself sooner, he would have saved his son. But that would only be Creon's consolation; the truth would be that Creon through his crime alone and not all men
to
err,
as
through his obduracy merited punishment. If, however, Tiresias says, the punishment would have then seemed
Perhaps Tiresias
men excessive.
truth
the
about sacrilege :
out of comion spared us all
the
reasonable and
sacred
in its
the
everydayness
Tiresias had pretended. Creon rejected their equation only to learn his fate ; but his fate was phrased in such a way as to keep him in ignorance about the gods. To sustain Creon's hope, moreover, in order that he never learn that an act of sacrilege is not the same as an act of impruduce, would not be incompatible with sustaining it for a are not as alike as
different
Tiresias
and
To
crimes are
have any
fuller
neither
has
prevented
explains still
above
a
(1) to
have
below
cast
delay
would
the immediate burial
most need
of
what
Polynices.
someone who
belongs
those above, for he has ruthlessly settled a life (^jy\) in a grave, (2) to have kept here (above) a corpse that belongs to the gods
below, for he has then
Creon into total despair
cast
the city
Creon's
55.4. with
reason. and
share
in
explanation of
he
nor
forcibly
the former
the
corpses.
Creon's
would
Tiresias thinks it unnecessary to give Could he have said that
other crime.
below have any
gods
deprived the
Hades ; to have
it from receiving due burial rites. Tiresias second crime : neither Creon nor the gods
further the
have
asserted
share
gods above of
in
souls?
Or that Creon
Antigone ? To have
the denial that there
entailed
the latter
would
have implied
are
asserted souls
in
some confusion
between the region of 01 avco and the region of ot avco We are above in relation to the gods below, but where are we in relation to the gods above ? The living cannot belong to the gods above because they -9-eoi.
alone are
because another:
alive,
they
any
too
does the
more
are
than the dead
dead. This
can
difficulty
xixtco of 1068 mean
the
belong
cannot
to the
be
gods
below from
separated
same as ev to^co xaTtpxtrja?
If they mean the same, Tiresias shares (1069) with Antigone a confusion of Hades with the grave. If, on the other hand, Tiresias means that Creon has put Antigone in a kind of limbo, an(i
the
xdcTto&ev
of 1070?
A
Reading
Sophocles'
of
Antigone
169
Creon's crime consists, not in his killing of Antigone, but in the way he killed her, the very way Creon had chosen in order to avoid pollution for the entire city (cf. 43.1). Creon would have committed the same crime twice aLtoipo?, axTspitTTO?, av6trio<; apply equally to Polynices and Antigone (cf. 1207) and therefore would have to pay only once. The parallelism Tiresias draws between Polynices and Antigone he them both
(1067) conceals his denigration of Antigone. Creon to his original crime, which Creon had almost forgotten in the face of Antigone's defiance (cf. 41.2), without making what Antigone stands for of little or no importance. And if calls
He
corpses
cannot recall
Tiresias
cannot
tween the
(cf.
generation crime of
do Antigone justice, the 50.3).
Creon's
reason must
that
excludes
own
flesh
gods and men above
exposing the dead in the
and
region of
her :
blood
the
lie in
they
link be in pay for his a
alone share
must
life-renewing
Tiresias'
sun.
prophecy strictly ends at 1076 ; what follows from up to 1083 translates the prophecy into human suffering and at the same time replies to Creon's argument at 1040-4. The translation and I078b
55.5.
the reply
are
in
a sense
the
same :
the
Tiresias'
art
signs of
forebode
human suffering, not divine pollution. Tiresias begins with the ritual lamentations in Creon's own house. The asyndeton of avSpcov yuvaixiov shows
that, though
strictly a woman's way of grieving, Creon had supposed, female (cf. 1206, not, 1227; 424) CT0^ Sojaok;, in turn, points back to crcov rjTtXayxvtov and the difference between Creon the father and Creon the master. Creon's burial
the rites
of
payment
for his
xcoxuji.aTa are
are
crime
as
is his son, but the
experience and expression of
sexually undifferentiable. These ritual lamentations, moreover, recall the barbaric cries of birds : Plato calls a kind of dirge the "Carian (Legs. 800C2-3; 25. 3). 127 Tiresias would thus be his
crime
are
Muse"
interpretation in light
of his prophecy : his own birds merely anticipates the un intelligible cries of mourning in Creon's house. His apparently selfinterested argument turns out to be in the interest of Creon. Tiresias
deepening
his
failure to
understand
then
goes
reargues
original
the
cries
of
further in playing down his own importance when he second sign. What is now at issue is not the fact of pollu
the
tion but the belief in
pollution. The mangled bits of corpses that dogs, The human birds hallow stir up hatred in every effect of a crime like Creon's against all the gods is manifest in the universal loathing of all cities. Regardless of what Creon himself thinks
beasts,
city.128
or
pollution, it would be to his self-interest to avoid such hatred in Thebes. The city, no less than the gods, can punish when every citizen thinks himself threatened at his own hearth (cf. 22.14). The city is its of
127
Cf. Wilamowitz, Griechische Verskunst, 28-9. Bockh (275-6) rightly denies that Tiresias could be referring to the second expedition against Thebes, but he wrongly keeps ty^pai (sc. xot; &eoi<;) ; only speech. Reiske's sx*Pa gives coherence to 128
Tiresias'
Interpretation
170
hearths: the according to
but, according
8-soi;
the
and
city
its unholy
(
gods as well
those
younger
is
(S-eyfza)
,
tongue
the
not
between the
to those above,
belong
hearths. The city seems It has a share in the nether
city's
above.
and
a
to
should express
those ignorant
have
and
,
Haemon
.
has
anger
his
fate), learn
thinks he
(yXcoo-o-a)
and soul
(tyvy?})
recalled
as
(&uli6<;) to
better than
(vou?)
whoever
Haemon's triad
alone
superior
the triad
is to
of speech
civility (aaTuv6[iot. opyat) that the Ssivott)? (cf. 22.11) ; and that triad, in
and
man's
back to Creon's
of
a mind
triad
same
his
that
said
tongue
(tppovy)|j,a),
ascribed
(i.e.,
the
somewhat
with
Creon
(yXcoo-o-a)
empty within.
pointed
at
speech
40.4).
than Tiresias
thought
Chorus had
turn,
(cf.
(tppevsi;)
(poveiv)
other
any
his
ends
present wits
sensible
belong
to those
belong
used
cherish a quieter
his
not
sacrifices mediate
does
corpse
and ot avco
ot avco
22. 9). 129
Tiresias
55.6.
Haemon had at
does
to
translation,
The unholy
gods.
smell
not altogether
prophecy, mediates between
to his
Nothing,
(1016).
than the (Bcolioi
more
count
ea^apat Tiresias'
triad,
own
soul
(<\>uyj]),
resolve
(povTjfia),
judgment (yvcofxy)), which Creon held to be evident only in a ruler 12.4). Tiresias now tells Creon that he proposed the wrong test. (cf.
and
It is
not what one
one
is devoted to
the
anguish of
have
loves that is decisive, let
even checked
message
(1091-1114).
56
him from
has nothing to do
Tiresias has
with
The Chorus
56.1.
and
falsely
never yet prophesied
Creon equally realize that citv. Neither can see a
prudence
right. Do they think, then, that
prudence could
therefore
so now
or
(cf.
61.4),
(su(3ouXia)
yet
the
other
for
neither
thinks
can put
have
retroactively the
condemn
tence in uncovering the truth
11 13-4).
to the
to why he should do Creon's fate to be unavoidable :
and
which
Tiresias'
his decree (cf. Antigone.
issuing
reason as
Megareus,
the degree to
alone
it, but civility. Civility would at least have spared him foreknowledge (xapStac To;su|i.aTa PefJaia), and perhaps
everything Oedipus or for his persis
saved one
patriotism
? As the
Chorus'
be in doubt, whatever one may think of Creon's, the be with Oedipus. But when should Oedipus have stopped his search ? If he had not been public-spirited, he could have failed to patriotism cannot parallel must
the
consult
he had
oracle or at
least kept
silent about
it (cf OT 93-4) ; .
and
if
thought that Jocasta despised him for his origins, he could have stopped when she begged him to. In the first case, the plague not
have continued until the city banished him for his lack of con (cf OT 47-50) ; and in the second, he would have gained no more
would cern
than could
.
a
respite,
have
if he had
until
shown
he learned
his
never summoned
Note the
syntax of
of
Jocasta's
patriotism without
Tiresias but
discovering
relied
Oedipus, then,
suicide.
solely
cmapayu,axa, whose antecedent
his
on
origins
the
is strictly
only
testimony
7t6Xei?.
A the
of
one survivor
Sophocles'
Reading
Antigone
Laius'
from
regicide and
of
retinue. He Does Tiresias have
else.
would
171
then have been
a similar role
a
in mind for
nothing Creon? If Tiresias had stayed away and sent his servant, or even if a nameless citizen had come to report the failure of the sacrifices to burn, Creon could perhaps have avoided his fate. Such a report by itself, Tiresias'
any of authority behind it, should have been enough to tell Creon that he had gone against the practices of custom. Creon comes to fear that this indeed was the case (1113-4). The Chorus,
without
however,
seem
to delude him into the
swift-footed mischief of
lease Antigone
gods
that he
believing
(cf.
They
951-4).
the
can outrun
advise
him to
re
bury Polynices; but Creon first buries Polynices and then goes to Antigone's prison. Is this, then, Creon's mistake and what the Chorus mean by prudence? If Creon's fate depends on the timeliness of his actions, Creon's very patriotism, which makes him release the city from pollution before he attends to his own, destroys him (cf.
and
51.3).
for Tiresias
But the Chorus
spoke of
Antigone
Haemon's death in the
seem
to have
misunderstood
Tiresias,
already a corpse (1067) and only put but since he also referred to Antigone
as
future;
soul, the Chorus took him to mean that she was still alive, whereas he really meant that Creon had killed her in an impious way (cf. 55.4). as a
As Antigone's death to be
seem
Haemon's
seems
for
no room
suicide can one
wrong (cf. 61.5,
to
Haemon's inevitable, there Not until one learns more
make
prudence.
whether or not
say
the Chorus
were
would about
simply
7). Tiresias'
Creon has some difficulty in adj usting to prophecy, the Chorus have none at all. Creon's mind and heart are in turmoil,130 the Chorus have never invested much in any position. The hopeful con 56.2.
struction of
Tiresias'
prophecy agrees with their politic lack Creon readily believes that he too can drift with the circumstance. As soon as the Chorus repeat word he hands himself over to them. He ceases to be his own
they
policy;
put on
and
Tiresias'
necessity
of
"prudence,"
master even
His
ment.
(xapSta?
before
they
remind
him
of
divine punish if one accepts his words only that his principles were deeply the
swiftness of
conversion seems precipitate
s^tCTTaLtat
to
Spav)
rooted
in his heart. His
obeys
the Chorus
as
implying
principles
rather
have
long since eroded
than Tiresias because
Chorus'
been to the city (994, 1058) and the doubt) to him. The confusion inherent in Creon's
always
not
home to him (cf. 56.3.
the
burying
130
8eiv
Polynices to
Brunck's 8eiX6v
xapa
1246, OC
655,
not
near
to
entrust
anyone else
is, I think,
42.1).
He has
loyalty loyalty (he does
principles comes
the
freeing of Antigone and
; but Creon does
right, and Jackson's axfl
the mark, but I but fr. 210, 45 P).
(1097)
.
12.4).
The Chorus tell Creon of
(cf
Tiresias'
should prefer
not
take them
'(iTcaXa^ai
xeap (cf. Ai.
xou[*6v
v
686, Tr. 629,
Interpretation
172
literally. He
assumes
that
they
mean
he
should supervise
the
work of
whom he assigns the whole task of burying Polynices apparently reserving for himself that of freeing Antigone. He cannot, however, be taken literally either; he is present on both occasions and does no work himself. Creon could not have perhaps
his servants, to while
removed
by
himself the
stones
that block Antigone's prison; that
nothing for Creon or, one might add, for Antigone (1216). But why should he think that his servants must bury Haemon does it
Polynices?
proves
so^aa
auTo?
xai
7rapcov
exXucrofxai.,
after
all, applies
as
Polynices, if less literally, as to Antigone (cf 40) Why, more precisely, does Creon think at once of cremation and a barrow ? Neither Tiresias nor the Chorus even hint that a simple interment would not suffice; and it would have sufficed if the city's pollution by dogs and to
much
birds
were
is due
the issue (cf.
53.1).
Creon
rites almost as elaborate as
mound
.
.
he has
raised would
be
seems
those he
conspicuous
to believe that Polynices gave
in the
Eteocles
plain
the high
(1203)
but
not
do them himself. The Chorus, however, might have meant that it was here and nowhere else that Creon's salvation lay: only if he were to handle the stinking, rotting, and mangled Polynices with his own hands could he find forgiveness from the gods (cf. 900). that he
Only
should
such an act would
imply
remorse
(cf. Diodor. I.
77.7).
But
not
only do the Chorus say nothing about remorse, Tiresias said nothing about it either (cf. 53.2). What genuine piety involves, rather than sake,"
just piety "for form's disappears from the play as soon as Anti gone leaves. Creon never thinks of his crimes as impious ; he continues to the
end
to talk
of
57 (1115-54).
57-1-
the priorities, but
Antigone's death as
his
unfortunate
imprudence (1261, 1265,
1269).
The Chorus now accept Creon's understanding of go even further: since Tiresias never spoke of
they
as
politically relevant, the burial of Polynices, as far alone counts. The Chorus abandon Creon to he is out of earshot ; he can take care of his own
the city is concerned,
his fate
as soon as
help of Dionysus ; but if the Thebans are to have Dionysus lead their dances, he must cleanse the city of the pollution that now violently grips it (cf. 52.5). The Chorus thus hark back to the end of the parodos (cf. 152-3, 1153-4), as if all that had happened between then and now were of no importance. What we have witnessed are the last traces of the war that the Chorus wanted Dionysus to help them forget. Dionysus now takes hold of them completely. The shaft of sunlight that the Chorus had greeted as their savior in the parodos yields to Iakchos the choral-master of the fire-breathing stars; Xcovu(j,o<; Nike becomes 7roXucovu(i,oc Bakchos; and the frenzied Capaneus is forgotten in the hoped-for presence of the frenzied Thyiads (cf. 11. 3). Dionysus is to wipe clean the memory; and he succeeds. The moral they draw at the end almost repeats the moral they had put in the center of the parodos (127-8, 1348, 1353). without
the
jj.eya-
Chorus'
A 57.2. The was almost
Reading
Sophocles'
of
hyporchema is the
antithesis of
wholly general, this is
Earth
no proper names except
Antigone
173
the first
stasimon.131
That
wholly particular ; that had Hades, this has seventeen, eight of
almost
and
; that called Earth, whom man wears away, the the gods, this says Dionysus honors autochthonous Thebes
which are place names
highest most
of
highly
Demeter
of all cities and presides with
to be the
over
Eleusis; that
sea, this begs Dionysus to come now over Parnassus or the Euripus ; that presented man as the hunter of wild beasts, this traces the origin of Thebes back to a wild
held
man
that
dragon;
conqueror of earth and
taming
spoke of man's
ivy-clad Nysaean
of
the
mountain
bull, this has the
Dionysus to Thebes ; that
mountains escort
thought, this hails Dionysus
man's self-taught speech and
nighttime voices and madness
;
that
and
spoke of
as master of
said man contrives a cure
for
impossible diseases, this relies on Dionysus to cleanse the city of a violent disease. But despite these antitheses, the stasimon and hypor do
chema
close man
share one
to Dionysus
has
is divine
no
fire to
Hades is
mine
who cares
the smoky flame
of
man.
the
comes
the city
Dionysus;
and cremation
and
(cf.
above
with
Delphi,
58
(603),
(1155-71).
or
dissolves the Antigonean
Antigone's
fire-breathing
and with none more
he has nothing to do 58.1.
leads the
only for sacred cremation. Sacrifices
holiness. Dionysus rightly a frenzy in speech and
and
earth
lution, for he sponsors gone's
the earth is as in closing it to man ; 52.4). He has no fire because it under
with
down to
the gods,
is
not alone
Dionysus is the offspring of Zeus his mother xepauvta, is seen by
master.
(264-5), festivals,
ordeals
vals unite
civility
earth
for Thebes
torches
in dance. Fire
sacrifices,
common : what
to
Dionysus is its
and
Papu(3psfiiTY)<;, stars
thing in
as
represents
and mind
with
and
closely than between
their Tiresian
; the
so
different from Anti
the
50.3).
moral of
the first
nothing that does not harmonize the hyporchema : the Chorus did not ask for Creon's safety. Once stasimon
festi
conflict
Hades (cf.
entrance upset
purposes:
messenger reports
with
they
Tiresias'
prophecy they are not interested in the appearance of Eurydice distracts them from and Creon; only messenger advised (cf. Ai. 904, 981-2). for as the the future, planning The messenger resembles the watchman on his first entrance : both are
have
confirmation
reluctant
he had
131
to
of
The his innocence; the
act as messengers.
proved
watchman
messenger
delayed his report until delays just as long in
a great extent out of triads. The first strophe opening invocation of three elements (TroXucivufxe, ayaXjxa, yhoq), followed by three verbal phrases (a[ieTrEi<;, (xSet.<;, vatexcov), the last of which is expanded into a threefold description of Thebes. The first antistrophe, on the other hand, is held together by three nouns, the first two of which (Xiyvui;, vajj.a) share the same verb, while to the last is added another noun and two participial phrases. The sequence of places in the first strophic pair is: Thebes, Italy
Rhetorically, it is built up to
consists of an
(KaaxaXta?
confirms
second antistrophe
TxaXtav), Eleusis, Thebes, Delphi, Euboea, Thebes. The
begins
with a
threefold invocation : xpaye. ercfaxoTre,
ysve&Xov.
Interpretation
174 to
order
first how Creon
show
his
exemplifies
human life. From his understanding
own
one could
understanding of moral that
draw the
is best; but whereas the watchman, though equally holding 15.2), as his final hope, was resigned to his fate (cf. the messenger has no hope, for there is nothing but chance. Chance the only scene replaces the gods (cf. 162-3, 1158-60). This is, in fact, either indi mentioned not in which the gods are in the
resignation
to
resignation
(1155-79)
play
vidually by happiness is
24.2), his
(cf.
pleasure
The
collectively.132
or
name
standard
messenger's
standard
for
for misery is to be
a
corpse.
58.2.
The
does
messenger
not address
the
Chorus,
as
Tiresias
had,
as
Cus'
the
rulers of
Thebes (cf.
51.2)
; he
calls
them the
neighbors of
Amphion's house. Cus founded Thebes, Amphion built its Thebes does not recur. walls; but after the hyporchema the name of and
The invocation
of
Dionysus
succeeds
in making the city
as an
issue
disappear (cf. 1094, 1247). The city and by the of what is one's enjoyment The 1203). land and the earth (1162-64, (cf. land's over the 178), enemies, kingship own, whether it be victory the
or
children,
alone
counts:
Amphion
was
regime are replaced
the husband
Niobe. The
of
course, does not know what else Creon will lose, but his messenger, wife's death would be a redundant proof of chance's power: Eurydice learns of her son's death by chance (cf. 1182). The messenger seems to of
Tiresias'
prophecy (cf. 1212) ; and it seems to be Creon's inopportune presence, in his , that occasions Haemon's suicide. The messenger's speech has three parts: chance (1156-60), Creon (n6i-5a), pleasure (ii65b-7i). Creon supplies the link, one would
know nothing
of
suppose, because the wipes out
and
sons,
moreover,
his
that the loss
of
Haemon
Creon's pleasure; but he needlessly refers to Creon's noble Creon never takes any notice of Megareus. The messenger, conceals
by holding of
assumes
messenger
Creon's loss
Creon's victory
enviable
life,
of
over
Haemon,
Argos
one of which
and
Creon
which
his
he does
kingship
cannot and
not
mention,
to be
elements
the
other
Creon
lose in any literal sense. The messenger therefore must shift from Creon's downfall, for which his thoughts on chance have presum ably prepared us, to Creon's pleasures now that his son is dead. In order, however, to extract a moral from the death of Haemon, the messenger must put himself in Creon's place, for he is not certain that Creon experiences the moral he wishes to illustrate. He lets his imagi does
not
nation
stretch
beyond Creon's
the pomp
good
fortune,
the tyrant's
where
he
sees
great
tyranny replacing Creon's victory over his country's enemies (cf. Th. 1.17) and then declares such magnificence to be deficient if the man who has them
wealth and
132
There
of
private wealth
are nineteen scenes in the play, the central one of which is the song to Eros. The guard initiates the fourth scene from the beginning, the messenger the fourth scene from the end.
Chorus'
A takes
Reading
Sophocles'
of
in them. Pleasure, then,
no pleasure
children; everything else is hollow
think,
not
Creon
as
Antigone
had,
that
without
comes
175
entirely from
them. The
messenger
one's
does
only if they (cf. 39.2). He does not
children are good
their father in his friendships
and enmities
the fortunate just because their fortune
change, but be (cf. Th. 2.44.2) ; nor does he find the unfortunate not to be unfortunate just because their fortune too might change, but because even in the absence of good fortune one can delight in one's children. The instability of one's own life is not in itself a matter of regret ; it is the impossibility of fixing the life of others on whom one depends.133 The messenger rejects both the life lived for the city and the life lived against the city, for, if Creon is any model, either involves the loss of a son, Megareus or Haemon. This twofold rejection forces him into a paradox: one cannot divine what is established for mortals. Creon feared that the preservation of the established laws is the best policy throughout one's life ; the mes senger makes us fear that the truth lies in the literal meaning of Creon's words: it is best in preserving the established laws to end one's life. The messenger inadvertently vindicates Antigone. He vindicates, over 35.1). against the ensouled corpse Creon, the dead soul Antigone (cf. praise
there is
cause
no good
fortune
might
without children
The Chorus have to ask the messenger three learn what he should have told them at once. Consistent with his first speech he is more interested in Creon than in Haemon; but he does not explain how he reconciles Creon's guilt with
59 (1172-9).
questions
the
59.1.
before
moral of
they
his first speech, which Creon exemplified precisely because its power in his case. Guilt seems to be as incompatible
chance showed
with chance as with
Creon's hand
necessity; and the messenger
was not raised against
his
the way that Oedipus was the cause of just give Creon the opportunity to be that Haemon love Antigone.
from
anyone's
as
the
two the
he
which
the
royal griefs.
suicide.
(cf.
6i.3).134
Jocasta'
guilty?
There
Antigone, however,
also makes
Creon into
in the singular, it
messenger now calls
Creon,
at
any rate,
That he failed to
her
that
was no
seems
necessity
to be furthest
ask about the grief of kings; and they include Antigone in the royal circle, even answer (re&vocrjiv) suggests that more than one has
are
questions
suicide,
it
that
messenger's
since
has to
Is Creon guilty, then, in s suicide ? Or did chance
thoughts. The Chorus
we might suppose
died ; but
son.
save
a
plural, and the
would
seem
murder, does
next
that Antigone's not count
holds himself her must look like
never
Chorus'
among for
responsible chance
to him
For this meaning of chance see Arist. EN H35bi8-9; Eur. Hipp. 258-60; for Creon to be an 'i\x4?uxoc, vexp6<; as the result of Haemon's death see Anti phon Tetr. II. p. 10: knl xyj (j.auxou araaSia aiv 8xi xaxopi>XiW)cro[/,at,. 134 Cf. Miiller, 253. 133
and
Interpretation
176
The pun on Haemon'sname
59.2.
any misunderstanding with his own hand")
bloody
be
might
and
ive
(alfiao-rjeTai)
to
would seem
preclude
reply ("he made himself ; but the Chorus suggest that the verb not have its literal meaning. To ask
the
of
messenger's
auTO/eip
possibly mean that Creon killed Haemon but the Chorus are impelled to ask it for several reasons. First, the messenger did imply that Creon was guilty, deeds. They had and the Chorus perhaps only recognize the guilt of that she had not grounds urged Creon to release Ismene on the thought his Creon just as corpse (cf. handled 34.1); and the
whether
is
messenger could
a grammarian's question
;135
Polynices'
see
killing
of
way
Antigone
themselves as
absolved
that he had the right to kill his
they
and
39.3),
the
whole
involved in Creon's
cannot
be
guilt.
own sons
certain
surely do not Creon had implied Second, if they disobeyed him (cf. city, so
that Creon
they
on second
thoughts had
Third, they did not dispute Creon's assertion that it would be more than human for Haemon to carry out his threat of suicide (cf. 43.1). And finally, Tiresias predicted Hae mon's death in such a way (ach-zbc, avTi8ou<; err/)) as to be at least as compatible with murder as with suicide. They took, at any rate, more prophecy avyjp, ava, pefbjxe Seiva S-e(T7rcra<; (1091) gone
not
back
his
on
word.
.
.
.
Tiresias'
understanding of Haemon's anger avY]p, aval; for they now exclaim at the Tightness s? 6py9j<; T(f.yi>Q (766) silence about Haemon's suicide despite prediction
seriously than their pspvjxsv
own
Tiresias'
Tiresias'
of and
its
cause and on
both
the
messenger's confirmation
counts.
standing For the messenger
now
their
of
own under
Not even the Chorus trust their own wisdom. to invite them to deliberate is unwittingly
ironic. 60 (1 180-91). 60.1. The entrance They call her TaXatva as
of
on
her
entrance
defense,
Eurydice lets the Chorus
(379). Once Antigone, however, had elicited from them again another
she never
condolence.
Eurydice,
on
the
other
avoid
they had called Antigone Suo-tyjvoi;
deliberation.
spoken
in her
expression
of
nothing to deprive later learn that she cursed Creon
hand,
her
now says
of their sympathy ; but when they for the death of Megareus and hence implicitly
condemned
Thebes for
its self-defense, they do not hold Creon responsible, despite his selfaccusation, for her suicide (cf. 64.1). Eurydice's death was not in cluded in prophecy (cf. 55.2) ; and the Chorus cannot Tiresias'
discern in it, Chorus she is what
they
to think. Creon
Tiresias silent
as
of
do in Haemon's, its justice (cf. 1270). For the intrusion. There is no one to tell them
an unable
could convince
Creon's; but
suffering lies outside their Without the mean vanity
advice.
135
Cf.
schol. 1 176: xoxoxt
them
neither prepared
Ipcoxa
of
Antigone's injustice,
them for
experience of
Creon
7r6xepa xxX.
Eurydice,
immune to their
and
or
the
axouaa? t]8t)
and
whose
holy
oxi
madness
aux6xeip
of
dit^avEv.
Sophocles'
A Antigone no
Reading
of
Antigone
177
suffering that the city as such inflicts and Tiresias preferred to remain silent rather
she reminds us of a
theodicy try to explain
comprehends.
why Eurydice
than
justly
had to
suffer
Creon's
punish
ment.
60.2. The messenger had addressed the Chorus as house-dwellers; Eurydice addresses the Chorus and the messenger together as towns people. The difference between citizen and servant means nothing to
her. Even the messenger is more aware of the city than she is. He later hopes that her silence is due to her shame of expressing her private grief
oixeiov) openly, he, 7coXi.v (1246-1249). She says that she the messenger's report while leaving the palace in order to
(tcev&oi;
overheard
pray to Pallas Athena, from whom she intended, we can suppose, to ask what the Chorus had failed to ask for from Dionysus, the life of her She wanted the virgin goddess to save Haemon from the effects Eros. She began, however, much too late : Athena's ability to defeat Eros the undefeatable is not put to the test. Chance, or perhaps more than chance, intervenes before one learns whether Eros is a god subject to other gods. Sophocles allows there to be no refutation in deed of the son. of
Chorus'
unprincipled wisdom.
61 (1192-1243). 61. 1. Eurydice couldnot have faintedbefore 1173 She might know that either one of her own is dead
much after 1177.
Haemon killed himself. She to
repeat
than
no more
explain
the
suicide.
The
doubted his
exact
she can
her to
senger
now might
departure in
yap
oux
oux
full report,
entitled
would
as
if
she
to the truth,
can
softened version
be later
proved
no
forces him to hope that to be
mes
messenger
Eurydice's in evils (xaxcov in judgment (yvcb[X7)<; but
be unjustified;
never
that the
false. The versed
1191) is the same as to be versed fazeipoc,, 1250). He believes so firmly in the decency of his that he forgets his own speech, in which he counted Creon a
oOTsipoi;,
mistress
living corpse
for
Eurydice has
losing the
enjoyment of what
no political pleasures
messenger spoke makes
she wants a
because her recovery from a swoon has take it nor because her experience of evils has
tell
silence
or
messenger either
neither
believes that the truth
yap
that
Creon. Eurydice is
listen, but because any
steeled
the
want
which
messenger assumes charge against
that
shown
therefore
he has already told the Chorus or to Creon is the cause of Haemon's
what
degree to
how painful,
matter
might
or
decency
when
he
made pleasure
he
speaks
draws back from the entails suicide.
Chance,
wonders whether
upon
standard when
for himself
the
Eurydice
to fall back
he
conclusion after
would
all,
for his
that the lack
could restore one
have
counseled
of
to
also
(cf.
and
The
the standard; he masters. certain
good
Eurydice, in
like Antigone's, to have more children (cf. Th. 48.8). messenger calls her 7ca(i.[jLY)Tcop (cf.
loses; 58.2).
2.44.3).
He thus pleasures
fortune. One an argument
The
second
Interpretation
178
(1197), see 45.1; for xuvorjTcapaxTOV (1198), (1198), 48.5; for rroyxaTn&ou.ev (1202), 524; for
61.2. For for
acofia
(1203),
53. 1 ;
vY)Xee<;
22.9.
The
that the burial
frames his true
messenger
Polynices
of
three
aorist
description (a'iT7)<javTe<;, XoucravTs?, but a slight incident on the way to the
in
way its
articulate
participles
xwaavre?)136
X&ov6<;
such a
to be nothing Antigone. However
seems
rescue of
important his burial is for the city, it is of no interest to Eurydice. and Creon's servants prayed that Hecate, the goddess of have seemed to been gracious. turn wrath and their Pluton check They roads,137
afraid
that the
Polynices'
chthonic gods were not pleased with
body,
above,
not suggested
had
not even
his
how Creon
indicated
what
were
should
appropriate :
Polynices is buried in
Piety
have been
would
their
They
did
pray to the But Tiresias
the gods;
accorded
rites
tomb
a conspicuous
indeed, he
Polynices. Creon
elaborate
most
not
angry.
equally
be
their uncovering of the excuse
own without
should propitiate
rites
decided that only the
own
on
25.4).
according to Tiresias
who
had
on
had done
from Creon (cf.
of such a command gods
they
which
were
now
of native earth.
satisfied and patriotism maintained
if he had
been buried outside of territory (cf. 12.7). Creon gave up his patriotism to save his son. He believed that Polynices had to be buried on the spot if he were to outrun the Furies. He thereby gave up his pleasure in his victory over Argos (cf. 58.2) and itted that the 42.1). Creon compen conquest of Thebes was unjustly thwarted (cf. Theban
sated
for his the
against
punishment
crime
city. could
principles as
against
He
to his
was
the
thus be due rejection of
by
gods
tested in
committing another crime and found wanting. His
office
to his betrayal
as much
Antigone's (cf.
of
his
own
51.3).
61.3. The messenger, like Antigone herself, speaks of Antigone's prison bridal chamber (cf. 46.2) ; but he amplifies this aspect still more
as a
(Xixroo-TpcoTov,
7rarjTaSa).
It
is, however,
the
presence of
Haemon,
who
by
embracing Antigone obtains his marriage rites in Hades (1224, 1240-1), rather than Antigone's marriage to Acheron (816) that dictates his ,
That Antigone has
choice of words.
the horror that implies (cf.
Haemon but suicide, like
not
Antigone
now reed
46.8),
miserable
family,
with all
nothing to him. He
means
(1234,
her
124i ; cf.
1272,
1310-1).
calls
Her
Polynices'
burial, is just an incident in his . No one ever regrets that they came too late to save her. Neither the Chorus nor Creon, on the other hand, had thought of stopping Haemon from entering her tomb. Creon had so confidently spoken against the possi bility of Haemon's suicide that this precaution, which even on the ground
that Haemon
sensible, 136
The
eluded
change
might
them. Creon
in
try must
construction
to free Antigone
have
(x6v
jxev
shift from aa>(ia to x6v 137 Fire is the constant attribute of
IloXuveCxoui; (1198)
.
expected
.
.
auS-i?)
(1199)
Hecate;
would
have been
suicide as soon as
calls our attention
(1202). fr. 535 P.
and
cf.
her
8
87)
to the
A
Sophocles'
Reading
Antigone
of
179
he had listened to her (cf 567) ; and he must have changed the way of punishing her, not out of a scrupulous piety, nor even out of fear that the city would not stone her to death, but in the knowledge that Antigone would do his work for him (cf. 43.1). The Chorus understood Antigone less well than Creon did ; but it was because of their advice that he had to pretend that he still had a chance to save her. He must .
have known
56.1)
what Tiresias meant when he for that reason put the burial
and
rescue of
called of
her
a
corpse
(cf.
Polynices before the
Antigone.
61.4. A servant told Creon that he had just heard from afar the shrill ritual lamentation near the tomb; but Creon did not act on
cries of
this
report
the tomb's their
before he had heard them for himself entrance wrenched apart.
source while
resias, to
they
deluding him ; all
but for
.
52)
.
He
Creon
not say.
stones of
elyl
(acr/)[ia) ; but,
opyta,
he did
the
(ap'
(lavTi?)
unlike
Ti
was not sure of
wondered whether
what purpose
the
gods
were
Could Creon have
to believe that Tiresias had deluded him
Tiresias had
wanted
to do
was put a scare
surely have relied on his former a lie (cf. 55.3) ; and, despite the of
indistinct
whom a servant reported acn)[jLa
their interpretation (cf
come
were still
and seen
He then divined
infallibility
with prophecy and that into him ? Tiresias could
to
put across so
Chorus'
exclamation at
the
salutary Tightness
his prophecy, nothing Tiresias said argues for a more than human Apollo.138 for its truth (cf. 59.2) ; indeed, he never mentioned
source
Had Tiresias foretold the death
of
Eurydice,
or given
the
circumstances
Haemon's suicide, he would have confirmed his inspiration as divine; but he would then have deprived Creon of hope, hope that concealed the severity of divine punishment and the difference be 55.3). tween sacrilege and error (cf. of
61.5. Creon seemed to have been bent on self-punishment. He over heard Haemon's bewailing Antigone's death, his father's deeds, and his own marriage ; and thinking perhaps that all was forgiven if Haemon could regret the cause no less than its effects, he tried to plead with Hae repenting any of his crimes. His speech would have been the if he had not revoked his decree. Creon did not ask Haemon for forgiveness but rather asked three questions calculated to enrage him what deed he had done, what he intended to do, and what circumstance distracted his wits. Since Creon saw what his servants did, mon without
same even
Haemon embracing Antigone around her waist as she hung from a noose, and then asked him what he had done, what could Haemon have thought except that Creon now dared to charge him with Antigone's murder?139
It
would
hardly
have
occurred
to him that Creon
might
138 It is perhaps because Tiresias fails to remind them of Apollo that the Chorus do not ask Apollo, the god of purification par excellence, to purify the city. 1S9 Cf. S. M. Adams, Sophocles the Playwright, 57-8.
Interpretation
180
have
his forcible entry into the tomb; and if he had had the him so, what could he have made of Creon's
meant
sense
to
third
question?
understand ev
tco
o-uu-opa?
8ie
not
that
question
a
a
guilty man asks. Creon simply bungled his self-appointed task of dis could have pleaded suading Haemon. Anyone why not Eurydice? Haemon time for his Instead of better than he did. case his giving sorrow
to abate, he
Haemon had
opposed
promised
it
at
that Creon
its flood. To face Haemon, after him again (763-4),
would never see
only have intensified Haemon's anger and frustration. Creon's imprudence, then, in word and deed was the proximate cause of could
Haemon's
suicide.
He is too heartless to be
wise.
61.6. When Creon had finished speaking, Haemon wildly glared at him, spat in his face, and in silence drew his sword ; but when Creon had succeeded in evading his attack, he grew angry at himself and slew himself. Haemon's suicide seemed to have arisen from a compound of
regret, remorse, vengeance,
for
remorse
having
and
love
contemplated
regret
for
patricide,
having
missed
vengeance
crime, and love for Antigone (cf. 1177). The remorse that Creon
for his transgression
Creon,
for Creon's never
law was shown by Haemon for his intention to transgress another; but this intention would never have brought Haemon to punish himself if he had not also wanted to punish Creon and Antigone in death. Nothing could illustrate better the peculiar character pious remorse and divine punishment have in common than Creon's evasion of death and Haemon's suicide. Creon's death did Tiresias know that Haemon would fail? would have deprived him of the chance to atone through suffering, and the com shows
of one sacred
Haemon's suicide suggests the difficulty of atoning for Oedipus rejected suicide on the ground that he could not bear looking upon his mother and father in Hades; and he chose selfblinding on the ground that he could not bear looking upon either his Oedipus' children or Thebes (cf. OT 1369-86). vain attempt to isolate himself from everyone and everything haunted Antigone (cf. OT pound cause of
sacrilege.
I349-56.
1386-90,
for
remorse
1409-15, 1466-70),
whose
which she could never atone.
own
Haemon,
piety entailed a the other hand,
on
could satisfy his original desire to punish Creon while making amends for his unholy impulse. Punishment and self-punishment make him doubly just, but they could not make him noble (cf. 48.9).
61.7. No one would have faulted the messenger's truthfulness if he had spared Eurydice the details of Haemon's suicide and said no more about it than the second messenger will say about Eurydice's ;
instead,
he dwells
(1315)
on
Haemon's still-living embrace of the virgin Anti blood on her cheek. The age reads like a grim
gone and
the
mockery
of a sexual
gush of
make it almost certain
to
choose
embrace; and the words Ta vu|j,
between two equally distasteful endings,
a
thwarted
marriage
A or a
thwarted
Reading
patricide
Sophocles'
Antigone
of
(their juxtaposition
recalls
181
the
Oedipus),
mes
the ending to which he could more readily attach a greater evil than imprudence belongs to man. The moral,
senger preferred moral: no
however, bears forbids its
a peculiar message when applied.
application
to Creon's
messenger never charges
having
yielded at once
impiety,
him, Creon
have let the love of his own If he had wanted to prevent their
should
have
cold
him (cf. 648-50). It
guided
context
be
reproached only for not Antigone (cf. 36.1). Creon override his sense of righteousness. can
to Haemon's love
should
Since the
which, in any case, the
with
of
embrace, Haemon's
would
have been
pleasure
prudent
to be
fond. 62 (1244-56). 62.1. The Chorus
are bewildered by Eurydice's silent forced to ask the messenger about it ; but they are not satisfied with his explanation (cf. 61.1). They either doubt that any grief (or at least Eurydice's) is publicly inexpressible (cf. Her. 3.14-5) or think Eurydice incapable of such restraint. They rightly suspect that her silence is ominous, but not that she might want to say
departure,
and
they
are
something not fit for them to hear. They forget Megareus, upon whose death Eurydice might look differently from the city. Eurydice's silence, moreover, is no more distressing to the Chorus than if she had indulged in an excess of lamentation. A few words of sorrow would have allayed their suspicion. A moderate utterance, they imply, is in compatible with an extreme resolution, for the mean in speech is consonant only with the mean in deed. They thought Antigone's defense of the law a proof of her savagery, but her last words (tyjv devoid of paradox and excess unlike, for (cf. 924) that they never suspected that she had resolved to kill herself (cf. 49.4). The Chorus always measure the deed by the speech and therefore fail to see the extreme that some suo-(3eiav
were so
o-efUcrao-a)
oma 7cavoupyr)rjacra
example,
times lurks
within
the
mean.
This failure
sets
the limit to their
wisdom
(ci. 65.1).
63 (1257-1300). 63.1. The Chorus still regard Creon as their lord address to them (cf. despite 51.2); and so they hesitate to Their si &epu<; eforelv allows Creon the Haemon's death to his error. lay chance of pleading not guilty; but he obliges them with a They behold the killer and the killed (Haemon is in his arms), the con Tiresias'
confession.140
sequence of
(*pevcov
his
imprudence, but
800-0-ePcov)
we must
plans
supply,
of
his
have led to his
impiety own un
of his son. That he blasted his son's does not occur to him, for Antigone's death is not The justice he sees too late are the miserable toils of
and
happiness
as well
his
not,
His ill-conceived
the early death
happiness one of
.
errors.
140 Cf. Andocides II. 5-7, 15 for the way in for his crimes.
which
Creon
expresses
his
regret
Interpretation
1 82
mortals, which, as his own overturned
and
trampled
joy illustrates,
the
savagely inflict. Creon its his guilt without accepting his punishment, for he had unwillingly killed Haemon and Eurydice (1340), and even Tiresias argued that error was common to all men. He gods
does not suggest what punishment would have been fitting; and once he learns of Eurydice's death, he thinks fate, not a god he never caused his names any god but the unappeasable Hades suffering (1345-6). Creon bewails the unwilled effects of his impiety but not their willed cause. part
in
a
He
must
be
silent about
kommos, for he
cannot
Antigone
lament
what
and piety if he is to take he does not understand.
something that is almost as surprising as was Polynices. He says to Haemon that in his death he was released (amskl&y\c) and as if to confirm that his choice of words is not casual, he later asks the second messenger how Eurydice was slain and 63.2. Creon
the
mentions
cremation of
,
released (1314).141
Perhaps Creon
"ed away"; but mism, sv
since
in Eurydice's
Creon, holding
the
wife, does
mean
hardly
corpse of
means no more
is
verb
ed
and a euphemism
ovau;
the
with
unknown
e-9-ave<;
qualifies as
his
that their
than that
this early
in Haemon's such,
they
have
as a euphe
case and with
one wonders whether
son and confronted with
that
of
his
from their bodies. Creon would thus be opposed to Antigone to the end, for whom the separation of body and soul in death would have made her devotion to the law impossible. Creon, on the other hand, has to be reminded of his duty to bury the dead (1334-5; Ci- noi). The restoration of the not
laws,
established can
only lead
to
which
once more
souls
Antigone
to their
are
now
separated
nothing (cf. forgotten (cf. 26.1).
contributed
being
17.5),
63.3. Sophocles allows Creon just one strophe to grieve over Haemon but this is not because Creon feels more deeply about Eurydice
alone :
about Haemon ; indeed, he never calls her his wife or himself her husband (cf. 1196, 1282). She is in his eyes a wretched mother and else. Yet the unexpected shock of her suicide does force Creon nothing
than
to
drop
mortals
his
(cf.
courage
Creon dead
141 142
thought
all
now
his deficient counsel and the miserable toil of Tiresias had asked Creon what proof it was of the dead (tic; dXxT) t6v e7nxTaveiv, 1030) ; and of
1317).142
to
rekill
tells the
&av6vr'
messenger
that
with
(oXcoXot'
man
e7iee!,pydo-co)
.
this
news
Creon
he has
speaks of
reexecuted a
himself
as
a
xaTteXuaax'
Read The frequency
; see
Miiller.
the antistrophe, accompanied with
which
sounds occupy the same place in it is by slight dislocations of the same by contrasting words or phrases in the same place, alerts us to the shift Creon undergoes (cf. 46.8) : 8ua9p6vcov (1261)8uaxd$apxo<; (1284) ; (1262) (1285); tco Ttai (1266) xt
<;, d> TtaT (1289; see 38.1); voq vw (1266) vsov (1289); dm:Xu&Y)(; (1268) in 6Xe$pco (1291); (1273) (1296); gmxiaev h (1274) |j.ev iv (1297); avxp^rrcov xapav (1275) svavxa TtpoapXeTcco vexpov (1299) ; (1276) (1300). See also Miiller. For an example of a shift in thought accompanying close symmetry between strophe and antistrophe, see Aesch. Eum. 155-68.
strophe and word and
same
as
A
Reading
Polynices (cf 1077)
second
the
:
.
Polynices'
be
case could never
thought, however, that his Polynices'
Sophocles'
of
for
be his
would
the death
crime was
and
183
that he mistakenly thought in
crime
atoned
burial;
prohibition of
Antigone
he does
of
Creon
own.
Haemon,
not now it
not
his
the
guilt
he
envisions his unending suffering. He does not Suatppovcov d(i.apTY)[xaTa with lco Suaxd&apTOc; "AoSou Xi[X7)v, let alone his rekilling of Polynices with rekilling of himself. Mistaken as to his crime, Creon cannot see his suffering as his punishment, for even on his mistaken view, in of which his on either count when
together
put
9psvcov
Hades'
double
should
crime
suffering to guilty, as
his punishment, Creon still attributes his fate, but never to himself. As agent he is
as
either a god or
he is innocent (cf. OC
patient
(1301-46). 64.1. The
64
though Creon
Eurydice
prayed at
ill-success
Tza.$-oc,
(1316)
xocxal
izp&E>sic,
understood
of
not
altar of
Creon.143
of
Megareus',
alone
the
Creon's question
messenger answers
did
perhaps
266-7).
that
expect
anyone
the house just before her
She did
not
of
1296,
could answer suicide
think that Haemon's
death, let
adequately punish Creon. Not the 6;uxcoxutov her son, which brought on her own death, but only would
in the future
Creon's
can affect
incapacity for the
him. Eurydice
to have
seemed
He now, of his pain
punishment of suffering.
any rate, becomes terrified and for the only time speaks (cf. 27.2). The fear of punishment takes the place of remorse
at
should
for he
be
part of
and
for his death (cf. 15.2, 29.1). Fear, which his punishment, makes him want to escape from it,
Creon to
prompts
it.
for the
ask
as Antigone had, that he will be judged in he hardly thinks he will meet his wife and sons there. His immediate death would be the most beautiful of fates, for he then would not have to undergo another day of fear. Creon's
seems
Hades
to have
(459-60,
fear, however, for both about
and
alternates with
To the
another way.
fear,
no
925-6),
Megareus'
the
and manner of
to include the death
of
in the
protest
nation.
He
though
no one charges
vagance of
his
and
suicide.
Creon thus
Megareus, for he name
instead to him
of
with
(
guilt suggests
it
his
and
to him
responds with a question avoids
senses
extending his guilt would ill become
that it
the city Eurydice's blanket
it
ission
his
that Eurydice held him guilty
Haemon's deaths he
her
him to
prefers
his guilt,
messenger's report
condem
for Eurydice's death, even he himself is aware of the extra guilt
Itu|xov). He
wants
his
servants
to take
the way now that he is not even as much as a no-one. He is too empty to suffer any more. He is unable to atone. Creon is in his life less than the dead Polynices, for he has no one to pity him ; but he does
him
not
out of
complain,
143 accept
Nothing
as
Antigone
at
of
his lack
of
friends. He has too
in 1301 except pcojxta; but I 1303 because of 424-5.
seems certain
Seyffert's reading
did,
should
much
be inclined to
Interpretation
184 them;144
self-pity to miss sight his guilt is
punishment.
They that
advice
to
not
could
Creon,
and
they
or
exile
other
any
public
ready to comfort Creon: the way the greater is their own
renounce
they
as
their
must
loyalty
have
once
to Creon in
Oedipus. Indeed, their equally have served against not to pray for anything since the future does not mortals who must stick to what is before them, suits
(cf. OT
desting
of
are not
to forget Creon in his troubles
properly concern Oedipus far more exactly than name of
think
misfortunes are out of
want
forgotten Oedipus in his; words
he seems to believe that if he is out of So httle does his crime against the city
The Chorus, therefore,
his
sooner
gain.
out of mind.
to him that he does
mean
the
and
Creon,
whose
fate scarcely deserves the
1518-20).
(1347-53)- 65.1. The Chorus draw a parently did not need the play to learn (cf.
conclusion
the first stasimon, taught himself speech,
thought,
65
that
they ap Man, according to
57.1).
and
civility,
all
three of which are morally neutral; but if, they now say, thought is good it is wisdom, if speech is bad it is boasting, and if civility is good 52.3-4). Yet there seem to be two kinds of wisdom. it is piety (cf.
acting impiously against the gods, and chief ingredient in happiness; and is the piety wisdom comes in old age solely through suffering, and happiness is thus impossible, for Creon can now be called wise but not happy (cf.
Wisdom this
consists
solely in
not
non-Antigonean
The Chorus, however, see no difficulty, for the precept that the innocence trusts in from the start is the same as that which the wisdom of suffering learns late, and to the Chorus nothing matters but the precept, however learnt: Creon must do toc 7rpoxl|j.eva and 52.5).
wisdom of
tcoctIv xaxd. They never understand that civility is not but piety already in decay, the piety of precept. That one could live the precept, so that ^py) toc kc, &sou<; (j/rjosv dcrsTCTELV be transformed into Antigone's oma 7ravoupy7)o-ao-a, is wholly beyond them.
disregard
tocv
self-taught
They
therefore
precept would
Tepa?
can
Justice
must
Haemon 144
that
clear of
Creon,
had he followed the
who
trouble, forced
them to
confront
the
Antigone.
Corrigendum: in Part II
Creon
regret
only
have kept
Cf.
this
of
grounded
.
.
.
article
34.2.1.
thrice
Antigone
(977,
never
(vol. 5/1,
etc., read
totally bad in separating,
uses
common
be
calls
p.
"city as
42, line 10), for "city. the issue. Creon calls
he"
as
herself
\x.zkia.
or
1319, 1341; 1272, 1310-1). The
SetXata,
is fearlessness; but in Antigone's case it comes emptiness. Antigone is xaXattppcov,
soul, in Creon's from his
each
of
which
trait they have in from her greatness of
one
not
Creon.