148 A READING OF

SOPHOCLES'

ANTIGONE: I

Seth Benardete

1 (1).
palace.

1.1.*

Antigone

meets

Ismene

outside

the

gates

of

the

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

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

attracting
the

undue
of

notice

(164).

In this

semidarkness

Antigone

introduces
Ismene,"

theme

the

play

with

her
of

manner
Ismene."

of

Ismene. "O my very

which
appeals

own sister's common

head is

addressing The "head of

common.1

"common"

characterizes,

not

held

in

Antigone

to that part of Ismene that most distinguishes her from

and which makes
on

everyone else

(cf. O.C. 320-1, 555-6),

her
and

individually
of
"common"

lovable (cf. 764), at the same time that she insists Ismene and herself. The link between "head of is
supphed

the togetherness

Ismene"

by

avxddeXcpov.

Antigone
she

recognizes

Ismene's head

as

a
no

sister's

head,

and not

just because

loves

some girl called

Ismene,

matter what

love for Ismene

her genealogy, does she address her in this way. Antigone's as a person is mediated through Ismene's kinship with

and not only mediated through, but identified with, that kinship; for Ismene's head is avxddeXcpov, nothing but a sister's. Ismene is herself

herself;

The text

used

is Pearson's OCT
his

except where otherwise

indicated. I have myself,

the passage, I

however,
any

not always accepted

readings wherever

am

silent, for if I did not see

of

connection

between the reading

my

chosen and

my interpretation

have

passed over or

own preference. of

Each line
numbers

group

lines interpreted is

given a section

number,

with

the

line

in

parentheses after

it. Each

paragraph of

every

section

is

numbered as well

for
1

ease of cross-reference.

Nauck

recognized

the

peculiarity
as

of

xoivdv

but

not

its

significance:

only if

'Iap.r)vqg
xoivdv

xaoa

were

the

same

Oidlnov
cf.
of
X'

xixvov

would

xoivdv

be in

order. no

In

lurks the incest

that the

of

Oedipus;
'head

OT 261-2, OC
occurs

533, 535. It is
Sophocles'

doubt
plays

accidental

periphrasis

only in

Oedipus

(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

Zr\vbg 6fi6XexxQOV
the
person's name

OT 40 (Oedipus), 950 (Iocasta), 1207 (Oedipus). Eur. Or 476 is very different: xaqa (Tyndarus); cf. Or 1380. The normal usage is either in the
vocative

followed

by

"head"

with a

qualifying adjective

or

"head"

an adjective plus

by itself.

A in

Reading of
if Ismene

Sophocles'

Antigone

149

being

a sister.

Only

acknowledges wiU

a sister

to Antigone

and

Polynices

Antigone

herself to be nothing but continue to love her.

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 membership 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.
1.2.

One

cannot

help
virtual

wondering, in hght
are of

of

the

body,

the

soul,

and the self

whether

that necessarUy
relation

Antigone's
as a

importance in a play about burial, identification of Ismene as her self with

not

Ismene
of
what

does

is involved in her

burying

foreshadow Antigone's understanding Polynices.

someone's

1.3.

Antigone
and

refers

twice more to

head:

Eteocles'

and
xaqa.

Polynices'

(899, 915),
Polynices

each

of whom she caUs xaalyvnxov

That

Eteocles
1.4.
and
of

are

of address.

Her brothers

keep

dead in no way changes Antigone's manner in death their individual loveableness.

twice more,
once

avxddeXcpog

also

occurs

by

Antigone (503),

by Haemon (696), and both times of Antigone's burying Polynices. The substantival use of avxddeXcpog indicates that Antigone
once

dared to

bury

Polynices the enemy 1.5.

play:
2

Polynices solely because he was her brother, of Thebes had no part in her daring (cf.
compounded with avx

and

that

15.3).

Words
avdadia

are

particularly frequent in this

(1028),

avxddeXcpog,
avxdvofiog

(875), avxoxxoveco (56), (52), avxdcpwQog (51),

uses three:
of

avxd%eiq

avxoyevvnxog (864), avxdyvcoxog (821), avxdnQe/ivog (714), avxovqydg (306, 900, 1315). Of these Antigone

avxddeXcpog of
and

her mother,
parents
and

her three siblings, avxoyevvnxog of the incest avxd%eiq of her performing the funeral rites for
with

her

brothers

her
use

own of a

hand.
verb
of awareness

2 (2-10). 2.1.

Antigone's herself
not

(dnwna)
says she

in talking
not seen.

about

reveals

her

kinship
or

with

her father. She

that there is nothing painful,

shameful,

dishonorable that

has
and

She does
that

say,

as

Ismene's

phrase
of

(16-7)
every

suggests that she possible

(*

could suffers

have,
of

she

accordingly. ovx

has full knowledge She does not speak

If
she

evU

of

suffering

ov

instead
shares

oticoti).3

had,

she would

have

admitted

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
2

For the meaning

of

such

compounds

see

F.

Sommer, Zur Geschichte der

griechischen

Nominalkomposita, 83-6.

alo%ioxct>v,

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'

150 Ismene
evils and

Interpretation

herself
own

(vcov),
(xdiv

she nevertheless

distinguishes between Ismene's Their

evUs are

and
start

her

o&v

xe

xajxcov).

distinct from

the

(cf. 31-2).
Antigone distinguishes
between
the
evils

2.2.
evils set

from Oedipus
herself,4

that

Zeus has

fuUy
in

brought to

completion

for Ismene

and

and those

motion

by

their enemies
evUs

(Creon)
await

friends

(Polynices).5

The

that

that are approaching their Polynices do not belong to

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
and

Ismene,

nor

the evils that are Ismene's and her

own.

Antigone's actions,

however,

evUs and her own evidendy belie any separation between (cf. 48); but she has to admit, 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'

Polynices'

2.3.
their the
stUl

Antigone
single origin

moves

in

this

speech

from

the evUs

that because of
and

in Oedipus

belong jointly

to

Ismene

herself,

observes

living offspring of Oedipus, to the two sets of evUs that she as belonging severaUy to Ismene and herseh, and from these
(the only
xaxd

to evils

without

the

article) that

threaten

Polynices.
point
with

The central xaxd, in separating Antigone's and Ismene's evUs, to Antigone's subsequent shaking off of her living connection Ismene
2.4.
that
are and

her

joining

her fate

with

the dead

Polynices.6

Antigone does
not aware
of

not

consider never

Creon's decree
again refers

as one of the evils

from Oedipus. (She any

and

to Oedipus

She is
of apart

connection

between

Polynices'

by name.) being deprived

burial

his
she

being
just

the son of Oedipus. She is able to

keep

them

because

altogether

disregards here Her only

(8).

and

throughout the play

the
she

war

that has

occurred.

reference

to

it is

oblique:

caUs

Creon the

general

By

suppressing any direct

mention of

Boeckh's

reason

for

taking

vwv

Ixi t,dioaiv
exi

as

genitive

rather

than
weil

dative

convinces me that
waren sie

it is dative: "derm der Zusatz

todt,
the
of

nicht

leicht Uebel begegnen

the

So the scholium;

ihren, (209); cf. 925-6. Schneidewin-Nauck, Wolff-Bellermann, Miiller; Jebb's inter

ware

<6oaiv

nichtig,

konnten"

pretation

enemies

are

all

Argives left
apparent

unburied

rests of

on

misunder

standing
to
which

1080-3 (cf.

55.5). The

redundancy

xcbv

ixOQ&v xaxd,
that
their

J. H. Kells

objects

(BICS 1963, 40-53), if Antigone

means

inflict evils, is only apparent; for Ismene does not know that Creon is their enemy, and Antigone would hardly admit that Zeus is their enemy, despite his having inflicted evils on them. In light, however, of 23 and 79 xcov ixOgcov
enemies should of not

be taken
should

as

generalizing plural, any

as referring
of

more

than xovg cplXovg

in light

75
6

and

89

be taken
of triads

exclusively to Polynices.
was

The importance

every kind in Sophocles

cursorily treated

by

H. St. John

Thackeray (Proc.

British

Academy XVI, 1931).

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
was
sUence
about

three

things:

that Polynices

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

Chorus,

or

Creon but
the

everything except 3 (11-17). 3.1.

and shame.

never from Antigone. Antigone fact that Polynices lies

abstracts

from

unburied.7

as weU as of pain and

he
and

never

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,
and
on

Ismene, who speaks solely of pleasure wltile Antigone, who speaks of and acts
3.2.
cannot

pain,

stands at

the other,
occupies

both principles,

the center, where pain and pleasure, honor and

dishonor,

meet.

In

spite of what

Antigone says, Ismene does

with

not preclude

the

possibUity
an
open
not

of a change

for the better in her

and

circumstances.
of

But Antigone

conceive, especiaUy

her knowledge herself

are

future. That Ismene carry

with says

stiU

Creon's decree, of alive (exi cboaiv)

does

it any hope.
that
are and Antigone have been deprived of from now on without any brother (58). to have a living brother (cf. 48.7). Death she
earth.8

3.3. To have
puts
an

Ismene
a

their two brothers.

They
means

brother

end

only

refer

to any relationship that obtains on to her brothers in the past tense (55; cf.

Ismene

can

1.3). Antigone

must remind

her that the

corpse she even

is

asked to

help bury
wish

is her brother

(not just her 3.4.

wiU
wiU

brother's),
occurs son of

if

she

does

not

it to be (43-6). 9

axeqeoi

twice more. The Chorus ask Creon whether he

deprive his be deprived

seems

Antigone (574);
sojourn on earth
unqualified

and

Creon

says

that

Antigone

of

her

cases,

to entaU an
of

(890). Death, then, in aU three loss (cf. 575). But Haemon is not

totaUy deprived
obtained

in thus (at least metaphoricaUy)

as

Hades'

his bride; the messenger, at any rate, says that he house the marriage rites (1240-1). Haemon's loss is
qualified.

Ismene

then might

be

mistaken

to

whether

she

ceases

to have her brothers with their death.

question of

body,
of

soul,

and self would once again of a

sojourn

Antigone's loss, however,

not admit

on

The 1.2). be decisive (cf. earth is absolute and does

any

qualifications

(cf.

46.6; 47.4).
have

t
no

Antigone

reports

that Creon intends to announce his decree to those who

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
knowledge
of of

the Chorus.
8
9

Cf. PI. Lgs. 959c2-dl. Cf.

schol.

45:

rrJG

ovyysvetac.

x&v ftij ngocmoifj iycb Bdyico xdv i/tdv

avxdv elvai adv adeXcpdv xai

&XX'

dXXoxoiotg

aavxijv

adv adeXcpdv.

152

Interpretation

4 (21-36). 4.1.
compared with

Antigone's

presentation

of

Creon's decree

must

be

Creon's

own presentation

to the Chorus (194-201). Both

begin the Antigone died

with what

same

replaces

fighting

on

she

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

ironicaUy

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

connects

or confuses through
war with

his

mention of the

among the rites

dead; but Creon

the exceUence of

Eteocles in
must

the

exceUence of

separate

the

honor

of

Eteocles among the dead. Antigone Eteocles among the dead from whatever

honor he
them

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),
would

have

obtained

together (cf.
"Below"

burial

means

removal

from Thebes
of

and

its

concerns.

The city is

restricted

to the

surface

the

earth.

4.2.
corpse,
so
of

The
so

word

for the dead below is the

granted what

plural

of

the

word

for
and

much

is it taken for

that corpses

are

buried

little does the language itseh indicate

the buried dead.

the condition might be

4.3.

Antigone

says

that

Creon forbade

the

burial

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
suffered nor

and

died.

It is
a

not

enough

to say that she

of the

speaks

by

enaUage,
vexvcov

that there is

reminiscence

Homeric "the

expression

xaxaxedvncoxcov.

If

one unscrambles

the phrase, the pathos and

not mean corpse
of
Polynices'

the point both equally disappear.

She does
she

the

haplessly

kiUed

Polynices,"

for

is

not out

to vindicate

death. Jebb's translation, "the hapless corpse of is right, but "hapless" if adds that refers to the living. Antigone one only properly

Polynices"

10

Line 24

seems

to be

hopeless; but I
Xiyovoi
avv

should

suggest, in light
xai

of

Thucydides 5.18.4 Antigone's

of

(dixalcp
and

xQriodcov

xai

Sgxoigi):
ihg

%or\oQ(ov

dtxalcp

v6/j.cp

as

paren

thetical comment on

dixn. For the

coordination

dtxaiov (dlxrj)

vdfiog
n.l.

see

the

passages collected

by R. Hirzel, Themis, Dike

und

Verwandtes,

164

A
must speak
ever

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
nor anyone else

153
in the play be buried. No

explains

catachresticaUy, for neither she why, apart from the law, a

are

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 account, Antigone attributes everything that belongs to Polynices to his corpse. His corpse is in and of itself the object of her care.
one says

that there

living

souls

admittance there

depends

on the

4.4. Creon
She

Antigone
says

says

xaXvrpai, as she had said

precise
of

exovxpe

before,

and

xxeoieiv, as he had said

vague where omits

Creon is (cf.

about ritual

dcpayviaai before. Antigone is the rites to be denied Polynices.

are
not

those
sorrow

aspects

that

connected

with

the

mourner's
whereas

Creon

says

3.1). Both say /iijde (xe) xmxvaai xiva, but Polynices is to be left unburied, Antigone adds
against

that he is to go unwept. Perhaps Creon omits the prohibition

weeping because,
8.18).

unlike

possible to regulate

lamentation (xcoxvaai), it is almost im (cf. H 427; PI. Lgs. 959e7-960a2; Cicero in Pisonem
ritual

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
when she

finaUy

calls

the Thebans citizens

(806,

cf.

79, 907,

30.2).

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
at

as

sweet

treasure-trove

whenever

they descry him

to feed

on

their

pleasure.12

Creon
and

says

that

the

body

is to be left to be

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
and seen

by

birds

dogs

for
that

what

the

dead

stood

for. But for

Antigone,

who

sympathetically

enters

perspective, the eating like the burying is a trait belongs to the corpse itself. The sweet treasure-trove that is Polynices
the
the preciousness
of

into

birds'

indicates
11

Polynices

even

though

dead.13

Antigone

the law that

Cf. M. Pohlenz, Die Griechische Tragbdie, 195. Aeschines, in commenting on absolves a son whose father has sold him for purposes of prostitution
care of

from taking
rites,
rjvlxa

his father but

still enjoins

him to

bury

him

with

the customary

says

that this prevents the evegyexov/tevog

ovx

father from profiting

aloddvexai xcav eS

while

alive,

and when

dead,
xai

fiev

naa%ei,

xijxaxai

di 6 v6/iog

xo

Oeiov (1.14).
i2

For the
oBv

feeling
xai

expressed

in

Orjaavgdg

see

Eur. EI.

565;

PI. Lgs.

931a4-5;

naxrjQ
is

oxcp

firjxr]Q

ij

rcrdrcov

naxiqeg rj /inxiQeg iv

olxta xslvxai xeifitfXwi

dmsiQ7)x6xeg

yriQq.
Philoctetes'

Compare

address

to

the

birds

no

longer

afraid

of

his

bow:

154
can
maintain

Interpretation

his
not

preciousness

because

she

does
the

not

contemplate

his

consumption.

He is

an

inexhaustible find for

birds. The

corpse as

corpse

does

disgust her
second visit

(cf. PI. Rep.

stench

439e7-440a, Xen. Cyrop.

she pays no attention

1.4.24). On her

to the putrescent corpse, when the guards

have

retired

to

hiUtop

to avoid its

(411-2),
more:

to the

stench.

4.7.

Nonadverbial %dqig
can

occurs

twice

the guard

says

he

owes asks

much gratitude

to the gods for saving his life

she

(331),
grace

and

Creon

Antigone how

honor Polynices

with

that

his brother

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
(cf.

9.4); but
so

the favor

Polynices'

corpse renders

the birds
makes

is

without

reciprocity.

Perhaps

this selfless

generosity

of

Polynices

Antigone

dweU

lovingly
might

upon

that seems not to

it, for in revealing a preciousness in his corpse be in its nature to have, it cancels out any defects
when alive

Polynices
regard

have had
of

(cf.
of

15.3). Antigone

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

Polynices

as

thinks of as fuU

of

grace

(cf.

28.1).
good

4.8. 4.9.

For Antigone's calling Creon the Antigone

says

Creon,

see

17.5.

that the punishment for disobedience is death

not mention

by

pubhc stoning.

Creon does

the punishment; and indeed

Antigone is

not punished

in that way (cf.

14.1, 43.1).
challenge or

5 (37-8). 5.1. is to
show

Antigone lays
she
was

down

for Ismene,
noble

who

whether

born

noble

base from

parents.

Antigone disregards the incestuous

marriage of

her

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

admit that

the incest

of

her

parents

has been the

source

the

most painful concern

for her (857-66).

calls

6 (39-40). 6.1.
occurs

Ismene

Antigone

daring

twice more, both times in Antigone's

mouth of

(cf. 42, 47). xaXaicpocov herself (866, 876).

ioMExe,
shows

vvv xaXov

dvxlcpovov

xoqioai ngdg xdoiv

regard

i/idg
his

aagxog aloXag (1155-7).

consumption with

xaXov

that Philoctetes does not wholly

not

own

horror.

aagxdg aldXag is

"discolored
of

flesh"

brilliant flesh";
arrjQeoi
sardonic

one

is to think

Patroclus'

(for which, see E 354) but "gleaming/ dgyixi drj/icp (A 818) and Homer's own

najxcpalvovxag (A

100;

cf.

(cf.

73;

Tyrt.

fr.

aldXoi evXai edovxat

14

(X 509; cf. Cf. Xen. Mem. 4.4.23: ra&s

xexvojioiovvxai, ovg

E 295; Soph. Tr. 94-5), which is not merely 7, 21-8). Andromache's lament for Hector also contributed to M 208) expression.
Philoctetes'

o$v,

icpri ['Inniag,
dyadovg

xaxcog

natdeg

ye ovdev xcoXvei

avxovg

oSxoi [yovelg Svxag i dyaBdiv

xai
xexv-

oTioiEiodai.

Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone

155

She first
parents,

caUs

and then and

friends,

xaXalcpqwv 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

herself

wretchedness.

Ismene

calls

Antigone i

xaXalcpqwv

apparently

because

Antigone
room

seems

to believe that in the circumstances there is somehow

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.
Whom Antigone
might came a

from,

what she

dares to
might

do,
and

and what she suffers

be

all

of

piece.

Her

daring
be both

have the

same

source

as

her

wretchedness.

She

might

daring

wretched

7 (41-8). 7.1.

Antigone

asks

whether and

lifting

up

the corpse,

(cf. 1201);
thought
of

plainly to wash but Ismene's refusal to

Ismene dress it, as

compels

would
would

in be customary
abandon

by help her

birth.

help

her to

the

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.
7.2.

Antigone teUs Ismene

that
and

no

prohibition

can

alter

the fact

that the corpse is their

brother;
be

that as the

to the city, it
special care

cannot

concerned

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,
that
cannot

does not belong with the prohibition. Despite the no one will be uninformed about
corpse

make

her

traitor to the

city.

7.3.

Ismene
and

asks

Antigone
replies

whether

Creon's

prohibition

does

not

daunt her; he cannot

she

Antigone

that as Creon has no share in her own,

keep

her from her

own

(cf.

2.2). If Ismene had said,

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
citizens;

indeed,

she

later

accepts

or not to determine who issue between the two sisters.

it (907). Whether the city is competent should receive burial proves not to be the is in
The first

8 (49-68). 8.1.
an
account of

Ismene's

speech

three

parts.

gives

the fate of their

father,

mother,
reasons

and

brothers
certain

(49-57);
faUure if

the

second matches go against

that triad with three

for

they
that

Creon's decree (58-64); and the third gives the conclusion Ismene has drawn for herself (65-8). What holds the three parts
is Ismene's
and

together
(pqdvnaov

triple

appeal

to
ovx

reasonableness
e%ei

and

prudence:

(49), ivvoelv
are

%qr\

(61),

vovv

ovdeva

(68).

Her

central

thought,
can

what

occupies

the

center of their starts

of

she and

Antigone

the

sole survivors

her speech, is that famUy (cf. 548, 566).

same

They
but
their

alone

continue

it. Antigone As they

must

from the
only

premise
of

concludes

differently.
cf.

are

the

living

members

fanuly (3,

3.2), they

join them. Ismene

sees

the

farruly

156
as a
succession

Interpretation
of generations

it is

she

who

first
so

mentions

Haemon

(568). Antigone

sees

their

copresence

in Hades (73-76;

cf.

892-94,
is

897-99).
replaced

Oedipus'

confusion

of

generations

(53),

that succession

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
another"

succession,15

to mean

antigeneration.
Oedipus'

8.2.
Jocasta's

self-discovery of,
suicide

and self-punishment
sons'

for, his

balanced in
suicide,
whose
and

the

by hanging, play by Creon's by hanging

and

and

their

mutual

crimes, fratricide are

acknowledgment of

Haemon's. The figure that links the two

recaUs

his crime, Eurydice's groups is Antigone,

occasions
crime.

suicide
and

her mother's,

those

of

Haemon
8.3.

Eurydice,

brings home to Creon his

The only historical present Ismene employs in this speech is to Her describe Jocasta's suicide: Jocasta "treats hfe in a despiteful
way."

outrage against

life
at

was

due

perhaps

to a

revulsion

against generation.

Her daughter, 8.4. Ismene

would consist

any rate,
a

embodies

such

revulsion what

(cf.

50.3).

gives

threefold

account

of

their

transgression
shaU

transgress
and

in if they buried Polynices: "if the decree or powerful authority of

seem a
17

we

despite the law

16

tyrants."

Law, decree,
and

power

to

be identified. The
assumption of confusion

confusion

of

law

decree

tends

to

be
one

democratic but the

(cf. Th.
and

1292a4-37);

law

3.37.3-4; Arist. Pol. power is tyrannical. If,

foUows Plato's Thrasymachus, the identification of aU however, three is a necessary consequence of asserting that justice is the advantage
of

the stronger.

them

shows that she

That Ismene is indifferent to the differences among has no illusions about the foundations of the city.
two other reasons

8.5.
give

There

are

that, according
were

to

Ismene,

should
and

Antigone
are not

pause.

The first is
and who

that they
the

born
submit

women are

hence

fit to fight men;

stronger,

second

is that they
as

ruled

by

those

who are

may

cause

them to

to still more the most

painful

things.

Ismene does
slavery,
or

not

reckon

Creon's decree
can

painful thing.

ExUe,

death,

if imposed

without their

any crime, (cf. 3.2). 8.6.

of

might

be

more painful.

Their future

committing be better or worse

Antigone

sets

herself in

opposition

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
15
16

Cf. Wilamowitz, Aischylos Interpretationen, 92 n.3. Schneidewin as an alternative gives the correct interpretation
auch

of

the

tj:

"Doch

kann Ismene
oder 17

meinen,

nenn

du esyijcpog
17-20.

oder

xodrtj, gesetzmaBige

Verordnung

Gebot des Cf. K. J.

Machthabers."

Dover, JHS 1955,

A
she

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

157

eighteen

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

(3),

yovr\

(3),
of

yevvnfia

(2),

ydvog

(2),

yheBXov
yev-

(1).

Only

thrice

does

she use words

compounded with

the root

evyevrjg

the nobUity

to be tested
and

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
nqoyevrjg

and of

the

past

is Antigone's

own name and nature as ground of

antigeneration,

out

which

comes

the paradoxical

her

actions.

She

as

fuUy
for
and

acknowledges

consanguinity
not

as she

denies

generation need

(cf.

l.l).18

8.7.
she she

Ismene is

impressed
the

by

the

to

bury Polynices;
her
pardon

believes that those beneath the

asks

earth wiU grant constraint

not

if,

when

them,

she

cites

triple

of

law,
her
rovg

nature,
argument
vnd

strength
soften

(cf. Th. 4.98.6).

she

Ismene does

expect soften

to

Antigone, but

does
of

expect

it 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

Her

the head

nqaddew)

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,
accept

9 (69-77). 9.1. Ismene's

gods'

Tiresias'

would

seem the

to

confirm
of

Antigone's

rejection

of

Ismene. One

apparent

defect in
to

plot

Tiresias,

the

Antigone, that if Creon had submitted at once suicides of Antigone, Heamon, and Eurydice would
gods'

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.
9.2. country had heard
when the

A story in Herodotus illustrates this (6.86). A Milesian who of the justice of a Spartan and knew the stability of his
MUesians'

requested that

sons came much

he hold in safekeeping later to

one-half of

his wealth; but

sum

ask

for the

deposited,
Septem
and

is

The

strongest evidence of

the genuineness

of

the ending of

Aeschylus'

(at least
Ismene

most of as

it) is

the

contrast

between the Chorus

of maidens and

Antigone

mature and

women; for

Sophocles'

invention mainly
Aeschylus'

consists
see

in unsexing

Antigone

giving her the attributes

of

Eteocles;

S.

Benardete,

Wiener Studien

1967, 22-30.

158

Interpretation

the Spartan denied that he had

it; he decided, however,

and

to

ask

the

Delphic

oracle what of

he

should

do,

the

oracle

threatened the complete

disappearance
pardon, to
act are
noifjaat,

his race;

whereupon

the Spartan begged the god for

make

which the oracle replied:

"To

trial of the god and to

xov

equivalent"

(rj

de

IJvdirj \ecpr}

\xd

neiq-ndfjvai

deov

xai

xd

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

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 9.3.

speech

tacitly denies her very

cf.

existence

only

stresses

her

importance (941,

599-600).

Antigone invokes the noble (xaXov), the dear (cpiXov), 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

holy (ooiov)

country

coincides

with

his

fighting

task accomphshed, it may be good, or as to die (461-4); but for it to be noble, there

(cf. 194-5; Ai. 1310-12). With her she later says, gainful, for her
must

be

between the burial

of one's

own as

and one's

own

necessary connection death. Antigone must

shows

imagine her does

(data
things
so

act of

burying

an act of

fighting. What

that she things

is her saying data

means
not

navovqyqaaaa.

To do the

holy

dqdv)

to avoid committing any offense against the

a

holy
to

to

profane

holy

place, for example; it does

not mean
1349).19

go out of one's
not

way to but

perform some pious

deed (cf. 256,

It is
my

enough,

then,

to translate Antigone's phrase paradoxically as

one must

"by

piety,"

criminal

be

even more
things"

nothing in the
transforms the
to the risking

performance of ordinariness of

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.
of one's

holy burying

literal: "having stopped at (cf. 300-1). Antigone thus

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.

2, 355; K. Latte, Kleine Schriften, 337. For the

and

difference between Antigone's

the

phrase

Saia doav
of

see

Thucydides in

1.71.1,

where

Corinthians distinguish the

others;
such
a

performance

justice from the

exist

abstention

from
cf.

hurting

distinction does

not

normally

sacred

matters;

Xen. Mem. 4.4.11.

A
he."

Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone for
she a new

159
perplexity.20

The

supposed
not

connection,

however,

makes

Antigone does
of

say that
them

she must please

those below because her

wiU

act

piety forever. She

more

wiU

please

forever, but because

pious proposition

he

with

them

combines what

the

that

she please those

below

because

they demand is holy

with

the hope that she wiU be

in

pious

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

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 rejoin her own, acquire them as friends. Antigone proves her right to be by deed what she already is by

9.5.

The

word

cptXog

is

ambiguous.21

It

is dear,

or

it

can mean

dear

as one's own

birth. She
enters.

reconstitutes of

the

fanuly

The love

her

own almost owes

to

which

Antigone partly

as something into which one freely becomes a matter of choice. It is this her awesome uncanniness (376). as

9.6.
yrjoaaa.

Antigone's She
and

xeiaoyiai

is

extraordinary
with

as

her data
and
"he"

navovq-

wiU

not

live but he

Polynices;

suggests

"lie dead
grave as no

buried."

Antigone's imagination does

not animate

not go

beyond the
their
state

(cf.

4.2). She does

the

dead, but thinks

of

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
corpses

(cf.

me"

haps
case

neither of

these

extremes

exactly defines
coincide

the

herself
grave.

understands what she

says, but it
should

cannot

way in which Antigone be accidental that in her

the language of the

the language

of

incest

with

9.7.
things
make

Antigone

mentions

the gods last (Ismene never

the

does)

and

the

they hold in honor. The noble, up together xd xwv Betov evxifia

and men

dear,

and
are

the

holy

probably
assigned

; but if

they

severaUy

to men, the dead, draws the eyes of

the gods,

one could

(cf.

502-4),

say that Antigone's nobihty her dearness elicits the love of the

20 21
vol.

Cf. R. E. Wycherly, CP 1947, 51-2. On its Homeric usage see E. Benveniste, Le

vocabulaire

des institutions i-e,

I, 335-53; but his

is

assertion

that q>lXog never

cplXe

means

one's own cannot

be taken

as certain: ndxeo

modified

by

but /j.fjxeQ

by i/itf.

160

Interpretation
and

dead,

her piety is
Punishment

confirmed of

by

the

gods'

refusal
gods'

to accept
reward

remorse.

the

impious

is the

Creon's for piety be

(cf. 927-8).
9.8. In Plato's Euthyphro, Socrates forced Euthyphro to
gods'

choose

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
quence that the gods are

dispensable

guides

Now in trying to understand Antigone perplexity. Is it because the holy is

commands,
or

we seem

for understanding what it is. to be caught in a similar Antigone does

what

holy

that

it

because the

what she wants

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
phro cannot arrive at a

satisfactory definition
the
relation of

of

the holy. The dialogue

wholly fails to
occurs.22

consider

the

holy

to the soul:

yivxrj

never

Antigone,
Antigone
a

on

the other

hand,

is

concerned with almost no other and even

question.

supplies what

Plato thought it best to omit,

perhaps
omitted

way that Plato did mostly approve. Plato, indeed, may have what he recognized the tragic poet alone could supply. In the Philebus, Socrates lists itself
seven

in

9.9.
soul

occasions

on

which

the

by

experiences a mixture of pleasure and pain:

dqyrj,
for the

cpdfiog,
central

nddog,

dqfjvog,

eqwg,

t,f\Xog,

cpddvog (47el-2).
call

Were it

not

threnos,
the soul.

we should

be inclined to

them

all passions or affections of

affection of

Threnos, however, is not an affection but the expression of an the soul. It is, strictly speaking, the Greek equivalent to a

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
strict

to

Socrates, comedy

too is a kind

of

threnos (50b 1-3, c5). In its

sense,

however,

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

expression artful
and

of

that mourning

(nevdog),

that its expression is primarily

occasion
of

conventional,24

and

that the

its

expression

is

primarily
the

at a

funeral

all point

to the possibUity that certain aspects of

soul are

necessarUy only

and

As

these aspects

come

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

owe

this insight to Professor Leo Strauss.

23
24

Cf. E. Reiner, Die Riluelle Totenklage der Griechen, 4-5. Cf., e.g., Aeschines 3.77: nolv nevBfjaai xai xd vo/ii^6fieva

noifjaai.

Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone
could,
without

161

they

are

in themselves.

Only
are

very

artful poet

destroying

them,

reveal them as

they

in

themselves.25

10 (78-99). 10.1.
cerned with the nature

The thirteen
of

speeches plan.

that foUow are mainly con

imply
goes,
puts what

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
not

feasibility

Antigone's

Creon is

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
she

the gods hold honorable. She herseh

wiU

proceed

to

heap

tomb for her dearest brother. Antigone's

ability.

language far

outpaces

up a her

The

guard reports

that the ground around

Polynices'

corpse was raised

unbroken

(249-50);

and

the tumulus that Creon later has

for

Polynices is
using

the work of

many

men

(1203-4). Antigone

might

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
(cf. 9.6). If
than
she cannot

in fact do
she
not

greater

Ismene's,

and she must

unclear,

moreover,

whether she

burying

Polynices. If

did

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

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'

weakness.

If those below look to intention

would

and not

to accomplishment
a reception as

(cf.
would

9.1, 9.2), Ismene

be

guaranteed as

loving

Antigone.
10.2.
not even

Only if they demand that one attempt to do the impossible she be inferior in their eyes to Antigone.
There is
a stiU more
account

terrible possibUity: that those below

wiU

take into

Antigone's

daring
of of

but

wUl

condemn on

her
one

along
to

with

Ismene for her faUure. This possibUity depends

the the
Athenians'

how

understands
pick

condemnation

their generals for

failing
gene

up Athenians later
rals'

corpses

after

the

battle

Arginusae. Although the

why the
onset of a storm

repented of their

decision,

one wonders

defense did

not at once convince

them: that the

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

it is revealing that Plato has his Athenian Stranger

to illustrate the advantage
a poet claims

use

the example of

burial

in

order

to have over a

legislator in

contra

dicting

himself (cf. Lgs. 719bl2-e5).

162

Interpretation

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

would at

be

closer

to

madness. profanes

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

10.3.

In Oedipus

and after

Colonus, Oedipus Theseus grants him

Athens'

and asks one of them prevent

to do it for

him,

him: "For I beheve

one soul

to pay this debt even for ten task and leaves; and the next
men ever

thousand"

since his lameness and blindness is enough, if it be gracious there, (498-9). Ismene assumes the

thing

we

hear

about

her is that Creon's

have did

captured

get

her (818-9). One may wonder then whether Ismene to purify her father. If one grants that she may not have,
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.
Tzdxjiog
control

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,
to
occur anywhere else

neither usage seems uses

in the

tragedians.26

Antigone
of

Tidx/tog twice more, once of the

destiny

that attends the house

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.
she

9.5);
is

and

if the

second

holds, Antigone
does,
5.1).
not

would

here

betray

her

awareness

that what she plans,

and suffers

is bound up
of she

with who

and whence she came

(cf.

10.5.

Ismene begs Antigone

to teU

anyone

her plan;

and

that she herself will do

likewise,
as

will show

Antigone,
her
to

hopes,

that she

is willing to do
scorns

as much
of

she can

to further her plan; but Antigone

this

counsel

prudence

and

bids

denounce

her to

26
even

Pindar, however, has

remotely

several

instances

of neutral

ndx/iog, but none where it is

under one's own control.

A
everyone.

Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone

163

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,

then, does

not

tion. Had Ismene taken her

at

inessential that

she succeed.

One thus begins to

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
of at

nothing does away

with

not entaU

for her the but

use of craft.

Even so, Antigone

after

easily

gets

it,

which cannot and

amaze

us, especially

hearing

Creon's
10.6.

preparations

listening

to Ismene's plausible demurral.

caught provokes

Antigone's indifference to getting

Odysseus'

Ismene into

saying that she has a hot heart for cold things. In the context of the play,

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

fulfilling

the

requirements

of

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 admits (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

she

most

of

aU

must

please.

Her gratifying

of

the dead

between the law and her passion, 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

10.7.
wiU

Antigone

says

that

she

knows

she

is pleasing,

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,
regardless
of

its accomplishment, is

enough

to please the
the
vividness

dead,
of

or,

as

Ismene takes

it,

the

present
can

tense

reflects

Antigone's
,

desire, for,

as

nothing

possibly frustrate her

confidence

(navovqyijaaaa)

she

imagines the deed already done. Ismene

ment alone can warrant

now thinks that the accomplish

Antigone's

needed

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.
and that
so
seems

in her pleasing the dead; much less than what is

Antigone
she

to maintain that the

attempt

is all-important,

and

that

does
of

not expect

to succeed. Ismene then points to the utter unseem

liness

hunting

out

the

impossible;

and

at

this suggestion that what

27

On the

ellipse with yivxeoioi see

A.D. Knox, CQ 1931, 208.

164
she

Interpretation

is

doing

is

ignoble, Antigone
of

turns

vindictive:

Ismene is hatred
of

certain

to

earn

the immediate hatred

reward

Antigone
attempt

and
and

the

lasting

Polynices.

The

for Antigone's

the punishment

for Ismene's

abstention

equaUy depend

on

the same

principle:

those below

love

or

hate in

accordance with one's willingness to go after

the impossible. In
seek

loving
own

those who

try

and

faU, they love

those
to

who

deliberately
suicide

their

death. Ismene's

natural

inabihty
/nrjxav-

commit

justifies her

punishment.

10.8.

Words
thrice
says

with

the

stem

occur seven

times,

used

Ismene,
Ismene

by

the

Chorus,

and

once, between the two triads,

by by Creon.
thrice

the citizens

(1) she is naturaUy without a /inxavij to (79), (2) Antigone is in love with things that have
that

act

despite
p,r\%avf\

no

(92), (3) it is

unseemly to hunt

(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

the Chorus say that

that have no firjxavij (92); man prevaUs over the mountain-ranging beast
out things

by

firjxavat

a man's

fvxtf, cpqdvrj/ia,
of

and

yvw/j,n

before he is tested in
matched

pubhc affairs

(175). Ismene's triad

impossibles is

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,
cold

diseases"

by the means "seemingly

Chorus'

triad of

in turn,

spells out one consequence of

things is precisely this eqwg xov the antigene-

ration of

her

name.
of

10.9. coming

Antigone in her love

of

the impossible and man in to

refute

his

over

the
of

impossible

seem

Creon's

assertion

of

the

impossibility

knowing

the exercise of political

soul, temper, and judgment apart from but if one takes him to mean by extension rule;
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)
suggest

touchstone
which
goal.

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

that

Creon correctly
man.

of

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

Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone

1 65

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
not

be

Polynices'

lack

of

burial (cf.
of

transfers the nobihty

of

her

action

to the nobUity

her

2.2, 8.5). She death, as if

(cf.
9.3).

only her death could testify to the nobihty of her By ignoring Ismene's suggestion that she practice a

action

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 way
as not and

ignobly

live on,

or make

an

attempt
she

in

such

to get caught. Antigone rejects both ways, but

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

Of the

seven occurrences

of

ndaxeiv, five

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
thing,"

she ends
suffers at

by

ordering the Chorus to

at

see what

she, who

reverenced

piety,

the hands

of what sort of men.

Her

scorn of

suffering
xd

finally
deivdv

gives

way to her indignation

her

suffering.

With

nadeiv

xovxo she

ironicaUy

refers

to her
at
not

noble

death

(xaXwg davelv); but if

she can

later be indignant

the truth. xaXcog Oaveiv is

her suffering, its literal meaning must be the equivalent of nadeiv xd deivdv xovxo,

for death in itself does

can

not admit of nobihty, any more than nobUity any account (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

be

of

dying

itself (cf.

9.3), but
pretends

not otherwise

(cf. Plato Phaedo 118a6-12).

means about means

Because Antigone

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 passionate obedience to the law burial, which is in keeping with her vivid awareness of what it
to be dead (cf.

4.5),

perhaps even thrives on

this

self-delusion.

10.12. doxel

Ismene

ends the stichomythia

dXX'

in the

same

had introduced it. Her

el

doxei

aoi

echoes

way that Antigone Antigone's ool el

d'

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,

(76); but

whereas

Antigone
dearness
that

must and

hold together. Ismene

sees

no

connection

the piety of Antigone (cf.

can

10.3), for

she

between the does not think

madness seems

She

to

fit with piety, however painfuUy it can with dearness. forget that there is such a thing as divine madness.
The
old men who

11 (100-61). 11.1.

make

up the Chorus

are

166
the
measure

Interpretation
of

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

Antigone's
extant

suffering heroine in

Sophocles'

cpiXog (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'

each

of

these

themes

the Chorus

give

the

perfect

expression.

Their

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
perfection
each case as

Chorus'

Antigone
not

or

Creon consistently
far
more moderate

is,
than

their

continual

shift

in

perspective makes them

either can

be. Their
adhere

moderation

does

arise

from

the steadiness with which

they

to sober views, but exactly the contrary. The Chorus effortlessly move from the unlimited power to man (first stasimon) to the unlimited
power of
at the

Eros (third stasimon), for they

and

are

totaUy

persuaded of each

moment,

they

never give

Adaptability,
perhaps

in
so

which moderation

any thought to their reconciliation. to a large extent consists, has never

been

brilliantly
major mouth of which

parodied.

The last
in

words

of

the play, that

moderation are
of

is the

component

happiness,

are

as

true as they
Chorus'

empty in the
sohdity, then,

the Chorus (cf.

aUows

65.1). The

lack

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
but thoughdessly,
makes

them to speak

profoundly
through

whose speeches shines

accidental con

junction,
11.3.

the Chorus can never understand.

The threefold

mention

mention of

her

gates

and

yfj)

of Thebes (compare the threefold holds the parodos together: Thebes for

which the sun

has

never shone more

of

in

answer

to the joyful presence

whose
ruler

beautifully (102), Thebes joyous Victory (149), and Thebes the

aU-night
moves

celebrant

wiU

from the

night whose

terrors the

be Dionysus (153). The parodos sun (note the threefold cpavev, forgetfulness

cpdog, ecpdvQng)
of

has dispeUed to

the night that promises

them. As the first strophe thus corresponds to the last antistrophe, so the first of the anapaestic systems, which refers to Polynices, his
quarrel
with

third,
of the and

which

Eteocles, and his marshaled army, corresponds to the describes the Argive panoplies left behind and the death
and

two

brothers;
and

the first antistrophe, which mentions

Hephaestus

Ares,

corresponds to the second

strophe,

Capaneus

Ares. The

second

anapaestic

describes nvqcpdqog system, which is the center

which

A
of

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
whose

167

seven parts, is devoted to the overboastful (cf. 1350-3). Within this

the

parodos'

Zeus,

lightning

punishes

"ring-composition"

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

the enemy's
and

torches, Ares,
of

the

clatter of

the enemy's army

in retreat,
The

Zeus the hurler

lightning

against

Capaneus,

seems

to receive in the second triad their equivalents for triumphant Thebes.

flaxxevwv

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'

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

1 1.4.

The

parodos'

and

Polynices'

Chorus'

invocation
seem

in

whose

of Dionysus as choregus of the fire-breathing stars, honor the frenzied Thyiads dance all night (1146-54). The

Chorus

unfold; but

they

to sense from the start the way in which the day wiU owe this prescience entirely to their absorption in the
not

demands

of

the moment and

one

They

say everything in

to any insight into the nature of things. way or another that has to be said about

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
mouthpiece of wisdom without

being

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,

every

on

the other

hand,
is

remains

throughout opaque, since

manifestation of

his

wisdom

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
ways or

shows

the

different
name

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

has

Chorus'

is

can

be

given.

It

seems sun

or mode of

animation.

(1)

The

to display every possible degree hovers between being a signal for

28

The

metrical shape of

808-9 is the

same as

100-2.

168
Argives'

Interpretation

the
and sets of an

flight

and the cause of their

in motion; (2)

Polynices becomes
sentence

flight: it is seen, sees, moves, so fused with the metaphor

to him what can only

eagle

that the same

attributes

belong

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;

Hephaestus

seems

to be nothing but

serpent"),29

galvanizes
ever

Ares into

higher degree
a

of

life than

a personification can
god:

have; (5)

Zeus is

fully living

anthropomorphic

he hates,

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

charioteer

and

warrior,

as

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
same

the

the the

father
and

and mother and

feels,
earth

shows
god

is the
for

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
a common
arrange

dances. It is extremely difficult to

one

this

series

on

any

scale

of

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 admit 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
not on what principle scale should

does

know

the

be based.

the

the
we

joy of Thebes (10). Now in a play 4.3, 9.6), being of a corpse (cf.
are presented
at

whose unstated

issue turns
relevant of

on

it

cannot
a

but be
of

that

the

start

with

such

variety

ways

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'

11.6.
that

they only

To the Chorus Eteocles is politicaUy negligible, so much so refer to him anonymously, without even etymologizing

29

On

xelQCo/na see are

E. Fraenkel, Ag. 1326; here, Miiller.

other passages that confirm

30

There

several

the

significance

of

the ways in

which

the Chorus sing here: 487 (

29.3); 658-9 ( 39.3); 854 ( 46.7); 1007 ( 52.4).

A Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone

169

his is be

name

(cf. Aesch. Septem 829-31),

pitiable
one

(axvyeqoiv)
as

who,

and who along with his brother nothing more; he surely does not seem to Creon thinks, deserved the aristeia (cf. 4.1). The 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
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

be the immediate

their

concern is only for what he wiU devise for the new situation (155-61). That Creon deliberately convoked them because he knew of

their

loyalty

to the house

of

Laius

(164-9)
sUence

makes their sUence aU the

stranger.
Eteocles'

What, however,
aristeia, if not

somewhat

accounts

for

their

sUence

about

for their

about

ascribe the triumph of

has

no

place

where

Zeus
the

Thebes entirely to the and Ares directly

gods would

gods.31

his rule, is that they Human exceUence

in battle. To
to
effectiveness

participate

infer, however,
recognizes
no of

from this that the Chorus hold human

be severely limited

by

limit to

man

be mistaken, for the first stasimon but death. The Chorus, then, have merely

fragments
that

convictions,

each of which

lasts just

as

long
than

as

the occasion

provokes

it (cf.

11.2).
more

11.7.

If the Chorus treat Polynices

fuUy

Eteocles, it is

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
only
with

make aU of single
out

the Argive army mdiscriminately guUty of hybris, and Capaneus for particular obloquy. The lacuna at 112
regard

makes

it uncertain, but it would seem that they do not hatred. Polynices is simply the leader of the
thus
of

Polynices
whose

Argives,
him

description
responsible and their chosen

easUy

passes

into that
Chorus'

of

the whole army.

and makes

Only

the

etymologizing for the

his

name particularizes

him

somewhat

war.

The

mUdness, then,
suggest cannot

about

Polynices

indifference to Eteocles together

supporters
wisely.

that Creon has not

gauge

his
of

And if Creon

correctly the
the mark

temper
when

the

Chorus, he

seems

bound to faU wUdly

short of

he has to face Antigone. Creon's

speech

12 (162-210). 12.1.

falls into three

main parts:

the

legitimacy
and the of

of

his

rule

first

act of

(162-74), the principles of his rule (175-91), his rule (192-206), to which he adds a restatement
of

his

principles
which

(207-10). Although the theme

seven

the

speech part and

is the
once

polis,

occurs

times, twice in

each

main

in
its

the restatement
own

(162, 167, 178, 191, 194, 203, 209),

second on man's

each part

has
and

triad on which it turns: the first part turns on the rule of

and

Laius,

Oedipus,

his two sons; the

rpvxij,

cpqdvnfia,

31

Cf. A. Maddalena,

Sofocle,

vol.

I, 55.

170
yvtofirj,
third on
which

Interpretation

only the

exercise

of

political

rule

can

reveal; and the

and

Polynices'

triple crime,

against

his country, its gods,

his

brother (cf. 27.1). 12.2.

after

Jebb's

mistranslation of

the opening
missed:

of

Creon's

speech

brings

out what one might otherwise

have

"Sirs,

the vessel of our

State,

being
then

tossed on

wUd

by
and

the

gods."

Creon,

waves, hath once more been safely steadied however, says that the gods shook xd ndXeog

righted them

(cf. OC 394). He thus

seems at once of

to absolve

Polynices

for
(cf.

the

any guilt for the war and victory. He goes much further than the Chorus
of

deprive Eteocles

any

credit

did,

who

only

assigned

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
(Oedipus'

totaUy

responsible
compels
wqBov

curse one

of

his
he

sons says

perhaps), his

aelaavxeg
r\vlx'

wqBwaav

to

reflect

when

four lines later,

Oldinovg
and

ndXiv.

If Creon

aUudes
of the

to the plague, it would be

gods

equaUy true to say

righted

If,

as might

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
of

Oedipus

as

have to say

that the gods shook

the city
either

and

Oedipus

righted not

it.

Creon,

however,
imperfect
either

cannot
wqBov

be alluding to his
riddle

preclude them

possibihty, for both but Creon does

or

not

only does the recaU Oedipus

because

of

own crimes.
of

Creon

mentions

solving Oedipus solely to

because

of

establish

his

own

accession own
right

to the throne through his

to

discovery of his the legitimacy with him, and kinship

his
the

hence his
knows

demand the
royal

loyalty

of

Chorus,

who

he

were always

loyal to the

family. One

now sees

that Creon's

temporal clause about Oedipus aUows him to gloss over the

Oedipus'

irregularity
his
sons'

of succession. one

accession as weU as

the

bearing

of

his

crimes on

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
diwXex'

pevxovx'

suppressing any specific mention of the loyalty to Oedipus; instead, Oedipus and his sons are lumped together in the phrase xovg
of
xelvwv

Chorus'

naidag, where
as

xelvwv

refers

to Laius as the father of Oedipus

and

and

Oedipus

the

father

of

Polynices

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

is

successor

to Laius

by birth,

whose reward was

the throne

but only to Oedipus the solver of Laius and marriage to his

Oedipus'

of

the riddle,

own mother.

One
and

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

easUy imagine that as hence his legitimacy was

can

soon as

crimes

became

known,

ironicaUy

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

171

without

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 remember, as if they could ever forget, that Polynices and Eteocles were the offspring of an

(cf. 486). Creon does everything he

incestuous
xelvwv

marriage

(cf.

5.1). He

wants

the Chorus to

understand

xovg

naldag as
Laius'

but he

cannot as

meaning the descendants of Laius quite bring himself to say that the Chorus
son,
which

and was

Oedipus,
loyal to
the

Oedipus

alone

would

have

given

to

x.x.n.

meaning he needs; of Oedipus, for he

normal succession

nor can

he,

on the other

hand,

suppress aU mention of

stiU needs

him to

maintain

the fiction

legitimately
must of

through three generations.

must

12.3.

As Creon
as

here

misrepresent the

line

of

succession, he

mistakenly describe
the throne
not

the

Chorus'

loyalty

to the royal

loyalty fanuly,

to the successive occupants

which,

as

we

saw, it

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
. .7).

Chorus together because implies that the city has

of which are not and never

of

their past

loyalty

to the royal

and

had discordant

elements

within

house, he it, some

His first
might

mention
a

be just
with a

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

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 admit 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

about
no

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. 12.4.
other as

Creon distinguishes foUows: yivxtf is

fvxtf, cpqdvn/ua,
what

and

yvwfin

from

each and

one

is

most

devoted to
cpqdvn/ia

or

loves,

how
mUd,

one ranks other

things in it
and

relation

to

it; S2

is the temper

of one's

devotion,
or and

whether

shows

firm

weak;

yvwfin

devotion

the

consequences one

itself as intense or lax, savage or is the reasons one has for one's draws from it. Creon Ulustrates this

first about any ruler, xwv aqlaxwv fiovXevfidxwv 8ctxig...ajixexai...dXX'...exei expands takes up yvwytn, cpqdvn/Jia, and and then again about explains [t8iov'...vofiitei yvxv ; himself,
triad in two
ways:

32

Cf. Dem. 18.280-1.

172
ovx

Interpretation

dv...owxnqiag is his
his

cpqdvnfia,

ovx

av...i/j,avxw

his

yvxij,

and

fjd'...7ioiov/ie8a

yvwytn.

Creon does
rpvxr]
or

not

see

the

problem

for the

ruler as

a question of either

yvwfin

they

are self-evident and on what one

ruler

but

of

cpqdvrj/ia,

the way
same

one acts on one's rank

judgment

most ruled

loves. As the fatherland is to

and

highest for both

ruler

and

for the

reason, only the

has in

addition

to be

courageous

and speak out

ipvxt]

and yvwfj,n.
which

His decree,
example of

in warning against what threatens everyone's This is why Creon caUs his decree his cpqdvr]/j,a (207). is the political formulation of his yvx^j, is such an

courage, for the whole city never was particularly loyal to the Labdacids. It does not think so highly of Eteocles or so httle of

Polynices

as

Creon

must.

12.5.

Creon

caUs

his

ipvxrj,

cpqdvnfia,

and

yvw/in

his

vdfioi

because for him they mean his evvofxog yvxrj, evvo/uov cpqdvntxa, and evvofiog yvw/un. He therefore does not consider what relation obtains between the
assumes
vdfioi

of

the

soul

and

the

vd/uoi

of

the

city,
an

for he

that
on

they

are

in

perfect
of

agreement.

But
the

such

agreement

depends
with

the

coincidence
replaces

the

ndXig

with

ndxqa

and

^fMv,

which

he

it in
and

formulating
to

his fv%r\

(182, 187). The

difference between city saying that Polynices Eteocles died have

said on

fatherland
the city

most

wanted of

destroy
(194),
prior

plainly appears in Creon's his fatherland (199), but

though metrically he could
whatever

behalf

*naxqag

vneq/xaxwv.

The city is

its

present regime

is, but the fatherland is thought to be

persists mention

through
ndXig.)

all changes of

to any regime and that which regime. (The Chorus in the parados never

Hatred

of

the fatherland is ipso nomine unpatriotic, but

hatred

of

the regime is

often

thought to be the highest kind

of patriotism.

Now Creon is forced to

employs

identify

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
proves

first
of

the

legahty

of

his

accession and

then the

probable exceUence of

his

rule.

The

legality, however,
loyal to the
royal

turns

on

the regime, the house

the the

Labdacids, but
Chorus to

the excellence turns on the fatherland. Creon

wants

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,
remain

family

and

which

he

could not

if he

wanted

to,

that the Labdacids were consistently

a

patriotic, Creon

asks

the

Chorus to love

family

more

than

their

33 of

Cf. Aristotle Ath. Pol. 28.5; L.

and regime

fatherland

is

shared

Strauss, City and Man, 167. Creon's confusion by the commentators: "verissime Suevernius
odio
aeque

monuit
et regis

Creontem
ofjicium

non private esse

censeat

in Polynicem iustum
esse

haec imperare,
adversus

sed quod qui

boni

civis

eos,

ament

patriam,

atque qui ei se

inimicos praebeant;

neque

in Anligonam

severum

esse odio

quodam,

sed quod sustinendum putat

imperium

suum"

(Wunder,

on

198

sqq.).

A
country,
and

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

173

the very
own

to dishonor. His
to

fanuly, besides, that his decree is designed in part loyalty, on the other hand, to the fatherland is

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

rational, for the love that

countryman
another

three generations of

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
the love
of a

feUow he
own

countryman grips

everyone

far

more

deeply

than

love but

of country:

speaks of

the

Chorus'

reverence

for the Labdacids,

not

of

his

reverence

exercise of pohtical rule reveals as undivided

for Thebes. The ipv%ij that only the love of country is not the
whose

ipvxxi

of

those

who
cpiXoi

do
and

not

rule,

between their

country Perhaps Creon, then, does not avoid the and second parts of his speech out of
sacrifice

the

that makes

love is necessarily divided that love possible.

contradiction

between the first

unique

pride

in his

his deeper feelings for the

of an

His swearing 12.6.

one
can with

oath

his country (cf. here may indicate this pride (cf.

sake of

ability to 38.1). 19.3).

The

phrase

xovg
aU

cplXovg
cpiXoi

noiovfieBa

(instead
of

of

*x.<p.
and no

xexxrj/ieBa)

assumes

that

are

matter
a

choice,
at

is

cpiXog

by

necessity.

One
act

picks

or

drops

friend

wiU.

One

therefore calculate

whether such a

friendship

wiU come

into

conflict

love

of

country
out

and

country,

however, is far
aU

more

accordingly (cf. OC 607-15). Love of deliberate, for it even begins in calculation.

and
of

One has to figure

the need for it. Love of one's own, on the other

survives

hand,

precedes

calculation

in

spite

of

calculation

(cf. 98-9): Antigone

sUence, then,
and of one's
about

never

speaks

her

yvw/j,n

(cf.

4.3). Creon's
of one's own

the possible
shows

conflict

between the love he is to

country

how

unprepared

confront

Antigone.
matter

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

justify
of

Creon's
12.7.
the laws

omission.

Creon's proclamation,

which

makes

up the third

part

his

speech, is the brother

(dbeXcpd)

of

the second part, in which

he

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

by

which

that

he

counts as

nothing

anyone who puts a

friend before his

fatherland,

34

The Chorus
recalls

characterize

Creon's

convocation of an

themselves

with an expression

that

the technical phrase at Athens for

extraordinary assembly (160-1).

174
and
of

Interpretation
that he himself
would make no one must

friend

who

was

an

enemy
and

his land. To

bury Eteocles,
of

then,
an

be

an act of

friendship,

to deprive Polynices
equate of

burial
and

act

of enmity. with

Creon thus

seems

to

honor

with

love

dishonor
or

honor

given without reverence

love,

understand

and

awe

hatred. He knows nothing dishonor without hatred. He does not as distinct from love. He does not
not

understand that one can without ever

honor but

love

someone at a

distance

and

seeing him (cf.

xovxov

1.1);

and that contempt as

with

indifference

ovda/nov

Xeyw

as with

easUy squares hatred (cf 35). For

.

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
could,
after
of

burial
ment

aU, without violating his patriotism, have prohibited the Polynices in Theban territory, which was the Athenian punish

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

of

honor

and
of

love;

an equation

that
of

seems

to have

arisen

from his taking

the laws
speech as

he

obeys
of

9.4). Creon is in his country (cf. passionate as Antigone when it comes to the law: but the laws do not shine through him, for he simply is not up to the his
soul

for the laws

degree

intensity

needed

to

bring

about such a

transparency (cf.
in
the

10.6,
law itself

11.2). Perhaps, however, Creon's faUure to due no less to his own inabUity than to the
to

represent

the law perfectly is

recalcitrance can show

being
12.8.

perfectly

represented.

Only
of

Antigone

up Creon.

For the interpretation

of

194-206

see

4.6,

and

for 198-200,
the
ritualistic

see

19.2. Despite the fact that

women,
neither

xwxvaai

strictly

means
else

lamentations
Polynices'

Creon

nor

anyone

suspects

that

sisters might

have tried to

violate

the prohibition. Creon seems

to assume that women would perform their part in funeral rites only if
there were men to prompt them.

Precisely
of

because it is
the

ritualistic

and

therefore
as

not

spontaneous

expression could

heart, Creon
originator of

regards

it

inconceivable that any woman to bury Polynices (cf. 22.10). 12.9. Of

the
seven

be the

the

plan

occurrences

of

ndXig

in Creon's speech, the

and

first
city,

three

concern, respectively, the gods,

and

Oedipus,

any

ruler

(162,

167, 178),
and stands

the last three refer, respectively, to

Eteocles,

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

with
city.

ruling Creon

(wqBwaav,
now sees no

wqBov,

evBvvwv),

difficulty

the second with obeying the in his combining both. His enhance-

3<s

Cf. Eur. Phoen. 775-6, 1629-30; Wolff-Bellermann, Riickblick, 121-3.

A Reading of
ment

Sophocles'

Antigone his devotion to the

city.36

175
city.

(avfw) of the city is the same upholding the city, he is going to improve
13
use
of

as

In

the

(211-14). 13.1.
with regard and

The Chorus distinguish between Creon's

to Polynices
and

pleasure

(dqeaxei)

Eteocles
same

and

his

power

to make

any

barely
more

suggest that

every law concerning the his pleasure is not on the

living

and

the dead.
as

They
even

level

law,

and,

tentatively,

that there is a difference between the

living

and

the

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
nominative strictly apply to the 35.1). The dead cannot be subjects whether one can speak of either the

living
of

but

not

to the dead (cf.

active

verbs. or

It is

doubtful,

then,
of

benevolence

the malevolence

wUl of

the dead. Creon surely does not beheve that Polynices, if left unburied, be powerless to injure Thebes, for he does not employ the magic
maschalismos

to

Polynices'

ensure wiU continue and

impotence;
his
can

nor

does he beheve

that

Eteocles, if buried,
given
a of

support of

Thebes.
as a

Eteocles,
model of
Polynices'

if pubhcly

funeral

monument,

serve

patriotism regardless

the city's opinion about

burial;

but

unburied corpse cannot serve as a

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;

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

the difficulty.

13.2.
the
of

This

difficulty
of

can

be

more

exactly

defined
cf.

as

foUows.

jxlaafia occurs

three times in the play, all in the

mouth of

Creon:

mutual

fratricide

Polynices

and

Eteocles
which

(172,

first, of 12.3); next,

out

Antigone's
such
of

punishment

by

starvation,

Creon has
poUution

worked

in
not

way that the

whole

city

might

avoid

(776);
of

and

third,
a

Polynices'

corpse,

whose

devouring by

the

eagles

Zeus is
slayer unless

poUution

that he fears

(1042). If fratricide
an

makes

the

unclean, the
one
assumes

city

should no more

honor Eteocles than Polynices,

assumption

turn

would seem

that death automaticaUy cleanses, to weaken Creon's case against

that in
crime

Polynices, for his

would cease to
make a

his death. In order, then, for Creon to distinction between Polynices and Eteocles, he must regard
be
punishable with poUution as
of

fratricidal
the
gods

politicaUy irrelevant: the

gods of

the city are

not

the fanuly. Antigone's punishment,

however, is politicaUy
the entire
as
of

relevant,
city.

since avoid

faUure to foUow the

poUution, then, is

proper rites would poUute not a matter

To

honor: Antigone

36

Cf. Xen. Mem. 3.1.2; Lycurg.

c.

Leocrat. 76-7.

176

Interpretation
not

Antigone is
seems to

taken into

account.

Now in

the case of

Polynices Creon

have two

ways open

to him. If

nonburial were a poUution

like

fratricide in
not poUute

being

politicaUy

irrelevant,
and

not

to

bury

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
special ceremonies

(cf.

4.1),

which

would

burial

such, though they Polynices. If, on the other

as

could

accompany
nonburial

it,

have nothing to do with to distinguish him from

like Anti
Polynices'

hand,

were a poUution

gone's punishment
would not

burial politicaUy relevant, to aUow honor Polynices, any more than the burial of Eteocles would

in

being

honor him. Creon

the

chooses neither of

these

ways.

He

argues at once of

for

pohtical relevance of

burial,

and

hence to deprive Polynices

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
city.

pohticization of

burial

wiU thus

lead him to the divinization

of

the

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
penalty?

which

As they assume that the death penalty is an infaUible deterrent, automaticaUy discharges them from the task Creon has asked them
perhaps

to perform,
everyone

they imply
be

that only

such a

penalty
would

would prevent
with

from

disobeying

Creon's decree.
an

They
(cf.

thus agree

Ismene that

suicide cannot

obligation

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
ted to guard
Polynices'

corpse cannot

be

corrupted or overwhelmed

by

force
the to

or

deceit. To

guards are

the possibihty of corruption would imply that either fanaticaUy loyal to Creon or mortaUy afraid of him;
rule out
superior rule out

rule out

in Thebes

are

the possibUity of weak; and to

cannot

force,

that the disaffected

elements

Creon's
deceit to
the

guards

the possibihty of deceit, either that be guUed or that no one would think of using

bury

Polynices (cf.

Chorus'

assumptions

shows

10.5). That nothing in the play contradicts again how easUy their simplicity can

pass 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

unlike

infallible

the Chorus, does not beheve that the death deterrent, but he beheves that, though the hope

Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone
no one can

177

for

gain can
a

be

stronger than

the fear

of

death,

commit crime
of

crime

(cf. 313-4). Not the

and

prevention

successfuUy but the detection of

is infaUible (cf. 494-5);

he too is

not contradicted of

in the

course

the play: Tiresias knows

at once who

is guUty

polluting

the city's

altars.

Creon's first oath now yields its meaning: Zevg d must hold if Creon can be certain that no crime goes (184)
should

dqwv del
undetected.
extent

That this
which

apply

even

to the present case shows the

to

Creon relies on divine support 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
the
gods

could, in

disapproving

of

his decree,

known. His
gone

punishment could not

have been

what

undetected.

punishing Creon

as with

The gods, it seems, are at cleansing Thebes of poUution (cf.

The first
speech of

let its violator be it was if Antigone had least as concerned with

stiU

9.1, 9.7).
The fact his

15 (223-43). 15.1.

the guard is the

need

strange.

that he is now before Creon seems to

superfluous.

make

to

justify
on

delay
own

Creon
whose

can

know

of

his tardiness only through his

admission;
the

and

Creon is keener
uncaUed-for

on

learning

the

news

than

blaming

guard,

Creon. To
though

the

guard

the

(xdfiavxov).31

The

crime

only serves to exasperate important thing is his own situation in his eyes is scarcely a crime (247, 256),
self-defense
most

he later dust from

expresses no repugnance at

sacrilegiously sweeping

off

the

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

Polynices'

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

is,

Creon

moreover, whoUy indifferent, as a slave, to the political purpose affects to find in his decree. Unmoved by the religious or the

political

issue, he lives
curious

solely between fear

without reason

and

hopelessness;

so

fearful
of

that he not only

confesses

to the

imaginary

crime

tardiness (a

confirmation

of

Creon's belief

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
so

hopeless that he beheves Creon's faUure to

can

punish

him for his

innocence 15.2.

only be due to the

guard

gods

(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, cpqdvnfia,

The

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.

178
coming, for he always took
translation of soul
own

Interpretation
as a command whatever

it

said.

The Loeb
soul

here is

"conscience."

He thus

assigns

to his

his

(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

self-preservation.

the

crime.

pieces

being
come

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 His
soul

dominated

by

the fear

of

punishment. offers

Only

hope

can make the out of

guard

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
as the

hope

the impasse

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

calculations.

15.3.
could
not

If the soul, in Antigone have

being

resorted

separate, to an

is

separate

from the body,

guard's

argument

like the

to
of

justify

the burial of Polynices? Polynices is guilty, but the guUt

and

is

his soul,

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

attacks

standstill;

and

then, in

order

on not dissimilar
case

(1416-44).

lines, shows how Antigone here could have made a Antigone, however, has barred herself from resorting
As
she

to any

such argument.

does

not mention

the war or the

reasons

for it (cf.
nices'

2.4),

she cannot make use of grounds

cannot appeal

that are in any way

of

connected with

it. She therefore

of

to the innocence
at

Poly
her

corpse, for its innocence

would

be bought
turn

the

price

of

arguing on behalf herself to do (cf.

Polynices

as

individual,

which she can never

at

bring
on

1.1). Her

own arguments

different times

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

officium

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

naturae

humanae

dicitur."

praestari

Reading
.

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

179

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

guard

talks

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 he is
is
wiped out

any trace

of

them. The guard,

who

then,

either

is thinking in

terms of a passer-by
not

(256),

did

aU

that

a nonrelative should

do,

or

scrupulously

exact

in his report,
not concern

and the possible omission of

some part of the ritual so circumstantial crime that

or

does

him; but
conclude

the rest

of

his

report
a

it
the

reads

like

detective

story's presentation of

clueless

one

should

rather

that

the

guard,

no

more than

Creon

Chorus,

ever considers

the possibihty that Anti

gone and/or

Ismene

could

be responsible.
(no

16.2.

As the

guard says that someone sprinkled a one else

dust

on the corpse's skin

learn that Polynices before

we should not

was

lying

light covering of in the play mentions its skin), we naked in the plain (cf. 410); a fact
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 flesh
and

bones, but its

skin

alone.

Burial

ceremony (cf. Her. 2.86.3-7). involves the entire body, aU the boneless
superficial

is, hteraUy Nonburial, on the

not avoid

speaking,
other

hand,

parts of which are

hable to the

devouring
eaten, for

of no

dogs

and

birds. Burial does

the

threat of

being

provision, however

(cf.

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
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.
a question

flimsy, has to be made against worms of being (seen) naked and torn apart

25.3).
the discov
of guilt of

17 (249-77). 17.1. ery

and and

The
of

guard's crime

speech

is in three
the

parts:

description
of

the

(249-58),

accusations

declarations
and

innocence among the

the
guard

guards

(259-67),

the

casting

lots

the
are

appointment of

(268-77). What holds the

reaction:

speech

together

the three stages in the

and

guards'

disagreeable
wonder,

surprise

(254),
17.2.
gives

just indignation,
The first

fear (270).

One

can

however,
of which
guards'

whether

their indignation differs from their fear.

part again

is in three subsections, the first

second state of guard

the setting

(249-52),
and

the

the

discovery

and

the

reaction

(253-54),

the last the that the

the buried corpse (255-58). The

impression

of exactness

conveys

is primarily due to his

eXBdvxog

dyadic

phrasing: yevfjdog

nXfjyfiadixeXXng

aqqw^enrjiJia^evfievri, r\cpdvlaxoxvnp'r\qr}g,
andaavxog.

ix^oXij, oxvcpXdgx^6a0?> Bnqdgxvvdjv,

The first

subsection

Polynices'

one

thinks at once of
suggests

pickaxes

that men

of

how surprising it is that no sisters, for the absence of carts and the city were not involved. But its true
shows

1 80
significance
emerges skiU

Interpretation

trace

of

human
passed

only in hght (cf. 23). The

to the

of

the first

stasimon:

there is

no

guard's own

inference,

on the other

hand,
who

that the casual means of burial is

exphcable

just

by

points

difficulty
had
yet

burial (cf.
that it was

13). If

some

non-Theban

Creon's decree
the

that no

animal

in terms of someone in Creon's attempt to politicize with no intention of violating discovered the corpse implies
rout,
and perhaps even

buried

soon after

the

Argives'

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
promulgation of the

decree

the corpse, perhaps

without even

knowing

whose

suppose
crime. of

that

the

gods

guarantee

the prevention

of

the

unintentional

As

soon as

Polynices

feU,

the

gods must

have
a

erected a

barrier
a

some

sort

around

the corpse to forestaU

chance

such

chance

occurrence
requires

(cf.

26.1). To

eliminate

and

yet

not

invoke fate

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

who

deny

one would always or

that any son ever kiUed his own mother or father, find on inquiry that the supposed son was either

bastard

supposititious

(Her. 1.137.2). If Creon does

subscribe

to

the

Persians'

belief,
attempt

even after

Jocasta, his
simply does

witnessing the suffering of Oedipus and to regularize the royal house would not, as it first
prompted that

appeared, have been

not patricide occurred.

by

seh-interest

alone

(cf.
of

12.2). He incest
and

beheve

those

unintentional

crimes

Fratricide is
(cf.

another matter

then,

understands

his decree

as a

law that

can

(cf. 170, 200-1). Creon, neither be unintentionaUy

violated nor go undetected

which needs

14.2). It is
not need

almost a self-evident
of

law,

laws);

scarcely and if promulgated, does

speUed
out

to be promulgated (it is the brother

his

soul's

transgression

(cf.

14.1). Creon

to have the penalty for its wants to believe that no

one will violate

it,

not

even

because its

violator wiU

because the death penalty wiU deter everyone, nor be caught, but because it cannot be done.

He cannot,

however,

quite

bring

himself to believe it. His low

estimate

of men prevents

him (221-2).
the wild beast to dogs (cf. 1081-2).

17.3.

The

guard opposes

Dogs,
cities.

domesticated animals, which Antigone's faUure to mention dogs as

then,

are

belong
a

to men

living
to

in

possible

threat

Polynices'

corpse
could

(cf.
thus

4.6)

might

imply

that she cannot admit that man's

friend
self-

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).

betray

him. It

might

be

sign

of

17.4.
and walk

Each

guard

grandly boasted to the

were aU

others

his

own

innocence

ignorance.
through

They

fire,

and swear

ready to lift up hot ingots in their hands, by the gods. Of this triad, the play puts
the guard admits that his return

to the test only their

swearing:

belies

Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone
guards'

181
willingness

his

oath

(388-94). However this may be, the

to

undergo two

fiery
soul

ordeals gives us

by implication
guards separate

the second

interpre

tation
to

of

the

bochly
of

pain

(cf. 15.2). The from their souls, or

of

themselves
their

as subject

whatever one should caU the reposi

and

tory

their

knowledge
it

their

innocence;
from any

innocence is

so

powerful that

can preserve them

as

possible punishment.

The

body, then, is inviolable

5.93). Each
outdone

guard seemed to

long as the soul is guUtless (cf. Antiphon lay claim to this behef in an effort not to be
As his peers could not force him to kind of boasting. The guard, in any
offer

by

what another might say.

submit to the

ordeal, it
power

was a safe

case,

when alone with

himself,

abandons the view that

not

limits to its
replaces
sees

he does

to prove his

it

with an abject submission of

to

fate,

which

soul has no innocence and is the only way he

his

to maintain the innocence

the punishable

body

and

the

un

punishable guUt of the soul.

aBv/iia

CoUective
gods'

(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 submisrepresents the
greater
piety.

individual providential care of innocence in this face of an undeserved but fated death.
/ueyaXofvxla yields

to

siveness

The

guard

never

suggests,

as

Antigone does, that the gods Antigone's piety is not based

17.5.
guard now

wiU vindicate
on either

him after his death (925-8). worldly hope or fear (cf. 896-7).
aU

The

unlimited power of the soul puts

as the

the guards into

as

much of an

impasse

vacUlatory

weakness of the soul

later

puts

the

the way

(cf. 233, 268, 274). The soul then discovered fate as a way out; out is through chance. The casting of lots condemns
seems to

the guard. It
confronted

(xadaiqei)

be the

with

coUective
election

to understand his
answers the comfort

way of finding a scapegoat when innocence. The scapegoat, however, prefers otherwise. Fearful of punishment, the guard
coUective
me?"

question,

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

than

with "Why involuntary self-sacrifice,

"It is my

fate."

Fate is

more a

only

can

caUed good

good;
"good"

indeed,
she

the
calls

ironicaUy:
his
nor private

only time she uses the word, Creon the good Creon (31).

she

too

means

it

Creon

alone

uses

in its only other occurrence, without irony: whoever subordinates interests to the city remains in the stress of war a just and
sacrifice can

(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
comrade-in-arms

her

39

Cf.

PI.

Ap.S.

24b4-5:

MiXr\xov

xdv

dyaBdv

xai

qjtXonoXiv,

&g

cp-nai

Dem. 24.127.

1 82
aU are spoken

Interpretation

(179, 197, 1114), and of the four of xQVar?> three are spoken by Creon, and Haemon uses the other to speak un may be grudgingly of Creon's good sense (299, 520, 635, 662). too worldly a word for Antigone, whose noble sacrifice is "good for

by

Creon

"Good"

nothing."

She surely does

not

help

anyone or

anything, for

neither

the

law
that

nor

the dead has to be helped (cf.

makes

doing
be

good

actions are

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
revise this conclusion.

4.3). The very superfluousness thus prevent her from being or

compeUed

18 (278-9). 18.1.
the

It is

not

just the

absence

of

clues

that makes

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
Chorus
think that the gods might

19 (280-314). 19.1.
proves

Creon's

speech consists of

three parts: the first

that the

gods could not

reveals

those

truly

responsible

have buried Polynices (280-9a), the second and how they managed it (289b-301), and

the third threatens the guards unless

they find

Creon is far
or passive
comes
gods'

more

certain

that the guards

the one guUty (302-14). have been bribed than that

their active which
or

they did it (294, 306). He

complicity
to
close

prefers, in any case, to believe in

than in their carelessness (cf. the god's
concern

rather

14.1),

implying

either

for Polynices

the

indifference to Creon's decree (cf.

17.2).

In arguing that to prohibit consequence of his soul's laws, Creon burn to the
ground the

19.2.

Polynices'

burial is

the self-evident
wanted

says

that Polynices

to

land

of

(or country), taste

of common

his father(s) and the gods of his race blood, and lead the rest of his city into
order

slavery (199-202); but now, in have buried Polynices, he says

columned

to prove that the gods

could not

that

Polynices

came

to

set

fire to

the
and and

temples,
the

the votive offerings, and the earth

of

the gods

to

scatter

their laws. Creon drops the arguments based on fratricide the

gods'

slavery, for
to

justify

first is too private, and the second too pohtical, for either Polynices' horror at crime (cf. 13.2). He replaces,
yfj
exelvwv

moreover, yfj
with
vaol

naxqwa with

(i.e., Becov),
argued

and

Beol

ol

and

avaBrj/xaxa.

He first

for

Polynices'

iyyevelg treachery

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

but the whoUy
second separate

has him

firing

what

not differ from belongs to the gods,

their

statues;

who are now

from the

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

especiaUy

one

forgiveness

would

be

inconceivable; but

this

impiety heightening

to the

has

A
the
on effect of

Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone

183

persons.

stasimon

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
gods

could

not

takes to be the

same as

saying

that

have buried Polynices, which Creon they could not have honored him
enemies. of

(cf.

13.2), Creon declares

moves

that the true culprits are pohtical

Creon
city,
those

from

the pohticization of

burial to the divinization

pohtical

the

and

from there back to the purely

Polynices'

ting how
against

sacrilegiousness could ever

conflict, without indica be the rallying point of

who

secretly
gods.

murmur against

him. To
at

revolt against

the

Creon keeps his

original

identification

him is to revolt of his regime

of

with

the

fatherland (cf.
replace
cannot assume

12.5)
of

the

same

time that he has been

with

compeUed to

the land

the ancestors
gods

the land

the

gods.

As he

that the

are the ancestors

gods'

for he has to

deny

every

possible

basis for

the

(cf. 938), forgiveness of Poly

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
regent

for the distant

with

gods

legitimacy
the

his

divinely
It is
no

(cf. 304). What plainly links his political appointed role are the laws of his soul,
statesmanship, the wonder, then,
refute ground of the

which are at once the test of

wUl of the gods.

city,

and

that Creon

swears so

freely
that

(184, 305, 758)

divine law

and never

deigns to

Antigone's

contention

Polynices'

sanctions

burial (cf.

29.1). He is

the

first to

speak of mortals and

human beings (295, 299).

the bad
their
effect of

19.4.
sacks

Creon

exemplifies

cities, it

expels men of mortals

from
in

homes,

and

money in three ways: it it perversely instructs

and

the

good wits

shameless

deeds. The city

wits
of

the

family,
can

Creon implies,
either good or

are

unqualifiedly good; only the

shows no awareness

(cpqeveg)

be

bad. Creon

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

(vd/itofia)

that

ever grew

(efiXaoxe) among human beings.

is entirely conven burial rites, which

It

owes

its

quasi-natural status

to its universahty. It

tional and yet universal. It therefore reminds one of

equaUy
to be

seem

to be

conventional

and yet

universal;

indeed, they
to do

seem

even more

closely connected, for

they both have

with what

is

1 84

Interpretation
earth

beneath the In
the
one

(cf.

22.8):

another name

for Hades is Plouton

coined

(1200).40

god of the

decisive respect, however, Plouton the god of dead differ. The conventionahty of

wealth and

Plouton

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

soul.

No

other
on

practice,
the other

as

far

as

directly.

Coinage,

hand,

carries with

I know, implies so much so it no such implications.

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,

of

this or that piece

melt

of money.

One

can without sacrUege

deface it,
always
and

bury it,
or

it,

or even not use

it;

and when

it is in use, it
obol).

remains

neutral,
even

whether

the transaction be between one man

and

another,

between The

man

god
soul

(Charon's

But

the

corpse
with

is

never neutral.

gods and

the

have

stamped
of

it

indelibly
and
wiU at

themselves.

Creon, however,
pieces
of
Polynices'

treats the corpses

metal

Polynices
coined

Eteocles as if they were in any denomination: now to be discontinued;

valuation.

that could
old

be

corpse

is in the

currency,

which

is

Eteocles'

is in the new, currency

which gives

it

higher

But Creon issues his

new

without

altering the beliefs

that alone can validate the change. Creon does not pretend to understand
either

the gods or the soul

on each

he

puts

corpse

is independent

differently. He believes that the price (xi/itf) of such beliefs. He does not
assigns

realize

that the neutrahty he thus

the corpse in itself entails a

reassessment of not a radical

both the

gods and the soul

(cf.

13.2). His

impiety

is

impiety.
gives

19.5.

Creon

the third

interpretation

of

the soul. He threatens

the guards with torture

leading

to

death,
and

so act

that in the

future they

might

know the limits

of

rightful

gain

accordingly. which

The torture is

justified be the
as a

not so

much as a punishment

(for

education.

Creon is the first to

mention

Hades;

and

death suffices) as an though it seems to

of

equivalent of where

death,

Creon
can

must assume

the existence

Hades

place

the

guards
guards'

learned
torture

so painfuUy.

The

the lesson they wiU have future reformation presupposes that under
practice

they
pain

wiU

blurt
not

out on

that which

they

and

for the

inflicted

the

body
it.41

opens

up the

Creon already know; truth hidden within

which

(the soul) but does

M esp.

distort

The soul, then,

and

is too
Dem.

guileless

For 213:

the
elnslv

connection

between

vdpog

v6/iio/*a

see
/xiv

24.212-4;
elvai xwv

[SoXcova

Xiyerai]

I8xi

avxdg rjyeixai

dgyvgiov

vd/uof*'

Idicov
41

ovvaXXay/idxcov elvexa roig

Idicbxaig

evQ-n/xivov, xovg di v6/xovg

v6fita/ia

xfjg

ndXeiog elvai.

On the

pros and cons of

torture in the orators

see

Wyse's

note on

Isaeus 8.12.1.

A
to invent to
a plausible

Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone

185
which

he, is tightiy bound

which and

to the

body,

is too

weak

resist and

through

it learns. The
of

soul when subordinate assumes

to the to be

body
of

lacks both nobUity

from the

deivdxng. Creon thus

the

the inverse
soul

the second interpretation

soul,

which

held the

separate

body

and yet

strong

enough

to protect it from pain

(cf.
pain
or

17.4). Both interpretations,

is
the

however,

share the view that

bodUy

true touchstone

of

the soul, whether to prove its innocence

its guUty knowledge. 20 (315-22). 20.1. After

Creon's

threats that

of

torture,

the

guard

presents a

topology
of other

of the

nonbodUy

pain

accompanies
ears

indignation. only to

Indignation is
speeches, the

two kinds. One resides in the

resides

and reacts and reacts

in the soul,

or

cpqeveg,

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.
guards

only to this difference.

bribed the
always

Creon's instant suspicion that his pohtical enemies is merely a gloss on this confusion. Indignation of "the criminal"; it
must

the soul cannot be satisfied with the emptiness of

vent

"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 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.

15.2). That interpretation

fear

and

guUt prostrate

of of

undeserved

but

unavoidable

punishment,

or

born

of

its ignorance
of

those who
one
of

deserve to be
Odysseus

punished.

The first kind

frustration
second guard

reminds of

confronted

with

AchiUes slaying Hector for a crime would thus be an ignoble Odysseus, who

Posidon's wrath; the that is his own. The

as

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

superficial

criminal

rather, means,
your superficial
separate

"The

criminal

makes

the

real

you

indignant, I irritate

self."

The
of

soul

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

from the

rest

oneself

In this sense, the

guard reverses

1 86
of

Interpretation
soul

the

and

"Not only did you commit the worse you betrayed your soul for into giving up his true self. Here for
meaning
of

the self, but he denies that it is something separate: he tells the guard, "but what is Money seduced the guard
crime," money."

the

first time
one

soul

keeps its primary

most

life, but

at

the same time it bears a trace of Creon's first inter

pretation,

which

made

it the

same

as

what

should

love

and of

honor (cf.

12.4). Creon thus insists

as much on

the

inseparability
ipvxv

body

and soul

he

alone uses awpia on

as

the

equivalent of

(675)

as the guard

does

Creon's
who
or

away from himself, but Creon thwarts him in a way that leaves nothing
anger

their separateness; for the guard wants to deflect wants to punish anyone
of one's own unpunished

uncorrected.

20.3.
pretations

The
of

scene

between Creon

and

the

guard

presents

five inter

the

separate
separate

and
and

strong

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).
soul. separate and weak maintains

What

no an

one

is

that

the

soul soul

is

connected

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
as

interpretation
unlike

would

have the

on

the

gods

as

to

Polynices'

corpse,

which

is

so

great

that she unnecessarily returns

paradoxical

to it (cf.

10.1), hes in her living

this

interpretation

of
at

the soul (cf. 95). Whether this is the true ground of her actions, or

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.
reiteration
of

The

guard

is

no

longer

afraid.

In

spite of

Creon's

they

wUl

his threats that, be punished, he does

unless
not

the guards discover the culprits,

seriously.

take him

Not his diligence,

the
culprit wUl

spurred on

by fear, but
guard

pure chance wUl

decide

whether

be found. The
to

fate,

with

thus moves from expressing his own resignation which he had entered, to expressing the indifference of

chance,
gerated
as

with which either

he leaves (cf.

his initial fearfulness

or

17.5). The guard, then, has exag his final lack of concern; and

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
once
makes

him

veer

to the opposite
escape nor

he

neither

hoped for his

ultimately due, not to his own verbal gods do not intervene on behalf of the innocent in
of

extreme. He acknowledges that judged it probable; for it was dexterity, but to the gods. The

the spectacular

the ordeal (cf.

one

17.4),
of

but in

the

than

to be the

hopelessly discovery
opens

feared they
the
at

would.

way The

of events

turning

out

way better

providential gods

thus seem

soul cheated of which

the future its own fears had

devised. The debt,

the
gods

any rate,
our

the guard beheves he owes to

stasimon's

the way to

understanding why the first

Reading
the

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

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

implicit

assertion

that

gods

do

not

stand

necessarily

connected with man's artfulness

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 soul

Choephoroi.

everything, Ulustrates the way in

which

man's almost

competence always outstrips

unavoidable error

his

self-knowledge.
more

It is
to

a great

but

for
and

us

to

give

weight

the first

stasimon

than to the guard

his

speeches. stasimon not

22 (332-75). 22.1.
of

The first

presupposes

the

correctness

Creon's

proof

that the gods did

bury

Polynices (cf.

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

the

extent of man's

stoppmg-at-nothing, do

not

try

to account. Creon had given the love of base gain

(money)
might
some

as

the

cause of man's
replace

criminality; but the Chorus do not, as one that cause with the neutral love of gain. Neither

expect,
ulterior

end nor a

Prometheus

explains man's

inventive daring. It is

an

irreducible

part of man.

22.2.
of

The

stasimon presents man's

each of which

four aspects, to
and of

uncanny awesomeness as consisting it devotes a strophe: man's restlessness,

aU

man's

superiority to,

and

mastery of,
and good verbs. man's
or

other

living beings,
which strophe

man's

devising
the

understanding,

freedom,

leaves to him
thus

choice

foUowing

the
of

the

bad. Each
echoed
at

has

its

own characteristic set

The first begins

and

with

neXei,

which

retains

its

original sense of motion

noXevwv

is

the strophe's end

rest:

by
a

the

cognate

and

these two verbs frame the

xmQeh
aU of

neqwv,

dnoxqvexai, IXXofievwv. piece: djMpifiaXwv, dyqei, xqaxel,

second strophe and

The first
and

antistrophe

is likewise
en
ovbev

Schoene's

plausible

dxfid^exai.
eg^era,

The
with

in turn has:
the
second

ediddaxo,
antistrophe

anoqog

gvpnecpqaoxai;
his
Throughout the

contrasts

man's

freedom
cpqovwv.

sociahty:

naqslqwv,

naqiaxiog,

yevoixo,

laov

stasimon of

the prepositions, compounded or uncompounded,

confronting,

and rising above him: swamp ndqav, neqi-, every dno- (first strophe), (first antistrophe), d/icpt-, vneqxdxav, vn, v/j,- (second strophe), vndq, en (second antistrophe). vn-, in',

carry the

notion

man's

outflanking,

chaUenge, even those that threaten to

neqi-

22.3.

The

stasimon

seems

to

progress

from showing

man's

mastery

188
of the

Interpretation

inanimate

sea and earth and

(first antistrophe),
which

from there to his for his

(first strophe), to his mastery of relation to himself

own self-preservation
with

animals as one

who contrives the means

(second strophe),
and

then leads

by

contrast

to his relation

others, the city

the

gods

(second
of which

antistrophe).

This
are

schematization

is

open

to

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,
where
high.42

the Chorus

the

Chorus
man's

speak of

the earth's

laws,

and

how the city

stands

Man's
are and

violation of

iUustrates
the
arts gods

beivdxng,

the highest god, which, the Chorus recognize, does not fit with their later assumption that

its

only wilfully but not essentially subversive of the city, laws. For all the narrowness of Creon's belief that money
aU of man's

accounts

for
of

navovqyia,

he

understands

better than the

that art,
man's as

Chorus its

essential

impiety. The Chorus do

not

see

the

breaking
across

apparent

the

dividing
of

sea

hmits, (i.e., traveling

whether

it be in allowing
to
other

passage

cities)

or

in its
to

ignoring
the

the
not

surface

the

earth

as

man's

proper of

place,

points as

only
crime.

as

the

unwUling

harborer
of

crime

but

city itself founded

on
of

The descendants
which

Cain,

who

offered

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
the

land,

(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
with

and one

the gods
another

(their (cf.
or

laws), its
10.9):
43

two

supports

are

not

in
not

harmony
through
as such

for the city,

preserve

which

serves

the

arts

man's

need

desire to

himself, does

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

necessarily find the gods useful. 22.4. The Chorus list nine ways in which

to do

with

man's
and

relation

to himself

other

men.

taught speech is
yet

central

with his relation One is therefore inclined to say that selfbecause it separates men from non-men. And

to non-men, the last five

there

are

the

gods

and

their

evoqxog

blxa.
and

Oaths

and

prayers prevent

prevent the

hmiting
us about

of speech

to man's
with

hearing,

divine laws

its limitation to

man

speaking

man.

What, then, does

guard,
who

the play

itself teach

them?

Leaving

aside of

Creon's
the

three vain oaths suggests

(184,
that

305, 758),

we

have the testimony

swear, "for the
dxptnoXig,
see

mortals should never

afterthought

belies

one's

judgment"

42 43

For the meaning

of

F. Sommer,

op.

cit., 174.

Cf. Arist. Politica 1328M1-3.

A Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone

1 89

(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
to
guard speech

which

justice has

so

large

a share

(cf. Her.
not

1.138.1).44

would

thus unwittingly

confirm

the
were

Chorus'

attribution

of

to man's own

discovery

(cf.

17.4),

it

that divine

law,

which

speech of

Antigone appeals, contradicts it. But even apart from the the gods, which is divine law, one cannot forget that Tiresias
that Creon has violated divine law through
of

first

suspects

hearing
speak

the

barbaric

sound

birds (1001-2). The light-witted birds

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
city. would unite man's seem

inventiveness

and

divine law in

the
a

The Chorus
of

to take their actual coexistence in the city as

of

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

moral

man's

the gods from

men.

22.5.

Aeschylus'

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
stasimon most

anything

above or

strikingly differs from this list by the absence in it below the earth: neither astronomy nor metaUurgy,

neither
earth

divination

nor numbers.

Apart from the

ways

slight penetration of

the

that ploughing

involves,

the

stasimon restricts man's

beivdxng

to
and

the

surface

of the earth.

The different
to the
says

in

which

Prometheus
sunless

the Chorus treat

xd
ovqdvia.

housing

also point

stasimon's

dehberate

exclusion of

Prometheus

that

men

first lived in

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.

There is
of

no

sense

here
of

of man's openness

to things beyond

himself,
neutral

only

the

inabUity

things to

resist

man.

One therefore
as

suspects that

what permits

the Chorus to

regard man's

daring

moraUy

is,

besides their
world.

sUence about what motivates

crosses

it, just this

closedness

of

the human
at other

Man

the

sea not

to trade with, conquer, or

outbraves

look
44 45

men

(cf. a3, Her. 3.139.1); he merely

it,

as

Cf S. Benardete, AGON 1967, 160-1. Cf. S. Benardete, RhM 1964, 126-39.

190
though he were
at

Interpretation

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; play
with

the

elements.

but

at

the

same

time the Chorus have

thereby drained it
and

of

its

essential

recalcitrance

to

being

harmonized

with

the city

the gods. Man

is

more

terrible than

even

the Chorus beheve.

22.6.
once
more

The

stasimon

directly

refers

to

man

by

the neuter

demonstrative

pronoun: as

thrice, twice by name, and dvBqwnog there is nothing

xovxo

uncanny, as

dvijq
the

he is nsqicpqadrfg,

and as

he

crosses

the

sea and wears out

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

artisan,

stands

Neuter man, furthest removed from

earth.46

which

exactly

characterizes man

1).47

unerotic

nature.

Chorus
culprit

are not as

How they are related one far off in their conjecture

cannot

now

as

to the

character

say; but the of the

relevant

23.1). The as they later imagine (cf. Antigone in more than a negative way.
22.7.

stasimon

is

to

The

stasimon mentions gods anonymously:

thrice,

twice

by

name, and

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 cpevyeiv, cpev^iv, cpvydg), are those whose justice men swear by as a guarantee of their own. Both
and

men and gods

in Homer

swear

sun, rivers,
an obstacle and

and

Zeus,

and

the gods

by Earth, and men swear by Ouranos, sea, and

sea

as weU

by

the

80, S 271-4, O
man; the

36-8). For the Chorus the

is

not

Styx ( r 276divine, but merely

outraged

to man;

Earth,
sky
to be

though

divine, is

continuaUy

by

sun and

are conspicuous

by

their absence. Their ab

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
gods, vneqxaxog occurs

sence, moreover, the highest of the

seems

deliberately
first

referred

to, for Earth is

caUed

vipijUqefie-

has
nes

someone caU

Eros the highest

caU

of aU gods once

(fr.

269.2);

and

Aristopha

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
earth;48

has the birds

Zeus'

when combined with

Earth this

sense

is

incongruously

restored

to it. The

46
47

On

xovxo

see

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?

Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone
impossible

191
com

Chorus
promise

call

the Earth

highest,

perhaps,

as a result of an

between its true owner, Zeus, to

whom

the Chorus

deny

any limit

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.

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

is

22.8.
stasimon

Earth

as a goddess

has

so

far

perplexed our

understanding
of

of

the

in two ways, both

a

of which pertain

to the

difficulty
and

the violation of the earth with the city,

its oaths,

reconciling laws. There is,

moreover,

third

difficulty

around which as

the whole play revolves. The

cannot

stasimon acknowledges

Hades

the only limit man

not such a means. we

by

breach

or

bypass:

immortality

is

It

cannot

any means be acciden

man's

tal, therefore,
violation of the with man's
earth

that the stasimon suggests that

put

together

earth, to

whose surface

his

daring

is

otherwise

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 (cf.

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
generation of men of

thus be

man, for the death

of

individuals

cannot prevent one

from passing on the fruits of its beivdxng to the next. The human world is not as closed to the gods as the stasimon makes
out.

The
other
of

Chorus, however,
difficulties Earth
calling
man,

are no more aware of makes

this than

they

are of

the

for them.

They do

not understand the

class-

import

man a neuter

this.

They
to a

characteristic of

limitlessness,
in
a

confusedly move from a limitation that though equaUy

not

universal applies to each man

way that does

thus

interfere

with man's

limitlessness. The

consequence of

treating
and

the class

as an

individual

is that nothing
man as man.

then stands
of

between

hence

connects

the city and

The laws
of

gone therefore
provides

standing the laws is

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 land
,

Chorus'

sacred

bond between the land

and

and

the

earth.

It is through

Hades that the particular

22.9.

the

universal come

together.
which

In

way

reminiscent of

the parodos,

displayed

various

degrees

of personification

(cf.

11.5),

the play as a whole seems to give

For the

impiety

of

mining

see

Pliny NH 33.1-3.

192
an exhaustive

Interpretation

hst

of

the

ways

in
of

which

the

earth

can

Of the twenty-one
the dead below the
and
Polynices'

occurrences
earth

(24),

yfj, xQ<*>v, x^Qa> the middle to earth as a goddess

be understood. ^e ^si refers to

(338),
for
of

the last to the tumulus

remains

of native soU

Creon's

servants

erected

(1203). Burial rites, in aUowing for the

country,
appears

sense

earth as stuff

to

coincide with that of earth as

to be the

unifying
earth

core

of

earth's
and

divergent
earth's

meanings. and

Somewhere between the

surface,
which

(24, 65)

the

hard

unyielding

either the goddess Earth or the whether

earth

it be identified
ancestors

with

in itself comprehends, hes the city, the regime, the fatherland (the place

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
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 passage

primarily

connotes.

ignoring
22.10.
seventh,

of

generation

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.
Ismene's

Of the
dorvvd/j,oi

nine

manifestations

of

man's

beivdxng
seem

dqyai,

is

not

at

once aU

intelligible.

only the What further

emphasizes

its

anomalousness

is

that

the rest

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

limits the Chorus

regard as uncanny;
man's own

but this very

makes one

claim

that civUity or

decency

results

from

laws

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

up

anyone who

died in

the streets

(Arist.
ydq
agree

Ath. Pol. 50). One is thus

xonqtwv

reminded of

Heraclitus'

saying,
a

vexveg

exfiXnxdxeqoi precept

(fr. 96). Even if

Socrates

can

laughingly

with

this

(cf. PI. Phaedo

115a3-5),

the city does not treat

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

A Reading of
understand

Sophocles'

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 cpBey/ia, cpqdvrjjua, and daxvvdfioi dqyai, which

The

original

man

has taught
yvw/urj,

himself,
which

remind one of

Creon's triad
of

of

ywxij, cpqdvn/j,a,
rule can
reveal

and

only the
cannot

exercise

pohtical

(cf.

$ 12.4). The

triads

be

matched

one-to-one,

for Creon's

cpBey/xa and cpqdvnfia whUe their daxvvd/uoi yvwpirj embraces the dqyai is a partial combination of his rpvxrj and cpqdvnfta. The Chorus thus expand what Creon regards as the easiest aspect of ruling, and they

Chorus'

contract

into daxwd/ioi dqyai

man's

what

Creon
the

analyzes more carefuUy.

For

the

in town

Chorus, life; for Creon,

assert

boldness is
the
ultimate

extrapolitical and

courage of

ruler

astonishingly in abiding by the best

would
man's

sacrificed

deliberations is the
correctly dqyai cannot be
retain enough more than perhaps
as

test

of

his

exceUence.

that for

knowing
as

a man rule

is

Creon, then, indispensable, for

dqyai

mUd

the Chorus beheve. His

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,
to the

as opposed place

daxv,

as

constituting
of aU that
with

a part of man's

beivdxng.

They

it

aside as

the haven

is

good and noble

a

because they
that even

faU to consider its connection Creon somewhat understands.

the soul,

connection

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

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
.

to death (cf

be bettered: completely artless, but infi 9.3, 10.5). For the Chorus,

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

to

go

through

fire

(tivq diigneiv)
to

as

proof

of

their innocence

well

illustrates (and

perhaps

is

meant

illustrate)

the

original

force

of a custom that

later decayed into

a manner of

expression, as in Xen. Symp. 4.16:

did
that
as

nvgog
in'

Uvai
ovdiv comes

bi

(cf. K. Latte, Heiliges Recht, 5-6, n. 2). inl could be distinguished from sgxexai
to nothing
of

man

any

account

for

all

he

ultimately

is (cf. El 245, 1129); but it is

not

ftrjdiv i. as meaning his resourcefulness, resourceless to be insisted upon (cf. Ai. 1231; xo /irjdiv

El

1166):

xaxBavcbv

di nag

dvfjQ

yfj

xai

oxld

eis o-udiv qinei

(Eur.

fr. 536).

194

Interpretation

limits

that

Ismene

thinks

are

insuperable:

8.6). Antigone does Death is brought

recalcitrant

not get around

within

the

realm of

law, nature, and power (cf. death, she sides with it against life. the bvvaxd, though it seems to be
unwritten

to exploitation,

through

the

law. Antigone's devotion

exel

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
the
Chorus'

ydq

misreads

meaning, one must face the

a colon.

lurk behind
between

navxondqog

question of why Antigone should What is the Chorus looking at when they pause and anoqogl Man's flight from death results in his

daring
finite
future

confrontation with

resources man

everything that threatens death. With his in expands the horizon of possibihty. He thus pushes

to the periphery
what

what

remains

right

originaUy was in front

at

of

navxondqog

and

anoqog

that man's artfulness

is grounded has brought about. The

himself has
precedes made

center and puts off into the him. The colon, then, between in the displacement of the horizon

the

Chorus'

sUence represents

the barrier that

man

Chorus

stand which

in

awe.

Man's artfulness,

there, however, does

and

before
not

which exhaust

the

his

daring,
neutral

necessarily The

it,

and which

in itself does

not

have

to issue in it. Man's

to

daring

is

not

just moraUy
omission of

neutral when

it is art; it is

Chorus'

art as well.

the

cause of man's

daring
to

points to what
such a

it is before it has committed itself to art. The commitment would be Antigone's to the divine law

alternative of

burial, in

which there

is

not a

displacement but

a rearticulation of man's original

horizon,
place

that the domain of Hecate and Hades comes to occupy the of death and nothingness. As Antigone recovers the horizon that
so

the

gods once out

imposed
not

turns
man's

to be

original

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

to

choose

the good or the

bad; it is from

the

start

unholy, and the

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
punishes

the

accidental manifestations of

its

misuse.

The city
order

must

blink

in the

glare that

Antigone

casts on

this

original compromise of

the city.

Antigone, therefore, has

to forget
once

to be replaced

by

Tiresias in

for the city

again what

Antigone

reminds

it

of

(cf.

51).

22.13.

The Chorus

seem

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

antecedent

possible

meaning
nag-

of

the mss. reading, with

naQanXixco

supplied

for

the

(cf.

),

which

xixvTl the easily is how Hermann

understood

it; but it is difficult. The

closest parallel

could

find is PI. Lgs. 823a4-5:

A
embraces

Reading of

Sophocles'

Antigone
of

195

the

ignoble.53

The misreading,
repunctuate with

however,

line 360

suggests

that here too one should

of

the line to read that whoever out

daring

aUies

himself

immorality, for him

there is
would

no

city.

This two-edged

consist

in her
same

daringly
time and

sanctions at account
even

the

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

immorality

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

to her (cf.

2.4). This

if

one agrees with

is

reminded of

the city (cf.

support

it

and

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.
in herself
so nuUifies and

Just

as

Antigone, then,

the

Chorus'

sUence

between

navxondqog and

anoqog,

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'

Antigone anoXig. But if

the gods nuUify their sUence one asks what the Chorus think

gods, it is
rest

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
not

just

blunder but
of

on

outside

one's

own.

The

Chorus, then,

are

compelled

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 account

for the

success with which

Creon's decree
what city's

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

22.14.

The Chorus

end

with

the

hope that the

each one's

culprit not

belong

to their own

hearth;

but their hearth is hearth

of

separate

not some coUective of

the

city.

The

private

hearth and measures the depth

is automaticaUy

their

revulsion

against

public

crime.

The

culprit

city, but he is not thereby automaticaUy without a hearth shared with others. His isolation is only completed by a hope, a hope
without
a

Saa

xaXd

244c 1-2). It
stress man's

ifmenXey/iiva yodcpeiv (cf. Phdr. avxcp doxei xai [i^ xaXd elvat, vdfioig deiv6xr\g- theme that the Chorus would be in accordance with the

interlacing (237) does

wem

of art and

law

rather

than man's obedience to

law (ysgaiQav
Hoh'

or the like). 53

Bockh

put

tiylnoXig

together with

ist

staatlos,

das Edle ferm wohnt"), but only

;

&noXig ("Auf des Staates by taking nageiQcov as

that his

the

equivalent

of

nagafiatvcov

he therefore does

not

recognize

interpretation

is contrary to

what

the Chorus intend.

196

Interpretation

that the Chorus employ to slide over the difference between the
and

fanuly

the

city.

If servants, relations,
of

or

friends
as

of

Antigone had

comprised

the

of such a

Chorus, the presence hope, would be

common

the

arrested

poignant; but

Antigone, after the expression it is, Antigone and the Chorus

11.1). No one,

have in

only

their

however, mentions the indeed, not untU Creon

23 (376-83). 23.1.
accompanied

ndXig

Theban citizenship (cf. in the whole of the Haemon does it

gifts
of

foUowing
(656).64

scene;

confronts

recur and

Prometheus'

fire

the

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
her is Antigone (cf.
man.

3.2, 10.5,
outside man's
of

10.8). Antigone is

pre-Promethean

She thus

stands

mentioned

to Ulustrate

everything that the Chorus have just beivdxng and the Chorus acknowledge this
xd

calling her a baifidviov xeqag (one must reject Piatt's baifidviov fuUy restores to xeqag the "rehgious

by

be),

where aU

nuance"

that

neuters

in

monstrum.

originaUy Whenever xeqag

-ag

had.55

Antigone
to a
shape
or

is

more

than
an

human
event,

refers

living being
origin or

and not

either

that

being
of

is

monstrous

in

(Io

or

Helen), i.e.,
gods
are

composed

parts

that do not

belong together,

the

its

immediate
Hipp.
and

source

1214,

1098, Aesch. Suppl. 570, Eur. Hel. 255-60, PI. Crat. 394d5). Antigone is the only nonvisibly monstrous
(cf. Tr.
xeqag.

whoUy human being that is ever caUed a Chorus do it? Their association of daughter

Why, then, do
suggests

the

with

father

that

origin partly accounts 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 cpqdvn/na was for the Chorus an aspect of his beivdxng but now they are confronted

her incestuous

with

Antigone's dcpqoovvn.
which
also could

It had

not

occurred

to them that human

irrationality,
sound,

belongs to rationality as much as sUence does to be terrible (cf. 10.12, 21.1). In the guise of
makes

irrationality
world of the
recedes

the divine

known its intrusion into the

gods are not an outer
are within even with

unlimited always

first
is

stasimon.

The

limit that
start.

before

man's

daring; they
nothing is the
gods'

from the

Human

transgression

as

compared
answer

divine

possession.
xovxo

The
the

particularizing Chorus. With her hot heart for

xdbe

to the generalizing
of

of

cold

things, her love

death,
divine

and
and

her
the

antigeneration, Antigone

shows

that the union of

the

human,

which

(the Chorus thought) the city

harmonized,

is essentiaUy

monstrous.

54

Cf. S.

Benardete,

"Sophocles'

Oedipus

Tyrannus,"

in Ancients

and

Moderns

(ed. J.
55

Cropsey), 3.

homerischen Sprache, 80.

of
Nessus'

Cf. P. Chantraine, Formation des noms grecs, 422; E. Risch, Wortbildung der daifidvwv xigag occurs in Bacchylides 16.35 (Snell)
gift to

Deianeira.

interpretation
a

journal
5

of political

philosophy issue 1

volume

editors

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benardete

hilail

gildin

robert

horwitz

howard b.

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1974)
consulting
editors

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hennis
strauss

erich

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michael oakeshott

leo

(1899-1973)
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gildin

ann mcardle

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269

the

hague

netherlands.

A READING OF

SOPHOCLES'

ANTIGONE:

II

S. Benardete

24 (384-405).
proves

24.1.

The

guard's

answer

to the

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
entrance

(cf.

15.1). His
of

chief concern

is

still

himself:

on each occasion

he is the tenor

his first

and

last

remarks

to Creon. His

joy

now prompts

him to
are

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
generalization

his fear had done before; but there only of himself; he now begins with a

to his
cbzcog

fate; he

now

glories

Sfr]
it

av

devq

replace

with

iWovra fie an oath. He

of

in his luck. His parting remark ovx did not suggest that he later would
must

have thus bound himself

of

while

the

Chorus

were

singing

the boundlessness
could not maintain

human daring. But the

and

guard now admits that

he
out

that self-imposed limitation.

He accordingly brings In ignorance of future

the difference between human

divine law.

circumstances mortals cannot obligate

themselves;

binding
alone

only the gods, it seems, could on men. And yet one

such an

stipulate

that some action be unqualifiedly

might ask whether men must acknowledge what way.

obligation;

and

if so, in

Does the divine

command

automatically it before he can be her

second obligation

establish

the obligation? Or

must each man swear

to

punished

for his failure to

tries to

abide

by

it?

Antigone, in
of

self-justification,

account

for the

source

her

(cf.

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

used

is Pearson's OCT

except

where

otherwise

indicated. I have
silent, for if I did
of

myself,
not see

however,
any

not always accepted

his

readings wherever
chosen

am

connection passed

between the reading

over

and

my interpretation

the

passage, I have

my

own preference. given a section

Each line
numbers

or

group

of

lines interpreted is

number, with the line

in

parentheses after

it.
is
numbered as well

Each

paragraph of

every

section

for

ease of cross-reference.

Interpretation
certain now

his expectation, of which he had been so it with an oath. But the guard does not
perhaps

that he had

confirmed

give

thanks to the gods,

pardon
even

because he thinks that the

pleasure

gods

would

not

his
and

trivial and harmless perjury. He now tells of

his

unexpected

joy

boundless lies in the

(392-3);

and

he later

asserts

that the

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

the

gods

but

chance

is the

author of

his

joy

(cf. 328): he does

not owe

the gift of Hermes

either

(Oovoficuov)

to Hermes (cf. 274). He no longer needs

movement

oaths

or

gods

to prove his innocence. The

from the

guard's
art

first

entrance

to his final departure seems to be from fate to

argument

(the first stasimon) to chance. The movement reminds one of the of the tenth book of Plato's Laws. Three causes, according

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
to soul,
a

body

pleasure

is the

greatest good

priority that necessarily leads to the assertion that (886a9-b2). The Stranger himself, however, hierarchical priority
of soul or mind

asserts the temporal and

a

to

body,

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
unjust; but it is
remarkable

that he drops the soul and fate when he

nature

drops the gods, and that pleasure, chance, and (cf. OT 977-83). The guard, who originally had

take their

place

spoken about what

the

first

stasimon

omitted,

now speaks

in

accordance with

the first

stasimon.

Antigone is entirely isolated.

24.3.

The

guard

uses

the
was

verb

ddnrco
the

three
man"

times:

"we
"I

caught

her
of

burying"

burying
these

(385), "she the corpse you had

as a plainer

burying
of

(402),

saw

her

forbidden"

(404-5). The

guard offers

the last

formulation

the second;

that seems to be

Antigone
an

was
and

6.2); literally true (cf. burying (the only case out inexactness, however,

and it is the only one for the first fails to say what of seven where Ocbirco lacks
Polynices'

object),

the second uniquely refers to

corpse as seems

the

man

(rov
own

avdga).

Their

to

catch

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
silence not rites about

be essentially
that the

it throughout the play implies (cf. 4.3), dcmrco a transitive verb, but would mean the whole
mourner or

would set of

performs,
not

regardless

of

whether
even

involves the

corpse

(cf. 395-6).

Nothing,

any if done to the

man"

of

them

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.

A
self,
which

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
squares guard
with not

the guard's words convey,

hardly

his former
compelled

attempts

to

distinguish them. Now that the

a

is

through fear to

in attributing

disassociate himself from himself, he finds similar unity to the dead (cf. 20.3).
25.1.
of
which

no

difficulty
parts,

25 (406-40).
the

The
of

guard's

speech

falls into four

main

first three

(407-21), the discovery (432-5), while the last

arrest

describe in turn the waiting of the guards Antigone (422-31), and the arrest of Antigone
concerns

part

the

guard's

own

reaction

to her

(436-40). One
and

part,

another

clearly marks off the second from the first the third from the second. The guard distinguishes
xai

between the time

prior

and

subsequent

to the

dust

storm

(415-22),

during
the

which

the guards had their eyes shut. Antigone thus

approached

the corpse undetected; she was able to move straight toward it despite

fact that

she

too must have

air.

shut

her

eyes

against storm

the

dust that
the
same unassisted

totally filled the

assurance

She

moved

through

the

with went as

that the blind

grave corpse

Oedipus displayed

when

he

to his

sacred

drawn to the
guard

(OC 1541-6, 1588-9). Antigone is as any beast that feeds on carrion

capture as

irresistibly
be: the
no

would

speaks of

her

if

she were a

beast (432). There is

need, then, to the trackless

assume

that the gods directed Antigone's steps through

most one could

plain

(250-2). The
Polynices'

say,

if

one

is too be that
corpse

fastidious to

attribute on

to her a canine sense

corpse

of

smell,

would

Antigone homes in is her home.

25.2.
or the

by

"instinct."

Polynices'

The first
celestial

stasimon

implicitly

denied that
on

either

the
man

chthonic

imposed any limitation

man,

and

that

as man

had any
or

concern with

exploiting
seems

what
at

then,
The

him manifestly understanding 22.5). The dust storm, lies hidden below him (cf. first to refute it; but the refutation lies wholly in the
what stands above

language in

which

the facts
words

are

couched,

not

in the facts themselves.

ovpdviov metaphorically.

guard uses

the

rvcpoog, axtquirog,

and

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
rvcpwg,
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
or of

enough

reverence

awe.56

56

Cf. Th. 2.64.2; L. Strauss, The City

and

Man, 161.

4
for the
guards seize

Interpretation

burial. In
not

spite of

her only when she already has begun the rites of Creon's prohibition against ritual lamentations (204),

the guards choose to convict her for her deeds

(strictly
of

understood) and

for the

sounds and curses

that she utters, let alone for any intention

with

to be inferred from her presence

pitcher

libations (cf. 384,

4.4). The dust storm, then, is more indicative of Antigone's 434-5; of direction than of the support. The dust storm sense unerring Polynices' also seems to fail her in another way: it does not re-cover
gods'

corpse. such a

That

moist and putrescent

flesh

should

be

as

bare

of

dust

after

storm as

before it looks like the

single most

uncanny

event

the play. (But we must note that the guard never calls the

storm a

in dust
a

storm,

and

that this is

directly

due to his

bringing

down to

earth

celestial even

vocabulary.) If the dust storm had continued for days on end, Creon might have had to admit that the gods themselves buried
as

Polynices; just
no

the Chorus of the first stasimon might then have had

less to

acknowledge a

limitation to

man's power.

But burial is

some

thing
not as

that men themselves must

consists

enough; for burial

whatever effects seems safer

do; the simple vanishing of the body is at least as much in the rites themselves
24.3). On this ground,

in

those rites might have (cf.

to say that Antigone sees the corpse as still unburied because she recognizes that the dust of the storm is not her own. What

then, it

distinguishes the two dusts is this. What is unseemly for unburied corpse to suffer from birds and dogs is the opposite
unseemliness

Polynices'

of

the

that the dust

storm

inflicted

on

the foliage in the

plain

(206, 419). The

malice

guard ascribes malicious

that blasted every vestige of life

poured no

cannot

intent to the storm; and this be the same as the love

Polynices'

that

Antigone

into the dust that how

unelaborate

covered

corpse.

Furthermore, might have been, they

which

matter

her

original

arrangements

might yet

have borne the

marks of

human artifice,

the haphazard swirling of the dust could not duplicate. Perhaps, Polynices' however, Antigone's ritual dust and whatever dust clung to
corpse
chance

during
differ

the
as

storm

differ
the

not so much

(if

at

because Antigone had

eyes of

stamped

all) because artifice and that dust with herself.

own signature.

It
or

carried

in the

loving

Antigone her
can

No

rule
all

law that

governs

a performance

be

so

strict

as

to exclude

variations variations

(cf. PI. Rep.

that would
an

473al-3); at best, it can only exclude those make a difference; and yet the indifference of
would
not

the

law to

indifferent difference

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

bury

man.

The law Antigone

obeys shines through

Antigone

(cf.

1.2).
The
guard

25.3. bereft
guard
of

likens Antigone to
burst
out with a

its

nestlings

is the first,

except perhaps

a bird that on seeing her bed piercing cry of lamentation. The for the Chorus (113), to make use of a compels

likeness. The

strangeness of

Antigone

him to find in the familiar

Reading

Sophocles'

of

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;
and while grieves simile

the bird grieves because she does not because she does see Polynices. That a
Aeschylus'

see

probable source

her young, Antigone for this

compare
vultures

(in

Agamemnon),

which

tries

to

bewailing
should

the loss of their young to Agamemnon and Menelaus setting out as plaintiffs in a legal action against Troy for the loss of Helen,

(Ag.

be equally inexact in its parallelism does not seem to be accidental 40-67; see Fraenkel ad loc); for beasts can no more unqualifiedly
vexqoi

be

called

or vexvsg

than

they

can

be

subject

to justice (cf. Ag.

make

308-9).

What

defeats the

guard

in his

attempt

to

Antigone

intelligible is her humanity, for the purity of her devotion, which surpasses 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

inapplicability
guard

succeeds

to Antigone. She is the very in humanizing the likeness

opposite of generation.

The

likens. And

yet

only if

one

takes the

by being false to what he guard literally can one grasp the

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
of

of

the bond that obtains between Antigone and Polynices.

her brood

affects

the

mother

bird. The
corpse

corpse

is Antigone's nest, the

was occupied when now that

dust her

young.

The

corpse now stands

tenantless; it
is lifeless

Antigone

clothed

it in dust. The
of

it

no

longer

houses the dust. The life

Antigone's
own.

the corpse is the

dust; it is

the dust that is

The

guard

Antigone looked
not

on as

his head,

and not

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 in the dust. The dust is
for it
comprises makes as
much

in the dust; her

of

attachment consists

the object as the means of her

devotion,

the two the

sources

her devotion, the law

an essential

and

Polynices. The law

Polynices'

thirsty dust

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

to

keep

on

returning

with

it like

a mother

bird

who

leaves her

brood only in
25.4.

order

to forage for them (cf. Luc. de luctu

19).58

The

well-wrought

brazen

pitcher

from

which

Antigone

poured

the libations does not seem to have been a sacred object, but merely
"lightening''

57

That Antigone
to

speaks of

burial

as

a most

extent

which she regards

it

as

caring for the

helpless

(xovtpieic., 43) indicates the of beings; cf. Tr. 1025;

here bears the secondary bed on which a corpse

Or. 218.
58
and

One has to
poetic out

reckon

with

the possibility that

and

evvrj

meaning

of

tomb,

M%oc the meaning

of

is laid

(cf. 1224-5).

6
a

Interpretation

domestic instrument that

seems

could

serve

the purpose (cf. OC All). The

pitcher

to illustrate that neutrality of art that was the burden of winethe first stasimon. Its use for libations rather than for washing or

its artfulness pouring wholly depends on the user. 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

not seem

to be accidental that the pitcher is of

sacred contexts

bronze, for bronze

2.37.1, 147.4);
was
employed

often occurs

in

and, according to a Theocritean scholium

of expiation and purification seems

(cf. fr. 534,3 P; Her. (2.36), bronze

and

thought to be pure, effective in averting pollution,

therefore

for every kind

(cf. Macrob. Sat.

or

5.19.11).
pollution,
unburied. mother

Antigone, then,
as

to think herself
at

polluted

liable to
now

if

she

were

somehow

fault because Polynices

lies

One

whose

readily imagine such self-reproach in the case of a absence from her young leaves them defenseless before
can
comes prepared

predators. must

But if Antigone thus

either

to make amends, she

that the guards would sweep away the dust "instinct" Creon did not order it or know by of their desecration.

have

guessed

In

either

deepened.
presence

case, Antigone's understanding of her obligation must have She now interprets the law as commanding her continual

by

the

Polynices'

side

of

corpse;

and

since

his

corpse naive

is

eternally
of

helpless,

she can never quit

her

vigil.

The

guards'

way

trapping Antigone

it

assumed

that the criminal always returns to

the scene of his crime

as

succeeded

because Antigone

accepted

the

trap

pointing to the true intention of the law. To

sake"

bury

the dead is not

just "for form's in

(cf.

ever, exposes her to

another

difficulty. Is

22.10). Antigone's reinterpretation, how not Antigone now obliged to

of

stay
the

alive

order of

to preserve through the performance

yearly

rites
not

tranquility

the dead (cf. Wyse ad Isae. 2.25.4)? Should she

thus have resorted to the utmost guile to escape detection? And is not

Ismene's

appeal

to

the

perpetuation

of

the

family
8.1)?

as

faithful

to

to vofudiueva

as

Antigone's desire to die (cf.

Only

the union,

it seems, of Antigone and Ismene could fulfill the law. But the guard, in passing over in silence one part of the burial rites, indicates how

impossible that
up fr. 488,
against good

union

is. A

prayer

to the dead that asked them to send

things accompanied the pouring of funeral libations (Aristoph.

12-4 K;
the
guards

cf.

Aesch. for (cf.

Ch.

147-9). Antigone
one
cannot

utters of

evil what

curses good

and

Creon; but

conceive

things she could

ask

17.5). She
ask

rejects

the very
about

notion

of

worldly benefits; and for her to death so that she can join them
pious end

the dead to
make

bring

her

own a

would

Creon's

impiety

serve

(cf.

9.4). Antigone's

unlimited

devotion to the dead thus

precludes

by failing
09

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.

Reading

Sophocles'

of
not

Antigone
guard
until

7
Antigone
guard
go

26 (441-8). 26.1.
confirms

Creon does

dismiss the

the guard's

testimony
He Polynices

so reluctant

is he to let the
suspicion

free
that

and convict

his
of

niece.

seems was

loath to have his

a political

falsified,
not at

the

burial

crime,

directed

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 could accordance with the
acknowledges

what

have buried Polynices

demands
of custom

in

he had before denied, that perfect innocence, i.e., in

17.2).60

(cf.

It seems, then,

to be a remarkable coincidence that

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
have
at once

not

begun the

rites of

mourning,
which

even

if

she

just

confined

herself to

ritual cries of grief

lamentation,

Creon had her

of

no

less

prohibited.
unfeeling-

Ismene's does does

and

Antigone
of

never

accuses

being

not express

itself

necessity in
nature.

conventional ways.

Creon's decree
thwarted

not go against

her

grain.

Antigone,

on

the

other

hand, is
as

precisely along the lines of her prohibition, as later of the

embodiment

She
of

was at once aware of

Creon's

guards'

desecration, because
it
could

the

living

of

the law no

violation

be

unknown

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 law
(278);61

for it is through Antigone that the law's

execution

follows

at once on

the law's existence.

seven occurrences of

26.2.
of address

Of the

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

inevitably
her
sister

right word and

for

a matter of
a

fact: Antigone
without

could

have

addressed

brothers in
colleagues

different way; the

were afraid
could at

guard ever

could

have

said

that he

and

his

they hung
that
some

their

heads;

and

Creon
the

mentioning how have rephrased his suspicion

rule,
xaqa

Thebans

were

champing

his

seems

to be

an

affective word: struck

your

Creon

enhances

pathos

by

saying that a god "You

in
a phrase

heavily
bow

his head.

Only

in Creon's

address
xaqa

to Antigone

who

head to the

ground"

does

occur

that could not

60

Creon's
as

question

is

even more

damaging

than in this

regard

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 admits that his decree is not a self-evident consequence of his soul's laws

for,

Aristotle

remarks

that
i

everyone must acknowledge.

Cf. Miiller, 74.

Interpretation

be

altered.

The

sameness of

the

guard's

eg

nidov xaqa vevaai

and

Creon's
not

tie ttjv vevovtiav eg nedov xaqa

is deceptive. if
we were with

Creon

perhaps

does

think, any more than time, that her posture is

nothing she is the
capture suggests

we should

compatible now

seeing Antigone for the first defiance and contempt. But

out of

that Antigone

bows her head

fear

or

shame;

same now as she was when she

betrayed

no emotion on

her

(433). Antigone, however, is not just meditating whether she will admit to Creon what she admitted 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
"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
not

spoke acts

inexactly
out

and

metaphorically

what

was and

literally

true;63

exactly

and

literally

what

law

convention

may
takes

have

meant so strictly.

Antigone

cannot

live the law

unless she

it literally. 27 (449-70). 27.1.

she
could

bring
it

Antigone's reply to Creon's herself to transgress his decree law

question

as

to how

Creon

persists

in

speaking lines (450-60

word,

of

as a

falls into three

parts plus an epilogue

part

of two

dcboeiv, 460-4,
"die"

465-8). Each

contains

its

own

key

repeated

three times (cf.

12.1). The first is

the third
"foolishness,"

"gods"

459),
and

the second

(460, 462, 464),

the triplet

"pain"

(451, 454, (466, 468bis),

and
"fool."

the

"folly,"

epilogue contains

Gods

are understood as opposed to

times as
stood as
of

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

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

pleasure

Polynices'

she

counts

her

own

death

as

a gain.
d'

The link between

is the
central

gods
of

and pain

is death:
speech.

davov/xevrj
In

ydq el-ydr)

rl

or

line

the

whole

27.2.

each part of

her

speech

Antigone

seeming

absence of which makes each part

suppresses something the incoherent. Her enthymemes

presuppose

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

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'
Tyrannus,"

62

64

K.

Reinhardt

rightly

says

that

Antigone
Zeus
and

comprehends

the

uranian

and

chthonic gods with

on

the "polar

expression''

Dike

(Sophokles, 85-6

with note

86, 264);

cf.

1075.

A Reading of
either

Sophocles'

Antigone
established powerless

9
men.65

he

and

Justice
with

or

the

gods

below have is
of

among
override

Mortal Creon
unwritten

all

his

proclamations
vo/ii/ia

to

the

and

unchanging

the gods, for these have

eternal

life, and no one knows when (or from what light; and Antigone was not one, in fear of
punishment

cause)

they first

came

to

any

man's

pride, to face

before the

gods'

human to divine law, between these two arguments

omission would

tribunal for violating them. Antigone opposes and human to divine punishment; but she inserts
an argument

of

another

kind,

whose
given order alone

it

by herself,

apparently not have injured her case, or, if she had it would have been a sufficient defense. Aristotle, in
use of natural

to illustrate the rhetorical

right,

quotes

lines 456-7

(Rhet.

1373b6-13); for
gods)

neither

Antigone's from

assertion

that Zeus (or the

punishment gods

chthonic

established

the law nor her appeal to divine

natural
right.66

properly belongs to the

established

argument

If the
or

have
not

these vdfiifxa,

they

can

be in

accordance with

human

nature

only

if
not

human known

beings
when

cannot

by

themselves

discover

are

immediately
it is

aware of what

is in

accordance with were

human nature;

and

if

these

vdjjujxa

first

established

(i.e.,

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

unable
evident

to square either their eternity with their antiquity, or their selfsanctity with the need for divine sanctions. Her argument would

be in
the

order

if

she supposes that

the

gods

had to

reveal

the

practice of

burial in the
gods

past

because

of man's rude man's

eternal

beginnings,
of

which required

that

thus

supplement

understanding;

but

now

man

has
the

rediscovered

for himself the

thus
point

validity

these

ancient and

practices.

Antigone
separation

would

to

man's

moral

progress

deny

between

art and

aaxvvofioi oqyal

would

morality that the first stasimon had affirmed: not be neutral to the difference between good
a

and

bad (cf.

22.10). Such
of

supposition,
punishment

however,
unless

would not account

understands

for Antigone's fear

punishment as unburied

divine

she

that

the pain she would

suffer not

if

she allowed

Polynices to lie
vd/ufta

(cf. 94). Antigone does (cf.

Earle's

have to learn the

from
self-

another; she knows them because

tion affects her at once

they live in her heart, 25.1, 26.1). But this

(also
proposed

and their viola automatic

65

am

inclined to

accept

correction

by Bruhn),

ol rovg...

ojgiaav.

Cf. Cicero de
67
since

re publica

IU.33.
that
one
man cannot change not

That the law is

unwritten means changes

it

also entails says

that if it

does

remember what of

it consciously; but it was before

ayQcmra vofitfia

Antigone here fragment

aatpaXf)

(cf.

52.4). The

addition vdfioi

Oewv

to

seems

to be

unattested

before Philo;
as

Oewv

ayqacpoi

occurs
not

in

a spurious

of

Archytas (Stob. flor. IV.I, 132). Antigone does

the
unwritten

want

Creon to brings

understand shame

laws

merely

habits,

the

violation

of

which

(Th. 2.27.3).

10
punishment

Interpretation

would

be

restricted of

to those

who

are,

unlike

Ismene,

capable

experiencing

such pain

(cf.

like Antigone but 8.5). The gods

to those who

would still are as

have to
as

mete out another

kind

of punishment
occurrences of

insensitive

Creon. Of the thirteen in the

mouth

dlyog

and

its

Antigone, derivatives, six are 64, 230, 436, 439, 466, 468 bis, 551, 630, 767, 857; 1332-3; 3.1, 10.11).
of
none

in Creon's
cf.

(4, 12, 316-9; Ai.

if

27.3.
violates

Antigone

connects

her knowledge

of

divine

punishment

she

the divine law with her knowledge of her own mortality that she

possessed prior
either case

to Creon's decree. She did

not need not

a proclamation

in

to know her obligations.

Antigone does

distinguish between

the lawful and the natural: her death is obligatory because she is mortal,

her

burying

certainly, the

Polynices is obligatory because she is human. The one is other may well be equally imposed on men by the gods.
she as

painful

She is indifferent to the possibihty that death, for such suffering will be have
awaited

may

suffer

violent

and

nothing

compared

to that

which would

her if

she

had

not observed

the laws of burial.

a gain

To this tacit
for those

argument

Antigone

adds

another:

death is in fact

as miserable as she
adds

before

she

that she

is. Antigone, however, does not counts her death before her time
would seem allotted

argue

thus
gain.

as

xov xqdvov nqdaOev

is

inconsequent, for it

to be her

present

misery and not her failure to live out imminent death into gain (cf. 1326-7).

her

span

that turns her

say:

We

expect

Antigone to

(1)

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"

forever; (2) death is a gain if one miserable, death is a gain for me. With
no no

such

hope because

man

is born

necessary
gains

and sufficient condition

Man's mortality is for man's misery, or it itself

mortal.
sooner

either

the

constitutes more

man's misery.

Antigone believes that the

she

dies,

the

she

(cf.

(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

life

of

the law.
says

27.4.
obedience would

Antigone
painful.

that

her death is

a painless not

nothing, and dis

to Creon equally unpainful, but her

burying
does

Polynices
not seem could

be

That

not

burying
had

Polynices is

painful

have anything to do be no less painful. If

to thought as in

with

her death

being
at

painless; her death

she

stopped

ovdev,

everything,

in

language,
truly

would
pains

racing

on

to what

have been in order; but her thought, in her, makes her cast her own death in its
gainful

terms. Her death is both painless and gainful. It is

will then
a

because

she
as

be

with

those she

loves;

it is

painless

because

she regards

it

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
reward

A
automatic reward

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

11

punishment

for its
refers

observance.
as

only for its nonobservance, but no automatic Death by public stoning, to which only
of

Antigone

part

Creon's decree (cf.

4.9), is

therefore

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,
extract

accordingly,

confers upon

herself

suicide as
suicidal

her
(cf.

reward.

Only
and

suicide can make

her

suicidal mission

strictly

10.5)

from the divine law its hidden

reward.

The

apparent

defect in

the plot of

Antigone (cf.
which

Antigone, that Creon seems to be just a little too late to save 9.1), and which was justified as revealing the way in
now

the gods punish intention no less severely than act,

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

the true

content of not

her

reward

(cf.

48.9).

27.5
so

Antigone does
refers

mention

Polynices

by

name;

instead,
that

she she

awkwardly
to

to

him

xov

ef efiijg /xrjxqog

davdvxa

Polynices solely her mother's son and Jocasta her brother's murderer. Antigone never acknowledges that her brothers killed
seems make
one another could a

(cf.

2.4). Does

she think

that her

mother

killed them?
consequences

She

think so if her abstraction from the war and its

led to
assured

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

source of the
an

other;

and pain

for her As

consists

solely
of

in her

mother

giving birth to
dead (cf.
she

unburied

son.68

members

the

family keep
they
as to

their relationships with one another regardless of whether

are alive or

3.4), Antigone is

as

indifferent to

generation

death. But

marriage.

Only

is antigeneration, the true offspring of an incestuous the abstraction from that which constitutes the family
piety. and

can normalize model of

the

familial

12.2) and make Antigone a family of Oedipus (cf. Only in Hades can her family be at home, not
goes

just

when

it dies

there

"for

eyes,"

with what

says

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,
made

must unsex

her

family

and cleanse

it

of

its origins; but

she

thereby

removes

the source of her own peculiar devotion to her family. She is

up out of the impossible demand that she combine the abstraction from the incest of her parents with the compulsion to fulfill a sacred

duty

that can come only from that incest (cf.

10.9). However ironical

a%ebdv xi

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. 27.6 It is
of not accidental should

that Antigone's only defense of her to light the

relation

actions

in terms

the law

bring

in

which she stands

Read

el86/inv

with

H. D.

Broadhead, Tragica, 73.

12

Interpretation

to her incestuous parents; for if

concern

(857-68;

cf.

they have caused her the most painful 10.4), they cannot be far from her consciousness
unwritten

when she speaks of

the

to characterize the
whether

prohibition

Antigone

reveals

an

law. Lines 456-7 could equally serve incest. We do not know as yet essential bond between these two sacred
against

injunctions. Must the

that is most
against

unholiest

of

families breed the

champion

of

all

holy
as

incest

in the family? Does Antigone embody the prohibition much as she embodies the law of burial? Her third way to
answer

defense
27.7.

suggests a

these questions (cf.

48).

Agathias in his Histories

(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

where the

laws forbade them from

alien

Plato's philosopher-king, decided to leave the place living without fear and to settle in
and

Persia, despite its

incompatible

customs.

Although they

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

king

stipulating in his treaty

tossed
aside

with

Byzantium that they

were

to be left
of a man without

alone regardless of their opinions

they

came across with

the corpse

lately dead,
burial. Out
nature to

in

accordance

Persian
of

custom

of compassion

for the lawlessness

barbarian law

and

in

the belief that it was not

holy

to allow, as far as it
attendants
of earth.

burial

and

be wronged, they had their then bury it in a mound had

and
a

in their power, prepare the body for

lay

That
not

night

one

of

the

philosophers

dream:
the

a man whom

he did
all a

know

and who
an

bore
to

no resemblance

to anyone he

knew, but for

and

of that with

august

countenance
address

beard

dress

of

philosopher,

seemed

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
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

for their committing incest

with

their

mothers

and

are

justly

torn apart

by

dogs.
It
at

28 (471-2). 28.1.
remark on the

first

astonishes

us

that the Chorus seem to

of

tone rather than on the

content

they
they

are as silent about

her

argument

from the divine law

savagery. phrase

Antigone's speech; as Creon will

qxbvrjfj,');

be. But the Chorus do

speak of a and
even

not speak of and a

tone (note

Moscophoulos'

father's

daughter's

plain,

the way in which

they

Their meaning is not it seems strange: "It is

A
plain:

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
girl."

13
69

as

the offspring is savage from the savage father of the though the Chorus wanted to separate Antigone the
naiddg).

It is

generated

(xo yevvnfia) from Antigone the daughter (xr\g

whether

The

hyperbaton,
Antigone

fully

conscious or

not,

effects

the same

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

xdv ef e/xfjg pjnxqdg

In any case, their

cb/xov

co/iov

naxqdg

equally applies to Oedipus. is too emphatic to be trans

sire";
nor

lated,
own

with

Jebb, "passionate
they
he

child of a passionate

does their
of

explanation, that Antigone does not know how to bend before

ascribe
saw

evils, account for what

to Oedipus. Are
mother at

they thinking

his

blinding

himself

when of and
unless

his

Antigone's dread

Oedipus'

horror

dead (cf. OC 437)? But violating a divine law do not

reward of

look the same, brutal to them

wfjiol?

her glorying in the

death

seems

as

his self-inflicted punishment. And yet why are they The Chorus once thought that the love of death marked the
as

fool (220). Now

of

d)/j,6g

occurs once

more, in the

compound

di/xntixrjg,
Polynices'

the

flesh-eating

dogs that Antigone tried to

and

keep

corpse

(697). Are Oedipus

sacred

Antigone

raw

away from like carrion? Or

a most

are

they
law

like dogs that become

violator of a most united and

what

they feed on? Are they law and the defender of

of a

cannibals?

Are the

sacred

in their

equal

violation

third unwritten

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
treasure
of

delight (cf.
argument.

4.7).
sense

The

Chorus, then, do

comment

on

Antigone's

They

that her devotion is incompatible

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 law
must share with such opposite effects

to the

to charge Oedipus wholly with the responsibility for

law; they prefer Antigone, which the

remark

him.
Creon
picks

29 (473-96). 29.1.

his

entire

speech

to

them;

not

up the until Antigone

Chorus'

and

directs

claims

that the Chorus

speech

side with

her does Creon

again speak

to her (508). His

falls into

three parts

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

punishment

(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

The

repunctuation

is due to J. Jackson, Marginalia Scaenica, 176

n.l.

14
character

Interpretation

(491-4), (8) Antigone's hybris

of

boasting

(495-6). The lack

of

complete

despite

symmetry between the first and the last the balance between the sententiae ovydq
d'

four

sections

exneXei...neXag

(478-9)
Creon

and

cpdei

d
as

6v/j.6g...zexvco/Lievcov
the lesser
when
crime.

(494-5)
to

indicates

that

regards

Ismene's

Her

punishment

to exemplify Creon's

impartiality
punishment

it

comes

dealing
as

has only with his own

she

relations; Antigone's

has to be

corrective

well, for

does

not acknowledge mistakes

that she has

committed a crime

(cf.

19.5). Yet

Creon

the meaning of Ismene's frenzy. It is not the sign of a

guilty he lets her him

of

conscience off

but

of

sisterly concern;

and

when

Creon learns this,

(at the

Chorus'

prompting), even though she had not told

be

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.

Antigone's intent. Creon does

punishable

her

frenzy
she

would not

what

did

was

wrong;

necessarily have meant her it could merely have

acknowledgment

that
of

signified

her fear
remorse.

punishment. go

Creon identifies the fear

of punishment with

To

his decree, trying in every way to avoid detection, thereby admitting that his decree is just, seems as impossible to 0.5). They both deny that caution can be Creon as to Antigone (cf.
in
stealth against

without

an

ally

of

defiance. It is for this Antigone's

reason

that Creon ignores almost every

thing
the

except

stubbornness.

Only

punishment

can

teach her

her ways, so certain is he that his Her arguments do not deserve an answer.
error of

own case

is irrefutable.

29.2.

Creon

assures

the

Chorus that
gives and

excessive

wilfulness

is

par

ticularly liable
snaps spirited

to

collapse.

He

two examples:
a small

overtempered

iron

and shivers

of

its

own accord,

bridle disciplines the

nature

horse.

Creon

suggests

that

Antigone's iron
of art

has been
she

turned

by

the

unskilled

application

into brittleness;
and

tried

to be both uncompromising and resilient; but she

resistance will

destroy

her. On the

other

failed, hand, Antigone

the

slightest

suffers

from
the

being

nothing but slightest force and

artless

untamed skill.

nature, easily brought into line She is both altogether artful and
a nature

with

altogether

(cf.

22.12). She has

that has been made over

must read

by

art

and a nature untouched

by

art.

For

art we

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
a expression of

her

natural wilfulness.

He thereby

admits

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
correctly read her character : he his first example with olda for the
replaces second.

the

av

slaidoig

of

Creon

must

tame

Antigone

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
a

15
slave

because it is
He takes her
unpunished,
as

out

of

the question, he
more

says, for

to be proud.

wilfulness

she

seriously than her crime. If she goes derogates from his authority. He seems to see her
point

possible

rallying

of

his

political

enemies,

whom

he had

suspected of

thus offers

exploiting the issue of three reasons in the course

one of which applies educative crime

Polynices'

burial (cf.

19.3). Creon for punishing

must

of

his

speech

Antigone, only
admit

to Ismene as well. Antigone

her

punishment,
and

Antigone

must

have
show

the

humility

proper

to her

position as a slave

and as a woman

preventive

punishment.

And through Antigone

to punish
of all

Ismene Creon
alike-

must

his

own willingness

lawbreakers

We

are

reminded

Ismene's threefold

attempt

exemplary punishment. to dissuade Antigone:

and

they

by

be violating the law, they those stronger than themselves (cf.

would

are

women,

they

are

ruled

8.4-5). Ismene

now

proves

assumes

to have predicted exactly Creon's response. His educative punishment the weakness of Antigone; his preventive punishment is designed to

keep
be

supposes
must

Antigone in her place; and his exemplary punishment pre that his decree is a fundamental law, the violator of which
punished

if the

city's

fabric is
two

not to

be impaired.

Exemplary
or

punishment,

however,
which

counts

far less
the

with

Creon than

either preventive

punishment,
educative speech.

occupies

central ends

lines

of
a

his speech,
the

punishment, with which he

refers

(and in
not

sense

begins) his
city (cf.

He

to the

law, but he does

Antigone
avoid of and

mention

22.14). 29.3.

Creon
with

says

that
not

Ismene,
that
that

regardless

of

their

kinship
it

him,

will

the

most

miserable

death; indeed,
death
must

seems

to

be because

their

kinship
perhaps order

their

be

miserable

(cf. 531-3). He thinks

punishment.

they

relied

on

to save them from

In

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

ov

not

her. He took her

for
who
of

ydq

xi jaoi

Zevg 7\v 6

xrjqv^ag xdde

as

specious periphrasis

"My family
should sacred

658-9). The Zeus

a

did not proclaim your be fatal to his position is but

significance

laws"

(cf.
of

part

formula devoid

any

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

Zeus is his to do

(cf. 192); and since this himself on his willingness

to sacrifice

of

Socrates'

own

(301el0-303a3). On
or sacrifice

Socrates'

admission

that his own

case of

consists

in those things that he

to sell, give,
admit

can use as

he

wants

and, in the

living beings,
Socrates to
accepts

to any god, Dionysodorus forced

gods,

that, among
His

other

Zevg

eqxelog

is his. Creon
the
genitive

this

argument.

rj/uv

shows

that he confuses

16
of

Interpretation

belonging
aware

with

the dative of possession,

distinction

of and

which

he
of

was

when

he

spoke

of

the temples, which,

case against

dedications,
if he had

lands

the gods
would

(exelvcov,
at once

cf.

19.2), but

admitted

have

destroyed his

Antigone,

rj/icbv

here, Zevg iqxeiog

consists

is

not subject

to his will.

30 (497-507). 30.1.
in the

Creon
and

says

that his entire satisfaction

killing

of

Antigone,

this in spite of his intention of converting

Antigone. Her recantation,

time for

perhaps

because he is

so

certain

of

it, is

less important than her death (cf.

pathy
silent

43.2). Antigone then

says

that the
Chorus'

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
29.1). Of the
eight occurrences of

(cf.
are

the

notion

"pleasing,"

seven

in the

mouth of

the first three refer

Antigone (75, 89bis, 500bis, 501, 504), of which to her deed pleasing the dead (cf. 9.4.), the next

three to the displeasure she takes (and always hopes to

words and the natural
a

take) in Creon's
a

displeasure Creon takes in her (as

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
slave,
and

word,
with

and

the future

in saying that nothing Creon says or (she hopes) will say in can make her recant, she implies that Creon's deed meets
approval,
an

her

entire

implication that

checks

her from saying

"How
nices?"

else could

I have

more pleased the

dead than

by burying Poly
her
own

Her piety but

moreover,

not

her fame is independent

to
show

of

death.

Antigone,
with

wants

that though

they

cannot

possibly

agree on principles

Creon
no

must concede

that only hers are compatible

fame. Creon is
and

less

satisfied with satisfaction

his

arguments than she with

hers;

they
of

resemblance opposite whatever

death; but there the Her glory, which derives from her piety, is the Creon's happiness that consists in his doing and saying
will
ends.

both find

in her

he

wants.

Nothing
at

pleases

her if it is

not

honorable; but Creon's

self-gratification

is

the expense of honor. He can through fear compel

the acquiescence but not the admiration of the

wonders whether

less

savage

Chorus (cf. 13.1). One Antigone understood the Chorus' remark, that she is no than her father, as praise (cf. 38).

30.2. himself
to

when

Creon is for Antigone a tyrant (cf. 8.4). He betrayed he called her a slave (479). When it was open to him

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 Cadmeans (508). Creon does not represent
the city
over against

the

family; he

represents

their

identification,

for

A
which

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

17

the loss
opposite

of of

his

family

is the only

direct

Sophocles'

Oedipus,

who

fitting punishment. He is the largely is the public man

the private
man

he thinks himself
only
mimic

as

being; but Creon is

son.

who

can

his

sister's

It is Antigone

who speaks of

the ndvbnyLog

ndXig and public punishment

(7, 36).
stichomythia

31 (508-25). 31.1.
which

The

falls into three parts,

each

of

presents

in turn the Chorus

(508-11), Eteocles (512-7),

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
what not

he does because he is
what want

now

tyrant; but that

constrains

the

say they Creon ignores the first two and denies the last
self-evident.70

to because fear
of

them.

Antigone's

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

phrase apart

his

point

hypothetically:
Chorus]?"

"Aren't

you

ashamed

if

you

think
glory:

from them [the

Antigone then drops the

the
reverent

claim
one's

to

regardless of what

they think,
be
shameful

regard use

for
of not

flesh

and

blood

can

never

(cf.

5).

Her
one

the

plural

xovg
own

dfiotinXdyxvovg lets Creon brother. He is, Antigone

father. Antigone breath (cf.
their
of again

ask whether

Eteocles is

equally her
and

replies, from

(mother)

the

same

avoids

27.5);
and

when she

saying mother and father in the same later brings herself to do so, she bewails

incestuous
mother

marriage one

(865). father

Antigone,

moreover,

does

not

speak

one

Lgs. 627c4). Their

same, we should

mother

"ex fiiag xe xd evog naxqdg (cf. PL is one, but their father is the same; the
each of

otherwise

suppose, for
are

them; but, in light

remember

of

Antigone's
that
must

most painful

concern, we

forced to

that their

father too is the

regard

same as

themselves,
what of

their mother's son. Creon believes

argument.

Antigone has

admitted

is fatal to her
as an

Eteocles

her honor

Polynices

impious favor. Antigone

neither

denies (cf.

it,

perhaps

because Eteocles
nor calls a

would

think

that

private

burial is Creon

an

honor,

hold himself to be the judge

Eteocles "the dead
corpse;
wife

of what

is impious 4.3).

744-5).

Antigone
never

corpse"

(cf.
scene

never calls

Eteocles
uses

indeed,
in front

after

the first

(197,
vsxvg

217, 283), he
until

the

word vexqdg

again

he

never

uses

he

sees the corpse of

his

of

him

(1299).71

Antigone,
lacag

70

xivSvvsvoi

For this meaning of 6ga>, Soxetv jx,h xi oQav oiitrng

seems as

cf.
e%ow

PI. Hipp. Mai.

300c4-6:

cUAd
8'

yaQ iyco
odder.

d>g

av <pfjg advvajov

elvai, 6qu>

71 and

There
vexvg

to be

recognizable

both Sophocles

and

Herodotus

difference in meaning between vexodg use them. In Herodotus, vixvg only

occurs

corpse as

in the first four books (always singular), vexodg throughout, vexodg is the something bodily, to which one can do things, while vexvg, which often

takes

defining

genitive

living
not

person, a

being
cf.

that

(rare for vsxgdg), is the corpse in its can itself do something: Herodotus has
shepherd puts

relation

to the

vexvo/iavTrfiov,
of

vexQo-

(5.92tj2;

Soph. fr. 399P). So the

the vexodg

his

own

18
on

Interpretation

the

other could

hand, does
have
said

not

hesitate to

make

corpse

bear
so

witness

she

xaxdavwv

dvrjg

(cf.

24.3)

little does
was con

her imagination
patriotic

move

beyond the impious

Eteocles'

grave

(cf.
not

9.6). That Eteocles

count

and

Polynices

does
equal

beside
and and

their

sanguinity.

Polynices is

by

relation,

he did

can affect what origin of

he is (cf.

15.3). He lived

died

nothing that a brother.

Neither the

Hades demands that

not want

their relationship nor its result is of any importance. she fulfill the law, even if the good Eteocles does

to be treated
whose

like the bad Polynices (cf. Ai.

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
earth,

in

below?"

ignorance in the face She is

as
uncertain

of

Creon's attributing his

as

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 about
about

the

origin

ultimate

is

an

act

of

love,

of compassion

and

tenderness, that
of
essence

unites

her

with

her

own

(cf.
one's

25.3). This is the

own;
and

essence

the law that

enjoins

the

burial
then

of

Antigone is that
understand

by

nature.

Creon

understands

and
and

fails

to

when

he

below,
and a

love them if love is Antigone's

must."

you
of

scornfully says, "Go His literalness shows

how

paradoxical

living

the law. Burial for him is an

honor

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 jointly imposed upon her (cf.

reminder; it
will

he

31.2.
she

Antigone
or

hardly

ever speaks

to anyone in the
with

expectation

that
with once

will

be listened to. In her

the

exchange

Creon (but
point

never

Ismene
at the

Chorus)
in
order

she

twice drives home a

appeal

with

xoi,

beginning

to

to him on the only ground

they

could end
xoi

possibly share, the concern with reputation (502), and once at the in order to define her nature (523). After that she does not use

son

in the

casket

that carried the prince's but offers to show

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 arm

is

cut

off

to

fool the king's daughter is

where
evrifiov

vexgdg

121t4,5);

4.71.4. In

Antigone, in
Eteocles
rwv

those cases roig ivsgdev

o&v

the

two

are

metrically equivalent,
xov

Antigone

contrasts

vexgolg

with

(26-6); Tiresias
cf.

says,

ix

rmlayyyiav

iva /

vixw vrxgciiv

d/totfidv

TloXwtlxovg vixw (1066-7);

as well as

515. vexvg
72

other

playwrights;

is surprisingly rare in the other cf. El. 433; OC 621-2.

op.

plays of

Sophocles

in the

Cf. Reinhardt,

cit., 88.

A
again until

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

19
addresses

in

a single speech cf.

it

occurs

three times when she

the dead

(897, 904, 913;

Ai. 854-5).

They
utters

are

her only friends

enters

(cf.

11.1).
The last
word

32 (526-30). 32.1.

Creon

before Ismene
who

is
of

yvvrj.

It

applies
as

far better to her than to (cf. 8.5). Ismene

Antigone,
sheds not

hardly

thinks

herself
and

a woman

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
sister;

if the tears fall down

(xdxco),

it is

makes

her face ugly

and wets

her fair

cheeks.

Nothing
in her

is

said of

Anti
cheek

gone's was

beauty;
(cf.

all we

know

about

her looks is that in death her

white

(1239). She does 23.1).

to

not

become
as

uglier

grief:

she

is

xeqag
such

Nothing
poetic

of

Antigone's

ever provokes

the Chorus to

concentrated

expression

Ismene has done. Antigone is

recalcitrant

poetry:

the guard's

attempt at a simile was most notable

for its failure (cf.

of shame

(cf.

a woman's

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.
herself in
order

has to

mar

to show to herself and to others how she

has been
she

affected.

Creon

saw

Antigone has
would

no need of such signs.

her raving witlessly in the palace (492). If she had wished to go undetected,
perfect vessel

never

have betrayed herself. She is thus the

to be filled with the law's impersonality.

Nothing

of

her

own stands
passion

in is

the way of her observing the love of her own. In her

neutral

she

(cf.

34.2). If
one
and

33 (531-7). 33.1.
and

adopts

Creon's triad
attack on

of

ym%ri, (pqdvrjfia,

yvcbftr] (cf.
regarded as

12.4),

Creon's first

Antigone

(473-96)

be
of

resolution

mostly concerned with Antigone's q>qdvnjj,a, the kind she has brought to her action, and their exchange prior

to Ismene's yvd)fj,r],
the

entrance

(508-25)
she

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
reasons

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

woman's

reasons.

Creon,
an

moreover, primarily thinks of the soul as nothing more than 15.2). When he likens Ismene to a viper aspect of the self (cf.

73

offered

Heath, W. Schmid (RhM 57, 624-5), and G. H. Macurdy (CP 1946, 163-4) this interpretation; Bruhn did too but doubtfully.

20

Interpretation

lurking
that

she

in his palace, he does not say, as Clytemnestra drinks dry his pure life's blood (xov/zov

says

of

Electra,
tpvxfjQ

ixTiivovce'

del

axqaxov alpa.El.

785-6), but merely

the
soul

that

she

drinks him dry. Creon from

which
most

cannot stronger

understand

as

something

distinct

the

self

or

than the

body
is,
all

(cf.

20.2);
soul

the possibility,
what
one

Antigone in

herself presents, that the

same
as what

in

being

loves is the

one

must

look to him like

madness

(562).
persists

33.2.

Despite

the

evidence

to the contrary, Creon

are part of a

in the

belief that Antigone directed to the

ment will

and

Ismene
of

pohtical

conspiracy,

overthrow

his

rule

(cf.

525),
was

and which their punish

prevent

(cf.

29.2). Antigone

in

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
could

be honored

as

his

country's

champion, Polynices

contri

as much as

Eteocles to Creon's last

right

to succeed them (cf. 173-4).

He

cannot

believe that Polynices

and
asks
question

was

buried because he had to be

cui

buried. His first 33.3.

of

is always,
she

bono?
to her ignorance
she would swear

Creon did
not

Ismene

whether ask

will

swear

Polynices'

burial; he did
suppose

not

Antigone

whether of

that she
makes

do the deed (442). His

that

estimate

Ismene's

dvfidg

him

stop her from

would go as

lying
far
to

only the fear of committing perjury would (493-4); he did not believe that Antigone's impudence

as to

deny,

while not

being

under

oath,

what

she

had her

freely

admitted

his

servants.

Creon

thus

acknowledges

that

impudence has nothing to do

33.4.

with cleverness or

impiety
she

(cf. 300-1).
not admit

Ismene

says

that she did the

deed;
could

does

her

guilty

knowledge,
act.

which not even

Antigone

have denied her. Ismene

that intention counts as

exaggerates much 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).

her culpability, on the One cannot therefore

assumption

help

34 (538-60). 34.1.
and

There
also

are seventeen exchanges

as

between Antigone
and of

Ismene,

the

same

number

there

were

between Antigone
(cf.

Creon. Their
which should of

exchange

falls into three deed it

it
was

parts

31.1),
whose

each

in turn decides

whose

(538-45),

death it

be (546-54),
once

and whose choice

was

(555-60). The

"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
requires that
not use as

its theme

then

Antigone

asserted

that

reverence

for

one's
now

own

cannot

be
and

human opinion, so she shameful, those below bear witness to her deed being her
regardless of

makes

Hades

own, regardless of what

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
her behalf does
nether world

21
not count.

Ismene
Yet

says.

That the

guards could

testify

on

does not love her who loves in speech ('Xdyoig cpiXovaav ov cpiXovai xr\v cpiXnv). 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 cannot

bring

herself to say that the

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
part.

Punishment
of

will validate the

as

equation

of act and

intention. Anti
that

gone,

however, decides,
the
corpse

Creon does later

(771),
own

the

actual

touching
Perhaps
more
might

by

hand

makes

all of

the

difference (cf.
willingness

900). (and
she

she

condemns

Ismene in light
to handle the

her

than

willingness)

rotting corpse, for which,

repugnance
as

suspect, 28.1).

Ismene had the

same

the

guards

(cf.

34.2.
was no of

Creon had tried to

argue that

if Antigone

granted

that Eteocles

brother than Polynices, she could not justify the burial Polynices before his brother; but Antigone granted Creon's premise

less

without

drawing

his conclusion, for their

difference.

sameness of origin outweighed

any between her

on without
can still

subsequent

sister and

Now, however, Antigone has to distinguish herself, while Ismene tries to die with her solely
are sisters.

the ground that

they

She be

wants

to die because her life

Antigone
or

would

cease

to

cplXog.

Life

(ftiog)

for

Ismene
she

be dear lives (cf.

hateful; life (/?) for Antigone is merely

3.2). Ismene does
strength not

what

have the

strength

to live alone;

Antigone has the

to die alone. Antigone does not need to be to

care

helped; Ismene has Creon

source was

for. Ismene thinks that Antigone

replies

thus pains her gratuitously; Antigone

in her

pain.74

Creon had
eyes

said that

that her mockery has its Antigone's favor to Polynices

impious in the
could

of

his

Eteocles
took

not,

as a

brother,

object,
of

brother; Antigone had replied that and if he did, the laws of Hades
Ismene
matches

precedence.

Eteocles;
excuse

laws her mockery as the insult to Eteocles. Antigone can only live up to the law
and
excuses

The mockery Antigone's pain

the

dishonor
Hades'

of

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

acknowledge make

his merits;

and

she

can

offer

Ismene
of

life;
death

she

her happy. Antigone

to
Hades'

consists are

of

the

choice

and

her

obedience

laws; they
on

the laws in their insistence

goodness

and

hatred,
7<t

no

uniformity badness that partly constitutes the ground for love and less than the choice of death suppresses the difference

suppress

both necessarily painful; for the difference between

Cf. J. H. Kels, BICS 1963, 53-5.

22

Interpretation
and

between misery
abstractly,
pain

happiness There
86).7B

(cf.
are
no

27.3).
words

Antigone
or
even

can

i.e.,
cf.

piously.

sounds

only live for her

(554,

49, 82,

She has

hot heart for

cold

things (cf.

10.6).
34.3.
choice
of

Antigone implies
death
are

that

Ismene's

choice

of

life
that

and as

her

own

irrevocable; Ismene
of

replies

Antigone's

choice was made

in the face
and

her

own

warning, the choice was merely

proof

lapse

of

judgment,

no

more

than a

of

her

own

inability
stronger

to persuade Antigone. The arguments as arguments were sound. Anti

gone,
case.

however, denies
Ismene's
with

that

anyone

else

could

have
of

put

arguments

met with

the full

approval

the

living,

she

herself
reasons

the full approval of the dead. Ismene has no ground for

self-reproach,
time. As her

for Antigone's
could warnings prove

choice

was

not

based

on

argument,
one

on

that someone

possibly her guilty

and

refute.

Ismene then tries her fault

own shows

last

knowledge,
of

their fault is

equal.

Antigone brushes this

aside

continues

line

of

thought.

The fact that Ismene talks

at all

in terms

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
the
not

help

the
of

dead."

For

Antigone, it is
that her
nowhere

"natural
in

result,"

to

use

the language

the grammarians,

soul else

being

dead helps yn>xy

as *s
vfilv

dead,
a

periphrasis not

rj eprj xpvxf) for

Antigone
eyco :

speaks
v/ilv

of

Philoctetes'

ndXai,

shows, is

comparable

(Ph.
of

1030).76

has been to be in the Antigone's

along. unconscious

state

Antigone's way of being alive death. Creon thought he was exposing

when

premise

he bid her in death love the

dead below. Antigone

now

answers

that she had been

means

doing
to

that all
alive

in avficpiXeiv, 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
means
and avpyiXsiv

Bdnxew

be

death (cf.

75

It is

remarkable

to

what

an extent

Antigone

refrains

from using the

alal

conven

tional

interjections that
mouth of

express

grief and other

intense feelings,

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 <pev, the guard
and

in the

Tiresias
oi/xoi

each once

(323, 1048), Creon five

and

times

codd).

Antigone

Ismene

each

use

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

(Ph.);

ndnoi as

(OT, Tr.).
assertion

Almost

as

paradoxical

Antigone's
riva

is PI. Lgs. 927al-3:

ai rcbv

xeXevxriadvTmv

ipvxal

Swa/iiv

fyovotv

TeXevrrjoaoai,

fj

xar'

riov

avOgmnov

ngayfidroiv em/jeAovvrau.

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. 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,
see more
6'

35 (561-73). 35.1.

lets him

she hopes her according to Creon, cpvctei. Ismene, however, pleads deferential wva!; will have some effect that no one in misery keeps a

balanced

mind.

Creon

concedes

that

that

but Antigone is
to be
says

not

miserable
xaxd).

(xax&g
part

nqdatiei),
of

holds true for Ismene; she is bad and does

senseless

bad things (nqddtieiv

It is

Antigone's

nature

bad; Ismene only made a bad and senseless choice. But Ismene that she has no other choice; her life alone without Antigone is living, for if Creon
such a will

not worth

kill the future

survival

wife of

his

own

son,

her

own

hopes for their family's in way

as

collapse

(cf. is

8.1). Creon
neither

answers

to suggest that Ismene

sister's

understands

his
can

own

inflexibility

nor

her

nature; Antigone

not

fjde ;

she no

longer is here among the therefore have no place for

living

(cf.
6'

13.1). Her life in death

survival

through generation. However

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

living

other

fields for his

others'

abstraction:

be attached, Creon can be crude: there Antigone is particularly liable to (cf. 891, 1205).77 Ismene calls her "bridal
can

son to plow.

rites"

But Ismene

protests

Creon's denial
and

of was

Antigone's individuality.
unique

The

betrothal
points

of

Antigone

Haemon

in its fitness. Ismene

she
cannot

to their concordance in a legal relationship;

sons."

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 account. In calling Haemon "dearest," Ismene underlines, not only how far Creon has gone in
the dismissal of his
rests on
own

(cf.

486-7), but how

much

her

own

hope

Haemon. But Creon brushes Ismene

annoy him.
are

aside:

she

and

her talk

of marriage

35.2.

There
must

three objections to
suppose

First,
his

we

then

that

giving line 572 to Antigone. Creon's dishonoring of Haemon

consists son.

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.

24
nor

Interpretation

has

she

been pleading for

would

pardon

on

this or
of what

Creon

could not answer

Antigone in terms

any other account. Ismene had

not

said.78

His reply to Antigone him in loathing

annoyance

have to have been: "I do

dishonor

you."

And,

finally,

ayav ye

Xvnslg
of

suits

Creon's

Ismene, but not his violent hatred 1.393P).79 Ai. 592; fr. 314, 589, 1084; 760,
with

Antigone (cf.

36 (574-81). 36.1.
whose remonstrance

Creon
so

now

is

mild that

faces his third opponent, the Chorus, they can hardly be said to oppose
argument

him.

They
nor

do

not

take up Antigone's
plea

that she

obeys a

divine
should

law,
not

even

Ismene's first

that

deranged Antigone

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
second
sacredness

or

in its

mercy.

"It is the

Hades,"

nature

of

Creon replies,

"to
to

put

stop to this
or

marriage."80

Creon

means

that he is not going

put

to death Antigone the bride

the
other

his

son's wife

is

of

little importance the

thus
end

way Haemon's
the
parent

one

but Antigone's death

seems so
proper

guarantees

of

marriage.

It

that

Creon

should
refusal

rebuke a

Chorus for speaking

precipitates

girlishly.

Yet Creon's

to be

fond in

the destruction of his family.

strongest argument
"un-principled,"

The

worst of

reason

light That
a

of

the law proves to be the

in light

individuals.
unpunished.

If Creon had been

a son's

he

would
of

have

gone

concession, moreover, the very reverse

holy
what

desires
out as

would

have

made

Creon do

father gratifying is holy (octet dqav)

a
of

brings
(cf.
that

nothing else could the 9.3). It is one thing to act in

to live it from within. The
one

uncanniness

accordance
at

with

Antigone's piety the sacred, it is

shown

another

Chorus,

it is

thing

to

act

prudently, it is

another

any rate, have just to be wise (cf.

11.2,

4).

36.2.
Ismene's
she

The Chorus
entrance a
killed."

inadvertently
quick

introduce for the first time up the

cue: of

since

quasi-political note:

"It is resolved, it seems, that

be

Creon is
me."

to

pick

"Yes,

resolved

by

you as well as

by

Creon

reminds

the Chorus

they
still

never

assented, that

they

stand even

fast if

against

his request, to which those who break the

the

law (219-20). But his

not

decree,

accepted

by

Chorus,
not

would said

thereby become

the city's resolution

he

could

have

"xai

aot ye xdfiol xai xdXei

dedoy

fiev

fjv (cf. 749, OT 64), for Creon

78
7r>

Cf. Schneidewin. For the

pros and cons as on

the attribution of this

line,

see

Miiller, 109. His

difficulties.
his

arguments

for Antigone

the

speaker

do

not come

to grips with the

Creon's reply is correctly interpreted

80

by A. Taccone,
on

Mouseion 1923, 187.

satisfaction

L's

Ep.01

puts

too great

stress

Creon's

in

killing

son's

fiancee; his

satisfaction still

largely

consists

in killing

lawbreaker.

A
convened stance

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

25

for their

the Chorus because he mistook their adaptability to circum 12.3). Creon senses that loyalty to the royal house (cf.
are

the Chorus

lukewarm,
more

as

incapable

of

If he
over recur

wants

anything to be done, he
no

must

rely

opposing as supporting him. on his own servants. The

Chorus

could

guard

two women than

word

they

could

keep

watch not

a corpse

(cf. 215-7). The

c^ucoeg, moreover,

which

does

in Sophocles (cf.
Antigone is

1189, 1249), indicates how

now restricted

unpolitical

Creon

himself has become. His domain is in

which a slave

to his own

household,
in her

(cf.

30.2).
and

36.3.
own

Creon thinks that Antigone

Ismene,

who

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
she can

to avoid an

unjust punishment cannot or

be based

on

the reasons

Socrates (either Plato's

the
Athenians'

Xenophon's)
never

gave

to

justify

his

acceptance of

condemnation.

Plato's Socrates does doubts its

not

know
she

whether

there is a
that

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

Hades; Antigone
will

existence

her

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;
will

cf.

Rep.

366c3-d3); Antigone
(Her.

wishes

but does
recall

divine that Creon

be

punished

(925-8). These differences 1.

30-2).
of

Solon's double Croesus

had
asked
"truthfully"

account

of

human happiness
was

When

Solon

who

he thought

the happiest

men, Solon

answered

Tellus;

and when

he

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 "most brilliant

and

good"

and

sons,

all of whom

in turn had

children

that were still alive; he himself had a modest fortune and met with a
end of

died "most

life"; for in a battle at Eleusis he routed the enemy beautifully"; and "the Athenians buried him where he
honored him
was
greatly."

fell had
her

at public expense and

Cleobis

and

Biton

were

Argives,

whose

livelihood in

"adequate"

and whose

"bodily
the

strength"

won them prizes

athletic

contests.

A story

was

told that when

oxen

their mother had to appear at a festival to

cart were

Hera,

and

to draw
and

not

at

hand, they
"god

put

themselves

under

the

yoke

drew it forty-five "best

end of
life,"

stades

to the sanctuary; for which

showed

they

obtained

the

since

in their
men

case

that it is better for

strength of

a man to

die than to
the Argive

live."

The Argive

"blessed the
her sons,

the

youths,"

women

their mother, who "joyful at their deed and

grant

report"

prayed

to the statue of Hera to

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."

26
which

Interpretation

they dedicated
about

at

Delphi, "thinking

that

they had

proved

to be the

best

men."

knows

The first story turns on seeing, the second Croesus asked him whom he had Tellus
"story"

on

hearing. Solon

seen most

happy;
good"

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

buried Cleobis
who

at public

expense, for he had fought for the sake of the

own

city.

and

Biton had helped their

at
Argos'

mother; nothing is

said

about

buried them. Tellus lived

said
about

a time when

Athens

was

flourishing;
at

nothing is
and

prosperity
Tellus'

its

preeminence
political

had been
the

the time of Io's rape (1.1.2). Tellus dies in a

setting, Cleobis
was
most

Biton in

sanctuary.

death

at

ripe

age

brilliant from Tellus He

Cleobis'

a civil point of chose

view,
god

and

Biton's from the divine.

and

freely

to

die;

gave to

Cleobis

Biton their

end.
city.

Tellus lived
obtained

and

died

within

the human

horizon,

the horizon of the

everything that men regard as desirable. Cleobis and Biton obtained what gods thought best for men. The city looks to the beautiful
and

fine things, the

are
not

gods

to the best. The human good

and

the divine
tangible

good
goods

the same.

One

restricts

the end to visible

and

other

beautiful children, grandchildren, public honor. The -money, cares more for nonpolitical and even antipolitical ends; it says

that life is not worth

Antigone's the
the
of

holy
its

living. Cleobis
xaXd

Socrates'

life

resembles

the

pohtical

Tellus,

and

pohtical and

while

Biton. Socrates, however, transcends retaining its estimate of the sweetness

and

human life (cf. Ap.S. 33c4, 41b5

the
political

context); Antigone remains the

within

and

its

xaXd

while

transcending
second

human (cf.

27.3).

37 (582-625). 37.1. happiness

exactly. and

The theme

of

the

stasimon

is human

Only

misery, but it is not easy to formulate its unity more three nouns occur in both strophic pairs: dedg, axa, cpqeveg.

One
even

might

the gods and the human

therefore say that the Chorus are mainly concerned with how soul work together for man's destruction. But
run

if this does

through and bind together both strophic pairs, their

differences individual The first

qtCa,

seem to separate
as part of

them more. The first

second sees

strophic pair sees

the

his family; the

him
and

as part of mankind.

strophic pair speaks of

generation, root,
speaks contains of

house
and

dd/j,og,

avdqeg).

olxoi) ; the second The first strophic pair

the

mortals

men

(yeved, yevog, (dvaxoi,

substantive

no nonmetaphoric

for the
and

individual;

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
strophic
pair

speaks ;

of

man's
second

past

(dqxala)
of

and

his

becoming
(sXntg,

and

perishing (cpdixoi) and his existence

the

speaks

man's and

future
time.

eqcog)

(ftioxog)

sleep,

old

age,

The stasimon,

Reading

Sophocles'

of
as part a

Antigone
of

27

however,
the

nowhere not

considers

man

the city, perhaps because

city does (cf. 342-5). 37.2.

properly
strophe

constitute

yevog

in any

natural

way
the

The first

begins

with

general

statement,

which

elaborate simile that

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,
meant to

follows it is

the operation
of

of which

is then illustrated
which

more

particularly in the
of
a

case

Antigone. The
universal

second antistrophe

begins

with an explanation

the

law's
whose
pair

validity,

it then illustrates in

homely

is

meaning is in turn revealed by a renowned adage. vivid and imprecise every one of its substantives
second

way, and The first strophic

occurs elsewhere and

in Sophocles; the
occur seems

is plain,

and

distinct
at

vnsq^aaia

dwdaxag
pair

only here, dvvatitg only to be the poetic interpretation, the

again of

95 1.81 The first

second seems
second strophic

strophic

to be the wise
pair explains

(620) interpretation
why
a god

human life. The

continuance

leads a man astray of disaster within a

of

(vneq^aaia) family but not

;

the first accounts for the

for its initial

subversion

by
of

the gods. The gods

the first strophic pair are chthonic, the gods

the second Olympian. The chthonic has to do with the

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

her. The
simile of
motion

37.3.
set never of

the first strophe likens the Thracian winds that to the

gods who once

the surge in

they have

shaken a

house

let its tremors

cease. and

The

ruffled surge which

the sea's

depths,

from

in racing across the darkness it stirs up dark sand, must be the

present generation of a 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

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

the sea is turned upside down in the light

Oedipus'

of

hope that

stretches over

the last root of

echoed

from the depths is

gods that

inversely
and

the dark sand rolled up in the blood-red dust of the nether

house;

buries

Antigone;83

the headlands in their groaning and

81 82

Cf. A. A. It
cannot

Long, Language
be
accidental and

and

Thought in
egefiog

Sophocles, 57-8.
else

that

everywhere

in

classical

poetry

is

connected with

83

ajxq.

death; cf. OC 1389-90; Trag. adesp. 377 N. is difficult if xdvig is kept, but I venture to suggest that it has nothing
the verb to mow, but that

Tartarus

to do

with

it is found in dta/idco
of which

(cut through)

with

the

basic meaning *to

dig,

the

nominal

forms

are

afin

(mattock)

and

dfidga

28 rumbling
and are taken up, of wits that

Interpretation

again

backwards, in
adds

the

senselessness

of speech

fury

Antigone
under

to the sacred law of burial. Antigone

once more enters she

poetry

duress (cf.

32.1). She

resists

the poetry; the Chorus

believe
role

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

Ismene

proves

to be the blood-red dust

a

owed

to the

nether gods.

The

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
sacred

law

with

an

original

crime

can

be

avoided

which which

wiped

out

through

Oedipus that

succession

of

generations

on

the

Chorus'

argument rests.

But if the

Labdacids'

original crime

consists not

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 her kind. The (cf.
second stasimon sings

purifies

37.4
omitted

of

all

that the
of

first

stasimon

had
the
that

22.7,
unless same art.

25.2).
man

Nothing
snares

remains

man's

dsivoxng

light-witted birds that delude

man

become the light-witted desires

which
as of

it be hope, to neutrality
goodness

the

second

antistrophe

here

ascribes the ascribed to

moral

the second antistrophe there

art

had
with

But the

depended

on

its

alliance

the

laws

of

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 administer
the

law that the Chorus

seem

now

lay

down. Yet the benefits

untouched

of

hope

without

the city

to

be limited to the life

of

by

evils,

the

life,

according to the Chorus, from

evils

the happy. Such happiness is

consistent with

the guard's understanding of the greatest pleasure, the

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
that

(cf.

he

can

acquire

for himself these

prerogatives

of

Zeus; but he is

(channel),
thinks

xarafidco

would

then have
might
not

the

same

sense

as

xarogvoow.

Frisk

also

that

two

distinct

roots

be

involved

(Griechisches Etymologisches
etymologique

Worterbuch); but Chantraine does

(Dictionnaire

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
passage would easier

to understand;

be Aesch. Ch. 286-90. Even xonig, however, makes the for if Xdycov avoia and <pgevcbv 'Egivvg are in
can

passage no apposition some

to

it,
84

the Chorus

only be saying that Antigone's destruction is due to only be the law

of

chthonic power, which power can

burial.

Laius

was

held to be the first homosexual.

A
always

Reading
This

Sophocles'

of
check

Antigone
as a

29

held in

check.

is formulated

law,

in

which

unfortunately the
that

key

term is corrupt; but the sense seems to have been

man.85

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
If
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

of

everything

noble

and

splendid

as

much

as

the

emulation

of

his

splendor would?

The Olympian
equally the

gods would

thus represent a twofold

of one's

prohibition,

forbidding

exclusive

love

own,

which

turns away from everything higher than itself, and the exclusive love of the beautiful, which challenges their supremacy. The human embodi
ment of as

both its defender

this twofold prohibition is the city, which looks up to the gods and its aspiration. But the Chorus do not mention

the city. Their silence would seem to indicate that

they

are

aware

that

the city does not embody but

hibition. If, however, human being together

and
of

one with

uneasily keeps Antigone's character

character as

rather

contains this
as

twofold pro
an

individual her
origins

her

the

expression of

the

sacred, Antigone herself looks like the

of one's own and a monster

perfect

resolution

between the love But Antigone is

the love of the beautiful (cf. the Chorus (cf.

9.3,4).

in the
death.

eyes of

23.1). It seems,

in any case, to be the sarily entails the love 37.5

refer to

counsel of of

despair if the

perfect resolution neces

One

might suppose

that the second stasimon does

pair

not

exclusively
while the
guilty.

Antigone, but
refers

that only the first strophic

one to

does,

second

to Creon. Creon is willfully, Antigone to crime, the other

helplessly

Human misery has two different sources,

one's own ancestors
an original

be traced back through

directly

attributable

to

an

individual's hybris. On this view, Antigone

represents

the final

85

H. Lloyd-Jones has

shown

that Heath's

y'

nd/inoXv proposed

10-20);

but

his

own

fttoxog
not

nd/tnoXvg
nor

(also is

is impossible (CQ 1957, by Kayser) does not

and

satisfy, for prosperity nd/moXvg,

jSi'otoc cannot

is

oXfiog,
the

nd/ifieyag ndfinoXvg,

the hope of
prosperity. avoided

by itself be
does
not

ground

for the disastrousness

of

moreover,

occur

in

extant see

tragedy; it
order

seems

to be
note

in formal prose; Isocrates does not have it; Jebb paraphrases the impossible ndjxnoXv

further

Miiller, 145,
to
explain

1. When

y'

in

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 najxcpiXig disaster," navreXig: "Nothing comes complete to human life except i.e., only art]
men...."

stands

at

the

peak of

follows

as

closely

on

human hopes. Possibly nag nddag the heels of human life as

ye

should

be

read:

"Nothing
have

artj."

Sophocles

would

deformed the proverb, vipeoig di

nag

ndda

fSaivei (nagd nddag

codd.).

30 working
out of

Interpretation

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
the first crime,

he
no

sees

its destructive force

generations

at work

in his

own

family. Creon's

There

will

be

later

to

assume

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

second strophic one

on

the

other

hand,

could

be taken
the

as

Laius'

crime

(cf.

second

hypothesis). The
with

pair,

then,

cannot

be thus

reconciled

first.

If, however,
the first
could
of

ignores the

Chorus'

restriction

in the first
to
original

antistrophe

to the individual's
crime of

family,
a

and generalizes
would

it to
or, to

pertain

man sin.

as

man,
sin

race

become

man's

This

have been

Prometheus'

theft of

fire,

keep

to the

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,

according

women, or, to
more of

keep

again on

to the play,
account

generation

itself,

of

which

no

telling

example

either

could

be found than the into its

the

race

Laius. The

second strophic pair would then come

own as

the

proper pendant of

the first. Although man's hope

crimes

the second, according

and
gift

to

Aeschylus, of according to Hesiod,

a

Prometheus'

(cf.

23.1),

to man,
power,

of

Pandora
as

is

inevitably

frustrated

by

Zeus'

hope is both
cable

blessing
a
would

the indispensable companion to man's ineradi

as

misery

and

curse

the irresistible lure to transgression. The

Chorus'

second

stasimon

thus have been the

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 us

this meditation;

and

it is

a mark of

his

wisdom

that he

encouraged

to

make

it (cf.

11.4).

38 (626-38). 38.1.

The Chorus tell Creon

of

of

Haemon's
on

coming.

They

remind

him that the hope

his

own race

depends

his only

surviving

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
son.
sacrificial

sake of

his fatherland. Yet he did

Eteocles'

but strangely
need would

chose

as

decide to glorify the highest form of

not

Megareus'

death The
one

patriotism.

to prove his own

legitimacy

apparently

outweighed

what

no

have

rated at

less than

a pardonable pride

in his

own consistency.

His his
a

punishment elder son who

man

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
consult

word

have failed to
relation

him

about

the

prohibition

of

Polynices'

86

Creon's
8.

to Megareus is

often

misunderstood; see, e.g.,

Schneidewin,

Einleitung,

Reading

Sophocles'

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
and

his

own?

Or that he

regarded

them

as

so not

obligatory that he ceased to impress us as a humble man.

that Creon tried to abet
self-sacrifice
more of

count

them

as obligations?

Creon does

If,

moreover,

one accepts

Euripides'

version,

Megareus'

(Menoiceus')
would

ostensible avoidance of a

(Phoen.

962-85), Creon

be nothing but

hypocrite,

than willing to save his own at the expense of his fatherland. One two conclusions would then follow: either Creon punishes Antigone

out of shame at sacrifice was

lapse from patriotism, or Creon thinks unnecessary, a pious invention of Tiresias. In the former
own
expect some

his

Megareus'

case, one would

hint

of a remorse

that takes so spiteful a

Tiresias'

form;

and

in the be

latter, his

claim

to have never departed from

advice would ask whether

demonstrably
come

Haemon has

false (993). When, however, the Chorus in grief and pain for his blighted hopes,
soon

Creon gratuitously replies: "We shall In the mouth of Creon /idvxig is no

know better than

to be strictly

soothsayers."

more

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

of

be simply

explained.

getting back at Tiresias. Yet perhaps Creon cannot The truth about him might lie in his very lack of
or principle.

any overwhelming It
would

passion

Nothing

dominates but petty

suspicion, spite, and then

call

resentment.

He is
of

cold without

being
the

magnanimous.

for

much reflection on the ways of

gods

if Creon's
much

punishment

consists

in the loss
term
of

those who have

at

never

meant

to him (cf.
or

63.1,3). He does not,

with one

any rate,

address

the dead Haemon

addresses

Eurydice

affection;

and

he then

the

messenger as

he had just

addresed

his son; &

whether

nal

(1289). 8T
come

38.2.
and

The Chorus

ask

Creon

Haemon has

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

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 account. 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 cplXog 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

remarks

except

here

and

that this ordinary form of address is absent from tragedy Aesch. Ch. 653-4: for Creon only the master-slave relation counts

(cf. 479).

32

Interpretation

him
need

as

father. Haemon knows

affect

what

sound

judgment is. Does he

then anyone at all to guide him? Haemon also knows that

not and
cannot

love
of

does

his judgment. He is
In
order

competent

judge

wisdom

and

free

of self-interest.
someone whom

to prove the

have to defer to

Creon

acknowledged

first, he would to be wisecould

for example, to

he have

cited at

this

point

Tiresias?

-and

to

prove

the second, he would

have to do something marry anyone of his father's

against

his

self-interest

offer,

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.
choosing.

39
whose

(639-80).
two

39. 1.88 lines

are

The theme
concern

of

Creon's

speech of

is hierarchy,
to

central

the
of

consequence

his

failing

keep

in

order

those who

naturally

his

own

kind. The

speech

falls into

three

parts:

fathers

and sons

(639-54),

the private and the public

each part

(655-67),

obedience and

disobedience (668-80). In

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

directly

to Haemon

(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 39.2.
expressed,

on

Antigone's behalf (748).

says that

Creon

Haemon

must

hold to the
that
a

sentiments son must

he has
set

which

Creon interprets to

mean

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
as

not

restrict

the prayer to sons

evil

requite

their father's enemy with

be obedient, in order that they and honor their father's friend

unless

their

father does. Children

enemies'

are

useless

they

conform

to this

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
off

wonders

in benefits; they have nothing to do with pleasure what Creon would have said about the duty of

or

love. One
to

sons

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 cpiXot,
whom

he
on

could not expect

his father in turn to honor. Creon therefore

has to
simply
unless

imply
he

that no enemy of his is good and no friend

of calculation

bad;

so

Haemon,
tripartite

the basis

(eidcbg),
which

should not

marry Antigone,
gives a

wants

to inflict troubles on himself. Creon thus

argument,

the

inner

coherence

of

is

not

self-evident.

It

would

88

I do

not accept

Seidler's displacement

of

668-71;

see

below

39.3.

A Reading of follow The

at once

Sophocles'

Antigone

33

from the

subordination of

that Haemon must reject

opposition

Antigone,

everything to a father's judgment for Creon says that she is bad.

pleasure could not

between judgment But why

and

be

more

clear-cut.

And

yet

Creon inserts between the

should

premise and

the

conclusion

the prayer of fathers.

Creon has

prayed

for his The

obedience?

Haemon
son

Haemon obey Creon because must obey because that is

grounded

is

what

Creon

wants.

duty

of

the

in the

pleasure of

the father. But Creon does

good

not want

anything

else than what would

be

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
a

father's judgment
39.3.

and

judgment simply,

which

he in

vain

tries to ease

through prayer.

Creon knows that Haemon

cannot

Creon's command; he is content if Haemon (d)tiei) she were ill-disposed to him. Creon does
on

loathe Antigone simply will let her go as if

not ask that Haemon have to be his father's

literally
Haemon

fulfill the
Creon
obeys

prayer of

fathers; he does
further. It
will

not

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.

goes or

even

makes

no

him

not; he

kill Antigone

enemies
dative"

(291)
ndXei

he
is

will not prove ambiguous.

himself false to the

can
mean either

city.

The "ethical
will not of

It

that Creon
city's

pardon

Antigone because he
or

could not then

bear the

mockery

his indulgence to Haemon

that Antigone's disobedience threatens the

can
an

supremacy of the city. Antigone Zeus is again in Creon's mouth

cf.

harp

all she wants on

Zevg vvai/j,og.

only the Olympian and 37.2). He pretends

same as
natural relation

29.3). Creon takes empty term (cf. celestial Zeus seriously (184, 758, 1040-1; that Antigone's appeal to the Zeus of kinship

is the
The

her asking for pardon on the basis of her kinship with him. between Creon and Antigone does not differ from
relation

the allegedly sacred

one's own natural

between Antigone
point of

and

Polynices. To

cherish

kind to the

disorder

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

could mean

just in his dealings (cf. Her. 5.29)

the
city's good can

with

only one of two things: either that whoever is his own will be just in his dealings with the city

or

that whoever as ruler subordinates his own good to

xoig olxetoitiiv
neither of

iv

dvfjQ

xQVar^

Is

a of

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
mean

them. If the

rJtf-nc

34
other means

Interpretation

hand,
with

the

orrac

of

663 is the

same as the

oaxig

of
ruler

the subject, the subject is just if he obeys the

661, but it whom he,

consists

along in an his
are

the

other

citizens, has established; but his justice then

obedience

that is independent of
ruler's.

own

interests to the
with own.

identical
one's

justice; he simply If Creon thinks that the ruler's interests the subject's, it would be very easy to be good in dealing

subordinates

with man

Only

out

of

mistaken

self-interest

could

the private

disobey. But how does the

the
ruler's?

private man

know that his

the
subject

own

interests
on

coincide with

It

would

seem that

banks

his

becoming

a ruler

society, in which

in turn. The city is nothing but a mutual exploitation compensate for every citizen has his chance as ruler to
as subject.

the injustices he has suffered

Creon, however,
and

cannot

say
of

that. The obedient subject is the noble ruler. He is noble because he

subordinates

his

own

interests to the city

its laws; but the laws

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
citizens

to his decree is equivalent to their

city.

subordination

of

their own
xd

interests to the
cpvaei

He

would thus
own

imply

that everyone regards

cannot

iyyevfj

of

Creon

as

his

olxela.

As this

literally
a

Creon

must mean

that every citizen sees in Antigone

be true, threat to his

rule within who

must

his

own

family.
present

Every
or

citizen

is

father
the

or potential

father,
men.

base his

future

rule

on

superiority

of

Creon city
on

seems

to oppose the city to the

family; but he in fact

unjust ruler versa.

models

the
on

the

family
to the

(cf.

30.2). Obedience to the

and not vice

depends

obedience

father,
own
of

Lines 661-2, then,

order

mean:

"Whoever keeps his

the
proper

family
city."

in its

proper

will

also

maintain

order an

the

Creon, however, has

to

admit

that the

family

is

not

actual

children.

The

actual

model, for fathers have to pray for obedient family therefore needs the city in order for it to
other

become the

model

family. Without the

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 support 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

in

all

its

dignity

if it is

subordinate ruler

not see

this

vicious circle

because he is the

the city. He can thus subordinate the

can maintain

family

to the city at the same

time that he

the

dignity
obeys

of

the father.
ruler would

39.4.
ruler,
a

Whoever scrupulously good subject, and in

post,
of a

the city's
of

be

a noble

storm

spears

would

stick

to

his

assigned
subject

just

and good comrade-in-arms. obedience

That he

would

be

a good
perfect

follows only if

by

itself turns him into the

a

instrument

the ruler's will; and that he be

just

and good

naqaoxdxng

follows only if his martial competence would be a noble ruler follows at once
must

can on

be presumed; but that he

realization of

his

that the ruler

seems which

exact

obedience.

The threefold
threefold

consequence

obedience

to

be

matched

by

the

consequence

of

disobedience,

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
When it does

35
occur

Creon

treats as

being

equivalent to and

lack
could

of order.

to him that

neidaqxta

dvaqxla
men,

subordination

of women to

which

fall together, he relies on the is far more firmly established

than either the subordination of children to

prayer and

fathers,

which

depends

on

the city,

or

the subordination of wives to

pleasure.

husbands,

which

depends
ruins

on

judgment overriding
and routs an

households,

Disobedience destroys cities, in battle. The third consequence army

the third consequence
of

of

disobedience is the The first

counterpart of
now

obedience,
guarantee

which,
success.

however, Creon

admits,

does

not

invariably

consequence of

disobedience is the
households

counterpart of

the

first
of

and second consequence of

obedience; but the

of

second consequence

disobedience
city's

the ruination

cannot

have its

proper

correlate, for the father does

the

not give son

ruler,

nor

does

up his own rule when he obeys prove his competence to rule in his
obedience

obedience to
woman

his father, a in her obedience

wife

in her
a man.

to her
praise

husband,
of

or

to

Creon's

unqualified

obedience,

so that whoever practices

of

it automatically

acquires

the

right

to rule, undercuts the very basis

pohtical rule.

the

hierarchy
avdqa)

on which

Creon

models

Creon

avoids

the self-contradiction

the right to rule to men

(xovxov

xov

and

by explicitly restricting implicitly to fathers.

The

Chorus,
men,

at

wonder whether
old

any rate, though they think that Creon speaks prudently, they have not been deceived by time (681-2). As loyal

all of whom could

by

now

be

pleased with

on the other

Creon's granting them the right to hand, cannot be much moved by an

have been fathers, they cannot but rule (cf. 988). Haemon,
argument

that promises

him the
a

right to rule as a man while

it deprives him

of

the way to become

father.

40 (683-723). 40.1.
center consists of

The theme

of

Haemon's

speech

is wisdom,

whose

two parallel sentences, the first saying that Haemon

has

no more prized possession than

what greater

delight

could children

his father's success, the second asking have than their father's glory, or a
turns on three sententiae,
each parts of

father than his

children's.

The

speech

of which contradicts

in turn the three

judgment does

Creon's

speech.

To Creon's

demand that
Haemon

a son must set

answers that

his father's judgment before everything else, not reside with fathers qua fathers

(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 his
(720-3).

Haemon

connects

his threefold

opposition

to

Creon's

opinions with a pride

threefold attack on Creon himself: his ignorance

(688-91),
speech and

(705-6), his obduracy (711, 718). Throughout his

speaks

Haemon
possessive

directly
here

to Creon.
occur

The

second and

person

pronoun

adjective

seven

times,

in the

exchange

that

follows

seven

times more (cf.

39.1).

36 40.2.
ended

Interpretation

Creon began
with

with

the superiority
of

of

father's judgment
the

and gods

Haemon begins with human beings, the highest of in implanting (<pvovaiv) human possessions (xxn/xdxcov Ls; cf. 1050, fr. 210, 36P), and ends (cpvvai) with his assigning the highest rank to the man who is by nature Haemon is incapable, nor does wholly full of knowledge (imaxijfir]). he wish to be capable, of denying the correctness of what Creon has said. But his own incapacity, which seems to be due as much to the
the

superiority
sense

men;

(cpqeveg)

gods'

unequal

distribution

of wisdom as to

his

own

filial piety, does

not prevent

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

Although Creon inspires terror

any

gain

his

self-effacement

might

have

won

him. He

must

now

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
not

counted

his disregard

of

it

as

his

greatest merit

(178-81).

ignorant

of either the secret

rule

the hidden defiance of his

first

difficulty by

shifting from

(290-1) murmuring (655). Haemon tries to sidestep the the correctness (dqdmg) of Creon's
of enemies

his

speech

to the moral

beauty (xaXcog)

of a counter view

(cf. 706, 723).

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 called a

the mockery of a father's enemies

woman's

(647),

and

he

refused
concern

to be

inferior (680). Haemon

exploits

this

in

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 cpdxig), for Antigone can obtain the golden honor (xqvcffjg xififjg)
she

Creon's

deserves only if the city publicly grants it. Haemon therefore good fortune and repute in terms of his own possession
order

puts

and

delight in

to

show

that he would take

a

no

pleasure

in Creon's
38.1)?

downfall. Yet he
children's glory.

adds

that

father has
of
can

no

greater

delight than in his

Is he thinking Or does he insinuate that Creon

glory?

his brother Megareus (cf.

bask through Haemon in Antigone's

human

However this may be, Haemon tries to link wisdom as the highest possession with public opinion through his own most precious
of

possession, the good fortune of Creon. In the absence

his

own

wisdom,

Haemon
can

must esteem most and

flourish

be his; and Creon's success highly thus remain Haemon's only if Creon abides by public
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.

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
most glorious

37 deed
the city
of

According
aat

to the city, Antigone's

eqycov evae^eaxdxcov

say brother fallen in

does

not

consists

in the burial

her

(iv cpovalg), 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

bloody

slaughter

sumption

by

had
war

advised

beasts (cf. 1018, 1029). It prefers to forget, as the Chorus themselves to do (150-1), both the war and the kind of Polynices
was engaged.

in

which

The city, therefore, does

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
of neither

law, distinguished Antigone. The city

nor

speaks

the divine law

Antigone's
and

piety.

It interprets Antigone's

deed

as

intended to
saved

prevent

dogs

birds from between

destroying
and

Polynices.89

Antigone
neither

her brother. That

nor

she saved a corpse no one mentions:

vexvg

vexqdg

occurs

515

818.90

Creon,

however, just

spoke of

the many bodies

(adifiaxa)
Tellus'

that obedience saves

(676). The city understands Antigone militarily. It tries to assimilate her 36.3). Thebes deed as much as possible to a victory like (cf.

does

not

see

Antigone

as

Argos

saw

Cleobis

and

Biton. Creon had

order

Polynices'

ordered

body (difiag)

to be left unburied in

that the

city

might

see

the birds and dogs eat and disgrace it (cf.

4.6). The

city itself, however, speaks of the brother being eaten and perishing. Antigone is to die disgracefully (xdxiaxa <pdlvei); Polynices would have
suffered

something more, the loss

Polynices'

of self.

Tiresias
and

can speak of

the unholy
reasons meanness

consequences of

punishment,

hence

of

the sacred

for the divine law (cf.

52);

and

he

can speak as well of about

its

(1029-30); but
eaten,
and

the city knows nothing else,

constitutes

any

of

this.

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
city's opinion
89

in the

On the inexactness
of a piece with

of

the

city's

speech,

see

It is

the

city's

(or Antigone's) misunderstanding

of

A. B. Drachmann, Hermes 1908, 69. of the reason for

Creon's calling the extraordinary assembly 90 Their joint abstention from the word
speech:
no

the

Chorus;
to be in

cf. note

7.

seems

accordance with ever uses

Athenian
When
says

Thucydidean
the

speaker

(unlike

Herodotus)
failed to

vexgdg.

Socrates

refers to

corpses

the

generals

recover at

Arginousae, he

xovg ix xfjg vavfiaxlag

vexgdg,
verse

it

almost

(PI. Ap.S. 32b3); likewise Lysias 5.36. When orators use invariably refers to the dead buried at Marathon. On no Greek

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
modified.

01

Cf. Moschion fr.

xaXvnxtiv xam/ioigdodai xdviv

6, 30-3 N: xdx rovde xoiig Bavdvrag &giaev vdfiog / xv/ipoig iv 6q>8aX(ioig iav / rfjg ngdade / vexgolg dOdnroig,
fit]d'

Oolvrjg

fivrjfidvevfia

dvoaepovg.

38 The
need
question whether

Interpretation
this terror is part of the core out of the gods,
which man's

for

gods arises or whether

having

given man gift

his humanity,
all

enjoin

through the

law that

man

live up to their
to
point

underlies

of

Antigone. Antigone herself

seems

to the truth of either answer

(cf.

28.1).

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,

40.4.

Haemon follows
that seems to

argument

Creon
not

must

in himself
should

(iv tiavxCo)
model. of

be

more

adaptable.

Antigone,
two
which

be his

Haemon

now of

adopts

The Chorus, for his own

and

purposes

remarks

Creon.

The triad
sight

yrvxV> <pqdvn[ia,
rule

yvmfin,

Creon had
of

said come to

only in

(cf.

12.4),
of

becomes the triad

cpqovslv, yX&aaa,

and yn>x)];

and the two and

likenesses
29.2)and a

that Creon had used to illustrate Antigone's

character

his way

dealing
are seaman

with

it

overtempered

iron

and

spirited

horses (cf.
winter

matched

by

the likenesses of trees

facing

torrent

overstraining the sail's sheet.

correspond with

exactly

Creon's;

Haemon's triad, however, does not it resembles much more the first
and

stasimon's

triad

of

cpdeyfia, <pqdvr]fj,a,
attack

daxwdfiot dqyal (cf.

pride

22.11).
resolve and

Since Haemon has to

Creon in his is hence

his fearless

(cpqdvvfia)
question

to maintain what he is most devoted to

argument

(rpvxi])

the

of

(yvcb/nrj)
his

irrelevant, Haemon
and nonrulers

presents

Creon's
as

resolution as vanity,

arguments as

specious, and his devotion

hollow. Creon's distinction between

comes everyone else.

rulers

is false.
opinion

What in

to sight in the ruler must be the same as that which is latent

The

ruler's

laws (cf. 191)

must

be the hidden

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

the opinion
of a

of

the people,

which

Haemon tacitly likens

(cf. Her.

irresistible force
guide

is nothing to

the

ruler.

stormy The

stream or sea
ruler's

3.81.2),
his

there

moderation consists shows

doing

anything to save his own

skin.

Haemon thus

solely in care for

Creon: he

argues self-preservation at

the

expense of a

futile but possibly

mere

noble resistance.

Creon's

high-mindedness,
own safety.

he believes, is

bluster,

concealing
to

fear for his for

Thucydides,
silent

who takes no risks

so

He is the typical tyrant, according (1.17). It is for this reason that Haemon

keeps

long
to

about

the divine

law, for he does

unskillful art

not

know

whether

its

violation

involves

punishment.
and/or artless

40.5.

According

Creon, Antigone is

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 who

becoming
unskillful

drowns. He
yield

can
what

restrain cannot

his be

nature resisted

(rjdog)

or

improve his
xelveiv

skill.
or

He
can

can

to

(to fxrj

he

accept

the opinion of others (to

fiavddveiv noXXd).

dyav) They are

A
equivalent, for the
could

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
be
resisted.

39 Creon

opinion of others

is

what cannot

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

that it is pointless to

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 gods

themselves. Haemon defers to his father's wisdom only to

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

punishment,

which now

threatens to sweep

41 (724-7). 41.1. in the

play.

The Chorus

They

advise

now speak the only Creon to learn from Haemon

ridiculous

lines

and

Haemon to
show

learn from Creon, "for it is well said their wisdom to be only a mimicry of
who argues

on

both

sides."

The Chorus

wisdom.

They

suggest that

Creon,

for the

paternal

Haemon, however,
they
are

who argues

authority of the ruler, can compromise with for the divine authority of the city's voice. Fathers,

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
are not ancestors.

does

not

perish

(cf.

40.3). Now Creon talks

of

fathers

as

begetters

(qmaavxeg) who pray for obedient children (yovdg), Haemon of the gods begetting (qwovaiv) wisdom (cpqevag). To endow parents with the authority
of

wisdom, it is first
as
not

of all

necessary to look
objects of sexual
reverence.93

upon

them as nonsexual
prohibition

beings, i.e.,
against

possible

desire. The

incest

embodies

this

It thus belongs together

the
prohibition against

with

the injunction to them naked (cf. to this

bury
the

one's parents under

seeing only

16.2). Antigone's burial

confrontation

of

her brother
and son

points

issue; it is
Creon

between father

that makes

it

plain.

41.2.

asks

the Chorus the Chorus

whether as

"we
as

men"

old

(ol xnXixolde)

perhaps

he

means

well

himself (cf.

39.4)

are

to be taught

by
not

a man as add

young

as

Haemon is

Creon does

that
with

"we"

too are
as with
men

links

age

natural

closely decay ageing is needed to turn

as

by nature (xrjv qwaiv). old men by nature, for nature wisdom. Something more than
respected

into

fathers. But Creon

92 93

Cf. PI. Lgs. 717d7-el. Cf. Thomas Summa

contra gentiles

III.124.

40
does
not see

Interpretation

fathers

except as

begetters;

and

fathers
after

cannot

become

more

than begetters

unless

they

pattern themselves

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

against

Polynices. between Haemon

and

42 (728-65). 42.1.

The

exchange

Creon falls
capitula

into three parts, in each of which tion, first through argument (728-39),
and

Creon tries to force Haemon's

next

through abuse

(740-9, 756),

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
what

one

cares of

for (cf.
the

12.7). The

exchange can

begins

with

Haemon's
question.

interruption
Creon
says what

Chorus, before they

own youthfulness to
not unjust and

answer

Creon's

His disrespect toward the Chorus

and admit

prepares

for his
a

refusal

to defer to

his

be

defect (cf. 719-20). He

that his

teaching is
made

that Creon should examine, not

time has

him, but

what

whether

Haemon's

reverence of

he himself has done.95 Creon asks the unruly is something to be proud 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
merits.

Haemon does

not

directly

answer

Creon;

rather

than

deny

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.

Creon then

asks an

ambiguous

question.

He

can

mean either

that Antigone is bad or that

means

Polynices. If he
all

Antigone the latter, Haemon's answer

now

reverenced would

the bad
startling:

be

the people of Thebes

means

think that Eteocles was in the wrong. If

he

the

former, Creon drops

of

the issue of

Polynices'

criminality in

04

Some

rearrangement and

the

lines

seems

necessary;

and

accept

Enger's Creon

transposition of 756-7
upbraids

Pallis'

of avoid

750-3. I

understand the sequence thus:

Haemon for trying to

asks whether

affirming his total devotion to Antigone

revile

Haemon
says says

Creon

will

just

him

or

listen to

that the witless Haemon will regret his attempt at that Creon must

(756); (757); Creon instruction (754); Haemon

argument

counterthreat,
as

which

be insane (755, cf. 765); Creon threatens and Haemon issues he says cannot be a threat to a man as devoid of under
one who

standing

Creon, i.e.,

does

not

know that Haemon's threat is

are not rearranged,
still

last

effort

to put some sense in Creon (750-3).

as a statement at

If the lines

757

must

be

read

(cf. J. H. Kells, CR 1961, 191-2); but this

the

leaves Haemon's it

threat

the wrong
95

point.

So I
be
to

understand

difficult

xagya.

Jebb's interpretation
where

of

as

"merits"

could
egya

supported

by

PI. Chrm. 163b l-c4,

and

Critias Iliad

says that

Hesiod

restricted

things

nobly

beneficially done;

cf.

LX, 319-20; Xen. Mem.

1.2.56-7.
6

Cf. J. D. Denniston, CR 1936, 115-6.

A
favor

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

41

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
whole

answer

as

answer could still

being solely concerned with Antigone. Haemon's imply that Creon's enemies have now won over the
similes

city.

The threat that Haemon's

general"

disguised in his

speech

the more menacing if it involved a repudiation of the war that Creon "the had won. When the Chorus celebrated the
would
all

be

Theban victory,

they did
what

not

praise

Eteocles

or

blame Polynices (cf. but

strove

11.6-7).
might now

Precisely

Creon brought

about of

to

prevent

have happened: the

politicization

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
of

Polynices

as

with will

its

approval

of

Antigone. Even his threat that

could

Antigone's death
revolution

destroy
now

someone

be

further warning

of

(751). Creon

asks whether as a

the city is to say what he

explains

should ordain.
that

Haemon takes it
not

foolish question, but Creon

out

to be a ruler means

to carry

the orders of

another ruler:
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 only
mean

that Creon must take his bearings

must

by

public opinion

in

order

to survive, he implies that Creon opinion, for the people

are never

look up to (evaefieiv) public bad. Creon thought that the city was
not

in itself its

good

(cf. be

19.4), but he had

good.

drawn the

conclusion

that

citizens must

than its people (cf.

seems

666).97

that the city is something other He turns to the Chorus to remark that Haemon
supposes
are

He

to be Antigone's ally, for the Chorus

exaggerates

the proof that Haemon's

6/j.dnxoXig Xecbg
posed of

the

city's unanimity.

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

rich

whom

both Antigone

and

address

the rulers of Thebes

citizens

as

such

an

impossible

object

of

reverence.

Haemon tries to

dignify
42.2.

public opinion and ruins

his

case.

The
not

weakest part of

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

opinion.

Creon therefore tries to

goad

him into

an

admission

of

his

97

Cf. L.

Strauss, Socrates

and

Aristophanes, 94.

42
subservience

Interpretation
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
the real object of
was

his

care.

Haemon

proclaimed on

Megareus is
on

not

Haemon's. When Creon

answers

says that

his

speech

is wholly
ye xd/iov

Antigone's

behalf, Haemon
and

that it is also in the interest of

"xai aov

Creon, himself,
xai

the nether gods. He does not say

ndXecog xfjg av/jmdang

(cf.

36.2). The

gods

city.

Justice
care

must

be

grounded

does, his

for Creon from his

unjust.

in the gods, not respect for his father. Haemon's

reveals

suddenly replace the in opinion, however

answer

is that Creon is
correctness of

He

at

last

that he never accepted the

Creon's speech,

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

be

obeyed regardless

of

the gods. It is

not

true that the tell him

what

ruler

democratically
they
are the

executes

the

people's

wishes; the
must

gods

he

should ordain.

The ruler, then,

gods, not the

does
city.

rule under

the guidance of others; but

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
grounded

Justice

be

is triumphant: "Defiled
seems

nature with

(^dog)\

Lower than

woman!"

a greatest

Creon
of

to

identify
at

piety

womanishness.98

His

abuse

Haemon,

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

would reflect

in his

simple

understanding the distinction between

Olympian
42.3.
gods

and chthonic

gods

(cf.

37.2, 39.2).
nether

The

coincidence
as

of

the city's opinion with what the

Aeschylus'

demand

their due raises the question of whether the city and

common.
an answer.

Hades have something in

points

A passage 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
the way to
grave"

herald,
those
return

whose special protector above and

below"

is Hermes

(514-5), "greatest herald

says

of

(Ch.
or

164),

never

that

he

longed to

to

is

not

a private

his parents, wife, longing like

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
99

longing for what is his (cf. 414-9), nor does he look the future glory of the army (567-81).
children; the

joy

on

his

return

by

(539).99

The love for

Ibid., 233-4.
The
exact

wording is

not

recoverable;

cf.

Fraenkel,

ad

loc.

Reading

Sophocles'

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 might not so much replace point

the city with the nether gods as unwittingly

to Hades as the core of the city.

as unjust and

Even if Thebes

still

regards
of

Polynices Haemon's

has

not
us

repudiated

Eteocles,

as

the drift

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

has

doubt,

yet

another.100

mistakenly
patriotism

saw

between his
the

soul's

laws

and
a

and

denial

of
of

burial to
whom

brother,
never

his decree (192), between should in fact be

speaks
and

the bond among citizens,

Creon
on

(cf.
the

30.2).
mutual

Antigone's fratricide
exclusion

silence of

about

the

Polynices'

war,
take
a

crime,

her

brothers thus
other concern

deeper

significance.

Her

every city believes it merits golden honor combined with the im partiality of her natural love for both her brothers despite their own
the

of

than that

her brother lies

unburied

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),
wish
makes

would

to

of

the

cpiXei

bonded, can be established. Creon's xdxm vvv iXdovo', el (pdnxeov xeivovg (524-5) buries the city's hopes along with Antigone (cf.

46.8). 42.4. Haemon does more than admit 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 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

to

it; for his

threat

cannot

effort

to

bring

Creon to his

senses.

Creon loves him;

too

so

for Creon

no

longer to
iv

see

his head

with

his

cf

PI. Menex. 237b6-3: atixdxBovag oi>x $n ftrjxgviag <bg

xeXevzrjoavTag
ol

xai x& ovxi

&XX'

naxgldi

olxovvxag

xai

t,&vxag
<%>xow,
xai

xai xge<poftivovg
xai vvv
xelodai

aXXoi,

vno

fiTjrgog xijg x&QQ-S

xai

&

ft

iv olxeioig xdnoig xrjg xexovarjg

adeXrpol qrvvzeg.

Bgetpdarjg

vnodeSa/xivng;

239al: fiidg ftnzgog ndvxeg

44
eyes

Interpretation

own

would

pain

him (cf.
absence will of act

1.1).

One

might

therefore

suppose and

that

Haemon, in the
of whether

divine
on

sanctions

(cf.

40.4),

unsure

the city

the

duty

to

punish

Creon. But
silence

would
about

its opinion, takes upon himself he have done so if Ismene had

innocent Ismene,
tells against him.
which

buried Polynices? His

city's nether silence gods

the

the
the

does
were

not

altogether

justify,

And if

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
so
much

when

set

next

to

Haemon's

between

<piXla

and eqwg.

becomes the gods',

and

only underline the difference Haemon, then, begins as the city's spokesman, ends by cherishing Antigone unto death.
silence
warn

43 (766-80). 43.1.
as

The Chorus
pain,
of

Creon that

a mind as

Haemon's
the
of

is, in

oppressive

to

its

owner. alone

Creon
suicide

young dismisses

the warning; the

contemplation

suicide,

let

itself, is

beyond
the

human. He forgets Jocasta (cf.

8.3). To risk death for

sake

because
never

of pain

bring
both (cf.

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
could girls

and

Ismene

face

death

to

kill

is

unchanged.

Ismene

34.1),

and

unflinchingly (580-1), Creon's resolve The Chorus, however, easily save Creon decides to forgo Antigone's public
seems

execution

(cf.

30.2). Haemon
stone

to

have

convinced

him

that

the people would not the people would not

Antigone to death; but he suspects that interfere if he kills her in a remote part of the
against
Polynices'

country,

and as

in

her.
will

Just
so

way that no one's hand has to be raised he frees Ismene because she did not touch
such a

corpse,
polluted

remain

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
execution of which

Antigone's
its

would

appease

the

city.

Would the

city forget

injustice,

only Haemon

on

his

own

has

spoken

if Creon exactly complies with the demands of piety? at any rate, do not object. Perhaps they understand it as an
acsxwdfioi

(728, 743), The Chorus,

example of

dqyal,
Creon

which

though morally

neutral

are

one

of

the

glories

of man's

deivdxng (cf.
presents

22.10). Antigone's
suit of

43.2.
of

Hades for life

cannot produce

as

incapable

being fulfilled,

for Hades is

not a god at

like

other gods who can grant

or withhold a

favor. If Hades is

work, he

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
of

what she worships.

The
that

killing
what

of

Antigone is the

education of

Antigone

(cf.
the

30.1). But precisely

marketplace as

offends

Creon,

who

all

%aj?s

is
Her

reciprocal

holds to the view (cf. 4.7), reveals be

Antigone

the

perfect worshipper.

reverence must

disinterested,

A for

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

45

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 first time in lyrics
parodos
second

The Chorus

of

old

men

sing

of

Eros. For In the

and

they

use

the second person

pronoun.101

they

addressed

stasimon

the vocative and

in the day (103) Zeus (609), but in neither case did they go beyond a verb in the second person. In the parodos, however,
the eye of the golden
and

they
of

exhorted

themselves

the

rest of

Thebes to

visit all

the temples

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
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

an

independent sang 22.6). The

of

poem.

It is

somehow

akin

to the
was

first stasimon,
a neuter
"this"

which

man's

deivdxng
men

and

in

which

man

(cf.
not

old

remind

one

of

the elders

of

Troy
spell

who,

on

goddesses,"

do

seeing Helen, "like unto the terrible beauty of the begrudge the war, though they at once throw off
and when

her

(T 156-60). The

looking
silent

at

Antigone;
her

Chorus, however, do they do catch

speak of

not

sing
of

of

Eros

while

sight

about

beauty

and

their

own

tears

45.1). In the song itself Eros is the cause strife, but not of tenderness, harmony, or
do
not

of

madness,

her, they are (cf. 32.1, injustice, and

The Chorus

self-sacrifice.

think of Antigone

as

acting through Eros.

of
eleven

44.2.
this

The song is
the
two

composed

statements

about

love,

the

central one of which says center sets

that he whom Eros possesses is mad. Around

of

five

statements

each

are

balanced.
can

The
resist

pendant

to

"Eqcog dvlxaxe

fidxav

is that

not

even

the just

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'

Eros'

on soft cheeks of a girl

is the
as

manifest

evocation
Eros'

of triumphant
motion

desire
sea and

in the
and

eyes

of

marriageable office of

girl; to

restless

over

land is desire's

the

assessor

of

the
or

great

ordinances;

to the

impossibility
is the

either

any immortal
who

human

being

Eros

goddess

Aphrodite,

effortlessly

wins

every

escaping battle.

i01 102

Cf. E. Norden, Agnostos Theos, 158. For this very broad sense of xxr\p.axa
economic
are

see

pseudo-Arist.

Oec.

1345a26-30;
indicative Sophocles

PL Grg. 461c5-6. This

of

understanding of what is one's own is

cf.

how

close

the Chorus
as almost

to

Creon;

29.3, 53.2. Note

(Tr. 690).

also

that

uses xxr\aiog

the

equivalent

of olxelog

46

Interpretation
not

It is
stand

easy to say, as this summary reveals, how the Chorus under Eros. The only other occurrence of eros is in the second stasimon,
the Chorus speak of hope
and

where

the "deceit

of

light-witted
of

desires"

(cf. Eros
ways

27.4). The
reflects

question

to

what

degree the
reminds

Chorus'

animation

of

their

belief in his

divinity

one

the parodos,

where the

Chorus

characterized eleven

different beings in
was

eleven

different
madness,

(cf.

11.4). There too the

center

occupied

by

the Bacchic
as
nor

frenzy
human
and
can

of

literally

as

Capaneus. But here, unlike the parodos, nothing the miserable Polynices and Eteocles is found;

do Eros

to whom one
who when
seem

Aphrodite appear, like Dionysus and Zeus, as a god pray or offer tribute. Eros far more resembles Hades,
at work

he is
take

does

what

he is (cf.

43.2). The Chorus

"poeticization"

to treat as equivalent
even

one cannot

Eros, desire (l/j,eqog), and Aphrodite; but l/neqog literally, for apart from its
xdiv fieydXviv ndqedqog much as

it is

set

in
it

apposition

to

iv

aqxalg
Ares"

Betificbv,
was

which

animates

at

least

as

the "clatter

of

galvanized

into life in Perhaps

of

being

one

could
not

juxtaposed to dvxmdXov bvaxelqoifia dqdxovxog (126-7). say that the night-watch of Eros on the cheeks divinize him
more

girl

does

than

"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

(153-4), detracts from his. The ubiquity

or

of

Eros,
and a

moreover,

to

whom

wilderness

dividing
as

sea

is

an

obstacle,

his power,

which

overcomes

the gods

to

make

him
which

the
set

highest
aside

god.

easily as men who live for His ubiquity resembles

day,

seem

man's

own sea

deivdxrjg,
and

the

apparent

limits imposed
22.7). Eros
with of

on

him

by

Earth,

the highest of the gods (cf.

seems

to supply

the missing cause of man's

detvdxng (cf.
replace

The
and

Chorus, then,
now assert

seem

to

Earth

22.1; Eur. Med. 844-5). Eros or Aphrodite,

human transgression,

that,

while

Eros is the

cause

Eros limits

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

Zeus,

whose splendor and

immutability

human transgression (cf.

the great ordinances. If the text is

ordinances too
are a part of

sound,103

they

suggest that of

the great

Eros'

domain. The love

for

country, the

love
own

of parents

for children,

and that of children

parents will

belong

to Eros. His power shows

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

of

ndgedgog

is correct, the issue

would

turn

on

the

possibility

of a proceleusmatic

here;

see

Miiller, 174-6.

A
playfulness.

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

47

when carried
of

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

Antigone, however, has

one's own

in the

strict sense

unwittingly)

admitted was

(cf.

is oneself, which 2.2). The latter

and

even

Antigone (however
would
not

consequence
grant

follow if Creon

wrong

Hades

could

Antigone hfe: but

Antigone is Antigone

silent

about

the afterlife.

Her

soul

has

long

been dead.

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
would

denial
sets

of sexual above
gods.

generation,

which

the Olympian gods share to overstep the one

Eros'

with

men,

her

Eros. Antigone

seems

limit that

limits the

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
than the gods', and her suicide
a

divine

punishment?
after

45 (801-5). 45.1. had sung of so different

and
now

When

the

Chorus beheld Antigone

they

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
man's
again

seeing Antigone

that

they
their

too

are

carried

outside

the

limits

(decffiot)

and

cannot

restrain

tears.

The limits that the Chorus

transgress would seem at first to be the great ordinances over which

Eros presides; but the Chorus do not acknowledge compassion to be an effect of love; and in so far as it is implicit in the great ordinances
that command the love
of
of

one's

own,

they

cannot

be

carried

outside

them

and yet

be

under

their

sway.

They
her

do
as

not

love Antigone
11.1). Their tears

and

suddenly
against

recognize

one

weep because they of their own (cf.

They weep

their will, for her cause is unjust (853-5).

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

pity.

The Chorus

never

speak

of

pity;
no

indeed, Antigone is
for pity occurs,

the only extant play of though no other play has

Sophocles'

in

which six

word

less than
says

instances

oixxqdg, eXeeivdg,
exception:
still

and

their several

cognates.104

(Ajax) of olxxog, There is, however, one

dog-mangled
from the

messenger

later

that

Polynices'

body
same

lay

unpitied

(1197). The

Chorus'

tears, then,

arise

104

This tells
ways

against

LA's reading
rest of

olxxov

at

858. Antigone differs in two

plays:

other of

related

from the
or

Sophocles'

extant

ngog

dediv

as

form

supplication

invocation

occurs no
on

only

once

Trachiniae

with

two) have
call

less than

(838), whereas other plays (except five (OC); and all the rest have persons

other than the once

Chorus

(604). Antigone's ngog in

a

decov,

Zeus in the vocative; here only the Chorus do so moreover, is the only case in Sophocles where

the

phrase occurs

request

that the speaker does not wish to be true.

48
source as

Interpretation
that
which prompted

Antigone to

imply

that

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
therefore

rightly

calls

their heartless

consolation

mockery

of

herself

(839).

45.2.

(ddXa/xov)
as

The Chorus say that Antigone where all sleep. The forcible

approaches

the bridal

chamber

joining
should

of

Eros

and

Hades is

strange, for the to take the

Chorus,
view of

though pitiless, do not so much scorn

Antigone

Creon that

she

Everyone dies in that bridal its

of

chamber.

marry in Hades (654). If love is primarily sexual and

the
acknowledgment

end of

generation, the Chorus

point

to

in love In

itself

death. One unwittingly accepts another self. The survival of one's

a

one's own own

death in the
of

generation
oneself.

is the death
each man

granting
as

kind
a

of

immortality, Eros

compels

to see himself

living
a

for

day

(cf. 789-90). It is the

sight of

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

about

the death but not the

life in Eros. Her

painful recognition of

it is the

burden

of

the kommos.

46 (806-82). 46.1.
are

The kommos
and

consist of nine

parts,

of which
parts

five
are

sung

by

Antigone

four

by

the Chorus. The

Chorus'

paired:

the first pair concerns Antigone's glory, which is offered as a

consolation

her crime,
parts,
on

which

for her mortality (817-22, 834-8); the second pair concerns is linked with her inheritance (cf. 37.1). Antigone's

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
common of

fatherland,

to see her imminent death and

until

the city, to wait

antistrophes

she voices

then, as the rich men her death before they mock her. In the two her reflections, first on what she has heard of

Niobe,
is

then on the incest of her parents. Each stanza, however, also hangs together: the first is Antigone's desperate attempt to normalize what she
and assimilate she

herself to things delineates her

citizens

known,

while

in the

second she accepts with

an

what

is

and

uniqueness. ends with

She thus begins

an address

address to who can as

her fellow

but

to her

brother,

does

she use

easily be Oedipus as Polynices. iycb (866, 868).

Only

in the

second antistrophe

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):

'

AvriXdxov

afj/t'

noxl

dyadov

xai

ocbq>govog

dvdgog /

[(5dp]

[x]azagl-oy,

inel

xai oi ftivet

ddvarog.

A
silent on soon

Reading

Sophocles'

of
no

Antigone
and

49 her uncertainty is

her deed. Antigone is

longer certain,
were

confirmed, that the

Chorus,

they

not afraid of

Creon,

would

approve of
or

her deed (504-9). But

she cannot throw off

her

strangeness

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.

do

165, 187-8). The

speak of marriage

most she can

by

itself

and

herself to do in eliciting pity is to particularly of its ceremonies. She knows

bring

its
the

rites

but

not

its

substance.

She

cannot

bring
of

to her loss of

marriage

vividness

she

brought to

Polynices'

lack

burial (cf.

4.6). She

understands marriage

in the way that

others understand

burial, something
insist

one goes

through for form's sake (cf.

22.10).
self-normalization and

46.3.
on

The Chorus disregard Antigone's

uniqueness.

her

what

she

They did, but solely

seem

to

speak manner

as

to the
ever

if her fame is due, not to of her death, as if, that is,

no mortal

but Antigone had

killed himself.

They too,
is
no

like Creon,
Orpheus
or

forget Jocasta (cf. Antigone Heracles.

to confuse
of will
not

43.1). The

Chorus,
her

moreover, do

not speak exactly.

descend to Hades

alive;

she

Creon intends to hide

hidden
with

in

man-made

underground

chamber where she will starve

to death (774-5). The Chorus thus seem

xdd'

chamber

...xevQog

vexvcov,

for the task

consoling Antigone so poorly suits them that they can only exaggerate "demythologization" of her uniqueness to the point of nonsense. No
their language can rid it of its nonsense.

They

do

not mean

that Anti

gone will

die

alive: such a paradox

does

not

fit the

Chorus'

understanding

of

Antigone.

It

would

not

hear their
of

words as genuine praise.

own

be surprising, however, if Antigone did When they say that she is independent
takes them
or even embodies

any law but her

and

(avxdvofiog), Antigone doubtless

that
she alone

to mean that she uniquely holds to

the divine law

will

itself;

when she

they
must

add

of

mortals

descend to

Hades alive,
understands

think that she has at last found someone who

of of

her. The

uniqueness

her

living

descent into Hades hes burial (cf.

that impels

in nothing else but in her living is this misunderstanding of the

the law

of

34.3). It

Chorus'

words

Antigone

to explain herself through her likeness to Niobe.

46.4. in three (the

Antigone
ways:

seems

to forget that

she

does

not

resemble

Niobe

the reason for Niobe's punishment

occasion of
gods).

her

boasting

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 account for her actions only
that a daimon lays her to rest; but how
can

Antigone tries to

(her children), and make up for the last

(her boasting), the the agents of her punishment

dissimilarity by

she

in terms
that

of a mother strange

bird (cf.

25.3). But Antigone

picks a comparison one

is itself

and needs a

likeness

the only

Antigone

ever

50
uses106

Interpretation
to make it familiar. The gods rewarded Niobe in

death; they

recognized of

in her
of one's

boasting
own;

that challenged the gods the extreme case

the love

and to compensate

for the loss

of

her own, they

the

transformed her into a

loss her

of

her

own.

living growth of rock eternally weeping for Nothing remains of Niobe but the signs of sorrow,
never

the

rain and snow grief.

that

leave her
one with

as she melts away.

She is

one with

Antigone too is
own

itself in her
(456-7).

tears (cf.
remains

Nothing

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

life is the law. She thus

surpasses

Niobe, for Niobe's love

of

her

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.
not a

She is

boaster. The love

of

her

own never made

her

vain.

In recalling

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'

pity. of

There

perishing"

life the

same

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
about

attributes

to Niobe. The truth

as

Eros is

shown as much

in her

law-

abiding self-sacrifice The Chorus, however,

mock
Antigone.107

mistake

in madness, injustice, and strife (cf. her meaning and thus, instead of consoling, Antigone that Niobe
mortal and

44.1).

46.5.

The

Chorus
that

remind

was

god

and

born

of

gods, while she, like themselves, is

born

of mortals.

They
obtain

suppose

Antigone
of

was

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 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 share a

in her death the fate

Niobe.

boasting that she Contrary to the

would

divinely

in the lot

of

the

godlike."108

If the Chorus had

agreed
with

said

that it is

great

thing

to be like

Niobe,

there would have been no ridicule in

their words,

for they then

would

have

Antigone that in
cpOifieva

the love of her own she rivals Niobe. But the two additions of

108

Antigone

seems

to speak in trimeters much less poetically than the others.

as

She

says

nothing

as

contrived

Ismene's
language
nor

xaXxalvova'

(20)
as

or

as

metaphoric

as

Ismene's vp,nXow (541); Creon's

never

is

also

not

plain

(cf.

163,

190,

291-2, 474-8, 531-2, 1033, 1037-9),

indulges in
so

artificial

an

opposition

is Haemon's (690, 700, 712-7). Antigone as Ismene's pug. rjftiga dmXfi xeuji
xad'

(14,

cf.

13, 55)

or

Creon's ngog dutXfjg /xoigag

Jcotrav
xai

fiiav

ijfiigav

(170-1). C&oa..."Aidip>

107 108

Cf. I

Miiller, 186-7.
ineixa Bavovoav
as
a of

understand

corrective

of

xaxa$r\ar\

but

as

still

referring only to the

manner

Antigone's death.

A
and xdxovaai

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

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 <pdxig dvdq&v) but not in principle the superficial
similarity denies at
of

her death to Niobe's her

will alone

a stroke all

greatness

what she

be remembered, and rpBifiiva did can be of importance

only to herself.
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
now

46.6.

Antigone

hension
to

makes

her

swear

be merely the

representatives of the present regime

and call on

(cf.

12.5). She

therefore must go beyond them

her country to bear her witness: the springs of (aXtiog) of Thebes. The sacred and the ancestral,
sight as

the unchanging elements of Dirce and the sacred ground

which

first

come

to

places and

things,
as

replace the

old men

of the

Chorus,
them

whose of

wealth
reason

Antigone

mentions

in

order

perhaps satisfies

to

remind

the

why the city,

it

now

stands,

them.

They

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

(cf.

19.2). Creon had first

Polynices'

presented

as

his desire to
and enslave
might

destroy

his fatherland

and native

gods,

commit

fratricide,
his
and
crime:

the Thebans

(199-202); but later

compelled

the

Chorus'

dread

that the gods

have buried Polynices

come

Creon to
Polynices'

restate

Polynices had
of

to

destroy

the

temples, dedications, land,

crime against

laws

the gods (285-7). Creon thus transformed

into

the price of suppressing his crime The sacredness of divine things replaced the life of
sacrilege at

living

beings.
gods,

Polynices'

own

brother,

and

people.

to find support

So Antigone, in despairing of the Chorus, tries for herself in the hoped-for indignation of sacred places.
and

But Antigone invests Dirce

make

Thebes

with

kind

of

life.

They

can

up for the
growth

absence of

of

the

living

rock

friends to weep for her and thus imitate that is Niobe. And yet (e/unag) Antigone
she
now

knows that the eternally weeping Niobe is just a story the primary truth is what the Chorus see: Antigone is
sun

has

heard;

for the last time. To live is to brow

sacred.
upon

see

the

sun

(cf.
admit

seeing the 3.4); it is not to

be
of

a rain-drenched

and neck of

land, however

rock, let Antigone begins to

she will
not

alone a

spring
that

and piece

the

loss

of

life weighs Hades (cf.

of

heavily

her, for

say that there is life in

9.6). She thus 48).

prepares

the way for her qualified defense

her deed (cf. 46.7.

The Chorus injustice.

cf.

reject

Antigone's

denial

of

the

justice

of

the

laws
of

under

which she will

her

They
and

suffer; but they try to soften their assertion address her affectionately for the first time

(& xixvov,

987),

they

adopt

the same (and similar) measures

as those that Antigone

had just
of

employed.
she

They

are

the first to accuse

spurned

Antigone to her face

injustice, for

has just

them

and

52 invoked
sacred places

Interpretation
to
witness

her

so-called

lawful

punishment.

The Chorus Creon's

to

resent

the double implication:

and

they

(oloig vdfioig) are Theban

strictly

patriots,

not

partisans;

her

punishment,
not

being

according to the
Antigone's
with all

law, is just (cf.

the
of a

43.1). And
the

to be outdone

by

appeal

sacred,
god.

Chorus

endow

Creon's decree
against

the

majesty

Antigone has
too
must

struck

the

lofty

foundation
whether alone

of

Justice.109

They

animate

the

inanimate; but

they

are as aware as

does

not

fully

make

for life

is the desperate Antigone that indignation remains doubtful. The juxtaposition,

reminds

in any case,
where

of vyrnXdv
was

with

fiddqov
as

one of

of

the first stasimon,

gods

Earth

described
were

the highest

the

(cf.

22.7).

The Chorus there

than Hades acting as a Olympian prerogatives of the

she seems

compelled, in the absence of any other god limit to human daring, to assign to Earth the
gods.

to

reach as

high

as

the Olympian

Here Justice is that limit; and gods and as low as the nether

gods, among whom, according to

Chorus themselves indicate how this

Antigone, Justice dwells (451). The could be, for they suggest that

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
with

her

paternal

the

made

savagery of her pay for her father's

inheritance. The Chorus had discerned in her savagery 28.1). Her father's nature has thus Oedipus (cf.
crime. or sounds

46.8. occupy

That the
the

same

words

in the
the

second

antistrophe

metrical

position

they

had
ola

in

strophe

(iniyavxov

nqdnavxog, id) Atqxalai

ld> fiaxqwai,

oiwv, Ttqdg

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

of

herself;
now

the antistrophe

begins
most

with

her

confession

that

the Chorus have

touched on her

painful

care

(cf.

34.3).

The
to

strophe

the

sacred

turned away from Antigone's fellow-citizens (the places of her country; the antistrophe dwells
of

Chorus)
on

the
to

unholy

marriage

her

mother

and

father. The

strophe

appealed

the sacred places to witness the suffering the laws have dealt
antistrophe presents

her;

the

her incestuous
unwept

parents

her misery as the very nature she (cf. 6.1). The strophe spoke

received of

from

her going,

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
of ends

with

an

address

to her

brother,
accepts

through whose ill-fated marriage

she she

is

slain.

Antigone thus

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 justly. One is due to her
nature

by birth,
and rejects

the other is due to

unjust

109

Miiller rightly

reads

ngooinaiaag

Lesky's defense

of

ngooineoeg.

Reading
of

Sophocles'

of
origins

Antigone
not stand
an

53 in the way
of

laws. The
her

unholiness

her

does

invoking

the sacred; rather,

it

promotes

such

invocation, for

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
state
means

that she

does

own;
of

and that which she

entails

that she confront

own.

not belong to any other family than her has longed for, to lie with her own (cf. 9.6), in her parents that which accounts for her love

her

As their incest is the love

of one's own writ

condones

large, Antigone
(cf. OC
the
within

cannot

maintain

her piety
within

unless

she

their

impiety

1698). This tension

Antigone

parallels

the tension

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
and neutralizations rests on art's

parents'

converge
violation

city

in the fourfold makeup of the city. The of Earth as it aspires to the incest of
of art

Oedipus;
of the other

and

the city rests on the neutrality

as

it

aspires

to the

antigeneration of

Antigone (cf.

34.2). But

what constitutes

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
"solve"

therefore that Oedipus should

the

the riddle of
artful man

man

and

violate neuter

sacred,
and

any

more

than

that

the

should

be

"this"

turn out to be Antigone (cf.

22.6).
not

46.9.

Antigone
at

herself
for

perhaps

could

tell
refers

us

whether
Oedipus'

her
or

exclamation

her brother's ill-fated

matter

marriage

to

Polynices'. No
any
rest connects
state.

whose

we

in Hades. If
it
with

Polynices'

she means

opt, Antigone despairs of finding marriage, Antigone somehow

and

the marriage of her parents

her

own

unmarried own city.

Polynices

settled

in

another

city in

order

to

destroy

his

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

his incestuous

origin

accursed
Oedipus'

in her

own

eyes.

If,

on

the

other

marriage, she

recognizes

in her father her

suicidal

incest,
makes

while

being

the

source

of

hand, Antigone means another brother, whose devotion to Polynices,

without

it impossible for her to

embrace

her death

shame.

In

these

circumstances

life becomes very

precious

to her.
seem

46.10.
arrange,

The Chorus in answering Antigone

and reinterpret

to

rephrase,

re

the

elements

of

their

original

accusation.

Antigone's

extreme

rashness

becomes her

self-willed and

temper; the high

Justice becomes Creon's authority; foundation ordeal (xiv dOXov) becomes a father's for her
of

Antigone's paying certain kind of piety.

54

Interpretation

The Chorus had causally connected Antigone's rashness with her offense against justice, but they had not explained how that involved her paternal

inheritance;
offense

and

now

against

authority,

they causally link her qualified piety with her but they do not explain how that involves
6'
doXecf'

her temper; indeed, just as ce her wilfulness alone, regardless

6'

avxdyvcoxog
of

dqyd

suggests

that to

any lack in her piety,

sufficed

destroy her,
the source
of

so

naxqCoov

ixxiveig

ddXov
with
and

suggested

that

her

own

injustice had little

temper made

or nothing to do both Antigone's temper

her

punishment. piety.

Oedipus is
Her inborn for the

Antigone's The is

her

offend

against

divine

justice; her
second not

reverence

divine

made

her

offend against authority.

offense,

however,
has
thus

looks less it in his

seem

serious

than the first.

Authority

divine;

whoever

care cannot allow

it to be transgressed. Antigone
against

would

to have offended merely

not
admit

Creon's

own

self-willed

temper.

But the Chorus do

not

fully

practiced

reverence

that Antigone's piety is pious; she has for the divine. Some divinity therefore
xqdxog
must

must

cling authority as ingredient of Aix-n. A goddess

to

such:

be

an

indispensable

cleanses of a

He is the
on

selfless

caretaker

Creon's authority of its wilfulness. divine principle. Intransigent piety, Since piety does not demand by itself could not so in

the

other

hand, is

self-contradictory.
of

self-sacrifice
candesce

in the defense from

piety, piety

Antigone

as to consume

her
not

self.

Piety

cannot

be

goddess,
establish
loved.111

for the
as

gods stand apart gods

whatever

beings

or relations

they
be be

holy. The

themselves are
to

holy.110

They

cannot

Antigone's

devotion

her brother,

therefore,

cannot

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

repeats
picks

in the up
one

epode several elements of

her former
strophe;

axXavxog

dcpiXog

cptXcov

dxXavxog

of the

second

dvvfievaiog
vfivncev

compresses

into

the

conjunction

v[ievaio)v...ovx...

of

the first strophe; xaXal<pqo)v already occurred in the

second of

antistrophe;

dyo/tai

xdv exoifiav

dddv

rephrases seems

two

expressions
xov

the

first strophe, even as ovxixi recalls dfiexeqov ndxfiov of the

[xoi...6qav

to

do;112

second

antistrophe,

and

i/iov ndx/iov dddxqvxov...axevdCei

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

nor

ooiog

is

applied

to

the

gods,

and

dyvdg

only

in the

restricted sense of 111

"pure.''

In Plato's
which

holy,
112
and

the gods
calls

Euthyphro, neither Euthyphro nor Socrates ever suggests that the love, is the gods themselves. This is partly due to polytheism.
herself
also
use
rdXaiva

Antigone

only here: Ajax

of

(838), Oedipus (OT 1363),

Antigone has
seven

Deianeira
of

(705)

xdXag

themselves only once.

instances
OT has

xdXag,

of which three are

in the

mouth of

four;

no other

play has less than

eleven

Creon (1211, 1295, 1298); (Aias); see note 75.

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
a peculiar

55
way:

last time; but she here presents that fact in no longer sanctioned to see the sacred eye
Antigone
seems

"I

am

of

the

torch"

(Xa/mdg).
sake"

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

(cf.

than

ovxexi fioi

eetixi,

not

Antigone,
but its
also an

who

has

resisted with

only in itself this kind of

seems

strange

on

the lips
of

of

decay

in the

case

burial,
torch"

conjunction

the sacred forces one to restore to it (or at

least think of) its

empty
she

original meaning.

Or is "this

sacred eye of

the

phrase?

That Antigone

should animate

the sun to indicate

her

recognition of what
should

but that
and

the loss of life primarily means is not surprising; sanctify the sun while calling it an artifact is
seems

surprising.113

Antigone

to deanimate the

to sanctify the sun while robbing

own accursedness she
might might

difiig

of

sun while animating it, its holiness. If, however, painful

her

in light

of

her
as

most

care
sun

still

grips

Antigone,
presence.

mean

that the

holy

eye

of

the

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
regard could
she

She

herself

forget Haemon

as

well

as

Ismene?

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
man of
arts

his

(cf.

ever seeing death except within the horizon of fire and the 23.1). But Antigone is pre-Promethean, without hope and

without

art.

As the death
of

she
as

always
an

longed for
artless

presses

upon

her,

Antigone
she

speaks

the

sun

artificial

fire, from
and
of art and

whose

holiness

is
no

excommunicated

(cf.

52.4). The

hopeless Antigone hope. Her piety

has

right to look
to

upon

the divine source

is the

obstacle

perfect

piety (cf.

25.4).114

"3

I know
seems

of

no
a

similar

expression

in

classical

poetry,
or

for

elsewhere

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

to be

defining

genitive,

such

as

f\Xloro

the like (cf.

148

A READING OF

SOPHOCLES'

ANTIGONE: III

Seth Benardete

47 (883-90).
cal question
vants

47.1.*

Creon 's
and

speech consists of

three

parts: a rhetori

to Antigone

the Chorus

(883-4),
.

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
gone. gone

"This does

girl"

is

opposed

to

"we."

Apart from that

opposition

Anti

not exist

(cf.
as

567).

47.2.

Creon speaks

before

they

could

begin

if he had interrupted Antigone and the Chorus another kommos. He seems not to recognize

Antigone's

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
(008'

lot

of men.

Her fate becomes the himself

out

paradigm of mortality.

Creon

uncon

sciously must do the Creon

cent of

makes

to be

as

inexorable
as

as

Hades, for Hades

work

that Creon's

scrupulous

must speak of

Antigone's death

piety forbids him from doing. fated if he is to remain inno

her

execution.

He therefore

cannot

help beginning as if he were

Were it
not

offering ("instead
9-avetv

a conventional piece of of

consolation.

for

Tipo tou

"Don't

you

getting killed"), it would have been perfect as such: know that dirges would never cease if one was not fated to
?"

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

god whose will

undermining his case (cf. 13.2), he the yooi, of men do

must adopt not as

the

standpoint punish

alter.

He

can

Antigone only by submitting to her terms them (cf. 777-80).

47.3.

he himself

understands

Creon

combines a

brutality

of

intent

with a certain

delicacy of

expression

(cf. 665). He tells his

used

servants

to imprison Antigone in her

The text

is Pearson's OCT

myself,

however,

not always accepted

did not see any connection the passage, I have passed 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.

indicated. I have his readings wherever I am silent, for if I between the reading chosen and my interpretation of
except where otherwise
with

the line

numbered as

A
grave as

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

149

if

they

were

to wrap her in

a garment

is to be left
some sacred

alone and

isolated in

such a

(rceprnTu^avTe?) ; and she dwelling (o-Teyr)) as if she were

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 Forced to
sake,"

speak

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.

ground (tu^Psueiv),115

discovered the most telling mockery of Antigone's life in death. It forces her at last to reassess the ground of her devotion.
47.4.
above

Creon
world

sees

Antigone
avco).

as

deprived

of

(fxeTouaat;
(cf.

t9j<;

He implies that

she

any share in what is here has been an alien in and

to this

35.1).

as a (xetoixo?,

first

as an alien

Antigone herself had twice sung of her status among the living and the dead (852), and

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).

48.1.
a

Antigone, in her third

threefold
way:

and

last

defense, gives
her

an

account of

herself in

Antigone

and

family

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

design, her

speech resembles

her

second

defense,
the
gloss

where

pain of

death was the link between the gods of the first part and the third (cf. 17. 1). Oedipus, Jocasta, and Eteocles now
between
the
gods and

the

connection

law that
and of

she

had there tried to

establish

(Phersephassa displaces Zeus

now glosses

Dike)

; the

irreplaceability
and

of

Polynices

inevitability

her death ;

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

sense,

managed

to

shatter

Antigone, but only

to

115

Morstadt's

vo^cpeiieiv should

intransitively ; it

is too

common a word

be rejected; but tujj.(ISeuiv should not be taken to bear it; cf. T. M. Barker, CR 1907, 48.

150

Interpretation
the
core within

reveal

the

core of

her

resolve.

second

defense

will suffer no

by charging Creon with folly; less than she has suffered.

which

she now

Antigone had ended her hopes that Creon

48.2.

the three
meet

The triple invocation with parts of her speech. She

own a

Antigone begins

characterizes

her

gTave,

keeps her
the

eternal watch.

is going to bridal chamber, and a deep-dug dwelling that What begins as a literal designation (t6[i$oc,) of
calls

the

place where she

place of punishment

becomes through the dwell

metaphorical vujxcpeiov

region where she will

gTave

family. The
to be
with

that deprives

(olxtjgic,) forever with the rest of her of being with a husband allows

her

her

her

family, for
and

tu^^oc,

the olx-qmc, that

with

could not

be

on

in replacing vu^cpewv, replaces as well the earth (cf. 9.6). To stay at home
less impossible for Antigone than

Oedipus

Jocasta is

no

marriage.

x<xT<xcrxa<p7)<;

ohcqaic, ast(ppoupo<;

describes

not

underground chamber

but Hades,
will

which

Antigone later

calls

only Creon's S-ocvovtcov

xaToccrxacpai, and to which she

fusion in her

of grave and o^ti

Hades,

which

descend while still alive (920). This Creon has forced Antigone to reenact

death,

of ev vsxpoii; and oXcoXotcov

able, for

on

up her

own

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
Polynices'

she cannot go as
under which she resorts

arises

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
has
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

the

mutual

killing

of

Eteocles
the

and

Pobynices;

and she still must regard

on

her

own evils as outside

evils

that Zeus has inflicted

overwhelms
will

her family
the
secret

2.2) ; but the misery that burden of the kommos: no one

(cf.

her

now was

do for her

what she

did for her

or pour

father, mother, and brothers. No her libations. Ismene will not risk

one remains

to wash, adorn,

doing for her what she would not risk

apply
of

doing

for

Polynices, for

the

same prudential considerations now

Antigone's burial rites (cf. 848-9

even more. without

greatest sacrifice consists

with

in

depriving
hold her

herself

80-1). She

must now confront

her

the

rites

that

family
can

were

indispensable for them. She therefore

do

no more

than

nourish

the hope that than her

they

will of

votion

to them

as

greater

own

lack

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 passage to Hades. It now prevents her in any case from plainly distinguishing between Hades and the grave.
must appeal cannot

She

de sanctity (cf. 867).

ritual

A
48.4.
of or

Reading
She

Sophocles'

of
of

Antigone

151

Antigone

seems

to think

her

family together, but

<pDo) to her

she speaks
whom she

to them

separately.

will come

father,

does not address, Tcpoayikric, 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

were corpses and

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<;

Antigone

now

to it in saying that

knowingly lies for the she would heap up

first time. She had come a tomb for Polynices (cf

.

; but now she says that she laid out The technical verb TCpicnreXXco embraces even
10. 1) she

Polynices'

body

for burial.

more

than the three rites

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
whatever else she

has just mentioned; but

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 terms 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
as

of

the law is
48.6.

despite its truth. To keep together the surface and the heart difficult as to separate Hades from the grave.
to
adhere

to piety

as

piety "for form's

sake"

To favor

brother it

over against a means

hypothetical husband
a

or son

seems

to be

absurd when

to favor

the absurdity is due to the

need

to

compare

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

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 support why is it that we do not perform these duties
Chorus
of

Sophocles'

praise

116

The

sacred character of

same suffix

(cf.

note

55), is

plain

Scroti;, which it shares with all neuters with the in Aavaa? Ssfxa? (944-5) ; and that Creon is in

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.

152

Interpretation

ly?"

(1058-62;
rites

cf.

25.3).

The Chorus

must

ignore the

absence of stork same

burial
which

and

Antigone likewise
her

seems

to ignore the

difference,

story so damaging to her piety (Her. 3.1 18-9). Yet to defend Antigone in this way and hence the authenticity of the passage misses the import of her words.

is

Herodotus'

what makes

adaptation of

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

Intaphernes'

one

husband died have

of
another

she could

could run at

from

another

have another; and if one child died she husband. Antigone, however, seems to
she speaks

the two

cases

together, for in ordering them chiastically

first

her

children's

death

(jzoaic,

xaT-Suvcbv

life (texvwv [it)ty)p e<puv) but of her husband's sty)xsto). She thus assumes that if her son died

she would need another

condition would make

husband to have

another

son;

and

only

one
.

that inevitable : if her

son were

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 mean what she seems at were alive she would not

first to
on a

imply,

that if her

mother and

father
then

have done

what she

did, for she

Lines

could not

make

her

action

depend

contingency

over which she would

have

no control

the birth

of another brother.117

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

than to

repudiate
of

in

advance

the very

possibilities she envisions.

against all generation

It is her way

and such a wish

making a retroactive wish allows her in turn to call an

apparently
48.7.

special case a

law.

Antigone would not have

another

she could

husband;
a

she cannot wish

to have

bury a husband despite the citizens because she must bury her brother because brother. In order to prove the need to bury
assume

Polynices, Antigone

must

that "to

have"

or

"to be

with"

117
not

No

more

than

she

thinks it

possible at 450

that Zeus could have told her

to

bury Polynices.

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

153

(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

with"

(svrjxeTo)
best be
with

To

bury

husband is

second-best

; to be

with a

husband is

simply.

Antigone, then, must bury Polynices because she cannot him; but in burying him she dies and hence is with him. Her

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
repetition of ritual

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

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,
where

the

entails

family;

and so

the law becomes in

practice can

sake."

Only
sense of

the incestuous

alone must regard

"to be

with."

that burial affords as the primary "the The law that enjoins burial thus seems to enjoin
can avoid

family being

something done "for form's fulfill the spirit of the law, for it

with"

incest; but
stitution of gone.

the law the

that

consequence

for consanguinity

without

generation.

through the demand The law demands the reconperfect agreement with

family

in Hades ; it is in

Anti

48.8.

Antigone

speaks

three times

of

her nature. It is her

31. 1) cf.

nature not

to

share with

her brothers in their

of

mutual

hatred but to join them

; it is her
nature

through the love

her

own

(523;

cf.

to have
nature citi

been born from incestuous

were

parents

(866;

46.8) ;

and

if her

to be the

mother of

children, she

would not

have defied the

etpuv

zens of

Thebes (905).

Merely

to

put

these three

together

reveals

that the link between the first

esis of
as

and second

the third. Antigone's

yet she cannot

origin precludes of

it

makes

inevitable that the love

is the per impossibile hypoth her possible motherhood her own manifest itself in burial

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

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<p-/) of children does not include burial. Antigone does more than imagine herself to be like the earth itself, 7rpi[X7]Tcop (cf.
would not

have done die to

what she

mother might

save

her

child's

154
22.9, 61. 1)
: with
order

Interpretation her
to
or

parents

dead

no

brother

could grow.

Antigone

has to die in
guarantee

escape

her

being

lying

from the repetition of burial ritual and forever with her own; when she considers

the alternative,

less holds fast to eternity, the eternal succession of generations, on account of which no individual can be preferred over against the perpetuation of the race. Not only inexperience blinds
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
that
can

properly

express

the love

of one's own.

She

cannot

think

of

being a mother without holding up Jocasta as a model at

she

the

same

time
own.

longs to be

a mother 46.4).

just to be free from the love

of

her

She forgets Niobe (cf.

48.9.

The last

part of

Antigone's

speech

turns

on

three triads : wrong

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
punishment

926, 927), gods (921, 922, 925), and justice (921, 925, 928). suppose that Antigone would see their relation as simple :

to

go

alive

to the

deep-dug

chambers

of

the

dead,

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,

unmarried,

and childless

to interfere
and not

all along.

Her piety

should

have been
and

recognized as

been
46.10).

qualified

by

the Chorus

ignored

by

piety the city (cf.

change

40.3,
heart in

The

gods

should

have brought
since
and

about

of

everyone
might

but Creon; but

still more

Antigone
error.

suffer

to do so, be forced to acknowledge her

gods'

they have failed

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 would

What

be

enough

to break her. Antigone

gods'

might

be innocent

of

trans

justice, for her death. Antigone, however,

gression against

the

yet not

be

deserving

of recompense

(xaXov)
might

coincide

assumes that the just and the noble (cf. PI. Leg. 859d2-86oc3). But her action in itself

be just

without

being

noble; she might have done

what

simply

had to be
the

done,

and

the

risk she

willingly

ran

to do it

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
never speaks of

Antigone
new

her

own

death;

and

just in this lies

replaced
with

the difference between her

second and

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
gain of

through her

law the

third defense ; she has death with the gain of being

A
suffer as as

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, many
evils as she

her

own reward.

gods'

"tragic."

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

49 (929-43).

49.1.

The Chorus do

the Antigone

who convicted

onrushing
was

winds

of

possessed as

he

was with

hatred (137). Antigone is another Capaneus, hatred and impious defiance ; but Capaneus
Antigone
to her
owes

divinely inspired (pocx^sucov),

The Chorus
;
and

her

possession

to her

own soul. ascribed

now ascribe

soul what

to her father (cf.

shaken a

28).

But the Chorus

pursue

formerly virtually identify soul

they
gods,
who once

had

and winds

they had likened to Thracian blasts the

they
the

have

family
The

let disasters

it from

generation

to

generation

(cf.

37.3).

metaphorical use of wind would seem

to be

Chorus'

sole

account

for

Antigone; but they

Labdacids'

herited the left it dark

gone or

consistency (cf. 353, 1146). Gods and soul equally are linked through Oedipus, who in fate and passed it on. The Chorus, then, have
tjwxvj?
pwtai refers

whether twv ocutwv avefzcov ocutou

to Anti to have

her family.

They might
for her

understand

Antigone just

now

been the

spokesman
might

whole

from Oedipus
49.2.

have its

roots

family. The savagery in the gods.

she

inherited

is
to

a consequence of

Creon then takes up obliquely what the Chorus have said: "It this that those who lead her will regret their slow
not confessed

ness."

Since Antigone has

her

error

she

did

not even

try

escape

(557-80)

the only

thing

to do is to hasten her

death, the

slow execution of which of

Creon

supposes
out

her intransigence. Creon takes

servants : someone must

has let her keep up the show his failure to break Antigone on

his

own

Creon, however, death, on which

48.9).

does

succeed

learn through suffering, someone must cry. in forcing Antigone to acknowledge her
throughout her third defense (cf.
of collapse

she was silent

The

ol'jxoi

testifies to the
which
will

that defense. It is the

signal
spair

for her suicide, hope that she

she now asks

is equally
more

compounded of

hope

and

de

be

reunited with

her

family, despair
life. Out
of

that that

such a reunion can

ever

be

than

parasitic on

despair

look to for death.

49.3.

help

the gods, whom she thought she should no longer (922-3), to look upon her. The gods she calls on are

gods of generation

(cf.

8.6), without whom

her last
words

she can

face Hades but

not

Antigone

addresses

to her father's city

of

Thebes,

156

Interpretation

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

royal

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

house
this

and

adopts

argument

succeeds,

city

gods who

founded Thebes. Creon

and

spoke of

of

Cadmeans but but

the

never

of

Thebes (cf. 30.2);

Trpoyevei? or
-9-eol

he

spoke

9-eol

syyevet?

never

of

-9-eol

-rcocTpwot

(199, 838). He is

unaware of

city's

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
49.4.

the 716X15,

of

her father (cf.

Haemon
and

46.6).

The

suicides of

Eurydice

Haemon angrily makes a scarcely veiled Chorus recognize (cf. 43.1), and Eurydice's
the Chorus
and

are verbally prepared. threat to that effect, as the silent

departure

provokes

the

messenger

to

similar

piety,"

however,
then
solved

ends with

"by my reverent
a

exercise of

foreboding. Antigone, and the Chorus

that
she

console

her in

way that wholly fails to

with

notice

has

re

to kill herself. Her

suicide occurs sometime

during

the interval

that

Tiresias'

confrontation

Creon

and

the

Chorus'

hymn to her

Dionysus
piety, and

occupy.

It is thus introduced in that

part of

by

Antigone's

avowal of

it

occurs

is

most prominent.

the play where the issue of the gods One is forced to wonder then whether piety and

suicide

necessarily
gods

go together.118

Perhaps the

peculiar uniqueness of

her

circumstances allows

Antigone to

see more

deeply

than Tiresias

into the
50

(cf.

52.4).

(944-87).

50.1.

The fourth stasimon falls into three parts,

punishment and of

of which

the first describes the

and
with

Danae,
It

the

second

Lycurgus',
and

the third Cleopatra's

her

sons'.

seems

to have little to do the

Antigone,
the
end

whom

the Chorus

address
as

twice

at

beginning

once at

(949, 987) ; Lycurgus

stasimon's agreement strain

the only
could

man seems

the least

relevant.119
Chorus'

The
of

irrelevance
with,
and

lack

compassion prove

be partly due to the for, Antigone; it

perfect adaptabil

would show

the

they

are under

to

their

ity

to any

situation

and

the best

they

can

do for the

Tepoo;

Antigone is

118

Cf. L. Strauss, Aristophanes

49.

and

Socrates, 82-3; S. Benardete, Herodotean

Inquiries,
119

Cf. Wolff-Bellermann's

analysis.

A
to
cite

Reading

Sophocles'

of
urge

Antigone

157

Antigone's compliance with for showing off their own moderation. Yet this explanation fails to account for Lycurgus, in whose connection the Chorus do not mention fate and abstain from
examples of

three

fate. To

fate

would seem

to be the

precept

best

suited

drawing
guilty
the
under

a moral: neither

of

any

crime.

Chorus'

Danae nor Cleopatra, unlike Lycurgus, was Lycurgus, then, forces one to look more closely at
one comprehends

intention. Even if
case,120

the three

examples

the

"imprisonment,"

rubric

despite the
prison.

Chorus'

silence about

it in Cleopatra's Antigone, for none

fraXafi-oi;) was

one cannot extract a meaningful parallel

for

of

them died in

Danae's

prison

(tujjiPy|py)<;
chamber;
might

figuratively
be just the
and

a grave and

literally
48.2).

a marriage

Antigone's death (cf.

sionate

will

reverse

(cf.

But this difference

indicate that the Chorus

49.2)

lag behind Antigone's final understanding of that deliberately or not they are more compas
birth"

than

they

seem. and

"Fate"

50.2.

and

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
,

"imprisonment"

"high put together Danae Danae and Lycurgus, and

Cleopatra,

"Thrace"

which carries

them

outside

the limits
at

they had

set

for themselves (cf

"poetic"

801-2). The

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

strophe,

winds"

that

always possess

gone's peculiar

Antigone and we should get to know Anti inspiration through our hearing a more conventional
Chorus'

Muse. Through the begin to

would

adoption of a voice not

their

own we should

sense what

it

must entail

for Antigone to live

possessed.

be

as

well

fitting

punishment

divine law. It for the Chorus: they would

a

never recognize

that

they had been

50.3.

continuity.

Such an explanation, however, ignores the stasimon's apparent It begins at least as a reply to Antigone's last words ; but it
reply to everything she said. The ancestral city, their own Antigone's piety find no echo in the Chorus. They are

does

not

ruling,

and

rather struck
gods

by
or

Antigone's

royal

descent

and

her

kinship
not

with

the

(cf.

46.5).

They directly
of

imprisonment

link Antigone to Danae, fate's dread power, but because Danae

Zeus'

through

was of

high

birth too
120

and

the treasurer

son.

Lycurgus,
n. 1.

on

the

other

hand,

See Pearson

Sophocles'

on

Phineus,

311,

158

Interpretation

of

denied the divine birth of Dionysus, the gods. That the gods generate in
which

while

Cleopatra
promise

was

with mortals

is the theme

the offspring of the

stasimon,

Danae

represents

its

for the future,

Lycurgus its denial in the

occurs

The

Chorus'

(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
present

theme,
would

of

which, I

think, they
the
children

are

wholly unaware, for

otherwise

have

reserved
and
. . .

phrase \io:xgbc,

'iyovizc,

avu[i.cpsuTov yovav

they (980)
.

for Oedipus
apocTov

his

IXxoi;

xspxiSwv ax^airjiv

(cf. OT 1214-5, 1403-8) and much of (972-6) for his own self-blinding (cf
to the immediate

51-2, OT
which

1276).

The Chorus

stick as always

likeness,

they

choral odes suffer

then poetically elaborate before drawing the moral. All the to some degree from the tension between the moral,
sake"

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

and

the law

as

it is

lived) ;

and

the fourth stasimon,

as

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 suffers

bafflement before

the

most.

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

Her

of

Eros'

(cf. 44.2). Aphrodite and Dionysus in her future. She has no right to appeal to forgets Ismene (cf. 8.1).

divinity

are

in her lineage

but

not

-9-eot

7tpoyeveti; if she

51

whose arrival

(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,
shares with

801,

1180, 1257). He

the

watchman

and

the two later

messengers

the
of on

role of reporter

and

like the

watchman

he

neither

did

nor saw what

he

speaks of

(238-9,

complicity
watchman

them both

and

1012), though Creon believes in the for the same reason ; and again like the

surprise. entrance
one

his first entrance, he takes the Chorus and Creon by The Chorus had concluded just before the watchman's

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 joints 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

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'

Reading

of

Antigone

159
augury (cf
.

describes the

signs

he heard

and

heard

about at

his

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

that it be best throughout

one's
gave

life to
the

keep

safe

(acp^ovTa)
second

the

established

laws (11 13-4). Creon Creon

none

watchman a

chance; the

gods give

at

all.

Creon learns too late

the difference between

51.2.

decree

and a

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
The lords
of

Chorus; but

since

Chorus'

that Creon be

punished

(cf.

17.5).

Tiresias,

to
as

terrify
little

the Chorus (cf. OT

316-8).

at any rate, says nothing He talks to them as if they knew

about

his blindness in

particular as about

and sons

this despite their

and

having

just sung
of

of

the

blindness in general ; blinding of Cleopatra's

their

long

acquaintance

with

Tiresias (1092-3).
might

Tiresias,
of

however,
Chorus
said

might not

know any

this ; he

know nothing

the

and

their

political position.

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
here,"
Tiresias'

boy-servant, then, something like, "Tiresias,

His

would

have

finished,
as

and

Tiresias
rulers of
.

would

then

proceed with

to

give

him

advice

he

could

not act upon.

If Tiresias thus toys

Creon, he

warns

the

Chorus,
to

the future

Thebes,
.

that

they

can never even once afford

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.
to

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
as soon as

but, in light
51.3.
razor's

of

Antigone,
not

must always

be in decay. Her

appeal

to the

divine law did

impress the Chorus.

see

On 993-5
edge; and

38.1.

Tiresias tells Creon that he

speaks as

stands on

the

he surely

if Creon had

a choice.

Unless

Creon was fated to reply as he does, his immediate acquiescence at line 1033 would apparently have canceled his fate. The opportunity has passed 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

160

Interpretation then have been

and

altered and no

her that

she would
with

content

to

bury
even

Polynices

longer be

him

her family. But have

gone

Creon,

if he had
and
of all

at

once

acquiesced,

might

still not

unpunished;

perhaps

he

would

have

gained might

have been his ignorance

his

fate (cf.
art

Tiresias'

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.

61.2). Creon in this

52
with

scene never mentions

the city (cf.

Tiresias'

30.2, 56.1).

(998-1032). 52.1. The first

the
signs

seventeen

lines

of

speech
seventeen
with

deal
the

conclusions

his art (998-1014), Tiresias draws from those

of

the last
signs

(1016-32). What links (1015). The first

sounds and

them is

xai tocutix

ttjs 0-7J5

ex

cppevo?

vorjet toXic

second parts are each

in two

sections:

(1)

the

Tiresias heard
servant counsel

himself

(999-1004), (2) the sights he heard about from his (1005-14), (3) his interpretation of the signs (1016-22), (4) his
(1023-32). So the
whole

speech

consists

of

three

parts:

signs, their
analysis

interpretation,
of

and advice.

That the
to the

speech allows a
apparent which one

twofold

its

plan

points

directly

misalignment

between
most

Tiresias'

Tiresias'

art and exact and particular specific

generalities.

advice, of

is

couched

in the

language

and

the

other

mostly

consists of non

deed

he

returns an(i

1080-3)
dead?"

Tiresias disregards the unholiness of Creon's when he foretells Creon's punishment (1068-73, stresses instead its meanness: "Why kill once more the
to it
argues

Tiresias
art

that Creon has

and not

made a mistake

being
needs

makes mistakes

that he has

committed sacrilege.
not use

every human He

his

to

convict

Creon

of

error; but he does

it to

con

demn him. The

as

signs are single

not

to

whether

the

inauspicious but corrigible; Tiresias is silent crime for which they stand Creon's failure
of

to

bury Polynices,
veils

his burial

Antigone

admits 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 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
pense.

his

son

(cf.

38.1).

If he

abandons at once
will

Creon is to benefit the city without recom the position in which he has so much

invested, he
52.2.

be acting

justly but

not nobly.
unintelligible and were

At his

place of

barbaric
clawing

cries of

birds,

and

augury Tiresias heard the he knew at once that they

Tiresias'

at one another.

edge of a

language

not

primarily known to other Greeks (cf

art

consists
.

murderously in his knowl

when

1094) ;

bird

A
cries are as

Sophocles'

Reading
as

of

Antigone

161

dark to him

that something is

before he

"tastes"

rites"

non-prophetic

infecting
his

public

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

they

always are not

amiss.

But he does

Polynices'

exactness of

dogs infect the

whose

city.

description Tiresias does not explain how birds and He talks as if Polynices were a sacrificial victim

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 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,"

the

gods must on each occasion accept

the

sacrifices gods

thay
have

are offered withdrawn

and

that these

now

fail to burn

proves

that the that

this favor. But Tiresias does

not go

directly

from line 1015

universalizes

to line

1019.

He inserts between them

a conclusion

his his

own experience

(N.B.

r)(xtv, -rjjxwv, 1016, 1020), as

own altar could understand and

the

cries of

it each citizen at birds. The infection of the

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 account because he wants to join as closely as possible two different aspects of himself, soothsayer and citizen. He
thus
minimizes pends of

entirely arguing for The birds

on

Polynices'

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 is
Tiresias'

ground. unless

particular ground

own

art,

which cannot work

of omen

do

not contaminate

the

messages

they

convey. of

The
says

universal

ground,

on

the

other

hand, holds

good regardless

whether anyone understands

the

cries of

for

otherwise

that every city must prevent the gods do not welcome the
; the
particular ground says

birds. The universal ground carrion from polluting its sacrifices,

sacrificial prayers of

its

citizens

that Thebes

must prevent

from
even

lapsing
their

resias of

into savagery, for otherwise the gods do not plans and wishes. Yet Tiresias cannot help but
case

its birds inform Ti

imply that

in the

general

birds take
corpse

beasts.

They

"hallow"

the

dogs and wild but they mangle, only birds pollute

precedence over

the city
52.3.

with all

its hearths (cf.

53. i).121

Antigone's

bestiality
it
with

was evident

to the Chorus (cf.

a

they
who,

did
as

not connect

her devotion to
are

law

of

28), but the gods, gods

Tiresias

now

explains,

the mainstay

of civility.

forbid human
121

sacrifice

in any

form,

for

they

reject carrion

The gods for them-

Perhaps
saxiai

Jaxiouxo?

7c6Xt? should

i.e.,
col.

as

tcoXiouxoi; cf.
:

the

easier
=

reap'

ii, line 5)

ecjxiouxov

aeXas

be taken as a case of transferred epithet, Aesch. fr. 343 Mette (= Pap. Oxy. 2245, saxtav aeXai; x0UCTav-

162

Interpretation for their

to
messengers

selves not

and

(cf.

1081). so

Antigone, however,

could

have

resorted

an argument

injunction to
gone should

bury

one's own.

entirely disregards the law's On the basis of what Tiresias says, Anti
that

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
offended

the

gods and

barbarized the birds, the

corpse,

consumption and

the

Polynices'

stench

of

something innocuous,
silent about
"corpse"

and

more

than
nor

innocuous, to herself. Tiresias, however,

Antigone's devotion to it. He is
"soul"

mentions neither

the law

the blood

relation

between

the
shares with

Creon buries

and

the

he does

not

(1069-71). He

laws"

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)
"law"

the
that

obligation

to obey them. He succeeds, ;

and

against

obligation political

he succeeds,
obligation

against

Creon, in making Antigone, in keeping

through the
the
or
of city's

it
of

unqualified.

He

makes

the

political

need of

his art; the soul (cf.

and

he keeps it Burial
no

unqualified

through the

suppression

9.8).

longer

engages

the

soul of

living

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.
world

involves burial are

(cf.

55).
names

The only god Tiresias

guarantees

is Hephaestus. The god

could not of

of

fire, who
If fire

is

fire,

that the smoldering

control, Tiresias

sacrifices are significant.

were under man's

have inferred from the

gods.122

sacrifices'

failure to burn the displeasure

attempt

Polynices'

to have

Hephaestus"

"piney

self

impious
a cast

choice of
with

(123) ; and it in turn must depicting the fire-bearing Capaneus,

of

In this light, fire Thebes was in it have determined the

the
Chorus'

whom

Zeus destroyed

fire (cf.
about

11. 4).

Chorus

were

silent

In the first stasimon, however, the fire (none of the nine examples of man's
shy"

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 use of a proverb
desires" Lycurgus'
fire"

(1 146-7;

cf. 1 126).

Fire

runs an underground course

through the play

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): cppuxx6i; (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

122

Aeschylus'

Chorus'

A only to
emerge

Reading

Sophocles'

of
of

Antigone
reason

163 for its Creon's

in

Tiresias'

tasting
has to
wait

the e^Tcupa; but the

unnoticed presence servants

even

for the

play's greatest shock :

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
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

Polynices'

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.

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

Polynices'

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

strictest sense pre-Promethean

against

(cf.

23.1).

She

antedates

the

prohibition

cannibalism,

which

ancient authors often associate with

the eating

of raw

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

sacrifices

for

cannot survive

Tiresias restores it. But its restoration.

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

the

political

threat it contained;

Tiresias'

is flat because he

123 able

it

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?
124 ast

fjiv

jxup

acpeiXexo
=

xfjSe

'Ovrjaoui;, /

8'

88*

oaxea

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

164
conceals

Interpretation
the threat from the

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

did
He

not

put

it in terms
give

of pleasure,

promised urged

Creon if he Creon to

relented would

be

for the prosperity or glory he no more Creon's than his own.

in to the

people's

judgment; Tiresias

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

rekill

the dead
more

are

unworthy

of him.125

The

flesh-

eating dogs horrify that Creon's crime is

them

than the birds.

They

do

not

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
sacrilege and

temples
cannot

of

the gods,
place.
answer

which until

the Chorus had

proposed

in the parodos,
night

take

Not

Hephaestus lights the

request

sacrifices once more

can

Dionysus

the

Chorus'

that he lead Thebes in

long

dances.
53-1-

53 (I033_47)had
on

Creon addresses Tiresias as respectfully now as he

1033,
1045).

his

entrance

(991,

cannot

help deferring
make an

to him (cf.
and

1053).

Tiresias is corrupt, but Creon Tiresias could not except

so gross

wilfully

error;

his

error

is

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

even

if, he implies, Tiresias

178-81).

succeeds

in

hoodwinking
in any

the city (cf.

The

most extravagant

imagine Tiresias asserting wouldbe that the eagles of flesh to the seat of Zeus; but since no human
Polynices'

lie Creon can Zeus have brought

being

form

can pollute

the gods, Creon

sees no reason

for

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'

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 <ovxe<; xaxaXi7t6[ievot. tcoXu xcov xe-&vecoxa>v xot? coaiv Xu7x/]p6xepot 9jaav xai toSv d7toXo)X6xcov dS-Xicoxepoi.
opposite of
. . .

125

Tiresias'

A
altars and

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 account. Why should any beast have to to the weakness in link the stench of carrion with its interference with the city's sacri
polluted should

thus

be

able

to

pollute

Tiresias'

fices ? It is Even if
Creon

not

the beasts themselves that

corpse

make such a stench unholy.

Polynices'

had

remained as undefiled as sacrilege

would

still

have

committed

(cf.

1070-73).

Hector's was, Tiresias

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'

Polynices, Tiresias
the city
of

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 his
art

because

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 account, but

and

they
city's

essentially belong to Antigone's devotion to Polynices recognition of it ; they are not indispensable for
Tiresias'

the

understanding have required Tiresias to integrate the divine law as Antigone lives it into his own account. 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).
Tiresias'

53.2.
proves

Creon denounces
Tiresias'

avarice as

hyperbolically

as

he dis

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

it, it is
gods

the only
of

thing he

understands not

therefore

sees everywhere.
on

The drift

his

speech suggests
with

only that Tiresias trades

the

but that he trades

the

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
cannot
when

offer Creon any choice. The divine seems to admit of it is speciously rational; when it is holy, it is inexorable.

choice

54 (1048-63).

flection,

which

54.1. Creon's speech prompts Tiresias to a general re Creon interrupts before he can complete it, as if he

1 66

Interpretation
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

wisdom

sias, it seems, had intended more to remind Creon of his once again to prove it. If Creon cannot take a friendly
what

than

reminder

for

it

is, he

should not

be

spared

foreknowledge

of

profitable and most pleasant

learning
Creon

Tiresias held
and

out

his fate. The to Creon was

with

ignorance. He

would not

terrify

thus delude him

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

be

sufficient punish

for Creon (cf.

38.1).
explains

54.2.

Creon, in order to justify his abuse of Tiresias,

directed
against all soothsayers class characteristic

that the
1035).

abuse was

indiscriminately
and as

(cf.

money is their from Tiresias differed

Love
of

said, he

concluded

; nothing Creon heard at all from what any soothsayer would have that Tiresias had betrayed himself in adopting the
Tiresias'

usual patter of

his

class.

attempt at reasonableness
Tiresias'

backfires.

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

reason would

be that Creon's immediate his

regard

submission
every-

have

shown

for the

sacred

in its

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
Tiresias'

citizens'

the divine

ground of

the

divine

punishment.

He

unmovable

(ixxivtjto?,

learning at the same time of his be punished not so much for his being 1027) as for his prying into the unmovable
holy
without would

(TobdvTjTa,

1060).

55 (1064-90). 55.1. than his first (the dispute

and

Tiresias'

about

authenticity,

proves

is harder to understand lines 1080-3, both as to their meaning it), but they do resemble one another. A
second speech

A
central

Reading

Sophocles'

of
speech
with

Antigone
equal

167
parts,
each of

line here too divides the

part

into two

thirteen lines. The first

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
three things

deals

the domestic
consequences ment

consequences

of

Creon's
as

crime

(xoy8b-g), its
agent of

political

(1080-3),

an(i

Tiresias

the human

his

punish

(1084-90). The first

translation:
.

part

is inspired; the

second seems

to be its
...

prosaic
teXcov

and

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

(cf fr.

xwx6[i.aTa

(1079),

ex&pa

(1080), Xurceu; (1084)

the the
relation of men

and now undergoes

him

self.

The first

part concerns

relation of gods

to

men and one an

other, the

second with

to themselves. The bond

corpse

between them is the unholy; but in the first part it is the unholy (1071), in the second its unholy smell (1083). The symmetry between the two parts of but how deep it goes or what it means is not as
55.2.
came
Tiresias'

from Creon's flesh

the
ritual
ritual

and blood126

is plain; The one who to be his payment for corpses

speech

evident.

will provoke

lamentation

of men and women

on

do these

lamentations include those

of

behalf

of

in his house ; but Eurydice ? Does

be
more

Tiresias know

her

suicide

? The balance

of payments would

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) ;
death
nized

but Tiresias

could not

have

accused

Creon

of

Me

gareus'

without

in

Megareus'

38.1). Tiresias recog condemning himself (cf. suicide a sacred necessity ; he does not recognize it

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

be punished;

Tiresias predicts that within not many circuits and he calls the Furies uo-Tspocpftopoi

of

the

sun

Creon
no

and says

that

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.

126

In light

Tiresias'

of

be

made of cmXayxva

gods'

168

Interpretation
time

long

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
will

pass

thrice deludes Creon (and the

Tiresias'

speech.

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

day

was

out, his ignorance

city's

would explain

the hopefulness

of

his first

If the

loss

cannot

his

more exact

knowledge : Creon

was not

to know that the

of

gods are
would

unforgiving a divine favor. Creon

and repentance unrewarded.

could come

The delusion

hope

be

to believe that had he just

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

err,

as

through his obduracy merited punishment. If, however, Tiresias says, the punishment would have then seemed

to

men excessive.

Perhaps Tiresias
the

out of compassion spared us all

the

truth

about sacrilege :

reasonable and

the

sacred

in its

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

reason. and

To

cast

Creon into total despair

would of

delay

what

Tiresias
55.4.
with

the city

most need

the immediate burial

Polynices. belongs

Creon's

crimes are

(1) to

have

cast

below

someone who

and

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
prevented

below, for he has

then
explains still above

further the in

it from receiving due burial rites. Tiresias second crime : neither Creon nor the gods
other crime.

have any he
nor

share

corpses.

fuller

explanation of

Creon's

Tiresias thinks it unnecessary to give Could he have said that

share

neither

the

gods

below have any

entailed

in

souls?

Or that Creon
asserted souls are

has

forcibly

deprived the
would

gods above of

Antigone ? To have have implied

the former

have

the denial that there

would

in

Hades ; to have

asserted

the latter

some confusion
-9-eoi.

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
alone are

alive,

any

more

than the dead

can

belong

to the

gods

because
another:

they

too

are

dead. This
of 1070?

difficulty
the

cannot

be

separated

below from

does the
the

xixtco of 1068 mean

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
xdcTto&ev

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

(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 corpses

them both

He

cannot recall

Tiresias

cannot

do Antigone justice, the

that
own

reason must

lie in

tween the
generation crime of

gods and men above

excludes

her :

they

alone share

(cf.

50.3).

Creon's

flesh

and

blood

must

link be in pay for his

a

exposing the dead in the

region of

the

life-renewing

sun.
I078b

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
55.5.

Tiresias'

the reply

are

in

a sense

the

same :

the

Tiresias'

signs of

art

forebode

human suffering, not divine pollution. Tiresias begins with the ritual lamentations in Creon's own house. The asyndeton of avSpcov yuvaixiov
shows

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
xcoxuji.aTa are

that, though
of

the rites

burial

are

as

payment

for his
are

crime

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
Muse"

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
failure to

his

original

interpretation in light
the
cries of

understand

then

goes

reargues

the

further in playing down his own importance when he second sign. What is now at issue is not the fact of pollu
city.128

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

tion but the belief in

beasts,

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

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'

127

170

Interpretation
than the (Bcolioi

hearths: the according to

8-soi;

ea^apat
Tiresias'

count

more

(1016).
ot avco

Nothing,

prophecy, mediates between

and ot avco

but, according
and

to his

translation,
corpse
at

sacrifices mediate not

between the

city

the

gods.

The unholy
not

does

belong

to those above,

its unholy

smell

does

belong

the

city's

not altogether gods as well

to

belong
his

to those

above.

hearths. The city seems It has a share in the nether

22. 9). 129

speech
somewhat

55.6.

Tiresias
younger

ends

with

the

same

triad

as

Haemon had
at

used

(cf.

40.4).

Creon

should express
of

his his

anger

(&uli6<;)
to

those

than Tiresias tongue

.

(i.e.,
,

those ignorant

fate), learn
alone

cherish a quieter

(yXcoo-o-a)
Haemon
a

and

have
that

a mind

(vou?)
(tyvy?})

better than

his

present wits

(tppevsi;)
and

said

whoever

thinks he

is
to

sensible

(cppoveiv)
is
,

has

tongue

(yXcoo-o-a)

and soul
recalled

superior

any

other

empty within.

Haemon's triad
and

the triad

of speech

(cpS-eyfza)
turn,
and

thought

(tppovy)|j,a),
to
man's

Chorus had

ascribed

civility (aaTuv6[iot. opyat) that the Ssivott)? (cf. 22.11) ; and that triad, in

pointed

back to Creon's

own

triad,

soul

(<\>uyj]),

resolve

(cppovTjfia),

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.
not what one

It is
one

loves that is decisive, let

alone

the degree to

which

is devoted to
anguish of

the

it, but civility. Civility would at least have spared him foreknowledge (xapStac To;su|i.aTa PefJaia), and perhaps
him from

have

even checked

issuing

message

has nothing to do
56.1.

with

his decree (cf. Antigone.

and

Tiresias'

11 13-4).

56

(1091-1114).

The Chorus

Tiresias has
reason as

never yet prophesied

falsely

to the

Creon equally realize that citv. Neither can see a

to why he should do Creon's fate to be unavoidable :

so now

(cf.

61.4),

yet

neither

thinks

prudence

(su(3ouXia)

can put

right. Do they think, then, that

prudence could

have

saved one

Megareus,

and

therefore

condemn
or

retroactively the
other

everything Oedipus or for his persis

Chorus'

tence in uncovering the truth

patriotism cannot parallel must

the

for

patriotism

? As the

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
consult

the
not

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
would cern

he had

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
.

than
could

respite,

until

he learned

of

Jocasta's
relied

suicide.

Oedipus, then,
his
origins

have

shown

his

patriotism without

discovering
solely

if he had

only

never summoned

Tiresias but

on

the

testimony

Note the

syntax of

cmapayu,axa, whose antecedent

is strictly

7t6Xei?.

A
of

Reading
from
else.

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
would

171

the

one survivor

regicide and

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, 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,
seem
Tiresias'

retinue. He Does Tiresias have

Laius'

then have been

a similar role

in mind for

without

however,

to delude him into the

gods

believing
951-4).

that he

can outrun

the
re

swift-footed mischief of

(cf.

They

advise

him to

lease Antigone

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
and

him (cf.

51.3).

But the Chorus Antigone

seem

to have

misunderstood

Tiresias,

for Tiresias
as a

spoke of

as

Haemon's death in the

future;

already a corpse (1067) and only put but since he also referred to Antigone

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 Antigone's death
seem

seems

to

make

to be

no room

for

prudence.

Haemon's inevitable, there Not until one learns more

the Chorus
were

would about

Haemon's

suicide can one

say

whether or not

simply

wrong (cf. 61.5,

56.2.

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
struction of

they
of

policy;

and

necessity

"prudence,"

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
put on
Tiresias'

Tiresias'

master even

before

they

remind

him

of

ment.

His

conversion seems precipitate

to

(xapSta?
rooted obeys

s^tCTTaLtat

Spav)

as

implying
have

divine punish if one accepts his words only that his principles were deeply
the
swiftness of

in his heart. His

the Chorus

principles

long since eroded

Chorus'

(cf

42.1).

He has

rather

than Tiresias because

Tiresias'

always

not

been to the city (994, 1058) and the doubt) to him. The confusion inherent in Creon's
12.4).
not

loyalty loyalty (he does

principles comes

home to him (cf.

56.3.

The Chorus tell Creon

of

to

entrust

the

freeing of Antigone and

not

the

burying

Polynices to

anyone else

; but Creon does

take them

130

Brunck's 8eiX6v

is, I think,

right, and Jackson's axfl

should prefer

'(iTcaXa^ai

xou[*6v

8eiv

xapa

(1097)
655,

1246, OC

the mark, but I but fr. 210, 45 P).

near

xeap (cf. Ai.

686, Tr. 629,

172

Interpretation
assumes

literally. He
while

that

they

mean

he

should supervise

the

work of

his servants, to

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

removed

by

himself the
proves

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?
much

auTo?

so^aa

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

birds

were

the issue (cf.

53.1).

Creon

seems

to believe that Polynices

gave

is due
mound

rites almost as elaborate as

those he

Eteocles

the high

he has

raised would

be

conspicuous

in the

plain

(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
should

Only

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 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
sake,"

to talk

of

his

unfortunate

imprudence (1261, 1265,

1269).

57 (1115-54).
Antigone's death
as

57-1-

the priorities, but

they

The Chorus now accept Creon's understanding of go even further: since Tiresias never spoke of

as

the city is concerned,

as soon as

his fate
without

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

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).
the
Chorus'

jj.eya-

A
57.2. The
was almost

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
the first
stasimon.131

173 That

hyporchema is the Earth

antithesis of
almost

wholly general, this is

and

no proper names except which are place names

wholly particular ; that had Hades, this has seventeen, eight of

highest
most

of

; that called Earth, whom man wears away, the the gods, this says Dionysus honors autochthonous Thebes
of all cities and presides with

highly
man

Demeter

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

to be the

conqueror of earth and

dragon;

that

spoke of man's

taming

of

the

mountain

bull, this has the

spoke of as master of

ivy-clad Nysaean

mountains escort

Dionysus to Thebes ; that

that

man's self-taught speech and

thought, this hails Dionysus

;
and

nighttime voices and madness

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
chema

do

share one
as

thing in
to
man.

common : what

close
man

to Dionysus

Hades is (cf.

not alone

has

no

fire to

mine

the

earth

the earth is as in closing it to man ; 52.4). He has no fire because it

under

is

is divine

and

Dionysus is its
who cares

master.

Papu(3psfiiTY)<;,
stars

for Thebes
above

with

Dionysus is the offspring of Zeus his mother xepauvta, is seen by

and

the smoky flame

sacrifices,
vals unite

of

torches
comes

Delphi,
or

leads the

fire-breathing
purposes: and

in dance. Fire
ordeals

down to

earth

(264-5), festivals,
with

only for sacred cremation. Sacrifices

festi

the city

the gods,

and with none more

Dionysus;
civility
gone's

and cremation

dissolves the Antigonean

represents

conflict

closely than between

so

and

lution, for he sponsors

holiness. Dionysus rightly a frenzy in speech

and

their Tiresian

and mind

different from Anti

50.3).

(603),

he has nothing to do
58.1.

with

Hades (cf.
the

58

(1155-71).
; the

Antigone's

entrance upset

moral of

the first
with

nothing that does not harmonize the hyporchema : the Chorus did not ask for Creon's safety. Once
stasimon
messenger reports

they

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

Tiresias'

confirmation

of

reluctant

to

act as messengers.

he had

proved

The his innocence; the

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[icpeTrEi<;, (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

131

Rhetorically, it is built up to

consists of an

(KaaxaXta?

confirms

TxaXtav), Eleusis, Thebes, Delphi, Euboea, Thebes. The

with a

second antistrophe

begins

threefold invocation : xpaye. ercfaxoTre,

ysve&Xov.

174
order

Interpretation

to

show

first how Creon

exemplifies

his

own

human life. From his understanding

resignation

one could

draw the

understanding of moral that

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
to
resignation

play

(1155-79)
name

vidually by happiness is
corpse.

or

collectively.132

The

messenger's

standard

for
a

pleasure

(cf.

24.2), his

standard

for misery is to be

58.2.

The

messenger

does

not address

the

Chorus,

as

Tiresias

had,

as

Cadmus'

the
and

rulers of

Thebes (cf.

51.2)

; he

calls

them the

neighbors of

Amphion's house. Cadmus founded Thebes, Amphion built its Thebes does not recur. walls; but after the hyporchema the name of

The invocation

of

Dionysus

succeeds

in making the city

the

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
regime are replaced
or

children,

alone

counts:

Amphion

was

the husband

of

Niobe. The

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

prophecy (cf. 1212) ; and it seems to be Creon's inopportune presence, in his account, 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

Tiresias'

of

suppose, because the

wipes out

messenger

assumes

that the loss

of

Haemon

sons,

and

Creon's pleasure; but he needlessly refers to Creon's noble Creon never takes any notice of Megareus. The messenger,
conceals

moreover,

Creon's loss

of

Haemon,
and

which

he does
the

not

mention,
elements

by holding
of

Creon's victory

over

Argos

his

kingship

to be

his

enviable

life,

one of which

Creon

cannot and

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
of

good

fortune,

where

he

sees

great

wealth and

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
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. 132

the pomp

the tyrant's

There

Chorus'

A
takes
not

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
comes

175
one's

no pleasure

in them. Pleasure, then,

without

entirely from
messenger

children; everything else is hollow

them. The

does

think,

as

Creon

had,

that

children are good and enmities

their father in his friendships

praise

only if they support (cf. 39.2). He does not

might

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.
cause

the fortunate just because their fortune

no good

there is

fortune

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).

59.1.

questions

before

they

the

moral of

chance showed

his first speech, which Creon exemplified precisely because its power in his case. Guilt seems to be as incompatible
necessity; and the messenger

with chance as with

has to

admit

that

Creon's hand

was not raised against

his

son.

the way that Oedipus was the cause of just give Creon the opportunity to be
that Haemon love Antigone.

Jocasta'

Is Creon guilty, then, in s suicide ? Or did chance There

was no

guilty?

necessity

Antigone, however,

seems

to be furthest

from
as

anyone's

thoughts. The Chorus

that

we might suppose

the

messenger's

ask about the grief of kings; and they include Antigone in the royal circle, even answer (re&vocrjiv) suggests that more than one has

died ; but
two the
suicide,

since

he
the

also makes

Creon into

plural, and the

seem

Chorus'

next

questions which

are

in the singular, it
at

would

that Antigone's
not count

messenger now calls

murder, does

royal griefs.

Creon,

any rate,
save

never

her (cf.

suicide.

That he failed to

holds himself her must look like

responsible
chance

among for

to him

6i.3).134

and

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

176

Interpretation

59.2.

The pun on Haemon'sname

of

(alfiao-rjeTai)

would seem

to

preclude

bloody
might

any misunderstanding with his own hand") be

passive

the

and

auTO/eip
;135

reply ("he made himself ; but the Chorus suggest that the verb not have its literal meaning. To ask
messenger's

whether

is

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
messenger could

a grammarian's question

Polynices'

way
see

of

killing

Antigone

absolved

the

whole

themselves as

involved in Creon's be
certain

guilt.

that he had the right to kill his

39.3),
not

own sons

surely do not Creon had implied Second, if they disobeyed him (cf.
city, so

they

and

they

cannot

that Creon

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

back

on

his

word.

Tiresias'

seriously than their

pspvjxsv
Tiresias'

of and

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
own
Tiresias'

its

cause and on

the

messenger's confirmation

of

their

own under

standing For the messenger

both

counts.
now

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

her
entrance she never of

Eurydice lets the Chorus

spoken

avoid

deliberation.
on

they had called Antigone Suo-tyjvoi;

in her
of
expression

defense,
her

(379). Once Antigone, however, had elicited from them again another
on

condolence.

Eurydice,

the

other

hand,

of their sympathy ; but when they for the death of Megareus and hence implicitly

nothing to deprive later learn that she cursed Creon

now says

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

as

they

an unaccountable

do in Haemon's, its justice (cf. 1270). For the intrusion. There is no one to tell them
them
of

to think. Creon
of

could convince

Antigone's injustice,

and

Tiresias
silent advice.

Creon's; but

neither prepared

them for
and

Eurydice,

whose

suffering lies outside their Without the mean vanity

schol. 1 176: xoxoxt

experience of

immune to their

Creon

or

the

holy

madness

of

135

Cf.

Ipcoxa

7r6xepa xxX.

axouaa? t]8t)

oxi

aux6xeip

dit^avEv.

A Antigone
no

Sophocles'

Reading

of

Antigone

177

she reminds us of a comprehends.

than

theodicy try to explain

suffering that the city as such inflicts and Tiresias preferred to remain silent rather

why Eurydice

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

(tcev&oi;

overheard

oixeiov) openly, he, 7coXi.v (1246-1249). She says that she the messenger's report while leaving the palace in order to

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.

much after 1177.

61 (1192-1243). 61. 1. Eurydice couldnot have faintedbefore 1173 She might know that either one of her own is dead
might

or

or

Haemon killed himself. She

to
repeat

therefore

want

the

messenger either

no more exact

than

what

explain

the

degree to

which

he has already told the Chorus or to Creon is the cause of Haemon's

that
she wants a

suicide.

The

messenger assumes
charge against

full report,

as

if

she
no

doubted his
matter shown

Creon. Eurydice is

entitled

to the truth,

how painful,
that
she can

because her recovery from a swoon has take it nor because her experience of evils has
neither

steeled
senger

her to

listen, but because any

tell
would can
never

softened version
proved

that the

mes

now might

be later

false. The
but
versed

messenger

believes that the truth departure in

yap yap
oux

be unjustified;

silence

forces him to hope that to be

oOTsipoi;,

oux

mistress

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
for

Eurydice's in evils (xaxcov in judgment (yvcb[X7)<;

living corpse

losing the

enjoyment of what

Eurydice
upon

also

loses;
58.2).

and

Eurydice has
makes

no political pleasures

to fall back

(cf.

The

messenger spoke

for himself

when

he

made pleasure speaks

the standard; he
masters. certain

decency

the

standard when
conclusion after

he

for his
of

He thus
pleasures

draws back from the

entails suicide.

that the lack

Chance,
he

all,

could restore one counseled

to

good

fortune. One
an argument

wonders whether

would

have

Eurydice, in
2.44.3).

like Antigone's, to have more children (cf. Th. 48.8). messenger calls her 7ca(i.[jLY)Tcop (cf.

The

second

178

Interpretation

61.2. For
for
acofia

(1197), see 45.1; for xuvorjTcapaxTOV (1198), (1198), 48.5; for rroyxaTn&ou.ev (1202), 524; for
vY)Xee<;

53. 1 ; X&ov6<;

(1203),

22.9.

The
of

messenger

frames his true

three
aorist

account

in

such a

that the burial

Polynices

participles

articulate

way its

description (a'iT7)<javTe<;, XoucravTs?, but a slight incident on the way to the

xwaavre?)136

seems

rescue of

to be nothing Antigone. However

roads,137

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
afraid

that the

chthonic gods were not pleased with which

Polynices'

body,
who

they

had done

on

their

own without

their uncovering of the excuse

not

of such a command gods

from Creon (cf.

25.4).
were

They

did

above,

according to Tiresias

equally

angry.

pray to the But Tiresias

had

not suggested

how Creon
what

should propitiate

the gods;

indeed, he
were now

had
on

not even

indicated

rites

should

be

accorded

Polynices. Creon rites

of native earth.

his

own

decided that only the

Polynices is buried in have been

most

elaborate

appropriate :

a conspicuous

tomb

Piety

would

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 admitted that the 42.1). Creon compen conquest of Thebes was unjustly thwarted (cf. Theban
sated

for his
the

crime

against was

the

gods

by

against

city.
could

He

tested in

office

committing another crime and found wanting. His

of

punishment

thus be due
rejection of

as much

to his betrayal
51.3).

his

own

principles as

to his

Antigone's (cf.

as a

61.3. The messenger, like Antigone herself, speaks of Antigone's prison bridal chamber (cf. 46.2) ; but he amplifies this aspect still more
7rarjTaSa).

(Xixroo-TpcoTov,

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
,

choice of words.

That Antigone has

now rejoined means

her

family,

with all calls

the horror that implies (cf.

46.8),

nothing to him. He
1272,
1310-1).

Haemon but
suicide, like

not

Antigone

miserable

(1234,

124i ; cf.

Her

burial, is just an incident in his account. 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

Polynices'

that Haemon
eluded

might

try
must

to free Antigone

would

have been

sensible,
136

them. Creon

have

expected

her

suicide as soon as

The

change

in

construction

(x6v

jxev

auS-i?)
and cf.

calls our attention

to the

shift from aa>(ia to x6v 137 Fire is the constant attribute of

IloXuveCxoui; (1198)

(1199)

Hecate;

(1202). fr. 535 P. 8

87)

Reading
.

Sophocles'

of

Antigone

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)

and

what Tiresias meant when he for that reason put the burial

called of

her

corpse

(cf.

Polynices before the

rescue of

Antigone.

cries of

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
report

this

before he had heard them for himself

entrance wrenched apart.

and seen

the

stones of

the tomb's
their
resias, to

He then divined Creon

(ap'

elyl

(lavTi?)

source while

they
.

were still

indistinct

(acr/)[ia) ; but,
the

unlike

Ti

whom a servant reported acn)[jLa

opyta,

was not sure of

their interpretation (cf

52)

He

wondered whether

gods

were

deluding him ;
come all

but for

what purpose

he did

not say.

Could Creon have

to believe that Tiresias had deluded him

wanted

Tiresias had

to do

was put a scare

with prophecy and that into him ? Tiresias could put across so

surely have relied on his former a lie (cf. 55.3) ; and, despite the
of
source

infallibility
Chorus'

to

salutary
Tightness

exclamation at

the

his prophecy, nothing Tiresias said argues for a more than human Apollo.138 for its truth (cf. 59.2) ; indeed, he never mentioned
of

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. 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.

180

Interpretation
meant

have
sense

to

understand
ev

his forcible entry into the tomb; and if he had had the him so, what could he have made of Creon's
tco

third

question?

o-uu-cpopa?

8ie<p9-dcp-/)<; is

not

question

that

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

opposed

it

at

Haemon had
could

promised

that Creon

would never see

its flood. To face Haemon, after him again (763-4),

only have intensified Haemon's anger and frustration. Creon's imprudence, then, in word and deed was the proximate cause of 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,

remorse

and

love

regret

for

having

missed

Creon,
never

for

having

contemplated

patricide,

vengeance

for Creon's

crime, and love for Antigone (cf. 1177). The remorse that Creon
shows

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 join 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
of one sacred

for his transgression

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.
remorse

1386-90,

1409-15, 1466-70),

whose

own

for

which she could never atone.

Haemon,

on

piety entailed a the other hand,

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
the

(1315)

on

gone and

gush of

Haemon's still-living embrace of the virgin Anti blood on her cheek. The passage reads like a grim
embrace; and the words Ta vu|j,<pixa tsXt) Xa/cov that the messenger wanted to insinuate it. Forced
a

mockery
to
choose

of a sexual

make it almost certain

between two equally distasteful endings,

thwarted

marriage

A
or a

Reading

Sophocles'

of

Antigone
recalls

181

thwarted

patricide

(their juxtaposition

Oedipus),

the

mes

senger preferred moral: no

the ending to which he could more readily attach a greater evil than imprudence belongs to man. The moral,
a peculiar message when applied.

however, bears
forbids its

Since the

context

application

to Creon's

impiety,
can

with

which, in any case, the

messenger never charges

him, Creon

having
should

yielded at once

to Haemon's love

have let the love of his own If he had wanted to prevent their

reproached only for not Antigone (cf. 36.1). Creon override his sense of righteousness. of
cold

be

embrace, Haemon's

pleasure

should

have

guided

him (cf. 648-50). It

would

have been

prudent

to be

fond.
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

62 (1244-56). 62.1. The Chorus

and

departure,

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

o-efUcrao-a)

were so

example,

oma 7cavoupyr)rjacra

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

his

imprudence, but
.

not,

we must

supply,

of

his

impiety
own un

(*cppevcov

800-0-ePcov)
and as well errors.

His ill-conceived

plans

have led to his

happiness

the early death

happiness
one of

his

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

140 Cf. Andocides II. 5-7, 15 for the way in for his crimes.

which

Creon

expresses

his

regret

1 82

Interpretation
and

mortals, which, as his own overturned

gods

trampled

joy illustrates,

the

savagely inflict. Creon admits 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

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

He

must

be

silent about cannot

Antigone
what

in

kommos, for he
mentions

lament

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
cremation of
,

released (1314).141

Perhaps Creon
since

means no more

than that

they

have

"passed away"; but mism,

sv

the

verb

is

unknown

this early

as a euphe

and a euphemism

joined

with

e-9-ave<;

in Haemon's
such,

case and with

cpovau;

in Eurydice's
the
not

hardly

qualifies as

one wonders whether

Creon, holding
wife, does

corpse of

his

son and confronted with

souls

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
mean

that their

are

now

separated

established
can

laws,

to

which

Antigone

contributed

only lead

once more

to their

being

nothing (cf. forgotten (cf. 26.1).

17.5),

alone :

63.3. Sophocles allows Creon just one strophe to grieve over Haemon but this is not because Creon feels more deeply about Eurydice

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

all

thought to

mortals

(cf.

1317).142

his

courage now

rekill

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
&av6vr'

Creon dead

tells the
(oXcoXot'

messenger

that

with
.

this

news

he has

reexecuted a

man

e7iee!,pydo-co)

Creon

speaks of

himself

as

141 142

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$apxo<; (1284) ; (1262) (1285); tco Ttai (1266) xt <pf)<;, d> TtaT (1289; see 38.1); voq vw (1266) vsov (1289); dm:Xu&Y)(; (1268) in 6Xe$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.
same

Read The frequency

xaTteXuaax'

; see
with

Miiller.

strophe and
word and

the antistrophe, accompanied

which

as

A
second

Reading
.

Sophocles'

of
the
crime

Antigone

183

Polynices (cf 1077)

that he mistakenly thought in

Polynices'

case could never

be

atoned

for

would

be his

own.

Creon
the
guilt

thought, however, that his

Polynices'

crime was

the death

of

Haemon,

not

prohibition of

burial;

and

he does

not now admit

his

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 terms of which his on either count when
put

he

together

9psvcov

Hades'

crime

should

double

as

suffering to
guilty, as

either a god or

his punishment, Creon still attributes his fate, but never to himself. As agent he is
266-7).

patient

he is innocent (cf. OC

64

(1301-46). 64.1. The

perhaps prayed at of

messenger answers not expect

Creon's question

of

1296,

though Creon

did

that

anyone

could answer suicide

it.

Eurydice
alone

the

altar of

the house just before her

not

for the

ill-success

Creon.143
would

She did

think that Haemon's

death, let

Megareus',

Tza.$-oc,
xocxal

(1316)
izp&E>sic,

of

adequately punish Creon. Not the 6;uxcoxutov her son, which brought on her own death, but only
can affect

in the future

him. Eurydice

seemed

to have

understood

Creon's

incapacity for the

punishment of suffering.

at

any rate, becomes terrified and for the only time speaks (cf. 27.2). The fear of punishment takes the place of remorse Creon to
part of ask

He now, of his pain

and

prompts

should

be

for his death (cf. 15.2, 29.1). Fear, which his punishment, makes him want to escape from it,
no

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

for he

seems

to have

fear,
and

Hades

(459-60,

925-6),

fear, however,
another way.

alternates with

his guilt,

and

his

guilt suggests

to him

To the

messenger's report

that Eurydice held him guilty

responds with a question avoids

for both
about

Megareus'

and
manner of

Haemon's deaths he
suicide.

the

her
of

Creon thus

to include the death

Megareus, for he
name of admit

senses

that it

extending his guilt would ill become

condem

him to
nation.

protest

in the

the city Eurydice's blanket

He

prefers

instead to
him

his

though

no one charges

with

it

and

for Eurydice's death, even he himself is aware of the extra

guilt wants

vagance of

his

(<pd[i.'

admission

Itu|xov). He

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

out of

not

complain,

as

Antigone

did,

of

his lack

of

friends. He has too

much

143
accept

Nothing

seems certain

Seyffert's reading

at

in 1301 except pcojxta; but I 1303 because of 424-5.

should

be inclined to

184
self-pity to miss sight his guilt is
mean
them;144

Interpretation

and

out of mind.

he seems to believe that if he is out of So httle does his crime against the city
think
of exile

to him that he does

not

or

any

other

public

punishment.

The Chorus, therefore,

misfortunes are out of

are not

the

sooner

his

ready to comfort Creon: the way the greater is their own

as

gain.

They
that to

want

to forget Creon in his troubles

and

they

must

have

once

forgotten Oedipus in his;

words

they

renounce

their

loyalty

to Creon in

could

advice

Creon,

properly concern Oedipus far more exactly than

name of

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

Creon,

whose

fate scarcely deserves the

desting

(cf. OT

1518-20).

(1347-53)- 65.1. The Chorus draw a parently did not need the play to learn (cf.

65

conclusion

57.1).

they ap Man, according to

and

that

the first stasimon, taught himself speech,

thought,

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.

Wisdom
this

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.
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
Tepa?

therefore

can

only

regret

that

Creon,

who

had he followed the

them to
confront

precept would

have kept

clear of

trouble, forced

the

Antigone.

Corrigendum: in Part II
Justice
must

of
.

this
. .

article

(vol. 5/1,
he"

p.

be

grounded

etc., read
as

"city as

42, line 10), for "city. the issue. Creon calls

Haemon
144

totally bad in separating,

34.2.1.

Cf.

Antigone

never

calls

herself

\x.zkia.

or

SetXata,
one

each

of

which

Creon

uses

thrice

(977,

1319, 1341; 1272, 1310-1). The

common

soul, in Creon's from his

is fearlessness; but in Antigone's case it comes emptiness. Antigone is xaXattppcov,

trait they have in from her greatness of

not

Creon.