Αποσπάσματα από το «Antigone»

Yea, for these laws were not ordained of Zeus,And she who sits enthroned with gods below,Justice, enacted not these human laws.Nor did I deem that thou, a mortal man,Could’st by a breath annul and overrideThe immutable unwritten laws of Heaven.They were not born today nor yesterday;They die not; and none knoweth whence they sprang.I was not like, who feared no mortal’s frown,To disobey these laws and so provokeThe wrath of Heaven. I knew that I must die,E’en hadst thou not proclaimed it; and if deathIs thereby hastened, I shall count it gain.

Friends, countrymen, my last farewell I make;My journey’s done.One last fond, lingering, longing look I takeAt the bright sun.For Death who puts to sleep both young and oldHales my young life,And beckons me to Acheron’s dark fold,An unwed wife.No youths have sung the marriage song for me,My bridal bedNo maids have strewn with flowers from the lea,’Tis Death I wed.

I urge no more; nay, wert thou willing still,I would not welcome such a fellowship.Go thine own way; myself will bury him.How sweet to die in such employ, to rest—Sister and brother linked in love’s embrace—A sinless sinner, banned awhile on earth,But by the dead commended; and with themI shall abide for ever. As for thee,Scorn, if thou wilt, the eternal laws of Heaven.

The wisest man will let himself be swayedBy others’ wisdom and relax in time.See how the trees beside a stream in floodSave, if they yield to force, each spray unharmed,But by resisting perish root and branch.The mariner who keeps his mainsheet taut,And will not slacken in the gale, is likeTo sail with thwarts reversed, keel uppermost.Relent then and repent thee of thy wrath;For, if one young in years may claim some sense,I’ll say ’tis best of all to be endowedWith absolute wisdom; but, if that’s denied,(And nature takes not readily that ply)Next wise is he who lists to sage advice.

Passing the wildest flight thought are the cunning and skill,That guide man now to the light, but now to counsels of ill.If he honours the laws of the land, and reveres the Gods of the StateProudly his city shall stand; but a cityless outcast I rateWhoso bold in his pride from the path of right doth depart;Ne’er may I sit by his side, or share the thoughts of his heart.

Why dally then? To me no word of thineIs pleasant: God forbid it e’er should please;Nor am I more acceptable to thee.And yet how otherwise had I achievedA name so glorious as by buryingA brother? so my townsmen all would say,Where they not gagged by terror. ManifoldA king’s prerogatives, and not the leastThat all his acts and all his words are law.

My lord, I will not make pretence to pantAnd puff as some light-footed messenger.In sooth my soul beneath its pack of thoughtMade many a halt and turned and turned again;For conscience plied her spur and curb by turns.“Why hurry headlong to thy fate, poor fool?”She whispered. Then again, “If Creon learnThis from another, thou wilt rue it worse.”Thus leisurely I hastened on my road;Much thought extends a furlong to a league.But in the end the forward voice prevailed,To face thee. I will speak though I say nothing.For plucking courage from despair methought,“Let the worst hap, thou canst but meet thy fate.”

The divination of my arts shall tell.Sitting upon my throne of augury,As is my wont, where every fowl of heavenFind harbourage, upon mine ears was borneA jargon strange of twitterings, hoots, and screams,So knew I that each bird at the other tareWith bloody talons, for the whirr of wingsCould signify naught else. Perturbed in soul,I straight essayed the sacrifice by fireOn blazing altars, but the God of FireCame not in flame, and from the thigh bones drippedAnd sputtered in the ashes a foul ooze;Gall-bladders cracked and spurted up: the fatMelted and fell and left the thigh bones bare.

Hope flits about never-wearying wings;Profit to some, to some light loves she brings,But no man knoweth how her gifts may turn,Till ’neath his feet the treacherous ashes burn.Sure ’twas a sage inspired that spake this word;If evil good appearTo any, Fate is near;And brief the respite from her flaming sword.