Electra

Page 8

by Sophocles

Because your bride must die? Or are you still

My loyal son, whatever I may do?

HAEMON. Father, I am your son; may your wise

judgement

Rule me, and may I always follow it.

No marriage shall be thought a greater prize

For me to win than your good government.

CREON. So may you ever be resolved, my son,

In all things to be guided by your father.

640

It is for this men pray that they may have

Obedient children, that they may requite

Their father’s enemy with enmity

And honour whom their father loves to honour.

One who begets unprofitable children

Makes trouble for himself, and gives his foes

Nothing but laughter. Therefore do not let

Your pleasure in a woman overcome

Your judgement, knowing this, that if you have

An evil wife to share your house, you’ll find

Cold comfort in your bed. What other wound

650

Can cut so deep as treachery at home?

So, think this girl your enemy; spit on her,

And let her find her husband down in Hell!

She is the only one that I have found

In all the city disobedient.

I will not make myself a liar. I

Have caught her; I will kill her. Let her sing

Her hymns to Sacred Kinship!* If I breed

Rebellion in the house, then it is certain

There’ll be no lack of rebels out of doors.

660

No man can rule a city uprightly

Who is not just in ruling his own household.

Never will I approve of one who breaks

And violates the law, or would dictate

To those who rule. Lawful authority

Must be obeyed in all things, great or small,

Just and unjust alike; and such a man

Would win my confidence both in command

And as a subject; standing at my side

In the storm of battle he would hold his ground,

670

Not leave me unprotected. But there is

No greater curse than disobedience.

This brings destruction on a city, this

Drives men from hearth and home, this brings about

A sudden panic in the battle-front.

Where all goes well, obedience is the cause.

So we must vindicate the law; we must not be

Defeated by a woman. Better far

Be overthrown, if need be, by a man

Than to be called the victim of a woman.

680

CHORUS. Unless the years have stolen away our wits,

All you say is said most prudently.

HAEMON. Father, it is the gods who give us wisdom;

No gift of theirs more precious. I cannot say

That you are wrong, nor would I ever learn

That impudence, although perhaps another

Might fairly say it. But it falls to me,

Being your son, to note what others say,

Or do, or censure in you, for your glance

Intimidates the common citizen;

690

He will not say, before your face, what might

Displease you; I can listen freely, how

The city mourns this girl. ‘No other woman’,

So they are saying, ‘so undeservedly

Has been condemned for such a glorious deed.

When her own brother had been slain in battle

She would not let his body lie unburied

To be devoured by dogs or birds of prey.

Is not this worthy of a crown of gold?’—

Such is the muttering that spreads everywhere.

700

Father, no greater treasure can I have

Than your prosperity; no son can find

A greater prize than his own father’s fame,

No father than his son’s. Therefore let not

This single thought possess you: only what

You say is right, and nothing else. The man

Who thinks that he alone is wise, that he

Is best in speech or counsel, such a man

Brought to the proof is found but emptiness.

There’s no disgrace, even if one is wise,

710

In learning more, and knowing when to yield.

See how the trees that grow beside a torrent

Preserve their branches, if they bend; the others,

Those that resist, are torn out, root and branch.

So too the captain of a ship; let him

Refuse to shorten sail, despite the storm—

He’ll end his voyage bottom uppermost.

No, let your anger cool, and be persuaded.

If one who is still young can speak with sense,

Then I would say that he does best who has

720

Most understanding; second best, the man

Who profits from the wisdom of another.

CHORUS. My lord, he has not spoken foolishly;

You each can learn some wisdom from the other.

CREON. What? men of our age go to school again

And take a lesson from a very boy?

HAEMON. If it is worth the taking. I am young,

But think what should be done, not of my age.

CREON. What should be done! To honour

disobedience!

730

HAEMON. I would not have you honour criminals.

CREON. And is this girl then not a criminal?

HAEMON. The city with a single voice denies it.

CREON. Must I give orders then by their permission?

HAEMON. If youth is folly, this is childishness.

CREON. Am I to rule for them, not for myself?

HAEMON. That is not government, but tyranny.

CREON. The king is lord and master of his city.

HAEMON. Then you had better rule a desert island!

CREON. This man, it seems, is the ally of the woman.

740

HAEMON. If you’re the woman, yes! I fight for you.

CREON. Villain! Do you oppose your father’s will?

HAEMON. Only because you are opposing Justice.

CREON. When I regard my own prerogative?

HAEMON. Opposing God’s, you disregard your own.

CREON. Scoundrel, so to surrender to a woman!

HAEMON. But not to anything that brings me shame.

CREON. Your every word is in defence of her.

HAEMON. And me, and you—and of the gods below.

CREON. You shall not marry her this side the grave!

750

HAEMON. So, she must die—and will not die alone.

CREON. What? Threaten me? Are you so insolent?

HAEMON. It is no threat, if I reply to folly.

CREON. The fool would teach me sense! You’ll pay for

it.

HAEMON. I’d call you mad, if you were not my father.

CREON. I’ll hear no chatter from a woman’s plaything.

HAEMON. Would you have all the talk, and hear no

answer?

CREON. So?

I swear to God, you shall not bandy words

With me and not repent it! Bring her out,

That loathsome creature! I will have her killed

760

At once, before her bridegroom’s very eyes.

HAEMON. How can you think it? I will not see that,

Nor shall you ever see my face again.

Those friends of yours who can must tolerate

Your raging madness; I will not endure it.

[Exit HAEMON

CHORUS. How angrily he went, my lord! The young,

When they are greatly hurt, grow desperate.

CREON. Then let his pride and foll
y do their worst!

He shall not save these women from their doom.

CHORUS. Is it your purpose then to kill them both?

770

CREON. Not her who had no part in it.—I thank you.

CHORUS. And for the other: how is she to die?

CREON. I’ll find a cave in some deserted spot,

And there I will imprison her alive

With so much food—no more—as will avert

Pollution and a curse upon the city.*

There let her pray to Death, the only god

Whom she reveres, to rescue her from death,

Or learn at last, though it be late, that it

Is wanton folly to respect the dead.

780

[CREON remains on the stage

Strophe

CHORUS [sings]. Invincible, implacable Love,* O

Love, that makes havoc of all wealth;

That peacefully keeps his night-watch

On tender cheek of a maiden:

The Sea is no barrier, nor

Mountainous waste to Love’s flight; for

No one can escape Love’s domination,

Man, no, nor immortal god. Love’s

Prey is possessed by madness.

790

Antistrophe

By Love, the mind even of the just

Is bent awry; he becomes unjust.

So here: it is Love that stirred up

This quarrel of son with father.

The kindling light of Love in the soft

Eye of a bride conquers, for

Love sits on his throne, one of the great Powers;

Nought else can prevail against

800

Invincible Aphrodite.*

Enter ANTIGONE, under guard. [From this point up to line

987 everything is sung, except lines 883–928.]

CHORUS. I too, when I see this sight, cannot stay

Within bounds; I cannot keep back my tears

Which rise like a flood. For behold, they bring

Antigone here, on the journey that all

Must make, to the silence of Hades.*

Strophe 1

ANTIGONE. Behold me, O lords of my native city!

Now do I make my last journey;

Now do I see the last

Sun that ever I shall behold.

Never another! Death, that lulls

810

All to sleep, takes me while I live

Down to the grim shore of Acheron.*

No wedding day can be

Mine, no hymn will be raised to honour

Marriage of mine; for I

Go to espouse the bridegroom, Death.

CHORUS. Yet a glorious death, and rich in fame

Is yours; you go to the silent tomb

Not smitten with wasting sickness, nor

Repaying a debt to the sharp-edged sword;

820

But alone among mortals* you go to the home

Of the dead while yet you are living.

Antistrophe 1

ANTIGONE. They tell of how cruelly she did perish,

Niobe, Queen in Thebes;*

For, as ivy grows on a tree,

Strangling it, so she slowly turned to

Stone on a Phrygian mountain-top.

Now the rain-storms wear her away—

So does the story run—and

Snow clings to her always:

830

Tears fall from her weeping eyes for

Ever and ever. Like to hers, the

Cruel death that now awaits me.

CHORUS. But she was a goddess, and born of the

gods;*

We are but mortals, of mortals born.

For a mortal to share in the doom of a god,

That brings her renown while yet she lives,

And a glory that long will outlive her.

Strophe 2

ANTIGONE. Alas, they laugh! O by the gods of Thebes,

my native city,

840

Mock me, if you must, when I am gone, not to my

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