
English: 
The Chorus gives a lyric account of the
 devastating impact of Atē, Nemesis and Tisis 
upon subjects of hubristic aberration from 
measure (μέτρον) —the conceptual cornerstone
of the Classical Civilization— and
 mentions explicitly the nemesic intergenerational doom 
that has befallen the house of the Labdacids,
the royal dynasty of Thebes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[The Chorus members move around in anxiety.]
Blest are those whose days have not tasted of evil.

Modern Greek (1453-): 
The Chorus gives a lyric account of the
 devastating impact of Atē, Nemesis and Tisis 
upon subjects of hubristic aberration from 
measure (μέτρον) —the conceptual cornerstone
of the Classical Civilization— and
 mentions explicitly the nemesic intergenerational doom 
that has befallen the house of the Labdacids,
the royal dynasty of Thebes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[The Chorus members move around in anxiety.]
Εὐδαίμονες οἷσι κακῶν ἄγευστος αἰών.

English: 
Blest are those whose days have not tasted of evil.
For when a house has once been shaken by the gods,
no form of ruin is lacking,
but it spreads over the bulk of the race [...]
I see that the ancient sorrows 
of the house of the Labdacids
are heaped upon the sorrows of the dead. [...]
For now that dazzling ray of hope 
that had been spread over the last roots
in the house of Oedipus,
—that hope, in its turn, 
the blood-stained dust of the gods
infernal and mindlessness in speech 
and frenzy at the mind cuts down.

Modern Greek (1453-): 
Εὐδαίμονες οἷσι κακῶν ἄγευστος αἰών.
οἷς γὰρ ἂν σεισθῇ θεόθεν δόμος,
ἄτας οὐδὲν ἐλλείπει γενεᾶς ἐπὶ πλῆθος ἕρπον:
ἀρχαῖα τὰ Λαβδακιδᾶν οἴκων
ὁρῶμαι πήματα φθιτῶν ἐπὶ πήμασι πίπτοντα,
νῦν γὰρ ἐσχάτας ὕπερ ῥίζας
ὃ τέτατο φάος ἐν Οἰδίπου δόμοις,
κατ᾽ αὖ νιν φοινία θεῶν τῶν νερτέρων
ἀμᾷ κόνις λόγου τ᾽ ἄνοια καὶ φρενῶν ἐρινύς.

Modern Greek (1453-): 
τεάν, Ζεῦ, δύνασιν τίς ἀνδρῶν ὑπερβασία κατάσχοι;
[...] δυνάστας κατέχεις 
Ὀλύμπου μαρμαρόεσσαν αἴγλαν.
τό τ᾽ ἔπειτα καὶ τὸ μέλλον 
καὶ τὸ πρὶν ἐπαρκέσει νόμος ὅδε,
οὐδὲν ἕρπει θνατῶν βιότῳ πάμπολύ γ᾽ ἐκτὸς ἄτας.
θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν!
θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν!
θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν!
θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν!
... θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν!... θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν!... 
[The Chorus members move around chaotically.]
θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν!
θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν!
θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν!
πράσσει δ᾽ ὀλίγιστον χρόνον ἐκτὸς ἄτας.

English: 
Your power, great Zeus
—what human overstepping can check it?  [...]
You rule by your power and dwell thereby 
in the brilliant splendor of Olympus.
And through the future, both near and distant, 
as through the past, shall this law prevail:
nothing that is vast 
comes to the life of mortals without ruin.
a god leads to ruin!...
a god leads to ruin!...
a god leads to ruin!...
a god leads to ruin!...
... a god leads to ruin!... a god leads to ruin!... 
[The Chorus members move around chaotically.]
a god leads to ruin!...
a god leads to ruin!...
a god leads to ruin!...
And then, only for the briefest moment 
such a man fares free of destruction.
[In Sign Language:
Atē, the goddess of folly, arrogance and denial.]

Modern Greek (1453-): 
[In Sign Language:
Atē, the goddess of folly, arrogance and denial.]
[The Chorus members make way 
for prince Haemon to enter the stage.]
[They keep their heads down (in guilt), 
avoiding eye contact with the doomed prince.]
[Haemon—standing for the ill-fated young generation 
of his polis—is all alone, almost lost, on stage.]
[Still, the courageous prince walks up the stairs 
of his own “Golgotha” to face his destiny.]
[The prince looks around at the people (Chorus)
for some sign of support, in vain.]

English: 
[The Chorus members make way 
for prince Haemon to enter the stage.]
[They keep their heads down (in guilt), 
avoiding eye contact with the doomed prince.]
[Haemon—standing for the ill-fated young generation 
of his polis—is all alone, almost lost, on stage.]
[Still, the courageous prince walks up the stairs 
of his own “Golgotha” to face his destiny.]
[The prince looks around at the people (Chorus)
for some sign of support, in vain.]

English: 
Unwept, unfriended, without marriage-song, 
I am led in misery
on this journey that cannot be put off. 
No longer is it permitted me,
unhappy girl,  to look up 
at this sacred eye of the burning sun.
But for my fate no tear is shed, 
no friend moans in sorrow.
Do you not know that dirges and wailing before death
would never be given up, 
if it were allowed to make them freely?
Take her away—now! 
And when you have enshrouded her, as I proclaimed,
in her covered tomb, 
leave her alone, deserted
—let her decide whether she wishes to die or to live 
entombed in such a home.
It makes no difference, since our hands are clean
so far as regards this girl.

Modern Greek (1453-): 
ἄκλαυτος, ἄφιλος, ἀνυμέναιος ταλαίφρων ἄγομαι
τὰν πυμάταν ὁδόν.
οὐκέτι μοι τόδε 
λαμπάδος ἱερὸν ὄμμα
θέμις ὁρᾶν ταλαίνᾳ.
τὸν δ᾽ ἐμὸν πότμον ἀδάκρυτον
οὐδεὶς φίλων στενάζει
ἆρ᾽ ἴστ᾽, ἀοιδὰς καὶ γόους πρὸ τοῦ θανεῖν
ὡς οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἷς παύσαιτ᾽ ἄν, εἰ χρείη λέγειν;
οὐκ ἄξεθ᾽ ὡς τάχιστα;
καὶ κατηρεφεῖ τύμβῳ περιπτύξαντες, ὡς εἴρηκ᾽ ἐγώ,
ἄφετε μόνην ἔρημον,
εἴτε χρῇ θανεῖν 
εἴτ᾽ ἐν τοιαύτῃ ζῶσα τυμβεύειν στέγῃ
ἡμεῖς γὰρ ἁγνοὶ τοὐπὶ τήνδε τὴν κόρην

English: 
But no matter what, 
she will be stripped of her home here above.
Never, if I had been a mother of children, 
or if a husband had been rotting after death,
would I have taken that burden upon myself 
in violation of the citizens' will.
For the sake of what law, you ask, do I say that?
A husband lost, another might have been found,
and if bereft of a child, there could be a second
from some other man.
But when father and mother are hidden in Hades,
 no brother could ever bloom for me again.
What law of the gods have I transgressed?

Modern Greek (1453-): 
μετοικίας δ᾽ οὖν τῆς ἄνω στερήσεται.
οὐ γάρ ποτ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἄν, εἰ τέκνων μήτηρ ἔφυν,
οὔτ᾽ εἰ πόσις μοι κατθανὼν ἐτήκετο,
βίᾳ πολιτῶν τόνδ᾽ ἂν ᾐρόμην πόνον.
τίνος νόμου δὴ ταῦτα πρὸς χάριν λέγω;
πόσις μὲν ἄν μοι κατθανόντος ἄλλος ἦν,
καὶ παῖς ἀπ᾽ ἄλλου φωτός, εἰ τοῦδ᾽ ἤμπλακον,
μητρὸς δ᾽ ἐν Ἅιδου καὶ πατρὸς κεκευθότοιν
οὐκ ἔστ᾽ ἀδελφὸς ὅστις ἂν βλάστοι ποτέ.
ποίαν παρεξελθοῦσα δαιμόνων δίκην;
τί χρή με τὴν δύστηνον
ἐς θεοὺς ἔτι βλέπειν;

Modern Greek (1453-): 
τίν᾽ αὐδᾶν ξυμμάχων;
ἐπεί γε δὴ τὴν δυσσέβειαν εὐσεβοῦσ᾽, ἐκτησάμην.
ἀλλ᾽ εὖ γέ τοι κάτισθι
μὴ πολλοὺς ἔτι 
τρόχους ἁμιλλητῆρας ἡλίου τελεῖν,
ἐν οἷσι τῶν σῶν αὐτὸς ἐκ σπλάγχνων
ἕνα νέκυν νεκρῶν ἀμοιβὸν ἀντιδοὺς ἔσει,
ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ἔχεις μὲν τῶν ἄνω βαλὼν κάτω
ψυχήν τ᾽ ἀτίμως ἐν τάφῳ κατῴκισας,
ἔχεις δὲ τῶν κάτωθεν ἐνθάδ᾽ αὖ θεῶν
ἄμοιρον, ἀκτέριστον, ἀνόσιον νέκυν.
ὧν οὔτε σοὶ μέτεστιν 
οὔτε τοῖς ἄνω θεοῖσιν,
ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ σοῦ βιάζονται τάδε.

English: 
Why should I look to the gods anymore?  
What ally should I call out to,
when by my reverence I have 
earned a name for irreverence?
Then know, yes, know it well!
You will not live through many more
courses of the sun's swift chariot,
before you will give in return one sprung from 
your own loins, a corpse in requital for corpses.
For you have thrust below one of those of the upper air 
and irreverently lodged a living soul in the grave,
you detain in this world that 
which belongs to the infernal gods:
a corpse unburied, unmourned, unholy.
In the dead you have no part, nor do the gods above, 
but in this you do them violence.

English: 
[Creon grasps the tunic of his dead son, 
prince Haemon, sole heir to the throne.]
[Morally crushed, the king exits the stage, 
all alone, to bury his son («heroical exodus»).]
Wisdom is provided as the chief part of happiness,
[chanting: “Wisdom is provided…”]
and our dealings with the gods 
must be in no way unholy.
[chanting: “…as the chief part of happiness,…”]
The great words of arrogant men  
have to make repayment with great blows, 
[chanting: “…and our dealings with the gods…”]

Modern Greek (1453-): 
[Creon grasps the tunic of his dead son, 
prince Haemon.]
[The king exits the stage to bury his son.]
πολλῷ τὸ φρονεῖν 
εὐδαιμονίας πρῶτον ὑπάρχει.
[chanting: "πολλῷ τὸ φρονεῖν εὐδαιμονίας..."]
χρὴ δὲ τά γ᾽ εἰς θεοὺς μηδὲν ἀσεπτεῖν.
[chanting: "...πρῶτον ὑπάρχει."]
μεγάλοι δὲ λόγοι μεγάλας πληγὰς
[chanting: "...χρὴ δὲ..."]
τῶν ὑπεραύχων ἀποτίσαντες
[chanting: "...τά γ᾽ εἰς θεοὺς..."]

Modern Greek (1453-): 
["...μηδὲν ἀσεπτεῖν...."]
["...μεγάλοι δὲ λόγοι..."]
["...μεγάλας πληγὰς..."]
["...τῶν ὑπεραύχων ἀποτίσαντες..."]
γήρᾳ τὸ φρονεῖν ἐδίδαξαν.
[chanting: "...τῶν ὑπεραύχων ἀποτίσαντες..."]
["... γήρᾳ τὸ φρονεῖν ἐδίδαξαν."]

English: 
[chanting: “…must be in no way unholy.”]
[chanting: “The great words of arrogant men  
have to make repayment with great blows...”]
and in old age they teach wisdom.
[chanting: “...and in old age they teach wisdom.”]

English: 
[chanting: “Wisdom is provided 
as the chief part of happiness…”]
[chanting: “…and our dealings with the gods 
must be in no way unholy.”]
 
(Exit Chorus. End of drama)
(Exit Chorus. End of drama)

Modern Greek (1453-): 
["πολλῷ τὸ φρονεῖν εὐδαιμονίας πρῶτον ὑπάρχει..."]
["χρὴ δὲ τά γ᾽ εἰς θεοὺς μηδὲν ἀσεπτεῖν."]
