
English: 
(King Creon, ruler of Thebes, 
has ordered the punishment  of defiant Antigone 
by horrible death—to be buried alive—
 for her civil disobedience. 
Antigone mourns her fate.) 
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Your pious action shows a certain reverence
but an offence against power can no way be tolerated
by him who has power in his keeping.
Your self-willed disposition is what has destroyed you.
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

Modern Greek (1453-): 
Σέβειν μὲν εὐσέβειά τις
κράτος δ᾽ ὅτῳ κράτος μέλει
παραβατὸν οὐδαμᾷ πέλει•
σὲ δ᾽ αὐτόγνωτος ὤλεσ᾽ ὀργά.
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.

Modern Greek (1453-): 
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
μετοικίας δ᾽ οὖν τῆς ἄνω στερήσεται.
ὦ τύμβος, ὦ νυμφεῖον, ὦ κατασκαφὴς
οἴκησις ἀείφρουρος, οἷ πορεύομαι
πρὸς τοὺς ἐμαυτῆς, ὧν ἀριθμὸν ἐν νεκροῖς
πλεῖστον δέδεκται Φερσέφασσ᾽ ὀλωλότων•

English: 
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.
But no matter what, 
she will be stripped of her home here above.
Oh tomb! Oh bridal-chamber!
Oh deep-dug eternal prison where I go to find my own,
whom in the greatest numbers destruction has seized 
and Persephone has welcomed among the dead!

English: 
Last of them all and in by far the most shameful 
circumstances, I will descend,
even before the fated term of my life is spent.
But I cherish strong 
hopes that I will arrive welcome to my father,
and pleasant to you, Mother, 
and welcome, dear brother, to you.
For, when each of you died, 
with my own hands I washed and dressed you
and poured drink-offerings at your graves.
But now, Polyneices, it is for tending your corpse 
that I win such reward as this.
And yet I honored you rightly, as the wise understand.

Modern Greek (1453-): 
ὧν λοισθία ᾽γὼ καὶ κάκιστα δὴ μακρῷ
κάτειμι, πρίν μοι μοῖραν ἐξήκειν βίου.
ἐλθοῦσα μέντοι κάρτ᾽ ἐν ἐλπίσιν τρέφω
φίλη μὲν ἥξειν πατρί, προσφιλὴς δὲ σοί,
μῆτερ, φίλη δὲ σοί, κασίγνητον κάρα•
ἐπεὶ θανόντας αὐτόχειρ ὑμᾶς ἐγὼ
ἔλουσα κἀκόσμησα κἀπιτυμβίους
χοὰς ἔδωκα. νῦν δέ Πολύνεικες, τὸ σὸν
δέμας περιστέλλουσα τοιάδ᾽ ἄρνυμαι.
καίτοι σ᾽ ἐγὼ ᾽τίμησα τοῖς φρονοῦσιν εὖ.

Modern Greek (1453-): 
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.
τοιῷδε μέντοι σ᾽ ἐκπροτιμήσασ᾽ ἐγὼ
νόμῳ Κρέοντι ταῦτ᾽ ἔδοξ᾽ ἁμαρτάνειν
καὶ δεινὰ τολμᾶν, ὦ κασίγνητον κάρα.
καὶ νῦν ἄγει με διὰ χερῶν οὕτω λαβὼν

English: 
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.
Such was the law whereby I held you first in honor, 
but for that Creon judged me guilty of wrong-doing
and of dreadful outrage, dear brother! 
And now he leads me thus in his hands' strong grasp,

English: 
when I have enjoyed no marriage bed or bridal song
and have not received any portion of marriage 
or the nurture of children.
But deserted by friends, in misery I go living 
to the hollow graves of the dead.
What law of the gods have I transgressed?
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?
Well, then, if these events please the gods, 
once I have suffered my doom
I will come to know my guilt.
But if the guilt lies with my judges,
I could then wish for them no greater evils
 than they inflict unjustly on me.

Modern Greek (1453-): 
ἄλεκτρον, ἀνυμέναιον, οὔτε του γάμου
μέρος λαχοῦσαν οὔτε παιδείου τροφῆς,
ἀλλ᾽ ὧδ᾽ ἔρημος πρὸς φίλων ἡ δύσμορος
ζῶσ᾽ εἰς θανόντων ἔρχομαι κατασκαφάς.
ποίαν παρεξελθοῦσα δαιμόνων δίκην;
τί χρή με τὴν δύστηνον ἐς θεοὺς ἔτι
βλέπειν; τίν᾽ αὐδᾶν ξυμμάχων;
ἐπεί γε δὴ τὴν δυσσέβειαν εὐσεβοῦσ᾽, ἐκτησάμην.
ἀλλ᾽ εἰ μὲν οὖν τάδ᾽ ἐστὶν ἐν θεοῖς καλά,
παθόντες ἂν ξυγγνοῖμεν ἡμαρτηκότες•
εἰ δ᾽ οἵδ᾽ ἁμαρτάνουσι, μὴ πλείω κακὰ
πάθοιεν ἢ καὶ δρῶσιν ἐκδίκως ἐμέ.
