Free Delphi Complete Works of Aeschylus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) by Aeschylus

following
antiphonal dirge is sung by the two sisters — Antigone standing by the bier of
Polynices, Ismene by that of Eteocles .]
    ANTIGONE
[957] You were
struck as you struck.
    ISMENE
[957] You died
as you killed.
    ANTIGONE
[958] By the
spear you killed —
    ISMENE
[959] By the
spear you died —
    ANTIGONE
[960]  Your
deed made you wretched.
    ISMENE
[961] You
suffering made you wretched.
    ANTIGONE
[962] Let the
lament come.
    ISMENE
[963] Let the
tears come.
    ANTIGONE
[964] You are
laid out for mourning —
    ISMENE
[965]  Though
you did the killing.
    ANTIGONE
[966] Ah me!
    ISMENE
[966] Ah me!
    ANTIGONE
[967] My heart
is mad with wailing.
    ISMENE
[968] My heart
groans within me.
    ANTIGONE
[969] Ah, the
grief, brother all-lamentable.
    ISMENE
[970]  And
you also, brother all-wretched.
    ANTIGONE
[971] You
perished at the hands of your nearest and dearest.
    ISMENE
[972] And you
killed your nearest and dearest.
    ANTIGONE
[973] Twofold to
tell of —
    ISMENE
[974] Twofold to
look upon —
    ANTIGONE
[975]  Are
these sorrows so close to those.
    ISMENE
[976] Fraternal
sorrows stand close by fraternal sorrows.
    CHORUS
[977] O Fate,
giver of grievous troubles, and awful shade of Oedipus, black Erinys, you are
indeed a mighty force.
    ANTIGONE
[980]  Ah,
me
    ISMENE
[980] Ah, me
    ANTIGONE
[981] Sorrows
hard to behold —
    ISMENE
[982] He showed
me when he returned from exile.
    ANTIGONE
[983] But he
made no return after he had killed.
    ISMENE
[984] He was
saved, but lost his life.
    ANTIGONE
[985]  He
lost it, all too truly.
    ISMENE
[986] And took
this one’s life away.
    ANTIGONE
[987] Wretched
family!
    ISMENE
[988] Wretched
suffering!
    ANTIGONE
[989] Kindred
sorrows full of groans!
    ISMENE
[990]  Sorrows
steeped in tripled griefs.
    CHORUS
[991] O Fate,
giver of grievous troubles, and awful shade of Oedipus, black Erinys, you are
indeed a mighty force.
    ANTIGONE
[994] Now you
know of the Erinys by experience —
    ISMENE
[995]  And
you are made aware no later —
    ANTIGONE
[996] When you
came back to our city.
    ISMENE
[997] Yes, to
face him with your spear.
    ANTIGONE
[998] A tale of
destruction!
    ISMENE
[999] Destruction to look upon!
    ANTIGONE
[1000]  Oh,
the grief —
    ISMENE
[1001] Oh, the
evils —
    ANTIGONE
[1002] For home
and land.
    ISMENE
[1003] Above all
for me,
    ANTIGONE
[1004] And more
also for me.
    ISMENE
[1005]  Ah I
pity your grievous suffering, my king.
    ANTIGONE
[1006] Pity for
you both, most lamentable of all men.
    ISMENE
[1007] You were
possessed by delusion.
    ANTIGONE
[1008] Where
shall we lay them in the earth?
    ISMENE
[1009] Ah, where
their honor is greatest.
    ANTIGONE
[1010]  To
lie beside their father, a cause for him of sorrow.
    [ Enter a Herald. ]
    HERALD
[1011] It is my
duty to announce the will and decrees of the council on behalf of the people of
this our Cadmean city.
    [1013] It is decreed,
first, that Eteocles here, on account of his goodwill towards the city, is to
be buried in a kindly grave in its soil; for hating the enemy he chose death in
the city and driven by piety towards his ancestral shrines, he died without
reproach where it is an honor for the young to die. This is how I was commanded
to speak regarding him. But as for his brother, it is decreed that this corpse
of Polyneices is to be cast out of the city unburied to be torn by dogs, since
he would have been the destroyer of the land of the Cadmeans, if one of the
gods had not used his brother’s spear to prevent him. Even in death he will
retain the stain of his guilt against his fathers’ gods, whom he dishonored
when he launched a foreign army against the city to take it. For this reason it
is decreed that he will receive his reward by being buried without honor
beneath the winged birds; and that no labor of the hands shall attend him by
building up a burial mound nor shall anyone offer him reverence in shrill-sung
laments. He is to be refused the honor of being carried in funeral procession
by his loved ones. Such is the decree of