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SOPHOCLES
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Antigone
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:::oPYJ.ICIfT C 1975 BY RICHARD EMI~ BRAUN
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100 ~ A"'ClWC. New Yod, New Yon 10016 Translated by
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OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
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INTRODUCTION

I AUTHO~ hND BACJ:GROUND

It seems thot in March, +1' •.C., the Antigone made Sophocles fa-
rncus. The poet, fifty. five years old, had now produced thirty-two
plaY'; because of th is one, tradition relates, the people of Athens
elected him, the next year, to high office. We hear he shared the corn-
DlIndof the second fleetrent to Samos.
When the people of Sames failed to support the government just
e>tablUhed for them by forty Athentan ships, Athens sent a fleet of
w.ty ship> to restore democracy and remove the rebels. The Aegean
t\len wa> an Athenian sea, Pericles, the gt<at political leader and advo-
cateof finn alliance, was first incommand.
Pericles', political, and Sophocles' poetic, authonty had grown duro
ing Athens' expansion. Sophocles had been • close friend of the con-
servatlve Kimon, Pericles' chief political .iva1, who died in 449. Before
hi> successful presentation of Antigone, Sophocles had become Pen-
des' friend.
In 1-+f, when the AthcllliUl people chose Pericles as their leader.
they demanded greatness: democracy combined with imperialism.
Periclean democracy meant free speech, free aswciatloll. and open ac-
cea to PO'W'Cf limited by law; iot, assuming that intelligence IS born 111
.U, law created by all is the best ruler. Illlpen.:olism-to which the
Samian War is to be referred-emeant wealth, the power to enjoy. If,
moreover, enjoyment J.s itself a kind of PO'HCT, it too must be limited
by law: the law which defines enjoyment .. qe.uty. Freedom, justice,
and beauty are the components of greataess which the Athenians had
chosen for themselves when thcy granted "fit literary acclaim. and
then imperialduty, to Sophocles.
Sophocles and hi, fellow-citizens chose to widen democracy and ex-

)
 INTRODUCTION
tend imperialism. The alternative for the east-Greek peoples was olio
t'ltthy and Spartan influence. This choice-which the Sarnians tried
II) make for themselvcs-involved Iess exploitation. but far m~ re-
. .ion. The inhabitants of oligarchic states lacked freedom and,
--G o/tcn,'bcauty; instead, the principle of justice was rationalized by their
;§ apologists, who broadly wed terms such lIS "order" and "stability," in
I:. . ~ich they claimed to find the CSSCI)CC of good rule. In this world
IJ) ., c1~te, it is not surprising that the Athenians WIShed the author of
-l.< "? ARl/iOne to hold military office. A man who was so skilled was aho
~ i wile. Sophocles might be expected to [udge rightly and govern well
-Q :..:: should the cargo of free society, legal limits, and the acquisitive and
, <:! aesthetic instincts shift and clash in the waves of crisis.
~ ~ The few details of Sophocles' life that tradition provides combine
~ iii b<icf glimpses. Sophocles, for instance, must have known Anaxa-
~ -J,:j- gtlI1IlI and Hcrodotos, but how he alI~ted them, or they him,. is ob-
q", .., SCUI~. The sub-theme of custom vs, nature. (nomos-physis) m the
9- :}-M.,Ii& . .one indicates that Sophocles was acqualn. ted "':Ith o",.otem!"
/j) r::. ~tie teaching, but c!Oa'nol show what stand, If any, ne.t «
, • debate. An anecdote t~1s how once, dunng the Samian ai>,
.w, Pericles scolded the poet for showing more interest in a certain
,0
Vi Cli ~10 c.'"
l!lIy than in his war duties. Then again, in old age, we hear, SOphocl....
.~ his impotence, likening himself to a slave who had at last e
·.aiPcd from a maniacal master. Finally, there is the talc that in 4'0
c, wbcn Asclepius was brought to Athens to purify the city, Sophocle
kept the god in his own house until a temple was built. From t}J~ i!
•Ippcars likely that Sophocles was an officer of the cult of Asclepius, Il
It,clillicult not to believe that the author of Antigone was truly ,
.Iet.
'With the Antigone, Sophocles began work on material that. ipte,.
Clted"im for the rest of his life. A dozen yea" later-~ps ~ tlIe
plague ycar 4'9, the Yelr of Pericles' death-she staged o;;wpus);\u.
His last play, Oedipus at Kolouos, may have busied him up to that
~ in 406/5 when, it is said, lIS he recited from the Antigone to some
(ricnds, Sophocles died,
• If'ITl.anEfATION OF TIlE PLAY
'II considering the Antigone, the reader should be aware of three reo
strictions: first, that the play is our main source for its story; second,
that the Oedipus Rex and Kolonos, written at wide intervals long
after, cannot be used safely to criticize events or characters in the early
INTRODUCTION
work; and third, that Sophocles was not Aristotle's pupil. The first
stricture forces, us to concentrate attention On the text itself, without
precluding comparison with the Theban legends;' the second frees us
from comparison in anticipation. (If I were concerned primarily with
the later plays, I should start with Antigone.) The danger of Anstote-
lian criticism lies not only in ill anachronism but in a basic confusion
as to the purpose of poetry. Even were we more secure m our assump'
tions concerning Aristotle's own meaning, we could not understand
Sophocles better 'lor this. We would be, at best, seeing the poet
through the eyes of one of hi, spiritual great-great-grandchildren, a less
rewarding discipline, probably, than to regard him from our own view.
point. Worse, we could be confining our judgment of poetry to the
requirements of an irrelevant moral philosophy. Sophocles as poet
showed what he believed to be actual. In Antigone. he presented the
fall of the just and the evil consequences of good acts, The Antigone
doubtless disgusted Aristotle (Poetics, '4 pb. 4.{;).
Until new evidence appears, one must presume' that Sophocles in-
~~e,
:5'>~ A;Q.&
'>
>}'!
(
vented many events in the story of his Antigone: (I) the form of
Kreon's decree; (2) the quarrels between Antigone and Ismene; (3)
the double bunal of Polyncices by Antigone and the final cremation-
\0"Q.,('\ \oM burial by Kreon; (4) the love of Antigo~eand Hal~on; (5) the e~.
~ ~., \ ) tombment of A.ntigOne;. (6) Teiresias intervention and Kreon s
change of mind: and (7) the suicides of Antigone. Hairnon, and
Eurydice.
" Some of these inventions pose problems: What is the poetic or dra.
matie purpose of the double burial? Why IS the love story introduced
at all, and then made known only when the action is nearly half over?
Why is Kreon made, contrary to instructions, to bury Polyneices first
and then proceed, too late, to try to save Antigone? Is Eurydice mtro-
duced merely to add to Kreon's sorrow? These are some of the ques.
tions that need to be answered chiefly from internal evidence.
The difficulties of the Antigone are clue in large part to thematic
complexity; this in turn IS due to variety of vision, or duplication of
viewpoint, partly inherent in the subject, then intricately schemanzcd
in treatment.
The Theban myths are stories of royal families. Such stones are, on
the surface at least, necessarily split into public and domestic facts.
This double aspect of the activities of Its characters is obviously im-
portant In the Antigone. But here too It i~ well to remember that the
Athenians believed the city-state was based on kinship. 111e poet',
I. See Appendix, Pp- 9)'98, where these legends are detailed.
 ----_ - .. - .. -_._---_ _-
INl'ODUCTION
vuil!!l- 1iivided again when he interprets legend for his contem-
~ Sophocles deliberately anschromzes when Kroon is addressed
q ,..·Homeric king and i0F6'tP democratic ugmntmts like an oli-
pn:f!.-whiledeporting himself like a tyrant. .'
Aiiother complicating factor .. the purely dramatic splitting of vi-
Uoq between audience and a variety of speakers. The characlm do
)( not'~'· act; far more. th comment on action, critiau: motives.
:,/-'-' aDil ideo>; all these moral utterances are .. tute or 00Wh; crude
' ; Ofptle, intentionallyor accidentally ironic, just .. the author wilhes.
>(\" 'The viIion of each character IS limited in such a way ~ to enable the
~ audicrtce, wit Its ~ 5 IV to com re, cnticll.e, and grad-
't'-\ uaUy assemble a composite vuion. Th~ audience i.s II viewpoint:
:" the character>, it ;, a part of the author's imaginatlon. Sophocles'
mcaa!P& ClW, in the ensemble of characters " it affects an audience
of ~ Periclean age, -which now." then, cxi>lo in the imagination.
~te ill doubJinp of vision, the play .. extraordinarily mavin.&-
''-llInMnity is never frozen into symbol. It may be taken at tribute ~
tile """'"" of the ....ntigone that it hu been found llCltto impouibli,'
by thoSe who study the play; not to describe the characters at real
pcopIe.
Aaumislg.
• the onginality of much of the ,tOly of Antigone, we can see
!bat known portion. of Theban myth may have been prototypes of .\, ,'0' I
tbeplafl persons, events, and themes, and that these could have had • ~\~
clear rrJc.ance to the +\'" B.C. . . well.. to general hu'tnan nature. S The Theban legends, from which Alltigone was built. display a
~ 'toned "lOWTl men" (Spanoi) and so incited them to fra- -\0
~ .war. Lykes imprisoned .... ntiope. I think it not unli~y that ,,~vi\
Ktcoo', decree (,9'11)' and later.entombment of ....ntigone (9,1"1 1) '\;. 10Q,)
rclIcct those two bit. of legend. One remembers too that Kreon, like ";;,~
Ka4m<lo, loses his children, and _ also to abandon his throne.
uu,I eXposed hi. son Oedipus, thel ;, disowned and left him to die.
K.-. dl.own. Haimon (914) wJ>e" he c:aJ1J him a slave, and effcc- ,.
ti~ lCllds him to his death (9.8-.. ). Lykos, like Kroon. walregtnt
~ becoming king. Kreon's name-which can mean nothing but M~tIJ~ I \
~ ruler." "the regent"-is provided by tradition; Sophocles lUes \ - o\;.
~~ of this, for Kreon's rule iJ, if legitimate, ignoble. . ;;: I
'!'he
figules of Amphion and Zethos are also relevant to the An-
tI&one. The brothers personify the arts of peace and of war, respec-
........
a..LIne refetences 11:lJ'OO&,hoo t, unku otherwLse lndleated, are to
INTRODUCTION
tively; and this dichotomy-<:crtainly a vital one for Athenians of +p
D.C. when' the price and rewards of empire were on the scales of con-
science-c-is promment throughout Sophocles' play. Again. the story of
....mphion'..... rgive wife Niobe IS used directly to iIIummate the figure
of Antigone, who applies the parallel to herself (979'85). then alludes
(' 0 17., 8) to Argela and Polyneiccs, in whom we may again see the
misfortune of ....mphion, destroyed by his marriage. The fact that
Polyneices' name makes him a "fighter in roomy battles" and at the
"me time a "party in many quarrels" is noted by the Chorus (1,9'4 0)
when they reproach him, in retrospect, for bringmg war horne from
Argos.
The names Antigone and Hairnon also seem part of the recel ved
legend. It appears that Sophocles took their mearung seriously, lor
he created an Antigone who, "born to oppose." relics On innate cour-
age In facing tyranny, and he devised the manner of Hannon's death,
where "blood";' poured wastefully forth.
It iJ not surprising that Teiresias ap~rs in the AlltigOJle. Any irn-
po~nt oo.:une~ce in Thebes might demand the use of prophetic
power; for any such event would probably attract the attention of '
those gods whom the Thebans considered their own. In fact, the gods
who figure in the play are all participants 10 the story of Kadmos,
\\ Ij-'? where they appear m this urder: Zeus, Apollo, Ares, Athena, Aphro-
dite, and Dionysos. What these gods do and mean 10 the Antigone
will be considered shortly.
double Vision of reality: action is divine and human. Human action,
.. .~o0l 1iIS: noted, is S:Ubd.i.vide.d into facts of public and of prIVate. life. In the
~e-S \ human and pU~hc aspects th~re IS special ~eleva~ce to ~he 440$ D.C.
o ~ Here too the vrewpoint IS split. An Athenian might enjoy-being re-
c:::::Y, )\1,;.
i'
minded of ancient enmity between Boeotians and Peloponnesians. It
Qj\QI . i.I interesting, in this regard, that. Sapltodes does Hot presuppose or
.I~ ~ '\o~71 prepare the ....ttic tale of Theseus' mtcrventicn ill Thebes and enforce.
,; l}-"''j :70''<1 ment of burial of the ....rgive war dead. (Teiresias seems to allude to
if this possibility in 1170-7 and "57'9' Kroon. however. does m fact bury
J'-;' S<~ o
\Q;
<, Polyn~lces, and so removes the motive for Theseus' famous settle-
Q,V'- ment.) Sophocles suppresses iii Aattermg tale and eliminates Theseus
~I
~'> 0t""
,,0--
kfl? as iii potentia~ hero ex machma. Hi,S Intention in so doing IS surely that
he wanted his Thebes to represent more than the Thebes of history,
and its people to. struggle with problems which no clever Intruder
I
EPJlUb couldsolvesimply. Here are no tricks of popular appeal,
lTIy
The Thebes of Antigone is an image of the city-state. As such, it
7
INTKODUCT
Illust show some public facts of Importance to Periclean Athemans:
these faets arc ideas in conAict. Kreon (&><r18) expounds a tyrannical
and oligarchrc, Haimon (837.62) a democratic view of law and lead-
crshlp. The combining of tyrannical and oligarchic In Krcon IS a pc·
culiar pairing of different. though logically compatible, concepts 0
government; though few oligarchs would have admitted the cornpatr-
bility, many democrats might insist upon it. Kreon's laws arc his own;
the pnnciple b<:hind them is obedience to power, their alleged pur-
pose IS stability, their app.;Irent motive powcr.hunger. Harmon's P!'!"
ciple is reason, hIS motive love for Antigone, Harmon. democracy,
Eros; Krcon, autocracy, Arcs-the diagram has appeal. Krcon is a mill-
tary leader who IS not governed by civil norms. An Athenian general,
however, had to render an account of his acts to the people. Athenians
associated Jaw with freedom from autocratic rule; laws, to Pericles,
were the enactments of the maronty of citizens duly assembled.
In this play, Antigone obeys a law which the citizens, as a WhOieJJ1.Ji~ j1e..
approve. In order to do so. she must die under Kreon's edict. (It IS rv' ,-' S
Important to recall that m Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes-the only ['<Ioi \ v
extant tragedy on this theme before the Ant/golle-It is a demOCfilfl
cally voted interdict which denies burial to Polyneiccs, though\
WIthout specifying a penalty for disobcdicnce.} Antigone suffers what)
any Individual nsks who asserts freedom under t~ranl1Y, or I1ldIVIUU<LI-
Ism against pressure to conform For tillS act of public heTOlslll,J!2
Illative IS domestic. Never docs she gl\'C a political explanation of her
~: on the contra. ' from the start she ass~lmes It IS her hercdita
duty to .bUry Polynclccs. and it I~ fr~m Iulteritcd courage that ~hc c~. .
peets to gain the strength requued for the task (42.-4). Antlf]one5
public virtlle is the proouct of personal loyalty.
Kreon. by contrast, turns from political to domestic tyranny, then I(reo n I
justifies the first with analogies to the second. Declaring (22.2.-3) the I"
worthlessness of anyone who "cherishes an individual beyond Ius tre;n
homeland," he denies Ius nephew burial. Then, refusing to pardon his
niece, his son's fiancee, Antigone, he claims (798-807) that he must
kill her to preserve public order and to uphold law, which he equates
with the rule of the strong. At present, Kreon is a political tyrant;
probably he has long been OJ domestic one. By this time, a .modern
audience might decide that the dichotomy-public and pnvatc--:-Is
more apparent th:m real. The two aspects appear inseparable and in-
teractive. Athenians would have had no doubt: their city-state W;J$
assumed to be fundamentally a kinship unit. ..
Not unrelated to the theme of autocracy and freedom IS that other
6
duality, divine and human. The Thcban legends emphasize SIX major
deities; the persons of the Alltigolle tend to interpret one another and
explain phenomena With reference to these gods. Both Kreon ("4)
\> and Antigone (550-1) assume the approval of Zeus; to Krcon, he rep-
C)v"\ resents power, to Antigone Justice. Yet, Antigone attributes her Iam-
U& J ily's misfortunes to 111m (6-8), and Kreon blames hIS rum on an un-
'-) named god (1467; could he be Eros?). The Sentry and Chorus (3 "T
1 I Q,\1
'('II ~6, 350-1) assign the first bunal of Polynetces to the gods; Kreon '/.'
\,O\e"S denies H1lS categorically. The onlooker IS convinced the characters be-
lieve what they say when they say It, but cannot tell which among
them IS nght. The gods arc unreliable, their role ambiguous. Tciresias
presumably representing Zeus and Apollo. appears too late to aYe~
!
disaster: if the gods do not clearly intervene there, one doubts that
~ '<they Intervened at the beginning. The Chorus twice (first and fifth
stasuns) pray to Dionysos in vain. Eurydice is prevented from seeking
-, 5 Athena's aid (1363'7).
There remain Ares and Aphrodite. These are, ill Antigone. at least
I as much symbols, War and Love. as gods; but there IS no doubt they
arc personally active in the play. When one thinks, first, that the
daughter of these two was Harmonia (Kadmos' wife in the legend).
and then hears the central ode (94",7) where Love "conquers" and
drives men mad. the difference between Love and War seems justly
minimized by the Chorus; one IS tempted to sec the two as a pair.
Love, which inspired Harmon to speak on behalf of Antigone, and
had prompted Antigone to heroic action, also caused their deaths.
( Love seems no less a destroyer than War.
} But this must be nonsense; and, before the play ends, it appears so.
Love IS blamed by the Chorus while Kreon rules. That is, the very
conditions of.the play which make It a tragedy are abnormal. It IS not
normal to deny anyone burial, CIne's nephew still less. or to bury one's
niece. or anyone, alive. Neither is it normal for Love to destroy, or
for War only to rescue. In the parodos, the Chorus thank Arcs for
Ares will return as a destroyer. Kreon is to blame. He knows Ares well,
saving Thebes, but Thebes has not been saved. "Harmony" is absent.
but Aphrodite not at all, and so separates them. He exposes this igno-
ranee when he says (703) that it makes no difference who marnes
whom. His thoughts, as his manner of speech shows" are full of Arcs;
his conception of government IS militaristic, "Spartan." one IS tempted
to say. Kreon made Lo.. . e seem. to the Chorus, the same as \Var. The
gods, here, seem indifferently to be forces which affect men, and forms
of human feeling and action.
9

Human Jivine, like public and private. may be the dual images of
on integral object. The Antigone displays schematic pairing and an-
nthcsis In structural detail as well as in idea. TIle Tbcban myths arc
well suited to double vision, to curious couplings. and to division of
natural pairs. Minos and Rhadarnanthys. Zethos and Ampluon. the
metamorphoses of Tcircsias-ccach a two.m.onc relation of a different
sort-suggest even more complicated relationships within the legend
at the point where Antigone begins.
./"lftcoklcs and Polyneices, and their sisters, Antigone and lsmene. arc
I children of Oedipus and his mother [ocasta: the two pairs are the
brothers and sisters of Oedipus, their father, and the grandchildren of
~~ "t\thClf mother [ocasta, The two boy~ h~ve.been sundered In rivalry for
~ vtf\{f\'-' 'power. and have killed each other In smgrc combat. Kreon: by decree,
5 has sent Etcokles to the Underworld and kept Polyncices m the
~ ,&
1'\. ~
~\1 ·upper air; the one, buried, is free, while the oth~r, left exposed, IS con-
u.,Io"
'tfI~ncd.
'fs,--s5
Similarly, dunug the wa,r, one of Kreon s two son,s. Megarcus
(or Menoikios), has died by his own hand and temporarily saved the
city; the other, Halmon, survives, but Will, at the end of the play, also
die by suicide, after failing to save Antigone. When the play begins.
\ \<\E..'[)' then. Antigone and Jsmene have been parted ,from their br,oth:fS. and
Haimon has been separated from Mcgarcus, ,by death. while Eteokles
and Polyncrccs, united in dying, have been divided in death.
In the firstscene, Antigone aud Ismcnc quarrel and part. The Chorus
Invoke "Zeus, Arcs. and Dionysos. Kreon enters. hears of the first
\~'buflal of Polyncrccs. and accuses and disuusses the Sentry. The
~\,)~Chorl1s sing an ode about the dual nature of mankind: like the god,S
in daring, but mortal; and possessmg equally great potential for evil
and good.
( Schcuianc p;millg continues as th,e Sentry returns to report tl~c
SCCOll d burial and the capture of Antigone. The second and final dis-
missal of the Sentry is followed by a second and final break between
I Q)t\. ) Antigone and lsrnene, both of whom Kroon considers guilty. The
;( "Chorus Slug about the fall of men and the eternal p<Jwer O.f us,
Ze.
~ ) concluding that when gods destroy a man they cause hun to confuse
\ \«,Ol'{ good and bad. aile for one. Next, Hairnon and ,Kreo.n talk. ThiS I~ t~
V· \ ceuter of the play; at the exact center is Kreon s claim that obedience
(f"O"1Eldcrs saves men's lives In battle. Kreon condemns Antigone and
dnves his son away. The Chorus sing of Love under two asr:cts: gen-
\ "tic and inescapable, a playful conqueror and an eternal law. Antigone
~oe..\aISo considers Love and War as she goes to her prison, comparing her-
(self to Niobe and further noting that Polyncices ~icd in war because
10
INTRODUCTION
of his marriage In Argos, while because of this she must herself die un-
married, The ensuing ode alludes to the power of Zeus and of Dlony-
50S, and the indifferenceof Ares to human suffering.
The Tetresias Scene also is in two parts. The first part mirrors both
the Sentry's report of the first burial and Hannon's Interview with
reon. Like the Sentry, Teiresias is accused of taking bribes, when,
using arguments similar to Haimon's In the pica for Antigone, he asks
Kroon to bury Polyneices, In the second half of the scene, Teireslas
tells Kreon his crime IS double.
. The Chorus call upon Dionysos for the second and last time. The
1\ ~t Messenger, like the Sentry at his second entrance, finds the Chorus
\J f' alone; then: iust as the Sentry was lamed by Kreon (468), the Mes-
\ senger lS met by Eurydice (1359). He tells first of thecrernation-
burial o.f Polyneices. then Of. the second and final parting of Kreon
i and Hairncn, that lS the death of the latter. He concludes that the
dead are joined together. Haimon and Antigone are together. b;;t
Polyncices and Etcokles, Haimon and Mcgarcus too, are all now on
the same side of the earth. When Kreon returns, Eurydice has died.
Kreon, is led into the palace, where only Ismene remains.
) The Antigone seems compounded of pairs which life sunders:
Eteokles and Polyneices, Megareus and Harmon, Ismene and An-
I ngone, Kreon and Harmon, Antigone and Haimon. The last, the most
Vital pair, never meet during the play, This somber keynote-doomed
pairs-is sounded by Ismene (56.7»; Oedipus and [ocasta begm the
tale, and Kreon may end it with Ismene and Antigone. Parting is the
doom life offers. This is the dramatic lesson of the prologue, where
Antigone and Ismene disagree almost from the start; there IS no hint
of such a break in Aeschylus' Seven-it is evidently Sophooles' in-
vention.
\ --oe;th, 011 the contrary. ullites and reunites. This is a fact of faith
( for Antigone (1047'51) as she faces death; she will join her father,
' \ mother, brothers: though she does 110t now know it, her tomb will be
) her wedding chamber (1436-7). Those who die arc reconciled. Kreo11
I and Ismene, who alone survive the action of this play, remain separate
and solita[)'-
-Why, if death cancels rifts, can life not do so? Surely ~7~:'3'e, !2.
t,~e world of the AntIgone. love IS absent from life. ~ is respon-
Sible. It lS he who parts what should be inseparable. The Chorus re-
peatedly see, in the play's grim partings, the operation of the curse of
Laios. but attach the hereditary guilt to Antigone. Tlus is doubtful.
The same old courtiers blame Love-in the third stasnnon-cfor quar-
11

IN I ,OUCTION \ n
U" \'
reb. The true heir to Laios' fault IS Krenn. The curse is nothin su r- Oe.O.l
Ilatuml. but rather a rc
mark the warnings of family history.
hum;)1 00 foolish to
Laios first betrayed Pclops, king of Argos. then exposed his own
SOil, Oedipus; in so doing he created enmity with the Argives, and
defiled his own home. Kreon, who had abetted Eteokles' treacherous
usurpation of the Theban throne, and who allowed his son to die in
the course of the consequent war. insulted dead Polyneices along with
the Arg.vc dead, then disowned hIS younger son and buried his niece
alive. Krcon chose two ways to I....aios· one, to exacerbate Argive hostil-
ity, amI five ways to violate his own familv's sancti~. Kreon is Lai~' "
ape and his exaggeration. Betrayal of faith and dIsregard of fanllly
bonds are the themes of KrePn's rejgn permt'<lted with hate. life laeles
cohesiveness; the lar 0 'fe the anti·world of must
then contam love.
TIle play begins with a burial, that of Eteokles. and a denial of
burial to Polyneices ('(}.33)' The end IS similar: Kreon burns and
bunes Polynciees (1386-<)7) and opcns Antigone's tomb (13<)8-<).
though HOlman had broken in, the entrance was still blocked), Kreon
leaves Antigone there, though he has hoped to lead her back Iivmg,
HamJOIl, whom he hoped to call away (14"'4), he carries home dead,
Whcn Kreon buries Etcoklcs he begins tragIc events: when he ex,
humcs Antigone, he ends them.
i" r~·'p1\
_
In the first thud of the play, there arc two further burials. of Poly-
ucices. 111c first, when made known. shows Krcon as a tyrant who at·
tributes ~which others fcclls divlIlC, to reed for mon . Kreon's
v, ",\ ov.S cru Ity.lII t lIS regard, is still clearer '"te~ (1193'1>0<») when ~
_ 'JS~\ cusesTwcslas-who has asked him, on plain grounds of piety. to bury
'" Po)ynelccs-Qf the same venality, TI,e second burra! of Polyn"'ces
shows that Antigone not cons irators. did the deed, and not for
money, but or love, Kreon relects love when he condemn,S hIS niece,
While Antigone was prompted by her love to fulfill a religious duty.
llaimon IS inspired to political acnvity. to argument. Kreon rejects
with militanstic slogans (7')8-8'4) the democratic arrd humane views
Haimon presents. Kreon's s~h, a ain IS the·~r of the . stead, t,o. his initial precepts: that the homeland is most iIDPort't.,t,
love's ar uments are a Kreon With notions of statecraft
drawn directly (d. "4'9) from command In wartime, At the close of
the episode (934'4 1 ) Kreon orders Antlgones bunal. Then in th~ ode
which directly follows, when the Chorus hymn Love. one IS reminded
,),TI';.-defeat
that Antigone has called Kreon's decree martial (39-4
G,e,O"\S·G
vJ ().r
12
INTRODUCTION
0\')
\'V ~as Eros., Aph~ite, in the family and the state-~ c.:ntral to
. t 10 mcanlOg as to ]'X2tign. .
S If the first b~riallcts ~reon discount the divinity of a reveren: act,
.... the second bunallets him argue, again wrongly, againtt love, and to
rout and dn,:"Love, from .~. and from Thebes. In 6~siJ. Kreon
ca,n only transfer h,s pohtic#l c1kM. the double dnty ofltw;irding
fll~ds a?d harming enemies. to the case of Etcokles amq'olyneiecs.
S HI$ p~bhe argument has no place for love, since hit pu~c~ arc III
) fact dictated by the sp.irit of enmity, Antigone realized~l'om the
\ start (IN5), When TellQlllS reports bad Q!IlCns and u~ to
relefot,hit account includes a description (115"7) of the a"lb;rds
atlac~lIlg each other: they are virtually at war because al'Xr""n',
~
~dl:Cj' .As Kr~n's suppression of love has~ed civil dishanllony
a., destroyed 111$ home, .t has abo mterposed ,trife betw«n men and
the no",,:oIa= to divine knowledge. ,
Antigone's devotion to her brother is truly a kind of reverence
(1O,~). She. who (6'1"3) WlIS born to love both her brothetsdesprrc
the nft between them, has had the sharpest insight mto KJ'C\l{l', error
of.fission ~ (ef.• 10-11), In " "18, she is compared by the ScAlly to a
mother bird: such is the nature of her concern for Poly~When
she leaves f~r the tomb, Amigone bewails her childless l!ate i ti07•. »),
Docs she think, 11$ death apprOK!la,' that she has been wroncrThit is
another double focus on love, '1be love that made A n _ bury
Polynelces IS a moral force; the love she regrets m lbe kmu!ln j, a
~'j0(le.~ '7,
Kf '0)~ 0,",.
;;
t·
~tural force: both together are the "mandate" of the third~imon.
Antigone it :ertainly not at "fault:' She obeyed love va.t~,;ro)y-
nerces, ,she. did not thereby reiect the living love of HaIl1l0......'.':'.~ had
pV r\ 0- no choice m the first. and was prevented by Kroon from cbocilii.g the
's lIb os;, .seeond; Antigone "feels pain" only for the second, thoug/:l'it;... for
\ ---c..-'<-\ ,,1'\ the first that, to avoidpain, she dared and dies, .~
~e,; ~e question cfKreon's choice in disposing of PolYlleic:e. before
y\ ' seeing to Antigone is treated ill the nf!!,~,~ ',313<r98, Kreoo cannot
understand that the law he has broken IS 1I0t what tradition, the "os',
tablished laws" (119')' ordains, but is the force of Love (Qrof Jus.
tice) which moves these lam and makes them sacred. He _ in'
the individual least (...·3). and that it is the stability of thellate that
makes love possible ( .. 8-<). Kreon has turned the busi~ back,
wards. He may obey the letter of traditional law, and bury P~.
but the spint, which 1$ love, family fceH ng, and loyalty. h~,~es
13
 I I ~ • " ,_ " ., u,·
still, Kreo", last error, then, IS his first. He learns this in Antigone's
tomb. As he hllrries tl,ere, he still divides love from the law hy which
he lives.
As to Eurydice, I have hinted in the resume (p. II) that she ts a
kind of double of Krcou. The "marriage ill Hades' house" Kroon
originally suggested (to Antigone, 644-6, then to Hairnon, 794'5) has
been consummated (1436-7). TI,e death of Antigone and Haimon
thas, as ItS offspring, the death of Eurydice. As I have noted, Kreon's
'o,'v entry early in the play (468) corresponds to Eurydice's (1359), In the
\Jr"\ first, Kreon returns as the Sentry tells the Chorus that Antigone is
I guilty of burying Polyneiccs. The Sentry completes his report to
Kreon, who thereupon resolves to execute Antigone. As a result of
this resolve, Kreon condemns himself, as well as Antigone, to.a living
death. When Eurydice enters, at an approximately corresponding posi-
tion toward the end of the play, the Messenger is telling the Chorus
of Haimon's dcath. He completes the tale, adding Antigone's suicide,
to Eurydice, who then consigns herself to death. She dies eu"ing
Kreon, not for Haimon's only, but for Megareus' fate as well. The
dual scheme IS completed: Kreon euned himself when he ordered
Antigone to 60 punIShed,
The 'onglllal sentence was stoning, but Kreon changed It to immur-
mg in Older to avert a curse from the city (934'7). Perhaps the change
of sentence also represents a retreat m policy forced on Kreou. (Agam
",ePY\ 1I0te: no penalty IS specified III the Seven Agamst Thebes.) Harmon
../M~ had said the people of Thebes approved Antigone's deed (8,9-5°).
W \/ Public stomng, in which the whole community could participate, was
fAoo.'J punishment for public enemies. If the Thebans would refuse to take
J part in such an event, Krcon IS well advised not to require it of them.
;),\,l}O"Q. But here too the two-in-one scheme is a picture-of Kreon's reversed
~ understanding. Teiresias emphasizes the direct, rev~rsal of natur,e
ovJ ("40-7)' which is, however, typical of Krcon s thinking. Kreon 0
tv "principles" arc themselves blameworthy (117')' Tciresias, moreover,
is a technician, an aug~r; he finds Kreon's wrongdoing formally offen-
sive. By the doubled crime of separation, of keeping Poiyneices in the
light and segregating Antigone (d. 55) from the liVing, Kreon hll$
_interfered both with gods of the Underworld .nd with the O~ympians
in their respective domains. The mechanical nature of Kroon s offense
IS eh.ractcristle. It IS also, III its duality, typical of the whole play~
offense to the gods of the netherworld, Kreoll finally offends Zeus
(1170-7: 1202'5)·
Yet, in :l sense, Krcon did not change thc sentence. When an out-
. "vuuLlluN
raged community stoned a public enemy, it performed a kind of ~I
rite, covering and concealing the offender. When Kreon prollOUAl:e3
doom on Antigone (93H) he has her "hidden ... in a ~_liol.
II
IOW when he seeks to exhume her, it is trom stone (I 39B-9J\MO'Ie-
;
over, we know that the ene~y of the people is nor Antig~ h t .' , .
)
Kr~n ..When he buries Antigone In stone, Kreon is hillllClf"jn', lIia
~
eshlJ1a. hO~. . ' the c?mmunity, the state (ct. 885'9); but Kreon buria,
•..
~th A?~, his better idf, and does 50 in the presence of the bu!:.
nfied C1lizem. He hopes, by a technicality, to cover guilt· really lle
stifles corudence.> I ' .'
Teirerilu says (1148) that Kreon is Wollking "the ra~."1 cdge.. .' . II
Kreon's balance, clearly, hll$ failed him more than once-(Kreon f1Ib
a~y from love; by hi.! martial Olat=ft, he wrecks the Slabilityhe liN
sought for the co".'munity; he loses his home through tyranny: ilU
show this appea~ to be the main purpose of the double confron~
between Isrnene and Antigorn:, "mene and Kreoo/(65 1'718).
Kreonbegl,ns the scene, ..yiog he hal nursed twin plagues, a lllIit~
.traltoTS, In ~IS home. On~ won~ what that horne is like; u~d,,~
poets Kroons understanding of his $OIlS, lI$ well as of his nieces, ~.
may also abstract his word! hom the immediate context, and tliii!!<
the two girls represent rebellion and submission, positiveand nega~
l",t.gone rcbcb for a reason Kreon /aib to understand. IsmeneJ.\l-
(jowly submits, without approving KfCOl'I',j ideas or actions. :.Joo
tbinb t?a:, like the C~rw, I.'mene wiil abandon Kroon at the ~~
end, Thill! the tylllllt. handicap: the brave rebel, while the PI'
t~ 85'~",
stand by to bear witn...; the former may actually destroy him,';
ne re;t allow.him corrupt and .deshoy himself (d. 8J7-8, '
,(reon I comkmnahon of both wterI seems an uneonscous act" ,
;roni~ justice; it shows the lyrint is 1IJ deadly to those who penn~
to misrule as to those wIIq tIy.to stop him; and itl,,"cstl that v
'l1ay be han aWllre that thc.lUbject loyal to hi! rule is ClSentialJl'~
I,",to"10 IllS potelltia! for good.
W~e" l~e asks Antigone (6'73"i) wh"tlifc will be worth ~
cut love,~M$Swer points to Kreon, The implication is that ~
and Isrnene li'< qe.tined to live on, after the play ends. bereft olall
they love or should love. Antigone does not know this: Sophocles !pVCI
C, the words weight, Antigone does know, and _011 here to mClIn, tbat'
( Kroon, b\ depriving life of love, h.. emptiOd it Of wlue. In th" cpf7'
sode, Antigone and Isrnene are split apart for the xcond time. ~:
two scene. (i7'125; 657'91) are mirror-images, In the prologue,~'
15

ngone invited Isrnene to risk death with her; now Antigone rejects
Ismcne's offer to be her partner in death. Ismene refused then; now
Antigone refuses. Antigone chose to risk death rather than live with-
out love, for to abandon Polyneices' need would have been to abandon
her love of him; accordingly, the death she risked was meaningful
~e.-~(12o-,). But Isrnene chose to live on without love (ef. 683), and
;;:'S ; would now choose a useless, seemingly meaningless death, She feared
) death, and so would not help Antigone: now that she cannot help, she
\ fearslife. The scheme completes itself.
When Isrnene pleads for Antigone's life, to Kreon, she starts with
the same question (6<)8")): how can she live without Antigone? Kroon
says to forget her. Then Ismene asks about Hairnon: if Kreon can
despise the girl his son loves, he does not love his son. Kreon does not.
~ But elsewhere Kreon seems to seek love. When Haimon enters, Kreon
\ \ ;}-0 askshim. "Do you love me" (ncrl) "whatever I do and how?" Kreon
, S 0.; has confused love with obedience before this, After the first burial of
,/ Q....J Polyneices, Kroon contrasted the behavior of discontented citizens
\ o~ with what they should do: "properly shouldering the yoke, , , which
~ s\1'~ is the one way of showing love to me" (36<r70).(l1e tested the The-
i\\).(V Q bans' love with hi,S d~ree, and, found it wan:ing; ,now, as he sentences
I> Antigone for defying the decree, he finds Harmon s love hollow. Kroon
;j"\jt- Jj.\W is to be pitied for his incomprehension. What he seeks__ is the love of
ffJ beast for human master; he has. himself, no love to give, on,ly com'
mands.) . Seven ApilUt Thebes.
~ Even cruel Arcsloved, though-loved Aphrodite. One should, there-
fore not be shocked when Kroon leaves the stage heartbroken, Until
Hairnon dies, and Eurydice, he seems capable of no emotion but
anger. When he condemned Antigone, he said that with her death
he had "everything" (606). Now, he prays for his own death, which
is everything he still wants (15")' This I~ convin~in~it is dis-
turbing too: the man IS a man, and he IS to be pltied.,One must
blame him; but as he blames himself, one wonders. Did he, after all,
love his wifeand son? He did, and did not know it, he could not know
that In which he did not believe) ~ '
If we sympathize, at last, with at least the humanity of Kreon, It
is Jess easy to excuse the Chorus, The old courtiers learn wisdom lat~;
perhaps. like Krenn, too late. They, however, arc not fools; in their
songs they have shown subtlety and learning. Yet these men ex~"sed
and supported Kroon's folly until Kreon. in effect. gave up hIS aU,
thority (.,68-77). 1110lIgh they knew what law IS, and ~~ugh they
worshiped Love as well as Aresand Dionvsos, nevertheles~,::n while
16
,,,.,
Jhi;)' gricvtd for her. they blamed Antigone for her doom, When they
m~t have Used. thea ~oquence to plead with Kroon. they IOOthed
thea own conscience with the tal)' lore of hereditary CUl'lCl. Xreon
puts these men in their place iurtly ....hen he tells them (71)that
they, as well as he, have ~ertniDCd" Antigone's dell, th)lt WII their
own tree will that they denied, not AI>tigonc's, when Ihcy '-;ncd
so long locked in silence by fear.1be pby's most abnnint"doub\e.
focus fixes the men of the Cbo!\lS, who sec truth but do not fal:cit,
( ~ the old gentlemeq.~the Chona persisted in ~ing
I ') ~reon a edict as Law, they were not pLaying the past of conoes~atn-es,
(\ \ IV) () ~,~n the finer sense; they mereI,' y being cautious. "A law,n !!ley',,",' say
v ilO
<'Ie. m effect ("'17'52 ) , :'IS.~ llJIliI it is ~ngcd," Ismcne, ~ only
w, e r e ,
..-(S ~ because ~f her proxnruty to the case, did regard the decree aslllljust,
Y but considered It necessaryto obey (97"8) at long as otherr'CIid 00.
\ This, t.hen, is the plea of the callous and of the weak: conformity.
, A~ltgone"ppooed conventional piety'to Kreon's edict. Her ~
nor. -'o-6.jl wu that a law I'llUIt oot violate morality. HaiUsliii, on
the OW'r hand, appealed to the COIUeIUus of men: his waJ a demo-
cratic argument, based on the belief that a law must be in harmony
with the considered opinion of the citizens. The personal motive of
both Antigone and Haimoo in opwsing Kroo;;-happens to be identi.
,;oJ: love. In this play, traditional morality and majority opinion hap-
pen to agree; that this it a love match not made daily is shown by the
. .
We may conjecture that, to Sophocles, the question of desnocraey
VI,autocracy was more basic than piety vs, secular law, In the An.
u,one; ,he seems to a~prove rel,i£iow tradition .. a moral _ be-
cause, like consensus, It offen likelihood of truth: tradition is'ti!ited
.tcmporany, conscruus also numerically. the first through CiIUlftS
of
Curt,Olll, the second by di~ of individual ideas, The greater prob-
ability that Kreon, in his tynmnicaJ isolation, would be WIOll& is
demonstrated when he shOWl hinuelf to be wrong; the Idvantaae of
democratic consensus is, here, emphasized by its endorsement of plow
tradition,
So hodes does. however, admit tlult reIi ion contains troub\c:aomc
ambiguities: piety may deman right behavior, but the gods them-
. selves Ire not reliable guides to what is right. Teiresia.s, one remem-
be~, appears too late. Similarly, Sophocles does not ignore the possi.
blllty ()l mass human error; the majority of Thebans, like Ismene,
ag~ with Antigone, but obey Kroon, Fearing Kroon, the people fon
Anltgone,
, who is thereby at isolated in her rectitude as Kreon Ii 111.
17
 INTRODUCTION

sulated in his perversity. Freedom needs strength as well as sensitivity.

TI,e popular attitude toward Kroon is that of the Sentry, whose terror ANTIGONE
neither stifles his disapproval (39'-404) nor slows his obedience (408.
'3, 5>7-37)' From this, one may guess that Sophocles recognized that
thc rights of the exceptional Individual are precious, at least when, as
with Antigone, such rights confirm the freedoms which the majority
continue, even secretly, to approve.
To us, to who reon's fla rant misdeed is his invasion of personal
and conscIentious lights. Sophoclessays this much: neither shou d the
ordinary individual, who is wrong, rule the majority, who are passive, "
..jY nor should the extraordinary individual, if right, acquiesce. The tragic
I>'~~ problem of popular rulcrhere free citizens seem to violate by con-
"'\ \ sensus the rights of minorities and of individuals, unusual and ordinary v~
-is only suggested. The Antigone's complacent courtiers abet one(Ch,r
tyrant, and become, in effect, a board of tyrants. We know their like
in institutions, agencies, departments. and bureaus, which, for the sake
of "the law till it is altered," and such generally accepted purposes as
health, defense, education, and finance, erode freedom. Until such old
men Jearn wisdom, Antigones will be "born to oppose," who, unless
gentleness prevails, will be driven again and again even by the
Choruses of democracy, either to civil disobedience or -to criminal
withdrawal.

The text I have followed IS R. C. [ebb's In Sophocles, Part III: The

Antigone (Cambridge, 189'). supplemented by A. C. Pearson's in
Sophoclis Fabulae (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, '9'4)' [ebb's prose
version and commentary proved consistently valuable.
I wish to thank the General Editor for generous help. No one ac-
quainted with his work is in danger of blaming him for the faults of
mine.

Edmonton, Alberta RICHA.RJ) EMIL BUUN'

'<fil, '97 '