Statius: THEBAID

Postquam magnanimus furias uirtutis iniquae
consumpsit Capaneus expirauitque receptum
fulmen, et ad terras longe comitata cadentem
signauit muros ultricis semita flammae,
componit dextra uictor concussa plagarum                5
Iuppiter et uultu caelumque diemque reducit.
gratantur superi, Phlegrae ceu fessus anhelet
proelia et Encelado fumantem impresserit Aetnen.
ille iacet lacerae complexus fragmina turris,
toruus adhuc uisu memorandaque facta relinquens                10
gentibus atque ipsi non inlaudata Tonanti.
quantus Apollineae temerator matris Auerno
tenditur; ipsae horrent, si quando pectore ab alto
emergunt uolucres inmensaque membra iacentis
spectant, dum miserae crescunt in pabula fibrae:                15

After magnanimous Capaneus consumed the furies of iniquitous valor and the recalled thunderbolt expired, and the path of the avenging flame, long accompanying him as he fell to the earth, marked the walls, the victor Jupiter with his right hand composes what was shaken by the blows                5
and with his countenance brings back both sky and day. The gods above give congratulations, as though, weary, he were gasping from the battles of Phlegra and had pressed smoking Etna upon Enceladus. He lies, clasping the fragments of the torn tower, grim still in look, and leaving deeds to be remembered for the nations and not unpraised even by the Thunderer himself.                10
as huge as the violator of Apollo’s mother is stretched in Avernus; the birds themselves shudder, whenever from the deep breast they emerge and behold the immense limbs of the prostrate one, while the wretched fibers grow into fodder:                15

sic grauat iniectus terras hostiliaque urit
arua et anhelantem caelesti sulphure campum.
respirant Thebae, templisque iacentia surgunt
agmina; iam finis uotis finisque supremis
planctibus, et natos ausae deponere matres.                20
    at uaga pallentes campo fuga uoluit Achiuos.
nec iam hostes turmae aut ferrum mortale timetur:
omnibus ante oculos irae Iouis, omnibus ardent
arma metu galeaeque tonant, uisusque pauentes
ipse sequi et profugis opponere Iuppiter ignes.                 25
instat Agenoreus miles caelique tumultu
utitur: indomitos ut cum Massyla per arua
armenti reges magno leo fregit hiatu
et contentus abit; rauci tunc comminus ursi,
tunc auidi uenere lupi, rabieque remissa                30
lambunt degeneres alienae uulnera praedae.

thus, having been cast down, he weighs upon the lands and burns the hostile
fields and the plain panting with celestial sulphur.
Thebes breathe again, and at the temples the forces lying low rise;
now there is an end to vows and a final end to
lamentations, and mothers have dared to lay down their sons.                20
    but a wandering flight rolls the pallid Achaeans over the plain.
nor now are enemy squadrons or mortal steel feared:
before everyone’s eyes are the angers of Jove; for all, weapons burn
with fear and helmets thunder, and in their frightened sight
Jupiter himself seems to pursue and to set against the fugitives his fires.                 25
the Agenorean soldiery presses on and makes use of the tumult of the sky:
as when, through the Massylian fields, a lion with great gape has shattered
the untamed kings of the herd and goes away content; then at close quarters
hoarse bears, then greedy wolves came, and with their frenzy relaxed
the degenerate creatures lick the wounds of another’s prey.                30

hinc premit Eurymedon, cui rusticus horror in armis,
rustica tela manu, patriumque agitare tumultus
(Pan illi genitor); tener hinc conatibus annos
egreditur iuuenemque patrem puer aequat Alatreus: 35

hence presses Eurymedon, for whom a rustic dread is in arms,
rustic weapons in his hand, and to agitate his paternal tumults
(Pan his sire); from here, tender in years, he goes forth to endeavors,
and the boy Alatreus matches his young father: 35

felices ambo, sed fortunatior ille,
quem genuisse iuuat; nec iam dinoscere promptum
quae magis arma sonent, quo plus eat hasta lacerto.
artatur denso fugientum examine uallum.
quas uoluis, Gradiue, uices!

happy both, but more fortunate that one,
whom it delights to have begotten; nor now is it easy to discern
which arms resound more, by which upper arm the spear goes further.
the rampart is pressed tight by the dense swarm of fugitives.
what vicissitudes you roll, Gradivus!

modo moenia Cadmi 40
scandebant, sua nunc defendunt tecta Pelasgi.
ceu redeunt nubes, ceu circumflantibus Austris
alternus procumbit ager, ceu gurgite cano
nunc retegit bibulas, nunc induit aestus harenas.
expirat late pubes Tirynthia, alumni 45
exuuias imitata dei; trux maeret ab astris
Amphitryoniades Nemeaea in sanguine terga
et similes ramos similesque uidere pharetras.

just now they were scaling Cadmus’s walls 40
now the Pelasgians defend their own roofs.
as clouds return, as with the Austers blowing around
by turns a field sinks, as with a hoary flood
now the surge uncovers, now it clothes the thirsty sands.
far and wide the Tirynthian youth expires, alumni 45
imitating the god’s exuviae; the Amphitryoniad, grim, mourns from the stars
the Nemean hides in blood, and saw similar branches and similar quivers.

stabat in Argolicae ferrato culmine turris
egregius lituo dextri Mauortis Enyeus 50

He stood on the iron-bound summit of the Argolic tower,
the distinguished Enyeus with the lituus of kindly Mars 50

hortator; sed tunc miseris dabat utile signum
suadebatque fugam et tutos in castra receptus,
cum subitum obliquo descendit ab aere uulnus,
urguentisque sonum laeua manus aure retenta est,
sicut erat; fugit in uacuas iam spiritus auras,                55
iam gelida ora tacent, carmen tuba sola peregit.
    iamque potens scelerum geminaeque exercita gentis
sanguine Tisiphone fraterna claudere quaerit
bella tuba: nec se tanta in certamina fidit
sufficere, inferna comitem ni sede Megaeram                60
et consanguineos in proelia suscitet angues.
ergo procul uacua concedit ualle solumque
ense fodit Stygio terraeque inmurmurat absens
nomen et (Elysiis signum indubitabile regnis)
crinalem attollit longo stridore cerasten:                65

an exhorter; but then he was giving the wretched a useful signal
and was urging flight and a safe withdrawal into the camp,
when a sudden wound descended from the slanting air,
and the left hand, that urged the sound, was checked at the ear,
just as it was; the breath now fled into the empty airs,                55
now the chilly lips are silent, the trumpet alone completed the song.
    and now Tisiphone, powerful in crimes and hardened by the blood of the twin race,
seeks to close the fraternal wars with a trumpet: nor does she trust
herself to be sufficient for such great combats, unless she rouse as companion
Megaera from the infernal seat and the consanguineous serpents to the battles.                60
therefore she withdraws far in an empty valley and with a Stygian
sword digs the ground and murmurs to the earth the absent name,
and (for the Elysian realms an indubitable sign)
she lifts a hair-serpent, a cerastes, with a long hissing:                65

caeruleae dux ille comae, quo protinus omnis
horruit audito tellus pontusque polusque,
et pater Aetnaeos iterum respexit ad ignes.
accipit illa sonum; stabat tunc forte parenti
proxima, dum coetu Capaneus laudatur ab omni 70
Ditis et insignem Stygiis fouet amnibus umbram.
protinus abrupta terrarum mole sub astris
constitit, exultant manes, quantumque profundae
rarescunt tenebrae, tantum de luce recessit.

that leader of the sea-dark hair, at whose sound, as soon as it was heard, all
earth and sea and sky shuddered, and the father looked back again toward the Aetnaean fires.
she receives the sound; she chanced then to be standing next to her parent,
while Capaneus is praised by the whole assembly of Dis, and he cherishes the distinguished shade with Stygian streams. 70
straightway, with the mass of the lands torn apart, beneath the stars
she took her stand; the shades exult, and by as much as the deep
shadows grow thin, by so much did she withdraw from the light.

excipit atra soror dextraeque innexa profatur: 75
'hac, germana, tenus Stygii metuenda parentis
imperia et iussos potui tolerare furores
sola super terras hostilique obuia mundo,
dum uos Elysium et faciles compescitis umbras.
nec pretium deforme morae cassique labores: 80

the dark sister catches her up and, linked to the right hand, speaks forth: 75
'Thus far, sister, I have been able to endure the commands of our dread Stygian parent and the ordered furies,
alone above the lands and meeting a hostile world,
while you restrain Elysium and the compliant shades.
nor a shameful price of delay and fruitless labors: 80

hoc quodcumque madent campi, quod sanguine fumant
stagna, quod innumero Lethaea examine gaudet
ripa, meae uires laeta insignia. sed quid
haec ego? Mars habeat, uulgataque iactet Enyo.

whatever it be with which the fields are drenched, with which the pools smoke with blood,
the Lethean bank rejoices in its innumerable swarm—
glad insignia of my powers. But why
do I speak these things? Let Mars have them, and let Enyo, made common, vaunt them.

uidistis (Stygiis certe manifestus in umbris) 85
sanguine foedatum rictus atroque madentem
ora ducem tabo: miserum insatiabilis edit
me tradente caput. modo nempe horrendus ab astris
descendit uos usque fragor: me sacra premebat
tempestas, ego mixta uiri furialibus armis 90
bella deum et magnas ridebam fulminis iras.
sed iam (effabor enim) longo sudore fatiscunt
corda, soror, tardaeque manus; hebet infera caelo
taxus et insuetos angues nimia astra soporant.

you have seen (surely made manifest in the Stygian shades) 85
the leader’s gaping jaws defiled with blood and her face dripping
with black gore: the insatiable one devours the wretched
head, I handing it over. just now indeed a dreadful crash
descended from the stars even to you: a sacred storm was pressing
me, and I, mingled with the man’s furial arms, 90
was laughing at the wars of the gods and the great wraths of the thunderbolt.
but now (for I will speak out) with long sweating my hearts grow weary,
sister, and my hands are slow; the nether yew grows dull beneath the sky,
and an excess of stars lulls to sleep the snakes unaccustomed to them.

tu, cui totus adhuc furor exultantque recentes 95
Cocyti de fonte comae, da iungere uires.
non solitas acies nec Martia bella paramus,
sed fratrum (licet alma Fides Pietasque repugnent,
uincentur), fratrum stringendi comminus enses.
grande opus!

you, in whom the whole frenzy still, and the locks exulting fresh from the fountain of Cocytus, 95
grant to join forces.
we are not preparing the usual battle-lines nor Martial wars,
but of brothers (though kindly Faith and Piety resist—let them be conquered),
the hand-to-hand drawing of brothers’ swords.
a great work!

ipsae odiis, ipsae discordibus armis 100

we ourselves with hatreds, we ourselves with discordant arms 100

aptemur. quid lenta uenis? agedum elige cuius
signa feras.

let us array ourselves. why do you come slow? come then, choose whose
standards you will bear.

ambo faciles nostrique; sed anceps
uulgus et adfatus matris blandamque precatu
Antigonen timeo, paulum ne nostra retardent
consilia. ipse etiam, qui nos lassare precando 105
suetus et ultrices oculorum exposcere Diras,
iam pater est: coetu fertur iam solus ab omni
flere sibi. atque adeo moror ipsa inrumpere Thebas
adsuetumque larem.

both are compliant and of our party; but the vulgus is uncertain, and I fear the address of the mother and Antigone, charming in entreaty, lest they somewhat retard our counsels. he himself too, who is wont to weary us by praying 105
and to call for the avenging Dirae of his eyes,
is now a father: he is reported now, apart from every coetus, to weep for himself alone. and indeed I myself delay to burst into Thebes and my accustomed hearth-home.

tibi pareat impius exul,
Argolicumque impelle nefas; neu mitis Adrastus                110
praeualeat plebesque, caue, Lernaea moretur.
uade, et in alternas inimica reuertere pugnas.'
    talia partitae diuersum abiere sorores:
ut Notus et Boreas gemino de cardine mundi,
hic niue Rhipaea, Libycis hic pastus harenis,                115

let the impious exile obey you,
and drive on the Argolic outrage; nor let gentle Adrastus                110
prevail, and the plebs; beware, let not the Lernaean delay.
go, and return as an enemy into alternate combats.'
    such things apportioned, the sisters went apart in different directions:
as Notus and Boreas from the twin hinge of the world,
this one nourished on Rhipaean snow, that on Libyan sands,                115

bella cient: clamant amnes, freta, nubila, siluae,
iamque patent strages; plangunt sua damna coloni
et tamen oppressos miserantur in aequore nautas.
illas ut summo uidit pater altus Olympo
incestare diem trepidumque Hyperionis orbem 120
suffundi maculis, toruo sic incohat ore:
'uidimus armiferos, quo fas erat usque, furores,
caelicolae, licitasque acies, etsi impia bella
unus init aususque mea procumbere dextra.
nunc par infandum miserisque incognita terris 125
pugna subest: auferte oculos!

they stir wars: rivers, seas, clouds, forests cry out,
and already the slaughters lie open; the farmers bewail their own losses
and yet pity the sailors oppressed on the open sea.
when the high Father from lofty Olympus saw those ones
defiling the day and the trembling orb of Hyperion 120
being suffused with stains, with grim mouth he thus begins:
'we have seen, heaven-dwellers, arms-bearing frenzies, as far as it was lawful,
and permitted battle-lines, although one man began impious wars
and dared to be laid low by my right hand.
now a battle equal—and unspeakable—and unknown to wretched lands 125
is at hand: avert your eyes!

absentibus ausint
ista deis lateantque Iouem; sat funera mensae
Tantaleae et sontes uidisse Lycaonis aras
et festina polo ducentes astra Mycenas.
nunc etiam turbanda dies: mala nubila, tellus, 130

let them dare these things with the gods absent,
and let them lie hidden from Jove; enough to have seen the funerals of the Tantalean table
and the guilty altars of Lycaon,
and Mycenae drawing the hastened stars along the pole.
now even the day must be thrown into turmoil: evil clouds, earth, 130

accipe, secedantque poli: stat parcere mundo
caelitibusque meis; saltem ne uirginis almae
sidera, Ledaei uideant neu talia fratres.'
sic pater omnipotens, uisusque nocentibus aruis
abstulit, et dulci terrae caruere sereno.                135
    iamque per Argolicas Erebo sata uirgo cohortes
uestigat Polynicis iter portisque sub ipsis
inuenit, incertum leto tot iniqua fugane
exeat, et dubios turbabant omina sensus.
uiderat, obscura uallum dum nocte pererrat                140
aeger consilii curisque nouissima uoluens,
coniugis Argiae laceram cum lampade maesta
effigiem (sunt monstra deum: sic ire parabat,
has latura uiro taedas erat!): ergo roganti,
quae uia quisue dolor, cur maesta insignia, tantum                145

receive it, and let the poles withdraw: it stands resolved to spare the world and my heaven‑dwellers; at least let not the stars of the kindly maiden, the Ledaean brothers, behold such things.'
thus spoke the almighty father, and he took away sight from the guilty fields, and the lands were deprived of the sweet serene.                135
    and now through the Argolic cohorts the maiden begotten of Erebus
tracks Polynices’ path and beneath the very gates
she finds him, uncertain lest from so iniquitous a flight he go forth to death,
and omens were troubling his wavering senses.
he had seen, while he wanders over the rampart in dark night,140
sick in counsel and turning over latest cares,
the torn effigy of his wife Argia, with a mournful torch
(there are prodigies of the gods: thus she was preparing to go,
she was about to bring these torches to her husband!): therefore to the one asking,
what the way is or what grief, why the mournful insignia, only                145

fleuerat atque manu tacitos auerterat ignes.
scit mentem uidisse nefas; etenim unde Mycenis
adforet et uallum coniunx inopina subiret?
sed fati monitus uicinaque funera sentit,
ac sentire timet. cum uero Acherontis aperti                150
Dira ter admoto tetigit thoraca flagello,
ardet inops animi, nec tam considere regno
quam scelus et caedem et perfossi in sanguine fratris
expirare cupit, subitusque adfatur Adrastum:
'sera quidem, extremus socium gentisque superstes                155
Argolicae, consulta, pater, iam rebus in artis
adgredior; tunc tempus erat, cum sanguis Achiuum
integer, ire ultro propriamque capessere pugnam,
non plebis Danaae florem regumque uerendas
obiectare animas, ut lamentabile tantis                160

she had wept and with her hand had turned away the silent fires.
he knows that his mind has seen a nefas; for whence from Mycenae
would his wife be present and unexpectedly pass beneath the rampart?
but he senses the warnings of fate and the nearby funerals,
and he fears to sense them. but when indeed the Dira of opened Acheron                150
with the scourge brought near, touched his cuirass three times,
he burns, bereft of spirit, and he longs not so much to sit in a kingdom
as to expire in crime and slaughter and in the blood of his pierced brother,
and suddenly he addresses Adrastus:
'late indeed, the last of comrades and survivor of the Argolic clan,                155
father, I now approach counsels with affairs in straits;
then was the time, when the blood of the Achaeans was whole,
to go unbidden and to seize our own battle,
not to expose the flower of the Danaan people and the venerable
souls of kings, so that lamentable to such...'                160

urbibus induerem capiti decus. ast ea quando
praeteriit uirtus, nunc saltem exoluere fas sit
quae merui. scis namque, socer, licet alta recondas
uulnera et adflictum generi uereare pudorem:
ille ego sum qui te pacem et pia iura regentem 165
(infelix utinamque aliis datus urbibus hospes!)
extorrem patria regnoque++sed exige tandem
supplicium: fratrem suprema in bella (quid horres?

that I might put upon my head an honor for the cities. But since that valor (virtue) has passed, now at least let it be right to pay off what I have merited. For you know, father-in-law, though you hide the wounds deep and fear the afflicted shame for your son-in-law: I am he who—while you rule peace and dutiful laws (unhappy, would that I had been given as a guest to other cities!)—has been driven an exile from fatherland and kingdom—but exact at last the punishment: a brother into ultimate wars (why do you shudder?

decretum est fixumque) uoco; desiste morari,
nec poteris. non si atra parens miseraeque sorores 170
in media arma cadant, non si ipse ad bella ruenti
obstet et extinctos galeae pater ingerat orbes,
deficiam. anne bibam superest quodcumque cruoris
Inachii et uestris etiamnum mortibus utar?

(it has been decreed and fixed) I call; cease to delay,
nor will you be able. Not even if a black-clad mother and wretched sisters 170
fall into the midst of arms, not even if my father himself, as I rush to wars,
stand in the way and thrust his extinguished eyeballs into my helmet,
shall I fail. Or is it left that I should drink whatever Inachian gore
remains and even yet make use of your deaths?

uidi ego me propter ruptos telluris hiatus, 175

I myself saw myself on account of the earth’s ruptured chasms, 175

nec subii; uidi exanimum fecique nocentem
Tydea; me Tegee regem indefensa reposcit,
orbaque Parrhasiis ululat mihi mater in antris.
ipse nec Ismeni ripas, dum stagna cruentat
Hippomedon, Tyrias potui nec scandere turres, 180
dum tonat, et tecum, Capaneu, miscere furores.
quis tantus pro luce timor?

nor did I go down; I saw Tydeus exanimate and made him guilty;
Tegea, undefended, demands me back, her king,
and my mother, bereft, howls to me in the Parrhasian caverns.
I myself could not even [reach] the Ismenian banks, while Hippomedon bloodies the pools,
nor could I scale the Tyrian towers, 180
while you thunder, and mingle frenzies with you, Capaneus.
what such great fear for the light?

sed digna rependam.
conueniant ubi quaeque nurus matresque Pelasgae
longaeuique patres, quorum tot gaudia carpsi
orbauique domos: fratri concurro, quid ultra est? 185
spectent et uotis uictorem Eteoclea poscant.
iamque uale, coniunx, dulcesque ualete Mycenae!

but I shall render worthy recompense.
let each daughter-in-law and the Pelasgian mothers assemble where
and the long-lived fathers, whose so many joys I have plucked
and have bereft their homes: I run to my brother—what is beyond that? 185
let them behold and with vows demand Eteocles as victor.
and now farewell, spouse, and farewell, sweet Mycenae!

at tu, care socer, (nec enim omnis culpa malorum
me penes, et superi mecum Parcaeque nocentes)
sis lenis cineri, meque haec post proelia raptum 190

but you, dear father-in-law, (for not all the blame of the evils
with me, and the gods above and the nocent Parcae along with me)
be lenient to my ashes, and me, snatched away after these battles 190

alitibus fratrique tegas urnamque reportes,
hoc tantum, et natae melius conubia iungas.'
    ibant in lacrimas, ueluti cum uere reuerso
Bistoniae tepuere niues, summittitur ingens
Haemus et angustos Rhodope descendit in amnes.                195
coeperat et leni senior mulcere furentem
adloquio: scidit orsa nouo terrore cruenta
Eumenis, alipedemque citum fataliaque arma
protinus, Inachii uultus expressa Pherecli,
obtulit ac fidas exclusit casside uoces.                200
ac super haec: 'abrumpe moras, celeremus! et illum
aduentare ferunt portis.' sic omnia uicit,
correptumque iniecit equo; uolat aequore aperto
pallidus instantemque deae circumspicit umbram.
    sacra Ioui merito Tyrius pro fulmine ductor                205

that you may shield me from the birds and from my brother and bring back the urn,
this only, and join better marriages for your daughter.'
    they were passing into tears, just as when, with spring returned,
the Bistonian snows grow tepid, vast Haemus is lowered
and Rhodope descends into narrow rivers.                195
and the elder had begun to soothe the raging one
with gentle address: the bloody Eumenid, with new terror,
tore his begun words, and at once, having assumed the features
of Inachian Phereclus, offered the wing-footed swift steed and the fateful arms,
and with the helmet shut out his faithful voices.                200
and beyond this: 'break off delays, let us hasten! and they report
that he is approaching the gates.' thus she overcame all,
and flung the seized man upon the horse; he flies over the open level,
pale, and looks around at the pressing shadow of the goddess.
    the Tyrian leader, deservedly, sacred rites to Jove in place of the thunderbolt                205

nequiquam Danaos ratus exarmasse ferebat.
nec pater aetherius diuumque has ullus ad aras,
sed mala Tisiphone trepidis inserta ministris
astat et inferno praeuertit uota Tonanti.
'summe deum, tibi namque meae primordia Thebae 210
(liueat infandum licet Argos et aspera Iuno)
debent, Sidonios ex quo per litora raptor
turbasti thiasos, dignatus uirgine nostra
terga premi et placidas falsum mugire per undas.

he kept asserting, thinking, that he had disarmed the Danaans to no purpose.
nor did the aetherial Father, nor any of the gods, at these altars,
but malignant Tisiphone, inserted among the trembling attendants,
stands by and pre-empts the vows for the infernal Thunderer.
'highest of the gods, for to you my Thebes owe their beginnings 210
(though let unspeakable Argos and harsh Juno be livid)
they owe them, since along the Sidonian shores the ravisher
you disturbed the thiasoi, having deigned that your back be pressed by our maiden
and to bellow falsely over the placid waves.

nec te uana fides iterum Cadmeia adeptum                215
conubia et Tyrios nimium inrupisse penates:
tandem, inquam, soceros dilectaque moenia gratus
respicis adsertorque tonas; ceu regia caeli
attemptata tui, sic te pro turribus altis
uidimus urguentem nubes, laetique benignum                220
fulmen et auditos proauis agnouimus ignes.
accipe nunc pecudes et magni turis aceruos
uotiuumque marem; dignas sed pendere grates
haud mortale opus est; certent tibi reddere Bacchus
noster et Alcides, illis haec moenia seruas.'                225

nor is the belief vain that you have again attained the Cadmean connubials and have too much broken into Tyrian household gods;215
at last, I say, gracious you look back upon your in‑laws and beloved walls, and you thunder as an assertor; as though the royal house of your sky were assailed, so have we seen you, for the high towers, pressing the clouds, and, rejoicing, we recognized the benign thunderbolt and the fires heard by our forefathers.220
receive now the cattle and great heaps of incense and a votive male victim; but to pay thanks worthy (of you) is no mortal work; let our Bacchus and Alcides strive to render it to you— for them you preserve these walls.225

dixerat: ast illi niger ignis in ora genasque
prosiluit raptumque comis diadema cremauit.
tunc ferus ante ictum spumis delubra cruentat
taurus et obstantum mediis e coetibus exit
turbidus insanoque ferens altaria cornu. 230
diffugiunt famuli, et regem solatur haruspex.
ipse instaurari sacrum male fortis agique
imperat, et magnos ficto premit ore timores.

dixit: but for him a black fire leapt upon mouth and cheeks,
and burned the diadem, snatched by the hair.
then the savage bull, before the stroke, with foams makes the shrines blood-stained,
and, stormy, bursts out from the mid assemblies of those standing in the way,
bearing the altars on a mad horn. 230
the attendants scatter, and the haruspex consoles the king.
he himself, poorly brave, orders the sacred rite to be renewed and carried on,
and with a feigned countenance suppresses great fears.

qualis ubi implicitum Tirynthius ossibus ignem
sensit et Oetaeas membris accedere uestes,                235
uota incepta tamen libataque tura ferebat
durus adhuc patiensque mali; mox grande coactus
ingemuit, uictorque furit per uiscera Nessus.
    nuntius exanimi suspensus pectora cursu
Aepytus ad regem portae statione relicta                240

just as when the Tirynthian felt the fire entangled in his bones
and the Oetaean garments draw near to his limbs,                235
nevertheless he was bearing the begun vows and libated incense,
still tough and enduring of the ill; soon, compelled, he groaned greatly,
and Nessus, the victor, rages through his viscera.
    the messenger Aepytus, with breast breathless, suspended by the run,
to the king, the station at the gate left behind,                240

tendit et haec trepido uix intellectus anhelat:
'rumpe pios cultus intempestiuaque, rector,
sacra deum: frater muris circum omnibus instat
portarumque moras frenis adsultat et hastis,
nomine te crebro, te solum in proelia poscens. 245
flent maesti retro comites, et uterque loquenti
aggemit et pulsis exercitus obstrepit armis.
ille uocat. nunc tempus erat, sator optime diuum!

he hastens and, scarcely understood in his trembling, gasps these things:
'break off the pious observances and, ruler, the untimely sacred rites of the gods:
your brother presses around all the walls and assails the hindrances of the gates with reins and spears,
naming you repeatedly, demanding you alone into the combats. 245
the companions behind, sad, weep, and each groans back to the speaker, and the army makes a din with beaten weapons.
he calls. now was the time, most excellent begetter of the gods!

quid meruit Capaneus?' turbatus inhorruit altis
rex odiis, mediaque tamen gauisus in ira est.                250
sic ubi regnator post exulis otia tauri
mugitum hostilem summa tulit aure iuuencus
agnouitque minas, magna stat feruidus ira
ante gregem spumisque animos ardentibus efflat,
nunc pede toruus humum, nunc cornibus aera findens;                255
horret ager, trepidaeque expectant proelia ualles.
    nec desunt regni comites: 'sine moenia pulset
inritus.' 'ille autem fractis huc audeat usque
uiribus?' 'hic miseris furor est instare periclo,
nec librare metus et tuta odisse.' 'resiste                260

'what has Capaneus deserved?' disturbed, the king shuddered with deep hatreds,
and yet he rejoiced in the midst of his anger.                250
thus, when after the idleness of exile the ruling bull-calf
has caught with the tip of his ear a hostile lowing
and recognized the threats, he stands, seething with great wrath,
before the herd and breathes out his spirits with burning foams,
now, grim, pawing the ground with his hoof, now cleaving the air with his horns;                255
the field bristles, and the trembling valleys await the battles.
    nor are comrades of the realm lacking: 'let him batter the walls
in vain.' 'and will he, with his forces broken, dare so far as here?'
'this is a madness for the wretched, to press on in peril,
and not to weigh their fears and to despise safe things.' 'resist'                260

hic fretus solio, nos propulsabimus hostem,
nos bellare iube.' sic proxima turba, sed ardens
ecce aderat luctu dicturusque omnia belli
libertate Creon: urit fera corda Menoeceus;
nulla patri requies, illum quaeritque tenetque; 265
illum sanguineos proflantem pectore riuos
aspicit et saeua semper de turre cadentem.
ut dubium et pugnas cunctantem Eteoclea uidit,
'ibis' ait 'neque te ulterius fratremque ducemque,
pessime, funeribus patriae lacrimisque potentem, 270
Eumenidum bellique reum, patiemur inulti.
sat tua non aequis luimus periuria diuis.

“here, relying on the throne, ‘we will drive back the foe; bid us to wage war.’” thus the nearest throng; but lo, ardent with grief and, with the freedom war allows, about to say everything, Creon was at hand: fierce Menoeceus burns at heart; there is no rest for the father—him he both seeks and clings to; 265
him he beholds pouring bloody streams from his breast and ever falling from the cruel tower. when he saw Eteocles wavering and delaying the battles, “you will go,” he said, “nor any further will we suffer you—and your brother the leader— most wicked man, powerful through your country’s funerals and tears, 270
arraigned of the Eumenides and of war—unavenged. enough have we paid for your perjuries to not-equitable gods.

urbem armis opibusque grauem et modo ciuibus artam,
ceu caelo deiecta lues inimicaue tellus,
hausisti, uacuamque tamen sublimis obumbras? 275

a city weighty with arms and resources and only lately tight with citizens,
as if a plague cast down from heaven or an inimical earth,
you have drained, and yet, aloft, do you overshadow it empty? 275

deest seruitio plebes: hos ignis egentes
fert humus, hos pelago patrius iam detulit amnis;
hi quaerunt artus, illi anxia uulnera curant.
redde agedum miseris fratres natosque patresque,
redde aruis domibusque uiros! ubi maximus Hypseus 280
finitimusque Dryas?

the plebs is lacking for servitude: the earth bears those bereft of fire,
those the native river has now carried to the sea;
these seek limbs, those anxiously tend wounds.
give back, come now, to the wretched their brothers and sons and fathers,
give back men to the fields and to the domiciles! where is the greatest Hypseus 280
and the neighboring Dryas?

ubi Phocidos arma sonorae
Euboicique duces? illos tamen aequa duelli
fors tulit ad manes: at tu (pudet), hostia regni,
hostia, nate, iaces, ceu mutus et e grege sanguis
(ei mihi) primitiis ararum et rite nefasto 285
libatus iussusque mori: et cunctabitur ultra
iste nec, aduerso nunc saltem Marte uocatus,
stabit? an in pugnas alium iubet ire profanus
Tiresias iterumque meos oracula nectit
in gemitus?

where are the arms of resounding Phocis,
and the Euboean leaders? those, however, the impartial chance of war
has borne to the Shades: but you (shame), victim of the kingdom,
victim, my son, you lie, like mute blood from the herd
(ah me) with the first-fruits of the altars and by a nefarious rite 285
libated and bidden to die: and will that man still hesitate,
and not, now at least summoned with Mars adverse,
take his stand? or does the profane Tiresias bid another to go into battles
and again weave oracles into my groans?

quid enim misero super unicus Haemon? 290

for what indeed remains to the miserable man besides his only Haemon? 290

ille iube subeat, tuque hinc spectator ab alta
turre sede! quid saeua fremis famulamque cohortem
respectas? hi te ire uolunt, hi pendere poenas;
ipsa etiam genetrix ipsaeque odere sorores.

order him to go in, and you from here, as a spectator, sit on the high
tower! why do you, savage, snarl and look back at your servile cohort?
these want you to go, these want you to pay the penalties;
even your mother herself and your very sisters hate you.

in te ardens frater ferrum mortemque minatur                 295
saeuaque portarum conuellit claustra, nec audis?'
    sic pater infrendens, miseraque exaestuat ira.
ille sub haec, 'non fallis' ait 'nec te incluta nati
fata mouent. canere illa patrem et iactare decebat,
sed spes sub lacrimis, spes atque occulta cupido                300
his latet: insano praetendis funera uoto,
meque premis frustra uacuae ceu proximus aulae.

against you your ardent brother threatens steel and death                 295
and he wrenches the savage bars of the gates, and you do not hear?'
    thus the father, gnashing, and he seethes with miserable wrath.
he under these words says, 'you do not deceive [me], nor do the renowned fates
of your son move you. it was fitting for a father to chant those things and to vaunt them,
but hope beneath tears, hope and a hidden desire                300
lies hidden in these: you screen funerals with an insane vow,
and you press me in vain, as the next-of-kin of an empty hall.

non ita Sidoniam Fortuna reliquerit urbem,
in te ut sceptra cadant, tanto indignissime nato.
nec mihi difficilis praesens uindicta++sed arma, 305
arma prius, famuli! coeant in proelia fratres.

Not in such wise would Fortune have abandoned the Sidonian city,
that the scepters should fall to you, most unworthy son of so great a sire.
nor is present vengeance difficult for me++but arms, 305
arms first, servants! let the brothers join in battle.

uult gemitus lenire Creon. lucrare furorem:
uictori mihi cuncta lues.' sic iurgia paulum
distulit atque ensem, quem iam dabat ira, repressit.
ictus ut incerto pastoris uulnere serpens 310

Creon wishes to soothe the groans. ‘Profit by your frenzy:
to me, the victor, you shall pay for all.’ Thus he deferred the quarrels a little
put off and repressed the sword which anger was already giving.
as a serpent, smitten by the uncertain wound of a shepherd 310

erigitur gyro longumque e corpore toto
uirus in ore legit; paulum si deuius hostis
torsit iter, cecidere minae tumefactaque frustra
colla sedent, irasque sui bibit ipse ueneni.
    at genetrix, primam funestae sortis ut amens                315
expauit famam (nec tarde credidit), ibat
scissa comam uultusque et pectore nuda cruento,
non sexus decorisue memor: Pentheia qualis
mater ad insani scandebat culmina montis,
promissum saeuo caput adlatura Lyaeo.                320
non comites, non ferre piae uestigia natae
aequa ualent: tantum miserae dolor ultimus addit
robur, et exangues crudescunt luctibus anni.
iamque decus galeae, iam spicula saeua ligabat
ductor et ad lituos hilarem intrepidumque tubarum                325

it rears in a coil, and gathers from its whole body
the long venom into its mouth; if the foe, swerving a little,
has twisted his path, the threats fall, and the swollen, in vain,
necks subside, and it itself drinks down the rages of its own poison.
but the mother, as a madwoman, when she first shuddered at the report of the fatal lot (nor did she believe late), was going 315
with hair torn, and with face and breast bare, blood-stained,
mindful neither of sex nor of decor: like the Penthean
mother as she climbed the summits of the insane mountain,
about to bring the promised head to savage Lyaeus.
not companions, not her dutiful daughters are able to carry steps equal,320
so much does ultimate grief add strength to the wretched woman,
and bloodless years grow cruel with mournings.
and now the leader was binding the pride of the helmet, now the savage darts,
and was, at the clarions of the trumpets, cheerful and unshaken 325

prospiciebat equum, subito cum apparuit ingens
mater, et ipse metu famulumque expalluit omnis
coetus, et oblatam retro dedit armiger hastam.
'quis furor? unde iterum regni integrata resurgit
Eumenis?

he was looking out at the horse, when suddenly the mighty mother appeared,
and he himself and the whole company and the attendant grew pale with fear,
and the armor-bearer handed back the proffered spear to the rear.
‘what madness? whence does the restored realm of the Fury rise again,
Eumenis?’

ipsi etiam post omnia, comminus ipsi 330
stabitis? usque adeo geminas duxisse cohortes
et facinus mandasse parum est? quo deinde redibit
uictor?

you yourself even after everything, at close quarters you yourself 330
will you stand? Is it to such a degree too little to have led twin cohorts
and to have mandated the crime? Whither then will the victor return?

in hosne sinus? o diri coniugis olim
felices tenebrae! datis, improba lumina, poenas:
haec spectanda dies.

into these arms? O once-happy shadows of my dire consort!
you pay, shameless lights (my eyes), the penalties:
this is the day to be beheld.

quo, saeue, minantia flectis 335
ora? quid alternus uultus pallorque ruborque
mutat, et obnixi frangunt mala murmura dentes?
me miseram!

whither, savage, do you turn your menacing looks? 335
why does your alternating countenance—pallor and rubor—change, and do your set teeth shatter evil mutterings?
wretched me!

uinces? prius haec tamen arma necesse est
experiare domi: stabo ipso in limine portae
auspicium infelix scelerumque inmanis imago. 340

Will you conquer? First, however, it is necessary that you try these arms at home:
I will stand on the very threshold of the gate,
an ill-omened auspice and a monstrous image of crimes. 340

haec tibi canities, haec sunt calcanda, nefande,
ubera, perque uterum sonipes hic matris agendus.
parce: quid oppositam capulo parmaque repellis?
non ego te contra Stygiis feralia sanxi
uota deis, caeco nec Erinyas ore rogaui. 345
exaudi miseram: genetrix te, saeue, precatur,
non pater; adde moram sceleri et metire quod audes.

This gray hair of mine, these breasts are what you must trample, nefarious one,
and through your mother’s womb this steed must be driven.
Spare me: why do you repel one who stands opposed with hilt and buckler?
I did not sanction against you funereal vows to the Stygian gods,
nor did I with a blind mouth beseech the Erinyes. 345
Hear the wretched woman: your mother, cruel one, prays you,
not your father; add delay to the crime and measure what you dare.

sed pulsat muros germanus et impia contra
bella ciet? non mater enim, non obstat eunti
ulla soror: te cuncta rogant, hic plangimus omnes;                350
ast ibi uix unus pugnas dissuadet Adrastus,
aut fortasse iubet. tu limina auita deosque
linquis et a nostris in fratrem amplexibus exis?'
    at parte ex alia tacitos obstante tumultu
Antigone furata gradus (nec casta retardat                355

but does a brother batter the walls and rouse impious wars against us? For neither mother, nor does any sister oppose your going: all beg you, here we all wail; 350
but there scarcely one Adrastus dissuades the fights, or perhaps even bids them. Do you leave the ancestral thresholds and the gods and go out from our embraces against your brother?'
But from another quarter, with the tumult standing in the way, Antigone stole silent steps (nor does her chastity hold her back 355

uirginitas) uolat Ogygii fastigia muri
exuperare furens; senior comes haeret eunti
Actor, et hic summas non duraturus ad arces.
utque procul uisis paulum dubitauit in armis,
agnouitque (nefas!) iaculis et uoce superba 360
tecta incessentem, magno prius omnia planctu
implet et ex muris ceu descensura profatur:
'comprime tela manu paulumque hanc respice turrem,
frater, et horrentes refer in mea lumina cristas!
agnoscisne hostes?

her (virginity) flies, raging, to overtop the summits of the Ogygian wall;
the elder companion, Actor, clings to her as she goes,
and he too, not destined to endure to the topmost citadels.
and when, him seen from afar, she wavered a little amid arms,
and recognized—abomination!—the one assailing the roofs with javelins and with a proud voice, 360
she first fills all things with great lamentation,
and from the walls, as though about to descend, she speaks forth:
‘check your missiles with your hand, and look back a little at this tower,
brother, and turn your bristling crests back toward my eyes!
do you recognize your enemies?’

sic annua pacta fidemque 365
poscimus? hi questus, haec est bona causa modesti
exulis? Argolicos per te, germane, penates
(nam Tyriis iam nullus honos), per si quid in illa
dulce domo, summitte animos: en utraque gentis
turba rogant ambaeque acies; rogat illa suorum 370

Is it thus that we demand the annual pacts and good faith? 365
Are these the complaints, is this the good cause of the modest exile?
By your Argolic Penates, brother (for to the Tyrians now there is no honor), by whatever is sweet in that house, lower your spirit; relent: behold the throng of each people beg, and both battle-lines; that one pleads for her own 370

Antigone deuota malis suspectaque regi,
et tantum tua, dire, soror. saltem ora trucesque
solue genas; liceat uultus fortasse supremum
noscere dilectos et ad haec lamenta uidere
anne fleas. illum gemitu iam supplice mater 375
frangit et exertum dimittere dicitur ensem:
tu mihi fortis adhuc, mihi, quae tua nocte dieque
exilia erroresque fleo iam iamque tumentem
placaui tibi saepe patrem?

Antigone, devoted to misfortunes and suspected by the king,
and only your sister, dread one. At least relax your mouth and fierce
cheeks; let it be permitted perhaps to recognize the beloved faces
for the last time, and at these laments to see
whether you weep. That one his mother now with a suppliant groan 375
breaks, and is said to bid him dismiss his bared sword:
you are still brave to me, to me who night and day weep your
exiles and wanderings—have I not often placated for you your father now now swelling?

quid crimine soluis
germanum? nempe ille fidem et stata foedera rupit, 380
ille nocens saeuusque suis; tamen ecce uocatus
non uenit.' his paulum furor elanguescere dictis
coeperat, obstreperet quamquam atque obstaret Erinys;
iam summissa manus, lente iam flectit habenas,
iam tacet; erumpunt gemitus, lacrimasque fatetur 385

why do you absolve your brother of the crime?
surely he broke faith and the fixed treaties, 380
he, guilty and savage to his own; yet, look, when summoned
he did not come.' At these words his fury had begun a little to languish,
though the Erinys was being obstreperous and stood in the way;
now his hand is lowered, now he slowly bends the reins,
now he is silent; groans erupt, and he confesses tears 385

cassis; hebent irae, pariterque et abire nocentem
et uenisse pudet: subito cum matre repulsa
Eumenis eiecit fractis Eteoclea portis
clamantem: 'uenio, solumque quod ante uocasti
inuideo; ne incesse moras, grauis arma tenebat                390
mater; io patria, o regum incertissima tellus,
nunc certe uictoris eris!' nec mitior ille,
'tandem,' inquit, 'scis, saeue, fidem et descendis in aequum?
o mihi nunc primum longo post tempore frater,
congredere: hae leges, haec foedera sola supersunt.'                395
sic hostile tuens fratrem; namque uritur alto
corde quod innumeri comites, quod regia cassis
instratusque ostro sonipes, quod fulua metallo
parma micet, quamquam haud armis inhonorus et ipse
nec palla uulgare nitens: opus ipsa nouarat                400

the helmet; his wraths grow blunt, and alike he is ashamed both to let the guilty one depart and that he has come: suddenly, with the mother driven back, the Eumenis cast out Eteocles through the broken gates, shouting: 'I come, and I begrudge only the ground which you earlier called; do not set upon delays; my mother was holding the heavy arms.                390
io, fatherland, O land most uncertain of kings, now surely you will be the victor’s!' nor was he milder: 'at last,' he says, 'do you know, savage one, good faith, and do you come down onto level terms? O my brother to me now for the first time after a long time, join battle: these laws, these covenants alone remain.'                395
thus viewing his brother as a foe; for he burns in his high heart because there are numberless companions, because of the royal helmet, the steed bedight with purple, that the shield gleams tawny with metal, although he himself is by no means inglorious in arms, nor shining in a common mantle: the work she herself had wrought.                400

Maeoniis Argia modis ac pollice docto
stamina purpureae sociauerat aurea telae.
iamque in puluereum Furiis hortantibus aequor
prosiliunt, sua quemque comes stimulatque monetque.
frena tenent ipsae phalerasque et lucida comunt 405
arma manu mixtisque iubas serpentibus augent.

Argia with Maeonian modes and a skilled thumb had joined golden strands to a purple web.
and now, with the Furies exhorting, they leap forth onto the dusty plain;
a comrade goads and warns each one.
they themselves hold the reins and adorn the trappings and the gleaming arms with their hand, 405
and they augment the manes with serpents intermingled.

stat consanguineum campo scelus, unius ingens
bellum uteri, coeuntque pares sub casside uultus.
signa pauent, siluere tubae, stupefactaque Martis
cornua; ter nigris auidus regnator ab oris 410
intonuit terque ima soli concussit, et ipsi
armorum fugere dei: nusquam incluta Virtus,
restinxit Bellona faces, longeque pauentes
Mars rapuit currus, et Gorgone cruda uirago
abstitit, inque uicem Stygiae rubuere sorores. 415

there stands upon the field a consanguineous crime, the vast war of a single womb,
and matching faces meet beneath the helmet.
the standards shudder, the trumpets fell silent, and the horns of Mars were stupefied;
thrice the greedy regnator from the black shores thundered, 410
and thrice he shook the lowest depths of the soil, and the gods of arms themselves fled:
renowned Virtue was nowhere;
Bellona quenched her torches, and far away, fearful,
Mars swept off his chariots, and the virago with the raw Gorgon
stood aside, and in their turn the Stygian sisters reddened. 415

prominet excelsis uulgus miserabile tectis,
cuncta madent lacrimis et ab omni plangitur arce.
hinc questi uixisse senes, hinc pectore nudo
stant matres paruosque uetant attendere natos.
ipse quoque Ogygios monstra ad gentilia manes 420
Tartareus rector porta iubet ire reclusa.

the pitiable crowd leans out from lofty roofs,
everything is dripping with tears and from every citadel there is lamentation.
here old men complain that they have lived, there with bared breast
mothers stand and forbid their little sons to look.
the Tartarean ruler himself also orders the Ogygian shades to go to their kindred monsters, 420
with the gate thrown open.

montibus insidunt patriis tristique corona
infecere diem et uinci sua crimina gaudent.
illos ut stimulis ire in discrimen apertis
audit et sceleri nullum iam obstare pudorem, 425
aduolat et medias inmittit Adrastus habenas,
ipse quidem et regnis multum et uenerabilis aeuo.
sed quid apud tales, quis nec sua pignora curae,
exter honos?

they sit upon their ancestral mountains and, in a grim corona,
they have infected the day and rejoice that their own crimes be outdone.
when he hears that those men are going, with goads, into open crisis,
he hears that no pudor now stands in the way of crime, 425
he flies to them and launches the reins into the midst, Adrastus,
he himself indeed much to be venerable both for his realms and for his age.
but what, among such men, for whom not even their own pledges are a care,
is foreign honor?

tamen ille rogat: 'spectabimus ergo hoc,
Inachidae Tyriique, nefas? ubi iura deique? 430

yet he asks: 'Shall we therefore behold this,
Inachids and Tyrians, a nefarious outrage? Where are the laws and the gods? 430

bella ubi? ne perstate animis. te deprecor, hostis
(quamquam, haec ira sinat, nec tu mihi sanguine longe),
te, gener, et iubeo; sceptri si tanta cupido est,
exuo regales habitus, i, Lernan et Argos
solus habe!' non uerba magis suadentia frangunt 435
accensos sumptisque semel conatibus obstant,
quam Scytha curuatis erectus fluctibus umquam
Pontus Cyaneos uetuit concurrere montes.

Where is warfare? Do not persist in your spirits. You I beseech, enemy
(although—if this anger allow—and you are not far from me in blood),
you, son-in-law, and I order; if so great is the cupidity of the scepter,
I strip off my regal habits; go, have Lerna and Argos
for yourself alone!' Nor do words, however more persuasive, break the inflamed 435
and, once their undertakings are taken up, stand in the way,
any more than the Scythian Pontus, raised with curved waves, ever
forbade the Cyanean mountains to run together.

ut periisse preces geminoque ad proelia fusos
puluere cornipedes explorarique furentum 440
in digitis ammenta uidet, fugit omnia linquens,
castra, uiros, generum, Thebas, ac fata monentem
conuersumque iugo propellit Ariona: qualis
demissus curru laeuae post praemia sortis
umbrarum custos mundique nouissimus heres 445

as he sees that prayers have perished and the cornipeds, for battle, scattered in twin dust,
and that the amenta of the frenzied are being tested on their fingers, 440
he flees, leaving everything,
the camp, the men, his son-in-law, Thebes, and one warning of fates,
and he drives Arion, turned about to the yoke: like
let down from his chariot, after the prizes of the left-hand lot,
the guardian of the shades and the newest heir of the world. 445

palluit, amisso ueniens in Tartara caelo.
non tamen indulsit pugnae cunctataque primo
substitit in scelere et paulum Fortuna morata est.
bis cassae periere uiae, bis comminus actos
auertit bonus error equos, puraeque nefandi 450
sanguinis obliquis ceciderunt ictibus hastae.

she paled, coming down into Tartarus with heaven lost.
yet she did not indulge the battle, and, delaying at first,
she halted in the crime, and Fortune lingered a little.
twice the ways proved vain, twice the horses driven at close quarters
a good error turned aside the horses, and the spears, pure of unspeakable 450
blood, fell with slanting blows.

tendunt frena manu, saeuis calcaribus urguent
inmeritos; mouet et geminas uenerabile diuum
prodigium turmas, alternaque murmura uoluunt
mussantes: iterare acies, procurrere saepe                455
impetus et totum miseris opponere bellum.
    iamdudum terris coetuque offensa deorum
auersa caeli Pietas in parte sedebat,
non habitu quo nota prius, non ore sereno,
sed uittis exuta comam, fraternaque bella,                460

they stretch the reins with the hand, with savage spurs they urge on the undeserving;
and a venerable portent of the gods moves both troops,
whispering, they roll alternating murmurs:
to renew the battle-lines, to run forward often to the onset                455
the charge, and to set the whole war against the wretched.
    for a long time now, offended with the lands and with the assembly of the gods,
Piety, turned away, was sitting in a part of heaven,
not with the garb by which she was known before, not with a serene face,
but with her hair stripped of fillets, and the fraternal wars,                460

ceu soror infelix pugnantum aut anxia mater,
deflebat, saeuumque Iouem Parcasque nocentes
uociferans, seseque polis et luce relicta
descensuram Erebo et Stygios iam malle penates.
'quid me' ait 'ut saeuis animantum ac saepe deorum 465
obstaturam animis, princeps Natura, creabas?
nil iam ego per populos, nusquam reuerentia nostri.

like an unhappy sister of those fighting, or an anxious mother,
she was weeping, and, crying out against cruel Jove and the noxious Fates,
and that, the heavens and the light abandoned, she
would descend to Erebus and now preferred the Stygian household gods.
'Why did you,' she says, 'chief Nature, create me to stand against the spirits of savage living beings, and often of the gods 465
to oppose their minds? Now I am nothing among the peoples; nowhere is there reverence for me.

o furor, o homines diraeque Prometheos artes!
quam bene post Pyrrham tellus pontusque uacabant!
en mortale genus!' dixit, speculataque tempus 470
auxilio, 'temptemus' ait 'licet inrita coner,'
desiluitque polo; niueus sub nubibus atris
quamquam maesta deae sequitur uestigia limes.

O fury, O men, and the dire Promethean arts!
How well after Pyrrha the earth and the sea were vacant!
'Behold the mortal race!' she said, and having watched for a time for succor 470
for aid, 'let us attempt it,' she says, 'though I may attempt in vain,'
and she leapt down from the pole; a snow-white line beneath the black clouds
though the goddess was mournful, follows her footsteps.

uix steterat campo, subita mansuescere pace
agmina sentirique nefas; tunc ora madescunt 475

scarcely had she stood on the plain, when the ranks grow gentle with a sudden peace,
and for it to be perceived were impious; then faces grow moist 475

pectoraque, et tacitus subrepsit fratribus horror.
arma etiam simulata gerens cultusque uiriles,
nunc his, nunc illis, 'agite, ite, obsistite,' clamat,
'quis nati fratresque domi, quis pignora tanta
hic quoque! nonne palam est ultro miserescere diuos? 480
tela cadunt, cunctantur equi, Fors ipsa repugnat.'
nonnihil impulerat dubios, ni torua notasset
Tisiphone fraudes caelestique ocior igne
adforet increpitans: 'quid belli obuerteris ausis,
numen iners pacique datum?

and into their hearts, a silent horror stole upon the brothers.
wearing even feigned arms and manly attire,
now to these, now to those, she cries, 'come on, go, stand against them,'
'who has sons and brothers at home, who such pledges
here as well! Is it not plain that the gods of their own accord take pity? 480
the missiles fall, the horses hesitate, Fortune herself resists.'
she had somewhat impelled the wavering, had not grim
Tisiphone marked the deceits and, swifter than celestial fire,
been at hand, chiding: 'why do you turn away from warlike ventures,
a slothful divinity and given over to peace?

cede, improba: noster 485
hic campus nosterque dies; nunc sera nocentes
defendis Thebas. ubi tunc, cum bella cieret
Bacchus et armatas furiarent orgia matres?
aut ubi segnis eras, dum Martius impia serpens
stagna bibit, dum Cadmus arat, dum uicta cadit Sphinx, 490

yield, impudent one: ours 485
is this field and this day is ours; now, too late, you defend
Thebes guilty. where were you then, when Bacchus stirred wars
and the orgies drove the mothers, armed, to frenzy?
or where were you sluggish, while the impious serpent of Mars
drinks the pools, while Cadmus ploughs, while the conquered Sphinx falls, 490

dum rogat Oedipoden genitor, dum lampade nostra
in thalamos Iocasta uenit?' sic urguet, et ultro
uitantem aspectus etiam pudibundaque longe
ora reducentem premit astridentibus hydris
intentatque faces; deiectam in lumina pallam                 495
diua trahit magnoque fugit questura Tonanti.
    tunc uero accensae stimulis maioribus irae:
arma placent, uersaeque uolunt spectare cohortes.
instaurant crudele nefas; rex impius aptat
tela et funestae casum prior occupat hastae.                500
illa uiam medium clipei conata per orbem
non perfert ictus atque alto uincitur auro.

while the father asks Oedipus, while by our torch Jocasta comes into the bridal chambers?' thus she presses, and moreover she harasses her who even avoids the looks and draws back her bashful face far away, she presses with hissing hydras and threatens with torches; the goddess drags the veil cast down over her eyes and flees to lodge a complaint with the Great Thunderer. 495
the goddess draws it and flees to complain to the Great Thunderer.
then indeed the wrath, kindled by greater goads: arms are pleasing, and the turned cohorts wish to behold. they renew the cruel impiety; the impious king fits his weapons and is first to seize the stroke of the baleful spear. 500
that spear, having attempted a path through the middle of the shield’s circle, does not bear the blows through and is overcome by the thick gold.

tunc exul subit et clare funesta precatur:
'di, quos effosso non inritus ore rogauit
Oedipodes flammare nefas, non improba posco 505
uota: piabo manus et eodem pectora ferro
rescindam, dum me moriens hic sceptra tenentem
linquat et hunc secum portet minor umbra dolorem.'
hasta subit uelox equitis femur inter equique
ilia, letum utrique uolens; sed plaga sedentis 510

then the exile advances and clearly prays dire prayers:
'gods, whom Oedipus, with his gouged-out mouth, did not in vain implore
to inflame the wickedness, I do not ask shameless vows: 505
vows these are: I will expiate my hands, and with the same iron
I will rend my breast, so that, as I am dying here, holding the scepters,
he may leave me, and let the lesser Shade carry this grief with him.'
the swift spear slips beneath between the horseman’s thigh and the horse’s
flanks, willing death for both; but the wound of the rider 510

laxato uitata genu, tamen inrita uoti
cuspis in obliquis inuenit uulnera costis.
it praeceps sonipes strictae contemptor habenae
aruaque sanguineo scribit rutilantia gyro.
exultat fratris credens hunc ille cruorem 515
(credit et ipse metu), totis iamque exul habenis
indulget, caecusque auidos inlidit in aegrum
cornipedem cursus.

the blow avoided with a loosened knee, yet, frustrated of its vow, the cusp finds wounds in the oblique ribs.
headlong goes the soniped, a despiser of the tightened rein,
and he inscribes the fields, rutilant, with a sanguine gyre.
he exults, believing this to be his brother’s gore 515
(and he too believes it, from fear), and now the exile with all the reins
indulges, and, blind, the eager course dashes into the ailing horn‑footed steed.

miscentur frena manusque
telaque, et ad terram turbatis gressibus ambo
praecipitant. ut nocte rates, quas nubilus Auster 520
implicuit, frangunt tonsas mutantque rudentes,
luctataeque diu tenebris hiemique sibique,
sicut erant, imo pariter sedere profundo:
haec pugnae facies. coeunt sine more, sine arte,
tantum animis iraque, atque ignescentia cernunt 525

reins and hands and weapons are mingled,
and with disturbed steps both plunge headlong to the earth.
as by night the ships which the nubilous Auster has entangled 520
break their oars and change their ropes,
and, long having wrestled with the darkness and with winter and with themselves,
just as they were, together settle in the lowest deep:
this is the face of the battle. they come together without rule, without art,
only with their spirits and with wrath, and they behold things kindling into fire. 525

per galeas odia et uultus rimantur acerbo
lumine: nil adeo mediae telluris, et enses
impliciti innexaeque manus, alternaque saeui
murmura ceu lituos rapiunt aut signa tubarum.
fulmineos ueluti praeceps cum comminus egit                530
ira sues strictisque erexit tergora saetis:
igne tremunt oculi, lunataque dentibus uncis
ora sonant; spectat pugnas de rupe propinqua
uenator pallens canibusque silentia suadet:
sic auidi incurrunt; necdum letalia miscent                535
uulnera, sed coeptus sanguis, facinusque peractum est.
nec iam opus est Furiis; tantum mirantur et astant
laudantes, hominumque dolent plus posse furores.
fratris uterque furens cupit adfectatque cruorem
et nescit manare suum; tandem inruit exul,                540

through their helmets they pry into hatreds and visages with a bitter light: nothing at all of the middle ground, and the swords are entwined and the hands interlaced, and their alternating savage murmurs seize, as if clarions or the signals of trumpets. just as when headlong wrath has driven boars at close quarters and has raised their backs with bristles made rigid: their eyes tremble with fire, and their crescent mouths with hooked teeth resound; the hunter, paling, watches the fights from a nearby crag and urges silence upon his dogs: thus they rush in avid; nor yet do they commingle deadly wounds, but the blood is begun, and the crime is accomplished. 530
no longer is there need of the Furies; they only marvel and stand by applauding, and they grieve that the frenzies of men can do more. each brother, raging, desires and aims at the other’s gore and does not know his own to be flowing; at last the exile rushes in, 535

hortatusque manum, cui fortior ira nefasque
iustius, alte ensem germani in corpore pressit,
qua male iam plumis imus tegit inguina thorax.
ille dolens nondum, sed ferri frigore primo
territus, in clipeum turbatos colligit artus; 545
mox intellecto magis ac magis aeger anhelat
uulnere. nec parcit cedenti atque increpat hostis:
'quo retrahis, germane, gradus?

and having exhorted his hand, in which ire was stronger and the nefarious wrong more just, he pressed the sword deep into his brother’s body, where the lower thorax now poorly covers the groins with plumes.
he, not yet in pain, but frightened by the first chill of the iron, gathers his troubled limbs upon the shield; 545
soon, the wound being realized, more and more sick he gasps.
nor does the foe spare the one yielding and he rebukes him:
'whither do you draw back your steps, brother?

hoc languida somno,
hoc regnis effeta quies, hoc longa sub umbra
imperia! exilio rebusque exercita egenis                550
membra uides; disce arma pati nec fidere laetis.'
    sic pugnant miseri; restabat lassa nefando
uita duci summusque cruor, poterantque parumper
stare gradus; sed sponte ruit fraudemque supremam
in media iam morte parat. clamore Cithaeron                555

this, languid with sleep;
this peace effete with realms, these dominions under a long shadow!
you see limbs drilled by exile and by needy circumstances;                550
learn to endure arms and not to trust in prosperities.'
    thus the wretches fight; there remained, weary, for an unspeakable end,
a life to be drawn out and the last gore, and their steps could for a little
stand; but of his own will he collapses and prepares the supreme fraud
even in the very midst of death already. With a shout, Cithaeron                555

erigitur, fraterque ratus uicisse leuauit
ad caelum palmas: 'bene habet! non inrita uoui,
cerno graues oculos atque ora natantia leto.
huc aliquis propere sceptrum atque insigne comarum,
dum uidet.' haec dicens gressus admouit et arma, 560
ceu templis decus et patriae laturus ouanti,
arma etiam spoliare cupit; nondum ille peractis
manibus ultrices animam seruabat in iras.

he rises, and the brother, thinking he had conquered, lifted
his palms to heaven: 'It is well! I have not vowed in vain,
I discern the heavy eyes and the faces swimming in death.
hither someone quickly the scepter and the insignia of the hair,
while he yet sees.' Saying these things, he advanced his steps and his arms, 560
as if about to bear an ornament to the temples and to his exultant fatherland,
he even longs to despoil his arms; but he, with his hands’ work not yet completed,
was keeping his life for avenging wraths.

utque superstantem pronumque in pectora sensit,
erigit occulte ferrum uitaeque labantis 565
reliquias tenues odio suppleuit, et ensem
iam laetus fati fraterno in corde reliquit.
ille autem: 'uiuisne an adhuc manet ira superstes,
perfide, nec sedes umquam meriture quietas?
huc mecum ad manes!

and when he perceived him standing over and bent down toward his breast,
he secretly raised the iron, and the thin remnants of his slipping life 565
he made up with hatred, and, now glad, he left the sword of fate in his brother’s heart.
but he: ‘Do you live, or does anger still remain surviving,
perfidious one, and will you never deserve quiet seats?
hither with me to the Manes!’

illic quoque pacta reposcam,                570
si modo Agenorei stat Cnosia iudicis urna,
qua reges punire datur.' nec plura locutus
concidit et totis fratrem grauis obruit armis.
    ite truces animae funestaque Tartara leto
polluite et cunctas Erebi consumite poenas!                575

there too I will demand back the pacts,                570
if only the Cnossian urn of the Agenorean judge stands,
whereby it is granted to punish kings.' and, having spoken no more,
he collapsed and, heavy with all his arms, crushed his brother.
    go, savage souls, and the baleful Tartarus with death
pollute, and consume all the penalties of Erebus!                575

uosque malis hominum, Stygiae, iam parcite, diuae:
omnibus in terris scelus hoc omnique sub aeuo
uiderit una dies, monstrumque infame futuris
excidat, et soli memorent haec proelia reges.
    at genitor sceleris comperto fine profundis                580
erupit tenebris saeuoque in limine profert
mortem imperfectam: ueteri stat sordida tabo
utraque canities, et durus sanguine crinis
obnubit furiale caput; procul ora genaeque
intus et effossae squalent uestigia lucis.                585
uirgo autem impositae sustentat pondera laeuae,
dextra sedet baculo. qualis si puppe relicta
exosus manes pigri sulcator Auerni
exeat ad superos solemque et pallida turbet
astra, nec ipse diu fortis patiensque superni                590

and you, Stygian goddesses, now spare the woes of men:
let one single day behold this crime in all lands and under every age,
and let the infamous monster fall away from posterity, and let kings alone
recount these battles.     But the father, when the end of the crime was discovered, from the deep                580
darkness burst forth and on the savage threshold he brings
forth an unfinished death: both hoary locks stand sordid with ancient gore,
and hair hardened with blood veils the Furial head;
within, the face and cheeks, and the gouged-out footprints of light,
are squalid.                 585
Moreover a maiden supports the weight laid upon his left,
while on the right he is set upon a staff. Just as if, the stern left behind,
the hater of the shades, the sluggish plougher of Avernus,
should come forth to the upper world and trouble the sun and the pale
stars, nor is he himself for long strong and patient of the upper sky.                590

aeris; interea longum cessante magistro
crescat opus, totisque expectent saecula ripis:
talis init campum, comitique extrema gementi,
'duc' ait 'ad natos patremque recentibus, oro,
inice funeribus!' cunctatur nescia uirgo                595
quid paret; impediunt iter implicitosque morantur
arma, uiri, currus, altaque in strage seniles
deficiunt gressus et dux miseranda laborat.
ut quaesita diu monstrauit corpora clamor
uirginis, insternit totos frigentibus artus.                600
nec uox ulla seni: iacet inmugitque cruentis
uulneribus, nec uerba diu temptata sequuntur.
dum tractat galeas atque ora latentia quaerit,
tandem muta diu genitor suspiria soluit:
'tarda meam, Pietas, longo post tempore mentem                605

aeris; meanwhile, with the master lingering for a long time,
let the work grow, and let ages wait along all the banks:
thus he enters the field, and to his companion groaning his last,
he says, 'lead to the sons, and, I pray, the father, cast upon the fresh
funerals!' The maiden hesitates, not knowing what to prepare;                595
what to do; arms, men, and chariots impede the way and delay the entangled,
and in the deep carnage the senile steps fail,
and the pitiable leader toils. When the outcry showed the bodies long sought
of the maiden, she spreads coverings over all the chilling limbs.                600
nor is there any voice for the old man: he lies and bellows over his bloody
wounds, nor do the words, long attempted, follow. While he handles helmets and seeks the hidden faces,
at last the father, long mute, loosens his sighs:
'Piety, tardy after a long time, my mind                605

percutis? estne sub hoc hominis clementia corde?
uincis io miserum, uincis, Natura, parentem!

do you strike? is there human clemency beneath this heart?
you conquer—ah, wretched me— you conquer, Nature, the parent!

en habeo gemitus lacrimaeque per arida serpunt
uulnera et in molles sequitur manus impia planctus.
accipite infandae iusta exequialia mortis, 610
crudeles nimiumque mei! nec noscere natos
adloquiumque aptare licet; dic, uirgo, precanti,
quem teneo?

lo I have groans, and tears creep through arid wounds
wounds, and into the soft hands the impious beating follows.
receive the due exequial rites of unspeakable death, 610
you cruel ones and all too mine! nor is it permitted to recognize my sons
and to fit an address; say, maiden, to one praying,
whom do I hold?

quo nunc uestras ego saeuus honore
prosequar inferias? o si fodienda redirent
lumina et in uultus saeuire ex more potestas! 615
heu dolor, heu iusto magis exaudita parentis
uota malaeque preces! quisnam fuit ille deorum,
qui stetit orantem iuxta praereptaque uerba
dictauit Fatis?

with what honor now shall I, savage, attend your funeral offerings?
O if the eyes, to be gouged, would come back, and the power to rage against faces as by custom! 615
alas, pain—alas that the vows of a parent and wicked prayers have been heard more than is just!
who of the gods was it, who stood beside me praying and dictated the snatched-away words to the Fates?

Furor illa et mouit Erinys
et pater et genetrix et regna oculique cadentes; 620

Frenzy and the Erinys moved those things,
and the father and the genitrix (mother) and the realms and the falling eyes; 620

nil ego: per Ditem iuro dulcesque tenebras
inmeritamque ducem, subeam sic Tartara digna
morte, nec irata fugiat me Laius umbra.
ei mihi, quos nexus fratrum, quae uulnera tracto!
soluite, quaeso, manus infestaque uincula tandem 625
diuidite, et medium nunc saltem admittite patrem.'
talia dequestus paulatim insumpserat iras
mortis, et occulte telum, ni nata uetaret,
quaerebat; sed cauta manu subtraxerat enses
Antigone.

nothing I: I swear by Dis and the sweet shades, and by my undeserving guide—may I thus undergo Tartarus by a death deserved, and let not the irate shade of Laius shun me.
alas for me, what bonds of brothers, what wounds do I handle!
release, I beg, my hands, and at last divide these hostile chains, 625
and now at least admit the father into the midst.'
having lamented such things, he had little by little spent the angers of death, and secretly was seeking a weapon, had not his daughter forbidden it; but wary Antigone with cautious hand had removed the swords.

furit inde senex: 'ubi noxia tela?                630
heu Furiae! num totum abiit in corpora ferrum?'
dicentem comes aegra leuat mutumque dolorem
ipsa premit, saeuum gaudens planxisse parentem.
    olim autem inceptae clamore exterrita pugnae
regina extulerat notum penetralibus ensem,                635

then the old man raves: 'where are the noxious weapons?                630
alas, Furies! has all the iron gone into bodies?'
as he speaks, the ailing companion lifts him, and she herself
suppresses her mute grief, rejoicing to have beaten her breast over her savage parent.
    earlier, however, the queen, terrified by the clamor of the battle begun,
had brought forth from the inner chambers the well-known sword,                635

ensem sceptriferi spolium lacrimabile Lai.
multaque cum superis et diro questa cubili
et nati furiis et primi coniugis umbris,
luctata est dextra, et prono uix pectore ferrum
intrauit tandem: uenas perrumpit aniles                640
uulnus et infelix lustratur sanguine lectus.
illius exili stridentem in pectore plagam
Ismene conlapsa super lacrimisque comisque
siccabat plangens: qualis Marathonide silua
flebilis Erigone caesi prope funera patris                645
questibus absumptis tristem iam soluere nodum
coeperat et fortes ramos moritura legebat.
    et iam laeta ducum spes elusisse duorum
res Amphionias alio sceptrumque maligna
transtulerat Fortuna manu, Cadmique tenebat                650

the sword, the tearful spoil of scepter-bearing Laius.
and, having made many complaints both to the gods above and to the dire couch
and to the furies of her son and to the shades of her first consort,
her right hand struggled, and with breast bowed the iron scarcely
at last entered: it bursts through anile veins,                640
and the unlucky bed is lustrated with blood.
over that thin wound hissing in her breast
Ismene, collapsed upon her, was drying, with tears and with her hair,
while lamenting: just as in the Marathonian wood
plaintive Erigone, near the funeral of her slaughtered father,                645
when her lamentations were spent, had now begun to loosen the sad knot
and, about to die, was choosing sturdy branches.
    and now malignant Fortune, rejoicing to have eluded the hope of the two leaders,
had transferred the Amphionian state and the scepter with another hand,
and was holding the Cadmean...                650

iura Creon. miser heu bellorum terminus! illi
pugnarant fratres.

Creon held the rights. Alas, the wretched terminus of wars! those brothers
had fought.

hunc et Mauortia clamant
semina, et impensus patriae paulo ante Menoeceus
conciliat populis. scandit fatale tyrannis
flebilis Aoniae solium: pro blanda potestas 655
et sceptri malesuadus amor! numquamne priorum
haerebunt documenta nouis?

both the Mavortian seed cry out for this man,
and Menoeceus, lavish for his fatherland a little before, commends him to the peoples. He mounts the fatal-to-tyrants, lamentable throne of Aonia: ah, seductive power 655
and the ill-persuading love of the scepter! Will the lessons of the former never cling to the new?

iuuat ecce nefasto
stare loco regimenque manu tractare cruentum.
quid, melior Fortuna, potes! iam flectere patrem
incipit atque datis abolere Menoecea regnis. 660
primum adeo saeuis imbutus moribus aulae
(indicium specimenque sui) iubet igne supremo
arceri Danaos, nudoque sub axe relinqui
infelix bellum et tristes sine sedibus umbras.

behold, it pleases him to stand in the nefarious place and to handle with his hand the bloody regime.
what, better Fortune, you can do! now he begins to bend the father and, by the kingdoms bestowed, to abolish Menoeceus. 660
straightway, so steeped in the savage manners of the court
(a proof and specimen of himself), he orders that the Danaans be warded off from the supreme fire,
and that, beneath the naked vault, there be left the ill-fated war and the sad shades without dwellings.

mox reducem Ogygiae congressus limine portae 665

soon, having met the returning one at the threshold of the Ogygian gate 665

Oedipodem extimuit paulum, seseque minorem
confessus tacite, promptamque coercuit iram;
sed redit in regem caecumque audentius hostem
increpitans, 'procul,' inquit, 'abi, uictoribus omen
inuisum, et Furias auerte ac moenia lustra 670
discessu Thebana tuo. spes longa peracta est:
uade, iacent nati. quae iam tibi uota supersunt?'
horruit instinctu rabido, steteruntque trementes
ceu uisu praesente genae, seniumque recessit.

He feared Oedipus a little, and, confessing himself the lesser
silently, he restrained his ready wrath;
but he returns to the king and, rebuking the blind enemy more boldly,
he cries, 'far off,' he says, 'be gone, a hateful omen to the victors,
and avert the Furies and lustrate the Theban walls by your departure. 670
the long hope has been accomplished:
go, the sons lie dead. What vows now remain to you?'
he shuddered with a rabid instinct, and his cheeks stood trembling
as if at a present sight, and old age drew back.

tunc natam baculumque manu dimisit, et irae 675
innixus tumido uocem de pectore rumpit:
'iamne uacat saeuire, Creon? modo perfida regna
fortunaeque locum nostrae, miserande, subisti,
et tibi iam fas est regum calcare ruinas?
iam tumulis uictos, socios iam moenibus arces? 680

then he let go his daughter and his staff from his hand, and leaning upon anger 675
he bursts a voice from his swollen breast:
'is there now leisure to be savage, Creon? only just now the faithless realms
and the place of our fortune did you, pitiable man, assume,
and is it already lawful for you to tread the ruins of kings?
already the conquered to their tumuli, already the citadels allies to the walls?' 680

macte, potes digne Thebarum sceptra tueri:
haec tua prima dies. sed cur noua contrahis amens
iura? quid anguste tantos metiris honores?

well done, you can worthily guard the sceptres of Thebes:
this is your first day. but why, out of your mind, do you contract new laws?
why do you measure so narrowly such great honors?

exilium intendis. timida inclementia regum
ista! feros auidus quin protinus imbuis enses? 685
crede, licet: ueniat cupidus parere satelles
intrepidusque secet non euitantia colla.

You aim at exile. That timid inclemency of kings! Why not, avid, straightway imbrue your savage swords? 685
Believe it, you may: let a henchman, eager to obey, come,
and, intrepid, let him cut necks not evading.

incipe! an expectas ut pronus supplice dextra
sternar et inmitis domini uestigia quaeram?
finge autem temptare, sines?

begin! or are you waiting until, prone, with a suppliant right hand,
I am laid low and seek the footprints of a harsh master?
suppose, moreover, I try it—will you allow it?

mihine ulla minaris 690
supplicia, aut ullos reris superesse timores?
linquere tecta iubes? caelum terramque reliqui
sponte, atque ultricem crudelis in ora retorsi
non ullo cogente manum: quid tale iubere,
rex inimice, potes?

Do you threaten me with any punishments, 690
or do you deem any fears to remain?
Do you order me to leave my home? I have relinquished heaven and earth
of my own accord, and I have turned my avenging hand back against the cruel one’s face
with no one compelling my hand: what thing like that can you order,
hostile king?

fugio excedoque nefandis 695

I flee and depart from the nefarious 695

sedibus; an refert quo funera longa measque
transportem tenebras? ne non gens cuncta precanti
concedat, patriae quantum miser incubo terrae!
sed dulces Thebae.

seats; or does it matter to what place I transport my long-drawn funeral and my own shadows?
lest the whole nation not concede to a suppliant, as much as I, wretched, weigh upon my fatherland’s earth!
but sweet are Thebes.

nimirum hic clarior ortus,
et meliora meos permulcent sidera uultus, 700
hic genetrix natique. habeas Thebana regasque
moenia, quo Cadmus, quo Laius omine rexit
quoque ego; sic thalamos, sic pignora fida capessas;
nec tibi sit uirtus fortunam euadere dextra,
sed lucem deprensus ames. satis omina sanxi, 705
duc age, nata, procul.

Surely here the origin is brighter,
and kinder stars soothe my countenance; 700
here are my genetrix and my sons. May you have and rule
the Theban walls, under the omen under which Cadmus, under which Laius ruled,
and I as well; thus may you attain marriage-chambers, thus faithful pledges;
and let it not be valor for you to escape fortune by your right hand,
but, though caught, love the light. I have sanctioned omens enough; 705
come, lead on, daughter, away.

quid te autem luctibus addo?
da, rex magne, ducem.' timuit miseranda relinqui
Antigone mutatque preces: 'felicia per te
regna, uerende Creon, sanctasque Menoeceos umbras:
da ueniam adflicto dictisque ignosce superbis. 710
hunc morem fandi longae fecere querelae;
nec soli ferus iste tibi: sic fata deosque
adloquitur, durus luctu, facilisque nec ipsi
saepe mihi; pridem indomito sub pectore uiuit
libertas misera et saeuae spes aspera mortis. 715

but why do I add you to my mournings?
grant, great king, a guide.' pitiable Antigone feared to be left behind
and changes her prayers: 'by you may the realms be fortunate,
venerable Creon, and the sacred shades of Menoeceus:
grant pardon to the afflicted and forgive the proud words. 710
long complaints have fashioned this manner of speaking;
nor is that fierce temper toward you alone: thus he addresses the fates and the gods,
hardened by grief, and not easy even to myself
often; long since beneath his untamed breast there lives
wretched liberty and the harsh hope of savage death. 715

et nunc ecce tuas inritat callidus iras
suppliciumque cupit; sed tu maioribus, oro,
imperii potiare bonis, altusque iacentes
praetereas, et magna ducum uereare priorum
funera. et hic quondam solio sublimis et armis 720
saeptus opem miseris et iura, potentibus aequus
supplicibusque, dabat, cui nunc ex agmine tanto
una comes, necdum exul erat. felicibus hicne
obstat?

and now, behold, he cunningly irritates your wraths
and desires a punishment; but do you, I beg, possess yourself of the greater goods of dominion,
and, lofty, pass by those lying low, and stand in awe of the great funerals
of former leaders. And he too once, exalted on the throne and hedged with arms 720
gave help to the wretched and laws, impartial to the powerful
and to suppliants; who now, out of so great a host,
has one companion—nor was he yet an exile. Does this man
obstruct the fortunate?

in hunc odiis et regni uiribus exis,
hunc abigis tectis? an ne prope limina clarum 725
ingemat et uotis intempestiuus oberret?
pone metum, procul usque tua summotus ab aula
flebit; ego erectum subigam et seruire docebo,
coetibus abducam solaque in sede recondam:
exul erit.

is it against this man that you go forth with hatreds and with the forces of the kingdom,
do you drive this man from the roofs? or lest near the thresholds, illustrious, 725
he groan and, intempestive with prayers, hover about?
put away fear: far off, removed from your hall,
he will weep; I will subdue him, erect, and teach him to serve,
I will abduct him from gatherings and hide him in a solitary seat:
he will be an exile.

nam quae migranti externa patebunt 730

for what foreign lands will be open to the exile 730

moenia? uis Argos eat hostilesque Mycenas
squalidus inreptet, uictique ad limen Adrasti
Aonias referat clades, tenuemque precetur
rex Thebanus opem? miserae quid crimina gentis
pandere, quid casus iuuat ostentare pudendos? 735
conde, precor, quodcumque sumus, nec longa precamur
dona, Creon: miserere senis, maestosque parentis
hic, precor, hic manes indulge ponere: certe
Thebanos sepelire licet.' sic orat humique
uoluitur; abducit genitor saeuumque minatur 740
indignans ueniam.

walls? Do you wish he go to Argos and hostile Mycenae,
creep in, squalid, and at the threshold of vanquished Adrastus
report the Aonian disasters, and beseech a slight
aid—the Theban king? Why is it of use to lay bare the crimes
of a wretched nation, why to parade shameful mishaps? 735
Hide, I pray, whatever we are; nor do we beg for long
boons, Creon: have pity on the old man, and allow the sad parent
here, I pray, here to lay his manes to rest: surely
it is permitted to bury Thebans.' Thus he pleads and on the ground
he rolls; the father leads him away and, indignant, threatens—denying pardon. 740

qualis leo rupe sub alta,
quem uiridem quondam siluae montesque tremebant,
iam piger et longo iacet exarmatus ab aeuo,
magna tamen facies et non adeunda senectus;
et si demissas ueniat mugitus ad aures,                745
erigitur meminitque sui, uiresque solutas
ingemit et campis alios regnare leones.
    flectitur adfatu, sed non tamen omnia rector
supplicis indulget lacrimis partemque recidit
muneris. 'haud,' inquit, 'patriis prohibebere longe                750

such as a lion beneath a lofty crag,
whom once the green forests and mountains trembled at,
now sluggish and disarmed by long age lies,
yet great the aspect and an old age not to be approached;
and if a bellowing should come to his lowered ears,                745
he is roused and remembers himself, and his loosened powers
he groans, and that other lions rule the plains.
    he is bent by the address, but yet the ruler
does not indulge everything to the suppliant’s tears, and cuts back a portion
of the favor. 'Not,' he says, 'shalt thou be prohibited far from thy ancestral lands                750

finibus, occursu dum non pia templa domosque
commacules. habeant te lustra tuusque Cithaeron;
atque haec ecce tuis tellus habitabilis umbris,
qua bellum geminaeque iacent in sanguine gentes.'
sic ait, et ficto comitum uulgique gementis                755
adsensu limen tumidus regale petebat.
    interea pulsi uallum exitiale Pelasgi
destituunt furto; nulli sua signa suusque
ductor: eunt taciti passim et pro funere pulchro
dedecorem amplexi uitam reditusque pudendos.                760
nox fauet et grata profugos amplectitur umbra.

from the borders, before by your approach you befoul the pious temples and homes. Let the lairs and your Cithaeron have you; and look, this land is habitable for your shades, where war and the twin peoples lie in blood.'
thus he speaks, and with the feigned assent of his companions and the groaning crowd                755
swollen with pride he made for the royal threshold.
    meanwhile the Pelasgians, driven back, by stealth abandon the deadly rampart;
to none are his own standards and his own leader: they go silent here and there, and instead of a fair funeral
embracing a disgraceful life and shameful returns.                760
night favors them and in welcome shadow embraces the fugitives.