How we are to go home, I cannot tell.ChorusDo not seek to go.AntigoneTrouble surrounds us.ChorusAnd previously it bore heavily.AntigoneThen it was desperate, but now even crueler.ChorusVast, then, is the sea of your troubles.AntigoneAlas, alas! Zeus, where shall we turn?To what last hope does the divinity now drive us?

Enter Theseus.TheseusCease your lament, children! Where the favor of the nether night is stored up, there is no room for sorrow; divine retribution would follow.AntigoneSon of Aegeus, we supplicate you!TheseusTo obtain what desire, my children?AntigoneWe want look with our own eyes upon our father’s tomb.TheseusIt is not right to go there.AntigoneWhat do you mean, lord, ruler of Athens?

TheseusChildren, he told me that no one should draw near that place, or approach with prayer the sacred tomb in which he sleeps. He said that, so long as I saw to this, I would always keep the country free from pain.The divinity heard me say these things, as did the all-seeing Oath of Zeus.AntigoneIf this is his intention, we must be content with it.Send us to ancient Thebes, in case we may somehow stop the bloodshed that threatens our brothers.TheseusI will do both this and whatever other favorable service I can, for youand for the newly-departed under the earth, according to the gratitude I owe. I am bound to spare no pains.