The Phoenician Women

Euripides

Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.

  1. No; not if they are wrong and ill-advised.
Creon
  1. What? Isn’t it right for that other to be given to the dogs?
Antigone
  1. No, for the vengeance you are exacting is not a lawful one.
Creon
  1. Yes, if he was his country’s enemy, when not born an enemy.
Antigone
  1. Well, he rendered up his destiny to fate.
Creon
  1. Let him now pay the penalty in his burial too.
Antigone
  1. What crime did he commit, in coming to claim his portion of the land?
Creon
  1. Be very sure of this, he shall have no burial.
Antigone
  1. I will bury him, although the state forbids.
Creon
  1. Do so, and you will be making your own grave by his.
Antigone
  1. A noble end, for two so near and dear to lie side by side!
Creon
  1. Seize and take her inside.
Antigone
  1. Oh, no! For I will not let go of this corpse.
Creon
  1. These are the god’s decrees, my girl, not what seems good to you.
Antigone
  1. And this has been decreed, not to insult the dead.
Creon
  1. Be sure that no one will sprinkle over the corpse the moistened dust.
Antigone
  1. O Creon, by my mother Jocasta, I implore you!