Antigone

Sophocles

Sophocles the plays and fragments, Part 3: The Antigone. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, Sir, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1891.

  1. And what is it that so disheartens you?
Guard
  1. I want to tell you first about myself—I did not do the deed, nor did I see the doer,
  2. so it would be wrong that I should come to any harm.
Creon
  1. Like a bowman you aim well at your target from a distance, and all around you hedge yourself off well from the deed. It is clear that you have some unheard-of thing to tell.
Guard
  1. That I do, for terrible news imposes great hesitation.
Creon
  1. Then tell it, will you, and so unburdened go away?
Guard
  1. Well, here it is. The corpse—some one has just given it burial and disappeared after sprinkling thirsty dust on the flesh and performing the other rites that piety demands.