Antigone Article 07

THE

Complete Greek Drama

INTRODUCTION

ALL THE EXTANT TRAGEDIES OF AESCHYLUS, REE

SOPHOCLES AND EURIPIDES, kND THE

of the extant plays of Sophocles interpret aspects of the familial

'~~eban saga. The Antigone, the earliest of the th~ee, being written prob-

COMEDIES OF ARISTOPHANES AND

blv about 44 2 B.C., treats the latest events of the legend. The second. diPlis the King, deals with the early part of the story, while the third. O( AiMJS at C%nus, the crowning achievement of Sophocles' old age, pre~

MEN ANDER, IN A VARIETY OF TRANSLATIONS

nts the last hours and death of Oedipus, which in the chronology of the

~~end fall between the episo.de~ of Oedipus th~ King and the Antigo~e. 1:. J)

I TED

,)tbough Sophocles follows

In

Its general outlines the received version

~f the legend, he has not scrupled to alter it or change its. emphases in

]j 'i:

WHITNEY]. OATES AlIi'D

EUGENE O'NEILL, JR, ,

..

~

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOLUME ONE

order to serve his own particular dramatic purpose. For example, Creon is a very sympathetic character in Oedipus the King, whereas he is pertraved quite differently in the Antigone. .~ccording to the legend. Eteocles, son of Oedipus and now king of ~ Thebes, had exiled his brother, Polyneices, who also desired to hold the [\ ~ 0 1"l'al power. Polyneices had enlisted the support of Argos, and had led W~ ,;:if' a tremendous host against Thebes in order to seize the throne. In the (f!S battle which then ensued, the brothers, who met in individual combat, '0>' iell each by the other's hand, and fulfilled thereby the curse wbich their lalher, Oedipus, had called down u on them 'ust before his death. The Argive host as een repulsed, and Creon has assumed the vacant throne. The action of the Antigone takes place on the day after the battle. Creon has just issued a proclamation that the body of Eteocles shall be given the full funeral honours due a hero, while the corpse of Polyneices shall lie unburied. At this point the play opens. The central conflict of the play between Antigone and Creon is pre11\'(\ \.. sented in simple terms, and derives, on the surface, fr'9n!Jli"ifconventional (1\l1- 'I Greek attitude towards burial ritual. Creon has inflicted upon the dead ~~\"" Polyneices a punishment which the Greeks looked upon with peculiar l~ S; terror, namely that his body should not receive the requisIte funeral o to rites. In fact, the problem is precisely that which preoccupied Sophocles \)!;.~ in the closing scenes of his Ajax. However, in the Antigone, the poet has cf\~ '~ universalized the conflict which arises from this articular situation. until i. ecomes basically a question whether man-made and tyrannically en-

~

4ZI

RANDOM HOUSE

NEW YORK

4,2

Introduction

forced law should take recedence over what any individual conceives I his heart to be djvine Jaw Creon en eavours to Impose his human law oa Antigone, who disobeys out of respect for-a higher law. Creon IS distinctly a tragic figure, who holds firmly to wnat he believes to be right and who has no doubts as to the absolute validity of his be. Iiefs, Nothing shakes him, not even the criticism and open opposition of his son, Haemon, with whom Creon is sharply contrasted, until it is too late and the catastrophe has already occurred, Creon gains in stature at the conclusion because he realizes his guilt and assumes responsibility or it. In many respects he is not unlike Pentheus, in Euripides! Baccltae. As for Anti one critics are divided in their interpretations. Some hold hat she IS guilty of pride, hybris, and that she is suffering from an absurd and stubborn desire to become a martyr. Others insist that she is unswervingly and magnificently devoted to her ideals for which she is will. ing to sacrifice her life, that she does not possess any "tragic flaw" ia any sense of the word, and that her fate is completely undeserved)Whatever may be a satisfactory interpretation of her character, at least it is certain that Sophocles has created a living and a vital figure in Antigone, Her devotion to her ideals may perhaps lead her to a somewhat uncompromising harshness towards her sister, bu t Sophocles makes it clear that she has within her a warmth and gentleness of spirit which she has suppressed but which are revealed, now in her love for Haemon, and now when she asks pathetically, as she is led away to death, why it is that she suffers, One is tempted to formulate clearly the major issues of the play and forget that they are fused with other varied elements in such a way that ~( the resultant work of art possesses great richness. To cite examples of Q. \ tz,c, this richness, one nee~ ~nly mention the brilliant choral ode on the won0" ders of man, the realistic and somewhat comic treatment of the Guard, \ p\0-1' or the scene between Haemon and Creon which contains political irnpli\ cations of great significance. As a result, though the Antigone may nol be the equal of Oedipus the King, either in point of technique or of universal meaning, yet it remains one of the most satisfying of all the Greek tragedies.

?

9'",S

5ophoclt!s's Cf.araClert{a.cion --~----......--.

I\UIIEf\T fLACELIERE

after his death). Une of Ius satyr plays. r~e Sle';;t;..s, has also SUrVI\'l'J rn J very muulatvd form. The subjects 01 these plays, like those of Aeschylus. are taken [rom the cycle of Troy (Ajax, Electra and Phi/acleft'S), and II rc Tbcban cycle (Antigone, Oedipus the King, OeJipw at Colon os) ; [0 which Sophocles added another, the Jr/Otrlefl of Trochis, from tll-:

Heracles cycle. None of lus tragedies

A LITERARY HISTORY OF

GREECE

W;JS

inspired by contempor.o-v

military or political events, like Aeschylus' Persae, and he scarcely

alludes to contemporary events, as Euripides was fond of dOIng. At the very most It might be said that when Theseus, at the end of Ot-dipus aj Colones, welcomes Oedipus with the pity due to hIS misfonunes, he IS in a sense staking a claim, on behalf of A tilens, to the grntltud~ of the Theban enemy: Oedipus promises thar his body, hurled III Attica, will prote<.:t lh~ country 'from the r avuges of the children of earth'.

[Jlil[ i~ lll(!

sons

or Cadmus.

Now, JI t1j{~ ruuc

WIH'll IlJe ;lJ~ed

Sophocles was wriling; this play? Tllebes was uj(: bitterest enemy

ur

the Atbenians. TrarutJud by DQUGL,A:I GARMAN

Tile Innovations that Sophocles introduced into the art of tragedy were less important than those of Aeschylus. It is said that II WJS he who iirst used a third actor! the tritagonist and we nave alrL';ldy l

seen how Aeschylus hastened to imirure him

ill

this

III

rhe

Orl.'S{t'I<1;

he broke away definitively from the connected retralop-y: and lustlv,

while

diminishin~

the relative importance of the lyrics suru; Ly

die

Chorus, he increased the size of the luucr from twelve to fifteen Singers.

C .. J

.

\VIJ,H Wi.lS \'enullll'ly ll~W In thL' Dll.1Y~ of Sophocles l'()!npi.ln.:d Willi those of Aeschylus was their greater t'rnpiJa::iis UrI till' uevt'[opmt'lll of individual dl'lral:ter. Like his great predecessor, he believed in tile t!;uds, but it has been said that he was perhaps 'more devout rlun n::iigIUlJS'. True, he makes the gods appear on the stage: Athena at the lJt.'gllllllll[-!;

of Aja•.l.: and the deified Heracles at the end of PhiioCfJ:it"" 13IH Lite nnd tlle gods now leave more freedom to !Inman :le'tion: (herr 11I1!lll'IlL'L' though it still makes itself felt is more remote, thlls ..d loWlIlg Supllo\.:k's l

will. Iii') chur.rvrcrs arc lHI liko Ul'i'~>ll:~; III dll: (lUI,'. I'III){(!L', whose ,1CtlOIlS arc determined by Apoll». As prufL'ss()r Sucll lias said, they arc 'lonelier than those of Aeschylus. Oedipus, Auriguuc and Ajax are conceived as "acting" men; they act III accord wnh definite Ic.kJS of their cwn-e-but in the Sophoclean context thi.lt means to IllY greilter strL'SS 011 the nOWl.!r of man's

1()llgt'r :-,irllply

ALDINE PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGQ

,q ~i

the ,dilyddnW; of

dli~ I~{)d~,

that they act in deliberate opposiuon

10

the world around them.

III

tile

.e::

lmperialism and Decline of Alheru

,/ !

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-J>\

,..- (I

~Q)

~o

\

SOI'!wc!u' Antigone

t'!ld ilctioll films into sclf-dcsuucrion'. J This development was to OC C;lfflt'd to irs logl~i1 conclusion by Euripides. "'" All So ,hocles' ,row' 's la a c1ear.sighted, finn and uns 13ke'-lble will po1;l./er, and it is this that constituted the real action or the pluys , lin action in which external ~VCIlIS arc (cw. In Ajax die only

tldrl~ dl;l!

moraliry of centuries later: 'Gut [ say unto you, you shall love your ,

actually happens is tl-e hero's Silicide: hut what

inleres",d Sophocles, wh:u he was so sl'l,'ndidly e"rid"e ','I' descriiling, \',-'ll,ll 1',IV{'~ lilt· Il',q~t:dy u s csscmia! p,l!hos, were tile alu-r.uiuus or rC,lr ilnd hope tilal arc experienced Ld'urell;.md by i\ lax's [ricncls , l':,>pcclally' the moving character Tccmessa. ""'~ The must strikin r eXam Ie of t.his illjkxible will power is Anth,rone hers('. iety arnl her love for her brother Polynciccs have convinced

or

~}ur though she is now experiencing all tile horror of being

understood that the bravest hero may tremble at the though! of death, though still confronting it courageously. Antigone arouses our pity as well as our admiration because her spirit, though it cannot be broken, is still susceptible to human weakness) to bring OUt her character, Sophocles cleverly contrasts f).{\.Jr..1 h - h f -. ~. - , I::;-p-, r\ er, ng t rom the beginning ot the play, with her sister sme~L.:.:.J Similarly, in Electra, he introduces Chrysothemis as a foil to tl'ie heroine. Doth ChrysodlCmis and Ismenc are ucuric timid girl~ who r'> could never reach the hchrlus attained bvJ their sisters. ThevJ try to l:'> dissuade them from their terrible purposes and, though admiring them deep "Within their hearts, they tenderly reproach them. It is as though 0'" (they said: 'It is enough that we admire yo", do not ask us '0 imitate

115('<\' ~e better

C~

I

B. Snell; Tht Discovery of/hi Mind, p. '09.

180

~ you:

But neither Electra nor Antigone can conceal their scom..rfn

1;(( \(Q-9.o;
suffered: not (or this. To you, no doubt. rnme seems 3 madman's act. Yet may It prove that he's the madman who takes me for mad (AntigoM! 449 IL), ~~\(&j\

or

uucrlv

all;\ndollCd, she d()(','i nor weaken or Iliuch. Not (Ill' a 1I1l)11ICl1! dllt'S ~ll~ 9t&l~bt'£..Jream of sUbmit~ing to Creon to save her life. And yet Sophocles

State. When Creon angrily says to Iter: 'So, you have dared to disobey my laws,' she makes the unforgettable reply: ,

For Creon, <:IS for all ancient society, an enemy the city IS not entitled to any consideration or pity: 'Even a dead enemy can never be a [ricud.' To which Antigone superbly answers: 'It is love, not hatred, I would share' (552-3), a cry that anticipates the hlbiJcr

&

r behold the splendour of the holy sun, None shall lament my [ate, no friendly lips utter a groan (Ibid, 876-82).

At;lIlf}<,f Creun, who represents civic authority! the eSfahlished order and dlf' Wrl1len law. ~lte pifS Iter religiolls lind moral cOllscience! ~ c1dl'lldillj( fhe in;dienahle IJlJcrty of tile hlJlrlilll IlldiyidllilJ tlgailist tile

grief to me to suflcr death. Bu' gnef il woulcl have been to allow (he body of my mother's son to lie unburied after death. For that I should have

•

Robbed of mourning tears, without friends or husband, here am I III my misery, dragged along a road that lies open before me. Alas, no more tili:.dl

Iter ,lte IIlIlSt hury lus l.ody, despite the orders of King Creon and the (ertallllY of deaul if site is discovered. Already at the beginning of tile play Iter mind is firmly made up and notlting can make Iter change it,

Yes! for It was not Zeus who decreed them! L WJS not Justice, seated beside the illfl'lll~d gods, who Imposed such laws upon men, and little did 1 think your interdict so powerful that it could penult a mortal to break the unwritten but unswerving laws of the gods. These do not date from today or ycstcrda y, and no man knows when flrst they were decreed. flow can J~ then, for [car (If what may come. expose myself 10 the allg~r of the gods? 'I J ' I r I Did r 11111 know alrear y l rat J mll:;l dk-, W 11'lher yC1l1 uri),I( c nrc or lIof But 10 die' before my time, I here proclaim, (or me is not amiss. Living as I do amidst unmeasurable misery. should I not be content to die? It IS no

I

enemies. Yet Antigone is not so blinded bv her u ose that she fails to realize W lilt she IS renollncllw hy Iler aCl't'planet.' nf dealh, 'I'o del\' Creon, she C~1l insist, like Sccr.ucs before hIS jud~es; 'Fur" me death is a blessing'. but alone willi t11<.~ old men ()( Thebes, Whll 1111'111 rile Cllorwi, she leuj herself !~n nud sings n I()llj~ threl\lldy' li\!' )11.'1~('1r. As she is ubo.u to enter the subtcr-rnncun vault, her 'brldul ch.uuber' as she calls it, her last words are:

way, in order to reveal the character of Creon, Sophocles contrasts him, on the one hand, with his son Hairnon, Antigone's betrothed who kills himself beside her dead body; and, on the other, , ,/Vlth Tdr~las, the blin~ seer. who appears in all his spiritual majesty. 2f',t!-\~The principal elfect 01 almost every peripetera In Sophocles' plays

\ Q.,

So,

\e.:

:;.~

IS. Indeed. to reveal one of the characters in a new Itghr, to provoke in hrm reactions that will expose his deepest feelings; their purpose is not 50 much drarnauc, as psychological, This comes out very clearly in Eltctra. The subject of the play

>

Irnpulaiwm onJ j)(clinr: of Au'I~"iS the s.nnc J..S that or Aeschylus Chot'phoro~, but how differently die t\I'll poers JpproJL'h dlcir theme. The Creek trJglc poets felt no ln-suauou J!JOUl deiJ.Jill~ wuh till' same stories <:IS their predecessors, 1Il'l'JUSl.' die)' (c-)t thems elves capal.lc of investing them with new life. Orestes, who In the myth is simply an instrument of the gods, was not a sui[J~le. proragonisr for Sophocles, and he therefore orought Electra to die Iorefrom, <:IS his title indicates. Aeschylus had made it impossible lor ~Jcc!rjJ and Clytemnestra to confront one another (see p. 142 ) ; [or ::->ophoc1es, the long scene bet-ween mother and daughter afforded an opportunity for a closer study of their characters. J[ IS in this puilcss scent.' rha: Electr-a most compJetely1evt'<.lI; herself:

Sophocles: Charae,,, afOedipus novel, in which a ruthless detective is ultimately forced to the terrible conclusion that he himself is the murderer he has been looking [or. Here again, the peripeteia of various kinds serve to reicase the reactions of Orestes, providing him with an opportunllY to give expressIOn to

I)

You killed my father to become the slave of tile coward you now live with . You sleep with lilt: murderer .... In you r see his mistress, not my mother . that Orestes might come to consummate our revenge upon you, since I, though willing, am not strong enough. Go then, proclaim before the world

a

that I am notlung but a wicked, scolding, shameless daughter. And if I am expert In the role, It is my blood that speaks (Electra, 560 fT.). When the traveller, who is in fact Orestes, pretends to be a messenger come to announce Orestes' death, it gives Electra the opportunity first to utter her grief and tenderness in broken, heart-rending phrases, and then, when ,H last she learns the truth, to express her delirious joy:

'0 beloved voice, so you have come to me" . , I clasp you in my arms' 1224 IT.). At the end of Electra, Sophocles does not, like Aeschylus, show

uu«:

us Orestes, seeing, or believing he sees, the terrible avenging spirits, the Erinyes: and, similarly, in Ant/gone, it is the calm and noble

Teiresias who foretells the future, not the half-crazed Cassandra. Such god-sent madness aroused in him a sense of estrangement and mistrust, .JOd such Irrational and excessive behaviour was beyond the compass of Ids art. Yet, when it comes to physical suffering of a purely human kind. v/iJich Aeschylus scarcely attempts to show on the stage, he describes it with profound inSight: the dying Heracies at tile end of [he If/omen of Tracbis, or Oedipus tearing out his eyes at the end of Oedipus the Kil/g. Of ail Sophocles' plays, Oedipus the King is the one with the most

minutely contrived and the most moving plot. Severe critics have pointed out certam improbabilities of detail, though none that cannot be iusdfied by theatrical convention. Its theme is like that of a detective 188

his changes of feeling. In Oedipus at Coionos, the protagonist once again recovers the majestic gravity of the opening scenes of Oedipus the King, but it IS no longer thar of the king clothed in his purple robes; it is the maJcsty ~ of a man who has endured misfortune, exile ancl grief, nobly and With ~~

dignity. Georges Meautis professes to see in Oedipus, and all the other ~ Sophoclean heroes,_ men predestined by fate who, _haVIng passed ~\..! through the 'dark nighr: of suffering, attain su. preme WISdom.. , bc.come, \ j Indeed, saints.' This. clearly, is an exaggeration. When, tn Oedipu.! at Colones, Oedipus utters the terrible curse that lS to result In [US rwo sons fl~hting one another to the death (as happens In Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes), it is impossible to maintain that he has achieved ultimate serenity, has overcome all feelings of anger and hatred. Nevertheless. the Ancients did understand the purifying power of grief; and, as he nears his end, Oedipus takes on something of the prestige of holiness, which is accentuated by his mysterious discp, pcarnncc. Yet there remains a profound difference between the pagan hero or sage ami the Christian saint, for, as Pascal says, the latter belongs to 'a different order'. When the poet confronts Oedipus ~ first with Creon and then with Polyneices, it is in or.clcr to probe his ~ character to its depths, to reveal the violence and bitterness that ~ remain despite all the blows of fate he has endured. Deianeira, in the Women of Trachis, is of all Sophocles' protogon~ ists the one who least understands what it is she wants, though :,( eventually she does make up her mind to send Heracles the fatal tunic. ~ But the poet cannot be said to have explored the nature of her Jealousy very (keply; It was Euripides who W<JS to make a truly {)ng[n~d study of this passion In Medea. Possibly, however, the Women of Trcchis was written before Sophocles had attained his full stature as a dramatist. The psychology of hIS secondary character; is never neglected by Sophocles. Neoprolernos, in Phiioctetes, is an attractive young man, loyal and upright, a worthy son of the Achilles of the iliad. houng lies 'more than the gates of hell'. Doubtless, when drawing tlus character, Sophocles had in mind the idealized figure of a young I

Georges Meauus: Sopho'u, asal sur It hiros tragiqu~ (Albin Miclld, 1957).

Imperialism and Dec/hie of Athens

SOp/IOC"S: his Women Characters

Athcni.m, 'handsome nnd good' (AIl/,Is Aaliath6s). Out of a Sense of obcdienrc, Ncopiolcmos nt firs: agrees 10 play the odious role forced upon him by Odysseus with regard to the sick and wounded hero, Philocrcres: the latter, having made oil' with the bow and arrow of I Jeracl(·s, without which an Achaean victory is impossible, has to be

mixed a, they are ill re.d lif,', where human I",illf~' arc seldom wholly good or wholly bad. Unlike Euripides, Sophocles never portrays men or women in whom cowardice, meanness or egoism excludes all decent feeling, and this was why he was able to express the o pinion (subject or so ll1;]liy examination qucstionsl) nuribntc.! to liuu hy

return In Troy. Evctuuullv, however, {1i~I~ll~l('d Ill' all (wldl 11 (idywll'tlii n'l~ardrJ nu !I('COIHI Ililllll/', wlll'ill('j' 111 III orlICJ'S) ills feeling of cOlJlpaSS1Ull [or JlhiJuek[e~ makes

Ali"lllll{': "[ vltow men :1" thr-v Pllghl !Il i1r, !~Hl'il'id('" ou!v 01" rln-v om'.' YI'I\ ill Il'ulll,\', i t 1'1 Sllp!lIIl'II"1 who HII()W~ ill!'
JwrslI:ld,·d

10

lilt, iI/'j l'jJll!11l

Ilirnself

-

(/I

him revolt and he reveals the truth co him. 1 here could scarcely be a more insigniliC
S>

or

guard in Ant/gone, who surprises the heroine in the act disobeying the kin,~\ orders, a[HI takes her before him. Neither his fear of Crcons rhrcat«, nor his delight when he escapes punishment) prevents him [rom feeling pity for Antigone:

monSler.
;

' tlte cI"ra,ter of Antii~ol1c unless Ite It"d Iteen convinced th"t tl,crt, are \\'omen ciJpahle or ~rclilness aDd Dohdiqr' and he seems 1I1so to have

felt compassIOn for woman's position in society, which he conceived to have been the same in the heroic a~e as it was in his oWrY\'Vhcn { Creon S:lVS to Anrij!;onc: 'While I still live, no WOn1;l1l shnll luv d()wn ' ~ I;' 111!.'·, liP h
'j She nc vt-r denied it. Yet somehow I can't help fcclinp; both r,!ild nne! sorry

lw riel uf the wllolr: IJllr,jlH'~I; would Ill' il f',II(ld 1I111lj~t y01l1 own (olk h ;1 I'lelly dlrt y uh.h. SlJJI, ~JJ tllIngs considered, tile way I see it IS, It'S your own life that matters more than anything else (Antigone, 434-40).

,II

IIIl' ',dll'"

unu-:

In

jill! III Inul)', 1III',(llllllllt' 011

For Andgone. 01\ the contrary, it was precisely this \mylldllg else' t!J;lt was more concern than her own life. 1n Sophocles' E/r!crra, Clytemnestra is more complex, and therefore truer to life, than in Aeschylus' version, where she is ill! of a piece, a rclcmlcvs crimina), witltout scruple or remorse. III l)()th plays, 11m!"'· ever, sllc Ifldkes lJ<;C fif cxucrly the same ilrglllTlt:Il{S to jw;rif:,' her crhuc:

or

rho s;H.:rilil'e of I phigellla, and Agamemnon's infidelity to herself Yet, when Sophocles shows her attempting to convince Electra of the

justness of her cause by appealing to her sense of feminine solidarity, ~ she is clearly ill at ease:

:d r:; V

This father you still weep for, of all the Greeks he alone dared to sacrifice your sister [0 the gods, yet in begetting her he su.Ic-cd none of the pain I did who hrought her forth (Electra, 5)0--)).

'Wl,at Ute poet implies is that Clytemnestra, however deplorable as a wife, may yet, as a mother, have felt a genuine affection for her children. In the souls of all his characters, even of those whose behaviour it would be hard to defend, good and evil are Inextricably 19 0

~

poet is on the side of Ute young girl. Dciancirn bewails her unhappiness

<1.5

a wife: our youth nreos in

II

place

npuu, Wltl'IC nt'itlll'f the heat of tile Still, nor rain, nor Wind" carl rome to vex us: far from
Tradcis, 1,101-50).

Often, when I think of what our woman's nature is, I fecI how small a lliillg we arc...• As soon as we reach our youth and our minus begin to awake. we are sent away from home to be sold, far from the gods of our futbc rs, [ar from those who brough: us into the world, to live among strangers (Thmu,. cd. Nauck. 25' Ir.). 0'he rr.rgcdics of Sophocles dUTer from those Aeschylus in dl\1t~' the catastrophes that overwhelm hIS heroes are of their own m
or

[0 [

l mperiulis m cr.J Dalifl/;; of A,Ams

Pf.iIOJophy: rl naxagor as

~~ In AnllJ:,'{!fU, The sudden '-U1d complete reversal of fortune, the In-

>cc:V\ ~O-S

r(}... \..,I

S~t.

~tJnt;:Uh."'\b "'lill;'>l)~e,

slgniiles the c nd of all their efforts and ~II their hopes, Thvu~h the sense of terror he evokes is perhaps not 50 power(ul as In i\e~t:hyJus, the feeling of pity 15 more intense. ... Sophude:;' style is less majestic than Aeschylus', but It is bener aJJjlll:d III cll:>cusslon, to tlre passionate interchanges that take place between hIS char-acters ; he docs not disdain rheronc. but his use of it IS Ji><.:n..'C't and confident, and be does not. as Euripides roo often

dues. abuse u, While his lyric> lack the abounding vigour of Aeschylus', Liley are more ccncerurared, and also more restrained In tone, ApolIonian ruther than Dionysian, Two characrcrisuc choruses may be

iound In the Anllgufl<. In the or-a, which celebrates tile greatness of mankind. Clvijizauun IS seen) not ;IS a gift from the gods as in Promethnl,S~ luu .l~ Illl: 11lVt'IlII(Hl of mall, the Crl'dlOr, if /101 pf his own (k)liny) ,II Ic.l:-.t of dIe (.:onditiull'.:i f;OVlTlllng Ids [de on c.ur!r. ~LUlY are

the marvels in this world, but none greater than mat of man himself, Whur other creature can cross the Jounng sea v, 'hen the winds aucl till: ~turJll:> bluw from the south, rnaklllg his way through the hollows

(If

lilL' llllhlll)' W~VL'~, bCnl:Jlh

the open ubyss...• Words.

dlougllts

swift

'J:> till: wmd, UfL'i.lOIS from wlucf cnics arc burn, all these !l~ has ti.\Ught Jum~l(, ,. (("Ii'll/guru, )32 [L).

Tht' ~"C(!ll\l

1:>

a

hyum 10 thl! power

or love.

wlu ..-h ilt:cllnlillg to

ElllPL'd~,t:1L'S (:>ce P!': 1()9-70) was one of the (WU t,fl',lt cusnuc forces,

from wllh.:h JII liVing dungs are constitutcd : Lo ....c , U urvmcible Love, you who swoop down upon our flocks, and you v. )10 hV~'J) WJldl, !.llt:n ill the fn:sll checks of I-!; I I Is... , \Vhct!ll:r !.llllungst tile hull, ur shun-lived mcu , there Is none who call cscapl' yuu, and your n.urf I~ l'llough 10 drive us mad, , , . Here, truly, It IS desire that triumphs, dt'~Irr.,'

that IS bor-n CJf the maiden's glance, hastening 10 her husband's bed,

dt':>lrC

111.n I»

Jlnon~ lhe l11iglllil:st laws, :lfllOI1[.'; lite masrcr s of tile world, one, who makes sport o(l:VL'rytlllfll,; (/biJ., 7tll Jr.),

Apllflllllll..', 1111..' IIlVlrl~'il>ll:

Itiglll .u t11<~ r-ru] Ill' [us long Ii/i... , ill Or!dil'/I.f ur Cu/r1fl/lj, SUJlhllL'lL's [lit: Iittlt: Attic town where he was Lorn:

:>Illg$ tile pr . uses ThIS

IS

or

white-walled Colones. where more than anywhere else the tuneful

nlghtlng"le dcligilis to sing, in the depth of the green embowered valleys. lie live> in the t1ar•• leaved ivy, inviolable arbour of the god, whose dense

t9

'

screen rrlHt:ds him from sun and Wind alike. . Here, as each mormug breaks, w.ncrcd by the heavenly clew, great bunches of narcissus l.J]\)UIIl, lilt: anuquc lTOWl1 of tWO great goddesses. and ~i.llrron·s golden ~leJnl. And in these p:.Hb. as nowhere else, the grey~grel'n olive grows, our children's 11111"$l', die tree that neither young nor old dare harm or rob (OeJipus 1J{ Cotonos, G7UrT.),

Sopilocles,.tlle friend of Pericles the 'Olympian'. truly belonged to

the generation that, cleve loping the heritage handed down by the ~bratllOllomaciIOI,

made of Athens 'the school of Greece'. Like the

sculpture uf Pheidius, Ids tragedies hJVC the serenely noble stJnJr of cJasskisrn, ofJn art t11:1t is to Sil that has