Sophocles: The Seven Plays in English Verse: The Seven Plays in English Verse

By Sophocles

Included herein are the seven surviving plays of Athens’ pre-eminent playwright, Sophocles, masterfully translated by Lewis Campbell, M.A., LL.D. The plays included are: ‘Antigone,’ ‘Aias,’ ‘King Oedipus,’ ‘Electra,’ ‘The Trachinian Maidens,’ and ‘Oedipus at Colonus.’

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wilder Publications, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781515400264

Sophocles

Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than or contemporary with those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides.

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Sophocles:

The Seven Plays in English Verse

by Sophocles

Translated by Lewis Campbell, M.A., LL.D.

EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS

HONORARY FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD

©2015 SMK Books

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission except for brief quotations for review purposes only.

SMK Books

PO Box 632

Floyd, VA 24091-0632

ISBN 13: 978-1-5154-0026-4

Table of Contents

Antigone

The Persons

Scene

Play

Aias

The Persons

Scene

Play

King Oedipus

The Persons

Scene

Play

Electra

The Persons

Scene

Play

The Trachinian Maidens

The Persons

Scene

Play

Philoctetes

The Persons

Scene

Play

Oedipus at Colonus

The Persons

Scene

Play

Antigone

THE PERSONS

Scene. Before the Cadmean Palace at Thebes.

Note. The town of Thebes is often personified as Thebè.

Polynices, son and heir to the unfortunate Oedipus, having been supplanted by his younger brother Eteocles, brought an army of Argives against his native city, Thebes. The army was defeated, and the two brothers slew each other in single combat. On this Creon, the brother-in-law of Oedipus, succeeding to the chief power, forbade the burial of Polynices. But Antigone, sister of the dead, placing the dues of affection and piety before her obligation to the magistrate, disobeyed the edict at the sacrifice of her life. Creon carried out his will, but lost his son Haemon and his wife Eurydice, and received their curses on his head. His other son, Megareus, had previously been devoted as a victim to the good of the state.

Antigone

Antigone. Ismene.

Antigone. Own sister of my blood, one life with me,

Ismenè, have the tidings caught thine ear?

Say, hath not Heaven decreed to execute

On thee and me, while yet we are alive,

All the evil Oedipus bequeathed? All horror,

All pain, all outrage, falls on us! And now

The General’s proclamation of to-day—

Hast thou not heard?—Art thou so slow to hear

When harm from foes threatens the souls we love?

Ismene. No word of those we love, Antigone,

Painful or glad, hath reached me, since we two

Were utterly deprived of our two brothers,

Cut off with mutual stroke, both in one day.

And since the Argive host this now-past night

Is vanished, I know nought beside to make me

Nearer to happiness or more in woe.

Ant. I knew it well, and therefore led thee forth

The palace gate, that thou alone mightst hear.

Ism. Speak on! Thy troubled look bodes some dark news.

Ant. Why, hath not Creon, in the burial-rite,

Of our two brethren honoured one, and wrought

On one foul wrong? Eteocles, they tell,

With lawful consecration he lays out,

And after covers him in earth, adorned

With amplest honours in the world below.

But Polynices, miserably slain,

They say ‘tis publicly proclaimed that none

Must cover in a grave, nor mourn for him;

But leave him tombless and unwept, a store

Of sweet provision for the carrion fowl

That eye him greedily. Such righteous law

Good Creon hath pronounced for thy behoof—

Ay, and for mine! I am not left out!—And now

He moves this way to promulgate his will

To such as have not heard, nor lightly holds

The thing he bids, but, whoso disobeys,

The citizens shall stone him to the death.

This is the matter, and thou wilt quickly show

If thou art noble, or fallen below thy birth.

Ism. Unhappy one! But what can I herein

Avail to do or undo?

Ant.              Wilt thou share

The danger and the labour? Make thy choice.

Ism. Of what wild enterprise? What canst thou mean?

Ant. Wilt thou join hand with mine to lift the dead?

Ism. To bury him, when all have been forbidden?

Is that thy thought?

Ant.             To bury my own brother

And thine, even though thou wilt not do thy part.

I will not be a traitress to my kin.

Ism. Fool-hardy girl! against the word of Creon?

Ant. He hath no right to bar me from mine own.

Ism. Ah, sister, think but how our father fell,

Hated of all and lost to fair renown,

Through self-detected crimes—with his own hand,

Self-wreaking, how he dashed out both his eyes:

Then how the mother-wife, sad two-fold name!

With twisted halter bruised her life away,

Last, how in one dire moment our two brothers

With internecine conflict at a blow

Wrought out by fratricide their mutual doom.

Now, left alone, O think how beyond all

Most piteously we twain shall be destroyed,

If in defiance of authority

We traverse the commandment of the King!

We needs must bear in mind we are but women,

Never created to contend with men;

Nay more, made victims of resistless power,

To obey behests more harsh than this to-day.

I, then, imploring those beneath to grant

Indulgence, seeing I am enforced in this,

Will yield submission to the powers that rule,

Small wisdom were it to overpass the bound.

Ant. I will not urge you! no! nor if now you list

To help me, will your help afford me joy.

Be what you choose to be! This single hand

Shall bury our lost brother. Glorious

For me to take this labour and to die!

Dear to him will my soul be as we rest

In death, when I have dared this holy crime.

My time for pleasing men will soon be over;

Not so my duty toward the Dead! My home

Yonder will have no end. You, if you will,

May pour contempt on laws revered on High.

Ism. Not from irreverence. But I have no strength

To strive against the citizens’ resolve.

Ant. Thou, make excuses! I will go my way

To raise a burial-mound to my dear brother.

Ism. Oh, hapless maiden, how I fear for thee!

Ant. Waste not your fears on me! Guide your own fortune.

Ism. Ah! yet divulge thine enterprise to none,

But keep the secret close, and so will I.

Ant. O Heavens! Nay, tell! I hate your silence worse;

I had rather you proclaimed it to the world.

Ism. You are ardent in a chilling enterprise.

Ant. I know that I please those whom I would please.

Ism. Yes, if you thrive; but your desire is bootless.

Ant. Well, when I fail I shall be stopt, I trow!

Ism. One should not start upon a hopeless quest.

Ant. Speak in that vein if you would earn my hate

And aye be hated of our lost one. Peace!

Leave my unwisdom to endure this peril;

Fate cannot rob me of a noble death.

Ism. Go, if you must—Not to be checked in folly,

But sure unparalleled in faithful love!

[Exeunt

Chorus (entering).

Strophe I.

Beam of the mounting Sun! 

O brightest, fairest ray

Seven-gated Thebè yet hath seen!

Over the vale where Dircè’s fountains run

At length thou appearedst, eye of golden Day,

And with incitement of thy radiance keen

Spurredst to faster flight

The man of Argos hurrying from the fight.

Armed at all points the warrior came,

But driven before thy rising flame

He rode, reverting his pale shield,

Headlong from yonder battlefield.

Half-Chorus.

 In snow-white panoply, on eagle wing, 

He rose, dire ruin on our land to bring,

Roused by the fierce debate

Of Polynices’ hate,

Shrilling sharp menace from his breast,

Sheathed all in steel from crown to heel,

With many a plumèd crest.

Antistrophe I.

  Then stooped above the domes,

With lust of carnage fired,

And opening teeth of serried spears

Yawned wide around the gates that guard our homes;

But went, or e’er his hungry jaws had tired

On Theban flesh,—or e’er the Fire-god fierce

Seizing our sacred town

Besmirched and rent her battlemented crown.

Such noise of battle as he fled

About his back the War-god spread;

So writhed to hard-fought victory

The serpent struggling to be free.

Half-Chorus.

 High Zeus beheld their stream that proudly rolled

Idly caparisoned with clanking gold:

Zeus hates the boastful tongue:

He with hurled fire down flung

One who in haste had mounted high,

And that same hour from topmost tower

Upraised the exulting cry.

Strophe II.

 Swung rudely to the hard repellent earth

Amidst his furious mirth

He fell, who then with flaring brand

Held in his fiery hand

Came breathing madness at the gate

In eager blasts of hate.

And doubtful swayed the varying fight

Through the turmoil of the night,

As turning now on these and now on those

Ares hurtled ‘midst our foes,

Self-harnessed helper on our right.

Half-Chorus.

 Seven matched with seven, at each gate one,

Their captains, when the day was done,

Left for our Zeus who turned the scale,

The brazen tribute in full tale:—

All save the horror-burdened pair,

Dire children of despair,

Who from one sire, one mother, drawing breath,

Each with conquering lance in rest

Against a true born brother’s breast,

Found equal lots in death.

Antistrophe II.

 But with blithe greeting to glad Thebe came

She of the glorious name,

Victory,—smiling on our chariot throng

With eyes that waken song

Then let those battle memories cease,

Silenced by thoughts of peace.

With holy dances of delight

Lasting through the livelong night

Visit we every shrine, in solemn round,

Led by him who shakes the ground,

Our Bacchus, Thebe’s child of light.

Leader of Chorus.

But look! where Creon in his new-made power,

Moved by the fortune of the recent hour,

Comes with fresh counsel. What intelligence

Intends he for our private conference,

That he hath sent his herald to us all,

Gathering the elders with a general call?

Enter Creon.

Creon. My friends, the noble vessel of our State,

After sore shaking her, the Gods have sped

On a smooth course once more. I have called you hither,

By special messengers selecting you

From all the city, first, because I knew you

Aye loyal to the throne of Laïus;

Then, both while Oedipus gave prosperous days,

And since his fall, I still beheld you firm

In sound allegiance to the royal issue.

Now since the pair have perished in an hour,

Twinned in misfortune, by a mutual stroke

Staining our land with fratricidal blood,

All rule and potency of sovereign sway,

In virtue of next kin to the deceased,

Devolves on me. But hard it is to learn

The mind of any mortal or the heart,

Till he be tried in chief authority.

Power shows the man. For he who when supreme

Withholds his hand or voice from the best cause,

Being thwarted by some fear, that man to me

Appears, and ever hath appeared, most vile.

He too hath no high place in mine esteem,

Who sets his friend before his fatherland.

Let Zeus whose eye sees all eternally

Be here my witness. I will ne’er keep silence

When danger lours upon my citizens

Who looked for safety, nor make him my friend

Who doth not love my country. For I know

Our country carries us, and whilst her helm

Is held aright we gain good friends and true.

Following such courses ‘tis my steadfast will

To foster Thebè’s greatness, and therewith

In brotherly accord is my decree

Touching the sons of Oedipus. The man—

Eteocles I mean—who died for Thebes

Fighting with eminent prowess on her side,

Shall be entombed with every sacred rite

That follows to the grave the lordliest dead.

But for his brother, who, a banished man,

Returned to devastate and burn with fire

The land of his nativity, the shrines

Of his ancestral gods, to feed him fat

With Theban carnage, and make captive all

That should escape the sword—for Polynices,

This law hath been proclaimed concerning him:

He shall have no lament, no funeral,

But he unburied, for the carrion fowl

And dogs to eat his corse, a sight of shame.

Such are the motions of this mind and will.

Never from me shall villains reap renown

Before the just. But whoso loves the State,

I will exalt him both in life and death.

Ch. Son of Menoeceus, we have heard thy mind

Toward him who loves, and him who hates our city.

And sure, ‘tis thine to enforce what law thou wilt

Both on the dead and all of us who live.

Cr. Then be ye watchful to maintain my word.

Ch. Young strength for such a burden were more meet.

Cr. Already there be watchers of the dead.

Ch. What charge then wouldst thou further lay on us?

Cr. Not to give place to those that disobey.

Ch. Who is so fond, to be in love with death?

Cr. Such, truly, is the meed. But hope of gain

Full oft ere now hath been the ruin of men.

(entering).

My lord, I am out of breath, but not with speed.

I will not say my foot was fleet. My thoughts

Cried halt unto me ever as I came

And wheeled me to return. My mind discoursed

Most volubly within my breast, and said—

Fond wretch! why go where thou wilt find thy bane?

Unhappy wight! say, wilt thou bide aloof?

Then if the king shall hear this from another,

How shalt thou ‘scape for ‘t? Winding thus about

I hasted, but I could not speed, and so

Made a long journey of a little way.

At last ‘yes’ carried it, that I should come

To thee; and tell thee I must needs; and shall,

Though it be nothing that I have to tell.

For I came hither, holding fast by this—

Nought that is not my fate can happen to me.

Cr. Speak forth thy cause of fear. What is the matter?

Watch. First of mine own part in the business. For

I did it not, nor saw the man who did,

And ‘twere not right that I should come to harm.

Cr. You fence your ground, and keep well out of danger;

I see you have some strange thing to declare.

Watch. A man will shrink who carries words of fear.

CB. Let us have done with you. Tell your tale, and go.

Watch. Well, here it is. The corse hath burial

From some one who is stolen away and gone,

But first hath strown dry dust upon the skin,

And added what religious rites require.

Cr. Ha!

What man hath been so daring in revolt?

Watch. I cannot tell. There was no mark to show—

No dint of spade, or mattock-loosened sod,—

Only the hard bare ground, untilled and trackless.

Whoe’er he was, the doer left no trace.

And, when the scout of our first daylight watch

Showed us the thing, we marvelled in dismay.

The Prince was out of sight; not in a grave,

But a thin dust was o’er him, as if thrown

By one who shunned the dead man’s curse. No sign

Appeared of any hound or beast o’ the field

Having come near, or pulled at the dead body.

Then rose high words among us sentinels

With bickering noise accusing each his mate,

And it seemed like to come to blows, with none

To hinder. For the hand that thus had wrought

Was any of ours, and none; the guilty man

Escaped all knowledge. And we were prepared

To lift hot iron with our bare palms; to walk

Through fire, and swear by all the Gods at once

That we were guiltless, ay, and ignorant

Of who had plotted or performed this thing.

When further search seemed bootless, at the last

One spake, whose words bowed all our heads to the earth

With fear. We knew not what to answer him,

Nor how to do it and prosper. He advised

So grave a matter must not be concealed,

But instantly reported to the King.

Well, this prevailed, and the lot fell on me,

Unlucky man! to be the ministrant

Of this fair service. So I am present here,

Against my will and yours, I am sure of that.

None love the bringer of unwelcome news.

Ch. My lord, a thought keeps whispering in my breast,

Some Power divine hath interposed in this.

Cr. Cease, ere thou quite enrage me, and appear

Foolish as thou art old. Talk not to me

Of Gods who have taken thought for this dead man!

Say, was it for his benefits to them

They hid his corse, and honoured him so highly,

Who came to set on fire their pillared shrines,

With all the riches of their offerings,

And to make nothing of their land and laws?

Or, hast thou seen them honouring villany?

That cannot be. Long time the cause of this

Hath come to me in secret murmurings

From malcontents of Thebes, who under yoke

Turned restive, and would not accept my sway.

Well know I, these have bribed the watchmen here

To do this for some fee. For nought hath grown

Current among mankind so mischievous

As money. This brings cities to their fall:

This drives men homeless, and moves honest minds

To base contrivings. This hath taught mankind

The use of wickedness, and how to give

An impious turn to every kind of act.

But whosoe’er hath done this for reward

Hath found his way at length to punishment.

If Zeus have still my worship, be assured

Of that which here on oath I say to thee—

Unless ye find the man who made this grave

And bring him bodily before mine eye,

Death shall not be enough, till ye have hung

Alive for an example of your guilt,

That henceforth in your rapine ye may know

Whence gain is to be gotten, and may learn

Pelf from all quarters is not to be loved.

For in base getting, ‘tis a common proof,

More find disaster than deliverance.

Watch. Am I to speak? or must I turn and go?

Cr. What? know you not your speech offends even now?

Watch. Doth the mind smart withal, or only the ear?

Cr. Art thou to probe the seat of mine annoy?

Watch. If I offend, ‘tis in your ear alone,

The malefactor wounds ye to the soul.

Cr. Out on thee! thou art nothing but a tongue.

Watch. Then was I ne’er the doer of this deed.

Cr. Yea, verily: self-hired to crime for gold.

Watch. Pity so clear a mind should clearly err!

Cr. Gloze now on clearness! But unless ye bring

The burier, without glozing ye shall tell,

Craven advantage clearly worketh bane.

Watch. By all means let the man be found; one thing

I know right well:—caught or not caught, howe’er

Fate rules his fortune, me you ne’er will see

Standing in presence here. Even now I owe

Deep thanks to Heaven for mine escape, so far

Beyond my hope and highest expectancy.

[Exeunt severally

Chorus.

Strophe I.

Many a wonder lives and moves, but the wonder of all is man, 

That courseth over the grey ocean, carried of Southern gale,

Faring amidst high-swelling seas that rudely surge around,

And Earth, supreme of mighty Gods, eldest, imperishable,

Eternal, he with patient furrow wears and wears away

As year by year the plough-shares turn and turn,—

Subduing her unwearied strength with children of the steed.

Antistrophe I.

And wound in woven coils of nets he seizeth for his prey

The aëry tribe of birds and wilding armies of the chase,

And sea-born millions of the deep—man is so crafty-wise.

And now with engine of his wit he tameth to his will

The mountain-ranging beast whose lair is in the country wild;

And now his yoke hath passed upon the mane

Of horse with proudly crested neck and tireless mountain bull.

Strophe II.

Wise utterance and wind-swift thought, and city-moulding mind,

And shelter from the clear-eyed power of biting frost,

He hath taught him, and to shun the sharp, roof-penetrating rain,—

Full of resource, without device he meets no coming time;

From Death alone he shall not find reprieve;

No league may gain him that relief; but even for fell disease,

That long hath baffled wisest leech, he hath contrived a cure.

Antistrophe II.

Inventive beyond wildest hope, endowed with boundless skill,

One while he moves toward evil, and one while toward good,

According as he loves his land and fears the Gods above.

Weaving the laws into his life and steadfast oath of Heaven,

High in the State he moves but outcast he,

Who hugs dishonour to his heart and follows paths of crime

Ne’er may he come beneath my roof, nor think like thoughts with me.

Leader of Chorus.

What portent from the Gods is here?

My mind is mazed with doubt and fear.

How can I gainsay what I see?

I know the girl Antigone,

O hapless child of hapless sire!

Didst thou, then, recklessly aspire

To brave kings’ laws, and now art brought

In madness of transgression caught?

Enter Watchman, bringing in Antigone

Watch. Here is the doer of the deed—this maid

We found her burying him. Where is the King?

Ch. Look, he comes forth again to meet thy call.

Enter Creon.

Cr. What call so nearly times with mine approach?

Watch. My lord, no mortal should deny on oath,

Judgement is still belied by after thought

When quailing ‘neath the tempest of your threats,

Methought no force would drive me to this place

But joy unlook’d for and surpassing hope

Is out of bound the best of all delight,

And so I am here again,—though I had sworn

I ne’er would come,—and in my charge this maid,

Caught in the act of caring for the dead

Here was no lot throwing, this hap was mine

Without dispute. And now, my sovereign lord,

According to thy pleasure, thine own self

Examine and convict her. For my part

I have good right to be away and free

From the bad business I am come upon.

Cr. This maiden!

How came she in thy charge? Where didst thou find her?

Watch. Burying the prince. One word hath told thee all.

Cr. Hast thou thy wits, and knowest thou what thou sayest?

Watch. I saw her burying him whom you forbade

To bury. Is that, now, clearly spoken, or no?

Cr. And how was she detected, caught, and taken?

Watch. It fell in this wise. We were come to the spot,

Bearing the dreadful burden of thy threats;

And first with care we swept the dust away

From round the corse, and laid the dank limbs bare:

Then sate below the hill-top, out o’ the wind,

Where no bad odour from the dead might strike us,

Stirring each other on with interchange

Of loud revilings on the negligent

In ‘tendance on this duty. So we stayed

Till in mid heaven the sun’s resplendent orb

Stood high, and the heat strengthened. Suddenly,

The Storm-god raised a whirlwind from the ground,

Vexing heaven’s concave, and filled all the plain,

Rending the locks of all the orchard groves,

Till the great sky was choked withal. We closed

Our lips and eyes, and bore the God-sent evil.

When after a long while this ceased, the maid

Was seen, and wailed in high and bitter key,

Like some despairing bird that hath espied

Her nest all desolate, the nestlings gone.

So, when she saw the body bare, she mourned

Loudly, and cursed the authors of this deed.

Then nimbly with her hands she brought dry dust,

And holding high a shapely brazen cruse,

Poured three libations, honouring the dead.

We, when we saw, ran in, and straightway seized

Our quarry, nought dismayed, and charged her with

The former crime and this. And she denied

Nothing;—to my delight, and to my grief.

One’s self to escape disaster is great joy;

Yet to have drawn a friend into distress

Is painful. But mine own security

To me is of more value than aught else.

Cr. Thou, with thine eyes down-fastened to the earth!

Dost thou confess to have done this, or deny it?

Ant. I deny nothing. I avow the deed.

Cr. (to Watchman). Thou may’st betake thyself whither thou wilt,

Acquitted of the grievous charge, and free.

(To Antigone) And thou,—no prating talk, but briefly tell,

Knew’st thou our edict that forbade this thing?

Ant. I could not fail to know. You made it plain.

Cr. How durst thou then transgress the published law?

Ant. I heard it not from Heaven, nor came it forth

From Justice, where she reigns with Gods below.

They too have published to mankind a law.

Nor thought I thy commandment of such might

That one who is mortal thus could overbear

The infallible, unwritten laws of Heaven.

Not now or yesterday they have their being,

But everlastingly, and none can tell

The hour that saw their birth. I would not, I,

For any terror of a man’s resolve,

Incur the God-inflicted penalty

Of doing them wrong. That death would come, I knew

Without thine edict;—if before the time,

I count it gain. Who does not gain by death,

That lives, as I do, amid boundless woe?

Slight is the sorrow of such doom to me.

But had I suffered my own mother’s child,

Fallen in blood, to be without a grave,

That were indeed a sorrow. This is none.

And if thou deem’st me foolish for my deed,

I am foolish in the judgement of a fool.

Ch. Fierce shows the maiden’s vein from her fierce sire;

Calamity doth not subdue her will.

Cr. Ay, but the stubborn spirit first doth fall.

Oft ye shall see the strongest bar of steel,

That fire hath hardened to extremity,

Shattered to pieces. A small bit controls

The fiery steed. Pride may not be endured

In one whose life is subject to command.

This maiden hath been conversant with crime

Since first she trampled on the public law;

And now she adds to crime this insolence,

To laugh at her offence, and glory in it.

Truly, if she that hath usurped this power

Shall rest unpunished, she then is a man,

And I am none. Be she my sister’s child,

Or of yet nearer blood to me than all

That take protection from my hearth, the pair

Shall not escape the worst of deaths. For know,

I count the younger of the twain no less

Copartner in this plotted funeral:

And now I bid you call her. Late I saw her

Within the house, beyond herself, and frantic.

—Full oft when one is darkly scheming wrong,

The disturbed spirit hath betrayed itself

Before the act it hides.—But not less hateful

Seems it to me, when one that hath been caught

In wickedness would give it a brave show.

Ant. Wouldst thou aught more of me than merely death?

Cr. No more. ‘Tis all I claim. Death closes all.

Ant. Why then delay? No talk of thine can charm me,

Forbid it Heaven! And my discourse no less

Must evermore sound noisome to thine ear.

Yet where could I have

Reviews for Sophocles

[jwhenderson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The oral traditions of Greece included the mythos of the life of Oedipus long before the first performance of this play, and the audience knew exactly what would happen before the gears of the plot begin turning. But the relentless, clockwork motion of the play kept theatergoers rapt then, as it does now, because watching fate unfold when it is known to you but not to the people who are its prisoners is a privilege borrowed from the gods.Oedipus is portrayed bold, mighty, and just, as the Priest claims him "greatest in all men's eyes".(l 40) Yet he also has human foibles and it is soon clear he has a destiny that, in spite of his actions, cannot be avoided. One theme of Oedipus the King is based on his hubris, but there is also the importance of his search for knowledge, the truth of his own being. Before the action of this play begins, Oedipus has already attempted to outrun fate, marking himself early for destruction. By attempting to escape a prophecy that he would kill his father, and leaving the palace at Corinth where he was raised, he sets the machinery of doom in motion.Traveling along the highways, he soon enough meets and murders a man he thinks is merely an overly aggressive stranger. Years later, he discovers that the dead man is his natural father, Laius, and that he has unwittingly performed the act he was trying to avoid. The play begins with Oedipus again attempting to reshape the arc of his life that was described by prophecy. The hints of his coming failure are numerous.In the Priest’s first long speech, when he begs Oedipus to save the city, he appeals to the king’s long experience—as a statesman, as a wanderer, as a ruler and as a vagrant. Unknown to the Priest and to Oedipus—but known to the audience—is that this king’s experience also includes killing his father and marrying his mother. The very experience to which the Priest appeals is moving Oedipus step by step to destruction. This exchange between the Priest and Oedipus is an example of how Sophocles builds dramatic tension into his play by including multiple levels of meaning in a single statement.The technique will be repeated throughout the play. It reappears just a few lines later, when Oedipus tells the Priest that he has asked for help from the Oracle at Delphi and will follow its advice or consider himself a traitor. With the borrowed omniscience of the gods, the audience knows that Oedipus is already a traitor for having killed Laius, and that he will be faced with pronouncing the judgment he has pronounced upon himself. It remains only to witness what happens.In another exchange weighted with similarly complex levels of meaning, Creon tells Oedipus what he has learned from the Oracle. Creon begins with the murder of Laius as background, and Oedipus says that he knows of the previous king, but has never seen him. Creon continues, delivering the Oracle’s instructions, and Oedipus vows to find and punish the murderer of Laius.While the Oracle’s wishes are being delivered by Creon and while Oedipus reacts to them, the audience knows, as before, what Oedipus does not—that he murdered Laius, that he is the dead king’s son and that the widowed queen Oedipus married is his mother. Once again, there is something transfixing, tragic and doomed about watching Oedipus, in his ignorance, attempting to follow the Oracle’s orders but all the time preparing for the revelation of his crime and his subsequent doom.The first hint of the truth is revealed to Oedipus by the blind prophet, Tiresias, and the king answers the seemingly unbelievable charge with rage, insults and threats. Raised in Corinth by the royal house as if he were the natural son of his adoptive parents, Oedipus rejects what Tiresias says as errant nonsense, saying "Had you eyes I would have said alone you murdered him [Laius]."(ls. 348-9) The blind prophet, who taunts Oedipus as being the one who is unable to see the truth, claiming "you are the land's pollution."(l 353) He challenges the king to reconsider everything about himself and the challenge is met with rage - Oedipus is unable to see the truth or to hear well-intentioned advice.Pride and faith in his own abilities moves Oedipus ever onward toward doom, failure to honor the gods results in the very destruction they foretell, and humanity is unable to escape what is predicted for it. His wife, Jocasta, is a flawed individual. Her arrogant dismissal of the gods and her proclamations of victory over fate foretell her undoing. As much as Oedipus, she is unable to see until it is too late that her life fulfilled the very prophecy she sought vainly and pridefully to undo. Oedipus begins to see, in brief glimpses, how blind he has been to the central facts of his own life. Thinking that he is doing a good deed, a Messenger tells Oedipus that it’s fine for Oedipus to come back to Corinth any time—he’s in no danger of fulfilling the prophecy there, the Messenger says. By telling Oedipus that the queen who raised him is not his natural mother, the Messenger has unknowingly revealed enough of the truth to make Oedipus tragically curious and to push Jocasta toward despair. Motivated by a simple desire to ease worry, the Messenger has released the machinations of fate that will produce the full revelation of the truth and all its awful effects. When the Messenger speaks, he is as blindly ignorant of his fatal role in serving destiny as Oedipus and Jocasta are of theirs. He speaks, but he does not see.In this section, the theme is hammered home time and again that people go through their lives thinking they are fulfilling one purpose when they are actually lurching toward the completion of several others. The gods know this and watch events unfold from above. The first audiences of this play knew the histories of its characters before the first lines were spoken, and the drama unfolded for viewers who watched with the borrowed omniscience of the gods. Modern readers are left to decide for themselves what they think about fate, prophecy and human attempts to outrun destiny. The climax of the play is both pitiful and tragic. Yet, it also yields knowledge for Oedipus of who he really is, even as he goes forth as a blind man. The chorus intones the message that "Time who sees all has found you out / against your will;" (ls. 1213-14). As Aristotle put it in his Poetics, Sophocles has organized his story so as to emphasize the elements of ignorance, irony, and the unexpected recognition of the truth. The magnificence of this drama has allowed it to endure and challenge readers ever since.

[justagirlwithabook · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ah, Oedipus and all of his family problems. I purchased this book my first year of teaching because it was part of the recommended curriculum for sophomore English. While I'm generally not a fan of plays (or having to teach them), this one offered up all sorts of hilarious discussion opportunities with the sophomores and they were hooked. Oedipus has a million problems and it was fun to read and discuss with my students.

[bruce_deming_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Relying upon oracles when one is confused or indecisive, particularly one as malicious as that one at Delphi, was a very unhealthy unhappy practice.

Oedipus as an infant is sent to die on a hill because of that malicious tart, this fate is altered by another and he is sent to foster parents. He doesn't who is real mother is until after he has married her later in life and then freaks out big time and goes into self mutilation and self abasement.

The moral might be to send your oracles to the enemy camp, don't keep them at home among your friends.

[serogers02-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful.

I've only read Antigone so far, but it was stunning.

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't enjoy these Ancient Greek Plays as much as others I have read in the last few months. I don't know if its the translation, or the subject matter. But I found the stories to be dry, convoluted, and rather boring. I found King Oidipus to be a tragic character that is too whiny and hypocritical. I really feel for his daughters, Imene and Antigone. They were caught in the web that is the curse of their family.

[leslie398 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A few years ago I had read the Storrs translation of these plays (the one most commonly found in the free public domain ebook editions) which were disappointingly poor. This translation by Robert Fagles is much much better!! I cannot speak to the introductory material, as I skipped that part but there was a substantial amount of it.

[saturnloft · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When it comes to tragic irony, few ancient or modern playwrights come close to Sophocles and these are the three works that showcase his dark genius at its best. This particular edition is translated by the ever-dependable Robert Fagles, and contains the following plays, in the order they were first produced:1 - ANTIGONE: Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and heir to her family's persistent dark cloud of misfortune. She wants to bury her equally-unlucky brother but her loyalty to her doomed brethren may cost her. (Of course it will! It's Sophocles!)2 - OEDIPUS THE KING: Oedipus is the best king for miles around and everyone knows it, including him.* Unfortunately an ominous stain is creeping into his idyllic kingdom; a plague is raging and it seems the gods are upset about something or other. The only person who seems to know what's up is a blind prophet and he's got some bad news for poor Oeddy.3 - OEDIPUS AT COLONUS: The action in this place takes place between the events of Oedipus the King and Antigone. This the most philosophical of the trilogy, dealing with ideas of fate, guilt, and redemption. (I thought it was a bit boring.)* Uh oh! Hubris!

[lisamaria_c · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sophocles' is one of only three Ancient Greek tragedians with surviving plays. The plays by the earliest, Aeschylus, remind me of a ancient frieze--not stilted exactly, but still stylized, very formal. The plays by the last of the three, Euripides, to me seems the most natural, the most modern. Sophocles is more in the middle in more ways than chronologically. He is credited with adding a third actor onstage to allow for more conflict and less emphasis on the chorus. His Theban Plays are about Oedipus and his daughter Antigone, of the royal family of the ancient Greek city of Thebes, and the plays are often grouped together, but actually were each part of tetralogies that have been lost and written years apart. Only seven of over a hundred plays by Sophocles still remain in existence. Oedipus the King and Antigone are his most famous and influential, and I was introduced to both plays in high school, and amazingly, that didn't put me off for life.Oedipus the King is a mystery story--with Oedipus the detective unraveling a secret that becomes his own doom. You may have heard of the "Oedipus Complex" associated with theories by Freud. Yes, that's this Oedipus, and that speaks to how primal, how deep goes some of the themes in this play. In the book 100 Top Plays, Oedipus the King comes in second only to Shakespeare's King Lear as most important play. Antigone comes in at number fifteen, after Aeschylus' Oresteia and two plays by Euripides. Antigone is the rare play with a female title protagonist--and its basic theme of the individual against the state resonated with me strongly, even as a teenager first reading it. Oedipus at Colonus, I found less memorable and impressive. In terms of the timeline, its events fall between those of Oedipus the King and Antigone, though this was actually one of Sophocles' last plays. That said, it falls nicely in between the two, filling some gaps, and it does have its beauties. But comparing this to the other two is like comparing Shakespeare's King Lear and Hamlet to, oh, his Cymbeline.

[dchaikin_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

42. Sophocles I : Oedipus The King; Oedipus at Colonus; Antigone (The Complete Greek Tragedies)published: 1954 (my copy is a 33rd printing from 1989)format: 206 page Paperbackacquired: May 30 from a Half-Price Booksread: July 3-4rating: 4½ Each play had a different translatorOedipus The King (circa 429 bce) - translated by David Grene c1942Oedipus at Colonus (written by 406 bce, performed 401 bce) - translated by Robert Fitzgerald c1941Antigone (by 441 bce) - translated by Elizabeth Wyckoff c1954Greek tragedy can fun. After all those rigid Aeschylus plays, that is the lesson of Sophocles. The drama within the dialogue is always dynamic, and sometimes really terrific. I had to really get in the mood to enjoy reading a play by Aeschylus, otherwise I might be bored by the long dull choral dialogues. These three plays are all different and all from different points in Sophocles career, but they each drew me on their own. Although they are all on the same story line, they were not written together, or in story order. Antigone was first, and was written when Sophocles was still trying to make a name for himself (vs Aeschylus). Oedipus the King came next, when Sophocles was well established. Oedipus at Colonus was apparently written just before Sophocles death, at about age 90. It wasn't performed until several years after his death. All this seems to show in the plays. Antigone having the sense of an author trying to make a striking impression. [Oedipus the King] carrying the sense of a master playwright with it's dramatic set ups. Oedipus at Colonus is slower, and more reflective. And two of the main characters are elderly. Oedipus the KingThis is simply a striking play, from the opening lines. In line 8, Oedipus characterizes himself to children suppliants as "I Oedipus who all men call the Great." It shows his confidence, but, as Thebes is in the midst of a suffering famine, it also shows outrageous arrogance - it's the only clear sing of this in the play. He is otherwise a noble character throughout. Of course he doesn't know what's coming. In the course of the play he will learn, slowly, his own tragic story - that a man he had killed in a highway fight was his father, and that his wife, and mother of his four children is also his own mother. As each person resists giving him yet another dreadful piece of information, he gets angry at them, threatening them in disbelief at their hesitancy. His denial lasts longer than that of Jocasta, his mother/wife, who leaves the play in dramatic fashion herself, first trying to stop the information flow, and then giving Oedipus a cryptic goodbye. And even as his awareness gets worse and worse, he cannot step out of character, the show-off i-do-everything-right ruler, but must continue to pursue the truth to it bitter fullness. Oedipus at ColonusA mature play in many ways. It's slow, thoughtful, has much ambiguity, and has many touching moments. The opening scene is memorable, where a blind Oedipus moves through the wilderness only with the close guidance of his daughter, Antigone. ... Who will be kind to Oedipus this eveningAnd give the wanderer charity?Though he ask little and receive still less,It is sufficient: Suffering and time,Vast time, have been instructors in contentment,Which kingliness teaches too. But now, child,If you can see a place we might rest,...It's interesting to see Creon, Jocasta's brother, turn bad. But it's more interesting to see Oedipus have a bitter side to him. He maintains his noble character, and that is the point of the play—he is hero because he never did anything bad intentionally, and yet he bears full punishment. But he also makes some interesting calls, essentially setting up a future war between his Thebes and Athens. And, Antigone is striking too. She saves Oedipus critically several times through her advice or her speech. While sacrificing herself and maintaining real affection for Oedipus, she is also shrewd, stepping forward boldly and changing the atmosphere. AntigoneThis play takes place immediately after what [[Aeschylus]] covered in [Seven Against Thebes]. Polyneices has attacked Thebes with his Argive army, and been repulsed by his brother Eteocles. Both are sons of Oedipus and they have killed each other in the battle. Creon is now ruler. He is a stiff ruler. Despite much warning, he refuses to listen to popular opinion, instead threatening it to silence (a clear political point is being made). But the problems start when he refuses to give his attacker Polyneices a proper burial. He threatens death on anyone who does try to bury him. Antigone openly defies this rule, setting up the play's drama. It's an extreme tragedy with a hamlet-like ending where practically everyone dies. I felt there was less here than in the other two plays, but yet there is still a lot. And it's still fun. OverallI don't imagine citizens of Thebes liked these plays. There is an unspoken sense of noble Athen poking fun its neighbor throughout. But, as it's not Athens, they give the playwright freedom to work in otherwise dangerous political points - and those are clearly there. But, mostly, these were fun plays. They don't need to be read as a trilogy. They were not meant that way, despite the plot-consistency. Each is independent. There are four more plays by Sophocles. I'm actually going to save them and start Euripides next. Because I think Sophocles is something to look forward to and that might push me through the next bunch.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Probably my favourite plays I ever had to read for Classical Studies. Oedipus, particularly. They certainly are tragedies, but they're wonderfully structured ones that, to me at least, certainly pack a punch.

[kassilem · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I remember reading Antigone in high school but not much of the play itself. In my college class now, we are reading it and I got much more out of it this time. :) Could do with the fact that I'm older now. We were only required to read Antigone but I felt as if I were missing parts of the story overall without having read the other two so I decided to read all three. I've seen in other reviews that these translations of Fagles aren't as authentic as they could be, but in this context, since it's the first time I've read all three together I didn't mind that much. I knew the overall story of Oedipus, but not until I read these did I really understand it and get to see the character's as more than names. I enjoyed the plays and have decided that I need to read more plays next year. :)

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Cliff/Spark version of Antigone is this: Two sisters want to bury their dead brother. One wants to bury him admirably and the other doesn't want to break the law. He cannot be buried because he was executed for a crime and must be left to rot in the courtyard as an example for the community. Defiant sister must go against the king alone as everyone refuses to help her. True to Greek tragedy nearly everyone, including the king's wife ends up committing suicide. The end.Of course there is much, much more to the story and, depending on which version you read, you get it. In my version of Antigone translated by Elizabeth Wyckoff the language is watered down and somewhat pedestrian. It's not as lyrical as other translations. A small example: from a 1906 Oxford Clarendon Press version (translated by Robert Whitelaw): "Ismene: There's trouble in thy looks, thy tidings tell" compared with the 1954 University of Chicago Press version (translated by Elizabeth Wycoff): "Ismene: What is it? Clearly some news has clouded you" (p 159). Ismene is basically saying the same thing in each line, but the Whitelaw version has more animation, more movement. In the end Antigoneis a simple story about the man against The Man, no matter how you read it.

[schmerguls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a modern and inferior translation. The third of the three plays, Antigone, is Greek tragedy at its classic best. Antigone is Oedipus' daughter who defies King Creon's order against burying her brother. He banishes her to be buried in an island dungeon. She hangs herself and Creon 's son and wife commit suicide.

[ncgraham_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The name of Oedipus the King (Oedipus Tyrannos or Oedipus Rex, if you prefer) is nearly synonymous with the idea of Greek tragedy, and maybe with the idea of tragic drama in general. Aristotle referenced it in his Poetics, as (of course) did Freud in his writings. Reading it today, it seems both very ancient and very new, outlandish and yet relevant. I found it immensely gripping, and fascinating in its juxtaposition of fate and human action, sight and blindness, intention and guilt.I was assigned the play in two separate classes this semester, along with Antigone in one of them. I decided to go above and beyond by reading all of the plays, including Oedipus at Colonus, and I'm very glad I did. Although this often-skipped middle work is not as dramatically potent as the other two plays, Sophocles’ use of language is (as others have remarked) even more mature and lyrical than it was before. Also, one really read the three together not because there elements are perfectly cohesive—they aren’t—but because it is only then that the modern reader can understand the full scale of the Theban tragedy, something the Ancient Greeks would have known about going in.Despite the popularity of Oedipus the King and the maturity of Oedipus at Colonus, most everyone I’ve talked to seems to likeAntigone best. I can understand why. It is the most varied of the plays, incorporating a little humor and romance, as well as the usual tragic elements. I think Antigone and Haemon are the first truly sympathetic characters in the cycle, which makes their downfall all the more heartrending.Paul Roche’s translation is easy to read and modern in tone—almost too modern, to tell the truth. There is an almost Hemingway-like disregard of punctuation at times (“What another summons?” should read “What? Another summons?”) not to mention one of the most inane contractions I’ve ever seen (“what’re”). Still, these are minor blemishes, and the sheer readability of Roche's rendering is a definite aid in understanding these ancient tragedies.Scholars have been discussing and debating these plays for literally centuries. I feel I’ve only scratched the surface of them, and can easily see myself coming back to them in the future.

[camarie_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book including the stories of epic Oedipus and his daughter, Antigone. Sophocles is an amazing author. Oedipus is a man who tries to avoid his prophecy, which is to kill his father and marry his mother. Not only marry his mother, but also have four children with her. Now, he searches for an answer to his question: Has he fulfilled the prophecy? Think your life has drama? Please. Oedipus has it worse than anyone. In Antigone, she goes against the law to bury her brother. What will win, reason and order or morality and fate? Beautifully written and relative even today.

[rhinoa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Three plays are collected in this volume surrounding Oedipus and his family. Oedipus was famous for killing his father and marrying his mother after being abandoned at birth. The first play is Antigone which follows the daughter of Oedipus and his wife/mother Jocasta. Her brothers have both died and while Eteocles is given a proper burial, Polynices is left out without any rites by their uncle Creon. Antigone is distraught and goes against Creon's wishes (he is the King after Oedipus) and tries to cover his body bringing about more sorrow to the doomed family.Oedipus the King follows which shows the sequence of events leading up to Oedipus learning the truth about his birth and the crimes he has committed. It has him summoning the shepherd who is the sole witness of the death of Laius and it also emerges how he grew up not knowing his real parents. It's a sad tale as Oedipus did so much to try and avoid fulfilling the prophecy. The final play is Oedipus at Colonus which finishes the story of Oedpius after his exile. It concludes his story taking it to his death in Athens with Theseus. His daughters Antigone and Ismene are with him at the end.I really enjoyed all three plays although I do feel that having Antigone first was out of order and it should have been the final play in the collection. I would really like to see them performed live, especially Oedipus the King which is the most powerful of the three with the truths it reveals. A must for all mythology fans.

[takeitorleaveit_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Freud loved this shizzle. it is a classic. whether or not I want to kill my dad. oh wait, I'm sure of.

[gillis3sarah · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like Oedipus. In a kind of sick, twisted way, I guess.

[lyzadanger · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Warning: I do mention things in this musing that could be construed as spoilers to the action in the plays.Unlike Aeschylus, whose plays I battled through out of a sense of obligation and gravitas, Sophocles' Oedipal cycle snared me. Perhaps it is Robert Fagles' talented translation, perhaps I am simply reading with more care, but the complexity of the characters shone through, even 2500 years later.It's not Oedipus I'm talking about here. For Oedipus, things happen to him and around him, but he himself is not much more than a vessel of fate. In the final play, "Oedipus at Colonus", he even argues (fiercely!) that he is innocent of his ghastly acts, instead a hopeless pawn of the gods' prophesies. It's the women, and most strongly, Antigone. Her depth highlights the conflicting sense of womanhood held by the ancient Greeks. In Greek literature we usually see women in one of two ways. One: the simpering, overwrought mental weaklings (I tend to think of these as the Penelopes or the Aphrodites). These waifs are usually simultaneously revered for their constancy and tenderness, reviled for their uselessness. But then there's the other side of femininity. The Athena-like assertiveness, the uncompromising, the virginal. This is Antigone (and, to a lesser extent, her sister Ismene). She is persuasive and adventurous. She risks her life for the honor of family. She is so upstanding that Oedipus can't quite compute--on multiple occasions he exhorts that his daughters are being so strong it's they who are the men, not his sons. It's not surprising that the Greeks would tend to ascribe positive characteristics as masculinity, but it interesting to me how far Antigone gets to go. However, I would argue that in this sense she had to die. Die, that is, before her marriage to Haemon, which would have taken her out of the virginal limelight and forced her into the sphere of domestic womanhood. I'd assert that this would have destroyed the integrity of her character.Antigone's strength is but one aspect of probably a billion subthemes in these plays. It will take me a long time to sort it all out in my mind. A moment of bragging: I almost instantly recognized Oedipus' character at the beginning of "Colonus": totally King Lear! Turns out I was right; Shakespeare borrowed heavily.

[jpsnow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone. Sophocles is surprisingly easy to read, not unlike a modern novel. I watched my understanding of the Greek society and beliefs being "rounded out" now that I have some context from previous choruses (tragedies) and the epics. The Oedipus trilogy showed an interesting thread through the three works. I can understand why the Greeks found such a format entertaining. Sophocles lived from around 495bc to 406bc and competed and won against Aeschylus in the contests. He was also a leader in Athens, born in Colonus. Oedipus is worth reading both to have that understanding of the classic work, as well as in its own right. I note here only the closing moral: "Therefore, while our eyes wait to see the destined final day, we must call no one happy who is of mortal race, until he hath crossed life's border, free from pain." In Colonus and again in Antigone I noticed what may have been the first reference of "stranger in a strange land." The parallels to Shakespeare are also so evident, best shown by the use of "ill-starred" - although Shakespeare would have done the exact opposite treatment of any death. Deaths typically happen off-stage in the tragedies. The moral of Antigone: "Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness; and reverence towards the gods must be inviolate. Great words of prideful men are ever punished with great blows, and, in old age, teach the chastened to be wise."

[anabellebf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Contains the best tragedy ever written. Always a pleasure to re-read.

[wenestvedt_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you can, see also the stage musical, "The Gospel at Colonus" -- or at least get the soundtrack. Set in a black pentecostal church, starring Clarence Fountain & The Blind Boys of Alabama, a massive choir, guitarist Sam Butler, and assorted other musical & vocal powerhouses, it was one of the best stage performances I've ever seen (Guthrie Theater, 1986 or 1987).