Whence? Wherefore, Kreon, slay me utterly?1620
For thou wilt slay, if forth the land thou cast.
Yet never twining round thy knee mine hands
A coward will I show me, to betray
My noble birth, how ill soe'er I fare.
Kreon.
Well hast thou said thou wilt not clasp my knees.1625
I cannot let thee dwell within the land.
Of these dead, this within the halls be borne
Straightway: that,—who with aliens came to smite
His father's city—Polyneikes' corpse,
Without the land's bounds cast unburied forth.1630
To all Kadmeans shall this be proclaimed:—
Whoso on this corpse laying wreaths is found,
Or with earth hiding, death shall be his meed.
Unwept, unburied, leave him meat for birds.
But thou thy mourning for the corpses three,1635
Antigonê, leave, and get thee within doors.
Thy maiden state until the morrow keep,
Whereon the couch of Haimon waiteth thee.
Antigone.
Father, in what ills is our misery whelmed!
For thee I make moan more than for the dead.1640
Thine ills are not part heavy and part light,
But in all things art thou in woeful case.
But thee I question, new-created king,
Why outrage thus my sire with banishment?
Wherefore make laws touching a hapless corse?1645
Kreon.
Eteokles' ordinance, not mine, is this.
