ANTIGONE

Arrested for burying the brother the king forbade anyone to bury, Antigone refuses to plead — and instead calmly explains why the unwritten laws of Heaven outrank any edict of a mortal man.

1:12DramaticTeens–20sIntermediate

The speech160 words · 3 beats

0:00 / 1:12

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I was not like, who feared no mortal's frown, to disobey these laws and so provoke the wrath of Heaven. I knew that I must die, e'en hadst thou not proclaimed it; and if death is thereby hastened, I shall count it gain. For death is gain to him whose life, like mine, is full of misery.

Thus my lot appears not sad, but blissful; for had I endured to leave my mother's son unburied there, I should have grieved with reason, but not now. And if in this thou judgest me a fool, methinks the judge of folly's not acquit.turn

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ANTIGONE

Antigone · Sophocles · 1:12 · 160 words

Yea, for these laws were not ordained of Zeus, and she who sits enthroned with gods below, Justice, enacted not these human laws. Nor did I deem that thou, a mortal man, could'st by a breath annul and override the immutable unwritten laws of Heaven. They were not born today nor yesterday; they die not; and none knoweth whence they sprang. I was not like, who feared no mortal's frown, to disobey these laws and so provoke the wrath of Heaven. I knew that I must die, e'en hadst thou not proclaimed it; and if death is thereby hastened, I shall count it gain. For death is gain to him whose life, like mine, is full of misery. Thus my lot appears not sad, but blissful; for had I endured to leave my mother's son unburied there, I should have grieved with reason, but not now. And if in this thou judgest me a fool, methinks the judge of folly's not acquit.

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