It was not Zeus who published this decree,
Nor have the Powers who rule among the dead
Imposed such laws as this upon mankind;
Nor could I think that a decree of yours--
A man--could override the laws of Heaven
Unwritten and unchanging. Not of today
Or yesterday is their authority;
They are eternal; no man saw their birth.
Was I to stand before the gods' tribunal
For disobeying them, because I feared
A man? I knew that I should have to die,
Even without your edict; if I die,
Before my time, why then, I count it gain;
To one who lives as I do, ringed about
With countless miseries, why, death is welcome.
For me to meet this doom is little grief;
But when my mother's son lay dead, had I
Neglected him and left him there unburied,
That would have caused me grief; this causes none.
And if you think it folly, then perhaps
I am accused of folly by a fool.
~ Antigone, to Creon, King of Thebes in
"Antigone" by Sophocles, translated by H.D.F. Kitto, lines 450-470
Course Plan Week 16 of St. Thomas Aquinas Academy's GREEK LITERATURE II (GL2-B) and Course Plan Week 07 of GREEK PLAYWRIGHTS (GPW-B)