Ask Creon. Your concern is for him.IsmeneWhy do you torture me like this, when it does not help you?AntigoneNo, if I mock you, it is to my own pain that I do so.IsmeneTell me, how can I help you, even now?AntigoneSave yourself. I do not grudge your escape.IsmeneAh, misery! Will I fall short of sharing your fate?AntigoneYour choice was to live, it was mine to die.IsmeneAt least your choice was not made without my protests.AntigoneOne world approved your wisdom, another approved mine.IsmeneNevertheless, the offense is identical for both of us.AntigoneTake heart! You live. But my life has long been in Death’s hands so that I might serve the dead.CreonOne of these maidens, I declare, has just revealed her foolishness; the other has displayed it from the moment of her birth.IsmeneYes, Creon. Whatever amount of reason nature may have given them does not remain with those in dire straits, but goes astray.CreonYours did, I know, when you chose dire actions with dire allies.IsmeneWhat life would there be for me alone, without her presence?CreonDo not speak of her presence. She lives no longer.IsmeneWhat? You will kill your own son’s bride?CreonWhy not? There are other fields for him to plough.IsmeneBut not fitted to him as she was.CreonI abhor an evil wife for my son.AntigoneHaemon, dearest! How your father wrongs you!CreonEnough! Enough of you and of your marriage!ChorusWill you really cheat your son of this girl?CreonDeath it is who will end these bridals for me.ChorusThen it seems that it is resolved that she will die.CreonResolved, yes, for you and by me. To the two Attendants. No more delay! Servants, take them inside! Hereafter they must be women, and not left at large. For it is known that even the brave seek to flee, when they see Death now closing on their life. Exeunt Attendants, guarding Antigone and Ismene. Creon remains.

ChorusBlest are those whose days have not tasted of evil. For when a house has once been shaken by the gods, no form of ruin is lacking, but it spreads over the bulk of the race, just as, when the surge is driven over the darkness of the deep by the fierce breath of Thracian sea-winds,