Oh no, unhappy sister! I fear for you! Antigone Do not tremble for me. Straighten out your own destiny. Ismene Then at least disclose the deed to no one before you do it. Conceal it, instead, in secrecy—and so,
 too, will I. Antigone Go on! Denounce it! You will be far more hated for your silence, if you
 fail to proclaim these things to everyone. Ismene You have a hot heart for chilling deeds. Antigone I know that I please those whom I am most bound to please. Ismene Yes, if you will also have the
 power. But you crave the impossible. Antigone Why then, when my strength fails, I will have finished. Ismene An impossible hunt should not be tried in the first place. Antigone If you mean that, you will have my hatred, and you will be subject to
 punishment as the enemy of the dead. But leave me and the foolish plan I have authored to suffer this
 terrible thing, for I will not suffer anything so terrible that my death
 will lack honor. Ismene Go, then, if you so decide. And of this be sure: though
 your path is foolish, to your loved ones your love is straight and
 true. Exit Antigone on the spectators’ left. Ismene exits into
 the palace. Enter the Chorus on the right. Chorus Shaft of the sun, fairest light of all that have dawned
 on Thebes of the seven
 gates, you have shone forth at last, eye of golden day, advancing
 over Dirce’s streams! You have goaded with a sharper bit the
 warrior of the white shield, who came from Argos in full armor, driving him to
 headlong retreat. Chorus He set out against our land
 because of the strife-filled claims of Polyneices, and like a screaming
 eagle he flew over into our land, covered by his snow-white
 wing, with a mass of weapons
 and crested helmets. Chorus He paused above our dwellings; he
 gaped around our sevenfold portals with spears thirsting for blood; but
 he left before his jaws were ever glutted with our gore, or
 before the Fire-god’s pine-fed flame had seized our crown of towers. So
 fierce was the crash of battle swelling about his back, a match too hard
 to win for the rival of the dragon. Chorus For Zeus detests above all the
 boasts of a proud tongue. And when he saw them advancing in a swollen
 flood, arrogant their clanging
 gold, he dashed with brandished fire one who was already starting to
 shout victory when he had reached our ramparts. Chorus Staggered, he fell to the earth
 with a crash, torch in hand, a man
 possessed by the frenzy of the mad attack, who just now was raging
 against us with the blasts of his tempestuous hate. But his threats did
 not fare as he had hoped, and to the other enemies mighty Ares dispensed
 each their own dooms with hard blows, Ares, our mighty ally at the turning-point. Chorus For the seven captains, stationed
 against an equal number at the seven gates, left behind their brazen
 arms in tribute to Zeus the turner of battle—all but the accursed pair
 who, born of one father and one mother, set against each other their spears, both victorious, and who
 now share in a common death. Chorus But since Victory whose name is
 glory has come to us, smiling in joy equal to the joy of chariot-rich
 Thebes , let us make for ourselves forgetfulness after
 the recent wars, and visit all the temples of the gods with night-long
 dance and song. And may Bacchus, who shakes the earth of Thebes , rule our dancing! Chorus But look, the king of the land is
 coming here, Creon, the son of Menoeceus, our new ruler in accordance
 with the new circumstances fated by the gods. What policy is he setting
 in motion,