Sophocles
From: Antigone
The Song of Man and the City (lines 332-375)
Rarest miracle nature owns.
Watch him crossing the sea's expanse,
Oceans grey with the winter wind,
Row, sail, on depth-tossing rollers
Beyond, beyond the waves. Then first
Of gods, and womb of gods — Earth,
Ageless, invincible, earth he is grinding at,
Year after year shoving plough furrows into her,
Horse-plod turning loam-clods over.
Light-witted species, chirping birds,
The noose whirling, he runs, he traps,
Hunts down beasts of the woods and hills,
Drags sea fish in a swarming catch.
Those nets, that well-twisted rope-work,
The mastermind — a man, who rides,
With harness well-devised, wild
Beast of the mountain, obliges the mane-tossing
Stalling to stoop to a collar that breaks him in,
Yokes hill-bull's untamed endurance.
And words, and the winds of a plan,
And codes of behaviour with rules,
All this he has taught to himself, with hearthstones,
Walls, roofs, to arch skies away
That threaten rain, sleet, and hail,
Omnisufficient. Insufficient never, caught off guard —
No, never. Death, death alone,
That one never lets you go,
Although incurable disease
Has been treated.
Some wisdom, some technical sense,
Beyond what a man can expect —
Progress can be evil, but can be noble,
When law's obeyed, contracts kept,
In awe of God's Natural Law,
Citizenhood. Citiless away, away with you,
You love the wild life for kicks.
You shall never share my hearth,
Nor ever share my thoughts, my dreams.
'Ware such people.
The Sophocles translations, 'The Song of Man and the City', 'The Song of Unconquered Love', from the Antigone, and 'The Song Welcoming Oedipus into Athenian Territory' and the 'The Song for Oedipus' Death' from Oedipus at Colonus, are isometric translations — i.e. the English reproduces the metre of the Greek.
Translated by Leo Aylen
Page(s) 235-236
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