I: ἀρχὴν δὲ θηρᾶν οὐ πρέπει τἀμήχανα.
Als Anfang aber jenes zu erjagen, unschicklich bleibt's, wogegen auszurichten nichts.
Yet to commence in pursuit or that remains unfitting, against which nothing can avail.
A: εἰ ταῦτα λέξεις, ἐχθαρεῖ μὲν ἐξ ἐμοῦ,
ἐχθρὰ δὲ τῷ θανόντι προσκείσει δίκῃ.
ἀλλ᾽ ἔα με καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἐμοῦ δυσβουλίαν
παθεῖν τὸ δεινὸν τοῦτο: πείσομαι γὰρ οὐ
τοσοῦτον οὐδὲν ὥστε μὴ οὐ καλῶς θανεῖν.
Wenn dies du sagst, im Haß stehst du, der mir entstammt,
im Haß auch trittst entgegen du dem Toten, wie sich's schickt.
Doch überlaß dies mir und jenem, was aus mir Gefährlich-Schweres rät:
ins eigne Wesen aufzunehmen das Unheimliche, das jetzt und hier erscheint.
Erfahren nämlich werd' ich allenthalben Solches nichts,
daB nicht zum Sein gehören muß mein Sterben.
If you say this, in hatred you stand. arising from me,
and the hatred of he who is dead will come to meet you, as is fitting.
Yet leave this to me, and to that within me that counsels the dangerous
and difficult:
to take up into my own essence the uncanny that here and now appears.
For everywhere shall I experience nothing of the fact
that not to being my dying must belong.
I: ἀλλ᾽ εἰ δοκεῖ σοι, στεῖχε: τοῦτο δ᾽ ἴσθ᾽ ὅτι
ἄνους μὲν ἔρχει, τοῖς φίλοις δ᾽ ὀρθῶς φίλη.
Doch wenn's dir so erscheint, dann geh! Dies aber wisse, daß
ohn Wahrheit bei dir selbst du gehst, den Freunden freilich wahrhaft
Freundin bleibst.
If thus it appears to you, then go! Yet know this, that you go
without truth beside you, though to your friends you truly a friend remain.
This rather cryptic word from Ismene concludes the dialogue between the sisters. The word from Ismene that directly precedes it, however, is the one in which there is gathered everything that must first come to light in this dialogue. And what must thus appear at the very beginning, though as Yet uncomprehended, is nothing other than the essence of Antigone. The penultimate word from Ismene in this dialogue runs:
I: ἀρχὴν δὲ θηρᾶν οὐ πρέπει τἀμήχανα.