Thursday, July 16, 2015
An Animated Corpse
Sophocles, Antigone 1165-1171 (tr. Hugh Lloyd-Jones):
Newer› ‹Older
And now all has been let go; for when a man's pleasures have abandoned him, I do not consider him a living being, but an animated corpse. Enjoy great wealth in your house, if you will, and live in royal style; but if you take no delight in these things, I would not purchase all the rest for the shadow of smoke, compared with pleasure.
καὶ νῦν ἀφεῖται πάντα. καὶ γὰρ ἡδοναὶ 1165
ὅταν προδῶσιν ἀνδρός, οὐ τίθημ᾿ ἐγὼ
ζῆν τοῦτον, ἀλλ᾿ ἔμψυχον ἡγοῦμαι νεκρόν.
πλούτει τε γὰρ κατ᾿ οἶκον, εἰ βούλῃ, μέγα,
καὶ ζῆ τύραννον σχῆμ᾿ ἔχων, ἐὰν δ᾿ ἀπῇ
τούτων τὸ χαίρειν, τἄλλ᾿ ἐγὼ καπνοῦ σκιᾶς 1170
οὐκ ἂν πριαίμην ἀνδρὶ πρὸς τὴν ἡδονήν.
1165 καὶ γὰρ ἡδοναὶ Seyffert: τὰς γὰρ ἡδονὰς codd.
1166 ἀνδρός] ἄνδρας Zot: ἄνδρα Eustathius
