2,400 years ago, Sophocles wrote a play that still grips us today. It’s powerful, philosophical, tragic, and fascinating. The drama is called Antigone, and it took me about an hour to read. Did I love it? Yes, I did.
There are two characters to pay attention to: Antigone and Creon. Antigone wants to bury her dead brother to honor him and appease the gods. Creon (the king) wants to prevent that burial because the brother was an enemy of the state. To honor him would send a message that traitors are worthy of praise. As their desires clash, tragedy flares.
One of my favorite passages comes from Haimon (Creon’s son). It goes like this:
Do not, then, bear one mood only in yourself: do not think that your word, and no other, must be right. For if any man thinks that he alone has phrenes (thought) — that in speech or in mind he has no peer — such a psūkhē (life), when laid open, is always found empty. No, even when a man is sophos (wise), it brings him no shame to learn many things, and not to be too rigid.
To set the stage (pun intended), Creon has made some harsh decisions against Antigone. And now, his son, Haimon, is pleading with him to lighten up. It’s a wonderful passage, reminding each of us to not be single-minded and prideful in what we think we know. It’s a reminder to be humble, and always willing to learn more.
You can read Antigone for free online thanks to The Center for Hellenic Studies from Harvard University.
Until tomorrow, read slowly – take notes – apply the ideas.
-Eddy
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