llowed by a tragic episode which
remains to be told, that of the sisterly fidelity of Antigone and her
sorrowful fate. Her story, which the dramatists have made immortal, is
thus told in the legend.

After the repulse of his foes, King Creon caused the body of Eteocles
to be buried with the highest honors; but that of Polynikes was cast
outside the gates as the corpse of a traitor, and death was threatened
to any one who should dare to give it burial. This cruel edict, which no
one else ventured to ignore, was set aside by Antigone, the sister of
Polynikes. This brave maiden, with warm filial affection, had
accompanied her blind father during his exile to Attica, and was now
returned to Thebes to perform another holy duty. Funeral rites were held
by the Greeks to be essential to the repose of the dead, and Antigone,
despite Creon's edict, determined that her brother's body should not be
left to the dogs and vultures. Her sister, though in sympathy with her
purpose, proved too timid to help her. No other assistance was to be
had. But not deterred by this, she determined to perform the act alone,
and to bury the body with her own hands.

In this act of holy devotion Antigone succeeded; Polynikes was buried.
But the sentinels whom Creon had posted detected her in the act, and she
was seized and dragged before the tribunal of the tyrant. Here she
defended her action with an earnestness and dignity that should have
gained her release, but Creon was inflexible in his anger. She had set
at naught his edict, and should suffer the penalty for her crime. He
condemned her to be buried alive.

Sophocles, the dramatist, puts noble words into the mouth of Antigone.
This is her protest against the tyranny of the king:

"No ordinance of man shall override
The settled laws of Nature and of God;
Not written these in pages of a book,
Nor were they framed to-day, nor yesterday;
We know not whence they are; but this we know,
That they from all eternity have been,
And shall to all eternity endure."

And when asked by Creon why she had dared disobey the laws, she nobly
replied,--

"Not through fear
Of any man's resolve was I prepared
Before the gods to bear the penalty
Of sinning against these. That I should die
I knew (how should I not?) though thy decree
Had never spoken. And before my time
If I shall die, I reckon this a gain;
For whoso lives, as I, in many woes,
How can it be but