sorrows, even as I have lived, counteth it gain to die. But had I left
my own mother's son unburied, this had been loss indeed."

Then said the King, "Such stubborn thoughts have a speedy fall, and are
shivered even as the iron that hath been made hard in the furnace. And
as for this woman and her sister--for I judge her sister to have had a
part in this matter--though they were nearer to me than all my kindred,
yet shall they not escape the doom of death. Wherefore let some one
bring the other woman hither."

[Illustration: ANTIGONE AND THE BODY OF POLYNICES.]

And while they went to fetch the maiden Ismené, Antigone said to the
King, "Is it not enough for thee to slay me? What need to say more? For
thy words please me not nor mine thee. Yet what nobler thing could I
have done than to bury my own mother's son? And so would all men say but
fear shutteth their mouths."

"Nay," said the King, "none of the children of Cadmus thinketh thus, but
thou only. But, hold, was not he that fell in battle with this man thy
brother also?"

"Yes, truly, my brother he was."

"And dost thou not dishonour him when thou honourest his enemy?"

"The dead man would not say it, could he speak."

"Shall then the wicked have like honour with the good?"