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Antigone on love, not hate

c. 441 BCE, Athens (Theatre of Dionysus). Antigone speaking, in Sophocles’ play.

Where and when

c. 441 BCEAthens (Theatre of Dionysus)

about 2,466 years ago

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Sophocles

, Athens (Theatre of Dionysus)Antigone speaking, in Sophocles’ play

In plain words, ours

I was not made to share in hating, but in loving.

It is not my nature to join in hate, but in love.

Sophocles, Antigone line 523Translated by Richard Jebb (1891)Read the full passage (Sophocles, Antigone line 523, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

In Sophocles' play, Antigone faces Creon, ruler of Thebes, over her burial rites for her dead brother. Creon says that brother died attacking the land, while their other brother died defending it.

Checked claim by claim against: the passage around the quote.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. 447 BCEabout 6 years earlier Work begins on the Parthenon Also in Athens
  2. set in c. 447 BCEabout 6 years earlier Pericles counsels waiting for Time Also in Athens
  3. 446/445 BCEabout 5 years earlier Athens and Sparta agree a Thirty Years' Peace Also in Athens
  4. c. 441 BCEThis momentAntigone on love, not hate
  5. c. 441 BCEAbout the same year Haemon on a city ruled by one man More from Sophocles
  6. c. 441 BCEAbout the same year Creon on disobedience Same passage
  7. c. 441 BCEAbout the same year Antigone defies Creon Same passageMore from Sophocles
  8. c. 441 BCEAbout the same year Sophocles' Chorus on the wonder of man More from Sophocles
  9. set in 416 BCEabout 25 years later Socrates on Love as the best helper Also about friendship and love
  10. by 399 BCEabout 42 years later Aspasia on honest matchmaking Also about friendship and love

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

Creon: You alone out of all these Thebans see it that way.

Antigone: They do, too, but for you they hold their tongues.

Creon: Are you not ashamed that your beliefs differ from theirs?

Antigone: No, there is nothing shameful in respecting your own flesh and blood.

Creon: Was not he your brother too, who died in the opposite cause?

Antigone: A brother by the same mother and the same father.

Creon: Why, then, do you pay a service that is disrespectful to him?

Antigone: The dead man will not support you in that.

Creon: Yes, he will, if you honor him equally with the wicked one.

Antigone: It was his brother, not his slave, who died.

Creon: But he died ravaging this land, while he fell in its defense.

Antigone: Hades craves these rites, nevertheless.

Creon: But the good man craves a portion not equal to the evil’s.

Antigone: Who knows but that these actions are pure to those below?

Creon: You do not love someone you have hated, not even after death.

The quote: Antigone: It is not my nature to join in hate, but in love.

Creon: Then, go down to hell and love them if you must. While I live, no woman will rule me.

Enter Ismene from the house, led in by two attendants.

Chorus: Look, here comes Ismene from the palace, shedding the tears of a loving sister. A cloud over her eyes mars her red-flushed face, and it breaks into rain on her comely cheek.

Creon: You who were lurking like a viper in my own house and secretly gulping up my life’s blood, while I was oblivious that I was nurturing two plagues, two revolutions against my throne—tell me now, will you also affirm your share in this burial, or will you forswear all knowledge of it?

Sophocles, Antigone lines 508–535Translated by Richard Jebb (1891)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
c. 441 BCE. Antigone is usually dated to about 441 BCE from ancient notices; the exact year of its first staging is not recorded.
Whose words
Antigone speaking, in Sophocles’ play.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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