ABSTRACT
No one who has ever read Sophocles’ Antigone can forget the heavenly chorus of the elderly Thebans in praise of the power of mankind: ‘There are many mighty things, and none is mightier than man.’ The poet describes man overcoming the boundaries of the sea and defying the hurricane; conquering with the plough the inexhaustible forces of the earth and obliging it to offer up its yearly tribute; catching the fishes of the sea and the birds of the air in his nets; pursuing victoriously the wild animals, in the depths of the forests and on the peaks of the mountains; and subjecting the horse and the mighty ox to the yoke. Then the poet turns his gaze to higher things. He depicts man, inventing language and dispatching his thoughts and wishes into the breasts of others in the form of words; founding states and giving laws; defying the powers of the heavenly bodies by safeguarding himself against frost and rain and by overcoming serious illnesses. He may work as a blessing or as a curse for everything lying within his vast sphere of influence, depending upon whether he chooses good or evil as his goal.
