Is America experiencing inevitable decline? A nervous breakdown? Recently I reviewed Sophocles’ fifth-century play Antigone, and I was again impressed with a deep truth in it. So were my students. Here is the background first. The eponymous character decides to bury her dead brother Polynices, even though he attacked Thebes. The new king, Creon, her uncle, decreed that Polynices, for his treachery, shouldn’t be buried, on pain of death. However, she reasoned that Creon couldn’t overstep his mortal bounds and forbid her brother’s rightful place in the underworld -- not even the gods of heaven do that -- regardless of the dead man’s sins. A sentry guarding the rotting body caught her ritually sprinkling dirt over it and hauled her into the king’s presence. Creon asks her why she broke his new law. She replies that natural justice transcends human edicts: It wasn't Zeus, not in the least, who made this proclamation -- not to me....(Read Full Article)