mvp-comment-650-1 The πόλεις ¹ συνταράσσονται ²

mvp-comment-650-2 It has been objected that the play contains no hint of burial having been denied to any one except Polyneices. This is not exactly the case: the phrase

in v. 10 is such a hint. But it was unnecessary for the poet to state a fact which all his hearers would assume. Every one knew how Creon had refused burial to the Argives, and how Theseus had recovered their corpses by force of arms. In the Supplices of Eur. the Chorus consists of widows and mothers of the unburied warriors. No Athenian exploit was more famous ( Her. 9.27 ; Isocr. Paneg. § 52 , Encom. Helen. § 31, Panath. § 168; Plat. Menex. 244 ; [Lys. ] or. 2 §§ 4 ff. : [Dem. ] or. 60 §§ 7 ff. ). The war of the Epigoni, which was included in the epic Thebais ( Paus. 9. 9 § 5), was dramatised both by Aesch. and by Soph. ( ).

mvp-comment-650-3 Just as, in the O. C. (1410 n.), Soph. glances at the theme of his Antigone, so here he might naturally glance—however indirectly—at a later chapter of the Theban story,—whether his Epigoni already existed, or was still in the future. Dramatically, the reference is the more fitting, since the legend represented Teiresias as still living, and still zealous for Theban welfare, when the Epigoni came.—For other views of the passage, see Appendix.

mvp-comment-651-1 ὅσων ³ ὅσων ⁴

mvp-comment-651-2 L's καθήγνισαν ⁵ καθήγισαν ⁶ καθήγνισαν ⁷ καθήγισαν ⁸

mvp-comment-651-3 of

here. The Schol. read the latter ( ). But the fact that L has must be set against these doubtful testimonies.—For the irony, cp. El. 1487

πρόθες | ταφεῦσιν, ὧν τόνδ’ εἰκός ἐστι τυγχάνειν

(as Gorgias called vultures , 3 § 2): Aesch. Th. 1020 : Ennius Ann. 142 Lucr. 5. 993

viva videns vivo sepeliri viscera busto.

mvp-comment-652-1 ἑστιοῦχον … πόλιν ⁹

mvp-comment-653-1 σου ¹⁰ ἀφῆκα ¹¹

mvp-comment-653-2 θυμῷ ¹² καρδίας τοξεύματα ¹³

1078. mvp-comment-623-1 φανεῖ Sc. ταῦτα, i. e. the truth of 11. 1074-1076. The cry of men and women in thy halls shall declare it ere long. For φαίνω in this sense, cp. O. C. 721, φαίνειν ἔπη. For the ellipse, οὐ μακροῦ χρόνου τριβή, sc. ἐγγενήσεται πρὶν ἂν φήνῃ αὐτό, cp. supr. 1. 577. This is more probable than the other explanation, which is certainly possible, A little while will bring forth lamentations, etc. Some MSS. have τριβή, i.e. τριβῇ.

1079. mvp-comment-624-1 For ἀνδρῶν γυναικῶν, cp. Aristoph. Ran. 157, θιάσους εὐδαίμονας | ἀνδρῶν γυναικῶν.

1080. mvp-comment-625-1 And all cities are (even now) being stirred up in leagued enmity (to Thebes), whose mangled citizens have found burial in being devoured by dogs, or by wild beasts, or by some winged bird, that bears an unholy savour into a city and its sacred hearths. This is probably intended by Sophocles as a prophecy of the war with the Epigoni, of which the seeds are said to be laid by the abomination of some bird carrying an inauspicious odour home. It is assumed, although not mentioned elsewhere in the play, that the bodies of the allies of Polynices had shared his fate, as there had been no truce for burying the dead. This is part of the legend as appears from the Supplices of Euripides. For the expression, cp. Aesch. S. c. T. 1020, οὕτω πετηνῶν τόνδ' ὑπ᾽ οἰωνῶν δοκεῖ | ταφέντ᾽ ἀτίμως τοὐπι· τίμιον λαβεῖν : Soph. El. 1487, καὶ κτανὼν πρόθες | ταφεῦσιν ὧν τόνδ' εἰκός ἐστι τυγχάνειν: Gorg. ap. Long. 3. 2, γῦπες ἔμψυχοι τάφοι: Shaksp. Macbeth, 3. 4,

The conceit is common with the Elizabethan dramatists. Seyffert's conjecture, ὅσαν τὰ πράγματ' ἢ κύνες καθήγνισαν, Whose business has been marred with pollution by dogs, etc., is rather pointless, and gives a very doubtful meaning to καθαγνίζειν = To affect with pollution. It is uncertain whether καθήγνισαν or καθήγισαν is the right word. The latter is somewhat more probable as the Ionic form. Cp. ἁγίζω.

1083. mvp-comment-626-1 ἑστιοῦχον ἐς πόλιν i. e. Not into the wastes, where such pollution can do no harm, but to a city, where it tends to injure the sacred fire on the public and private hearths, which are the pledge of safety to the citizens. Boeckh objects to the above interpretation of 11. 1080 ff., and supposes them to contain a general maxim pointed at the case of Thebes. Any state is sure to rise in enmity in which a mangled corse has been devoured, etc.

1084. mvp-comment-627-1 Such arrows like a bowman have I launched at you in wrath, for you provoke me, arrows that pierce the heart and fasten there, whose smart you will not escape.' He echoes ll. 1033, foll. καρδίας is objective genitive after the verbal notion in τοξεύματα.