Sophocles, Antigone, 248

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Chorus

1244 Quidnam hoc esse coniicias? Mulier rursus e conspectu evasit, priusquam locuta est boni vel mali quidquam.

Antigone. Sophocles. Berlin. 1806.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Experimental

Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) (Latin) (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (12)

Greek (L. Benloew, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (L. Benloew, 1858)) — 248 focus

οὐκ οἶδ᾽. ἐκεῖ γὰρ οὔτε του γενῇδος ἦν

Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 248 focus

τροχοῖσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἄσημος οὑργάτης τις ἦν.

Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 248 focus

πλῆγμ', οὐ δικέλλης ἐκβολὴ, στύφλος δέ τ᾽ ἦν

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 248 focus

τί φής; τίς ἀνδρῶν ἦν ὁ τολμήσας τάδε;

Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 248 focus

τί φῇς; τίς ἀνδρῶν ἦν ὁ τολμήσας τάδε;

Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 248.mvp-line-248 focus

τί φῄς; τίς ἀνδρῶν ἦν ὁ τολμήσας τάδε;

Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 248 focus

τί φήις; τίς ἀνδρῶν ἦν ὁ τολμήσας τάδε;

Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 248 focus

τί φής; τίς ἀνδρῶν ἦν ὁ τολμήσας τάδε;

Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 248 focus

τί φής; τίς ἀνδρῶν ἦν ὁ τολμήσας τάδε;

Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 248.mvp-line-248 focus

τί φής; τίς ἀνδρῶν ἦν ὁ τολμήσας τάδε;

Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 248 focus

τί φής; τίς ἀνδρῶν ἦν ὁ τολμήσας τάδε;

Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 248 focus

τί φής; τίς ἀνδρῶν ἦν ὁ τολμήσας τάδε;

Translations (9)

German (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 248 focus

CHOR.

Wer ist der Mörder? welcher liegt gefallen? sprich!

Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921)) — 248 focus

EL MENSAJERO

Yo, querida reina, que estuve presente, te contaré la verdad, y no omitiré palabra. ¿Pues para qué te he de sosegar con un relato que luego me ha de hacer aparecer como embustero? Lo mejor, siempre es la verdad. Yo seguía a tu marido acompañándolo hacia la eminencia del paraje donde aun yacía el no llorado cadáver de Polinices despedazado por los perros; y à a éste, después de suplicar a la diosa protectora del tránsito y a Plutón, para que benevolos benévolos aplacaran su ira, lavamos con agua lustral y quemamos sus restos sobre ramas recién cortadas; y habiéndole erigido un elevado túmulo con tierra de la patria, nos fuimos en seguida hacia la gruta que de piedras se había hecho para cámara nupcial de los desposorios de la muchacha con Plutón. Uno de nosotros oye el grito de agudos lamentos que lejanos resonaban en aquella cámara privada de los fúnebres honores, y corriendo, se lo anuncia al amo Creonte. Y cuando éste, que oia oía el confuso clamor de tristes lamentos, llegó más cerca de la tumba, rompiendo en llanto se arrojó con estas dolorosas palabras: «¡Ah infeliz de mí! ¿Será cierto lo que me dice el corazón? ¿Acaso me hallo en el tránsito más desdichado de los pasos de mi vida? Me suena la voz de mi hijo. Pero, ¡siervos!, venid aquí corriendo; y llegados a la tumba, arrancad la piedra que cierra la boca del hueco; y entrando en él, ved si es de Hemón la voz que oigo, o si me engañan los dioses.» 1219 Y mira lo que vimos al cumplir las órdenes de nuestro abatido señor en el fondo de la tumba vimos a ella ahorcada en un lazo que, formado con la tela del ceñidor, se había adaptado al cuello; y a él, que echadó echado sobre ella la encerraba en sus brazos, llorando la pérdida de su prometida, que ya vivia vivía en el infierno, y la orden de su padre y su infortunado casamiento. Éste, así que lo vió vio, dando un horrible grito se lanza dentro hacia él, y gimiendo amargamente le dice: «¡Ah infeliz! ¿Qué has hecho? ¿Qué pensamiento ha sido el tuyo? ¿En qué desgracia te vas a perder? Sal de ahi ahí, te lo ruego, suplicandó suplicando.» Pero el muchacho, mirándole con enfurecidos ojos, y escupiéndole a la cara y sin contestarle, tira de su espada de doble filo y erró a su padre, porque éste se dió dio a la fuga. Entonces el infeliz, irritado contra sí mismo como estaba, se inclinó apoyando el costado en la punta de la espada; y en sus teñidos brazos, anhelante aún, se abrazó de la muchacha, enviándole en su estertor rápido chorro de sangre, algunas gotas de la cual enrojecieron las pálidas mejillas de la novia. Y alli allí yace un cadáver sobre otro cadáver, habiendo alcanzado el desdichado el cumplimiento de sus bodas en la mansión de Plutón, y demostrando a los mortales que la imprudencia es para el hombre la mayor de las desgracias.

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 248 focus

MESS

Well, we may learn, if there be aught unseen

Suppressed within her grief-distempered soul,

By going within the palace. Ye say well:
1255

There is a danger, even in too much silence.

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 237 focus

Was ist's, warum befiel dich solche Bangigkeit?

Der Wächter.

Erst laß dir sagen, was mich selbst betrifft: die That

Verübt' ich nicht, noch sah ich, wer der Thäter war;

Und nur mit Unrecht widerführe mir ein Leid.
240

Kreon.

Du zielst behutsam und verschanzest dich geschickt

Ringsher; du bringst uns, seh' ich wohl, ein schweres Wort.

Der Wächter.

Das Arge freilich regt die Furcht gewaltig auf.

Kreon.

Nun, wirst du reden endlich und dann weiter geh'n?

Der Wächter.

Wohlan, so sag' ich's: Einer, der sofort verschwand,
245

Begrub den Todten eben, hat mit trocknem Staub

Bestreut den Leichnam, und geweiht, was üblich ist.

Kreon.

Was sagst du? Wer auf Erden hat sich deß erkühnt?

Der Wächter.

Ich weiß es nicht; denn weder eines Beiles Hieb

War dort, noch einer Hacke Wurf, der Boden dicht
250

Und fest und bruchlos, auch mit Wagenrädern nicht

Befahren; spurlos blieb es, wer der Thäter war.

Und wie es uns der erste Tageswächter zeigt,¹

Erschien es Allen unerklärlich wunderbar.

Die Leiche war verschwunden, nicht begraben zwar;
255

Dünn, wie den Fluch zu meiden, lag der Staub darauf.²

Von einem Raubthier oder Hund war keine Spur,

Die hergekommen und an ihr herumgezerrt.

Nun schollen böse Reden auf einander los,

Der Wächter zich den Wächter; wohl auch endet' es
260

Zulezt mit Schlägen; Keiner war zu wehren da.

Denn Einer wie der Andre war der Thäter hier,

Und Keiner überführbar; Jeder stritt es ab.

Mit Händen fassen wollten wir ein glühend Erz,³

Durch Feuer gehen, schwören bei den Göttern selbst,
265

Daß wir es nicht verübten noch im Bunde sei'n

Mit Einem, der's ersonnen oder ausgeführt.

Am Ende, da kein Forschen mehr uns weiter half,

Sprach Einer, der uns alle zwang, vor Furcht das Haupt

Zur Erd' hinabzusenken denn wir wußten nicht
270

Zu widersprechen, noch wiefern wir, thäten wir's,

Uns helfen könnten dieser rieth, man müsse dir

Die Sache hinterbringen, nicht verheimlichen.

Und seine Meinung siegte: mich Unseligen

Verdammt zu diesem schönen Glück des Looses Wurf.
275

Nun steh' ich hier, nicht willig vor Unwilligen:

Niemand ja liebt den Boten unwillkommner Mähr.

Der Chor.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 248 focus

Messenger

Within we soon shall know if aught she hide

Of deadly purport in her angry soul ;

For well thou sayst her silence is most dreadful.

Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889)) — 248 focus

CORO

1126 En tu honor se cleva la brillante llama de los sacrificios en la montaña de doble cumbre que recorren las Bacantes, ninfas Corycias, y á la que riegan las aguas de la fuente Castalia, Tú atraviesas las colinas de la montaña de Nysa cubiertas de espesa yedra y sus verdes faldas de numerosos viñedos, y cantos de alegría saludan ta presencia, cuando visitas los muros de Thebas...

German (F. Hölderlin, 1804) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (F. Hölderlin, 1804)) — 248 focus

KREON

Io! unsinnige Sinne!

Harte Fehle!

Tödtliche! O tödtend und
1320

Getödtet sehn wir Blutsfreunde.

Io! mir! über meinen armen Rathschlägen.

Io! Kind! Frühzeitig gestorben !

Weh! Weh! Weh!

Gestorben bist du, geschieden ,
1325

Durch meine, nicht deine Thorheit.

English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904)) — 248 focus

Messenger

I, too, am startled; yet I nourish the hope that, at these sore tidings of her son, she cannot deign to give her sorrow public vent, but in the privacy of the house will set her handmaids to mourn the household 1250 grief. For she is not untaught of discretion, that she should err.

English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904)) — 332-380 focus

Chorus

Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man.

This power spans the sea, even when it surges white before the gales of the south-wind, and makes a path under swells that threaten to engulf him. Earth, too, the eldest of the gods, the immortal, the unwearied,
335

he wears away to his own ends, turning the soil with the offspring of horses as the plows weave to and fro year after year.
340

343

Chorus

The light-hearted tribe of birds

and the clans of wild beasts and the sea-brood of the deep he snares in the meshes of his twisted nets, and he leads them captive, very-skilled man. He masters by his arts
345

the beast who dwells in the wilds and roams the hills. He tames the shaggy-maned horse, putting the yoke upon its neck, and tames the tireless mountain bull.
350

354

Chorus

Speech and thought fast as the wind and the moods that give order to a city he has taught himself, and how to flee the arrows of the inhospitable frost under clear skies and the arrows of the storming rain.

He has resource for everything. Lacking resource in nothing he strides towards what must come. From Death alone he shall procure no escape, but from baffling diseases he has devised flights.
360

365

Chorus

Possessing resourceful skill, a subtlety beyond expectation he moves now to evil, now to good. When he honors the laws of the land and the justice of the gods to which he is bound by oath,
365

his city prospers. But banned from his city is he who, thanks to his rashness, couples with disgrace. Never may he share my home,
370

never think my thoughts, who does these things!
375

376

Enter the Guard, on the spectators’ left, leading in Antigone.

Chorus

What marvel sent by the gods is this?—I am bewildered! I know her. How can I deny that this girl is Antigone? O unhappy child

of your unhappy father, of Oedipus! What can this mean? What! Surely they are not bringing you captive for disobeying the King’s laws and being caught in lunacy?
380

Commentary

Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))

mvp-comment-384-1 ἀπιστήσασαν ¹ ψευδῆ ²

mvp-comment-385-1 κτενῶ ³

mvp-comment-385-2 πρὸς ταῦτ ⁴

mvp-comment-385-3 ἐφυμνείτω ⁵

mvp-comment-385-4 Δία ξύναιμον ⁶

mvp-comment-386-1 τά γ’ ἐγγ. φύσει ⁷

mvp-comment-386-2 ἄκοσμα ⁸

mvp-comment-386-3 θρέψω ⁹

mvp-comment-386-4 κάρτα τοὺς ἔξω γ. ¹⁰

mvp-comment-387-1 Seidler transposes vv. 663—667, placing them after 671. The object is to bring vv. 668—671 into immediate connection with 662. In this there is one slight grammatical gain; since, as the vv. stand in the MSS.,

τοῦτον ...τὸν ἄνδρα

(668) means, ‘the man who acts thus’ (viz., as described in vv. 666 f.). But the order given in the MSS. is right. The transposition obliterates one of the finest touches in the speech. Creon demands that the obedience of the citizens to the ruler shall be absolute (666 f.). And then he supplements this demand with a remark on the dignity of such obedience. The man who so obeys gives the best proof that he could also rule (668 ff.). Seidler destroys the point of vv. 668 ff. by placing them after 662.

mvp-comment-387-2 The connection of thought in the whole passage—which is slightly obscured by compression—may be most clearly shown by taking the verses in small consecutive groups. (1) 659 f. If I tolerate disloyalty

mvp-comment-387-3 in my own relatives, I shall encourage it in other citizens. (2) 661 f. For (

γάρ

) only a man who is firm (

χρηστός

) where his own relatives are concerned will be found to uphold justice in the State (i.e. will have the authority necessary for doing so). (3) 663 f. Now, I recognise disloyalty in any one who breaks the law and defies the government, as Antigone has done. (4) 666 f. Instead of so doing, the citizen is bound to obey the government in everything. (5) 668—671. There is nothing slavish in that; on the contrary, it shows that the citizen is not only a good subject, but would, if required, be a good ruler;—as he would also be a good soldier.—Then comes the general censure on unruliness (672—676). And then the conclusion:—I must vindicate my authority, and punish Antigone (677 —680).

mvp-comment-388-1 ὑπερβάς ¹¹

mvp-comment-388-2 τοὐπιτάσσειν ¹²

mvp-comment-388-3 νοεῖ ¹³

mvp-comment-389-1 στήσειε ¹⁴

mvp-comment-389-2 καὶ τἀναντία ¹⁵

mvp-comment-390-1 τοῦτον … τὸν ἄνδρα ¹⁶

mvp-comment-390-2 καλῶς...εὖ ¹⁷

mvp-comment-390-3 ἄν ¹⁸ ἄρχειν ¹⁹ θέλειν ²⁰

mvp-comment-391-1 δορὸς … χειμῶνι ²¹

mvp-comment-391-2 προστεταγμένον ²²

mvp-comment-391-3 παραστάτην ²³

mvp-comment-392-1 πόλεις ὄλλυσιν, ἥδ’ ²⁴ πόλεις τ’ … ἥδ’ ²⁵

mvp-comment-393-1 συμμάχου ²⁶ συμμάχηι ²⁷ σὺν μάχῃ ²⁸

mvp-comment-393-2 τροπὰς καταρρήγνυσι ²⁹

mvp-comment-393-3 τῶν δ’ ὀρθουμένων ³⁰ τὰ πολλὰ σώματα ³¹

mvp-comment-393-4 ἡ πειθαρχία ³²

mvp-comment-394-1 ἀμυντέ’ ³³

mvp-comment-394-2 τοῖς κοσμουμένοις ³⁴ τοῖς κ. ³⁶

mvp-comment-395-1 κοὔτοι … ἡσσητέα ³⁷

mvp-comment-396-1 δεῖ ³⁸ ἐκπεσεῖν ³⁹

mvp-comment-396-2 thrust out: oft. of dethronement (

ἐκπ. τυραννίδος, ἀρχῆς, κράτους

, Aesch. ), or of exile (

χθονός

, O. C. 766 ).

mvp-comment-396-3 κοὐκ ἂν...καλοίμεθ’ ἄν ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-397-1 μέν ⁴¹

mvp-comment-397-2 τῷ χρόνῳ ⁴²

mvp-comment-397-3 κεκλέμμεθα ⁴³

mvp-comment-398-1 δοκεῖς λέγειν φρονούντως περὶ ⁴⁴

mvp-comment-399-1 θεοί ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-399-2 κτημάτων ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-400-1 ἐγὼ δ’ ὅπως ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-400-2 μὴ ⁴⁸ ὅπως ⁴⁹ μή ⁵⁰ ὀρθῶς ⁵¹

mvp-comment-400-3 μήτ’ ἐπισταίμην ⁵²

mvp-comment-401-1 καλῶς ἔχον ⁵³ γένοιτο ἂν καὶ ἑτέρῳ ⁵⁴

mvp-comment-402-1 σοῦ δ’ οὖν ⁵⁵ σοῦ ⁵⁶ σοί ⁵⁷ σὺ δ’ οὐ πέφυκας ⁵⁸ τις ⁵⁹ μῆνίν τιν’ ἢ κότον τιν ⁶⁰

mvp-comment-403-1 τὸ γὰρ σόν ⁶¹ ὄμμα ⁶²

mvp-comment-403-2 δημότῃ ⁶³

mvp-comment-404-1 λόγοις τοιούτοις ⁶⁴ λόγοις τοιούτοις ⁶⁵

mvp-comment-404-2 οἷς ⁶⁶ τέρψει ⁶⁷ κλύων ⁶⁸ μή ⁶⁹ τέρψῃ ⁷⁰

mvp-comment-405-1 ὑπὸ σκότον ⁷¹ ἀκούειν ⁷² ὀδύρεται ⁷³

mvp-comment-406-1 κάκιστ’ … εὐκλεεστάτων ⁷⁴

mvp-comment-406-2 ἀπ’ ἔργων ⁷⁵

mvp-comment-407-1 ἥτις ⁷⁶ μήθ’ … μήθ’ ⁷⁷ εἴασε ⁷⁸ ὀλέσθαι ⁷⁹

mvp-comment-407-2 αὐτάδελφον ⁸⁰

mvp-comment-407-3 ἐνφοναῖς ⁸¹

mvp-comment-408-1 χρυσῆς ⁸²

mvp-comment-408-2 λαχεῖν ⁸³ ἀξία ⁸⁴

mvp-comment-409-1 ἐπέρχεται ⁸⁵

mvp-comment-410-1 θάλλοντος ⁸⁶

mvp-comment-410-2 μεῖζον εὐκλείας ⁸⁷

mvp-comment-410-3 πρὸς παίδων ⁸⁸ εὐκλεία ⁸⁹

mvp-comment-411-1 νυν ⁹⁰

mvp-comment-411-2 φόρει ⁹¹

mvp-comment-411-3 ἦθος ⁹² ὡς φὴς σύ ⁹³

mvp-comment-411-4 κοὐδέν ⁹⁴

mvp-comment-411-5 τοῦτο ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-412-1 μόνος ⁹⁶ φρονεῖν ⁹⁷ ψυχήν ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-412-2

αὐτὸς μοῦνος ποικίλα δήνε’

(devices)

ἔχειν, | κεῖνός γ’ ἄφρων ἐστί, νόου βεβλαμμένος ἐσθλοῦ, | ἴσως γὰρ πάντες ποικίλ’ ἐπιστάμεθα

. Isocr. or. 3 § 43 joins Theognis, Hesiod and Phocylides as

ἀρίστους...συμβούλους τῷ βίῳ τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων

. They were read in schools.

mvp-comment-413-1 οὗτοι ⁹⁹

mvp-comment-413-2 διαπτυχθέντες ¹⁰⁰

mvp-comment-413-3 κενοί ¹⁰¹

mvp-comment-414-1 ἄνδρα ¹⁰² μανθάνειν ¹⁰³ τό ¹⁰⁴

mvp-comment-414-2 κεἰ … ᾖ ¹⁰⁵

mvp-comment-414-3 τείνειν ¹⁰⁶

mvp-comment-414-4 παρὰ ῥείθρ. ¹⁰⁷

mvp-comment-414-5 χειμάρροις ¹⁰⁸

mvp-comment-415-1 ὑπείκει ¹⁰⁹

mvp-comment-415-2 αὐτόπρεμνα ¹¹⁰

mvp-comment-416-1 αὔτως ¹¹¹

mvp-comment-416-2 ναός ¹¹²

mvp-comment-416-3 ἐγκρατῆ ¹¹³

mvp-comment-416-4 πόδα ¹¹⁴

mvp-comment-417-1 μηδέν ¹¹⁵

mvp-comment-417-2 κάτω στρέψας ¹¹⁶ τὸ πλοῖον ¹¹⁷ τὸ λοιπόν ¹¹⁸

mvp-comment-417-3 σέλμασιν ¹¹⁹ ὑπτίοις ¹²⁰

mvp-comment-418-1 εἶκε θυμοῦ ¹²¹

mvp-comment-418-2 καὶ μετάστασιν δίδου ¹²²

mvp-comment-418-3 δίδου ¹²³ εἶκε ¹²⁴ καί ¹²⁵ καί ¹²⁶

mvp-comment-419-1 εἴ τις γνώμη πρόσεστι καὶ ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ ν. ¹²⁷ καί ¹²⁸

mvp-comment-419-2 πρεσβεύειν ¹²⁹

mvp-comment-420-1 φῦναι ¹³⁰

mvp-comment-420-2 πάντ’ ¹³¹

mvp-comment-421-1 εἰ δ’ οὖν ¹³² φιλεῖ γάρ ¹³³

mvp-comment-421-2 τοῦτο … ταύτῃ ¹³⁴ ταύτῃ ¹³⁵

mvp-comment-421-3 ῥέπειν ¹³⁶

mvp-comment-422-1 καὶ τὸ τῶν εὖ λεγόντων μανθάνειν καλόν ¹³⁷

mvp-comment-423-1 σέ τ’ ¹³⁸ διπλᾶι ¹³⁹ διπλᾶ ¹⁴⁰ διπλῇ ¹⁴¹ διπλᾶ ¹⁴²

mvp-comment-423-2 On the other hand, διπλῇ ¹⁴³

mvp-comment-424-1 καὶ ¹⁴⁴ διδαξ. ¹⁴⁵

mvp-comment-424-2 δή ¹⁴⁶

mvp-comment-424-3 τὴν φύσιν ¹⁴⁷

mvp-comment-425-1 μηδέν ¹⁴⁸ τὸ μὴ δίκ. ¹⁴⁹

mvp-comment-425-2 τὸν χρόνον ¹⁵⁰ τἄργα ¹⁵¹

mvp-comment-426-1 ἔργον ¹⁵²

mvp-comment-426-2 τοὺς ἀκοσμοῦντας ¹⁵³

mvp-comment-426-3 σέβειν ¹⁵⁴

mvp-comment-427-1 οὐδ’ ¹⁵⁵

mvp-comment-428-1 τοιᾷδε … νοσῳ ¹⁵⁶

mvp-comment-428-2 ἐπείληπται ¹⁵⁷

mvp-comment-429-1 Θήβης ¹⁵⁸ ὁμόπτολις ¹⁵⁹

mvp-comment-430-1 ἡμῖν ¹⁶⁰ ἐμέ ¹⁶¹

mvp-comment-431-1 ὡς ἄγαν νέος ¹⁶²

mvp-comment-432-1 Dobree's με ¹⁶³ γε ¹⁶⁴ χρή ¹⁶⁵ ἄλλῳ ἢ ’μοί ¹⁶⁶ ἐμοί ¹⁶⁷ χρή γε ¹⁶⁸

mvp-comment-433-1 πόλις γὰρ οὐκ ἔσθ’ ¹⁶⁹

mvp-comment-433-2

τυραννίς

ἔσχατον πόλεως νόσημα

, Rep. 544 C. de Rep. 3. 31

ubi tyrannus est, ibi...dicendum est nullam esse rempublicam.

mvp-comment-434-1 νομίζεται ¹⁷⁰

mvp-comment-435-1 καλῶς ἐρήμης γ’ ¹⁷¹

mvp-comment-436-1 Though at least one late MS. (Paris E) has

συμμαχεῖν

, it is needless to assume here the same mixed constr. as Tr. 1238

ἁνὴρ δ’ ὅδ’, ὡς ἔοικεν, οὐ νεμεῖν ἐμοὶ | φθίνοντι μοῖραν

mvp-comment-437-1 οὖν ¹⁷² προκήδομαι ¹⁷³

mvp-comment-438-1 ὦ παγκάκιστε ¹⁷⁴

mvp-comment-438-2 διὰ δίκης ἰὼν πατρί ¹⁷⁵

mvp-comment-439-1 ἀρχάς ¹⁷⁶

mvp-comment-440-1 οὐ γὰρ σέβεις ¹⁷⁷

mvp-comment-440-2 τιμάς ¹⁷⁸

mvp-comment-441-1 ὦ μιαρόν ¹⁷⁹ γυναικὸς ὕστερον ¹⁸⁰

mvp-comment-442-1 ‘I may be inferior to a woman, but at least you will never find me yielding to base temptations.’ It would have been

αἰσχρόν

if he had allowed fear or self-interest to deter him from pleading this cause. ( Cp. 509 .) Cp. Tr. 489

ἔρωτος...ἥσσων

: fr. 844

ἥσσων...ὀργῆς.

mvp-comment-442-2 οὔ τἄν ¹⁸¹

mvp-comment-442-3 γε ¹⁸²

mvp-comment-443-1 γοῦν ¹⁸³

mvp-comment-444-1 καὶ σοῦ γε ¹⁸⁴

mvp-comment-445-1 Objections have been made to the traditional order of these verses, chiefly in two respects. (1) 755

εἰ μὴ πατὴρ ἦσθ’

is—it is argued—the strongest thing said by Haemon, and ought therefore to come immediately before Creon's final outburst,

ἄληθες

; (758). How could it be followed by merely so mild a phrase as

μὴ κώτιλλέ με

?—We may reply:— Haemon says that, if Creon were not his father, he would have thought him mad. It is to this that

μὴ κώτιλλέ με

refers, meaning, ‘Do not seek to deceive me by an affectation of filial deference.’ (2) 757

βούλει λέγειν τι

is too mild a remark—it is said—to form the climax of provocation to Creon's anger. We may reply:—It is in substance, if not in form, such a climax, —for a father who holds that unquestioning obedience (640) is a son's first duty. It asserts Haemon's right to maintain his own views against his father's,—

διὰ δίκης ἰέναι

, as Creon put it (742). The traditional order seems, therefore, to be right.

mvp-comment-445-2 Three modes of transposition have been proposed. (1) Enger puts 756 and 757 after 749. Then

κώτιλλε

(756) refers to Haemon's plea that he has his father's cause, and that of religion, at heart. We lose nothing by such a transposition; but neither do we gain.

mvp-comment-445-3 (2) Donner (in his transl., ed. 1863) simply transposed verses 755 and 757, leaving the rest as they stand. For this it may fairly be said that 757 comes very fitly after 754. On the other hand it seems to me that 756 does not aptly follow 757.

mvp-comment-445-4 (3) Pallis arranges thus:—749, 756, 755, 754, 757, 750—753. Thus

κενὰς γνώμας

(753) becomes the last sting.— The fact is that, in a stormy altercation, we do not look for a closely logical texture and a delicately graduated crescendo. The MS. order is (to my mind) the best; but other arrangements are possible, and would be nearly as good.

mvp-comment-445-5 Creon, instead of replying to v. 749, abruptly repeats his resolve.

οὐκ ἔστιν ὡς ταύτην ἔτι ζῶσαν γαμεῖς

(fut.)

ποτέ

, it cannot be that you shall ever wed her while she yet lives; i.e. she is to die at once, and can become your bride, if ever, only

ἐν Ἅιδου

(654). Cp. 1240 .— ὡς ¹⁸⁵ ποτέ ¹⁸⁶ ταύτην ¹⁸⁷

mvp-comment-446-1 ἥδ’ ¹⁸⁸ ὀλεῖ τινά ¹⁸⁹

mvp-comment-447-1 ἦ ἐπεξέρχει και ἐπαπειλῶν ὧδε θρασύς; ¹⁹⁰ καί ¹⁹¹

mvp-comment-448-1 κλαίων ¹⁹²

mvp-comment-448-2 φρενώσεις ¹⁹³

mvp-comment-449-1 οὐκ εὖ φρονεῖν ¹⁹⁴

mvp-comment-450-1 δούλευμα ¹⁹⁵

mvp-comment-450-2 μὴ κωτιλλέ με ¹⁹⁶

mvp-comment-450-3 Cp. Theognis 363

εὖ κώτιλλε τὸν ἐχθρόν

(cajole)'

ὅταν δ’ ὑποχείριος ἔλθῃ, | τῖσαί νιν, πρόφασιν μηδεμίαν θέμενος

: id. 851

Ζεὺς ἄνδρ’ ἐξολέσειεν Ὀλύμπιος, ὃς τὸν ἑταῖρον | μαλθακὰ κωτίλλων ἐξαπατᾶν ἐθέλει

mvp-comment-451-1 λέγειν … κλύειν; ¹⁹⁷ λέγειν τι ¹⁹⁸

mvp-comment-452-1 ἄληθες; ¹⁹⁹

mvp-comment-452-2 οὐ τόνδ’ Ὄλ. ²⁰⁰

mvp-comment-452-3 ἴσθ’ ὅτι ²⁰¹

mvp-comment-453-1 χαίρων ²⁰²

mvp-comment-453-2 ἐπὶ ψόγοισι δεννάσεις ²⁰³ ἐπί ²⁰⁴ ἔτι ²⁰⁵

mvp-comment-454-1 ἄγετε ²⁰⁶ ἄγ’ ἄγε ²⁰⁷ ἄγαγε ²⁰⁸

mvp-comment-454-2 τὸ μῖσος ²⁰⁹

mvp-comment-454-3 κατ’ ὄμματ’ ²¹⁰

mvp-comment-454-4 παρόντι … πλησία ²¹¹

mvp-comment-455-1 ἔμοιγε ²¹² οὔτε ²¹³ τε ²¹⁴

mvp-comment-455-2 οὐδαμά ²¹⁵

mvp-comment-455-3 ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ²¹⁶

mvp-comment-456-1 ὡς ²¹⁷

mvp-comment-456-2 τοῖς θέλουσι ²¹⁸

mvp-comment-457-1 ἐξ ὀργῆς ταχύς ²¹⁹

mvp-comment-457-2 βαρύς ²²⁰

mvp-comment-458-1 μεῖζον ἢ κατ’ ἄνδρα ²²¹

mvp-comment-458-2 ἰών ²²²

mvp-comment-458-3

αἱρήσοιμ’ ἰών

: Ai. 304

ὅσην κατ’ αὐτῶν ὕβριν ἐκτίσαιτ’ ἰών

. So here it scornfully suggests some daring enterprise.

mvp-comment-459-1 For δ’ οὖν ²²³

mvp-comment-459-2 τὼ … τώδε ²²⁴

mvp-comment-459-3 καί ²²⁵ κατακτ. νοεῖς ²²⁶ κατακτ ²²⁷

mvp-comment-460-1 θιγοῦσαν ²²⁸

mvp-comment-460-2 γὰρ οὖν ²²⁹

mvp-comment-461-1 καί ²³⁰ βουλεύει ²³¹

mvp-comment-461-2 σφε ²³²

mvp-comment-462-1 ἔνθα ²³³

mvp-comment-463-1 πετρώδει … ἐν κατώρυχι ²³⁴

mvp-comment-464-1 ὡς ἄγος μόνον ²³⁵ ὡς ²³⁶ ὅσον ²³⁷

mvp-comment-464-2 ἄγος ²³⁸

mvp-comment-464-3 Creon's edict had announced that the transgressor would be publicly stoned to death (36). It is to this that the anxious question of the Chorus alludes (772). Creon had already said that Antigone's doom was to be

κάκιστος

(489). But now, at least, he feels that he cannot inflict such a death on the maiden, his kinswoman. She shall die, not by stoning, but by starvation. The choice is not prompted by cruelty, but simply by the desire to avoid physical violence.

mvp-comment-464-4 The danger of a

μίασμα

—to be avoided by a dole of food—has no relation to the special circumstances,—Antigone's royal birth, and the nature of her offence. In the ancient belief, that danger existed whenever a person was put to death by starvation. Two notions were probably blended; ( a) that, if a little food was given, the death was nature's work, not man's; ( b) that the

νέρτεροι

claimed an indemnity for the usual

ἐναγίσματα

. So the Greeks put Philoctetes ashore on desolate Lemnos, —

ῥάκη προθέντες βαιὰ καί τι καὶ βορᾶς | ἐπωφέλημα σμικρόν

( Ph. 274 ). So, too, when a Vestal was to be buried alive, the small vault in the Campus Sceleratus was furnished with a couch, a burning lamp, and a small table, on which the dole was placed,—bread, olives, milk, and a jug of water ( Plut. Num. 10 ).

mvp-comment-465-1 πᾶσ’ ²³⁹

mvp-comment-466-1 ὃν μόνον σέβει ²⁴⁰

mvp-comment-466-2

ἐγγενεῖς

(199). By honouring him, and Hades (519), she has dishonoured those other gods.

mvp-comment-467-1 τὸ μὴ θανεῖν ²⁴¹ τεύξεται ²⁴²

mvp-comment-468-1 ἀλλὰ τηνικαῦτα ²⁴³ τἀν ²⁴⁴

mvp-comment-470-1 ἀνίκατε μάχαν ²⁴⁵

mvp-comment-471-1 ἐν κτήμασι πίπτεις, ²⁴⁶

mvp-comment-472-1 ἐν μαλακαῖς παρειαῖς ²⁴⁷

mvp-comment-472-2 ἐννυχεύεις ²⁴⁸

mvp-comment-473-1 ὑπερπόντιος ²⁴⁹

mvp-comment-473-2 ἔν τ’ ἀγρ. αὐλαῖς ²⁵⁰

mvp-comment-474-1 οὔτ’ ἀθανάτων ²⁵¹

mvp-comment-474-2 σὲ … φύξιμός ἐστι ²⁵²

mvp-comment-475-1 σέ γ’ ²⁵³

mvp-comment-475-2 ὁ δ’ ἔχων ²⁵⁴

mvp-comment-476-1 ἀδίκους ²⁵⁵ παρασπᾷς ²⁵⁶

mvp-comment-477-1 ξύναιμον ²⁵⁷

mvp-comment-477-2 ἔχεις ²⁵⁸

mvp-comment-477-3 ταράξας ²⁵⁹

mvp-comment-478-1 ἐναργής ²⁶⁰

mvp-comment-478-2 βλεφάρωνἵμερος ²⁶¹ εὐλέκτρου νύμφας ²⁶²

mvp-comment-478-3 εὐλέκτρου ²⁶³

mvp-comment-479-1 πάρεδρος ἐν ἀρχαῖς ²⁶⁴ πάρεδρος ²⁶⁵ ἐν ἀρχαῖς ²⁶⁶

mvp-comment-479-2 The words answer metrically to

φύξιμος οὐδείς

(788). The first two syllables of

πάρεδρος

therefore represent a resolved long syllable. Pindar affords some instances of such resolution (see Appendix), and there is a probable example below (970

ἀγχίπολις Ἄρης

, where see n.). But it is rare, and certainly unpleasing. As

mvp-comment-479-3 a whole, too, the phrase

πάρεδρος ἐν ἀρχαῖς

is suspicious. A yet stronger objection is the strangeness of describing the power which is in conflict with the

θεσμοί

as their assessor, or peer, in sway; an expression which would seem appropriate only if that power was working in harmony with them; as when Eur. ( Eur. Med. 843 ) speaks of

σοφίᾳ παρέδρους...ἔρωτας, | παντοίας ἀρετᾶς ξυνεργούς

,—‘the loves that sit with wisdom, co-workers of all excellence,’—those aspirations of the soul which assist intellectual effort.

mvp-comment-479-4 The best line of emendation yet suggested is that of Semitelos, who writes ὥστε πέρα δρᾶν ²⁶⁷

mvp-comment-480-1 ἐμπαίζει ²⁶⁸ νικᾷ ²⁶⁹

mvp-comment-481-1 καὐτὸς θεσμῶν ἔξω ²⁷⁰

mvp-comment-481-2 φέρομαι ²⁷¹

mvp-comment-481-3 ἴσχειν δ’ ²⁷²

mvp-comment-482-1 πηγάς ²⁷³

mvp-comment-483-1 παγκοίτην ²⁷⁴

mvp-comment-483-2 of Antigone are brought into finer relief by the different tone of the choral anapaests. Cp. 822 , and see Appendix on 110.—Cp. O. C. 1578 (Death)

τὸν αἰένυπνον

. The word θάλαμον ²⁷⁵

mvp-comment-483-3 ἀνύτουσαν ²⁷⁶

mvp-comment-485-1 νεάταν … νέατον δέ ²⁷⁷

mvp-comment-485-2 νέατον ²⁷⁸

mvp-comment-485-3 κοὔποτ’ αὖθις ²⁷⁹

mvp-comment-486-1 παγκοίτας ²⁸⁰ πάγκοινος ²⁸¹

mvp-comment-487-1 ἄγει … ἀκτάν ²⁸²

mvp-comment-488-1 οὔθ’ ὑμεναίων … οὔτ’ ἐπινύμφειος … ὕμνος ²⁸³

mvp-comment-488-2 οὔτε … ἔγκληρον, … οὔτε … ὕμνησεν ²⁸⁵

mvp-comment-488-3 ἐπινύμφειος ²⁸⁶ ἐπινυμφίδιος ²⁸⁷ ἐπὶ νυμφείοις ²⁸⁸ ἐπινυμφίδιος ²⁸⁹

mvp-comment-489-1 Ἀχέροντι νυμφεύσω ²⁹⁰

mvp-comment-490-1 ξιφέων ²⁹¹ ἐπίχειρα ²⁹²

mvp-comment-491-1 αὐτόνομος ²⁹³

mvp-comment-491-2 δή ²⁹⁴ μόνη ²⁹⁵ Ἀΐδην ²⁹⁶ Ἅιδην ²⁹⁷

mvp-comment-492-1 ἤκουσα δή ²⁹⁸

mvp-comment-492-2 λυγροτάταν ²⁹⁹

mvp-comment-492-3 ξέναν ³⁰⁰

mvp-comment-493-1 Ταντάλου ³⁰¹

mvp-comment-493-2 Σιπύλῳ ³⁰²

mvp-comment-494-1 ἀτενής ³⁰³

mvp-comment-494-2 πετραία βλάστα δάμασεν ³⁰⁴ αι^ ³⁰⁵

mvp-comment-495-1 καί νιν ὄμρροι ³⁰⁶ τέγγει δ’ ³⁰⁷ ὄμβρῳ ³⁰⁸ τακομέναν ³⁰⁹ τέγγει … δειράδας ³¹⁰ ὄμβροι ³¹¹ ὄμβρῳ ³¹²

mvp-comment-495-2 χιών ³¹³

mvp-comment-495-3 οὐδαμά ³¹⁴

mvp-comment-496-1 τέγγει δ’ ὑπ’ ὀφρύσι … δειράδας ³¹⁵

mvp-comment-496-2 The Niobe of Sipylus has usually been identified with a colossal rock-image on the N. side of the range. It is rudely carved in relief, within a rectangular niche on the face of a limestone cliff, and represents a woman seated on a throne. (See Stark, Niobe, pl. 1, Leips. 1863: cp. Baumeister, Denkm. p. 1029). Prof. W. M. Ramsay, however, holds that this image is the ‘very ancient’

ἄγαλμα

of Cybele mentioned by Paus. 3.22.4 . In two respects it differs from the ancient accounts of the Niobe (quoted below): ( a) it does not ‘weep,’—for the rainwater drops from the front of the niche, clear of the figure; and ( b) the likeness to a human form grows, instead of vanishing, as one approaches. ( Journ. Hellen. Studies III. 61 ff., 1882.) This has been confirmed by another traveller, Herr Schweisthal (as reported in the Berl. Phil. Wochenschr., May 28, 1887, p. 704). He finds the true Niobe at no great distance from the Cybele, but nearer Magnesia, and in the vicinity of a stream (the Jarikkaia) which Humann, in his ‘Excursion into Sipylus’ (1881), had already identified with the Achelous of Il. 24.616 . It is a natural phenomenon,—the semblance—as seen from a distance—of a draped woman, seated high on the rocks; she looks towards the right, and lifts her right arm, as if in lament.

mvp-comment-496-3 The best ancient description is by a poet whose native place was in that neighbourhood,—Quintus Smyrnaeus (1. 293— 306):—‘Her streaming tears still fall from the heights of the rugged cliff; and in sympathy with her the sounding waters of the Hermus make lament, and the lofty peaks of Sipylus, over which the mist that shepherds dread floats evermore. A great marvel is she to passers by, because she is like a sorrowful woman, who mourns some cruel grief, and weeps without stint. Such verily seems the figure, when thou gazest at it from afar; but when thou drawest near, lo, 'tis but a sheer rock, a cliff of Sipylus’ (

φαίνεται αἰπήεσσα πέτρη, Σιπύλοιό τ’ ἀπορρώξ

mvp-comment-496-4 Nonnus was thinking of the effect from the road, when he wrote (2. 160),

ἕσσομαι ὡς Νιόβη καὶ ἐγὼ λίθος, ὄφρα καὶ αὐτὴν | λαϊνέην στενάχουσαν ἐποικτείρωσιν ὁδῖται

. Pausanias, too, says that, at a certain distance from the cliff,

δεδακρυμένην δόξεις ὁρᾶν καὶ κατηφῆ γυναῖκα

, but that the illusion vanishes on a nearer approach (1. 21 § 3).

mvp-comment-497-1 ὁμοιοτάταν ³¹⁶

mvp-comment-498-1 ἀλλὰ … θανοῦσαν ³¹⁷ καίτοι ³¹⁸ ζῶσαν ³¹⁹ θανοῦσαν ³²⁰ οἴμοι γελῶμαι ³²¹

mvp-comment-498-2 θεός ³²²

mvp-comment-498-3 θεογεννής ³²³ θειογενής ³²⁴

mvp-comment-499-1 καίτοι ³²⁵ φθιμένῃ ³²⁶

mvp-comment-499-2 κἀκοῦσαι ³²⁷ μέγ’ ἀκοῦσαι ³²⁸

mvp-comment-500-1 τοῖς ἰσοθέοις σύγκληρα ³²⁹ ἔγκληρα ³³⁰

mvp-comment-500-2 Hipp. 1011 : or (2) pass., included in one's

κλῆρος

, as H. F. 468

ἔγκληρα πεδία ...κεκτημένος

(‘by inheritance’). Here,

ἔγκληρα

was perh. partly due to a reminiscence of

ἔγκληρον

in 814.—The change of τοῖς ἰσοθέοις ³³¹ τοῖσι θεοῖσιν ³³² ι— ³³³ α— ³³⁴ τοῖς ἰσοθέοις ἔγκληρα ³³⁵

mvp-comment-501-1 ζῶσαν … θανοῦσαν ³³⁶

mvp-comment-502-1 γελῶμαι ³³⁷

mvp-comment-503-1 πολυκτήμονες ³³⁸

mvp-comment-504-1 κρῆναι ³³⁹

mvp-comment-504-2 εὐαρμάτου ³⁴⁰

mvp-comment-504-3 ἄλσος ³⁴¹

mvp-comment-504-4 ἔμπας ³⁴²

mvp-comment-505-1 ὔμμ’ ³⁴³

mvp-comment-505-2 ἐπικτῶμαι ³⁴⁴ ἐπί ³⁴⁵

mvp-comment-506-1 οἵα ³⁴⁶

mvp-comment-506-2 φίλων ἄκλαυτος ³⁴⁷

mvp-comment-507-1 ἕργμα τυμβόχωστον ³⁴⁸ ἕρμα ³⁴⁹

mvp-comment-508-1 ποταινίου ³⁵⁰

mvp-comment-509-1 Though every treatment of this verse must remain subject to doubt, far the most probable (to my mind) is Seyffert's modification of Boeckh's βροτοῖς οὔτ’ ἐν νεκροῖς κυροῦσα ³⁵¹ οὔτε ³⁵² κυροῦσα ³⁵³ νεκροῖς ³⁵⁴

mvp-comment-510-1 μέτοικος ³⁵⁵

mvp-comment-511-1 προβᾶσ’ … πολύ ³⁵⁶ προσέπεσες ³⁵⁷

mvp-comment-511-2 πολύ ³⁵⁸ ἐσχάτου ³⁵⁹ προσέπεσες ³⁶⁰

mvp-comment-512-1 πατρῷόν τινα … ἆθλον ³⁶¹ τινά ³⁶²

mvp-comment-512-2 ἐκτίνεις ³⁶³

mvp-comment-513-1 μερίμνας ³⁶⁴ οἶκτον ³⁶⁵ πατρός ³⁶⁶ πότμου ³⁶⁷ οἶκτον ³⁶⁸

mvp-comment-513-2 to taking

οἶκτον

as acc. in apposition with

ἔψαυσας...μερίμνας

is that this would imply

τό

(

σε

)

ψαῦσαι ἀλγ. ἐμοὶ μερίμνης οἶκτός ἐστιν

: as Eur. Or. 1105

Ἑλένην κτάνωμεν, Μενέλεῳ λύπην πικράν

, implies,

τὸ Ἑλένην κτανεῖν Μενέλεῳ λύπη πικρὰ ἔσται

: Aesch. Ag. 224

ἔτλα δ’ οὖν | θυτὴρ γενέσθαι θυγατρός, γυναικοποίνων πολέμων ἀρωγάν

, implies,

τὸ θυτῆρα γενέσθαι ἀρωγὴ ἦν

. Now, if we had, for instance,

ἀνεμνήσθην μερίμνης

, it is conceivable that

οἶκτον

, as acc. in appos., should mean

οἴκτου ἀφορμήν

ἔγερσιν

. But when, as here, the subject of

ἔψαυσας

is distinct from the person who makes the lament, it seems impossible that

οἶκτον

should have this pregnant sense.

mvp-comment-513-3 ἀλγ. μερίμνας ³⁶⁹ οἶτον ³⁷⁰

mvp-comment-513-4 τριπόλιστον ³⁷¹

mvp-comment-513-5 κλεινοῖς Λαβδακίδαισιν ³⁷² πότμου ³⁷³

mvp-comment-513-6 ἁμετέρου ³⁷⁴

mvp-comment-514-1 ματρῷαι λέκτρων ἆται ³⁷⁵ πατρῷαι ³⁷⁶

mvp-comment-514-2

λέκτρον οὐκ ὀκνεῖν με δεῖ

; and ( b) with

πατρῷαι

the explanation by

ἐμῷ πατρί

, etc., would have been less needed.

mvp-comment-515-1 κοιμήματα . . αὐτογέννητα . . ματρός ³⁷⁷

mvp-comment-515-2 ἐμῷ πατρί ³⁷⁸

mvp-comment-515-3 δυσμόρου ³⁷⁹

mvp-comment-516-1 οἵων ³⁸⁰ ποτέ ³⁸¹ οἵων ³⁸² ποτέ ³⁸³ οὕς ³⁸⁴ οἵων ³⁸⁵ ματρός.—ἀραῖος ³⁸⁶

mvp-comment-516-2 μέτοικος ³⁸⁷

mvp-comment-517-1 κασίγνητε ³⁸⁸

mvp-comment-518-1 θανὼν ἔτ’ οὖσαν ³⁸⁹

mvp-comment-518-2 κατήναρες ³⁹⁰

mvp-comment-519-1 σέβειν ³⁹¹

mvp-comment-519-2 sense,

εὐσέβεια

’: i.e. though it is not complete

εὐσέβεια

—which the Chorus regard as including loyalty to the State's laws— yet, so far as it goes, it deserves praise of the same kind. Cp. 924

τὴν δυσσέβειαν εὐσεβοῦσ’ ἐκτησάμην

: by practising

εὐσέβεια

towards the dead, she had come to be thought, on the whole,

δυσσεβής

—as a law-breaker. The Chorus is here the apologist of Creon, and this concession is meant to emphasise the next sentence. Hence the purposed vagueness of σέβειν ³⁹²

mvp-comment-520-1 κράτος δὲ ³⁹³ ὅτῳ ³⁹⁴

mvp-comment-520-2 οὐδαμᾷ ³⁹⁵ μέλει ³⁹⁶

mvp-comment-521-1 αὐτόγνωτος ³⁹⁷ αὐτὴ γιγνώσκουσα ³⁹⁸

mvp-comment-521-2 ὀργά ³⁹⁹

mvp-comment-522-1 ἑτοίμαν ⁴⁰⁰

mvp-comment-523-1 τόδε λ. ἱρὸν ὄμμα ⁴⁰¹

mvp-comment-524-1 ἀδάκρυτον ⁴⁰²

mvp-comment-524-2 (and so it remains) unwept. Soph. has several instances of the predicative adj. thus added to a subst. which has the art. and possessive pron.; as O. T. 671

τὸ γὰρ σόν, οὐ τὸ τοῦδ’, ἐποικτίρω στόμα | ἐλεινόν

(n.): El. 1143

τῆς ἐμῆς πάλαι τροφῆς | ἀνωφελήτου

. Cp. 791 .

mvp-comment-525-1 ἆρ’ ἴστε ⁴⁰³ λέγειν ⁴⁰⁴ ἀοιδὰς καὶ γόους ⁴⁰⁵ ἴστε ⁴⁰⁶

mvp-comment-525-2 οὐδ’ ἂν εἷς ⁴⁰⁷

mvp-comment-526-1 οὐκ ἄξεθ’ ⁴⁰⁸ τάχιστα.—κατηρεφεῖ ⁴⁰⁹

mvp-comment-527-1 περιπτύξαντες ⁴¹⁰

mvp-comment-528-1 χρῇ ⁴¹¹ ζῶσα ⁴¹² χρῇ ⁴¹³

mvp-comment-528-2

σιγῆν

; but the MSS. are supported by the testimony of Suidas and Hesychius to

χρῇς

as=

χρῄζεις

. In the other four places where these forms are usu. read, they are not indispensable,

χρή

being possible; but in two, at least, they are much better than

χρή

, viz. El. 606

κήρυσσέ μ’ εἰς ἅπαντας, εἴτε χρῇς κακήν, | εἴτε στόμαργον, κ.τ.λ.

: and Ai. 1373

σοὶ δὲ δρᾶν ἔξεσθ’ ἃ χρῇς

. In the other two,

χρή

might well stand: Eur. fr. 910

πρὸς ταῦθ’ ὅ τι χρῇ καὶ παλαμάσθω | καὶ πᾶν ἐπ’ ἐμοὶ τεκταινέσθω

: Cratinus

Νόμοι

fr. 2

νῦν γὰρ δή σοι πάρα μὲν θεσμοὶ | τῶν ἡμετέρων, πάρα δ’ ἄλλ’ ὅ τι χρῇς

. Except in Ach. 778 , the MSS. everywhere give

χρή

: and the variants in the next v. (see cr. n.) show that

χρῇ

was strange to the copyists, though known to the Scholiast.

mvp-comment-529-1 ζῶσα τυμβεύειν ⁴¹⁴ νυμφεύειν ⁴¹⁵

mvp-comment-529-2 στέγῃ ⁴¹⁶

mvp-comment-530-1 ἁγνοί ⁴¹⁷

mvp-comment-530-2 τοὐπὶ τήνδε ⁴¹⁸

mvp-comment-531-1 μετοικίας ⁴¹⁹

mvp-comment-531-2 δ’ οὖν ⁴²⁰

mvp-comment-531-3 στερήσεται ⁴²¹

mvp-comment-532-1 ὦ τύμβος ⁴²²

mvp-comment-532-2 νυμφεῖον ⁴²³

mvp-comment-532-3 κατασκαφής ⁴²⁴

mvp-comment-533-1 ἀριθμὸν … πλεϊστον ⁴²⁵

mvp-comment-533-2 ἐν νεκροῖς ⁴²⁶ δέδεκται ⁴²⁷

mvp-comment-533-3

πύλαι

to Hades ( O. C. 1569 f.). So Oedipus is led by

Ἑρμῆς ὁ πομπὸς ἥ τε νερτέρα θεός

( ib. 1548 ). As

ἡ ἀφανὴς θεός

she is associated with Hades ( ib. 1556 ).

mvp-comment-533-4 Φερσέφασσα ⁴²⁸ Φ ⁴²⁹

mvp-comment-534-1 κάκιστα ⁴³⁰ δή ⁴³¹

mvp-comment-534-2 μοῖραν … βίου ⁴³² ἐξήκειν ⁴³³

mvp-comment-535-1 ἐν ἐλπίσιν τρέφω ⁴³⁴ φίλη μὲν … προσφιλὴς δέ ⁴³⁵

mvp-comment-536-1 κασίγνητον κάρα ⁴³⁶ νῦν δέ ⁴³⁷

mvp-comment-537-1 ὑμᾶς ⁴³⁸

mvp-comment-537-2 ἔλουσα κἀκόσμησα ⁴³⁹

mvp-comment-537-3 χοάς ⁴⁴⁰

mvp-comment-537-4 περιστέλλουσα ⁴⁴¹

mvp-comment-537-5 δέμας ⁴⁴²

mvp-comment-538-1 Few problems of Greek Tragedy have been more discussed than the question whether these vv., or some of them, are spurious. Arist. ( Arist. Rhet. 3. 16 § 9) quotes vv. 911, 912 , and certainly had the whole passage in his text of The Soph. interpolation, then, if such it be, must have been made soon after the poet's death; and has been imputed to his son Iophon (

ὁ ψυχρός

), or some other sorry poet; or to the actors. I confess that, after long thought, I cannot bring myself to believe that Soph. wrote 905—912: with which 904 and 913—920 are in organic unity, and must now stand or fall. Some remarks will be found in the Appendix.

mvp-comment-538-2 The main points (to my mind) are briefly these. (1) The general validity of the divine law, as asserted in 450— 460, cannot be intelligibly reconciled with the limitation in vv. 905—907. (2) A still further limitation is involved in 911 f. She has buried her brother, not simply as such, but because, while he lived, he was an irreplaceable relative. Could she have hoped for the birth of another brother, she would not, then, have felt the duty to be so binding. (3) The composition of vv. 909—912 is unworthy of Sophocles.

mvp-comment-538-3 ’τίμησα ⁴⁴³ εὖ ⁴⁴⁴ τοῖς φρονοῦσιν ⁴⁴⁵

mvp-comment-539-1 ἐτήκετο ⁴⁴⁶

mvp-comment-540-1 βίᾳ πολιτῶν ⁴⁴⁷

mvp-comment-541-1 πρὸς χάριν ⁴⁴⁸

mvp-comment-542-1 Cp. Her. 3.119 , which clearly supplied, not merely the thought, but the form, of these verses:—

ἀνὴρ μέν μοι ἂν ἄλλος γένοιτο, εἰ δαίμων ἐθέλοι, καὶ τέκνα ἄλλα, εἰ ταῦτα ἀποβάλοιμι· πατρὸς δὲ καὶ μητρὸς οὐκέτι μοι ζωόντων, ἀδελφεὸς ἂν ἄλλος οὐδενὶ τρόπῳ γένοιτο

(3.119.6) . Arist. Rhet. 3.16 § 9 (if you introduce a trait of character which will seem improbable, the reason ofit should be added):

ἂν δ’ ἄπιστον ᾖ, τότε τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπιλέγειν, ὥσπερ Σοφοκλῆς ποιεῖ παράδειγμα τὸ ἐκ τῆς Ἀντιγόνης, ὅτι μᾶλλον τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἐκήδετο ἢ ἀνδρὸς ἢ τέκνων· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἂν γενέσθαι ἀπολόμενα

[this=vv. 909, 910]:

μητρὸς δ’ ἐν ᾅδου κ.τ.λ.

(he then quotes 911 f., with

βεβηκότων

,—a mere slip of memory: ).

mvp-comment-542-2 Three points in these vv. are strange. (1) The gen. abs. κατθανόντος ⁴⁴⁹ πόσις ⁴⁵⁰ ἀπ’ ἄλλου φωτός ⁴⁵¹

mvp-comment-543-1 ἐκπροτιμήσασ’ ⁴⁵²

mvp-comment-544-1 διὰ χερῶν … λαβών ⁴⁵³

mvp-comment-545-1 ἀνυμέναιον ⁴⁵⁴

mvp-comment-546-1 ἀλλ’ ⁴⁵⁵

mvp-comment-546-2 πρὸς φίλων ⁴⁵⁶ ἔρημος ⁴⁵⁷

mvp-comment-547-1 δαιμόνων δίκην ⁴⁵⁸

mvp-comment-548-1 If the gods allow her to suffer for obeying them, is it not vain for her to invoke them?

mvp-comment-548-2 βλέπειν ⁴⁵⁹

mvp-comment-548-3 τίνα … ξυμμάχων ⁴⁶⁰

mvp-comment-548-4 ἐπεί γε δή ⁴⁶¹

mvp-comment-548-5 τὴν δυσσέβειαν ⁴⁶²

mvp-comment-549-1 The gods are allowing her to perish. But it does not follow that they approve of her doom: for they are sometimes slow in punishing wrong ( O. C. 1536 ). Hence the dilemma, introduced

mvp-comment-549-2 by ἀλλ’ οὖν ⁴⁶³

mvp-comment-549-3 ἐν θεοῖς ⁴⁶⁴

mvp-comment-549-4 ξυγγνοῖμεν ⁴⁶⁵

mvp-comment-549-5 ἡμαρτηκότες ⁴⁶⁶ παθόντες ⁴⁶⁷

mvp-comment-550-1 οἵδε ⁴⁶⁸

mvp-comment-550-2 μὴ πλείω ⁴⁶⁹ μείω ⁴⁷⁰

mvp-comment-551-1 ἀνέμων‐ῥιπαὶ ψυχῆς ⁴⁷¹

mvp-comment-552-1 τούτων ⁴⁷²

mvp-comment-552-2 κλαύμαθ’ ⁴⁷³

mvp-comment-552-3 ὕπερ ⁴⁷⁴

mvp-comment-553-1 This threat (to the guards) ‘has come very near to death,’ i.e., ‘portends imminent death for me.’ The phrase is not fig., ‘is bitter as death to hear’ (being a prelude to death).

mvp-comment-554-1 Said by Creon, clearly—not by the Chorus. ‘I can give thee no encouragement ( οὐδέν ⁴⁷⁵

mvp-comment-554-2 the doom is not to be ratified on this wise’ (i.e., by death). μὴ οὐ ⁴⁷⁶

mvp-comment-554-3 κατακυροῦσθαι ⁴⁷⁷

mvp-comment-554-4 ταύτῃ ⁴⁷⁸ τάδε ⁴⁷⁹

mvp-comment-555-1 θεοὶ προγενεῖς ⁴⁸⁰

mvp-comment-556-1 δή ⁴⁸¹

mvp-comment-556-2 κοὐκέτι μέλλω ⁴⁸²

mvp-comment-557-1 οἱ κοιρανίδαι ⁴⁸³

mvp-comment-558-1 βασιλειδᾶν ⁴⁸⁴ βασιλίδα ⁴⁸⁵

mvp-comment-558-2 μούνην ⁴⁸⁶

mvp-comment-559-1 εὐσεβίαν ⁴⁸⁷ ια ⁴⁸⁸ εια ⁴⁸⁹

mvp-comment-559-2

εὐγενίας

. The motive was metrical convenience. Such forms are not Ionic, as Triclinius called them (cr. n.): thus Herod. used

ἀληθείη

, not

ἀληθίη

: though there are other cases in which Ionic substitutes

for

ει

(as

βαθέα, ἐπιτήδεος

, etc.).— σεβίσασα ⁴⁹⁰

mvp-comment-561-1 Acrisius, the father of Danaë, was king of Argos. The oracle at Delphi told him that he was to be slain by his daughter's son. He therefore immured the maiden in a chamber built for that purpose within the precincts of his house at Argos. Here Zeus visited her in the golden rain; she bore Perseus; and Acrisius sent mother and child adrift on the Aegean in a chest; but Zeus heard her prayer, and brought them safely to the island of Seriphus. Both Soph. and Eur. wrote a

Δανάη

: Soph. wrote also an

Ἀκρίσιος

mvp-comment-561-2 καὶ Δανάας δέμας ἔτλα ἀλλάξαι οὐράνιον φῶς ⁴⁹¹ ἔτλα καί ⁴⁹²

mvp-comment-561-3 δέμας ⁴⁹³

mvp-comment-561-4 χαλκοδέτοις αὐλαῖς ⁴⁹⁴

mvp-comment-562-1 τυμβήρει ⁴⁹⁵

mvp-comment-562-2 κατεζεύχθη ⁴⁹⁶

mvp-comment-563-1 τίμιος ⁴⁹⁷

mvp-comment-564-1 ταμιεύεσκε ⁴⁹⁸

mvp-comment-564-2 χρυσορύτους ⁴⁹⁹

mvp-comment-565-1 ἁ μοιριδία τις ⁵⁰⁰ τις ⁵⁰¹

mvp-comment-566-1 οὔτ’ … ὄλβος ⁵⁰²

mvp-comment-566-2

θνατοῖσι δ’ οὐκ αὐθαίρετοι | οὔτ’ ὄλβος οὔτ’ ἄκαμπτος Ἄρης οὔτε παμφθέρσης στάσις, | ἀλλ’ ἐπιχρίμπτει νέφος ἄλλοτ’ ἐπ’ ἄλλαν | γαῖαν ἁ πάνδωρος αἶσα.

mvp-comment-566-3 πύργος ⁵⁰³

mvp-comment-566-4 οὔτ’ … οὔτ’ ⁵⁰⁴ οὐ … οὐχ ⁵⁰⁵

mvp-comment-567-1 ζεύχθη ⁵⁰⁶

mvp-comment-567-2 ὀξύχολος ⁵⁰⁷

mvp-comment-567-3 The

Ἠδωνοί

, or

Ἠδῶνες

( Thuc. 2.99 ), occupied in historical times the part of Thrace E. of the Strymon and W. of the Nestus. In earlier times they had dwelt further west, but had been driven eastward by the Macedonian conquest of Mygdonia.

mvp-comment-567-4 Dionysus, when he came from Asia with his new rites, was opposed by Lycurgus in Thrace, as by Pentheus at Thebes. The

Λυκούργεια

of Aeschylus is known from the schol. on Ar. Th. 135. This trilogy consisted of

Ἠδωνοί, Βασσαρίδες, Νεανίσκοι

, with

Λυκοῦργος

as satyric drama. In Il. 6.130 ff. Dionysus, pursued by Lycurgus, dives beneath the sea; Thetis receives him; and Zeus blinds Lycurgus.

mvp-comment-568-1 κερτομίοις ὀργαῖς ⁵⁰⁸ ὀργαῖς ⁵⁰⁹ κερτομίοις ⁵¹⁰

mvp-comment-569-1 ἐκ Διονύσου ⁵¹¹

mvp-comment-569-2 πετρώδει … δεσμῷ ⁵¹²

mvp-comment-569-3 κατάφαρκτος ⁵¹³

mvp-comment-570-1 οὕτω ⁵¹⁴

mvp-comment-570-2 ἀνθηρόν ⁵¹⁵

mvp-comment-570-3 ἀποστάζει ⁵¹⁶

mvp-comment-571-1 ἐπέγνω τὸν θεόν, μανίαις ψαύων ⁵¹⁷

mvp-comment-571-2 μανίαις ⁵¹⁸

mvp-comment-571-3 ψαύων ⁵¹⁹

mvp-comment-571-4 ἐν ⁵²⁰

mvp-comment-571-5 γλώσσαις ⁵²¹

mvp-comment-572-1 παύεσκε ⁵²²

mvp-comment-572-2 ἐνθέους γυναῖκας ⁵²³

mvp-comment-572-3 εὔιον … πῦρ ⁵²⁴

mvp-comment-573-1 Μούσας ⁵²⁵

mvp-comment-573-2 save the nymph by changing her into a vine; and behind him stand his followers. At the extreme left are three Muses—Urania, with globe; Clio, with roll; Euterpè, prob. with flutes. (Zoega seems clearly right in thus explaining the three women: others have made them Moirae.)—The close relation of Dionysus with the Muses is marked by one of his Attic titles,

Μελπόμενος

( Paus. 1.2.5 ), as conversely Apollo had the title

Διονυσόδοτος

(id. 1. 31.4). Muses were sometimes said to have nursed him. (Cp. Welcker, Götterl. 2. 611.)

mvp-comment-573-3 The monuments relating to the myth of Lycurgus have been critically treated by Michaelis ( Annal. Inst. 1872, pp. 248— 270). The Italian vase-paintings follow a version different from that of Soph. , viz. that the frenzy of Lycurgus was wreaked on his own son and wife. A large Neapolitan vase gives two pictures: in one, we see his murderous rage; in the other, Dionysus sits on his throne in calm majesty, stroking his panther.

mvp-comment-574-1 Cleopatra is the third example. Her father was the wind-god, Boreas: her mother, the Athenian Oreithyia, whom he carried off to his wild home in Thrace. Cleopatra married Phineus, king of the Thracian Salmydessus, on the W. coast of the Euxine, not far from the entrance to the Bosporus. She bore him two sons. He afterwards put her away, and imprisoned her. Her imprisonment is not directly mentioned here: but cp. Diod. 4. 44 , who says of Heracles, when serving with the Argonauts,

τὴν Κλεοπάτραν ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς προαγαγεῖν

. Phineus then married Eidothea, sister of Cadmus. Eidothea put out the eyes of Cleopatra's two sons, and caused them also to be imprisoned.

mvp-comment-574-2 It is the fate of Cleopatra herself which Soph. means to compare with Antigone's: this is plain from 986. The fate of the sons is made so prominent only because nothing else could give us so strong a sense of the savage hatred which pursued the mother.

mvp-comment-574-3 Soph. supposes the outline of the story to be familiar. Cleopatra has already been divorced and imprisoned. The poet chooses the moment at which Cleopatra's sons are being blinded by Eidothea, with the sharp shuttle in her blood-stained hands. Ares, the god of cruel bloodshed, beholds with joy a deed so worthy of his Thracian realm.

mvp-comment-574-4 The name of Cleopatra (like that of Capaneus, 133) is not mentioned. Two strophes are given to this theme, partly, perh., as having an Attic interest (982). Soph. wrote two plays called

Φινεύς

. We know only that Cleopatra's sons were there called

Ὄαρθος

Παρθένιος

H. Weil) and

Κράμβος

: and that the subsequent blindness of Phineus was represented as a punishment of his cruelty (schol. Apoll. Rhod. 2. 178). Eidothea was mentioned by Soph. in his

Τυμπανισταί

(schol. on 980),—a play which perh. concerned the Dionysiac worship, since the

τύμπανον

(kettle-drum) was used in his

ὄργια

as well as in those of Cybelè. Another version called her Idaea, daughter of Dardanus.

mvp-comment-574-5 παρὰ δὲ Κυανεᾶν πελάγει δ. ἁλός ⁵²⁶ πετρῶν ⁵²⁷

mvp-comment-574-6 of

πελαγέων

into

σπιλάδων

is also erroneous.

mvp-comment-574-7 L's accent, πελάγεων ⁵²⁸ πελάγει ⁵²⁹ παρά ⁵³⁰ πελάγει ⁵³¹ Κυανεᾶν ⁵³²

mvp-comment-575-1 ἀκταὶ Βοσπόριαι ⁵³³ Θρῃκῶν ⁵³⁴ ἄξενος ⁵³⁵ κλῄζεται ⁵³⁶ ἠδ’ ⁵³⁷

mvp-comment-576-1 ἀγχίπολις Ἄρης ⁵³⁸ ἀγχίπτολις ⁵³⁹ Ἄρης ⁵⁴⁰ ἀρχαιογόνων ⁵⁴¹

mvp-comment-577-1 Φινεΐδαις ⁵⁴²

mvp-comment-577-2 ἀρατόν ⁵⁴³

mvp-comment-577-3 ἕλκος τυφλωθέν ⁵⁴⁴

mvp-comment-577-4 ἐξ ⁵⁴⁵

mvp-comment-578-1 ἀλαὸν … κύκλοις ⁵⁴⁶

mvp-comment-578-2 ἀλαστόροισιν ⁵⁴⁷

mvp-comment-579-1 ἀραχθέντων ⁵⁴⁸

mvp-comment-579-2 ὑπό ⁵⁴⁹

mvp-comment-580-1 κερκίδων ⁵⁵⁰

mvp-comment-580-2 at the loom, will I send the shuttle flying across the warp’).—Cp. Eur. Hec. 1170 , where the women blind Polymestor with their brooches (

πόρπαι = περόναι

); and O. T. 1269 n.

mvp-comment-581-1 κατά ⁵⁵¹

mvp-comment-581-2 μέλεοι μελέαν ⁵⁵²

mvp-comment-582-1 ματρὸς ἔχοντες ἀν. γονάν ⁵⁵³ γονάν ⁵⁵⁴ ματρός ⁵⁵⁵ ἀνύμφ. ⁵⁵⁶ ματρός ⁵⁵⁷ πάθαν ⁵⁵⁸ ματρὸς … γονάν ⁵⁵⁹

mvp-comment-583-1 σπέρμα ⁵⁶⁰

mvp-comment-583-2 ἀρχαιογ. ⁵⁶¹

mvp-comment-583-3 ἄντασ’ Ἐρ. ⁵⁶²

mvp-comment-584-1 τηλεπόροις ⁵⁶³

mvp-comment-585-1 ἅμιππος ⁵⁶⁴

mvp-comment-585-2 ὀρθόποδος ⁵⁶⁵

mvp-comment-586-1 κἀπ’ ἐκείνᾳ … ἔσχον ⁵⁶⁶ μακραίωνες ⁵⁶⁷

mvp-comment-588-1 ἄνακτες ⁵⁶⁸

mvp-comment-589-1 αὕτη κ. ⁵⁶⁹ πέλει ⁵⁷⁰

mvp-comment-590-1 τί δ’ ἔστιν ⁵⁷¹

mvp-comment-591-1 οὔκουν … γε ⁵⁷²

mvp-comment-591-2 δῑ ὀρθῆς ⁵⁷³

mvp-comment-591-3 ἐναυκλήρεις ⁵⁷⁴

mvp-comment-592-1 πεπονθὼς ὀνήσιμα, ἔχω μαρτυρεῖν ⁵⁷⁵

mvp-comment-593-1 φρόνει βεβώς ⁵⁷⁶

mvp-comment-593-2 τύχης ⁵⁷⁷

mvp-comment-594-1 ὡς ⁵⁷⁸

mvp-comment-595-1 θᾶκον ⁵⁷⁹

mvp-comment-595-2 λιμήν ⁵⁸⁰

mvp-comment-596-1 κακῷ ⁵⁸¹

mvp-comment-596-2 οἴστρῳ ⁵⁸²

mvp-comment-596-3 κλάζοντας ⁵⁸³

mvp-comment-596-4 βεβαρβαρωμένῳ ⁵⁸⁴

mvp-comment-597-1 ἐν χηλαῖσιν ⁵⁸⁵ φοναῖς ⁵⁸⁶

mvp-comment-598-1 The feuds and friendships of birds (

ἔχθραι τε καὶ στέργηθρα

Aesch. PV 492 ) were among the signs noted by augurs. In this case there was a vague omen of bloodshed (

φοναῖς

), but no clear sign. The seer now sought further light by another mode of divination.

mvp-comment-598-2 ἐμπύρων ⁵⁸⁷

mvp-comment-598-3 ἐγευόμην ⁵⁸⁸

mvp-comment-599-1 παμφλέκτοισι ⁵⁸⁹ θυμάτων ⁵⁹⁰

mvp-comment-600-1 Ἥφαιστος ⁵⁹¹

mvp-comment-600-2 a bad sign, if the fire was smothered in smoke, or played feebly around the flesh without consuming it. See Eur. Phoen. 1255

μάντεις δὲ μῆλ’ ἔσφαζον, ἐμπύρους τ’ ἀκμὰς | ῥήξεις τ’ ἐνώμων, ὑγρότητ’ ἐναντίαν, | ἄκραν τε λαμπάδ’, ἣ δυοῖν ὅρους ἔχει, | vίκης τε σῆμα καὶ τὸ τῶν ἡσσωμένων

: the seers ‘were watching for points of flame, or for breaks in it,—such flickering as portends evil’; i.e., they were watching to see whether it would blaze up or die down. The

ἄκρα λαμπάς

is prob. the highest point of the fire, which, if towards the right side, meant victory; if towards the left, defeat. So Statius, Theb. 10. 599 , where Teiresias offers

ἔμπυρα

, and his daughter reports the signs to him (as the

παῖς

does here):

Sanguineos flammarum apices

ἐμπύρους ἀκμάς

)

geminumque per aras | Ignem, et clara tamen mediae fastigia lucis

ἄκραν λαμπάδα

) |

Orta docet: tunc in speciem serpentis inanem | Ancipiti gyro volvi

(‘as if creeping on its way without an aim, the fire played timidly around the offering’). In Seneca Oed. 307 Teiresias asks,

Quid flamma? Larga iamne comprendit dapes? | Utrumne clarus ignis et nitidus stetit, | Rectusque purum verticem caelo tulit, | An latera circum serpit incertus viae, | Et fluctuante turbidus fumo labat?

mvp-comment-601-1 The fat wrapped about the thigh-bones ought to have caught fire, when the flesh on the bones would have been burned, and the bones themselves calcined. But here there was no flame; the kindled fuel lay in smouldering embers (

σποδός

). The heat caused a fatty moisture to exude from the covering of the thigh-bones. Trickling forth on the embers, this moisture emitted smoke, and sputtered as it threw particles of the fat upwards. The gall-bladder, too, which lay on the top of the thighbones, instead of catching fire, was gradually inflated by the heat, till it burst, scattering the gall into the air. And now the melting of the fat which covered the thigh-bones had gone so far that it was no longer a covering, but merely a liquid that was streaming off them, while they themselves were left naked and intact. So utterly had the gods refused the offering.

mvp-comment-601-2 μυδῶσα ⁵⁹²

mvp-comment-601-3 κηκὶς μηρίων ⁵⁹³

mvp-comment-601-4 ἐτήκετο ⁵⁹⁴ ἐπὶ σποδῷ ⁵⁹⁵

mvp-comment-601-5 ἀνέπτυε ⁵⁹⁶

mvp-comment-602-1 χολαί ⁵⁹⁷

mvp-comment-602-2 καταρρυεῖς ⁵⁹⁸

mvp-comment-603-1 μηροί … μηρίων ⁵⁹⁹

mvp-comment-603-2 καλυπτῆς ⁶⁰⁰

mvp-comment-603-3 πιμελῆς ⁶⁰¹ ἐξέκειντο ⁶⁰²

mvp-comment-604-1 τοιαῦτα ⁶⁰³

mvp-comment-604-2 ὀργίων μαντεύματα ⁶⁰⁴ φθίνοντα ⁶⁰⁵

mvp-comment-604-3 ἀσήμων ⁶⁰⁶

mvp-comment-605-1 ἡγεμών ⁶⁰⁷

mvp-comment-606-1 ἐκ ⁶⁰⁸

mvp-comment-606-2 φρενός ⁶⁰⁹

mvp-comment-606-3 νοσεῖ ⁶¹⁰

mvp-comment-607-1 βωμοί ⁶¹¹

mvp-comment-607-2 ἐσχάραι ⁶¹²

mvp-comment-607-3 παντελεῖς ⁶¹³

mvp-comment-608-1 πλήρεις ⁶¹⁴ ὑπ’ οἰων. κ. κυνῶν ⁶¹⁵ βορᾶς τοῦ...Οἰδ. γόνου ⁶¹⁶ γόνου ⁶¹⁷ δυσμόρου ⁶¹⁸ πεπτῶτος ⁶¹⁹ τοῦ … γόνου ⁶²⁰ βορᾶς ⁶²¹ τοῦ … γόνου ⁶²²

mvp-comment-609-1 κᾆτ’ ⁶²³

mvp-comment-609-2 θυστάδας ⁶²⁴

mvp-comment-610-1 ὅρνι^ς ⁶²⁵

mvp-comment-610-2 εὐσήμους ⁶²⁶

mvp-comment-610-3 βεβρῶτες ⁶²⁷

mvp-comment-610-4 ἀνδροφθόρου ⁶²⁸

mvp-comment-611-1 ἐπεί ⁶²⁹

mvp-comment-611-2 ἄνολβος ⁶³⁰

mvp-comment-612-1 ἀκεῖται ⁶³¹

mvp-comment-612-2 ἀκίνητος ⁶³²

mvp-comment-613-1 αὐθαδία ⁶³³ ὀφλισκάνει ⁶³⁴

mvp-comment-614-1 εἶκε τῷ θανόντι ⁶³⁵

mvp-comment-614-2 κέντει ⁶³⁶

mvp-comment-615-1 ἐπικτανεῖν ⁶³⁷

mvp-comment-616-1 εὖ φρονήσας ⁶³⁸

mvp-comment-616-2 μανθάνειν δ ⁶³⁹

mvp-comment-616-3 εἰ … λέγοι ⁶⁴⁰ ἥδιστον ⁶⁴¹

mvp-comment-617-1 ὥστε ⁶⁴² σκοποῦ ⁶⁴³

mvp-comment-618-1 κοὐδὲ μαντικῆς ⁶⁴⁴ ἄπρακτος ⁶⁴⁵ μαντικῆς ⁶⁴⁶ α ⁶⁴⁷ μαντικῇ ⁶⁴⁸ ἄπρατος ⁶⁴⁹

mvp-comment-618-2 τῶν δ’ ὑπαὶ γένους ⁶⁵⁰ τῶν ⁶⁵¹

mvp-comment-618-3 refer to ὑμῖν ⁶⁵² μαντικῆς ⁶⁵³ μαντικοῖς ⁶⁵⁴

mvp-comment-618-4 ὑπαί ⁶⁵⁵

mvp-comment-618-5 γένους ⁶⁵⁶

mvp-comment-619-1 ἐξημπόλημαι ⁶⁵⁷ ἐμπεφόρτισμαι ⁶⁵⁸ ἐκπεφόρτισμαι ⁶⁵⁹

mvp-comment-620-1 τἀπὸ Σάρδεων ἤλεκτρον ⁶⁶⁰

mvp-comment-620-2 τἀπὸ ⁶⁶¹

mvp-comment-620-3 Ἰνδικὸν χρυσόν ⁶⁶²

mvp-comment-621-1 οἱ Ζηνὸς αἰετοί ⁶⁶³

mvp-comment-622-1 οὐδ’ ὥς ⁶⁶⁴

mvp-comment-623-1 θεοὺς μιαίνειν ⁶⁶⁵

mvp-comment-623-2 This view seems to do some injustice to the poet's dramatic psychology. I read the words quite differently. The most orthodox Greek piety held that ‘no mortal could pollute the gods.’ See, for example, H. F. 1232. Heracles, having recovered sanity after slaying his children, has covered his face, to hide it from the holy light of the sun. Theseus —who is a type of normal

εὐσέβεια

— makes him uncover, saying,—

τί δ’; οὐ μιαίνεις θνητὸς ὢν τὰ τῶν θεῶν

. The sungod cannot be polluted by a mortal. The idea of religious

μίασμα

was that a mortal had contracted some impurity which disqualified him for communion with the gods. The tainting of an altar cut off such communion by bringing uncleanness to the very place where men sought to be cleansed. Creon excitedly imagines a seemingly worse profanation, and then excuses his apparent impiety by a general maxim which all would admit:—‘no man can pollute the gods.’

mvp-comment-623-3 ‘The sky-throne of Zeus is still more sacred than his altar on earth: if defilement cannot reach him there, much less here.’ The sophism is of the kind with which an honest but stubborn and wrongheaded man might seek to quiet his conscience. Creon reveres Zeus (304): he feels for the majesty of the gods, and refuses to believe that they can honour the wicked (284 ff.). But his religious sense is temporarily confused by his anger.

mvp-comment-624-1 πολλά ⁶⁶⁶

mvp-comment-625-1 καλῶς ⁶⁶⁷

mvp-comment-626-1 ἆρ’ οἶδεν ⁶⁶⁸

mvp-comment-627-1 τί χρῆμα ⁶⁶⁹

mvp-comment-627-2 πάγκοινον ⁶⁷⁰

mvp-comment-628-1 κτημάτων ⁶⁷¹

mvp-comment-628-2 ὅσῳπερ ⁶⁷² μὴ φρονεῖν ⁶⁷³

mvp-comment-629-1 νόσου ⁶⁷⁴ πλήρης ⁶⁷⁵

mvp-comment-630-1 In

ἀντειπεῖν κακῶς, ἀντί

qualifies the whole phrase: i.e., it means, ‘to revile in return,’

ἀντιλοιδορεῖν

, as

ἀντιδρᾶν κακῶς

( O. C. 1191 )=

ἀνταδικεῖν

mvp-comment-631-1 καὶ μήν ⁶⁷⁶ λέγεις ⁶⁷⁷

mvp-comment-632-1 γένος ⁶⁷⁸

mvp-comment-633-1 τὸ δ’ ἐκ τυράννων ⁶⁷⁹ ἐκ ⁶⁸⁰

mvp-comment-633-2 αἰσχροκέρδειαν ⁶⁸¹

mvp-comment-634-1 ἆρ’ οἶσθα ⁶⁸² ἃ ἂν λέγῃς ⁶⁸³ ταγούς ⁶⁸⁴

mvp-comment-635-1 ἐξ ἐμοῦ ⁶⁸⁵

mvp-comment-635-2 ἔχεις σώσας ⁶⁸⁶

mvp-comment-636-1 τἀκίνητα διὰ φρενῶν ⁶⁸⁷

mvp-comment-637-1 κίνει ⁶⁸⁸

mvp-comment-637-2 μόνον δέ ⁶⁸⁹

mvp-comment-637-3 ἐπὶ κέρδεσιν ⁶⁹⁰

mvp-comment-638-1 οὕτω γὰρ ἤδη ⁶⁹¹ τὸ σὸν μέρος ⁶⁹² καί ⁶⁹³

mvp-comment-639-1 ἴσθι ὡς μὴ ἐμπ. ⁶⁹⁴ ὡς ⁶⁹⁵

mvp-comment-639-2 φρένα ⁶⁹⁶

mvp-comment-640-1 ἀλλ’ εὺ= γέ τοι ⁶⁹⁷

mvp-comment-640-2 μη … τελῶν ⁶⁹⁸ ἥλιον τελεῖν ⁶⁹⁹ κάτισθι ⁷⁰⁰ τελῶν ⁷⁰¹

mvp-comment-640-3 τρόχους ⁷⁰² τροχους ⁷⁰³

mvp-comment-640-4 ἁμιλλητῆρας ⁷⁰⁴

mvp-comment-641-1 ἐν οἷσι ⁷⁰⁵

mvp-comment-641-2 τῶν σῶν … ἐκ σπλάγχνων ἕνα ⁷⁰⁶

mvp-comment-642-1 νέκυν νεκρῶν ⁷⁰⁷ ἀντιδοὺς ἔσει ⁷⁰⁸

mvp-comment-643-1 ἀνθ’ ὧν ⁷⁰⁹

mvp-comment-643-2 ἔχεις βαλὼν κάτω τῶν ἄνω ⁷¹⁰

mvp-comment-644-1 Bothe, omitting τε ⁷¹¹ ψυχήν ⁷¹² τῶν ἄνω ⁷¹³ τῶν ἄνω ⁷¹⁴ τῶν ἄνω … ψυχήν ⁷¹⁵ ψυχήν τ’ … κατῴκισας ⁷¹⁶ ἀνθ’ ὧν ⁷¹⁷ τῶν ἄνω ⁷¹⁸

mvp-comment-644-2 ἀτίμως ⁷¹⁹

mvp-comment-645-1 ἔχεις δέ ⁷²⁰ τῶν κάτωθεν θεῶν ⁷²¹ νέκυν ⁷²²

mvp-comment-645-2 ἄμοιρον ⁷²³

mvp-comment-645-3

κ. θεῶν

with

ἄμοιρον

: ‘without a portion in the gods below,’ i.e., not admitted to communion with them. But the phrase is a strange one; and the leading thought here is that the

νέρτεροι

are robbed of one who belongs to them.

mvp-comment-645-4 ἀκτέριστον ⁷²⁴

mvp-comment-645-5 ἀνόσιον ⁷²⁵

mvp-comment-646-1 ὧν ⁷²⁶

mvp-comment-646-2 βιάζονται ⁷²⁷

mvp-comment-647-1 τούτων ⁷²⁸

mvp-comment-647-2 λωβητῆρες ⁷²⁹

mvp-comment-647-3 ὑστεροφθόροι ⁷³⁰

mvp-comment-648-1 λοχῶσιν ⁷³¹

mvp-comment-648-2 Ἅιδου καὶ θεῶν ⁷³²

mvp-comment-648-3 ληφθῆναι ⁷³³

mvp-comment-649-1 κατηργ. ⁷³⁴ οὐ μακρ. χρόν. τριβή ⁷³⁵ φανεῖ ⁷³⁶

mvp-comment-650-1 The πόλεις ⁷³⁷ συνταράσσονται ⁷³⁸

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

τῶν ἐχθρῶν κακά

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. (

Ἐπίγονοι

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 ⁷³⁹ ὅσων ⁷⁴⁰

mvp-comment-651-2 L's καθήγνισαν ⁷⁴¹ καθήγισαν ⁷⁴² καθήγνισαν ⁷⁴³ καθήγισαν ⁷⁴⁴

mvp-comment-651-3 of

καθήγισαν

here. The Schol. read the latter (

μετὰ ἄγους ἐκόμισαν

). But the fact that L has

καθήγνισαν

must be set against these doubtful testimonies.—For the irony, cp. El. 1487

πρόθες | ταφεῦσιν, ὧν τόνδ’ εἰκός ἐστι τυγχάνειν

(as Gorgias called vultures

ἔμψυχοι τάφοι

λονγιν. π. ὕψους

3 § 2): Aesch. Th. 1020

ὑπ’ οἰωνῶν ... | ταφέντ’ ἀτίμως

: Ennius Ann. 142

volturu' crudeli condebat membra sepulcro:

Lucr. 5. 993

viva videns vivo sepeliri viscera busto.

mvp-comment-652-1 ἑστιοῦχον … πόλιν ⁷⁴⁵

mvp-comment-653-1 σου ⁷⁴⁶ ἀφῆκα ⁷⁴⁷

mvp-comment-653-2 θυμῷ ⁷⁴⁸ καρδίας τοξεύματα ⁷⁴⁹

mvp-comment-654-1 ὦ παῖ ⁷⁵⁰

mvp-comment-655-1 τρέφειν ⁷⁵¹

mvp-comment-655-2 ἡσυχωτέραν ⁷⁵² ω ⁷⁵³ αι ⁷⁵⁴ αι ⁷⁵⁵ ω ⁷⁵⁶ ω ⁷⁵⁷ αι ⁷⁵⁸ αι ⁷⁵⁹

mvp-comment-656-1 τὸν νοῦν … τῶν φρενῶν ἀμείνω ⁷⁶⁰

mvp-comment-656-2 φέρει ⁷⁶¹ τῶν φρενῶν ⁷⁶² ἀμείνω ⁷⁶³ ἢ ⁷⁶⁴ ὧν ⁷⁶⁵

mvp-comment-657-1 ἐξ ὅτου ⁷⁶⁶

mvp-comment-657-2 λευκὴν … ἐκ μελαίνης ⁷⁶⁷

mvp-comment-657-3 ἀμφιβάλλομαι ⁷⁶⁸

mvp-comment-658-1 μὴ ⁷⁶⁹

mvp-comment-658-2 λακεῖν ⁷⁷⁰

mvp-comment-659-1 ἔγνωκα ⁷⁷¹

mvp-comment-660-1 For τε … δέ ⁷⁷² δέ ⁷⁷³ τ ⁷⁷⁴ τε … τε ⁷⁷⁵ τε … δέ ⁷⁷⁶ δέ ⁷⁷⁷

mvp-comment-661-1 ἄτῃ πατάξαι ⁷⁷⁸ θυμὸν ⁷⁷⁹ ἀντιστάντα ⁷⁸⁰

mvp-comment-661-2 ἐν δεινῷ πάρα ⁷⁸¹ πάρα ⁷⁸² ἓν δεινοῦ πέρα ⁷⁸³

mvp-comment-662-1 The question between L's λαβεῖν ⁷⁸⁴ Κρέον ⁷⁸⁵

mvp-comment-663-1 κατώρυχος ⁷⁸⁶

mvp-comment-664-1 I read the impers. δοκεῖ ⁷⁸⁷ δοκεῖς ⁷⁸⁸ δοκεῖς ⁷⁸⁹

mvp-comment-664-2 παρεικαθεῖν ⁷⁹⁰

mvp-comment-665-1 συντέμνουσι … τοὺς κ. ⁷⁹¹

mvp-comment-665-2 ποδώκεις ⁷⁹²

mvp-comment-665-3 βλάβαι ⁷⁹³

mvp-comment-665-4 κακόφρονας ⁷⁹⁴

mvp-comment-666-1 μόλις μέν ⁷⁹⁵

mvp-comment-666-2 ἐξίσταμαι καρδίας ⁷⁹⁶

mvp-comment-666-3 τὸ δρᾶν ⁷⁹⁷

mvp-comment-666-4 δυσμαχητέον ⁷⁹⁸

mvp-comment-667-1 ἐπ’ ἄλλ’. τρέπε ⁷⁹⁹

mvp-comment-668-1 ὡς ἔχω ⁸⁰⁰

mvp-comment-668-2 στείχοιμ’ ἄν ⁸⁰¹

mvp-comment-668-3 ἴτ’ ἴτ’ ⁸⁰² εἶ’ ⁸⁰³

mvp-comment-669-1 οἵ τ’ ὄντες οἵ τ’ ἀπόντες ⁸⁰⁴

mvp-comment-669-2 ἀξίνας ⁸⁰⁵

mvp-comment-670-1 ἐπόψιον ⁸⁰⁶

mvp-comment-671-1 ἐγὼ δ’ ⁸⁰⁷ ἐπιστράφη ⁸⁰⁸ τῇδ’ ⁸⁰⁹

mvp-comment-672-1 αὐτός τ’ ἔδησα ⁸¹⁰

mvp-comment-673-1 δέδοικα μὴ … ᾖ ⁸¹¹ τοὺς καθεστ. νόμους ⁸¹²

mvp-comment-673-2 σῴζοντα … τὸν βίον τελεῖν ⁸¹³

mvp-comment-675-1 πολυώνυμε ⁸¹⁴

mvp-comment-675-2 Καδμείας ⁸¹⁶

mvp-comment-675-3 ἄγαλμα ⁸¹⁷

mvp-comment-675-4 νύμφας ⁸¹⁸ βαρυβρεμέτα ⁸¹⁹

mvp-comment-676-1 The traditional reading, Ἰταλίαν ⁸²⁰

mvp-comment-676-2 The only worthy rival of

Ἰταλίαν

is the conjecture Ἰκαρίαν ⁸²¹ Ἰταλίαν ⁸²²

mvp-comment-677-1 παγκοίνοις ⁸²³

mvp-comment-677-2

πάγκοινον ἐς χώραν

(Olympia).

mvp-comment-677-3 κόλποις ⁸²⁴

mvp-comment-677-4 Ἐλευσι^νίας ⁸²⁵ ι^ ⁸²⁶

mvp-comment-678-1 Βακχεῦ ⁸²⁷ ὦ ⁸²⁸ ὁ ⁸²⁹ ματρόπολιν ⁸³⁰

mvp-comment-678-2 ματρόπολιν ⁸³¹

mvp-comment-679-1 L has ὑγρὸν … ῥέεθρον ⁸³² ὑγρῶν … ῥεέθρων ⁸³³ ῥεῖθρον ⁸³⁴ ὑγρόν ⁸³⁵ παρά ⁸³⁶ ῥεῖθρον ⁸³⁷ ὑγρόν ⁸³⁸

mvp-comment-679-2 Ἰσμηνοῦ ⁸³⁹

mvp-comment-680-1 ἐπὶ σπορᾷ δρ. ⁸⁴⁰

mvp-comment-681-1 The general sense is: ‘and on the heights of Parnassus thou holdest thy revels by night amid the Corycian Nymphs, who brandish torches.’

mvp-comment-681-2 διλόφου πέτρας ⁸⁴¹

mvp-comment-681-3 By ὑπὲρ διλόφου πέτρας ⁸⁴²

mvp-comment-681-4 λιγνύς ⁸⁴³ στέροψ ⁸⁴⁴

mvp-comment-681-5 ὄπωπε ⁸⁴⁵

mvp-comment-681-6 Κωρύκιαι … Νύμφαι ⁸⁴⁶

mvp-comment-681-7 The simple transposition, στείχουσι νύμφαι ⁸⁴⁷

mvp-comment-682-1 Κασταλίας τε νᾶμα ⁸⁴⁸

mvp-comment-683-1 καί σε Νυσαίων ⁸⁴⁹

mvp-comment-684-1 κισσήρεις ὄχθαι ⁸⁵⁰

mvp-comment-684-2 for the fact was noticed in antiquity (schol. on Aratus Phaenom. 33). Thus Pind. P. 1. 64

ὄχθαις ὕπο Ταϋγέτου

: Eur. Suppl. 655

Ἰσμήνιον πρὸς ὄχθον

.—The

κισσός

was to Dionysus what the

δάφνη

was to Apollo. The crowning with ivy (

κίσσωσις

) was a regular incident of his festivals: he was called

κισσεύς, κισσοκόμης, κισσοχαίτης

. Cp. Alciphron Epist. 2. 3 § 10

μὰ τὸν Διόνυσον καὶ τοὺς Βακχικοὺς αὐτοῦ κισσούς

. F. 3. 767

hedera est gratissima Baccho.

mvp-comment-685-1 πολυστάφυλος ⁸⁵¹

mvp-comment-685-2 πέμπει ⁸⁵²

mvp-comment-686-1 The words ἀμβρότων ἐπέων ⁸⁵³

mvp-comment-686-2 εὐαζόντων ⁸⁵⁴

mvp-comment-687-1 τὰν ἐκ πασᾶν ⁸⁵⁵ τάν ⁸⁵⁶ ἐκ ⁸⁵⁷ ὑπερτάταν ⁸⁵⁸

mvp-comment-688-1 κεραυνίᾳ ⁸⁵⁹

mvp-comment-689-1 ἔχεται ἐπὶ βιαίας νόσου ⁸⁶⁰ ὑπό ⁸⁶¹ ἔχεται ⁸⁶² βιαι^ας ⁸⁶³ ἀμὰ ⁸⁶⁴ πόλις ⁸⁶⁵

mvp-comment-689-2 πάνδαμος ⁸⁶⁶

mvp-comment-690-1 μολεῖν ⁸⁶⁷

mvp-comment-690-2 καθαρσίῳ ⁸⁶⁸

mvp-comment-690-3 κλιτύν ⁸⁶⁹

mvp-comment-690-4 πορθμόν ⁸⁷⁰

mvp-comment-690-5 στονόεντα ⁸⁷¹

mvp-comment-691-1 πνειόντων ⁸⁷² πνειόντων ⁸⁷³

mvp-comment-691-2 Other conjectures are: (1) ἰὼ πύρπνων ἄστρων χοραγὲ καὶ νυχίων ⁸⁷⁴ πῦρ πνεόντων χοραγὲ καὶ νυχίων ⁸⁷⁵ χοραγὲ ἄστρων ⁸⁷⁶

mvp-comment-691-3 originally preceded

χοραγέ

. Neglect of elision is frequent in L: thus, to take one play only, the O. C. supplies these examples: 266

τἀμά· ἐπεὶ

: 694

ἔστιν δὲ οἶον

: 883

τάδε. ὕβρις

: 915

κύρια ὦδε

: 1026

θηρῶντα ἡ τύχη

: 1210

ἴσθι, ἐάνπερ

. The deletion of καί ⁸⁷⁷ νυχίων ⁸⁷⁸

mvp-comment-691-4 χοράγ’ ἄστρων ⁸⁷⁹

mvp-comment-691-5 νυχίων φθεγμάτων ⁸⁸⁰

mvp-comment-692-1 παῖ Διὸς ⁸⁸¹

mvp-comment-693-1 ὦναξ ⁸⁸²

mvp-comment-694-1 Θυίαισιν ⁸⁸³

mvp-comment-694-2 χορεύουσι ⁸⁸⁴

mvp-comment-695-1 ταμίαν ⁸⁸⁵

mvp-comment-695-2 Ἴακχον ⁸⁸⁶

mvp-comment-697-1 δόμων ⁸⁸⁷ Κάδμου ⁸⁸⁸ πάροικοι ⁸⁸⁹ δόμων ⁸⁹⁰

mvp-comment-698-1 οὐκ ἔστι ⁸⁹¹ στάντα ⁸⁹² στάντα ⁸⁹³

mvp-comment-698-2 βίον ⁸⁹⁴ ὁποίᾳ ⁸⁹⁵

mvp-comment-699-1 μάντις … τῶν καθεστώτων ⁸⁹⁶ ἐφεστώτων ⁸⁹⁷

mvp-comment-700-1 ὡς ἐμοί ⁸⁹⁸

mvp-comment-701-1 σώσας … ἐχθρῶν ⁸⁹⁹ δέ ⁹⁰⁰ τε ⁹⁰¹ λαβών τε ⁹⁰² ηὔθυνε ⁹⁰³ παντελῆ ⁹⁰⁴

mvp-comment-701-2 ηὔθυνε ⁹⁰⁵

mvp-comment-701-3 εὐγενεῖ ⁹⁰⁶

mvp-comment-702-1 ἀφεῖται πάντα ⁹⁰⁷

mvp-comment-703-1 προδῶσιν ⁹⁰⁸ προδῶσιν ⁹⁰⁹ ἀνδρὸς ⁹¹⁰ προδῶσιν ⁹¹¹ ἄνδρες ⁹¹² ἀνδρός ⁹¹³ τὰς γὰρ ἡδονάς ⁹¹⁴

mvp-comment-703-2 οὐ τίθημι ⁹¹⁵

mvp-comment-704-1 For

ζῆν, ζών

has been proposed: but the Epic and Ionic

ζώς

does not occur in

mvp-comment-704-2 τοῦτον ⁹¹⁶

mvp-comment-704-3 ἔμψ. νεκρόν ⁹¹⁷

mvp-comment-705-1 πλούτει … ζῆ ⁹¹⁸

mvp-comment-705-2 εἰ βούλει ⁹¹⁹ ζῆ ⁹²⁰ σχῆμα ⁹²¹

mvp-comment-706-1 τὸ χαίρειν ⁹²²

mvp-comment-706-2 καπνοῦ σκιᾶς ⁹²³

mvp-comment-707-1 πριαίμην ἀνδρί ⁹²⁴

mvp-comment-707-2 πρὸς τὴν ἡδ. ⁹²⁵

mvp-comment-708-1 βασιλέων ⁹²⁶ αἴτιοι θανεῖν ⁹²⁷

mvp-comment-709-1 φονεύει ⁹²⁸ ὁ κείμενος ⁹²⁹

mvp-comment-710-1 αὐτόχειρ ⁹³⁰

mvp-comment-711-1 φόνου ⁹³¹

mvp-comment-711-2 ὀρθὸν ἤνυσας ⁹³²

mvp-comment-712-1 ὡς ⁹³³ πάρεστι βουλ. τὰ ἄλλα ⁹³⁴ βουλεύειν ⁹³⁵ τὰ ἄλλα ⁹³⁶

mvp-comment-712-2 ὧδ’ ἐχόντων ⁹³⁷

mvp-comment-713-1 καὶ μήν ⁹³⁸

mvp-comment-713-2 Εὐρυδίκην ⁹³⁹

mvp-comment-714-1 κλύουσα παιδός ⁹⁴⁰

mvp-comment-715-1 ὦ πάντες ἀστοί ⁹⁴¹

mvp-comment-716-1 Παλλάδος προσήγορος εὐγμάτων ⁹⁴²

mvp-comment-717-1 τυγχάνω τε … καὶ … βάλλει ⁹⁴³

mvp-comment-717-2 the sound ( cp. 1172 f. n.). For the temporal parataxis with τε … καί ⁹⁴⁴

mvp-comment-717-3 κλῇθρα χαλῶσα πύλης ἀνασπαστοῦ ⁹⁴⁵

mvp-comment-717-4 κλῇθρα ⁹⁴⁶

mvp-comment-717-5 ἀνασπαστοῦ ⁹⁴⁷

mvp-comment-717-6 φθόγγος ⁹⁴⁸

mvp-comment-717-7 οἰκείου ⁹⁴⁹

mvp-comment-718-1 δῑ ὤτων ⁹⁵⁰

mvp-comment-718-2 πρὸς δμωαῖσι ⁹⁵¹

mvp-comment-718-3 ἀποπλήσσομαι ⁹⁵²

mvp-comment-719-1 καὶ παρὼν ἐρῶ, κοὐδὲν παρήσω ⁹⁵³ παρὠν ⁹⁵⁴

mvp-comment-720-1 ὧν ⁹⁵⁵

mvp-comment-720-2 ὧν ⁹⁵⁶ ψεῦσται ⁹⁵⁷ φανούμεθ’ ⁹⁵⁸

mvp-comment-720-3 ὀρθόν ⁹⁵⁹

mvp-comment-721-1 ποδαγός ⁹⁶⁰ ἑσπόμην ⁹⁶¹

mvp-comment-722-1 πεδίον … ἄκρον ⁹⁶²

mvp-comment-722-2 νηλεές ⁹⁶³

mvp-comment-723-1 κυνοσπάρακτον ⁹⁶⁴

mvp-comment-724-1 τὸν μέν ⁹⁶⁵

mvp-comment-724-2 ἐνοδίαν θεόν ⁹⁶⁶

mvp-comment-724-3 θεόν ⁹⁶⁷

mvp-comment-724-4 εὐμενεῖς ⁹⁶⁸

mvp-comment-724-5 κατασχεθεῖν ⁹⁶⁹

mvp-comment-725-1 λούσαντες ἁγν. λουτρόν ⁹⁷⁰

mvp-comment-725-2 ἐν ⁹⁷¹ θαλλοῖς ⁹⁷²

mvp-comment-725-3 )λέλειπτο ⁹⁷³

mvp-comment-725-4 συγκατῄθομεν ⁹⁷⁴ εἰσεβαίνομεν ⁹⁷⁵

mvp-comment-726-1 τύμβον ⁹⁷⁶

mvp-comment-726-2 ὀρθόκρανον ⁹⁷⁷

mvp-comment-726-3 οἰκείας ⁹⁷⁸

mvp-comment-727-1 αὖθις ⁹⁷⁹

mvp-comment-727-2 For

αὖθις

as=‘afterwards,’ cp. Ai. 1283 , Tr. 270 .

mvp-comment-727-3 λιθόστρωτον ⁹⁸⁰

mvp-comment-727-4 κόρης νυμφεῖον‐Ἅιδου ⁹⁸¹

mvp-comment-728-1 κωκυμάτων ⁹⁸²

mvp-comment-729-1 ἀκτέριστον ἀμφὶ παστάδα ⁹⁸³

mvp-comment-730-1 ἀθλίας … ἄσημα βοῆς ⁹⁸⁴

mvp-comment-730-2 περιβαίνει ⁹⁸⁵

mvp-comment-731-1 μᾶλλον ἆσσον ⁹⁸⁶

mvp-comment-731-2 ἔπος ⁹⁸⁷ δυσθρήνητον ⁹⁸⁸

mvp-comment-731-3 ὦ τάλας ⁹⁸⁹

mvp-comment-732-1 τῶν παρελθουσῶν ⁹⁹⁰

mvp-comment-732-2 σαίνει ⁹⁹¹

mvp-comment-733-1 ὠκεῖς ⁹⁹²

mvp-comment-734-1 ἁρμὸν χώματος λιθοσπ. ⁹⁹³

mvp-comment-734-2 ἁρμόν ⁹⁹⁴ δύντες ⁹⁹⁵

mvp-comment-735-1 στόμιον ⁹⁹⁶

mvp-comment-735-2 The kind of tomb which the poet here imagines is perhaps best represented, in Greece, by the rock-tombs of Nauplia, and of Spata in Attica. These consist of chambers worked horizontally into the rock, and approached by a passage or

δρόμος

, answering to that which Creon's men have to traverse before they reach the

στόμιον

of the tomb. The general type seems to have been determined by that of the more elaborate domed tombs, such as the so-called ‘Treasury of Atreus’ at Mycenae, which, like these ruder copies, were entered by a

δρόμος

. Indeed, the Nauplia tombs indicate a rough attempt to reproduce the dome (

θόλος

). [See Helbig, Das Homer. Epos aus den Denkm. erläutert, p. 53, with the sources quoted there in nn. 5, 6.]

mvp-comment-735-3 The phrase

λοίσθιον τύμβευμα

(1220) might suggest a recess within the principal chamber, like that in the ‘Treasury of Atreus’; but it is simpler to take it as merely ‘the furthest part of the tomb.’ We may observe that the words

κατῶρυξ

(774) and

κατασκαφής

(891) are sufficiently explained if we suppose that the

δρόμος

leading to the chamber sloped downwards from the entrance.

mvp-comment-736-1 θεοῖσι ⁹⁹⁷

mvp-comment-736-2 κλέπτομαι ⁹⁹⁸

mvp-comment-737-1 The simple correction, κελευσμάτων ⁹⁹⁹

mvp-comment-737-2 With κελεύσμασιν ¹⁰⁰⁰

mvp-comment-737-3 (2) The alternative is to amend ἐξ ἀθύμου ¹⁰⁰¹ ὀξυθύμου ¹⁰⁰²

mvp-comment-737-4 Dindorf writes κελεύμασιν ¹⁰⁰³

mvp-comment-738-1 αὐχένος ¹⁰⁰⁴

mvp-comment-739-1 μιτώδει ¹⁰⁰⁵

mvp-comment-740-1 Haemon has thrown his arms around her waist ( ἀμφὶ μέσσῃ περιπετῆ ¹⁰⁰⁶ προσκείμενον ¹⁰⁰⁷

mvp-comment-740-2 μέσσῃ ¹⁰⁰⁸

mvp-comment-740-3 περιπετῆ ¹⁰⁰⁹

mvp-comment-741-1 εὐνῆς … τῆς κάτω ¹⁰¹⁰

mvp-comment-741-2 πατρὸς ἔργα ¹⁰¹¹

mvp-comment-741-3 λέχος ¹⁰¹²

mvp-comment-742-1 σφε ¹⁰¹³

mvp-comment-742-2 στυγνόν ¹⁰¹⁴

mvp-comment-743-1 οἷον ἔργον ¹⁰¹⁵ τίνα νοῦν ἔσχες ¹⁰¹⁶

mvp-comment-743-2 ἐν τῷ συμφορᾶς ¹⁰¹⁷

mvp-comment-743-3 διεφθάρης ¹⁰¹⁸

mvp-comment-744-1 ἱκέσιος ¹⁰¹⁹

mvp-comment-744-2 ὄσσοισι ¹⁰²⁰

mvp-comment-744-3 παπτήνας ¹⁰²¹

mvp-comment-745-1 πτύσας προσώπῳ ¹⁰²²

mvp-comment-746-1 διπλοῦς κνώδοντας ξίφους ¹⁰²³ διπλοῦς κνώδοντας ¹⁰²⁴

mvp-comment-746-2 ἐκ δ’ ὁρμ. ¹⁰²⁵

mvp-comment-746-3 φυγαῖσιν ¹⁰²⁶

mvp-comment-746-4 Haemon, in his madness, meant to kill his father. He had harboured no such purpose before ( see on 752

); and his frantic impulse is instantly followed by violent remorse. Arist. ( Arist. Poet. 14 ) observes that it is not conducive to a properly tragic effect (

οὐ τραγικόν, ἀπαθές

) if a person contemplates a dreadful act, and then desists from it, in the light of sober thought or fuller knowledge:

διόπερ οὐδεὶς ποιεῖ ὁμοίως εἰ μὴ ὀλιγάκις

(such incidents in Tragedy are rare),

οἷον ἐν Ἀντιγόνῃ Κρέοντα ὁ Αἵμων

. It need not be assumed that Arist. meant to censure Sophocles; it is more natural to suppose that he cited the exception as one justified by the circumstances. But it should further be noticed that Aristotle was not accurate in taking this incident as the exception which illustrated his rule. For Haemon did not abandon his dreadful purpose; he was simply foiled by his father's flight. And then, in swift remorse, he actually did

τῶν ἀνηκέστων τι

mvp-comment-747-1 ὥσπερ εἶχ’ ¹⁰²⁷ ἐπενταθείς ¹⁰²⁸

mvp-comment-747-2 πλευραῖς ¹⁰²⁹

mvp-comment-747-3 μέσσον ¹⁰³⁰

mvp-comment-747-4 ἔγχος ¹⁰³¹

mvp-comment-747-5 ἐς δ’ ὑγρὸν ἀγκῶν’ ¹⁰³²

mvp-comment-748-1 φυσιῶν ¹⁰³³

mvp-comment-748-2 ῥοὴν ¹⁰³⁴

mvp-comment-749-1 τέλη ¹⁰³⁵

mvp-comment-749-2 ἔν γ’ Ἅιδου ¹⁰³⁶ ἔν γ ¹⁰³⁷ γε ¹⁰³⁸ ἔν γε ¹⁰³⁹

mvp-comment-750-1 δείξας … τὴν ἀβουλίαν ¹⁰⁴⁰

mvp-comment-751-1 πρόσκειται ¹⁰⁴¹

mvp-comment-752-1 τί τοῦτ’ ἂν εἰκάς. ¹⁰⁴²

mvp-comment-752-2 ἐσθλὸν ἢ κακόν ¹⁰⁴³

Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus

635-765. mvp-comment-375-1 Haemon professes obedience to his father, but with the implied condition that his father commands what is right. Not heeding this, Creon welcomes his general profession, and enlarges on the blessings that follow from obedience in public and private. He urges Haemon to renounce Antigone. Haemon replies by repeating the praise of her which he has heard in the city (Ar. Rhet. 3. 17, ἕτερον χρὴ λέγοντα ποιεῖν.. ὡς Σοφοκλῆς τὸν Αἴμονα ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἀντιγόνης πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, ὡς λεγόντων ἑτέρων), and begs his father not to be deaf to all opinions but his own. Creon is impatient at this, and, after an altercation, in which both speakers become exasperated, Creon orders Antigone to be brought for immediate execution, and Haemon breaks away in sullen anger. This episode interposes a necessary pause between the condemnation of Antigone and its results, i. e, between the two chief crises of the action, and assists the main impression by bringing the light of natural affection and common opinion to bear on the situation.

657. mvp-comment-387-1 ψευδή .. πόλει I certainly will not break my word to the state.

658. mvp-comment-388-1 ἀλλὰ κτενῶ The abruptness of the pause helps the incisiveness of Creon's language.

659-660. mvp-comment-389-1 εἰ γὰρ .. γένους For if I fail to bring up orderly those born akin to me, most surely I shall fail with those remote. Creon turns Antigone's nearness of kindred to him into a reason for severity. If he cannot control his kinswoman, how much less can he control the state! Authority begins at home.

659. mvp-comment-390-1 For ἐγγενή φύσει, see Essay on Language § 40. p. 69, and p. 82, B.

661. mvp-comment-391-1 τοῖς .. οἰκείοισιν Neuter. Creon characteristically relies on commonplace maxims.

663. mvp-comment-392-1 The transgressor who either violates the laws. The alternative is thought of after the sentence is begun. νόμους is in two constructions, (1) with ὑπερβάς, (2) with βιάζεται.

664. mvp-comment-393-1 τοὐπιτάσσειν Cp. supr. 485, and note.

664. mvp-comment-393-2 τοῖς κρατύνουσιν νοεῖ The reading of L here is rather more uncommon than the alternative reading, which may notwithstanding be right.

666. mvp-comment-394-1 For the optative, in a perfectly general supposition, see Essay on Language §36. p. 61.

666. mvp-comment-394-2 κλύειν Το obey.

667. mvp-comment-395-1 τἀναντία τὰ μεγαλὰ καὶ ἄδικα.

668-671. mvp-comment-396-1 And of this man (the man who obeys the ruler) I would have no fear but that he would rule nobly, and be a good and willing subject, and if posted near me in the storm of battle, would stand firmly as a staunch and trusty comrade. For the vague reference of the pronoun, see Essay on Language § 22. p. 34. And for δορός .. χειμῶνι, ib.

673. mvp-comment-397-1 αὕτη .. τίθησιν The anacoluthon (for which see Essay on Language p. 65) has been avoided in two ways, (1) by omission of τε, (2) by reading ἠδ' for ἥδ'. This Homericism is defended by comparing ὥσει τε in l. 653. There is slight MS. authority for both these changes (see v. rr.). But strong reasons are required for the introduction of a particle not used elsewhere by Sophocles, and after the regularly balanced τε.. ἠδέ, the asyndeton in the next line would be too abrupt. If any change were necessary, the omission of τ' would be preferable, but the lines are more expressive as they are.

674. mvp-comment-398-1 σὺν μάχῃ δορός Bothe conjectured συμμάχου δορός, The rout of the leagued war. But the reading of the MS. has a more vivid meaning. This, aiding the conflict of the spear, breaks down (the vanquished) into shapeless rout: i. e. Disorder helps with battle to make utter rout. For μάχῃ δορός, see Essay on Language p. 75, and for the accusative τροπάς, ib. § 17. p. 25, etc.

675. mvp-comment-399-1 τῶν δ᾽ ὀρθουμένων Of those who are not routed, but are successful. Opposed to οἱ ἡσσώμενοι implied in τροπάς. Cp. El. 742, ὠρθοῦθ' ὁ τλήμων ὀρθὸς ἐξ ὀρθῶν δίφρων.

677. mvp-comment-400-1 οὕτως.. κοσμουμένοις 'Thus one ought to support one's own decrees.' Thus, viz. as I am doing. For this use of the passive participle, see Essay on Language § 17. p. 25, с. Some would explain the words as masculine, One must defend the cause of the orderly subject. Cp. Thuc. 8. 24, ἐκοσμοῦντο ἐχυρώτερον. But such an immediate application of the γνώμη is less in character than the arbitrary assertion of authority. Cp. Hdt. 1. 100, τὰ δὲ δὴ ἄλλα ἐκεκοσμέατό οἱ.

681. mvp-comment-401-1 The form κεκλίμεθα (supposed from κλίνω) was supported by the authority of Thomas Magister.

683. mvp-comment-402-1 θεοὶ.. ὑπέρτατον Wisdom, whose value is above all possessions in the world, is the Gods gift.' Haemon begins by echoing his father's thought, supr. 648, that sound sense is to be prized most highly, but gently hints that Heaven only knows on which side the true wisdom lies. The reading χρημάτων requires ὑπέρτερον, as in L2.

686. mvp-comment-403-1 μήτ᾽ ἐπισταίμην λέγειν i. e. And may I never bring myself to say it. Cp. Trach. 543. 4, θυμοῦσθαι μὲν οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι | νοσοῦντι κείνῳ πολλά.

687. mvp-comment-404-1 χἀτέρῳ Schol. δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως καλῶς μεταβουλεύσασθαι. Hence Erfurdt and others conjectured χἀτέρως, χατέρα, χἄτερον. Hermann, retaining χἀτέρῳ, interprets, Another also may have wisdom as well as you: i.e. καλῶς ἔχον, sc. τὸ τῶν φρενῶν. But the context rather suggests καλῶς ἔχον, sc. τὸ λέγειν σὲ μὴ ὀρθῶς λέγειν. 'That you are wrong in what you now say I have no power, and may I never have the skill, to affirm. But it may be that from another's mouth such an assertion were not ungracious.' καί in this case belongs to the whole sentence. See Essay on Language § 25. p. 43. 4.

688. mvp-comment-405-1 σοῦ δ᾽ οὖν πέφυκα is decidedly better than σὺ δ᾽ οὐ πέφυκας, which seems to have been suggested by τὸ γὰρ σὸν ὄμμα δεινόν, κ.τ.λ., in what follows. The true connection is, It is not for me to say that you are wrong, though another might do so. However, as your son, it naturally belongs to me to consider in your interest what men do, or say, or find fault with. For the common citizen does not speak his mind in your presence, but I may freely hear. Haemon winds about his father with all this circumstance before pleading for Antigone under shelter of the common opinion, which he professes to quote in the interest of Creon. The tact shown in this is noticed by Aristotle (Rhet. 3. 17) and by the Scholiast. The reading of A, V pr., V³, σοὶ δ' οὖν πέφυκα, deserves consideration.

690-691. mvp-comment-406-1 τὸ γὰρ .. κλύων For your eye overawes the subject in conversation which will displease you to hear. λόγοις τοιούτοις is dative of the occasion or reason, assisted by the attraction of οἷς. Essay on Language § 14. p. 20.

690-691. mvp-comment-406-2 τὸ γὰρ σόν The order puts an emphasis on σόν, as in O. Τ. 671, τὸ γὰρ σόν, οὐ τὸ τοῦδ᾽ ἐποικτείρω στόμα.

692. mvp-comment-407-1 ἐμοὶ δ᾽.. τάδε But I may hear all this under shadow (out of the light of your eye). The words ὑπὸ σκότου might equally have been connected with the following line. I hear in secret what is spoken in secret.

694. mvp-comment-408-1 ἀναξιωτάτη Sc. τοιαῦτα παθεῖν.

695. mvp-comment-409-1 ἀπ᾿ ἔργων See Essay on Language § 19. p. 28.

697. mvp-comment-410-1 πεπτῶτ᾽ ἄθαπτον i. e. πεπτώτα καὶ ἄθαπτον ὄντα.

697. mvp-comment-410-2 μήθ'.. μήθ' μή, not oὔ, because ἥτις, κ.τ.λ. = εἰ αὕτη, κ.τ.λ.

700. mvp-comment-411-1 ἐρεμνή Dark, i.e. Fraught with hidden danger. (Cp. ὑπὸ σκότου, supra). The word is used with something of the association of awe and dread attaching to night and darkness. Cp. Hom. Il. 1. 47. ὁ δ᾽ ἤτε νυκτὶ ἐοικώς.

701. mvp-comment-412-1 σοῦ πράσσοντος εὐτυχῶς Cp. supra 638, σοῦ καλῶς ἡγουμένου.

703. mvp-comment-413-1 πατρὸς θάλλοντος εὐκλείας The good renown of a prosperous sire. Haemon thus gently hints his fear of the effect of the sentence on Creon's reputation in the city.

704. mvp-comment-414-1 ἄγαλμα A cause of glorying or delight. Cp. infra 1115, Καδμείας νύμφας ἄγαλμα.

704. mvp-comment-414-2 ἢ τί πρὸς παίδων πατρί ; Or what greater ornament (than their own good fame) can children confer upon their father?

705-706. mvp-comment-415-1 Do not, I beseech you, wear one unchanging temper in your breast, and hold that nothing else is right but as you say. τοῦτο is added because of the imperfect correlation of the clauses. See Essay on Language p. 75.

707-709. mvp-comment-416-1 For ὅστις .. οὗτοι, ib. § 20. p. 31.

707-709. mvp-comment-416-2 For the formal distinction of φρονεῖν, γλῶσσαν, ψυχήν, cp. supra 176, ψυχήν τε καὶ φρόνημα καὶ γνώμην, and see Essay on Language pp. 92, 3.

710. mvp-comment-417-1 ἄνδρα Ε. on L. § 22. p. 37.

710. mvp-comment-417-2 κεἴ τις ᾖ Ε. on L. § 27. p. 44.

710. mvp-comment-417-3 τὸ μανθάνειν Essay on Language § 21. p. 34-38.

711. mvp-comment-418-1 καὶ τὸ μὴ τείνειν ἄγαν And not to hold too hard. This absolute use of τείνειν is generalized from the examples given below.

713-714. mvp-comment-419-1 Note the antithesis of κλῶνας .. αὐτόπρεμνα. The one save even their branches, the others are destroyed root and branch. For the image, cp. Webster's Appius and Virginia, p. 203. (iii. 3), The bending willow, yielding to each wind, | Shall keep his footing firm, when the proud oak, | Braving the storm, presuming on his root, | Shall have his body rent from head to foot.

715. mvp-comment-420-1 ναὸς .. ἐγκρατῆ πόδα The sheet which has power over the vessel. This is a more poetical and rhythmical expression than the other reading, ναὸς εἴ τις ἐγκρατής, πόδα | τείνας, ὑπείκει μηδέν.

716-717. mvp-comment-421-1 ὑπτίοις.. ναυτίλλεται Upsetting, makes the rest of his voyage with benches overturned. Join κάτω στρέψας. τὸ λοιπόν as in ll. 310, foll., where there is a similar contradictory expression. The omission of the accusative after στρέψας is natural in speaking of so familiar an occurrence as the over-setting of a boat. Essay on Language pp. 73, 98. τὸ πλοῖον, which Hermann reads for τὸ λοιπόν, is hardly a correct synonym for ναῦν or σκάφος.

718. mvp-comment-422-1 ἀλλ᾽.. δίδου Nay, yield. Be not wholly irremovable in anger. Lit. Afford also a removal from anger. This seems to be the best arrangement of this difficult line; i. e. εἰ θυμὸν ἔχεις, ἀλλὰ πεισθῆτι καὶ μεθίστασθαι τοῦ θυμοῦ. The asyndeton is expressive (Essay on Language § 34. P. 58). The reading of LA, ἀλλ᾽ εἶκε θυμῷ, is perhaps due to a false reminiscence of Il. 9.598, εἴξας ᾧ θυμῷ. Seyffert reads θυμῷ .. διδούς.

719-720. mvp-comment-423-1 γνώμη .. πρόσεστι For if any judgment proceed from me (ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ) though younger in years. Cp. Τr. 52, 3, εἰ δίκαιον τοὺς ἐλευθέρους φρενοῦν | γνώμαισι δούλοις; ib. 61, κἀξ ἀγεννήτων ἄρα | μύθοι καλῶς πίπτουσιν.

720-722. mvp-comment-424-1 The real stress is on the last line. The paratactic form of sentence is retained, the sense being, However excellent a thing perfect knowledge is, yet, since it is rare, it is well to take good advice.

720-722. mvp-comment-424-2 πρεσβεύειν] The active of this verb is rare in the metaphorical sense.

720-722. mvp-comment-424-3 πάντ᾽ ἐπιστήμης Of knowledge in all things. Essay on Language § 17. p. 24, b.

720-722. mvp-comment-424-4 εἰ δ᾽ οὖν Sc. μή, which is to be assumed from the next clause, where μή has a strong emphasis. For the sentiment, Hermann compares Hesiod, Op. 293, ἐσθλὸς δ᾽ αὖ κἀκεῖνος, ὃς εὖ εἰπόντι πίθηται.

725. mvp-comment-425-1 διπλᾶ is better than διπλῇ, because dwelling merely on the two speeches, and not on their divergence from each other.

726-727. mvp-comment-426-1 And at our age shall we forsooth be schooled by one so juvenile? For the inverted order, see Essay on Language § 26. p. 44: § 41. p. 77.

727. mvp-comment-427-1 For φύσιν, see Essay on Language p. 96.

728. mvp-comment-428-1 μηδὲν τὸ μὴ δίκαιον The combination of the indefinite μηδέν with the definite article is curious, and suggests the idea that μηδέν is adverbial.. But the Scholiast is probably right in explaining the words as equivalent to μηδὲν διδάσκου ὁ μὴ δίκαιόν ἐστί σοι μανθάνειν. Cp. supra 360, οὐδὲν .. τὸ μέλλον. Essay on Language § 22. p. 36. And for emphatic el, ib. § 28. p. 47, supr. 551.

729. mvp-comment-429-1 You ought not to regard differences of time, but rather to face the actual requirements of the case.' τἄργα are not the merits of Haemon, but the truth of his plea.

730. mvp-comment-430-1 What? Is it a "requirement" to fall down and worship rebels? Creon, as usual, represents mercy as submission. ἔργον ἐστί seems to have the same meaning as in σὸν ἔργον, and the like phrases; i.e. ἔργον almost = Duty.

731. mvp-comment-431-1 Nay, I would not bid thee reverence the wicked.

732. mvp-comment-432-1 'Why, is not she possessed by this disease?" viz. τῇ κακίᾳ.

733. mvp-comment-433-1 Not so declare her fellow-citizens in this town of Thebes.

736. mvp-comment-434-1 Is it right, I say, for another than me to rule this land? The reading of L and most MSS, ἄλλῳ.. μοί, (cp. Eur. Ion 1317) is supported by Thom. M. s. v. χρή, and is certainly the durior lectio. But he may have reasoned from a faulty text. See note on l. 681. γε is expressive. For M4 see list of MSS. in the Preface to this edition.

737. mvp-comment-435-1 Cp. Aesch. Suppl. 370, σύ τοι πόλις, σὺ τὸ δήμιον; Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 1. 2,

When could they say, till now, that talked of Rome, | That her wide walls encompassed but one man? | Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough, | When there is in it but one only man.

The genitive ἀνδρὸς .. ἑνός is ambiguous between possessive genitive and genitive of content. A city belonging to one man, and A city composed of one man.

738. mvp-comment-436-1 Is not the city counted a possession of the ruler? Essay on Language § 9. p. 12, b.

739. mvp-comment-437-1 A splendid monarch would you make to rule a desert land.

742. mvp-comment-438-1 This line is sometimes printed with a note of interrogation, as if the words διὰ δίκης ἰὼν πατρί were epexegetic of σοῦ.. προκήδομαι. ('Villain, when you are wrangling with your father?') But the connection of the lines in this στιχομυθία is not very close, and the more obvious meaning (Villain, to wrangle with your father!') is more probable.

743-745. mvp-comment-439-1 οὐ γὰρ δίκαια .. οὐ γὰρ σέβεις] Here, as in 730, ἔργον γάρ ἐστι, there is the same tendency to play on the word (κομψεύειν) that was observed in the speeches of the Φύλαξ.

745. mvp-comment-440-1 οὐ.. σέβεις It is not reverence when you trample on the honours of the Gods. Essay on Language § 53. p. 98, с.

751. mvp-comment-441-1 τινά i. e. σέ. Essay on Language § 22. p. 34, 4. Interpreters have avoided taking these words in their obvious meaning as implying a threat, which Haemon all but carries into execution afterwards in ll. 1233-1234. It is true, however, that this intention is less distinctly present to his mind than the conviction that vengeance will come to Creon from the gods and from popular feeling.

752. mvp-comment-442-1 κἀπαπειλών For the participle, see Essay on Language § 36. p. 63, €, b.

753. mvp-comment-443-1 τίς Almost = πῶς. Cp. О. С. 775, τίς αὕτη τέρψις;

756. mvp-comment-444-1 'Woman's minion that you are, mince not your words with me.' The subdued tone of Haemon (εἰ μὴ πατὴρ ἦσθ', εἶπον ἄν) only adds fuel to the wrath of Creon.

756. mvp-comment-444-2 For the contempt expressed in δούλευμα and μῖσος (760), see Essay on Language pp. 84, 85.

758. mvp-comment-445-1 άληθες See on O. T. 350.

759. mvp-comment-446-1 ἐπὶ ψόγοισι δεννάσεις Reproach and revile me. For the prepositional phrase, cp. El. 108, ἐπὶ κωκυτῷ, and see Essay on Language § 18. p. 27.

765. mvp-comment-447-1 So that you may exhibit your madness to those of your friends who can brook it. θέλουσι, sc. σοὶ μαινομένῳ ξυνεῖναι. There is a strong emphasis on this participle.

767. mvp-comment-448-1 And at his age the spirit, when chafed, is dangerous. Cp. O. C. 751, τηλικοῦτος, οὐ γάμων | ἔμπειρος ..: and for voûs, see Essay on Language p. 93.

768. mvp-comment-449-1 Cp. O. T. 1075, where Oedipus, with similar unconsciousness, says of Jocasta, who has just rushed out, ὁποῖα χρήζει ῥηγνύτω.

770. mvp-comment-450-1 The order of words shows that the chief emphasis is on ἄμφω : Essay on Language § 41. p. 77. Hence καί is to be taken with the whole sentence: ib. § 25. P. 43, 4. Do you really intend to put them both to death?

773. mvp-comment-451-1 ἔρημος.. στίβος Where track of human footstep there is none. The privative ἔρημος is used for the negative by a redundancy like those adduced in Essay on Language § 40. p. 75; and ἔρημος = ἄστειπτος (Phil. 2), so that the expression = Where no track of mortals has been trodden.

775. mvp-comment-452-1 i. e. τοσοῦτον μόνον, ὅσον ἄγος εἶναι. Essay on Language § 39. p. 74. For ἄγος = expiation, see Hesych., ἄγος· ἅγνισμα θυσίας, Σοφοκλῆς Φαίδρα.

776. mvp-comment-453-1 i. e. Lest the whole city might suffer pollution.

780. mvp-comment-454-1 περισσός Bootless. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 383, μόχθον περισσόν. It is characteristic of the time (cp. Thucydides) that the political energy of Creon is combined with scepticism.

781-800. mvp-comment-455-1 Haemon's disobedience to his father, against his own interest, is due to the might of love.

781-800. mvp-comment-455-2 'Never-vanquished love, that layest riches waste, keeping nightly watch in the fair, soft, youthful cheek: love that roamest over seas and findest out the wildest nook! No god, nor any mortal man, escapes thy maddening power. By love the upright mind is drawn to wrong unto its hurt. By love this present strife is kindled between kinsmen. And clearly triumphant is the influence of desire that cometh from the looks of the fair bride - desire that divides empire with the majestic law: so resistlessly doth goddess Aphrodite mock mankind.

781-800. mvp-comment-455-3 This little ode consists of a strophe and antistrophe, of which the scansion is as follows:- CCLトしてし CICCICII CCCICII IICIICCIト(CLトー 5-0-0-ICCICI-

781-800. mvp-comment-455-4 A glyconic quatrain is followed by two choriambic lines, and the strophe ends with a return to the glyconic rhythm. L. 7 admits of being otherwise divided, viz.: CCLCー.

781. mvp-comment-456-1 ἀνίκατε μάχαν Cp. the similar personification of θυμός by Heraclitus, χαλεπὸν θυμῷ μάχεσθαι, ψυχῆς γὰρ ὠνέεται.

782. mvp-comment-457-1 ὃς ἐν κτήμασι πίπτεις (i. e.

782. mvp-comment-457-2 ἐμπίπτεις κτήμασι.) These words have been variously interpreted and emended. They probably mean, Who fallest upon wealth, i. e. art the destroyer of possessions, ruining worldly fortunes in various ways, as the love of Helen wasted Troy, etc. Cp. Eur. Hipp. 538, foll., Ἔρωτα δὲ τὸν τύραννον ἀνδρῶν |.. πέρθοντα καὶ διὰ πάσας | ἰόντα συμφορὰς | θνατοῖς, ὅταν ἔλθῃ. So, in this instance, Haemon is losing all for love. Others interpret, Desire who makest wealth thy object (Schol. rec.), Love, who by attacking enslavest, or Who makest victims of the wealthy.

783-784. mvp-comment-458-1 ὃς .. ἐννυχεύεις Cp. Milton, L'Allegro, 29, 30, 'Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, | And love to live in dimple sleek.' Love is still figured as an enemy, who keeps nightly watch where he is ready to spring forth armed on the unwary. Pind. Nem. 8. 2, ὥρα .. παρθενηΐοις .. ἐφίζοισι γλεφάροις.

785. mvp-comment-459-1 The poet is thinking of legendary examples, such as Paris, Leander, Anchises, etc.

786. mvp-comment-460-1 σε .. φύξιμος i.e. δύναταί σε φεύγειν. Cp. Hom. h. Ven. 34. 5, τῶν δ' ἄλλων οὐ πέρ τι πεφυγμένον ἔστ᾽ Ἀφροδίτην, | οὔτε θεῶν μακάρων, οὔτε θνητῶν ἀνθρώπων. But see on 796 ff.

790. mvp-comment-461-1 ἁμερίων ἐπ᾿ ἀνθρώπων The insertion of the preposition, although omitted with θεῶν, is no objection to this reading. See Essay on Language § 19. p. 27: and for ἐπί, with the genitive, meaning In the case of, So far as extends to, cp. Plato, Rep. 3. 406 C, 8.. ἐπὶ .. τῶν δημιουργῶν αἰσθανόμεθα, alib. The force of the preposition and case here is nearer to the original locative sense, = Extending over, 'Quantum hominum genus propagatum extenditur. (Ellendt.)

790. mvp-comment-461-2 ὁ ἔχων Sc. τὸ νόσημα. Wecklein compares ἔχει, he is wounded, with reference to the arrow of love. But this is fanciful.

791-792. mvp-comment-462-1 ἀδίκους.. παρασπᾷς i. e. εἰς ἀδικίαν παρασπᾷς. Drawest awry to wrong. For this proleptic use of the adjective, see Essay on Language § 23. P. 39; § 38. p. 71.

792. mvp-comment-463-1 ἐπὶ λώβᾳ ‘Το their hurt or disgrace.'

794. mvp-comment-464-1 ξύναιμον is an emphatic epithet added by an afterthought (Essay on Language § 23. p. 38) and by hypallage made to agree with the principal word, although more properly belonging to ἀνδρῶν. (Ibid. § 42. p. 80).

795. mvp-comment-465-1 νικᾷ δ᾽ ἐναργής i. e. ἐναργής ἐστι νικῶσα.

795. mvp-comment-465-2 βλεφάρων ἵμερος The modern poet speaks of love as engendered in the eyes, with gazing fed: the ancients rather spoke of an influence passing from the eye of the beloved (τὸ ἐρωτικὸν ὄμμα, Plat. Phaedr. 253 E) to the soul of the lover. Desire was viewed as an emanation from the object. Hence Plato's account of ἵμερος, Phaedr. 251 Β, C, δεξάμενος γὰρ τοῦ κάλλους τὴν ἀπορροὴν διὰ τῶν ὀμμάτων, ἐθερμάνθη ἢ ἡ τοῦ πτεροῦ φύσις ἄρδεται .. ὅταν μὲν οὖν βλέπουσα πρὸς τὸ κάλλος, ἐκεῖθεν μέρη ἐπιόντα καὶ ῥέοντα, ἃ δὴ διὰ τοῦτο ἵμερος καλεῖται, δεχομένη ἄρδηταί τε καὶ θερμαίνηται, λωφᾷ τε τῆς ὀδύνης καὶ γέγηθεν. This ancient conception, which had a root in language as well as in philosophy, is reflected even in Milton, L'Allegro, 1. 121, With store of ladies, whose bright eyes | Rain influence, though in this case probably with a further allusion to astrology.

796-799. mvp-comment-466-1 τῶν .. θεσμῶν In the counsels of princes holding an equal place with the majesty of law. This seems the best way of taking these words, which have been variously interpreted; e.g. Equal to the laws in power. 'Assessor in the authority of the laws, etc. There is an allusion to Haemon, who, though a prince, has been led to disobey his father, and to disregard the edict of the king. Cp. Hdt. 4. 165, ἐν βουλῇ παρίζουσα. The resolution of the arsis in πάρεδρος is extremely unusual; see Christ's Metrik, § 178; and Arndt suggested ξύνθρονος ἀρχαῖς, 'Assessor with the rule of majesticlaw. But qy. πάρεδρος *ἀρχαῖς, with "πέφευγεν οὐδείς in 786 ff.? (IILUCCICII).

800. mvp-comment-467-1 Wecklein finds here an oxymoron, turning on the opposition of μάχη and παιδιά. She is resistless, though sport is her only weapon. But this is doubtful.

804. mvp-comment-468-1 παγκοίταν.. θάλαμον The chamber where all must lie. The implied contrast between the fate of Antigone and her intended bridal recurs repeatedly throughout the latter part of the play. Supr. 575, Ἅιδης ὁ παύσων τούσδε τοὺς γάμους γάμ ἔφυ: infr. 891, νυμφεῖον : 1205, νυμφεῖον" Αιδου κοίλον.

806-802. mvp-comment-469-1 Antigone bewails her untimely death, and the chorus attempt to console her by pointing to the singularity of her end. She quotes the example of Niobe, who was encrusted with rock. But Niobe, rejoin the chorus, was a Divine Being. Then the maiden bursts into a cry against such vain comfort, and appeals to the forms of nature around Thebes to bear witness to the strangeness of her fate. The tone of the chorus changes to admonition. Thou hast offended against the majesty of law. Some curse, inherited from thy sire, must have led thee on. At last they have touched her, but it is only to aggravate her sorrow. Dire indeed had been the curse upon her parents; and now she is going to be with them, having never tasted any joy. Her brother's seeming success in marriage had been death to him and to her. The chorus reiterate that piety towards her brother should have yielded to authority. Selfwill has been thy ruin. Antigone: 'Friendless, unmourned, uncomforted, I leave the holy light of day. I die unmarried, and no one weeps for me.'

806-802. mvp-comment-469-2 The metres in this commos, ll. 806-833, chiefly logaoedic. and for the most part glyconic, are as follows:- α΄. 806-816, 823-833. 805 luclu IIC1CCI II1CCIC ―トしかしCICLL Anapaests of cho. 817-822, 834-837- β'. Second strophe and antistrophe. 51IC (トートートートー ICCICII にかくCIトトに CICLC- トトロー CCLCICIC 15010し! 이기 5- ἐπ. } Iambic. ひトしレトCCICI- 51110CIRKIICCI CICCートリート ―トしーしトー

806-802. mvp-comment-469-3 The effect produced by the epitrite rhythm in a' 9. β΄ 8, ἐπ. 5, and of the spondees in ß' 6, is especially noticeable.

808. mvp-comment-470-1 νέατον is an adjective. See on Ο. Τ. 155.

810. mvp-comment-471-1 κοὔποτ᾽ αὖθις Sc. ὄψομαι φέγγος ἀελίου.

810. mvp-comment-471-2 παγκοίτας is here active='That seals up all in rest.' Essay on Language pp. 98, 101. The metre suggests πάγκοιτος, cp. infr. 828, the corresponding line of the antistrophe.

812-813. mvp-comment-472-1 Ἀχέροντος ἀκτάν Hom. Od. 10. 509, ἔνθ᾽ ἀκτή τε λάχεια: ib. 513, ἔνθα μὲν εἰς Ἀχέροντα πυριφλεγέθων τε ῥέουσι, κ.τ.λ.

815. mvp-comment-473-1 *ἐπινύμφειος, which Dindorf has restored for ἐπινυμφίδιος, is more probable than ἐπὶ νυμφείοις, although this appears to be supported by the note of the Scholiast, λείπει θύραις ἢ κοίταις.

816. mvp-comment-474-1 Ἀχέροντι As other maidens have been wedded to rivers upon the earth.

820. mvp-comment-475-1 ξιφέων ἐπίχειρα The wages of the sword; i.e. Death given by the sword.

821. mvp-comment-476-1 αὐτόνομος The Scholiast explains this, ἰδίοις αὐτῆς νόμοις χρησαμένη. This is not free from ambiguity; but the true meaning is rather By an ordinance peculiar to your case (ἰδίᾳ τινὶ σεαυτῆς νόμῳ), than In your independence of law, or As being a law to yourself. The chorus nowhere speak with admiration of the independent attitude of Antigone, although they secretly sympathize with her pious motive. The word is used with consciousness of the derivation. The νόμος which is peculiar to Antigone is the privilege of a living death.

823. mvp-comment-477-1 λυγροτάταν In sorriest plight. Supplementary predicate.

824-825. mvp-comment-478-1 τὰν Φρυγίαν ξέναν Ταντάλου] Our friend far off in Phrygia, Tantalus' daughter.' Sipylus was placed by some in Phrygia, by others in Lydia. (Strabo, 12. p. 571.) Donaldson well remarks that févar is applied to Niobe, because she married Amphion, king of Thebes.

828. mvp-comment-479-1 ὄμβρῳ τακομέναν The conjectural emendation ὄμβροι has been very generally received. But the Highlands of Phrygia are not subject to perpetual showers. It is more natural to think of a snow-capped peak ever running down with moisture from the melting snow. On the general sense thus given to ὄμβρος, see Essay on Language § 52. p. 98. And as she flows down with moisture, the snow leaves her not, but still she wets the ridges of her neck beneath her tearful brow. The position of T' need cause no difficulty. Essay on Language pp. 65,6. It has been observed that the words ὀφρύς and δειράς are equally applicable to a mountain and to a human being. The subj. of τέγγει is not χιών but ὁ Νιόβα.

834. mvp-comment-480-1 It is doubtful whether θειογενής οι θεογεννής (= θεογέννητος) should be read for the unmetrical θεογενής.

836. mvp-comment-481-1 Of the two readings, φθιμένα and φθιμένῳ, both of which are given by L, and were known to the Scholiast, the feminine is more likely to be due to a corrector.

837. mvp-comment-482-1 The words ζῶσαν καὶ ἔπειτα θανοῦσαν have little point, and being omitted by Aldus (as in A), have never been restored except by Seyffert, who reads μέγα κἀκοῦσαι in l. 836. Those who omit 837, invert the preceding lines for the sake of the paroemiac, and read καίτοι φθιμένῳ τοῖς ἰσοθέοις | ἔγκληρα λαχεῖν μέγ᾽ ἀκοῦσαι. For ἀκοῦσαι, to have said of one, cp. Phil. 1074, ἀκούσομαι μὲν ὡς ἔφυν οἴκτου πλέως.

840. mvp-comment-483-1 *οὐλομέναν The conjecture of Martin. οἰχομέναν (Wunder) also deserves to be considered.

842. mvp-comment-484-1 She first turns from the elders to the city at large; and then, remembering how little sympathy she has had from man, she appeals, like Philoctetes (936 ff.), in a fresh outburst, to the familiar presences' of nature.

843. mvp-comment-485-1 πολυκτήμονες Thebes was proverbially a wealthy city.

844. mvp-comment-486-1 ἰώ Here she breaks into a louder cry.

845. mvp-comment-487-1 ἄλσος The open ground about the city. Cp. Εl. 5, τῆς οἰστροπλῆγος ἄλσος Ἰνάχου κόρης.

847. mvp-comment-488-1 οἷα, like ὀμοιοτάταν in 832, and λυγροτάταν in 823, is supplementary predicate, and equivalent to an adverb.

851. mvp-comment-489-1 Hermann (ed. 1839) was contented to read οὔτε βροτοῖσιν οὔτ᾽ ἐν νεκροῖσιν, but remarked that the long anacrusis of the second part of the line, οὔτ᾽ ἐν νεκροῖσιν = γάμων κυρήσας is very rare. Qu βροτοῖς, οὔτε τις ἐν νεκροίσιν? But the original line is probably lost.

852. mvp-comment-490-1 Advancing to the utmost verge of daring thou didst fall violently, my daughter, against the lofty throne of Right. ἐκτίνεισ Α.

854. mvp-comment-491-1 βάθρον is here the pedestal on which the image of justice is imagined to rest. Cp. Plat. Phaedr. 254 B, ἰδόντος δὲ τοῦ ἡνιόχου ἡ μνήμη πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κάλλους φύσιν ἠνέχθη. καὶ πάλιν εἶδεν αὐτὴν μετὰ σωφροσύνης ἐν ἁγνῷ βάθρῳ βεβῶσαν, Ο. Τ. 865, νόμοι. . ὑψίποδες.

855. mvp-comment-492-1 πολύ is allowed to pass by Hermann without comment, but has been more recently called in question, partly on the metrical ground that the line should end with a long syllable.

855. mvp-comment-492-2 πολύς is certainly no improvement. On the attempt to give special force to such a general word, see Essay on Language § 51. p. 97.

856. mvp-comment-493-1 But thou art paying some debt of expiation inherited from thy sire.' άθλος is here a task or burden imposed by some higher power, like the labours of Heracles, and is perhaps associated by Sophocles with the derivative ἄθλιος. The combined metaphorical use of ἆθλος and ἐκτίνειν is not too great a stretch of language for Sophocles. Essay on Language p. 105.

857. mvp-comment-494-1 Thou hast touched my saddest thought, the thrice-told tale of my father's sorrow.' Boeckh has cleared up the difficulties of this passage (1) by showing that οἶκτον harmonizes better with the context than οἶτον or οἶκον, and also gives a construction to πότμου: (2) by tracing the derivation of τριπόλιστον from πολίζω = πολέω, which occurs in the compound avναπολίζω : (3) by rightly explaining the dative Λαβδακίδαισιν. See Essay on Language § 13. p. 19. He also points out that μερίμνας is genitive, because the singular is more forcible, and μέριμναν would have suited the metre equally well. The only remaining doubt is the construction of οἶκτον.

857. mvp-comment-494-2 ψαύειν may govern the accusative, as appears from 961. But the change from the genitive to the accusative is still to be accounted for. (1) The word ἔψαυσας was chosen with special reference to μερίμνας. ἔλεξας, or some other general word, would have been sufficient if this had not intervened. Hence the general meaning of the verb (= ἔλεξας) is alone continued. (2) The case is partly governed by the verbal notion in μερίμνας = 8 μεριμνῶ. (3) The tendency of a Greek sentence is to pass from a more special to a more general construction. Essay on Language pp. 64, 5, οἶκτον is to be resumed with πότμου, which is co-ordinate with πατρός. Thou hast harped on what my mind broods over with saddest care, the thrice renewed pity for my father, and for the general fortune of our race, the lot that fell upon the famed Labdacidae. Seyffert thinks that in τριπόλιστον Antigone is thinking of her own ever-deepening grief. But the Scholiast and Boeckh are probably right in explaining the word (like κλεινοῖς) with reference to the widely felt compassion for Oedipus. Cp. O. C. 517, τό τοι πολὺ καὶ μηδαμὰ λῆγον: ib. 597, πᾶς τοῦτό γ' Ἑλλήνων θροεῖ. For τριπόλιστον, cp. Phil. 1238, δὶς ταὐτὰ βούλει καὶ τρὶς ἀναπολεῖν μ' ἔπη.

861. mvp-comment-495-1 κλεινοῖς is said with bitterness, as in O. T. 1207, κλεινὸν Οἰδίπου κάρα. The dative is used in explanation of ἁμετέρου, Ist as clearer than the genitive with so many genitives preceding; 2nd with an ethical' force; the lot that fell on us. 863. O my mother, to whom marriage was calamity, O my hapless father, who in wedlock with a mother, held guilty intercourse with her from whom he came.' ματρῷαι λέκτρων ἆται] ‘My mother's calamity in marriage.' λέκτρων is descriptive or distinctive genitive (Essay on Language § 9. p. 12), and the possessive ματρῷαι is joined to λέκτρων ἆται taken as one word. In observing Antigone's tenderness for her mother we are reminded that the plot of the Oedipus Tyrannus was not yet conceived.

865. mvp-comment-496-1 ματρός is objective genitive, after κοιμήματα = ξυνουσίαι, and also descriptive, like γάμοι τέκνων, Ο. C. 945. For the condensed expression κοιμήματά τ᾿ αὐτογέννητ᾽ = τὸ κοιμηθῆναι σὺν ταύτῃ ἐξ ἧς αὐτὸς ἐγεννήθη, see Essay on Language § 43. p. 81, and for the force of αὐτός in composition, ibid. p. 101. The dative ἐμῷ πατρί (Ε. on L. § 13. p. 19, see on l. 861) is occasioned by the adjective; i. e. αὐτογέννητ᾽ ἦν αὐτῷ τὰ κοιμήματα. The nature of constructions in such condensed expressions can only be explained by expanding each phrase into a sentence. The meaning of the passive verbal termination in αὐτογέννητα is extremely indefinite. The other way of taking the words ('Connubium dicit Jocastae cum Oedipo quem ipsa pepererat,' Dind.), although giving a more obvious construction to the dative, has the fatal blemish of making a twofold apostrophe to Jocasta, whereas οἵων implies a reference to both parents, which is much more forcible.

865. mvp-comment-496-2 The Laur. reading δυσμόρῳ is preferable, because of the peculiar significance of κοιμήματα ματρός.

866. mvp-comment-497-1 οἴων is to be immediately referred to κοιμήματα, Such wedlock as gave me birth.

868. mvp-comment-498-1 μέτοικος may possibly have the association of an alien,' because she could not expect to meet with proper burial. But for the generalised meaning of μέτοικος, cp. supr. 852: О. С. 934: infr. 890, μετοικίας.

872-875. mvp-comment-499-1 There is some piety in pious action; but, as towards him who wieldeth it, authority must in no wise be transgressed. A self-determined impulse hath undone thee.' Cp. Phil. 138, τέχνα γὰρ τέχνας ἑτέρας προὔχει | καὶ γνώμα παρ' ὅτῳ τὸ θεῖον | Διὸς σκῆπτρον ἀνάσσεται, where there is a similar ellipse of the antecedent. The meaning is, He who has authority must not suffer authority to be thwarted. This may be made clearer by supplying ἐκείνῳ, as dative of the person interested, for the antecedent to ὅτῳ. He must not have it (i.e. suffer it to be) transgressed.

877. mvp-comment-500-1 Unhappy, I am led the way that is here prepared for me.' Creon has already entered before these words are said. Cp. infr. 933-934. Mm

883. mvp-comment-501-1 ἀοιδὰς .. πρὸ τοῦ θανεῖν Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1444-1445, ἡ δέ τοι κύκνου δί· κην | τὸν ὕστατον μέλψασα θανάσιμον γόον | κεῖται φιλήτωρ τοῦδε.

884. mvp-comment-502-1 εἰ χρείη If it were allowed. Ср. О. Т. 1110, εἰ χρή τι κἀμὲ μὴ συναλλάξαντά πω, | πρέσβυ, σταθμᾶσθαι: Ο. C. 1711, πῶς με χρὴ τὸ σὸν τάλαιναν ἀφανίσαι τοσόνδ' ἄχος. This modified use of χρή = One is to, not One must,' is only possible in hypothetical or interrogative sentences.

887. mvp-comment-503-1 ἄφετε This is on the whole more probable than ἄπιτε. The change from the future with οὐκ to the imperative has probably occasioned the corruption of the text.

887. mvp-comment-503-2 χρή This the Scholiast explained by χρήσει, i. e. he read χρῇ. And this is necessary, if τυμβεύειν is read in 888. But τυμβεύσει, the reading of Triclinius, is supported by τυμβεύει in AV³. Whether she must die there, or shall live a buried life in that dark cell. For εἰ .. χρή, cp. Εl. 399, πεσούμεθ', εἰ χρή, πατρὶ τιμωρούμενοι. And for τυμβεύσει, see Essay on Language p. 64 b. The intransitive use of τυμβεύειν occurs nowhere else.

889. mvp-comment-504-1 Creon claims to be pure from the blood of Antigone, because he has altered the doom of stoning (1. 36) to that of immurement, and because of the modicum of food that is to be shut in with her, ὡς ἄγος (1. 775).

890. mvp-comment-505-1 'At all events she shall no longer share the right of dwelling with us in the light of day.'

891-892. mvp-comment-506-1 'O cavernous abode of long imprisonment, at once my bridal-chamber and my tomb.'

896. mvp-comment-507-1 πρὶν .. βίου 'Before my allotted portion of life is spent.' Cp. Il. 4. 170, μοῖραν ἀναπλήσῃς βιότοιο. For ἐξήκειν, cp. Τr. 147, ἀλλ᾽ ἡδοναῖς ἄμοχθον ἐξαίρει βίον | ἐς τοῦθ', ἕως ἄν, κ.τ.λ.

897. mvp-comment-508-1 κάρτ᾽ ἐν ἐλπίσιν τρέφω I do cherish it amongst my hopes.

899. mvp-comment-509-1 κασίγνητον κάρα This must be addressed to Polynices, who is most in the thoughts of the spectators, and is again invoked in the same words in 1.915: not to Eteocles, of whose burial Antigone only knew by hearsay, supr. 23 ff. The difficulty of reconciling this with the following lines has been adduced as one of several reasons for rejecting the passage from l. 900 to l. 928 in whole or in part. The lines 905-912 are apt to appear to modern readers, as they did to Goethe, a blemish in a place which might have been expected to be most carefully finished. The saying, which Herodotus, 3. 119, attributes almost in the same terms to the wife of Intaphernes, would seem from this to have had a wide currency in Ionia-for it is a precarious supposition that either author derived it from the other-and fell in with the natural tendency of Greek life to exalt the bond of brotherhood above all other ties of affection and kindred. The general feeling of the speech is well traced by Seyffert. Antigone, when brought face to face with death, in utter isolation from human sympathy, comes down from the lofty tone she had assumed in her first answer to Creon, and recognizes the simple fact that it was the strength of her affection which impelled her to defy the law. Her love for Poly- nices was wonderful, passing the love that could be felt for a husband or a child. She dilates on this and justifies it by a primitive sophism, which the passage of Herodotus cited above shows to be more in the spirit of the time of Sophocles or of the age preceding him than of any later period. If the Antigone is the earliest of the seven plays (see Introduction), we need not be surprised by an archaism of thought which is much less remarkable than several which occur in Aeschylus. In an early English ballad, called the Douglas Tragedy, a woman interceding for the life of her father, whom her lover would slay, gives the following reason :-'True lovers I can get many a one, | But a father I'll never get more.'

900-901. mvp-comment-510-1 In these lines she is thinking of her father and mother. The libation only had been given to Polynices, who is specially mentioned in the following line. Ll. 900, I could not have been written after O. C. 1756 ff.

903. mvp-comment-511-1 περιστέλλουσα Decking for burial,' and SO also protecting from insult. 904. And certainly those who consider rightly will say I did honour thee. For the dative, see Essay on Language § 13. p. 19. Others take e with ἐτίμησα, but for the stress, it was a real honour,'-cp. the emphatic use of ἄνηρ, Ο. C. 393, and of ὕβρις, ib. 882.

905. mvp-comment-512-1 Feeling the incongruity of saying, If I had lost a child, she says, If I had had children, leaving the further supposition to be implied. Mm2

906. mvp-comment-513-1 κατθανὼν ἐτήκετο Had been wasting in death. Cp. 1. 410, μυδῶν τε σῶμα γυμνώσαντες εὖ.

907. mvp-comment-514-1 βίᾳ πολιτών Cp. supr. 74, 5. Creon is the representative of the State, and the elders in supr. 872 ff. have confirmed his sentence. Antigone is throughout perfectly conscious of the nature of her action, and at this moment she sees more clearly than ever the audacity of it. But even after the impulse has subsided she goes resolutely, though sadly, to her fate.

908. mvp-comment-515-1 νόμου Principle. Cp. supr. ll. 191, 613.

909. mvp-comment-516-1 κατθανόντος Sc. τοῦ πόσεως.

910. mvp-comment-517-1 τοῦδε τοῦ παιδός.

912. mvp-comment-518-1 οὐκ ἔστ᾿ .. ποτέ Although not strictly logical, this is much more touching and expressive than οὐκ ἔσθ' ὅπως ἀδελφὸς ἂν βλάστοι ποτέ, which it has been proposed to substitute here.

916. mvp-comment-519-1 διὰ χερῶν .. λαβών διά lit. = Between. Cp. διαλαμβάνω in Hdt., e.g. 1. 114, ἐκέλευε αὐτὸν τοὺς ἄλλους παῖδας διαλαβεῖν: Plat. Rep. В. 10. p. 615 Ε, τοὺς μὲν διαλαβόντες ἦγον.

918. mvp-comment-520-1 παιδείου τροφῆς The rearing of children. This is censured by Dindorf as unmaidenly: but cp. El. 963-966, καὶ τῶνδε μέντοι μηκέτ᾽ ἐλπίσῃς ὅπως | τεύξει ποτ· οὐ γὰρ ὧδ᾽ ἄβουλός ἐστ᾿ ἀνὴρ | Αἴγισθος, ὥστε σόν ποτ᾿ ἡ κἀμὸν γένος | βλαστεῖν ἐᾶσαι, πημονὴν αὐτῷ σαφή : Eur. Ion 485 ff., ἐμοὶ μὲν πλούτου τε πάρος | βασιλικῶν τ' εἶεν θαλάμων | τροφαὶ κήδειοι κεδνῶν τέκνων, κ.τ.λ. For the active sense of τροφή in the passage last quoted and in the text, see Essay on Language $ 53. p. 98, and cp. El. 1143 ff., οἴμοι τάλαινα τῆς ἐμῆς πάλαι τροφῆς | ἀνωφελήτου, τὴν ἐγὼ θάμ᾽ ἀμφί σοι | πόνῳ γλυκεῖ πάρεσχον.

919. mvp-comment-521-1 ἔρημος πρὸς φίλων For the redundant preposition, see Essay on Language §19. p. 28.

920. mvp-comment-522-1 θανάτων, which occurs only in L and M³, is very unlikely to have been changed to θανόντων in the Byzantine period. The latter is therefore probably the authentic reading, and not merely due to conjecture.

921-922. mvp-comment-523-1 ποίαν..; τί χρή ..; The suddenness of these transitions is very expressive of the agitation of Antigone's mind. Her fate leads her even to doubt the providence of the gods, but not to admit that she has done wrong. She will make the admission when death has taught it her, but not before. If her judges are wrong they will suffer too.

922-923. mvp-comment-524-1 ἐς θεοὺς .. βλέπειν Cp. El. 925, μηδὲν ἐς κεῖνόν γ᾽ ὅρα.

923. mvp-comment-525-1 ξυμμάχων ; The partitive genitive expresses with greater emphasis what might have been expressed by the accusative.

923. mvp-comment-525-2 ἐπεί γε δή The momentary doubt about the vindication of right in the world heightens the tragic effect. Cp. Phil. 428, τί δῆτα δεῖ σκοπεῖν; ib. 451, 2, ποῦ χρὴ τίθεσθαι ταῦτα, ποῦ δ᾽ αἰνεῖν, ὅταν | τὰ θεῖ᾽ ἐπαινῶν, τοὺς θεοὺς εὕρω κακούς; Trach. 1266: Aj. 950 ff.

924. mvp-comment-526-1 τὴν δυσσέβειαν The vice of impiety is confused with the blame of impiety, just as ἀρετή sometimes means a reputation for virtue. Cp. Phil. 1443, ἡ γὰρ εὐσέβεια συνθνήσκει βροτοῖς. Εςsay on L. p. 95.

925. mvp-comment-527-1 If, after all, this course of theirs is approved in heaven, when I have suffered I suppose I shall acknowledge my fault. The emphatic position of παθόντες implies, After I have suffered, but not before.' K εγ

927. mvp-comment-528-1 μὴ πλείω κακὰ | πάθοιεν This has actually been interpreted as a prayer of Antigone for her enemies. Others explain it as a warning to them Let them see to it that they do not suffer more. The real meaning is, that she cannot imprecate heavier sufferings on them than they are inflicting on her. Let them suffer, I will not say more, but the same evils which they unrighteously inflict on me. For a curse, similarly half-checked in utterance, with μή. cp. Phil. 961, ὅλοιο μή πω, πρὶν μάθοιμ᾽ εἰ καὶ πάλιν | γνώμην μετοίσεις. To translate this Mayest thou not perish yet, would be a similar mistake to that which has caused the difficulty about the present passage. It is true, however, that Antigone's tone is rather that of one who judges, than of one who condescends to ban her enemies.

927. mvp-comment-528-2 οἴδε Sc. οἱ πολίται. See above, 1.907 and note.

929-930. mvp-comment-529-1 For the addition of αὑταί, see Essay on Language § 40. p. 75, 2, and for ψυχῆς, which is added to soften the metaphor (since the chorus are less bold in an anapaestic than in a purely lyric passage, supr. 137), see ib. 5.

930. mvp-comment-530-1 τήνδε γ' γε gives a natural emphasis to τήνδε, and there is no ground for the conjecture τήνδ' ἐπέχουσιν.

931. mvp-comment-531-1 τούτων, which is genitive of the cause, is not likely to have been interpolated. It is more probable that the second τοι arose from διττογραφία.

933-934. mvp-comment-532-1 θανάτου ἀφίκται This word is nearest death of all that have come. Cp. Thuc. 3. 59, χαλεπώτατον τοῖς ὧδε ἔχουσι λόγου τελευτᾶν, διότι καὶ τοῦ βίου ὁ κίνδυνος ἐγγὺς μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ. The adverb of place is supplementary predicate; see Essay on Language § 24. p. 40. 935-936. μὴ οὐ follows the rule laid down in Essay on Language § 29. p. 49, 3 a. Böckh and Dindorf, taking a hint from the Scholia, give these lines to the chorus, on the ground that Creon has already withdrawn all hope. But the word κατακυροῦσθαι is characteristic of Creon, who may be thought not unlikely, even superfluously. to have made this final assertion of his will.

938. mvp-comment-533-1 θεοὶ προγενεῖς My divine ancestry, including Cadmus and Harmonia, and their parents. Cp. supr. 199, θεοὺς τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς, and note: Hdt. 2.143, Ἑκαταίῳ . . ἀναδήσαντι τὴν πατριὴν εἰς ἑκκαιδέκατον θεών.

940. mvp-comment-534-1 O royal line of Thebè!' This has usually been explained as an address to the chorus. But Antigone expects no more sympathy from them (least of all if ll. 935-936 are rightly given to the chorus). It is rather an apostrophe to the members of the princely family living and dead, including the θεοὶ προγενεῖς. Cp. Aesch. Cho. 800-802, οἱ τ' ἔσω δωμάτων πλουτογαθῆ μυχὸν νομίζετε | κλῦτε, σύμφρονες θεοί.

941. mvp-comment-535-1 *βασιλειδᾶν is Seyffert's ingenious emendation, based on Hesychius' βασιλείδης· ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως. Ismene is throughout only thought of as a foil for Antigone, and there is no more impropriety in Antigone speaking of herself as the last of her race than in the chorus (supr. 599 ff.) singing of the extinction of the light that was spreading over the last remaining shoot of the Labdacidae.

942. mvp-comment-536-1 πρὸς οἴων ἀνδρῶν As a princess, she speaks with scorn of Creon, who is not of royal birth. The words may also contain an allusion to the ἦθος of his (or the chorus'?) last speech.

944-987. mvp-comment-537-1 The chorus, in the manner of Pindar, moralise on the fate of Antigone through examples drawn from the circle of mythology and legend; and thus suggest the same cold comfort as in their mention of Niobe. The effect of this ode is to repress the excitement and solemnize the thoughts of the spectator. 'Danaë, though of royal lineage, and entrusted with the golden shower, was bound by all-constraining destiny in her brazen cell. 'Bound, too, in a prison of rock, was Lycurgus, who provoked the God. He knew his madness when it was too late. And on the Thracian promontory Phineus sons, blinded by their father's wife (Idothea), bewailed their rejected mother Cleopatra's hapless lot, who, descended from an ancient line, and endowed with swiftness by her divine sire, was notwithstanding overtaken by the long-lived fates.' Danae and Cleopatra were, like Antigone, of royal birth, and, like Antigone, were bound in a living tomb. So also was the son of Dryas, himself a king: and this, in his case, was the penalty of an impetuous and defiant spirit. Sophocles seems to have followed one version of the obscure and variable legend of Phineus, according to which Cleopatra did not die, but was rejected by Phineus for Idothea, and imprisoned in a cave, from which she was afterwards released by Heracles. The sons were blinded by their step-mother. The first strophe and antistrophe are choriambic with an iambic close; the second, logaoedic. The choriambi here were probably chanted slowly, so as to have a weighty, solemn effect. The scheme is as follows: a'. First strophe and antistrophe. IILUCI LUCILー LUCILIITUCICートに IICClluclトー IIICCILUCIトに ICICICI KLCICICI CトートUICIK β'. Second strophe and antistrophe. UCCTCCICCI IICCICCII!یں ILU TUCI くいくいトCICIK Cトートしーーー ―トビトCICIK CÚCCICICICC

944. mvp-comment-538-1 φῶς | ἀλλάξαι 'Το exchange the light' (for gloom), i. e. To lose the light. Cp. Phil. 1262, ἀμείψας ..

944. mvp-comment-538-2 στέγας.

945. mvp-comment-539-1 δέμας Form. This word reminds us of the beauty of Danaë, which increased the pathos of her fate.

945. mvp-comment-539-2 ἐν χαλκοδέτοις αὐλαῖς In a brassbound room. The compound of δέω merely suggests the general notion of confinement (Essay on Language § 55. 3, p. 101), and has nothing to do with the riveting of brazen plates to the walls.

949. mvp-comment-540-1 γενεᾷ τίμιος Because descended from Danaus the grandson of Poseidon.

951. mvp-comment-541-1 ὁ μοιριδία τις δύνασις The mysterious power of fate. For the combination of the article and indefinite pronoun, see Essay on Language § 22. p. 36.

952. mvp-comment-542-1 *ὄλβος is Erfurdt's ingenious and probable correction of ὄμβρος. He compares Bacchylides ap. Stob. Ecl. Phys. 1. 166, θνατοῖσι δ᾽ οὐκ αὐθαίρετοι | οὔτ᾽ ὄλβος οὔτ᾽ ἀκάματος Ἄρης οὔτε πάμφθερσις στάσις.

953. mvp-comment-543-1 Cp. Hor. Od. 2. 16, 21,

Scandit aeratas vitiosa naves | Cura.

ἁλίκτυποι is passive: Sea-beaten.

954. mvp-comment-544-1 κελαιναί The Epic νῆες μέλαιναι: i. e. Looking dark against the sea and sky.

955-957. mvp-comment-545-1 The punishment of Lycurgus was the subject of an Aeschylean trilogy. It was variously related. Sophocles chooses the version of the story that suits his purpose. For the earliest description of the crime, see Il. 6. 130-140.

955. mvp-comment-546-1 ζεύχθη resumes κατεζεύχθη, supr. 947.

955. mvp-comment-546-2 ὀξύχολος The very probable conjecture of Scaliger for ὀξυχόλως.

955. mvp-comment-546-3 παῖς ὁ Δρύαντος So Pind. O1. 8. 31, παῖς ὁ Λατούς.

956. mvp-comment-547-1 κερτομίοις όργαῖς Dative of the cause.

957. mvp-comment-548-1 ἐκ Διονύσου By the will of Dionysus. Cp. infr. 1219.

958-961. mvp-comment-549-1 So dire is the excess of rage that flows from madness. He learned at length that it was in madness that he provoked the God with biting speech.' The emphatic reivos applies the γνώμη to the case of Lycurgus. There is a stress on μανίαις.

959. mvp-comment-550-1 τᾶς μανίας Genitive of derivation, partly governed by ἀπό in comp.

959. mvp-comment-550-2 ἀποστάζει For the metaphorical use, cp. Aesch. Ag. 178, στάζει ἐν θ᾽ ὕπνῳ πρὸ καρδίας | μνησιπήμων πόνος. Others render, trickles away, i.e. comes to nought. But οὕτω is more naturally joined with the adjectives, whose position shows that they are emphatic, than with the verb.

960. mvp-comment-551-1 ἀνθηρόν 'Blooming, and so reaching its height: cp. Tr. 1089, ἤνθηκεν, ἐξώρμηκεν. A fury so over-powering, i.e. Leading inevitably to such calamitous issues.

960. mvp-comment-551-2 ἐπέγνω He recognised afterwards, i.e. when punished.

960. mvp-comment-551-3 μανίαις Dative of manner, expressing the predicate, quasi ἐν μανίαις. Essay on Language $ 14. pp. 20, 21. The v. r. μανίας (acc. plur.) is not so good.

961. mvp-comment-552-1 ψαύων In the rather unusual sense of Tempting, Provoking' (= έρε θίζων, cp. καθάπτεσθαι), and hence used, πρὸς τὸ σημαινόμενον, with the accusative. For the language of this passage, cp. Plat. Polit. 310 D, ἐξανθεῖν παντάπασι μανίαις: ib. 273 D, τελευτώντος δ᾽ ἐξανθεῖ τοῦ χρόνου : Legg. 6. 783 Α, διαπυρωτάτους . . μανίαις : ib. 9. 881 Β, μὴ μανίαις ἐχόμενος. And for the construction of κεῖνος.. θεόν, cp. Pind. Pyth. 8. 12, τὰν οὐδὲ Πορφυρίων μάθεν παρ' αἶσαν ἐξερεθίζων. For ἐν, of the instrument, see Essay on Language § 19. p. 27.

964. mvp-comment-553-1 The Bacchic fire,' i.e. The lighted torches of the Bacchanalian rout. Cp. O. T. 214: Eurip. Bacch. 146.

965. mvp-comment-554-1 Μούσας

Inter Bacchi comites a Diodoro 4. 4, recensentur Musae.

(Musgrave.) They are associated by Plato in the Laws, B. 2, p. 672 C. The Muses are here lovers of the flute, i.e. of the Phrygian orgiastic music.

966-968. mvp-comment-555-1 And hard by Cyanean rocks that divide the seas, are the cliffs of the Bosphorus and the Thracian promontory of Salmydessus, where,' etc. The genitive gives indefiniteness to the notion of place, and παρά implies neighbouring extent.

966. mvp-comment-556-1 πελαγέων, see v. rr., although metrically allowable (πελᾶγεων), is condemned by the vagueness of the meaning and the tautology in πελαγέων .. ἁλός. The ingenious conjecture of Wieseler is therefore adopted. It is confirmed by the gloss πετρῶν. The 1st syllable of Ἄρης is long in arsi supr. 139.

969. mvp-comment-557-1 The lost cretic has been differently supplied: ἄξevos Boeckh, ήτων Meineke. A verb is more wanted, e. g.

969. mvp-comment-557-2 ἵσταται, κλήζεται.

970. mvp-comment-558-1 ἀγχίπτολις Ἄρης This can only mean The War-god whose temple is near the city (of Salmydessus). Cp. Aesch. S. c. T. 501. The details of the legend as accepted by Sophocles are unknown to us, and hence we can hardly judge of the appropriateness of the epithet. The Thracian worship of Ares is well known.

971. mvp-comment-559-1 δισσοῖσι Φινεΐδαις Dative of direct reference depending on τυφλωθέν. Essay on Language § 12. p. 18.

972. mvp-comment-560-1 ἀρατόν Accursed; i.e. Bringing a curse on Phineus and Idothea.

972. mvp-comment-560-2 ἕλκος τυφλωθέν. The blinding wound inflicted.' The 'cognate verb᾽ τυφλωθέν is substituted for ποιηθέν or the like. Essay on Language § 17. p. 25, c.

973. mvp-comment-561-1 ἐξ ἀγρίας δάμαρτος For the preposition, see Essay on Language $ 19. p. 28, 2.

973. mvp-comment-561-2 δάμαρτος Idothea, who had been made the wife of Phineus through the repudiation of Cleopatra. 974- ἀλαὸν ἀλαστόροισιν ὀμμάτων κύκλοις] Sightless (i. e. producing blindness) on the vengeful orbits of their eyes. For the causative use of ἀλαόν, see Essay on Language §. 53. p. 98.

973. mvp-comment-561-3 ἀλαστόροισιν Bringing vengeance,' i. e. Pleading successfully though silently for retribution. The dative is partly dative of place and partly of direct reference. Causing blindness in or to the eyes.

975. mvp-comment-562-1 *ἀραχθέντων Lachmann's conjecture for ἀραχθὲν ἐγχέων. When they were smitten. Another is ἄτερθ' ἐγχέων.

976. mvp-comment-563-1 κερκίδων ἀκμαῖσιν A woman's weapon. The shuttle was sharpened at the point, so as to be inserted between the threads, in order to regulate the density of the web. This process was called κερκίζειν, and the art is named by Plato κερκιστική. Plat. Polit. 282 B, C: Sophist. 226 B: Crat. 388 A.

980. mvp-comment-564-1 κλαῖον ματρός, | ἔχοντες ἀνύμφευτον γονάν This punctuation is preferred to κλαῖον, ματρὸς ἔχοντες ἀνύμφευτον γονάν, simply because the fate of Cleopatra, and not that of the Phineidae, is the chief point of the illustration.

980. mvp-comment-564-2 ἔχοντες ἀνύμφευτον γονάν Having a birth not honoured by wedlock: because their mother's marriage was repudiated, and their legitimacy was therefore not acknowledged. Note the repetition of γονά γονάν in a different sense after yovás in 950.

981. mvp-comment-565-1 And she in lineage reached even unto the ancient race of the Erechtheidae.' Because her mother Orithyia, whom Boreas rapt from the Ilissus (Plat. Phaedr. 229 B), was a daughter of Erechtheus. Qy. ἀρχαιογενήτων?

983. mvp-comment-566-1 τηλεπόροις δ᾽ ἐν ἄντροις The exact meaning of the compound epithet is doubtful. Either (1) Far-piercing,' i. e. Extending far into the mountainside: or (2) Distant, the second part of the epithet being redundant, or merely repeating the notion of a hollow passage implied in ἄντροις, i.e. δι' ὧν τηλόσε πορευόμεθα.

985. mvp-comment-567-1 Βορεὰς ἅμιππος Cp. Ο. Τ. 466, and note. And for ἅμα, Hom. Il. 19.415. Keeping pace with the steed over the steep path of the hill. On the compounds of πούς, see Essay on Language $55. p. 101. ὀρθόπους is literally Raising the foot upright. The second part of the compound is subordinated, but in this connection must have reference to the foot of the climber, and not to the foot of the hill. The words ὀρθόποδος ὑπὲρ πάγου are in construction with the verbal notion in ἅμιππος, sc.

985. mvp-comment-567-2 ἅμα ταῖς ἵπποις τρέχειν δυναμένη.

986-987. mvp-comment-568-1 ἀλλὰ κἀπ᾿ ἐκείνᾳ .. ἔσχον But even on her the long-lived fates laid hold. Cp. Hom. Il. 21. 110, ἀλλ᾿ ἔπι τοι καὶ ἐμοὶ θάνατος καὶ μοῖρα κραταιή. ἐπέχειν is To extend to, and the tmesis gives the preposition a fresh construction with the dative. The Fates are ever-living, and therefore can afford to bide their time.

987. mvp-comment-569-1 ὦ παῖ Antigone is apostrophized after her departure, like Oedipus in Ο. C. 1567, πάλιν σε δαίμων δίκαιος αὔξοι. 988, foll. The coming of Teiresias is the beginning of the περιπέτεια, The change in the spirit of Creon's dream. The external marks of the prophet are noticed more prominently than in the Oedipus Tyrannus. Cp. especially 998-990, with O. T. 371, τυφλὸς τὰ τ᾽ ὦτα, κ.τ.λ., and 444, καὶ σύ, παῖ, κόμιζέ με: 992-995, with Ο. Τ. 436, γονεῦσι δ', οἵ σ᾽ ἔφυσαν, ἔμφρονες. The figure of the blind prophet is more ideal in the Oedipus Tyrannus, and the peculiarity of his position is brought out, in a higher mode of art, with one or two light touches. On the other hand, his sudden and unlooked-for coming suits exactly with the purpose of this drama and the person of Creon.

990. mvp-comment-570-1 αὕτη Essay on Language § 22, p. 35.

992. mvp-comment-571-1 The authority of the seer is here simply asserted and acknowledged. Cp. 1053. In the Oedipus Tyrannus he appears with still higher claims, as a prince, whose honours are guarded by his lord Apollo.

993-994. mvp-comment-572-1 οὔκουν .. ἀπεστάτουν .. ναυκληρεῖς] I have not aforetime departed. ..'You have guided, and still guide.' Cp. Tr. 600, 601. The conjecture ένανκλήρεις is no improvement. The present means, You have hitherto guided safely, and this is not inconsistent with what follows. Cp. Aesch. Agam. 1, αἰτῶ, I have been asking.

994. mvp-comment-573-1 δι᾽ ὀρθῆς Sc. κελεύθου. On a safe and successful course.

995. mvp-comment-574-1 I have experienced benefits, and can bear witness of them. Essay on Language §36. p. 66. There is perhaps an allusion here to the sacrifice of Megareus, which was prompted by the prophecy of Teiresias. But cp. 1058 and note.

996. mvp-comment-575-1 φρόνει, κ.τ.λ. (1) Beware once more, as thou standest now upon an edge of peril. The participle is not to be construed with the verb, but is in apposition to the subject. For φρονεῖν absolute, cp. O. T. 617, φρονεῖν γὰρ οἱ ταχεῖς οὐκ ἀσφαλεῖς : ib. 649, πιθοῦ θελήσας φρονήσας τ', ἄναξ, λίσσομαι. Otherwise (2) Know that now again thou standest,' etc. Cp. Trach. 289, φρόνει νιν ὡς ἥξοντα: Phil. 810, σαφῶς φρόνει. The expression ἐπὶ ξυροῦ is proverbial: cp. Il. 10. 173: Eur. H. F. 630.

997. mvp-comment-576-1 ὡς .. στόμα How I shudder at thy speech. ὡs as in l. 82, ὡς ὑπερδέδοικά σου. στόμα has the association of privileged, prophetic utterance, as in Ο. Τ. 426, τοὐμὸν στόμα.

999. mvp-comment-577-1 The οἰωνοσκοπεῖον of Teiresias was shown at Thebes in the time of Pausanias: Paus. 9. 16.

999. mvp-comment-577-2 παλαιόν i. e. consecrated by use from early times.

1000. mvp-comment-578-1 ἵν'.. λιμήν Where I had harbourage for every ominous bird. Essay on Language § 58. p. 105.

1002. mvp-comment-579-1 κλάζοντας Accusative πρὸς τὸ σημαινόμενον, as if ὄρνιθας ἄγνωτα φθεγγομένους had preceded.

1002. mvp-comment-579-2 βεβαρβαρωμένῳ Rendered unintelligible,' Confused. 1003. iv, of the instrument. Cp. supra. 1. 961. φοναῖς, In bloody fray. Dative of manner. Cp. supra, l. 960 .

1004. mvp-comment-580-1 πτερῶν.. ἦν For the whirring of their wings gave no uncertain sound: although their voices did. 1005 ἐγευόμην] By analogy for ἐπειρώμην, I made trial of the divination by burnt sacrifice,' similar to that used in the temple of Ismenus: O. Τ. 21.

1006. mvp-comment-581-1 βωμοῖσι παμφλέκτοισιν At the blazing altar. παν in composition is simply intensive, as in El. 1139: and the epithet is generally descriptive. See Essay on Language § 55. p. 101.

1006. mvp-comment-581-2 ἐκ δὲ θυμάτων 'But from the sacrifice the Fire-god refused to gleam; and on the ash a dank humour dripped from the thigh-bones, and fumed and sputtered, and the gall was sprinkled abroad in air, and the thighs wasted and lay bared of their enclosing fat.

1007. mvp-comment-582-1 For σποδός, cp Ο. Τ. 21: Hdt. 4.35, τῶν μηρίων καταγιζομένων ἐπὶ τῷ βωμῷ τὴν σποδόν.

1009. mvp-comment-583-1 μετάρσιοι is supplementary predicate. The preposition in ἐξέκειντο is emphatic. Cp. Od. 23. 179, ἔνθα οἱ ἐκθεῖσαι πυκινὸν λέχος: Thuc. 4. 129. § 3. ἔτυχον ἐξεστρατοπεδευμένοι ἔξω τῆς πόλεως.

1010. mvp-comment-584-1 καταρρυεῖς is explained to mean Flowing down with moisture,' but means rather Fallen away. Cp. Paus. 10. 2, 6 (L. and S s. ν. καταρρέω 1. 4), νεκροῦ κατερρυηκότος τὰς σάρκας.

1011. mvp-comment-585-1 The apparently active use of καλυπτῆς comes from καλύπτειν, in the sense of placing as a covering, i. e.

1011. mvp-comment-585-2 καλύπτειν πιμελὴν μηροῖς. For the meaning, cp. Aesch. Pr. 496, foll., κνισῇ τε κώλα συγκαλυπτά· καὶ μακρὰν | ὀσφὺν πυρώσας, δυστέκμαρτον ἐς τέχνην | ὥδωσα θνητούς· καὶ φλογωπὰ σήματα | ἐξωμμάτωσα, πρόσθεν ὄντ᾽ ἐπάργεμα.

1013. mvp-comment-586-1 Such failing tokens given by baffling auspices. Lit. Of victims giving no sign. Cp. Ps. 74. 9. We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet. φθίνοντα μαντεύματα are not Prophecies of decay,' but Rites of divination fading away, i. e. losing their virtue. Cp. Ο. Τ. 902, φθίνοντα.. Λαΐου | θέσφατα.

1015. mvp-comment-587-1 τῆς σῆς ἐκ φρενός From thy will. Cp. infr. 1063, ὡς μὴ ᾿μπολήσων ἴσθι τὴν ἐμὴν φρένα.

1016. mvp-comment-588-1 ἐσχάραι τε παντελεῖς And all the number of our sacred hearths. παντελεῖς is little more than πᾶσαι, but expresses that the word ἐσχάραι added to βωμοί comprises every consecrated spot in the whole city. Cp. El. 982, ἔν θ᾽ ἑορταῖς ἔν τε πανδήμῳ πόλει.

1017. mvp-comment-589-1 πλήρεις Infected. Cp. 1052.

1017. mvp-comment-589-2 πλήρης = ἀνάπλεως. Cp. infr. 1052: Phil. 1087-1088, ὦ πληρέστατον αὔλιον | λύπας τᾶς ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ. For the general notion, cp. Webster, Appius and Virg. p. 165, ed. Dyce, Come, you birds of death | And fill your greedy cups with human flesh; | Then to the city fly, disgorge it there | Before the senate, and from thence arise | A plague to choke all Rome. Join ὑπὸ .. βορᾶς, not as some edd. πλήρεις.. βορᾶς. By the act of dogs and birds in feeding, etc. So Ellendt. Cp. infr. 1083.

1021. mvp-comment-590-1 εὐσήμους Giving clear augury, opposed to ἄσημος supra 1013.

1021. mvp-comment-590-2 ἀπορροιβδεῖ Utters noisily. The word is not strictly applicable to the screaming of birds. But there is the same indefiniteness about words expressing sound as about the names of colours. This word, expressing a confused noise, is probably suggested by l. 1004.

1022. mvp-comment-591-1 After feeding on the fatness of human carnage.' On the change from singular to plural, see Essay on Language § 36. p. 65.

1025. mvp-comment-592-1 ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἁμάρτῃ For ἄν omitted, see Essay on. L. § 27. p. 44.

1026. mvp-comment-593-1 ἄνολβος here and in Aj. 1156 (τοιαῦτ᾽ ἄνολβον ἄνδρ᾽ ἐνουθέτει παρών) is a word of blame- Infatuated.'

1029. mvp-comment-594-1 εἶκε τῷ θανόντι Relent towards the dead.

1030. mvp-comment-595-1 ἐπικτανεῖν Το slay a second time.' For the meaning of ἐπί, cp.

1030. mvp-comment-595-2 ἐπεμβάλλω, ἐπιγαμέω, ἐπιπέμπω. For the idea, cp. II. 24. 54: Plat. Rep. 5. 469 D, E. 6 1031. (1) After careful consideration I speak to you with good heed. εὐ, Carefully,' as in O. T. 308, supr. 410, alib. Or (2) εὖ σοι φρ., Meaning well to thee.

1032. mvp-comment-596-1 εἰ κέρδος λέγοι For the optative, see Essay on Language § 36. p. 61, γ, α (1). φέρει or φέροι seems also to be an early reading.

1034. mvp-comment-597-1 ἀνδρὸς τοῦδε The genitive as after ἐφίεσθαι and the like words.

1034-1035. mvp-comment-598-1 κοὐδὲ.. εἰμί And you practise on me with divination too. By a not infrequent inexactness in the use of the Greek passive voice, from πράττειν κατά τινοs, To intrigue against a person, would come πράττεσθαι, 'Το be intrigued against,' and hence ἄπρακτος, Unattempted, Unpractised on, μαντικῆς is gen. of respect after the privative adjective. τὸν πρὸσ σάρδεον Ε. τὸν πρὸ

1035. mvp-comment-599-1 τῶν *ὑπαὶ γένους By whose fraternity, sc. τῶν μαντέων. This is Brunck's emendation, which gives better sense than any other that has been proposed. Creon's heated imagination suggests to him that the whole tribe of prophets and diviners (cp. 1055) have greedily marked him for their prey.

1036. mvp-comment-600-1 I am bartered away long since and turned to gain. Literally, Sold and shipped off. Although ἐμπεφόρτισμαι has the authority of the 1st hand of L, ἐκπεφόρτισμαι is more forcible.

1037. mvp-comment-601-1 *τἀπό Professor Geddes, in his Problem of the Homeric Poems,' p. 168, note 15, prefers ἤλεκτρος as the form of nominative, on analogy of other metals, such as χρυσός, etc., which are masculine. But the general opinion is in favour of ἥλεκτρον neuter, and although τὸν πρὸς Σαρδεῶν is not unmetrical, τᾶπό Σαρδέῶν is preferable here in point of rhythm. Granting that ἤλεκτρος is masculine in late Greek, it is unlikely that Herodotus, 3, 115, would write τὸ ἤλεκτρον, and Sophocles here τὸν .. ἤλεκτρον.

1040. mvp-comment-602-1 βοράν He echoes the word of Teiresias supr. 1017.

1042-1043. mvp-comment-603-1 οὐ μὴ .. παρήσω The future indicative after οὐ μή, as in O. C. 177, οὗ τοι μήποτέ σ᾽ ἐκ τῶνδ᾽ ἑδράνων, ὦ γέρον, ἄκοντά τις ἄξει : Εl. 1052, οὗ σοι μὴ μεθέψομαί ποτε. Cp. Phil. 612, οὐ μή ποτε | πέρσοιεν. In all these places there may be a slight confusion of two constructions. See Essay on Language § 36. p. 62, and for the slight redundancy of expression, which marks Creon's eagerness, ib. § 40. p. 75.

1044. mvp-comment-604-1 'There is no power in man to touch the gods with pollution.' Creon's scepticism (cp. Aesch. Ag. 369-372: Plat. Legg. B. 10) anticipates the Epicurean notion of the Divine Nature, which Nec bene promeritis capitur, neque tangitur ira. Cp. with this and with O. T. 964, foll., Hector's defiance of augury in Il. 12. 237, foll.

1048. mvp-comment-605-1 The sentence, interrupted by Creon's question, is continued in 1050.

1050. mvp-comment-606-1 Wherefore? What means this universal doubt?' πάγκοινον refers to ἀνθρώπων τις.

1052. mvp-comment-607-1 πλήρης Infected. Cp. supr. 1017.

1054. mvp-comment-608-1 λέγεις Sc. κακῶς τὸν μάντιν. Essay on Language § 39. p. 73, 6.

1056. mvp-comment-609-1 τὸ δ᾽ ἐκ τυράννων The mean- ing of the preposition is not to be pressed. It is merely an extension of the familiar metaphor of γένος, Kind for Class. Cobet conj. τὸ δέ γε τυράννων. But not to advert to the broken tribrach in the first place, so unlike the earlier manner of Sophocles, the expression is less forcible. It is like the difference between saying the class of tyrants and the breed of tyrants in English. Cp. Eur. Hec. 254-255, ἀχάριστον ὑμῶν σπέρμ᾽, ὅσοι δημηγόρους | ζηλοῦτε τιμάς. On the γένεσις of the tyrant, see Ο. Τ. 873, ὕβρις φυτεύει τύραννον.

1057. mvp-comment-610-1 The accusative ταγούς is in a double construction with λέγεις and λέγων. The construction of the participle is also twofold: i. e. οἶσθα ταγοὺς ὄντας οὓς λέγεις ἃ ἂν λέγῃς.

1058. mvp-comment-611-1 For you possess this city through saving it by my counsel. ἐξ ἐμοῦ depends partly on ἔχεις and partly on σώσας. The line has been supposed to refer to the self-immolation of the son of Creon by the advice of Teiresias. Eur. Phoen. 918, foll. Cp. supr. 933-935, infr. 1303. But it is not clear that Sophocles has any distinct incident in view. These things are ἔξω τοῦ μυθεύματος, Ar. Poet. 1460 a.

1060. mvp-comment-612-1 τἀκίνητα .. φράσαι Τo utter what ought not to be mooted even in thought.' 1062. (1) These words are generally interpreted as interrogative. Do I really seem in what I have already said to do so in regard to you? i. e. You at least are not likely to reward me for my prophecy. And this is on the whole the most pointed way of taking the words. Wecklein understands them to mean, (2) 'Methinks, so far as you are concerned, I do speak so; i. e. My speech will not bring you gain. In the former case (1) τὸ σὸν μέρος ίς τ. σ. μ. τῆς δοκήσεως: in the latter (2) it is τ. σ. μ. τῶν ἀποβησομένων ἐκ τοῦ λόγου.

1063. mvp-comment-613-1 'I tell thee thou shalt not make traffic of my purposes;' i. e. They shall not be changed so as to bring gain to you, whether it be from me or from others that you look for gain.

1064. mvp-comment-614-1 μή See Essay on Language § 29. p. 49, с.

1065. mvp-comment-615-1 τρόχους ἁμιλλητῆρας ἡλίου Not many swift courses of the sun; i. e. The days will be short, and few. On the condensation of time in this play, see Introduction. Cp. Milton, Sonnet 7. My hasting days fly on with full career: Shakespeare, Sonnet 60, Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, | So do our minutes hasten to their end; | Each changing place with that which goes before, In sequent toil all forwards do contend.

1065. mvp-comment-615-2 τροχούς would mean, 'Not many turns of the sun's chariot wheel.'

1066. mvp-comment-616-1 ἐν οἷσι The regular construction after the negative would be πρὶν ἀντιδοῦναι: but the sentence takes an affirmative turn, and is continued as if the beginning were ὀλίγαι ἡμέραι ἔσονται .. ἐν ais. Essay on Language § 36. p. 64. Ср. О. С. 617 ff. μυρίας μυρίος | χρόνος τεκνοῦται νύκτας ἡμέρας τ᾿ ἰὼν | ἐν αἷς, κ.τ.λ. δ

1067. mvp-comment-617-1 νεκρῶν ἀμοιβόν For a kindred fancy, cp. Aesch. Agam. 437, ὁ χρυσαμοιβὸς δ' Ἄρης σωμάτων | καὶ ταλαντοῦχος ἐν μάχῃ δορός, κ.τ.λ.

1068. mvp-comment-618-1 ἀνθ᾽ ὧν The antecedent is to be gathered from νεκρῶν in l. 1067.

1068. mvp-comment-618-2 τῶν ἄνω Sc. τινά: i. e. Antigone.

1069. mvp-comment-619-1 ἀτίμως i. e. εἰς ἀτιμίαν. See Essay on Language § 24. p. 40.

1070. mvp-comment-620-1 i.e. ἔχεις δὲ αὐ ἐνθάδε, ἄμοιρον τῶν κάτωθεν θεῶν. On the order of words, see Essay on Language pp. 66, 67.

1071. mvp-comment-621-1 ἀκτέριστον, ἀνόσιον Without funeral rites, and unsanctified. Cp. Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1. 5,

Unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled.

1073. mvp-comment-622-1 βιάζονται (1) Sc. οἱ ἄνω θεοί, to whom it was an offence to have a dead body intruded into their realm: or, (2) the gods generally, including θεῶν in 1070, as well as θεοῖσιν in 1072. In support of the former interpretation (1), Mr. Evelyn Abbott has adduced Lys. 2. 7, Ἀδράστου δὲ καὶ Πολυνείκους ἐπὶ Θήβας στρατευσάντων καὶ ἡττηθέντων μάχῃ, οὐκ ἐώντων Καδμείων θάπτειν τοὺς νέκρους, Ἀθηναῖοι ἡγησάμενοι ἐκείνους μέν, εἴ τι ἠδίκουν, ἀποθανόντας δίκην ἔχειν τὴν μεγίστην, τοὺς δὲ κάτω τὰ VOL. I. Nn αὑτῶν οὐ κομίζεσθαι, ἱερῶν δὲ μιαινομένων τοὺς ἄνω θεοὺς ἀσεβεῖσθαι, κ.τ.λ.

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,

Our monuments | Shall be the maws of kites.

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.

1090. mvp-comment-628-1 τὸν νοῦν.. τῶν φρενῶν The spirit of his thoughts. Cp. γνώμη φρενῶν, Ο. Τ. 524: infr. 1228, τίνα | νοῦν ἔσχες;

1091. mvp-comment-629-1 βέβηκε δεινὰ θεσπίσας The stress is on the participle, as in 246 supra, θάψας βέβηκε.

1092-1093. mvp-comment-630-1 ἐξ ὅτου.. τρίχα Since I have been crowned with these locks, once dark, which now are white with age. The expression is condensed by prolepsis, so that the phrase λευκὴν ἐκ μελαίνης, which, if the thought had been regularly developed, would have been added in apposition, has the place of an attribute.

1094. mvp-comment-631-1 μὴ .. λακεῖν μή is preferred to οὐ because of the abstract generality of the statement, which is also the reason of an implied precept not to disobey the seer. Cp supr. 1064 and note.

1096. mvp-comment-632-1 'But by resistance to bring the stroke of calamity upon one's soul is an alternative which presents a terrible aspect.' ἄτῃ = πρὸς ἄτην. Ε. on L. § II. p. 18. The words ἐν δεινῷ πάρα have been questioned by Nauck, but nothing better has been substituted; and the phrase is supported by the analogy of ἐν καλῷ El. 384, ἐν ὁμοίῳ, Thuc. 2. 53.

1098. mvp-comment-633-1 Κρέον, the reading of most of the later MSS, is not improbable, λαβεῖν οι λακεῖν of L. having come in accidentally from 1094. λαβεῖν, which Seyffert had conjectured, gives a kind of sense, and so does τάχα of E. But neither is satisfactory. The true reading is possibly lost.

1100. mvp-comment-634-1 The chorus think of first saving the living and then burying the dead: but Creon's superstition once awakened drives him to the opposite course. Infr. 1197 ff.

1103-1104. mvp-comment-635-1 συντέμνουσι .. βλάβαι For the swiftly coming harms of the gods suddenly overtake (or 'make short work with') the evil-minded. συντέμνειν, in the generally neuter or absolute sense of To come quickly on, here acquires a new construction with the accusative. Essay on Language § 16. p. 23. Cp. Hdt. 5. 41, τοῦ χρόνου συντάμνοντος, i.e. Adpropinquante, instante tempore.

1105. mvp-comment-636-1 I find it hard indeed, but yet I wrench my soul from her place to do this thing. Cp. Plat. Rep. 10. 607 E, βίᾳ μέν, ὅμως δ᾽ ἀπέχονται.

1106. mvp-comment-637-1 τὸ δρᾶν For the article with epexegetic inf., cp. O. T. 1418, τὸ πράσ· σειν καὶ τὸ βουλεύειν.

1107. mvp-comment-638-1 ἐπ᾿ ἄλλ. τρ. i. e. ἐπίτρεπτε ἄλλ.

1108. mvp-comment-639-1 ἴτ' τ' This reading, which ap- pears only in the text of Triclinius, is more probable than any other, the broken tribrach being excused by the agitation of Creon.

1109. mvp-comment-640-1 οἵ τ᾿ ὄντες οἵ τ᾿ ἀπόντες ὄντες = παρόντες, as in El. 305, τὰς οὔσας τέ μου | καὶ τὰς ἀπούσας ἐλπίδας διέφθορεν.

1110. mvp-comment-641-1 εἰς ἐπόψιον τόπον To the place in view. Polynices was exposed on the highest part of the plain, and this may have been represented in outline as part of the scenery.

1111. mvp-comment-642-1 For the personification of δόξα, cp. Ο. Τ. 911, δόξα μοι παρεστάθη, and see Essay on Language pp. 91, 92, 105.

1112. mvp-comment-643-1 αὐτός τ᾽ ἔδησα καί For the sake of emphasis, what would naturally be expressed by the participle is made into a coordinate sentence with the finite verb. Cp. Ο. Τ. 413, σὺ καὶ δέδορκας κού βλέπεις ἵν' εἶ.. Ε. on L. p. 68.

1115. mvp-comment-644-1 In the excitement of a desperate hope caused by the late repentance of Creon, the chorus break forth into a joyous invocation to Dionysus, accompanied with dancing or gesticulation, as appears in comparing the similar canticle in Aj. 693, where the chorus are under the excitement of a similar delusive expectation. Cp. Tr. 205-224. The Dionysiac worship, of which the tragic poet is a votary, is associated with the mystic hopes which Creon denied, supr. 780.

1115. mvp-comment-644-2 Glory of Semele, child of Zeus, Thou that tendest Campania And rulest in Eleusis' mystic vale, Dwelling, where thy votaries dwell, In Thebes by Ismenus' waters, Presiding o'er the dragon's brood: Seen o'er the forked height By the pitchy flame, Where move the Bacchic nymphs of Corycus, Where is the Castalian fount: And ushered on thy way to visit Thebe's roads By the ivy-clad banks of Nysean mountains, And the bloomy shore with many a cluster, While the shout of the immortal strain resounds. Thebè thou honourest far above all cities, Thou and thy mother whom the lightning glorified. And now that our whole multitude Is overtaken by misfortune dire, Appear with healing tread, Over the Parnassian steep Or groaning narrow sea. Thou that leadest up the dance of the fire-breathing stars, Visitant of nightly voices, Son born of Zeus, Rise with thy attendant Maenads, Who, all night long. Celebrate thee with dances, Iacchus, the dispenser of their joys.

1115. mvp-comment-644-3 This ode has been variously arranged. The arrangement in the text is that of Böckh, with a few slight changes. a'. First strophe and antistrophe. ICICIC lululuclalalclcl luclcla 5----- 다 !トーートしcita ICICーートト β'. Second strophe and antistrophe. トCICICに The prevailing rhythm is logaoedic, with frequent syncope (or antispastic movement), long syllables in thesi, and occasional resolution both of arsis and thesis. Each strophe begins with an anacrusis.

1115. mvp-comment-644-4 πολυώνυμε Schol. ὦ Διόνυσε· οἱ μὲν γὰρ Βάκχον, οἱ δὲ Ιακχον, οἱ δὲ Λύαιον, οἱ δὲ Εὔιον, οἱ δὲ Διθύραμβον αὐτὸν καλοῦσιν. Bacchus is claimed as a Theban God, and at the same time, the wide extent of his dominion is celebrated.

1115. mvp-comment-644-5 ἄγαλμα Delight, or Glory. The word expresses the pride taken by a mother in her child. Plat. Tim. 37 D, τῶν ἀϊδίων θεῶν γεγονὸς ἄγαλμα: Eur. Suppl. 370, ματέρος ἄγαλμα.

1118. mvp-comment-645-1 κλυτὰν .. Ἰταλίαν The mention of Italy is singular, but hardly more so than that of Naxos in connection with Dionysus. The aim of the song being to celebrate the universality of his empire, it is not wonderful that allusion should be made to Italy, quam gravidae fruges et Bacchi Massicus humor Implevere, Virg. Georg. 2. 143. And if Italy was mentioned by Sophocles in the Triptolemus in connection with Demeter, why not here in connection with Bacchus? Fr. 540 N. Ut.. Sophocles poeta in fabula Triptolemo frumentum Italicum ante cuncta laudaverit, ad verbum translata sententia Et fortunatam Italiam frumento canere candido. Plin. H. N. 18. 12. Some edd. substitute Ἰκαρίαν, an eastward deme of Attica, and a seat of Dionysiac worship.

1120. mvp-comment-646-1 In the all-receiving bosom of Eleusinian Demeter;' i. e. In the vale of Eleusis, where the mystae from all parts of Greece were received. Cp. Pind. Ol. 14. 23, κόλποις Πίσας: Hdt. 4.99, κόλπου . . ἀγομένου τῆς γῆς ταύτης, and esp. Aristoph. Ran. 373, χώρει νυν πᾶς ἀνδρείως | ἐς τοὺς εὐανθεῖς κόλπους | λειμώνων, κ.τ.λ.

1123-1124. mvp-comment-647-1 παρ' ὑγρὸν Ἰσμηνοῦ ῥεῖθρον] Some have preferred, chiefly for metrical reasons, the Triclinian reading παρ᾽ ὑγρῶν .. ῥεέθρων, for which compare supr. 1. 966.

1125. mvp-comment-648-1 ἐπί Cp. Τr. 356, τἀπὶ Λυδοῖς.

1126-1127. mvp-comment-649-1 στέροψ.. λιγνύς The blinding torch-flame hath beheld. There is an opposition of sound rather than of sense in στέροψ ὄπωπε. Cp. Eur. Phoen. 226, ὦ λάμπουσα πέτρα πυρὸς | δικόρυφον σέλας ὑπὲρ ἄκρων | Βακχείων Διονύσου, where the succeeding lines also deserve to be compared with the description of Mount Parnassus in this passage. The fabled fire on Mount Parnassus was commonly explained of the torches of the Maenads, and seems to have been so understood by Sophocles.

1128. mvp-comment-650-1 Κωρύκιαι So named from the Corycian cave on Mount Parnassus. Aesch. Eum. 22, σέβω δὲ νύμφας, ἔνθα Κωρυκὶς πέτρα, | κοίλη, φίλορνις, δαιμόνων ἀναστροφαί.

1130. mvp-comment-651-1 Κασταλίας.. νᾶμα (1) Sc.

1130. mvp-comment-651-2 ὄπωπέ σε, or (2) ἔνθα Κασταλίας νᾶμα, sc. ἐστί. Probably the latter (2).

1131-1136. mvp-comment-652-1 Νυσαίων. ἀγυιάς Bacchus is imagined as leaving the throng of revellers, who follow in his train along the Nysaean slopes in Euboea, and as crossing the sounding frith' (1. 1145) to visit the streets of Thebes.

1133. mvp-comment-653-1 χλωρά Lustrous with fresh green. The word suggests the richness of young vegetation, especially of the vine. See Essay on Language p. 103. Stephanus in Νύσαι .. δεκάτη ἐν Εὐβοίᾳ, ἔνθα διὰ μιᾶς ἡμέρας τὴν ἄμπελόν φασιν ἀνθεῖν, καὶ τὸν βότρυν πεπαίνεσθαι.

1134. mvp-comment-654-1 By adding *τῶν in this line, and reading ῥεῖθρον in 1124, we obtain ーーム, a diiambus followed by an epitritus, and a trochee or spondee.

1140. mvp-comment-655-1 νύν, νῦν, as in Pindar.

1141. mvp-comment-656-1 έχεται Cp. Plat. Legg. 10. 887 Ε, ἐν συμφοραῖς παντοίαις ἐχομένων.

1141. mvp-comment-656-2 ἐπὶ νόσου] See Essay on Language § 19. p. 27.

1143. mvp-comment-657-1 μολεῖν

Der Inf. giebt etwas kindlich frommes.

Wecklein.

1146-1147. mvp-comment-658-1 πῦρ πνεόντων *ἄστρων χοραγέ*] Cp. Ar. Ran. 341-342, Ιακχ᾽, ὦ Ιακχε, νυκτέρου τελετῆς φωσφόρος ἀστήρ. Bacchus is lord and leader of the sights and sounds of night. The stars in their courses hold revel with his torchbearers: the voices of the night are wakened by their shouting. This is more probable than an allusion to the mystical notion that Bacchus was an impersonation of the sun. I have ventured to retain καί, transposing the two preceding words and scanning πνεόντων as a spondee by synizesis.

1146-1147. mvp-comment-658-2 πυρπνεόντων may be taken as a compound. Cp. Hom. Il. 7. 310, άελπτεοντες.

1149. mvp-comment-659-1 παῖ Διὸς γένεθλον i.e. as Hermann says, παῖ Διὸς γεγώς. Ever youthful offspring of Zeus.

1150. mvp-comment-660-1 Ναξίαις i.e. From Ariadne's island.

1152. mvp-comment-661-1 τὸν ταμίαν The word ταμίας, as appears from its use in Pindar, had in Doric Greek the special meaning of Lord (cp. the Anglo-Saxon Hlafford): and may have been a favourite attribute of Bacchus in this sense.

1156. mvp-comment-662-1 στάντα (1) The participle is to be taken closely with the adjective = τινὰ στάσιν ἔχοντα, as in the gloss of V. There is no present position of a human life, in which I would praise it, or find fault with it. Cp. Phil. 174, ἐπὶ παντί τῳ χρείας ἱσταμένῳ, where the participle is similarly added in epexegesis. Or, χώρας] χέων Ε.

1156. mvp-comment-662-2 ἐμοί, ποτέ] 1164. θάλλων] possibly, (2) No settled condition, or (3), like στάντες τ' ἐς ὀρθών, Ο. Τ. 50, No life that is in prosperity. (1) is confirmed by 1160.

1160. mvp-comment-663-1 And no one can prophesy to mortals respecting their present state:' i.e. Whether it will continue or change.

1162. mvp-comment-664-1 σώσας.. εὔθυνε There is a change from the participial construction to the indicative as well as from μὲν.. δέ τo τε: ie. σώσας agrees with the subject of ἦν, and the finite verb εὔθυνε is substituted for εὐθύνων. This is more in accordance with the growing nature of the language of Sophocles, than to suppose, with Seyffert, that σώσας begins a new sentence in apposition to, and epexegetic of, the previous clause. 1165 ff. See v. rr. Seyffert conjectures καὶ γὰρ ἡδοναὶ ὅταν προδῶσιν ἀνδρός. Cp. supr. 578, and note. On the change from plural to singular, see Essay on Language §20. p. 31. And on the inversion (ἡδονὰς προδῶσιν ἄνδρες = ἡδοναὶ προδῶσιν ἄνδρας), ibid. § 42. p. 80, β. In favour of the reading of the MSS. it must be admitted that the plural ἄνδρες, in this pronominal sense, is unusual. The meaning of the MS. reading is, 'A man's pleasures, when they have deserted him, I hold of no account.' But this does not agree with the concluding lines of the speech. Line 1167 had been dropped, and then l. 1166 was altered so as to make sense.

1168. mvp-comment-665-1 πλουτεῖ.. καὶ ζῇ This is the first hand of L, and the words are so quoted by Athenaeus according to some MSS. I have always felt that the transition to the second person imperative (which has been suggested by εἰ βούλει) was somewhat harsh. The present indicative is sometimes used in putting a hypothetical case: (Plat. Theaet. 192 Ε, Σωκράτης ἐπιγιγνώσκει Θεόδωρον καὶ Θεαίτητον, ὁρᾷ δὲ μηδέτερον. So the aor. indicative in Hdt. 7. 10, καὶ δὴ καὶ συνήνεικε ἤτοι κατὰ γῆν ἢ καὶ κατὰ θάλασσαν ἑσσωθῆναι, κ.τ.λ.) And the conversational use of εἰ βούλει (which assists the expression) is too familiar to need illustration. See L. and S. s. v. βούλομαι, 11. 2.

1171. mvp-comment-666-1 πρὸς τὴν ἡδονήν resumes and supplements τὸ χαίρειν. Essay on Language § 40. p. 75.

1173. mvp-comment-667-1 αἴτιοι θανεῖν Sc. τοὺς τεθνηκότας. 'Are guilty guilty of their death.

1175. mvp-comment-668-1 αὐτόχειρ On the indefiniteness of the compounds of αὐτός, see Essay on Language p. 101. This word, as here used, is extended from meaning By his own hand, to mean By unnatural violence. See above, l. 172 , and cp. the Latin parricida.

1177. mvp-comment-669-1 φόνου For the death of Antigone. This is better than φόνῳ, which, however, might mean In a murderous way, i.e. ξὺν φόνῳ. Cp. 1. 1233.

1178. mvp-comment-670-1 ἤνυσας Didst fulfil; i.e. How true it was, and how thou hast fulfilled it! Early language supposes a causal connection between the prophecy and the event. See on O. T. 156, 720. And for ὀρθόν, ibid. 853

1182. mvp-comment-671-1 κλύουσα παιδός Essay on Language § 9. p. 13. 1184-1185. Ср. О. T. 911 ff., El. 634 ff.

1186. mvp-comment-672-1 κλῇθρ᾽ ἀνασπαστοῦ πύλης Said by prolepsis and hypallage for τὴν πύλην, τῶν κλήθρων ἀνασπωμένων, with the same confusion between the door and the fastening which occurs elsewhere. I was opening the door, having drawn the bolt.

1191. mvp-comment-673-1 Here, and infr. 1203, 1312, as well as probably supr. 993, the death of Creon's son Megareus, elsewhere called Menoeceus, is alluded to.

1192. mvp-comment-674-1 παρών 'As an eye-witness of the fact. See Essay on Language § 32. P. 55.

1194. mvp-comment-675-1 ὧν Sc. τούτοις τοῖς ἔπεσι, περὶ ὧν. Essay on Language § 9. p. 13.

1195. mvp-comment-676-1 ὀρθὸν .. ἀεί Truth is always safe: i. e. never hurts him who tells it.

1197. mvp-comment-677-1 νηλεές Uncared for. О. Т. 180, νηλέα .. κεῖται ἀνοίκτως.

1199. mvp-comment-678-1 ἐνοδίαν θεόν Probably Hecate. Cp. Fr. 490. πῦρ ἱερόν, | τῆς εἰνοδίας Ἑκάτης ἔγχος.

1200. mvp-comment-679-1 εὐμενεῖς Supplementary predicate, agreeing with θεών and Πλούτωνα : i.e. ὥστε εὐμενεῖς εἶναι.

1201. mvp-comment-680-1 ἐν νεοσπάσιν θαλλοῖς This probably had a ceremonial importance. Cp. O. C. 466, foll., especially l. 474, θαλλοῖσιν, ἢ κρόκαισιν, ἢ ποίῳ τρόπῳ;

1202. mvp-comment-681-1 ὃ δὴ λέλειπτο resumes τὸν μέν with greater definiteness, and repeats what is implied in κυνοσπάρακτον. συγκατήθομεν implies that scattered fragments were collected.

1203. mvp-comment-682-1 For the feeling of οἰκείας, cp. Ο. C. 406, ἢ καὶ κατασκιῶσι Θηβαίᾳ κόνει; 1206-1207. And ere we came near one heard the voice of shrill lamentings in the neighbourhood of the unhallowed cell.'

1207. mvp-comment-683-1 ἀκτέριστον.. παστάδα The unhallowed vault. Lit. The narrow cell, not consecrated by funeral rites.'

1209. mvp-comment-684-1 τῷ δ᾽. ἆσσον And as he came nearer, an undistinguishable crying filled his ears. See Essay on Language § 10. p. 17, and for περιβαίνει, cp. Hom. Od. 6. 122, ἀμφήλυθε θήλυς ἀϋτή.

1210. mvp-comment-685-1 In the phrase άσσον ἕρπειν, To draw near, ἆσσον, which was a rare word in Attic, lost something of the comparative meaning. Hence the double comparative.

1211. mvp-comment-686-1 δυσθρήνητον Lamentable. For the apparently active use of the verbal, see Essay on Language p. 98.

1212. mvp-comment-687-1 ἆρ᾽ εἰμὶ μάντις; 'Are my heart's forebodings true?' i.e. Must I believe what my heart is telling me?

1213. mvp-comment-688-1 τῶν παρελθουσῶν ὁδῶν Cp. О. С. 1397.

1214. mvp-comment-689-1 σαίνει It has been supposed that this word reverts to its original meaning as a derivative of σείω, being used actively in the sense of To thrill.' But it is more in accordance with analogy to suppose that it has passed through the following changes of meaning: (1) to move frequently: (2) to wag the tail; σαίνειν οὔρῃ: (3) to make signs of recognition, to greet: (4) to touch with a feeling of recognition. See Essay on Language p. 99 (ὄμμα).

1216. mvp-comment-690-1 In preparing the vault, an opening had been left, through which the victim was thrust into the chamber. This opening was then roughly closed with stones. (1) Through these Haemon had passionately torn his way. And the cleft so made by him is the ἁρμὸς χώματος λιθοσπαδής. Entering within the closure from which the stones have been torn, even to the very mouth of the vault. Or (2), supposing a prolepsis, Pulling out the stones and entering.

1219. mvp-comment-691-1 ἐξ ἀθύμου δεσπότου κελεύσμασιν On hearing our despairing lord and at his bidding. Cp. supr. l. 957. Haemon, on rushing in, had found Antigone already dead by her own act.

1222. mvp-comment-692-1 καθημμένην Fastened, sc. to the roof. Those who read καθειμένην must have understood it to mean let down, i.e. suspended. The muslin noose of fine tissue is the maiden's veil, the βύσσινον πέπλωμα of Aesch. S. c. T. 1039.

1225. mvp-comment-693-1 Lamenting the ruin of his bridal, that was only to be found in death (τῆς κάτω).' λέχος] Bride.

1228. mvp-comment-694-1 τίνα νοῦν ἔσχες What design possessed you?

1229. mvp-comment-695-1 ἐν τῷ.. διεφθάρης At what point of calamity did you go mad? Cp. Hom. Il. 15. 128, μαινόμενε, φρένας ἠλέ, διέφθορας: Eur. Hell. 1192, λύπῃ σὰς διέφθαρσαι φρένας;

1231. mvp-comment-696-1 τόν is governed by πτύσας ('Abhorring,' i.e. expressing abhorrence of, cp. 1. 653) as well as by παπτήνας, ='Glaring wildly upon.' 1232. It is not clear whether Aristotle means to find fault with this when he says that Knowingly to intend evil, and not perform it, is at once abominable and without tragic interest;' διόπερ οὐδεὶς ποιεῖ ὁμοίως, εἰ μὴ ὀλιγάκις, οἷον ἐν Ἀντιγόνῃ τὸν Κρέοντα ὁ Αἵμων, Poet. 1453 b. But he clearly had not anticipated the refinement of the Scholiast and some modern critics, who think that Haemon only meditated suicide, and that his action is misunderstood by the messenger who reports the circumstance. Cp. supr. 751.

1231. mvp-comment-696-2 ξίφους Seyffert thinks that the Laurentian reading points to βέλους with ξίφους as a gloss. But although the generic word is used in Aj. 658, τόδ' ἔγχος τοὐμόν, ἔχθιστον βελῶν, it would be out of place here.

1233. mvp-comment-697-1 ξίφους διπλοῦς κνώδοντας Probably, the double-hilted sword.

1235. mvp-comment-698-1 ἐπενταθείς 'Stretching himself over it, i. e. Falling upon his sword.

1236-1237. mvp-comment-699-1 He clung to the maiden, enfolding her in his slackening arm. The construction of ἐς .. ἀγκῶνα is as if λαμβάνει, or some such verb, were to follow. 6

1236. mvp-comment-700-1 ἤρεισε.. μέσσον Drove the blade right into his side. See on O. C. 1595. Essay on Language § 51. p. 85.

1238. mvp-comment-701-1 πνοήν, which the Scholiast read, is at once a harder reading than ῥοήν, and harmonizes better with the context. And panting hard, he cast on her pale cheek sharp breath of gory dew.' Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1388: Essay on Language § 10. p. 17.

1241. mvp-comment-702-1 εἰν ῞Αιδου δόμοις The particle γε, which Heath introduced, reading ἔν γ', is defended by Seyffert: Apud inferos saltem, inquit poeta, nactus est Haemon nuptias rite confectas, quarum vivus expers fuit: in complexu tenet mortuam mortuus (v. 1235, sq.). But iv, the reading of L², is supported by the other Epic forms which occur in the play. See Introd., and cp. the Homeric καὶ εἰν Ἀίδαο δόμοισι.

1244-1245. mvp-comment-703-1 Cp. the silent exit of Jocasta, O. T. 1075, and of Deianira, Tr. 813.

Sophocles Antigone 248

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Chorus

1244 Quidnam hoc esse coniicias? Mulier rursus e conspectu evasit, priusquam locuta est boni vel mali quidquam.

Current edition Experimental

CHOR.

Wer ist der Mörder? welcher liegt gefallen? sprich!

MESS

Well, we may learn, if there be aught unseen

Suppressed within her grief-distempered soul,

By going within the palace. Ye say well:
1255

There is a danger, even in too much silence.

Was ist's, warum befiel dich solche Bangigkeit?

Der Wächter.

Erst laß dir sagen, was mich selbst betrifft: die That

Verübt' ich nicht, noch sah ich, wer der Thäter war;

Und nur mit Unrecht widerführe mir ein Leid.
240

Kreon.

Du zielst behutsam und verschanzest dich geschickt

Ringsher; du bringst uns, seh' ich wohl, ein schweres Wort.

Der Wächter.

Das Arge freilich regt die Furcht gewaltig auf.

Kreon.

Nun, wirst du reden endlich und dann weiter geh'n?

Der Wächter.

Wohlan, so sag' ich's: Einer, der sofort verschwand,
245

Begrub den Todten eben, hat mit trocknem Staub

Bestreut den Leichnam, und geweiht, was üblich ist.

Kreon.

Was sagst du? Wer auf Erden hat sich deß erkühnt?

Der Chor.

Messenger

Within we soon shall know if aught she hide

Of deadly purport in her angry soul ;

For well thou sayst her silence is most dreadful.

KREON

Io! unsinnige Sinne!

Harte Fehle!

Tödtliche! O tödtend und
1320

Getödtet sehn wir Blutsfreunde.

Io! mir! über meinen armen Rathschlägen.

Io! Kind! Frühzeitig gestorben !

Weh! Weh! Weh!

Gestorben bist du, geschieden ,
1325

Durch meine, nicht deine Thorheit.

Messenger

I, too, am startled; yet I nourish the hope that, at these sore tidings of her son, she cannot deign to give her sorrow public vent, but in the privacy of the house will set her handmaids to mourn the household 1250 grief. For she is not untaught of discretion, that she should err.

Commentary

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Chorus 1244 Quidnam hoc esse coniicias? Mulier rursus e conspectu evasit, priusquam locuta est boni vel mali quidquam.

Current edition Experimental

CHOR. Wer ist der Mörder? welcher liegt gefallen? sprich!

MESS Well, we may learn, if there be aught unseen Suppressed within her grief-distempered soul, By going within the palace. Ye say well: 1255 There is a danger, even in too much silence.

Was ist's, warum befiel dich solche Bangigkeit?

Der Wächter. Erst laß dir sagen, was mich selbst betrifft: die That Verübt' ich nicht, noch sah ich, wer der Thäter war; Und nur mit Unrecht widerführe mir ein Leid. 240

Kreon. Du zielst behutsam und verschanzest dich geschickt Ringsher; du bringst uns, seh' ich wohl, ein schweres Wort.

Der Wächter. Das Arge freilich regt die Furcht gewaltig auf.

Kreon. Nun, wirst du reden endlich und dann weiter geh'n?

Der Wächter. Wohlan, so sag' ich's: Einer, der sofort verschwand, 245 Begrub den Todten eben, hat mit trocknem Staub Bestreut den Leichnam, und geweiht, was üblich ist.

Kreon. Was sagst du? Wer auf Erden hat sich deß erkühnt?

Der Chor.

Messenger Within we soon shall know if aught she hide Of deadly purport in her angry soul ; For well thou sayst her silence is most dreadful.

KREON Io! unsinnige Sinne! Harte Fehle! Tödtliche! O tödtend und 1320 Getödtet sehn wir Blutsfreunde. Io! mir! über meinen armen Rathschlägen. Io! Kind! Frühzeitig gestorben ! Weh! Weh! Weh! Gestorben bist du, geschieden , 1325 Durch meine, nicht deine Thorheit.

Messenger I, too, am startled; yet I nourish the hope that, at these sore tidings of her son, she cannot deign to give her sorrow public vent, but in the privacy of the house will set her handmaids to mourn the household 1250 grief. For she is not untaught of discretion, that she should err.

Commentary

Stable identifiers

Chorus

1244 Quidnam hoc esse coniicias? Mulier rursus e conspectu evasit, priusquam locuta est boni vel mali quidquam.

CHOR.

Wer ist der Mörder? welcher liegt gefallen? sprich!

MESS

Well, we may learn, if there be aught unseen

Suppressed within her grief-distempered soul,

By going within the palace. Ye say well:
1255

There is a danger, even in too much silence.

Der Wächter.

Erst laß dir sagen, was mich selbst betrifft: die That

Verübt' ich nicht, noch sah ich, wer der Thäter war;

Und nur mit Unrecht widerführe mir ein Leid.
240

Kreon.

Du zielst behutsam und verschanzest dich geschickt

Ringsher; du bringst uns, seh' ich wohl, ein schweres Wort.

Der Wächter.

Das Arge freilich regt die Furcht gewaltig auf.

Kreon.

Nun, wirst du reden endlich und dann weiter geh'n?

Der Wächter.

Wohlan, so sag' ich's: Einer, der sofort verschwand,
245

Begrub den Todten eben, hat mit trocknem Staub

Bestreut den Leichnam, und geweiht, was üblich ist.

Kreon.

Was sagst du? Wer auf Erden hat sich deß erkühnt?

Messenger

Within we soon shall know if aught she hide

Of deadly purport in her angry soul ;

For well thou sayst her silence is most dreadful.

KREON

Io! unsinnige Sinne!

Harte Fehle!

Tödtliche! O tödtend und
1320

Getödtet sehn wir Blutsfreunde.

Io! mir! über meinen armen Rathschlägen.

Io! Kind! Frühzeitig gestorben !

Weh! Weh! Weh!

Gestorben bist du, geschieden ,
1325

Durch meine, nicht deine Thorheit.

Messenger

I, too, am startled; yet I nourish the hope that, at these sore tidings of her son, she cannot deign to give her sorrow public vent, but in the privacy of the house will set her handmaids to mourn the household 1250 grief. For she is not untaught of discretion, that she should err.