Sophocles Antigone 1293

mvp-comment-142-1 ἦν … οὑξειργ. ¹

mvp-comment-142-2 ἐναργής ²

mvp-comment-142-3 ἀλλ’ ³

mvp-comment-142-4 ἕφευγε μὴ εἰδέναι ⁴

mvp-comment-142-5 μὴ ⁵ εἰδέναι ⁶

mvp-comment-143-1 μύδρους ⁷

mvp-comment-143-2 a red-hot mass of metal, and that the custom was symbolical of an older use of the

in ordeals by fire. This would explain how the Alexandrian poets of the 3rd cent. B.C. (Lycophron, Callimachus) came to use the word , in defiance of its etymology, as simply ‘a lump’ (or even ‘a stone’). They supposed that the had been cold masses.

mvp-comment-144-1 πῦρ διέρπειν ⁸

mvp-comment-144-2 θεοὺς ὁρκ. ¹⁰

mvp-comment-144-3 τὸ μήτε δρ ¹¹

mvp-comment-144-4 μήτ’ είργασμένῳ ¹² μηδ ¹³

mvp-comment-145-1 πλέον ¹⁴

mvp-comment-145-2 λέγει ¹⁵

mvp-comment-145-3 τις εἷς ¹⁶

mvp-comment-146-1 προὔτρεψεν ¹⁷

mvp-comment-146-2 οὐ γὰρ εἴχομεν ¹⁸

mvp-comment-146-3 As ἀντιφωνεῖν ¹⁹ δρῶντες ²⁰ ὅπως δρῶντες ²¹ εἴχομεν ²²

mvp-comment-147-1 σοί ²³

mvp-comment-147-2 ταῦτ’ ἐνίκα ²⁴

mvp-comment-147-3 πάλος ²⁵ καθαιρεῖ ²⁶

mvp-comment-147-4 τἀγαθόν ²⁷ —ἄκων οὐχ ἑκοῦσιν ²⁸

mvp-comment-148-1 ἐμοί ²⁹ βουλεύει ³⁰ μή ³¹

mvp-comment-148-2 τι ³²

mvp-comment-148-3 θεήλατον, ³³

mvp-comment-148-4 ἡ ξύννοια ³⁴

mvp-comment-148-5 πάλαι ³⁵

mvp-comment-149-1 πρὶν ὀργῆς καί με μεστῶσαι ³⁶ καί ³⁷ πρίν ³⁸ μεστῶσαι ³⁹ καί ⁴⁰ με ⁴¹

mvp-comment-149-2 κἀμέ ⁴²

mvp-comment-149-3 μεστῶσαι ⁴³

mvp-comment-150-1 πότερον ⁴⁴ ἔκρυπτον ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-150-2 ἀμφικίονας ναούς ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-150-3 κἀναθήματα ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-150-4 Her. 1.50 ; Thuc. 6.46 ; Isae. or. 7 § 41.) The wealth of Delphi in

is already proverbial in Il. 9.404 ; at Thebes the ( O. T. 21 ) also seems to have been rich in them. After the gen. denotes either (as more oft.), or, as here, the divine owner.

mvp-comment-150-5 γῆν ἐκείνων ⁴⁸ πυρώσων ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-150-6 νόμους διασκεδῶν ⁵⁰

mvp-comment-150-7 διασκεδῶν ⁵¹

mvp-comment-151-1 τοὺς κακοὺς τιμῶντας … θεούς; ⁵²

mvp-comment-152-1 ταῦτα ⁵³ μόλις φέροντες ⁵⁴ καὶ πάλαι ⁵⁵

mvp-comment-152-2 πόλεως ἄνδρες ⁵⁶

mvp-comment-152-3 ἐρρόθουν ⁵⁷

mvp-comment-152-4 ἐμοί ⁵⁸

mvp-comment-152-5 κάρα σείοντες ⁵⁹

mvp-comment-152-6 ὑπὸ ζυγῷ ⁶⁰

mvp-comment-152-7 λόφον ⁶¹

mvp-comment-152-8 δικαίως ⁶²

mvp-comment-152-9 equal poise’ ( New Crat. 371).—

( O. T. 84 ): στέργειν ⁶³

mvp-comment-153-1 τῶνδε ⁶⁴ ἐκ ⁶⁵

mvp-comment-153-2 τούτους, ⁶⁶

mvp-comment-153-3 εἰργάσθαι ⁶⁷ ἐξεπίσταμαι ⁶⁸ παρηγμένους ⁶⁹

mvp-comment-154-1 νόμισμ’ ⁷⁰

mvp-comment-154-2 ἔβλαστε ⁷¹

mvp-comment-154-3 πορθεῖ ⁷²

mvp-comment-154-4 τόδ’ ⁷³ ἄνδρας ⁷⁴

mvp-comment-155-1 τόδ’ ἐκδ. καὶ παραλλάσσει ⁷⁵ ἵστασθαι ⁷⁶ καὶ παραλλάσσει ⁷⁷

mvp-comment-155-2 ἵστασθαι πρός τι ⁷⁸

mvp-comment-156-1 πανουργίας … ἔχειν ⁷⁹

mvp-comment-156-2 εἰδέναι ⁸⁰ παντὸς ἔργου δυσσέβ. ⁸¹ παντὸς ἔργ ⁸² πανουργίας ⁸³

mvp-comment-157-1 ἤνυσαν ⁸⁴

mvp-comment-157-2 χρόνῳ ποτέ ⁸⁵ δοῦναι δίκην ⁸⁶

mvp-comment-157-3 ἐξέπραξαν ὡς ⁸⁷

mvp-comment-158-1 Ζεύς ⁸⁸

mvp-comment-158-2 ὅρκιος ⁸⁹

mvp-comment-158-3 τὸν αὐτόχειρα ⁹⁰ τάφου = ταφῆς ⁹¹

mvp-comment-159-1 μοῦνος ⁹² πρὶν ἂν . . δηλώσητε ⁹³ κρεμαστοί ⁹⁴ ζῶντες κρεμαστοί ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-159-2 δηλώσηθ’ ⁹⁶

mvp-comment-159-3 ὕβριν ⁹⁷

mvp-comment-160-1 ἵν’ … ἁρπάζητε ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-160-2 τὸ κέρδος ⁹⁹ ἔνθεν οἰστέον ¹⁰⁰

mvp-comment-160-3 μάθηθ’ ¹⁰¹

mvp-comment-160-4 ἐξ ἅπαντος ¹⁰² τὸ κερδαίνειν ¹⁰³

mvp-comment-160-5

. In O. C. 807

ἑξ ἅπαντος εὖ λέγει

=speaks well on any theme (starting from anything).

mvp-comment-161-1 τι ¹⁰⁴

mvp-comment-161-2 δέ ¹⁰⁵ δώσεις ¹⁰⁶

mvp-comment-161-3 οὕτως ¹⁰⁷

mvp-comment-161-4 ἴω ¹⁰⁸

mvp-comment-161-5 καὶ νῦν ὡς ¹⁰⁹ ἀνιαρῶς ¹¹⁰ ι— ¹¹¹

mvp-comment-162-1 ἐν ¹¹² ὠσίν ¹¹³

mvp-comment-162-2 ἐπί ¹¹⁴

mvp-comment-163-1 τί δὲ ¹¹⁵ τί δαὶ ¹¹⁶

mvp-comment-163-2 ῥυθμίζεις ¹¹⁷ ὅπου ¹¹⁸ ὅπου ¹¹⁹

mvp-comment-164-1 τὰς φρένας...τὰ δ’ ὦτ’ ¹²⁰ σε ¹²¹

mvp-comment-164-2 οἴμ’ ὡς ¹²²

mvp-comment-164-3 λάλημα ¹²³ ἄλημα ¹²⁴ ἄλημα ¹²⁵

mvp-comment-164-4 δῆλον, ¹²⁶

mvp-comment-165-1 ‘At any rate (

—babbler or not) I certainly have not done this deed.’ εἰμί ¹²⁷ οὔκουν … γε ¹²⁸

mvp-comment-166-1 ‘Yes, (you have done it,) and that, too, at the cost of betraying,’ etc. The particle γε ¹²⁹ καὶ ταῦτα ¹³⁰ προδούς ¹³¹

mvp-comment-167-1 ἦ δεινόν ¹³² καὶ ¹³³ γε ¹³⁴

mvp-comment-168-1 κόμψευε . . τὴν δόξαν ¹³⁵

mvp-comment-168-2 τὴν δόξαν ¹³⁶

mvp-comment-168-3

(the of which you speak), not merely, ‘the word .’ If the v. l. (see cr. n.) was intended to mean the latter, it should have been

mvp-comment-168-4 νυν ¹³⁷ νῦν ¹³⁸ ταῦτα … τοὺς δρῶντας = τοὺς ταῦτα δρῶντας ¹³⁹

mvp-comment-169-1 δειλά ¹⁴⁰

mvp-comment-169-2 δεινά ¹⁴¹ ν ¹⁴²

mvp-comment-170-1 ἀλλ’ ¹⁴³ εὑρεθείη ¹⁴⁴ καὶ ¹⁴⁵

mvp-comment-171-1 καὶ ¹⁴⁶ γάρ ¹⁴⁷

mvp-comment-171-2 γνώμης ¹⁴⁸

mvp-comment-173-1 πολλὰ … κοὐδέν ¹⁴⁹

mvp-comment-173-2 καί ¹⁵⁰

mvp-comment-173-3 τὰ δεινά ¹⁵¹

mvp-comment-174-1 τοῦτο ¹⁵² πέραν ¹⁵³ πέρα ¹⁵⁴

mvp-comment-175-1 χειμερίῳ νότῳ ¹⁵⁵

mvp-comment-176-1 περιβρ … ὑπ’ οἴδμασιν ¹⁵⁶

mvp-comment-177-1 ὑπερτάταν ¹⁵⁷

mvp-comment-178-1 ἀκαμάταν ¹⁵⁸

mvp-comment-178-2 ἀποτρύεται ¹⁵⁹

mvp-comment-179-1 ἰλλομένων ἀρότρων, ¹⁶⁰ ἀρότων ¹⁶¹

mvp-comment-179-2 ἔτος εἰς ἔτος ¹⁶² εἰς ¹⁶³

mvp-comment-180-1 ἱππείῳ γένει ¹⁶⁴

mvp-comment-180-2 πολεύων ¹⁶⁵ τοῦτο ¹⁶⁶

mvp-comment-181-1 Man's conquests over the animal world are here taken in two groups. First, those of which the primary aim is to kill or to capture. Here the means is netting (

), in its threefold sporting use, as applied to fowling ( ), hunting ( ), and fishing ( ). Secondly, those conquests which aim at reducing wild animals to man's service. These are effected by (349),— arts of taming and training. And their result is aptly expressed by the word

mvp-comment-181-2

: here, man is not merely the slayer or captor; he becomes the master of docile toilers. The horse and the bull are types.

mvp-comment-181-3 Thus, in this ode, the scale of achievement ever ascends: man (1) conquers inanimate nature: (2) makes animals his captives: (3) trains them to be his servants: (4) develops his own social and intellectual life.

mvp-comment-181-4 κουφονόων ¹⁶⁷

mvp-comment-181-5 ἀμφιβαλὼν ¹⁶⁸

mvp-comment-182-1 πόντου … εἰναλίαν φύσιν ¹⁶⁹

mvp-comment-183-1 περιφραδής ¹⁷⁰

mvp-comment-184-1 μηχαναῖς ¹⁷¹ ἀγραύλου ¹⁷² ὀρεσσιβάτα ¹⁷³

mvp-comment-185-1 λασιαύχενά θ’ ¹⁷⁴

mvp-comment-186-1 ὀχμάζεται ¹⁷⁵ ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῶν ¹⁷⁶

mvp-comment-186-2 Rhod. 1. 743

. The midd. voice does not occur elsewhere; but this cannot be regarded as an objection, when we remember how many rare middle forms occur in the dramatists. Thus in O. C. 244 is a solitary example of that verb in the midd., and if the license could be taken with so common a word, much more might it be allowed with a comparatively rare one. Blaydes writes : but the Ms. indicates that the verb, whatever it was, was of the midd. form. was published by G. Schöne in 1833, and by Franz in 1846: they appear to have made the conjecture independently. Donaldson (1848) printed , and seems to ascribe to Franz and Schöne; though Franz, at least, proposed has been revived (seemingly without knowledge of a predecessor) by H. Schütz (1886). Sophocles would write , and thus changes no letter. Aesch. used the fut. (fr. 110), and Soph. has the verbal ( El. 702 ). To it may be objected that, being clear, it was not likely to become - : but, when had once been written, (or ) would easily become . As to the schol. on ,—it cannot fairly be urged for (or for any partic.), since it may be merely a paraphrase of .—Schütz's ἐφέζεται ¹⁷⁷

mvp-comment-187-1 φθέγμα ¹⁷⁸

mvp-comment-187-2 beginnings of speech...Speech is the development, through imitation, of a capacity of man—the capacity of making a noise.’ This is quite compatible with

mvp-comment-187-3 ἀνεμόεν φρόνημα ¹⁷⁹

mvp-comment-188-1 ἀστυνόμους ὀργάς ¹⁸⁰

mvp-comment-189-1 ἐδιδάξατο ¹⁸¹

mvp-comment-190-1 πάγων ¹⁸²

mvp-comment-190-2 ἐναίθρεια ¹⁸³

mvp-comment-190-3 βέλη ¹⁸⁵

mvp-comment-191-1 παντοπόρος ¹⁸⁶

mvp-comment-191-2

( ), nothing that is to be (cp. the absolute ). So Plat. Lach. 197 A . This negative form is as correct as (though actually rarer than) the positive ( Plat. Rep. 381A ) for . Donaldson took adverbially: ‘in regard to the future, he comes to nothing without resources.’ Cp. 728 , , where is subst., not adv.

mvp-comment-192-1 μόνον ¹⁸⁷ μόνου ¹⁸⁸ φεῦξιν — ἐπάξεται ¹⁸⁹

mvp-comment-193-1 ἀμηχάνων ¹⁹⁰

mvp-comment-193-2 φυγάς ¹⁹¹

mvp-comment-193-3 ξυμπέφρασται ¹⁹²

mvp-comment-194-1 The ode closes with a more direct reference to the incident which suggested its theme. The daring ingenuity shown by the unknown breaker of Creon's edict is an instance of the subtlety which leads to ruin. The implied contrast with Creon—

by his care for the laws—is effective in view of the destined .

mvp-comment-194-2 σοφόν τι … ἔχων ¹⁹³

mvp-comment-194-3 τὸ μηχανόεν τ ¹⁹⁴

mvp-comment-195-1 τοτὲ μὲν … ἄλλοτ’ ¹⁹⁵

mvp-comment-195-2 ἐπ’ ¹⁹⁶

mvp-comment-196-1 γεραίρων ¹⁹⁷

mvp-comment-196-2 5. 67

. Ar. Th. 960 .

mvp-comment-197-1 θεῶν τ’ ἔνορκον δίκαν ¹⁹⁸

mvp-comment-198-1 ὑψίπολις ¹⁹⁹

mvp-comment-198-2 ἄπολις ²⁰⁰

mvp-comment-198-3 τὸ μὴ καλόν ²⁰¹ τόλμας χάριν ²⁰²

mvp-comment-199-1 παρέστιος ²⁰³

mvp-comment-199-2 ἴσον φρονῶν ²⁰⁴

mvp-comment-200-1 ἔρδει ²⁰⁵ ἔρδοι ²⁰⁶

mvp-comment-202-1 The choral ode has closed with an allusion to the unknown man ( ὅς ²⁰⁷ ἀμφινοῶ ²⁰⁸ ἐς ²⁰⁹

mvp-comment-202-2 δαιμόνιον τέρας ²¹⁰

mvp-comment-203-1 πῶς εἰδὼς ²¹¹

mvp-comment-203-2 ἀντιλογήσω ²¹²

mvp-comment-204-1 ὦ δύστηνος ²¹³

mvp-comment-204-2 δ. πατρός ²¹⁴

mvp-comment-204-3 Οἰδιπόδα— ²¹⁵

mvp-comment-205-1 τί ποτ’ ²¹⁶

mvp-comment-205-2 οὐ δή που ²¹⁷

mvp-comment-205-3 ἀπιστοῦσαν ²¹⁸

mvp-comment-205-4 ἄγουσι ²¹⁹

mvp-comment-205-5 colloquialism, it would be nearly as bad as, ‘Have they taken you up?’

mvp-comment-205-6 καὶ ²²⁰ ἀπιστοῦσαν ²²¹ καθελόντες ²²²

mvp-comment-206-1 Second

. Antigone, brought before Creon, avows and justifies her deed. Creon declares that she shall die. Ismene, when led in (531), associates herself with the act, but is not permitted by her sister to claim any part in it. Creon orders that both sisters shall be kept prisoners.

mvp-comment-206-2 ἐκείνη ²²³

mvp-comment-206-3 τοὔργον ἡ ’ξειργ ²²⁴

mvp-comment-207-1 ἐς δέον ²²⁵

mvp-comment-208-1 ξύμμετρος ²²⁶

mvp-comment-209-1 ἀπώμοτον ²²⁷

mvp-comment-210-1 ψεύδει ²²⁸

mvp-comment-210-2 ἡ ’πίνοια ²²⁹

mvp-comment-211-1 ἐξηύχουν ἄν ²³⁰ σχολῇ ἥξειν ποτὲ δεῦρο ²³¹

mvp-comment-211-2 σχολῇ ²³²

mvp-comment-212-1 ταῖς σαῖς ἀπειλαῖς ²³³

mvp-comment-212-2 ἐχειμάσθην ²³⁴

mvp-comment-213-1 ἡ...ἐκτὸς ²³⁵ ἐκτός ²³⁶

mvp-comment-214-1 οὐδὲν ἔοικε μῆκος ²³⁷ α+λλῃ ἡδονῇ ²³⁸ οὐδέν ²³⁹ μῆκος ²⁴⁰ ἔοικε ²⁴¹

mvp-comment-215-1 δῑ ὅρκων … ἀπώμοτος ²⁴²

mvp-comment-216-1 καθῃρέθη ²⁴³

mvp-comment-216-2 τάφον κοσμοῦσα ²⁴⁴

mvp-comment-216-3 ἐπάλλετο ²⁴⁵ ἕρμαιον ²⁴⁶

mvp-comment-217-1 κρῖνε ²⁴⁷

mvp-comment-217-2 δίκαιός εἰμι ²⁴⁸

mvp-comment-217-3 ἀπηλλάχθαι ²⁴⁹

mvp-comment-218-1 Observe the order of the words as marking his amazement. For the double interrog. cp. Il. 21.150

; Ph. 243

mvp-comment-218-2 πάντ’ ἐπίστασαι ²⁵⁰

mvp-comment-219-1 ἦ καὶ ²⁵¹

mvp-comment-219-2 ὀρθῶς ²⁵²

mvp-comment-219-3 mean to say? (Not, merely, ‘truly,’ i.e. in accordance with the fact: cp. 99 n.)

mvp-comment-220-1 τὸν νεκρόν ²⁵³

mvp-comment-221-1 ἆρ’ ἔνδηλα ²⁵⁴

mvp-comment-222-1 ὁρᾶται...ᾑρέθη ²⁵⁵

mvp-comment-222-2 ἐπίληπτος ²⁵⁶

mvp-comment-223-1 ἥκομεν ²⁵⁸

mvp-comment-224-1 τὰ δείν’ ἐκεῖν’ ²⁵⁹

mvp-comment-224-2 τὸν | νέκυν ²⁶⁰

mvp-comment-225-1 καθήμεθ’ ²⁶¹

mvp-comment-225-2 ἄκρων ἐκ πάγων ²⁶²

mvp-comment-225-3

. Here, goes with : but , however much may have influenced it, at least cannot be disjoined from . (2) Eur. Phoen. 1009

ἀλλ’ εἶμι καὶ στὰς ἐξ ἐπάλξεων ἄκρων | σφάξας ἐμαυτὸν σηκὸν εἰς μελαμβαθῆ | δράκοντος, ἔνθ’ ὁ μάντις ἐξηγήσατο, | ἐλευθερώσω γαῖαν

. It is impossible to sever from , even if we partly explain by . (3) ib. 1224

Ἐτεοκλέης δ’ ὑπῆρξ’ ἀπ’ ὀρθίου σταθεὶς | πύργου κελεύσας σῖγα κηρῦξαι στρατῷ

. The position of forbids us to sever it from , even though or is used to explain . (4) Eur. Tro. 522

ἀνὰ δ’ ἐβόασεν λεὼς | Τρῳάδος ἀπὸ πέτρας σταθείς

. A similar case. In all these passages, a picture is presented, and we have to glance from a remoter to a nearer object. The mental eye is required to measure the space between Hera on the peak of Olympus, and Poseidon on the plain of Troy; between Megareus on the walls of Thebes, and the cavern into which his corpse is to fall. And, in each case, or denotes the quarter in which the remoter object is to be looked for. This, which might be called the ‘surveying’ use, is distinct from that in which the prep. has a pregnant force, as being directly suggestive of motion ( ); but it springs from the same mental tendency,—viz., to take a rapid glance over the dividing interval. Cp. (‘on his side’). So here: in the foreground of the picture is the corpse, which they have just laid bare. Now look to the hillocks behind it; in that quarter you will see the guards at their post.—I have not cited Od. 21.419

τόν ῥ’ ἐπὶ πήχει ἑλὼν ἕλκεν νευρὴν γλυφίδας τε | αὐτόθεν ἐκ δίφροιο καθήμενος

, because there goes with , not with (he drew the bow, just from the chair, where he sat).

mvp-comment-225-4 ὑπήνεμοι ²⁶³

mvp-comment-226-1 βάλῃ ²⁶⁴

mvp-comment-227-1 ἐγερτί ²⁶⁵

mvp-comment-227-2 κινῶν ²⁶⁶

mvp-comment-227-3 ἐπιρρόθοις κακοῖσιν ²⁶⁷

mvp-comment-227-4 the adj. expressing the loud, continuous noise of tongues. The

- does not mean ‘bandied to and fro’: see Tr. 263

πολλὰ μὲν λόγοις | ἐπερρόθησε

. In fr. 521 =‘open to reproach.’ Elsewhere (as with Aesch.) = ‘helper’ ( , to come with shouts to the rescue). Cp. 259 n., Aesch. 290.

mvp-comment-228-1 ἀκηδήσοι ²⁶⁸ ἀφειδήσοι ²⁶⁹

mvp-comment-229-1 The incident of the storm was a dramatic necessity, to account for Antigone reaching the corpse unobserved. A powerful picture is compressed into seven lines. (Cp. O. C. 1315 ff. for a like instance of self-restraint in description.)

mvp-comment-230-1 κατέστη ²⁷⁰

mvp-comment-230-2 χθονὸς ²⁷¹

mvp-comment-231-1 τυφώς ²⁷² σκηπτός ²⁷³

mvp-comment-231-2 οὐράνιον ἄχος ²⁷⁴

mvp-comment-232-1 πίμπλησι ²⁷⁵ αἰκίζων ²⁷⁶

mvp-comment-232-2 ἐν δ’ ἐμεστ ²⁷⁷

mvp-comment-233-1 μύσαντες ²⁷⁸

mvp-comment-233-2 νόσον ²⁷⁹

mvp-comment-233-3 ἐν χρ. μακρ ²⁸⁰

mvp-comment-234-1 πικρᾶς ²⁸¹

mvp-comment-235-1 εὐνῆς...λέχος ²⁸²

mvp-comment-236-1 οὕτω δέ ²⁸³

mvp-comment-236-2 ψιλόν ²⁸⁴

mvp-comment-237-1 γόοισιν ἐξῴμωξεν ²⁸⁵

mvp-comment-237-2 ἐκ δ’ … ἠρᾶτο ²⁸⁶

mvp-comment-237-3 διψίαν ²⁸⁷

mvp-comment-238-1 φέρει κόνιν ²⁸⁸

mvp-comment-239-1 The πρόχους ²⁸⁹

mvp-comment-239-2 εὐκρότητος ²⁹⁰

mvp-comment-239-3 ἄρδην ²⁹¹

mvp-comment-240-1 χοαῖσι ²⁹²

mvp-comment-240-2 τρισπόνδ. ²⁹³ στέφει ²⁹⁴

mvp-comment-241-1 ἱέμεσθα ²⁹⁵

mvp-comment-241-2 σὺν δὲ … θηρώμεθ’ ²⁹⁶

mvp-comment-242-1 ἠλέγχομεν ²⁹⁷

mvp-comment-242-2 ἄπαρνος … οὐδενός ²⁹⁸

mvp-comment-242-3 καθίστατο ²⁹⁹

mvp-comment-243-1 ἅμ’ ³⁰⁰

mvp-comment-244-1 φίλους ³⁰¹

mvp-comment-245-1 πάντα ταῦθ’ ³⁰² λαβεῖν ³⁰³

mvp-comment-246-1 σὲ δή, ³⁰⁴

mvp-comment-247-1 φὴς δεδρακέναι, ἢ καταρνεῖ μὴ δεδρ ³⁰⁵ καταρνεῖ ³⁰⁶

mvp-comment-248-1 καὶ......κοὐκ ³⁰⁷

mvp-comment-248-2 τὸ μή ³⁰⁸

mvp-comment-249-1 σὺ μέν ³⁰⁹ κομίζοις ἂν ς ³¹⁰

mvp-comment-249-2 ἔξω ³¹¹ β. αἰτίας ³¹² ἐλεύθερον ³¹³

mvp-comment-250-1 μῆκος ³¹⁴

mvp-comment-251-1 ᾔδησθα ³¹⁵ ᾔδης τὰ ³¹⁶ σθα ³¹⁷

mvp-comment-251-2 κηρυχθέντα ³¹⁸

mvp-comment-252-1 ᾔδη ³¹⁹

mvp-comment-252-2 τί δ’ οὐκ ἔμελλον ³²⁰

mvp-comment-252-3 ἐμφανῆ ³²¹ ἐκφανῆ ³²²

mvp-comment-253-1 καὶ δῆτ’ ³²³

mvp-comment-254-1 Ζεύς ³²⁴

mvp-comment-255-1 τῶν κάτω θεῶν ³²⁵ ξύνοικος ³²⁶ τοιούσδ’ … ὥρισεν ³²⁷ οἳ τούσδ’ … ὥρισαν ³²⁸ τάδε ³²⁹

mvp-comment-256-1 ἄγραπτα … νόμιμα ³³⁰

mvp-comment-256-2 quotes vv. 456 f.) Cp. O.T. 865 ff.

, with notes there. Thuc. 2.37 ( ) . When ‘the unwritten laws’ are thus called , the latter word is used figuratively. νόμιμα ³³¹

mvp-comment-256-3 ἀσφαλῆ ³³²

mvp-comment-256-4 θνητὸν ὄντ’ ³³³

mvp-comment-256-5 ὑπερδραμεῖν ³³⁴

mvp-comment-257-1 νῦν γε κἀχθές ³³⁵

mvp-comment-257-2 ζῇ ³³⁶

mvp-comment-257-3 ’φάνη ³³⁷

mvp-comment-258-1 τούτων ³³⁸ τὴν δίκην ³³⁹ τούτων ³⁴⁰

mvp-comment-258-2 shows that, like

just before, it refers to the : we cannot, therefore, render, ‘the penalty of such an act’ ( sc. ).

mvp-comment-258-3 ἐν θεοῖσι ³⁴¹

mvp-comment-259-1 δώσειν ³⁴²

mvp-comment-259-2 θανουμένη γάρ ³⁴³

mvp-comment-259-3 τί δ’ οὔ ³⁴⁴

mvp-comment-260-1 κεἰ μὴ σὺ προὐκήρυξας ³⁴⁵

mvp-comment-260-2 τοῦ χρόνου ³⁴⁶

mvp-comment-260-3 αὔτ’ ³⁴⁷

mvp-comment-261-1 φέρει ³⁴⁸

mvp-comment-262-1 Kvičala and Wecklein reject these four verses, despairing of the difficulties found in vv. 466, 467, which have been variously amended; see Appendix. The alleged difficulties are, (1)

: (2) the mention of the mother only: (3) the position of , which might suggest the sense, ‘slain by my mother’: (4) (as L has it). Before dealing with these points, I would call attention to a trait which the impugners of these verses have overlooked, and which speaks strongly for the genuineness of the passage as a whole, corrupt though it be in certain words. That trait is the clause τοῖσδε δ’ οὐκ ἀλγύνομαι ³⁴⁹

mvp-comment-263-1 ἄλγος ³⁵⁰ παρ’ οὐδέν ³⁵¹

mvp-comment-263-2 adv.: ‘is a pain in no appreciable degree,’ is a pain not worth a thought: as he might have said,

. The normal use of , ‘of no account,’ is either ( a) with the verb , as O. T. 982

ταῦθ’ ὅτῳ | παρ’ οὐδέν ἐστι

, or ( b) with a verb meaning ‘to esteem,’ as above, v. 34, . The only peculiarity here is that, instead of a word in the general sense, ‘ is esteemed’ ( ), we have a virtual equivalent, tinged with the special thought of the moment, viz., ‘ is a pain.’ Exactly so in El. 1327 we have , instead of . Thus the suspicions as to the genuineness of are illusory.

mvp-comment-263-3 ἀλλ’ ἄν ³⁵²

mvp-comment-264-1 ἄθαπτον ἠνσχόμην νέκυν ³⁵³ ηἰσχόμην ³⁵⁴ ἠνσχόμην ³⁵⁵

mvp-comment-264-2 In my first edition I placed in the text the emendation of Semitelos (1887) ᾔσχυναν κύνες ³⁵⁶

mvp-comment-264-3 Other emendations will be found in the Appendix. Most of them assume that we must have

(or ), and therefore alter the words and in various ways, —usu. omitting . The verses produced by these processes are wretched, while, from a palaeographical point of view, they are pure conjectures, which do not attempt to account for the tradition in L.—Two points remain. (1) τὸν ἐξ ἐμῆς | μητρός ³⁵⁷

mvp-comment-264-4 or

(Meineke). (2) τὸν ἐξ ἐμ. | μητρος θανόντ’ ³⁵⁸

mvp-comment-265-1 σχεδόν τι ³⁵⁹

mvp-comment-265-2 μώρῳ μωρίαν ³⁶⁰

mvp-comment-265-3 ὀφλισκάνω ³⁶¹

mvp-comment-266-1 These two verses give a moment of stillness before the storm breaks forth. So at O. T. 404 four verses of the chorus divide the angry speech of Oedipus from the retort of Teiresias.

mvp-comment-266-2 τὸ γέννημα τῆς παιδός ³⁶² δηλοῖ ³⁶³ ὠμόν ³⁶⁴ ἐξ ὠμοῦ πατρός ³⁶⁵ γέννημα ³⁶⁶

mvp-comment-267-1 εἴκειν … κακοῖς ³⁶⁷

mvp-comment-268-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι ³⁶⁸

mvp-comment-268-2 πίπτειν ³⁶⁹

mvp-comment-269-1 ὀπτὸν … περισκελῆ ³⁷⁰

mvp-comment-269-2 περισκελής ³⁷¹

mvp-comment-269-3 ἐκ πυρός ³⁷²

mvp-comment-270-1 θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα ³⁷³

mvp-comment-271-1 χαλινῷ δ’ ³⁷⁴ σμικρῷ ³⁷⁵

mvp-comment-271-2 καταρτυθέντας ³⁷⁶

mvp-comment-272-1 Suspicion has fallen on ἐκπέλει ³⁷⁷

mvp-comment-272-2 ὅστις ³⁷⁸

mvp-comment-272-3 τῶν πέλας ³⁷⁹

mvp-comment-273-1 αὕτη δ’ ³⁸⁰ ὑβρίζειν μὲν … ὕβρις δ’ ³⁸¹ ἐξηπίστατο ³⁸² τότ’ ³⁸³

mvp-comment-273-2 τούτοις ³⁸⁴

mvp-comment-273-3 δεδρακυῖαν γελᾶν ³⁸⁵

mvp-comment-274-1 νῦν ³⁸⁶

mvp-comment-274-2 εἰ ταῦτα … κράτη ³⁸⁷ κράτη ³⁸⁸ κείσεται ³⁸⁹ πείσεται ³⁹⁰ ἀνατί ³⁹¹ ταῦτα ³⁹²

mvp-comment-275-1 ἀδελφῆς ³⁹³

mvp-comment-275-2 εἴθ’ ὁμαιμονεστέρα ³⁹⁴

mvp-comment-275-3 Hyperbole is congenial to Creon's excitement; cp. 1040 . But the addition,

, ill suits this, while, on the other hand, it agrees well with the nom. . On the whole, then, I incline to prefer the nom.; but the point is a nice one, and the gen. is quite tenable.

mvp-comment-275-4 κυρεῖ ³⁹⁵

mvp-comment-276-1 τοῦ παντὸς Ζηνὸς ἑρκείου ³⁹⁶

mvp-comment-277-1 ἀλύξετον ³⁹⁷ μόρου ³⁹⁸

mvp-comment-278-1 καὶ γὰρ οὖν ³⁹⁹

mvp-comment-278-2 ἐπαιτιῶμαι κείνην ⁴⁰⁰ βουλεῦσαι ἴσον τοῦδε τάφου ⁴⁰¹ ἴσον ⁴⁰²

mvp-comment-278-3 βουλεῦσαι ⁴⁰³

mvp-comment-279-1 καί νιν καλεῖτ’ ⁴⁰⁴

mvp-comment-280-1 λυσσῶσαν … οὐδ’ ἐπ ⁴⁰⁵

mvp-comment-280-2 ἐπήβολον ⁴⁰⁶

mvp-comment-281-1 ὁ θυμὸς τῶν … τεχνωμένων ⁴⁰⁷ φιλεῖ κλοπεὺς ᾑρῆσθαι ⁴⁰⁸ πρόσθεν ⁴⁰⁹ κλοπεύς ⁴¹⁰ ᾑρῆσθαι κλοπεύς ⁴¹¹

mvp-comment-281-2 τεχνωμένων ⁴¹²

mvp-comment-282-1 γε μέντοι ⁴¹³

mvp-comment-282-2 Ismene's guilty terror is contrasted with Antigone's impudent hardihood,—as Creon deems it. μισῶ … ὅταν ⁴¹⁴

mvp-comment-282-3 ἔπειτα ⁴¹⁵

mvp-comment-282-4 καλλύνειν ⁴¹⁶

mvp-comment-283-1 θέλεις τι μεῖζον ⁴¹⁷

mvp-comment-283-2 ἑλών ⁴¹⁸

mvp-comment-283-3 ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδέν ⁴¹⁹

mvp-comment-283-4 ἅπαντ’ ἔχω ⁴²⁰

mvp-comment-284-1 ἀρεστὸν οὐδέν ⁴²¹

mvp-comment-284-2 μηδ’ ἀρεσθείη ⁴²² ἀρεσθείην ⁴²³ ἀρέστ’ εἴη ⁴²⁴

mvp-comment-285-1 τἀμά ⁴²⁵

mvp-comment-285-2 ἔφυ ⁴²⁶

mvp-comment-286-1 καίτοι ⁴²⁷ κλέος … εὐκλεέστερον ⁴²⁸

mvp-comment-287-1 ἐν τάφῳ τιθεῖσα ⁴²⁹ τούτοις πᾶσι λέγοιτο ἄν ⁴³⁰ τοῦτο ἁνδάνειν ⁴³¹ ἐγκλῄοι ⁴³²

mvp-comment-288-1 ἀλλ’ ἡ τυραννίς ⁴³³

mvp-comment-289-1 μούνη ⁴³⁴

mvp-comment-289-2 τοῦτο … ὁρᾷς ⁴³⁵

mvp-comment-289-3 ὑπίλλουσιν ⁴³⁶

mvp-comment-290-1 σὺ δ’ οὐκ ἐπαιδεῖ ⁴³⁸

mvp-comment-291-1 ὅμαιμος ⁴³⁹

mvp-comment-291-2 ἐκ μιᾶς τε ⁴⁴⁰ τε ⁴⁴¹

mvp-comment-292-1 πῶς δῆτ’ ⁴⁴²

mvp-comment-292-2 ἐκείνῳ ⁴⁴³

mvp-comment-292-3 χάριν ⁴⁴⁴ τιμᾷς ⁴⁴⁵ ὁ κατθανὼν νέκυς ⁴⁴⁶

mvp-comment-293-1 εἴ τοι ⁴⁴⁷ σφε ⁴⁴⁸

mvp-comment-293-2 ἐξ ἴσου ⁴⁴⁹

mvp-comment-294-1 οὐ γάρ τι δοῦλος ⁴⁵⁰

mvp-comment-294-2 cannot complain, for Polyneices was not his slave—his natural inferior—but his brother, and had the same claim on me that he had. Creon insists on the difference between the loyal man and the disloyal. Antigone dwells on the fact that both men had the same claim on her natural piety, and (519) on her sense of religious duty.

mvp-comment-295-1 πορθῶν δέ ⁴⁵¹

mvp-comment-295-2 ὁ δ’ ⁴⁵² ὕπερ ⁴⁵³

mvp-comment-296-1 τούτους ⁴⁵⁴ ἴσους ⁴⁵⁵ ἴσους ⁴⁵⁶ ὅμως ⁴⁵⁷ ἴσους ⁴⁵⁸ τούτους ⁴⁵⁹ ἴσους ⁴⁶⁰

mvp-comment-297-1 The MS. λαχεῖν ἴσος ⁴⁶¹ ἴσους ⁴⁶²

mvp-comment-298-1 κάτωθεν ⁴⁶³ κάτω ’στὶν ⁴⁶⁴

mvp-comment-298-2 εὐαγῆ ⁴⁶⁵

mvp-comment-299-1 οὔτοι συνέχθειν ⁴⁶⁶

mvp-comment-300-1 νυ^ν ⁴⁶⁷

mvp-comment-301-1 καὶ μὴν ⁴⁶⁸

mvp-comment-301-2 εἰβομένη ⁴⁶⁹ κάτω ⁴⁷⁰

mvp-comment-301-3 with

, for Homer never says . Nothing is more natural than that should have become in the MSS., the latter word being much the commoner.

mvp-comment-301-4 κάτω ⁴⁷¹

mvp-comment-302-1 νεφέλη δ’ ὀφρύων ὕπερ ⁴⁷²

mvp-comment-302-2 αἱματόεν ⁴⁷³

mvp-comment-302-3 ῥέθος ⁴⁷⁴

mvp-comment-302-4 αἰσχύνει ⁴⁷⁵

mvp-comment-303-1 σὺ δ’ ⁴⁷⁶ ὑφειμένη ⁴⁷⁷

mvp-comment-303-2 ἔχιδνα ⁴⁷⁸

mvp-comment-303-3

. (Cp. Shaksp. Per. 1. 1. 64

I am no viper, yet I feed On mother's flesh.

)

mvp-comment-304-1 λήθουσά μ’ ἐξέπινες ⁴⁷⁹

mvp-comment-305-1 ἄτα κἀπαναστάσεις ⁴⁸⁰

mvp-comment-305-2 ἐπαναστάσεις ⁴⁸¹ θρόνων ⁴⁸²

mvp-comment-306-1 τὸ μὴ ⁴⁸³

mvp-comment-307-1 ὁμορροθεῖ ⁴⁸⁴

mvp-comment-308-1 τῆς αἰτίας ⁴⁸⁵ ξυμμετίσχω ⁴⁸⁶ φέρω ⁴⁸⁷

mvp-comment-309-1 ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐάσει σ’ ⁴⁸⁸

mvp-comment-309-2 ’κοινωσάμην ⁴⁸⁹

mvp-comment-310-1 ξύμπλουν ⁴⁹⁰

mvp-comment-311-1 Cp. Ph. 1293

mvp-comment-311-2 λόγοις ⁴⁹¹

mvp-comment-312-1 μή μ’ ἀτιμάσῃς ⁴⁹² τὸ μὴ οὐ ⁴⁹³ ἁγνίσαι τὸν θ ⁴⁹⁴

mvp-comment-313-1 μή μοι ⁴⁹⁵ κοινά ⁴⁹⁶

mvp-comment-313-2 μηδ’ ἃ μὴ ’θιγες ⁴⁹⁷ ἅ ⁴⁹⁸ ἅ ⁴⁹⁹

mvp-comment-314-1 ποιοῦ σεαυτῆς ⁵⁰⁰

mvp-comment-314-2 ἀρκέσω ⁵⁰²

mvp-comment-315-1 σοῦ λελειμμένῃ ⁵⁰³

mvp-comment-315-2 φίλος ⁵⁰⁴

mvp-comment-316-1 κηδεμών ⁵⁰⁵

mvp-comment-317-1 ἀλγοῦσα μὲν δῆτ’ ⁵⁰⁶ δῆτα ⁵⁰⁷

mvp-comment-317-2 ἐν σοί ⁵⁰⁸

mvp-comment-317-3 Heath's εἰ γελῶ γ’ ⁵⁰⁹

mvp-comment-318-1 ἀλλὰ νῦν ⁵¹⁰

mvp-comment-319-1 κἀμπλάκω ⁵¹¹

mvp-comment-319-2 fate? i.e. to be dissociated from it: delib. aor. subj., which can be used, not only in asking what one is to do, but also in expressions of despair as to what one must suffer ( Tr. 973

;). For cp. 910 , 1234.

mvp-comment-320-1 εἵλου ⁵¹²

mvp-comment-320-2 ζῆν ⁵¹³

mvp-comment-321-1 ἐπ’ ἀρρήτοις … τοῖς ἐμ. λ. ⁵¹⁴

mvp-comment-322-1 σὺ μὲν τοῖς ⁵¹⁵

mvp-comment-323-1 καὶ μήν ⁵¹⁶

mvp-comment-324-1 θάρσει ⁵¹⁷

mvp-comment-324-2 ἡ ἐμὴ ψυχή ⁵¹⁸

mvp-comment-324-3 πάλαι ⁵¹⁹

mvp-comment-324-4 ὥστε τοῖς θ. ὠφελεῖν ⁵²⁰

mvp-comment-325-1 L gives τὼ παῖδε φημὶ ⁵²¹

mvp-comment-325-2 τὼ παῖδε … τὴν μὲν … τὴν δέ ⁵²²

mvp-comment-325-3 ἀρτίως ⁵²³

mvp-comment-326-1 The apology is for her sister as well as for herself: even such prudence ( cp. 68

) as may have been inborn forsakes the unfortunate under the stress of their misfortunes.

mvp-comment-326-2 βλάστῃ ⁵²⁴

mvp-comment-326-3 τοῖς κ. πράσσουσιν ⁵²⁵

mvp-comment-326-4 ἐξίσταται ⁵²⁶

mvp-comment-327-1 σοὶ γοῦν ⁵²⁷

mvp-comment-327-2 κακοῖς ⁵²⁸

mvp-comment-328-1 τῆσδ’ ἄτερ ⁵²⁹ μόνῃ ⁵³⁰

mvp-comment-328-2 βιώσιμον ⁵³¹ τί ⁵³²

mvp-comment-329-1 ἀλλὰ … μέντοι ⁵³³

mvp-comment-329-2 ἥδε μὴ λέγε ⁵³⁴

mvp-comment-330-1 νυμφεῖα ⁵³⁵

mvp-comment-331-1 ἀρώσιμοι ⁵³⁶

mvp-comment-332-1 οὐχ ὥς γ’ ⁵³⁷ ἡρμοσμένα ἦν ⁵³⁸

mvp-comment-333-1 υἱέσι ⁵³⁹ υἱάσιν ⁵⁴⁰

mvp-comment-333-2

: cp. Monro Hom. Gr. § 107.—The dat. of interest goes with κακὰς γυναῖκας ⁵⁴¹ στυγῶ ⁵⁴²

mvp-comment-334-1 It is not of much moment that L, like the later MSS., gives this verse to Ismene. Errors as to the persons occur not seldom in L (see, e.g., cr. n. to O. C. 837 , and cp. ib. 1737 ); and here a mistake would have been peculiarly easy, as the dialogue from v. 561 onwards has been between Creon and Ismene. To me it seems certain that the verse is Antigone's, and that one of the finest touches in the play is effaced by giving it to Ismene. The taunt,

, moves Antigone to break the silence which she has kept since v. 560: in all this scene she has not spoken to Creon, nor does she now address him: she is thinking of Haemon,—of the dishonour to him implied in the charge of having made such a choice, — . How little does his father know the heart which was in sympathy with her own. This solitary reference to her love heightens in a wonderful degree our sense of her unselfish devotion to a sacred duty. If Ismene speaks this verse, then in 573 must be, ‘the marriage of which you talk’ (like El. 1110

οὐκ οἶδα τὴν σὴν κλῄδον

'), which certainly is not its natural sense.

mvp-comment-334-2 Αἷμον ⁵⁴³

mvp-comment-335-1 ἄγαν γε λυπεῖς ⁵⁴⁴

mvp-comment-336-1 The MSS. give this verse to Ismene; but Boeckh is clearly right in giving it to the Chorus. Ismene asked this question in 568, and Creon answered: she rejoined to this answer (570), and Creon replied still more bitterly. She could not now ask her former question over again. But there is no unfitness in the question being repeated by a new intercessor, since to ask it thus is a form of mild remonstrance.

mvp-comment-337-1 ἐμοί ⁵⁴⁵ ἔφυ ⁵⁴⁶

mvp-comment-338-1 This verse clearly belongs to the Chorus, to whom L assigns it. The first words of the next verse show this. Hermann objected that in similar situations the Chorus usually has two verses. It is true that this is usually the case. But O. T. 1312 is enough to show that there was no rigid rule; why, indeed, should there be? And, here, surely,

mvp-comment-338-2 δεδογμένα ⁵⁴⁷

mvp-comment-339-1 καὶ σοί γε κἀμοί ⁵⁴⁸

mvp-comment-339-2 μὴ τριβάς ⁵⁴⁹

mvp-comment-339-3 νιν ⁵⁵⁰

mvp-comment-340-1 ἐκ δὲ τοῦδε ⁵⁵¹ γυναικας ⁵⁵² ἀνειμένας ⁵⁵³

mvp-comment-341-1 χοἱ θρασεῖς ⁵⁵⁴ πέλας ⁵⁵⁵ εἰσορῶσι ⁵⁵⁶

mvp-comment-343-1 κακῶν ἄγευστος ⁵⁵⁷

mvp-comment-344-1 σεισθῇ θεόθεν ⁵⁵⁸

mvp-comment-344-2 ἄτας οὐδὲν ἐλλείπει ⁵⁵⁹ ἐλλείπει ⁵⁶⁰

mvp-comment-344-3 γενεᾶς ἐπὶ πλῆθος ⁵⁶¹ γενεᾶς ⁵⁶²

mvp-comment-345-1 ὅμοιον ⁵⁶³

mvp-comment-345-2 ποντίαις ⁵⁶⁴ πνοαῖς ⁵⁶⁵ ὅταν οἶδμα ⁵⁶⁶ ποντίαις δυσπν. Θρ. πνοαῖς ⁵⁶⁷ ἐπιδράμῃ ἔρεβος ὕφαλον ⁵⁶⁸ Θρῄσσαισιν ⁵⁶⁹

mvp-comment-346-1 κελαινὰν θῖνα ⁵⁷⁰

mvp-comment-346-2 δυσάνεμοι ⁵⁷¹ δυσάνεμον ⁵⁷²

mvp-comment-346-3 στόνῳ βρ.· ⁵⁷³

mvp-comment-346-4 ἀντιπλῆγες ⁵⁷⁴ ἀκταί ⁵⁷⁵

mvp-comment-347-1 ἀρχαῖα ⁵⁷⁶

mvp-comment-347-2 ὁρῶμαι ⁵⁷⁷ οἴκων ⁵⁷⁸ φθι^τῶν ⁵⁷⁹

mvp-comment-348-1 ἀπαλλάσσει ⁵⁸⁰

mvp-comment-348-2 γενεὰν γένος ⁵⁸¹ ἔχει ⁵⁸²

mvp-comment-348-3 λύσιν ⁵⁸³

mvp-comment-349-1 νῦν γὰρ ἐσχάτας ⁵⁸⁴ ὃ τέτατο ⁵⁸⁵ ἐτέτατο ⁵⁸⁶ κατ’ αὖ ⁵⁸⁷ ὑπέρ ⁵⁸⁸ ὅπερ ⁵⁸⁹ ὃ τέτατο ⁵⁹⁰ νιν ⁵⁹¹ φάος ⁵⁹² ἐσχάτη ῥίζα ⁵⁹³ φάος ⁵⁹⁴ νιν ⁵⁹⁵ φάος ⁵⁹⁶ θάλος ⁵⁹⁷ τέτατο ⁵⁹⁸ ῥίζας ⁵⁹⁹

mvp-comment-350-1 κατ’ αὖ … ἀμᾷ, ⁶⁰⁰ κοπίς ⁶⁰¹ κόνις ⁶⁰² κόνις ⁶⁰³

mvp-comment-350-2 (1) If κόνις ⁶⁰⁴ καταμᾷ ⁶⁰⁵

mvp-comment-350-3 (2) If we read κοπίς ⁶⁰⁶

mvp-comment-350-4 It has further been urged against

that the word is too homely. This may be so; but we lack proof. seems to have been a large curved knife, known to the Greeks chiefly as ( a) a butcher's or cook's implement, ( b) an oriental military weapon. It does not follow, however, that the effect here would be like that of ‘chopper,’ or of ‘scimitar,’ in English. The dignity of a word may be protected by its simplicity; and is merely ‘that which cuts.’ Pindar was not afraid of homeliness when he described a chorus-master as a , or an inspiring thought as an (cp. O. C. 1052 n.). Nicander could say, of the scorpion, ( Ther. 780 ). If be right, the change to may have been caused, not by a misreading of letters, but by mere inadvertence,—the copyist having the word in his thoughts at the moment: it has already occurred frequently ( 247 , 256 , 409 , 429 ).—See Appendix.

mvp-comment-351-1 λόγου … ἄνοια ⁶⁰⁷ φρενῶν ἐρινύς ⁶⁰⁸

mvp-comment-352-1 τεάν ⁶⁰⁹

mvp-comment-352-2 δύνα^σιν ⁶¹⁰

mvp-comment-352-3 κατάσχοι ⁶¹¹

mvp-comment-353-1 The MS. παντογήρως ⁶¹² παντοθήρας ⁶¹³ παντόθηρος ⁶¹⁴ πάντ’ ἀγρεύων ⁶¹⁵

mvp-comment-354-1 The MS. οὔτ’ ἀκάματοι θεῶν ⁶¹⁶

mvp-comment-354-2

. Far the best emendation is οὔτε θεῶν ἄκματοι ⁶¹⁷ θεῶν ⁶¹⁸ θεῶν μῆνες ⁶¹⁹ θεῶν ⁶²⁰ οὔτε ⁶²¹

mvp-comment-354-3 ἄκματοι ⁶²²

mvp-comment-355-1 I doubt whether the dat. χρόνῳ ⁶²³

mvp-comment-355-2 μαρμαρόεσσαν ⁶²⁴

mvp-comment-356-1 τό τ’ ἔπειτα ⁶²⁵ τὸ μέλλον ⁶²⁶

mvp-comment-356-2 καὶ τὸ πρίν ⁶³⁰ ἐπαρκέσει ⁶³¹

mvp-comment-357-1 πάμπολύ γ’ ⁶³²

mvp-comment-357-2 ἕρπει ⁶³³ ἕρπειν ⁶³⁴ ἕρπει ⁶³⁵

mvp-comment-357-3 πάμπολις ⁶³⁶

mvp-comment-358-1 ἁ γὰρ δή ⁶³⁷ γάρ ⁶³⁸ πολύπλαγκτος ⁶³⁹

mvp-comment-358-2 oft tossed up and down, ploughing a sea of vain deceits.’—

might also be act., ‘causing men to err greatly’; but this is less fitting here.

mvp-comment-359-1 πολλοῖς μὲν ὄνασις ⁶⁴⁰

mvp-comment-360-1 ἀπάτα … ἐρώτων ⁶⁴¹

mvp-comment-360-2 κουφονόων ⁶⁴²

mvp-comment-361-1 The

, or final frustration of his desires, ἕρπει ⁶⁴³ οὐδὲν εἰδότι ⁶⁴⁴

mvp-comment-362-1 πρὶν … προσαύσῃ ⁶⁴⁵

mvp-comment-362-2 προσαύσῃ ⁶⁴⁶

mvp-comment-362-3 πόδα ⁶⁴⁷ προσαύσῃ ⁶⁴⁸

mvp-comment-363-1 σοφίᾳ ⁶⁴⁹

mvp-comment-363-2 ἔκ του ⁶⁵⁰

mvp-comment-363-3 πεφάνται ⁶⁵¹

mvp-comment-364-1 τὸ κακὸν δοκεῖν ποτ’ ⁶⁵² ποτέ ⁶⁵³

mvp-comment-364-2 1676 Among them he a spirit of phrenzy sent, Who hurt their minds. Cp.

. Il. 19.137

ἀλλ’ ἐπεὶ ἀασάμην, καί μευ φρένας ἐξέλετο Ζεύς

. Theognis 403 . Lycurgus in Leocr. § 92 . The schol. on our verse quotes an unknown poet's lines, . (‘Quem Iuppiter vult perdere, dementat prius.’ See n. in Appendix.)— The epic ἔμμεν ⁶⁵⁴

mvp-comment-365-1 ὀλίγιστον ⁶⁵⁵ ὀλιγοστόν ⁶⁵⁶ πράσσει … ἐκτὸς ἄτας ⁶⁵⁷ ἄτας ⁶⁵⁸

mvp-comment-366-1 μήν ⁶⁵⁹

mvp-comment-366-2 νέατον ⁶⁶⁰

mvp-comment-366-3 to a person,

could not be said of a sole survivor unless he was also the latest-born.

γέννημ’

: cp. 471 n.

mvp-comment-366-4 ἀχνύμενος ⁶⁶¹ μόρον ⁶⁶²

mvp-comment-367-1 In the MS. reading (see cr. n.)

is a gloss on τάλιδος ⁶⁶³ τῆς μελλογάμου ⁶⁶⁴ τῆς μελλογάμου ⁶⁶⁵ τάλιδος ⁶⁶⁶

mvp-comment-368-1 ἀπάτας ⁶⁶⁷ λεχέων ⁶⁶⁸

mvp-comment-370-1 μάντεων ὑπέρτερον ⁶⁶⁹

mvp-comment-371-1 τελείαν ⁶⁷⁰

mvp-comment-371-2 ψῆφο<*> ⁶⁷¹

mvp-comment-371-3 ἆρα μή ⁶⁷²

mvp-comment-371-4 τῆς μελλονύμφου ⁶⁷³

mvp-comment-371-5 λυσσαίνων ⁶⁷⁴ σοὶ μέν ⁶⁷⁵ θυμαίνων ⁶⁷⁶

mvp-comment-372-1 σοὶ μέν ⁶⁷⁷

mvp-comment-372-2 πανταχῇ δρῶντες ⁶⁷⁸

mvp-comment-373-1 σός ⁶⁷⁹

mvp-comment-373-2 γνώμας ἔχων χρηστάς ⁶⁸⁰ ἀπορθοῖς ⁶⁸¹ μοι ⁶⁸²

mvp-comment-374-1 ἀξιώσεται ⁶⁸⁴ ἀξ. μείζων φέρεσθαι ⁶⁸⁵ ἀξίως ἔσται ⁶⁸⁶

mvp-comment-374-2 σοῦ καλῶς ἡγουμ. ⁶⁸⁷ μείζων ⁶⁸⁸

mvp-comment-375-1 γάρ ⁶⁸⁹

mvp-comment-375-2 διὰ στέρνων ἔχειν ⁶⁹⁰ διά ⁶⁹¹ ἔχειν ⁶⁹² οὕτω ⁶⁹³ ἔχειν ⁶⁹⁴

mvp-comment-376-1 (One ought to think thus),—that is, ὄπισθεν ἑστάναι πατρ. γνώμης ⁶⁹⁵ πάντα ⁶⁹⁶ ἑστάναι ⁶⁹⁷

mvp-comment-377-1 ὡς ⁶⁹⁸

mvp-comment-377-2 ἀνταμύνωνται ⁶⁹⁹ κακοῖς ⁷⁰⁰

mvp-comment-378-1 ἄλλο ⁷⁰¹ φῦσαι ⁷⁰² πλήν ⁷⁰³ ἄλλο ⁷⁰⁴ εἴποις ⁷⁰⁵

mvp-comment-378-2 πόνους ⁷⁰⁶

mvp-comment-378-3 γέλων ⁷⁰⁷

mvp-comment-379-1 τὰς φρένας γ’ ⁷⁰⁸ γε ⁷⁰⁹ φρένας σύ γ’ ἡδονῇ ⁷¹⁰

mvp-comment-379-2 φρένας … ἐκβάλῃς ⁷¹¹

mvp-comment-379-3 ὑφ’ ἡδονῆς ⁷¹²

mvp-comment-380-1 ψυχρόν ⁷¹³

mvp-comment-380-2 παραγκάλισμα ⁷¹⁴

mvp-comment-381-1 δόμοις ⁷¹⁵

mvp-comment-381-2 ἕλκος ⁷¹⁶

mvp-comment-381-3 φίλος ⁷¹⁷

mvp-comment-382-1 πτύσας ⁷¹⁸

mvp-comment-382-2 ὠσεί τε δυσμενῆ ⁷¹⁹ τε ⁷²⁰

mvp-comment-383-1 νυμφεύειν ⁷²¹

mvp-comment-384-1 ἀπιστήσασαν ⁷²² ψευδῆ ⁷²³

mvp-comment-385-1 κτενῶ ⁷²⁴

mvp-comment-385-2 πρὸς ταῦτ ⁷²⁵

mvp-comment-385-3 ἐφυμνείτω ⁷²⁶

mvp-comment-385-4 Δία ξύναιμον ⁷²⁷

mvp-comment-386-1 τά γ’ ἐγγ. φύσει ⁷²⁸

mvp-comment-386-2 ἄκοσμα ⁷²⁹

mvp-comment-386-3 θρέψω ⁷³⁰

mvp-comment-386-4 κάρτα τοὺς ἔξω γ. ⁷³¹

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.,

(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 (

) only a man who is firm ( ) 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 ⁷³²

mvp-comment-388-2 τοὐπιτάσσειν ⁷³³

mvp-comment-388-3 νοεῖ ⁷³⁴

mvp-comment-389-1 στήσειε ⁷³⁵

mvp-comment-389-2 καὶ τἀναντία ⁷³⁶

mvp-comment-390-1 τοῦτον … τὸν ἄνδρα ⁷³⁷

mvp-comment-390-2 καλῶς...εὖ ⁷³⁸

mvp-comment-390-3 ἄν ⁷³⁹ ἄρχειν ⁷⁴⁰ θέλειν ⁷⁴¹

mvp-comment-391-1 δορὸς … χειμῶνι ⁷⁴²

mvp-comment-391-2 προστεταγμένον ⁷⁴³

mvp-comment-391-3 παραστάτην ⁷⁴⁴

mvp-comment-392-1 πόλεις ὄλλυσιν, ἥδ’ ⁷⁴⁵ πόλεις τ’ … ἥδ’ ⁷⁴⁶

mvp-comment-393-1 συμμάχου ⁷⁴⁷ συμμάχηι ⁷⁴⁸ σὺν μάχῃ ⁷⁴⁹

mvp-comment-393-2 τροπὰς καταρρήγνυσι ⁷⁵⁰

mvp-comment-393-3 τῶν δ’ ὀρθουμένων ⁷⁵¹ τὰ πολλὰ σώματα ⁷⁵²

mvp-comment-393-4 ἡ πειθαρχία ⁷⁵³

mvp-comment-394-1 ἀμυντέ’ ⁷⁵⁴

mvp-comment-394-2 τοῖς κοσμουμένοις ⁷⁵⁵ τοῖς κ. ⁷⁵⁷

mvp-comment-395-1 κοὔτοι … ἡσσητέα ⁷⁵⁸

mvp-comment-396-1 δεῖ ⁷⁵⁹ ἐκπεσεῖν ⁷⁶⁰

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

, Aesch. ), or of exile ( , O. C. 766 ).

mvp-comment-396-3 κοὐκ ἂν...καλοίμεθ’ ἄν ⁷⁶¹

mvp-comment-397-1 μέν ⁷⁶²

mvp-comment-397-2 τῷ χρόνῳ ⁷⁶³

mvp-comment-397-3 κεκλέμμεθα ⁷⁶⁴

mvp-comment-398-1 δοκεῖς λέγειν φρονούντως περὶ ⁷⁶⁵

mvp-comment-399-1 θεοί ⁷⁶⁶

mvp-comment-399-2 κτημάτων ⁷⁶⁷

223-330. mvp-comment-136-1 The half-comic or rustic character of the watchman in this play is an extension of the common character of the messenger, whose natural rudeness of speech and thought brings into greater prominence the horror or pathos of the events he describes. The grotesqueness disappears when he speaks of the action of Antigone in 407-440. The employment of this artifice by Sophocles arises from the same motive to which Shakespeare gave a far wider range in such creations as the gravediggers in Hamlet, and the rural fellow in Antony and Cleopatra. The Messenger in the Trachiniae, the Corinthian in the Oedipus Tyrannus, Menelaus in the Ajax, the pretended Shipmaster in the Philoctetes, afford the same sort of contrast to the more tragic personages: and the superstition of the Coloniatae may be compared with the cowardice of the Phrygian slave in the Orestes of Euripides.

223-330. mvp-comment-136-2 The vulgarity of the common-place Athenian of the fifth century в.с. takes the form of misplaced subtlety of wit. Cp. Shak. Hamlet, 5. 1 ,

262-263. mvp-comment-163-1 The subtlety of the Φύλαξ deserts him in attempting to express his meaning. The perpetrator was every one and no one of us all every one in vague suspicion, and no one evidently: he escaped being known.' τις gives the indefiniteness required by the sense, = πως.

263. mvp-comment-164-1 ἀλλ᾽ ἔφευγε *μὴ εἰδέναι (1) But he (the perpetrator) always escaped, so that we could not know him. Böckh and Donaldson read as in the text, interpreting (2) Every man' (πᾶς implied in οὐδείς, the affirmative elicited from the negative) defended himself by pleading ignorance of the matter. For φεύγειν, * to urge a defensive plea,' cp. Aesch. Suppl. 390, and for the plea, μὴ εἰδέναι, Plat. Legg. 11. 936 E. But the plea of ignorance, although suitable in l. 266, is too special for this place, wherethe non-appearance of the criminal alone is in question. The meaning given above (1) is the same as that required by Hermann (see below), but is more simply expressed by the epexegesis, and the imperfect tense expresses the frustration of continued search. This interpretation involves a rare use of φεύγω, which is, however, analogous to a meaning of ἐκφεύγω that is not uncommon. Cp. Ο. Τ. 111, ἐκφεύγει δὲ τἀμελούμενον : Plat. Phil. 17, τὰ δὲ μέσα αὐτοὺς ἐκφεύγει. Other emendations are ἔφυγε τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι (Porson), explained by Erfurdt to mean amoliens a se accusationem scire sese negaverat ; ἔφυγε τῷ μὴ εἰδέναι (Herm. 1839), effugit, eo quod nesciebamus; ἔφευγε πᾶς τὸ μή, every man pled Not guilty. (Dind.). 264-265. There are few traces of anything corresponding to the trial by ordeal in ancient times. Brunck quotes Virg. Aen. 11. 787,

It seems to have existed in different places as a popular belief, but nowhere to have received positive legal sanction. For a trace of trial by combat' (in Scythia), see Hdt. 4. 180. Cp. also Ar. Lys. 133.

269. mvp-comment-165-1

(Dind.).

269. mvp-comment-165-2 λέγει, κ.τ.λ. The sense is interrupted by the relative clause, but resumed in the words ἦν δ᾽ ὁ μῦθος in l. 272. For τις εἷς, cp. Thuc. 6. 61, καί τινα μίαν νύκτα, κ.τ.λ. The emphatic use of little words shows the common mind; cp. infr. 404, ὃν σὺ τὸν νέκυν, κ.τ.λ. Wolff and Weckl. join els with what follows: but the antithesis of eἷς πάντας is too pointless here. Cp. Plat. Rep. 6. 496 D, εἰς πᾶσιν ἀγρίοις ἀντέχειν.

274-275. mvp-comment-166-1 κἀμὲ.. λαβεῖν And the lot devotes me, wretched man, to be the recipient of this piece of luck. καθαιρεῖ is used much as in ἡ καθαιροῦσα ψῆφος, not by an extension of the technical sense, but with the same general mean- ing of Fastening upon, Bringing down, Overtaking and subduing.

279. mvp-comment-167-1 *1 This is Nauck's emendation for ἡ. It involves a very slight change, and is extremely probable. Reflection suggests the fear that' (not 'the question whether') this may be some visitation from the gods. The conscience of the elders, which was stifled at first, begins to awaken in the presence of the mysterious fact. For the pause after the 2nd iambus, here and supr. 269, cp. Aj. 340, 342, 719, 791, 803, 988, 1050, 1077, 1140, 1332.

280. mvp-comment-168-1 Cease, ere you have quite filled me with wrath. καί, which is combined with πρίν, according to the common idiom (πρὶν καὶ..), is slightly displaced so as to emphasize the phrase ἐμὲ μεστῶσαι. The language is made clearer by the emendation καί με, but the emphatic ἐμέ is more suitable in the mouth of Creon. Cp. Phil. 1042.

281. mvp-comment-169-1 ἄνους τε καὶ γέρων Cp. О. С. 930-931, καί σ᾽ ὁ πληθύων χρόνος | γέρονθ' ὁμοῦ τίθησι καὶ τοῦ νοῦ κενόν. See Essay on Language § 41. p. 78. 285-286. Who came to burn their pillared shrines and offerings, and to break in pieces their land and laws. It seems more likely that the ἀναθήματα are joined in one expression with ναούς than with γῆν and νόμους, which are in a different category.

289-290. mvp-comment-170-1 ἀλλὰ ταῦτα.. ἐμοί But this explains the murmurs I have long been hearing from men in the city against me;' i. e. Those murmurs have become explicit in this act. Οη ταῦτα, see Essay on Language § 17. p. 25; and for the dative ἐμοί, at me, ib. § 12. p. 18. μόλις φέροντες, which some have connected with ταῦτα (ταῦτα μόλις φέροντες, 'Bearing my edict ill'), seems to be used absolutely, sc. τὸ ἐμὸν ζυγόν, with an allusion to the metaphor in what follows. Cp. Thuc. 5. 80, θυμῷ ἔφερον, sc. τὸν πόλεμον ἢ τὰ πράγματα.

291. mvp-comment-171-1 'Covertly shaking the head,' like an animal preparing to throw off the yoke.

292. mvp-comment-172-1 δικαίως Rightly; i. e. As I had a right to expect that they should.

292. mvp-comment-172-2 ὡς στέργειν ἐμέ So as to accept my sway. To this it has been objected that στέργω implies affectionate allegiance. But this notion, although inherent in the etymology of the word, is dropped in use. Cp. Phil. 538, ἐγὼ δ' ἀνάγκῃ προὔμαθον στέργειν κακά : Aesch. Prom. 11, τὴν Δίος τυραννίδα | στέργειν. What hope was there that Prometheus would be made loyal by loyal torments? The other interpretation, So that I should be content (cp. Phil. 458, τούτους ἐγὼ τοὺς ἄνδρας οὐ στέρξω ποτέ), would give but feeble expression to the self-will of Creon. The substitution for these words of εὐλόφως φέρειν from the citation of Eustathius, with the further change of νῶτον for λόφον, is rightly rejected by Dind., who points out that Eustathius, probably quoting from memory, has confused this passage with one of Lycophron.

293. mvp-comment-173-1 ἐκ τῶνδε By these malcontents. Supr. 290.

293. mvp-comment-173-2 τούτους (1) These guards. Infr. ll. 304 ff., supr. 260 ff.: or (2) simply τοὺς εἰργασμένους. The whole of this picture of discontent is the creation of Creon's anger from the hesitation of the chorus when told to see to the execution of the decree. Supr. 215 ff.

294. mvp-comment-174-1 There is a stress on μισθοῖσιν, preparing for what follows.

296. mvp-comment-175-1 νόμισμα, usually = Current coin, is here used in the more general sense which includes this. No such pestilent usance as money is, ever sprang up amongst mankind.

298. mvp-comment-176-1 The object of ἐκδιδάσκει, SC.

298. mvp-comment-176-2 χρηστοὺς αἰσχρά, is absorbed in the expansion of the sentence.

299. mvp-comment-177-1 πρὸς .. ἵστασθαι Το address themselves to shameful enterprizes.' Cp. Thuc. 6. 34. § 7, τῶν δ᾽ ἀνθρώπων πρὸς τὰ λεγόμενα καὶ αἱ γνῶμαι ἵστανται.

300. mvp-comment-178-1 πανουργίας The plural of the abstract noun gives the concrete notion.

300. mvp-comment-178-2 πανουργίας ἔχειν, like θήραν ἔχειν, Αj. 564: ὕβριν ἔχειν, Od. 1. 368, etc.

301. mvp-comment-179-1 παντὸς ἔργου δυσσέβειαν The impiety of every deed; i. e. Every kind of impiety in action. Cp. O.T. 864-865, εὔσεπτον ἁγνείαν λόγων | ἔργων τε πάντων.

303. mvp-comment-180-1 He implies, This cannot be their first act of disloyalty.' The unity of time is not to be pressed in the Antigone: see below, 11. 1064 ff. Else this suspicion of inveterate disaffection, against one who has reigned only for a few hours, would be too extravagant. The elders were selected for their loyalty. supr. 165 ff.

308-311. mvp-comment-181-1 οὐχ ὑμὶν ῞Αιδης.. ἁρπάζητε] Death shall not alone suffice for you, but first you shall be hung up alive to show the heinousness of this offence, that for the future, in your wrongful gettings, you may know better where to look for gain. See Essay on Language § 37. p. 64. There is a confusion of two constructions: (1) οὐχ ὑμὶν ῞Αιδης ἀρκέσει, τo which μοῦνος is added for emphasis, i. e. οὐ θανεῖσθε μόνον: and (2) οὐ θανεῖσθε πρίν, κ.τ.λ. Cp. 1064 ff., and see Aj. 106 ff., θανεῖν γὰρ αὐτὸν οὐτί πω θέλω, κ.τ.λ. The Φύλαξ is to take this message to his fellows.

313-314. mvp-comment-182-1 The sentence is redundant, either the article or ἢ σεσωσμένους being unnecessary. Weckl. reads σεσωμένους. For the article, cp. Eur. Phoen. 606, τοῦ μέρους ἔχων τὸ πλεῖον,

315. mvp-comment-183-1 εἰπεῖν τι δέ (v. rr.) is unmeaning. τι as in θέλεις τι μεῖζον, infr. 497.

316. mvp-comment-184-1 καὶ νῦν with λέγεις.

317. mvp-comment-185-1 δάκνει; (1) Act. impersonal. Is the smart in your ears or in your mind? Cp Hdt. 7. 16. Or (2) 2nd pers. pass. Are you stung? (2) agrees better with τὴν ἐμὴν λ. in the following line.

318. mvp-comment-186-1 τί δαί; though not found elsewhere in Sophocles or Aeschylus, may be admitted on the authority uthority of of the MS, where it is so obviously in keeping. Cp. ὦ τἂν in Ο. Τ. 1145, Phil. 1387.

318. mvp-comment-186-2 ῥυθμίζεις .. ὅπου; Do you scan the whereabouts of my annoyance?

320. mvp-comment-187-1 λάλημα The reading is doubtful between ἄλημα, A clever rogue, and λάλημα, Α prating fellow. ἄλημα is better known, and was read by the Scholiast, but λάλημα is sufficiently supported by Eur. Andromache 937, τούσδε Σειρήνων λόγους, | σοφῶν, πανούργων, ποικίλων λαλημάτων. And this word τίνεσθαι. fits more closely to the context of the present passage. 'Fie, tis too clear you are a born chatterbox. Then it is clear that I never did this deed. 323. What a pity that one who is opinionated should have a false opinion. For the subjunctive δοκῇ, cp. О. Т. 316, 317.

324. mvp-comment-188-1 κόμψευε . . δόξαν 'Ay do, refine now on the word "opinion."" This does not seem to be one of the cases where viv with the imperative mood should be changed to vuv, as there is a sufficient reason for the emphatic particle.

325. mvp-comment-189-1 ἐξερεῖτε You shall tell the world. Cp. Pind. Pyth. 2. 22, Ιξίονα φαντὶ ταῦτα βροτοῖς λέγειν ἐν πτερόεντι τροχῷ .. τὸν εὐεργέταν ἀγαναῖς ἀμοιβαῖς 332 ff. The chorus, in their first stasimon, express, in a veiled manner, their emotions at what has occurred. Not being able to say what they really think, that Creon's rash edict has already recoiled on his own family, they descant on the wonderful range of human enterprize, adding that where boldness and resource are combined with justice, they confer glory, but only bring ruin where they are subservient to wrong. The elders do not decide who in the present instance is the transgressor. The ode consists of two strophes and antistrophes, in which glyconic rhythms are mixed with lyrical dactyls, iambi, and trochees, in different proportions, the scheme being as follows:- ICC CC CI CICIC α'. } Iamb. Dact. Troch. Glycon. The two long syllables at the beginning of l. 8 of a form the transition from the dactyls to the trochees. There is a sensible change to a lighter and less simple movement at the beginning of β'. The resolved trochees in B' 5 mark a climax of feeling.

332-383. mvp-comment-190-1 Most wonderful of wondrous things is man, Who traverses the surging brine, And wearies mighty earth with yearly furrow. His craft ensnares the finny produce of the seas And taketh captive beast and bird. He compasseth a way to master the monster of the wilds, And brings under his yoke the horse with flowing mane And the never-wearied mountain bull. Selftaught in speech and thought and civil ways, And in providing shelter from the cold and rain, There is no end to his devices. Nothing but death ever finds him unprepared. Even diseases, not to be avoided, are escaped by him. Inventive beyond hope, he moveth now to evil, and again to good. When weaving with his wit the law of justice and piety He is exalted in the city, but outcast when he harbours wickedness for deeds of crime. May I never live with such an one, and may he never share my counsels. 332. Aesch. Cho. 585, πολλὰ μὲν γὰ τρέφει δεινὰ δειμάτων ἄχη,.. ἀλλ᾽ ὑπέρτολμον ἀνδρὸς φρόνημα τίς λέγοι; Troch. Iamb. Troch.

332-383. mvp-comment-190-2 δεινά = ' wonderful,' or mighty, is in transition from the earlier sense of fearful to the later sense of clever. Cp.

332-383. mvp-comment-190-3 ὀλοόφρων.

334. mvp-comment-191-1 τοῦτο This creature, man. The neuter continues the abstract notion from οὐδὲν .. δεινότερον, and is thus more impressive than the masculine would have been.

334. mvp-comment-191-2 πέραν Το the other side of.' Quite over. For the alliteration, which assists the emphasis, cp. El. 210.

335. mvp-comment-192-1 χειμερίῳ νότῳ Impelled by the stormy south-wind. Dative of cause. Essay on Language § 14. p. 21. 335-336. Traversing half-buried in the seething surge. For ὑπό with the dative in this sense, cp. О. С. 673, χλωραῖς ὑπὸ βάσσαις. Essay on Language § 19. p. 27.

336. mvp-comment-193-1 περιβρύχιος is probably active = Surging round, and contains an allusion to βρύχω, for which, cp. Aesch. Prom. 1082, βρυχία δ᾽ ἠχὼ παραμυκᾶται βροντής.

338. mvp-comment-194-1 ὑπερτάταν Supreme, as eldest and mother ofall. Solon, Fr. 36. 3, μεγίστη δαιμόνων Ὀλυμπίων | Γῆ. Cр. О. Т. 660, where the primacy for the occasion is similarly given to the sun. Schneidewin remarks that the assonance ἄφθιτον, ἀκαμάταν ἀποτρύεται, .. ἀρότρων helps to express the persistent industry of man. This ode is full of assonance and alliteration, and of correspondences such as ἀνεμόεν, μαχανόεν-παντόπορος, ἄπορος -ὑψίπολις, ἄπολις.

339. mvp-comment-195-1 ἀποτρύεται Wears out for his use (mid.) the still-unwearied Earth. The present implies that the process is never-ending. Even in the common operations of husbandry the old religion finds a ground for awe. The dactyls suit the thought of the continuous round of human labour, as those of the antistrophe express the movement of the steed. The two long syllables, ἱππει-, οὐρει-, at once check the flow of rhythm (as with a renewed feeling of wonder), and by their weight give impetus to the concluding trochees. Cp. Eur. Phoen. 1039-1040, 1063.4.

340. mvp-comment-196-1 ἰλλομένων ἀρότρων As the ploughs keep turning year after year. The force of ἴλλω is limited motion. Thus the shuttle might be said ἴλλεσθαι, because when it reaches either end of the loom it is driven back again. Precisely in the same way the ploughs are said ἴλλεσθαι, “To keep moving to and fro within certain bounds.' ἔτος εἰς ἔτος] i. e. δι' ἔτους εἰς ἔτος, "Through one year into the next,' the first ἔτος being the accusative of duration.

340. mvp-comment-196-2 ἱππείῳ γένει πολεύων Breaking the glebe by the strength of mules. πολεύειν = πολεῖν in Hes. Op. 460, ἔαρι πολεῖν· θέρεος δὲ νεωμένη οὔ σ᾽ ἀπατή- The masc. is more probable than the neuter, both because τοῦτο is re- σει. mote, and because ἀνήρ follows in the antistrophe.

340. mvp-comment-196-3 ἱππείῳ γένει i. e. Prole equarum. Schol. ταῖς ἡμιόνοις.

Hom. Il. 10.352. Donaldson also compares Simon. Fr. 13 (Bergk.), χαίρετ' ἀελλοπόδων θύγατρες ἵππων.

343. mvp-comment-197-1 *κουφονόων Light-thoughted. This is Brunck's certain emendation, anticipated by the corrector of R. (Cp. v. rr. on l. 617.) Donaldson well says that as wings express the light-mindedness of light-mindedness is here made an epithet of the winged birds. But the word may further suggest the unsuspicious nature ('Despising the earth where cares abound') which makes them an easy prey. Cp. Plat. Tim. 91 D, τὸ δὲ τῶν ὀρνέων φῦλον . . ἐκ τῶν ἀκάκων ἀνδρῶν, κούφων δέ, κ.τ.λ.

345. mvp-comment-198-1 πόντου τ᾽ εἰναλίαν φύσιν The brood of ocean teeming in the seas. For φύσιν, see Essay on Language § 51. p. 96.

346. mvp-comment-199-1 σπείραισι δικτυοκλώστοις With meshy toils,' is to be joined with ἀμφιβαλὼν ἄγει. Nets (δίκτυα) were used in hunting and fowling, as well as in fishing. For ἄγειν in the sense of making captive, cp. Il. 9. 594, τέκνα δέ τ᾽ ἄλλοι ἄγουσι βαθυζώνους τε γυναῖκας.

346. mvp-comment-199-2 ἄγει suits well with the image of a captive enemy, which is kept up in the words φύλον and ἔθνη.

348. mvp-comment-200-1 περιφραδής By his excellent wit. The 1st strophe exhibits the boldness, the Ist antistrophe the cunning, of primitive man. The 2nd strophe and antistrophe describe the higher functions of civilized life. 349 ff. He not only subdues the animals, but makes them his servants.' In correcting this line, the dactylic metre is to be retained, which is hardly done in the conjj. ἀμφιλόφῳ ζυγῷ or ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγοῖ. The words ἀμφίλοφον ζυγόν are sound both in meaning and rhythm. Brunck's conj. ὑπάξεται, supplying the preposition required by the Scholia, would be unexceptionable, if such a potential use of the future in an affirmative sentence could be defended. Blaydes' ὑπήγαγεν would be convincing if closer to the MSS. In favour of ἐπάξεται it may be urged that the repetition of the same word is in the manner of the ode, and that the figurative expression, he shall bring to his aid,' agrees with ἄγει, supr. 343. But besides the questionable future, the construction of the 2nd accus., sc. ἐπ᾿ ἀμφ. ζυγόν, is in this case dubious. ὑφέλκεται. . ζυγόν, compels to serve him in the yoke, may be suggested, although the verb ὑφέλκειν is not used elsewhere precisely in the sense required. Else qy. ἐφέλκεται?

352. mvp-comment-201-1 ἀκμῆτα is preferable to ἀδμῆτα, as the rarer word and as introducing a new and apposite idea. 353 ff. There is a natural progress in the thought. First, navigation and agriculture were mentioned as the arts of subduing the crude forces of nature; then the capture and domestication of animals. Now we come to the humanities and arts of life (the domestication of man himself), and lastly, in ἀντ. β', to moral or political good and evil.

354. mvp-comment-202-1 ἀνεμόεν φρόνημα Windswift thought; i. e. Thought which is viewless, free and nimble as the wind. Sophocles knew that the soul had been identified with the air. Cp. Plat. Phaedo, 96 Β, πότερον τὸ αἷμά ἐστιν ᾧ φρονοῦμεν, ἢ ὁ ἀήρ. ἢ τὸ πῦρ, κ.τ.λ. Schneidewin well compares Hom. Il. 15. 80, foll., ὡς δ᾽ ὅτ᾽ ἂν ἀΐξῃ νόος ἀνέρος, ὅς τ᾽ ἐπὶ πολλὴν | γαῖαν ἐληλουθὼς φρεσὶ πευκαλίμῃσι νοήσῃ | · ἔνθ εἴην ἢ ἔνθα, μενοινήπολλὰ | ὡς κραιπνῶς μεμανία διέπτατο πότνια Ἥρη. Wieseler's conj.

354. mvp-comment-202-2 κατ᾿ ἀν. φρ., adopted by Wolff, is surely unnecessary. Why should not man teach himself to think as well as to count? (See Plat. Rep. 7, p. 522.)

355-356. mvp-comment-203-1 ἀστυνόμους | ὀργάς is well explained by Seyffert, Urbium incolendarum studia. The disposition to inhabit cities. This seems more probable than The tempers of civic life. ἀστυνόμος ὀργή is the social impulse which draws men together to become inhabitants of the same town. comparison of Ar. Pol. 6. 8. 4, (ἑτέρα δ᾽ ἐπιμέλεια ταύτης ἐχομένη καὶ σύνεγγυς ἡ τῶν περὶ τὸ ἄστυ δημοσίων καὶ ἰδίων, ὅπως εὐκοσμία ῃ, καὶ τῶν πιπτόντων οἰκοδομημάτων καὶ ὁδῶν σωτηρία καὶ διόρθωσις, καὶ τῶν ὁρίων τῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ὅπως ἀνεγκλήτως ἔχωσι, καὶ ὅσα τούτοις ἄλλα τῆς ἐπιμελείας ὁμοιότροπα, καλοῦσι δ' ἀστυνομίαν οἱ πλεῖστοι τὴν τοιαύτην ἀρχήν), suggests the conjecture ἀστυνόμους ἀρχάς (already made by Valckenaer), Administrative rule. V reads ὁρμάς, ср. О. Т. 337. Qy. ἀρετάς? Ср. 366. 355, foll. And to avoid the cleareyed influence of comfortless frosts, and the pelting of the pitiless rain.' διαίθρεια, sc. βέλη.

356. mvp-comment-204-1 ἐδιδάξατο He taught himself. For the directly reflexive middle, see Essay on Language § 31. p. 52. The origin of the arts was a favourite problem of the Sophists. Cp. Plato, Prot. 320 D, foll. It is here assumed that they were selftaught without Prometheus or other superhuman aid.

357. mvp-comment-205-1 Musgr. would read either διαίθρεια, or αἴθρεια with φρουρῶν for παρειρῶν in l. 367. G. Wolff reads αἴθρεια and πληρῶν. But the repetition of in ll. 3, 4, and 6 suits the composition of the strophe better than the introduction of the bacchius and cretic in l. 3. διαίθρεια, serene, while keeping up the alliteration, suits the context better than ὑπαίθρεια or ἐναίθρεια, in the open air. Join *διαίθρεια βέλη as well as δύσομβρα βέλη.

360. mvp-comment-206-1 παντοπόρος· ἄπορος This punctuation is justified by the corresponding line of the antistrophe, which cannot be pointed otherwise. παντοπόρος, sc. ὤν, is added, like περιφραδής ἀνήρ, supr. 347, to express the admiration excited by the preceding statements.

360-361. mvp-comment-207-1 οὐδὲν . . τὸ μέλλον] Cp. l. 728, μηδὲν τὸ μὴ δίκαιον. Essay on Language § 22. p. 36.

362. mvp-comment-208-1 οὐκ ἐπάξεται He shall not win. For a similar metaphorical use of ἐπάγεσθαι, where, however, the reading has also been questioned, cp. Thuc. 3.10, τὴν τῶν ξυμμάχων δούλωσιν ἐπαγομένους.

364. mvp-comment-209-1 νόσων δ᾽ ἀμηχάνων φυγὰς | ξυμπέφρασται He hath gathered to him by his thought a remedy for many an unavoidable disease. ξυμ- marks that the healing art is a collective monument of human skill. πέφρασται recalls the notion of περιφραδής, supr. 347. For the oxymoron, cp. supr. 340, ἀκαμάταν ἀποτρύεται.

365-366. mvp-comment-210-1 His power of artful contrivance is a miracle of unimaginable skill, wherewith he followeth one while an evil purpose, at other times a good one.' τέχνας is added as genitive of respect to complete the notion of τὸ μηχανόεν. ὑπὲρ ἐλπίδα, beyond what could have been hoped for, or expected before the event. τι marks the indefiniteness of σοφόν as the predicate. It is in agreement with σοφόν, but has the effect of a particle or adverb (πως).

366. mvp-comment-211-1 κακόν, . . ἐπ᾿ ἐσθλόν Cp. О. Т. 761, ἀγρούς σφε πέμψαι κἀπὶ ποιμνίων νομάς.

367. mvp-comment-212-1 νόμους παρείρων χθονός When he knits therewith, sc. τῷ μηχανόεντι τῆς τέχνης καὶ σοφῷ, the laws of his land and the oath-observing righteousness of heaven. It is objected to παρείρων that it elsewhere means Inserting incidentally, or by the way, and that such a meaning is unsuitable here. But, as Seyffert has already shown, the word (which is a rare one) may quite well mean Weaving in,' like gold-leaf, for instance, into a chaplet of flowers. Cp. Plat. Legg. 605 D, καὶ τὸν τοῦ Κύρου δασμὸν ὃν ὑπέσχετο Πέρσαις εἰς τὸν νόμον ἐνέδει. Conjectural emendations are γεραίρων, περαίνων, γὰρ αἴρων, τ᾿ ἀείρων, πληρῶν (see v. rr., and note on 357).

370. mvp-comment-213-1 ὑψίπολις For this compound, cp. ἡδύπολις, ὀρθόπολις, μεγιστόπολις, δικαιόπολις. The construction is elliptical, sc. ὑψίπολις ὧν or ἐστί.

370. mvp-comment-213-2 ἄπολις . . χάριν] He is outcast from the state, who harbours evil for the indulgence of crime. Cp. supr. l. 30, πρὸς χάριν βορâs: Plat. Phaedr. 241, χάριν πλησμονῆς. This is better than joining τόλμας χάριν with ἄπολις = He is an outcast for his boldness.

375. mvp-comment-214-1 ἴσον φρονῶν i. e. Of the same party in the state. For the expression, cp. Il. 15.50, ἶσον ἐμοὶ φρονέουσα.

376-378. mvp-comment-215-1 ἐς δαιμόνιον τέρας .. Ἀντιγόνην] I stand in doubt at this strange marvel, how to gainsay what I know, and say that this is not the maid Antigone. The resumption is suitable to the chorus' perturbed state of feeling. Seyffert's ἐς δαιμόνιον τέρας ἀμφινοῶν τότε, referring to the previous scene (1. 278), is without the directness and simplicity of these short anapaestic passages, in which the chorus announce the entrance of a new person on the stage. Cp. 526 ff., 626 ff.

378. mvp-comment-216-1 οὐκ εἶναι, not μὴ εἶναι, because the entrance of Antigone is a patent fact.

382. mvp-comment-217-1 *ἀπάγουσι Sc. εἰς κρίσιν.

385. mvp-comment-218-1 εἵλομεν The v. r. εἴδομεν is supported by infr. 404, 406, 423, and εἴλομεν, the reading of L, etc., may have been occasioned by καθελόντες in the nearer context. But see v. rr. on 655.

386. mvp-comment-219-1 ἐς δέον Cp. Ο. Τ. 1416, εἰς δέον πάρεστι. εἰς μέσον, which Seyffert has restored from L, although having the authority of the chief MS, is more like a MS. conjecture than eἰς δέον. The same may be said of ἐξέβην, as compared with προὔβην. Seyffert reads ξύμμετρ᾽ ἐξέβην τύχῃ.

388. mvp-comment-220-1 οὐδέν ἐστ᾿ ἀπώμοτον This γνώμη first occurs in the fragment of Archilochus about the eclipse (76 Bergk), χρημάτων ἄελπτον οὐδέν ἐστιν οὐδ᾽ ἀπώμοτον. Cp. Pind. Ol. 13. 83, παρ' ὅρκον καὶ παρ' ἐλπίδα κούφαν.

389. mvp-comment-221-1 ψεύδει .. γνώμην 'For second thoughts bely one's resolutions.' ου 390. ἄv belongs grammatically to the verb ἐξηύχουν, but in meaning rather modifies the infinitive.

391. mvp-comment-222-1 ταῖς .. τότε When my soul was shaken with the tempest of your former threatenings.᾿ ἀπειλαῖς is dative of the occasion or accompaniment, assisted by attraction. Essay on Language § 11. p. 18, с. Ср. 1. 691.

392. mvp-comment-223-1 ἐκτὸς καὶ παρ᾿ ἐλπίδας i. e.

392. mvp-comment-223-2 ἐκτὸς ἐλπίδος (supr. 1. 330) καὶ παρ᾿ ἐλπίδας.

393. mvp-comment-224-1 ἔοικεν.. μήκος οὐδέν Sc. οὐδὲν ἔοικε μήκος, i. e. εἰς τὸ μέγεθος, as the Scholiast says.

395. mvp-comment-225-1 καθευρέθη is not to be rejected because of the rarity of the compound. See Essay on Language p. 90. But the conjecture of Nauck, καθῃρέθη, is favoured by καθελόντες in l. 383.

398. mvp-comment-226-1 ὡς θέλεις In arresting Antigone the watchman has done not his own will but Creon's. Infr. 438. 399,

400. mvp-comment-227-1 ἐγὼ δ'. κακῶν But I have a full right to be "away and clear" from this bad business.

401. mvp-comment-228-1 This maiden! where, and how, did you arrest her?' The emphatic order of words expresses the profound astonishment of Creon. Essay on Language § 41. p. 77.

403. mvp-comment-229-1 λέγεις ὀρθῶς Do you say it with a clear mind? i. e. Have you your wits when you say this? CСр. О. Т. 528, ἐξ ὀμμάτων δ᾽ ὀρθῶν τε καὶ ὀρθῆς φρενός | κατηγορεῖτο τοὐπίκλημα τοῦτό μου;

404. mvp-comment-230-1 ὃν σὺ τόν The collocation of antecedent and relative is peculiar, and perhaps characteristic of the rustic emphasis of the Φύλαξ. See notes on supr. 238, 269, and cp. infr. 409.

406. mvp-comment-231-1 And how was she discovered, caught, and taken ?"

407. mvp-comment-232-1 τοιοῦτον (1) As you say: she was seen (1. 423), surprised (1.432), and caught (1.433). Or (2) As follows,' = τοιόνδε.

409-410. mvp-comment-233-1 τὸν | νέκυν Α remarkable instance of synapheia. Cp. 1. 238. Essay on Language § 21. p. 33. Supr. 238.

410. mvp-comment-234-1 μυδῶν Dank: referring rather to the state of the corpse (cp. 412) than to the remains of the libation, which would be soon dried by the sun.

410. mvp-comment-234-2 εὐ Carefully. For the order, see Essay on Language p. 78, and cp. О. Т. 308, μαθόντες εὖ.

411. mvp-comment-235-1 We sat just below the top of the rising ground, in the lee of the wind, so escaping the incidence of the odour from the dead. Supposing the corpse to be exposed on a slope of the high ground, surrounded by hillocks, they would select a point of observation on the lee-side of one of these hillocks, and to the windward of the corpse, which they would have full in view.

411. mvp-comment-235-2 ἐκ = On this side of and looking from. Essay on Language § 19. p. 27. Infr. 1110, εἰς ἐπόψιον τόπον : 1197, πεδίον ἐπ᾿ ἄκρον. πικρᾶς] ι in erasure of v? by recent hand Vat.

412. mvp-comment-236-1 This line is not necessarily connected with the preceding: i.e. They may be supposed to select a spot, (1) out of the wind, (2) out of the way of the smell. But the explanation above given (411 note) is more probable. In either case the point is that in attending to their watch they were mightily careful of their own comfort.

412. mvp-comment-236-2 βάλῃ Changed by Stephanusto βάλοι, because of the past time and the optative following. But the subj. is more vivid.

413-414. mvp-comment-237-1 Rousing each his fellow with noisy altercation, reviling him who should take this labour easily. εἴ τις, κ.τ.λ. depends on the verbal notion implied in κακοῖσιν = κακῶς λέγοντες.

413-414. mvp-comment-237-2 ἀφειδεῖν, ‘Το be unsparing, and so To be negligent, To treat lightly, To act without circumspection. For an approach to this meaning, cp. Thuc. 4.26 § 7. Bonitz conj. ἀκηδήσοι.

415-417. mvp-comment-238-1 This lasted till the sun had reached his station in mid-sky with unclouded splendour, and the heat was glowing.' Cp. the Homeric ὄφρα μὲν ἠέλιος μέσον οὐρανὸν ἀμφιβεβήκει.

417. mvp-comment-239-1 When suddenly from the earth the Storm-god raised a squall, that saddened all the sky, and filled the plain, tearing the tresses of the orchard groves, and the wide heaven was choked withal.' The chief discomfort of such a visitation would be the cloud of dust, forcing men to close their eyes, and wrapping even near objects from sight. The watchman is explaining why they lost sight of the corpse. The poet also provides a motive for the act by which Antigone is betrayed. She fears that the corpse, lying in an exposed situation, may have been disturbed by the violence of the wind.

418. mvp-comment-240-1 οὐράνιον ἄχος may mean either (1) A trouble from the sky, or (2) A trouble reaching to the sky. The latter is best, as the word χθονός indicates that the whirlwind seemed to rise out of the ground.

420. mvp-comment-241-1 ἐν δ' See Essay on Language p. 26. § 18, a.

421. mvp-comment-242-1 μύσαντες .. νόσον Closing lips and eyes, we endured the Divine visitation.

422. mvp-comment-243-1 ἐν χρόνῳ μακρῷ After lasting a long while: giving time for Antigone to come out of her concealment, with the libation ready. 423, foll. κἀνακωκύει] ‘And raises a shrill wailing cry, like the voice of the despairing bird. For the descriptive genitive, see Essay on Language § 9. p. 12.

422. mvp-comment-243-2 πικρᾶς Embittered, 'Full of bitterness: the quality of the object is transferred to the subject: i.e. πικρᾶς, ἅτε πασχούσης πικρά. Also the bitterness of anger is joined to that of grief. Cp. the Latin dolor. For the genitive, cp. Trach. 768, ὥστε τέκτονοs. And for the omission of ὡs, which is supplied in the following clause, cp. supr. 114, λευκῆς χιόνος πτέρυγι στεγανός. G. Wolff reads ὅ. δ. φθόγγον ὥς, ὅταν κ. But this yields a less probable rhythm.

424-425. mvp-comment-244-1 As when it sees robbed of its young ones the desolated couch of its nest. For the pleonasm, see Essay on Language § 40. p. 75.

426. mvp-comment-245-1 οὕτω δέ The apodosis is resumed, as so often happens after a comparison. Essay on Language p. 75. Cp. Aesch. Cho. 252.

427. mvp-comment-246-1 γόοισιν Essay on Language p. 75.

427. mvp-comment-246-2 ἐκ δ᾽.. ἠρᾶτο Essay on Language § 18. p. 27.

430. mvp-comment-247-1 ἄρδην.. στέφει Slightly condensed from ἄρδην ἔχουσα στέφει. στέφει, She decorates, Honours. Metaphorical, as in Od. 8. 170, ἀλλὰ θεὸς μορφὴν ἔπεσι στέφει. Cp. καταστέφειν in Eur. Phoen. 1632, and Sophron ap. Athen. 479 B. She leaves out no jot of the ceremony: ὡς οὐδὲν ὑφιεμένη τῷ κρηύγματι.

431. mvp-comment-248-1 Od. 11. 26, ἀμφ᾿ αὐτῷ δὲ χοὰς χέομεν πᾶσιν νεκύεσσι, | πρῶτα μελικρήτῳ, μετέπειτα δὲ ἡδέϊ οἴνῳ, | τὸ τρίτον αὐθ᾽ ὕδατι.

432. mvp-comment-249-1 σὺν δέ νιν | θηρώμεθ' For this tmesis, see Essay on Language § 18. p. 26. συν as in συλλαμβάνω.

435. mvp-comment-250-1 Cp. Hdt. 3. 66, ἔξαρνος ἦν μὴ μὲν ἀποκτεῖναι Σμέρδιν: 3. 99, ἄπαρνός ἐστι μὴ μὲν νοσέειν.

436. mvp-comment-251-1 ἀλλ᾽.. ἅμα ἀλλά is to be explained as pointing the antithesis after the negative. Her attitude was not that of denial, but one to me at least pleasant and painful as well. The adverb modifies a word which is to be supplied from καθίστατο. ἡδέως ἐμοί, i. e. ὥστε ἐμὲ ἥδεσθαι, Essay on Language § 24. p. 40. There is a certain point in this which is lost in the emendation of Dindorf, ἅμ᾽ ἡδέως, in which, however, the repetition of ἅμα may be defended from Plat. Gorg. 497 Α, ἅμα διψῶν τε ἕκαστος ἡμῶν πέπαυται καὶ ἅμα ἡδόμενος διὰ τοῦ πίνειν. Schneidewin quotes also Gorg. 496 C, ὧν ἅμα τε ἀπαλλάττεται ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἅμα ἔχει, which is not really parallel.

439-440. mvp-comment-252-1 ἀλλὰ .. σωτηρίας (1) But all these things are to me by nature less important to obtain than my own safety. λαβεῖν epexegetic, like ἔχειν in Ο. Τ. 592, τυραννὶς ἡδίων ἔχειν. Cp. inf. 638, μείζων φέρεσθαι: Εl. 1015-1016, προνοίας οὐδὲν ἀνθρώποις ἔφυ | κέρδος λαβεῖν ἄμειvov. Or, possibly, (2) It is in my nature to take less account of all this than of my own safety. For the meaning thus given to ἐμοὶ πέφυκ cp. Εl. 860, πᾶσι θνατοῖς ἔφυ μύρος. And for λαβεῖν = To weigh or estimate, cp. Thuc. 2. 42, § 5, τὴν δὲ τῶν ἐναντίων τιμωρίαν ποθεινοτέραν αὐτῶν λαβόντες.

441. mvp-comment-253-1 For σὲ δή, sc. λέγω, cp. Aesch. Prom. 944, σὲ τὸν σοφιστήν, κ.τ.λ.: Soph. El. 1445, σε τοι, σὲ κρίνω, κ.τ.λ.: Eur. Hel. 546. And for ἐς πέδον κάρα νεύειν, cp. supr. 269.

441. mvp-comment-253-2 Creon misinterprets the action of Antigone. She fixes her eyes upon the ground, not from fear or shame, but because she is out of sympathy with all present, and her thoughts are in the other world. The hidden fire flashes out in ll. 450, foll., which are certainly not spoken with averted eyes. Cp. Ο. Τ. 1121.

442. mvp-comment-254-1 καταρνεῖ The unusual compound, introduced, perhaps, partly for the sake of metre, has also a special sense of blame. Cp. καταμελέω, καταξιόω, καταπειλέω, καταπροδίδωμι, καταργυρόω, κατασπείρω, κατασχολάζω.

445. mvp-comment-255-1 Free and exempt from grievous imputation.

446. mvp-comment-256-1 μήκος Adverbial, cp. O. С. 92, κέρδη μὲν οἰκήσαντα τοῖς δεδεγμένοις.

446. mvp-comment-256-2 'Tell us, no long tale, but briefly, knew you of the edict that forbade this deed? I knew; 'twas plain enough. How could I fail to know? And were you, then, so hardy as to transgress our law? That edict came not to me from the mouth of Zeus, nor from the Right, whose throne is with the Gods below. They also have appointed unto men a law. Methought your edict could not so prevail, as that a mortal should overleap the silent irrefragable ordinances of heaven. Their life is not of to-day or yesterday. They are eternal. None knoweth of a time when they began. I feared not so the mind of any man, as to incur before the Gods the penalty of that law. I knew, forsooth, without your edict, that I was to die. And if I am to die before the time, I count it gain. For he must surely gain by death who lives, as I do, midst abounding woes. And so for me to meet this doom is a grief I reck not of. If I had borne to leave unburied the corpse, fallen in carnage, of my mother's son, that had been a grief to me, but this is no grief. And if I seem to you to be now doing foolishly, it comes to this;-I am condemned of folly by a fool.'

447. mvp-comment-257-1 τὰ κηρυχθέντα The proclamation made. Cobet's conjecture ᾔδησθα κηρυχθέντα (Νov. Lect. 1858. p. 215), while restoring the recognised Attic form, is unobjectionable in point of syntax. But the use of the article in pointing to his own decree is characteristic of Creon, and if ἠείδης is retained in the Iliad, 22. 280, why not ᾔδης in Tragedy?

449. mvp-comment-258-1 καὶ δῆτα And then. Cp. Plat. Theaet. 142 C, καὶ δῆτα προπέμψας αὐτόν, ἀπιὼν πάλιν, κ.τ.λ.

449. mvp-comment-258-2 τούσδε . . νόμους These laws, i. e. The laws whose majesty is vested in me. For this use of the demonstrative, see Essay on Language § 22. p. 34.

450. mvp-comment-259-1 I obeyed no decree of yesterday, but the eternal law. That cannot be annulled by any enactment of a mere man. It may be that I shall die for what I have done. But it needed not your proclamation to tell me that I must die. And to die before the term appointed me is to lose so much of sorrow.

451. mvp-comment-260-1 For the mythological fancy, cp. О. С. 1381-1382, εἴπερ ἐστὶν ἡ παλαίφατος | Δίκη ξύνεδρος Ζηνὸς ἀρχαίοις νόμοις.

452. mvp-comment-261-1 This line is rightly explained by the Scholiast and Donaldson, Ἡ δίκη, φησί, καὶ ὁ Ζεὺς ὥρισαν ὥστε θάπτεσθαι τοὺς νεκρούς.. θέλει δὲ εἰπεῖν ὅτι ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως δίκαιον ἤγημαι θάπτειν τὸν ἀδελφόν. (Schol.) She replies, that she did not consider his proclamations as emanating from Zeus, the supreme God, or from that justice which regulated the rights of the dead, who, she says, have established these laws, namely, the laws of sepulture, which do not need any enactment, but have their ὅροι set up in the human heart. (Donaldson.) The iteration of τούσδε, in contrasting the law which she obeyed with the edict of Creon, is dramatically appropriate, and there is no difficulty in the vague use of the demonstrative. See Essay on Language § 22. p. 34. Cp. Od. 10. 326, τάδε φάρμακα.

454. mvp-comment-262-1 ἄγραπτα κἀσφαλῆ Unwritten and sure. Ср. О. Т. 865 ff., and note. ἀσφαλῆ is not only Never failing to apply, but also Never failing to vindicate their authority. Cp. II. 456 ff.

455. mvp-comment-263-1 θνητὸν ὄντα Sc. σέ, understood from τὰ σὰ κηρύγματα. That a mortal man should run beyond the silent irrefragable ordinances of the Gods. Cp. Eur. Ion 973, καὶ πῶς τὰ κρείσσω θνητός οὖσ᾽ ὑπερδράμω; Ο.Τ. 476-482

456. mvp-comment-264-1 νῦν .. κἀχθές To-day or yes- terday. The particle γε, ay, serves to connect the sentences, and τε is unnecessary, as appears from the similar expression, χθὲς καὶ πρώην, in Plat. Legg. 3. 677 D.

456. mvp-comment-264-2 ἀεί ποτε means Everlastingly, without any clear distinction of past or future. πότε gives the effect of indefiniteness or infinity.

457. mvp-comment-265-1 ζῇ Are in force. Cр. О. Т. 481, ἀεὶ ζῶντα περιποτᾶται.

457. mvp-comment-265-2 ἐξ ὅτου 'φάνη Since when they came into being. Cp. Tr. 1, λόγος ..

457. mvp-comment-265-3 ἀρχαῖος φανείς.

458-459. mvp-comment-266-1 τούτων.. τὴν δίκην The penalty to be exacted in vindication of these. The Gods might be said δίκην ἐπιτιθέναι τῶν παραβαθέντων νόμων, although the word in the genitive after δίκη more frequently signifies the offence for which punishment is awarded. Cp. infr. 1074, τούτων σε λωβητῆρες ὑστεροφθόροι, κ.τ.λ.

458-459. mvp-comment-266-2 ἀνδρός Of a mere man. Cp. O. C. 567, ἔξοιδ᾽ ἀνὴρ ὤν. 461 ff. Shak. Julius Caesar, 3. 1, 'Bru. That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time | And drawing days out, that men stand upon. | Cass. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life | Cuts off so many years of fearing death. | Bru. Grant that, and then is death a benefit: | So are we Caesar's friends, that have abridged His time of fearing death.'

458-459. mvp-comment-266-3 τοῦ χρόνου, sc. ἐν ᾧ μ᾿ ἐχρῆν θανεῖν.

462. mvp-comment-267-1 κέρδος αὔτ᾽ ἐγὼ λέγω αὔτ᾽, i. e. αὐτό, although not necessary to the construction, as appears from Plat. Apol. 40 Ε., κέρδος ἔγωγε λέγω, is better here than αὖτe, which weakens κέρδος.

463. mvp-comment-268-1 ὡς ἐγώ Supr. ll. 4-6.

466. mvp-comment-269-1 παρ᾿ οὐδὲν ἄλγος Is a grief of no account. Cp. supr. 35.

466. mvp-comment-269-2 ἐμῆς Meineke conj. ἐκ μιᾶs, Seyffert ὁμῆς, unnecessarily. The emphatic use of ἐμós is frequent in Sophocles.

467. mvp-comment-270-1 ἄθαπτον *ἠνσχόμην ἠνσχόμην (1) may be defended by the analogy of the syncopated ἀνσχήσεσθαι, ἄνσχεο, in Epic Greek. Otherwise (2) νέκυν may be cancelled as a gloss, and ἄθαπτον *ὄντ᾿ ἠνεσχόμην read, according to the conj. of Prof. E. L. Lushington. Or (3) ἐσχόμην may be read in the sense of ἠνεσχόμην. Ε. on L. § 55, 4. p. 101. But this is doubtful.

470. mvp-comment-271-1 μώρῳ i.e. One whose judgment is self-condemned, because opposed to the eternal laws. The word is not prompted by mere petulance, but is uttered with profound conviction.

471. mvp-comment-272-1 'The maiden's lineage declares itself in the fierce vein that comes to her from her fierce sire.' Phil. 1045-1046.

472. mvp-comment-273-1 ἐπίσταται Sc. ἡ παῖς.

473. mvp-comment-274-1 σκληρά Unbending, and so Stubborn, Obstinate.

473. mvp-comment-274-2 The self-will of Creon appears with increasing distinctness. (1) He asserts his confidence in the use of power to suppress insubordination. (2) He speaks of his ward, whom he does not care to name, as in the place of a slave (479): (3) he implies that to cede an inch of authority is to give the sovereignty to another (485). (4) He throws the tie of kindred to the winds. The first words of his speech are ominous of his own doom. See Introduction.

475. mvp-comment-275-1 ὀπτὸν .. περισκελή Baked to exceeding hardness. Cp. Aj. 649, καὶ περισκελεῖς φρένες.

476. mvp-comment-276-1 θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα Broken and shattered. The strongest word is put first in the Greek. Essay on Language § 41. p.77.

477. mvp-comment-277-1 σμικρῷ has a strong emphasis. Ibid.

478. mvp-comment-278-1 ἐκπέλει Hesych. ἐκπέλει, ἔξεστι. Hdt. uses ἐκγίνεσθαι in a similar sense. See Essay on Language § 55. p. 101.

479. mvp-comment-279-1 δοῦλος Creon shows his coarsely tyrannical spirit by boasting of his absolute power over his orphan relative.

481. mvp-comment-280-1 Cp. Hdt. 3. 83, νόμους οὐκ ὑπερβαίνουσα τοὺς Περσέων.

484. mvp-comment-281-1 Cp. Eur. I. Α. 952 ff., ἢ Σίπυλος ἔσται πόλις, ὅρισμα βαρβάρων, κ.τ.λ.

485. mvp-comment-282-1 If this authority is to be allowed to rest with her unchallenged. By an exaggeration of feeling like that in l. 208, he thinks that to pardon disobedience is to yield authority to the offender. For κείσεται, cp. El. 361, σοὶ δὲ πλουσία | τράπεζα κείσθω: ἀνάκειμαι in Hdt. 1.97, γνοὺς ὁ Δηϊόκης ἐς ἑωυτὸν πᾶν ἀνακείμενον.

485. mvp-comment-282-2 κράτη, as in l. 173, ἐγὼ κράτη δὴ πάντα καὶ θρόνους ἔχω.

486. mvp-comment-283-1 ὁμαιμονεστέρα is the more rational and stronger reading: although in weighing a hyperbolical expression of this kind, that is perhaps hardly a sufficient argument, and may be urged on the other side as accounting for the alteration of the MS.

487. mvp-comment-284-1 τοῦ παντὸς.. Ζηνὸς ἐρκείου i.e. Our whole family, the presiding numen being put for the thing held sacred.

489. mvp-comment-285-1 μόρου For the genitive with ἀλύξετον, cp. Phil. 1044, τῆς νόσου πεφευγέναι.

489. mvp-comment-285-2 ἴσον is probably to be construed both with ἐπαιτιῶμαι and βουλεύσαι (‘I accuse equally of plotting equally'), and τοῦδε τάφου is partly gen. after ἐπαιτιῶμαι, partly after ἴσον.

491. mvp-comment-286-1 ἀρτίως Viz. after l. 331, when Ismene knew that the deed was done, and, alone of those in the palace, knew also by whom.

493-494. mvp-comment-287-1 And it commonly happens that the spirit of those who are plotting some utter wickedness in secret is convicted of its occulted guilt before the act.

493. mvp-comment-288-1 ᾑρῆσθαι κλοπεύς Το be arrested in some stealthy enterprise. The perfect tense marks that the detection is completed before the purpose is carried into effect. Cp. πεπραγμένα .. ἡμαρτημένα, in O. T. 621.

495. mvp-comment-289-1 Yet I hate it equally when one who is caught in actual mischief tries to make a virtue of the offence.

495. mvp-comment-289-2 ἐν κακοῖσι = In trouble, i. e. In crime, and not merely, like Ismene, in the consciousness of crime. Cp. Fr. 843, αἰδὼς γὰρ ἐν κακοῖσιν οὐδὲν ὠφελεῖ.

496. mvp-comment-290-1 καλλύνειν Creon affects to regard Antigone's appeal to the higher law as a piece of hypocrisy. Cp. Fr. 845

496. mvp-comment-290-2 κλέπτων δ᾽ ὅταν τις ἐμφανῶς ἐφευρεθῇ, | σιγᾶν ἀνάγκη, κἂν καλὸν φέρῃ στόμα.

497. mvp-comment-291-1 Cp. Eur. Phoen. 1211.

500. mvp-comment-292-1 μηδ' ἀρεσθείη Sc. μηδὲν τῶν σῶν λόγων.

501. mvp-comment-293-1 ἔφυ Are by nature, and so cannot fail to be.

505. mvp-comment-294-1 λέγοιτ' ἄν For the passive, see Essay on Language § 31. P. 54 *ἐγκλείσαι] Cp. supr. 1. 180. Dindorf's correction (with εί for ῄ) is retained in preference to ἐγκλείοι. The future optative is clearly wrong.

506-507. mvp-comment-295-1 These two lines have been considered spurious. But their scornful tone may be compared with supr. 469-470.

509. mvp-comment-296-1 ὑπίλλουσι ἴλλειν (cp. supr. 340) is To move within bounds, or To limit motion. So here, 'They move their lips under your restraint; i. e. They curb their speech under your will.

510. mvp-comment-297-1 τῶνδε .. φρονεῖς; If you hold a course divergent from theirs. Cp. supr. 375, μήτ᾽ ἴσον φρονῶν.

512. mvp-comment-298-1 καταντίον In opposition to him.

514. mvp-comment-299-1 Why then do you honour a service which involves impiety to him? Honour, i. e. By zealously performing it.

515. mvp-comment-300-1 ὁ κατθανών νέκυς Eteocles.

516. mvp-comment-301-1 i. e. If you honour the impious one equally with him.

517. mvp-comment-302-1 For the omission of the participle, see Essay on Language § 23. p. 38.

519. mvp-comment-303-1 τοὺς νόμους τούτους Cp. supr. 452.

519. mvp-comment-303-2 ἴσους, the reading of the corrector of L, rather injures the line by dividing the emphasis, which rests entirely on ὅμως. Essay on Language § 41. p. 76 (4).

520. mvp-comment-304-1 ἴσος Of equal right. ἴσos has the construction of ἄξιος or δίκαιος. Essay on Language § 36. p. 64.

521. mvp-comment-305-1 Who can tell if this be not esteemed pious in the under-world? τάδε, this, which you count impious, the burial of Polynices. Schol., τίς οἶδεν εἰ καθ' Ἅιδου ἀλλήλοις διαλλάσσοντες ἡγοῦνται εὐσεβῆ τάδε. τίς οἶδεν εἰ, like Haud scio an in Latin, suggests an affirmative as possible, as in the lines τίς οἶδεν εἰ τὸ ζῆν μὲν ἐστι κατθανεῖν | τὸ κατθανεῖν δὲ ζῆν; κάτωθεν, see v. rr., is possibly right.

522-523. mvp-comment-306-1 Creon means that Eteocles must still hate Polynices after death. To which Antigone rejoins, in the line which expresses what is deepest in her, If it be so, his hatred is no rule for me. Creon sees that further argument is useless, and breaks off impatiently with an abrupt sentence of death.

524-525. mvp-comment-307-1 Go, then, to your grave, and there, if you must love them, love the dead below! κείνους, sc. τοὺς κάτω, with particular reference to Polynices.

526-530. mvp-comment-308-1 Here comes Ismene forth, shedding sisterly tears; from clouds above her brow, that moisten her fair cheek, doing disgrace unto her flushed countenance. Cp. Sh Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, 1. 1, Lys. Why is your cheek so pale? | How chance the roses there do fade so fast? | Herm. Belike, for want of rain, which I could well | Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes. Ant. and Cleo. 3. 2. 52. Il. 17. 591, ἄχεος νεφέλη: Eur. Hipp. 173, ὀφρύων νέφος: Aesch. Prom. 144-145, ὀμίχλα .. πλήρης δακρύων.

527. mvp-comment-309-1 δάκρυ᾽ εἰβομένη is the Triclinian reading for δάκρυα λειβόμενα. δάκρυ λειβομένη has been conjectured. But the construction, with φιλάδελφα adverbial, is less simple and therefore less pathetic. δάκρυα εἰβομένη is read in M³.

529. mvp-comment-310-1 ῥέθος Eur. Η. F. 1204, πάρες ἀπ᾿ ὀμμάτων | πέπλον . . ῥέθος ἀελίῳ δεῖξον.

531. mvp-comment-311-1 ὡς ἔχιδν᾽ ὑφειμένη Having slid in secretly like a snake; i.e. Like a serpent lurking. For the feeling associated with ὑφίημι, cp. Ο. Τ. 387, ὑφεὶς μάγον τοιόνδε μηχανορράφον.

532. mvp-comment-312-1 ἐξέπινες Cp. Tr. 1055-1056, ῥοφεῖ ξυνοικοῦν· ἐκ δὲ χλωρὸν αἷμά μου | πέπωκεν ἤδη.

533. mvp-comment-313-1 ἄτα κἀπαναστάσεις Abstract for concrete. See Essay on Language p. 94.

533. mvp-comment-313-2 θρόνων, obj. gen. Ib. § 9. p. 12.

536. mvp-comment-314-1 εἴπερ ἥδ᾽ ὁμορροθεῖ The Scholiast has noticed the apparent absurdity of Ismene's adding this condition to her avowal; and Schneidewin alters the line το δέδρακα τοὔργον, εἴπερ ἥδ᾽· ὁμορροθῶ. But the inconsistency is touchingly significant of the irresolute character of Ismene, and of the ascendancy of Antigone's stern nature over hers.

537. mvp-comment-315-1 τῆς αἰτίας is directly governed by ξυμμετίσχω, the notion of participation being silently continued in καὶ φέρω. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 331, πάντων μετασχὼν καὶ τετολμηκὼς ἐμοί.

539. mvp-comment-316-1 οὔτ᾽ ἐγὼ 'κοινωσάμην Supr. 69.

541. mvp-comment-317-1 ξύμπλουν Essay on Language p. 94.

542. mvp-comment-318-1 Antigone's offering to the dead was made in solitude, and without the presence of the sun.

545. mvp-comment-319-1 ἁγνίσαι τιμῆσαι Schol. Ismene means, Though I shrank from the deed, let me share the glory of it by accepting the consequences.

546. mvp-comment-320-1 ἅ = ταῦτα ὧν. Essay on Language § 35. P. 59. μή, ibid. § 29. p. 48.

548. mvp-comment-321-1 τίς βίος i. e. πῶς ὁ βίος; See Essay on Language § 22. p. 36.

549. mvp-comment-322-1 'Ask Creon. He has your care and duty;' i.e. Creon is more to you than your brother is.

551. mvp-comment-323-1 εἰ γέλωτ᾽ ἔν σοι γελῶ Schneidewin's explanation of this line, It is painful to me to be mocking you, my sister, is out of harmony with the tone of Antigone, although it is true that in this line her bitterness is somewhat softened. Either δή, κεἰ must be read, or εἰ explained as = κεἰ. I have grief enough, I assure you, though I laugh a bitter laugh at thee. Cp. 728, εἰ δ' ἐγὼ νέος = Though I am young: Eur. Or. 484, εἰ δὲ δυστυχεῖ, τιμητέος. See Essay on Language § 28. p. 47.

552. mvp-comment-324-1 ἀλλὰ νῦν Essay on Language § 26. p. 43. Par. E suggests ἐπωφελοῖμ᾽.

554. mvp-comment-325-1 κἀμπλάκω i. e. ἢ σώσω ἐμαυτὴν καὶ ἀμπλάκω.

556. mvp-comment-326-1 ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ . . λόγοις But not without my saying what I said, was this choice made. Ismene would clear herself from the imputation of merely shrinking from the attempt through cowardice, or without laying before her sister the grounds of her own conduct, as she had done supr. 49 ff. She also wishes to remind Antigone of ll. 78, 99, which acquit her of indifference towards the dead. But Antigone only recalls the argument against opposing those in power. Wolff compares Eur. Ion 228, ἐπὶ δ' ἀσφάκτοις μήλοις μὴ πάριτε.

557. mvp-comment-327-1 Your counsel seemed wise to these' (Creon, etc., τοῖς ἐνθάδε), but mine to those (Polynices and the powers below, τοῖς ἐκεῖ). The form of the sentence is accommodated to the latter part of it. If the first part were fully expressed it would be ἐδόκεις ἄν. G. Wolff and Wecklein prefer the reading σὺ μὲν σοί. But the opposition of τοῖς μὲν, τοῖς δέ, is more pointed.

558. mvp-comment-328-1 (1) Ismene reiterates, still feebly, what she had asserted in 536-537. Or (2) 'We are both in equal error,'-you against the state, and I against the dead. The first (1) is best. In either case, Antigone rejoins, You need not trouble yourself to make confessions. You are safe.

559-560. mvp-comment-329-1 ἡ δ᾽ ἐμὴ.. ὠφελεῖν My soul has long been with the dead, to do them service. In these words Antigone may be supposed to say, either (1) From the moment when my resolution was taken, my life has been with the dead, devoted in sacrifice to their aid; cp. supr. 72 and note: or (2) I have long been dead to all the joys of life, and am therefore a fit sacrifice to the service of the dead. So Wecklein. Cp. Shak. Merch. of V. 4. 1, I am a tainted wether of the flock, etc. But the former meaning (1) is alone consistent with the betrothal of Antigone to Haemon.

562. mvp-comment-330-1 τὴν δ᾽.. ἔφυ We learn from this line, and from supr. 499-501, that there had never been much sympathy between Antigone and Creon.

563-564. mvp-comment-331-1 The unfortunate never retain even the reason that was born with them, but lose it in distraction. Ismene intends her excuse to cover Antigone.

564. mvp-comment-332-1 Creon echoes κακῶς πράσσουσιν. You lost your wits when you chose to share the guilt of the wicked. Cp. 536 ff., 558.

566. mvp-comment-333-1 Why, what life that deserves the name could be mine in loneliness apart from her?

567. mvp-comment-334-1 Say not "this maiden." She is no longer here. The word ἥδε remains in the nominative. This often happens when a word is quoted with the article; which, however, is elsewhere omitted in similar cases, as for instance when the word so quoted is the predicate of a sentence. Cp. Plato, Theaet. 164 Β, τὸ δέ γε οὐχ ὁρᾷ οὐκ ἐπίσταταί ἐστιν, εἴπερ καὶ τὸ ὁρᾷ ἐπίσταται, where ἐπίσταται is equally out of construction with ἥδε in this line.

568. mvp-comment-335-1 νυμφεῖα Essay on Language p. 94.

569. mvp-comment-336-1 Ср. О. Т. 1211, 1497-1498, foll.

570. mvp-comment-337-1 Not as their hearts were plighted. Literally, Not in such a way as harmony had been prepared between him and her. Cp. Pind. Pyth. 9.13, ξυνὸν ἁρμόζοισα θεῷ τε γάμον κούρᾳ θ' Ὑψέος εὐρυβία.

571. mvp-comment-338-1 The plural generalizes the expression.

571. mvp-comment-338-2 υἱέσι Dative of the person interested.

572. mvp-comment-339-1 *AN. The MSS. have ΙΣ. But Böckh has given strong reasons for following Aldus in assigning the line to Antigone. The last speech of Creon might well move her to break silence, which she does naturally by resenting the words not for herself, but for Haemon. There is also greater bitterness in this line than in any speech of Ismene. Then, granting that τὸ σὸν λέχος, addressed to Ismene, might mean The marriage you prate of, the words express a much deeper feeling as addressed to Antigone. Outwardly a mere expression of impatience, they convey the only touch of natural feeling which Creon betrays. 574 and 576 are then most naturally given to the chorus. The act of Creon in sacrificing his son's happiness is more solemnly marked when his words are addressed to the coryphaeus. While adhering to this view I am bound to add that some of the best critics prefer the other arrangement of the persons.

577. mvp-comment-340-1 καὶ σοί γε κάμοί Sc. δεδογ μένα: i. e. σὺ μὲν οὕτω δοκεῖς, ἐμοὶ δὲ δέδοκται. We are agreed so far.

577. mvp-comment-340-2 τριβάς Sc. ποιείσθε. Essay on Language §39. p. 74.

578. mvp-comment-341-1 'Henceforth these must be really women, and not left at large;' i. e. They must be treated as women. Cp. l. 484. This reading, although defaced in L, may well be defended against such would-be improvements as εὖ δὲ τάσδε χρὴ | γυναῖκας εἶλαι (Dind.), and εὖ δετὰς δὲ χρὴ | γυναῖκας εἶναι (Seyffert), which are to be condemned, amongst other reasons, for destroying the singleness of the emphasis. Creon, as usual, covers his self-will under the appearance of principle. Cp. Plat. Legg. 1.637, ταχὺ γάρ σου λάβοιτ᾽ ἄν τις τῶν παρ' ἡμῶν ἀμυνόμενος, δεικνὺς τὴν τῶν γυναικῶν παρ' ὑμῖν ἄνεσιν : Ar. Pol. 2. 6. The words indicate that Antigone's going beyond the gate, supr. 18, 19, was an exceptional freedom, consequent on the war. Thus Sophocles is contented with a hint, where Euripides thinks an explanation necessary: Phoen. 89-91.

582. mvp-comment-342-1 The fate of Antigone is sealed, and the chorus moralize over the power of fate and of Zeus, as shown in the continued calamities of the race of Labdacus, and the infatuation ('quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ') of Antigone. The spectator is left free to apply the same reflections to the case of Creon.

582. mvp-comment-342-2 'Calamity is like a storm that stirs the lowest depths and sounds afar. The race once touched is never free. Each generation as it rises is struck down.

582. mvp-comment-342-3 'The house of Labdacus has sorrow upon sorrow. Amidst the ruined grove one root was springing, only to be swept under by the cruel dues of Hades in a frenzy of infatuation.

582. mvp-comment-342-4 Who can restrain the power of Zeus? Unchecked by sleep or age he ever dwells in the light of Olympus. This was and shall be now and evermore, a truth that spareth not the lives of men, whom hope deceives, giving comfort indeed, but also inspiring passionate folly, till disappointment comes, before the man hath seen that he is treading on fire. Wise was he who said that evil seemeth good to one whom God is drawing to perdition. Few are the days of his exemption from that dark lot.

582. mvp-comment-342-5 The 1st strophe opens solemnly with three dactylo-epitritic or Doric lines, which are followed by iambic and trochaic rhythms. The 2nd strophe is logaoedic, with syncope of thesis in ll. 3, 5, 7, 11 a'. β'. ILCCICcl alcl- LullLCClcclcla 10101010 51-1 CLL下​CICLI ト​CICICI CCICCICLI 1101007ID トトー CCCII 100II

582. mvp-comment-342-6 οἶσι .. αἰών Whose life is free from taste of misery. Blessed, because of the rarity of their lot, and because of the unsparing persistence of calamity when it comes to any. For κακῶν ἄγευστος, cp. Ο. Τ. 969, ἄψαυστος ἔγχους.

583. mvp-comment-343-1 θεόθεν The adverb of place supports the metaphor of a storm coming from a certain quarter. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 1089, ῥιπὴ Διόθεν.

583-584. mvp-comment-344-1 ἄτας | οὐδὲν ἐλλείπει Cp. l. 2, ff.

585. mvp-comment-345-1 ἔρπον The real subject of this is πᾶσα ἄτη (or τὸ πᾶν ἄτης) implied in the preceding words, the positive being educed from the negative. Calamity stints not, but goes on till it fulfils the number of the race.

586-589. mvp-comment-346-1 ὅμοιον.. πνοαῖς Like as when the billow courses over the darkening deep before fell Thracian blasts from the Euxine sea. Some interpreters make ἔρεβος subj, and οἶδμα obj. of ἐπιδράμῃ, when the darkening wave courses over the main. But οἶδμα elsewhere in Sophocles is not the expanse (aequor) but the swelling of the sea, and ἔρεβος ὕφαλον can hardly be anything else than the nether darkness of the deep. For the accumulation of adjectives, see Essay on Language § 23. p. 37. Seyffert reads ὡς προποντίδος. 589 ff. It rolls from depths below the black tempestuous drift. 591. And the cliffs, returning the shock, groaningly resound.'

586-589. mvp-comment-346-2 δυσάνεμον A sign of tempest, 'Associated with bad winds, because only seen when the wind has been blowing hard on shore. Ventorum vehementiorum comitem.' Musgr. 593, foll. From of old I see with pain' (ὁρῶμαι, ethical middle, Essay on Language § 31. p. 52) 'the calamities of the house of Labdacus accumulating on the calamities of those that are gone; nor does one generation free another, but some god casts them down; nor is there hope of redemption.'

586-589. mvp-comment-346-3 ἀρχαῖα has the stress as suppl. predicate. Essay on Language § 23. p. 38.

595. mvp-comment-347-1 The reading of this line has been much questioned, but the meaning is clear, although it is uncertain what word (whether φθιτῶν or some other) has been supplanted by the unmetrical φθιμένων: which may be due to a reminiscence of Aesch. Cho. 403. 4, παρὰ τῶν πρότερον φθιμένων ἄτην | ἑτέραν ἐπάγουσαν ἐπ᾿ ἄτῃ.

596. mvp-comment-348-1 γενεὰν γένος There is no distinction of meaning (such as One generation, .. 'The whole race'). Cp. O. C. 27, 28, ἐξοικήσιμος .. οἰκητός.

596. mvp-comment-348-2 ἐρείπει Sc. γενεὰν ἑκάστην. Cp. infra 601, κατ᾽ αὖ νιν, κ.τ.λ.

597. mvp-comment-349-1 οὐδ᾽ ἔχει Nor does the case admit of. Cp. Ο. C. 545, ἔχει δέ μοι ..

597. mvp-comment-349-2 πρὸς δίκας τι.

600. mvp-comment-350-1 ῥίζας Ἀντὶ τοῦ, ὅπερ ἔβλαστεν ἄνω τῆς ῥίζης, Schol. The root, for the plant.

600. mvp-comment-350-2 *ἐτέτατο The Scholiast notes the asyndeton (λείπει ἄρθρον τὸ ὅ): which is expressive and allows viv to be referred to ῥίζας, to which it naturally belongs. And in the reading ῥίζας δ τέτατο, the order of words is questionable. For ἐτέτατο φάος, cp. Phil. 831, αἴγλαν, ἃ τέταται τανῦν. The light is the grace and nobleness of Antigone, and her bright hopes. The conj. θάλος, for which, cp. Pind. Οl. 2. 45, Ἀδραστιδᾶν θάλος, is uncalled for.

601. mvp-comment-351-1 κατ' was rightly restored by Triclinius for κατ' (ⅰ.e. καὶ εἶτα), which had been introduced to avoid the asvndeton. (Schol. ἐάν στίξωμεν κᾷτ᾽ αὖ νιν, οὐδὲν λείπει τῷ λόγῳ.)

602-603. mvp-comment-352-1 ἀμᾷ θερίζει καὶ ἐκκόπτει. ἢ καλύπτει, Schol. The latter is right.

602-603. mvp-comment-352-2 Ας καταμᾶσθαι κόνιν is ‘Το cover oneself with dust,' so, by a poetical inversion, the dust may be said καταμᾶν, To cover, or Sweep out of sight. Essay on Language § 42. р. 80, β.

603. mvp-comment-353-1 λόγου τ᾽ ἄνοια καὶ φρενῶν Ἐριvús The reasoning of Antigone in 450 ff. seems wild to the chorus, and her conduct shows her to them as possessed with a fatal frenzy. It may be thought strange that κόνις should be retained against a reading which has been so generally ap- proved as κόπις, first suggested by Jortin. But see Essay on Language pp. 92, 93. The grotesque image of Death, or Hades, armed with a bloody chopper or cleaver, however agreeable to the manner of Euripides, or some other poets, has no parallel in the language of Sophocles. And the transition from this concrete imagery to the spirits of fury and madness is, to say the least, awkwardly abrupt. The words λόγου τ᾽ ἄνοια καὶ φρενῶν Ἐρινύς are most natural if they are added to expand an obscure allusion to the deed which had brought Antigone into danger. And the words φοινία θεῶν τῶν νερτέρων .. κόνις, The deadly dust sacred to the gods below, convey such an allusion not more obscurely than do the words in Tr. 836 ff., δεινοτάτῳ μὲν ὕδρας προστετακὼς φάσματι, κ.τ.λ., express the condition of Heracles in the poisoned robe. Triclinius was therefore not absurd in saying εἰκότως δὲ τὸ κόνις τέθειται. διότι γὰρ ἐκάλυψεν Ἀντιγόνη ἀδελφὸν Πολυνείκην κόνει, διὰ τοῦτο τεθνήξεσθαι ἔμελλε.

604. mvp-comment-354-1 This is suggested by the position of Antigone, whose offence brings swift retribution; but is felt by the spectator to be more applicable to that of Creon.

604-605. mvp-comment-355-1 τίς .. κατάσχοι Essay on Language §36. p. 62. Ср. O. T. 937, and esp. Pind. Οl. 11. 20, 1, ἐμφυὲς οὔτ᾽ αἴθων ἀλώπηξ | οὐδ᾽ ἐρίβρομοι λέοντες διαλλάξαιντο ἦθος.

606. mvp-comment-356-1 Not slumber that brings age to all things.' Cp. Hom. Il. 14. 242, where Sleep says, ἄλλον μέν κεν ἔγωγε θεῶν αἰειγενετάων | ῥεῖα κατευνήσαιμι, καὶ ἂν ποταμοῖο ῥέεθρα | Ὠκεανοῦ, ὅσπερ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται | Ζηνὸς δ' οὐκ ἂν ἔγωγε Κρονίονος ἆσσον ἱκοίμην, οὐδὲ κατευνήσαιμ᾽, ὅτε μὴ αὐτός γε κελεύοι. For αἱρεῖ, cp. Il. 24.5, οὐδέ μιν ὕπνος ἥρει πανδαμάτωρ: Od. 9. 372, κὰδ δέ μιν ὕπνος ἥρει πανδαμάτωρ. The conjecture of Bamberger, παντοθήρας, is plausible. But for the closeness of the association between Age and Sleep, cp. O. T. 870-871, οὐδὲ λάθα κατακοιμάσει .. οὐδὲ γηράσκει.

607-608. mvp-comment-357-1 The reading adopted involves the simplest change which avoids a breach of metrical rules. Others suppose, the loss of a syllable after θεῶν, reading ἄκοποι for ἀκάματοι, with ἕρπει in the fourth line of the antistrophe. For θεῶν added as a sort of epithet = Divine, cp. supra 454, 369: Ο. Τ. 647 : Αj. 711, θεῶν.. πάνθυτα θέσμια : Phil. 198: also Tr. 1191, Ζηνός. The indefiniteness of this use obviates the objection of Schneidewin, that the months of the Gods are opposed to Zeus, who is generally the orderer of time, as in Hom. Il. 2. 134, Διὸς μεγάλου ἐνιαυτοί. There is possibly, however, in θεῶν some allusion to the heavenly bodies, who, as Plato says, are the ὄργανα χρόνου.

608. mvp-comment-358-1 ἀγήρῳ δὲ χρόνῳ δυνάστας With power whose duration is untouched by age. For the personification of χρόνος, see Essay on Language pp. 81, 82. The reading ἀγήρως seems to be of some antiquity, and is embodied in one of the Scholia.

610. mvp-comment-359-1 αἴγλαν Cp. Hom. Il. 1. 532, ἀπ᾿ αἰγλήεντος Ὀλύμπου. The conception of Olympus is here more Homeric than elsewhere in Sophocles. See on O. T. 867, О. С. 1655.

611-612. mvp-comment-360-1 τό τ᾽ ἔπειτα καὶ τὸ μέλλον καὶ τὸ πρίν] Cp. Thuc. 2. 64, § 8.

613. mvp-comment-361-1 The reading οὐδὲν *ἕρπων is to some extent confirmed by the Scholium ση πάμπολις, ὁ κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν ἕρπων νόμος, and is the most probable of the emendations of this passage. It has been supposed that οὐδὲν ἔρπει, and also ἐκτὸς ἄτας, have crept in from below; but this stasimon is peculiarly full of verbal echoes. See Essay on Language § 44. p. 76. This principle' (the sovereignty of Zeus) will last the coming time, and the time to come, as well as the time past, never swerving, as it moves onwards, from calamity to the life of mortals in all their cities. Lit. Coming to the life of mortals (a law of every city) in no respect out of the way of calamity. οὐδέν, adverbial.

613. mvp-comment-361-2 βιότῳ, dat. of reference (Essay on Language § 12. p. 18). πάμπολις, universal, i.e. law not of any one state, but embracing all. For ἕρπων ἐκτὸς ἅτας θνατῶν βιότῳ, cp. infra l. 1318: ἐμᾶς.. ἐξ αἰτίας (= ἐκτὸς αἰτίας ἐμοί): Ο. C. 1575, ἐν καθαρῷ βῆναι .. τῷ ξένῳ: Essay on Language § 42. p. 79.

615. mvp-comment-362-1 πολύπλαγκτος There is no clear instance of an active use of πολύπλαγκτος, for in Hom. Il. 13. 308, έξ ἀνέμοιο πολυπλάγκτοιο ἰωῆς, The fartravelled wind, is a probable enough meaning. Cp. Shakespeare's Empty, vast, and wandering air. So here Widely roving' is better than Muchdeceiving.' Cp. infr. 785-786.

617. mvp-comment-363-1 ἀπάτα . . ἐρώτων ἐρώτων is not genitive of object, but of cause: not Disappointment of desire, but De ception through desire. To many, hope is but the deceitfulness of winged desire.

618. mvp-comment-364-1 εἰδότι δ᾽ οὐδὲν ἕρπει And it comes to him all at unaware, i. e. The event or calamity comes. For the vague subject, cp. supra 597, οὐδ᾽ ἔχει λύσιν, and note. This is better than Nothing befals him while he is aware. 619. Till his foot be scorched in the hot blaze.' For the insertion of τις in the second clause, cp. Aj. 964, τἀγαθὸν χεροῖν | ἔχοντες οὐκ ἴσασι πρίν τις ἐκ βάλῃ : Τr. 2, 3, ὡς οὐκ ἂν αἰῶν᾽ ἐκμάθοις βροτῶν, πρὶν ἂν θάνῃ τις. Seidler's conj. προσαύρῃ is less good than the reading of L.

620. mvp-comment-365-1 σοφίᾳ Dative of manner. Essay on Language § 14. p. 20, 2.

625. mvp-comment-366-1 πράσσει, SC. ὁ τοιοῦτος, supr. l. 619, τις, l. 623 , τῷδ'. Cp. Aesch. ap. Plat. Rep. 2, p. 380 Α, θεὸς μὲν αἰτίαν φύει βροτοῖς | ὅταν κακῶσαι δῶμα παμπήδην θέλει.

625. mvp-comment-366-2 ὀλιγοστόν ὀλίγιστον has been read, and is possibly the Ist hand of L; see v. rr. But ὀλιγοστός χρόνος may mean a time that is one of few, i. e. one that comes rarely or seldom. πολλοστός in Legg. 10. 896 B, is not small, but many times removed, and has the force of a superlative, as it has also in Phileb. 44 E, where it means minutest.

626-627. mvp-comment-367-1 See Essay on Language § 40. p. 75.

628. mvp-comment-368-1 νύμφης had probably been written over μελλογάμου or τάλιδος as a gloss. The words τῆς μελλογάμου νύμφης are omitted in VM¹. This whole expression may have been a gloss on τάλιδος, or on τῆς μελλονύμφου φου infr. 633.

629. mvp-comment-369-1 μόρον Ε. on L. § 16. p. 23.

630. mvp-comment-370-1 ἀπάτας (1) Gen. of cause; or (2) with ὑπερ. Cp. Eur. Hipp. 260.

631. mvp-comment-371-1 μαντέων ὑπέρτερον Better than a seer could tell us. Creon thus vents his impatience at the anticipation of the chorus, and also indicates his scorn of prophecy. Cp. infr. 1034 ff.

632. mvp-comment-372-1 τελείαν ψήφον The fixed, irreversible, decree. Creon means by his first words to exclude hope.

632. mvp-comment-372-2 ἆρα μή Can it be that.., expressing doubt mingled with surprise.

633. mvp-comment-373-1 τῆς μελλονύμφου Objective genitive. Essay on Language § 9. p. 12.

633. mvp-comment-373-2 λυσσαίνων · Madly raging; as if opposition to a father could only be accounted for by madness. The word is ἅπαξ λεγόμενον, and is for this reason preferable to the weaker θυμαίνων.

634. mvp-comment-374-1 σοὶ μέν i.e. Whatever we may be to others.

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.

635-636. mvp-comment-376-1 σύ μοι γνώμας ἔχων | χρηστὰς ἀπορθοῖς Sc. ἐμέ. You, having good advice for me, direct me. μοι is in construction with the nearer word.

637. mvp-comment-377-1 No marriage can, if I think rightly, be a more valued prize to me. ἀξίως ἔσται has been changed to ἀξιώσεται. But ἀξιοῦσθαι μείζων φέρεσθαι, To be deemed of more importance to obtain, is an awkward and unauthorized expression and, for the position and emphatic use of the adverb, which is the only difficulty, see Essay on Language § 24. pp. 37, 38, and cp. the adverbial use of ἄξιος in El. 1260 ff., τίς .. ἀξίαν μεταβάλοιτ᾽ ἂν .. σιγὰν λόγων ;

638. mvp-comment-378-1 For μείζων, = τιμιώτερος, cp. Ο. Τ. 776, ἀστῶν μέγιστος τῶν ἐκεῖ.

638. mvp-comment-378-2 φέρεσθαι is in the middle voice.

638. mvp-comment-378-3 σοῦ καλῶς ἡγουμένου Than you and your good guidance. The condition is assumed to be inseparable from the subject, as in Plat. Rep. 1. 335 A, τὸν μὲν φίλον ἀγαθὸν ὄντα εὖ ποιεῖν, τὸν δὲ ἐχθρὸν κακὸν ὄντα βλάπτειν.

639. mvp-comment-379-1 οὕτω .. διὰ στέρνων ἔχειν Το be thoroughly imbued with this.

640. mvp-comment-380-1 'In all things to follow your father's judgment.' The image is that of taking up a position behind a leader: i. e. Not to break rank, but to follow in good order. Cp. Plat. Protag. 315 B, (the disciples of Protagoras) εὖ πως καὶ ἐν κόσμῳ . . ἀεὶ εἰς τὸ ὄπισθεν καθίσταντο κάλλιστα.

643. mvp-comment-381-1 τὸν ἐχθρόν 'Their father's enemy.'

646. mvp-comment-382-1 τί .. ἄλλο is governed by the general verbal notion, without distinctly anticipating φῦσαι.

648. mvp-comment-383-1 τὰς φρένας γ᾽ ὑφ᾽ ἡδονῆς The reading of Vat. is retained, not as clearly right, but as more probable than later corrections. γε may be supposed to give a strong emphasis to φρένας. Do not lose your wits, whatever you do. And this is rather confirmed by the way in which Haemon echoes the word in l. 683.

650-651. mvp-comment-384-1 ψυχρὸν παραγκάλισμα . . ἐν δόμοις 'Small comfort comes of such a union, of having a bad wife to share one's couch at home.'

653. mvp-comment-385-1 πτύσας Rejecting with abhorrence. Here and in l. 1232, πτύειν seems to imply a gesture of dislike or loathing, directed towards a person or thing. Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1192, ἐν μέρει δ' ἀπέπτυσαν | εὐνὰς ἀδελφοῦ.

653. mvp-comment-385-2 ὡσεί τε Αn Epic or Ionic form. See Introd. p. 456.

654. mvp-comment-386-1 The construction is rather μέθες τήνδε τινὶ νυμφεύειν, Leave her for some one to wed, than μέθες τήνδε νυμφεύειν τινί, Leave her to wed some one.

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.