Antigone. Sophocles. Berlin. 1806.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by Tufts University.
Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) (Latin) (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806))
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
mvp-comment-179-1 ἰλλομένων ἀρότρων, 1 ἀρότων 2
mvp-comment-179-2 ἔτος εἰς ἔτος 3 εἰς 4
mvp-comment-180-1 ἱππείῳ γένει 5
mvp-comment-180-2 πολεύων 6 τοῦτο 7
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 (
ἀμφιβαλὼν σπείραισι δικτυοκλώστοις), in its threefold sporting use, as applied to fowling (
ὀρνίθων), hunting (
θηρῶν), and fishing (
πόντου φύσιν). Secondly, those conquests which aim at reducing wild animals to man's service. These are effected by
μηχαναί (349),— arts of taming and training. And their result is aptly expressed by the word
mvp-comment-181-2
κρατεῖ: 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 8
mvp-comment-181-5 ἀμφιβαλὼν 9
mvp-comment-182-1 πόντου … εἰναλίαν φύσιν 10
mvp-comment-183-1 περιφραδής 11
mvp-comment-184-1 μηχαναῖς 12 ἀγραύλου 13 ὀρεσσιβάτα 14
mvp-comment-185-1 λασιαύχενά θ’ 15
mvp-comment-186-1 ὀχμάζεται 16 ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῶν 17
mvp-comment-186-2
Rhod. 1. 743
κυρίως ἐστὶν ὀχμάσαι τὸ ἵππον ὑπὸ χαλινὸν ἀγαγεῖν ἢ ὑπὸ ζυγόν. 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
προσορωμένα 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
ὀχμάζει ὑπ’ ἀμφίλοφον ζυγόν: but the Ms.
ἕξεται indicates that the verb, whatever it was, was of the midd. form.
ὀχμάζεται was published by G. Schöne in 1833, and by Franz in 1846: they appear to have made the conjecture independently. Donaldson (1848) printed
ὁχμάζεται ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῶν, and seems to ascribe
ζυγῶν to Franz and Schöne; though Franz, at least, proposed
ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῷ. ζυγῶν has been revived (seemingly without knowledge of a predecessor) by H. Schütz (1886). Sophocles would write
ΑΜΦΙΛΟΦΟΝΖΥΓΟΝ, and thus
ζυγῶν changes no letter. Aesch. used the fut.
ζυγώσω (fr. 110), and Soph. has the verbal
ζυγωτῶν (
El. 702
). To
ἀμφιλόφῳ ζυγῷ it may be objected that, being clear, it was not likely to become -
ον ‐όν: but, when
ἀμφίλοφον had once been written,
ζυγῶν (or
ζυγῷ) would easily become
ζυγόν. As to the schol. on
ἀμφίλοφον,—ἀντὶ τοῦ, περιβαλὼν αὐτῷ ζυγὸν περὶ τὸν λόφον, ὑπάγει,—it cannot fairly be urged for
ζυγῶν (or for any partic.), since it may be merely a paraphrase of
ἀμφίλοφον.—Schütz's
ἐφέζεται
18
mvp-comment-187-1 φθέγμα 19
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
ἐδιδάξατο.
mvp-comment-187-3 ἀνεμόεν φρόνημα 20
mvp-comment-188-1 ἀστυνόμους ὀργάς 21
mvp-comment-189-1 ἐδιδάξατο 22
mvp-comment-190-1 πάγων 23
mvp-comment-190-2 ἐναίθρεια 24
mvp-comment-190-3 βέλη 26
mvp-comment-191-1 παντοπόρος 27
mvp-comment-191-2
οὐδὲν … τὸ μέλλον = οὐδὲν ὃ μέλλει (
ἔσεσθαι), nothing that is to be (cp. the absolute
τὸ μέλλον, τὰ μέλλοντα). So
Plat.
Lach. 197
A
ἔγωγε ἀνδρεῖα καλῶ οὔτε θηρία οὔτε ἄλλο οὐδὲν τὸ τὰ δεινὰ ὑπὸ ἀγνοίας μὴ φοβούμενον = οὐδὲν ὃ μὴ φοβεῖται. This negative form is as correct as (though actually rarer than) the positive
πᾶν τὸ καλῶς ἔχον (
Plat.
Rep. 381A
) for
πᾶν ὃ καλῶς ἔχει. Donaldson took
τὸ μέλλον adverbially: ‘in regard to the future, he comes to nothing without resources.’
Cp. 728
,
μηδὲν τὸ μὴ δίκαιον, where
μηδέν is subst., not adv.
mvp-comment-192-1 μόνον 28 μόνου 29 φεῦξιν — ἐπάξεται 30
mvp-comment-193-1 ἀμηχάνων 31
mvp-comment-193-2 φυγάς 32
mvp-comment-193-3 ξυμπέφρασται 33
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—
ὑψίπολις by his care for the laws—is effective in view of the destined
περιπέτεια.
mvp-comment-194-2 σοφόν τι … ἔχων 34
mvp-comment-194-3 τὸ μηχανόεν τ 35
mvp-comment-195-1 τοτὲ μὲν … ἄλλοτ’ 36
mvp-comment-195-2 ἐπ’ 37
mvp-comment-196-1 γεραίρων 38
mvp-comment-196-2
5. 67
ἐτίμων τὸν Ἄδρηστον καὶ δὴ πρὸς τὰ πάθεα αὐτοῦ τραγικοῖσι χοροῖσι ἐγέραιρον.
Ar.
Th. 960
γένος Ὀλυμπίων θεῶν | μέλπε καὶ γέραιρε φωνῇ.
mvp-comment-197-1 θεῶν τ’ ἔνορκον δίκαν 39
mvp-comment-198-1 ὑψίπολις 40
mvp-comment-198-2 ἄπολις 41
mvp-comment-198-3 τὸ μὴ καλόν 42 τόλμας χάριν 43
mvp-comment-199-1 παρέστιος 44
mvp-comment-199-2 ἴσον φρονῶν 45
mvp-comment-200-1 ἔρδει 46 ἔρδοι 47
mvp-comment-202-1 The choral ode has closed with an allusion to the unknown man ( ὅς 48 ἀμφινοῶ 49 ἐς 50
mvp-comment-202-2 δαιμόνιον τέρας 51
mvp-comment-203-1 πῶς εἰδὼς 52
mvp-comment-203-2 ἀντιλογήσω 53
mvp-comment-204-1 ὦ δύστηνος 54
mvp-comment-204-2 δ. πατρός 55
mvp-comment-204-3 Οἰδιπόδα— 56
mvp-comment-205-1 τί ποτ’ 57
mvp-comment-205-2 οὐ δή που 58
mvp-comment-205-3 ἀπιστοῦσαν 59
mvp-comment-205-4 ἄγουσι 60
mvp-comment-205-5 colloquialism, it would be nearly as bad as, ‘Have they taken you up?’
mvp-comment-205-6 καὶ 61 ἀπιστοῦσαν 62 καθελόντες 63
mvp-comment-206-1
Second
ἐπεισόδιον. 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 64
mvp-comment-206-3 τοὔργον ἡ ’ξειργ 65
mvp-comment-207-1 ἐς δέον 66
mvp-comment-208-1 ξύμμετρος 67
mvp-comment-209-1 ἀπώμοτον 68
mvp-comment-210-1 ψεύδει 69
mvp-comment-210-2 ἡ ’πίνοια 70
mvp-comment-211-1 ἐξηύχουν ἄν 71 σχολῇ ἥξειν ποτὲ δεῦρο 72
mvp-comment-211-2 σχολῇ 73
mvp-comment-212-1 ταῖς σαῖς ἀπειλαῖς 74
mvp-comment-212-2 ἐχειμάσθην 75
mvp-comment-213-1 ἡ...ἐκτὸς 76 ἐκτός 77
mvp-comment-214-1 οὐδὲν ἔοικε μῆκος 78 α+λλῃ ἡδονῇ 79 οὐδέν 80 μῆκος 81 ἔοικε 82
mvp-comment-215-1 δῑ ὅρκων … ἀπώμοτος 83
mvp-comment-216-1 καθῃρέθη 84
mvp-comment-216-2 τάφον κοσμοῦσα 85
mvp-comment-216-3 ἐπάλλετο 86 ἕρμαιον 87
mvp-comment-217-1 κρῖνε 88
mvp-comment-217-2 δίκαιός εἰμι 89
mvp-comment-217-3 ἀπηλλάχθαι 90
mvp-comment-218-1
Observe the order of the words as marking his amazement. For the double interrog. cp.
Il. 21.150
τίς πόθεν ει<*>=ς ἀνδρῶν;
Ph. 243
τίνι | στόλῳ προσέσχες τήνδε γῆν, πόθεν πλέων;
mvp-comment-218-2 πάντ’ ἐπίστασαι 91
mvp-comment-219-1 ἦ καὶ 92
mvp-comment-219-2 ὀρθῶς 93
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 94
mvp-comment-221-1 ἆρ’ ἔνδηλα 95
mvp-comment-222-1 ὁρᾶται...ᾑρέθη 96
mvp-comment-222-2 ἐπίληπτος 97
mvp-comment-223-1 ἥκομεν 99
mvp-comment-224-1 τὰ δείν’ ἐκεῖν’ 100
mvp-comment-224-2 τὸν | νέκυν 101
mvp-comment-225-1 καθήμεθ’ 102
mvp-comment-225-2 ἄκρων ἐκ πάγων 103
mvp-comment-225-3
ἐξ Οὐλύμποιο ἀπὸ ῥίου. Here,
ἀπὸ ῥίου goes with
εἰσεῖδε: but
ἐξ Οὐλύμποιο, however much
εἰσεῖδε may have influenced it, at least cannot be disjoined from
στᾶσ’. (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
στάς from
ἐξ ἐπ., even if we partly explain
ἐξ by
σφάξας. (3)
ib. 1224
Ἐτεοκλέης δ’ ὑπῆρξ’ ἀπ’ ὀρθίου σταθεὶς | πύργου κελεύσας σῖγα κηρῦξαι στρατῷ. The position of
σταθείς forbids us to sever it from
ἀπ’ ὀρθ. π., even though
ὑπῆρξε or
κελεύσας is used to explain
ἀπό. (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,
ἐκ or
ἀπό 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 (
οἱ ἐκ Σικελίας ἥξουσι); but it springs from the same mental tendency,—viz., to take a rapid glance over the dividing interval. Cp.
ἵστασθαι πρός τινος (‘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
ἐκ δίφροιο goes with
ἕλκεν, not with
καθήμενος (he drew the bow, just from the chair, where he sat).
mvp-comment-225-4 ὑπήνεμοι 104
mvp-comment-226-1 βάλῃ 105
mvp-comment-227-1 ἐγερτί 106
mvp-comment-227-2 κινῶν 107
mvp-comment-227-3 ἐπιρρόθοις κακοῖσιν 108
mvp-comment-227-4
the adj. expressing the loud, continuous noise of tongues. The
ἐπι- does not mean ‘bandied to and fro’: see
Tr. 263
πολλὰ μὲν λόγοις | ἐπερρόθησε. In fr. 521
ἐπίρροθα δώματα=‘open to reproach.’ Elsewhere (as with Aesch.)
ἐπίρροθος= ‘helper’ (
ἐπιρροθέω, to come with shouts to the rescue). Cp.
ἐρρόθουν 259 n., Aesch. 290.
mvp-comment-228-1 ἀκηδήσοι 109 ἀφειδήσοι 110
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 111
mvp-comment-230-2 χθονὸς 112
mvp-comment-231-1 τυφώς 113 σκηπτός 114
mvp-comment-231-2 οὐράνιον ἄχος 115
mvp-comment-232-1 πίμπλησι 116 αἰκίζων 117
mvp-comment-232-2 ἐν δ’ ἐμεστ 118
mvp-comment-233-1 μύσαντες 119
mvp-comment-233-2 νόσον 120
mvp-comment-233-3 ἐν χρ. μακρ 121
mvp-comment-234-1 πικρᾶς 122
mvp-comment-235-1 εὐνῆς...λέχος 123
mvp-comment-236-1 οὕτω δέ 124
mvp-comment-236-2 ψιλόν 125
mvp-comment-237-1 γόοισιν ἐξῴμωξεν 126
mvp-comment-237-2 ἐκ δ’ … ἠρᾶτο 127
mvp-comment-237-3 διψίαν 128
mvp-comment-238-1 φέρει κόνιν 129
mvp-comment-239-1 The πρόχους 130
mvp-comment-239-2 εὐκρότητος 131
mvp-comment-239-3 ἄρδην 132
mvp-comment-240-1 χοαῖσι 133
mvp-comment-240-2 τρισπόνδ. 134 στέφει 135
mvp-comment-241-1 ἱέμεσθα 136
mvp-comment-241-2 σὺν δὲ … θηρώμεθ’ 137
mvp-comment-242-1 ἠλέγχομεν 138
mvp-comment-242-2 ἄπαρνος … οὐδενός 139
mvp-comment-242-3 καθίστατο 140
mvp-comment-243-1 ἅμ’ 141
mvp-comment-244-1 φίλους 142
mvp-comment-245-1 πάντα ταῦθ’ 143 λαβεῖν 144
mvp-comment-246-1 σὲ δή, 145
mvp-comment-247-1 φὴς δεδρακέναι, ἢ καταρνεῖ μὴ δεδρ 146 καταρνεῖ 147
mvp-comment-248-1 καὶ......κοὐκ 148
mvp-comment-248-2 τὸ μή 149
mvp-comment-249-1 σὺ μέν 150 κομίζοις ἂν ς 151
mvp-comment-249-2 ἔξω 152 β. αἰτίας 153 ἐλεύθερον 154
mvp-comment-250-1 μῆκος 155
mvp-comment-251-1 ᾔδησθα 156 ᾔδης τὰ 157 σθα 158
mvp-comment-251-2 κηρυχθέντα 159
mvp-comment-252-1 ᾔδη 160
mvp-comment-252-2 τί δ’ οὐκ ἔμελλον 161
mvp-comment-252-3 ἐμφανῆ 162 ἐκφανῆ 163
mvp-comment-253-1 καὶ δῆτ’ 164
mvp-comment-254-1 Ζεύς 165
mvp-comment-255-1 τῶν κάτω θεῶν 166 ξύνοικος 167 τοιούσδ’ … ὥρισεν 168 οἳ τούσδ’ … ὥρισαν 169 τάδε 170
mvp-comment-256-1 ἄγραπτα … νόμιμα 171
mvp-comment-256-2
quotes vv. 456 f.) Cp.
O.T. 865 ff.
νόμοι... | ὑψίποδες, οὐρανίαν | δἰ αἰθέρα τεκνωθέντες, with notes there.
Thuc. 2.37
(
νόμοι)
ὅσοι ἄγραφοι ὄντες αἰσχύνην ὁμολογουμένην φέρουσι. When ‘the unwritten laws’ are thus called
νόμοι, the latter word is used figuratively.
νόμιμα
172
mvp-comment-256-3 ἀσφαλῆ 173
mvp-comment-256-4 θνητὸν ὄντ’ 174
mvp-comment-256-5 ὑπερδραμεῖν 175
mvp-comment-257-1 νῦν γε κἀχθές 176
mvp-comment-257-2 ζῇ 177
mvp-comment-257-3 ’φάνη 178
mvp-comment-258-1 τούτων 179 τὴν δίκην 180 τούτων 181
mvp-comment-258-2
shows that, like
ταῦτα just before, it refers to the
νόμιμα: we cannot, therefore, render, ‘the penalty of such an act’ (
sc.
τοῦ ὑπερδραμεῖν).
mvp-comment-258-3 ἐν θεοῖσι 182
mvp-comment-259-1 δώσειν 183
mvp-comment-259-2 θανουμένη γάρ 184
mvp-comment-259-3 τί δ’ οὔ 185
mvp-comment-260-1 κεἰ μὴ σὺ προὐκήρυξας 186
mvp-comment-260-2 τοῦ χρόνου 187
mvp-comment-260-3 αὔτ’ 188
mvp-comment-261-1 φέρει 189
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)
παρ’ οὐδὲν ἄλγος: (2) the mention of the mother only: (3) the position of
θανόντ’, which might suggest the sense, ‘slain by my mother’: (4)
ηἰσχόμην (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
190
mvp-comment-263-1 ἄλγος 191 παρ’ οὐδέν 192
mvp-comment-263-2
adv.: ‘is a pain in no appreciable degree,’ is a pain not worth a thought: as he might have said,
οὐδαμοῦ ἄλγος ἐστί. The normal use of
παρ’ οὐδέν, ‘of no account,’ is either (
a) with the verb
εἶναι, as
O. T. 982
ταῦθ’ ὅτῳ | παρ’ οὐδέν ἐστι, or (
b) with a verb meaning ‘to esteem,’ as above, v. 34,
τὸ πρᾶγμ’ ἄγειν | οὐχ ὡς παρ’ οὐδέν. The only peculiarity here is that, instead of a word in the general sense, ‘
is esteemed’ (
ἄγεται), we have a virtual equivalent, tinged with the special thought of the moment, viz., ‘
is a pain.’ Exactly so in
El. 1327
we have
πότερα παρ’ οὐδὲν τοῦ βίου κήδεσθ’ ἔτι, instead of
πότερα παρ’ οὐδὲν τὸν βίον ἄγετε. Thus the suspicions as to the genuineness of
παρ’ οὐδὲν ἄλγος are illusory.
mvp-comment-263-3 ἀλλ’ ἄν 193
mvp-comment-264-1 ἄθαπτον ἠνσχόμην νέκυν 194 ηἰσχόμην 195 ἠνσχόμην 196
mvp-comment-264-2 In my first edition I placed in the text the emendation of Semitelos (1887) ᾔσχυναν κύνες 197
mvp-comment-264-3
Other emendations will be found in the Appendix. Most of them assume that we must have
ἠνεσχόμην (or
ἀνεσχόμην), and therefore alter the words
θανόντ’ ἄθαπτον and
νέκυν in various ways, —usu. omitting
νέκυν. 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
198
mvp-comment-264-4
or
μιᾶς (Meineke). (2)
τὸν ἐξ ἐμ. | μητρος θανόντ’
199
mvp-comment-265-1 σχεδόν τι 200
mvp-comment-265-2 μώρῳ μωρίαν 201
mvp-comment-265-3 ὀφλισκάνω 202
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 203 δηλοῖ 204 ὠμόν 205 ἐξ ὠμοῦ πατρός 206 γέννημα 207
mvp-comment-267-1 εἴκειν … κακοῖς 208
mvp-comment-268-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι 209
mvp-comment-268-2 πίπτειν 210
mvp-comment-269-1 ὀπτὸν … περισκελῆ 211
mvp-comment-269-2 περισκελής 212
mvp-comment-269-3 ἐκ πυρός 213
mvp-comment-270-1 θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα 214
mvp-comment-271-1 χαλινῷ δ’ 215 σμικρῷ 216
mvp-comment-271-2 καταρτυθέντας 217
mvp-comment-272-1 Suspicion has fallen on ἐκπέλει 218
mvp-comment-272-2 ὅστις 219
mvp-comment-272-3 τῶν πέλας 220
mvp-comment-273-1 αὕτη δ’ 221 ὑβρίζειν μὲν … ὕβρις δ’ 222 ἐξηπίστατο 223 τότ’ 224
mvp-comment-273-2 τούτοις 225
mvp-comment-273-3 δεδρακυῖαν γελᾶν 226
mvp-comment-274-1 νῦν 227
mvp-comment-274-2 εἰ ταῦτα … κράτη 228 κράτη 229 κείσεται 230 πείσεται 231 ἀνατί 232 ταῦτα 233
mvp-comment-275-1 ἀδελφῆς 234
mvp-comment-275-2 εἴθ’ ὁμαιμονεστέρα 235
mvp-comment-275-3
Hyperbole is congenial to Creon's excitement;
cp. 1040
. But the addition,
τοῦ παντὸς Ζ. ἑρκείου, ill suits this, while, on the other hand, it agrees well with the nom.
ὁμαιμονεστέρα. 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 236
mvp-comment-276-1 τοῦ παντὸς Ζηνὸς ἑρκείου 237
mvp-comment-277-1 ἀλύξετον 238 μόρου 239
mvp-comment-278-1 καὶ γὰρ οὖν 240
mvp-comment-278-2 ἐπαιτιῶμαι κείνην 241 βουλεῦσαι ἴσον τοῦδε τάφου 242 ἴσον 243
mvp-comment-278-3 βουλεῦσαι 244
mvp-comment-279-1 καί νιν καλεῖτ’ 245
mvp-comment-280-1 λυσσῶσαν … οὐδ’ ἐπ 246
mvp-comment-280-2 ἐπήβολον 247
mvp-comment-281-1 ὁ θυμὸς τῶν … τεχνωμένων 248 φιλεῖ κλοπεὺς ᾑρῆσθαι 249 πρόσθεν 250 κλοπεύς 251 ᾑρῆσθαι κλοπεύς 252
mvp-comment-281-2 τεχνωμένων 253
mvp-comment-282-1 γε μέντοι 254
mvp-comment-282-2 Ismene's guilty terror is contrasted with Antigone's impudent hardihood,—as Creon deems it. μισῶ … ὅταν 255
mvp-comment-282-3 ἔπειτα 256
mvp-comment-282-4 καλλύνειν 257
mvp-comment-283-1 θέλεις τι μεῖζον 258
mvp-comment-283-2 ἑλών 259
mvp-comment-283-3 ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδέν 260
mvp-comment-283-4 ἅπαντ’ ἔχω 261
mvp-comment-284-1 ἀρεστὸν οὐδέν 262
mvp-comment-284-2 μηδ’ ἀρεσθείη 263 ἀρεσθείην 264 ἀρέστ’ εἴη 265
mvp-comment-285-1 τἀμά 266
mvp-comment-285-2 ἔφυ 267
mvp-comment-286-1 καίτοι 268 κλέος … εὐκλεέστερον 269
mvp-comment-287-1 ἐν τάφῳ τιθεῖσα 270 τούτοις πᾶσι λέγοιτο ἄν 271 τοῦτο ἁνδάνειν 272 ἐγκλῄοι 273
mvp-comment-288-1 ἀλλ’ ἡ τυραννίς 274
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.
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.
αἱ γάρ τε βοῶν προφερέστεραί εἰσιν ἐλκέμεναι νείοιο βαθείης πηκτὸν ἄροτρον. 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.