Sophocles Antigone 471

mvp-comment-45-1 οὕνεκ’ ¹

mvp-comment-45-2 ἐκ ²

mvp-comment-45-3 ἀκούειν ³ ταῦτα ⁴ ἀλγίονα ⁵

mvp-comment-46-1 ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ⁶

mvp-comment-46-2 τοὺς ὑπὸ χθονός ⁷

mvp-comment-46-3 βιάζομαι τάδε ⁸

mvp-comment-47-1 τοῖς ἐν τέλει βεβῶσι ⁹ βεβῶσι ¹⁰

mvp-comment-47-2 τὸ γὰρ | ...πράσσειν ¹¹

mvp-comment-47-3 περισσὰ πρ ¹²

mvp-comment-47-4 οὐκ ἔχει νοῦν οὐδ. ¹³

mvp-comment-48-1 ἔτι ¹⁴

mvp-comment-48-2 πράσσειν … δρῴης ¹⁵ δρῴης ¹⁶ ἄν ¹⁷ ἡδέως ¹⁸ γε ¹⁹ ἡδέως γε ἂν ἐμοῦ ²⁰ <)μοῦ ²¹ γε ²² ἐμοί γ’ ²³ μέτα ²⁴ ἀσμένης ²⁵ ἡδέως ²⁶ ἐμοῦ γε ²⁷

mvp-comment-49-1 ἴσθ’ ²⁸

mvp-comment-49-2 όποία σοι δοκεῖ ²⁹ ἴσθ’ ³⁰ ὁποῖά σοι δοκεῖ ³¹

mvp-comment-50-1 θάψω ³²

mvp-comment-50-2 φίλη … φίλου ³³

mvp-comment-50-3 μετ’ αὐτοῦ κείσομαι ³⁴ μετά ³⁵

mvp-comment-51-1 ὅσια πανουργήσασ’ ³⁶ ὅσια ³⁷

mvp-comment-51-2 ἐπεὶ κ.τ.λ. ³⁸

mvp-comment-51-3 τῶν ἐνθάδε ³⁹

mvp-comment-52-1 κείσομαι ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-52-2 σοὶ δ’ ⁴¹ σὺ δ’ ⁴² εἰ δοκεῖ ⁴³

mvp-comment-52-3 τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἔντιμα ⁴⁴

mvp-comment-52-4 ἀτιμάσασ’ ἔχε ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-53-1 ἐγὼ ⁴⁶ μέν ⁴⁷ δέ ⁴⁸

mvp-comment-53-2 ἄτιμα ποιοῦμαι ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-53-3 τὸ δὲ | ...δρᾶν ⁵⁰

mvp-comment-54-1 τάδ’ ἂν προὔχοιο ⁵¹

mvp-comment-54-2 δὴ ⁵²

mvp-comment-54-3 τάφον χώσουσ’ ⁵³

mvp-comment-55-1 Join οἴμοι ταλαίνης ⁵⁴

mvp-comment-55-2 μὴ ’μοῦ προτάρβει ⁵⁵ τὸν σόν ⁵⁶ μὴ ’μοῦ ⁵⁷ προτάρβει ⁵⁸

mvp-comment-55-3 ἐξόρθου ⁵⁹

mvp-comment-56-1 ἀλλ’ οὖν … γε ⁶⁰ ἀλλά ⁶¹ οὖν ⁶²

mvp-comment-56-2 κρυφῆ δέ ⁶³

mvp-comment-56-3 σὺν δ’ ⁶⁴

mvp-comment-56-4 αὔτως ⁶⁵

mvp-comment-57-1 καταύδα ⁶⁶

mvp-comment-57-2 πολλόν ⁶⁷ πολλὸν ⁶⁸

mvp-comment-57-3 σιγῶσ’ ⁶⁹ ἐὰν … τάδε ⁷⁰ πᾶσι ⁷¹

mvp-comment-58-1 θερμὴν ἐπὶ ψυχροῖσι ⁷² ἐπί ⁷³ θερμήν ⁷⁴

mvp-comment-59-1 ἁδεῖν ⁷⁵

mvp-comment-60-1 εἰ καὶ δυνήσει γ’ ⁷⁶ καὶ ⁷⁷ δυνήσει ⁷⁸ εἰ καί ⁷⁹

mvp-comment-61-1 Since οὐκοῦν ⁸⁰ δὴ ⁸¹ ὅταν ⁸²

mvp-comment-61-2 πεπαύσομαι ⁸³

mvp-comment-62-1 ἀρχήν ⁸⁴

mvp-comment-63-1 ἐχθαρεῖ ⁸⁵

mvp-comment-63-2 ἐξ ἐμοῦ ⁸⁶

mvp-comment-64-1 ἐχθρὰ...τῷ θανόντι προσκείσει δίκῃ ⁸⁷ προσκείσει ⁸⁸ ἐχθρά ⁸⁹

mvp-comment-64-2 Lehrs proposed

, i.e. ‘you will fall under the chastisement of justice.’ Donaldson, following Emper, reads , as iure inimicorum apud mortuum eris: i.e. on the part of the dead you will be deemed to have only the rights of a foe. This is impossible. The ordinary reading is sound.

mvp-comment-65-1 ἔα ⁹⁰

mvp-comment-65-2 τὴν ἐξ ἐμοῦ δυσββουλίαν ⁹¹

mvp-comment-65-3 τὸ δεινὸν τοῦτο ⁹²

mvp-comment-65-4 πείσομαι γὰρ οὐ ⁹⁴

mvp-comment-65-5 μὴ οὐ ⁹⁵

mvp-comment-66-1 τοῖς φίλοις δ’ ὀρθῶς φίλη ⁹⁶ ἴσθι ⁹⁷

mvp-comment-68-1 ἀελίου ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-68-2 τὸ κάλλιστον ...φάος ⁹⁹

mvp-comment-68-3 ἑπταπύλῳ ¹⁰⁰

mvp-comment-68-4 τῶν προτέρων ¹⁰¹

mvp-comment-69-1 ἐφάνθης ¹⁰²

mvp-comment-69-2 χρυσέας ¹⁰³

mvp-comment-69-3 βλέφαρον ¹⁰⁴

mvp-comment-69-4 Διρκαίων ¹⁰⁵

mvp-comment-70-1 τὸν λεύκασπιν...φῶτα ¹⁰⁶

mvp-comment-70-2 The words

answer metrically to 123 . Instead of (¯˘¯) we therefore require ¯˘˘¯. The short final of is legitimate, the metre being Glyconic (see Analysis Metr.). In the antistrophic verse, the H of is ‘irrational,’ i.e. is a long syllable doing duty for a short: and Nauck is incorrect in saying that the metre ‘requires’ (though it admits) a choriambus beginning with a consonant. The simplest remedy is to read Ἀργόθεν ἐκ | βάντα φῶτα ¹⁰⁷ Ἰναχόθεν ¹⁰⁸

mvp-comment-71-1 πανσαγίᾳ ¹⁰⁹

mvp-comment-71-2 φυγάδα πρ. ¹¹⁰ κινήσασα ¹¹¹

mvp-comment-71-3 πρόδρομον ¹¹²

mvp-comment-71-4 ὀξυτέρῳ...χαλινῷ ¹¹³

mvp-comment-71-5 ὀξυτέρῳ ¹¹⁴

mvp-comment-72-1 The MSS. have ὃν...Πολυνείκης ¹¹⁵ ὃς ...Πολυνείκους ¹¹⁶

mvp-comment-72-2 Πολυνείκους … νεικέων ¹¹⁷

mvp-comment-72-3 ἀρθείς ¹¹⁸

mvp-comment-72-4 νεικ. ἐξ ἀμφιλόγων ¹¹⁹

mvp-comment-73-1 ὀξέα κλάζων ¹²⁰

mvp-comment-73-2 αἰετὸς εἰς γᾶν ὣς ὑπερέπτα ¹²¹ ὥς ¹²²

mvp-comment-73-3 ὑπερέπτα ¹²³

mvp-comment-74-1 λευκῆς χιόνος πτ. ¹²⁴

mvp-comment-74-2 στεγανός ¹²⁵

mvp-comment-74-3 ὅπλων … κορύθεσσι ¹²⁶ ξύν ¹²⁷ μετά ¹²⁸ ξύν ¹²⁹

mvp-comment-75-1 In στὰς δ’ ὑπὲρ μελάθρων ¹³⁰ πτάς ¹³¹

mvp-comment-75-2 The words φονώσαισιν ἀμφιχανὼν... λόγχαις ¹³²

mvp-comment-75-3 φονώσαισιν ¹³³

mvp-comment-75-4 ἑπτάπυλον στόμα ¹³⁴

mvp-comment-76-1 ἔβα ¹³⁵

mvp-comment-76-2 πρίν ποθ’ ¹³⁶ αἱμάτων ¹³⁷

mvp-comment-76-3 γἑνυσιν ¹³⁸ πλησθῆναι ¹³⁹ τε ¹⁴⁰ τε ¹⁴¹

mvp-comment-76-4 στεφάνωμα ¹⁴²

mvp-comment-76-5 πευκάενθ’ Ἥφαιστον ¹⁴³

mvp-comment-77-1 τοῖος ¹⁴⁴

mvp-comment-77-2 ἐτάθη ¹⁴⁵

mvp-comment-77-3 πάταγος ¹⁴⁶

mvp-comment-77-4 ἀντιπάλῳ δυσχείρωμα δράκοντος ¹⁴⁷ ἀντιπάλῳ ... δράκοντι ¹⁴⁸ ἀντιπάλου … δράκοντος ¹⁴⁹ ἀντιπάλῳ … δράκοντος ¹⁵⁰

mvp-comment-77-5 The interpretation of the passage turns primarily on two points.

mvp-comment-77-6 (1) The δράκων ¹⁵¹

mvp-comment-77-7 (2) The δυς ¹⁵² δυσχείρωμα ¹⁵³

mvp-comment-77-8 Those who read ἀντιπάλῳ … δράκοντι ¹⁵⁴ ὲτάθη ¹⁵⁵

mvp-comment-77-9 Those who read ἀντιπάλου … δράκοντος ¹⁵⁶

mvp-comment-78-1 μεγάλης ¹⁵⁷

mvp-comment-78-2 ῥεύματι ¹⁵⁸ ῥεύματι πολλῷ ¹⁵⁹

mvp-comment-79-1 χρυσοῦ καναχῆς ὑπεροπλίαις ¹⁶⁰

mvp-comment-79-2

. In post-Homeric poetry is a freq. epith. of overweening strength ( , etc.).—Other readings are:—(1) , ‘and haughty in the clang of gold.’ This involves an improbable change; the subst. , too, is unsuitable here, and cannot be defended by Theocr. 22. 58

πρὸς πάντα παλίγκοτος ἠδ’ ὑπερόπτης

. Wecklein, reading , keeps in the sense, hoffärtig auf: but a genit. after could not denote that in which one takes pride. (2) , or , i.e., ‘Zeus, a despiser of the clang of gold.’ (3) , adv. neut. plur. (as O. T. 883 ), ‘advancing haughtily in a great stream of clanging gold.’ But the adv. comes weakly at the end, and . is harshly joined with .—Aesch. , too, gives prominence to gold in picturing the Argive chiefs: Capaneus has golden letters on his shield ( Aesch. Th. 434 ), Polyneices has the image of a warrior in golden armour, with a golden legend (644, Aesch. Th. 660 ).

mvp-comment-79-3 καναχῆς ¹⁶¹

mvp-comment-80-1 παλτῷ πυρί ¹⁶²

mvp-comment-80-2 βαλβίδων ἐπ’ ἄκρων ¹⁶³

mvp-comment-80-3 ὁρμῶντα ¹⁶⁴

mvp-comment-80-4 νίκην ¹⁶⁵ ἀλαλάξαι ¹⁶⁶

mvp-comment-81-1 ἀντιτύπᾳ ¹⁶⁷

mvp-comment-81-2 As regards the sense,

was regularly used of hard surfaces, which, as it were, repel that which strikes them (for the accent , not , though the sense is act., see on O. T. 460 ). Probl. 5. 40 . Lucian Amor. 13 . So, fig., Plat. Crat. 420D

τὸ...ἀναγκαῖον καὶ ἀντίτυπον

, what is necessary, and what resists us.

mvp-comment-81-3 τανταλωθείς ¹⁶⁸

mvp-comment-82-1 πυρφόρος ¹⁶⁹

mvp-comment-82-2 βακχεύων ¹⁷⁰

mvp-comment-82-3 ῥιπαῖς...ἀνέμων ¹⁷¹

mvp-comment-83-1 εἶχε δ’ ἄλλᾳ τὰ μέν ¹⁷² εἶχε δ’ ἄλλαι τὰ μὲν ἄλλαι τὰ δ’ ἐπ’ ἄλλοις ¹⁷³ τὰ μέν ¹⁷⁴ ἄλλα δέ ¹⁷⁵ τὰ μέν ¹⁷⁶ ἄλλᾳ ¹⁷⁷

mvp-comment-83-2 ἐπενώμα ¹⁷⁸ στυφελίζων ¹⁷⁹

mvp-comment-83-3 δεξιόσειρος ¹⁸⁰

mvp-comment-83-4 The old v.l. δεξιόχειρος ¹⁸¹

mvp-comment-84-1 ἑπτὰ λοχαγοί ¹⁸²

mvp-comment-84-2 ἴσοι πρὸς ἴσους ¹⁸³

mvp-comment-84-3 Ζηνὶ τροπαίῳ ¹⁸⁴

mvp-comment-84-4 πάγχαλκα τέλη ¹⁸⁵

mvp-comment-84-5 It was the ordinary practice to set up a

(old ) after a victory, on the spot where it had been won, or, in the case of a sea-fight, on the nearest land ( Thuc. 2.92 ). Such a trophy ordinarily consisted of shields, helmets, and weapons, conspicuously displayed on wooden supports, and dedicated, with an inscription, to a deity. Cp. Eur. Phoen. 1473 (of the Thebans after the victory) (i.e. a wooden image of ), | . Part of the armour would be affixed to the walls of Theban temples (cp. Aesch. Ag. 577 , Th. 276 ).

mvp-comment-85-1 πλὴν τ. στυγεροῖν ¹⁸⁶ πατρός ¹⁸⁷

mvp-comment-85-2 καθ’ αὑτοῖν ¹⁸⁸

mvp-comment-85-3 δικρατεῖς λόγχας ¹⁸⁹

mvp-comment-85-4 στήσαντε ¹⁹⁰

mvp-comment-86-1 ἀλλὰ γάρ ¹⁹¹ γάρ ¹⁹² γάρ ¹⁹³

mvp-comment-86-2 μεγαλώνυμος ¹⁹⁴

mvp-comment-86-3 πολυαρμάτῳ ¹⁹⁵

mvp-comment-86-4 ἀντιχαρεῖσα ¹⁹⁶

mvp-comment-87-1 ἐκ...πολέμων τῶν νῦν ¹⁹⁷ ἐκ ¹⁹⁸ νῦν ¹⁹⁹

mvp-comment-87-2 θέσθαι ²⁰⁰ θέσθε ²⁰¹ παννυχίοις ²⁰²

mvp-comment-87-3 ὁ Θήβας ²⁰³ ἐλελίχθων ²⁰⁴

mvp-comment-87-4 Βάκχιος ²⁰⁵

mvp-comment-87-5 ἄρχοι ²⁰⁶

mvp-comment-88-1 ἀλλὰ … γάρ ²⁰⁷ Κρέων ²⁰⁸

mvp-comment-88-2 Μενοικέως ²⁰⁹

mvp-comment-88-3 νεοχμὸς νεαραῖσι ²¹⁰

mvp-comment-88-4 their equivalents. See Appendix I prefer the first of these views. An anapaest or spondee, meaning ‘ruler,’ has probably dropped out before νεοχμός ²¹¹ κρείων ²¹² ἄρχων ²¹³ ταγός ²¹⁴

mvp-comment-88-5 θεῶν … συντυχίαις ²¹⁵ ἐπί ²¹⁶

mvp-comment-89-1 μῆτιν ἐρέσσων ²¹⁷

mvp-comment-89-2 σύγκλητον ²¹⁸

mvp-comment-89-3 προὔθετο ²¹⁹ λέσχην ²²⁰

mvp-comment-89-4 not the meeting, but the discussion which is to take place there: thus the poet's phrase, true to Attic usage, corresponds with

rather than with . Herod. uses of a public discussion (9. 71): cp. O. C. 167 . The midd. προὔθετο ²²¹

mvp-comment-89-5 κοινῷ κ. πέμψας ²²²

mvp-comment-91-1 There is a general dramatic analogy between this speech and that of Oedipus in O. T. 216 —275. In each case a Theban king addresses Theban elders, announcing a stern decree, adopted in reliance on his own wisdom, and promulgated with haughty consciousness of power; the elders receive the decree with a submissive deference under which we can perceive traces of misgiving; and as the drama proceeds, the elders become spectators of calamities occasioned by the decree, while its author turns to them for comfort.

mvp-comment-91-2 τὰ μὲν δὴ πόλεος . . ὑμᾶς δ’ ²²³

mvp-comment-91-3 πόλεος ²²⁴ πολλῷ σάλῳ σείσαντες ²²⁵

mvp-comment-91-4 The image of the State as a ship dates in Greek literature from Alcaeus (whom Horace copied, Carm. 1. 14 ), fr. 18. The ship of Alcaeus is labouring in the trough of a wild sea,—water is coming in,—the sail is torn,—the anchor will not hold:

It is only through Heracleides Alleg. Homer. 5 that we know the meaning of Alcaeus to have been figurative and political. Aesch. often uses the image ( Aesch. Th. 2 , Aesch. Th. 62 , Aesch. Th. 208 etc.). Creon returns to it at 189. It is peculiarly well suited to his point,—the unity of the public interest.

mvp-comment-91-5 ὤρθωσαν ²²⁶

mvp-comment-92-1 ἐκ πάντων ²²⁷ δίχα ²²⁸

mvp-comment-92-2 ἔστειλ’ ἱκέσθαι ²²⁹ τοῦτο μέν ²³⁰

mvp-comment-92-3 σέβοντας ²³¹

mvp-comment-92-4 θρόνων . . κράτη ²³²

mvp-comment-93-1 ἡνίκ’ Οἰδίπους ²³³ κείνων ²³⁴ κείνων παῖδας ²³⁵ ἡνίκ’ . . ὤρθου πόλιν ²³⁶ ἐπεὶ διώλετο ²³⁷ τοῦτο μέν . . τοῦτ’ αὖθις ²³⁸

mvp-comment-93-2 καί ²³⁹ καί ²⁴⁰

mvp-comment-93-3 ἐμπέδοις φρονήμασιν ²⁴¹ ἐμπέδους ²⁴² ἐμπέδοις ²⁴³

mvp-comment-94-1 ὅτε ²⁴⁴

mvp-comment-94-2 πρὸς διπλῆς μ. ²⁴⁵ διπλῆς . . μίαν ²⁴⁶

mvp-comment-94-3 παίσαντες . . πληγέντες ²⁴⁷

mvp-comment-94-4 αὐτόχειρι … μιάσματι ²⁴⁸

mvp-comment-95-1 ἐγὼ . . δή ²⁴⁹

mvp-comment-95-2 κράτη ²⁵⁰

mvp-comment-95-3 γένους κατ’ ἀγχιστεῖα τῶν ὀλ. ²⁵¹

mvp-comment-96-1 ἀμήχανον δέ ²⁵² δέ ²⁵³ δέ ²⁵⁴

mvp-comment-96-2 Demosthenes, in his speech on the Embassy (343 B.C.), quotes this passage (vv. 175—190) as illustrating maxims

mvp-comment-96-3 which Aeschines had violated, though, accustomed as he had been to play tritagonists' parts, he ought to have known them by heart (or. 19 § 247).

mvp-comment-97-1 ψυχήν ²⁵⁵ φρόνημα ²⁵⁶ γνώμην ²⁵⁷

mvp-comment-98-1 ἀρχαῖς ²⁵⁸ νόμοισιν ²⁵⁹

mvp-comment-98-2 ἐντριβής ²⁶⁰

mvp-comment-98-3 φανῇ ²⁶¹

mvp-comment-99-1 ἐμοὶ γάρ ²⁶² γάρ ²⁶³ πᾶσαν … πόλιν ²⁶⁴

mvp-comment-99-2 μὴ … ἅπτεται ²⁶⁵ ὅστις μὴ ἅπτεται ²⁶⁶

mvp-comment-99-3 ἐκ φ. του ²⁶⁷

mvp-comment-99-4 ἐγκλῄσας ἔχει ²⁶⁸

mvp-comment-99-5 νῦν τε καὶ πάλαι ²⁶⁹

mvp-comment-100-1 μείζον’ ²⁷⁰ ἀντὶ τῆς...πάτρας ²⁷¹ ἤ ²⁷² μεῖζον ²⁷³

mvp-comment-100-2 οὐδαμοῦ λέγω ²⁷⁴

mvp-comment-101-1 ἐγὼ γάρ ²⁷⁵ γάρ ²⁷⁶ τοῦτο γιγνώσκων ²⁷⁷ ἴστω ²⁷⁸

mvp-comment-102-1 οὔτ’ ἂν σιωπήσαιμι ²⁷⁹

mvp-comment-103-1 στείχουσαν ἀστοῖς ²⁸⁰ ὁμοῦ ²⁸¹

mvp-comment-103-2 ἀντὶ τῆς σωτηρίας ²⁸² τῆς ²⁸³

mvp-comment-104-1 ἄνδρα δυσμενῆ χθονός ²⁸⁴

mvp-comment-104-2 ἐμαυτῷ ²⁸⁵ φίλον ²⁸⁶ θείμην ²⁸⁷

mvp-comment-105-1 ἡ σῴζουσα ²⁸⁸

mvp-comment-105-2 ταύτης ²⁸⁹ ὀρθῆς ²⁹⁰

mvp-comment-105-3 τοὺς φίλους ποιούμεθα ²⁹¹

mvp-comment-105-4

. ‘Pericles Thucydidis 11. 60 Sophoclem videtur respexisse, vel eum Sophocles,’ is Dobree's remark ( Adv. 2. 37 ); but there is no adequate ground for such a view. The verbal coincidence of with may well have been accidental. What is really common to poet and historian is the general sentiment of Periclean Athens. For another example of this, cp. O. C. 116 n.

mvp-comment-106-1 νόμοισι ²⁹²

mvp-comment-106-2 αὔξω ²⁹³

mvp-comment-107-1 ἀδελφὰ τῶνδε ²⁹⁴

mvp-comment-107-2 τῶν ἀπ’ Οἰδίπου ²⁹⁵

mvp-comment-108-1 δορί ²⁹⁶ δόρει ²⁹⁷

mvp-comment-109-1 τὰ πάντ’ ἐφαγνίσαι ²⁹⁸ ἐπί ²⁹⁹ ἐφαγνίσαι ³⁰⁰ ἀφαγνίσαι ³⁰¹ ἀπό ³⁰²

mvp-comment-110-1 τοῖς ἀρίστοις ³⁰³

mvp-comment-110-2 ἔρχεται κάτω ³⁰⁴

mvp-comment-111-1 L has Πολυνείκην ³⁰⁵

mvp-comment-111-2 λέγω ³⁰⁶

mvp-comment-112-1 γτ=ν πατρῴαν . . καὶ θεοὺς . . πρῆσαι ³⁰⁷

mvp-comment-112-2 θ. τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς ³⁰⁸

mvp-comment-112-3 κατελθών ³⁰⁹

mvp-comment-112-4 γ)θέλησε μέν … ἠθέλ. δέ ³¹⁰ ἠθέλησε μὲν ³¹¹

mvp-comment-112-5 πρῆσαι ³¹²

mvp-comment-112-6 κατ’ ἄκρας ³¹³

mvp-comment-112-7 αἵματος κ. πάσασθαι ³¹⁴

mvp-comment-112-8 τοὺς δὲ … ἄγειν ³¹⁵

mvp-comment-113-1 The traditional ἐκκεκηρῦχθαι τάφῳ ³¹⁶ ἐκκεκήρυκται τάφῳ ³¹⁷ ἐκκεκηρῦχθαι λέγω ³¹⁸ τάφῳ ³¹⁹ κτερίζειν ³²⁰ τάφῳ ³²¹ κτερίζειν ³²² μήτε ³²³ κωκῦσαι ³²⁴ τάφῳ ³²⁵ λέγω ³²⁶ τάφῳ ³²⁷ ἐκκεκ ³²⁸

mvp-comment-114-1 ἐᾶν δ ³²⁹ ἄθαπτον, αἰκισθέντ’ ἰδεῖν ³³⁰ δέμας καὶ πρὸς οἰωνῶν καὶ πρὸς κυνῶν ἐδεστόν ³³¹ αἰκισθέντ ³³² αἰκισθέντ ³³³ ἐδεστόν ³³⁴ αἰκισθέν τ’, δέμας ³³⁵

mvp-comment-114-2 δέμας ³³⁶

mvp-comment-114-3 ἰδεῖν ³³⁷

mvp-comment-115-1 φρόνημα ³³⁸

mvp-comment-115-2 ἔκ γ’ ἐμοῦ ³³⁹

mvp-comment-116-1 The MSS. have τιμὴν προέξουσ’ ..τῶν ἐνδ. ³⁴⁰ τιμήν ³⁴¹ τιμῆ ³⁴² προσέξους ³⁴³

mvp-comment-117-1 τιμήσεται ³⁴⁴

mvp-comment-118-1 I print Dindorf's κἀς ³⁴⁵ καὶ ³⁴⁶ σοὶ ταῦτ’ ἀρέσκει ³⁴⁷ Κρέον ³⁴⁸ ταὔτ ³⁴⁹ ταῦτ’ ³⁵⁰

mvp-comment-119-1 In παντί πού γ’ ³⁵¹ σοί γ’ … που ³⁵² ἔνεστι ³⁵³ χὡπόσοι ζῶμεν ³⁵⁴ πέρι ³⁵⁵

mvp-comment-120-1 ὡς ἂν … ἦτε ³⁵⁶ πῶς ἂν … εἶτε ³⁵⁷

mvp-comment-120-2 σκοποί ³⁵⁸

mvp-comment-120-3 νυν ³⁵⁹ νῦν ³⁶⁰

mvp-comment-120-4 τῶν εἰρ ³⁶¹

mvp-comment-121-1 πρόθες τοῦτο ³⁶² βαστάζειν ³⁶³

mvp-comment-121-2 τοῦ νεκροῦ γ’ ³⁶⁴

mvp-comment-122-1 τί δῆτ’ ἂν … ἐπεντέλλοις ³⁶⁵

mvp-comment-122-2 The reading ἄλλῳ ³⁶⁶ τοῦτο ³⁶⁷

mvp-comment-122-3 ἐπιχωρεῖν ³⁶⁸

mvp-comment-122-4 ἀπιστοῦσιν ³⁶⁹

mvp-comment-122-5 τάδε, ³⁷⁰

mvp-comment-123-1 ὃς ³⁷¹ ἐρᾷ ³⁷²

mvp-comment-123-2 καὶ μὴν ³⁷³ γε ³⁷⁴ μισθός ³⁷⁵

mvp-comment-123-3 requital of disobedience is that.’ For

so used, cp. O. T. 836 , 1004 f., El. 556 .

mvp-comment-123-4 τὸ κέρδος ³⁷⁶

mvp-comment-123-5 διώλεσεν ³⁷⁷

mvp-comment-124-1 ἐρῶ μὲν οὐχ ³⁷⁸

mvp-comment-124-2 ὅπως ³⁷⁹

mvp-comment-124-3 τάχους ὕπο ³⁸⁰ τάχους ³⁸¹

mvp-comment-125-1 ἐξάρας ³⁸²

mvp-comment-125-2 φροντίδων ³⁸³ ἐπιστάσεις ³⁸⁴

mvp-comment-125-3 ὁδοῖς ³⁸⁵

mvp-comment-125-4 κυκλῶν ³⁸⁶

mvp-comment-126-1 ψυχὴ γὰρ ηὔδα ³⁸⁷ πολλὰ ³⁸⁸ μυθουμένη ³⁸⁹

mvp-comment-127-1 τάλας … τλήμων ³⁹⁰

mvp-comment-127-2 μένεις ³⁹¹ μενεῖς ³⁹² αὖ ³⁹³

mvp-comment-127-3 πῶς … οὐκ ³⁹⁴

mvp-comment-127-4 ἀλγυνεῖ ³⁹⁵

mvp-comment-128-1 ἑλίσσων ³⁹⁶

mvp-comment-128-2 ἤνυτον ³⁹⁷

mvp-comment-128-3 σχολῇ βραδύς ³⁹⁸

mvp-comment-129-1 τέλος γε μέντοι ³⁹⁹

mvp-comment-129-2 ἐνίκησεν ⁴⁰⁰

mvp-comment-129-3

. That should not be regarded as the subject to , is shown by such an example as Her. 8.9

ἐνίκα τὴν ἡμέρην ἐκείνην αὐτοῦ μείναντάς τε καὶ αὐλισθέντας μετέπειτα νύκτα μέσην παρέντας πορεύεσθαι

, where the length of the interval excludes such a view. The personal constr. occurs below, 274; cp. Thuc. 2.12

ἦν...Περικλέους γνώμη...νενικηκυῖα

.

mvp-comment-130-1 σοί ⁴⁰¹ μολεῖν ⁴⁰² σοί ⁴⁰³ φράσων ⁴⁰⁴ φράσω δ ⁴⁰⁵ κεἰ ⁴⁰⁶ κεἴ σοι ⁴⁰⁷ σοί. ⁴⁰⁸

mvp-comment-130-2 τὸ μηδέν ⁴⁰⁹

mvp-comment-131-1 τῆς ἐλπίδος ⁴¹⁰

mvp-comment-131-2 δεδραγμένος ⁴¹¹ πεφραγμένος ⁴¹² πεπραγμένος ⁴¹³

mvp-comment-131-3 τὸ μὴ παθεῖν ἄν ⁴¹⁴

mvp-comment-131-4

, depending on . as= : for the art. with infin., cp. 78 n.

mvp-comment-131-5 τὸ μόρσιμον ⁴¹⁵

mvp-comment-132-1 ἀνθ’ οὗ ⁴¹⁶

mvp-comment-132-2 τὸ γὰρ | πρᾶγμ’ ⁴¹⁷ γάρ ⁴¹⁸

mvp-comment-133-1 εὖ γε στοχάζει ⁴¹⁹ στοχάζει ⁴²⁰ ἀποφράγνυσαι ⁴²¹ στοχάζομαι ⁴²²

mvp-comment-133-2 κἀποφράγνυσαι ⁴²³

mvp-comment-133-3 τὸ πρᾶγμα ⁴²⁴

mvp-comment-134-1 δηλοῖς δ’ ὥς τι ς. ⁴²⁵

mvp-comment-135-1 τὰ δεινά ⁴²⁶ γάρ ⁴²⁷

mvp-comment-135-2 ποτ ⁴²⁸

mvp-comment-135-3 ἀπαλλαχθείς ⁴²⁹

mvp-comment-136-1 καὶ δή ⁴³⁰

mvp-comment-136-2 θάψας ⁴³¹ κἀπί ⁴³²

mvp-comment-136-3 διψίαν ⁴³³

mvp-comment-136-4 κἀφαγιστεύσας ⁴³⁴ ἃ χρή ⁴³⁵

mvp-comment-137-1 ἀνδρῶν ⁴³⁶

mvp-comment-137-2 οὔτε του γενῇδος … οὐ δικέλλης ⁴³⁷ οὔτε … οὐ ⁴³⁸ γενῄς ⁴³⁹ γενῄς ⁴⁴⁰ δίκελλα ⁴⁴¹

mvp-comment-137-3 δικ. ἐκβολή ⁴⁴² ἐκβ. ⁴⁴³ στύφλος ⁴⁴⁴ χέρσος ⁴⁴⁵ ἀρρώξ ⁴⁴⁶

mvp-comment-137-4 ἐπημαξευμένη ⁴⁴⁷ ἐπ‐ ⁴⁴⁸ ἐφ‐ ⁴⁴⁹

mvp-comment-137-5 ἀλλ’ ὁ ἐργάτης ἄσημός τις ἦν ⁴⁵⁰

mvp-comment-138-1 It is still the early morning of the day on which the drama opens. The Argives having fled in the night, Creon had published his edict shortly before dawn. Antigone had done her deed in the short interval between the publication of the edict and the beginning of the watch over the corpse. ὁ πρῶτος ἡμεροσκόπος ⁴⁵¹ ἡμεροσκ. ⁴⁵²

mvp-comment-138-2 δείκνυσι … παρῆν ⁴⁵³

mvp-comment-138-3 δυσχερές ⁴⁵⁴

mvp-comment-139-1 ὁ μὲν ⁴⁵⁵

mvp-comment-139-2 τυμβήρης μὲν οὔ ⁴⁵⁶ τυμβ. ⁴⁵⁷ λεπτὴ δ’ … ἐπῆν ⁴⁵⁸

mvp-comment-139-3 ἄγος φεύγοντος ὥς ⁴⁵⁹ ἄγος ⁴⁶⁰

mvp-comment-140-1 θηρός ⁴⁶¹

mvp-comment-140-2 του ⁴⁶² θηρός ⁴⁶³

mvp-comment-140-3 οὐ σπάσαντος ⁴⁶⁴ οὐ ⁴⁶⁵ σπάσαντος ⁴⁶⁶ σπάσαντος οὐδ’ ἐλθόντος ⁴⁶⁷

mvp-comment-141-1 λόγοι δ’ … φύλακα ⁴⁶⁸ λόγοι κακοὶ ἐρρόθουν ⁴⁶⁹ ἐρρόθουν ⁴⁷⁰

mvp-comment-141-2

, of an unintelligible jargon.

mvp-comment-141-3 ἐλέγχων ⁴⁷¹

mvp-comment-141-4 κἂν ἐγίγνετο ⁴⁷²

mvp-comment-141-5 τελευτῶς ⁴⁷³

mvp-comment-141-6 ὁ κωλύσων ⁴⁷⁴

mvp-comment-142-1 ἦν … οὑξειργ. ⁴⁷⁵

mvp-comment-142-2 ἐναργής ⁴⁷⁶

mvp-comment-142-3 ἀλλ’ ⁴⁷⁷

mvp-comment-142-4 ἕφευγε μὴ εἰδέναι ⁴⁷⁸

mvp-comment-142-5 μὴ ⁴⁷⁹ εἰδέναι ⁴⁸⁰

mvp-comment-143-1 μύδρους ⁴⁸¹

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 ⁴⁸²

mvp-comment-144-2 θεοὺς ὁρκ. ⁴⁸⁴

mvp-comment-144-3 τὸ μήτε δρ ⁴⁸⁵

mvp-comment-144-4 μήτ’ είργασμένῳ ⁴⁸⁶ μηδ ⁴⁸⁷

mvp-comment-145-1 πλέον ⁴⁸⁸

mvp-comment-145-2 λέγει ⁴⁸⁹

mvp-comment-145-3 τις εἷς ⁴⁹⁰

mvp-comment-146-1 προὔτρεψεν ⁴⁹¹

mvp-comment-146-2 οὐ γὰρ εἴχομεν ⁴⁹²

mvp-comment-146-3 As ἀντιφωνεῖν ⁴⁹³ δρῶντες ⁴⁹⁴ ὅπως δρῶντες ⁴⁹⁵ εἴχομεν ⁴⁹⁶

mvp-comment-147-1 σοί ⁴⁹⁷

mvp-comment-147-2 ταῦτ’ ἐνίκα ⁴⁹⁸

mvp-comment-147-3 πάλος ⁴⁹⁹ καθαιρεῖ ⁵⁰⁰

mvp-comment-147-4 τἀγαθόν ⁵⁰¹ —ἄκων οὐχ ἑκοῦσιν ⁵⁰²

mvp-comment-148-1 ἐμοί ⁵⁰³ βουλεύει ⁵⁰⁴ μή ⁵⁰⁵

mvp-comment-148-2 τι ⁵⁰⁶

mvp-comment-148-3 θεήλατον, ⁵⁰⁷

mvp-comment-148-4 ἡ ξύννοια ⁵⁰⁸

mvp-comment-148-5 πάλαι ⁵⁰⁹

mvp-comment-149-1 πρὶν ὀργῆς καί με μεστῶσαι ⁵¹⁰ καί ⁵¹¹ πρίν ⁵¹² μεστῶσαι ⁵¹³ καί ⁵¹⁴ με ⁵¹⁵

mvp-comment-149-2 κἀμέ ⁵¹⁶

mvp-comment-149-3 μεστῶσαι ⁵¹⁷

mvp-comment-150-1 πότερον ⁵¹⁸ ἔκρυπτον ⁵¹⁹

mvp-comment-150-2 ἀμφικίονας ναούς ⁵²⁰

mvp-comment-150-3 κἀναθήματα ⁵²¹

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 ⁵²² πυρώσων ⁵²³

mvp-comment-150-6 νόμους διασκεδῶν ⁵²⁴

mvp-comment-150-7 διασκεδῶν ⁵²⁵

mvp-comment-151-1 τοὺς κακοὺς τιμῶντας … θεούς; ⁵²⁶

mvp-comment-152-1 ταῦτα ⁵²⁷ μόλις φέροντες ⁵²⁸ καὶ πάλαι ⁵²⁹

mvp-comment-152-2 πόλεως ἄνδρες ⁵³⁰

mvp-comment-152-3 ἐρρόθουν ⁵³¹

mvp-comment-152-4 ἐμοί ⁵³²

mvp-comment-152-5 κάρα σείοντες ⁵³³

mvp-comment-152-6 ὑπὸ ζυγῷ ⁵³⁴

mvp-comment-152-7 λόφον ⁵³⁵

mvp-comment-152-8 δικαίως ⁵³⁶

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

( O. T. 84 ): στέργειν ⁵³⁷

mvp-comment-153-1 τῶνδε ⁵³⁸ ἐκ ⁵³⁹

mvp-comment-153-2 τούτους, ⁵⁴⁰

mvp-comment-153-3 εἰργάσθαι ⁵⁴¹ ἐξεπίσταμαι ⁵⁴² παρηγμένους ⁵⁴³

mvp-comment-154-1 νόμισμ’ ⁵⁴⁴

mvp-comment-154-2 ἔβλαστε ⁵⁴⁵

mvp-comment-154-3 πορθεῖ ⁵⁴⁶

mvp-comment-154-4 τόδ’ ⁵⁴⁷ ἄνδρας ⁵⁴⁸

mvp-comment-155-1 τόδ’ ἐκδ. καὶ παραλλάσσει ⁵⁴⁹ ἵστασθαι ⁵⁵⁰ καὶ παραλλάσσει ⁵⁵¹

mvp-comment-155-2 ἵστασθαι πρός τι ⁵⁵²

mvp-comment-156-1 πανουργίας … ἔχειν ⁵⁵³

mvp-comment-156-2 εἰδέναι ⁵⁵⁴ παντὸς ἔργου δυσσέβ. ⁵⁵⁵ παντὸς ἔργ ⁵⁵⁶ πανουργίας ⁵⁵⁷

mvp-comment-157-1 ἤνυσαν ⁵⁵⁸

mvp-comment-157-2 χρόνῳ ποτέ ⁵⁵⁹ δοῦναι δίκην ⁵⁶⁰

mvp-comment-157-3 ἐξέπραξαν ὡς ⁵⁶¹

mvp-comment-158-1 Ζεύς ⁵⁶²

mvp-comment-158-2 ὅρκιος ⁵⁶³

mvp-comment-158-3 τὸν αὐτόχειρα ⁵⁶⁴ τάφου = ταφῆς ⁵⁶⁵

mvp-comment-159-1 μοῦνος ⁵⁶⁶ πρὶν ἂν . . δηλώσητε ⁵⁶⁷ κρεμαστοί ⁵⁶⁸ ζῶντες κρεμαστοί ⁵⁶⁹

mvp-comment-159-2 δηλώσηθ’ ⁵⁷⁰

mvp-comment-159-3 ὕβριν ⁵⁷¹

mvp-comment-160-1 ἵν’ … ἁρπάζητε ⁵⁷²

mvp-comment-160-2 τὸ κέρδος ⁵⁷³ ἔνθεν οἰστέον ⁵⁷⁴

mvp-comment-160-3 μάθηθ’ ⁵⁷⁵

mvp-comment-160-4 ἐξ ἅπαντος ⁵⁷⁶ τὸ κερδαίνειν ⁵⁷⁷

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 ⁵⁷⁸

mvp-comment-161-2 δέ ⁵⁷⁹ δώσεις ⁵⁸⁰

mvp-comment-161-3 οὕτως ⁵⁸¹

mvp-comment-161-4 ἴω ⁵⁸²

mvp-comment-161-5 καὶ νῦν ὡς ⁵⁸³ ἀνιαρῶς ⁵⁸⁴ ι— ⁵⁸⁵

mvp-comment-162-1 ἐν ⁵⁸⁶ ὠσίν ⁵⁸⁷

mvp-comment-162-2 ἐπί ⁵⁸⁸

mvp-comment-163-1 τί δὲ ⁵⁸⁹ τί δαὶ ⁵⁹⁰

mvp-comment-163-2 ῥυθμίζεις ⁵⁹¹ ὅπου ⁵⁹² ὅπου ⁵⁹³

mvp-comment-164-1 τὰς φρένας...τὰ δ’ ὦτ’ ⁵⁹⁴ σε ⁵⁹⁵

mvp-comment-164-2 οἴμ’ ὡς ⁵⁹⁶

mvp-comment-164-3 λάλημα ⁵⁹⁷ ἄλημα ⁵⁹⁸ ἄλημα ⁵⁹⁹

mvp-comment-164-4 δῆλον, ⁶⁰⁰

mvp-comment-165-1 ‘At any rate (

—babbler or not) I certainly have not done this deed.’ εἰμί ⁶⁰¹ οὔκουν … γε ⁶⁰²

mvp-comment-166-1 ‘Yes, (you have done it,) and that, too, at the cost of betraying,’ etc. The particle γε ⁶⁰³ καὶ ταῦτα ⁶⁰⁴ προδούς ⁶⁰⁵

mvp-comment-167-1 ἦ δεινόν ⁶⁰⁶ καὶ ⁶⁰⁷ γε ⁶⁰⁸

mvp-comment-168-1 κόμψευε . . τὴν δόξαν ⁶⁰⁹

mvp-comment-168-2 τὴν δόξαν ⁶¹⁰

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 ⁶¹¹ νῦν ⁶¹² ταῦτα … τοὺς δρῶντας = τοὺς ταῦτα δρῶντας ⁶¹³

mvp-comment-169-1 δειλά ⁶¹⁴

mvp-comment-169-2 δεινά ⁶¹⁵ ν ⁶¹⁶

mvp-comment-170-1 ἀλλ’ ⁶¹⁷ εὑρεθείη ⁶¹⁸ καὶ ⁶¹⁹

mvp-comment-171-1 καὶ ⁶²⁰ γάρ ⁶²¹

mvp-comment-171-2 γνώμης ⁶²²

mvp-comment-173-1 πολλὰ … κοὐδέν ⁶²³

mvp-comment-173-2 καί ⁶²⁴

mvp-comment-173-3 τὰ δεινά ⁶²⁵

mvp-comment-174-1 τοῦτο ⁶²⁶ πέραν ⁶²⁷ πέρα ⁶²⁸

mvp-comment-175-1 χειμερίῳ νότῳ ⁶²⁹

mvp-comment-176-1 περιβρ … ὑπ’ οἴδμασιν ⁶³⁰

mvp-comment-177-1 ὑπερτάταν ⁶³¹

mvp-comment-178-1 ἀκαμάταν ⁶³²

mvp-comment-178-2 ἀποτρύεται ⁶³³

mvp-comment-179-1 ἰλλομένων ἀρότρων, ⁶³⁴ ἀρότων ⁶³⁵

mvp-comment-179-2 ἔτος εἰς ἔτος ⁶³⁶ εἰς ⁶³⁷

mvp-comment-180-1 ἱππείῳ γένει ⁶³⁸

mvp-comment-180-2 πολεύων ⁶³⁹ τοῦτο ⁶⁴⁰

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 ⁶⁴¹

mvp-comment-181-5 ἀμφιβαλὼν ⁶⁴²

mvp-comment-182-1 πόντου … εἰναλίαν φύσιν ⁶⁴³

mvp-comment-183-1 περιφραδής ⁶⁴⁴

mvp-comment-184-1 μηχαναῖς ⁶⁴⁵ ἀγραύλου ⁶⁴⁶ ὀρεσσιβάτα ⁶⁴⁷

mvp-comment-185-1 λασιαύχενά θ’ ⁶⁴⁸

mvp-comment-186-1 ὀχμάζεται ⁶⁴⁹ ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῶν ⁶⁵⁰

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 ⁶⁵¹

mvp-comment-187-1 φθέγμα ⁶⁵²

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 ⁶⁵³

mvp-comment-188-1 ἀστυνόμους ὀργάς ⁶⁵⁴

mvp-comment-189-1 ἐδιδάξατο ⁶⁵⁵

mvp-comment-190-1 πάγων ⁶⁵⁶

mvp-comment-190-2 ἐναίθρεια ⁶⁵⁷

mvp-comment-190-3 βέλη ⁶⁵⁹

mvp-comment-191-1 παντοπόρος ⁶⁶⁰

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 ⁶⁶¹ μόνου ⁶⁶² φεῦξιν — ἐπάξεται ⁶⁶³

mvp-comment-193-1 ἀμηχάνων ⁶⁶⁴

mvp-comment-193-2 φυγάς ⁶⁶⁵

mvp-comment-193-3 ξυμπέφρασται ⁶⁶⁶

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 ⁶⁶⁷

mvp-comment-194-3 τὸ μηχανόεν τ ⁶⁶⁸

mvp-comment-195-1 τοτὲ μὲν … ἄλλοτ’ ⁶⁶⁹

mvp-comment-195-2 ἐπ’ ⁶⁷⁰

mvp-comment-196-1 γεραίρων ⁶⁷¹

mvp-comment-196-2 5. 67

. Ar. Th. 960 .

mvp-comment-197-1 θεῶν τ’ ἔνορκον δίκαν ⁶⁷²

mvp-comment-198-1 ὑψίπολις ⁶⁷³

mvp-comment-198-2 ἄπολις ⁶⁷⁴

mvp-comment-198-3 τὸ μὴ καλόν ⁶⁷⁵ τόλμας χάριν ⁶⁷⁶

mvp-comment-199-1 παρέστιος ⁶⁷⁷

mvp-comment-199-2 ἴσον φρονῶν ⁶⁷⁸

mvp-comment-200-1 ἔρδει ⁶⁷⁹ ἔρδοι ⁶⁸⁰

mvp-comment-202-1 The choral ode has closed with an allusion to the unknown man ( ὅς ⁶⁸¹ ἀμφινοῶ ⁶⁸² ἐς ⁶⁸³

mvp-comment-202-2 δαιμόνιον τέρας ⁶⁸⁴

mvp-comment-203-1 πῶς εἰδὼς ⁶⁸⁵

mvp-comment-203-2 ἀντιλογήσω ⁶⁸⁶

mvp-comment-204-1 ὦ δύστηνος ⁶⁸⁷

mvp-comment-204-2 δ. πατρός ⁶⁸⁸

mvp-comment-204-3 Οἰδιπόδα— ⁶⁸⁹

mvp-comment-205-1 τί ποτ’ ⁶⁹⁰

mvp-comment-205-2 οὐ δή που ⁶⁹¹

mvp-comment-205-3 ἀπιστοῦσαν ⁶⁹²

mvp-comment-205-4 ἄγουσι ⁶⁹³

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

mvp-comment-205-6 καὶ ⁶⁹⁴ ἀπιστοῦσαν ⁶⁹⁵ καθελόντες ⁶⁹⁶

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 ⁶⁹⁷

mvp-comment-206-3 τοὔργον ἡ ’ξειργ ⁶⁹⁸

mvp-comment-207-1 ἐς δέον ⁶⁹⁹

mvp-comment-208-1 ξύμμετρος ⁷⁰⁰

mvp-comment-209-1 ἀπώμοτον ⁷⁰¹

mvp-comment-210-1 ψεύδει ⁷⁰²

mvp-comment-210-2 ἡ ’πίνοια ⁷⁰³

mvp-comment-211-1 ἐξηύχουν ἄν ⁷⁰⁴ σχολῇ ἥξειν ποτὲ δεῦρο ⁷⁰⁵

mvp-comment-211-2 σχολῇ ⁷⁰⁶

mvp-comment-212-1 ταῖς σαῖς ἀπειλαῖς ⁷⁰⁷

mvp-comment-212-2 ἐχειμάσθην ⁷⁰⁸

mvp-comment-213-1 ἡ...ἐκτὸς ⁷⁰⁹ ἐκτός ⁷¹⁰

mvp-comment-214-1 οὐδὲν ἔοικε μῆκος ⁷¹¹ α+λλῃ ἡδονῇ ⁷¹² οὐδέν ⁷¹³ μῆκος ⁷¹⁴ ἔοικε ⁷¹⁵

mvp-comment-215-1 δῑ ὅρκων … ἀπώμοτος ⁷¹⁶

mvp-comment-216-1 καθῃρέθη ⁷¹⁷

mvp-comment-216-2 τάφον κοσμοῦσα ⁷¹⁸

mvp-comment-216-3 ἐπάλλετο ⁷¹⁹ ἕρμαιον ⁷²⁰

mvp-comment-217-1 κρῖνε ⁷²¹

mvp-comment-217-2 δίκαιός εἰμι ⁷²²

mvp-comment-217-3 ἀπηλλάχθαι ⁷²³

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 ⁷²⁴

mvp-comment-219-1 ἦ καὶ ⁷²⁵

mvp-comment-219-2 ὀρθῶς ⁷²⁶

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 ⁷²⁷

mvp-comment-221-1 ἆρ’ ἔνδηλα ⁷²⁸

mvp-comment-222-1 ὁρᾶται...ᾑρέθη ⁷²⁹

mvp-comment-222-2 ἐπίληπτος ⁷³⁰

mvp-comment-223-1 ἥκομεν ⁷³²

mvp-comment-224-1 τὰ δείν’ ἐκεῖν’ ⁷³³

mvp-comment-224-2 τὸν | νέκυν ⁷³⁴

mvp-comment-225-1 καθήμεθ’ ⁷³⁵

mvp-comment-225-2 ἄκρων ἐκ πάγων ⁷³⁶

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 ⁷³⁷

mvp-comment-226-1 βάλῃ ⁷³⁸

mvp-comment-227-1 ἐγερτί ⁷³⁹

mvp-comment-227-2 κινῶν ⁷⁴⁰

mvp-comment-227-3 ἐπιρρόθοις κακοῖσιν ⁷⁴¹

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 ⁷⁴² ἀφειδήσοι ⁷⁴³

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 ⁷⁴⁴

mvp-comment-230-2 χθονὸς ⁷⁴⁵

mvp-comment-231-1 τυφώς ⁷⁴⁶ σκηπτός ⁷⁴⁷

mvp-comment-231-2 οὐράνιον ἄχος ⁷⁴⁸

mvp-comment-232-1 πίμπλησι ⁷⁴⁹ αἰκίζων ⁷⁵⁰

mvp-comment-232-2 ἐν δ’ ἐμεστ ⁷⁵¹

mvp-comment-233-1 μύσαντες ⁷⁵²

mvp-comment-233-2 νόσον ⁷⁵³

mvp-comment-233-3 ἐν χρ. μακρ ⁷⁵⁴

mvp-comment-234-1 πικρᾶς ⁷⁵⁵

mvp-comment-235-1 εὐνῆς...λέχος ⁷⁵⁶

mvp-comment-236-1 οὕτω δέ ⁷⁵⁷

mvp-comment-236-2 ψιλόν ⁷⁵⁸

mvp-comment-237-1 γόοισιν ἐξῴμωξεν ⁷⁵⁹

mvp-comment-237-2 ἐκ δ’ … ἠρᾶτο ⁷⁶⁰

mvp-comment-237-3 διψίαν ⁷⁶¹

mvp-comment-238-1 φέρει κόνιν ⁷⁶²

mvp-comment-239-1 The πρόχους ⁷⁶³

mvp-comment-239-2 εὐκρότητος ⁷⁶⁴

mvp-comment-239-3 ἄρδην ⁷⁶⁵

mvp-comment-240-1 χοαῖσι ⁷⁶⁶

mvp-comment-240-2 τρισπόνδ. ⁷⁶⁷ στέφει ⁷⁶⁸

mvp-comment-241-1 ἱέμεσθα ⁷⁶⁹

mvp-comment-241-2 σὺν δὲ … θηρώμεθ’ ⁷⁷⁰

mvp-comment-242-1 ἠλέγχομεν ⁷⁷¹

mvp-comment-242-2 ἄπαρνος … οὐδενός ⁷⁷²

mvp-comment-242-3 καθίστατο ⁷⁷³

mvp-comment-243-1 ἅμ’ ⁷⁷⁴

mvp-comment-244-1 φίλους ⁷⁷⁵

mvp-comment-245-1 πάντα ταῦθ’ ⁷⁷⁶ λαβεῖν ⁷⁷⁷

mvp-comment-246-1 σὲ δή, ⁷⁷⁸

mvp-comment-247-1 φὴς δεδρακέναι, ἢ καταρνεῖ μὴ δεδρ ⁷⁷⁹ καταρνεῖ ⁷⁸⁰

mvp-comment-248-1 καὶ......κοὐκ ⁷⁸¹

mvp-comment-248-2 τὸ μή ⁷⁸²

mvp-comment-249-1 σὺ μέν ⁷⁸³ κομίζοις ἂν ς ⁷⁸⁴

mvp-comment-249-2 ἔξω ⁷⁸⁵ β. αἰτίας ⁷⁸⁶ ἐλεύθερον ⁷⁸⁷

mvp-comment-250-1 μῆκος ⁷⁸⁸

mvp-comment-251-1 ᾔδησθα ⁷⁸⁹ ᾔδης τὰ ⁷⁹⁰ σθα ⁷⁹¹

mvp-comment-251-2 κηρυχθέντα ⁷⁹²

mvp-comment-252-1 ᾔδη ⁷⁹³

mvp-comment-252-2 τί δ’ οὐκ ἔμελλον ⁷⁹⁴

mvp-comment-252-3 ἐμφανῆ ⁷⁹⁵ ἐκφανῆ ⁷⁹⁶

mvp-comment-253-1 καὶ δῆτ’ ⁷⁹⁷

mvp-comment-254-1 Ζεύς ⁷⁹⁸

mvp-comment-255-1 τῶν κάτω θεῶν ⁷⁹⁹ ξύνοικος ⁸⁰⁰ τοιούσδ’ … ὥρισεν ⁸⁰¹ οἳ τούσδ’ … ὥρισαν ⁸⁰² τάδε ⁸⁰³

mvp-comment-256-1 ἄγραπτα … νόμιμα ⁸⁰⁴

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 ⁸⁰⁵

mvp-comment-256-3 ἀσφαλῆ ⁸⁰⁶

mvp-comment-256-4 θνητὸν ὄντ’ ⁸⁰⁷

mvp-comment-256-5 ὑπερδραμεῖν ⁸⁰⁸

mvp-comment-257-1 νῦν γε κἀχθές ⁸⁰⁹

mvp-comment-257-2 ζῇ ⁸¹⁰

mvp-comment-257-3 ’φάνη ⁸¹¹

mvp-comment-258-1 τούτων ⁸¹² τὴν δίκην ⁸¹³ τούτων ⁸¹⁴

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 ⁸¹⁵

mvp-comment-259-1 δώσειν ⁸¹⁶

mvp-comment-259-2 θανουμένη γάρ ⁸¹⁷

mvp-comment-259-3 τί δ’ οὔ ⁸¹⁸

mvp-comment-260-1 κεἰ μὴ σὺ προὐκήρυξας ⁸¹⁹

mvp-comment-260-2 τοῦ χρόνου ⁸²⁰

mvp-comment-260-3 αὔτ’ ⁸²¹

mvp-comment-261-1 φέρει ⁸²²

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 ⁸²³

mvp-comment-263-1 ἄλγος ⁸²⁴ παρ’ οὐδέν ⁸²⁵

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 ⁸²⁶

mvp-comment-264-1 ἄθαπτον ἠνσχόμην νέκυν ⁸²⁷ ηἰσχόμην ⁸²⁸ ἠνσχόμην ⁸²⁹

mvp-comment-264-2 In my first edition I placed in the text the emendation of Semitelos (1887) ᾔσχυναν κύνες ⁸³⁰

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 ⁸³¹

mvp-comment-264-4 or

(Meineke). (2) τὸν ἐξ ἐμ. | μητρος θανόντ’ ⁸³²

mvp-comment-265-1 σχεδόν τι ⁸³³

mvp-comment-265-2 μώρῳ μωρίαν ⁸³⁴

mvp-comment-265-3 ὀφλισκάνω ⁸³⁵

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 ⁸³⁶ δηλοῖ ⁸³⁷ ὠμόν ⁸³⁸ ἐξ ὠμοῦ πατρός ⁸³⁹ γέννημα ⁸⁴⁰

mvp-comment-267-1 εἴκειν … κακοῖς ⁸⁴¹

66. mvp-comment-42-1 βιάζομαι τάδε This passive use of βιάζομαι occurs again in l. 1073, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ σοῦ βιάζονται τάδε.

67. mvp-comment-43-1 τοῖς .. βεβῶσι Those whose position is supreme; i.e. the present ruling power.

68. mvp-comment-44-1 περισσὰ πράσσειν ‘Το act beyond one's sphere.' Cp. Tr. 617, τὸ μὴ πιθυμεῖν πομπὸς ὢν περισσὰ δρᾶν.

70. mvp-comment-45-1 ἐμοῦ.. μέτα Would your acting with me be any pleasure to me. For the adverb ἡδέως, implying a predicate, see Essay on Language § 24. p. 40.

71. mvp-comment-46-1 ἴσθ᾽ ὁποία This reading is acknowledged by the Scholiast equally with ἴσθ' ὁποῖα, the reading of LA. Be such as you choose to be' (i. e. base, cp. supr. 38) is more forcible than Hold what principles you please, even if εἰδέναι can have this meaning. Cp Phil. 1049, τοιοῦτός εἰμ' ἐγώ: Eur. Or. 1680, κἀγὼ τοιοῦτος. ὁποία is nominative by attraction to the antecedent. Hermann thought the dative ὁποίᾳ was required.

72. mvp-comment-47-1 Antigone knows clearly from the beginning, with the heightened consciousness of passion, the consequences of her act. There is no irony of fortune, so far as she is concerned.

74. mvp-comment-48-1 ὅσια πανουργ. Cp. infr. 924.

75. mvp-comment-49-1 τῶν ἐνθάδε See Essay on Language § 10. p.15. The form of expression resembles Hdt. 3. 124, βούλεσθαι οὖν παρθενεύεσθαι πλείω χρόνον ἢ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐστερῆσθαι. For the thought, cp. Plat. Legg. 9.881 Α, θάνατος μὲν οὐκ ἔστιν ἔσχατον, οἱ δὲ ἐν ῞Αιδου . πόνοι .. εἰσὶ μᾶλλον ἐν ἐσχάτοις : Sim. Am. 3, πολλὸς γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐστι τεθνάναι χρόνος, κ.τ.λ.

76. mvp-comment-50-1 σοὶ δ᾽ εἰ δοκεῖ The emphasis really rests on the subject (σύ), but is transferred to the dative, as in Phil. 1395, ὡς ῥᾷστ᾽ ἐμοὶ μὲν τῶν λόγων λῆξαι, σὲ δὲ | κ.τ.λ. Essay on Language § 41. pp. 78-79. The change to σύ (see v. rr.) is slight, but rather weakens the expression.

77. mvp-comment-51-1 τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἔντιμα What is held honourable amongst the Gods. Cp. θεῶν νόμιμα, infr. 454-455: 1.ε. τὰ τῶν θεῶν ὄντα καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν θεῶν ἀγόμενα ἐν τιμῇ. Hh ἀτιμάσασ᾽ ἔχε] Persist in slighting. 78. ἐγὼ ποιοῦμαι I do not mean to show disrespect. She shrinks from saying distinctly τὰ τῶν θεῶν.

79. mvp-comment-52-1 ἔφυν By nature and position.

82. mvp-comment-53-1 ταλαίνης after οἴμοι: σου after ὑπερδέδοικα. But this distinction is hardly felt in the Greek.

83. mvp-comment-54-1 ἐξόρθου Continue to direct safely, as if steering a vessel.

85. mvp-comment-55-1 σὺν δ' See Essay on Language § 18. p. 26.

86. mvp-comment-56-1 The Epic πολλόν is curious, but need not be changed. Cp. Tr. 1196, πολλὸν δ᾽ ἄρσεν᾽ ἐκτεμόνθ᾽ ὁμοῦ | ἄγριον ἔλαιον. Other Epic forms in this play are ὡσεί τε, infr. 653; ὑπαί, infr. 1035: εἰν ῞Αιδου δόμοις, 1241. A lukewarm spirit is above all hateful to Antigone. If Ismene disapproves her act, let her denounce it. ἐὰν μή, κ.τ.λ., further explains σιγῶσ'. Cp. Ο. Τ. 57, ἔρημος ἀνδρῶν μὴ ξυνοικούντων ἔσω.

88. mvp-comment-57-1 θερμὴν .. ἔχεις Your courage is hot upon a cold enterprize.

88. mvp-comment-57-2 ψυχροῖσι] Chilling, i.e. Causing a cold thrill of horror. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 691-693, οὐδ᾽ ὧδε δυσθέατα καὶ δυσοιστὰ ... ψύχειν ψυχὰν ἐμάν. Also with an association from the meaning fruitless; cp. Hdt. 9. 49, ἐπαρθεὶς ψυχρῇ νίκῃ.

91. mvp-comment-58-1 Cp. 1. 926, παθόντες ἂν ξυγγνοῖμεν ἡμαρτηκότες.

94. mvp-comment-59-1 ἐχθρὰ .. δίκῃ And our dead brother will justly hold you as an enemy: ἐχθράν σε προσθήσεται: ср. Eur. Τr. 185, τῷ πρόσκειμαι δούλα; Who has me for his slave.

95. mvp-comment-60-1 τὴν ἐξ ἐμοῦ That proceeds from me; i. e. For which I alone am responsible. See Essay on Language § 19. p. 28. ¹

96. mvp-comment-61-1 πείσομαι γὰρ οὐ The reading οὐ, for which some critics would substitute οὖν, is confirmed (1) by the tendency to a vehement accumulation of negatives in the speeches of Antigone in this scene: (2) by the similar emphatic inversions noticed in the Essay on Language § 41. p. 78.

99. mvp-comment-62-1 τοῖς φίλοις δ᾽ ὀρθῶς φίλη But unfailing in kindness to thy friends; i. e. A faithful sister to thine own brother. Cp. Eur. Or. 424, ἀληθὴς δ᾽ ἐς φίλους ἔφυν φίλος. Antigone goes to perform the sepulture, and Ismene returns into the palace. The stage is left vacant. As in the Ajax, there is a distinct break after the prologue, which has laid the ground of the action so far as Antigone is concerned. The first episodion, ll. 163 ff., is in one sense a fresh beginning, as setting forth the motives of Creon, and still only preparing for the collision. The parados, ll. 100 ff., introduces us to the public feeling of Thebes, and to the wider sphere of which the action forms the central point. 100 ff. Instead of a long series of anapaests, followed by lyrical strophes and antistrophes, as in the Ajax (with which cp. Aesch. Agamemnon), we have here two strophes and antistrophes alternating with anapaestic systems of about seven lines each: making a form of parodos intermediate between that of the Ajax and that of the O. T., in which there are no anapaests. The α' (100-109=117-133). chorus on its first appearance chants ll. 100-109, then advances while the coryphaeus recites 110-116, then the antistrophe is chanted, then another advance is made during the recitative of 11. 127-133, then strophe B' is chanted, the chorus by this time standing near the stage; then they make a final advance, and, during the second antistrophe, are standing full in front of the stage. Lastly, as Creon is seen approaching, the coryphaeus chants ll. 155-162, which thus form at once the conclusion of the parodos and the introit or prelude of the first episodium.

99. mvp-comment-62-2 The total effect is that of a stately and solemn triumph, in which the bright influence of the glyconic opening is tempered with slow movements (---), as in ll. 106, 122, 137, 151, and interrupted rhythms, as in ll. 103, 120, 138, 152; the notes of triumph and solemnity being combined in the choriambi, which bring the lyrical part to a close. Thus we have- β΄ (134-140=148-154). CI IICCー​しー CLトくト​CCI 51--10CICIC ト 1001010110010||| ――ト​し​て​トー luclcclcULCII) C- 「SƆIDII7 5トレト​しし LCCLLCCLLCCLLCCLI トリトー The culmination of feeling is marked by the dactylic opening of β'. The rhythms of a' 3. 4, 6, and β' 3, 4, show the correlation of the two movements. The adaptation of sound to sense is specially obvious in the resolved trochees of a' 7, while the concluding lines, a' 8, β' 7, serve to harmonize the logaoedic with the anapaestic measures. Cp. O. C. 135-137, 167-169.

99. mvp-comment-62-3 'Never did morning rise so fair as this which thou didst bring at length to waiting Thebè, O eye of golden day! For thy first beams, shooting over Dircè's rills, stirred into quicker flight the Argive warrior, who for Polynices' quarrel swooped upon our land on snow-white wing, with many a shield and many a plumèd helm.

99. mvp-comment-62-4 Threatening our halls in towering pride he stood, and gaped with bristling spears around our gates, thirsting for our blood: but he is gone, or ever his desire was slaked, or ever the fire-god caught our coronal of towers. Such fight displayed the serpent writhing in his gripe, not easily subdued. Such din of war assailed him as he turned to flee. For Zeus abhors the boaster and contemns the clank of gold. And when he saw them moving in a full proud stream, he smote with lightning from on high the daring climber who had gained the pinnacle and was eagerly preparing to shout victory. And swung to earth he fell with a rebound, the firebearer, who with mad rush was breathing his blast of enmity against the wall. And various was the fortune of the day. But terrible was the War-god as he plunged amidst our enemies, a mighty helper for us.

99. mvp-comment-62-5 'For at all our gates their captains, seven against seven, left their panoplies as trophies to our cause. All, save the horrid pair, who fell together with the guilt of mutual fratricide.

99. mvp-comment-62-6 But forget we the griefs of war. For victory came with smiles of joy to greet our smiling town. So visit we the temples of the gods with dances all night long: and let Theban Bacchus be the master of our revelry.

103. mvp-comment-63-1 χρυσέας χρυσέας, as in O. T. 158-187.

106. mvp-comment-64-1 The rivulet of Dircè was to the west of Thebes. The sun had risen just as the retreat of the Argives became a rout, and the army returning from pursuit would see the morning light reflected in the stream, which they would cross on their way back to the city. Cp. Eur. Phoen. 730. The ode is not chanted at sunrise, but celebrates the glorious morning which had seen the discomfiture of the enemy. The chorus of elders imagine themselves in the position of the victorious army.

106. mvp-comment-64-2 λεύκασπιν Cp. Aesch. S. c. Т. 96, λευκοπρεπή λέων: Eur. Phoen. 1099, λεύκασπιν εἰσορῶμεν Ἀργείων στράτον.

106. mvp-comment-64-3 Αργόθεν The correspondence of a dactyl in the antistrophe to the trochee Αργό- in this line justly leads to suspicion of the text, and Hermann conjectured Ἀργόθεν ἐκ. Qy. Ἀργόλεων ? or Ἀργογενή ?

108. mvp-comment-65-1 φυγάδα πρόδρομον (1) Running before us in flight. Said from the point of view of the pursuing host. Or (2), In the van of the flying host. The Schol. on Phoen. 409 says, φασὶ .. τὸν Ἀδραστον .. μόνον φυγάδα σωθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου ἵππου Ἀρείονος. Cp. Paus. 8.25. § 5.

109. mvp-comment-66-1 χαλινῷ Either (1) literally Riding with hastier rein, or (2) metaphorically, With thy hastening bridle in his lips. The first (1) is best. If (2) were adopted, the reading ὀξυτόρῳ, galling (see v. rr.), might be preferred.

110. mvp-comment-67-1 *ὃς .. *Πολυνείκους The emendation of Scaliger improves the sense as well as the grammar. The imagery throughout represents not Polynices, but his Argive ally. The subject of the single fight between the two brothers is passed lightly over, as unsuited to a triumphal hymn.

111. mvp-comment-68-1 ἀρθεὶς.. ἐξ ἀμφιλόγων Carried forth in consequence of the doubtful quarrel (the quarrel and debate) of Polynices. ἀρθείς is said with allusion to αἴρειν στόλον, but also suggests the image of the bird mounting in air. Cp. Il. 13. 63, of the hawk, ἀπ' αἰγίλιπος πέτρης περιμήκεος ἀρθείς, Eur. Phoen. 636-637. For the play on the name of Polynices, see Essay on Language § 44. p. 82.

113. mvp-comment-69-1 The omission of ὡs in this line, which Herm. suggested, is hardly necessary, although it does not impair the sense. The correspondence of strophe and antistrophe does not extend strictly to the anapaests, although the anapaestic systems in this passage are nearly of the same length.

114. mvp-comment-70-1 λευκῆς χιόνος πτέρυγι See Essay on Language § 9. p. 11, and cp. l. 106.

114. mvp-comment-70-2 στεγανός Covered all over; i. e. There were no gaps in their array.

115-116. mvp-comment-71-1 πολλῶν μεθ᾽ ὅπλων | ξύν θ᾽ ἱπποκόμοις κορύθεσσι Accompanied with many a shield and armed with many a helm.

117. mvp-comment-72-1 στάς Staying his flight, like the bird of prey preparing to stoop. At this point the image, which has hitherto grown in distinctness, becomes less definite, the figure of an eagle passing into that of a flying dragon, with spears for teeth. Cp. Shak. K. John, 2. 1, O, now doth Death Line his dead chaps with steel, etc. Also the image in Milton's Samson Agonistes, 11. 1692-1696.

117. mvp-comment-72-2 φονώσαισιν Boeckh's emendation at once cures the metre and supplies a poetical touch which corresponds to the explanation of the Scholiast, ταῖς τῶν φονῶν ἐρώσαις λόγχαις. It is confirmed by the reading of L² pr. See v. rr.

118. mvp-comment-73-1 ἀμφιχανὼν.. στόμα Yawning round our seven-mouthed gates.

120. mvp-comment-74-1 ἔβα He went his way. For the use of the aorist of βαίνω in this sense, cp. Od. 22. 249, καὶ δή οἱ Μέντωρ μὲν ἔβη, κενὰ εὔγματα εἰπών: Τr. 115, βάντ᾽ ἐπιόντα τ', Some gone, others coming on.

121. mvp-comment-75-1 γένυσιν With his jaws. Instrumental dative.

121. mvp-comment-75-2 πλησθῆναί τε καὶ ἑλεῖν For the change of subject in these lines, cp. Aj. 458, ἐχθαίρομαι, μισεῖ δέ, κ.τ.λ. And for στεφάνωμα πύργων, cp. Pind. Ol. 8. 32, Ἰλίῳ μέλλοντες ἐπὶ στέφανον τεύξαι : Hom. h. Dem. 151, .. κρήδεμνα πόληος | εἰρύαται ...

124. mvp-comment-76-1 τοῖος .. δράκοντι (1) Such din of war was spread about his rear by the reluctant snake, no easy matter to subdue. So the Scholiast, who wrote τὸ δὲ ἀντιπάλῳ δράκοντι ἀντὶ τοῦ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀντιπάλου δράκοντος, ὡς Ἀχιλῆϊ δαμασθείς (Il. 22. 55). Or (2) δυσχείρωμα may be taken to mean the act rather than the object of victory (cp. O. Τ. 560, θανασίμῳ χειρώματι), and the sense may be, Such din of war encompassed him, issuing in a hard-won victory for the serpent matching his foe. In this case it will make little difference to read the genitive. Or, (3) if the genitive is read (Wecklein), the words may be taken in yet another way: Such din of war harassed him from behind, the hard-to-be-subdued might of the serpent, who was a match for his foe. The genitive is given as an alternative reading by the 1st hand of L, and is supported by V (Ven. 468). But the dative is alone recognised by the Scholiast.

124. mvp-comment-76-2 The δράκων is certainly the emblem of Thebes, and the eagle and snake are in conflict, as in Il. 12. 201, foll., where also the serpent struggles and escapes : ὁ δ᾽ οὔπω λήθετο χάρμης, | κόψε γὰρ αὐτὸν ἔχοντα κατὰ στήθος παρὰ δειρὴν | ἰδνωθεὶς ὀπίσω· ὁ δ᾽ ἀπὸ ἕθεν ἧκε χαμάζε, κ.τ.λ. Hor. Carm. 4. 4, 11, Nunc in reluctantes dracones | Egit amor dapis atque pugnae.

129. mvp-comment-77-1 πολλῷ ῥεύματι προσνισσομένους Coming on in full proud stream. Like a great river filling its banks.

130. mvp-comment-78-1 χρυσοῦ καναχῆς ὑπερόπτης] Despiser of the clank of gold. Cp. Aesch. Agam. 776, τὰ χρυσόπαστα δ᾽ ἐσθλὰ σὺν πίνῳ χερῶν | παλιντρόποις ὄμμασιν | λιπούσ', ὅσια προσέβα: S. c. T. 481-485. The Scholiast, who wrote καὶ τὴν τοῦ χρυσοῦ φαντασίαν ὑπερβεβηκότας τῇ ἰδίᾳ ὑπεροψίᾳ, seems to have read ὑπερόπτας, which appears in the margin of some copies. The ὑπεροψία of his interpretation may have given rise to ὑπεροπτίας, as in conjunction with this it has suggested ὑπεροπλίαις, (Vauvillers, who compares II. 1. 205). Musgr. and Böckh are contented with ὑπεροπτείας, abstr. noun of ὑπερόπτης, gen. with ῥεύματι, In floods of supercilious pride.

131. mvp-comment-79-1 παλτῷ ῥιπτεῖ πυρί (1) Hurls down with brandished thunderbolt. Or possibly (2) ῥιπτεῖ is a more emphatic substitute for βάλλει = Smites from afar. The word παλτῷ suggests the zig-zag flicker of the lightning.

131. mvp-comment-79-2 βαλβίδων .. ἀλαλάζαι As, having reached the topmost goal, he was eager to raise the cry of victory. βαλβίδες are the end of the race-course, metaphorically applied here to the top of the wall to which Capaneus had climbed, and so receiving the epithet ἄκρων.

131. mvp-comment-79-3 βαλβίδων may be also taken as abl. gen, with ῥιπτεῖ, and only resumed with ἄκρων. But this is questionable.

133. mvp-comment-80-1 The subject of ὁρμῶντα (Capaneus) is anticipated from the following lines, viz. ὅς, κ.τ.λ.

134. mvp-comment-81-1 ἀντιτύπᾳ This conj. of Porson has been generally received. He fell upon the earth, that smote him again; i.e. He fell with a shock. The Scholia explain ἀντίτυπα, which is against metre.

134. mvp-comment-81-2 τανταλωθείς Swung. As if the scale that had been the lightest had suddenly become the heaviest. Cp. Hom. Il. 22. 212, ῥέπε δ᾽ Ἕκτορος αἴσιμον ἦμαρ, | ᾤχετο δ᾽ εἰς Ἀἰδαο.

135. mvp-comment-82-1 πυρφόρος With the fire in his hand, with which he had threatened the town. O. C. 1318: Aesch. S. c. T. 422, ff.

135. mvp-comment-82-2 ὁρμᾷ Observe the tautology after ὁρμῶντ', supra.

136-137. mvp-comment-83-1 Had breathed against us in frenzy with blasts of malignant winds. Cp. infra 929-930: O. C. 612 and note: Aesch. S. c. T. 115, πνοαῖς Ἄρεος.

138. mvp-comment-84-1 εἶχε δ᾽ ἄλλᾳ τὰ μέν· κτ.λ.] This was in one direction: whilst on other men terrible fortune was dispensed by mighty Ares rushing on them like a steed harnessed upon our right hand. For the use of ἔχω with the locative adv., see L. and S. s. v. ἔχω, Β. 11. Ι. The reading in the text is suggested by that of V (Ven. 468), a MS. of the 13th century, which, together with many obvious corruptions, has preserved some good readings. See on O. T. 1526. This MS. reading is curiously near the conj. of Musgrave, εἶχε δ᾽ ἄλλᾳ τὰ δείν᾽. The epithet, as read in the text, may be suggested by a forefeeling of what is coming. Even the end of Capaneus is less awful than that of Eteocles and Polynices (144 ff.). Hermann's reading, εἶχε δ᾽ ἄλλᾳ μὲν ἄλ | λᾳ· τὰ δ᾽ ἐπ᾿ ἄλλοις, makes good enough sense; Plat. Rep. 2. 369 Β, οὕτω δὴ ἄρα παραλαμβάνων ἄλλος ἄλλον ἐπ᾿ ἄλλου, τὸν δ᾽ ἐπ᾿ ἄλλου χρείᾳ : but the synaphea between the cretics and the choriambi is questionable. And the same objection applies to Wecklein's εἶχε δ' ἄλλᾳ τὰ τοῦδ᾽· | ἄλλα δ᾽ ἐπ᾿ ἄλλοις.

140. mvp-comment-85-1 δεξιόσειρος The War-god taking part with Thebes and bounding hither and thither over the plain is compared to the σειραῖος ἵππος, whose free action was so important at critical moments in the chariot-race. Cp. El. 721-722, δεξιὸν δ᾽ ἀνεὶς | σειραῖον ἵππον εἶργε τὸν προσκείμενον: Aesch. Agam. 841-842, μόνος δ' Οδυσσεύς, ὅσπερ οὐχ ἑκὼν ἔπλει | ζευχθείς ἕτοιμος ἦν ἐμοὶ σειραφόρος. The reading δεξιόχειρος is probably erroneous. It is acknowledged as a variant by the Scholiast.

141. mvp-comment-86-1 Capaneus, who is one of the seven adversaries, is already disposed of. But the general description in 141-143, is only preparatory to the chief statement, 144-147, from which, however, the chorus pass quickly, as they approach it with aversion. What is of the best omen must be kept to the front. For ἴσοι πρὸς ἴσους, cp. Hdt. 9. 49, ἴσοι πρὸς ἴσους ἄριθμον μαχεσόμεθα.

142-143. mvp-comment-87-1 'Left the tribute of their brazen panoplies to Zeus, who turns the battle.'

144-147. mvp-comment-88-1 Neither could despoil the other, since both were slain. And the citizens could not dedicate to Zeus arms polluted with kindred blood.

145. mvp-comment-89-1 αὑτοῖν i. e. ἀλλήλοιν: ἑαυτούς, ἀλλήλους. Hesych.

146. mvp-comment-90-1 δικρατεῖς λόγχας στήσαντε Having pointed their two spears, of which either was victorious. The spears are not hurled, as commonly in the Iliad, but held firmly as the combatants rush at each other. Cp. Hom. Il. 4. 307 (quoted by Donaldson), ὃς δέ κ᾿ ἀνὴρ ἀπὸ ὧν ὀχέων ἕτερ᾽ ἅρμαθ' ἵκηται | ἔγχει ὀρεξάσθω, ἐπεὶ ἢ πολὺ φέρτερον οὕτως.

147. mvp-comment-91-1 'Both have their portion in mutual death: i.e. Each strove for sole inheritance, but they share equally-in a death;' which each has given and each has received. See on l. 57. The spirit of the words is the same as those of Aesch. S. c. T. 726 ff.: O. C. 790.

149. mvp-comment-92-1 ἀντιχαρεῖσα Exchanging looks of joy. Cp. χαίρειν γέλωτι, Χen. Cyr. 8.1.33.

149. mvp-comment-92-2 Θήβη, as in Pindar, is the personification of Θήβαι, for which it is used consistently throughout this play. Cp. Od. 7. 80, εὐρυάγυιαν Ἀθήνην.

150. mvp-comment-93-1 ἐκ μὲν δὴ πολέμων .. λησμοσύvav Turning from the present wars, appoint ye forgetfulness of them. For the pleonastic use of ἐκ, see Essay on Language § 19. p. 27. The reading θέσθαι, which has good MS. authority and preserves the metrical correspondence with l. 137, is retained by some editors as an infinitive for imperative. Cp. infr. 1142, μολεῖν. For the expression, cp. Eur. Phoen. 1584,5, ὡς ὥρα τάφου | μνήμην τίθεσθαι.

153. mvp-comment-94-1 παννυχίοις Cp. Ο. Τ. 1090: Aesch. Ag. 23, 24. καὶ χορῶν κατάστασιν | πολλῶν ἐν Ἄργει τῆσδε συμφορᾶς χάριν.

153. mvp-comment-94-2 ὁ Θήβας δ'. . ἄρχοι And let Bacchus, Thebe's God. who shakes the earth (with revelry), lead on the dance. Schol. ὁ Θήβας Βακχεῖος, ὁ Θηβαγενὴς Διόνυσος, ὁ τῆς Θήβης πολίτης, ὁ ἐλελίχθων, ἄρχοι τῆς χορείας. See Essay on Language § 9. p. 11.

156. mvp-comment-95-1 The metre requires either the addition of one (or three) anapaests or the omission of νεοχμός. Dindorf's supposition that νεοχμός νεαραῖσι has grown in some way out of νεοχμοῖσι is in itself probable enough, but the omission of some word like *ἄρχων after βασιλεύς is equally so. The spectator is thus reminded that Creon is young in power.

157-158. mvp-comment-96-1 νεαραῖσι .. συντυχίαις In consequence of the recent god-sent fortune. These words are to be joined with the whole sentence, though chiefly with ἐρέσσων. Creon's accession, his coming, and the counsel which he brings, all follow closely on the events of the war. The question is, what is that counsel?

159. mvp-comment-97-1 τίνα δή This is preferable to τινὰ δή, which Aldus printed from Ven. 467 (V3).

159. mvp-comment-97-2 On ἐρέσσων = Moving, Advancing. see Essay on Language p. 87, and cp. Aj. 251, τοίας ἐρέσσουσιν ἀπειλάς.

160-161. mvp-comment-98-1 ὅτι. προὔθετο That he hath appointed. ὅτι gives the reason of the question.

160. mvp-comment-99-1 σύγκλητον Specially convened. The word is used, after the analogy of the σύγκλητος ἐκκλησία at Athens, for an assembly specially summoned by the στρατηγός. λέσχη is less formal than βουλή. Cp. Ο. C. 166.

161. mvp-comment-100-1 προὔθετο The middle voice implies that Creon had summoned the elders of his own motion. So καλέσσατο of Achilles in Il. 1. 54.

162. mvp-comment-101-1 κοινῷ κηρύγματι πέμψας Having cited us by a message sent to us all.

162. mvp-comment-101-2 κοινῷ = Inclusive. πέμψας] i. e. στείλας πομποῖσιν, as Creon expresses himself in ll. 164-165. 162-210. Creon's first error is not mere self-will, but an excessive zeal for the honour of the state, to which all private feelings must give way (183-184, 187-190). His spirit of self-assertion is however already felt, esp. in ll. 173, 191, 207-10. And the unconsciousness of one young in power is shown in the self-inculpating words in ll. 175-177. He characteristically dwells on the virtue of loyalty (165-169, 209-210) and the crime of rebellion (199-202): and his passionate nature is betrayed by the exaggerated expression in l. 208. Cp. O. T. 216 ff. and note. The frequent occurrence of the Ist personal pronoun is a significant feature of both these speeches.

162. mvp-comment-101-3 τὰ μὲν δὴ πόλεος As for the state. This form of expression suits the introduction of a subject before the form of sentence is determined. πόλιν, rather than τὰ πόλεος, is the object of σείσαντες and ὤρθωσαν.

162. mvp-comment-101-4 ἀσφαλῶς Unharmed, = ἄνεν τοῦ σφαλῆναι,

163. mvp-comment-102-1 ὥρθωσαν Have righted the vessel of the state.

165-166. mvp-comment-103-1 τὰ Λαΐου. κράτη Knowing that you ever duly reverenced the enthroned authority of Laius. Λαΐου is governed by θρόνων κράτη taken as one word, θρόνων being added to supplement κράτη. σέβοντας and μένοντας, infr. 166, 169, are imperfects = ὅτι ἐσέβετε .. ἐμένετε,

167. mvp-comment-104-1 ὤρθου Kept on a safe course: i. e. Governed prosperously. The word recalls the happiness of the first period of Oedipus' rule. Cp. Plat. Men. P. 99 C, ᾗ οἱ πολιτικοὶ ἄνδρες χρώμενοι τὰς πόλεις ὀρθοῦσιν : Phaedr. 244 B. 168-169. ἀμφὶ .. φρονήμασιν]. Ye still remained loyal to their issue with unshaken minds. ἀμφί, Surrounding, as ready to defend. The apodosis is made to suit the latter protasis, ἐπεὶ διώλετο, and that of the former protasis, ἡνίκ' . . πόλιν (viz. ἐκείνῳ ὁμοίως πειθομένους οι the like), is thus absorbed.

167. mvp-comment-104-2 κείνων . . παῖδας i. e. Sons of Oedipus and grandsons of Laius.

172. mvp-comment-105-1 αὐτόχειρι Fratricidal. See Essay on Language p. 91.

174. mvp-comment-106-1 γένους κατ᾿ ἀγχιστεῖα By privilege of being nearest in kindred (ὡς ἀγχιστεύων) to the dead. Cp. πρωτεία, etc.

175. mvp-comment-107-1 παντὸς ἀνδρός Of any man, and therefore of me.

176. mvp-comment-108-1 ψυχήν. . φρόνημα.. γνώμην As observed in the Essay on Language pp. 91-3, the opposition between these words is chiefly formal. So far as there is any difference between them, ψυχήν is mind, or nature, φρόνημα, spirit, or way of thinking, (cp. infr. 207), and γνώμην, judgment or meaning.

176-177. mvp-comment-109-1 πρὶν ἂν ἀρχαῖς.. φανῇ “Until he be seen in his true colours through being tried in office and administration.' According to the saying of Bias, ἀρχὴ τὸν ἄνδρα δείξει (Arist. Eth. Nic. 5. 1. 16). There is an allusion to the detection of spurious coin through wear. Cp. Aesch. Ag. 390-392, κακοῦ δὲ χαλκοῦ τρόπον | τρίβῳτε καὶ προσβολαῖς | μελαμπαγὴς πέλει | δικαιωθείς (where Herm. says, 'Vereor autem ne non de lapide Lydio loquatur poeta, sed aes adulterinum dicat, quod usu tritum amisso falso splendore cognoscitur'): Hdt. 7. 10, ὥσπερ τὸν χρυσὸν τὸν ἀκήρατον, αὐτὸν μὲν ἐπ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ οὐ διαγινώσκομεν, ἐπεὰν δὲ

178. mvp-comment-110-1 ἐμοὶ γάρ The connection is not strictly logical. γάρ explains not the difficulty of discerning the difference between rulers, but the essential point on which the difference turns. In setting forth this, Creon also declares the spirit of his own policy. He is feeling his way with the elders, of whose submission he is not perfectly sure, and beats about the bush before coming to the point with them. Hence he repeats the same thought in different words.

178-183. mvp-comment-111-1 The sentiment of these lines is closely parallel to Plat. Legg. 9. 856 B, ὃς ἂν ἄγων εἰς ἀρχὴν ἄνθρωπον δουλῶται μὲν τοὺς νόμους, ἑταιρείας δὲ τὴν πόλιν ὑπήκοον ποιῇ, καὶ βιαίως δὲ πᾶν τοῦτο πράττων καὶ στάσιν ἐγείρων παρανομῇ· τοῦτον δὴ διανοεῖσθαι δεῖ πάντων πολεμιώτατον ὅλῃ τῇ πόλει, τὸν δὲ κοινωνοῦντα μὲν τῶν τοιούτων μηδενί, τῶν μεγίστων δὲ μετέχοντα ἀρχῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει, λεληθότα τε ταῦτα αὐτὸν ἢ μὴ λεληθότα, δειλίᾳ δ᾽ ὑπὲρ πατρίδος αὑτοῦ μὴ τιμωρούμενον, δεῖ δεύτερον ἡγεῖσθαι τὸν τοιοῦτον πολίτην κακῇ.

180. mvp-comment-112-1 ἐγκλείσας Locked up. Cp. Shakespeare, Richard II, 1. 3,

Infr. 505, εἰ μὴ γλῶσσαν ἐγκλείσαι φόβος.

182. mvp-comment-113-1 μείζον᾽.. ἀντί Essay on Language § 19. p. 27. Cp. Od. 7. 216, στυγερῇ ἐπὶ γαστέρι κύντερον.

183. mvp-comment-114-1 οὐδαμοῦ λέγω Plat. Gorg. 456 C, οὐδαμοῦ ἂν φανῆναι, supr. 32. 184 ff. Having shown what makes the good and bad ruler, Creon declares his own intentions, first generally, and then (192 ff.) with reference to Eteocles and Polynices. γάρ implies that his opinion will be proved by his acts. In both statements (178-183, 184-190) the stress is laid on the duty of renouncing friendship with the public enemy (182-183, 187-188), which is the ground of the present edict, Polynices being presumably Creon's private friend: supr. 174.

186. mvp-comment-115-1 στείχουσαν ἀστοῖς Menacing my people. Cp. supr. l. 10: Aesch. Prom. 1089-1090, τοιάδ᾽ ἐπ᾿ ἐμοὶ ῥιπὴ Διόθεν, | τεύχουσα φόβον, στείχει φανερῶς. For the dative, Essay on Language § 12. p. 18.

187. mvp-comment-116-1 δυσμενή χθονός Who is my country's foe. The genitive avoids the awkwardness of two datives, χθονί and ἐμαυτῷ, coming close together.

189-190. mvp-comment-117-1 She it is who preserves us, and we make friends only while she carries us in the course of public safety; i. e. The friendship that is made against the interest of the state is hollow and insecure. Cp. Thuc. 2. 60: (Pericles loq.) ἐγὼ γὰρ ἡγοῦμαι πόλιν πλείω ξύμπασαν ὀρθουμένην ὠφελεῖν τοὺς ἰδιώτας, ἢ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον τῶν πολιτῶν εὐπραγοῦσαν, ἀθρόαν δὲ σφαλλομένην, κ.τ.λ.: Zaleuc. ap. Stob. (Mullach, p. 543), πόλις γὰρ εὖ ἀγομένη μεγίστη ὄρθωσίς ἐστι, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ πάντα ἔνι, καὶ τούτου σωζομένου πάντα σώζεται καὶ τούτου φθειρομένου πάντα διαφθείρεται: Shakespeare. King John, 3. 1, Pand.

On the change of pronouns (ἥδε.. ταύτης), see Essay on Language § 22. p. 32. The article in τοὺς φίλους points the reference to ll. 182-183.

191. mvp-comment-118-1 τοιοίσδε νόμοισι By such principles as these. Cp. infr. 908, τίνος νόμου δὴ ταῦτα πρὸς χάριν λέγω;

192. mvp-comment-119-1 ἀδελφὰ τῶνδε i. e. In full accord with them. Cp. Plat. Rep. 4. 421 C, ἆρ᾽ οὖν .. καὶ τὸ τούτου ἀδελφὸν δύξω σοι μετρίως λέγειν; Lys. 2. 64, ἀδελφὰ τὰ βουλεύματα τοῖς ἔργοις : Ο. C. 1262, ἀδελφὰ . . τούτοισιν.

193. mvp-comment-120-1 τῶν ἀπ᾿ Οιδίπου For the pleo- 190 195 200 nastic use of the preposition, see above 150, 182, and notes.

195. mvp-comment-121-1 πάντ᾿ ἀριστεύσας δορί After proving himself in all ways the bravest in the war. For the aor., cp. Hdt. 9. 74, alib.

196. mvp-comment-122-1 τὰ πάντ᾽ ἐφαγνίσαι ‘Το add all sacred offerings.'

199. mvp-comment-123-1 θεοὺς τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς The gods of his race; i. e. Those honoured by the Cadmeans. The gods of the race also include the ancestors of the race. Infr. 938, θεοὶ προγενεῖς.

201. mvp-comment-124-1 πρῆσαι κατάκρας The city (γῆν = πόλιν) is thought of as the main object of the verb.

201. mvp-comment-124-2 ἠθέλησε δ' The correspondence of clauses (with μέν and δέ) is not perfect, the antithesis being due to afterthought.

201. mvp-comment-124-3 αἵματος .. πάσασθαι ‘Το repast him with blood of his own kin.' The expression suits the Epic colouring of the whole speech.

202. mvp-comment-125-1 τοὺς δέ The rest; i. e. Those not slain, as implied in the opposition το αἵματος κοινοῦ πάσασθαι. 203.

202. mvp-comment-125-2 ἐκκεκήρυκται Musgrave's correction has been generally adopted, lopted, and is probably right. The impersonal verb gives absoluteness to the expression. Wolff construes the inf. with λέγω in 198 (deleting the comma after τοῦδε), and Wecklein reads λέγω for τάφῳ. The slight corruption is probably due to a reminiscence of supr. 27.

205. mvp-comment-126-1 δέμας is accusative of limitation, and ἄθαπτον and ἐδεστόν are masculine. To leave him unburied, to have his flesh consumed by birds and dogs.

206. mvp-comment-127-1 αἰκισθέντ᾿ ἰδεῖν A spectacle of indignity. Lit. Outraged to behold. The infinitive is added after the participle, which is masculine.

207. mvp-comment-128-1 Cp. 176, ψυχήν τε καὶ φρόνημα καὶ γνώμην.

209-210. mvp-comment-129-1 θανών | καὶ ζῶν In death as well as in life. The first word is the more emphatic. Essay on Language p. 78.

211-212. mvp-comment-130-1 For the construction of the accusatives τὸν .. δύσνουν. . τὸν εὐμενῆ, after σοὶ ταῦτ᾽ ἀρέσκει as = οὕτω τάσσεις, or the like, cр. О. С. 1120, τέκν᾽ εἰ φανέντ᾽ ἄελπτα μηκύνω λόγον, and see Essay on Language § 16. p. 22. No emendation is necessary.

213. mvp-comment-131-1 παντί πού γ᾽ ἔνεστί σοι γε has been thought a useless insertion, and Dindorf reads πάντι που πάρεστί σοι. But δέ γε is not unsuitable to the connection, introducing the second premiss of an implied argument. The words of the chorus express the barest acquiescence in the will of the ruler. Cp. infr. 509, σοὶ δ᾽ ὑπίλλουσι στόμα. They hide their disapproval, and that is all. Cp. Richard III, 4. 2, 21, Buck. Your grace may do your pleasure.

215. mvp-comment-132-1 ὡς ἂν.. εἰρημένων Sc. οὕτω πράσσετε. The subjunctive with ὡς ἄν follows the implied imperative. Act, then, so as to see my words obeyed. Cp. Ο. Τ. 325, ὡς οὖν μηδ᾽ ἐγὼ ταὐτὸν πάθω : Plat. Phaedo 59 Ε, παραγγέλλουσιν, ὅπως ἂν τῇδε τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τελευτήσῃ. The ellipse is idiomatic. It is not to be supposed either that Creon hesitates, or that the elders interrupt him.

218. mvp-comment-133-1 τί.. ἔτι 'What means then this charge further given by you to another?' τοῦτο, cogn. acc. = σκοποὶ εἶναι τῶν εἰρημένων : τί, suppl. predic. = With what meaning?' To what effect? ἄλλῳ = to another than the appointed guards. ἄλλο gives a poorer sense, What then is this other thing which you enjoin besides?

220. mvp-comment-134-1 ὃς .. ἐρᾷ As to be in love with death. For the irregular correlative (οὕτω .. ὅς), see Essay on Language § 22. p. 36. There is a confusion of οὐκ ἔστιν ὃς ἐρᾷ and οὐκ ἔστιν οὕτω μῶρος ὥστε ἐρᾶν.

222. mvp-comment-135-1 The emphatic position of ἄνδρας at the beginning of the line shows that the word is intended to mark Creon's unconsciousness of the real source of danger. So infr. 1. 248. Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1110: O. T. 928, al. So ὑπ᾿ ἐλπίδων shows how incapable he is of divining the motive of Antigone.

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 ,

223-224. mvp-comment-137-1 I am out of breath, but not with speed. It is not that I ran nimbly hither. Aristotle, Rhet. 3. 14. § 10, quotes 223 thus, Ἄναξ, ἐρῶ μὲν οὐχ ὅπως σπουδῆς ὕπο.., adding, as if from the reply of Creon, τί φροιμιάζῃ; But it is as unsafe to follow his authority in this line, as it would be to substitute τί φροιμιάζῃ for εὖ γε στοχάζει in l. 241. It is evident that he is quoting from memory: and, although it is curious that the Scholiast uses the same word in his explanation, οὐ τοῦτο λέγω, ὅτι μετὰ σπουδῆς ἀσθμαίνων πρὸς σὲ πορεύομαι, yet this does not amount to a proof that this is the right reading. σπουδῆς may be the word which would be more naturally used in prose, but it is less pointed than τάχους in this connection. κοῦφον ἐξάρας πόδα is added in explanation of τάχους ὕπο. ἐξάρας, having set forth from the point of departure, like αἴρειν στόλον.

225. mvp-comment-138-1 For I had many stoppages by reason of thoughts, i. e. My thoughts cried halt to me (ἐπέστησάν με) again and again. Cp. Αj. 869, κοὐδεὶς ἐφίσταταί με συμμαθεῖν τόπος. The genitive φροντίδων is part causal, My thoughts checked me,' and part final, I stopped to think.

226. mvp-comment-139-1 ὁδοῖς As I came. Essay on Language § 14. p. 20. Ср. О. С. 553, ὁδοῖς ἐν ταῖσδ᾽ ἀκούων. Hearing of you on your coming hither.

227. mvp-comment-140-1 This mockery of dialectic is curiously significant of the earlier stage of rhetoric.

229. mvp-comment-141-1 κεἰ has the authority of the oldest MS. The reading of Par. A, καὶ .. ἀνδρός, has a certain liveliness, but is perhaps too abrupt.

231. mvp-comment-142-1 τοιαῦθ᾽ ἑλίσσων Turning round and round such thoughts as these. Cp. Plat. Phil. 19 (of the boyish dialectician), πάντα κινεῖ λόγον ἄσμενος, τότε μὲν ἐπὶ θάτερα κυκλῶν καὶ συμφορῶν εἰς ἕν, τότε δὲ πάλιν ἀνειλίττων καὶ διαμερίζων.

231. mvp-comment-142-2 σπουδῇ βραδύς The reading of L, σχολῇ βραδύς, Slowly because I stopped, is not pointed enough, and it seems probable that an oxymoron is intended in this as in the following line. The correction adopted by the Scholiast, σχολῇ ταχύς, secures this in rather an awkward way. That of Seyffert, which is here adopted (for the collocation of words, cp. the proverb σπεῦδε βραδέως), appears far more probable.

234. mvp-comment-143-1 This line was well explained by Dindorf in 1860: Dicturus erat σοὶ φράσοντα, sed propter verba interposita, κεί τὸ μηδὲν ἐξερῶ, mutata orationis forma infert φράσω δ ὅμως cum δε particula, ut Oed. T. 302, πόλιν μέν, εἰ καὶ μὴ βλέπεις, φρονεῖς δ' ὅμως | οἷᾳ νόσῳ σύνεστιν.' Essay on Language § 35. p. 59.

234. mvp-comment-143-2 τὸ μηδέν ῾Α vain report,' because the doer of the deed was still unknown.

235. mvp-comment-144-1 τῆς has the emphatic force of an antecedent: This hope, that ... δεδραγμένος] This reading is implied in the second scholium on the passage, ἀντειλημμένος τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐλήλυθα, and appears in the text of E and V³. (whence Aldus had it), and as a marginal reading of Aug. b. and of V¹. Clinging fast by the hope, is a natural and forcible expression, well suited to the style of the Φύλαξ : whereas ἐλπίδος πεφραγμένος or πεφαργμένοs, whether in the sense of Shut out from hope,' or Fortified by the hope, is not really admissible.

236. mvp-comment-145-1 That I cannot suffer anything but what is fated for me. Cp. Aesch. S. c. Τ. 263, πείσομαι τὸ μόρσιμον.

238. mvp-comment-146-1 τὸ γάρ For the light ending, cp infr. 327, 409, Ο. Τ. 553-554. τὸ δὲ | πάθημ᾽ ὁποῖον φῇς παθεῖν δίδασκέ με, ib. 995-996, 1056-1057.

239. mvp-comment-147-1 ὅστις ἦν ὁ δρῶν i. e. τὸν δρῶντα, ὅστις ἦν, The unknown doer of the deed.

241-242. mvp-comment-148-1 (1) You aim carefully, and fence the business off from yourself all round. Some editors read τί φροιμιάζει; from Ar. Rhet. 3. 14, § 10, quoted above. But though the Scholiast of the Rhetoric says τὸ δὲ τί φροιμιάζῃ τοῦ Κρέοντός ἐστι λέγοντος, it is much more probable that the words are a separate quotation from Eur. I. T. 1162. See Cope's edition of Ar. Rhet. vol. 3. p. 175. Others explain the text (2), You lay the ground carefully and hedge your approaches closely round, as if in preparing a stance to watch for game. According to Pollux, 5, 36, στοχασμός, στοχάς, and στόχος, were terms used in describing the setting of a hunting-net: καλεῖται δ᾽ αὐτῶν (τῶν ἀρκύων) ἡ στάσις, στοιχισμός, στοίχος, στόχος, στοχὰς καὶ στοχασμός· στοχὰς δὲ καλεῖται καὶ χειροποιητά τινα οἰκοδομήματα ἐκ λίθων, ἢ ὕλης ὑπὲρ τὴν γῆν ἀναστήματα, κατὰ χρείαν τῆς τῶν δικτύων ἐξ ἴσου στάσεως, εἴ τι κοῖλον εἴη περὶ τὸ ἀρκύστατον.

243. mvp-comment-149-1 τὰ δεινὰ .. πολύν The reply, as often elsewhere, refers to the first part of the previous speech. Cp. O. Т. 361. The frigid tautology belongs to the character of the Φύλαξ.

244. mvp-comment-150-1 εἰτ᾿ ἀπαλλαχθεὶς ἄπει And be off with you. The Scholiast acutely remarks that these impatient words are intended to hold out the hope of impunity, which is withdrawn again in the angry threats of ll. 305, foll.

246. mvp-comment-151-1 Some one has buried the corpse and has disappeared, after not only sprinkling dry dust upon the flesh, but adding all due rites. This last refers to the libation. Cp. supr. 196-197: infr. 430-431. The surprise was increased by observing the completeness of the act. There is a stress on the participles. Essay on Language p. 75 β, 94, 4.

248. mvp-comment-152-1 τίς ἀνδρῶν Cp. supra 222, and note.

249. mvp-comment-153-1 οὔτε .. ἐκβολή No dint of pick-axe, nor earth turned up with hoe.'

250. mvp-comment-154-1 στύφλος .. καὶ χέρσος Hard and bare. χέρσος γῆ is untilled land, and so here, Undisturbed by implements of husbandry. Cp. infr. 773, 1197.

251. mvp-comment-155-1 ἀρρώξ .. τροχοῖσιν Unbroken, and with no mark of wheels. ἐπημαξευμένη τροχοῖσιν] Lit. Carted over with wheels.' Essay on Language p. 88, note.

252. mvp-comment-156-1 ἀλλ'.. ἦν But whoever did it was one who left no trace.

253. mvp-comment-157-1 ὁ πρῶτος .. ἡμεροσκόπος Our first look-out-man for the day. ἡμεροσκόπος in Xen. Hell. 1. 1. 2, is a watchman who stands at his post at daybreak. Cp. ἡμεροφύλαξ, ib. 7. 2. 6, 7. Antigone's act preceded the setting of this watch.

254. mvp-comment-158-1 θαῦμα δυσχερές Α sight of wonder and dismay.

255. mvp-comment-159-1 τυμβήρης.. κόνις Not covered with a mound, but sprinkled with dust as by one avoiding pollution. Hor. Od. 1. 28,

For the gen., cp. Tr. 768.

255. mvp-comment-159-2 τυμβήρης For this use of the adjective, see Essay on Language § 23. p. 38.

258. mvp-comment-160-1 οὐ σπάσαντος Cp. Aesch. Prom. 451, οὔτε.. δόμους.. οὐ ξυλουργίαν.

259. mvp-comment-161-1 ἐν ἀλλήλοισιν Sc. τοῖς φύλαξιν. Words of abuse were loudly bandied to and fro. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 200, στάσις δ᾽ ἐν ἀλλήλοισιν ὠροθύνετο, sc.

259. mvp-comment-161-2 τοῖς δαίμοσιν.

260. mvp-comment-162-1 φύλαξ ἐλέγχων φύλακα On the nominative out of construction in the clause in apposition, see Essay on Language § 33. p. 57. § 15. p. 21.

260. mvp-comment-162-2 κἂν ἐγίγνετο And it was threatening to come to blows at last. The combination of the imperfect with av here is peculiar, having a force intermediate between ἐγίγνετο and ἐγένετο ἄv; i. e. it was coming to this, that we should have come to blows.

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.