The bed of death, and hasten to the tomb*
Antigone
Scene IV.
Antigone. Sophocles. Thomas Francklin (Translator). London. 1758–1759.
Antigone. Sophocles. Thomas Francklin (Translator). London. 1758–1759.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759))
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
mvp-comment-98-1 ἀρχαῖς 1 νόμοισιν 2
mvp-comment-98-2 ἐντριβής 3
mvp-comment-98-3 φανῇ 4
mvp-comment-99-1 ἐμοὶ γάρ 5 γάρ 6 πᾶσαν … πόλιν 7
mvp-comment-99-2 μὴ … ἅπτεται 8 ὅστις μὴ ἅπτεται 9
mvp-comment-99-3 ἐκ φ. του 10
mvp-comment-99-4 ἐγκλῄσας ἔχει 11
mvp-comment-99-5 νῦν τε καὶ πάλαι 12
mvp-comment-100-1 μείζον’ 13 ἀντὶ τῆς...πάτρας 14 ἤ 15 μεῖζον 16
mvp-comment-100-2 οὐδαμοῦ λέγω 17
mvp-comment-101-1 ἐγὼ γάρ 18 γάρ 19 τοῦτο γιγνώσκων 20 ἴστω 21
mvp-comment-102-1 οὔτ’ ἂν σιωπήσαιμι 22
mvp-comment-103-1 στείχουσαν ἀστοῖς 23 ὁμοῦ 24
mvp-comment-103-2 ἀντὶ τῆς σωτηρίας 25 τῆς 26
mvp-comment-104-1 ἄνδρα δυσμενῆ χθονός 27
mvp-comment-104-2 ἐμαυτῷ 28 φίλον 29 θείμην 30
mvp-comment-105-1 ἡ σῴζουσα 31
mvp-comment-105-2 ταύτης 32 ὀρθῆς 33
mvp-comment-105-3 τοὺς φίλους ποιούμεθα 34
mvp-comment-105-4
mvp-comment-106-1 νόμοισι 35
mvp-comment-106-2 αὔξω 36
mvp-comment-107-1 ἀδελφὰ τῶνδε 37
mvp-comment-107-2 τῶν ἀπ’ Οἰδίπου 38
mvp-comment-108-1 δορί 39 δόρει 40
mvp-comment-109-1 τὰ πάντ’ ἐφαγνίσαι 41 ἐπί 42 ἐφαγνίσαι 43 ἀφαγνίσαι 44 ἀπό 45
mvp-comment-110-1 τοῖς ἀρίστοις 46
mvp-comment-110-2 ἔρχεται κάτω 47
mvp-comment-111-1 L has Πολυνείκην 48
mvp-comment-111-2 λέγω 49
mvp-comment-112-1 γτ=ν πατρῴαν . . καὶ θεοὺς . . πρῆσαι 50
mvp-comment-112-2 θ. τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς 51
mvp-comment-112-3 κατελθών 52
mvp-comment-112-4 γ)θέλησε μέν … ἠθέλ. δέ 53 ἠθέλησε μὲν 54
mvp-comment-112-5 πρῆσαι 55
mvp-comment-112-6 κατ’ ἄκρας 56
mvp-comment-112-7 αἵματος κ. πάσασθαι 57
mvp-comment-112-8 τοὺς δὲ … ἄγειν 58
mvp-comment-113-1 The traditional ἐκκεκηρῦχθαι τάφῳ 59 ἐκκεκήρυκται τάφῳ 60 ἐκκεκηρῦχθαι λέγω 61 τάφῳ 62 κτερίζειν 63 τάφῳ 64 κτερίζειν 65 μήτε 66 κωκῦσαι 67 τάφῳ 68 λέγω 69 τάφῳ 70 ἐκκεκ 71
mvp-comment-114-1 ἐᾶν δ 72 ἄθαπτον, αἰκισθέντ’ ἰδεῖν 73 δέμας καὶ πρὸς οἰωνῶν καὶ πρὸς κυνῶν ἐδεστόν 74 αἰκισθέντ 75 αἰκισθέντ 76 ἐδεστόν 77 αἰκισθέν τ’, δέμας 78
mvp-comment-114-2 δέμας 79
mvp-comment-114-3 ἰδεῖν 80
mvp-comment-115-1 φρόνημα 81
mvp-comment-115-2 ἔκ γ’ ἐμοῦ 82
mvp-comment-116-1 The MSS. have τιμὴν προέξουσ’ ..τῶν ἐνδ. 83 τιμήν 84 τιμῆ 85 προσέξους 86
mvp-comment-117-1 τιμήσεται 87
mvp-comment-118-1 I print Dindorf's κἀς 88 καὶ 89 σοὶ ταῦτ’ ἀρέσκει 90 Κρέον 91 ταὔτ 92 ταῦτ’ 93
mvp-comment-119-1 In παντί πού γ’ 94 σοί γ’ … που 95 ἔνεστι 96 χὡπόσοι ζῶμεν 97 πέρι 98
mvp-comment-120-1 ὡς ἂν … ἦτε 99 πῶς ἂν … εἶτε 100
mvp-comment-120-2 σκοποί 101
mvp-comment-120-3 νυν 102 νῦν 103
mvp-comment-120-4 τῶν εἰρ 104
mvp-comment-121-1 πρόθες τοῦτο 105 βαστάζειν 106
mvp-comment-121-2 τοῦ νεκροῦ γ’ 107
mvp-comment-122-1 τί δῆτ’ ἂν … ἐπεντέλλοις 108
mvp-comment-122-2 The reading ἄλλῳ 109 τοῦτο 110
mvp-comment-122-3 ἐπιχωρεῖν 111
mvp-comment-122-4 ἀπιστοῦσιν 112
mvp-comment-122-5 τάδε, 113
mvp-comment-123-1 ὃς 114 ἐρᾷ 115
mvp-comment-123-2 καὶ μὴν 116 γε 117 μισθός 118
mvp-comment-123-3
requital of disobedience is that.’ For
mvp-comment-123-4 τὸ κέρδος 119
mvp-comment-123-5 διώλεσεν 120
mvp-comment-124-1 ἐρῶ μὲν οὐχ 121
mvp-comment-124-2 ὅπως 122
mvp-comment-124-3 τάχους ὕπο 123 τάχους 124
mvp-comment-125-1 ἐξάρας 125
mvp-comment-125-2 φροντίδων 126 ἐπιστάσεις 127
mvp-comment-125-3 ὁδοῖς 128
mvp-comment-125-4 κυκλῶν 129
mvp-comment-126-1 ψυχὴ γὰρ ηὔδα 130 πολλὰ 131 μυθουμένη 132
mvp-comment-127-1 τάλας … τλήμων 133
mvp-comment-127-2 μένεις 134 μενεῖς 135 αὖ 136
mvp-comment-127-3 πῶς … οὐκ 137
mvp-comment-127-4 ἀλγυνεῖ 138
mvp-comment-128-1 ἑλίσσων 139
mvp-comment-128-2 ἤνυτον 140
mvp-comment-128-3 σχολῇ βραδύς 141
mvp-comment-129-1 τέλος γε μέντοι 142
mvp-comment-129-2 ἐνίκησεν 143
mvp-comment-129-3
mvp-comment-130-1 σοί 144 μολεῖν 145 σοί 146 φράσων 147 φράσω δ 148 κεἰ 149 κεἴ σοι 150 σοί. 151
mvp-comment-130-2 τὸ μηδέν 152
mvp-comment-131-1 τῆς ἐλπίδος 153
mvp-comment-131-2 δεδραγμένος 154 πεφραγμένος 155 πεπραγμένος 156
mvp-comment-131-3 τὸ μὴ παθεῖν ἄν 157
mvp-comment-131-4
mvp-comment-131-5 τὸ μόρσιμον 158
mvp-comment-132-1 ἀνθ’ οὗ 159
mvp-comment-132-2 τὸ γὰρ | πρᾶγμ’ 160 γάρ 161
mvp-comment-133-1 εὖ γε στοχάζει 162 στοχάζει 163 ἀποφράγνυσαι 164 στοχάζομαι 165
mvp-comment-133-2 κἀποφράγνυσαι 166
mvp-comment-133-3 τὸ πρᾶγμα 167
mvp-comment-134-1 δηλοῖς δ’ ὥς τι ς. 168
mvp-comment-135-1 τὰ δεινά 169 γάρ 170
mvp-comment-135-2 ποτ 171
mvp-comment-135-3 ἀπαλλαχθείς 172
mvp-comment-136-1 καὶ δή 173
mvp-comment-136-2 θάψας 174 κἀπί 175
mvp-comment-136-3 διψίαν 176
mvp-comment-136-4 κἀφαγιστεύσας 177 ἃ χρή 178
mvp-comment-137-1 ἀνδρῶν 179
mvp-comment-137-2 οὔτε του γενῇδος … οὐ δικέλλης 180 οὔτε … οὐ 181 γενῄς 182 γενῄς 183 δίκελλα 184
mvp-comment-137-3 δικ. ἐκβολή 185 ἐκβ. 186 στύφλος 187 χέρσος 188 ἀρρώξ 189
mvp-comment-137-4 ἐπημαξευμένη 190 ἐπ‐ 191 ἐφ‐ 192
mvp-comment-137-5 ἀλλ’ ὁ ἐργάτης ἄσημός τις ἦν 193
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 194 ἡμεροσκ. 195
mvp-comment-138-2 δείκνυσι … παρῆν 196
mvp-comment-138-3 δυσχερές 197
mvp-comment-139-1 ὁ μὲν 198
mvp-comment-139-2 τυμβήρης μὲν οὔ 199 τυμβ. 200 λεπτὴ δ’ … ἐπῆν 201
mvp-comment-139-3 ἄγος φεύγοντος ὥς 202 ἄγος 203
mvp-comment-140-1 θηρός 204
mvp-comment-140-2 του 205 θηρός 206
mvp-comment-140-3 οὐ σπάσαντος 207 οὐ 208 σπάσαντος 209 σπάσαντος οὐδ’ ἐλθόντος 210
mvp-comment-141-1 λόγοι δ’ … φύλακα 211 λόγοι κακοὶ ἐρρόθουν 212 ἐρρόθουν 213
mvp-comment-141-2
mvp-comment-141-3 ἐλέγχων 214
mvp-comment-141-4 κἂν ἐγίγνετο 215
mvp-comment-141-5 τελευτῶς 216
mvp-comment-141-6 ὁ κωλύσων 217
mvp-comment-142-1 ἦν … οὑξειργ. 218
mvp-comment-142-2 ἐναργής 219
mvp-comment-142-3 ἀλλ’ 220
mvp-comment-142-4 ἕφευγε μὴ εἰδέναι 221
mvp-comment-142-5 μὴ 222 εἰδέναι 223
mvp-comment-143-1 μύδρους 224
mvp-comment-143-2
a
red-hot mass of metal, and that the custom was symbolical of an older use of the
mvp-comment-144-1 πῦρ διέρπειν 225
mvp-comment-144-2 θεοὺς ὁρκ. 227
mvp-comment-144-3 τὸ μήτε δρ 228
mvp-comment-144-4 μήτ’ είργασμένῳ 229 μηδ 230
mvp-comment-145-1 πλέον 231
mvp-comment-145-2 λέγει 232
mvp-comment-145-3 τις εἷς 233
mvp-comment-146-1 προὔτρεψεν 234
mvp-comment-146-2 οὐ γὰρ εἴχομεν 235
mvp-comment-146-3 As ἀντιφωνεῖν 236 δρῶντες 237 ὅπως δρῶντες 238 εἴχομεν 239
mvp-comment-147-1 σοί 240
mvp-comment-147-2 ταῦτ’ ἐνίκα 241
mvp-comment-147-3 πάλος 242 καθαιρεῖ 243
mvp-comment-147-4 τἀγαθόν 244 —ἄκων οὐχ ἑκοῦσιν 245
mvp-comment-148-1 ἐμοί 246 βουλεύει 247 μή 248
mvp-comment-148-2 τι 249
mvp-comment-148-3 θεήλατον, 250
mvp-comment-148-4 ἡ ξύννοια 251
mvp-comment-148-5 πάλαι 252
mvp-comment-149-1 πρὶν ὀργῆς καί με μεστῶσαι 253 καί 254 πρίν 255 μεστῶσαι 256 καί 257 με 258
mvp-comment-149-2 κἀμέ 259
mvp-comment-149-3 μεστῶσαι 260
mvp-comment-150-1 πότερον 261 ἔκρυπτον 262
mvp-comment-150-2 ἀμφικίονας ναούς 263
mvp-comment-150-3 κἀναθήματα 264
mvp-comment-150-4
Her. 1.50
;
Thuc. 6.46
; Isae. or. 7 § 41.) The wealth of Delphi in
mvp-comment-150-5 γῆν ἐκείνων 265 πυρώσων 266
mvp-comment-150-6 νόμους διασκεδῶν 267
mvp-comment-150-7 διασκεδῶν 268
mvp-comment-151-1 τοὺς κακοὺς τιμῶντας … θεούς; 269
mvp-comment-152-1 ταῦτα 270 μόλις φέροντες 271 καὶ πάλαι 272
mvp-comment-152-2 πόλεως ἄνδρες 273
mvp-comment-152-3 ἐρρόθουν 274
mvp-comment-152-4 ἐμοί 275
mvp-comment-152-5 κάρα σείοντες 276
mvp-comment-152-6 ὑπὸ ζυγῷ 277
mvp-comment-152-7 λόφον 278
mvp-comment-152-8 δικαίως 279
mvp-comment-152-9
equal poise’ (
New Crat. 371).—
mvp-comment-153-1 τῶνδε 281 ἐκ 282
mvp-comment-153-2 τούτους, 283
mvp-comment-153-3 εἰργάσθαι 284 ἐξεπίσταμαι 285 παρηγμένους 286
mvp-comment-154-1 νόμισμ’ 287
mvp-comment-154-2 ἔβλαστε 288
mvp-comment-154-3 πορθεῖ 289
mvp-comment-154-4 τόδ’ 290 ἄνδρας 291
mvp-comment-155-1 τόδ’ ἐκδ. καὶ παραλλάσσει 292 ἵστασθαι 293 καὶ παραλλάσσει 294
mvp-comment-155-2 ἵστασθαι πρός τι 295
mvp-comment-156-1 πανουργίας … ἔχειν 296
mvp-comment-156-2 εἰδέναι 297 παντὸς ἔργου δυσσέβ. 298 παντὸς ἔργ 299 πανουργίας 300
mvp-comment-157-1 ἤνυσαν 301
mvp-comment-157-2 χρόνῳ ποτέ 302 δοῦναι δίκην 303
mvp-comment-157-3 ἐξέπραξαν ὡς 304
mvp-comment-158-1 Ζεύς 305
mvp-comment-158-2 ὅρκιος 306
mvp-comment-158-3 τὸν αὐτόχειρα 307 τάφου = ταφῆς 308
mvp-comment-159-1 μοῦνος 309 πρὶν ἂν . . δηλώσητε 310 κρεμαστοί 311 ζῶντες κρεμαστοί 312
mvp-comment-159-2 δηλώσηθ’ 313
mvp-comment-159-3 ὕβριν 314
mvp-comment-160-1 ἵν’ … ἁρπάζητε 315
mvp-comment-160-2 τὸ κέρδος 316 ἔνθεν οἰστέον 317
mvp-comment-160-3 μάθηθ’ 318
mvp-comment-160-4 ἐξ ἅπαντος 319 τὸ κερδαίνειν 320
mvp-comment-160-5
mvp-comment-161-1 τι 321
mvp-comment-161-2 δέ 322 δώσεις 323
mvp-comment-161-3 οὕτως 324
mvp-comment-161-4 ἴω 325
mvp-comment-161-5 καὶ νῦν ὡς 326 ἀνιαρῶς 327 ι— 328
mvp-comment-162-1 ἐν 329 ὠσίν 330
mvp-comment-162-2 ἐπί 331
mvp-comment-163-1 τί δὲ 332 τί δαὶ 333
mvp-comment-163-2 ῥυθμίζεις 334 ὅπου 335 ὅπου 336
mvp-comment-164-1 τὰς φρένας...τὰ δ’ ὦτ’ 337 σε 338
mvp-comment-164-2 οἴμ’ ὡς 339
mvp-comment-164-3 λάλημα 340 ἄλημα 341 ἄλημα 342
mvp-comment-164-4 δῆλον, 343
mvp-comment-165-1
‘At any rate (
mvp-comment-166-1 ‘Yes, (you have done it,) and that, too, at the cost of betraying,’ etc. The particle γε 346 καὶ ταῦτα 347 προδούς 348
mvp-comment-167-1 ἦ δεινόν 349 καὶ 350 γε 351
mvp-comment-168-1 κόμψευε . . τὴν δόξαν 352
mvp-comment-168-2 τὴν δόξαν 353
mvp-comment-168-3
mvp-comment-168-4 νυν 354 νῦν 355 ταῦτα … τοὺς δρῶντας = τοὺς ταῦτα δρῶντας 356
mvp-comment-169-1 δειλά 357
mvp-comment-169-2 δεινά 358 ν 359
mvp-comment-170-1 ἀλλ’ 360 εὑρεθείη 361 καὶ 362
mvp-comment-171-1 καὶ 363 γάρ 364
mvp-comment-171-2 γνώμης 365
mvp-comment-173-1 πολλὰ … κοὐδέν 366
mvp-comment-173-2 καί 367
mvp-comment-173-3 τὰ δεινά 368
mvp-comment-174-1 τοῦτο 369 πέραν 370 πέρα 371
mvp-comment-175-1 χειμερίῳ νότῳ 372
mvp-comment-176-1 περιβρ … ὑπ’ οἴδμασιν 373
mvp-comment-177-1 ὑπερτάταν 374
mvp-comment-178-1 ἀκαμάταν 375
mvp-comment-178-2 ἀποτρύεται 376
mvp-comment-179-1 ἰλλομένων ἀρότρων, 377 ἀρότων 378
mvp-comment-179-2 ἔτος εἰς ἔτος 379 εἰς 380
mvp-comment-180-1 ἱππείῳ γένει 381
mvp-comment-180-2 πολεύων 382 τοῦτο 383
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 (
mvp-comment-181-2
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 384
mvp-comment-181-5 ἀμφιβαλὼν 385
mvp-comment-182-1 πόντου … εἰναλίαν φύσιν 386
mvp-comment-183-1 περιφραδής 387
mvp-comment-184-1 μηχαναῖς 388 ἀγραύλου 389 ὀρεσσιβάτα 390
mvp-comment-185-1 λασιαύχενά θ’ 391
mvp-comment-186-1 ὀχμάζεται 392 ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῶν 393
mvp-comment-186-2
Rhod. 1. 743
mvp-comment-187-1 φθέγμα 395
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 396
mvp-comment-188-1 ἀστυνόμους ὀργάς 397
mvp-comment-189-1 ἐδιδάξατο 398
mvp-comment-190-1 πάγων 399
mvp-comment-190-2 ἐναίθρεια 400
mvp-comment-190-3 βέλη 402
mvp-comment-191-1 παντοπόρος 403
mvp-comment-191-2
mvp-comment-192-1 μόνον 404 μόνου 405 φεῦξιν — ἐπάξεται 406
mvp-comment-193-1 ἀμηχάνων 407
mvp-comment-193-2 φυγάς 408
mvp-comment-193-3 ξυμπέφρασται 409
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—
mvp-comment-194-2 σοφόν τι … ἔχων 410
mvp-comment-194-3 τὸ μηχανόεν τ 411
mvp-comment-195-1 τοτὲ μὲν … ἄλλοτ’ 412
mvp-comment-195-2 ἐπ’ 413
mvp-comment-196-1 γεραίρων 414
mvp-comment-196-2
5. 67
mvp-comment-197-1 θεῶν τ’ ἔνορκον δίκαν 415
mvp-comment-198-1 ὑψίπολις 416
mvp-comment-198-2 ἄπολις 417
mvp-comment-198-3 τὸ μὴ καλόν 418 τόλμας χάριν 419
mvp-comment-199-1 παρέστιος 420
mvp-comment-199-2 ἴσον φρονῶν 421
mvp-comment-200-1 ἔρδει 422 ἔρδοι 423
mvp-comment-202-1 The choral ode has closed with an allusion to the unknown man ( ὅς 424 ἀμφινοῶ 425 ἐς 426
mvp-comment-202-2 δαιμόνιον τέρας 427
mvp-comment-203-1 πῶς εἰδὼς 428
mvp-comment-203-2 ἀντιλογήσω 429
mvp-comment-204-1 ὦ δύστηνος 430
mvp-comment-204-2 δ. πατρός 431
mvp-comment-204-3 Οἰδιπόδα— 432
mvp-comment-205-1 τί ποτ’ 433
mvp-comment-205-2 οὐ δή που 434
mvp-comment-205-3 ἀπιστοῦσαν 435
mvp-comment-205-4 ἄγουσι 436
mvp-comment-205-5 colloquialism, it would be nearly as bad as, ‘Have they taken you up?’
mvp-comment-205-6 καὶ 437 ἀπιστοῦσαν 438 καθελόντες 439
mvp-comment-206-1
Second
mvp-comment-206-2 ἐκείνη 440
mvp-comment-206-3 τοὔργον ἡ ’ξειργ 441
mvp-comment-207-1 ἐς δέον 442
mvp-comment-208-1 ξύμμετρος 443
mvp-comment-209-1 ἀπώμοτον 444
mvp-comment-210-1 ψεύδει 445
mvp-comment-210-2 ἡ ’πίνοια 446
mvp-comment-211-1 ἐξηύχουν ἄν 447 σχολῇ ἥξειν ποτὲ δεῦρο 448
mvp-comment-211-2 σχολῇ 449
mvp-comment-212-1 ταῖς σαῖς ἀπειλαῖς 450
mvp-comment-212-2 ἐχειμάσθην 451
mvp-comment-213-1 ἡ...ἐκτὸς 452 ἐκτός 453
mvp-comment-214-1 οὐδὲν ἔοικε μῆκος 454 α+λλῃ ἡδονῇ 455 οὐδέν 456 μῆκος 457 ἔοικε 458
mvp-comment-215-1 δῑ ὅρκων … ἀπώμοτος 459
mvp-comment-216-1 καθῃρέθη 460
mvp-comment-216-2 τάφον κοσμοῦσα 461
mvp-comment-216-3 ἐπάλλετο 462 ἕρμαιον 463
mvp-comment-217-1 κρῖνε 464
mvp-comment-217-2 δίκαιός εἰμι 465
mvp-comment-217-3 ἀπηλλάχθαι 466
mvp-comment-218-1
Observe the order of the words as marking his amazement. For the double interrog. cp.
Il. 21.150
mvp-comment-218-2 πάντ’ ἐπίστασαι 467
mvp-comment-219-1 ἦ καὶ 468
mvp-comment-219-2 ὀρθῶς 469
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 470
mvp-comment-221-1 ἆρ’ ἔνδηλα 471
mvp-comment-222-1 ὁρᾶται...ᾑρέθη 472
mvp-comment-222-2 ἐπίληπτος 473
mvp-comment-223-1 ἥκομεν 475
mvp-comment-224-1 τὰ δείν’ ἐκεῖν’ 476
mvp-comment-224-2 τὸν | νέκυν 477
mvp-comment-225-1 καθήμεθ’ 478
mvp-comment-225-2 ἄκρων ἐκ πάγων 479
mvp-comment-225-3
mvp-comment-225-4 ὑπήνεμοι 480
mvp-comment-226-1 βάλῃ 481
mvp-comment-227-1 ἐγερτί 482
mvp-comment-227-2 κινῶν 483
mvp-comment-227-3 ἐπιρρόθοις κακοῖσιν 484
mvp-comment-227-4
the adj. expressing the loud, continuous noise of tongues. The
mvp-comment-228-1 ἀκηδήσοι 485 ἀφειδήσοι 486
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 487
mvp-comment-230-2 χθονὸς 488
mvp-comment-231-1 τυφώς 489 σκηπτός 490
mvp-comment-231-2 οὐράνιον ἄχος 491
mvp-comment-232-1 πίμπλησι 492 αἰκίζων 493
mvp-comment-232-2 ἐν δ’ ἐμεστ 494
mvp-comment-233-1 μύσαντες 495
mvp-comment-233-2 νόσον 496
mvp-comment-233-3 ἐν χρ. μακρ 497
mvp-comment-234-1 πικρᾶς 498
mvp-comment-235-1 εὐνῆς...λέχος 499
mvp-comment-236-1 οὕτω δέ 500
mvp-comment-236-2 ψιλόν 501
mvp-comment-237-1 γόοισιν ἐξῴμωξεν 502
mvp-comment-237-2 ἐκ δ’ … ἠρᾶτο 503
mvp-comment-237-3 διψίαν 504
mvp-comment-238-1 φέρει κόνιν 505
mvp-comment-239-1 The πρόχους 506
mvp-comment-239-2 εὐκρότητος 507
mvp-comment-239-3 ἄρδην 508
mvp-comment-240-1 χοαῖσι 509
mvp-comment-240-2 τρισπόνδ. 510 στέφει 511
mvp-comment-241-1 ἱέμεσθα 512
mvp-comment-241-2 σὺν δὲ … θηρώμεθ’ 513
mvp-comment-242-1 ἠλέγχομεν 514
mvp-comment-242-2 ἄπαρνος … οὐδενός 515
mvp-comment-242-3 καθίστατο 516
mvp-comment-243-1 ἅμ’ 517
mvp-comment-244-1 φίλους 518
mvp-comment-245-1 πάντα ταῦθ’ 519 λαβεῖν 520
mvp-comment-246-1 σὲ δή, 521
mvp-comment-247-1 φὴς δεδρακέναι, ἢ καταρνεῖ μὴ δεδρ 522 καταρνεῖ 523
mvp-comment-248-1 καὶ......κοὐκ 524
mvp-comment-248-2 τὸ μή 525
mvp-comment-249-1 σὺ μέν 526 κομίζοις ἂν ς 527
mvp-comment-249-2 ἔξω 528 β. αἰτίας 529 ἐλεύθερον 530
mvp-comment-250-1 μῆκος 531
mvp-comment-251-1 ᾔδησθα 532 ᾔδης τὰ 533 σθα 534
mvp-comment-251-2 κηρυχθέντα 535
mvp-comment-252-1 ᾔδη 536
mvp-comment-252-2 τί δ’ οὐκ ἔμελλον 537
mvp-comment-252-3 ἐμφανῆ 538 ἐκφανῆ 539
mvp-comment-253-1 καὶ δῆτ’ 540
mvp-comment-254-1 Ζεύς 541
mvp-comment-255-1 τῶν κάτω θεῶν 542 ξύνοικος 543 τοιούσδ’ … ὥρισεν 544 οἳ τούσδ’ … ὥρισαν 545 τάδε 546
mvp-comment-256-1 ἄγραπτα … νόμιμα 547
mvp-comment-256-2
quotes vv. 456 f.) Cp.
O.T. 865 ff.
mvp-comment-256-3 ἀσφαλῆ 549
mvp-comment-256-4 θνητὸν ὄντ’ 550
mvp-comment-256-5 ὑπερδραμεῖν 551
mvp-comment-257-1 νῦν γε κἀχθές 552
mvp-comment-257-2 ζῇ 553
mvp-comment-257-3 ’φάνη 554
mvp-comment-258-1 τούτων 555 τὴν δίκην 556 τούτων 557
mvp-comment-258-2
shows that, like
mvp-comment-258-3 ἐν θεοῖσι 558
mvp-comment-259-1 δώσειν 559
mvp-comment-259-2 θανουμένη γάρ 560
mvp-comment-259-3 τί δ’ οὔ 561
mvp-comment-260-1 κεἰ μὴ σὺ προὐκήρυξας 562
mvp-comment-260-2 τοῦ χρόνου 563
mvp-comment-260-3 αὔτ’ 564
mvp-comment-261-1 φέρει 565
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)
mvp-comment-263-1 ἄλγος 567 παρ’ οὐδέν 568
mvp-comment-263-2
adv.: ‘is a pain in no appreciable degree,’ is a pain not worth a thought: as he might have said,
mvp-comment-263-3 ἀλλ’ ἄν 569
mvp-comment-264-1 ἄθαπτον ἠνσχόμην νέκυν 570 ηἰσχόμην 571 ἠνσχόμην 572
mvp-comment-264-2 In my first edition I placed in the text the emendation of Semitelos (1887) ᾔσχυναν κύνες 573
mvp-comment-264-3
Other emendations will be found in the Appendix. Most of them assume that we must have
mvp-comment-264-4
or
mvp-comment-265-1 σχεδόν τι 576
mvp-comment-265-2 μώρῳ μωρίαν 577
mvp-comment-265-3 ὀφλισκάνω 578
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 579 δηλοῖ 580 ὠμόν 581 ἐξ ὠμοῦ πατρός 582 γέννημα 583
mvp-comment-267-1 εἴκειν … κακοῖς 584
mvp-comment-268-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι 585
mvp-comment-268-2 πίπτειν 586
mvp-comment-269-1 ὀπτὸν … περισκελῆ 587
mvp-comment-269-2 περισκελής 588
mvp-comment-269-3 ἐκ πυρός 589
mvp-comment-270-1 θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα 590
mvp-comment-271-1 χαλινῷ δ’ 591 σμικρῷ 592
mvp-comment-271-2 καταρτυθέντας 593
mvp-comment-272-1 Suspicion has fallen on ἐκπέλει 594
mvp-comment-272-2 ὅστις 595
mvp-comment-272-3 τῶν πέλας 596
mvp-comment-273-1 αὕτη δ’ 597 ὑβρίζειν μὲν … ὕβρις δ’ 598 ἐξηπίστατο 599 τότ’ 600
mvp-comment-273-2 τούτοις 601
mvp-comment-273-3 δεδρακυῖαν γελᾶν 602
mvp-comment-274-1 νῦν 603
mvp-comment-274-2 εἰ ταῦτα … κράτη 604 κράτη 605 κείσεται 606 πείσεται 607 ἀνατί 608 ταῦτα 609
mvp-comment-275-1 ἀδελφῆς 610
mvp-comment-275-2 εἴθ’ ὁμαιμονεστέρα 611
mvp-comment-275-3
Hyperbole is congenial to Creon's excitement;
cp. 1040
. But the addition,
mvp-comment-275-4 κυρεῖ 612
mvp-comment-276-1 τοῦ παντὸς Ζηνὸς ἑρκείου 613
mvp-comment-277-1 ἀλύξετον 614 μόρου 615
mvp-comment-278-1 καὶ γὰρ οὖν 616
mvp-comment-278-2 ἐπαιτιῶμαι κείνην 617 βουλεῦσαι ἴσον τοῦδε τάφου 618 ἴσον 619
mvp-comment-278-3 βουλεῦσαι 620
mvp-comment-279-1 καί νιν καλεῖτ’ 621
mvp-comment-280-1 λυσσῶσαν … οὐδ’ ἐπ 622
mvp-comment-280-2 ἐπήβολον 623
mvp-comment-281-1 ὁ θυμὸς τῶν … τεχνωμένων 624 φιλεῖ κλοπεὺς ᾑρῆσθαι 625 πρόσθεν 626 κλοπεύς 627 ᾑρῆσθαι κλοπεύς 628
mvp-comment-281-2 τεχνωμένων 629
mvp-comment-282-1 γε μέντοι 630
mvp-comment-282-2 Ismene's guilty terror is contrasted with Antigone's impudent hardihood,—as Creon deems it. μισῶ … ὅταν 631
mvp-comment-282-3 ἔπειτα 632
mvp-comment-282-4 καλλύνειν 633
mvp-comment-283-1 θέλεις τι μεῖζον 634
mvp-comment-283-2 ἑλών 635
mvp-comment-283-3 ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδέν 636
mvp-comment-283-4 ἅπαντ’ ἔχω 637
mvp-comment-284-1 ἀρεστὸν οὐδέν 638
mvp-comment-284-2 μηδ’ ἀρεσθείη 639 ἀρεσθείην 640 ἀρέστ’ εἴη 641
mvp-comment-285-1 τἀμά 642
mvp-comment-285-2 ἔφυ 643
mvp-comment-286-1 καίτοι 644 κλέος … εὐκλεέστερον 645
mvp-comment-287-1 ἐν τάφῳ τιθεῖσα 646 τούτοις πᾶσι λέγοιτο ἄν 647 τοῦτο ἁνδάνειν 648 ἐγκλῄοι 649
mvp-comment-288-1 ἀλλ’ ἡ τυραννίς 650
mvp-comment-289-1 μούνη 651
mvp-comment-289-2 τοῦτο … ὁρᾷς 652
mvp-comment-289-3 ὑπίλλουσιν 653
mvp-comment-290-1 σὺ δ’ οὐκ ἐπαιδεῖ 655
mvp-comment-291-1 ὅμαιμος 656
mvp-comment-291-2 ἐκ μιᾶς τε 657 τε 658
mvp-comment-292-1 πῶς δῆτ’ 659
mvp-comment-292-2 ἐκείνῳ 660
mvp-comment-292-3 χάριν 661 τιμᾷς 662 ὁ κατθανὼν νέκυς 663
mvp-comment-293-1 εἴ τοι 664 σφε 665
mvp-comment-293-2 ἐξ ἴσου 666
mvp-comment-294-1 οὐ γάρ τι δοῦλος 667
mvp-comment-294-2 cannot complain, for Polyneices was not his slave—his natural inferior—but his brother, and had the same claim on me that he had. Creon insists on the difference between the loyal man and the disloyal. Antigone dwells on the fact that both men had the same claim on her natural piety, and (519) on her sense of religious duty.
mvp-comment-295-1 πορθῶν δέ 668
mvp-comment-295-2 ὁ δ’ 669 ὕπερ 670
mvp-comment-296-1 τούτους 671 ἴσους 672 ἴσους 673 ὅμως 674 ἴσους 675 τούτους 676 ἴσους 677
mvp-comment-297-1 The MS. λαχεῖν ἴσος 678 ἴσους 679
mvp-comment-298-1 κάτωθεν 680 κάτω ’στὶν 681
mvp-comment-298-2 εὐαγῆ 682
mvp-comment-299-1 οὔτοι συνέχθειν 683
mvp-comment-300-1 νυ^ν 684
mvp-comment-301-1 καὶ μὴν 685
mvp-comment-301-2 εἰβομένη 686 κάτω 687
mvp-comment-301-3
with
mvp-comment-301-4 κάτω 688
mvp-comment-302-1 νεφέλη δ’ ὀφρύων ὕπερ 689
mvp-comment-302-2 αἱματόεν 690
mvp-comment-302-3 ῥέθος 691
mvp-comment-302-4 αἰσχύνει 692
mvp-comment-303-1 σὺ δ’ 693 ὑφειμένη 694
mvp-comment-303-2 ἔχιδνα 695
mvp-comment-303-3
mvp-comment-304-1 λήθουσά μ’ ἐξέπινες 696
mvp-comment-305-1 ἄτα κἀπαναστάσεις 697
mvp-comment-305-2 ἐπαναστάσεις 698 θρόνων 699
mvp-comment-306-1 τὸ μὴ 700
mvp-comment-307-1 ὁμορροθεῖ 701
mvp-comment-308-1 τῆς αἰτίας 702 ξυμμετίσχω 703 φέρω 704
mvp-comment-309-1 ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐάσει σ’ 705
mvp-comment-309-2 ’κοινωσάμην 706
mvp-comment-310-1 ξύμπλουν 707
mvp-comment-311-1
Cp.
Ph. 1293
mvp-comment-311-2 λόγοις 708
mvp-comment-312-1 μή μ’ ἀτιμάσῃς 709 τὸ μὴ οὐ 710 ἁγνίσαι τὸν θ 711
mvp-comment-313-1 μή μοι 712 κοινά 713
mvp-comment-313-2 μηδ’ ἃ μὴ ’θιγες 714 ἅ 715 ἅ 716
mvp-comment-314-1 ποιοῦ σεαυτῆς 717
mvp-comment-314-2 ἀρκέσω 719
mvp-comment-315-1 σοῦ λελειμμένῃ 720
mvp-comment-315-2 φίλος 721
mvp-comment-316-1 κηδεμών 722
mvp-comment-317-1 ἀλγοῦσα μὲν δῆτ’ 723 δῆτα 724
mvp-comment-317-2 ἐν σοί 725
mvp-comment-317-3 Heath's εἰ γελῶ γ’ 726
mvp-comment-318-1 ἀλλὰ νῦν 727
mvp-comment-319-1 κἀμπλάκω 728
mvp-comment-319-2
fate? i.e. to be dissociated from it: delib. aor. subj., which can be used, not only in asking what one is
to do, but also in expressions of despair as to what one must suffer (
Tr. 973
mvp-comment-320-1 εἵλου 729
mvp-comment-320-2 ζῆν 730
mvp-comment-321-1 ἐπ’ ἀρρήτοις … τοῖς ἐμ. λ. 731
mvp-comment-322-1 σὺ μὲν τοῖς 732
mvp-comment-323-1 καὶ μήν 733
mvp-comment-324-1 θάρσει 734
mvp-comment-324-2 ἡ ἐμὴ ψυχή 735
mvp-comment-324-3 πάλαι 736
mvp-comment-324-4 ὥστε τοῖς θ. ὠφελεῖν 737
mvp-comment-325-1 L gives τὼ παῖδε φημὶ 738
mvp-comment-325-2 τὼ παῖδε … τὴν μὲν … τὴν δέ 739
mvp-comment-325-3 ἀρτίως 740
mvp-comment-326-1
The apology is for her sister as well as for herself: even such prudence (
cp. 68
mvp-comment-326-2 βλάστῃ 741
mvp-comment-326-3 τοῖς κ. πράσσουσιν 742
mvp-comment-326-4 ἐξίσταται 743
mvp-comment-327-1 σοὶ γοῦν 744
mvp-comment-327-2 κακοῖς 745
mvp-comment-328-1 τῆσδ’ ἄτερ 746 μόνῃ 747
mvp-comment-328-2 βιώσιμον 748 τί 749
mvp-comment-329-1 ἀλλὰ … μέντοι 750
mvp-comment-329-2 ἥδε μὴ λέγε 751
mvp-comment-330-1 νυμφεῖα 752
mvp-comment-331-1 ἀρώσιμοι 753
mvp-comment-332-1 οὐχ ὥς γ’ 754 ἡρμοσμένα ἦν 755
mvp-comment-333-1 υἱέσι 756 υἱάσιν 757
mvp-comment-333-2
mvp-comment-334-1
It is not of much moment that L, like the later MSS., gives this verse to Ismene. Errors as to the persons occur not seldom in L (see, e.g., cr. n. to
O. C. 837
, and cp.
ib. 1737
); and here a mistake would have been peculiarly easy, as the dialogue from v. 561 onwards has been between Creon and Ismene. To me it seems certain that the verse is Antigone's, and that one of the finest touches in the play is effaced by giving it to Ismene. The taunt,
mvp-comment-334-2 Αἷμον 760
mvp-comment-335-1 ἄγαν γε λυπεῖς 761
mvp-comment-336-1 The MSS. give this verse to Ismene; but Boeckh is clearly right in giving it to the Chorus. Ismene asked this question in 568, and Creon answered: she rejoined to this answer (570), and Creon replied still more bitterly. She could not now ask her former question over again. But there is no unfitness in the question being repeated by a new intercessor, since to ask it thus is a form of mild remonstrance.
mvp-comment-337-1 ἐμοί 762 ἔφυ 763
mvp-comment-338-1
This verse clearly belongs to the Chorus, to whom L assigns it. The first words of the next verse show this. Hermann objected that in similar situations the Chorus usually has two verses. It is true that this is usually the case. But
O. T. 1312
is enough to show that there was no rigid rule; why, indeed, should there be? And, here, surely,
mvp-comment-338-2 δεδογμένα 764
mvp-comment-339-1 καὶ σοί γε κἀμοί 765
mvp-comment-339-2 μὴ τριβάς 766
mvp-comment-339-3 νιν 767
mvp-comment-340-1 ἐκ δὲ τοῦδε 768 γυναικας 769 ἀνειμένας 770
mvp-comment-341-1 χοἱ θρασεῖς 771 πέλας 772 εἰσορῶσι 773
mvp-comment-343-1 κακῶν ἄγευστος 774
mvp-comment-344-1 σεισθῇ θεόθεν 775
mvp-comment-344-2 ἄτας οὐδὲν ἐλλείπει 776 ἐλλείπει 777
mvp-comment-344-3 γενεᾶς ἐπὶ πλῆθος 778 γενεᾶς 779
mvp-comment-345-1 ὅμοιον 780
mvp-comment-345-2 ποντίαις 781 πνοαῖς 782 ὅταν οἶδμα 783 ποντίαις δυσπν. Θρ. πνοαῖς 784 ἐπιδράμῃ ἔρεβος ὕφαλον 785 Θρῄσσαισιν 786
mvp-comment-346-1 κελαινὰν θῖνα 787
mvp-comment-346-2 δυσάνεμοι 788 δυσάνεμον 789
mvp-comment-346-3 στόνῳ βρ.· 790
mvp-comment-346-4 ἀντιπλῆγες 791 ἀκταί 792
mvp-comment-347-1 ἀρχαῖα 793
mvp-comment-347-2 ὁρῶμαι 794 οἴκων 795 φθι^τῶν 796
mvp-comment-348-1 ἀπαλλάσσει 797
mvp-comment-348-2 γενεὰν γένος 798 ἔχει 799
mvp-comment-348-3 λύσιν 800
mvp-comment-349-1 νῦν γὰρ ἐσχάτας 801 ὃ τέτατο 802 ἐτέτατο 803 κατ’ αὖ 804 ὑπέρ 805 ὅπερ 806 ὃ τέτατο 807 νιν 808 φάος 809 ἐσχάτη ῥίζα 810 φάος 811 νιν 812 φάος 813 θάλος 814 τέτατο 815 ῥίζας 816
mvp-comment-350-1 κατ’ αὖ … ἀμᾷ, 817 κοπίς 818 κόνις 819 κόνις 820
mvp-comment-350-2 (1) If κόνις 821 καταμᾷ 822
mvp-comment-350-3 (2) If we read κοπίς 823
mvp-comment-350-4
It has further been urged against
mvp-comment-351-1 λόγου … ἄνοια 824 φρενῶν ἐρινύς 825
mvp-comment-352-1 τεάν 826
mvp-comment-352-2 δύνα^σιν 827
mvp-comment-352-3 κατάσχοι 828
mvp-comment-353-1 The MS. παντογήρως 829 παντοθήρας 830 παντόθηρος 831 πάντ’ ἀγρεύων 832
mvp-comment-354-1 The MS. οὔτ’ ἀκάματοι θεῶν 833
mvp-comment-354-2
mvp-comment-354-3 ἄκματοι 839
mvp-comment-355-1 I doubt whether the dat. χρόνῳ 840
mvp-comment-355-2 μαρμαρόεσσαν 841
mvp-comment-356-1 τό τ’ ἔπειτα 842 τὸ μέλλον 843
mvp-comment-356-2 καὶ τὸ πρίν 847 ἐπαρκέσει 848
mvp-comment-357-1 πάμπολύ γ’ 849
mvp-comment-357-2 ἕρπει 850 ἕρπειν 851 ἕρπει 852
mvp-comment-357-3 πάμπολις 853
mvp-comment-358-1 ἁ γὰρ δή 854 γάρ 855 πολύπλαγκτος 856
mvp-comment-358-2
oft tossed up and down, ploughing a sea of vain deceits.’—
mvp-comment-359-1 πολλοῖς μὲν ὄνασις 857
mvp-comment-360-1 ἀπάτα … ἐρώτων 858
mvp-comment-360-2 κουφονόων 859
mvp-comment-361-1
The
mvp-comment-362-1 πρὶν … προσαύσῃ 862
mvp-comment-362-2 προσαύσῃ 863
mvp-comment-362-3 πόδα 864 προσαύσῃ 865
mvp-comment-363-1 σοφίᾳ 866
mvp-comment-363-2 ἔκ του 867
mvp-comment-363-3 πεφάνται 868
mvp-comment-364-1 τὸ κακὸν δοκεῖν ποτ’ 869 ποτέ 870
mvp-comment-364-2
1676
Among them he a spirit of phrenzy sent,
Who hurt their minds. Cp.
mvp-comment-365-1 ὀλίγιστον 872 ὀλιγοστόν 873 πράσσει … ἐκτὸς ἄτας 874 ἄτας 875
mvp-comment-366-1 μήν 876
mvp-comment-366-2 νέατον 877
mvp-comment-366-3
to a person,
mvp-comment-366-4 ἀχνύμενος 878 μόρον 879
mvp-comment-367-1
In the MS. reading (see cr. n.)
mvp-comment-368-1 ἀπάτας 884 λεχέων 885
mvp-comment-370-1 μάντεων ὑπέρτερον 886
mvp-comment-371-1 τελείαν 887
mvp-comment-371-2 ψῆφο<*> 888
mvp-comment-371-3 ἆρα μή 889
mvp-comment-371-4 τῆς μελλονύμφου 890
mvp-comment-371-5 λυσσαίνων 891 σοὶ μέν 892 θυμαίνων 893
mvp-comment-372-1 σοὶ μέν 894
mvp-comment-372-2 πανταχῇ δρῶντες 895
mvp-comment-373-1 σός 896
mvp-comment-373-2 γνώμας ἔχων χρηστάς 897 ἀπορθοῖς 898 μοι 899
mvp-comment-374-1 ἀξιώσεται 901 ἀξ. μείζων φέρεσθαι 902 ἀξίως ἔσται 903
mvp-comment-374-2 σοῦ καλῶς ἡγουμ. 904 μείζων 905
mvp-comment-375-1 γάρ 906
mvp-comment-375-2 διὰ στέρνων ἔχειν 907 διά 908 ἔχειν 909 οὕτω 910 ἔχειν 911
mvp-comment-376-1 (One ought to think thus),—that is, ὄπισθεν ἑστάναι πατρ. γνώμης 912 πάντα 913 ἑστάναι 914
mvp-comment-377-1 ὡς 915
mvp-comment-377-2 ἀνταμύνωνται 916 κακοῖς 917
mvp-comment-378-1 ἄλλο 918 φῦσαι 919 πλήν 920 ἄλλο 921 εἴποις 922
mvp-comment-378-2 πόνους 923
mvp-comment-378-3 γέλων 924
mvp-comment-379-1 τὰς φρένας γ’ 925 γε 926 φρένας σύ γ’ ἡδονῇ 927
mvp-comment-379-2 φρένας … ἐκβάλῃς 928
mvp-comment-379-3 ὑφ’ ἡδονῆς 929
mvp-comment-380-1 ψυχρόν 930
mvp-comment-380-2 παραγκάλισμα 931
mvp-comment-381-1 δόμοις 932
mvp-comment-381-2 ἕλκος 933
mvp-comment-381-3 φίλος 934
mvp-comment-382-1 πτύσας 935
mvp-comment-382-2 ὠσεί τε δυσμενῆ 936 τε 937
mvp-comment-383-1 νυμφεύειν 938
mvp-comment-384-1 ἀπιστήσασαν 939 ψευδῆ 940
mvp-comment-385-1 κτενῶ 941
mvp-comment-385-2 πρὸς ταῦτ 942
mvp-comment-385-3 ἐφυμνείτω 943
mvp-comment-385-4 Δία ξύναιμον 944
mvp-comment-386-1 τά γ’ ἐγγ. φύσει 945
mvp-comment-386-2 ἄκοσμα 946
mvp-comment-386-3 θρέψω 947
mvp-comment-386-4 κάρτα τοὺς ἔξω γ. 948
mvp-comment-387-1
Seidler transposes vv. 663—667, placing them after 671. The object is to bring vv. 668—671 into immediate connection with 662. In this there is one slight grammatical gain; since, as the vv. stand in the MSS.,
mvp-comment-387-2 The connection of thought in the whole passage—which is slightly obscured by compression—may be most clearly shown by taking the verses in small consecutive groups. (1) 659 f. If I tolerate disloyalty
mvp-comment-387-3
in my own relatives, I shall encourage it in other citizens. (2) 661 f.
For (
mvp-comment-388-1 ὑπερβάς 949
mvp-comment-388-2 τοὐπιτάσσειν 950
mvp-comment-388-3 νοεῖ 951
mvp-comment-389-1 στήσειε 952
mvp-comment-389-2 καὶ τἀναντία 953
mvp-comment-390-1 τοῦτον … τὸν ἄνδρα 954
mvp-comment-390-2 καλῶς...εὖ 955
mvp-comment-390-3 ἄν 956 ἄρχειν 957 θέλειν 958
mvp-comment-391-1 δορὸς … χειμῶνι 959
mvp-comment-391-2 προστεταγμένον 960
mvp-comment-391-3 παραστάτην 961
mvp-comment-392-1 πόλεις ὄλλυσιν, ἥδ’ 962 πόλεις τ’ … ἥδ’ 963
mvp-comment-393-1 συμμάχου 964 συμμάχηι 965 σὺν μάχῃ 966
mvp-comment-393-2 τροπὰς καταρρήγνυσι 967
mvp-comment-393-3 τῶν δ’ ὀρθουμένων 968 τὰ πολλὰ σώματα 969
mvp-comment-393-4 ἡ πειθαρχία 970
mvp-comment-394-1 ἀμυντέ’ 971
mvp-comment-394-2 τοῖς κοσμουμένοις 972 τοῖς κ. 974
mvp-comment-395-1 κοὔτοι … ἡσσητέα 975
mvp-comment-396-1 δεῖ 976 ἐκπεσεῖν 977
mvp-comment-396-2
thrust out: oft. of dethronement (
mvp-comment-396-3 κοὐκ ἂν...καλοίμεθ’ ἄν 978
mvp-comment-397-1 μέν 979
mvp-comment-397-2 τῷ χρόνῳ 980
mvp-comment-397-3 κεκλέμμεθα 981
mvp-comment-398-1 δοκεῖς λέγειν φρονούντως περὶ 982
mvp-comment-399-1 θεοί 983
mvp-comment-399-2 κτημάτων 984
mvp-comment-400-1 ἐγὼ δ’ ὅπως 985
mvp-comment-400-2 μὴ 986 ὅπως 987 μή 988 ὀρθῶς 989
mvp-comment-400-3 μήτ’ ἐπισταίμην 990
mvp-comment-401-1 καλῶς ἔχον 991 γένοιτο ἂν καὶ ἑτέρῳ 992
mvp-comment-402-1 σοῦ δ’ οὖν 993 σοῦ 994 σοί 995 σὺ δ’ οὐ πέφυκας 996 τις 997 μῆνίν τιν’ ἢ κότον τιν 998
mvp-comment-403-1 τὸ γὰρ σόν 999 ὄμμα 1000
mvp-comment-403-2 δημότῃ 1001
mvp-comment-404-1 λόγοις τοιούτοις 1002 λόγοις τοιούτοις 1003
mvp-comment-404-2 οἷς 1004 τέρψει 1005 κλύων 1006 μή 1007 τέρψῃ 1008
mvp-comment-405-1 ὑπὸ σκότον 1009 ἀκούειν 1010 ὀδύρεται 1011
mvp-comment-406-1 κάκιστ’ … εὐκλεεστάτων 1012
mvp-comment-406-2 ἀπ’ ἔργων 1013
mvp-comment-407-1 ἥτις 1014 μήθ’ … μήθ’ 1015 εἴασε 1016 ὀλέσθαι 1017
mvp-comment-407-2 αὐτάδελφον 1018
mvp-comment-407-3 ἐνφοναῖς 1019
mvp-comment-408-1 χρυσῆς 1020
mvp-comment-408-2 λαχεῖν 1021 ἀξία 1022
mvp-comment-409-1 ἐπέρχεται 1023
mvp-comment-410-1 θάλλοντος 1024
mvp-comment-410-2 μεῖζον εὐκλείας 1025
mvp-comment-410-3 πρὸς παίδων 1026 εὐκλεία 1027
mvp-comment-411-1 νυν 1028
mvp-comment-411-2 φόρει 1029
mvp-comment-411-3 ἦθος 1030 ὡς φὴς σύ 1031
mvp-comment-411-4 κοὐδέν 1032
mvp-comment-411-5 τοῦτο 1033
mvp-comment-412-1 μόνος 1034 φρονεῖν 1035 ψυχήν 1036
mvp-comment-412-2
mvp-comment-413-1 οὗτοι 1037
mvp-comment-413-2 διαπτυχθέντες 1038
mvp-comment-413-3 κενοί 1039
mvp-comment-414-1 ἄνδρα 1040 μανθάνειν 1041 τό 1042
mvp-comment-414-2 κεἰ … ᾖ 1043
mvp-comment-414-3 τείνειν 1044
mvp-comment-414-4 παρὰ ῥείθρ. 1045
mvp-comment-414-5 χειμάρροις 1046
mvp-comment-415-1 ὑπείκει 1047
mvp-comment-415-2 αὐτόπρεμνα 1048
mvp-comment-416-1 αὔτως 1049
mvp-comment-416-2 ναός 1050
mvp-comment-416-3 ἐγκρατῆ 1051
mvp-comment-416-4 πόδα 1052
mvp-comment-417-1 μηδέν 1053
mvp-comment-417-2 κάτω στρέψας 1054 τὸ πλοῖον 1055 τὸ λοιπόν 1056
mvp-comment-417-3 σέλμασιν 1057 ὑπτίοις 1058
mvp-comment-418-1 εἶκε θυμοῦ 1059
mvp-comment-418-2 καὶ μετάστασιν δίδου 1060
mvp-comment-418-3 δίδου 1061 εἶκε 1062 καί 1063 καί 1064
mvp-comment-419-1 εἴ τις γνώμη πρόσεστι καὶ ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ ν. 1065 καί 1066
mvp-comment-419-2 πρεσβεύειν 1067
mvp-comment-420-1 φῦναι 1068
mvp-comment-420-2 πάντ’ 1069
mvp-comment-421-1 εἰ δ’ οὖν 1070 φιλεῖ γάρ 1071
mvp-comment-421-2 τοῦτο … ταύτῃ 1072 ταύτῃ 1073
mvp-comment-421-3 ῥέπειν 1074
mvp-comment-422-1 καὶ τὸ τῶν εὖ λεγόντων μανθάνειν καλόν 1075
mvp-comment-423-1 σέ τ’ 1076 διπλᾶι 1077 διπλᾶ 1078 διπλῇ 1079 διπλᾶ 1080
mvp-comment-423-2 On the other hand, διπλῇ 1081
mvp-comment-424-1 καὶ 1082 διδαξ. 1083
mvp-comment-424-2 δή 1084
mvp-comment-424-3 τὴν φύσιν 1085
mvp-comment-425-1 μηδέν 1086 τὸ μὴ δίκ. 1087
mvp-comment-425-2 τὸν χρόνον 1088 τἄργα 1089
mvp-comment-426-1 ἔργον 1090
mvp-comment-426-2 τοὺς ἀκοσμοῦντας 1091
mvp-comment-426-3 σέβειν 1092
mvp-comment-427-1 οὐδ’ 1093
mvp-comment-428-1 τοιᾷδε … νοσῳ 1094
mvp-comment-428-2 ἐπείληπται 1095
mvp-comment-429-1 Θήβης 1096 ὁμόπτολις 1097
mvp-comment-430-1 ἡμῖν 1098 ἐμέ 1099
mvp-comment-431-1 ὡς ἄγαν νέος 1100
mvp-comment-432-1 Dobree's με 1101 γε 1102 χρή 1103 ἄλλῳ ἢ ’μοί 1104 ἐμοί 1105 χρή γε 1106
mvp-comment-433-1 πόλις γὰρ οὐκ ἔσθ’ 1107
mvp-comment-433-2
mvp-comment-434-1 νομίζεται 1108
mvp-comment-435-1 καλῶς ἐρήμης γ’ 1109
mvp-comment-436-1
Though at least one late MS. (Paris E) has
mvp-comment-437-1 οὖν 1110 προκήδομαι 1111
mvp-comment-438-1 ὦ παγκάκιστε 1112
mvp-comment-438-2 διὰ δίκης ἰὼν πατρί 1113
mvp-comment-439-1 ἀρχάς 1114
mvp-comment-440-1 οὐ γὰρ σέβεις 1115
mvp-comment-440-2 τιμάς 1116
mvp-comment-441-1 ὦ μιαρόν 1117 γυναικὸς ὕστερον 1118
mvp-comment-442-1
‘I may be inferior to a woman, but at least you will never find me yielding to base temptations.’ It would have been
mvp-comment-442-2 οὔ τἄν 1119
mvp-comment-442-3 γε 1120
mvp-comment-443-1 γοῦν 1121
mvp-comment-444-1 καὶ σοῦ γε 1122
mvp-comment-445-1
Objections have been made to the traditional order of these verses, chiefly in two respects. (1) 755
mvp-comment-445-2
Three modes of transposition have been proposed. (1) Enger puts 756 and 757 after 749. Then
mvp-comment-445-3 (2) Donner (in his transl., ed. 1863) simply transposed verses 755 and 757, leaving the rest as they stand. For this it may fairly be said that 757 comes very fitly after 754. On the other hand it seems to me that 756 does not aptly follow 757.
mvp-comment-445-4
(3) Pallis arranges thus:—749, 756, 755, 754, 757, 750—753. Thus
mvp-comment-445-5
Creon, instead of replying to v. 749, abruptly repeats his resolve.
mvp-comment-446-1 ἥδ’ 1126 ὀλεῖ τινά 1127
mvp-comment-447-1 ἦ ἐπεξέρχει και ἐπαπειλῶν ὧδε θρασύς; 1128 καί 1129
mvp-comment-448-1 κλαίων 1130
mvp-comment-448-2 φρενώσεις 1131
mvp-comment-449-1 οὐκ εὖ φρονεῖν 1132
mvp-comment-450-1 δούλευμα 1133
mvp-comment-450-2 μὴ κωτιλλέ με 1134
mvp-comment-450-3
Cp. Theognis 363
mvp-comment-451-1 λέγειν … κλύειν; 1135 λέγειν τι 1136
mvp-comment-452-1 ἄληθες; 1137
mvp-comment-452-2 οὐ τόνδ’ Ὄλ. 1138
mvp-comment-452-3 ἴσθ’ ὅτι 1139
mvp-comment-453-1 χαίρων 1140
mvp-comment-453-2 ἐπὶ ψόγοισι δεννάσεις 1141 ἐπί 1142 ἔτι 1143
mvp-comment-454-1 ἄγετε 1144 ἄγ’ ἄγε 1145 ἄγαγε 1146
mvp-comment-454-2 τὸ μῖσος 1147
mvp-comment-454-3 κατ’ ὄμματ’ 1148
mvp-comment-454-4 παρόντι … πλησία 1149
mvp-comment-455-1 ἔμοιγε 1150 οὔτε 1151 τε 1152
mvp-comment-455-2 οὐδαμά 1153
mvp-comment-455-3 ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς 1154
mvp-comment-456-1 ὡς 1155
mvp-comment-456-2 τοῖς θέλουσι 1156
mvp-comment-457-1 ἐξ ὀργῆς ταχύς 1157
mvp-comment-457-2 βαρύς 1158
mvp-comment-458-1 μεῖζον ἢ κατ’ ἄνδρα 1159
mvp-comment-458-2 ἰών 1160
mvp-comment-458-3
mvp-comment-459-1 For δ’ οὖν 1161
mvp-comment-459-2 τὼ … τώδε 1162
mvp-comment-459-3 καί 1163 κατακτ. νοεῖς 1164 κατακτ 1165
mvp-comment-460-1 θιγοῦσαν 1166
mvp-comment-460-2 γὰρ οὖν 1167
mvp-comment-461-1 καί 1168 βουλεύει 1169
mvp-comment-461-2 σφε 1170
mvp-comment-462-1 ἔνθα 1171
mvp-comment-463-1 πετρώδει … ἐν κατώρυχι 1172
mvp-comment-464-1 ὡς ἄγος μόνον 1173 ὡς 1174 ὅσον 1175
mvp-comment-464-2 ἄγος 1176
mvp-comment-464-3
Creon's edict had announced that the transgressor would be publicly stoned to death (36). It is to this that the anxious question of the Chorus alludes (772). Creon had already said that Antigone's doom was to be
mvp-comment-464-4
The danger of a
mvp-comment-465-1 πᾶσ’ 1177
mvp-comment-466-1 ὃν μόνον σέβει 1178
mvp-comment-466-2
mvp-comment-467-1 τὸ μὴ θανεῖν 1179 τεύξεται 1180
mvp-comment-468-1 ἀλλὰ τηνικαῦτα 1181 τἀν 1182
mvp-comment-470-1 ἀνίκατε μάχαν 1183
mvp-comment-471-1 ἐν κτήμασι πίπτεις, 1184
mvp-comment-472-1 ἐν μαλακαῖς παρειαῖς 1185
mvp-comment-472-2 ἐννυχεύεις 1186
mvp-comment-473-1 ὑπερπόντιος 1187
mvp-comment-473-2 ἔν τ’ ἀγρ. αὐλαῖς 1188
mvp-comment-474-1 οὔτ’ ἀθανάτων 1189
mvp-comment-474-2 σὲ … φύξιμός ἐστι 1190
mvp-comment-475-1 σέ γ’ 1191
mvp-comment-475-2 ὁ δ’ ἔχων 1192
mvp-comment-476-1 ἀδίκους 1193 παρασπᾷς 1194
mvp-comment-477-1 ξύναιμον 1195
mvp-comment-477-2 ἔχεις 1196
mvp-comment-477-3 ταράξας 1197
mvp-comment-478-1 ἐναργής 1198
mvp-comment-478-2 βλεφάρωνἵμερος 1199 εὐλέκτρου νύμφας 1200
mvp-comment-478-3 εὐλέκτρου 1201
mvp-comment-479-1 πάρεδρος ἐν ἀρχαῖς 1202 πάρεδρος 1203 ἐν ἀρχαῖς 1204
mvp-comment-479-2
The words answer metrically to
mvp-comment-479-3
a whole, too, the phrase
mvp-comment-479-4 The best line of emendation yet suggested is that of Semitelos, who writes ὥστε πέρα δρᾶν 1205
mvp-comment-480-1 ἐμπαίζει 1206 νικᾷ 1207
mvp-comment-481-1 καὐτὸς θεσμῶν ἔξω 1208
mvp-comment-481-2 φέρομαι 1209
mvp-comment-481-3 ἴσχειν δ’ 1210
mvp-comment-482-1 πηγάς 1211
mvp-comment-483-1 παγκοίτην 1212
mvp-comment-483-2
of Antigone are brought into finer relief by the different tone of the choral anapaests.
Cp. 822
, and see Appendix on 110.—Cp.
O. C. 1578
(Death)
mvp-comment-483-3 ἀνύτουσαν 1214
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,
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.
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,
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,
269.
mvp-comment-165-1
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.
343. mvp-comment-197-1 *κουφονόων Light-thoughted. This is Brunck's certain emendation, anticipated by the corrector of R. (Cp. v. rr. on l. 617.) Donaldson well says that as wings express the light-mindedness of light-mindedness is here made an epithet of the winged birds. But the word may further suggest the unsuspicious nature ('Despising the earth where cares abound') which makes them an easy prey. Cp. Plat. Tim. 91 D, τὸ δὲ τῶν ὀρνέων φῦλον . . ἐκ τῶν ἀκάκων ἀνδρῶν, κούφων δέ, κ.τ.λ.
345. mvp-comment-198-1 πόντου τ᾽ εἰναλίαν φύσιν The brood of ocean teeming in the seas. For φύσιν, see Essay on Language § 51. p. 96.
346. mvp-comment-199-1 σπείραισι δικτυοκλώστοις With meshy toils,' is to be joined with ἀμφιβαλὼν ἄγει. Nets (δίκτυα) were used in hunting and fowling, as well as in fishing. For ἄγειν in the sense of making captive, cp. Il. 9. 594, τέκνα δέ τ᾽ ἄλλοι ἄγουσι βαθυζώνους τε γυναῖκας.
346. mvp-comment-199-2 ἄγει suits well with the image of a captive enemy, which is kept up in the words φύλον and ἔθνη.
348. mvp-comment-200-1 περιφραδής By his excellent wit. The 1st strophe exhibits the boldness, the Ist antistrophe the cunning, of primitive man. The 2nd strophe and antistrophe describe the higher functions of civilized life. 349 ff. He not only subdues the animals, but makes them his servants.' In correcting this line, the dactylic metre is to be retained, which is hardly done in the conjj. ἀμφιλόφῳ ζυγῷ or ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγοῖ. The words ἀμφίλοφον ζυγόν are sound both in meaning and rhythm. Brunck's conj. ὑπάξεται, supplying the preposition required by the Scholia, would be unexceptionable, if such a potential use of the future in an affirmative sentence could be defended. Blaydes' ὑπήγαγεν would be convincing if closer to the MSS. In favour of ἐπάξεται it may be urged that the repetition of the same word is in the manner of the ode, and that the figurative expression, he shall bring to his aid,' agrees with ἄγει, supr. 343. But besides the questionable future, the construction of the 2nd accus., sc. ἐπ᾿ ἀμφ. ζυγόν, is in this case dubious. ὑφέλκεται. . ζυγόν, compels to serve him in the yoke, may be suggested, although the verb ὑφέλκειν is not used elsewhere precisely in the sense required. Else qy. ἐφέλκεται?
352. mvp-comment-201-1 ἀκμῆτα is preferable to ἀδμῆτα, as the rarer word and as introducing a new and apposite idea. 353 ff. There is a natural progress in the thought. First, navigation and agriculture were mentioned as the arts of subduing the crude forces of nature; then the capture and domestication of animals. Now we come to the humanities and arts of life (the domestication of man himself), and lastly, in ἀντ. β', to moral or political good and evil.
354. mvp-comment-202-1 ἀνεμόεν φρόνημα Windswift thought; i. e. Thought which is viewless, free and nimble as the wind. Sophocles knew that the soul had been identified with the air. Cp. Plat. Phaedo, 96 Β, πότερον τὸ αἷμά ἐστιν ᾧ φρονοῦμεν, ἢ ὁ ἀήρ. ἢ τὸ πῦρ, κ.τ.λ. Schneidewin well compares Hom. Il. 15. 80, foll., ὡς δ᾽ ὅτ᾽ ἂν ἀΐξῃ νόος ἀνέρος, ὅς τ᾽ ἐπὶ πολλὴν | γαῖαν ἐληλουθὼς φρεσὶ πευκαλίμῃσι νοήσῃ | · ἔνθ εἴην ἢ ἔνθα, μενοινήπολλὰ | ὡς κραιπνῶς μεμανία διέπτατο πότνια Ἥρη. Wieseler's conj.
354. mvp-comment-202-2 κατ᾿ ἀν. φρ., adopted by Wolff, is surely unnecessary. Why should not man teach himself to think as well as to count? (See Plat. Rep. 7, p. 522.)
355-356. mvp-comment-203-1 ἀστυνόμους | ὀργάς is well explained by Seyffert, Urbium incolendarum studia. The disposition to inhabit cities. This seems more probable than The tempers of civic life. ἀστυνόμος ὀργή is the social impulse which draws men together to become inhabitants of the same town. comparison of Ar. Pol. 6. 8. 4, (ἑτέρα δ᾽ ἐπιμέλεια ταύτης ἐχομένη καὶ σύνεγγυς ἡ τῶν περὶ τὸ ἄστυ δημοσίων καὶ ἰδίων, ὅπως εὐκοσμία ῃ, καὶ τῶν πιπτόντων οἰκοδομημάτων καὶ ὁδῶν σωτηρία καὶ διόρθωσις, καὶ τῶν ὁρίων τῶν πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ὅπως ἀνεγκλήτως ἔχωσι, καὶ ὅσα τούτοις ἄλλα τῆς ἐπιμελείας ὁμοιότροπα, καλοῦσι δ' ἀστυνομίαν οἱ πλεῖστοι τὴν τοιαύτην ἀρχήν), suggests the conjecture ἀστυνόμους ἀρχάς (already made by Valckenaer), Administrative rule. V reads ὁρμάς, ср. О. Т. 337. Qy. ἀρετάς? Ср. 366. 355, foll. And to avoid the cleareyed influence of comfortless frosts, and the pelting of the pitiless rain.' διαίθρεια, sc. βέλη.
356. mvp-comment-204-1 ἐδιδάξατο He taught himself. For the directly reflexive middle, see Essay on Language § 31. p. 52. The origin of the arts was a favourite problem of the Sophists. Cp. Plato, Prot. 320 D, foll. It is here assumed that they were selftaught without Prometheus or other superhuman aid.
357. mvp-comment-205-1 Musgr. would read either διαίθρεια, or αἴθρεια with φρουρῶν for παρειρῶν in l. 367. G. Wolff reads αἴθρεια and πληρῶν. But the repetition of in ll. 3, 4, and 6 suits the composition of the strophe better than the introduction of the bacchius and cretic in l. 3. διαίθρεια, serene, while keeping up the alliteration, suits the context better than ὑπαίθρεια or ἐναίθρεια, in the open air. Join *διαίθρεια βέλη as well as δύσομβρα βέλη.
360. mvp-comment-206-1 παντοπόρος· ἄπορος This punctuation is justified by the corresponding line of the antistrophe, which cannot be pointed otherwise. παντοπόρος, sc. ὤν, is added, like περιφραδής ἀνήρ, supr. 347, to express the admiration excited by the preceding statements.
360-361. mvp-comment-207-1 οὐδὲν . . τὸ μέλλον] Cp. l. 728, μηδὲν τὸ μὴ δίκαιον. Essay on Language § 22. p. 36.
362. mvp-comment-208-1 οὐκ ἐπάξεται He shall not win. For a similar metaphorical use of ἐπάγεσθαι, where, however, the reading has also been questioned, cp. Thuc. 3.10, τὴν τῶν ξυμμάχων δούλωσιν ἐπαγομένους.
364. mvp-comment-209-1 νόσων δ᾽ ἀμηχάνων φυγὰς | ξυμπέφρασται He hath gathered to him by his thought a remedy for many an unavoidable disease. ξυμ- marks that the healing art is a collective monument of human skill. πέφρασται recalls the notion of περιφραδής, supr. 347. For the oxymoron, cp. supr. 340, ἀκαμάταν ἀποτρύεται.
365-366. mvp-comment-210-1 His power of artful contrivance is a miracle of unimaginable skill, wherewith he followeth one while an evil purpose, at other times a good one.' τέχνας is added as genitive of respect to complete the notion of τὸ μηχανόεν. ὑπὲρ ἐλπίδα, beyond what could have been hoped for, or expected before the event. τι marks the indefiniteness of σοφόν as the predicate. It is in agreement with σοφόν, but has the effect of a particle or adverb (πως).
366. mvp-comment-211-1 κακόν, . . ἐπ᾿ ἐσθλόν Cp. О. Т. 761, ἀγρούς σφε πέμψαι κἀπὶ ποιμνίων νομάς.
367. mvp-comment-212-1 νόμους παρείρων χθονός When he knits therewith, sc. τῷ μηχανόεντι τῆς τέχνης καὶ σοφῷ, the laws of his land and the oath-observing righteousness of heaven. It is objected to παρείρων that it elsewhere means Inserting incidentally, or by the way, and that such a meaning is unsuitable here. But, as Seyffert has already shown, the word (which is a rare one) may quite well mean Weaving in,' like gold-leaf, for instance, into a chaplet of flowers. Cp. Plat. Legg. 605 D, καὶ τὸν τοῦ Κύρου δασμὸν ὃν ὑπέσχετο Πέρσαις εἰς τὸν νόμον ἐνέδει. Conjectural emendations are γεραίρων, περαίνων, γὰρ αἴρων, τ᾿ ἀείρων, πληρῶν (see v. rr., and note on 357).
370. mvp-comment-213-1 ὑψίπολις For this compound, cp. ἡδύπολις, ὀρθόπολις, μεγιστόπολις, δικαιόπολις. The construction is elliptical, sc. ὑψίπολις ὧν or ἐστί.
370. mvp-comment-213-2 ἄπολις . . χάριν] He is outcast from the state, who harbours evil for the indulgence of crime. Cp. supr. l. 30, πρὸς χάριν βορâs: Plat. Phaedr. 241, χάριν πλησμονῆς. This is better than joining τόλμας χάριν with ἄπολις = He is an outcast for his boldness.
375. mvp-comment-214-1 ἴσον φρονῶν i. e. Of the same party in the state. For the expression, cp. Il. 15.50, ἶσον ἐμοὶ φρονέουσα.
376-378. mvp-comment-215-1 ἐς δαιμόνιον τέρας .. Ἀντιγόνην] I stand in doubt at this strange marvel, how to gainsay what I know, and say that this is not the maid Antigone. The resumption is suitable to the chorus' perturbed state of feeling. Seyffert's ἐς δαιμόνιον τέρας ἀμφινοῶν τότε, referring to the previous scene (1. 278), is without the directness and simplicity of these short anapaestic passages, in which the chorus announce the entrance of a new person on the stage. Cp. 526 ff., 626 ff.
378. mvp-comment-216-1 οὐκ εἶναι, not μὴ εἶναι, because the entrance of Antigone is a patent fact.
382. mvp-comment-217-1 *ἀπάγουσι Sc. εἰς κρίσιν.
385. mvp-comment-218-1 εἵλομεν The v. r. εἴδομεν is supported by infr. 404, 406, 423, and εἴλομεν, the reading of L, etc., may have been occasioned by καθελόντες in the nearer context. But see v. rr. on 655.
386. mvp-comment-219-1 ἐς δέον Cp. Ο. Τ. 1416, εἰς δέον πάρεστι. εἰς μέσον, which Seyffert has restored from L, although having the authority of the chief MS, is more like a MS. conjecture than eἰς δέον. The same may be said of ἐξέβην, as compared with προὔβην. Seyffert reads ξύμμετρ᾽ ἐξέβην τύχῃ.
388. mvp-comment-220-1 οὐδέν ἐστ᾿ ἀπώμοτον This γνώμη first occurs in the fragment of Archilochus about the eclipse (76 Bergk), χρημάτων ἄελπτον οὐδέν ἐστιν οὐδ᾽ ἀπώμοτον. Cp. Pind. Ol. 13. 83, παρ' ὅρκον καὶ παρ' ἐλπίδα κούφαν.
389. mvp-comment-221-1 ψεύδει .. γνώμην 'For second thoughts bely one's resolutions.' ου 390. ἄv belongs grammatically to the verb ἐξηύχουν, but in meaning rather modifies the infinitive.
391. mvp-comment-222-1 ταῖς .. τότε When my soul was shaken with the tempest of your former threatenings.᾿ ἀπειλαῖς is dative of the occasion or accompaniment, assisted by attraction. Essay on Language § 11. p. 18, с. Ср. 1. 691.
392. mvp-comment-223-1 ἐκτὸς καὶ παρ᾿ ἐλπίδας i. e.
392. mvp-comment-223-2 ἐκτὸς ἐλπίδος (supr. 1. 330) καὶ παρ᾿ ἐλπίδας.
393. mvp-comment-224-1 ἔοικεν.. μήκος οὐδέν Sc. οὐδὲν ἔοικε μήκος, i. e. εἰς τὸ μέγεθος, as the Scholiast says.
395. mvp-comment-225-1 καθευρέθη is not to be rejected because of the rarity of the compound. See Essay on Language p. 90. But the conjecture of Nauck, καθῃρέθη, is favoured by καθελόντες in l. 383.
398. mvp-comment-226-1 ὡς θέλεις In arresting Antigone the watchman has done not his own will but Creon's. Infr. 438. 399,
400. mvp-comment-227-1 ἐγὼ δ'. κακῶν But I have a full right to be "away and clear" from this bad business.
401. mvp-comment-228-1 This maiden! where, and how, did you arrest her?' The emphatic order of words expresses the profound astonishment of Creon. Essay on Language § 41. p. 77.
403. mvp-comment-229-1 λέγεις ὀρθῶς Do you say it with a clear mind? i. e. Have you your wits when you say this? CСр. О. Т. 528, ἐξ ὀμμάτων δ᾽ ὀρθῶν τε καὶ ὀρθῆς φρενός | κατηγορεῖτο τοὐπίκλημα τοῦτό μου;
404. mvp-comment-230-1 ὃν σὺ τόν The collocation of antecedent and relative is peculiar, and perhaps characteristic of the rustic emphasis of the Φύλαξ. See notes on supr. 238, 269, and cp. infr. 409.
406. mvp-comment-231-1 And how was she discovered, caught, and taken ?"
407. mvp-comment-232-1 τοιοῦτον (1) As you say: she was seen (1. 423), surprised (1.432), and caught (1.433). Or (2) As follows,' = τοιόνδε.
409-410. mvp-comment-233-1 τὸν | νέκυν Α remarkable instance of synapheia. Cp. 1. 238. Essay on Language § 21. p. 33. Supr. 238.
410. mvp-comment-234-1 μυδῶν Dank: referring rather to the state of the corpse (cp. 412) than to the remains of the libation, which would be soon dried by the sun.
410. mvp-comment-234-2 εὐ Carefully. For the order, see Essay on Language p. 78, and cp. О. Т. 308, μαθόντες εὖ.
411. mvp-comment-235-1 We sat just below the top of the rising ground, in the lee of the wind, so escaping the incidence of the odour from the dead. Supposing the corpse to be exposed on a slope of the high ground, surrounded by hillocks, they would select a point of observation on the lee-side of one of these hillocks, and to the windward of the corpse, which they would have full in view.
411. mvp-comment-235-2 ἐκ = On this side of and looking from. Essay on Language § 19. p. 27. Infr. 1110, εἰς ἐπόψιον τόπον : 1197, πεδίον ἐπ᾿ ἄκρον. πικρᾶς] ι in erasure of v? by recent hand Vat.
412. mvp-comment-236-1 This line is not necessarily connected with the preceding: i.e. They may be supposed to select a spot, (1) out of the wind, (2) out of the way of the smell. But the explanation above given (411 note) is more probable. In either case the point is that in attending to their watch they were mightily careful of their own comfort.
412. mvp-comment-236-2 βάλῃ Changed by Stephanusto βάλοι, because of the past time and the optative following. But the subj. is more vivid.
413-414. mvp-comment-237-1 Rousing each his fellow with noisy altercation, reviling him who should take this labour easily. εἴ τις, κ.τ.λ. depends on the verbal notion implied in κακοῖσιν = κακῶς λέγοντες.
413-414. mvp-comment-237-2 ἀφειδεῖν, ‘Το be unsparing, and so To be negligent, To treat lightly, To act without circumspection. For an approach to this meaning, cp. Thuc. 4.26 § 7. Bonitz conj. ἀκηδήσοι.
415-417. mvp-comment-238-1 This lasted till the sun had reached his station in mid-sky with unclouded splendour, and the heat was glowing.' Cp. the Homeric ὄφρα μὲν ἠέλιος μέσον οὐρανὸν ἀμφιβεβήκει.
417. mvp-comment-239-1 When suddenly from the earth the Storm-god raised a squall, that saddened all the sky, and filled the plain, tearing the tresses of the orchard groves, and the wide heaven was choked withal.' The chief discomfort of such a visitation would be the cloud of dust, forcing men to close their eyes, and wrapping even near objects from sight. The watchman is explaining why they lost sight of the corpse. The poet also provides a motive for the act by which Antigone is betrayed. She fears that the corpse, lying in an exposed situation, may have been disturbed by the violence of the wind.
418. mvp-comment-240-1 οὐράνιον ἄχος may mean either (1) A trouble from the sky, or (2) A trouble reaching to the sky. The latter is best, as the word χθονός indicates that the whirlwind seemed to rise out of the ground.
420. mvp-comment-241-1 ἐν δ' See Essay on Language p. 26. § 18, a.
421. mvp-comment-242-1 μύσαντες .. νόσον Closing lips and eyes, we endured the Divine visitation.
422. mvp-comment-243-1 ἐν χρόνῳ μακρῷ After lasting a long while: giving time for Antigone to come out of her concealment, with the libation ready. 423, foll. κἀνακωκύει] ‘And raises a shrill wailing cry, like the voice of the despairing bird. For the descriptive genitive, see Essay on Language § 9. p. 12.
422. mvp-comment-243-2 πικρᾶς Embittered, 'Full of bitterness: the quality of the object is transferred to the subject: i.e. πικρᾶς, ἅτε πασχούσης πικρά. Also the bitterness of anger is joined to that of grief. Cp. the Latin dolor. For the genitive, cp. Trach. 768, ὥστε τέκτονοs. And for the omission of ὡs, which is supplied in the following clause, cp. supr. 114, λευκῆς χιόνος πτέρυγι στεγανός. G. Wolff reads ὅ. δ. φθόγγον ὥς, ὅταν κ. But this yields a less probable rhythm.
424-425. mvp-comment-244-1 As when it sees robbed of its young ones the desolated couch of its nest. For the pleonasm, see Essay on Language § 40. p. 75.
426. mvp-comment-245-1 οὕτω δέ The apodosis is resumed, as so often happens after a comparison. Essay on Language p. 75. Cp. Aesch. Cho. 252.
427. mvp-comment-246-1 γόοισιν Essay on Language p. 75.
427. mvp-comment-246-2 ἐκ δ᾽.. ἠρᾶτο Essay on Language § 18. p. 27.
430. mvp-comment-247-1 ἄρδην.. στέφει Slightly condensed from ἄρδην ἔχουσα στέφει. στέφει, She decorates, Honours. Metaphorical, as in Od. 8. 170, ἀλλὰ θεὸς μορφὴν ἔπεσι στέφει. Cp. καταστέφειν in Eur. Phoen. 1632, and Sophron ap. Athen. 479 B. She leaves out no jot of the ceremony: ὡς οὐδὲν ὑφιεμένη τῷ κρηύγματι.
431. mvp-comment-248-1 Od. 11. 26, ἀμφ᾿ αὐτῷ δὲ χοὰς χέομεν πᾶσιν νεκύεσσι, | πρῶτα μελικρήτῳ, μετέπειτα δὲ ἡδέϊ οἴνῳ, | τὸ τρίτον αὐθ᾽ ὕδατι.
432. mvp-comment-249-1 σὺν δέ νιν | θηρώμεθ' For this tmesis, see Essay on Language § 18. p. 26. συν as in συλλαμβάνω.
435. mvp-comment-250-1 Cp. Hdt. 3. 66, ἔξαρνος ἦν μὴ μὲν ἀποκτεῖναι Σμέρδιν: 3. 99, ἄπαρνός ἐστι μὴ μὲν νοσέειν.
436. mvp-comment-251-1 ἀλλ᾽.. ἅμα ἀλλά is to be explained as pointing the antithesis after the negative. Her attitude was not that of denial, but one to me at least pleasant and painful as well. The adverb modifies a word which is to be supplied from καθίστατο. ἡδέως ἐμοί, i. e. ὥστε ἐμὲ ἥδεσθαι, Essay on Language § 24. p. 40. There is a certain point in this which is lost in the emendation of Dindorf, ἅμ᾽ ἡδέως, in which, however, the repetition of ἅμα may be defended from Plat. Gorg. 497 Α, ἅμα διψῶν τε ἕκαστος ἡμῶν πέπαυται καὶ ἅμα ἡδόμενος διὰ τοῦ πίνειν. Schneidewin quotes also Gorg. 496 C, ὧν ἅμα τε ἀπαλλάττεται ἄνθρωπος καὶ ἅμα ἔχει, which is not really parallel.
439-440. mvp-comment-252-1 ἀλλὰ .. σωτηρίας (1) But all these things are to me by nature less important to obtain than my own safety. λαβεῖν epexegetic, like ἔχειν in Ο. Τ. 592, τυραννὶς ἡδίων ἔχειν. Cp. inf. 638, μείζων φέρεσθαι: Εl. 1015-1016, προνοίας οὐδὲν ἀνθρώποις ἔφυ | κέρδος λαβεῖν ἄμειvov. Or, possibly, (2) It is in my nature to take less account of all this than of my own safety. For the meaning thus given to ἐμοὶ πέφυκ cp. Εl. 860, πᾶσι θνατοῖς ἔφυ μύρος. And for λαβεῖν = To weigh or estimate, cp. Thuc. 2. 42, § 5, τὴν δὲ τῶν ἐναντίων τιμωρίαν ποθεινοτέραν αὐτῶν λαβόντες.
441. mvp-comment-253-1 For σὲ δή, sc. λέγω, cp. Aesch. Prom. 944, σὲ τὸν σοφιστήν, κ.τ.λ.: Soph. El. 1445, σε τοι, σὲ κρίνω, κ.τ.λ.: Eur. Hel. 546. And for ἐς πέδον κάρα νεύειν, cp. supr. 269.
441. mvp-comment-253-2 Creon misinterprets the action of Antigone. She fixes her eyes upon the ground, not from fear or shame, but because she is out of sympathy with all present, and her thoughts are in the other world. The hidden fire flashes out in ll. 450, foll., which are certainly not spoken with averted eyes. Cp. Ο. Τ. 1121.
442. mvp-comment-254-1 καταρνεῖ The unusual compound, introduced, perhaps, partly for the sake of metre, has also a special sense of blame. Cp. καταμελέω, καταξιόω, καταπειλέω, καταπροδίδωμι, καταργυρόω, κατασπείρω, κατασχολάζω.
445. mvp-comment-255-1 Free and exempt from grievous imputation.
446. mvp-comment-256-1 μήκος Adverbial, cp. O. С. 92, κέρδη μὲν οἰκήσαντα τοῖς δεδεγμένοις.
446. mvp-comment-256-2 'Tell us, no long tale, but briefly, knew you of the edict that forbade this deed? I knew; 'twas plain enough. How could I fail to know? And were you, then, so hardy as to transgress our law? That edict came not to me from the mouth of Zeus, nor from the Right, whose throne is with the Gods below. They also have appointed unto men a law. Methought your edict could not so prevail, as that a mortal should overleap the silent irrefragable ordinances of heaven. Their life is not of to-day or yesterday. They are eternal. None knoweth of a time when they began. I feared not so the mind of any man, as to incur before the Gods the penalty of that law. I knew, forsooth, without your edict, that I was to die. And if I am to die before the time, I count it gain. For he must surely gain by death who lives, as I do, midst abounding woes. And so for me to meet this doom is a grief I reck not of. If I had borne to leave unburied the corpse, fallen in carnage, of my mother's son, that had been a grief to me, but this is no grief. And if I seem to you to be now doing foolishly, it comes to this;-I am condemned of folly by a fool.'
447. mvp-comment-257-1 τὰ κηρυχθέντα The proclamation made. Cobet's conjecture ᾔδησθα κηρυχθέντα (Νov. Lect. 1858. p. 215), while restoring the recognised Attic form, is unobjectionable in point of syntax. But the use of the article in pointing to his own decree is characteristic of Creon, and if ἠείδης is retained in the Iliad, 22. 280, why not ᾔδης in Tragedy?
449. mvp-comment-258-1 καὶ δῆτα And then. Cp. Plat. Theaet. 142 C, καὶ δῆτα προπέμψας αὐτόν, ἀπιὼν πάλιν, κ.τ.λ.
449. mvp-comment-258-2 τούσδε . . νόμους These laws, i. e. The laws whose majesty is vested in me. For this use of the demonstrative, see Essay on Language § 22. p. 34.
450. mvp-comment-259-1 I obeyed no decree of yesterday, but the eternal law. That cannot be annulled by any enactment of a mere man. It may be that I shall die for what I have done. But it needed not your proclamation to tell me that I must die. And to die before the term appointed me is to lose so much of sorrow.
451. mvp-comment-260-1 For the mythological fancy, cp. О. С. 1381-1382, εἴπερ ἐστὶν ἡ παλαίφατος | Δίκη ξύνεδρος Ζηνὸς ἀρχαίοις νόμοις.
452. mvp-comment-261-1 This line is rightly explained by the Scholiast and Donaldson, Ἡ δίκη, φησί, καὶ ὁ Ζεὺς ὥρισαν ὥστε θάπτεσθαι τοὺς νεκρούς.. θέλει δὲ εἰπεῖν ὅτι ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως δίκαιον ἤγημαι θάπτειν τὸν ἀδελφόν. (Schol.) She replies, that she did not consider his proclamations as emanating from Zeus, the supreme God, or from that justice which regulated the rights of the dead, who, she says, have established these laws, namely, the laws of sepulture, which do not need any enactment, but have their ὅροι set up in the human heart. (Donaldson.) The iteration of τούσδε, in contrasting the law which she obeyed with the edict of Creon, is dramatically appropriate, and there is no difficulty in the vague use of the demonstrative. See Essay on Language § 22. p. 34. Cp. Od. 10. 326, τάδε φάρμακα.
454. mvp-comment-262-1 ἄγραπτα κἀσφαλῆ Unwritten and sure. Ср. О. Т. 865 ff., and note. ἀσφαλῆ is not only Never failing to apply, but also Never failing to vindicate their authority. Cp. II. 456 ff.
455. mvp-comment-263-1 θνητὸν ὄντα Sc. σέ, understood from τὰ σὰ κηρύγματα. That a mortal man should run beyond the silent irrefragable ordinances of the Gods. Cp. Eur. Ion 973, καὶ πῶς τὰ κρείσσω θνητός οὖσ᾽ ὑπερδράμω; Ο.Τ. 476-482
456. mvp-comment-264-1 νῦν .. κἀχθές To-day or yes- terday. The particle γε, ay, serves to connect the sentences, and τε is unnecessary, as appears from the similar expression, χθὲς καὶ πρώην, in Plat. Legg. 3. 677 D.
456. mvp-comment-264-2 ἀεί ποτε means Everlastingly, without any clear distinction of past or future. πότε gives the effect of indefiniteness or infinity.
457. mvp-comment-265-1 ζῇ Are in force. Cр. О. Т. 481, ἀεὶ ζῶντα περιποτᾶται.
457. mvp-comment-265-2 ἐξ ὅτου 'φάνη Since when they came into being. Cp. Tr. 1, λόγος ..
457. mvp-comment-265-3 ἀρχαῖος φανείς.
458-459. mvp-comment-266-1 τούτων.. τὴν δίκην The penalty to be exacted in vindication of these. The Gods might be said δίκην ἐπιτιθέναι τῶν παραβαθέντων νόμων, although the word in the genitive after δίκη more frequently signifies the offence for which punishment is awarded. Cp. infr. 1074, τούτων σε λωβητῆρες ὑστεροφθόροι, κ.τ.λ.
458-459. mvp-comment-266-2 ἀνδρός Of a mere man. Cp. O. C. 567, ἔξοιδ᾽ ἀνὴρ ὤν. 461 ff. Shak. Julius Caesar, 3. 1, 'Bru. That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time | And drawing days out, that men stand upon. | Cass. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life | Cuts off so many years of fearing death. | Bru. Grant that, and then is death a benefit: | So are we Caesar's friends, that have abridged His time of fearing death.'
458-459. mvp-comment-266-3 τοῦ χρόνου, sc. ἐν ᾧ μ᾿ ἐχρῆν θανεῖν.
462. mvp-comment-267-1 κέρδος αὔτ᾽ ἐγὼ λέγω αὔτ᾽, i. e. αὐτό, although not necessary to the construction, as appears from Plat. Apol. 40 Ε., κέρδος ἔγωγε λέγω, is better here than αὖτe, which weakens κέρδος.
463. mvp-comment-268-1 ὡς ἐγώ Supr. ll. 4-6.
466. mvp-comment-269-1 παρ᾿ οὐδὲν ἄλγος Is a grief of no account. Cp. supr. 35.
466. mvp-comment-269-2 ἐμῆς Meineke conj. ἐκ μιᾶs, Seyffert ὁμῆς, unnecessarily. The emphatic use of ἐμós is frequent in Sophocles.
467. mvp-comment-270-1 ἄθαπτον *ἠνσχόμην ἠνσχόμην (1) may be defended by the analogy of the syncopated ἀνσχήσεσθαι, ἄνσχεο, in Epic Greek. Otherwise (2) νέκυν may be cancelled as a gloss, and ἄθαπτον *ὄντ᾿ ἠνεσχόμην read, according to the conj. of Prof. E. L. Lushington. Or (3) ἐσχόμην may be read in the sense of ἠνεσχόμην. Ε. on L. § 55, 4. p. 101. But this is doubtful.
470. mvp-comment-271-1 μώρῳ i.e. One whose judgment is self-condemned, because opposed to the eternal laws. The word is not prompted by mere petulance, but is uttered with profound conviction.
471. mvp-comment-272-1 'The maiden's lineage declares itself in the fierce vein that comes to her from her fierce sire.' Phil. 1045-1046.
472. mvp-comment-273-1 ἐπίσταται Sc. ἡ παῖς.
473. mvp-comment-274-1 σκληρά Unbending, and so Stubborn, Obstinate.
473. mvp-comment-274-2 The self-will of Creon appears with increasing distinctness. (1) He asserts his confidence in the use of power to suppress insubordination. (2) He speaks of his ward, whom he does not care to name, as in the place of a slave (479): (3) he implies that to cede an inch of authority is to give the sovereignty to another (485). (4) He throws the tie of kindred to the winds. The first words of his speech are ominous of his own doom. See Introduction.
475. mvp-comment-275-1 ὀπτὸν .. περισκελή Baked to exceeding hardness. Cp. Aj. 649, καὶ περισκελεῖς φρένες.
476. mvp-comment-276-1 θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα Broken and shattered. The strongest word is put first in the Greek. Essay on Language § 41. p.77.
477. mvp-comment-277-1 σμικρῷ has a strong emphasis. Ibid.
478. mvp-comment-278-1 ἐκπέλει Hesych. ἐκπέλει, ἔξεστι. Hdt. uses ἐκγίνεσθαι in a similar sense. See Essay on Language § 55. p. 101.
479. mvp-comment-279-1 δοῦλος Creon shows his coarsely tyrannical spirit by boasting of his absolute power over his orphan relative.
481. mvp-comment-280-1 Cp. Hdt. 3. 83, νόμους οὐκ ὑπερβαίνουσα τοὺς Περσέων.
484. mvp-comment-281-1 Cp. Eur. I. Α. 952 ff., ἢ Σίπυλος ἔσται πόλις, ὅρισμα βαρβάρων, κ.τ.λ.
485. mvp-comment-282-1 If this authority is to be allowed to rest with her unchallenged. By an exaggeration of feeling like that in l. 208, he thinks that to pardon disobedience is to yield authority to the offender. For κείσεται, cp. El. 361, σοὶ δὲ πλουσία | τράπεζα κείσθω: ἀνάκειμαι in Hdt. 1.97, γνοὺς ὁ Δηϊόκης ἐς ἑωυτὸν πᾶν ἀνακείμενον.
485. mvp-comment-282-2 κράτη, as in l. 173, ἐγὼ κράτη δὴ πάντα καὶ θρόνους ἔχω.
486. mvp-comment-283-1 ὁμαιμονεστέρα is the more rational and stronger reading: although in weighing a hyperbolical expression of this kind, that is perhaps hardly a sufficient argument, and may be urged on the other side as accounting for the alteration of the MS.
487. mvp-comment-284-1 τοῦ παντὸς.. Ζηνὸς ἐρκείου i.e. Our whole family, the presiding numen being put for the thing held sacred.
489. mvp-comment-285-1 μόρου For the genitive with ἀλύξετον, cp. Phil. 1044, τῆς νόσου πεφευγέναι.
489. mvp-comment-285-2 ἴσον is probably to be construed both with ἐπαιτιῶμαι and βουλεύσαι (‘I accuse equally of plotting equally'), and τοῦδε τάφου is partly gen. after ἐπαιτιῶμαι, partly after ἴσον.
491. mvp-comment-286-1 ἀρτίως Viz. after l. 331, when Ismene knew that the deed was done, and, alone of those in the palace, knew also by whom.
493-494. mvp-comment-287-1 And it commonly happens that the spirit of those who are plotting some utter wickedness in secret is convicted of its occulted guilt before the act.
493. mvp-comment-288-1 ᾑρῆσθαι κλοπεύς Το be arrested in some stealthy enterprise. The perfect tense marks that the detection is completed before the purpose is carried into effect. Cp. πεπραγμένα .. ἡμαρτημένα, in O. T. 621.
495. mvp-comment-289-1 Yet I hate it equally when one who is caught in actual mischief tries to make a virtue of the offence.
495. mvp-comment-289-2 ἐν κακοῖσι = In trouble, i. e. In crime, and not merely, like Ismene, in the consciousness of crime. Cp. Fr. 843, αἰδὼς γὰρ ἐν κακοῖσιν οὐδὲν ὠφελεῖ.
496. mvp-comment-290-1 καλλύνειν Creon affects to regard Antigone's appeal to the higher law as a piece of hypocrisy. Cp. Fr. 845
496. mvp-comment-290-2 κλέπτων δ᾽ ὅταν τις ἐμφανῶς ἐφευρεθῇ, | σιγᾶν ἀνάγκη, κἂν καλὸν φέρῃ στόμα.
497. mvp-comment-291-1 Cp. Eur. Phoen. 1211.
500. mvp-comment-292-1 μηδ' ἀρεσθείη Sc. μηδὲν τῶν σῶν λόγων.
501. mvp-comment-293-1 ἔφυ Are by nature, and so cannot fail to be.
505. mvp-comment-294-1 λέγοιτ' ἄν For the passive, see Essay on Language § 31. P. 54 *ἐγκλείσαι] Cp. supr. 1. 180. Dindorf's correction (with εί for ῄ) is retained in preference to ἐγκλείοι. The future optative is clearly wrong.
506-507. mvp-comment-295-1 These two lines have been considered spurious. But their scornful tone may be compared with supr. 469-470.
509. mvp-comment-296-1 ὑπίλλουσι ἴλλειν (cp. supr. 340) is To move within bounds, or To limit motion. So here, 'They move their lips under your restraint; i. e. They curb their speech under your will.
510. mvp-comment-297-1 τῶνδε .. φρονεῖς; If you hold a course divergent from theirs. Cp. supr. 375, μήτ᾽ ἴσον φρονῶν.
512. mvp-comment-298-1 καταντίον In opposition to him.
514. mvp-comment-299-1 Why then do you honour a service which involves impiety to him? Honour, i. e. By zealously performing it.
515. mvp-comment-300-1 ὁ κατθανών νέκυς Eteocles.
516. mvp-comment-301-1 i. e. If you honour the impious one equally with him.
517. mvp-comment-302-1 For the omission of the participle, see Essay on Language § 23. p. 38.
519. mvp-comment-303-1 τοὺς νόμους τούτους Cp. supr. 452.
519. mvp-comment-303-2 ἴσους, the reading of the corrector of L, rather injures the line by dividing the emphasis, which rests entirely on ὅμως. Essay on Language § 41. p. 76 (4).
520. mvp-comment-304-1 ἴσος Of equal right. ἴσos has the construction of ἄξιος or δίκαιος. Essay on Language § 36. p. 64.
521. mvp-comment-305-1 Who can tell if this be not esteemed pious in the under-world? τάδε, this, which you count impious, the burial of Polynices. Schol., τίς οἶδεν εἰ καθ' Ἅιδου ἀλλήλοις διαλλάσσοντες ἡγοῦνται εὐσεβῆ τάδε. τίς οἶδεν εἰ, like Haud scio an in Latin, suggests an affirmative as possible, as in the lines τίς οἶδεν εἰ τὸ ζῆν μὲν ἐστι κατθανεῖν | τὸ κατθανεῖν δὲ ζῆν; κάτωθεν, see v. rr., is possibly right.
522-523. mvp-comment-306-1 Creon means that Eteocles must still hate Polynices after death. To which Antigone rejoins, in the line which expresses what is deepest in her, If it be so, his hatred is no rule for me. Creon sees that further argument is useless, and breaks off impatiently with an abrupt sentence of death.
524-525. mvp-comment-307-1 Go, then, to your grave, and there, if you must love them, love the dead below! κείνους, sc. τοὺς κάτω, with particular reference to Polynices.
526-530. mvp-comment-308-1 Here comes Ismene forth, shedding sisterly tears; from clouds above her brow, that moisten her fair cheek, doing disgrace unto her flushed countenance. Cp. Sh Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, 1. 1, Lys. Why is your cheek so pale? | How chance the roses there do fade so fast? | Herm. Belike, for want of rain, which I could well | Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes. Ant. and Cleo. 3. 2. 52. Il. 17. 591, ἄχεος νεφέλη: Eur. Hipp. 173, ὀφρύων νέφος: Aesch. Prom. 144-145, ὀμίχλα .. πλήρης δακρύων.
527. mvp-comment-309-1 δάκρυ᾽ εἰβομένη is the Triclinian reading for δάκρυα λειβόμενα. δάκρυ λειβομένη has been conjectured. But the construction, with φιλάδελφα adverbial, is less simple and therefore less pathetic. δάκρυα εἰβομένη is read in M³.
529. mvp-comment-310-1 ῥέθος Eur. Η. F. 1204, πάρες ἀπ᾿ ὀμμάτων | πέπλον . . ῥέθος ἀελίῳ δεῖξον.
531. mvp-comment-311-1 ὡς ἔχιδν᾽ ὑφειμένη Having slid in secretly like a snake; i.e. Like a serpent lurking. For the feeling associated with ὑφίημι, cp. Ο. Τ. 387, ὑφεὶς μάγον τοιόνδε μηχανορράφον.
532. mvp-comment-312-1 ἐξέπινες Cp. Tr. 1055-1056, ῥοφεῖ ξυνοικοῦν· ἐκ δὲ χλωρὸν αἷμά μου | πέπωκεν ἤδη.
533. mvp-comment-313-1 ἄτα κἀπαναστάσεις Abstract for concrete. See Essay on Language p. 94.
533. mvp-comment-313-2 θρόνων, obj. gen. Ib. § 9. p. 12.
536. mvp-comment-314-1 εἴπερ ἥδ᾽ ὁμορροθεῖ The Scholiast has noticed the apparent absurdity of Ismene's adding this condition to her avowal; and Schneidewin alters the line το δέδρακα τοὔργον, εἴπερ ἥδ᾽· ὁμορροθῶ. But the inconsistency is touchingly significant of the irresolute character of Ismene, and of the ascendancy of Antigone's stern nature over hers.
537. mvp-comment-315-1 τῆς αἰτίας is directly governed by ξυμμετίσχω, the notion of participation being silently continued in καὶ φέρω. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 331, πάντων μετασχὼν καὶ τετολμηκὼς ἐμοί.
539. mvp-comment-316-1 οὔτ᾽ ἐγὼ 'κοινωσάμην Supr. 69.
541. mvp-comment-317-1 ξύμπλουν Essay on Language p. 94.
542. mvp-comment-318-1 Antigone's offering to the dead was made in solitude, and without the presence of the sun.
545. mvp-comment-319-1 ἁγνίσαι τιμῆσαι Schol. Ismene means, Though I shrank from the deed, let me share the glory of it by accepting the consequences.
546. mvp-comment-320-1 ἅ = ταῦτα ὧν. Essay on Language § 35. P. 59. μή, ibid. § 29. p. 48.
548. mvp-comment-321-1 τίς βίος i. e. πῶς ὁ βίος; See Essay on Language § 22. p. 36.
549. mvp-comment-322-1 'Ask Creon. He has your care and duty;' i.e. Creon is more to you than your brother is.
551. mvp-comment-323-1 εἰ γέλωτ᾽ ἔν σοι γελῶ Schneidewin's explanation of this line, It is painful to me to be mocking you, my sister, is out of harmony with the tone of Antigone, although it is true that in this line her bitterness is somewhat softened. Either δή, κεἰ must be read, or εἰ explained as = κεἰ. I have grief enough, I assure you, though I laugh a bitter laugh at thee. Cp. 728, εἰ δ' ἐγὼ νέος = Though I am young: Eur. Or. 484, εἰ δὲ δυστυχεῖ, τιμητέος. See Essay on Language § 28. p. 47.
552. mvp-comment-324-1 ἀλλὰ νῦν Essay on Language § 26. p. 43. Par. E suggests ἐπωφελοῖμ᾽.
554. mvp-comment-325-1 κἀμπλάκω i. e. ἢ σώσω ἐμαυτὴν καὶ ἀμπλάκω.
556. mvp-comment-326-1 ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ . . λόγοις But not without my saying what I said, was this choice made. Ismene would clear herself from the imputation of merely shrinking from the attempt through cowardice, or without laying before her sister the grounds of her own conduct, as she had done supr. 49 ff. She also wishes to remind Antigone of ll. 78, 99, which acquit her of indifference towards the dead. But Antigone only recalls the argument against opposing those in power. Wolff compares Eur. Ion 228, ἐπὶ δ' ἀσφάκτοις μήλοις μὴ πάριτε.
557. mvp-comment-327-1 Your counsel seemed wise to these' (Creon, etc., τοῖς ἐνθάδε), but mine to those (Polynices and the powers below, τοῖς ἐκεῖ). The form of the sentence is accommodated to the latter part of it. If the first part were fully expressed it would be ἐδόκεις ἄν. G. Wolff and Wecklein prefer the reading σὺ μὲν σοί. But the opposition of τοῖς μὲν, τοῖς δέ, is more pointed.
558. mvp-comment-328-1 (1) Ismene reiterates, still feebly, what she had asserted in 536-537. Or (2) 'We are both in equal error,'-you against the state, and I against the dead. The first (1) is best. In either case, Antigone rejoins, You need not trouble yourself to make confessions. You are safe.
559-560. mvp-comment-329-1 ἡ δ᾽ ἐμὴ.. ὠφελεῖν My soul has long been with the dead, to do them service. In these words Antigone may be supposed to say, either (1) From the moment when my resolution was taken, my life has been with the dead, devoted in sacrifice to their aid; cp. supr. 72 and note: or (2) I have long been dead to all the joys of life, and am therefore a fit sacrifice to the service of the dead. So Wecklein. Cp. Shak. Merch. of V. 4. 1, I am a tainted wether of the flock, etc. But the former meaning (1) is alone consistent with the betrothal of Antigone to Haemon.
562. mvp-comment-330-1 τὴν δ᾽.. ἔφυ We learn from this line, and from supr. 499-501, that there had never been much sympathy between Antigone and Creon.
563-564. mvp-comment-331-1 The unfortunate never retain even the reason that was born with them, but lose it in distraction. Ismene intends her excuse to cover Antigone.
564. mvp-comment-332-1 Creon echoes κακῶς πράσσουσιν. You lost your wits when you chose to share the guilt of the wicked. Cp. 536 ff., 558.
566. mvp-comment-333-1 Why, what life that deserves the name could be mine in loneliness apart from her?
567. mvp-comment-334-1 Say not "this maiden." She is no longer here. The word ἥδε remains in the nominative. This often happens when a word is quoted with the article; which, however, is elsewhere omitted in similar cases, as for instance when the word so quoted is the predicate of a sentence. Cp. Plato, Theaet. 164 Β, τὸ δέ γε οὐχ ὁρᾷ οὐκ ἐπίσταταί ἐστιν, εἴπερ καὶ τὸ ὁρᾷ ἐπίσταται, where ἐπίσταται is equally out of construction with ἥδε in this line.
568. mvp-comment-335-1 νυμφεῖα Essay on Language p. 94.
569. mvp-comment-336-1 Ср. О. Т. 1211, 1497-1498, foll.
570. mvp-comment-337-1 Not as their hearts were plighted. Literally, Not in such a way as harmony had been prepared between him and her. Cp. Pind. Pyth. 9.13, ξυνὸν ἁρμόζοισα θεῷ τε γάμον κούρᾳ θ' Ὑψέος εὐρυβία.
571. mvp-comment-338-1 The plural generalizes the expression.
571. mvp-comment-338-2 υἱέσι Dative of the person interested.
572. mvp-comment-339-1 *AN. The MSS. have ΙΣ. But Böckh has given strong reasons for following Aldus in assigning the line to Antigone. The last speech of Creon might well move her to break silence, which she does naturally by resenting the words not for herself, but for Haemon. There is also greater bitterness in this line than in any speech of Ismene. Then, granting that τὸ σὸν λέχος, addressed to Ismene, might mean The marriage you prate of, the words express a much deeper feeling as addressed to Antigone. Outwardly a mere expression of impatience, they convey the only touch of natural feeling which Creon betrays. 574 and 576 are then most naturally given to the chorus. The act of Creon in sacrificing his son's happiness is more solemnly marked when his words are addressed to the coryphaeus. While adhering to this view I am bound to add that some of the best critics prefer the other arrangement of the persons.
577. mvp-comment-340-1 καὶ σοί γε κάμοί Sc. δεδογ μένα: i. e. σὺ μὲν οὕτω δοκεῖς, ἐμοὶ δὲ δέδοκται. We are agreed so far.
577. mvp-comment-340-2 τριβάς Sc. ποιείσθε. Essay on Language §39. p. 74.
578. mvp-comment-341-1 'Henceforth these must be really women, and not left at large;' i. e. They must be treated as women. Cp. l. 484. This reading, although defaced in L, may well be defended against such would-be improvements as εὖ δὲ τάσδε χρὴ | γυναῖκας εἶλαι (Dind.), and εὖ δετὰς δὲ χρὴ | γυναῖκας εἶναι (Seyffert), which are to be condemned, amongst other reasons, for destroying the singleness of the emphasis. Creon, as usual, covers his self-will under the appearance of principle. Cp. Plat. Legg. 1.637, ταχὺ γάρ σου λάβοιτ᾽ ἄν τις τῶν παρ' ἡμῶν ἀμυνόμενος, δεικνὺς τὴν τῶν γυναικῶν παρ' ὑμῖν ἄνεσιν : Ar. Pol. 2. 6. The words indicate that Antigone's going beyond the gate, supr. 18, 19, was an exceptional freedom, consequent on the war. Thus Sophocles is contented with a hint, where Euripides thinks an explanation necessary: Phoen. 89-91.
582. mvp-comment-342-1 The fate of Antigone is sealed, and the chorus moralize over the power of fate and of Zeus, as shown in the continued calamities of the race of Labdacus, and the infatuation ('quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ') of Antigone. The spectator is left free to apply the same reflections to the case of Creon.
582. mvp-comment-342-2 'Calamity is like a storm that stirs the lowest depths and sounds afar. The race once touched is never free. Each generation as it rises is struck down.
582. mvp-comment-342-3 'The house of Labdacus has sorrow upon sorrow. Amidst the ruined grove one root was springing, only to be swept under by the cruel dues of Hades in a frenzy of infatuation.
582. mvp-comment-342-4 Who can restrain the power of Zeus? Unchecked by sleep or age he ever dwells in the light of Olympus. This was and shall be now and evermore, a truth that spareth not the lives of men, whom hope deceives, giving comfort indeed, but also inspiring passionate folly, till disappointment comes, before the man hath seen that he is treading on fire. Wise was he who said that evil seemeth good to one whom God is drawing to perdition. Few are the days of his exemption from that dark lot.
582. mvp-comment-342-5 The 1st strophe opens solemnly with three dactylo-epitritic or Doric lines, which are followed by iambic and trochaic rhythms. The 2nd strophe is logaoedic, with syncope of thesis in ll. 3, 5, 7, 11 a'. β'. ILCCICcl alcl- LullLCClcclcla 10101010 51-1 CLL下CICLI トCICICI CCICCICLI 1101007ID トトー CCCII 100II
582. mvp-comment-342-6 οἶσι .. αἰών Whose life is free from taste of misery. Blessed, because of the rarity of their lot, and because of the unsparing persistence of calamity when it comes to any. For κακῶν ἄγευστος, cp. Ο. Τ. 969, ἄψαυστος ἔγχους.
583. mvp-comment-343-1 θεόθεν The adverb of place supports the metaphor of a storm coming from a certain quarter. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 1089, ῥιπὴ Διόθεν.
583-584. mvp-comment-344-1 ἄτας | οὐδὲν ἐλλείπει Cp. l. 2, ff.
585. mvp-comment-345-1 ἔρπον The real subject of this is πᾶσα ἄτη (or τὸ πᾶν ἄτης) implied in the preceding words, the positive being educed from the negative. Calamity stints not, but goes on till it fulfils the number of the race.
586-589. mvp-comment-346-1 ὅμοιον.. πνοαῖς Like as when the billow courses over the darkening deep before fell Thracian blasts from the Euxine sea. Some interpreters make ἔρεβος subj, and οἶδμα obj. of ἐπιδράμῃ, when the darkening wave courses over the main. But οἶδμα elsewhere in Sophocles is not the expanse (aequor) but the swelling of the sea, and ἔρεβος ὕφαλον can hardly be anything else than the nether darkness of the deep. For the accumulation of adjectives, see Essay on Language § 23. p. 37. Seyffert reads ὡς προποντίδος. 589 ff. It rolls from depths below the black tempestuous drift. 591. And the cliffs, returning the shock, groaningly resound.'
586-589. mvp-comment-346-2 δυσάνεμον A sign of tempest, 'Associated with bad winds, because only seen when the wind has been blowing hard on shore. Ventorum vehementiorum comitem.' Musgr. 593, foll. From of old I see with pain' (ὁρῶμαι, ethical middle, Essay on Language § 31. p. 52) 'the calamities of the house of Labdacus accumulating on the calamities of those that are gone; nor does one generation free another, but some god casts them down; nor is there hope of redemption.'
586-589. mvp-comment-346-3 ἀρχαῖα has the stress as suppl. predicate. Essay on Language § 23. p. 38.
595. mvp-comment-347-1 The reading of this line has been much questioned, but the meaning is clear, although it is uncertain what word (whether φθιτῶν or some other) has been supplanted by the unmetrical φθιμένων: which may be due to a reminiscence of Aesch. Cho. 403. 4, παρὰ τῶν πρότερον φθιμένων ἄτην | ἑτέραν ἐπάγουσαν ἐπ᾿ ἄτῃ.
596. mvp-comment-348-1 γενεὰν γένος There is no distinction of meaning (such as One generation, .. 'The whole race'). Cp. O. C. 27, 28, ἐξοικήσιμος .. οἰκητός.
596. mvp-comment-348-2 ἐρείπει Sc. γενεὰν ἑκάστην. Cp. infra 601, κατ᾽ αὖ νιν, κ.τ.λ.
597. mvp-comment-349-1 οὐδ᾽ ἔχει Nor does the case admit of. Cp. Ο. C. 545, ἔχει δέ μοι ..
597. mvp-comment-349-2 πρὸς δίκας τι.
600. mvp-comment-350-1 ῥίζας Ἀντὶ τοῦ, ὅπερ ἔβλαστεν ἄνω τῆς ῥίζης, Schol. The root, for the plant.
600. mvp-comment-350-2 *ἐτέτατο The Scholiast notes the asyndeton (λείπει ἄρθρον τὸ ὅ): which is expressive and allows viv to be referred to ῥίζας, to which it naturally belongs. And in the reading ῥίζας δ τέτατο, the order of words is questionable. For ἐτέτατο φάος, cp. Phil. 831, αἴγλαν, ἃ τέταται τανῦν. The light is the grace and nobleness of Antigone, and her bright hopes. The conj. θάλος, for which, cp. Pind. Οl. 2. 45, Ἀδραστιδᾶν θάλος, is uncalled for.
601. mvp-comment-351-1 κατ' was rightly restored by Triclinius for κατ' (ⅰ.e. καὶ εἶτα), which had been introduced to avoid the asvndeton. (Schol. ἐάν στίξωμεν κᾷτ᾽ αὖ νιν, οὐδὲν λείπει τῷ λόγῳ.)
602-603. mvp-comment-352-1 ἀμᾷ θερίζει καὶ ἐκκόπτει. ἢ καλύπτει, Schol. The latter is right.
602-603. mvp-comment-352-2 Ας καταμᾶσθαι κόνιν is ‘Το cover oneself with dust,' so, by a poetical inversion, the dust may be said καταμᾶν, To cover, or Sweep out of sight. Essay on Language § 42. р. 80, β.
603. mvp-comment-353-1 λόγου τ᾽ ἄνοια καὶ φρενῶν Ἐριvús The reasoning of Antigone in 450 ff. seems wild to the chorus, and her conduct shows her to them as possessed with a fatal frenzy. It may be thought strange that κόνις should be retained against a reading which has been so generally ap- proved as κόπις, first suggested by Jortin. But see Essay on Language pp. 92, 93. The grotesque image of Death, or Hades, armed with a bloody chopper or cleaver, however agreeable to the manner of Euripides, or some other poets, has no parallel in the language of Sophocles. And the transition from this concrete imagery to the spirits of fury and madness is, to say the least, awkwardly abrupt. The words λόγου τ᾽ ἄνοια καὶ φρενῶν Ἐρινύς are most natural if they are added to expand an obscure allusion to the deed which had brought Antigone into danger. And the words φοινία θεῶν τῶν νερτέρων .. κόνις, The deadly dust sacred to the gods below, convey such an allusion not more obscurely than do the words in Tr. 836 ff., δεινοτάτῳ μὲν ὕδρας προστετακὼς φάσματι, κ.τ.λ., express the condition of Heracles in the poisoned robe. Triclinius was therefore not absurd in saying εἰκότως δὲ τὸ κόνις τέθειται. διότι γὰρ ἐκάλυψεν Ἀντιγόνη ἀδελφὸν Πολυνείκην κόνει, διὰ τοῦτο τεθνήξεσθαι ἔμελλε.
604. mvp-comment-354-1 This is suggested by the position of Antigone, whose offence brings swift retribution; but is felt by the spectator to be more applicable to that of Creon.
604-605. mvp-comment-355-1 τίς .. κατάσχοι Essay on Language §36. p. 62. Ср. O. T. 937, and esp. Pind. Οl. 11. 20, 1, ἐμφυὲς οὔτ᾽ αἴθων ἀλώπηξ | οὐδ᾽ ἐρίβρομοι λέοντες διαλλάξαιντο ἦθος.
606. mvp-comment-356-1 Not slumber that brings age to all things.' Cp. Hom. Il. 14. 242, where Sleep says, ἄλλον μέν κεν ἔγωγε θεῶν αἰειγενετάων | ῥεῖα κατευνήσαιμι, καὶ ἂν ποταμοῖο ῥέεθρα | Ὠκεανοῦ, ὅσπερ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται | Ζηνὸς δ' οὐκ ἂν ἔγωγε Κρονίονος ἆσσον ἱκοίμην, οὐδὲ κατευνήσαιμ᾽, ὅτε μὴ αὐτός γε κελεύοι. For αἱρεῖ, cp. Il. 24.5, οὐδέ μιν ὕπνος ἥρει πανδαμάτωρ: Od. 9. 372, κὰδ δέ μιν ὕπνος ἥρει πανδαμάτωρ. The conjecture of Bamberger, παντοθήρας, is plausible. But for the closeness of the association between Age and Sleep, cp. O. T. 870-871, οὐδὲ λάθα κατακοιμάσει .. οὐδὲ γηράσκει.
607-608. mvp-comment-357-1 The reading adopted involves the simplest change which avoids a breach of metrical rules. Others suppose, the loss of a syllable after θεῶν, reading ἄκοποι for ἀκάματοι, with ἕρπει in the fourth line of the antistrophe. For θεῶν added as a sort of epithet = Divine, cp. supra 454, 369: Ο. Τ. 647 : Αj. 711, θεῶν.. πάνθυτα θέσμια : Phil. 198: also Tr. 1191, Ζηνός. The indefiniteness of this use obviates the objection of Schneidewin, that the months of the Gods are opposed to Zeus, who is generally the orderer of time, as in Hom. Il. 2. 134, Διὸς μεγάλου ἐνιαυτοί. There is possibly, however, in θεῶν some allusion to the heavenly bodies, who, as Plato says, are the ὄργανα χρόνου.
608. mvp-comment-358-1 ἀγήρῳ δὲ χρόνῳ δυνάστας With power whose duration is untouched by age. For the personification of χρόνος, see Essay on Language pp. 81, 82. The reading ἀγήρως seems to be of some antiquity, and is embodied in one of the Scholia.
610. mvp-comment-359-1 αἴγλαν Cp. Hom. Il. 1. 532, ἀπ᾿ αἰγλήεντος Ὀλύμπου. The conception of Olympus is here more Homeric than elsewhere in Sophocles. See on O. T. 867, О. С. 1655.
611-612. mvp-comment-360-1 τό τ᾽ ἔπειτα καὶ τὸ μέλλον καὶ τὸ πρίν] Cp. Thuc. 2. 64, § 8.
613. mvp-comment-361-1 The reading οὐδὲν *ἕρπων is to some extent confirmed by the Scholium ση πάμπολις, ὁ κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν ἕρπων νόμος, and is the most probable of the emendations of this passage. It has been supposed that οὐδὲν ἔρπει, and also ἐκτὸς ἄτας, have crept in from below; but this stasimon is peculiarly full of verbal echoes. See Essay on Language § 44. p. 76. This principle' (the sovereignty of Zeus) will last the coming time, and the time to come, as well as the time past, never swerving, as it moves onwards, from calamity to the life of mortals in all their cities. Lit. Coming to the life of mortals (a law of every city) in no respect out of the way of calamity. οὐδέν, adverbial.
613. mvp-comment-361-2 βιότῳ, dat. of reference (Essay on Language § 12. p. 18). πάμπολις, universal, i.e. law not of any one state, but embracing all. For ἕρπων ἐκτὸς ἅτας θνατῶν βιότῳ, cp. infra l. 1318: ἐμᾶς.. ἐξ αἰτίας (= ἐκτὸς αἰτίας ἐμοί): Ο. C. 1575, ἐν καθαρῷ βῆναι .. τῷ ξένῳ: Essay on Language § 42. p. 79.
615. mvp-comment-362-1 πολύπλαγκτος There is no clear instance of an active use of πολύπλαγκτος, for in Hom. Il. 13. 308, έξ ἀνέμοιο πολυπλάγκτοιο ἰωῆς, The fartravelled wind, is a probable enough meaning. Cp. Shakespeare's Empty, vast, and wandering air. So here Widely roving' is better than Muchdeceiving.' Cp. infr. 785-786.
617. mvp-comment-363-1 ἀπάτα . . ἐρώτων ἐρώτων is not genitive of object, but of cause: not Disappointment of desire, but De ception through desire. To many, hope is but the deceitfulness of winged desire.
618. mvp-comment-364-1 εἰδότι δ᾽ οὐδὲν ἕρπει And it comes to him all at unaware, i. e. The event or calamity comes. For the vague subject, cp. supra 597, οὐδ᾽ ἔχει λύσιν, and note. This is better than Nothing befals him while he is aware. 619. Till his foot be scorched in the hot blaze.' For the insertion of τις in the second clause, cp. Aj. 964, τἀγαθὸν χεροῖν | ἔχοντες οὐκ ἴσασι πρίν τις ἐκ βάλῃ : Τr. 2, 3, ὡς οὐκ ἂν αἰῶν᾽ ἐκμάθοις βροτῶν, πρὶν ἂν θάνῃ τις. Seidler's conj. προσαύρῃ is less good than the reading of L.
620. mvp-comment-365-1 σοφίᾳ Dative of manner. Essay on Language § 14. p. 20, 2.
625. mvp-comment-366-1 πράσσει, SC. ὁ τοιοῦτος, supr. l. 619, τις, l. 623 , τῷδ'. Cp. Aesch. ap. Plat. Rep. 2, p. 380 Α, θεὸς μὲν αἰτίαν φύει βροτοῖς | ὅταν κακῶσαι δῶμα παμπήδην θέλει.
625. mvp-comment-366-2 ὀλιγοστόν ὀλίγιστον has been read, and is possibly the Ist hand of L; see v. rr. But ὀλιγοστός χρόνος may mean a time that is one of few, i. e. one that comes rarely or seldom. πολλοστός in Legg. 10. 896 B, is not small, but many times removed, and has the force of a superlative, as it has also in Phileb. 44 E, where it means minutest.
626-627. mvp-comment-367-1 See Essay on Language § 40. p. 75.
628. mvp-comment-368-1 νύμφης had probably been written over μελλογάμου or τάλιδος as a gloss. The words τῆς μελλογάμου νύμφης are omitted in VM¹. This whole expression may have been a gloss on τάλιδος, or on τῆς μελλονύμφου φου infr. 633.
629. mvp-comment-369-1 μόρον Ε. on L. § 16. p. 23.
630. mvp-comment-370-1 ἀπάτας (1) Gen. of cause; or (2) with ὑπερ. Cp. Eur. Hipp. 260.
631. mvp-comment-371-1 μαντέων ὑπέρτερον Better than a seer could tell us. Creon thus vents his impatience at the anticipation of the chorus, and also indicates his scorn of prophecy. Cp. infr. 1034 ff.
632. mvp-comment-372-1 τελείαν ψήφον The fixed, irreversible, decree. Creon means by his first words to exclude hope.
632. mvp-comment-372-2 ἆρα μή Can it be that.., expressing doubt mingled with surprise.
633. mvp-comment-373-1 τῆς μελλονύμφου Objective genitive. Essay on Language § 9. p. 12.
633. mvp-comment-373-2 λυσσαίνων · Madly raging; as if opposition to a father could only be accounted for by madness. The word is ἅπαξ λεγόμενον, and is for this reason preferable to the weaker θυμαίνων.
634. mvp-comment-374-1 σοὶ μέν i.e. Whatever we may be to others.
635-765. mvp-comment-375-1 Haemon professes obedience to his father, but with the implied condition that his father commands what is right. Not heeding this, Creon welcomes his general profession, and enlarges on the blessings that follow from obedience in public and private. He urges Haemon to renounce Antigone. Haemon replies by repeating the praise of her which he has heard in the city (Ar. Rhet. 3. 17, ἕτερον χρὴ λέγοντα ποιεῖν.. ὡς Σοφοκλῆς τὸν Αἴμονα ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἀντιγόνης πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, ὡς λεγόντων ἑτέρων), and begs his father not to be deaf to all opinions but his own. Creon is impatient at this, and, after an altercation, in which both speakers become exasperated, Creon orders Antigone to be brought for immediate execution, and Haemon breaks away in sullen anger. This episode interposes a necessary pause between the condemnation of Antigone and its results, i. e, between the two chief crises of the action, and assists the main impression by bringing the light of natural affection and common opinion to bear on the situation.
635-636. mvp-comment-376-1 σύ μοι γνώμας ἔχων | χρηστὰς ἀπορθοῖς Sc. ἐμέ. You, having good advice for me, direct me. μοι is in construction with the nearer word.
637. mvp-comment-377-1 No marriage can, if I think rightly, be a more valued prize to me. ἀξίως ἔσται has been changed to ἀξιώσεται. But ἀξιοῦσθαι μείζων φέρεσθαι, To be deemed of more importance to obtain, is an awkward and unauthorized expression and, for the position and emphatic use of the adverb, which is the only difficulty, see Essay on Language § 24. pp. 37, 38, and cp. the adverbial use of ἄξιος in El. 1260 ff., τίς .. ἀξίαν μεταβάλοιτ᾽ ἂν .. σιγὰν λόγων ;
638. mvp-comment-378-1 For μείζων, = τιμιώτερος, cp. Ο. Τ. 776, ἀστῶν μέγιστος τῶν ἐκεῖ.
638. mvp-comment-378-2 φέρεσθαι is in the middle voice.
638. mvp-comment-378-3 σοῦ καλῶς ἡγουμένου Than you and your good guidance. The condition is assumed to be inseparable from the subject, as in Plat. Rep. 1. 335 A, τὸν μὲν φίλον ἀγαθὸν ὄντα εὖ ποιεῖν, τὸν δὲ ἐχθρὸν κακὸν ὄντα βλάπτειν.
639. mvp-comment-379-1 οὕτω .. διὰ στέρνων ἔχειν Το be thoroughly imbued with this.
640. mvp-comment-380-1 'In all things to follow your father's judgment.' The image is that of taking up a position behind a leader: i. e. Not to break rank, but to follow in good order. Cp. Plat. Protag. 315 B, (the disciples of Protagoras) εὖ πως καὶ ἐν κόσμῳ . . ἀεὶ εἰς τὸ ὄπισθεν καθίσταντο κάλλιστα.
643. mvp-comment-381-1 τὸν ἐχθρόν 'Their father's enemy.'
646. mvp-comment-382-1 τί .. ἄλλο is governed by the general verbal notion, without distinctly anticipating φῦσαι.
648. mvp-comment-383-1 τὰς φρένας γ᾽ ὑφ᾽ ἡδονῆς The reading of Vat. is retained, not as clearly right, but as more probable than later corrections. γε may be supposed to give a strong emphasis to φρένας. Do not lose your wits, whatever you do. And this is rather confirmed by the way in which Haemon echoes the word in l. 683.
650-651. mvp-comment-384-1 ψυχρὸν παραγκάλισμα . . ἐν δόμοις 'Small comfort comes of such a union, of having a bad wife to share one's couch at home.'
653. mvp-comment-385-1 πτύσας Rejecting with abhorrence. Here and in l. 1232, πτύειν seems to imply a gesture of dislike or loathing, directed towards a person or thing. Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1192, ἐν μέρει δ' ἀπέπτυσαν | εὐνὰς ἀδελφοῦ.
653. mvp-comment-385-2 ὡσεί τε Αn Epic or Ionic form. See Introd. p. 456.
654. mvp-comment-386-1 The construction is rather μέθες τήνδε τινὶ νυμφεύειν, Leave her for some one to wed, than μέθες τήνδε νυμφεύειν τινί, Leave her to wed some one.
657. mvp-comment-387-1 ψευδή .. πόλει I certainly will not break my word to the state.
658. mvp-comment-388-1 ἀλλὰ κτενῶ The abruptness of the pause helps the incisiveness of Creon's language.
659-660. mvp-comment-389-1 εἰ γὰρ .. γένους For if I fail to bring up orderly those born akin to me, most surely I shall fail with those remote. Creon turns Antigone's nearness of kindred to him into a reason for severity. If he cannot control his kinswoman, how much less can he control the state! Authority begins at home.
659. mvp-comment-390-1 For ἐγγενή φύσει, see Essay on Language § 40. p. 69, and p. 82, B.
661. mvp-comment-391-1 τοῖς .. οἰκείοισιν Neuter. Creon characteristically relies on commonplace maxims.
663. mvp-comment-392-1 The transgressor who either violates the laws. The alternative is thought of after the sentence is begun. νόμους is in two constructions, (1) with ὑπερβάς, (2) with βιάζεται.
664. mvp-comment-393-1 τοὐπιτάσσειν Cp. supr. 485, and note.
664. mvp-comment-393-2 τοῖς κρατύνουσιν νοεῖ The reading of L here is rather more uncommon than the alternative reading, which may notwithstanding be right.
666. mvp-comment-394-1 For the optative, in a perfectly general supposition, see Essay on Language §36. p. 61.
666. mvp-comment-394-2 κλύειν Το obey.
667. mvp-comment-395-1 τἀναντία τὰ μεγαλὰ καὶ ἄδικα.
668-671. mvp-comment-396-1 And of this man (the man who obeys the ruler) I would have no fear but that he would rule nobly, and be a good and willing subject, and if posted near me in the storm of battle, would stand firmly as a staunch and trusty comrade. For the vague reference of the pronoun, see Essay on Language § 22. p. 34. And for δορός .. χειμῶνι, ib.
673. mvp-comment-397-1 αὕτη .. τίθησιν The anacoluthon (for which see Essay on Language p. 65) has been avoided in two ways, (1) by omission of τε, (2) by reading ἠδ' for ἥδ'. This Homericism is defended by comparing ὥσει τε in l. 653. There is slight MS. authority for both these changes (see v. rr.). But strong reasons are required for the introduction of a particle not used elsewhere by Sophocles, and after the regularly balanced τε.. ἠδέ, the asyndeton in the next line would be too abrupt. If any change were necessary, the omission of τ' would be preferable, but the lines are more expressive as they are.
674. mvp-comment-398-1 σὺν μάχῃ δορός Bothe conjectured συμμάχου δορός, The rout of the leagued war. But the reading of the MS. has a more vivid meaning. This, aiding the conflict of the spear, breaks down (the vanquished) into shapeless rout: i. e. Disorder helps with battle to make utter rout. For μάχῃ δορός, see Essay on Language p. 75, and for the accusative τροπάς, ib. § 17. p. 25, etc.
675. mvp-comment-399-1 τῶν δ᾽ ὀρθουμένων Of those who are not routed, but are successful. Opposed to οἱ ἡσσώμενοι implied in τροπάς. Cp. El. 742, ὠρθοῦθ' ὁ τλήμων ὀρθὸς ἐξ ὀρθῶν δίφρων.
677. mvp-comment-400-1 οὕτως.. κοσμουμένοις 'Thus one ought to support one's own decrees.' Thus, viz. as I am doing. For this use of the passive participle, see Essay on Language § 17. p. 25, с. Some would explain the words as masculine, One must defend the cause of the orderly subject. Cp. Thuc. 8. 24, ἐκοσμοῦντο ἐχυρώτερον. But such an immediate application of the γνώμη is less in character than the arbitrary assertion of authority. Cp. Hdt. 1. 100, τὰ δὲ δὴ ἄλλα ἐκεκοσμέατό οἱ.
681. mvp-comment-401-1 The form κεκλίμεθα (supposed from κλίνω) was supported by the authority of Thomas Magister.
683. mvp-comment-402-1 θεοὶ.. ὑπέρτατον Wisdom, whose value is above all possessions in the world, is the Gods gift.' Haemon begins by echoing his father's thought, supr. 648, that sound sense is to be prized most highly, but gently hints that Heaven only knows on which side the true wisdom lies. The reading χρημάτων requires ὑπέρτερον, as in L2.
686. mvp-comment-403-1 μήτ᾽ ἐπισταίμην λέγειν i. e. And may I never bring myself to say it. Cp. Trach. 543. 4, θυμοῦσθαι μὲν οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι | νοσοῦντι κείνῳ πολλά.
687. mvp-comment-404-1 χἀτέρῳ Schol. δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως καλῶς μεταβουλεύσασθαι. Hence Erfurdt and others conjectured χἀτέρως, χατέρα, χἄτερον. Hermann, retaining χἀτέρῳ, interprets, Another also may have wisdom as well as you: i.e. καλῶς ἔχον, sc. τὸ τῶν φρενῶν. But the context rather suggests καλῶς ἔχον, sc. τὸ λέγειν σὲ μὴ ὀρθῶς λέγειν. 'That you are wrong in what you now say I have no power, and may I never have the skill, to affirm. But it may be that from another's mouth such an assertion were not ungracious.' καί in this case belongs to the whole sentence. See Essay on Language § 25. p. 43. 4.
688. mvp-comment-405-1 σοῦ δ᾽ οὖν πέφυκα is decidedly better than σὺ δ᾽ οὐ πέφυκας, which seems to have been suggested by τὸ γὰρ σὸν ὄμμα δεινόν, κ.τ.λ., in what follows. The true connection is, It is not for me to say that you are wrong, though another might do so. However, as your son, it naturally belongs to me to consider in your interest what men do, or say, or find fault with. For the common citizen does not speak his mind in your presence, but I may freely hear. Haemon winds about his father with all this circumstance before pleading for Antigone under shelter of the common opinion, which he professes to quote in the interest of Creon. The tact shown in this is noticed by Aristotle (Rhet. 3. 17) and by the Scholiast. The reading of A, V pr., V³, σοὶ δ' οὖν πέφυκα, deserves consideration.
690-691. mvp-comment-406-1 τὸ γὰρ .. κλύων For your eye overawes the subject in conversation which will displease you to hear. λόγοις τοιούτοις is dative of the occasion or reason, assisted by the attraction of οἷς. Essay on Language § 14. p. 20.
690-691. mvp-comment-406-2 τὸ γὰρ σόν The order puts an emphasis on σόν, as in O. Τ. 671, τὸ γὰρ σόν, οὐ τὸ τοῦδ᾽ ἐποικτείρω στόμα.
692. mvp-comment-407-1 ἐμοὶ δ᾽.. τάδε But I may hear all this under shadow (out of the light of your eye). The words ὑπὸ σκότου might equally have been connected with the following line. I hear in secret what is spoken in secret.
694. mvp-comment-408-1 ἀναξιωτάτη Sc. τοιαῦτα παθεῖν.
695. mvp-comment-409-1 ἀπ᾿ ἔργων See Essay on Language § 19. p. 28.
697. mvp-comment-410-1 πεπτῶτ᾽ ἄθαπτον i. e. πεπτώτα καὶ ἄθαπτον ὄντα.
697. mvp-comment-410-2 μήθ'.. μήθ' μή, not oὔ, because ἥτις, κ.τ.λ. = εἰ αὕτη, κ.τ.λ.
700. mvp-comment-411-1 ἐρεμνή Dark, i.e. Fraught with hidden danger. (Cp. ὑπὸ σκότου, supra). The word is used with something of the association of awe and dread attaching to night and darkness. Cp. Hom. Il. 1. 47. ὁ δ᾽ ἤτε νυκτὶ ἐοικώς.
701. mvp-comment-412-1 σοῦ πράσσοντος εὐτυχῶς Cp. supra 638, σοῦ καλῶς ἡγουμένου.
703. mvp-comment-413-1 πατρὸς θάλλοντος εὐκλείας The good renown of a prosperous sire. Haemon thus gently hints his fear of the effect of the sentence on Creon's reputation in the city.
704. mvp-comment-414-1 ἄγαλμα A cause of glorying or delight. Cp. infra 1115, Καδμείας νύμφας ἄγαλμα.
704. mvp-comment-414-2 ἢ τί πρὸς παίδων πατρί ; Or what greater ornament (than their own good fame) can children confer upon their father?
705-706. mvp-comment-415-1 Do not, I beseech you, wear one unchanging temper in your breast, and hold that nothing else is right but as you say. τοῦτο is added because of the imperfect correlation of the clauses. See Essay on Language p. 75.
707-709. mvp-comment-416-1 For ὅστις .. οὗτοι, ib. § 20. p. 31.
707-709. mvp-comment-416-2 For the formal distinction of φρονεῖν, γλῶσσαν, ψυχήν, cp. supra 176, ψυχήν τε καὶ φρόνημα καὶ γνώμην, and see Essay on Language pp. 92, 3.
710. mvp-comment-417-1 ἄνδρα Ε. on L. § 22. p. 37.
710. mvp-comment-417-2 κεἴ τις ᾖ Ε. on L. § 27. p. 44.
710. mvp-comment-417-3 τὸ μανθάνειν Essay on Language § 21. p. 34-38.
711. mvp-comment-418-1 καὶ τὸ μὴ τείνειν ἄγαν And not to hold too hard. This absolute use of τείνειν is generalized from the examples given below.
713-714. mvp-comment-419-1 Note the antithesis of κλῶνας .. αὐτόπρεμνα. The one save even their branches, the others are destroyed root and branch. For the image, cp. Webster's Appius and Virginia, p. 203. (iii. 3), The bending willow, yielding to each wind, | Shall keep his footing firm, when the proud oak, | Braving the storm, presuming on his root, | Shall have his body rent from head to foot.
715. mvp-comment-420-1 ναὸς .. ἐγκρατῆ πόδα The sheet which has power over the vessel. This is a more poetical and rhythmical expression than the other reading, ναὸς εἴ τις ἐγκρατής, πόδα | τείνας, ὑπείκει μηδέν.
716-717. mvp-comment-421-1 ὑπτίοις.. ναυτίλλεται Upsetting, makes the rest of his voyage with benches overturned. Join κάτω στρέψας. τὸ λοιπόν as in ll. 310, foll., where there is a similar contradictory expression. The omission of the accusative after στρέψας is natural in speaking of so familiar an occurrence as the over-setting of a boat. Essay on Language pp. 73, 98. τὸ πλοῖον, which Hermann reads for τὸ λοιπόν, is hardly a correct synonym for ναῦν or σκάφος.
718. mvp-comment-422-1 ἀλλ᾽.. δίδου Nay, yield. Be not wholly irremovable in anger. Lit. Afford also a removal from anger. This seems to be the best arrangement of this difficult line; i. e. εἰ θυμὸν ἔχεις, ἀλλὰ πεισθῆτι καὶ μεθίστασθαι τοῦ θυμοῦ. The asyndeton is expressive (Essay on Language § 34. P. 58). The reading of LA, ἀλλ᾽ εἶκε θυμῷ, is perhaps due to a false reminiscence of Il. 9.598, εἴξας ᾧ θυμῷ. Seyffert reads θυμῷ .. διδούς.
719-720. mvp-comment-423-1 γνώμη .. πρόσεστι For if any judgment proceed from me (ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ) though younger in years. Cp. Τr. 52, 3, εἰ δίκαιον τοὺς ἐλευθέρους φρενοῦν | γνώμαισι δούλοις; ib. 61, κἀξ ἀγεννήτων ἄρα | μύθοι καλῶς πίπτουσιν.
720-722. mvp-comment-424-1 The real stress is on the last line. The paratactic form of sentence is retained, the sense being, However excellent a thing perfect knowledge is, yet, since it is rare, it is well to take good advice.
720-722. mvp-comment-424-2 πρεσβεύειν] The active of this verb is rare in the metaphorical sense.
720-722. mvp-comment-424-3 πάντ᾽ ἐπιστήμης Of knowledge in all things. Essay on Language § 17. p. 24, b.
720-722. mvp-comment-424-4 εἰ δ᾽ οὖν Sc. μή, which is to be assumed from the next clause, where μή has a strong emphasis. For the sentiment, Hermann compares Hesiod, Op. 293, ἐσθλὸς δ᾽ αὖ κἀκεῖνος, ὃς εὖ εἰπόντι πίθηται.
725. mvp-comment-425-1 διπλᾶ is better than διπλῇ, because dwelling merely on the two speeches, and not on their divergence from each other.
726-727. mvp-comment-426-1 And at our age shall we forsooth be schooled by one so juvenile? For the inverted order, see Essay on Language § 26. p. 44: § 41. p. 77.
727. mvp-comment-427-1 For φύσιν, see Essay on Language p. 96.
728. mvp-comment-428-1 μηδὲν τὸ μὴ δίκαιον The combination of the indefinite μηδέν with the definite article is curious, and suggests the idea that μηδέν is adverbial.. But the Scholiast is probably right in explaining the words as equivalent to μηδὲν διδάσκου ὁ μὴ δίκαιόν ἐστί σοι μανθάνειν. Cp. supra 360, οὐδὲν .. τὸ μέλλον. Essay on Language § 22. p. 36. And for emphatic el, ib. § 28. p. 47, supr. 551.
729. mvp-comment-429-1 You ought not to regard differences of time, but rather to face the actual requirements of the case.' τἄργα are not the merits of Haemon, but the truth of his plea.
730. mvp-comment-430-1 What? Is it a "requirement" to fall down and worship rebels? Creon, as usual, represents mercy as submission. ἔργον ἐστί seems to have the same meaning as in σὸν ἔργον, and the like phrases; i.e. ἔργον almost = Duty.
731. mvp-comment-431-1 Nay, I would not bid thee reverence the wicked.
732. mvp-comment-432-1 'Why, is not she possessed by this disease?" viz. τῇ κακίᾳ.
733. mvp-comment-433-1 Not so declare her fellow-citizens in this town of Thebes.
736. mvp-comment-434-1 Is it right, I say, for another than me to rule this land? The reading of L and most MSS, ἄλλῳ.. μοί, (cp. Eur. Ion 1317) is supported by Thom. M. s. v. χρή, and is certainly the durior lectio. But he may have reasoned from a faulty text. See note on l. 681. γε is expressive. For M4 see list of MSS. in the Preface to this edition.
737.
mvp-comment-435-1
Cp. Aesch. Suppl. 370, σύ τοι πόλις, σὺ τὸ δήμιον; Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 1. 2,
738. mvp-comment-436-1 Is not the city counted a possession of the ruler? Essay on Language § 9. p. 12, b.
739. mvp-comment-437-1 A splendid monarch would you make to rule a desert land.
742. mvp-comment-438-1 This line is sometimes printed with a note of interrogation, as if the words διὰ δίκης ἰὼν πατρί were epexegetic of σοῦ.. προκήδομαι. ('Villain, when you are wrangling with your father?') But the connection of the lines in this στιχομυθία is not very close, and the more obvious meaning (Villain, to wrangle with your father!') is more probable.
743-745. mvp-comment-439-1 οὐ γὰρ δίκαια .. οὐ γὰρ σέβεις] Here, as in 730, ἔργον γάρ ἐστι, there is the same tendency to play on the word (κομψεύειν) that was observed in the speeches of the Φύλαξ.
745. mvp-comment-440-1 οὐ.. σέβεις It is not reverence when you trample on the honours of the Gods. Essay on Language § 53. p. 98, с.
751. mvp-comment-441-1 τινά i. e. σέ. Essay on Language § 22. p. 34, 4. Interpreters have avoided taking these words in their obvious meaning as implying a threat, which Haemon all but carries into execution afterwards in ll. 1233-1234. It is true, however, that this intention is less distinctly present to his mind than the conviction that vengeance will come to Creon from the gods and from popular feeling.
752. mvp-comment-442-1 κἀπαπειλών For the participle, see Essay on Language § 36. p. 63, €, b.
753. mvp-comment-443-1 τίς Almost = πῶς. Cp. О. С. 775, τίς αὕτη τέρψις;
756. mvp-comment-444-1 'Woman's minion that you are, mince not your words with me.' The subdued tone of Haemon (εἰ μὴ πατὴρ ἦσθ', εἶπον ἄν) only adds fuel to the wrath of Creon.
756. mvp-comment-444-2 For the contempt expressed in δούλευμα and μῖσος (760), see Essay on Language pp. 84, 85.
758. mvp-comment-445-1 άληθες See on O. T. 350.
759. mvp-comment-446-1 ἐπὶ ψόγοισι δεννάσεις Reproach and revile me. For the prepositional phrase, cp. El. 108, ἐπὶ κωκυτῷ, and see Essay on Language § 18. p. 27.
765. mvp-comment-447-1 So that you may exhibit your madness to those of your friends who can brook it. θέλουσι, sc. σοὶ μαινομένῳ ξυνεῖναι. There is a strong emphasis on this participle.
767. mvp-comment-448-1 And at his age the spirit, when chafed, is dangerous. Cp. O. C. 751, τηλικοῦτος, οὐ γάμων | ἔμπειρος ..: and for voûs, see Essay on Language p. 93.
768. mvp-comment-449-1 Cp. O. T. 1075, where Oedipus, with similar unconsciousness, says of Jocasta, who has just rushed out, ὁποῖα χρήζει ῥηγνύτω.
770. mvp-comment-450-1 The order of words shows that the chief emphasis is on ἄμφω : Essay on Language § 41. p. 77. Hence καί is to be taken with the whole sentence: ib. § 25. P. 43, 4. Do you really intend to put them both to death?
773. mvp-comment-451-1 ἔρημος.. στίβος Where track of human footstep there is none. The privative ἔρημος is used for the negative by a redundancy like those adduced in Essay on Language § 40. p. 75; and ἔρημος = ἄστειπτος (Phil. 2), so that the expression = Where no track of mortals has been trodden.
775. mvp-comment-452-1 i. e. τοσοῦτον μόνον, ὅσον ἄγος εἶναι. Essay on Language § 39. p. 74. For ἄγος = expiation, see Hesych., ἄγος· ἅγνισμα θυσίας, Σοφοκλῆς Φαίδρα.
776. mvp-comment-453-1 i. e. Lest the whole city might suffer pollution.
780. mvp-comment-454-1 περισσός Bootless. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 383, μόχθον περισσόν. It is characteristic of the time (cp. Thucydides) that the political energy of Creon is combined with scepticism.
781-800. mvp-comment-455-1 Haemon's disobedience to his father, against his own interest, is due to the might of love.
781-800. mvp-comment-455-2 'Never-vanquished love, that layest riches waste, keeping nightly watch in the fair, soft, youthful cheek: love that roamest over seas and findest out the wildest nook! No god, nor any mortal man, escapes thy maddening power. By love the upright mind is drawn to wrong unto its hurt. By love this present strife is kindled between kinsmen. And clearly triumphant is the influence of desire that cometh from the looks of the fair bride - desire that divides empire with the majestic law: so resistlessly doth goddess Aphrodite mock mankind.
781-800. mvp-comment-455-3 This little ode consists of a strophe and antistrophe, of which the scansion is as follows:- CCLトしてし CICCICII CCCICII IICIICCIト(CLトー 5-0-0-ICCICI-
781-800. mvp-comment-455-4 A glyconic quatrain is followed by two choriambic lines, and the strophe ends with a return to the glyconic rhythm. L. 7 admits of being otherwise divided, viz.: CCLCー.
781. mvp-comment-456-1 ἀνίκατε μάχαν Cp. the similar personification of θυμός by Heraclitus, χαλεπὸν θυμῷ μάχεσθαι, ψυχῆς γὰρ ὠνέεται.
782. mvp-comment-457-1 ὃς ἐν κτήμασι πίπτεις (i. e.
782. mvp-comment-457-2 ἐμπίπτεις κτήμασι.) These words have been variously interpreted and emended. They probably mean, Who fallest upon wealth, i. e. art the destroyer of possessions, ruining worldly fortunes in various ways, as the love of Helen wasted Troy, etc. Cp. Eur. Hipp. 538, foll., Ἔρωτα δὲ τὸν τύραννον ἀνδρῶν |.. πέρθοντα καὶ διὰ πάσας | ἰόντα συμφορὰς | θνατοῖς, ὅταν ἔλθῃ. So, in this instance, Haemon is losing all for love. Others interpret, Desire who makest wealth thy object (Schol. rec.), Love, who by attacking enslavest, or Who makest victims of the wealthy.
783-784. mvp-comment-458-1 ὃς .. ἐννυχεύεις Cp. Milton, L'Allegro, 29, 30, 'Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, | And love to live in dimple sleek.' Love is still figured as an enemy, who keeps nightly watch where he is ready to spring forth armed on the unwary. Pind. Nem. 8. 2, ὥρα .. παρθενηΐοις .. ἐφίζοισι γλεφάροις.
785. mvp-comment-459-1 The poet is thinking of legendary examples, such as Paris, Leander, Anchises, etc.
786. mvp-comment-460-1 σε .. φύξιμος i.e. δύναταί σε φεύγειν. Cp. Hom. h. Ven. 34. 5, τῶν δ' ἄλλων οὐ πέρ τι πεφυγμένον ἔστ᾽ Ἀφροδίτην, | οὔτε θεῶν μακάρων, οὔτε θνητῶν ἀνθρώπων. But see on 796 ff.
790. mvp-comment-461-1 ἁμερίων ἐπ᾿ ἀνθρώπων The insertion of the preposition, although omitted with θεῶν, is no objection to this reading. See Essay on Language § 19. p. 27: and for ἐπί, with the genitive, meaning In the case of, So far as extends to, cp. Plato, Rep. 3. 406 C, 8.. ἐπὶ .. τῶν δημιουργῶν αἰσθανόμεθα, alib. The force of the preposition and case here is nearer to the original locative sense, = Extending over, 'Quantum hominum genus propagatum extenditur. (Ellendt.)
790. mvp-comment-461-2 ὁ ἔχων Sc. τὸ νόσημα. Wecklein compares ἔχει, he is wounded, with reference to the arrow of love. But this is fanciful.
791-792. mvp-comment-462-1 ἀδίκους.. παρασπᾷς i. e. εἰς ἀδικίαν παρασπᾷς. Drawest awry to wrong. For this proleptic use of the adjective, see Essay on Language § 23. P. 39; § 38. p. 71.
792. mvp-comment-463-1 ἐπὶ λώβᾳ ‘Το their hurt or disgrace.'
794. mvp-comment-464-1 ξύναιμον is an emphatic epithet added by an afterthought (Essay on Language § 23. p. 38) and by hypallage made to agree with the principal word, although more properly belonging to ἀνδρῶν. (Ibid. § 42. p. 80).
795. mvp-comment-465-1 νικᾷ δ᾽ ἐναργής i. e. ἐναργής ἐστι νικῶσα.
795. mvp-comment-465-2 βλεφάρων ἵμερος The modern poet speaks of love as engendered in the eyes, with gazing fed: the ancients rather spoke of an influence passing from the eye of the beloved (τὸ ἐρωτικὸν ὄμμα, Plat. Phaedr. 253 E) to the soul of the lover. Desire was viewed as an emanation from the object. Hence Plato's account of ἵμερος, Phaedr. 251 Β, C, δεξάμενος γὰρ τοῦ κάλλους τὴν ἀπορροὴν διὰ τῶν ὀμμάτων, ἐθερμάνθη ἢ ἡ τοῦ πτεροῦ φύσις ἄρδεται .. ὅταν μὲν οὖν βλέπουσα πρὸς τὸ κάλλος, ἐκεῖθεν μέρη ἐπιόντα καὶ ῥέοντα, ἃ δὴ διὰ τοῦτο ἵμερος καλεῖται, δεχομένη ἄρδηταί τε καὶ θερμαίνηται, λωφᾷ τε τῆς ὀδύνης καὶ γέγηθεν. This ancient conception, which had a root in language as well as in philosophy, is reflected even in Milton, L'Allegro, 1. 121, With store of ladies, whose bright eyes | Rain influence, though in this case probably with a further allusion to astrology.
796-799. mvp-comment-466-1 τῶν .. θεσμῶν In the counsels of princes holding an equal place with the majesty of law. This seems the best way of taking these words, which have been variously interpreted; e.g. Equal to the laws in power. 'Assessor in the authority of the laws, etc. There is an allusion to Haemon, who, though a prince, has been led to disobey his father, and to disregard the edict of the king. Cp. Hdt. 4. 165, ἐν βουλῇ παρίζουσα. The resolution of the arsis in πάρεδρος is extremely unusual; see Christ's Metrik, § 178; and Arndt suggested ξύνθρονος ἀρχαῖς, 'Assessor with the rule of majesticlaw. But qy. πάρεδρος *ἀρχαῖς, with "πέφευγεν οὐδείς in 786 ff.? (IILUCCICII).
800. mvp-comment-467-1 Wecklein finds here an oxymoron, turning on the opposition of μάχη and παιδιά. She is resistless, though sport is her only weapon. But this is doubtful.
804. mvp-comment-468-1 παγκοίταν.. θάλαμον The chamber where all must lie. The implied contrast between the fate of Antigone and her intended bridal recurs repeatedly throughout the latter part of the play. Supr. 575, Ἅιδης ὁ παύσων τούσδε τοὺς γάμους γάμ ἔφυ: infr. 891, νυμφεῖον : 1205, νυμφεῖον" Αιδου κοίλον.
806-802. mvp-comment-469-1 Antigone bewails her untimely death, and the chorus attempt to console her by pointing to the singularity of her end. She quotes the example of Niobe, who was encrusted with rock. But Niobe, rejoin the chorus, was a Divine Being. Then the maiden bursts into a cry against such vain comfort, and appeals to the forms of nature around Thebes to bear witness to the strangeness of her fate. The tone of the chorus changes to admonition. Thou hast offended against the majesty of law. Some curse, inherited from thy sire, must have led thee on. At last they have touched her, but it is only to aggravate her sorrow. Dire indeed had been the curse upon her parents; and now she is going to be with them, having never tasted any joy. Her brother's seeming success in marriage had been death to him and to her. The chorus reiterate that piety towards her brother should have yielded to authority. Selfwill has been thy ruin. Antigone: 'Friendless, unmourned, uncomforted, I leave the holy light of day. I die unmarried, and no one weeps for me.'
806-802. mvp-comment-469-2 The metres in this commos, ll. 806-833, chiefly logaoedic. and for the most part glyconic, are as follows:- α΄. 806-816, 823-833. 805 luclu IIC1CCI II1CCIC ―トしかしCICLL Anapaests of cho. 817-822, 834-837- β'. Second strophe and antistrophe. 51IC (トートートートー ICCICII にかくCIトトに CICLC- トトロー CCLCICIC 15010し! 이기 5- ἐπ. } Iambic. ひトしレトCCICI- 51110CIRKIICCI CICCー トリート ―トしーしトー
806-802. mvp-comment-469-3 The effect produced by the epitrite rhythm in a' 9. β΄ 8, ἐπ. 5, and of the spondees in ß' 6, is especially noticeable.