Creon
Antigone. Sophocles. Cambridge, UK. 1904.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by Tufts University.
Antigone. Sophocles. Cambridge, UK. 1904.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by Tufts University.
English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904))
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
mvp-comment-105-1 ἡ σῴζουσα 1
mvp-comment-105-2 ταύτης 2 ὀρθῆς 3
mvp-comment-105-3 τοὺς φίλους ποιούμεθα 4
mvp-comment-105-4
mvp-comment-106-1 νόμοισι 5
mvp-comment-106-2 αὔξω 6
mvp-comment-107-1 ἀδελφὰ τῶνδε 7
mvp-comment-107-2 τῶν ἀπ’ Οἰδίπου 8
mvp-comment-108-1 δορί 9 δόρει 10
mvp-comment-109-1 τὰ πάντ’ ἐφαγνίσαι 11 ἐπί 12 ἐφαγνίσαι 13 ἀφαγνίσαι 14 ἀπό 15
mvp-comment-110-1 τοῖς ἀρίστοις 16
mvp-comment-110-2 ἔρχεται κάτω 17
mvp-comment-111-1 L has Πολυνείκην 18
mvp-comment-111-2 λέγω 19
mvp-comment-112-1 γτ=ν πατρῴαν . . καὶ θεοὺς . . πρῆσαι 20
mvp-comment-112-2 θ. τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς 21
mvp-comment-112-3 κατελθών 22
mvp-comment-112-4 γ)θέλησε μέν … ἠθέλ. δέ 23 ἠθέλησε μὲν 24
mvp-comment-112-5 πρῆσαι 25
mvp-comment-112-6 κατ’ ἄκρας 26
mvp-comment-112-7 αἵματος κ. πάσασθαι 27
mvp-comment-112-8 τοὺς δὲ … ἄγειν 28
mvp-comment-113-1 The traditional ἐκκεκηρῦχθαι τάφῳ 29 ἐκκεκήρυκται τάφῳ 30 ἐκκεκηρῦχθαι λέγω 31 τάφῳ 32 κτερίζειν 33 τάφῳ 34 κτερίζειν 35 μήτε 36 κωκῦσαι 37 τάφῳ 38 λέγω 39 τάφῳ 40 ἐκκεκ 41
mvp-comment-114-1 ἐᾶν δ 42 ἄθαπτον, αἰκισθέντ’ ἰδεῖν 43 δέμας καὶ πρὸς οἰωνῶν καὶ πρὸς κυνῶν ἐδεστόν 44 αἰκισθέντ 45 αἰκισθέντ 46 ἐδεστόν 47 αἰκισθέν τ’, δέμας 48
mvp-comment-114-2 δέμας 49
mvp-comment-114-3 ἰδεῖν 50
mvp-comment-115-1 φρόνημα 51
mvp-comment-115-2 ἔκ γ’ ἐμοῦ 52
mvp-comment-116-1 The MSS. have τιμὴν προέξουσ’ ..τῶν ἐνδ. 53 τιμήν 54 τιμῆ 55 προσέξους 56
mvp-comment-117-1 τιμήσεται 57
mvp-comment-118-1 I print Dindorf's κἀς 58 καὶ 59 σοὶ ταῦτ’ ἀρέσκει 60 Κρέον 61 ταὔτ 62 ταῦτ’ 63
mvp-comment-119-1 In παντί πού γ’ 64 σοί γ’ … που 65 ἔνεστι 66 χὡπόσοι ζῶμεν 67 πέρι 68
mvp-comment-120-1 ὡς ἂν … ἦτε 69 πῶς ἂν … εἶτε 70
mvp-comment-120-2 σκοποί 71
mvp-comment-120-3 νυν 72 νῦν 73
mvp-comment-120-4 τῶν εἰρ 74
mvp-comment-121-1 πρόθες τοῦτο 75 βαστάζειν 76
mvp-comment-121-2 τοῦ νεκροῦ γ’ 77
mvp-comment-122-1 τί δῆτ’ ἂν … ἐπεντέλλοις 78
mvp-comment-122-2 The reading ἄλλῳ 79 τοῦτο 80
mvp-comment-122-3 ἐπιχωρεῖν 81
mvp-comment-122-4 ἀπιστοῦσιν 82
mvp-comment-122-5 τάδε, 83
mvp-comment-123-1 ὃς 84 ἐρᾷ 85
mvp-comment-123-2 καὶ μὴν 86 γε 87 μισθός 88
mvp-comment-123-3
requital of disobedience is that.’ For
mvp-comment-123-4 τὸ κέρδος 89
mvp-comment-123-5 διώλεσεν 90
mvp-comment-124-1 ἐρῶ μὲν οὐχ 91
mvp-comment-124-2 ὅπως 92
mvp-comment-124-3 τάχους ὕπο 93 τάχους 94
mvp-comment-125-1 ἐξάρας 95
mvp-comment-125-2 φροντίδων 96 ἐπιστάσεις 97
mvp-comment-125-3 ὁδοῖς 98
mvp-comment-125-4 κυκλῶν 99
mvp-comment-126-1 ψυχὴ γὰρ ηὔδα 100 πολλὰ 101 μυθουμένη 102
mvp-comment-127-1 τάλας … τλήμων 103
mvp-comment-127-2 μένεις 104 μενεῖς 105 αὖ 106
mvp-comment-127-3 πῶς … οὐκ 107
mvp-comment-127-4 ἀλγυνεῖ 108
mvp-comment-128-1 ἑλίσσων 109
mvp-comment-128-2 ἤνυτον 110
mvp-comment-128-3 σχολῇ βραδύς 111
mvp-comment-129-1 τέλος γε μέντοι 112
mvp-comment-129-2 ἐνίκησεν 113
mvp-comment-129-3
mvp-comment-130-1 σοί 114 μολεῖν 115 σοί 116 φράσων 117 φράσω δ 118 κεἰ 119 κεἴ σοι 120 σοί. 121
mvp-comment-130-2 τὸ μηδέν 122
mvp-comment-131-1 τῆς ἐλπίδος 123
mvp-comment-131-2 δεδραγμένος 124 πεφραγμένος 125 πεπραγμένος 126
mvp-comment-131-3 τὸ μὴ παθεῖν ἄν 127
mvp-comment-131-4
mvp-comment-131-5 τὸ μόρσιμον 128
mvp-comment-132-1 ἀνθ’ οὗ 129
mvp-comment-132-2 τὸ γὰρ | πρᾶγμ’ 130 γάρ 131
mvp-comment-133-1 εὖ γε στοχάζει 132 στοχάζει 133 ἀποφράγνυσαι 134 στοχάζομαι 135
mvp-comment-133-2 κἀποφράγνυσαι 136
mvp-comment-133-3 τὸ πρᾶγμα 137
mvp-comment-134-1 δηλοῖς δ’ ὥς τι ς. 138
mvp-comment-135-1 τὰ δεινά 139 γάρ 140
mvp-comment-135-2 ποτ 141
mvp-comment-135-3 ἀπαλλαχθείς 142
mvp-comment-136-1 καὶ δή 143
mvp-comment-136-2 θάψας 144 κἀπί 145
mvp-comment-136-3 διψίαν 146
mvp-comment-136-4 κἀφαγιστεύσας 147 ἃ χρή 148
mvp-comment-137-1 ἀνδρῶν 149
mvp-comment-137-2 οὔτε του γενῇδος … οὐ δικέλλης 150 οὔτε … οὐ 151 γενῄς 152 γενῄς 153 δίκελλα 154
mvp-comment-137-3 δικ. ἐκβολή 155 ἐκβ. 156 στύφλος 157 χέρσος 158 ἀρρώξ 159
mvp-comment-137-4 ἐπημαξευμένη 160 ἐπ‐ 161 ἐφ‐ 162
mvp-comment-137-5 ἀλλ’ ὁ ἐργάτης ἄσημός τις ἦν 163
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 164 ἡμεροσκ. 165
mvp-comment-138-2 δείκνυσι … παρῆν 166
mvp-comment-138-3 δυσχερές 167
mvp-comment-139-1 ὁ μὲν 168
mvp-comment-139-2 τυμβήρης μὲν οὔ 169 τυμβ. 170 λεπτὴ δ’ … ἐπῆν 171
mvp-comment-139-3 ἄγος φεύγοντος ὥς 172 ἄγος 173
mvp-comment-140-1 θηρός 174
mvp-comment-140-2 του 175 θηρός 176
mvp-comment-140-3 οὐ σπάσαντος 177 οὐ 178 σπάσαντος 179 σπάσαντος οὐδ’ ἐλθόντος 180
mvp-comment-141-1 λόγοι δ’ … φύλακα 181 λόγοι κακοὶ ἐρρόθουν 182 ἐρρόθουν 183
mvp-comment-141-2
mvp-comment-141-3 ἐλέγχων 184
mvp-comment-141-4 κἂν ἐγίγνετο 185
mvp-comment-141-5 τελευτῶς 186
mvp-comment-141-6 ὁ κωλύσων 187
mvp-comment-142-1 ἦν … οὑξειργ. 188
mvp-comment-142-2 ἐναργής 189
mvp-comment-142-3 ἀλλ’ 190
mvp-comment-142-4 ἕφευγε μὴ εἰδέναι 191
mvp-comment-142-5 μὴ 192 εἰδέναι 193
mvp-comment-143-1 μύδρους 194
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 195
mvp-comment-144-2 θεοὺς ὁρκ. 197
mvp-comment-144-3 τὸ μήτε δρ 198
mvp-comment-144-4 μήτ’ είργασμένῳ 199 μηδ 200
mvp-comment-145-1 πλέον 201
mvp-comment-145-2 λέγει 202
mvp-comment-145-3 τις εἷς 203
mvp-comment-146-1 προὔτρεψεν 204
mvp-comment-146-2 οὐ γὰρ εἴχομεν 205
mvp-comment-146-3 As ἀντιφωνεῖν 206 δρῶντες 207 ὅπως δρῶντες 208 εἴχομεν 209
mvp-comment-147-1 σοί 210
mvp-comment-147-2 ταῦτ’ ἐνίκα 211
mvp-comment-147-3 πάλος 212 καθαιρεῖ 213
mvp-comment-147-4 τἀγαθόν 214 —ἄκων οὐχ ἑκοῦσιν 215
mvp-comment-148-1 ἐμοί 216 βουλεύει 217 μή 218
mvp-comment-148-2 τι 219
mvp-comment-148-3 θεήλατον, 220
mvp-comment-148-4 ἡ ξύννοια 221
mvp-comment-148-5 πάλαι 222
mvp-comment-149-1 πρὶν ὀργῆς καί με μεστῶσαι 223 καί 224 πρίν 225 μεστῶσαι 226 καί 227 με 228
mvp-comment-149-2 κἀμέ 229
mvp-comment-149-3 μεστῶσαι 230
mvp-comment-150-1 πότερον 231 ἔκρυπτον 232
mvp-comment-150-2 ἀμφικίονας ναούς 233
mvp-comment-150-3 κἀναθήματα 234
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 235 πυρώσων 236
mvp-comment-150-6 νόμους διασκεδῶν 237
mvp-comment-150-7 διασκεδῶν 238
mvp-comment-151-1 τοὺς κακοὺς τιμῶντας … θεούς; 239
mvp-comment-152-1 ταῦτα 240 μόλις φέροντες 241 καὶ πάλαι 242
mvp-comment-152-2 πόλεως ἄνδρες 243
mvp-comment-152-3 ἐρρόθουν 244
mvp-comment-152-4 ἐμοί 245
mvp-comment-152-5 κάρα σείοντες 246
mvp-comment-152-6 ὑπὸ ζυγῷ 247
mvp-comment-152-7 λόφον 248
mvp-comment-152-8 δικαίως 249
mvp-comment-152-9
equal poise’ (
New Crat. 371).—
mvp-comment-153-1 τῶνδε 251 ἐκ 252
mvp-comment-153-2 τούτους, 253
mvp-comment-153-3 εἰργάσθαι 254 ἐξεπίσταμαι 255 παρηγμένους 256
mvp-comment-154-1 νόμισμ’ 257
mvp-comment-154-2 ἔβλαστε 258
mvp-comment-154-3 πορθεῖ 259
mvp-comment-154-4 τόδ’ 260 ἄνδρας 261
mvp-comment-155-1 τόδ’ ἐκδ. καὶ παραλλάσσει 262 ἵστασθαι 263 καὶ παραλλάσσει 264
mvp-comment-155-2 ἵστασθαι πρός τι 265
mvp-comment-156-1 πανουργίας … ἔχειν 266
mvp-comment-156-2 εἰδέναι 267 παντὸς ἔργου δυσσέβ. 268 παντὸς ἔργ 269 πανουργίας 270
mvp-comment-157-1 ἤνυσαν 271
mvp-comment-157-2 χρόνῳ ποτέ 272 δοῦναι δίκην 273
mvp-comment-157-3 ἐξέπραξαν ὡς 274
mvp-comment-158-1 Ζεύς 275
mvp-comment-158-2 ὅρκιος 276
mvp-comment-158-3 τὸν αὐτόχειρα 277 τάφου = ταφῆς 278
mvp-comment-159-1 μοῦνος 279 πρὶν ἂν . . δηλώσητε 280 κρεμαστοί 281 ζῶντες κρεμαστοί 282
mvp-comment-159-2 δηλώσηθ’ 283
mvp-comment-159-3 ὕβριν 284
mvp-comment-160-1 ἵν’ … ἁρπάζητε 285
mvp-comment-160-2 τὸ κέρδος 286 ἔνθεν οἰστέον 287
mvp-comment-160-3 μάθηθ’ 288
mvp-comment-160-4 ἐξ ἅπαντος 289 τὸ κερδαίνειν 290
mvp-comment-160-5
mvp-comment-161-1 τι 291
mvp-comment-161-2 δέ 292 δώσεις 293
mvp-comment-161-3 οὕτως 294
mvp-comment-161-4 ἴω 295
mvp-comment-161-5 καὶ νῦν ὡς 296 ἀνιαρῶς 297 ι— 298
mvp-comment-162-1 ἐν 299 ὠσίν 300
mvp-comment-162-2 ἐπί 301
mvp-comment-163-1 τί δὲ 302 τί δαὶ 303
mvp-comment-163-2 ῥυθμίζεις 304 ὅπου 305 ὅπου 306
mvp-comment-164-1 τὰς φρένας...τὰ δ’ ὦτ’ 307 σε 308
mvp-comment-164-2 οἴμ’ ὡς 309
mvp-comment-164-3 λάλημα 310 ἄλημα 311 ἄλημα 312
mvp-comment-164-4 δῆλον, 313
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 316 καὶ ταῦτα 317 προδούς 318
mvp-comment-167-1 ἦ δεινόν 319 καὶ 320 γε 321
mvp-comment-168-1 κόμψευε . . τὴν δόξαν 322
mvp-comment-168-2 τὴν δόξαν 323
mvp-comment-168-3
mvp-comment-168-4 νυν 324 νῦν 325 ταῦτα … τοὺς δρῶντας = τοὺς ταῦτα δρῶντας 326
mvp-comment-169-1 δειλά 327
mvp-comment-169-2 δεινά 328 ν 329
mvp-comment-170-1 ἀλλ’ 330 εὑρεθείη 331 καὶ 332
mvp-comment-171-1 καὶ 333 γάρ 334
mvp-comment-171-2 γνώμης 335
mvp-comment-173-1 πολλὰ … κοὐδέν 336
mvp-comment-173-2 καί 337
mvp-comment-173-3 τὰ δεινά 338
mvp-comment-174-1 τοῦτο 339 πέραν 340 πέρα 341
mvp-comment-175-1 χειμερίῳ νότῳ 342
mvp-comment-176-1 περιβρ … ὑπ’ οἴδμασιν 343
mvp-comment-177-1 ὑπερτάταν 344
mvp-comment-178-1 ἀκαμάταν 345
mvp-comment-178-2 ἀποτρύεται 346
mvp-comment-179-1 ἰλλομένων ἀρότρων, 347 ἀρότων 348
mvp-comment-179-2 ἔτος εἰς ἔτος 349 εἰς 350
mvp-comment-180-1 ἱππείῳ γένει 351
mvp-comment-180-2 πολεύων 352 τοῦτο 353
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 354
mvp-comment-181-5 ἀμφιβαλὼν 355
mvp-comment-182-1 πόντου … εἰναλίαν φύσιν 356
mvp-comment-183-1 περιφραδής 357
mvp-comment-184-1 μηχαναῖς 358 ἀγραύλου 359 ὀρεσσιβάτα 360
mvp-comment-185-1 λασιαύχενά θ’ 361
mvp-comment-186-1 ὀχμάζεται 362 ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῶν 363
mvp-comment-186-2
Rhod. 1. 743
mvp-comment-187-1 φθέγμα 365
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 366
mvp-comment-188-1 ἀστυνόμους ὀργάς 367
mvp-comment-189-1 ἐδιδάξατο 368
mvp-comment-190-1 πάγων 369
mvp-comment-190-2 ἐναίθρεια 370
mvp-comment-190-3 βέλη 372
mvp-comment-191-1 παντοπόρος 373
mvp-comment-191-2
mvp-comment-192-1 μόνον 374 μόνου 375 φεῦξιν — ἐπάξεται 376
mvp-comment-193-1 ἀμηχάνων 377
mvp-comment-193-2 φυγάς 378
mvp-comment-193-3 ξυμπέφρασται 379
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 380
mvp-comment-194-3 τὸ μηχανόεν τ 381
mvp-comment-195-1 τοτὲ μὲν … ἄλλοτ’ 382
mvp-comment-195-2 ἐπ’ 383
mvp-comment-196-1 γεραίρων 384
mvp-comment-196-2
5. 67
mvp-comment-197-1 θεῶν τ’ ἔνορκον δίκαν 385
mvp-comment-198-1 ὑψίπολις 386
mvp-comment-198-2 ἄπολις 387
mvp-comment-198-3 τὸ μὴ καλόν 388 τόλμας χάριν 389
mvp-comment-199-1 παρέστιος 390
mvp-comment-199-2 ἴσον φρονῶν 391
mvp-comment-200-1 ἔρδει 392 ἔρδοι 393
mvp-comment-202-1 The choral ode has closed with an allusion to the unknown man ( ὅς 394 ἀμφινοῶ 395 ἐς 396
mvp-comment-202-2 δαιμόνιον τέρας 397
mvp-comment-203-1 πῶς εἰδὼς 398
mvp-comment-203-2 ἀντιλογήσω 399
mvp-comment-204-1 ὦ δύστηνος 400
mvp-comment-204-2 δ. πατρός 401
mvp-comment-204-3 Οἰδιπόδα— 402
mvp-comment-205-1 τί ποτ’ 403
mvp-comment-205-2 οὐ δή που 404
mvp-comment-205-3 ἀπιστοῦσαν 405
mvp-comment-205-4 ἄγουσι 406
mvp-comment-205-5 colloquialism, it would be nearly as bad as, ‘Have they taken you up?’
mvp-comment-205-6 καὶ 407 ἀπιστοῦσαν 408 καθελόντες 409
mvp-comment-206-1
Second
mvp-comment-206-2 ἐκείνη 410
mvp-comment-206-3 τοὔργον ἡ ’ξειργ 411
mvp-comment-207-1 ἐς δέον 412
mvp-comment-208-1 ξύμμετρος 413
mvp-comment-209-1 ἀπώμοτον 414
mvp-comment-210-1 ψεύδει 415
mvp-comment-210-2 ἡ ’πίνοια 416
mvp-comment-211-1 ἐξηύχουν ἄν 417 σχολῇ ἥξειν ποτὲ δεῦρο 418
mvp-comment-211-2 σχολῇ 419
mvp-comment-212-1 ταῖς σαῖς ἀπειλαῖς 420
mvp-comment-212-2 ἐχειμάσθην 421
mvp-comment-213-1 ἡ...ἐκτὸς 422 ἐκτός 423
mvp-comment-214-1 οὐδὲν ἔοικε μῆκος 424 α+λλῃ ἡδονῇ 425 οὐδέν 426 μῆκος 427 ἔοικε 428
mvp-comment-215-1 δῑ ὅρκων … ἀπώμοτος 429
mvp-comment-216-1 καθῃρέθη 430
mvp-comment-216-2 τάφον κοσμοῦσα 431
mvp-comment-216-3 ἐπάλλετο 432 ἕρμαιον 433
mvp-comment-217-1 κρῖνε 434
mvp-comment-217-2 δίκαιός εἰμι 435
mvp-comment-217-3 ἀπηλλάχθαι 436
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 437
mvp-comment-219-1 ἦ καὶ 438
mvp-comment-219-2 ὀρθῶς 439
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 440
mvp-comment-221-1 ἆρ’ ἔνδηλα 441
mvp-comment-222-1 ὁρᾶται...ᾑρέθη 442
mvp-comment-222-2 ἐπίληπτος 443
mvp-comment-223-1 ἥκομεν 445
mvp-comment-224-1 τὰ δείν’ ἐκεῖν’ 446
mvp-comment-224-2 τὸν | νέκυν 447
mvp-comment-225-1 καθήμεθ’ 448
mvp-comment-225-2 ἄκρων ἐκ πάγων 449
mvp-comment-225-3
mvp-comment-225-4 ὑπήνεμοι 450
mvp-comment-226-1 βάλῃ 451
mvp-comment-227-1 ἐγερτί 452
mvp-comment-227-2 κινῶν 453
mvp-comment-227-3 ἐπιρρόθοις κακοῖσιν 454
mvp-comment-227-4
the adj. expressing the loud, continuous noise of tongues. The
mvp-comment-228-1 ἀκηδήσοι 455 ἀφειδήσοι 456
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 457
mvp-comment-230-2 χθονὸς 458
mvp-comment-231-1 τυφώς 459 σκηπτός 460
mvp-comment-231-2 οὐράνιον ἄχος 461
mvp-comment-232-1 πίμπλησι 462 αἰκίζων 463
mvp-comment-232-2 ἐν δ’ ἐμεστ 464
mvp-comment-233-1 μύσαντες 465
mvp-comment-233-2 νόσον 466
mvp-comment-233-3 ἐν χρ. μακρ 467
mvp-comment-234-1 πικρᾶς 468
mvp-comment-235-1 εὐνῆς...λέχος 469
mvp-comment-236-1 οὕτω δέ 470
mvp-comment-236-2 ψιλόν 471
mvp-comment-237-1 γόοισιν ἐξῴμωξεν 472
mvp-comment-237-2 ἐκ δ’ … ἠρᾶτο 473
mvp-comment-237-3 διψίαν 474
mvp-comment-238-1 φέρει κόνιν 475
mvp-comment-239-1 The πρόχους 476
mvp-comment-239-2 εὐκρότητος 477
mvp-comment-239-3 ἄρδην 478
mvp-comment-240-1 χοαῖσι 479
mvp-comment-240-2 τρισπόνδ. 480 στέφει 481
mvp-comment-241-1 ἱέμεσθα 482
mvp-comment-241-2 σὺν δὲ … θηρώμεθ’ 483
mvp-comment-242-1 ἠλέγχομεν 484
mvp-comment-242-2 ἄπαρνος … οὐδενός 485
mvp-comment-242-3 καθίστατο 486
mvp-comment-243-1 ἅμ’ 487
mvp-comment-244-1 φίλους 488
mvp-comment-245-1 πάντα ταῦθ’ 489 λαβεῖν 490
mvp-comment-246-1 σὲ δή, 491
mvp-comment-247-1 φὴς δεδρακέναι, ἢ καταρνεῖ μὴ δεδρ 492 καταρνεῖ 493
mvp-comment-248-1 καὶ......κοὐκ 494
mvp-comment-248-2 τὸ μή 495
mvp-comment-249-1 σὺ μέν 496 κομίζοις ἂν ς 497
mvp-comment-249-2 ἔξω 498 β. αἰτίας 499 ἐλεύθερον 500
mvp-comment-250-1 μῆκος 501
mvp-comment-251-1 ᾔδησθα 502 ᾔδης τὰ 503 σθα 504
mvp-comment-251-2 κηρυχθέντα 505
mvp-comment-252-1 ᾔδη 506
mvp-comment-252-2 τί δ’ οὐκ ἔμελλον 507
mvp-comment-252-3 ἐμφανῆ 508 ἐκφανῆ 509
mvp-comment-253-1 καὶ δῆτ’ 510
mvp-comment-254-1 Ζεύς 511
mvp-comment-255-1 τῶν κάτω θεῶν 512 ξύνοικος 513 τοιούσδ’ … ὥρισεν 514 οἳ τούσδ’ … ὥρισαν 515 τάδε 516
mvp-comment-256-1 ἄγραπτα … νόμιμα 517
mvp-comment-256-2
quotes vv. 456 f.) Cp.
O.T. 865 ff.
mvp-comment-256-3 ἀσφαλῆ 519
mvp-comment-256-4 θνητὸν ὄντ’ 520
mvp-comment-256-5 ὑπερδραμεῖν 521
mvp-comment-257-1 νῦν γε κἀχθές 522
mvp-comment-257-2 ζῇ 523
mvp-comment-257-3 ’φάνη 524
mvp-comment-258-1 τούτων 525 τὴν δίκην 526 τούτων 527
mvp-comment-258-2
shows that, like
mvp-comment-258-3 ἐν θεοῖσι 528
mvp-comment-259-1 δώσειν 529
mvp-comment-259-2 θανουμένη γάρ 530
mvp-comment-259-3 τί δ’ οὔ 531
mvp-comment-260-1 κεἰ μὴ σὺ προὐκήρυξας 532
mvp-comment-260-2 τοῦ χρόνου 533
mvp-comment-260-3 αὔτ’ 534
mvp-comment-261-1 φέρει 535
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 537 παρ’ οὐδέν 538
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 539
mvp-comment-264-1 ἄθαπτον ἠνσχόμην νέκυν 540 ηἰσχόμην 541 ἠνσχόμην 542
mvp-comment-264-2 In my first edition I placed in the text the emendation of Semitelos (1887) ᾔσχυναν κύνες 543
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 546
mvp-comment-265-2 μώρῳ μωρίαν 547
mvp-comment-265-3 ὀφλισκάνω 548
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 549 δηλοῖ 550 ὠμόν 551 ἐξ ὠμοῦ πατρός 552 γέννημα 553
mvp-comment-267-1 εἴκειν … κακοῖς 554
mvp-comment-268-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι 555
mvp-comment-268-2 πίπτειν 556
mvp-comment-269-1 ὀπτὸν … περισκελῆ 557
mvp-comment-269-2 περισκελής 558
mvp-comment-269-3 ἐκ πυρός 559
mvp-comment-270-1 θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα 560
mvp-comment-271-1 χαλινῷ δ’ 561 σμικρῷ 562
mvp-comment-271-2 καταρτυθέντας 563
mvp-comment-272-1 Suspicion has fallen on ἐκπέλει 564
mvp-comment-272-2 ὅστις 565
mvp-comment-272-3 τῶν πέλας 566
mvp-comment-273-1 αὕτη δ’ 567 ὑβρίζειν μὲν … ὕβρις δ’ 568 ἐξηπίστατο 569 τότ’ 570
mvp-comment-273-2 τούτοις 571
mvp-comment-273-3 δεδρακυῖαν γελᾶν 572
mvp-comment-274-1 νῦν 573
mvp-comment-274-2 εἰ ταῦτα … κράτη 574 κράτη 575 κείσεται 576 πείσεται 577 ἀνατί 578 ταῦτα 579
mvp-comment-275-1 ἀδελφῆς 580
mvp-comment-275-2 εἴθ’ ὁμαιμονεστέρα 581
mvp-comment-275-3
Hyperbole is congenial to Creon's excitement;
cp. 1040
. But the addition,
mvp-comment-275-4 κυρεῖ 582
mvp-comment-276-1 τοῦ παντὸς Ζηνὸς ἑρκείου 583
mvp-comment-277-1 ἀλύξετον 584 μόρου 585
mvp-comment-278-1 καὶ γὰρ οὖν 586
mvp-comment-278-2 ἐπαιτιῶμαι κείνην 587 βουλεῦσαι ἴσον τοῦδε τάφου 588 ἴσον 589
mvp-comment-278-3 βουλεῦσαι 590
mvp-comment-279-1 καί νιν καλεῖτ’ 591
mvp-comment-280-1 λυσσῶσαν … οὐδ’ ἐπ 592
mvp-comment-280-2 ἐπήβολον 593
mvp-comment-281-1 ὁ θυμὸς τῶν … τεχνωμένων 594 φιλεῖ κλοπεὺς ᾑρῆσθαι 595 πρόσθεν 596 κλοπεύς 597 ᾑρῆσθαι κλοπεύς 598
mvp-comment-281-2 τεχνωμένων 599
mvp-comment-282-1 γε μέντοι 600
mvp-comment-282-2 Ismene's guilty terror is contrasted with Antigone's impudent hardihood,—as Creon deems it. μισῶ … ὅταν 601
mvp-comment-282-3 ἔπειτα 602
mvp-comment-282-4 καλλύνειν 603
mvp-comment-283-1 θέλεις τι μεῖζον 604
mvp-comment-283-2 ἑλών 605
mvp-comment-283-3 ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδέν 606
mvp-comment-283-4 ἅπαντ’ ἔχω 607
mvp-comment-284-1 ἀρεστὸν οὐδέν 608
mvp-comment-284-2 μηδ’ ἀρεσθείη 609 ἀρεσθείην 610 ἀρέστ’ εἴη 611
mvp-comment-285-1 τἀμά 612
mvp-comment-285-2 ἔφυ 613
mvp-comment-286-1 καίτοι 614 κλέος … εὐκλεέστερον 615
mvp-comment-287-1 ἐν τάφῳ τιθεῖσα 616 τούτοις πᾶσι λέγοιτο ἄν 617 τοῦτο ἁνδάνειν 618 ἐγκλῄοι 619
mvp-comment-288-1 ἀλλ’ ἡ τυραννίς 620
mvp-comment-289-1 μούνη 621
mvp-comment-289-2 τοῦτο … ὁρᾷς 622
mvp-comment-289-3 ὑπίλλουσιν 623
mvp-comment-290-1 σὺ δ’ οὐκ ἐπαιδεῖ 625
mvp-comment-291-1 ὅμαιμος 626
mvp-comment-291-2 ἐκ μιᾶς τε 627 τε 628
mvp-comment-292-1 πῶς δῆτ’ 629
mvp-comment-292-2 ἐκείνῳ 630
mvp-comment-292-3 χάριν 631 τιμᾷς 632 ὁ κατθανὼν νέκυς 633
mvp-comment-293-1 εἴ τοι 634 σφε 635
mvp-comment-293-2 ἐξ ἴσου 636
mvp-comment-294-1 οὐ γάρ τι δοῦλος 637
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 638
mvp-comment-295-2 ὁ δ’ 639 ὕπερ 640
mvp-comment-296-1 τούτους 641 ἴσους 642 ἴσους 643 ὅμως 644 ἴσους 645 τούτους 646 ἴσους 647
mvp-comment-297-1 The MS. λαχεῖν ἴσος 648 ἴσους 649
mvp-comment-298-1 κάτωθεν 650 κάτω ’στὶν 651
mvp-comment-298-2 εὐαγῆ 652
mvp-comment-299-1 οὔτοι συνέχθειν 653
mvp-comment-300-1 νυ^ν 654
mvp-comment-301-1 καὶ μὴν 655
mvp-comment-301-2 εἰβομένη 656 κάτω 657
mvp-comment-301-3
with
mvp-comment-301-4 κάτω 658
mvp-comment-302-1 νεφέλη δ’ ὀφρύων ὕπερ 659
mvp-comment-302-2 αἱματόεν 660
mvp-comment-302-3 ῥέθος 661
mvp-comment-302-4 αἰσχύνει 662
mvp-comment-303-1 σὺ δ’ 663 ὑφειμένη 664
mvp-comment-303-2 ἔχιδνα 665
mvp-comment-303-3
mvp-comment-304-1 λήθουσά μ’ ἐξέπινες 666
mvp-comment-305-1 ἄτα κἀπαναστάσεις 667
mvp-comment-305-2 ἐπαναστάσεις 668 θρόνων 669
mvp-comment-306-1 τὸ μὴ 670
mvp-comment-307-1 ὁμορροθεῖ 671
mvp-comment-308-1 τῆς αἰτίας 672 ξυμμετίσχω 673 φέρω 674
mvp-comment-309-1 ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐάσει σ’ 675
mvp-comment-309-2 ’κοινωσάμην 676
mvp-comment-310-1 ξύμπλουν 677
mvp-comment-311-1
Cp.
Ph. 1293
mvp-comment-311-2 λόγοις 678
mvp-comment-312-1 μή μ’ ἀτιμάσῃς 679 τὸ μὴ οὐ 680 ἁγνίσαι τὸν θ 681
mvp-comment-313-1 μή μοι 682 κοινά 683
mvp-comment-313-2 μηδ’ ἃ μὴ ’θιγες 684 ἅ 685 ἅ 686
mvp-comment-314-1 ποιοῦ σεαυτῆς 687
mvp-comment-314-2 ἀρκέσω 689
mvp-comment-315-1 σοῦ λελειμμένῃ 690
mvp-comment-315-2 φίλος 691
mvp-comment-316-1 κηδεμών 692
mvp-comment-317-1 ἀλγοῦσα μὲν δῆτ’ 693 δῆτα 694
mvp-comment-317-2 ἐν σοί 695
mvp-comment-317-3 Heath's εἰ γελῶ γ’ 696
mvp-comment-318-1 ἀλλὰ νῦν 697
mvp-comment-319-1 κἀμπλάκω 698
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 699
mvp-comment-320-2 ζῆν 700
mvp-comment-321-1 ἐπ’ ἀρρήτοις … τοῖς ἐμ. λ. 701
mvp-comment-322-1 σὺ μὲν τοῖς 702
mvp-comment-323-1 καὶ μήν 703
mvp-comment-324-1 θάρσει 704
mvp-comment-324-2 ἡ ἐμὴ ψυχή 705
mvp-comment-324-3 πάλαι 706
mvp-comment-324-4 ὥστε τοῖς θ. ὠφελεῖν 707
mvp-comment-325-1 L gives τὼ παῖδε φημὶ 708
mvp-comment-325-2 τὼ παῖδε … τὴν μὲν … τὴν δέ 709
mvp-comment-325-3 ἀρτίως 710
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 711
mvp-comment-326-3 τοῖς κ. πράσσουσιν 712
mvp-comment-326-4 ἐξίσταται 713
mvp-comment-327-1 σοὶ γοῦν 714
mvp-comment-327-2 κακοῖς 715
mvp-comment-328-1 τῆσδ’ ἄτερ 716 μόνῃ 717
mvp-comment-328-2 βιώσιμον 718 τί 719
mvp-comment-329-1 ἀλλὰ … μέντοι 720
mvp-comment-329-2 ἥδε μὴ λέγε 721
mvp-comment-330-1 νυμφεῖα 722
mvp-comment-331-1 ἀρώσιμοι 723
mvp-comment-332-1 οὐχ ὥς γ’ 724 ἡρμοσμένα ἦν 725
mvp-comment-333-1 υἱέσι 726 υἱάσιν 727
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 730
mvp-comment-335-1 ἄγαν γε λυπεῖς 731
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 732 ἔφυ 733
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 734
mvp-comment-339-1 καὶ σοί γε κἀμοί 735
mvp-comment-339-2 μὴ τριβάς 736
mvp-comment-339-3 νιν 737
mvp-comment-340-1 ἐκ δὲ τοῦδε 738 γυναικας 739 ἀνειμένας 740
mvp-comment-341-1 χοἱ θρασεῖς 741 πέλας 742 εἰσορῶσι 743
mvp-comment-343-1 κακῶν ἄγευστος 744
mvp-comment-344-1 σεισθῇ θεόθεν 745
mvp-comment-344-2 ἄτας οὐδὲν ἐλλείπει 746 ἐλλείπει 747
mvp-comment-344-3 γενεᾶς ἐπὶ πλῆθος 748 γενεᾶς 749
mvp-comment-345-1 ὅμοιον 750
mvp-comment-345-2 ποντίαις 751 πνοαῖς 752 ὅταν οἶδμα 753 ποντίαις δυσπν. Θρ. πνοαῖς 754 ἐπιδράμῃ ἔρεβος ὕφαλον 755 Θρῄσσαισιν 756
mvp-comment-346-1 κελαινὰν θῖνα 757
mvp-comment-346-2 δυσάνεμοι 758 δυσάνεμον 759
mvp-comment-346-3 στόνῳ βρ.· 760
mvp-comment-346-4 ἀντιπλῆγες 761 ἀκταί 762
mvp-comment-347-1 ἀρχαῖα 763
mvp-comment-347-2 ὁρῶμαι 764 οἴκων 765 φθι^τῶν 766
mvp-comment-348-1 ἀπαλλάσσει 767
mvp-comment-348-2 γενεὰν γένος 768 ἔχει 769
mvp-comment-348-3 λύσιν 770
mvp-comment-349-1 νῦν γὰρ ἐσχάτας 771 ὃ τέτατο 772 ἐτέτατο 773 κατ’ αὖ 774 ὑπέρ 775 ὅπερ 776 ὃ τέτατο 777 νιν 778 φάος 779 ἐσχάτη ῥίζα 780 φάος 781 νιν 782 φάος 783 θάλος 784 τέτατο 785 ῥίζας 786
mvp-comment-350-1 κατ’ αὖ … ἀμᾷ, 787 κοπίς 788 κόνις 789 κόνις 790
mvp-comment-350-2 (1) If κόνις 791 καταμᾷ 792
mvp-comment-350-3 (2) If we read κοπίς 793
mvp-comment-350-4
It has further been urged against
mvp-comment-351-1 λόγου … ἄνοια 794 φρενῶν ἐρινύς 795
mvp-comment-352-1 τεάν 796
mvp-comment-352-2 δύνα^σιν 797
mvp-comment-352-3 κατάσχοι 798
mvp-comment-353-1 The MS. παντογήρως 799 παντοθήρας 800 παντόθηρος 801 πάντ’ ἀγρεύων 802
mvp-comment-354-1 The MS. οὔτ’ ἀκάματοι θεῶν 803
mvp-comment-354-2
mvp-comment-354-3 ἄκματοι 809
mvp-comment-355-1 I doubt whether the dat. χρόνῳ 810
mvp-comment-355-2 μαρμαρόεσσαν 811
mvp-comment-356-1 τό τ’ ἔπειτα 812 τὸ μέλλον 813
mvp-comment-356-2 καὶ τὸ πρίν 817 ἐπαρκέσει 818
mvp-comment-357-1 πάμπολύ γ’ 819
mvp-comment-357-2 ἕρπει 820 ἕρπειν 821 ἕρπει 822
mvp-comment-357-3 πάμπολις 823
mvp-comment-358-1 ἁ γὰρ δή 824 γάρ 825 πολύπλαγκτος 826
mvp-comment-358-2
oft tossed up and down, ploughing a sea of vain deceits.’—
mvp-comment-359-1 πολλοῖς μὲν ὄνασις 827
mvp-comment-360-1 ἀπάτα … ἐρώτων 828
mvp-comment-360-2 κουφονόων 829
mvp-comment-361-1
The
mvp-comment-362-1 πρὶν … προσαύσῃ 832
mvp-comment-362-2 προσαύσῃ 833
mvp-comment-362-3 πόδα 834 προσαύσῃ 835
mvp-comment-363-1 σοφίᾳ 836
mvp-comment-363-2 ἔκ του 837
mvp-comment-363-3 πεφάνται 838
mvp-comment-364-1 τὸ κακὸν δοκεῖν ποτ’ 839 ποτέ 840
mvp-comment-364-2
1676
Among them he a spirit of phrenzy sent,
Who hurt their minds. Cp.
mvp-comment-365-1 ὀλίγιστον 842 ὀλιγοστόν 843 πράσσει … ἐκτὸς ἄτας 844 ἄτας 845
mvp-comment-366-1 μήν 846
mvp-comment-366-2 νέατον 847
mvp-comment-366-3
to a person,
mvp-comment-366-4 ἀχνύμενος 848 μόρον 849
mvp-comment-367-1
In the MS. reading (see cr. n.)
mvp-comment-368-1 ἀπάτας 854 λεχέων 855
mvp-comment-370-1 μάντεων ὑπέρτερον 856
mvp-comment-371-1 τελείαν 857
mvp-comment-371-2 ψῆφο<*> 858
mvp-comment-371-3 ἆρα μή 859
mvp-comment-371-4 τῆς μελλονύμφου 860
mvp-comment-371-5 λυσσαίνων 861 σοὶ μέν 862 θυμαίνων 863
mvp-comment-372-1 σοὶ μέν 864
mvp-comment-372-2 πανταχῇ δρῶντες 865
mvp-comment-373-1 σός 866
mvp-comment-373-2 γνώμας ἔχων χρηστάς 867 ἀπορθοῖς 868 μοι 869
mvp-comment-374-1 ἀξιώσεται 871 ἀξ. μείζων φέρεσθαι 872 ἀξίως ἔσται 873
mvp-comment-374-2 σοῦ καλῶς ἡγουμ. 874 μείζων 875
mvp-comment-375-1 γάρ 876
mvp-comment-375-2 διὰ στέρνων ἔχειν 877 διά 878 ἔχειν 879 οὕτω 880 ἔχειν 881
mvp-comment-376-1 (One ought to think thus),—that is, ὄπισθεν ἑστάναι πατρ. γνώμης 882 πάντα 883 ἑστάναι 884
mvp-comment-377-1 ὡς 885
mvp-comment-377-2 ἀνταμύνωνται 886 κακοῖς 887
mvp-comment-378-1 ἄλλο 888 φῦσαι 889 πλήν 890 ἄλλο 891 εἴποις 892
mvp-comment-378-2 πόνους 893
mvp-comment-378-3 γέλων 894
mvp-comment-379-1 τὰς φρένας γ’ 895 γε 896 φρένας σύ γ’ ἡδονῇ 897
mvp-comment-379-2 φρένας … ἐκβάλῃς 898
mvp-comment-379-3 ὑφ’ ἡδονῆς 899
mvp-comment-380-1 ψυχρόν 900
mvp-comment-380-2 παραγκάλισμα 901
mvp-comment-381-1 δόμοις 902
mvp-comment-381-2 ἕλκος 903
mvp-comment-381-3 φίλος 904
mvp-comment-382-1 πτύσας 905
mvp-comment-382-2 ὠσεί τε δυσμενῆ 906 τε 907
mvp-comment-383-1 νυμφεύειν 908
mvp-comment-384-1 ἀπιστήσασαν 909 ψευδῆ 910
mvp-comment-385-1 κτενῶ 911
mvp-comment-385-2 πρὸς ταῦτ 912
mvp-comment-385-3 ἐφυμνείτω 913
mvp-comment-385-4 Δία ξύναιμον 914
mvp-comment-386-1 τά γ’ ἐγγ. φύσει 915
mvp-comment-386-2 ἄκοσμα 916
mvp-comment-386-3 θρέψω 917
mvp-comment-386-4 κάρτα τοὺς ἔξω γ. 918
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 919
mvp-comment-388-2 τοὐπιτάσσειν 920
mvp-comment-388-3 νοεῖ 921
mvp-comment-389-1 στήσειε 922
mvp-comment-389-2 καὶ τἀναντία 923
mvp-comment-390-1 τοῦτον … τὸν ἄνδρα 924
mvp-comment-390-2 καλῶς...εὖ 925
mvp-comment-390-3 ἄν 926 ἄρχειν 927 θέλειν 928
mvp-comment-391-1 δορὸς … χειμῶνι 929
mvp-comment-391-2 προστεταγμένον 930
mvp-comment-391-3 παραστάτην 931
mvp-comment-392-1 πόλεις ὄλλυσιν, ἥδ’ 932 πόλεις τ’ … ἥδ’ 933
mvp-comment-393-1 συμμάχου 934 συμμάχηι 935 σὺν μάχῃ 936
mvp-comment-393-2 τροπὰς καταρρήγνυσι 937
mvp-comment-393-3 τῶν δ’ ὀρθουμένων 938 τὰ πολλὰ σώματα 939
mvp-comment-393-4 ἡ πειθαρχία 940
mvp-comment-394-1 ἀμυντέ’ 941
mvp-comment-394-2 τοῖς κοσμουμένοις 942 τοῖς κ. 944
mvp-comment-395-1 κοὔτοι … ἡσσητέα 945
mvp-comment-396-1 δεῖ 946 ἐκπεσεῖν 947
mvp-comment-396-2
thrust out: oft. of dethronement (
mvp-comment-396-3 κοὐκ ἂν...καλοίμεθ’ ἄν 948
mvp-comment-397-1 μέν 949
mvp-comment-397-2 τῷ χρόνῳ 950
mvp-comment-397-3 κεκλέμμεθα 951
mvp-comment-398-1 δοκεῖς λέγειν φρονούντως περὶ 952
mvp-comment-399-1 θεοί 953
mvp-comment-399-2 κτημάτων 954
mvp-comment-400-1 ἐγὼ δ’ ὅπως 955
mvp-comment-400-2 μὴ 956 ὅπως 957 μή 958 ὀρθῶς 959
mvp-comment-400-3 μήτ’ ἐπισταίμην 960
mvp-comment-401-1 καλῶς ἔχον 961 γένοιτο ἂν καὶ ἑτέρῳ 962
mvp-comment-402-1 σοῦ δ’ οὖν 963 σοῦ 964 σοί 965 σὺ δ’ οὐ πέφυκας 966 τις 967 μῆνίν τιν’ ἢ κότον τιν 968
mvp-comment-403-1 τὸ γὰρ σόν 969 ὄμμα 970
mvp-comment-403-2 δημότῃ 971
mvp-comment-404-1 λόγοις τοιούτοις 972 λόγοις τοιούτοις 973
mvp-comment-404-2 οἷς 974 τέρψει 975 κλύων 976 μή 977 τέρψῃ 978
mvp-comment-405-1 ὑπὸ σκότον 979 ἀκούειν 980 ὀδύρεται 981
mvp-comment-406-1 κάκιστ’ … εὐκλεεστάτων 982
mvp-comment-406-2 ἀπ’ ἔργων 983
mvp-comment-407-1 ἥτις 984 μήθ’ … μήθ’ 985 εἴασε 986 ὀλέσθαι 987
mvp-comment-407-2 αὐτάδελφον 988
mvp-comment-407-3 ἐνφοναῖς 989
mvp-comment-408-1 χρυσῆς 990
mvp-comment-408-2 λαχεῖν 991 ἀξία 992
mvp-comment-409-1 ἐπέρχεται 993
mvp-comment-410-1 θάλλοντος 994
mvp-comment-410-2 μεῖζον εὐκλείας 995
mvp-comment-410-3 πρὸς παίδων 996 εὐκλεία 997
mvp-comment-411-1 νυν 998
mvp-comment-411-2 φόρει 999
mvp-comment-411-3 ἦθος 1000 ὡς φὴς σύ 1001
mvp-comment-411-4 κοὐδέν 1002
mvp-comment-411-5 τοῦτο 1003
mvp-comment-412-1 μόνος 1004 φρονεῖν 1005 ψυχήν 1006
mvp-comment-412-2
mvp-comment-413-1 οὗτοι 1007
mvp-comment-413-2 διαπτυχθέντες 1008
mvp-comment-413-3 κενοί 1009
mvp-comment-414-1 ἄνδρα 1010 μανθάνειν 1011 τό 1012
mvp-comment-414-2 κεἰ … ᾖ 1013
mvp-comment-414-3 τείνειν 1014
mvp-comment-414-4 παρὰ ῥείθρ. 1015
mvp-comment-414-5 χειμάρροις 1016
mvp-comment-415-1 ὑπείκει 1017
mvp-comment-415-2 αὐτόπρεμνα 1018
mvp-comment-416-1 αὔτως 1019
mvp-comment-416-2 ναός 1020
mvp-comment-416-3 ἐγκρατῆ 1021
mvp-comment-416-4 πόδα 1022
mvp-comment-417-1 μηδέν 1023
mvp-comment-417-2 κάτω στρέψας 1024 τὸ πλοῖον 1025 τὸ λοιπόν 1026
mvp-comment-417-3 σέλμασιν 1027 ὑπτίοις 1028
mvp-comment-418-1 εἶκε θυμοῦ 1029
mvp-comment-418-2 καὶ μετάστασιν δίδου 1030
mvp-comment-418-3 δίδου 1031 εἶκε 1032 καί 1033 καί 1034
mvp-comment-419-1 εἴ τις γνώμη πρόσεστι καὶ ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ ν. 1035 καί 1036
mvp-comment-419-2 πρεσβεύειν 1037
mvp-comment-420-1 φῦναι 1038
mvp-comment-420-2 πάντ’ 1039
mvp-comment-421-1 εἰ δ’ οὖν 1040 φιλεῖ γάρ 1041
mvp-comment-421-2 τοῦτο … ταύτῃ 1042 ταύτῃ 1043
mvp-comment-421-3 ῥέπειν 1044
mvp-comment-422-1 καὶ τὸ τῶν εὖ λεγόντων μανθάνειν καλόν 1045
mvp-comment-423-1 σέ τ’ 1046 διπλᾶι 1047 διπλᾶ 1048 διπλῇ 1049 διπλᾶ 1050
mvp-comment-423-2 On the other hand, διπλῇ 1051
mvp-comment-424-1 καὶ 1052 διδαξ. 1053
mvp-comment-424-2 δή 1054
mvp-comment-424-3 τὴν φύσιν 1055
mvp-comment-425-1 μηδέν 1056 τὸ μὴ δίκ. 1057
mvp-comment-425-2 τὸν χρόνον 1058 τἄργα 1059
mvp-comment-426-1 ἔργον 1060
mvp-comment-426-2 τοὺς ἀκοσμοῦντας 1061
mvp-comment-426-3 σέβειν 1062
mvp-comment-427-1 οὐδ’ 1063
mvp-comment-428-1 τοιᾷδε … νοσῳ 1064
mvp-comment-428-2 ἐπείληπται 1065
mvp-comment-429-1 Θήβης 1066 ὁμόπτολις 1067
mvp-comment-430-1 ἡμῖν 1068 ἐμέ 1069
mvp-comment-431-1 ὡς ἄγαν νέος 1070
mvp-comment-432-1 Dobree's με 1071 γε 1072 χρή 1073 ἄλλῳ ἢ ’μοί 1074 ἐμοί 1075 χρή γε 1076
mvp-comment-433-1 πόλις γὰρ οὐκ ἔσθ’ 1077
mvp-comment-433-2
mvp-comment-434-1 νομίζεται 1078
mvp-comment-435-1 καλῶς ἐρήμης γ’ 1079
mvp-comment-436-1
Though at least one late MS. (Paris E) has
mvp-comment-437-1 οὖν 1080 προκήδομαι 1081
mvp-comment-438-1 ὦ παγκάκιστε 1082
mvp-comment-438-2 διὰ δίκης ἰὼν πατρί 1083
mvp-comment-439-1 ἀρχάς 1084
mvp-comment-440-1 οὐ γὰρ σέβεις 1085
mvp-comment-440-2 τιμάς 1086
mvp-comment-441-1 ὦ μιαρόν 1087 γυναικὸς ὕστερον 1088
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 1089
mvp-comment-442-3 γε 1090
mvp-comment-443-1 γοῦν 1091
mvp-comment-444-1 καὶ σοῦ γε 1092
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’ 1096 ὀλεῖ τινά 1097
mvp-comment-447-1 ἦ ἐπεξέρχει και ἐπαπειλῶν ὧδε θρασύς; 1098 καί 1099
mvp-comment-448-1 κλαίων 1100
mvp-comment-448-2 φρενώσεις 1101
mvp-comment-449-1 οὐκ εὖ φρονεῖν 1102
mvp-comment-450-1 δούλευμα 1103
mvp-comment-450-2 μὴ κωτιλλέ με 1104
mvp-comment-450-3
Cp. Theognis 363
mvp-comment-451-1 λέγειν … κλύειν; 1105 λέγειν τι 1106
mvp-comment-452-1 ἄληθες; 1107
mvp-comment-452-2 οὐ τόνδ’ Ὄλ. 1108
mvp-comment-452-3 ἴσθ’ ὅτι 1109
mvp-comment-453-1 χαίρων 1110
mvp-comment-453-2 ἐπὶ ψόγοισι δεννάσεις 1111 ἐπί 1112 ἔτι 1113
mvp-comment-454-1 ἄγετε 1114 ἄγ’ ἄγε 1115 ἄγαγε 1116
mvp-comment-454-2 τὸ μῖσος 1117
mvp-comment-454-3 κατ’ ὄμματ’ 1118
mvp-comment-454-4 παρόντι … πλησία 1119
mvp-comment-455-1 ἔμοιγε 1120 οὔτε 1121 τε 1122
mvp-comment-455-2 οὐδαμά 1123
mvp-comment-455-3 ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς 1124
mvp-comment-456-1 ὡς 1125
mvp-comment-456-2 τοῖς θέλουσι 1126
mvp-comment-457-1 ἐξ ὀργῆς ταχύς 1127
mvp-comment-457-2 βαρύς 1128
mvp-comment-458-1 μεῖζον ἢ κατ’ ἄνδρα 1129
mvp-comment-458-2 ἰών 1130
mvp-comment-458-3
mvp-comment-459-1 For δ’ οὖν 1131
mvp-comment-459-2 τὼ … τώδε 1132
mvp-comment-459-3 καί 1133 κατακτ. νοεῖς 1134 κατακτ 1135
mvp-comment-460-1 θιγοῦσαν 1136
mvp-comment-460-2 γὰρ οὖν 1137
mvp-comment-461-1 καί 1138 βουλεύει 1139
mvp-comment-461-2 σφε 1140
mvp-comment-462-1 ἔνθα 1141
mvp-comment-463-1 πετρώδει … ἐν κατώρυχι 1142
mvp-comment-464-1 ὡς ἄγος μόνον 1143 ὡς 1144 ὅσον 1145
mvp-comment-464-2 ἄγος 1146
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’ 1147
mvp-comment-466-1 ὃν μόνον σέβει 1148
mvp-comment-466-2
mvp-comment-467-1 τὸ μὴ θανεῖν 1149 τεύξεται 1150
mvp-comment-468-1 ἀλλὰ τηνικαῦτα 1151 τἀν 1152
mvp-comment-470-1 ἀνίκατε μάχαν 1153
mvp-comment-471-1 ἐν κτήμασι πίπτεις, 1154
mvp-comment-472-1 ἐν μαλακαῖς παρειαῖς 1155
mvp-comment-472-2 ἐννυχεύεις 1156
mvp-comment-473-1 ὑπερπόντιος 1157
mvp-comment-473-2 ἔν τ’ ἀγρ. αὐλαῖς 1158
mvp-comment-474-1 οὔτ’ ἀθανάτων 1159
mvp-comment-474-2 σὲ … φύξιμός ἐστι 1160
mvp-comment-475-1 σέ γ’ 1161
mvp-comment-475-2 ὁ δ’ ἔχων 1162
mvp-comment-476-1 ἀδίκους 1163 παρασπᾷς 1164
mvp-comment-477-1 ξύναιμον 1165
mvp-comment-477-2 ἔχεις 1166
mvp-comment-477-3 ταράξας 1167
mvp-comment-478-1 ἐναργής 1168
mvp-comment-478-2 βλεφάρωνἵμερος 1169 εὐλέκτρου νύμφας 1170
mvp-comment-478-3 εὐλέκτρου 1171
mvp-comment-479-1 πάρεδρος ἐν ἀρχαῖς 1172 πάρεδρος 1173 ἐν ἀρχαῖς 1174
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 1175
mvp-comment-480-1 ἐμπαίζει 1176 νικᾷ 1177
mvp-comment-481-1 καὐτὸς θεσμῶν ἔξω 1178
mvp-comment-481-2 φέρομαι 1179
mvp-comment-481-3 ἴσχειν δ’ 1180
mvp-comment-482-1 πηγάς 1181
mvp-comment-483-1 παγκοίτην 1182
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 1184
mvp-comment-485-1 νεάταν … νέατον δέ 1185
mvp-comment-485-2 νέατον 1186
mvp-comment-485-3 κοὔποτ’ αὖθις 1187
mvp-comment-486-1 παγκοίτας 1188 πάγκοινος 1189
mvp-comment-487-1 ἄγει … ἀκτάν 1190
mvp-comment-488-1 οὔθ’ ὑμεναίων … οὔτ’ ἐπινύμφειος … ὕμνος 1191
mvp-comment-488-2 οὔτε … ἔγκληρον, … οὔτε … ὕμνησεν 1193
mvp-comment-488-3 ἐπινύμφειος 1194 ἐπινυμφίδιος 1195 ἐπὶ νυμφείοις 1196 ἐπινυμφίδιος 1197
mvp-comment-489-1 Ἀχέροντι νυμφεύσω 1198
mvp-comment-490-1 ξιφέων 1199 ἐπίχειρα 1200
mvp-comment-491-1 αὐτόνομος 1201
mvp-comment-491-2 δή 1202 μόνη 1203 Ἀΐδην 1204 Ἅιδην 1205
mvp-comment-492-1 ἤκουσα δή 1206
mvp-comment-492-2 λυγροτάταν 1207
mvp-comment-492-3 ξέναν 1208
mvp-comment-493-1 Ταντάλου 1209
mvp-comment-493-2 Σιπύλῳ 1210
mvp-comment-494-1 ἀτενής 1211
mvp-comment-494-2 πετραία βλάστα δάμασεν 1212 αι^ 1213
mvp-comment-495-1 καί νιν ὄμρροι 1214 τέγγει δ’ 1215 ὄμβρῳ 1216 τακομέναν 1217 τέγγει … δειράδας 1218 ὄμβροι 1219 ὄμβρῳ 1220
mvp-comment-495-2 χιών 1221
mvp-comment-495-3 οὐδαμά 1222
mvp-comment-496-1 τέγγει δ’ ὑπ’ ὀφρύσι … δειράδας 1223
mvp-comment-496-2
The Niobe of Sipylus has usually been identified with a colossal rock-image on the N. side of the range. It is rudely carved in relief, within a rectangular niche on the face of a limestone cliff, and represents a woman seated on a throne. (See Stark,
Niobe, pl. 1, Leips. 1863: cp. Baumeister,
Denkm. p. 1029). Prof. W. M. Ramsay, however, holds that this image is the ‘very ancient’
mvp-comment-496-3
The best ancient description is by a poet whose native place was in that neighbourhood,—Quintus Smyrnaeus (1. 293— 306):—‘Her streaming tears still fall from the heights of the rugged cliff; and in sympathy with her the sounding waters of the Hermus make lament, and the lofty peaks of Sipylus, over which the mist that shepherds dread floats evermore. A great marvel is she to passers by, because she is like a sorrowful woman, who mourns some cruel grief, and weeps without stint. Such verily seems the figure, when thou gazest at it from afar; but when thou drawest near, lo, 'tis but a sheer rock, a cliff of Sipylus’ (
mvp-comment-496-4
Nonnus was thinking of the effect
from the road, when he wrote (2. 160),
mvp-comment-497-1 ὁμοιοτάταν 1224
mvp-comment-498-1 ἀλλὰ … θανοῦσαν 1225 καίτοι 1226 ζῶσαν 1227 θανοῦσαν 1228 οἴμοι γελῶμαι 1229
mvp-comment-498-2 θεός 1230
mvp-comment-498-3 θεογεννής 1231 θειογενής 1232
mvp-comment-499-1 καίτοι 1233 φθιμένῃ 1234
mvp-comment-499-2 κἀκοῦσαι 1235 μέγ’ ἀκοῦσαι 1236
mvp-comment-500-1 τοῖς ἰσοθέοις σύγκληρα 1237 ἔγκληρα 1238
mvp-comment-500-2
Hipp. 1011
: or (2) pass., included in one's
mvp-comment-501-1 ζῶσαν … θανοῦσαν 1244
mvp-comment-502-1 γελῶμαι 1245
mvp-comment-503-1 πολυκτήμονες 1246
mvp-comment-504-1 κρῆναι 1247
mvp-comment-504-2 εὐαρμάτου 1248
mvp-comment-504-3 ἄλσος 1249
mvp-comment-504-4 ἔμπας 1250
mvp-comment-505-1 ὔμμ’ 1251
mvp-comment-505-2 ἐπικτῶμαι 1252 ἐπί 1253
mvp-comment-506-1 οἵα 1254
mvp-comment-506-2 φίλων ἄκλαυτος 1255
mvp-comment-507-1 ἕργμα τυμβόχωστον 1256 ἕρμα 1257
mvp-comment-508-1 ποταινίου 1258
mvp-comment-509-1 Though every treatment of this verse must remain subject to doubt, far the most probable (to my mind) is Seyffert's modification of Boeckh's βροτοῖς οὔτ’ ἐν νεκροῖς κυροῦσα 1259 οὔτε 1260 κυροῦσα 1261 νεκροῖς 1262
mvp-comment-510-1 μέτοικος 1263
mvp-comment-511-1 προβᾶσ’ … πολύ 1264 προσέπεσες 1265
mvp-comment-511-2 πολύ 1266 ἐσχάτου 1267 προσέπεσες 1268
mvp-comment-512-1 πατρῷόν τινα … ἆθλον 1269 τινά 1270
mvp-comment-512-2 ἐκτίνεις 1271
mvp-comment-513-1 μερίμνας 1272 οἶκτον 1273 πατρός 1274 πότμου 1275 οἶκτον 1276
mvp-comment-513-2
to taking
mvp-comment-513-3 ἀλγ. μερίμνας 1277 οἶτον 1278
mvp-comment-513-4 τριπόλιστον 1279
mvp-comment-513-5 κλεινοῖς Λαβδακίδαισιν 1280 πότμου 1281
mvp-comment-513-6 ἁμετέρου 1282
mvp-comment-514-1 ματρῷαι λέκτρων ἆται 1283 πατρῷαι 1284
mvp-comment-514-2
mvp-comment-515-1 κοιμήματα . . αὐτογέννητα . . ματρός 1285
mvp-comment-515-2 ἐμῷ πατρί 1286
mvp-comment-515-3 δυσμόρου 1287
mvp-comment-516-1 οἵων 1288 ποτέ 1289 οἵων 1290 ποτέ 1291 οὕς 1292 οἵων 1293 ματρός.—ἀραῖος 1294
mvp-comment-516-2 μέτοικος 1295
mvp-comment-517-1 κασίγνητε 1296
mvp-comment-518-1 θανὼν ἔτ’ οὖσαν 1297
mvp-comment-518-2 κατήναρες 1298
mvp-comment-519-1 σέβειν 1299
mvp-comment-519-2
sense,
mvp-comment-520-1 κράτος δὲ 1301 ὅτῳ 1302
mvp-comment-520-2 οὐδαμᾷ 1303 μέλει 1304
mvp-comment-521-1 αὐτόγνωτος 1305 αὐτὴ γιγνώσκουσα 1306
mvp-comment-521-2 ὀργά 1307
mvp-comment-522-1 ἑτοίμαν 1308
mvp-comment-523-1 τόδε λ. ἱρὸν ὄμμα 1309
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.
808. mvp-comment-470-1 νέατον is an adjective. See on Ο. Τ. 155.
810. mvp-comment-471-1 κοὔποτ᾽ αὖθις Sc. ὄψομαι φέγγος ἀελίου.
810. mvp-comment-471-2 παγκοίτας is here active='That seals up all in rest.' Essay on Language pp. 98, 101. The metre suggests πάγκοιτος, cp. infr. 828, the corresponding line of the antistrophe.
812-813. mvp-comment-472-1 Ἀχέροντος ἀκτάν Hom. Od. 10. 509, ἔνθ᾽ ἀκτή τε λάχεια: ib. 513, ἔνθα μὲν εἰς Ἀχέροντα πυριφλεγέθων τε ῥέουσι, κ.τ.λ.
815. mvp-comment-473-1 *ἐπινύμφειος, which Dindorf has restored for ἐπινυμφίδιος, is more probable than ἐπὶ νυμφείοις, although this appears to be supported by the note of the Scholiast, λείπει θύραις ἢ κοίταις.
816. mvp-comment-474-1 Ἀχέροντι As other maidens have been wedded to rivers upon the earth.
820. mvp-comment-475-1 ξιφέων ἐπίχειρα The wages of the sword; i.e. Death given by the sword.
821. mvp-comment-476-1 αὐτόνομος The Scholiast explains this, ἰδίοις αὐτῆς νόμοις χρησαμένη. This is not free from ambiguity; but the true meaning is rather By an ordinance peculiar to your case (ἰδίᾳ τινὶ σεαυτῆς νόμῳ), than In your independence of law, or As being a law to yourself. The chorus nowhere speak with admiration of the independent attitude of Antigone, although they secretly sympathize with her pious motive. The word is used with consciousness of the derivation. The νόμος which is peculiar to Antigone is the privilege of a living death.
823. mvp-comment-477-1 λυγροτάταν In sorriest plight. Supplementary predicate.
824-825. mvp-comment-478-1 τὰν Φρυγίαν ξέναν Ταντάλου] Our friend far off in Phrygia, Tantalus' daughter.' Sipylus was placed by some in Phrygia, by others in Lydia. (Strabo, 12. p. 571.) Donaldson well remarks that févar is applied to Niobe, because she married Amphion, king of Thebes.
828. mvp-comment-479-1 ὄμβρῳ τακομέναν The conjectural emendation ὄμβροι has been very generally received. But the Highlands of Phrygia are not subject to perpetual showers. It is more natural to think of a snow-capped peak ever running down with moisture from the melting snow. On the general sense thus given to ὄμβρος, see Essay on Language § 52. p. 98. And as she flows down with moisture, the snow leaves her not, but still she wets the ridges of her neck beneath her tearful brow. The position of T' need cause no difficulty. Essay on Language pp. 65,6. It has been observed that the words ὀφρύς and δειράς are equally applicable to a mountain and to a human being. The subj. of τέγγει is not χιών but ὁ Νιόβα.
834. mvp-comment-480-1 It is doubtful whether θειογενής οι θεογεννής (= θεογέννητος) should be read for the unmetrical θεογενής.
836. mvp-comment-481-1 Of the two readings, φθιμένα and φθιμένῳ, both of which are given by L, and were known to the Scholiast, the feminine is more likely to be due to a corrector.
837. mvp-comment-482-1 The words ζῶσαν καὶ ἔπειτα θανοῦσαν have little point, and being omitted by Aldus (as in A), have never been restored except by Seyffert, who reads μέγα κἀκοῦσαι in l. 836. Those who omit 837, invert the preceding lines for the sake of the paroemiac, and read καίτοι φθιμένῳ τοῖς ἰσοθέοις | ἔγκληρα λαχεῖν μέγ᾽ ἀκοῦσαι. For ἀκοῦσαι, to have said of one, cp. Phil. 1074, ἀκούσομαι μὲν ὡς ἔφυν οἴκτου πλέως.
840. mvp-comment-483-1 *οὐλομέναν The conjecture of Martin. οἰχομέναν (Wunder) also deserves to be considered.
842. mvp-comment-484-1 She first turns from the elders to the city at large; and then, remembering how little sympathy she has had from man, she appeals, like Philoctetes (936 ff.), in a fresh outburst, to the familiar presences' of nature.
843. mvp-comment-485-1 πολυκτήμονες Thebes was proverbially a wealthy city.
844. mvp-comment-486-1 ἰώ Here she breaks into a louder cry.
845. mvp-comment-487-1 ἄλσος The open ground about the city. Cp. Εl. 5, τῆς οἰστροπλῆγος ἄλσος Ἰνάχου κόρης.
847. mvp-comment-488-1 οἷα, like ὀμοιοτάταν in 832, and λυγροτάταν in 823, is supplementary predicate, and equivalent to an adverb.
851. mvp-comment-489-1 Hermann (ed. 1839) was contented to read οὔτε βροτοῖσιν οὔτ᾽ ἐν νεκροῖσιν, but remarked that the long anacrusis of the second part of the line, οὔτ᾽ ἐν νεκροῖσιν = γάμων κυρήσας is very rare. Qu βροτοῖς, οὔτε τις ἐν νεκροίσιν? But the original line is probably lost.
852. mvp-comment-490-1 Advancing to the utmost verge of daring thou didst fall violently, my daughter, against the lofty throne of Right. ἐκτίνεισ Α.
854. mvp-comment-491-1 βάθρον is here the pedestal on which the image of justice is imagined to rest. Cp. Plat. Phaedr. 254 B, ἰδόντος δὲ τοῦ ἡνιόχου ἡ μνήμη πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κάλλους φύσιν ἠνέχθη. καὶ πάλιν εἶδεν αὐτὴν μετὰ σωφροσύνης ἐν ἁγνῷ βάθρῳ βεβῶσαν, Ο. Τ. 865, νόμοι. . ὑψίποδες.
855. mvp-comment-492-1 πολύ is allowed to pass by Hermann without comment, but has been more recently called in question, partly on the metrical ground that the line should end with a long syllable.
855. mvp-comment-492-2 πολύς is certainly no improvement. On the attempt to give special force to such a general word, see Essay on Language § 51. p. 97.
856. mvp-comment-493-1 But thou art paying some debt of expiation inherited from thy sire.' άθλος is here a task or burden imposed by some higher power, like the labours of Heracles, and is perhaps associated by Sophocles with the derivative ἄθλιος. The combined metaphorical use of ἆθλος and ἐκτίνειν is not too great a stretch of language for Sophocles. Essay on Language p. 105.
857. mvp-comment-494-1 Thou hast touched my saddest thought, the thrice-told tale of my father's sorrow.' Boeckh has cleared up the difficulties of this passage (1) by showing that οἶκτον harmonizes better with the context than οἶτον or οἶκον, and also gives a construction to πότμου: (2) by tracing the derivation of τριπόλιστον from πολίζω = πολέω, which occurs in the compound avναπολίζω : (3) by rightly explaining the dative Λαβδακίδαισιν. See Essay on Language § 13. p. 19. He also points out that μερίμνας is genitive, because the singular is more forcible, and μέριμναν would have suited the metre equally well. The only remaining doubt is the construction of οἶκτον.
857. mvp-comment-494-2 ψαύειν may govern the accusative, as appears from 961. But the change from the genitive to the accusative is still to be accounted for. (1) The word ἔψαυσας was chosen with special reference to μερίμνας. ἔλεξας, or some other general word, would have been sufficient if this had not intervened. Hence the general meaning of the verb (= ἔλεξας) is alone continued. (2) The case is partly governed by the verbal notion in μερίμνας = 8 μεριμνῶ. (3) The tendency of a Greek sentence is to pass from a more special to a more general construction. Essay on Language pp. 64, 5, οἶκτον is to be resumed with πότμου, which is co-ordinate with πατρός. Thou hast harped on what my mind broods over with saddest care, the thrice renewed pity for my father, and for the general fortune of our race, the lot that fell upon the famed Labdacidae. Seyffert thinks that in τριπόλιστον Antigone is thinking of her own ever-deepening grief. But the Scholiast and Boeckh are probably right in explaining the word (like κλεινοῖς) with reference to the widely felt compassion for Oedipus. Cp. O. C. 517, τό τοι πολὺ καὶ μηδαμὰ λῆγον: ib. 597, πᾶς τοῦτό γ' Ἑλλήνων θροεῖ. For τριπόλιστον, cp. Phil. 1238, δὶς ταὐτὰ βούλει καὶ τρὶς ἀναπολεῖν μ' ἔπη.
861. mvp-comment-495-1 κλεινοῖς is said with bitterness, as in O. T. 1207, κλεινὸν Οἰδίπου κάρα. The dative is used in explanation of ἁμετέρου, Ist as clearer than the genitive with so many genitives preceding; 2nd with an ethical' force; the lot that fell on us. 863. O my mother, to whom marriage was calamity, O my hapless father, who in wedlock with a mother, held guilty intercourse with her from whom he came.' ματρῷαι λέκτρων ἆται] ‘My mother's calamity in marriage.' λέκτρων is descriptive or distinctive genitive (Essay on Language § 9. p. 12), and the possessive ματρῷαι is joined to λέκτρων ἆται taken as one word. In observing Antigone's tenderness for her mother we are reminded that the plot of the Oedipus Tyrannus was not yet conceived.
865. mvp-comment-496-1 ματρός is objective genitive, after κοιμήματα = ξυνουσίαι, and also descriptive, like γάμοι τέκνων, Ο. C. 945. For the condensed expression κοιμήματά τ᾿ αὐτογέννητ᾽ = τὸ κοιμηθῆναι σὺν ταύτῃ ἐξ ἧς αὐτὸς ἐγεννήθη, see Essay on Language § 43. p. 81, and for the force of αὐτός in composition, ibid. p. 101. The dative ἐμῷ πατρί (Ε. on L. § 13. p. 19, see on l. 861) is occasioned by the adjective; i. e. αὐτογέννητ᾽ ἦν αὐτῷ τὰ κοιμήματα. The nature of constructions in such condensed expressions can only be explained by expanding each phrase into a sentence. The meaning of the passive verbal termination in αὐτογέννητα is extremely indefinite. The other way of taking the words ('Connubium dicit Jocastae cum Oedipo quem ipsa pepererat,' Dind.), although giving a more obvious construction to the dative, has the fatal blemish of making a twofold apostrophe to Jocasta, whereas οἵων implies a reference to both parents, which is much more forcible.
865. mvp-comment-496-2 The Laur. reading δυσμόρῳ is preferable, because of the peculiar significance of κοιμήματα ματρός.
866. mvp-comment-497-1 οἴων is to be immediately referred to κοιμήματα, Such wedlock as gave me birth.
868. mvp-comment-498-1 μέτοικος may possibly have the association of an alien,' because she could not expect to meet with proper burial. But for the generalised meaning of μέτοικος, cp. supr. 852: О. С. 934: infr. 890, μετοικίας.
872-875. mvp-comment-499-1 There is some piety in pious action; but, as towards him who wieldeth it, authority must in no wise be transgressed. A self-determined impulse hath undone thee.' Cp. Phil. 138, τέχνα γὰρ τέχνας ἑτέρας προὔχει | καὶ γνώμα παρ' ὅτῳ τὸ θεῖον | Διὸς σκῆπτρον ἀνάσσεται, where there is a similar ellipse of the antecedent. The meaning is, He who has authority must not suffer authority to be thwarted. This may be made clearer by supplying ἐκείνῳ, as dative of the person interested, for the antecedent to ὅτῳ. He must not have it (i.e. suffer it to be) transgressed.
877. mvp-comment-500-1 Unhappy, I am led the way that is here prepared for me.' Creon has already entered before these words are said. Cp. infr. 933-934. Mm