Sophocles, Antigone, 71

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407 It befell on this wise. When we had come to the place,—with those dread menaces of thine upon 410 us,—we swept away all the dust that covered the corpse, and bared the dank body well; and then sat us down on the brow of the hill, to windward, heedful that the smell from him should not strike us; every man was wide awake, and kept his neighbour alert with torrents of threats, if any one should be careless of this task, So went it, until the sun’s bright orb stood in mid heaven, and the heat began to burn: and then suddenly a whirlwind lifted from the earth a storm of dust, a trouble in the sky, and filled the plain, marring all the 420 leafage of its woods; and the wide air was choked therewith: we closed our eyes, and bore the plague from the gods. And when, after a long while, this storm had passed, the maid was seen; and she cried aloud with the sharp cry of a bird in its bitterness,—even as when, within the empty nest, it sees the bed stripped of its nestlings. So she also, when she saw the corpse bare, lifted up a voice of wailing, and called down curses on the doers of that deed. And straightway she brought thirsty 430 dust in her hands; and from a shapely ewer of bronze, held high, with thrice-poured drink-offering she crowned the dead. We rushed forward when we saw it, and at once closed upon our quarry, who was in no wise dismayed. Then we taxed her with her past and present doings; and she stood not on denial of aught,—at once to my joy and to my pain. To have escaped from ills one’s self is a great joy; but ‘tis painful to bring friends to 440 ill. Howbeit, all such things are of less account to me than mine own safety.

Antigone. Sophocles. Cambridge, UK. 1904.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Experimental

English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Sir Richard Jebb1, 1904))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (12)

Greek (L. Benloew, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (L. Benloew, 1858)) — 71 focus

ἀλλ᾽ ¹ ἴσθ᾽ ὁποῖά σοι δοκεῖ. κεῖνον δ᾽ ἐγὼ

Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 71 focus

ἀλλ᾽ ἴσθ᾽ ὁποίᾳ σοι δοκεῖ· κεῖνον δ᾽ ἐγὼ

Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 71 focus

ἀλλ᾽ ἴσθ᾽, ὁποῖά σοι δοκεῖ· κεῖνον δ᾽ ἐγὼ

Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 71 focus

ἄλλ᾽ ἴσθ᾽ ὁποία σοι δοκεῖ, κεῖνον δ᾽ ἐγὼ

Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 71 focus

ἀλλ᾽ ἴσθ᾽ ὁποία σοι δοκεῖ, κεῖνον δ᾽ ἐγὼ

Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 71.mvp-line-71 focus

ἀλλ’ ἴσθ’ ὁποία σοι δοκεῖ, κεῖνον δ’ ἐγὼ

Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 71 focus

ἀλλ᾽ ἴσθ᾽ ὁποῖά σοι δοκεῖ· κεῖνον δ᾽ ἐγὼ

Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 71 focus

ἀλλ᾽ ἴσθ᾽ ὁποίᾳ σοι δοκεῖ. κεῖνον δ᾽ ἐγὼ

Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 71 focus

ἀλλ᾽ ἴσθ᾽ ὁποία σοι δοκεῖ· κεῖνον δ᾽ ἐγὼ

Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 71.mvp-line-71 focus

ἀλλ᾽ ἴσθ᾽ ὁποῖά σοι δοκεῖ, κεῖνον δ᾽ ἐγὼ

Antigone (OCR draft) Experimental (Antigone) — 71 focus

ἀλλʼ ἴσθʼ ὁποῖά σοι δοκεῖ, κεῖνον δʼ ἐγὼ

Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 71 focus

ἀλλ᾽ ἴσθ᾽ ὁποῖά σοι δοκεῖ, κεῖνον δ᾽ ἐγὼ

Translations (10)

German (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 71 focus

KREON

Und wie ergriffst du sie denn und an welchem Ort?

Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (J. A. Bolufer, 1921)) — 71 focus

EL CENTINELA

407 La cosa ocurrió de esta manera: cuando yo llegué asustado por las terribles amenazas tuyas, después de quitar todo el polvo que cubría al cadáver y dejar bien al desnudo el cuerpo, que estaba ya en putrefacción, nos apostamos en lo alto de un otero, resguardados del aire y bastante lejos para que no nos diera el mal olor de aquél, excitando a la vigilancia cada uno a su compañero con eficaces reproches, si es que alguien se descuidaba de su tarea. Esto duró hasta la hora en que en medio del cielo se coloca el brillante astro del día y abrasa el calor. Entonces, de repente, un tifón levantando de tierra terrible tempestad con un rayo que parecia parecía grito del cielo, invadió la campiña, devastando el follaje de la campestre selva. Se llenó de polvo todo el aire; y nosotros, con los ojos cerrados, aguantábamos el castigo que el cielo nos enviaba. Cuando se apaciguó la tempestad, después de mucho tiempo, vimos a la muchacha que se quejaba dando agudos lamentos, como el ave dolorida cuando advierte vacío el lecho de su nido por haberle arrebatado los . polluelos. Así también ésta, cuando vió vio el cadáver al desnudo, rompió en amargo llanto y lanzó horribles maldiciones contra los que le habian habían inferido el ultraje. Recogió en seguida con las manos polvo seco; y vertiendo de un vaso de bronce bien forjado tres libaciones sobre el cadáver, lo cubrió. Nosotros que la vimos, nos abalanzamos y la cogimos en seguida, sin que ella se asustara de nada: la acusamos del hecho anterior y del presente, y no negó nada, con gusto mio y con pena a la vez; porque el quedar uno libre del castigo es muy dulce; pero implicar a un amigo en la desgracia, es doloroso. No obstante, natural es que esto último tenga para mi menos importancia que mi propia salvación.

Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Latin (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 71 focus

Custos

407 Sic acta res est. Postquam enim eo venimus, tuis illis minis atrocibus perterriti, primum terram omnem, qua contectum erat cadaver, everrimus, putreque corpus nudavimus plane, tum editis in tumulis consedimus aversi ab aura, ne nobis teter odor ex illo adflaret, caventes; ubi vigilantes nos excitabamus conviciis, si quis vellet huic labori parcere. Tantisper in eo res fuit; donec aethere in medio constitit lucidus Solis orbis, aestusque flagravit : atque tum derepente vehemens flatus e terra coortus, turbinem in altum tollens, aeream pestem, implet campum, omnem deturpans comam campestris silvae : immensusque repletur aër: nos vero clausis oculis divinitus missum tolerabamus malum. Quo post longum tempus tandem sedato, puella conspicitur, et acerbe quidem lamentans, in modum acuta voce questaeaviculae, cum vacuum midi cubile pullis orbatum videt. Sic et illa; nudum ut cernit cadaver, lamentis eiulavit , dirasque [acti auctoribus poenas imprecata est. Nec mora, collectum manibus aridum affert pulverem , et ex aereo affabre facto gutto, triplici fuso libamine, mortuo inferias facit. Nos vero conspicati irruimus, eamque comprehendimus illico nullo perculsam metu, et utriusque facti, tum illius prioris, tum huius recentis , convincimus: nihil enim negavit. Quod quidem mihi gratum et friste simul auditu fuit: ipsum enim me ex malis evasisse, gratissimum: sed in malum amicos ducere, id triste est; at omnia ista prae mea salute parvi me pendere par est.

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 71 focus

WATCH
407

It fell in this wise. We were come to the spot,

Bearing the dreadful burden of thy threats;

And first with care we swept the dust away

From round the corse, and laid the dank limbs bare:
410

Then sate below the hill-top, out o’ the wind,

Where no bad odour from the dead might strike us,

Stirring each other on with interchange

Of loud revilings on the negligent

In ’tendance on this duty. So we stayed
415

Till in mid heaven the sun’s resplendent orb

Stood high, and the heat strengthened. Suddenly,

The Storm-god raised a whirlwind from the ground,

Vexing heaven’s concave, and filled all the plain,

Rending the locks of all the orchard groves,
420

Till the great sky was choked withal. We closed

Our lips and eyes, and bore the God-sent evil.

When after a long while this ceased, the maid

Was seen, and wailed in high and bitter key,

Like some despairing bird that hath espied
425

Her nest all desolate, the nestlings gone.

So, when she saw the body bare, she mourned

Loudly, and cursed the authors of this deed.

Then nimbly with her hands she brought dry dust,

And holding high a shapely brazen cruse,
430

Poured three libations, honouring the dead.

We, when we saw, ran in, and straightway seized

Our quarry, nought dismayed, and charged her with

The former crime and this. And she denied

Nothing;—to my delight, and to my grief.
435

One’s self to escape disaster is great joy;

Yet to have drawn a friend into distress

Is painful. But mine own security

To me is of more value than aught else.

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 69 focus

Nicht mehr verlang' ich's, möchte dich zur Helferin

Nicht mehr, erklärtest du dich auch bereit dazu.
70

Nein, wähle deinem Sinne nach: ihn werd' ich selbst

Bestatten; ruhmvoll ist der Tod für diese That.

Bei ihm, dem Lieben, werd' ich ruh'n, die Liebende,

Die frommen Frevel übte; muß ich länger doch

Den Todten dort gefallen, als den Lebenden.
75

Denn dort ja ruh' ich ewig; du, wenn dir's gefällt,

Entehre, was in Ehre selbst bei Göttern steht.

Ich acht' es auch der Ehre werth; indeß der Stadt

Zum Troz zu handeln, fühl ich mich nicht stark genug.

Antigone.

So wende du das vor; doch ich geh' unverweilt,
80

Und schütt' ein Grab dem heißgeliebten Bruder auf.

Ismene.

Tollkühne, weh mir! Ha, wie fürcht' ich deinethalb!

Antigone.

Sei nicht um mich bang; sich're du nur dein Geschick!

Ismene.

Doch offenbare ja zuvor Niemand die That;

Im Dunkel birg' sie; gerne schweig' auch ich davon.
85

Antigone.

Ha, laut verkünd' es! Viel verhaßter wirst du mir

Durch Schweigen, offenbarst du's nicht vor aller Welt.

Ismene.

Dir wallt der Busen glühend, wo mich Schauder faßt.

Antigone.

Doch weiß ich hold mir, deren Huld mein Höchstes iſt.

Ismene.

Wenn du's vermöchtest; doch du willst Unmögliches.
90

Nun freilich, wenn ich's nicht vermag, so lass' ich ab.

Auch nicht von Anfang jage nach Unmöglichem.

Antigone.

Durch solche Reden wirst du billig mir verhaßt,

Und billig hassen wird dich auch der Todte dort.

Nein, laß du mich und meines Sinnes Unverstand
95

Dies Grauenvolle dulden. Was ich Schweres auch¹

Erleiden möge, bleibt mir doch ein schöner Tod.

Ismene.

Nun, wenn dir's gut dünkt, ziehe hin: ächt schwesterlich

Als Schwester fühlend gehst du, wenn als Thörin auch.

(Sie gehen nach verschiedenen Seiten ab. Der Chor tritt auf.) Erste Strophe.

Der Chor.

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 71 focus

Creon
(5 uard. Thus then it waa, No sooner had J left thee 441

Speak thou, who bendst to earth thy droopiiig

head;

Dost thou deny the fact 1

Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889) (OCR draft) Experimental (Spanish (A. G. Garbin, 1889)) — 71 focus

EL CENTINELA

¡Oh Príncipe! al hombre no le es dado jurar nada: pues con frecuencia nos convence de nuestro error una reflexión posterior. Yo juraba que jamás volvería á comparecer ante tí: de tal modo me habían aterrado tus amenazas; y sin embargo, por una inesperada felicidad (á ninguna dicha del mundo comparable) vuelvo ante tu presencia (á pesar de mis juramentos) trayéndote á esta joven á quien he sorprendido preparando la tumba para el cadáver. Esta vez no ha sido preciso echar suertes: el descubrimiento ha sido mío, únicamente mío. Ahora tú la cogerás y la examinarás y convencerás según te parezca. En cuanto á mí, me creo ya con derecho á ser declarado libre y absuelto.

German (F. Hölderlin, 1804) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (F. Hölderlin, 1804)) — 71 focus

BOTE

So war dieSache. Wie wir weggegangen

Von dir, als du Gewaltiges gedrohet,

So wischten allen Staub wir ab, der um
425

Den Todten, wohl den nassen Leib entblöfsend ;

Und sezten uns auf hohen Hügel, an die Luft;

Dafs er Geruch nicht von sich gebe, fürchtend.

Es regt’ ein Mann den andern auf und drohte,

Wenn einer nicht die Arbeit achten würde.
430

Und lange blieb es so, bis auseinander brechend

Der Sonne Kreis sich bükte grad herab +

Vom Aether, und der Brand erglühte .Plözlich hub

Vom Boden dann ein warmer Sturm den Wirbel,

Der Himmlisches betrübt, das Feld erfüllt und reifst
435

Die Haare rings vom Wald des Thals, und voll ward

Davon der grofse Aether; wir verschlossen

Die Augen, hatten göttlich Weh, und als

Wir frei davon, in guter Zeit hernach,

So wird das Kind gesehn und weinet auf
440

Mit scharfer Stimme, wie ein Vogel trauert,

Wenn in dem leeren Nest verwaist von Jungen er

Das Lager sieht. So sie, da sie entblöfst

Erblikt den Todten , jammerte sie laut auf,

Und fluchte böse Flüche, wers gethan,
445

Und bringet Staub mit beiden Händen, schnell,

Und aus dem wohlgeschlagnen Eisenkruge kränzt

Sie dreimal mit Ergielsungen den Todten.

Wir, die’s gesehen, kamen, haschten sie,

Die nicht betroffen war, und klagten sie
450

Des jezigen und schongeschehnen an.

Sie läugnet’ aber nichts mir ab, und war

Lieblich zugleich und auch betrübt, vor mir.

Denn, dass man selbst entflieht aus Uebeln, ist

Das angenehmste. Doch ins Unglük Freunde
455

Zu bringen, ist betrübt. Doch dieses alles

Ist kleiner, als mein eignes Heil zu nehmen.

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 71 focus

Antigone

Ask Creon: thy regard
555

Is paid to him.
555

English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904)) — 100-160 focus

Enter the Chorus on the right.

Chorus

Shaft of the sun, fairest light of all that have dawned on Thebes of the seven gates, you have shone forth at last, eye of golden day, advancing over Dirce’s streams!
100

You have goaded with a sharper bit the warrior of the white shield, who came from Argos in full armor, driving him to headlong retreat.
105

110

Chorus

He set out against our land because of the strife-filled claims of Polyneices, and like a screaming eagle he flew over into our land, covered by his snow-white wing,
110

with a mass of weapons and crested helmets.
115

117

Chorus

He paused above our dwellings; he gaped around our sevenfold portals with spears thirsting for blood; but he left

before his jaws were ever glutted with our gore, or before the Fire-god’s pine-fed flame had seized our crown of towers.
120

So fierce was the crash of battle swelling about his back, a match too hard to win for the rival of the dragon.
125

127

Chorus

For Zeus detests above all the boasts of a proud tongue. And when he saw them advancing in a swollen flood,

arrogant their clanging gold, he dashed with brandished fire one who was already starting to shout victory when he had reached our ramparts.
130

134

Chorus

Staggered, he fell to the earth with a crash,

torch in hand, a man possessed by the frenzy of the mad attack, who just now was raging against us with the blasts of his tempestuous hate. But his threats did not fare as he had hoped, and to the other enemies mighty Ares dispensed each their own dooms with hard blows,
135

Ares, our mighty ally at the turning-point.
140

141

Chorus

For the seven captains, stationed against an equal number at the seven gates, left behind their brazen arms in tribute to Zeus the turner of battle—all but the accursed pair who, born of one father and one

mother, set against each other their spears, both victorious, and who now share in a common death.
145

148

Chorus

But since Victory whose name is glory has come to us, smiling in joy equal to the joy of chariot-rich Thebes ,

let us make for ourselves forgetfulness after the recent wars, and visit all the temples of the gods with night-long dance and song. And may Bacchus, who shakes the earth of Thebes , rule our dancing!
150

155

Chorus

But look, the king of the land is coming here, Creon, the son of Menoeceus, our new ruler in accordance with the new circumstances fated by the gods. What policy is he setting in motion,
155

that he has proposed this special conference of elders, and summoned it by a general mandate?
160

Commentary

Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))

mvp-comment-84-1 ἑπτὰ λοχαγοί ¹

mvp-comment-84-2 ἴσοι πρὸς ἴσους ²

mvp-comment-84-3 Ζηνὶ τροπαίῳ ³

mvp-comment-84-4 πάγχαλκα τέλη ⁴

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

τρόπαιον

(old

αττ.τροπαῖον

) after a victory, on the spot where it had been won, or, in the case of a sea-fight, on the nearest land ( Thuc. 2.92 ). Such a trophy ordinarily consisted of shields, helmets, and weapons, conspicuously displayed on wooden supports, and dedicated, with an inscription, to a deity. Cp. Eur. Phoen. 1473 (of the Thebans after the victory)

οἱ μὲν Διὸς τροπαῖον ἵστασαν βρέτας

(i.e. a wooden image of

Ζεὺς Τροπαῖος

), |

οἱ δ’ ἀσπίδας συλῶντες Ἀργείων νεκρῶν | σκυλεύματ’ εἴσω τειχέων ἐπέμπομεν

. Part of the armour would be affixed to the walls of Theban temples (cp. Aesch. Ag. 577 , Th. 276 ).

mvp-comment-85-1 πλὴν τ. στυγεροῖν ⁵ πατρός ⁶

mvp-comment-85-2 καθ’ αὑτοῖν ⁷

mvp-comment-85-3 δικρατεῖς λόγχας ⁸

mvp-comment-85-4 στήσαντε ⁹

mvp-comment-86-1 ἀλλὰ γάρ ¹⁰ γάρ ¹¹ γάρ ¹²

mvp-comment-86-2 μεγαλώνυμος ¹³

mvp-comment-86-3 πολυαρμάτῳ ¹⁴

mvp-comment-86-4 ἀντιχαρεῖσα ¹⁵

mvp-comment-87-1 ἐκ...πολέμων τῶν νῦν ¹⁶ ἐκ ¹⁷ νῦν ¹⁸

mvp-comment-87-2 θέσθαι ¹⁹ θέσθε ²⁰ παννυχίοις ²¹

mvp-comment-87-3 ὁ Θήβας ²² ἐλελίχθων ²³

mvp-comment-87-4 Βάκχιος ²⁴

mvp-comment-87-5 ἄρχοι ²⁵

mvp-comment-88-1 ἀλλὰ … γάρ ²⁶ Κρέων ²⁷

mvp-comment-88-2 Μενοικέως ²⁸

mvp-comment-88-3 νεοχμὸς νεαραῖσι ²⁹

mvp-comment-88-4 their equivalents. See Appendix I prefer the first of these views. An anapaest or spondee, meaning ‘ruler,’ has probably dropped out before νεοχμός ³⁰ κρείων ³¹ ἄρχων ³² ταγός ³³

mvp-comment-88-5 θεῶν … συντυχίαις ³⁴ ἐπί ³⁵

mvp-comment-89-1 μῆτιν ἐρέσσων ³⁶

mvp-comment-89-2 σύγκλητον ³⁷

mvp-comment-89-3 προὔθετο ³⁸ λέσχην ³⁹

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

γνώμας προθεῖναι

rather than with

ἐκκλησίαν προθεῖναι

. Herod. uses

λέσχη

of a public discussion (9. 71): cp. O. C. 167 . The midd. προὔθετο ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-89-5 κοινῷ κ. πέμψας ⁴¹

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

mvp-comment-91-2 τὰ μὲν δὴ πόλεος . . ὑμᾶς δ’ ⁴²

mvp-comment-91-3 πόλεος ⁴³ πολλῷ σάλῳ σείσαντες ⁴⁴

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

νᾶϊ φορήμεθα σὺν μελαίνᾳ | χείμωνι μοχθεῦντες μεγάλῳ μάλα, κ.τ.λ.

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

mvp-comment-91-5 ὤρθωσαν ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-92-1 ἐκ πάντων ⁴⁶ δίχα ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-92-2 ἔστειλ’ ἱκέσθαι ⁴⁸ τοῦτο μέν ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-92-3 σέβοντας ⁵⁰

mvp-comment-92-4 θρόνων . . κράτη ⁵¹

mvp-comment-93-1 ἡνίκ’ Οἰδίπους ⁵² κείνων ⁵³ κείνων παῖδας ⁵⁴ ἡνίκ’ . . ὤρθου πόλιν ⁵⁵ ἐπεὶ διώλετο ⁵⁶ τοῦτο μέν . . τοῦτ’ αὖθις ⁵⁷

mvp-comment-93-2 καί ⁵⁸ καί ⁵⁹

mvp-comment-93-3 ἐμπέδοις φρονήμασιν ⁶⁰ ἐμπέδους ⁶¹ ἐμπέδοις ⁶²

mvp-comment-94-1 ὅτε ⁶³

mvp-comment-94-2 πρὸς διπλῆς μ. ⁶⁴ διπλῆς . . μίαν ⁶⁵

mvp-comment-94-3 παίσαντες . . πληγέντες ⁶⁶

mvp-comment-94-4 αὐτόχειρι … μιάσματι ⁶⁷

mvp-comment-95-1 ἐγὼ . . δή ⁶⁸

mvp-comment-95-2 κράτη ⁶⁹

mvp-comment-95-3 γένους κατ’ ἀγχιστεῖα τῶν ὀλ. ⁷⁰

mvp-comment-96-1 ἀμήχανον δέ ⁷¹ δέ ⁷² δέ ⁷³

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

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

mvp-comment-97-1 ψυχήν ⁷⁴ φρόνημα ⁷⁵ γνώμην ⁷⁶

mvp-comment-98-1 ἀρχαῖς ⁷⁷ νόμοισιν ⁷⁸

mvp-comment-98-2 ἐντριβής ⁷⁹

mvp-comment-98-3 φανῇ ⁸⁰

mvp-comment-99-1 ἐμοὶ γάρ ⁸¹ γάρ ⁸² πᾶσαν … πόλιν ⁸³

mvp-comment-99-2 μὴ … ἅπτεται ⁸⁴ ὅστις μὴ ἅπτεται ⁸⁵

mvp-comment-99-3 ἐκ φ. του ⁸⁶

mvp-comment-99-4 ἐγκλῄσας ἔχει ⁸⁷

mvp-comment-99-5 νῦν τε καὶ πάλαι ⁸⁸

mvp-comment-100-1 μείζον’ ⁸⁹ ἀντὶ τῆς...πάτρας ⁹⁰ ἤ ⁹¹ μεῖζον ⁹²

mvp-comment-100-2 οὐδαμοῦ λέγω ⁹³

mvp-comment-101-1 ἐγὼ γάρ ⁹⁴ γάρ ⁹⁵ τοῦτο γιγνώσκων ⁹⁶ ἴστω ⁹⁷

mvp-comment-102-1 οὔτ’ ἂν σιωπήσαιμι ⁹⁸

mvp-comment-103-1 στείχουσαν ἀστοῖς ⁹⁹ ὁμοῦ ¹⁰⁰

mvp-comment-103-2 ἀντὶ τῆς σωτηρίας ¹⁰¹ τῆς ¹⁰²

mvp-comment-104-1 ἄνδρα δυσμενῆ χθονός ¹⁰³

mvp-comment-104-2 ἐμαυτῷ ¹⁰⁴ φίλον ¹⁰⁵ θείμην ¹⁰⁶

mvp-comment-105-1 ἡ σῴζουσα ¹⁰⁷

mvp-comment-105-2 ταύτης ¹⁰⁸ ὀρθῆς ¹⁰⁹

mvp-comment-105-3 τοὺς φίλους ποιούμεθα ¹¹⁰

mvp-comment-105-4

εὐτυχούσῃ πολλῷ μᾶλλον διασῴζεται

. ‘Pericles Thucydidis 11. 60 Sophoclem videtur respexisse, vel eum Sophocles,’ is Dobree's remark ( Adv. 2. 37 ); but there is no adequate ground for such a view. The verbal coincidence of

ὀρθῆς

with

ὀρθουμένην

may well have been accidental. What is really common to poet and historian is the general sentiment of Periclean Athens. For another example of this, cp. O. C. 116 n.

mvp-comment-106-1 νόμοισι ¹¹¹

mvp-comment-106-2 αὔξω ¹¹²

mvp-comment-107-1 ἀδελφὰ τῶνδε ¹¹³

mvp-comment-107-2 τῶν ἀπ’ Οἰδίπου ¹¹⁴

mvp-comment-108-1 δορί ¹¹⁵ δόρει ¹¹⁶

mvp-comment-109-1 τὰ πάντ’ ἐφαγνίσαι ¹¹⁷ ἐπί ¹¹⁸ ἐφαγνίσαι ¹¹⁹ ἀφαγνίσαι ¹²⁰ ἀπό ¹²¹

mvp-comment-110-1 τοῖς ἀρίστοις ¹²²

mvp-comment-110-2 ἔρχεται κάτω ¹²³

mvp-comment-111-1 L has Πολυνείκην ¹²⁴

mvp-comment-111-2 λέγω ¹²⁵

mvp-comment-112-1 γτ=ν πατρῴαν . . καὶ θεοὺς . . πρῆσαι ¹²⁶

mvp-comment-112-2 θ. τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς ¹²⁷

mvp-comment-112-3 κατελθών ¹²⁸

mvp-comment-112-4 γ)θέλησε μέν … ἠθέλ. δέ ¹²⁹ ἠθέλησε μὲν ¹³⁰

mvp-comment-112-5 πρῆσαι ¹³¹

mvp-comment-112-6 κατ’ ἄκρας ¹³²

mvp-comment-112-7 αἵματος κ. πάσασθαι ¹³³

mvp-comment-112-8 τοὺς δὲ … ἄγειν ¹³⁴

mvp-comment-113-1 The traditional ἐκκεκηρῦχθαι τάφῳ ¹³⁵ ἐκκεκήρυκται τάφῳ ¹³⁶ ἐκκεκηρῦχθαι λέγω ¹³⁷ τάφῳ ¹³⁸ κτερίζειν ¹³⁹ τάφῳ ¹⁴⁰ κτερίζειν ¹⁴¹ μήτε ¹⁴² κωκῦσαι ¹⁴³ τάφῳ ¹⁴⁴ λέγω ¹⁴⁵ τάφῳ ¹⁴⁶ ἐκκεκ ¹⁴⁷

mvp-comment-114-1 ἐᾶν δ ¹⁴⁸ ἄθαπτον, αἰκισθέντ’ ἰδεῖν ¹⁴⁹ δέμας καὶ πρὸς οἰωνῶν καὶ πρὸς κυνῶν ἐδεστόν ¹⁵⁰ αἰκισθέντ ¹⁵¹ αἰκισθέντ ¹⁵² ἐδεστόν ¹⁵³ αἰκισθέν τ’, δέμας ¹⁵⁴

mvp-comment-114-2 δέμας ¹⁵⁵

mvp-comment-114-3 ἰδεῖν ¹⁵⁶

mvp-comment-115-1 φρόνημα ¹⁵⁷

mvp-comment-115-2 ἔκ γ’ ἐμοῦ ¹⁵⁸

mvp-comment-116-1 The MSS. have τιμὴν προέξουσ’ ..τῶν ἐνδ. ¹⁵⁹ τιμήν ¹⁶⁰ τιμῆ ¹⁶¹ προσέξους ¹⁶²

mvp-comment-117-1 τιμήσεται ¹⁶³

mvp-comment-118-1 I print Dindorf's κἀς ¹⁶⁴ καὶ ¹⁶⁵ σοὶ ταῦτ’ ἀρέσκει ¹⁶⁶ Κρέον ¹⁶⁷ ταὔτ ¹⁶⁸ ταῦτ’ ¹⁶⁹

mvp-comment-119-1 In παντί πού γ’ ¹⁷⁰ σοί γ’ … που ¹⁷¹ ἔνεστι ¹⁷² χὡπόσοι ζῶμεν ¹⁷³ πέρι ¹⁷⁴

mvp-comment-120-1 ὡς ἂν … ἦτε ¹⁷⁵ πῶς ἂν … εἶτε ¹⁷⁶

mvp-comment-120-2 σκοποί ¹⁷⁷

mvp-comment-120-3 νυν ¹⁷⁸ νῦν ¹⁷⁹

mvp-comment-120-4 τῶν εἰρ ¹⁸⁰

mvp-comment-121-1 πρόθες τοῦτο ¹⁸¹ βαστάζειν ¹⁸²

mvp-comment-121-2 τοῦ νεκροῦ γ’ ¹⁸³

mvp-comment-122-1 τί δῆτ’ ἂν … ἐπεντέλλοις ¹⁸⁴

mvp-comment-122-2 The reading ἄλλῳ ¹⁸⁵ τοῦτο ¹⁸⁶

mvp-comment-122-3 ἐπιχωρεῖν ¹⁸⁷

mvp-comment-122-4 ἀπιστοῦσιν ¹⁸⁸

mvp-comment-122-5 τάδε, ¹⁸⁹

mvp-comment-123-1 ὃς ¹⁹⁰ ἐρᾷ ¹⁹¹

mvp-comment-123-2 καὶ μὴν ¹⁹² γε ¹⁹³ μισθός ¹⁹⁴

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

καὶ μήν

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

mvp-comment-123-4 τὸ κέρδος ¹⁹⁵

mvp-comment-123-5 διώλεσεν ¹⁹⁶

mvp-comment-124-1 ἐρῶ μὲν οὐχ ¹⁹⁷

mvp-comment-124-2 ὅπως ¹⁹⁸

mvp-comment-124-3 τάχους ὕπο ¹⁹⁹ τάχους ²⁰⁰

mvp-comment-125-1 ἐξάρας ²⁰¹

mvp-comment-125-2 φροντίδων ²⁰² ἐπιστάσεις ²⁰³

mvp-comment-125-3 ὁδοῖς ²⁰⁴

mvp-comment-125-4 κυκλῶν ²⁰⁵

mvp-comment-126-1 ψυχὴ γὰρ ηὔδα ²⁰⁶ πολλὰ ²⁰⁷ μυθουμένη ²⁰⁸

mvp-comment-127-1 τάλας … τλήμων ²⁰⁹

mvp-comment-127-2 μένεις ²¹⁰ μενεῖς ²¹¹ αὖ ²¹²

mvp-comment-127-3 πῶς … οὐκ ²¹³

mvp-comment-127-4 ἀλγυνεῖ ²¹⁴

mvp-comment-128-1 ἑλίσσων ²¹⁵

mvp-comment-128-2 ἤνυτον ²¹⁶

mvp-comment-128-3 σχολῇ βραδύς ²¹⁷

mvp-comment-129-1 τέλος γε μέντοι ²¹⁸

mvp-comment-129-2 ἐνίκησεν ²¹⁹

mvp-comment-129-3

ἐκλιπεῖν τὴν πόλιν

. That

μολεῖν

should not be regarded as the subject to

ἐνίκησε

, is shown by such an example as Her. 8.9

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

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

ἦν...Περικλέους γνώμη...νενικηκυῖα

mvp-comment-130-1 σοί ²²⁰ μολεῖν ²²¹ σοί ²²² φράσων ²²³ φράσω δ ²²⁴ κεἰ ²²⁵ κεἴ σοι ²²⁶ σοί. ²²⁷

mvp-comment-130-2 τὸ μηδέν ²²⁸

mvp-comment-131-1 τῆς ἐλπίδος ²²⁹

mvp-comment-131-2 δεδραγμένος ²³⁰ πεφραγμένος ²³¹ πεπραγμένος ²³²

mvp-comment-131-3 τὸ μὴ παθεῖν ἄν ²³³

mvp-comment-131-4

πάθοιμι ἄν

, depending on

ἐλπίδος...δεδρ

. as=

ἐλπίζων

: for the art. with infin., cp. 78 n.

mvp-comment-131-5 τὸ μόρσιμον ²³⁴

mvp-comment-132-1 ἀνθ’ οὗ ²³⁵

mvp-comment-132-2 τὸ γὰρ | πρᾶγμ’ ²³⁶ γάρ ²³⁷

mvp-comment-133-1 εὖ γε στοχάζει ²³⁸ στοχάζει ²³⁹ ἀποφράγνυσαι ²⁴⁰ στοχάζομαι ²⁴¹

mvp-comment-133-2 κἀποφράγνυσαι ²⁴²

mvp-comment-133-3 τὸ πρᾶγμα ²⁴³

mvp-comment-134-1 δηλοῖς δ’ ὥς τι ς. ²⁴⁴

mvp-comment-135-1 τὰ δεινά ²⁴⁵ γάρ ²⁴⁶

mvp-comment-135-2 ποτ ²⁴⁷

mvp-comment-135-3 ἀπαλλαχθείς ²⁴⁸

mvp-comment-136-1 καὶ δή ²⁴⁹

mvp-comment-136-2 θάψας ²⁵⁰ κἀπί ²⁵¹

mvp-comment-136-3 διψίαν ²⁵²

mvp-comment-136-4 κἀφαγιστεύσας ²⁵³ ἃ χρή ²⁵⁴

mvp-comment-137-1 ἀνδρῶν ²⁵⁵

mvp-comment-137-2 οὔτε του γενῇδος … οὐ δικέλλης ²⁵⁶ οὔτε … οὐ ²⁵⁷ γενῄς ²⁵⁸ γενῄς ²⁵⁹ δίκελλα ²⁶⁰

mvp-comment-137-3 δικ. ἐκβολή ²⁶¹ ἐκβ. ²⁶² στύφλος ²⁶³ χέρσος ²⁶⁴ ἀρρώξ ²⁶⁵

mvp-comment-137-4 ἐπημαξευμένη ²⁶⁶ ἐπ‐ ²⁶⁷ ἐφ‐ ²⁶⁸

mvp-comment-137-5 ἀλλ’ ὁ ἐργάτης ἄσημός τις ἦν ²⁶⁹

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 ²⁷⁰ ἡμεροσκ. ²⁷¹

mvp-comment-138-2 δείκνυσι … παρῆν ²⁷²

mvp-comment-138-3 δυσχερές ²⁷³

mvp-comment-139-1 ὁ μὲν ²⁷⁴

mvp-comment-139-2 τυμβήρης μὲν οὔ ²⁷⁵ τυμβ. ²⁷⁶ λεπτὴ δ’ … ἐπῆν ²⁷⁷

mvp-comment-139-3 ἄγος φεύγοντος ὥς ²⁷⁸ ἄγος ²⁷⁹

mvp-comment-140-1 θηρός ²⁸⁰

mvp-comment-140-2 του ²⁸¹ θηρός ²⁸²

mvp-comment-140-3 οὐ σπάσαντος ²⁸³ οὐ ²⁸⁴ σπάσαντος ²⁸⁵ σπάσαντος οὐδ’ ἐλθόντος ²⁸⁶

mvp-comment-141-1 λόγοι δ’ … φύλακα ²⁸⁷ λόγοι κακοὶ ἐρρόθουν ²⁸⁸ ἐρρόθουν ²⁸⁹

mvp-comment-141-2

γλώσσης ῥόθος

, of an unintelligible jargon.

mvp-comment-141-3 ἐλέγχων ²⁹⁰

mvp-comment-141-4 κἂν ἐγίγνετο ²⁹¹

mvp-comment-141-5 τελευτῶς ²⁹²

mvp-comment-141-6 ὁ κωλύσων ²⁹³

mvp-comment-142-1 ἦν … οὑξειργ. ²⁹⁴

mvp-comment-142-2 ἐναργής ²⁹⁵

mvp-comment-142-3 ἀλλ’ ²⁹⁶

mvp-comment-142-4 ἕφευγε μὴ εἰδέναι ²⁹⁷

mvp-comment-142-5 μὴ ²⁹⁸ εἰδέναι ²⁹⁹

mvp-comment-143-1 μύδρους ³⁰⁰

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

μύδρος

in ordeals by fire. This would explain how the Alexandrian poets of the 3rd cent. B.C. (Lycophron, Callimachus) came to use the word

μύδρος

, in defiance of its etymology, as simply ‘a lump’ (or even ‘a stone’). They supposed that the

μύδροι

had been cold masses.

mvp-comment-144-1 πῦρ διέρπειν ³⁰¹

mvp-comment-144-2 θεοὺς ὁρκ. ³⁰³

mvp-comment-144-3 τὸ μήτε δρ ³⁰⁴

mvp-comment-144-4 μήτ’ είργασμένῳ ³⁰⁵ μηδ ³⁰⁶

mvp-comment-145-1 πλέον ³⁰⁷

mvp-comment-145-2 λέγει ³⁰⁸

mvp-comment-145-3 τις εἷς ³⁰⁹

mvp-comment-146-1 προὔτρεψεν ³¹⁰

mvp-comment-146-2 οὐ γὰρ εἴχομεν ³¹¹

mvp-comment-146-3 As ἀντιφωνεῖν ³¹² δρῶντες ³¹³ ὅπως δρῶντες ³¹⁴ εἴχομεν ³¹⁵

mvp-comment-147-1 σοί ³¹⁶

mvp-comment-147-2 ταῦτ’ ἐνίκα ³¹⁷

mvp-comment-147-3 πάλος ³¹⁸ καθαιρεῖ ³¹⁹

mvp-comment-147-4 τἀγαθόν ³²⁰ —ἄκων οὐχ ἑκοῦσιν ³²¹

mvp-comment-148-1 ἐμοί ³²² βουλεύει ³²³ μή ³²⁴

mvp-comment-148-2 τι ³²⁵

mvp-comment-148-3 θεήλατον, ³²⁶

mvp-comment-148-4 ἡ ξύννοια ³²⁷

mvp-comment-148-5 πάλαι ³²⁸

mvp-comment-149-1 πρὶν ὀργῆς καί με μεστῶσαι ³²⁹ καί ³³⁰ πρίν ³³¹ μεστῶσαι ³³² καί ³³³ με ³³⁴

mvp-comment-149-2 κἀμέ ³³⁵

mvp-comment-149-3 μεστῶσαι ³³⁶

mvp-comment-150-1 πότερον ³³⁷ ἔκρυπτον ³³⁸

mvp-comment-150-2 ἀμφικίονας ναούς ³³⁹

mvp-comment-150-3 κἀναθήματα ³⁴⁰

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

ἀναθήματα

is already proverbial in Il. 9.404 ; at Thebes the

Ἰσμήνιον

( O. T. 21 ) also seems to have been rich in them. After

ἀνάθημα

the gen. denotes either

ὁ ἀναθείς

(as more oft.), or, as here, the divine owner.

mvp-comment-150-5 γῆν ἐκείνων ³⁴¹ πυρώσων ³⁴²

mvp-comment-150-6 νόμους διασκεδῶν ³⁴³

mvp-comment-150-7 διασκεδῶν ³⁴⁴

mvp-comment-151-1 τοὺς κακοὺς τιμῶντας … θεούς; ³⁴⁵

mvp-comment-152-1 ταῦτα ³⁴⁶ μόλις φέροντες ³⁴⁷ καὶ πάλαι ³⁴⁸

mvp-comment-152-2 πόλεως ἄνδρες ³⁴⁹

mvp-comment-152-3 ἐρρόθουν ³⁵⁰

mvp-comment-152-4 ἐμοί ³⁵¹

mvp-comment-152-5 κάρα σείοντες ³⁵²

mvp-comment-152-6 ὑπὸ ζυγῷ ³⁵³

mvp-comment-152-7 λόφον ³⁵⁴

mvp-comment-152-8 δικαίως ³⁵⁵

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

ὡς = ὥστε

( O. T. 84 ): στέργειν ³⁵⁶

mvp-comment-153-1 τῶνδε ³⁵⁷ ἐκ ³⁵⁸

mvp-comment-153-2 τούτους, ³⁵⁹

mvp-comment-153-3 εἰργάσθαι ³⁶⁰ ἐξεπίσταμαι ³⁶¹ παρηγμένους ³⁶²

mvp-comment-154-1 νόμισμ’ ³⁶³

mvp-comment-154-2 ἔβλαστε ³⁶⁴

mvp-comment-154-3 πορθεῖ ³⁶⁵

mvp-comment-154-4 τόδ’ ³⁶⁶ ἄνδρας ³⁶⁷

mvp-comment-155-1 τόδ’ ἐκδ. καὶ παραλλάσσει ³⁶⁸ ἵστασθαι ³⁶⁹ καὶ παραλλάσσει ³⁷⁰

mvp-comment-155-2 ἵστασθαι πρός τι ³⁷¹

mvp-comment-156-1 πανουργίας … ἔχειν ³⁷²

mvp-comment-156-2 εἰδέναι ³⁷³ παντὸς ἔργου δυσσέβ. ³⁷⁴ παντὸς ἔργ ³⁷⁵ πανουργίας ³⁷⁶

mvp-comment-157-1 ἤνυσαν ³⁷⁷

mvp-comment-157-2 χρόνῳ ποτέ ³⁷⁸ δοῦναι δίκην ³⁷⁹

mvp-comment-157-3 ἐξέπραξαν ὡς ³⁸⁰

mvp-comment-158-1 Ζεύς ³⁸¹

mvp-comment-158-2 ὅρκιος ³⁸²

mvp-comment-158-3 τὸν αὐτόχειρα ³⁸³ τάφου = ταφῆς ³⁸⁴

mvp-comment-159-1 μοῦνος ³⁸⁵ πρὶν ἂν . . δηλώσητε ³⁸⁶ κρεμαστοί ³⁸⁷ ζῶντες κρεμαστοί ³⁸⁸

mvp-comment-159-2 δηλώσηθ’ ³⁸⁹

mvp-comment-159-3 ὕβριν ³⁹⁰

mvp-comment-160-1 ἵν’ … ἁρπάζητε ³⁹¹

mvp-comment-160-2 τὸ κέρδος ³⁹² ἔνθεν οἰστέον ³⁹³

mvp-comment-160-3 μάθηθ’ ³⁹⁴

mvp-comment-160-4 ἐξ ἅπαντος ³⁹⁵ τὸ κερδαίνειν ³⁹⁶

mvp-comment-160-5

πιεῖν

. In O. C. 807

ἑξ ἅπαντος εὖ λέγει

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

mvp-comment-161-1 τι ³⁹⁷

mvp-comment-161-2 δέ ³⁹⁸ δώσεις ³⁹⁹

mvp-comment-161-3 οὕτως ⁴⁰⁰

mvp-comment-161-4 ἴω ⁴⁰¹

mvp-comment-161-5 καὶ νῦν ὡς ⁴⁰² ἀνιαρῶς ⁴⁰³ ι— ⁴⁰⁴

mvp-comment-162-1 ἐν ⁴⁰⁵ ὠσίν ⁴⁰⁶

mvp-comment-162-2 ἐπί ⁴⁰⁷

mvp-comment-163-1 τί δὲ ⁴⁰⁸ τί δαὶ ⁴⁰⁹

mvp-comment-163-2 ῥυθμίζεις ⁴¹⁰ ὅπου ⁴¹¹ ὅπου ⁴¹²

mvp-comment-164-1 τὰς φρένας...τὰ δ’ ὦτ’ ⁴¹³ σε ⁴¹⁴

mvp-comment-164-2 οἴμ’ ὡς ⁴¹⁵

mvp-comment-164-3 λάλημα ⁴¹⁶ ἄλημα ⁴¹⁷ ἄλημα ⁴¹⁸

mvp-comment-164-4 δῆλον, ⁴¹⁹

mvp-comment-165-1 ‘At any rate (

οὖν

—babbler or not) I certainly have not done this deed.’ εἰμί ⁴²⁰ οὔκουν … γε ⁴²¹

mvp-comment-166-1 ‘Yes, (you have done it,) and that, too, at the cost of betraying,’ etc. The particle γε ⁴²² καὶ ταῦτα ⁴²³ προδούς ⁴²⁴

mvp-comment-167-1 ἦ δεινόν ⁴²⁵ καὶ ⁴²⁶ γε ⁴²⁷

mvp-comment-168-1 κόμψευε . . τὴν δόξαν ⁴²⁸

mvp-comment-168-2 τὴν δόξαν ⁴²⁹

mvp-comment-168-3

κληδόν’

(the

κληδών

of which you speak), not merely, ‘the word

δόξα

.’ If the v. l.

τὸ δόξαν

(see cr. n.) was intended to mean the latter, it should have been

τὸ δόξα.

mvp-comment-168-4 νυν ⁴³⁰ νῦν ⁴³¹ ταῦτα … τοὺς δρῶντας = τοὺς ταῦτα δρῶντας ⁴³²

mvp-comment-169-1 δειλά ⁴³³

mvp-comment-169-2 δεινά ⁴³⁴ ν ⁴³⁵

mvp-comment-170-1 ἀλλ’ ⁴³⁶ εὑρεθείη ⁴³⁷ καὶ ⁴³⁸

mvp-comment-171-1 καὶ ⁴³⁹ γάρ ⁴⁴⁰

mvp-comment-171-2 γνώμης ⁴⁴¹

mvp-comment-173-1 πολλὰ … κοὐδέν ⁴⁴²

mvp-comment-173-2 καί ⁴⁴³

mvp-comment-173-3 τὰ δεινά ⁴⁴⁴

mvp-comment-174-1 τοῦτο ⁴⁴⁵ πέραν ⁴⁴⁶ πέρα ⁴⁴⁷

mvp-comment-175-1 χειμερίῳ νότῳ ⁴⁴⁸

mvp-comment-176-1 περιβρ … ὑπ’ οἴδμασιν ⁴⁴⁹

mvp-comment-177-1 ὑπερτάταν ⁴⁵⁰

mvp-comment-178-1 ἀκαμάταν ⁴⁵¹

mvp-comment-178-2 ἀποτρύεται ⁴⁵²

mvp-comment-179-1 ἰλλομένων ἀρότρων, ⁴⁵³ ἀρότων ⁴⁵⁴

mvp-comment-179-2 ἔτος εἰς ἔτος ⁴⁵⁵ εἰς ⁴⁵⁶

mvp-comment-180-1 ἱππείῳ γένει ⁴⁵⁷

mvp-comment-180-2 πολεύων ⁴⁵⁸ τοῦτο ⁴⁵⁹

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

ἀμφιβαλὼν σπείραισι δικτυοκλώστοις

), in its threefold sporting use, as applied to fowling (

ὀρνίθων

), hunting (

θηρῶν

), and fishing (

πόντου φύσιν

). Secondly, those conquests which aim at reducing wild animals to man's service. These are effected by

μηχαναί

(349),— arts of taming and training. And their result is aptly expressed by the word

mvp-comment-181-2

κρατεῖ

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

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

mvp-comment-181-4 κουφονόων ⁴⁶⁰

mvp-comment-181-5 ἀμφιβαλὼν ⁴⁶¹

mvp-comment-182-1 πόντου … εἰναλίαν φύσιν ⁴⁶²

mvp-comment-183-1 περιφραδής ⁴⁶³

mvp-comment-184-1 μηχαναῖς ⁴⁶⁴ ἀγραύλου ⁴⁶⁵ ὀρεσσιβάτα ⁴⁶⁶

mvp-comment-185-1 λασιαύχενά θ’ ⁴⁶⁷

mvp-comment-186-1 ὀχμάζεται ⁴⁶⁸ ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῶν ⁴⁶⁹

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

κυρίως ἐστὶν ὀχμάσαι τὸ ἵππον ὑπὸ χαλινὸν ἀγαγεῖν ἢ ὑπὸ ζυγόν

. The midd. voice does not occur elsewhere; but this cannot be regarded as an objection, when we remember how many rare middle forms occur in the dramatists. Thus

προσορωμένα

in O. C. 244 is a solitary example of that verb in the midd., and if the license could be taken with so common a word, much more might it be allowed with a comparatively rare one. Blaydes writes

ὀχμάζει ὑπ’ ἀμφίλοφον ζυγόν

: but the Ms.

ἕξεται

indicates that the verb, whatever it was, was of the midd. form.

ὀχμάζεται

was published by G. Schöne in 1833, and by Franz in 1846: they appear to have made the conjecture independently. Donaldson (1848) printed

ὁχμάζεται ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῶν

, and seems to ascribe

ζυγῶν

to Franz and Schöne; though Franz, at least, proposed

ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῷ. ζυγῶν

has been revived (seemingly without knowledge of a predecessor) by H. Schütz (1886). Sophocles would write

ΑΜΦΙΛΟΦΟΝΖΥΓΟΝ

, and thus

ζυγῶν

changes no letter. Aesch. used the fut.

ζυγώσω

(fr. 110), and Soph. has the verbal

ζυγωτῶν

( El. 702 ). To

ἀμφιλόφῳ ζυγῷ

it may be objected that, being clear, it was not likely to become -

ον ‐όν

: but, when

ἀμφίλοφον

had once been written,

ζυγῶν

(or

ζυγῷ

) would easily become

ζυγόν

. As to the schol. on

ἀμφίλοφον,—ἀντὶ τοῦ, περιβαλὼν αὐτῷ ζυγὸν περὶ τὸν λόφον, ὑπάγει

,—it cannot fairly be urged for

ζυγῶν

(or for any partic.), since it may be merely a paraphrase of

ἀμφίλοφον

.—Schütz's ἐφέζεται ⁴⁷⁰

mvp-comment-187-1 φθέγμα ⁴⁷¹

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

ἐδιδάξατο.

mvp-comment-187-3 ἀνεμόεν φρόνημα ⁴⁷²

mvp-comment-188-1 ἀστυνόμους ὀργάς ⁴⁷³

mvp-comment-189-1 ἐδιδάξατο ⁴⁷⁴

mvp-comment-190-1 πάγων ⁴⁷⁵

mvp-comment-190-2 ἐναίθρεια ⁴⁷⁶

mvp-comment-190-3 βέλη ⁴⁷⁸

mvp-comment-191-1 παντοπόρος ⁴⁷⁹

mvp-comment-191-2

οὐδὲν … τὸ μέλλον = οὐδὲν ὃ μέλλει

(

ἔσεσθαι

), nothing that is to be (cp. the absolute

τὸ μέλλον, τὰ μέλλοντα

). So Plat. Lach. 197 A

ἔγωγε ἀνδρεῖα καλῶ οὔτε θηρία οὔτε ἄλλο οὐδὲν τὸ τὰ δεινὰ ὑπὸ ἀγνοίας μὴ φοβούμενον = οὐδὲν ὃ μὴ φοβεῖται

. This negative form is as correct as (though actually rarer than) the positive

πᾶν τὸ καλῶς ἔχον

( Plat. Rep. 381A ) for

πᾶν ὃ καλῶς ἔχει

. Donaldson took

τὸ μέλλον

adverbially: ‘in regard to the future, he comes to nothing without resources.’ Cp. 728 ,

μηδὲν τὸ μὴ δίκαιον

, where

μηδέν

is subst., not adv.

mvp-comment-192-1 μόνον ⁴⁸⁰ μόνου ⁴⁸¹ φεῦξιν — ἐπάξεται ⁴⁸²

mvp-comment-193-1 ἀμηχάνων ⁴⁸³

mvp-comment-193-2 φυγάς ⁴⁸⁴

mvp-comment-193-3 ξυμπέφρασται ⁴⁸⁵

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

ὑψίπολις

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

περιπέτεια

mvp-comment-194-2 σοφόν τι … ἔχων ⁴⁸⁶

mvp-comment-194-3 τὸ μηχανόεν τ ⁴⁸⁷

mvp-comment-195-1 τοτὲ μὲν … ἄλλοτ’ ⁴⁸⁸

mvp-comment-195-2 ἐπ’ ⁴⁸⁹

mvp-comment-196-1 γεραίρων ⁴⁹⁰

mvp-comment-196-2 5. 67

ἐτίμων τὸν Ἄδρηστον καὶ δὴ πρὸς τὰ πάθεα αὐτοῦ τραγικοῖσι χοροῖσι ἐγέραιρον

. Ar. Th. 960

γένος Ὀλυμπίων θεῶν | μέλπε καὶ γέραιρε φωνῇ

mvp-comment-197-1 θεῶν τ’ ἔνορκον δίκαν ⁴⁹¹

mvp-comment-198-1 ὑψίπολις ⁴⁹²

mvp-comment-198-2 ἄπολις ⁴⁹³

mvp-comment-198-3 τὸ μὴ καλόν ⁴⁹⁴ τόλμας χάριν ⁴⁹⁵

mvp-comment-199-1 παρέστιος ⁴⁹⁶

mvp-comment-199-2 ἴσον φρονῶν ⁴⁹⁷

mvp-comment-200-1 ἔρδει ⁴⁹⁸ ἔρδοι ⁴⁹⁹

mvp-comment-202-1 The choral ode has closed with an allusion to the unknown man ( ὅς ⁵⁰⁰ ἀμφινοῶ ⁵⁰¹ ἐς ⁵⁰²

mvp-comment-202-2 δαιμόνιον τέρας ⁵⁰³

mvp-comment-203-1 πῶς εἰδὼς ⁵⁰⁴

mvp-comment-203-2 ἀντιλογήσω ⁵⁰⁵

mvp-comment-204-1 ὦ δύστηνος ⁵⁰⁶

mvp-comment-204-2 δ. πατρός ⁵⁰⁷

mvp-comment-204-3 Οἰδιπόδα— ⁵⁰⁸

mvp-comment-205-1 τί ποτ’ ⁵⁰⁹

mvp-comment-205-2 οὐ δή που ⁵¹⁰

mvp-comment-205-3 ἀπιστοῦσαν ⁵¹¹

mvp-comment-205-4 ἄγουσι ⁵¹²

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

mvp-comment-205-6 καὶ ⁵¹³ ἀπιστοῦσαν ⁵¹⁴ καθελόντες ⁵¹⁵

mvp-comment-206-1 Second

ἐπεισόδιον

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

mvp-comment-206-2 ἐκείνη ⁵¹⁶

mvp-comment-206-3 τοὔργον ἡ ’ξειργ ⁵¹⁷

mvp-comment-207-1 ἐς δέον ⁵¹⁸

mvp-comment-208-1 ξύμμετρος ⁵¹⁹

mvp-comment-209-1 ἀπώμοτον ⁵²⁰

mvp-comment-210-1 ψεύδει ⁵²¹

mvp-comment-210-2 ἡ ’πίνοια ⁵²²

mvp-comment-211-1 ἐξηύχουν ἄν ⁵²³ σχολῇ ἥξειν ποτὲ δεῦρο ⁵²⁴

mvp-comment-211-2 σχολῇ ⁵²⁵

mvp-comment-212-1 ταῖς σαῖς ἀπειλαῖς ⁵²⁶

mvp-comment-212-2 ἐχειμάσθην ⁵²⁷

mvp-comment-213-1 ἡ...ἐκτὸς ⁵²⁸ ἐκτός ⁵²⁹

mvp-comment-214-1 οὐδὲν ἔοικε μῆκος ⁵³⁰ α+λλῃ ἡδονῇ ⁵³¹ οὐδέν ⁵³² μῆκος ⁵³³ ἔοικε ⁵³⁴

mvp-comment-215-1 δῑ ὅρκων … ἀπώμοτος ⁵³⁵

mvp-comment-216-1 καθῃρέθη ⁵³⁶

mvp-comment-216-2 τάφον κοσμοῦσα ⁵³⁷

mvp-comment-216-3 ἐπάλλετο ⁵³⁸ ἕρμαιον ⁵³⁹

mvp-comment-217-1 κρῖνε ⁵⁴⁰

mvp-comment-217-2 δίκαιός εἰμι ⁵⁴¹

mvp-comment-217-3 ἀπηλλάχθαι ⁵⁴²

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

τίς πόθεν ει<*>=ς ἀνδρῶν

; Ph. 243

τίνι | στόλῳ προσέσχες τήνδε γῆν, πόθεν πλέων;

mvp-comment-218-2 πάντ’ ἐπίστασαι ⁵⁴³

mvp-comment-219-1 ἦ καὶ ⁵⁴⁴

mvp-comment-219-2 ὀρθῶς ⁵⁴⁵

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 ⁵⁴⁶

mvp-comment-221-1 ἆρ’ ἔνδηλα ⁵⁴⁷

mvp-comment-222-1 ὁρᾶται...ᾑρέθη ⁵⁴⁸

mvp-comment-222-2 ἐπίληπτος ⁵⁴⁹

mvp-comment-223-1 ἥκομεν ⁵⁵¹

mvp-comment-224-1 τὰ δείν’ ἐκεῖν’ ⁵⁵²

mvp-comment-224-2 τὸν | νέκυν ⁵⁵³

mvp-comment-225-1 καθήμεθ’ ⁵⁵⁴

mvp-comment-225-2 ἄκρων ἐκ πάγων ⁵⁵⁵

mvp-comment-225-3

ἐξ Οὐλύμποιο ἀπὸ ῥίου

. Here,

ἀπὸ ῥίου

goes with

εἰσεῖδε

: but

ἐξ Οὐλύμποιο

, however much

εἰσεῖδε

may have influenced it, at least cannot be disjoined from

στᾶσ’

. (2) Eur. Phoen. 1009

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

. It is impossible to sever

στάς

from

ἐξ ἐπ.

, even if we partly explain

ἐξ

σφάξας

. (3) ib. 1224

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

. The position of

σταθείς

forbids us to sever it from

ἀπ’ ὀρθ. π.

, even though

ὑπῆρξε

κελεύσας

is used to explain

ἀπό

. (4) Eur. Tro. 522

ἀνὰ δ’ ἐβόασεν λεὼς | Τρῳάδος ἀπὸ πέτρας σταθείς

. A similar case. In all these passages, a picture is presented, and we have to glance from a remoter to a nearer object. The mental eye is required to measure the space between Hera on the peak of Olympus, and Poseidon on the plain of Troy; between Megareus on the walls of Thebes, and the cavern into which his corpse is to fall. And, in each case,

ἐκ

ἀπό

denotes the quarter in which the remoter object is to be looked for. This, which might be called the ‘surveying’ use, is distinct from that in which the prep. has a pregnant force, as being directly suggestive of motion (

οἱ ἐκ Σικελίας ἥξουσι

); but it springs from the same mental tendency,—viz., to take a rapid glance over the dividing interval. Cp.

ἵστασθαι πρός τινος

(‘on his side’). So here: in the foreground of the picture is the corpse, which they have just laid bare. Now look to the hillocks behind it; in that quarter you will see the guards at their post.—I have not cited Od. 21.419

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

, because there

ἐκ δίφροιο

goes with

ἕλκεν

, not with

καθήμενος

(he drew the bow, just from the chair, where he sat).

mvp-comment-225-4 ὑπήνεμοι ⁵⁵⁶

mvp-comment-226-1 βάλῃ ⁵⁵⁷

mvp-comment-227-1 ἐγερτί ⁵⁵⁸

mvp-comment-227-2 κινῶν ⁵⁵⁹

mvp-comment-227-3 ἐπιρρόθοις κακοῖσιν ⁵⁶⁰

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

ἐπι

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

πολλὰ μὲν λόγοις | ἐπερρόθησε

. In fr. 521

ἐπίρροθα δώματα

=‘open to reproach.’ Elsewhere (as with Aesch.)

ἐπίρροθος

= ‘helper’ (

ἐπιρροθέω

, to come with shouts to the rescue). Cp.

ἐρρόθουν

259 n., Aesch. 290.

mvp-comment-228-1 ἀκηδήσοι ⁵⁶¹ ἀφειδήσοι ⁵⁶²

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 ⁵⁶³

mvp-comment-230-2 χθονὸς ⁵⁶⁴

mvp-comment-231-1 τυφώς ⁵⁶⁵ σκηπτός ⁵⁶⁶

mvp-comment-231-2 οὐράνιον ἄχος ⁵⁶⁷

mvp-comment-232-1 πίμπλησι ⁵⁶⁸ αἰκίζων ⁵⁶⁹

mvp-comment-232-2 ἐν δ’ ἐμεστ ⁵⁷⁰

mvp-comment-233-1 μύσαντες ⁵⁷¹

mvp-comment-233-2 νόσον ⁵⁷²

mvp-comment-233-3 ἐν χρ. μακρ ⁵⁷³

mvp-comment-234-1 πικρᾶς ⁵⁷⁴

mvp-comment-235-1 εὐνῆς...λέχος ⁵⁷⁵

mvp-comment-236-1 οὕτω δέ ⁵⁷⁶

mvp-comment-236-2 ψιλόν ⁵⁷⁷

mvp-comment-237-1 γόοισιν ἐξῴμωξεν ⁵⁷⁸

mvp-comment-237-2 ἐκ δ’ … ἠρᾶτο ⁵⁷⁹

mvp-comment-237-3 διψίαν ⁵⁸⁰

mvp-comment-238-1 φέρει κόνιν ⁵⁸¹

mvp-comment-239-1 The πρόχους ⁵⁸²

mvp-comment-239-2 εὐκρότητος ⁵⁸³

mvp-comment-239-3 ἄρδην ⁵⁸⁴

mvp-comment-240-1 χοαῖσι ⁵⁸⁵

mvp-comment-240-2 τρισπόνδ. ⁵⁸⁶ στέφει ⁵⁸⁷

mvp-comment-241-1 ἱέμεσθα ⁵⁸⁸

mvp-comment-241-2 σὺν δὲ … θηρώμεθ’ ⁵⁸⁹

mvp-comment-242-1 ἠλέγχομεν ⁵⁹⁰

mvp-comment-242-2 ἄπαρνος … οὐδενός ⁵⁹¹

mvp-comment-242-3 καθίστατο ⁵⁹²

mvp-comment-243-1 ἅμ’ ⁵⁹³

mvp-comment-244-1 φίλους ⁵⁹⁴

mvp-comment-245-1 πάντα ταῦθ’ ⁵⁹⁵ λαβεῖν ⁵⁹⁶

Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Within my mouth you have engaoled my tongue, | Doubly portcullised with my teeth and lips.

Infr. 505, εἰ μὴ γλῶσσαν ἐγκλείσαι φόβος.

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

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

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

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

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

All form is formless, order orderless, | Save what is opposite to England's love.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us. The age is grown so picked, that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.

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,

Debita jura vicesque superbae | Te maneant ipsum: precibus ibus non linquar inultis | Teque piacula nulla resolvent. | Quamquam festinas, non est mora longa, licebit | Injecto ter pulvere curras.

For the gen., cp. Tr. 768.

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

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

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

259. mvp-comment-161-2 τοῖς δαίμοσιν.

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

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

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

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

Et medium freti pietate per ignem | Cultores multa premimus vestigia prima.

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

269. mvp-comment-165-1

His verbis et sequentibus significatur terror quem Creontis auctoritas custodibus incutit.

(Dind.).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

332-383. mvp-comment-190-3 ὀλοόφρων.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

αἱ γάρ τε βοῶν προφερέστεραί εἰσιν ἐλκέμεναι νείοιο βαθείης πηκτὸν ἄροτρον.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sophocles Antigone 71

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Current edition Experimental

KREON

Und wie ergriffst du sie denn und an welchem Ort?

Antigone.

So wende du das vor; doch ich geh' unverweilt,
80

Und schütt' ein Grab dem heißgeliebten Bruder auf.

Ismene.

Tollkühne, weh mir! Ha, wie fürcht' ich deinethalb!

Antigone.

Sei nicht um mich bang; sich're du nur dein Geschick!

Ismene.

Doch offenbare ja zuvor Niemand die That;

Im Dunkel birg' sie; gerne schweig' auch ich davon.
85

Antigone.

Ha, laut verkünd' es! Viel verhaßter wirst du mir

Durch Schweigen, offenbarst du's nicht vor aller Welt.

Ismene.

Dir wallt der Busen glühend, wo mich Schauder faßt.

Antigone.

Doch weiß ich hold mir, deren Huld mein Höchstes iſt.

Ismene.

Wenn du's vermöchtest; doch du willst Unmögliches.
90

Nun freilich, wenn ich's nicht vermag, so lass' ich ab.

Auch nicht von Anfang jage nach Unmöglichem.

Antigone.

Durch solche Reden wirst du billig mir verhaßt,

Und billig hassen wird dich auch der Todte dort.

Nein, laß du mich und meines Sinnes Unverstand
95

Dies Grauenvolle dulden. Was ich Schweres auch¹

Erleiden möge, bleibt mir doch ein schöner Tod.

Ismene.

Nun, wenn dir's gut dünkt, ziehe hin: ächt schwesterlich

Als Schwester fühlend gehst du, wenn als Thörin auch.

(Sie gehen nach verschiedenen Seiten ab. Der Chor tritt auf.) Erste Strophe.

Der Chor.

Creon
(5 uard. Thus then it waa, No sooner had J left thee 441

Speak thou, who bendst to earth thy droopiiig

head;

Dost thou deny the fact 1

Antigone

Ask Creon: thy regard
555

Is paid to him.
555

Chorus

He set out against our land because of the strife-filled claims of Polyneices, and like a screaming eagle he flew over into our land, covered by his snow-white wing,
110

with a mass of weapons and crested helmets.
115

Chorus

For Zeus detests above all the boasts of a proud tongue. And when he saw them advancing in a swollen flood,

arrogant their clanging gold, he dashed with brandished fire one who was already starting to shout victory when he had reached our ramparts.
130

Chorus

But look, the king of the land is coming here, Creon, the son of Menoeceus, our new ruler in accordance with the new circumstances fated by the gods. What policy is he setting in motion,
155

that he has proposed this special conference of elders, and summoned it by a general mandate?
160

Commentary

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Experimental

KREON Und wie ergriffst du sie denn und an welchem Ort?

Antigone. So wende du das vor; doch ich geh' unverweilt, 80 Und schütt' ein Grab dem heißgeliebten Bruder auf.

Ismene. Tollkühne, weh mir! Ha, wie fürcht' ich deinethalb!

Antigone. Sei nicht um mich bang; sich're du nur dein Geschick!

Ismene. Doch offenbare ja zuvor Niemand die That; Im Dunkel birg' sie; gerne schweig' auch ich davon. 85

Antigone. Ha, laut verkünd' es! Viel verhaßter wirst du mir Durch Schweigen, offenbarst du's nicht vor aller Welt.

Ismene. Dir wallt der Busen glühend, wo mich Schauder faßt.

Antigone. Doch weiß ich hold mir, deren Huld mein Höchstes iſt.

Ismene. Wenn du's vermöchtest; doch du willst Unmögliches. 90 Nun freilich, wenn ich's nicht vermag, so lass' ich ab. Auch nicht von Anfang jage nach Unmöglichem.

Antigone. Durch solche Reden wirst du billig mir verhaßt, Und billig hassen wird dich auch der Todte dort. Nein, laß du mich und meines Sinnes Unverstand 95 Dies Grauenvolle dulden. Was ich Schweres auch 1 Erleiden möge, bleibt mir doch ein schöner Tod.

Ismene. Nun, wenn dir's gut dünkt, ziehe hin: ächt schwesterlich Als Schwester fühlend gehst du, wenn als Thörin auch. (Sie gehen nach verschiedenen Seiten ab. Der Chor tritt auf.) Erste Strophe.

Der Chor.

Creon (5 uard. Thus then it waa, No sooner had J left thee 441 Speak thou, who bendst to earth thy droopiiig head; Dost thou deny the fact 1

Antigone Ask Creon: thy regard 555 Is paid to him. 555

Chorus He set out against our land because of the strife-filled claims of Polyneices, and like a screaming eagle he flew over into our land, covered by his snow-white wing, 110 with a mass of weapons and crested helmets. 115

Chorus For Zeus detests above all the boasts of a proud tongue. And when he saw them advancing in a swollen flood, arrogant their clanging gold, he dashed with brandished fire one who was already starting to shout victory when he had reached our ramparts. 130

Chorus But look, the king of the land is coming here, Creon, the son of Menoeceus, our new ruler in accordance with the new circumstances fated by the gods. What policy is he setting in motion, 155 that he has proposed this special conference of elders, and summoned it by a general mandate? 160

Commentary

Stable identifiers

KREON

Und wie ergriffst du sie denn und an welchem Ort?

Antigone.

So wende du das vor; doch ich geh' unverweilt,
80

Und schütt' ein Grab dem heißgeliebten Bruder auf.

Ismene.

Tollkühne, weh mir! Ha, wie fürcht' ich deinethalb!

Antigone.

Sei nicht um mich bang; sich're du nur dein Geschick!

Ismene.

Doch offenbare ja zuvor Niemand die That;

Im Dunkel birg' sie; gerne schweig' auch ich davon.
85

Antigone.

Ha, laut verkünd' es! Viel verhaßter wirst du mir

Durch Schweigen, offenbarst du's nicht vor aller Welt.

Ismene.

Dir wallt der Busen glühend, wo mich Schauder faßt.

Antigone.

Doch weiß ich hold mir, deren Huld mein Höchstes iſt.

Ismene.

Wenn du's vermöchtest; doch du willst Unmögliches.
90

Nun freilich, wenn ich's nicht vermag, so lass' ich ab.

Auch nicht von Anfang jage nach Unmöglichem.

Antigone.

Durch solche Reden wirst du billig mir verhaßt,

Und billig hassen wird dich auch der Todte dort.

Nein, laß du mich und meines Sinnes Unverstand
95

Dies Grauenvolle dulden. Was ich Schweres auch¹

Erleiden möge, bleibt mir doch ein schöner Tod.

Ismene.

Nun, wenn dir's gut dünkt, ziehe hin: ächt schwesterlich

Als Schwester fühlend gehst du, wenn als Thörin auch.

(Sie gehen nach verschiedenen Seiten ab. Der Chor tritt auf.) Erste Strophe.

Creon
(5 uard. Thus then it waa, No sooner had J left thee 441

Speak thou, who bendst to earth thy droopiiig

head;

Dost thou deny the fact 1

Antigone

Ask Creon: thy regard
555

Is paid to him.
555

Chorus

He set out against our land because of the strife-filled claims of Polyneices, and like a screaming eagle he flew over into our land, covered by his snow-white wing,
110

with a mass of weapons and crested helmets.
115

Chorus

For Zeus detests above all the boasts of a proud tongue. And when he saw them advancing in a swollen flood,

arrogant their clanging gold, he dashed with brandished fire one who was already starting to shout victory when he had reached our ramparts.
130

Chorus

But look, the king of the land is coming here, Creon, the son of Menoeceus, our new ruler in accordance with the new circumstances fated by the gods. What policy is he setting in motion,
155

that he has proposed this special conference of elders, and summoned it by a general mandate?
160