κατʼ αὖ νιν φοινία θεῶν τῶν νερτέρων
Antigone. Sophocles. ed. Francis Storr. London. 1912.
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Current edition Experimental
Ἀντιγόνη (Greek) (Sophocles, Volume 1. Storr, Francis, editor. London; New York: William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company, 1912.)
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
Editions (11)
Greek (L. Benloew, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (L. Benloew, 1858)) — 601 focus
τεὰν, Ζεῦ, δύνασιν τίς ἀνδρῶν
Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Boeckh, 1884)) — 601 focus
θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν·
Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. H. Bothe, 1806)) — 601 focus
μαρμαρόεσσαν αἴγλαν·
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 601 focus
κατ᾿ αὖ νιν φοινία θεῶν τῶν
Greek (A. Colonna, 1978) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Colonna, 1978)) — 601 focus
κατ᾽ αὖ νιν φοινία
Greek (A. Dain, 1955) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. Dain, 1955)) — 601.mvp-line-594 focus
κατ’ αὖ νιν φοινία
Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. D. Dawe, 1979)) — 601 focus
κατ᾽ αὖ νιν φοινία
Greek (G. Hermann, 1830) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (G. Hermann, 1830)) — 601 focus
ὑπερβασία κατάσχοι,
Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (R. C. Jebb, 1906)) — 601 focus
κατ᾽ αὖ νιν φοινία θεῶν τῶν νερτέρων
6
Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (A. C. Pearson, 1924)) — 601.mvp-line-594 focus
κατ᾽ αὖ νιν φοινία θεῶν τῶν
Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (K. Reinhardt, 1949)) — 601 focus
κατ᾽ αὖ νιν φοινία
Translations (2)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 605 focus
Wie mag Einer in frevlem Stolze,
Zeus, deine Gewalt bezwingen,
Die nimmer der Schlaf bändigt, der ewig junge,
1
600
Nimmer die raschen
Göttermonden? In nie alternder Jugend wohnst du
In Olympos' lichtem,
Strahlendem Glanz, o König!
Und hinfort in alle Zeiten,
605
Wie für das Vergang'ne, gilt
Dies Gesez: nie waltet
Im Leben das Glück lauter und frei von Leide.
Zweite Gegenstrophe.
Wie mag Einer in frevlem Stolze,
Zeus, deine Gewalt bezwingen,
Die nimmer der Schlaf bändigt, der ewig junge,
1
600
Nimmer die raschen
Göttermonden? In nie alternder Jugend wohnst du
In Olympos' lichtem,
Strahlendem Glanz, o König!
Und hinfort in alle Zeiten,
605
Wie für das Vergang'ne, gilt
Dies Gesez: nie waltet
Im Leben das Glück lauter und frei von Leide.
English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb2, 1904)) — 583-630 focus
Chorus
Blest are those whose days have not tasted of evil. For when a house has once been shaken by the gods,
no form of ruin is lacking, but it spreads over the bulk of the race, just as, when the surge is driven over the darkness of the deep by the fierce breath of Thracian sea-winds,
585
it rolls up the black sand from the depths, and the wind-beaten headlands that front the blows of the storm give out a mournful roar.
590
Blest are those whose days have not tasted of evil. For when a house has once been shaken by the gods,
no form of ruin is lacking, but it spreads over the bulk of the race, just as, when the surge is driven over the darkness of the deep by the fierce breath of Thracian sea-winds,
585
it rolls up the black sand from the depths, and the wind-beaten headlands that front the blows of the storm give out a mournful roar.
590
Chorus
I see that the ancient sorrows of the house of the Labdacids
are heaped upon the sorrows of the dead. Each generation does not set its race free, but some god hurls it down and the race has no release. For now that dazzling ray of hope that had been spread
595
over the last roots in the house of Oedipus—that hope, in its turn, the blood-stained dust of the gods infernal and mindlessness in speech and frenzy at the mind cuts down.
600
I see that the ancient sorrows of the house of the Labdacids
are heaped upon the sorrows of the dead. Each generation does not set its race free, but some god hurls it down and the race has no release. For now that dazzling ray of hope that had been spread
595
over the last roots in the house of Oedipus—that hope, in its turn, the blood-stained dust of the gods infernal and mindlessness in speech and frenzy at the mind cuts down.
600
Chorus
Your power, great Zeus—what human overstepping can check it? Yours is power that neither Sleep, the all-ensnaring, nor the untiring months of the gods can defeat. Unaged through time,
605
you rule by your power and dwell thereby in the brilliant splendor of
Olympus
. And through the future, both near and distant, as through the past, shall this law prevail: nothing that is vast comes to the life of mortals without ruin.
610
Your power, great Zeus—what human overstepping can check it? Yours is power that neither Sleep, the all-ensnaring, nor the untiring months of the gods can defeat. Unaged through time,
605
you rule by your power and dwell thereby in the brilliant splendor of
Olympus
. And through the future, both near and distant, as through the past, shall this law prevail: nothing that is vast comes to the life of mortals without ruin.
610
Chorus
See how that hope whose wanderings are so wide truly is a benefit to many men, but to an equal number it is a false lure of light-headed desires. The deception comes to one who is wholly unawares until he burns his foot on a hot fire.
615
For with wisdom did someone once reveal the maxim, now famous, that evil at one time or another seems good, to him whose mind a god leads to ruin.
620
But for the briefest moment such a man fares free of destruction.
625
See how that hope whose wanderings are so wide truly is a benefit to many men, but to an equal number it is a false lure of light-headed desires. The deception comes to one who is wholly unawares until he burns his foot on a hot fire.
615
For with wisdom did someone once reveal the maxim, now famous, that evil at one time or another seems good, to him whose mind a god leads to ruin.
620
But for the briefest moment such a man fares free of destruction.
625
Enter Haemon.
Chorus
But here is Haemon, the last of your offspring. Does he come grieving for the doom of Antigone, his promised bride,
and bitter for the deceived hope of their marriage?
630
But here is Haemon, the last of your offspring. Does he come grieving for the doom of Antigone, his promised bride,
and bitter for the deceived hope of their marriage?
630
Commentary
Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))
mvp-comment-350-1 κατ’ αὖ … ἀμᾷ, 1 κοπίς 2 κόνις 3 κόνις 4
mvp-comment-350-2 (1) If κόνις 5 καταμᾷ 6
mvp-comment-350-3 (2) If we read κοπίς 7
mvp-comment-350-4
It has further been urged against
κοπίς that the word is too homely. This may be so; but we lack proof.
κοπίς seems to have been a large curved knife, known to the Greeks chiefly as (
a) a butcher's or cook's implement, (
b) an oriental military weapon. It does not follow, however, that the effect here would be like that of ‘chopper,’ or of ‘scimitar,’ in English. The dignity of a word may be protected by its simplicity; and
κοπίς is merely ‘that which cuts.’ Pindar was not afraid of homeliness when he described a chorus-master as a
κρατήρ, or an inspiring thought as an
ἀκόνα (cp.
O. C. 1052
n.). Nicander could say, of the scorpion,
τοίη οἱ κέντροιο κοπίς (
Ther. 780
). If
κοπίς be right, the change to
κόνις may have been caused, not by a misreading of letters, but by mere inadvertence,—the copyist having the word
κόνις in his thoughts at the moment: it has already occurred frequently (
247
,
256
,
409
,
429
).—See Appendix.
Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus
601. mvp-comment-351-1 κατ' was rightly restored by Triclinius for κατ' (ⅰ.e. καὶ εἶτα), which had been introduced to avoid the asvndeton. (Schol. ἐάν στίξωμεν κᾷτ᾽ αὖ νιν, οὐδὲν λείπει τῷ λόγῳ.)