The same impetuous spirit rules her yet.
Antigone. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.
Antigone. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Robert Potter, 1788))
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
mvp-comment-561-1
Acrisius, the father of Danaë, was king of Argos. The oracle at Delphi told him that he was to be slain by his daughter's son. He therefore immured the maiden in a chamber built for that purpose within the precincts of his house at Argos. Here Zeus visited her in the golden rain; she bore Perseus; and Acrisius sent mother and child adrift on the Aegean in a chest; but Zeus heard her prayer, and brought them safely to the island of Seriphus. Both Soph. and Eur. wrote a
mvp-comment-561-2 καὶ Δανάας δέμας ἔτλα ἀλλάξαι οὐράνιον φῶς 1 ἔτλα καί 2
mvp-comment-561-3 δέμας 3
mvp-comment-561-4 χαλκοδέτοις αὐλαῖς 4
mvp-comment-562-1 τυμβήρει 5
mvp-comment-562-2 κατεζεύχθη 6
mvp-comment-563-1 τίμιος 7
mvp-comment-564-1 ταμιεύεσκε 8
mvp-comment-564-2 χρυσορύτους 9
mvp-comment-565-1 ἁ μοιριδία τις 10 τις 11
mvp-comment-566-1 οὔτ’ … ὄλβος 12
mvp-comment-566-2
mvp-comment-566-3 πύργος 13
mvp-comment-566-4 οὔτ’ … οὔτ’ 14 οὐ … οὐχ 15
mvp-comment-567-1 ζεύχθη 16
mvp-comment-567-2 ὀξύχολος 17
mvp-comment-567-3
The
mvp-comment-567-4
Dionysus, when he came from Asia with his new rites, was opposed by Lycurgus in Thrace, as by Pentheus at Thebes. The
mvp-comment-568-1 κερτομίοις ὀργαῖς 18 ὀργαῖς 19 κερτομίοις 20
mvp-comment-569-1 ἐκ Διονύσου 21
mvp-comment-569-2 πετρώδει … δεσμῷ 22
mvp-comment-569-3 κατάφαρκτος 23
944-987. mvp-comment-537-1 The chorus, in the manner of Pindar, moralise on the fate of Antigone through examples drawn from the circle of mythology and legend; and thus suggest the same cold comfort as in their mention of Niobe. The effect of this ode is to repress the excitement and solemnize the thoughts of the spectator. 'Danaë, though of royal lineage, and entrusted with the golden shower, was bound by all-constraining destiny in her brazen cell. 'Bound, too, in a prison of rock, was Lycurgus, who provoked the God. He knew his madness when it was too late. And on the Thracian promontory Phineus sons, blinded by their father's wife (Idothea), bewailed their rejected mother Cleopatra's hapless lot, who, descended from an ancient line, and endowed with swiftness by her divine sire, was notwithstanding overtaken by the long-lived fates.' Danae and Cleopatra were, like Antigone, of royal birth, and, like Antigone, were bound in a living tomb. So also was the son of Dryas, himself a king: and this, in his case, was the penalty of an impetuous and defiant spirit. Sophocles seems to have followed one version of the obscure and variable legend of Phineus, according to which Cleopatra did not die, but was rejected by Phineus for Idothea, and imprisoned in a cave, from which she was afterwards released by Heracles. The sons were blinded by their step-mother. The first strophe and antistrophe are choriambic with an iambic close; the second, logaoedic. The choriambi here were probably chanted slowly, so as to have a weighty, solemn effect. The scheme is as follows: a'. First strophe and antistrophe. IILUCI LUCILー LUCILIITUCICートに IICClluclトー IIICCILUCIトに ICICICI KLCICICI CトートUICIK β'. Second strophe and antistrophe. UCCTCCICCI IICCICCII!یں ILU TUCI くいくいトCICIK Cトートしーーー ―トビトCICIK CÚCCICICICC
944. mvp-comment-538-1 φῶς | ἀλλάξαι 'Το exchange the light' (for gloom), i. e. To lose the light. Cp. Phil. 1262, ἀμείψας ..
944. mvp-comment-538-2 στέγας.
945. mvp-comment-539-1 δέμας Form. This word reminds us of the beauty of Danaë, which increased the pathos of her fate.
945. mvp-comment-539-2 ἐν χαλκοδέτοις αὐλαῖς In a brassbound room. The compound of δέω merely suggests the general notion of confinement (Essay on Language § 55. 3, p. 101), and has nothing to do with the riveting of brazen plates to the walls.
949. mvp-comment-540-1 γενεᾷ τίμιος Because descended from Danaus the grandson of Poseidon.
951. mvp-comment-541-1 ὁ μοιριδία τις δύνασις The mysterious power of fate. For the combination of the article and indefinite pronoun, see Essay on Language § 22. p. 36.
952. mvp-comment-542-1 *ὄλβος is Erfurdt's ingenious and probable correction of ὄμβρος. He compares Bacchylides ap. Stob. Ecl. Phys. 1. 166, θνατοῖσι δ᾽ οὐκ αὐθαίρετοι | οὔτ᾽ ὄλβος οὔτ᾽ ἀκάματος Ἄρης οὔτε πάμφθερσις στάσις.
953.
mvp-comment-543-1
Cp. Hor. Od. 2. 16, 21,
954. mvp-comment-544-1 κελαιναί The Epic νῆες μέλαιναι: i. e. Looking dark against the sea and sky.
955-957. mvp-comment-545-1 The punishment of Lycurgus was the subject of an Aeschylean trilogy. It was variously related. Sophocles chooses the version of the story that suits his purpose. For the earliest description of the crime, see Il. 6. 130-140.
955. mvp-comment-546-1 ζεύχθη resumes κατεζεύχθη, supr. 947.
955. mvp-comment-546-2 ὀξύχολος The very probable conjecture of Scaliger for ὀξυχόλως.
955. mvp-comment-546-3 παῖς ὁ Δρύαντος So Pind. O1. 8. 31, παῖς ὁ Λατούς.
956. mvp-comment-547-1 κερτομίοις όργαῖς Dative of the cause.
957. mvp-comment-548-1 ἐκ Διονύσου By the will of Dionysus. Cp. infr. 1219.