997.
mvp-comment-576-1
ὡς .. στόμα
How I shudder at thy speech. ὡs as in l. 82, ὡς ὑπερδέδοικά σου. στόμα has the association of privileged, prophetic utterance, as in Ο. Τ. 426, τοὐμὸν στόμα.
999.
mvp-comment-577-1
The οἰωνοσκοπεῖον of Teiresias was shown at Thebes in the time of Pausanias: Paus. 9. 16.
999.
mvp-comment-577-2
παλαιόν i. e. consecrated by use from early times.
1000.
mvp-comment-578-1
ἵν'.. λιμήν
Where I had harbourage for every ominous bird. Essay on Language § 58. p. 105.
1002.
mvp-comment-579-1
κλάζοντας Accusative πρὸς τὸ σημαινόμενον, as if ὄρνιθας ἄγνωτα φθεγγομένους had preceded.
1002.
mvp-comment-579-2
βεβαρβαρωμένῳ Rendered unintelligible,'
Confused. 1003. iv, of the instrument. Cp. supra. 1. 961. φοναῖς,
In bloody fray. Dative of manner. Cp. supra,
l. 960
.
1004.
mvp-comment-580-1
πτερῶν.. ἦν
For the whirring of their wings gave no uncertain sound: although their voices did. 1005 ἐγευόμην] By analogy for ἐπειρώμην, I made trial of the divination by burnt sacrifice,' similar to that used in the temple of Ismenus: O. Τ. 21.
1006.
mvp-comment-581-1
βωμοῖσι παμφλέκτοισιν
At the blazing altar. παν in composition is simply intensive, as in El. 1139: and the epithet is generally descriptive. See Essay on Language § 55. p. 101.
1006.
mvp-comment-581-2
ἐκ δὲ θυμάτων 'But from the sacrifice the Fire-god refused to gleam; and on the ash a dank humour dripped from the thigh-bones, and fumed and sputtered, and the gall was sprinkled abroad in air, and the thighs wasted and lay bared of their enclosing fat.
1007.
mvp-comment-582-1
For σποδός, cp Ο. Τ. 21: Hdt. 4.35, τῶν μηρίων καταγιζομένων ἐπὶ τῷ βωμῷ τὴν σποδόν.
1009.
mvp-comment-583-1
μετάρσιοι is supplementary predicate. The preposition in ἐξέκειντο is emphatic. Cp. Od. 23. 179, ἔνθα οἱ ἐκθεῖσαι πυκινὸν λέχος: Thuc. 4. 129. § 3. ἔτυχον ἐξεστρατοπεδευμένοι ἔξω τῆς πόλεως.
1010.
mvp-comment-584-1
καταρρυεῖς is explained to mean Flowing down with moisture,' but means rather
Fallen away. Cp. Paus. 10. 2, 6 (L. and S s. ν. καταρρέω 1. 4), νεκροῦ κατερρυηκότος τὰς σάρκας.
1011.
mvp-comment-585-1
The apparently active use of καλυπτῆς comes from καλύπτειν, in the sense of placing as a covering, i. e.
1011.
mvp-comment-585-2
καλύπτειν πιμελὴν μηροῖς. For the meaning, cp. Aesch. Pr. 496, foll., κνισῇ τε κώλα συγκαλυπτά· καὶ μακρὰν | ὀσφὺν πυρώσας, δυστέκμαρτον ἐς τέχνην | ὥδωσα θνητούς· καὶ φλογωπὰ σήματα | ἐξωμμάτωσα, πρόσθεν ὄντ᾽ ἐπάργεμα.
1013.
mvp-comment-586-1
Such failing tokens given by baffling auspices. Lit.
Of victims giving no sign. Cp. Ps. 74. 9.
We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet. φθίνοντα μαντεύματα are not Prophecies of decay,' but
Rites of divination fading away, i. e. losing their virtue. Cp. Ο. Τ. 902, φθίνοντα.. Λαΐου | θέσφατα.
1015.
mvp-comment-587-1
τῆς σῆς ἐκ φρενός
From thy will. Cp. infr. 1063, ὡς μὴ ᾿μπολήσων ἴσθι τὴν ἐμὴν φρένα.
1016.
mvp-comment-588-1
ἐσχάραι τε παντελεῖς
And all the number of our sacred hearths. παντελεῖς is little more than πᾶσαι, but expresses that the word ἐσχάραι added to βωμοί comprises every consecrated spot in the whole city. Cp. El. 982, ἔν θ᾽ ἑορταῖς ἔν τε πανδήμῳ πόλει.
1017.
mvp-comment-589-1
πλήρεις
Infected. Cp. 1052.
1017.
mvp-comment-589-2
πλήρης = ἀνάπλεως. Cp. infr. 1052: Phil. 1087-1088, ὦ πληρέστατον αὔλιον | λύπας τᾶς ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ. For the general notion, cp. Webster, Appius and Virg. p. 165, ed. Dyce,
Come, you birds of death | And fill your greedy cups with human flesh; | Then to the city fly, disgorge it there | Before the senate, and from thence arise | A plague to choke all Rome. Join ὑπὸ .. βορᾶς, not as some edd. πλήρεις.. βορᾶς.
By the act of dogs and birds in feeding, etc. So Ellendt. Cp. infr. 1083.
1021.
mvp-comment-590-1
εὐσήμους
Giving clear augury, opposed to ἄσημος supra 1013.
1021.
mvp-comment-590-2
ἀπορροιβδεῖ
Utters noisily. The word is not strictly applicable to the screaming of birds. But there is the same indefiniteness about words expressing sound as about the names of colours. This word, expressing a confused noise, is probably suggested by l. 1004.
1022.
mvp-comment-591-1
After feeding on the fatness of human carnage.' On the change from singular to plural, see Essay on Language § 36. p. 65.
1025.
mvp-comment-592-1
ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἁμάρτῃ For ἄν omitted, see Essay on. L. § 27. p. 44.
1026.
mvp-comment-593-1
ἄνολβος here and in Aj. 1156 (τοιαῦτ᾽ ἄνολβον ἄνδρ᾽ ἐνουθέτει παρών) is a word of blame- Infatuated.'
1029.
mvp-comment-594-1
εἶκε τῷ θανόντι
Relent towards the dead.
1030.
mvp-comment-595-1
ἐπικτανεῖν Το slay a second time.' For the meaning of ἐπί, cp.
1030.
mvp-comment-595-2
ἐπεμβάλλω, ἐπιγαμέω, ἐπιπέμπω. For the idea, cp. II. 24. 54: Plat. Rep. 5. 469 D, E. 6 1031. (1)
After careful consideration I speak to you with good heed. εὐ, Carefully,' as in O. T. 308, supr. 410, alib. Or (2) εὖ σοι φρ.,
Meaning well to thee.
1032.
mvp-comment-596-1
εἰ κέρδος λέγοι For the optative, see Essay on Language § 36. p. 61, γ, α (1). φέρει or φέροι seems also to be an early reading.
1034.
mvp-comment-597-1
ἀνδρὸς τοῦδε The genitive as after ἐφίεσθαι and the like words.
1034-1035.
mvp-comment-598-1
κοὐδὲ.. εἰμί
And you practise on me with divination too. By a not infrequent inexactness in the use of the Greek passive voice, from πράττειν κατά τινοs,
To intrigue against a person, would come πράττεσθαι, 'Το be intrigued against,' and hence ἄπρακτος,
Unattempted, Unpractised on, μαντικῆς is gen. of respect after the privative adjective. τὸν πρὸσ σάρδεον Ε. τὸν πρὸ
1035.
mvp-comment-599-1
τῶν *ὑπαὶ γένους
By whose fraternity, sc. τῶν μαντέων. This is Brunck's emendation, which gives better sense than any other that has been proposed. Creon's heated imagination suggests to him that the whole tribe of prophets and diviners (cp. 1055) have greedily marked him for their prey.
1036.
mvp-comment-600-1
I am bartered away long since and turned to gain. Literally, Sold and shipped off. Although ἐμπεφόρτισμαι has the authority of the 1st hand of L, ἐκπεφόρτισμαι is more forcible.
1037.
mvp-comment-601-1
*τἀπό Professor Geddes, in his Problem of the Homeric Poems,' p. 168, note 15, prefers ἤλεκτρος as the form of nominative,
on analogy of other metals, such as χρυσός, etc., which are masculine. But the general opinion is in favour of ἥλεκτρον neuter, and although τὸν πρὸς Σαρδεῶν is not unmetrical, τᾶπό Σαρδέῶν is preferable here in point of rhythm. Granting that ἤλεκτρος is masculine in late Greek, it is unlikely that Herodotus, 3, 115, would write τὸ ἤλεκτρον, and Sophocles here τὸν .. ἤλεκτρον.
