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-85-1 πλὴν τ. στυγεροῖν 1 πατρός 2
mvp-comment-85-2 καθ’ αὑτοῖν 3
mvp-comment-85-3 δικρατεῖς λόγχας 4
mvp-comment-85-4 στήσαντε 5
mvp-comment-86-1 ἀλλὰ γάρ 6 γάρ 7 γάρ 8
mvp-comment-86-2 μεγαλώνυμος 9
mvp-comment-86-3 πολυαρμάτῳ 10
mvp-comment-86-4 ἀντιχαρεῖσα 11
mvp-comment-87-1 ἐκ...πολέμων τῶν νῦν 12 ἐκ 13 νῦν 14
mvp-comment-87-2 θέσθαι 15 θέσθε 16 παννυχίοις 17
mvp-comment-87-3 ὁ Θήβας 18 ἐλελίχθων 19
mvp-comment-87-4 Βάκχιος 20
mvp-comment-87-5 ἄρχοι 21
mvp-comment-88-1 ἀλλὰ … γάρ 22 Κρέων 23
mvp-comment-88-2 Μενοικέως 24
mvp-comment-88-3 νεοχμὸς νεαραῖσι 25
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 26 κρείων 27 ἄρχων 28 ταγός 29
mvp-comment-88-5 θεῶν … συντυχίαις 30 ἐπί 31
mvp-comment-89-1 μῆτιν ἐρέσσων 32
mvp-comment-89-2 σύγκλητον 33
mvp-comment-89-3 προὔθετο 34 λέσχην 35
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
36
mvp-comment-89-5 κοινῷ κ. πέμψας 37
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’ 38
mvp-comment-91-3 πόλεος 39 πολλῷ σάλῳ σείσαντες 40
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 41
mvp-comment-92-1 ἐκ πάντων 42 δίχα 43
mvp-comment-92-2 ἔστειλ’ ἱκέσθαι 44 τοῦτο μέν 45
mvp-comment-92-3 σέβοντας 46
mvp-comment-92-4 θρόνων . . κράτη 47
mvp-comment-93-1 ἡνίκ’ Οἰδίπους 48 κείνων 49 κείνων παῖδας 50 ἡνίκ’ . . ὤρθου πόλιν 51 ἐπεὶ διώλετο 52 τοῦτο μέν . . τοῦτ’ αὖθις 53
mvp-comment-93-2 καί 54 καί 55
mvp-comment-93-3 ἐμπέδοις φρονήμασιν 56 ἐμπέδους 57 ἐμπέδοις 58
mvp-comment-94-1 ὅτε 59
mvp-comment-94-2 πρὸς διπλῆς μ. 60 διπλῆς . . μίαν 61
mvp-comment-94-3 παίσαντες . . πληγέντες 62
mvp-comment-94-4 αὐτόχειρι … μιάσματι 63
mvp-comment-95-1 ἐγὼ . . δή 64
mvp-comment-95-2 κράτη 65
mvp-comment-95-3 γένους κατ’ ἀγχιστεῖα τῶν ὀλ. 66
mvp-comment-96-1 ἀμήχανον δέ 67 δέ 68 δέ 69
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 70 φρόνημα 71 γνώμην 72
mvp-comment-98-1 ἀρχαῖς 73 νόμοισιν 74
mvp-comment-98-2 ἐντριβής 75
mvp-comment-98-3 φανῇ 76
mvp-comment-99-1 ἐμοὶ γάρ 77 γάρ 78 πᾶσαν … πόλιν 79
mvp-comment-99-2 μὴ … ἅπτεται 80 ὅστις μὴ ἅπτεται 81
mvp-comment-99-3 ἐκ φ. του 82
mvp-comment-99-4 ἐγκλῄσας ἔχει 83
mvp-comment-99-5 νῦν τε καὶ πάλαι 84
mvp-comment-100-1 μείζον’ 85 ἀντὶ τῆς...πάτρας 86 ἤ 87 μεῖζον 88
mvp-comment-100-2 οὐδαμοῦ λέγω 89
mvp-comment-101-1 ἐγὼ γάρ 90 γάρ 91 τοῦτο γιγνώσκων 92 ἴστω 93
mvp-comment-102-1 οὔτ’ ἂν σιωπήσαιμι 94
mvp-comment-103-1 στείχουσαν ἀστοῖς 95 ὁμοῦ 96
mvp-comment-103-2 ἀντὶ τῆς σωτηρίας 97 τῆς 98
mvp-comment-104-1 ἄνδρα δυσμενῆ χθονός 99
mvp-comment-104-2 ἐμαυτῷ 100 φίλον 101 θείμην 102
mvp-comment-105-1 ἡ σῴζουσα 103
mvp-comment-105-2 ταύτης 104 ὀρθῆς 105
mvp-comment-105-3 τοὺς φίλους ποιούμεθα 106
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 107
mvp-comment-106-2 αὔξω 108
mvp-comment-107-1 ἀδελφὰ τῶνδε 109
mvp-comment-107-2 τῶν ἀπ’ Οἰδίπου 110
mvp-comment-108-1 δορί 111 δόρει 112
mvp-comment-109-1 τὰ πάντ’ ἐφαγνίσαι 113 ἐπί 114 ἐφαγνίσαι 115 ἀφαγνίσαι 116 ἀπό 117
mvp-comment-110-1 τοῖς ἀρίστοις 118
mvp-comment-110-2 ἔρχεται κάτω 119
mvp-comment-111-1 L has Πολυνείκην 120
mvp-comment-111-2 λέγω 121
mvp-comment-112-1 γτ=ν πατρῴαν . . καὶ θεοὺς . . πρῆσαι 122
mvp-comment-112-2 θ. τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς 123
mvp-comment-112-3 κατελθών 124
mvp-comment-112-4 γ)θέλησε μέν … ἠθέλ. δέ 125 ἠθέλησε μὲν 126
mvp-comment-112-5 πρῆσαι 127
mvp-comment-112-6 κατ’ ἄκρας 128
mvp-comment-112-7 αἵματος κ. πάσασθαι 129
mvp-comment-112-8 τοὺς δὲ … ἄγειν 130
mvp-comment-113-1 The traditional ἐκκεκηρῦχθαι τάφῳ 131 ἐκκεκήρυκται τάφῳ 132 ἐκκεκηρῦχθαι λέγω 133 τάφῳ 134 κτερίζειν 135 τάφῳ 136 κτερίζειν 137 μήτε 138 κωκῦσαι 139 τάφῳ 140 λέγω 141 τάφῳ 142 ἐκκεκ 143
mvp-comment-114-1 ἐᾶν δ 144 ἄθαπτον, αἰκισθέντ’ ἰδεῖν 145 δέμας καὶ πρὸς οἰωνῶν καὶ πρὸς κυνῶν ἐδεστόν 146 αἰκισθέντ 147 αἰκισθέντ 148 ἐδεστόν 149 αἰκισθέν τ’, δέμας 150
mvp-comment-114-2 δέμας 151
mvp-comment-114-3 ἰδεῖν 152
mvp-comment-115-1 φρόνημα 153
mvp-comment-115-2 ἔκ γ’ ἐμοῦ 154
mvp-comment-116-1 The MSS. have τιμὴν προέξουσ’ ..τῶν ἐνδ. 155 τιμήν 156 τιμῆ 157 προσέξους 158
mvp-comment-117-1 τιμήσεται 159
mvp-comment-118-1 I print Dindorf's κἀς 160 καὶ 161 σοὶ ταῦτ’ ἀρέσκει 162 Κρέον 163 ταὔτ 164 ταῦτ’ 165
mvp-comment-119-1 In παντί πού γ’ 166 σοί γ’ … που 167 ἔνεστι 168 χὡπόσοι ζῶμεν 169 πέρι 170
mvp-comment-120-1 ὡς ἂν … ἦτε 171 πῶς ἂν … εἶτε 172
mvp-comment-120-2 σκοποί 173
mvp-comment-120-3 νυν 174 νῦν 175
mvp-comment-120-4 τῶν εἰρ 176
mvp-comment-121-1 πρόθες τοῦτο 177 βαστάζειν 178
mvp-comment-121-2 τοῦ νεκροῦ γ’ 179
mvp-comment-122-1 τί δῆτ’ ἂν … ἐπεντέλλοις 180
mvp-comment-122-2 The reading ἄλλῳ 181 τοῦτο 182
mvp-comment-122-3 ἐπιχωρεῖν 183
mvp-comment-122-4 ἀπιστοῦσιν 184
mvp-comment-122-5 τάδε, 185
mvp-comment-123-1 ὃς 186 ἐρᾷ 187
mvp-comment-123-2 καὶ μὴν 188 γε 189 μισθός 190
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 191
mvp-comment-123-5 διώλεσεν 192
mvp-comment-124-1 ἐρῶ μὲν οὐχ 193
mvp-comment-124-2 ὅπως 194
mvp-comment-124-3 τάχους ὕπο 195 τάχους 196
mvp-comment-125-1 ἐξάρας 197
mvp-comment-125-2 φροντίδων 198 ἐπιστάσεις 199
mvp-comment-125-3 ὁδοῖς 200
mvp-comment-125-4 κυκλῶν 201
mvp-comment-126-1 ψυχὴ γὰρ ηὔδα 202 πολλὰ 203 μυθουμένη 204
mvp-comment-127-1 τάλας … τλήμων 205
mvp-comment-127-2 μένεις 206 μενεῖς 207 αὖ 208
mvp-comment-127-3 πῶς … οὐκ 209
mvp-comment-127-4 ἀλγυνεῖ 210
mvp-comment-128-1 ἑλίσσων 211
mvp-comment-128-2 ἤνυτον 212
mvp-comment-128-3 σχολῇ βραδύς 213
mvp-comment-129-1 τέλος γε μέντοι 214
mvp-comment-129-2 ἐνίκησεν 215
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 216 μολεῖν 217 σοί 218 φράσων 219 φράσω δ 220 κεἰ 221 κεἴ σοι 222 σοί. 223
mvp-comment-130-2 τὸ μηδέν 224
mvp-comment-131-1 τῆς ἐλπίδος 225
mvp-comment-131-2 δεδραγμένος 226 πεφραγμένος 227 πεπραγμένος 228
mvp-comment-131-3 τὸ μὴ παθεῖν ἄν 229
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 230
mvp-comment-132-1 ἀνθ’ οὗ 231
mvp-comment-132-2 τὸ γὰρ | πρᾶγμ’ 232 γάρ 233
mvp-comment-133-1 εὖ γε στοχάζει 234 στοχάζει 235 ἀποφράγνυσαι 236 στοχάζομαι 237
mvp-comment-133-2 κἀποφράγνυσαι 238
mvp-comment-133-3 τὸ πρᾶγμα 239
mvp-comment-134-1 δηλοῖς δ’ ὥς τι ς. 240
mvp-comment-135-1 τὰ δεινά 241 γάρ 242
mvp-comment-135-2 ποτ 243
mvp-comment-135-3 ἀπαλλαχθείς 244
mvp-comment-136-1 καὶ δή 245
mvp-comment-136-2 θάψας 246 κἀπί 247
mvp-comment-136-3 διψίαν 248
mvp-comment-136-4 κἀφαγιστεύσας 249 ἃ χρή 250
mvp-comment-137-1 ἀνδρῶν 251
mvp-comment-137-2 οὔτε του γενῇδος … οὐ δικέλλης 252 οὔτε … οὐ 253 γενῄς 254 γενῄς 255 δίκελλα 256
mvp-comment-137-3 δικ. ἐκβολή 257 ἐκβ. 258 στύφλος 259 χέρσος 260 ἀρρώξ 261
mvp-comment-137-4 ἐπημαξευμένη 262 ἐπ‐ 263 ἐφ‐ 264
mvp-comment-137-5 ἀλλ’ ὁ ἐργάτης ἄσημός τις ἦν 265
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 266 ἡμεροσκ. 267
mvp-comment-138-2 δείκνυσι … παρῆν 268
mvp-comment-138-3 δυσχερές 269
mvp-comment-139-1 ὁ μὲν 270
mvp-comment-139-2 τυμβήρης μὲν οὔ 271 τυμβ. 272 λεπτὴ δ’ … ἐπῆν 273
mvp-comment-139-3 ἄγος φεύγοντος ὥς 274 ἄγος 275
mvp-comment-140-1 θηρός 276
mvp-comment-140-2 του 277 θηρός 278
mvp-comment-140-3 οὐ σπάσαντος 279 οὐ 280 σπάσαντος 281 σπάσαντος οὐδ’ ἐλθόντος 282
mvp-comment-141-1 λόγοι δ’ … φύλακα 283 λόγοι κακοὶ ἐρρόθουν 284 ἐρρόθουν 285
mvp-comment-141-2
γλώσσης ῥόθος, of an unintelligible jargon.
mvp-comment-141-3 ἐλέγχων 286
mvp-comment-141-4 κἂν ἐγίγνετο 287
mvp-comment-141-5 τελευτῶς 288
mvp-comment-141-6 ὁ κωλύσων 289
mvp-comment-142-1 ἦν … οὑξειργ. 290
mvp-comment-142-2 ἐναργής 291
mvp-comment-142-3 ἀλλ’ 292
mvp-comment-142-4 ἕφευγε μὴ εἰδέναι 293
mvp-comment-142-5 μὴ 294 εἰδέναι 295
mvp-comment-143-1 μύδρους 296
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 297
mvp-comment-144-2 θεοὺς ὁρκ. 299
mvp-comment-144-3 τὸ μήτε δρ 300
mvp-comment-144-4 μήτ’ είργασμένῳ 301 μηδ 302
mvp-comment-145-1 πλέον 303
mvp-comment-145-2 λέγει 304
mvp-comment-145-3 τις εἷς 305
mvp-comment-146-1 προὔτρεψεν 306
mvp-comment-146-2 οὐ γὰρ εἴχομεν 307
mvp-comment-146-3 As ἀντιφωνεῖν 308 δρῶντες 309 ὅπως δρῶντες 310 εἴχομεν 311
mvp-comment-147-1 σοί 312
mvp-comment-147-2 ταῦτ’ ἐνίκα 313
mvp-comment-147-3 πάλος 314 καθαιρεῖ 315
mvp-comment-147-4 τἀγαθόν 316 —ἄκων οὐχ ἑκοῦσιν 317
mvp-comment-148-1 ἐμοί 318 βουλεύει 319 μή 320
mvp-comment-148-2 τι 321
mvp-comment-148-3 θεήλατον, 322
mvp-comment-148-4 ἡ ξύννοια 323
mvp-comment-148-5 πάλαι 324
mvp-comment-149-1 πρὶν ὀργῆς καί με μεστῶσαι 325 καί 326 πρίν 327 μεστῶσαι 328 καί 329 με 330
mvp-comment-149-2 κἀμέ 331
mvp-comment-149-3 μεστῶσαι 332
mvp-comment-150-1 πότερον 333 ἔκρυπτον 334
mvp-comment-150-2 ἀμφικίονας ναούς 335
mvp-comment-150-3 κἀναθήματα 336
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 337 πυρώσων 338
mvp-comment-150-6 νόμους διασκεδῶν 339
mvp-comment-150-7 διασκεδῶν 340
mvp-comment-151-1 τοὺς κακοὺς τιμῶντας … θεούς; 341
mvp-comment-152-1 ταῦτα 342 μόλις φέροντες 343 καὶ πάλαι 344
mvp-comment-152-2 πόλεως ἄνδρες 345
mvp-comment-152-3 ἐρρόθουν 346
mvp-comment-152-4 ἐμοί 347
mvp-comment-152-5 κάρα σείοντες 348
mvp-comment-152-6 ὑπὸ ζυγῷ 349
mvp-comment-152-7 λόφον 350
mvp-comment-152-8 δικαίως 351
mvp-comment-152-9
equal poise’ (
New Crat. 371).—
ὡς = ὥστε (
O. T. 84
):
στέργειν
352
mvp-comment-153-1 τῶνδε 353 ἐκ 354
mvp-comment-153-2 τούτους, 355
mvp-comment-153-3 εἰργάσθαι 356 ἐξεπίσταμαι 357 παρηγμένους 358
mvp-comment-154-1 νόμισμ’ 359
mvp-comment-154-2 ἔβλαστε 360
mvp-comment-154-3 πορθεῖ 361
mvp-comment-154-4 τόδ’ 362 ἄνδρας 363
mvp-comment-155-1 τόδ’ ἐκδ. καὶ παραλλάσσει 364 ἵστασθαι 365 καὶ παραλλάσσει 366
mvp-comment-155-2 ἵστασθαι πρός τι 367
mvp-comment-156-1 πανουργίας … ἔχειν 368
mvp-comment-156-2 εἰδέναι 369 παντὸς ἔργου δυσσέβ. 370 παντὸς ἔργ 371 πανουργίας 372
mvp-comment-157-1 ἤνυσαν 373
mvp-comment-157-2 χρόνῳ ποτέ 374 δοῦναι δίκην 375
mvp-comment-157-3 ἐξέπραξαν ὡς 376
mvp-comment-158-1 Ζεύς 377
mvp-comment-158-2 ὅρκιος 378
mvp-comment-158-3 τὸν αὐτόχειρα 379 τάφου = ταφῆς 380
mvp-comment-159-1 μοῦνος 381 πρὶν ἂν . . δηλώσητε 382 κρεμαστοί 383 ζῶντες κρεμαστοί 384
mvp-comment-159-2 δηλώσηθ’ 385
mvp-comment-159-3 ὕβριν 386
mvp-comment-160-1 ἵν’ … ἁρπάζητε 387
mvp-comment-160-2 τὸ κέρδος 388 ἔνθεν οἰστέον 389
mvp-comment-160-3 μάθηθ’ 390
mvp-comment-160-4 ἐξ ἅπαντος 391 τὸ κερδαίνειν 392
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 393
mvp-comment-161-2 δέ 394 δώσεις 395
mvp-comment-161-3 οὕτως 396
mvp-comment-161-4 ἴω 397
mvp-comment-161-5 καὶ νῦν ὡς 398 ἀνιαρῶς 399 ι— 400
mvp-comment-162-1 ἐν 401 ὠσίν 402
mvp-comment-162-2 ἐπί 403
mvp-comment-163-1 τί δὲ 404 τί δαὶ 405
mvp-comment-163-2 ῥυθμίζεις 406 ὅπου 407 ὅπου 408
mvp-comment-164-1 τὰς φρένας...τὰ δ’ ὦτ’ 409 σε 410
mvp-comment-164-2 οἴμ’ ὡς 411
mvp-comment-164-3 λάλημα 412 ἄλημα 413 ἄλημα 414
mvp-comment-164-4 δῆλον, 415
mvp-comment-165-1
‘At any rate (
οὖν—babbler or not) I certainly have not done this deed.’
εἰμί
416
οὔκουν … γε
417
mvp-comment-166-1 ‘Yes, (you have done it,) and that, too, at the cost of betraying,’ etc. The particle γε 418 καὶ ταῦτα 419 προδούς 420
mvp-comment-167-1 ἦ δεινόν 421 καὶ 422 γε 423
mvp-comment-168-1 κόμψευε . . τὴν δόξαν 424
mvp-comment-168-2 τὴν δόξαν 425
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 426 νῦν 427 ταῦτα … τοὺς δρῶντας = τοὺς ταῦτα δρῶντας 428
mvp-comment-169-1 δειλά 429
mvp-comment-169-2 δεινά 430 ν 431
mvp-comment-170-1 ἀλλ’ 432 εὑρεθείη 433 καὶ 434
mvp-comment-171-1 καὶ 435 γάρ 436
mvp-comment-171-2 γνώμης 437
mvp-comment-173-1 πολλὰ … κοὐδέν 438
mvp-comment-173-2 καί 439
mvp-comment-173-3 τὰ δεινά 440
mvp-comment-174-1 τοῦτο 441 πέραν 442 πέρα 443
mvp-comment-175-1 χειμερίῳ νότῳ 444
mvp-comment-176-1 περιβρ … ὑπ’ οἴδμασιν 445
mvp-comment-177-1 ὑπερτάταν 446
mvp-comment-178-1 ἀκαμάταν 447
mvp-comment-178-2 ἀποτρύεται 448
mvp-comment-179-1 ἰλλομένων ἀρότρων, 449 ἀρότων 450
mvp-comment-179-2 ἔτος εἰς ἔτος 451 εἰς 452
mvp-comment-180-1 ἱππείῳ γένει 453
mvp-comment-180-2 πολεύων 454 τοῦτο 455
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 456
mvp-comment-181-5 ἀμφιβαλὼν 457
mvp-comment-182-1 πόντου … εἰναλίαν φύσιν 458
mvp-comment-183-1 περιφραδής 459
mvp-comment-184-1 μηχαναῖς 460 ἀγραύλου 461 ὀρεσσιβάτα 462
mvp-comment-185-1 λασιαύχενά θ’ 463
mvp-comment-186-1 ὀχμάζεται 464 ἀμφὶ λόφον ζυγῶν 465
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
466
mvp-comment-187-1 φθέγμα 467
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 468
mvp-comment-188-1 ἀστυνόμους ὀργάς 469
mvp-comment-189-1 ἐδιδάξατο 470
mvp-comment-190-1 πάγων 471
mvp-comment-190-2 ἐναίθρεια 472
mvp-comment-190-3 βέλη 474
mvp-comment-191-1 παντοπόρος 475
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 476 μόνου 477 φεῦξιν — ἐπάξεται 478
mvp-comment-193-1 ἀμηχάνων 479
mvp-comment-193-2 φυγάς 480
mvp-comment-193-3 ξυμπέφρασται 481
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 482
mvp-comment-194-3 τὸ μηχανόεν τ 483
mvp-comment-195-1 τοτὲ μὲν … ἄλλοτ’ 484
mvp-comment-195-2 ἐπ’ 485
mvp-comment-196-1 γεραίρων 486
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 487
mvp-comment-198-1 ὑψίπολις 488
mvp-comment-198-2 ἄπολις 489
mvp-comment-198-3 τὸ μὴ καλόν 490 τόλμας χάριν 491
mvp-comment-199-1 παρέστιος 492
mvp-comment-199-2 ἴσον φρονῶν 493
mvp-comment-200-1 ἔρδει 494 ἔρδοι 495
mvp-comment-202-1 The choral ode has closed with an allusion to the unknown man ( ὅς 496 ἀμφινοῶ 497 ἐς 498
mvp-comment-202-2 δαιμόνιον τέρας 499
mvp-comment-203-1 πῶς εἰδὼς 500
mvp-comment-203-2 ἀντιλογήσω 501
mvp-comment-204-1 ὦ δύστηνος 502
mvp-comment-204-2 δ. πατρός 503
mvp-comment-204-3 Οἰδιπόδα— 504
mvp-comment-205-1 τί ποτ’ 505
mvp-comment-205-2 οὐ δή που 506
mvp-comment-205-3 ἀπιστοῦσαν 507
mvp-comment-205-4 ἄγουσι 508
mvp-comment-205-5 colloquialism, it would be nearly as bad as, ‘Have they taken you up?’
mvp-comment-205-6 καὶ 509 ἀπιστοῦσαν 510 καθελόντες 511
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 512
mvp-comment-206-3 τοὔργον ἡ ’ξειργ 513
mvp-comment-207-1 ἐς δέον 514
mvp-comment-208-1 ξύμμετρος 515
mvp-comment-209-1 ἀπώμοτον 516
mvp-comment-210-1 ψεύδει 517
mvp-comment-210-2 ἡ ’πίνοια 518
mvp-comment-211-1 ἐξηύχουν ἄν 519 σχολῇ ἥξειν ποτὲ δεῦρο 520
mvp-comment-211-2 σχολῇ 521
mvp-comment-212-1 ταῖς σαῖς ἀπειλαῖς 522
mvp-comment-212-2 ἐχειμάσθην 523
mvp-comment-213-1 ἡ...ἐκτὸς 524 ἐκτός 525
mvp-comment-214-1 οὐδὲν ἔοικε μῆκος 526 α+λλῃ ἡδονῇ 527 οὐδέν 528 μῆκος 529 ἔοικε 530
mvp-comment-215-1 δῑ ὅρκων … ἀπώμοτος 531
mvp-comment-216-1 καθῃρέθη 532
mvp-comment-216-2 τάφον κοσμοῦσα 533
mvp-comment-216-3 ἐπάλλετο 534 ἕρμαιον 535
mvp-comment-217-1 κρῖνε 536
mvp-comment-217-2 δίκαιός εἰμι 537
mvp-comment-217-3 ἀπηλλάχθαι 538
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 539
mvp-comment-219-1 ἦ καὶ 540
mvp-comment-219-2 ὀρθῶς 541
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 542
mvp-comment-221-1 ἆρ’ ἔνδηλα 543
mvp-comment-222-1 ὁρᾶται...ᾑρέθη 544
mvp-comment-222-2 ἐπίληπτος 545
mvp-comment-223-1 ἥκομεν 547
mvp-comment-224-1 τὰ δείν’ ἐκεῖν’ 548
mvp-comment-224-2 τὸν | νέκυν 549
mvp-comment-225-1 καθήμεθ’ 550
mvp-comment-225-2 ἄκρων ἐκ πάγων 551
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 by
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 or
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 or
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 552
mvp-comment-226-1 βάλῃ 553
mvp-comment-227-1 ἐγερτί 554
mvp-comment-227-2 κινῶν 555
mvp-comment-227-3 ἐπιρρόθοις κακοῖσιν 556
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 557 ἀφειδήσοι 558
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 559
mvp-comment-230-2 χθονὸς 560
mvp-comment-231-1 τυφώς 561 σκηπτός 562
mvp-comment-231-2 οὐράνιον ἄχος 563
mvp-comment-232-1 πίμπλησι 564 αἰκίζων 565
mvp-comment-232-2 ἐν δ’ ἐμεστ 566
mvp-comment-233-1 μύσαντες 567
mvp-comment-233-2 νόσον 568
mvp-comment-233-3 ἐν χρ. μακρ 569
mvp-comment-234-1 πικρᾶς 570
mvp-comment-235-1 εὐνῆς...λέχος 571
mvp-comment-236-1 οὕτω δέ 572
mvp-comment-236-2 ψιλόν 573
mvp-comment-237-1 γόοισιν ἐξῴμωξεν 574
mvp-comment-237-2 ἐκ δ’ … ἠρᾶτο 575
mvp-comment-237-3 διψίαν 576
mvp-comment-238-1 φέρει κόνιν 577
mvp-comment-239-1 The πρόχους 578
mvp-comment-239-2 εὐκρότητος 579
mvp-comment-239-3 ἄρδην 580
mvp-comment-240-1 χοαῖσι 581
mvp-comment-240-2 τρισπόνδ. 582 στέφει 583
mvp-comment-241-1 ἱέμεσθα 584
mvp-comment-241-2 σὺν δὲ … θηρώμεθ’ 585
mvp-comment-242-1 ἠλέγχομεν 586
mvp-comment-242-2 ἄπαρνος … οὐδενός 587
mvp-comment-242-3 καθίστατο 588
mvp-comment-243-1 ἅμ’ 589
mvp-comment-244-1 φίλους 590
mvp-comment-245-1 πάντα ταῦθ’ 591 λαβεῖν 592
mvp-comment-246-1 σὲ δή, 593
mvp-comment-247-1 φὴς δεδρακέναι, ἢ καταρνεῖ μὴ δεδρ 594 καταρνεῖ 595
mvp-comment-248-1 καὶ......κοὐκ 596
mvp-comment-248-2 τὸ μή 597
mvp-comment-249-1 σὺ μέν 598 κομίζοις ἂν ς 599
mvp-comment-249-2 ἔξω 600 β. αἰτίας 601 ἐλεύθερον 602
mvp-comment-250-1 μῆκος 603
mvp-comment-251-1 ᾔδησθα 604 ᾔδης τὰ 605 σθα 606
mvp-comment-251-2 κηρυχθέντα 607
mvp-comment-252-1 ᾔδη 608
mvp-comment-252-2 τί δ’ οὐκ ἔμελλον 609
mvp-comment-252-3 ἐμφανῆ 610 ἐκφανῆ 611
mvp-comment-253-1 καὶ δῆτ’ 612
mvp-comment-254-1 Ζεύς 613
mvp-comment-255-1 τῶν κάτω θεῶν 614 ξύνοικος 615 τοιούσδ’ … ὥρισεν 616 οἳ τούσδ’ … ὥρισαν 617 τάδε 618
mvp-comment-256-1 ἄγραπτα … νόμιμα 619
mvp-comment-256-2
quotes vv. 456 f.) Cp.
O.T. 865 ff.
νόμοι... | ὑψίποδες, οὐρανίαν | δἰ αἰθέρα τεκνωθέντες, with notes there.
Thuc. 2.37
(
νόμοι)
ὅσοι ἄγραφοι ὄντες αἰσχύνην ὁμολογουμένην φέρουσι. When ‘the unwritten laws’ are thus called
νόμοι, the latter word is used figuratively.
νόμιμα
620
mvp-comment-256-3 ἀσφαλῆ 621
mvp-comment-256-4 θνητὸν ὄντ’ 622
mvp-comment-256-5 ὑπερδραμεῖν 623
mvp-comment-257-1 νῦν γε κἀχθές 624
mvp-comment-257-2 ζῇ 625
mvp-comment-257-3 ’φάνη 626
mvp-comment-258-1 τούτων 627 τὴν δίκην 628 τούτων 629
mvp-comment-258-2
shows that, like
ταῦτα just before, it refers to the
νόμιμα: we cannot, therefore, render, ‘the penalty of such an act’ (
sc.
τοῦ ὑπερδραμεῖν).
mvp-comment-258-3 ἐν θεοῖσι 630
mvp-comment-259-1 δώσειν 631
mvp-comment-259-2 θανουμένη γάρ 632
mvp-comment-259-3 τί δ’ οὔ 633
mvp-comment-260-1 κεἰ μὴ σὺ προὐκήρυξας 634
mvp-comment-260-2 τοῦ χρόνου 635
mvp-comment-260-3 αὔτ’ 636
mvp-comment-261-1 φέρει 637
mvp-comment-262-1
Kvičala and Wecklein reject these four verses, despairing of the difficulties found in vv. 466, 467, which have been variously amended; see Appendix. The alleged difficulties are, (1)
παρ’ οὐδὲν ἄλγος: (2) the mention of the mother only: (3) the position of
θανόντ’, which might suggest the sense, ‘slain by my mother’: (4)
ηἰσχόμην (as L has it). Before dealing with these points, I would call attention to a trait which the impugners of these verses have overlooked, and which speaks strongly for the genuineness of the passage as a whole, corrupt though it be in certain words. That trait is the clause
τοῖσδε δ’ οὐκ ἀλγύνομαι
638
mvp-comment-263-1 ἄλγος 639 παρ’ οὐδέν 640
mvp-comment-263-2
adv.: ‘is a pain in no appreciable degree,’ is a pain not worth a thought: as he might have said,
οὐδαμοῦ ἄλγος ἐστί. The normal use of
παρ’ οὐδέν, ‘of no account,’ is either (
a) with the verb
εἶναι, as
O. T. 982
ταῦθ’ ὅτῳ | παρ’ οὐδέν ἐστι, or (
b) with a verb meaning ‘to esteem,’ as above, v. 34,
τὸ πρᾶγμ’ ἄγειν | οὐχ ὡς παρ’ οὐδέν. The only peculiarity here is that, instead of a word in the general sense, ‘
is esteemed’ (
ἄγεται), we have a virtual equivalent, tinged with the special thought of the moment, viz., ‘
is a pain.’ Exactly so in
El. 1327
we have
πότερα παρ’ οὐδὲν τοῦ βίου κήδεσθ’ ἔτι, instead of
πότερα παρ’ οὐδὲν τὸν βίον ἄγετε. Thus the suspicions as to the genuineness of
παρ’ οὐδὲν ἄλγος are illusory.
mvp-comment-263-3 ἀλλ’ ἄν 641
mvp-comment-264-1 ἄθαπτον ἠνσχόμην νέκυν 642 ηἰσχόμην 643 ἠνσχόμην 644
mvp-comment-264-2 In my first edition I placed in the text the emendation of Semitelos (1887) ᾔσχυναν κύνες 645
mvp-comment-264-3
Other emendations will be found in the Appendix. Most of them assume that we must have
ἠνεσχόμην (or
ἀνεσχόμην), and therefore alter the words
θανόντ’ ἄθαπτον and
νέκυν in various ways, —usu. omitting
νέκυν. The verses produced by these processes are wretched, while, from a palaeographical point of view, they are pure conjectures, which do not attempt to account for the tradition in L.—Two points remain. (1)
τὸν ἐξ ἐμῆς | μητρός
646
mvp-comment-264-4
or
μιᾶς (Meineke). (2)
τὸν ἐξ ἐμ. | μητρος θανόντ’
647
mvp-comment-265-1 σχεδόν τι 648
mvp-comment-265-2 μώρῳ μωρίαν 649
mvp-comment-265-3 ὀφλισκάνω 650
mvp-comment-266-1 These two verses give a moment of stillness before the storm breaks forth. So at O. T. 404 four verses of the chorus divide the angry speech of Oedipus from the retort of Teiresias.
mvp-comment-266-2 τὸ γέννημα τῆς παιδός 651 δηλοῖ 652 ὠμόν 653 ἐξ ὠμοῦ πατρός 654 γέννημα 655
mvp-comment-267-1 εἴκειν … κακοῖς 656
mvp-comment-268-1 ἀλλ’ ἴσθι τοι 657
mvp-comment-268-2 πίπτειν 658
mvp-comment-269-1 ὀπτὸν … περισκελῆ 659
mvp-comment-269-2 περισκελής 660
mvp-comment-269-3 ἐκ πυρός 661
mvp-comment-270-1 θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα 662
mvp-comment-271-1 χαλινῷ δ’ 663 σμικρῷ 664
mvp-comment-271-2 καταρτυθέντας 665
mvp-comment-272-1 Suspicion has fallen on ἐκπέλει 666
mvp-comment-272-2 ὅστις 667
mvp-comment-272-3 τῶν πέλας 668
mvp-comment-273-1 αὕτη δ’ 669 ὑβρίζειν μὲν … ὕβρις δ’ 670 ἐξηπίστατο 671 τότ’ 672
mvp-comment-273-2 τούτοις 673
mvp-comment-273-3 δεδρακυῖαν γελᾶν 674
mvp-comment-274-1 νῦν 675
mvp-comment-274-2 εἰ ταῦτα … κράτη 676 κράτη 677 κείσεται 678 πείσεται 679 ἀνατί 680 ταῦτα 681
mvp-comment-275-1 ἀδελφῆς 682
mvp-comment-275-2 εἴθ’ ὁμαιμονεστέρα 683
mvp-comment-275-3
Hyperbole is congenial to Creon's excitement;
cp. 1040
. But the addition,
τοῦ παντὸς Ζ. ἑρκείου, ill suits this, while, on the other hand, it agrees well with the nom.
ὁμαιμονεστέρα. On the whole, then, I incline to prefer the nom.; but the point is a nice one, and the gen. is quite tenable.
mvp-comment-275-4 κυρεῖ 684
mvp-comment-276-1 τοῦ παντὸς Ζηνὸς ἑρκείου 685
mvp-comment-277-1 ἀλύξετον 686 μόρου 687
mvp-comment-278-1 καὶ γὰρ οὖν 688
mvp-comment-278-2 ἐπαιτιῶμαι κείνην 689 βουλεῦσαι ἴσον τοῦδε τάφου 690 ἴσον 691
mvp-comment-278-3 βουλεῦσαι 692
mvp-comment-279-1 καί νιν καλεῖτ’ 693
mvp-comment-280-1 λυσσῶσαν … οὐδ’ ἐπ 694
mvp-comment-280-2 ἐπήβολον 695
mvp-comment-281-1 ὁ θυμὸς τῶν … τεχνωμένων 696 φιλεῖ κλοπεὺς ᾑρῆσθαι 697 πρόσθεν 698 κλοπεύς 699 ᾑρῆσθαι κλοπεύς 700
mvp-comment-281-2 τεχνωμένων 701
mvp-comment-282-1 γε μέντοι 702
mvp-comment-282-2 Ismene's guilty terror is contrasted with Antigone's impudent hardihood,—as Creon deems it. μισῶ … ὅταν 703
mvp-comment-282-3 ἔπειτα 704
mvp-comment-282-4 καλλύνειν 705
mvp-comment-283-1 θέλεις τι μεῖζον 706
mvp-comment-283-2 ἑλών 707
mvp-comment-283-3 ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδέν 708
mvp-comment-283-4 ἅπαντ’ ἔχω 709
mvp-comment-284-1 ἀρεστὸν οὐδέν 710
mvp-comment-284-2 μηδ’ ἀρεσθείη 711 ἀρεσθείην 712 ἀρέστ’ εἴη 713
mvp-comment-285-1 τἀμά 714
mvp-comment-285-2 ἔφυ 715
mvp-comment-286-1 καίτοι 716 κλέος … εὐκλεέστερον 717
mvp-comment-287-1 ἐν τάφῳ τιθεῖσα 718 τούτοις πᾶσι λέγοιτο ἄν 719 τοῦτο ἁνδάνειν 720 ἐγκλῄοι 721
mvp-comment-288-1 ἀλλ’ ἡ τυραννίς 722
mvp-comment-289-1 μούνη 723
mvp-comment-289-2 τοῦτο … ὁρᾷς 724
mvp-comment-289-3 ὑπίλλουσιν 725
mvp-comment-290-1 σὺ δ’ οὐκ ἐπαιδεῖ 727
mvp-comment-291-1 ὅμαιμος 728
mvp-comment-291-2 ἐκ μιᾶς τε 729 τε 730
mvp-comment-292-1 πῶς δῆτ’ 731
mvp-comment-292-2 ἐκείνῳ 732
mvp-comment-292-3 χάριν 733 τιμᾷς 734 ὁ κατθανὼν νέκυς 735
mvp-comment-293-1 εἴ τοι 736 σφε 737
mvp-comment-293-2 ἐξ ἴσου 738
mvp-comment-294-1 οὐ γάρ τι δοῦλος 739
mvp-comment-294-2 cannot complain, for Polyneices was not his slave—his natural inferior—but his brother, and had the same claim on me that he had. Creon insists on the difference between the loyal man and the disloyal. Antigone dwells on the fact that both men had the same claim on her natural piety, and (519) on her sense of religious duty.
mvp-comment-295-1 πορθῶν δέ 740
mvp-comment-295-2 ὁ δ’ 741 ὕπερ 742
mvp-comment-296-1 τούτους 743 ἴσους 744 ἴσους 745 ὅμως 746 ἴσους 747 τούτους 748 ἴσους 749
mvp-comment-297-1 The MS. λαχεῖν ἴσος 750 ἴσους 751
mvp-comment-298-1 κάτωθεν 752 κάτω ’στὶν 753
mvp-comment-298-2 εὐαγῆ 754
mvp-comment-299-1 οὔτοι συνέχθειν 755
mvp-comment-300-1 νυ^ν 756
mvp-comment-301-1 καὶ μὴν 757
mvp-comment-301-2 εἰβομένη 758 κάτω 759
mvp-comment-301-3
with
εἴβειν, for Homer never says
κατὰ δάκρυα λείβειν. Nothing is more natural than that
εἰβομένη should have become
λειβομένη in the MSS., the latter word being much the commoner.
mvp-comment-301-4 κάτω 760
mvp-comment-302-1 νεφέλη δ’ ὀφρύων ὕπερ 761
mvp-comment-302-2 αἱματόεν 762
mvp-comment-302-3 ῥέθος 763
mvp-comment-302-4 αἰσχύνει 764
mvp-comment-303-1 σὺ δ’ 765 ὑφειμένη 766
mvp-comment-303-2 ἔχιδνα 767
mvp-comment-303-3
ἡ ἔχιδνα ἐν τῇ συνουσίᾳ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποκόπτει. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὰ τέκνα, ὥσπερ τὸν θάνατον τοῦ πατρὸς μετερχόμενα, τὴν γαστέρα τῆς μητρὸς διαρρήγνυσιν. (Cp.
Shaksp.
Per. 1. 1. 64
I am no viper, yet I feed On mother's flesh.)
mvp-comment-304-1 λήθουσά μ’ ἐξέπινες 768
mvp-comment-305-1 ἄτα κἀπαναστάσεις 769
mvp-comment-305-2 ἐπαναστάσεις 770 θρόνων 771
mvp-comment-306-1 τὸ μὴ 772
mvp-comment-307-1 ὁμορροθεῖ 773
mvp-comment-308-1 τῆς αἰτίας 774 ξυμμετίσχω 775 φέρω 776
mvp-comment-309-1 ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐάσει σ’ 777
mvp-comment-309-2 ’κοινωσάμην 778
mvp-comment-310-1 ξύμπλουν 779
mvp-comment-311-1
Cp.
Ph. 1293
ὡς θεοὶ ξυνίστορες.
mvp-comment-311-2 λόγοις 780
mvp-comment-312-1 μή μ’ ἀτιμάσῃς 781 τὸ μὴ οὐ 782 ἁγνίσαι τὸν θ 783
mvp-comment-313-1 μή μοι 784 κοινά 785
mvp-comment-313-2 μηδ’ ἃ μὴ ’θιγες 786 ἅ 787 ἅ 788
mvp-comment-314-1 ποιοῦ σεαυτῆς 789
mvp-comment-314-2 ἀρκέσω 791
mvp-comment-315-1 σοῦ λελειμμένῃ 792
mvp-comment-315-2 φίλος 793
mvp-comment-316-1 κηδεμών 794
mvp-comment-317-1 ἀλγοῦσα μὲν δῆτ’ 795 δῆτα 796
mvp-comment-317-2 ἐν σοί 797
mvp-comment-317-3 Heath's εἰ γελῶ γ’ 798
mvp-comment-318-1 ἀλλὰ νῦν 799
mvp-comment-319-1 κἀμπλάκω 800
mvp-comment-319-2
fate? i.e. to be dissociated from it: delib. aor. subj., which can be used, not only in asking what one is
to do, but also in expressions of despair as to what one must suffer (
Tr. 973
τί πάθω;). For
ἀμπλακεῖν
cp. 910
, 1234.
mvp-comment-320-1 εἵλου 801
mvp-comment-320-2 ζῆν 802
mvp-comment-321-1 ἐπ’ ἀρρήτοις … τοῖς ἐμ. λ. 803
mvp-comment-322-1 σὺ μὲν τοῖς 804
mvp-comment-323-1 καὶ μήν 805
mvp-comment-324-1 θάρσει 806
mvp-comment-324-2 ἡ ἐμὴ ψυχή 807
mvp-comment-324-3 πάλαι 808
mvp-comment-324-4 ὥστε τοῖς θ. ὠφελεῖν 809
mvp-comment-325-1 L gives τὼ παῖδε φημὶ 810
mvp-comment-325-2 τὼ παῖδε … τὴν μὲν … τὴν δέ 811
mvp-comment-325-3 ἀρτίως 812
mvp-comment-326-1
The apology is for her sister as well as for herself: even such prudence (
cp. 68
νοῦν) as may have been inborn forsakes the unfortunate under the stress of their misfortunes.
mvp-comment-326-2 βλάστῃ 813
mvp-comment-326-3 τοῖς κ. πράσσουσιν 814
mvp-comment-326-4 ἐξίσταται 815
mvp-comment-327-1 σοὶ γοῦν 816
mvp-comment-327-2 κακοῖς 817
mvp-comment-328-1 τῆσδ’ ἄτερ 818 μόνῃ 819
mvp-comment-328-2 βιώσιμον 820 τί 821
mvp-comment-329-1 ἀλλὰ … μέντοι 822
mvp-comment-329-2 ἥδε μὴ λέγε 823
mvp-comment-330-1 νυμφεῖα 824
mvp-comment-331-1 ἀρώσιμοι 825
mvp-comment-332-1 οὐχ ὥς γ’ 826 ἡρμοσμένα ἦν 827
mvp-comment-333-1 υἱέσι 828 υἱάσιν 829
mvp-comment-333-2
υἷα, υἷε, υἷες, υἷας: cp. Monro
Hom. Gr. § 107.—The dat. of interest goes with
κακὰς γυναῖκας
830
στυγῶ
831
mvp-comment-334-1
It is not of much moment that L, like the later MSS., gives this verse to Ismene. Errors as to the persons occur not seldom in L (see, e.g., cr. n. to
O. C. 837
, and cp.
ib. 1737
); and here a mistake would have been peculiarly easy, as the dialogue from v. 561 onwards has been between Creon and Ismene. To me it seems certain that the verse is Antigone's, and that one of the finest touches in the play is effaced by giving it to Ismene. The taunt,
κακὰς γυναῖκας υἱέσι, moves Antigone to break the silence which she has kept since v. 560: in all this scene she has not spoken to Creon, nor does she now address him: she is thinking of Haemon,—of the dishonour to
him implied in the charge of having made such a choice, —
ὡς αἰεὶ τὸν ὁμοῖον ἄγει θεὸς ὡς τὸν ὁμοῖον. How little does his father know the heart which was in sympathy with her own. This solitary reference to her love heightens in a wonderful degree our sense of her unselfish devotion to a sacred duty. If Ismene speaks this verse, then
τὸ σὸν λέχος in 573 must be, ‘the marriage of which you talk’ (like
El. 1110
οὐκ οἶδα τὴν σὴν κλῄδον'), which certainly is not its natural sense.
mvp-comment-334-2 Αἷμον 832
mvp-comment-335-1 ἄγαν γε λυπεῖς 833
mvp-comment-336-1 The MSS. give this verse to Ismene; but Boeckh is clearly right in giving it to the Chorus. Ismene asked this question in 568, and Creon answered: she rejoined to this answer (570), and Creon replied still more bitterly. She could not now ask her former question over again. But there is no unfitness in the question being repeated by a new intercessor, since to ask it thus is a form of mild remonstrance.
mvp-comment-337-1 ἐμοί 834 ἔφυ 835
mvp-comment-338-1
This verse clearly belongs to the Chorus, to whom L assigns it. The first words of the next verse show this. Hermann objected that in similar situations the Chorus usually has two verses. It is true that this is usually the case. But
O. T. 1312
is enough to show that there was no rigid rule; why, indeed, should there be? And, here, surely,
πλέον ἥμισυ παντός.
mvp-comment-338-2 δεδογμένα 836
mvp-comment-339-1 καὶ σοί γε κἀμοί 837
mvp-comment-339-2 μὴ τριβάς 838
mvp-comment-339-3 νιν 839
mvp-comment-340-1 ἐκ δὲ τοῦδε 840 γυναικας 841 ἀνειμένας 842
mvp-comment-341-1 χοἱ θρασεῖς 843 πέλας 844 εἰσορῶσι 845
mvp-comment-343-1 κακῶν ἄγευστος 846
mvp-comment-344-1 σεισθῇ θεόθεν 847
mvp-comment-344-2 ἄτας οὐδὲν ἐλλείπει 848 ἐλλείπει 849
mvp-comment-344-3 γενεᾶς ἐπὶ πλῆθος 850 γενεᾶς 851
mvp-comment-345-1 ὅμοιον 852
mvp-comment-345-2 ποντίαις 853 πνοαῖς 854 ὅταν οἶδμα 855 ποντίαις δυσπν. Θρ. πνοαῖς 856 ἐπιδράμῃ ἔρεβος ὕφαλον 857 Θρῄσσαισιν 858
mvp-comment-346-1 κελαινὰν θῖνα 859
mvp-comment-346-2 δυσάνεμοι 860 δυσάνεμον 861
mvp-comment-346-3 στόνῳ βρ.· 862
mvp-comment-346-4 ἀντιπλῆγες 863 ἀκταί 864
mvp-comment-347-1 ἀρχαῖα 865
mvp-comment-347-2 ὁρῶμαι 866 οἴκων 867 φθι^τῶν 868
mvp-comment-348-1 ἀπαλλάσσει 869
mvp-comment-348-2 γενεὰν γένος 870 ἔχει 871
mvp-comment-348-3 λύσιν 872
mvp-comment-349-1 νῦν γὰρ ἐσχάτας 873 ὃ τέτατο 874 ἐτέτατο 875 κατ’ αὖ 876 ὑπέρ 877 ὅπερ 878 ὃ τέτατο 879 νιν 880 φάος 881 ἐσχάτη ῥίζα 882 φάος 883 νιν 884 φάος 885 θάλος 886 τέτατο 887 ῥίζας 888
mvp-comment-350-1 κατ’ αὖ … ἀμᾷ, 889 κοπίς 890 κόνις 891 κόνις 892
mvp-comment-350-2 (1) If κόνις 893 καταμᾷ 894
mvp-comment-350-3 (2) If we read κοπίς 895
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.
mvp-comment-351-1 λόγου … ἄνοια 896 φρενῶν ἐρινύς 897
mvp-comment-352-1 τεάν 898
mvp-comment-352-2 δύνα^σιν 899
mvp-comment-352-3 κατάσχοι 900
mvp-comment-353-1 The MS. παντογήρως 901 παντοθήρας 902 παντόθηρος 903 πάντ’ ἀγρεύων 904
mvp-comment-354-1 The MS. οὔτ’ ἀκάματοι θεῶν 905
mvp-comment-354-2
οὐδὲν ἕρπει. Far the best emendation is
οὔτε θεῶν ἄκματοι
906
θεῶν
907
θεῶν μῆνες
908
θεῶν
909
οὔτε
910
mvp-comment-354-3 ἄκματοι 911
mvp-comment-355-1 I doubt whether the dat. χρόνῳ 912
mvp-comment-355-2 μαρμαρόεσσαν 913
mvp-comment-356-1 τό τ’ ἔπειτα 914 τὸ μέλλον 915
mvp-comment-356-2 καὶ τὸ πρίν 919 ἐπαρκέσει 920
mvp-comment-357-1 πάμπολύ γ’ 921
mvp-comment-357-2 ἕρπει 922 ἕρπειν 923 ἕρπει 924
mvp-comment-357-3 πάμπολις 925
mvp-comment-358-1 ἁ γὰρ δή 926 γάρ 927 πολύπλαγκτος 928
mvp-comment-358-2
oft tossed up and down, ploughing a sea of vain deceits.’—
πολύπλαγκτος might also be act., ‘causing men to err greatly’; but this is less fitting here.
mvp-comment-359-1 πολλοῖς μὲν ὄνασις 929
mvp-comment-360-1 ἀπάτα … ἐρώτων 930
mvp-comment-360-2 κουφονόων 931
mvp-comment-361-1
The
ἀπάτη, or final frustration of his desires,
ἕρπει
932
οὐδὲν εἰδότι
933
mvp-comment-362-1 πρὶν … προσαύσῃ 934
mvp-comment-362-2 προσαύσῃ 935
mvp-comment-362-3 πόδα 936 προσαύσῃ 937
mvp-comment-363-1 σοφίᾳ 938
mvp-comment-363-2 ἔκ του 939
mvp-comment-363-3 πεφάνται 940
mvp-comment-364-1 τὸ κακὸν δοκεῖν ποτ’ 941 ποτέ 942
mvp-comment-364-2
1676
Among them he a spirit of phrenzy sent,
Who hurt their minds. Cp.
βλαψίφρων, φρενοβλαβής.
Il. 19.137
ἀλλ’ ἐπεὶ ἀασάμην, καί μευ φρένας ἐξέλετο Ζεύς. Theognis 403
σπεύδει ἀνήρ, κέρδος διζήμενος, ὅν τινα δαίμων | πρόφρων εἰς μεγάλην ἀμπλακίην παράγει, | καί οἱ ἔθηκη δοκεῖν, ἃ μὲν ᾖ κακά, ταῦτ’ ἀγάθ’ εἶναι, | εὐμαρέως, ἃ δ’ ἂν ᾖ χρήσιμα, ταῦτα κακά. Lycurgus
in Leocr. § 92
οἱ γὰρ θεοὶ οὐδὲν πρότερον ποιοῦσιν ἢ τῶν πονηρῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν διάνοιαν παράγουσι· καί μοι δοκοῦσι τῶν ἀρχαίων τινὲς ποιητῶν ὥσπερ χρησμοὺς γράψαντες τοῖς ἐπιγιγνομένοις ταῦτα τὰ ἰαμβεῖα καταλιπεῖν· ὅταν γὰρ ὀργὴ δαιμόνων βλάπτῃ τινά, | τοῦτ’ αὐτὸ πρῶτον, ἐξαφαιρεῖται φρενῶν | τὸν νοῦν τὸν ἐσθλόν, εἰς δὲ τὴν χείρω τρέπει | γνώμην, ἵν’ εἰδῇ μηδἐν ὧν ἁμαρτάνει. The schol. on our verse quotes an unknown poet's lines,
ὅταν δ’ ὁ δαίμων ἀνδρὶ πορσύνῃ κακά, | τὸν νοῦν ἔβλαψε πρῶτον, ᾧ βουλευεται. (‘Quem Iuppiter vult perdere, dementat prius.’ See n. in Appendix.)— The epic
ἔμμεν
943
mvp-comment-365-1 ὀλίγιστον 944 ὀλιγοστόν 945 πράσσει … ἐκτὸς ἄτας 946 ἄτας 947
mvp-comment-366-1 μήν 948
mvp-comment-366-2 νέατον 949
mvp-comment-366-3
to a person,
νέατος could not be said of a sole survivor unless he was
also the latest-born.
γέννημ’:
cp. 471
n.
mvp-comment-366-4 ἀχνύμενος 950 μόρον 951
mvp-comment-367-1
In the MS. reading (see cr. n.)
νύμφης is a gloss on
τάλιδος
952
τῆς μελλογάμου
953
τῆς μελλογάμου
954
τάλιδος
955
mvp-comment-368-1 ἀπάτας 956 λεχέων 957
mvp-comment-370-1 μάντεων ὑπέρτερον 958
mvp-comment-371-1 τελείαν 959
mvp-comment-371-2 ψῆφο<*> 960
mvp-comment-371-3 ἆρα μή 961
mvp-comment-371-4 τῆς μελλονύμφου 962
mvp-comment-371-5 λυσσαίνων 963 σοὶ μέν 964 θυμαίνων 965
mvp-comment-372-1 σοὶ μέν 966
mvp-comment-372-2 πανταχῇ δρῶντες 967
mvp-comment-373-1 σός 968
mvp-comment-373-2 γνώμας ἔχων χρηστάς 969 ἀπορθοῖς 970 μοι 971
mvp-comment-374-1 ἀξιώσεται 973 ἀξ. μείζων φέρεσθαι 974 ἀξίως ἔσται 975
mvp-comment-374-2 σοῦ καλῶς ἡγουμ. 976 μείζων 977
mvp-comment-375-1 γάρ 978
mvp-comment-375-2 διὰ στέρνων ἔχειν 979 διά 980 ἔχειν 981 οὕτω 982 ἔχειν 983
mvp-comment-376-1 (One ought to think thus),—that is, ὄπισθεν ἑστάναι πατρ. γνώμης 984 πάντα 985 ἑστάναι 986
mvp-comment-377-1 ὡς 987
mvp-comment-377-2 ἀνταμύνωνται 988 κακοῖς 989
mvp-comment-378-1 ἄλλο 990 φῦσαι 991 πλήν 992 ἄλλο 993 εἴποις 994
mvp-comment-378-2 πόνους 995
mvp-comment-378-3 γέλων 996
mvp-comment-379-1 τὰς φρένας γ’ 997 γε 998 φρένας σύ γ’ ἡδονῇ 999
mvp-comment-379-2 φρένας … ἐκβάλῃς 1000
mvp-comment-379-3 ὑφ’ ἡδονῆς 1001
mvp-comment-380-1 ψυχρόν 1002
mvp-comment-380-2 παραγκάλισμα 1003
mvp-comment-381-1 δόμοις 1004
mvp-comment-381-2 ἕλκος 1005
mvp-comment-381-3 φίλος 1006
mvp-comment-382-1 πτύσας 1007
mvp-comment-382-2 ὠσεί τε δυσμενῆ 1008 τε 1009
mvp-comment-383-1 νυμφεύειν 1010
mvp-comment-384-1 ἀπιστήσασαν 1011 ψευδῆ 1012
mvp-comment-385-1 κτενῶ 1013
mvp-comment-385-2 πρὸς ταῦτ 1014
mvp-comment-385-3 ἐφυμνείτω 1015
mvp-comment-385-4 Δία ξύναιμον 1016
mvp-comment-386-1 τά γ’ ἐγγ. φύσει 1017
mvp-comment-386-2 ἄκοσμα 1018
mvp-comment-386-3 θρέψω 1019
mvp-comment-386-4 κάρτα τοὺς ἔξω γ. 1020
mvp-comment-387-1
Seidler transposes vv. 663—667, placing them after 671. The object is to bring vv. 668—671 into immediate connection with 662. In this there is one slight grammatical gain; since, as the vv. stand in the MSS.,
τοῦτον ...τὸν ἄνδρα (668) means, ‘the man who acts thus’ (viz., as described in vv. 666 f.). But the order given in the MSS. is right. The transposition obliterates one of the finest touches in the speech. Creon demands that the obedience of the citizens to the ruler shall be absolute (666 f.). And then he supplements this demand with a remark on the dignity of such obedience. The man who so obeys gives the best proof that he could also rule (668 ff.). Seidler destroys the point of vv. 668 ff. by placing them after 662.
mvp-comment-387-2 The connection of thought in the whole passage—which is slightly obscured by compression—may be most clearly shown by taking the verses in small consecutive groups. (1) 659 f. If I tolerate disloyalty
mvp-comment-387-3
in my own relatives, I shall encourage it in other citizens. (2) 661 f.
For (
γάρ) only a man who is firm (
χρηστός) where his own relatives are concerned will be found to uphold justice in the State (i.e. will have the authority necessary for doing so). (3) 663 f. Now, I recognise disloyalty in any one who breaks the law and defies the government, as Antigone has done. (4) 666 f. Instead of so doing, the citizen is bound to obey the government in everything. (5) 668—671. There is nothing slavish in that; on the contrary, it shows that the citizen is not only a good subject, but would, if required, be a good ruler;—as he would also be a good soldier.—Then comes the general censure on unruliness (672—676). And then the conclusion:—I must vindicate my authority, and punish Antigone (677 —680).
mvp-comment-388-1 ὑπερβάς 1021
mvp-comment-388-2 τοὐπιτάσσειν 1022
mvp-comment-388-3 νοεῖ 1023
mvp-comment-389-1 στήσειε 1024
mvp-comment-389-2 καὶ τἀναντία 1025
mvp-comment-390-1 τοῦτον … τὸν ἄνδρα 1026
mvp-comment-390-2 καλῶς...εὖ 1027
mvp-comment-390-3 ἄν 1028 ἄρχειν 1029 θέλειν 1030
mvp-comment-391-1 δορὸς … χειμῶνι 1031
mvp-comment-391-2 προστεταγμένον 1032
mvp-comment-391-3 παραστάτην 1033
mvp-comment-392-1 πόλεις ὄλλυσιν, ἥδ’ 1034 πόλεις τ’ … ἥδ’ 1035
mvp-comment-393-1 συμμάχου 1036 συμμάχηι 1037 σὺν μάχῃ 1038
mvp-comment-393-2 τροπὰς καταρρήγνυσι 1039
mvp-comment-393-3 τῶν δ’ ὀρθουμένων 1040 τὰ πολλὰ σώματα 1041
mvp-comment-393-4 ἡ πειθαρχία 1042
mvp-comment-394-1 ἀμυντέ’ 1043
mvp-comment-394-2 τοῖς κοσμουμένοις 1044 τοῖς κ. 1046
mvp-comment-395-1 κοὔτοι … ἡσσητέα 1047
mvp-comment-396-1 δεῖ 1048 ἐκπεσεῖν 1049
mvp-comment-396-2
thrust out: oft. of dethronement (
ἐκπ. τυραννίδος, ἀρχῆς, κράτους, Aesch. ), or of exile (
χθονός,
O. C. 766
).
mvp-comment-396-3 κοὐκ ἂν...καλοίμεθ’ ἄν 1050
mvp-comment-397-1 μέν 1051
mvp-comment-397-2 τῷ χρόνῳ 1052
mvp-comment-397-3 κεκλέμμεθα 1053
mvp-comment-398-1 δοκεῖς λέγειν φρονούντως περὶ 1054
mvp-comment-399-1 θεοί 1055
mvp-comment-399-2 κτημάτων 1056
mvp-comment-400-1 ἐγὼ δ’ ὅπως 1057
mvp-comment-400-2 μὴ 1058 ὅπως 1059 μή 1060 ὀρθῶς 1061
mvp-comment-400-3 μήτ’ ἐπισταίμην 1062
mvp-comment-401-1 καλῶς ἔχον 1063 γένοιτο ἂν καὶ ἑτέρῳ 1064
mvp-comment-402-1 σοῦ δ’ οὖν 1065 σοῦ 1066 σοί 1067 σὺ δ’ οὐ πέφυκας 1068 τις 1069 μῆνίν τιν’ ἢ κότον τιν 1070
mvp-comment-403-1 τὸ γὰρ σόν 1071 ὄμμα 1072
mvp-comment-403-2 δημότῃ 1073
mvp-comment-404-1 λόγοις τοιούτοις 1074 λόγοις τοιούτοις 1075
mvp-comment-404-2 οἷς 1076 τέρψει 1077 κλύων 1078 μή 1079 τέρψῃ 1080
mvp-comment-405-1 ὑπὸ σκότον 1081 ἀκούειν 1082 ὀδύρεται 1083
mvp-comment-406-1 κάκιστ’ … εὐκλεεστάτων 1084
mvp-comment-406-2 ἀπ’ ἔργων 1085
mvp-comment-407-1 ἥτις 1086 μήθ’ … μήθ’ 1087 εἴασε 1088 ὀλέσθαι 1089
mvp-comment-407-2 αὐτάδελφον 1090
mvp-comment-407-3 ἐνφοναῖς 1091
mvp-comment-408-1 χρυσῆς 1092
mvp-comment-408-2 λαχεῖν 1093 ἀξία 1094
mvp-comment-409-1 ἐπέρχεται 1095
mvp-comment-410-1 θάλλοντος 1096
mvp-comment-410-2 μεῖζον εὐκλείας 1097
mvp-comment-410-3 πρὸς παίδων 1098 εὐκλεία 1099
mvp-comment-411-1 νυν 1100
mvp-comment-411-2 φόρει 1101
mvp-comment-411-3 ἦθος 1102 ὡς φὴς σύ 1103
mvp-comment-411-4 κοὐδέν 1104
mvp-comment-411-5 τοῦτο 1105
mvp-comment-412-1 μόνος 1106 φρονεῖν 1107 ψυχήν 1108
mvp-comment-412-2
αὐτὸς μοῦνος ποικίλα δήνε’ (devices)
ἔχειν, | κεῖνός γ’ ἄφρων ἐστί, νόου βεβλαμμένος ἐσθλοῦ, | ἴσως γὰρ πάντες ποικίλ’ ἐπιστάμεθα.
Isocr. or. 3 § 43
joins Theognis, Hesiod and Phocylides as
ἀρίστους...συμβούλους τῷ βίῳ τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. They were read in schools.
mvp-comment-413-1 οὗτοι 1109
mvp-comment-413-2 διαπτυχθέντες 1110
mvp-comment-413-3 κενοί 1111
mvp-comment-414-1 ἄνδρα 1112 μανθάνειν 1113 τό 1114
mvp-comment-414-2 κεἰ … ᾖ 1115
mvp-comment-414-3 τείνειν 1116
mvp-comment-414-4 παρὰ ῥείθρ. 1117
mvp-comment-414-5 χειμάρροις 1118
mvp-comment-415-1 ὑπείκει 1119
mvp-comment-415-2 αὐτόπρεμνα 1120
mvp-comment-416-1 αὔτως 1121
mvp-comment-416-2 ναός 1122
mvp-comment-416-3 ἐγκρατῆ 1123
mvp-comment-416-4 πόδα 1124
mvp-comment-417-1 μηδέν 1125
mvp-comment-417-2 κάτω στρέψας 1126 τὸ πλοῖον 1127 τὸ λοιπόν 1128
mvp-comment-417-3 σέλμασιν 1129 ὑπτίοις 1130
mvp-comment-418-1 εἶκε θυμοῦ 1131
mvp-comment-418-2 καὶ μετάστασιν δίδου 1132
mvp-comment-418-3 δίδου 1133 εἶκε 1134 καί 1135 καί 1136
mvp-comment-419-1 εἴ τις γνώμη πρόσεστι καὶ ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ ν. 1137 καί 1138
mvp-comment-419-2 πρεσβεύειν 1139
mvp-comment-420-1 φῦναι 1140
mvp-comment-420-2 πάντ’ 1141
mvp-comment-421-1 εἰ δ’ οὖν 1142 φιλεῖ γάρ 1143
mvp-comment-421-2 τοῦτο … ταύτῃ 1144 ταύτῃ 1145
mvp-comment-421-3 ῥέπειν 1146
mvp-comment-422-1 καὶ τὸ τῶν εὖ λεγόντων μανθάνειν καλόν 1147
mvp-comment-423-1 σέ τ’ 1148 διπλᾶι 1149 διπλᾶ 1150 διπλῇ 1151 διπλᾶ 1152
mvp-comment-423-2 On the other hand, διπλῇ 1153
mvp-comment-424-1 καὶ 1154 διδαξ. 1155
mvp-comment-424-2 δή 1156
mvp-comment-424-3 τὴν φύσιν 1157
mvp-comment-425-1 μηδέν 1158 τὸ μὴ δίκ. 1159
mvp-comment-425-2 τὸν χρόνον 1160 τἄργα 1161
mvp-comment-426-1 ἔργον 1162
mvp-comment-426-2 τοὺς ἀκοσμοῦντας 1163
mvp-comment-426-3 σέβειν 1164
mvp-comment-427-1 οὐδ’ 1165
mvp-comment-428-1 τοιᾷδε … νοσῳ 1166
mvp-comment-428-2 ἐπείληπται 1167
mvp-comment-429-1 Θήβης 1168 ὁμόπτολις 1169
mvp-comment-430-1 ἡμῖν 1170 ἐμέ 1171
mvp-comment-431-1 ὡς ἄγαν νέος 1172
mvp-comment-432-1 Dobree's με 1173 γε 1174 χρή 1175 ἄλλῳ ἢ ’μοί 1176 ἐμοί 1177 χρή γε 1178
mvp-comment-433-1 πόλις γὰρ οὐκ ἔσθ’ 1179
mvp-comment-433-2
τυραννίς is
ἔσχατον πόλεως νόσημα,
Rep. 544
C.
de Rep. 3. 31
ubi tyrannus est, ibi...dicendum est nullam esse rempublicam.
mvp-comment-434-1 νομίζεται 1180
mvp-comment-435-1 καλῶς ἐρήμης γ’ 1181
mvp-comment-436-1
Though at least one late MS. (Paris E) has
συμμαχεῖν, it is needless to assume here the same mixed constr. as
Tr. 1238
ἁνὴρ δ’ ὅδ’, ὡς ἔοικεν, οὐ νεμεῖν ἐμοὶ | φθίνοντι μοῖραν.
mvp-comment-437-1 οὖν 1182 προκήδομαι 1183
mvp-comment-438-1 ὦ παγκάκιστε 1184
mvp-comment-438-2 διὰ δίκης ἰὼν πατρί 1185
mvp-comment-439-1 ἀρχάς 1186
mvp-comment-440-1 οὐ γὰρ σέβεις 1187
mvp-comment-440-2 τιμάς 1188
mvp-comment-441-1 ὦ μιαρόν 1189 γυναικὸς ὕστερον 1190
mvp-comment-442-1
‘I may be inferior to a woman, but at least you will never find me yielding to base temptations.’ It would have been
αἰσχρόν if he had allowed fear or self-interest to deter him from pleading this cause. (
Cp. 509
.) Cp.
Tr. 489
ἔρωτος...ἥσσων: fr. 844
ἥσσων...ὀργῆς.
mvp-comment-442-2 οὔ τἄν 1191
mvp-comment-442-3 γε 1192
mvp-comment-443-1 γοῦν 1193
mvp-comment-444-1 καὶ σοῦ γε 1194
mvp-comment-445-1
Objections have been made to the traditional order of these verses, chiefly in two respects. (1) 755
εἰ μὴ πατὴρ ἦσθ’ is—it is argued—the strongest thing said by Haemon, and ought therefore to come immediately before Creon's final outburst,
ἄληθες; (758). How could it be followed by merely so mild a phrase as
μὴ κώτιλλέ με?—We may reply:— Haemon says that,
if Creon were not his father, he
would have thought him mad. It is to this that
μὴ κώτιλλέ με refers, meaning, ‘Do not seek to deceive me by an affectation of filial deference.’ (2) 757
βούλει λέγειν τι is too mild a remark—it is said—to form the climax of provocation to Creon's anger. We may reply:—It is in substance, if not in form, such a climax, —for a father who holds that
unquestioning obedience (640) is a son's first duty. It asserts Haemon's right to maintain his own views against his father's,—
διὰ δίκης ἰέναι, as Creon put it (742). The traditional order seems, therefore, to be right.
mvp-comment-445-2
Three modes of transposition have been proposed. (1) Enger puts 756 and 757 after 749. Then
κώτιλλε (756) refers to Haemon's plea that he has his father's cause, and that of religion, at heart. We lose nothing by such a transposition; but neither do we gain.
mvp-comment-445-3 (2) Donner (in his transl., ed. 1863) simply transposed verses 755 and 757, leaving the rest as they stand. For this it may fairly be said that 757 comes very fitly after 754. On the other hand it seems to me that 756 does not aptly follow 757.
mvp-comment-445-4
(3) Pallis arranges thus:—749, 756, 755, 754, 757, 750—753. Thus
κενὰς γνώμας (753) becomes the last sting.— The fact is that, in a stormy altercation, we do not look for a closely logical texture and a delicately graduated
crescendo. The MS. order is (to my mind) the best; but other arrangements are possible, and would be nearly as good.
mvp-comment-445-5
Creon, instead of replying to v. 749, abruptly repeats his resolve.
οὐκ ἔστιν ὡς ταύτην ἔτι ζῶσαν γαμεῖς (fut.)
ποτέ, it cannot be that you shall ever wed her while she yet lives; i.e. she is to die at once, and can become your bride, if ever, only
ἐν Ἅιδου (654).
Cp. 1240
.—
ὡς
1195
ποτέ
1196
ταύτην
1197
mvp-comment-446-1 ἥδ’ 1198 ὀλεῖ τινά 1199
mvp-comment-447-1 ἦ ἐπεξέρχει και ἐπαπειλῶν ὧδε θρασύς; 1200 καί 1201
mvp-comment-448-1 κλαίων 1202
mvp-comment-448-2 φρενώσεις 1203
mvp-comment-449-1 οὐκ εὖ φρονεῖν 1204
mvp-comment-450-1 δούλευμα 1205
mvp-comment-450-2 μὴ κωτιλλέ με 1206
mvp-comment-450-3
Cp. Theognis 363
εὖ κώτιλλε τὸν ἐχθρόν (cajole)'
ὅταν δ’ ὑποχείριος ἔλθῃ, | τῖσαί νιν, πρόφασιν μηδεμίαν θέμενος: id. 851
Ζεὺς ἄνδρ’ ἐξολέσειεν Ὀλύμπιος, ὃς τὸν ἑταῖρον | μαλθακὰ κωτίλλων ἐξαπατᾶν ἐθέλει.
mvp-comment-451-1 λέγειν … κλύειν; 1207 λέγειν τι 1208
mvp-comment-452-1 ἄληθες; 1209
mvp-comment-452-2 οὐ τόνδ’ Ὄλ. 1210
mvp-comment-452-3 ἴσθ’ ὅτι 1211
mvp-comment-453-1 χαίρων 1212
mvp-comment-453-2 ἐπὶ ψόγοισι δεννάσεις 1213 ἐπί 1214 ἔτι 1215
mvp-comment-454-1 ἄγετε 1216 ἄγ’ ἄγε 1217 ἄγαγε 1218
mvp-comment-454-2 τὸ μῖσος 1219
mvp-comment-454-3 κατ’ ὄμματ’ 1220
mvp-comment-454-4 παρόντι … πλησία 1221
mvp-comment-455-1 ἔμοιγε 1222 οὔτε 1223 τε 1224
mvp-comment-455-2 οὐδαμά 1225
mvp-comment-455-3 ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς 1226
mvp-comment-456-1 ὡς 1227
mvp-comment-456-2 τοῖς θέλουσι 1228
mvp-comment-457-1 ἐξ ὀργῆς ταχύς 1229
mvp-comment-457-2 βαρύς 1230
mvp-comment-458-1 μεῖζον ἢ κατ’ ἄνδρα 1231
mvp-comment-458-2 ἰών 1232
mvp-comment-458-3
αἱρήσοιμ’ ἰών:
Ai. 304
ὅσην κατ’ αὐτῶν ὕβριν ἐκτίσαιτ’ ἰών. So here it scornfully suggests some daring enterprise.
mvp-comment-459-1 For δ’ οὖν 1233
mvp-comment-459-2 τὼ … τώδε 1234
mvp-comment-459-3 καί 1235 κατακτ. νοεῖς 1236 κατακτ 1237
mvp-comment-460-1 θιγοῦσαν 1238
mvp-comment-460-2 γὰρ οὖν 1239
mvp-comment-461-1 καί 1240 βουλεύει 1241
mvp-comment-461-2 σφε 1242
mvp-comment-462-1 ἔνθα 1243
mvp-comment-463-1 πετρώδει … ἐν κατώρυχι 1244
mvp-comment-464-1 ὡς ἄγος μόνον 1245 ὡς 1246 ὅσον 1247
mvp-comment-464-2 ἄγος 1248
mvp-comment-464-3
Creon's edict had announced that the transgressor would be publicly stoned to death (36). It is to this that the anxious question of the Chorus alludes (772). Creon had already said that Antigone's doom was to be
κάκιστος (489). But now, at least, he feels that he cannot inflict such a death on the maiden, his kinswoman. She shall die, not by stoning, but by starvation. The choice is not prompted by cruelty, but simply by the desire to avoid physical violence.
mvp-comment-464-4
The danger of a
μίασμα—to be avoided by a dole of food—has no relation to the special circumstances,—Antigone's royal birth, and the nature of her offence. In the ancient belief, that danger existed whenever a person was put to death by starvation. Two notions were probably blended; (
a) that, if a little food was given, the death was nature's work, not man's; (
b) that the
νέρτεροι claimed an indemnity for the usual
ἐναγίσματα. So the Greeks put Philoctetes ashore on desolate Lemnos, —
ῥάκη προθέντες βαιὰ καί τι καὶ βορᾶς | ἐπωφέλημα σμικρόν (
Ph. 274
). So, too, when a Vestal was to be buried alive, the small vault in the Campus Sceleratus was furnished with a couch, a burning lamp, and a small table, on which the dole was placed,—bread, olives, milk, and a jug of water (
Plut.
Num. 10
).
mvp-comment-465-1 πᾶσ’ 1249
mvp-comment-466-1 ὃν μόνον σέβει 1250
mvp-comment-466-2
ἐγγενεῖς (199). By honouring him, and Hades (519), she has dishonoured those other gods.
mvp-comment-467-1 τὸ μὴ θανεῖν 1251 τεύξεται 1252
mvp-comment-468-1 ἀλλὰ τηνικαῦτα 1253 τἀν 1254
mvp-comment-470-1 ἀνίκατε μάχαν 1255
mvp-comment-471-1 ἐν κτήμασι πίπτεις, 1256
mvp-comment-472-1 ἐν μαλακαῖς παρειαῖς 1257
mvp-comment-472-2 ἐννυχεύεις 1258
mvp-comment-473-1 ὑπερπόντιος 1259
mvp-comment-473-2 ἔν τ’ ἀγρ. αὐλαῖς 1260
mvp-comment-474-1 οὔτ’ ἀθανάτων 1261
mvp-comment-474-2 σὲ … φύξιμός ἐστι 1262
mvp-comment-475-1 σέ γ’ 1263
mvp-comment-475-2 ὁ δ’ ἔχων 1264
mvp-comment-476-1 ἀδίκους 1265 παρασπᾷς 1266
mvp-comment-477-1 ξύναιμον 1267
mvp-comment-477-2 ἔχεις 1268
mvp-comment-477-3 ταράξας 1269
mvp-comment-478-1 ἐναργής 1270
mvp-comment-478-2 βλεφάρωνἵμερος 1271 εὐλέκτρου νύμφας 1272
mvp-comment-478-3 εὐλέκτρου 1273
mvp-comment-479-1 πάρεδρος ἐν ἀρχαῖς 1274 πάρεδρος 1275 ἐν ἀρχαῖς 1276
mvp-comment-479-2
The words answer metrically to
φύξιμος οὐδείς (788). The first two syllables of
πάρεδρος therefore represent a resolved long syllable. Pindar affords some instances of such resolution (see Appendix), and there is a probable example below (970
ἀγχίπολις Ἄρης, where see n.). But it is rare, and certainly unpleasing. As
mvp-comment-479-3
a whole, too, the phrase
πάρεδρος ἐν ἀρχαῖς is suspicious. A yet stronger objection is the strangeness of describing the power which is
in conflict with the
θεσμοί as their assessor, or peer, in sway; an expression which would seem appropriate only if that power was working in harmony with them; as when Eur. (
Eur.
Med. 843
) speaks of
σοφίᾳ παρέδρους...ἔρωτας, | παντοίας ἀρετᾶς ξυνεργούς,—‘the loves that sit with wisdom, co-workers of all excellence,’—those aspirations of the soul which assist intellectual effort.
mvp-comment-479-4 The best line of emendation yet suggested is that of Semitelos, who writes ὥστε πέρα δρᾶν 1277
mvp-comment-480-1 ἐμπαίζει 1278 νικᾷ 1279
mvp-comment-481-1 καὐτὸς θεσμῶν ἔξω 1280
mvp-comment-481-2 φέρομαι 1281
mvp-comment-481-3 ἴσχειν δ’ 1282
mvp-comment-482-1 πηγάς 1283
mvp-comment-483-1 παγκοίτην 1284
mvp-comment-483-2
of Antigone are brought into finer relief by the different tone of the choral anapaests.
Cp. 822
, and see Appendix on 110.—Cp.
O. C. 1578
(Death)
τὸν αἰένυπνον. The word
θάλαμον
1285
mvp-comment-483-3 ἀνύτουσαν 1286
mvp-comment-485-1 νεάταν … νέατον δέ 1287
mvp-comment-485-2 νέατον 1288
mvp-comment-485-3 κοὔποτ’ αὖθις 1289
mvp-comment-486-1 παγκοίτας 1290 πάγκοινος 1291
mvp-comment-487-1 ἄγει … ἀκτάν 1292
mvp-comment-488-1 οὔθ’ ὑμεναίων … οὔτ’ ἐπινύμφειος … ὕμνος 1293
mvp-comment-488-2 οὔτε … ἔγκληρον, … οὔτε … ὕμνησεν 1295
mvp-comment-488-3 ἐπινύμφειος 1296 ἐπινυμφίδιος 1297 ἐπὶ νυμφείοις 1298 ἐπινυμφίδιος 1299
mvp-comment-489-1 Ἀχέροντι νυμφεύσω 1300
mvp-comment-490-1 ξιφέων 1301 ἐπίχειρα 1302
mvp-comment-491-1 αὐτόνομος 1303
mvp-comment-491-2 δή 1304 μόνη 1305 Ἀΐδην 1306 Ἅιδην 1307
mvp-comment-492-1 ἤκουσα δή 1308
mvp-comment-492-2 λυγροτάταν 1309
mvp-comment-492-3 ξέναν 1310
mvp-comment-493-1 Ταντάλου 1311
mvp-comment-493-2 Σιπύλῳ 1312
mvp-comment-494-1 ἀτενής 1313
mvp-comment-494-2 πετραία βλάστα δάμασεν 1314 αι^ 1315
mvp-comment-495-1 καί νιν ὄμρροι 1316 τέγγει δ’ 1317 ὄμβρῳ 1318 τακομέναν 1319 τέγγει … δειράδας 1320 ὄμβροι 1321 ὄμβρῳ 1322
mvp-comment-495-2 χιών 1323
mvp-comment-495-3 οὐδαμά 1324
mvp-comment-496-1 τέγγει δ’ ὑπ’ ὀφρύσι … δειράδας 1325
mvp-comment-496-2
The Niobe of Sipylus has usually been identified with a colossal rock-image on the N. side of the range. It is rudely carved in relief, within a rectangular niche on the face of a limestone cliff, and represents a woman seated on a throne. (See Stark,
Niobe, pl. 1, Leips. 1863: cp. Baumeister,
Denkm. p. 1029). Prof. W. M. Ramsay, however, holds that this image is the ‘very ancient’
ἄγαλμα of Cybele mentioned by
Paus. 3.22.4
. In two respects it differs from the ancient accounts of the Niobe (quoted below): (
a) it does not ‘weep,’—for the rainwater drops from the front of the niche, clear of the figure; and (
b) the likeness to a human form grows, instead of vanishing, as one approaches. (
Journ. Hellen. Studies III. 61 ff., 1882.) This has been confirmed by another traveller, Herr Schweisthal (as reported in the
Berl. Phil. Wochenschr., May 28, 1887, p. 704). He finds the true Niobe at no great distance from the Cybele, but nearer Magnesia, and in the vicinity of a stream (the Jarikkaia) which Humann, in his ‘Excursion into Sipylus’ (1881), had already identified with the Achelous of
Il. 24.616
. It is a natural phenomenon,—the semblance—as seen from a distance—of a draped woman, seated high on the rocks; she looks towards the right, and lifts her right arm, as if in lament.
mvp-comment-496-3
The best ancient description is by a poet whose native place was in that neighbourhood,—Quintus Smyrnaeus (1. 293— 306):—‘Her streaming tears still fall from the heights of the rugged cliff; and in sympathy with her the sounding waters of the Hermus make lament, and the lofty peaks of Sipylus, over which the mist that shepherds dread floats evermore. A great marvel is she to passers by, because she is like a sorrowful woman, who mourns some cruel grief, and weeps without stint. Such verily seems the figure, when thou gazest at it from afar; but when thou drawest near, lo, 'tis but a sheer rock, a cliff of Sipylus’ (
φαίνεται αἰπήεσσα πέτρη, Σιπύλοιό τ’ ἀπορρώξ).
mvp-comment-496-4
Nonnus was thinking of the effect
from the road, when he wrote (2. 160),
ἕσσομαι ὡς Νιόβη καὶ ἐγὼ λίθος, ὄφρα καὶ αὐτὴν | λαϊνέην στενάχουσαν ἐποικτείρωσιν ὁδῖται. Pausanias, too, says that, at a certain distance from the cliff,
δεδακρυμένην δόξεις ὁρᾶν καὶ κατηφῆ γυναῖκα, but that the illusion vanishes on a nearer approach (1. 21 § 3).
mvp-comment-497-1 ὁμοιοτάταν 1326
mvp-comment-498-1 ἀλλὰ … θανοῦσαν 1327 καίτοι 1328 ζῶσαν 1329 θανοῦσαν 1330 οἴμοι γελῶμαι 1331
mvp-comment-498-2 θεός 1332
mvp-comment-498-3 θεογεννής 1333 θειογενής 1334
mvp-comment-499-1 καίτοι 1335 φθιμένῃ 1336
mvp-comment-499-2 κἀκοῦσαι 1337 μέγ’ ἀκοῦσαι 1338
mvp-comment-500-1 τοῖς ἰσοθέοις σύγκληρα 1339 ἔγκληρα 1340
mvp-comment-500-2
Hipp. 1011
: or (2) pass., included in one's
κλῆρος, as
H. F. 468
ἔγκληρα πεδία ...κεκτημένος (‘by inheritance’). Here,
ἔγκληρα was perh. partly due to a reminiscence of
ἔγκληρον in 814.—The change of
τοῖς ἰσοθέοις
1341
τοῖσι θεοῖσιν
1342
ι—
1343
α—
1344
τοῖς ἰσοθέοις ἔγκληρα
1345
mvp-comment-501-1 ζῶσαν … θανοῦσαν 1346
mvp-comment-502-1 γελῶμαι 1347
mvp-comment-503-1 πολυκτήμονες 1348
mvp-comment-504-1 κρῆναι 1349
mvp-comment-504-2 εὐαρμάτου 1350
mvp-comment-504-3 ἄλσος 1351
mvp-comment-504-4 ἔμπας 1352
mvp-comment-505-1 ὔμμ’ 1353
mvp-comment-505-2 ἐπικτῶμαι 1354 ἐπί 1355
mvp-comment-506-1 οἵα 1356
mvp-comment-506-2 φίλων ἄκλαυτος 1357
mvp-comment-507-1 ἕργμα τυμβόχωστον 1358 ἕρμα 1359
mvp-comment-508-1 ποταινίου 1360
mvp-comment-509-1 Though every treatment of this verse must remain subject to doubt, far the most probable (to my mind) is Seyffert's modification of Boeckh's βροτοῖς οὔτ’ ἐν νεκροῖς κυροῦσα 1361 οὔτε 1362 κυροῦσα 1363 νεκροῖς 1364
mvp-comment-510-1 μέτοικος 1365
mvp-comment-511-1 προβᾶσ’ … πολύ 1366 προσέπεσες 1367
mvp-comment-511-2 πολύ 1368 ἐσχάτου 1369 προσέπεσες 1370
mvp-comment-512-1 πατρῷόν τινα … ἆθλον 1371 τινά 1372
mvp-comment-512-2 ἐκτίνεις 1373
mvp-comment-513-1 μερίμνας 1374 οἶκτον 1375 πατρός 1376 πότμου 1377 οἶκτον 1378
mvp-comment-513-2
to taking
οἶκτον as acc. in apposition with
ἔψαυσας...μερίμνας is that this would imply
τό (
σε)
ψαῦσαι ἀλγ. ἐμοὶ μερίμνης οἶκτός ἐστιν: as
Eur.
Or. 1105
Ἑλένην κτάνωμεν, Μενέλεῳ λύπην πικράν, implies,
τὸ Ἑλένην κτανεῖν Μενέλεῳ λύπη πικρὰ ἔσται:
Aesch.
Ag. 224
ἔτλα δ’ οὖν | θυτὴρ γενέσθαι θυγατρός, γυναικοποίνων πολέμων ἀρωγάν, implies,
τὸ θυτῆρα γενέσθαι ἀρωγὴ ἦν. Now, if we had, for instance,
ἀνεμνήσθην μερίμνης, it is conceivable that
οἶκτον, as acc. in appos., should mean
οἴκτου ἀφορμήν or
ἔγερσιν. But when, as here, the subject of
ἔψαυσας is distinct from the person who makes the lament, it seems impossible that
οἶκτον should have this pregnant sense.
mvp-comment-513-3 ἀλγ. μερίμνας 1379 οἶτον 1380
mvp-comment-513-4 τριπόλιστον 1381
mvp-comment-513-5 κλεινοῖς Λαβδακίδαισιν 1382 πότμου 1383
mvp-comment-513-6 ἁμετέρου 1384
mvp-comment-514-1 ματρῷαι λέκτρων ἆται 1385 πατρῷαι 1386
mvp-comment-514-2
λέκτρον οὐκ ὀκνεῖν με δεῖ; and (
b) with
πατρῷαι the explanation by
ἐμῷ πατρί, etc., would have been less needed.
mvp-comment-515-1 κοιμήματα . . αὐτογέννητα . . ματρός 1387
mvp-comment-515-2 ἐμῷ πατρί 1388
mvp-comment-515-3 δυσμόρου 1389
mvp-comment-516-1 οἵων 1390 ποτέ 1391 οἵων 1392 ποτέ 1393 οὕς 1394 οἵων 1395 ματρός.—ἀραῖος 1396
mvp-comment-516-2 μέτοικος 1397
mvp-comment-517-1 κασίγνητε 1398
mvp-comment-518-1 θανὼν ἔτ’ οὖσαν 1399
mvp-comment-518-2 κατήναρες 1400
mvp-comment-519-1 σέβειν 1401
mvp-comment-519-2
sense,
εὐσέβεια’: i.e. though it is not complete
εὐσέβεια—which the Chorus regard as including loyalty to the State's laws— yet, so far as it goes, it deserves praise of the same kind.
Cp. 924
τὴν δυσσέβειαν εὐσεβοῦσ’ ἐκτησάμην: by practising
εὐσέβεια towards the dead, she had come to be thought, on the whole,
δυσσεβής—as a law-breaker. The Chorus is here the apologist of Creon, and this concession is meant to emphasise the next sentence. Hence the purposed vagueness of
σέβειν
1402
mvp-comment-520-1 κράτος δὲ 1403 ὅτῳ 1404
mvp-comment-520-2 οὐδαμᾷ 1405 μέλει 1406
mvp-comment-521-1 αὐτόγνωτος 1407 αὐτὴ γιγνώσκουσα 1408
mvp-comment-521-2 ὀργά 1409
mvp-comment-522-1 ἑτοίμαν 1410
mvp-comment-523-1 τόδε λ. ἱρὸν ὄμμα 1411
mvp-comment-524-1 ἀδάκρυτον 1412
mvp-comment-524-2
(and so it remains) unwept. Soph. has several instances of the predicative adj. thus added to a subst. which has the art. and possessive pron.; as
O. T. 671
τὸ γὰρ σόν, οὐ τὸ τοῦδ’, ἐποικτίρω στόμα | ἐλεινόν (n.):
El. 1143
τῆς ἐμῆς πάλαι τροφῆς | ἀνωφελήτου.
Cp. 791
.
mvp-comment-525-1 ἆρ’ ἴστε 1413 λέγειν 1414 ἀοιδὰς καὶ γόους 1415 ἴστε 1416
mvp-comment-525-2 οὐδ’ ἂν εἷς 1417
mvp-comment-526-1 οὐκ ἄξεθ’ 1418 τάχιστα.—κατηρεφεῖ 1419
mvp-comment-527-1 περιπτύξαντες 1420
mvp-comment-528-1 χρῇ 1421 ζῶσα 1422 χρῇ 1423
mvp-comment-528-2
σιγῆν; but the MSS. are supported by the testimony of Suidas and Hesychius to
χρῇς as=
χρῄζεις. In the other four places where these forms are usu. read, they are not indispensable,
χρή being possible; but in two, at least, they are much better than
χρή, viz.
El. 606
κήρυσσέ μ’ εἰς ἅπαντας, εἴτε χρῇς κακήν, | εἴτε στόμαργον, κ.τ.λ.: and
Ai. 1373
σοὶ δὲ δρᾶν ἔξεσθ’ ἃ χρῇς. In the other two,
χρή might well stand: Eur. fr. 910
πρὸς ταῦθ’ ὅ τι χρῇ καὶ παλαμάσθω | καὶ πᾶν ἐπ’ ἐμοὶ τεκταινέσθω: Cratinus
Νόμοι fr. 2
νῦν γὰρ δή σοι πάρα μὲν θεσμοὶ | τῶν ἡμετέρων, πάρα δ’ ἄλλ’ ὅ τι χρῇς. Except in
Ach. 778
, the MSS. everywhere give
χρή: and the variants in the next v. (see cr. n.) show that
χρῇ was strange to the copyists, though known to the Scholiast.
mvp-comment-529-1 ζῶσα τυμβεύειν 1424 νυμφεύειν 1425
mvp-comment-529-2 στέγῃ 1426
mvp-comment-530-1 ἁγνοί 1427
mvp-comment-530-2 τοὐπὶ τήνδε 1428
mvp-comment-531-1 μετοικίας 1429
mvp-comment-531-2 δ’ οὖν 1430
mvp-comment-531-3 στερήσεται 1431
mvp-comment-532-1 ὦ τύμβος 1432
mvp-comment-532-2 νυμφεῖον 1433
mvp-comment-532-3 κατασκαφής 1434
mvp-comment-533-1 ἀριθμὸν … πλεϊστον 1435
mvp-comment-533-2 ἐν νεκροῖς 1436 δέδεκται 1437
mvp-comment-533-3
πύλαι to Hades (
O. C. 1569
f.). So Oedipus is led by
Ἑρμῆς ὁ πομπὸς ἥ τε νερτέρα θεός (
ib. 1548
). As
ἡ ἀφανὴς θεός she is associated with Hades (
ib. 1556
).
mvp-comment-533-4 Φερσέφασσα 1438 Φ 1439
mvp-comment-534-1 κάκιστα 1440 δή 1441
mvp-comment-534-2 μοῖραν … βίου 1442 ἐξήκειν 1443
mvp-comment-535-1 ἐν ἐλπίσιν τρέφω 1444 φίλη μὲν … προσφιλὴς δέ 1445
mvp-comment-536-1 κασίγνητον κάρα 1446 νῦν δέ 1447
mvp-comment-537-1 ὑμᾶς 1448
mvp-comment-537-2 ἔλουσα κἀκόσμησα 1449
mvp-comment-537-3 χοάς 1450
mvp-comment-537-4 περιστέλλουσα 1451
mvp-comment-537-5 δέμας 1452
mvp-comment-538-1
Few problems of Greek Tragedy have been more discussed than the question whether these vv., or some of them, are spurious. Arist. (
Arist.
Rhet. 3. 16
§ 9) quotes
vv. 911, 912
, and certainly had the whole passage in his text of The Soph. interpolation, then, if such it be, must have been made soon after the poet's death; and has been imputed to his son Iophon (
ὁ ψυχρός), or some other sorry poet; or to the actors. I confess that, after long thought, I cannot bring myself to believe that Soph. wrote 905—912: with which 904 and 913—920 are in organic unity, and must now stand or fall. Some remarks will be found in the Appendix.
mvp-comment-538-2 The main points (to my mind) are briefly these. (1) The general validity of the divine law, as asserted in 450— 460, cannot be intelligibly reconciled with the limitation in vv. 905—907. (2) A still further limitation is involved in 911 f. She has buried her brother, not simply as such, but because, while he lived, he was an irreplaceable relative. Could she have hoped for the birth of another brother, she would not, then, have felt the duty to be so binding. (3) The composition of vv. 909—912 is unworthy of Sophocles.
mvp-comment-538-3 ’τίμησα 1453 εὖ 1454 τοῖς φρονοῦσιν 1455
mvp-comment-539-1 ἐτήκετο 1456
mvp-comment-540-1 βίᾳ πολιτῶν 1457
mvp-comment-541-1 πρὸς χάριν 1458
mvp-comment-542-1
Cp.
Her. 3.119
, which clearly supplied, not merely the thought, but the form, of these verses:—
ἀνὴρ μέν μοι ἂν ἄλλος γένοιτο, εἰ δαίμων ἐθέλοι, καὶ τέκνα ἄλλα, εἰ ταῦτα ἀποβάλοιμι· πατρὸς δὲ καὶ μητρὸς οὐκέτι μοι ζωόντων, ἀδελφεὸς ἂν ἄλλος οὐδενὶ τρόπῳ γένοιτο
(3.119.6)
.
Arist.
Rhet. 3.16
§ 9 (if you introduce a trait of character which will seem improbable, the reason ofit should be added):
ἂν δ’ ἄπιστον ᾖ, τότε τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπιλέγειν, ὥσπερ Σοφοκλῆς ποιεῖ παράδειγμα τὸ ἐκ τῆς Ἀντιγόνης, ὅτι μᾶλλον τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἐκήδετο ἢ ἀνδρὸς ἢ τέκνων· τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἂν γενέσθαι ἀπολόμενα [this=vv. 909, 910]:
μητρὸς δ’ ἐν ᾅδου κ.τ.λ. (he then quotes 911 f., with
βεβηκότων,—a mere slip of memory:
see on 223
).
mvp-comment-542-2 Three points in these vv. are strange. (1) The gen. abs. κατθανόντος 1459 πόσις 1460 ἀπ’ ἄλλου φωτός 1461
mvp-comment-543-1 ἐκπροτιμήσασ’ 1462
mvp-comment-544-1 διὰ χερῶν … λαβών 1463
mvp-comment-545-1 ἀνυμέναιον 1464
mvp-comment-546-1 ἀλλ’ 1465
mvp-comment-546-2 πρὸς φίλων 1466 ἔρημος 1467
mvp-comment-547-1 δαιμόνων δίκην 1468
mvp-comment-548-1 If the gods allow her to suffer for obeying them, is it not vain for her to invoke them?
mvp-comment-548-2 βλέπειν 1469
mvp-comment-548-3 τίνα … ξυμμάχων 1470
mvp-comment-548-4 ἐπεί γε δή 1471
mvp-comment-548-5 τὴν δυσσέβειαν 1472
mvp-comment-549-1 The gods are allowing her to perish. But it does not follow that they approve of her doom: for they are sometimes slow in punishing wrong ( O. C. 1536 ). Hence the dilemma, introduced
mvp-comment-549-2 by ἀλλ’ οὖν 1473
mvp-comment-549-3 ἐν θεοῖς 1474
mvp-comment-549-4 ξυγγνοῖμεν 1475
mvp-comment-549-5 ἡμαρτηκότες 1476 παθόντες 1477
mvp-comment-550-1 οἵδε 1478
mvp-comment-550-2 μὴ πλείω 1479 μείω 1480
mvp-comment-551-1 ἀνέμων‐ῥιπαὶ ψυχῆς 1481
mvp-comment-552-1 τούτων 1482
mvp-comment-552-2 κλαύμαθ’ 1483
mvp-comment-552-3 ὕπερ 1484
mvp-comment-553-1 This threat (to the guards) ‘has come very near to death,’ i.e., ‘portends imminent death for me.’ The phrase is not fig., ‘is bitter as death to hear’ (being a prelude to death).
mvp-comment-554-1 Said by Creon, clearly—not by the Chorus. ‘I can give thee no encouragement ( οὐδέν 1485
mvp-comment-554-2 the doom is not to be ratified on this wise’ (i.e., by death). μὴ οὐ 1486
mvp-comment-554-3 κατακυροῦσθαι 1487
mvp-comment-554-4 ταύτῃ 1488 τάδε 1489
mvp-comment-555-1 θεοὶ προγενεῖς 1490
mvp-comment-556-1 δή 1491
mvp-comment-556-2 κοὐκέτι μέλλω 1492
mvp-comment-557-1 οἱ κοιρανίδαι 1493
mvp-comment-558-1 βασιλειδᾶν 1494 βασιλίδα 1495
mvp-comment-558-2 μούνην 1496
mvp-comment-559-1 εὐσεβίαν 1497 ια 1498 εια 1499
mvp-comment-559-2
εὐγενίας. The motive was metrical convenience. Such forms are not Ionic, as Triclinius called them (cr. n.): thus Herod. used
ἀληθείη, not
ἀληθίη: though there are other cases in which Ionic substitutes
ε for
ει (as
βαθέα, ἐπιτήδεος, etc.).—
σεβίσασα
1500
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
Δανάη: Soph. wrote also an
Ἀκρίσιος.
mvp-comment-561-2 καὶ Δανάας δέμας ἔτλα ἀλλάξαι οὐράνιον φῶς 1501 ἔτλα καί 1502
mvp-comment-561-3 δέμας 1503
mvp-comment-561-4 χαλκοδέτοις αὐλαῖς 1504
mvp-comment-562-1 τυμβήρει 1505
mvp-comment-562-2 κατεζεύχθη 1506
mvp-comment-563-1 τίμιος 1507
mvp-comment-564-1 ταμιεύεσκε 1508
mvp-comment-564-2 χρυσορύτους 1509
mvp-comment-565-1 ἁ μοιριδία τις 1510 τις 1511
mvp-comment-566-1 οὔτ’ … ὄλβος 1512
mvp-comment-566-2
θνατοῖσι δ’ οὐκ αὐθαίρετοι | οὔτ’ ὄλβος οὔτ’ ἄκαμπτος Ἄρης οὔτε παμφθέρσης στάσις, | ἀλλ’ ἐπιχρίμπτει νέφος ἄλλοτ’ ἐπ’ ἄλλαν | γαῖαν ἁ πάνδωρος αἶσα.
mvp-comment-566-3 πύργος 1513
mvp-comment-566-4 οὔτ’ … οὔτ’ 1514 οὐ … οὐχ 1515
mvp-comment-567-1 ζεύχθη 1516
mvp-comment-567-2 ὀξύχολος 1517
mvp-comment-567-3
The
Ἠδωνοί, or
Ἠδῶνες (
Thuc. 2.99
), occupied in historical times the part of Thrace E. of the Strymon and W. of the Nestus. In earlier times they had dwelt further west, but had been driven eastward by the Macedonian conquest of Mygdonia.
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
Λυκούργεια of Aeschylus is known from the schol. on
Ar.
Th. 135.
This trilogy consisted of
Ἠδωνοί, Βασσαρίδες, Νεανίσκοι, with
Λυκοῦργος as satyric drama. In
Il. 6.130
ff. Dionysus, pursued by Lycurgus, dives beneath the sea; Thetis receives him; and Zeus blinds Lycurgus.
mvp-comment-568-1 κερτομίοις ὀργαῖς 1518 ὀργαῖς 1519 κερτομίοις 1520
mvp-comment-569-1 ἐκ Διονύσου 1521
mvp-comment-569-2 πετρώδει … δεσμῷ 1522
mvp-comment-569-3 κατάφαρκτος 1523
mvp-comment-570-1 οὕτω 1524
mvp-comment-570-2 ἀνθηρόν 1525
mvp-comment-570-3 ἀποστάζει 1526
mvp-comment-571-1 ἐπέγνω τὸν θεόν, μανίαις ψαύων 1527
mvp-comment-571-2 μανίαις 1528
mvp-comment-571-3 ψαύων 1529
mvp-comment-571-4 ἐν 1530
mvp-comment-571-5 γλώσσαις 1531
mvp-comment-572-1 παύεσκε 1532
mvp-comment-572-2 ἐνθέους γυναῖκας 1533
mvp-comment-572-3 εὔιον … πῦρ 1534
mvp-comment-573-1 Μούσας 1535
mvp-comment-573-2
save the nymph by changing her into a vine; and behind him stand his followers. At the extreme left are three Muses—Urania, with globe; Clio, with roll; Euterpè, prob. with flutes. (Zoega seems clearly right in thus explaining the three women: others have made them Moirae.)—The close relation of Dionysus with the Muses is marked by one of his Attic titles,
Μελπόμενος (
Paus. 1.2.5
), as conversely Apollo had the title
Διονυσόδοτος (id. 1. 31.4). Muses were sometimes said to have nursed him. (Cp. Welcker,
Götterl. 2. 611.)
mvp-comment-573-3 The monuments relating to the myth of Lycurgus have been critically treated by Michaelis ( Annal. Inst. 1872, pp. 248— 270). The Italian vase-paintings follow a version different from that of Soph. , viz. that the frenzy of Lycurgus was wreaked on his own son and wife. A large Neapolitan vase gives two pictures: in one, we see his murderous rage; in the other, Dionysus sits on his throne in calm majesty, stroking his panther.
mvp-comment-574-1
Cleopatra is the third example. Her father was the wind-god, Boreas: her mother, the Athenian Oreithyia, whom he carried off to his wild home in Thrace. Cleopatra married Phineus, king of the Thracian Salmydessus, on the W. coast of the Euxine, not far from the entrance to the Bosporus. She bore him two sons. He afterwards put her away, and imprisoned her. Her imprisonment is not directly mentioned here: but cp.
Diod. 4. 44
, who says of Heracles, when serving with the Argonauts,
τὴν Κλεοπάτραν ἐκ τῆς φυλακῆς προαγαγεῖν. Phineus then married Eidothea, sister of Cadmus. Eidothea put out the eyes of Cleopatra's two sons, and caused them also to be imprisoned.
mvp-comment-574-2 It is the fate of Cleopatra herself which Soph. means to compare with Antigone's: this is plain from 986. The fate of the sons is made so prominent only because nothing else could give us so strong a sense of the savage hatred which pursued the mother.
mvp-comment-574-3 Soph. supposes the outline of the story to be familiar. Cleopatra has already been divorced and imprisoned. The poet chooses the moment at which Cleopatra's sons are being blinded by Eidothea, with the sharp shuttle in her blood-stained hands. Ares, the god of cruel bloodshed, beholds with joy a deed so worthy of his Thracian realm.
mvp-comment-574-4
The name of Cleopatra (like that of Capaneus, 133) is not mentioned. Two strophes are given to this theme, partly, perh., as having an Attic interest (982). Soph. wrote two plays called
Φινεύς. We know only that Cleopatra's sons were there called
Ὄαρθος (?
Παρθένιος H. Weil) and
Κράμβος: and that the subsequent blindness of Phineus was represented as a punishment of his cruelty (schol. Apoll. Rhod. 2. 178). Eidothea was mentioned by Soph. in his
Τυμπανισταί (schol. on 980),—a play which perh. concerned the Dionysiac worship, since the
τύμπανον (kettle-drum) was used in his
ὄργια as well as in those of Cybelè. Another version called her Idaea, daughter of Dardanus.
mvp-comment-574-5 παρὰ δὲ Κυανεᾶν πελάγει δ. ἁλός 1536 πετρῶν 1537
mvp-comment-574-6
of
πελαγέων into
σπιλάδων is also erroneous.
mvp-comment-574-7 L's accent, πελάγεων 1538 πελάγει 1539 παρά 1540 πελάγει 1541 Κυανεᾶν 1542
mvp-comment-575-1 ἀκταὶ Βοσπόριαι 1543 Θρῃκῶν 1544 ἄξενος 1545 κλῄζεται 1546 ἠδ’ 1547
mvp-comment-576-1 ἀγχίπολις Ἄρης 1548 ἀγχίπτολις 1549 Ἄρης 1550 ἀρχαιογόνων 1551
mvp-comment-577-1 Φινεΐδαις 1552
mvp-comment-577-2 ἀρατόν 1553
mvp-comment-577-3 ἕλκος τυφλωθέν 1554
mvp-comment-577-4 ἐξ 1555
mvp-comment-578-1 ἀλαὸν … κύκλοις 1556
mvp-comment-578-2 ἀλαστόροισιν 1557
mvp-comment-579-1 ἀραχθέντων 1558
mvp-comment-579-2 ὑπό 1559
mvp-comment-580-1 κερκίδων 1560
mvp-comment-580-2
at the loom, will I send the shuttle flying across the warp’).—Cp.
Eur.
Hec. 1170
, where the women blind Polymestor with their brooches (
πόρπαι = περόναι); and
O. T. 1269
n.
mvp-comment-581-1 κατά 1561
mvp-comment-581-2 μέλεοι μελέαν 1562
mvp-comment-582-1 ματρὸς ἔχοντες ἀν. γονάν 1563 γονάν 1564 ματρός 1565 ἀνύμφ. 1566 ματρός 1567 πάθαν 1568 ματρὸς … γονάν 1569
mvp-comment-583-1 σπέρμα 1570
mvp-comment-583-2 ἀρχαιογ. 1571
mvp-comment-583-3 ἄντασ’ Ἐρ. 1572
mvp-comment-584-1 τηλεπόροις 1573
mvp-comment-585-1 ἅμιππος 1574
mvp-comment-585-2 ὀρθόποδος 1575
mvp-comment-586-1 κἀπ’ ἐκείνᾳ … ἔσχον 1576 μακραίωνες 1577
mvp-comment-588-1 ἄνακτες 1578
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.
441. mvp-comment-253-1 For σὲ δή, sc. λέγω, cp. Aesch. Prom. 944, σὲ τὸν σοφιστήν, κ.τ.λ.: Soph. El. 1445, σε τοι, σὲ κρίνω, κ.τ.λ.: Eur. Hel. 546. And for ἐς πέδον κάρα νεύειν, cp. supr. 269.
441. mvp-comment-253-2 Creon misinterprets the action of Antigone. She fixes her eyes upon the ground, not from fear or shame, but because she is out of sympathy with all present, and her thoughts are in the other world. The hidden fire flashes out in ll. 450, foll., which are certainly not spoken with averted eyes. Cp. Ο. Τ. 1121.
442. mvp-comment-254-1 καταρνεῖ The unusual compound, introduced, perhaps, partly for the sake of metre, has also a special sense of blame. Cp. καταμελέω, καταξιόω, καταπειλέω, καταπροδίδωμι, καταργυρόω, κατασπείρω, κατασχολάζω.
445. mvp-comment-255-1 Free and exempt from grievous imputation.
446. mvp-comment-256-1 μήκος Adverbial, cp. O. С. 92, κέρδη μὲν οἰκήσαντα τοῖς δεδεγμένοις.
446. mvp-comment-256-2 'Tell us, no long tale, but briefly, knew you of the edict that forbade this deed? I knew; 'twas plain enough. How could I fail to know? And were you, then, so hardy as to transgress our law? That edict came not to me from the mouth of Zeus, nor from the Right, whose throne is with the Gods below. They also have appointed unto men a law. Methought your edict could not so prevail, as that a mortal should overleap the silent irrefragable ordinances of heaven. Their life is not of to-day or yesterday. They are eternal. None knoweth of a time when they began. I feared not so the mind of any man, as to incur before the Gods the penalty of that law. I knew, forsooth, without your edict, that I was to die. And if I am to die before the time, I count it gain. For he must surely gain by death who lives, as I do, midst abounding woes. And so for me to meet this doom is a grief I reck not of. If I had borne to leave unburied the corpse, fallen in carnage, of my mother's son, that had been a grief to me, but this is no grief. And if I seem to you to be now doing foolishly, it comes to this;-I am condemned of folly by a fool.'
447. mvp-comment-257-1 τὰ κηρυχθέντα The proclamation made. Cobet's conjecture ᾔδησθα κηρυχθέντα (Νov. Lect. 1858. p. 215), while restoring the recognised Attic form, is unobjectionable in point of syntax. But the use of the article in pointing to his own decree is characteristic of Creon, and if ἠείδης is retained in the Iliad, 22. 280, why not ᾔδης in Tragedy?
449. mvp-comment-258-1 καὶ δῆτα And then. Cp. Plat. Theaet. 142 C, καὶ δῆτα προπέμψας αὐτόν, ἀπιὼν πάλιν, κ.τ.λ.
449. mvp-comment-258-2 τούσδε . . νόμους These laws, i. e. The laws whose majesty is vested in me. For this use of the demonstrative, see Essay on Language § 22. p. 34.
450. mvp-comment-259-1 I obeyed no decree of yesterday, but the eternal law. That cannot be annulled by any enactment of a mere man. It may be that I shall die for what I have done. But it needed not your proclamation to tell me that I must die. And to die before the term appointed me is to lose so much of sorrow.
451. mvp-comment-260-1 For the mythological fancy, cp. О. С. 1381-1382, εἴπερ ἐστὶν ἡ παλαίφατος | Δίκη ξύνεδρος Ζηνὸς ἀρχαίοις νόμοις.
452. mvp-comment-261-1 This line is rightly explained by the Scholiast and Donaldson, Ἡ δίκη, φησί, καὶ ὁ Ζεὺς ὥρισαν ὥστε θάπτεσθαι τοὺς νεκρούς.. θέλει δὲ εἰπεῖν ὅτι ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως δίκαιον ἤγημαι θάπτειν τὸν ἀδελφόν. (Schol.) She replies, that she did not consider his proclamations as emanating from Zeus, the supreme God, or from that justice which regulated the rights of the dead, who, she says, have established these laws, namely, the laws of sepulture, which do not need any enactment, but have their ὅροι set up in the human heart. (Donaldson.) The iteration of τούσδε, in contrasting the law which she obeyed with the edict of Creon, is dramatically appropriate, and there is no difficulty in the vague use of the demonstrative. See Essay on Language § 22. p. 34. Cp. Od. 10. 326, τάδε φάρμακα.
454. mvp-comment-262-1 ἄγραπτα κἀσφαλῆ Unwritten and sure. Ср. О. Т. 865 ff., and note. ἀσφαλῆ is not only Never failing to apply, but also Never failing to vindicate their authority. Cp. II. 456 ff.
455. mvp-comment-263-1 θνητὸν ὄντα Sc. σέ, understood from τὰ σὰ κηρύγματα. That a mortal man should run beyond the silent irrefragable ordinances of the Gods. Cp. Eur. Ion 973, καὶ πῶς τὰ κρείσσω θνητός οὖσ᾽ ὑπερδράμω; Ο.Τ. 476-482
456. mvp-comment-264-1 νῦν .. κἀχθές To-day or yes- terday. The particle γε, ay, serves to connect the sentences, and τε is unnecessary, as appears from the similar expression, χθὲς καὶ πρώην, in Plat. Legg. 3. 677 D.
456. mvp-comment-264-2 ἀεί ποτε means Everlastingly, without any clear distinction of past or future. πότε gives the effect of indefiniteness or infinity.
457. mvp-comment-265-1 ζῇ Are in force. Cр. О. Т. 481, ἀεὶ ζῶντα περιποτᾶται.
457. mvp-comment-265-2 ἐξ ὅτου 'φάνη Since when they came into being. Cp. Tr. 1, λόγος ..
457. mvp-comment-265-3 ἀρχαῖος φανείς.
458-459. mvp-comment-266-1 τούτων.. τὴν δίκην The penalty to be exacted in vindication of these. The Gods might be said δίκην ἐπιτιθέναι τῶν παραβαθέντων νόμων, although the word in the genitive after δίκη more frequently signifies the offence for which punishment is awarded. Cp. infr. 1074, τούτων σε λωβητῆρες ὑστεροφθόροι, κ.τ.λ.
458-459. mvp-comment-266-2 ἀνδρός Of a mere man. Cp. O. C. 567, ἔξοιδ᾽ ἀνὴρ ὤν. 461 ff. Shak. Julius Caesar, 3. 1, 'Bru. That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time | And drawing days out, that men stand upon. | Cass. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life | Cuts off so many years of fearing death. | Bru. Grant that, and then is death a benefit: | So are we Caesar's friends, that have abridged His time of fearing death.'
458-459. mvp-comment-266-3 τοῦ χρόνου, sc. ἐν ᾧ μ᾿ ἐχρῆν θανεῖν.
462. mvp-comment-267-1 κέρδος αὔτ᾽ ἐγὼ λέγω αὔτ᾽, i. e. αὐτό, although not necessary to the construction, as appears from Plat. Apol. 40 Ε., κέρδος ἔγωγε λέγω, is better here than αὖτe, which weakens κέρδος.
463. mvp-comment-268-1 ὡς ἐγώ Supr. ll. 4-6.
466. mvp-comment-269-1 παρ᾿ οὐδὲν ἄλγος Is a grief of no account. Cp. supr. 35.
466. mvp-comment-269-2 ἐμῆς Meineke conj. ἐκ μιᾶs, Seyffert ὁμῆς, unnecessarily. The emphatic use of ἐμós is frequent in Sophocles.
467. mvp-comment-270-1 ἄθαπτον *ἠνσχόμην ἠνσχόμην (1) may be defended by the analogy of the syncopated ἀνσχήσεσθαι, ἄνσχεο, in Epic Greek. Otherwise (2) νέκυν may be cancelled as a gloss, and ἄθαπτον *ὄντ᾿ ἠνεσχόμην read, according to the conj. of Prof. E. L. Lushington. Or (3) ἐσχόμην may be read in the sense of ἠνεσχόμην. Ε. on L. § 55, 4. p. 101. But this is doubtful.
470. mvp-comment-271-1 μώρῳ i.e. One whose judgment is self-condemned, because opposed to the eternal laws. The word is not prompted by mere petulance, but is uttered with profound conviction.
471. mvp-comment-272-1 'The maiden's lineage declares itself in the fierce vein that comes to her from her fierce sire.' Phil. 1045-1046.
472. mvp-comment-273-1 ἐπίσταται Sc. ἡ παῖς.
473. mvp-comment-274-1 σκληρά Unbending, and so Stubborn, Obstinate.
473. mvp-comment-274-2 The self-will of Creon appears with increasing distinctness. (1) He asserts his confidence in the use of power to suppress insubordination. (2) He speaks of his ward, whom he does not care to name, as in the place of a slave (479): (3) he implies that to cede an inch of authority is to give the sovereignty to another (485). (4) He throws the tie of kindred to the winds. The first words of his speech are ominous of his own doom. See Introduction.
475. mvp-comment-275-1 ὀπτὸν .. περισκελή Baked to exceeding hardness. Cp. Aj. 649, καὶ περισκελεῖς φρένες.
476. mvp-comment-276-1 θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα Broken and shattered. The strongest word is put first in the Greek. Essay on Language § 41. p.77.
477. mvp-comment-277-1 σμικρῷ has a strong emphasis. Ibid.
478. mvp-comment-278-1 ἐκπέλει Hesych. ἐκπέλει, ἔξεστι. Hdt. uses ἐκγίνεσθαι in a similar sense. See Essay on Language § 55. p. 101.
479. mvp-comment-279-1 δοῦλος Creon shows his coarsely tyrannical spirit by boasting of his absolute power over his orphan relative.
481. mvp-comment-280-1 Cp. Hdt. 3. 83, νόμους οὐκ ὑπερβαίνουσα τοὺς Περσέων.
484. mvp-comment-281-1 Cp. Eur. I. Α. 952 ff., ἢ Σίπυλος ἔσται πόλις, ὅρισμα βαρβάρων, κ.τ.λ.
485. mvp-comment-282-1 If this authority is to be allowed to rest with her unchallenged. By an exaggeration of feeling like that in l. 208, he thinks that to pardon disobedience is to yield authority to the offender. For κείσεται, cp. El. 361, σοὶ δὲ πλουσία | τράπεζα κείσθω: ἀνάκειμαι in Hdt. 1.97, γνοὺς ὁ Δηϊόκης ἐς ἑωυτὸν πᾶν ἀνακείμενον.
485. mvp-comment-282-2 κράτη, as in l. 173, ἐγὼ κράτη δὴ πάντα καὶ θρόνους ἔχω.
486. mvp-comment-283-1 ὁμαιμονεστέρα is the more rational and stronger reading: although in weighing a hyperbolical expression of this kind, that is perhaps hardly a sufficient argument, and may be urged on the other side as accounting for the alteration of the MS.
487. mvp-comment-284-1 τοῦ παντὸς.. Ζηνὸς ἐρκείου i.e. Our whole family, the presiding numen being put for the thing held sacred.
489. mvp-comment-285-1 μόρου For the genitive with ἀλύξετον, cp. Phil. 1044, τῆς νόσου πεφευγέναι.
489. mvp-comment-285-2 ἴσον is probably to be construed both with ἐπαιτιῶμαι and βουλεύσαι (‘I accuse equally of plotting equally'), and τοῦδε τάφου is partly gen. after ἐπαιτιῶμαι, partly after ἴσον.
491. mvp-comment-286-1 ἀρτίως Viz. after l. 331, when Ismene knew that the deed was done, and, alone of those in the palace, knew also by whom.
493-494. mvp-comment-287-1 And it commonly happens that the spirit of those who are plotting some utter wickedness in secret is convicted of its occulted guilt before the act.
493. mvp-comment-288-1 ᾑρῆσθαι κλοπεύς Το be arrested in some stealthy enterprise. The perfect tense marks that the detection is completed before the purpose is carried into effect. Cp. πεπραγμένα .. ἡμαρτημένα, in O. T. 621.
495. mvp-comment-289-1 Yet I hate it equally when one who is caught in actual mischief tries to make a virtue of the offence.
495. mvp-comment-289-2 ἐν κακοῖσι = In trouble, i. e. In crime, and not merely, like Ismene, in the consciousness of crime. Cp. Fr. 843, αἰδὼς γὰρ ἐν κακοῖσιν οὐδὲν ὠφελεῖ.
496. mvp-comment-290-1 καλλύνειν Creon affects to regard Antigone's appeal to the higher law as a piece of hypocrisy. Cp. Fr. 845
496. mvp-comment-290-2 κλέπτων δ᾽ ὅταν τις ἐμφανῶς ἐφευρεθῇ, | σιγᾶν ἀνάγκη, κἂν καλὸν φέρῃ στόμα.
497. mvp-comment-291-1 Cp. Eur. Phoen. 1211.
500. mvp-comment-292-1 μηδ' ἀρεσθείη Sc. μηδὲν τῶν σῶν λόγων.
501. mvp-comment-293-1 ἔφυ Are by nature, and so cannot fail to be.
505. mvp-comment-294-1 λέγοιτ' ἄν For the passive, see Essay on Language § 31. P. 54 *ἐγκλείσαι] Cp. supr. 1. 180. Dindorf's correction (with εί for ῄ) is retained in preference to ἐγκλείοι. The future optative is clearly wrong.
506-507. mvp-comment-295-1 These two lines have been considered spurious. But their scornful tone may be compared with supr. 469-470.
509. mvp-comment-296-1 ὑπίλλουσι ἴλλειν (cp. supr. 340) is To move within bounds, or To limit motion. So here, 'They move their lips under your restraint; i. e. They curb their speech under your will.
510. mvp-comment-297-1 τῶνδε .. φρονεῖς; If you hold a course divergent from theirs. Cp. supr. 375, μήτ᾽ ἴσον φρονῶν.
512. mvp-comment-298-1 καταντίον In opposition to him.
514. mvp-comment-299-1 Why then do you honour a service which involves impiety to him? Honour, i. e. By zealously performing it.
515. mvp-comment-300-1 ὁ κατθανών νέκυς Eteocles.
516. mvp-comment-301-1 i. e. If you honour the impious one equally with him.
517. mvp-comment-302-1 For the omission of the participle, see Essay on Language § 23. p. 38.
519. mvp-comment-303-1 τοὺς νόμους τούτους Cp. supr. 452.
519. mvp-comment-303-2 ἴσους, the reading of the corrector of L, rather injures the line by dividing the emphasis, which rests entirely on ὅμως. Essay on Language § 41. p. 76 (4).
520. mvp-comment-304-1 ἴσος Of equal right. ἴσos has the construction of ἄξιος or δίκαιος. Essay on Language § 36. p. 64.
521. mvp-comment-305-1 Who can tell if this be not esteemed pious in the under-world? τάδε, this, which you count impious, the burial of Polynices. Schol., τίς οἶδεν εἰ καθ' Ἅιδου ἀλλήλοις διαλλάσσοντες ἡγοῦνται εὐσεβῆ τάδε. τίς οἶδεν εἰ, like Haud scio an in Latin, suggests an affirmative as possible, as in the lines τίς οἶδεν εἰ τὸ ζῆν μὲν ἐστι κατθανεῖν | τὸ κατθανεῖν δὲ ζῆν; κάτωθεν, see v. rr., is possibly right.
522-523. mvp-comment-306-1 Creon means that Eteocles must still hate Polynices after death. To which Antigone rejoins, in the line which expresses what is deepest in her, If it be so, his hatred is no rule for me. Creon sees that further argument is useless, and breaks off impatiently with an abrupt sentence of death.
524-525. mvp-comment-307-1 Go, then, to your grave, and there, if you must love them, love the dead below! κείνους, sc. τοὺς κάτω, with particular reference to Polynices.
526-530. mvp-comment-308-1 Here comes Ismene forth, shedding sisterly tears; from clouds above her brow, that moisten her fair cheek, doing disgrace unto her flushed countenance. Cp. Sh Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, 1. 1, Lys. Why is your cheek so pale? | How chance the roses there do fade so fast? | Herm. Belike, for want of rain, which I could well | Beteem them from the tempest of mine eyes. Ant. and Cleo. 3. 2. 52. Il. 17. 591, ἄχεος νεφέλη: Eur. Hipp. 173, ὀφρύων νέφος: Aesch. Prom. 144-145, ὀμίχλα .. πλήρης δακρύων.
527. mvp-comment-309-1 δάκρυ᾽ εἰβομένη is the Triclinian reading for δάκρυα λειβόμενα. δάκρυ λειβομένη has been conjectured. But the construction, with φιλάδελφα adverbial, is less simple and therefore less pathetic. δάκρυα εἰβομένη is read in M³.
529. mvp-comment-310-1 ῥέθος Eur. Η. F. 1204, πάρες ἀπ᾿ ὀμμάτων | πέπλον . . ῥέθος ἀελίῳ δεῖξον.
531. mvp-comment-311-1 ὡς ἔχιδν᾽ ὑφειμένη Having slid in secretly like a snake; i.e. Like a serpent lurking. For the feeling associated with ὑφίημι, cp. Ο. Τ. 387, ὑφεὶς μάγον τοιόνδε μηχανορράφον.
532. mvp-comment-312-1 ἐξέπινες Cp. Tr. 1055-1056, ῥοφεῖ ξυνοικοῦν· ἐκ δὲ χλωρὸν αἷμά μου | πέπωκεν ἤδη.
533. mvp-comment-313-1 ἄτα κἀπαναστάσεις Abstract for concrete. See Essay on Language p. 94.
533. mvp-comment-313-2 θρόνων, obj. gen. Ib. § 9. p. 12.
536. mvp-comment-314-1 εἴπερ ἥδ᾽ ὁμορροθεῖ The Scholiast has noticed the apparent absurdity of Ismene's adding this condition to her avowal; and Schneidewin alters the line το δέδρακα τοὔργον, εἴπερ ἥδ᾽· ὁμορροθῶ. But the inconsistency is touchingly significant of the irresolute character of Ismene, and of the ascendancy of Antigone's stern nature over hers.
537. mvp-comment-315-1 τῆς αἰτίας is directly governed by ξυμμετίσχω, the notion of participation being silently continued in καὶ φέρω. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 331, πάντων μετασχὼν καὶ τετολμηκὼς ἐμοί.
539. mvp-comment-316-1 οὔτ᾽ ἐγὼ 'κοινωσάμην Supr. 69.
541. mvp-comment-317-1 ξύμπλουν Essay on Language p. 94.
542. mvp-comment-318-1 Antigone's offering to the dead was made in solitude, and without the presence of the sun.
545. mvp-comment-319-1 ἁγνίσαι τιμῆσαι Schol. Ismene means, Though I shrank from the deed, let me share the glory of it by accepting the consequences.
546. mvp-comment-320-1 ἅ = ταῦτα ὧν. Essay on Language § 35. P. 59. μή, ibid. § 29. p. 48.
548. mvp-comment-321-1 τίς βίος i. e. πῶς ὁ βίος; See Essay on Language § 22. p. 36.
549. mvp-comment-322-1 'Ask Creon. He has your care and duty;' i.e. Creon is more to you than your brother is.
551. mvp-comment-323-1 εἰ γέλωτ᾽ ἔν σοι γελῶ Schneidewin's explanation of this line, It is painful to me to be mocking you, my sister, is out of harmony with the tone of Antigone, although it is true that in this line her bitterness is somewhat softened. Either δή, κεἰ must be read, or εἰ explained as = κεἰ. I have grief enough, I assure you, though I laugh a bitter laugh at thee. Cp. 728, εἰ δ' ἐγὼ νέος = Though I am young: Eur. Or. 484, εἰ δὲ δυστυχεῖ, τιμητέος. See Essay on Language § 28. p. 47.
552. mvp-comment-324-1 ἀλλὰ νῦν Essay on Language § 26. p. 43. Par. E suggests ἐπωφελοῖμ᾽.
554. mvp-comment-325-1 κἀμπλάκω i. e. ἢ σώσω ἐμαυτὴν καὶ ἀμπλάκω.
556. mvp-comment-326-1 ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ . . λόγοις But not without my saying what I said, was this choice made. Ismene would clear herself from the imputation of merely shrinking from the attempt through cowardice, or without laying before her sister the grounds of her own conduct, as she had done supr. 49 ff. She also wishes to remind Antigone of ll. 78, 99, which acquit her of indifference towards the dead. But Antigone only recalls the argument against opposing those in power. Wolff compares Eur. Ion 228, ἐπὶ δ' ἀσφάκτοις μήλοις μὴ πάριτε.
557. mvp-comment-327-1 Your counsel seemed wise to these' (Creon, etc., τοῖς ἐνθάδε), but mine to those (Polynices and the powers below, τοῖς ἐκεῖ). The form of the sentence is accommodated to the latter part of it. If the first part were fully expressed it would be ἐδόκεις ἄν. G. Wolff and Wecklein prefer the reading σὺ μὲν σοί. But the opposition of τοῖς μὲν, τοῖς δέ, is more pointed.
558. mvp-comment-328-1 (1) Ismene reiterates, still feebly, what she had asserted in 536-537. Or (2) 'We are both in equal error,'-you against the state, and I against the dead. The first (1) is best. In either case, Antigone rejoins, You need not trouble yourself to make confessions. You are safe.
559-560. mvp-comment-329-1 ἡ δ᾽ ἐμὴ.. ὠφελεῖν My soul has long been with the dead, to do them service. In these words Antigone may be supposed to say, either (1) From the moment when my resolution was taken, my life has been with the dead, devoted in sacrifice to their aid; cp. supr. 72 and note: or (2) I have long been dead to all the joys of life, and am therefore a fit sacrifice to the service of the dead. So Wecklein. Cp. Shak. Merch. of V. 4. 1, I am a tainted wether of the flock, etc. But the former meaning (1) is alone consistent with the betrothal of Antigone to Haemon.
562. mvp-comment-330-1 τὴν δ᾽.. ἔφυ We learn from this line, and from supr. 499-501, that there had never been much sympathy between Antigone and Creon.
563-564. mvp-comment-331-1 The unfortunate never retain even the reason that was born with them, but lose it in distraction. Ismene intends her excuse to cover Antigone.
564. mvp-comment-332-1 Creon echoes κακῶς πράσσουσιν. You lost your wits when you chose to share the guilt of the wicked. Cp. 536 ff., 558.
566. mvp-comment-333-1 Why, what life that deserves the name could be mine in loneliness apart from her?
567. mvp-comment-334-1 Say not "this maiden." She is no longer here. The word ἥδε remains in the nominative. This often happens when a word is quoted with the article; which, however, is elsewhere omitted in similar cases, as for instance when the word so quoted is the predicate of a sentence. Cp. Plato, Theaet. 164 Β, τὸ δέ γε οὐχ ὁρᾷ οὐκ ἐπίσταταί ἐστιν, εἴπερ καὶ τὸ ὁρᾷ ἐπίσταται, where ἐπίσταται is equally out of construction with ἥδε in this line.
568. mvp-comment-335-1 νυμφεῖα Essay on Language p. 94.
569. mvp-comment-336-1 Ср. О. Т. 1211, 1497-1498, foll.
570. mvp-comment-337-1 Not as their hearts were plighted. Literally, Not in such a way as harmony had been prepared between him and her. Cp. Pind. Pyth. 9.13, ξυνὸν ἁρμόζοισα θεῷ τε γάμον κούρᾳ θ' Ὑψέος εὐρυβία.
571. mvp-comment-338-1 The plural generalizes the expression.
571. mvp-comment-338-2 υἱέσι Dative of the person interested.
572. mvp-comment-339-1 *AN. The MSS. have ΙΣ. But Böckh has given strong reasons for following Aldus in assigning the line to Antigone. The last speech of Creon might well move her to break silence, which she does naturally by resenting the words not for herself, but for Haemon. There is also greater bitterness in this line than in any speech of Ismene. Then, granting that τὸ σὸν λέχος, addressed to Ismene, might mean The marriage you prate of, the words express a much deeper feeling as addressed to Antigone. Outwardly a mere expression of impatience, they convey the only touch of natural feeling which Creon betrays. 574 and 576 are then most naturally given to the chorus. The act of Creon in sacrificing his son's happiness is more solemnly marked when his words are addressed to the coryphaeus. While adhering to this view I am bound to add that some of the best critics prefer the other arrangement of the persons.
577. mvp-comment-340-1 καὶ σοί γε κάμοί Sc. δεδογ μένα: i. e. σὺ μὲν οὕτω δοκεῖς, ἐμοὶ δὲ δέδοκται. We are agreed so far.
577. mvp-comment-340-2 τριβάς Sc. ποιείσθε. Essay on Language §39. p. 74.
578. mvp-comment-341-1 'Henceforth these must be really women, and not left at large;' i. e. They must be treated as women. Cp. l. 484. This reading, although defaced in L, may well be defended against such would-be improvements as εὖ δὲ τάσδε χρὴ | γυναῖκας εἶλαι (Dind.), and εὖ δετὰς δὲ χρὴ | γυναῖκας εἶναι (Seyffert), which are to be condemned, amongst other reasons, for destroying the singleness of the emphasis. Creon, as usual, covers his self-will under the appearance of principle. Cp. Plat. Legg. 1.637, ταχὺ γάρ σου λάβοιτ᾽ ἄν τις τῶν παρ' ἡμῶν ἀμυνόμενος, δεικνὺς τὴν τῶν γυναικῶν παρ' ὑμῖν ἄνεσιν : Ar. Pol. 2. 6. The words indicate that Antigone's going beyond the gate, supr. 18, 19, was an exceptional freedom, consequent on the war. Thus Sophocles is contented with a hint, where Euripides thinks an explanation necessary: Phoen. 89-91.
582. mvp-comment-342-1 The fate of Antigone is sealed, and the chorus moralize over the power of fate and of Zeus, as shown in the continued calamities of the race of Labdacus, and the infatuation ('quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ') of Antigone. The spectator is left free to apply the same reflections to the case of Creon.
582. mvp-comment-342-2 'Calamity is like a storm that stirs the lowest depths and sounds afar. The race once touched is never free. Each generation as it rises is struck down.
582. mvp-comment-342-3 'The house of Labdacus has sorrow upon sorrow. Amidst the ruined grove one root was springing, only to be swept under by the cruel dues of Hades in a frenzy of infatuation.
582. mvp-comment-342-4 Who can restrain the power of Zeus? Unchecked by sleep or age he ever dwells in the light of Olympus. This was and shall be now and evermore, a truth that spareth not the lives of men, whom hope deceives, giving comfort indeed, but also inspiring passionate folly, till disappointment comes, before the man hath seen that he is treading on fire. Wise was he who said that evil seemeth good to one whom God is drawing to perdition. Few are the days of his exemption from that dark lot.
582. mvp-comment-342-5 The 1st strophe opens solemnly with three dactylo-epitritic or Doric lines, which are followed by iambic and trochaic rhythms. The 2nd strophe is logaoedic, with syncope of thesis in ll. 3, 5, 7, 11 a'. β'. ILCCICcl alcl- LullLCClcclcla 10101010 51-1 CLL下CICLI トCICICI CCICCICLI 1101007ID トトー CCCII 100II
582. mvp-comment-342-6 οἶσι .. αἰών Whose life is free from taste of misery. Blessed, because of the rarity of their lot, and because of the unsparing persistence of calamity when it comes to any. For κακῶν ἄγευστος, cp. Ο. Τ. 969, ἄψαυστος ἔγχους.
583. mvp-comment-343-1 θεόθεν The adverb of place supports the metaphor of a storm coming from a certain quarter. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 1089, ῥιπὴ Διόθεν.
583-584. mvp-comment-344-1 ἄτας | οὐδὲν ἐλλείπει Cp. l. 2, ff.
585. mvp-comment-345-1 ἔρπον The real subject of this is πᾶσα ἄτη (or τὸ πᾶν ἄτης) implied in the preceding words, the positive being educed from the negative. Calamity stints not, but goes on till it fulfils the number of the race.
586-589. mvp-comment-346-1 ὅμοιον.. πνοαῖς Like as when the billow courses over the darkening deep before fell Thracian blasts from the Euxine sea. Some interpreters make ἔρεβος subj, and οἶδμα obj. of ἐπιδράμῃ, when the darkening wave courses over the main. But οἶδμα elsewhere in Sophocles is not the expanse (aequor) but the swelling of the sea, and ἔρεβος ὕφαλον can hardly be anything else than the nether darkness of the deep. For the accumulation of adjectives, see Essay on Language § 23. p. 37. Seyffert reads ὡς προποντίδος. 589 ff. It rolls from depths below the black tempestuous drift. 591. And the cliffs, returning the shock, groaningly resound.'
586-589. mvp-comment-346-2 δυσάνεμον A sign of tempest, 'Associated with bad winds, because only seen when the wind has been blowing hard on shore. Ventorum vehementiorum comitem.' Musgr. 593, foll. From of old I see with pain' (ὁρῶμαι, ethical middle, Essay on Language § 31. p. 52) 'the calamities of the house of Labdacus accumulating on the calamities of those that are gone; nor does one generation free another, but some god casts them down; nor is there hope of redemption.'
586-589. mvp-comment-346-3 ἀρχαῖα has the stress as suppl. predicate. Essay on Language § 23. p. 38.
595. mvp-comment-347-1 The reading of this line has been much questioned, but the meaning is clear, although it is uncertain what word (whether φθιτῶν or some other) has been supplanted by the unmetrical φθιμένων: which may be due to a reminiscence of Aesch. Cho. 403. 4, παρὰ τῶν πρότερον φθιμένων ἄτην | ἑτέραν ἐπάγουσαν ἐπ᾿ ἄτῃ.
596. mvp-comment-348-1 γενεὰν γένος There is no distinction of meaning (such as One generation, .. 'The whole race'). Cp. O. C. 27, 28, ἐξοικήσιμος .. οἰκητός.
596. mvp-comment-348-2 ἐρείπει Sc. γενεὰν ἑκάστην. Cp. infra 601, κατ᾽ αὖ νιν, κ.τ.λ.
597. mvp-comment-349-1 οὐδ᾽ ἔχει Nor does the case admit of. Cp. Ο. C. 545, ἔχει δέ μοι ..
597. mvp-comment-349-2 πρὸς δίκας τι.
600. mvp-comment-350-1 ῥίζας Ἀντὶ τοῦ, ὅπερ ἔβλαστεν ἄνω τῆς ῥίζης, Schol. The root, for the plant.
600. mvp-comment-350-2 *ἐτέτατο The Scholiast notes the asyndeton (λείπει ἄρθρον τὸ ὅ): which is expressive and allows viv to be referred to ῥίζας, to which it naturally belongs. And in the reading ῥίζας δ τέτατο, the order of words is questionable. For ἐτέτατο φάος, cp. Phil. 831, αἴγλαν, ἃ τέταται τανῦν. The light is the grace and nobleness of Antigone, and her bright hopes. The conj. θάλος, for which, cp. Pind. Οl. 2. 45, Ἀδραστιδᾶν θάλος, is uncalled for.
601. mvp-comment-351-1 κατ' was rightly restored by Triclinius for κατ' (ⅰ.e. καὶ εἶτα), which had been introduced to avoid the asvndeton. (Schol. ἐάν στίξωμεν κᾷτ᾽ αὖ νιν, οὐδὲν λείπει τῷ λόγῳ.)
602-603. mvp-comment-352-1 ἀμᾷ θερίζει καὶ ἐκκόπτει. ἢ καλύπτει, Schol. The latter is right.
602-603. mvp-comment-352-2 Ας καταμᾶσθαι κόνιν is ‘Το cover oneself with dust,' so, by a poetical inversion, the dust may be said καταμᾶν, To cover, or Sweep out of sight. Essay on Language § 42. р. 80, β.
603. mvp-comment-353-1 λόγου τ᾽ ἄνοια καὶ φρενῶν Ἐριvús The reasoning of Antigone in 450 ff. seems wild to the chorus, and her conduct shows her to them as possessed with a fatal frenzy. It may be thought strange that κόνις should be retained against a reading which has been so generally ap- proved as κόπις, first suggested by Jortin. But see Essay on Language pp. 92, 93. The grotesque image of Death, or Hades, armed with a bloody chopper or cleaver, however agreeable to the manner of Euripides, or some other poets, has no parallel in the language of Sophocles. And the transition from this concrete imagery to the spirits of fury and madness is, to say the least, awkwardly abrupt. The words λόγου τ᾽ ἄνοια καὶ φρενῶν Ἐρινύς are most natural if they are added to expand an obscure allusion to the deed which had brought Antigone into danger. And the words φοινία θεῶν τῶν νερτέρων .. κόνις, The deadly dust sacred to the gods below, convey such an allusion not more obscurely than do the words in Tr. 836 ff., δεινοτάτῳ μὲν ὕδρας προστετακὼς φάσματι, κ.τ.λ., express the condition of Heracles in the poisoned robe. Triclinius was therefore not absurd in saying εἰκότως δὲ τὸ κόνις τέθειται. διότι γὰρ ἐκάλυψεν Ἀντιγόνη ἀδελφὸν Πολυνείκην κόνει, διὰ τοῦτο τεθνήξεσθαι ἔμελλε.
604. mvp-comment-354-1 This is suggested by the position of Antigone, whose offence brings swift retribution; but is felt by the spectator to be more applicable to that of Creon.
604-605. mvp-comment-355-1 τίς .. κατάσχοι Essay on Language §36. p. 62. Ср. O. T. 937, and esp. Pind. Οl. 11. 20, 1, ἐμφυὲς οὔτ᾽ αἴθων ἀλώπηξ | οὐδ᾽ ἐρίβρομοι λέοντες διαλλάξαιντο ἦθος.
606. mvp-comment-356-1 Not slumber that brings age to all things.' Cp. Hom. Il. 14. 242, where Sleep says, ἄλλον μέν κεν ἔγωγε θεῶν αἰειγενετάων | ῥεῖα κατευνήσαιμι, καὶ ἂν ποταμοῖο ῥέεθρα | Ὠκεανοῦ, ὅσπερ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται | Ζηνὸς δ' οὐκ ἂν ἔγωγε Κρονίονος ἆσσον ἱκοίμην, οὐδὲ κατευνήσαιμ᾽, ὅτε μὴ αὐτός γε κελεύοι. For αἱρεῖ, cp. Il. 24.5, οὐδέ μιν ὕπνος ἥρει πανδαμάτωρ: Od. 9. 372, κὰδ δέ μιν ὕπνος ἥρει πανδαμάτωρ. The conjecture of Bamberger, παντοθήρας, is plausible. But for the closeness of the association between Age and Sleep, cp. O. T. 870-871, οὐδὲ λάθα κατακοιμάσει .. οὐδὲ γηράσκει.
607-608. mvp-comment-357-1 The reading adopted involves the simplest change which avoids a breach of metrical rules. Others suppose, the loss of a syllable after θεῶν, reading ἄκοποι for ἀκάματοι, with ἕρπει in the fourth line of the antistrophe. For θεῶν added as a sort of epithet = Divine, cp. supra 454, 369: Ο. Τ. 647 : Αj. 711, θεῶν.. πάνθυτα θέσμια : Phil. 198: also Tr. 1191, Ζηνός. The indefiniteness of this use obviates the objection of Schneidewin, that the months of the Gods are opposed to Zeus, who is generally the orderer of time, as in Hom. Il. 2. 134, Διὸς μεγάλου ἐνιαυτοί. There is possibly, however, in θεῶν some allusion to the heavenly bodies, who, as Plato says, are the ὄργανα χρόνου.
608. mvp-comment-358-1 ἀγήρῳ δὲ χρόνῳ δυνάστας With power whose duration is untouched by age. For the personification of χρόνος, see Essay on Language pp. 81, 82. The reading ἀγήρως seems to be of some antiquity, and is embodied in one of the Scholia.
610. mvp-comment-359-1 αἴγλαν Cp. Hom. Il. 1. 532, ἀπ᾿ αἰγλήεντος Ὀλύμπου. The conception of Olympus is here more Homeric than elsewhere in Sophocles. See on O. T. 867, О. С. 1655.
611-612. mvp-comment-360-1 τό τ᾽ ἔπειτα καὶ τὸ μέλλον καὶ τὸ πρίν] Cp. Thuc. 2. 64, § 8.
613. mvp-comment-361-1 The reading οὐδὲν *ἕρπων is to some extent confirmed by the Scholium ση πάμπολις, ὁ κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν ἕρπων νόμος, and is the most probable of the emendations of this passage. It has been supposed that οὐδὲν ἔρπει, and also ἐκτὸς ἄτας, have crept in from below; but this stasimon is peculiarly full of verbal echoes. See Essay on Language § 44. p. 76. This principle' (the sovereignty of Zeus) will last the coming time, and the time to come, as well as the time past, never swerving, as it moves onwards, from calamity to the life of mortals in all their cities. Lit. Coming to the life of mortals (a law of every city) in no respect out of the way of calamity. οὐδέν, adverbial.
613. mvp-comment-361-2 βιότῳ, dat. of reference (Essay on Language § 12. p. 18). πάμπολις, universal, i.e. law not of any one state, but embracing all. For ἕρπων ἐκτὸς ἅτας θνατῶν βιότῳ, cp. infra l. 1318: ἐμᾶς.. ἐξ αἰτίας (= ἐκτὸς αἰτίας ἐμοί): Ο. C. 1575, ἐν καθαρῷ βῆναι .. τῷ ξένῳ: Essay on Language § 42. p. 79.
615. mvp-comment-362-1 πολύπλαγκτος There is no clear instance of an active use of πολύπλαγκτος, for in Hom. Il. 13. 308, έξ ἀνέμοιο πολυπλάγκτοιο ἰωῆς, The fartravelled wind, is a probable enough meaning. Cp. Shakespeare's Empty, vast, and wandering air. So here Widely roving' is better than Muchdeceiving.' Cp. infr. 785-786.
617. mvp-comment-363-1 ἀπάτα . . ἐρώτων ἐρώτων is not genitive of object, but of cause: not Disappointment of desire, but De ception through desire. To many, hope is but the deceitfulness of winged desire.
618. mvp-comment-364-1 εἰδότι δ᾽ οὐδὲν ἕρπει And it comes to him all at unaware, i. e. The event or calamity comes. For the vague subject, cp. supra 597, οὐδ᾽ ἔχει λύσιν, and note. This is better than Nothing befals him while he is aware. 619. Till his foot be scorched in the hot blaze.' For the insertion of τις in the second clause, cp. Aj. 964, τἀγαθὸν χεροῖν | ἔχοντες οὐκ ἴσασι πρίν τις ἐκ βάλῃ : Τr. 2, 3, ὡς οὐκ ἂν αἰῶν᾽ ἐκμάθοις βροτῶν, πρὶν ἂν θάνῃ τις. Seidler's conj. προσαύρῃ is less good than the reading of L.
620. mvp-comment-365-1 σοφίᾳ Dative of manner. Essay on Language § 14. p. 20, 2.
625. mvp-comment-366-1 πράσσει, SC. ὁ τοιοῦτος, supr. l. 619, τις, l. 623 , τῷδ'. Cp. Aesch. ap. Plat. Rep. 2, p. 380 Α, θεὸς μὲν αἰτίαν φύει βροτοῖς | ὅταν κακῶσαι δῶμα παμπήδην θέλει.
625. mvp-comment-366-2 ὀλιγοστόν ὀλίγιστον has been read, and is possibly the Ist hand of L; see v. rr. But ὀλιγοστός χρόνος may mean a time that is one of few, i. e. one that comes rarely or seldom. πολλοστός in Legg. 10. 896 B, is not small, but many times removed, and has the force of a superlative, as it has also in Phileb. 44 E, where it means minutest.
626-627. mvp-comment-367-1 See Essay on Language § 40. p. 75.
628. mvp-comment-368-1 νύμφης had probably been written over μελλογάμου or τάλιδος as a gloss. The words τῆς μελλογάμου νύμφης are omitted in VM¹. This whole expression may have been a gloss on τάλιδος, or on τῆς μελλονύμφου φου infr. 633.
629. mvp-comment-369-1 μόρον Ε. on L. § 16. p. 23.
630. mvp-comment-370-1 ἀπάτας (1) Gen. of cause; or (2) with ὑπερ. Cp. Eur. Hipp. 260.
631. mvp-comment-371-1 μαντέων ὑπέρτερον Better than a seer could tell us. Creon thus vents his impatience at the anticipation of the chorus, and also indicates his scorn of prophecy. Cp. infr. 1034 ff.
632. mvp-comment-372-1 τελείαν ψήφον The fixed, irreversible, decree. Creon means by his first words to exclude hope.
632. mvp-comment-372-2 ἆρα μή Can it be that.., expressing doubt mingled with surprise.
633. mvp-comment-373-1 τῆς μελλονύμφου Objective genitive. Essay on Language § 9. p. 12.
633. mvp-comment-373-2 λυσσαίνων · Madly raging; as if opposition to a father could only be accounted for by madness. The word is ἅπαξ λεγόμενον, and is for this reason preferable to the weaker θυμαίνων.
634. mvp-comment-374-1 σοὶ μέν i.e. Whatever we may be to others.
635-765. mvp-comment-375-1 Haemon professes obedience to his father, but with the implied condition that his father commands what is right. Not heeding this, Creon welcomes his general profession, and enlarges on the blessings that follow from obedience in public and private. He urges Haemon to renounce Antigone. Haemon replies by repeating the praise of her which he has heard in the city (Ar. Rhet. 3. 17, ἕτερον χρὴ λέγοντα ποιεῖν.. ὡς Σοφοκλῆς τὸν Αἴμονα ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἀντιγόνης πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, ὡς λεγόντων ἑτέρων), and begs his father not to be deaf to all opinions but his own. Creon is impatient at this, and, after an altercation, in which both speakers become exasperated, Creon orders Antigone to be brought for immediate execution, and Haemon breaks away in sullen anger. This episode interposes a necessary pause between the condemnation of Antigone and its results, i. e, between the two chief crises of the action, and assists the main impression by bringing the light of natural affection and common opinion to bear on the situation.
635-636. mvp-comment-376-1 σύ μοι γνώμας ἔχων | χρηστὰς ἀπορθοῖς Sc. ἐμέ. You, having good advice for me, direct me. μοι is in construction with the nearer word.
637. mvp-comment-377-1 No marriage can, if I think rightly, be a more valued prize to me. ἀξίως ἔσται has been changed to ἀξιώσεται. But ἀξιοῦσθαι μείζων φέρεσθαι, To be deemed of more importance to obtain, is an awkward and unauthorized expression and, for the position and emphatic use of the adverb, which is the only difficulty, see Essay on Language § 24. pp. 37, 38, and cp. the adverbial use of ἄξιος in El. 1260 ff., τίς .. ἀξίαν μεταβάλοιτ᾽ ἂν .. σιγὰν λόγων ;
638. mvp-comment-378-1 For μείζων, = τιμιώτερος, cp. Ο. Τ. 776, ἀστῶν μέγιστος τῶν ἐκεῖ.
638. mvp-comment-378-2 φέρεσθαι is in the middle voice.
638. mvp-comment-378-3 σοῦ καλῶς ἡγουμένου Than you and your good guidance. The condition is assumed to be inseparable from the subject, as in Plat. Rep. 1. 335 A, τὸν μὲν φίλον ἀγαθὸν ὄντα εὖ ποιεῖν, τὸν δὲ ἐχθρὸν κακὸν ὄντα βλάπτειν.
639. mvp-comment-379-1 οὕτω .. διὰ στέρνων ἔχειν Το be thoroughly imbued with this.
640. mvp-comment-380-1 'In all things to follow your father's judgment.' The image is that of taking up a position behind a leader: i. e. Not to break rank, but to follow in good order. Cp. Plat. Protag. 315 B, (the disciples of Protagoras) εὖ πως καὶ ἐν κόσμῳ . . ἀεὶ εἰς τὸ ὄπισθεν καθίσταντο κάλλιστα.
643. mvp-comment-381-1 τὸν ἐχθρόν 'Their father's enemy.'
646. mvp-comment-382-1 τί .. ἄλλο is governed by the general verbal notion, without distinctly anticipating φῦσαι.
648. mvp-comment-383-1 τὰς φρένας γ᾽ ὑφ᾽ ἡδονῆς The reading of Vat. is retained, not as clearly right, but as more probable than later corrections. γε may be supposed to give a strong emphasis to φρένας. Do not lose your wits, whatever you do. And this is rather confirmed by the way in which Haemon echoes the word in l. 683.
650-651. mvp-comment-384-1 ψυχρὸν παραγκάλισμα . . ἐν δόμοις 'Small comfort comes of such a union, of having a bad wife to share one's couch at home.'
653. mvp-comment-385-1 πτύσας Rejecting with abhorrence. Here and in l. 1232, πτύειν seems to imply a gesture of dislike or loathing, directed towards a person or thing. Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1192, ἐν μέρει δ' ἀπέπτυσαν | εὐνὰς ἀδελφοῦ.
653. mvp-comment-385-2 ὡσεί τε Αn Epic or Ionic form. See Introd. p. 456.
654. mvp-comment-386-1 The construction is rather μέθες τήνδε τινὶ νυμφεύειν, Leave her for some one to wed, than μέθες τήνδε νυμφεύειν τινί, Leave her to wed some one.
657. mvp-comment-387-1 ψευδή .. πόλει I certainly will not break my word to the state.
658. mvp-comment-388-1 ἀλλὰ κτενῶ The abruptness of the pause helps the incisiveness of Creon's language.
659-660. mvp-comment-389-1 εἰ γὰρ .. γένους For if I fail to bring up orderly those born akin to me, most surely I shall fail with those remote. Creon turns Antigone's nearness of kindred to him into a reason for severity. If he cannot control his kinswoman, how much less can he control the state! Authority begins at home.
659. mvp-comment-390-1 For ἐγγενή φύσει, see Essay on Language § 40. p. 69, and p. 82, B.
661. mvp-comment-391-1 τοῖς .. οἰκείοισιν Neuter. Creon characteristically relies on commonplace maxims.
663. mvp-comment-392-1 The transgressor who either violates the laws. The alternative is thought of after the sentence is begun. νόμους is in two constructions, (1) with ὑπερβάς, (2) with βιάζεται.
664. mvp-comment-393-1 τοὐπιτάσσειν Cp. supr. 485, and note.
664. mvp-comment-393-2 τοῖς κρατύνουσιν νοεῖ The reading of L here is rather more uncommon than the alternative reading, which may notwithstanding be right.
666. mvp-comment-394-1 For the optative, in a perfectly general supposition, see Essay on Language §36. p. 61.
666. mvp-comment-394-2 κλύειν Το obey.
667. mvp-comment-395-1 τἀναντία τὰ μεγαλὰ καὶ ἄδικα.
668-671. mvp-comment-396-1 And of this man (the man who obeys the ruler) I would have no fear but that he would rule nobly, and be a good and willing subject, and if posted near me in the storm of battle, would stand firmly as a staunch and trusty comrade. For the vague reference of the pronoun, see Essay on Language § 22. p. 34. And for δορός .. χειμῶνι, ib.
673. mvp-comment-397-1 αὕτη .. τίθησιν The anacoluthon (for which see Essay on Language p. 65) has been avoided in two ways, (1) by omission of τε, (2) by reading ἠδ' for ἥδ'. This Homericism is defended by comparing ὥσει τε in l. 653. There is slight MS. authority for both these changes (see v. rr.). But strong reasons are required for the introduction of a particle not used elsewhere by Sophocles, and after the regularly balanced τε.. ἠδέ, the asyndeton in the next line would be too abrupt. If any change were necessary, the omission of τ' would be preferable, but the lines are more expressive as they are.
674. mvp-comment-398-1 σὺν μάχῃ δορός Bothe conjectured συμμάχου δορός, The rout of the leagued war. But the reading of the MS. has a more vivid meaning. This, aiding the conflict of the spear, breaks down (the vanquished) into shapeless rout: i. e. Disorder helps with battle to make utter rout. For μάχῃ δορός, see Essay on Language p. 75, and for the accusative τροπάς, ib. § 17. p. 25, etc.
675. mvp-comment-399-1 τῶν δ᾽ ὀρθουμένων Of those who are not routed, but are successful. Opposed to οἱ ἡσσώμενοι implied in τροπάς. Cp. El. 742, ὠρθοῦθ' ὁ τλήμων ὀρθὸς ἐξ ὀρθῶν δίφρων.
677. mvp-comment-400-1 οὕτως.. κοσμουμένοις 'Thus one ought to support one's own decrees.' Thus, viz. as I am doing. For this use of the passive participle, see Essay on Language § 17. p. 25, с. Some would explain the words as masculine, One must defend the cause of the orderly subject. Cp. Thuc. 8. 24, ἐκοσμοῦντο ἐχυρώτερον. But such an immediate application of the γνώμη is less in character than the arbitrary assertion of authority. Cp. Hdt. 1. 100, τὰ δὲ δὴ ἄλλα ἐκεκοσμέατό οἱ.
681. mvp-comment-401-1 The form κεκλίμεθα (supposed from κλίνω) was supported by the authority of Thomas Magister.
683. mvp-comment-402-1 θεοὶ.. ὑπέρτατον Wisdom, whose value is above all possessions in the world, is the Gods gift.' Haemon begins by echoing his father's thought, supr. 648, that sound sense is to be prized most highly, but gently hints that Heaven only knows on which side the true wisdom lies. The reading χρημάτων requires ὑπέρτερον, as in L2.
686. mvp-comment-403-1 μήτ᾽ ἐπισταίμην λέγειν i. e. And may I never bring myself to say it. Cp. Trach. 543. 4, θυμοῦσθαι μὲν οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι | νοσοῦντι κείνῳ πολλά.
687. mvp-comment-404-1 χἀτέρῳ Schol. δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ ἑτέρως καλῶς μεταβουλεύσασθαι. Hence Erfurdt and others conjectured χἀτέρως, χατέρα, χἄτερον. Hermann, retaining χἀτέρῳ, interprets, Another also may have wisdom as well as you: i.e. καλῶς ἔχον, sc. τὸ τῶν φρενῶν. But the context rather suggests καλῶς ἔχον, sc. τὸ λέγειν σὲ μὴ ὀρθῶς λέγειν. 'That you are wrong in what you now say I have no power, and may I never have the skill, to affirm. But it may be that from another's mouth such an assertion were not ungracious.' καί in this case belongs to the whole sentence. See Essay on Language § 25. p. 43. 4.
688. mvp-comment-405-1 σοῦ δ᾽ οὖν πέφυκα is decidedly better than σὺ δ᾽ οὐ πέφυκας, which seems to have been suggested by τὸ γὰρ σὸν ὄμμα δεινόν, κ.τ.λ., in what follows. The true connection is, It is not for me to say that you are wrong, though another might do so. However, as your son, it naturally belongs to me to consider in your interest what men do, or say, or find fault with. For the common citizen does not speak his mind in your presence, but I may freely hear. Haemon winds about his father with all this circumstance before pleading for Antigone under shelter of the common opinion, which he professes to quote in the interest of Creon. The tact shown in this is noticed by Aristotle (Rhet. 3. 17) and by the Scholiast. The reading of A, V pr., V³, σοὶ δ' οὖν πέφυκα, deserves consideration.
690-691. mvp-comment-406-1 τὸ γὰρ .. κλύων For your eye overawes the subject in conversation which will displease you to hear. λόγοις τοιούτοις is dative of the occasion or reason, assisted by the attraction of οἷς. Essay on Language § 14. p. 20.
690-691. mvp-comment-406-2 τὸ γὰρ σόν The order puts an emphasis on σόν, as in O. Τ. 671, τὸ γὰρ σόν, οὐ τὸ τοῦδ᾽ ἐποικτείρω στόμα.
692. mvp-comment-407-1 ἐμοὶ δ᾽.. τάδε But I may hear all this under shadow (out of the light of your eye). The words ὑπὸ σκότου might equally have been connected with the following line. I hear in secret what is spoken in secret.
694. mvp-comment-408-1 ἀναξιωτάτη Sc. τοιαῦτα παθεῖν.
695. mvp-comment-409-1 ἀπ᾿ ἔργων See Essay on Language § 19. p. 28.
697. mvp-comment-410-1 πεπτῶτ᾽ ἄθαπτον i. e. πεπτώτα καὶ ἄθαπτον ὄντα.
697. mvp-comment-410-2 μήθ'.. μήθ' μή, not oὔ, because ἥτις, κ.τ.λ. = εἰ αὕτη, κ.τ.λ.
700. mvp-comment-411-1 ἐρεμνή Dark, i.e. Fraught with hidden danger. (Cp. ὑπὸ σκότου, supra). The word is used with something of the association of awe and dread attaching to night and darkness. Cp. Hom. Il. 1. 47. ὁ δ᾽ ἤτε νυκτὶ ἐοικώς.
701. mvp-comment-412-1 σοῦ πράσσοντος εὐτυχῶς Cp. supra 638, σοῦ καλῶς ἡγουμένου.
703. mvp-comment-413-1 πατρὸς θάλλοντος εὐκλείας The good renown of a prosperous sire. Haemon thus gently hints his fear of the effect of the sentence on Creon's reputation in the city.
704. mvp-comment-414-1 ἄγαλμα A cause of glorying or delight. Cp. infra 1115, Καδμείας νύμφας ἄγαλμα.
704. mvp-comment-414-2 ἢ τί πρὸς παίδων πατρί ; Or what greater ornament (than their own good fame) can children confer upon their father?
705-706. mvp-comment-415-1 Do not, I beseech you, wear one unchanging temper in your breast, and hold that nothing else is right but as you say. τοῦτο is added because of the imperfect correlation of the clauses. See Essay on Language p. 75.
707-709. mvp-comment-416-1 For ὅστις .. οὗτοι, ib. § 20. p. 31.
707-709. mvp-comment-416-2 For the formal distinction of φρονεῖν, γλῶσσαν, ψυχήν, cp. supra 176, ψυχήν τε καὶ φρόνημα καὶ γνώμην, and see Essay on Language pp. 92, 3.
710. mvp-comment-417-1 ἄνδρα Ε. on L. § 22. p. 37.
710. mvp-comment-417-2 κεἴ τις ᾖ Ε. on L. § 27. p. 44.
710. mvp-comment-417-3 τὸ μανθάνειν Essay on Language § 21. p. 34-38.
711. mvp-comment-418-1 καὶ τὸ μὴ τείνειν ἄγαν And not to hold too hard. This absolute use of τείνειν is generalized from the examples given below.
713-714. mvp-comment-419-1 Note the antithesis of κλῶνας .. αὐτόπρεμνα. The one save even their branches, the others are destroyed root and branch. For the image, cp. Webster's Appius and Virginia, p. 203. (iii. 3), The bending willow, yielding to each wind, | Shall keep his footing firm, when the proud oak, | Braving the storm, presuming on his root, | Shall have his body rent from head to foot.
715. mvp-comment-420-1 ναὸς .. ἐγκρατῆ πόδα The sheet which has power over the vessel. This is a more poetical and rhythmical expression than the other reading, ναὸς εἴ τις ἐγκρατής, πόδα | τείνας, ὑπείκει μηδέν.
716-717. mvp-comment-421-1 ὑπτίοις.. ναυτίλλεται Upsetting, makes the rest of his voyage with benches overturned. Join κάτω στρέψας. τὸ λοιπόν as in ll. 310, foll., where there is a similar contradictory expression. The omission of the accusative after στρέψας is natural in speaking of so familiar an occurrence as the over-setting of a boat. Essay on Language pp. 73, 98. τὸ πλοῖον, which Hermann reads for τὸ λοιπόν, is hardly a correct synonym for ναῦν or σκάφος.
718. mvp-comment-422-1 ἀλλ᾽.. δίδου Nay, yield. Be not wholly irremovable in anger. Lit. Afford also a removal from anger. This seems to be the best arrangement of this difficult line; i. e. εἰ θυμὸν ἔχεις, ἀλλὰ πεισθῆτι καὶ μεθίστασθαι τοῦ θυμοῦ. The asyndeton is expressive (Essay on Language § 34. P. 58). The reading of LA, ἀλλ᾽ εἶκε θυμῷ, is perhaps due to a false reminiscence of Il. 9.598, εἴξας ᾧ θυμῷ. Seyffert reads θυμῷ .. διδούς.
719-720. mvp-comment-423-1 γνώμη .. πρόσεστι For if any judgment proceed from me (ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ) though younger in years. Cp. Τr. 52, 3, εἰ δίκαιον τοὺς ἐλευθέρους φρενοῦν | γνώμαισι δούλοις; ib. 61, κἀξ ἀγεννήτων ἄρα | μύθοι καλῶς πίπτουσιν.
720-722. mvp-comment-424-1 The real stress is on the last line. The paratactic form of sentence is retained, the sense being, However excellent a thing perfect knowledge is, yet, since it is rare, it is well to take good advice.
720-722. mvp-comment-424-2 πρεσβεύειν] The active of this verb is rare in the metaphorical sense.
720-722. mvp-comment-424-3 πάντ᾽ ἐπιστήμης Of knowledge in all things. Essay on Language § 17. p. 24, b.
720-722. mvp-comment-424-4 εἰ δ᾽ οὖν Sc. μή, which is to be assumed from the next clause, where μή has a strong emphasis. For the sentiment, Hermann compares Hesiod, Op. 293, ἐσθλὸς δ᾽ αὖ κἀκεῖνος, ὃς εὖ εἰπόντι πίθηται.
725. mvp-comment-425-1 διπλᾶ is better than διπλῇ, because dwelling merely on the two speeches, and not on their divergence from each other.
726-727. mvp-comment-426-1 And at our age shall we forsooth be schooled by one so juvenile? For the inverted order, see Essay on Language § 26. p. 44: § 41. p. 77.
727. mvp-comment-427-1 For φύσιν, see Essay on Language p. 96.
728. mvp-comment-428-1 μηδὲν τὸ μὴ δίκαιον The combination of the indefinite μηδέν with the definite article is curious, and suggests the idea that μηδέν is adverbial.. But the Scholiast is probably right in explaining the words as equivalent to μηδὲν διδάσκου ὁ μὴ δίκαιόν ἐστί σοι μανθάνειν. Cp. supra 360, οὐδὲν .. τὸ μέλλον. Essay on Language § 22. p. 36. And for emphatic el, ib. § 28. p. 47, supr. 551.
729. mvp-comment-429-1 You ought not to regard differences of time, but rather to face the actual requirements of the case.' τἄργα are not the merits of Haemon, but the truth of his plea.
730. mvp-comment-430-1 What? Is it a "requirement" to fall down and worship rebels? Creon, as usual, represents mercy as submission. ἔργον ἐστί seems to have the same meaning as in σὸν ἔργον, and the like phrases; i.e. ἔργον almost = Duty.
731. mvp-comment-431-1 Nay, I would not bid thee reverence the wicked.
732. mvp-comment-432-1 'Why, is not she possessed by this disease?" viz. τῇ κακίᾳ.
733. mvp-comment-433-1 Not so declare her fellow-citizens in this town of Thebes.
736. mvp-comment-434-1 Is it right, I say, for another than me to rule this land? The reading of L and most MSS, ἄλλῳ.. μοί, (cp. Eur. Ion 1317) is supported by Thom. M. s. v. χρή, and is certainly the durior lectio. But he may have reasoned from a faulty text. See note on l. 681. γε is expressive. For M4 see list of MSS. in the Preface to this edition.
737.
mvp-comment-435-1
Cp. Aesch. Suppl. 370, σύ τοι πόλις, σὺ τὸ δήμιον; Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 1. 2,
When could they say, till now, that talked of Rome, | That her wide walls encompassed but one man? | Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough, | When there is in it but one only man. The genitive ἀνδρὸς .. ἑνός is ambiguous between possessive genitive and genitive of content.
A city belonging to one man, and
A city composed of one man.
738. mvp-comment-436-1 Is not the city counted a possession of the ruler? Essay on Language § 9. p. 12, b.
739. mvp-comment-437-1 A splendid monarch would you make to rule a desert land.
742. mvp-comment-438-1 This line is sometimes printed with a note of interrogation, as if the words διὰ δίκης ἰὼν πατρί were epexegetic of σοῦ.. προκήδομαι. ('Villain, when you are wrangling with your father?') But the connection of the lines in this στιχομυθία is not very close, and the more obvious meaning (Villain, to wrangle with your father!') is more probable.
743-745. mvp-comment-439-1 οὐ γὰρ δίκαια .. οὐ γὰρ σέβεις] Here, as in 730, ἔργον γάρ ἐστι, there is the same tendency to play on the word (κομψεύειν) that was observed in the speeches of the Φύλαξ.
745. mvp-comment-440-1 οὐ.. σέβεις It is not reverence when you trample on the honours of the Gods. Essay on Language § 53. p. 98, с.
751. mvp-comment-441-1 τινά i. e. σέ. Essay on Language § 22. p. 34, 4. Interpreters have avoided taking these words in their obvious meaning as implying a threat, which Haemon all but carries into execution afterwards in ll. 1233-1234. It is true, however, that this intention is less distinctly present to his mind than the conviction that vengeance will come to Creon from the gods and from popular feeling.
752. mvp-comment-442-1 κἀπαπειλών For the participle, see Essay on Language § 36. p. 63, €, b.
753. mvp-comment-443-1 τίς Almost = πῶς. Cp. О. С. 775, τίς αὕτη τέρψις;
756. mvp-comment-444-1 'Woman's minion that you are, mince not your words with me.' The subdued tone of Haemon (εἰ μὴ πατὴρ ἦσθ', εἶπον ἄν) only adds fuel to the wrath of Creon.
756. mvp-comment-444-2 For the contempt expressed in δούλευμα and μῖσος (760), see Essay on Language pp. 84, 85.
758. mvp-comment-445-1 άληθες See on O. T. 350.
759. mvp-comment-446-1 ἐπὶ ψόγοισι δεννάσεις Reproach and revile me. For the prepositional phrase, cp. El. 108, ἐπὶ κωκυτῷ, and see Essay on Language § 18. p. 27.
765. mvp-comment-447-1 So that you may exhibit your madness to those of your friends who can brook it. θέλουσι, sc. σοὶ μαινομένῳ ξυνεῖναι. There is a strong emphasis on this participle.
767. mvp-comment-448-1 And at his age the spirit, when chafed, is dangerous. Cp. O. C. 751, τηλικοῦτος, οὐ γάμων | ἔμπειρος ..: and for voûs, see Essay on Language p. 93.
768. mvp-comment-449-1 Cp. O. T. 1075, where Oedipus, with similar unconsciousness, says of Jocasta, who has just rushed out, ὁποῖα χρήζει ῥηγνύτω.
770. mvp-comment-450-1 The order of words shows that the chief emphasis is on ἄμφω : Essay on Language § 41. p. 77. Hence καί is to be taken with the whole sentence: ib. § 25. P. 43, 4. Do you really intend to put them both to death?
773. mvp-comment-451-1 ἔρημος.. στίβος Where track of human footstep there is none. The privative ἔρημος is used for the negative by a redundancy like those adduced in Essay on Language § 40. p. 75; and ἔρημος = ἄστειπτος (Phil. 2), so that the expression = Where no track of mortals has been trodden.
775. mvp-comment-452-1 i. e. τοσοῦτον μόνον, ὅσον ἄγος εἶναι. Essay on Language § 39. p. 74. For ἄγος = expiation, see Hesych., ἄγος· ἅγνισμα θυσίας, Σοφοκλῆς Φαίδρα.
776. mvp-comment-453-1 i. e. Lest the whole city might suffer pollution.
780. mvp-comment-454-1 περισσός Bootless. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 383, μόχθον περισσόν. It is characteristic of the time (cp. Thucydides) that the political energy of Creon is combined with scepticism.
781-800. mvp-comment-455-1 Haemon's disobedience to his father, against his own interest, is due to the might of love.
781-800. mvp-comment-455-2 'Never-vanquished love, that layest riches waste, keeping nightly watch in the fair, soft, youthful cheek: love that roamest over seas and findest out the wildest nook! No god, nor any mortal man, escapes thy maddening power. By love the upright mind is drawn to wrong unto its hurt. By love this present strife is kindled between kinsmen. And clearly triumphant is the influence of desire that cometh from the looks of the fair bride - desire that divides empire with the majestic law: so resistlessly doth goddess Aphrodite mock mankind.
781-800. mvp-comment-455-3 This little ode consists of a strophe and antistrophe, of which the scansion is as follows:- CCLトしてし CICCICII CCCICII IICIICCIト(CLトー 5-0-0-ICCICI-
781-800. mvp-comment-455-4 A glyconic quatrain is followed by two choriambic lines, and the strophe ends with a return to the glyconic rhythm. L. 7 admits of being otherwise divided, viz.: CCLCー.
781. mvp-comment-456-1 ἀνίκατε μάχαν Cp. the similar personification of θυμός by Heraclitus, χαλεπὸν θυμῷ μάχεσθαι, ψυχῆς γὰρ ὠνέεται.
782. mvp-comment-457-1 ὃς ἐν κτήμασι πίπτεις (i. e.
782. mvp-comment-457-2 ἐμπίπτεις κτήμασι.) These words have been variously interpreted and emended. They probably mean, Who fallest upon wealth, i. e. art the destroyer of possessions, ruining worldly fortunes in various ways, as the love of Helen wasted Troy, etc. Cp. Eur. Hipp. 538, foll., Ἔρωτα δὲ τὸν τύραννον ἀνδρῶν |.. πέρθοντα καὶ διὰ πάσας | ἰόντα συμφορὰς | θνατοῖς, ὅταν ἔλθῃ. So, in this instance, Haemon is losing all for love. Others interpret, Desire who makest wealth thy object (Schol. rec.), Love, who by attacking enslavest, or Who makest victims of the wealthy.
783-784. mvp-comment-458-1 ὃς .. ἐννυχεύεις Cp. Milton, L'Allegro, 29, 30, 'Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, | And love to live in dimple sleek.' Love is still figured as an enemy, who keeps nightly watch where he is ready to spring forth armed on the unwary. Pind. Nem. 8. 2, ὥρα .. παρθενηΐοις .. ἐφίζοισι γλεφάροις.
785. mvp-comment-459-1 The poet is thinking of legendary examples, such as Paris, Leander, Anchises, etc.
786. mvp-comment-460-1 σε .. φύξιμος i.e. δύναταί σε φεύγειν. Cp. Hom. h. Ven. 34. 5, τῶν δ' ἄλλων οὐ πέρ τι πεφυγμένον ἔστ᾽ Ἀφροδίτην, | οὔτε θεῶν μακάρων, οὔτε θνητῶν ἀνθρώπων. But see on 796 ff.
790. mvp-comment-461-1 ἁμερίων ἐπ᾿ ἀνθρώπων The insertion of the preposition, although omitted with θεῶν, is no objection to this reading. See Essay on Language § 19. p. 27: and for ἐπί, with the genitive, meaning In the case of, So far as extends to, cp. Plato, Rep. 3. 406 C, 8.. ἐπὶ .. τῶν δημιουργῶν αἰσθανόμεθα, alib. The force of the preposition and case here is nearer to the original locative sense, = Extending over, 'Quantum hominum genus propagatum extenditur. (Ellendt.)
790. mvp-comment-461-2 ὁ ἔχων Sc. τὸ νόσημα. Wecklein compares ἔχει, he is wounded, with reference to the arrow of love. But this is fanciful.
791-792. mvp-comment-462-1 ἀδίκους.. παρασπᾷς i. e. εἰς ἀδικίαν παρασπᾷς. Drawest awry to wrong. For this proleptic use of the adjective, see Essay on Language § 23. P. 39; § 38. p. 71.
792. mvp-comment-463-1 ἐπὶ λώβᾳ ‘Το their hurt or disgrace.'
794. mvp-comment-464-1 ξύναιμον is an emphatic epithet added by an afterthought (Essay on Language § 23. p. 38) and by hypallage made to agree with the principal word, although more properly belonging to ἀνδρῶν. (Ibid. § 42. p. 80).
795. mvp-comment-465-1 νικᾷ δ᾽ ἐναργής i. e. ἐναργής ἐστι νικῶσα.
795. mvp-comment-465-2 βλεφάρων ἵμερος The modern poet speaks of love as engendered in the eyes, with gazing fed: the ancients rather spoke of an influence passing from the eye of the beloved (τὸ ἐρωτικὸν ὄμμα, Plat. Phaedr. 253 E) to the soul of the lover. Desire was viewed as an emanation from the object. Hence Plato's account of ἵμερος, Phaedr. 251 Β, C, δεξάμενος γὰρ τοῦ κάλλους τὴν ἀπορροὴν διὰ τῶν ὀμμάτων, ἐθερμάνθη ἢ ἡ τοῦ πτεροῦ φύσις ἄρδεται .. ὅταν μὲν οὖν βλέπουσα πρὸς τὸ κάλλος, ἐκεῖθεν μέρη ἐπιόντα καὶ ῥέοντα, ἃ δὴ διὰ τοῦτο ἵμερος καλεῖται, δεχομένη ἄρδηταί τε καὶ θερμαίνηται, λωφᾷ τε τῆς ὀδύνης καὶ γέγηθεν. This ancient conception, which had a root in language as well as in philosophy, is reflected even in Milton, L'Allegro, 1. 121, With store of ladies, whose bright eyes | Rain influence, though in this case probably with a further allusion to astrology.
796-799. mvp-comment-466-1 τῶν .. θεσμῶν In the counsels of princes holding an equal place with the majesty of law. This seems the best way of taking these words, which have been variously interpreted; e.g. Equal to the laws in power. 'Assessor in the authority of the laws, etc. There is an allusion to Haemon, who, though a prince, has been led to disobey his father, and to disregard the edict of the king. Cp. Hdt. 4. 165, ἐν βουλῇ παρίζουσα. The resolution of the arsis in πάρεδρος is extremely unusual; see Christ's Metrik, § 178; and Arndt suggested ξύνθρονος ἀρχαῖς, 'Assessor with the rule of majesticlaw. But qy. πάρεδρος *ἀρχαῖς, with "πέφευγεν οὐδείς in 786 ff.? (IILUCCICII).
800. mvp-comment-467-1 Wecklein finds here an oxymoron, turning on the opposition of μάχη and παιδιά. She is resistless, though sport is her only weapon. But this is doubtful.
804. mvp-comment-468-1 παγκοίταν.. θάλαμον The chamber where all must lie. The implied contrast between the fate of Antigone and her intended bridal recurs repeatedly throughout the latter part of the play. Supr. 575, Ἅιδης ὁ παύσων τούσδε τοὺς γάμους γάμ ἔφυ: infr. 891, νυμφεῖον : 1205, νυμφεῖον" Αιδου κοίλον.
806-802. mvp-comment-469-1 Antigone bewails her untimely death, and the chorus attempt to console her by pointing to the singularity of her end. She quotes the example of Niobe, who was encrusted with rock. But Niobe, rejoin the chorus, was a Divine Being. Then the maiden bursts into a cry against such vain comfort, and appeals to the forms of nature around Thebes to bear witness to the strangeness of her fate. The tone of the chorus changes to admonition. Thou hast offended against the majesty of law. Some curse, inherited from thy sire, must have led thee on. At last they have touched her, but it is only to aggravate her sorrow. Dire indeed had been the curse upon her parents; and now she is going to be with them, having never tasted any joy. Her brother's seeming success in marriage had been death to him and to her. The chorus reiterate that piety towards her brother should have yielded to authority. Selfwill has been thy ruin. Antigone: 'Friendless, unmourned, uncomforted, I leave the holy light of day. I die unmarried, and no one weeps for me.'
806-802. mvp-comment-469-2 The metres in this commos, ll. 806-833, chiefly logaoedic. and for the most part glyconic, are as follows:- α΄. 806-816, 823-833. 805 luclu IIC1CCI II1CCIC ―トしかしCICLL Anapaests of cho. 817-822, 834-837- β'. Second strophe and antistrophe. 51IC (トートートートー ICCICII にかくCIトトに CICLC- トトロー CCLCICIC 15010し! 이기 5- ἐπ. } Iambic. ひトしレトCCICI- 51110CIRKIICCI CICCー トリート ―トしーしトー
806-802. mvp-comment-469-3 The effect produced by the epitrite rhythm in a' 9. β΄ 8, ἐπ. 5, and of the spondees in ß' 6, is especially noticeable.
808. mvp-comment-470-1 νέατον is an adjective. See on Ο. Τ. 155.
810. mvp-comment-471-1 κοὔποτ᾽ αὖθις Sc. ὄψομαι φέγγος ἀελίου.
810. mvp-comment-471-2 παγκοίτας is here active='That seals up all in rest.' Essay on Language pp. 98, 101. The metre suggests πάγκοιτος, cp. infr. 828, the corresponding line of the antistrophe.
812-813. mvp-comment-472-1 Ἀχέροντος ἀκτάν Hom. Od. 10. 509, ἔνθ᾽ ἀκτή τε λάχεια: ib. 513, ἔνθα μὲν εἰς Ἀχέροντα πυριφλεγέθων τε ῥέουσι, κ.τ.λ.
815. mvp-comment-473-1 *ἐπινύμφειος, which Dindorf has restored for ἐπινυμφίδιος, is more probable than ἐπὶ νυμφείοις, although this appears to be supported by the note of the Scholiast, λείπει θύραις ἢ κοίταις.
816. mvp-comment-474-1 Ἀχέροντι As other maidens have been wedded to rivers upon the earth.
820. mvp-comment-475-1 ξιφέων ἐπίχειρα The wages of the sword; i.e. Death given by the sword.
821. mvp-comment-476-1 αὐτόνομος The Scholiast explains this, ἰδίοις αὐτῆς νόμοις χρησαμένη. This is not free from ambiguity; but the true meaning is rather By an ordinance peculiar to your case (ἰδίᾳ τινὶ σεαυτῆς νόμῳ), than In your independence of law, or As being a law to yourself. The chorus nowhere speak with admiration of the independent attitude of Antigone, although they secretly sympathize with her pious motive. The word is used with consciousness of the derivation. The νόμος which is peculiar to Antigone is the privilege of a living death.
823. mvp-comment-477-1 λυγροτάταν In sorriest plight. Supplementary predicate.
824-825. mvp-comment-478-1 τὰν Φρυγίαν ξέναν Ταντάλου] Our friend far off in Phrygia, Tantalus' daughter.' Sipylus was placed by some in Phrygia, by others in Lydia. (Strabo, 12. p. 571.) Donaldson well remarks that févar is applied to Niobe, because she married Amphion, king of Thebes.
828. mvp-comment-479-1 ὄμβρῳ τακομέναν The conjectural emendation ὄμβροι has been very generally received. But the Highlands of Phrygia are not subject to perpetual showers. It is more natural to think of a snow-capped peak ever running down with moisture from the melting snow. On the general sense thus given to ὄμβρος, see Essay on Language § 52. p. 98. And as she flows down with moisture, the snow leaves her not, but still she wets the ridges of her neck beneath her tearful brow. The position of T' need cause no difficulty. Essay on Language pp. 65,6. It has been observed that the words ὀφρύς and δειράς are equally applicable to a mountain and to a human being. The subj. of τέγγει is not χιών but ὁ Νιόβα.
834. mvp-comment-480-1 It is doubtful whether θειογενής οι θεογεννής (= θεογέννητος) should be read for the unmetrical θεογενής.
836. mvp-comment-481-1 Of the two readings, φθιμένα and φθιμένῳ, both of which are given by L, and were known to the Scholiast, the feminine is more likely to be due to a corrector.
837. mvp-comment-482-1 The words ζῶσαν καὶ ἔπειτα θανοῦσαν have little point, and being omitted by Aldus (as in A), have never been restored except by Seyffert, who reads μέγα κἀκοῦσαι in l. 836. Those who omit 837, invert the preceding lines for the sake of the paroemiac, and read καίτοι φθιμένῳ τοῖς ἰσοθέοις | ἔγκληρα λαχεῖν μέγ᾽ ἀκοῦσαι. For ἀκοῦσαι, to have said of one, cp. Phil. 1074, ἀκούσομαι μὲν ὡς ἔφυν οἴκτου πλέως.
840. mvp-comment-483-1 *οὐλομέναν The conjecture of Martin. οἰχομέναν (Wunder) also deserves to be considered.
842. mvp-comment-484-1 She first turns from the elders to the city at large; and then, remembering how little sympathy she has had from man, she appeals, like Philoctetes (936 ff.), in a fresh outburst, to the familiar presences' of nature.
843. mvp-comment-485-1 πολυκτήμονες Thebes was proverbially a wealthy city.
844. mvp-comment-486-1 ἰώ Here she breaks into a louder cry.
845. mvp-comment-487-1 ἄλσος The open ground about the city. Cp. Εl. 5, τῆς οἰστροπλῆγος ἄλσος Ἰνάχου κόρης.
847. mvp-comment-488-1 οἷα, like ὀμοιοτάταν in 832, and λυγροτάταν in 823, is supplementary predicate, and equivalent to an adverb.
851. mvp-comment-489-1 Hermann (ed. 1839) was contented to read οὔτε βροτοῖσιν οὔτ᾽ ἐν νεκροῖσιν, but remarked that the long anacrusis of the second part of the line, οὔτ᾽ ἐν νεκροῖσιν = γάμων κυρήσας is very rare. Qu βροτοῖς, οὔτε τις ἐν νεκροίσιν? But the original line is probably lost.
852. mvp-comment-490-1 Advancing to the utmost verge of daring thou didst fall violently, my daughter, against the lofty throne of Right. ἐκτίνεισ Α.
854. mvp-comment-491-1 βάθρον is here the pedestal on which the image of justice is imagined to rest. Cp. Plat. Phaedr. 254 B, ἰδόντος δὲ τοῦ ἡνιόχου ἡ μνήμη πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κάλλους φύσιν ἠνέχθη. καὶ πάλιν εἶδεν αὐτὴν μετὰ σωφροσύνης ἐν ἁγνῷ βάθρῳ βεβῶσαν, Ο. Τ. 865, νόμοι. . ὑψίποδες.
855. mvp-comment-492-1 πολύ is allowed to pass by Hermann without comment, but has been more recently called in question, partly on the metrical ground that the line should end with a long syllable.
855. mvp-comment-492-2 πολύς is certainly no improvement. On the attempt to give special force to such a general word, see Essay on Language § 51. p. 97.
856. mvp-comment-493-1 But thou art paying some debt of expiation inherited from thy sire.' άθλος is here a task or burden imposed by some higher power, like the labours of Heracles, and is perhaps associated by Sophocles with the derivative ἄθλιος. The combined metaphorical use of ἆθλος and ἐκτίνειν is not too great a stretch of language for Sophocles. Essay on Language p. 105.
857. mvp-comment-494-1 Thou hast touched my saddest thought, the thrice-told tale of my father's sorrow.' Boeckh has cleared up the difficulties of this passage (1) by showing that οἶκτον harmonizes better with the context than οἶτον or οἶκον, and also gives a construction to πότμου: (2) by tracing the derivation of τριπόλιστον from πολίζω = πολέω, which occurs in the compound avναπολίζω : (3) by rightly explaining the dative Λαβδακίδαισιν. See Essay on Language § 13. p. 19. He also points out that μερίμνας is genitive, because the singular is more forcible, and μέριμναν would have suited the metre equally well. The only remaining doubt is the construction of οἶκτον.
857. mvp-comment-494-2 ψαύειν may govern the accusative, as appears from 961. But the change from the genitive to the accusative is still to be accounted for. (1) The word ἔψαυσας was chosen with special reference to μερίμνας. ἔλεξας, or some other general word, would have been sufficient if this had not intervened. Hence the general meaning of the verb (= ἔλεξας) is alone continued. (2) The case is partly governed by the verbal notion in μερίμνας = 8 μεριμνῶ. (3) The tendency of a Greek sentence is to pass from a more special to a more general construction. Essay on Language pp. 64, 5, οἶκτον is to be resumed with πότμου, which is co-ordinate with πατρός. Thou hast harped on what my mind broods over with saddest care, the thrice renewed pity for my father, and for the general fortune of our race, the lot that fell upon the famed Labdacidae. Seyffert thinks that in τριπόλιστον Antigone is thinking of her own ever-deepening grief. But the Scholiast and Boeckh are probably right in explaining the word (like κλεινοῖς) with reference to the widely felt compassion for Oedipus. Cp. O. C. 517, τό τοι πολὺ καὶ μηδαμὰ λῆγον: ib. 597, πᾶς τοῦτό γ' Ἑλλήνων θροεῖ. For τριπόλιστον, cp. Phil. 1238, δὶς ταὐτὰ βούλει καὶ τρὶς ἀναπολεῖν μ' ἔπη.
861. mvp-comment-495-1 κλεινοῖς is said with bitterness, as in O. T. 1207, κλεινὸν Οἰδίπου κάρα. The dative is used in explanation of ἁμετέρου, Ist as clearer than the genitive with so many genitives preceding; 2nd with an ethical' force; the lot that fell on us. 863. O my mother, to whom marriage was calamity, O my hapless father, who in wedlock with a mother, held guilty intercourse with her from whom he came.' ματρῷαι λέκτρων ἆται] ‘My mother's calamity in marriage.' λέκτρων is descriptive or distinctive genitive (Essay on Language § 9. p. 12), and the possessive ματρῷαι is joined to λέκτρων ἆται taken as one word. In observing Antigone's tenderness for her mother we are reminded that the plot of the Oedipus Tyrannus was not yet conceived.
865. mvp-comment-496-1 ματρός is objective genitive, after κοιμήματα = ξυνουσίαι, and also descriptive, like γάμοι τέκνων, Ο. C. 945. For the condensed expression κοιμήματά τ᾿ αὐτογέννητ᾽ = τὸ κοιμηθῆναι σὺν ταύτῃ ἐξ ἧς αὐτὸς ἐγεννήθη, see Essay on Language § 43. p. 81, and for the force of αὐτός in composition, ibid. p. 101. The dative ἐμῷ πατρί (Ε. on L. § 13. p. 19, see on l. 861) is occasioned by the adjective; i. e. αὐτογέννητ᾽ ἦν αὐτῷ τὰ κοιμήματα. The nature of constructions in such condensed expressions can only be explained by expanding each phrase into a sentence. The meaning of the passive verbal termination in αὐτογέννητα is extremely indefinite. The other way of taking the words ('Connubium dicit Jocastae cum Oedipo quem ipsa pepererat,' Dind.), although giving a more obvious construction to the dative, has the fatal blemish of making a twofold apostrophe to Jocasta, whereas οἵων implies a reference to both parents, which is much more forcible.
865. mvp-comment-496-2 The Laur. reading δυσμόρῳ is preferable, because of the peculiar significance of κοιμήματα ματρός.
866. mvp-comment-497-1 οἴων is to be immediately referred to κοιμήματα, Such wedlock as gave me birth.
868. mvp-comment-498-1 μέτοικος may possibly have the association of an alien,' because she could not expect to meet with proper burial. But for the generalised meaning of μέτοικος, cp. supr. 852: О. С. 934: infr. 890, μετοικίας.
872-875. mvp-comment-499-1 There is some piety in pious action; but, as towards him who wieldeth it, authority must in no wise be transgressed. A self-determined impulse hath undone thee.' Cp. Phil. 138, τέχνα γὰρ τέχνας ἑτέρας προὔχει | καὶ γνώμα παρ' ὅτῳ τὸ θεῖον | Διὸς σκῆπτρον ἀνάσσεται, where there is a similar ellipse of the antecedent. The meaning is, He who has authority must not suffer authority to be thwarted. This may be made clearer by supplying ἐκείνῳ, as dative of the person interested, for the antecedent to ὅτῳ. He must not have it (i.e. suffer it to be) transgressed.
877. mvp-comment-500-1 Unhappy, I am led the way that is here prepared for me.' Creon has already entered before these words are said. Cp. infr. 933-934. Mm
883. mvp-comment-501-1 ἀοιδὰς .. πρὸ τοῦ θανεῖν Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1444-1445, ἡ δέ τοι κύκνου δί· κην | τὸν ὕστατον μέλψασα θανάσιμον γόον | κεῖται φιλήτωρ τοῦδε.
884. mvp-comment-502-1 εἰ χρείη If it were allowed. Ср. О. Т. 1110, εἰ χρή τι κἀμὲ μὴ συναλλάξαντά πω, | πρέσβυ, σταθμᾶσθαι: Ο. C. 1711, πῶς με χρὴ τὸ σὸν τάλαιναν ἀφανίσαι τοσόνδ' ἄχος. This modified use of χρή = One is to, not One must,' is only possible in hypothetical or interrogative sentences.
887. mvp-comment-503-1 ἄφετε This is on the whole more probable than ἄπιτε. The change from the future with οὐκ to the imperative has probably occasioned the corruption of the text.
887. mvp-comment-503-2 χρή This the Scholiast explained by χρήσει, i. e. he read χρῇ. And this is necessary, if τυμβεύειν is read in 888. But τυμβεύσει, the reading of Triclinius, is supported by τυμβεύει in AV³. Whether she must die there, or shall live a buried life in that dark cell. For εἰ .. χρή, cp. Εl. 399, πεσούμεθ', εἰ χρή, πατρὶ τιμωρούμενοι. And for τυμβεύσει, see Essay on Language p. 64 b. The intransitive use of τυμβεύειν occurs nowhere else.
889. mvp-comment-504-1 Creon claims to be pure from the blood of Antigone, because he has altered the doom of stoning (1. 36) to that of immurement, and because of the modicum of food that is to be shut in with her, ὡς ἄγος (1. 775).
890. mvp-comment-505-1 'At all events she shall no longer share the right of dwelling with us in the light of day.'
891-892. mvp-comment-506-1 'O cavernous abode of long imprisonment, at once my bridal-chamber and my tomb.'
896. mvp-comment-507-1 πρὶν .. βίου 'Before my allotted portion of life is spent.' Cp. Il. 4. 170, μοῖραν ἀναπλήσῃς βιότοιο. For ἐξήκειν, cp. Τr. 147, ἀλλ᾽ ἡδοναῖς ἄμοχθον ἐξαίρει βίον | ἐς τοῦθ', ἕως ἄν, κ.τ.λ.
897. mvp-comment-508-1 κάρτ᾽ ἐν ἐλπίσιν τρέφω I do cherish it amongst my hopes.
899. mvp-comment-509-1 κασίγνητον κάρα This must be addressed to Polynices, who is most in the thoughts of the spectators, and is again invoked in the same words in 1.915: not to Eteocles, of whose burial Antigone only knew by hearsay, supr. 23 ff. The difficulty of reconciling this with the following lines has been adduced as one of several reasons for rejecting the passage from l. 900 to l. 928 in whole or in part. The lines 905-912 are apt to appear to modern readers, as they did to Goethe, a blemish in a place which might have been expected to be most carefully finished. The saying, which Herodotus, 3. 119, attributes almost in the same terms to the wife of Intaphernes, would seem from this to have had a wide currency in Ionia-for it is a precarious supposition that either author derived it from the other-and fell in with the natural tendency of Greek life to exalt the bond of brotherhood above all other ties of affection and kindred. The general feeling of the speech is well traced by Seyffert. Antigone, when brought face to face with death, in utter isolation from human sympathy, comes down from the lofty tone she had assumed in her first answer to Creon, and recognizes the simple fact that it was the strength of her affection which impelled her to defy the law. Her love for Poly- nices was wonderful, passing the love that could be felt for a husband or a child. She dilates on this and justifies it by a primitive sophism, which the passage of Herodotus cited above shows to be more in the spirit of the time of Sophocles or of the age preceding him than of any later period. If the Antigone is the earliest of the seven plays (see Introduction), we need not be surprised by an archaism of thought which is much less remarkable than several which occur in Aeschylus. In an early English ballad, called the Douglas Tragedy, a woman interceding for the life of her father, whom her lover would slay, gives the following reason :-'True lovers I can get many a one, | But a father I'll never get more.'
900-901. mvp-comment-510-1 In these lines she is thinking of her father and mother. The libation only had been given to Polynices, who is specially mentioned in the following line. Ll. 900, I could not have been written after O. C. 1756 ff.
903. mvp-comment-511-1 περιστέλλουσα Decking for burial,' and SO also protecting from insult. 904. And certainly those who consider rightly will say I did honour thee. For the dative, see Essay on Language § 13. p. 19. Others take e with ἐτίμησα, but for the stress, it was a real honour,'-cp. the emphatic use of ἄνηρ, Ο. C. 393, and of ὕβρις, ib. 882.
905. mvp-comment-512-1 Feeling the incongruity of saying, If I had lost a child, she says, If I had had children, leaving the further supposition to be implied. Mm2
906. mvp-comment-513-1 κατθανὼν ἐτήκετο Had been wasting in death. Cp. 1. 410, μυδῶν τε σῶμα γυμνώσαντες εὖ.
907. mvp-comment-514-1 βίᾳ πολιτών Cp. supr. 74, 5. Creon is the representative of the State, and the elders in supr. 872 ff. have confirmed his sentence. Antigone is throughout perfectly conscious of the nature of her action, and at this moment she sees more clearly than ever the audacity of it. But even after the impulse has subsided she goes resolutely, though sadly, to her fate.
908. mvp-comment-515-1 νόμου Principle. Cp. supr. ll. 191, 613.
909. mvp-comment-516-1 κατθανόντος Sc. τοῦ πόσεως.
910. mvp-comment-517-1 τοῦδε τοῦ παιδός.
912. mvp-comment-518-1 οὐκ ἔστ᾿ .. ποτέ Although not strictly logical, this is much more touching and expressive than οὐκ ἔσθ' ὅπως ἀδελφὸς ἂν βλάστοι ποτέ, which it has been proposed to substitute here.
916. mvp-comment-519-1 διὰ χερῶν .. λαβών διά lit. = Between. Cp. διαλαμβάνω in Hdt., e.g. 1. 114, ἐκέλευε αὐτὸν τοὺς ἄλλους παῖδας διαλαβεῖν: Plat. Rep. В. 10. p. 615 Ε, τοὺς μὲν διαλαβόντες ἦγον.
918. mvp-comment-520-1 παιδείου τροφῆς The rearing of children. This is censured by Dindorf as unmaidenly: but cp. El. 963-966, καὶ τῶνδε μέντοι μηκέτ᾽ ἐλπίσῃς ὅπως | τεύξει ποτ· οὐ γὰρ ὧδ᾽ ἄβουλός ἐστ᾿ ἀνὴρ | Αἴγισθος, ὥστε σόν ποτ᾿ ἡ κἀμὸν γένος | βλαστεῖν ἐᾶσαι, πημονὴν αὐτῷ σαφή : Eur. Ion 485 ff., ἐμοὶ μὲν πλούτου τε πάρος | βασιλικῶν τ' εἶεν θαλάμων | τροφαὶ κήδειοι κεδνῶν τέκνων, κ.τ.λ. For the active sense of τροφή in the passage last quoted and in the text, see Essay on Language $ 53. p. 98, and cp. El. 1143 ff., οἴμοι τάλαινα τῆς ἐμῆς πάλαι τροφῆς | ἀνωφελήτου, τὴν ἐγὼ θάμ᾽ ἀμφί σοι | πόνῳ γλυκεῖ πάρεσχον.
919. mvp-comment-521-1 ἔρημος πρὸς φίλων For the redundant preposition, see Essay on Language §19. p. 28.
920. mvp-comment-522-1 θανάτων, which occurs only in L and M³, is very unlikely to have been changed to θανόντων in the Byzantine period. The latter is therefore probably the authentic reading, and not merely due to conjecture.
921-922. mvp-comment-523-1 ποίαν..; τί χρή ..; The suddenness of these transitions is very expressive of the agitation of Antigone's mind. Her fate leads her even to doubt the providence of the gods, but not to admit that she has done wrong. She will make the admission when death has taught it her, but not before. If her judges are wrong they will suffer too.
922-923. mvp-comment-524-1 ἐς θεοὺς .. βλέπειν Cp. El. 925, μηδὲν ἐς κεῖνόν γ᾽ ὅρα.
923. mvp-comment-525-1 ξυμμάχων ; The partitive genitive expresses with greater emphasis what might have been expressed by the accusative.
923. mvp-comment-525-2 ἐπεί γε δή The momentary doubt about the vindication of right in the world heightens the tragic effect. Cp. Phil. 428, τί δῆτα δεῖ σκοπεῖν; ib. 451, 2, ποῦ χρὴ τίθεσθαι ταῦτα, ποῦ δ᾽ αἰνεῖν, ὅταν | τὰ θεῖ᾽ ἐπαινῶν, τοὺς θεοὺς εὕρω κακούς; Trach. 1266: Aj. 950 ff.
924. mvp-comment-526-1 τὴν δυσσέβειαν The vice of impiety is confused with the blame of impiety, just as ἀρετή sometimes means a reputation for virtue. Cp. Phil. 1443, ἡ γὰρ εὐσέβεια συνθνήσκει βροτοῖς. Εςsay on L. p. 95.
925. mvp-comment-527-1 If, after all, this course of theirs is approved in heaven, when I have suffered I suppose I shall acknowledge my fault. The emphatic position of παθόντες implies, After I have suffered, but not before.' K εγ
927. mvp-comment-528-1 μὴ πλείω κακὰ | πάθοιεν This has actually been interpreted as a prayer of Antigone for her enemies. Others explain it as a warning to them Let them see to it that they do not suffer more. The real meaning is, that she cannot imprecate heavier sufferings on them than they are inflicting on her. Let them suffer, I will not say more, but the same evils which they unrighteously inflict on me. For a curse, similarly half-checked in utterance, with μή. cp. Phil. 961, ὅλοιο μή πω, πρὶν μάθοιμ᾽ εἰ καὶ πάλιν | γνώμην μετοίσεις. To translate this Mayest thou not perish yet, would be a similar mistake to that which has caused the difficulty about the present passage. It is true, however, that Antigone's tone is rather that of one who judges, than of one who condescends to ban her enemies.
927. mvp-comment-528-2 οἴδε Sc. οἱ πολίται. See above, 1.907 and note.
929-930. mvp-comment-529-1 For the addition of αὑταί, see Essay on Language § 40. p. 75, 2, and for ψυχῆς, which is added to soften the metaphor (since the chorus are less bold in an anapaestic than in a purely lyric passage, supr. 137), see ib. 5.
930. mvp-comment-530-1 τήνδε γ' γε gives a natural emphasis to τήνδε, and there is no ground for the conjecture τήνδ' ἐπέχουσιν.
931. mvp-comment-531-1 τούτων, which is genitive of the cause, is not likely to have been interpolated. It is more probable that the second τοι arose from διττογραφία.
933-934. mvp-comment-532-1 θανάτου ἀφίκται This word is nearest death of all that have come. Cp. Thuc. 3. 59, χαλεπώτατον τοῖς ὧδε ἔχουσι λόγου τελευτᾶν, διότι καὶ τοῦ βίου ὁ κίνδυνος ἐγγὺς μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ. The adverb of place is supplementary predicate; see Essay on Language § 24. p. 40. 935-936. μὴ οὐ follows the rule laid down in Essay on Language § 29. p. 49, 3 a. Böckh and Dindorf, taking a hint from the Scholia, give these lines to the chorus, on the ground that Creon has already withdrawn all hope. But the word κατακυροῦσθαι is characteristic of Creon, who may be thought not unlikely, even superfluously. to have made this final assertion of his will.
938. mvp-comment-533-1 θεοὶ προγενεῖς My divine ancestry, including Cadmus and Harmonia, and their parents. Cp. supr. 199, θεοὺς τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς, and note: Hdt. 2.143, Ἑκαταίῳ . . ἀναδήσαντι τὴν πατριὴν εἰς ἑκκαιδέκατον θεών.
940. mvp-comment-534-1 O royal line of Thebè!' This has usually been explained as an address to the chorus. But Antigone expects no more sympathy from them (least of all if ll. 935-936 are rightly given to the chorus). It is rather an apostrophe to the members of the princely family living and dead, including the θεοὶ προγενεῖς. Cp. Aesch. Cho. 800-802, οἱ τ' ἔσω δωμάτων πλουτογαθῆ μυχὸν νομίζετε | κλῦτε, σύμφρονες θεοί.
941. mvp-comment-535-1 *βασιλειδᾶν is Seyffert's ingenious emendation, based on Hesychius' βασιλείδης· ὁ τοῦ βασιλέως. Ismene is throughout only thought of as a foil for Antigone, and there is no more impropriety in Antigone speaking of herself as the last of her race than in the chorus (supr. 599 ff.) singing of the extinction of the light that was spreading over the last remaining shoot of the Labdacidae.
942. mvp-comment-536-1 πρὸς οἴων ἀνδρῶν As a princess, she speaks with scorn of Creon, who is not of royal birth. The words may also contain an allusion to the ἦθος of his (or the chorus'?) last speech.
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,
Scandit aeratas vitiosa naves | Cura. ἁλίκτυποι is passive:
Sea-beaten.
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.
958-961. mvp-comment-549-1 So dire is the excess of rage that flows from madness. He learned at length that it was in madness that he provoked the God with biting speech.' The emphatic reivos applies the γνώμη to the case of Lycurgus. There is a stress on μανίαις.
959. mvp-comment-550-1 τᾶς μανίας Genitive of derivation, partly governed by ἀπό in comp.
959. mvp-comment-550-2 ἀποστάζει For the metaphorical use, cp. Aesch. Ag. 178, στάζει ἐν θ᾽ ὕπνῳ πρὸ καρδίας | μνησιπήμων πόνος. Others render, trickles away, i.e. comes to nought. But οὕτω is more naturally joined with the adjectives, whose position shows that they are emphatic, than with the verb.
960. mvp-comment-551-1 ἀνθηρόν 'Blooming, and so reaching its height: cp. Tr. 1089, ἤνθηκεν, ἐξώρμηκεν. A fury so over-powering, i.e. Leading inevitably to such calamitous issues.
960. mvp-comment-551-2 ἐπέγνω He recognised afterwards, i.e. when punished.
960. mvp-comment-551-3 μανίαις Dative of manner, expressing the predicate, quasi ἐν μανίαις. Essay on Language $ 14. pp. 20, 21. The v. r. μανίας (acc. plur.) is not so good.
961. mvp-comment-552-1 ψαύων In the rather unusual sense of Tempting, Provoking' (= έρε θίζων, cp. καθάπτεσθαι), and hence used, πρὸς τὸ σημαινόμενον, with the accusative. For the language of this passage, cp. Plat. Polit. 310 D, ἐξανθεῖν παντάπασι μανίαις: ib. 273 D, τελευτώντος δ᾽ ἐξανθεῖ τοῦ χρόνου : Legg. 6. 783 Α, διαπυρωτάτους . . μανίαις : ib. 9. 881 Β, μὴ μανίαις ἐχόμενος. And for the construction of κεῖνος.. θεόν, cp. Pind. Pyth. 8. 12, τὰν οὐδὲ Πορφυρίων μάθεν παρ' αἶσαν ἐξερεθίζων. For ἐν, of the instrument, see Essay on Language § 19. p. 27.
964. mvp-comment-553-1 The Bacchic fire,' i.e. The lighted torches of the Bacchanalian rout. Cp. O. T. 214: Eurip. Bacch. 146.
965.
mvp-comment-554-1
Μούσας
Inter Bacchi comites a Diodoro 4. 4, recensentur Musae. (Musgrave.) They are associated by Plato in the Laws, B. 2, p. 672 C. The Muses are here lovers of the flute, i.e. of the Phrygian orgiastic music.
966-968. mvp-comment-555-1 And hard by Cyanean rocks that divide the seas, are the cliffs of the Bosphorus and the Thracian promontory of Salmydessus, where,' etc. The genitive gives indefiniteness to the notion of place, and παρά implies neighbouring extent.
966. mvp-comment-556-1 πελαγέων, see v. rr., although metrically allowable (πελᾶγεων), is condemned by the vagueness of the meaning and the tautology in πελαγέων .. ἁλός. The ingenious conjecture of Wieseler is therefore adopted. It is confirmed by the gloss πετρῶν. The 1st syllable of Ἄρης is long in arsi supr. 139.
969. mvp-comment-557-1 The lost cretic has been differently supplied: ἄξevos Boeckh, ήτων Meineke. A verb is more wanted, e. g.
969. mvp-comment-557-2 ἵσταται, κλήζεται.
970. mvp-comment-558-1 ἀγχίπτολις Ἄρης This can only mean The War-god whose temple is near the city (of Salmydessus). Cp. Aesch. S. c. T. 501. The details of the legend as accepted by Sophocles are unknown to us, and hence we can hardly judge of the appropriateness of the epithet. The Thracian worship of Ares is well known.
971. mvp-comment-559-1 δισσοῖσι Φινεΐδαις Dative of direct reference depending on τυφλωθέν. Essay on Language § 12. p. 18.
972. mvp-comment-560-1 ἀρατόν Accursed; i.e. Bringing a curse on Phineus and Idothea.
972. mvp-comment-560-2 ἕλκος τυφλωθέν. The blinding wound inflicted.' The 'cognate verb᾽ τυφλωθέν is substituted for ποιηθέν or the like. Essay on Language § 17. p. 25, c.
973. mvp-comment-561-1 ἐξ ἀγρίας δάμαρτος For the preposition, see Essay on Language $ 19. p. 28, 2.
973. mvp-comment-561-2 δάμαρτος Idothea, who had been made the wife of Phineus through the repudiation of Cleopatra. 974- ἀλαὸν ἀλαστόροισιν ὀμμάτων κύκλοις] Sightless (i. e. producing blindness) on the vengeful orbits of their eyes. For the causative use of ἀλαόν, see Essay on Language §. 53. p. 98.
973. mvp-comment-561-3 ἀλαστόροισιν Bringing vengeance,' i. e. Pleading successfully though silently for retribution. The dative is partly dative of place and partly of direct reference. Causing blindness in or to the eyes.
975. mvp-comment-562-1 *ἀραχθέντων Lachmann's conjecture for ἀραχθὲν ἐγχέων. When they were smitten. Another is ἄτερθ' ἐγχέων.
976. mvp-comment-563-1 κερκίδων ἀκμαῖσιν A woman's weapon. The shuttle was sharpened at the point, so as to be inserted between the threads, in order to regulate the density of the web. This process was called κερκίζειν, and the art is named by Plato κερκιστική. Plat. Polit. 282 B, C: Sophist. 226 B: Crat. 388 A.
980. mvp-comment-564-1 κλαῖον ματρός, | ἔχοντες ἀνύμφευτον γονάν This punctuation is preferred to κλαῖον, ματρὸς ἔχοντες ἀνύμφευτον γονάν, simply because the fate of Cleopatra, and not that of the Phineidae, is the chief point of the illustration.
980. mvp-comment-564-2 ἔχοντες ἀνύμφευτον γονάν Having a birth not honoured by wedlock: because their mother's marriage was repudiated, and their legitimacy was therefore not acknowledged. Note the repetition of γονά γονάν in a different sense after yovás in 950.
981. mvp-comment-565-1 And she in lineage reached even unto the ancient race of the Erechtheidae.' Because her mother Orithyia, whom Boreas rapt from the Ilissus (Plat. Phaedr. 229 B), was a daughter of Erechtheus. Qy. ἀρχαιογενήτων?
983. mvp-comment-566-1 τηλεπόροις δ᾽ ἐν ἄντροις The exact meaning of the compound epithet is doubtful. Either (1) Far-piercing,' i. e. Extending far into the mountainside: or (2) Distant, the second part of the epithet being redundant, or merely repeating the notion of a hollow passage implied in ἄντροις, i.e. δι' ὧν τηλόσε πορευόμεθα.
985. mvp-comment-567-1 Βορεὰς ἅμιππος Cp. Ο. Τ. 466, and note. And for ἅμα, Hom. Il. 19.415. Keeping pace with the steed over the steep path of the hill. On the compounds of πούς, see Essay on Language $55. p. 101. ὀρθόπους is literally Raising the foot upright. The second part of the compound is subordinated, but in this connection must have reference to the foot of the climber, and not to the foot of the hill. The words ὀρθόποδος ὑπὲρ πάγου are in construction with the verbal notion in ἅμιππος, sc.
985. mvp-comment-567-2 ἅμα ταῖς ἵπποις τρέχειν δυναμένη.
986-987. mvp-comment-568-1 ἀλλὰ κἀπ᾿ ἐκείνᾳ .. ἔσχον But even on her the long-lived fates laid hold. Cp. Hom. Il. 21. 110, ἀλλ᾿ ἔπι τοι καὶ ἐμοὶ θάνατος καὶ μοῖρα κραταιή. ἐπέχειν is To extend to, and the tmesis gives the preposition a fresh construction with the dative. The Fates are ever-living, and therefore can afford to bide their time.
987. mvp-comment-569-1 ὦ παῖ Antigone is apostrophized after her departure, like Oedipus in Ο. C. 1567, πάλιν σε δαίμων δίκαιος αὔξοι. 988, foll. The coming of Teiresias is the beginning of the περιπέτεια, The change in the spirit of Creon's dream. The external marks of the prophet are noticed more prominently than in the Oedipus Tyrannus. Cp. especially 998-990, with O. T. 371, τυφλὸς τὰ τ᾽ ὦτα, κ.τ.λ., and 444, καὶ σύ, παῖ, κόμιζέ με: 992-995, with Ο. Τ. 436, γονεῦσι δ', οἵ σ᾽ ἔφυσαν, ἔμφρονες. The figure of the blind prophet is more ideal in the Oedipus Tyrannus, and the peculiarity of his position is brought out, in a higher mode of art, with one or two light touches. On the other hand, his sudden and unlooked-for coming suits exactly with the purpose of this drama and the person of Creon.
990. mvp-comment-570-1 αὕτη Essay on Language § 22, p. 35.