1156-1157.
mvp-comment-621-1
σοὶ μὲν ἔμπολιν οὐκ ὄντα, συγγενή δέ This must have been gathered from the terms of his supplication, or from his answer to those who questioned him.
1157.
mvp-comment-622-1
προσπεσόντα πως
Who had somehow suddenly come thither. Polynices had come when the altar was deserted for the pursuit, and while there was an ἡσυχίη τῶν ἀνθρώπων (Hdt. 1.45) about the sacrifices. Hence the indefinite adverb, marking that his coming was unobserved. Cp. Tr. 695, τὸ γὰρ κάταγμα τυγχάνω ῥίψασά πως. He was found there by the people returning thither, who brought word to Theseus when on his way to Colonus with the maidens (στείχοντι δεῦρο, 1151).
1158.
mvp-comment-623-1
The use of παρά with the relative assists the locative use of the dative in the antecedent; ie. παρὰ τῷ βωμῷ, παρ' α...
1159.
mvp-comment-624-1
ἔκυρον The form κύρω (cp. supr. 1082) is adopted by the Tragedians from Epic poetry.
1159.
mvp-comment-624-2
ἡνίχ᾽ ὡρμώμην ἐγώ 'When I set forth, i. e. When I left the altar on the occasion which led to the pursuit. (Supr. 888, 897, 1019.) Elmsley, Hermann, and Schneidw. refer ἡνίχ᾽ ὡρμώμην τo προσπεσόντα, and transl. 'dum aberam ego. But ἡνίκα is not equi- valent to ἐν ᾧ. And such a departure from the obvious meaning is not justified by a trifling inconsistency, which is after all a verbal one, for although Theseus did not go direct from the altar to the pursuit, yet the swift action of 886-1041 is part of a continuous movement which began when he was called away from the sacrifice. There is therefore no reason for detaching the clause from the nearer antecedent.
1159.
mvp-comment-624-3
ἐγώ belongs in meaning to ἔκυρον as well as to ὡρμώμην.
