1672.
mvp-comment-893-1
αἷμα is here primarily
Bloodrelationship, with perhaps a secondary association (pointed by the word ἄλαστον) from the other meaning of Blood-guiltiness.' Cp. O. Τ. 1400, αἱ τοὐμὸν αἷμα τῶν ἐμῶν χειρῶν ἄπο | ἐπίετε πατρός.
1673.
mvp-comment-894-1
The form ᾧτινι (= ὅτῳ) is rare, and Badham has conjectured ὥτινε. But the dative properly expresses the connection between the two parts of the sentence. Essay on Language § 12. p. 18. And Elmsley has quoted Eur. Hipp. 903, τὸ μέντοι πρᾶγμ᾽, ἐφ᾽ ᾧτινι στένεις | οὐκ οἶδα: Arist. Pax 1278, σὺ γὰρ εἰπέ μοι VOL. I. οἷστισι χαίρεις.
1675.
mvp-comment-895-1
For παροίσομεν, cp. Hdt. 9. 26, καινὰ καὶ παλαιὰ παραφέροντες ἔργα,
1676.
mvp-comment-896-1
παθούσα Το avoid the discrepancy of terminations several critics read παθόντε. But there does not seem to be sufficient ground for deserting the MSS. Hermann rightly says, 'Nesciebat Brunckius harum formarum usum ad sonorum suavitatem attemperari, quum putavit Sophoclem scripsisse ἰδόντε καὶ πάθοντε.
1677.
mvp-comment-897-1
Although οὐκ ἔστιν (see v. rr.) may be explained with reference to the manner of the end, which was inconceivable, it is more natural that Antigone should say here,
You may guess what has happened, i. e. the main fact that he is gone. By merely omitting οὐκ with Hermann, we obtain a line like Aj. 951 (which conveys a similar feeling), ἄγαν ὑπερβριθὲς ἄχθος ἤνυσαν, CICL|卜(ICICI. L. 1704 in the antistrophe, as it appears in the Ff MSS. may be so scanned (see v. rr. on p. 436): but not without too great a stress upon the augment before πρ in ἔπραξεν. It is on the whole more likely that οὐκ in 1677 is a corruption of if, and that if has dropped out in 1704. Another conjecture, which secures a pure iambic line, is Χ. τί δ' ἔστιν; Α.
1677.
mvp-comment-897-2
ἔστιν *εὖ μὲν εἰκάσαι, φίλοι. Cp. also O. T. 1308, foll. 1678 ff. 'Cho. He is gone? Ant. Even as heart could wish. What more could be desired for him, whom neither war nor the sea hath smitten, but viewless regions carried off and rapt in some mysterious doom? While on our helpless eyes a horror of night is fallen. For how shall we maintain our life in misery unendurable? Wandering in some far (or southern) land or (roaming) over ocean's billow?' ὡς .. λάβοις] i. e. ὡς μάλιστ᾽ ἂν λάβοις τὸ βῆναι, εἰ πόθῳ λάβοις.
As you would above all choose the mode of your departure if you could choose by desire. For the use of λάβοις, cp. Αj. 265, πότερα δ' ἄν, εἰ νέμοι τις αἵρεσιν, λάβοις ; For πόθῳ, cp. supra 1106, σὺν πόθῳ γὰρ ἡ χάρις. Canter's conjecture ἐν πόθῳ is very plausible, but not necessary.
1680.
mvp-comment-898-1
πόντος Cp. 1659, οὔτε ποντία θύελλα κινηθεῖσα τῷ τότ᾽ ἐν χρόνῳ. Allusions to the elements are characteristic of the language of this period. Essay on Language § 52. p. 98.
1682.
mvp-comment-899-1
*φερόμεναι
Carrying him away, is adopted as the simplest alteration of the text which satisfies the metre, while giving a recognized form. The middle voice, for which see Essay on Language § 31, b. p. 53, is better than the passive φερόμενον.
1685.
mvp-comment-900-1
ἀπίαν Either (1)
Distant, the word being here used in a different sense from that in l. 1303, γῆς ὅσοιπερ Απίας | πρῶτοι καλοῦνται, although the quantity is the same, whereas it is short in Hom. Od. 7. 25, τηλόθεν ἐξ ἀπίης γαίης. Οι (2) τιν᾿ Ἀπίαν γᾶν may mean
somewhere in the Peloponnese, Antigone thinking of Argos as a possible refuge.
1686.
mvp-comment-901-1
κλυδώνα Accusative of the space travelled over. Essay on Language § 16, P. 23. 1687,8. βίου.. τροφάνisa periphrasis for βίον. Cp. 1736, αἰῶνα τλάμον᾿ ἕξω: Εl. 1183, φεῦ τῆς ἀνύμφου δυσμόρου τε σῆς τροφῆς. 1689 ff. Modern editors rightly give these, and also the corresponding verses, 1715 ff. to Ismene, with whose character they agree. Cp. Ant. 544-545, 548. A new movement commences, which serves as ἐπῳδός to the preceding. The same doubt occurs here as in supr. 182 ff., 197 ff., whether the two sets of lines, 1689-1695, 1715-1722, like those which precede and follow them, are to be regarded as strictly antistrophic. That the doubt occurs in two places so nearly similar, is of itself a ground for caution. And both rὸ φέρον ἐκ θεοῦ in 1693 and ἄγαν οὕτω in 1694 are idiomatic Greek.
1690.
mvp-comment-902-1
πατρὶ ξυνθανεῖν γεραίῳ
Το lie in death with my aged father.' Cp. Phil. 1443, ἡ γὰρ εὐσέβεια συνθνήσκει βροτοῖς. By changing ἕλοι τo ἕλοιτο (cp. О. Т. 887, Aj. 397), we obtain an Ionic rhythm, not unsuited to the person of Ismene.
1692.
mvp-comment-903-1
Tricl. and several editors read διδύμα . . ἀρίστα. This is the slightest of at least six changes which have been made in 11. 1689-1695, 1715-1722, to secure a metrical correspondence which remains defective.
1693.
mvp-comment-904-1
τὸ φέρον ἐκ θεοῦ καλῶς φέρειν χρή]
You must bear with fortitude the lot whose direction is from heaven. φέρειν, as in the frequent φέρειν εἰς, expresses tendency or intention. φέρειν ἐκ occurs only here; but cp. Eur. Ι. Α. 69, ὅτου πνοαὶ φέροιεν Ἀφροδίτης φίλα: Hdt. 1. 159, φωνὴν ἐκ τοῦ ἀδύτου γενέσθαι φέρουσαν πρὸς τὸν Ἀριστόδικον. For the rare form of verse, troch. trim. brachycat., cp. Aesch. 977, 790, supr. 1240, and Eur. Hel. 243, H. F. 120, where the 1st arsis is resolved, as here.
1695.
mvp-comment-905-1
οὗ τοι κατάμεμπτ᾽ ἔβητον
You have no cause to complain of your lot. More literally,
The point at which you have arrived is not to be found fault with. The chorus mean to say,
You, and your father's memory, are safe in the hands of Theseus. Cp. infr. 1737-1740. For the transference of the verb of motion, more frequent, however, with the adjective than the adverb, see Essay on Language p. 97, and cp. El. 979, εὖ βεβηκόσιν.
1697.
mvp-comment-906-1
Ant. Then' (if to be thus is well) there is such a thing as longing for that which is not well;' i.e. Then it is possible to wish evil back again, for even what in itself was nowise loveable, was yet beloved, whilst I held him too in my arms.' For this use of ἦν in inference, see Essay on Language §. 32. p. 55, and cp. supra 117, τίς ἄρ᾽ ἦν; ποῦ ναίει;
1698.
mvp-comment-907-1
τὸ φίλον That which is dear' (in the abstract). See Essay on Language § 21. p. 34, and Simon. fr. εἰ δὲ τοὶ δεινὸν τὸ γε δεινὸν ἦν.
1699.
mvp-comment-908-1
Cp. infr. 1714, Il. 22.426, ὡς ὄφελεν θανέειν ἐν χερσὶν ἐμῇσιν. Ff2
1701.
mvp-comment-909-1
τὸν ἀεί (sc. χρόνον).
For evermore. This explanation, which is justified by the note on 1584, gives a better rhythm to this line.
1702.
mvp-comment-910-1
οὐδὲ γέρων, κ.τ.λ.
Even old as thou wert (or art) thou shalt never be forgotten by our love. Cp. supra 1600, πατρὶ συνθανεῖν γεραίῳ. It has been observed (on l. 1371 of the O. T.) that the soul in Hades was imagined as having all the characteristics of the person at the time of death and nothing can be more natural than that Antigone in the first moment of her sorrow should speak of her father as if he still needed tendance and care. This touch of nature extends to modern life and poetry. Shak. King John, 3.4,
Const. But now shall canker sorrow eat my bud | And chase the native beauty from his cheek, | And he will look as hollow as a ghost, As dim and meagre as an ague's fit, | And so he'll die; and, rising so again | When I shall meet him in the court of heaven | I shall not know him: therefore never, never | Shall I behold my pretty Arthur more.
His age did not lessen their affection in life, nor should it diminish their mourning for him in death. For the omission of the participle, see Essay on Language § 39. p. 72.
1704.
mvp-comment-911-1
Elmsley's ἔπραξεν ; ΑΝ. *ἐξέπραξεν is preferable to ΧΟ. ἔπραξεν οὖν ; ΑΝ. ἔπραξεν (the emendation of Triclinius), (1) because preserving an exact correspondence to l. 1677 in the division of the line between the persons: (2) because introducing no unnecessary word: (3) the additional emphasis in the reply is in keeping with the mood of Antigone. Cp. Aj. 968, ὧν γὰρ ἠράσθη τυχεῖν | ἐκτήσαθ᾽ αὑτῷ, θάνατον ὅνπερ ἤθελεν.
1707.
mvp-comment-912-1
εὐσκίαστον
With kindly shadow. Cp. supra 406, and note.
1708.
mvp-comment-913-1
Schneidewin compares the wish of Solon, Fr. 21, μηδέ μοι ἄκλαυστος θάνατος μόλοι, κ.τ.λ.
1709.
mvp-comment-914-1
*ἀνὰ γάρ Hermann's conj. is adopted as the best hitherto.
1712.
mvp-comment-915-1
ἀφανίσαι
Το quench.
1713.
mvp-comment-916-1
†ιώ· μὴ.. μοι The most probable explanation of these words is Hermann's, who, for the sake of metre, reads τῷ for ἰώ. (Quare) utinam ne in peregrina terra cupivisses mori, sed mortuus esses ita mihi desertus. Quoniam enim sentit tanto minus leniri dolorem suum posse, quod ne tumulus quidem patris sibi relictus sit, optat ut ille ne quaesivisset hanc apud exteros mortem, sed obiisset potius ita desertus ignotusque, ut ante cum ipsa per terras vagus errabat, quo saltem sepelire eum et justa facere in tumulo posset.' This interpretation supposes the use of μή with an historical tense of the indicative to express a strong negative wish, as has been already suggested in the note on supra 540-541. Ср. Aesch. Cho. 363 ff. This uncommon use would be here softened by exppses, suggesting ἐχρῆν σε, ας ἐπωφέλησα in 541 was suggestive of ὤφελες. On the other hand, the words in 1714, especially when compared with 1717, Plat. Phaedo, 58 C, ἀλλ' ἐρῆμος ἐτελεύτα φίλων, may very naturally mean,
As it is, thou diedst unattended by me, while the positive expression of a wish by the past tense is more doubtful than the negative. And Mr. Palmer, reading lú μοι, γῆς ἐπὶ ξένας, κ.τ.λ., gives this turn to the sentence:
Ah me! thou didst desire to die in a foreign land; yet thou hast thus died deserted by me. So also Schneidewin, omitting μή. But such a resumption of the beginning of the speech is too inartistic and abrupt for Sophocles. It is therefore better to follow Hermann and render, Would that thou hadst not cared to die in a strange land, but hadst died as thou wert, all alone upon my hands.'
1716-1719.
mvp-comment-917-1
See v. rr. These three lines, which are defaced by the evident interpolation from 1735 infra (first struck out by Lachmann, cp. supr. 769 v. rr.), have been given by the editors to Ismene. The MSS. often mix the persons in this play.
1719.
mvp-comment-918-1
For the metre of this and of 1736 in the epode of a commos, cp. Ant. 880, θέμις ὁρᾶν ταλαίνᾳ.
1720.
mvp-comment-919-1
ἔλυσεν τὸ τέλος βίου is a condensed expression for κατέλυσε καὶ ἐτελεύτησε τὸν βίον. Cp. τὸν τελευταῖον βίον | κρύψων, supra 1551.
