1478.
mvp-comment-787-1
ἰδού Cp. Αj. 870, ἰδού, δοῦπον αὖ κλύω τινά.
1478.
mvp-comment-787-2
ἀμφίσταται
Envelopes me. Cp. Hom. Od. 17. 261, περὶ δέ σφεας ἤλυθ᾽ ἰωὴ | φόρμιγγος: 19.444, περὶ δὲ κτύπος ἦλθε ποδοῖῖν: 1. 352, ἥτις ἀκουόντεσσι νεωτάτη ἀμφιπέληται: Phil. 1263, τίς αὖ παρ᾿ ἄντροις θόρυβος ἵσταται βοῆς; Eur. Her. 73, τίς ἡ βοὴ βωμοῦ πέλας ἕστηκεν ;
1479.
mvp-comment-788-1
διαπρύσιος ότοβος
The deafening, booming sound. Sophocles and Euripides revived this adjective, of which (except in Hymn to Aphrodite, 1. 19) only the neuter in an adverbial sense is found in Homer.
1480.
mvp-comment-789-1
ἵλεως Sc. γενοῦ. Cр. О. Т. 696. In favour of the form ἵλεως it may be observed (1) that the quantity of ἵλᾶος is improbable: (2) that Ionic forms are elsewhere retained in dochmiacs. Cp. supr. 884, λέως.
1481.
mvp-comment-790-1
ἀφεγγές
Gloomy, i. e.
Of dark significance. The epithet is perhaps suggested by the lowering sky. (Schneidewin.) Cp. Shakespeare, Macbeth, 2. 4, Thou seest the heavens, as troubled with man's act, | Threaten his bloody stage: by the clock 'tis day. | And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp: Is it night's predominance, or the day's shame, | That darkness doth the face of earth entomb, | When living light should kiss it?' 1482. (1) Reading ἐναισίου (see v. rr.), sc. ἀνδρός, translate:
May I meet with a righteous man, and not from having seen an accursed man, partake in some way of his unenvied recompence. The construction of συντύχοιμι with the genitive follows the analogy of ἀντάω, οι ἐπαυρεῖν. (2) Reading ἐναισίῳ:
May I share the fortune of the righteous. For ἄλαστος,
abominable, cp. II. 22.261. The Scholiast on l. 1447 understands this also (as well as supr. 1447 ff.) of Polynices. But although suggested by recent impressions this reflection of the chorus is probably quite general. Such a reference to Oedipus at this point is certainly out of the question.
1488.
mvp-comment-791-1
And what is it that you would have thus steadfastly rooted in your mind? Lit.
What is the steadfast purpose, etc.; but πιστόν is proleptic. Antigone repeats her father's thought in κατορθοῦντος φρένα, in order to elicit from him the cause of his agitation; and asks him for what special reason he wishes to have his mind clear when Theseus comes.
1489-1490.
mvp-comment-792-1
In return for their kindness (I desire) to pay them in full the promise which I made at the time of my obtaining my petition.' Cp. Plato, Legg. 11. 730 Α, οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἀτιμώρητος πάθοι ὁ τυχών: Hdt. 1. 213, δεηθεὶς .. ἔτυχε, ib. 5. 23, from which it appears that τυγχάνειν was used in reference to a suppliant, of obtaining a request. Cp. also Pind. Pyth. 3. 103.4. χρὴ πρὸς μακάρων | τυγχάνοντ᾽ εὖ πασχέμεν. τυγχάνων. here is = ὅτε ἐτύγχανον ὧν ἐβουλόμην, or ὧν ἔπασχον εὖ. The older explanation (as old as Eustathius) that τυγχάνων ὑπεσχόμην = ἔτυχον ὑποσχόμενος, besides making an imperfect tense equivalent to an aorist, makes τυγχάνων an unmeaning addition to the line. The correspondence in tense of ἔπασχον εὖ and τυγχάνων is a reason in favour of the explanation given above.
1490.
mvp-comment-793-1
δοῦναι Sc θέλω. σφιν has been explained asol. But this is wholly without authority, and the common meaning need create no difficulty, when l. 1488 is given to Antigone. The case of supr. 547 is different, because the participle there is emphatic. For the communication of the secret to Theseus was the bestowal of a boon on the whole people. Cp. infr. 1496.
1490.
mvp-comment-793-2
προβᾶθι was approved by Elmsley and Hermann, and secures correspondence with the strophe. θαυμαστῶς ὁ χόρος βοᾷ· ἐπείγει γὰρ τὸ πρᾶγμα. Schol. Observe the recurrence of ἄκραν in 1464, 1491, and of τυγχάνειν in 1491, 1493. Hol my son, come on thy way (from Athens), or if thou now art consecrating to Poseidon, God of Sea, the altar with its hollow surface that crowns the height,' or (2) ('that crowns the hill above the hollow place,')
come hither!
Chorus sic loquitur, ut qui domi esse Theseum putat: sed deinde ei in mentem venit, a sacris faciendis avocatum fuisse, ut ipse v. 1158 (1159) dixerat, et nunc fortasse in iis peragendis esse occupatum. Herm. Ср. О. Т. 517, 1104.
τυγχάνεις is suited to express the uncertainty where Theseus is.
1490.
mvp-comment-793-3
ἄκραν indicates the position of the altar of Poseidon on the top of Colonus.
1490.
mvp-comment-793-4
ἐπιγύαλον is either (1) a descriptive epithet, referring to the concave surface of the altar, or (2) means
above the hollow place, referring to some peculiarity of the ground, which is no longer visible. The agency of the Earthshaker may have been recognised in some rift of the rock of Colonus, near which his altar was placed. The read. ing Ποσειδαωνίῳ may have arisen from being written over the a of the Doric form.
1495.
mvp-comment-794-1
ἁγίζων does not necessarily imply that the altar was being used for the first time. It was in a manner consecrated afresh for every sacrifice.
1496-1499.
mvp-comment-795-1
σε.. παρασχεῖν For the accusatives πρὸς τὸ σημαινόμενον after the notion of benefiting, see Essay on Language § 16. p. 23. They are however first governed of ἐπαξιοῖ.
The stranger honours thee, and thy city, and thy friends, claiming to render you a just meed for good received. πόλισμα καὶ φίλους, i. e. Athens and the Coloniatae. See Introd. The lacuna (= τοίγαρ or αὐτός) was filled up by Tricilinius with σπεῦσον. Elmsley, reading ᾄσσ', notes the absence of three syllables.
Verbum σπεῦσον deest in antiquis libris, additum in Triclinianis. Id cur recentiores critici vel damnaverint, quum non ineptum sit, nec sciamus non esse e codicibus sumptum, vel posthabuerint deterioribus conjecturis, non assequor. Herm.
1500.
mvp-comment-796-1
κοινός ὑμῶν τὲ καὶ Οἰδίποδος, Schol. Cp. the reading of L. supr. 843. The phrase in 1499 might be with more probability assigned to Oedipus, or he may be supposed to join in it. But his voice in 1457 and the other senarii VOL. I. Ee might well be heard as far as the top of Colonus.
1501.
mvp-comment-797-1
αὐτῶν Theseus does not confuse the chorus and Oedipus in one address. He turns first to the chorus, and in proceeding to speak of Oedipus he uses a modification of the common idiom αὐτός τε καί: cp. supra 559.
1501.
mvp-comment-797-2
ἐμφανής is used analytically= ἐν δὲ φαινομένη,
Distinguishable amongst the other voices.
1502.
mvp-comment-798-1
μή τις Διὸς κεραυνός
Is it that a bolt from Zeus is fallen, or that some hail-shower has come dashing down? For one may imagine anything to have happened in such a storm as this. The construction is πρὸς τὸ σημαινόμενον, τίς ἠχεῖται κτύπος; being equivalent to τίς αἰτία ἐστὶ τοῦ ἠχεῖσθαι τοιοῦτον κτύπον; Cp. El. 122, τίν᾿ ἀεὶ .. οἰμωγάν; Essay on Language § 42. p. 81. For the nominative, cp. Od. 5. 476-477, θάμνους | ἐξ ὁμύθεν πεφυῶτας· ὁ μὲν φυλίης, ὁ δ᾽ ἐλαίης. θεός is here used in the vague sense in which the Athenians referred the changes of the weather to a divine agency. Cp. Xen. Cyn. 8. 1, ὅταν νίφῃ ὁ θεός.
