Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 1044-1095

mvp-comment-764-1 εἴην ὅθι ¹

mvp-comment-765-1 ἐπιστροφαὶ ⁴

mvp-comment-766-1 χαλκοβόαν ⁵

mvp-comment-766-2 μείξουσιν ⁶

mvp-comment-766-3 ἢ πρὸς Πυθίαις ἢ λαμπάσιν ἀκταῖς ⁷

mvp-comment-766-4 (1) Πύθιαι ἀκταί , the Pythian shores; the shore of the bay of Eleusis just beyond the pass of Daphnè on the N.W., near the salt-springs called

( Thuc. 2.19 ). The distance from Colonus is about six miles. alludes to the , an Ionic temple of Apollo (some fragments from which are among the Elgin marbles in the British Museum), situated on the site of the present monastery of Daphnè, in the narrowest and highest part of the pass. (Cp. Leake, Demes pp. 144 f.: Paus. 1.37.6 .) Others take the to mean Oenoe, where also there was a temple of Apollo. But ( a ) Oenoe was about 12 miles N.W. of Eleusis, near the pass of Dryoscephalae over Cithaeron. could not be said of such an inland place, and the distance imagined is too great. ( b ) The order of mention indicates the as nearer than Eleusis to Colonus.

mvp-comment-766-5 (2) λαμπάδες ἀκταί ,

(cp. Harpocr. 184, quoted on 56, ): the coast of the same bay of Eleusis at a point about 5 miles W.N.W. of the former point,—viz. at Eleusis itself. The yearly celebration of the great Eleusinia began on or about the 16th of Boedromion (September). On the 20th of that month an image of Iacchus was borne in a torch-light procession along the from Athens to Eleusis. This procession is indicated by the in Aristoph. Ran. 316 ff.: see ib. 340

ἔγειρε φλογέας λαμπάδας, ἐν χερσὶ γὰρ ἥκεις τινάσσων,

Ἴακχ’, ὦ Ἴακχε,

νυκτέρου τελετῆς φωσφόρος ἀστήρ

. The search of Demeter for Persephone was also represented at Eleusis in a of torch-bearing mystae. Cp. Aesch. fr. 376 (speaking of Eleusis) . Ar. Th. 1151

ὄργια σεμνὰ θεαῖν, ἵνα λαμπάσι φαίνετον ἄμβροτον ὄψιν

.

mvp-comment-767-1 πότνιαι ⁸

mvp-comment-767-2 τιθηνοῦνται ⁹

mvp-comment-767-3 τέλη ¹⁰

mvp-comment-768-1 θνατοῖσιν ¹¹

mvp-comment-768-2 ὧν καὶ χρυσέα ¹²

mvp-comment-768-3 κλὴ|ς Εὐμολπιδᾶν ¹³

mvp-comment-769-1 κλὴ|ς ¹⁴

mvp-comment-769-2 χρυσέα ¹⁵

mvp-comment-770-1 προσπόλων Εὐμολπιδᾶν ¹⁶

mvp-comment-771-1 I incline to believe that the MS. words ἔνθ’ οἶμαι τὸν ἐγρεμάχαν are sound, and that the variant

may have arisen by corruption from ἐγρεμάχαν . See Appendix on this passage. The fact that the antistrophic passage is certainly unsound in the MSS. has increased the doubt: see on 1069

.

mvp-comment-771-2 ἐγρεμάχαν ¹⁷

mvp-comment-772-1 Θησέα ¹⁸

mvp-comment-772-2 αὐτάρκει βοᾷ ¹⁹

mvp-comment-772-3 Many critics, however, now regard καὶ as spurious: for Θησέα καὶ Dindorf proposes Αἰγεΐδαν : for Θησέα καὶ τὰς Wecklein Θησέα παῖδας . The sense would then be:—

—by attacking their captors. This is possibly right: but a change of καὶ τὰς into παῖδας is hardly likely. In Ph. 79 , which Erfurdt changed to , is clearly sound.

mvp-comment-772-4 διστόλους ²⁰

mvp-comment-772-5 αὐτάρκει ²¹

mvp-comment-772-6 τούσδ’ ἀνὰ χ. ²²

mvp-comment-772-7 The poet has left the details of the rescue indistinct. Creon's guards first carried off the girls (844), and Theseus sent mounted Athenians in pursuit (897). Afterwards, Theseus commands Creon to lead him to where the girls are; if they are

(1020 ), Theseus himself will recover them: if, however, the guards are already flying with them, then Theseus has nothing to do; the mounted Athenians, who have already started, will pursue (1020 ff.). But from the words of Theseus in 1148 it is plain that they have been rescued by his personal prowess, of which he forbears to boast ( , 1149): and the same inference must be drawn from Antigone's words (1117). How are these facts to be reconciled? We can only suppose that the mounted Athenians, who started first, halted to watch the (900), while Creon's guards also halted somewhere in concealment, to await their master. Theseus, with Creon, was thus enabled to overtake his Athenians before the struggle. The fact is that Sophocles did not care to think out these points, about which an Athenian audience in the theatre would not trouble themselves. Cp. on O. T. 758 .

mvp-comment-773-1 Hartung's εἰς νομόν for the MS. ἐκ νομοῦ is certain. With the latter, we could only render:

The rare acc. with could be supported by Eur. Andr. 1167

δῶμα πελάζει

: but the ellipse of with is surely impossible.

mvp-comment-773-2 νομοῦ ²³

mvp-comment-773-3 πελῶς’ ²⁴

mvp-comment-773-4 The place meant is not certain. See note and map in Appendix. But the scholium here deserves at least thus much weight: it is our one ancient warrant for a definite view. Like the other old scholia in L, it probably dates (in substance) from the later Alexandrian age, which possessed many Attic writings, now lost, on the topography of Attica. The scholiast takes the νιφὰς πέτρα to be a rock or crag of Mount Aegaleos;— the same which was called

, by Istros, a writer on Attica, c. 240 B.C., whom he quotes. The schol. then explains Οἰάτιδος by the fact that Aegaleos , —namely, of . It cannot reasonably be doubted that this statement about , if it did not rest on the scholiast's own knowledge, was derived from Istros, or from some other old writer on Attic topography.

mvp-comment-773-5 The meaning will then be:—

This is also Leake's view ( Demi of Attica p. 154). The route supposed would be in the general line of that taken by Archidamus and the Peloponnesians in 431 B.C., when they moved from Oenoe E.S.E. to Acharnae, ,— i.e. keeping it to the S.,— , a deme in the valley between the N. end of Aegaleos and the S.W. end of Parnes. Hartung, referring to the of Istros, conjectures λι^τάδος , as= for νιφάδος : but though late poets could use for , the is most improbable for Soph.

mvp-comment-774-1 ῥιμφαρμάτοις … ἁμίλλαις ²⁵

mvp-comment-775-1 ἁλώσεται ²⁶

mvp-comment-775-2 προσχώρων ²⁷

mvp-comment-775-3 Θησειδᾶν ²⁸

mvp-comment-775-4 ἀκμά ²⁹

mvp-comment-776-1 We require u - instead of the MS. κατ’ . Bothe gets this by supposing non-elision of

before . This, though rare, is possible: cp. Ai. 425

χθονὸς μολόντ’ ἀπὸ | Ἑλλανίδος

: Tr. 510

Βακχίας ἄπο | ἦλθε

. But I cannot believe κατὰ | ἀμπυκτήρια to be Greek, as meaning either (1) i.e. by shaking the reins,—Paley: or (2) — i.e. Campbell. Instead of κατ’ , Hermann gives χαλῶσ’ : Schneidewin proposed καθεῖσ’ (cp. Eur. Bacch. 695

καθεῖσαν εἰς ὤμους κόμας

). This, if it had become , might easily have shrunk to the MS. κατ’ , through the rest of the word being taken for .

mvp-comment-777-1 ἀμπυκτήρια φάλαρα πώλων ³⁰

mvp-comment-778-1 ἄμβασις ³¹

mvp-comment-778-2 οἳ ³²

mvp-comment-778-3 τὰν ἱππίαν ³³

mvp-comment-779-1 γαιάοχον ³⁴

mvp-comment-779-2 Ῥέας ³⁵

mvp-comment-779-3 Rhea, in the Greek theogony, is daughter of Uranos and Gaia, wife of Cronus, and "mother of the gods." The cult was that of the "Phrygian Mother" Cybele in a special phase, and came very early to Greece from Lydia: in Attica it was intimately connected with the Eleusinian cult of Demeter (cp. Hom. Hymn. 5.442 , Eur. Helen 1301 ff. ). The

at Athens, the temple of Rhea Cybele, contained a celebrated statue of the goddess, by Pheidias or his pupil Agoracritus.

mvp-comment-780-1 ἔρδους’ ³⁶

mvp-comment-780-2 μέλλουσιν ³⁷

mvp-comment-781-1 γνώμα μοι ³⁸ προμνᾶταί τι ³⁹

mvp-comment-782-1 ἀντάσειν ⁴⁰

mvp-comment-782-2 ἀντάω ⁴¹

mvp-comment-782-3 To ἀνδώσειν the objections are: (1) it could not possibly mean

, In Pind. fr. 133. 3, the sole passage quoted for this sense, is not but to the sunlight,—like . We must not be confused by our (2) To supply or as subject is extremely awkward. (3) The sing. τὰν...τλᾶσαν , etc., which this requires, cannot well be defended on the ground that Antigone is chiefly thought of.

mvp-comment-782-4 With ἐνδώσειν we have to render:—

—become milder. Hippocrates ( Progn. 43) uses the intrans. of a malady which remits its force. But is tolerable here, where the question is not of the sisters' sufferings being mitigated , but of their triumphant deliverance from the hands of the enemy? If, again, = it incurs the 2nd and 3rd objections to .

mvp-comment-783-1 κατ’ ἆμαρ ⁴²

mvp-comment-784-1 ἀελλαία ⁴³

mvp-comment-784-2 ταχύρρωστος ⁴⁴

mvp-comment-785-1 Hermann's ἄνωθ’ ⁴⁵

mvp-comment-785-2 θεωρήσασα ⁴⁶

mvp-comment-785-3 θεωρήσουσα ⁴⁷

mvp-comment-785-4 αἰωρεῖν ⁴⁸

mvp-comment-786-1 In the MS. order of the words,

(monosyll.)=1074 , and =1075 . This requires the final α of the voc. παντόπτα to be long, which is impossible, though some edd. tacitly assume it. Meineke's remedy, , is not probable: and (nom. for voc.) could not stand here. The simple transposition which I have made in the text removes the difficulty. In 1088 the MSS. have : yet it is certain that the order of the words should be the reverse.

mvp-comment-787-1 δαμούχοις ⁴⁹

mvp-comment-788-1 σθένει ⁵⁰

mvp-comment-788-2 ἐπινικείῳ ⁵¹

mvp-comment-788-3 τὸν εὔαγρον τελειῶσαι λόχον ⁵²

mvp-comment-788-4 τὸν εὔαγρον ⁵³

mvp-comment-788-5 λόχον ⁵⁴

mvp-comment-789-1 σεμνά τε παῖς ⁵⁵

mvp-comment-790-1 τὸν ἀγρευτὰν ⁵⁶

mvp-comment-791-1 ὀπαδὸν … ἐλάφων ⁵⁷

mvp-comment-791-2 πυκνοστίκτων ⁵⁸

mvp-comment-792-1 στέργω ⁵⁹

mvp-comment-792-2 διπλᾶς ἀρωγὰς ⁶⁰

1026-1077. mvp-comment-551-1 In catching, you are caught; and fortune has taken you as you were pursuing after your prey.' The substitution of δίκη for τύχη is unnecessary and wrong. Fortune is continually regarded as the instrument of the Divine will. Cp. Phil. 1317, τὰς μὲν ἐκ θεῶν | τύχας δοθείσας: Shak. Hamlet, Act 3, Sc. 4. 'Take thy fortune; Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.'

1044. mvp-comment-562-1 While Oedipus remains alone upon the rock, an object of profound pity, the chorus burst into an exulting strain, anticipating the victory of Theseus and the restoration of Antigone and Ismene. The fray will soon begin. Would I were there to see! Where will the foemen turn to bay? At the pass of Mount Aegaleon, or by the Eleusinian shore? There will Theseus rouse the combat, and the maidens shall be present at the achievement of their deliverance. Or descend they now from Phyle, westward of the rock, the chariots with the pursuing cavalry? The enemy shall be overpowered. Mighty are the men of Theseus: valiant are the horsemen of our deme. They all are wor- α. shippers of Athene Hippia and of Poseidon. Are they engaged? or is the action still to be? My prophetic spirit pleads for the restitution of the muchenduring, much-wronged, maiden. O had my vision wings, that, lifted on some airy cloud, I might look upon the victory which I foretell! 'Zeus, grant our people the attainment of the fair prize and Pallas, his dread child, and ye, Apollo and Artemis, who love the chase, come jointly to our country's aid.' The metre of this chorus, at first glyconic, passes more and more into slow trochaic and iambic movements, with frequent long syllables. The whole is marked by great solemnity, with an occasional note of triumph. ―下​CCICI IFCCICI ICCICI CICIト​CCIILCI ーーーー トレーートレー トリートー 10= 10- ?? トトートー ICCI- LLACI 1, 2, 3, Glyconic with monosyllabic base, 5, 12, Pherecratean, 14, Adoniad, 6, 11, logaoedic, 4, 7, iambic dimeter with long syllables in the alternate feet, 8, 9, 13, trochaic, with long syllables in the alternate feet. The interweaving of the logaoedic with the iambic and trochaic rhythms is marked by the interposition of the iambics in 4 between the glyconic and Pherecratean, and the trochees in 13 between the Pherecratean and Adoniad. The epitritic movement, - - - - - - -, prevails throughout. Line ro of the strophe, if the text is right, may be compared with Phil. 1082, 1103, 1123, 1146, 1147, where the same form ㄥ​ㄧ​ㄥ​に​ト​し​て​! is combined with glyconic and Pherecratean measures. In Phil. 1147 it answers to a glyconic - - トー in 1124. But this does not remove the difficulty of finding a probable emendation of 1069, which may secure a tolerable correspondence between strophe and antistrophe. See note on 1069. β΄. D レレトート​(I LLCI ートレビー alcllcC1I !!ト​C!!!いー Lullトーー LU ICICII LUIIト​CIK CLLCICIU

1044. mvp-comment-562-2 The slow (epitritic) movement with frequent long syllables is continued in the second strophe and antistrophe, and only in lines 5 and 8 is quickened by the introduction of the dactyl. The opening syllables of 1 and 2 may have been exceptionally prolonged. Line 3 is probably to be scanned as an iambic dimeter with syncope of 3rd and 4th thesis. Syncope of thesis occurs also in 11. 5 and 10. Cp. O. T. 190, 193, 200, Christ's Metrik. § 393.

1044. mvp-comment-562-3 Might I be where soon the foemen shall wheel round and begin the fray with clanging arms.' The imagination of the chorus is excited by what Theseus has said, supr. 1022, 1029 ff.

1044. mvp-comment-562-4 δαΐων ἀνδρῶν ἐπιστροφαί i. e. δάϊοι ἄνδρες ἐπιστρεφθέντες: cp. Eur. Alc. 606, ἀνδρῶν Φεραίων εὐμενὴς παρουσία.

1046. mvp-comment-563-1 Ἄρη | μίξουσιν Like μάχην συνάπτειν, with the additional notion of a confused hurtling contest. Il. 20. 374, τῶν δ᾽ ἄμυδις μίχθη μένος, ὧρτο δ' ἀτή. 1048-1049. ἢ πρὸς Πυθίαις.. ἀκταῖς] Either by the cliffs of Pythium or those torch-lit cliffs... i. e. the shores of the Thriasian plain. ἀκταί seems to be a general expression for the seaward cliffs, including those not actually touching the sea. But the word is chosen to suit the mention of Eleusis. The question is whether the engagement will be in the pass of Daphne, or at some further point on the Eleusinian way. Cp the skirmish at ῾Ρειτοί in Thuc. 2.19. The Pythian cliffs' are so named from the Pythium, a shrine of Apollo in the deme of Oenoe, probably at the place now called Daphne. According to some authorities the Pythium was on the Megarian frontier. But the place so designated could not be on the way to Thebes. Philochorus, quoted by the Scholiast, says, ἐν Οἰνόῃ.. ἐν τῷ Πυθίῳ. For the adjective λαμπάς, cp. infra 1060, πέτρας νιφάδος. The Schol. quotes a line of Aeschylus describing the Eleusinian procession, Fr. 376, λαμπραίσιν ἀστραπαῖσι λαμπάδων σθένει.

1050-1052. mvp-comment-564-1 οὗ πότνιαι.. προσπόλων Εύμολπιδᾶν] (1) Where dread mysteries are dispensed to mortals by reverend goddesses, whose golden (i. e. sacred, cp. O. T. 158, 187) key holds fast the tongue of their attendants of Eumolpus' race.' καί introduces a further description of the goddesses who preside at the mysteries. The initiation of the Eumolpidae is mentioned, as being more solemn than that of the Mystae, inasmuch as they have received their consecration immediately from Demeter and Persephone:-'quae silentio sacro continent suorum ora ministrorum.' Reisig. Hermann objects that the duty of silence was imposed on all initiated persons He refers ὧν τo θνατοῖσιν, and would render (2), On whose tongue hath passed the sacred key of the ministering Eumolpidae. And the Scholiast gives the same explanation: ὧν· τῶν τετελεσμένων. καί in this case may be supposed to emphasise the necessity of initiation as a condition of seeing the mysteries, or to distinguish the act of the priests from that of the deities. In favour of the first rendering (1), it may be urged that it makes καί more intelligible, gives more force to προσπόλων, and suits better with the position of the words χρυσέα κλής.

1050-1052. mvp-comment-564-2 τιθηνοῦνται τέλη θνατοῖσιν, · Minister sacred rites to men,' as a nurse ministers to an infant. τέλη is a sort of cognate accusative, i e. ποιοῦνται οἷα ἂν τιθῆναι.

1054-1057. mvp-comment-565-1 ἔνθ᾽ Bo Where (i. e. somewhere on the sacred way) methinks that Theseus and the two virgin sisters will soon mingle in the fray of battle which is to deliver them:'or, taking αὐτάρκει in a more general sense, in the valorous combat, the rescue that achieves its purpose.'

1054. mvp-comment-566-1 † ἐγρεμάχαν Hom. Hymn to Demeter, 424, Παλλάς τ᾽ ἐγρεμάχη καὶ Ἄρτεμις ἰοχέαιρα. The various reading ὀρειβατάν or ὀρειοβατάν may have arisen from a confusion of the letters e, ο-μ, β-χ, τ. This would not be a greater perversion than τήνδε θεσπίζει γραφήν for τήνδ᾽ ἔθεσθ' ἐπιστροφήν, Ο. Τ. 134, or ἐμοῖς ἐπὶ πόνοις for ἐμὸς ἐπίπολος, ib. 1322. The line does not exactly correspond to that in the antistrophe; see note on infr. 1067-1070. νας.

1055. mvp-comment-567-1 Θησέα. So φονέα, Eur. Hec. 882.

1055. mvp-comment-567-2 διστόλους i. e. δύο δισσῶς ἐσταλμέ- The word recalls the two bands of Thebans who had carried off Ismene and Antigone and would now resist their rescue. But the second part of the compound is subordinate. Elmsley says,

The maidens and their captors are spoken of in a single phrase, as in supr. 902, 1016.

1056. mvp-comment-568-1 1056. ἀδμῆτας, virgin, perhaps with the further association of unconquered; i. e. exempt from captivity, cp. infr 1147. The latter part of the sentence is adapted to the nearer subject (Essay on Language § 36. p. 65, 2). The first intention was to speak of Theseus and the captors of the maidens as joining battle; then the thought occurs, the maidens also will be in the midst of the fray. Hence ξυμμίξειν with μάχην, or an equivalent word in the accusative, is changed to ἐμμίξειν with the dative, and the word for battle is expanded into the phrase αὐτάρκης βοά, i. e. either ἑαυταῖς ἀρκοῦσα, defending them, or αὐτὴ ἀρκοῦσα, sufficient without more ado. See Essay on Language § 43. p. 81, § 56. p. 102, § 3. p. 7. The latter meaning is probably right. The word is of good omen, like ἐσθλῶν, εὔαγρον, infra. ἐμμίξειν (intrans. cp.

1056. mvp-comment-568-2 προσμίσγω, συμμίσγω, συμβάλλω) is rightly construed with the dative, and Boa is used in the sense of a sudden rally or skirmish, almost = βοήθεια. Cp. supra 887, τίς ποθ' ἡ βοή; where βoή is the summons to such a sudden fight: Aesch. Ag. 1349: Suppl. 730, εἰ βραδύνοιμεν βοῇ: Od. 22. 77, βοὴ δ᾽ ὤκιστα γένοιτο,

1058. mvp-comment-569-1 τούσδ᾽ ἀνὰ χώρους This resumption of ἔνθα, which in 1054 summed up 11. 1047-1053, prepares the way for the fresh alternative, ἤ που, κ.τ.λ.

1059. mvp-comment-570-1 Or perhaps the scene of the contest is more distant. Or haply, leaving the pastures of Oea' (a deme of the Oenean tribe) they draw near the region that lies westward of the snowy rock.' τόν] Sc. χῶρον,

1060. mvp-comment-571-1 πελῶσ' γρ. πελάζουσι C2. mg. ῥίμφαρμαρτοσ C². ῥίμφαρμάτας.. ἁμίλλας Β. AR. Θησειδᾶν] θησιδᾶν L.

1060. mvp-comment-571-2 ρια .. ἄμβασισ. 1070. τὸν L. τὰν CA.

1060. mvp-comment-571-3 νιφάδος i. e. Where the snow lies longest. Schol. λέγων τὴν οὕτω λεγομένην λείαν πέτραν. The place meant is probably the precipitous western end of Parnes, overhanging the pass of Phyle, and clearly visible from Athens.

1060. mvp-comment-571-4 πελῶσι They will be drawing near. For πελάζω with the accusative in this sense, cp. Phil. 1163, πέλασσον.. πελάταν: Eur. Andr. 1167, Δελφίδος ἐκ γῆς δῶμα πελάζει.

1062-1064. mvp-comment-572-1 πώλοισιν ἁμίλλαις With their horses, or in the nimbly-racing chariots in which they flee. πώλοισιν refers to the pursuers, ῥιμφαρμάτοις φεύγοντες ἁμίλλαις to the pursued, who are supposed to have provided chariots for the capture of the maidens.

1065-1066. mvp-comment-573-1 ἁλώσεται.. ἀκμά ‘He' (the enemy, just referred to in φεύγοντες) will be overpowered. Terrible is the valour of our neighbours: terrible also is the youthful might of Theseus men.' For the singular number of ἁλώσεται, cp. Ant. 106, τὸν.. φῶτα βάντα πανσαγίᾳ : and for its absolute use, cp. Aj. 648-649, ἀλλ᾽ ἁλίσκεται | χὼ δεινὸς ὅρκος, κ.τ.λ.

1065-1066. mvp-comment-573-2 προσχώρων, cp. supra 493.

1066. mvp-comment-574-1 Θησειδᾶν The patronymic is used by an anachronism for the youth of Athens, with an allusion to the leadership of Theseus. Cp. Hdt. 1. 125, βασιλέες οἱ Περσείδαι. Of those who were assembled at the sacrifice of Theseus, some would be attendants of Theseus, but others would be gathered from the vicinity of the altar.

1067-1070. mvp-comment-575-1 πᾶς γὰρ .. ἄμβασις Although the emendation of these lines is uncertain, their general meaning is clearly a reminiscence of the command of Theseus to the horsemen in 899, 900, σπεύδειν ἀπὸ ῥυτῆρος, just as the description of the two passes is suggested by his words in 900-901, ἔνθα δίστομοι . . ὁδοί. Herm. (1841) conj. πᾶσα δ᾽ ὁρμᾶται χαλῶσ᾽ | ἀμπυκτήρια πωλικά : reading ὀρειβάταν in the strophe, and rejecting φάλαρα as a gloss. Bothe reads, κατά | ἀμπυκτήρια. Cp. Aj. 42,5, Tr. 510 (?). The rhythm lucul is not impossible (for the resolved trochee, cp. Phoen. 227, 237); but the change of rhythm from l. 10 of the strophe (1054) cannot be justified by such examples as Phil. 1124-1147. When all the difficulties are looked at together, it seems most probable that there is some corruption here or in l. 1054, if not in both. Qy. ἔνθ' οἴομαι ἐγρεκύδοιμον - (κατὰ) λάμπρ᾿ ἀμπυκτήρια πώλων, (-)? The words as they stand may be construed, The riders all are rushing on, in the direction of,' (κατά, cp. κατ' οὗρον, κατὰ πόδα) the bridles of the horses; i.e. Every horseman gives his steed its head.

1067-1070. mvp-comment-575-2 κατά may or may not be genuine, but Hermann's conjecture χαλῶσ᾽ ἀμπυκτήρια is somewhat prosaic.

1070. mvp-comment-576-1 ἄμβασις, abstract collective for ἀναβάται, ἱ. ε. ἱππόται. Cp. the common prose expression ἡ ἵππος. Essay on Language § 50. p. 94. For Ἀθήνη ἱππία and her temple in the Academy, see Paus. 1. 30.

1073. mvp-comment-577-1 Ῥέας One syllable, as in Il. 15.187, οὓς τέκετο 'Ρέα (where Poseidon speaks).

1074. mvp-comment-578-1 * ἔρδουσ᾽, ἢ μέλλουσιν; ὡς] Herm. corrected the antistrophe to ὦ Ζεῦ θεῶν πανταρχέτα. But the slow movement レレトート ​_ is characteristic. See note on the metre.

1074-1076. mvp-comment-579-1 ὡς προμνᾶταί τί μοι | γνώμα] How my thoughts are pleading!' προμνᾶσθαι is generally to plead for another: and the chorus (infr. 1096) say this in the interest of Oedipus. But προperhaps conveys the association of beforehand, anticipating the event. The thought of the chorus is like a messenger, who goes before to urge the claim of a sovereign. τὶ is cognate accusative. Cp. supr. 965, Tr. 67, μύθοις εἴ τι πιστεύειν χρεών.

1076. mvp-comment-580-1 τάχ᾿ ἀνδώσειν That they will quickly restore. Although Pind. Fr. Thr. 4, Φερσεφόνα .. ἐς τὸν ὕπερθεν ἅλιον . . ἀνδιδοῖ ψυχὰν πάλιν, is not a conclusive instance of this use of ἀναδίδωμι, the existence of such a meaning is not improbable (cp. ἀνακομίζειν, ἀνακτᾶσθαι, ἀναλαμβάνειν, and esp. ἀναπέμπειν in Pind. Ι. 6 (7), 10, Ἄδραστον ἐξ ἀλαλᾶς ἄμπεμψας ὀρφανὸν μυρίων ἑτάρων ἐς Ἄργος ἵππιον), and exactly suits this place. The subject, as in ἁλώσεται, supra 1065, is easily supplied. If ἐνδώσειν is read, the words must be construed in the same way: That they will soon surrender, etc. τάχ᾽ ἂν δώσειν is indefensible, and ἐνδώσειν τᾶν . . τλασᾶν . . εὑρουσᾶν . . πάθη. That Creon will yield from the maidens,' or That the sufferings of the enduring ones much wronged by their kindred will abate, is forced, and gives a poor sense.

1077. mvp-comment-581-1 τὰν .. τλᾶσαν i. e. Antigone, whom the chorus had actually seen carried off. She is the heroine of this play as well as of the Antigone.

1077. mvp-comment-581-2 δεινὰ τλᾶσαν, supra 345-351. Eur. I. A. 932, σὲ δ', ὦ σχέτλια παθοῦσα πρὸς τῶν φιλτάτων: ib. 942, ἡ δεινὰ τλᾶσα κοὐκ ἀνεκτὰ παρθένος. Linw. reads τὼ δεινὰ τλάσα, δεινὰ δ' εὑρούσα, suggested by Dindorf in 1842.

1077. mvp-comment-581-3 δεινὰ δ᾽.. πάθη Because Creon, who was her kinsman, had carried her off by the order of Eteocles.

1079. mvp-comment-582-1 τελεῖ Future.

1079. mvp-comment-582-2 τι Α thing;' ie. The thing we desire. Essay on Language § 22. p. 36.

1080. mvp-comment-583-1 (1) 'Í am a prophet on the side of the good contest.' i. e. My prophetic power takes part with the good cause. Cp. Ο. Τ. 879, τὸ καλῶς ἔχον πάλαισμα. Or (2) I prophesy a good issue of the contest. Cp. Εl. 1499, μάντις εἰμὶ τῶνδ᾽ ἄκρος. And for ἐσθλῶν, ib. 646, εἰ μὲν πέφηνεν ἐσθλά,

1082-1084. mvp-comment-584-1 (1) Would that as a stormswift dove of strong pinion I might from a lofty cloud light on this conflict, voyaging thither with mine eye. αἰθερίας νεφέλας is ablative genitive. From the cloud as from a watch. tower, οἷον ἀπὸ σκοπιᾶς.

1082-1084. mvp-comment-584-2 κύρσαιμι Lit. Might find;' i. e. Might descry. Or, (2) Might reach a lofty cloud and become spectator of this conflict,' etc.

1084. mvp-comment-585-1 θεωρήσασα τοὐμὸν ὄμμα Lit. Having gone as a spectator with mine eye. θεωρεῖν as in θεωρεῖν εἰς Ὀλύμπια and the like expressions. See esp. Plat. Legg. 12. 951. The construction of τοὐμὸν ὄμμα is difficult, but not more so than Tr. 914, κἀγὼ λαθραῖον ὄμμ᾽ ἐπεσκιασμένη φρούρουν, or Phil. 151, φρουρεῖν ὄμμ᾽ ἐπὶ σῷ μάλιστα καιρῷ. Such expressions as οἱ Ἀθηναῖοι ἐθεώρουν (i.e. sent θεωροὶ) ἐς τὰ Ἴσθμια are not sufficient to establish a transitive use of θεωρεῖν. In Plat. Legg. 12. 951 C, ἂν κακῶς αὐτὴν θεωρῶσιν, αὐτὴν (sc. τὴν θεωρίαν) is cognate accusative. The peculiar attraction, or metaphor, by which θεωρήσασα agrees in gender with πελειάς, is in keeping with the lyrical wildness of the whole ode. ὄμμα is probably an accusative of limitation, restricting the imaginary voyage of discovery to the sense of sight; i. e. If I were there but in vision. Cp. Tennyson's In Memoriam, 12, As a dove when up she springs... Like her I go, I cannot stay; | I leave this mortal ark behind, | A weight of nerves without a mind, | And leave the cliffs, and haste away, And reach the glow of southern skies, And see the sails at distance rise. | and back return | To where the body sits, and learn, | That I have been an hour away.

1087. mvp-comment-586-1 δαμούχοις Protectors of the people;' i. e. Theseus. Plural for singular. Cp. supra 884, ἰὼ γᾶς πρόμοι, and note: infra 1348, τῆσδε δημοῦχος χθονὸς .. Θησεύς.

1089. mvp-comment-587-1 σθένει . . λόχον Το make triumphant their ambush by successfully taking the fair prey.' ἐπινίκειος for ἐπινίκιος for the sake of the metre. The dative is to be taken closely, as instrumental, with τελειώσαι.

1089. mvp-comment-587-2 ἐπινικείῳ σθένει is a periphrasis for νίκῃ. τὸν εὔαγρον is slightly proleptic (Essay on Language § 38. p 70), and contains an allusion to Antigone as the fair occasion of the expedition. λόχος is properly an ambush, but is here generalised to mean a foray, or skirmishing expedition.

1092. mvp-comment-588-1 πυκνοστίκτων Many spotted. Cp. Phil. 183, στικτῶν ἢ λασίων μετὰ θηρῶν: Eur. Alc. 584, ποικιλόθριξ νεβρός.

1092. mvp-comment-588-2 ὀπαδόν Following in the chase; ' i. e. ὀπάζουσ ὀπάζουσαν αὐτούς. Cp. Il. 8.341, ὡς Ἕκτωρ ἄπαζε καρηκομοῶντας Ἀχαίους.

1094-1095. mvp-comment-589-1 For the change to the third person, cp. O. Τ. 159-163, Ἀθάνα ..

1094-1095. mvp-comment-589-2 Αρτεμιν καὶ Φοῖβον ἑκαβόλον ἰώ, τρισσοὶ ἀλεξίμοροι προφάνητέ μοι: and for στέργω, I long, Ο. Τ. 11, δείσαντες, ἢ στέρξαντες, Plat. Legg. 10. 907, τὰ δ' ἐναντία πως ἤθη στέρξαι. The intense lyrical condensation of this chorus assists the illusion by which the pursuit, and capture, and return, are crowded into a few minutes. Cp. Shakespeare, Henry V. Prologue to Act. 3, Thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies, In motion of no less celerity Than that of thought.