707.
mvp-comment-392-1
ἄλλον . . εὐθάλασσον
I have yet another mighty praise for this city that hath reared me, the gift of that great deity, to tell, her great pride, that she is renowned for the fairest steeds, the fairest colts, and for glorious sea. εἰπεῖν is added epexegetically in construction with ἔχω. The adjectives, εὔιππον, etc., agree with αὐτήν, which is to be supplied as the object of εἰπεῖν, if indeed some word equivalent to this has not been lost. Porson, to complete the metre, supplied χθονός before αύχημα. But perhaps the line may have stood, δῶρον τοῦ μεγάλου δαίμονος, εἰπεῖν γέ νιν, αὔχημα μέγιστον, κ.τ.λ. ματροπόλει = 'the state our mother.' Cp. 1480, γᾷ ματέρι. The word probably refers to Athens, as presiding over the smaller townships. But in ταίσδε .. ἀγνιαῖς, infr. 715, the neighbourhood of Colonus is meant.
712.
mvp-comment-393-1
For, son of Cronos, it was thou... γάρ is postponed after the vocative.
713.
mvp-comment-394-1
αὔχημ᾿ For the unconscious repetition of aὔχημα, see Essay on Language § 44. p. 84.
714.
mvp-comment-395-1
The dative ἵπποισι depends immediately on κτίσας, and is to be resumed with ἀκεστῆρα.
Having framed for horses the bit, which tames their rage. Cp. Pind. O1. 13. 85, φάρμακον πραῦ τείνων ἀμφὶ γένυι.
715.
mvp-comment-396-1
ταῖσδε κτίσας ἀγυιαῖς
Having instituted in these roads. κτίσας,
having invented and brought into use. ταῖσδε . . ἀγυιαîs]
In the roads about Colonus. The note of the Schol. here is curious: ὁ γὰρ Κολωνὸς ἱππεὺς ὠνομάσθη, παρ' ἃς ἐξεθέμην αἰτίας διὰ τὸν Ἄδραστον (κατ' Ἀνδροτίωνα, Rom. ed.). ὁ δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ σεμνότατον ἄγει τὸ πράγμα.
716-719.
mvp-comment-397-1
These lines expand the epithet εὐθάλασσον. 'And the well-plied oar, passing through the sea, flits wondrously by the hand of man, and darts onward, following in the track of innumerable Nereids. ἁλία may be taken either as an attribute of πλάτα, or with the participle.
716.
mvp-comment-398-1
εὐήρετμος Rather from εὖ ἐρέσσω than from εὖ ἐρετμόν. Join
ἔκπαγλα θρώσκει.
716.
mvp-comment-398-2
χερσὶ παραπτομένα has been taken to mean
fitted to the hand. But this is prosaic, and interferes with the figure by which the oar is put for the ship. As in O. T. 17, πτέσθαι may be a syncopated form of πέτεσθαι. But the metre is doubtful, cp. supr. 704.
716.
mvp-comment-398-3
ραϊσσομένα, περιπτυσσσομένα, παραιπεμ πομένα, have been conjectured.
716.
mvp-comment-398-4
πα-
718.
mvp-comment-399-1
ἑκατομπόδων As in ἑκατογκάρανος, ἑκατόγχειρος, ἕκατον is used vaguely to give the impression of multitude. The first part of the epithet is most important, as in πυκνόπτεροι, etc., the second part being chiefly pictorial. An allusion to the number 50 would be an awkward conceit; and the bare mention of an exact number, such as 100, would have no poetic force. 721 ff. Ismene is not yet returned. The dreaded Creon is seen advancing instead. The boast of a
strong dwellingplace, and of the
unconquered olivetree, will now be put to proof. νῦν σοὶ.. δὴ σοί, sc. πάρεστι, cp. Phil. 1165, ἀλλὰ γνῶθ᾽, εὖ γνῶθ᾽, ὅτι σοὶ | κῆρα τάνδ᾽ ἀποφεύγειν. The conjecture σόν in both places is unnecessary. δή emphasizes the whole sentence: cp. Ant. 726, οἱ τηλικοίδε καὶ διδαξόμεσθα δὴ | φρονεῖν, κ.τ.λ. The reading δεῖ may have arisen from the difficulty of σοί, and the unusual position of δή. φαίνειν] Causative, as in Phil. 297, ἔφην᾿ ἄφαντον φῶς.
Cause these words to shine, shine,' i. e. manifest their truth in action : = ἀποδιδόναι ἐναργῆ. Cp. Τr. 239, εὐκταῖα φαίνων: Pind. Nem. 10. 11, Ζεὺς .. τοῦτον κατέφανε λόγον: Hdt. 3. 36, εὔνοιαν φαίνων.
