Second .—1 st strophe (1044—1058)=1 st antistr. (1059 —1073). 2 nd strophe (1074—1084)= 2 nd antistr. (1085—1095).—The Chorus utter their longing to be at the scene of the fight between the Theban captors and the Attic rescuers. They predict the speedy victory of the latter, and invoke the gods to help.

εἴην ὅθι : cp. Ai. 1218

¹ γενοίμαν ἵν’ ὑλᾶεν ἔπεστι πόντου | πρόβλημ’

, etc.: Eur. Hipp. 732

² ἀλιβάτοις ὑπὸ κευθμῶσι γενοίμαν, | ἵνα

etc.

ἐπιστροφαὶ , the wheeling-about of Creon's guards, carrying off their captives, when overtaken by the Attic pursuers. For the military use of the word see on 536

.

ἀνδρῶν ἐπιστροφαί

=

ἄνδρες ἐπιστρεφθέντες

: cp. El. 417

εἰσιδεῖν πατρὸς...δευτέραν ὁμιλίαν

: Eur. Her. 581

ὑμεῖς δ’, ἀδελφῶν ἡ παροῦσ’ ὁμιλία

: Alc. 606

ἀνδρῶν Φεραίων εὐμενὴς παρουσία

.

χαλκοβόαν cannot be resolved into two separate epithets,—

"brassclad,"

and

"clamorous"

: rather it seems to mean,

"with noise of brass,"

—the clatter of shields and swords in battle. Cp. O. T. 190 , where the Death-god (the plague) is an Ares who is

ἄχαλκος ἀσπίδων

, yet

περιβόατος. χαλκεόφωνος

,

"with voice as of brass,"

is not really similar: it is the epithet of Stentor ( Il. 5.785 ) and of Cerberus ( Hes. Theog. 311 ).

μείξουσιν : cp. Il. 15.510

ἢ αὐτοσχεδίῃ μῖξαι χεῖράς τε μένος τε

. The Attic spelling in the age of Sophocles was

μείξω

(not

μίξω

),

ἔμειξα

, verb. adj.

μεικτός

: and so in the proper names

Μειξίας, Μείξιππος

, etc.: see Meisterhans pp. 25, 87. There is no epigraphic evidence for the pres.; but, as Curtius remarks ( Gr. Verb p. 111 Eng. tr.),

μείγνυμι

:

μιγ

::

δείκνυμι

:

δικ

.

ἢ πρὸς Πυθίαις ἢ λαμπάσιν ἀκταῖς . The Chorus here imagine the Athenians as pursuing the Thebans through the pass of Daphne, over Mount Aegaleos, towards Eleusis. Two points are mentioned as possible scenes for a fight.

(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.

(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

.

πότνιαι , Demeter and Persephone (Cora), who in Ar. Th. 1156 are called

Θεσμοφόρω πολυποτνία

. Cp. 683.

τιθηνοῦνται , as the spiritual nurturers of their faithful votaries. Simonides, too, has this word in a fig. sense, fr. 150. 7

εὖ δ’ ἐτιθηνεῖτο γλυκερὰν ὄπα Δωρίοις Ἀρίστων | Ἀργεῖος

("cultivated").

τέλη : Plat. Rep. 560E

τελουμένου ψυχὴν μεγάλοισι τέλεσι

: Eur. Hipp. 25

σεμνῶν ἐς ὄψιν καὶ τέλη μυστηρίων

: Aesch. fr. 377

μυστικοῦ τέλους

: in prose usu.

τελεταί

.

θνατοῖσιν , esp. fitting here, since the highest value of the Eleusinia consisted in opening a prospect of bliss after death. Soph. fr. 753

ὡς τρὶς ὄλβιοι

κεῖνοι βροτῶν, οἳ ταῦτα δερχθέντες τέλη

μόλωσ’ ἐς Ἅιδου· τοῖσδε γὰρ μόνοις ἐκεῖ

ζῆν ἔστι, τοῖς δ’ ἄλλοισι πάντ’ ἐκεῖ κακά

. Pindar fr. 114

ὄλβιος ὅστις ἰδὼν κεῖν’ εἶσ’ ὑπὸ χθόν)· οἶδε μὲν βίου τελευτάν, οἶδεν δὲ διόσδοτον ἀρχάν

. Isocr. or. 4 § 28

ἧς ( τελετῆς ) οἱ μετασχόντες περί τε τῆς τοῦ βίου τελευτῆς καὶ τοῦ σύμπαντος αἰῶνος ἡδίους τὰς ἐλπίδας ἔχουσιν

.

ὧν καὶ χρυσέα κ.τ.λ.: ὧν refers to

θνατοῖσιν

: καὶ ("also") has the effect of limiting the reference to those persons on whom the pledge of secrecy has been imposed; — " those mortals on whose lips has been set the divine seal of the ministrant Eumolpidae ": i.e. those who have been duly initiated by the Eumolpid Hierophant at Eleusis, and have been bound by him to secrecy.

κλὴ|ς Εὐμολπιδᾶν (possessive gen.), the silence which they impose. Perhaps we should read βέβακ’ ἐκ . The Eumolpidae figure here as interpreters between the Two Goddesses and mortals, not as guardians of a secret which they may not communicate. Hence the above version is better than either of the following:—(1) ὦν referring to πότνιαι : "whose seal has been set on the lips of the Eumolpidae": (2) ὧν referring to τέλη : "the seal whereof has been set on the lips of the E."

κλὴ|ς , "that which closes," cannot well be rendered " key " here, any more than in Aesch. fr. 309

ἀλλ’ ἔστι κἀμοὶ κλὴ|ς ἐπὶ γλώσσῃ φύλαξ

. The apparent boldness of a Greek metaphor is sometimes thus mitigated by the poet's consciousness of the literal sense; as when Pindar calls an inspiring thought an

ἀκόνη

,—literally, "sharpener," conventionally "whetstone"); or when he calls the master, who tempers a chorus into harmony, a

κρατήρ

( Ol. 6. 82 , 91 : cp. my paper in Journ. Hellen. Stud. III. 171 ). — Cp. the

βοῦς ἐπὶ γλώσσῃ

(Aesch. Ag. 36) , perh. a mere metaphor from a heavy weight,—parodied by Menander Ἁλιεῖς fr. 1

παχὺς γὰρ ὗς ἔκειτ’ ἐπὶ στόμα

. Anthol. Pal. 10. 42

ἀρρήτων ἐπέων γλώσσῃ σφραγὶς ἐπικείσθω

. Eur. Med. 660

καθαρὰν ἀνοίξ | αντα κλῇδα φρενῶν

, "having unlocked his heart in sincerity."

κλῃδοῦχος

was said either of a tutelar deity or of a priestess, and on the vases the symbolic key, adorned with woollen threads, is sometimes borne by the priestess ( Passeri III. 294 , Welcker Alte Denkm. III. 450 ff. etc.): but there is no evidence for the Eleusinian Hierophant actually putting a key to the lips of the initiated.

χρυσέα , divine, precious,—because of the truths revealed: O. T. 157

χρυσέας τέκνον Ἐλπίδος

.

προσπόλων Εὐμολπιδᾶν . The Eleusinia had four chief ministrants. 1. The

ἱεροφάντης

. This office was hereditary in the Eumolpid gens; Plut. De Exil. 17

Εὔμολπος ἐμύησε καὶ μυεῖ τοὺς Ἕλληνας

(as the earliest hierophant, and the ancestor of his successors). 2. The

δᾳδοῦχος

: hereditary in the gens of Callias and Hipponicus, which traced itself from Triptolemus. 3. The

ἱεροκήρυξ

: hereditary in the gens of the

Κηρυκίδαι

(or

Κήρυκες

). 4. The altar-priest,

ἱερεὺς ὁ ἐπὶ βωμῷ

, or

ἐπιβώμιος

, who offered the sacrifice. It is not known whether this office was hereditary. As some relationship seems to have existed between the Eumolpidae and the two other gentes, προσπόλων here possibly includes (2) and (3), but is more naturally taken of the

ἱεροφάντης

only. A hydria found at Cumae, and belonging to a Campanian collection now at St Petersburg, exhibits an Eleusinian group of deities and priests, among whom the

ἱεροφάντης

is distinguished by a long white stole, partly embroidered with gold, a myrtle wreath, and the thyrsus. (It is reproduced by Baumeister, Denkmäler des kl. Alt .., p. 474, pl. 520.)

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

.

ἐγρεμάχαν ,

"rousing the fight,"

is a fit epithet for the champion who overtakes the captors, and forces them to a contest. Elsewhere we find only the fem.

ἐγρεμάχη

, as epithet of Pallas, Hom. Hymn. 5.424 . Cp. Bacchyl. 12. 100 [=13.67 of Kenyon's ed.]

ἀερσιμάχους

.

Θησέα has the final

α

long in 1458, but short here: cp. Eur. Hec. 882

ξὺν ταῖσδε τὸν ἐμὸν φονέα τιμωρήσομαι

, =870 ed. Porson, who adds Philemon ap. Athen. 7. 307 E

κεστρἔ ὀπτόν

. Is the MS. καὶ after

Θησέα

genuine? If so, ἐμμείξειν is here intrans., like

ἐπι‐, προς‐, συμμιγνύναι

: and the sense is,

"Theseus and the two maidens will soon meet amid a battle-cry of confident prowess."

Thus with ἐμμείξειν we are to understand

ἀλλήλοις

. The verb is fitting, because the maidens, though their sympathies are with Theseus, are in the midst of the hostile force.

αὐτάρκει βοᾷ is dat. of circumstance. This I believe to be the right view. Not ,

"Th. and the maidens will join battle with the foe ,"

sc.

τοῖς πολεμίοις

: for the maidens are in the hands of the foe. Such a phrase is not defensible merely because in spirit they are with Theseus.

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.

διστόλους =

"two journeying"

sisters, —as borne off by their captors: see on 17

πυκνόπτεροι

. Not,

"separately carried off,"

with ref. to two bands of Thebans (cp. 818).

αὐτάρκει ,

"self-sufficing,"

and so

"self-reliant,"

giving confident promise of victorious rescue.

τούσδ’ ἀνὰ χ. : i.e. in Attica, before the border can be passed.

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 .

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.

νομοῦ , being always masc., could not agree with Οἰάτιδος , and the latter, without art., could not stand for

Οἰάτιδος γῆς

: while

Οἰατέος

is most improbable.

πελῶς’ , if sound, must be fut. of

πελάζω

, as

πελᾶν

clearly is in El. 497 . The evidence for a pres.

πελάω

is scanty ( Hom. Hymn. 7.44

πελάαν

: poet. ap. Plut. Mor. 457 C imperat.

πέλα

: Oppian Cyn. 1. 514

πελάει

: cp. Veitch Irreg. Verbs ). The fut. seems defensible here, as=

"they will (presently) approach"

: though Hartung's περῶσ’ may be right. Construe, then: — ἤ που πελῶσ’ εἰς ἐφέσπερον πέτρ. νιφ. Οἰάτιδος νομόν :

" or perchance they will presently approach the pastures to the west of the snowy rock of Oea. "

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.

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.

ῥιμφαρμάτοις … ἁμίλλαις =

ἁμίλλαις ῥίμφα φερομένων ἁρμάτων

(see on 710

αὔχημα...εὔιππον

), emulous careers of swift chariots, as El. 861

χαλαργοῖς ἐν ἁμίλλαις

, races of swift steeds: cp. Ant. 1065

τροχοὺς ἁμιλλητῆρας ἡλίου

, rapid courses of the sun.

ἁλώσεται , sc.

ὁ Κρέων

,

"he will be worsted"

(not,

"captured,"

since he was already in the hands of Theseus): cp. Thuc. 1.121

μιᾷ...νικῇ...ἁλίσκονται

, they are sure to be overthrown by one victory of ours. For the ellipse of the subject, where the mind could readily supply it, cp. Xen. Cyr. 2.4.24

πορεύσομαι διὰ τοῦ πεδίου εὐθὺς πρὸς τὰ βασίλεια. καὶ ἢν μὲν ἀνθιστῆται

,

"and if the enemy (the king) resist,"

etc.—This is better than (1)

"the fugitive will be captured,"

supplying

ὁ φεύγων

from

φεύγοντες

: (2)

"a capture will be made,"

— taking the verb as impers.: or (3)

"the battle will be won,"

ἁλώσεται ὁ ἀγών

, as Elms. takes it, comparing 1148

ἁγὼν ᾑρέθη

.

προσχώρων , the neighbours of the grove, the Coloniates (cp. 493); not,

"our neighbours the Thebans,"

for the Chorus are predicting an easy victory, not a tough fight. Colonus and its neighbourhood had furnished a contingent to the party of rescue (897).

Θησειδᾶν , schol.

Ἀθηναίων

: cp.

Κεκροπίδαι, Ἐρεχθεῖδαι

, Aeneadae, etc.: here, followers of Theseus from Athens , as distinct from the Coloniates. We could not well understand, with Ellendt,

"the Coloniates, and the followers of Theseus generally ,"

as if

Θησειδᾶν

included

προσχώρων.

ἀκμά , vigour, might: Pind. Isthm. 3. 68

ἀλλ’ ὀνοτὸς μὲν ἰδέσθαι,

συμπεσεῖν δ’ ἀκμᾷ βαρύς

, "dread to grapple with in his strength."

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 .

ἀμπυκτήρια φάλαρα πώλων is the MS. reading. Hesychius s.v. has:

ἀμπυκτήρια· τὰ φάλαρα. Σοφοκλῆς Οἰδίποδι ἐν Κολωνῷ

. This proves what the metre (on any view of 1054) already hinted,— that φάλαρα is a gloss.

ἀμπυκτήριον

here=

"bridle,"

as

ἀμπυκτήρ

in Aesch. Theb. 461

ἵππους δ’ ἐν ἀμπυκτῆρσιν ἐμβριμωμένας

: where the schol. (minor) expressly says that

ἄμπυξ

(properly the head-band ) was similarly used:

κυρίως οἱ περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἱμάντες τοῦ χαλινοῦ ἄμπυξ καλοῦνται

: and so Quintus Smyrnaeus uses

ἄμπυξ

, 4. 511. It is but a slight poetical extension of meaning to use ἀμπυκτήρια as including the bridle-reins. The MS. πώλων is against the metre, unless 1054 f. are very boldly altered (see Metrical Analysis). When the gloss φάλαρα had crept into the text, πώλων (suggested by 1062) may have been tacked on to it. Wecklein's conjecture,

ἀμπυκτήρια στομίων

(

"the reins of the bits "

) gives an exact correspondence with 1054

ἔνθ’ οἶμαι τὸν ἐγρεμάχαν

. Nothing better has been suggested.

ἄμβασις , in such a context, needs not to be defined by

πώλων

. For the apocopè, cp. Ant. 1275

ἀντρέπων

, n.

οἳ , as if

ἀναβάται

had gone before: cp. Ai. 235

ὧν

after

ποίμνην

: Her. 8.128

περιέδραμε ὅμιλος,... οἳ

etc. Cp. 942 n. (

αὐτούς

after

πόλιν

).

τὰν ἱππίαν : see on 55

.

γαιάοχον , in the Homeric use, is most simply explained as "earth-embracer," with ref. to the Homeric idea of

Ὠκεανός

flowing round the earth: though some understand "reigning on earth" (as Zeus in heaven, and Hades in the nether world Il. 15.190 ). Some take it here as = " guarding our land, " like

γ. Ἄρτεμιν

in O. T. 160 : and this certainly has more special point here. But would the constant Homeric epithet of Poseidon be applied to him in a sense different from the Homeric? All Greek hearers would think of the

γαιήοχος Ἐννοσίγαιος.

Ῥέας , here a monosyllable, as in Il. 15.187 ,—the only instance of this form in Il. or Od. , but a dissyllable in Hom. Hymn. 5.459,

τὴν δ’ ὧδε προσέειπε Ῥέη λιπαροκρήδεμνος

. Elsewhere in the Hymns the form is always

Ῥείη

, as in Il. 14.203 . In Hes. Th. 634

Ῥεῖα

is read.

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.

ἔρδους’ :

"are they (the pursuers) in action, or on the point of being so? for ( ὡς ) I have a foreboding, etc."

μέλλουσιν , sc.

ἔρξειν

: cp. Tr. 74

Εὐβοῖδα χώραν φασίν, Εὐρύτου πόλιν,

ἐπιστρατεύειν αὐτὸν ἢ μέλλειν ἔτι

: Ph. 567

ὡς ταῦτ’ ἐπίστω δρώμεν’, οὐ μέλλοντ’ ἔτι

: ib. 1255

ἀλλὰ κἀμέ τοι | ταὐτὸν τόδ’ ὄψει δρῶντα κοὐ μέλλοντ’ ἔτι

.

γνώμα μοι my mind προμνᾶταί τι (adv.) somehow pleads for the belief, presages.

προμνᾶσθαι

means (1) to woo for another,

κόρην τινί

: (2) fig., to seek to obtain anything for another, e.g.

δῶρά τινι

. The bold use here comes through the notion of pleading , or speaking persuasively , as the

προμνήστρια

to the maiden on behalf of the lover. This use is bolder than the fig. use in Plat. Menex. 239 C , where the question is of themes which have already been

"married to immortal verse,"

as distinguished from others in respect of which Poetry

ἔτι ἐστιν ἐν μνηστείᾳ

, is still in the stage of courtship. Of these latter, says the orator, I will speak—

ἐπαινοῦντά τε καὶ προμνώμενον ἄλλοις ἐς ᾠδὰς...αὐτὰ θεῖναι

, commending them, and wooing them for others ( i.e. for the poets), with a view to their putting them into verse. (A passage which has often been misunderstood as if

προμν. ἄλλοις

meant

"pleading with others"

:—so Lidd. and Scott, with Ast.)

ἀντάσειν (Buecheler),—a conjecture which had occurred independently to myself,—seems the most probable correction of ἂν δώσειν . The Chorus express a presentiment that they will soon again be brought face to face with the maidens who were dragged away before their eyes; and this prepares for the approaching entrance of Antigone and Ismene, 1097

τὰς κόρας γὰρ εἰσορῶ.

ἀντάω usu. takes a dat. of meeting a person , but sometimes a gen., as Il. 16.423

ἀντήσω γὰρ ἐγὼ τοῦδ’ ἀνέρος

(in battle). With the gen., ἀντάω also=

κυρεῖν, τυγχάνειν

: Od. 3.97

ἤντησας ὀπωπῆς

: Her. 2.119

ξεινίων ἤντησε μεγάλων

. Cp. Soph. Ant. 982

ἄντασ’ Ἐρεχθειδᾶν

, she attained unto them (traced her lineage back to them). Here the idea of obtaining back is blended with that of being brought face to face. It is not, then, a valid objection that the Chorus do not move to meet the maidens.

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.

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 .

κατ’ ἆμαρ here=

κατ’ ἦμαρ...τὸ νῦν

( Ai. 753 ), as

μοῖρα καθαμερία

( El. 1414 ) =

"the doom of to-day. "

ἀελλαία : O. T. 466

ἀελλάδων | ἵππων.

ταχύρρωστος goes closely with it in sense,

"with a swift, strong impetus, as of the storm,"

ταχέως ῥωομένη, ὡς ἄελλα

: cp. Il. 23.367

ἐρρώοντο μετὰ πνοιῇς ἀνέμοιο

.

Hermann's ἄνωθ’ for the αὐτῶν δ’ of the MSS., with αἰωρήσασα for

θεωρήσασα

, gives the most probable correction of the passage.

ἄνωθε

, for

ἄνωθεν

, though it does not occur elsewhere in trag., is once used by Aristoph. Eccl. 698 (

ἄνωθ’ ἐξ ὑπερῴου

), and we can hardly doubt that a tragic poet would have admitted it,—at least in lyrics,—when metre required. Note these points. (1) If we read τῶνδ’ with Wunder, the gen. τῶνδ’ ἀγώνων must be governed in one of two ways: ( a ) by κύρσαιμι , when αἰθερίας νεφέλας must mean,

" from a cloud."

This is possible (cp. O. T. 808

ὄχου...καθίκετο

n.): but it is awkward. It is much more natural to take

αἰθερ. νεφέλας

with

κύρσαιμι

. ( b ) By something substituted for

θεωρήσασα

. Wecklein makes the gen. depend on αἰωρήσασα , as=

"having lifted above "

:but the gen. would mean

" from ,"

as Ant. 417

χθονὸς

θεωρήσασα cannot be defended by Campbell's version,

" having gone as a spectator with mine eye."

θεωρήσουσα is read by Blaydes, who renders,

"to give my eye a sight."

This, as Paley says, is not Greek.

αἰωρεῖν , not ἐωρεῖν , is the classical Attic form: cp. on O. T. 1264 .

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.

δαμούχοις (cp. on 458

), the people of Attica.

σθένει : cp. Tr. 497

μέγα τι σθένος ἁ Κύπρις ἐκφέρεται νίκας ἀεί.

ἐπινικείῳ for

ἐπινικίῳ

: cp. Ant. 358

ὑπαίθρεια

(Boeckh, for

αἴθρια

).

τὸν εὔαγρον τελειῶσαι λόχον (grant to the Athenians) to accomplish the successful surprise,— the way-laying of Creon's guards, by which the Athenians will secure their quarry (

ἄγρα

), viz. the maidens.

τὸν εὔαγρον , proleptic: cp. Tr. 477

τῆσδ’ οὕνεχ’ ἡ πολύφθορος

καθῃρέθη πατρῷος Οἰχαλία δόρει.

λόχον ,

"ambuscade,"

seems here to have the more general sense,

"scheme of capture"

(cp. Od. 4.395

φράζευ σὺ λόχον θείοιο γέροντος

, a way to take him): though there is nothing in the scanty references to the pursuit which necessarily excludes the idea of a literal ambush. Taking λόχον as=

"company,"

we could render,

"grant this to our folk,—that thou shouldst crown the successful band with victory "

(

τελειῶσαι

): cp. El. 1508

ὦ σπέρμ’ Ἀτρέως … | τῇ νῦν ὁρμῇ τελεωθέν

,

"crowned with peace by this day's effort"

: but the construction thus supposed is less simple, while the frequent poetical association of

λόχος

with capture points to the other sense.

σεμνά τε παῖς , sc.

πόροι

(from

πόροις

, 1086).

τὸν ἀγρευτὰν , the hunter. Cp. Aesch. fr. 195 (Heracles, in the

Προμηθεὺς Λυόμενος

, when aiming his shaft at the eagle)

Ἀγρεὺς δ’ Ἀπόλλων ὀρθὸν ἰθύνοι βέλος

. Paus. (1. 41. 3) saw at Megara a temple dedicated to

Ἀγροτέραν Ἄρτεμιν καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα Ἀγραῖον

. Xenophon, in his treatise on hunting, bids the hunter pray

τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι καὶ τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι τῇ Ἀγροτέρᾳ μεταδοῦναι τῆς θήρας

( Cyneg. 6. 13).—Note the change from vocative (

Ζεῦ

), and 3rd pers. (

παῖς

) with optat., to the constr. of acc. and infin. with στέργω . Cp. O. T. 204

Λύκεῑ ἄναξ

...209

τὸν χρυσομίτραν τε κικλήσκω

: Aesch. PV 88

ὦ δῖος αἰθήρ

etc....

καὶ τὸν πανόπτην κύκλον ἡλίου καλῶ

.

ὀπαδὸν … ἐλάφων , as follow ing them in the chase. Artemis

Ἀγροτέρα

had a temple at Athens in the suburb

Ἄγραι

, on an eminence by the Ilissus; and to her, as

"smiter of deer,"

the festival of the

Ἐλαφηβόλια

was held in the month thence named (Mar.—Apr.). Hom. Hymn. 27.2

ἐλαφηβόλον, ἰοχέαιραν, …

ἣ κατ’ ὄρη σκιόεντα καὶ ἄκριας ἠνεμοέσσας

ἄγρῃ τερπομένη παγχρύσεα τόξα τιταίνει

. She is also

ἑλλοφόνος

, Corp. Inscr. 5943 (

ἑλλός

, a faun),

θηροκτόνος, θηροφόνος

, etc.

πυκνοστίκτων : cp. Eur. Hipp. 215

εἶμι πρὸς ὕλαν

καὶ παρὰ πεύκας, ἵνα θηροφόνοι

στείβουσι κύνες,

βαλιαῖς ἐλάφοις ἐγχριμπτομένα

: Alc. 584

ποικιλόθριξ | νεβρός

.

στέργω ,

"I desire."

Schol.

σημαίνει μὲν οἶον προσίεμαι· τελευτᾷ δὲ εἰς ἴσον τῷ προκαλοῦμαι

, “the (literal) sense is nearly,

"I approve"

(or

"consent"

); but the ultimate (or virtual) sense is,

"I invoke"

.” The scholiast saw the impropriety of rendering,

"I am content that the gods should come to help us,"

and so imagined this transition of meaning. His only fault lay in starting from the special and derivative sense of

στέργειν

,

"to be content,"

and not from its primary sense,

"to love ,"

whence poetry could easily draw the neighbouring sense,

"to desire. "

So in O. T. 11

στέρξαντες

=

"having formed a desire."

Hermann and others take

στέργω

here as=

"I entreat ,"

—getting the idea of

"praying"

through that of

"revering"

(as implied in the

στοργή

of children for parents, etc.). Hermann so takes the word in the Orphic Argonautica 772

μειλιχίοις στέρξοι τε παραιφάμενος ἐπέεσσιν

(

"entreat him"

), where Ruhnken conjectured

θέλξοι

.

διπλᾶς ἀρωγὰς , two aids (abstract for concrete), Apollo and Artemis. Cp. O. T. 164

τρισσοὶ ἀλεξίμοροι προφάνητέ μοι

(Zeus, Apollo, Artemis).