Campbell City (part 13 of 13)

1186. Said by prolepsis and hypallage for TOV with the same confusion between the door and the fastening which occurs elsewhere. 'I was opening the door, having drawn the bolt.' i191. Here, and infr. 1203, 1312, as well as probably supr. 993, the death of Creon's son Megareus, elsewhere called Menoeceus, is alluded to.

1202. resumes with greater definiteness, and repeats what is implied in ovy- implies that scattered fragments were collected.

1209. 'And as he came nearer, an undistinguishable crying filled his ears." See Essay on L. § ro. p. 17, and for cp. Hom. Od. 6. 122,

1210. In the phrase 'To draw near,' which was a rare word in Attic, lost something of the comparative meaning. Hence the double comparative.

that this word reverts to its original meaning as a derivative of being used actively in the sense of ' To thrill' But it is more in accordance with analogy to suppose that it has passed through the following changes of meaning: (1) to move frequently : (2) to wag the tail; ovpn: (3) to make signs of: recognition, to greet: (4) to touch with a feeling of recognition, See Essay on L. p. 99 (dupa).

1216. In preparing the vault, an opening had been left, through which the victim was thrust into the chamber. This opening was then roughly closed with stones. (1) Through these Haemon had passionately torn his way. ~ And the cleft so made by him is the ' Entering

1210. 'On hearing our despairing lord and at his bidding.' Cp. supr. 1. 957. Haemon, on rushing in, had found Antigone already dead by her own act.

1222, " Fastened,' sc. to the roof. Those who read must have understood it to mean 'let down, i.e. suspended. The 'muslin noose of fine tissue' is the maiden's veil, the of Aesch. S.c. 1039.

1232. It is not clear whether Aristotle means to find fault with this when he says that ' Knowingly to intend evil, and not perform it, is at once abominable and without tragic interest ; Poet. 1453 6. But he clearly had not anticipated the refinement of the Scholiast and some modern critics, who think that Haemon only meditated suicide, and that his action is misunderstood by the messenger who reports the circumstance. Cp. supr. 751.

rentian reading points to with gipovs as a gloss. But although the generic word is used in Aj. 658, it would be out of place here.

1236, 7. 'He clung to the maiden, enfolding her in his slackening arm.' The construction of és .. is as if or some such verb, were to follow.

1238. which the Scholiast read, is at once a harder reading than pony, and harmonizes better with the context. 'And panting hard, he cast on her pale cheek sharp breath of gory dew. Cp. Aesch. Ag. 1388: Essay on L. § p. 17.

5 v. ' a HK 3 id N XO. : 1245 3 2 SA - 3 "~ ? \ ) 54 > ? yap [250

1247. | 'She will not deign to make public lamentation.' The ellipse of or some other general word (cp. l. 577), "or the imperfect construction of with is made more easy by the introduction of in what follows.

duty,' with some allusion to the other meaning of 'To lay out for mourning before burial.' 1250. 'In respect of judgment. Gpapravew is euphemistic. 1251. Qy. 3 See the accentuation of the MS. reading. 1258. 'A monument with evident tokens.' The blood-stained corpse of Haemon was, as it were, a monument, on which was inscribed the record of the calamitous error of Creon. The metres of the concluding are as follows. The dochmiac rhythm prevails, a'. I, may be scanned either as dijambus, cretic, and dochmiac, or as an iambus and 2 dochmiacs; 3, two cretics; 15, dochmiac and iambic tripody. The first strophe and antistrophe are followed by five iambic trimeters.

The intervention of the Exangelus at 1278, and the at 1293, are special features, which must have made this commos extraordinarily impressive. The coryphaeus chants 1257 ff., 1347 ff. The four other members of the front row interpose their remarks at intervals.

1262, may be explained, either with Dindorf, (1) 'Propter duram et inexorabilem Creontis mentem,' = 'Stubborn, by hypallage for or more simply (2) as Pindar speaks of orepeal =' Hard to endure.' The first (1) is best.

1273. 'A God held and smote me with mighty force.' is almost pleonastic, and adverbial. But there is some difficulty in the construction of with Oy. As the words stand, the whole expression must be taken as=év7-

1274. This use of language (implying 'furious driving') recurs in Plut. Phoc. 23, eis A similar expression occurs in El. 737. See also Eur. Or. 255.

1277. is to be construed with which is postponed to the participle, as in Phil. 971, and the meaning is, 'O master, how truly thou wouldst seem, having at once in hand and also in possession, to have come hither bearing one load of evil in thine arms, while there is another burden which thou wilt quickly behold within the palace.' The address, suggests the words (Creon is lord 'of dire mischance'), in which there is the distinction afterwards adopted in philosophy between éf1s and «riots.

1284. 'O harbour of Hades, hard to cleanse ;' i.e. Choked with the dead. Cp. ' Hell has enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure.'

1289-92. 'What new thing dost thou tell me? that the slaughter of a wife is heaped upon the previous ruin?' is probably a corruption of aiat, suggested by the general thought that Creon is lamenting for his son.

1293. The dead body of Eurydice is disclosed by an This line is what ancient commentators called i.e. an implicit stagedirection.

if not spurious, must be explained as an epexegesis of -- meThs. No satisfactory emendation has been proposed. Arndt suggested Bwpia Others, reading suppose the Exangelus to display the 'altar-knife' which had given the wound. See L, and 5. 5. v. 5.

1302, " Relaxes her darkened eye.' is used here as in yvia and the like expressions in Homer. might quite well be used proleptically = oxo- Teva=ev But this, ike other words of colour in Sophocles, has usually a picturesque force, and here is probably intended to suggest the darkness of passionate grief and despair which oppressed her eyes in their last looks before the final darkness of death.

1303. It has been suggested that the of Megareus and Haemon is the place which received each of them in death. Euripides speaks of Menoeceus, who flung himself into the serpent's lair, és (Phoen. 1017), as Oaddpas ..

(ib. 938 ff). If Megareus is Menoeceus, as would appear from Aesch. S. c. T. 474 ff., and if the body was left in the deep cavern where it lay, Eurydice may speak of this as at once her son's grave and bride-bed (for he was and as KAewov, because earning him his country's gratitude. And although Haemon was not buried in the cell where he died, the word borrowed from the preceding clause may be less exact in its application to him. Bothe's conj. Adyos is accepted by Dindorf.

1304, 5. 'And lastly uttering a strain of calamitous import against thee, the slayer of thy children. The expression signifies rather a prophecy than a mere imprecation of woe.

1313. 'Thou wast accused.' The active of in this sense, although rare, occurs in Plat. Theaet. 145 C, Aesch. c. Timarch. p. 142, and the passive appears again

1314. The aorist has a distinctly middle force, different from above, 1. 1268. 'How did she effect her own release in bloody death? This verse may possibly have been spoken by the chorus. It somewhat breaks the flow of Creon's passion.

1316. She heard not only the words of the messenger (I. 1183), but the cry which was raised in the house, after they had been spoken. This must be supposed to have followed 1. 1175.

1329. The adverb is emphatic, and has the force of a predicate. 'Let that last doom appear, which of all coming upon me has the highest glory of bringing me the end of days.' Not one doom but many have fallen upon Creon. But of all that can come upon him, death is the lightest and

1336. The middle voice of épdw is known to exist (L. and 5. 5. v.), and may have been used by Sophocles with a pathetic force. Essay on L. § 21. p. 52. This seems more probable than retaining from the later MSS, which has no force, or reading or for plur. for sing., can hardly stand with the singular following in the same line.

1241. It is unnecessary to change which has a natural and pathetic emphasis. He has been the death even of the mother as well as of the son,

ther at Haemon or Eurydice.' The words that follow are suggested by the general notion of distraction which is here expressed. The words in L mat (=* Which way also I shall order them'), are clearly a corruption of which, however, was probably a gloss. For if is dropped instead, the asyndeton of Aé- Xpia, is very harsh.

1344-6, ydp.. ' For all that Iam engaged with is ready to fall, while from above a destiny hard to be borne has leapt upon my head.' The opposition is not between Haemon and Eurydice (Dindorf), nor between present and future (Seyffert),-but between the visible circumstances and the invisible hand of fate. is used metaphorically. (See Essay on L. p. 105.) Creon cannot bear the misery that surrounds him, and he cannot look up because of the heavy weight of destiny impending over him.

1353. 'In old age;' 1.6. To the aged. The word is emphatic. 'Teach men wisdom at last.' Cp. Plat. Theaet. 186 C, wept

Index

Masculine, Attic preference for, 30. Mental states, words denoting, 91. Metaphors in Sophocles, 89, 90, 105. Middle voice, reflexive, 52. a.

=' to revere,' 98. a. reflexive, 52. a. Causative, 53. ¢. intransitive, 99. various meanings, 96. adverbial, 26. a.