τοῖς ἐν τέλει βεβῶσι = τυράννων in 60, i.e. Creon. βεβῶσι, as El. 1094 “μοίρᾳ μὲν οὐκ ἐν ἐσθλᾷ ι βεβῶσαν”: O. C. 1358 “ἐν πόνῳ ι ταὐτῷ βεβηκώς”. Elsewhere Soph. has the simple phrase: Ai. 1352 “κλύειν...τῶν ἐν τέλει”, and so Ph. 385, 925.“οἱ ἐν τέλει” are ‘those in authority,’ —“τέλος” meaning ‘final or decisive power,’ as Thuc. 4.118 “τέλος ἔχοντες ἰόντων”, ‘let the envoys go as plenipotentiaries.’ Pindar's “τέλος δωδεκάμηνον” (‘an office held for a year’), N. 11. 10, is perh. poetical. As synonyms for “οἱ ἐν τέλει” we find (1) “οἱ τὰ τέλη ἔχοντες”, Thuc. 5.47, and (2) “τὰ τέλη” simply,—‘the authorities,’ sometimes with masc. part., as Thuc. 4.15 “ἔδοξεν αὐτοῖς...τὰ τέλη καταβάντας βουλεύειν”. Hellen. 6. 5 has “τὰ μέγιστα τέλη”, ‘the highest magistrates’ (like Thuc. 1.10 “ἔξω τῶν βασιλέων καὶ τῶν μάλιστα ἐν τέλει”: cp. 2. 10). τὸ γὰρ ι ...πράσσειν: for the art. in the 6th place, with its noun in the next v., cp. 78: O. T. 231: O. C. 265, 351: Ph. 674. περισσὰ πρ.: cp. 780: so Tr. 617 “περισσὰ δρᾶν, ῀ πολλὰ πράττειν, πολυπραγμονεῖν.” οὐκ ἔχει νοῦν οὐδ. = ἀνόητόν ἐστι: prop. of persons, as Tr. 553 “γυναῖκα νοῦν ἔχουσαν”.
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part III: The Antigone. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1900.
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