Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Antigone

Hypotheses

ΣΟΦΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ ΑΝΤΙΓΟΝΗ

I.

ΑΡΙΣΤΟΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΚΟΥ ΥΠΟΘΕΣΙΣ.

“κεῖται ἡ μυθοποιΐα καὶ παρὰ Εὐριπίδη ἐν Ἀντιγόνη: πλὴν ἐκεῖ φωραθεῖσα μετὰ τοῦ Αἵμονος δίδοται πρὸς γάμου κοινωνίαν καὶ τέκνον τίκτει τὸν Μαίονα”.

“ἡ μὲν σκηνὴ τοῦ δράματος ὑπόκειται ἐν Θήβαις ταῖς Βοιωτικαῖς. ὁ δὲ χοπὸς συνέστηκεν ἐξ ἐπιχωρίων γερόντων. προλογίζει ἡ Ἀντιγόνη: ὑπόκειται δὲ τὰ πράγματα ἐπὶ τῶν Κρέοντος βασιλείων. τὸ δὲ κεφάλαιόν ἐστι τάφος Πολυνείκους, Ἀντιγόνης ἀναίρεσις, θάνατος Αἵμονος καὶ μόρος Εὐρυδίκης τῆς Αἵμονος μητρός. φασὶ δὲ τὸν Σοφοκλέα ἠξιῶσθαι τῆς ἐν Σάμῳ στρατηγίας εὐδοκιμήσαντα ἐν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ τῆς Ἀντιγόνης. λέλεκται δὲ τὸ δρᾶμα τοῦτο τριακοστὸν δεύτερον”.

ΑΡΙΣΤΟΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΚΟΥ Aristophanes of Byzantium, librarian at Alexandria (flor. 200 B.C.), to whom the metrical argument for the Oedipus Tyrannus is also ascribed in the MSS., but incorrectly: see Oed. Tyr. p. 4. Though the genuineness of this prose “ὑποθέσις” has not such a prima facie case against it as exists against that of all the metrical arguments ascribed to Aristophanes, it must at least be regarded as very doubtful. If the perfect “ἀνῄρηται” in line 2 is sound, it is an indication of much later age, as has been shown in the critical note above. Another such indication, I think, is the phrase “εἰς μνημεῖον κατάγειον ἐντεθεῖσα παρὰ” (instead of “ὑπὸ”) “τοῦ Κρέοντος” (l. 2),—a later (and modern) use of the prep. which does not surprise us in Salustius (Arg. II. l. 11 “παρὰ τοῦ Κρέοντος κωλύεται”), but which would be strange in the Alexandrian scholar of circ. 200 B.C. In the Laurentian MS. this Argument precedes, while the other two follow, the play.

ἐν Ἀντιγόνῃ Only some 21 small fragments remain (about 80 verses in all), and these throw no light on the details of the plot.

τὸν Μαίονα. This reading is made almost certain by the mention of ‘Maion, son of Haemon’ in Il. 4.394, coupled with the fact that L has “Μαίμονα” in the margin (see cr. n.). But the reading “μετὰ τοῦ Αἵμονος” just before is doubtful. If it is sound, then we must understand: ‘having been discovered in company with Haemon, she was given in marriage (to him).’ But I am strongly inclined to think that the conjecture “μετὰ τοῦτο τῷ Αἵμονι” (which would explain the v.l. “τῷ Αἵμονι”) is right. Dindorf differs from other interpreters in supposing that it was not Haemon, but someone else—perhaps a nameless “αὐτουργός,” as in the case of the Euripidean Electra—to whom Euripides married Antigone: and he reads “τίκτει τὸν Αἵμονα”. We have then to suppose that Antigone marked her affection for her lost lover by giving his name to her son by the “αὐτουργός”. At the end of the scholia in L we find these words:—“Ὅτι διαφέρει τῆς Εὐριπίδου Ἀντιγόνης αὕτη, ὅτι φωραθεῖσα ἐκείνη διὰ τὸν Αἵμονος ἔρωτα ἐξεδόθη πρὸς γάμον: ἐνταῦθα δὲ τοὐναντίον”. The contrast meant is between her marriage in Euripides and her death in Sophocles: but the words obviously leave it doubtful whether the person to whom Euripides married her was Haemon or not.

τῆς ἐν Σάμῳ στρατηγίας The traditional “στρατηγία” of Sophocles, and its relation to the production of the Antigone, are discussed in the Introduction.

τριακοστὸν δεύτερον Written “λ_β_” in L. The statement seems to have been taken from Alexandrian “διδασκαλίαι” which gave the plays in chronological order. Sophocles is said to have exhibited for the first time in 468 B.C., aet. 28. See Introd.

II.

ΣΑΛΟΥΣΤΙΟΥ ΥΠΟΘΕΣΙΣ.

ΣΑΛΟΥΣΤΙΟΥ A rhetorician of the 5th cent. A.D.: see on Oed. Col., p. 6.— In the Laurentian MS., which alone records him as the writer, this Argument stands at the end of the play, immediately after the anonymous Argument (our III.).

στασιάζεται, pass., ‘are made subjects of dispute,’ i.e. are told in conflicting ways, are ‘discrepant’: a late use of the word, which cannot be deduced from the older, though rare, active use of “στασιάζω” (“τὴν πόλιν,” etc.) as ‘to involve in party strife.’

Ἴων Of Chios, the poet and prose-writer, flor. circ. 450 B.C. His dithyrambs are occasionally mentioned (schol. on Aristoph. Pax 835 and on Apollon. Rhod. 1. 1165): it is probably from them that Athenaeus quotes (35 E): but only a few words remain.

Μίμνερμος Of Smyrna, the elegiac poet, flor. circ. 620 B.C.

Θεοκλυμένῳ The only persons of this name in Greek mythology seem to be the soothsayer in the Odyssey (Od. 15.256 etc.), and a son of Proteus (Eur. Helen 9): Wecklein suggests “Ἐτεόκλῳ,” an Argive who was one of the seven leaders against Thebes (O. C. 1316 n.).

ξένως i.e. in a way foreign to the version followed by Sophocles.

ἀγχόνῃ Eurydice kills herself with a sword (1301). Possibly “ἀγχόνῃ” should follow “ἀπόλλυται” in l. 11 (cp. Arg. III. l. 10 “ἀπολομένῃ ἀγχόνῃ”): but more probably it is due to a slip of memory, or to a confusion with the case of Iocasta in the Oed. Tyr.

III.

καθάραντες vulg., “καθαίροντες” L, and so most recent edd. But the present partic. cannot stand here; the removal of the dust was not a continued or repeated act (cp. v. 409). The form ἐκάθαρα has earlier epigraphic evidence (347 B.C.) than “ἐκάθηρα:” see Meisterhans, Gramm. Att. Inschr. p. 86.

προσεπισφάζει L: “ἐπισφάζει” vulg. II “ἀποσφάζει” L: “κατασφάζει” vulg.

ἐπιβάλλει χῶμα, because the strewing of dust on the corpse was a symbolical sepulture: see v. 256, and n. on 10. The phrase is strange, but no emendation seems probable. 7 “ἑαυτὴν εἰσαγγέλλει,” ‘denounces herself’: see v. 435. 10 “προθεσπίσαντος:” alluding to vv. 1064 ff.

ΤΑ ΤΟΥ ΔΡΑΜΑΤΟΣ ΠΡΟΣΩΠΑ.

• *a*n*t*i*g*o*n*h
• *a*i*m*w*n
• *i*s*m*h*n*h
• *t*e*i*r*e*s*i*a*s
• *x*o*r*o*s *q*h*b*a*i*w*n *g*e*r*o*n*t*w*n
• *a*g*g*e*l*o*s
• *k*r*e*w*n
• *e*u*r*u*d*i*k*h
• *f*u*l*a*c
• *e*c*a*g*g*e*l*o*s

1. Protagonist. Antigone. Teiresias. Eurydice.

2. Deuteragonist. Ismene. Watcher. Haemon. Messenger. Second Messenger.

3. Tritagonist. Creon.

Schneidewin gives Eurydice to the second actor, and the two Messengers to the first actor. But, as the part of Eurydice is much lighter than the combined parts of the Messengers, it is more naturally assigned to the first actor, who already bears the heaviest burden. From Demosthenes De Falsa Legat. § 247 it is known that the third actor played Creon.

It is a general rule of Greek Tragedy that, when the protagonist represents a woman, the Chorus represent women. The dramatic motive for the exception in this play is noticed in the Introduction.

STRUCTURE OF THE PLAY.

2. πάροδος 100-161.

3. ἐπεισόδιον πρῶτον 162-331.

4. στάσιμον πρῶτον 332-375. Anapaests, 376-383.

5. ἐπεισόδιον δεύτερον 384-581.

6. στάσιμον δεύτερον 582-625. Anapaests, 626-630.

7. ἐπεισόδιον τρίτον 631-780.

8. στάσιμον τρίτον 781-800. Anapaests, 801-805.

9. ἐπεισόδιον τέταρτον 806-943, beginning with a κομμός, 806-882.

10. στάσιμον τέταρτον 944-987.

11. ἐπεισόδιον πέμπτον 988-1114.

12. ὑπόρχημα 1115-1154, taking the place of a fifth stasimon.

13. ἔξοδος 1155-1352, including a κομμός, 1261-1347.