II.
“
Τὸ μὲν δρᾶμα τῶν καλλίστων Σοφοκλέους. στασιάζεται δὲ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἡρωΐδα ἱστορούμενα καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτῆς Ἰσμήνην: ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἴων ἐν τοῖς διθυράμβοις καταπρησθῆναί φησιν ἀμφοτέρας ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τῆς Ἥρας ὑπὸ Λαοδάμαντος τοῦ Ἐτεοκλέους: Μίμνερμος δέ φησι τὴν μὲν Ἰσμήνην προσομιλοῦσαν Θεοκλυμένῳ ὑπὸ Τυδέως κατὰ Ἀθηνᾶς ἐγκέλευσιν τελευτῆσαι. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐστι τὰ ξένως περὶ τῶν ἡρωΐδων ἱστορούμενα. ἡ μέντοι κοινὴ δόξα σπουδαίας αὐτὰς ὑπείληφεν καὶ φιλαδέλφους δαιμονίως, ᾗ καὶ οἱ τῆς τραγῳδίας ποιηταὶ ἑπόμενοι τὰ περὶ αὐτὰς διατέθεινται. τὸ δὲ δρᾶμα τὴν ὀνομασίαν ἔσχεν ἀπὸ τῆς παρεχούσης τὴν ὑπόθεσιν Ἀντιγόνης. ὑπόκειται δὲ ἄταφον τὸ σῶμα Πολυνείκους, καὶ Ἀντιγόνη θάπτειν αὐτὸ πειρωμένη παρὰ τοῦ Κρέοντος κωλύεται. φωραθεῖσα δὲ αὐτὴ θάπτουσα ἀπόλλυται. Αἵμων τε ὁ Κρέοντος ἐρῶν αὐτῆς καὶ ἀφορήτως ἔχων ἐπὶ τῇ τοιαύτῃ συμφορᾷ αὑτὸν διαχειρίζεται: ἐφ᾽ ᾧ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ Εὐρυδίκη τελευτᾷ τὸν βίον ἀγχόνῃ”.
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.
