τῆς ἐκεῖ=“τῆς ἐκεῖσε”: Her. 9.108 “ἐκεῖ...ἀπίκετο”: Thuc. 3.71 “τοὺς ἐκεῖ καταπεφευγότας”. Cp. El. 1099 “ὁδοιποροῦμεν ἔνθα” (=“οἶ”) “χρῄζομεν”: Ph. 256 “μηδαμοῦ διῆλθε”. “πομπὸν δ̓ κ.τ.λ.” Three views of this clause require notice. I place first the view which seems to me right. 1. The construction is:— （ προστάσσω σὲ μὲν ） κατάρχειν ὁδοῦ τῆς ἐκεῖ, ἐμὲ δὲ πομπὸν χωρεῖν: “"my pleasure is,—that you should show the way thither (i.e., to where the maidens are), and that I should go as your escort."” The governing verb which is supplied, “προστάσσω”, contains the general notion “δοκεῖ μοι”, “"it seems good to me,"” “"it is my pleasure."” For “ἐμέ” with inf. where “ἐγώ” is subj., cp. Od. 8.221 “τῶν δ᾽ ἄλλων ἐμέ φημι πολὺ προφερέστερον εἶναι”. Schaefer well cites
, where “αὐτόν”, referring to the subject of “κέλεται”, is parallel with ἐμέ here: “"Paris urges that the others should lay their arms aside, but that he and Menelaus should fight."” The word πομπόν (used in 723 of Creon's own followers) has here a touch of grim irony: cp. Il. 13.416 “ἐπεί ῥά οἱ ὤπασα πομπόν”, “"given him a companion,"”—i.e., sent his slayer to the shades along with him. “πομπόν” could not well mean, “"as an escort for the maidens on their return."” On this view δ᾽ ἐμέ is better than δέ με. 2. Reading μοι:—“"that you should go as my guide"”: cp. Od. 4.826 “τοίη γάρ οἱ πομπὸς ἅμ᾽ ἔρχετα” (Athena conducting Telemachus). The following clause “ἵν̓...ἐκδείξῃς ἐμοί” makes this somewhat weak. 3. Governing με by πομπόν: “"that you should guide me on the way."” Cp. Ant. 786 “καί σ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἀθανάτων φύξιμος οὐδείς”, where “σε” is governed by the adj. This was the view of Erfurdt and Reisig: it was also held by Shilleto. But the supposed construction, always rare, is extremely harsh here, where πομπόν would naturally be taken as agreeing with με.“ἄλλους μὲν κέλεται …
τεύχεα κάλ᾽ ἀποθέσθαι, …
αὐτὸν δ᾽ ἐν μέσσῳ καὶ ἀρηΐφιλον Μενέλαον
… μάχεσθαι
”
