στέγουσιν, the reading of all MSS., is probably right. It is true that in class. Greek στέγω usually means either (1) "cover, conceal," as El. 1118 “ἄγγος... σῶμα...στέγον”, or (2) "keep out," as Aesch. Theb. 216 “πύργον στέγειν εὔχεσθε πολέμιον δόρυ”. But the first sense — "cover" — might easily pass into "protect," and Xen. Cyr. 7.1.33 has “αἱ ἀσπίδες ...στεγάζουσι τὰ σώματα”. Wakefield's στέφουσιν ("girdle") is specious; we have στεφάνωμα or στεφάνη πύργων (Ant. 122, Eur. Hec. 910), “Βαβυλῶνα...τείχεσιν ἐστεφάνωσε” (Dionys. Periegetes 1006), “ὅπλοισιν Μεγάλη πόλις ἐστεφάνωται” (Paus. 9. 15). But it does not follow that πύργοι πόλιν στέφουσιν could stand. στέφω never occurs as = "to be set around," but either as (1) "to set around" — ἄνθη περὶ κεφαλὴν στέφεις, or (2) "to crown" — ἄνθεσι κεφαλὴν στέφεις,—sometimes in the fig. sense of "honouring," as with libations or offerings (Ant. 431 etc.). ὡς ἀπ᾽ ὀμμάτων, sc. εἰκάσαι, to judge from sight (alone), without exact knowledge: schol. “ὡς ἔστιν ἐκ προόψεως τεκμήρασθαι”: cp. Thuc. 1. 10 “εἰκάζεσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς φανερᾶς ὄψεως”, to be estimated by the mere external aspect.
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part II: The Oedipus Coloneus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1899.
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