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It seems clear that the φασὶ after πύλαισι in the MSS. is an interpolated gloss on λόγος ἔχει. If φασὶ were genuine, it must go with εὐνᾶσθαι only, κνυζεῖσθαι depending on λόγος ἔχει: a construction awkward beyond example. Bellermann seeks to avoid this by pointing thus, “φασὶ πολυξέστοις:
εὐνᾶσθαι

” etc., supplying “εἶναι” with φασί: but this is even worse. The long delay of λόγος ἔχει brought in the gloss.—In the MS. πολυξέστοις the long penult.=“α^ν” of “ἄναξ” (1559). Even if we assume an “"irrational"” syllable (“¯” for “˘”), the sense seems fatal. “"Of polished stone"” is surely not a good epithet for the Gates of Hell.

πολυξένοις appears certain: cp.

“τὸν πολυξενώτατον
Ζῆνα τῶν κεκμηκότων
ἱξόμεσθα σὺν κλάδοις
ἀρτάναις θανοῦσαι

”

. See above on “παγκευθῆ” (n. 1561 ff.), and cp. Ant. 893 in n. on 1548.


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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hide References (2 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (2):
    • Aeschylus, Suppliant Maidens, 157
    • Sophocles, Antigone, 893
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