ἀμπέλου. Cyril (Jerem. Homil. 4. 41), speaking of the later pagan practice, says, “εἰς ἄλση ὅταν φυτεύωσι ξύλα, φυτεύουσιν οὐ τὰ καρποφόρα, οὐ συκῆν οὐδ᾽ ἄμπελον, ἀλλὰ μόνον τέρψεως χάριν ἄκαρπα ξύλα”. But in earlier times, at least, τὰ καρποφόρα were not rare in sacred groves; cp. Xen. Anab. 5.3.12 (referring to the shrine of the Ephesian Artemis at Scillus) “περὶ δ᾽ αὐτὸν τὸν ναὸν ἄλσος ἡμέρων δένδρων ἐφυτεύθη, ὅσα ἐστὶ τρωκτὰ ὡραῖα”. Paus. 1.21.7 (in an ἄλσος of Apollo at Athens) “δένδρων καὶ ἡμέρων καὶ ὅσα τῶν ἀκάρπων ὀσμῆς παρέχεταί τινα ἢ θέας ἡδονήν”. πυκνόπτεροι, poet. for πυκναί, the second element being equivalent to a separate epithet, πτεροῦσσαι: cp. 717 “ἑκατομπόδων Νηρῃδων”, 1055 “διστόλους”, O. T. 846 “οἰόζωνος ἀνήρ”, a lonely way farer (where see n.). Such an epithet as "thickly-feathered" would be unmeaning here. The many nightingales, heard to warble from the thick covert, argue the undisturbed sanctity of the inner grove. Antigone notices an indication which her blind father can recognise. δ̓ is elided at the end of the verse, as O.T. 29 (n.), so also τ̓, as ib. 1184 etc., and once ταῦτα, ib. 332: cp. below, 1164.
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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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