Ismene has come from Thebes, where she has hitherto continued to live, in order to bring her father important tidings. The Thebans will shortly make an attempt to fix his home, not within, but near their borders. A war has already broken out between his sons. There is no contrast in this play, as in the early part of the Antigone, between the spirit of the sisters. But the contrast between their circumstances indirectly exalts Antigone. She is wandering barefooted, enduring heat and cold (349 f.), — Creon is struck by the suffering shown in her aspect (748), — while Ismene has at least the ordinary comforts of life. ὦ δισσὰ πατρὸς καὶ κασιγν. κ.τ.λ. = “ὦ πάτερ καὶ κασιγνήτη, δισσὰ ἐμοὶ ἥδιστα προσφωνήματα”, two names most sweet for me to use: cp.
.“ὦ στέρν᾽ ἀδελφῆς …
τάδ᾽ ἀντὶ παίδων καὶ γαμηλίου λέχους
προσφθέγματ᾽ ἀμφὶ τοῖς ταλαιπώροις πάρα
”
("sons," a name bitter for your mothers to utter).
