πόλις … σθένει: our city—yea, our city—is being brought low by sheer strength: ἐναίρεται, because the majesty of the State is destroyed when its asylum is violated. In πόλις ἐμά, the stress is on the first word, not on the second. σθένει with “ἐναίρεται” seems to be sufficiently defended by Eur. Bacch. 953 “οὐ σθένει νικητέον ι γυναῖκας”, where it differs from “βίᾳ” only as it differs here,—i.e. as meaning strictly, “"by an exertion of strength,"” not, “"by violence"”: cp. ib. 1127 “ἀπεσπάραξεν ὦμον, οὐχ ὑπὸ σθένους”, not by her own strength (since the god made it easy for her). Some place a point at ἐμά, taking σθένει with πρόβαθ᾽, come forth in strength: but such a use of “σθένει” alone is harsher than those in which “σθένει” takes an adj., as “ἐπελθὼν οὐκ ἐλάσσονι σθένει” (Ai. 438), or “παντὶ σθένει”, “"with all one's might."” Rather than Wecklein's ἔτ᾽ οὐ σθένει, I would propose—if any change were needed—“πόλις ἐναίρεται, πόλις: ἴτ̓, ἀσθενεῖ
πρόβαθ᾽ ὧδέ μοι
”. But no change seems needful.
