τῶνδε. So the plur. “αἵδε” of the two sisters below, 1107, 1367, 1379 (immediately after the masc. dual “τοιώδ᾽”, referring to the brothers), 1668; “τάσδ᾽” 1121, 1146, 1634, O. T. 1507, Ant. 579. On the other hand the dual of “ὅδε” occurs only thrice in Soph.; above, 445 “τοῖνδε”: “τώδε” El. 981f. bis. (Below, 1121, “τάδε” is a corrupt v.l. for “τάσδε”.) It is surely needless, then, to write τοῖνδε here. But Reisig's plea for the plur. is over-subtle,— that it contrasts with the extenuating tone of “τούτοιν” in 859 (merely two). Rather Creon uses the dual because he is thinking of the two sisters together as the "two supports" of Oed. (848, 445). The plur. differs from the dual simply by the absence of any stress on the notion of "a pair." The Chorus are thinking how he had first seized Ismene (818) and then Antigone.
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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