Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Antigone

---

---

σοί, like κἀμοί, depends on κηρύξαντ᾽ ἔχειν (for which see 22). Creon's edict, addressed to all Thebans, touches the sisters first, since, as the nearest relatives of the dead, they were most concerned to see that he received burial. Antigone speaks with burning indignation. She says, in effect:—‘Thus hath Creon forbidden thee and me to render the last offices to our brother.’ The parenthesis “λέγω γὰρ κἀμέ” is prompted by the intense consciousness of a resolve. To her, who knows her own heart, it seems wonderful that Creon should even have imagined her capable of obeying such an edict. It is a fine psychological touch, and one of the most pathetic in the play.

τὸν ἀγαθόν, ironical, as O. T. 385 “Κρέων ὁ πιστός”, Ph. 873“ἁγαθοὶ στρατηλάται.”

λέγω γὰρ κἀμέ (instead of “κἀμοί”), a constr. most freq. when the acc. is a proper name, as Dem. or. 24 § 6 “προσέκρουσ᾽ ἀνθρώπῳ πονηρῷ...Ἀνδροτίωνα λέγω”. So Tr. 9, Ph. 1261, Aesch. Th. 609, Eur. Her. 642. On the other hand cp. Dem. or. 8 § 24 “παρ᾽ ὧν ἂν ἕκαστοι δύνωνται, τούτων τῶν τὴν Ἀσίαν ἐνοικούντων λέγω, χρήματα λαμβάνουσιν”: Aesch. fr. 169 “ἀλλ᾽ Ἀντικλείας ἆσσον ἦλθε Σίσυφος, ι τῆς σῆς λέγω τοι μητρός”. In Ai. 569 where L has “Ἐριβοία” (sic) “λέγω”, most edd. now give the dat.

Two other explanations may be noticed. Both make σοι enclitic. (1) Taking σοι as ethic dat. with τοιαῦτα: ‘There is the good Creon's proclamation for you,—aye, and for me too, for I count myself also amongst those forbidden’ (Campbell). Thus κἀμοί is not, like σοι, a mere ethic dat., but rather a dat. of interest. Such a transition seems hardly possible. (2) Taking σοι as ethic dat. with ἀγαθόν: ‘your good Creon, aye and mine, for I own I too thought him so’ (Kennedy). But Antigone is too much occupied with the edict itself to dwell with such emphasis at such a moment on the disappointment which she has experienced as to Creon's amiability.