ἀτενής, prop. ‘strained,’ ‘intent’ (e.g. “ἀτενὴς ὄψις”), or ‘intense’ (as “ἀτενεῖς ὀργαί”): here it denotes the close embrace of the ivy. Cp. “hederae sequaces” (Persius prol.). πετραία βλάστα δάμασεν, the ‘growth of stone’ (the process of petrifaction) ‘subdued her,’ i.e. passed gradually over her whole form: cp. Ovid, Met. 6. 301: “Orba resedit | Exanimes inter natos, natasque, virumque, | Diriguitque malis. Nullos movet aura capillos. | In vultu color est sine sanguine: lumina maestis | Stant immota genis: nihil est in imagine vivi. | Ipsa quoque interius cum duro lingua palato | Congelat, et venae desistunt posse moveri. | Nec flecti cervix, nec bracchia reddere gestus, | Nec pes ire potest: intra quoque viscera saxumst.” For αι^ in “πετραία”, cp. 1310 n.
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Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part III: The Antigone. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1900.
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