βουλεύσας᾿: not only in poetry (as Ant.267), but in prose also, “βουλεύειν” is said of ‘planning’ (as dist. from ‘executing’) a crime ( Dem. or. 19 § 21); and “βούλευσις” was a legal term in this sense. The “βουλή” was really that of Nessus (844 f.). δρῶς᾿, not “δράσασα”, since his torments continue. The dat. “πατρὶ ἐμῷ” can be taken with “δρῶς᾿”, no less than with “βουλεύσας᾿”. For the construction “δρῶ ταῦτά σοι” (instead of “σε”), cp. O. T.1373 n. ποίνιμος, of avenging deities, as Ai.843. Δίκη is associated with “Ἐρινύς”, since the latter especially punishes sins against kinsfolk: cp. Aesch. Ag.1432“μὰ τὴν τέλειον τῆς ἐμῆς παιδὸς Δίκην”, | “Ἄτην τ̓, Ἐρινύν θ̓, αἷσι τόνδ᾽ ἔσφαξ᾽ ἐγώ.—ὧν … τείσαιτ̓”: for the causal gen., cp. Soph. O. C.229“ὧν προπάθῃ τὸ τίνειν”: Her.4. 118“τείσασθαι τῆς πρόσθε δουλοσύνης βουλόμεμος”. For the spelling, cp. O.T. 810 n. ἐπεύχομαι: he deliberately gives his wish (“τείσαιτ̓”) the solemn form of an imprecation. εἰ θέμις … θέμις δ̓: cp. Ph.1035: fr. 856 “εἴ μοι θέμις: θέμις δὲ τἀληθῆ λέγειν”: Eur. H. F.141“εἰ χρή μ̓, ἐρωτῶ: χρὴ δ̓, ἐπεί γε δεσπότης κ.τ.λ.” προὔβαλες, hast cast from thee, spurned: schol. “ἐπεὶ σὺ πρότερα” [read “προτέρα”] “τὴν θέμιν ἀπέρριψας καὶ παρεῖδες”. Cp. Ai.830“ῥιφθῶ κυσὶν πρόβλητος”. Aesch. Eum.215“Κύπρις δ᾽ ἄτιμος τῷδ᾽ ἀπέρριπται λόγῳ”. Tac. Ann. 1. 42 “cives, quibus tam senatus proiecta auctoritas.” μοι, ethic dat. (=‘I have seen thee’ do so): cp. O. C.81“ἦ βέβηκεν ἡμὶν ὁ ξένος”; Others understand: (1) ‘you have thrown this very justice as a shield (“πρόβλημα”) over my action’ (Paley); i.e., ‘have made it right for me to do so.’ (2) ‘You have given me the right to do so’ (lit., ‘placed’ that right ‘at my disposal’).—Wunder, changing θέμιν to ἔριν, explains, ‘you have challenged me to this strife.’
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part V: The Trachiniae. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1902.
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