αἰδόφρονες: as ye have αἰδώς for the Eumenides, so have αἰδώς for the suppliant. Cp. Dem. or. 37 § 59 “ἂν ἑλών τις ἀκουσίου φόνου...μετὰ ταῦτ᾽ αἰδέσηται καὶ ἀφῇ” (with ref. to the kinsman of a slain man pardoning the involuntary slayer). ἀλλ᾽, "Nay," opening the appeal: cp. O. T. 14. The second ἀλλ᾽ in 241 = "at least." This whole “μέλος ἀπὸ σκηνῆς” of Antigone (237 — 253), with the tetrastichon of the Chorus (254 — 257), was rejected by some of the ancient critics, acc. to the schol. on L: “"for they say it is better that Oed. should forthwith address his justification to them."” But, as the schol. rightly adds, it is natural and graceful that an appeal to pity (“ἐλεεινολογία”),— which the daughter makes,—should precede the father's appeal to reason (“τὸ δικαιολογικόν”). The schol. further remarks that Didymus (circ. 30 B.C.) had not obelized any part of the passage. This is important, as making it most improbable that the “ἀθέτησις” rested on the absence of these verses from the older Alexandrian copies. Though the text is doubtful in some points, the internal evidence cannot be said to afford any good ground for suspicion.
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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