εἰ sc. “σκόπει”.—Join ξὺν τῇδε χερί: she lifts her hand. κουφιεῖς, take up for burial: cp. Ai. 1410 “πλευρὰς σὺν ἐμοὶ ι τάσδ᾽ ἐπικούφιζ”' (the dead Ajax): and the common phrase “ἀναιρεῖσθαι νεκρούς.” ἦ γὰρ marks surprise (O. C. 64). The absence of caesura in the first three feet allows each of the two important words (“νοεῖς θάπτειν”) to fall slowly from the astonished speaker's lips. σφε = αὐτόν, as 516, 1226. “σφε” can be s. or pl., m. or f.: “νιν”, s. or pl., m., f. or n. ἀπόρρητον, acc. neut. in appos. with “θάπτειν σφε”: Plat. Gorg. 507E “ἐπιθυμίας...πληροῦν, ἀνήνυτον κακόν.” πόλει, ‘to’ or ‘for’ (dat. of interest), not ‘by’ (dat. of agent), though the latter might be supported by Eur. Phoen. 1657 “ἐγώ σφε θάψω, κἂν ἀπεννέπῃ πόλις”.
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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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