τούτους, the reading of the MSS., has been rejected by nearly all modern editors in favour of ἴσους, which the Scholiast mentions as a variant. But the simple “τούτους” is perfectly suitable, —‘these laws,’ the laws of sepulture (“τὸ θάπτειν”, as a schol. paraphrases); and everything that ἴσους would convey is already expressed by ὅμως. ‘One was the country's foe, the other its champion —granted. Nevertheless Hades desires these laws,’—i.e. even in the case of the foe. A corruption of ἴσους into τούτους is very improbable. Rather ἴσους was merely one of those conjectures which so often appear in the margin of the MSS., having for their object the supposed improvement of a point. The MS. “ἴσος” in 520 does not strengthen the case for “ἴσους” here.
This text is part of:
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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