γέροντος. Sophocles marks the length of interval which he supposes between the O. T. and the O. C. by v. 395, “γέροντα δ᾽ ὀρθοῦν φλαῦρον ὃς νέος πέσῃ”. In the O. T. Oedipus cannot be imagined as much above 40,—his two sons being then about 15 and 14, his two daughters about 13 and 12 respectively. It was "long" after his fall when Creon drove him into exile (437, 441). It would satisfy the data of both plays to suppose that about 20 years in the life of Oedipus have elapsed between them. Ἀντιγόνη. An anapaest can hold only the first place in a tragic trimeter, unless it is contained in a proper name, when it can hold any place except the sixth. Soph. has the name Ἀντιγόνη only four times in iambics. Here, in 1415, and in Ant. 11 the anapaest holds the fifth place; in O. C. 507, the 4th. But Eur. prefers the anapaest of Ἀντιγόνη in the 4th place: see Ph. 88, 757, 1264, 1323, 1465, 1636 (4th place) as against 58, 1476, 1588 (5th). The anapaest must be wholly in the proper name: hence Eur. I. A. 1570 “ἔλεξε δ̓, ὦ θηροκτόν᾽ Ἄρτεμι παῖ Διός” was amended by Porson, “ἔλεξε δ̓, ὦ θηροκτόν᾽ Ἄρτεμις Διός” Eur. IA 1570.
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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