ἐρῶ μὲν οὐχ: cp. on 96. ὅπως = ὅτι, as O. T. 548: cp. El. 963 “μηκέτ᾽ ἐλπίσῃς ὅπως ι τεύξει”. This use is rare in Attic prose (for after “θαυμάζω”, etc., “ὅπως” =‘how’), though freq. in Her., as 2. 49 “οὐδὲ φήσω ὅκως...ἔλαβον”. Yet cp. Plat. Euthyd. 296 E “οὐκ ἔχω ὑμῖν πῶς ἀμφισβητοίην...ὅπως οὐ πάντα ἐγὼ ἐπίσταμαι.” τάχους ὕπο is the reading of the MSS. Aristotle quotes this verse as an example of a “προοίμιον” used by the speaker to avert a danger from himself, and gives it thus:—“ἄναξ, ἐρῶ μὲν οὐχ ὅπως σπουδῆς ὔπο” ( Rhet. 3. 14§ 10). Hence some edd. adopt “σπουδῆς”, as coming from a source older than our MSS. But, since τάχους is free from objection, such a change is unwarrantable. Aristotle's quotations seem to have been usually made from memory, and his memory was not infallible. To take only three examples cited by Bellermann, we find: (1) El. 256 “ἀλλ᾽ ἡ βία γὰρ ταῦτ᾽ ἀναγκάζει με δρᾶν”, quoted Metaphys. 4. 5 “ἀλλ᾽ ἡ βία με ταῦτ᾽ ἀναγκάζει ποιεῖν”: (2) O. T. 774 “ἐμοὶ πατὴρ μὲν Πόλυβος ἦν”, quoted Rhet. 3. 14§ 6 “ἐμοὶ πατὴρ ἦν Πόλυβος”: (3) Ant. 911 “μητρὸς δ᾽ ἐν Ἅιδου καὶ πατρὸς κεκευθότοιν”, quoted Rhet. 3. 16§ 9 with “βεβηκότων” as last word. So Il. 9.592 “κήδε᾽ ὅσ᾽ ἀνθρώποισι πέλει τῶν ἄστυ ἁλῴη: ἄνδρας μὲν κτείνουσι”, is quoted Rhet. 1. 7§ 31 with “ὅσσα κάκ᾽” substituted for the first two words, and “λαοὶ μὲν φθινύθουσι” for the last three.
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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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