γτ̂ν πατρῴαν . . καὶ θεοὺς . . πρῆσαι: cp. Aesch. Th. 582(of Polyneices) “πόλιν πατρῴαν καὶ θεοὺς τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς ι πορθεῖν, στράτευμ᾽ ἐπακτὸν ἐμβεβληκότα”. But “πέρσαι”, for “πρῆσαι”, would be a needless change here. ‘To burn his country’ means ‘to burn his native city’: so O. C. 1421 “πάτραν κατασκάψαντι”, when thou hast laid thy native city in ruins. “θεοὺς πρῆσαι” is to burn the gods' temples and the ancient wooden images (“βρέτη”) therein: cp. Her. 8.109 “ἐμπιμπράς τε καὶ καταβάλλων τῶν θεῶν τὰ ἀγάλματα”. Aesch. Pers. 809 “οὐ θεῶν βρέτη ι ᾐδοῦντο συλᾶν οὐδὲ πιμπράναι νεώς.” θ. τοὺς ἐγγενεῖς, of the race, here in a large sense, of the Cadmean stock: while “θεοὶ πατρῷοι” are usu. rather the gods of one's own family (O. C. 756 n.). Cp. El. 428 “πρός νυν θεῶν σε λίσσομαι τῶν ἐγγενῶν.” κατελθών, not “καταχθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς πόλεως”: on the shield of Polyneices, Dikè was portrayed saying, “κατάξω δ᾽ ἄνδρα τόνδε” ( Aesch. Th. 647). γ̓θέλησε μέν … ἠθέλ. δέ, rhetor. epanaphora ( O. C. 610 “φθίνει μέν . . φθίνει δέ”). Since “πάσασθαι” cannot govern “γῆν . . καὶ θεούς”, ἠθέλησε μὲν should in strictness have preceded “γῆν.” πρῆσαι. Prose would have used “ἐμπρῆσαι”, though Thuc. has the pres. part. of the simple form (6. 94 “πίμπραντες”). κατ᾽ ἄκρας, here in its proper sense, of a town being sacked ‘from top to bottom’ (Il. 13.772): cp. O. C. 1241 n. αἵματος κ. πάσασθαι (“πατέομαι”), denoting the extreme of savage hatred; Il. 4.35 “ὠμὸν βεβρώθοις Πρίαμον”: 24. 212 “τοῦ ἐγὼ μέσον ἧπαρ ἔχοιμι ι ἐσθέμεναι”: Theogn. 349 “τῶν εἴη μέλαν αἶμα πιεῖν.” τοὺς δὲ … ἄγειν, as if “τῶν μέν” had preceded “αἵματος”. O. T. 1228 “ὅσα ι κεύθει, τὰ δ᾽ αὐτίκ᾽ εἰς τὸ φῶς φανεῖ”. Tr. 117 “στρέφει, τὸ δ᾽ αὔξει”. Il. 22.157 “παραδραμέτην, φεύγων, ὁ δ᾽ ὄπισθε διώκων”.
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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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