ἀλγοῦσα μὲν δῆτ᾽, yes, indeed, it is to my own pain that I mock thee,— if I do mock. δῆτα assents (O. T. 445 n.) to “οὐδὲν ὠφελουμένη”: there is, indeed, no “ὄφελος” in it, but only “ἄλγος.” ἐν σοί: cp. Ai. 1092 “ἐν θανοῦσιν ὑβριστής”, ib. 1315 “ἐν ἐμοὶ θρασύς”. Heath's εἰ γελῶ γ᾽, for “εἰ γέλωτ᾽”, is supported by the accent “γελῶτ᾽” in L, and seems right. It smooths the construction; and “εἰ γελῶ γ᾽” better expresses that the taunt sprang from anguish, not from a wish to pain. Then “γέλωτα γελῶ”, without an epithet for the subst., is unusual.—Cp. Ai. 79 “οὔκουν γέλως ἥδιστος εἰς ἐχθροὺς γελᾶν;”
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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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