τεάν, epic and Ion. (Hom. , Hes. , Her., Pind. , etc.); admitted by Aesch. and Eur. in lyrics. δύνα^σιν: cp. 951. A poetical form used by Pind. , Eur. (in dial. as well as in lyr.), etc. κατάσχοι. Epic usage admits the optat. (without “ἄν”) where an abstract possibility is to be stated, as Il. 19.321 “οὐ μὲν γάρ τι κακώτερον ἄλλο πάθοιμι”, ‘for I could not (conceivably) suffer anything worse.’ The Homeric instances are chiefly in negative sentences (Od. 3.231 being a rare exception, “ῥεῖα θεός γ᾽ ἐθέλων καὶ τηλόθεν ἄνδρα σαώσαι”). Attic verse affords some certain examples,—all in negative sentences, or in questions when (as here) a negative answer is expected. So Aesch. PV 291 “οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτῳ ι μείζονα μοῖραν νείμαιμ᾽ ἢ σοί”. Other instances are Aesch. Ch. 172, Aesch. Ch. 595: Aesch. Ag. 620: Eur. Alc. 52. Our passage is undoubtedly another genuine instance, and the attempts to alter it (see cr. n.) are mistaken. Attic prose, on the other hand, supplies no trustworthy example: in most of those which are alleged “ἄν” should be supplied. I have discussed this question in O. C., Appendix on v. 170, p. 273.—Men may overstep their due limits: but no such “ὑπερβασία” can restrict the power of Zeus. He punishes the encroachment.
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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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