πρὶν … προσαύσῃ. Attic, like epic, poetry can use simple “πρίν”, instead of “πρὶν ἄν” (308), with subjunct.: so Ai. 965 (see last n.), Ph. 917, Tr. 608, 946, etc. προσαύσῃ (only here), ‘burn against.’ The simple verb occurs Od. 5.490 “ἵνα μή ποθεν ἄλλοθεν αὔοι” (sc. “πῦρ”), ‘kindle.’ Attic had “ἐναύω”, ‘kindle,’ and “ἀφαύω”, ‘parch.’ The image here seems to be that of a man who walks, in fancied security, over ashes under which fire still smoulders (cp. Lucr. 4. 927 “cinere ut multo latet obrutus ignis”, Hor. c. 2. 1. 7 “incedis per ignes Suppositos cineri doloso”). There was a prov., “ἐν πυρὶ βέβηκας” (Suidas, etc.). πόδα: cp. Aesch. Ch. 697“ἔξω κομίζων ὀλεθρίου πηλοῦ πόδα”: Aesch. P. V. 263“πημάτων ἔξω πόδα ι ἔχει” (and so Soph. Ph. 1260“ἐκτὸς κλαυμάτων”, Eur. Her. 109 “ἔξω πραγμάτων”).—Some render προσαύσῃ ‘bring to,’ assuming an “αὔω” equiv. in sense to “αἴρω”: but the evidence for this is doubtful: see Appendix.
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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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