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III.

“Ἀποθανόντα Πολυνείκη ἐν τῷ πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν μονομαχίῳ Κρέων ὔταφον ἐκβαλὼν κηρύττει μηδένα αὐτὸν θάπτειν, θάνατον τὴν ζημίαν ἀπειλήσας. τοῦτον Ἀντιγόνη ἡ ἀδελφὴ θάπτειν πειρᾶται. καὶ δὴ λαθοῦσα τοὺς φύλακας ἐπιβάλλει χῶμα: οἷς ἐπαπειλεῖ θάνατον ὁ Κρέων, εἰ μὴ τὸν τοῦτο δράσαντα ἐξεύροιεν. οὗτοι τὴν κόνιν τὴν ἐπιβεβλημένην καθάραντες οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐφρούρουν. ἐπελθοῦσα δὲ ἡ Ἀντιγόνη καὶ γυμνὸν εὑροῦσα τὸν νεκρὸν ἀνοιμώξασα ἑαυτὴν εἰσαγγέλλει. ταύτην ὑπὸ τῶν φυλάκων παραδεδομένην Κρέων καταδικάζει καὶ ζῶσαν εἰς τύμβον καθεῖρξεν. ἐπὶ τούτοις Αἵμων, ὁ Κρέοντος υἱός, ὃς ἐμνᾶτο αὐτήν, ἀγανακτήσας ἑαυτὸν προσεπισφάζει τῇ κόρῃ ἀπολομένῃ ἀγχόνῃ, Τειρεσίου ταῦτα προθεσπίσαντος: ἐφ᾽ ᾧ λυπηθεῖσα Εὐρυδίκη, ἡ τοῦ Κρέοντος γαμετή, ἑαυτὴν ἀποσφάζει. καὶ τέλος θρηνεῖ Κρέων τὸν τοῦ παιδὸς καὶ τῆς γαμετῆς θάνατον”.

καθάραντες vulg., “καθαίροντες” L, and so most recent edd. But the present partic. cannot stand here; the removal of the dust was not a continued or repeated act (cp. v. 409). The form ἐκάθαρα has earlier epigraphic evidence (347 B.C.) than “ἐκάθηρα:” see Meisterhans, Gramm. Att. Inschr. p. 86.

προσεπισφάζει L: “ἐπισφάζει” vulg. II “ἀποσφάζει” L: “κατασφάζει” vulg.

ἐπιβάλλει χῶμα, because the strewing of dust on the corpse was a symbolical sepulture: see v. 256, and n. on 10. The phrase is strange, but no emendation seems probable. 7 “ἑαυτὴν εἰσαγγέλλει,” ‘denounces herself’: see v. 435. 10 “προθεσπίσαντος:” alluding to vv. 1064 ff.


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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