ἔβα, emphatic by place: cp. 46. πρίν ποθ᾽, ‘or ever,’ as Tr. 17. αἱμάτων, streams of blood, as Aesch. Ag. 1293 “αἱμάτων εὐθνησίμων ι ἀπορρυέντων” (with ref. to one person). Soph. has the plur. only here: Aesch. and Eur. use it several times each, either in this sense, or as=‘deeds of bloodshed’ (once as=‘slain persons,’ “αἵματα σύγγονα”, Eur. Phoen. 1503). γἑνυσιν might be locative dat., ‘in’; but seems rather instrumental, ‘with.’ After πλησθῆναι the missing short syllable is best supplied by τε (Triclinius). The constr. is, “πρὶν” (“αὐτός”) “τε πλησθῆναι, καὶ Ἥφαιστον στεφάνωμα πύργων ἑλεῖν”. For τε irregularly placed, cp. O. T. 258 n. στεφάνωμα: Eur. Hec. 910 (of Troy) “ἀπὸ δὲ στεφάναν κέκαρσαι ι πύργων”: cp. n. on O. C. 15. πευκάενθ᾽ Ἥφαιστον, the flame of pine-wood torches ( Verg. Aen. 11. 786 “pineus ardor”). Cp. 1007, Il. 2.426. “σπλάγχνα δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἀμπείραντες ὑπείρεχον Ἡφαίστοιο”.
This text is part of:
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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