Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Antigone

“οὐδὲν ἕρπει”. Far the best emendation is οὔτε θεῶν ἄκματοι (Hermann “ἄκμητοι”). This supposes merely a transposition of two words, of which L affords undoubted instances (cp. on 107), and the very natural development of “ἀκάματοι” out of the rarer form “ἄκματοι”. For the latter cp. Hom. hymn. Apoll. 520 “ἀκμήτοις δὲ λόφον προσέβαν ποσίν”. The word θεῶν seems to me clearly genuine. Many recent editors have condemned it, because Zeus is the marshaller of the seasons ( Il. 2.134 “Διὸς μεγάλου ἐνιαυτοί”, Od. 24.344 “Διὸς ὧραι”, Plat. Prot. 321A “τὰς ἐκ Διὸς ὥρας”). How, then, could the poet say that Zeus is not subdued by ‘the months of the gods’? The simple answer is that the term “θεῶν” is not opposed to Zeus, but includes him. Though Zeus (the Sky Father) was more especially the “ταμίας ὡρῶν”, that function can also be ascribed to the gods collectively: see e.g. Plat. Legg. 886A “οὐκοῦν, ὦ ξένε, δοκεῖ ῥᾴδιον εἷναι ἀληθεύοντας λέγειν ὡς εἰσὶ θεοί;— πῶς;—πρῶτον μὲν γῆ καὶ ἥλιος ἄστρα τε τὰ ξύμπαντα καὶ τὰ τῶν ὡρῶν διακεκοσμημένα καλῶς οὕτως, ἐνιαυτοῖς τε καὶ μησὶ διειλημμένα”. Cp. ib. 809 D, as illustrating another reason which made the phrase θεῶν μῆνες so natural—the fact, namely, that the “ἑορταί” were the land-marks of the Calendar: “τίνων δὴ πέρι λέγομεν; ἡμερῶν τάξεως εἰς μηνῶν περιόδους καὶ μηνῶν εἰς ἕκαστον τὸν ἐνιαυτόν, ἵνα ὧραι καὶ θυσίαι καὶ ἑορταὶ τὰ προσήκοντα ἀπολαμβάνουσαι ἑαυταῖς ἕκασται... θεοῖς μὲν τὰς τιμὰς ἀποδιδῶσι κ.τ.λ.” And, if θεῶν be genuine, then οὔτε belongs to this verse, and we gain a fresh argument against those emendations which would append “οὔτ᾽” to v. 606: for “οὔτ᾽ ι ἀκάματοι θεῶν <νιν”> is certainly not probable. See Appendix.—All the immortals have a life which is not worn out by those months which they themselves control. The distinction of Zeus is that his supremacy over gods and men is unalterable.

ἄκματοι, untiring in their course: cp. Il. 18.239 “ἠέλιον δ᾽ ἀκάμαντα”: Eur. fr. 597 “ἀκάμας τε χρόνος”.