ἐγὼ δ᾽ ὅπως: lit., ‘I should not be able to say (and may I never be capable of saying!) in what respect (“ὅπως”) thou dost not say these things rightly.’ He could not, if he would—and would not, if he could—impugn his father's reasonings. He only suggests that the case may have also another aspect, which Creon has not considered. μὴ after ὅπως is generic, as after “ὅς, ὅστις” (691, 696): I could not say what point in thy argument is such as not to be true:—just as we could have, “οὐκ οἶδα ὃ” (or “ὅ τι”) “μὴ ἀληθεύεις”. The μή might be taken with ὀρθῶς (‘how thou sayest otherwise than rightly’), but the order of words is against this. [It cannot be explained as substituted for “οὐ” through the influence of the optatives.] μήτ᾽ ἐπισταίμην. For this verb as=‘to be capable of,’ cp. 472, Tr. 543 “ἐγὼ δὲ θυμοῦσθαι μὲν οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι ι νοσοῦντι κείνῳ”. For the wish co-ordinated with the statement of fact, cp. 500: Tr. 582 “κακὰς δὲ τόλμας μήτ᾽ ἐπισταίμην ἐγὼ ι μήτ᾽ ἐκμάθοιμι, τάς τε τολμώσας στυγῶ”: and ib. 143.
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