Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Antigone

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εἶκε θυμοῦ, ‘cease from wrath,’ lit., recede from it. The “θυμός” is conceived as ground from which he retires; so “θυμοῦ περᾶν”=‘to go far in wrath,’ and is contrasted with “εἴκειν”: O. T. 673 “στυγνὸς μὲν εἴκων δῆλος εἶ, βαρὺς δ᾽, ὅταν ι θυμοῦ περάσῃς”. For the gen., cp. Il. 4.509 “μηδ᾽ εἴκετε χάρμης ι Ἀργείοις”: ib. 5. 348 “εἶκε, Διὸς θύγατερ, πολέμου καὶ δηϊοτῆτος”: Her. 2.80 “εἴκουσι τῆς ὁδοῦ”: id. 7. 160 “ὑπείξομεν τοῦ ἀρχαίου λόγου”: Aristoph. Ran. 790 “ὑπεχώρησεν αὐτῷ τοῦ θρόνου”. Eur. has a somewhat similar phrase, Eur. Hipp. 900“ὀργῆς δ᾽ ἐξανεὶς κακῆς, ἄναξ ι Θησεῦ, τὸ λῷστον σοῖσι βούλευσαι δόμοις”, where the sense is, ‘having remitted thy wrath,’ “ἐξανεὶς [σεαυτὸν] ὀργῆς.”

καὶ μετάστασιν δίδου, ‘and concede a change’: allow our pleading to change your mood. A change in Creon's mood implies a change in the whole situation. For the notions thus blended in “μετάστασιν” here, cp. Alexis fr. incert. 46 “τῶν μετρίων αἱ μείζονες ι λῦπαι ποιοῦσι τῶν φρενῶν μετάστασιν”: Andoc. or. 2 § 18 “οἴσειν ἔμελλεν...τοῦ τότε παρόντος κακοῦ μετάστασιν.”

δίδου: a verb oft. used of concession to the remonstrance of friends: Ai. 483 “παῦσαί γε μέντοι καὶ δὸς ἀνδράσιν φίλοις ι γνώμης κρατῆσαι”: Tr. 1117 “δός μοι σεαυτόν, μὴ τοσοῦτον ὡς δάκνει ι θυμῷ δύσοργος”.—Others place a comma or point at εἶκε, taking καί as= ‘also’; ‘yield, also permitting thy wrath to change’ (with “διδούς”); or ‘yield: also permit,’ etc. (an asyndeton, with “δίδου”). On this view, either “θυμῷ” or “θυμοῦ” is possible. But the fatal objection to it is the weakness of καί, whether the ‘also’ is explained (a) as by Campbell (with “δίδου”) —‘if you are angry, be also placable’; or (b) as by Wecklein (with “διδούς”）—‘it is possible not only to moderate one's passion, but also to desist from it,’ which implies that he might yield while still angry.—See Appendix.