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Scholia: Scholia on Euripides’ Phoenissae (Hypothesis and Line 1)

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This short text contains only the opening of the scholia on Euripides' Phoenissae: the ancient hypothesis, or plot summary, a note on the meter, and the scholion on the play's first line. The summary recounts how Eteocles, holding the throne of Thebes, shut out his brother Polynices, who went into exile at Argos, married the daughter of King Adrastus and led an army against his own city. The rest of the scholia on the play are not included.

Phoenissae was one of the three plays of Euripides most read in Byzantine schools, and its full scholia are among the richest on tragedy. This opening section shows the pattern with which the commentary tradition introduced a play, setting out the story of the Theban brothers and the meter before turning to the text itself.

About this edition. The Greek text comes from the Eulogikon open corpus of public-domain editions. Every word has been analyzed with odyCy, a neural language model for Ancient Greek — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from the Liddell–Scott–Jones Greek–English Lexicon (LSJ).

Ancient Greek · Grammar & Reference
Scholia on Euripides' Phoenissae (Hypothesis and Line 1)
Scholia · every word parsed
1arg
ἘΤΕΟΚΛΗΣ παραλαβὼν τὴν τῶν Θηβῶν βασιλείαν ἀποστερεῖ τοῦ μέρους τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ Πολυνείκην· φυγὰς δʼ εἰς Ἄργος ἐκεῖνος παραγενόμενος ἔγημε τὴν θυγατέρα τοῦ βασιλέως Ἀδράστους κατελθεῖν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα φιλοτιμούμενος, καὶ πείσας τὸν πενθερὸν συνήθροισεν ἀξιόχρεων στρατὸν ἐπὶ Θήβας κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ. ἡ δὲ μήτηρ Ἰοκάστη ἐποίησεν αὐτὸν ὑπόσπονδον εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν πόλιν, καὶ διαλεχθῆναι πρότερον πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς· δεινοπροσωπήσαντος δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς τυραννίδος τοῦ Ἐτεοκλέους ἡ μὲν Ἰοκάστη συναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα εἰς φιλίαν οὐκ ἠδύνατο, Πολυνείκης δὲ ὡς πρὸς πολέμιον λοιπὸν παραταξόμενος ἀνεχώρησε τῆς πόλεως. ἔχρησε δὲ ὁ Τειρεσίας νίκην ἔσεσθαι τοῖς Θηβαίοις, ἐὰν ὁ παῖς Κρέοντος Μενοικεὺς σφάγιον Ἄρει γένηται. ὁ μὲν οὖν Κρέων ἠρνήσατο ἐπιδοῦναι τῇ πόλει τὸν παῖδα, ὁ δὲ νεανίσκος ἐβούλετο καὶ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῷ φυγὴν μετὰ χρημάτων διδόντος ἑαυτὸν ἀπέσφαξεν. καὶ δὴ καὶ ἔπραξεν. Θηβαῖοι δὲ τοὺς ἡγεμόνας τῶν Ἀργείων ἔσφαξαν. Ἐτεοκλέους δὲ καὶ Πολυνείκους μονομαχήσαντος ἀνεῖλον ἀλλήλους. ἡ μὲν οὖν μήτηρ αὐτῶν εὑροῦσα νεκροὺς τοὺς υἱοὺς ἔσφαξεν ἑαυτὴν, ὁ δὲ ταύτης ἀδελφὸς Κρέων παρέλαβε τὴν βασιλείαν, οἱ δὲ Ἀργεῖοι νικηθέντες τῇ μάχῃ ἀνεχώρησαν. Κρέων δὲ δυσχερῶς φέρων τοὺς μὲν ὑπὸ τῇ Καδμείᾳ τῶν πολεμίων πεσόντας οὐκ ἔδωκεν εἰς ταφὴν, Πολυνείκην δὲ ἀκήδευτον ἔρριψεν, Οἰδίπουν δὲ φυγάδα τῆς πατρίδος ἀπέπεμψεν, ἐφʼ ὧν μὲν οὐ φυλάξας τὸν ἀνθρώπινον νόμον, ἐφʼ ὧν δὲ τὴν ὀργὴν λογοποιήσας, οὐδὲ παρὰ τὴν δυστυχίαν ἐλεήσας.
1sch_Metr
1.-87. Ἡ ΕΙΣΘΕΣΙΣ τοῦ δράματος ἐκ μονοστροφικῆς ἐστι περιόδου. οἱ δὲ στίχοι εἰσὶν ἰαμβικοὶ τρίμετροι ἀκατάληκτοι πζ′, ὧν τελευταῖος τὸν αὐτὸν ἀεὶ δυστυχῆ καθεστάναι. ἐπὶ τῷ τέλει δὲ κορωνίς.
1sch
Ὦ tὴν ἐν ἄστροις: ἔθος ἔχουσιν οἱ τραγικοὶ παράγειν τοὺς ἥρωας θεοῖς τὰς συμφορὰς ἀπολοφυρομένους. καὶ ἐν Μηδείᾳ ὥσθʼ ἵμερός μʼ ὑπῆλθε γῇ τε κοὐρανῷ λέξαι μολούσῃ δεῦρο δεσποίνης τύχας. Ἄλλως. παλαιά τις φέρεται δόξα ὡς Σοφοκλῆς μὲν ἐπιτιμήσειεν Εὐριπίδῃ ὅτι προέταξε τούτους τοὺς δύο στίχους, ὁ δὲ Εὐριπίδης ὅτι προέταξεν ἐν Ἠλέκτρᾳ ὁ Σοφοκλῆς τὸ ὦ τοῦ στρατηγήσαντος ἐν Τροίᾳ ποτέ. Ἄλλως. ὦ διοδεύων τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν παρὰ τοῖς ἄστροις, ὅ ἐστι τὴν παρὰ τοῖς οἴκοις τοῦ ζωδιακοῦ κύκλου· ὅτι γὰρ ἄστρα τοὺς οἴκους φασὶ τοῦ ζωδιακοῦ κύκλου Ἄρατος εἴρηκεν, αὐτὰρ ἑκάστη ἴση μετρηθεῖσα δύω περιτέμνεται ἄστρα. ζωΐδιον δέ ἑ κύκλον ἐπίκλησιν καλέουισιν. – A. B. C. M. I. ἄστρον καὶ ἀστήρ διαφέρει· ἀστὴρ μὲν ὁ εἷς, ἄστρον δὲ τὸ ἐκ πολλῶν ἀστέρων ἀστροθέτημα καὶ συμφορ… οἷα καὶ τὰ ν. … ἄστρα τὰ ιβ′ ζω … A.
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Text: Perseus Digital Library, licensed CC BY-SA. Dictionary: Liddell, Scott & Jones (Perseus, CC BY-SA). Morphology: odyCy — machine parsing, corrected against the AGDT & PROIEL treebanks and Morpheus.
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