Now, had Barnes referred to the scholiast on the Antigone, or remembered at the time the above-cited passage, he would either not have omitted the conclusion of his distich, or he would at once have seen that a passage quoted as "ἔκ του, of some one," by Sophocles, seventeen years the senior of Euripides, could not have been the original composition of his junior competitor. The conclusion of the distich is thus given by the old scholiast:
"ὅταν δ' ὁ Δαίμων ἀνδρὶ πορσύνῃ κακὰ,
τὸν νοῦν ἔβλαψε πρῶτον ᾧ βουλεύεται."
The words "when he wills it" being left out by Barnes and Carmeli, but which correspond with the last line of the quotation from Sophocles. The old scholiast introduces the exact quotation referred to by Sophocles as "a celebrated (notorious, ἀοίδιμον) and splendid saying, revealed by the wisdom of some one, μετὰ σοφίας γὰρ ὑπό τινος."
Indeed, the sentiment must have been as old as Paganism, wherein, whilst all voluntary acts are attributed to the individual, all involuntary ones are ascribed to the Deity. Even sneezing was so considered: hence the phrase common in the lower circles in England, "Bless us," and in a higher grade in Germany, "Gott segne euch," which form the usual chorus to a sneeze.
The other scholiast, Triclinius, explains the passage of Sophocles by saying, "The gods lead to error (βλάβην) him whom they intend to make miserable (δυστυχεῖν): hence the application to Antigone, who considers death as sweet."
T. J. Buckton.
Lichfield.