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CORRESPONDENCE.
By the kindness of the editor and of my colleague, Pro-
fessor Van Hook, I have been privileged to see, in proof,
Professor Van Hook's paper in this issue, and to make some
comment upon it. That comment shall be brief.
In the third paragraph from the close of his paper Pro-
fessor Van Hook says : " It is true that in the Antigone the
motif occurs most frequently, now in one sense, now in another.
But this is what one might expect in a play where there is
contention and clashing of wills and purposes throughout :
first, between Antigone and Ismene; secondly, between An-
tigone and Creon ; thirdly, between Creon and Haemon ; and
fourthly, between Creon and Teiresias ". I am impelled to
ask, why, then, was it left for me (as I think it was) to call
attention to the presence in the Antigone of this motif? I
have read a good deal, in commentaries and elsewhere, on the
play, but nowhere have I seen any hint of the recognition of
the presence of this motif in the play. I showed clearly in
my paper that, discerning as Jebb was, he was wholly blind to
this important element of the play.
Had, then, my colleague more clearly emphasized the im-
portance, from this point of view, of my paper, I should have
no ground whatever for taking issue with his article. To be
the first to note — or at least adequately to emphasize — so im-
portant a point in connection with the much studied Antigone,
and to inspire so good a paper as Professor Van Hook's, is
happiness enough for one who has never professed to be a
Grecian.
I am not surprised that, on page 393, note 2, Professor Van
Hook maintains that I have overemphasized the significance
of certain passages. One is apt to find what he looks for ; I
am, frankly, surprised that my colleague in so few instances
questions my interpretations.
I find myself able, also to agree with what he says of An-
tigone, in note 2 to page 394. I see now that I was, perhaps,
not as clear as I might have been in my paper. To my saying
that to Sophocles Antigone was wholly in the right, Creon
wholly in the wrong, I should have added a clear-cut state-
ment to the effect that I limited the saying to the intellectual
(and moral) issue that lay between them. I did not touch the
matters that Professor Van Hook puts so well in the footnote
under consideration. I was, in a sense, not concerned at all
CORRESPONDENCE. 435
with those matters. Antigone was and is a tragic figure of
the sort that life supplies often enough to our contemplation
— the figure of one rationally and intellectually right, but
wrong, most pitiably wrong, in the manner of defending the
intellectually right.
It appears, then, that, with the single exception that, per-
haps, I overplayed my hand, my distinguished colleague and I
are in hearty accord on an important and interesting point in
connection with Greek tragedy.
Charles Knapp.
Barnard College, Columbia University.
Kirby Flower Smith.
December 6, 1862-December 6, 1918.
As this number goes to press, word is received of the
sudden death of one of our most valued contributors, Kirby
Flower Smith, Professor of Latin in the Johns Hopkins
University. His death is a grievous blow to the cause of
classical learning. A host of friends and admirers mourn
his loss. But, in the words of one of his favorite poets,
Sunt aliquid Manes : letum non omnia finit.
A more adequate tribute to his life and services is promised
for a future issue of this Journal.
C. W. E. Miller.
