Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 192

Lewis Campbell (Translator)

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JO
Hearken to me, and set your heart at rest
On that you speak of, while I make you learn
No mortal thing is touched by soothsaying.
Of that I’ll give thee warrant brief and plain.
710
Word came to Laius once, I will not say
From Phoebus’ self, but from his ministers,
The King should be destroyed by his own son,
If son were born to him from me. What followed?
Laius was slain, by robbers from abroad,
715
Saith Rumour, in a cross-way! But the child
Lived not three days, ere by my husband’s hand
His feet were locked, and he was cast and left
By messengers on the waste mountain wold.
So Phoebus neither brought upon the boy
720
His father’s murder, nor on Laius
The thing he greatly feared, death by his son.
Such issue came of prophesying words.
Therefore regard them not. God can himself
With ease bring forth what for his ends he needs.
725

Oedipus Tyrannus. Sophocles. Lewis Campbell (Translator). London, New York and Toronto. 1906.

Current edition Experimental

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 192 focus
ἔπουρον εἴτ᾽ ἐς μέγαν
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 216-462 focus
Translations (4)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 190 focus
Den Zermalmer Ares auch, 1
Der jezt, vom Schilde nicht gedeckt,
Von Lärm umtönt, mit Fieberglut mich anfällt,
Ihn treib' in rückgewandtem Lauf zur Vaterstadt
Hinaus, in's weitoffene 2
195
Lager Amphitrite's
Dort, oder in Thrakia's öde
Bucht, die meerumbrauste.
Denn er vollbringt es; was die Nacht 3
Uebrig läßt, verschlingt der Tag.
200
Zeus, Allvater, du,
Rother Blize Kraft
Beherrschend, unter deinem Donner tilg' ihn!
Dritte Gegenstrophe.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 192 focus
Shepherd
(Edi. Indeed ! 1026
He had no children ; that persuaded him
To take and keep thee.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 192 focus
Jocasta
He cannot now retract; not I alone,
But all Thebes heard them: with his former tale
Be his tongue now at variance, yet, O king,
850
Not of the death of Laius will he speak
As by the God foretold, that he must fall
Slain by my son; him my unhappy child
Slew not, but perish'd, ere his death, himself.
855
What then the faith of oracles? Nor that
To thee denounced, nor this will I regard.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 216-460 focus

Commentary

Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))

mvp-comment-439-1 ἀφεὶς σεαυτόν 1

mvp-comment-440-1 μάθ’ 2

mvp-comment-440-2 σοι 3 ἐστὶν ἔχον 4 τέχνης 5 ἐστὶν ἔχον 6

mvp-comment-441-1 οὐκ ἐρῶ 7

mvp-comment-442-1 ἥξοι 8 αὐτὸν 9 ἥξοι 10

mvp-comment-443-1 ὅσεις γένοιτ’ 11

mvp-comment-444-1 ξένοι 12

mvp-comment-445-1 See on 733.

mvp-comment-446-1 διέσχον 13

mvp-comment-446-2 βλάστας 14 διέσχον 15

mvp-comment-447-1 καί 16

mvp-comment-447-2 ἄρθρα ποδοῖν 17 ἐνζεύξας 18

mvp-comment-448-1 εἰς ἄβατον ὄρος 19

mvp-comment-449-1 κἀνταῦθ’ 20

mvp-comment-450-1 It is more likely that, as our MSS. suggest, παθεῖν 21 θανεῖν 22

mvp-comment-451-1 τοιαῦτα … διώρισαν 23 φῆμαι 24

mvp-comment-452-1 ὧν χρείαν ἐρευνᾷ 25

Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus

707. mvp-comment-410-1 ὧν λέγεις πέρι = περὶ τούτων ὧν λέγεις, Relieving your mind on the subject of which you speak. The simple genitive would have been enough: cp. Hdt. 4. 157, οὐ γὰρ δή σφεας ἀπίει ὁ θεὸς τῆς ἀποικίης, But περί is added pleonastically.

708. mvp-comment-411-1 The reading of M., ἐμοῦ τ' ἄκουσον, deserves notice. For σοι, see Essay on Language p. 19.

708. mvp-comment-411-2 ἐστὶ .. ἔχον 'Nothing in the life of mortals has anything to do with prophetic art. For this rare use of the active voice of ἔχω, cp. esp. Hdt. 3. 128, γραψάμενος πολλά, καὶ περὶ πολλῶν ἔχοντα πρηγμάτων: Aesch. Eum. 445. 6, οὐδ᾽ ἔχει μύσος πρὸς χειρὶ τὴμῇ (?). The middle voice has this meaning, e.g. in Il. 9.102, σέο δ᾽ ἔξεται ὅττι κεν ἄρχῃ. For the active in place of middle, see Essay on Language pp. 51, 98. This interpretation alone suits the context; the other possible explanation, No mortal creature has any share in the prophetic art (which has led to the conjecture λαχόν), might agree with the temper of the chorus (499, foll.), but not with that of Jocasta, who is rejecting all prophecies alike, though she makes the slight admission in 711-712, οὐκ ἐρῶ Φοίβου γ᾿ ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ. Cp., however, Hdt. 2. 83. Μαντικὴ δὲ αὐτοῖσι ὧδε διακέεται· ἀνθρώπων μὲν οὐδενὶ προσκέεται ἡ τέχνη, τῶν δὲ θεῶν μετεξετέροισι.

713. mvp-comment-412-1 ἥξοι Cp. О. С. 1472-1473, ἥκει τῷδ᾽ ἐπ᾿ ἀνδρὶ θέσφατος βίου τελευτή: Αj. 186, ἥκοι γὰρ ἂν θεία νόσος: ib. 278, 9, μὴ ἐκ θεοῦ πληγή τις ἥκῃ. The accusative is justified by the general meaning of the sentence and by the infinitive, of which it is partly the subject. The conjecture ἕξοι is suggested by Phil. 331, ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἔσχε μοῖρ᾽ Ἀχιλλέα θανεῖν, but is less pointed here.

715. mvp-comment-413-1 ξένοι i. e. Not only not his offspring, but of a different race, as coming not from Thebes but from the opposite direction (734). Cp. supr. 122 foll.

716. mvp-comment-414-1 ἐν τριπλαῖς ἁμαξιτοῖς These words, which give Oedipus the first suspicion of the truth (see 750), are intended by Jocasta to show the fortuitous nature of the occurrence.

717-718. mvp-comment-415-1 But as to the child that was born, three days had not intervened, when he tied its feet together and cast it by the hands of others upon a trackless mountain.' It is uncertain whether διέσχον is intransitive or active. In the latter case the word may be taken (1) in the sense of 'divided the day of the child's birth' from his death, i. e. τὸν παῖδα γιγνόμενον καὶ ἀποθνήσκοντα, (Hdt. 9. 51, διέχων ἀπ᾿ ἀλλήλων τὰ ῥέεθρα). Three days did not divide the birth of the child from-what followed. Cp. the Latin, Nec longum tempus et...: or, (2) not three days continued the growth of the child. Cp.

717-718. mvp-comment-415-2 διεγένετο in Thuc. 5. 16. Otherwise (3) taking βλάστας as a pendent accusative. But as for the growth of the child, three days had not fully passed. (2) is best.

718. mvp-comment-416-1 καί Temporal = when.

719. mvp-comment-417-1 εἰς ἄβατον ὄρος An undivided tribrach occurs again in 826, πατέρα κατακτανεῖν : 1496, τὸν πατέρα πατήρ: Aj. 459, καὶ πεδία τάδε. Hence the metrical rhythm is defensible, while the natural rhythm of the words is rather injured by transposing to ἄβατον εἰς ὄρος.

720. mvp-comment-418-1 ἤνυσεν ·Made good his prophecy.'

722. mvp-comment-419-1 τὸ δεινόν Accus. in apposition with θανεῖν, governed by ἤνυσεν. There is no reason for preferring παθεῖν. The words of the prophecy are repeated. Cp. О. С. 970, πρὸς παίδων θανεῖν.

723. mvp-comment-420-1 τοιαῦτα So futile have been the determinations of prophecy.

724. mvp-comment-421-1 ὧν.. χρείαν ἐρευνᾷ Of whatsoever things God searcheth out the use,' i.e. ὧν χρείαν ἔχων (χρήζων), ἐρευνᾷ αὐτά. For what God needs to search out, he will easily bring to light without our help. (Cp. Shak. Macb. 1. 3, If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir.) Jocasta in renouncing prophecy unconsciously expresses the exact truth. Apollo is already working out his purpose, and vindicating the power of his prophet. Cp. 1. 747.