Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 387

Lewis Campbell (Translator)

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CHORUS
CHORUS . 1186
O mortal tribes of men,
How near to nothingness
I count you while your lives remain!
What man that lives hath more of happiness
1190
Than to seem blest, and, seeming, fade in night?
O Oedipus, in this thine hour of gloom,
Musing on thee and thy relentless doom,
I call none happy who beholds the light.
1195
1196
Thou through surpassing skill
Didst rise to wealth and power,
When thou the monstrous riddling maid didst kill,
And stoodst forth to my country as a tower
To guard from myriad deaths this glorious town;
1200
Whence thou wert called my king, of faultless fame,
In all the world a far-resounded name,
Unparagoned in honour and renown.
But now to hear of thee, who more distressed?
1204
Who more acquainted with fierce misery,
Assaulted by disasters manifest,
1205
Than thou in this thy day of agony?
Most noble, most renowned!—Yet one same room
Heard thy first cry, and in thy prime of power,
Received thee, harbouring both bride and groom,
And bore it silently till this dread hour.
How could that furrowing of thy father’s field
1210
Year after year continue unrevealed?
Time hath detected thine unwitting deed,
1212
Time, who discovers all with eyes of fire,
Accusing thee of living without heed
In hideous wedlock husband, son, and sire.
1215
Ah would that we, thou child of Laius born,
Ah would that we had never seen thee nigh!
E’er since we knew thee who thou art, we mourn
Exceedingly with cries that rend the sky.
For, to tell truth, thou didst restore our life
1220
And gavest our soul sweet respite after strife.

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)) — 387 focus
ὑφεὶς μάγον τοιόνδε μηχανορράφον,
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 463-511 focus
Translations (2)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 380 focus
Reichthümer, Herrschaft, und o Kunst, der keine Kunst
Im neiderfüllten Leben sich zur Seite stellt,
Welch schnöde Mißgunst heget ihr in eurem Schooß,
Wenn um des Thrones willen, den mir diese Stadt
Unaufgefordert übergab als freien Lohn,
385
Mir Kreon, jener treue Freund aus alter Zeit,
Nachschleicht im Rücken und mich auszutreiben strebt,
Anstellend diesen Zaubermann, den Ränkeschmid,
Den listenreichen Gaukler, der in Wucher nur
Scharfsichtig und in seiner Kunst ein Blinder ist!
390
Denn sage, wo bewährst du deine Seherkraft?
Als hier die Hündin ihre Räthsel sang, warum 1
Sprachst du für unsre Bürger kein erlösend Wort?
Doch war es nicht des nächsten besten Mannes Werk,
Den Spruch zu deuten, nein, bedurfte Seherkunst;
395
Die lerntest du von deinen Vogelzeichen nicht,
Noch offenbarte dir's ein Gott: ich, Dedipus,
Erschien, ein Ziel ihr sezend, ich Unkundiger,
Durch Geist es treffend, nicht belehrt vom Vogelflug.
Und den versuchst du fortzutreiben, weil du dann
400
Kreon's erhabnem Throne nah zu stehen hoffst.
Ihr werdet weinend, hoff' ich, du wie dein Genoß,
Den Bann vollstrecken: säh' ich nicht in dir den Greis,
Du würd'st in Leid erkennen, was du mir ersannst.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 463-510 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-729-1 ὡς 1 ἐναριθμῶ· τὸ μηδὲν 2 ζώσας 3 ζώσας 4 ζώσας 5

mvp-comment-729-2 ἴσα καὶ 6

mvp-comment-729-3 ἐναριθμῶ 7

mvp-comment-730-1 φέρει 8

mvp-comment-731-1 δοκεῖν 9

mvp-comment-732-1 ἀποκλῖναι 10

mvp-comment-733-1 τὸν σόν τον 11 τὸν 12 τὸ σόν τοι 13 τὸν σόν 14

mvp-comment-734-1 οὐδὲν βροτῶν 15 οὐδένα 16 οὐδὲν 17

mvp-comment-735-1 καθ’ ὑπερβολὰν τοξεύσας 18

mvp-comment-735-2 ἐκράτησε 19 ὅστις 20 ἀνέστα 21 ἐξ οὗ 22

mvp-comment-735-3 τοῦ πάντ’ εὐδαίμονος 23 πάντα 24

mvp-comment-736-1 φθίσας 25

mvp-comment-737-1 τὰν γαμψώνυχα 26 παρθένον 27

mvp-comment-738-1 θανάτων πύργος 28

mvp-comment-739-1 ἀκούειν 29 ἀθλιώτερος 30 τίς ἀθλιώτερος ἀκούειν, τίς 31 ξύνοικος ἐν ἄταις 32 ξύνοικος 33

mvp-comment-740-1 In 1214 the δικάζει τὸν of the MSS. should be kept (see Metrical Analysis): here the simple transposition of τίς ἐν πόνοις 34 ἐν 35 ἄταις 36 πόνοις 37 ἐν … ξύν‐ 38

mvp-comment-741-1 The dat. ἀλλαγᾷ might be instrumental, but is rather circumstantial, = τοῦ βίου ἠλλαγμένου.

mvp-comment-742-1 λιμὴν 39

mvp-comment-743-1 πεσεῖν 40

mvp-comment-744-1 ἄλοκες 41

mvp-comment-745-1 σῖγ’ 42

mvp-comment-746-1 ἄκονθ’ 43 χρόνος 44

mvp-comment-747-1 δικάζει 45

mvp-comment-747-2 γάμον πάλαι τεκνοῦντα καὶ τεκνοῦμενον 46

mvp-comment-748-1 ἰὼ Λαΐειον ὧ τέκνον 47 ὤ 48

mvp-comment-749-1 The MSS. give δύρομαι γὰρ ὡς περίαλλα 49 ὡς περίαλα] | ἰαχέων ἐκ στομάτων 50 δύρομαι γὰρ ὥσπερ ἰάλεμον χέων | ἐκ στομάτων 51 ὡς περίαλλ’ 52 περίαλλα 53 περίαλλα 54 ὡς 55 ἰαχέων 56 δύρομαι 57 ἐκ στομάτων 58 ἐκ στομάτων 59 ἰαχέων 60 ἰακχίων 61 ἰάλεμον 62 ἰάλεμος 63 ἐκ στομάτων 64 χέων 65

mvp-comment-750-1 τὸ δ’ ὀρθὸν εἰπεῖν 66 ἐκ σέθεν 67

mvp-comment-750-2 ἀνέπνευσα 68

mvp-comment-751-1 κατεκοίμησα 69

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

1186-1203. mvp-comment-671-1 Man walketh in a vain shadow, he appears, and is not. What lot could seem more blest than Oedipus'? who slew the monster, saved our state and took the kingdom for his own? € ἰὼ CA. γενεαί] γεναὶ L. ἰὼὡς γενεαὶ C6. But now what woe is like to his; plunged by reverse of fortune in cruel misery? O glorious Oedipus! how art thou sunk into an abyss of infamy, too long concealed. Time that sees all hath found thee. And I, unblest in knowing thee, must weep thy fall. Yet thou wast he that gave me respite and repose.' The rhythms of this ode are less elaborate than those of the three former, and convey a more direct utterance of feeling. α'. β'. } } 5 } ICCICI IICCICI ICCICI IICCICI Iに​ト​CCICI に​ー​ト​CCICI UILCCICI ICCII CCし​ト​C!CICI CCICー​しー ILCICIC lulca LUICI いいーし​に CCLCIC LUCICICLICCICICI LCCLCICIC. 5 10 The first strophe and antistrophe, expressing solemn regret, consist each of three regular glyconic logaoedic systems, the second, giving vent to a more passionate mournfulness, are iambic and trochaic, returning to the smoother logaoedic rhythm in the last three lines. Syncope of thesis' occurs in ll. 1, 4, 9, 10, of β'.

1187. mvp-comment-672-1 ἴσα καὶ τὸ μηδέν Cp. Thuc. 3.14, ἴσα καὶ ἱκέται ἐσμέν.

1188. mvp-comment-673-1 ζώσας While ye are in life,' with allusion to the common reflection attributed to Solon that none are to be called happy till after death. Cp. infr. 1528-1530.

1190. mvp-comment-674-1 φέρει Cp. 590, νῦν μὲν γὰρ ἐκ σοῦ πάντ᾽ ἄνευ φόβου φέρω.

1191. mvp-comment-675-1 δοκεῖν Sc. εὐδαίμων εἶναι.

1192. mvp-comment-676-1 ἀποκλῖναι 'Το decline,' like the westering sun. Hdt. 3. 104-104. 181, ἀποκλινομένης δὲ τῆς ἡμέρης. Cp. Shak. Sonnet 90: 'Nativity, once in the main of light, Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned, | Crooked eclipses gainst his glory fight, | And Time that gave doth now his gift confound. Also the words spoken of Xerxes by the Greeks in Hdt. 7. 203, ὀφείλειν . . ὡς ἐύντα θνητὸν ἀπὸ τῆς δύξης πεσέειν ἄν.

1193. mvp-comment-677-1 τὸ σόν τοι παράδειγμ Having thy example before me. Schol. τὸν σὸν βίον.. παράδειγμα ἔχων, οὐδένα μακαἐκράτησε Μ². ρίζω καὶ εὐδαιμονίζω. It is by no means clear from this, as Schndw. supposed, that the Scholiast read τὸν σόν. For he may have taken τὸ σόν substantively as = τὸν σὸν βίον. The reading in the text is simpler and more natural than τὸν σόν, although it requires παράδειγμα to be repeated in a different construction after τὸν σὸν δαίμονα.

1196. mvp-comment-678-1 The conjecture of Hermann, οὐδὲν μακαρίζω, which avoids the unusual resolution of the arsis of a glyconic line, is otherwise probable. Cp. Fr. 652, Άρης γὰρ οὐδὲν τῶν κακῶν *λωτίζεται: Hom. Hymn to Aphrodite 34, οὔπερ τι πεφυγμένον ἔστ᾽ Ἀφροδίτην | οὔτε θεῶν μακάρων οὔτε θνητῶν ἀνθρώπων.

1197. mvp-comment-679-1 ὅστις Oedipus who.. The indefinite relative gives the ground of the preceding statement.

1197. mvp-comment-679-2 καθ' ὑπερβολὰν τοξεύσας Having shot with surpassing skill, i. e. Having hit the solution of the riddle which all others missed.

1198. mvp-comment-680-1 ἐκράτησε . . ὄλβου Became lord of all prosperity. The reading ἐκράτησε, required by the metre, is confirmed by ἀνέστα, which has the best authority. The transition from the 2nd to the 3rd person, in 1197, and again to the 2nd in 1202, has led to the confusion. Cp. Tr. 94-101. Heimsoeth conj. ἐκύρησε.

1200. mvp-comment-681-1 χρησμῳδόν Because, though the songs of the Sphinx were not literally prophetic, their interpretation involved the fate of Thebes.

1200. mvp-comment-681-2 θανάτων .. ἀνέστα And to my country he arose as a tower of defence from death. For the dative, cp. Aj. 36, 7, φύλαξ ἔβην τῇ σῇ.. κυναγίᾳ, and for the gen. θανάτων, Essay on Language § 9. β. 2. p. 13. For the return to the indicative from the participle, see Essay on Language § 36. p. 64. Elmsley conjectured ἀναστάς.

1202. mvp-comment-682-1 ἐξου Whence, i. e. since and because of this.

1202. mvp-comment-682-2 ἐμός Herm. for the metre ἀμός.

1204. mvp-comment-683-1 ἀκούειν To hear of thee; epexegetic infinitive. Cp. El. 664, πρέπει γὰρ ὡς τύραννος εἰσορᾶν.

1205. mvp-comment-684-1 †τίς ἐν πόνοις, τίς ἄταις ἀγρίαις There is a want of perfect correspondence between the metre of strophe and antistrophe (しーしー​ーーー =C ?). The right mode of correction, if correction is necessary, is uncertain. The phrase ἄταις ἀγρίαις ξύνοικος (cp. Αj. 611, θείᾳ μανίᾳ ξύναυλος, supr. 337-338, ὁμοῦ ναίουσαν, and note) is at any rate much more expressive than the transposition adopted by some editors, τίς άταις ἀγρίαις, τίς ἐν πόνοις; The words as they stand may be rendered Who more in woe, who more associated with fierce calamities in life's reverse?' The comparative notion contained in ἀθλιώτερος is continued.

1207. mvp-comment-685-1 κλεινόν Recalling l. 8, ὁ πᾶσι κλεινὸς Οἰδίπους καλούμενος.

1208. mvp-comment-686-1 The Scholiast suggests two possible interpretations of which the former is preferable. (1) ᾧ ὑποδοχὴ εἰς τὸ ἄμφω δέξασθαι, σὲ καὶ τὸν πατέρα. (2) ἢ ὅτι μητὴρ ἦν καὶ γυνὴ ἡ Ἰοκάστη, ἣν λέγει λιμένα. (1) In whose case the same wide harbour served for son and father to enter as a bridegroom. The natural construction, ᾧ.. καὶ πατρί, is modified for the sake of emphasizing the antithesis by the addition of παιδί, and the dative is left in a loose construction with the whole sentence, with an ethical' force, i. e. to whose confusion.

1211. mvp-comment-687-1 πατρῷαι.. ἄλοκες ‘The furrows of thy father's field.' Cp. infr. 1256-1257, 1497-1498; Aesch. S. c. Τ. 752, ματρὸς ἁγνὰν σπείρας ἄρουραν ἵν᾽ ἐτράφη: Ant. 569, ἀρώσιμοι γὰρ χἀτέρων εἰσὶν γύαι.

1213. mvp-comment-688-1 ἐφεῦρέ σ᾽ ἄκονθ' Has surprised thee with a discovery thou didst not intend. The result of the inquiry is contrasted with its outset, supr. 132.

1214. mvp-comment-689-1 δικάζει Sc. σε. Convicts thee. For the asyndeton, which may be explained by the intensity of the language, see Essay on Language p. 59. τόν is expressive.

1214. mvp-comment-689-2 τὸν ἄγαμον, κ.τ.λ. (1) Of all the while being son as well as husband in that unholy marriage. γάμον is cognate accusative (Essay on Language § 17. p. 24) after some word, such as ὀπυίοντα, for which the phrase τεκνοῦντα καὶ τεκνούμενον is substituted. As infr. 1403 ff., the concrete is intended under the abstract noun. When the marriage is spoken of, Jocasta is thought of. The expression is unusual, and yet γεννῶντα τὸν αὐτὸν γάμον ὃν ἐγεννήθης might be said even in prose. Cp. supr. 1210. Otherwise γάμον may be taken as accusative in regimen, and the participles either (2) as agreeing with σε and added in further explanation of γάμον: Condemns the unholy marriage, condemns thee who art at once sire and son: or (3), the participles agreeing with γάμον, Condemns the marriage in which father and son are one. For the use of the passive verb in this case, see Essay on Language § 31, 3, c. P. 54.

1216. mvp-comment-690-1 There is a syllable wanting to correspond to the antistrophe. Herm. supplies ὦ before τέκνον. Bothe conj.

1216. mvp-comment-690-2 Λαϊήϊον. 1217. There is no reasonable doubt as to the soundness of Wunder's emendation, although such repetitions are much less frequent in Sophocles than in Euripides.

1218. mvp-comment-691-1 εἰδόμαν Essay on Language § 31. P. 52.

1219. mvp-comment-692-1 δύρομαι γὰρ ὡς περίαλλ' ἰαχέων] I mourn without measure, straining my voice with cries. For the quantity of ἰαχέων, cp. Eur. Or. 826, Med. 204, alib. With περίαλλος, cp. ὑπέραλλος in Pind. Nem. 3. 33, ὑπέραλλον αἰχμάν.

1219. mvp-comment-692-2 ἐκ στομάτων, like ἐκ θυμοῦ, with my whole power of utterance.

1219. mvp-comment-692-3 τὸ δ᾽ ὀρθὸν εἰπεῖν But to say the truth.