Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 395

Lewis Campbell (Translator)

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LEADER OF CH
Enter OEDIPUS , blind and unattended. 1297
O horror of the world!
Too great for mortal eye!
More terrible than all I have known of ill!
What fury of wild thought
1300
Came o’er thee? Who in heaven
Hath leapt against thy hapless life
With boundings out of measure fierce and huge?
Ah! wretched one, I cannot look on thee:
No, though I long to search, to ask, to learn.
1305
Thine aspect is too horrible.—I cannot!

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)) — 395 focus
ἣν οὔτ᾽ ἀπ᾿ οἰωνῶν σὺ προὐφάνης ἔχων
395
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)) — 408 focus
Wohl bist du Herrscher; doch besteh'n muß gleiches Recht
Zu gleicher Antwort; hiezu ward auch mir Gewalt.
410
Nicht dir ja, nur dem Phöbos bin ich unterthan, 1
Daß nicht als Beistand Kreon mich vertreten muß. 2
Doch ich verkünde, weil du mich als Blinden höhnst:
Du siehst, und sehend siehst du nicht, wie tief du sankst,
Nicht wo du weilest, noch mit wem zusammenwohnst.
415
Von wem du stammest, weißt du das? Nichtwissend bist
Du Feind den Deinen, drunten und auf Erden hier.
Und doppelt treffend treibt dich einst aus diesem Land
Mit grausem Schritt des Vaters und der Mutter Fluch,
Und wie du jezt hell siehest, schaust du Dunkel dann.
420
Ia, welcher Hafen widerhallt nicht dein Geschrei,
Wo tönt Kithäron deinen Nuf nicht bald zurück, 3
Erkennst du deinen Chebund als Leidensport,
In den du, glücklich segelnd, eingelaufen bist?
Noch andern Unheils Fülle wirst du nicht gewahr,
425
Das gleiche Schrecken dir erschafft und deinem Stamm. 4
So schmähe denn auf Kreon, schilt mein Seherwort
In stolzem Hohne; Keiner lebt auf Erden ja,
Der grauenvoller untergeht als du dereinst.
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-797-1 A κομμός (see p. 9). The Chorus begin with anapaests (1297 -1306). The first words uttered by Oedipus are in the same measure (1307 -1311). Then, after a single iambic trimeter spoken by the Chorus (1312), (1) 1st strophe 1313-1320 = (2) 1st antistrophe 1321-1328; (3) 2nd strophe 1329 -1348 = (4) 2nd antistrophe 1349-1368. Oedipus here speaks in dochmiac measures blended with iambic; the Chorus, in iambic trimeters or dimeters only. The effect of his passionate despair is thus heightened by metrical contrast with a more level and subdued strain of sorrow. Compare Soph. Aj. 348-429 , where the κομμός has in this sense a like character. Some regard the κομμός as beginning only at 1313; less correctly, I think. Its essence is the antiphonal lament rather than the antistrophic framework.

mvp-comment-798-1 ὅσα … προσέκυρσα 1

mvp-comment-799-1 ὁ πηδήσας … μοίρᾳ; 2 μείζονα τῶν μακίστων 3 μακίστων 4

mvp-comment-800-1 πρὸς 5

mvp-comment-801-1 The Attic δύστην’ 6

mvp-comment-802-1 The fate of Oedipus is a dark and dreadful mystery into which they are fain to peer ( ἀνερέσθαι, πυθέσθαι 7 ἀθρῆσαι 8

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

1297-1311. mvp-comment-733-1 The form of the paroemiac 1311 shows that these anapaests are of the freer kind, which are admitted in laments, and are thought to have been sung to Lydian music (Aesch. Persae, 938). Compare lines 983 ff. of the Trachiniae, where Heracles awakes in agony, on being brought in. In both places the rhythm suits a faltering, interrupted movement. This tends to justify the scansion of 1303, φευ δυστᾶvõs, where a pause may be supposed; and the resolution of the arsis in διαπέταται in 1310, which is suited to express the agitation of the moment. (Cp. Aesch. Pers. 930, αἰνῶς, αἰνῶς ἐπὶ γόνυ κέκλιται.) Also the two successive catalectic verses 1310-1311; cp. El. 86-89. The commos which follows is arranged in two strophes and antistrophes, presenting a highly wrought example of that alternation of dochmiacs and senarii, which is often employed in the μέλη ἀπὸ σκήνης. The dochmiacs express agitation, to which the senarius adds a cadence of regret. The Chorus speak in senarii, except in 1336=1356, which is iambic dimeter. The long syllables of the dochmiacs are frequently resolved. See esp. 11. 1314, 1322, 1340, 1345, 1365. In 1332, 1352, a spondee is added at the end of the senarius, giving the effect of a prolonged wailing note. Cp. 1316, 1324. D つ β΄. 1329-1348 =1349-1368. トト トー ​トー 1CICICC しかし 10 ・トー 스 기 D つ 1

1298. mvp-comment-734-1 ὅσ᾽ ἐγὼ προσέκυρσα For the accusative, see Essay on Language § 16. p. 23.

1301. mvp-comment-735-1 What deity hath leapt beyond all limit insulting thy wretched lot? Cp. 1311, ἰὼ δαῖμον, ἵν᾽ ἐξήλλου, and for the same metaphor in Aeschylus, Pers. 515-516, ὦ δυσπόνητε | δαῖμον, ὡς ἄγαν βαρὺς | ποδοῖν ἐνήλλου παντὶ Περσικῷ γένει. μήκιστος often in tragedy = μέγιστος.

1302. mvp-comment-736-1 πρὸς σῇ Cp. Αj. 97, ἢ καὶ πρὸς Ατρείδαισιν ἤχμασας χέρα;

1303. mvp-comment-737-1 φεῦ, δύστανος The short syllable of δύστανός, has been thought to indicate some fault in the text, and the words may have crept in from 1: 1307: Lut see the note on the metre on p. 241.