1-3.
mvp-comment-1-1
Before the dialogue begins, the suppliants are seen to enter on the spectator's right, with wool-wreathed olivewands in their left hands (Aesch. Suppl. 193). Marshalled by the Priests, they eagerly approach the altars, on the steps of which they lay their wands (Ib. 242). Before this movement is completed, Oedipus enters to them by the central door. There was probably at least one altar on either side of this, that of Apollo Lycaeus (1.919) being one, and the approach of Creon, who comes from the country, would be seen by those on the spectator's left (11. 78, 9), before becoming visible to Oedipus or to the Priest of Zeus, who remains on the right.
1.
mvp-comment-2-1
Ω τέκνα .. τροφή Oedipus addresses the Thebans as the strangerprince, who will soon be discovered to belong to the race which he governs. Cp. the answer in l. 14, which recalls his foreign origin, and see infr. 452-453, εἶτα δ᾽ ἐγγενής | φανήσεται Θηβαῖος.
1.
mvp-comment-2-2
τροφή,
objects of my care, expressing the tenderness not of Cadmus but of Oedipus for his children; a rare use of abstract for concrete. See Essay on Language, p. 94. Κάδμου is gen. of origin.
O latest offspring of old Cadmus, children who are my care.
2.
mvp-comment-3-1
μοι is
precatory, adding a tone of pleading affectionateness to the question. Cp. Εl. 144, τί μοι τῶν δυσφόρων ἐφίει; τίνας . . ἕδρας τάσδε.. θοάζετε =
Why do ye thus sit (or kneel) here with so much haste? The king in entering has observed (or before entering has heard from others, 11. 6, 7) the earnestness with which the suppliants have taken their places by the altars, and he regards this as one of the signs of trouble in the city. The meaning here given to θοάζω is that which it has everywhere in Euripides, who uses it frequently. Another θοάζω = θάσσω is mentioned by grammarians, and has been generally assumed to be the verb found in this and two other places of classical Greek, viz. Aesch. Suppl. 595, Emped. 1. 18. But it is at least questionable whether the meaning
to hasten is not admissible in both of these. And in the present case it is unobjectionable. For however slow and staid the movements on the proscenium actually were, they are often described in the dialogue as rapid and hurried. (El. 872, O. C. 887.) Cp. esp. Aesch. Suppl. 209, μή νυν σχόλαζε, addressed by Danaus to the suppliant maidens, who are taking their places at the altar. It must be admitted, however, that the authority of Plutarch (de Aud. Poet. 2. 22 E) counts for something in favour of the other meaning, and that it suits the context equally well.
3.
mvp-comment-4-1
Instead of saying simply
equipped with suppliant boughs, the more descriptive ἐξεστεμμένοι =
enfilleted (infr. 1. 19) is used, occasioning a pleonasm like that in Pind. Nem. 10. 43, ἀργυρωθέντες σὺν οἰνηραῖς φιάλαις. ἐξεστεμμένοι, i. e. στέμμασιν ἐξεσταλμένοι,
Well provided with woollen wreaths.
4.
mvp-comment-5-1
πόλις δ΄ The form of interrogation is dropped. The pleonastic ἄλλων, ('who are not myself,') in apposition to ἀγγέ λων, makes the antithesis more explicit. Cp. Eur. Or. 532, τί μαρτύρων | ἄλλων ἀκούειν δεῖ μ᾽, ἅ γ᾽ εἰσορᾶν πάρα; Hdt. 7. 50, εἰ μὴ χρεώμενοι γνώμῃσι τοιαύτῃσι ἄλλους συμβούλους εἶχον τοιούτους.
4-5.
mvp-comment-6-1
The expression is slightly inaccurate. Oedipus begins with the antithesis of what is seen and heard, and the further antithesis (between the signs of hope and grief) is suggested to him. Hence the second ὁμοῦ has a double use.
The city is at the same time full of offerings of incense, and of groanings which mingle with the sounds of the paean.
6.
mvp-comment-7-1
ἅ
The things of which I ask, especially the subject of Il. 4.5.
7.
mvp-comment-8-1
For the emphatic αὐτός, cp. Hdt. 4. 76 (of King Saulios), ὁ δέ, καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπικόμενος, ὡς εἶδε, κ.τ.λ.
8.
mvp-comment-9-1
'The world-renowned Oedipus by name.' This line introduces Oedipus to the spectators in the simple manner of ancient tragedy, and strengthens the impression of his perfect security.
9-10.
mvp-comment-10-1
.
Since you stand forth as the person naturally fitted to speak before or
on behalf of these. πρέπειν here appears in transition from
being conspicuous to
being suitable. πρό is partly foremost amo among,' partly
in behalf of. Cp. II. 13. 693, 699, πρὸ Φθίων θωρηχθέντες.
10.
mvp-comment-11-1
τίνι τρόπῳ καθέστατε means not merely,
How are you? but,
In what wise are ye present here? Oedipus addresses the priest and his companions, who are evidently there to crave an audience. The exact word for this is καθεστάναι. Cp. Pind. Pyth. 4. 135, καί β᾽ ἦλθον Πελίου μέγαρον, ἐσσύμενοι δ᾽ εἴσω κατέσταν: Hdt. 1. 152, καταστάς, ἔλεγε πολλά. Also κατάστασις in Hdt. 3.46. (Trin. gl. ἐπεστήκατε.) The 1st pers. in προσήμεθα 1. 15, ἑζόμεσθα 1. 32, ἱστώμεσθα 1. 147, does not necessarily imply that the priest spoke in the attitude of supplication. But on comparing Aesch. Suppl. 208, Eur. Heracl. 238, this does seem possible, and might add to the apparent greatness of Oedipus. For καθέστατε in this case, cр. О. С. 23, κατέσταμεν, where Oedipus is sitting.
11.
mvp-comment-12-1
δείσαντες ἢ στέρξαντες στέ ξαντες, which appears in some later MSS, but not in all, and as a very late correction of L, was perhaps invented to suit the gloss, ὑπομείναντές τι κακόν, a late meaning of στέγειν being
to endure. Cp. gloss in Par. Essay on l. 341, στέγω ὑπομένω, ἔστεξα is not an Attic form. στέρξαντες is right in the sense of desiring or having the affections fixed on something. Cp. O. C. 1094, στέργω ἀρωγὰς | μολεῖν: Plat. Legg. 10. 907 C, ἑαυτοὺς μὲν μισῆσαι, τὰ δ᾽ ἐναντία πως ἤθη στέρξαι, and see ἱμείροντες in l.59.
In what manner do you stand here? in consequence of what fear? or of what desire? i.e.
What desire or fear has brought you? The force of the interrogative is continued in the participles. στέρξαντες is quoted by the Scholiast, who interprets, οἷον, ἤδη πεπονθότες. But Oedipus asks, not, 'Is the evil present or past?'-that some blow had fallen was clear-but, What is the feeling with which you come?' Others connect ὡς, κ.τ.λ., immediately with στέρξαντες in the sense of
being resigned.
Having made up your minds to suffer, in the belief that, etc. But although this interpretation gives the more ordinary meaning to στέρξαντες, it has the capital fault of making Oedipus express his main assurance to the people in a parenthesis, or in a suppressed clause. ὡς refers to φράζε,
Tell me, and believe, etc. 12,
13.
mvp-comment-13-1
δυσάλγητος .. εἴην Sc. εἰ μὴ θέλοιμι, which is further explained by μὴ οὐ, κ.τ.λ.
13.
mvp-comment-13-2
μὴ οὐ For the redundant οὐ here, see Essay on Language § 29, 3. c. p. 50. The participial epexegesis implies a negative condition (i. e. εἰ μὴ κατοικτείραιμι) of the negative statement δυσάλγητος ἂν εἴην, and has pointed reference to the case actually present.
