1075.
mvp-comment-614-1
ἀναρρήξει is best taken actively with ἡ γυνή as subject.
She will cause evils to break forth. If κακά were the subject, χρήζει in 1076 could hardly have a natural meaning. Cp. II. 20. 55, ἐν δ᾽ αὐτοῖς ἐρίδα ῥήγνυντο. For the situation, cp. Ant. 766, 1253, Tr. 813.
1076.
mvp-comment-615-1
Let her raise what storms she will; but I am determined to see my origin, though it be humble.'
1078.
mvp-comment-616-1
ὡς γυνή
For a woman. Cp. Hdt. 4. 81, ὀλίγους, ὡς Σκύθας εἶναι. Oedipus implies that his own 'pride of birth, (avowed in 1080, foll.) is of a nobler strain.
1079.
mvp-comment-617-1
τὴν δυσγένειαν τὴν ἐμήν
The baseness of my birth.
1080.
mvp-comment-618-1
παῖδα τῆς Τύχης.. τῆς εὐ διδούσης
Accounting myself the child of favouring Fortune. Cp. the opposite fancy of Polynices in O. C. 1323-1324, κεί μὴ σὸς ἀλλὰ τοῦ κακοῦ | πότμου φυτευθείς. So in Shak. Winter's Tale, 4. 4, Florizel says From thy succession wipe me, father! I Am heir to my affection.' 1082. οἱ δὲ συγγενεῖς μῆνές με μικρὸν καὶ μέγαν διώρισαν]
And the months that have grown up with me, have alone determined my lowness and my exaltation. As elsewhere, Time is spoken of as a real thing or person commensurate with the events.
1084-1085.
mvp-comment-619-1
This parentage of mine can never be disproved; and therefore why should I not find out my origin? This is better than
I cannot but know my birth.
1084.
mvp-comment-620-1
†ἔτι | ποτ' ἄλλος It must be admitted that ποτέ beginning the line after a short syllable which precludes synaphea, is questionable. See Aj. 986, οὐχ ὅσον τάχος | δῆτ᾿ αὐτὸν ἄξεις δεῦρο; It is allowable to conjecture ἐξέλθοιμ᾽ ἐγώ. But the secret of the anomaly is probably the inverted order (for ἄλλος ποτέ), which is for the sake of emphasis and rhythm. Cp. Phil. 1217, ἔτ᾿ οὐδέν εἰμι. 1086, foll. The chorus have forgotten their apprehension expressed in supr. 1074-1075, and yielding to the feeling of the moment, join with Oedipus in his wish to discover his origin. The joyous confidence of this strain gives greater emphasis to the catastrophe. Cp. Ant. 1115-1152, Aj. 693-718, Tr. 205-224- 'Soon shall the wonder be revealed. Our king was nursed on the mountain's breast, divinely born; some nymph his mother, his father, some roving God.' The solemnity of the prevailing ditrochaic (or epitrite) rhythm is relieved 1092. ματέρ'] by lyrical dactyls. The tone is one of religious joyousness, rising at first into excited hope, which changes, in line 7 of the strophe, into pious aspiration. トCCL トー 5 ト ト ト トー トー 1086. For κατὰ γνώμαν, cp. Tr. 102, εἴπ᾽, ὦ κρατιστεύων κατ᾿ ὄμμα, and see Essay on Language § 19. p. 28.
1087.
mvp-comment-621-1
οὐ τὸν Ὄλυμπον Ant. 758.
1087.
mvp-comment-621-2
ἀπείρων Hesychius, ἀπείρονας· ἀπειράτους. Σοφοκλῆς Θυέστῃ.
1090.
mvp-comment-622-1
τὰν αὔριον πανσέληνον
In the coming moonlit hour. Cp. Ant. 153, θεῶν δὲ ναοὺς χοροῖς παννυχίοις πάντας ἐπέλθωμεν. (1) The comparison of Arist. Η. Α. 10. 38, νύκτας τὰς πανσελήνους, shows that πανσέληνος is not always to be construed strictly of the full moon. A moonlight night is all that need be meant. And αύριον may be transferred from
next sunrise to
next moon-rise. Or (2) the expression may be understood to mean, 'In to-morrow's moonlight festival.' If this interpretation is adopted, we must suppose the full moon to occur the day following. But no hint of this is given in the context.
1090.
mvp-comment-622-2
ἀπείρων .. μὴ οὐ σε γε .. αὔξειν Thou shalt not be without experience of our celebrating thee, as of the same clime with Oedipus, and as having been to him a nurse and mother.'
1090.
mvp-comment-622-3
πατριώταν
A native of the same region,'
countryman.
1092.
mvp-comment-623-1
ματέρα As a mountain is called μήτηρ μήλων, θηρῶν, etc., e. g. Il. 8. 47, Ἴδην.. μητέρα θηρῶν, Γάργαρον, τροφόν coming between makes tolerable the transition from masc. to fem. αὔξειν, sc. ἐμὲ or ἡμᾶς, borrowed from the context.
1095.
mvp-comment-624-1
καὶ χορεύεσθαι πρὸς ἡμῶν
Or of being the theme of our choral song. For the change of voice and subject, see Essay on Language p. 65, d.
1095.
mvp-comment-624-2
ἐπίηρα φέροντα
Giving pleasure: Epicè. II. 1. 578, πατρὶ φίλῳ ἐπὶ ἦρα φέρειν Διΐ. Od. 19. 343, οὐδέ τί μοι ποδάνιπτρα ποδῶν ἐπιήρανα θυμῷ | γίγνεται.
1097.
mvp-comment-625-1
In hoping for a happy solution, the chorus still look up to Phoebus, whom they had at first invoked (154), and on the interpretation of whose still doubtful oracles the issue depends. This is the only shadow of apprehension which remains.
O Phoebus, to whom we cry, may this event prove well-pleasing to thee. ἰήϊε] Cp. supr. 154, and note.
1098.
mvp-comment-626-1
τέκνον So Theseus is addressed by the chorus in O. C. 1491, ἰὼ παῖ.
1098.
mvp-comment-626-2
ἔτικτε Cp. supr. 870.
1098.
mvp-comment-626-3
τῶν μακραιώνων The context shows that the nymphs are meant. Cp. Hom. h. Ven. 258, Hes. ap. Plutarch. 415 c. fr. 50 Gaisf., Ap. Rh. 2. 509. 1100 ff. The MS. reading was thus explained by Hermann,
Constructio verborum haec est: τίς σ᾽ ἔτικτε τῶν μακραιώνων ἄρα θυγάτηρ, προσπελασθεῖσα Πανὸς ἢ Λοξίου; [ Was it some young daughter of the long-lived Nymphs, having been brought near to the mountain Pan or to Loxias, who bore thee?"] Sed quum in illis, ἢ Λοξίου, adderet poeta augendi causa σε γε, istoque demum loco poneret illud nomen θυγάτηρ, adjecit etiam pronomen e: cliticum τις, sine quo θυγάτηρ tam remotum a genitivo suo obscurum fuisset. Apa etiam alibi longius ab initio remotum invenitur, ut in Ajace v. 925, ἔμελλες, τάλας, ἔμελλες χρόνῳ στερεόφρων ἄρ᾽ ὧδ᾽, κ.τ.λ. (Cp. Phil. 996). But this reasoning is upset by the double objection to the position and quantity of θυγάτηρ, and by the difficulty of obtaining a satisfactory arrangement of the lines with θυγάτηρ. Lachm. conj. πατρὸς πελασθεῖσ', in which the appellation of Pan is unusual and inappropriate. Arndt's very ingenious conjecture is adopted in the text.
1098.
mvp-comment-626-4
υν πρέσβει C. πρέσβυν 1103. i.e. He is one of the νόμιοι θεοί, or pastoral gods.
1104.
mvp-comment-627-1
Schol. ὁ Ἑρμῆς· νόμιος γάρ. For εἴτε =
or, without εἴτε preceding, see on supr. 517, О. С. 1492.
1105.
mvp-comment-628-1
ναίων ἐπ᾿ ἄκρων ὀρέων Anacreon ap. Dion. Chrys. i. 94, ὧναξ, ᾧ δαμάλης ἔρως, | καὶ νυμφαὶ κυανώπιδες | πορφυρέη τ' Ἀφροδίτη | συμπαίζουσιν, ἐπιστρέφεαι δ᾽ | ὑψηλῶν κορυφὰς ὀρέων.
1105.
mvp-comment-628-2
εὕρημα δέξατ For the expression, see above l. 1026, and cp. Plat. Theaet. 150 D, οὐδέ τί μοι ἔστιν εὕρημα τοιοῦτον γεγονός, τῆς ἐμῆς ψυχῆς ἔκγονον.
1109.
mvp-comment-629-1
Ἑλικωνίδων The word was written so at first in Par. A. αἷς πλεῖστα συμπαίζει. Cp. Hom. h. Ven. 263.
