Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 1196

Thomas Francklin (Translator)

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Than that we know already ; bringst thou more

Oedipus Tyrannus. Sophocles. Thomas Francklin (Translator). London. 1758–1759.

Current edition Experimental

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 1196 focus
ὅστις καθ᾽ ὑπερβολὰν
τοξεύσας ἐκράτησε τοῦ πάντ᾽ εὐδαίμονος ὄλβου,
ὦ Ζεῦ, κατὰ μὲν φθίσας
τὰν γαμψώνυχα παρθένον
χρησμῳδόν, θανάτων δ᾽ ἐμᾷ
1200
χώρᾳ πύργος ἀνέστα·
ἐξ οὗ καὶ βασιλεὺς καλεῖ
ἐμὸς καὶ τὰ μέγιστ᾽ ἐτιμάθης, ταῖς μεγάλαισιν ἐν
Θήβαισιν ἀνάσσων.
β
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1186-1221 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 1196 focus
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?
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1196 focus
Du, über Bewundern groß,
Trafst dein Ziel und errangest dir
Ein allseliges Schicksal,
Als nieder du schlugst (o Zeus!)
Die krummklauige Sängerin 1
1170
Dunkeln Spruches, und meinem Land
Ein Thurm wider den Tod standſt!
Darum wurdest du König mir
Genannt, ward dir der höchste Preis,
Daß du Thebe's erhab'ner Stadt
1175
Als Herrscher gebotest.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 1196 focus
Whilst thy example, hapless king,
Thy life, thy fortune I bewail,
Happy no man of mortal birth I hail.
Thine was no vulgar fate: its tow'ring wing
To wealth, and empire's splendid summit soar'd:
When, silenced her mysterious lore,
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1186-1220 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-739-1 ἀκούειν 1 ἀθλιώτερος 2 τίς ἀθλιώτερος ἀκούειν, τίς 3 ξύνοικος ἐν ἄταις 4 ξύνοικος 5

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 6 ἐν 7 ἄταις 8 πόνοις 9 ἐν … ξύν‐ 10

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

mvp-comment-742-1 λιμὴν 11

mvp-comment-743-1 πεσεῖν 12

mvp-comment-744-1 ἄλοκες 13

mvp-comment-745-1 σῖγ’ 14

mvp-comment-746-1 ἄκονθ’ 15 χρόνος 16

mvp-comment-747-1 δικάζει 17

mvp-comment-747-2 γάμον πάλαι τεκνοῦντα καὶ τεκνοῦμενον 18

mvp-comment-748-1 ἰὼ Λαΐειον ὧ τέκνον 19 ὤ 20

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'.

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.