Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 473

mvp-comment-300-1 ἱκόμην … ἐκάλεις ¹

mvp-comment-324-1 ἔλαμψε ²

mvp-comment-324-2 τοῦ νιφόεντος ³

mvp-comment-325-1 Join τὸν ἄδηλον ἄνδρα ⁴ πάντα ⁵ πάντα ⁶

mvp-comment-326-1 πέτρας ἰσόταυρος ⁷ ἰσόταυρος ⁸

mvp-comment-327-1 χηρεύων ⁹

mvp-comment-328-1 τὰ μεσόμφαλα γᾶς μαντεῖα ¹⁰

mvp-comment-328-2 ἀπονοσφίζων ¹¹

mvp-comment-329-1 ζῶντα ¹²

mvp-comment-329-2 περιποτᾶται ¹³

mvp-comment-330-1 The Chorus have described the unknown murderer as they imagine him—a fugitive in remote places. They now touch on the charge laid against Oedipus, —but only to say that it lacks all evidence. δεινὰ μὲν οὖν ¹⁴ δὲ ¹⁵ λέξω ¹⁶

mvp-comment-330-2 δεινὰ ¹⁷ ταράσσει ¹⁸ δοκοῦντα, ἀποφάσκοντα ¹⁹ ἀποφάσκοντα ²⁰ δοκοῦντα ²¹ δοκοῦντα ²² ἀποφάσκοντα ²³

mvp-comment-331-1 λέξω ²⁴

mvp-comment-331-2 ἐνθάδε ²⁵ ὀπίσω ²⁶

mvp-comment-332-1 ἢ Λαβδακίδαις ἢ τῷ Πολύβου ²⁷ ἔκειτο ²⁸

463-511. mvp-comment-280-1 Where is the accursed one, whom Apollo has marked as the perpetrator of the terrible deed? Now should he fly far away, with a step swifter than that of steeds, the daughters of the wind. For the son of Zeus, clothed in armour, leaps upon him with flashing fire, and the inevitable Fates are following him. He is roaming in forests and amongst desert caves, but he shall find no refuge. The forlorn man cannot put away from him the oracles that come from the centre of the earth.

463-511. mvp-comment-280-2 I tremble to think of the answer which the seer has given; and I hover in uncertainty, seeing neither what is, nor what will be. I neither know nor have known any strife between the house of Labdacus and the son of Polybus, and without proof, I will not give up Oedipus on an uncertain surmise. There is no knowing whether the voice of the prophet is the voice of God. But one man may be wiser than another. And of mortals who so wise as Oedipus? We have proof of this and of his good- Ist strophe and antistr. logaoedic or glyconic, ness to our state. Therefore I will think no harm of him.

463-511. mvp-comment-280-3 The first strophe and antistrophe refer to the proclamation of Oedipus reporting the answer of the oracle; the second to the words of Teiresias, which contained the only answer yet given to the question which the oracle left obscure. The differing metres of the first and second strophe and antistrophe contrast the eager resolution of the chorus to find the murderer, with the wavering excitement which the words of Teiresias have awakened, distracting them between their loyalty to Oedipus and their reverence for the seer. The first strophe commences with a strain half grave, half light, which is stirred into a quicker motion in the glyconics (lines 466-468), where the flight of the fugitive is described and grows faster and also weightier in the description of the tramp of his pursuers (lines 469 ff.). In the second strophe the alternation of the mind of the Chorus is indicated in the uneven Ionic rhythm. followed by rapid anapaestic clcclcc dimeters marking the climax of feeling. 2nd str. and antistr. Ionic a minore with anacrusis and pauses. 100- D 100–110)|10) 10)||10)|[110)]110) 463. The διορθωτής of the Laurentian MS. has written εἶπε over another word (ειδε?) and Flor. Γ. gives εἶδε, above 100which a later hand has written εἶπε as a v. r. Both readings are noticed by the Scholiast. The construction with the participle is at first sight rather in favour of εἶδε (or οἶδε). But cp. El. 318, О. С. 1580, ξυντομωτάτως μὲν ἂν τύχοιμι λέξας Οἰδίπουν ὀλωλότα, and infr. 1214, δικάζει .. τεκνοῦντα, εἶπε is much better suited to the context. The voice which the Pythia interpreted came from the rock.

473. mvp-comment-286-1 ἔλαμψε . φάμα The command flashed forth. Cp. 186, παιὰν δὲ λάμπει : Pind. O1. 1. 23, λάμπει . . κλέος.

475. mvp-comment-287-1 πάντ᾿ ἰχνεύειν πάντα is neuter plural adverbial: to track by all means, rather than masculine subject of ἰχνεύειν, for every one to track.

478. mvp-comment-288-1 The reading of the inferior MSS., although yielding an unlikely rhythm, is given in the text as most probably representing the true meaning. ἅτε has been read with some probability for ὡς. The reading of L., even if the adj. were here permissible (see Essay on Language § 23, €. p. 39) is impossible on account of the strained use of metaphor. Prof. E. L. Lushington has suggested ἰσόταυρος. Cp. Virgil's description, Georg. 3. 203, of the solitary vanquished bull; 11. 481, 2, suggest that he is also seeking refuge from the breese.

479. mvp-comment-289-1 χηρεύων Forlorn, 'Cut off from fellowship; alluding to the curse under which the murderer lay, 236, foll. N2

480. mvp-comment-290-1 τὰ μεσόμφαλα γᾶς .. μαντεία The oracles from the central spot of earth. yâs is part. gen. after the adjective of place. Cp. Strabo, 9. p. 419, τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐν μέσῳ πώς ἐστι τῆς συμπάσης .. καὶ ἐκάλεσαν τῆς γῆς ὄμφαλον.

480. mvp-comment-290-2 ἀπονοσφίζων Putting away from him, i.e. avoiding. An inverted expression, like ἀποκρύπτειν γῆν.

481. mvp-comment-291-1 ἀεί to be taken equally with ζῶντα and περιποτᾶται. And they will not die, but still live and move around him. The chorus look to the ends of the earth for the man whom they have just seen before the palace; for him, who, instead of avoiding the oracle, embraces and is seeking to obey it.

483. mvp-comment-292-1 Fearfully does the wise augur trouble me.' For the ellipse of the object με, see Essay on Language § 39. P. 73. μὲν οὖν marks the transition to a course of thought which is not final; to this ἀλλά, κ.τ.λ. 497 ff. is afterwards opposed.

483. mvp-comment-292-2 δεινά is adverbial acc., and δοκοῦντα, ἀποφάσκοντα acc. masc. agreeing with με understood. Neither entertaining the suggestion nor denying. For δοκεῖν absolute, cp. El. 61, δοκῶ μέν, alib., Αj. 942, σοὶ μὲν δοκεῖν ταῦτ᾽ ἔστ᾽ ἐμοὶ δ᾽ ἄγαν φρονεῖν : Τr. 590, 1, ὡς τὸ μὲν δοκεῖν ἔνεστι. This interpretation is supported by the words, ὅ, τι λέξω δ᾽ ἀπορῶ, which are added in explanation. Others take δεινά ταράσσει, κ.τ.λ., to mean suggests dire conflicting thoughts, which neither affirm their object nor deny.

486. mvp-comment-293-1 πέτομαι δ᾽ ἐλπίσιν And I hover in uncertain expectation. Cp. Eur. Bacch. 332, νῦν γὰρ πέτει τε καὶ φρονῶν οὐδὲν φρονεῖς: infr. 771-772, és τοσοῦτον ἐλπίδων ἐμοῦ βεβῶτος.

487. mvp-comment-294-1 Not seeing clearly either the present or the future. Cp. ὁ γὰρ οἷος ὅρα πρόσσω καὶ ὀπίσσω, Il. 18.250; Od. 24.452. The Greeks imagined the future as coming on behind the present and so hidden by it.

487. mvp-comment-294-2 ἢ.. ἤ What quarrel lay between them on either side. The disjunctive form of expression gives emphasis to each of the proper names. The same emphatic strain is continued with οὔτε οὔτε. Cp. Hdt. 7. 54, οὐκ ἔχω ἀτρεκέως διακρίναι, οὔτε εἰ . . οὔτε εἰ, κ.τ.λ.

488. mvp-comment-295-1 ἔκειτο Lit. Was laid up, (cp. 232, ἡ χάρις προσκείσεται), but this meaning is almost lost, and the word has little more than the force of the substantive verb.