Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 863

mvp-comment-531-1 εἴ μοι ξυνείη μοῖρα φέροντι ¹ μοῖρα ² ξυνείη ³ φέροντι ⁴ ἁγνείαν ⁵

mvp-comment-532-1 εὔσεπτον ⁶

mvp-comment-533-1 ὧν νόμοι πρόκεινται ὑψίπ. ⁷ νόμοι ⁸

mvp-comment-533-2 πρόκεινται ⁹

mvp-comment-534-1 οὐρανίαν δῑ αἰθέρα τεκνωθέντες ¹⁰ τεκνωθέντες ¹¹ νόμοι ¹² δῑ αἰθέρα ¹³ πατήρ ¹⁴

mvp-comment-534-2 αἰθέρα ¹⁵ οὐρανίαν αἰθέρα ¹⁶

mvp-comment-535-1 Ὄλυμπος ¹⁷

mvp-comment-536-1 ἔτικτεν ¹⁸

mvp-comment-537-1 μέγας ἐν τούτοις θεός ¹⁹

mvp-comment-538-1 ὕβρις ²⁰

mvp-comment-538-2 τύραννον ²¹

mvp-comment-539-1 εἰ … ὑπερπλησθῇ: Plat. Rep. 573c

For εἰ with subj., see on 198.

mvp-comment-539-2 ἃ μή ²²

mvp-comment-540-1 The reading of all the MSS., ἀκροτάταν εἰσαναβᾶσ’ ²³ ἀκρότατα γεῖσ’ ἀναβᾶσ’ ²⁴ γ ²⁵ ν ²⁶

mvp-comment-540-2 γεῖσα ²⁷

mvp-comment-541-1 With the MS. ἀπότομον ὤρουσεν εἰς ἀνάγκαν ²⁸ ἀποτμοτάταν ²⁹

mvp-comment-541-2 ὤρουσεν ³⁰

mvp-comment-541-3 ἀνάγκαν ³¹

mvp-comment-542-1 χρησίμῳ … χρῆται ³²

mvp-comment-543-1 τὸ καλῶς δ’ ἔχον ³³

mvp-comment-544-1 πάλαισμα ³⁴

mvp-comment-545-1 προστάταν ³⁵

mvp-comment-545-2 ὑπέροπτα ³⁶

mvp-comment-545-3 χερσὶν ³⁷

mvp-comment-546-1 Δίκας ἀφόβητος ³⁸

mvp-comment-547-1 ἕδη ³⁹

864. mvp-comment-508-1 εὔσεπτον ἁγνείαν A reverential purity. For the exact meaning of the verbal adj. here, see Essay on Language § 53, p. 98.

864. mvp-comment-508-2 λόγων ἔργων τε Genitive of respect.

865. mvp-comment-509-1 ὧν There is a slight inexactness of language in the article (τὰν), which marks the antecedent, being placed (by a sort of hypallage) with the governing noun ἁγνείαν, instead of with the genitive λόγων. This is hardly felt, because the ideas of the purity and the acts and words are coextensive.

865. mvp-comment-509-2 πρόκεινται Have been set forth or ordained; the usual word for the promulgation of a law, e.g. Ant. 36, φόνος πρόκειται δημόλευστος. Here almost = εἰσίν.

866. mvp-comment-510-1 ὑψίποδες Moving on high. Cp. the imagery in Plato, Phaedr. P. 247 ff. esp. the words in p. 254 B, ἐν ἁγνῷ βάθρῳ βεβῶσαν.

866-867. mvp-comment-511-1 'Created in, and pervading, the highest heaven, i. e. (1) They are from above: (2) They are all-embracing. Cp. Emped. Fr. 437-439 (403-405 Karsten.), οὐ πέλεται τοῖς μὲν θεμιτὸν τόδε, τοῖς δ᾽ ἀθέμιστον· | ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν πάντων νόμιμον διά τ᾿ εὐρυμέδοντος | αἰθέρος ἠνεκέως τέταται, διά τ᾿ ἀπλέτου αὐγῆς. 11. 15. 171, αἰθρηγενέος Βορέαο. The accusative with διά (cp. Aesch. Suppl. 15) is probably used because the idea is not that of passing through, but of pervading or permeating. Their mother-element is also the sphere of their life. Ether is the region, Olympus the cause of their birth; and in contrasting these, Sophocles follows Homer in making αἰθήρ feminine. Olympus, the seat of the Gods, is in Sophocles a sort of unseen Heaven; and has almost lost the association of place. Aj. 1389, Ant. 609, O. С. 1655, Fr. 490.

868. mvp-comment-512-1 'Nor was man's mortal nature operative in their birth.'

870. mvp-comment-513-1 οὐδὲ μὰν is similarly used to introduce a new thought after a previous negative in Pind. Pyth. 4. 87, οὔτι που οὗτος Ἀπόλλων, οὐδὲ μὰν χαλκάρματός ἐστι πόσις Ἀφροδίτας. The subjunctive κατακοιμάσῃ in L, the absence of the Doricism in μήν (but cp. θνητή supr.), and the correspondence of μήποτε in 880, are certainly in favour of μήποτε which Elmsley introduced, and which is found in Par. E., though with κατακοιμάσει following. But οὐ μή is too vehement for the passage, and is almost without MS. authority. Others read λάθᾳ, which involves an undesirable change of subject.

871. mvp-comment-514-1 μέγας .. γηράσκει There is in them a mighty Deity, that grows not old. As a Divine Power was recognized in the plague (πυρφόρος θεός, l. 27 ), so in the unwritten laws there is a Divine Nature, which is similarly personified. For the expression, cp. Plat. Phaed. 77 E, ἀλλ᾽ ἴσως ἔνι τις καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν παῖς, ὅστις τὰ τοιαῦτα φοβείται: Plat. Rep. 2. 382 D, ποιητὴς ἄρα ψευδὴς ἐν θεῷ οὐκ ἔνι.

873. mvp-comment-515-1 Lawlessness begets the tyrant. Cp. the τυραννικοῦ ἀνδρὸς γένεσις in Plat. Rep. 9. 571, ff.; Legg. 4, 716 AΒ. ὕβρις is the spirit of lawlessness of which Heraclitus said, ὕβριν χρὴ σβεννύειν μᾶλλον ἢ πυρκαϊήν: and the direct opposite of νόμος. Cp. Pind. O1. 13. 10, ὕβριν κόρου ματέρα. Sunt qui interpretentur; Propter malos civium mores amittitur libertas. Alii: Per scelera ad tyrannidem occupandam viam sibi faciunt homines. Elms. Both meanings are probably included in the more general notion that tyranny is the consummation of lawless violence in a state. Cp.

873. mvp-comment-515-2 ἀδικίαν εὐδαίμονα, Eur. Phoen. 552.

874. mvp-comment-516-1 εἰ πολλῶν ὑπερπλησθῇ For εἰ with the subjunctive in generalised contingent suppositions, see Essay on Language § 27. P. 44.

874. mvp-comment-516-2 μάταν Το no good end.' Cp. О. С. 1565-1566, πολλῶν γὰρ καὶ μάταν πημάτων ἱκνουμένων. This notion is expanded in the following words, ἃ surfeited with many things, which are neither seasonable nor expedient.'

876-877. mvp-comment-517-1 If there is no flaw in these verses, they may be rendered: Having mounted the topmost height she rushes on a rugged doom, wherein she finds no safe footing. The word ἀπότομος is applied metaphorically to the Spirit of Necessity in the sense of stern, inexorable, in Eur. Alc. 982, οὐδέ τις ἀποτόμου λήματός ἐστιν αἰδώς. Here Pride is imagined falling from her pinnacle on rugged broken ground, where she is left helpless to 'stumble on dark mountains. Cp. Ant. 853-855, προβᾶσ᾽ ἐπ᾿ ἔσχατον θράσους, ὑψηλὸν ἐς Δίκας βάθρον προσέπεσες, ὦ τέκνον, πολύ, and Aesch. Eum. 387, where the ways of the Erinyes are described as δυσοδοπαίπαλα | δερκομένοισι καὶ δυσομμάτοις ὁμῶς. In order to restore the correspondence of 877 with the strophe (867), we must suppose the loss of one long or two short syllables. The rhythm is iambic. Cp. στρ. α΄, 1. 3, στρ. β', 11. 6 and 8. The simplest hypothesis, as nothing is wanting to complete the sense, is that ὥρουσεν was compounded with et or els.

879-880. mvp-comment-518-1 It is needless to suppose any particular reference or allusion in these words; which simply denote the striving of patriotic zeal as distinguished from the struggles of lawless ambition. 'May God never end the contention that is for the city's good.' Cp. Pind. Nem. 5. 46-47, χαίρω δ᾽ ὅτι ἐσλοῖσι μάρναται πέρι πᾶσα πόλις: Hes. Op. et D. 24, ἀγαθὴ δ᾽ ἔρις ἥδε βροτοῖσιν: Aesch. Eum. 975, νικᾷ δ᾽ ἀγαθῶν ἔρις ἡμετέρα.

880. mvp-comment-519-1 θεόν Here generalized more completely than elsewhere in Sophocles. Cp. however infr. 734, Phil. 843, τάδε μὲν θεὸς ὄψεται.

883. mvp-comment-520-1 But whoso walks disdainfully in act or word.' ὑπέροπτα is neuter plural adverbial. The connection is: I will not cease to have God for my protector. The chorus take up the thought suggested by Teiresias 410-411, οὐ γάρ τι σοὶ ζῶ δοῦλος ἀλλὰ Λοξίᾳ, ὥστ᾽ οὐ Κρέοντος προστάτου γεγράψομαι. For χερσί = by deeds of violence, cp. Ε1. 1195, πότερα χερσὶν ἢ λύμῃ βίου ;

885. mvp-comment-521-1 οὐδέ In the vivid language of the chorus, the hypothetical passes into the demonstrative. What they at first supposed only, is now present to their imagination. Hence οὐδé, not μηδέ.

887. mvp-comment-522-1 ἕλοιτο Take him for her own. Cp. Αj. 397, ἕλεσθέ μ' οἰκήτορα.