Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 1516

Richard Jebb (Translator)

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Oedipus Tyrannus. Sophocles. Richard Jebb (Translator). Cambridge. 1887.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Experimental

Oedipus Tyrannus (English) (Sophocles the plays and fragments, Part 1: The Oedipus Tyrannus. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, Sir, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1887. (Modernized by Perseus.))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 1516 focus
πειστέον, κεἰ μηδὲν ἡδύ.
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1516 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 1516 focus
I must yield, though sore against me.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1516 focus
Ende! Wohin reißt der Schmerz dich? Auf, und geh' in's Haus hinein!
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 1516 focus
May Heaven reward thee for this goodness to
me,
And give thee much more bliss than I have known !
Now, my dear children, come towards me, come
Towards your father and your — brother ; see
These sightless eyes, pierced by my own mad hands ;
Behold that wretched father who begat you
Unknowingly on her who gave me birth ;
I cannot see you now — I can but weep
Your fate, to think what hours of wretchedness
You have to know hereafter. Whither now
Must my poor children lly? From every feast
Joyless with grief and shame, shall you return ;
And when the time shall come when riper years
Should give you to the nuptial bed, who then,
Careless of fame, will let his child partake
The infamy of my abhorred race.
Sprung from a wretch accursed, who killed his father,
And from the womb that bare him did beget
You my unhappy daughters ? Such reproach
Must still be yours, to virgin solitude
Devoted ever, and a barren bed.
Son of Menaeceus, thou alone art left
Their father now, for, oh ! Jocasta 's dead,
And T am — nothing. Do not then forsake
Thy kindred ; nor, deserted and forlorn.
Suffer them still in penury and woe
1520
To wander helpless, in their tender age :
1520
Kemember they have no support but thee.
1520
O generous prince ! have pity on them ; give me
1520
Thy friendly hand in promise of thy aid.
1520
To you, my daughters, had your early years
1520
Permitted, I had given my last advice :
Too young for counsel, all I ask of you
Is but to pray the gods that my sad life
May not be long ; but
'Ours, my children, crowned
vv iin many oays, ana happier far than mine.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 1516 focus
Oh, be thou bless'd; and for this courtesy
A kinder guardian may'st thou find the god
Than I have found him!... O my children, where,
Where are you? Come to me, come to these hands,
A brother's hands, which thus your father's eyes,
Once lamps of light, have quench'd. Your father I
(Alas, my children! erring, nor by sight
Nor thought inform'd) by her that gave me birth
Yet I weep o'er you, for these eyes no more

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-929-1 καιρῷ 1

mvp-comment-930-1 The words οἶσθ’ ἐφ’ οἶς οὖν 2 λέξεις 3

mvp-comment-931-1 ὅπως πέμψεις 4

mvp-comment-932-1 ἀλλὰ θεοῖς γ’ 5 θεοῖς 6

mvp-comment-932-2 ἤκω 7 τοιγαροῦν τεύξει τάχα 8

mvp-comment-933-1 ἃ μὴ φρονῶ 9

mvp-comment-934-1 ἕλῃ μου 10

mvp-comment-935-1 See critical note. These verses are spoken by the Chorus, as Creon turns with Oedipus to enter the house. The calm close which the tragedy requires would be wanting if they were spoken by the chief sufferer himself. Of extant Greek tragedies, the Prometheus and the Agamemnon are the only ones which end with words spoken by one of the actors; and in each case this is justified by the scheme of the trilogy to which the play belonged.

mvp-comment-936-1 Here, as elsewhere, the MSS. fluctuate between ᾔδει and ᾔδη. The Attic ᾔδη, as first pers. sing., is contracted from ᾔδεα: in the third, the classical form was not ᾔδη but ᾔδει, or, before a vowel, ᾔδειν (as it must be in Eur. Ion 1187 , Aristoph. Peace 1182 etc.). No 3rd sing. in εα, from which η could come, is said, or can be supposed, to have existed. Aristarchus, indeed, is quoted by the schol. on Hom. Il. 5.64 in favour of the η. But the Doric 3rd sing. ἀπολώλη in Tab. Heracl. 1.39 is the only such form which is beyond question. Curtius ( Curt. Verb 11.237 , Eng. tr. 431 ff.) therefore agrees with those textual critics who, like La Roche, Cobet, and Kontos (Λόγιος Ἑρμῆς p. 61) would always write the 3rd sing. ᾔδει (or ᾔδειν). ᾔδει αἰνίγματα 11

mvp-comment-937-1 οὖ τίς οὐ ζήλῳ … ταῖς τύχαις ἐπέβλ., 12 τίς 13 ἐπέβλεπεν 14 ἐπιβλέπων 15 καί 16 ταῖς 17

mvp-comment-938-1 The use of ἐπισκοποῦντα 18 ὀλβίζειν 19 μηδέν’ ὀλβίζειν 20

Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus

1516. mvp-comment-841-1 καιρῷ i. e. ἐν καιρῷ.

1518. mvp-comment-842-1 τοῦ θεοῦ .. δόσιν Supr. 1438.

1519. mvp-comment-843-1 ἥκω Cp. O. C. 12, and note.

1520. mvp-comment-844-1 γάρ = No, for, etc. Cр. О. С. 765-767, πρόσθεν τε γάρ με τοῖσιν οἰκείοις κακοῖς | νοσοῦνθ᾽, ὅτ᾽ ἦν μοι τέρψις ἐκπεσεῖν χθονός, | οὐκ ἤθελες θέλοντι προσθέσθαι χάριν. ἃ μὴ φρονῶ] What I do not clearly know.

1521. mvp-comment-845-1 ἐντεῦθεν From before the palace, since I may not go at once from the land.

1522. mvp-comment-846-1 μου is ablative genitive.

1526. mvp-comment-847-1 The unintelligible reading of this line, which appears in most MSS, †ὅστις οὐ ζήλῳ πολιτῶν καὶ τύχαις ἐπιβλέπων†, has been changed to ov τις οὐ ζηλῶν πολιτῶν καὶ τύχαις ἐπιβλέπων = Whom which of the citizens did not envy, and gaze on his fortunes?' and to ὃν τις οὐ ζήλῳ πολιτῶν τῆς τύχης ἐπέβλεπεν; Another solution of the difficulty is to suppose that a line following this one has been lost. Who did not' (after the manner of tyrants) [maintain his power] 'by envy of the citizens and by keeping an eye upon their fortunes; i. e. Oedipus was a wise and popular ruler, not like Thrasybulus or Periander, who cut off the tallest heads of grain. Cp Pind. Pyth. 3. 71, πραὺς ἀστοῖς, οὐ φθονέων ἀγαθοῖς. But the transition from the dative to the participle is harsh; and ζῆλοs is not φθόνος. The reading of VM, ἐν for οὐ, and the gloss ἐπαιρόμενοs in ME, suggest a different line of conjecture, viz. that some other verb is concealed in ἐπιβλέπων. ἐπιφλέγων would harmonize well with κλύδωνα in the following line, both together suggesting an image of brightness quenched. Cp. Aesch. S. c. Τ. 772, τίν᾿ ἀνδρῶν γὰρ τοσόνδ᾽ ἐθαύμασαν θεοὶ καὶ ξυνέστιοι πόλεος, κ τ.λ.: Ib. 758, κακῶν δ᾽ ὥσπερ θάλασσα κῦμ᾿ ἄγει: Pind. P. 11. 45, δύξ᾽ ἐπιφλέγει. The Naples MS. No. 291 (II. F. 34), (quoted by Elmsley as Farn.'), has τ/ἐπιβλέπων. There still remains the awkwardness of ὅστις with the participle. The emendation above attempted removes this: but is no doubt only one of several possible expedients. IP may have been lost after ἀνήρ (ΗΡΠΡ); and the remaining letters of πρῶτος, ΟΤΟΣ, might then be changed to ὅστις; cp. supr. 478 (ὁτ.-ώστ.), Ο. C. 775 (τισ τοσ). For ζῆλος πολιτῶν as equivalent τo εὐδαιμονία, cp. esp. Aj. 503, οίας λατρείας ἀνθ᾽ ὅσου ζήλου τρέφει: Thuc. 2. 64, ὅστις δ᾽ ἐπὶ μεγίστοις τὸ ἐπίφθονον λαμβάνει, ὀρθῶς βουλεύεται: Pind. 1. 85, κρέσσων γὰρ οἰκτιρμοῦ φθόνος.

1528. mvp-comment-848-1 The order is ὥστε (τινα), έπισκοποῦντα ἐκείνην τὴν τελευταίαν ἡμέραν ἰδεῖν, ὀλβίζειν μηδένα ὄντα θνητόν. So that one waits to see that final day, not calling any mortal happy, before he have completed the term of his life, without any sorrow. Cp Pind. Nem. ΙΙ. 10, τέλος δωδεκάμηνον περάσαι σὺν ἀτρώτῳ κραδίᾳ. The lighter trochaic rhythm, here (1515 foll.) preparing for and hastening the exit of the chief actor, affords relief to the mind of the spectator after the long strain of excited feeling. The comparative tameness of the concluding lines (wrongly assigned to Oed. by the Schol., who was thinking of the Phoenissae) is in accordance with this. The lines in the Phoenissae read like an imitation of this passage, which, although beneath the general style of Sophocles, is not inferior in merit to the concluding words of the chorus in the other plays.