Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 863

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)) — 863 focus
εἴ μοι ξυνείη φέροντι
μοῖρα τὰν εὔσεπτον ἁγνείαν λόγων
ἔργων τε πάντων, ὧν νόμοι πρόκεινται
865
ὑψίποδες, οὐρανίαν
διʼ αἰθέρα τεκνωθέντες, ὧν Ὄλυμπος
πατὴρ μόνος, οὐδέ νιν
θνατὰ φύσις ἀνέρων
ἔτικτεν, οὐδὲ μάν ποτε λάθα κατακοιμάσει·
870
μέγας ἐν τούτοις θεός, οὐδὲ γηράσκει.
α
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 863 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 863 focus
O may my life be evermore
Pure in each holy word and deed
By those eternal laws decreed
That pace the sapphire-paven floor!
865
Children of Heaven, of Ether born,
No mortal knew their natal morn,
Nor may Oblivion’s waters deep
E’er lull their wakeful spirit asleep,
Nor creeping Age o’erpower the mighty God
Who far within them holds his unprofaned abode.
870
Pride breeds the tyrant: monstrous birth!
Princes of Thebes, it came into my thought
To stand before some holy altar-place
With frankincense and garlands. For the king,
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 863 focus
Ach, wär' es Loos meines Lebens,
Rein zu wahren fromme Scheu bei jedem Wort und jedem Werke,
Treu den Urgesezen, 1
Die, in den Höh'n wandelnd, in Aethers
Himmlischem Gebiet stammen aus dem Schooße
850
Des Vaters Olympos, nicht
Aus sterblicher Männer Kraft
Geboren. Niemals wiegt sie in Schlaf stumme Vergessenheit;
Es belebt sie mächtig ein Gott, der nie altert.
Erste Gegenstrophe.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 863 focus
O king ! we pity thy distress: but w^ait
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 863 focus
Fair Fortune deign with me to dwell,
My soul if holy reverence awes,
By thinking, speaking, acting well,
To bow obedient to the Laws.
865
From heav'n they draw their lineage high,
And tread with stately step the sky:
Their father the Olympian king;
No mixture of man's mortal mould;
Nor shall Oblivion's sable wing
870
In shades their active virtues fold.

Commentary

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

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

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

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.