Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 158

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Oedipus
The prophet prompt to mischief he suborn'd,
705
Whose rude licentious tongue knows no restraint.
705
Think of thyself, respecting this, no more.
705
Hear me, and be assured no mortal man
705
Knows by prophetic art events to come ;
705
Of this I give thee a decisive proof.
705
To Laius once an oracle announced
705
(I will not say that from the god it came,
705
But from his ministers) that time should bring
705
On him this fate, to fall beneath a son
705
That should his birth from him and me derive.
705
Yet foreign ruffians him, as fame reports,
705
Murder'd where three ways meet. A son was born;
Not three days pass'd, the infant's feet he bound,
Piercing the nerves, and by another's hand
Upon a desert mountain cast him forth.
The consummation then, that he should slay
His father, or that Laius by his son
Should fall, a fate so dreadful to his thoughts,
Phœbus achieved not; yet th' oracular voice
Decreed these things: regard them not: the god,
What from his hallow'd shrine he gave command
To trace, to your inquiries will disclose.

Oedipus Tyrannus. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.

Current edition Experimental

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Robert Potter, 1788))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 157 focus
εἰπέ μοι, ὦ χρυσέας τέκνον Ἐλπίδος, ἄμβροτε Φάμα.
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 151-215 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 158 focus
LEADER OF CH
Cease, princes. Opportunely I behold
Jocasta coming toward you from the palace.
Her presence may attune your jarring minds.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 159 focus
Dich erst rus' ich, Athene, des Zeus unsterbliche Tochter;
Auch Schwester, dir, des Landes Hut,
160
Artemis, sizend im Kreise des Markt's auf strahlendem Throne, 1
Und Phöbos, dem Treffenden, fleh' ich:
Drei todwehrende Götter, erscheinet mir! 2
Schafftet ihr einst, als über die Häupter des 3
Volkes der Fluch herab
165
Schwebte, die Glut des Verderbens hinaus, o zeiget auch jezt euch!
Zweite Strophe.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 158 focus
Oedipus
911
Thou art, and I will tell thee ;
Thou art my hope — to whom should I impart
My sorrows, but to thee? Know then, Jocasta,
I am the son of Polybus, who reigns
At Corinth, and the Dorian Merope
His queen ; there long I held the foremost rank,
Honoured and happy, when a strange event
The deep concern I felt) alarmed me much :
A drunken reveller at a feast proclaimed
That I was only the supposed son
Of Corinth's king. Scarce could I bear that day
The vile reproach. The next, I sought my parents
And asked of them the truth ; they too, enraged,
Resented much the base indignity.
I liked their tender warmth, but still I felt
915
A secret anguish, and, unknown to them,
915
Sought out the Pythian oracle. In vain.
915
Touching my parents nothing could I learn ;
But dreadful were the miseries it denounced
Against me. 'Twas my fate, Apollo said,
To wed my mother, to produce a race
Accursed and abhorred ; and last, to slay
My father who begat me. Sad decree !
Lest I should e'er fulfil the dire prediction,
Instant I fled from Corinth, by the stars
Guiding my hapless journey to the place
Where thou report'st this wretched king was slain.
But I will tell thee the whole truth. At length
came to where the three ways meet, when, lo!
I A herald, with another man hke him
! Wliom thou describst, and in a cliariot, met me.
Both strove with violence to drive me back ;
920
Enraged, I struck the charioteer, when straight.
920
As I advanced, the old man saw, and twice
920
Smote me o' th' head, but dearly soon repaid
The insult on me ; from his chariot rolled
Prone on the earth, beneath my staff he fell,
And instantly expired ! Th' attendant train
All shared his fate. If this unhappy stranger
And Laius be the same, lives there a wretch
So cursed, so hateful to the gods as I am ?
Nor citizen nor alien must receive,
Or converse, or communion hold with me,
But drive me forth with infamy and shame.
The dreadful curse pronounced with my own lips
Shall soon o'ertake me. I have stained the bed
Of him whom I had murdered ; am I then
Aught but pollution ? If I fly from hence,
The bed of incest meets me, and I go
925
Tc sby m^ father Polybus, the best,
925
The tenderest parent. This must bo. the work
925
Of some malignant power. Ye righteous gods !
^Let me not seejbhatdaj'-, but rest in death,
Bather than su'ffer such calamity.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 151-215 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-438-1 τό γ’ εἰς ἑαυτὸν 1 πᾶν ἐλευθεροῖ 2

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

705. mvp-comment-409-1 'Neither' (μὲν οὖν) : (he has fastened the charge on me) by bringing in a rascally prophet. 706. (1) As to what affects himself he keeps his utterance wholly free; i. e. He will not commit himself in a word.

705. mvp-comment-409-2 ἐλευθεροῖ, according to this interpretation, not acquits,' excuses, but = keeps out of reach of blame, ἔξω βαρείας αἰτίας ἐλεύθερον, Ant. 445; Aesch. Eum. 175, οὔποτ᾽ ἐλευθεροῦται. πᾶν is adverbial as in Aj. 275, λύπῃ πᾶς ἐλήλαται. Or (2) τό γ᾽ εἰς ἑαυτόν may be the direct accusative and πᾶν στόμα adverbial. He uses all his power of speech to free his own actions from blame. Cp. El. 596-597, ἢ πᾶσαν ἵης γλῶσσαν, ὡς τὴν μητέρα | κακοστομοῦμεν. The former explanation is more in accordance with usage.