Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 27

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Oedipus
132cont2
But I will bring them into light again
From their first cause. Of Phœbus for the dead
This zeal is worthy, worthy too of thee;
And me confederate in the same just cause
You shall behold; this country and the god
I will avenge. Not for some distant friend,

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)) — 27 focus
ἀγόνοις γυναικῶν· ἐν δ᾽ ὁ πυρφόρος θεὸς
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1-150 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 27 focus
OED
What robber would have ventured such a deed,
If unsolicited with bribes from hence?
125
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 14 focus
Nun denn, Beherrscher meines Landes, Dedipus,
Von jedem Alter siehst du hier gelagert uns
15
An deinen Herden: Kinder, die zu weitem Flug 1
Noch nicht erstarkt sind, Priester, die das Alter beugt, -
Zeus' Diener, mich, - hier auserles'ne Jünglinge;
Wie wir, geschmückt mit Zweigen, sizt das andre Volk
Kings auf den Märkten, um die beiden Tempel dort 2
20
Der Pallas und Ismenos' Seherherd zunächst.
Die Stadt, du siehst es selber ja, schwankt ungestüm
Im Wogenaufruhr und vermag nicht mehr das Haupt
Emporzuheben aus dem Meer der Todesflut,
Hinsterbend hier im fruchtbeschwerten Keim der Flur,
25
Hinsterbend dort in Rinderheerden und der Frau'n
Noch ungebor'nen Kindern; hergestürmt mit Glut,
Verwüstet grimmvoll unsre Stadt der Seuche Gott,
Daß Kadmos Haus verödet und das dunkle Land 3
Der Schatten reicher an Gestöhn und Klagen wird.
30
Drum lagr' ich samt den Kindern hier um deinen Herd;
Zwar nicht den Göttern achten wir dich gleich, o Herr,
Doch als der Menschen Ersten bei den Schickungen
Der Götter und auf wechselvoller Lebensbahn;
Denn du, gelangt zu Kadmos' Burg, erlöstest uns
35
Vom Zinse, den wir dargebracht der grausen Sphinx, 4
Und ohne daß dir weitre Kunde ward von uns,
Noch Unterweisung; nein, mit Götterhülse nur,
So sagt und glaubt man, schirmtest du das Leben uns.
Auch jezt, du hochgewaltig Haupt des Dedipus,
40
Fleh'n dir wir alle, lagernd hier zu deinen Knie'n,
Uns Hülfe wo zu finden, ob ein Gottesspruch,
Ob eines Menschen Wissen sie dir offenbart.
Denn wohl erkenn' ich, daß des Vielerfahrenen
Kathschlüsse stets ein segenvolles Ende krönt.
45
Auf, bester aller Menschen, richt' empor die Stadt!
Auf, walte sorgsam! Heute nennt dich Retter noch
Dies Land für Liebe, die du treu vordem bewährt;
Doch deiner Herrschaft dächten wir nie mehr hinfort,
Wenn sie zuerst uns steigen, dann versinken ließ.
50
Auf sichrem Grunde richte denn die Stadt empor!
Dich führten gute Götter, als du früher uns
Das Glück erschusest: zeige nun auch also dich!
Denn willst du Herr sein, wie du's bist, in diesem Reich,
Ist's über Menschen schöner, als im öden Land.
55
Denn wahrlich Nichts ist weder Schiff noch feste Burg,
Beraubt der Männer, die zuvor darin gewohnt.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 27 focus
Oedipus
276
Your prayers are heard : and if you will obey
280
Your king, and hearken to his words, you soon
280
Shall find relief ; myself will heal your woes.
280
I was a stranger to the dreadful deed,
280
A stranger e'en to the report till now ;
280
And yet without some traces of the crime
280
I should not urge this matter ; therefore hear me.
280
I speak to all the citizens of Thebes,
280
Myself a citizen — observe me Avell :
280
If any know the murderer of Laius,
280
Let him reveal it ; I command you all.
280
But if restrained by dread of punishment
280
He hide the secret, let him fear no more ;
280
For nought but exile shall attend the crime
280
Whene'er confessed ; if by a foreign hand
280
The horrid deed was done, who points him out
280
Commands our thanks, and meets a sure reward ;
280
But if there be who knows the murderer,
280
And yet conceals him from us, mark his fate.
Which here I do pronounce : Let none receive
Throughout my kingdom, none hold converse with him,
Nor offer prayer, nor sprinkle o'er his head
The sacred cup ; let him be driven from all,
By all abandoned, and by all accursed,
For so the Delphic oracle declared ;
And therefore to the gods I pay this duty
And to the dead. Oh ! may the guilty wretch,
Whether alone, or by his impious friends
Assisted, he performed the horrid deed,
Denied the common benefits of nature,
Wear out a painful life ! And oh ! if here,
Within my palace, I conceal the traitoi-,
On me and mine alight the vengeful curse !
To you, my people, I commit the care
Of this important business ; 'tis my cause.
The cause of Heaven, and your expii'ing country.
E'en if the god had nought declared, to leave
This crime unexpiated were most ungrateful.
He was the best of kings, the best of men ;
That sceptre now is mine which Laius boie ;
His wife is mine ; so would his children be
Did any live ; and therefore am I bound.
E'en as he were my father, to revenge him.
Yes, I will try to find this murderer,
I owe it to the son of Labdacus,
To Polydorus, Cadmus, and the race
If great Agenor. Oh ! if yet there are,
Who will not join me in the pious deed.
From such may earth withhold her annual store,
And barren be their bed, their life most wretched,.
And their death cruel as the pestilence
That wastes our city ! But on you, my Thebans,
Who wish us fair success, may justice smile
Propitious, and the gods for ever bless !
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1-150 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-98-1 ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς 1 αὖθις 2 αὔτ’ 3

mvp-comment-99-1 ἐπαξίως 4 ἀξίως 5

mvp-comment-100-1 πρὸ 6

mvp-comment-100-2 ἐπιστροφήν 7

mvp-comment-101-1 ὑπὲρ γὰρ οὐχὶ 8

mvp-comment-102-1 αὑτοῦ 9 ἀποσκεδῶ 10

mvp-comment-103-1 ἐκεῖνον ὁ κτανών 11

mvp-comment-104-1 τοιαύτη 12 ἂν 13

mvp-comment-105-1 παῖδες 14

mvp-comment-105-2 βάθρων ἵστασθε 15

mvp-comment-106-1 ἄραντες 16

mvp-comment-107-1 πᾶν … δράσοντος 17 εὐτυχεῖς … πεπτωκότες 18

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

132. mvp-comment-91-1 ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς Beginning the inquiry anew.

132. mvp-comment-91-2 αὔτ᾽ Probably αὐτό, not αὐτά. This one hidden thing, the secret of the murder.

134. mvp-comment-92-1 'Have shown this care towards the dead.' For the periphrasis, cp. Ant. 151, θέσθε λησμοσύναν. πρός has greater MS. authority than πρό, and agrees better with the image suggested by ἐπιστροφήν (lit. 'turning towards'). Cp. infr. 1434, πρὸς σοῦ γάρ, οὐδ᾽ ἐμοῦ, φράσω.

134. mvp-comment-92-2 ἐπιστροφή is sudden attention to a thing hitherto neglected. Cp. Phil. 598-599, τίνος δ' Ἀτρείδαι τοῦδ᾽ ἄγαν οὕτω χρόνῳ τοσῷδ᾽ ἐπεστρέφοντο πράγματος χάριν ;

135. mvp-comment-93-1 ἐνδίκως As is meet. The frank heart of Oedipus fully acknowledges the claim.

136. mvp-comment-94-1 τῷ θεῷ θ᾽ ἅμα For the religious feeling here expressed, cp. O. С. 1182, 3, τῇ θ᾽ αὑτοῦ φρενὶ | χάριν παρασχεῖν, τῷ θεῷ θ᾽ ἃ βούλεται.

137. mvp-comment-95-1 τῶν ἀπωτέρω φίλων ΑA far-off friend or connection,' as a wife's former husband may not unnaturally be called. Oedipus is still unconsciously drawing the attention of the spectators to his own part in the business. The person to be avenged is his father, and he is himself the author of the pollution, in which he has so deep an interest (αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ μύσος is suggested, though not said), and of the crime which he may one day wreak upon himself. For αὑτοῦ in 1st pers. see Essay on Language p. 37.

140. mvp-comment-96-1 καμ᾿ ἂν.. τιμωρεῖν θέλοι Might choose to wreak his violence in like manner on me. The tendency to use the same word though in a different connection (cp. 1. 136, and see Essay on Language § 44, p. 84) may have partly led to the use of τιμωρεῖν here. But the word is not inappropriate the murderer may be supposed to have a grudge against the crown-and by using it Oedipus suggests the end, when he, the murderer, shall inflict vengeance on himself, the king, with the same hand that had slain Laius. The conjecture πημαίνειν is therefore not in point. The words also prepare the way for what follows, by betraying the first rise of the feeling of suspicion in Oedipus which presently fixes itself on Creon. Cp. the sensitiveness of Creon himself on a like occasion in the Antigone, 1. 289, ταῦτα καὶ πάλαι, κ.τ.λ.

141. mvp-comment-97-1 κείνῳ προσαρκῶν οὖν ἐμαυτὸν ὠφελῶ Schol. καὶ τοῦτο κινητικὸν τοῦ θεάτρου· τὰ γὰρ ἐναντία ἀποβήσεται.

143. mvp-comment-98-1 ἄραντες They had laid them on the altar. Aesch. Suppl. 242, Eur. Heracl. 125.

145. mvp-comment-99-1 ἢ γάρ Recalling the Homeric γνωσόμεθ' ἠε τῳ εὖχος ὀρέξομεν ἠε τις ἡμῖν. I will use all effort, for it is a crisis in the state of Thebes. Cp. Tr. 82-85, ἐν οὖν ῥοπῇ τοιᾷδε κειμένῳ, τέκνον, | οὐκ εἶ ξυνέρξων, ἡνίκ᾿ ἡ σεσώσμεθα, | κείνου βίον σώσαντος, ἢ οἰχόμεσθ' ἅμα. Τo the spectators the word πεπτωκότες, with which Oedipus departs, is ominous of the catastrophe. Oedipus now goes into the palace, and after l. 150 the suppliants file off to the right.

146. mvp-comment-100-1 σὺν τῷ θεῷ i.e. Apollo.