1239.
mvp-comment-701-1
καν ἐμοί i. e.
As far as my poor memory serves. καί adds emphasis to ἐν ἐμοί. Cp. supr. 1112 and note: O. C. 53, ὅσ᾽ οἶδα κἀγὼ πάντ᾽ ἐπιστήσει κλύων.
1242.
mvp-comment-702-1
ἵετ᾽.. λέχη So of Deianira in Trach. 912 foll. ἐξαίφνης σφ᾽ ὁρῶ τὸν Ἡράκλειον θάλαμον εἰσορμωμένην, κ.τ.λ.
1242.
mvp-comment-702-2
εὐθύ The o in L. is correctly erased by the διορθωτής, in accordance with the usual distinction between the adverbs of time and place.
1243.
mvp-comment-703-1
ὀμφιδεξίοις ἀκμαῖς
With the fingers of both hands at once. For ἀμφιδεξίοις, see Essay on Language p. 101, and ср. О. С. 112, πλευρὸν ἀμφιδέξιον. The word here marks the equal energy with which both hands were used.
1244.
mvp-comment-704-1
πύλας. ἔσω
And after she had entered within the gates, and had shut them violently. This prepares the way for 1261. (1) The house must be supposed of a simple construction, consisting of a court, or αὐλή, with the θάλαμος at the further end secured by folding doors. ἐπιρράσσω like ἐπαράττω in Plat. Prot. 314 D, τὴν θίραν πάνυ προθύμως . . ἐπήραξεν. πύλας, primarily governed by εἰσῆλθε, is to be resumed with ἐπιρρ., which is proleptic, and ἔσω is added to complete the sense of εἰσῆλθε. Otherwise (2) πύλας ἐπιρράξασα, ὅπως εἰσῆλθ᾽ ἔσω,
having violently closed the gate when she had entered within. For such an alternation between the words of different clauses, see Essay on Language § 41. p. 77. Or (3) joining πύλας ἐπιρράξασα ἔσω,
having slammed the door inwards after entering. (1) is best.
1245.
mvp-comment-705-1
The imperfect κάλει without augment (cf. infr. 1249) is retained from the MSS, and agrees with ἵστο and γοᾶτο better than καλεί. Cp. Τr. 904, βρυχάτο. For καλεῖ, which may be thought more vivid. cp. O. С. 1630.
1246.
mvp-comment-706-1
σπερμάτων i. e. παιδοποιϊῶν. For this use of the verbal noun, see Essay on Language § 54. p..99, and cp Plat Legg. 8. 841 D, Polit. 272 E. And for the meaning, Aesch. S. c. T. 750-751.
1247.
mvp-comment-707-1
(1)
And left the mother of his children for his own son to breed from her an unhappy race. This interpretation gives most force to the expression, although supposing an extreme use of abstract for concrete; for which cp. Αj. 1297, ἐφῆκεν ἐλλοῖς ἰχθύσιν διαφθοράν. Or (2), making a pause at τοῖς οἶσιν αὐτοῦ, δύστεκνον παιδουργίαν may be taken in apposition to the sentence,
And left the mother to his own son, an unhappy way of begetting children. Or (3), making τήν demonstrative and παιδουργίαν cognate accus.,
left her to bring forth for his own son a wretched progeny.
1249.
mvp-comment-708-1
The construction is changed, and τέκοι substituted for another verb, i. e. διπλοῦς ἄνδρας σχοίη, ἄνδρα ἐξ ἀνδρὸς τεκοῦσα καὶ τέκνα ἐκ τέκνου.
1249.
mvp-comment-708-2
γοᾶτο The augment is dropt Epicè, as in O. C. 1624, with a consonant preceding.
1251.
mvp-comment-709-1
And after this she perishes, in what way, indeed, I cannot further tell, for Oedipus broke in with cries, and prevented us from seeing out her fatal act.' ἐκθεάσασθαι is to see out the tragedy. Cp. Tr. 929-931.
1256.
mvp-comment-710-1
ὅπου κίχοι, to be joined with ἐξαιτῶν. It is oratio obliqua of ποῦ κίχω.
1257.
mvp-comment-711-1
Her who was the parent earth that had borne himself and his children.'
1260.
mvp-comment-712-1
ὡς ὑφηγητοῦ τινός ‘As if he had some one leading him. Viz. τοῦ δαίμονος. ὑφηγητοῦ, sc. ὄντος: see Essay on Language § 9. §. a. p. 14.
1261.
mvp-comment-713-1
ἐκ δὲ πυθμένων ἔκλινε κοίλα κλήθρα
And he uprooted and forced down the yielding doors. κλῆθρα are probably the doors with their fastenings.
1261.
mvp-comment-713-2
ἐκ πυθμένων implies that the door was torn from its hinges or the bolts from their staples. κοῖλα,
hollowing in. is a
proleptic epithet suggesting the ease with which the obstruction gave way to Oedipus in his paroxysm. κοίλος is a favourite word with Sophocles, who extends the application of this as of some other epithets beyond the common use. Essay on Language p. 103. Cp. Tr. 901, κοίλα δέμνια: Il. 20.446, ἠέρα τύψε βαθείαν. For ἐκ πυθμένων, cp Aesch. Prom. 1047, χθόνα δ᾽ ἐκ πυθμένων | αὐταῖς ῥίζαις πνεῦμα κραδαίνοι. And for the use of κλίνω, cp. Hdt. 9. 9, μεγάλαι κλισιάδες ἀναπεπτέαται. The alliteration of κ, λ, is suggestive of the successful effort. on
1264.
mvp-comment-714-1
ἐμπεπλεγμένην The Laur. MS. reads πλεκταῖσ᾽ ἐώραις ἐμπεπληγμένην ὁ δὲ | ὅπωσδ', in which the form ἐώραις and the meaning of ἐμπεπληγμένην are doubtful, and the second dé in ὅπως δ' is manifestly wrong. Better with MM² πλεκταῖσιν αἰώραισιν ἐμπεπλεγμένην, and either ὁ δε omitted, or the words ὁ δὲ ὅπως δ᾽ ὁρᾷ νιν corrected into ὁ δ᾽ ὡς ὁρᾷ νιν. The tautology of πλεκταῖσιν αἰώραισιν ἐμπεπλεγμένην is not unlike Sophocles (Essay L. § 44. p. 83) and ἐμπεπληγμένην, which is the reading of LE Ven. 617 pr. Vat. 1363, Vat. be. K., although more expressive of the violence of the act,
where she had been dashed into the noose, seems hardly appropriate as a description not of Jocasta hanging herself, but of the dead body already hanging. But for ἐμπλήσσω in this connection, cp. Od. 22. 468 foll.
1264.
mvp-comment-714-2
ὡς δ᾽ ὅταν ἢ κίχλαι τανυσίπτεροι ἠὲ πέλειαι | ἕρκει ἐνιπλήξωσι: and see Hesych.
1264.
mvp-comment-714-3
ἐμπλῆξαι· ἐμπεσεῖν : and for the tense, Il. 16.660, ἐπεὶ βασιλῆα ἴδον βεβλαμμένον ἦτορ. ὁ δέ, with a pause following as well as preceding, cp. supr. 1252, makes a less suitable rhythm than the
end-stopt line. The gloss in Trin. shows the doubtfulness of ἐώρα: ἑώρα διὰ τοῦ ἐ ψιλοῦ, ὅθεν καὶ μετέωρος.
1265.
mvp-comment-715-1
ὁ δ᾽ *ὡς ὁρᾷ νιν Cp. El. 736: Ant. 1226, ὁ δ᾽ ὡς ὁρᾷ σφε.
1266.
mvp-comment-716-1
ἐπεὶ δὲ γῇ The reading ἐπί, ἐκειτ᾿ ἡ Pal. 6 ἐμπεπληγμένην Ε.
1266.
mvp-comment-716-2
ὅπωσ AV3 Trin.
1267.
mvp-comment-717-1
ἔκειτο ἔκειθ' ὁ LAEF. for which cp. supr. 258 (ἐπικυρῶ for ἐπεὶ κυρῶ), has arisen from not recognizing the dative of place.
1267.
mvp-comment-717-2
δεινὰ δ᾽ ἦν The δέ in apodosi adds emphasis. Then what followed was terrible to see.' Triclinius read γ'.
1268.
mvp-comment-718-1
foll. For when he had plucked away from her person the clasps of gold with which her robes were fastened, he lifted them and smote his eye-balls to the root, saying aloud, "That they should not see the evils of which he was the victim, and the cause, but in darkness henceforth should look upon those whom he ought never to have seen, and fail to know those whom he had desired to know."' Herm.'s conjecture, ὄψαιντο,
because they had not seen him, derives considerable plausibility (notwithstanding the doubtfulness of the form) from ἔπασχεν and ἔδρα. But these imperfects, as well as ἔδει and ἔχρηζεν, are to be explained by the implied reference to the past, when his eyes had seen his father in the triple way and his mother in Thebes, whom it would have been better for him never to have seen, and had failed to recognize them, whom he had so longed to know, when the recognition might have saved all. With sharp pathos he now says that in the future his eyes shall not do as in the past. They shall indeed look on those it were best not to have seen (his children, the citizens, his father and mother in Hades, 1371 foll.), but without having sight, and not know those whom he once desired to know (with a double reference to his desire to see his parents and the natural wish to see the faces of his children). For a similar oxymoron in threatening language, cp. Ant. 310 foll., ἵν᾽ εἰδότες τὸ κέρδος ἔνθεν οἰστέον | τὸ λοιπὸν ἁρπάζητε. And for the feeling in oὓς ἔχρηζε, cp. Εl. 1235, εἴδεθ᾽ οὓς ἐχρήζετε. The imperfects indicative in 1273-1274 are in the same construction as those in 1271, and they are not affected by the proposed emendation.
1270.
mvp-comment-719-1
ἄρας – 1276. ἐπαίρων (1)
Lifting the clasps in his hand (ἐπι = 'repeatedly'). Cp. II. 3. 362, πλῆξεν ἀνασχόμενος κόρυθος φάλον. According to others, (2) Lifting his eyes.'
1270.
mvp-comment-719-2
ἄρθρα.. κύκλων
The sockets of his eye-balls. For the periphrasis, cp. supr. 1032. And for κύκλων, Ant. 974, ὀμμάτων κύκλοις, Phil. 1354.
1275.
mvp-comment-720-1
Uttering such a strain withal' (ἐπι = in accompaniment to the act, cp. Hdt. 1. 1,32, ἐπαείδει θεογονίην),
he often and not once only lifted his hand again and smote his eyes. And the pupils all at once rained blood upon his beard, not letting fall moist drops of gore, but all at once was poured the shower of dark red hail. ὁμοῦ means,
not in successive drops, but many coming together (ἀστακτί). Cp. Aesch. Pers. 401, (ὁ πᾶς στόλος ἐπεξεχώρει,) ὄψοιντο Α. 1270 1275 1280 1271. ὄψοιντο] 1274. ὀψοίαθ',.. ν
1275.
mvp-comment-720-2
ἐφυμνῶν ἐφ᾽ ὑμῶν L. 0
1277.
mvp-comment-721-1
ἀνίεσαν ἀνίεσσαν L.
1277.
mvp-comment-721-2
ὄμμτ Μ. γρ. ὄμματα Γ mg. cp.
1277.
mvp-comment-721-3
καὶ παρὴν ὁμοῦ (all at once) κλύειν | πολλὴν βοήν.
1279.
mvp-comment-722-1
ὄμβρος χαλάζης αἱματοῦς The reading of M and that of I mg. suggesting ὀμμάτων, though plausible at first sight, is probably a corruption; cp. infr. 1400. αἱματοῦς is the least possible change from αἵματος. Cp. Hom. Il. 11.53, ἐέρσας αἵματι μυδαλέας. Pind. Isthm. 7.(6.) 27, ὅστις .. χάλαζαν αἵματος πρὸ φίλας πάτρας ἀμύνεται: Ib. 5. 49, Δτός ὄμβρῳ... χαλαζάεντι φόνῳ. 1280-1281. Cp. Tr. 941, ἐκ δυοῖν ἔσοιθ᾽ ἅμα.. ὠρφανισμένος βίου. The repetition of κακά having led to the omission of 1281 in a single MS. (Barocc.) this line was rejected by Elmsley, followed by Dindorf with the rejection of both lines. Porson and Hermann, with more probability, argue that the end of 1280 is corrupt. Pors. conj. οὐχ ἑνὸς μόνου. With respect to the omission of the lines it may be remarked that we must suppose not only an interpolation, but if the suspected verses are cut out, there will also be a lacuna. For 1279 does not connect with 1282. The fact is that such repetitions are not uncommon. Cp. Ο. C. 70, 71, μόλοι, 782-783, κακὰ, κακών, 1487-1488, φρένα, φρενί. For the datives in 1281, cp. Ant, 865, ἐμῷ πατρὶ δυσμόρῳ.
1282.
mvp-comment-723-1
ἦν πάροιθε μέν
Was once happiness in the true sense; but now all happiness is obliterated.' Cp. O. C. 1549, πρόσθε πού ποτ᾽ ἦσθ᾽ ἐμόν.
1283.
mvp-comment-724-1
δικαίως
In the true sense. Cp. Αj. 547, εἴπερ δικαίως ἔστ᾽ ἐμός.
1284.
mvp-comment-725-1
κακῶν ὅσ᾽.. ὀνόματα A slight inversion for κακὰ ὅσων ἐστὶν ὀνόματα, arising from the frequent confusion be tween name and thing. See Essay on Language § 42. p. 80 β. The genitive κακῶν assists the transition to the negative expression, οὐδέν ἐστ᾽ ἀπόν.
