Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus 873

Robert Potter (Translator)

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Turn
← Previous Next →
In them the god is great, nor fears
The withering waste of years.
The tyrant Pride engenders. Pride
875
With wealth o'er-fill'd, with greatness vain,
875
Mounting with Outrage at her side,
The splendid summit if she gain,
Falls headlong from the dangerous brow,
Down dash'd to ruin's gulf below.
Not so our monarch: for of old,
880
His contest glorious to the state,

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)) — 873 focus
ὕβρις φυτεύει τύραννον·
ὕβρις, εἰ πολλῶν ὑπερπλησθῇ μάταν,
ἃ μὴ ἐπίκαιρα μηδὲ συμφέροντα,
875
ἀκρότατον εἰσαναβᾶσ᾽
ἀπότομον *ἐξώρουσεν εἰς ἀνάγκαν,
ἔνθ᾽ οὐ ποδὶ χρησίμῳ
χρῆται. τὸ καλῶς δ᾽ ἔχον
πόλει πάλαισμα μήποτε λῦσαι θεὸν αἰτοῦμαι.
880
θεὸν οὐ λήξω ποτὲ προστάταν ἴσχων.
β
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 863-910 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 873 focus
Insolent Pride, if idly nursed
On timeless surfeit, plenty accursed,
Spurning the lowlier tract of Earth
Mounts to her pinnacle,—then falls,
875
Dashed headlong down sheer mountain walls
To dark Necessity’s deep ground,
Where never foothold can be found.
Let wrestlers for my country’s glory speed,
God, I thee pray! Be God my helper in all need!
But if one be, whose bold disdain
880
Walks in a round of vapourings vain
Transported by the tempest of his fear,
Runs wild in0grief, nor like a man of sense
Reasons of present things from what hath been.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 873 focus
Der Frevelmuth zeugt Gewaltherrn.
855
Wenn der Frevelmuth sich thöricht übernahm und Thaten übte,
Heillos, ohne Frommen;
Dann zu der Höh'n äußerstem Gipfel
Hebt er sich empor, stürzt hinab in Elend,
Wo nimmer beglückt sein Fuß
860
Hinwallt. Was zum Heil der Stadt
Begonnen ward, das wende der Gott mächtig zum Sieg, fleh' ich!
Von dem Schuzgott will ich mich nimmerdar scheiden.
Zweite Strophe.
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 (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 863-910 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-538-1 ὕβρις 1

mvp-comment-538-2 τύραννον 2

mvp-comment-539-1 εἰ … ὑπερπλησθῇ: Plat. Rep. 573c

τυραννικὸς δὲ … ἀνὴρ ἀκριβῶς γίγνεται, ὅταν ἢ φύσει ἢ ἐπιτηδεύμασιν ἢ ἀμφοτέροις μεθυστικός τε καὶ ἐρωτικὸς καὶ μελαγχολικὸς γένηται.
For εἰ with subj., see on 198.

mvp-comment-539-2 ἃ μή 3

mvp-comment-540-1 The reading of all the MSS., ἀκροτάταν εἰσαναβᾶσ’ 4 ἀκρότατα γεῖσ’ ἀναβᾶσ’ 5 γ 6 ν 7

mvp-comment-540-2 γεῖσα 8

mvp-comment-541-1 With the MS. ἀπότομον ὤρουσεν εἰς ἀνάγκαν 9 ἀποτμοτάταν 10

mvp-comment-541-2 ὤρουσεν 11

mvp-comment-541-3 ἀνάγκαν 12

mvp-comment-542-1 χρησίμῳ … χρῆται 13

mvp-comment-543-1 τὸ καλῶς δ’ ἔχον 14

mvp-comment-544-1 πάλαισμα 15

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

873. mvp-comment-515-1 Lawlessness begets the tyrant. Cp. the τυραννικοῦ ἀνδρὸς γένεσις in Plat. Rep. 9. 571, ff.; Legg. 4, 716 AΒ. ὕβρις is the spirit of lawlessness of which Heraclitus said, ὕβριν χρὴ σβεννύειν μᾶλλον ἢ πυρκαϊήν: and the direct opposite of νόμος. Cp. Pind. O1. 13. 10, ὕβριν κόρου ματέρα. Sunt qui interpretentur; Propter malos civium mores amittitur libertas. Alii: Per scelera ad tyrannidem occupandam viam sibi faciunt homines. Elms. Both meanings are probably included in the more general notion that tyranny is the consummation of lawless violence in a state. Cp.

873. mvp-comment-515-2 ἀδικίαν εὐδαίμονα, Eur. Phoen. 552.

874. mvp-comment-516-1 εἰ πολλῶν ὑπερπλησθῇ For εἰ with the subjunctive in generalised contingent suppositions, see Essay on Language § 27. P. 44.

874. mvp-comment-516-2 μάταν Το no good end.' Cp. О. С. 1565-1566, πολλῶν γὰρ καὶ μάταν πημάτων ἱκνουμένων. This notion is expanded in the following words, ἃ surfeited with many things, which are neither seasonable nor expedient.'

876-877. mvp-comment-517-1 If there is no flaw in these verses, they may be rendered: Having mounted the topmost height she rushes on a rugged doom, wherein she finds no safe footing. The word ἀπότομος is applied metaphorically to the Spirit of Necessity in the sense of stern, inexorable, in Eur. Alc. 982, οὐδέ τις ἀποτόμου λήματός ἐστιν αἰδώς. Here Pride is imagined falling from her pinnacle on rugged broken ground, where she is left helpless to 'stumble on dark mountains. Cp. Ant. 853-855, προβᾶσ᾽ ἐπ᾿ ἔσχατον θράσους, ὑψηλὸν ἐς Δίκας βάθρον προσέπεσες, ὦ τέκνον, πολύ, and Aesch. Eum. 387, where the ways of the Erinyes are described as δυσοδοπαίπαλα | δερκομένοισι καὶ δυσομμάτοις ὁμῶς. In order to restore the correspondence of 877 with the strophe (867), we must suppose the loss of one long or two short syllables. The rhythm is iambic. Cp. στρ. α΄, 1. 3, στρ. β', 11. 6 and 8. The simplest hypothesis, as nothing is wanting to complete the sense, is that ὥρουσεν was compounded with et or els.

879-880. mvp-comment-518-1 It is needless to suppose any particular reference or allusion in these words; which simply denote the striving of patriotic zeal as distinguished from the struggles of lawless ambition. 'May God never end the contention that is for the city's good.' Cp. Pind. Nem. 5. 46-47, χαίρω δ᾽ ὅτι ἐσλοῖσι μάρναται πέρι πᾶσα πόλις: Hes. Op. et D. 24, ἀγαθὴ δ᾽ ἔρις ἥδε βροτοῖσιν: Aesch. Eum. 975, νικᾷ δ᾽ ἀγαθῶν ἔρις ἡμετέρα.

880. mvp-comment-519-1 θεόν Here generalized more completely than elsewhere in Sophocles. Cp. however infr. 734, Phil. 843, τάδε μὲν θεὸς ὄψεται.