Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 1059

ed. Lewis Campbell

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Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Greek) (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1044-1097 focus
Translations (2)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1059 focus
Wenn etwa gen Westen nicht
Zum schneeigen Felsen sie
1055
Aus Dea's Gelände floh'n, 1
Auf Rossen eilend oder leicht
Hinrollenden Wagen.
Man wird sie fah'n! Stark ist der Landbewohner Muth, 2
Und stark der Theseussöhne Kraft.
1060
Denn es blizt ein jeder Zügel, alle Männer, hoch zu Roß
Mit prangendem Stirnschmuck,
Stürmen heran, die, Pallas, dich,
Die reisige Göttin, und
Den Meerherrscher feiern, Nhea's Sohn,
1065
Welcher das Land schirmt.
Zweite Strophe.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1044-1095 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-773-1 Hartung's εἰς νομόν for the MS. ἐκ νομοῦ is certain. With the latter, we could only render:

"they will approach (the region) to the west of the snowy rock, out of (leaving) the pastures of the Oeatid territory."
The rare acc. with
πελάζω
could be supported by Eur. Andr. 1167
δῶμα πελάζει
: but the ellipse of
χῶρον
with
τὸν ἐφέσπερον
is surely impossible.

mvp-comment-773-2 νομοῦ 1

mvp-comment-773-3 πελῶς’ 2

mvp-comment-773-4 The place meant is not certain. See note and map in Appendix. But the scholium here deserves at least thus much weight: it is our one ancient warrant for a definite view. Like the other old scholia in L, it probably dates (in substance) from the later Alexandrian age, which possessed many Attic writings, now lost, on the topography of Attica. The scholiast takes the νιφὰς πέτρα to be a rock or crag of Mount Aegaleos;— the same which was called

λεία πέτρα
,
"the smooth rock,"
by Istros, a writer on Attica, c. 240 B.C., whom he quotes. The schol. then explains Οἰάτιδος by the fact that Aegaleos
ἐπ’ ἐσχάτων ἐστὶ τοῦ δήμου τούτου
,
"skirts that deme,"
—namely, of
Οἴη
. It cannot reasonably be doubted that this statement about
Οἴη
, if it did not rest on the scholiast's own knowledge, was derived from Istros, or from some other old writer on Attic topography.

mvp-comment-773-5 The meaning will then be:—

"Or perhaps the captors did not take the road through the pass of Daphnè, which goes by the sea-coast to Eleusis. Perhaps they went round the N. end of Aegaleos, and will soon be emerging on the Thriasian plain, to the west of Aegaleos, near the deme of Oea."
This is also Leake's view ( Demi of Attica p. 154). The route supposed would be in the general line of that taken by Archidamus and the Peloponnesians in 431 B.C., when they moved from Oenoe E.S.E. to Acharnae,
ἐν δεξιᾷ ἔχοντες τὸ Αἰγάλεων ὄρος
,— i.e. keeping it to the S.,—
διὰ Κρωπιᾶς
, a deme in the valley between the N. end of Aegaleos and the S.W. end of Parnes. Hartung, referring to the
λεία πέτρα
of Istros, conjectures λι^τάδος , as=
"smooth,"
for νιφάδος : but though late poets could use
λι^τός
for
λι—τός
, the
ι^
is most improbable for Soph.

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

1026-1077. mvp-comment-551-1 In catching, you are caught; and fortune has taken you as you were pursuing after your prey.' The substitution of δίκη for τύχη is unnecessary and wrong. Fortune is continually regarded as the instrument of the Divine will. Cp. Phil. 1317, τὰς μὲν ἐκ θεῶν | τύχας δοθείσας: Shak. Hamlet, Act 3, Sc. 4. 'Take thy fortune; Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.'

1059. mvp-comment-570-1 Or perhaps the scene of the contest is more distant. Or haply, leaving the pastures of Oea' (a deme of the Oenean tribe) they draw near the region that lies westward of the snowy rock.' τόν] Sc. χῶρον,