Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 1118

ed. Lewis Campbell

καὶ σοί τε τοὔργον *τοῦτʼ *ἐμοί τʼ ἔσται βραχύ.

Oedipus at Colonus. Sophocles. ed. Lewis Campbell. Oxford. 1879.

Current edition Experimental

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)) — 1098-1210 focus
Translations (2)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1098 focus
Wo sind sie? Wo? Wie sagst du?
1090
Theseus mit Gefolge. Antigone. Ismene. Dedipus. (auf den Vater zueilend)
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1096-1210 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-807-1 Hermann's change of the MS. τοὐμὸν into τοῦτ’ ἐμοί τ’ has been accepted by many edd. But the sense is most unsatisfactory. If τοὔργον means the deed of rescue, as is most natural, the meaning will be:

"this deed will be a short story both for thee and for me"
: i.e.
" I shall not have to relate it, and you will be so much interested in listening to Theseus that you will not find it tedious."
But is this tolerable,—to say nothing of the somewhat ungracious suggestion that the account of their deliverer's exploit would otherwise be fatiguing? The alternative version would be worse still:
"this task (viz. that of reciting, or of hearing) will be short both for thee and me."
I cannot but think, then, that this popular correction, though palaeographically easy, is untenable.

mvp-comment-807-2 I have little doubt that Wex is right, or nearly so, in his οὗ κἄστι τοὔργον . The

λόγος
should be his to whom belongs the
ἔργον
. This supposes an accidental loss of οὗ , after which κἄστι grew into καὶ σοί τε . The words
τοὐμὸν ὦδ’ ἔσται βραχὺ
then mean, "my part will thus be brief" (as you desire it to be, 1115 ) — consisting simply in referring Oed. to Theseus.

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

1118. mvp-comment-600-1 Cp. Phil. 1304, ἀλλ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἐμοὶ τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶν οὔτε σοὶ καλόν. She means that while she will be spared the recital, the tale as told by Theseus will not be tedious to her father. Cp. infr. ll. 1143-1144.