Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 1164

ed. Lewis Campbell

σοὶ φασὶν αὐτὸν ἐς λόγους ἐλθεῖν *μόνον

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)) — 1211-1248 focus
Translations (2)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1181 focus
Wohl bin ich jung, doch, Vater, folge meinem Rath.
Olaß den Mann hier, wie er will, dem eignen Sinn
Genüge leisten und dem Gott gefällig sein,
Und uns gewihre freundlich, daß der Bruder kommt.
1175
Getrost: es zieht dich, was er Unwillkommnes sagt,
Nicht wider deinen Willen ab von deinem Sinn.
Und Worte hören, schadet dir's? Gibt doch die That,
In bösem Sinn entworfen, sich im Worte kund.
Er ist dein Sohn, o Vater; darum, wenn er auch
1180
Der schwersten Frevel schwersten selbst an dir verübt,
Geziemt es dir nicht, wieder ihm ein Leid zu thun.
Nein, laß ihn! Böse Kinder hat auch Mancher sonst,
Und braust im Zorn auf; aber durch den Zauberlaut
Der Freundesmahnung wird gebannt der Ungestüm.
1185
Du wende nunmehr deinen Blick auf jenes Leid,
Das Leid von deinen Eltern, das du duldetest;
Und schaust du hierauf, weiß ich, wird's dir offenbar,
Welch schlimmes Ende schlimmer Zorn zu nehmen liebt.
Denn dessen trägst du Zeichen, mächtig mahnende:
1190
Die blinden Augen, deren Licht in Nacht erlosch.
So gib uns nach! Denn langes Flehen ziemt sich nicht,
Wenn wir Gerechtes bitten, noch geziemt es dir,
Wohlthat empfangen und dafür nicht dankbar sein.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1211-1245 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-836-1 Heath's insertion of τ’ after ἀπελθεῖν is necessary, unless we adopt Nauck's ἐλθεῖν θέλοντ’ , i.e.

"they say that, wishing to confer with you, he asks that he may retire safely from his journey hither"
(his journey to Attica from Argos): but this throws too much stress on the return. Vauvilliers seems clearly right in restoring μόνον from the MS. μολόντ’ . The latter would go with ἐλθεῖν :
"they say that he asks that, having approached, he may confer with you"
: but this is weak; and it would be even worse to take μολόντ’ as=
"after his arrival"
(at Colonus). μόνον fits the tone of the context. The suitor prefers his request in as modest a strain as possible.

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

1164-1165. mvp-comment-628-1 (1) His sole request. they say, is to be allowed to have conference with thee, and to be allowed to return, without receiving harm through his coming hither.' ὁδοῦ is a genitive of respect after the privative adverb. Cp. infra 1399, foll. Vauvillers' conjecture, μόνον, founded on Musgrave's μόνον τ', is justified both by the awkward pleonasm in ἐλθεῖν μολόντα, to come and be admitted, and by the synaphea, which cannot be defended by such examples as O. Τ. 332-333, τί ταῦτ᾽ ἄλλως ἐλέγχεις; where the running on is assisted by the pause immediately preceding. This is true even of Ar. Av. 1716-1717, θυμιαμάτων δ᾽ | αὖραι, κ.τ.λ., where the licence is caricatured. Schndw. joins μολύντ᾽ αἰτεῖν, “ He is come and asks, but the participle is then still more inopportune.