Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 1418

ed. Lewis Campbell

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ἀλλʼ οὐχ οἷόν τε. πῶς γὰρ αὖθις αὖ πάλιν

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)) — 1447-1496 focus
Translations (2)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1431 focus
So steht, o Jüngling, dein Entschluß unwandelbar?
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 1448-1495 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-986-1 The MS.

πῶς γὰρ αὖθις αὖ πάλιν
στράτευμ’ ἄγοιμι ταὐτόν
is defensible if we take πῶς ἄγοιμι as dubitative, "How could I possibly lead?" See Appendix on 170. But there is at least a strong probability that the poet used ἄν here, instead of employing the much rarer construction. So far as our MSS. are concerned, the dropping out of ἄν after ἄγοιμι is not much less likely than the change of ἄν into αὖ . Either would have been easy. I prefer
αὖθις ἂν ... ἄγοιμι
to
αὖθις αὖ... ἄγοιμ’ ἄν
, because ἄν is thus more forcibly placed, and serves also to bring out αὖθις . We have
αὖθις αὖ πάλιν
in Ph. 952 , but usually
αὖθις πάλιν
( 364 : Ph. 127 , 342 , 1232 : Tr. 342 : Ai. 305 : fr. 444. 3 ).

mvp-comment-986-2 To Porson's

αὖθις αὖ...ἄγοιμι ταὔτ’ ἄν
the drawback is the elision. We find
ταὔτ’
for the plur.
ταὐτά
( O. T. 284 , 840 etc.); but tragedy, which preferred
ταὐτόν
to
ταὐτό
(though admitting the latter under metrical necessity, O. T. 734 ), would hardly have elided the
ο
in that word. Ant. 462
αὔτ’
 (for
αὐτό
) is solitary in Soph.: L has
αὖτ’
.

mvp-comment-986-3 ταὐτὸν 1

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

1418. mvp-comment-754-1 For how, if I once falter, can I again lead the same army the same way?᾽ αὖθις, another time, πάλιν, back to Thebes. Some would read ἄν for aὖ. This is unnecessary, see Essay on Language § 27. p. 45, (2), and gives av an awkward position, but makes no difference to the sense. Antigone meant Give up the expedition. But this idea can find no entrance to Polynices' mind. He only thinks of the possibility of a temporary yielding, like that of a general who meets with some unfavourable omen. And against this he argues, I cannot go back now, for if I did, my attempt falls through entirely. I could no longer command the army, which must sooner or later be led by me against Thebes.