Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 457

ed. Lewis Campbell

ἐὰν γὰρ ὑμεῖς, ὦ ξένοι, θέλητέ μου

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)) — 510-548 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 457 focus
THE
What is befallen? Son of Laius, tell!
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 461 focus
Wohl werth des Mitleids, Dedipus, erscheinst du selbst
Und deine Töchter! Aber da du meinem Land
Dich jezt zum Helfer selbst erbeutst mit diesem Wort:
So will ich treulich rathen, was dir frommen kann.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 457 focus
Theseus
Your father, virgins, gave me solemn charge
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 510-546c focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-341-1 ὁμοῦ | προστάτισι 1

mvp-comment-341-2 In the reading

θέλητέ μου
πρὸς ταῖσι ταῖς
, note these points: (1)
ἀλκήν μου ποιεῖσθαι
would not mean, "defend me," but rather "defend against me" (cp. on 1524 ): we must at least have μοι . (2) πρός yields no tolerable sense.
ὑμεῖς, πρὸς ταῖς θεαῖς
, "ye, in addition to the goddesses," ranks the Coloniates with, or above, their deities. The gloss
σύν
, written in L over
πρός
(whence it came into other MSS.), was a palliative. Nor could
πρός
mean here, "close to their shrine."

mvp-comment-341-3 For Dindorf's

ὁμοῦ
προστάτισι
it may be urged:—(1)
ταῖσι ταῖς
is in all MSS., which would be strange if
ταῖσδε ταῖς
were genuine; while
πρὸς ταῖσι ταῖς
is simply explained by
προστά
(
τ
)
ισι ταῖς
. (2) A change of
προστάτισι
into
πρὸς ταῖσι
might have produced the change of
‐θ’ ὁμοῦ
into
‐τέ μου
. (3) After
ἐμοῦ
in 455 it is easy to dispense with the pronoun.—Cp. O. T. 882
θεὸν οὐ λήξω ποτὲ προστάταν ἴσχων
: Tr. 209
Ἀπόλλωνα προστάταν
: Porphyry Antr. Nymph. 12
νύμφαις ὑδάτων προστάτισιν
.

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

457-460. mvp-comment-245-1 ἐὰν γὰρ . . ἀρεῖσθε Cp. 72, ὡς ἄν, προσαρκῶν μικρά, κερδάνῃ μέγα: 647-648, ΘΗ. μέγ᾽ ἂν λέγοις δώρημα τῆς συνουσίας. ΟΙ. εἰ σοί γ᾽ ἅπερ φὴς ἐμμενεῖ τελοῦντί μοι: 815, τίς δ'᾽ ἄν με τῶνδε συμμάχων ἕλοι βίᾳ; 1206, ΟΙ. μόνον, ξέν', εἴπερ κεῖνος ὧδ᾽ ἐλεύσεται, μηδεὶς κρατείτω τῆς ἐμῆς ψυχῆς ποτέ: 1489, 90, ΟΙ. ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ἔπασχον εὖ, τελεσφόρον χάριν δοῦναί σφιν, ἥνπερ τυγχάνων ὑπεσχόμην. The extension of present aid is everywhere put forward as a condition of the permanent blessing. The task of defence which he here entreats them to undertake, is fulfilled by them in resisting Creon.

457. mvp-comment-246-1 μου is genitive of the object, for which see Essay on Language § 9. p. 12.