Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 797

ed. Lewis Campbell

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ἀλλʼ οἶδα γάρ σε ταῦτα μὴ πείθων, ἴθι·

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)) — 720-1043 focus
Translations (2)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 800 focus
Wie? Wähust du denn, du werdest minder als ich selbst
Verlieren, wenn du meinem Wort dich nicht bequemst?
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 720-1042 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-596-1 If οἶδα is right (as it seems to be), μή can hardly be explained otherwise than by emphasis, i.e. by the strong assurance which the speaker expresses. But what form should the partic. have? (1) With the MS. πείθων , the sense is:

"However, I am assured that I am not persuading you of this,—go!"
In 656
οἶδ’ ἐγώ σε μήτινα
ἐνθένδ’ ἀπάξοντ’ ἄνδρα
appears to be a like case of strong assurance. Cp. O. T. 1455 . In 1121 there is another:
ἐπίσταμαι γὰρ τήνδε... τέρψιν παρ’ ἄλλου μηδενὸς πεφασμένην
. Here, however,
οἷδα μὴ πείθων
is so far stranger, that the emphasis appears less appropriate in stating the speaker's consciousness of what he himself is doing. (2) The v.l. πείθοντ’ , extant in at least one MS. (F), removes this objection.
"However, I am assured that you are not persuading (either the Athenians or me, cp. 803)—go!"
(3) πείσων would be liable to the same remark as
πείθων
. (4) πείσοντ’ would complete the parallelism with 656, but is not required by the
"strong assurance"
view, which applies to past (1121) or present as well as to future.—Another view is that μή gives a quasi-imperative force:
"I know that you shan't persuade."
This might apply to 656. Here it is much more difficult, esp. if we do not adopt
πείσοντ’
: in 1121 it fails.

mvp-comment-596-2 With

ἴσθι … με
for
οἶδα...δε
the imper. would explain μή (cp. on 78
): and we may note that in O. T. 376 the MSS. changed
σε...ἑμοῦ
into
με...σοῦ
. But the context confirms οἶδα .

mvp-comment-596-3 In later Greek

μή
with partic., in regard to fact , was common, as Luc. Dial. Mort. 16
πῶς οὖν ἀκριβὴς ὁ Αἰακὸς ὢν οὐ διέγνω δε μὴ ὄντα ἐκεῖνον
;
"failed to discern that you were not he,"
where
μὴ ὄντα
, though it might be paraphrased by
εἰ μὴ ἦσθα
, virtually=
ὅτι οὐκ ἦσθα
. In Mod. Greek the partic. always takes
μή
, not
δέν
. This latter tendency may conceivably have affected our MSS.: e.g.
τοιάδ’ οὐ πείθων
may have once stood here.

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

797. mvp-comment-438-1 ἀλλ᾽ οἶδα γάρ (as often with ἀλλὰ γάρ) gives the reason for breaking off and saying no more.

797. mvp-comment-438-2 ταῦτα refers not to the whole tenor of the speech but to the γνώμη, ἐν δὲ τῷ λέγειν, κ.τ.λ. But I know that to this warning you will not attendenough then, begone!