1-116.
mvp-comment-1-1
The scene of the πρόλογος, ll. 1-116, is probably on the north side of Colonus, with Athens in the distance. See Introduction, p. 282. The spot so familiar to the audience (οὐ λόγοις τιμώμεν' ἀλλὰ τῇ συνουσίᾳ, infr. 63-64) would probably be recalled by the representation on the stage of some striking objects, especially those which marked the
religio loci. Oedipus enters (right?), led by Antigone, and sits down in the middle of the proscenium, where he remains until Antigone descries the approach of the chorus.
1.
mvp-comment-2-1
Ἀντιγόνη ... Οἰδίπουν A word or two in the dialogue serves to introduce the persons, as in O. T. 8, ὁ πᾶσι κλεινὸς Οἰδίπους, with which τὸν πλανήτην Οἰδίπουν is intentionally contrasted.
1.
mvp-comment-2-2
τίνας .. πόλιν Cp. Hom. Od. 6. 119, alib., τεῶν αὖτε βροτῶν εἰς γαῖαν ἱκάνω;
3.
mvp-comment-3-1
τὸν πλανήτην Oedipus, like Orestes, before coming to Athens, has wandered far since the pollution was first found upon him. Cp. Aesch. Eum. 337.8, οὐ προστρόπαιον οὐδ᾽ ἀφοίβαντον χέρα, | ἀλλ᾿ ἀμβλὺν ἤδη προστετριμμένον τε πρὸς | ἄλλοισιν οἶκοις καὶ πορεύμασιν βροτῶν.
3.
mvp-comment-3-2
καθ᾿ ἡμέραν τὴν νῦν His place of sojourn changed from day to day.
4.
mvp-comment-4-1
σπανιστοῖς . . δωρήμασιν
With scanted alms. Cp. Shak. Lear, 3. 2, 67,
their scanted courtesy. The verbal σπανιστός,
made small, is explained by the words which follow, σμικρὸν .. φέροντα. For the situation, cp. Od. 15. 312, πλάγξομαι, αἴ κέν τις κοτύλην καὶ πύρνον ὀρέξῃ.
5.
mvp-comment-5-1
σμικρὸν.. σμικροῦ It is difficult to suppose that two forms of the same word can have occurred in the same line, although μικροῦ, the reading of L, is supported by the alliteration of μεῖον, which is opposed to it.
6.
mvp-comment-6-1
φέροντα Cp. Ο. Τ. 590, ἐκ σοῦ πάντ᾽ ἄνευ φόβου φέρω. For καὶ = καίτοι, see Essay on Language § 25. p. 42.
7-8.
mvp-comment-7-1
.
For my sufferings, and the long time which I have lived, and also a noble nature, teach me resignation.
7-8.
mvp-comment-7-2
χὠ χρόνος ξυνὼν μακρός.
And the length of the time that is with me. Time is partly personified; Essay on Language p. 19. Cp. οἱ συγγενεῖς μῆνες, Ο. Τ. 1082, Shak. Tro. and Cress. 4, 5,
That hast so long walked hand in hand with time. The position of μακρός is emphatic. Essay on Language § 41. p. 76. τρίτον is added by a familiar pleonasm. Ib. pp. 69, 75.
9.
mvp-comment-8-1
θάκησιν Ricc. 34 has θάκοισιν, anticipating Seidler's conjecture. The reading θάκοισιν admits of a possible explanation.
At some sitting place, if you see any seat-either by a place where all may sit, or by a sacred grove, let me stop and sit down. θάκοισιν, dat. of place, supplemented by πρὸς βεβήλοις (θάκοισιν), and in construction with στῆσον. But the reading in the text is simpler and smoother, and the corruption may have arisen from a very simple itacism. Cp. Phil. 17, 18, ἡλίου διπλῆ | πάρεστιν ἐνθάκησις, where, as here, θάκησις is
opportunity of sitting. And this is exactly the meaning which the context requires. Essay on Language p. 94, δ.
10.
mvp-comment-9-1
πρὸς βεβήλοις For the neut. adj., cp. 167, ἀβάτων ἀποβάς. The line prepares the way for what is to follow. Oedipus is led by a divine presentiment towards the sacred grove of the Eumenides; cp. infr. 97, οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ ὅπως οὐ πιστὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν πτερὸν | ἐξήγαγ᾽ ἐς τόδ' ἄλσος. See also the second ὑπόθεσις to this play, οὗ μὴ ἐστιν ἑτέρῳ βεβήλῳ τόπος, αὐτόθι κάθηται. The suppliant in clinging to the altar, etc., inevitably trespassed on things sacred. Cp. Eur. Suppl. 63, ὁσίως οὐχ, ὑπ' ἀνάγκας δὲ προσπίπτουσα . . θεῶν θυμέλας.
11.
mvp-comment-10-1
ὡς πυθοίμεθα
And then, haply, we may learn. Cp. Aesch. Suppl. 675, καὶ γεραροῖσι πρεσβυτοδόκοι | γεμόντων θυμέλαι φλεγόντων θ', | ὡς πόλις εὖ νέμοιτο. Where the optative expresses a remote intention. Here the uncertainty of the mood accords with the feeling of the blind and weary Oedipus.
12.
mvp-comment-11-1
μανθάνειν γὰρ ἥκομεν ἥκειν, like other verbs of motion, is used with a mixed literal and figurative meaning:
We are come where we must learn, i. e. partly
we are here to learn, partly
we are reduced to the point of learning. Cp. O. Τ. 1433, ἄριστος ἐλθών: El. 1201, μόνος γὰρ ἥκω τοῖς ἴσοις ἀλγῶν κακοῖς. Ε. on. L. § 52. p. 97.
13.
mvp-comment-12-1
The omission of δé in L is indefensible. χἂν has some MS. authority, and may be right, notwithstanding the objection which is made to the double crasis (for καὶ ἃ ἄν). But Elmsley's correction is more probable.
