Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 364

Lewis Campbell (Translator)

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CR
939
Great Aegeus’ son!
Not as misprising this thy city’s strength
In arms, or wisdom in debate, I dared
940
This capture, but in simple confidence
Thy citizens would not so envy me
My blood relations, as to harbour them
Against my will,—nor welcome to their hearths
A man incestuous and a parricide,
945
The proved defiler of his mother’s bed
Such was the mount of Ares that I knew,
Seat of high wisdom, planted in their soil,
That suffers no such lawless runaways
To haunt within the borders of your realm.
Relying on that I laid my hands upon
950
This quarry, nor had done so, were it not
That bitterly he cursed myself and mine.
That moved me to requital, since even Age
Still bears resentment, till the power of death
Frees men from anger, as from all annoy.
955
Being sovereign here thou wilt do thy pleasure. I,
Though I have justice on my side, am weak
Through being alone. Yet if you meddle with me,
Old as I am, you’ll find me dangerous.

Oedipus at Colonus. Sophocles. Lewis Campbell (Translator). London, New York and Toronto. 1906.

Current edition Experimental

English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 364 focus
πονοῦσά τʼ ἀλγεῖν καὶ λέγουσʼ αὖθις πάλιν.
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 254-509 focus
Translations (4)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 385 focus
Du hattest Hoffnung also, daß die Götter mein
380
Gedenken werden, daß mir Rettung einst erscheint?
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 364 focus
Messenger
They cannot be far off;
The voice of grief I hear proclaims them nigh.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 364 focus
Antigone
1181
Refuse us not, but let my brother come.
His words, though ill accorded to thy state,
Thee from thy stedfast purpose will not draw
By force: what ill from hearing words can rise?
The honourable purpose of the heart
1185
Is signified by words. Nay, weigh this well,
Thou art his father: though his deeds to thee
Be of the vilest, the most impious, rightI
Wills not that thou repay him like ill deeds;
His own will bring their vengeance. Impious sons.
1190
Have injured other parents, and have raised
Anger as fierce; but by th' advice of friends.
This harshness hath been charm'd e'en to assume
A milder nature. On th' afflicting ills
Thy soul has suffer'd for thy parents' sake
1195
Reflect not now; dismiss them from thy thoughts,
Adverting only to the dire effects
Of raging anger; those thou soon may'st know;
For violent the proofs of this thou bearest,
Thy orbs of sight extinguish'd. Yield thee then;
1200
Ill it becomes thee that a just request
Repeatedly be urged, or that a grace
Received with grace thou know'st not to repay.
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 254-507 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-700-1 ἐγὼ οὔτ’ 1

mvp-comment-700-2 L's λέγω , of which

λέγων
was a correction, came in by mistake from 936. Schneidewin's νέμων has been generally received, and is clearly right: cp. on 879
. While ἄνανδρον answers to
κένανδρον ἢ δούλην
in 917, ἄβουλον (940), which implies the lack of a guiding mind, answers to
κἄμ’ ἴσον τῷ μηδενί
in 918.—Creon's speech is as clever as it is impudent. He has only anticipated what the Athenians themselves would have wished. Indeed, he has acted in reliance on the Areiopagus (950). If his method has been rough, he was provoked by the violence of Oedipus.

mvp-comment-701-1 αὐτοὺς 2

mvp-comment-701-2 ἐμπέσοι 3

mvp-comment-702-1 ξυναίμων 4

mvp-comment-703-1 κἄναγνον 5 ἄναγνον 6

mvp-comment-703-2 δεξοίατ’ 7

mvp-comment-704-1 ηὑρέθησαν 8

mvp-comment-704-2 τέκνων 9

mvp-comment-704-3 ξυνόντες 10

mvp-comment-704-4 Wecklein takes

τέκνων
as "relative" gen. with
ἀνόσιοι
, in the sense of
παιδουργίας, σπορᾶς
: "a marriage unholy in respect of its offspring." This seems forced. Musgrave's
τοκέων
would be more specious if the gen. of a noun in
‐εύς
anywhere else suffered synizesis in this place of the verse. (In 1361
φονέως
is in the 4th place.) Soph. has
γονέων
El. 146 , 241 , and
τοκέων
ib. 187 , Eur. the latter H. F. 915 , Or. 815 , and in these 5 places (all lyric) the words are scanned as trisyllables: a fact which, so far as it goes, is against
τοκέων
here. Neither
τέκνοις
nor
τέκνῳ
is a probable remedy; nor is
φίλων
. In my belief
τέκνων
is sound.

mvp-comment-705-1 τοιοῦτον 11

mvp-comment-705-2 εὔβουλον 12

mvp-comment-706-1 χθόνιον 13

mvp-comment-707-1 θυμοῦ 14

mvp-comment-707-2 θανόντων 15

mvp-comment-708-1 κεἰ 16

mvp-comment-708-2 σμικρὸν 17

mvp-comment-708-3 πρὸς … τὰς πράξεις 18

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

939. mvp-comment-509-1 ἄνανδρον Without manhood, referring to κένανδρον, supr. 927. Some have tried to preserve the reading of L (λέγω) by joining ἄβουλον (940) with ἔργον (941), but the epithet does not agree with the tenor of Theseus' speech. Cp. Eur. Suppl. 314-323.

940. mvp-comment-510-1 οὔτ᾽ ἄβουλον Nor without counsel; referring to 913-914, δίκαι' ἀσκοῦσαν εἰσελθὼν πόλιν, κἄνευ νόμου κραίνουσαν οὐδέν.

941. mvp-comment-511-1 γιγνώσκων δ' ὅτι But judging that.

942-943. mvp-comment-512-1 οὐδεὶς.. βίᾳ They would never be seized with an officious desire of maintaining my relations against my will. αὐτούς, sc. τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, implied in τήνδε τὴν πόλιν supr. For the accusative αὐτούς, see Essay on Language § 16. p. 23, and cp. Ο. Τ. 713, ὡς αὐτὸν ἥξοι μοῖρα πρὸς παιδὸς θανεῖν.

944. mvp-comment-513-1 ἤδη δ' And I was sure. Cp. the use of ἐπίσταμαι in Herodotus.

945. mvp-comment-514-1 κἄναγνον κἄνανδρον in L. is clearly a misreading from l. 939. Ср. Ο. Τ. 894, ἔρξεται.

945. mvp-comment-514-2 6. Nor one who was discovered to be living in incest with his own parent.' Lit. With whom were found unholy marriages of children with parents. τέκνων is not genitive of the object, but attributive genitive (Essay on Language § 9. p. 12), sufficiently defining the ἀνόσιοι γάμοι, although τέκνων πρὸς γονέας might be a more complete expression.

947. mvp-comment-515-1 Such a seat of good counsel did I know them to possess, the hill of Ares in this land. εὔβουλον opposed to ἄβουλον supra 940. For the argumentative use of τοιοῦτον, see Essay on Language § 22. p. 35.

950. mvp-comment-516-1 To it I trusted when I seized this prey.' Creon, as the next of kin, claims the right of dealing summarily with the homicide.

954. mvp-comment-517-1 The Schol. here quotes the proverb, ὁ θυμὸς ἔσχατον γηράσκει, as being referred to by Alcaeus. Cp. Thuc. 2.44.6, τὸ γὰρ φιλότιμον ἀγήρων μόνον. For anger yields not to age, until death comes. No pain indeed can touch the dead.' Aesch. Fr. 250, ἄλγος δ᾽ οὐδὲν ἅπτεται νεκροῦ. After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well; Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison, Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, Can touch him further.' Shak. Macb. 3. 2.

957. mvp-comment-518-1 ἐρημία Cp. 875. This, as Theseus presently suspects (1029-1031), is a false pretence.

957. mvp-comment-518-2 κεί δίκαι᾿ ὅμως λέγω i. e. ὅμως κεὶ δίκαια λέγω.

958. mvp-comment-519-1 σμικρόν Cp. βραχύς, supra 880.

958. mvp-comment-519-2 πρὸς δὲ τὰς πράξεις But still I will endeavour to resist violence, if it is offered, old as I am. πράξεις here is not a mere repetition of the notion of the verb πράξεις supra 956, but is spoken with some emphasis, in allusion to Theseus' threats of compulsion, supr. 908, 935.