Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 421

Lewis Campbell (Translator)

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POL
Alas! Vain enterprise, and hope undone!
Oh, my poor comrades! To what fatal end
1400
I led you forth from Argos, woe is me!
I may not tell it you,—no, nor return.
In silence I must go to meet my doom.
Daughters of this inexorable sire,
Since now ye have heard his cruel curse on me,
1405
Ah! in Heaven’s name, my sisters, do not you
Treat me despitefully, but if, one day,
Our father’s execration is fulfilled
And ye shall be restored to Theban ground,
Grace me with funeral honours and a tomb!
1410
So shall this ample praise which ye receive
For filial ministration, in that day
Be more than doubled through your care for me.

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)) — 421 focus
ἀλλʼ οἱ θεοί σφι μήτε τὴν πεπρωμένην
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 510-548 focus
Translations (3)
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 421 focus
So mag den Zwiespalt, über sie vom Loos verhängt,
Niemals die Gottheit löschen, und bei mir allein
Das Ende ruh'n des Kampfes, der die Brüder theilt,
Die nun mit aufgehob'nem Speer einander droh'n,
Daß weder er, den heute Thron und Scepter schmückt,
420
Fest stehe, noch der Ausgetrieb'ne je zurück
Zur Stadt gelange! Haben sie den Vater doch,
Der aus dem Land so schmählich ausgestoßen ward,
Nicht aufgehalten, nicht geschirmt; ich ward verjagt,
Verbannt mit Heroldsrufen, und sie duldeten's.
425
Man könnte sagen, daß die Stadt in jener Zeit
Mir das mit Recht gewährte, was ich selbst erbat.
In keiner Weise: denn an jenem Tage gleich, 1
Da noch der Unmuth glühte, ja das Liebste mir
Gewesen wäre jäher Tod und Steinigung,
430
Erschien mir Niemand diesen Liebesdienst zu thun.
Doch als die Zeit schon allen Harm besänftiget,
Und ich erkannte, daß der Zorn mir ausgeschweift
Zu Züchtigungen, schwerer noch denn meine Schuld :
Da trieb gewaltsam aus dem Lande mich die Stadt
435
Nach langer Zeit erst, und des Vaters Söhne, die
Dem Vater helfen konnten, sie verweigerten
Die Hülfe, ließen, statt mit kurzem Worte mich
Zu schirmen, mich als Bettler flieh'n in fremdes Land.
Von diesen schwachen Mädchen hier wird Iegliches,
440
Wie's ihr Geschlecht verstattet, Lebensunterhalt,
Ein sichrer Siz und Kindeshülfe mir gewährt.
Die Söhne zogen Thron und Stab dem Vater vor,
Und schalten lieber als die Herrn im Lande dort.
Doch meine Hülfe leih' ich ihnen nimmermehr;
445
Nie soll die Herrschaft über Kadmos' Land für sie
Ein Segen sein: das weiß ich, wenn ich diesen Spruch,
Den du verkündest, Tochter, und das alte Wort
Erwäge, das mir Phöbos einst verkündet hat. 2
Drum mögen sie den Kreon, und wenn Einer sonst
450
Im Land Gewalt hat, senden, um nach mir zu späh'n.
Denn wollet ihr nur, Freunde, samt den Göttinnen,
Den Hehren, die in diesem Lande, walten, mir
Beistand gewähren, dann gewinnt ihr eurer Stadt
Den starken Helfer, meinen Feinden Schmach und Noth.
455
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 421 focus
Chorus
STRO. ANTIS. 1556
If I may thee, infernal Queen,
Thou gloomy pow'r by mortal eyes unseen,
With holy awe revere ;
And thee, stern Monarch, whose terrific sway
The dreary realms of night obey,
1560
Hear Pluto, Pluto hear!
1560
Let not pangs of tort'ring pow'r
Rack the stranger's dying hour,
While the cheerless path he treads
To the Stygian house that leads......
Guiltless thou wast doom'd to know
Various ills and bitter woe:
1565
May the god with just regard
Grace thee with a bright reward!
1568
Ye awful pow'rs, from realms of night
Who vengeful rise the guilty to affright!....
And thou, grim Dog of Hell,
Before the iron gates of Pluto spread
1570
Enormous on thy horrid bed,
With many a hideous yell
Whilst thy echoing cave resounds,
Guarding fierce those dismal bounds;
Thou, whom Earth to Tartarus bore,
Cease, oh cease thy dreaded roar;
1575
Gentle meet him in those glades,
1575
When he joins the silent shades;
Ever wakeful, cease t'appal;
... Dog of Hell on thee I call!
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-974-1 οἴμοι 1

mvp-comment-974-2 τῆς ἐμῆς 2 κελεύθου 3

mvp-comment-975-1 οἷον … ὁδοῦ τέλος 4

mvp-comment-975-2 τάλας 5

mvp-comment-976-1 οἷον 6 φωνῆσαι 7

mvp-comment-976-2 ἀλλ’ ὄντ’ 8

mvp-comment-977-1 τοῦδ’ 9

mvp-comment-977-2 ἀλλ’ 10

mvp-comment-978-1 τὰ σκληρὰ 11

mvp-comment-978-2 ταῦτ’ 12

mvp-comment-979-1 μή τοί με … μή μ’ 13

mvp-comment-980-1 θέσθε ἐν τάφοισι 14

mvp-comment-980-2 θέσθε ἐν κτερίσμασι 15

mvp-comment-980-3 κτερίσματα 16

mvp-comment-980-4 The poet's allusion to his own Antigone is lightly and happily made. Polyneices here naturally prays for regular funeral rites. That prayer was doomed to disappointment. And yet the

κτερίσματα
for which he asks are represented by the
χοαὶ τρίσπονδοι
which, in the Antigone , his sister pours, after the symbolic rite of scattering dust on the unburied corpse ( Ant. 431 ).

mvp-comment-981-1 κομίζετον 17

mvp-comment-981-2 οἷς 18

mvp-comment-981-3 οἴσει 19

mvp-comment-981-4 τῆς ἐμῆς ὑπουργίας 20

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

1399. mvp-comment-738-1 κελεύθου For my coming hither. For τῆς ἐμῆς only expressed in the second member of the clause, see Essay on Language § 21. p. 33. b.

1399. mvp-comment-738-2 δυσπραξίας refers especially to the failure of his present mission, in which he is worse than ἄπρακτος.

1400. mvp-comment-739-1 Cp. Pind. Isthm. 6. (7). 10, quoted on l. 1076. οἷον ἄρ᾽ ὁδοῦ τέλος | Ἄργους ἀφωρμήθημεν] The accusative τέλος may be accounted for in one of two ways: either (1) as the accusative of motion transferred to time, or (2) as an accusative in apposition with the action of the verb expressing the result of the action. The latter is probably right. We set forth from Argos, with what a consummation of our enterprise!' Essay on Language § 16. p. 22, § 17. p. 25.

1400. mvp-comment-739-2 ὁδοῦ ie. The whole march from Argos to Thebes. Cp. infr. 1439-1440.

1402. mvp-comment-740-1 The words τοιοῦτον, κ.τ.λ. are epexegetic of olov in l. 1400.

1403. mvp-comment-741-1 οὐδ᾽ ἀποστρέψαι πάλιν Cp. infr. 1416. The sentence has passed out of the construction with olov. The object of ἀποστρέψαι is easily supplied. Cp. Hdt. 4. 43, ἀποστρέψας ὀπίσω, ἀπέπλεε.

1404. mvp-comment-742-1 ἀλλ᾽ ὄντ᾿ ἄναυδον, κ.τ.λ. The positive notion is here elicited from the negative (see Essay on Language p. 64); i. e. these words depend on χρή implied in οὐκ ἔξεστι. Cp. esp. O. T. 816-818.

1405. mvp-comment-743-1 ὦ τοῦδ᾽ ὅμαιμοι παῖδες O my own sisters, daughters of this my father. Against explaining τοῦδε as = ἐμοῦ, it is enough to urge that there is no other instance in Sophocles in which this pronoun stands alone for the first person. In the only two places where it is so used substantively (Tr. 305, τῆσδε, 1012, τῷδε) it is immediately followed by a participle in agreement with it. In ὅμαιμοι there is no reference (as in ὦ σπέρμ᾽ ὅμαιμον, 331) to the incestuous birth, an allusion which, though in character with Oedipus, supr. 328, would not be in character with Polynices here. Cp. infr. 1772: Ant. 512-513.

1406. mvp-comment-744-1 κλύετε †τοῦδ᾽ ἀρωμένου τοῦδε occurs three times in these three lines, and ταῦτα seems to be required to complete τὰ σκληρά. It may seem justifiable therefore to read ταῦτ᾽ for τοῦδ' in this line. But it may be observed that a certain amount of iteration of the dominant thought is natural to the broken language of such an entreaty. See esp. ll. 1407-1409. and cp. Phil. 473 ff. The thought of his father has a terrible fascination for Polynices at this moment.

1407. mvp-comment-745-1 *ἐάν The a is long here and in Aristoph. Vesp. 228. It is strange that car should occur so seldom before a vowel.

1408. mvp-comment-746-1 Cp. infr. 1769 ff.

1410. mvp-comment-747-1 But yourselves lay me in the tomb, and afford me funeral rites.' ἐν κτερίσμασιν is placed in construction with θέσθε in a slightly different sense, = περιστείλατε κτερίσμασιν. See Essay on Language pp. 60, 65, 2. The middle voice in θέσθε is subjective, i. e. it emphasises the personal nature of the action: θέσθε, i. e. προθυμήθητε θεῖναι. Essay on Language § 31. P. 53.

1411. mvp-comment-748-1 And the praise you now receive from him for your labours in his behalf shall have added unto it another praise moreover for the service done to me.' For the turn of expression, cp. O.T. 666-667, τάδ᾽ εἰ κακοῖς κακὰ ἡ γῆ) προσάψει τοῖς πάλαι τὰ πρὸς σφῷν. And for the use of φέρω, Αj. 293, γυναιξὶ κόσμον ἡ σιγὴ φέρει.

1412. mvp-comment-749-1 τοῦδ᾽ ἀνδρός is, ist, genitive of origin, You receive from him:' but, 2nd, suggests the object of πονεῖτον, sc. τῷδε or ὑπὲρ τοῦδε. οἷς = τούτοις ἅ: By reason of your labours.'

1413. mvp-comment-750-1 ἔτ᾿ ἄλλον οἴσει Cp. Tr. 618-619, ὅπως ἂν ἡ χάρις κείνου τε σοι | κἀμοῦ ξυνελθοῦσ᾽, ἐξ ἁπλῆς διπλῆ φανῇ.

1413. mvp-comment-750-2 τῆς ἐμῆς ὑπουργίας ‘By reason of, etc. Essay on Language § 10. p. 15.