Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 1059

mvp-comment-774-1 ῥιμφαρμάτοις … ἁμίλλαις ¹

mvp-comment-775-1 ἁλώσεται ²

mvp-comment-775-2 προσχώρων ³

mvp-comment-775-3 Θησειδᾶν ⁴

mvp-comment-775-4 ἀκμά ⁵

mvp-comment-776-1 We require u - instead of the MS. κατ’ . Bothe gets this by supposing non-elision of

before . This, though rare, is possible: cp. Ai. 425

χθονὸς μολόντ’ ἀπὸ | Ἑλλανίδος

: Tr. 510

Βακχίας ἄπο | ἦλθε

. But I cannot believe κατὰ | ἀμπυκτήρια to be Greek, as meaning either (1) i.e. by shaking the reins,—Paley: or (2) — i.e. Campbell. Instead of κατ’ , Hermann gives χαλῶσ’ : Schneidewin proposed καθεῖσ’ (cp. Eur. Bacch. 695

καθεῖσαν εἰς ὤμους κόμας

). This, if it had become , might easily have shrunk to the MS. κατ’ , through the rest of the word being taken for .

mvp-comment-777-1 ἀμπυκτήρια φάλαρα πώλων ⁶

mvp-comment-778-1 ἄμβασις ⁷

mvp-comment-778-2 οἳ ⁸

mvp-comment-778-3 τὰν ἱππίαν ⁹

mvp-comment-779-1 γαιάοχον ¹⁰

mvp-comment-779-2 Ῥέας ¹¹

mvp-comment-779-3 Rhea, in the Greek theogony, is daughter of Uranos and Gaia, wife of Cronus, and "mother of the gods." The cult was that of the "Phrygian Mother" Cybele in a special phase, and came very early to Greece from Lydia: in Attica it was intimately connected with the Eleusinian cult of Demeter (cp. Hom. Hymn. 5.442 , Eur. Helen 1301 ff. ). The

at Athens, the temple of Rhea Cybele, contained a celebrated statue of the goddess, by Pheidias or his pupil Agoracritus.

mvp-comment-780-1 ἔρδους’ ¹²

mvp-comment-780-2 μέλλουσιν ¹³

mvp-comment-781-1 γνώμα μοι ¹⁴ προμνᾶταί τι ¹⁵

mvp-comment-782-1 ἀντάσειν ¹⁶

mvp-comment-782-2 ἀντάω ¹⁷

mvp-comment-782-3 To ἀνδώσειν the objections are: (1) it could not possibly mean

, In Pind. fr. 133. 3, the sole passage quoted for this sense, is not but to the sunlight,—like . We must not be confused by our (2) To supply or as subject is extremely awkward. (3) The sing. τὰν...τλᾶσαν , etc., which this requires, cannot well be defended on the ground that Antigone is chiefly thought of.

mvp-comment-782-4 With ἐνδώσειν we have to render:—

—become milder. Hippocrates ( Progn. 43) uses the intrans. of a malady which remits its force. But is tolerable here, where the question is not of the sisters' sufferings being mitigated , but of their triumphant deliverance from the hands of the enemy? If, again, = it incurs the 2nd and 3rd objections to .

mvp-comment-783-1 κατ’ ἆμαρ ¹⁸

1026-1077. mvp-comment-551-1 In catching, you are caught; and fortune has taken you as you were pursuing after your prey.' The substitution of δίκη for τύχη is unnecessary and wrong. Fortune is continually regarded as the instrument of the Divine will. Cp. Phil. 1317, τὰς μὲν ἐκ θεῶν | τύχας δοθείσας: Shak. Hamlet, Act 3, Sc. 4. 'Take thy fortune; Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.'

1062-1064. mvp-comment-572-1 πώλοισιν ἁμίλλαις With their horses, or in the nimbly-racing chariots in which they flee. πώλοισιν refers to the pursuers, ῥιμφαρμάτοις φεύγοντες ἁμίλλαις to the pursued, who are supposed to have provided chariots for the capture of the maidens.

1065-1066. mvp-comment-573-1 ἁλώσεται.. ἀκμά ‘He' (the enemy, just referred to in φεύγοντες) will be overpowered. Terrible is the valour of our neighbours: terrible also is the youthful might of Theseus men.' For the singular number of ἁλώσεται, cp. Ant. 106, τὸν.. φῶτα βάντα πανσαγίᾳ : and for its absolute use, cp. Aj. 648-649, ἀλλ᾽ ἁλίσκεται | χὼ δεινὸς ὅρκος, κ.τ.λ.

1065-1066. mvp-comment-573-2 προσχώρων, cp. supra 493.

1066. mvp-comment-574-1 Θησειδᾶν The patronymic is used by an anachronism for the youth of Athens, with an allusion to the leadership of Theseus. Cp. Hdt. 1. 125, βασιλέες οἱ Περσείδαι. Of those who were assembled at the sacrifice of Theseus, some would be attendants of Theseus, but others would be gathered from the vicinity of the altar.

1067-1070. mvp-comment-575-1 πᾶς γὰρ .. ἄμβασις Although the emendation of these lines is uncertain, their general meaning is clearly a reminiscence of the command of Theseus to the horsemen in 899, 900, σπεύδειν ἀπὸ ῥυτῆρος, just as the description of the two passes is suggested by his words in 900-901, ἔνθα δίστομοι . . ὁδοί. Herm. (1841) conj. πᾶσα δ᾽ ὁρμᾶται χαλῶσ᾽ | ἀμπυκτήρια πωλικά : reading ὀρειβάταν in the strophe, and rejecting φάλαρα as a gloss. Bothe reads, κατά | ἀμπυκτήρια. Cp. Aj. 42,5, Tr. 510 (?). The rhythm lucul is not impossible (for the resolved trochee, cp. Phoen. 227, 237); but the change of rhythm from l. 10 of the strophe (1054) cannot be justified by such examples as Phil. 1124-1147. When all the difficulties are looked at together, it seems most probable that there is some corruption here or in l. 1054, if not in both. Qy. ἔνθ' οἴομαι ἐγρεκύδοιμον - (κατὰ) λάμπρ᾿ ἀμπυκτήρια πώλων, (-)? The words as they stand may be construed, The riders all are rushing on, in the direction of,' (κατά, cp. κατ' οὗρον, κατὰ πόδα) the bridles of the horses; i.e. Every horseman gives his steed its head.

1067-1070. mvp-comment-575-2 κατά may or may not be genuine, but Hermann's conjecture χαλῶσ᾽ ἀμπυκτήρια is somewhat prosaic.

1070. mvp-comment-576-1 ἄμβασις, abstract collective for ἀναβάται, ἱ. ε. ἱππόται. Cp. the common prose expression ἡ ἵππος. Essay on Language § 50. p. 94. For Ἀθήνη ἱππία and her temple in the Academy, see Paus. 1. 30.

1073. mvp-comment-577-1 Ῥέας One syllable, as in Il. 15.187, οὓς τέκετο 'Ρέα (where Poseidon speaks).

1074. mvp-comment-578-1 * ἔρδουσ᾽, ἢ μέλλουσιν; ὡς] Herm. corrected the antistrophe to ὦ Ζεῦ θεῶν πανταρχέτα. But the slow movement レレトート ​_ is characteristic. See note on the metre.

1074-1076. mvp-comment-579-1 ὡς προμνᾶταί τί μοι | γνώμα] How my thoughts are pleading!' προμνᾶσθαι is generally to plead for another: and the chorus (infr. 1096) say this in the interest of Oedipus. But προperhaps conveys the association of beforehand, anticipating the event. The thought of the chorus is like a messenger, who goes before to urge the claim of a sovereign. τὶ is cognate accusative. Cp. supr. 965, Tr. 67, μύθοις εἴ τι πιστεύειν χρεών.

1076. mvp-comment-580-1 τάχ᾿ ἀνδώσειν That they will quickly restore. Although Pind. Fr. Thr. 4, Φερσεφόνα .. ἐς τὸν ὕπερθεν ἅλιον . . ἀνδιδοῖ ψυχὰν πάλιν, is not a conclusive instance of this use of ἀναδίδωμι, the existence of such a meaning is not improbable (cp. ἀνακομίζειν, ἀνακτᾶσθαι, ἀναλαμβάνειν, and esp. ἀναπέμπειν in Pind. Ι. 6 (7), 10, Ἄδραστον ἐξ ἀλαλᾶς ἄμπεμψας ὀρφανὸν μυρίων ἑτάρων ἐς Ἄργος ἵππιον), and exactly suits this place. The subject, as in ἁλώσεται, supra 1065, is easily supplied. If ἐνδώσειν is read, the words must be construed in the same way: That they will soon surrender, etc. τάχ᾽ ἂν δώσειν is indefensible, and ἐνδώσειν τᾶν . . τλασᾶν . . εὑρουσᾶν . . πάθη. That Creon will yield from the maidens,' or That the sufferings of the enduring ones much wronged by their kindred will abate, is forced, and gives a poor sense.

1077. mvp-comment-581-1 τὰν .. τλᾶσαν i. e. Antigone, whom the chorus had actually seen carried off. She is the heroine of this play as well as of the Antigone.

1077. mvp-comment-581-2 δεινὰ τλᾶσαν, supra 345-351. Eur. I. A. 932, σὲ δ', ὦ σχέτλια παθοῦσα πρὸς τῶν φιλτάτων: ib. 942, ἡ δεινὰ τλᾶσα κοὐκ ἀνεκτὰ παρθένος. Linw. reads τὼ δεινὰ τλάσα, δεινὰ δ' εὑρούσα, suggested by Dindorf in 1842.

1077. mvp-comment-581-3 δεινὰ δ᾽.. πάθη Because Creon, who was her kinsman, had carried her off by the order of Eteocles.

1079. mvp-comment-582-1 τελεῖ Future.

1079. mvp-comment-582-2 τι Α thing;' ie. The thing we desire. Essay on Language § 22. p. 36.

1080. mvp-comment-583-1 (1) 'Í am a prophet on the side of the good contest.' i. e. My prophetic power takes part with the good cause. Cp. Ο. Τ. 879, τὸ καλῶς ἔχον πάλαισμα. Or (2) I prophesy a good issue of the contest. Cp. Εl. 1499, μάντις εἰμὶ τῶνδ᾽ ἄκρος. And for ἐσθλῶν, ib. 646, εἰ μὲν πέφηνεν ἐσθλά,