Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 144

Thomas Francklin (Translator)

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Chorus
(Edi. What wouldst thou know ? 521cont2
The cause of thy unhappy state,
GEdi. Alas !
By all the sacred hospitable rites,
I beg thee do not ask me to reveal it ;
My crimes are horrible.

Oedipus at Colonus. Sophocles. Thomas Francklin (Translator). London. 1758–1759.

Current edition Experimental

English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 144 focus
οὐ πάνυ μοίρας εὐδαιμονίσαι
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 117-253b focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 144 focus
ISM
To set thee near their land, that thou may’st be
Beyond their borders, but within their power.
400
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 149 focus
Ah; ah! Mit des Aug's blindem Stern
Kamest du wohl in die Welt, und lebst ein banges,
Langes Leben, vermuth' ich recht?
Drum füg', ach! folge mir
Dem Fluch nicht neuen Fluch!
150
Du dringst ein,
Dringst ein; doch in des stillen Hains
Grünumlaubte Gefilde hier
Tritt nicht, wo sich dem Wasserkrug
Strömend lieblichen Honiges
155
Süßer Erguß gesellt:
Hüte dich, schwergeprüfter Fremdling!
Flieh, entweiche von hinnen! Weit
Trennt von mir dich des Pfades Naum:
Hörst du, jammerbeladner Flüchtling?
160
Von geweihter Stätte
Fort hebe dich, willst du mir sagen ein Wort;
Wo Jeder es darf,
Sprich's aus; jezt wehre der Zunge!
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 144 focus
Oedipus
Could they hear this, vile wretches, and contemn
Their father, whilst they grasp at regal pow'r?
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 118-250 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-396-1 I read

ἤνεγκ’ οὖν κακότατ’,... ἤνεγκ’ ἀέκων . ἤνεγκον
was, indeed, the ordinary form of the aor. in the older Attic, as inscriptions show, in which
ἤνεγκα
occurs first about 360 B.C. (Meisterhans, p. 88); but
ἤνεγκα
is proved by metre in El. 13 and Eur. Ion 38 .
οὖν
is suitable, when he is reluctantly proceeding to unfold his story in answer to their pressing demand.

mvp-comment-396-2 ἤνεγκ’ 1

mvp-comment-396-3 κακότατ’ 2

mvp-comment-396-4 In the MS. reading,

ἤνεγκον—ἤνεγκον ἄκων μέν, ἄκων
is wrong, since metre requires u- (cp. 510). With Bothe's ἑκὼν the sense would be:—
"I have endured misery through acts which were my own, indeed: but not one of them was done knowingly."
The objections to this are insuperable. (1)

mvp-comment-396-5 θεὸς ἴστω 3

mvp-comment-396-6 It would be a subtlety foreign to Sophocles to make Oedipus say that he had acted

ἑκὼν
when he did not act
φρονῶν
(271),
εἰδώς
(273),
ξυνιείς
(976). Il. 4.43
καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ σοὶ δῶκα ἑκὼν ἀέκοντί γε θυμῷ
is irrelevant:— Zeus there says to Hera
"I have given thee this (thy pleasure touching Troy) of my free will "
(since neither god nor man could compel Zeus),
"yet against mine own wish. "

mvp-comment-397-1 αὐθαίρετον 4

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

521. mvp-comment-288-1 ἤνεγκον κακότατα I was the victim of wretchedness. For the use of φέρω, cp. Ο. Τ. 1320, διπλά σε πενθεῖν καὶ διπλᾶ φέρειν κακά.

521. mvp-comment-288-2 ἤνεγκον *ἑκὼν μέν] If this reading is adopted, it must be acknowledged that we have here a trace of the philosophical ἀπορία (already suggested by the Epic oxymoron ἑκὼν ἀέκοντί γε θυμῷ) which is treated at length in Plato (Legg. 860, 867 A) and Aristotle (Eth. N. 3. 1), viz. whether a man acts voluntarily when he is ignorant of the circumstances. See Introd. p. 270. Oedipus must be supposed to mean that in killing Laius and in marrying Jocasta he had acted with a right good will (ср. О. Т. 422-423, τὸν ὑμέναιον ὃν δόμοις | ἄνορμον εἰσέπλευσας, εὐπλοίας τυχών), but that as he acted in ignorance, the actions were not his deliberate choice.

521. mvp-comment-288-3 ἄκων is certainly wrong and is due to some reminiscence of l. 694. Cp. Eur. Ι. Τ. 512, τρόπον γε δή τινα οὐχ ἑκὼν ἑκών. The expression is more forcible if, by a slight change. for θεὸς ἴστω, θεὸς ἴστωρ is read, as in the text.

523. mvp-comment-289-1 τούτων δ᾽ αὐθαίρετον οὐδέν For the transposition of the dactyl. in the glyconic line, see Christ's Metrik, § 119. P. 94. To avoid it here, ἐθελητόν, ἀκάθαρτον (G. Wolff), have been conjectured.

524. mvp-comment-290-1 ἀλλ᾽ ἐς τί But with regard to what? Sc. ἤνεγκες κακότατα. The curiosity of the chorus becomes impatient and peremptory.