Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 258

Thomas Francklin (Translator)

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Creon
939
Theseus, it was not that I thought this city
Without or guards to save, or laws to rule,
940
Which brought me here, nor unadvised I came ;
But that I hoped you never would receive
My kindred here against my will, nor e'er
Embrace a vile incestuous parricide,
Or cherish and protect him in a land
Whose court, renowned for justice, suffers not
Such poor abandoned exiles to reside
Within its borders ; therefore did 1 this,
Which yet I had not done but for the curses
950
Which he hath poured on me and all my race ;
Ileven,afe inspired me ; anger, well thou knowst,
Can never be extinguished but by death.
Which closeth every wound. At present, Theseus,
955
It must be as thou wilt ; my want of power,
How just soe'er my cause, demands submission ;
Yet, old and weak, I shall not tamely yield.

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)) — 258 focus
τί δῆτα δόξης, ἢ τί κληδόνος καλῆς
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 254-509 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 258 focus
OED
Yea, were it lawful. But in this same spot—
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 254 focus
So wisse, Kind des Oedipus: dein Mißgeschick,
Wie dieses Mannes herbes Loos, weckt unsern Schmerz.
250
Doch bebend vor der Götter Zorn, vermögen wir
Nicht mehr zu sagen, als du schon gehört von uns.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 258 focus
Creon
Thou wretch, whom time to wisdom could not train,
But mark'd thee a dishonour to old age!
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.