Oedipus at Colonus. Sophocles. Thomas Francklin (Translator). London. 1758–1759.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759))
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
mvp-comment-66-1 ὁρῶντα 1
mvp-comment-67-1 οἶσθ’ … ὡς … μὴ σφαλῇς; 2
mvp-comment-68-1 ὡς ἰδόντι 3
mvp-comment-68-2 δαίμονος 4
mvp-comment-69-1 μὴ κατ’ ἄστυ 5
mvp-comment-69-2 ἐνθάδ’ αὐτοῦ 6
mvp-comment-70-1 εἰ χρή 7
mvp-comment-71-1 ἡμὶν 8
mvp-comment-72-1 ἐν ἡσύχῳ 9
mvp-comment-73-1 μόνης πέλας 10
mvp-comment-74-1 πότνιαι 11
mvp-comment-74-2 δεινῶπες 12
mvp-comment-74-3 εὖτε 13
mvp-comment-74-4 ἔκαμψα 14
mvp-comment-75-1 ἀγνώμονες 15
mvp-comment-76-1 ἐξέχρη 16
mvp-comment-77-1 ταύτην ἔλεξε παῦλαν 17
mvp-comment-77-2 ἐν χρόνῳ μακρῷ 18
mvp-comment-78-1 ἐλθόντι … βίον 19
mvp-comment-79-1 σεμνῶν 20
mvp-comment-79-2 ξενόστασιν 21
mvp-comment-80-1 κέρδη μέν κ.τ.λ. 23
mvp-comment-81-1 τοῖς πέμψασιν 24
mvp-comment-82-1 παρηγγύα 25
mvp-comment-83-1 ἢ σεισμόν, ἢ βροντήν τιν’ 26
mvp-comment-84-1 ἔγνωκα μὲν 27
mvp-comment-84-2 τήνδε τὴν ὁδὸν 28
mvp-comment-85-1 οὐκ ἔσθ’ ὅπως οὐ 29
mvp-comment-85-2 πτερὸν 30
mvp-comment-86-1 ἐξήγαγ’ 32
mvp-comment-86-2 οὐ γὰρ ἄν 33
mvp-comment-87-1 νήφων ἀοίνοις 34
mvp-comment-88-1 ἀσκέπαρνον 35
mvp-comment-89-1 βίου … πέρασιν … καὶ καταστροφήν τινα 36
mvp-comment-89-2 ὀμφὰς 37
mvp-comment-90-1 μειόνως ἔχειν 38
mvp-comment-91-1 μόχθοις λατρεύων 39
mvp-comment-92-1 ἴτ’ 40
mvp-comment-92-2 γλυκεῖαι 41
mvp-comment-92-3 Σκότου 42
mvp-comment-93-1 Παλλάδος 43
mvp-comment-94-1 εἴδωλον 44
mvp-comment-94-2 οὐ γὰρ δὴ τό γ’ 45
1-116. mvp-comment-1-1 The scene of the πρόλογος, ll. 1-116, is probably on the north side of Colonus, with Athens in the distance. See Introduction, p. 282. The spot so familiar to the audience (οὐ λόγοις τιμώμεν' ἀλλὰ τῇ συνουσίᾳ, infr. 63-64) would probably be recalled by the representation on the stage of some striking objects, especially those which marked the religio loci. Oedipus enters (right?), led by Antigone, and sits down in the middle of the proscenium, where he remains until Antigone descries the approach of the chorus.
74. mvp-comment-53-1 All that I utter shall be full of light. Cp. Aesch. Choeph. 844, πῶς ταῦτ᾽ ἀληθῆ καὶ βλέποντα δοξάσω; and the passive uses of caecus in Latin. The inversion of active and passive expressions is especially frequent in connection with perception by sight. See Essay on Language pp. 98, 99. The Stranger, on seeing the noble bearing of Oedipus, thinks it will be enough if he reports the matter not to the city, cp. 1. 47, but to the elders of the deme.
75. mvp-comment-54-1 Do you know how you must avoid disaster? Cp. the common idiom οἶσθ᾽ ὁ δρᾶσον (Ar. Av. 54, etc.), and see O. T. 543 and note.
75. mvp-comment-54-2 ἐπείπερ εἰ I tell you this because I see you noble. Sc. ταῦτά σοι λέγω.
76. mvp-comment-55-1 ὡς ἰδόντι ὡς emphasises the dative as in supr. 20, ὡς γέροντι.
76. mvp-comment-55-2 πλὴν τοῦ δαίμονος But for your fortune. The nobility of Oedipus appears through his rags and blindness. Cp. Shak. Cor. 4. 5. Though thy tackle's torn | Thou show'st a noble vessel. Od. 14. 214, ἀλλ᾽ ἔμπης καλάμην γέ σ᾽ ὀΐομαι εἰσορόωντα | γιγνώσκειν, ib. 20. 194, δύσμορος, ἢ τε ἔοικε δέμας βασιλῆῖ ἄνακτι.
78. mvp-comment-56-1 τοῖσδ᾽ ἐνθάδ᾽ αὐτοῦ These here on the spot. For the pleonasm, in which the words ἐνθάδ αὐτοῦ are epexegetic of τοῖσδε, see Essay on Language p. 75. And, for the use of τοῖσδε which requires the epexegesis, ibid. § 22. p. 34. Ср. supra, l. 59 , τόνδε.. Κολωνόν.
79. mvp-comment-57-1 οἵδε γὰρ κρινοῦσί *τοι The variety of reading, in which both γε and σοι are somewhat harsh, many have σ arisen out of τοι.
80. mvp-comment-58-1 ἢ..ἤ An Epic form, which ap. pears also in Aesch. Prom. 780, Choeph. 890, putting an alternative more pointedly than cἰ.. ἤ.
81. mvp-comment-59-1 ἡμίν Is the Stranger gone, and are we alone? Dative of remote reference. Essay on Language § 13. p. 19.
84. mvp-comment-60-1 O revered forms of dread.' Cp. Aesch. Cho. 1048 ff. For the reduplication of adjectives without a connecting particle, see Essay on Language § 23. P. 37.
84. mvp-comment-60-2 5. εὔτε . . ἐγώ Since it is on a seat of yours that I have rested first in this land. ἐπί is probably to be joined with ἕδρας, (cp. supr. 19, κώλα κάμψον τοῦδ᾽ ἐπ᾿ ἀξέστου πέτρου), and ἔκαμψα is used absolutely for ἔκαμψα μέλη. Supr. 19. Essay on Language p. 98. Eur. Hec. 1079, πὰ βῶ; πᾶ στῶ; πᾶ κάμψω; For the position of ἐπί before the subordinate genitive, 127, ἄλσος ἐς τᾶνδε.. κορᾶν : Essay on Language § 41. p. 77. For the sense, cp. Od. 13. 228, ἐπεί σε πρῶτα κιχάνω.
84. mvp-comment-60-3 γῆς Partitive genitive with πρώτων. Cp. supra, l. 45 , ἔδρας γῆς τῆσδ'.
86. mvp-comment-61-1 Φοίβῳ τε κάμοὶ.. ὅς The order of actual sequence is inverted, and the first of the two words, being the more emphatic, is the antecedent to ὅs. Essay on Language § 41. p. 78.
86. mvp-comment-61-2 ἀγνώμονες Ungracious. Cp. Tr. 1266-1267, μεγάλην δὲ θεῶν ἀγνωμοσύνην εἰδότες.
87. mvp-comment-62-1 τὰ πόλλ᾽ ἐκεῖν᾽ ὅτ᾽ ἐξέχρη κακά Referring to O. T. 789, foll. Cp. Eur. Phoen. 1703 ff.
88. mvp-comment-63-1 ταύτην has the emphasis, and is the real predicate. Told me of a resting-place which could be no other than this.' 89. When I came to a land at the end of my wanderings, where I should find a seat belonging to the dread goddesses and auspicious shelter afforded by them, there I should end my ill fated life.' ἐλθόντι] In construction with μοι, as if the sentence were παῦλαν γίνεσθαί μοι.
88. mvp-comment-63-2 τερμίαν is predicative, a land which should be the end of my wandering.
88. mvp-comment-63-3 ὅπου .. λάβοιμι] Oratio obliqua from οὗ ἂν λάβῃς.
88. mvp-comment-63-4 θεῶν with ἕδραν is possessive, with ξενόστασιν subjective, genitive. Essay on Language pp. 12, 62.
91. mvp-comment-64-1 The metaphor in κάμψειν βίον is taken from a race. Cp. Eur. El. 755, πρὶν ἂν τέλος | γραμμῆς ἴκηται καὶ πέρας κάμψῃ βίου : Hipp. 87, τέλος δὲ κάμψαιμ᾽ ὥσπερ ἠρξάμην βίου: Hel. 1666, ὅταν δὲ κάμψῃς καὶ τελευτήσῃς βίον. The turning-point is regarded in the figure as the end of the race. The construction as in κάμπτειν δρόμον. The infinitive follows ἔλεξε, and is coordinate with παῦλαν.
92. mvp-comment-65-1 κέρδη μὲν οἰκήσαντα Sc. ἐνταῦθα. Having fixed my habitation there,- a benefit to those who had received me, but a calamity to those who sent me forth, who banished me. κέρδη and ἄτην are accusatives in apposition to the action of the verb, expressing the result of the action. If it is objected that the tense is momentary, and the result is only to be realised afterwards, this applies equally to Eur. Οr. 1103, Ἑλένην κτάνωμεν, Μενελέω λύπην πικράν : although some such consideration has probably occasioned the v. r. οἰκήσοντα. Cp. 626, κοὔποτ' Οἱ- δίπουν ἐρεῖς | ἀχρεῖον οἰκητῆρα δέξασθαι τόπων | τῶν ἐνθάδ'. οἰκίσαντα has been conjectured, but οἰκίζω is not used in the sense required.
94. mvp-comment-66-1 παρηγγύα (1) He promised withal. παρά = besides.' Or (2), like παρεγγυᾶν σύνθημα, He told me as a sign.' Cp. supr. 46.
96-98. mvp-comment-67-1 ἔγνωκα.. άλσος And I am sure that some true intimation from you has led me to my destination in this grove. Cp. Pind. Ol. 6. 663, Il. 24. 53,4. an
97. mvp-comment-68-1 πιστὸν.. πτερόν Some true intimation from you. The meaning of omen or sign is generalized so as to apply to a presentiment or inward intimation. Schol. πτερόν: οἰωνός. τὴν πτέρωσιν τῆς διανοίας. For a similar mental influence, cp. El. 459, οἶμαι μὲν οὖν, οἷμαί τι κἀκείνῳ μέλον | πέμψαι τάδ' αὐτῇ δυσπρόσοπτ᾽ ὀνείρατα: also Phil. 1039, εἰ μὴ τι κέντρον θεῖον ἦγ᾽ ὑμᾶς ἐμοῦ.
99. mvp-comment-69-1 The correction ὑμῖν is taken from the note of the Scholiast.
100. mvp-comment-70-1 σεμνὸν .. βάθρον Cp. 57, 8: Aesch. Eum. 107, χοάς τ' ἀοίνους, νηφάλια μειλίγματα. The Schol. on this line mentions, on the authority of Polemo and Philochorus, various other deities to whom libations of pure water were offered in Attica.
102. mvp-comment-71-1 βίου.. πέρασιν Not a passing out of life, but a passing away of life. The person is not thought of distinct from the life. So the Schol. Cp. infr. 1551 and note, and see Essay on Language § 42 B, p. 80. The genitive βίου, however, is to be taken more closely with καταστροφήν than with πέρασιν.
102. mvp-comment-71-2 βίου.. καταστροφήν Ending of life, a metaphor from turning down the end of a thread in weaving. Cp. Hdt. 4. 205, τὴν ζύην κατέπλεξε.
104-105. mvp-comment-72-1 εἰ μή τι.. βροτῶν Unless haply (εἰ μή τι) my afflictions seem too light, who am always suffering the greatest calamities which can afflict mortals. Schol. εἰ μὴ δοκῶ ὑμῖν ἐλαττόνως ἔχειν τὰ κακὰ καὶ δεῖσθαι προσθήκης κακῶν. Cp. Morris' Story of Sigurd, p. 374, And if all be little enough and the Gods begrudge me rest. μειόνως ἔχειν is naturally opposed to ἀρκούντως ἔχειν, and is to be taken in close connection with what follows: i. e. μειόνως ἔχειν..
104-105. mvp-comment-72-2 λατρεύων – μειόνως ἔχειν λατρευμάτων. Herm. takes μειόνως ἔχειν as equivalent το μείονος λόγου εἶναι. But this is hardly legitimate, and gives a poor meaning.
106. mvp-comment-73-1 γλυκεῖαι Welcome daughters. This epithet is not here merely propitiatory (like Εὐμενίδες, etc.), but expresses the real feeling of Oedipus. He has no fear of the 'Ερινύες, who have done their worst,' and are now to give him the rest for which he longs; cp. Aj. 394, where, in a different mood, Ajax more passionately invokes Erebus as to him most bright.
107. mvp-comment-74-1 μεγίστης Παλλάδος καλούμεναι Called the possession of mightiest Pallas.
109. mvp-comment-75-1 ἀνδρὸς Οἰδίπου Pity this miserable shadow of the man that Oedipus once was. For this emphatic sense of ἀνήρ, cp. 393, τηνικαῦτ᾽ ἄρ᾽ εἰμ' ἀνήρ : Αj. 77, πρόσθεν οὐκ ἀνὴρ ὅδ᾽ ἦν. The degree of emphasis in these passages varies. It is less in Aj. 77, than in O. C. 393. And in the present passage it is still more slight, suggesting rather than expressing the contrast of conditions.
110. mvp-comment-76-1 The reading of Aldus, which various editors have approved without adopting it, is found in Ven. 467, from which he no doubt derived it. See Introd. p. 284.