Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 37

mvp-comment-124-1 ἐή ¹

mvp-comment-124-2 ἀλαῶν ὀμμάτων ²

mvp-comment-125-1 φυτάλμιος ³

mvp-comment-126-1 =120

. In regard to L's reading, μακραίων τέ θ’ ⁴ ὡς ἐπεικάσαι, note these points: (1) ὡς is wrong, as the metre shows, (2) τ’ is certainly right. We should not read, with Campb., δυσαίων; μακραίων τις, ἐπεικάσαι , because the thought turns on the linking of δυσαίων with μακραίων , the chief stress falling (as oft. in Greek) on the second: thou art old as well as hapless: i.e. thou hast borne thy woes long. (3) ἔθ’ may, I think, be rejected, as too weak. (4) How, then, is the short syllable to be supplied? ( a ) We might read;— μακραίων θ’, ὅσ’ ἐπεικάσαι: cp. Thuc. 6.25 , ( b ) μακραίων τέ τις , εἰκάσαι: cp. O. T. 82 . I prefer ( a ), since all MSS. have ἐπεικάσαι .

mvp-comment-127-1 (

mvp-comment-127-2 μάν ⁵

mvp-comment-127-3 προσθήσει ⁶

mvp-comment-128-1 περᾷς ⁷

mvp-comment-129-1 ἀλλ’ ἵνα … μὴ προπέσῃς ⁸

mvp-comment-129-2 προπέσῃς ἐν νάπει ⁹

mvp-comment-129-3 ἀφθέγκτῳ ¹¹

mvp-comment-130-1 οὗ κάθυδρος κρατὴρ συντρέχει ῥεύματι μειλιχίων ποτῶν ¹²

mvp-comment-130-2 μειλιχίων π. ¹³

mvp-comment-130-3 συντρέχει ¹⁴

mvp-comment-131-1 The τῶν of L and most MSS. cannot be right. To be on one's guard against a thing is always φυλάσσομαί τι , never τινος . In Thuc. 4.11

= acting cautiously on account of the ships (where Classen cp.

χαλεπῶς φέρειν τινός,

1. 77 ): in Aesch. PV 390

τούτου φυλάσσου μήποτ’ ἀχθεσθῇ κέαρ

, join . The v.l. points to τό , which in this parenthetic warning= ( ) rather than ὅ . τόν (referring to ) is less good; and τῷ ("wherefore") would be weak.

mvp-comment-132-1 ἐρατυ^/ει ¹⁶

mvp-comment-133-1 οἴσεις ¹⁷

mvp-comment-133-2 φέρειν λόγον πρὸς ἐμὰν λέσχαν ¹⁸

mvp-comment-134-1 ἀβάτων ²⁰

mvp-comment-135-1 ἵνα πᾶσι νόμος ²¹

mvp-comment-136-1 ἀπερύκου ²²

149-169. mvp-comment-94-1 And wast thou then blind? O wretched life, and protracted, too, if I am not mistaken. Howbeit, if I can prevent, thou shalt not bring this curse. For, I tell thee, thou art transgressing. But oh! lest you break the sacred peace of yonder grassy dell, where the watered hollow gathers softly-flowing streams, of this take heed, all hapless stranger; avoid, remove. The distance hinders. Dost hear, O weary wanderer? If you have any matter for conference with me, come off forbidden ground, and speak, where all may. But, till then, avaunt thee!'

149-150. mvp-comment-95-1 ἀλαῶν ὀμμάτων ἆρα καὶ ἦσθα φυτάλμιος Alas, and art thou then blind! The interrogative has the force of an exclamation. For the emphatic order of the words, see Essay on Language § 31. p. 78, γ. ἀλαῶν ὀμμάτων φυτάλμιος is a poetical phrase (cp. τὸ φατιζόμενον, l. 139 ) for ἀλαὰ ὄμματα φύσας, i. e. ἔχων. Cp. Aj. 1077, κἂν σῶμα γεννήσῃ μέγα. The past tense has a pathetic or reflective force, Essay on Language § 32. p. 55. The chorus are not enquiring the cause of Oedipus' blindness, but are expressing their horror, slightly modified by pity, at the fact, which they have just discovered.

151-152. mvp-comment-96-1 μακραίων *τις, ἐπεικάσαι For the asyndeton, cp. 161 foll. Others read μακραίων τ᾽ ἔτ᾽, ἐπεικάσαι, in which ἔτι is prosaic, or μακραίων θ᾽, ὅσ᾽ ἐπεικάσαι, for which Linw. cp. Ar. Pax 857, οι μακραίων γ᾽, ὅσ᾽ ἔπ᾽ εἰκάσαι (!).

153. mvp-comment-97-1 ἔν γ᾿ ἐμοί As far as lies in me; i. e. If I can prevent.

153-154. mvp-comment-98-1 οὐ .. ἀράς (1) Be thou blind or old, thou shalt not thus bring down the curse: viz. by violating the precinct.

153-154. mvp-comment-98-2 προσθήσεις, Sc. τῷ ἡμετέρῳ δήμῳ. For this use of προστίθημι, cp. Ο. Τ. 820, ἢ ἐγὼ ἐπ᾿ ἐμαυτῷ τάσδ᾽ ἀρὰς ὁ προστιθείς. The chorus, after yielding for a moment to compassion, return to their main object, the vindication of the sacred ground. Otherwise, the mood of the chorus being supposed to change from horror to pity, (2) Thou shalt not thus bring a curse upon thyself; or (3) Thou shalt not add this curse to thy calamity.

154. mvp-comment-99-1 περᾷς (I) You are transgressing. Not (2) 'You shall come forth: although such a use of the present for a certain future is permissible.

155. mvp-comment-100-1 ἀλλά, while opposing the command to the offence, also contrasts the danger of still further trespass with the trespass already committed. The construction ἐν νάπει πίπτειν is Epic: cp. Αj. 633, ἐν στέρνοισι πεσοῦνται, κ.τ.λ., ib. 375. For τῷδε, used in pointing to an object not close at hand, cp. El. 4, 7, 10.

155. mvp-comment-100-2 ἵνα, κ.τ.λ. depends (1) on the general precept of avoidance (sc. εὐλαβοῦ), which is more definitely expressed, as the sentence proceeds, in τῶν .. φύλαξαι, κ.τ.λ. Or (2) an ellipse of λέγω may be supposed.

155. mvp-comment-100-3 ἀφθέγκτῳ Of unbroken silence,' supr. 131.

156. mvp-comment-101-1 The reading προπέσῃς, although conjectural, seems to be required by the metre, and πρό and πρός are often confused. Either compound gives a good sense-προσπέσῃς implying violence, and προπέσῃς, heedlessness.

157-160. mvp-comment-102-1 κάθυδρος οὗ κρατήρ μειλιχίων ποτῶν ῥεύματι συντρέχει] (1) Where the stream of sweet waters flows together in the pure basin : ῥεύματι, dat. of manner. The basin is said to run together in a stream by a metonymy or inversion. κάθυδρος implies that it received no wine. Supr. 100, ἀοίνοις. (2) The Scholiast understood μειλιχίων ποτῶν to refer to the honey that was mingled with the libation to the Eumenides (infr. 481); i.e. The libation of pure water mingles with the flowing hydromel. ῥεύματι dat. after συν in comp., and the bowl, as infr. 479, for the contents of the bowl. Meineke reads χεύματι. (3) Taking the words as in (1), the epithet μειλιχίων may, however, contain an allusion to this sweetening of the waters, and also an association from μειλίσσομαι, to propitiate. Schol. οἷς μειλίσσουσι τὰς θεάς. Ιn (1) the κρατήρ is the basin in which water was gathered for libations: in (2) it is the vessel from which the libations were poured.

161. mvp-comment-103-1 τῶν Neuter, referring to the whole of the previous description. The genitive is governed by the notion of avoidance in φύλαξαι (= ὑπεκτρέπεσθαι), assisted by μετάσταθι, ἀπόβαθι. For πάμμορε, Schndw. suggested the Homeric κάμμορε.

166. mvp-comment-104-1 λόγον εἴ τιν' οἴσεις This reading is adopted on the ground of metre, and as suiting well with the context. If you will bring any word to be considered by us assembled. For λέσχη, which in the mouth of the chorus here has an ancient and formal air, cp. Ant. 161, τήνδε γερόντων.. λέσχην. For ἔχεις in the MS. reading, cp. Pind. Ol. 8. 4.

168. mvp-comment-105-1 ἵνα πᾶσι νόμος Sc. ἐστὶ φωνεῖν. Where custom permits all to speak. Cp. the common ellipse of the inf. after ἢ θέμις, εἰ θέμις.