Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 1751cont3

mvp-comment-1183-1 κατὰ νοῦν ¹

mvp-comment-1183-2 τάδ’ … ταῦτ’ ²

mvp-comment-1184-1 τᾶς ὠγυγίους ³

mvp-comment-1185-1 ἰόντα ⁴

mvp-comment-1185-2 ὁμαίμοις ⁵

mvp-comment-1185-3 Antigone suggests that she and Ismene may yet be in time to plead with their two brothers, and so to avert the doom of mutual destruction pronounced on them by their father (1373) . Thus the close of this drama is linked by the poet with the beginning of his earlier Antigone , which opens at a moment just after the deaths of the brothers. The sisters are then living at Thebes, where Creon has succeeded to the throne. An additional pathos is lent to Antigone's part there by the suggestion here of a previous intercession. In Aesch. Theb. it is the Chorus (of Theban maidens) that endeavours to dissuade Eteocles from going to meet his brother (677 ff.) : in Eur. Phoen. it is their mother Iocasta who seeks to reconcile them (452 ff.) .

mvp-comment-1186-1 After οὐ in 1776 the MS. γάρ must be struck out, as Hermann saw, so that the anapaests spoken by Theseus may end with a paroemiac. When anapaests spoken by the Chorus close a tragedy, these always form a system separate from the anapaests (if any) which precede them. This was plainly necessary, in order to avoid an unduly abrupt ending. But if we point thus:— πρὸς χάριν· οὐ δεῖ μ’ ἀποκάμνειν , the asyndeton has a crude effect. Hence, placing only a comma after πρὸς χάριν , we should render:— "Not only will I do these things, but in all things which I am likely to do for your advantage (etc.) I must not wax weary. " The sentence begins as if the constr. was to be δράσω καὶ τάδε καὶ πάντα . But the new verb added at the end requires πάντα to be acc. with ἀποκάμνειν . (Cp. on 351

.)

mvp-comment-1186-2 ὁπόσ’ ἂν ⁶

mvp-comment-1187-1 πράσσειν ⁷

mvp-comment-1187-2 πρόσφορά θ’ ὑμῖν, καὶ πρὸς χάριν τῷ κατὰ γῆς ⁸

mvp-comment-1187-3 πρόσφορα ⁹

mvp-comment-1187-4 πρὸς χάριν ¹⁰

mvp-comment-1187-5 ἔρρει ¹¹

mvp-comment-1188-1 ἀποκάμνειν ¹²

mvp-comment-1189-1 ἀλλ’ ¹³

mvp-comment-1189-2 ἀποπαύετε ¹⁴

mvp-comment-1189-3 Though the neut. pl. πλείω alone is sometimes adverbial, there seems to be no instance of ἐπὶ πλείω as= ἐπὶ πλέον : indeed, such a phrase is hardly conceivable. ἐπὶ must therefore belong to ἐγείρετε : for the tmesis cp. on 1689

.

mvp-comment-1190-1 ἔχει … κῦρος ¹⁵

mvp-comment-1190-2 Fr. Ritter rejects the last three verses, as he rejects the choral clausulae of all the other six plays ( Philol. XVII. 422-436 ): cp. O. T. 1524 cr. n. Here, at least, there is not a shadow of ground for the suspicion. It did not require a Sophocles to write vv. 1777-1779 , but the burden of proof rests with those who deny that he wrote them.

1768. mvp-comment-939-1 For Ὅρκος here, cp. Hes. Op. D. 219.

1769. mvp-comment-940-1 ταῦτ᾽ ἂν ἀπαρκοῖ Cp. О. Т. 1182 and note.

1772. mvp-comment-941-1 τοῖσιν ὁμαίμοις Partly dative of direct reference after ἰόντα (Essay on Language § 12. p. 18), partly of remote reference after διακωλύσωμεν. ' In the hope of averting the bloody death which menaces our brothers: and, In the hope of averting from our brothers the death which threatens them.

1773. mvp-comment-942-1 ὅσα *γ΄ This is nearer to the MSS, and otherwise better than either ὁπόσ᾽ ἄν οἱ ὅσσ᾽ ἄν. 1773, foll. δράσω.. ἀποκάμνειν] Not only will I do this; but in all that I can do that may give help to you or pleasure to him below who is just gone, I ought not to weary. The emendation of Hermann, who omits γάρ before ἀποκάμνειν, rests on the observation that an anapaestic speech immediately before the final words of the chorus naturally ends with a paroemiac. Phil. 1468, Aj. 1416, alib. It may be further remarked that the resumption (Essay on Language p. 64, 6) is more harmonious than the new sentence beginning in the last line, and the full pause after πρὸς χάριν is unrhythmical.