Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 1044

mvp-comment-764-1 εἴην ὅθι ¹

mvp-comment-765-1 ἐπιστροφαὶ ⁴

mvp-comment-766-1 χαλκοβόαν ⁵

mvp-comment-766-2 μείξουσιν ⁶

mvp-comment-766-3 ἢ πρὸς Πυθίαις ἢ λαμπάσιν ἀκταῖς ⁷

mvp-comment-766-4 (1) Πύθιαι ἀκταί , the Pythian shores; the shore of the bay of Eleusis just beyond the pass of Daphnè on the N.W., near the salt-springs called

( Thuc. 2.19 ). The distance from Colonus is about six miles. alludes to the , an Ionic temple of Apollo (some fragments from which are among the Elgin marbles in the British Museum), situated on the site of the present monastery of Daphnè, in the narrowest and highest part of the pass. (Cp. Leake, Demes pp. 144 f.: Paus. 1.37.6 .) Others take the to mean Oenoe, where also there was a temple of Apollo. But ( a ) Oenoe was about 12 miles N.W. of Eleusis, near the pass of Dryoscephalae over Cithaeron. could not be said of such an inland place, and the distance imagined is too great. ( b ) The order of mention indicates the as nearer than Eleusis to Colonus.

mvp-comment-766-5 (2) λαμπάδες ἀκταί ,

(cp. Harpocr. 184, quoted on 56, ): the coast of the same bay of Eleusis at a point about 5 miles W.N.W. of the former point,—viz. at Eleusis itself. The yearly celebration of the great Eleusinia began on or about the 16th of Boedromion (September). On the 20th of that month an image of Iacchus was borne in a torch-light procession along the from Athens to Eleusis. This procession is indicated by the in Aristoph. Ran. 316 ff.: see ib. 340

ἔγειρε φλογέας λαμπάδας, ἐν χερσὶ γὰρ ἥκεις τινάσσων,

Ἴακχ’, ὦ Ἴακχε,

νυκτέρου τελετῆς φωσφόρος ἀστήρ

. The search of Demeter for Persephone was also represented at Eleusis in a of torch-bearing mystae. Cp. Aesch. fr. 376 (speaking of Eleusis) . Ar. Th. 1151

ὄργια σεμνὰ θεαῖν, ἵνα λαμπάσι φαίνετον ἄμβροτον ὄψιν

.

mvp-comment-767-1 πότνιαι ⁸

mvp-comment-767-2 τιθηνοῦνται ⁹

mvp-comment-767-3 τέλη ¹⁰

mvp-comment-768-1 θνατοῖσιν ¹¹

mvp-comment-768-2 ὧν καὶ χρυσέα ¹²

mvp-comment-768-3 κλὴ|ς Εὐμολπιδᾶν ¹³

mvp-comment-769-1 κλὴ|ς ¹⁴

mvp-comment-769-2 χρυσέα ¹⁵

mvp-comment-770-1 προσπόλων Εὐμολπιδᾶν ¹⁶

mvp-comment-771-1 I incline to believe that the MS. words ἔνθ’ οἶμαι τὸν ἐγρεμάχαν are sound, and that the variant

may have arisen by corruption from ἐγρεμάχαν . See Appendix on this passage. The fact that the antistrophic passage is certainly unsound in the MSS. has increased the doubt: see on 1069

.

mvp-comment-771-2 ἐγρεμάχαν ¹⁷

mvp-comment-772-1 Θησέα ¹⁸

mvp-comment-772-2 αὐτάρκει βοᾷ ¹⁹

mvp-comment-772-3 Many critics, however, now regard καὶ as spurious: for Θησέα καὶ Dindorf proposes Αἰγεΐδαν : for Θησέα καὶ τὰς Wecklein Θησέα παῖδας . The sense would then be:—

—by attacking their captors. This is possibly right: but a change of καὶ τὰς into παῖδας is hardly likely. In Ph. 79 , which Erfurdt changed to , is clearly sound.

mvp-comment-772-4 διστόλους ²⁰

mvp-comment-772-5 αὐτάρκει ²¹

mvp-comment-772-6 τούσδ’ ἀνὰ χ. ²²

mvp-comment-772-7 The poet has left the details of the rescue indistinct. Creon's guards first carried off the girls (844), and Theseus sent mounted Athenians in pursuit (897). Afterwards, Theseus commands Creon to lead him to where the girls are; if they are

(1020 ), Theseus himself will recover them: if, however, the guards are already flying with them, then Theseus has nothing to do; the mounted Athenians, who have already started, will pursue (1020 ff.). But from the words of Theseus in 1148 it is plain that they have been rescued by his personal prowess, of which he forbears to boast ( , 1149): and the same inference must be drawn from Antigone's words (1117). How are these facts to be reconciled? We can only suppose that the mounted Athenians, who started first, halted to watch the (900), while Creon's guards also halted somewhere in concealment, to await their master. Theseus, with Creon, was thus enabled to overtake his Athenians before the struggle. The fact is that Sophocles did not care to think out these points, about which an Athenian audience in the theatre would not trouble themselves. Cp. on O. T. 758 .

1026-1077. mvp-comment-551-1 In catching, you are caught; and fortune has taken you as you were pursuing after your prey.' The substitution of δίκη for τύχη is unnecessary and wrong. Fortune is continually regarded as the instrument of the Divine will. Cp. Phil. 1317, τὰς μὲν ἐκ θεῶν | τύχας δοθείσας: Shak. Hamlet, Act 3, Sc. 4. 'Take thy fortune; Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger.'

1044. mvp-comment-562-1 While Oedipus remains alone upon the rock, an object of profound pity, the chorus burst into an exulting strain, anticipating the victory of Theseus and the restoration of Antigone and Ismene. The fray will soon begin. Would I were there to see! Where will the foemen turn to bay? At the pass of Mount Aegaleon, or by the Eleusinian shore? There will Theseus rouse the combat, and the maidens shall be present at the achievement of their deliverance. Or descend they now from Phyle, westward of the rock, the chariots with the pursuing cavalry? The enemy shall be overpowered. Mighty are the men of Theseus: valiant are the horsemen of our deme. They all are wor- α. shippers of Athene Hippia and of Poseidon. Are they engaged? or is the action still to be? My prophetic spirit pleads for the restitution of the muchenduring, much-wronged, maiden. O had my vision wings, that, lifted on some airy cloud, I might look upon the victory which I foretell! 'Zeus, grant our people the attainment of the fair prize and Pallas, his dread child, and ye, Apollo and Artemis, who love the chase, come jointly to our country's aid.' The metre of this chorus, at first glyconic, passes more and more into slow trochaic and iambic movements, with frequent long syllables. The whole is marked by great solemnity, with an occasional note of triumph. ―下​CCICI IFCCICI ICCICI CICIト​CCIILCI ーーーー トレーートレー トリートー 10= 10- ?? トトートー ICCI- LLACI 1, 2, 3, Glyconic with monosyllabic base, 5, 12, Pherecratean, 14, Adoniad, 6, 11, logaoedic, 4, 7, iambic dimeter with long syllables in the alternate feet, 8, 9, 13, trochaic, with long syllables in the alternate feet. The interweaving of the logaoedic with the iambic and trochaic rhythms is marked by the interposition of the iambics in 4 between the glyconic and Pherecratean, and the trochees in 13 between the Pherecratean and Adoniad. The epitritic movement, - - - - - - -, prevails throughout. Line ro of the strophe, if the text is right, may be compared with Phil. 1082, 1103, 1123, 1146, 1147, where the same form ㄥ​ㄧ​ㄥ​に​ト​し​て​! is combined with glyconic and Pherecratean measures. In Phil. 1147 it answers to a glyconic - - トー in 1124. But this does not remove the difficulty of finding a probable emendation of 1069, which may secure a tolerable correspondence between strophe and antistrophe. See note on 1069. β΄. D レレトート​(I LLCI ートレビー alcllcC1I !!ト​C!!!いー Lullトーー LU ICICII LUIIト​CIK CLLCICIU

1044. mvp-comment-562-2 The slow (epitritic) movement with frequent long syllables is continued in the second strophe and antistrophe, and only in lines 5 and 8 is quickened by the introduction of the dactyl. The opening syllables of 1 and 2 may have been exceptionally prolonged. Line 3 is probably to be scanned as an iambic dimeter with syncope of 3rd and 4th thesis. Syncope of thesis occurs also in 11. 5 and 10. Cp. O. T. 190, 193, 200, Christ's Metrik. § 393.

1044. mvp-comment-562-3 Might I be where soon the foemen shall wheel round and begin the fray with clanging arms.' The imagination of the chorus is excited by what Theseus has said, supr. 1022, 1029 ff.

1044. mvp-comment-562-4 δαΐων ἀνδρῶν ἐπιστροφαί i. e. δάϊοι ἄνδρες ἐπιστρεφθέντες: cp. Eur. Alc. 606, ἀνδρῶν Φεραίων εὐμενὴς παρουσία.

1046. mvp-comment-563-1 Ἄρη | μίξουσιν Like μάχην συνάπτειν, with the additional notion of a confused hurtling contest. Il. 20. 374, τῶν δ᾽ ἄμυδις μίχθη μένος, ὧρτο δ' ἀτή. 1048-1049. ἢ πρὸς Πυθίαις.. ἀκταῖς] Either by the cliffs of Pythium or those torch-lit cliffs... i. e. the shores of the Thriasian plain. ἀκταί seems to be a general expression for the seaward cliffs, including those not actually touching the sea. But the word is chosen to suit the mention of Eleusis. The question is whether the engagement will be in the pass of Daphne, or at some further point on the Eleusinian way. Cp the skirmish at ῾Ρειτοί in Thuc. 2.19. The Pythian cliffs' are so named from the Pythium, a shrine of Apollo in the deme of Oenoe, probably at the place now called Daphne. According to some authorities the Pythium was on the Megarian frontier. But the place so designated could not be on the way to Thebes. Philochorus, quoted by the Scholiast, says, ἐν Οἰνόῃ.. ἐν τῷ Πυθίῳ. For the adjective λαμπάς, cp. infra 1060, πέτρας νιφάδος. The Schol. quotes a line of Aeschylus describing the Eleusinian procession, Fr. 376, λαμπραίσιν ἀστραπαῖσι λαμπάδων σθένει.

1050-1052. mvp-comment-564-1 οὗ πότνιαι.. προσπόλων Εύμολπιδᾶν] (1) Where dread mysteries are dispensed to mortals by reverend goddesses, whose golden (i. e. sacred, cp. O. T. 158, 187) key holds fast the tongue of their attendants of Eumolpus' race.' καί introduces a further description of the goddesses who preside at the mysteries. The initiation of the Eumolpidae is mentioned, as being more solemn than that of the Mystae, inasmuch as they have received their consecration immediately from Demeter and Persephone:-'quae silentio sacro continent suorum ora ministrorum.' Reisig. Hermann objects that the duty of silence was imposed on all initiated persons He refers ὧν τo θνατοῖσιν, and would render (2), On whose tongue hath passed the sacred key of the ministering Eumolpidae. And the Scholiast gives the same explanation: ὧν· τῶν τετελεσμένων. καί in this case may be supposed to emphasise the necessity of initiation as a condition of seeing the mysteries, or to distinguish the act of the priests from that of the deities. In favour of the first rendering (1), it may be urged that it makes καί more intelligible, gives more force to προσπόλων, and suits better with the position of the words χρυσέα κλής.

1050-1052. mvp-comment-564-2 τιθηνοῦνται τέλη θνατοῖσιν, · Minister sacred rites to men,' as a nurse ministers to an infant. τέλη is a sort of cognate accusative, i e. ποιοῦνται οἷα ἂν τιθῆναι.

1054-1057. mvp-comment-565-1 ἔνθ᾽ Bo Where (i. e. somewhere on the sacred way) methinks that Theseus and the two virgin sisters will soon mingle in the fray of battle which is to deliver them:'or, taking αὐτάρκει in a more general sense, in the valorous combat, the rescue that achieves its purpose.'

1054. mvp-comment-566-1 † ἐγρεμάχαν Hom. Hymn to Demeter, 424, Παλλάς τ᾽ ἐγρεμάχη καὶ Ἄρτεμις ἰοχέαιρα. The various reading ὀρειβατάν or ὀρειοβατάν may have arisen from a confusion of the letters e, ο-μ, β-χ, τ. This would not be a greater perversion than τήνδε θεσπίζει γραφήν for τήνδ᾽ ἔθεσθ' ἐπιστροφήν, Ο. Τ. 134, or ἐμοῖς ἐπὶ πόνοις for ἐμὸς ἐπίπολος, ib. 1322. The line does not exactly correspond to that in the antistrophe; see note on infr. 1067-1070. νας.

1055. mvp-comment-567-1 Θησέα. So φονέα, Eur. Hec. 882.

1055. mvp-comment-567-2 διστόλους i. e. δύο δισσῶς ἐσταλμέ- The word recalls the two bands of Thebans who had carried off Ismene and Antigone and would now resist their rescue. But the second part of the compound is subordinate. Elmsley says,

The maidens and their captors are spoken of in a single phrase, as in supr. 902, 1016.