Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 1059

mvp-comment-773-1 Hartung's εἰς νομόν for the MS. ἐκ νομοῦ is certain. With the latter, we could only render:

The rare acc. with could be supported by Eur. Andr. 1167

δῶμα πελάζει

: but the ellipse of with is surely impossible.

mvp-comment-773-2 νομοῦ ¹

mvp-comment-773-3 πελῶς’ ²

mvp-comment-773-4 The place meant is not certain. See note and map in Appendix. But the scholium here deserves at least thus much weight: it is our one ancient warrant for a definite view. Like the other old scholia in L, it probably dates (in substance) from the later Alexandrian age, which possessed many Attic writings, now lost, on the topography of Attica. The scholiast takes the νιφὰς πέτρα to be a rock or crag of Mount Aegaleos;— the same which was called

, by Istros, a writer on Attica, c. 240 B.C., whom he quotes. The schol. then explains Οἰάτιδος by the fact that Aegaleos , —namely, of . It cannot reasonably be doubted that this statement about , if it did not rest on the scholiast's own knowledge, was derived from Istros, or from some other old writer on Attic topography.

mvp-comment-773-5 The meaning will then be:—

This is also Leake's view ( Demi of Attica p. 154). The route supposed would be in the general line of that taken by Archidamus and the Peloponnesians in 431 B.C., when they moved from Oenoe E.S.E. to Acharnae, ,— i.e. keeping it to the S.,— , a deme in the valley between the N. end of Aegaleos and the S.W. end of Parnes. Hartung, referring to the of Istros, conjectures λι^τάδος , as= for νιφάδος : but though late poets could use for , the is most improbable for Soph.

mvp-comment-774-1 ῥιμφαρμάτοις … ἁμίλλαις ³

mvp-comment-775-1 ἁλώσεται ⁴

mvp-comment-775-2 προσχώρων ⁵

mvp-comment-775-3 Θησειδᾶν ⁶

mvp-comment-775-4 ἀκμά ⁷

mvp-comment-776-1 We require u - instead of the MS. κατ’ . Bothe gets this by supposing non-elision of

before . This, though rare, is possible: cp. Ai. 425

χθονὸς μολόντ’ ἀπὸ | Ἑλλανίδος

: Tr. 510

Βακχίας ἄπο | ἦλθε

. But I cannot believe κατὰ | ἀμπυκτήρια to be Greek, as meaning either (1) i.e. by shaking the reins,—Paley: or (2) — i.e. Campbell. Instead of κατ’ , Hermann gives χαλῶσ’ : Schneidewin proposed καθεῖσ’ (cp. Eur. Bacch. 695

καθεῖσαν εἰς ὤμους κόμας

). This, if it had become , might easily have shrunk to the MS. κατ’ , through the rest of the word being taken for .

mvp-comment-777-1 ἀμπυκτήρια φάλαρα πώλων ⁸

mvp-comment-778-1 ἄμβασις ⁹

mvp-comment-778-2 οἳ ¹⁰

mvp-comment-778-3 τὰν ἱππίαν ¹¹

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.'

1059. mvp-comment-570-1 Or perhaps the scene of the contest is more distant. Or haply, leaving the pastures of Oea' (a deme of the Oenean tribe) they draw near the region that lies westward of the snowy rock.' τόν] Sc. χῶρον,

1060. mvp-comment-571-1 πελῶσ' γρ. πελάζουσι C2. mg. ῥίμφαρμαρτοσ C². ῥίμφαρμάτας.. ἁμίλλας Β. AR. Θησειδᾶν] θησιδᾶν L.

1060. mvp-comment-571-2 ρια .. ἄμβασισ. 1070. τὸν L. τὰν CA.

1060. mvp-comment-571-3 νιφάδος i. e. Where the snow lies longest. Schol. λέγων τὴν οὕτω λεγομένην λείαν πέτραν. The place meant is probably the precipitous western end of Parnes, overhanging the pass of Phyle, and clearly visible from Athens.

1060. mvp-comment-571-4 πελῶσι They will be drawing near. For πελάζω with the accusative in this sense, cp. Phil. 1163, πέλασσον.. πελάταν: Eur. Andr. 1167, Δελφίδος ἐκ γῆς δῶμα πελάζει.

1062-1064. mvp-comment-572-1 πώλοισιν ἁμίλλαις With their horses, or in the nimbly-racing chariots in which they flee. πώλοισιν refers to the pursuers, ῥιμφαρμάτοις φεύγοντες ἁμίλλαις to the pursued, who are supposed to have provided chariots for the capture of the maidens.

1065-1066. mvp-comment-573-1 ἁλώσεται.. ἀκμά ‘He' (the enemy, just referred to in φεύγοντες) will be overpowered. Terrible is the valour of our neighbours: terrible also is the youthful might of Theseus men.' For the singular number of ἁλώσεται, cp. Ant. 106, τὸν.. φῶτα βάντα πανσαγίᾳ : and for its absolute use, cp. Aj. 648-649, ἀλλ᾽ ἁλίσκεται | χὼ δεινὸς ὅρκος, κ.τ.λ.

1065-1066. mvp-comment-573-2 προσχώρων, cp. supra 493.

1066. mvp-comment-574-1 Θησειδᾶν The patronymic is used by an anachronism for the youth of Athens, with an allusion to the leadership of Theseus. Cp. Hdt. 1. 125, βασιλέες οἱ Περσείδαι. Of those who were assembled at the sacrifice of Theseus, some would be attendants of Theseus, but others would be gathered from the vicinity of the altar.

1067-1070. mvp-comment-575-1 πᾶς γὰρ .. ἄμβασις Although the emendation of these lines is uncertain, their general meaning is clearly a reminiscence of the command of Theseus to the horsemen in 899, 900, σπεύδειν ἀπὸ ῥυτῆρος, just as the description of the two passes is suggested by his words in 900-901, ἔνθα δίστομοι . . ὁδοί. Herm. (1841) conj. πᾶσα δ᾽ ὁρμᾶται χαλῶσ᾽ | ἀμπυκτήρια πωλικά : reading ὀρειβάταν in the strophe, and rejecting φάλαρα as a gloss. Bothe reads, κατά | ἀμπυκτήρια. Cp. Aj. 42,5, Tr. 510 (?). The rhythm lucul is not impossible (for the resolved trochee, cp. Phoen. 227, 237); but the change of rhythm from l. 10 of the strophe (1054) cannot be justified by such examples as Phil. 1124-1147. When all the difficulties are looked at together, it seems most probable that there is some corruption here or in l. 1054, if not in both. Qy. ἔνθ' οἴομαι ἐγρεκύδοιμον - (κατὰ) λάμπρ᾿ ἀμπυκτήρια πώλων, (-)? The words as they stand may be construed, The riders all are rushing on, in the direction of,' (κατά, cp. κατ' οὗρον, κατὰ πόδα) the bridles of the horses; i.e. Every horseman gives his steed its head.

1067-1070. mvp-comment-575-2 κατά may or may not be genuine, but Hermann's conjecture χαλῶσ᾽ ἀμπυκτήρια is somewhat prosaic.

1070. mvp-comment-576-1 ἄμβασις, abstract collective for ἀναβάται, ἱ. ε. ἱππόται. Cp. the common prose expression ἡ ἵππος. Essay on Language § 50. p. 94. For Ἀθήνη ἱππία and her temple in the Academy, see Paus. 1. 30.