Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 1074

Richard Jebb (Translator)

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Oedipus at Colonus. Sophocles. Richard Jebb (Translator). Cambridge. 1889.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Experimental

Oedipus at Colonus (English) (Sophocles the plays and fragments, Part 2: The Oedipus at Colonus. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, Sir, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1889. (Modernized by Perseus.))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 1074 focus
* ἔρδουσʼ, ἢ μέλλουσιν ; ὡς
προμνᾶταί τί μοι
1075
γνώμα τάχʼ ἀνδώσειν
τὰν δεινὰ τλᾶσαν, δεινὰ δʼ εὑροῦσαν πρὸς *αὐθαίμων πάθη.
τελεῖ τελεῖ Ζεύς τι κατʼ ἆμαρ·
μάντις εἴμʼ ἐσθλῶν ἀγώνων.
1080
εἴθʼ ἀελλαία ταχύρρωστος πελειὰς
αἰθερίας νεφέλας
κύρσαιμι *τῶνδʼ ἀγώνων
θεωρήσασα τοὐμὸν ὄμμα.
β
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 1074 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 1074 focus
This way once more in safe protection brought.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 1074 focus
Begann er, oder säumt der Kampf?
Mir ahnt froh das Herz,
Sie kehre bald wieder,
Die Schweres trug und schweres Leid vom blutsverwandten Manne litt.
1070
Zeus führt es heut', heute zum Ende.
Guten Kampf weissag' ich freudvol.
Könnt' ich, sturmwindgleich, ein schnellhinfliegend Täubchen,
Hoch zu des Aethers Gewölk
Entflieh'n, und dort mein Auge
1075
Am Schauspiel dieses Kampfes weiden!
Zweite Gegenstrophe.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 1059 focus
Thy daughters.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 1074 focus
Behold him, vaunting now no more,
Compell'd th' afflicted virgin to restore,
1075
Afflicted through her father's woes.
1075
Each day some deed effected shows,
The ruling hand of righteous Jove.
I am the prophet of a prosperous fight.
Had I the pennons of a dove
1080
Mysteries. These Priests were called Eumolpide, from Eumolpus the first
Hierophant.
High o'er the clouds to whirl my flight,
Then should my raptured eyes behold
The victory my thoughts foretold.

Commentary

Commentary (R. C. Jebb) (OCR draft) (Commentary (R. C. Jebb))

mvp-comment-780-1 ἔρδους’ 1

mvp-comment-780-2 μέλλουσιν 2

mvp-comment-781-1 γνώμα μοι 3 προμνᾶταί τι 4

mvp-comment-782-1 ἀντάσειν 5

mvp-comment-782-2 ἀντάω 6

mvp-comment-782-3 To ἀνδώσειν the objections are: (1) it could not possibly mean

ἀποσώσειν
,
"give back. "
In Pind. fr. 133. 3, the sole passage quoted for this sense,
ἀνδιδοι ψυχὰν πάλιν
is not
"gives back ,"
but
"sends up ,"
to the sunlight,—like
γῆ ἀναδίδωσι καρπόν
. We must not be confused by our
"give up. "
(2) To supply
"Creon"
or
"the enemy"
as subject is extremely awkward. (3) The sing. τὰν...τλᾶσαν , etc., which this requires, cannot well be defended on the ground that Antigone is chiefly thought of.

mvp-comment-782-4 With ἐνδώσειν we have to render:—

"that the sufferings of those who have endured dread things, and found dread sufferings at the hands of kinsmen, will remit ,"
—become milder. Hippocrates ( Progn. 43) uses the intrans.
ἐνδιδόναι
of a malady which remits its force. But is
πάθη … ἐνδώσειν
tolerable here, where the question is not of the sisters' sufferings being mitigated , but of their triumphant deliverance from the hands of the enemy? If, again,
ἐνδώσειν
=
"give up,"
it incurs the 2nd and 3rd objections to
ἀνδώσειν
.

mvp-comment-783-1 κατ’ ἆμαρ 7

Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) (Commentary (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) focus

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.'

1074. mvp-comment-578-1 * ἔρδουσ᾽, ἢ μέλλουσιν; ὡς] Herm. corrected the antistrophe to ὦ Ζεῦ θεῶν πανταρχέτα. But the slow movement レレトート ​_ is characteristic. See note on the metre.

1074-1076. mvp-comment-579-1 ὡς προμνᾶταί τί μοι | γνώμα] How my thoughts are pleading!' προμνᾶσθαι is generally to plead for another: and the chorus (infr. 1096) say this in the interest of Oedipus. But προperhaps conveys the association of beforehand, anticipating the event. The thought of the chorus is like a messenger, who goes before to urge the claim of a sovereign. τὶ is cognate accusative. Cp. supr. 965, Tr. 67, μύθοις εἴ τι πιστεύειν χρεών.

1076. mvp-comment-580-1 τάχ᾿ ἀνδώσειν That they will quickly restore. Although Pind. Fr. Thr. 4, Φερσεφόνα .. ἐς τὸν ὕπερθεν ἅλιον . . ἀνδιδοῖ ψυχὰν πάλιν, is not a conclusive instance of this use of ἀναδίδωμι, the existence of such a meaning is not improbable (cp. ἀνακομίζειν, ἀνακτᾶσθαι, ἀναλαμβάνειν, and esp. ἀναπέμπειν in Pind. Ι. 6 (7), 10, Ἄδραστον ἐξ ἀλαλᾶς ἄμπεμψας ὀρφανὸν μυρίων ἑτάρων ἐς Ἄργος ἵππιον), and exactly suits this place. The subject, as in ἁλώσεται, supra 1065, is easily supplied. If ἐνδώσειν is read, the words must be construed in the same way: That they will soon surrender, etc. τάχ᾽ ἂν δώσειν is indefensible, and ἐνδώσειν τᾶν . . τλασᾶν . . εὑρουσᾶν . . πάθη. That Creon will yield from the maidens,' or That the sufferings of the enduring ones much wronged by their kindred will abate, is forced, and gives a poor sense.

1077. mvp-comment-581-1 τὰν .. τλᾶσαν i. e. Antigone, whom the chorus had actually seen carried off. She is the heroine of this play as well as of the Antigone.

1077. mvp-comment-581-2 δεινὰ τλᾶσαν, supra 345-351. Eur. I. A. 932, σὲ δ', ὦ σχέτλια παθοῦσα πρὸς τῶν φιλτάτων: ib. 942, ἡ δεινὰ τλᾶσα κοὐκ ἀνεκτὰ παρθένος. Linw. reads τὼ δεινὰ τλάσα, δεινὰ δ' εὑρούσα, suggested by Dindorf in 1842.

1077. mvp-comment-581-3 δεινὰ δ᾽.. πάθη Because Creon, who was her kinsman, had carried her off by the order of Eteocles.

1079. mvp-comment-582-1 τελεῖ Future.

1079. mvp-comment-582-2 τι Α thing;' ie. The thing we desire. Essay on Language § 22. p. 36.

1080. mvp-comment-583-1 (1) 'Í am a prophet on the side of the good contest.' i. e. My prophetic power takes part with the good cause. Cp. Ο. Τ. 879, τὸ καλῶς ἔχον πάλαισμα. Or (2) I prophesy a good issue of the contest. Cp. Εl. 1499, μάντις εἰμὶ τῶνδ᾽ ἄκρος. And for ἐσθλῶν, ib. 646, εἰ μὲν πέφηνεν ἐσθλά,