Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 939

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)) — 939 focus
ἐγὼ οὔτʼ ἄνανδρον τήνδε τὴν πόλιν λέγων,
ὦ τέκνον Αἰγέως, οὔτʼ ἄβουλον, ὡς σὺ φῄς,
940
τοὔργον τόδʼ ἐξέπραξα, γιγνώσκων δʼ ὅτι
οὐδείς ποτʼ αὐτοὺς τῶν ἐμῶν ἂν ἐμπέσοι
ζῆλος ξυναίμων, ὥστʼ ἐμοῦ τρέφειν βίᾳ.
ᾔδη δʼ ὁθούνεκ ἄνδρα καὶ πατροκτόνον
κἄναγνον οὐ δεξοίατʼ, οὐδʼ ὅτῳ γάμοι
945
ξυνόντες εὑρέθησαν ἀνόσιοι τέκνων.
τοιοῦτον αὐτοῖς Ἄρεος εὔβουλον πάγον
ἐγὼ ξυνῄδη χθόνιον ὄνθʼ, ὃς οὐκ ἐᾷ
τοιούσδʼ ἀλήτας τῇδʼ ὁμοῦ ναίειν πόλει·
ᾧ πίστιν ἴσχων τήνδʼ ἐχειρούμην ἄγραν.
950
καὶ ταῦτʼ ἂν οὐκ ἔπρασσον, εἰ μή μοι πικρὰς
αὐτῷ τʼ ἀρὰς ἠρᾶτο καὶ τὠμῷ γένει·
ἀνθʼ ὧν πεπονθὼς ἠξίουν τάδʼ ἀντιδρᾶν.
θυμοῦ γὰρ οὐδὲν γῆράς ἐστιν ἄλλο πλὴν
θανεῖν· θανόντων δʼ οὐδὲν ἄλγος ἅπτεται.
955
πρὸς ταῦτα πράξεις οἷον ἂν θέλῃς· ἐπεὶ
ἐρημία με, κεἰ δίκαιʼ ὅμως λέγω,
σμικρὸν τίθησι· πρὸς δὲ τὰς πράξεις ὅμως,
καὶ τηλικόσδʼ ὤν, ἀντιδρᾶν πειράσομαι.
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 939 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 939 focus
Great Aegeus’ son!
Not as misprising this thy city’s strength
In arms, or wisdom in debate, I dared
940
This capture, but in simple confidence
Thy citizens would not so envy me
My blood relations, as to harbour them
Against my will,—nor welcome to their hearths
A man incestuous and a parricide,
945
The proved defiler of his mother’s bed
Such was the mount of Ares that I knew,
Seat of high wisdom, planted in their soil,
That suffers no such lawless runaways
To haunt within the borders of your realm.
Relying on that I laid my hands upon
950
This quarry, nor had done so, were it not
That bitterly he cursed myself and mine.
That moved me to requital, since even Age
Still bears resentment, till the power of death
Frees men from anger, as from all annoy.
955
Being sovereign here thou wilt do thy pleasure. I,
Though I have justice on my side, am weak
Through being alone. Yet if you meddle with me,
Old as I am, you’ll find me dangerous.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 939 focus
Nicht weil ich dachte, mänmerleer sei diese Stadt,
O Sohn des Aegeus, oder rathlos, wie du sagst,
Vollbracht' ich solches; glaubt' ich doch, daß nimmermehr
Um meine Blutsverwandten so der Eifer euch
Befallen werde, sie zu hegen mir zum Troz.
940
Ich wußte, niemals würdet ihr den Schandbaren,
Den Vatermörder pflegen, nie den Frevler, der
Die Gräuelehe mit der eignen Mutter schloß.
So wußt' ich auch, daß Ares' weises Volksgericht 1
In eurem Lande heimisch sei, das nicht vergönnt,
945
Daß solcher Flüchtling Wohnung nehm' in dieser Stadt.
Hierauf vertrauend, eignet' ich den Raub mir an 2
Und hätte das auch nie gethan, wenn dieser nicht
Mit bittern Flüchen mich verwünscht und mein Geschlecht.
Für solches Leid schien solche Nache mir gerecht.
950
Ein andres Alter kennt der Zorn ja keines als
Den Tod; die Todten rührt allein der Kummer nicht.
Und nun beginne, was dir auch gefallen mag;
Denn ich, verlassen, wie ich bin, erscheine schwach,
Wenn ich gerecht auch rede; doch auf Thaten, traun,
955
Versuch' ich, wenn auch hochbejahrt, Erwiderung.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 939 focus
Theseus, it was not that I thought this city
Without or guards to save, or laws to rule,
940
Which brought me here, nor unadvised I came ;
But that I hoped you never would receive
My kindred here against my will, nor e'er
Embrace a vile incestuous parricide,
Or cherish and protect him in a land
Whose court, renowned for justice, suffers not
Such poor abandoned exiles to reside
Within its borders ; therefore did 1 this,
Which yet I had not done but for the curses
950
Which he hath poured on me and all my race ;
Ileven,afe inspired me ; anger, well thou knowst,
Can never be extinguished but by death.
Which closeth every wound. At present, Theseus,
955
It must be as thou wilt ; my want of power,
How just soe'er my cause, demands submission ;
Yet, old and weak, I shall not tamely yield.
English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Robert Potter, 1788)) — 939 focus
Have I here done this deed; but knowing this,
No friendly zeal e'er moved you to sustain
940
Those of my blood, by force, against my will.
I knew your state would not receive a man
Unholy, with his father's blood distain'd;
His nuptial bed polluted with the guilt
Of incest. Well I knew your awful Court
945
High on the mount of Mars, for wisdom famed,
Coeval with your land, would ne'er allow
Such outcasts in their city to reside.
On this confiding I presumed to seize
The wretch; nor had I done it, but he pour'd
950
Such dreadful execrations forth on me
And on my race, that for the wrongs received
I deem'd this meet requital; for the force
Of rage is not abated but by death;
The dead feel no resentment. For these things
955
Act as thy will inclines thee; thus alone,
Just though my cause, my pow'r is small: yet know
Such as you see me now, whate'er your deeds,
Like deeds will I endeavour to repay.

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-700-1 ἐγὼ οὔτ’ 1

mvp-comment-700-2 L's λέγω , of which

λέγων
was a correction, came in by mistake from 936. Schneidewin's νέμων has been generally received, and is clearly right: cp. on 879
. While ἄνανδρον answers to
κένανδρον ἢ δούλην
in 917, ἄβουλον (940), which implies the lack of a guiding mind, answers to
κἄμ’ ἴσον τῷ μηδενί
in 918.—Creon's speech is as clever as it is impudent. He has only anticipated what the Athenians themselves would have wished. Indeed, he has acted in reliance on the Areiopagus (950). If his method has been rough, he was provoked by the violence of Oedipus.

mvp-comment-701-1 αὐτοὺς 2

mvp-comment-701-2 ἐμπέσοι 3

mvp-comment-702-1 ξυναίμων 4

mvp-comment-703-1 κἄναγνον 5 ἄναγνον 6

mvp-comment-703-2 δεξοίατ’ 7

mvp-comment-704-1 ηὑρέθησαν 8

mvp-comment-704-2 τέκνων 9

mvp-comment-704-3 ξυνόντες 10

mvp-comment-704-4 Wecklein takes

τέκνων
as "relative" gen. with
ἀνόσιοι
, in the sense of
παιδουργίας, σπορᾶς
: "a marriage unholy in respect of its offspring." This seems forced. Musgrave's
τοκέων
would be more specious if the gen. of a noun in
‐εύς
anywhere else suffered synizesis in this place of the verse. (In 1361
φονέως
is in the 4th place.) Soph. has
γονέων
El. 146 , 241 , and
τοκέων
ib. 187 , Eur. the latter H. F. 915 , Or. 815 , and in these 5 places (all lyric) the words are scanned as trisyllables: a fact which, so far as it goes, is against
τοκέων
here. Neither
τέκνοις
nor
τέκνῳ
is a probable remedy; nor is
φίλων
. In my belief
τέκνων
is sound.

mvp-comment-705-1 τοιοῦτον 11

mvp-comment-705-2 εὔβουλον 12

mvp-comment-706-1 χθόνιον 13

mvp-comment-707-1 θυμοῦ 14

mvp-comment-707-2 θανόντων 15

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

939. mvp-comment-509-1 ἄνανδρον Without manhood, referring to κένανδρον, supr. 927. Some have tried to preserve the reading of L (λέγω) by joining ἄβουλον (940) with ἔργον (941), but the epithet does not agree with the tenor of Theseus' speech. Cp. Eur. Suppl. 314-323.

940. mvp-comment-510-1 οὔτ᾽ ἄβουλον Nor without counsel; referring to 913-914, δίκαι' ἀσκοῦσαν εἰσελθὼν πόλιν, κἄνευ νόμου κραίνουσαν οὐδέν.

941. mvp-comment-511-1 γιγνώσκων δ' ὅτι But judging that.

942-943. mvp-comment-512-1 οὐδεὶς.. βίᾳ They would never be seized with an officious desire of maintaining my relations against my will. αὐτούς, sc. τοὺς Ἀθηναίους, implied in τήνδε τὴν πόλιν supr. For the accusative αὐτούς, see Essay on Language § 16. p. 23, and cp. Ο. Τ. 713, ὡς αὐτὸν ἥξοι μοῖρα πρὸς παιδὸς θανεῖν.

944. mvp-comment-513-1 ἤδη δ' And I was sure. Cp. the use of ἐπίσταμαι in Herodotus.

945. mvp-comment-514-1 κἄναγνον κἄνανδρον in L. is clearly a misreading from l. 939. Ср. Ο. Τ. 894, ἔρξεται.

945. mvp-comment-514-2 6. Nor one who was discovered to be living in incest with his own parent.' Lit. With whom were found unholy marriages of children with parents. τέκνων is not genitive of the object, but attributive genitive (Essay on Language § 9. p. 12), sufficiently defining the ἀνόσιοι γάμοι, although τέκνων πρὸς γονέας might be a more complete expression.

947. mvp-comment-515-1 Such a seat of good counsel did I know them to possess, the hill of Ares in this land. εὔβουλον opposed to ἄβουλον supra 940. For the argumentative use of τοιοῦτον, see Essay on Language § 22. p. 35.

950. mvp-comment-516-1 To it I trusted when I seized this prey.' Creon, as the next of kin, claims the right of dealing summarily with the homicide.

954. mvp-comment-517-1 The Schol. here quotes the proverb, ὁ θυμὸς ἔσχατον γηράσκει, as being referred to by Alcaeus. Cp. Thuc. 2.44.6, τὸ γὰρ φιλότιμον ἀγήρων μόνον. For anger yields not to age, until death comes. No pain indeed can touch the dead.' Aesch. Fr. 250, ἄλγος δ᾽ οὐδὲν ἅπτεται νεκροῦ. After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well; Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison, Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing, Can touch him further.' Shak. Macb. 3. 2.