1-116.
mvp-comment-1-1
The scene of the πρόλογος, ll. 1-116, is probably on the north side of Colonus, with Athens in the distance. See Introduction, p. 282. The spot so familiar to the audience (οὐ λόγοις τιμώμεν' ἀλλὰ τῇ συνουσίᾳ, infr. 63-64) would probably be recalled by the representation on the stage of some striking objects, especially those which marked the
religio loci. Oedipus enters (right?), led by Antigone, and sits down in the middle of the proscenium, where he remains until Antigone descries the approach of the chorus.
53.
mvp-comment-40-1
You shall know all that I myself know.' For καί, see Essay on Language § 25. a. 1, p. 42, O. T. 1239 and note. Poseidon is the guardian deity of the whole region: particular spots are sacred to several deities, such as the fire-bringer, the Titan Prometheus. 55, ff. Apollodorus, quoted by the Scholiast, mentions an altar of Prometheus in the temple of Athena in the Academy, and at the entrance of the same temple a pedestal on which was represented in relief an altar of Hephaestus and Prometheus in common, together with the figures of both deities.
56.
mvp-comment-41-1
ὃν δ᾽ ἐπιστείβεις τόπον .. Ἀθηνῶν
But the place where you rest, or
the place where you have set your foot,
is called the brazen-floored threshold of this land, the stay of Athens. Cp. Od. 17. 196, where οὐδόν is
the ground.
57.
mvp-comment-42-1
χαλκόπους Lit.
Having a foundation of brass. A compound adjective, in which, as in πυκνόπτεροι supr. 17, ὑψίποδες, Ο. Τ. 866, the force of the termination is partially lost. The meaning is nearly the same as in 1591, χαλκοῖς βάθροισι γῆθεν ἐρριζωμένον. χάλκεος =
indissoluble, as in Pind. Pyth. 10. 27, ὁ χάλκεος οὐρανός. On the question of reconciling this passage with 1590, where Oedipus is described as halting when he reached the καταρράκτης ὀδός, out of sight of the spectators, see the Introduction to this play, p. 282.
58.
mvp-comment-43-1
ἔρεισμ᾽ Ἀθηνῶν Sophocles supposes the tradition which associated the tomb of Oedipus with the glory of Athens to have been foreshadowed in the local belief: an anticipation similar to that by which the Athenians are called
Theseidae in Theseus' time, 1. 1066. Schndw. supposes ἔρεισμα to mean that this threshold of the land' was part of the rock on which the city was built. But though this fancy may have been included in the early belief, it does not agree with the word τόπον in l. 56. Cp. Pind. Fr. 46, Ἑλλάδος ἔρεισμα, κλειναὶ Ἀθῆναι.
59.
mvp-comment-44-1
Colonus, god of horsemen, who is present with them here.' Cp. 65, τοῦδε τοῦ θεοῦ. There is no need of altering τόνδε into τόν: the presence of the guardian deity, who may or may not have been represented by a statue on the stage, is assumed.
62-63.
mvp-comment-45-1
οὐ λόγοις τιμώμεν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ξυνουσίᾳ πλέον
Honoured, not in story, but more highly, by loving resort. Thus the poet honours scenes which were familiar to his audience, and probably his own home. They were as yet uncelebrated in poetry, and he was going to make them famous. If recent scholars are right in assigning the Phoenissae to the spring of 410 B.C., the allusion in Phoen. 1707 would be subsequent to O. C., according to the reasoning on p. 278, supra.
