Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 231

Robert Potter (Translator)

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Theseus
The warm benevolence of such a man
Who would reject? To him among us first
The common hospitable altar stands;
Then coming suppliant to these awful pow'rs,
To me and to my country he repays
An ample recompense; revering which
His courtesy I never will reject,
635
But give him in this land to dwell secure.
If here the stranger wishes to abide,
I give thee charge to guard him: if thy will
Inclines thee, Edipus, with me to go,
Thou hast thy choice; my will assents to thine.
ADIP. Thou ruler of the skies, on men like these
640
Pour down thy blessings!
640
What dost thou resolve?
642
Wilt thou with me to Athens ?

Oedipus at Colonus. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.

Current edition Experimental

English (Robert Potter, 1788) (OCR draft) (English) (English (Robert Potter, 1788))

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (2)
Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (Lewis Campbell, 1879)) — 231 focus
ταις ἑτέραις ἑτέρα παραβαλλομέ-
Greek (F. Storr, 1912) (OCR draft) Experimental (Greek (F. Storr, 1912)) — 254-509 focus
Translations (4)
English (Lewis Campbell, 1906) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Lewis Campbell, 1906)) — 231 focus
OED
When I am dead, and thou hast buried me.
German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (German (J. J. C. Donner, 1875; OCR review)) — 254 focus
So wisse, Kind des Oedipus: dein Mißgeschick,
Wie dieses Mannes herbes Loos, weckt unsern Schmerz.
250
Doch bebend vor der Götter Zorn, vermögen wir
Nicht mehr zu sagen, als du schon gehört von uns.
English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Francklin, 1758–1759)) — 231 focus
Oedipus
848
O wretched CEdipus !
English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Sir Richard Jebb, 1904)) — 254-507 focus

Commentary

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

mvp-comment-474-1 δῆτ’ 1

mvp-comment-474-2 ἐκβάλοι 2

mvp-comment-475-1 ὅτῳ 3

mvp-comment-475-2 κοινή 4

mvp-comment-475-3 αἰέν 5

mvp-comment-475-4 δορύξενος 6

mvp-comment-475-5 Wecklein brackets the whole passage from 632

ὅτῳ
down to 637
τὴν τοῦδε
as
"a later addition,"
because (1) there could be no
ξενία
when Oedipus did not even know the name of Theseus (68), and (2)
σεβισθεὶς
in 636 is suspicious. On this, see ad loc. As to (1), the
ξενία
to which Theseus refers is not a personal friendship, but a hereditary alliance between the royal houses, as in Eur. Suppl. 930 Polyneices (whom he had not seen before) is his
ξένος
. Cp. on 619
. After Wecklein's excision, we have
τίς δῆτ’ ἂν ἀνδρὸς εὐμένειαν ἐκβάλοι
τοιοῦδε; χώρᾳ δ’ ἔμπαλιν κατοικιῶ
. This is incoherent.

mvp-comment-476-1 ἀφιγμένος 7

mvp-comment-476-2 δασμός 8

mvp-comment-477-1 The aor. σεβισθεὶς only here:

σεβίζειν
1007 ,
σεβίσασα
Ant. 943 ,
σεβίζομαι 9
Aesch. Suppl. 922 . In later Gk. the pass. aor. of σεβάζομαι was deponent, as Anth. P. 7. 122
αἴ, αἲ Πυθαγόρης τί τόσον κυάμους ἐσεβάσθη;
It appears rash to deny that ἐσεβίσθην could be so used. The deponent use of
ἐσέφθην
is attested only by Plat. Phaedr. 254 B
( σεφθεῖσα )
, and Hesych. 1. 1456
ἐσέφθην· ἐσεβάσθην, ἡσύχασα, ᾐσχύνθην. Σοφοκλῆς Δαιδάλῳ
(fr. 168 Nauck).

mvp-comment-477-2 ἐκβαλῶ 10

mvp-comment-478-1 ἔμπολιν 11

mvp-comment-478-2 ἔμπαλιν 12

mvp-comment-478-3 δέ 13

mvp-comment-479-1 σέ 14

mvp-comment-480-1 εἰ δὲ τόδε — στείχειν μετ’ ἐμοῦ, — ἡδύ ἐστι — δίδωμί σοι, τούτων κρίναντι ( ὁπότερον βούλει ), χρῆσθαι ( αὐτᾦ 15

mvp-comment-480-2 τούτων 16

mvp-comment-480-3 δίδωμι … χρῆσθαι 17

mvp-comment-480-4 With

εἴτ’ ἐμοῦ
, the constr. would be,
εἴτε μετ’ ἐμοῦ στείχειν
(
ἡδὺ αὐτῷ ἐστι, στείχειν πάρεστιν
), a word expressing consent being evolved from
τάξω
. But (1) this is harsher than O. T. 91
εἰ τῶνδε χρῄζεις πλησιαζόντων κλύειν
ἕτοιμος εἰπεῖν, εἴτε καὶ στείχειν ἔσω
 (
χρῄζεις
), where
ἕτοιμος
is more easily fitted to the second clause; though somewhat similar is Eur. Ion 1120
πεπυσμέναι γάρ, εἰ θανεῖν ἡμᾶς 18 χρεών,
ἥδιον ἂν θάνοιμεν, εἴθ’ ὁρᾶν φάος
 (
χρεών
), sc.
ἥδιον ἂν ὁρῷμεν
. And (2) in proposing the second alternative,—that Oed. should accompany him,—it is more suitable that he should address Oed. himself.

mvp-comment-480-5 τῇδε 19

mvp-comment-480-6 ξυνοίσομαι 20

mvp-comment-481-1 διδοίης … εὖ 21

mvp-comment-482-1 δόμους στείχειν 22

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

632-633. mvp-comment-349-1 ὅτου.. ἑστία Whose friendly alliance, first of all, has been ever known amongst us as a common possession; the family of Cadmus being πρόξενοι of Athens and not merely ξένοι of Theseus;

publicum hospitium dicit, ut opponatur ἰδιοξένῳ.
Linw. Or (2), reading ὅτῳ with Suidas, Who, first of all, has a home and place of defence always open to him in our land;' κοινή, in right of a mutual bond. Semper apud se paratum esse Oedipo hospitium pro mutua quadam vel inter ipsos vel inter majores eorum necessitudine.' Herm. Euripides represents Polynices as having been the ξένος of Theseus: Eur. Suppl. 930. For the alliance supposed to exist between Athens and Thebes, cp. supr. 606, 616, 618, infr. 758, 929. used for ξενία, like δόρυ for. πόλεμος. For the expression of a similar feeling, cp. Plat. Legg. 1. 642 Β, τυγχάνει ἡμῶν ἡ ἑστία τῆς πόλεως οὖσα ὑμῶν πρόξενος.

633. mvp-comment-350-1 αἰέν On all occasions,' i. e. independently of his other claims on us.

634-635. mvp-comment-351-1 ἔπειτα.. τίνει The sentence returns from the relative to an independent construction. Essay on Language p. 64. Theseus with noble brevity, (supr. 569), gives two or more reasons in one. Oedipus is (1) an ally, (2) a suppliant claiming Divine protection, (3) he promises to secure victory for Athens.

637. mvp-comment-352-1 ἔμπαλιν On the contrary. The conjectural emendation ἔμπολιν (Musgr.) is unnecessary, and if it were accepted the opposition of clauses would not be sufficiently marked by δé. The word ἔμπολις occurs only once, infra 1156. ('Non opus ἔμπαλιν : fortius ἔμπολιν.' Herm.)

638. mvp-comment-353-1 εἰ δ΄.. μίμνειν δέ = But with regard to the particular spot, referring to the comprehensive word χώρᾳ preceding.

640. mvp-comment-354-1 τούτων, κ.τ.λ. A general apodosis relating to both the preceding clauses is substituted for the apodosis of the latter clause.

640. mvp-comment-354-2 τούτων . . κρίναντι χρῆσθαι χρῆσθαι, sc. τῷ ἑτέρῳ. To make choice between these alternatives and use the one so chosen.' Cp. Ο. Τ. 640, δρᾶσαι.. δυοῖν ἀποκρίνας κακοῖν.

641. mvp-comment-355-1 τῇδε Sc. ᾗ ἂν σὺ κρίνῃς. Cp. Εl. 1301-1302, ὧδ᾽ ὅπως καὶ σοὶ φίλον | καὶ τοὐμὸν ἔσται τῇδ᾽.

641. mvp-comment-355-2 ξυνοίσομαι I will concur. 647. μέγ᾽ ἂν λέγοις .. συνουσίας] You seem to intimate a great boon which your abode with us will confer.' ἂν λέγοις = ἔοικας λέγειν, cp. El. 1372, οὐκ ἂν μακρῶν ἔθ᾽ ἡμὲν οὐδὲν ἂν λόγων | Πυλάδη, τόδ' εἴη τοὔργον. τῆς συνουσίας, genitive of relation (Essay on Language § 9. p. 13), A great gift in respect of your dwelling with us.