Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus 432

mvp-comment-1133-1 ὡς μάλιστ’ ἂν ἐν πόθῳ λάβοις ¹

mvp-comment-1134-1 τί γάρ, ὅτῳ ²

mvp-comment-1134-2 μήτ’ Ἄρης μήτε πόντος ³

mvp-comment-1134-3 I think that I can suggest the true solution. The schol.'s

was a paraphrase of πόνος , a corruption of πόντος which actually appears in the Vatican MS. here.

mvp-comment-1135-1 ἄσκοποι … πλάκες ⁴

mvp-comment-1135-2 φερόμενον ⁵

mvp-comment-1136-1 ὀλεθρία νὺξ ⁶

mvp-comment-1137-1 ἀπίαν γᾶν ⁷

mvp-comment-1137-2 ἀλώμεναι ⁸

mvp-comment-1137-3 δύσοιστον ⁹

mvp-comment-1138-1 κατὰ … ἕλοι ¹⁰

mvp-comment-1138-2 φόνιος ¹¹

mvp-comment-1138-3 In this and some following passages the correspondence of strophe and antistrophe has been disturbed by interpolations, and also omissions, in the MSS. A

of this kind was peculiarly liable to corruption by the actors, and that has doubtless been one of the causes at work. (Cp. on 1737

.) At some points it is now impossible to restore the text with certainty; but the whole extent of the mischief is small. In dealing with such points we can only use caution, and clearly recognise the doubtful nature of the ground.—On this passage, see note in Appendix.

mvp-comment-1139-1 The words πατρὶ ξυνθανεῖν γεραιῷ ¹²

mvp-comment-1140-1 γ’ ὁ μέλλων ¹³

mvp-comment-1141-1 The MSS. give τὸ φέρον ἐκ θεοῦ καλῶς φέρειν χρή . There has certainly been an interpolation, equivalent to uu- . (1) Some reject the words φέρειν χρή . Then τὸ φέρον ἐκ θεοῦ καλῶς must be taken with φλέγεσθον :

(pass.): or, if with Herm. the verb is made midd., (cp. the act. in Ai. 196

ἄταν οὐρανίαν φλέγων

). So, if the MS. μηδ’ ἄγαν is kept, μηδ’ = (Herm., ). But μηδὲν ἄγαν or μηδ’ ἔτ’ ἄγαν (see cr. n.) gives in this case a clearer sense. (2) Wecklein, with whom I agree, rejects καλῶς and χρή , keeping φέρειν . Then τὸ φέρον ἐκ θεοῦ φέρειν = the inf. standing for imperat., a use fitting in such a precept ( O. T. 1529 ). The origin of the interpolated words is thus clear: χρή explained the use of the inf., while καλῶς was meant to fix the sense of φέρειν , lest τὸ φέρον should obscure it.

mvp-comment-1141-2 τὸ φέρον ἐκ θεοῦ ¹⁴

mvp-comment-1141-3 τὸ φέρον ¹⁵

mvp-comment-1142-1 The MS. μηδ’ ἄγαν οὕτω answers to λήγετε τοῦδ’ in 1722 . The question is, Are we (1) to compress the former, or (2) to expand the latter? Dindorf and others prefer (1), and so eject οὕτω , reading μηδ’ ἔτ’ (or μηδὲν ) ἄγαν ,=

. This view agrees with the metre, and is adopted by Heinrich Schmidt (see Metr. Analysis). If, on the other hand, οὕτω is kept here, then Hermann's λήγετ’ <ἤδη> τοῦδ’ is the simplest supplement in 1722. For Wecklein's conjecture λήγετ’ <αἰνοῦ> τοῦδ’ ( Ars Soph. emendandi p. 81), it may be said that might have dropped out before : cp. Ai. 706

αἰνὸν ἄχος

.

mvp-comment-1143-1 οὔτοι κατάμεμπτ’ ἔβητον ¹⁶

mvp-comment-1143-2 κατάμεμπτα ¹⁷

mvp-comment-1143-3 βαίνειν ¹⁸

mvp-comment-1143-4 But the scholium in L is:—

: [Elmsley ] (Theseus). . Does the lemma point to another reading? I do not think so. Papageorgius points out ( Krit. und palaeogr. Beiträge z. d. alt. Sophoklesscholien , p. 59) that was probably a mere slip, by the scholiast who copied the old scholia into L, for ( ), while was a like error for . On the strength of this schol., however, (1) Nauck conjectured οὔτοι κατάμεμπτος αἶσα : (2) Hartung, οὔτοι κατάμεμπτ’ ἔβη γάρ : (3) M. Schmidt, οὔτοι κατάμεμπτ’ ἀπέσβη , which Wecklein adopts, citing Bekk. Anecd. 422 . But the word would ill suit the swift passing of Oed.: it rather suggests a gradual extinction of life: cp. Eur. Med. 1218

¹⁹ χρόνῳ δ’ ἀπέσβη καὶ μεθῆχ’ ὁ δύσμορος | ψυχήν

.

mvp-comment-1144-1 < τοι> ²⁰

mvp-comment-1144-2 ἄρ’ ἦν ²¹

mvp-comment-1145-1 The MS. τὸ φίλον φίλον can only mean:

But the article is unendurable here, making her say, in effect, that her former duty was not the ideal of what is pleasant. It came in to patch the metre, when ἦν had dropped out. For instead of cp. 73: for the neut. pl. form, 1104.

mvp-comment-1145-2 τὸν ²²

mvp-comment-1146-1 ὦ φίλος ²³

mvp-comment-1146-2 Join τὸν ἀεὶ κατὰ γᾶς σκότον ²⁴

mvp-comment-1146-3 εἱμένος ²⁵

mvp-comment-1147-1 οὐδέ γ’ ἔνερθ’ ²⁶

mvp-comment-1147-2 οὐδὲ γέρων ²⁷

mvp-comment-1148-1 The first ἔπραξεν is itself an argument for the second. A simple repetition is more fitting than ἐξέπραξεν . Cp. on 1677

. Cp. Ai. 966

ἐμοὶ πικρὸς τέθνηκεν ἢ κείνοις γλυκύς,

αὑτῷ δὲ τερπνός· ὦν γὰρ ἠράσθη τυχεῖν

ἐκτήσαθ’ αὑτῷ, θάνατον ὅνπερ ἤθελεν

.

1680. mvp-comment-898-1 πόντος Cp. 1659, οὔτε ποντία θύελλα κινηθεῖσα τῷ τότ᾽ ἐν χρόνῳ. Allusions to the elements are characteristic of the language of this period. Essay on Language § 52. p. 98.

1682. mvp-comment-899-1 *φερόμεναι Carrying him away, is adopted as the simplest alteration of the text which satisfies the metre, while giving a recognized form. The middle voice, for which see Essay on Language § 31, b. p. 53, is better than the passive φερόμενον.

1685. mvp-comment-900-1 ἀπίαν Either (1) Distant, the word being here used in a different sense from that in l. 1303, γῆς ὅσοιπερ Απίας | πρῶτοι καλοῦνται, although the quantity is the same, whereas it is short in Hom. Od. 7. 25, τηλόθεν ἐξ ἀπίης γαίης. Οι (2) τιν᾿ Ἀπίαν γᾶν may mean somewhere in the Peloponnese, Antigone thinking of Argos as a possible refuge.

1686. mvp-comment-901-1 κλυδώνα Accusative of the space travelled over. Essay on Language § 16, P. 23. 1687,8. βίου.. τροφάνisa periphrasis for βίον. Cp. 1736, αἰῶνα τλάμον᾿ ἕξω: Εl. 1183, φεῦ τῆς ἀνύμφου δυσμόρου τε σῆς τροφῆς. 1689 ff. Modern editors rightly give these, and also the corresponding verses, 1715 ff. to Ismene, with whose character they agree. Cp. Ant. 544-545, 548. A new movement commences, which serves as ἐπῳδός to the preceding. The same doubt occurs here as in supr. 182 ff., 197 ff., whether the two sets of lines, 1689-1695, 1715-1722, like those which precede and follow them, are to be regarded as strictly antistrophic. That the doubt occurs in two places so nearly similar, is of itself a ground for caution. And both rὸ φέρον ἐκ θεοῦ in 1693 and ἄγαν οὕτω in 1694 are idiomatic Greek.

1690. mvp-comment-902-1 πατρὶ ξυνθανεῖν γεραίῳ Το lie in death with my aged father.' Cp. Phil. 1443, ἡ γὰρ εὐσέβεια συνθνήσκει βροτοῖς. By changing ἕλοι τo ἕλοιτο (cp. О. Т. 887, Aj. 397), we obtain an Ionic rhythm, not unsuited to the person of Ismene.

1692. mvp-comment-903-1 Tricl. and several editors read διδύμα . . ἀρίστα. This is the slightest of at least six changes which have been made in 11. 1689-1695, 1715-1722, to secure a metrical correspondence which remains defective.

1693. mvp-comment-904-1 τὸ φέρον ἐκ θεοῦ καλῶς φέρειν χρή] You must bear with fortitude the lot whose direction is from heaven. φέρειν, as in the frequent φέρειν εἰς, expresses tendency or intention. φέρειν ἐκ occurs only here; but cp. Eur. Ι. Α. 69, ὅτου πνοαὶ φέροιεν Ἀφροδίτης φίλα: Hdt. 1. 159, φωνὴν ἐκ τοῦ ἀδύτου γενέσθαι φέρουσαν πρὸς τὸν Ἀριστόδικον. For the rare form of verse, troch. trim. brachycat., cp. Aesch. 977, 790, supr. 1240, and Eur. Hel. 243, H. F. 120, where the 1st arsis is resolved, as here.

1695. mvp-comment-905-1 οὗ τοι κατάμεμπτ᾽ ἔβητον You have no cause to complain of your lot. More literally, The point at which you have arrived is not to be found fault with. The chorus mean to say, You, and your father's memory, are safe in the hands of Theseus. Cp. infr. 1737-1740. For the transference of the verb of motion, more frequent, however, with the adjective than the adverb, see Essay on Language p. 97, and cp. El. 979, εὖ βεβηκόσιν.

1697. mvp-comment-906-1 Ant. Then' (if to be thus is well) there is such a thing as longing for that which is not well;' i.e. Then it is possible to wish evil back again, for even what in itself was nowise loveable, was yet beloved, whilst I held him too in my arms.' For this use of ἦν in inference, see Essay on Language §. 32. p. 55, and cp. supra 117, τίς ἄρ᾽ ἦν; ποῦ ναίει;

1698. mvp-comment-907-1 τὸ φίλον That which is dear' (in the abstract). See Essay on Language § 21. p. 34, and Simon. fr. εἰ δὲ τοὶ δεινὸν τὸ γε δεινὸν ἦν.

1699. mvp-comment-908-1 Cp. infr. 1714, Il. 22.426, ὡς ὄφελεν θανέειν ἐν χερσὶν ἐμῇσιν. Ff2

1701. mvp-comment-909-1 τὸν ἀεί (sc. χρόνον). For evermore. This explanation, which is justified by the note on 1584, gives a better rhythm to this line.

1702. mvp-comment-910-1 οὐδὲ γέρων, κ.τ.λ. Even old as thou wert (or art) thou shalt never be forgotten by our love. Cp. supra 1600, πατρὶ συνθανεῖν γεραίῳ. It has been observed (on l. 1371 of the O. T.) that the soul in Hades was imagined as having all the characteristics of the person at the time of death and nothing can be more natural than that Antigone in the first moment of her sorrow should speak of her father as if he still needed tendance and care. This touch of nature extends to modern life and poetry. Shak. King John, 3.4,

His age did not lessen their affection in life, nor should it diminish their mourning for him in death. For the omission of the participle, see Essay on Language § 39. p. 72.

1704. mvp-comment-911-1 Elmsley's ἔπραξεν ; ΑΝ. *ἐξέπραξεν is preferable to ΧΟ. ἔπραξεν οὖν ; ΑΝ. ἔπραξεν (the emendation of Triclinius), (1) because preserving an exact correspondence to l. 1677 in the division of the line between the persons: (2) because introducing no unnecessary word: (3) the additional emphasis in the reply is in keeping with the mood of Antigone. Cp. Aj. 968, ὧν γὰρ ἠράσθη τυχεῖν | ἐκτήσαθ᾽ αὑτῷ, θάνατον ὅνπερ ἤθελεν.