[1086] This short ode holds the place of the third
στάσιμον. But it has the character of a “dance-song ” or
ὑπόρχημα, a melody of livelier movement, expressing joyous excitement. The process of discovery now approaches its final phase. The substitution of a hyporcheme for a regular stasimon has here a twofold dramatic convenience. It shortens the interval of suspense; and it prepares a more forcible contrast. For the sake of thus heightening the contrast, Soph. has made a slight sacrifice of probability. The sudden exit of Iocasta has just affected the Chorus with a dark presentiment of evil (1075). We are now required to suppose that the spirited words of Oedipus (1076-1085) have completely effaced this impression, leaving only delight in the prospect that he will prove to be a native of the land. A hyporcheme is substituted for a stasimon with precisely similar effect in the
Ajax, where the short and joyous invocation of Pan immediately precedes the catastrophe (693-717). The stasimon in
Soph. Trach. 633-662
may also be compared, in so far as its glad anticipations usher in the beginning of the end.
Strophe (1086-1097). Our joyous songs will soon be celebrating Cithaeron as native to Oedipus.
Antistrophe (1098-1109). Is he a son of some god, —of Pan or Apollo, of Hermes or Dionysus?
μάντις
as
Soph. El. 472
εἰ μὴ γὼ παράφρων μάντις ἔφυν καὶ γνώμας | λειπομένα σοφᾶς
: cp.
Soph. OC 1080
,
Soph. Ant. 1160
,
Soph. Aj. 1419
: and
μαντεύομαι = “to presage. ”
κατὰ
with an accus. of respect is somewhat rare (
Soph. Trach. 102
κρατιστεύων κατ’ ὄμμα
:
Soph. Trach. 379
ἦ κάρτα λαμπρὰ καὶ κατ’ ὄμμα καὶ φύσιν),
except in such phrases as
κατὰ πάντα, κατ’ οὐδέν, κατὰ τοῦτο. Cp. Metrical Analysis.
οὐ
=
οὐ μὰ: see on 660.
ἀπείρων
=
ἄπειρος :
Hesych. 1.433
ἀπείρονας· ἀπειράτους. Σοφοκλῆς Θυέστῃ.
Ellendt thinks that
ἀπειράτους here meant
ἀπεράντους ( “limitless ”): but elsewhere
ἀπείρατος always = “untried” or “inexperienced.” Conversely Soph. used
ἄπειρος in the commoner sense of
ἀπείρων, “vast, ” fr. 481
χιτὼν ἄπειρος ἐνδυτήριος κακῶν. περά‐ω, to go through,
πεῖρα (περίἀ, a going-through (
peritus, periculum), are closely akin to
πέρα, beyond,
πέρας, πεῖραρ a limit (
Curt. Etym. 356-357
): in poetical usage, then, their derivatives might easily pass into each other's meanings.
τὰν αὔριον πανσέληνον
“the full-moon of to-morrow, ” acc. of
ἡ αὔριον πανσέληνος (there is no adj.
αὔριος), as
Eur. Alc. 784
τὴν αὔριον μέλλουσαν,
acc. of
ἡ αὔριον μέλλουσα,
Eur. Hipp. 1117
τὸν αὔριον χρόνον.
At Athens the great Dionysia were immediately followed by the
Πάνδι—α, a festival held at full-moon in the middle of the month Elaphebolion (at the beginning of April): cp. A. Mommsen
Heortol. p. 389, and C. F. Hermann
Ant. 2.59. Wolff remarks that, if this play was produced on the last day of the Dionysia, the poet would have known that arrangement long beforehand, and may have intended an allusion to the
Πάνδια which his Athenian hearers would quickly seize. This would explain why precisely “to-morrow's fullmoon ” is named. —Nauck reads
αὖρι
(as =
ταχέως, “the coming ” full-moon): Wecklein,
ἦρι
(dat. of
ἦῤ, “the vernal full-moon ” —that, namely, in Elaphebolion.
πανσέληνον
(sc.
ὥραν):
Hdt. 2.47
ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ πανσελήνῳ.
For the accus., cp. on 1138
χειμῶνα. The meaning is: “At the next full-moon we will hold a joyous
παννυχίς, visiting the temples with
χοροί (
Soph. Ant. 153
), in honour of the discovery that Oedipus is of Theban birth; and thou, Cithaeron, shalt be a theme of our song. ” Cp.
Eur. Ion 1078
, where, in sympathy with the nocturnal worship of the gods,
ἀστερωπὸς | ἀνεχόρευσεν αἰθήρ, | χορεύει δὲ Σελάνα. The rites of the Theban Dionysus were
νύκτωρ τὰ πολλά (
Eur. Ba. 486
).
πατριώταν
since Cithaeron partly belongs to Boeotia; so Plutarch of Chaeroneia calls the Theban Dionysus his
πατριώτην θεόν,
Plut. Mor. 671c
. —I read
Οἰδίπουν
instead of
Οἰδίπου
. With the genitive, the subject to
αὔξειν
must be either (1)
ἡμᾶς understood, which is impossibly harsh; or (2)
τὰν … πανσέληνον. Such a phrase as
ἡ πανσέληνος αὔξει σε, i.e., “sees thee honoured,” is possible; cp. 438
ἥδ’ ἡμέρα φύσει σε καὶ διαφθερεῖ: but it is somewhat forced; and the order of the words is against it. The addition of one letter, giving
Οἰδίπουν
, at once yields a clear construction and a pointed sense. “Thou shalt not fail to know that
Oedipus honours thee both as native to him, and as his nurse and mother (i.e., not merely as belonging to his Theban fatherland, but as the very spot which sheltered his infancy); and that thou art celebrated in choral song by
us (
πρὸς
ἡμῶν), seeing that thou art well-pleasing to
him.”
μὴ οὐ
with
αὔξειν
, because
οὐκ ἀπείρων ἔσει = a verb of hindrance or denial with a negative.
αὔξειν
, not merely by praises, but by the fact of his birth in the neighbourhood: as Pindar says of a victor in the games,
Pind. O. 5.4
τὰν σὰν πόλιν αὔξων,
Pind. P. 8.38
αὔξων πάτραν.
The acc.
φέροντα
, instead of
φέρων, may be explained by supposing that
σέ γε is carried on as subject to
χορεύεσθαι: cp.
Soph. Trach. 706
n. Another defence of the acc. would be to take
καὶ χορ. πρὸς ἡμῶν as a parenthesis (cp.
Soph. Ant. 1279
n.): so Tyrrell in
Class. Rev. 2.141.
τροφὸν
as having sheltered him when exposed:
τί μ’ ἐδέχου; 1391.
ματέρ’
, as the place from which his life rose anew, though it had been destined to be his
τάφος, 1452.
χορεύεσθαι
to be celebrated with choral song:
Soph. Ant. 1153
πάννυχοι | χορεύουσι τὸν ταμίαν Ἴακχον.
(Not “danced over, ” like
ἀείδετο τέμενος,
Pind. O. 11.76
.)
ἐπὶ ἦρα φέροντα
see Merry's note on
Hom. Od. 3.164
αὖτις ἐπ’ Ἀτρείδῃ Ἀγαμέμνονι ἦρα φέροντες
.
ἦρα
was probably acc. sing. from a nom.
ἦρ, from root
ἀρ (to fit), as = “pleasant service. ” After the phrase
ἦρα φέρειν had arisen,
ἐπὶ was joined adverbially with
φέρειν, ἐπὶ ἦρα φέρειν being equivalent to
ἦρα ἐπιφέρειν. Aristarchus, who according to Herodian first wrote
ἐπίηρα, must have supposed an impossible tmesis of a compound adj. in the passage of the
Od. just quoted, also in
Hom. Od. 16.375
,
Hom. Od. 18.56
.
τοῖς ἐμοῖς τυρ.
i.e. to Oedipus: for the plur., see on
θανάτων, 497.
ἰήϊε
esp. as the Healer: see on 154.
σοὶ δὲ
Soph. El. 150
Νιόβα, σὲ δ’ ἔγωγε νέμω θεόν.
ἀρέστ’
i.e. consistent with those oracles which still await a
λύσις εὐαγής (921).
ἔτικτε
see on 870.
τᾶν μακραιώνων
here not goddesses (
Aesch. Seven 524
δαροβίοισι θεοῖσιν
), but the Nymphs, who, though not immortal, live beyond the human span;
HH 4.260
αἵ ῥ’ οὔτε θνητοῖς οὔτ’ ἀθανάτοισιν ἕπονται· | δηρὸν μὲν ζώουσι καὶ ἄμβροτον εἶδαρ ἔδουσιν.
They consort with Pan,
ὅς τ’ ἀνὰ πίση | δενδρήεντ’ ἄμυδις φοιτᾷ χοροήθεσι Νύμφαις,
HH 19.2
. In
Πανὸς ὀρεσσιβάτα προσπελασθεῖσ’
, the reading of the MSS., we note (1) the loss after
ὀρεσσιβάτα of one syllable, answering to the last of
ἀπείρων in 1087: (2) the somewhat weak compound
προσπελασθεῖσ’: (3) the gen., where, for this sense, the dat. is more usual, as
Aesch. PB 896
μηδὲ πλαθείην γαμετῇ.
L has
κοίτῃ written over
ὀρεσσιβάτα. I had thought of
λέκτροις πελασθεῖσ’
. But the gen. is quite admissible: and on other grounds Lachmann's
πατρὸς πελασθεῖσ’
is far better, since
πατρὸς, written
προς (with line superscribed), would explain the whole corruption. If in 1090 we keep
οὐκ ἔσει τὰν αὔριον
, it is best to read here with Arndt.
ἢ σέ γ’ εὐνάτειρά τις
. On the view that in 1090
τὰν ἐπιοῦσαν ἔσει was a probable emendation (see Appendix on that verse), I proposed to read here,
ἢ σέ γ’ ἔφυσε πατὴρ | Λοξίας; If the
σε of
ἔφυσε had once been lost (through a confusion with the preceding
σἔ, ΓΕΦΥΠΑΤΗΡ might easily have become
ΓΕΘΥΓΑΤΗΡ: the
τις (which is not in L) would have been inserted for metre's sake, and the change of
Λοξίας to
Λοξίου would have followed. (It cannot be objected that a mention of the mother is required here, since, as the context shows, the foremost thought is, “what god was thy sire? ”) It would be a very forced way of taking
ἢ σέ γέ τις θυγάτηρ to make
θυγάτηρ depend on
μακραιώνων, and
Λοξίου on
πελασθεῖσ’ (i.e., “some daughter of the Nymphs wedded to Pan, or haply to Loxias ”). Nor does it seem easy to take
θυγάτηρ with
τᾶν μακραιώνων in both clauses ( “some daughter of the Nymphs, wedded to Pan, or perhaps to Loxias ”). On the whole, I now prefer Arndt's correction. -For
σέ γε
in the second alternative, cp.
Soph. Phil. 1116
πότμος σε δαιμόνων τάδ’, | οὐδὲ σέ γε δόλος ἔσχεν.
Hdt. 7.10
(ad fin.)
διαφορεύμενον ἤ κου ἐν γῇ τῇ Ἀθηναίων ἢ σέ γε ἐν τῇ Λακεδαιμονίων.
πλάκες ἀγρόνομοι
=
πλ. ἀγροῦ νεμομένου, highlands affording open pasturage: so
ἀγρον. αὐλαῖς,
Soph. Ant. 785
. Apollo as a pastoral god had the title of
Νόμιος (Theocr. 25. 21), which was esp. connected with the legend of his serving as shephered to Laomedon on Ida (
Hom. Il. 21.448
) and to Admetus in Thessaly (
Hom. Il. 2.766
:
Eur. Alc. 572
μηλονόμας).
Macrobius 1.17.43 (Apollinis)
aedes ut ovium pastoris sunt apud Camirenses [in Rhodes]
ἐπιμηλίου, apud Naxios
ποιμνίου, itemque deus
ἀρνοκόμης colitur, et apud Lesbios
ναπαῖος [cp. above, 1026],
et multa sunt cognomina per diversas civitates ad dei pastoris officium tendentia.
Callim. Apoll. 47
οὐδέ κεν αἶγες | δεύοιντο βρεφέων ἐπιμηλίδες, ᾗσιν Ἀπόλλων | βοσκομένῃς ὀφθαλμὸν ἐπήγαγεν.
ὁ Κυλλάνας ἀνάσσων
Hermes:
HH 3.1
Ἑρμῆν ὕμνει, Μοῦσα, Διὸς καὶ Μαιάδος υἱόν, | Κυλλήνης μεδέοντα καὶ Ἀρκαδίης πολυμήλου
:
Verg. Aen. 8.138
quem candida Maia | Cyllenes gelido conceptum vertice fudit. The peak of Cyllene (now
Ziria), about 7300 ft. high, in N. E. Arcadia, is visible from the Boeotian plain near Leuctra, where Cithaeron is on the south and Helicon to the west, with a glimpse of Parnassus behind it: see my
Modern Greece, p. 77.
ὁ Βακχεῖος θεὸς
not “the god
Βάκχος” (though in
Soph. OC 1494
the MSS. give
Ποσειδαωνίῳ θεῷ =
Ποσειδῶνἰ, but “the god of the
Βάκχοι, ” the god of Bacchic frenzy;
HH 19.46
ὁ Βάκχειος Διόνυσος
:
Soph. OC 678
ὁ Βακχιώτας … Διόνυσος.
Some would always write
Βάκχειος (like
Ὁμήρειος, Αἰάντειος, etc.): on the other hand,
Βακχεῖος is said to have been Attic (cp.
Καδμεῖος): see Chandler,
Greek Accentuation, §381, 2nd ed.
εὕρημα
expresses the sudden delight of the god when he receives the babe from the mother, —as Hermes receives his new-born son Pan from the
Νύμφη ἐϋπλόκαμος,
HH 19.40
τὸν δ’ αἶψ’ Ἑρμείης ἐριούνιος ἐς χέρα θῆκεν | δεξάμενος· χαῖρεν δὲ νόῳ περιώσια δαίμων.
The word commonly = a lucky “find, ” like
ἕρμαιον, or a happy thought. In
Eur. Ion 1349
it is not “
a foundling, ” but the box containing
σπάργανα found by Ion.
συμπαίζει
Anacreon fr. 2 (Bergk p. 775) to Dionysus:
ὦναξ, ᾧ δαμάλης (subduing)
Ἔρως | καὶ Νύμφαι κυανώπιδες | πορφυρέη τ’ Ἀφροδίτη | συμπαίζουσιν· ἐπιστρέφεαι δ’ | ὑψηλῶν κορυφὰς ὀρέων. Ἑλικωνίδων is Porson's correction of
Ἑλικωνιάδων (MSS.), ad
Eur. Orest. 614
. Since
αἶς
answers to
δέ in 1097, Nauck conjectured
Ἑλικῶνος αἶσι. But this is unnecessary, as the metrical place allows this syllable to be either short or long: so in
Soph. El. 486
αἰσχίσταις
answers to 502
νυκτὸς εὖ.Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus Tyrannus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge, UK. 1885.
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