[1186]
στάσιμον τέταρτον. See sect. 10 of the first note in the Appendix.
1st strophe (1186-1195). How vain is mortal life! 'Tis well seen in Oedipus:
1st antistrophe (1196-1203): who saved Thebes, and became its king:
2nd strophe (1204-1212): but now what misery is like to his?
2nd antistrophe (1213-1222). Time hath found thee out and hath judged. Would that I had never known thee! Thou wast our deliverer once; and now by thy ruin we are undone.
ὡς
with
ἐναριθμῶ· τὸ μηδὲν
adverbially with
ζώσας
: i.e. how absolutely do I count you as living a life which is no life.
ζώσας
should not be taken as = “while you live,” or “though you live.” We find
οὐδέν εἰμι, “I am no more,” and also, with the art.,
τὸ μηδέν εἰμι, “I am as if I were not”:
Soph. Trach. 1107
κἂν τὸ μηδὲν ὦ
:
Soph. Aj. 1275
τὸ μηδὲν ὄντας.
Here
ζώσας
is a more forcible substitute for
οὔσας, bringing out the contrast between the semblance of vigour and the real feebleness.
ἴσα καὶ
=
ἴσα (or
ἴσον) ὥσπερ, a phrase used by
Thuc. 3.14
(ἴσα καὶ ἱκέται ἐσμέν),
and
Eur. El. 994
(σεβίζω σ’ ἴσα καὶ μάκαρας),
which reappears in late Greek, as Aristid. 1. 269 (Dind.).
ἐναριθμῶ
only here, and (midd.) in
Eur. Orest. 623
εἰ τοὐμὸν ἔχθος ἐναριθμεῖ κῆδός τ’ ἐμόν
=
ἐν ἀριθμῷ ποιεῖ, if you make of account.
φέρει
=
φέρεται, cp. 590.
δοκεῖν
“to seem,” sc.
εὐδαιμονεῖν: not absol., “to have reputation,” a sense which
οἱ δοκοῦντες, τὰ δοκοῦντα can sometimes bear in
direct antithesis to
οἱ ἀδοξοῦντες or the like (
Eur. Hec. 291
etc.) Cp.
Eur. Her. 865
τὸν εὐτυχεῖν δοκοῦντα μὴ ζηλοῦν πρὶν ἂν | θανόντ’ ἴδῃ τις
:
Soph. Aj. 125
ὁρῶ γὰρ ἡμᾶς οὐδὲν ὄντας ἅλλο πλὴν | εἴδωλ’ ὅσοιπερ ζῶμεν ἢ κούφην σκιάν.
ἀποκλῖναι
a metaphor from the heavenly bodies; cp.
ἀποκλινομένης τῆς ἡμέρης (
Hdt. 3.104
): and so
κλίνει ἡ ἡμέρα, ὁ ἥλιος in later Greek:
Dem. 1.13
οὐκ ἐπὶ τὸ ῥᾳθυμεῖν ἀπέκλινεν.
Xen. Mem. 3.5.13
ἡ πόλις … ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ἔκλινεν.
τὸν σόν τον
κ.τ.λ. The apparently long syllable
τὸν
(=
ἐξ in 1202) is “irrational, ” having the time-value only of ˘: see Metrical Analysis. The
τὸ σόν τοι
of the MSS. involves a most awkward construction:— “having thy example,—having thy fate, I say, (
as an example) ”; for we could not well render “having thy case
(τὸ σόν) as an example. ” Against
τὸν σόν
, which is decidedly more forcible, nothing can be objected except the threefold repetition; but this is certainly no reason for rejecting it in a lyric utterance of passionate feeling.
οὐδὲν βροτῶν
nothing (i.e. no being) among men, a stronger phrase than
οὐδένα: Nauck compares fr. 652
οἱ δὲ τῇ γλώσσῃ θρασεῖς | φεύγοντες ἄτας ἐκτός εἰσι τῶν κακῶν· | Ἄρης γὰρ οὐδὲν τῶν κακῶν λωτίζεται, “no dastard life ”:
HH Herm. 34
οὔπερ τι πεφυγμένον ἔστ’ Ἀφροδίτην | οὔτε θεῶν μακάρων οὔτε θνητῶν ἀνθρώπων.
Add
Soph. Phil. 446
(with reference to Thersites being still alive)
ἔμελλ’· ἐπεὶ οὐδέν πω κακόν γ’ ἀπώλετο, | ἀλλ’ εὖ περιστέλλουσιν αὐτὰ δαίμονες· | καί πως τὰ μὲν πανοῦργα καὶ παλιντριβῆ | χαίρουσ’ ἀναστρέφοντες ἐξ Ἅιδου, τὰ δὲ | δίκαια καὶ τὰ χρήστ’ ἀποστέλλουσ’ ἀεί. The
οὐδένα
of the MSS. involves the resolution of a long syllable (the second of
οὐδὲν
)which has an ictus; this is inadmissible, as the ear will show any one who considers the antistrophic verse, 1203,
Θήβαισιν ἀνάσσων.
καθ’ ὑπερβολὰν τοξεύσας
having hit the answer to the riddle of the Sphinx, when Teiresias and all others had failed: cp. 398:
Aesch. Ag. 628
ἔκυρσας ὥστε τοξότης ἄκρος σκοποῦ.
ἐκράτησε
At 1193 the Chorus addressed Oedipus: at 1197 (
ὅστις
κ.τ.λ.) they turn to invoke
Zeus as the witness of his achievements; and so in 1200 L, which here has the corrupt
ἐκράτησας, rightly gives
ἀνέστα
. Then at 1201 (
ἐξ οὗ
κ.τ.λ.) they resume the direct address to Oedipus, which is thenceforth maintained to the end of the ode. To read
ἐκράτησας and
ἀνέστας would be to efface a fine trait, marking the passion of grief which turns from earth to heaven, and then again to earth.
τοῦ πάντ’ εὐδαίμονος
for the adverbial
πάντα
see on 475; also 823, 1425.
φθίσας
because the Sphinx, when her riddle was solved, threw herself from a rock (
Apollod. 3.5
): cp. 397
ἔπαυσά νιν.
τὰν γαμψώνυχα
κ.τ.λ. The place of the second adj. may be explained by viewing
παρθένον‐χρησμῳδόν as a composite idea: cp.
Soph. Phil. 393
τὸν μέγαν Πάκτωλον‐εὔχρυσον
:
Soph. OC 1234
τό τε κατάμεμπτον … | γῆρας‐ἄφιλον
:
Soph. El. 133
τὸν ἐμὸν … πατέρ’ ἄθλιον.
So
Pind. P. 1.95
, 5. 99 etc. This is not like
τὸ σὸν στόμα … ἐλεινόν in 672 (n.). -
παρθένον
: see on
κόρα, 508.
θανάτων πύργος
see on 218.
ἀκούειν
to hear of, defining
ἀθλιώτερος
:
Eur. Hipp. 1202
φρικώδη κλύειν.
Whose woes are more impressive to others, or more cruel for himself? Cp.
Soph. OC 306
πολὺ … τὸ σὸν | ὄνομα διήκει πάντας.
The constr. is
τίς ἀθλιώτερος ἀκούειν, τίς
(ἀθλιώτερος)
ξύνοικος ἐν ἄταις
κ.τ.λ., who is more wretched to hear of (whose story is more tragic), who is more wretched as dwelling amid woes (whose present miseries are sharper)? It is not possible to supply
μᾶλλον with
ξύνοικος
from
ἀθλιώτερος.In 1214 the
δικάζει τὸν of the MSS. should be kept (see Metrical Analysis): here the simple transposition of
τίς ἐν πόνοις
is far the most probable cure for the metre.
ἐν
with
ἄταις
as well as
πόνοις
: see on 734: for the redundant
ἐν … ξύν‐
,1126.
The dat.
ἀλλαγᾷ might be instrumental, but is rather circumstantial, =
τοῦ βίου ἠλλαγμένου.
λιμὴν
schol.
ὅτι μήτηρ ἦν καὶ γυνὴ ἡ Ἰοκάστη, ἣν λέγει λιμένα. Cp. 420 ff.
πεσεῖν
here =
ἐμπεσεῖν (which Hartung would read, but unnecessarily).
Aristoph. Thes. 1122
πεσεῖν ἐς εὐνὰς καὶ γαμήλιον λέχος.
The bold use is assisted by
θαλαμηπόλῳ (bridegroom) which goes closely with
πεσεῖν.
ἄλοκες
cp. 1256,
Soph. Ant. 569
,
Aesch. Seven 753
.
σῖγ’
cp.
Aesch. Ag. 37
οἶκος δ’ αὐτός, εἰ φθογγὴν λάβοι, | σαφέστατ’ ἂν λέξειεν.
ἄκονθ’
not as if he had been a criminal who sought to hide conscious guilt; but because he had not foreseen the disclosure which was to result from his inquiry into the murder of Laius. —
χρόνος
, which
φύει ἄδηλα (
Soph. Aj. 647
): fr. 280
πρὸς ταῦτα κρύπτε μηδέν, ὡς ὁ πάνθ’ ὁρῶν | καὶ πάντ’ ἀκούων (cp. note on 660)
πάντ’ ἀναπτύσσει χρόνος: see on 614. Time is here invested with the attributes of the divine omniscience and justice.
δικάζει
(see on 1205), prop. “tries, ” as a judge tries a cause
(δίκην δικάζεἰ: here, “brings to justice,” punishes: a perhaps unique poetical use, for in
Pind. O. 2.59
, which Mitchell quotes,
ἀλιτρὰ … δικάζει τις = simply “tries.” Aesch. has another poet. use,
Aesch. Ag. 1412
δικαάζεις … φυγὴν ἐμοί
=
καταδικάζεις φυγὴν ἐμοῦ.
γάμον πάλαι τεκνοῦντα καὶ τεκνοῦμενον
one in which
ὁ τεκνούμενος has long been identified with
ὁ τεκνῶν: i.e. in which the son has become the husband. The expression is of the same order as
τά γ’ ἔργα μου | πεπονθότ’ ἐστὶ μᾶλλον ἢ δεδρακότα,
Soph. OC 266
.
ἰὼ Λαΐειον ὧ τέκνον
Erfurdt's
ὦ is the most probable way of supplying the required syllable, and Reisig's objection to its place is answered by
Soph. Aj. 395
ἔρεβος ὦ φαεννότατον.
Hermann, however, preferred
ὤ
, as a separate exclamation: “Alas, of Laius (oh horror!) the son. ” Bothe's
Λαϊήιον could be supported by
Eur. IA 757
Φοιβήιον δάπεδον
: Eur. fr. 775. 64
ὁσίαν βασιλήιον: but seems less likely here. The MSS. give
δύρομαι γὰρ ὡς περίαλλα
[sic; in one MS.
ὡς περίαλα] | ἰαχέων ἐκ στομάτων
. I conjecture
δύρομαι γὰρ ὥσπερ ἰάλεμον χέων | ἐκ στομάτων
: “I lament as one who pours from his lips a dirge ”: i.e., Oedipus is to me as one who is dead. Cp.
Pind. I. 7.58
ἐπὶ θρῆνον … πολύφαμον ἔχεαν,
“over the tomb they poured forth a resounding dirge. ” My emendation has been adopted by Prof. Kennedy (ed. 1885). Every attempt to explain the vulgate is unavailing. (1)
ὡς περίαλλ’
is supposed to be like
ὡς ἐτητύμως, ὡς μάλιστα, “in measure most abundant. ” Now
περίαλλα
could mean only “
preeminently,” “
more than others”: Soph. fr. 225
νόμων | οὓς Θαμύρας περίαλλα μουσοποιεῖ, “strains which Thamyras weaves
with art preeminent”:
Aristoph. Thes. 1070
τί ποτ’ Ἀνδρομέδα | περίαλλα κακῶν μέρος ἐξέλαχον;
“why have I, Andromeda, been dowered with sorrows
above all women?”
Pind. P. 11.5
θησαυρὸν ὂν περίαλλ’ ἐτίμασε Λοξίας,
honoured
preeminently. Here,
περίαλλα
is utterly unsuitable; and the added
ὡς
makes the phrase stranger still. (2) The MSS. have
ἰαχέων
. Both
ἰα^χεῖν and
ἰα—χεῖν occur: but the latter should, with Dindorf, be written
ἰακχέω.
Eur. Her. 752
ἰακχήσατε
: 783
ὀλολύγματα … ἰακχεῖ:
Eur. Orest. 826
Τυνδαρὶς ἰάκχησε τάλαινα
: 965
ἰακχείτω δὲ γᾶ Κυκλωπία. The participle, however, is unendurably weak after
δύρομαι
, and leaves
ἐκ στομάτων
weaker still. (3)
ἐκ στομάτων
can mean only “
from my lips” (the plur. as
Soph. Trach. 938
ἀμφιπίπτων στόμασιν,
kissing her lips:
Eur. Alc. 404
ποτὶ σοῖσι πίτνων στόμασιν)
: it could not mean “loudly. ” (4) Elmsley, doubtless feeling this, took
ἰαχέων
as gen. of a supposed, but most questionable,
ἰαχέος, “loud,” formed from
ἰαχή. Erfurdt conjectured
ἰακχίων
, “from lips wild as a bacchant's.” But a Greek poet would not have brought Iacchos and Thanatos so close together;
χωρὶς ἡ τιμὴ θεῶν. (5)
ἰάλεμον
gives exactly the right force; for them, Oed. is as the dead.
ἰάλεμος
is
a wail for the dead in the four places of Eur. where it occurs (
Eur. Orest. 1391
,
Eur. Phoen. 1033
,
Eur. Tro. 600
,
Eur. Tro. 1304
), in
Eur. Rh. 895
, and in the one place of
Aesch. Supp. 115
, which is just to our point: the Chorus of Danaides say,
πάθεα … θρεομένα … | ἰηλέμοισιν ἐμπρεπῆ ζῶσα γόοις με τιμῶ, “lamenting sorrows meet for funeral wails (i.e. the sorrows of those who are as dead), while yet living, I chant mine own dirge.”
ἐκ στομάτων
fits
χέων
, since
χεῖν was not commonly used absolutely for “to utter” (as by Pindar, l. c. above). (6) The corruption may have thus arisen in a cursive MS.:
ἰάλεμον being written
ἰαλεμὸ, the last five letters of
ὡσπεριαλεμοχ῎ων would first generate
αχεων (as in one MS.), or, with the second stroke of the
μ, ιαχεων: the attempt to find an intelligible word in the immediately preceding group of letters would then quickly produce the familiar
περίαλλα (in one MS.
περίαλἀ. The nonelision of the final
α in the MSS. favours this view. As to metre, with
πατρὶ in 1209, a tribrach
(‐τρὶ θαλαμ) answers to a dactyl
(ὡς περι‐, my
ὥσπερ ἰ‐), whether we keep the traditional text, or adopt my conjecture, or that of Wecklein or of Burges; though Wecklein, by a strange oversight, has noticed this objection as if it were peculiar to my conjecture. Wunder's
πόσει for
πατρὶ in 1209 would restore exact correspondence, and may be right; but I rather prefer, with Heinrich Schmidt (
Compositionslehre 64), to regard the
ὡς as an “irrational syllable ”: see Metrical Analysis.
τὸ δ’ ὀρθὸν εἰπεῖν
like
ὡς εἰπεῖν ἔπος, prefaces the bold figure of speech: I might truly say that by thy means (
ἐκ σέθεν
)I
received a new life (when the Sphinx had brought us to the brink of ruin); and now have again
closed my eyes in a sleep as of death, —since all our weal perishes with thine. The Thebans might now be indeed described as
στάντες τ’ ἐς ὀρθὸν καὶ πεσόντες ὔστερον (50).
ἀνέπνευσα
“revived, ” i.e. was delivered from anguish; cp.
Hom. Il. 11.382
ἀνέπνευσαν κακότητος,
had a respite from distress:
Soph. Aj. 274
ἔληξε κἀνέπνευσε τῆς νόσου.
κατεκοίμησα
cp.
Aesch. Ag. 1293
ὡς ἀσφάδαστος … ὄμμα συμβάλω τόδε
:
Soph. Aj. 831
καλῶ θ’ ἅμα | πομπαῖον Ἑρμῆν χθόνιον εὖ με κοιμίσαι.
Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus Tyrannus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge, UK. 1885.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.