254-667: First episode
First
ἐπεισόδιον . Oedipus appeals to the Chorus, who resolve that Theseus shall decide
(295)
. Ismene arrives from Thebes
(324)
, with news of the war between her two brothers, and presently goes to perform the prescribed rites in the grove of the Eumenides
(509)
. After a
κομμός
(510—548)
between Oedipus and the Chorus, Theseus enters, and assures Oedipus of protection.
τὰ δ’ ἐκ θεῶν
, euphemistic: cp.
Aesch.
Pers. 373
οὐ γὰρ τὸ μέλλον ἐκ θεῶν ἠπίστατο
. For
ἐκ cp. also
Ph. 1316
τὰς … ἐκ θεῶν | τύχας
:
Eur.
Phoen. 1763
τὰς ἐκ θεῶν ἀνάγκας
. Similarly
I. A. 1610
τὰ τῶν θεῶν
(=their dispensations). For
τῶν as 1st syll. of 3rd foot cp.
Ant. 95
ἀλλ’ ἔα με καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἐμοῦ δυσβουλίαν
.
ῥεούσης
, when it flows away, perishes,
μάτην , "vainly," without result:
i.e. issues in no corresponding deeds.
Tr. 698
. (Not, "when the fame
is current without good ground.")
ῥεῖπᾶν ἄδηλον
:
El. 1000
1
ἀπορρεῖ κὰπὶ μηδὲν ἔρχεται
:
Ai. 1267
χάρις διαρρεῖ
. Cp. Lat.
futilis, fluere (
Cic.
Fin. 2. 32. 106
fluit voluptas corporis et prima quaeque avolat
). For
μάτην cp.
Aesch.
Ch. 845
λόγοι
... θνήσκοντες μάτην
εἰ
with ind.
φασί (
siquidem dicunt ) introduces the actual case which has suggested the general question,
τί δῆτα κ.τ.λ. : cp.
El. 823
γεoft. follows
εἰ (and
εἴπερ ) in such cases, but here is better taken with
τάς : it slightly emphasises the name of Athens.
ποῦ ποτε κεραυνοὶ Διός, ἢ ποῦ φαέθων
Ἅλιος, εἰ ταῦτ’ ἐφορῶντες
κρύπτουσιν ἕκηλοι;
θεοσεβεστάτας
. Athens is pre-eminently (1) religious, (2) compassionate towards the oppressed.
Paus. 1.17.1
Ἀθηναίοις δὲ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ καὶ ἄλλα ἐστὶν οὐκ ἐς άπαντας ἐπίσημα καὶ Ἐλέου βωμός, ᾧ μάλιστα θεῶν ἐς ἀνθρώπινον βίον καὶ μεταβολὰς πραγμάτων ὅτι ὠφέλιμος, μόνοι τιμὰς Ἑλλήνων νέμουσιν Ἀθηναῖοι. τούτοις δὲ οὐ τὰ ἐς φιλανθρωπίαν μόνον καθέστηκεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐς θεοὺς εὐσεβοῦσιν ἄλλων πλέον· καὶ Αἰδοῦς σφίσι βωμός ἐστι καὶ Φήμης καὶ Ὁρμῆς
.
μόνας
, not strictly
"alone,"
but
"more than all others"
: cp.
O. T. 299
n.
τὸν κακούμενον ξένον
. The two standard instances were subsequent, in mythical date, to the time of Oedipus. (1) Theseus, at the prayer of Adrastus king of Argos, compels Creon and his Thebans to permit the burial of the Argive warriors who had fallen in the war of Eteocles and Polynices. This is the subject of the
Supplices of Eur.
, which continues the story of the
Antigone
and the
Phoenissae.
(2) Demophon, the son of Theseus, protects the children of Hercules against the Argive Eurystheus. This is the subject of the
Heracleidae of Eur.
These two examples are cited in
Her. 9.27
; in the spurious
ἐπιτάφιος
ascribed to Lysias (
or. 2 §§ 4-16
); and in that ascribed to Demosthenes (
or. 60 §§ 7, 8
). Isocrates quotes them in the
Panegyricus , as showing how the Athenians
διετέλεσαν τὴν πόλιν κοινὴν παρέχοντες καὶ τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις ἀεὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐπαμύνουσαν
(§ 52)
; also in his
Encomium Helenae § 31
; and again in his
Panathenaicus , where he remarks that Tragedy has made them familiar to all (
§ 168
τίς οὐκ ἀκήκοε τῶν τραγῳδοδιδασκάλων Διονυσίοις
;). They figure, too, in the Platonic
Menexenus , with the comment that Athens might justly be accused of too great compassion, and too much zeal for "the weaker cause":
ὡς ἀεὶ λίαν φιλοικτίρμων ἐστὶ καὶ τοῦ ἥττονος θεραπίς,
244 E
. Cp.
Her. 8.142
αἰεὶ καὶ τὸ πάλαι φαίνεσθε πολλοὺς ἐλευθερώσαντες ἀνθρώπων
.
Andocides or. 3 § 28
τοὺς κρείττους φίλους ἀφιέντες ἀεὶ τοὺς ἥττους αἱρούμεθα
.
σῴζειν
, to give him a safe refuge:
ἀρκεῖν , to come to his rescue (
El. 322
ἐσθλός, ὥστ’ ἀρκεῖν φίλοις
), if anyone seeks to take him thence by force.
οἵας τε
,
sc.
εἶναι
, here synonymous with
ἔχειν . After
οἷός τε
this ellipse of
εἰμί
is frequent.
κἄμοιγε ποῦ
. The thought of the whole passage is,—
τί δόξα μάτην ῥέουσα ὠφελεῖ,
εἰ τὰς Ἀθήνας
φασὶ ( μὲν ) θεοσεβεστάτας εἶναι,
ἐμοὶ δὲ ταῦτα μηδαμοῦ ἐστιν
; Instead however, of a clause
ἐμοὶ δὲ...κ.τ.λ.
, thus depending on
εἰ , a new sentence is opened by the direct question,—
καὶ ἔμοιγε ποῦ ταῦτά ἐστιν;
καί
,
prefixed to interrogative words (as
ποῦ, πῶς, ποῖος, τίς
), makes the query an indignant comment on a preceding statement:
El. 236
:
Dem.
De Fals. Legat. § 232
καὶ τίς, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοῦτ’ ἰδὼν τὸ παράδειγμα δίκαιον αὑτὸν παρασχεῖν ἐθελήσει;
οἵτινες
, causal, as if
.
Ai. 457
παρ’ ὑμῖν
had preceded: hence=
ἐπεὶ ὑμεῖς
. Cp.
427
,
866
.
Thuc. 4.26
ἀθυμίαν τε πλείστην ὁ χρόνος παρεῖχε παρὰ λόγον ἐπιγιγνόμενος,
οὓς ( ὅτι αὐτοὺς ) ᾤοντο ἡμερῶν ὀλίγων ἐκπολιορκήσειν
,
since they had thought to reduce them in a few days.
1. 68
νῦν δὲ τί δεῖ μακρηγορεῖν,
ὧν ( = ἐπεὶ ἡμῶν ) τοὺς μὲν δεδουλωμένους ὁρᾶτε
...;
6. 68
πολλῇ μὲν παραινέσει...τί δεῖ χρῆσθαι,
οἳ πάρεσμεν ἐπὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀγῶνα
;
8. 76 § 6
(
οἵ γε
).
Aristoph.
Nub. 1225
ἵππον; οὐκ ἀκούετε
ὃν ( = ὅτι ἐμὲ ) πάντες ὑμεῖς ἴστε μισοῦνθ’ ἱππικήν
τί χρὴ δρᾶν;
ὅστις ἐμφανῶς θεοῖς | ἐχθαίρομαι
. Cp.
O. T. 1228
n.:
Ph. 1364
. As
276
shows,
ἐξάραντες refers to his
first seat,
in the grove. They had induced him to leave that seat (
174 ff.
), on a pledge that no one should remove him from the resting-place outside of the grove. Yet now they command him to quit Attica (
ἐλαύνετε :
226
ἔξω...βαίνετε χώρας
).
τάδε βάθρα
denote, generally, the seats afforded by the natural rock in or near the grove: here he is thinking specially of the
βάθρον ἀσκέπαρνον
(101)
within its precincts.
οὐ γὰρ δὴ τό γε
: see on
110
. For the art.
τό , followed only by
γε at the end of the v., with its noun
σῶμα
in the next v., cp.
Ant. 67
τὸ γὰρ | … πράσσειν
,
ib. 78
τὸ δὲ | … δρᾶν
:
Tr. 92
,
742
.
ἐπεὶ … ἔξοιδα
. I am
"a man more sinned against than sinning"
(
Lear 3. 2. 60)
,—as would appear, could I unfold to you
my relations with my parents (
τὰ μητρὸς καὶ πατρός ),
on account of which relations (the parricide and the incest—
ὧν neuter) ye dread me. Of that I am sure. (For those relations began with their casting out their new-born son to perish. That first wrong led to the rest: hence it was that I knew not the face of my assailant in the pass, or of my bride at Thebes.)
πεπονθότ’ … δεδρακότα
. The agent's activities (
τὰ ἔργα μου ) here stand for the agent himself; and so, instead of
τοῖς ἔργοις πεπονθώς εἰμι
(cp.
873
), we have
τὰ ἔργα μου πεπονθότ’ ἐστί
. (Cp.
74
,
1604
.)
O. T. 1214
γάμος· τεκνῶν καὶ τεκνούμενος
= one in which
the son has become
the spouse. So a particular activity of a person's mind is sometimes expressed by the active participle (neut.) of a verb to which the person himself would properly be subject:
τὸ βουλόμενον, τὸ ὀργιζόμενον τῆς γνώμης
(
Thuc. 1.90
,
2. 59
):
τὸ δεδιός, τὸ θαρσοῦν αὐτοῦ
(1. 36)
. "Ye shrink from me as from a guilty man. And yet (
καίτοι ),— evil as were my
acts (in themselves),— how have I shown an evil
disposition (
φύσιν
), or incurred
moral guilt? Before I struck my father, he had struck me (
παθὼν ἀντέδρων
: see
O. T. 809
). Even if I had been aware (
φρονῶν
) who he was, I might plead this in my defence: but, in fact, I did
not know. Nor did I recognise my mother.
They , on the other hand, had deliberately tried to kill their babe." — Note that the clause
ὥστ’ εἰ φρονῶν … κακός
, which could not apply to the incest, limits the reference of
ἀντέδρων
to the parricide; while
ἱκόμην
(
273
) refers to
both stains. He has two distinct pleas, (1) provocation, and (2) ignorance. These could have been expressed by
ἀντέδρων (1)
παθὼν μέν , (2)
εἰδὼς δ’ οὐδέν
. But (2) is forestalled by the thought that, if he
had known, (1) would have excused him. This
hypothesis is then contrasted with the
fact
(273)
; and the fact
on his side is next contrasted with the fact
on the other
(274)
. Hence
παθὼν μέν has no clause really answering to it; for
νῦν δ’ answers to
εἰ φρονῶν , and
ὑφ’ ὧν δ’ to
οὐδὲν εἰδώς . The impf. (
ἀντέδρων ) expresses the
situation ("I was retaliating"): the aor.
(273)
, an act accomplished at a definite moment.
ἱκόμην ἵν’ ἱκόμην
: cp.
336
,
974
;
O. T. 1376
(n.)
βλαστοῦσ’ ὅπως ἔβλαστε
.
ὑφ’ ὧν δ’ ἔπασχον
, impf. of
attempted act, cp.
O. T. 1454
οἵ μ’ ἀπωλλύτην
.
ἔπασχον
: when the iron pin was driven through the babe's feet and he was exposed on Cithaeron,
O. T. 718
.
ὥσπερ με κἀνεστής
.:
as ye caused me to leave my seat in the grove,
so give me the safety which ye then promised: see on
264
: for
καί , on
53
. For
ἀνιστάναι , of causing
ἱκέται
to leave sanctuary, cp.
Thuc. 1.126
2
καθίζουσιν ἐπὶ τὸν βωμὸν ἱκέται τὸν ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλει. ἀναστήσαντες δὲ αὐτοὺς οἱ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ἐπιτετραμμένοι,... ἐφ’ ᾧ μηδὲν κακὸν ποιήσουσιν, ἀπαγαγόντες ἀπέκτειναν
.
θεοὺς … τοὺς θεοὺς
: the art. with the repeated word, as
5
,
Ph. 992
θεοὺς προτείνων τοὺς θεοὺς ψευδεῖς τίθης
.
μοίραις ποεῖσθε
could not stand for
ἐν μοίραις ποιεῖσθε
. The prep.
ἐν
is indispensable. See the discussion of this passage in the Appendix. The gentlest remedy would be
μοίρας (
as gen. sing. ), which two MSS. have. As
ἐν οὐδενὶ λόγῳ ποιεῖσθαι
(Her. 3.50)
and
ἐν οὐδεμιᾷ μοίρᾳ ἄγειν
(2. 172)
are parallel phrases, so
οὐδενὸς λόγου ποιεῖσθαι
(1. 33)
might suggest
οὐδεμιᾶς μοίρας ποιεῖσθαι
. For the two negatives cp.
El. 336
καὶ μὴ δοκεῖν μὲν δρᾶν τι πημαίνειν δὲ μή
, "and
not to seem active yet do
no harm." It is hollow, Oed. says, to insist so strictly on the sanctity of a grove (
θεοὺς τιμῶντες
), and then to refuse the gods their
μοῖρα
, their due tribute of practical piety. You treat the gods as if they were not, when at their shrines you do
ἀνόσια ἔργα
(283)
by violating your pledge to a suppliant.
ποεῖσθε
. Numerous Attic inscriptions of the
5th and
4th cent. B.C. show that in this verb
ι
was regularly omitted before
ει
or
η
(
ποεῖ, ποήσει
), though never before
ου, οι
, or
ω
(
ἐποίουν, ποιοίη, ποιῶν
: Meisterhans, p. 27). L generally, but not always, omits the
ι
before
ει
or
η
if the syll. is short. Forms from
ποιῶ
, with the 1st syll. short, occur below in
459
,
584
,
652
,
1018
,
1033
,
1037
,
1144
. In
584
and
652
, as here, L keeps the
ι
: in the other five places it omits it. In
1517
, where the quantity is different, L has
ποεῖν
. The place of
του before
φωτός (cp.
Ai. 29
καί μοί τις ὀπτήρ
,
Ph. 519
μὴ νῦν μέν τις εὐχερὴς παρῇς
) would be less awkward if
φυγὴν and
μήπω changed places: but the latter is reserved for the emphatic place at the beginning of the verse.
μήπω
, not
οὔπω
, because of the imperat.
ἡγεῖσθε
(278)
. After verbs of
thinking , the negative with the inf. is ordinarily
οὐ (
Plat.
Prot. 317A
ἡγοῦμαι γὰρ αὐτοὺς οὔ τι διαπράξασθαι
): though
μή is used in asseveration (as with
ὄμνυμι
), and sometimes in strong expressions of personal conviction:
O. T. 1455
οἶδα μήτε μ’ ἂν νόσον | μήτ’ ἄλλο πέρσαι μηδέν
, where see n.
Thuc. 6.102
ad fin.
νομίσαντες μὴ ἂν...ἱκανοὶ γενέσθαι
(and
id. 4. 18
):
Xen.
Cyr. 7.5.59
ἐνόμισε δὲ μὴ ἂν γενέσθαι ποτὲ πιστόν.
φωτὸς … βροτῶν
, no wight
among mortals , no one
in the world. In
Ai. 1358
:
23. 187
τοιοίδε μέντοι φῶτες ἔμπληκτοι βροτῶν
, though
βροτοῖς
is a specious variant,
βροτῶν
has the better authority: cp.
Od. 17.587
οὐ γάρ πού τινες ὧδε καταθνητῶν ἀνθρώπων
ἀνέρες ὑβρίζοντες
ἀνδρῶν δ’ οὔ κέν τις ζωὸς βροτός
.
ξὺν οἷς
,
σὺν τοῖς θεοῖς
(schol.),
"with whose help,"
since the gods strengthen men to refrain from evil, as well as to do good.
μὴ κάλυπτε
, as with a veil (
κάλυμμα
) of dishonour cast over her bright fame: cp.
Il. 17.591
τὸν δ’ ἅχεος νεφέλη ἐκάλυψε μέλαινα
.
Thuc. 7.69
ἀξιῶν...τὰς πατρικὰς ἀρετάς, ὦν ἐπιφανεῖς ἦσαν οἱ πρόγονοι, μὴ ἀφανίζειν
.
Plut.
Cor. 31
ἠμαυρωμένος τῇ δόξῃ.
τὰς εὐδαίμονας
:
Her. 8.111
λέγοντες ὡς κατὰ λόγον ἦσαν ἄρα αἱ Ἀθῆναι μεγάλαι τε καὶ εὐδαίμονες
.
ἔλαβες
, since Oed. put himself into their hands when he left sanctuary
(174 f.).
τὸν ἱκέτην
, cp.
44
,
487
.
ἐχέγγυον
, having received your
ἐγγύη
, pledge, that I should not be wronged
(176)
. Elsewhere
ἐχέγγ. = "having a good
ἐγγύη to
give ," trustworthy (like
φερέγγυος
);
Eur.
Med. 388
γῆν ἄσυλον καὶ δόμους ἐχεγγύους
(=
πύργος ἀσφαλής
ib. 389
). But Oed. could call himself
ἐχέγγυος
in
this sense only as coming with credentials from Apollo; and that is not the point here. Cp.
Her. 5.71
ἀνιστᾶσι ( τοὺς ἱκέτας ) … οἱ πρυτάνιες, … ὑπεγγύους πλὴν θανάτου
, under a pledge that they should stand their trial, but not suffer death.
ἐκφύλασσε
, till I am out of peril: only here, and twice in Eur. as = "to watch
well " (
Or. 1259
,
Ion 741
).
δυσπρόσοπτον
, since the sightless orbs bore traces of his dreadful act (
O. T. 1268
): cp.
577
. Continue
με with
ἀτιμάσῃς .
ἱερός
, as now formally the
ἱκέτης
of the Eumenides
(44)
εὐσεβής
, since he has come thither
κατ’ ὀμφὰς τὰς Ἀπόλλωνος
(102)
.
φέρων | ὄνησιν
: the first hint, to the Chorus, of the
κέρδη
mentioned in the prayer which only his daughter witnessed
(92)
. Cp.
72
.
ὁ κύριος … τις
: the master— whoever he be.
O. T. 107
τοὺς αὐτοέντας ...τιμωρεῖν τινας
the murderers—whoever they be.
Plat.
Legg. 716A
ὁ μὲν εὐδαιμονήσειν μέλλων...ὁ δέ τις ἐξαρθείς κ.τ.λ.
The art. implies that the person exists; the indef. pron., that his name is unknown.
τὰ δὲ μεταξὺ τούτου
, in the space between (the present time) and that event (
sc.
τοῦ παρεῖναι αὐτόν
)
τὰ
as in
, between (them and) Ino's.
τὰ νῦν, τὸ αὐτίκα, τὸ ἐκ τοῦδε
, etc. Dem.
De Cor. § 26
τὸν μεταξὺ χρόνον...τῶν ὅρκων
, the interval between (that time, and) the oaths:
Aristoph.
Av. 187
ἐν μέσῳ...ἀήρ ἐστι γῆς
, between (heaven and) earth:
Ach. 433
ἄνωθεν τῶν Θυεστείων ῥακῶν,
μεταξὺ τῶν Ἰνοῦς
τἀπὸ σοῦ
, coming from thee, urged on thy part:
Tr. 844
τὰ δ’ ἀπ’ ἀλλόθρου | γνώμας μολόντ’
:
Ant. 95
τὴν ἐξ ἐμοῦ δυσβουλίαν
.
ὠνόμασται
,
"expressed"
(rather than
"mentioned"
): cp.
Dem.
De Cor. § 35
οὐ γὰρ τὰ ῥήματα τὰς οἰκειότητας ἔφη βεβαιοῦν, μάλα σεμνῶς ὀνομάζων
(expressing himself in very stately language).
βραχέσι
, not "short," but "light," "trivial":
Thuc. 1.78
βουλεύεσθε οὖν βραδέως ὡς οὐ περὶ βραχέων
.
ἄνακτας
,
i.e. Theseus:
Aesch.
Cho. 53
δεσποτῶν θανάτοισι
(Agamemnon's death). Cp.
146
,
814
,
970
.
διειδέναι
, here,
diiudicare: usu.=
dignoscere;
Plat.
Phaedr. 262 A
τὴν ὁμοιότητα...καὶ ἀνομοιότητα ἀκριβῶς διειδέναι
. Cp.
O. T. 394
διειπεῖν
(
αἴνιγμα
), to solve it.The
ξένος
had spoken of Theseus as
ὁ κατ’ ἄστυ βασιλεύς
(67)
, but had not said where he then was.
πατρῷον ἄστυ γῆς
, not for
πατρῴας γῆς ἄστυ
, but simply
"his father's city in the land"
(the gen.
γῆς as
45
),
i.e. the city from which Aegeus (69) had swayed Attica. The poets can use
πατρῷος
as=
πάτριος
; but in the mouth of Oed. (
O. T. 1450
)
πατρῷον ἄστυ
means the city of Laïus, and in that of Ant. (
Ant. 937
) the city of Oedipus: on the other hand,
τὰ πάτρια...δώματα
(
O. T. 1394
), his
"ancestral"
home.
ἔχει
= "is in," cp.
37
. Isocrates conceives the line of hereditary Attic kings as having been unbroken from Erichthonius down to Theseus (
Panath. § 126
). The greatness of Athens as the centre of government was reputed to date from Theseus; but the royal seat of his predecessors was supposed to have been a lesser Athens (the acropolis and the part south of it.
Thuc. 2.15
), from which they swayed Attica while its communes were still independent (
σποράδην καὶ κατὰ κώμας οἰκοῦσαν
,
Isocr.
Encom. Helen. § 35
).
σκοπὸς
refers to the quality in which the man of Colonus had presented himself to Oed.
(35)
, and so helps him at once to know who is meant. The word can mean "messenger" only in the sense of "one sent to obtain news"; but we need not change it, as Wecklein does, to
πομπός .
κἀμὲ
: see on
53
.
ἔπεμψεν
is better here than
ἔπεμπεν
, which could only mean,
"was our summoner."
στελῶν
, to make him set forth, to fetch him:
O. T. 860
πέμψον τινὰ στελοῦντα
. 299-307
Wecklein brackets these nine verses, thinking that they arose from a misunderstanding of
551-554
. Theseus divined the
name of Oedipus from the description of his
person; but these vv. were inserted by one who thought it necessary to explain how Theseus knew the name. I hold the verses to be genuine. The
ξένος
must have been sent to Athens by the Chorus before they came to the grove
(117)
, and could not, therefore, know the name of Oedipus (first disclosed at
222
). He could only tell Theseus that there was a blind stranger at Colonus, who hinted at his own power to confer benefits
(72)
, and who looked noble
(76)
. Theseus, on entering
(551)
, at once greets Oedipus by name, though he had never seen him before
(68)
. He had divined the identity through a knowledge of the history
(553)
—
i.e. he started from Athens on the strength of what the
ξένος
could tell. And on the way to Colonus (adds Theseus) he has been made
certain of the fact
(554)
—
i.e. he had heard the
name. Now, it was precisely for such certainty that the dramatist meant this passage to provide. He felt that otherwise there might have been too great improbability in the instant confidence of the recognition by Theseus. Join
αὐτὸν with
ἐλθεῖν , not with
ἕξειν : cp.
O. T. 6
.
ἁγὼ δικαιῶν μὴ παρ’ ἀγγέλων, τέκνα,
ἄλλων ἀκούειν αὐτὸς ὧδ’ ἐλήλυθα
καὶ κάρθ’
: cp.
65
.
κέλευθος
: cp.
164
. Some wayfarers, passing by Colonus towards Athens, may have heard the prolonged tumult of horror which greeted the name of Oedipus
(222)
. As the distance to the city is more than a mile, there will be many chances for the news to be caught up from their lips, and carried to Theseus.
πλανᾶσθαι
: cp.
Cic.
Rep. 1. 17
speremus nostrum nomen volitare et vagari latissime.
τῶν
refers to
ἔπη . ἀΐω
and like verbs can take a gen. either of the
person , or (as
1187
) of the
thing , heard: though the latter is more often in the acc. (as
240
).
θάρσει, παρέσται
: the same words (in another context)
726
.
πολὺ
, with strong rumour:
O. T. 786
ὑφεῖρπε γὰρ πολύ
.
Aeschin. or. 1 § 166
πολὺς μὲν γὰρ ὁ Φίλιππος ἔσται
3
ἀναμιχθήσεται δὲ καὶ τὸ τοῦ παιδὸς ὄνομα Ἀλεξάνδρου
.
κεἰ βραδὺς εὕδει
, even if he is reposing (from affairs), and is unwilling to move.
εὕδω
, in the
fig. sense (
O. T. 65
), is more often said of things (as
εὕδει πόντος
, etc., cp.
621
) than of men: but
καθεύδω
, at least, was often thus used:
Plut.
Pomp. 15
ὥρα μέντοι σοι μὴ καθεύδειν ἀλλὰ προσέχειν τοῖς πράγμασιν
. The conjectures
ἕρπει and
σπεύδει (the latter referring, not happily, to
σπεῦδε βραδέως
) both suppose that Theseus lingers by the way. But, if he started, he would scarcely loiter.
βραδύς
here=indisposed to exertion (as
βραδύς
is joined with
μαλακός
in
Plat.
Polit. 307A
, and
βραδύτης
with
ἡσυχιότης
in
Charm. 160 B
).
κλύων σοῦ
(gen. of connection), hearing
about thee,
El. 317
τοῦ κασιγνήτου τί φής
;
Ph. 439
ἀναξίου μὲν φωτὸς ἐξερήσομαι
:
Od. 11.174
εἰπὲ δέ μοι πατρός τε καὶ vἱέος
. Cp.
355.
τίς γὰρ ἐσθλός
. Oedipus has hinted to the Chorus that he brings
ὄνησιν ἀστοῖς τοῖσδε
, but has reserved all explanation of his meaning until Theseus shall arrive
(288)
. His exclamation here again touches on his secret; but, instead of interpreting
εὐτυχής , he turns it off, for the present, by a quickly-added commonplace. "Does not experience, indeed, teach us that the benefactor of others is often his own?" The generous man, though he acts from no calculation of self-interest, actually serves himself by making zealous friends. Like thoughts are found in many popular shapes elsewhere:
Il. 13.734
4
καί τε πολέας ἐσάωσε, μάλιστά τέ κ’ αὐτὸς ἀνέγνω
, "he saveth many, yea, and he himself best recognises (the worth of wisdom)":
Menander
Sentent. 141
ἐσθλῷ γὰρ ἀνδρί [ γ’ ] ἐσθλὰ καὶ διδοῖ θεός
:
ib. 391
ξένοις ἐπαρκῶν τῶν ἴσων τεύξῃ ποτέ
:
Hortat. 23
ὁ χρηστός, ὡς ἔοικε, καὶ χρηστοὺς ποιεῖ
:
pseudo - Philem.
ap. Boissonad.
Anecd. 1. 147
μετέρχεται τὸ δίκαιον εἰς πλεονεξίαν
. Conversely,
οἷ αὐτῷ κακὰ τεύχει ἀνὴρ ἄλλῳ κακὰ τεύχων
(Hes.
Opp. 265)
,
λίαν φιλῶν σεαυτὸν οὐδ’ ἕξεις φίλον
(Men.
Sent. 310)
. We should not suppose a suppressed clause: ("I do not say, to
himself ,") "for what good man is
not a friend to himself?" The interest of the king is identified with that of his realm. To distinguish them so sharply is unfitting here. Cp. 1124, 1496, 1553. The conjecture
ἔσθ’ ὃς (for
ἐσθλὸς ) makes Oed. apologise for the selfishness of
ἐμοί τε : "for who is not his own friend?" (!)
τίλέξω
, here prob. fut. ind. rather than aor. subj. (though
315
τί φῶ;
): cp.
O. T. 1419
οἴμοι, τί δῆτα λέξομεν πρὸς τόνδ’ ἔπος;
Ph.1233
ὦ Ζεῦ, τί λέξεις;
For fut. ind. combined with aor. subj., cp.
Eur.
Ion 758
εἴπωμεν ἢ σιγῶμεν ἢ τί δράσομεν;
ποῖ φρενῶν
: see on
170
.
τί δ’ ἔστι;
(cp.
46
) marking surprise, as
O. T. 319
(n.),
1144
etc.
Αἰτναίας … πώλου
, not seen, of course, by the spectators: Ismene leaves it with her servant
(334)
, and enters on foot
(320)
. Sicily having a reputation both for its horses (
Oppian
Cyneg. 1. 170
) and for its mules (
Photius 366. 12
), some understand a
mule here, as that animal (with an easy saddle,
ἀστράβη ) was much used for such journeys. But though
πῶλος
,
with a defining word (as
τῶν καμήλων
Arist.
Hist. An. 1.1.47
,
κύνεοι
Anthol. 12. 238
) could denote the young of animals other than the horse,
πῶλος
alone would always mean a young horse.
Αἰτναίας
implies some choice breed, as in
Theophr.
Char. XXI
(=VII in my 1st ed.) the
μικροφιλότιμος
buys
Λακωνικὰς κύνας, Σικελικὰς περιστεράς
, etc. In
Aristoph.
Pax 73
the
Αἰτναῖος μέγιστος κάνθαρος
is not a mere joke on the Etna breed of
horses , but alludes to a species of beetle actually found there (cp.
Aesch. fr. 229
,
Plato Com.
ἑορτ. fr. 13
, quoted by schol. ad loc.).
κρατὶ
: locative dat., "on her head," rather than dat. of interest with
ἡλιοστερὴς
, "for her head." The
ἡλιοστερής of the MSS. is a very strange word. It ought to mean "deprived of the sun": cp.
βιοστερής
747
,
ὀμματοστερής
1260
. Even with an active sense, "depriving of the sun," it is awkward. It could not mean "sun-
averting. " In
Aesch.
Suppl. 1063
Ζεὺς...ἀποστεροίη γάμον
is not, "may he avert from us," but "may he take away (from our foes)": Hartung would read
ἀποστρέφοι μοι
. (1)
ἡλιοσκεπὴς (Nauck) is supported by
Il. 16.224
χλαινάων ἀνεμοσκεπέων
, and (2)
ἡλιοστεγὴς (Coraes) by the use of
στέγω
as
"to keep out."
The latter seems most applicable to
rain: cp.
Pind.
P. 4. 81
ἀμφὶ δὲ παρδαλέᾳ στέγετο φρίσσοντας ὄμβρους
,
Anthol. P. 6. 90
πῖλον...ὑδασιστεγῆ
: the former, to heat, cold, or wind: cp.
Anthol. P. 6. 335
, on a
καυσία
(a broad-brimmed felt hat, used in Macedonia—from
καῦσις
),
καὶ σκέπας ἐν νιφετῷ, καὶ κόρυς ἐν πολέμῳ.
Θεσσαλὶς κυνῆ
, a form of the Thessalian
πέτασος , a felt hat (somewhat like our "wide-awake") with brim, worn esp. by travellers: cp. schol. on
Aristoph.
Av. 1203
(where Iris enters with a
κυνῆ
),
κυνῆ δέ, ὅτι ἔχει περικεφαλαίαν τὸ πέτασον
. In the
Inachus Soph. made Iris wear an
Ἀρκὰς κυνῆ
(fr. 251)
.
πρόσωπα
:
Aristoph.
Lys. 542
οὐδὲ γόνατ’ ὰν κόπος ἕλοι με
. Elms. cp.
Eur.
I. T. 577
ἆρ’ εἰσίν; ἆρ’ οὐκ εἰσί; τίς φράσειεν ἄν;
πλανᾷ
, misleads (me): the act. never="to wander."
Plat.
Prot. 356D
αὕτη μὲν
5
ἡμᾶς ἐπλάνα
.
Hor.
Carm. 3. 4. 5
an me ludit amabilis Insania?
Arist.
Metaphys. 3. 6
ἀδύνατον ἅμα καταφάναι καὶ ἀποφάναι ἀληθῶς.
τί φῶ
, the delib. subj. in a dependent clause (
τί might be
ὅ τι
): cp.
O. T. 71
n.
φαιδρὰ
, neut. acc. plur. as adverb: cp.
1695
:
O. T. 883
ὑπέροπτα...πορεύεται
(n.). The
δῆλον of the MSS. can mean only "manifest to me" (a very weak sense): for it could not bear the emphatic sense, "in living presence" (as opp. to "in my fancy"). Nor, again, can it well be taken as a parenthetic adv., "'tis clear" (like
Ai. 906
αὐτὸς πρὸς αὑτοῦ· δῆλον·
). The conjecture
ἀδελφὸν (cp.
Ant. 1
ὦ κοινὸν αὐτάδελφον Ἰσμήνης κάρα
) may be right. Ismene has come from Thebes, where she has hitherto continued to live, in order to bring her father important tidings. The Thebans will shortly make an attempt to fix his home, not within, but near their borders. A war has already broken out between his sons.
There is no contrast in this play, as in the early part of the
Antigone , between the spirit of the sisters. But the contrast between their circumstances indirectly exalts Antigone. She is wandering barefooted, enduring heat and cold (
349 f.
), — Creon is struck by the suffering shown in her aspect (
748
), — while Ismene has at least the ordinary comforts of life.
ὦ δισσὰ πατρὸς καὶ κασιγν
.
κ.τ.λ. =
.
Suppl. 802
("sons," a name bitter for your mothers to utter).
ὦ πάτερ καὶ κασιγνήτη, δισσὰ ἐμοὶ ἥδιστα προσφωνήματα
, two names most sweet for me to use: cp.
Or. 1049
ὦ στέρν’ ἀδελφῆς …
τάδ’ ἀντὶ παίδων καὶ γαμηλίου λέχους
προσφθέγματ’ ἀμφὶ τοῖς ταλαιπώροις πάρα
ὦ παῖδες, ὦ πικρὸν φίλων
προσηγόρημα ματέρων
δεύτερον
, when I
have found you.
λύπῃ
, caus. dat.:
Archilochus fr. 101
(strong emotion)
πολλὴν κατ’ ἀχλὺν ὀμμάτων ἔχευεν
.
ὁρᾶν
, epexeg. inf.: so
ἄτλητον … ὁρᾶν,
O. T. 792
. The form
δύσμοιρος only here. In the MSS. the verse
ἦ τῆσδε κἀμοῦ ; etc. stands immediately after the verse
πρόσψαυσον, ὦ παῖ , etc. Musgrave has been followed by nearly all subsequent editors, in separating these two verses by the insertion between them of the verse
ὦ σπέρμ’ ὅμαιμον etc. This transposition is plainly necessary: else Ismene will say that she
touches not only her father and sister, but herself. Campbell defends
θιγγάνω … δυσμόρου … ἐμοῦ τρίτης
as meaning, "I too am linked in this unhappy circle": adding that
"the construction of a reply, in this sort of dialogue, is not to be pressed too closely."
The source of the confusion in the MSS. was obviously that the gen.
ἦ τῆσδε κἀμοῦ etc. could depend, in
grammar , either on
θιγγάνω or on
τροφαί , though the
sense leaves no choice. Nauck further places
v. 327
(
ὦ τέκνον, ἥκεις
) after
v. 329
(
πρόσψαυσον
). Wecklein places
v. 328
(
τέκνον, πέφηνας
) after
v. 329
. Neither of these changes is hurtful; but neither appears necessary.
ὦ δυσάθλιαι τροφαί
, wretched mode of
life
(338)
, — referring to the outward signs of suffering and destitution on which Creon dwells,
745 ff.
: cp.
1250 ff
. By his reply,
ἦ τῆσδε κἀμοῦ; Oed. seems to hint that she separates herself from those whom she pities. Ismene with quick sensibility rejoins,
δυσμόρου τ’ ἐμοῦ τρίτης , the life is to be mine, too, in your company (for
τρίτης cp.
8
). Dindorf's conjecture,
ὦ δὔ ἀθλίω τροφά , makes the subsequent question of Oedipus appear needless.
ὅμαιμον
expresses the sisters' relation to
each other only (
"my children and my sisters"
would be
δύσφημον
here). In Soph.
ὅμαιμος, ὁμαίμων
always refer to brother or sister:
323
,
979
,
1275
,
1405
,
1772
:
Ant. 486
,
512 f.
:
El. 12
,
325
,
531
:
O. T. 639
.
σῇ
(caus. dat.)=an objective gen.
σοῦ
:
O. T. 969
τὠμῷ πόθῳ
(n.).
πότερα
, instead of
πότερον
, to avoid an anapaest:
Ai. 265
n.
πόθοισι
; (causal:) was it because thou wast fain to see me after so long a time? (or was there some further
special cause?) Cp.
Ai. 531
φόβοισί γ’ αὐτὸν ἐξελυσάμην.
λόγων αὐτάγγ
. object.gen.,
αὐτὴλόγουσἀγγέλλουσα
.
Aesch.
Ag. 646
πραγμάτων εὐάγγελον.
λόγοιςwould be a dat. of circumstance ("with"), but very harsh.
ξὺν ᾧπερ … μόνῳ
=
ξὺν
(
τούτῳ
)
οἰκετῶν ὅνπερ εἶχον πιστὸν μόνον
, the attrac tion of the relative extending to the predicative adj.:
Dem.
De Cor. § 298
οὔτε φόβος οὔτ’ ἄλλο οὐδὲν ἐπῆρεν...ὧν ἔκρινα δικαίων καὶ συμφερόντων τῇ πόλει οὐδὲν προδοῦναι
.
πονεῖν
, epexeg. infin. with
ποῦ (
εἰσι
): so as to do their part. The infin. was thus used in
affirmative clauses (esp. after
ὅδε
), as
Il. 9.688
εἰσὶ καὶ οἵδε τάδ’ εἰπέμεν, οἵ μοι ἕποντο
, here are these also
to tell the tale , who went with me:
Eur.
Hipp. 294
γυναῖκες αἴδε συγκαθιστάναι νόσον
, here are women
to help in soothing thy trouble. So on the affirmative
οἵδε εἰσὶ πονεῖν
(
"here they are
to serve "
) is modelled the interrogative
ποῦ εἰσὶ πονεῖν
;
"where are they, that they may serve (as they are bound to do)?"
So
Eur.
Or. 1473
ποῦ δῆτ’ ἀμύνειν οἱ κατὰ στέγας Φρύγες;
ποῦ
(the scholiast's reading) is right.
ποῖ supposes a very harsh ellipse of
ἥκουσιν
or the like, and agrees less well with the reply.
οὗπέρ εἰσι
: on
273
. Schaerer's
τἀν is better than the MS.
δ’ ἐν because the hint is made more impressive by the abruptness.
τανῦν
is adv.
Αἰγύπτῳ
.
Her. 2.35
τὰ πολλὰ πάντα ἔμπαλιν τοῖσι ἄλλοισι ἀνθρώποισι ἐστήσαντο ἤθεά τε καὶ νόμους· ἐν τοῖσι αἱ μὲν γυναῖκες ἀγοράζουσι καὶ καπηλεύουσι, οἱ δὲ ἄνδρες κατ οἴκους ἐόντες ὑφἀίνουσι
. Soph. certainly seems to have had this passage of his friend's work in view: else it would be strange that v. 341 should correspond so exactly with the special tasks ascribed to the
women by Her. So the reference in
El. 62
to the (supposed) dead returning recalls the Thracian Salmoxis in
Her. 4.95
, and the disputed passage
Ant. 905
ff. recalls the wife of Intaphernes in
Her. 3.119
. Nymphodorus of Syracuse (
275 B.C.? ), in the 3rd book (read
γ’
for
ιγ’
in the schol. here,
Müller
fr. Hist. 2. 380
) of his
Νόμιμα Βαρβαρικά
, repeated the statement of Her., adding (prob. of himself) that Sesostris had thus sought to tame the men of Egypt to his sway. Anaxandrides, of the Middle Comedy (
circ. 340 B.C.), in his
Πόλεις , represented the Athenians as rejecting an Egyptian alliance on the ground of the opposition between the manners of Greece and Egypt: —
οὔθ’ οἱ τρόποι γὰρ ὁμονοοῦς), οὔθ’ οἱ νόμοι | ἡμῶν
(
Fragm. Com. Bothe p. 426)
.
φύσιν
,
270
τροφάς
,
330
.
ἱστουργοῦντες
:
Il. 6.490
.
8
ἀλλ’ εἰς οἶκον ἰοῦσα τὰ σ’ αὐτῆς ἔργα κόμιζε,
ἱστόν τ’ ἠλακάτην τε, καὶ ἀμφιπόλοισι κέλευε
ἔργον ἐποίχεσθαι· πόλεμος δ’ ἄνδρεσσι μελήσει
τἄξω βίου τροφεῖα
, those means of supporting life which are sought outside of the home,—paraphrasing the
ἀγοράζουσι καὶ καπηλεύουσι
of
Her. 2.35
. Elsewhere
τροφεῖα
always = "reward for rearing" (
Plat.
Rep. 520B
, etc.).
σφῷν δ’
, dat. of interest, "for you two" (Ant. and Ism.), in your case. Some take it as partitive gen.: then it would mean, "of you
two pairs ," — the pair of brothers being one unit, and the pair of sisters another. But I know no parallel for such an use of a dual pronoun. It is different when
.
ἄμφω
is said of two "sides" or armies, considered as units (
Il. 2.123
εἴπερ γάρ κ’ ἐθέλοιμεν Ἀχαιοί τε Τρῶές τε | … ἀριθμηθήμεναι ἄμφω
): or when a dual verb has a twofold dual subject,
Il. 8.185
Ξάνθε τε καὶ σύ, Πόδαργε, καὶ Αἴθων Λάμπε τε δῖε
νῦν μοι τὴν κομιδὴν ἀποτίνετον
Not noticing Ismene's hint
(336)
, Oedipus imagines his sons in repose at Thebes. He is soon to learn that one of them, an exile, is levying war against the other
(374)
.
οἰκουροῦσιν
, not
οἰκουρεῖτον
, though a dual follows
(345)
:
O. T. 1511f.
εἰχέτην...εὔχεσθε
:
Xen.
Cyr. 6.1.47
ὡς εἰδέτην...ἠσπάσαντο ἀλλήλους
:
Plat.
Prot. 330C
εἴπετον δή μοι...ὃ ὠνομάσατε ἄρτι
.
ὥστε
=
ὡς , an epic use freq. in Aesch. and Soph.
παρθένοι
.
[Dem.]
In Neaer. (or. 59) § 86
.
ἱκανὸν φόβον ταῖς γυναιξὶ παρασκευάζων τοῦ σωφρονεῖν καὶ μηδὲν ἁμαρτάνειν ἀλλὰ δικαίως οἰκουρεῖν
.
Eur.
Or. 928
εἰ τἄνδον οἰκουρήμαθ’ οἱ λελειμμένοι
φθείρουσιν
τἀμὰ δυστήνου
:
Ph. 1126
τὰν ἐμὰν μελέου τροφάν
: so
nostros vidisti flentis ocellos
Ov.
Her. 5. 43.
τἀμὰ … κακὰ
: cognate acc. to
ὑπερπονεῖτον (like
πονεῖν πόνους
), "ye
bear the woes of me hapless
for me" (
δυστήνου
, placed between art. and noun, must not be taken with
ὑπερππονεῖτον
). Cp.
Plat.
Legg. 717C
9
ἀποτίνοντα δανείσματα ἐπιμελείας τε καὶ ὑπερπονουντων ὠδῖνας παλαιὰς ἐπὶ νέοις δανεισθείσας
, requiting...their pangs of old, when they suffered for him.
νέας τροφῆς ἔληξε
, ceased to need the tender care which is given to children.
νέα τροφή , here, "the nurture (
not "growth") of the young": so
Ai. 510
νέας | τροφῆς στερηθείς
, bereft of the tendance which childhood needs:
El. 1143
10
τροφῆς | … τὴν … ἀμφὶ σοὶ | παρέσχον
. But in
O. T. 1
νέα τροφή
= "last-born nurslings."
κατίσχυσεν
,
became strong (ingressive aor.),
δέμας ,
"in body"
(acc. of respect). This compound verb, though metrically convenient, seems not to occur elsewhere before the
2nd cent. B.C. : it was usu. intrans., as
Polyb. 11. 13
κατίσχυον καὶ τῷ πλήθει καὶ ταῖς εὐχειρίαις
(began to
prevail in the battle).
Evang. Matth. xvi. 18
πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύουσιν αὐτῆς
.
γερονταγωγεῖ
, on the analogy of
παιδαγωγεῖν
(so, in late Greek,
ξεναγωγεῖν
for
ξεναγεῖν
):
Aristoph.
Eq. 1098
11
γερονταγωγεῖν κἀναπαιδεύειν πάλιν
.
νηλίπους
: schol.
α·νυπόδητος
.
Apoll. Rhod. 3. 646
νήλιπος, οἰέανος
(shoeless, with only a tunic):
Theocr. 4. 56
εἰς ὄρος ὅκχ’ ἕρπῃς, μὴ ἀνάλιπος ἔρχεο, Βάττε
: where schol.
ἦλιψ γὰρ τὸ ὑπόδημα
. If the word really comes from an
ἦλιψ
(of which there is no other trace), then
νηλίπους (used also by
Lycophron 635
, who, however, may have followed Soph.) is less correct than
νήλιπος
, which Blomfield (
Aesch.
PV 248
) wished to restore here.
Eustathius 787. 52
derives
νήλιπος
from
λίπος
(fat, unguent), explaining it by
αὐχμηρὸς καὶ ἀλιπής
(
"unkempt"
).
ἡγεῖται
. The sentence
(instead of
γερονταγωγεῖ, πολλὰ μὲν ... ἀλωμένη, πολλοῖσι δ’ ὄμβρ. μοχθοῦσα
, is so far regular and complete: then we should have expected
ἡγουμένη
, introducing a comment on the
whole sentence. Instead, we have
ἡγεῖται , which draws
μοχθοῦσα
to itself, and thus breaks the symmetry of the antithesis. The substitution of a finite verb for a second participial clause is freq. in Greek; but is usu. managed as if here we had
πολλὰ μὲν...ἀλωμένη, πολλοῖς δ’ ὄμβρ. μοχθεῖ, ἡγουμένη
etc. Cp.
El. 190
οἰκονομῶ θαλάμους πατρός, ὦδε μὲν
ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ,
κεναῖς δ’ ἀμφίσταμαι τραπέζαις
ἀμφισταμένη
):
Ph. 213 ff.
οὐ μολπὰν...ἔχων,—...ἀλλὰ...βοᾷ
(instead of
βοῶν
):
Lys. or. 12 § 15
ἐδόκει μοι ταύτῃ πειρᾶσθαι σωθῆ\ναι, ἐνθυμουμένῳ ὅτι, ἐὰν μὲν λάθω, σωθήσομαι·, ἐὰν δὲ ληφθῶ, ἡγούμην
etc.: and
O. T. 1134
n. See also
Ai. 806
(n. on
ζητεῖτ’ ).
τὰ τῆς
. There are only three other instances in Soph. of the art. so placed:
Ph. 263
Φιλοκτήτης ὃν οἱ | δισσοὶ στρατηγοί
:
Ant. 409
κόνιν σήραντες ἢ κατεῖχε τὸν | νέκυν
:
El. 879
κἀπὶ τοῖς | σαυτῆς κακοῖσι
. Close cohesion in thought and utterance is the excuse for this, as for the elision of
δ’, τ’, ταῦτ’
at the end of a v. (
O. T. 29
n.).
εἰ … ἔχοι
is an abstract statement of the condition: — "
Supposing him to have tendance, she is content." For optat. in protasis, with pres. ind. in apodosis, cp.
Antiphanes fr. incert. 51 (Bothe p. 412)
, "
supposing one takes away...then nothing is left."
εἰ γὰρ ἀφέλοι τις τοῦ βίου τὰς ἡδονάς,
καταλείπετ’ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ τεθνηκέναι
τροφὴν
, "tendance": see on
345
: cp.
1614.
μαντεῖα πάντα
implies several oracles, given to the Thebans about Oedipus after he had left Thebes. There is no clue to their purport, and we need not ask: they are invented merely to create a pious office for Ismene. It would not have seemed well that she should have stayed at Thebes all these years without showing any active interest in his fate: on the other hand, the poetic legend required that Antigone should be the sole guide of his wanderings. The oracle about final rest had been given to Oed. in his youth (see on
87
); the oracle about his grave has only just been received at Thebes
(389)
. Between these two, the only oracle suggested by the Sophoclean version of the story is a response to the question which Creon had proposed to ask at Delphi (
O. T. 1438
), as to whether Oed. should remain at Thebes. But the story of the expulsion (
768 ff.
) implies that no such response had then been obtained.
τοῦδε σώματος
(without
περί
), gen. of connection; see on
307
.
φύλαξ δέ μοι
κ.τ.λ., a general description of her part, subjoined to the special instance just given: "and you constituted yourself a trusty watcher (at Thebes) in my interest,
when I was being driven from the land,"
i.e. from the moment when the decision to expel me had been taken, and the act was in contemplation.
μοι
for
μου seems necessary: and I suspect that
μου
first arose from inattention to the exact sense. A gen. after
φύλαξ always denotes the object guarded: thus
φύλαξ μου ought to mean (not, "a watcher in my interest," but) "a guardian of my person"; this, however, was Antigone's part
(21)
: Ismene had never roamed with him. So in
Eur.
Bacch. 612
τίς
μοι φύλαξ ἦν;
(say the Bacchants to Dionysus), "what overseer, master (of our rites, like
ἐπίσκοπος
of Dionysus,
Ant. 1148
) had we?" — not, "what guardian of our persons was there?" Yet there L2 (cod. Laur. 32. 2) has
μου
.
στόλος
, a journey with a purpose, a "mission":
Ph. 243
τίνι | στόλῳ προσέσχες;
on what mission hast thou touched here?
μὴ οὐχὶ … φέρουσα
explains the special sense of
κενή . "You have not come empty-handed—
i.e. without bringing some terror for me."
μὴ οὐ properly stands with a partic. in a negative statement only when
μή
could stand with it in the corresponding affirmative statement: thus (
a ) affirmative:
βραδὺς ἔρχει
μὴ φέρων
, you (always) come slowly,
if you are not bringing: (
b ) negative:
οὐ βραδὺς ἔρχει,
μὴ οὐ φέρων
, you never come slowly,
unless you are bringing. Here
μὴ οὐ
is irregular, because the affirmative form would be
ἥκεις οὐ
(not
μὴ
)
φέρουσα
, a simple statement of fact; and so the negative should be
οὐχ ἥκεις οὐ φέρουσα
. But
bringing bad news is felt here as a
condition of her coming. Hence
μὴ οὐ
is used as if the sentence were
formally conditional:
οὐκ ἂν ἦλθες μὴ οὐ φέρουσα
. From Thebes to Athens is a short day's journey; but Ismene has sought her father far and wide. This could not well have been if, as Campbell supposes (on
355
), the oracles which she herself had formerly brought to him had directed his course towards Attica.
ζητοῦσα τὴν σὴν τροφήν
, "enquiring as to your
way of life " is supplemented by
ποῦ κατοικοίης ,
i.e. ,
"
where you were living."
Cp.
Thuc. 4.42
ἐπετήρουν τοὺς Ἀθηναίους οἷ κατασχήσουσιν
.
ἀμφὶ … παίδοιν
(dat.),
"about"
: oft. of encompassing tenderness, as
1614
; here, of besetting trouble: unless we take it as merely = "in the case of": cp.
Tr. 727
ἀλλ’ ἀμφὶ τοῖς σφαλεῖσι μὴ )ξ ἑκουσίας | ὀργὴ πέπειρα
. Eteocles and Polyneices were young boys at the fall of Oedipus (see on
1
), and their uncle Creon (brother of Iocasta) became regent (
O. T. 1418
). As the two brothers grew up, they agreed, at first, in wishing to resign the throne, of which they were joint heirs, to Creon, lest Thebes should be tainted by their own rule; but afterwards they fell to striving with each other for the sole power.
ἔρως
, desire
(436)
, is a necessary and a certain correction. The MS.
ἔρις would have to mean "
emulous desire," either (
a ) between the two brothers, if
τε … μηδέ
= "
both " … "and not": or (
b ) between the brothers and (
τε ) Creon. Now, there is no objection to using
ἐρίζω, ἔρις
of
noble rivalry. The fatal objection is that the idea of
rivalry at all is here completely,—almost ludicrously,—out of place. The notion that Soph. was thinking of the
ἀγαθὴ ἔρις
, which rouses men to effort, as opp. to the
κακὴ ἔρις
(
Hes.
Opp. 11 ff.
), is surely very frigid. It is possible, however, that it was this notion which first brought
ἔρις
into
367.
Κρέοντί τε
. The
τε = "both," answering to
μηδέ "and not." So
τε
is answered by
οὐδέ
(instead of
οὔτε
)
Eur.
I. T. 697
, or by
δέ
Soph.
Ph. 1312
. So, too,
οὔτε
by
δέ
,
Eur.
Suppl. 223
, etc. Such irregularity is natural when the second thought is opposed to the first. The objection to reading
μήτε in
368
is that, while
οὔτε
(or
μήτε
)...
τε
is common enough, there is no example of
τε...οὔτε
(or
μήτε
).Paley's
Κρέοντι
δὴ
is, however, highly probable. It would mean, "to Creon in the next resort." So
δὴ is used of succession in
Ant. 173
, where Creon says
ἐγὼ κράτη δὴ πάντα καὶ θρόνους ἔχω
, I
next (the sons of Oed. being dead); and
Aesch.
Eum. 3
ἣ δὴ τὸ μητρὸς δευτέρα τόδ’ ἕζετο | μαντεῖον
.
ἐᾶσθαι
, pass., as
Tr. 329
ἡ δ’ οὖν ἐάσθω
:
Thuc. 1.142
( ἐασόμενοι )
:
Eur.
I. A. 331
( ἐάσομαι )
:
I. T. 1344
( ἐώμενος )
: etc. The midd. of
ἐάω
is not classical.
πόλιν
: so in
Ant. 776
ὅπως μίασμα πᾶσ’ ὑπεκφύγῃ πόλις
, it is implied that the whole State may be polluted by an act of the king.
λόγῳ
, in the light of reason, with calm reflection (in contrast to the blind passion for power which afterwards seized them), a dat. of manner, cp.
381
,
O. T. 405
ὀργῇ λελέχθαι
,
Ant. 621
σοφίᾳ...ἔπος πέφανται.
τὴν πάλαι … φθοράν
, beginning with the curse called down on Laïus by Pelops, for robbing him of his son Chrysippus. Cp.
Ant. 596
12
οὐδ’ ἀπαλλάσσει γενεὰν γένος, ἀλλ’ ἐρείπει | θεῶν τις
etc.: one generation doth not free another, but some god brings ruin.
κἀλιτηρίου
. The MS. reading,
κἀξ ἀλĭτηροῦ , is against metre, and gives a form of the adj. which occurs nowhere else; though, had it existed, it would have been most convenient for epic verse.
ἀλιτήριος , and the poet.
ἀλĭτρός , alone are found. The preceding
ἐκ may have led the scribe into an erroneous repetition, as in
Ai. 205
L has
ὁ δεινὸς ὁ μέγας
instead of
ὁ δεινὸς μέγας
(cp.
Wecklein,
Ars Soph. emend. XVI. pp. 69 ff.
). This seems, on the whole, more likely than that the Homeric
ἀλείτης
("sinner,"
ἀλοιτός
in
Lycophr. 579
) should have suggested a form
ἀλειτηρός or
ἀλοιτηρός , of which there is no other trace.
Hesychius (I. 236)
,
s.v.
ἀλιτροσύνη
, says that in the
Αἰχμαλωτίδες Soph. used the subst.
ἀλιτρία (
Aristoph.
Ach. 907
ὥσπερ πίθακον ἀλιτρίας πολλᾶς πλέων
), whence Dindorf
κἀξ ἀλιτρίας φρενός
,
"from a sin of the mind."
The objection to this is the unexampled lengthening of the second syllable. The dat. after
εἰσῆλθε is strictly a dat. of the person interested, but was perh. influenced by the analogy of the dat. in
παρέστη μοι
, "it
occurred to me," and the like; cp.
Tr. 298
ἐμοὶ γὰρ οἶκτος... εἰσέβη
:
Her. 1.86
) λέγεται ( τῷ Κροίσῳ … ἐσελθεῖν...τὸ τοῦ Σόλωνος
: but
6. 125
τὸν Κροῖσον γέλως ἐσῆλθε
: and so
Eur.
Med. 931
εἰσῆλθέ μ’ οἶκτος
.
τρὶς ἀθλίοιν
for
τρισαθλίοιν
was first given by Porson, since otherwise there would be no caesura either in the 3rd or in the 4th foot. He compares
Od. 5.306
τρὶς μάκαρες Δαναοὶ καὶ τετράκις
:
Ar.
Plut. 851
καὶ τρὶς κακοδαίμων καὶ τετράκις, κ.τ.λ.
To Hermann's argument, that in any case
τρὶς
and
ἀθλίοιν
cohere, the answer is that, for the metre, the degree of coherence makes all the difference. Blaydes, keeping
τρισαθλίοιν
, quotes five such cases as
"free from suspicion."
They are the same five which Porson had discussed and proposed to amend in connection with this passage (
praef. p. xxviii): viz.
Aesch.
Pers. 501
(transpose
κρυσταλλοπῆγα
),
Eur.
I. A. 1586
(transpose
ὁρωμένου
), Soph.
Ai. 969
(not strictly similar,—
ἐπεγγελῷεν
),
Aesch.
Ag. 1261
(=1252 Dind.
παρεσκόπεις
, doubtful),
Suppl. 252 (=244 D.
ἐπεικάσαι
, doubtful). Of these,
παρεσκόπεις
is the only exact parallel to
τρισαθλίοιν
, as being a single word coincident with the dipodia, and not preceded by elision. If
νεάζων
merely =
.
νεώτερος ὤν
, the pleonasm would be too weak: perh., then, it is tinged with the notion of
νεανιευόμενος
(as in
Eur.
Phoen. 713:
ποῖ; μῶν νεάζων οὐχ ὁρᾷς ἃ χρῆν σ’ ὁρᾶν;
— said by Creon to Eteocles). Cp.
Aesch.
Ag. 763
φιλεῖ δὲ τίκτειν ὕβρις μὲν παλαιὰ νεά‐
ζουσαν ὕβριν
τὸν πρόσθε
: Polyneices alludes to his right as the firstborn,
1294
,
1422
: Eur. (
Phoen. 71
) followed the common account in making Eteocles the elder. The change adopted by Soph. is here a twofold dramatic gain; for (
a ) Polyneices, who is to come on the scene, can be treated as the foremost ofiender; (
b ) Eteocles has now a special fault, and so the curse on
both sons is further justified
(421).
ἀποστερίσκει
, historic pres., "deprives of" (rather than a true pres., "is excluding from"). The simple
στερίσκω
(Thuc., Plat., Eur., etc.) was commoner in Attic than this compound.
πληθύων
, lit., becoming full (of the Nile rising,
Her. 2.19
):
Aesch.
Ag. 869
ὡς ἐπλήθυον λόγοι
.
Ἄργος
, the territory, not only the city; called
κοῖλον because the Argive plain is bounded on W., N. and E. by hills, as on S. by the sea. This epithet had already been given to it, acc. to the schol., in the epic called the
Ἐπίγονοι
, popularly ascribed to Homer (
Her. 4.32
, who expresses doubt), and was again used by Soph. in his
Thamyras (fr. 222)
. Cp.
Strabo 8. 370
. So
Her. 7.129
τὸ μέσον δὲ τούτων τῶν λεχθέντων ὀρέων ἡ Θεσσαλίη ἐστί, ἐοῦσα κοίλη
:
Od. 4.1
Λακεδαίμονα κοίλην
(the valley of the Eurotas); Polyb. 1. 3. 1
Κοίλη Συρία
(as lying between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon). The epith.
κοῖλον has an epic tone, as suggesting a distinction from the Homeric
Πελασγικὸν Ἄργος
(perh. Thessaly),
Ἀχαϊκὸν
and
Ἴασον Ἄργος
(Peloponnesus).
κῆδος
,
affinitatem , with Adrastus, by marrying his daughter Argeia (
κῆδος Ἀδράστου λαβών
,
Eur.
Phoen. 77
).
καινόν
, in a new quarter (as opp. to his native land). Perhaps Statius, whom Schneid. quotes, was translating this:
(
Theb. 2. 108)
.
iamque ille novis, scit fama, superbit
Conubiis, viresque parat, queis regna capessat
ὡς
κ.τ.λ.
:
"as purposing that Argos should either possess the Theban land in honour, or exalt Thebes to the skies"
(by the glory of having defeated Argos).
ὡς … Ἄργος … καθέξον ἢ … βιβῶν
, acc. absol. in the
personal constr., as
O. T. 101
ὡς τόδ’ αἷμα χειμάζον πόλιν
:
Thuc. 6.24
ἔρως ἐνέπεσε τοῖς πᾶσιν...ἐκπλεῦσαι...ὡς ἢ καταστρεψομένοις ἐφ’ ἃ ἔπλεον, ἢ οὐδὲν ἂν σφαλεῖσαν μεγάλην δύναμιν
, in the belief that they would reduce Sicily, or that at all events a great armament could suffer no disaster.
Eur.
Ion 964
ΠΑΙΔ. σοὶ δ’ ἐς τί δόξ’ εἴσῆλθεν ἐκβαλεῖν τέκνον;—ΚΡΕΟΥΣΑ. ὡς τὸν θεὸν σώσοντα τόν γ’ αὑτοῦ γόνον
.
τιμῇ
, dat. of manner: cp.
369
.
καθέξον
, occupy as conquerors:
Dem. or. 18 § 96
τὰ κύκλῳ τῆς Ἀττικῆς κατεχόντων ἁρμοσταῖς καὶ φρουραῖς
.
πρὸς οὐρ. βιβῶν
: cp.
Wecklein strangely understands: — "or will make Thebes rise to the sky" (in
smoke , by burning the city), comparing
Eur.
Tro. 1298
, which means simply: "our land hath fallen like smoke that hath sunk down on its wing from the sky, and is perishing by the spear."
κλέος οὐρανὸν ἵκει
(
Od. 9.20)
,
κλέος οὐρανόμηκες
(Aristoph.
Nub. 459)
:
Eur.
Bacch. 972
ὥστ’ οὐρανῷ στηρίζον εὑρήσεις κλέος
(thou wilt find thy fame towering in the sky). But the best illustration is
Isocr. or. 15 § 134
τὰ μὲν ἁμαρτανόμενα παρόψονται, τὸ δὲ κατορθωθὲν οὐρανόμηκες ποιήσουσιν
, they will overlook your failures, and exalt your success to the skies. So
Lucr. 1. 78
religio pedibus subiecta vicissim
Opteritur, nos exaequat victoria caelo.
πτέρυγι δὲ καπνὸς ὥς τις οὐ‐
ράνια πεσοῦσα δορὶ καταφθίνει γᾶ
ἀριθμός
:
Eur.
Tro. 475
.
Hor.
Epp. 1. 2. 27
κἀνταῦθ’ ἀριστεύοντ’ ἐγεινάμην τέκνα,
οὐκ ἀριθμὸν ἄλλως, ἀλλ’ ὑπερτάτους Φρυγῶν
Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati.
If the MS.
ὅποι (Vat.
ὅπη ) is right, the phrase is harsh beyond example.
ποῖ, ὅποι , instead of
ποῦ, ὅπου , are often boldly used, when the verb implies either (
a )
motion , as
227
καταθήσεις
,
476
τελευτῆσαι
,
Eur.
Bacch. 184
καθιστάναι
, etc.; or (
b ) patience
up to a point, as
Aristoph.
Lys. 526
ποῖ γὰρ καὶ χρῆν ἀναμεῖναι;
But it is hard to see how
ὅποι κατοικτιοῦσιν could mean "
how far they will prolong (thy woes) before they pity them." To
supply
προελθόντας or
προαγαγόντες is to cut the knot. If the phrase meant anything, it ought rather to mean, "
up to what point they will pity them." As in
335
ποῖ
is a MS. error for
ποῦ , so here
ὅποι for
ὅπου (Wecklein prefers
ὅπῃ , "in what way"). Note that, in this context,
πόνους = the woes of Oed. generally (mental and physical), not merely his toils in wandering: this is against the emend.
κατοικιοῦσιν .
ὡς … ἕξειν
. Against the tempting conjecture
θεοὶ … ἕξουσ’ , remark that in some other passages, where our MSS. give this mixed construction, the acc. and inf. could not be eliminated without strong measures: thus
Xen.
Hellen. 6.5.42
ἐλπίζειν δὲ χρὴ ὡς ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς μᾶλλον ἢ κακοὺς αὐτοὺς γενήσεσθαι
:
Cyr. 8. 1. 25
πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἐλογίζετο ὡς εἰ πάντες οἱ κοινῶνες θεοσεβεῖς εἶεν, ἧττον ἂν αὐτοὺς ἐθέλειν
: where the least violent remedy would be to delete
ὡς —a course not possible here. In some other such places, indeed, the inf. can be very easily corrected (as
Hellen. 3. 4. 27
εἴη
for
εἶναι
,
7. 4. 39
δεῖ
for
δεῖν
).
ὡς … θεοὺς ἕξειν
may be sound. Harsh as it seems to us, usage had perhaps accustomed the ear to hearing the speaker's own view introduced by
ὡς , even when the corresponding construction did not follow.
ὧδ’ ἐμοῦ would be weak. But
ὥστ’ ἐμοῦ (against which the presence of
ὥστε
in 386 is not conclusive, cp. on
544
) is worth weighing: cp.
Eur.
Or. 52
ἐλπίδα δὲ δή τιν’ ἔχομεν ὥστε μὴ θανεῖν
. Since
ἔγωγε is virtually one word, this v. cannot be regarded as an instance of
γε used twice in the same sentence. Such repetition is allowable when more than one word is to be emphasised, as
Eur.
Phoen. 554
ἐπεὶ τά γ’ ἀρκοῦνθ’ ἱκανὰ τοῖς γε σώφροσιν
, but no certain example happens to occur in Soph.: see on
O. T. 1030
. The purport of this new oracle seems to have been: — "The welfare of Thebes depends on Oed., alive or dead." Ismene paraphrases it: — "It shows that
you will be in request with the Thebans
some day (
ποτέ
,
i.e. some day
soon ,
397
), — not merely after your death, but while you live." She knows that Creon is coming in the hope of carrying Oed. back — not to Thebes, but to some place just beyond the Theban border, where his person, and afterwards his grave, should be under Theban control. Cp. on
1331
.
εὐσοίας
, used by Soph. also in the
Amphitryon (fr. 119)
, quoted by the schol., who describes it as the reading
ἐπεὶ δὲ βλάστοι, τῶν τριῶν μίαν λαβεῖν
εὔσοιαν ἀρκεῖ
ἐν τοῖς ἀναγκαιοτέροις τῶν ἀντιγράφων
15
… ὃ καὶ οἱ ὑπομνηματισάμενοι ἀξιοῦσιν
(the Alexan drian commentators). It does not occur except in Soph.: but
Theocr. 24. 8
has
εὔσοα τέκνα
("safe and sound"). A and other MSS. have
τοιοῦδ’ ὑπ’
, which gives a clear constr. It seems arbitrary to assume that in L's reading
τίς δ’ ἂν τοιοῦδ’ ἀνδρὸς εὖ πράξειεν ἄν
the syllable lost was rather
τι after
τίς δ’ ἂν , the gen. being one of source. Herm. supports the latter view by
O. T. 1006
σοῦ πρὸς δόμους ἐλθόντος εὖ πράξαιμί τι
, but there the gen. is absolute. Wecklein gives
τίς δ’ ἀντὶ τοιοῦδ’ ἀνδρὸς εὖ πράξειεν ἄν;
comparing
ἀνθ’ οὗ, ἀντὶ τοῦ
; but in such phrases
ἀντί
=
"in recompense for,"
not
"through the agency of."
ἐν σοὶ
:
247.
γίγνεσθαι
is never merely
εἶναι. ἐν σοὶ γίγνεται τὰ κείνων κράτη
=their power
comes to be in thy hand:
i.e. the new oracle so appoints.
φασί
with indef. subject, "people say," report says (we cannot supply "the
θεωροί " from
413
).
κράτη
, political predominance generally, but with esp. ref. to prevalence in war against Athens
(1332)
: the plur. as of royal power (
Ant. 173
κράτη...καὶ θρόνους
).
ἀνήρ
, emphatic, as oft.:
Aristoph.
Nub. 823
ὃ σὺ μαθὼν ἀνὴρ ἔσει
:
Xen.
Cyr. 4.2.25
οὐκέτ’ ἀνήρ ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ σκευοφόρος
.
ὤλλυσαν
, imperf. of intention; see on
274
. This was their design up to the moment of his fall. From that moment dates the period meant by
νῦν .
see on
1
.
δ\ς πέσῃ
without
ἄν
, as oft. in poetry, seldom in prose (
O. T. 1231
n.).
καὶ μὴν
here = "Well, however that may be" (even if it
is
φλαῦρον
).
γε
throws back a light stress on
Κρέοντα
: "
Creon thinks the matter important." For a slightly different use of
καὶ μήν... γε
cp.
O. T. 345
n.
βαιοῦ … χρόνου
. The gen. of the "time
within which " expresses the period to which the act
belongs , and might so be viewed as possessive:
Plat.
Gorg. 448A
οὐδείς μέ πω ἠρώτηκε καινὸν οὐδὲν πολλῶν ἐτῶν
,
i.e. non-questioning of me has now been the attribute of many years.
ἐντός
is sometimes added (
Isocr. or. 6 § 46
ἐντὸς τριῶν μηνῶν κατέσχεν ἅπασαν Μακεδονίαν
).
κοὐχὶ μ.
, with warning emphasis:
O. T. 58
γνωτὰ κοὐκ ἄγνωτα
(n.). Cp.
617
.
στήσωσι
,
sc.
οἱ Θηβαῖοι
: Creon himself lays stress on his mission to speak for
all
(737)
. Schol.
κατοικίσωσι
. The word has a certain harsh fitness for
τὸν πλανήτην
(3)
. Against
ὡς ἄγχι γῆς στήσῃ σε
speaks the plural strain of the whole passage (
392
κείνων
,
400
κρατῶσι
,
402
κείνοις
,
405
θέλουσι
, etc.).
ὅρων
.
ἐμβαίνω usu. takes either dat., or prep. with gen. or accus.: the simple gen. could be explained as partitive, but prob. is rather on the analogy of the gen. with
ἐπι βαίνω: cp.
O. T. 825
ἐμβατεύειν πατρίδος
. The gen. with
ἐπεμβαίνω
(924)
is warranted by the first preposition. 401-408
The tenor of this fine passage should be observed.
Oedipus took
ἐν σοί
(392)
to mean that the welfare of Thebes depended on his presence there. He is thinking of a restoration to his Theban home
(395)
. He asks, therefore, —"Of what use can I be to them if I am left at their doors, and not received within their land?" "They will suffer," she replies, "if your
tomb is neglected." Oedipus does not see the force of this answer: he still infers (from
θανόντα in
390
) that, whatever may be his doom in life, he is at least to be
buried at Thebes. "Why, of course they will," he replies
(403)
. "
So " — pursues the daughter
(404)
— "they mean to keep you within their grasp." A new suspicion flashes on him. "They will
bury me at Thebes?" "It cannot be." That is enough. He will never give himself into their hands. — Remark that he was supposing Apollo's former decree
(91)
to have been cancelled by this later one
(389)
. He now sees that the new oracle does
not cancel the former, but merely confirms it in one aspect, viz. in the promise of
ἄτην τοῖς πέμψασιν
(93)
.
θύρασι
,
foris , as Eur.
El. 2074
οὐδὲν γὰρ αὐτὴν δεῖ θύρασιν εὐπρεπὲς | φαίνειν πρόσωπον
(she ought not to show her beauty
abroad ), where, as here, Elms. restored it from the MS.
θύραισι . Campbell retains the latter. But, while in
θύρασι, θύραζε, θύραθεν, θυραῖος
the notion of "external" is uppermost, the figurative uses of the plural
θύραι
always speak of
approaching the house: as
ἐπὶ τὰς θύρας φοιτᾶν, ἐπὶ ταῖς θύραις διατρίβειν, ἐπὶ ταῖς θύραις τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐσμέν
(
Xen.
Anab. 6.5.23
). So here
θύραισι
would mean, not,
"outside of their doors,"
but
"at their
very doors."
κειμένου
: schol.
οἰκοῦντος
.
κείνοις
with
βαρύς
only.
δυστυχῶν
=if it does not receive due honours: cp.
. Since in death
(390)
he was still to sway their destiny, they wished his grave to be where they could make the due offerings (
ἄμοιρος...νέκυς
of a corpse denied due rites (
Ant. 1071
).
Eur.
Hec. 319
τύμβον δὲ βουλοίμην ἂν ἀξιούμενον
τὸν ἐμὸν ὁρᾶσθαι
ἐναγίζειν
) at it: cp.
Her. 2.44
τῷ μὲν ὡς ἀθανάτῳ...θύουσι, τῷ δὲ...ὡς ἥρωι ἐναγίζουσι
. Such
ἐναγισμός
would be at least annual (cp.
Isae. or. 2 § 46
). The schol. takes
δυστυχῶν as = "if not on Theban soil": but this is excluded by
407
. Cp.
O. T. 398
γνώμῃ κυρήσας οὐδ’ ἀπ’ οἰωνῶν μαθών
. It needed no oracle to tell one that they would incur divine anger for neglecting the first duties of piety towards their late king.
σε προσθέσθαι
,
(
sc.
"to associate you with them (as a prospective ally) in the neighbourhood of their land, and not (to leave you) in a place where you will be your own master."
Cp.
Her. 1.69
χρήσαντος τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν Ἕλληνα φίλον προσθέσθαι,...ὑμέας...προσκαλέομαι φίλος τε θέλων γενέσθαι καὶ σύμμαχος
. With
μηδ’ , etc., a verbal notion such as
ἐᾶσαι οἰκεῖν
must be supplied from
προσθέσθαι
: cp.
El. 71
καὶ μή μ’ ἄτιμον τῆσδ’ ἀποστείλητε γῆς,
ἀλλ’ ἀρχέπλουτον
καταστήσατε
).
ἂν … κρατοῖς
, nearly =
κρατήσεις . See on
ἵν’ ἂν...εἴποιμεν
,
189
. With the MS.
κρατῇς ,
ἄν belongs to
ἵνα : "wherever you may be your own master": which is evidently less suitable here.
καὶ
with
κατασκιῶσι (not with
ἧ , which would imply that he did
not expect it,
O. T. 368
): "Having settled me near their land, will they
further bury me within it?" For
κατασκιάζειν cp.
Epigrammata Graeca 493 (Kaibel, Berl. 1878)
θανόντα...γαῖα κατεσκίασεν
.
τοὔμφυλον αἷμα
, thy blood-guilt for the death of a kinsman: so
ἐμφύλιον αἷμα
(Pind.
Pyth. 2.32)
,
αἷμα συγγενές
(Eur.
Suppl. 148)
,
αἷμα γενέθλιον
(Or. 89)
: but in
O. T. 1406
αἷμ’ ἐμφύλιον
merely=
"a blood-kinship."
Oed. was doomed to
ἀειφυγία
(601)
. Even to
bury him in Theban ground would seem impious towards Laïus. So, when Antigone has given the burial-rite to Polyneices, Creon asks,
(
Ant. 514)
πῶς δῆτ’ ἐκείνῳ δυσσεβῆ τιμᾷς χάριν;
"How, then, canst thou render a grace which is impious towards that other?" (Eteocles).
συναλλαγῆς
, strictly, a bringing together (by the gods) of persons and circumstances, a "conjuncture": rarely without the defining gen. (as
νόσου ξ.
,
O. T. 960
); for in
Tr. 845
ὀλεθρίαισι ξυναλλαγαῖς
prob.= "at the fatal meeting" (of Deianeira with Nessus).
σοῖς … τάφοις
, poetical locative dat. (
O. T. 381
n.), freq. in Homer, as
Il. 21.389
ἥμενος Οὐλύμπῳ
. Some day the Thebans will invade Attica, and will be defeated by the Athenians near the grave of Oedipus. Cp.
Aristeides
ὑπὲρ τῶν τεττάρων p. 284
(the great men of the Greek past are guardian spirits),
καὶ ῥύεσθαί γε τὴν χώραν οὐ χεῖρον ἢ τὸν ἐν Κολωνῷ κείμενον Οἰδίπουν
: where the schol. records a vague legend of his epiphany in some fight with Theban invaders. When the Persians (
480 B.C. ) were repulsed from Delphi, two gigantic warriors pursued them;
τούτους δὲ τοὺς δύο Δελφοὶ λέγουσι εἷναι τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους ἥρωας, Φύλακόν τε καὶ Αὐτόνοον, τῶν τὰ τεμένεά ἐστι περὶ τὸ ἱρόν
(Her. 8.39)
. So Theseus was seen at Marathon (
Plut.
Thes. 35
); Athene appeared, and the Aeacidae helped, at Salamis (
Her. 9.83 f.
).
θεωρῶν
, sent from Thebes to Delphi, to consult the oracle in solemn form (
O. T. 114
): cp. on
354
.
ἑστίας
, the "hearth of the Pythian seer" (
O. T. 965
), "at earth's centre" (
μεσόμφαλος
,
Eur.
Ion 462
).
ἐφ’ ἡμῖν
, "in my case" (n. on
O.T. 829
).
οἱ μολόντες
: schol.
οἱ θεωροί
.
παίδων τις
(there being only
two sons) virtually strengthens the question, as if he asked —"Had my sons any knowledge whatever of this?"
καὶ εἶτα
, "and after that," is explained by
τῶνδ’ ἀκούσαντες.
τῶνδ’
: see on
304
.
πάρος … προὔθεντο
:
Eur.
Hipp. 382
οἱ δ’ ἡδονὴν προθέντες ἀντὶ τοῦ καλοῦ | ἄλλην τιν’
:
Isocr.
Ep. 9 § 17
ἄλλους ἀνθ’ ἡμων προκριθῆναι
: and so Plat.
προτιμᾶν τι ἀντί τινος
(
Lys. 219 D)
,
πρό τινος
(
Legg. 727 D)
,
πλέον τινός
(
ib. 777 D)
,
μᾶλλον ἤ τι
(887 B)
. What is the complaint of Oed. against his sons? This: — Apollo had made him the arbiter, in life and death, of Theban welfare
(389)
. His sons might have pleaded with the Thebans: — "Apollo has now virtually condoned the
ἔμφυλον αἷμα (
407
). Restore our father to the throne." But they desired the throne for themselves. Here, as in regard to his expulsion, they neglected an opportunity which natural piety should have seized
(441)
.
τοὐμοῦ πόθου
: the possess. pron. =object. gen. of pers. pron.: see on
332
.
φέρω δ’ ὅμως
is usually taken, "but such are my tidings" (cp.
360
). This would be fitting if, with Wecklein, we might read
φέρουσα for
κλύουσα : but the latter is in all MSS., and naturally refers to the words just heard by Ismene from Oed., not to a report heard by her at Thebes. The indignant question of Oed. invited a defence. She replies, "I am pained to hear my brothers charged with such conduct, but I must bear it" —
i.e. I cannot deny the charge. The contrast between
ἀλγῶ and
φέρω has thus more point.
ἀλλ’
. "Nay, then" — opening the imprecation, as
Ph. 1040
.
ἀλλ’, ὦ πατρῴα γῆ θεοί τ’ ἐγχώριοι,
τείσασθε, τείσασθ’
σφιν
, not
σφι
, was prob. always the form used by Attic tragedy. It is required by metre below,
444
,
451
,
1490
:
Ai. 570
:
El. 1070
:
Aesch.
PV 252
,
457
:
Pers. 759
,
807
:
fr. 157
(
ap.
Plat.
Rep. 391E
). Eur. has the dat. in two places where, as here,
σφι
is
possible , but in both
σφιν
has MS. authority, and should probably be read,
Med. 398
(
v.l.
σφι
),
Suppl. 769
. On the other hand there is no place in trag. where metre excludes
σφιν
.
τὴν πεπρωμένην
, by the curse in the house of Laïus
(369)
.
ἐν δ’
after
μήτε is harsh, and Elmsley's
ἔν τ’ may be right. There is, however, a good deal of MS. evidence for
τε...δέ
in trag.: see on
367
. Cp.
Ant. 1096
τό τ’ εἰκαθεῖν γὰρ δεινόν, ἀντιστάντα δὲ κ.τ.λ.
, n.
ἐν ἐμοί
(cp.
247
), may the issue for them
come to be
(392)
in my hands,
i.e. may the gods allow me to be the final arbiter, and to doom them
both by a father's curse.
κἀπαναίρονται
. The words
καὶ ἐπαναίρονται δόρυ
do not form a second relative clause,—as if, from the
ἧς before
ἔχονται , we had to supply the relat. pron. in a different case (
ἐφ’ ᾗ
, or
εἰς ἥν
) with
ἐπαναίρονται
. They form an independent sentence, which is co-ordinated with the relative clause,
ἧς ἔχονται
. This is the normal Greek construction. See note in Appendix. Cp.
467
,
731
.
ἐπαναιροῦνται δόρυ
, the MS. reading, would mean, "are taking a spear upon them," the verb being used figuratively (like
in se suscipere ) of obligations or responsibilities (
φιλίαν, πόλεμον, τέχνην, λατρείαν
etc.); but
ἐπαναίρεσθαι
, in its literal sense of "uplifting against," is more natural and more poetical with
δόρυ : cp.
Eur.
Her. 313
καὶ μήποτ’ ἐς γῆν ἐχθρὸν αἴρεσθαι δόρυ
.
ὡς
, "for" (if I were to have the decision). Blomfield's conjecture
ὧδ’ is unnecessary.
οἵ γε
, causal: see on
οἵτινες
263
.
ἀτίμως
: cp.
440
βίᾳ
:
770
ἐξεώθεις
. Soph. has this adv. thrice elsewhere of ignominious or ruthless treatment,
El. 1181
,
Ant. 1069
,
fr. 593. 7.
οὐκ ἔσχον
, did not stop me (from being expelled). We find such phrases as
ἔχω τινὰ ποιοῦντά τι , to check one
in the act of doing something (
O. C. 888
βουθυτοῦντά μ’...ἔσχετ’
), but not
ἔχω τινὰ ἀδικούμενον , to stop one
from being wronged (like
παύω ). Here, then, it is better to supply
τὸ (or
ὥστε )
μὴ ἐξωθεῖσθαι than to take
ἔσχον with
ἐξωθούμενον . Cp.
Xen.
Anab. 3.5.11
πᾶς...ἀσκὸς δύο ἄνδρας ἕξει τὸ
(
v.l.
τοῦ
)
μὴ καταδῦναι· ὥστε δὲ μὴ ὀλισθάνειν, ἡ ὕλη καὶ ἡ γῆ σχήσει
.
ἤμυναν
,
sc.
ἐμοί.
ἀνάστατος
, made to rise up and quit one's abode, "driven from house and home," implying
(driven from our home at Argos).
Thuc. 1.8
ἀειφυγία
(601)
,
Tr. 39
ἐν Τραχῖνι τῇδ’ ἀνάστατοι
ξένῳ παρ’ ἀνδρὶ ναίομεν
οἱ...ἐκ τῶν νήσων κακοῦργοι ἀνέστησαν ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ
(were expelled).
αὐτοῖν
, not dat. of the agent (very rare except with perf., plpf., or fut. pf. pass.), but dat. of interest ("so far as they were concerned"): cp.
Ph. 1030
τέθνηχ’ ὑμῖν πάλαι
:
Aesch.
PV 12
σφῷν μὲν ἐντολὴ Διὸς | ἔχει τέλος δή
.
ἐξεκηρύχθην
, by a proclamation of Creon (as regent) to the citizens—like that which Oed. himself had made (
O. T. 216
ff.).
κήρυγμα
is used of the royal
edict ,
Ant. 8
, 161, etc. Cp.
Lys. or. 12 § 95
(of those banished by the Thirty)
ἐξεκηρύχθητε...ἐκ τῆς πόλεως
.
εἴποις ἂν
: the figure called
ὑποφορά
(Lat.
subiectio ,
Cornificius 4. 23. 33
), the "suggestion" of an objection, with the reply;
Tiberius
περὶ σχημάτων § 36
(
Spengel
Rhet. III. 77
)
ὑποφορὰ δέ ἐστιν ὅταν μὴ ἑξῆς προβαίνῃ ὁ λόγος, ἀλλ’ ὑποθείς τι ἢ ὡς παρὰ τοῦ ἀντιδίκου ἢ ὡς ἐκ τοῦ πράγματος ἀποκρίνηται πρὸς αὑτόν, ὥσπερ δύο ἀντιλεγόμενα πρόσωπα μιμούμενος
. Oed. here speaks chiefly to Ism., whose pain for her brothers
(420)
might suggest the excuse; though in
445
,
457
he addresses the Chorus. Wecklein conceives Oed. as speaking directly to the spectators, who might recollect the close of the
O. T.
Need we charge the poet with this dramatic impropriety?
θέλοντι
, "desiring" (not merely "consenting"): cp.
767
:
O. T. 1356
θέλοντι κἀμοὶ τοῦτ’ ἂν ἦν
. The desire of Oed. to be sent away from Thebes is passionately expressed in the
O. T.
(
1410 ff.
,
1449 ff.
). At the end of that play he repeats the request (
1518
), and Creon replies that it must be referred to Delphi.
τότε
with
κατῄνεσεν
,
i.e. "when I was banished"; so
Ai. 650
τότε
="in those old days." The
ι in L's
κατηίνυσεν speaks for
κατῄνεσεν ,— clearly much fitter here than
κατήνυσεν . Cp.
1633
καταίνεσον
,
1637
κατῄνεσεν
. The contrast is between exile imposed as a doom or granted as a boon,—not merely between a wish fulfilled or unfulfilled.
ἡμέραν
: the acc. of duration (cp.
O. T. 1138
) is strictly warrantable, as in
Xen.
Cyr. 6.3.11
καὶ ἐχθὲς δὲ καὶ τρίτην ἡμέραν
(the day before yesterday)
τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἔπραττον
: though in a negative sentence we might have rather expected the gen. (cp.
An. 3. 3. 11
τῆς ἡμέρας ὅλης διῆλθον οὐ πλέον πέντε καὶ εἴκοσι σταδίων
).
τὴν αὐτίχ’
:
Thuc. 2.64
ἔς τε τὸ μέλλον...ἔς τε τὸ αὐτίκα
:
3. 112
ἐν τῷ αὐτίκα φόβῳ
.
λευσθῆναι πέτροις
, the typical form of summary vengeance on one who has incurred public execration:
Il. 3.56
ἠέ κεν ἤδη | λάϊνον ἕσσο χιτῶνα
:
Aesch.
Ag. 1616
δημορριφεῖς...λευσίμους ἀράς
:
Ai. 254
λιθόλευστον Ἄρη
(on the part of the infuriated army):
Eur.
Or. 442
θανεῖν ὑπ’ ἀστῶν λευσίμῳ πετρώματι
(the pleonasm as here).
Her. 9.5
16
περιστάντες Λυκίδην κατέλευσαν βάλλοντες
. The redundant
πέτροις adds emphasis: so
Ant. 200
πυρὶ | πρῆσαι κατάκρας
. Cp.
O. T. 1255
φοιτᾷ γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἔγχος ἐξαιτῶν πορεῖν
:
1411
φονεύσατ’ ἢ θαλάσσιον | ἐκρίψατ’
.
ἔρωτ’ ἐς τόνδ’
, the conjecture of Papageorgius (see cr. n.), is, I think, almost certain. The MS. change supposed is of the slightest kind, and such as continually occurs in our MSS.: while
ἔρωτος τοῦδ’ cannot be defended as either (
a ) gen. of connection, "helping in regard to this desire," or (
b ) possessive gen. with
ὠφελῶν as=
εὐεργέτης
, "helper of this desire." See Appendix.
πέπων
. The metaphor is not directly from the mellowing of fruit, but from the medical use of the word in ref. to the subsiding of inflammation (as in angry tumours, etc.). Cp. the fig. sense of
Hence, too,
Tr. 728
ὠμός
. So
πεπαίνεσθαι
Hippocr. 1170 B
:
Arist.
Meteor. 4.3
ἡ φυμάτων
17
καὶ φλέγματος...πέπανσις
:
Anthol. Pal. 12. 80
τί σοι τὸ πεπανθὲν Ἔρωτος
τραῦμα διὰ σπλάγχνων αὖθις ἀναφλέγεται;
ὀργὴ πέπειρα
.
ἐκδραμόντα
, had rushed out, run to excess (not, run
ἔξω δρόμου
, out of the course): 08: cp.
Ant. 752
ἦ κἀπαπειλῶν ὧδ’ ἐπεξέρχει θρασύς
; dost thou e'en
go to the length of threatening so boldly? The gen. might be taken with
μείζω , "a chastiser
greater than the sins,"
i.e. "severer than they merited" (
ἢ κατὰ τὰ ἡμαρτ
.); but it is simpler to take it with
κολαστήν , "too great a chastiser of the sins." As
μέγας θυμός
is "violent anger," so
θυμός
which is over-violent can be called
μείζων κολαστής
. The rhythm of the verse will not permit us to disjoin
μείζω
(as by a comma) from
κολαστήν
.
τὸ τηνίκ’ ἤδη
, just when that time had come (the art. as in
τὸ αὐτίκα,
18
Thuc. 2.41
). While
τηνικάδε ("at this time of day") was common, the simple
τηνίκα occurs nowhere else in elass. Attic; it is found, however, in the Alexandrian poets, and in later Greek.
τοῦτο μέν
is answered by
δέ
(441)
instead of
τοῦτο δέ , as by
ἔπειτα δέ
(
Ant. 63)
,
τοῦτ’ αὖθις
(
ib. 165)
,
εἶτα
(
Ph. 1345)
,
τοῦτ’ ἄλλο
(
O. T. 605)
.
χρόνιον
,
"after all that time,"
— repeating the thought with which he had begun (
χρόνῳ
437).
Thuc. 1.141
χρόνιοι...ξυνιόντες
, meeting only at long intervals:
3. 29
σχολαῖοι κομισθέντες
, having made a leisurely voyage:
8. 14
ἀφικνοῦνται αἰφνίδιοι.
ἐπωφελεῖν
with dat. (like
ἐπαρκεῖν
) as
Eur.
Andr. 677
, elsewhere usu. with acc. (
Ph. 905
, etc.): cp. the poet. dat. with the simple verb,
Ant. 560
τοῖς θανοῦσιν ὠφελεῖν
.
οἱ τοῦ πατρὸς τῷ πατρί
blends two forms of antithesis,—(1)
οἱ παῖδες τῷ πατρί
, and (2)
οἱ τοῦ Οἰδίποδος τῷ Οἰδίποδι
. The gen. of
"origin,"
τοῦ πατρός
, really a possessive gen., comes in with peculiar force here, as suggesting that the sons
belong to the sire. For
πα^τρὸς...πα—τρί
cp.
883
,
Ph. 296
ἀλλ’ ἐν πέτροισι πέτρον
,
Ant. 1310
n.
τὸ δρᾶν
,
on 47
.
ἔπους σμικροῦ χάριν
, for
lack of a few words in his defence (
, would have been brought up,
if tears could bring him:
Aesch.
Pers. 337
ἀντιλογίας βραχείας
, schol.). As if one said, "They incurred all this loss
for the sake of a petty sum" (
i.e. to
save it). This is a slight deviation from the ordinary use of
ἕνεκα, οὕνεκα
(22)
,
ἕκατι, χάριν
, in such phrases. Cp.
fr. 510. 6
κἀμοὶ γὰρ ἂν πατήρ γε δακρύων χάριν
ἀνῆκτ’ ἂν εἰς φῶς
πλήθους...ἕκατι
, if numbers could give victory.
σφιν
,
i.e. they looked on and did nothing: see
on
αὐτοῖν
430
. The question between
ἀεί (L) and
ἐγώ (A) turns on these points. With
ἀεί , ἠλώμην
= "continued to wander." He can scarcely mean that,
after his expulsion, they might at any time have recalled him, since he regards the new oracle as having given them an opportunity which did not exist before
(418)
. But he may mean that their silence
at the moment of his expulsion was the cause of the whole sequel. With
ἐγώ , ἠλώμην
mightmean, "proceeded to wander forth," referring to the moment of expulsion (cp.
ἐξηλαυνόμην
356
). But (
a ) the tense is somewhat awkward here, and (
b )
ἐγώ
is weak unless taken as= "
I —their father."
τοῖνδε
, not
ταῖνδε
, is the form of the fem. du. as found in Attic inscrr. of
c. 450—320 B.C. : cp.
Ant. 769
n. But as to the partic., the dual forms in
‐α, ‐αιν
, and those in
‐ε, ‐οιν
, seem to have been used concurrently (cp.
1676 n.
): I have not, therefore, changed
οὔσαιν
to
ὄντοιν
with Nauck.
τροφάς
: cp.
330
,
341
.
γῆς ἄδειαν
, a strange phrase (perh. corrupt), must mean, security
in regard to the land (where I find myself at any given time), a secure resting-place. Cp.
Thuc. 8.64
λαβοῦσαι αἱ πόλεις...ἄδειαν τῶν πρασσομένων
, security
in regard to their proceedings. His daughters, so far as they can, give him in exile all that his sons should have given him at Thebes,—(1) maintenance, (2) safety in his movements, (3) generally, the support due from kinsfolk.Nauck's
στέγης τ’ ἄδειαν
seems too suggestive of a fixed home to suit
τὸν πλανήτην
(3): Wecklein's
κοίτης τ’ ἄδειαν
makes a detail too prominent in this general acknowledgment. With regard to
βλάβης τ’
or
κἄτης ἄδειαν
(Blaydes), remark that
ἄδεια
never occurs with a gen. of that
against which one is safe. The
καὶ before
γῆς
seems genuine: were it absent, the
καὶ
before
τροφὰς
must answer to that before
γένους
. And, for a rhetorical passage,
γῆς is in some degree confirmed by the assonance with
γένους
.
γένους
=
ἣν τὸ γένος παρέχει
.
Thuc. 7.34
διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀνέμου
(subject.)
ἄπωσιν τῶν ναυαγίων
(object.)=
ὅτι ὁ ἄνεμος ἀπωθεῖ τὰ ναυάγια
(
Thompson,
Synt. § 98
). The constr. is,
εἱλέσθην θρόνους, καὶ κραίνειν σκῆπτρα , etc.
κραίνειν
=(1) to bring a thing to pass, (2) to exercise power, to
reign , sometimes with a
gen. of the persons ruled (
296
,
862
, etc.).
σκῆπτρα
goes with
κραίνειν
as an almost adverbial cognate accus., "to rule with sceptre": as
Ph. 140
σκῆπτρον ἀνάσσεται
(pass.) implies a similar
σκῆπτρον ἀνάσσω
. Rhythm forbids to take
σκῆπτρα
with
εἱλέσθην
, making
κραίνειν
epexegetic ("so as to rule"). As most editors since Elmsley have allowed, the MS.
οὔ τι ... οὔτε cannot be right. And
οὔ τι ... οὐδέ is clearly more forcible than
οὔτε ... οὔτε .
λάχωσι
: this verb with gen. is less common than with accus., but is well attested not only in poetry but in prose, as
Plat.
Legg. 775E
τιμῆς ἐὰν τῆς προσηκούσης...λαγχάνῃ
(Krüger 1. 47. 14)
. It is surely needless, then, to adopt Brunck's
τύχωσι .
τοῦδε
, very rare for
τοῦδ’ ἀνδρός as =
ἐμοῦ : so
τῆσδε
=
ἐμοῦ
Tr. 305
,
τῷδε
=
ἐμοί
ib. 1012
.
συμμάχου
predicate; cp.
1482
ἐναισίου δὲ σοῦ τύχοιμι
, and
1486
. The oracle newly brought by Ismene is distinguished from the oracle given to Oedipus himself at Delphi in former years (see on
87
). He calls the former
her oracle, because she brings it. Both oracles alike
concern him. We must not, then, change
τἀξ to
τἀπ’ (
"concerning me"
).
τὰ ἐξ ἐμοῦ παλαίφατα
=the earlier predictions which I, on my side, can produce: those which the resources of my knowledge furnish forth.
ἐξ
is appropriate, since they have been so long treasured in his inmost soul. Cp. on
293
.
ἤνυσεν
, by bringing him to the grove (cp.
87
), in earnest that the requital predicted for the authors of his exile (
93
) will also come to pass. If
ἤνυσεν
were referred to the involuntary crimes of Oed., the connection of thought would be less close.
ὁμοῦ | προστάτισι
(predicative), along with them as your protectors or champions against Theban violence. Oed. is already under the guard of the Eumenides as their
ἱκέτης
(284)
: if the Coloniates are loyal to the Eumenides, Attica and he will alike be saved.In the reading
, note these points: (1)
θέλητέ μου
πρὸς ταῖσι ταῖς
ἀλκήν
μου ποιεῖσθαι
would not mean, "defend me," but rather "defend
against me" (cp. on
1524
): we must at least have
μοι . (2)
πρός yields no tolerable sense.
ὑμεῖς, πρὸς ταῖς θεαῖς
, "ye,
in addition to the goddesses," ranks the Coloniates with, or above, their deities. The gloss
σύν
, written in L over
πρός
(whence it came into other MSS.), was a palliative. Nor could
πρός
mean here, "close to their shrine."For Dindorf's
it may be urged:—(1)
ὁμοῦ
προστάτισι
ταῖσι ταῖς
is in all MSS., which would be strange if
ταῖσδε ταῖς
were genuine; while
πρὸς ταῖσι ταῖς
is simply explained by
προστά
(
τ
)
ισι ταῖς
. (2) A change of
προστάτισι
into
πρὸς ταῖσι
might have produced the change of
‐θ’ ὁμοῦ
into
‐τέ μου
. (3) After
ἐμοῦ
in
455
it is easy to dispense with the pronoun.—Cp.
O. T. 882
θεὸν οὐ λήξω ποτὲ προστάταν ἴσχων
:
Tr. 209
Ἀπόλλωνα προστάταν
:
Porphyry
Antr. Nymph. 12
νύμφαις ὑδάτων προστάτισιν
.
δημούχοις
, holding, reigning among, your people: cp.
O. T. 160
γαιάοχον … | Ἄρτεμιν
:
Aristoph.
Eq. 581
Παλλὰς πολιοῦχος
:
Aesch.
Th. 69
πολισσοῦχοι θεοί
. But below,
1087
γᾶς...δαμούχοις
= the Athenians,
1348
δημοῦχος χθονός
= the king. The word is tinged here with the notion of "deme": cp.
78
.
ἀλκὴν ποεῖσθαι
(for the spelling see
278 n.
), a simple periphrasis,=
ἀλκαθεῖν
:
Thuc. 1.124
ποεῖσθαι τιμωρίαν
=
τιμωρεῖν
(to succour),
2. 94
φυλακὴν... ἐποιοῦντο
=
ἐφύλασσον
, etc. Distinguish
ἀλκὴν τιθέναι τινός
(1524)
, to create a defence against a thing. A
gen. after
ἀλκή
as = "succour" must denote (
a ) the defender, as in
Διὸς ἀλκή
, or (
b ) the danger;— not the interest defended.
ἀρεῖσθε
:
Ai. 75
n.
The
ἐμῆς in L (where
τῆσδ’
perh. preceded
τοῖσδ’
) gives some colour to the conjecture
τῆς
(or
τοῖς
)
δὲ
γῆς
: yet
τοῖς δ’ ἐμοῖς seems right. Oedipus is following the train of thought in which benefits to Attica are bound up with retribution for his own wrongs (
92
); and he thus gives the Chorus another pledge that their interest is one with his. With
ἐμοῖς, τῇδε
μὲν
is best in
459
: with
γῆς, τῇδε
τῇ
would have been fitter.
ἐπάξιος
,
sc.
εἶ
. When the verb is thus omitted, the pron. is usu. added: here, the absence of
σύ
is excused by
Οἰδίπους . This form of the voc. has the best MS. authority in some 12 places of Soph., as against 3 which support
Οἰδίπου
(more often gen.), viz. below,
557
,
1346
, and
O. T. 405
(where see n.).
κατοικτίσαι
:
Thuc. 1.138
ἄξιος θαυμάσαι
. The pass. inf. is rarer in this constr., as
τίεσθαι δ’ ἀξιώτατος
Aesch.
Ag. 531
. Cp.
37
.
αὐτός τε παῖδές θ’
: cp.
559
,
1009
,
1125
,
1310
.
ἐπεμβάλλεις
, you insert yourself in this plea as a deliverer:
i.e. to his protest against a breach of their promise (
258—291
), and his appeal to pity, he adds a promise of benefit to Attica (
287
,
459
). Cp.
Her. 2.4
διὰ τρίτου ἔτεος ἐμβόλιμον ἐπεμβάλλουσι
, they
insert an intercalary month every other year:
Plat.
Crat. 399A
πολλάκις ἐπεμβάλλομεν γράμματα, τὰ δ’ ἐξαιροῦμεν
, we
insert letters (in words), or remove them.
τῷδε λόγῳ
is not instrum. dat., but goes with the verb. Not, "further pledge yourself to be the deliverer": in
Ph. 813
ἐμβάλλω μενεῖν
follows
ἔμβαλλε χειρὸς πίστιν
. Editors usu. give either
ὡς
νῦν , θοῦ
νῦν
(with L), or
ὥς
νυν ...θοῦ
νυν
(as Elms.). But
νυν seems best in
465
,
νῦν in
466
.
προξένει
, grant me thy kindly offices (of advice and direction), as a man does in his own State to the foreigners who have made him their
πρόξενος
(see n. on
O. T. 1483
).
ὡς … τελοῦντι
, in the assurance that I will perform anything required of me: cp.
13.
καθαρμὸν τῶνδε δαιμόνων
(poss. gen.), such a lustration as belongs to them, is due to them: not object. gen., since
καθαίρειν
could not stand for
ἱλάσκεσθαι
.The libation is due (1) as a greeting to the
θεοὶ ἐγχώριοι
of Attica, (2) as an atonement for trespass on the grove. The words
καὶ κατέστειψας πέδον
form an independent sentence, and not a second relative clause (as if
ὧν
were supplied from
ἐφ’ ἅς
): see on
424
.
κατέστειψας
:
Sappho fr. 95
, "trample on": here the word suggests the rash violation of the
οἵαν τὰν ὑάκινθον ἐν οὔρεσι ποιμένες ἄνδρες
ποσσὶ καταστείβοισι
χῶρον οὐχ ἁγνὸν πατεῖν
(37)
. The
v.l.
κατέστεψας was explained figuratively: "came to the ground as a suppliant," who lays his branch (
ἱκετηρία
), twined with festoons of wool (
στέφη
), on an altar: see n. on
O. T. 3
. Schol.:
καθικέτευσας, μετὰ ἱκετηρίων ἀφίκου
: justly adding that the other reading is
πιθανώτερον.
κατάστεψον (marg. of L) was a grammarian's attempt to improve on
κατέστεψας
: it would refer to the twigs
(483)
; but a secondary detail of the rite should not be thus forestalled and emphasised.
ἀειρύτου
. The rule is that
ρ is doubled when, by inflection or composition, a
simple vowel precedes it, but remains single when a
diphthong precedes it: hence
νεόρρυτος
, but
ἀείρυτος
. Through overlooking this distinction, Blaydes follows our MSS. in writing
ἀειρρύτου . Metre often led the poets to use
ρ instead of
ρρ , as
ἀμφι^ρύτου
(
Ai. 134
),
χρυσορύτους
(
Ant. 950
),
αὐτόριζος
(
Babrius
fab. 69
); and
προρέω
, not
προρρέω
, was the regular form, as euphony plainly required. But there is no classical instance of the opposite anomaly.
δῑ ὁσίων χειρῶν
,
i.e. after duly washing the hands before entering the sacred precinct. Blood-guilt is not thought of here: if that was in question,
.
καθαρμοὶ χοιροκτόνοι
(Aesch.
Eum. 283)
would first be needed for Oed. himself: but the Chorus assume that, as he said, he is now
εὐσεβής
(287)
. Washings, or sprinklings, were required before approaching shrines, and for this purpose
περιρραντήρια
were set at the entrances of sacred places. Cp.
Hippocr.
Morb. Sacr. 2
ὅρους τοῖσι θεοῖσι τῶν ἱερῶν καὶ τῶν τεμενέων ἀποδεικνύμενοι, ὡς ἂν μηδεὶς ὑπερβαίνοι εἰ μὴ ἁγνεύοι, εἰσιόντες δὲ περιρραινόμεθα, οὐχ ὡς μιαινόμενοι, ἀλλ’ εἴ τι καὶ πρότερον ἔχομεν μύσος, τοῦτο ἀφαγνιούμενοι
.
Lucian
Sacrific. 13
τὸ μὲν πρόγραμμά φησι μὴ παριέναι εἴσω τῶν περιρραντηρίων ὅστις μὴ καθαρός ἐστι τὰς χεῖρας
. So
Od. 4.750
ἀλλ’ ὑδρηναμένη, καθαρὰ χροῒ εἵματ’ ἔχουσα, …
εὔχε’ Ἀθηναίῃ
τοῦτο
, adject., but without art. (cp.
1177
), an epic use sometimes allowed by the Attic poets, and not rare in Sophocles.
ἀκήρατον
:
Chrysippus
ap. Plut.
Stoic. repugn. 22
commends Hesiod for enjoining on men that they should respect the
purity of rivers and springs, since thence the gods were served (
Hes.
Opp. 755
). !-- *** -->
κρατῆρές εἰσιν
:
i.e. the priest in charge of the shrine keeps them ready for the use of the worshippers, near the spring in the inner part of the grove (505), from which they were to be filled. The libations to the Eumenides were wineless (100), but they are associated with the mixing-bowl which was regularly used in libations (of wine) to other deities. Bekker
Anecd. 274. 3
κρατηρίζων· ἤτοι τὸν οἶνον ἐν κρατῆρι κιρνῶν, ἢ ἀπὸ κρατήρων σπένδων
.
Dem.
De Fals. Legat. § 280
σπονδῶν καὶ κρατήρων κοινωνούς
.
In Mid. § 53
19
ἱερὰ τελεῖν καὶ κρατῆρα κεράσαι
.
εὔχειρος
: schol.
εὐπαλάμου
.
Pind.
Ol. 9.111
εὔχειρα, δεξιόγυιον
,
"deft-handed, nimble-limbed,"
of a wrestler. Lucian
Amor. 11
τῆς Πραξιτέλους εὐχειρίας
(
v.l.
εὐχερείας
).
τέχνη
: fr. 161
(
Il. 23.741)
.
ὅπλοις ἀρρῶξιν, Ἡφαίστου τέχνῃ
(the
work of Hephaestus): a common use of the word in later Greek. Cp.
Verg.
Aen. 5. 359
clipeum...Didymaonis artes.
Mixing-bowls were made not only of earthenware, but oft. of gold, silver, or bronze: Achilles had an
ἀργύρεον κρητῆρα τετυγμένον :
...αὐτὰρ κάλλει ἐνίκα πᾶσαν ἐπ’ αἶαν
πολλόν· ἐπεὶ Σιδόνες πολυδαίδαλοι εὖ ἤσκησαν
The crater had various forms, some of them local (thus
Her. 4.61
speaks of a
Λέσβιος κρητήρ
, and 4. 152 of an
Ἀργολικός
): but the general type was that of a large bowl, supported by a foot with a broad base, and having a handle at each side (cp. Guhl and Koner, p. 150).
κρᾶτ’
, acc. sing., the
"top,"
i.e. rim, of each
κρατήρ
. In
Il. 19.93
κράατα
is acc. plur., and Pindar is quoted by Eustath. (
Od. 12.1715
. 63) as having said
τρία κρᾶτα
(for
κράατα
). But in
Od. 8.92
κρᾶτα
is sing., and so always in Attic: Soph. has (
τὸ
)
κρᾶτα
several times as acc., and once as nom. An acc. plur. masc.
κρᾶτας
occurs twice in Eur. (
Ph. 1149
,
H. F. 526).
λαβὰς ἀμφιστόμους
, handles on each side of the
στόμα
, or mouth. The festoon of wool, which was to be wreathed round the rim of the bowl, could be secured to these. Wecklein understands handles which also served as spouts.
θαλλοῖσιν
, of olive.
κρόκη
, from
κρέκω
, to strike the web, in weaving, with the
κερκίς
, or rod, is the woof, the warp being
στήμων
: in
Pind.
Nem. 10.43
μαλακαῖσι κρόκαις
are cloaks of soft woollen texture. So here
κρόκαι are woollen cloths. The MS.
νεαρᾶς seems the right word: with Bellermann, I insert
σὺ , though Wecklein's
τε is also possible. For the iterated
. The objection to
γε is that it supposes
κρόκαισιν to be the genus of which
μαλλῷ is a species.
μαλλός , however, means, not a woollen texture, but a fleece of wool, flocks of which were to be made into a festoon (
στέφος ) for the brim of the
κρατήρ , like that which the suppliant put on his
ἱκετηρία (
O. T. 3
).
νεώρους is tempting, but elsewhere means "recent," "fresh" (
730
,
El. 901
), not "young." The drawback to Dindorf's
νεαλοῦς is the sense.
νεαλής in class. Attic meant not
young , but
fresh as opp. to
exhausted :
Xen.
Cyr. 8.6.17
νεο‐
cp.
Ant. 157
νεοχμὸς νεαραῖσι θεῶν
ἐπὶ συντυχίαις
παραλαμβάνειν τοὺς ἀπειρηκότας ἵππους καὶ ἀνθρώπους καὶ ἄλλους πέμπειν νεαλεῖς
.
Plat.
Polit. 265B
νεαλέστεροι ὄντες
(we shall travel better) while we are fresh.
Aristoph. fr. 330
ἕως νεαλής ἐστιν αὐτὴν τὴν ἀκμήν
is an isolated line, but the word seems to have the same sense there.
Nicander
Alexipharmaca 358
(
circ. 150 B.C. ) is the first writer quoted for
νεαλής as = "young."
λαβών
,
sc.
αὐτόν
: cp.
Tr. 1216
( διδούς )
:
Aristoph.
Av. 56
σὺ δ’ οὖν λίθῳ κόψον λαβών
(in
O. T. 607
λαβών
is not similar):
Il. 7.303
δῶκε ξίφος ἀργυρόηλον—σὺν κολεῷ τε φέρων καὶ ἐϋτμήτῳ τελαμῶνι
. The guardian of the grove
(506)
would supply the
μαλλός .
τὸ δ’ ἔνθεν
, rare for
τὸ ἐνθένδε, τὸ ἐντεῦθεν , but cp.
Aesch.
Ag. 247
τὰ δ’ ἔνθεν οὔτ’ εἶδον οὔτ’ ἐννέπω
. Here prob. adverbial: cp.
Ph. 895
τί δῆτ’ ἂν δρῷμ’ ἐγὼ τοὐνθένδε γε;
ποῖ τελ.
, to what conclusion am I to bring the rite? Thus far it has been all preparation. see on
227
.
χοὰς χέασθαι
.
χοαί were offered to the gods of the under-world (cp.
1599
), or to the dead (
Ant. 431
), as
σπονδαί
to the gods above.
λοιβαί
usu.=
σπονδαί
, but=
χοαί
in
El. 52
(to the dead). So
Aesch.
Eum. 107
χοὰς ἀοίνους
, of the Eumenides. The midd. verb as
Od. 10.518
( χοὴν χεῖσθαι )
, and
Aesch.
Pers. 219
χρὴ χοὰς | γῇ τε καὶ φθιτοῖς χέασθαι
. The verb with cogn. acc. gives solemnity, as in
θυσίαν θύειν, σπονδὰς σπένδειν
, etc.
πρὸς πρώτην ἕω
, not meaning, of course, that the
time must be dawn. On the contrary it was an ancient custom that sacrifices to the
χθόνιοι
and to the dead should not be offered till after midday:
Etym. M. 468
ἀπὸ δὲ μεσημβρίας ἔθυον τοῖς καταχθονίοις
, and in
Aesch.
Eum. 109
Clytaemnestra speaks of sacrificing to the Eum. by night,
ὥραν οὐδενὸς κοινὴν θεῶν
.The schol. here says that persons performing expiatory rites (
ἐκθύσεις
) or purifications (
καθαρμοί
) faced the East (as the region of light and purity), quoting
El. 424
f., where Electra
ἡλίῳ | δείκνυσι τοὔναρ
, and Cratinus
ἐν Χείρωνι
(the title of the comedy was
Χείρωνες
, Bothe,
Frag. Com. p. 47):
ἄγε δὴ πρὸς ἕω πρῶτον ἁπάντων ἵστω καὶ λάμβανε χερσὶ | σχῖνον μεγάλην
,—the squill being used in purifications.Statues of gods were oft. set to face the East (
Paus. 5.23.1
, etc.): also, victims about to be sacrificed (
Sen.
Oed. 338
). Cp. the precept of Zoroaster
"to face some luminous object while worshipping god"
(Max Müller,
Chips 1. 175). Conversely, in pronouncing solemn curses the priests faced the
West ,—waving red banners: [Lys.]
In Andoc. § 51
στάντες κατηράσαντο πρὸς ἑσπέραν καὶ φοινικίδας ἀνέσεισαν
.
κρωσσοῖς
here=
κρατῆρσιν
. The word is fitting, since the
κρωσσός
was more esp. used for
water (
Eur.
Ion 1173
,
Cycl. 89
), though also sometimes for wine (
Aesch. fr. 91
κρωσσοὺς | μήτ’ οἰνηροὺς μήτ’ ὑδατηρούς
), also for oil,—or as a cinerary urn. Guhl and Koner (p. 149) think that the krossos resembled the
ὑδρία
, which, like the
κάλπις
, was a bulky, shortnecked vessel, oft. seen in the vase-paintings as borne by maidens on their heads when fetching water.
οἷς
by attract. for
οὕς.
χέω
delib. aor. (rather than pres.) subjunct.
πηγάς
: here, strictly the gushing of the water from the bowl. From each of the three bowls he is to pour a
χοή
. The first and second bowls are to be filled with the spring water
only; and from each of these he is to make a libation without emptying the bowl. The third bowl is to contain water sweetened with honey; and, in making the libation from
this , he is to empty it.
τρισσάς
might be distributive,
"three from each bowl"
(as the number nine recurs in 483); but in the
χοή
to the dead in
Od. 10.519
, at least, there are only three pourings, viz. of (1) hydromel, (2) wine, (3) water.
τὸν τελευτ
. (
κρωσσόν
) as if
ἔκχεον
, not
χέον
, were understood: cp.
Menander fr. 461
τὸν χοᾶ | ἐκκέχυκας
, you have emptied the pitcher.
θῶ
has raised needless doubts. The operator is to fetch water from the spring in the grove (469), fill the bowls which he will find ready, and
place them in a convenient position for the rite. From the distinction just drawn between the first two bowls and the third, Oed. surmises that the contents of the latter are not to be of precisely the same nature as those of the others. He asks, then,—
"With what shall I fill it, before placing it beside the other two,—preparatory to beginning the rite?"
μελίσσης
=
μέλιτος
: schol.
ἀπὸ γὰρ τοῦ ποιοῦντος τὸ ποιούμενον
, quoting the
Erastae (fr. 160)
γλώσσης μελίσσης τῷ κατερρυηκότι
. So
πορφύρα
(the purple-fish)=purple,
ἐλέφας
=ivory,
χελώνη
=tortoise-shell.
προσφέρειν
infin. for imper., as esp. in precepts or maxims: cp. 490,
O. T. 1466
αἷν μοι μέλεσθαι
, 1529
μηδέν’ ὀλβίζειν
.
μελάμφυλλος
, overshadowed by dense foliage.
Pind.
P. 1. 27
Αἴτνας ἐν μελαμφύλλοις...κορυφαῖς
,
Ar.
Th. 997
μ. τ’ ὄρη δάσκια
.
αὐτῇ
,
sc.
ἐν τῇ γῇ
, locative dat. (411).
ἐξ ἀμφοῖν χεροῖν
, perh. laying them with each hand alternately, beginning and ending with the right, or lucky, hand. The olive-branches symbolise the fruits of the earth and of the womb, for the increase of which the Eumenides were esp. prayed, since they could blight it:
Aesch.
Eum. 907
.
καρπόν τε γαίας καὶ βοτῶν ἐπίρρυτον
ἀστοῖσιν εὐθενοῦντα μὴ κάμνειν χρόνῳ,
καὶ τῶν βροτείων σπερμάτων σωτηρίαν
ἐπεύχεσθαι
,
"over"
the rite, to complete it: the prayer was to be said while the twigs were being laid; hence
τιθείς
, not
θείς
.
τούτων
(for the gen. cp. 418),
sc.
τῶν λιτῶν
:
μέγιστα
, neut. pl. without subject, instead of
μέγιστον
(cp. 495):
Ai. 1126
δίκαια γὰρ τόνδ’ εὐτυχεῖν
...;
Thuc. 5.14
ἀδύνατα εἶναι ἐφαίνετο...πολεμεῖν
:
Eur.
Or. 413
οὐ δεινὰ πάσχειν δεινὰ τοὺς εἰγρασμένους
.
Εὐμενίδας
: see on
42
.
ἐξ
, properly with ref. to the inner spring of the feeling, but here almost=
"
with "
:cp.
O. T. 528
ἐξ ὀμμάτων δ’ ὀρθῶν τε κἀξ ὀρθῆς φρενός
. Slightly different is
ἐκ θυμοῦ
,=
"
from my heart"
(
Il. 9.343
).
τὸν ἱκέτην
: cp. 44, 284.
σωτήριον
=
"with a view to
—leaving the hearer to think of that which Oed. gives, and
also of that which he receives.
σωτηρία"
,σωτήριος
is nowhere definitely pass., as=
σῶς
,
"
saved "
;for in
Aesch.
Cho. 236
σπέρματος σωτηρίου
is the seed which is to continue the race. Hence it is usu. taken here as=
"fraught with good for us,"
with ref. to his promise,
σωτῆρ’ ἀρεῖσθε
(460). That idea is present, but does not exclude the other.
σύ τ’
, not
σύ γ’
, is right. The constr. is
σύ
τε αὐτὸς αἰτοῦ,
καὶ
(
αἰτείσθω
)
εἴ τις ἄλλος ἀντὶ σοῦ
(
αἰτεῖται
). This is to be the prayer,
both if thou thyself prayest,
and if another prays for thee. In such statements the conjunctive
τε... καί
is equally admissible with the disjunctive
εἴτε...εἴτε
. Cp. 1444:
Eur.
Hec. 751
τολμᾶν ἀνάγκη κἂν τύχω κἂν μὴ τύχω
.
ἄπυστα
: schol.
.
ἀνήκουστα
(cp. on
130
). Hence, he adds (quoting Polemon of Illium, circ. 180 B.C.), the hereditary priests of the Eumenides were called
Ἡσυχίδαι
. Their eponymous hero,
Ἥσυχος
, had an
ἡρῷον
between the Areiopagus and the W. foot of the acropolis, and to him, before a sacrifice, they offered a ram. Priestesses of a like name, serving the Eumenides, are mentioned by
Callimachus fr. 123
νηφάλιαι καὶ τῇσιν ἀεὶ μελιηδέας ὄμπνας
20
λῄτειραι καίειν ἔλλαχον Ἡσυχίδες
μηκύνων
,
"making loud"
: a sense found only here (cp. 1609). In
μακρὸν ἀϋτεῖν
(Hom.),
ἠχεῖν
(Plat.), etc., the idea of
"loud"
comes through that of
"heard afar."
The schol. perh. understood here,
"loud
and long,"
for on
ἄπυστα
he says,
ἀντὶ τοῦ, ἠρέμα καὶ συντόμως
.
ἀφέρπειν
=imperat. (481).
ἄστροφος
: so in
Aesch.
Cho. 98
Electra debates whether, after pouring her mother's offering at Agamemnon's grave, she shall turn away,—
. In
Theoc. 24. 92
Teiresias directs that the ashes of the serpents which would have strangled the infant Heracles shall be cast beyond the borders by one of Alcmena's handmaids:
Ov.
Fasti 6. 164
καθάρμαθ’ ὥς τις ἐκπέμψας, πάλιν
δικοῦσα τεῦχος, ἀστρόφοισιν ὄμμασιν
ἂψ δὲ νέεσθαι | ἄστρεπτος
.
Verg.
Ecl. 8. 101
Fer cineres, Amarylli, foras, rivoque fluenti
Transque caput iace, neu respexeris.
Quique sacris adsunt respicere illa vetat.
παρασταίην
, as thy friend and helper: cp.
Ai. 1383
τούτῳ γὰρ … | μόνος παρέστης χερσίν
.
προσχώρων
, who therefore can judge best (cp.
12
).
ὁδωτά
, plur., as
Ant. 677
:
Thuc. 1. 118
οὕτως ἀμυντέ’ ἐστι τοῖς κοσμουμένοις,
κοὔτοι γυναικὸς οὐδαμῶς ἡσσητέα
ἐπιχειρητέα ἐδόκει εἶναι
: cp. 485, 1360.
λείπομαι
, pass.,
"I am at a disadvantage"
; usu. with gen. of thing, as
El. 474
γνώμας λειπομένα σοφᾶς
, or person,
Tr. 266
τῶν ὧν τέκνων λείποιτο.
ἐν
:
O. T. 1112
ἔν τε γὰρ μακρῷ | γήρᾳ ξυνᾴδει
:
Ph. 185
ἔν τ’ ὀδύναις ...λιμῷ τ’ οἰκτρός
. Only here at the end of a verse: cp. on
265
τό γε | σῶμ’
.
δύνασθαι
(
without
σώματι
), of bodily strength: cp. the speech of Lysias
Ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀδυνάτου
(
"For the Invalid"
),
or. 24 § 13
οὐ γὰρ δήπου τὸν αὐτὸν ὑμεῖς μὲν ὡς δυνάμενον
(as being able-bodied)
ἀφαιρήσεσθε τὸ διδόμενον, οἱ δὲ ὡς ἀδύνατον ὄντα κληροῦσθαι κωλύσουσιν
: so
ib. § 12
ὡς εἰμὶ τῶν δυναμένων.
μηδ’ for
μήθ’
is a necessary correction here. Cp. 421.
ἀρκεῖν … παρῇ
. The thought is:
. Porphyry
De Abstin. 2. 19 quotes an inscription from a temple at Epidaurus,
. Cp. the frequent sentiment that the poor man's offering, if pious, is welcome (
Eur. fr. 940
,
Hor.
Carm. 3. 23. 17
, etc.).
"I have trespassed on the grove of the Eumenides, and it might be doubted whether such deities would accept the atonement from any hand but my own. Nay, I believe that they regard the
intention rather than the outward details. If my deputy approaches the shrine
in a loyal spirit , the offering will be accepted—yes, would be accepted, not on behalf of one man alone, but of many."
Clemens Alex.
Strom. 5. 258
, after quoting
Isaiah i. 16
,
"Wash you, make you clean,"
cites verses ascribed (though wrongly) to Menander, among which are,
θεῷ δὲ θῦε διὰ τέλους δίκαιος ὤν,
μὴ λαμπρὸς ὢν ταῖς χλαμύσιν ὡς τῇ καρδίᾳ
ἁγνὸν χρὴ νηοῖο θυωδέος ἐντὸς ἰόντα
ἔμμεναι· ἁγνείη δ’ ἐστὶ φρονεῖν ὅσια
ἀλλ’ ἐν τάχει τι
. Bornemann's
τοι for the MS.
τι has been adopted by some of the best critics; but it seems scarcely appropriate here. For
.
τι
cp.
Ant. 1334
μέλλοντα ταῦτα· τῶν προκειμένων τι χρὴ | πράσσειν
δίχα
. With
γ’ ἄνευ the
γ’ is intolerable, and L's
δ’ ἄνευ points to a confusion between an original
δίχα
and a gloss
ἄνευ
.
τελοῦσα
, in its ceremonial sense: cp.
O.T. 1448
ὀρθῶς τῶν γε σῶν τελεῖς ὕπερ
(perform the funeral rites).
τὸν τόπον
:
βούλομαι δὲ μαθεῖν τοῦτο— ἵνα χρήσει με ἐφευρεῖν τὸν τόπον
. The position of the
κρήνη
(470) had not been indicated.
χρῆσται
by crasis from
χρὴ ἔσται, χρή
being a subst.,
"need."
This is the view of H. L. Ahrens. If it can hardly be considered certain, it is at least highly probable; and therefore I do not now place in the text (as in the 1st ed.) my conjecture
χρήσει , a fut. of
χρή
which occurs in
Her. 7.8
πάντα τινὰ ὑμέων χρήσει παρεῖναι
, and
Plat.
Legg. 809B
ποῖα καὶ τίνα μεταχειρίζεσθαι χρήσοι τρόπον
(
v.l.
χρήσει
). See Appendix.—
τοῦτο
, resuming the object (
τὸν τόπον
), with emphasis:
Tr. 457
n.
ἄλσους
, gen. after
τὸ ἐκεῖθεν , as after
τὸ
(or
τὰ
)
ἐπ’ ἐκεῖνα, τὰ ἐπὶ θάτερα, τὰ πρὸς βορρᾶν
, etc.
ἔποικος
, here, "one who dwells close to" the grove, — hardly,
on the
χῶρος οὐκ οἰκητός
(39)
; though the guardians of sacred
ἄλση sometimes dwelt within them, as Maron in Apollo's grove (
Od. 9.200
), and the priest in Athena Kranaa's grove at Elatea (
Paus. 10.34.7
). Elsewhere
ἔποικος
usu. = "immigrant": so
El. 189
(as = "alien"). In
Aesch.
PV 410
ἔποικον … Ἀσίας ἕδος
means the Greek settlers in Asia.
Ἀντιγόνη, σὺ δ’
:
El. 150
Νιόβα, σὲ δ’ ἔγωγε νέμω θεόν
. Cp.
1459
.
οὐδ’
εἰ πονεῖ τις, δεῖ
=
εἰ καὶ π. τ., οὐ δεῖ
. When A and nearly all other MSS. have
πονεῖ , L's
πονῆ (sic) surely does not warrant
πονῇ
. Cp. on
1443
. Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. 1899.
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