510-548: Commos
A
κομμός , which divides the first
ἐπεισόδιον
into two parts (254— 509, 549—667). For the metres, see Metrical Analysis. (1) 1
st strophe , 510—520 =1
st antistrophe , 521—532. (2) 2
nd strophe , 533—541=2
nd antistrophe , 542 —550.
κείμενον … ἐπεγείρειν
.
Eur.
El. 41
, he would have aroused the slumbering memory of Agamemnon's murder.
Plat.
Phileb. 15C
εὕδοντ’ ἂν ἐξήγειρε τὸν
Ἀγαμέμνονος
φόνον
μὴ κινεῖν κακὸν εὖ κείμενον
(
"Let sleeping dogs lie"
).Mekler's
ὥρα με (for
ἔραμαι ) would give a closer correspondence between strophe and antistrophe: see on
523
.
τί τοῦτο
;
"What means this?"
Cp. 46
τί δ’ ἐστὶ τοῦτο
; He is startled and disquieted. He shrinks from all cross-questioning on the past, as from a torture (cp. 210). We lose this dramatic touch if we construe
τί τοῦτο
(
ἔρασαι πυθέσθαι
) as a calm query,—
"What is this that thou wouldst learn?"
τᾶς
: for the gen. (
"concerning"
), cp. on
355
.
ἀπόρου φανείσας
: because the horror of the discovery consisted in relationships which could not be changed:
O. T. 1184 f.
.
φύς τ’ ἀφ’ ὧν οὐ χρῆν, ξὺν οἷς τ’
οὐ χρῆν ὁμιλῶν, οὕς τέ μ’ οὐκ ἔδει κτανών
ᾇ ξυνέστας
, with which you were brought into conflict,—with which you became involved:
Her. 9.89
λιμῷ συστάντας καὶ καμάτῳ
.
Thuc. 4.55
ξυνεστῶτες...ναυτικῷ ἀγῶνι
.
τᾶς σᾶς ἃ πέπονθ’
. The objection to pointing at
σᾶς and understanding
ἐστί
with
ἀναιδῆ (as Herm. proposed) is that
ἀνοίξῃς requires an object. We should then have to understand
ἀλγηδόνα
. The conject.
τᾶς σᾶς, πέπον, ἔργ’ ἀναιδῆ has found undeserved favour. The address
πέπον
occurs about 18 times in Homer and the hymns, and always marks familiarity: there is a touch of household intimacy in it, as when Polyphemus says to his ram,
κριὲ πέπον
(
Od. 9.447)
. It is absurdly out of place here (cp.
521
ὦ ξένοι
,
530
ὦ ξεῖν’
):
ὦ φίλτατε
, at
465
, is different.
ἔργ’
was inserted in the MSS. to explain that
ἀναιδῆ referred to his own acts.
τὸ πολὺ καὶ μηδαμὰ λῆγον ἄκουσμα χρῄξω ἀκοῦσαι ὀρθόν
(predic.):
πολὺ
, on 305.
μηδαμὰ
(neut. plur. adv.) with causal force, being such as does not cease.
λῆγον
, of rumour:
O. T. 731
ηὐδᾶτο γὰρ ταῦτ’, οὐδέ πω λήξαντ’ ἔχει.
ἄκουσμα
, anything heard,—sometimes (unlike
ἀκρόαμα
) in a bad sense,
Arist.
Pol. 7.17
ἀπελαύνειν ἀπὸ τῶν ἀκουσμάτων καὶ τῶν ὁραμάτων ἀνελευθερίας
.
στέρξον
, be patient of my request, yield to it: cp.
7
.
κἀγὼ
(for
καί
cp. 53)
γὰρ
(
πείθο‐
μαι σοί
), for I comply with thee as to all that thou cravest (by allowing him to await the coming of Theseus, and by instructing him in the rites of the grove: cp. 465). I read
ἤνεγκ’ οὖν κακότατ’,... ἤνεγκ’
ἀέκων . ἤνεγκον
was, indeed, the ordinary form of the aor. in the older Attic, as inscriptions show, in which
ἤνεγκα
occurs first about 360 B.C. (Meisterhans, p. 88); but
ἤνεγκα
is proved by metre in
El. 13
and
Eur.
Ion 38
.
οὖν
is suitable, when he is reluctantly proceeding to unfold his story in answer to their pressing demand.
ἤνεγκ’
emphasises his ruling thought, his great plea— that he has been a
sufferer , not a
doer (267).
κακότατ’
, the misery of his two involuntary crimes.
ἤνεγκον ... ἤνεγκ’
might possibly stand, but would be harsh. There is nothing to offend in
ἀέκων
μὲν ... τούτων
δέ
, meaning—
"The
agent was not free—the
acts were not voluntary."
In the MS. reading,
ἤνεγκον—ἤνεγκον
ἄκων μέν,
ἄκων
is wrong, since metre requires
u- (cp. 510). With Bothe's
ἑκὼν the sense would be:—
"I have endured misery through acts which were my own, indeed: but not one of them was done knowingly."
The objections to this are insuperable. (1)
θεὸς ἴστω
must clearly have been preceded by the mention of some point to which he could appeal in an
extenuation of his deed,—not by an admission, such as
ἑκών
expresses. (2)
ἤνεγκον
ἑκών
, in the supposed sense, is utterly at variance with the language and the whole tone of the play. Cp.
239
ἔργων | ἀκόντων
:
964
ἤνεγκον ἄκων
:
977
πῶς ἂν τό γ’ ἆκον πρᾶγμ’ ἂν εἰκότως ψέγοις;
he asks, speaking of his own deeds.It would be a subtlety foreign to Sophocles to make Oedipus say that he had acted
ἑκὼν
when he did
not act
φρονῶν
(271),
εἰδώς
(273),
ξυνιείς
(976).
Il. 4.43
καὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ σοὶ δῶκα ἑκὼν ἀέκοντί γε θυμῷ
is irrelevant:— Zeus there says to Hera
"I have given thee this (thy pleasure touching Troy) of my
free will "
(since neither god nor man could
compel Zeus),
"yet against mine own
wish. "
αὐθαίρετον
. Heinrich Schmidt keeps this reading (
Compositionslehre lxxx), which is not metrically irreconcileable with 512
ὅμως δ’ ἔραμαι πυθέσθαι
(see Metrical Analysis). It is possible, indeed, that
αὐθαίρετον
is, as Hermann thought, corrupt: but no probable correction of it has been suggested. We cannot regard as such
ἐθελητόν
(not found),
ἐθελημόν
(used in masc. by Hes.), or
ἐθέλημον
(used in masc. by Plut.):
ἑκὸν ἔργον
: or
πρόδηλον
. Note, on the other hand,
O. T. 1231
αὐθαίρετοι
(
πημοναί
).
κακᾷ εὐνᾷ
, instr. dat., rather than dat. in appos. with
ἄτᾳ. γάμων ἄτα
, ruin coming from a marriage, like
δόκησις λόγων
, suspicion resting on mere assertions,
O. T. 681
.
ἦ ματρόθεν … ἐπλήσω
; Didst thou fill thy bed with a mother,
δυσώ= νυμα (prolept.) so as to make it infamous? (I should not take
ματρόθεν
with
δυσών
. only,
"infamous from a mother."
)
ματρόθεν
is substituted for
ματρός
by a kind of euphemism: that was the quarter from which the bride was taken. Cp.
Aesch.
Theb. 840
οὐδ’ ἀπεῖπεν | πατρόθεν εὐκταία φάτις
(the curse of Oed. on his children). The aor. midd.
ἐπλησάμην
is used by Hom., Her., etc., and (in comp. with
ἐν
) by Attic writers: it seems needless then to write
ἔπλησο
(from epic aor.
ἐπλήμην
) with Bergk. The notion of
"
filling "
is perh. tinged with that of
"
defiling "
(
ἀναπιμπλάναι, ἀνάπλεως
). The tone of the passage is against rendering
"satisfied,"
as if
λέκτρα
=
λέκτρων ἐπιθυμίαν
. Nauck's
ἐπάσω rests on Hesychius I. 1316
ἐπάσω· ἐκτήσω· Αἰσχύλος Πρωτεῖ σατυρικῷ
. The aor. of
πάομαι
"to acquire"
occurs elsewhere only in part.
πασάμενος
(Theogn., Theocr., etc.).
ἀκούειν
: cp. 141.
The constr. is
αὗται δὲ ἐξ ἐμοῦ δύο μὲν παῖδε, δύο δ’ ἄτα … ἀπέβλαστον
etc.
ἐξ ἐμοῦ
, sprung from me: no partic. need be supplied, since the verb
ἀπέβλ
. follows: cp. 250
ὅ τι σοι φίλον ἐκ σέθεν
(
sc.
ἐστί
). The cry with which the Chorus interrupts him (
πῶς φής ;) marks their perception (from his first words
αὗται δέ
etc.) that the children of
that marriage were before them.
αὗται … παῖδε
: cp.
Plat.
Laches p. 187 A
αὐτοὶ εὑρεταὶ γεγονότε
. Poetical Greek idiom would join
κοινᾶς with
ὠδῖνος rather than with
ματρός . Cp.
Aesch.
Eum. 325
ματρῷον ἅγνισμα κύριον φόνου
:
Ant. 793
νεῖκος ἀνδρῶν ξύναιμον.
κοινᾶς
= which bore me also.
σαί τ’ εἴσ’ ἄῤ
. The Chorus have known all along that Oed. had married Iocasta, and also that he was the father of the girls (cp. 170, 322); but they are supposed to learn now for the first time that Iocasta was their mother. In the earlier versions of the Oedipus-myth (as in the
Odyssey ) Iocasta bears no issue to Oed.; his children are borne by a second wife, Euryganeia. The Attic poets seem first to have changed this (see Introd. to
O. T.
p. xv). The Chorus would say:
"Thine, then, they are by a double tie, at once as children and...as
sisters? "
but Oed. takes out of their mouths the second name which they shrink from uttering, and utters it himself with terrible emphasis.
κοιναί
, by the same mother: cp.
O. T. 261
n.: so
Ant. 1
κοινὸν αὐτάδελφον … κάρα
.
πατρὸς
with
ἀδελφεαί
only.
ἰώ — ἰὼ δῆτα
: cp.
El. 842
ΗΛ. φεῦ. ΧΟ. φεῦ δῆτ’.
γε
after
μυρίων marks assent.
ἐπιστροφαί
refers to the revival of the pangs in his soul by this questioning. His troubles are likened to foemen who, when they seem to have been repulsed and to be vanishing in the distance, suddenly wheel about and renew their onset. Cp.
1044
δαΐων | ἀνδρῶν ἐπιστροφαί
. Philopoemen made his cavalry
ὀξεῖς πρός τε τὰς κατ’ οὐλαμὸν ἐπιστροφὰς καὶ περισπασμοὺς
(wheeling sharply in troops)
καὶ τὰς καθ’ ἵππον ἐπιστροφὰς καὶ κλίσεις
(wheeling and changing direction singly),
Plut.
Ph. 7
.
ἄλαστ’ ἔχειν
, unforgettable (dreadful) to endure:
ἔχειν
epexeg.: see on
231
. Trag. borrowed the word from the epic
πένθος ἄλαστον
(
Il. 24.105)
,
ἄλαστον ὀδύρομαι
(
Od. 14.174)
: so
Aesch.
Pers. 990
( κακὰ ) ἄλαστα στυγνὰ πρόκακα
. Cp.
1482
. Wecklein's
ὀχεῖν (
Od. 7.211
ὀχέοντας ὀϊζύν
) is perh. right: cp.
Aesch.
P.V. 143
φρουρὰν ἄζηλον ὀχήσω
.
οὐκ ἔρεξα
: cp. 267, 521.
τί γάρ
;
"Why, what else?"
if not
ἔρεξα
. Cp. 542.
δῶρον
. The
τυραννίς
was
δωρητόν, οὐκ αἰτητόν
(
O. T. 384
),—the reward pressed on him by Thebes for worsting the Sphinx; and with the throne he received the hand of Iocasta.The MS.
ἐπωφέλησα ,
"I benefited,"
or
"succoured"
(cp. 441), cannot be right. The sense required is
μήποτε ὤφελον ἐξελέσθαι
,
"would that I had never won!"
cp.
Ph. 969
μήποτ’ ὤφελον λιπεῖν | τὴν Σκῦρον
:
Od. 11.548
ὡς δὴ μὴ ὄφελον νικᾶν
: where
μή
, though thus placed, belongs to the infinitives. See Appendix for the attempted explanations of
ἐπωφέλησα
, and for some proposed emendations.I would read the partic.
ἐπωφελήσας (which the iambic metre allows), and take
ἐξελέσθαι as the absol. infin. expressing a wish:—
. Orestes had uttered the wish that Agamemnon had fallen in war at Troy:
"and would that I had never received that choice gift from the city, for having served her."
For this absol. infin., with the subject in the nominative, cp.
Aesch.
Cho. 363:
ΗΛ. μηδ’ ὑπὸ Τρωΐας
τείχεσι φθίμενος, πάτερ,
μετ’ ἄλλων δουρικμῆτι λαῷ
παρὰ Σκαμάνδρου πόρον τεθάφθαι,
πάρος δ’ οἱ κτανόντες νιν οὕτως δαμῆναι
εἰ γὰρ ὑπ’ Ἰλίῳ | … κατηναρίσθης
(345 ff.)
. Electra modifies it:
"I would not have had thee to perish e'en beneath Troy's walls, and to be buried by Scamander's stream; would rather that the murderers (Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra) had first been slain as they slew thee!"
Here the MSS. have
τέθαψαι
and
δαμῆναι
. On the latter the schol. has
λείπει τὸ ὄφελον
, and on the former
λείπει τὸ ὤφελες
, thus indicating the certain correction of H. L. Ahrens,
τεθάφθαι
. Cp. also
Od. 24.376
αἲ γάρ, Ζεῦ τε πάτερ καὶ Ἀθηναίη καὶ Ἄπολλον,
οἷος Νήρικον εἷλον, …
τοῖος ἐών τοι χθιζὸς ἐν ἡμετέροισι δόμοισιν,
τεύχε’ ἔχων ὤμοισιν, ἐφεστάμεναι καὶ ἀμύνειν,
"Ah, would to father Zeus,...that, such as I was when I took Nericus,...in such might, and with armour on my shoulders,
I had stood by thee ,
and had been aiding thee , yesterday in our house!"
A criticism by Wecklein is discussed in the Appendix.
ἐξελέσθαι
, ironical as if the bride were a
γέρας ἐξαίρετον
. The
act. aor. is used of the army choosing a prize (out of the booty) for a chief,
Il. 16.56
κούρην ἢν ἄρα μοι γέρας ἔξελον υἷες Ἀχαιῶν
: the
midd. aor., of the victor choosing his own prize, as
Tr. 244
ταύτας | … ἐξείλεθ’ αὑτῷ κτῆμα
. Here
πόλεος ἐξελέσθαι
is not
"to choose for myself
out of the city,"
but
"to receive as a choice gift
from the city."
τί γάρ
;
"how then?"
—marking the transition from the topic of the marriage to that of the parricide. (Cp.
Quid vero? ) Others refer the words merely to
δύστανε ,
i.e.
"for what else art thou?"
This seems tame. Cp. 538.
δευτέραν
,
sc.
πληγήν
:
Her. 3.64
καιρίῃ...τετύφθαι
:
Ant. 1307
τί μ’ οὐκ ἀνταίαν | ἔπαισέν τις;
Xen.
Anab. 5.8.12
ἀνέκραγον...ὡς ὀλίγας παίσειεν
.
νόσον , accus. in apposition: of mental anguish, as
O. T. 1061
ἅλις νοσοῦσ’ ἐγώ
.
ἔχει δέ μοι … πρὸς δίκας τι
: but (the deed) has for me (dat. of interest) something from the quarter of justice;
i.e. it has a quality which tends to place it on the side of justice,—to rank it among justifiable deeds. Cp.
O. T. 1014
πρὸς δίκης οὐδὲν τρέμων
(n.). The subj. to
ἔχει is
τὸ ἔργον
, easily supplied from
ἔκανον .— This is better than to take
ἔχει as impers. with
πρὸς δίκας
as=
ἐνδίκως, τι
being then adv.:
"my case is in some sort just."
τί γάρ
;
sc.
ἔχει
:
"why, what justification has it?"
The MSS. give
καὶ γὰρ ἄλλους ἐφόνευσα κ.τ.λ.
Hermann's
ἁλοὺς (for
ἄλλους
) must mean either (1)
"caught,"
as in a net, by
fate , or (2)
"caught"
by Laïus and his men, in the sense of,
"driven to fight for life."
Neither sense is tolerable. Campbell suggests,
"I murdered, and was convicted of the murder,"
saying that
ἁλοὺς ἐφόνευσα
=
ἑάλων φονεύσας
. This is as if one said in English,
"Having been hanged, he did the murder."
To
ἀγνώς the short
α^
would be a grave objection: Soph. has the first
α
long thrice in
ἄγνοια
, twice in
ἀγνοεῖν
, once in
ἀγνώς
(
O. T. 681
), and short never: even in
αὐτόγνωτος
(
Ant. 875
) the
ο
is long. Porson's
ἄνους could hardly mean,
"without understanding"
merely in the sense of
"
unwittingly. "
The word means
"silly,"
"foolish"
(
Ant. 281
), and should here mean,
"in folly,"
which is not an apt sense.And all these corrections, confined to
ἄλλους , leave a blot. After
ἐφόνευσα, καὶ ὤλεσα is intolerably weak. Mekler's
καὶ γὰρ ἄν, οὓς ἐφόνευς), ἔμ’ ἀπώλεσαν brings out the point on which Oed. insists, and to which the words
νόμῳ καθαρός
(548) refer,—viz. that, in slaying, he was defending his own life. Cp. 271. After he had returned the blow of Laïus, the attendants set on him (see on
O. T. 804
—812). The change of
ἐφόνευσ’ ἔμ’ ἀπώλεσαν
into
ἐφόνευσα καὶ ἀπώλεσα
(or
κἀπώλεσα
) would have been easy if
ἐφόνευσά μ’ ἀπώλεσα
had once been written. In
Ai. 794
L has
ὥστε κ’ ὠδίνειν
instead of
ὥστε μ’ ὠδίνειν
. Cp.
Her. 1.11
(Gyges was forced)
ἢ τὸν δεσπότεα ἀπολλύναι ἢ αὐτὸν ὑπ’ ἄλλων ἀπόλλυσθαι
.
νόμῳ … καθαρός
, because he had been first struck by Laïus, and was acting in self-defence.
Plat.
Legg. 869C
ἀδελφὸς δ’ ἐὰν ἀδελφὸν κτείνῃ ἐν στάσησι
μάχης γενομένης ἤ τινι τρόπῳ τοιούτῳ, ἀμυνόμενος ἄρχοντα χειρῶν πρότερον, καθάπερ πολέμιον ἀποκτείνας ἔστω καθαρός· καὶ ἐὰν πολίτης πολίτην ὡσαύτως, ἢ ξένος ξένον
. Rhadamanthus himself was cited as the author of this rule (
Apollod. 2. 4. 9
).
ἐς τόδ’ ἦλθον
, to this plight: cp. on
273
.
Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. 1899.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.