Oedipus asks why they are suppliants. The Priest of Zeus, speaking for the rest, prays him to save them, with the gods' help, from the blight and the plague. Oedipus answers that he has already sent Creon to consult Apollo at Delphi, and will do whatever the god shall bid.

νέα last-born (not “young,” for τέκνα includes the old men, v. 17), added for contrast with τοῦ πάλαι. Oedipus, —who believes himself a Corinthian (774), —marks his respect for the ancient glories of the Theban house to whose throne he has been called: see esp. 258 f. So the Thebans are στρατὸς Καδμογενής Aesch. Seven 303 , Καδμογενὴς γέννα Eur. Phoen. 808 , or Καδμεῖο. τροφή = θρέμματα (abstract for concrete); Eur. Cycl. 189 ἀρνῶν τροφαί = ἄρνες ἐκτεθραμμέναι. Cadmus, as guardian genius of Thebes, is still τροφεύς of all who are reared in the δῶμα Καδμεῖον (v. 29). Campbell understands, “my last-born care derived from ancient Cadmus,” —as though the τροφεύς were Oedipus. But could Κάδμου τροφή mean “[;my]; nurslings [;derived from]; Cadmus”? It is by the word τέκνα that Oedipus expresses his own fatherly care.

ἕδρας The word ἕδρα= “posture,” here, as usu., sitting: when kneelingis meant, some qualification is added, as Eur. Phoen. 293 γονυπετεῖς ἕδρας προσπίτνω σ’, “I supplicate thee on my knees.” The suppliants are sitting on the steps (βάθρα) of the altars, on which they have laid the κλάδοι: see 142: cp. 15 προσήμεθα, 20 θακεῖ : Aesch. Eum. 40 (Orestes a suppliant in the Delphian temple) ἐπ’ ὀμφαλῷ (on the omphalos) ἕδραν ἔχοντα προστρόπαιον … ἐλαίας θ’ ὑψιγέννητον κλάδον. θοάζετε prob. = θάσσετε, “sit,” ἕδρας being cognate acc. In Eur. θοάζω( θοός) always =“to hasten” (transitive or intrans.). But Empedocles and Aesch. clearly use θοάζω as =θάσσω, the sound and form perh. suggesting the epic θαάσσω, θόωκος. See Appendix.

ἱκτηρίοις κλάδοισιν The suppliant carried a branch of olive or laurel (ἱκετηρία), round which were twined festoons of wool(στέφη, στέμματα, —which words can stand for the ἱκετηρία itself, below 913, Hom. Il. 1.14): Plut. Thes. 18 ἦν δὲ [ἡ ἱκετηρία] κλάδος ἀπὸ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἐλαίας, ἐρίῳ λευκῷ κατεστεμμένος. He laid his branch on the altar ( Eur. Her. 124 βωμὸν καταστέψαντες ), and left it there, if unsuccessful in his petition (Eur. Supp. 259); if successful, he took it away (Eur. Supp. 359, below 143). ἱκτηρίοις κλάδοισιν ἐξεστεμμένοι =ἱκτηρίους κλάδους ἐξεστεμμένους ἔχοντες: Xen. Anab. 4.3.28 διηγκυλωμένους τοὺς ἀκοντιστὰς καὶ ἐπιβεβλημένους τοὺς τοξότας, “the javelin-throwers with javelins grasped by the thong(ἀγκύλη), and the archers with arrows fitted to the string.” So 18 ἐξεστεμμένον absol., = provided with στέφη (i.e. with ἱκετηρίαι: see last note). Triclinius supposes that the suppliants, besides carrying boughs, wore garlands(ἐστεφανωμένοἰ, and the priests may have done so: but ἐξεστεμμ. does not refer to this.

ὁμοῦ μὲν … ὁμοῦ δὲ The verbal contrast is merely between the fumes of incense burnt on the altars as a propitiatory offering ( Hom. Il. 8.48 τέμενος βωμός τε θυήεις), and the sounds — whether of invocations to the Healer, or of despair.

ἄλλων Redundant, but serving to contrast ἀγγέλων and αὐτός, as if one said, “from messengers,—at second hand.” Blaydes cp. Xen. Cyrop. 1.6.2 ὅπως μὴ δῑ ἄλλων ἑρμηνέων τὰς τῶν θεῶν συμβουλίας συνείης, ἀλλ’ αὐτὸς … γιγνώσκοις. ὧδ’ =δεῦρο, as in vv. 144, 298, and often in Soph.: even with βλέπειν, ὁρᾶν, as in Soph. Trach. 402 βλέφ’ ὧδε =βλέπε δεῦρο.

ὁ πᾶσι κλεινὸς … καλούμενος πᾶσι with κλεινός (cp. 40 πᾶσι κράτιστον), not with καλούμενος: “called Oedipus famous in the sight of all,” not “called famous Oed. by all.” Cp. πασίγνωστος, πασίδηλος, πασιμέλουσα, πασίφιλος. The tone is Homeric ( Hom. Od. 9.19 εἴμ’ Ὀδυσεύς … καί μευ κλέος οὐρανὸν ἵκει, imitated by Verg. Aen. 1.378 sum pius Aeneas … fama super aethera notus ): Oedipus is a type, for the frank heroic age, of Arist.'s μεγαλόψυχος—ὁ μεγάλων αὑτὸν ἀξιῶν, ἄξιος ὤν (Aristot. Nic. Eth. 4.3).

ἔφυς which is more than εἶ, refers, not to appearance(φυή), but to the natural claim (φύσις) of age and office combined.

πρὸ τῶνδε “in front of,” and so “on behalf of,” “for” these. Ellendt: “Non est ἀντὶ τῶνδε, nec ὑπὲρ τῶνδε, sed μᾶλλον s. μάλιστα τῶνδε, prae ceteris dignus propter auctoritatem et aetatem.” Rather ἀντὶ τῶνδε = “as their deputy”: ὑπὲρ τῶνδε = “as their champion”: πρὸ τῶνδε = “as their spokesman.” So Soph. OC 811 ἐρῶ γὰρ καὶ πρὸ τῶνδε. τίνι τρόπῳ with καθέστατε only: δείσαντες ἢ στέρξαντες =εἴτε ἐδείσατέ τι, εἴτε ἐστέρξατε (not πότερον δείσαντες; ἢ στέρξαντες;), “in what mood are ye set here, whether it be one of fear or of desire?”

στέρξαντες “having formed a desire”: the aor. part., as Soph. Aj. 212 ἐπεί σε … | στέρξας ἀνέχει “is constant to the love which he hath formed for thee.” Soph. El. 1100 καὶ τί βουληθεὶς πάρει ; Soph. Aj. 1052 αυτὸν ἐλπίσαντες … ἄγειν. Cp. Soph. OC 1093 καὶ τὸν ἀγρευτὰν Ἀπόλλω | καὶ κασιγνήταν … | στέργω διπλᾶς ἀρωγὰς | μολεῖν, “I desire”: where, in such an invocation(ἰὼ … Ζεῦ, … πόροις, κ.τ.λ.), στέργω surely cannot mean, “I am content.” Oed. asks: “Does this supplication mean that some new dread has seized you (δείσαντες)? Or that ye have set your hearts (στέρξαντες)on some particular boon which I can grant?”—Others render στέρξαντες “having acquiesced.” This admits of two views. (i) “Are ye afraid of suffering? Or have ye already learned to bear suffering?” To this point the glosses ὑπομείναντες, παθόντες. But this seems unmeaning. He knows that the suffering has come, and he does not suppose that they are resigned to it (cp. v. 58). (ii) Prof. Kennedy connects ἢ στέρξαντες ὡς θέλοντος ἂν | ἐμοῦ προσαρκεῖν πᾶν; i.e. are ye come in vague terror, or in contentment, as believing that I would be willing to help you? This is ingenious and attractive. But (a) it appears hardly consonant with the kingly courtesy of this opening speech for Oedipus to assume that their belief in his good-will would reconcile them to their present miseries. (b) We seem to require some direct and express intimation of the king's willingness to help, such as the words ὡς θέλοντος … πᾶν give only when referred to φράζε. (c) The rhythm seems to favour the question at στέρξαντες. —στέξαντες, explained as “having endured,” may be rejected, because (1) the sense is against it—see on (i) above: (2) στέγειν in classical Greek = “to be proof against,” not “to suffer”: (3) στέξω, ἔστεξα are unknown to Attic, which has only the pres. and the imperf. ὡς θέλοντος ἂν (to be connected with φράζε) implies the apodosis of a conditional sentence. Grammatically, this might be either (a) εἰ δυναίμην, θέλοιμι ἄν, or (b) εἰ ἠδυνάμην, ἤθελον ἄν: here, the sense fixes it to (a). ὡς , thus added to the gen. absol., expresses the supposition on which the agent acts. Xen. Mem. 2.6.32 ὡς οὐ προσοίσοντος (ἐμοὖ τὰς χεῖρας, … δίδασκε· “as (you may be sure) I will not lay hands on you, teach me.”

κατοικτίρων οἰκτίρω, not οἰκτείρω, is the spelling attested by Attic inscriptions of circ. 550-350 B.C.: see Meisterhans, , p. 89. μὴ οὐ κατοικτίρων . An infinitive or participle, which for any reason would regularly take μή, usually takes μὴ οὐ if the principal verb of the sentence is negative. Here, δυσάλγητος =οὐκ εὐάλγητος: Dem. 19.123 (πόλεις) χαλεπαὶ λαβεῖν … μὴ οὐ χρόνῳ καὶ πολιορκίᾳ (sc. λαμβάνοντι,) where χαλεπαί =οὐ ῥᾴδιαι· “cities not easy to take, unless by a protracted siege.” The participial clause, μὴ οὐ κατοικτίρων, is equivalent to a protasis, εἰ μὴ κατοικτίροιμι. Prof. Kennedy holds that the protasis is εἰ μὴ θέλοιμι understood, and that μὴ οὐ κατοικτίρων is epexegetic of it: —“Yes( γάρ) I should be unfeeling, if I did not wish (to help you): that is, if I refused to pity such a supplication as this.” But the double negative μὴ οὐ could not be explained by a negative in the protasis (εἰ μὴ θέλοιμἰ· it implies a negative in the apodosis (δυσάλγητος ἂν εἴην). Since, then, the resolution into οὐκ εὐάλγητος ἂν εἴην is necessary, nothing seems to be gained by supposing a suppressed protasis, εἰ μὴ θέλοιμι.

βωμοῖσι τοῖς σοῖς The altars of the προστατήριοι θεοί in front of the palace, including that of Apollo Λύκειος (919). μακρὰν πτέσθαι . So Andromache to her child — νεοσσὸς ὡσεὶ πτέρυγας ἐσπίτνων ἐμάς Eur. Tro. 746 . The proper Attic form for the aor. of πέτομαι was ἐπτόμην, which alone was used in prose and Comedy. Though forms from ἐπτάμην sometimes occur in Tragedy, as in the Homeric poems, Elms. had no cause to wish for πτάσθαι here.

σὺν γήρᾳ βαρεῖς =βαρεῖς ὡς γήρᾳ συνόντες. Soph. OC 1663 σὺν νόσοις | ἀλγεινός : Soph. Aj. 1017 ἐν γήρᾳ βαρύς.

ἐγὼ μὲν The answering clause, οἱ δὲ ἄλλων θεῶν, must be supplied mentally: cp. Hom. Il. 5.893 τὴν μὲν ἐγὼ σπουδῇ δάμνησ’ ἐπέεσσι (sc. τὰς δὲ ἄλλας ῥᾳδίως). It is slightly different when μέν, used alone, emphasizes the personal pronoun, as in ἐγὼ μὲν οὐκ οἶδα Xen. Cyrop. 1.4.12 . οἵδε τ’ . The conjecture οἱ δ’ ἐπ’(“chosen to represent the youth”) involves a questionable use of ἐπί· cp. Soph. Ant. 787 n. ᾐθέων , unmarried youths: Hom. Il. 18.593 ἠΐθεοι καὶ παρθένοι : Eur. Phoen. 944 Αἵμονος … γάμοι | σφαγὰς ἀπείργουσ’· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ᾔθεος : Plut. Thes. 15 ᾐθέους ἑπτὰ καὶ παρθένους.

ἐξεστεμμένον see on 3.

ἀγοραῖσι local dative, like οἰκεῖν οὐρανῷ Pind. N. 10.58 . Thebes was divided from N. to S. into two parts by the torrent called Strophia. The W. part, between the Strophia and the Dirce, was the upper town or Cadmeia: the E. part, between the Strophia and the Ismenus, was ἡ κάτω πόλις. The name Καδμεία was given especially to the S. eminence of the upper town, the acropolis. (1) One of the ἀγοραί meant here was on a hill to the north of the acropolis, and was the ἀγορὰ Καδμείας. See Paus. 9.12.3. (2) The other was in the lower town. Xen. Hell. 5.2.29 refers to this —ἡ βουλὴ ἐκάθητο ἐν τῇ ἐν ἀγορᾷ στοᾷ, διὰ τὸ τὰς γυναῖκας ἐν τῇ Καδμείᾳ θεσμοφοριάζειν: unless Καδμεία has the narrower sense of “acropolis.” Cp. Aristot. Pol. 4.12.2 on the Thessalian custom of having two ἀγοραί— one, ἐλευθέρα, from which everything βάναυσον was excluded. πρός τε Παλλάδος … ναοῖς . Not “both at the two temples,” etc. as if this explained ἀγοραῖσι, but “and,” etc.: for the ἀγοραί would have their own altars of the ἀγοραῖοι θεοί, as of Artemis (161). One of the διπλοῖ ναοί may be that of Παλλὰς Ὄγκα, near the Ὀγκαία πύλη on the W. side of Thebes( πύλας | Ὄγκας Ἀθάνας Aesch. Seven 487 , Ὄγκα Παλλάς Aesch. Seven 501 ), whose statue and altar ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ Paus. mentions (9. 12. 2). The other temple may be that of Athene Καδμεία or of Athena Ἰσμηνία— both mentioned by the schol., but not by Paus. Athena Ζωστηρία, too, had statues at Thebes (Paus. 9.17.3). The schol. mentions also Ἀλαλκομενία, but her shrine was at the village of Alalcomenae near Haliartus (Paus. 9.23.5). It was enough for Soph. that his Athenian hearers would think of the Erechtheum and the Parthenon—the shrines of the Polias and the Parthenos—above them on the acropolis.

ἐπ’ Ἰσμ. μ. σποδῷ “The oracular ashes of Ismenus” = the altar in the temple of Apollo Ἰσμήνιος, where divination by burnt offerings(ἡ δῑ ἐμπύρων μαντεία) was practised. So the schol., quoting Philochorus (in his περὶ μαντικῆς, circ. 290 B.C.). σποδῷ : the embers dying down when the μαντεῖον has now been taken from the burnt offering: cp. Soph. Ant. 1007. Soph. may have thought of Ἀπόλλων Σπόδιος, whose altar(ἐκ τέφρας τῶν ἱερείων) Paus. saw to the left of the Electrae gates at Thebes: 9. 11. 7. Ἰσμηνοῦ , because the temple was by the river Ismenus: Paus. 9.10.2 ἔστι δὲ λόφος ἐν δεξιᾷ τῶν πυλῶν (on the right of the Ἠλέκτραι πύλαι on the S. of Thebes, within the walls) ἱερὸς Ἀπόλλωνος· καλεῖται δὲ ὅ τε λόφος καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰσμήνιος, παραρρέοντος τοῦ ποταμοῦ ταύτῃ τοῦ Ἰσμηνοῦ. Ismenus (which name Curt. Etym. 617, connects with rt ἰς, to wish, as = “desired”) was described in the Theban myths as the son of Asopus and Metope, or of Amphion and Niobe. The son of Apollo by Melia (the fountain of the Ismenus) was called Ismenius. Cp. Hdt. 8.134 (the envoy of Mardonius in the winter of 480-79) τῷ Ἰσμηνίῳ Ἀπόλλωνι ἐχρήσατο· ἔστι δὲ κατάπερ ἐν Ὀλυμπίῃ ἱροῖσι χρηστηριάζεσθαι· Pind. O. 8.1 ff. Οὐλυμπία | … ἵνα μάντιες ἄνδρες | ἐμπύροις τεκμαιρόμενοι παραπειρῶνται Διός. In Pind. P. 11.4 the Theban heroines are asked to come πὰρ Μελίαν (because she shared Apollo's temple) “to the holy treasure-house of golden tripods, which Loxias hath honoured exceedingly, and hath named it Ismenian, a truthful seat of oracles” (MSS. μαντείων, not μαντίων, Fennell): for the tripod dedicated by the δαφναφόρος, or priest of Ismenian Apollo, see Paus. 9.10.4. Her. saw offerings dedicated by Croesus to Amphiaraus ἐν τῷ νηῷ τοῦ Ἰσμηνίου Ἀπόλλωνος (1. 52), and notices inscriptions there (5. 59). The Ἰσμήνιον, the temple at Abae in Phocis, and that on the hill Πτῶον to the E. of Lake Copais, were, after Delphi, the chief shrines of Apollo in N. Greece.

βυθῶν “from the depths,” i.e. out of the trough of the waves which rise around. Cp. Soph. Ant. 337 περιβρυχίοισιν | περῶν ὑπ’ οἴδμασιν, under swelling waves which threaten to engulf him. Arat. 426 ὑπόβρυχα ναυτίλλονται. φοινίου here merely poet. for θανασίμου, as Soph. Trach. 770 φοινίας | ἐχθρᾶς ἐχίδνης ἰός : Soph. OC 1689 φόνιος Ἀΐδας. But in Soph. Aj. 351 φοινία ζάλη = the madness which drove Ajax to bloodshed. ἔτ’ οὐχ οἵα τε : for position of ἔτ’ , cp. Soph. Trach. 161 ὡς ἔτ’ οὐκ ὤν , Soph. Phil. 1217 ἔτ’ οὐδέν εἰμι. With οἷός τε the verb is often omitted, as 1415, Soph. OC 1136,Soph. Trach. 742,Aristoph. Kn. 343.

φθίνουσα μὲν … φθίνουσα δέ rhetorical iteration(ἐπαναφορά); cp. 259, 370, Soph. OC 5, 610, etc. The anger of heaven is shown (1) by a blight (φθίνουσἀ on the fruits of the ground, on flocks and on child-birth: (2) by a pestilence (λοιμός) which ravages the town. Cp. 171 ff. For the threefold blight, Hdt. 6.139 ἀποκτείνασι δὲ τοῖσι Πελασγοῖσι τοὺς σφετέρους παῖδάς τε καὶ γυναῖκας οὔτε γῆ καρπὸν ἔφερε οὔτε γυναῖκές τε καὶ ποῖμναι ὁμοίως ἔτικτον καὶ πρὸ τοῦ : Aeschin. 3.111 μήτε γῆν καρποὺς φέρειν μήτε γυναῖκας τέκνα τίκτειν γονεῦσιν ἐοικότα, ἀλλὰ τέρατα, μήτε βοσκήματα κατὰ φύσιν γονὰς ποιεῖσθαι. Schneid. and Blaydes cp. Philostr. Apoll. 3.20, p. 51. 21 ἡ γῆ οὐ ξυνεχώρει αὐτοῖς ἵστασθαι· τήν τε γὰρ σπορὰν ἣν ἐς αὐτὴν ἐποιοῦντο, πρὶν ἐς κάλυκα ἥκειν, ἔφθειρε, τούς τε τῶν γυναικῶν τόκους ἀτελεῖς ἐποίει, καὶ τὰς ἀγέλας πονηρῶς ἔβοσκεν.

κάλυξιν ἐγκάρποις The datives mark the points or parts in which the land φθίνει. κάλυξιν ἔγκαρπος is the shell or case which encloses immature fruit, —whether the blossom of fruit-trees, or the era of wheat or barley: Theophr. Hist. Plant. 8.2.4 (of κριθή and πυρός) πρὶν ἂν προαύξηθεὶς (ὁ στάχυς) ἐν τῇ κάλυκι γένηται.

ἀγέλαις βουνόμοις (paroxyt.) =ἀγέλαι βοῶν νεμομένων: but ἀκτὴ βούνομος, proparoxyt., a shore on which oxen are pastured, Soph. El. 181. Cp. Soph. El. 861 χαλαργοῖς ἐν ἁμίλλαις =ἁμίλλαις ἀργῶν χηλῶν: Pind. P. 5.28 ἀρισθάρματον … γέρας =γέρας ἀρίστου ἅρματος. The epithet marks that the blight on the flocks is closely connected with that on the pastures: cp. Dionys. Hal. 1. 23 (describing a similar blight) οὔτε πόα κτήνεσιν ἐφύετο διαρκής. τόκοισι , the labours of child-bed: Eur. Med. 1031 στερρὰς ἐνεγκοῦσ’ ἐν τόκοις ἀλγηδόνας : Eur. IT 1466 γυναῖκες ἐν τόκοις ψυχορραγεῖς. Dion. Hal. 1.23 ἀδελφὰ δὲ τούτοις (i.e. to the blight on fruits and crops) ἐγίνετο περί τε προβάτων καὶ γυναικῶν γονάς· ἢ γὰρ ἐξημβλοῦτο τὰ ἔμβρυα, ἢ κατὰ τοὺς τόκους διεφθείρετο ἔστιν ἂ καὶ τὰς φερούσας συνδιαλυμηνάμενα.

ἀγόνοις abortive, or resulting in a still birth. ἐν δ’ , adv., “and among our other woes,” “and withal”: so 183, Soph. Trach. 206,Soph. Aj. 675. Not in “tmesis” with σκήψας, though Soph. has such tmesis elsewhere, Soph. Ant. 420 ἐν δ’ ἐμεστώθη, Soph. Ant. 1274 ἐν δ’ ἔσεισεν. For the simple σκήψας, cp. Aesch. Ag. 308 εἶτ’ ἔσκηψεν, “then it swooped.” So Aesch. Pers. 715 λοιμοῦ τις ἦλθε σκηπτός. ὁ πυρφόρος θεὸς , the bringer of the plague which spreads and rages like fire (176 κρεῖσσον ἀμαιμακέτου πυρός, 191 φλέγει μἐ· but also with reference to fever, πυρετός. Hippoc. 4.140 ὁκόσοισι δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πῦρ ( = πυρετὸς) ἐμπίπτῃ: Hom. Il. 22.31 καί τε φέρει (Seirius) πολλὸν πυρετὸν δειλοῖσι βροτοῖσι (the only place where πυρετός occurs in or ). In Soph. OC 55 ἐν δ’ ὁ πυρφόρος θεὸς | Τιτὰν Προμηθεύς refers to the representation of Prometheus with the narthex, or a torch, in his right hand ( Eur. Phoen. 1121 δεξιᾷ δὲ λαμπάδα | Τιτὰν Προμηθεὺς ἔφερεν ὥς ). Cp. Aesch. Seven 432 ἄνδρα πυρφόρον, | φλέγει δὲ λαμπάς, κ.τ.λ. Here also the Destroyer is imagined as armed with a deadly brand, —against which the Chorus presently invoke the holy fires of Artemis (206) and the “blithe torch” of Dionysus (214). For θεὸς said of λοιμός, cp. Simonid. Amorg. fr. 7. 101 οὐδ’ αἶψα λιμὸν οἰκίης ἀπώσεται, | ἐχθρὸν συνοικητῆρα, δυσμενέα θεόν. Soph. fr. 837 ἀλλ’ ἡ φρόνησις ἁγαθὴ θεὸς μέγας.

μέλας δ’ elision at end of v. is peculiar in Trag. to Soph., who is said to have adopted it from a poet Callias (Athen. 10 p. 453 E): hence it was called εἶδος Σοφόκλειον. Examples: δ’ 785, 791, 1224; Soph. OC 17;Soph. Ant. 1031;Soph. El. 1017:τ’ below, 1184: ταῦτ’ 332. [;In Soph. OC 1164 μολόντ’ should prob. be μόνον.]; In Comedy: δ’ Eur. Hipp. 1716 ,Aristoph. Eccl. 351: μ’ Aristoph. Frogs 298 .

πλουτίζεται with allusion to Πλόύτων, as Hades was called by an euphemism(ὑποκοριστικῶς, schol. Aristoph. Pl. 727),ὅτι ἐκ τῆς κάτωθεν ἀνίεται ὁ πλοῦτος (crops and metals), as Plato says, Plat. Crat. 403a. Cp. Soph. fr. 251 (Nauck(2)) (from the satyric drama )Πλούτωνος (= Ἅιδοὐ ἥδ’ ἐπείσοδος: Lucian 21(Πλοῦτος speaks), ὁ Πλούτων (Hades) ἀποστέλλει με παρ’ αὐτοὺς ἅτε πλουτοδότης καὶ μεγαλόδωρος καὶ αὐτὸς ὤν· δηλοῖ γοῦν καὶ τῷ ὀνόματι. Schneid. cp. Statius Theb. 2.48 pallentes devius umbras Trames agit nigrique Iovis vacua atria ditat Mortibus.

μέν νυν as in Soph. Trach. 441.

οὐκ ἰσούμενόν σ’ , governed by κρίνοντες in 34. But he begins as if instead of ἑζόμεσθ’ ἐφέστιοι, ἱκετεύομεν were to follow: hence ἰσούμενον instead of ἴσον. It is needless to take ἰσούμενον (1) as accus. absol., or (2) as governed by ἑζόμεσθ’ ἐφέστιοι in the sense of ἱκετεύομεν, —like φθορὰς … ψήφους ἔθεντο Aesch. Ag. 814, or γένος … νέωσον αἶνον Aesch. Supp. 533. Musgrave conj. ἰσούμενοι as = “deeming equal,” but the midd. would mean “making ourselves equal,” like ἀντισουμένου Thuc. 3.11 . Plato has ἰσούμενον as passive in Plat. Phaedrus 238e, and ἰσοῦσθαι as passive in Plat. Parm. 156b: cp. 581 ἰσοῦμαι.

δαιμόνων συναλλαγαῖς = “conjunctures” caused by gods (subjective gen.), special visitations, as opposed to the ordinary chances of life(συμφοραῖς βίου). Such συναλλαγαί were the visit of the Sphinx (130) and of the πυρφόρος θεός (27). Cp. 960 νόσου συναλλαγῇ, a visitation in the form of disease (defining gen.). Here, the sense might indeed be, “dealings (of men) with gods,” = ὅταν ἄνθρωποι συναλλάσσωνται δαίμοσιν: but the absolute use of συναλλαγή for “a conjuncture of events” in Soph. OC 410 (n.) favours the other view. In Soph. Trach. 845 ὀλεθρἱαισι συναλλαγαῖς = “at the fatal meeting” of Deianeira with Nessus. But in Soph. Ant. 157 θεῶν συντυχίαι = fortunes sent by gods. The common prose sense of συναλλαγή is “reconciliation,” which Soph. has in Soph. Aj. 732.

ὅς γ’ The γ’ of the MSS. suits the immediately preceding verses better than the conjectural τε, since the judgment(κρίνοντες) rests solely on what Oed. has done, not partly on what he is expected to do. Owing to the length of the first clause (35-39) τ’ could easily be added to νῦν in 40 as if another τε had preceded. ἐξέλυσας … δασμὸν . The notion is not, “paid it in full,” but “loosed it,” —the thought of the tribute suggesting that of the riddle which Oed. solved. Till he came, the δασμός was as a knotted cord in which Thebes was bound. Cp. Soph. Trach. 653 Ἄρης … ἐξέλυσ’ | ἐπίπονον ἁμέραν, “has burst the bondage of the troublous day.” Eur. Phoen. 695 ποδῶν σῶν μόχθον ἐκλύει παρών, “his presence dispenses with (solves the need for) the toil of thy feet.” This is better than (1) “freed the city from the songstress, in respect of the tribute,” or (2) “freed the city from the tribute(δασμόν by attraction for δασμοῦ) to the songstress.”

σκληρᾶς “hard,” stubborn, relentless. Eur. Andr. 261 σκληρὸν θράσος. In 391 κύων expresses a similar idea.

καὶ ταῦθ’ “and that too”: Soph. Ant. 322(ἐποίησας τὸ ἔργον) καὶ ταῦτ’ ἐπ’ ἀργυρῷ γε τὴν ψυχὴν προδούς:Soph. El. 614. οὐδὲν … πλέον , nothing more than anyone else knew; nothing that could help thee. Plat. Crat. 387a πλέον τι ἡμῖν ἔσται, we shall gain something. Plat. Sym. 217c οὐδὲν γάρ μοι πλέον ἦν, it did not help me. ἐξειδὼς … ἐκδιδαχθείς : not having heard (incidentally)—much less having been thoroughly schooled.

προσθήκῃ θεοῦ “by the aid of a god.” Dem. 25.24 ἡ εὐταξία τῇ τῶν νόμων προσθήκῃ τῶν αἰσχρῶν περίεστι, “discipline, with the support of the laws, prevails against villainy.” Dion. Hal. 5.67 προσθήκης μοῖραν ἐπεῖχον οὗτοι τοῖς ἐν φάλαγγι τεταγμένοις, “these served as supports to the main body of the troops.” προστίθεσθαί τινι, to take his side: Thuc. 6.80 τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις … προσθεμένους : so Soph. OC 1332 οἷς ἂν σὺ προσθῇ. (The noun προσθήκη does not occur as = “mandate,” though Hdt. 3.62 has τό τοι προσέθηκα πρῆγμα.) The word is appropriate, since the achievement of Oed. is viewed as essentially a triumph of human wit: a divine agency prompted him, but remained in the background.

νῦν τ’ it is unnecessary to read νῦν δ’: see on 35. πᾶσιν , ethical dat. masc. (cp. 8), “in the eyes of all men.” Soph. Trach. 1071 πολλοῖσιν οἰκτρόν.

εἴτε οἶσθα ἀλκήν, ἀκούσας φήμην θεῶν του ( by having heard a voice from some god), εἴτε οἶσθα ἀλκὴν ἀπ’ ἀνδρός που. We might take ἀπ’ ἀνδρὸς with ἀλκήν, but it is perh. simpler to take it with οἶσθα: cp. 398 ἀπ’ οἰωνῶν μαθών, Thuc. 1.125 ἐπειδὴ ἀφ’ ἁπάντων ἤκουσαν τὴν γνώμην : though παρά (or πρός) τινος is more frequent.

φήμην any message (as in a dream, φήμη ὀνείρου, Hdt. 1.43 ), any rumour, or speech casually heard, which might be taken as a hint from the god. Hom. Od. 20.98 Ζεῦ πάτερ … | φήμην τίς μοι φάσθω … (Odysseus prays), “Let some one, I pray, show me a word of omen.” Then a woman, grinding corn within, is heard speaking of the suitors, “may they now sup their last”: χαῖρεν δὲ κλεηδόνι δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς, “rejoiced in the sign of the voice.” ὀμφή was esp. the voice of an oracle; κληδών comprised inarticulate sounds( κλ. δυσκρίτους, Aesch. PB 486 ).

ὡς τοῖσιν … βουλευμάτων I take these two verses with the whole context from v. 35, and not merely as a comment on the immediately preceding words εἴτ’ ἀπ’ ἀνδρὸς οἶσθά που. Oedipus has had practical experience(ἐμπειρία) of great troubles; when the Sphinx came, his wisdom stood the trial. Men who have become thus ἔμπειροι are apt to be also (καἴ prudent in regard to the future. Past facts enlighten the counsels which they offer on things still uncertain; and we observe that the issues of their counsels are not usually futile or dead, but effectual. Well may we believe, then, that he who saved us from the Sphinx can tell us how to escape from the plague. Note these points. (1) The words ἐμπείροισι and βουλευμάτων serve to suggest the antithesis between past and future. (2) τὰς ξυμφορὰς … τῶν βουλευμάτων = literally, the occurrences connected with (resulting from) the counsels. The phrase, “issues of counsels,” concisely expresses this. The objection which has been made to this version, that ξυμφορά is not τελευτή, rests on a grammatical fallacy, viz., that, in ξυμφορὰ βουλεύματος, the genitive must be of the same kind as in τελευτὴ βουλεύματος. τύχη is not τελευτή, yet in Soph. OC 1506 it stands with a gen. of connection, just as ξυμφορά does here:(θεῶν) τύχην τις ἐσθλὴν τῆσδ’ ἔθηκε τῆς ὁδοῦ (a good fortune connected with this coming). Cp. Thuc. 1.140 ἐνδέχεται γὰρ τὰς ξυμφορὰς τῶν πραγμάτων οὐχ ἦσσον ἀμαθῶς χωρῆσαι ἢ καὶ τὰς διανοίας τοῦ ἀνθρώπου :the issues of human affairs can be as incomprehensible in their course as the thoughts of man (where, again, the “occurrences connected with human affairs” would be more literal): ib. πρὸς τὰς ξυμφορὰς καὶ τὰς γνώμας τρεπομένους, altering their views according to the events. Thuc. 3.87 τῆς ξυμφορᾶς τῷ ἀποβάντι, by the issue which has resulted. (3)

ζώσας is not “successful,” but “operative,” —effectual for the purpose of the βουλεύματα: as v. 482 ζῶντα is said of the oracles which remain operative against the guilty, and Soph. Ant. 457 ζῇ ταῦτα of laws which are ever in force. Conversely λόγοι θνῄσκοντες μάτην (Aesch. Lib. 845) are threats which come to nothing. The scholium in L gives the sense correctly:— ἐν τοῖς συνετοῖς τὰς συντυχίας καὶ τὰς ἀποβάσεις τῶν βουλευμάτων ὁρῶ ζώσας καὶ οὐκ ἀπολλυμένας. See Appendix.

εὐλαβήθηθ’ have a care for thy repute— as the next clause explains. Oed. is supposed to be above personal risk; it is only the degree of his future glory (55) which is in question; a fine touch, in view of the destined sequel.

τῆς πάρος προθυμίας causal genit.: Plat. Crito 43b πολλάκις μὲν δή σε … εὐδαιμόνισα τοῦ τρόπου.

μεμνώμεθα This subjunctive occurs also in Hom. Od. 14.168 πῖνε καὶ ἄλλα παρὲξ μεμνώμεθα, Plat. Stat. 285c φυλάττωμεν … καὶ … μεμνώμεθα, Plat. Phileb. 31a μεμνώμεθα δὴ καὶ ταῦτα περὶ ἀμφοῖν. Eustathius (1303. 46, 1332. 18) cites the word here as μεμνῴμεθα (optative). We find, indeed, μεμνῷο Xen. Anab. 1.7.5 (v. l. μεμνῇο), μεμνεῷτο Hom. Il. 23.361 , μεμνῷτο Xen. Cyrop. 1.6.3 , but these are rare exceptions. On the other hand, μεμνῄμην Hom. Il. 24.745 , μεμνῇτο Aristoph. Pl. 991 ,Plat. Rep. 518a. If Soph. had meant the optative he would have written μεμνῄμεθα: cp. Soph. Phil. 119 ἂν … κεκλῇο. See Curtius 2.226 (Eng. tr. p. 423). The personal appeal, too, here requires the subjunct., not optat.: cp. Soph. OC 174 μὴ δῆτ’ ἀδικηθῶ, Soph. Trach. 802 μηδ’ αὐτοῦ θάνω.

στάντες τ’ For partic. with μέμνημαι cp. Xen. Cyrop. 3.1.31 ἐμέμνητο γὰρ εἰπών : Pind. N. 2.15 θνατὰ μεμνάσθω περιστέλλων μέλη : for τε … καί, Soph. Ant. 1112 αὐτός τ’ ἔδησα καὶ παρὼν ἐκλύσομαι, as I bound, so will I loose.

ἀσφαλείᾳ “in steadfastness”: a dative of manner, equivalent to ἀσφαλῶς in the proleptic sense of ὥστε ἀσφαλῆ εἶναι. Cp. Soph. OC 1318 κατασκαφῇ |. . δῃώσειν, n. Thuc. 3.56 οἱ μὴ τὰ ξύμφορα πρὸς τὴν ἔφοδον αὑτοῖς ἀσφαλείᾳ πράσσοντες, those who securely made terms on their own account which were not for the common good in view of the invasion. Thuc. 2.82 ἀσφαλείᾳ δὲ τὸ ἐπιβουλεύσασθαι (where ἀσφάλεια is a false reading), to form designs in security, opp. to τὸ ἐμπλήκτως ὀξύ, fickle impetuosity. The primary notion of ἀσφαλής (“not slipping”) is brought out by πεσόντες and ἀνόρθωσον.

ὄρνιθι … αἰσίῳ like secunda alite or fausta avi for bono omine. A bird of omen was properly οἰωνός: Hom. Od. 15.531 οὔ τοι ἄνευ θεοῦ ἔπτατο δεξιὸς ὄρνις· | ἔγνων γάρ μιν ἐσάντα ἰδὼν οἰωνὸν ἐόντα : Xen. Cyrop. 3.3.22 οἰωνοῖς χρησάμενος αἰσίοις. But cp. Eur. IA 607 ὄρνιθα μὲν τόνδ’ αἴσιον ποιούμεθα : Eur. Her. 730 ὄρνιθος οὕνεκα : Aristoph. Birds 720 φήμη γ’ ὑμῖν ὄρνις ἐστί, πταρμόν τ’ ὄρνιθα καλεῖτε, | ξύμβολον ὄρνιν, φωνὴν ὄρνιν, θεράποντ’ ὄρνιν, ὄνον ὄρνιν. For dat., Schneid. cp. Hipponax fr. 63 (Bergk) δεξιῷ … ἐλθὼν ῥωδιῷ(heron). In Bergk p. 1049 fr. incerti 27 δεξιῇ σίττῃ (woodpecker) is a conject. for δεξιὴ σίττη. καὶ is better taken as = “also” than as “both” (answering to καὶ τανῦν in 53).

ἄρξεις … κρατεῖς … κρατεῖν κρατεῖν τινός, merely to hold in one's power; ἄρχειν implies a constitutional rule. Cp. Plat. Rep. 338d οὐκοῦν τοῦτο κρατεῖ ἐν ἑκάστῃ πόλει, τὸ ἄρχον; Her. 2. i ἄλλους τε παραλαβὼν τῶν ἦρχε καὶ δὴ καὶ Ἑλλήνων τῶν ἐπεκράτεε, i.e. the Asiatics who were his lawful subjects, and the Greeks over whom he could exert force. But here the poet intends no stress on a verbal contrast: it is as if he had written, εἴπερ ἄρξεις, ὥσπερ ἄρχεις. Cp. Soph. Trach. 457 κεἰ μὲν δέδοικας, οὐ καλῶς ταρβεῖς : below 973 προὔλεγον … | ηὔδας.

ξὺν ἀνδράσιν not “with the help of men,” but “with men in the land,” = ἄνδρας ἐχούσης γῆς. Cp. 207 ξὺν αἷς =ἃς ἔχουσα. Soph. El. 191 ἀεικεῖ σὺν στολᾷ : Soph. Aj. 30 σὺν νεορράντῳ ξίφει. Soph. Ant. 116 ξύν θ’ ἱπποκόμοις κορύθεσσι.

ὡς οὐδέν ἐστιν Thuc. 7.77 ἄνδρες γὰρ πόλις, καὶ οὐ τείχη οὐδὲ νῆες ἀνδρῶν κεναί. Dio Cass. 56. 6 ἄνθρωποι γάρ που πόλις ἐστίν, οὐκ οἰκίαι, κ.τ.λ. Hdt. 8.61 (Themistocles, taunted by Adeimantus after the Persian occupation of Athens in 480 B.C. with being ἄπολις, retorted) ἑωυτοῖσι … ως εἴη καὶ πόλις καὶ γῆ μέζων ἤπερ κείνοισι, ἔστ’ ἂν διηκόσιαι νῆές σφι ἔωσι πεπληρωμέναι.

πύργος = the city wall with its towers: the sing. as below, 1378: Soph. Ant. 953 οὐ πύργος, οὐχ ἁλίκτυποι | … νᾶες : Eur. Hec. 1209 πέριξ δὲ πύργος εἶχ’ ἔτι πτόλιν.

Lit., “void of men, when they do not dwell with thee in the city”: ἀνδρῶν depends on ἔρημος , of which μὴ ξυνοικούντων ἔσω is epexegetic. Rhythm and Sophoclean usage make this better than to take ἀνδρῶν μὴ ξυνοικ. ἔ. as a gen. absol. Cp. Soph. Aj. 464 γυμνὸν φανέντα τῶν ἀριστείων ἄτερ : Soph. Phil. 31 κενὴν οἴκησιν ἀνθρώπων δίχα :Lucret. 5.841 muta sine ore etiam, sine voltu caeca.

γνωτὰ κοὐκ ἀγνῶτα The emphasis of this formula sometimes appears to deprecate an opposite impression in the mind of the hearer: “known, and not (as you perhaps think) unknown.” Hom. Il. 3.59 ἐπεί με κατ’ αἶσαν ἐνείκεσας οὐδ’ ὑπὲρ αἶσαν, duly, and not, —as you perhaps expect me to say, —unduly. Hdt. 3.25 ἐμμανής τε ἐὼν καὶ οὐ φρενήρης — being mad, —for it must be granted that no man in his right mind would have acted thus. Soph. OC 397 βαιοῦ κοὐχὶ μυρίου χρόνου, soon, and not after such delay as thy impatience might fear.

νοσοῦντες … νοσεῖ We expected καὶ νοσοῦντες οὐ νοσεῖτε, ὡς ἐγώ. But at the words ὡς ἐγώ the speaker's consciousness of his own exceeding pain turns him abruptly to the strongest form of expression that he can find —οὐκ ἔστιν ὑμῶν ὅστις νοσεῖ, there is not one of you whose pain is as mine. In Plat. Phileb. 19b (quoted by Schneid.) the source of the anacolouthon is the same: μὴ γὰρ δυνάμενοι τοῦτο κατὰ παντὸς ἑνὸς καὶ ὁμοίου καὶ ταὐτοῦ δρᾶν καὶ τοῦ ἐναντίου, ὡς ὁ παρελθὰν λόγος ἐμήνυσεν, οὐδεὶς εἰς οὐδὲν οὐδενὸς ἂν ἡμῶν οὐδέποτε γένοιτο ἄξιος, — instead of the tamer οὐκ ἂν γενοίμεθα.

εἰς ἕν’ … μόνον καθ’ αὑτόν καθ’ αὑτόν, “by himself” (Soph. OC 966), is strictly only an emphatic repetition of μόνον: but the whole phrase εἰς ἕνα μόνον καθ’ αὑτόν is virtually equivalent to εἰς ἕνα ἕκαστον καθ’ αὑτόν, each several one apart from the rest.

πόλιν τε κἀμὲ καὶ σ’ The king's soul grieves for the whole State, —for himself, charged with the care of it, —and for each several man(σἔ. As the first contrast is between public and private care, κἀμέ stands between πόλιν and σέ. For the elision of σέ, though accented, cp. 329 τἄμ’, ὡς ἂν εἴπω μὴ τὰ σ’: 404 καὶ τὰ σ’: Soph. El. 1499 τὰ γοῦν σ’ : Soph. Phil. 339 οἴμοι μὲν ἀρκεῖν σοί γε καὶ τὰ σ’ : Eur. Hipp. 323 ἔα μ’ ἁμαρτεῖν· οὐ γὰρ ἐς σ’ ἁμαρτάνω.

The modal dat. ὕπνῳ , more forcible than a cogn. acc. ὕπνον, nearly = “soundly.” Cp. Soph. Ant. 427 γόοισιν ἐξῴμωξεν : Soph. Trach. 176 φόβῳ, φίλαι, ταρβοῦσαν : [;Eur.]; fr. 1132 (Nauck(2)) 40 ὀργῇ χολωθείς (where Nauck, rashly, I think, conjectures ἔργεἰ. Verg. Aen. 1.680 sopitum somno .εὕδειν, καθεύδειν (Xen. Anab. 1.3.11) oft. = “to be at ease” (cp. ἔνθ’ οὐκ ἂν βρίζοντα ἴδοις, of Agam., Hom. Il. 4.223): the addition of ὕπνῳ raises and invigorates a trite metaphor.

πλάνοις has excellent manuscript authority here; and Soph. uses πλάνου Soph. OC 1114 , πλάνοις Soph. Phil. 758 , but πλάνη nowhere. Aesch. has πλάνη only: Eur. πλάνος only, unless the fragment of the be genuine (659 Nauck(2), v. 8, οὕτω βίοτος ἀνθρώπων πλάνἠ. Aristoph. has πλάνος once (Aristoph. Wasps 872),πλάνη never. Plato uses both πλάνη and πλάνος, the former oftenest: Isocrates has πλάνος, not πλάνη.

ηὕρισκον “could find” (impf.). Attic inscriptions of the t=h or early t/h cent. B.C. support the temporal augment in the historical tenses of εὑρίσκω (Meisterhans, , p. 78). Our best MS. of Soph. (L), however, preserves no trace of it, except in Soph. Ant. 406 (see cr. n. there). Curtius (Curt. Verb. 1.139, Eng. tr. 93) thinks that, while the omission of the syllabic augment was an archaic and poetical license, that of the temporal was “a sacrifice to convenience of articulation, and was more or less common to all periods”: so that εἴκαζον could exist in Attic by the side of ᾔκαζον, εὕρισκον by the side of ηὕρισκον.

ταύτην ἔπραξα a terse equivalent for ταύτῃ ἔργῳ ἐχρησάμην.

Φοίβου … ὅ τι δρῶν … τί φωνῶν Cp. Plat. Rep. 414d οὐκ οἶδα ὁποίᾳ τόλμῃ ἢ ποίοις λόγοις χρώμενος ἐρῶ. These are exceptions to the rule that, where an interrogative pronoun (as τίς) and a relative (as ὄστις) are both used in an indirect question, the former stands first: cp. Plat. Crito 48a οὐκ ἄρα … φροντιστέον, τί ἐροῦσιν οἱ πολλοὶ ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ’ ὅ τι ὁ ἐπαΐων, κ.τ.λ. : Plat. Gorg. 448e οὐδεὶς ἐρωτᾷ ποία τις εἴη ἡ Γοργίου τέχνη, ἀλλὰ τίς, καὶ ὅντινα δέοι καλεῖν τὸν Γοργίαν : Plat. Gorg. 500a ἐκλέξασθαι ποῖα ἀγαθὰ καὶ ὁποῖα κακά :Plat. Phileb. 17b(ἴσμεν) πόσα τέ ἐστι καὶ ὁποῖα.

δρῶν ἢ … φωνῶν : there is no definite contrast between doing and bidding others to do: rather “deed” and “word” represent the two chief forms of agency, the phrase being equivalent to “in what possible way.” Cp. Aesch. PB 659 θεοπρόπους ἴαλλεν, ὡς μάθοι τί χρὴ | δρῶντ’ ἢ λέγοντα δαίμοσιν πράσσειν φίλα.

ῥυσαίμην (L's reading) is right: ῥυσοίμην is grammatically possible, but less fitting. The direct deliberative form is τί δρῶν ῥύσωμαι; the indirect, πυνθάνομαι ὅ τι (or τἴ δρῶν ῥύσωμαι, ἐπυθόμην ὅ τι (or τἴ δρῶν ῥυσαίμην. This indirect deliberative occurs, not only with verbs of “doubting” ( Xen. Hell. 7.4.39 ἠπόρει ὅ τι χρήσαιτο τῷ πράγματἰ, but also with verbs of “asking”: Thuc. 1.25 τὸν θεὸν ἐπήροντο, εἰ παραδοῖεν … τὴν πόλιν (oblique of παραδῶμεν τὴν πόλιν). Kennedy wrongly says that ῥυσαίμην here could be only the oblique of ἐρρυσάμην (as if, in Thuc. 1.25,παραδοῖεν could be only the oblique of παρέδοσαν); and that, for the sense, it would require ἄν. This would also be right, but in a different constr., viz., as oblique of τί δρῶν ῥυσαίμην ἄν; Cp. Soph. Trach. 991 οὐ γὰρ ἔχω πῶς ἂν | στέρξαιμι, and Soph. Ant. 270 ff. n. In Soph. El. 33 ὡς μάθοιμ’, ὅτῳ τρόπῳ πατρὶ | δίκας ἀροίμην, the opt. is that of ἠρόμην, being oblique for ἄρωμαι, rather than of ἀροῦμαι. ῥυσοίμην would be oblique of τί δρῶν ῥύσομαι; ῥυσοίμην (oblique for ῥύσομαι) would imply that he was confident of a successful result, and doubtful only concerning the means; it is therefore less suitable.

καί μ’ ἦμαρ … χρόνῳ Lit., “and already the day, compared with the lapse of time [;since his departure];, makes me anxious what he doth”: i.e. when I think what day this is, and how many days ago he started, I feel anxious. ἤδη , showing that to-day is meant, sufficiently defines ἦμαρ. χρόνῳ is not for τῷ χρόνῳ, the time since he left, —though this is implied, —but is abstract, —time in its course. The absence of the art. is against our taking χρόνῳ as “the time which I had allowed for his journey.” ξυμμετρούμενον : cp. Hdt. 4.158 συμμετρησάμενοι τὴν ὥρην τῆς ἡμέρης, νυκτὸς παρῆγον, “having calculated the time, they led them past the place by night”: lit., “having compared the season of the day (with the distance to be traversed).” Eur. Orest. 1214 καὶ δὴ πέλας νιν δωμάτων εἶναι δοκῶ· | τοῦ γὰρ χρόνου τὸ μῆκος αὐτὸ συντρέχει “for the length of time (since her departure) just tallies (with the time required for the journey).”

λυπεῖ τί πράσσει Soph. Aj. 794 ὥστε μ’ ὠδίνειν τί φῄς. τοῦ γὰρ εἰκότος πέρα .τὸ εἰκός is a reasonable estimate of the time required for the journey. Thuc. 2.73 ἡμέρας … ἐν αἶς εἰκὸς ἦν κομισθῆναι (αὐτούς), the number of days which might reasonably be allowed for their journey (from Plataea to Athens and back). Porson conjectured τοῦ γὰρ εἰκότος περᾷ, as = “for he overstays the due limit”—thinking v. 75, ἄπεστι … χρόυνου, to be a spurious interpolation. The same idea had occurred to Bentley. But (1) περᾶν with the genitive in this sense is strange (in 674 θυμοῦ περᾶν is different), and would not be readily understood as referring to time; (2) it is Sophoclean to explain and define τοῦ εἰκότος πέρα by πλείω τοῦ καθήκοντος χρόνου.

εἰς καλὸν to fit purpose, “opportunely”: Plat. Sym. 174e εἰς καλὸν ἥκεις. Soph. Aj. 1168 καὶ μὴν ἐς αὐτὸν καιρὸν … | πάρεισιν. Cp. Aristoph. Ach. 686 εἰς τάχος =ταχέως, Aristoph. Birds 805 εἰς εὐτέλειαν =εὐτελῶς. οἵδε : some of those suppliants who are nearer to the stage entrance on the spectators' left—the conventional one for an arrival from the country— have made signs to the Priest. Creon enters, wearing a wreath of bay leaves bright with berries, in token of a favourable answer. See Appendix, Note 1, sect. 2.

ἐν τύχῃ … ὄμματι may his radiant look prove the herald of good news. ἐν τύχῃ , nearly = μετὰ τύχης, “invested with,” “attended by”: cp. 1112 ἔν τε γὰρ μακρῷ | γήρᾳ ξυνᾴδει: Soph. Aj. 488 σθένοντος ἐν πλούτῳ. τύχη σωτὴρ (Aesch. Ag. 664), like χεὶρ πράκτωρ(Aesch. Ag. 111),θέλκτωρ πειθώ (Aesch. Supp. 1040),καρανιστῆρες δίκαι(Aesch. Eum. 186).

λαμπρὸς with ἐν τύχῃ κ.τ.λ., —being applicable at once to brilliant fortune and (in the sense of φαιδρός) to a beaming countenance.

εἰκάσαι μέν, ἡδύς (sc. βαίνει). Cp. Soph. El. 410 ἐκ δείματός του νυκτέρου, δοκεῖν ἐμοί. Soph. OC 151 δυσαίων | μακραίων τ’, ἐπεικάσαι. ἡδύς , not “joyous,” but “pleasant to us,” “bringing good news”: as 510 ἡδύπολις, pleasant to the city: Soph. El. 929 ἡδὺς αὐδὲ μητρὶ δυσχερής, a guest welcome, not grievous, to her. In Soph. Trach. 869 where ἀηδὴς καὶ συνωφρυωμένη is said of one who approaches with bad news, ἀνηδής is not “unwelcome,” but rather “sullen,” “gloomy.”

πολυστεφὴς … δάφνης The use of the gen. after words denoting fulness is extended to the notions of encompassing or overshadowing: e.g. περιστεφῇ … ἀνθέων θήκην (Soph. El. 895),στέγην … ἦς [;v. l. ᾗ]; κατηρεφεῖς δόμοι (Eur. Hipp. 468). But the dat. would also stand: cp. Hom. Od. 9.183 σπέος … δάφνῃσι κατηρεφές : Hes. WD 513 λάχνῃ δέρμα κατάσκιον. παγκάρπου , covered with berries: cp.Soph. OC 676.Plin. NH 15.30 maximis baccis atque e viridi rubentibus (of the Delphic laurel). The wreath announces good news, Soph. Trach. 179: so in Eur. Hipp. 806 Theseus, returning from the oracle at Delphi to find Phaedra dead, cries τί δῆτα τοῖσδ’ ἀνέστεμμαι κάρα | πλεκτοῖσι φύλλοις, δυστυχὴς θεωρὸς ὤν; So Fabius Pictor returned from Delphi to Rome coronatus laurea corona (Liv. 23.11).

ξύμμετρος γὰρ ὡς κλύειν He is at a just distance for hearing: ξύμμετρος = commensurate (in respect of his distance) with the range of our voices (implied in κλύειν ).

κήδευμα “kinsman” (by marriage). = κηδεστής, here = γαμβρός (70). Soph. Ant. 756 γυναικὸς ὢν δούλευμα μὴ κώτιλλέ με. Eur. Orest. 928 τἄνδον οἰκουρήματα =τὰς ἔνδον οἰκουρούσας.

λέγω γὰρ … εὐτυχεῖν Creon, unwilling to speak plainly before the Chorus, hints to Oedipus that he brings a clue to the means by which the anger of heaven may be appeased.

ἐξελθόντα , of the event, “having issued”; cp. 1011 μή μοι Φοῖβος ἐξέλθῃ σαφής; so 1182 ἐξήκοι. The word is chosen by Creon with veiled reference to the duty of banishing the defiling presence (98 ἐλαύνειν). πάντ’ predicative with εὐτυχεῖν, “will all of them (= altogether) be well.” λέγω ἂν εὐτυχεῖν =λέγω ὅτι εὐτυχοίη ἄν.

τοὔπος the actual oracle( τοὔπος τὸ θεοπρόπον, Soph. Trach. 822 ): λόγῳ (90), Creon's own saying(λέγω, 87).

προδείσας , alarmed beforehand. Cp. Hdt. 7.50 κρέσσον δὲ πάντα θαρσέοντα ἥμισυ τῶν δεινῶν πάσχειν μᾶλλον ἢ πᾶν χρῆμα προδειμαίνοντα μηδαμὰ μηδὲν παθεῖν. No other part of προδείδω occurs: προταρβεῖν, προφοβεῖσθαι = “to fear beforehand,” but ὑπερ δέδοικά σου, I fear for thee, Soph. Ant. 82. In compos. with a verb of caring for, however, προό sometimes = ὑπέρ, e.g. προκήδομαι Soph. Ant. 741 .

πλησιαζόντων here = πλησίον ὄντων: usu. the verb = either (i) to approach, or (2) to consort with (dat.), as below, 1136. εἰ … εἴτε , as Aesch. Eum. 468 σὺ δ’, εἰ δικαίως εἴτε μή, κρῖνον δίκην.

εἴτε καὶ στείχειν ἔσω (χρῄζεις), (ἕτοιμός εἰμι τοῦτο δρᾶν). So Eur. Ion 1120 (quoted by Elms., etc.) πεπυσμέναι γάρ, εἰ θανεῖν ἡμᾶς χρεών, | ἥδιον ἂν θάνοιμεν, εἴθ’ ὁρᾶν φάος: i. e. εἴτε ὁρᾶν φάος (χρἤ, (ἥδιον ἂν ὁρῷμεν αὐτὄ.

ἐς πάντας Hdt. 8.26 οὔτε ἠνέσχετο σιγῶν εἶπέ τε ἐς πάντας τάδε : Thuc. 1.72 ἐς τὸ πλῆθος εἰπεῖν (before the assembly). πλέον adverbial, as in Soph. Aj. 1101, etc.: schol. περὶ τούτων πλέον ἀγωνίζομαι ἢ περὶ τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ ψυχῆς.

τῶνδε object. gen. with τὸ πένθος (not with περἴ· cp. Soph. El. 1097 τᾷ Ζηνὸς εὐσεβείᾳ.

ἢ καὶ “than even.” This must not be confounded with the occasional use of ἢ καί in negative sentences containing a comparison: e.g. Soph. Aj. 1103 οὐκ ἔσθ’ ὅπου σοὶ τόνδε κοσμῆσαι πλέον | ἀρχῆς ἔκειτο θεσμὸς ἢ καὶ τῷδε σέ : Soph. El. 1145 οὔτε γάρ ποτε | μητρὸς σύ γ’ ἦσθα μᾶλλον ἢ κἀμοῦ φίλος : Antiph. 5.23 ἐζητεῖτο οὐδέν τι μᾶλλον ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἢ καὶ ὑπ’ ἐμοῦ (where καί is redundant, = “on my part”).

λέγοιμ’ ἂν a deferential form, having regard to the permission just given. Cp. Soph. Phil. 674 χωροῖς ἂν εἴσω : Soph. El. 637 κλύοις ἂν ἤδη.

ὡς marks that the partic. τεθραμμένον expresses the view held by the subject of the leading verb (ἄνωγεν): i.e., “as having been harboured” = “which (he says) has been harboured.” Cp. Xen. Anab. 1.2.1 ἔλεγε θαρρεῖν ὡς καταστησομένων τούτων εἰς τὸ δέον : he said, “Take courage, in the assurance that” etc.

ἐλαύνειν for ἐξελαύνειν was regular in this context: Thuc. 1.126 τὸ ἄγος ἐλαύνειν τῆς θεοῦ (i.e. to banish the Alcmaeonidae): and so 1. 127, 128, 135, 2. 13.

μηδ’ ἀνήκεστον τρέφειν The μίασμα is ἀνήκεστον in the sense that it cannot be healed by anything else than the death or banishment of the bloodguilty. But it can still be healed if that expiation is made. Thus ἀνήκεστον is a proleptic predicate: cp. Plat. Rep. 565c τοῦτον τρέφειν τε καὶ αὔξειν μέγαν :Soph. OC 527 n. See Antiph. 4.3.7 ἀντὶ τοῦ παθόντος /GREEK> (in the cause of the dead) ἐπισκήπτομεν ὑμῖν τῷ τούτου φόνῳ τὸ μήνιμα τῶν ἀλιτηρίων ἀκεσαμένους πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν καθαρὰν τοῦ μιάσματος καταστῆσαι, “to heal with this man's blood the deed which angers the avenging spirits, and so to purge the whole city of the defilement.”

ποίῳ … ξυμφορᾶς By what purifying rite (does he command us ἐλαύνειν τὸ μίασμα)? What is the manner of our misfortune (i.e. our defilement)? Eur. Phoen. 390 τίς ὁ τρόπος αὐτοῦ; τί φυγάσιν τὸ δυσχερές; “what is the manner thereof?) sc. τοῦ κακοῦ, exile). ξυμφορᾶς , euphemistic for guilt, as Plat. Laws 934b λωφῆσαι πολλὰ μέρη τῆς τοιαύτης ξυμφορᾶς, to be healed in great measure of such a malady (viz., of evil-doing): Plat. Laws 854d ἐν τῷ προσώπῳ καὶ ταῖς χερσὶ γραφεὶς τὴν ξυμφοράν, “with his misfortune [;the crime of sacrilege]; branded on his face and hands.” Hdt. 1.35 συμφορῇ ἐχόμενος =ἐναγής, under a ban. Prof. Kennedy understands: “what is the mode of compliance (with the oracle)?” He compares Soph. OC 641 τῇδε γὰρ ξυνοίσομαι (“for with that choice I will comply”). But elsewhere, at least, συμφορά does not occur in a sense parallel with συμφέρεσθαι, “to agree with.”

ἀνδρηλατοῦντας As if, instead of ποίῳ καθαρμῷ, the question had been τί ποιοῦντας;

ὡς τόδ’ αἷμα χειμάζον πόλιν since it is this blood [;τόδε, viz. that implied in φόνον]; which brings the storm on Thebes. χειμάζον, acc. absol. ὡς presents the fact as the ground of belief on which the Thebans are commanded to act: “Do thus, assured that it is this blood,” etc. Cp. Soph. OC 380: Xen. Hell. 2.4.1 οἱ δὲ τριάκοντα, ὡς ἐξὸν ἤδη αὐτοῖς τυραννεῖν ἀδεῶς, προεῖπον, κ.τ.λ. Cp. Eur. Supp. 268 πόλις δὲ πρὸς πόλιν | ἔπτηξε χειμασθεῖσα, “city with city seeks shelter, when vexed by storms.”

ἀπευθύνειν to steer in a right course. The infin. is of the imperf., = πρότερον ἢ ἀπηύθυνες, before you were steering (began to steer). Oedipus took the State out of angry waters into smooth: cp. 696 ἐμὰν γᾶν φίλαν | ἐν πόνοις ἀλύουσαν κατ’ ὀρθὸν οὔρισας: fr. 151 πλήκτροις ἀπευθύνουσιν οὐρίαν τρόπιν, “with the helm(πλῆκτρα, the blades of the πηδάλιἀ they steer their bark before the breeze.”

οὐ γὰρ εἰσεῖδόν γέ πω As Oed. knows that Laius is dead, the tone of unconcern given by this colloquial use of οὔπω (instead of οὔποτἐ is a skilful touch. Cp. Soph. El. 402 ΧΡ. σὺ δ’ οὐχὶ πείσει … ; ΕΛ. οὐ δῆτα· μήπω νοῦ τοσόνδ’ εἴην κενή : Eur. Hec. 1278 μήπω μανείη Τυνδαρὶς τοσόνδε παῖς : Hom. Il. 12.270 ἀλλ’ οὔπω πάντες ὁμοῖοι | ἀνέρες ἐν πολέμῳ : cp. our (ironical) “I have yet to learn.”

τοὺς αὐτοέντας … τινας τούς implies that the death had human authors; τινας, that they are unknown. So in Soph. OC 290 ὅταν δ’ ὁ κύριος | παρῇ τις, “the master—whoever he be.” τιμωρεῖν , “punish.” The act., no less than the midd., is thus used even in prose: Lys. 13.42 τιμωρεῖν ὑπὲρ αὑτοῦ ὡς φονέα ὄντα , to punish (Agoratus), on his own account, as his murderer. χειρὶ τιμωρεῖν , here, either “to slay” or “to expel by force,” as distinguished from merely fining or disfranchising: in 140 τοιαύτῃ χειρὶ τιμωρεῖν is explained by κτανὼν in 139

ποῦ τόδ’ … αἰτίας; τόδε ἴχνος αἰτίας =ἴχνος τῆσδε αἰτίας, cp. τοὐμὸν φρενῶν ὄνειρον Soph. El. 1390 .

αἰτίας ,“crime”: Soph. Aj. 28 τήνδ’ οὖν ἐκείνῳ πᾶς τις αἰτίαν νέμει. For δυστέκμαρτον , hard to track, cp. Aesch. Eum. 244 (the Furies hunting Orestes) εἶεν· τόδ’ ἐστὶ τἀνδρὸς ἐκφανὲς τέκμαρ. The poet hints a reason for what might else have seemed strange—the previous inaction of Oedipus. Cp. 219

ἔφασκε sc. ὁ θεὸς (εὑρεθήσεσθαι τὸ ἴχνος). τὸ δὲ ζητούμενον :δὲ has a sententious force, = “now.” The γνώμη, though uttered in an oracular tone, is not part of the god's message. Cp. Eur. fr. 435 αὐτός τι νῦν δρῶν εἶτα δαίμονας κάλει· | τῷ γὰρ πονοῦντι καὶ θεὸς συλλαμβάνει.

συμπίπτει The vivid historic present suits the alertness of a mind roused to close inquiry: so below, 118, 716, 1025: Soph. Trach. 748:Soph. El. 679. —Cp. Soph. Aj. 429 κακοῖς τοιοῖσδε συμπεπτωκότα.

θεωρός Laius was going to Delphi in order to ask Apollo whether the child (Oedipus), formerly exposed by the god's command, had indeed perished: Eur. Phoen. 36 τὸν ἐκτεθέντα παῖδα μαστεύων μαθεῖν | εἰ μηκέτ’ εἴη. ὡς ἔφασκεν , as Laius told the Thebans at the time when he was leaving Thebes. ἐκδημῶν , not going abroad, but being [;= having gone]; abroad: cp. Plat. Laws 864e οἰκείτω τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἐκδημῶν. ὡς =ἐπεί : Xen. Cyrop. 1.3.2 ὡς δὲ ἀφίκετο τάχιστα … ἠσπάζετο. Cic. 5 ut illos libros edidisti, nihil a te postea accepimus.

οὐδ’ ἄγγελός … ἐχρήσατ’ ἄν; The sentence begins as if ἄγγελός τις were to be followed by ἦλθε but the second alternative, συμπράκτωρ ὁδοῦ, suggests κατεῖδε [;had seen, though he did not speak];: and this, by a kind of zeugma, stands as verb to ἄγγελος also. Cp. Hdt. 4.106 ἐσθῆτα δὲ φορέουσι τῇ Σκυθικῇ ὁμοίην, γλῶσσαν δὲ ἰδίην. οὐδ’ ἀγγελός: Hom. Il. 12.73 οὐκέτ’ ἔπειτ’ ὀΐω οὐδ’ ἄγγελον ἀπονέεσθαι.

ὅτου , gen. masc.: from whom having gained knowledge one might have used it. ἐκμαθὼν = a protasis, εἰ ἐξέμαθεν, ἐχρήσατ’ ἄν, sc. τούτοις ἃ ἐξέμαθεν. Plat. Gorg. 465e ἐὰν μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐγὼ σοῦ ἀποκρινομένου μὴ ἔχω ὅ τι χρήσωμαι, if, when you answer, I also do not know what use to make [;of your answer, sc. τούτοις ἃ ἂν ἀποκρίνῃ), —where shortly before we have οὐδὲ χρῆσθαι τῇ ἀποκρίσει ἤν σοι ἀπεκρινάμην οὐδὲν οἶός τ’ ἦσθα.

θνῄσκουσι The ι subscript in the pres. stem of this verb is attested by Attic inscriptions )Meisterhans, p. 86(. The practice of the Laurentian MS. fluctuates. It gives the ι subscript here, in 623, 1457; Soph. OC 611;Soph. Ant. 547, 761; Soph. El. 1022. It omits the ι subscript in Soph. El. 63, 113, 540, 1486; Soph. Trach. 707, 708; Soph. Phil. 1085. Cp. 482, 29, θνῄσκω, μιμνῃσκω. Δίδυμος [;circ. 30 B.C.]; χωρὶς τοῦ ι— … ἡ μέντοι παράδοσις ἔχει τὸ ι. — φόβῳ φυγὼν , “having fled in fear”: φόβῳ, modal dative; cp. Thuc. 4.88 διά τε τὸ ἐπαγωγὰ εἰπεῖν τὸν Βρασίδαν καὶ περὶ τοῦ καρποῦ φόβῳ ἔγνωσαν : Thuc. 5.70 ἐντόνως καὶ ὀργῇ χωροῦντες.

εἰδὼς with sure knowledge )and not merely from confused recollection, ἀσαφὴς δόξἁ: so 1151 λέγει γὰρ εἰδὼς οὐδὲν ἀλλ’ ἄλλως πονεῖ : Soph. El. 41 ὅπως ἂν εἰδὼς ἡμὶν ἀγγείλῃς σαφῆ. Iocasta says )849(, in reference to this same point in the man's testimony, κοὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ τοῦτό γ’ ἐκβαλεῖν πάλιν.

τὸ ποῖον; Cp. 291: Soph. El. 670 πρᾶγμα πορσύνων μέγα. | ΚΛ. τὸ ποῖον, ὦ ξέν’; εἰπέ. Aristoph. Peace 696 εὐδαιμονεῖ. πάσχει δὲ θαυμαστόν. “EPM. τὸ τί; ἐξεύροι μαθεῖν . One thing would find out how to learn many things, i.e. would prove a clue to them. The infin. μαθεῖν as after a verb of teaching or devising: Hdt. 1.196 ἄλλο δέ τι ἐξευρήκασι νεωστὶ γενέσθαι. Plat. Rep. 519e ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ πόλει τοῦτο μηχανᾶται ἐγγενέσθαι.

ἔφασκε sc. ὁ φυγών )118(. οὐ μιᾷ ῥώμῃ =οὐχ ἑνὸς ῥώμῃ, in the strength not of one man. Cp. Hdt. 1.174 πολλῇ χειρὶ ἐργαζομένων τῶν Κνιδίων. Soph. Ant. 14 διπλῇ χερί = by the hands of twain. So perh. χερὶ διδύμᾳ Pind. P. 2.9 .

σὺν πλήθει cp. on 55.

εἴ τι μὴ if some intrigue, aided by ( ξὺν ) money, had not been working from Thebes. ti is subject to ἐπράσσετο: distinguish the adverbial τι (= “perchance”) which is often joined to εἰ μή in diffident expressions, as 969 εἴ τι μὴ τὠμῷ πόθῳ | κατέφθιτ’, ‘unless perchance’: so Soph. OC 1450,Soph. Trach. 586 etc. Schneid. cp. Thuc. 1.121 καί τι αὐτῷ καὶ ἐπράσσετο ἐς τὰς πόλεις ταύτας προδοσίας πέρι : and Thuc. 5.83 ὑπῆρχε δέ τι αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Ἄργους αὐτόθεν πρασσόμενον.

ἐπράσσετο … ἔβη the imperf. refers here to a continued act in past time, the aor. to an act done at a definite past moment. Cp. 402 ἐδόκεις—ἔγνως: 432 ἱκόμην—ἐκάλεις.

δοκοῦντα … ἦν expresses the vivid presence of the δόξα more strongly than ταῦτα ἐδόκει would have done )cp. 274 τάδ’ ἔστ’ ἀρέσκονθ’(: Hdt. 1.146 ταῦτα δὲ ἦν γινόμενα ἐν Μιλήτῳ.

ἐμποδών sc. ὄν, with κακὸν, not with εἶργε, “what trouble (being) in your path?” Cp. 445 παρὼν … ἐμποδὼν | ὀχλεῖς. τυραννίδος . Soph. conceives the Theban throne as having been vacant from the death of Laius—who left no heir—till the election of Oed. The abstract τυραννίδος suits the train of thought on which Oed. has already entered, —viz. that the crime was the work of a Theban faction )124( who wished to destroy, not the king merely, but the kingship. Cp. Aesch. Lib. 973 ἵδεσθε χώρας τὴν διπλῆν τυραννίδα )Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus(.

ποικιλῳδὸς singing ποικίλα, subtleties, αἰνίγματα: cp. Plat. Sym. 182a ὁ περὶ τὸν ἔρωτα νόμος ἐν μὲν ταῖς ἄλλαις πόλεσι νοῆσαι ῥᾴδιος· ἁπλῶς γὰρ ὤρισται· ὁ δὲ ἐνθάδε καὶ ἐν Λακεδαίμονι ποικίλος. Hdt. 7.3 πρόμαντις δὲ ἡ χρέουσα, κατάπερ ἐν Δελφοῖσι, καὶ οὐδὲν ποικιλώτερον, “the chief prophetess is she who gives the oracles, as at Delphi, and in no wise of darker speech.”

προσήγετο The constr. is προσήγετο ἡμᾶς, μεθέντας τὰ ἀφανῆ, σκοπεῖν τὸ πρὸς ποσί. προσήγετο, was drawing us )by her dread song(, said with a certain irony, since προσάγεσθαι with infin. usually implies a gentle constraint )though, as a milit. term, ἀνάγκῃ προσηγάγοντο, reduced by force, Hdt. 6.25(: cp. Eur. Ion 659 χρόνῳ δὲ καιρὸν λαμβάνων προσάξομαι | δάμαρτ’ ἐᾶν σε σκῆπτρα τἄμ’ ἔχειν χθονός. τὸ πρὸς ποσὶ )cp. ἐμποδὼν 128(, the instant, pressing trouble, opp. to τὰ ἀφανῆ, obscure questions )as to the death of Laius( of no present or practical interest. Pind. I. 7.12 δεῖμα μὲν παροιχόμενον | καρτερὰν ἔπαυσε μέριμναν· τὸ δὲ πρὸς ποδὸς ἄρειον ἀεὶ σκοπεῖν | χρῆμα πᾶν. Soph. Ant. 1327 τἂν ποσὶν κακά.

ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς i.e. taking up anew the search into the death of Laius. Aristot. Soul 2.1 πάλιν δ’ ὥσπερ ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς ἐπανίωμεν : so πάλιν οὖν οἷον ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς Aristot. Rh. 1.1.14 : Dem. 40.16 πάλιν ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς λαγχάνουσί μοι δίκας. The phrase ἐν τῇ τῆς ἐπιστήμης ὑπαρχῇ occurs in the paraphrase by Themistius of Arist. περὶ φυσικῆς ἀκροάσεως 8. 3 )Berlin ed. vol. 1. 247 b 29(: elsewhere the word occurs only in ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς. Cp. Soph. El. 725 ὑποστροφῆς =ὑποστραφέντες: Hdt. 5.116 ἐκ νέης : Thuc. 3.92 ἐκ καινῆς. αὖθις , as he had done in the case of the Sphinx's riddle: αὔτ’ =τὰ ἀφνῆ.

ἐπαξίως )which would usually have a genitive( implies the standard—worthily of his own godhead, or of the occasion— and is slightly stronger than ἀξίως . Cp. Eur. Hec. 168 ἀπωλέσατ’, ὠλέσατ’ : Eur. Orest. 181 διοιχόμεθ’, οἰχόμεθ : Eur. Alc. 400 ὑπάκουσον, ἄκουσον.

πρὸ on behalf of, cp. πρὸ τῶνδε 10, Soph. OC 811: Xen. Cyrop. 8.8.4 εἴ τις … διακινδυνεύσειε πρὸ βασιλέως : 1. 6. 42 ἀξιώσουσι σὲ πρὸ ἑαυτῶν βουλεύεσθαι. Campb. reads πρὸς τοῦ θανόντος, which here could mean only “at the instance of the dead.” πρός never = “on behalf of,” “for the sake of,” but sometimes “on the side of”: e.g. Hdt. 1.124 ἀποστάντες ἀπ’ ἐκείνου καὶ γενόμενοι πρὸς σέο, “ranged themselves on your side”: Hdt. 1.75 ἐλπίσας πρὸς ἑωυτοῦ τὸν χρησμὸν εἶναι, that the oracle was on his side: below, 1434, πρὸς σοῦ … φράσω, I will speak on your side, —in your interest: Soph. Trach. 479 καὶ τὸ πρὸς κείνου λέγειν, to state his side of the case also.

ἐπιστροφήν a turning round (Soph. OC 1045), hence, attention, regard: ἐπιστροφὴν τίθεσθαι )like σπουδήν, πρόνοιαν τίθ., Soph. Aj. 13 , 536( = ἐπιστρέφεσθαί )τινος(, Soph. Phil. 599 . Dem. 23.136 οὐκ ἐπεστράφη “heeded not” = οὐδὲν ἐφρόντισε Dem. 23.135 .

ὑπὲρ γὰρ οὐχὶ i.e. not merely in the cause of Laius, whose widow he has married. The arrangement of the words is designed to help a second meaning of which the speaker is unconscious: “in the cause of a friend who is not far off” )his own father(. The reference to Laius is confirmed by κείνῳ προσαρκῶν in 141.

αὑτοῦ =ἐμαυτοῦ. The reflexive αὑτοῦ, etc., is a pron. of the 1st pers. in Soph. OC 966,Soph. El. 285,Soph. Aj. 1132: of the n)d pers., in Soph. OC 853, 930, 1356, Soph. Trach. 451. ἀποσκεδῶ , dispel, as a taint in the air: cp. Hom. Od. 8.149 σκέδασον δ’ ἄπο κήδεα θυμοῦ : Plat. Phaedo 77d μὴ … ὁ ἄνεμος αὐτὴν )τὴν ψυχὴν( ἐκβαίνουσαν ἐκ τοῦ σώματος διαφυσᾷ καὶ διασκεδάννυσιν.

ἐκεῖνον ὁ κτανών ἐκεῖνον has emphasis: cp. 820.

τοιαύτη referring to κτανὼν, implies φονίᾳ: on τιμωρεῖν see 107. The spectator thinks of the time when Oed. shall be blinded by his own hand. —For the double ἂν cp. 339, 862, 1438.

παῖδες The king here, as the priest in 147, addresses all the suppliants. ἄλλος )144( is one of the king's attendants.

βάθρων ἵστασθε Cp. Soph. Ant. 417 χθονὸς … ἀείρας : Soph. Phil. 630 νεὼς ἄγοντα. Prose would require a compound verb: Xen. Sym. 4.31 ὑπανίστανται … θάκων.

ἄραντες . Aesch. Supp. 481 κλάδους γε τούτους αἶψ’ ἐν ἀγκάλαις λαβὼν | βωμοὺς ἐπ’ ἄλλους δαιμόνων ἐγχωρίων | θές.

πᾶν … δράσοντος to do everything = to leave nothing untried: for ὡς cp. 97. Plat. Apol. 39a ἐάν τις τολμᾷ πᾶν ποιεῖν καὶ λέγειν. Xen. Hell. 7.4.21 πάντα ἐποίει ὅπως, εἰ δύναιτο, ἀπαγάγοι. εὐτυχεῖς … πεπτωκότες : “fortunate,” if they succeed in their search for the murderer, who, as they now know, is in their land )110(: “ruined,” if they fail, since they will then rest under the ἀνήκεστον μίασμα )98(. The unconscious speaker, in his last word, strikes the key-note of the destined περιπέτεια.

ὦ παῖδες see on 142. —καὶ δεῦρ’ ἔβημεν, we e'en came here: i.e. this was the motive of our coming in the first instance. Soph. Phil. 380 ἐπειδὴ καὶ λέγεις θρασυστομῶν : Lys. 12.29 παρὰ τοῦ ποτε καὶ λήψεσθε δίκην;

ἐξαγγέλλεται , proclaims on his own part )midd.(, of himself: i.e. promises unasked, ultro pollicetur. Cp. Soph. Aj. 1376 ἀγγέλλομαι … εἶναι φίλος, “I offer friendship.” Eur. has thus used ἐξαγγ. even where metre permitted the more usual ἐπαγγέλλομαι: Eur. Heraclid. 531 κἀξαγγέλλομαι | θνῄσκειν, I offer to die.

ἅμα i.e. may the god, who has summoned us to put away our pollution, at the same time come among us as a healing presence.

φάτι of a god's utterance or oracle )1440(, a poet. equivalent for φήμη: cp. 310 ἀπ’ οἰωνῶν φάτιν. Διὸς , because Zeus speaks by the mouth of his son; Aesch. Eum. 19 Διὸς προφήτης δ’ ἐστὶ Λοξίας πατρός. ἁδυεπὲς , merely a general propitiatory epitnet: the Chorus have not yet heard whether the response is comforting or not. It is presently told to them by Oed. )242(. Cp. Soph. El. 480 ἁδυπνόων … ὀνειράτων, dreams breathing comfort )from the gods(. τίς ποτε … ἔβας; What art thou that hast come? i.e. in what spirit hast thou come? bringing us health or despair?

τᾶς πολυχρύσου , “rich in gold,” with allusion to the costly ἀναθήματα dedicated at Delphi, and esp. to the treasury of the temple, in which gold and silver could be deposited, as in a bank, until required for use. Hom. Il. 9.404 οὐδ’ ὅσα … λαϊνος οὐδὸς ἀφήτορος ἐντὸς ἐέργει | Φοίβου Ἀπόλλωνος, Πυθοῖ ἐνὶ πετρηέσσῃ. Thuc. 1.121 ναυτικόν τε ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπαρχούσης τε οὐσίας ἐξαρτυσόμεθα, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν Δελφοῖς καὶ Ὀλυμπίᾳ χρημάτων. Athen. 233 F τῷ μὲν οὖν ἐν Δελφοῖς Ἀπόλλωνι τὸν πρότερον ἐν τῇ Λακεδαίμονι χρυσὸν καὶ ἀργυνον [;πρότερον = before the time of Lysander]; ἱστοροῦσιν ἀνατεθῆναι. Eur. Andr. 1093 θεοῦ | χρυσοῦ γέμοντα γύαλα )recesses(, θησαυροὺς βροτῶν. Eur. Ion 54 Δελφοί σφ’ ἔθεντο )the young Ion( χρυσοφύλακα τοῦ θεοῦ, | ταμίαν τε πάντων. Pind. P. 6.8 ἐν πολυχρύσῳ Ἀπολλωνίᾳ … νάπᾳ ) i.e. ἐν Πυθοἷ.

Πυθῶνος from Pytho (Delphi): for the gen. see on 142 βάθρων | ἵστασθε.

The bold use of ἐκτέταμαι is interpreted by φοβερὰν φρένα, δείματι πάλλων , which is to be taken in close connection with it. ἐκτείνεσθαι is not found elsewhere of mental tension )though Dion. Hal. Comp. Verb. 15 ad fin. has ἡ τῆς διανοίας ἔκτασις καὶ τὸ τοῦ δείματος ἀπροσδόκητον. Cp. Xen. Cyrop. 1.3.11 ἕως παρατείναιμι τοῦτον, ὥσπερ οὗτος ἐμὲ παρατείνει ἀπὸ σοῦ κωλύων, —‘rack,’ ‘torture’ him. But παρατείνεσθαι, when used figuratively, usually meant “to be worn out,” “fatigued to death”: e.g. Plat. Lysis 204c παραταθήσεται ὑπὸ σοῦ ἀκούων θαμὰ λέγοντος, enecabitur, he will be tired to death of hearing it. So Xen. Mem. 3.13.6 παρατέταμαι μακρὰν ὁδὸν πορευθείς. Triclinius explains here, “I am prostrated by dread”(ἐκπέπληγμαι, παρ’ ὅσον οἱ ἐκπλαγέντες ἔκτασιν σώματος καὶ ἀκινησίαν πάσχουσιν: cp. Eur. Med. 585 ἓν γὰρ ἐκτενεῖ σ’ ἔπος) : so Soph. Phil. 858 ἐκτέταται νύχιος (of a sleeper). But the context favours the other view.

πάλλων transitive, governing φρένα, making my heart to shake; not intransitive, for παλλόμενος, with φρένα as accus. of the part affected. An intransitive use of πάλλω in this figurative sense is not warranted by such instances as Aristoph. Lys. 1304 κοῦφα πάλλων, “lightly leaping in the dance”: Eur. El. 435 ἔπαλλε δελφίς ( = ἐσκίρτἀ, “the dolphin leaped”: Eur. El. 477 ἵπποι ἔπαλλον “quivered” (in death). Cp. Aesch. PB 881 κραδία φόβῳ φρένα λακτίζει : so, when the speaker is identified with the troubled spirit within him, we can say φρένα πάλλω, —where φρένα has a less distinctly physical sense than in Aesch. PB 881, yet has physical associations which help to make the phrase less harsh.

Δάλιε The Delphian Apollo is also Delian—having passed, according to the Ionic legend, from his native Delos, through Attica, to Delphi (Aesch. Eum. 9). A Boeotian legend claimed Tegyra as the birthplace of Apollo: Plut. 16 ἐνταῦθα μυθολογοῦσι τὸν θεὸν γενέσθαι, καὶ τὸ μὲν πλησίον ὄρος Δῆλος καλεῖται. We can scarcely say, however, with Schneidewin that Δάλιε here “bewrays the Athenian,” when we remember that the Theban Pindar hails the Delphian Apollo as Λύκιε καὶ Δάλου ἀνάσσων Φοῖβε (Pind. P. 1.39).

ἰήιε (again in 1096), invoked with the cry ἰή: cp. Soph. Trach. 221 ἰὼ ἰὼ Παιάν. Soph. has the form παιών, παιήων as = “a healer” (not with ref. to Apollo), Soph. Phil. 168, 832.

ἁζόμενος (rt. ἁγ, whence ἄγιος) implies a religious fear: cp. Hom. Od. 9.478 σχέτλῑ, ἐπεὶ ξείνους οὐχ ἅζεο σῷ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ | ἐσθέμεναι. τί μοι … χρέος : “what thing thou wilt accomplish for me”: i.e., what expiation thou wilt prescribe, as the price of deliverance from the plague. Will the expiation be of a new kind(νέον)? Or will some ancient mode of atonement be called into use once more(πάλιν )?πάλιν recalls Aesch. Ag. 154 μίμνει γὰρ φοβερὰ παλίνορτος | οἰκονόμος δολία μνάμων μῆνις τεκνόποινος. νέον , adjective with χρέος:

πάλιν , adverb with ἐξανύσεις. τί μοι νέον χρέος ἐξανύσεις; ἢ τί χρέος πάλιν ἐξανύσεις; The doubling of ἤ harshly co-ordinates νέον and πάλιν, as if one said τίνας ἢ μαχομένους ἢ ἀμαχεὶ ἐνίκησαν; χρέος here = χρῆμα, “matter” (implying importance): cp. Aesch. Supp. 374 (of a king) χρέος | πᾶν ἐπικραίνεις: Eur. Her. 530 τί καινὸν ἦλθε τοῖσδε δώμασιν χρέος; Others take it as = “obligation” (cp. Soph. OC 235), but against this is ἐξανύσεις , which could not mean either to “impose” or to “exact” it. Whitelaw renders, “what requirement thou wilt enact (by oracular voice),” finding this use of ἀνύω in Soph. OC 454,Soph. Ant. 1178; but there (as below, 720) it has its normal sense, “fulfil.”

περιτελλομέναις ὥραις an epic phrase which Aristoph. Birds 697 also has. Hom. Od. 14.293 ἀλλ’ ὅτε δὴ μῆνές τε καὶ ἡμέραι ἐξετελεῦντο | ἂψ περιτελλομένου ἔτεος, καὶ ἐπήλυθον ὧραι.

χρυσέας κ.τ.λ. The answer (not yet known to them) sent by Apollo is personified as Φάμα , a divine Voice, —“the daughter of golden hope,” because—whether favourable or not—it is the issue of that hope with which they had awaited the god's response.

κεκλόμενος is followed in 164 by προφάνητέ μοι instead of εὔχομαι προφανῆναι. Cp. Plat. Laws 686d ἀποβλέψας γὰρ πρὸς τοῦτον τὸν στόλον οὗ πέρι διαλεγόμεθα ἔδοξέ μοι πάγκαλος … εἶναι. Antiph. 3.2.10 ἀπολυόμενος δὲ ὑπό τε τῆς ἀληθείας τῶν πραχθέντων ὑπό τε τοῦ νόμου καθ’ ὃν διώκεται, οὐδὲ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων εἵνεκα δίκαιοι τοιούτων κακῶν ἀξιοῦσθαί ἐσμεν. Xen. Cyrop. 8.8.10 ἦν δὲ αὐτοῖς νόμιμον … νομίζοντες. The repetition of ἄμβροτ’ has provoked some weak and needless conjectures: see on 517.

γαιάοχόν holding or guarding our land; so Aesch. Supp. 816 γαιάοχε παγκρατὲς Ζεῦ. In Soph. OC 1072 it is the Homeric epithet of Poseidon, “girdling the earth,” τὸν πόντιον γαιάοχον. Cp. Παλλὰς πολιοῦχος Aristoph. Kn. 581 ( πολιάοχος Pind. O. 5.10 ), πολισσοῦχοι θεοί Aesch. Seven 69 .

κυκλόεντ’ ἀγορᾶς θρόνον =κυκλοέσσης ἀγορᾶς θρόνον: cp. Soph. Ant. 793 νεῖκος ἀνδρῶν ξύναιμον, Soph. Trach. 993 ὦ Κηναία κρηπὶς βωμῶν. “Round throne of the marketplace” means simply (I now think) “throne consisting of the round marketplace.” The sitting statue of Artemis is in the middle of the agora; hence the agora itself is poetically called her throne. The word κύκλος in connection with the Athenian agora, of which it perhaps denoted a special part; schol. Aristoph. Kn. 137 ὁ δὲ κύκλος Ἀθήνησίν ἐστι καθάπερ μάκελλος, ἐκ τῆς κατασκευῆς (form) τὴν προσηγορίαν λαβών. ἔνθα δὴ πιπράσκεται χωρὶς κρεῶν τὰ ἄλλα ὤνια, καὶ ἐξαιρέτως δὲ οἱ ἰχθύες. Cp. Eur. Orest. 919 ὀλιγάκις ἄστυ κἀγορᾶς χραίνων κύκλον, “the circle of the agora,” i.e. “its bounds”: cp. Thuc. 3.74 τὰς οἰκίας τὰς ἐν κύκλῳ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, “all round” the agora. In Hom. Il. 18.504, cited by Casaubon on Theophr. Char. 2.4,ἱερῷ ἐνὶ κύκλῳ refers merely to the γέροντες in council. This is better than (1) “her round seat in the agora”— κυκλόεντα meaning that the pedestal of the statue was circular; (2) “her throne in the agora, round which κύκλιοι χοροί range themselves.” This last is impossible. εὐκλέα , alluding to Artemis Εὔκλεια, the vipgin goddess of Faip Fame, wopshirred esr. by Locpians and Boeotians: Plut. Arist. 20 βωμὸς γὰρ αὐτῇ καὶ ἄγαλμα παρὰ πᾶσαν ἀγορὰν ἵδρυται, καὶ προθύουσιν αἵ τε γαμούμεναι καὶ οἱ γαμοῦντες : also at Corinth, Xen. Hell. 4.4.2. Pausanias saw a temple of Ἄρτεμις Εὔκλεια, with a statue by Scopas, near the Προιτίδες πύλαι on the N.E. side of Thebes. Near it were statues of Apollo Boedromios and Hermes Agoraios. The latter suggests that the Agora of the Lower Town (which was deserted when Pausanias visited Thebes) may have been near. In mentioning the ἀγορά, Soph. may have been further influenced by the fact that Artemis was worshipped as Ἀγοραία: thus in the altis at Olympia there was an Ἀρτεμίδος Ἀγοραίας βωμός near that of Ζεὺς Ἀγοραῖος (Paus. 5.15.4).

ἄτας ὕπερ “on account of ruin” (i.e. “to avert it”): cp. Soph. Ant. 932 κλαύμαθ’ ὑπάρξει βραδυτῆτος ὕπερ. So Aesch. Seven 111 ἴδετε παρθένων ἱκέσιον λόχον δουλοσύνας ὕπερ, “to avert slavery.” Cp. 187. ὀρνυμένας πόλει : the dat. (poet.) as after verbs of attacking, e.g. ἐπιέναι, ἐπιτίθεσθαι. Musgrave's conj. ὑπερορνυμένας πόλει (the compound nowhere occurs) has been adopted by some editors.

ἠνύσατ’ ἐκτοπίαν made ἐκτοπίαν, =ἐξωρίσατε, a rare use of ἀνύω like ποιεῖν, καθιστάναι, ἀποδεικνύναι: for the ordinary use, cp. 720 ἐκεῖνον ἤνυσεν | φονέα γενέσθαι, effected that he should become. In Soph. Ant. 1178 τοὔπος ὡς ἄρ’ ὀρθὸν ἤνυσας, the sense is not ‘made right,’ but ‘brought duly to pass.’ ἔλθετε καὶ νῦν , an echo of προφάνητέ μοι, προτέρας having suggested καὶ νῦν: as in 338 ἀλλ’ ἐμὲ ψέγεις repeats ὀργὴν ἐμέμψω τὴν ἐμήν.

ὧ πόποι is merely a cry like παπαῖ: Soph. Trach. 853 κέχυται νόσος, ὦ πόποι, οἷον, κ.τ.λ.

στόλος like στρατός (Pind. P. 2.46, etc.), = λαός.

ἔνι =ἔνεστι, is available.

φροντίδος ἔγχος not, a weapon consisting in a device, but a weapon discovered by human wit, ἔγχος ᾧ τις ἀλέξεται being a bold equivalent for μηχανὴ ἀλεξητηρία.

This future has the support of the best MSS. in Xen. Anab. 7.7.3 οὐκ ἐπιτρέψομεν … ὡς πολεμίους ἀλεξόμεθα : and of grammarians, Bekk. p. 415: the aorist ἀλέξαι, ἀλέξασθαι also occurs. These forms are prob. not from the stem ἀλεξ (whence present ἀλέξω, cp. ἀέξω, ὀδάξω) but from a stem ἀλκ with unconsciously developed ε, making ἀλεκ (cp. ἄλ‐αλκον): see Curtius, 11.258, Eng. tr. 445. Homer has the fut. ἀλεξήσω, and Her. ἀλεξήσομαι. —Cp. 539.

τόκοισιν by births. Women are released from travail, not by the birth of living children, but either by death before delivery, or by still births. See on 26, and cp. Hes. WD 244 οὐδὲ γυναῖκες τίκτουσιν. If τόκοισιν= “in child-bed” (and so the schol., ἐν τοῖς τόκοις), the meaning would be simply, “women die in child-bed,” —not necessarily “before child-birth”; but the point here is the blight on the fruits of earth and womb, —not merely the mortality among women.

ἄλλον δ’ … ἄλλῳ “one after another.” The dative here seems to depend mainly on the notion of adding implied by the iteration itself; though it is probable that the neighbourhood of πρός in προσίδοις may have been felt as softening the boldness. That προσορᾶν could be used as = “to see in addition”is inconceivable; nor could such use be justified by that of ἐνορᾶν τινι as = ὁρᾶν ἔν τινι. And no one, I think, would be disposed to plead lyric license for ἄλλῳ πρὸς ἴδοις on the strength of ἀκτὰν πρὸς ἑσπέρου θεοῦ in 177. Clearly there was a tendency (at least in poetry) to use the dative thus, though the verb of the context generally either (a) helps the sense of “adding,” or (b) leaves an alternative. Under (a) I should put Soph. El. 235 τίκτειν ἄταν ἄταις : Eur. Hel. 195 δάκρυα δάκρυσί μοι φέρων. Under (b), Eur. Orest. 1257 πήματα πήμασιν ἐξεύρῃ : Eur. Phoen. 1496 φόνῳ φόνος | Οἰδιπόδα δόμον ὤλεσε : where the datives might be instrumental. On the whole, I forbear to recommend ἄλλον δ’ ἂν ἄλλᾳ προσίδοις, though easy and tempting; cp. Thuc. 2.4 ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλῃ τῆς πόλεως σποράδην ἀπώλλυντο.

ὄρμενον aor. part. ( Hom. Il. 2.571 δοῦρα … ὄρμενα πρόσσω ), “sped,” “hurried,” since the life is quickly gone. κρεῖσσον … πυρὸς , because the πυρφόρος λοιμός drives all before it.

ἀκτὰν πρὸς for πρὸς ἀκτάν, since the attributive gen. ἑσπέρου θεοῦ is equiv. to an adj. agreeing with ἀκτάν: cp. Soph. OC 84 ἕδρας | πρώτων ἐφ’ ὑμῶν, Soph. OC 126 ἄλσος ἐς … κορᾶν : Soph. El. 14 τοσόνδ’ ἐς ἥβης : so Aesch. PB 653,Aesch. Seven 185:Eur. Orest. 94. ἑσπέρου θεοῦ : as the Homeric Erebos is in the region of sunset and gloom (Hom. Od. 12.81), and Hades is ἐννυχίων ἄναξ Soph. OC 1559 .

ὧν … ἀνάριθμος ὧν, masc., referring to ἄλλον … ἄλλῳ, — “to such (deaths) knowing no limit”: cp. ἀνάριθμος θρήνων Soph. El. 232 , μηνῶν | ἀνήριθμος Soph. Aj. 602 . An adj. formed with α privative, whether from noun or from verb, constantly takes a gen. in poetry: see on 190(ἄχαλκος),885(ἀφόβητος).

γένεθλα (πόλεως), “her sons”: cp. 1424 τὰ θνητῶν γένεθλα, the sons of men. νηλέα , unpitied; ἀνοίκτως , without οἶκτος, lament, made for them: they receive neither ταφή nor θρῆνος. Cp. Thuc. 2.50 πολλῶν ἀτάφων γιγνομένων (in the plague, 430 B.C.).

ἐν δ’ cp. on 27. ἔπι , adv.: Hdt. 7.65 τόξα δὲ καλάμινα εἶχον, … ἐπὶ δέ, σίδηρον (v. l. ‐ος) ἦν. But ἔπι = ἔπεστι, Hom. Il. 1.515 .

ἀκτὰν παρὰ βώμιον “at the steps of the altars”: Aesch. Lib. 722 ἀκτὴ χώματος, the edge of the mound: Eur. Her. 984 ἀμφὶ βωμίαν | ἔπτηξε κρηπῖδ’, at the base of the altar. ἄλλοθεν ἄλλαν (with ἐπιστενάχουσι), because the sounds are heard from various quarters.

ἱκτῆρες with λυγρῶν πόνων , entreating on account of (for release from) their woes, causal gen.: cp. ἀλγεῖν τύχης, Aesch. Ag. 571 .

λάμπει 473 ἔλαμψε … φάμα: Aesch. Seven 104 κτύπον δέδορκα. ὅμαυλος , i.e. heard at the same time, though not σύμφωνος with it.

ὧν ὕπερ see on 165.

εὐῶπα ἀλκάν cp. ἀγανὴ σαίνουσ’ | ἐλπίς, Aesch. Ag. 101 (where Weil προφανεῖσ’), ἱλαρὸν φέγγος Aristoph. Frogs 455 .

Ἄρεά τε κ.τ.λ. The acc. and infin. Ἄρεα … νωτίσαι depend on δός or the like, suggested by the preceding words. Cp. Hom. Il. 7.179 Ζεῦ πάπερ, ἢ Αἴαντα λαχεῖν ἢ Τυδέος υἱόν (grant that). Aesch. Seven 253 θεοὶ πολῖται, μή με δουλείας τυχεῖν. μαλερόν , raging: cp. μαλεροῦ πυρός Hom. Il. 9.242 :μαλερῶν … λεόντων Aesch. Ag. 141. Ares is for Soph. not merely the war-god, but generally βροτολοιγός, the Destroyer: cp. Soph. Aj. 706. Here he is identified with the fiery plague. ἄχαλκος ἀσπίδων (cp. Soph. El. 36 ἄσκευον ἀσπίδων : Eur. Phoen. 324 ἄπεπλος φαρέων ): Ares comes not, indeed, as the god of war ( ὁ χαλκοβόας Ἄρης, Soph. OC 1046 ), yet shrieks of the dying surround him with a cry( βοή) as of battle.

περιβόατον could not mean “crying loudly”: the prose use (“famous” or “notorious” Thuc. 6.31) confirms the pass. sense here. ἀντιάζω , attacking: Hdt. 4.80 ἠντίασάν μιν (acc.) οἱ Θρήϊκες. Aesch. has the word once only, as = “to meet” (not in a hostile sense), Aesch. Ag. 1557 πατέρ’ ἀντιάσασα : Eur. always as = “to entreat”; and so Soph. El. 1009. Dindorf reads φλέγει με περιβόατον (the accus. on his own conject.), ἀντιάζω (suggested by Herm.), “I pray that” etc. But the received text gives a more vivid picture.

νωτίσαι to turn the back in flight ( Eur. Andr. 1141 πρὸς φυγὴν ἐνώτισαν), a poet. word used by Aesch. with acc. πόντον, to skim (Aesch. Ag. 286), by Eur. Phoen. 651 (Dionysus) κισσὸς ὃν … ἐνώτισεν as = “to cover the back of.” δράμημα , cognate acc.: πάτρας , gen. after verb of parting from: see on βάθρων, 142.

ἔπουρον = ἐπουριζόμενον (ironical). Lidd. and Scott s. v. refer to Clemens Alexandr. 130 τῷ τῆς ἀληθείας πνεύματι ἔπουρος ἀρθείς, “lifted on a prospering gale by the spirit of Truth.” So Soph. Trach. 815 οὖρος ὀφθαλμῶν ἐμῶν | αὐτῇ γένοιτ’ ἄπωθεν ἑρπούσῃ καλῶς : Soph. Trach. 467 ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν | ῥείτω κατ’ οὖρον. Active in Soph. Trach. 954 ἔπουρος ἑστιῶτις αὔρα (schol. ἄνεμος οὔριος ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας), “wafting,” The v.l. ἄπουρον would go with πάτρας, “away from the borders of my country” —from Ionic οὖρος = ὅρος, like ὅμουρος (Hdt. 1.57),πρόσουρος (Soph. Phil. 691),ξύνουρος (Aesch. Ag. 495), τηλουρός. Pollux 6. 198 gives ἔξορος, ἐξόριος, but we nowhere find an Ionic ἄπουρος: while for Attic writers ὄφορος (from ὅρος) would have been awkward, since ἄφορος “sterile” was in use. μέγαν | θάλαμον Ἀμφιτρίτας , the Atlantic. θάλαμος Ἀμφιτρίτης alone would be merely “the sea” ( Hom. Od. 3.91 ἐν πελάγει μετὰ κύμασιν Ἀμφιτρίτης), but μέγαν helps to localise it, since the Atlantic( ἡ ἔξω στηλέων θάλασσα ἡ Ἀτλαντὶς καλεομένη, Hdt. 1.202 ) was esp. ἡ μεγάλη θάλασσα. Thus Polyb. 3.37 calls the Mediterranean τὴν καθ’ ἡμᾶς,— the Atlantic, τὴν ἔξω καὶ μεγάλην προσαγορευομένην. In Plat. Phaedo 109b the limits of the known habitable world are described by the phrase, τοὺς μέχρι τῶν Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν ἀπὸ Φάσιδος (which flows into the Euxine on the E.), Eur. Hipp. 3,ὅσοι τε πόντου (the Euxine) τερμόνων τ’ Ἀτλαντικῶν | ναίουσιν εἴσω: Eur. Her. 234 ὥστ’ Ἀτλαντικῶν πέρα | φεύγειν ὅρων ἄν.

ἀπόξενον Aesch. has the word as = “estranged from”( γῆς, Aesch. Ag. 1282 ), cp. ἀποξενοῦσθαι. Here it means “away from strangers” in the sense of “keeping them at a distance.” Such compounds are usu. passive in sense: cp. ἀπόδειπνος (Hesych., = ἄδειπνος), ἀπόθεος, ἀπόμισθος, ἀπόσιτος, ἀπότιμος (215), ἀποχρήματος.

ἀπόξενος ὅρμος , the Euxine: an oxymoron, = ὅρμος ἄνορμος, as in Soph. Phil. 217 ναὸς ἄξενον ὄρμον. Strabo 7.298 ἄπλουν γὰρ εἶναι τότε τὴν θάλατταν ταύτην καὶ καλεῖσθαι Ἄξενον διὰ τὸ δυσχείμερον καὶ τὴν ἀγριότητα τῶν περιοικούντων ἐθνῶν καὶ μάλιστα τῶν Σκυθικῶν, ξενοθυτούντων, κ.τ.λ. The epithet Θρῄκιον here suggests the savage folk to whom Ares is ἀγχίπτολις on the W. coast of the Euxine (Soph. Ant. 969).Ovid Trist. 4.4.55 Frigida me cohibent Euxini litora Ponti: Dictus ab antiquis Axenus ille fuit.

τελεῖν γὰρ … ἔρχεται Reading τελεῖν, as Herm. suggested, instead of τέλει, I construe thus: —εἴ τι νύξ ἀφῇ, ἦμαρ ἐπέρχεται τελεῖν τοῦτο, “If night omit anything (in the work of destruction), day comes after it to accomplish this.” τελεῖν is the infin. expressing purpose, as often after a verb of going or sending, where the fut. participle might have been used: cp. Hdt. 7.208 ἔπεμπε … κατάσκοπον ἱππέα, ἰδέσθαι [; =ὀψόμενον];ὁκόσοι τέ εἰσι, κ.τ.λ.· Thuc. 6.50 δέκα δὲ τῶν νεῶν προὔπεμψαν ἐς τὸν μέγαν λιμένα πλεῦσαί τε καὶ κατασκέψασθαι … καὶ κηρῦξαι. Here the pres. inf. is right, because the act is not single but repeated. Observe how strongly τελεῖν is supported by the position of the word (“To accomplish, —if night omit aught, —day follows”). No version of τέλει explains this. The most tolerable is: —“In fulness— if night omit aught—day attacks(ἐπέρχεται) this”: but I do not think that such a rendering can stand. See Appendix.

εἰ … ἀφῇ Cp. 874 εἰ ὑπερπλησθῇ (lyric): Soph. OC 1443 εἰ στερηθῶ (dialogue): Soph. Ant. 710 κεἴ τις ᾖ (do.). In using εἰ with subjunct., the Attic poets were influenced by the epic usage, on which see Monro, sect. 292. The instances in classical prose are usu. doubtful, but in Thuc. 6.21 εἰ ξυστῶσιν has good authority.

ἐπ’ … ἔρχεται for the adverbial ἐπί separated from ἔρχεται, cp. Soph. OC 1777 μηδ’ ἐπὶ πλείω | θρῆνον ἐγείρετε. This is “tmesis” in the larger sense: tmesis proper is when the prep. is essential to the sense of the verb: Hom. Il. 8.108 οὔς ποτ’ ἀπ’ Αἰνείαν ἑλόμην =οὓς ἀφειλόμην Αἰνείαν: cp. Monro sect. 176.

τόν =ὅν, sc. Ἄρεα (190). Cp. 1379 n.

Λύκειε Apollo, properly the god of light(λυκ), whose image, like that of Artemis, was sometimes placed before houses ( Soph. El. 637 Φοῖβε προστατήριε, Aesch. Seven 449 προστατηρίας | Ἀρτέμιδος ), so that the face should catch the first rays of the morning sun(δαίμονες … ἀντήλιοι Aesch. Ag. 519): then, through Λύκειος being explained as λυκοκτόνος (Soph. El. 7), Apollo the Destroyer of foes: Aesch. Seven 145 Λύκεῑ ἄναξ, Λύκειος γενοῦ | στρατῷ δαΐῳ. Cp. below, 919.

ἀγκυλᾶν ἀγκύλη, a cord brought round on itself, a noose or loop, here = the νευρά of the bent bow. ἀγκύλων, the reading of L and A, was taken by Eustath. 33.3 of the bow (ἄγκυλα τόξἀ.

ἐνδατεῖσθαι pass., to be distributed, i.e. showered abroad on the hostile forces. The order of words, and the omission of σέ, are against making ἐνδατ. midd., though elsewhere the pass. occurs only in δέδασμαι: Appian, however, has γῆς διαδατουμένης 1.1. It is possible that Soph. may have had in mind Hom. Il. 18.263 ἐν πεδίῳ, ὅθι περ Τρῶες καὶ Ἀχαιοὶ | ἐν μέσῳ ἀμφότεροι μένος Ἄρηος δατέονται, “share the rage of war,” give and take blows. Others understand, “I would fain celebrate,”a sense of ἐνδατεῖσθαι derived from that of distributing words (λόγους ὀνειδιστῆρας ἐνδατούμενος, Eur. Her. 218 ). The bad sense occurs in Soph. Trach. 791 τὸ δυσπάρευνον λέκτρον ἐνδατούμενος : the good, only in Aesch. fr. 340 ὁ δ’ ἐνδατεῖται τὰς ἑὰς εὐπαιδίας, “celebrates his happy race of children.”

προσταθέντα from προΐστημι, not προστείνω. Cp. Soph. Aj. 803 πρόστητ’ ἀναγκαίας τύχης. Soph. El. 637 Φοῖβε προστατήριε. Soph. OT 881 θεὸν οὐ λήξω προστάταν ἴσχων. For 1st aor. pass. part., cp. κατασταθείς Lys. 24.9 , συσταθείς Plat. Laws 685c . The conject. προσταλέντα (as = “launched”) is improbable (1) because it would mean rather “having set out on a journey”; cp. Soph. OC 20: (2) on account of the metaphor in ἀρωγά. προσταθέντα from προστείνω (a verb which does not occur) would scarcely mean “directed against the enemy,” but rather “strained against the bowstring.” προσταχθέντα, found in one MS., would make ἀρωγά prosaic, while προσταθέντα— if not strictly suitable—is at least poetical: the difference is like that between speaking of “auxiliary forces” and of “champions.”

Ἀρτέμιδος αἴγλας the torches with which Artemis was represented, —holding one in each hand ( Aristoph. Frogs 1362 διπύρους ἀνέχουσα λαμπάδας , Soph. Trach. 214 Ἄρτεμιν ἀμφίπυρον ), —in her character of Διϊλύκη, σελασφόρος, φωσφόρος, ἀνθήλιος, —names marking her connection with Selene; cp. Aesch. fr. 164 ἀστερωπὸν ὄμμα Λητῴας κόρης.

Λύκῑ ὄρεα διᾴσσει as ἐλαφηβόλος, ἀγροτέρα, huntress: Hom. Od. 6.102 οἵη δ’ Ἄρτεμις εἶσι κατ’ οὔρεος ἰοχέαιρα, | … τερπομένη κάπροισι καὶ ὠκείῃς ἐλάφοισιν· | τῇδέ θ’ ἅμα νύμφαι. Λύκια : the Lycian hills are named here in order to associate Artemis more closely with her brother under his like-sounding name of Λύκειος. At Troezen there was even a temple of Ἄρτεμις Λυκεία: Paus. says (2. 31. 4) that he could not learn why she was so called(ἐς δὲ τὴν ἐπίκλησιν οὐδὲν εἶχον πυθέσθαι παρὰ τῶν ἐξηγητῶν), and suggests that this may have been her title among the Amazons—a guess which touches the true point, viz. that the Λυκεία was a feminine counterpart of the Λύκειος.

τὸν χρυσομίτραν μίτρα, a snood: Eur. Ba. 831 ΔΙ. κόμην μὲν ἐπὶ σῷ κρατὶ ταναὸν ἐκτενῶ. ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ. τὸ δεύτερον δὲ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τί μοι; ΔΙ. πέπλοι ποδήρεις· ἐπὶ κάρᾳ δ’ ἔσται μίτρα.

τᾶσδ’ ἐπώνυμον γᾶς As he is Βάκχος, so is Thebes called Βακχεία (Soph. Trach. 510), while he, on the other hand, was Καδμεΐας νύμφας ἄγαλμα (1115). The mutual relation of the names is intended here by ἐπώνυμον. The word usually means called after (τινός). But ἄρχων ἐπώνυμος, ἥρωες ἐπώνυμοι were those who gave names to the year, the tribes: and so Soph. Aj. 574(σάκος) ἐπώνυμον, the shield which gave its name to Eurysaces. Cp. Eur. Ion 1555 where Athena says, ἐπώνυμος δὲ σῆς ἀφικόμην χθονός, giving my name to thy land.

οἰνῶπα … εὔιον “ruddy”—“to whom Bacchants cry εὐοῖ.” Note how in this passionate ode all bright colours(χρυσέας, εὐῶπα, χρυσοστρόφων, αἴγλας, χρυσομίτραν, οἰνῶπα, ἀγλαῶπι), and glad sounds(ἰήιε Παιάν, εὔιον), are contrasted with the baleful fires of pestilence and the shrieks of the dying.

Μαινάδων ὁμόστολον =στελλόμενον ἅμα ταῖς Μαινάσιν, setting forth, roaming with the Maenads: Apoll. Rhod. 2. 802 ὁμόστολος ὑμὶν ἕπεσθαι. The nymphs attendant on Dionysus, who nursed the infant god in Nysa, and afterwards escorted him in his wanderings, are called Μαινάδες, θυιάδες, Βάκχαι. Hom. Il. 6.132 μαινομένοιο Διωνύσοιο τιθήνας | σεῦε κατ’ ἠγάθεον Νυσήιον· αἱ δ’ ἅμα πᾶσαι | θύσθλα (i.e. thyrsi and torches) χαμαὶ κατέχευαν. Aesch. fr. 397 πάτερ θέοινε, Μαινάδων ζευκτήριε, who bringest the Maenads under thy spell. Hom. Il. 22.460 μεγάροιο διέσσυτο, μαινάδι ἴση, | παλλομένη κραδίην. Catull. 63.23 capita Maenades vi iaciunt hederigerae: as Pind. fr. 224 ῥιψαύχενι σὺν κλόνῳ. Lucian may have had our passage in mind, when he mentions the μίτρα and the Maenads together: Lucian Dial. D. 18 θῆλυς οὕτω, … μίτρᾳ μὲν ἀναδεδεμένος τὴν κόμην, τὰ πολλὰ δὲ μαινομέναις ταῖς γυναιξὶ συνών.

ἀγλαῶπι A cretic has been lost. G. Wolff's σύμμαχον is simple and appropriate. Arndt's conjecture, δαΐᾳ (“destroying, consuming,” prob. from rt. δαv, to kindle, Curt. sect. 258), is supported by the possibility of a corruption ΔΑΙΔΙ having been rejected as a gloss on πεύκᾳ. Cp. Hom. Il. 9.347 δήϊον πῦρ, Aesch. Seven 222 πυρὶ δαΐῳ. But in connection with the “blithe torch” of Dionysus such an epithet is unsuitable.

τὸν ἀπότιμον See on ἀπόξενον196. Ares is “without honour” among the gentler gods: cp. Hom. Il. 5.31 (Apollo speaks), Ἆρες, Ἄρες βροτολοιγέ, μιαιφόνε, τειχεσιπλῆτα: and Hom. Il. 5.890 where Zeus says to Ares, ἔχθιστός τέ μοι ἔσσι θεῶν, κ.τ.λ. So the Erinyes are στύγη θεῶν(Aesch. Eum. 644); and the house of Hades is hateful even to the gods (Hom. Il. 20.65 ).

θεόν one syll., by synizesis: cp. 1519.

αἰτεῖς Oedipus had entered in time to hear the closing strains of that prayer for aid against the pestilence which the Chorus had been addressing to the gods. ἃ δ’ αἰτεῖς . The place of λάβοις is against taking ἀλκὴν κἀνακούφισιν κακῶν as in apposition with ἂ: rather the construction changes, and ἃ is left as an accus. of general reference. τἄμ’ emphatic by place: “you pray (to the gods): hear me and (with their help) you shall have your wish.”

κλύων not strictly = πειθαρχῶν, “obediently” (in which sense κλύειν takes gen., τῶν ἐν τέλει, Soph. Aj. 1352 ), but simply, “on hearing them”: δέχεσθαι , as Soph. Phil. 1321 κοὔτε σύμβουλον δέχει. τῇ νόσῳ ὑπηρετεῖν , =θεραπεύειν τὴν νόσον, to do that which the disease requires (for its cure), like ὑπηρετοίην τῷ παρόντι δαίμονι Soph. El. 1306 . In Eur. fr. 84, 7 οὐδ’ αὖ πένεσθαι κἀξυπηρετεῖν τύχαις | οἷοί τε, Nauck now gives with Athenaeus 413 C καὶ ξυνηρετμεῖν. Acc. to the commoner use of the word, the phrase would mean to humour the disease, i.e. obey morbid impulses: cp. Lys. 12.23 τῇ ἑαυτοῦ παρανομίᾳ προθύμως ἐξυπηρετῶν, eagerly indulging the excess of his own lawlessness.

ἀλκὴν as well as ἀνακούφισιν , with κακῶν : Hes. WD 199 κακοῦ δ’ οὐκ ἔσσεται ἀλκή : Eur. Med. 1322 ἔρυμα πολεμίας χερός : below 1200 θανάτων .. πύργος.

ἁγὼ ξένος μὲν . Oedipus has just learned from Creon that Laius was believed to have been murdered by robbers on his way to Delphi, but that, owing to the troubles caused by the Sphinx, no effective search had been made at the time (114-131). He has at once resolved to take up the matter—both because Apollo enjoins it, and as a duty to the Theban throne (255). But the murder occurred before he had come to Thebes. He must therefore appeal for some clue — su/mbolon — to those who were at Thebes when the rumour was fresh.

ξένος “a stranger” to the affair, is tinged with the notion, “unconnected with Thebes”: and this is brought out by ἀστὸς in 222. For other explanations of the passage, see Appendix.

τοῦ πραχθέντος the murder. Not, “what was done at the time by way of search”: for (a) τὸ πραχθέν, as opp. to ὁ λόγος, must mean the ἔργον to which the λόγος is related: (b) Oed. has lately expressed his surprise that nothing effective was done (128), and could not, therefore, refer with such emphasis to τὸ πραχθέν in this sense.

οὐ γὰρ ἂν μακρὰν … ἴχνευον In his (1889), sect. 511, Prof. Goodwin deals with this passage. His view agrees with that given in my second ed., so far as concerns two points, viz.: (1) that the chief protasis is not contained in μὴ οὐκ ἔχων: and (2) that μὴ οὐκ ἔχων is still necessarily conditional. But his analysis of the whole is simpler; it is as follows. The chief protasis is contained in the word αὐτός, “unaided,” which is equivalent to, εἰ μόνος ἴχνευον, if I were attempting to trace it alone. [;I had said that αὐτός “implies the protasis”; but had taken the protasis itself to be, εἰ μὴ ἐξεῖπον, supplied from ἐξερῶ :if I had not thus spoken, —appealing to you for help.]; Then, μὴ οὐκ ἔχων is equivalent to εἰ μὴ εἶχον. Now, the difficulty here seemed to be that εἰ μὴ εἶχον would imply, “but I have a clue”: whereas, in fact, he has none. [;I met this by suggesting that μὴ οὐκ ἔχων expresses the fact (of his having no clue), not simply as a fact, but as a condition, —“in a case where I had no clue”; being equivalent, not to εἰ μὴ εἶχον, but rather to ὅτε μὴ εἶχον.]; Goodwin's answer is that the conditional sentence, written in full, would stand thus, —(1) and (2) denoting respectively the chief protasis, and the subordinate protasis: (1) εἰ μόνος ἴχνευον, οὐκ ἂν μακρὰν ἴχνευον, (2) εἰ μὴ εἶχόν τι σύμβολον. Now (1) is an unreal supposition (he is not tracking alone); and that makes the whole supposition unreal. εἰ μὴ εἶχον is here a part of that unreal supposition; and therefore it can have that form, although, as a fact, he has no clue. (Suppose it to be said of a man too old for work: “If he were young, he would not be doing well, if he did not work”: εἰ νέος ἦν, οὐκ ἂν εὖ ἐποίει, εἰ μὴ ἐπόνει. The chief protasis, εἰ νέος ἦν, being unreal, makes all the rest unreal. The fact is, οὐ πονεῖ: and εἰ μὴ ἐπόνει does not imply, πονεῖ. Compressed, this would be, οὐκ ἂν εὖ ἐποίει νέος ὤν, μὴ οὐ πονῶν. ) αὐτός , unaided: cp. Hom. Il. 13.729 ἀλλ’ οὔπως ἅμα πάντα δυνήσεαι αὐτὸς ἑλέσθαι.

νῦν δ’ “but as it is”: i.e., “since it would be vain to attempt the search alone— since I came to Thebes only after the event.” ὕστερος , sc. τοῦ πραχθέντος: for the adj. instead of an adv., cp. Soph. Aj. 217 νύκτερος … ἀπελωβήθη : Hom. Il. 1.424 χθιζὸς ἔβη : Xen. Anab. 1.4.12 τοῖς προτέροις προτέροις προτέροις=πρότερον μετὰ Κύρου ἀναβᾶσι. εἰς ἀστοὺς τελῶ ,inter cives censeor: a metaphor from being rated (for taxation) in a certain class: Hdt. 6.108 εἰς Βοιωτοὺς τελέειν : Eur. Ba. 822 ἐς γυναῖκας ἐξ ἀνδρὸς τελῶ. ἀστὸς εἰς ἀστοὺς , like Soph. Aj. 267 κοινὸς ἐν κοινοῖσι : Eur. Ba. 467 ξυμπεσὼν μόνος μόνοις : Soph. Phil. 135 ἐν ξένᾳ ξένον : Eur. Ba. 633 ἴσος ὢν ἴσοις ἀνήρ.

κεἰ μὲν φοβεῖται τοὐπίκλημ’ ὑπεξελεῖν κ.τ.λ. is the reading of all the MSS.: for the ὑπεξελθὼν of the first hand in one Milan MS. of the early 1t/h cent. (Ambros. L 39 sup., Campbell's M(2)) is a mere slip. I read ὑπεξελεῖν | αὐτὸν καθ’ αὑτοῦ , the change of αὐτὸν and αὐτὸς having necessarily followed that of ὑπεξελεῖν into ὑπεξελὼν due to an interpretation which took the latter with φοβεῖται. Cp. Thuc. 4.83 (Arrhibaeus, the enemy of Perdiccas, makes overtures to Brasidas, and the Chalcidians exhort Brasidas to listen): ἐδίδασκον αὐτὸν μὴ ὑπεξελεῖν τῷ Περδίκκᾳ τὰ δεινά, “they impressed upon him that he must not remove the dangers from the path of Perdiccas”— by repulsing the rival power of Arrhibaeus. ὑπεξελεῖν τὰ δεινά= to take them away (ἐκ)from under (ὑπὄ the feet, —from the path immediately before him: τῷ Περδίκκᾳ being a dat. commodi. Similarly Hdt. 7.8 τούτων … ὑπεξαραιρημένων, “when these have been taken out of the way.” So here: κεἰ μὲν φοβεῖται,and if he is afraid (as knowing himself to be the culprit), then I bid him ( κελεύω continued from 226) ὑπεξελεῖν τὸ ἐπίκλημα to take the peril of the charge out of his path,αὐτὸν καθ’ αὑτοῦ (σημαίνοντἀ by speaking against himself. If the culprit is denounced by another person, he will be liable to the extreme penalty. If he denounces himself, he will merely be banished. By denouncing himself, he forestalls the danger of being denounced by another. For other explanations, see Appendix.

ἀβλαβής the reading of A and most MSS., “without damage,” ἀζήμιος, is far more suitable than ἀσφαλής to this context: and Soph. has the word as a cretic in Soph. El. 650 ζῶσαν ἀβλαβεῖ βίῳ. Although in L ἀσφαλής appears as the older reading, so common a word was very likely to be intruded; while it would be difficult to explain how the comparatively rare ἀβλαβής could have supplanted it. A metrical doubt may have first brought ἀσφαλής in. Dindorf, reading ἀσφαλής, recognises the superior fitness of ἀβλαβής here, and thinks that it may be the true reading, even though its appearance in the margin of L was due to conjecture.

ἄλλον … ἐξ ἄλλης χθονὸς “another [;i.e. other than one of yourselves, the Thebans]; from a strange land”: an alien, whether resident at Thebes, or not: cp. 451 οὗτός ἐστιν ἐνθάδε, | ξένος λόγῳ μέτοικος. The cases contemplated in the proclamation (223-235) are (1) a Theban denouncing another Theban, (2) a Theban denouncing himself, (3) a Theban denouncing an alien.

τὸ κέρδος the (expected) gain, τὰ μήνυτρα. Soph. Trach. 191 ὅπως | πρὸς σοῦ τι κερδάναιμι καὶ κτῴμην χάριν.

προσκείσεται will be stored up besides (cp. Eur. Alc. 1039 ἄλγος ἄλγει … προσκείμενον, added).χάρις κεῖται is perf. pass. of χάριν τίθεμαι or κατατίθεμαι (τινί or παρὰ τινἴ, —a metaphor from deposits of money: τὰ χρήματα … κείσθω παρ’ οἷς τισιν ἃν ὑμῖν δοκῇ Plat. Letter 346c.

φίλου, αὑτοῦ with ἀπώσει only ( Hom. Il. 15.503 ἀπώσασθαι κακὰ νηῶν ).

φίλου δείσας as = δείσας ὑπὲρ φίλου (like κήδομαι, φροντίζειν) would be too harsh, and rhythm is against it. τοὔπος … τόδε , this command to give up the guilty.

ἀπαυδῶ (ἀπ‐, because the first clauses are negative), I command,(μή) τινα γῆς τῆσδε that no one belonging to this land, μήτ’ ἐσδέχεσθαι μήτε προσφωνεῖν shall either entertain or accost, τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον, ὅστις ἐστί . For the gen. γῆς , cp. Plat. Prot. 316b Ἱπποκράτης ὅδε ἐστὶ μὲν τῶν ἐπιχωρίων, Ἀπολλοδώρου υἱός, οἰκίας μεγάλης καὶ εὐδαίμονος. Since μήτε … μήτε in 238 connect ἐσδέχεσθαι and προσφωνεῖν , we require either (a) separate verbs for εὐχαῖσι and θύμασιν , or (b) as Elms. proposed, μηδὲ instead of μήτε before θύμασιν . Cp. Soph. OC 1297, where in a similar, though simpler, sentence I receive Hermann's οὐδ’ for οὔτ’. Here, however, I hesitate to alter, because the very fact that μήτε has already been thrice used might so easily have prompted its use (instead of μηδέ) before θύμασιν. As the MS. text stands, we must suppose a μήτε suppressed before εὐχαῖσι , the constr. being μήτε κοινὸν ποιεῖσθαι [; μήτε]; ἐν … εὐχαῖσι μήτε θύμασιν . Cp. Aesch. Ag. 532 Πάρις γὰρ οὔτε συντελὴς πόλις : Aesch. Lib. 294 δέχεσθαι δ’ οὔτε συλλύειν τινά.

κοινὸν here = κοινωνόν, cp. Soph. Aj. 267 ἦ κοινὸς ἐν κοινοῖσι λυπεῖσθαι ξυνών. Plat. Laws 868e (the slayer) ξυνέστιος αὐτοῖς μηδέποτε γιγνέσθω μηδὲ κοινωνὸς ἱερῶν. χέρνιβος (partitive gen.) is more suitable than χέρνιβας to the idea of exclusion from all fellowship in ordinary worship: χέρνιβας νέμειν would rather suggest a special κάθαρσις of the homicide. When sacrifice was offered by the members of a household(κοινωνὸν εἷναι χερνίβων … κτησίου βωμοῦ πέλας Aesch. Ag. 1037) or of a clan( χέρνιψ φρατέρων Aesch. Eum. 656 ), a brand taken from the altar was dipped in water, and with the water thus consecrated(χέρνιψ) the company and the altar were sprinkled: then holy silence was enjoined(εὐφημία ἔστω): and the rite began by the strewing of barley meal(οὐλοχύται) on altar and victim. (Athen. 409:Eur. Her. 922 ff.) Acc. to Dem. 20.158 a law of Draco prescribed χέρνιβος [;so the best MSS.: v. l. χερνίβων]; εἴργεσθαι τὸν ἀνδροφόνον, σπονδῶν, κρατήρων, ἱερῶν, ἀγορᾶς. This was a sentence of excommunication (1) from the life of the family and the clan, (2) from the worship common to all Hellenes, who, as opposed to βάρβαροι, are (Aristoph. Lys. 1129)οἳ μιᾶς ἐκ χέρνιβος | βωμοὺς περιρραίνοντες, ὥσπερ ξυγγενεῖς, | Ὀλυμπίασιν, ἐν Πύλαις, Πυθοῖ. The mere presence of the guilty could render sacrifice inauspicious: Antiph. 5.82 ἱεροῖς παραστάντες πολλοὶ δὴ καταφανεῖς ἐγένοντο οὐχ ὅσιοι ὄντες καὶ διακωλύοντες τὰ ἱερὰ μὴ γίγνεσθαι (bene succedere)τὰ νομιζόμενα.

ὠθεῖν δὲ sc. αὐδῶ, understood from the negative ἀπαυδῶ: cp. Hdt. 7.104 οὐκ ἐῶν φεύγειν … ἀλλὰ ἐπικρατέειν.

These six verses are placed by some editors between 272 and 273. See Appendix.

κατεύχομαι Suidas κατεύχεσθαι· τὸ καταρᾶσθαι. οὕτω Πλάτων. καὶ Σοφοκλῆς, κατεύχομαι δὲ τὸν δεδρακότα τάδε. Phot. p. 148. 7 κατεύχεσθαι τῶν Ἀχαιῶν· ἀντὶ τοῦ κατὰ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν εὔχεσθαι. οὕτως Σοφοκλῆς. Here the ref. is to Plato Plat. Rep. 393e τὸν δὲ (the Homeric Chryses, priest of Apollo) … κατεύχεσθαι τῶν Ἀχαιῶν πρὸς θεόν. But Photius prefixes the words, κατεύχεσθαι· τὸ καταρᾶσθαι. οὕτως Πλάτων. It is clear, then, that in Photius οὕτως Σοφοκλῆς and οὕτως Πλάτων have changed places. The “Soph. fr. 894,” quoted by Lidd. and Scott under κατεύχομαι as= imprecari, thus vanishes (Nauck p. 357). Cp. Aesch. Seven 632 πόλει | οἵας ἀρᾶται καὶ κατεύχεται τύχας. But where, as here κατεύχομαι is used without gen. (or dat.), it is rather to pray solemnly: often, however, in a context which implies imprecation: e.g. Plat. Laws 935a κατεύχεσθαι ἀλλήλοις ἐπαρωμένους : Plat. Rep. 394a κατεύχετο τῖσαι τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς τὰ ἂ δάκρυα. εἴτε τις : whether the unknown man ( τις ) who has escaped discovery is εἷς , alone in the crime, or one of several. τις , because the person is indefinite: cp. 107.

νιν ἄμορον Porson ( p. ix.) defends the redundant νιν by Soph. Trach. 287 αὐτὸν δ’ ἐκεῖνον, εὖτ’ ἂν ἁγνὰ θύματα | ῥέξῃ πατρῴῳ Ζηνὶ τῆς ἁλώσεως, | φρόνει νιν ὡς ἥξοντα. The form ἄμορος occurs in Eur. Med. 1395 (where ἄμοιρος is a v. l.); ἄμμορος in Eur. Hec. 421,Soph. Phil. 182. κακὸν κακῶς : Soph. Phil. 1369 ἔα κακῶς αὐτοὺς ἀπόλλυσθαι κακούς. Aristoph. Pl. 65 ἀπό σ’ ὀλῶ κακὸν κακῶς.

ἐπεύχομαι imprecate on myself: Plat. Criti. 120b ταῦτα ἐπευξάμενος ἕκαστος αὐτῶν αὑτῷ καὶ τῷ ἀφ’ αὑτοῦ γένει. οἴκοισιν … ξυνέστιος : not tautological, since ξυνέστιος is more than ἔνοικος, implying admission to the family worship at the ἑστία and to the σπονδαί at meals. Plat. Laws 868e ἱερῶν μὴ κοινωνείτω μηδὲ … ξυνέστιος αὐτοῖς μηδέποτε γιγνέσθω μηδὲ κοινωνὸς ἱερῶν. Plat. Euthyph. 4b καὶ εἰ μὲν ἐν δίκῃ [;ἔκτεινεν];, ἐᾶν, if he slew the man justly, forbear; εἰ δὲ μή, ἐπεξιέναι (prosecute the slayer), ἐάνπερ ὁ κτείνας συνέστιός σοι καὶ ὁμοτράπεζος ᾖ. ἴσον γὰρ τὸ μίασμα γίγνεται, ἐὰν ξυνῇς τῷ τοιούτῳ ξυνειδὼς καὶ μὴ ἀφοσιοῖς σεαυτόν τε καὶ ἐκεῖνον τῇ δίκῃ ἐπεξιών.

τοῖσδ’ the slayer or slayers (247): see on 246.

ἀκάρπως κἀθέως Soph. El. 1181 ὦ σῶμ’ ἀτίμως κἀθέως ἐφθαρμένον : below 661 ἄθεος, ἄφιλος, forsaken by gods and men.

εἰκὸς ἦν The imperfect indic. of a verb denoting obligation(ἔδει, χρῆν, προσῆκεν, εἰκὸς ἦν), when joined without ἄν to an infinitive, often implies a conditional sentence with imperfect indic. in protasis and apodosis: e.g. οὐκ εἰκὸς ἦν ἐᾶν =οὐκ ἂν εἰᾶτε (εἰ τὰ δέοντα ἐποιεῖτἐ, you would not (now) be neglecting it (if you did your duty): Xen. Mem. 2.7.10 εἰ μὲν τοίνυν αἰσχρόν τι ἔμελλον ἐργάσεσθαι [;if I were now intending—as I am not];, θάνατον ἀντ’ αὐτοῦ προαιρετέον ἦν, =προῃρούμην ἂν (εἰ τὰ δέοντα ἐποίουν). Thuc. 6.78 καὶ μάλιστα εἰκὸς ἦν ὑμᾶς … προορᾶσθαι, =προεωρᾶτε ἂν εἰ τὰ εἰκότα ἐποιεῖτε. So ἐβουλόμην, ἠξίουν, without ἄν, of that which one wishes were true, but which is not so.

οὕτως in this (careless) manner: cp. Soph. OC 1278 ὡς μή μ’ ἄτιμον … | οὕτως ἀφῇ με :Soph. Ant. 315,Soph. Phil. 1067.

βασιλέως τ’ τε is to be retained after βασιλέως, because (1) there is a climax, which is destroyed if βασιλέως stands merely in apposition with ἀνδρὸς ἀρίστου: (2) ἀνδρὸς ἀρίστου represents the claim of birth and personal merit, as βασιλέως represents the special claim of a king on his people. Cp. Soph. Phil. 1302 ἄνδρα πολέμιον | ἐχθρόν τε.

κυρῶ τ’ ἐγὼ =ἐγώ τε κυρῶ, answered by κοινῶν τε, κ.τ.λ. For τε so placed cp. Soph. El. 249 ἔρροι τ’ ἂν αἰδὼς | ἁπάντων τ’ εὐσέβεια θνατῶν.

ὁμόσπορον =ὁμοίως σπειρομένην, i. e. ἣν καὶ ἐκεῖνος ἔσπειρε: but in 460 πατρὸς | ὁμόσπορος =ὀμοίως (τὴν αὐτὴν) σπείρων. ὁμογενής in 1361 is not similar.

κοινῶν παίδων κοινὰ ἦν ἂν ἐκπεφυκότα common things of ( =ties consisting in) kindred children would have been generated: = κοινῶν παίδων κοινὴ φύσις ἐγένετο ἄν, a brood, common to Laius and Oedipus, of children akin to each other (as having the same mother, Iocasta) would have issued: “children born of one mother would have made ties between him and me.” For ἄν doubled cp. 139, 339. κοινῶν =ἀδελφῶν, ὁμαίμων( Soph. Ant. 1 ὦ κοινὸν αὐτάδελφον Ἰσμήνης κάρα ). The language of this passage is carefully framed so as to bear a second meaning, of which the speaker is unconscious, but which the spectators can feel: Iocasta has actually borne children to her own son Oedipus: thus in κοινῶν παίδων κοινὰ … ἐκπεφυκότα, the obvious sense of κοινά, “common to Laius and Oedipus,” has behind it a second sense, in which it hints at a brood who are brothers and sisters of their own sire: see below 1403 f. This subtle emphasis—so ghastly, ξυνετοῖσιν— of the iteration in κοινῶν κοινά must not be obliterated by amending κοίν’ ἄν into κύματ’ (Nauck) or σπέρματ’ (Blaydes). Similarly, εἰ κείνῳ γένος | μὴ δυστύχησεν , is susceptible of the sense—“if his son (Oed. himself) had not been ill-fated.” κείνῳ γένος ἐδυστύχησε (his hope of issue was disappointed) is here a bold phrase for κεῖνος ἐδυστύχησε τὰ περὶ γένος: for Oed. is not now supposed to know the story of the exposed babe (see 717 f.). Cp. Eur. Andr. 418 πᾶσι δ’ ἀνθρώποις ἄρ’ ἦν | ψυχὴ τέκν’· ὅστις δ’ αὔτ’ ἄπειρος ὢν ψέγει, | ἦσσον μὲν ἀλγεῖ, δυστυχῶν δ’ εὐδαιμονεῖ : Eur. Andr. 711 ἣ στεῖρος οὖσα μόσχος οὐκ ἀνέξεται | τίκτοντας ἄλλους, οὐκ ἔχουσ’ αὐτὴ τέκνα· | ἀλλ’ εἰ τὸ κείνης δυστυχεῖ παίδων πέρι, κ.τ.λ. : Eur. Supp. 66 εὐτεκνία opp. to δυστυχία.

νῦν δ’ “but as it is,” with aor. equivalent to a perf., as Soph. OC 84, 371. Cp. below 948 καὶ νῦν ὅδε | πρὸς τῆς τύχης ὄλωλε. So with historic pres., Lys. 12.36 εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐν τῷ δικαστηρίῳ ἐκρίνοντο, ῥᾳδίως ἂν ἐσώζοντο· … νῦν δ’ εἰς τὴν βουλὴν εἰσάγουσιν.

ἐνήλατο i.e. he was cut off by a timeless fate, leaving no issue, cp. 1300: Soph. Ant. 1345 ἐπὶ κρατί μοι | πότμος … εἰσήλατο : so the Erinyes say, μάλα γὰρ οὖν ἁλομένα | ἀνέκαθεν βαπυρεσῆ | καταφέπω ροδὸς ἀκμάν Aesch. Eum. 369 , Aesch. Ag. 1175 δαίμων ὑπερβαρὴς ἐμπίτνων : Aesch. Pers. 515 ὦ δυσπόνητε δαῖμον, ὡς ἄγαν βαρὺς | ποδοῖν ἐνήλλου παντὶ Περσικῷ γένει. The classical constr. with ἐνάλλομαι, as with ἐνθρώσκω and ἐμπηδάω, is usually the dat., though εἰς with accus. occurs in later Greek; a point urged by Deventer in his objections to this verse, which is, however, clearly sound.

ἀνθ’ ὧν properly wherefore (Soph. OC 1295): here, therefore. The protasis ἐπεὶ κυρῶ (258) required an apodosis introduced by ἀντὶ τούτων: but the parenthesis νῦν δ’ ἐς τὸ κείνου κ.τ.λ. (263) has led to ὦν being irregularly substituted for τοὐτων. Cp. 1466: Antiphon 5.11 δέον σε διομόσασθαι κ.τ.λ. … ἃ σὺ παρελθών, where the length of the protasis has similarly caused ἅ to be substituted for ταῦτα. Distinguish from this the use of ἀνθ’ ὧν, by ordinary attraction, for ἀντὶ τούτων ἅ or ὅτι,=because,Soph. Ant. 1068.

τάδ’ cogn. acc. to ὑπερμαχοῦμαι as Soph. Aj. 1346 σὺ ταῦτ’ Ὀδυσσεῦ τοῦδ’ ὑπερμαχεῖς ἐμοί; Cp. Hom. Il. 5.185 οὐχ ὅ γ’ ἄνευθε θεοῦ τάδε μαίνεται. Brunck, Nauck and Blaydes adopt Mudge's conj. τοῦδ’. But the MSS. agree in the harder and more elegant reading.

ὑπερμαχοῦμαι only here: in Soph. Ant. 194,Soph. Aj. 1346 Soph. uses ὑπερμαχεῖν. But we need not therefore, with Elms. and Blaydes, read ὑπὲρ μαχοῦμαι. The derivative form ὑπερμαχέω, to be a champion, implies ὑπέρμαχος, as συμμαχέω is from σύμμαχος, προμαχέω from πρόμαχος· ὑπερμάχομαι is a simple compound, like συμμάχομαι (Plat., Xen.), προμάχομαι (, Dio. Sic., Plut.).

κἀπὶ πάντ’ ἀφίξομαι with ζητῶν , will leave nothing untried in seeking: a poetical variation of ἐπὶ πᾶν ἐλθεῖν ( Xen. Anab. 3.1.18 ἆρ’ οὐκ ἂν ἐπὶ πᾶν ἔλθοι … ὡς φόβον παράσχοι ), as in Eur. Hipp. 284 εἰς πάντ’ ἀφῖγμαι, “I have tried all means.” In prose ἀφικνεῖσθαι εἴς τι usu. = to be brought to a situation, as Hdt. 8.110 ἐς πᾶσαν βάσανον ἀπικνεομένοισι, though put to any torment; Plat. Euthyd. 292e εἰς πολλήν γε ἀπορίαν ἀφίκεσθε.

τῷ Λαβδακείῳ παιδὶ a dat. following ζητῶν κ.τ.λ. as = τιμωρούμενος. For Λαβδακείῳ—Πολυδώρου τε cp. Eur. Med. 404 τοῖς Σισυφείοις τοῖς τ’ Ἰάσονος γάμοις : for the adj., Hom. Od. 3.190 Φιλοκτήτην Ποιάντιον [; = Ποίαντος]; ἀγλαὸν υἱόν: Hdt. 7.105 τοῖς Μασκαμείοισι ἐκγόνοισι :Soph. Phil. 1131:Soph. Trach. 1219. Herodotus (Hdt. 5.59) saw in the temple of the Ismenian Apollo at Thebes an inscription which he assigns to the age of Laius: ταῦτα ἡλικίην ἂν εἴη κατὰ Λάϊον τὸν Λαβδάκου τοῦ Πολυδώρου τοῦ Κάδμου. Cadmus, in the myth, is the son of Agenor king of Phoenicia, whence Carthage is “Agenor's city” (Verg. Aen. 1.338): Polydorus, son of Cadmus and Harmonia, was king of Thebes.

construe: καὶ εὔχομαι τοῖς ταῦτα μὴ δρῶσιν [;for them, Soph. Phil. 1019 καί σοι πολλάκις τόδ’ ηὐξαμην ]; θεοὺς ἀνιέναι αὐτοῖς μήτ’ ἄροτόν τινα γῆς, μήτ’ οὖν γυναικῶν παῖδας . The acc. θεοὺς as subject to ἀνιέναι is better than a dat. θεοῖς with εὔχομαι would be: Xen. Anab. 6.1.26 εὔχομαι δοῦναί μοι τοὺς θεοὺς αἴτιόν τινος ὑμῖν ἀγαθοῦ γενέσθαι : Aristoph. Thes. 350 ταῖς δ’ ἄλλαισιν ὑμῖν τοὺς θεοὺς | εὔχεσθε πάσαις πολλὰ δοῦναι κἀγαθά.

μήτ’ οὖν “no, nor.” Aesch. Ag. 474 μήτ’ εἴην πτολιπόρθης, | μήτ’ οὖν αὐτὸς ἁλούς, κ.τ.λ. Soph. Phil. 345 εἴτ’ ἀληθὲς εἴτ’ ἄρ’ οὖν μάτην : cp. above v. 90. But οὖν with the first clause, below, 1049: Soph. El. 199, 560: see on 25.

φθερεῖσθαι a fut. found also in Eur. Andr. 708(φθερεῖ 2 sing.): Thuc. 7.48 φθερεῖσθαι : Ionic φθαρέομαι:Hdt. 9.42, 8. 108( φθαρήσομαι in Hippocr., Arist., Plut.). The schol. says, φθαρῆναι δεῖ γράφειν, οὐ φθερεῖσθαι, distinguishing εὔχομαι with fut. infin., “I vow” (to do), from εὔχομαι with pres. or aor. infin., “I pray.” But verbs of wishing or praying sometimes take a fut. infin. instead of pres. or aor.: Thuc. 6.57 ἐβούλοντο … προτιμωρήσεσθαι : 6. 6 ἐφιέμενοι μὲν … τῆς πάσης ἄρξειν: 1. 27 ἐδεήθησαν … ξυμπροπέμψειν: 7. 56 διενοοῦντο κλῄσειν. See Goodwin, sect. 113 (new ed.).

τοῖς ἄλλοισι The loyal, as opp. to οἱ μὴ ταῦτα δρῶντες (269).

ἔστ’ ἀρέσκοντ’ cp. 126. ἥ τε σύμμαχος Δίκη , Justice who ever helps the righteous cause; Blaydes needlessly writes ἡ Δίκη τε σύμμαχος. Soph. OC 1012 ἐλθεῖν ἀρωγοὺς συμμάχους τε (τὰς θεάς).

εὖ cf. Soph. Trach. 229 ἀλλ’ εὖ μὲν ἵγμεθ’, εὖ δὲ προσφωνούμεθα.

ὥσπερ μ’ ἀραῖον κ.τ.λ. As you have brought me into your power under a curse [;if I speak not the truth];, so ( ὧδε , i.e. ἔνορκος) I will speak. Aeschin. 3.90 μίαν ἐλπίδα λοιπὴν κατεῖδε σωτηρίας, ἔνορκον λαβεῖν τὸν Ἀθηναίων δῆμον … βοηθήσειν, to bind them by an oath that they would help. λαβεῖν here has nearly the same force as in λαβεῖν αἰχμάλωτον etc.: Lys. 4.5 ὑποχείριον λαβὼν τὸ σῶμα, having got his person into my power.

ἀραῖον =τῇ ἀρᾷ ἔνοχον, cp. ὅρκιος … λέγω Soph. Ant. 305. The paraphrase of Eustath. 1809. 14 ὥσπερ με εἶλες διὰ τῆς ἀρᾶς is substantially right. The use of καταλαβεῖν is not really similar ( Hdt. 9.106 πίστι τε καταλαβόντες καὶ ὁρκίοισι, Thuc. 4.85 ὅρκοις … καταλαβὼν τὰ τέλη ), since the κατά in comp. gives the sense of overtaking, and so of binding. Nor can we compare Soph. OC 284 ὥσπερ ἔλαβες τὸν ἱκέτην ἐχέγγυον, where the sense is, “As thou hast received the (self-surrendered) suppliant under thy pledge.”

γὰρ after ἔκτανον merely prefaces the statement: Plat. Prot. 320c δοκεῖ τοίνυν … μῦθον ὑμῖν λέγειν. ἦν γάρ ποτε κ.τ.λ.

δεῖξαι “point to.” Note the emphatic place of the word: the speaker knows not that he is face to face with the slayer. τὸ ζήτημα , acc. of general reference. The simpler form would have been, ἦν τοῦ πέμψαντος τὸ ζήτημα καὶ λῦσαι: but, instead of a verb which could govern ζήτημα, τόδ’ εἰπεῖν is substituted, because it conveniently introduces the clause ὅστις εἴργασται , explaining what the ζήτημα itself was. τὸ ζήτημα is then left much as ἃ αἰτεῖς is left in 216 when the insertion of ἀλκὴν κ.τ.λ. has modified the construction.

ἃν μὴ θέλωσιν κ.τ.λ. Cp. Soph. Phil. 1368 κἄμ’ ἀναγκάζεις τόδε. ἃν as 580, 749: Soph. OC 13,Soph. Ant. 1057,Soph. Phil. 1276,Soph. Aj. 1085. οὐδ’ ἂν εἷς : Soph. Ant. 884 οὐδ’ ἂν εἷς παύσαιτ’ ἄν : Soph. OC 1656 οὐδ’ ἂν εἷς | θνητῶν φράσειε. In this emphatic form even a prep. could be inserted ( Xen. Hell. 5.4.1 οὐδ’ ὑφ’ ἑνός, Xen. Cyrop. 4.1.14 μηδὲ πρὸς μίαν ), and in prose οὐδὲ εἷς stood without elision: in Aristoph. Frogs 927 etc., where the MSS. have οὐδὲ ἕν (Dind. writes οὐδὲν), οὐδ’ ἂν ἕν is a possible v. l.

ἐκ τῶνδε =μετὰ τάδε: Dem. 18.313 λόγον ἐκ λόγου λέγων. —For δεύτερα , second-best, cp. the proverb δεύτερος πλοῦς: Plat. Laws 943c τὴν τῶν ἀριστείων κρίσιν … καὶ τὴν τῶν δευτέρων καὶ τρίτων.

ἂν λέγοιμι see on 95.

τὸ μὴ οὐ not τὸ μή, because the sentence is negative: below, 1232: Soph. Ant. 544 μή μ’ ἀτιμάσῃς τὸ μὴ οὐ | θανεῖν. But even in such a negative sentence the simple τὸ μή occurs: below, 1388: Soph. Ant. 443 .

ἄνακτ’ Hom. Od. 11.151 Τειρεσίαο ἄνακτος.

ταὐτὰ ὁρῶντα not = ταὐτὰ φρονοῦντα or γιγνώσκοντα, “taking the same views,” but seeing in the same manner, i.e. with equal clearness: ὁρῶντα absol., as Soph. OC 74 ὅσ’ ἂν λέγοιμι, πάνθ’ ὁρῶντα λέξομαι : ταὐτὰ adverbial = κατὰ ταὐτά: the dat. ἄνακτ’ as Soph. OC 1358 ἐν πόνῳ | ταὐτῷ βεβηκὼς … ἐμοί. Hdt. 4.119 τωὐτὸ ἂν ὑμῖν ἐπρήσσομεν.

οὐκ ἐν ἀργοῖς τοῦτο κατέλιπον would have meant, “I did not leave this among things neglected.” Soph. fuses the negative form with the positive, and instead of κατέλιπον writes ἐπραξάμην : “I saw to this (midd.) in such a manner that it also should not be among things neglected.” πράσσεσθαι (midd.) elsewhere usu. = “to exact” (Thuc. 4.65 etc.): here = διαπράσσεσθαι, effect for oneself. Cp. Soph. Aj. 45 ἐξεπράξατο (effected his purpose). G. Wolff, sharing Kviecpala's objections to the phrase ἐν ἀργοῖς πράσσεσθαι, places a point after τοῦτ’ (“but neither is this among things neglected: —I did it”). The extreme harshness of the asyndeton condemns this; and the suggested ἔπραξα μήν is no remedy. For ἐν cp. οὐκ ἐν ἐλαφρῷ ἐποιεύμην (Hdt. 1.118),ἐν εὐχερεῖ | ἔθου (ταῦτα)Soph. Phil. 875 , ταῦτ’ οὖν ἐν αἰσχρῷ θέμενος Eur. Hec. 806 . ἀργοῖς , not things undone, but things at which the work is sluggish or tardy; Soph. OC 1605 κοὐκ ἦν ἔτ’ οὐδὲν ἀργὸν ὧν ἐφίετο : Eur. Phoen. 776 ἓν δ’ ἐστὶν ἡμῖν ἀργόν, εἴ τι θέσφατον | οἰωνόμαντις Τειρεσίας ἔχει φράσαι, i.e. “in one thing our zeal has lagged, —the quest whether” etc.: Theognis however (583 Bergk 3rd ed.) has τὰ μὲν προβέβηκεν ἀμήχανόν ἐστι γενέσθαι | ἀργά, =ἀποίητα, infecta.

διπλοῦς | πομπούς he had sent two successive messages—one messenger with each. πομπός = one who is sent to escort(πέμπειν) or fetch a person (Soph. OC 70). The words could mean (as Ellendt takes them) “two sets of messengers”: but the other view is simpler, and consists equally well with οἵδε in 297.

μὴ παρὼν θαυμάζεται =θαυμάζω εἰ μὴ πάρεστι; but with οὐ, =θαυμάζω ὅτι οὐ πάρεστι: differing nearly as “I wonder why”and “I wonder that.”Xen. Anab. 4.4.15 (he spoke of) τὰ μὴ ὄντα ὡς οὐκ ὄντα: i.e. εἴ τι μὴ ἦν, ἔλεγεν ὅτι οὐκ ἦν.

τά γ’ ἄλλα … ἔπη the rumours which were current —apart from the knowledge which the seer may have to give us. Not “the other rumours.” Cp. Plat. Phaedo 110e καὶ λίθοις καὶ γῇ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ζῴοις τε καὶ φυτοῖς. κωφὰ : the rumour has died down; it no longer gives a clear sound. Cp. fr. 604 λήθην τε τὴν ἅπαντ’ ἀπεστερημένην, | κωφήν, ἄναυδον. Soph. Aj. 911 ὁ πάντα κωφός, ὁ πάντ’ ἄϊδρις, reft of all sense and wit.

τὰ ποῖα cp. 120.

ὁδοιπόρων the survivor had spoken of λῃσταί, 122. The word now used comes nearer to the truth (cp. 801 ὁδοιπορῶν); but, as the next v. shows, Oed. does not regard this rumour as a different one from that which Creon had mentioned.

τὸν δ’ ἰδόντ’ the surviving eyewitness: cp. 119 ὦν εἶδε, πλὴν ἕν κ.τ.λ. Oed. has not yet learned that this witness could be produced: cp. vv. 754 ff. ἰδόντα is better than the conj. δρῶντα (1) as expressing, not merely that the culprit is unknown, but that no eyewitness of the deed is now at hand: (2) because, with ὁρᾷ, it has a certain ironical point, —expressing the king's incredulity as to anything being made of this clue. Cp. 105, 108.

The subject to ἔχει is the murderer, who is foremost in the thoughts of the Chorus, —not the eye-witness(ὁ ἰδών, 293). The reversion from plural(ὁδοιπόρων, 292) to singular is unconscious, just as in 124 we have ὁ λῃστής, after λῃστάς in 122.

δείματός γ’ δεῖμα, prop. “an object of fear,” is used by Herodotus and the poets as = δέος : Hdt. 6.74 Κλεομένεα … δεῖμα ἔλαβε Σπαρτιητέων : Aesch. Supp. 566 χλωρῷ δείματι θυμὸν | πάλλοντ’ : Eur. Supp. 599 ὥς μοι ὑφ’ ἥπατι δεῖμα χλοερὸν ταράσσει : id. Soph. El. 767 ἐκ δείματος, from fear. Cp. above, 153. The γε gives emphasis: the ἀραί of Oed. were enough to scare the boldest. Hartung conjectures δειμάτων ἔχει μέρος. The plur. δείματα means either (a) objects of fear, or (b) much more rarely, fears, with reference to some particular objects already specified: as in Soph. El. 636 δειμάτων ἃ νῦν ἔχω, “the terrors which I now suffer,” alluding to the dreams. Here we seem to need the sing., “fear.”

τὰς σὰς … ἀράς thy curses: τοιάσδε , being such as they are.

οὑξελέγξων The present οὑξελέγχων would mean, “there is one who convicts him”: i.e. the supposed criminal, whom threats scare not, is already detected; for the prophet has come. Cp. Isoc. 8.139 ὥστ’ οὐκ ἀπορήσομεν μεθ’ ὧν κωλύσομεν τοὺς ἐξαμαρτάνοντας, ἀλλὰ πολλοὺς ἕξομεν τοὺς ἑτοίμως καὶ προθύμως συναγωνιζομένους ἡμῖν : where, however, the present part. συναγωνιζομένους is relative to the future ἕξομεν. To this it may be objected: (1) the present participle with ἔστιν would not be suitable unless the conviction were in act of taking place: (2) the fut. partic. not only suits the context better—“one to convict him” [;supposing he is here];—but also agrees with the regular idiom: e.g. Soph. Phil. 1242 τίς ἕσται μ’ οὑπικωλύσων τάδε; Soph. El. 1197 οὐδ’ οὑπαρήξων οὐδ’ ὁ κωλύσων πάρα; (cp. Soph. Ant. 261:) Aesch. PB 27 ὁ λωφήσων γὰρ οὐ πέφυκέ πω : Xen. Anab. 2.4.5 ὁ ἡγησόμενος οὐδεὶς ἔσται.

ᾧ this pron. ends a v. Soph. OC 14,Soph. Trach. 819,Soph. El. 873.

ἐμπέφυκεν a divine gift of prophecy: Hdt. 9.94 (of the seer Evenius) καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα αὐτίκα ἔμφυτον μαντικὴν εἶχε.

ἀνθρώπων μόνῳ above all other men: cp. Soph. OC 261 μόνας … | σώζειν οἵας τε κ.τ.λ., Athens, above all other cities, can save: Isoc. 14.57 ὀφείλετε δὲ μόνοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων τοῦτον τὸν ἔρανον, unice (though others owe it also).

ὦ πάντα νωμῶν νωμάω (νεμ) means (1) to distribute, (2) to dispose, and so to wield, ply, (3) figuratively, to ponder, animo versare: ἐνὶ φρεσὶ κέρδε’ ἐνώμας Hom. Od. 18.216 : ἐν ὠσὶ νωμῶν καὶ φρεσὶν πυρὸς δίχα | χρηστηρίους ὄρνιθας ἀψευδεῖ τέχνῃ Aesch. Seven 25 (of Teiresias): (4) then, absolutely, to observe: Hdt. 4.128 νωμῶντες … σῖτα ἀναιρεομένους, observing the moment when they were cutting forage. Similarly here, —with the idea of mental grasp unaided by eyesight. Plato (Plat. Crat. 411d) fancifully connects γνώμη with νώμησις, —τὸ γὰρ νωμᾶν καὶ τὸ σκοπεῖν ταὐτόν.

διδακτά τε—ἄρρητά τε cp. the colloquial ῥητὸν ἄρρητόν τ’ ἔπος(Soph. OC 1001 dicenda tacenda): ἄρρητα =ἀπόρρητα: Hdt. 6.135 ἄρρητα ἱρὰ ἐκφήνασαν.

οὐράνιά τε καὶ χθονοστιβῆ not in apposition with ἄρρητα and διδακτά respectively, but both referring to each, lore that may or that may not be told, whether of the sky or of the earth. Dindorf cp. Nicephorus Gregoras 695d ἄκτιστα γενέσθαι πάντα τά τ’ οὐράνια τά τε χθονοστιβῆ καὶ ὑδραῖα γένη: where, however, χθονοστιβῆ has its literal sense, —“walking the earth”: here it is poet. for ἐπίγεια, “the lowly things of earth.” Cp. HH 29.2 ἀθανάτων τε θεῶν χαμαὶ ἐρχομένων τ’ ἀνθρώπων.

μέν is not balanced by φρονεῖς δ’ (as if we had οὐ βλέπεις μέν), but by the thought of the expected healer (310). The δὲ after φρονεῖς introduces the apodosis after a concessive protasis, as Hdt. 8.22 εἰ δὲ ὑμῖν ἐστι τοῦτο μὴ δυνατὸν ποιῆσαι, ὑμέες δὲ (then)ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐκ τοῦ μέσου ἡμῖν ἕζεσθε. Xen. Cyrop. 5.5.21 ἀλλ’ εἰ μηδὲ τοῦτο … βούλει ἀποκρίνασθαι, σὺ δὲ τοὐτεῦνθεν λέγε.

ἧς sc. νόσου. προστάτην νόσου, a protector from a plague: strictly, one who stands in front of, shields, the city's distempered state. Cp. Soph. Aj. 803 πρόστητ’ ἀναγκαίας τύχης, shelter my hard fate. In Eur. Andr. 220 χείρον’ ἀρσένων νόσον | ταύτην νοσοῦμεν, ἀλλὰ προὔστημεν καλῶς, “we suffer this distemper more cruelly than men, but ever rule it well,” the idea is that of administering (not protecting), as in προΐστασθαι τῆς ἡλικίας, to regulate one's own early years, Isoc. 15.290. Cp. 882.

μοῦνον this Ionic form (like κοῦρος, δουρί, ξεῖνος, γούνατα) is used in dialogue by Soph.: Aesch. has not μοῦνος, though in Aesch. PB 804 τόν τε μουνῶπα στρατόν. In Eur. Rh. 31 μόναρχοι is now restored for μούναρχοι.

εἰ καὶ μὴ κλύεις “if indeed … ,”implying that he probably has heard it. Soph. Aj. 1127 δεινόν γ’ εἶπας, εἰ καὶ ζῇς θανών. On εἰ καί and καὶ εἰ see Appendix. Others would render, “if you have not heard from the messengers also,”supposing it to be a hyperbaton for εἰ μὴ κλύεις καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων. This is impossible. Prof. Campbell compares Thuc. 5.45 καὶ ἢν ἐς τὸν δῆμον ταῦτα λέγωσιν, as if put for ἢν καὶ ἐς τὸν δῆμον: but there the passage runs thus; (Spartan envoys had been pleading with effect before the Athenian Βουλή·) —τὸν Ἀλκιβιάδην ἐφόβουν μὴ καί, ἢν ἐς τὸν δῆμον ταὐτὰ λέγωσιν, ἐπαγάγωνται τὸ πλῆθος καὶ ἀπωσθῇ ἡ Ἀργείων συμμαχία: where the καί before ἤν goes with ἐπαγάγωνται. Some adopt the conj. εἴ τι μή, “unless perchance”: for τι so used, see below 969, Soph. OC 1450,Soph. Trach. 586, 712: but no change is required. —For the pres. κλύεις, cp. Soph. Phil. 261.

μαθόντες εὖ εὖ = “with care,” “aright”: cp. Soph. Aj. 18 ἐπέγνως εὖ : Soph. Aj. 528 ἐὰν τὸ ταχθὲν εὖ τολμᾷ τελεῖν. Meineke's conj. ἢ, adopted by Nauck, is weak, and against the rhythm.

ἀπ’ οἰωνῶν φάτιν for ἀπό, see 43: φάτιν , 151.

ἄλλην ὁδόν as divination by fire (see on 21), to which Teiresias resorts (Soph. Ant. 1005) when the voice of birds fails him.

ῥῦσαι σεαυτὸν κ.τ.λ. ῥύεσθαί τι is to draw a thing to oneself, and so to protect it. ῥῦσαι μίασμα here = literally, “take the defilement under thy care”; i.e. “make it thy care to remove the defilement.” Cp. πρόστητ’ ἀναγκαίας τύχης (Soph. Aj. 803), shelter my hard fate, (instead of, “shelter me from it.”)

πᾶν μίασμα the whole defilement, as affecting not only human life but also the herds and flocks and the fruits of the earth: cp. 253.

τοῦ τεθνηκότος gen. of the source from which the μίασμα springs, —more pathetic than τοῦ φόνου, as reminding the hearer that vengeance is due for innocent blood. Both πᾶν and the usual sense of μίασμα forbid us to understand, “avenge the uncleanness [;i.e. the unpunished murder]; of the dead man.” For ῥῦσαι δὲ Blaydes conj. λῦσον δὲ, comparing Eur. Orest. 598 μίασμα λῦσαι. But the triple ῥῦσαι is essential to the force.

ἐν σοὶ =penes te : Soph. OC 248 ἐν ὑμῖν ὡς θεῷ | κείμεθα τλάμονες : Eur. Alc. 278 ἐν σοὶ δ’ ἐσμὲν καὶ ζῆν καὶ μή.

ἄνδρα accus. before, not after, ὠφελεῖν , as in Soph. Ant. 710 ἀλλ’ ἄνδρα, κεἴ τις ᾖ σοφός, τὸ μανθάνειν | πόλλ’ αἰσχρὸν οὐδέν. In both places ἄνδρα has a certain stress—“for mortal man.” But in Soph. Aj. 1344 ἄνδρα δ’ οὐ δίκαιον, εἰ θάνοι, | βλάπτειν τὸν ἐσθλόν, ἄνδρα is the object, agreeing with τὸν ἐσθλόν. ἀφ’ ὦν ἔχοι τε καὶ δύναιτο , by means of all his resources and faculties. The optat. is thus used in universal statements, and therefore especially in γνῶμαι: cp. 979: Soph. Ant. 666 ἀλλ’ ὃν πόλις στήσειε, τοῦδε χρὴ κλύειν : Xen. Cyrop. 1.6.19 ἀλλὰ τοῦ μὲν αὐτὸν λέγειν, ἃ μὴ σαφῶς εἰδείη, φείδεσθαι δεῖ. So here we supply ἐστί (not ἂν εἴη) with κάλλιστος. The difference between ἀφ’ ὧν ἂν ἔχῃ (“may have”), and ἔχοι (“might have”), is that the latter form treats the “having” as an abstract hypothesis(εἴ τι ἔχοι).

λύῃ for subjunct. without ἄν, cf. Soph. OC 395 ὃς νέος πέσῃ : Soph. Aj. 1074 ἔνθα μὴ καθεστήκῃ δέος : Soph. Trach. 1008 ὅ τι καὶ μύσῃ. The subjunct., ἔνθα μὴ λύῃ,= “in a case where it may not profit”: the indic., ἔνθα μὴ λύει, = “in a case where it does not profit.” The use of μή, whether with subjunct. or with indic., generalises the statement. Cp. Soph. OC 839 μὴ πίτασσ’ ἃ μὴ κρατεῖς : Soph. OC 1442 μὴ πεῖθ’ ἃ μὴ δεῖ. But L has λύηι, and some other MSS. have λύη: and it is much more likely that this should have become λύει than vice versa. τέλη λύῃ = λυσιτελῇ, only here: cp. Eur. Alc. 627 φημὶ τοιούτους γάμους | λύειν βροτοῖς.

ταῦτα γὰρ (I have to bewail this now), for, though I once knew it, I had forgotten it. Teiresias, twice summoned (288), had come reluctantly. Only now, in the presence of Oedipus, does he realise the full horror of the secret which he holds.

διώλεσ’ = let slip out of my memory; cp. σῴζεσθαι to remember,Soph. El. 993, 1257,Soph. Trach. 682: Plat. Theaet. 153b κτᾶταί τε μαθήματα καὶ σῴζεται : Plat. Rep. 455b ἃ ἔμαθε, σῴζεται. So Teren. Phorm. 2.3.39 perii hercle: nomen perdidi, “have forgotten.” —Some explain, “ suppressed the thought.”

τί δ’ ἔστιν; Soph. El. 920 φεῦ τῆς ἀνοίας … ΧΡΥΣ. τί δ’ ἔστιν; and so often in Soph. (as 1144, Soph. Trach. 339,Soph. El. 921):δέ marking that the attention is turned to a new point, as in τί δ’; quid vero? (941), or to a new person: Isaeus 8.24 σὺ δὲ τίς εἶ;

διοίσω bear to the end: Eur. Hipp. 1143 δάκρυσι διοίσω | πότμον ἄποτμον, live out joyless days: Thuc. 1.11 εἰ ξυνεχῶς τὸν πόλεμον διέφερον. διαφέρειν could not mean “to bear apart”(from each other), though that is implied.

πίθῃ , i.e. obey me by letting me go home.

οὔτ’ ἔννομ’ κ.τ.λ.· not in conformity with usage, which entitled the State to benefit by the wisdom of its μάντις. The king's first remonstrances are gentle.

ἀποστερῶν “withholding”: Aristot. Rh. 2.6.3 ἀποστερῆσαι παρακαταθήκην, depositum non reddere.

φάτιν of a divine message, 151.

ὁρῶ γὰρ κ.τ.λ.: (I do not speak), for I see that neither dost thou speak opportunely: (I am silent) therefore, lest I too should speak unseasonably.

πρὸς καιρόν = καιρίως, as Soph. Phil. 1279,Soph. Trach. 59.

ὡς οὖν κ.τ.λ.: “(I do not speak), then, in order that neither ( μηδέ ) may I share your mishap (of speaking amiss).” If he speaks not, neither will he speak wrongly. Cp. Thuc. 2.63 εἰκὸς … μὴ φεύγειν τοὺς πόνους, ἢ μηδὲ τὰς τιμὰς διώκειν. I now prefer this view to taking μηδ’ ἐγώ as irregular for μὴ καὶ ἐγώ (“lest I too … ”), —revolving μηδέ into μή not, δέ on the other hand; though the place of ἐγώ suggests this. Kviecpala's μὴ λέγων is ingenious and attractive; it may, indeed, be right; but seems hardly necessary.

μὴ πρὸς θεῶν κ.τ.λ. The attribution of these two verses to the Chorus in some MSS. is probably due to the plur. in 327 having misled those who did not see that the king speaks for all Thebes.

φρονῶν γ’ if thou hast understanding (of this matter): cp. 569 ἐφ’ οἷς γὰρ μὴ φρονῶ σιγᾶν φιλῶ: not, “if thou art sane.” But in 328 οὐ φρονεῖτε= “are without understanding,” “are senseless.”

ἐγὼ δ’ οὐ μή ποτε ἐκφήνω τὰ ἐμὰ (ὡς ἂν μὴ εἴπω τὰ σἂ κακά I will never reveal my (not to call them thy) griefs. τὰ ἐμὰ κακά ,= those secrets touching Oedipus which lie heavy on the prophet's soul: τὰ σὰ κακά , those same secrets in their import for Oedipus. We might render ὡς ἂν εἴπω μὴ τὰ σ’ either (i) as above, or (ii) “in order that I may not utter thy griefs.” But (i) is preferable for these reasons: —(1) The subjunct. εἴπω with μή was familiar in such phrases. Plat. Rep. 487d τοὺς μὲν πλείστους καὶ πάνυ ἀλλοκότους γιγνομένους, ἵνα μὴ παμπονήρως εἴπωμεν, “becoming very strange persons, —not to use a more unqualified epithet”: Plat. Rep. 507d οὐδ’ ἄλλαις πολλαῖς, ἵνα μὴ εἴπω ὅτι οὐδεμιᾷ, τοιούτου προσδεῖ οὐδενός, i.e. few, —not to say none: Plat. Hippias Min. 372d τοιοῦτός εἰμι οἷός πέρ εἰμι, ἵνα μηδὲν ἐμαυτὸν μεῖζον εἵπω, —to say nothing more of myself. The substitution of ὡς ἂν for the commoner ἵνα in no way alters the meaning. For ὡς ἂν μή , cp. Aristoph. Birds 1508 τουτὶ … τὸ σκιάδειον ὑπέρεχε | ἄνωθεν, ὡς ἂν μή μ’ ἴδωσιν οἱ θεοί. For ὡς ἂν εἴπω μὴ instead of ὡς ἂν μὴ εἴπω, cp. 255, Soph. Phil. 66 εἰ δ’ ἐργάσει | μὴ ταῦτα. Soph. OC 1365 εἰ δ’ ἐξέφυσα τάσδε μὴ ’μαυτῷ τροφούς. Hdt. 7.214 εἰδείη γὰρ ἂν καὶ ἐὼν μὴ Μηλιεὺς … τὴν ἀτραπόν. (2) The emphatic position of τἄμ’ suits this version. (3) ἐκφήνω is more forcible than εἴπω . If the meaning were, “I will not reveal my griefs, in order that I may not mention (εἴπω) thy griefs,” the clauses would be ill-balanced. See Appendix, n. on vv. 328 f.

ξυνειδὼς because ἐκφήνω implied that he knew. Cp. 704 αὐτὸς ξυνειδώς, ἢ μαθὼν ἄλλου πάρα; i.e. of his own knowledge, or on hearsay? Not, “being an accomplice” (as Soph. Ant. 266 ξυνειδέναι | τὸ πρᾶγμα βουλεύσαντι ): Oed. can still control his rising anger.

ἐγὼ οὔτ’ synizesis. The rugged verse is perh. designed to express agitation. Cp. 1002 ἐγὼ οὐχί: Soph. OC 939 ἐγὼ οὔτ’ ἄνανδρον, 998 ἐγὼ οὐδέ, 1436 τελεῖτ’, ἐπεὶ οὔ μοι: Soph. Ant. 458 ἐγὼ οὐκ ἔμελλον : Soph. Phil. 1390 ἐγὼ οὐκ Ἀτρείδας .

ταῦτ’ , 29 n.

πέτρου | φύσιν Eur. Med. 1279 ὦ τάλαιν’, ὡς ἄρ’ ἦσθα πέτρος ἢ σίδᾳρος. For the periphrasis cp. Plat. Phaedrus 251b ἡ τοῦ πτεροῦ φύσις, =τὸ πτερόν, πεφυκὸς ὥσπερ πέφυκε, being constituted as it is: Plat. Tim. 45b τὴν τῶν βλεφάρων φύσιν : Plat. Tim. 74d τὴν τῶν νεύρων φύσιν : Plat. Tim. 84c ἡ τοῦ μυελοῦ φύσις : Plat. Laws 145d τὴν ὕδατος φύσιν. And so often in Arist., e.g. ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος φύσις Aristot. Meteor. 2.8 : ἡ τῶν νεύρων φύσις Aristot. Hist. An. 3.5 .

ποτέ tandem aliquando: Soph. Phil. 816 μέθες ποτέ : Soph. Phil. 1041 τίσασθ’ ἀλλὰ τῷ χρόνῳ ποτέ.

ἀτελεύτητος not brought to an end: Hom. Il. 4.175 ἀτελευτήτῳ ἐπὶ ἔργῳ. Plut. Mor. 114f τὸ γὰρ δὴ ἀτελεύτητον νομίζειν τὸ πένθος ἀνοίας ἐστὶν ἐσχάτης. Here, a man “with whom one cannot make an end,” —who cannot be brought to the desired issue. In freely rendering, “Wilt thou never make an end?” we remember, of course, that the adj. could not literally mean “not finishing.” Possibly it is borrowed from the colloquial vocabulary of the day: the tone is like that of the Latin odiosus.

ἐμέμψω aor. referring to the moment just past: so oft. ἐπῄνεσα, ξυνῆκα, ησθην· ἒπτηξα (Soph. OC 1466): ἔφριξα(Soph. Aj. 693):ἐδεξάμην (Soph. El. 668):ἀπέπτυσα (Eur. Hec. 1276). ὁμοῦ | ναίουσαν , while (or though) it dwells close to thee, —possesses and sways thee. So Soph. OC 1134 κηλὶς κακῶν ξύνοικος : Soph. El. 784 βλάβη | ξύνοικος : Soph. Aj. 639 συντρόφοις | ὀργαῖς. But (as Eustathius saw, 755. 14) the words have a second meaning: “thou seest not that thine own [;τὴν σήν, thy kinswoman, thy mother]; is dwelling with thee [;as thy wife];.” The ambiguity of τὴν σὴν , the choice of the phrase ὁμοῦ ναίουσαν , and the choice of κατεῖδες , leave no doubt of this. Cp. 261.

ἀλλ’ ἐμὲ ψέγεις the thought of ὀργὴν ἐμέμψω τὴν ἐμήν returns upon itself, as if from a sense that the contrast between ἐμέμψω and κατεῖδες would be imperfectly felt without such an iteration. This is peculiarly Sophoclean; cp. above 166(ἔλθετε καὶ νῦν): Schneidewin cp. also Soph. Aj. 1111 οὐ … τῆς σῆς οὕνεκ’ … | ἀλλ’ οὕνεχ’ ὅρκων … | σοῦ δ’ οὐδέν : and similarly Soph. Ant. 465 ff.,Soph. Trach. 431 ff.,Soph. El. 361 ff.

The emphasis on τοιαῦτα as well as on οὐκ warrants the repeated ἂν : cp. 139: Soph. Ant. 69 ff.: Eur. Andr. 934 οὐκ ἂν ἔν γ’ ἐμοῖς δόμοις | βλέπουσ’ ἂν αὐγὰς τἄμ’ ἐκαρποῦτ’ ἂν λέχη.

ἃ … ἀτιμάζεις πόλιν ἅ cogn. accus.: Soph. Aj. 1107 τὰ σέμν’ ἔπη | κόλαζ’ ἐκείνους : Soph. Ant. 550 τί ταῦτ’ ἀνιᾶς μ’; ἀτιμάζεις , by rejecting the request that he would speak: Soph. Ant. 544.

ἥξει γὰρ αὐτά The subject to ἥξει is designedly left indeterminate: “(the things of which I wot) will come of themselves.” The seer is communing with his own thought, which dwells darkly on the κακά of v. 329. αὐτά =αὐτόματα : Hom. Il. 17.252 ἀργαλέον δέ μοί ἐστι διασκοπιᾶσθαι ἕκαστον … | ἀλλά τις αὐτὸς ἴτω. Cp. the phrase αὐτὸ δείξει, res ipsa arguet, the result will show: Soph. fr. 355 ταχὺ δ’ αὐτὸ δείξει τοὔργον.

οὐκοῦν ἅ γ’ ἥξει Elmsley, Nauck and Hartung read οὐκ οὖν … ἐμοί; but the positive χρὴ is stronger without the query. “Then, seeing that they will come, thou on thy part ( καὶ σὲ ) shouldest tell them to me.” The stress of καὶ falls primarily on σὲ , but serves at the same time to contrast λέγειν with ἥξει . In ἅ γ’ ἥξει the causal force of the relative is brought out by γε :quippe quae ventura sint.

οὐκ ἂν πέρα φράσαιμι The courteous formula (95, 282), just because it is such, here expresses fixed resolve.

ἥτις ἀγριωτάτη : Hom. Il. 17.61 ὅτε τίς τε λέων … βοῦν ἁρπάσῃ ἥτις ἀρίστη : Plat. Apol. 23a πολλαὶ ἀπέχθειαι … καὶ οἶαι χαλεπώταται : Dem. 2.18 εἰ μὲν γάρ τις ἀνήρ ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς οἷος ἔμπειρος πολέμου καὶ ἀγώνων [;sc. ἐστί];, τούτους, κ.τ.λ.

καὶ μὴν with γε , “aye verily”: cp. Soph. El. 554, where ἢν ἐφῇς μοι is answered (556) by καὶ μὴν ἐφίημ’. (For a slightly different καὶ μήν … γε, see Soph. OC 396.)

ὡς ὀργῆς ἔχω =ἔχων ὀργῆς ὡς ἔχω, being so wroth as I am. Thuc. 1.22 ὡς ἑκατέρων τις εὐνοίας ἢ μνήμης ἔχοι : Eur. Hel. 313 πῶς δ’ εὐμενείας τοισίδ’ ἐν δόμοις ἔχεις; παρήσω … οὐδὲν ( τούτων) ἅπερ ξυνίημ’ , I will leave unsaid nothing (of those things) which I comprehend, i.e. I will reveal my whole insight into the plot. ξυνίημι suits the intellectual pride of Oedipus: he does not say “think” or “suspect”: cp. 628. For γὰρ after ἴσθι cp. 277.

καὶ ξυμφυτεῦσαι … εἰργάσθαι θ’. καί … τε could no more stand for ‘and’ … ‘both’ than et … que could. καί here (adeo) implies, “no mere sympathiser, but actually the plotter.”Cp. Soph. OC 1394 καὶ (e'en)πᾶσι Καδμείοισι τοῖς σαυτοῦ θ’ ἅμα. ξυμφυτεῦσαι : Pind. I. 5.12 σύν τέ οἱ δαίμων φυτεύει δόξαν : Soph. Aj. 953 Παλλὰς φυτεύει πῆμα : Soph. El. 198 δεινὰν δεινῶς προφυτεύσαντες | μορφάν (of crime). Hermann preferred δ’ to τ’ after εἰργάσθαι, as meaning, “but hast done it (only) by another's hands” (i.e. “though thou hast not executed it thyself”): this, however, besides being forced, destroys the climax.

ὅσον (εἶχες εἰργάσθαι) μὴ καίνων , so far as you could be the author of the deed without slaying: Thuc. 4.16 φυλάσσειν δὲ καὶ τὴν νῆσον Ἀθηναίους μηδὲν ἧσσον, ὄσα μὴ ἀποβαίνοντας : 1. 111 τῆς γῆς ἐκράτουν ὄσα μὴ προϊόντες πολὺ ἐκ τῶν ὅπλων: Soph. Trach. 1214 | ὅσον γ’ ἂν (sc. δρῴην τοῦτὀ αὐτὸς μὴ ποτιψαύων χεροῖν.

καὶ τοὔργον … τοῦτο the doing of this thing also, αὐτὴν τὴν πρᾶξιν, as dist. from the plotting and the direction of the act.

ἄληθες; κ.τ.λ. The same word marks the climax of Creon's anger in Soph. Ant. 758: cp. Aristoph. Birds 393 ἐτεόν; etc. ἐννέπω σὲ … ἐμμένειν , I command that thou abide: so Soph. Phil. 101 λέγω σε … λαβεῖν.

ᾦπερ προεῖπας (sc. ἐμμένειν), by which thou didst proclaim that (all) should abide: this is better than taking ᾦπερ as by attraction for ὅπερ, since προεῖπον could take an acc. of the thing proclaimed (e.g. ξενίαν, πόλεμον, θάνατον), but not of the edict itself (as κήρυγμα).

ὡς ὄντι … μιάστορι an anacolouthon for ὡς ὄντα … μιάστορα, as if ἐννέπω σοί had preceded. ἐμέ just before made this necessary. In Eur. Med. 57 most MSS. give ὥσθ’ ἵμερός μ’ ὑπῆλθε γῇ τε κοὐρανῷ | λέξαι μολούσῃ δεῦρο δεσποίνης τύχας, where Porson, reading μολοῦσαν, admits that the dat. stands in Philemon's parody (Athenaeus 288 D), ὡς ἵμερός μ’ ὑπῆλθε γῇ τε κοὐρανῷ | λέξαι μολόντι τοὖψον ὡς ἐσκεύασα. Elms. cp. Eur. IA 491 ἄλλως τέ μ’ ἔλεος τῆς ταλαιπώρου κόρης | εἰσῆλθε συγγένειαν ἐννοουμένῳ. Conversely Thuc. 6.85 sect. 2(τοῖς ἐκεῖ ξυμμάχοις followed by Χίους, etc., in appos.).

ἐξεκίνησας ἐκκινεῖν is used of starting game, Soph. El. 567 ἐξεκίνησεν ποδοῖν | … ἔλαφον : of rousing one from rest, Soph. Trach. 1242, and fig. of exciting pain which had been lulled, Soph. Trach. 979. Here the notion is that of a startling utterance. Cp. the use of κινεῖν in the sense of mooting subjects which should not have been touched: Eur. El. 302 ἐπεὶ δὲ κινεῖς μῦθον, i.e. since thou hast broached this theme: cp. Soph. OC 1526 ἃ δ’ ἐξάγιστα μηδὲ κινεῖται λόγῳ. In Eur. Med. 1317 τί τάσδε κινεῖς κἀναμοχλεύεις πύλας; Porson, with the author of the , reads λόγους, thinking that Aristoph. Cl. 1399 ὦ καινῶν ἐπῶν | κινητὰ καὶ μοχλευτά alluded to that place. So ἀκίνητα (ἔπἠ = ἀπόρρητα Soph. OC 624 , Soph. Ant. 1060 ὄρσεις με τἀκίνητα διὰ φρενῶν φράσαι. | κίνει, κ.τ.λ.

καὶ ποῦ κ.τ.λ. And on what ground dost thou think to escape (punishment for) this thing? For ποῦ cp. 390: Soph. Aj. 1100 ποῦ σὺ στρατηγεῖς τοῦδε; Distinguish καί (1) prefixed to interrogative particles, when it expresses an objection: Aesch. Ag. 280 καὶ τίς τόδ’ ἐξίκοιτ’ ἂν ἀγγέλων τάχος; Dem. 19.257 (with Shilleto's note), and καὶ πῶς; passim: (2) suffixed, where, granting a fact, it asks for further information: Aesch. Ag. 278 ποίου χρόνου δὲ καὶ πεπόρθηται πόλις; (assuming it to be taken, when was it taken?) Eur. Alc. 834 ποῦ καί σφε θάπτει; τοῦτο φεύγειν here = τούτου τὴν δίκην ἐκφεύγειν: Eur. Med. 795 παίδων φόνον | φεύγουσα, fleeing from (the penalties of) the murder: Cic. Pro Cluent. 59.163 calumniam ( = crimen calumniae) non effugiet. But in Lys. 12.34 τοῦτο … οὐ φεύγω = “I do not avoid this point.”

ἰσχῦον expresses the living strength of the divine instinct within him: cp. ζῶντα 482.

τρέφω see on ἐμπέφυκεν 299.

τέχνης slightly contemptuous; cp. 388, 562, 709.

προὐτρέψω the midd., as 1446: but the act., Soph. Ant. 270,Soph. El. 1193.

ἢ κπειρᾷ λέγων; or (while you do understand my meaning already) are you merely trying by your talk ( λέγων ) to provoke a still fuller statement of it? Hdt. 3.135 δείσας μή εὑ ἐκπειρῷτο Δαρεῖος, was making trial of him: Aristoph. Kn. 1234 καί σου τοσοῦτο πρῶτον ἐκπειράσομαι, “thus far make trial of thee” (test thee by one question). The notion of ἐκ in the compound is that of drawing forth something from the person tested. λέγων here implies idle talk, cp. 1151 λέγει γὰρ εἰδὼς οὐδέν: Soph. Phil. 55 τὴν Φιλοκτήτου σε δεῖ | ψυχὴν ὅπως λόγοισιν ἐκκλέψεις λέγων : where, as here, the partic. denotes the process. If we read λέγειν, we must supply ὥστε: “tempting me so that I should speak”: a weak sense. λόγῳ could only mean, “by thy talk”: whereas it would naturally mean “in word” (only, and not ἔργῳ). Musgrave conj. λοχῶν (laying a snare for me); Arndt μ’ ἑλεῖν; (to catch me): Madvig ἐκ πείρας λέγεις; But, with λέγων , all is, I think, sound.

οὐχ ὥστε γ’ κ.τ.λ. οὐ (ξυνῆκἀ οὕτω γ’ ἀκριβῶς ὥστε εἰπεῖν: cp. 1131. γνωστόν : “known.” So the MSS.: but γνωτὰ 58, γνωτὸν 396. In fr. 262 ἐκ κάρτα βαιῶν γνωτὸς ἂν γένοιτ’ ἀνήρ, γνωτός= “well-known,” γνώριμος: but Soph. used γνωστός in the same sense in the (Antiatticista 87.25). It has been held that, where a sigmatic form of the verbal (as γνωστός) existed along with the non-sigmatic (as γνωτός), Attic usage distinguished γνωστός as = “what can be known” from γνωτός as = “what is known.” But there is no ground for assuming that such a distinction was observed. See Appendix, n. on v. 361.

οὖ ζητεῖς κ.τ.λ. φημί σε φονέα κυρεῖν (ὄντἀ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς οὖ (τὸν φονέἀ ζητεῖς.

ἀλλ’ οὔ τι χαίρων cp. Soph. Phil. 1299 (n.). πημονὰς : i.e. such charges are downright calamities, infamies. There is something of a colloquial tone in the phrase: cp. Soph. Aj. 68 μηδὲ συμφορὰν δέχου | τὸν ἄνδρα : Soph. El. 301 ὁ πάντ’ ἄναλκις οὗτος, ἡ πᾶσα βλάβη. Cp. 336 ἀτελεύτητος.

εἴπω delib. subjunct.: Eur. Ion 758 εἴπωμεν, ἢ σιγῶμεν, ἢ τί δράσομεν;

σὺν τοῖς φιλτάτοις κ.τ.λ. =σὺν τῇ φιλτάτῃ (Iocasta): since ὁμιλοῦντ’ implies wedlock, and not merely the companionship denoted by ξυνών in 457: for the allusive plural, cp. Soph. Trach. 335 οὕστινας (meaning Iole): Soph. El. 652 φίλοισι (Aegisthus).

ἵν’ εἶ κακοῦ cp. 413, 1442. Soph. Trach. 375 ποῦ ποτ’ εἰμὶ πράγματος;

ἦ καὶ “dost thou indeed?” Aesch. Eum. 402 ἦ καὶ τοιαύτας τῷδ’ ἐπιρροιζεῖς φυγάς;

πλὴν σοί· σοὶ δὲ κ.τ.λ. Note in these two vv. (1) the rhetorical iteration(ἐπαναφορά) of the pers. pron., as in Soph. OC 250 πρός σ’ ὅ τι σοι φίλον ἐκ σέθεν : Soph. OC 787 οὐκ ἔστι σοι ταῦτ’, ἀλλά σοι ταῦτ’ ἔστ’ : Soph. Phil. 1054 πλὴν εἰς σέ· σοὶ δέ : Isoc. 15.41 κινδυνεύων τὰ μὲν ὑφ’ ὑμῶν τὰ δὲ μεθ’ ὑμῶν τὰ δὲ δῑ ὑμᾶς τὰ δ’ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν. (2) the ninefold τ (παρήχησις) in 371; cp. 425: Soph. OC 1547: Soph. Aj. 528 ἐὰν τὸ ταχθὲν εὖ τολμᾷ τελεῖν. Similarly π,Soph. El. 210,Soph. Aj. 1112:ς, Eur. Med. 476 ἔσωσά σ’· ὡς ἴσασιν Ἑλλήνων ὄσοι, κ.τ.λ.· Ennius Ann. 1.151 O Tite tute Tati tibi tanta tyranne tulisti:Cic. Pro Cluent. 35.96 non fuit igitur illud iudicium iudicii simile, iudices.

ἄθλιος of wretched folly. Cp. the use of ἄνολβος, Soph. Aj. 1156 ,Soph. Ant. 1025 (joined with ἄβουλος), μέλεος ( Soph. Aj. 621 ),κακοδαίμων, κ.τ.λ.

οὐδεὶς (ἔστιν ) ὃς οὐχὶ =πᾶς τις: [;Plat.]; Eur. Alc. 1. 103 B οὐδεὶς ὃς οὐχ ὑπερβληθεὶς … πέφευγε. Soph. Aj. 725 ἤρασσον … οὔτις ἔσθ’ ὃς οὐ. More properly οὐδεὶς ὅστις οὐ, declined (by attraction) in both parts, as Plat. Phaedo 117d οὐδένα ὅντινα οὐ κατέκλασε τῶν παρόντων.

μιᾶς τρέφει πρὸς νυκτός thou art cherished by (thy life is passed in) one unbroken night: the pass. form of μία νύξ σε τρέφει. Cp. fr. 524 (N.(2)), τερπνῶς γὰρ ἀεὶ πάντας ἁνοία τρέφει, folly ever gives a joyous life: fr. 532. 4 βόσκει δὲ τοὺς μὲν μοῖρα δυσαμερίας, | τοὺς δ’ ὄλβος ἡμῶν: Eur. Hipp. 367 ὦ πόνοι τρέφοντες βροτούς, cares that make up the life of men. μιᾶς might be simply μόνης, but, in its emphatic place here, rather = “unbroken,” unvaried by day: cp. Aristot. Rh. 3.9.1 (λέξιν) εἰρομένην καὶ τῷ συνδεσμῷ μίαν, forming one continuous chain. The ingenious conj. μαίας (nurse) seems to me far less forcible.

(οὐκ ἐγώ σε βλάψω),οὐ γὰρ μοῖρα σε πεσεῖν κ.τ.λ.

ἐκπρᾶξαι “to accomplish” (not to “exact”); τάδε has a mysterious vagueness (cp. 341), but includes τὸ πεσεῖν σε, as in 1158 τόδ’ refers to ὀλέσθαι.

Κρέων δὲ = “Nay, Creon,” —introducing an objection, as Soph. Trach. 729 τοιαῦτα δ’ ἂν λέξειεν κ.τ.λ. : Soph. OC 395 γέροντα δ’ ὀρθοῦν φλαῦρον : and Soph. OC 1443.

τῷ πολυζήλῳ βίῳ locative dative, defining the sphere of ὑπερφέρουσα , like ἔτι μέγας οὐρανῷ | Ζεύς Soph. El. 174 . πολυζήλῳ = full of emulation(ζῆλος). Others understand, “in the much admired life” (of princes). This is the sense of πολύζηλον (πόσιν) in Soph. Trach. 185. But (1) βίῳ seems to denote life generally, rather than a particular station: (2) the phrase, following πλοῦτε καὶ τυραννί, would be a weak addition. τέχνη τέχνης | ὑπερφέρουσα refers to the view that the art of ruling is the highest of arts: cp. Soph. Phil. 138 τέχνα γὰρ τέχνας ἑτέρας προὔχει | καὶ γνώμα, παρ’ ὅτῳ τὸ θεῖον | Διὸς σκῆπτρον ἀνάσσεται : for skill and wit(γνώμη), surpassing those of other men, belong to him by whom is swayed the godlike sceptre which Zeus gives. Xen. Mem. 4.2.11 μεγίστης ἐφίεσαι τέχνης· ἔστι γὰρ τῶν βασιλέων αὕτη, καὶ καλεῖται βασιλική. But there is also an allusion to the skill shown in solving the riddle, by which Oed. surpassed the μαντικὴ τέχνη of Teiresias (cp. 357).

παρ’ ὑμῖν … φυλάσσεται is guarded, stored, in your keeping: i.e. how much envy do ye tend to excite against those who receive your gifts. φυλάσσεται , stronger than τρέφεται, represents envy as the inseparable attendant on success: cp. Soph. OC 1213 σκαιοσύναν φυλάσσων, stubborn in folly: Eur. Ion 735 ἄξῑ ἀξίων γεννητόρων | ἤθη φυλάσσεις.

δωρητόν, οὐκ αἰτητόν feminine. The adjectives might be neuter: “a thing given, not asked.” But this use of the neuter adj., when the subject is regarded in its most general aspect, is far most common in simple predications, as Hom. Il. 2.204 οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη : Eur. Hipp. 109 τερπνὸν ἐκ κυναγίας | τράπεζα πλήρης. And γνωτόν in 396—which must agree with ἥν— favours the view that here also the adjectives are fem. Cp. Hom. Il. 2.742 κλυτὸς Ἱπποδάμεια : Thuc. 2.41 γῆν ἐσβατόν : Thuc. 7.87 ὀσμαὶ οὐκ ἀνεκτοί : Plat. Rep. 573b μανίας … ἐπακτοῦ : Plat. Eryx. 398d ἀρετὴ διδακτός : Soph. OC 1460 πτερωτὸς βροντή : Soph. Trach. 446 εἰ … μεμπτός εἰμι (Deianeira).

ταύτης redundant, for emphasis: Xen. Cyrop. 8.7.9 τὸ δὲ προβουλεύειν καὶ τὸ ἡγεῖσθαι, ἐφ’ ὅτι ἂν καιρὸς δοκῇ εἷναι, τοῦτο προστάττω.

ὑφεὶς having secretly sent as his agent, “having suborned.” Plat. Axioch. 368e προέδρους ἐγκαθέτους ὑφέντες, “having privily brought in suborned presidents.” The word μάγος expresses contempt for the rights of divination practised by Teiresias: ἀγύρτης taunts him as a mercenary impostor. So Plut. Mor. 165f joins ἀγύρτας καὶ γόητας, Zosimus 1.11 μάγοις τε καὶ ἀγύρταις. The passage shows how Asiatic superstitions had already spread among the vulgar, and were scorned by the educated, in Greece. The Persian μάγος (as conceived by the Greeks) was one who claimed to command the aid of beneficent deities(δαίμονες ἀγαθοεργοἴ, while the γόης was properly one who could call up the dead (Suid. 1. 490: cp. Plut. De Defect. Orac. 10). So Eur. Orest. 1496 (Helen has been spirited away), ἢ φαρμάκοισιν (by charms), ἢ μάγων | τέχναισιν, ἢ θεῶν κλοπαῖς.

ἀγύρτην (ἀγείρω), a priest, esp. of Cybele(μητραγύρτης, or, when she had the lunar attributes, μηναγύρτης), who sought money from house to house( ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν πλουσίων θύρας ἰόντες, Plat. Rep. 364b ), or in public places, for predictions or expiatory rites: Maximus Tyrius 19. 3 τῶν ἐν τοῖς κύκλοις ἀγειρόντων … , οἳ δυοῖν ὀβολοῖν τῷ προστυχόντι ἀποθεσπίζουσιν.

ἐν τοῖς κέρδεσιν in the case of gains: cp. Soph. Aj. 1315 ἐν ἐμοὶ θρασύς; rather than, “on opportunities for gain”(= ὅταν ᾖ κερδαίνειν) as Ellendt takes it. Cicero's videbat in litteris (Cic. Tusc. 5.38.112, quoted by Schneid.) seems not strictly similar, meaning rather “in the region of letters” (like in tenebris).

ἐπεὶ = “for” (if this is not true): Soph. El. 351 οὐ ταῦτα … δειλίαν ἔχει | ἐπεὶ δίδαξον, κ.τ.λ.; so Soph. OC 969.

ποῦ; where? i.e. in what sense? Eur. Ion 528 ποῦ δέ μοι πατὴρ σύ;

εἶ σαφής =πέφηνας ὤν: cp. 355.

κύων esp. because the Sphinx was the watchful agent of Hera's wrath: cp. 36. Aristoph. Frogs 1287 has a line from the Σφίγξ of Aesch., Σφίγγα δυσαμεριᾶν [;vulg. δυσαμεριαν]; πρύτανιν κύνα πέμπει, “the watcher who presides over evil days” (for Thebes).

ῥαψῳδὸς chanting her riddle (in hexameter verse), as the public reciters chanted epic poems. The word is used with irony: the baneful lay of the Sphinx was not such as the servant of Apollo chants. Cp. 130.

τό γ’ αἴνιγμ’ is nominative: the riddle did not belong to (was not for) the first comer, that he should solve it. Soph. OC 751 οὐ γάμων | ἔμπειρος, ἀλλὰ τοὐπιόντος ἁρπάσαι. Thuc. 6.22 πολλὴ γὰρ οὖσα ἡ στρατιὰ οὐ πάσης ἔσται πόλεως ὑποδέξασθαι. ὁ ἐπιών , any one who comes up; cp. Plat. Rep. 372d ὡς νῦν ὁ τυχὼν καὶ οὐδὲν προσήκων ἔρχεται ἐπ’ αὐτό.

διειπεῖν “to declare,” “to solve”: cp. 854. διά implies the drawing of clear distinctions; cp. Soph. OC 295 διειδέναι, diiudicare, n.

ἣν οἴτ’ ἀπ’ οἰωνῶν ἔχων οὔτ’ ἐκ θεῶν του γνωτὸν ( ἔχων) προὐφάνης : and thou wast not publicly seen to have this art, either from ( ἀπ’ ) birds, or as known through the agency of ( ἐκ ) any god. προὐφάνης . when brought to a public test. For ἀπό cp. 43: ἐκ with θεῶν του , of the primary or remoter agent ( Xen. Hell. 3.1.6 ἐκ βασιλέως ἐδόθη ), meaning by a φήμη (43) or other sign. γνωτόν : cp. on 384.

μολών he was a mere stranger who chanced to arrive then.

ὁ μηδὲν εἰδὼς =ὅστις μηδὲν ᾔδη, “I, a man who knew nothing,” the generic μή, here with concessive force, —“though I knew nothing, I silenced her” (qui nihil scirem, vici tamen). So in Dem. 19.31 the generic μή has a causal force: ἡ βουλὴ δέ, ἡ μὴ κωλυθεῖσα ἀκοῦσαι τἀληθῆ παρ’ ἐμοῦ, οὔτ’ ἐπῄνεσε τούτους, κ.τ.λ. (“the senate, a body which had not been prevented.” etc.). See Whitelaw in , 1886, p. 17. Cp. 638, 875, 1019.

πέλας adv., so Aesch. Seven 669 παραστατεῖν πέλας.

κλαίων cp. 368, 1152: Soph. Ant. 754 κλαίων φρενώσεις.

ὁ συνθεὶς Creon, as whose agent (387) Teir. is regarded: so in Thuc. 8.68 ὁ τὴν γνώμην εἰπών is contrasted with ὁ τὸ πρᾶγμα ξυνθείς.

ἀγηλατεῖν =τὸ ἄγος ἐλαύνειν(see on 98), in this case ἀνδρηλατεῖν (100), to expel the μιάστωρ. Hdt. 5.72 Κλεομένης … ἀγηλατέει ἑπτακόσια ἐπίστια (households) Ἀθηναίων. The smooth breathing is supported by Hesychius, by the grammarians in Bekker's 1.328.32, and by most MSS. of Soph.; while the aspirate is given by L here, by Eustathius (1704, 5), and by Suidas, who quotes this verse. Curtius distinguishes (1) ἀγ‐, ἄγ‐ος, guilt, object of awe, whence ἐναγής: Skt. ag-as, vexation, offence: sect. 116: (2) root ἅγ, ἅζ‐ο‐μαι reverence, ἅγ‐ιο‐ς holy, ἁγ‐νό‐ς pure: Skt. jage(jaegea_-mi), reverence, consecrate: sect. 118. In Aesch. Lib. 154 and Soph. Ant. 775 he would with Herm. write ἅγος as = “consecrated offering.” In both places, however, ἄγος(=piaculum) satisfies the sense (see n. on Soph. Ant. 775); and for ἅγος there is no other evidence. But this, at least, seems clear: the compound synonym for τὸ ἄγος ἐλαύνειν(Thuc. 1.126) should be written ἀγηλατεῖν. δόκεις is the scornful phrase of an angry man; I know little concerning thee, but from thine aspect I should judge thee to be old: cp. 562 where Oed. asks, τότ’ οὖν ὁ μάντις οὗτος ἦν ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ; Not (1) “seemed,” as opposed to really being; nor (2) “wast felt by me” to be old: a sense which the word surely could not yield.

παθὼν by bodily pain, and not merely μαθών, by reproof: cp. 641.

οἶά περ φρονεῖς : see on 624 οἶόν ἐστι τὸ φθονεῖν.

ὀργῇ modal dat., cp. Soph. OC 659 θυμῷ.

καὶ τὰ σ’ κ.τ.λ., the elision as in 329: see on 64.

τόδε emphatically resumes ὅπως λύσομεν ,this we must consider: cp. 385 ταύτης: so Soph. Trach. 458 τὸ μὴ πυθέσθαι, τοῦτό μ’ ἀλγύνειεν ἄν :Soph. Phil. 913.

εἰ καὶ κ.τ.λ. For εἰ καὶ see on 305.

ἐξισωτέον κ.τ.λ. =δεῖ ἐξισοῦν τὸ γοῦν ἴσα ἀντιλέξαι, one must equalize the right at least of like reply; i.e. you must make me so far your equal as to grant me the right of replying at the same length. The phrase is a pleonastic fusion of (1) ἐξισωτέον τὸ ἀντιλέξαι with (2) συγχωρητέον τὸ ἴσα ἀντιλέξαι.

Λοξίᾳ see note to 853.

ὥστ’ οὐ κρέοντος κ.τ.λ. “You charge me with being the tool of Creon's treason. I have a right to plead my own cause when I am thus accused. I am not like a resident alien, who can plead before a civic tribunal only by the mouth of that patron under whom he has been registered.” Every μέτοικος at Athens was required ἐπιγράφεσθαι προστάτην, i.e. to have the name of a citizen, as patron, inscribed over his own. In default, he was liable to an ἀπροστασίου γραφή. Aristoph. Peace 684 αὑτῷ πονηρὸν προστάτην ἐπεγράψατο : Aristoph. Ach. 1095 ἐπεγράφου τὴν Γοργόνα, you took the Gorgon for your patron: Lys. 31.9 ἐν Ὠρωπῷ μετοίκιον κατατιθεὶς (paying the alien's tax) ἐπὶ προστάτου ᾤκει.

γεγράψομαι will stand enrolled: cp. Aristoph. Kn. 1370 οὐδεὶς κατὰ σπουδὰς μετεγγραφήσεται, | ἀλλ’ ὥσπερ ἦν τὸ πρῶτον ἐγγεγράψεται : Theocr. 18. 47 γράμματα δ’ ἐν φλοιῷ γεγράψεται, remain written. —For the gen. Κρέοντος cp. Aristoph. Kn. 714 τὸν δῆμον σεαυτοῦ νενόμικας.

λέγω δ’ a solemn exordium, bespeaking attention: cp. 449.

τυφλόν μ’ ὠνείδισας As ὠνείδισας could not stand for ἀπεκάλεσας, “called me reproachfully,” τυφλόν must stand for ὡς τυφλὸν ὄντα. For the ellipse of ὄντα, cp. Soph. El. 899 ὡς δ’ ἐν γαλήνῃ πάντ’ ἐδερκόμην τόπον : for that of ὡς, Soph. OC 142 μή μ’, ἱκετεύω, προσίδητ’ ἄνομον.

σὺ καὶ δέδορκας “Thou both has sight and dost not see,” i.e. thou hast sight, and at the same time dost not see. The conject. of Reiske and Brunck, σύ, καὶ δεδορκώς(though having sight), οὐ βλέπεις, spoils the direct contrast with τυφλόν.

ἔνθα ναίεις might mean, “in what a situation thou art”: but, as distinguished from the preceding and following clauses, is best taken literally: “where thou dwellest,”—viz., in thy murdered father's house.

ἆρ’ οἶσθα κ.τ.λ. Thy parents are unknown to thee. Yea. and ( καὶ ) thou knowest not how thou hast sinned against them, —the dead and the living.

ἀμφιπλὴξ as in Soph. Trach. 930 ἀμφιπλῆγι φασγάνῳ = a sword which smites with both edges, so here ἀμφιπλὴξ ἀρά is properly a curse which smites on both sides, — on the mother's and on the father's part. The pursuing Ἀρά must be conceived as bearing a whip with double lash( διπλῆ μάστιξ, Soph. Aj. 242 ). Cp. ἀμφίπυρος, carrying two torches (Soph. Trach. 214). The genitives μητρός, πατρός might be causal, with ἀμφιπλήξ, “smiting twice— for mother and for sire,” but are better taken with ἀρά, which here = Ἐρινύς: cp. Aesch. Seven 70 Ἀρά τ’, Ἐρινὺς πατρὸς ἡ μεγασθενής.

δεινόπους with dread, untiring chase: so the Fury, who chases guilt “as a hound tracks a wounded fawn” (Aesch. Eum. 246), is χαλκόπους(Soph. El. 491),τανύπους(Soph. Aj. 837), καμψίπους (“fleet,” Aesch. Seven 791).

Βλέποντα κ.τ.λ., i.e. τότε σκότον βλέποντα, εἰ καὶ νῦν ὀρθὰ βλέπεις. The Greek love of direct anthithesis often coordinates clauses where we must subordinate one to the other: cp. below, 673: Isoc. 6.54 πῶς οὐκ αἰσχρόν, … τὴν μὲν Εὐρώπην καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν μεστὴν πεποιηκέναι τροπαίων, … ὑπὲρ δὲ τῆς πατρίδος … μηδὲ μίαν μάχην φαίνεσθαι μεμαχημένους; βλέπειν σκότον , like ἐν σκότῳ … | ὀψοἰατο (1273), Eur. Ba. 510 σκότιον εἰσορᾷ κνέφας.

βοῆς δὲ κ.τ.λ. Of thy cry what haven shall there not be (i.e. to what place shall it not be borne), —what part of Cithaeron shall not be resonant with it(σύμφωνος ἔσται sc. αὐτῇ), re-echo it? If we took σύμφωνος ἔσται (and not ἔσται alone) with λιμήν as well as with Κιθαιρών, the figurative force of λιμήν would be weakened. We must not understand: What haven of the sea or what mountain (as if Cithaeron stood for ὄρος) shall not resound? λιμήν , poet. in the sense of ὑποδοχή, for that in which anything is received: Aesch. Pers. 250 ὦ Περσὶς αἶα καὶ μέγας πλούτου λιμήν (imitated by Eur. Orest. 1077): the augural seat of Teiresias is παντὸς οἰωνοῦ λιμήν, Soph. Ant. 1000 : the place of the dead is Ἅιδου λιμήν,Soph. Ant. 1284: cp. below, 1208.

ποῖος Κιθαιρὼν vigorous for ποῖον μέρος Κιθαιρῶνος.

τὸν ὑμέναιον ὃν εἰσέπλευσας the marriage into which thou didst sail: δόμοις , in the house, local dat. (381): the marriage( ὑμέναιος, here = γάμος) was the haven into which he sailed, —a haven which seemed secure, but which, in reality, was for him a ὅρμος ἄνορμος.

εὐπλοίας τυχών because Oed. seemed to have found ὄλβος, and also because the gale of fortune had borne him swiftly on: cp. οὔθ’ ὁρῶν οὔθ’ ἱστορῶν, 1484. —The ὑμέναιος was the song sung while the bride and bridegroom were escorted to their home, Hom. Il. 18.492 νύμφας δ’ ἐκ θαλάμων δαΐδων ὑπὸ λαμπομενάων | ἠγίνεον ἀνὰ ἄστυ, πολὺς δ’ ὑμέναιος ὀρώρει, as distinguished from the ἐπιθαλάμιον afterwards sung before the bridal chamber: Soph. Ant. 813 οὔθ’ ὑμεναίων | ἔγκληρον, οὔτ’ ἐπινύμφειός | πώ μέ τις ὕμνος ὕμνησεν.

ἄλλων δὲ κ.τ.λ. Verses 422-425 correspond with the actual process of the drama. The words καταίσθῃ τὸν ὑμέναιον refer to the first discovery made by Oed., —that his wife was the widow of one whom he had himself slain: cp. 821. The ἄλλων πλῆθος κακῶν denotes the further discovery that this wife was his mother, with all the horrors involved (1405).

ἅ σ’ ἐξισώσει which shall make thee level with thy (true) self, —by showing thee to be the son of Laius, not of Polybus; —and level with thine own children, i.e. like them, the child of Iocasta, and thus at once ἀδελφὸς καὶ πατήρ (458). For ἅ σ’ Markland conject. ὅσ’, which shall be made equal for thee and for thy children: and so Porson interpreted, conjecturing ἅσσ’ from Agathon fr. 5 ἀγένητα ποιεῖν ἅσσ’ ἂν ᾖ πεπραγμένα. Nauck ingeniously conj. ἅ σ’ ἐξισώσει σῷ τοκεῖ καὶ σοῖς τέκνοις. But the vulgate is sound: for the παρήχησις cp. 371.

τοὐμὸν στόμα i.e., it is Apollo who speaks by my mouth, which is not, as thou deemest, the ὑπόβλητον στόμα (Soph. OC 794) of Creon.

προπηλάκιζε acc. to Aristot. Top. 6.6 προπηλακισμός was defined as ὕβρις μετὰ χλευασίας, insult expressed by scoffing: so in Aristot. Nic. Eth. 5.2.13 κακηγορία, προπηλακισμός = libellous language, gross abuse: and in Aristoph. Thes. 386 προπηλακιζομένας is explained by πολλὰ καὶ παντοῖ’ ἀκουούσας κακά.Dem. 21.72 has ἀήθεις … τοῦ προπηλακίζεσθαι as = “unused to gross contumely” (generally, but with immediate ref. to a blow).

ἐκτριβήσεται rooted out. Eur. Hipp. 683 Ζεύς σε γεννήτωρ ἐμὸς | πρόρριζον ἐκτρίψειεν.

οὐκ εἰς ὄλεθρον; cp. 1146: Aristoph. Pl. 394 οὐκ ἐς κόρακας; Soph. Trach. 1183 οὐ θᾶσσον οἴσεις; Cratinus Νόμοι fr. 6 (Meineke p. 27) οὐκ ἀπερρήσεις σὺ θᾶττον; Aesch. Seven 252 οὐκ ἐς φθόρον σιγῶσ’ ἀνασχήσει τάδε ;

πάλιν ἄψορρος like Soph. El. 53 ἄψορρον ἤξομεν πάλιν : the gen. οἴκων τῶνδ’ with ἀποστραφείς .

ἱκόμην … ἐκάλεις cp. 125, 402.

σχολῇ σ’ ἄν The simple σχολῇ is stronger than σχολῇ γε would be: Soph. Ant. 390 σχολῇ ποθ’ ἥξειν (where σχολῇ γ’ ἄν is an inferior v. l.), Plat. Soph. 233b σχολῇ ποτ’ … ἤθελεν ἄν, Plat. Prot. 330e σχολῇ μέντ’ ἂν ἄλλο τι ὅσιον εἴη and often

οἴκους : Soph. OC 643 δόμους στείχειν ἐμούς.

ἐστειλάμην =μετεστειλάμην, μετεπεμψάμην. Distinguish στέλλεσθαι, to summon to oneself, from στέλλειν said (1) of the messenger, below 860 πέμψον τινὰ στελοῦντα: (2) of him who sends word by a messenger, Soph. Phil. 60 οἵ σ’ ἐν λιταῖς στείλαντες ἐξ οἴκου μολεῖν : having urged thee with prayers to come: Soph. Ant. 164 ὑμᾶς … πομποῖσιν … | ἔστειλ’ ἱκέσθαι, sent you word to come.

τοιοίδ’ refers back to the taunt implied in μῶρα φωνήσοντ’, and is then made explicit by μῶροι … ἔμφρονες : cp. Soph. Phil. 1271 τοιοῦτος ἦσθα (referring to what precedes—thou wast such as thou now art)τοῖς λόγοισι χὥτε μου | τὰ τόξ’ ἔκλεπτες, πιστός, ἀτηρὸς λάθρα. In fr. 700 (quoted by Nauck), καὶ τὸν θεὸν τοιοῦτον ἐξεπίσταμαι, | σοφοῖς μὲν αἰνικτῆρα, … | σκαιοῖς δὲ φαῦλον, we have not the preceding words, but doubtless τοιοῦτον referred to them.

ὡς μὲν σοὶ δοκεῖ. σοὶ must be accented; else the contrast would be, not partly between σοὶ and γονεῦσι , but solely between δοκεῖ and some other verbal notion. σοὶ does not, however, cohere so closely with δοκεῖ as to form a virtual cretic. It is need. less, then, to read (as Elms. proposed) ὡς μέν σοι or ὡς σοὶ μὲν. Cp. Soph. OC 1543 ὥσπερ σφὼ πατρί : Eur. Heraclid. 641 σωτὴρ νῷν βλάβης. As neither σφὼ nor νῷν adheres to the following rather than to the preceding word, it seems unnecessary to read with Porson ὡς πρὶν σφὼ or νῷν σωτήρ. Here we have ὡς μὲν σοὶ instead of ὡς σοὶ μὲν, because, besides the contrast of persons, there is also a contrast between semblance ( ὡς δοκεῖ ) and fact.

γονεῦσι “ for” them, i.e. in their judgment: Soph. Ant. 904 καίτοι σ’ ἐγὼ τίμησα, τοῖς φρονοῦσιν, εὖ. Aristoph. Birds 445 πᾶσι νικᾶν τοῖς κριταῖς.

ἐκφύει (υ^). The pres. is not historic (for ἐξέφυσε), but denotes a permanent character: “is my sire.” Eur. Ion 1560 ἥδε τίκτει σ’, is thy mother: so perh. Eur. Heraclid. 208 πατὴρ δ’ ἐκ τῆσδε γεννᾶται σέθεν. Xen. Cyrop. 8.2.27 ὁ δὲ μὴ νικῶν (he who was not victorious) τοῖς μὲν νικῶσιν ἐφθόνει: and so φεύγειν =φυγὰς εἶναι passim. Shilleto thus takes οἱ ἐπαγόμενοι in Thuc. 2.2, οἱ προδιδόντες Thuc. 2.5 , οἱ διαβάλλοντες Thuc. 3.4 ; which, however, I should rather take simply as imperfect participles, = οἳ ἐπήγοντο, προὐδίδοσαν, διέβαλλον. He well compares Verg. Aen. 9.266 quem dat Sidonia Dido (is the giver): in Persius 4.2 sorbitio tollit quem dira cicutae, I find rather a harsh historic pres.

οὔκουν κ.τ.λ. Well ( οὖν— if I do speak riddles), art not thou most skilled to read them?

τοιαῦτ’ ὀνείδιζέ (μοι ), make those things my reproach, in which [;οἷς, dat. of circumstance]; thou wilt find me great: i.e. mock my skill in reading riddles if thou wilt; but thou wilt find (on looking deeper) that it has brought me true honour.

τοιαῦτα … οἷς as Soph. OC 1353 (n.), Soph. Ant. 691, etc.

αὕτη γε μέντοι It was just ( γε )that fortune, however ( μέντοι ),that ruined thee. γε emphasises the preceding word: so 778, 1292: Soph. Phil. 93 πεμφθείς γε μέντοι (since I have been sent), 1052 νικᾶν γε μέντοι: Soph. Ant. 233 τέλος γε μέντοι, Soph. Ant. 495 μισῶ γε μέντοι.

τύχη implies some abatement of the king's boast, γνώμῃ κυρήσας, 398.

ἐξέσωσ’ 1st pers., not 3rd.

κομιζέτω δῆθ’ δῆτα in assent, as Aesch. Supp. 206 Ζεὺς δὲ γεννήτωρ ἴδοι. ΔΑΝ. ἴδοιτο δῆτα.

ἐμποδὼν with παρὼν , —present where thy presence irks: cp. 128. σύ γε here gives a scornful force: the use of σύ γε in 1101 (n.) is different. The reading τά γ’ ἐμποδὼν (found in B) is explained by Brunck and Erfurdt (with Thomas Magister) “thou hinderest the business before us,” comparing Eur. Phoen. 706 ἃ δ’ ἐμποδὼν μάλιστα (“most urgent”) ταῦθ’ ἥκω φράσων.

ἀλγύνοις suits the continuing action better than ἀλγύναις. The aor. occurs Soph. Trach. 458(ἀλγύνειεν) and Eur. IA 326(ἀλγῦναι): but αις and αι, as optative endings, are not elsewhere found in Soph.

πρόσωπον “thy face,”—thy angry presence: the blind man speaks as though he saw the “vultus instantis tyranni.” Not, “thy person” (i.e. thy royal quality): πρόσωπον is not classical in this sense, for which cp. the Hellenistic προσωποληπτεῖν,“ to be a respecter of persons,” and the spurious Phocylidea 10 (Bergk p. 361) μὴ ῥίψῃς πενίην ἀδίκως· μὴ κρῖνε πρόσωπον.

οὐκ ἔσθ’ ὅπου there is no case in which … : cp. 355, 390.

λέγω δέ σοι cp. 412.

τὸν ἄνδρα τοῦτον … οὗτός ἐστιν κ.τ.λ. The antecedent, attracted into the case of the relative, is often thus prefixed to the relative clause, to mark with greater emphasis the subject of a coming statement: Soph. Trach. 283 τάσδε δ’ ἅσπερ εἰσορᾷς | … χωροῦσι : Hom. Il. 10.416 φυλακὰς δ’ ἃς εἴρεαι, ἥρως, | οὔτις κεκριμένη ῥύεται στρατόν : HH Dem. 66 κούρην τὴν ἔτεκον … | τῆς ἀδινὴν ὄπ’ ἄκουσα : Aristoph. Pl. 200 τὴν δύναμιν ἣν ὑμεῖς φατὲ | ἔχειν με, ταύτης δεσπότης γενήσομαι. Plaut. Trinum. 985 Illum quem ementitu's, is ego sum ipse Charmides .

ἀνακηρύσσων φόνον proclaiming (a search into) the murder: cp. Xen. Mem. 2.10.2 σῶστρα τούτου ἀνακηρύττων : Andoc. 1.40 ζητητάς τε ἤδη ᾑρημένους … καὶ μήνυτρα κεκηρυγμένα ἑκατὸν μνᾶς.

τὸν Λαΐειον cp. 267.

ξένος μέτοικος a foreign sojourner: ξένος, because Oed. was reputed a Corinthian. In poetry μέτοικος is simply one who comes to dwell with others: it has not the full technical sense which belonged to it at Athens, a resident alien: hence the addition of ξένος was necessary. Cp. Soph. OC 934 μέτοικος τῆσδε γῆς : Soph. Ant. 868 πρὸς οὓς (to the dead) ἅδ’ ἐγὼ μέτοικος ἔρχομαι.

εἶτα δὲ opp. to νῦν μέν, implied in ἐνθάδε. —ἐγγενὴς , “native,” as γεννητός is opp. to ποιητός (adoptivus).

τῇ ξυμφορᾷ the (seemingly happy) event: cp. Soph. El. 1230 κἀπὶ συμφοραῖσί μοι | γεγηθὸς ἕρπει δάκρυον.

ἐκ δεδορκότος Xen. Cyrop. 3.1.17 ἐξ ἄφρονος σώφρων γεγένηται.

ξένην ἔπι sc. γῆν : Soph. OC 184 ξεῖνος ἐπὶ ξένης : Soph. Phil. 135 ἐν ξένᾳ ξένον.

γαῖαν with προδεικνὺς only: pointing to, i.e. feeling, ψηλαφῶν, the ground before him: so of a boxer, χερσὶ προδεικνύς, sparring, Theocr. 22.102. Cp. Lucian 1 τὸ τόξον ἐντεταμένον ἡ ἀριστερὰ προδείκνυσι, i.e. holds in front of him: id. 68 θαλλῷ προδειχθέντι ἀκολουθεῖν, ὥσπερ τὰ πρόβατα. Seneca 656 repet incertus viae, | Baculo senili triste praetentans iter. The order of words is against taking ξένην with γαῖαν (when we should write ἐπὶ), and supplying τὴν ὁδόν with προδεικνύς.

ξυνὼν the idea of daily converse under the same roof heightens the horror. Cp. Andoc. 1.49 οἷς … ἐχρῶ κα62 οἷς συνῆσθα, your friends and associates.

ἀδελφὸς αὑτὸς If ἀδελφὸς stood alone, then αὐτὸς would be right: himself the brother of his own children: but with ἀδελφὸς καὶ πατὴρ we should read αὑτός at once sire and brother of his own children. Cp. Soph. Phil. 119 σοφός τ’ ἂν αὑτὸς κἀγαθὸς κεκλῇ’ ἅμα : Eur. Alc. 143 καὶ πῶς ἂν αὑτὸς κατθάνοι τε καὶ βλέποι;

ὁμόσπορος here act., = τὴν αὐτὴν σπείρων: but passive above, 260. Acc. to the general rule, verbal derivatives with a short penult. are paroxytone when active in meaning (see on βουνόμοις, v. 26). But those compounded with a preposition (or with α privative) are excepted: hence διάβολος, not διαβόλος. So ὁμόσπορος here, no less than in 260. On the other hand πρωτοσπόρος= “sowing first,” πρωτόσπορος =“φιπστ σοων.”

λάβῃς ἐψ. without με: cp. Soph. Phil. 768(ἀλλ’ ἐᾶν etc.), 801(ἔμπρησον ).

φάσκειν inf. for imperat., “say,” i.e.” deem,” as in Soph. Phil. 1411,Soph. El. 9. Cp. Hdt. 3.35 ἢν δὲ ἁμάρτω, φάναι Πέρσας τε λέγειν ἀληθέα καί με μὴ σωφρονέειν.

μαντικῇ :in respect to seer-craft: for dat., cp. Eur. IA 338 τῷ δοκεῖν μὲν οὐχὶ χρῄζων, τῷ δὲ βούλεσθαι θέλων.

θεσπιέπεια giving divine oracles(ἔπη), fem. as if from θεσπιεπής (not found): cp. ἀρτιέπεια, ἡδυέπεια. Since θέ‐σπ‐ι‐ς already involves the stem σεπ (Curt. sect. 632), the termination, from vεπ(ib. 620), is pleonastic.

δελφὶς πέτρα The town and temple of Delphi stood in a recess like an amphitheatre, on a high platform of rock which slopes out from the south face of the cliff: Strabo 9. 418 οἱ Δελφοί, πετρῶδες χωρίον, θεατροειδές, κατὰ κορυφὴν(i.e. at the upper part of the rocky platform, nearest the cliff) ἔχον τὸ μαντεῖον καὶ τὴν πόλιν, σταδίων ἑκκαίδεκα κύκλον πληροῦσαν: i.e. the whole sweep of the curve extends nearly two miles. HH Apoll. 283 ὕπερθεν | πέτρη ἐπικρέμαται (the rocky platform overhangs the Crisaean plain) κοίλη δ’ ὑποδέδρομε βῆσσα (the valley of the Pleistus).

εἶπε τελέσαντα (for εἶπε τελέσαι) is somewhat rare, but is not “a solecism” (as Kennedy calls it): cp. Soph. OC 1580 λέξας Οἰδίπουν ὀλωλότα : Eur. Rhes. 755 αὐδᾷ ξυμμάχους ὀλωλότας : Plat. Gorg. 481c πότερόν σε φῶμεν νυνὶ σπουδάζοντα ἢ παίζοντα;

ἄρρητ’ ἀρρήτων Blaydes cp. Soph. OC 1237 πρόπαντα | κακὰ κακῶν, Soph. Phil. 65 ἔσχατ’ ἐσχάτων, Aesch. Pers. 681 ὦ πιστὰ πιστῶν ἥλικές τ’ ἥβης ἐμῆς, | Πέρσαι γέροντες. Cp. also 1301 μείζονα τῶν μακίστων. (But Soph. El. 849 δειλαία δειλαίων [;κυρεῖς];, cited by Blaydes, and by Jelf sect. 139, is not in point.)

ἀελλάδων Soph. OC 1081 ἀελλαία ταχύρρωστος πελειάς : fr. 621 ἀελλάδες φωναί. Not, “ daughters of the storm,” as if alluding to the mares impregnated by Boreas, Hom. Il. 20.221. For the form, cp. θυστάδας λιτάς Soph. Ant. 1019 .

ἵππων instead of ἵππων ποδός: Hdt. 2.134 πυραμίδα δὲ καὶ οὗτος ἀπελίπετο πολλὸν ἐλάσσω τοῦ πατρός : Xen. Cyrop. 3.3.41 χώραν ἔχετε οὐδὲν ἧττον ἔντιμον τῶν πρωτοστατῶν.

στεροπαῖς The oracular Apollo is Διὸς προφήτης. As punisher of the crime which the oracle denounced, he is here armed with his father's lightnings, not merely with his own arrow (205).

γενέτας , one concerned with γένος, either passively, = “son,” as here (cp. γηγενέτᾳ Eur. Phoen. 128 ), or actively, = “father.” Eur. has both senses. Cp. γαμβρός, sonin-law, brother-in-law, or father-in-law: and so κηδεστής or πενθερός could have any one of these three senses.

Κῆρες avenging spirits, identified with the Furies in Aesch. Seven 1055 Κῆρες Ἐρινύες, αἵ τ’ Οἰδιπόδα | γένος ὠλέσατε. Hes. Th. 217 (Νὺξ) καὶ Μοίρας καὶ Κῆρας ἐγείνατο νηλεοποίνους … | αἵ τ’ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε παραιβασίας ἐφέπουσαι | οὐδέποτε λήγουσι θεαὶ δεινοῖο χόλοιο, | πρίν γ’ ἀπὸ τῷ δώωσι κακὴν ὄπιν, ὅστις ἁμάρτῃ. The Μοῖραι decree, the Κῆρες execute. In Soph. Trach. 133 κῆρες = calamities.

ἀναπλάκητοι not erring or failing in pursuit: cp. Soph. Trach. 120 ἀλλά τις θεῶν | αἰὲν ἀναμπλάκητον Ἅιδα σφε δόμων ἐρύκει, some god suffers not Heracles to fail, but keeps him from death. Metre requires here the form without μ. ἀμπλακεῖν is prob. a cognate of πλάζω (from stem πλαγ for πλακ, Curt. Etym. 367), strengthened with an inserted μ; cp. ἄβροτος, ἄμβροτος.

ἔλαμψε see on 186.

τοῦ νιφόεντος the message flashed forth like a beacon from that snow-crowned range which the Thebans see to the west. I have elsewhere noted some features of the view from the Dryoscephalae pass over Mount Cithaeron:—“At a turn of the road the whole plain of Boeotia bursts upon the sight, stretched out far below us. There to the north-west soars up Helicon, and beyond it, Parnassus; and though this is the middle of May, their higher cliffs are still crowned with dazzling snow. Just opposite, nearly due north, is Thebes, on a low eminence with a range of hills behind it, and the waters of Lake Copais to the north-west, gleaming in the afternoon sun.” (, p. 75.)

Join τὸν ἄδηλον ἄνδρα , and take πάντα as neut. plur., “by all means.” The adverbial πάντα is very freq. in Soph., esp. with adj., as Soph. Aj. 911 ὁ πάντα κωφός, ὁ πάντ’ ἄϊδρις· but also occurs with verb, as Soph. Trach. 338 τούτων ἔχω γὰρ πάντ’ ἐπιστήμην ἐγώ : Here, the emphasis on πάντα would partly warrant us in taking it as acc. sing. masc., subject to ἰχνεύειν. But, though the masc. nominative πᾶς sometimes = πᾶς τις, it may be doubted whether Soph. would have thus used the ambiguous πάντα alone for the acc. sing. masc. Ellendt compares 226, but there πάντα is acc. plur. neut.

πέτρας ἰσόταυρος is J. F. Martin's and E. L. Lushington's brilliant emendation of πετραῖος ὁ ταῦρος, the reading of the first hand in L. It is at once closer to the letters, and more poetical, than πέτρας ἅτε ταῦρος (Dorville, —where the use of ἅτε is un-Attic), πέτρας ἴσα ταύροις (M. Schmidt), or πέτρας ὡς ταῦρος, which last looks like a prosaic correction. I suppose the corruption to have arisen thus. A transcriber who had before him ΠΕΤΡΑΣΙΣΟΤΑΥΡΟΣ took the first O for the art., and then amended ΠΕΤΡΑΣΙΣ into the familiar word ΠΕΤΡΑΙΟΣ. With a cursive MS. this would have been still easier, since in πετρασισοταυρος the first ς might have been taken for ο (not a rare mistake), and then a simple transposition of ι and the supposed ο would have given πετραιος. It is true that such compounds with ἰσο usu. mean, not merely “like,” but “as good as” or “no better than”: e.g. ἰσοδαίμων, ἰσόθεος, ἰσόνεκυς, ἰσόνειρος, ἰσόπαις, ἰσόπρεσβυς. Here, however, ἰσόταυρος can well mean “wild” or “fierce of heart” as a bull. And we know that in the lost Κρέουσα Soph. used ἰσοθάνατος in a way which seemed too bold to Pollux (6. 174 οὐ πάνυ ἀνεκτόν), —probably in the sense of “dread as death” (cp. Soph. Aj. 215 θανάτῳ γὰρ ἴσον πάθος ἐκπεύσεἰ. The bull is the type of a savage wanderer who avoids his fellows. Soph. in a lost play spoke of a bull “that shuns the herd,” Bekk. 459.31 ἀτιμαγέλης· ὁ ἀποστάτης τῆς ἀγέλης ταῦρος· οὕτω Σοφοκλῆς.Verg. Georg. 3.225 (taurus) Victus abit, longeque ignotis exulat oris. Theocr. 14.43 αἶνός θην λέγεταί τις, ἔβα καὶ ταῦρος ἀν’ ὕλαν : a proverb ἐπὶ τῶν μὴ ἀναστρεφόντων(schol.). The image also suggests the fierce despair of the wretched outlaw: Aesch. Lib. 275 ἀποχρημάτοισι ζημίαις ταυρούμενον, “stung to fury by the wrongs that keep me from my heritage”: Eur. Med. 92 ὄμμα ταυρουμένην : Aristoph. Frogs 804 ἔβλεψε γοῦν ταυρηδὸν ἐγκύψας κάτω : Plat. Phaedo 117b ταυρηδὸν ὑποβλέψας πρὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον. With regard to the reading πετραῖος ὁ ταῦρος, see Appendix.

χηρεύων solitary, as one who is ἀφρήτωρ, ἀθέμιστος, ἀνέστιος(Hom. Il. 9.63): he knows the doom which cuts him off from all human fellowship (236 f.). Aesch. Eum. 656 ποία δὲ χέρνιψ φρατέρων προσδέξεται;

τὰ μεσόμφαλα γᾶς μαντεῖα =τὰ ἀπὸ μέσου ὀμφαλοῦ γᾶς: Soph. El. 1386 δωμάτων ὑπόστεγοι =ὑπὸ στέγῃ δωμάτων: Eur. Phoen. 1351 λευκοπήχεις κτύπους χεροῖν. The ὀμφαλός in the Delphian temple (Aesch. Eum. 40), a large white stone in the form of a half globe, was held to mark the spot at which the eagles from east and west had met: hence Pindar calls Delphi itself μέγαν ὀμφαλὸν εὐρυκόλπου | … χθονός(Pind. N. 7.33):Liv. 38.48 Delphos, umbilicum orbis terrarum.

ἀπονοσφίζων trying to put away (from himself): the midd. (cp. 691) would be more usual, but poetry admits the active: 894 ψυχᾶς ἀμύνειν: Eur. Orest. 294 ἀνακάλυπτε … κάρα : Pind. P. 4.106 κομίζων =κομιζόμενος (seeking to recover): Soph. OC 6 φέροντα =φερόμενον. In Soph. Phil. 979 ἀπονοσφίζειν τινά τινος = to rob one of a thing: but here we cannot render “frustrating.”

ζῶντα “ living,” i.e. operative, effectual; see on 45 ζώσας.

περιποτᾶται the doom pronounced by Apollo hovers around the murderer as the οἷστρος around some tormented animal: he cannot shake off its pursuit. The haunting thoughts of guilt are objectively imaged as terrible words ever sounding in the wanderer's ears.

The Chorus have described the unknown murderer as they imagine him—a fugitive in remote places. They now touch on the charge laid against Oedipus, —but only to say that it lacks all evidence. δεινὰ μὲν οὖν .οὖν marks the turning to a new topic, with something of concessive force: “ it is true that the murderer is said to be here”: μὲν is answered by δὲ after λέξω . For μὲν οὖν with this distributed force, cp. Soph. OC 664,Soph. Ant. 65: for the composite μὲν οὖν( = “nay rather”), below, 705.

δεινὰ is adverbial: for (1) ταράσσει could not mean κινεῖ, stirs up, raises, dread questions: (2) δοκοῦντα, ἀποφάσκοντα are acc. sing. masc., referring to με understood. The schol., οὔτε πιστὰ οὔτε ἄπιστα, has favoured the attempt to take the participles as acc. neut. plur., ἀποφάσκοντα being explained as “negative” in the sense of “admitting of negation,” ἀπόφασιν καὶ ἀπιστίαν δεχόμενα (Triclinius). This is fruitless torture of language. Nor will the conj. ἀπαρέσκοντ’ (Blaydes) serve: for, even if the Chorus found the charge credible, they would not find it pleasing. δοκοῦντα is not “believing,” but “ approving.” Cp. Soph. Ant. 1102 καὶ ταῦτ’ ἐπαινεῖς καὶ δοκεῖς παρεικαθεῖν; “and you recommend this course, and approve of yielding?” The pregnant force of δοκοῦντα is here brought out by the direct contrast with ἀποφάσκοντα . In gauging the rarer uses of particular words by an artist in language so subtle and so bold as Soph. we must never neglect the context.

λέξω probably deliberative aor. subj.: though it might be fut. indic. (cp. 1419, and n. on Soph. OC 310).

ἐνθάδε the actual situation, implies the known facts of the past; ὀπίσω refers to the seer's hint of the future (v. 453 φανήσεται κ.τ.λ.): cp. Hom. Od. 2.482 σεῖο δ’, Ἀχιλλεῦ, | οὔτις ἀνὴρ προπάροιθε μακάρτατος, οὔτ’ ἄρ’ ὀπίσσω (nor will be hereafter).

ἢ Λαβδακίδαις ἢ τῷ Πολύβου A quarrel might have originated with either house. This is what the disjunctive statement marks: since ἔκειτο , “had been made,” implies “had been provoked.” But we see the same Greek tendency as in the use of τε καί where καί alone would be more natural: Aesch. PB 927 τό τ’ ἄρχειν καὶ τὸ δουλεύειν δίχα : cp. Hor. Ep. 1.2.12 Inter Hectora Priamiden animosum atque inter Achillen.

πρὸς ὅτου In the antistr., 509, the words γὰρ ἐπ’ αὐτῷ are undoubtedly sound: here then we need to supply ¯¯ ˘˘ or ˘ ¯¯ ˘. I incline to believe that the loss has been that of a participle going with βασάνῳ. Had this been βασανίζων , the iteration would help to account for the loss. Reading πρὸς ὅτου δὴ βασανίζων βασάνῳ , I should take πρὸς with βασάνῳ : “testing on the touchstone whereof” —“using which(νεῖκος) as a test.” [;Receiving my βασανίζων, Kennedy (ed. 1885) replaces the word βασάνῳ by πιθανῶς.]; To Brunck's βασάνῳ χρησάμενος ( Plat. Laws 946c βασάνοις χρώμενοι ) the objections are (1) the aorist part. where we need the pres., (2) the tame and prosaic phrase. Wolff writes, πρὸς ὅτου δή, βασάνῳ <πίστιν ἔχων>: Wecklein and Mekler (in his recension of Dindorf's ed., Teubner, 1885) indicate a lacuna, ¯˘˘¯, after βασάνῳ. Two other courses of emendation are possible: (i) To supply after ἔμαθον something to express the informant, as τινος ἀστῶν or, προφέροντος, when πρὸς ὅτου would mean “at whose suggestion.” This remedy seems to me improbable. (ii) To supply σύν and an adj. for βασάνῳ, as σὺν ἀληθεῖ β., or β. σὺν φανερᾷ. As the mutilated verse stands in the MSS., it cannot, I think, be translated without some violence to Greek idiom. The most tolerable version would be this: —“setting out from which(πρὸς ὅτου neut., referring to νεῖκος), I can with good warrant(βασάνῳ) assail the public fame of Oed.” Then βασάνῳ would be an instrumental dative equivalent to βάσανον ἔχων: and πρὸς ὅτου would be like 1236 πρὸς τίνος ποτ’ αἰτίας; Soph. Ant. 51 πρὸς αὐτοφώρων ἀμπλακημάτων· πρός denoting the source back to which the act can be traced.

ἐπὶ φάτιν εἶμι a phrase from war: it is unnecessary to suppose tmesis: Hdt. 1.157 στρατὸν ἐπ’ ἑωυτὸν ἰόντα : Eur. IA 349 ταῦτα μέν σε πρῶτ’ ἐπῆλθον, ἵνα σε πρῶθ’ ηὗρον κακόν, censured thee: Eur. Andr. 688 ταῦτ’ εὖ φρονῶν σ’ ἐπῆλθον, οὐκ ὀργῆς χάριν.

The gen. θανάτων after ἐπίκουρος is not objective, “against” (as Xen. Mem. 4.3.7 πῦρ … ἐπίκουρον … ψύχους ), but causal, “on account of”; being softened by the approximation of ἐπίκουρος to the sense of τιμωρός: Eur. El. 135 ἔλθοις τῶνδε πόνων ἐμοὶ τᾷ μελέᾳ λυτήρ, | … πατρί θ’ αἱμάτων | ἐχθίστων ἐπίκουρος (= “avenger”). The allusive plur. Θανάτων is like αἱμάτων there, and δεσποτῶν θανάτοισι Aesch. Lib. 52 : cp. above 366, τοῖς φιλτάτοις.

It is true (οὖν , cp. 483) that gods indeed ( μέν ) have perfect knowledge. But there is no way of deciding in a strict sense ( ἀληθής ) that any mortal who essays to read the future attains to more than I do— i.e. to more than conjecture: though I admit that one man may excel another in the art of interpreting omens according to the general rules of augural lore ( σοφίᾳ : cp. σοφὸς οἰωνοθέτας 484). The disquieted speaker clings to the negative argument: “Teiresias is more likely to be right than a common man: still it is not certain that he is right.”

πλέον φέρεται achieves a better result, —deserves to be ranked above me: Hdt. 1.31 δοκέων πάγχυ δευτερεῖα γῶν οἴσεσθαι, “thinking that he was sure of the second place at least.”

παραμείψειεν Eur. IA 145 μή τίς σε λάθῃ | τροχαλοῖσιν ὅχοις παραμειψαμένη | … ἀπήνη.

πρὶν ἴδοιμ’ After an optative of wish or hypothesis in the principal clause, πρίν regularly takes optat.: Soph. Phil. 961 ὄλοιο μήπω πρὶν μάθοιμ’ εἰ καὶ πάλιν | γνώμην μετοίσεις. So after ὅπως, ὅστις, ἵνα, etc.: Aesch. Eum. 297 ἕλθοι … | ὅπως γένοιτο : Eur. Hel. 435 τίς ἂν … μόλοι | ὄστις διαγγείλειε … ;

ὀρθὀν the notion is not “upright,” established, but “straight,” — justified by proof, as by the application of a rule: cp. Aristoph. Birds 1004 ὀρθῷ μετρήσω κανόνι προστιθείς : so below, 853, Soph. Ant. 1178 τοὔπος ὡς ἄρ’ ὀρθὸν ἤνυσας. Hartung (whom Wolff follows) places the comma ofter ὀρθόν , not after ἔπος : “ until I see (it) established, I will not approve the word of censurers”: but the acc. ἔπος could not be governed by καταφαίην in this sense.

καταφαίην Aristot. Met. 3.6 ἀδύνατον ἅμα καταφάναι καὶ ἀποφάναι ἀληθῶς. Plat. Def. 413c ἀλήθεια ἕξις ἐν καταφάσει καὶ ἀποφάσει.

ἐπ’ αὐτῷ against him: cp. Soph. OC 1472.

πτερόεσσα … κόρα the Sphinx having the face of a maiden, and the winged body of a lion: Eur. Phoen. 1042 ἁ πτεροῦσσα παρθένος. See Appendix, n. on v. 508.

Βασάνῳ with ἁδύπολις only, which, as a dat. of manner, it qualifies with nearly adverbial force: commending himself to the city under a practical test. — i.e. ἔργῳ καὶ οὐ λόγῳ. Pind. P. 10.67 πειρῶντι δὲ καὶ χρυσὸς ἐν βασάνῳ πρέπει | καὶ νόος ὀρθός : “an upright mind, like gold, is shown by the touchstone, when one assays it”: as base metal τρίβῳ τε καὶ προσβολαῖς | μελαμπαγὴς πέλει | δικαιωθείς Aesch. Ag. 391 .

ἁδύπολις in the sense of ἁνδάνων τῇ πόλει (cp. Pind. N. 8.38 ἀστοῖς ἀδών ): boldly formed on the analogy of compounds in which the adj. represents a verb governing the accus., as φιλόπολις =φιλῶν τὴν πόλιν, ὀρθόπολις (epithet of a good dynasty) = ὀρθῶν τὴν πόλιν (Pind. O. 2.7). In Soph. Ant. 370 ὑψίπολις is analogous, though not exactly similar, if it means ὑψηλὸς ἐν πόλει, and not ὑψηλὴν πόλιν ἔχων (like δικαιόπολις =δικαίας πόλεις ἔχουσα, of Aegina, Pind. P. 8.22 ).

τῷ “therefore,” as Hom. Il. 1.418 etc.; joined with νύ, Hom. Il. 7.352 etc.: Plat. Theaet. 179d τῷ τοι, ὦ φλἜ Θεόδωρε, μᾶλλον σκεπτέον ἐξ ἀρχῆς.

ἀπ’ on the part of: Soph. Trach. 471 κἀπ’ ἐμοῦ κτήσει χάριν. The hiatus after τῷ is an epic trait, occasionally allowed in tragic lyrics, as in the case of interjections (cp. Soph. Phil. 832 n.). Here the stress on τῷ, and the caesura, both excuse it. Cp. Soph. Aj. 194 ἀλλ’ ἄνα ἐξ ἑδράνων : Soph. El. 148 ἃ Ἴτυν : Soph. El. 157 οἵα Χρυσόθεμις ζώει καὶ Ἰφιάνασσα (cp. Hom. Il. 9.145). Neither πρὸς (Elmsley) nor παρ’ (Wolff) is desirable.

ἀτλητῶν The verb ἀτλητέω, found only here, implies an active sense of ἄτλητος, impatiens: as μεμπτός, pass. in Soph. OC 1036, is active in Soph. Trach. 446. So from the act. sense of the verbal adj. come ἀλαστέω, ἀναισθητέω, ἀναισχυντέω, ἀνελπιστέω, ἀπρακτέω.

πρός γ’ ἐμοῦ Soph. Trach. 738 τί δ’ ἐστίν, ὦ παῖ, πρός γ’ ἑμοῦ στυγούμενον; The conj. πρός τί μου was prompted by the absence of τι with φέρον : but cp. Aesch. Ag. 261 σὺ δ’ εἴτε (v. l. εἴ τἰ κεδνὸν εἴτε μὴ πεπυσμένη: Plat. Soph. 237c χαλεπὸν ἤρου : Plat. Meno 97e τῶν ἐκείνου ποιημάτων λελυμένον μὲν ἐκτῆσθαι οὐ πολλῆς τινος ἄξιόν ἐστι τιμῆς.

For the single εἴτε , cp. Soph. Trach. 236: Plat. Laws 907d ἐάν τις ἀσεβῇ λόγοις εἴτ’ ἔργοις· Pind. P. 4.78 ξεῖνος αἴτ’ ὢν ἀστός.

φέρον 519 φέροντι: 520 φέρει: such repetitions are not rare in the best Greek and Latin writers. Cp. 158, 159 (ἄμβροτ’), 1276, 1278 (ὁμοῦ ),Lucr. 2.54-59 tenebris—tenebris—tenebris—tenebras. See on Soph. OC 554,Soph. Ant. 76.

βίου τοῦ μακρ Soph. Aj. 473 τοῦ μακροῦ χρῄζειν βίου : Soph. OC 1214 αἱ μακραὶ | ἁμέραι, where the art. refers to the normal span of human life. For βίος μακραίων cp. Soph. Trach. 791 δυσπάρευνον λέκτρον.

εἰς ἁπλοῦν The charge does not hurt him in a single aspect only,—i.e. merely in his relation to his family and friends (ἰδίᾀ. It touches him also in relation to the State (κοινᾖ, since treachery to his kinsman would be treason to his king. Hence it “tends to the largest result” ( φέρει ἐς μέγιστον ), bearing on the sum of his relations as man and citizen. The thought is, ἡ ζημία οὐχ ἁπλῆ ἐστιν ἀλλὰ πολυειδής (cp. Plat. Phaedrus 270d ἁπλοῦν ἢ πολυειδές ἐστιν ): but the proper antithesis to ἁπλῆ is merged in the comprehensive μέγιστον.

ἀλλὰ … μὲν δὴ cp. Soph. Trach. 627.

ἦλθε … τάχ’ ἂν , “might perhaps have come.” ἧλθεν ἂν is a potential indicative, denoting for past time what ἔλθοι ἂν denotes for future time. That is, as ἔλθοι ἂν can mean, “it might come,” so ἦλθεν ἂν can mean, “it might have come.” ἦλθεν ἂν does not necessarily imply that the suggested possibility is contrary to fact; i.e., it does not necessarily imply, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἦλθεν. Cp. Dem. 37.57 πῶς ἂν ὁ μὴ παρὼν … ἐγώ τί σε ἠδίκησα; “how was I likely to do you any wrong?” [;This was the view taken in my first edition. Goodwin, in the new ed. of his (1889), has illustrated the “potential” indicative with ἄν (sect. 244), and has also shown at length that ἦλθεν ἂν does not necessarily imply the unreality of the supposition (sect. 412). This answers the objection which led me, in a second edition, to suggest that ταχ’ ἂν was here no more than τάχα, and that the usage arose from an ellipse (ἦλθε, τάχα δ’ ἂν ἔλθοἰ. In Soph. OC 964 ff. also I should now take ἦν … τάχ’ ἂν as = “perchance it may have been.”];

I formerly kept τοῦ πρὸς δ’, with L. But the anastrophe of πρός seems to be confined to instances in which it is immediately followed by an attributive genitive, equiv. to an epithet: see on 178. For πρὸς τοῦ δ’ we could indeed cite Aesch. Eum. 593 πρὸς τοῦ δ’ ἐπείσθης καὶ τίνος βουλεύμασιν; But I now prefer τοὔπος δ’ , because (1) Creon seems to ask the Chorus for a confirmation of the almost incredible report that Oed. had brought such a charge: he would naturally be less concerned to know whether any one had uttered it before Oed. (2) Verse 527 favours τοὔπος. —Cp. 848 ἀλλ’ ὡς φανέν γε τοὔπος.

ηὐδᾶτο these things were said (by Oedipus); but I do not know how much the words meant; i.e. whether he spoke at random, or from information which had convinced his judgment.

The reading ἐξ ὀμμάτων δ’ ὀρθῶν τε gives a fuller emphasis than ἐξ ὀμμάτων ὀρθῶν δὲ : when δ’ had been omitted, τε was naturally changed to δέ . The place of τε (as to which both verse and prose allowed some latitude) is warranted, since ὀμμάτων‐ὀρθῶν opposed to ὀπθῆς φρενός forms a single notion. ἐξ = “with”: Soph. El. 455 ἐξ ὑπερτέρας χερός : Soph. Trach. 875 ἐξ ἀκινήτου ποδός. ὀμμάτων ὀρθῶν : cp. 1385: Soph. Aj. 477 κεἰ μὴ τόδ’ ὄμμα καὶ φρένες διάστροφοι | γνώμης ἀπῇξαν τῆς ἐμῆς :Eur. Her. 931 (when the frenzy comes on Heracles) ὁ δ’ οὐκέθ’ αὑτὸς ἦν, | ἀλλ’ ἐν στροφαῖσιν ὀμμάτων ἐφθαρμένος, κ.τ.λ. In Hor. Carm. 1.3.18 Bentley gave rectis oculis for siccis.

οὐκ οἶδ’ Creon has asked: “Did any trace of madness show itself in the bearing or in the speech of Oedipus?” The Chorus reply: “Our part is only to hear, not to criticise.” These nobles of Thebes (1223) have no eyes for indiscretion in their sovereign master.

Join οὗτος σύ : cp. 1121: Eur. Hec. 1280 οὗτος σύ, μαίνει καὶ κακῶν ἐρᾷς τυχεῖν; where οὗτος, σὺ μαίνει is impossible.

τόλμης gen. of quality (or material); cp. Soph. Ant. 114 χιόνος πτέρυγι : Soph. El. 19 ἄστρων εὐφρόνη.

τοσόνδε τόλμης‐πρόσωπον like τοὐμὸν φρενῶν‐ὄνειρον (Soph. El. 1390),νεῖκος‐ἀνδρῶν ξύναιμον (Soph. Ant. 793).

φονεὺς ὢν κ.τ.λ. ‘who art the proved assassin … and palpable robber …’

τῆς ἐμῆς closely follows τοῦδε τἀνδρός , as Soph. OC 1329: so Soph. Aj. 865 μυθήσομαι immediately follows Αἴας θροεῖ. If a Greek speaker rhetorically refers to himself in the third person, he usu. reverts as soon as possible to the first.

ἔν μοι The MSS. have ἐν ἐμοί , making a verse like Soph. Trach. 4,ἐγὼ | δὲ τὸν ἐμ|όν, καὶ πρὶν εἰς Ἅιδου μολεῖν. But such a verse is rare, and unpleasing. When a tribrach holds the second place in a tragic senarius, we usually find that (a) the tribrach is a single word, as Soph. Phil. 1314 ἥσθην | πατέρα | τὸν ἀμὸν εὐλογοῦντά σε : or (b) there is a caesura between the first and the second foot, as Soph. OC 26 ἀλλ’ ὅς|τις ὁ τόπ|ος : Soph. Phil. 1232 παρ’ οὖπερ ἔλαβον : Eur. Tro. 496 τρυχηρ|ὰ περὶ | τρυχηρὸν εἱμένην χρόα : Eur. Phoen. 511 ἐλθόντ|α σὺν ὅπλ|οις τόνδε καὶ πορθοῦντα γῆν, —if there we should not read ἐλθόντ’ ἐν ὅπλοις. On such a point as ἐμοὶ versus μοι the authority of our MSS. is not weighty. And the enclitic μοι suffices: for in this verse the stress is on the verbal notion ( ἰδών ), — Creon's supposed insight: the reference to Oedipus is drawn out in the next two verses by the verbs in the 1st person, γνωριοῖμι—ἀλεξοίμην.

ἰδών … ἐν prose would say ἐνιδών, either with or without ἐν (Thuc. 1.95:ὅπερ καὶ ἐν τῷ Παυσανίᾳ ἐνεῖδον: 3. 30 ὃ … τοῖς πολεμίοις ἐνορῶν): cp. Hdt. 1.37 οὔτε τινὰ δειλίην παριδών μοι (remarked in me) οὔτε ἀθυμίην. ποεῖν; Attic inscrr. of c. 450-300 B.C. omit the ι before ε or η (not before ο or ω), as L usu. does, when the 1st syll. is short: Soph. Phil. 120 n.

ἢ τοὔργον κ.τ.λ. Supply νομίσας or the like from ἰδών : “thinking that either I would not see, … or would not ward it off”: an example of what Greek rhetoric called χιασμός (from the form of X), since the first clause corresponds with μωρία, and the second with δειλία.

γνωριοῖμι “Futures in ‐ἰσω are not common in the good Attic period: but we have no trustworthy collections on this point”: Curtius, 11.312, Eng. tr. 481. On the other hand, as he says, more than 20 futures in ‐ιῶ can be quoted from Attic literature. And though some ancient grammarians call the form “Attic,” it is not exclusively so: instances occur both in Homer (as Hom. Il. 10.331 ἀγλαϊεῖσθαι, cp. Monro, §63) and in Herodotus (as Hdt. 8.68 ἀτρεμιεῖν, besides about ten other examples in Hdt.). Thus the evidence for γνωριοῖμι outweighs the preference of our MSS. for γνωρίσοιμι.

ἢ οὐκ The κοὐκ of the MSS. cannot be defended here—where stress is laid on the dilemma of δειλία or μωρία— by instances of ἤ … τε carelessly put for ἤ—ἤ in cases where there is no such sharp distinction of alternatives: as Hom. Il. 2.289 ἢ παῖδες νεαροὶ χῆραί τε γυναῖκες : Aesch. Eum. 524 ἢ πόλις βροτός θ’ ὁμοίως.

ἀλεξοίμην see on 171.

πλήθους refers to the rank and file of the aspirant's following, —his popular partisans or the troops in his pay; Φίλων , to his powerful connections, —the men whose wealth and influence support him. Thus (542) χρήμασιν is substituted for φίλων. Soph. is thinking of the historical Greek τύραννος, who commonly began his career as a demagogue, or else “arose out of the bosom of the oligarchies” (Grote, vol. 3 p. 25).

ὃ a thing which, marking the general category in which the τυραννίς is to be placed: cp. Xen. Mem. 3.9.8 φθόνον δὲ σκοπῶν ὅ τι εἴη. So the neut. adj. is used, Eur. Hipp. 109 τερπνὸν … | τράπεζα πλήρης : Eur. Hel. 1687 γνώμης, ὃ πολλαῖς ἐν γυναιξὶν οὐκ ἔνι.

οἶσθ’ ὡς πόησον; In more than twelve places of the tragic or comic poets we have this or a like form where a person is eagerly bespeaking attention to a command or request. Instead of οἶσθ’ ὡς δεῖ σε ποιῆσαι; or οἶσθ’ ὥς σε κελεύω ποιῆσαι; the anxious haste of the speaker substitutes an abrupt imperative: οἶσθ’ ὡς ποίησον; That the imperative was here felt as equivalent to “you are to do,” appears clearly from the substitutes which sometimes replace it. Thus we find (1) fut. indic.; Eur. Cycl. 131 οἶσθ’ οὖν ὃ δράσεις; Eur. Med. 600 οἶσθ’ ὡς μετεύξει καὶ σοφωτέρα φανεῖ; where the conjectures δρᾶσον (Canter) and μέτευξαι (Elmsley) are arbitrary: so with the 1st pers., Eur. IT 759 ἀλλ’ οἶσθ’ ὃ δράσω; (2) a periphrasis: Eur. Supp. 932 ἀλλ’ οἶσθ’ ὃ δρᾶν σε βούλομαι τούτων πέρι; Only a sense that the imperat. had this force could explain the still bolder form of the phrase with 3rd pers.: Eur. IT 1203 οἶσθά νυν ἅ μοι γενέσθω =ἃ δεῖ γενέσθαι μοι: Aristoph. Ach. 1064 οἶσθ’ ὡς ποιείτω =ὡς δεῖ ποιεῖν αὐτήν, where ποιεῖτε is a conjecture. There is no reason, in logic or in grammar, against this “subordinate imperative,” which the flexible Greek idiom allowed. Few would now be satisfied with the old theory that οἶσθ’ ὡς ποίησον stood, by transposition, for ποίησον, οἶσθ’ ὡς;

For κακὸς with inf., cp. Thuc. 6.38 sect. 2 ἡμεῖς δὲ κακοὶ … προφυλάξασθαι. σοῦ , emphatic by place and pause: cp. Soph. El. 1505 χρῆν δ’ εὐθὺς εἶναι τήνδε τοῖς πᾶσιν δίκην | ὅστις πέρα πράσσειν γε τῶν νόμων θέλει, | κτείνειν· τὸ γὰρ πανοῦργον οὐκ ἂν ἦν πολύ.

ηὕρηκ’ as to the augment, cp. 68 n.

τοῦτ’ αὐτὸ κ.τ.λ. Oedipus flings back Creon's phrases, as the Antigone of Aeschylus bitterly echoes those of the κῆρυξ ( αὐδῶ—αὐδῶ—τραχύς—τράχυν’, Aesch. Seven 1042 ff. ). An accent of rising passion is similarly given to the dialogue between Menelaus and Teucer ( Soph. Aj. 1142 ἤδη ποτ’ εἶδον ἄνδρ’ ἐγώ — 1150 ἐγὼ δέ γ’ ἄνδρ’ ὄπωπα). Aristophanes parodies this style, Aristoph. Ach. 1097 ΛΑΜΑΧΟΣ. παῖ, παῖ, φέρ’ ἔξω δεῦρο τὸν γύλιον ἐμοί. ΔΙΚΑΙΟΠΟΛΙΣ. παῖ, παῖ, φέρ’ ἔξω δεῦρο τὴν κίστην ἐμοί.

ὡς ἐρῶ how I will state this very matter (my supposed hostility to you): i.e. in what a light I will place it, by showing that I had no motive for it.

κτῆμα cp. Soph. Ant. 1050 ὅσῳ κράτιστον κτημάτων εὐβουλία.

αὐθαδίαν poet. for αὐθάδειαν (Aesch. PB 79, etc.).

τοῦ νοῦ χωρίς for αὐθάδεια is not necessarily devoid of intelligence: as Heracles says (Eur. Her. 1243)αὔθαδες ὁ θεός· πρὸς δὲ τοὺς θεοὺς ἐγώ.

ἢ οὐκ Aesch. Seven 100 ἀκούετ’ ἢ οὐκ ἀκούετ’ ἀσπίδων κτύπον; Hom. Od. 4.682 ἢ εἰπέμεναι δμωῇσιν Ὀδυσσῆος θείοιο. Such “synizesis” points to the rapidity and ease of ancient Greek pronunciation: see J. H. H. Schmidt, §3 (p. 9 of Eng. tr. by Prof. J. W. White).

While such words as ἀριστόμαντις, ὀρθόμαντις are seriously used in a good sense, σεμνόμαντις refers ironically to a solemn manner: cp. σεμνολογεῖν, σεμνοπροσωπεῖν, σεμνοπανοῦργος, σεμνοπαράσιτος, etc.

αὑτός “I am the same man in regard to my opinion” (dat. of respect): not, “am identical with my former opinion” (when the dat. would be like Φοίβῳ in 285). Thuc. can dispense with a dative, 2. 61 καὶ ἐγὼ μὲν ὁ αὐτός εἰμι καὶ οὐκ ἐξίσταμαι: though he adds it in 3. 38 ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ὁ αὐτός εἰμι τῇ γνώμῃ.

δέδρακε Creon has heard only what Oedipus said of him: he does not yet know what Teiresias said of Oedipus (cp. 574). Hence he is startled at the mention of Laius.

οὐ γὰρ ἐννοῶ i.e. “I do not understand what Laius has to do with this matter.”

χειρώματι deed of a (violent) hand: Aesch. Seven 1022 τυμβόχοα χειρώματα = service of the hands in raising a mound. In the one other place where Aesch. has the word, it means “prey” ( Aesch. Ag. 1326 δούλης θανσύσης εὐμαροῦς χειρώματος ): Soph. uses it only here (though he has δυσχείρωμα Soph. Ant. 126 ): Eur. never.

μακροὶ κ.τ.λ.: long and ancient times would be measured; i.e. the reckoning of years from the present time would go far back into the past; μακροὶ denoting the course, and παλαιοί the point to which it is retraced. Some sixteen years may be supposed to have elapsed since the death of Laius.

ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ slightly contemptuous. ἐν of a pursuit or calling: Hdt. 2.82 τῶν Ἑλλήνων οἱ ἐν ποιήσει γενόμενοι : Thuc. 3.28 οἱ ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι : Isoc. 2.18 οἱ ἐν ταῖς ὀλιγαρχίαις καὶ ταῖς δημοκρατίαις (meaning, the administrators thereof): Plat. Phaedo 59a ὡς ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ ἡμῶν ὄντων : Plat. Laws 762a τῶν ἐν ταῖς γεωργίαις :Plat. Prot. 317c (Protagoras of himself as a σοφιστής) πολλά γε ἔτη ἤδη εἰμὶ ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ.

οὐδαμοῦ with ἑστῶτος πέλας , “when I was standing anywhere near”; but equivalent in force to, “on any occasion when I was standing near”: cp. Soph. Aj. 1281 ὃν οὐδαμοῦ φὴς οὐδὲ συμβῆναι ποδί.

παρέσχομεν we held it, as in duty bound: παρέχειν, as distinct from ἔχειν, expressing that it was something to be expected on their part. Cp. Soph. OC 1498 δικαίαν χάριν παρασχεῖν παθών. For παρέσχομεν after ἔσχομεν cp. 133 ἐπαξίως … ἀξίως: 575 μαθεῖν … : 576 ἐκμάνθαν.

τοσόνδε γ’ If we read τὸ σὸν δέ γ’ , the coarse and blunt τὸ σὸν would destroy the edge of the sarcasm. Nor would τὸ σὸν consist so well with the calm tone of Creon's inquiry in 571. τοσόνδε does not need δέ after it, since οἶσθα is a mocking echo of οἶδα. Cp. Eur. IT 554 OP. παῦσαί νυν ἤδη, μηδ’ ἐρωτήσῃς πέρα. ΙΦ. τοσόνδε γ’, εἰ ζῇ τοῦ ταλαιπώρου δάμαρ. Against the conject. τόσον δέ γ’ it is to be noted that Soph. has τόσος only in Soph. Aj. 185 (lyric, τόσσον), 277 (δὶς τόσ’), and Soph. Trach. 53 φράσαι τὸ σόν.

The simple answer would have been: —“that you prompted him to make his present charge”: but this becomes: —“that, if you had not prompted him, he would never have made it.” ξυνῆλθε : Aristoph. Kn. 1300 φασὶν ἀλλήαις συνελθεῖν τὰς τριήρεις ἐς λόγον, “the triremes laid their heads together”: Aristoph. Kn. 467 ἰδίᾳ δ’ ἐκεῖ τοῖς Λακεδαιμονίοις ξυγγίγνεται .

τὰς ἐμὰς the conject. τάσδ’ ἐμὰς mars the passage: “he would never have described this slaying of L. as mine.”

οὐκ ἂν εἶπε τὰς ἐμὰς Λαΐου διαφθοράς =οὐκ ἂν εἶπεν ὄτι ἐγὼ Λάϊον διέφθειρα, but with a certain bitter force added;—“we should never have heard a word of this slaying of Laius by me.” Soph. has purposely chosen a turn of phrase which the audience can recognise as suiting the fact that Oed. had slain Laius. For διαφθοράς instead of a clause with διαφθείρειν, cp. Thuc. 1.137 γράψας τὴν ἐκ Σαλαμῖνος προάγγελσιν τῆς ἀναχωρήσεως καὶ τὴν τῶν γεφυρῶν … οὐ διάλυσιν.

To write σοῦ instead of σου is not indeed necessary; but we thus obtain a better balance to κἀμοῦ. —μαθεῖν ταὔθ’ , to question in like manner and measure. ταῦθ’ (MSS.) might refer to the events since the death of Laius, but has less point.

οὐ γὰρ δὴ rejects an alternative: here, without γε, as Soph. Ant. 46: more often with it, as Soph. OC 110 (n.).

γήμας ἔχεις simply, I think, =γεγάμηκας, though the special use of ἔχειν ( Hom. Od. 4.569 ἔχεις Ἑλένην καί σφιν γαμβρὸς Διός ἐσσι ) might warrant the version, “hast married, and hast to wife.”

γῆς with ἄρχεις· ἴσον νέμων explains ταὐτά ,— “with equal sway” (cp. 201 κράτη νέμων, and 237): γῆς ἴσον νέμων would mean, “assigning an equal share of land.” The special sense of νέμων is sufficiently indicated by the context; cp. Pind. P. 3.70 ὃς Συρακόσσαισι νέμει βασιλεύς (rules at S.).

ᾖ θέλουσα cp. 126, 274, 747.

τρίτος marking the completion of the lucky number, as Soph. OC 8,Soph. Aj. 1174, Aesch. Eum. 759 (τρίτου | Σωτῆρος) : Menand. Sent. 231 θάλασσα καὶ πῦρ καὶ γυνὴ τρίτον κακόν. For the gen. ἐμοῦ , cp. 1163 ( του).

ἐνταῦθα γὰρ (yes indeed:) for otherwise your guilt would be less glaring; it is just this fact that deprives it of excuse.

διδοίης λόγον Hdt. 3.25 λόγον ἑωυτῷ δοὺς ὅτι … ἔμελλε κ.τ.λ. “on reflecting that,” etc.: Dem. 45.7 (the speech prob. belongs to the time of Dem.) λόγον δ’ ἐμαυτῷ διδοὺς εὑρίσκω κ.τ.λ. Distinguish the plur. in Plato's ποικίλῃ ποικίλους ψυχῇ … διδοὺς λόγους, applying speeches (Plat. Phaedrus 277c).

οὔτ’ αὐτὸς would have been naturally followed by οὔτ’ ἄλλῳ παραινοῖμ’ ἄν, but the form of the sentence changes to οὔτ’ ἄλλος (ἱμείρεἰ.

ἐκ σοῦ ἐκ is here a correct substitute for παρά, since the king is the ultimate source of benefits: Xen. Hell. 3.1.6 ἐκείνῳ δ’ αὕτη ἡ χώρα δῶρον ἐκ βασιλέως ἐδόθη.

φέρω =φέρομαι, as 1190, Soph. OC 6 etc.

κἂν ἄκων he would do much of his own good pleasure, but much also ( καὶ ) against it, under pressure of public duty.

οὔπω ironical: see on 105.

τὰ σὺν κέρδει καλά : honours which bring substantial advantage (real power and personal comfort), as opp. to honours in which outward splendour is joined to heavier care. Soph. El. 61 δοκῶ μέν, οὐδὲν ῥῆμα σὺν κέρδει κακόν : i.e. the sound matters not, if there is κέρδος, solid good.

πᾶσι χαίρω “all men wish me joy”: lit. “I rejoice with the consent of all men”: all are content that I should rejoice. Cp. Soph. OC 1446 ἀνάξιαι γὰρ πᾶσίν ἐστε δυστυχεῖν, all deem you undeserving of misfortune: Aristoph. Birds 445 πᾶσι νικᾶν τοῖς κριταῖς | καὶ τοῖς θεαταῖς πᾶσι. The phrase has been suggested by χαῖρέ μοι, but refers to the meaning rather than to the form of the greeting: i.e. πᾶσι χαίρω is not to be regarded as if it meant literally, “I have the word χαῖρε said to me by all.” This is one of the boldly subtle phrases in which the art of Soph. recalls that of Vergil. Others understand: (1) “I rejoice in all,” —instead of suspecting some, as the τύραννος does, who φθονέει … τοῖσι ἀρίστοισι … χαίρει δὲ τοῖσι κακίστοισι τῶν ἀστῶν Hdt. 3.80: (2) “I rejoice in relation to all”— i.e. am on good terms with all: (3) “I rejoice in the sight of all”: i.e. enjoy a happiness which is the greater because men see it: (4) “I rejoice in all things.” This last is impossible. Of the others, (1) is best, but not in accord with the supposed position of Oedipus ὁ πᾶσι κλεινός.

ἐκκαλοῦσι Those who have a boon to ask of Oed. come to the palace (or to Creon's own house, see on 637) and send in a message, praying Creon to speak with them. Seneca's Creon says ( 687) Solutus onere regio, regni bonis Fruor, domusque civium coetu viget. In Greek tragedy the king or some great person is often thus called forth. Cp. Aesch. Lib. 663: Orestes summons an οἰκέτης by knocking at the ἑρκεία πύλη, and, describing himself as a messenger, says —ἐξελθέτω τις δωμάτων τελεσφόρος | γυνὴ τόπαρχος, —when Clytaemnestra herself appears. So in Eur. Ba. 170 Teiresias says —τίς ἐν πύλαισι Κάδμον ἐκκαλεῖ δόμων; “where is there a servant at the doors to call forth Cadmus from the house?” —ἴτω τις, εἰσάγγελλε Τειρεσίας ὅτι | ζητεῖ νιν: then Cadmus comes forth. The active ἐκκαλεῖν is properly said (as there) of him who takes in the message, the middle ἐκκαλεῖσθαι of him who sends it in (Hdt. 8.19): but in Soph. Phil. 1264 ἐκκαλεῖσθε (n.) is an exception. Musgrave's αἰκάλλουσι is not a word which a man could complacently use to describe the treatment of himself by others. αἴκαλος. κόλαξ Hesych. (for ἀκ‐ίαλος, from the same rt., with the notion of soothing or stilling, as ἀκεῖσθαι, ἦκα, ἀκέων, ἄκασκα, ἀκασκαῖος ): Aristoph. Kn. 47 ὑποπεσὼν τὸν δεσπότην | ᾔκαλλ’, ἐθώπεῡ, ἐκολάκεῡ, “fawned, wheedled, flattered”: in tragedy only once, Eur. Andr. 630 φίλημ’ ἐδέξω, προδότιν αἰκάλλων κύνα.

τὸ … τυχεῖν sc. ὧν χρῄζουσιν. The reading ἅπαντ’ , whether taken as accus. after τυχεῖν (“to gain all things”), or as accus. of respect (“to succeed in all”) not only mars the rhythm but enfeebles the sense. When αὐτοῖσι was corrupted into αὐτοῖς, πᾶν was changed into ἅπαν , as it is in L. ἐνταῦθα =ἐν τῷ ἐκκαλεῖν με, in gaining my ear: cp. Soph. OC 585 ἐνταῦθα γάρ μοι κεῖνα συγκομίζεται, in this boon I find those comprised.

πῶς δῆτ’ Cp. Hdt. 5.106 (Histiaeus to Dareius) βασιλεῦ, κοῖον ἐφθέγξαο ἔπος; ἐμὲ βουλεῦσαι πρῆγμα ἐκ τοῦ σοί τι ἢ μέγα ἢ σμικρὸν ἔμελλε λυπηρὸν ἀνασχήσειν; τί δ’ ἂν ἐπιδιζήμενος ποιέοιμι ταῦτα; τεῦ δὲ ἐνδεὴς ἐών, τῷ πάρα μὲν πάντα ὅσαπερ σοί, πάντων δὲ πρὸς σέο βουλευμάτων ἐπακούειν ἀξιεῦμαι:

οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο κ.τ.λ. Creon has been arguing that he has no motive for treason. He now states a general maxim, “No mind would ever turn to treason, while it was sound.” As a logical inference, this holds good only of those who are in Creon's fortunate case. If, on the other hand, καλῶς φρονῶν means “alive to its own highest good,” and not merely to such self-interest as that of which Creon has spoken, then the statement has no strict connection with what precedes: it becomes a new argument of a different order, which might be illustrated from Plato's κακὸς ἑκὼν οὐδείς. It would be forcing the words to render: “A base mind could not approve itself wise,” i.e. “such treason as you ascribe to me would be silly.”

ἔλεγχον accus. in apposition with the sentence: Eur. Her. 57 ἡ δυσπραξία | ἦς μήποθ’, ὅστις καὶ μέσως εὔνους ἐμοί, | τύχοι, φίλων ἔλεγχον ἀψευδέστετον.

τοῦτ’ ἄλλο =τοῦτο δέ. Soph. has τοῦτο μέν irregularly followed by τοῦτ’ αὖθις (Soph. Ant. 165), by εἶτα (Soph. Phil. 1345), by δέ (Soph. Aj. 670,Soph. OC 440).

τῷ τερασκόπῳ This title (given to Apollo, Aesch. Eum. 62) has sometimes a shade of scorn, as when it is applied by the mocking Pentheus to Teiresias (Eur. Ba. 248), and by Clytaemnestra to Cassandra (Aesch. Ag. 1440).

χωρὶς “apart”: i.e. solely on the strength of your own guess (γνώμη ἄδηλος), without any evidence that I falsified the oracle or plotted with the seer.

τὸν παρ’ αὑτῷ βίοτον κ.τ.λ.: the life is hospes comesque corporis, dearest guest and closest companion: cp. Plat. Gorg. 479b μὴ ὑγιεῖ ψυχῇ συνοικεῖν : and the address of Archilochus to his own θυμός as his trusty ally (Bergk fr. 66), —θυμέ, θύμ’ ἀμηχάνοισι κήδεσιν κυκώμενε, | ἐνάδευ, δυσμενῶν δ’ ἀλέξευ προσβαλὼν ἐναντίον | στέρνον.

φιλεῖ sc. τις, supplied from αὑτῷ : Hes. WD 12 τὴν μέν κεν ἐπαινήσειε νοήσας | ἡ δ’ ἐπιμωμητή.

χρόνος cp. Pind. fr. 132 ἀνδρῶν δικαίων χρόνος σωτὴρ ἄριστος: Pind. O. 2.53 ὅ τ’ ἐξελέγχων μόνος | ἀλάθειαν ἐτήτυμον | χρόνος.

κακὸν δὲ the sterling worth of the upright man is not fully appreciated until it has been long tried: but a knave is likely (by some slip) to afford an early glimpse of his real character. The Greek love of antithesis has prompted this addition, which is relevant to Creon's point only as implying, “if I had been a traitor, you would probably have seen some symptom of it ere now.” Cp. Pind. P. 2.90 (speaking of the φθονεροἴ· στάθμας δέ τινος ἑλκόμενοι | περισσᾶς ἐνέπαξαν ἕλκος ὀδυναρὸν ἑᾷ πρόσθε καρδίᾳ, | πρὶν ὅσα φροντίδι μητίονται τυχεῖν. Soph. Ant. 493 φιλεῖ δ’ ὁ θυμὸς πρόσθεν ᾑρῆσθαι κλοπεὺς | τῶν μηδὲν ὀρθῶς ἐν σκότῳ τεχνωμένων.

The infin. Φρονεῖν is like an accus. of respect (e.g. βουλήν) construed with both adjectives: “in counsel, the quick are not sure.” Cp. Thuc. 1.70 ἐπινοῆσαι ὀξεῖς.

ταχύς τις χωρῇ advances in quick fashion; nearly = ταχέως πως. Soph. Aj. 1266 φεῦ, τοῦ θανόντος ὡς ταχεῖά τις βροτοῖς | χάρις διαρρεῖ, in what quick sort does it vanish.

τί δῆτα χρῄζεις; … τὸ γοῦν ἐμόν . (1) Verse 624, ὅταν προδείξῃς κ.τ.λ., which the MSS. give to Creon, belongs to Oedipus: and for ὅταν we should (I think) read ὡς ἂν . The argument that the stichomuthia should not be broken shows inattention to the practice of Soph. He not seldom breaks a stichomuthia, when a weighty utterance (as here, the king's threat) claims the emphasis of two verses. See (e.g.) 356-369, broken by 366 f. (the seer's denunciation): Soph. Ant. 40-48, broken by 45 f. (Antigone's resolve): Soph. OC 579-606, broken by 583 f. (where Theseus marks the singularity in the proposal of Oed.). (2) Verse 625 ὡς οὐχ ὑπείξων κ.τ.λ., which the MSS. give to Oedipus, belongs to Creon. (3) Between 625 and 626 a verse spoken by Oedipus has dropped out, to such effect as οὐ γάρ με πείθεις οὕνεκ’ οὐκ ἄπιστος εἶ. The fact of the next verse, our 626, also beginning with οὐ γὰρ may have led to the loss by causing the copyist's eye to wander. The echoed οὐ γὰρ would suit angry dialogue: cp. 547, 548 KP. τοῦτ’ αὐτὸ νῦν μου πρῶτ’ ἄκουσον ὡς ἐρῶ. ΟΙ. τοῦτ’ αὐτὸ μή μοι φράζ’. (See also on Soph. Phil. 1252.) The traditional interpretations fail to justify (1) οἷόν ἐστι τὸ φθονεῖν, as said by Creon: (2) πιστεύσων, as said by Oed. See Appendix.

ἀρκτέον =δεῖ ἄρχειν, one must rule: cp. Soph. Ant. 677 ἀμυντέ’ ἐστὶ τοῖς κοσμουμένοις. Isoc. 14.10 οὐ τῶν ἄλλων αὐτοῖς ἀρκτέον (they ought not to rule over others) ἀλλὰ πολὺ μᾶλλον Ὀρχομενίοις φόρον οἰστέον. In Plat. Tim. 48b ἀρκτέον =δεῖ ἄρχεσθαι, one must begin; in Soph. Aj. 853 ἀρκτέον τὸ πρᾶγμα = must be begun. Some understand— “one must be ruled,” and οὔτοι κακῶς γ’ ἄρχοντος,“ No, not by one who rules ill”: but (a) though ἀρκτέα πόλις might mean, “the city is to be ruled,” an absolute passive use of ἀρκτέον is certainly not warranted by such an isolated example as οὐ καταπληκτέον ἐστίν (“we must not be unnerved”) in Din. 1.108: (b) ἄρχομαί τινος, “I am ruled by one” (instead of ἐκ or ὑπό), could only plead the analogy of ἀκούω τινός, and lacks evidence.

ἄρχοντος when one rules. ἀρκτέον being abstract, “it is right to rule,” there is no harshness in the gen. absol. with τινός understood (cp. 612), which is equivalent to ἐάν τις ἄρχῃ· cp. Dem. 6.20 λέγοντος ἄν τινος πιστεῦσαι οἴεσθε; “think you that, if any one had said it, they would have believed?” = οἴεσθε, εἴ τις ἔλεγε, πιστεῦσαι ἂν (αὐτούς);

ὧ πόλις πόλις here, an appeal: in Attic comedy, an exclamation like o tempora, o mores: Blaydes cp. Eupolis ap. Athen. 424b ᾦ πόλις, πόλις | ὡς εὐτυχὴς εἶ μᾶλλον ἢ καλῶς φρονεῖς : and so Aristoph. Ach. 27.

πόλεως Most of the MSS. have μέτεστι τῆσδ’ οὐχί. Had they μέτεστι τῆσδ’ οὐ (which appears only in a few inferior MSS.) we should hardly be warranted in ejecting τῆσδ’: but, having the choice, we may safely prefer μέτεστιν οὐχὶ to μέτεστι τῆσδ’ οὐ. “I have some right in Thebes, as well as you.” Creon speaks not as a brother of Iocasta, but as a Theban citizen who denies that “the city belongs to one man” (Soph. Ant. 737). Plat. Laws 768b δεῖ δὲ δὴ καὶ τῶν ἰδίων δικῶν κοινωνεῖν κατὰ δύναμιν ἅπαντασ’ ὁ γὰρ ἀκοινώνητος ὢν ἐξουσίας τοῦ συνδικάζειν ἡγεῖται τὸ παράπαν τῆς πόλεως οὐ μέτοχος εἶναι.

οἴκους (the king's palace), acc. after εἶ (cp. 533); κατὰ with στέγας only, referring to the house of Creon, who is not supposed to be an inmate of the palace: see 515, 533.

τὸ μηδὲν ἄλγος the generic use of μή (“a grief such as to be naught,” —quod nihili sit), here giving a causal force (“seeing that it is naught”): cp. 397, 1019; Soph. El. 1166 δέξαι … | τὴν μηδὲν ἐς τὸ μηδέν : εἰς μέγα φέρειν , make into a great matter: cp. (Soph. Phil. 259)νόσος | ἀεὶ τέθηλε κἀπὶ μεῖζον ἔρχεται.

δυοῖν … ἀποκρίνας κακοῖν The traditional reading, δρᾶσαι … δυοῖν, is the only extant example of δυοῖν scanned as one syllable, though in the tragic poets alone the word occurs more than 50 times. Synizesis of υ is rare in extant Greek poetry: Pind. P. 4.225 γενύ¯ων : 11.413 (epigram by Ammianus, 1st century A.D.) ὤκιμον, ἡδύ¯οσμον, πήγανον, ἀσπάραγος. Eur. IT 970 ὅσαι δ’ Ἐρινύ¯ων οὐκ ἐπείσθησαν νόμῳ, and Eur. IT 1456 οἴστροις Ἐρινύ¯ων, where most editors write Ἐρινῦν, as Eur. IT 299 Ἐρινῦς (acc. plur.). Hes. Sh. 3 Ἠλεκτρύ¯ωνος. It might be rash to say that Soph. could not have used δυοῖν as a monosyllable; for he has used the ordinary synizesis in a peculiarly bold way, Soph. Aj. 1129 μή νυν ἀτίμα θεοὺς θεοῖς σεσωμένος : but at least it moves the strongest suspicion. ἀποκρίνας , on the other hand, seems genuine. ἀποκρίνειν is properly secernere to set apart: e.g. γῆν (Plat. Rep. 303d): or to select: Plat. Laws 946a πλήθει τῶν ψήφων ἀποκρίναντας, having selected (the men) according to the number of votes for each. Here, “having set apart (for me) one of two ills” is a phrase suitable to the arbitrary rigour of doom which left a choice only between death and exile. For δυοῖν Elms. proposed τοῖνδ’ or τοῖνδέ γ’: Herm., τοῖνδ’ ἕν: A. Spengel, δείν’. I should rather believe that δρᾶν was altered into δρᾶσαι by a grammarian who looked to ἀπῶσαι, κτεῖναι , and perh. also sought a simpler order. But for pres. infin. combined with aor. infin. cp. 623 θνῄσκειν … φυγεῖν: Soph. Ant. 204 μήτε κτερίζειν μήτε κωκῦσαι. See also Soph. OC 732 ἥκω γὰρ οὐχ ὡς δρᾶν τι βουληθείς, where in prose we should have expected δρᾶσαι. The quantity of ἀπο‐κρίνας is supported by Aesch. PB 24 ἀπο‐κρύψει· ἀπο‐τροπή and its cognates in Aesch. and Eur.: ἐπι‐κρύπτειν Eur. Supp. 296 : ἐπι‐κράνων Eur. IT 51 . Blaydes conj. δοὺς δυοῖν κρῖναι κακοῖν (i.e. “giving me my choice of two ills”; cp. Soph. OC 640 τούτων … δίδωμί σοι | κρίναντι χρῆσθαι ): Dindorf, θάτερον δυοῖν κακοῖν (where I should at least prefer κακόν): “but since, with either of these supposed readings, the construction would have been perfectly clear, it is hard to see how ἀποκρίνας — a far-sought word—could have crept in as an explanatory gloss. That, however, is Whitelaw's view, who suggests that the original may have been something like φαῦλον αἵρεσίν γ’ ἐμοί. Wolff would compress vv. 640 f. into one, thus: δρᾶσαι δικαιοῖ, δείν’, ἀποκτεῖναι λαβών.

δρῶντα κακῶς τοὐμὸν σῶμα would properly describe bodily outrage: here it is a heated way of saying that Creon's supposed plot touched the person of the king (who was to be dethroned), and not merely the νόμοι πόλεως.

ἀραῖος =ὥσπερ αὐτὸς ἐπαρῶμαι.

ὅρκον θεῶν (object. gen.), an oath by the gods (since one said ὀμνύναι θεούς): Hom. Od. 2.377 θεῶν μέγαν ὅρκον ἀπώμνυ : 10. 299 μακάρων μέγαν ὅρκον ὀμόσσαι: Eur. Hipp. 657 ὅρκοις θεῶν. But in Soph. OC 1767 Διὸς Ὅρκος is personified.

The κομμός (see p. 9) has a composite strophic arrangement: (1) 1st strophe, 649-659, (2) 2nd strophe, 660-668; answering respectively to (3) 1st antistr., 678-688, (4) 2nd antistr., 689-697.

θελήσας having consented (πιστεύειν). Soph. OC 757 κρύψον (hide thy woes), θελήσας ἄστυ καὶ δόμους μολεῖν. Isaeus 8.11 ταῦτα ποιῆσαι μὴ θελήσας. Plut. Mor. 149f συνδειπνεῖν μὴ θελήσαντος.

φρονήσας having come to a sound mind. Isoc. 8.141 καλόν ἐστιν ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἄλλων ἀδικίαις καὶ μανίαις πρώτους εὖ φρονήσαντας προστῆναι τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθερίας.

εἰκάθω the aor. subj. is certainly most suitable here: Soph. Phil. 761 βούλει λάβωμαι; Soph. El. 80 θέλεις | μείνωμεν; In such phrases the pres. subj. (implying a continued or repeated act) is naturally much rarer: βούλει ἐπισκοπῶμεν Xen. Mem. 3.5.1 . As regards the form of εἰκάθω, Curtius ( 11. 345, Eng. tr. 505), discussing presents in ‐θω and past tenses in ‐θον from vowel stems, warns us against “looking for anything particularly aoristic in the θ” of these verbs. In Greek usage, he holds, “a decidedly aoristic force” for such forms as σχεθεῖν and εἰκαθεῖν“ never established itself”: and he justly cites Soph. El. 1014 as a place where εἰκαθεῖν is in no way aoristic. He would therefore keep the traditional accent, and write σχέθειν, εἰκάθειν, with Buttmann. Now, while believing with Curtius that these forms were prob. in origin presents, I also think that in the usage of the classical age they were often aorists: as e.g. σχεθεῖν in Aesch. Seven 429 distinctly is.

οὔτε πρὶν … νῦν τε cp. Soph. OC 1397 ff.

μέγαν “great,” i.e. strong, worthy of reverence, ἐν ὅρκῳ , by means of, in virtue of, his oath: Eur. Tro. 669 ξυνέσει γένει πλούτῳ τε κἀνδρείᾳ μέγαν : for ἐν, cp. Soph. Phil. 185 ἔν τ’ ὀδύναις ὁμοῦ | λιμῷ τ’ οἰκτρός.

“That thou shouldest never lay under an accusation (ἐν αἰτίᾳ βαλεῖν ), so as to dishonour him ( ἄτιμον ), with the help of an unproved story ( σὺν ἀφανεῖ λόγῳ ), the friend who is liable to a curse ( ἐναγἦ” : i.e. who has just said (644) ἀραῖος ὀλοίμαν κ.τ.λ. Aeschin. 3.110 γέγραπται γὰρ οὕτως ἐν τῇ ἀρᾷ· εἵ τις τάδε, φησί, παραβαίνοι, … ἐναγής, φησιν, ἔστω τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος, “let him rest under the ban of Apollo”: as Creon would rest under the ban of the gods by whom he had sworn. Hdt. 6.56 ἐν τῷ ἄγεϊ ἐνέχεσθαι, to be liable to the curse. ἐν αἰτίᾳ βαλεῖν : Plat. Letter 7.341a ὡς μηδέποτε βαλεῖν ἐν αἰτίᾳ τὸν δεικνύντα ἀλλ’ αὐτὸν αὑτόν, “so that he may never blame his teacher, but only himself,” equiv. to ἐμβαλεῖν αἰτίᾳ: cp. the prose phrases ἐμβάλλειν εἰς συμφοράς, γραφάς, ἔχθραν, κ.τ.λ. Eur. Tro. 305 εἰς ἔμ’ αἰτίαν βάλῃ. Seidler's σύ γ’ ἀφανεῖ λόγων, which Wolff adopts, is specious.

οὐ τὸν =οὐ μὰ τὸν, as not seldom; usu. followed by a second negative (as if here we had οὐκ ἔχω τάνδε φρόνησιν): 1088, Soph. Ant. 758, etc.

πρόμον standing foremost in the heavenly ranks, most conspicuous to the eyes of men: the god “who sees all things and hears all things” ( Hom. Il. 3.277 ὃς πάντ’ ἐφορᾷς καὶ πάντ’ ἐπακούεις ): invoked Soph. Trach. 102 as ὦ κρατιστεύων κατ’ ὄμμα.

ὅ τι πύματόν (ἐστἰ, (τοῦτὀ ὀλοίμαν : schol. φθαρείην ὅπερ ἔσχατον, ἤγουν ἀπώλειαν ἥτις ἐσχάτη.

τὰ δ’—σφῷν and, on the other hand, if the ills arising from you two are to be added to the former ills. Prof. Kennedy gives τὰ δ’ , rightly, I think: for γᾶ φθίνουσα refers to the blight and plague (25): τάδ’ would obscure the contrast between those troubles and the new trouble of the quarrel.

προσάψει intrans., as perh. only here and in fr. 348 καί μοι τρίτον ῥίπτοντι … | ἀγχοῦ προσῆψεν, “he came near to me.” Eur. Hipp. 188 τὸ μέν ἐστιν ἁπλοῦν· τῷ δὲ συνάπτει | λύπη τε φρενῶν χερσίν τε πόνος, “is joined.” It is possible, but harsh, to make προσαψει act. with γῆ as subject. Since in 695 ἀλύουσαν κατ’ ὀρθὸν οὐρίσας is clearly sound, Herm. rightly struck out καὶ before τὰ δ’ here. See on 696.

ὁ δ’ οὖν then let him go: Soph. Aj. 114 σὺ δ’ οὖν … | χρῶ χειρί.

ἐλεινόν tertiary predicate: “I compassionate thy words, piteous as they are.” Where a possessive pron. with art. has preceded the subst., Soph. sometimes thus subjoins and adj., which really has the predicative force to which its position entitles it, though for us it would be more natural to translate it as a mere attributive: Soph. Ant. 881 τὸν δ’ ἐμὸν πότμον ἀδάκρυτον | οὐδεὶς … στενάζει : Soph. Phil. 1456 τοὐμὸν ἐτέγχθη | κρᾶτ’ ἐνδόμυχον : Soph. El. 1143 τῆς ἐμῆς πάλαι τροφῆς | ἀνωφελήτου. In 1199 (where see note) τὰν γαμψ. παρθ. χρησμῳδόν is not a similar case. Prof. Kennedy, placing a comma after ἐποίκτείρω, but none after τοῦδ’, construes: τὸ σὸν στόμα ἐλεινόν (ἐστἰ, οὐκ ἐποικτείρω τὸ τοῦδε.

στυγήσεται pass. Other examples in Soph. are 1500 ὀνειδιεῖσθε: Soph. OC 581 δηλώσεται, 1186 λέξεται: Soph. Ant. 210 τιμήσεται, 637 ἀξιώσεται: Soph. El. 971 καλεῖ : Soph. Phil. 48 φυλάξεται : among many found in prose as well as in verse are ἀδικήσομαι, ἁλώσομαι, ἐάσομαι, ζημιώσομαι, τιμήσομαι, ὠφελήσομαι. The middle forms of the aorist were alone peculiar to that voice; the so-called “future middle,” like the rest, was either middle or passive.

στυγνὸς … περάσῃς “thou art seen to be sullen when thou yieldest, but fierce when thou hast gone far in wrath”: i.e., as thou art fierce in passion, so art thou sullen in yielding. Greek idiom co-ordinates the clauses, though the emphasis is on στυγνὸς μὲν εἴκων, which the other merely enforces by contrast: see on 419.

βαρὺς bearing heavily on the object of anger, and so, “vehement,” “fierce”: Soph. Aj. 1017 δύσοργος, ἐν γήρᾳ βαρύς, Soph. Aj. 656 μῆνιν βαρεῖαν : Soph. Phil. 1045 βαρύς τε καὶ βαρεῖαν ὁ ξένος φάτιν τήνδ’ εἶπε : Soph. Ant. 767 νοῦς δ’ ἐστὶ τηλικοῦτος ἀλγήσας βαρύς.

περάσῃς absol., = πρόσω ἔλθῃς: Soph. OC 154 περᾷας, (you go too far), Soph. OC 885 πέραν | περῶσ’ οἵδε δή.

θυμοῦ , partitive gen.: cp. Hom. Il. 2.785 διέπρησσον πεδίοιο : Hdt. 3.105 προλαμβάνειν … τῆς ὁδοῦ : sometimes helped by a prep. or adverbial phrase, as Xen. Apol. 30 προβήσεσθαι πόρρω μοχθηρίας : 2.16 ἐπὶ πλεῖον γὰρ προκόψουσιν ἀσεβείας. —Others render: “resentful [;or “remorseful”]; even when thou hast passed out of wrath”: but (a) περάσῃς with a simple gen. could not bear this sense: (b) the antithesis pointed by μὲν and δὲ is thus destroyed.

ἀγνῶτος active, as in 681, 1133: but passive, “unknown,” Soph. Phil. 1008,Soph. Ant. 1001. Ellendt is not quite accurate in saying that Soph. was the first who used ἀγνώς in an active sense, for it is clearly active in Pind. P. 9.58 (478 B.C.) οὔτε παγκάρπων φυτῶν νήποινον οὔτ’ ἀγνῶτα θηρῶν (χθονὸς αἶσαν), “a portion of land not failing in tribute of plants bearing all manner of fruit, nor a stranger to beasts of chase.” The passive use was, however, probably older than the active: compare Hom. Od. 5.79 ἀγνῶτες … ἀλλήλοισι (pass.) with Thuc. 3.53 ἀγνῶτες ἀλληλων (act.).