Campbell City (part 6 of 13)

794, 5. The emphasis rests on tpots. See Essay on L. 41. p. 77. 'Surveying the region of Corinth by the help of the stars,' i.e. resolved never to see it more, though, like an exile, casting looks in the direction where it lay. Cp. Phil. 454, 5, Aesch. Suppl. 393-5, | | ='measuring the situation of' (relatively to myself). é« meaning 'from a distance.' Cp. éfopay. This is better than the conjectural reading in which the future tense is questionable, and is not a natural expression, while, if the word were used absolutely, the pause before would be extremely harsh. The conjecture was founded on the words of Suidas, ACT pols Tas who however does not use the expression Cp. Shak. Rich. II. 1. 3, 'Save back to England, all the world's my way.'

796, 7. 'Where I might never know the dishonour of seeing fulfilled the evil oracles that were predicted against me ;' he,

798-801. The crossroad is vividly present to his imagination; hence the pronoun is used. The place described in general terms, supr. lL. 716, was more closely identified in Il. 733, 4. The poetical plural is applicable to a spot which was the Ineeting point of several districts.

800. This line is omitted in the chief MS. and only added there in the margin by a hand of the 14th century (C7), to which several important corrections are also due. The words add a touch of nature. Cp. Virg. Aen. 4. 20, 'Anna, fatebor enim... As Oedipus approaches the critical moment in his story, his tone becomes more confidential, and he introduces the part of the narrative that tells against himself with a form of asseveration. Cp. supr. 412, 449. At this point, too, the mention of the exact spot, where the three roads met #.7.A.), is extremely natural, after the general description in 798, 9. Ocdipus dwells expressly on each of the circumstances which he identifies, and it is not likely that he would omit that which first awakened his suspicion. Lastly, the omission of the line produces an asyndeton, which may be paralleled perhaps from Homer, but hardly from Attic Greek. To say that the verse was invented to fill up a lacuna is an improbable assumption. The hand (C*.), which has supplied several lines omitted by the first hand of L., must have overlooked this omission.

802. The herald, who is at once recognized by his staff, goes before the rest, to show the peaceful intentions of the party and their sacred mission

804. .. 806. The driver is first called because he is leading the horses along the hilly road. After striking him, Oedipus passes on by the chariot, and only then comes within the reach of Laius' goad. It is not clear from the description whether the herald and the driver are the same or different. As there were five in all, and amongst these were probably the customary (one of whom was the oixevs), it seems natural to suppose that they were different. And it is improbable that Oedipus would strike, on a slight provocation, the Ards

806. The repetition of the article shows Oedipus' desire to make every point in the narrative clear. Cp. Hdt. 3. 77.

807. 6pa] Sc. 'When he sees my act.' pe is partly governed by but chiefly by the general action of the sentence. ' From the vehicle he watched for me, as 1 walked by, and came down full upon my head with the forked goad.'

808. = dyov, governed partly by but chiefly by See E. on L. 36. p. 66, and cp. Pind. Pyth. 9. 10, 11, For used merely to add emphasis. cp. El. 745, 'Full on the box of the wheel.' And just below, 812, 'Straightway he was rolled right out of the chariot.' Also Od. 5. 316,

811. The simplicity of the language adds greatly to the effect. The son shows his mother the very hand with which he slew his father. There is an unconsciousness in the expression which calls forth at once horror and pity. For Oedipus, though beginning to be doubtfully aware that he has slain Laius, has hitherto no idea of his relationship to him,

813. Oecdipus in his excitement overlooked the oixérns, as the latter in telling his tale spoke not of one but of many assailants. The least particulars will hereafter become of the greatest importance in the progress of the inquiry.

Heer; so that is partly governed by both. The indirectness of the whole expression marks the reluctance of Oedipus to utter that of which he is becoming convinced.

815. *ravopos tepos| The reading L. is here untenable. Others read The verse is necessary to the connection, and there is no ground for rejecting it.

817, 8. whom it is forbidden that any, whether strangers or citizens. should receive me in their 'houses.' The conjecture is probable but not certain.

Oedipus is not thinking of his possible rejection from other lands. An alien was not exempt from the obligation laid upon the citizens. See above, l. 230, note. _ 81g. The positive notion is evolved from the negative. See Essay on L, 8 36. p. 64. Cp. 240, I, | ade

'And inthis." Pendent accusative, resumed in apds. Observe the growth of the idea in the mind of Oedipus. He now imagines as

823. dp' dvayvos] Cp. Aj. 510, The nominative of in such cases has something of a predicative or adverbial force. 'Am I not utterly polluted? See Essay on L. § 23. 2, 38.

827. There is no reason for bracketing this line. Oedipus' affectionate remembrance of his supposed father is contrasted with his real but involuntary crime. The reading of M., in which the order of words is inverted, deserves attention, as seeming to lay the chief emphasis on But see Essay on L. § 41. pp. 76-78.

'A calamity causing so deep stain.' E. on L. § 10. p. 14. For in this connection, cp. supr. 1. 99 and note.

835. tmapdvros| ' The man who was present at the deed." Viz. the servant, to whom Oedipus presently refers as tov Boripa, because of his present occupation. Cp. supr. 761, For the

837. The v.]. of VMAV* pr., is a curious instance of the probably unintentional substitution for the true reading of a word suggested by the immediate context. Cp. supr. 670, and v. rr.

838. 'And when he has appeared, why are you eager about him?' The genitive absolute becoming, as the sentence proceeds, a genitive of respect.

841. 'And what in my description struck you as beside the mark?' 1. 6. as disagreeing from the fact with which your supposition identifies it?

8 52. (1) 'Will never show the murder of Laius to be truly accomplished, i.e. in accordance with the prophecy, or (2) 'Can never fairly show the murder of Laius to be in accordance with the prophecy.' The former rendering sc, is confirmed by 1283, 7Y .. ohBos : Aj. 547, 1.6. Let not your disregard of the oracles prevent your doing what is necessary to relieve me about the question of fact. The confidence of Oedipus, when once shaken, is never again 'whole as the marble, founded as the rock.'

863 foll. As in the first stasimon of the Oedipus Coloneus, the second of the Trachiniae, and the first of the Antigone, the chorus in a pause of the action pour forth a strain, the interest of which, though in harmony with feelings suggested by the dramatic situation, is almost wholly lyrical. The second antistrophe returns to the circumstances of the drama, but in the earlier stanzas the thought of the impiety of the King and Queen is lost in the reflections which it has awakened. This is in so far dramatically appropriate, as the chorus could not openly express their censure. And while a momentary rest is thus interposed before the chief the love of purity and abhorrence of unholiness which are here expressed suggest the 'leading motive' of the whole tragedy. See Introduction. This ode is composed of iambic, trochaic, and dactylic measures, of which the iambic and dactylic predominate in the first strophe and antistrophe, and the trochaic in the second. The stateliness of the movement in the first strophe and antistrophe is shown by the prevalence of the heavy trochee and epitritus ( - Ur Ur - ) , and generally by the frequency of long syllables. This effect is, however, lightened in the fourth and fifth lines by the resolution of a long syllable in the opening dipodia of each.

and stasimon. ' May I never break the sanctity of the unwritten laws! Heaven-born, they live and move on high, and are not made by man, nor shall they ever sleep or be forgotten. In them is a Divine power which grows not old. How dangerous is pride; which heaves men high and dashes them below, to depths in which no foot may stir. Not so the noble ardour for the city's weal, which may God, who protects me, still uphold! But may an evil fate overtake the proud impious one, who tramples on justice and profanes holy things. How can he escape from vengeance? For if actions like his are honourable, what means my service in the dance? No longer will I worship unless the oracles be even now justified in the sight of men. But, O Zeus, thy power fails not; let thine eye behold the contempt which they are pouring on things Divine. For they heed not the oracles of Laius, and pay no honour to Apollo.'

863 foll. 'May I ever keep a holy purity, in all words and acts for which there are laws established on high, children of the sky. of whom Olympus is the only sire." The participle 'where the infinitive might be expected, gives the notion of simultaneousness : 'May my lot be with me in keeping,' le. May it ever be my lot to keep. Cp. O. C. 648, Thuc. 3. 44, See E.on L. § 36. p. 63. For ei, which expresses a strong wish, cp. Eur. Hec. 836, The use occurs in Homer, Il. 24. 7.

noun instead of with the genitive This is hardly felt, because the ideas of the 'purity' and the 'acts and words' are coextensive.

'Have been set forth' or ordained; the usual word for the promulgation of a law, e.g. Ant. 36, mpo- Here almost =

866, 7. 'Created in, and pervading, the highest heaven,' i.e. (1) They are from above: (2) They are all-embracing. Cp. Emped. Fr. 437-9 (403-5 Karsten.), | evpupédovros | 7 1]. 15. 171, The accusative with (cp. Aesch. Suppl. 15) is probably used because the idea is not that of passing through, but of pervading or permeating. Their mother-element is also the sphere of their life. Ether is the region, Olympus the cause of their birth; and in contrasting these, Sophocles follows Homer in making feminine. Olympus, the seat of the Gods, is in Sophocles a sort of unseen Heaven ; and has almost lost the association of place. Aj. 1389, Ant. 609, O. 1655, Fr. 490.

870. is similarly used to introduce a new thought after a previous negative in Pind. Pyth. 4. 87, pay 'The subjunctive in L, the absence of the Doricism in (but cp. supr.), and the correspondence of in 880, are certainly in favour of which Elmsley introduced, and which is found in Par. E., though with following. But is too vehement for the passage, and is almost without MS. authority. Others read Aaéa, which involves an undesirable change of subject.

871. .. 'There is in them a mighty Deity, that grows not old.' Asa Divine Power was recognized in the plague 1. 27), so in the unwritten laws there is a Divine Nature, which is similarly personified. For the expression, cp. Plat. Phaed. 77 E, GAA' Tis TA Plat. Rep. 2. 282

873. 'Lawlessness begets the tyrant.' Cp. the in Plat. Rep. 9. 571, ff.; Legg. 4, 716 AB. is the spirit of lawlessness of which Heraclitus said, : and the direct opposite of Cp. Pind. Ol. 13. 'Sunt qui interpretentur; Propter malos civium mores amittitur libertas. Alli: Per scelera ad tyrannidem occupandam viam sibi factunt homines. Elms, Both meanings are probably included in the more general notion that tyranny is the consummation of lawless violence in a state. Cp. Eur. Phoen. 552.

parav] 'To no good end.' Cp.O.C. 1565, 6, This notion is expanded in the following words, 'mixaipa 'If vainly surfeited with many things, which are neither seasonable nor expedient.'

876, 7. If there is no flaw in these verses, they may be rendered: ' Having mounted the topmost height she rushes on a rugged doom, wherein she finds no safe footing.' The word is applied metaphorically to the Spirit of Necessity in the sense of 'stern,' 'inexorable,' in Eur. Alc. 982, aidws. Here Pride is imagined falling from her pinnacle on rugged broken ground, where she is left helpless to 'stumble on dark mountains.' Cp. Ant. 853-5, és and Aesch. Eum. 387, where the ways of the Erinyes are described as | In order to restore the correspondence of 877 with the strophe (867), we must suppose the loss of one long or two short syllables. The rhythm is iambic. Cp. o7p. a',1.3, B', 11. 6 and 8. The simplest

879, 80. It is needless to suppose any particular reference or allusion in these words; which simply denote the striving of patriotic zeal as distinguished from the struggles of lawless ambition. 'May God never end the contention that is for the city's good.' Cp. Pind. Nem. 5. 46, 7, : Hes. Op. D. 24, Aesch. Eum. 973,

_ 883. 'But whoso walks disdainfully in act or word.' is neuter plural adverbial. The connection is: 'I will not cease to have God for my Protector.' The chorus take up the thought suggested by Teiresias 410, 11, yap cu For deeds of violence,' cp. "l. 1195, Biov ; 88s. In the vivid language of the chorus, the hypothetical passes into

888. ' For his ill-starred pride.' Cp. the use of For the ethical association attached to Stvamorpos, cp. AJ. 1156,

889-91. The clause .. patalov resumes the protasis with increased: definiteness, dwelling on the two charges of unrighteousness and impiety, and describing the latter under the two forms of unholiness and sacrilege. 'If he will not be content with righteous gains, and refrain from unholy deeds, or will persist in laying wanton hands on things sacred.' Cp. O.C. 39, d0:xTos is stronger than implying obstinate determination. Cp. O. C. 424, fs is repeated in a different sense, infr. 898. See E. on L, § 44. p- 84.

passage is printed as it is written in L. If we are contented with adopting the meaning will be, 'Who in such courses can go on to avert the darts of wrath and ward them from his soul?' i.e. What tyrant can avoid becoming an object of anger? Or, according to some interpreters, ' Who, where such things are done, can avoid being angry?' But neither meaning is satisfactory, and the epexegesis, a., 15 tame and awkward. éptera: may have crept in from above. Either here or in infra 1. go6 there must be some corruption of the text, as the words have nothing corresponding to them in the antistrophe, unless the interlinear gloss is supposed to be a corruption of or some such word. Hermann, in suggesting to omit for Oya), supposing the line vovra yap to be complete, gave an impossible emphasis to ' Who in such a course is man enough to ward from his soul the darts of Heaven?' Two modifications of this have been suggested, (1) reading for vey (cp. Ant. 655, tis.. ; 'Who, in following such a course, can continue to ward off the arrows of the Gods?' (2) Supposing the metre to be as in the text, with in the antistrophe, mor ; 'Who then can imagine how to ward from his soul the weapons of the Gods ?'

Yuyao] Vat. gl. Trin. ( yao (ed éfa:povow-

895, 6. 'For if honour attend such actions, what need have I to lead the sacred dance?" If' the righteous areas the wicked,' then, as the Athenians judged in the time of the plague, it is (Thuc. 2. 53). This thought changes the mood of the chorus, who for the moment catch the infection of doubt (as previously they doubted Teiresias), here as elsewhere reflecting opposite and conflicting tendencies. They soon. however, renew the strain of piety (899, cp. 480), and appeal to the supreme power of Zeus. The allusion to their religious function in the worship of Dionysus is in keeping with the lyric character of the ode. Cp. infr. 1092, goo. The oracle of Zeus at Olympia is mentioned by Pindar, Olymp. 8. 2, iva

002. 'If these things shall not coincide manifestly in the face of all mankind.' 'These things,' i.e. the prediction and the event. Cp. Tr. 1174,

908. ' They put away from them,' i.e. their fulfilment is no longer expected. Cp. Eur. Phoen. 991, ws 000, 10. 'Everywhere Apollo's honour becomes dim, and things Divine go to destruction.' For which is dat. of manner, see Essay on L. § 14. pp. 20, 21. euparis Tipais=pavepws

git, foll. A way has been prepared by which the truth shall be revealed when it seems furthest from the thoughts of the king and queen. The messenger who brings from Corinth the welcome news of the death of Polybus is the means of unlocking the secret which the herdsman who has been sent for would else have buried in silence. Each knows a part of the mystery, and their meeting brings the whole to light. Jocasta still keeps her confidence, but cannot be unaffected by the mood of dipus, who is shaken by every hint of fear. She is preparing to supplicate the gods, not for herself but for her husband and the state, when the news arrives, which seems at first to remove all cause of apprehension.

[2. 'To approach as a suppliant.' Infr. 920. Cp. the similar proceeding of Clytemnestra in El. 634, immediately after the announcement of Orestes' death.

914. ' For Oedipus is over-excited and carried away by all sorts of anxieties.' For in the general sense of emotion, see Essay on L. p. 92, and for meaning 'allows to rise,' ibid. §. 30. d, p. 52.

to suit the subjunctive, which of the two alternatives given by the first hand has the advantage of being the harder reading. The subjunctive is also more in accordance with the present time, while ef may be sufficiently defended by the generality of the supposition, which is emphatic. 'If only he tell of fears.' See Essay on L. § 27. p. 44.

920. ; Emblems of supplication." The conjecture though ingenious, is unnecessary. For an analogous abstract expression, cp. Aj. 1178.

release,' i.e. Some end of our troubles which will leave us pure from crime. =dvow eis For the meaning of cp. Tr. 1170,1, |

923. Sc. For this brief way of indicating a simile, see Essay on L. § 39. p. 73, § 43. p. 82, and cp. supr. 602 and note.

928. By choosing this honourable title the chorus unconsciously remind the spectators of the horror that is presently to be revealed.

929, 30. The courteous fulness of the expression (which Jocasta acknowledges in 1. 932) again reminds the hearer of the contrast between the appearance and the fact.

The accusative may be taken as 'pendent, although there are other instances of transitive, e.g. Phil. 1314,

There is no need of altering to dv. The rhythm is better if be retained and joined with Cp. O. C. 980, Tay'. may be supplied with as well as with E.on L. § 39.6. p. 73. ' But for the word which I will tell you in a moment, you will be glad, how can you be otherwise than glad? and yet perhaps you will be grieved.'

943. The reading is by no means certain, although several copies (including Ven. 617°) have The reading of L. and most MSS. is certainly wrong, and appears to be a foolish attempt to supply the deficiency of the line.

945. Jocasta has one or more attendants to assist in making the offering. Cp. El. 634, KA. K.T.A.

947. Essay on L. 22. p. 35. The accusative is governed (1) by but is also in secondary constructions (2) with (3) with KTQVOL.

o51. 'Hast thou had me called forth?' The middle voice as in of that which is done through others. In Ant. 19, where Antigone herself brings Ismene forth, the active is used,

939. Porson corrected this to tof'. But the hiatus is sufficiently defended by the recurrence of the open vowel after

961. 'A little touch lays low the aged frame. op. 6='A slight inclination of the balance.' Cp. Plat. Rep. 8. 556 E,

963. ' Yes, and by the length of years which his life had measured.' The dative is first instrumental, and then joined with cUpLeTpovpevos in a supplementary construction.

971. 1. 6. ' Well, and so he is in his grave, and has taken with him those prophecies which were troubling us, worth nothing now.' There is no special emphasis on merely marking the return from the digression '& The new fear of Oedipus (976) is inconsistent with this speech, but the inconsistency is natural, and in keeping with his irresolution and excitement. See l. 914, and cp. Shakespeare, Macbeth, 3. 4, 'Then comes my fit again; I had else been perfect, | Whole as the marble, founded as the rock, | As broad and general as the casing air; | But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in | To saucy doubts and fears.'

987. Either, 'And yet your father's death is a great eye to see with,' i.e. 'may well open your eyes,' or with a further association, 'And yet your father's death throws a cheering light on these matters.' Cp. Pind. Pyth. 5. 17, #.7.A., and Tr. 203, 4, |

ggt. 'What is there in her (or in regard to her) which tends to give you alarm?' The genitive is continued from 988 (wons. 999 and may be viewed either as a genitive of respect. or of origin. Essay on L. pp. 13, 14, 66. Here, as elsewhere in this part of the play, the serene courtesy of the dialogue contrasts with the approaching horror.

997. (1) 'Corinth as dwelling-place has long been set far away from me.' For this inversion (instead of ' my dwelling-place has been removed from Corinth'), cp. supr. 762 and note. E.on L. § 42. p. 80; or (2) 'Corinth has been avoided (livedaway-from) by me'=dr@«ouv For the preference for the passive form in either case, see Essay on L. pp. 53, 54. The effect here is to bring into greater prominence Oedipus' love for Corinth.

Either 'awav from me,' or 'by my act. The is plausible (cp. Plat. Polit. 284 E, eis but the perfect and not the plvperfect is the tense required.

999. The natural simplicity of these words, said in the presence of Jocasta, contrasts terribly to the spectator with the unconsciousness of them. 566 1271» foll., And cp. Aesch. Cho. 690, I, said by Orestes before Clytemnestra,

1005. 'For this I came.' The accusative in apposition, ex~ pressing purpose. Cp. O. C. 1291,

1006. 'That IJ might reap some benefit from you in your returning home. gov is (1) genitive of origin, (2) gen. absolute. Essay on L. 9. 14.

1007, Tots duTevoacw] I012. durevodvtwv| He expresses his particular fear in the general form which the prophecy (793) had originally suggested. See 1012, 1013,

1008. This address comes somewhat strangely from the servant to the king, but is explained by the simplicity of heroic times, and by the circumstance that the aged speaker claims to have been a kind of foster- torr. Aldus and some MSS. have The variation of reading is like that in O. C. 1300: L. Par. A. In both places the indica~ tive is more forcible.

1012. Here, as in supr. 988, (wons, the gen. expresses rather 'arising from,' than ' appertaining to." 'A pollution arising to you from your parents. For the construction, see E. on L. 8 Io. p. 14.

to14. 'Then shall I tell you that your apprehensions are unreasonable ?' Si«ys, like etc., 'justly' So in 1211, yap

is probably masculine ='ei, qui nullus est,' and may be best explained as=7@ (i.e. Has) 'To one who is nothing of the kind.' The pronoun helps to make the negative more absolute. Cp. Theaet. 169 A, .. 1, 6. 'That I am bound to help .. and you not at all" The negative is similarly strengthened in El. 276, ovr' Ib. 1215, ob. Aesch. Ag. 185, Hdt. 3. 135, See E. on L. § 22. p. 36. was expresses incredulity; cp. Aesch. Suppl. 509,

1025. For this use of the aor. part. active of cp. C. 1108, The question is inconsistent with the assertion of the in 1020, and hence the reading has been suspected and (from 1039) or which of the two is more probable, has been substituted. But Oedipus need not be supposed to have weighed the words ovr éyw. Cp. supr. 360 and note. And the same train of thought which leads him to ask this question, reappears in his colloquy with the 1. 1162, ; 'E See also ll. 1062, 3. He is ready for any disclosure. When Caesar, who has just consented that Decius shall tell the senators he is not well, says immediately afterwards 'Shall Caesar send a lie?' no one is found to complain of dramatic inconsistency. Shak. Jul. Caes. 1, 3.

from place to place to work for hire.' For see Essay on L. § 19. p. 27. Oedipus dwells on this point as indicating the possible lowness of his origin. Cp. 1062.

1030. This correction, which Elmsley made from conjecture, is found in Flor.I. may express the opposition between the insignificant station of the and his importance to Oedipus. The reading of L. and most MSS. ye was. however, approved by Hermann, who quotes Heindorf on Plat. Euthyd. 277 A. Cp. also O. C. 387, 977, 1278, 1409.

1031. Oedipus is touched with pity for his former self. Cp. Shak. Temp. I, 2,' Miranda. Alack, for pity! | I, not remembering how I cried out then, | Will cry it o'er again: it is a hint, | That wrings mine eyes to't.? The question is suggested to Oedipus by the word i.e. 'From what pain that I was suffering in my misfortunes did you rescue me?' but is introduced by the poet, as the Scholiast properly observes, in order to lead to the mention of the personal mark (compare the scar of Ulysses in the Odyssey) by which the conviction of the truth is brought home to Jocasta. In his eagerness to 'delve to the root' the mystery of his birth, Oedipus is wholly unconscious of the effect which the successive answers have upon the mind of the queen - the horror of whose discovery is the chief interest of this part of the play, and who may be supposed to remain immoveable until her outbreak in 1. 1056. The same explanation applies to 1. 1037, which adds poignancy to the stroke.

' The genitive is to be taken with the verb in the sense of derivation ; only differing in being more metaphorical from the construction of El. 11309, 40, | ws Bapos. Cp. supr. 1012. Eustath. 86. 1097. 25 quotes which has been thought to be an error of memory, as these words occur in the Medea of Euripides, with whose style they are more in accordance. - Eur. Med. 514.

1037. Triclinius rightly savs. kal Ta The words refer not to the preceding line, but to the cruel treatment of the child. 'Was it my mother's doing, or my father's?' See on 1031.

1044. The word recals to the chorus and the spectators, though not to Oedipus, his saying in 836, 7, . Cp. also 1049 with 761.

1053. The chorus point to Jocasta, with what effect on her and the spectator may be imagined. But they have as yet no suspicion of the truth, merely conjecturing that Jocasta must know the history of the servant of Laius, and that he who is now over the flock (761) may have been the shepherd of former time.

yY ATrin. LT C*A. Pal, 1056. LAL'E. 1, Pal.

man whose coming we just now desired? Is he the man he speaks of?' Cp. Tr. 417, Was ; ib. 1191, 1219, The indefinite marks Oedipus' uncertainty about the identity of the Bornp. Cp. Hdt. 4. és Badham conjectures | ; Tos The reading of LA. ovTos may be rendered, 'Do you remember the man whom we were just now sending for, and of whom he (the speaks?' This, however, appears to be hardly the meaning required by the context, for the chorus has only expressed their belief that he is the same man, and has appealed to Jocasta to confirm this. A slight alteration, not altogether without MS. authority, gives as in the text.

and for a similar ellipse, Plat. Legg. 1. 645 D, mw 6 'Why ask of whom he spoke?' Jocasta, starting from a reverie, utters this abruptly.

1061. 'My trouble is enough.' 'It is enough that I am tormented without your knowing.' Cp. Ar. Eth. N. 9, 11, For the adverb as predicate, see Essay on L. § 24. p. 40.

1062. *ei This reading involves a simpler change than tpitns, which may be right however. For ef with the subj., see Essay on L. 27. p. 44. And although with future cannot be defended, yet a change of construction may fairly be supposed, like that which accounts for the apparent solecism in Aj. 405-9, mds .. povevor: i.e. The expression is equivalent to Kann), plané eadem ratione dicitur qua in quo ad suppressum ali- tTpitys..pyTpos..tptSovAos] 'Though my mother, and my mother's mother, and the mother of this last, were slaves.' Cp. Plat. Legg. 6. 777 A, Jocasta knows that the real horror is the nobility of his birth.

1069. 'Will some one go and fetch the herdsman hither for me?' here is more peremptory than just as dpa; is stronger than dp' ov; see Essay on L. § 29. p. 50.

1075. is best taken actively with as subject. 'She will cause evils to break forth.' If were the subject, in 1076 could hardly have a natural meaning. Cp. 1]. 20. 55, For the situation, cp. Ant. 766, 1253, Tr. 813.

1078. 'For a woman.' Cp. Hat. 4. 81, Oedipus implies that his own 'pride of birth,' (avowed in 1080, foll.) is of a nobler strain.

Io8o. .. 'Accounting myself the child of favouring Fortune.' Cp. the opposite fancy of Polynices in O. C. 1323, 4, el | So in Shak. Winter's Tale, 4. 4, Florizel says - 'From thy succession wipe me, father! I| Am heir to my affection.'

1084, 5. 'This parentage of mine can never be disproved; and therefore why should I not find out my origin?' This is better than 'I cannot but know my birth.'

1084. | tor' It must be admitted that beginning the line after a short syllable which precludes synaphea, is questionable. See Aj. 986, ovx | ages It is allowable to conjecture But the secret of the anomaly is probably the inverted order (for which is for the sake of emphasis and rhythm. Cp. Phil. 1217,

1086, foll. The chorus have forgotten their apprehension expressed in supr. 1074, 5, and yielding to the feeling of the moment, join with Oedipus in his wish to discover his origin. The joyous confidence of this strain gives greater emphasis to the catastrophe. Cp. Ant. 1115-52, Aj. 693-718, Tr. 205-224.

[4 '\ 3 2, ' > 5 Kal Kal parép inie4 - { oeye Tar .. 1087. MSS. 1002. MSS.

by lyrical dactyls. The tone is one of religious joyousness, rising at first into excited hope, which changes, in line 7 of the strophe, into pious aspiration.

1090. 'In the coming moonlit hour.' Cp. Ant. 153, (1) The comparison of Arist. H. A. 38, shows that is not always to be construed strictly of the full moon. moonlight night is all that need be meant. And may be transferred from 'next sunrise' to 'next moon-rise.' Or (2) the expression may be understood to mean, 'In to-morrow's moonlight festtval.' If this interpretation is adopted, we must suppose the full moon to occur the day following. But no hint of this 1S given in the context.

_STEelpwv.. Thou shalt not be without experience of our celebrating thee, as of the same clime with Oedipus, and as having been to him a nurse and mother.' " Giving pleasure:' Epice. 1]. 1. 578, pew Art. Od. 19. 343, |

1007. In hoping for a happy solution, the chorusstill look upto Phoebus, whom they had at first invoked (154), and on the interpretation of whose still doubtful oracles the issue depends. 'This is the only shadow of apprehension which remains. Phoebus, to whom we cry, may this event prove well-pleasing to thee.'

1100 ff. The MS. reading was thus explained by Hermann, 'Constructio verborum haec est: [' Was it some young daughter of the long-lived Nymphs, having been brought near to the mountain Pan or to Loxias, who bore thee?'] Sed quum in illis, Aogiov, adderet poeta augendi causa istoque demum loco poneret illud nomen adjecit etiam pronomen encliticum ts, sine quo tam remotum a genitivo suo obscurum fuisset. "Apa etiam alibi longiusab initioremotum invenitur, ut in Ajace v. 925, wd, (Cp. Phil. 996). But this reasoning is upset by the double objection to the position and quantity of and by the difficulty of obtaining a satisfactory arrangement of the lines with Lachm conj. in which the appellation of Pan is unusual and inappropriate. Arndt's very ingenious conjecture is adopted in the text.

1105. Anacreon ap. Dion. Chrys. i. 94, | | | |

For the expression, see above |. 1026, and cp. Plat. Theaet. 150 D, THs

'Having never before met with him.' The unconsciousness of Oedipus is especially marked at the beginning of the scene in which he is to learn all (also in 1115, 16).

1111. This agrees better with what follows, 1.1115, and accounts better for the corruption than the reading of L. p.m.

is used absolutely (sc. the dative being governed by which is a supplementary predicate. ¢vpuperpos is changed to ovp- to preserve the Porsonic pause.

1114. 'And also I think I recognize in those who are bringing him the appearance of my own servants.' ='independently of this? - as a more certain indication. limits or modifies the assertion, in accordance with the subdued tone of the whole speech,

1128. The indefinite mov answers to the indefiniteness of the answer in 1127. 'Are you then aware of having somewhere thereabouts made the acquaint-

1130. 'Had you ever anything to do with him?' This is better than which requires a somewhat forced connection with 1. 1128.

1134. ' As we ranged about Citheron.' The accusative (of the sphere of motion) is governed by the general notion of traversing or occupying in what follows. Cp. Aj. 877, 8, THY Bo- |

1126, The verb in the latter part of the sentence is adapted to the nearer subject. For instances of this 'attraction, or 'zeugma, see Essay on L. pp. 65-66.

1137. Cp. Plat. Legg. TI, 0916 B, where for is in Par. A, Hes. Op. 566, 608. There can be no doubt that this is the true reading, though based on inferior MS. authority. It was adopted by Porson from the Trin. MS. and is confirmed by three others (including Ven. 617 pr.) 'Three entire seasons of six months extending from spring to the rising of Arcturus.' It has been proposed (by E. A. J. Ahrens in Philologus of 1876) to explain the Laurentian reading thus: OAovs.. 'three full months, being the time from spring to the rising of Arcturus:' and it is urged in favour of this that spring is late in visiting the Boeotian Highlands. But the awkwardness of the parenthesis, coming between the numeral and the noun, and the unmeaning pleonasm, are fatal objections to this way of taking the words. The division of the year into equal periods of six months, is also more probable. And the imperfect shows that the shepherd is speaking of what he did not once but habitually.

1138. 'But for the winter season, when it came.' The accusative of time, continued from supr., is here proleptic; i.e. 'I drove them to remain during winter.' Cp. Thuc. 3. 21, VUKTAS Tas Hdt. 7. 50, § 3, The commencement of the action and its continuance are thought of together. ye- has the best authority, and is also the more difficult reading. According to a calculation made by Prof. Forster at the request of G. Wolff, the moming rising of Arcturus for Athens in 430 B.C, was on the 13th September of the Julian Calendar.

1146. The knew that he had been entrusted with the exposure of the child of Laius, and instead of executing his commission had given the infant to a herdsman from Corinth - He knew also that Oedipus was the murderer of Laius - Faithful to Jocasta, he had hitherto kept both secrets; and this had occasioned his request to be allowed to remove as far as possible from the city. But until this moment the truth has never flashed upon his mind that the child of Jocasta and Laius is the husband of the one and the murderer of the other. The abruptness of the exclamation indicates the surprise, which now breaks upon his mind.

1149. * Most puissant lord.' This Epic form of address occurs only here in Sophocles, and in Plato also only once, in the mockheroic speech of Socrates, Phaedr. 238 D, ' Well, valiant sir!' The herdsman has been in the habit of thinking of Oedipus as the terrible stranger who had slain Laius, and had subsequently become the master of his household as well as ruler of Thebes. A new horror is now forced upon him; and in his fear and confusion, being threatened with immediate violence, he seeks to soothe Oedipus with flattering terms. Fis reserve is intended to contrast with the familiarity of the other messenger. Cp. supr. 1008, 1121.

1151. 'He knows not what he is saying and is busy to no purpose.' An evasive speech, and partly wrung from the speaker; but one which draws the attention of the spectators to the tremendous consequences of the busybody's intervention. 'To no purpose ;' i.e, 'to anything but a good one.' épeis| 'But when you are punished you will speak,' i.e. But you shall be made to speak. Cp. Ar. Nub. 58, iva kAans: Ant. 932.

1155. 'Unhappy that I am, wherefore? What is it you would learn?' sc. KeAevers ; For similar inexactness, cp. Phil. 1101, 1251; and see E. on L. p. 64.

born came from the house of Laius.' The expr ession is purposely ambiguous. As oi are 'Laius' people,' so include their offspring.

1175. 'Unhappy one!' The word expresses strong commiseration, but also implies wonder at the act. 'Its mother! had she the heart?' Cp. Eur. Ion, 960, fed: said to Cretisa, who deserted the child she had by Apollo. - 1180, A few touches now reveal the whole secret. The herdsman is not required to give the information for which he was at first summoned. There is no need to explain the horror further. 1182. The despair of Oedipus, which was kept under restraint until he had drawn out every link in the chain of discovery, now bursts forth uncontrolled. For iov tov, cp. 1071, and note. 'So then all is certain." For this use of with the optative, expressing certain inference in present time, cp. O. C. 1768, 9, : El, 797, 8, Bons: - ib. 1372, 3, .. | .. 1182. This exclamation is wholly general, although suggesting the motive of his sudden act ; infr. 1271-4. 1184. ad' ov This is said partly with reference to the oracle given to Laius, and partly with the same . general feeling of horror with which he speaks of himself afterwards, infr. 1383, aS The pauses in this line and in supr. 1170, viz." - U- - ~ - || US, mark the difficulty with which the horror finds expression. 1186-1203. 'Man walketh in a vain shadow, he appears, and is not. What lot could seem more blest than Oedipus'? who slew the monster, saved our state and took the kingdom for his own?

But now what woe is like to his; plunged by reverse of fortune in cruel misery? O glorious Oedipus! how art thou sunk into an abyss of infamy, too long concealed. Time that sees all hath found thee. And I, unblest in knowing thee, must weep thy fall. Yet thou wast he that gave me respite and repose.' The rhythms of this ode are less elaborate than those of the three former, and convey a more direct utterance of feeling.

The first strophe and antistrophe, expressing solemn regret, consist each of three regular glyconic logaoedic systems, the second, giving vent to a more passionate mournfulness, are iambic and trochaic, returning to the smoother logaoedic rhythm in the last three lines. 'Syncope of thesis' occurs in ll. 1, 4, 9, of B'.

1188. ' While ye are in life,' - with allusion to the common reflection attributed to Solon that none are to be called happy till after death. Cp. infr. 1528-30.

1102. 'To decline,' like the westering sun. Hdt. 3.104, 4. 181, THs Cp. Shak. Sonnet go: ' Nativity, once in the main of light, | Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned, | Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight, | And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.' Also the words spoken of Xerxes by the Greeks in Hdt. 7. 203,

It is by no means clear from this, as Schndw. supposed, that the Scholiast read For he may have taken substantively as=Tov The reading in the text is simpler and more natural than although it requires to be repeated in a different construction after

1196. The conjecture of Hermann, which avoids the unusual resolution of the arsis ofa glyconic line, is otherwise probable. Cp. Fr. 652," Apns yap : Hom. Hymn to Aphrodite 34, | pa-

1108. ' Became lord of all prosperity. The reading required by the metre, is confirmed by dvéora, which has the best authority. The transition from the 2nd to the 3rd person, in 1197, and again to the 2nd in 1202, has led to the confusion. Cp. Tr.94-101. Heimsoeth con].

.. 'And to my country he arose as a tower of defence from death.' For the dative, cp. Aj. 36, 7, .. and for the gen. Essay on L. § 9. 8.2. p.13. For the return to the indicative from the participle, see E. on L. § 36. p.64. Elmsley conjectured dvacras.

, The right mode of correction, if correction is necessary, is uncertain. The phrase (cp. Aj. supr. 337, 8, and note) is at any rate much more ex- pressive than the transposition adopted by some editors, ris Tis ; The words as they stand may be rendered ' Who more in woe, who more associated with fierce calamities in life's reverse ?? The comparative notion contained in is continued.

1208. The Scholiast suggests two possible interpretations of which the former is preferable. (1) @ eis (2) (1) 'In whose case the same wide harbour served for son and father to enter as a bridegroom.' The natural construction, @ .. is modified for the sake of emphasizing the antithesis by the addition of and the dative @ is left in a loose construction with the whole sentence, with an 'ethical' force, i.e. 'to whose confusion.'

1213. 'Has surprised thee with a discovery thou didst not intend.' The result of the inquiry is contrasted with its outset, supr. 132.

1214. Sc. 'Convicts thee.' For the asyndeton, which may be explained by the intensity of the language, see E. on L. p. 59. is expressive.

k.7.A.] (1) 'OF all the while being son as well as husband in that unholy marriage. is cognate accusative (Essay on L. § 17. p. 24) after some word, such as for which the phrase is substituted. As infr. 1403 ff, the concrete is intended under the abstract noun. When the marriage is spoken of, Jocasta is thought of. The expression 15 unusual, and yet might be said even in prose. Cp. supr. 1210. Otherwise may be taken as accusative in regimen, and the participles either (2) as agreeing with ce and added in further explanation of 'Condemns the unholy marriage, condemns thee who art at once sire and son:' or (3), the participles agreeing with 'Condemns the marriage in which father and son are one.' For the use of the passive verb in this case, see Essay on L. § 31, 3, ¢. Pp. 54:

1217. There is no reasonable doubt as to the soundness of Wunder's emendation, although such repetitions are much less frequent in Sophocles than in Euripides.

1225. éyyevas| i.e. ' with the feeling of kindred.' Cp. Thuc. 2. 60, The Theban elders are closely allied by descent to the royal house of Cadmus. Cp. supr. 911, : Ant. 988,

1227. Cp. Aesch. Cho. 72, : Ant. 1284,

1228, Dative of manner used proleptically Cp. Shak. Macbeth, 2. 1, ' Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood | Clean from this hand ? - no, this my hand will rather | The multitudinous seas incarnadine, | Making the green - one red.' The Greeks exaggerated the size of distant rivers.

1229. *' And fresh evils, not this time involuntary, it will now disclose.' The messenger first referred generally to the horrors of the house of Laius ; he now speaks of the suicide of Jocasta and the self-inflicted blindness of Oedipus. Cp. Ant. 1279, 80, | For without preceding, see Essay on L. § 39. p. 74. And for 10. 50. 3. P. 94. Cp. O. C. 977,

1234. 'The word soonest spoken and soonest heard is this.' is placed by anticipation in apposition with the clause, Kapa. See Essay on L. 33. p. 57.

1235. 'Royal,' viz. of the goddescended race of kings. Cp. Hom. Od. 4. 691, : also yevns, in Epic Greek.

still, as far as memory serves me, you shall learn what befel that unhappy lady.' The meaning is, 'You cannot feel the pain of the event as we did, who saw what passed.'

' In the description which follows, Jocasta is seen first passing through the hall or peristyle to the inner chamber, which she enters and closes the doors after her. Then in cries which resound through the hall (while she remains unseen of any one), she calls the spirit of Laius to witness the horrors consequent on their nuptial. The household would have followed her, but their attention is arrested by the entrance of Oedipus: who ranges through the hall with loud cries, calling for a weapon, and for the mother-wife. The sound of his approach precipitates the fatal purpose of the queen, who hangs herself in the chamber. Suddenly Oedipus _bethinks him that she is there, and with a single effort, he bursts open the bolted doors. He undoes the noose by which she is hanging, and when she is fallen dead, he pulls the buckles from her garments and dashes the points into his eyes.

1243. ' With the fingers of both hands at once.' For see Essay on L. p. 101, and cp. O. C. 1112, The word here marks the equal energy with which both hands were used.

1244. 'And after she had entered within the gates, and had shut them violently.' This prepares the way for 1261. (1) The house must be supposed of a simple construction, consisting of a court, or with the at the further end secured by folding doors. émppdoow like in Plat. Prot. 314 D, .. primarily governed by is to be resumed with émipp., which is proleptic, and is added to complete the sense of Otherwise (2) émppafaca, 'having violently closed the gate when she had entered within.' For such an alternation between the words of different clauses, see Essay on L. § 41. p. 77. Or (3) joining mvAas émppataca 'having slammed the door inwards after entering.' (1) is best.

1245. The imperfect without augment (cf. infr. 1249) is retained from the MSS, and agrees with and better than Cp. Tr. 904, For which may be thought more vivid, cp. O. 1630.

children for his own son to breed from her an unhappy race.' This interpretation gives most force to the expression, although supposing an extreme use of abstract for concrete; for which cp. Aj. 1297, pay, Or (2), making a pause at may be taken in apposition to the sentence, 'And left the mother to his own son, an unhappy way of begetting children.' Or (3), making demonstrative and cognate accus., 'left her to bring forth for his own son a wretched progeny.'

1249. The construction is changed, and substituted for another verb,

_ 1281. 'And after this she perishes, in what way, indeed, I cannot further tell, for Oedipus broke in with cries, and prevented us from seeing out her

1261. 'And he uprooted and forced down the yielding doors.' are probably the doors with their fastenings. éx implies that the door was torn from its hinges or the bolts from their staples. 'hollowing in.' is a 'proleptic' epithet suggesting the ease with which the obstruction gave way to Oedipus in his paroxysm. sotAos is a favourite word with Sophocles, who extends the application of this as of some other epithets beyond the common use. E.on L. p. 103. Cp. Tr. 901, 1]. 20. 446, For cp. Aesch. Prom. 1047, é« | And for the use of cp. Hdt. 9. 9, The alliteration of «, A, is suggestive of the successful effort.

1264. The Laur. MS. reads wAexraio | in which the form and the meaning of are doubtful, and the second in is manifestly wrong. Better with MM? aiwpaow and either 6 omitted, or the words corrected into 6 vw. The tautology of iS not unlike Sophocles (Essay on L. § 44. p. 83) and which is the reading of LE Ven. 617 pr. Vat. 1363, Vat. b®. K°., although more expressive of the violence of the act, 'where she had been dashed into the noose,' seems hardly appropriate as a description not of Jocasta hanging herself, but of the dead body already hanging. But for in this connection, cp. Od. 22. 468 foll. Ae | Epes and see Hesych. : and for the tense, Il. 16. 660, BeBAap- 6 with a pause following as well as preceding, cp. supr. 1252, makes a less suitable rhythm than the 'end-stopt' line. The gloss in Trin. shows the doubtfulness of éwpa: TOU

1268, foll. ' For when he had plucked away from her person the clasps of gold with which her robes were fastened, he lifted them and smote his eye-balls to the root, saying aloud, "That they should not see the evils of which he was the victim, and the cause, but in darkness henceforth should look upon thosewhom he ought never to have seen, and fail to know those whom he had desired to know.' Herm.'s conjecture, 'because they had not seen him,' derives considerable plausibility (notwithstanding the doubtfulness of the form) from and But these imperfects, as well as and are to be explained by the implied reference to the past, when his eyes had seen his father in the triple way and his mother in Thebes, whom it would have been better for him never to have seen, and had failed to recognize them, whom he had so longed to know, when the recognition might have saved all. With sharp pathos he now says that in the future his eyes shall not do as in the past. They shall indeed look on those it were best not to have seen (his children, the citizens, his father and mother in Hades, 1371 foll.), but without having sight, and not know those whom he once desired to know (with a double reference to his desire to see his parents and the natural am 1270 of ods ods wish to see the faces of his children). For a similar oxymoron in threatening language, cp. Ant. 310 foll., iv' | And for the feeling in cp. El. 1235, ots The imperfects indicative in 1273, 4 are in the same construction as those in 1271, and they are not affected by the proposed emendation.

1270. dpas - 1276. (1) 'Lifting the clasps in his hand' (ém= 'repeatedly'). Cp. Il. 3. 362, According to others, (2) ' Lifting his eyes.'

1270. dpOpa.. 'The sockets of his eye-balls." For the periphrasis, cp. supr. 1032. And for Ant. 974, Phil. 1354.

1275. ' Uttering such a strain withal' = in accompaniment to the act, cp. Hdt. 1. 132, 'he often and not once only lifted his hand again and smote his eyes. And the pupils all at once rained blood upon his beard, not letting fall moist drops of gore, but all at once was poured the Shower of dark red hail.' means, 'not in successive drops, but many coming together' Cp. Aesch.

1279. aiparots| The reading of M and that of I' mg. suggesting though plausible at first sight, is probably a corruption ; cp. infr. 1400. is the least possible change from aivaros. Cp. Hom. 11.11.53, éépoas pvdadeas. Pind. Isthm. (6.) 27, mpd Ib. 5. 49, . ..

1280, 1. Cp. Tr. 941, dua..wppaviapévos The repetition of having led to the omission of 1281 in a single MS. (Barocc.) this line was rejected by Elmsley, followed by Dindorf with the rejection of both lines. Porson and Hermann, with more probability, argue that the end of 1280 is corrupt. Pors. conj. With respect to the omission of the lines it may be remarked that we must suppose not only an interpolation, but if the suspected verses are cut out, there will also be a lacuna. For 1279 does not connect with 1282. The fact is that such repetitions are not uncommon. Cp. O. C. v0, 71, 782, 3, 1487, 8, For the datives in 1281, cp. Ant, 865,

1282. 'Was once happiness in the true sense;' but now all happiness is obliterated. Cp. O. 15409,

1284. A slight inversion for arising from the frequent confusion between name and thing. See Essay on L. § 42. p. 80 B. The genitive assists the transition to the negative expression,

1286. The MSS. with hardly an exception have rim, which the Schol. explains ; i.e. 'In what passage of woe?' But in classical Greek will not bear this meaning. And 'In what pause of woe?' implies an assumption which is out of place. The MSS. continually err in accenting mis, and the text, which Elmsley approved, has the advantage of laying a pathetic emphasis on 'And now has the unhappy man any respite from woe?' Cp. Tr. 1083, |

1289. 'His mother's .. and there he utters what I may not repeat.' For the abrupt introduction of the participle, cp. Phil. 64, K.T.X. Oedipus is still passionately bent on carrying out the consequences of his acts. Cp. supr. 1271.

1294. (1) 'As you will see? sc. ov: cp. the common phrase, sc. pa: or (2) 'As he will make you see.' For the latter, cp. C.1145, Thuc. 3. 84, The former (1) is best. 'For, look, the gates are opening.

1296. (1) 'Such as even while hating the sight, one cannot choose but pity,' (cp. infr. 1306, por); or (2) 'Such as even one who hates him might pity." Cp. Aj. 924. ws But this is less in keeping here.

1297-1311. The form of the paroemiac 1311 shows that these anapaests are of the freer kind, which are admitted in laments, and are thought to have been sung to Lydian music (Aesch. Persae, 938). Compare lines 983 ff. of the Trachiniae, where Heracles awakes in agony, on being brought in. In both places the rhythm suits a faltering, interrupted movement. This tends to justify the scansion of 1303, vos, where a pause may be supposed; and the resolution of the arsis in TaTat in 1310, which is suited to express the agitation of the moment. (Cp. Aesch. Pers. 930, Also the two successive catalectic verses 1310, 113; cp. El. 86- 89. The commos which follows is arranged in two strophes and antistrophes, presenting a highly wrought example of that alternation of dochmiacs and senarii, which is often employed in the oxnyns. The dochmiacs express agitation, to which the senarius adds a cadence of regret. The Chorus speak in senarii, except in 1336=1356, which is iambic dimeter. The long syllables of the dochmiacs are frequently resolved. See esp. ll. 1314, 1322, 1340, 1345, 1365. In 1332, 1342, a spondee is added at the end of the senarius, giving the effect of a prolonged wailing note. Cp. 1316, 1324.

Cp. 1811, iv' and for the same metaphor in Aeschylus, Pers. 515, 6, | ws pus [

1303. The short syllable of has been thought to indicate some fault in the text, and the words may have crept in from 1. 1307: but see the note on the metre on p. 241.

1310 is a paroemiac with a resolution of the second arsis. Fr. Bellermann conj. But if the line were acatalectic it must have caesura of some kind.

1313-1318. 'O cloud of darkness covering me, horrible, unutterably lowering on my head, unconquerable, and wafted to me by an evil fate." For Cp. 423, For expressing a feeling of personal appropriation, Cp. a) 395s OKOTOS, aos : 0. C. 1540, the clasps, which he still felt as if piercing his eye-balls, or rather the wounds inflicted by them. 'How the pang of these sharp wounds enters into me together with the remembrance of my calamity' The word is again used of a 'stabbing pain' in Tr. 340,

1319, 20. The coldness of this and similar expressions of the chorus, who are stunned by the sight, acts as a foil to the passion of Oedipus.

_ 1322. The line is cited by Eustathius inthis form. quoted as av.r.in L.mg., has arisen from the misteading of by some early scribe. Cp. the v. for supr. 134. iS governed, (1) by 'You endure me, do not avoid me; (2) by

1330. The correction has the effect of making a lyric iambic trimeter of this and of infr. 1350, which has not been successfully emended as a dochmiac line. The repetition of the same word éua) is feeble in aspeech of Oedipus, although admissible in the chorus, supr. 1217. For similar iambic lines, cp. Eur. Bacch. 992, 1012: Phoen. 647, 666.

1334. ' Wherefore should I have sight, who could never again see aught that was pleasant to see?' For cp. infr. 1371.

1337-9. ' What then can I look upon, what can I love, what can I hear any more addressing me with pleasure, O my friends?' For the difference of Trin. and Trin. see the account of the MSS,

1348. dvayvdvat (1) 'Unhappy for thy penetration no less than for thy calamity, how I could wish that I had never discovered who thou art.' Cp. Hdt 2.91. where Perseus finds out who are his kindred, ovyyeveas. Or (2) as Solger trans. in 1824, 'Ich wiinschte das du hattest nie dich selbst erkannt.' 'How I would that thou hadst never made the discovery.' Hesych. The aorist without follows the analogy of and the like. The in opposes the discovery to what has followed it. Cp. 1229. Or (3) reading ws

1337. L Trin. 1345. | Ist next line LA. LME Trin. V Vat. b. L? Pal. 9. LA. Division of lines in 1, and A. C3, Trin. pr.

Kato Pwtatoy

(Dindorf), or ws wor (Dobr.) 'How 1 could wish never to have known thee.' 1349. (1) ' Perish the man, no matter who, that loosed the cruel clog upon my feet, when I was sent astray.' The plural of is more frequent than the singular, and the compound epithet ém- is more natural when in construction with a genitive: i. e. Cp. Tr. 271, vouddas 'Tracking out his mares that had strayed. (2) The Scholiast, who seems to have read or pw, explains: (gnawing asunder) pou, pe. But such a meaning of is inadmissible. 1354.5. (1) There is probablya change of subject, being pendent nominative, 'For dying then, less grief had been my friends' and mine.' Others explain, (2) 'I had not been so great a sor-

ron 7 El. 558, 9. Tis av Hermann's correction is supported by the occurrence of the same word in the corresponding place of the strophe. lost because of from 1361).

1368. 'Thou hadst better have been no more, than to live on in blindness.' Cp. Aj. 63 5, oo "Avda For

1369. answers to 'That this action is not best as it is,' (ws Cp. Hdt. 1. 37,

1372. The shade of the dead in Hades is imagined as having all the characteristics of the living form. Oedipus, selfblinded, will be blind in Hades, just as the ghost of Heracles in the vexvia has the ghostly belt and bow.

than death.' 'Which I would rather have died by strangling than do.' Cp. Eurip. Alc. 229, 30, opayas |

1375. surely the sight of my children was a sight to be desired by me, - having such an origin as they had? No, not for these eyes to see.' For here, cp. Phil. 1352, and for the hypallage or attraction in see E. on L. § 35. p. 60.

1376. gives a reason by anticipation for Cp. Eur. Or. 79.

1380. eis is often used with superlatives to signify, 'As compared singly with any other.' (Tr. 460, Thuc. 3. 20. So here is 'More than any other single man.' This idiom affords a curious illustration of the tendency of the Greek language to limit an assertion in the act of emphasizing it.

be of the race of Laius.' The words are added as the climax of horror. This designation was not included in the oracular curse, but the mind of Oedipus naturally passes from the anticipation to the actual discovery - to which the oracle had pointed the way, and which was chiefly present to his mind.

1384. is predicative. 'Having brought to light sucha stain upon myself was I going to look these men in the face with unchanged eyes?' Cp. supr. 572, E.onL. § 23. p. 37;

1385. i.e. the citizens represented by the chorus. Oedipus is speaking to the coryphaeus. The expression while alluding to the mangling of his eyes, also conveys the association of a frank and steady look. Cp. Eur. I. A. 851, |

1387. "1 would not have refrained.' Cp. Hdt. 6. 85, THs The MSS, with a few exceptions, have or which gives an inferior sense, and the (1) ' For it is sweet for the mind to dwell in her own place, shutting out the sight of evils. For as the subject, cp. Eur. Med. 48, Or (2) sweet to guide one's thought out of reach of evil.' Said in contradistinction to See v. rr.

For the appeal to nature, cp. (although the tone is somewhat different in each place) Phil. 936 foll., «.7.A.: Ant. 844, 5, Arpratat |

'Ye brought me up, how fair in appearance, while corruption rankled within." Cp. Shakespeare, Hamlet, 3. 4, 'It will but skin and film the ulcerous

1400.' That drank from these my hands the blood from which I sprang.' pov is not merely = but marks that the blood which he shed was the same which ran in his veins - 'the blood of my father, which was my blood.'

1401. Herm. defended the reading of most MSS. Although this is singular, it is not certain that the exclamations might not be used in a dependent clause. 'Do you remember that I did - what deeds! before you?' The marginal reading points to cp. supra 1134, But of conjectural readings the most probable is (Elmsley), partly supported by Vat. c Trin. 'Do you at all remember?' Cp. thev.r.on 1412. This is certainly idiomatic, and may be the genuine reading. For cp. supra 1130, 7 mw; Phil. 1130, twas Exes: O C. 1281, and esp. Eur. Hec. 992, ris Ti pov. is weak.

1405 Te,

1410

ence='In which you were concerned.' See Essay on L. § 13. p.19. 'With what deeds I affrighted you, and then came here to find what fortune!' This fresh outburst is occasioned by the mention of his Theban fortune. For the plurals in this and the following lines, expressing strong feeling, see Essay on L. § 20. p. 30.

1406. can only mean 'murder of kin.' Cp. O. C. 407, The marriage of Laius and Jocasta had led to the parricide, in accordance with the oracle.

1415. 'Fear not; my woes are such as none but I can bear;' 1. 6. I bear an incommunicable sorrow, which you therefore need not fear to share by contact with me. It is too heavy, and also too peculiar, for others to partake. Cp. Phil. 536, 7, | Shak. King John, 3. I, 'My grief's so great | That no supporter but the huge firm earth | Can hold it up.'

1420, trios is here used in the later meaning of persuasive argument. Cp. Ar. Rhet. 1, 1-11. ' What assurance of mine will appear true?' Od¢cdipus is humiliated and softened. Cp. Shak. Lear, 4. 3,'.. The poor distressed Lear, by no means.. | Will see his daughter.. | A sovereign shame so elbows him, {| .. his own unkindness | .. these things sting | His mind so venomously, that burning shame | Detains him from Cordelia.'

1424. Creon, after briefly re-assuring Oedipus, turns abruptly to the attendants, whom he reproaches with not leading Oedipus within-doors. This is natural and characteristic, though it has given offence to several critics. Cp. Shak. Macbeth, 2. 3, 'And when we have ournaked frailties hid, | That suffer in exposure, let us meet, | And question this most bloody piece of work, | To know it further.' implies a reason, i.e. 'Seeing it is one which neither Earth,' etc. Cp. the use of the indefinite supra 1184, 'Seeing that I am,' etc.

1428. épBpos] The showers (Heaven's yépyiBes) which represent the sacred element of water. The sanctities of earth and sky are violated by the presence of Oedipus. Essay on L. p.g8. tpds marks the purity or sacredness of the element as it exists in nature. Cp. 1]. 17. 455.

1433. ' Having shown thyself so noble to one so base as Jam, Cp. 1357, 1358, : and, for «.7.A. Aj. 1382,

1440. ' But the declaration of his voice was wholly for destroying me.' For which is adverbial, cp. El. 596, 597, ins ws Kaxooropotper, ('Who dost talk of nothing else,' etc.)

1446. i.e. 'Not only do I believe, but I will urge your duties upon you.' suits the context better than 'The earlier part of the speech has more the tone of command than of supplication, as of one 'who instructs his sorrows to be proud,' or who, in the extreme of misfortune, is 'like a prophet new inspired." He claims the right which the curse has given him to go into solitude, and he resigns his right in Jocasta whom he will not even name

*' Where is this Citheron, which rumour celebrates as mine.' Cp. Tr. 659, = 'Where rumour reports him sacrificing. Pind. Nem. 9. 41, The use is similar to that of with names of places, but there is here a special reference to the rumour prevalent at the moment. Cp. supr. 1086 ff.

1453. . is the reading of the MSS. 'Let me await my death in that place, which they in their life-time appointed for my destined tomb.' is added to intimate that the intentions which they had in life will be fulfilled after their death; shows that their appointment was justified by the event and ratified by fate. The correction which Brunck introduced from the conjecture of Toup, brings in the notion of a 'living grave' where it is not required. Ant. 888, Bevew, is not parallel. would rather weaken the transition in what

1455. 1.6. 41,6 me die in the wilderness; and yet what will be my end? What will destroy me, when I was saved in such a death? I was predestined to live for evils.'

The feeling here expressed is that referred to in O. C. 438, 9, |

1460. Elms. conjectured comparing El. 13345 But the meaning of suits the context well. 'Do not give thyself anxiety on their account.'

1462. The construction of these words, which is suggested by is broken off by the parenthesis, and resumed in the relative clause

is an inverted epexegesis, as though the expression had run, 'Whose table was never spread apart from mine, or without me,' The point of view is changed. and Oedipus no longer speaks of himself as separated from his children, but of his children as separated from himself. The v. r. in Trin. may have been occasioned by the strangeness of this inversion. See Essay on L. § 42. p. 80.

1469. 'O right noble one!' The tautology is merely emphatic, as in Aristoph. Vesp. 466, Plat. Soph. 231 B, H.on L. § 40. p. 75.

1477. 1.6. 'Knowing the delight which you have always taken in your children, and thus foreseeing the delight which their coming gives you at this moment.'

On mpofevéw, see Essay on L. p. 98, init.; and on the construction of (1. 1482), ibid. § 33. p. 57. The use of is occasioned by which, though epexegetic, is first in the order of words, and suggests mpofevely ahs sc See Essay on L. § 39. 1. p. 72.

1490, I. ' Bathed in tears instead of enjoying the solemnity.' combines the notion of 'assisting' at contests or exhibitions of various kinds, with that of performing a religious function.

1490. For the perfect tense of cp. Il. 16. 7, Sedaxpvoa, TlavpéxAes: Aesch. Cho. 731,

: KaTa & ope

1505-7. 'Do not suffer them, being your kinswomen, to wander poor and unhusbanded, nor make their woes to be like mine.' On see E. on L. p. 96; and for the order of words, ib. § 41. P. 77:

1510. Sc. avraiy. Oedipus holds the children forward, that Creon may put his hand upon them in token of acknowledging his duty to them as a kinsman.

1512. ' But now I would have you pray.' The mistake of the Scholiast, who suggested that was passive ('be the object of this prayer of mine'), arose from not observing the idiomatic use of por: 1. 6. 'Instead of giving you advice which you cannot understand, I will put into your mouths this simple prayer.' Cp. O. C. 1116, Adyos.

1512. «.7.A.] Dindorf's correction of this line, by substituting for dei, while retaining is objectionable on many grounds: (1) The crasis of the third singular indicative or subjunctive, is not sufficiently supported in a conjectural reading by the single instance in Homer, I. 5. 256, : (2) (sc. is a common idiom, and is good sense, while is neither: (3) the insertion of the article is a more likely error than the corruption of a verb. Meineke's 7 is better. But the article rod has no special force, and may have come either from a gloss or from immediately below; and the emphatic suits well with the feeling of Oedipus, who is thinking of the unhappy circumstances of his own life. The pause at the middle of the line is not frequent. but there are several examples of such a division, aftera strong monosyllable like in the present play. See esp. Il. 12, 110, 1066, 1155.

1515. 'Thou hast gone far enough in weeping. Creon here assumes the tone of one who is henceforth to be regent of the land. Supr. 1418. The humanity shown by him supr. 1476, 7, now gives way to reasons of state. Cp. Ant. 182, 3. Schndw., in ' Die Sage von Odipus,' 1852, suggested, 'without laying any stress on the conjecture,' that the Oedipus Rex may have originally ended with the voluntary departure of Oedipus, as in the play of Seneca, and that the exodos may have been subsequently altered by Sophocles in order to adapt it to the Oedipus Coloneus.

1526. The unintelligible reading of this line, which appears in most MSS, has been changed to ov =*Whom which of the citizens did not envy, and gaze on his fortunes?' and to Tis THs Another solution of the difficulty is to suppose that a line following this one has heen lost. 'Who did not' (after the manner of tyrants) [maintain his power] 'by envy of the citizens and by keeping an eye upon their fortunes ;' i.e. Oedipus was a wise and popular ruler, not like Thrasybulus or Periander, who cut off the tallest heads of grain. Cp. Pind. Pyth. 3. 71, But the transition from the dative to the participle is harsh; and is not The reading of VM, for ov, and the gloss in ME, suggest a different line of conjecture, viz. that some other verb is concealed in would harmonize well with in the following line, both together suggesting an image of brightness quenched. Cp. Aesch. S. c. T. 772, Ib. 758, Kip' : Pind. 45, The Naples MS. No. 2901 (II. F. 34), (quoted by Elmsley as 'Farn.'), has There still remains the awkwardness of with the participle. The emendation above attempted removes this: but is no doubt only one of several possible expedients. may

1528. The order is 'So that one waits to see that final day, not calling any mortal happy, before he have completed the term of his life, without any sorrow.' Cp Pind. Nem. 11. 10, The lighter trochaic rhythm, here (1515 foll.) preparing for and hastening the exit of the chief actor, affords relief to the mind of the spectator after the long strain of excited feeling. The comparative tameness of the concluding lines (wrongly assigned to Oed. by the Schol., who was thinking of the Phoenissae) is in accordance with this. The lines in the Phoenissae read like an imitation of this passage, which, although beneath the general style of Sophocles, is not inferior in merit to the concluding words of the chorus in the other plays.

In the Oedipus Tyrannus the action of Greek Tragedy attained. its most perfect concentration and unity. In the Antigone and Electra the approach to this is very strongly marked: in the Ajax and Trachiniae less strongly. 'These five excel all other tragedies in severity. They represent a type of dramatic art that is peculiar to Sophocles. In each of them he has selected a supreme moment which he has treated with an exclusive intensity. The great dramas of Aeschylus, whether they were represented in connected trilogies or not, are fragmentary when taken singly, and their parts are less highly finished: while in the richly varied theatre of Euripides the attention is seldom so enchained by the principal action of any piece as not

1 This suggests the possibility that a place where horses and mules were sta- Colonus (with its opportunities for graz- tioned for those who wished to ride to ing, etc.) may have been from early times _ - _ Eleusis or Thebes.

to allow room for minor distractions; for subsidiary situations, and general reflections on life. Such works as the Antigone and Oedipus Tyrannus were perhaps only possible in the age of Pericles, and the immediately succeeding years. The political and social changes of the next generation led inevitably to an alteration in the tone of

The Philoctetes and the Oedipus Coloneus, which are affirmed by constant tradition to have been amongst the latest works of Sophocles, have certainly some common features in which they differ from his other extant plays, and they have less of this severe and concentrated character.

They dwell more on the external means of producing pity and fear, and appeal more obviously to the senses of sight and hearing. In modern language, they are more melodramatic, and less tragical, The entrance of the chief person in each following that of the chorus produces a striking visual impression', The lameness and neglected aspect of Philoctetes, the blindness, the soiled raiment, and the beggar's scrip of Oedipus, are kept vividly prominent throughout. The withdrawal of Oedipus from the sacred ground, his hiding in the grove, the threatening movements of the chorus, the intercession of Antigone, her subsequent capture on the stage, the attempt of Creon in person to drag Oedipus away by force, the blind man's gestures when his daughters are restored (1099 ff.), the clinging of the sisters to Polynices, and afterwards to their father (1544), are spectacular incidents with which may be compared the kneeling of Philoctetes (I. 485), the evident signs of his agony when overcome by pain, his falling asleep upon the stage, and the passage between the chorus and Neoptolemus which follows; all the incidents in which the bow is conspicuous ; above all, the tableau, where Philoctetes aims the shaft at Odysseus, and Neoptolemus arrests his arm; the struggle of Philoctetes with the attendants of Odysseus, who prevent him from committing suicide, and the last contention between Neoptolemus and Odysseus, in which both draw their swords, or are about to do so. In all these cases there is a direct and pointed appeal to the eye.

The inarticulate cries of Philoctetes, which are heard before his entrance, and again afterwards on the stage, may be compared with the wild outcry of the chorus at the name of Oedipus, and their loud summons to Theseus upon the attempt of Creon*. The lyrical peculiarities of both dramas arise partly from the attempt to produce a thrilling effect at once on eye and ear. Phil. 201-18, 827-64, O. 117-253, are unlike anything elsewhere in Sophocles*, and can be paralleled only from Euripides. See especially Orestes, 140-207.

In speaking of the external machinery of these dramas, we must not forget the thunder and lightning, and the effect of supernatural darkness, which accompany the peripeteia of the Oedipus Coloneus, nor the apparition of Heracles, which brings about the catastrophe

1 Cp. Phil. 225, | 2 The difference of manner here spoken gavres with may be illustrated by contrasting Aj. O. 286, | Svompdc- 331-343 with Phil. 201-218. 8. Unless Tr. 971

Lastly, both dramas have their appropriate setting of picturesque natural scenery: the uninhabited promontory, with its rocks, woods, springs, wild beasts and birds ; - the surpassing beauties of Colonus. Although no drama of Sophocles is without allusions to external nature, - the tents on the damp, green Troad, amidst the bleating of the flocks, contrasted with bright, rocky Salamis (Aj.), the brook of Dirke reflecting the sunrise, the bare rising ground above the orchards (Ant.), the vale of Argolis (El.), the wild pastures of Citheron, the thicket by the triple way (O. T.), the high wold of Oeta, the Cenean promontory, the warm springs of Thermopylae, the Artemis-haunted Sperchean shore (Trach.), - yet in none of them are the features of the outward scene so prominent, or so continually dwelt upon, as in these two. The Trachiniae, which comes nearest to the last plays in this and other respects, may be regarded as intermediate between them and the central group, Antigone, Electra, Oedipus Tyrannus.