Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Oedipus Tyrannus

[261] 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 ι 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 ι ψυχὴ τέκν᾽: ὅστις δ᾽ αὔτ᾽ ἄπειρος ὢν ψέγει, ι ἦσσον μὲν ἀλγεῖ, δυστυχῶν δ᾽ εὐδαιμονεῖ”: Eur. Andr. 711 “ἣ στεῖρος οὖσα μόσχος οὐκ ἀνέξεται ι τίκτοντας ἄλλους, οὐκ ἔχουσ᾽ αὐτὴ τέκνα: ι ἀλλ᾽ εἰ τὸ κείνης δυστυχεῖ παίδων πέρι, κ.τ.λ.”: Eur. Supp. 66 “εὐτεκνία” opp. to δυστυχία.