Oedipus is indeed old and worn (110): but μέγας contrasts the man of mature age with the girl, his defenceless guide (752). Cp. Od. 2.313 (Telemachus) “ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἔτι νήπιος ἦα:
νῦν δ᾽, ὅτε δὴ μέγας εἰμί
” (full-grown). σμικροῖς: for the allusive (masc.) plur., instead of σμικρᾷ, cp. O. T. 366 “σὺν τοῖς φιλτάτοις” (with Iocasta): for the sense, below, 957 “ἐρημία με … σμικρὸν τίθησι”. The antithesis of persons suggests that σμικροῖς is masc. rather than neut.: so below 880: Ai. 158 “σμικροὶ...μεγάλων χωρίς”, 160 “μετὰ γὰρ μεγάλων βαιὸς ἄριστ᾽ ἂν
καὶ μέγας ὀρθοῖθ᾽ ὑπὸ μικροτέρων
”. If σμικροῖς were neut., it could mean: (a) like the masc., weak persons: cp. 1 Cor. i. 27 “τὰ μωρὰ τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελέξατο ὁ θεός, ἵνα καταισχύνῃ τοὺς σοφούς”: (b) fig., “"weak things,"” frail supports. But the neut. plur. σμικρά in such antitheses usu.=“"lowly fortunes"”: Pind. P. 3. 107 “σμικρὸς ἐν σμικροῖς, μέγας ἐν μεγάλοις
ἔσσομαι
”: Eur. El. 406 “εἴπερ εἰσὶν εὐγενεῖς
οὐκ ἔν τε μικροῖς ἔν τε μὴ στέρξουσ᾽ ὁμῶς;
” ὥρμουν: usu. ἐπί τινος: Dem. De Cor. § 281 “οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς” (ἀγκύρας) “ὁρμεῖ τοῖς πολλοῖς”: but also “ἐπί τινι”: Plut. Solon 19 (he added the Βουλή to the Areopagus) “οἰόμενος ἐπὶ δυσὶ βουλαῖς ὥσπερ ἀγκύραις ὁρμοῦσαν ἧττον ἐν σάλῳ τὴν πόλιν ἔσεσθαι”. For the metaphor cp. Soph. fr. 619 “ἀλλ᾽ εἰσὶ μητρὶ παῖδες ἄγκυραι βίου”. Eur. fr. 858 “ἥδε μοι τροφός,
μήτηρ, ἀδελφή, δμωίς, ἄγκυρα, στέγη
”. Or. 68 “ὡς τά γ᾽ ἄλλ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἀσθενοῦς
ῥώμης ὀχούμεθ᾽
”: Med. 770 “ἐκ τοῦδ᾽ ἀναπτόμεσθα πρυμνήτην κάλων”. Campbell understands — "Nor, being a prince (μέγας), as I am, should I have taken up my rest here to crave a small boon." But (1) μέγας in this sense ill suits the present tone of Oed.: cp. 110, 393. (2) This version of ἐπὶ σμικροῖς ὥρμουν is impossible: the scholium “ἐπὶ εὐτελέσιν αἰτήμασιν οὐκ ἂν σφόδρα ἱκέτευον” evades the point.
