previous next

This passage, which has been variously altered, appears to me to be sound as it stands in the MSS. Oedipus has undertaken to speak for the men of Attica (“ἐρῶ γὰρ καὶ πρὸ τῶνδε”). Creon refuses to identify him with them, bitterly reminding the Theban that his real ties are elsewhere. “"I call them—not thee— to witness my protest"”: i.e. “"I have a just claim on thee, which thou repellest:— I appeal to a judgment more impartial than thine own."” The words mark the point at which he drops persuasion. He now turns to menace. “"But, for the tone of thy reply to kinsmen"” (meaning, to himself, cp. on 148 “σμικροῖς”), “"if I catch thee"”—an aposiopesis. (Cp.

“εἴπερ γάρ κ᾽ ἐθέλῃσιν Ὀλύμπιος ἀστεροπητὴς
ἐξ ἑδέων στυφελίξαι: ὁ γὰρ πολὺ φέρτερός ἐστιν

”

: Verg. Aen. 1. 135 “Quos ego … ”）

μαρτύρομαι, antestor: cp. Aristoph. Pax 1119 “ΤΠ. ὦ παῖε παῖε τὸν Βάκιν. ΙΕ. μαρτύρομαι”.


Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part II: The Oedipus Coloneus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1899.

Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education provided support for entering this text.

This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide References (3 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (3):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: