πέραν περῶσ᾽ οἵδε δή, “"yonder men"” (with a gesture in the direction taken by Creon's guards) “"are already passing towards the other side."” Elmsley wrote πέρα, which as adv. would mean "further." But πέραν is right, since the Chorus is thinking of a passage from the Attic to the Boeotian side of the frontier, as of a passage across a river. πέρα is ultra, “"to some point beyond"” a line which is either left to be understood, or expressed in the gen.: πέραν is trans, “"on, or to, the further side"” of a river, sea, or intervening space. περῶσι implies only that the fugitives are on their way to the border,—not that they are now actually crossing it. δή nearly=“ἤδη”: O. T. 968 n.
This text is part of:
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.
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