ἐν γὰρ τῷ μαθεῖν: i.e. "for in learning (how the people of the place are disposed) consists the caution of (proper for) all that we are doing": we are poor strangers, who must be prepared to shape our course according to the mood of the “ἀστοί” (13). The spondee can stand in the 5th place, since ἐν, to which γάρ adheres, itself coheres closely with τῷ μαθεῖν: so El. 376 “εἰ γὰρ τῶνδέ μοι” (where, as here, Elms. proposed δὲ instead of γὰρ): ib. 409 “τῷ τοῦτ᾽ ἤρεσεν”; cp. 664.
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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