The emphasis is on κλύειν, not on τοῦδ̓: “"why is it painful to thee to give this man a hearing?"” Theseus has no need to ask, “"why is it painful to thee to hear this man?"”—for he knows already how Oed. has been treated by his sons (599). The sense is thus the same as if we kept the MS. τοῦτ᾽: “"why is this thing painful to thee,—namely, to hear?"” (Cp. Ph. 1121 “καὶ γὰρ ἐμοὶ τοῦτο μέλει, μὴ φιλότητ᾽ ἀπώσῃ”: and O. T. 1058.) But, when the question has already been put in an abstract form (“οὐκ ἀκούειν ἔστι” etc.), it would be tame to reiterate it in the same form. By τοῦδε it is adapted to the particular case. Cp. 1117 “τοῦδε χρὴ κλύειν”.
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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