The MS. “βῆναι κεῖθεν ὅθεν περ ἥκει” is usu. defended as an instance of “"attraction"”; but it is harsher than any example that can be produced. Thus in Plat. Crito 45B “πολλαχοῦ μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἄλλοσε ὅποι ἂν ἀφίκῃ ἀγαπήσουσί σε”, where “ἄλλοσε” stands for “ἄλλοθι” by attraction to “ὅποι”, it is not preceded by a verb answering to βῆναι here. Who could say, “ἀπελθὼν ἄλλοσε” (for “ἄλλοθεν”) “ὅποι ἂν ἀφίκῃ”, if he meant, “"having departed from another place, whithersoever you may have come"”? So, here, βῆναι κεῖθεν ὅθεν περ ἥκει surely could not mean, “"to go to that place whence he has come."” βῆναι and ἥκει being thus sharply opposed, each verb requires its proper adverb. I should prefer to read κεῖσ᾽ ὁπόθεν, as Blaydes proposed. Cp. Tennyson, “"The Coming of Arthur,"” (of man's destiny,) “"From the great deep to the great deep he goes."” πολὺ δεύτερον: easily the second-best thing: Thuc. 2.97 “ἡ βασιλεία” (“ἡ τῶν Ὀδρυσῶν”)...“τῶν...ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ μεγίστη ἐγένετο χρημάτων προσόδῳ,...ἰσχύϊ δὲ μά-” “χης καὶ στρατοῦ πλήθει πολὺ δευτέρα μετὰ τὴν τῶν Σκυθῶν” (where “"easily second"” suits the context better than “"decidedly inferior"”). πολὺ with compar., as Il. 6.158 “πολὺ φέρτερος”, Thuc. 1.35 “πολὺ...ἐν πλείονι αἰτίᾳ”, etc. (but “πολλῷ...πρῶτον” Ant. 1347).
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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