κατάμεμπτον, “"disparaged,"” because often spoken of as dreary (cp. “ὀλοῷ ἐπὶ γήραος οὐδῷ, γήραϊ λυγρῷ”, etc.). Shaksp. As You Like It 2. 3. 41 “"When service should in my old limbs lie lame, And unregarded age, in corners thrown."” ἐπιλέλογχε, “"next (“ἐπι-"”) falls to his lot.” Cp. Pind. O. 1. 53 “ἀκέρδεια λέλογχεν θαμινὰ κακαγόρος” (Dor. acc. pl.), “"sore loss hath oft come on evil-speakers,"” a gnomic perf., as here. Here, too, we might understand “τὸν ἄνθρωπον”: but the verb seems rather to be intrans., as oft. “λαγχάνω”: Eur. Hel. 213 “αἰὼν δυσαίων τις ἔλαχεν, ἔλαχεν”: Od. 9.159 “ἐς δὲ ἑκάστην ι ἐννέα λάγχανον αἶγες”, “"fell to the portion of each ship"”: Plat. Legg. 745D “καθιερῶσαι τὸ λαχὸν μέρος ἑκάστῳ τῷ θεῷ”. The ellipse of the object here is made easier by the notion which the verb conveys, “"'tis the turn of old age next."”—Not: “"he obtains old age next."” ἀκρατές, “"weak"”: Eustath. 790. 92 “ἀκρατὲς ἐκεῖνός φησιν, οὐ τὸ ἀκόλαστον, ἀλλα τὸ ποιοῦν πάρεσιν, ὡς μὴ ἔχοντα τὸν γέροντα κρατεῖν ἑαυτοῦ”. So Hesych. s.v., quoting Eur. in the lost Aeolus. Cp. Ph. 486 “καίπερ ὢν ἀκράτωρ ὁ τλήμων, χωλός”. Perhaps an Ionic use of “ἀκρατής”, for Hippocr. has it in this sense (Aph. 1247): in Attic prose it always means “"without control"” over passion or desire (impotens). For ἄφιλον placed after “γῆρας”, cp. Ph. 392 n.
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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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