τοιάσδ̓. His former imprecation, uttered on hearing Ismene's tidings, implied the same doom which is more plainly denounced here (421—427: 451 f.). Manifestly it is to this that πρόσθε refers. Campbell holds, however, that, in this passage, Sophocles has abandoned what is otherwise the distinctive point in his conception of the curse on the sons,— viz. that it was delivered only after the outbreak of their strife for the throne (cp. on 1298),—and that πρόσθε denotes some moment before Oed. had left Thebes. I can perceive no ground for this. The question is more than a detail: it must affect our estimate of the play as a work of dramatic art. See Introd. ἐξανῆκ̓, sent up, from my inmost soul: the notion being that the “ἀραί”, when they have once passed the father's lips, are thenceforth personal agencies of vengeance: hence 1376 ξυμμάχους. So “ἐξανιέναι” is said of the earth “"sending up,"”—calling into activity,—plagues or dread beings (Eur. Phoen. 670, etc.). Distinguish “ἀφῆκα” (Ant. 1085), “ἐφῆκας” (Eur. Hipp. 1324), of launching curses, etc., like missiles.
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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