ἐμφῦναι φρενί. Schol.: “τί τὸ πιστὸν θέλεις ἐμβαλεῖν τῇ φρενὶ ἐκείνου, τῇ τοῦ Θησέως δηλονότι; ἀντὶ τοῦ, τί βούλει πιθανὸν ἀνακοινώσασθαι τῷ Θησεῖ”; This proves that φρενί is at least as old as the ancient scholia in L, and also that the schol. had either ἐμφῦναι, or, as Herm. infers from “ἐμβαλεῖν, ἐμφῦσαι”. Many recent critics have held that φρενί has come in from 1487. So far as the mere repetition is an argument, we must be cautious in applying it: cp. 70 f., and n. on 554. The sense must be either:— “"And what is the pledge which thou wouldst have fixed (1) in his mind?"”— i.e. “"What is it that thou wouldst tell him in confidence, under his pledge of secrecy?"”—or else (2) “"in thy mind?"”—i.e. “"what promise wouldst thou obtain from him before death?"” Here (2) is recommended by the fact that the “φρήν” is then the same in both vv. Nor is the reply of Oed. (1489) inconsistent with it; since the fulfilment of his promise (580) to Theseus involves a pledge from Theseus to keep the secret (1530). It is, of course, possible that Soph. wrote ἐμφῆναι ξένῳ, or the like: but the vulgate is at least defensible.
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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