αὐτοὶ with κήρυκες: the gods herald their own interposition in his fate. No “μάντις”, but Heaven itself, gi gives the warning. Cp. Bekker Anecd. 5. 14 “αὐτοκῆρυξ: ὁ μὴ δι᾽ ἑτέρων ἀλλὰ δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ κηρυκεύων”. Eur. Suppl. 589 (Theseus says that he will march on Thebes) “αὐτὸς σίδηρον ὀξὺν ἐν χεροῖν ἔχων, ι αὐτός τε κῆρυξ”. ψεύδοντες οὐδὲν σημάτων προκ., “"disappointing me in no way (“οὐδὲν"” adv., cp. 1145) of the signs appointed beforehand” (94): as Her. 2.38 (of the Apis) “εἰ καθαρὴ” (“ἡ γλῶσσα”) “τῶν προκειμένων σημηίων”, the marks appointed by sacred law. With the conjecture σῆμα τῶν, the sense is, “"falsifying no sign of those appointed,"” a less usu. sense of “ψεύδω”, for which see Ant. 389 n.
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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